ftpam1@acad3.alaska.edu (MUNTS PHILLIP A) (01/07/91)
I am putting together a small instrumentation oriented Arcnet. Most of
the nodes on the network will be single chip microcomputers with the new
COM20020 single chip Arcnet interface. In addition to the regular Arcnet card
in my desktop, I have bought a Xircom Pocket Arcnet adapter for my T1000
laptop. It only came with drivers for Netware 2.0a and 2.15. I called Xircom
to see if I could obtain information for writing my own low level drivers, but
they release their development kit only to Big Time LAN OS Vendors. I seem to
be stuck with the software that Xircom supplied.
One of the programs in the Netware 2.0a subdirectory is called
NETBIOS.COM. Running it yields the following messages:
IPX interface (interrupt 7Ah) loaded.
NetBIOS interface (interrupt 5Ch) loaded.
NetBIOS alternate interface (interrupt 2Ah) loaded.
My question is: Does IPX or NetBIOS provide a low level datagram service?
I need to get as close to the hardware as possible, in order to simplify the
software on the single chip micros. I know that NetBIOS has an unacknowledged
datagram service, but it seems to depend on the NetBIOS network names. (What
I know about NetBIOS came from the _Byte_ articles a couple of years ago.)
What I really would like is a service accepting and returning Arcnet packet
images.
Novell has a DOS API package that lists for $195. Does this include
information on the drivers (especially low level stuff like what really goes
out on the cable) ?
Is anybody from Xircom on the net? (I really would like an interface
spec...)