Date   : Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:27:54 +0000
From   : "Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...>
Subject: Re: Econet hardware / software differences

As for logging on, Level 1 Econet does have the *I AM command but
it takes a different form than the more common usage in later servers, it is
simply *I AM <file server number>, rather like the *FS command which is
an Econet library utility command or part of ANFS.  It is just there to identify
yourself to the file server rather than to log on as such.

Later the command took the form *I AM (<file server number>) <user id>
<password> from Level 2 onwards.

Best wishes,


Ian

----- Original Message -----
From: Jules Richardson
To:   bbc-micro@...
Sent: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:31:24 +0000
Subject: [BBC-Micro] Econet hardware / software differences


Has anyone documented the differences over time in the Econet hardware and 
software protocols?

I'm just looking at some documentation for someone relating to the System and 
Atom fileserver code (labelled as "Econet version 1") and one of the things it 
mentions is that eventually the protocol would be extended to allow for 
gateways by having a 16 bit station address - I believe that this is what 
indeed happened?

The v1 fileserver is rather primitive too, allowing only 2 private files per 
station and seemingly no concept of log on/off.

By the time we get to a document branded as "Econet version 2", log on is 
there as is support for directories - but remote viewing of a user's display 
isn't mentioned (did this get dropped or does it just not happen to be in the 
doc?)

A separate doc by B Robertson dated 15/2/1982 mentions that the v2 fileserver 
code had some changes made to the control byte handling, non packet 
acknowledgement, and various tweaks to allow it to run at 2MHz. (There's also 
mention in the same doc of a possible future Econet project to combine the 
data and clock line...)

So, has anyone looked into the differences and what changed when? I get the 
impression it was fairly standardised by mid 1982, but prior to that Econet 
was still subject to various tweaks and changes.

cheers

Jules