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  • Netsoft LAN

    From T. Ment@t.ment@protocol.invalid to comp.os.msdos.misc on Wed Mar 27 17:14:37 2019
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.msdos.misc

    The idea of LAN over serial cable made me curious so I found a copy of nslan140.zip and installed it. By selecting minimal options, and using
    emm386 to provide UMBs, my low DOS memory is more than 600k.

    Next, I will connect a null modem serial cable and install it on another computer, to see that it works.

    If you can't get more than 350k, you're doing something wrong. And if
    you refuse to start from scratch, with a minimal config, to figure out
    what the problem is, that's your fault.

    Does anyone have a registered copy? The unregistered one is limited to
    2 nodes. That's OK for a serial LAN, but the registered software allows
    more.


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  • From T. Ment@t.ment@protocol.invalid to comp.os.msdos.misc on Wed Mar 27 19:49:15 2019
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.msdos.misc

    On Wed, 27 Mar 2019 17:14:37 +0000, T. Ment wrote:

    I will connect a null modem serial cable and install it on another
    computer, to see that it works.

    Serial ports work at 115200, which is good, but still slow compared to ethernet. But if you don't have ethernet NICs, it's better than nothing
    for small file transfer.

    Netsoft LAN supports ethernet too, but unregistered, the two node limit
    is crippling.


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  • From T. Ment@t.ment@protocol.invalid to comp.os.msdos.misc on Wed Mar 27 20:45:20 2019
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.msdos.misc

    On Wed, 27 Mar 2019 17:14:37 +0000, T. Ment wrote:

    Does anyone have a registered copy? The unregistered one is limited to
    2 nodes. That's OK for a serial LAN, but the registered software allows
    more.

    Source code would be interesting.

    But all I can find on Albert Graham or Netsoft Network Software at 20
    Sea Road, Galway, Ireland, is a post to comp.archives.msdos.announce in
    1997.

    www.netsoft.ie is no more.



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  • From Mateusz Viste@mateusz@wont.tell to comp.os.msdos.misc on Thu Mar 28 07:03:55 2019
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.msdos.misc

    On Wed, 27 Mar 2019 19:49:15 +0000, T. Ment wrote:

    On Wed, 27 Mar 2019 17:14:37 +0000, T. Ment wrote:

    I will connect a null modem serial cable and install it on another
    computer, to see that it works.

    Serial ports work at 115200, which is good, but still slow compared to ethernet. But if you don't have ethernet NICs, it's better than nothing
    for small file transfer.

    Netsoft LAN supports ethernet too, but unregistered, the two node limit
    is crippling.

    Use PLIP. https://bit.ly/2U1sO06

    Mateusz
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  • From T. Ment@t.ment@protocol.invalid to comp.os.msdos.misc on Thu Mar 28 15:53:10 2019
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.msdos.misc

    On 28 Mar 2019 07:03:55 GMT, Mateusz Viste wrote:

    Use PLIP. https://bit.ly/2U1sO06

    How much memory does YAPCBR take? EtherDFS?

    Netsoft supports parallel port too, and apparently, routing. Might do
    the same job. It's conservative with memory. A two node serial LAN takes
    30k for peer to peer (server and client), and another 1k for the serial
    driver.

    Microsoft LANMAM takes about 75k for NETBEUI and the basic redirector,
    and that's only client. With LANMAN, NETBEUI seems to be required, but
    Netsoft works without it. NetBIOS is an extra option you can omit.

    I wonder how Netsoft uses the DOS 3+ network redirector. Undocumented
    DOS says it's poorly documented. Maybe Netsoft figured it out. What a
    pity its creator is long gone.

    Netsoft has 23 .COM files, the largest at 57431. Except for the few
    Windows related files, it might be a doable disassembly project, given
    enough time.


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