At 12:08 PM 11/16/2000 -0500, Brian Chase wrote:
>On Thu, 16 Nov 2000, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>
> > Or RSX...
> > (I think there might be LAT for Linux nowadays too...)
> > We should really get LAT and DECnet running on NetBSD. :-)
>
>Yeah, especially given that we actually support a lot of the DEC systems,
>VAX, PMAX, and Alpha.  Someone already mentioned the latd daemon under
>Linux.  How hard could it be to port it to NetBSD? :-)

LAT is not that complex to write a program to handle.  The hardest part is
handling multiple ptys in the same daemon.  This program would talk over the
bpf.  This is easier to debug.

Though it's actually somewhat easier to implement as a kernel tty driver.
Since LAT is so simple (maybe 2KLOC for the core protocol logic) you can
simplify a number of things by making this a kernel driver.  Though it might
be better as a kernel thread to make sure that networking I/O does not stomp
on outbound terminal I/O.  This also makes reverse LAT possible and that's
useful for printers and console servers.

I've done this a number of times in the past.  The real problem is that the
LAT patent is still in force for a few more years and you really need 
permission
from Cabletron(?) or whomever got the LAT patent rights in the Digital death
spasms.
--
Matt Thomas               Internet:   matt@3am-software.com
3am Software Foundry      WWW URL:    http://www.3am-software.com/bio/matt/
Cupertino, CA             Disclaimer: I avow all knowledge of this message