[comp.protocols.appletalk] Testing Mac Telnets on a Mac II

dk1z+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU.UUCP (05/29/87)

  Having acquired a near-useless Mac II (no hard disk, color monitor, extra
memory, or Ethernet card) I decided to try out the three versions of Telnet
for the Mac that I had around. All three are the very latest releases, as far
as I can tell. Here's what I found:

Stanford:
	Finger: Screen size hardwired to small Mac size.
		   Output appears to right of actual window.

  FTP: Same screen problems. Prompt appears to the right of the screen and in
          a smaller font, but the cursor is positions right for my typing.
          Typed characters are echoed above the banner and are munged.
          Quit is very slow and appears to hang.

  Telnet: Same as before.

  General observation: Useless on a Mac II.  Screen handling is worthless.
Mouse
        does not work at all.
   
CMU:
  Telnet: Screen size hardwired.
   TFTP: Caused a task overflow on the stack.

NCSA:
  Telnet: Hangs once you get the config window up. 
              Due to the nature of our network, no connections are possible
without
                     configuring the software.
              Hardwired window size.

  Stanford's stuff is broken down into two applications, one for Telnet and
one for FTP. This drives me bananas, particularly as the FTP application does
not support the Apple menu and I forgot the name of the file that I wanted to
transfer. It also writes directly to the screen, overwriting everything,
including dialog boxes. Both FTP and Telnet return to the finder on any
error, such as not being able to connect to the foreign host. A new version
that combines the two applications is supposedly in the works.

  NCSA seems to be a lot more robust. Currently it needs a host file or an IP
address, but work is in progress for domain name server support. Gaige has
been quite prompt in his dealing with errors, complaints, and comments. The
only thing that I really have against this version of Telnet is that we'll
never be able to get source code. Into each life a little rain must fall. I
just got a mail message from Gaige explaining why the configuration failed,
so that is basically taken care of.

  Who knows what is going to happen when Michigan gets their drivers out ....

-David Kovar

maas@AHWAHNEE.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Maas) (06/02/87)

>How does one obtain a copy of the Stanford MacIP stuff? Thanks!

You can email to GD.CLB@forsythe.stanford.edu or
US mail to
	ACIS Networking Systems
	Stanford University
	Stanford, CA 94305

Problems with release 1.0 such as poor FTP interface and
hardwire window screen are now being fixed for the next release.
Moreover, it will also have Telnet,FTP and Finger merged into one application
,allow multiple Telnet sessions, and more capabilities added.
No date has been set for the 2.0 release yet.

Andy