Date   : Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:57:34 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: [almost OT] Econet/NetFS server for Linux - Interest?

Richard Gellman wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> As a personal challenge, and due to an astonishing lack of Google 
> results on the subject, I've started writing an Econet/NetFS server for 
> Linux, using the AUN (Econet-over-UDP) protocol. This means its somewhat 
> limited to 32-bit machines with an ethernet card at present, but it 
> could be adapted to operate with native Econet cards.

I think we went over this one a while ago in the context of supporting Econet 
via a hardware device on the PC (Econet cards being somewhat rare) - opinion 
was divided whether to use an off-the-shelf port like parallel, or something 
more complex (USB and/or its own controller); there was also the issue of 
whether to use the ADLC that the beeb itself uses, or whether a replacement 
could be homebrewed (I wouldn't say that the ADLC chips are rare yet, but 
others seem to be having a different experience)

[Aside: memory from ex-employees seems to be that Acorn's VAX fileserver used 
a dedicated BBC as the front-end to equip it with Econet support]

But yeah, I'd love to see a PC-based server for 8 bit machines; personally I 
don't have much interest in the 32 bit stuff (apart from ARM copros and 
32016-based bits ;)

cheers

Jules

-- 
If you've ever wondered how you get triangles from a cow
You need buttermilk and cheese, and an equilateral chainsaw