karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (04/07/90)
In article <1990Apr6.174231.2758@cti-software.nl> pim@cti-software.nl (Pim Zandbergen) writes: > >How does PC-Interface compare to PC-NFS with ISC's TCP/IP & NFS ? PC-NFS takes more memory on the DOS machine, and can't access pipe files. Thus, no "fast" printer support like we have built for PCI. Also, I have heard (but not confirmed) that PC-NFS doesn't get along with MS Windows, which would be a killer. We >need< that in order to do our desktop publishing. Lastly, PC-NFS is only available from SUN, not ISC. I hate getting in finger-pointing battles, and would prefer to buy the software from one source so I can complain to one place when it doesn't work. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"
palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) (04/08/90)
From article <1990Apr7.025820.29699@ddsw1.MCS.COM>, by karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger): > In article <1990Apr6.174231.2758@cti-software.nl> pim@cti-software.nl (Pim Zandbergen) writes: >> >>How does PC-Interface compare to PC-NFS with ISC's TCP/IP & NFS ? > > PC-NFS takes more memory on the DOS machine, and can't access pipe files. > Thus, no "fast" printer support like we have built for PCI. > > Also, I have heard (but not confirmed) that PC-NFS doesn't get along with MS > Windows, which would be a killer. We >need< that in order to do our desktop > publishing. > > Lastly, PC-NFS is only available from SUN, not ISC. I hate getting in > finger-pointing battles, and would prefer to buy the software from one > source so I can complain to one place when it doesn't work. Yeah! So if every buys software and hardware from Karl we can all call him and complain to him. :-) It would be nice if there was another source for PC-NFS just as a second source. Some companies absoulutely require this before buying a product. Dosn't FTP Accociates have a PC-NFS product? I don't know, I'm useing Windows and NFS on ESIX and it's working. I had problems with certain disk controllers at one time. Some RLL controllers are not compatible. But than again if there where some reasonable cost effective desktop publishing software for UNIX I wouldn't need PC-NFS. But in the interim Sun's product dosn't seem that bad. ---Bob -- Bob Palowoda palowoda@fiver | *Home of Fiver BBS* Home {sun}!ys2!fiver!palowoda | 415-623-8809 1200/2400 {pacbell}!indetech!fiver!palowoda | An XBBS System Work {sun,pyramid,decwrl}!megatest!palowoda| 415-623-8806 1200/2400/19.2k TB+
dag@fciva.FRANKLIN.COM (Daniel A. Graifer) (04/09/90)
I just wanted to add our experiance with PC-Interface. Prime Computer remarkets this Locus Computing product for it's EXL series of 386 MultiBusII machines. The telnet type terminal emulation product (called EMulate) seems to be excellent. In particular, it is compatible with SuperKeys, which we have used to drastically remap the keyboard behaviour. The only problem we have noticed that "switch session" (having two emulation sessions open simultaneously, and switching between them) doesn't work, and hangs both the sessions. Both the terminal emulation and the file and printer services run over udp/ip, not tcp which surprised me. We have not noticed the "slow" printer behaviour reported elsewhere. Both file and printer service slowed down noticably when Prime switched its tcp/ip software on the host (which we've complained about. The new package was supposed to be faster!) The other feature we use extensively is the "ON" dos command. This forks a shell on any connected unix host and executes the remainder of the command line. Commands may be run in the background by terminating them with an ampersand (&), and accept input and output redirection. For example my autoexec.bat file logs me into my default unix host (stored in the DOS environment variable DEFSYS) and then sets my PC's clock to match the unix system time: SET TZ=EST5EDT SET EXPORT=TZ ON %DEFSYS% date +%%T |TIME >NUL: Another example is dircount.bat, which pipes the output of the dos DIR command through an awk script to total the sizes of the listed files. PC-Interface will run over a serial line as well. It's slow, but if you take your portable home, then discover you left some vital file at work, it prevents many wasted evenings. Print on the office laser printer from home, pick up the output when you arrive the next morning. We looked at Intercon's TCP/Connect and the FTP Software Inc.'s PC-TCP (we thought the former was an especially fine product) but settled on PC- Interface as the more seamless connection for our purposes. Prime didn't have an NFS server at the time of the decision. Conclusion: We like the product (we are using verions 2.8.7.1, the last digit representing the revisions to the server software to support Prime's new tcp/ip). We have no relationship with any of the companies mentioned except as customers. Dan --- -- Daniel A. Graifer Franklin Mortgage Capital Corporation uunet!dag@fmccva.franklin.com 7900 Westpark Drive, Suite A130 (703)448-3300 McLean, VA 22102