🚀 go-pugleaf

>(P.S.  an answer like 'GNO, not yet' will be dealt with in a most
> severe fashion   :)  )

Oh, I can't resist...  As soon as we figure it out, we'll let you GNO. ;-)

>   We don't know precisely what's in store for us (and the kernel)
> for the TCP/IP implementaiton; when we have a better handle on that
> we'll do some man-hours estimates.  This will happen within a few
> weeks.

Jawaid and I have a lot of thinking to do about this.  We would rather plan it
out and do it right the first time than to have to do it again later.

I suppose now would be as good a time as any to talk about what will be
provided by the TCP/IP stuff.  (drum roll...)  I'll be glad to answer questions
from those to whom the following doesn't mean much.  All of this should be
available when GNO 1.1 ships.

Interface support:
	SLIP built in (no dialupip or CSLIP, this will be later)
	MacIP over LocalTalk (for those of you with access to LocalTalk nets
		with FastPath routes on them)
	When it becomes available, ethernet - the software is written already,
		it's just a matter of getting the hardware

Internals:
	IP, ICMP, UDP, TCP
	socket interface to UDP and TCP (just like BSD)
	Dynamic routing (a routed and RIP can be done later)
	ARP capable of supporting multiple hardware types (E-net, Atalk, etc.)

Provided utilities:
	netstat, ping, possibly other cool debugging utils
	right now, I have tftpd implemented as a standalone daemon
	there will be an actual inetd (need sockets :-) that operates exactly
		like BSD's
	either Jawaid or I will provide a library for host information and
		machine name lookup (like BSD's)

IP, ICMP, and UDP are essentially done.  I'm in the process of putting together
TCP now - it's a big one, and there is a certain amount of flexibility allowed
to the programmer that isn't specified in the RFC's.  For those of you who were
worried about performance, don't.  I've been able to get tftp (UDP) transfers
over SLIP (19200) as fast as 1000cps, and this is with some amount of debugging
and without completely optimized serial drivers.  When I get a FastPath to play
around with LocalTalk, I'm sure it will fly.

Jawaid and I are pretty sure that once the socket support it completed, we
should be able to take most of the TCP utils and simply compile them.  :-)
This includes ftp, telnet, smtp, nntp, whatever (yes, even an NFS server).
When info on the FST's become available, I hope to do an NFS FST so that the
IIgs can also be a NFS client.

All of this is written to properly utilize multitasking.  The drivers are
interrupt driven, and the rest of the code relies on semaphores to put it
into motion.  What this means to you is that you won't even notice that it is
there and running unless it is doing something.  Well, except that it takes up
memory, but I'll optimize it to use as little ZP as possible.

If you have suggestions, now is the time.  This will be as complete as I can
possibly make it, and I am willing to entertain requests.

Release will be binaries only, but free for the asking (I want to hold on to
the source code, if you don't mind...).  You shouldn't ever have to pay for
networking, on any platform.

Derek