UUCP over SunLink X.25

Jerry West jejw at onion.cs.reading.ac.uk
Sat Apr 30 05:09:26 AEST 1988


Larry Kluger works for Sun EHQ, he used to be their DataComms guru.  I
believe he still maintains some of that function.  The UUCP over X.25
was indeed developed in Sun Germany, however, by Lupe Christophe.

Here is the blurb :-

Sun Germany Consulting proudly announces the availability of
a new Consulting Special Product, a variant of uucp supporting
X.25 connections.

The product consists of a new transfer program, uucico, that
supports SunLink X.25 sockets for outgoing connections and
implements the 'f'-protocol.

The 'f'-protocol has been invented by Piet Beertema, CWI, Amsterdam
in 1984 to be used over X.25 PDNs with hardware PADs. The version
incorporated in uucico is the one distributed with 4.3 BSD.

The 'f'-protocol features a 7 Bit data path as opposed to an 8 Bit
data path required by the older 'g'-protocol, relies on implicit
flow control (XON/XOFF between PAD and host), and will only check
correct transmission when the whole file has been transmitted.
It can thus only be used over very reliable links, like X.25 networks.
Since there are no per-packet acknowledgements, throughput over
PDNs is greatly enhanced while cost is much reduced.

The new version of uucico prefers this protocol when available on
both sides. It will fall back to the standard 'g'-protocol, implemented
in all versions of uucp since it's inception, if the 'f'-protocol is
not available.

This version of uucico has been tested with a direct, asynchronous
line between the two systems, a PAD with one system connecting with
SunLink X.25, and both systems connected via X.25.

The other new feature of uucico, support for SunLink X.25, affects
only outgoing calls (master mode). Incoming calls connect via the
X.29 server process and are treated like connections over asynchronous
lines. Outgoing calls use X.25 domain sockets to access the slave
system. It is not necessary to install SunLink X.25 when only the
'f'-protocol is the feature to be used.

The standard version of uucico delivered with the respective SunOS
release *can* be used with the new uucico, both over asynchronous
lines and X.25 links. In the latter case, the system with the old
uucico must be the slave system.

I suggest you contact your local Sun office for pricing and availability.

Rgds,
Jerry West



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