LAT implementations

[Douglas Floer]

In article <4097 at brazos.Rice.edu> kingman at tci.bell-atl.com writes:
>X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 2, message 4 of 19
>
>grootwass at tawc1.eglin.af.mil (Grootwassink, David) writes:
>|I am running some Sun-4's in what was a heavily entrenched DEC VAX/VMS
>|environment.  I can only speak to the other Suns on our network with
>|TCP/IP, all else must be done in DECnet.   Sunlink DNI has fulfilled most
>|of my networking protocol requirements, however one thing that is lacking
>|from it is an implementation of LAT  (Local Area Transport), the protocol
>|that DEC uses for it's terminal servers.  Since the chances of me getting
>|my management to buy anything not made by Digital (like a useful terminal
>|server that spoke both LAT and TCP/IP) are minimal, does anyone know of a
>|LAT implementation for the Sun?
>
>The next release (V 5.0) of CommUnity-UNIX (ie. Sunlink DNI) from
>Technology Concepts will feature a STREAMS implementation of the DECnet
>protocol stack *plus* a LAT server.  I don't know if Sun will incorporate
>any of our new stuff in their next release of Sunlink DNI.  *Expected*
>release date is first quarter '90.  Your mileage may vary...

We had the same problem here.  We are a fairly heavily entrenched VMS shop
but are buying more and more Suns.  We tried out Ki Research's LAT product
and find it to be very useful at a cost- effective price: $750 first copy,
each additional.  They like to sell it with their own DEKnet product
but we find it works fine with Sun's DNI software except on diskless
nodes.  Ki LAT supports LAT connections from DECserver 100's, 200's, and
500's with excellent throughput.  One nice feature is that you can use Ki
LAT to send lpr jobs to any LAT printer not normally directly accessible
from the Suns.

There are some bugs with the software but Ki support seems to be on top of
them.  My biggest criticism is that new releases don't arrive when
promised, but, hey, what else is new?

Doug