[HECnet] Quiet list and a question about setting up a system

[Bob Armstrong]

Johnny wrote:
You also need to figure out where to connect to, "physically". That is, 
which remote machine will you talk to, and using which protocol.
There are several options. Most people either use a VMS machine as a 
router, and go through an IP-tunneled connection handled by VMS, or they 
use my bridge program, which acts just like any bridge.

  Right - you either need a VAX or Alpha running OpenVMS and the Multinet
TCP/IP package (both of which have free hobbyist licenses), OR you need a
Unix host running Johnny's bridge program.   I believe in the latter case
NetBSD is preferred, but Johnny can correct me if that's wrong.

  It's unfortunate, but a VAX/Alpha running OpenVMS is the only thing you
can connect directly to HECnet.   For anything else you end up needing an
intermediary to serve as a DECnet router - either an OpenVMS machine or a
NetBSD machine, as described above.

  It's possible that the Linux DECnet implementation supports tunneling over
TCP/IP that's compatible with Multinet, but I can't remember.   Christine
would know.   If that's true, then it would be a third option.

Bob