This is the README for TransSys-PNI.1.13.NI.b.tar.gz [Download] [Browse] [Up]
TransSys PNI 1.13 release Software and Documentation is Copyright 1993, 1994 by TransSys, Inc. and Louis A. Mamakos All rights reserved. WHAT IT IS ---------- This software distribution is the first (non-beta) release of the TransSys PNI Software package. TransSys PNI is a very flexible and configurable networking product for Motorola- and Intel-based NeXTSTEP platforms. TransSys PNI is intended to be run on Release 3.1 and 3.2 NeXTSTEP systems. TransSys PNI will allow your NeXTSTEP system to communicate with remote systems using SLIP (Serial Line IP) over serial ports and other virtual devices. It has sophisticated packet filtering abilities as well to control access to various services on your system. There are three versions of the software available: PNI-SLIP -- A freely available version which implements SLIP. This version is available both as a demo of the software and as a public service to the NeXT community - NEXTSTEP systems should have a SLIP solution available free of charge, as do many other platforms. PNI-BASIC -- a commercial version of the software which implements SLIP (as above) as well as CSLIP, which is SLIP with TCP Header Compression. PNI-PRO -- a commercial version, which, along with the PNI-BASIC features, also includes IP packet filtering (including idle link timeouts) and support for IP tunnels. See the file 'ORDER', included in the demo distributions, for detailed ordering information. TransSys recommends that only those users that are already familiar with SLIP and IP networking in general attempt to install and use the package. Of course, it costs nothing to try to install the demo software, however, limited support is available. RANDOM TOPICS ------------- There are plans for an HP-PA version, but no estimated date for such a version is available. For now, this package on runs on Intel and Motorola based 3.1 and 3.2 NeXTSTEP systems. There are reports that it runs on the first 3.3 pre-release kernel. I expect that version PNI 1.13 will *not* run on the released 3.3 kernel which will include IP multicast support and likely different kernel interfaces. This version doesn't implement dial-on-demand, though PNI-PRO can implement idle link timeouts using a very precise packet filter specificiation. WHERE YOU CAN GET IT -------------------- A demo version of TransSys PNI is available via anonymous FTP from: FTP.UU.NET: /vendor/TransSys/TransSys-PNI-1.13.tar.gz sonata.cc.purdue.edu: /pub/next/submissions/TransSys-PNI-1.13.tar.gz ftp.cs.orst.edu: /pub/next/submissions/TransSys-PNI-1.13.tar.gz the copy on FTP.UU.NET will exist until the next release is available, and should be considered to be the definitive version. The software on the Purdue and Oregon State archives will likely move to their final resting places fairly quickly. Archive maintainers: please remove any earlier versions you might have. The base-SLIP only version is free of charge, just like TransSys DialUp-IP. Other capabilities (CSLIP, filtering, tunnels, etc) will be licensed at an additional charge. Included is a SLIP-only license key string with no expiration date. You can request a demo license key to enable CSLIP, packet filtering and tunnels by sending a request to pni-demo@TransSys.COM requesting a demonstration license key. Users of TransSys Dial-Up IP who have purchased a license for the CSLIP version (prior to August 1, 1994) will have a free (or nominal cost if media is required) upgrade to TransSys PNI. Do this to get an automatic upgrade from Dial-Up IP to PNI: grep ':' /usr/dialupip/config/keyfile | /usr/ucb/mail -s upgrade info@TransSys.COM MORE INFORMATION ---------------- Please read the doc/pni.ps.Z file which contains the documentation for TransSys PNI. You should uncompress it and either print the file (about 90 pages) or view it using the NeXTSTEP Preview application. There are also a set of ASCII files (in doc/info-files.tar.Z) which can be extracted and read using the GNU emacs "info" hypertext package or by just paging through it with a text editor. Alternatively, if you have Internet connectivity and a WorldWideWeb browser application, you can examine the URL http://WWW.TransSys.COM/TransSys/pni-info.html to examine the manual (and other information) without having to fetch the entire package. This WWW service is experimental, and may change without notice. Additional information on TCL and TCL extensions are available in the files doc/Tcl.ps.Z and doc/TclX.ps.Z. Comments, suggestions and feature requests can be sent via email to pni@TransSys.COM. Users of the PNI package that would like to be notified of new release and other occasional information should also drop a message to pni@TransSys.COM to get added to a distribution list for announcements. Louis Mamakos TransSys, Inc. ($Id: README,v 1.10 1994/10/03 03:49:31 louie Exp $)
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.