Subject: Re: Netatalk and localtalk conectivity?
To: None <>
From: Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU>
List: current-users
Date: 02/09/1999 10:48:31
    Date:        Mon, 08 Feb 1999 18:09:48 -0500
    From:        Ted Lemon <>
    Message-ID:  <>

  | Actually, the DECstation 5000's after the /200 are also ideal
  | platforms for this, since they can do DMA from the serial chip

There's more to localtalk than the packet data itself - the way it does
collision avoidance/detection has a bunch of timing constraints that are
real hard to live with unless you have nothing else to do (it really also
needs very accurate timing of interrupt latency).

Adding (or wasting time attempting to add) localtalk to any kind of
real timesharing OS just isn't worth the bother (unless you have an
i/o processor to do the low level work for you).

I have (in the distant past, back when it was more relevant than today)
done a localtalk implementation, and it really isn't something I would wish
upon anyone.