Re: Appletalk hookup?

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <3h4qot$r6v@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>,
Jim Wong <jd-wong@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> shack@crash.cts.com (Randy Shackelford) writes:
> >Not to mention that putting two IIgses on a network alone would be perfectly
> >pointless.
> 
> Unless you're working on a network game, of course (I doubt anyone
> is).  Where would one find documentation on programming with AppleTalk
> anyway?

Inside AppleTalk (2nd edition) covers some essential background
information.  It is an Addison-Wesley book.

The Apple II specifics are covered in the AppleShare Programmer's
Guide for the Apple II family, which is available from Byte Works.
The manual was never finalised, but it covers enough to be able to use
the AppleTalk protocols in your own program (you'll also need Inside
AppleTalk).

Applications can communicate over the network using any of several
protocols.

At the lowest reasonable level is DDP (Datagram Delivery Protocol),
which sends one-off datagrams (up to 570ish bytes) to a specified node
and socket.

The next layer up offers ATP (AppleTalk Transaction Protocol), which
operates on a request/reply method - a request of up to 560ish bytes
can be sent, and up to eight reply packets can be returned.

In either case, NBP (Name Binding Protocol) should be used to advertise
the socket and computer address on the network, so that each computer
can find the other one.

There are more advanced AppleTalk protocols, e.g. PAP (Printer Access
Protocol) and ASP (AppleTalk Session Protocol) but they are unbalanced
client/server protocols, and only the client end has been implemented
in the IIgs.

There is also ADSP (AppleTalk Data Stream Protocol), which provides a
byte-stream connection between equal peers, but it hasn't been
implemented at all on the IIgs.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand