> > We don't support LocalTalk yet, so the NetBSD box can't be on the
> > LocalTalk net.
> 
> Amazingly, I'm logged in over LocalTalk right now... :)
> 
> Here's the setup: I have a Plus, an SE, and my Quadra 610 LocalTalked
> together. (There's also a LocalTalk connector on the NetBSD box as well,
> but it's not in use, of course, while the machine's in NetBSD mode.)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's what I meant.

> The Plus has a tiny little hard drive, and all it runs is the VersaTerm
> terminal server software and MacTCP/MacPPP. It's connected to the NetBSD
> box via PPP, and it serves telnet connections to the LocalTalk net via
> ADSP. The advantage here is that potentially up to twenty machines on the
> LocalTalk net can log onto the Unix box all at the same time. It's the next
> best thing to having NetBSD support LocalTalk directly... That, and it's
> error-free, since both ADSP and PPP will retransmit bad packets. The speed
> is more than reasonable, too.

Cool.

> My next quest will be to have the machines on the LocalTalk net use MacPPP
> and SLiRP to actually get real TCP connections to the NetBSD box. I imagine
> running SLiRP over a PPP connection will slow things down a touch, but the
> functionality would probably be worth it.

Or if you got router software for the Plus, it could route MacIP
(IP encapsulated in AppleTalk) onto the ppp link. Then you wouldn't
have so many overlaping layers.

> A way-off future goal of mine is to implement direct support for LocalTalk
> in NetBSD, but that's probably way beyond my skills at the moment. It might
> not be that way forever, though.

It's actually on my to-do list. Getting AppleTalk into the kernel was the
first step. Now I'm working on getting lkm network interfaces. Hopefully
the work for them will make 1.3. :-) Then the actual code will be easy.

Take care,

Bill