Brian L. Rosenow ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
: I am relatively new to this discussion group (about a month), and as per
: this question I hope you have not all been here, done this ...
: to death.  ;-)
 
We probably ought to add this summary to the FAQ...  First
of all, some of this was explained in great detail in the first
Technology Closeup TV broadcast back in February of '94.  If
you missed it, you can get a free videotape copy of that
broadcast by calling 1-800-224-hp3k.  The rest of it will be
explained in the latest TCU broadcast, which is going to happen
on January 20th.  You can register for that broadcast by
calling the same number.   There's an announcement of that
broadcast elsewhere in this newsgroup...
 
Secondly, your HP 3000 already has a LAN.  that 2-meter wire
connecting your DTC to the 3000 is, in fact, an Ethernet
(IEEE 802.3) LAN.  Extend it out into the office, and you
can connect other devices (including PCs, hubs, routers, etc) to
it.  So much for the hardware...
 
Thirdly, (and this is where things get a little tricky), you
may need to buy some additional software.  Although the 3000
comes standard with Ethernet, it does *not* come standard
with a TCP/IP stack.  Since virtually any internet access is
going to require TCP/IP, you *might* need to buy the
LANLINK/3000 product, which gives you this capability.
(But if you can wait just a few weeks, you might not need to
buy it.  Keep reading).  Also, if you want ftp or telnet,
you *might* need to buy the ARPA Services product.
 
Finally, (and this is the happy ending to the story), if you
can wait for just a little while, you won't need to buy any
of these products.  As of the 5.0 Platform Release of
MPE/iX, HP is bundling TCP/IP, ftp, host-based
telnet, BSD Sockets and SNMP Agent capabilities.  The only
catch is that the 5.0 Platform Release isn't shipping yet.
But it will start shipping in the 1st quarter of 1995.  When
it does start shipping, it will automatically be sent to all
HP 3000 customers with valid support contracts; (i.e. it's a
so-called "push" release, which is why lots of people call
it "5.0 push").  The bottom line is this: once you've
installed the 5.0 Platform Release, your system should be
network-ready.
 
A couple of notes.  The 5.0 platform release won't include
inbound telnet at first.  Initially, you'll only be able to telnet from
the 3000 (outbound) to another machine.  HP will bundle inbound
telnet software (from another machine into the 3000) at a later date.
 
Meanwhile, if you really need to do telnet in both directions, HP has a
product that will do it today.  But it uses an additional
card in your DTC (a "Telnet Access Card" or TAC).  HP has
indicated that it will continue to sell the TAC solutions
even after the host-based telnet software is available.
Why?  Because if you have a lot of users doing a lot of
terminal I/O, the system overhead created by the (free)
telnet software could be quite heavy.  By contrast, the TAC
card solution offloads much of the overhead to the DTC; so
for people who expect to do a lot of terminal I/O via
telnet, the TAC card solution may be preferable.