[comp.protocols.appletalk] TCP/IP & Communication ToolBox

junet@cui.unige.ch (JUNET Marc) (08/02/90)

I'm managing a site with a few VAX, IBM mainframes, a bunch of UNIX and XENIX
workstations and a number of Macs.  As far as the Macs are concerned, We have 
too many different terminal emulation programs for each type of connection, 
and we'd like to move to a more uniform service.

I heard a little about Apple's Communication ToolBox that is supposed to 
bring a lot of flexibility in integrating various communication platforms 
with terminal emulations.  The problem is that all I have seen so far is the
Basic connectivity set which includes serial communication, VT102 
terminal tools, and ADSP.

It's great, but not good enough.  Has anyone heard of other tools, and of
other comm toolbox terminal emulation programs.  The most important thing 
I'm looking for is a communication toolbox program that let's me do TCP/IP 
(with Telnet) connections.  Also, are there Tektronix 4195, HP2392
comm toolbox emulations ?  What about DECNET, SNA and 3270 connectivity ?

Does anyone know about a solution for emulations on AS400 ?

Marc 

matt@pacvax.UUCP (Matt Kingman) (08/03/90)

In article <2962@cui.unige.ch> junet@cui.unige.ch (JUNET Marc) writes:

[Deleted stuff about CommToolbox]

>It's great, but not good enough.  Has anyone heard of other tools, and of
>other comm toolbox terminal emulation programs.  The most important thing 
>I'm looking for is a communication toolbox program that let's me do TCP/IP 
>(with Telnet) connections.

At MacWorld Boston next week, Pacer Software will be showing a new
terminal emulation/file transfer product that utilizes the CommToolbox.
One of the many tools included is a MacTCP Telnet connection tool.  CTB
and MacTCP will be included with the product.  Look for us at the show.

/Matt
-- 
Matt Kingman - Pacer Software Inc. - (508)898-3300
uunet!pacvax!matt       I speak only for myself...

kdb@intercon.com (Kurt Baumann) (08/03/90)

In article <185@pacvax.UUCP>, matt@pacvax.UUCP (Matt Kingman) writes:
> In article <2962@cui.unige.ch> junet@cui.unige.ch (JUNET Marc) writes:
> 
> [Deleted stuff about CommToolbox]
> 
> >It's great, but not good enough.  Has anyone heard of other tools, and of
> >other comm toolbox terminal emulation programs.  The most important thing 
> >I'm looking for is a communication toolbox program that let's me do TCP/IP 
> >(with Telnet) connections.
> 
> At MacWorld Boston next week, Pacer Software will be showing a new
> terminal emulation/file transfer product that utilizes the CommToolbox.
> One of the many tools included is a MacTCP Telnet connection tool.  CTB
> and MacTCP will be included with the product.  Look for us at the show.
> 
> /Matt
> -- 
> Matt Kingman - Pacer Software Inc. - (508)898-3300
> uunet!pacvax!matt       I speak only for myself...


Thank you for mentioning your product... :-)

There are several items that might be of interest to you:

There is a French company which has a CTB product that allows telnet and
FTP

InterCon has a telnet driver that allows various (the list is getting bigger
everyday) serial programs to run over MacTCP.  This will be coming out in
ToolBox form soon.  FTP will be part of this package soon.

I don't know of any others that have drivers or CTB packages for MacTCP.
I think that the name of the French company is Advanced Technologies (or
something like that) I will try to look this up and drop the name and address
on the net.

You also mentioned 3270 connectivity.  I don't know of anyone working on
a 3270 tool at the moment.  Our other product TCP/Connect II has a 3270 option
that you might be interested in.  Drop me a line and I will mail info to
you if you are interested.

Question for the Pacer people.  Is your tool going to be sold seperatly,
or do you have to buy the Whole Pacer package?

--
Kurt Baumann

matt@pacvax.UUCP (Matt Kingman) (08/06/90)

In article <26B9AB5A.6E1D@intercon.com> kdb@intercon.com (Kurt Baumann) writes:

>There is a French company which has a CTB product that allows telnet and
>FTP

Yes, the company is Advanced Software Concepts and the tool is called
TCPAck.  The Telnet part is good but the FTP implementation is pitiful
at best.  To access FTP, you pull down a menu that the connection tool
puts up and choose FTP.  What happens is it sends a "ftp mac.ip.number"
command to the host.  This in turn starts an FTP server on the Mac.  It
works ok, but you're using FTP on the host (I just love the look and
feel of Unix on my Mac ;-)  The other drawback is the cost of the tool,
it's something like $150 or $250, I forget which.  Pacer's TCP tool
offers equivalent Telnet functionality to TCPAck including support for
the Domain Name Resolver.  FTP is being implemented quite differently
from TCPAck as it will include a *real* Mac interface and it will fit
into the CommToolbox architecture much better.

There's only 1 other TCP tool I know of for the CTB and that's the one
that comes with MacX from Apple.  This tool offers just a simple TCP
connection to a host. (ie. no Telnet, it was designed strictly for
MacX).

>Question for the Pacer people.  Is your tool going to be sold seperatly,
>or do you have to buy the Whole Pacer package?

There will be 2 versions of the product, one stripped-down and one with
full scripting capabilities and some other stuff.  The tools will be
included with both versions.  Pricing has not been formalized yet, but I
expect both models will be priced competitively with similar products that
are on the market. (MicroPhone, VersaTerm, etc.)

Currently, there are no plans to sell the tools seperately.  This may
change.

/Matt
-- 
Matt Kingman - Pacer Software Inc. - (508)898-3300
uunet!pacvax!matt       I speak only for myself...

franzosi@uni2a.unige.ch (08/07/90)

>In article <2962@cui.unige.ch> junet@cui.unige.ch (JUNET Marc) writes:
>
>[Deleted stuff about CommToolbox]
>
>>It's great, but not good enough.  Has anyone heard of other tools, and of
>>other comm toolbox terminal emulation programs.  The most important thing
>>I'm looking for is a communication toolbox program that let's me do TCP/IP
>>(with Telnet) connections.
>>
>>[Deleted some]
>>
>> What about DECNET, SNA and 3270 connectivity?

At San Jose I spoke with the people from Advanced Software Concepts about their
CommToolbox products. They are shipping a TCP/IP tool called TCPack which does 
a full implementation of TCP/IP and FTP, as well as a complete Telnet and it's 
parameters negociation (by remote host or user directly). They will announce a 
3270 tool shortly. There will be someone from Advanced Software Concepts at 
Boston, who will talk about a MacWorkStation compatible productbased on the 
CommToolbox. There was some news on this one in the AppleLink MWS folder.

Apple is doing the neccessary for the Decnet tool, let's just wait. As for 
the SNA tool, nobody announced anything as far as I have read and heard.


Ferrucio Franzosi
..Just another bb'er in the crowd ...