owen@astro.washington.edu (06/10/91)
I asked for recommendations for software to make a Sun into an AppleShare file server, and to allow the Sun to print to an Apple laser printer. I heard about two packages, both highly recommended: Columbia Appletalk Protocol (CAP) available via anonymous ftp from rutgers.edu file /src/cap60.tar.Z, plus look for patches, etc. Mt. Xinu's KShare and KSpool: Mt. Xinu (415)644-0146. commercial software; approx. $1700 for both, to serve 15 Macs In addition, several people suggested an alternative solution for sharing files with our Sun -- NFS. I'll investigate this later; meanwhile, I have appended the replies about AppleShare solutions. Thanks very much to all who took the time to reply! We will start with CAP, since it is free. If it looks too difficult to install, or is buggy, we'll check out KShare. -- Russell owen@astro.washington.edu ********** responses about CAP ********** Gregg Kasten (proteus@medisg.Stanford.EDU): You might check out CAP (Columbia Appletalk Protocol). I think it's free to academic users. It allows one to use any UNIX machine as an AppleShare server. You can also use it to print from UNIX to an AppleTalk printer, I believe. <press release for CAP 6.0 omitted; it was posted awhile back. I wasn't sure if it did AppleShare, but apparently so.> ***** Jon Whalen (j1whalen@handel.helios.nd.edu) also suggested CAP: You'll probably get a million responses to this, but you should check out CAP 6.0. It's free, available from rutgers.edu by anon ftp and it's great. Installation may be a little stressful, but it's worth it. In my opinion, it's every bit as good as TOPS and it's free! We've been running it this past week (we ran TOPS til 7.0 came along) and haven't had any real problems (other than adjusting to slightly different operating procedures). CAP is found in rutgers.edu:/src/cap60.tar.Z Don't forget the patches! ***** Dave Platt (dplatt@ntg.com): Get version 6.0 of CAP (available from Rutgers, and probably UUNET as well). It's a free AppleTalk implementation for Suns and other Unix boxes. It can speak EtherTalk (phase 1) as well as KIP/IPTalk. It includes AppleShare server software as well as lots of other goodies (print server for Mac->Unix printing; print redirector for Unix-> LaserWriter printing; etc.). ********** responses about Mt. Xinu's softare ********** John Gawf (gawf@compatible.com): Try Mt. Xinu for AFP file (KShare) and PAP print server (KSpool) for Sun's. Their number is (415)644-0146. <I wrote back and asked if he'd used it and liked it; he replied:> I have had direct experience with both KShare and KSpool. Both are very good, it is reliable and well supported. I have spent some time with the engineer who wrote it about some AppleTalk routing problems with our router, EtherRoute. He knows what he is doing. The software was actually written by Kinetics a few years ago. Mt Xinu bought the rights to it. It actually is three pieces. The low level AppleTalk protocol stack for Unix, the AFP server and the PAP server. I believe they rewrote the Unix AppleTalk protocol stack, added Phase 2 support and did extensive bug fix in the AFP (KShare) and PAP (KSpool) software. Mt. Xinu is a Unix kernel porter/developer so they knew what they were doing when they got the code from Kinetics. <I called the company and got a few other details: - AppleShare file sharing is $1000 (for serving up to 15 Macs) - print software is $700 (so the Sun can print on the Mac's laser printers) - it supports phase II (as well as phase I) appletalk. I spoke with Ellen Katzman (sp?) at Mt Xinu's Albuquerque office (505) 344-0279>