Subject: (usr-tc) Mac & TC

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 16:18:24 +0000

Everyone,

We continue to struggle with certain MAC computers connecting to our TC
racks.  The struggle is often on older MACs (prior to version 8) which
don't always come with a browser and sometimes not even a PPP stack.  Our
latest problem child is a Mac Quadra 610 with 7.1 on it . I am wodering
what folks are doing to provide software to MAC customers.  We have a CDROM
burner and we have the HyCD software which supposedly burns MAC CDROMs (
we downlaod the software off of the Internet and then burn the CDs) but
we have had limited success with this.  What are others doing to deal
with the MACs ?

THanks,

Jeff Binkley
ASA Network Computing

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From: Paul Farber <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 17:11:04 +0000

There are a *few* Mac/PC setup CD's out there.  A quick search should
bring them up.

I believe that most small/med ISP's don't have a formal MAC support
system.  Seeing that they are less prevelant than even LINUX boxes (in my
experience).... that or linux users can get on without assistance while
MAC users are led to believe that this stuff really does work as
advertised.

Paul Farber
Farber Technology
[email-masked]
Ph  570-628-5303
Fax 570-628-5545

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From: Charles Sprickman <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 17:54:31 +0000

> MAC users are led to believe that this stuff really does work as

It actually does if you don't need to dial into a HiPer DSP equipped
ISP.  You should give it a shot sometime.  Two plugs, a phone number, and
a login is about all you need.  No 'dialup adapter' or tcp-ip stack to
install/uninstall/reinstall. 

I won't vouch for the quality of the old system, but O/T PPP blows most
other crap away...  Unless you're stuck dialing into usr equipment. :)

Charles

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From: Paul Farber <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 18:38:09 +0000

And you have what experience with TC?  They are pretty good RAS'es.  Most
of the time a crappy modem (Apple is not immune to this) or old drivers
are the problem.  I wish I had a dime for every sw update that 'magically'
cleared up a connect problem.

MAC has not released new modem drivers in about 6 months.... so THEY
perfected v.90 code??? Don't think so.

Paul Farber
Farber Technology
[email-masked]
Ph  570-628-5303
Fax 570-628-5545

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From: Jeff Mcadams <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 18:52:06 +0000

Also sprach Paul Farber
>And you have what experience with TC?  They are pretty good RAS'es.  

I would agree with both of you actually.  The TC (now called "Total
Control 1000" apparently by 3Com), is a pretty good RAS unit...and OT is
a pretty slick dial-up software.  But, it is also true that TC's and
Macs tend to not play well with each other.  I tend to also agree that
the modems are most likely to blame...but that doesn't make OT suck.  :)
-- 
Jeff McAdams                            Email: [email-masked]
Head Network Administrator              Voice: (502) 966-3848
IgLou Internet Services                        (800) 436-4456

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From: Charles Sprickman <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 18:57:28 +0000

On Wed, 31 May 2000, Paul Farber wrote:

> And you have what experience with TC?  

Three years or so, give or take a few months...

> They are pretty good RAS'es.  Most

And I'd like a dime for each time it didn't.  We'd be equally rich.

> perfected v.90 code??? Don't think so.

And the last time there was a DSP release that didn't have some sort of
Rockwell fix?  Personally, I'd prefer to have 3Com add more
"workarounds" for things like this.  Too many folks end up moving over to
Ascend shops when we tell them they'll have to tweak their modem script to
connect at a max 4xxxx bps to maintain a stable connection.  The days of
USR being the "most compatible" are over.

Maybe Apple (and others) only test with Ascend/Lucent as they know that
80% or more of the the wholesale dialup ports out there are
non-3Com.  Even AOL is ditching 3Com for Cisco these days...

Charles

ps- another random thought, Michelle Catalano (sp?) does not work at
Lucent.

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From: Mike Andrews <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 22:10:22 +0000

All of the problems I can remember seening with Macs and TC's not getting
along had to do with FreePPP.  Open Transport PPP seems to work just fine
for us.  FreePPP is old and dead at this point, and there are known
documented problems with it playing nice with certain revs of HiPer ARC
code.

If they have MacTCP instead of Open Transport, upgrade them to MacOS 7.5.3
or 7.6.1, both downloadable for free from Apple because 7.1 and earlier
have Y2K problems.  7.6.1 will run on just about any Mac, and 7.5.3 runs
on the few that won't take 7.6.1.  (Hell, 7.5.3 will even run on a Mac
Plus or a Mac SE, if it has enough RAM...)  7.6.1 should have Open
Transport in it already.  I don't remember if it has OT/PPP.  But that's
the combination you want...

Expecting MacOS 7.1 to do anything well is about in line with expecting
Windows 3.1 to do anything well -- it can be made to behave if you
*really* want to try to find the right combo of software, but it's a pain
in the ass.  Whether it's worth it or not is up to you.  (Remember used
iMacs are approaching $500 if they're not already there...)

Apple's v.90 modems are Conexant (Rockwell) based, so having their latest
drivers helps.  But if you're on a MacOS 7.1 box, you're not dealing with
an Apple v.90 modem anyway.

Mike Andrews (MA12) * [email-masked] * http://www.bit0.com/
VP, sysadmin, & network guy, Digital Crescent Inc, Frankfort KY
Internet services for Frankfort, Lawrenceburg, Owenton, Shelbyville
www.fark.com: If it's not news, it's Fark.  (Or something like that.)

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