jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) (07/28/88)
One of the companies I do soem part time consulting for is thinking about setting up some PC's for a secretary and her boss. They would probably be doing word processing and spreadsheets on it (semi-independently). One thing they would like to have would be SideKick or any similar pop-up program that allowed them access to a calendar, rolodex, phone log, etc. What they wanted to know is whether it would be possible to set up the two machines so that certain files remained identical across the two machines. For example, if she makes an appointment in the calendar, whenever he access it he should also see it. My solution off the top of my head was TOPS. One machine would act as the server for the specified program/files (SideKick, in this case), and when the other machine booted, it would first mount that volume, and then run it from there (ie. she would boot first, export subdirectory with SideKick; he would boot after her, mount that subdirectory (making it appear local), and run it also). I'm assuming that whatever changes he would make would show to her as well (since both should be using the same data file, and assuming no conflicts (both not updating at once). The question I have is will this work, both from the TOPS standpoint and the application standpoint. I've done some work with TOPS and I don't see any problem. I'm not sure how pop-up programs would handle this. I could also forsee them wanting to be able to print from both machines, and I'd like to know if a network software solution would be better/cheaper than running cables and putting in some type of switchbox to 1 printer. File transfer would probably also be desireable. Cost must be kept to a minimum. The TOPS solution could be obtained for about $250 per PC (AppleTalk/FlashTalk board and TOPS software, which is probably about the maximum they'll want to spend (unless a great solution appears). I've seen ads for some other low cost nets (EASYlan, EASYprint) which I'm not familiar with, and there are also probably some I don't even know about, so I really could use any help you can provide. Thanks. Jeff White Drexel University - ECE Dept. rutgers!bpa!drexel!jeff
rlb@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Robert Lee Bailey) (08/01/88)
In article <648@drexel.UUCP> jeff@drexel.UUCP (Jeff White) writes: > > One of the companies I do soem part time consulting for is thinking about >setting up some PC's for a secretary and her boss. They would probably be >doing word processing and spreadsheets on it (semi-independently). One thing >they would like to have would be SideKick or any similar pop-up program that >allowed them access to a calendar, rolodex, phone log, etc. What they wanted >The TOPS solution could be obtained for about $250 per PC (AppleTalk/FlashTalk >board and TOPS software, which is probably about the maximum they'll want to >spend (unless a great solution appears). I've seen ads for some other low >cost nets (EASYlan, EASYprint) which I'm not familiar with, and there are also >probably some I don't even know about, so I really could use any help you can ....... You might want to take a look at a new LOW cost LAN called BoxNet. It uses the PCs serial port (running at 115000 baud) to implement a very effective simple network. It allows sharing of disks, printers, etc. It will support a maximum of six nodes (12 if 2 serial ports are used). BoxNet is a Baseband distributed bus network, so, if one system goes down, the others on the network are unaffected. I just installed this on a couple of PCs at my church last week. So far, it looks great, and does everything it was advertised to do. Our decision to purchase this system was based on a review in PC Clones magazine (June 1988). The LAN was given very high marks in their tests. They found that the performance timings of ethernet "are not that much better than BoxNet". The only drawback to Boxnet seems to be the distance between nodes. The limit is 600-1000 feet when using the supplied cable (ordinary modular telephone cable). They claim that the distance can be stretched to one mile if fiber optic cable is used. Distance can also be increased by using point-to-point modems. The really great part is the cost! Only 89.95 per node. (2 node minimum) This includes all the necessary hardware, software, and 25' of cable. What more could you want?!? For more info, contact: BOX #1 PO Box 1 Bath, NY 14810-0001 (800) 541-2691 (607) 569-2376
brickman@cme-durer.ARPA (Jonathan E. Brickman) (08/03/88)
>Low-cost LANs There's another very low-cost LAN out there, running through standard parallel ports with all above features, called COMMIX. It is (rarely) available in a trial version running on serial ports at normal speeds on local bulletin boards. ||Jonathan E. Brickman
dnccz@dcatla.UUCP (Carolyn C. Zimmer) (08/04/88)
10-NET Communications makes very low cost PC lans which do not
require dedicated servers. They are a division of Digital Communications
Associates, Inc, which I work for (in another division).
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