Re: Network from Hell: The Sequel

[Anthony J Politz <ajpolitz@bellatlantic.net>]

Same setup I have in my house.

    Netware rules upto version 4.11. In 5.0+ they had taken out appleShare
services.
    You will need to dump $495.00 to Prosoft engineering for the Appleshare
services.


    Tony

"Christopher D. Heer" wrote:

> Consider a garage!
>
> The location of this garage is not important, in and of itself.  The
> contents of this garage are far more important.
>
> "Convergence," you see, is a popular buzzword tossed around by PR hacks.
> Yet I understand the true meaning of it now, because the thing I am about to
> create is surely the result of convergence.
>
> Convergence of what, you ask?
>
>     [A] An incredible effort from a newsgroup member
>         to build an eccentric home network
>
>     [B] My occupation as a networking professional
>
>     [C] A garage full of Apple equipment
>
>     [D] My inability to stop blowing free time on
>         goofy projects
>
> I've decided it's time to do some serious architecting.
>
> Now, I already have a small home network.  Cat5e cable run throughout the
> house, a 10/100 switch, and six PCs networked together, along with a Linksys
> Cable/DSL router and a cable modem connection.  Now, however, it's time to
> get funky.
>
> Stage one involves tossing Novell Netware into the mix.  (I picked up a copy
> of Netware 3.11 at a liquidation sale some time back, along with Netware for
> Macintosh.)  I want to do this for a couple reasons:
>
>     [1] Print queue management.  Microsoft print
>         queue management sucks dead camels through a
>         straw, in so many ways.
>
>     [2] Faster file server.  It's still hard to beat
>         Netware's performance.
>
>     [3] Netware/MAC support.  I'll get to that in a
>         bit.
>
> A Toshiba 3200sx laptop (and I use that term advisedly; this thing is huge)
> will run as the initial file server.  Attached will be an HP Laserjet 4L for
> general-purpose printing.  An old 486 will likely get resurrected and
> transformed into the main fileserver; the 3200 will probably become a
> dedicated print server at that point.
>
> Stage two involves easing Apples into the network.  I was originally
> considering adding a Localtalk card to the Netware server, but I think
> instead I will buy an old Cayman GatorBox.  These used to be frightfully
> expensive but they're cheap on eBay now.  :) The GatorBox serves two
> functions: it connects EtherTalk to LocalTalk, thus acting as an AppleTalk
> router, and it enables IP on the LocalTalk segments.  I doubt I will use
> that portion of it, but you never know.
>
> The Netware server, using Netware for Macintosh, will appear as an
> Appleshare server.  Additionally, I will acquire an inexpensive LaserWriter,
> add it to the LocalTalk segment, and use Netware for Macintosh to make it
> available to non-Macs via a print queue.
>
> An Apple //e will be added via a LocalTalk card.  If I don't have one in my
> garage -- and I don't think I do -- I will have to track one down.
>
> An Apple IIgs (prolly ROM3) will initially be added via LocalTalk, but I
> will eventually get one of those Ethernet cards for IP.  It'll have to
> remain dual-cabled, I suppose.  At that point it will be able to surf.
>
> Later, I will take a Mac IIci that's in the garage and put Appleshare on it
> so that the Apples can remote boot.
>
> Finally, my wife may be in the market for a G4.  That should plug right in.
>
> Stage three is where things start to get wacky.  Thanks to the Netware
> server I can exchange files between, say, a PC and a //e.  Now, however, I'd
> like to bring in other stuff.  For example, I'd like to toss CP/M in the mix
> here somewhere, because I have a certain fondness for it.  This could easily
> be another Apple with a Z80 card.  I would also want some way to get an
> Apple //c in the mix.  I'd even like to toss in a TRS-80, because they too
> played a formative (though lesser) role in my Nerd Development.  Of course,
> these machines don't network, right?
>
> Well.
>
> This begs the question, what do I want out of the network?  Obviously it
> does little good to hook up older computers to the Internet, if they don't
> run TCP/IP.  So really all I need is file sharing and/or transferring, and
> possibly printing.  CP/M actually had a networking setup called CP/NET, but
> it was very primitive and only worked with other CP/M machines.
>
> For the time being, printing is out of scope.  I will instead concentrate on
>  file transfers.  I am going to code some utilities (command-line where
> possible) to automate serial transfers from a variety of 8-bit platforms.
> I'll take an old PC, stuff a gaggle of serial ports in it, and use it as the
> back end.  Heck, it can do most of the work.  Then utilities on the
> 8-bitters can automate transferring files back and forth, getting remote
> directories, etc.  It won't be pretty, particularly as I am not a hard-core
> coder, and it'll probably be slower than hell.  But if I get clever with
> drive mappings and the like, I think I can make it happen.
>
> If anyone is interested, I'll toss a site together with some diagrams, this
> text, etc., and add to it as I move along.  Obviously there is stuff I need
> to get, and I am ABSOLUTELY WILLING TO TRADE HARDWARE!  I have oodles and
> boodles, so if you've got a //e workstation card or other hardware lying
> around that you'd like to trade me for, drop me a note and we'll negotiate.
> --
>   Christopher D. Heer -- chris-heer.nospam@nospam.home.com
>   Please remove "nospam" before you email me
>   Parlez-vous d�sir?