[HECnet] VAX/VMS 1.50

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2013-04-08 18:13, Clem Cole wrote:
I'm scratching very stale memory bits here, but Ultrix for the Vax/750
circa 1982/83 might have had a MOP server that did not need a full
DECnet install.     We did not run DEC-Net at one of my jobs because we
had TCP/IP which did everything DECNet could do and worked across
vendors.     But I thought had a couple of LAT devices to support some
dial-up modems and a funky DEC printer that after it booted, spoke TCP
fine, but used MOP to boot.       I was not involved with configuration or
maintaining any of it, so none of the details ever stuck and lend
together in my mind.     But I would think you look at Ultrix around that
time you might find something.

Ultrix definitely got a mop server at some point. If it was around in 1982/83 is something I can't comment much on, however...

The flag day for TCP/IP was 1 Jan 1983, so I wouldn't expect you were running much TCP/IP before that point. (Yes, I know experiments and development was going on, but the number of implementations were few, still had issues, and was very much work still in progress.)

NCP maybe?

I know we had a 3Com terminal server that was a piece of work, but we
ran the UUCP link of the Vax for a long time and the modems I thought
were on a LAT.     I just don't remember.

My memories of LAT were that it was it's own protocol in the ethernet
sense (i.e. had it's own packet type IIRC I want to say 6003) which was
different from what DECnet used.   It was a very low overhead protocol,
very MIT Chaos-Net like, and much more efficient for terminals and other
low speed devices than TCP.

Correct. LAT is a protocol on ethernet. 0x6004 in fact. 0x6003 is actually DECnet.

LAT is rather efficient, but it don't have any routing capability.

	Johnny


Clem


On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 8:07 AM, Bob Armstrong <bob at jfcl.com
<mailto:bob at jfcl.com>> wrote:

        > LAT is _NOT_ part of DECnet.   LAT can be run without DECnet installed
        > or running.   IIRC, LAT was licensed with VMS.

            Yeah, but most (actually, "all" I think) of the DECservers
      required MOP to
      download them.   How did you do that without DECnet?

            Or was it just an unwritten catch-22 that you had to have a
      DECnet node
      somewhere to boot up your terminal server, even if it wasn't the
      node you
      actually wanted to connect to ?

      Bob




-- 
Johnny Billquist                                   || "I'm on a bus
                                                                  ||   on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se                         ||   Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                                         ||   tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol