[comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc] answers to commonly asked questions periodic posting

romkey@ASYLUM.SF.CA.US (John Romkey) (03/09/91)

Does anyone have any serious problems with me setting up a periodic
post to the list that answers questions that come up often? For
instance, what's kind of development work is happening with PC/IP,
where do you get {PC/IP, NCSA Telnet, KA9Q, packet drivers}, that sort
of stuff?

I'd envision a informational posting that would go off once a month
(maybe twice if that granularity is too big).
		- john romkey			Epilogue Technology
USENET/UUCP/Internet:  romkey@asylum.sf.ca.us	FAX: 415 594-1141

galvin@TIS.COM (James M Galvin) (03/10/91)

	Does anyone have any serious problems with me setting up a periodic
	post to the list that answers questions that come up often?

As maintainer of the list, let me encourage you to do this.  I think it is a
great idea.

Jim <pcip-request@udel.edu>

winans@sirius.mcs.anl.gov (John Winans) (03/15/91)

In article <9103100326.AA13175@TIS.COM> James M Galvin <galvin@tis.com> writes:
>
>	Does anyone have any serious problems with me setting up a periodic
>	post to the list that answers questions that come up often?
>
>As maintainer of the list, let me encourage you to do this.  I think it is a
>great idea.
>
>Jim <pcip-request@udel.edu>

Please let me start the question list:

1)  Exactly what is a packet driver?

2)  What is the relationship b/w the packet driver(s) and the DOS application?

3)  What are the common packet driver package names & sources/prices/etc...

4)  What is PC/IP and how does it interact w/the other stuff like packet 
    drivers (if it does at all?)

5)  What do I need in order to open sockets from a DOS Application to a host
    capable of dealing with them (like a Sun or RS-6000)?

6)  Is there any TLI oriented stuff out there (yet)?

--John

--
! John Winans                     Advanced Computing Research Facility  !
! winans@mcs.anl.gov              Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois !
!                                                                       !
!"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away"-- Tom Waits  !

barryf@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Barry B. Floyd) (03/15/91)

winans@sirius.mcs.anl.gov (John Winans) writes:

>In article <9103100326.AA13175@TIS.COM> James M Galvin <galvin@tis.com> writes:
>>
>>	Does anyone have any serious problems with me setting up a periodic
>>	post to the list that answers questions that come up often?
>>
>>As maintainer of the list, let me encourage you to do this.  I think it is a
>>great idea.
>>
>>Jim <pcip-request@udel.edu>

>Please let me start the question list:

>1)  Exactly what is a packet driver?

>2)  What is the relationship b/w the packet driver(s) and the DOS application?

>3)  What are the common packet driver package names & sources/prices/etc...

>4)  What is PC/IP and how does it interact w/the other stuff like packet 
>    drivers (if it does at all?)

>5)  What do I need in order to open sockets from a DOS Application to a host
>    capable of dealing with them (like a Sun or RS-6000)?

>6)  Is there any TLI oriented stuff out there (yet)?

>--John

>--
>! John Winans                     Advanced Computing Research Facility  !
>! winans@mcs.anl.gov              Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois !
>!                                                                       !
>!"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away"-- Tom Waits  !
 
7) What is NDIS and NDIS to Packet Converter? Why should I know?
 
8) What TCP/IP products/services are available for a PC and what do they
   do? (e.g. FTP, Telnet, NFS, RPC, NNTP, POP, etc.)
 
9) Where can I find public domain and/or shareware TCP/IP utilities; via
   FTP; via e-mail?     
 
10) What other discussion groups besides this one focus on TCP/IP and
    related topics? USENET?
 
barry

-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ 
| Barry B. Floyd                   \\\       barry_floyd@mts.rpi.edu |
| Manager Information Systems - HR    \\\          usere9w9@rpitsmts |
+-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute--------------------troy, ny 12180-+

bb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater) (03/15/91)

While we're at it, how about definitions section for these wonderful TLAs
that pop up in this newsgroup?  

i.e.
TLI, NDIS, RPC, NNTP, POP, FTP,....  So many letters so little time :-)

-- 
Scott Bostater      Georgia Tech Research Institute - Radar Systems Analysis
"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him"  -Ps 62.1
uucp:     ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!bb16
Internet: bb16@prism.gatech.edu

jbvb@FTP.COM ("James B. Van Bokkelen") (03/23/91)

 TLI:	Transport Layer Interface (AT&T Streams concept)

 NDIS:	Network Driver Interface Spec (Microsoft/3Com equivalent to PDS)

 RPC:	Remote Procedure Call (frquently the poster means Sun's, but there
 	are others, which may win on technical issues).

 NNTP:	Network News transport Protocol, see the RFC index.

 POP:	Post Office Protocol (v2 or 3) - mail downloading, see the RFC index.

 FTP:	File Transfer Protocol - RFC 959
 	(or, FTP Software Inc. in which case Faster Than Pigeons or somesuch).

James B. VanBokkelen		26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA  01880
FTP Software Inc.		voice: (617) 246-0900  fax: (617) 246-0901

jbvb@FTP.COM ("James B. Van Bokkelen") (03/25/91)

    1)  Exactly what is a packet driver?

A TSR module or DOS device driver which implements a sharable software
interface to some sort of communications hardware (e.g. Ethernet card,
802.5 card, serial line) that conforms to the Packet Driver Spec (v1.09
is current, get it from vax.ftp.com in pub)
    
    2)  What is the relationship b/w the packet driver(s) and the DOS
        application?

The DOS application asks the Packet Driver to do all network I/O for it.
The DOS application needs to know the framing for the low-level protocol
it uses (IPX, IP, XNS, OSI or whatever), but it doesn't need to know what
kind of card, where it's I/O port is, what the interrupt is, etc.  Another
protocol stack can share the network hardware through the PD, provided that
it is using a different low-level protocol.
    
    3)  What are the common packet driver package names & sources/prices/etc.

Russ has a readme for the Clarkson freeware Packet Driver collection.  In
addition, FTP Software has released as freeware an NDIS to Packet Driver
adapter module, and a number of board vendors and other commercial companies
offer Packet Drivers: Acer, Accton, Aquila, Cabletron, D-Link, DSC, Gateway,
IMC Networks, Interlan, Longshine, Persoft, Schneider & Koch, Tiara,
Western Digital, Xircom.  Some of these are free with the board, or shipped
on request, others are part of software you have to buy.

    4)  What is PC/IP and how does it interact w/the other stuff like packet 
        drivers (if it does at all?)

It is the first TCP/IP ever written for PCs.  It has gone through several
versions, and the most recent is available from husc6.harvard.edu.  Only
the most recent version can use Packet Drivers.
    
    5)  What do I need in order to open sockets from a DOS Application to a
        host capable of dealing with them (like a Sun or RS-6000)?

If you really mean "4bsd sockets", you need one of the commercial TCP/IP
packages for DOS and its development environment (usually an extra-cost
item).  These are supported to varying levels, and the 4bsd conformance
is usually pretty good (don't expect fork() to work, though).  If you only
mean a TCP connection through some sort of API, you can do that with the
source to any of the free TCP/IPs.  Check the one you like to determine if
it has a reasonable API, and supports the compilers and memory model you
prefer (most link the stack into the application, and require C language).
    
    6)  Is there any TLI oriented stuff out there (yet)?

Not for DOS that I know of.

James B. VanBokkelen		26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA  01880
FTP Software Inc.		voice: (617) 246-0900  fax: (617) 246-0901