From: nhaldar@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Neil A Haldar)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Indigo-IBM Netting Summary (longish)
Date: 22 Jul 92 03:29:39 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

In response to my question on IBM PC/Indigo networking, here's a summary pf the
responses I've received... thanks to the netters for their help :)

>From panisset@Thunder.McRCIM.McGill.EDU Tue Jul 21 22:13:39 1992

What do you mean by "an IBM"? PC/PS2, AS/400, RS/6000, mainframe?...

Anyway, in all these cases, the answer is yes, since the TCP/IP network
protocol which is used by the IRIX operating system on your Indigo has
been implemented for all these systems. So all you need is an Ethernet
card for your IBM machine, TCP/IP software and you should be talking.

Assuming for an instant that you meant PC/PS2, there are a number of
TCP/IP solutions available. Commercial ones include TCP/IP for DOS from
IBM, Sun's excellent PC/NFS and PC-TCP from FTP Software.
There are also a number of free/public domain solutions. Most of these
are based on the concept of a "packet driver" which talks to your Ethernet
interface. There are freely-available packet drivers for just about every
type of Ethernet board available. Look for them on wuarchive.wustl.edu
in the /mirrors/msdos/... directory.

Once you have a packet driver talking to your Ethernet board, you will then
need software to control it. WinQVTNet will do this under Windows for
instance. Again, look on wuarchive.wustl.edu for this stuff. Note that
since DOS is a single-tasking operating system, you are usually limited
to outgoing TCP/IP services (i.e. you will be able to login from your
PC to your Indigo, but not the reverse). If you run a multi-tasking
operating system on your PC (such as OS/2), then you have more options
(under TCP/IP for OS/2 from IBM, you can even use NFS to allow the Indigo
to access the disk on your PC directly).

 ----
From: ian@lassen.wpd.sgi.com (Ian Clements)
In comp.sys.sgi you write:

>  [my question deleted]

 Yes, it is.  If you're talking about a PC, there's Sun's PC-NFS product.
Combined with the right Ethernet card for the PC, the Indigo makes a nice
server.

 IBM mainframes can also do TCP over Ethernet.  SGI boxes can also talk
5080 and 3270 (or 3270 over 5080).

ian@sgi.com, 415/390-3410     | Towards the beans! Towards the beans!

----

From: Stephen Bohus <clr@dgp.toronto.edu>

> [my question deleted

     Yes.  We have seven SGIs hooked up together along with an IBM AT and
a Mac all happily taking to each other.  You will need (1) an ethernet 
board for your Iris.  If you just want to connect one IBM to an Indigo, the
easiest (and cheapest) network you can do is to set up a thinwire ethernet
network between the two machines.  You will need an $85 thinwire ethernet
transceiver (this converts the standard thickwire ethernet at the back of
your Indigo to a thinwire ethernet signal).  [make sure that the ethernet board
for the IBM has a thinwire BNC output].  Then all you do is connect the IBM
to the Indigo via a coax cable (at $.25 a foot), put a terminator on both
ends of this cable, and you're off and running.
     You will need software to talk from the Indigo to the IBM.  If all you
want to do is to transfer data over, then you should get hold of NCSA Telnet
on the IBM (this lets you rapidly FTP data back and forth between the machines)
. 
For a more transparent network, NFS is available for the Indigo and for the IBM
(from a third party source for the IBM) and this will let each of the machines
see the other's hard disk.
     If you only want a very cheap way to send data over to a pc, then all
you need is a NULL modem cable and a piece of software that sends data
over the line using a standard transfer protocol like Kermit or Xmodem.
The maximum baud setting for the Indigo (I think) is 38,400 baud, and this is
slow when you have to transfer megabytes of data back and forth.

                      ----

Thanks for all the replies and the help :)  I appreciate it!!!! :)


Cheers all,
Neil

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