Mainly Neat Stuff --> Vintage Networking --> PC LocalTalk Cards

PC LocalTalk Cards

At different times, several companies have been in the LocalTalk networking business for PCs. As companies folded or lost interest in LocalTalk, manufacturing rights were acquired by others so the model list is confusing... None of the cards listed on this page are still manufactured. There were attempts to make parallel port and PCMCIA adapters but none made any sort of commercial impact.

For information on dip switch settings for cards, try the Farallon or Miramar Systems web sites.

LocalTalk PC Hardware

The tables below summarise what I have gathered from a number of sources. Corrections are welcome.

Known ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) Cards

Description

Model No.

Compatibility

Apple LocalTalk PC card

630-0113

??

Apple LocalTalk PC card

630-5306

??

Cops LT-1

LT-1 30110

Daystar LT200

Centram Systems West

Amber Rhea reports that this card is labelled "10322 Rev. D"

?? See note 2

Cops LT-95

LT-95 30101

Dayna DL2000 half length card

Dayna LocalTalk PC full length card

DL2000

??

Dayna LocalTalk PC half length card

DL2000

Cops LT-95

Daystar LocalTalk PC card

LT200

Cops LT-1

Farallon PhoneNET Card PC

PN380

Apple LocalTalk PC card ??

Farallon PhoneNET PC Card II

PN381

Dayna DL2000 full length card

Farallon PhoneNET PC Card III

PN381

Dayna DL2000 half length card

Novell NL-1000

??

possibly Daystar LT200

Radio Shack

??

??

Tangent Technologies PC MacBridge

??

?? See note 1

Tangent Technologies PC MacBridge ATB-II

ATB-II

possibly Daystar LT200

Notes:

  1. Tangent were the first LocalTalk card developer and released their first card in May 1985. Some manufacturing rights were acquired by Daystar when the company folded.
  2. Centram became part of Sun Microsystems and were then spun off as Sitka.

Known MCA (MicroChannel Architecture) Cards

Description

Model No.

Compatibility

COPS DL/2

LT/2 30106

Dayna LocalTalk MC card (DL/2)

COPS LT-M

LT-M 30115

Daystar LT200 MC card

Dayna LocalTalk MC card

DL/2

Farallon PhoneNET PC Card II

PN382

Dayna LocalTalk MC card (DL/2)

Farallon PhoneNET PC Card III

PN382

Dayna LocalTalk MC card (DL/2)

Known parallel port adapters

Apexx Technology advertised an adapter in the early 1990s. It was marketed as a complete solution called PCTalk which included an early version of Miramar Systems MacLAN client (it is advertised on a very outdated web page at Silicon Graphics Inc).

 

AppleTalk software for the PC

Software can be placed in a number of categories:

My AppleShare Clients for PC page provides more detailed information about products for using your PC on a LocalTalk network.

DOS and Windows Drivers

Most PC network software uses standard ODI or NDIS protocol drivers to communicate with network cards. DOS ODI and NDIS drivers are available for many of the LocalTalk cards listed above so these cards should work with "modern" AppleShare Client software (eg MacLAN or PhoneNet PC). If a Windows 95 or 98 32 bit driver does not exist, it is possible to use a DOS "real mode" ODI driver in the Autoexec.bat file; this technique is unlikely to work with Windows ME.

Windows NT based operating systems (including Windows 2000 and XP) cannot use DOS drivers. NT4 ships with drivers for the Daystar LT200 and (one other to be added). Windows 2000 ships with drivers for the Daystar LT200 only (to be confirmed). Windows XP does not support ISA or MCA adapters.

Non-AppleShare software (eg TOPS) may require specific drivers that do not exist. The Centram Systems West SUN/TOPS and Tangent cards only appear to work with the TOPS software -- drivers are not available for the most common AppleShare Client products (eg MacLAN).

 

Apple LocalTalk PC Card

Apple's official LocalTalk PC card: Half-size ISA card, contains a 6502 processor and Zilog 8530 controller. Set of eight dip swiches for setting IRQ and IO address. LocalTalk (RS-422 serial) interface is a 9 pin D socket, using the same LocalTalk/PhoneNet box as the Mac 128/512. Card is silk screened as "AppleTalk PC Card", copyright date 1986. Model number 630-0113. The card labelled 630-5306 appears to be identical.

I was unable to create a decent scan of my card but I have scanned a basic data sheet which is not available from Apple (to the best of my knowledge). From 1991 to 1994 the Apple ISA card was handed over to Farallon for development and support. The DIP switches settings are included with the Farallon PhoneNet PC software kit.

Link to front of data sheet

Link to rear of data sheet

A web page with more information about the Apple LocalTalk card specifically can be found at http://www.the4cs.com/~corin/localtalk/.

 

Dayna DL2000 Card

The DL2000 card that I own is the full length ISA version but the COPS web pages list a half length card with the same Dayna designation/part number. I have a copy of the documentation somewhere and I'll post information on the DIP switches if anyone requires it. Click on the thumbnail view to display a larger image of the card.

LocalTalk cards from Dayna and Daystar were available until a couple of years ago from the COPS networking company. Drivers for the cards (DOS, Windows 95, NT3.x) could be found at their web site until 1999 but the site no longer exists. DL2000 card drivers for Novell NetWare 3.x can be found as part of the standard NetWare installation. The COPS company was taken over by Thursby Systems in early 1999.

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.