Hello!

    I'll be adding a Mac (Duo with PowerPC chip and MacOS 8) to a
10Base-T LAN full of MS Windows 98 PCs.  Will I be able to access
MS-Windows shared folders from the Mac?  What about accessing MacOS
shared folders from a PC?

Regards,
  - Andy.

19 responses total.

oooh. Good question. Quick search turns up some info on "AppleShare", which
should be just what you're looking for. My bet guess is that they've included
it with OS8/9/X. I really need to get my hands on more Mac hardware, my skills
are quite lacking there. 

    Well, here's a (very) brief summary of what I've found
out so far.  Apple sell a product called AppleShare IP which
would allow MS-Windows users to connect to the fileserver
over the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.  It would also
allow our Mac user to connect to the same file space over
the AppleTalk protocol.  The only catch is that we would
need to fork out for a new fileserver (presumably an Apple
G4).  I think it might be worth our while though, since it
looks like the friendliest file server I've ever seen and
should be pretty robust.

    All that said though, I was a bit surprised by the blank
stare I got down the telephone when I asked about NFS
connectivity for Macintosh.

AppleShare is a MacOS component that has been around 'forever'. I use
it on my home ethernet LAN, but I've never put a PC on the net. But it
sounds like you are already way ahead of me, so I'll just watch....
though I will mention that there is a Mac app called DAVE 2.5 which
"makes your Mac perform like another PC on the network". There is also
 TIMBUKTU Pro 2000, which might do the same thing. NOW I'll shut up....

Over ten years ago now, I used some PC Network software caled TOPS.
It spoke ApleTalk over 10baseT ethernet.  I have no idea whatever
became of it.  But as soon as I get an ethernet card for my AT, I'll
need something like it again.  As I recall, TOPS came free with the
networking card.

Well, I can't shut up, as I just encountered a new Mac/PC compatibility
question...for a printer. I want a PC and a Mac to share an HP 932C
printer. This has a USB port for use with Macs and a parallel port for use
with PCs. Can I just plug the Mac into the USB, and the PC into the
parallel, simultaneously? Both drivers are on the drivers CD-ROM.  (I
don't have, currently, a PC with a CD-ROM drive to try this out). 

It depends on the printer.  Some will let you do that, but some will only
allow one port to be enabled at a time.  My HP Laserjet IId has a serial and
a parallel port, for example, but which one is active gets chosen in the
setup menu.

In this instance, one would choose the printer from the Mac in the
Chooser, and do whatever one has to do to choose the printer from
the Windows program, so its a question of where a collision might occur.
Strange that the User's Manual and HP Support on the web make no mention
of sharing the printer. 

I understand that Windows 98 supports USB. If the PC has a USB port, could
the Mac, the PC and the printer all be networked with a USB hub? This
works for two Macs and a printer on an Ethernet, LocalTalk (or combined) 
network.

It's more a question of whether the printer will accept input from either
input, and have the necessary software to deal with simultaneous requests.

I don't mind if it doesn't accept simultaneous requests, but the
drivers do permit background printing. I just don't want to have a
mess of switches and cables (or, engage in plugging and unplugging).

Can you have two PC's on the same USB bus?  As I understand it no.
The different shape of the A and B plugs makes this impossible.
Note cables have an A plug on one end and a B plug on the other.

Nice devices by good manufactuers have two ports one each A and B.
Thus they can be chained together without the need for a hub.

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I really doubt you could have two PCs... maybe the bus standard might allow
it, but by now the software is probably locked into the single PC ide.

There are special USB adapters that have a lump in the middle and A connectors
on each end, for linking two PCs together.  The one I saw in a (Tiger Direct)
catalog said you network up to 17 PCs together using USB hubs.

This response has been erased.

Re #11

Theoretically possible, but unusual.  One problem might be
the number of SCSI host adaptors that assume they're device
7.

One of the really cool things Apple did in some of their
owerBook computers was to make them capable of pretending
they was a disk drive, so you could plug your PowerBook into
(say) a desktop Mac and mount the PowerBook as though it
were a disk.  That's a really good example of Apple Thinking
Different.

This response has been erased.

I think I remember there being jumpers on my Adaptec 1522B.

Yes, lots of SCSI hosts allow you to change that, but they don't make it
obvious how.  And a friend of a friend had two computers 'networked'
with SCSI.  They commmunicated by writing (manual mutex) and reading a
disk on the bus.  It was something like
HOST(ID7)---Disk(ID4)---HOST(ID6).  Very odd.  Very not normal.  This
person also used to make images for artistic prints by writing the
postscript by hand into a file.  

Some people just have a powerful urge to make computers do things they
really don't want to do. ;>

For the collective memory I solved the original Mac
connectivity question by adding a Snapserver to the LAN. PCs
access it using SMB and Macs (of which there are now a few)
using AppleTalk.

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