werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (11/20/86)
please read it and then add your comments and disagreements with the author's evalutation of these products - lots of folks are likely to be interested in this topic. Also, Computer + Software News this week comments on the cooperation of Apple and DEC (it doesn't seem to me that DEC is very enthusiastic as they have little to gain, it seems. Mac++ is sure to eat into the potential market for microVaxen)
korn@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (11/22/86)
My particular experience with TOPS has been in the following configuration:
1 Epson Equity II (DOS machine), 1 Mac plus, and 1 LaserWriter; all
connected via the Farralon PhoneNet, spread over a linearly configured
network in the order listed above.
I encountered my first problem when I tried to print to the LaserWriter.
It turns out that the Epson (and I presume all DOS machines) gives
off too much noise to go the distance to the LaserWriter gracefully.
I had to purchase terminating resisters for the PhoneNet ($0.50 ea),
which handily solved the problem.
The next problem has to do with programs that output PostScript. All
of them expect to be talking directly to the LaserWriter. None of
them expect to have the print file sent batch, with the prep file
concatenated with the body (one of the programs, Personal Publisher,
has PostScript code in the prep file that tells the LaserWriter
specifically to go into 9600 baud, and to accept input from the
serial port). Of all the programs I've tested, I've only gotten
MS-Word 3.0 to work (the other program I tried was WordPerfect 4.2,
which will now drive PostScript printers). Centram is now shipping
TopsPrint, which should not only take care of this problem, but
should also create PostScript code from *any* program that can drive an
Epson FX-80/85. When I get ahold of that, I'll post my comments.
My last complaint about TOPS is speed. If the IBM/clone's hard drive
is pretty full, response time goes down I've found. The Epson Equity II
that I use has ~600K free on it's Seagate 20 Mbyte drive. Publishing
it (telling the rest of the network that there's a new drive on the block)
can take over 3 minutes. The mac directory of that hard drive is about
1.5 Mbytes long, so perhaps part of this time is due to MS-Dos mac
partitions being MFS volumes, but still...
However, with all of these gripes, I'm still very impressed with TOPS,
and highly recommend it. Once TopsPrint is out, and the new
version of MacLink (which will support file transfer/translation over
TOPS) is available, TOPS will become THE PC-Mac bridge/network.
Peter
-----
Peter "Arrgh" Korn I know lots of honorary jews! Why,
korn@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU some of my very best friends
{decvax,dual,hplabs,sdcsvax,ulysses}!ucbvax!korn are honorary jews!