NadaNet 3.0 is now available!

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

NadaNet 3.0 is now released and available on my website:

http://home.comcast.net/~MJMahon/index.html

The site contains object, listings, and source of everything, and
a bunch of "papers" on NadaNet, AppleCrates, and various tools,
in addition to the previous content.

The web site has been extensively revised to make it all consistent
with the new NadaNet 3.0 release.  (Note that the change from 2.x to
3.x signals that all machines on a NadaNet must be updated for
interoperability.)

The major changes in NadaNet 3.0 (from NadaNet 2.1) are:

  * The new control packet format provides *guaranteed* collision
    detection.  (This is what breaks "compatibility on the wire"
    with NadaNet 2.1.)

  * The &BOOTCODE command is replaced by &BOOT, supporting only
    "passive boot" of AppleCrates (This means that pre-NadaNet 2.1
    boot ROMs are no longer supported.)

  * A new &BCAST command supports broadcasting data to multiple
    machines.

  * New &BRUN and &RUN commands simplify running programs remotely.

  * New versions of most utility programs take advantage of new
    commands.  In particular the new &BCAST capability, that allows
    code and data to be transmitted to slave machines very rapidly:

    - A new BPRUN broadcasts the BASIC program to all slaves.
    - A new CRATE.SYNTH broadcasts voices and the SYNTH program.

  * A new ATTACH program provides remote "console" for slave machines
    without requiring a Message Server--very useful for debugging.

-michael

******** Note new website URL ********

NadaNet and AppleCrate II for Apple II parallel computing!
Home page:  http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."