scott@opus.UUCP (Scott Wiesner) (08/17/84)
Here's a little more info on the networking just announced by IBM. 1. The basic functions available include a file server, printer server and message server. 2. The file server allowes assignment of a remote directory to a local drive letter. This gives transparency for currently available software 3. The message server allows sending of multi-line messages, short broadcast messages, logging of messages, and forwarding. Forwarding does not require the users machine to be left on. 4. There are two interfaces to the networking functions. One is a command line interface, following typical pc commands. The other is a menu interface. The menu interface stays resident at all times, allowing you to perform network activities at any time. Ctrl-Alt-Brk will place you in the menus from any point in pc operation. Menus are extensive enough that it is necessary to bring them in from disk at times. 5. The network is based on broadband technology, using a 586 ethernet chip. The upper limit of 72 machines on the network is due to limitations of the "head end" IBM is providing. A more powerful head end should allow many more machines to be connected. 6. Typical access times accross the net give "floppy disk" performance. i.e. running an editor on a remote file should give startup time equivalent to having the file on a local floppy disk. -- Scott Wiesner {allegra, ucbvax, cornell}!nbires!scott