[G4] AppleTalk - What for now?

[Doug McNutt]

At 20:40 -0700 8/16/05, Dennis B. Swaney wrote:
>So who is correct? In order to connect my Rev B iMac running 9.2 and my G4 iMac running OS X, I have to have Appletalk active on both. According to John, it can be done, but according to Doug it can't!

Your OS 9 box does not need to communicate via AppleTalk.

File Sharing control panel. Enable file sharing over TCP/IP. I think connecting to the OS 10 box will choose IP automatically as you attempt a connection.

Somewhere in the middle of System 8 Apple purchased rights to ShareWay, a commercial product by Open Door, which allows connectivity over the internet protocol without AppleTalk.

There are some problems that aren't very serious. In my case enabling file sharing over IP on my 8500 causes the MPW mount tool to fail. There are probably other examples.

Your connections should work with a crossover cable between the Macs and external connectivity established over a radio link but it's a bit strange. The RF-enabled Mac will have to act as a bridge between its ethernet port and its RF port and I'm not so sure that will work without server software. You might need an ethernet hub or switch in the loop. You might also be better off with a wire to the roof.

I said, and I lied a bit.
>I believe AppleTalk is still present in 10.4 for the purpose of connecting to printers.

AppleTalk is also used in 10.4 for identifying computers and peripherals connected to the net. You can see a Mac OS 7 machine by name but you cannot talk to it because AppleTalk is intentionally disabled for transferring files in OS 10.4.

These URL's might be helpful.

<http://www.macfixitforums.com/php/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum35&Number=688922&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=31&fpart=1>

<<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106461#sec4>>
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