rolfe@w3vh.UUCP (Rolfe Tessem) (01/19/88)
Several weeks ago, I posted a query on how best to establish a small
network of Macintoshes that could also include a small (presumedly
Unix-based) machine to gateway news and mail to and from the outside
world. My working assumption at that time was that the Macs would be
networked via Appletalk (Localtalk?) and that the trickiest part would
be to get TCP/IP or something running over Appletalk *and* to find appropriate
news and mail readers for the Macs. The consensus of those responding
via mail, and confirmed by many phone inquiries to Apple VARs and
networking types, was this solution was impossible, certainly with
anything like off the shelf hardware and software.
On the basis of replies received, and from the public announcements Apple
has made regarding Ethernet support, I've elected to install a thin
Ethernet instead of Appletalk phone wiring. Since the building I'm doing
this in is now torn apart for renovation, and the walls are opened up, it was
now or never as far as this decision was concerned. We'll probably be
using Mac IIs with the Apple/3COM Etherlink card, with perhaps a few
SEs using Kinetics Etherport (maybe 10 machines in all).
My understanding of this is that all Appletalk-compatible software will
run on Ethertalk, including Appleshare. Is this assumption correct? Will
it be as transparent to the users as Appletalk is currently?
Other pressing questions:
o How do I get a Laserwriter on the network, short of going out
and buying a Kinetics box, which seems like it shouldn't be
needed here, since the network now *is* an Ethernet. I understand
that the original Laserwriters had *only* an Appletalk interface.
How about the newly announced printers from Apple, or anyone else's
laser printers for that matter?
o How about my original question of a small Unix box as a news/mail
gateway? Is this now more feasible? It seems that a worst case
(from a user interface standpoint) would be to put a 286 or 386
machine on the Ethernet running TCP/IP, and run NCSA Telnet on
the Macs to read news and mail. Will this work? Can TCP/IP be
run on the same physical EtherNet that's running Ethertalk?
o Is there a consensus that Appleshare is the way to go for Mac-
based networks such as this? How about 3COM's offering?
o There have been several solutions that I've seen for outgoing
modem support from an Appletalk network. One, I believe, is
called Netmodem. It seems that this has the same problem as
the Laserwriter, that is, it has a physical Appletalk connector.
Any way around this problem?
I seem to be getting closer to making all the pieces work, but could
certainly use some advice from those who've already been down this road :-).
--
UUCP: {uunet}!w3vh!rolfe | Rolfe Tessem
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