Re: Connecting Apple IIgs to Ethernet LAN

[fadden@netcom.com (Andy McFadden)]

In article <19991229233414.19575.00000808@ng-cm1.aol.com>,
Supertimer <supertimer@aol.com> wrote:
>>I would like to connect my old Apple IIgs to our Local Network. I never did
>any
>>Network installation with Apples before, so I have some question. Any help
>>would be highly appreciated:

Look for a Farallon Etherwave localtalk adapter (built for connecting old
printers, not old computers, but it works fine).  Some people have had
better luck with Shiva FastPath 4 and 5s (available on eBay occasionally),
but the 4 I had was big, noisy, and flaky.

>Linux can do it with a package called Netatalk.  You must
>provide the PC with an AppleTalk card, though.  Then
>Netatalk for Linux can turn your Linux unit into an
>AppleTalk server.

netatalk+asun (available from the Red Hat web site) works under Linux.
WinNT 4 Server comes with "Macintosh" support that allows it to act as
an AppleShare server, though I managed to reliably blue-screen SP5 while
doing large file transfers.  Win2K RC1 wouldn't let the Apple IIgs
authenticate, so I wasn't able to test that.  (Might've worked if I'd
configured it for "guest" access.)

You're probably better off with the localtalk<->ethernet adapter than
a card in a PC.

>>3) Network files
>>One thing I would like to do, is that the Apple IIgs can access some files on
>>the network (I am aware that the speed would be quite slow).
>>Are the any Programmes (kind of like Samba) that can provide Network Shares
>for
>>Apples and run on Linux,Solaris or Windows?
>
>Assuming you get Netatalk for Linux and an AppleTalk
>for PC card.  The speed would be 230k and the IIGS
>would be able to log onto the Linux box as a workstation
>using the System 6.0.1 software.  Shared volumes can
>be accessed by the IIGS from the Finder.

Yes, though I only seem to be able to do this with "guest" access.  Netatalk
isn't trivial to configure, but it's a whole hell of a lot easier than
getting Samba figured out.  (You only need a couple of lines to set up the
guest volume, but it's not immediately obvious what those lines are.)

230K localtalk beats 56K zmodem for speed, convenience, and not having
your filenames stepped on by moronic software. :-)  Besides which, having
a 25-foot serial cable is much more annoying than a 25-foot cat5 ethernet...
since switching over, I've been able to get rid of the mondo cable and
a serial port switch box that hung off of the PC.

The Linux server also helped me kick-start an old Quadra I'd bought on
eBay (at once point I was resigned to using a Mac intermediary to move
files around).  If you've ever tried to get Aladdin Expander on a Mac
that didn't already have Aladdin Expander, you know what I'm talking about.
"macunpack -a" is your friend...

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