Re: Appletalk or GS/TCP?

[mustb5@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Shawn T Beattie)]

mportune@telerama.lm.com (Matt Portune) writes:

>Awhile ago I mentioned that I wanted to set up a drive-sharing mini-network 
>with my GS and PC.  I never got any replies saying whether or not I could do 
>it, so I tried to gather up as much info as possible from old magazines, 
>manuals, etc.  From what I gather, Appletalk on the GS is rather limited when 
>it comes to 2 way drive/file sharing, is this true?  Would I be better off 
>building a network based on TCP between the 2 machines instead of Appletalk?  
>Would I be able to log into the GS with the PC, and vice versa?

As far as PC's looking like an AppleShare server, there a few options.
One that comes to mind is MacLan Connect, which I believe is the
equivalent of System 7 Filesharing for the PC.  I also believe I have seen
this software bundled with a parallel port "dongle" that turns it into a
localtalk port.  Dayna and others once made localtalk boards for the PC,
now Copstalk (http://www.copstalk.com) is the only one I know of.  They
also have AppleTalk client software for Windows.  Their localtalk cards
are quite expensive.

Another way of turning a PC into an AppleShare lookalike is to run NT or
Netware.  Netware 4 comes with an Appletalk NLM, it was extra for Netware
3.x.  I have connected my GS to a Netware 3.x server with a Dayna
localtalk board with no problem...it looked just like an AppleShare
server.  Novell has been passing out 2-user versions of Netware 4.x at
shows and as el freebos now and then, which is a nice option if you or
someone else can set it up without docs.  I have seen products (can't
remember names) that turn UNIXes into AppleShare lookalikes, which would
be an option if you've got LINUX or the likes running on your PC.

Others have mentioned that two GS's can't act as an Appleshare server.  I
do remember a CDA that allowed two GS's to do two-way chat over Appletalk.

One other option is bridging localtalk to ethernet via hardware or
software bridges and eliminating the costly localtalk-on-the-PC scenario.
Others on this group have come across hardware bridges that were fairly
inexpensive.  

If you don't necessarily need access from the GS Finder and other
software, connecting via serial ports on both machines is the cheapest
option.

Shawn
--
Shawn Beattie (sbeattie@sparc5.augustana.edu)
Augustana College Library http://www.augustana.edu/~sbeattie
"No, I'm from Iowa. I only _work_ in outer space." -Capt Kirk