Re: GS/TCP (TCP/IP for the IIGS)

[hackett@gaul.csd.uwo.ca]

Paul Schultz <schultp@aa.wl.com> writes:
>Has anyone looked into a SCSI/Ethernet connector? We use one with
>a Mac Classic II here at work and the functional throughput on our
>company WAN is just as fast as with my desktop Mac with a NuBus
>Ethernet card.
...
>Would it be worthwhile to find out if one of these companies would
>release the specs on their connector so that a driver could be written
>for the IIgs? (Someone else would have to do this -- not me, its over
>my head! :-)

Already being done...  I have contacted Focus Enhancements, Dayna, and
Sonic so far.  Focus wasn't helpful at all, and refused to give me any
information.  I got a better reception at Dayna, and the tech. guy I
spoke to actually had a GS and thought it was a great idea.  However,
it's out of his hands now, and in the hands of the product manager
who still hasn't called me (been over 2 weeks now, so I'm guessing
that's a no as well).  Finally, I just tried Sonic last week, and I'm
still waiting for an engineer there to call me back.

In the meantime, I've downloaded the SCSI-1 and -2 drafts from the
FTP site and I'm familiarizing myself with those.  If the units
use the SCSI-2 commands rather than proprietary commands, I may be
able to figure things out without their help.  I've also downloaded
the Dayna drivers that were on GEnie and I'm poking around in the
SCSI/Link driver to see what I can figure out.  If anyone has any
inside connections or knows of any other sources of information
that would be of use, please let me know.

My plan, at this point, is to order a single unit from Focus (the
cheapest and it seems to be a nice unit, if you are not concerned
about size), Dayna, and maybe Sonic.  I may try to contact Asante
this week as well, but I'm not very optimistic about getting any of
these Mac-snob companies to cooperate.  I have heard quite a few
complaints about Farallon products, so I wasn't considering them,
but if someone sends me the contact info, I'll give 'em a call.

Then I'll see if I can figure out how the units work either via
trial-and-error with the SCSI-2 commands, or by picking apart
their drivers.  (BTW, if anyone is aware of any legal problems in
obtaining the information this way, please post or drop me a line.)

I would also be interested in hearing from anyone who would be
interested in such a product.  I also hope to make a driver for
use with the upcoming TCP/IP package, which would allow your GS
to run full Ethernet IP.  (I'll let Jawaid and others provide more
details about the possibilities.)  A good response might encourage
me to re-allocate some more of my time to this project.

------
Michael Hackett
Some Assembly Required
St. Catharines, ON, Canada