I suppose this is getting OT... But to beat a dead horse some more... >It's because the serial controller chip on a Mac does more than just >pass bytes, it handles the address and data stream encoding and >decoding. LocalTalk processing on the Mac is CPU intensive. Once a >packet transfer begins the CPU is dedicated to processing bytes >to/from the serial port.
Ah, so the serial ports act as actual NICs then, eh? But which is it? The CPU that does the encoding/addressing and writes the bytes out the serial port, or the serial port that does the encoding/addressing? Serial ports aren't like ethernet hardware with a separate MAC/physical layer/etc, are they? I thought they were pretty much just dumb pieces of I/O equipment - send whatever bytes you want to them, they'll write it out - the CPU handles all the addressing, encoding, etc. It shouldn't matter to the port what is passing through it. And, similarly, that should be why you can only hook up one device per port (as opposed to USB, which is a bus) - the serial hardware doesn't do any addressing itself, so multiple devices would never know which bytes belong to which device. Or is it that the serial ports go from dumb to smart when you use LocalTalk? As in, with LocalTalk inactive, the ports just read/write bytes. With LocalTalk active, the ports do all sorts of network packet stuff like addressing, ARP, RARP, etc? What about the GeoPorts and Serial/LocalTalk DMA? >Huh! I've used MacIP over LocalTalk on my PowerBooks w/ OS 9.1 >plenty of times. Both with IPNetRouter and with a FastPath. I doubt that. Apple even states this in the Knowledge Base. (And I'm pretty darn certain that this time the KB is correct.) <http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=31211> Heck, even Sustainable Networks says it can't be done. <http://www.sustworks.com/site/prod_ipr_troubleshoot.html#macos9> So, let me get this straight: The localtalk cable is connected directly to your PowerBook's serial port, you've got AppleTalk on the PowerBook set to "Printer/Modem Port", and you've got TCP/IP set to "Connect via: AppleTalk (MacIP)"? All this under OS 9? I'd be fascinated if this were true, because I've been living without having my 68k non-ethernet-equipped Macs not on the Internet for some time. MacIP _does_ work over ethernet, though. If you've got that FastPath set up to provide an ethernet cable connection to/from your PowerBook and a LocalTalk connection to the rest of the network, that is entirely different than having the LocalTalk cable connected directly to your PowerBook. This I've tried with IPNetRouter & OS 9.1. It doesn't work. Explain please! I'd love to be wrong here! Peace, Drew -- Author of ClassicStumbler email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> web: <http://homepage.mac.com/alk/> Want to know if your neighbor has Wi-Fi? Find out with ClassicStumbler! <http://homepage.mac.com/alk/classicstumbler/> -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PowerBooks list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/powerbooks.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/powerbooks%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
