stefan@wheaton.UUCP (Stefan Brandle ) (04/10/90)
I'm posting in the hope that this helps somebody else as well. In article <2177@csm9a.UUCP> bware@csm9a.UUCP (Bob Ware) writes: >I heard that someone has LAT software for Unix machines available. >Does anyone know about such software? I heard the company name is >something like "KI Software" but have no idea where they are located. Ki Research -or- dwatts@ki.com (uunet!ki!dwatts) 1130 Chula Vista Belmont, CA 94002 corrigan@ki.com (Company Pres. I think) (415)591-4730 We are currently trying to persuade Prime to get together with Ki Research. As I understand it, they have a generic ethernet driver that they send you. You (or preferably, your manufacturer) cooperates with Ki R. to get it working, then they sell you that LAT code. So far I have had low-level indications of interest but not much else from Prime. >Are there other alternatives? Does anyone know of an inexpensive box would >serve as a LAT <-> TCP/IP gateway? The rub lies in the _inexpensive_. Datability makes cards that you can put in their TCP/LAT terminal server that will show up as a node for your lat terminal servers. When you connect to it, their protocol translation cards (16 users/card) will then have the ability to connect you to a TCP/IP-only machine using TCP/IP. We have one of these critters for a test and it seems to work, but has some bumps. They said they have fixed some bugs in the code, and I just received new ROMs, so I'll have to see whether that fixes things. Datability is not exactly inexpensive (protocol translation cards run +- $2400 each), but it may be no worse than anything else. There are other solutions (like buy a uVAX2000 with Ultrix, connect via LAT, and rlogin to your target), but I'm not sure how they compare on cost, performance, etc. We have people doing everything by connecting to a uVAX3600, then rlogining in to our destination. That works fine since the 3600 isn't too busy, but I don't know how something affordable (e.g., uVAX2000) would do if you have 30 or more connections. If it's dedicated, you might be able to tune it for network performance. Of course, you could also wait until your terminal server manufacturer releases dual-protocol software. DEC supposedly has released a statement of intent to do something about it on their terminal servers, but I'm not aware of any commitment regarding dates or even whether they'll actually do anything. Standard disclaimers and all that, Stefan Brandle -- ---------------------------------------------- MA Bell: (708) 260-5019 --------- Stefan Brandle UUCP: ...!{obdient,uunet!tellab5}!wheaton!stefan Wheaton College or stefan@wheaton.UUCP Wheaton, IL 60187 "But I never claimed to be sane!"