[comp.protocols.appletalk] 3Com 3+OpenServer

anderss@uplog.se (07/18/90)

My company uses both Macs and PCs. We have a lonely Mac+ as an AppleShare 
server, and the PCs aren't networked at all. (Horror...)

So, we are thinking of buying a 3Com 3+OpenServer to use for both Macs and
PCs. It certainly looks good: a 386-based LAN Manager platform with ethernet
and localtalk ports, 300 MByte SCSI disk (easily expandable) and a 250 MByte
1/4" streamer. It speaks appletalk over both ethernet and localtalk, and
uses AFP and PAP protocols, so you use Apple's AppleShare client, and the
printers look like any other localtalk printers. There's even an init for
"switch launching", the ability to use system software off the server disk,
useful for diskless Macintoshes. So far so good.

The problem is that the software is completely new. All I have seen is beta
software, with the real thing supposedly released in June. Is anyone out
there on the net installing one of these ? How's reliability ? Mail me your
experiences - what I'd really want is a reference site in Sweden (or Europe)
We don't want to spend a relatively large amount of money on something that
may not be all that stable.

BTW, when browsing through the 3+OpenServer's setup script I noticed some
entries for the appletalk section that suggested that the server also might
double as a appletalk bridge between localtalk and ethertalk. Does anybody
know if this is the case ?

advTHANKSance / anderss@uplog.se

--
Real life:      Anders Sjolund                  Email:  anderss@uplog.se
Snail mail:     Telesoft Uppsala AB             Phone:  +46 18 189409
                Box 1218			Fax:	+46 18 132039
                S - 751 42 Uppsala, Sweden