jim@aob.aob.mn.org (Jim Anderson) (10/24/87)
I found out tonight that I need to specify a network to connect several
(2-20) IBM PS/2 Model 80 machines together. The computers will be running
MS-DOS 3.3, along with a large CAD/CAM program. The upshot of this
configuration is that there is less than 19K left in memory for a network
driver. I am told that Novell needs 39K. At this time, price is not an
over-riding concern - getting something (anything reasonable speed) that
will work is needed. Currently, there is no existing network to link to,
although a XENIX/UNIX fileserver running TCP/IP could be made available.
This fileserver would be an Altos series 2000 80386 based machine running
XENIX V. As far as I know, it would have an Excelan board in the Altos.
I have not had any experience with TCP/IP, nor have I had any experience
with PC networks.
Now for the crunch. The people need to know by 9:30 Monday morning if it
can be done, and if so, approximate dollars so it can be submitted in a
budget. Because of this, I need advice/information ASAP! Thank you in
advance for any help or pointers you may be able to give me.
--
Jim Anderson (612) 636-2869
Anderson O'Brien, Inc New mail:jim@aob.mn.org
2575 N. Fairview Ave. Old mail:{rutgers,gatech,amdahl}!meccts!aob!jim
St. Paul, MN 55113 "Fireball... Let me see... How How H@roc@roc@LYNCH@A.ISI.EDU (Dan Lynch) (10/26/87)
Jim, Your only hope is to get a product that has the majority of the protocols implemented on the board and not in your "host". A number of vendors make such beasts for TCP/IP. CMC, Excelan, MICOM-Interlan, Ungermann-Bass all make one of these "smart boards". They price out at under a thousand dollars. I expect all of their host side drivers to be under the magic 19K, but I'm not absolutely sure. Good luck, Dan -------
JBVB@AI.AI.MIT.EDU ("James B. VanBokkelen") (10/27/87)
Re: "smart boards". If all you want is TCP, and you have a normal PC bus, you can use one of the smart boards. However, if you want features like your classic "PC LAN", you need some sort of TSR I/O redirector, and that blows up 19K right away. Also, none of the "smart board" vendors have anything for the MicroChannel bus yet, although I'm sure they're banging away at it right now. Neither of the two cards that are shipping right now have an on-board processor (and neither is software-compatible with its AT-bus ancestor, either...) jbvb
JBVB@AI.AI.MIT.EDU.UUCP (10/30/87)
... Proteon P1300 Token Ring passing cards (which are now available
for the model 80)
Michael A. Shiels (MaS Network Software)
I'm sorry, but I must express skepticism about Proteon Micro Channel cards
being *available*. Announced, maybe, but the only three network cards (for
common LAN media) you can actually *buy* for your Model 80, today, are the
IBM Token Ring Adapter (TOKREUI is the same as always), the Ungermann-Bass
NIC (not software compatible with the older, PC-bus NIC), and the 3Com 3C523
(not software-compatible with the 3C503, or 3C501). Even the last is quite
hard to lay hands on.
jbvb