GEORGE_FRAJKOR@CARLETON.BITNET (GEORGE FRAJKOR) (05/14/86)
DOES anybody know if someone is developing a networking or shared- peripheral system for the STs? Seems to me they'd make darn good classroom use computers (better and jsut as cheap as Apple, probably) if Atari would take the education market seriously. Anything that would enable 16 or so STs to share a common printer and hard disk or tap into a mainframe would sure help. Also, anyone know how to set up a printer driver for the Mannesman- Tally Spirit 80? It is not Epsonable, it seems.
"John_A._Davidson:ROCH0846:Xerox.ns"@XEROX.COM.UUCP (05/19/86)
In the last newsletter I received from the Atari Group in Rochester.
(A.C.O.R.N.) it mentioned that:
" Software Punch of Liverpool, U.K. is working on an
Ethernet-compatable networkk of cables that allow ST computers to share
information."
What protocol levels they intend to support I have no idea.
{John}neil@atari.UUcp (Neil Harris) (05/19/86)
In article <8605162336.AA23370@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, GEORGE_FRAJKOR@CARLETON.BITNET (GEORGE FRAJKOR) writes: > > DOES anybody know if someone is developing a networking or shared- > peripheral system for the STs? Seems to me they'd make darn good > classroom use computers (better and jsut as cheap as Apple, probably) if > Atari would take the education market seriously. Anything that would > enable 16 or so STs to share a common printer and hard disk or tap > into a mainframe would sure help. Computer Curriculum Corp. in Palo Alto has a gizmo to tie a roomful of ST's together around a central host. I don't know the details, but I have seen it in use and it does work. They have some nice CAI programs that use the ST as a terminal, too. --->Neil @ Atari ...lll-crg!vecpyr!atari!neil
nigel@minster.UUCP (nigel) (05/23/86)
In article <860519-051622-1172@Xerox> "John_A._Davidson:ROCH0846:Xerox.ns"@XEROX.COM.UUCP writes: > > In the last newsletter I received from the Atari Group in Rochester. >(A.C.O.R.N.) it mentioned that: > " Software Punch of Liverpool, U.K. is working on an >Ethernet-compatable networkk of cables that allow ST computers to share >information." > > What protocol levels they intend to support I have no idea. > {John} Aha. They are working on 5 different levels - last count! Or at least that's what they told me on the 'phone. Paraphrasing and deciphering the sales literature, I concluded this: the whole system is called AtariNet, with two levels known as PunchNet (19200 baud RS232 - i.e. ULC (Ultra Low Cost) CSMA-CD), and MegaNet (40Mbit optical fibre link). What are the other 3 levels you ask? One is Ethernet compatible (I guess this means 10Mbit data rate and very little other similarity), another is 1Mbit, and the last was quoted on the 'phone as 560MBit....... All the networks can be connected to an Atari, and the latter used as a bridge between them. They use their own protocols, and FEPs for high data rates (a 6809 board was quoted for the 'Ethernet' system). PunchNet and MegaNet are supposedly available, but something about the brochure makes me uneasy. I hope they come up with something, but what would be really nice is a simple Ethernet box, which doesn't impose a protocol, so I can connect my AtariBox to the Ether using whatever protocol we go for locally. Nigel Roles (...!mcvax!ukc!minster!nigel) Department of Computer Science University of York PS I note that your quote from A.C.O.R.N. incorrectly spells "compatible" in just the same way the letter I have from Software Punch - I wonder if they are by any chance related?