Date   : Wed, 23 Jun 2004 21:12:05 +0100
From   : "John Kenyon" <etljwk@...>
Subject: Re: PC/Econet

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Majordomo List Manager [mailto:majordomo@...]On Behalf Of
> Chris Johns
> Sent: 22 June 2004 22:32
> To: 'BBC List'
> Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] PC/Econet
> 
> 
> Just to add my 2ps worth ..
> 
> If you just want to link an Econet to an Ethernet, an A-series
> archimedes might be the easiest option. I've got an A3000 sitting
> between my Econet and Ethernet networks, its main use was to connect the
> A4 laptop (which is on the econet) to the outside world (via the
> ethernet).  It runs RISC OS, but there are versions of Linux for the
> Arcs, so it should be possible to use a Linux solution
> 
> Doesn't help if you want to connect a PC to the econet tho.

I've got an A3020 which acts as an "SMB/Econet" proxy between
BBC B/BBC Master clients and a PC Linux server running Samba.
The A3020 runs Omniclient to access the linux server, and then
a hacked version of !awServer to act as a file server to the Beebs.
I keep getting frequent timeouts though whenever I access the
Linux server over Econet with an A5000 or A3000 though.

(The aweserver "hack" is to prevent the display of the file that
omniclient creates to hold the directory metadata, such as filetypes
which RISCOS uses, but SMB doesn't support.)

> 
> As an aside, I do have the BBC IP "ROM", but I never got it to talk to
> anything (well, not an Arc running a DCI2 version of EconetA or a RISCiX
> box anyway).

IMHO not much use - like you point out most Arc stuff uses DCI4.
If you want to get data from a Econetted BBC to a box with a TCP/IP stack
via an Arc, you'd be better off writing a proxy application yourself.

I would still like to eliminate the A3020 from my network setup altogether
though.

/john