Does anybody know anything about PMX/Term from AT&T?

[Mark Horton]

>>First, a question:  do you expect to be able to connect the 3B1 and the
>>6386 to the same Starlan network?  My impression is that when the 6386
>>unix starlan driver is released it will use the recently announced OSI
>>low-level protocol and I have heard nothing about a compatible release
>>for the 3B1.
>
>Of course I expect to be able to connect the 3B1 and the 6386 to the
>same network.  Why should I want to throw away my 3B1?  This is a very a
>very intriguing and very unpleasent train of thought which I had not,
>until now, entertained.

I am not very familiar with Starlan, but in case it doesn't work out,
here is an alternative.  I have a 3B1 and a 6386 right next to each
other, on the same TCP/IP/Ethernet network.  They talk to each other
quite reliably, although certain things don't work.

The 3B1 uses the WIN/3B1 stuff from AT&T.  There is an Ethernet board
from AT&T for the 3B1 that it works with.

The 6386 uses a TCP/IP package from Micom/Interlan and a board from
the same outfit.  Rumor has it that there are several other sources
of TCP/IP/Ethernet for the 6386 now or soon.

Remote login, file copy, and remote execution work well.  In fact, I
plug a 630 into the serial port on the 6386, run layers, and rlogin
one of the layers into the 3B1 for all my use of the 3B1.  This way
the machines can both go in another room where their noisy fans and
tiny screens don't bother me.  Since I can change the escape char on
rlogin from ~ to something else, I'm much happier with the rlogin
link than when I cu out from the 3B1 on the modem, where I'm stuck
with ~.  Frustrating if I dkcu out from the other end or read mail.

I have a laser printer plugged into the 3B1 which I use from the 6386.
(This is because I have spare serial ports on the 3B1 but not the 6386.)
The "lp" command on the 6386 is now a shell script that rsh'es the lp
command on the 3B1.  It works very reliably, although everything I spool
seems to print but keep sitting in the printer queue on the 3B1 taking
up disk space.  And of course it would lose if the 3B1 were down, but
I keep them up 24 hours/day.

RFS does not work, because it's not supported on the 3B1.

Thin ethernet is an obvious thing here for a 2 machine ethernet,
but the 3B1 only supports thick.

Email does NOT work over the ethernet, because the Micom/Interlan
port does not include sendmail or anything like it.  This is frustrating
because I have to read my mail on the 3B1, which is a much slower machine.

The Micom/Interlan stuff also does not support netstat or other commands
that like to poke in /dev/kmem, because the TCP/IP is offloaded onto the
board where the CPU can't get at it.  This makes debugging difficult.

ruptime works in one direction only - one of the machines can't see
the other.  I can't remember which one, but it has something to do
with a flag setting on the 6386, I think.  I never bothered to fix it.

In general, the 3B1 isn't getting enhanced anymore.  I would not hold
my breath looking for an OSI or RFS for it.  Unless the Starlan people
are continuing to develop for it, which might be possible, I don't know.

	Mark