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Date:         Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:45:00 -0600
Reply-To:     Novell LAN Interest Group <NOVELL@SUVM.BITNET>
From:         Joe Doupnik <JRD@USU.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Problem with Novell Netware Requestor, OS/2 and NCSA telnet

>Don't bother...  Novell has not built a "Virtual Machine Interface" to the
>OS/2 LSL to support DOS ODI protocol stacks (and probably won't, either).
>
>Thus, an attempt to load a DOS ODI protocol stack in an OS/2 DOS VM will
>probably yield a sort of "LSL is not loaded!" error message, even though the
>OS/2 LSL exists.  There just hasn't been any code written to expose the OS/2
>LSL as if it were really a DOS LSL in OS/2 DOS boxes.
>
>Novell prefers to write native OS/2 protocol stacks and then provide OS/2
>DOS boxes with a VMI to the underlying stack, as evidenced by the NetWare
>Requester for OS/2 v2.0 and by LAN WorkPlace for OS/2.  With these products,
>one can run DOS applications in OS/2 v2.x DOS boxes looking for NetWare or
>TCP/IP and they will run just fine, no questions asked.  Many (at least
>two) happy customers have told me how they run MS-DOS Kermit over LAN
>WorkPlace for OS/2 (in DOS boxes).  Hmmm... now that IBM has the 32-bit
>graphics engine out for OS/2, I just might switch over myself :-).
>
>-- brian
>___________________________________________________________________________
>Brian Meek                            Novell, Inc. -- Desktop Systems Group
>                                      Internet mail:  brian@Novell.COM
-----------
        Ok, I'll buy that. Maybe I can draw an ASCII picture of the situation.

       native OS/2   .   DOS Box                 DOS Box
                     .
       Presentation  . Presentation           Presentation
        applications .  applications           applications
            |        ......|........                 |
       native API      DOS Box API .            DOS style API
            |              |  Pure . Pure            |
            -----  ---------  OS/2 . DOS             |
                |  |               .                 |
 native protocol stacks (IPX, IP)  .      DOS style protocol stacks (IPX, IP)
                 |                 .                 |    (usually internal to
                 |          --------------------------     the DOS application)
                 |         |       ..........................................
          native API    no_such_API in OS/2 (a la Winpkt for Windows)
                 |         |
                 ---  ------
  OS/2 kernel     |  |
  here & down    pkt handler    (ODI, NDIS)   (a Packet Driver is just for DOS)
                 lan adapter     NE2000, 3C503, etc
                    |
             ============== wire ============

API is Applications Programming Interface, the rules to the local game.

 ......... divides DOS style from native OS/2 material. Items on the DOS
side run in the DOS Box virtual machine, one of many such v.m.'s in OS/2,
but they think they are on a regular DOS machine. The magic is in faking DOS
across the dots, and much magic is req'd.

Presentation applications are Telnet, ftp, and those kinds of things.

        Hmmm. Then again maybe I had better call this an ASCII scribble.
Anyway, here we are, just feeling comfortable with the several ways of
handing out packets from the board, and we start over on sharing a kernel
amongst applications either at the bottom (pre-protocol stack) or at the top
(say on top of LWP for OS/2); grad school for lan managers and/or CS majors.
        Thanks for the clarifications Brian. Sure saves tearing out our
collective hair(s).
        Joe D.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU