kovar%husc4@talcott.harvard.edu (David C. Kovar) (12/22/88)
> Our beloved editor is correct. The box is called Fastpath/4 and is put out > by Kinetics. Then you would need some software, like TOPS (a subsidiary of > SUN). TOPS also lets your Mac share your SUN's disk space!! > Chuck Williams I've spent several years connecting Appletalk networks to other networks. While I was at Carnegie Mellon we used Kinetics FastPath boxes, and, after some initial teething problems, they served well. When I started at Harvard I found we already had a Cayman Gatorbox on order and decided not to cancel it. Turns out to be one of the better decisions I've made. The Gatorbox provides all of the functionality of a FastPath running the KIP gateway software plus it maps AppleTalk into NFS, allowing your Sun to serve as an AppleShare server for your Macs. In addition, it is much more friendly when it comes to configurating and diagnostics. If you're considering FastPath's, take a serious look at a Cayman Gatorbox before you buy the FastPath. Cayman's number is: (617) 494-9270. I've no connection with Cayman other than being a very satisfied customer. Once you have the Ethernet and the Appletalk nets linked with a GatorBox, I'd suggest using Columbia Appletalk Package to provide various services. We use CAP to provide all of the printing services for our Suns. We could also use it to allow the Sun to act as an AppleShare server but the Gatorbox does a better job of that. Initially I'd thought of using TOPS for our Sun-Mac connectivity problems. When I talked to Sun they said that TOPS was not supported for the Sun386i and they didn't see it happening any time in the near future. If you want to run TOPS on a 386i, don't hold your breath. -David Kovar Technical Consultant
janicep%periwinkle@sun.com (Janice Peterson) (02/01/89)
David Kovar stated in the Dec 21 issue of Sun-Spots that a version of TOPS for Sun Workstations with support for the 386i would not happen for a long while. Actually, its happening very soon. TOPS/Sun 2.2, with support of 386is, Sun 4s and 4.0 OS will be available in March. Janice Peterson, TOPS Tech Support janicep@santafe.sun.com
earl@uunet.uu.net (Earl Locken) (07/05/90)
The company I work for has two separate networks, Macs connected by
Phonenet and Suns connected by Ethernet, and it seems like it should be
possible to get them to share information. We are looking for ways to
transfer mail (Quickmail to UNIX mail), files and possibly share printers.
What is the best (i. e., cheapest, fastest, easiest to maintain) way to do
this? Do you have to buy something like a Gatorbox, or can you stick an
Ethernet card in a Mac and run a TCP/IP package? Or does someone make an
Appletalk card for Suns?
I assume this has been dealt with before, and if so I apologize for
dragging it all out again, but it must have been while I wasn't paying
attention ;-). If someone could even point me to an archive that has
information on this, I'd be grateful. As usual, thanks in advance.
Earl Locken
Jade Simulations International, Inc. Calgary, AB, CA
uucp: ...{alberta|ubc-cs|utai}!calgary!jade!earl Phone: (403) 282-5711randy@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Randy Zagar) (07/19/90)
The simplest thing I can think of is to get a Kinetics FastPath-4. We
have about 30-40 Dec & Sun machines on ethernet and around 50 Macs on
localtalk. Have been running both TOPS and Pacer software simultaneously
across the FastPath w/o problems.
Some particularly nice things you can do with a fastpath are:
1) NCSA Telnet for the Mac _can_ connect to TCP nodes thru the fastpath.
This means telnet sessions to anywhere from a mac w/o an ethernet card.
2) MIT TechMail gives ALL your macs access to the same internet e-mail as
your Suns. Very slick program! MIT is using this program as the mac
interface for its campus e-mail system. It too can work thru a
fastpath-4.
3) PacerShare and TOPS are both compatible with the fastpath-4 so you can
use a workstation as a remote disk for the Macs.
NCSA Telnet and MIT TechMail are FREE and available via anonymous ftp from
NET-DIST.MIT.EDU and ZAPHOD.NCSA.UIUC.EDU respectively. To take advantage
of TechMail you also need a POP-3 mail server program on a UNIX box
somewhere on your network. The one I'm currently using is also free and
you can pick it up at LILAC.BERKELEY.EDU (it's called popper). Only one
other thing, you need to be running at least system 6.0.3, and you also
need version 1.1 of MacTCP (available from APDA). I'm mentioning this
because I KNOW all of the above actually works!! I've been using
PacerShare, TOPS, and Telnet for months without problems and I've been
testing TechMail for almost a month now.
Randy Zagar
Nat'l Center for Physical Acoustics
P.O. Box 847
University, MS 38677
p.s. As a graduate student, my claims (even though they're true) do not
represent the policies and/or opinions of NCPA.randy@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Randy Zagar) (08/01/90)
Thanks to Don Strickland for pointing out that the correct version of MacTCP needed is version 1.0.1 and not v1.1.