[comp.dcom.lans] File server for APPLE IIgs system

blissl@ecsvax.UUCP (Leonard B. Bliss) (01/07/88)

We are in the planning stages in designing a computer laboratory
which will house approximately 60 APPLE IIgs microcomputers.  For
various reasons, we wish to network these machines in order to 
allow students to run software kept on a hard disk at a central
location rather than having each user run from separate diskettes
at their stations.  Our problem is locating a file server which
will allow us to do this with APPLE IIgs's,[D.  Apparently there
are all sorts of neat little minicomputers that would do the job
for us if we were using MS-DOS machines, but we haven't been able
to get any information from anyone (APPLE says they are working on
it) on how to do this with our APPLES.  We have been told that
CORVB[D[DUS has a system that may do the job, but that it is a bear to
use and has the habit of crashing on a regular basis.

Is there any [Done out there who can give us some information on this?
Please reply by E-mail and I will gladly summarize any information
for those who may be interested.

Many thanks, in advance!

Len Bliss
College of Education
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
(704) 262-1[D3103       blissl@ecsvax

eggers@ndmath.UUCP (Mark Eggers) (01/07/88)

In article <4396@ecsvax.UUCP>, blissl@ecsvax.UUCP (Leonard B. Bliss) writes:
> 
> We are in the planning stages in designing a computer laboratory
> which will house approximately 60 APPLE IIgs microcomputers.  For
> various reasons, we wish to network these machines in order to 
> allow students to run software kept on a hard disk at a central
> location rather than having each user run from separate diskettes
> at their stations.
> We have been told that
> CORVUS has a system that may do the job, but that it is a bear to
> use and has the habit of crashing on a regular basis.
> 
> Len Bliss
> College of Education
> Appalachian State University
> Boone, NC 28608
> (704) 262-1[D3103       blissl@ecsvax

We have used Corvus here at the University of Notre Dame in a highly
mixed environment (13 Macintoshes, 7 IBM PCs, and 6 Apple //es on one
network !). It ran fairly well, including when all machines were being used 
and all four network printers were printing.

There are a couple of problems. The system is not user friendly. However, you
can write a menu system to ease the burden (a User Services person here
wrote one in basic for the Apple //e - another one as a .BAT file for PCs).

Printers sometimes hung. This has to do with a poor choice in printer timeout.

We could not conveniently control laser writers (specifically the Apple
LaserWriter) on the network. There are instructions for doing this, but 
basically a dedicated Macintosh is required.

All in all, Corvus ran well, and with a little more effort, would have been
quite nice. User Services has moved the Macintoshes to an AppleTalk/AppleShare
network (and increased the number of machines). The Apple //es and the Pcs
are still on Corvus in another room.

Basically, if you want file server capability for the Apple // series, you
are stuck with Corvus.

Mark Eggers, Network Communication Analyst, University of Notre Dame

verber@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark A. Verber) (01/12/88)

Currently Corvus may be the only way to go right now for File Service
on Apple II machines, but the AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) which is
used by AppleShare was designed so that it could run on a Macintosh,
IBM-PC, and on a Apple II machine.  The Macintosh implimentation was
the first to be released.  The PC version is now out.  You might be in
luck, and find the Apple II version released soon.

Cheers,
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer Science Department			         Mark A. Verber
The Ohio State University			 verber@ohio-state.arpa
+1 (614) 292-7344				  cbosgd!osu-cis!verber

dpz@athos.rutgers.edu (David P. Zimmerman) (01/15/88)

In article <4261@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> verber@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark A. Verber) writes:

> AFP (Apple Filing Protocol)
...
> The Macintosh implimentation was the first to be released.  The PC
> version is now out.

Who did the PC implementation?  I'd like to get in touch with them.

						dpz
-- 
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