nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) (12/22/89)
In article <470@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM> kleonard@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM (Ken Leonard) writes:
[Flame off, please, about the hardware choice. We _had_ to go with
absolute- lowest-cost-per-_permissible_-suppliers.]
ARCnet is actually pretty cool. I have a source for twisted-pair ARCnet
boards for $88.
We are setting up a few engineers' PClones on an ARCNET LAN,
specifically Datapoint Corp's. DATALAN.
The first question is, "Where can we get IP, TCP, et.al. to run
over ARCNET?"
I have modified Phil Karn's TCP/IP to work with an ARCnet packet driver.
Oh, and yes, I also wrote an ARCnet packet driver.
And the second question is, "How can we use one of the boxes with a
9600 bps link to a UNIX/VAX with SLIP and router software to get
access to the rest of the systems here at our center?"
Phil's software will also act as a router, and it knows how to fragment
correctly.
We think we would like to have a _packet_driver_ for our ARCNET cards (the
Performance Technology card sold by Datapoint as the ARCNET RIM-1.)
Right, got it. Since I'm pretty sure it works, I'll put it out as an
addendum to the 5.x release.
We think we could use PCIP on top of the packet driver.
Only if you tell PCIP how to use an ARCnet driver. This shouldn't be too
tough, just a matter of bashing Phillip Prindeville's PCIP and Dan Lanciani's
PCIP together.
We think PCROUTE or PCBRIDGE would handle the cross-connect.
Probably not. The lowest MTU that anyone uses on the Internet is 576.
The highest MTU you can use on ARCnet is 507. You need a router that
fragments packets.
Can we also get a _packet_driver_ SLIP?
Yes. See below.
What about KA9Q? It seems that it might work. Maybe we could get Phil
Karns' permission to use it. Yes, we _are_ a commercial organization,
Phil has agreed to accept my arcnet support changes, so you'll eventually
be able to use a vanilla copy.
--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) Russ.Nelson@$315.268.6667
Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be granted thee.
A recession now appears more than 2 years away -- John D. Mathon, 4 Oct 1989.
I think killing is value-neutral in and of itself. -- Gary Strand, 8 Nov 1989.
Liberals run this country, by and large. -- Clayton Cramer, 20 Nov 1989.
Shut up and mind your Canadian business, you meddlesome foreigner. -- TK, 23 N.kleonard@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM (Ken Leonard) (12/22/89)
In article <NELSON.89Dec21160613@image.clarkson.edu> nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu writes:
* I have modified Phil Karn's TCP/IP to work with an ARCnet packet driver.
* Oh, and yes, I also wrote an ARCnet packet driver.
* Phil's software will also act as a router, and it knows how to fragment
* correctly.
* tough, just a matter of bashing Phillip Prindeville's PCIP and Dan Lanciani's
* PCIP together.
* Probably not. The lowest MTU that anyone uses on the Internet is 576.
* The highest MTU you can use on ARCnet is 507. You need a router that
* fragments packets.
* Can we also get a _packet_driver_ SLIP?
* Yes. See below.
* Phil has agreed to accept my arcnet support changes, so you'll eventually
* be able to use a vanilla copy.
Now here's where I _really_ get confused (poor me 8-) ).
_Is_ there a _main_ "home" of PCIP? of PACKETDRIVERS? etc?
If I bash Mr P's and Mr L's PCIPs together, does that may my poor little
PClone the "home" of "Ken's PCIP?" How, then, to maintain coordination
among three different versions assuming all three authors continue to have
the time and goodness-of-heart to make the beasties available to other folk?
I _do_ admire and appreciate folk who make the effort to share good stuff
with the rest of us.
Some day when I get rich, or maybe very soon if Mike Blumenthal succeeds in
destroying the company I work for, I'm gonna go into business with a
pay-cheap-for-access-whozis public *NIX system with mega-BBS and **-DOS/*NIX
cross-support. And I'll offer a free home to anyone like Karns or
Prindeville or Lanciani, and free-to-everyone archive/redistribution to FSF,
just to try to help spread usefulness and good works!
8-)
----------------------
regardz,
Ken