michaelr@elecvax.OZ (Michael Rourke) (05/20/85)
In article <886@elecvax.OZ> I wrote:
We are interested in getting hold of some XNS source to run
on our UNIX system (we have System V and bsd4.2 licences).
Has anybody written anything in the public domain?
I would also be interested to hear from anybody
with experiences (good or bad) with this network protocol under UNIX.
Interlan offers the source for $85K which seems a bit over the top!
(we could write it for much less than that).
PLEASE REPLY BY MAIL - My host isn't receiving netnews.
Here are the responses received (edited of extraneous headers):
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From: Mark Weiser <mark@tove@seismo.UUCP>
We at maryland have put XNS up through spp into the 4.2 kernel.
We reported on this at the Dallas Usenix in Jan. Cornell has
put Courier on top of our spp. We talk regularily to our
network of Dandelions running STAR and XDE using this stuff.
We charge $250 for our software distribution tape (which
includes lots of other stuff). Send mail to seismo!umcp-cs!despina
to get the proper order forms and more information.
Spoken: Mark Weiser ARPA: mark@maryland Phone: +1-301-454-7817
CSNet: mark@umcp-cs UUCP: {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!mark
USPS: Computer Science Dept., University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
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From: topaz!hedrick@seismo.UUCP (Chuck Hedrick)
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
If you get any responses, make sure that you know what they mean by
XNS. A number of implementations include only the packet transfer
protocol. If you just want to talk with another implementation that
uses that level, fine. But if you want to talk with a Xerox system
of one sort or another that uses Courier, then that won't solve your
problem. We have yet to find a non-Xerox implementation of Courier.
Cornell is working on one to run on top of the Univ. of Maryland
XNS implementation.
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From: Chris Torek <seismo!chris@maryland@decvax.UUCP@mulga>
We have XNS code for 4.2BSD that we are distributing. We have
implemented all of IDP and SPP, and written a few Mesa utilities that
pretty much act like telnet and FTP. We speak to Xerox Dandelions,
which indicates that the code might indeed be working, as well as to
our own Vaxes. Sorry, no performance data yet.... we're working on
that now, though.
Send mail to
Diane Miller
Computer Science Department
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742 USA
for more information.
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From: unido!ecrcvax!pete@mcvax.UUCP (Pete Delaney)
Here in europe we are establishing an ISO implementation that
could become PUBLIC domain, at least here in europe. I suggest you
talk to mvcax!vmucnam!lvbull!jim about the ROSE project under the
European Commission (ESPIRT).
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From: ut-sally!oakhill!mot!fred@seismo.UUCP
why not try Network Research Corp, Santa Monica, CA? 213-394-7200,
as i recall. that's what we run.
Fred Christiansen, Motorola Microsystems, Tempe {ihnp4,allegra}!sftig!mot!fred
{ihnp4,seismo}!ut-sally!oakhill!mot!fred {ihnp4,amdahl}!drivax!mot!fred
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From: rochester!rocksvax!z@seismo.UUCP (Jim Ziobro)
The XNS protocols are being worked on at several places. The
University of Maryland has done the kernal work and Cornell is doing a
Courier implementation. I hope to get more details at the upcoming USENIX.
The protocols themselves work very well. I expect within the year
all of Xerox will be using them.
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From: harvard!enmasse!enms2!soph!dave@seismo.UUCP
Organization: EnMasse Computer Corp., Acton, MA
As well as Interlan, there's also Network Research corporation somewhere
in California. Phone -- (213)394-7200, I think. I have an address that
may be good: 1101 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica CA 90401 USA.
Their FUSION package handles XNS and TCP, and they do offer source licences.
We have been rather displeased with them, however the software does
work if you don't push it TOO hard. It runs under many systems (including
Sys V and BSD 4.2). They are not a very professional outfit.
Re experiences: the protocol family itself seems fine. The Stream protocol
would seem to have flow control problems in networks with fair sized
delays (e.g. satellites), but it's certainly smaller/faster than the DoD
family.
Dave Brownell
enmasse!dave@Harvard.ARPA
{genrad,harvard}!enmasse!dave
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From: sdcsvax!sdchema!jwp@decvax.UUCP@mulga (John Pierce)
Organization: Chemistry Dept, UC San Diego
Sorry I can't help you with code, but we do have some experience with
running XNS... We had a Silicon Graphics graphics terminal that had
to talk to one of our VAXen with XNS (all the SG machine supported). It
was an unpleasant experience... Couldn't use the ARP code, which forced
us to "fake" net numbers until we could upgrade the terminal to a full
workstation (which is supposed to support tcp/ip, but doesn't work right
for some reason). The experience of another group on campus that has
had to use XNS was the same as ours - no way to get it to work and have
ARP running at the same time to talk to machines on other networks (the
stuff using XNS was supposed to be on a separate network). This may be
due to buggy code in 4.2, of course, since it looks like it *should* work
but I've got a feeling that it really has to do with something inherent
in the way the XNS stuff has to work.
John Pierce, Chemistry, UC San Diego
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From: enea!kuling!hans@mcvax.UUCP (Hans Eriksson)
Organization: CoSyL, Upsala University, Sweden
We are also on the search for Unix/XNS software. We have found something, we
think, at Univ of Rochester but we do not yet know what it is.
I would appriciate forwarding of any info you get on this subject. I will
tell you what we found in Rochester, when we know.
Hans Eriksson
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As before, could any further responses be mailed to me, as we still
aren't receiving net news properly.
Michael Rourke
School of Elec Eng & Comp Sci ACSNET: michaelr@elecvax.oz
University of New South Wales UUCP: {decvax,vax135}!mulga!elecvax.oz!michaelr
Kensington NSW 2033 AUSTRALIA Phone: +61 2 697 4040