Connectivity Is the New Buzzword
I’m ambidextrous when it comes to computing. Sometimes I use an Apple Macintosh and at other times I rely on an IBM PC.
Switching back and forth between the two machines has created some problems. Sometimes I’ll start a project on one machine and need to finish it on the other. Unfortunately, the disks are incompatible, so transferring data between the two systems is no simple matter. But the computer industry has a way of solving the problems it creates.
Most of my incompatibility problems have been solved by a Berkeley company that makes a local area network linking the Macintosh with IBM PCs or IBM-compatible machines. A local area network, or LAN, is a system linking two or more computers, usually with some kind of a cable, so that they can share data and such equipment as printers and disk drives.
The Tops network, from Centram Systems West, is an ingenious hardware-software combination that uses low-cost network cables or even-lower priced phone wires to transfer data between Macintoshes and IBM PC-type equipment.
(Centram Systems West is at 2560 Ninth St., Berkeley, Calif., 94710. (800) 445-8677 in California or (800) 222-8677 outside the state.)
Tops also can be used to tie together computers of the same type, making it possible to move information from machine to machine without swapping disks. It also allows IBM PCs to print directly to Apple’s LaserWriter printer. The LaserWriter is the preferred laser printer for many graphic and desktop publishing applications.
There are separate versions of Tops that run on the PC and the Mac. The Mac system, which sells for $149 per computer, consists of software only. That’s because the network hardware, called AppleTalk, is built into all Macintoshes.
The printer port on the back of all Macs can be used to connect the machines to the network. Without special software such as Tops, the built-in AppleTalk equipment can be used only to connect the Mac to Apple’s LaserWriter printer.
Tops’ IBM PC version, which sells for $389 per computer, includes software and a plug-in board that adds an AppleTalk adapter to an IBM PC.
To complete the network, you need wires between each computer and a special connector that attaches the wires to the computers.
AppleTalk connectors, from Apple Computer, sell for about $50 per computer. A less expensive alternative is PhoneNet connectors from Berkeley-based Farralon Corp.
Unlike the Apple connectors, the PhoneNet system, which costs about $38 per computer, allows you to use standard two-line wires like those used to connect telephones. For convenience, they connect to the wires using the standard modular phone jacks.
Computers on a Tops network can access files on the hard disk of any other computer in the network.
If you’re sitting at a Mac connected to a PC, all files on the PC’s hard disk look as if they are in folders on a Macintosh disk. PC users see a file listing that looks just like MS-DOS’s “tree-structured” directories.
Mac users can have a PC’s hard disk store files and even programs that can be run on the Mac. As far as the Mac user is concerned, that disk may just as well be plugged directly into the Mac (except for the fact that programs load a little slower). Likewise, the PC user can store files on a Mac disk.
It’s possible for a user to keep files private. To be accessible to the network, directories on either PC or Mac disks must be “published” by the user.
But Tops doesn’t have the security level of some of the more sophisticated network products. Some networks, for example, offer the ability to declare files off-limits to some users but not others.
I tested Tops by creating a four-computer network with an (IBM AT-compatible) Hewlett-Packard Vectra, an IBM PC, a Mac Plus and a Mac II. Using a file translation feature built into Tops, I was able to transfer files created with WordPerfect and WordStar so they could be used by a word-processing program on the Macintosh.
Then I used the Excel spreadsheet on the Mac to analyze some spreadsheet files that I had created on the PC with Lotus 1-2-3. Excel had no trouble running 1-2-3 spreadsheets. Excel is also able to save its data as Lotus 1-2-3 files for use on an IBM PC.
Tops, however, does not allow you to use PCs to run programs designed for the Mac or vice versa. That isn’t possible because of the incompatibilities of the machines’ central processing units. Nor does it guarantee that data created by one computer will be accessible to programs running on the other.
But a growing number of programs are able to exchange data between the two machines. Microsoft Word for the Mac (version 3.0) is able to exchange files directly with its PC equivalent.
Ashton-Tate has announced a data-compatible Mac version of dBase III, and WordPerfect Corp. plans a Mac version of its popular PC-based word-processing program. Aldus Corp. has recently released compatible Mac and PC versions of its popular PageMaker desktop publishing program.
In January, Apple announced its own “AppleShare” network, which includes a board for connecting IBM PCs to an AppleTalk network. Tangent Technologies, of Norcross, Ga., makes a similar network card.
As a result of such networks and programs that create compatible data, it is no longer so critical that all machines in an office be completely compatible. Mixing IBMs, Macintoshes and other computers has finally become a real possibility.
Computer buyers can select the machine that fits their needs, knowing that they will be able to exchange information with people using different equipment.
A few years ago, corporate computer wizards spent a lot of time worrying about compatibility. Now, with more than one office standard and system to link otherwise incompatible computers, connectivity has become the newest buzzword.
