Re: Echoes and Appleshare questions

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Mike Ford writes ...
> 
> > > I have AppleShare 2 and 3, but haven't gotten around to doing an
> > > install and playing with either. How wonderfull is it to have a IIgs
> > > netted to a Appleshare 3 server?
> >  ....
> >
> > Had the IIgs been fully supported by Apple after its introduction, there
> > would have been more rapid speed and RAM upgrades together with better
> > integration of networking hardware in GS System. As things stand, the
> > IIgs is a much more stable system when running as a 'stand alone'
> > computer
 ....
> 
> Thats sad, I used to be hip deep in the Apple II writing ASM, but I never
> worked on the IIgs moving to the Mac and C instead.

     Really, my position regarding networking a IIgs is a tad purist or,
even, extreme. It maximizes reliability and compatibility with a wide range
of IIgs software. Networking impacts both; but, the benefits of networking in
some situations may justify the trade-offs.


> Maybe this is a very basic question, but on the Apple II most of the time
> I assumed the running program pretty much took over the whole machine,
> does this change a lot going to the IIgs?

     There is a IIgs 'multi-tasking' environment named "gno". You can find
out more about it at these URLs ...

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/apple2/GNO-faq
ftp://ftp.gno.org/pub/apple2/gs.specific/gno/ .

IIgs speed and RAM size tend to limit the attractiveness of multi-tasking
schemes. Plus, there is not much need for multi-tasking since the current
IIgs is not usually used on the net.

     There are 'program switchers' which work well for running 8-bit
software.


> I was hoping to replace local
> storage on the IIgs with a network server connection, is it possible to
> boot the IIgs, get something from the server, than reboot to run what you
> got in a bare (no inits, few something) environment?

     Yes. Some users have a setup like that. (And, you do not necessarily
need to reboot. Nor, if you do, is it necessary that the reboot environment
be bare bones.)  A more popular option is to boost local storage via a hard
drive and use a 56k NULL modem connection to handle file transfers between
machines. (Or, you can transfer files via Zip disks.)




Rubywand