ljt@sppy00.UUCP (TOMS LAURA) (11/20/90)
I am in the process of evaluating TCP/IP for DOS packages, and so far my findings have been rather discouraging. So far I've done preliminary testing on SUN's PC-NFS, Wollongong's WIN/TCP and PathWay, FTP Software's PC/TCP and InterDrive, and Beame & Whiteside's product. SUN's PC-NFS looks terrific, but ideally we'd like to be able to unload network drivers from memory without rebooting. The other three packages seem terrifically buggy regarding network drive compatibility. To be specific, when we mount remote directories to look like DOS disk drives and then run simple DOS commands to manipulate the files, things break. It's not hard to hang the PC with either the Wollongong or the FTP Software product. Beame & Whiteside's stuff did much better, except that we couldn't access files in UNIX directories that had long UNIX names mapped to PC-style names by the software. That's somewhat of a problem! And one of these packages managed to screw up the file system on the NeXT we're using for testing. Has anyone else had any of these experiences? Just looking for a sanity check here. Thanks! -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Laura Toms ...!osu-cis!sppy00!ljt - - Online Computer Library Center, Dublin, Ohio (614) 761-5016 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
karl@naitc.naitc.com (Karl Denninger) (11/21/90)
In article <1026@sppy00.UUCP> ljt@sppy00.UUCP (TOMS LAURA) writes: >I am in the process of evaluating TCP/IP for DOS packages, and so far >my findings have been rather discouraging. So far I've done preliminary >testing on SUN's PC-NFS, Wollongong's WIN/TCP and PathWay, FTP Software's >PC/TCP and InterDrive, and Beame & Whiteside's product. > >SUN's PC-NFS looks terrific, but ideally we'd like to be able to unload >network drivers from memory without rebooting. > >The other three packages seem terrifically buggy regarding network drive >compatibility. To be specific, when we mount remote directories to look >like DOS disk drives and then run simple DOS commands to manipulate the >files, things break. It's not hard to hang the PC with either the >Wollongong or the FTP Software product. Beame & Whiteside's stuff did >much better, except that we couldn't access files in UNIX directories >that had long UNIX names mapped to PC-style names by the software. That's >somewhat of a problem! And one of these packages managed to screw up the >file system on the NeXT we're using for testing. > >Has anyone else had any of these experiences? Just looking for a sanity >check here. BWNFS hasn't caused any problems like this for me.... I can access the files just fine. However, be aware that some PACKAGES (ie: Wordperfect) barf internally on files with strange names. This is NOT BWNFS's fault! Blame stupid applications writers for programs which insist that you use all alphanumeric filenames.....not the Net software! One other thing -- BWNFS works (and supports) packet drivers, which means you don't have to monkey around with buying only the card(s) that the vendor wants you to. This is a big plus. And the support has been outstanding. Mr. Beame deserves public kudos for the things he's done for us. I can't think of another vendor I've dealt with here that has been as responsive to our needs and bug reports. Heck, he's fixed bugs that we haven't found yet! When was the last time a vendor told you about a problem and offered a fix before you even encountered the bug? -- Karl Denninger AC Nielsen kdenning@ksun.naitc.com (708) 317-3285 Disclaimer: Contents represent opinions of the author; I do not speak for AC Nielsen on Usenet.
tdd@convex.cl.msu.edu (Thomas D. Davis) (11/21/90)
In article <1026@sppy00.UUCP> ljt@sppy00.UUCP (TOMS LAURA) writes: >The other three packages seem terrifically buggy regarding network drive >compatibility. To be specific, when we mount remote directories to look >like DOS disk drives and then run simple DOS commands to manipulate the >files, things break. It's not hard to hang the PC with either the >Wollongong or the FTP Software product. > >Has anyone else had any of these experiences? Just looking for a sanity >check here. We're running into similar hangs/confusion with InterDrive. It seems to go south whenever we let the PC stand idle for approx. 15 minutes... I've never seen these problems with PC-NFS (but I hate the price!). -- Tom Davis | The above statement shall be construed, Network Software Services | interpreted, and governed by me alone. Michigan State University | EMail: tdd@convex.cl.msu.edu
jbvb@FTP.COM ("James B. Van Bokkelen") (11/26/90)
.... It's not hard to hang the PC with either the
Wollongong or the FTP Software product.
Hanging the PC isn't a problem we were aware of in any of our versions, nor
does it happen for any of our in-house users (all of sales and production).
Did you discuss your problems with our support people?
... And one of these packages managed to screw up the
file system on the NeXT we're using for testing.
The "reference version" of NFS that Sun licenses has had a number of serious
problems related to writes which don't being on even 512-byte boundaries. In
the section of our manual which discusses changing the default write size, we
warn about this, because it appears in lots of NFS servers...
James B. VanBokkelen 26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA 01880
FTP Software Inc. voice: (617) 246-0900 fax: (617) 246-0901