THIS IS AN OLD PAGE FROM 2002, ARCHIVED HERE FOR HISTORIC REASONS. CAP WORKS WITH THE PRE-MACOS OS SYSTEM 6/7 FROM APPLE INC. LONG LONG GONE.

Newsflash: Source posted

Appletalk connectivity for NeXTSTEP/OpenStep

Connecting a NeXT system on a network to an Apple Macintosh, Windows NT Server or Novell server running the Appletalk protocol was always a tendinous task. We were limited to a few options:

  • Running a black NeXT with NeXTSTEP 3.0 and use the supplied (IMHO buggy) client package
  • Buying a supported commercial package, unfortunately - according to my sources - IPTs Partner was discontinued in 1995.
In the UNIX world several free packages exists which allow UNIX hosts to become Appletalk file and print servers.

Unfortunately these packages were not available on NeXTSTEP or only installable with a lot of blood, sweat and code. Well, at least until now...

Introducing Columbia Appletalk Package for NeXTSTEP/OpenStep

CAP was ported to NeXTSTEP in 1995/6 by Suzuki Yoshiaki and Satoshi Adachi who deserve all credits. So for anyone who dig deep into the web and ftp servers it was possible to fetch all needed information to setup CAP on a NeXTSTEP system with installed Developer software.

However for the mere motal user without deep insight this task was very hard to accomplish. So I put together a package which can be installed quite easily. Since CAP implements only server functionality I adapted the 'Afpmount' program and included it in the package. 'Afpmount' is an AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) to NFS (Network File System) mapper and allows machines running an NFS client to mount remote Appleshare volumes as if it were NFS exported filesystems.

What's in CAP

CAP is able to:

What's CAPer?



Click on the little screenshot to get the big one (CAPer V8)

CAPer is the installer/administration package for the CAP binary release for NeXTSTEP/OpenStep. It was written to provide you with a simple to use interface. It allows you to setup your CAP server without the need to write to config files or scripts (you still can do this if you like).

What's CAPer not?


  • Supported - my last NeXT died today (15. May 2002) and I cannot change or test anything anymore. Since some people have expressed interest I have placed the source in the download area below.
  • CAPer/CAP is not a product of Apple Inc. or NeXT Inc. or any other company. It is based on a freely available package and comes with zero warranty or support. Use are using it entirely at your own risk.
  • CAPer/CAP is not a high performance server. If you are looking for something to serve your whole company, you are in the wrong place. (Then again for a workgroup it is quite fast enough - try yourself)

Availability

CAPer may be downloaded and used free of charge. However some restrictions apply. Please read the copyright notes below. In case you want to motivate me to keep on the task of improving CAPer you can bribe me by sending a bottle of Scotch Whisky to my door :-).

The Easy-Install CAPer binary release is available on the NeXT software archives (At the moment on the Intel and m68k versions).

Please look on the NeXT Archives before using the following local links, as www.this.net is no high volume site.

Source releases

  • Caper V9A source snapshot, may compile on other platforms (I have sucessful reports from people running NS/HP) too, contains also the BPF (Berkeley Packet filter) code. This is a development snapshot, as the tape containing the V10 source was unreadable. It is the older but still reliable V9 and may compile with some warnings, the result should be ok. You may want to update CAP by applying the latest CAP patches to the source tree (for compatibility with MacOS 9 etc.)

Binary releases

Update history

V8 is the older (but usually 'rock solid') release, V10A is the current release

List of known problems in the current release of CAPer

CAPer Binaries

(* V10A implements new volume size code, which should solve the problem of wrong volume sizes reported on MacOS 8.x clients, color icons for clients, Appleshare TCP/IP extensions and a few other goodies. According to my tests it should be stable however please report any success/problem story to me)

  • CAPer V9A beta release (Implements Volume Size) for Intel only is available from Europe or the US mirror
  • CAPer V9 beta release for HPPA only is available from Europe or the US mirror
    • CAPer V9 implements some bug fixes and support for Appletalk IP, please provide feedback as this version is quite untested.

    Source code (V8)

    Prerequisites

    • For the Motorola release you'll need NeXTSTEP 3.x (where x=0,1,2,3, I have a confirmed report that it runs on 3.0 now) or OpenStep 4.x. It should work right out of the box.
    • For the Intel release you'll need NeXTSTEP 3.3 or OpenStep 4.x. Older releases do not work since some kernel symbols are missing.
    • For the HPPA release you will need NeXTSTEP 3.3 (3.2 untested - may work too). It should work out of the box. The release is to be expected soon.
    • Some PC networking card drivers do not implement multicasting. These drivers do not work with CAP/BPF for Appletalk Phase II, as it is compiled into the CAP binary release.

      These drivers are known to fail:

      • DECchip 21040 Based Adapter V3.31 and V3.36
      • NEx000.config V0.97
      • AMD PCnet32 Network Driver V3.30, V3.32 and V3.33
      • Intel EtherExpress PRO/10 V3.33
      • Intel EtherExpress PRO/100B V4.04 (NS4.1,100 MBit/s)

      These drivers seems to work fine:

      • HPPA NeXTSTEP Ethernet internal device driver
      • All m68k NeXT Ethernet internal device driver
      • Cogent EM960 PCI Ethernet Adapter V3.31
      • DECchip 21040 Based Adapter V3.37 (!)
      • EtherExpress16 V3.30
      • XircomIIpsNetworkDriver V3.32
      • SMC 16 driver V3.31
      • SMC 9332 Ethernet Adapter V4.02 (10 M/bit)
      • 3C509B Ethernet Adapter, EtherLink3 V3.30
      • NE2000 driver V3.0
      • SMC Elite Ultra V4.01
      • 3Com EtherLink III PCMCIA (using the 3C589 chipset)
    This information is given without warranty. Your mileage may vary.
    If you have information about other drivers I would be happy to put it on this page, just send me an email.

    Copyright

    Please note that this software is totally unsupported. You should have received it free of charge. Please read the copyright notes below and at the end of this document carefully. All binary releases contain the full Copyright statement.

    Copyright of CAP

    Copyright (c) 1986, 1987, 1988, The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Charlie C. Kim, User Services Group, Academic Information Services Division, Libraries and Center for Computing Activities and Bill Schilit, formerly of Computer Research Facilities, Computer Science Department.

    Permission is granted to any individual or institution to use, copy, or redistribute this software so long as it is not sold for profit, provided that this notice and the original copyright notices are retained. Columbia University makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

    Portions Copyright (c) 1985, Stanford Univ. SUMEX project. May be used but not sold without permission.

    Portions Copyright (c) 1984, Apple Computer Inc. Gene Tyacke, Alan Oppenheimer, G. Sidhu, Rich Andrews.

    Portions Copyright (c) 1990 - 1996 The University of Melbourne

    Modules copyright in part or whole by any other entity than Columbia University are clearly marked as such.

    Copyright of the afpmount program

    Written by Tor Lillqvist Copyright Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Information Technology Institute (TTE) 1993, 1994 - All Rights Reserved

    Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of VTT or TTE not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission.

    VTT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL VTT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

    Installer written and Copyrighted by Frank M. Siegert

    Permission to use, copy and distribute this Installer and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.

    FRANK SIEGERT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL FRANK SIEGERT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

    FRANK SIEGERT CANNOT GIVE SUPPORT FOR THIS PACKAGE. YOU ARE COMPLETELY ON YOUR OWN. YOU MAY FIND THE SOURCE FOR VARIOUS PACKAGES ON THIS PAGE.

    Alternatives to Appletalk connectivity

    Jude Giampaolo has written a NFS server for Macintosh systems running System 7.5.x, you can fetch it here and use it to mount your Mac volumes on your NeXT machine. Several LPD (Line Printer Deamon) programs exists on the Macintosh side, look on an info-mac mirror.

    The Apple logo is a trademark of Apple, inc. and is used for identification purposes only. All trademarks are used for identification purpose only. All symbols are used only for identification purpose too.

    Please visit my other pages, there is a lot of NeXTSTEP/OpenStep related information waiting for you. Just click on the arrow below to enter Area 51.

    Back to Franks Home Page

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