Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Well, the general answer is yes, it can be done.

The detailed answers depend on exactly what you want to do.


1. Serial link/transfer program (kermit,xmodem etc)
2. Ethernet link with DECNET or TCP/IP or..
3. XWindows would integrate nicely
4. Running VMS or UNIX on VAX?
5. Running AMIGADOS or AMIX (UNIX) on amiga?


Etc..

John

    
       Thanks for a quick reply. I just bought used A1000 system so I don't
    know much about the system. I heard a lot about it, so I've decided to
    purchase it.
       As to your questions, I am really not sure. I would like to be able
    for MV and Amiga to communicate between each other, be able to link 
    with other systems separetly, be able to communicate with common
    devices if possible ( printer, modem, drives ...)
       I am not a follower of UNIX and feel very uneasy with it. However
    if benefits are greater on ULTRIX-AMIX software, than I am willing to
    learn. The communications link is crucial, however I don't know the
    benefits of DECNET vs TCP/IP vs ...
       What it boils down to is I am looking for advice from experienced
    users on both hardware and software levels. I would like to integrate
    the system and get software packages on it so I can do the following:
    
    	1. Login to my account at DEC through either system.
        2. Be able to share disk space among MV and Amiga if possible
    	3. Run communications on one modem.
    	4. Have only one printer.
    	5. Be able to run both system independently and together on
           different applicaton levels.
    
    	That about sums it up. If you have any questions for me, please
    let me know. I will answer as soon as I could. Thanks again.
    
    							
    								Alex.
    

One interesting thing to try might be DNET.  DNET is a free network to connect
Amigas to Unix machines.  The connection is made by the serial port.

DNET has been ported to many different UNIX boxes: it's written in C,
and the big requirement is that the operating system support Berkeley
style sockets.  Well, the latest version of VMS comes with a Berkeley
compatible socket library.  I've been wondering how hard it would be
to get DNET up and running on VMS.

The blurb on DNET is:

DNet            A link protocol that provides essentially an unlimited
                number of reliable connections between processes on
                two machines, where each end of the link can be
                either an Amiga or a Unix (BSD4.3) machine.  Works
                on the Amiga with any EXEC device that looks like the
                serial.device.  Works on UNIX with tty and socket
                devices.  Achieves better than 95% average throughput
                on file transfers.  Version 1.20, includes sources
                for both the Amiga and Unix versions.
                Author:  Matt Dillon

Some other folks have written a DNET net device that makes the files on
the remote machine look like they are on a local disk (I think that is
what the claim was).

Of course, I've not used any of the above stuff.

	Sounds like you're gonna hafta download a lot on conversion programs.
You could probably use a good communications program (like A-Talk III) and
use the 1000 as a null-modem terminal.  That way, with said converters, you 
could upload IFF files (Amiga) to the VAX and convert them to sixel output for
a DEC printer.  It would be a lot easier to handle downloading this way, also,
since you could transfer the already ARCed (archived) files to YOUR VAX, where
you could bring the public domain 'ware down without the trouble of billions
of other Net interuptions.

	You could do it, it just depends on how much trouble you want.  If 
you can program, you could probably write some auto-code to do a lot of the
swapping and converting for you, you know, just make the whole process 
automatic.

	If you get it working, post your results!

--mikie--

    "X Windows SOftware Converts Commodore PC into X Terminal"
    
    Publication:  May 15th, Digital Review
    
    Developer: Dale Luck
    
    Quote: "works with VAXes and with Sun, Apollo and Hewlett-Packard w.s."
    
    Price: $395
    
    Hardware:  min IMB Amiga and Ethernet Board
    
    Company:  GfxBase Inc.
    1881 Ellwell Drive, Milpitas, CA 95032, (408)262-1469
    
    P.s. "Computer SHopper August, Page 312 4th column and 6th para."
         "I twisted (DESQview) a little can came up with a way to
          provide printer and modem sharing between two incompatible
          systems, an IBM PC and an Amiga"
    

    re: DECnet, TCP/IP, etc.
    
    DECnet for the Amiga side is still serial port only last I heard.
    And ethernet boards are not cheap.
    
    According to Dale Luck, they are looking to support X running over
    Arcnet cards.  The Amazing Computing magazine that arrived at my
    house yesterday has mention of Commodore's new Arcnet cards for the
    Amiga 500 and 2000.  It isn't as fast as ethernet but is supposed
    to be cheaper.  Anybody know of a TCP/IP & Arcnet package for the
    VAX?
    
    X looks like the easiest way to integrate the two systems, but check
    out what the reasonable hardware configuration required to run it is.
    
    DNET sounds interesting, folks on usenet claim it really works.
    
    -Dave
       

re: -1
    >Anyone know of TCP/IP .....
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                                            ULTRIX ENGINEERING GROUP

ANNOUNCING VMS/ULTRIX CONNECTION (TM) V1.0	                           

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
|       o	Promotes resource sharing between VAX/VMS servers	|
|    		and UNIX clients					|
|									|
|       o	Supports TCP/IP and other Internet networking		|
|    		protocols on VAX/VMS					|
|       	    							|
|       o 	Provides an NFS (TM) server on VAX/VMS for 		|
|		UNIX clients						|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The VMS/ULTRIX Connection is a VAX/VMS layered software product.
The VMS/ULTRIX Connection provides a bridge between VAX/VMS 
servers and UNIX clients without modifying the syntax or 
semantics of either operating system. The two main features of 
the product are support for Internet networking protocols and an 
NFS server on VAX/VMS. 
    
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    
    see SMURF::CONNECTION (I haven't read it yet but thee gurus in the
                            say it implements part of the "stack.")
    

Re: .1 (Your the expert on TCP/IP and amiga John.  Got any experiences?)
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    
           <<< SMURF::_SMURF$DUA0:[NOTES$LIBRARY]CONNECTION.NOTE;1 >>>
                           -< VMS/ULTRIX Connection >-
================================================================================
Note 2.25                        Installed base                         25 of 35
WJG::GUINEAU                                         18 lines  14-APR-1989 07:52
                               -< John Guineau >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	John Guineau
	Software Engineer
	LEDS Buyouts  at NKS Marlboro


As part of our stratagy for evaluating and qualifying SCSI drives (The RZxx
family currently in DEC's latest workstations) we are putting to gether
a "Systems Compatibility Lab" where we run drives in all workstations with
all supported configurations (Well, almost :-).  This means both VMS and
ULTRIX machines so UCX is a blessing...

Also plan to use it to connect my Amiga at home with multi sessions!  :-) 
I already have TCP/IP up and running there so not I need to figure how to get
UCX to let me dial in over modem (LAT) and run TCP/IP sessions....
(Anyone done this?)

I own an A1000 and PC40-III.  What, if any, implication does the attached
    note mean in choosing for a "An A1000 on-top of a PC"scenario?  Will
    ARCnet work magic in both cases? [the .0 situation and this?]
    
              <<< MOSAIC::$2$DJA6:[NOTES$LIBRARY]VAXMATE.NOTE;1 >>>
        -< VAXmate, PC integration, VMS Services -- INTERNAL USE ONLY >-
================================================================================
Note 2303.1                NOVELL ARCNET compatibility                    1 of 1
DORIS::WARING "UK Software Merchandising"            12 lines  20-JUN-1988 13:05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    I have a customer running a PC application in a NOVELL ARCNET
>    environment.  Will his application run in a PCSA environment.

Although divorced from Novell system software, I have seen an ARCnet card
and a DEPCA co-existing quite happily in a Compaq. One of my distributors
(in my last career!) used some Datapoint software to transfer files onto
drive I: pointing at a VAX... and hence file transfer between a Datapoint
mini and a MicroVAX-II.

Worked a treat, but no idea how Novell's software will prejudice this.

								- Ian W.

    re:.9
    not much implication at all except that they were extremely lucky
    to get it to work at all.  But at least it wasn't vaporware :-)
    
    Right now, I know of nowhere that sells an Amiga Arcnet board.  Soon,
    maybe.  The key is to get the same transport and upper level protocol
    for both systems, be they ibmpc clone, VAX running whatever...
    
    Then there is the question of how much you want to spend to link
    the systems together and how closely you want to link them (sharing
    file systems, sharing modem, sharing printer, etc.)
    
    A serial port network might be fun, but slow compared an ethernet
    network, but it will be a lot cheaper.  Is Arcnet a reasonable compromise
    on speed/performance/price? (I've never seen one, and Amazing Computing
    didn't list any prices for the Commodore models)
    
    Hmmm... now that I think about, didn't on of the recent Fish disks
    have an implementation of TCP/IP for the Amiga?  I think I've seen
    mention of TCP/IP for the ibmpc, maybe that would be worth trying
    for .9's PC40-III.  Any TCP/IP wizards care to comment on if it
    is feasible to share devices like a modem or printer using that
    Amiga TCP/IP? (queued access or "grab the device"?)
    
    -Dave
    

UCX currently doesn't support SLIP (or Serial Line Interface Protocol) for
TCP connections (at least it didn't last time I checked. As far as I know
there were no plans to support it.).

TCP/IP works fine between Ultrix/VAX and Amiga using the KA9Q package
(On FF225) using Serial Line at 19200 baud. You need to tweek some buffering
parameters on the Amiga end to keep the connection reliable. It seems
like an A2500 can easily outrun a MicroVAX II at 19200!.

I've moved (FTP) a 30MB file at 19200 with this setup in 4.5 hours. Haven't
tried to figure out how that compares to X/Y/ZModem or DNET at those speeds.

AmigaTCP (KA9Q) doens't have any support for NFS like stuff. No sharing
of devices. You get Telnet (terminal) , FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

UCX will probably work fine with Ethernet and Amiga - but you need an ENET card
on amiga. There is on by ASDG (I think) and you can get  DECNET for amiga
as well. 

This months Amiga Transactor has an article on NFS (Network File System) for 
amiga.  Haven't read it yet.

DNET is another possibility. You would need to be running BSD UNIX or Ultrix
on the VAX side (or port DNET to VMS!). I've heard good things about DNET
and performance and using a NET: device for amiga you can get NFS like
stuff (share devices over the net).


John