Re: Connecting Apple IIe to "Ethernet": Questions

[nathan@winternet.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <4qce87$r3l@lynx.unm.edu>,
stephen e buggie <buggie@auriga.unm.edu> wrote:
>My college this week wired the builing for Internet to faculty offices ---
>When I get out of this "Windoozz" computer classroom and onto my Apple 
>II, my full-screen SIG file will be seen again!

   Please keep your .sig to 4 lines, 80 columns. Anything more is
annoying and flamebait. Simple usenet netettiquette.

>The wall jack connector is a telephone-style socket.  I have heard them 
>talking of "Ethernet" but dont know what that means.

   Ethernet is a standardized wiring type for fairly fast data
communications.  It used to be at 10 Megabits (not bytes) per second,
but now has a new standard for 10x that, or 100 Megabits/sec. Further,
there were 3 standard wiring types: thick (db-15 connector, cable
maybe 3/8" thick), thin (like coax video cable, but slightly thinner,
strung daisy-chained), and 10 Base-T (like an oversized phone jack).

   Ethernet was initially used mostly in universities and other Unix
applications, but has moved into LANs of PCs or Macs as it's
standardized, and way faster than Appletalk or any serial port method.
Unfortunately, there is no real easy way of getting on ethernet from
an Apple II. The one sorta hack is a 'Gatorbox' or 'Fastpath,' which
is an Appletalk <-> Ethernet converter box (kinda pricey). You'd still
need to be one of the few (<5, so don't start asking) GS/TCP beta'ers
to use it in any real productive sense.

>What will be needed?   Can the wall socket of Ethernet connect to the 
>Super Serial card db-25 socket?

   What is needed is an Apple II ethernet card. Apple built some, but
canceled tham and wharehoused those that the made. Only if you've got
very good connections can you get your hands on one of those. There's
the possibility of a third party design, but until I know more about
its status, I can't really comment.

   There's no way to connect ethernet to serial with a cable. 

>I need to advise the computer expert ---- he is unsure how to connect an 
>Apple II.  Advice appreciated.

   If you must get it connected, connect a Unix box to the ethernet,
and run a serial line to your Apple II. Then you can log in at full
speed and run stuff from there.

Nathan Mates



--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
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