jacquemin-michel@CS.YALE.EDU (Michel Jacquemin) (09/14/89)
Can anybody who has bought and used Timbuktu (by Farallon) tell me exactly what this software does? Does it enable Macs to share HDs and printer in a nice way? Thanks, Michel Jacquemin
bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) (09/14/89)
In article <72537@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> jacquemin-michel@CS.YALE.EDU (Michel Jacquemin) writes: >Can anybody who has bought and used Timbuktu (by Farallon) tell me >exactly what this software does? Does it enable Macs to share HDs >and printer in a nice way? No. If you want to share hard drives, get Tops (I forget who makes it); if you want to share printers, set up an AppleTalk network. I was given a sample version of Timbuktu by Apple a long time ago, but whether or not the current version is exactly like what I have, I can at least explain the basics of it. You need at least two copies of Timbuktu to use it. Put one copy on any Mac, and set it to accept 'guests' (I think that's what they called it). Install the second copy on a second Mac. Timbuktu is used through a DA. Select the DA, tell it to connect to the first Mac, and suddenly your machine will 'become' that other Mac. You will see the first machine's screen on your monitor. You will move its mouse, you will use its processor, &c. In effect, your own Mac will step out of the way, and you will be directly controlling the other machine. If another person looks at the host Mac's screen while you're controlling it, he can see the pointer mysteriously move (as you move it), pulling down menus, bringing up dialog boxes, opening applications, and so on, all while the host Mac's mouse is sitting there unused. It really freaks out unsuspecting users. In fact, if someone tries to use the host Mac while you're hooked up to it, you may very well have a 'mouse war' - I believe the person who's sitting in front of the host Mac will have dominance over the mouse, but as soon as he lets go of it, the remote user can play with it. If you're using an SE or Plus remotely from an SE or Plus, there's no problem. You see the other Mac's screen exactly as it really looks. If you're linked to an SE or Plus through a big-screen SE/Plus or a Mac II, then the host's screen appears in the upper left-hand corner of your monitor (everything else is black). If you're linked to a big-screen SE/Plus or Mac II through your small-screen SE or Plus, then you can only see part of the host's screen at any given time; moving the mouse to the edge of the screen will scroll it around. And if you're linked to a color Mac II through another color Mac II, you will see the other machine's screen - in black-and-white. Well, nobody's perfect. In fact, if the host computer has a color screen and you have a monochrome monitor, you will still see a black-and-white representation of the host's screen. It's not halftoned (all colors appear as solid black), but it's fine. (Of course, any configurations I failed to mention above are still possible.) The only drawback to Timbuktu was that it doesn't let the host computer get at your disks. If you put a disk in the drive of the computer in front of you, the computer that you're linked to remotely can't see it - you have to get up, find the remote machine, and put the disk in its own drive. It's only a minor drawback, but then again, nobody's perfect. I was very impressed with Timbuktu. I'm using it right now to operate a 'headless' (no monitor) IIcx file server from my Mac SE. Timbuktu is perfect for the occasional administrative tasks that an AppleServer requires. It can support several people using a machine at once (pandemonium!). It can even let you allow people to just watch your computer remotely, without being able to control it; this is good for demonstrations. All in all, a remarkably robust package. The manual is a tad obscure, but it installs with the Installer, and everything after that is intuitive. (Well, close enough.) -- | Brian S. Kendig | I feel more like I | bskendig | | Computer Engineering | did when I got here | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU | | Princeton University | than I do now. | @PUCC.BITNET | | Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom / General Electric WP3 |
mr2t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Tod Rose) (09/15/89)
Timbuktu is not a file-sharing program, although it does have file-transfer capabilities. What it does is enable one Mac to display another Mac's screen, use the other Mac's programs, search through files, etc. It's handy groupware -- support, instruction, etc. It works over AppleTalk and there's a version, Timbuktu/Remote, that works over modem. -mike rose mr2t@andrew.cmu.edu