[WinMac] Re: Can Macs run without AppleTalk?


Graeme Challis(g.challis[at]bendigo.latrobe.edu.au)
Fri, 8 Jan 1999 12:39:26 +1100


On 8/1/99, "Deb A" <debwork69@hotmail.com>:
>Hi all. I work at a place that is moving to PCs (using Windows NT
>workstation and 95 for laptops. Using NT server as our server OS) from
>being mostly Mac. The artists however want to continue using Macs. The
>network admin says they can do this BUT she will seporate them from
>the rest of the network, b/c she doesn't want AppleTalk used on the
>Mac network anymore, just TCP-IP.

All Macs do indeed have appletalk built in & a/t traffic will immediately
propogate over the intranet when a Mac is connected. I doubt that there's
any need for concern though - I've already seen a good response on the list
about not allowing a/t through the router if all the Macs are on the one
side of it.

The suggestion to use DAVE is fair - I've found it quite workable, but if
you have many Macs & few PC's it would be cheaper to enable Services for
Macintosh on a NT box on the Mac side of the router or to put PC MacLan or
COPSTalk on the PC, effectively giving it the ability to communicate with
AppleTalk devices.

There was an interesting article posted to the Evangelist a little while
ago that may be of interest...

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1998 02:05:32 -0800
From: The EvangeList Mailing List <evangelist@apple.com>
Subject: Followup - AppleTalk Chatty?

This follow-up message is from:

Jim Anders <mailto:anders@kaidan.com>

Dr. Troen,

You recently wrote to the Evangelist (copied below) about AppleTalk
"being too chatty".

This is a tired, hoary argument from the mid to late 1980s. The
general chattiness issue with AppleTalk was largely solved with
AppleTalk Phase 2 - which was implemented by Apple when George Bush
was still President. Issues with the use of AppleTalk traffic over
WAN connections has also been solved for some time.

Of course, today, with the popularity and success of the
WWW/Internet, the focus of attention is TCP/IP, so network managers
generally prefer avoiding non-TCP/IP protocols. However, other than
the inconvenience, there is no longer a valid technical reason to ban
AppleTalk protocols, assuming, just as any other protocol, it is
setup and administered correctly. And, with the majority of today's
LAN/WAN traffic being IP, the small, incremental addition of
AppleTalk traffic for printing and occasional FileSharing, just won't
make any significant impact.

I wrote about this and other things AppleTalk-related in a book
entitled "LiveWired: A Guide to Networking Macs", published by Hayden
Books. It's been out of print for several years, but there haven't
been too many changes to the protocol in that time, so as far as
AppleTalk is concerned, it's still fairly current.

I have a number of spare copies of the book left and if any
Evangelistas are interested, just contact the Kaidan office, and if
you promise to just to peruse the Kaidan website (QuickTime
VR-related products), we will send you a copy of the book for free
(Dr. Troen, I'll reserve a copy until I hear from you one way or the
other).

It should also be noted that the individual who convinced me to write
the "LiveWired" book and who also generously wrote the book's
foreword - is none other than Guy Kawasaki!

Regards, Jim

Jim Anders - President
Kaidan Incorporated
703 East Pennsylvania Blvd.
Feasterville, PA 19053
Phone: 215 364-1778 -
 Fax: 215 322-4186
eMail: <mailto:anders@kaidan.com> -
<http://www.kaidan.com>

------------------------------

Cheers, Grae.
-----------------------
Graeme Challis, Macintosh Consultant Phone (03) 5444-7599
La Trobe University, Bendigo, Fax (03) 5444-7975
Victoria, Australia 3550 mailto:g.challis@bendigo.latrobe.edu.au
...yellow and black... http://redgum.bendigo.latrobe.edu.au/~graeme

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