[comp.protocols.appletalk] Apple PC AppleShare / CAP Incompatibility

austins@violet.berkeley.edu (Austin Shelton) (08/26/88)

I seem to have stumbled on an incompatibility between Apple AppleShare for the
PC and CAP.  I can successfully atttach and use a LaserWriter directly from the
PC and mount and use an AppleShare server running on an actual Macintosh.
However, I am not able to access a CAP printer or AUFS file server.  I would
appreciate any help anyone can provide.  Here's the current situation:

I have an actual IBM PC/AT running DOS version 3.2.  Installed is an AppleTalk
PC Card (from Apple) running the AppleTalk LocalTalk PC driver version 2.0 and
AppleShare PC version 1.0.  This is all on a small PhoneNet which has a KIP
6/88 gateway to the rest of the world.

Now, the whole magilla comes up O.K. and I can see all the other zones and
their resources using the "DA" program.  I am able to use a LaserWriter and
access a "real" AppleShare file server in all the ways described in the
documentation.

The printer problem is this:  When I try to attach a CAP printer, the PC hangs
while "initializing".  A glance at the LaserWriter log file on Unix reveals
that CAP is detecting checksum errors and dropping packets.  Naturally the
printer is not attached, Ctrl-Alt-Del is required to restore normalcy.

An attempt to login to an AUFS file server has two possible results.  If the
system is password protected, all passwords are rejected.  I cannot login.  If
the file server allows guests, the PC hangs while "adding icon".  Again,
Ctrl-Alt-Del is required to restore normalcy (such as it is...)

Any ideas?  I am going to try obtaining some traces of the packet activity and
compare the PC to an actual Macintosh doing the same thing.  I am also going to
see if any useful debugging info can be obtained from AUFS.  If anyone has
already been here, please let me know what you discovered.  

Thanks,
Austin Shelton
U.C. Berkeley

cck@cunixc.columbia.edu (Charlie C. Kim) (08/26/88)

Austin,

You are being hit by two different things.  First, Aufs does not
support short files names and a couple of other minor calls which are
necessary for AppleShare PC (and ProDOS if that version exists yet).
This is quite unfortunate, but is not something we plan on changing
soon, if ever.  Second, the problem with printing from the PC to the
CAP server is a problem with the AppleShare PC card: as I remember it,
you can get the ROMS replaced and things work right (based on some
information I got from an Apple guy who was trying to find out how
widespread this problem might be -- but I could only guess at the # of
people who had CAP because very few people had been sending in their
WHOIS files so I guess the problem faded into the background).  I'm
not sure who in Apple could help you do something about this
particualar problem...  Not having an Apple PC AppleTalk card, I can't
even guess what the actual problem is (hard to run a AT/PC bus card in
a MicroBus machine) -- it might be a problem with every off-"local
cable" server.

Charlie C. Kim
Systems & Networking Group
Center for Computing Activities
Columbia Unviersity