Mainly Neat Stuff --> Vintage Networking --> Networking the IIe
The information on this page was posted to the comp.sys.apple2 newsgroup by David Empson (David Empson dempson@actrix.gen.nz, Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand).
Michael Land Morgan <mlmorgan@icarus.mlmorgan.dyn.ml.org> wrote:
> I recently got a //e workstation card. The software I got
with it came
> on a 3.5" disk, but I only have 5.25" drives. Can someone either
supply
> me with the software on 5.25" disks or tell me how to split up
the 3.5"
> disk onto 5.25" disks? I'll be very appreciative.
It should be possible to split the files across several 5.25" disks according to your needs.
The main components of the software on the disk are as follows:
1. The ATINIT file that contains the code to hook ProDOS into the workstation card, and your network settings. This MUST be on every boot disk through which you want to use the network.
2. The Chooser.II application, which lets you pick a network printer. This needs to access and update ATINIT, so it should be on your boot disk. You could use it on another disk to set up an ATINIT file that is then copied to your normal boot disk.
3. The Namer.II application, which lets you assign a name to a network printer. This can be moved to another disk and is rarely needed. (It isn't needed at all if you also have a Mac.)
4. The file server logon and logoff programs.
5. The folder access modification utility. This isn't essential, as I believe you can perform all its operations on the file server.
6. Miscellaneous system software such as BASIC.SYSTEM, System Utilities and a program selector that is hard-coded to the utilities on this disk.
If you use your own program selector, you should be able to split up the components as needed.
In total, the software occupies about 394K on the 3.5" disk. The sizes of the important components are as follows (to the nearest K):
PRODOS 16K (you can use any copy of ProDOS-8, but it must be
version 1.5 or later)
ATINIT 7K
ACCESS 64K
CHOOSER 93K
NAMER 47K
LOGON 18K
LOGOFF 19K (why does it take more code to log off?)
Some of these totals may be a touch on the high side, as I don't have an original disk for the workstation card, and it has "Finder.Data" files (half a K each) all over it.
Chooser, Namer and Access have their own folders, and consist of several files including overlays. I've given the total for the folder in each case.
Karl Asha <karl@blackdown.com> wrote:
> I've got a Workstation II card in my IIe, along with assorted
software
> which all seems to rely on appletalk being installed.
I haven't seen the original disks that come with the workstation card. I imagine it is supplied on both 5.25" and 3.5" disks, but I've only ever seen a copy of the 3.5" version.
The complete set of software supplied with the card includes the following key files:
ATINIT: AppleTalk hooks for ProDOS and configuration.
CHOOSER.II: network printer chooser.
NAMER.II: network printer namer.
LOGON: file server logon utility.
LOGOFF: file server logoff utility.
ACCESS.II: folder access rights editor for use with a file
server.
There is also a copy of the Apple II System Utilities, PRODOS (version 1.5, I think) and BASIC.SYSTEM. CHOOSER.II, NAMER.II and ACCESS.II have several companion files.
There are two ways to get the card to work.
1. Boot over the network. This requires a Macintosh running the full AppleShare server software (version 2.0 or 3.0 - later versions do not support Apple II network booting), and the Apple II support files must be installed.
2. Boot from a ProDOS-8 disk which has been set up properly. It requires ProDOS-8 1.5 or later (1.4 may work, but is not fully supported). You must have the ATINIT file that came with the Workstation card in the root directory of your boot disk.
The ATINIT file is loaded automatically by PRODOS before it launches the startup application (xxxxx.SYSTEM). It locates the workstation card and patches the ProDOS global page to hook all calls through the workstation card. This allows a file server to be accessed.
ATINIT also contains the network configuration settings, in particular the machine name, chosen printer type and name. If you have more than one network-enabled boot disk and you change any of these settings, you must copy the updated ATINIT file to all boot disks. These settings are copied into the workstation card when you boot the disk.
(I think network printing will work for subsequent boots even without ATINIT, but I've never experimented with this.)
Once you have ATINIT loaded, CHOOSER.II and the other utilities will be able to operate. CHOOSER.II lets you pick a printer (ImageWriter II or ImageWriter LQ with AppleTalk card installed, or a LaserWriter). It can also be used to pick a local printer connected to either port.
(Incidentally: do you have the connector box that comes with the card? It provides two Mini-Din-8 connectors, and connects to the card with a ribbon cable.)
To print to the network printer, set your software to print to the slot of the workstation card.
If you have a Mac hooked up to the network, and it has File Sharing turned on (and set up correctly), then you can run the LOGON utility to log onto the file server.
This page last updated: 16 October 2005
Copyright information: If you wish to use any images on these pages, please contact the author, Phil Beesley on beesley@mandrake.demon.co.uk.