From: coffler@jeck.amherst.nh.us (Jeff Coffler)
Subject: Re: News/UUCP possible from Windows NT?
Reply-To: coffler@jeck.amherst.nh.us (Jeff Coffler)
Organization: Private system
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 00:16:15 GMT


In article <C06nqz.2qx@world.std.com>, digilab@world.std.com (BioRad Digilab) writes:

|>>
|>>                             Does anyone know of the status of UUCP
|>>access on Windows NT?
|>
|>Yes.  I recently completed a port of UUPC/extended, one of those MS-DOS UUCP
|>packages you maligned (:-)) to Windows/NT.  We're in the process of beta
|>testing it now.  If you are interested in experimenting with it, send me
|>electronic mail at dmwatt@smersh.cambridge.ma.us and I will send you a copy.

Sorry about the malignment of the DOS-based UUCP program.  I admit: I've never
actually used one.  I do know that I can't call DOS sites for news, though
(they need to call me) due to UUCP limitations ... but I'm not even sure what
they're using for UUCP, so ... ! :-)

|>However, I have had problems using NT with high-speed serial I/O.  A <lot>
|>of data gets dropped on my NT system.  But your mileage may vary -- I'm running
|>NT on a 33MHz 386SX with 12MB of RAM, which (for NT at least) is pretty
|>underpowered.

Some (most) of this is due to hardware.  Standard UARTS will interrupt for each
character received on a PC.  If you use a fast modem (say Telebit Worldblazer,
which regularly transmits/receives 2000cps), that's 2000+ interrupts per second
(quite a bit for ANY O/S to handle).

UNIX will have some trouble in this area as well.  There are some "patches" to
this (like 16550AFN UARTS, with a 16 byte buffer), but in the end, you're
always limited both in throughput and ports.

The solution to this is a "smart" serial card.  There are plenty on the market,
with a variety of expandability and costs.  I already have several solutions by
Digiboard (they're pretty much the industry leader in this area).  What they do
is provide some number of ports (generally 8 or 16 to start with), with the
ability to expand based on product (one board that I have is expandable to 32
ports, the other is expandable to 224 ports).  Generally, each port can be run
at very fast speeds (115K bps), and the board guarentees that no data will be
lost.

I know that Digiboard drivers will be available with the next field test of
Windows NT, so this will clearly work ...

In UNIX, the Digiboard ports act exactly like a standard serial port, but has
a different name (like /dev/term/a01 rather than, say, /dev/tty01).

Will UUPC/extended handle "special" hardware like the Digiboard stuff?  If you
try to talk to the serial port via IRQs and stuff, then there will most
definitely be a problem.  If you use standard operating services, then all
should be well.  Except: I don't know much about NT.  Are there standard O/S
services for talking to a serial port?  One would hope so ... !

|>Work on a port of rn to UUPC/extended is in progress.

Okay, that's a great start.  Let's see, what you would need to serve as a UUCP
site that sends/receives news is:

    1)	A working version of UUCP that allows both incoming and outgoing data
    2)	A working version of C-news
    3)	A newsreader, and
    4)	possibly an NNTP server (depending on the newsreader).

It sounds like (3) is on it's way.  (1) is on it's way as well, as long as it
will work with smart serial hardware like the Digiboard and will allow
bi-directional telephone calls.  I have no idea about (4), but it may not
be needed - does the rn port need an NNTP server?  What about the shareware
version of the Windows Newsreader?

(2) sounds like the real wildcard here.  Does anyone know about a port of
C-news to Windows NT?  Is anyone looking at it at all?  If I don't hear
anything here, then I'll probably send MAIL to the authors and ask in one
of the news-related groups ...

Any further information would be appreciated ...

	Thanks!

	-- Jeff

-- 
Jeff Coffler                            UUCP:      ...{decvax,mv}!jeck!coffler
Southern New Hampshire                  Internet:  coffler@jeck.amherst.nh.us

                {Disclaimer: What I say is my personal opinion}
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32