johnl@ima.ISC.COM (John R. Levine) (06/17/88)
Some friends who are doing OS/2 software development want to hook their OS/2
PCs to a TCP/IP Ethernet. There is all sorts of swell DOS software, which they
are going to try to run in the compatibility box, but they'll need to have
OS/2 programs talking to the net, using NFS files, and so forth. Anybody got
any facts and/or rumors about existing or promised implementations? NFS would
be best, but any TCP/IP would be helpful.
TIA,
--
John R. Levine, IECC, PO Box 349, Cambridge MA 02238-0349, +1 617 492 3869
{ ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something
Rome fell, Babylon fell, Scarsdale will have its turn. -G. B. Shawjbvb@VAX.FTP.COM (James Van Bokkelen) (06/18/88)
The "facts" that I've heard are: There is nothing commercial available right now for OS/2. The LAN manager is designed for a NETBIOS/SMB type interface, so using its redirector for NFS will be non-trivial. Microsoft and Excelan have announced that they are going to provide an OS/2-resident TCP/IP protocol stack for OS/2 to LAN Manager OEMs sometime. The "rumor" I've heard is that the Microsoft/Excelan effort isn't scheduled to see the light of day until 4th quarter. I don't know what the freeware people are up to, but since OS/2 won't boot with less than 2Meg, and IBM's complete C development environment costs well over $1k (don't flame me, argue with Charles Petzold in the 6/14 issue of PC Magazine), it may be a while.... jbvb
snorthc@NSWC-G.ARPA (06/20/88)
Phil Karn's code is the only PCIP I have found that runs in the DOS compatibility box, The FTP SW INC and CMU drivers are rejected by the OS/2 operating system at boot. Of course your friends don't want to run TCP from the box so they need Lan Man (lan manager). There is "mature beta" code floating around, but presently I don't know of a company that is selling it outside of the MS SDK @ $3000.00. 3com thinks they will be the first company to sell the consumer ready product. Sorry, I don't have any NFS info. We buy fairly much SUN stuff, but don't qualify for the juicy rumor service with our salesperson. OS/2 without networking and SW applications is rather like UNIX system 5 rel. 2, a lot of potential, if only there was something it would actually DO. Have fun, Stephen Northcutt
ddp+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Drew Daniel Perkins) (06/21/88)
> *Excerpts from ext.in.pcip: 20-Jun-88 Re: OS/2 TCP/IP, anyone?* > *snorthc@nswc-g.arpa (802)* > Phil Karn's code is the only PCIP I have found that runs in the > DOS compatibility box, The FTP SW INC and CMU drivers are rejected > by the OS/2 operating system at boot. I'm pretty sure CMU PCIP WILL work under OS/2 since I know someone who uses it everyday. I suspect the trick is that he sets the NETCUST environment variable to the location of the netdev.sys file (i.e. set NETCUST=c:\netdev.sys) instead of putting device= in config.sys. Drew
backman@interlan.UUCP (Larry Backman) (06/21/88)
In article <8806201234.aa16881@Louie.UDEL.EDU> snorthc@NSWC-G.ARPA writes: >Phil Karn's code is the only PCIP I have found that runs in the >DOS compatibility box, The FTP SW INC and CMU drivers are rejected >by the OS/2 operating system at boot. > Forget the "penalty box" box for OS/2 networking solutions. Running networking code in the compatablity box defeats the whole purpose of networking underr OS/2, providing a networking interface that is an integrated part of the OS. >OS/2 without networking and SW applications is rather like UNIX >system 5 rel. 2, a lot of potential, if only there was something >it would actually DO. > Having spent the last 5 months chasing Microsoft's moving target with LAN Manager, Protocol Manager, and OS/2, I have to agree. We have OS/2 networked in house using the SDK LAN Manager. Is it usable? Yes, I am compiling across the network as I write this. Is it a finished product? No, LAN Managar and Protocol Manager are still evolving. Are wwwe selling it? Well... I don't really want to answer that one! Two examples: We received that OS/2 SDK kit LAN Manager betat with .exe's dated 5/6/8 Up till then we had been happily running LAN Manager under DOS & OS/2 with exe's dated 3/15/88. DOS MSNET talked to OS/2 LM and everyone was happy! Now, upon my doorstep sits a box of disks, pretty Microsoft labels, nice documentation indicating that everything is going to work better than before. So we plug in the disks, and to our surprise DOS no longer talks to OS/2. I do some Sniffing, find some SMB no-no's, and send off a Technical Assistance Report (TAR) to Microsoft. Lo and behold, a day later the answer back; "Yes DOS and OS/2 do not talk to each other. Is that a major problem for you?". Example #2. There is a thing called the protocol manager, designed by a comittee of Microsoft & 3Com. It allows protocol modules to talk to MAC modules which talk to wires. It demands that not only does the protocol module leave space for a MAC header in a transmit buffer, but worse yet, the protocol module actually build the MAC header into the ttransmit buffer. NNo so bad you think, but... The point of the protocol manager is to isolate protocol's from MAC's. Now my humble little protocol has to know how to build an ethernet header, a Token- ring header, an FDDI header, an SDLC header, et. al. So off went another TAR to Msoft suggesting some sort of interface that passed a MAC structure as well as a transmit buffer. Nothing was heard from Washington state forr a day, a week, and then..., We reviewed your TAR, and have FAXED it to 3COM since it is their problem". In all seriousness, I am not trying to fault Microsoft or 3COM, only have a little fun at their expense. OS/2 & LAN manager are neat to play with today; in a year they are going to be a full fledged product with awesome possibilities. It's not a bad product today, it's an alpha or pre-beta product with 3,000 beta sites. It's going to be a slow year until the product is complete, when it's complete it will be a barnburner. Larry Backman Micom - Interlan
timk@NCSA.UIUC.EDU (Tim Krauskopf) (06/21/88)
I have been told that NCSA Telnet runs in the DOS-box of OS/2 if the BIOS option is set so that NCSA Telnet uses BIOS calls instead of direct screen writes. Tim Krauskopf timk@ncsa.uiuc.edu (ARPA) National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
davidc@TERMINUS.UMD.EDU ("David R. Conrad") (06/22/88)
>I'm pretty sure CMU PCIP WILL work under OS/2 since I know someone who uses it >everyday. I suspect the trick is that he sets the NETCUST environment variable >to the location of the netdev.sys file (i.e. set NETCUST=c:\netdev.sys) instead >of putting device= in config.sys. The IBM stuff works in the compatibility box by doing basically the same thing. At least it did for a beta release version. Haven't tried it on the real thing yet. -drc
dcrocker@TWG.COM (Dave Crocker) (06/25/88)
WIN/TCP for Dos, from Wollongong, can be run in the DOS box, for OS/2. Dave Crocker VP, Engineering The Wollongong Group