paulr@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Paul T Russell) (05/06/90)
Having just upgraded half of a LocalTalk network to
Ethernet, using Asante MacCon II/E boards, I have find
a problem using Liaison to bridge the EtherTalk
and LocalTalk zones. I was hoping to install Liaison
on the AppleShare file server (Mac IIcx, System 6.0.4),
but there seems to be a conflict between the Liaison
software and Asante MacCon software. Liaison complains
about the version of AppleTalk (which got installed by
the Asante installation script) and gives the option
to either 'cancel loading' or 'continue'. Clicking
on 'continue', however, doesn't appear to work - the
Liaison INIT icon appears on the screen, but no routing
takes place, and when trying to change any Liaison
parameters in the Chooser, I get a message saying that
Liaison hasn't been completely loaded at startup (or
words to that effect).
The Asante EtherTalk installer disk is version 2.0.2
and I am using the 'AppleTalk Phase 1' installation
script.
Liaison is version 2.0.3.
Changing the AppleTalk file (or removing it completely)
results in the Network cdev complainng that the network
software hasn't been installed properly, so presumably
Asante's EtherTalk 1.2 expects a specific version of
AppleTalk. (The 'Get Info...' says it's version 53.0,
but I suspect it's been patched.)
Liaison seems to work OK in the same configuration with
a Kinetics Ethernet board.
So, is the problem down to Liaison or the Asante
EtherTalk software ? Are there newer versions of
either ? Should I consider using Apple's Internet Router
instead (has anyone actually tried using Apple's Internet
Router with the Asante boards ?) ?
Also, on a related note, the server will probably be upgraded
to a IIfx shortly, and I was insterested to hear that the
I/O coprocessors on the IIfx are capable of handling network
routing independently of the CPU, resulting in zero overhead
when performing network routing on, say, a file server.
Does anyone know whether either Liaison or Apple's
Internet Router take advantage of this capability on
the IIfx ? Is it automatic (ie. implemented in system software)
or do I need to wait for new versions of Liaison/Internet
Router ?
//Paul
--
Paul Russell, Department of Experimental Psychology
University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, England
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