From: crystal@StarConn.com (Paul Chen)
Newsgroups: comp.newprod
Subject: PC LAN Products announcement
Date: 15 Apr 92 22:37:01 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Starnet-Public Access UNIX--Los Altos, CA  415-949-3133

Crystal Computing Corporation announces a $249 PC based Ethernet
Starter Kit, FreeLAN-E, that contains everything you need for a two-
user LAN. The Package includes Ethernet cards, cable, terminators,
and a Network Operating System (NOS) software, fea turing file
sharing and printer/plotter sharing.

San Jose, California - Crystal Computing Corporation announces a
self-sufficient, low cost Ethernet starter kit, FreeLAN-E, which is
perfectly suitable for small business or home office with 2 to 16
computers. With FreeLAN, the user can share printer s/plotters,
share files, and run network version software at 10 Mbps speed.
Starting from two users, FreeLAN can be easily upgraded to up to 256
users without any hassle. And since it is peer-to-peer service, any
machine on the FreeLAN network can sh are files or printers/plotters
with any other users on the network any time he/she want to. No
dedicated server needed, and no network administrator needed. This
Starter Kit package includes two 10 Mbps Ethernet cards, one 15'
coax cable, two 50 ohm terminators, and Network Operating System for
two users, featuring file sharing, file/record locking, printer
sharing/spooling, spool management and password protection.
Furthermore, FreeLAN can run with Novell Netware, support Windows
3.0, and is Ne tBIOS based with NetBIOS included. FreeLAN supports
IBM PC/XT/AT/386/486 and 100% compatibles, under MS-DOS 3.1 or
later.

FreeLAN

Crystal Computing's FreeLAN provides the following features.

File Sharing:
User can share files with other users on the network. File locking
 and record locking supported. So together with MS-DOS SHARE.EXE,
 FreeLAN supports multi-user database applications, and many
 network-aware applications which need file/record locking.  All
 resources are password protected.

Printer/Plotter Sharing:
User can use any printer/plotter on the FreeLAN network by linking
to that machine. Once connected, printing job will be transparently
sent to the designated printer. Many users can print to the same
printer at the same time, with no printout mix-up problem. Each user
can check the print queue status, and optionally kill his/her job in
the queue, any time before the actual printing.

Peer-to-peer service:

No dedicated server needed, and no network administrator needed. Any
user can post his/her resources to the public, and other users can
just link to the resources and use them, assuming they have the
right authorities. It is flexible and near zero ma intenance cost.

NetBIOS based:
NetBIOS is one of the industry standards. And many major NOS vendors
support NetBIOS. Since our NOS is NetBIOS based, so you can run our
NOS on any network that supports NetBIOS. That way you can treat our
NOS as a Value Added Product which will augm ent the functionality
of other networks.

Easy to upgrade:
It is not only easy to upgrade to up to 256 users to run FreeLAN, it
is even easy to upgrade to Novell Netware or Microsoft LanMan, or
any other major LAN vendors without re-investing your hardware and
software. Since our hardware complies industry s tandard, it
supports nearly all major NOS vendors. And also since our software
is NetBIOS based, you can bring our NOS to any other NetBIOS LAN to
supplement their functionality. For example, you can share resources
among the clients in a server-clie nt network like Netware.

Easy to install, easy to use:
Both installation program and FreeLAN program are menu-driven,
command line counterparts are also available for experienced users.

Availability and Price:
FreeLAN starter kit is immediately available from Crystal Computing
Corporation. The U.S. suggested list price for FreeLAN-E, the
Ethernet version, is $249. And the U.S suggested list price for
FreeLAN-A, the FreeLAN Arcnet starter kit, is $179.

For more Information,

Contact:
Paul Chen
P.O. Box 9527
San Jose, CA 95157-0527
(408)446-1522, Order: (800)726-6209
Fax (408)996-2899