vwhite@NSWC-G.ARPA (09/29/87)
29 September 1987 Merton, Dennis, Steven: Thank you for responses about the LONEX system. We have some questions: It sounds as if the primary function of LONEX is keeping most of the processing on a larger system, away from the PCs, but is doing load balancing to share the work among several such larger systems. Are we on the right track? How about the supported spreadsheet and database programs; are they implemented on the server or the PCs? Where is the mail delivered? Do users have mailboxes on the server? (It doesn't sound like mail is delivered directly to the PC.) Can users send mail from the PC or must they do so directly from the server? How about printing? Must the user queue print jobs from the server or can he do so from the PC? Why are these terminals and PCs connected to your larger systems via an ethernet? Most of the implementations we've seen in which PCs accessed servers only as terminal emulators use asynchronous connections; it's cheaper and can handle the requirement. Is LONEX offering a service that makes the ethernet important? (perhaps those database programs are distributed database servers?) You said LONEX runs on 2.9bsd or 4.3. Did you mean, in addition, anything in the middle? How about vendor implementations of 4.2 such as those of Pyramid or CCI? What software is required on the PC? Do any of the other packages you mentioned (RAPIDE, UTAIN/MAIS, or ULANA) implement a file server? If you could describe them briefly we might know whether it was worthwhile to go looking for more information. Thanks for the help! We want to learn as much as we can from other people before we make any decisions. Vicky White Code K33 NSWC Dahlgren, VA 22448 (703) 663-7745 vwhite@nswc-g.arpa