Re: Networking GS to a Mac?

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Interesting mail address ("land@").  I think your news posting software
is broken.

In article <4o9o48$6q0@news.smart.net>, E.G. Land <land@> wrote:
> 
> I've got some interest in this topic too.
> 
> I'll be buying a used Mac soon (any suggestions on model?).

It depends how much future you want out of it.  I wouldn't recommend
getting a 68K-based Mac if you want to continue to be able to use new
software released over the next few years.  You should try to get a
PowerMac.

If you are just after a Mac to act as a server, or to get your feet
wet, then I'd suggest something like an SE/30, IIcx, IIci or IIsi.
They are all reasonably good machines, should be reasonably cheap now,
and will be fast enough to act as a server for the IIgs.

Pretty much any machine more recent than those would also be OK.
Avoid the Mac Plus or SE, or the Mac Classic.  They are all rather
slow, and are based on the original 68000 processor.  You should aim
for at least a 68030 machine to maximise your software options.  This
also rules out the Mac II and Mac LC.  (I can't recall whether the LC
II and colour classic have a 68020 or 68030.)

> Know zip about the whole thing. Hardware, software? How do I tie it
> all together and what can I expect. 

Setting up the Mac as a server is reasonably easy, if you have System
7.0 or later.  You just need to turn on AppleTalk (using the Chooser -
you will have to reboot after doing this), use the Network Control
Panel to select the appropriate newtork connection (LocalTalk via the
Printer Port), configure and enable file sharing in the Sharing Setup
Control Panel, and create an appropriate user in the Users and Groups
Control Panel.

After File Sharing has started up, select the hard drive icon in
Finder, and choose "Sharing..." from the File menu.  Make sure the
"share this item and its contents" check box is marked.

The Mac uses its Printer port for the AppleTalk connection.


The IIgs end is a little harder.  If you have a hard drive on the
IIgs, you can just install the AppleShare software on it.  A
floppy-based system is tricky, because there isn't enough space on an
800K system disk to fit AppleShare support as well as Finder.

The IIgs must have at least 1MB of RAM to be able to use AppleTalk.

The main requirement is to enable AppleTalk in the Control Panel:

- For a ROM 1: set slot 1 to "Your Card" and slot 7 to "AppleTalk".

- For a ROM 3: set slot 1 to "AppleTalk".

In both cases, this will enable AppleTalk communications via the
Printer Port.  If you want to use the modem port instead, then use
slot 2 instead of slot 1 (on the ROM 1, slot 1 must be set to "Printer
Port" to allow AppleTalk to use the modem port).

To be able to use AppleTalk, you must boot via GS/OS, from a system
disk with the appropriate software installed (System 5.0 or later is
required, and I'd recommend using 6.0.1).  Use the System 6.0.1
Installation disk set to set up a system disk for use with AppleShare
(go into the Customize option from the initial Installer screen).

There are various network options, but the one to use will be either of:

Network: Local Boot

   This modifies an 800K system disk to allow an AppleShare server to
   be accessed after booting the disk.  The Finder must be removed from
   the disk to make everything fit, so if you want to run Finder, you'll
   have to run it from another disk (e.g. the Server).

Network: AppleShare

   This should be installed if you have a local hard drive or a high
   capacity disk drive such as a SuperDriver.  It adds all the
   necessary software to access the server. 


The file server is mounted by going into the AppleShare Control Panel
and following the prompts.

To connect the machines together, you need a simple serial cable, such
as the one which is used to connect a IIgs or Mac to an ImageWriter II.

If you want to connect more than two devices together, you will need a
proper set of AppleTalk cables: either Apple's LocalTalk cabling
system (expensive) or Farallon Phonenet cabling (or equivalent), which
is what I use.  Each computer or perhipheral on the network requires a
"drop box", and the drop boxes are all connected together in
daisy-chain fashion.


There is one other option at the Mac end: you can run the full
AppleShare server software, which is faster than System 7's file
sharing, supports more users (not likely to be a factor), and if you
have the right version, allows the IIgs to boot over the network from
the Macintosh.  The main catch is that AppleShare is rather expensive.

> I mean, if the Mac was a Quadra would I actually be able to
> use its application programs from the gs?

Definitely not.  You cannot run Mac applications on a IIgs.

A network connection between the Mac and IIgs simply allows the IIgs
to access files on the Mac's hard drive.  To do anything useful with
existing files, they must be in a format which is supported by your
IIgs software (e.g. text files).  You can also use the Mac's hard
drive to store IIgs applications or data files, but any such
applications can only be launched by the IIgs.  IIgs data files may be
imported into some Mac applications.  For example, ClarisWorks can
import AppleWorks files from AppleWorks version 3.0 or earlier, but it
can be a bit tricky to convince it that the files are actually
AppleWorks ones!

One point: an AppleTalk network connection using LocalTalk (or
PhoneNet, or a direct serial connection) is not very fast.  You should
expect file transfer speeds that are about the same speed as a 3.5"
drive, or slower if the Mac is doing anything else, or there are more
devices on the network.

(This is still considerably faster than a modem connection.)
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand