Date:	Thu, 05 Jun 1997 09:49:06 +1200
From:	physmsa AT cantua DOT canterbury DOT ac DOT nz (Mr M S Aitchison)
Subject:	Re: Linux and OpenDOS
To:	opendos-support AT delorie DOT com
Message-id:	<199706042149.JAA11867@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz>

I have connected an OpenDOS PC to a Linux server in two ways:

1. Using nfs to export filesystems on the Linux side (the "normal" Unix
way), you can get shareware nfs clients for DOS (as well as commercial
ones); I used xfs for the test (not bad software, but you have to be
extremely cautious about loading it high; also it uses packet drivers,
so you'll need ODIPKT as well).

2. Using IPX, there is free software (mars_nwe) that will let it act as
a netware server. Modern Redhat distributions include it (but don't set
it up terribly well; Caldera's is a better distribution for this).
Personal Netware clients can use "normal" Netware 3 and 4 servers, but
by default the commands like "NET SLIST" don't see them (use the /B
option).

So I've currently got the same partition exported to my PC in two ways
from a Linux box. Going the other way around isn't so simple.  You can
get free "SOSS" software to make the OpenDOS computer act as an NFS
server (but it takes over the machine; I haven't had much luck with
TASKMGR running such software but there is still hope there).  You can
also get software to make the PC export its printer to a Netware server
and from there to clients of that server.  But (as far as I know),
directories exported by Personal Netware or Netware Lite cannot be
mounted on anything but Personal Netware clients, so you'd have to run
PNW on the Linux box under DOSEMU if you want to access such drives
(and there is probably some way to make such drives available to
general Linux applications, in the same way that drives available under
disk compression schemes within a dosemu environment can be made
available as a unix filesystem).

There is also theoretically the possibility of running a Personal
Netware server in a dosemu environment under Linux, but I haven't been
able to get this working properly (I haven't tried for a while - newer
kernels and dosemu improvements might have fixed it).
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Mark Aitchison, Physics & Astronomy   \_  Phone : +64 3 3642-947 a.h. 3371-225
University of Canterbury,             </  Fax   : +64 3 3642-469  or  3642-999
Christchurch, New Zealand.           /)   E-mail: phys169 AT csc DOT canterbury DOT ac DOT nz
#include <disclaimer.std>           (/'   Callsign: ZL3TQE
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