wnn@dsunx1 (W. N. Naegeli) (05/25/89)
Richard Crispin writes: >>>>>>>>> I was looking to speed up our Appletalk network so I bought a couple of TOPS flashboxes. ... After a couple of hours of running some tests he concluded that the software (init) that comes with the boxes was never set up to work properly with a network that has a server. <<<<<<<<< I am interested in this topic too. Has anyone successfully used FlashTalk boxes? Under what conditions? If everything Dayna says about its DaynaTalk boxes, MS-DOS boards, and Speed Guard hardware and software is true, they have a much better concept. Has anyone on this network been betatesting the Dayna stuff? We have been Tops users for a long time, but we get increasingly frustrated by their unresponsiveness to user needs. About ten days ago Tops was here with its traveling road show, trying to tell everyone how insanely great they are. But they dodged all questions about serious problems or limitations of their products. They tried to downplay the AFP compatibility issue. They said nobody will really need it because their Softtalk concept is so much better. They conceded that they will eventually make Tops AFP compatible, but they did not say when. I remember them telling for a year that their next version would implement HFS on a MS-DOS server -- and when version 2.1 came out, it did not have it. Actually, one of the representatives, who they said was the technical guy, steadfastly insisted that 2.1 had HFS MS-DOS machines serving Macs. Later he was unable to demonstrate it to me. When it did not work, he said he had no time now, but promised to get back to me right away with this and several other answers; but he never called. On the issue of RAM requirements, which prevent us to run Tops on most MS-DOS machines concurrently with such programs as Freelance 3.0, WordPerfect 5.0 with WordPerfect Library, or PC-TeX, they claimed they would soon be running in extended memory, with only very little code that needs to be installed in the 640k region, but again they gave no definition of their understanding of the term "soon." Tops technical support is rather mediocre too. They are good at calling back at the appointed time, but sometimes I'd rather hold for the first available technician. They are not at all reliable about calling again if they can't give an answer the first time. One guy once had the nerve to tell me that Netprint was a low priority product for them. Why don't they sell it to someone who takes it serious? For us, Netprint is probably the most useful of all Tops products, if only someone would fix the few remaining quirks. The Tops Teleconnector is inferior to the PhoneNet Plus or the Nuvotech TurboNet ST connectors. The Tops Repeater also does not perform too well. I have pretty much had it with them. Maybe that's what Sun wants anyway! I was glad to see Alexis' description of IPT's AFP compatible products and hope that they will work as expected. I would be grateful for any other suggestions of alternatives to Tops and particularly Tops Netprint (Apple's PC LaserWriter software is no contender unless they give it a fundamental overhaul). Wolfgang N. Naegeli Oak Ridge National Laboratory
liemandt@lindy.Stanford.EDU (Joe Liemandt) (05/26/89)
In article <8905251331.AA08020@dsunx1.DSRD.ORNL.GOV> wnn@dsunx1 (W. N. Naegeli) writes: >Richard Crispin writes: >>>>>>>>>> >I was looking to speed up our Appletalk network so I bought a couple of >TOPS flashboxes. ... >After a couple of hours of running some tests >he concluded that the software (init) that comes with the boxes was >never set up to work properly with a network that has a server. ><<<<<<<<< > >I am interested in this topic too. Has anyone successfully used FlashTalk >boxes? Under what conditions? > >Wolfgang N. Naegeli >Oak Ridge National Laboratory I have used Flashboxes, but not tested them as extensively as I would like to. But my general feeling is putting a Flashbox on a Plus or an SE is almost worthless. You only get the improvements when a Flashbox equiped MacII is "talking" to another Flashbox equiped MacII . The 68000 based machines cannot seem to keep up. I have also found this to be the case with Ethernet. The only time you get a significant speed up over Localtalk is if they are 020 or 030 machines. Putting an Ethernet card in an SE is a total waste. Joe Liemandt Stanford University liemandt@jessica.stanford.edu
psych@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (R.Crispin - Psychology) (05/27/89)
I would like to disagree that there is no speed up on a MacPlus with the Flashbox or DaynaTalk installed. When I ran our network with only two machines connected using the Flashbox, I ran through a bunch of things that a normal user might do. It took about half as long to do them compared to the same set up without Flashboxes. With the network completely up I don't expect quite as dramatic an increase in speed but I am open to surprises and expect to get a noticeable increase. The two machines were the server and a station both of which are pluses. What I did was logon, access a system volume on the server, switch to that volume, access the applications volume, load Word 3.0, and open a document. The rest of the network was turned on but not active. I then disconnected the Flashboxes and did the same thing. This took almost twice as long (27 secs as opposed to 15 secs). Richard Crispin Dept. of Psychology Bitnet: psych@watdcs University of Waterloo Unix : psych@watdcsu.UWaterloo.ca Waterloo, Ont. Canada N2L 3G1 (519)885-1211 ext 2879