[comp.protocols.nfs] NFS on a mac

chet@retix.retix.COM (Chet Mazur) (10/13/89)

Is there an NFS client available for the mac??? if not, are there and
other means of having a shared Unix/mac files system (the unix is SCO
or Interactive SYS V)...

Thanks,

tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) (10/16/89)

In article <500@retix.retix.COM> chet@retix.retix.COM (Chet Mazur) writes:
>Is there an NFS client available for the mac??? if not, are there and
>other means of having a shared Unix/mac files system (the unix is SCO
>or Interactive SYS V)...

Don't you people ever notice that this question gets asked almost once
a week on this newsgroup?  Enough already!

The answer is:  Such a product has been created, at the University of
Michigan, on Apple's behalf.  No one likes it very much and it has not
been released.  The other solution, which does have some fans, is
Cayman's Gatorbox, which is an AFP server with NFS as its native file
system, so that it acts as an effective gateway.  I don't know whether
they've conquered the reliability problems yet, but you can find plenty
of people to chat about it on comp.protocols.appletalk, which is where
you should have asked the question in the first place.

TOPS and NFS were originally going to merge, but TOPS finally figured
out (long after I told them, and quit in frustration over being
ignored) that this could never work, and now TOPS is on its way out of
Sun -- that is, Sun's trying to sell the company.  The rumor is a
management buyout, but we'll have to wait and see.  In any case, if you
were foolish enough to listen to TOPS's schpiel about an NFS/TOPS
protocol merge, then you're SOL.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"I wouldn't work for Dukakis if my life depended on it.  I've worked for
 Greeks and I know just how filthy and stinking they can be."
    -- Caller, KGO-AM, 8 Nov 88

honey@citi.umich.edu (Peter Honeyman) (10/19/89)

Tim Maroney writes:
>The answer is:  Such a product has been created, at the University of
>Michigan, on Apple's behalf.  No one likes it very much and it has not
>been released.

tim, i certainly like macnfs very much.  and my impression is that other
people like it very much too.  other people who have used it, anyway.

	peter

jdarcy@multimax.UUCP (Jeff d'Arcy) (10/19/89)

> tim, i certainly like macnfs very much.  and my impression is that other
> people like it very much too.  other people who have used it, anyway.

Of course you like it; you're at CITI.  The issue is whether anyone outside
of that "fine organization" appreciates macnfs's "better" qualities.

Jeff d'Arcy		jdarcy@encore.com		"Quack!"
 Encore has provided the medium, but the message remains my own

Jeff d'Arcy		jdarcy@encore.com		"Quack!"
 Encore has provided the medium, but the message remains my own

geoff@hinode.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @ Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top) (10/20/89)

In article <10165@encore.Encore.COM> jdarcy@multimax.UUCP (Jeff d'Arcy) writes:
>> tim, i certainly like macnfs very much.  and my impression is that other
>> people like it very much too.  other people who have used it, anyway.
>
>Of course you like it; you're at CITI.  The issue is whether anyone outside
>of that "fine organization" appreciates macnfs's "better" qualities.

Well, I like what I've seen of it. (I'm allowed to say that, aren't I? :-)
Both macnfs and Cayman's Gatorbox do a creditable job of coping with
the arcane and haphazard Mac file system. 

Can anyone who's worked extensively with A/UX (did I get the slash in
the right place?) comment on how well Apple handled the problems of viewing
the Mac FS from Unix and vice versa?

Geoff

Geoff Arnold,                              Internet: geoff@East.Sun.COM
PCDS Group, Sun Microsystems Inc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Who's next?" "Me, doctor?" "No, ME doctor, YOU patient." (Graham Chapman, RIP)

amanda@intercon.com (Amanda Walker) (10/21/89)

In article <940@east.East.Sun.COM>, geoff@hinode.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @
Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top) writes:
> Can anyone who's worked extensively with A/UX (did I get the slash in
> the right place?) comment on how well Apple handled the problems of viewing
> the Mac FS from Unix and vice versa?

In A/UX 1.1, they did a pretty good job of mapping the file system itself
(using AppleDouble files), but it's only basic HFS--no desktop manager, etc.
The biggest problem is that a lot of things that are cheap on a local file
system involve lots of NFS transactions (like directory lookups).  File
operations are some of the simpler ones to map...

Concerning MacNFS in particular, I am wondering how much of the alleged
delay in its release is due to Apple's evident dislike for distributing
code that other people have rights to?  If the CITI folks used a lot of
the Sun NFS client code, I can see how Apple's lawyers could be raising,
um, heck :-).

--
Amanda Walker <amanda@intercon.com>

"Tobacco is the only drug in America that will kill you if it's taken
as directed." --Dr. C. Everett Koop, former U.S. Surgeon General

dd@ariel.unm.edu (dd) (11/25/89)

In article <1989Oct19.020908.24069@terminator.cc.umich.edu> honey@citi.umich.edu (Peter Honeyman) writes:
>Tim Maroney writes:
>>The answer is:  Such a product has been created, at the University of
>>Michigan, on Apple's behalf.  No one likes it very much and it has not
>>been released.
>
>tim, i certainly like macnfs very much.  and my impression is that other
>people like it very much too.  other people who have used it, anyway.
>
>	peter


Hmmm...  I have been away from the net for a while, but the last
time I was using the net heavily, it seemed that the status was,
"created by CITI, owned by Apple, check with Apple to see when
you can buy it."

If this beast is publicly available now, I am in desperate need of
it.  If someone can direct me to someone with accurate information,
I would surely appreciate it!

-- 
Don Doerner				dd@ariel.unm.edu
University of New Mexico CIRT
2701 Campus Blvd, NE
Albuquerque, NM, 87131			(505) 277-8036

kdb@InterCon.com (Kurt Baumann) (11/28/89)

It is still wait and see.  I have heard that there are Beta/Alpha copies
outside of Apple, but I haven't seen any.  It should be out with System 7.0
would be my guess.
--