[comp.protocols.appletalk] problem on localtalk

ahlenius@motcid.UUCP (Mark Ahlenius) (02/16/91)

I am posting this for another person.
They are having problems on their *passive* localtalk net
that has currently 7 macs, 1 pc, 2 printers.  It was
configured as a passive star, using twisted pair and
farallon localtalk connectors.

The problem is that on the longer of the 4 star legs,
inbox often cannot find the mailserver.  But on the
same computers, Tops works fine and can transfer files
to/from the computer running the mail servers.

I *know* that they do need to add an active star controller,
but this installation is at a church on a *tight* budget.

The recently added macs have pushed the net over the edge
I think.  

We added termination resistors at the end points of the
star runs (longest 2 runs are about 150 feet).

My only guess is that if the network is too noisy, that
Tops is more patient with retries on xmitting messages,
etc.  And that inbox must not be too tolerant of garbage
on the net.

Any suggestions?

We recently reconfigured the net with 4 of the macs that
are local to each other (and the laser) to be all on
one leg of the star.  The other feeds are on separate
terminated legs.  It seems a little better, but inbox
has still locked up a few times on one of the macs.

thanks
'mark
-- 
===============	regards   'mark  =============================================
Mark Ahlenius 		  voice:(708)-632-5346  email: uunet!motcid!ahleniusm
Motorola Inc.		  fax:  (708)-632-2413
Arlington, Hts. IL, USA	 60004