-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunFlash October 1991 Table Of Contents SunFLASH Vol 34 #toc October 1991 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This mailing list have been inactive for the last few weeks due to my recent overseas vacation. You should expect to see a burst of articles as I process my backlog ! I'll try to keep the flow of articles as even as possible. The archives on solar.nova.edu, paris.cs.miami.edu and newstop.ebay.sun.com (Sun access only) will be updated in the next few days. -johnj -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash is an electronic news service for Sun Microsystems computer users. It is distributed by more than 90 Sun offices and by about 40 Sun Local Users Groups in more than 35 countries. The Florida SunFlash has a subscription base of more that 40,000 Sun users. This is the October table of contents for the Florida SunFlash. If there are any items that you missed and really want to see, please send the required volume.issue numbers to flash@sunvice.East.Sun.com. For more information about SunFlash, send mail to info-sunflash thus: $ mail info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM Subject: info info ^D $ John J. McLaughlin, SunFlash Editor, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary Of October's Messages -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Line Count Vol.# Title 86 34.01 SunPics To Focus On Printing, Imaging 106 34.02 SunPics: Japanese Printing Software 88 34.03 SunPics: Printer's Palette At Seybold 171 34.04 Cisco, SynOptics and SunConnect 105 34.05 Sun Honors 30 Suppliers For Performance 105 34.06 Secure SunOS CMW For Client-Server 90 34.07 SBus Prestoserve For SPARCserver 2 114 34.08 New Sun Business: SunConnect 392 34.09 SunConnect: FDDI, HSI, SunNet Mgr, PC-NFS 151 34.10 SunSoft: Early Access Program For NIS+ 77 34.11 SunConnect, Spider: Future X.25 Products 37 34.12 IPX systems: Now with one 16MB SIMM 183 34.13 9th SUG Conference & Exhibit: Dec 9-11 549 34.14 Distribution Of the Florida SunFlash 302 34.15 Book Review: Benchmark Handbook 110 34.16 Software Specials (August/September) 169 34.17 PC-NFS 3.5/ Lifeline,backup 2, Telnet 168 34.18 SunConnect: Solaris, NetWare Connectivity 124 34.19 OpenConnect: Server II Gateway for Sun 62 34.20 New Version Of eNFS Introduced 181 34.21 Software Configuration Guide 139 34.22 SunVision 1.1 331 34.23 Sun Software Update Release History 63 34.24 SW Specials Monthly Sum. ( October ) Total 3903 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary of Messages Sent This Month -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 34.01 SunPics To Focus On Printing, Imaging MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --October 2, 1991-- Sun Microsystems, Inc., today formally introduced SunPics, a business unit dedicated to designing and marketing technology for the printing and imaging marketplace. The creation of SunPics (Printing and Imaging Computer Systems) on July 1, 1991 underscored Sun's commitment to the printing business. SunPics develops and markets products that make printing faster, less expensive, and more flexible for network-based workgroups. With a new approach to network printing and a complete line of innovative products, SunPics reinforces Sun's aggressive drive into broad, general-purpose computer markets--particularly those dominated by PCs--and has expanded the printing market by increasing users' printing capabilities. 34.02 SunPics: Japanese Printing Software Nihongo NeWSprint Software Provides a Low-Cost, Efficient Way for Workstation Users to Print the Japanese Character Set on a Wide Range of Output Devices. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--October 2, 1991--SunPics, a Sun Microsystems Inc., business, today introduced the special Nihongo NeWSprint(TM) 1.0, a version of its successful NeWSprint(TM) software designed for the Japanese market. Nihongo NeWSprint implements Sun's network printing model, an improvement over traditional printing schemes. PostScript(R) image processing is performed by the CPU of a SPARC(R) workstation rather than by the printer and fonts are stored in a server on the network. In this model, no intelligence or on-board memory are required of the printer. The result is lower-cost printers, faster image processing and, because almost any output device can support NeWSprint software, a wider selection of printing choices for the user. 34.03 SunPics: Printer's Palette At Seybold One-Stop Shopping for Sun and Third-Party Printing Products MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--October 2, 1991--SunPics, a Sun Microsystems, Inc., business, today introduced Volume One of The Printer's Palette(TM) CD product containing more than 170 hardware and software products from third-party vendors for use in the company's open network printing environment. The Printer's Palette CD makes it easy for users to explore, purchase and install PostScript(R) printing products from third-party vendors. Volume One of the Printer's Palette CD includes more than 20 printers and plotters, 600 F3(TM) fonts, typefaces, file format conversion software, Macintosh(R) computer printing software, and NeWSprint printing services. Complete product information-and often the product itself-is included on the CD, and the products are organized by category to make comparison shopping easy. Many software products on the Printer's Palette CD are offered free of charge and can be installed directly from the CD onto the user's system; software products for sale can be purchased with a call to the vendor, who supplies a password to unlock the product. 34.04 Cisco, SynOptics and SunConnect CISCO AND SYNOPTICS SIGN AGREEMENT TO DEFINE NEXT-GENERATION NETWORK COMPUTING SYSTEM The following third-party announcement was made today by SynOptics. -johnj Builds Upon SunNet Manager Technology; Makes Possible Super Networks REDWOOD CITY, Calif.,--Oct. 2, 1991-- Cisco Systems, Inc. and SynOptics Communications, Inc. announced today the formation of a joint development relationship that will result in the delivery of a fundamentally new computer network system that integrates router and intelligent hub technology. The new system, called the RubSystem(TM), will enable organizations to build computer networks significantly larger and more complex than than those used today. 34.05 Sun Honors 30 Suppliers For Performance MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --October 4, 1991-- Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) today announced the winners of its 1991 Supplier Performance Award. The program acknowledges suppliers that have consistently offered the company excellence in "total cost of ownership." That means the winners provide quality products, excellent service and value while also demonstrating responsiveness, flexibility and consistency in their service to Sun. This year's winners are among thousands of suppliers worldwide, delivering everything from semiconductor chips and computer software to car rental and air travel services. (For a list of companies, see attached.) 34.06 Secure SunOS CMW For Client-Server New SunOS CMW Meets B1/Government Security Standards MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --October 1, 1991-- Sun Microsystems Federal today introduced SunOS(TM) Compartmented Mode Workstation (CMW). It is the first and only secure UNIX(R) operating system software to be evaluated by the government in a distributed computing environment. All other CMW products are being evaluated as stand-alone machines. SunOS CMW features Sun's familiar windowing system and easy-to-use pull-down menus, simplifying the task of controlling access to multiple levels of security. In addition, users can run hundreds of commercial, off-the-shelf applications such as: Lotus 1-2-3, WingZ, Island Write/Paint/Draw, Framemaker, Clarity's Rapport and Verity's Topic, without modification. SunOS CMW is designed for government, intelligence, military, and commercial users. Typically, these are customers who need to safeguard sensitive information and who require levels of security not available in standard commercial operating systems. SunOS CMW provides access to information on a need-to-know basis to users working with classified data. 34.07 SBus Prestoserve For SPARCserver 2 - Single-width SBus card with 1 MByte of NVRAM - Added to SPARCserver 2 File Server configurations to provide dramatic boost in NFS file server performance - Improves maximum NFS throughput by up to 140% and response time by up to 85% per NFS operation - Allows heavily loaded fileservers to support additional clients without any changes to the client or application Sun announces an SBus version of the Prestoserve NFS accelerator technology for the SPARCsystem 2. Now, you can take advantage of this low-cost SBus-based NFS accelerator to improve new NFS file servers. 34.08 New Sun Business: SunConnect Sun Launches SunConnect To Focus On UNIX System Integration And Network Management Market SunConnect, a new Sun Microsystems, Inc. business, was formally introduced Oct 8th, 1991 in a press release issued by SunConnect, which is attached for your reference. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- October 8, 1991 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc., today formally introduced SunConnect(TM), a business unit dedicated to providing integration and network management solutions for heterogeneous computing environments. 34.09 SunConnect: FDDI, HSI, SunNet Mgr, PC-NFS On Oct 8th, 1991 SunConnect, a new Sun Microsystems, Inc. business, released four product announcements, which are attached for your reference. 1. SunConnect Expands and Upgrades FDDI Offerings 2. SunConnect Introduces High-speed Serial Interface Card 3. SunConnect Releases New Version of SunNet Manager; Initiates Sunconnect Partners Program for Network Management 4. New Sunconnect PC-NFS Programmer's Toolkit Aids Development of Distributed Applications in DOS-to-UNIX Environments SMCC currently resells and offers complete support for all of the SunConnect products. Users should expect to be able to take full advantage of SunConnect products through the SMCC price list and world-wide customer service, although each product decision will be made on a case-by-case basis. 34.10 SunSoft: Early Access Program For NIS+ New Service to be Demonstrated at Interop for First Time SunSoft, the systems software subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., today introduced an early access program for its Network Information Service Plus (NIS+) enterprise naming service. The press release is attached for your reference. NIS+ will be a part of the Solaris 2.0 environment, which SMCC has committed to deliver in the first half of 1992. SMCC is encouraged to see SunSoft's continued development of the industry's leading distributed computing solution, ONC. 34.11 Spider And SunConnect Sign Agreement For Future X.25 Products This is FYI regarding one of the SMI businesses. It does not indicate a change in direction or a new product announcement for SMCC. -johnj San Jose, Calif., Oct. 9, 1991, Spider Systems and SunConnect, a Sun Microsystems business, have signed an agreement that will result in the integration of Spider's portable STREAMS-based X.25 technologies into future SunConnect products. Today, Spider's X.25 implementation, SpiderX.25, supports UNIX(R) System V Release 4 (SVR4) STREAMS environment and is based on 1988 CCITT X.25 recommendations. Additionally, SpiderX.25 meets the approval requirements for the European Telecommunication Standard NET-2, conforms to US Government FIPS 100, and supports both local and wide area networks (LANs and WANs). 34.12 IPX systems: Now with one 16MB SIMM As of today, all orders for SPARCstation IPX will incorporate higher density memory technology and will ship with one 16MB SIMM instead of four 4MB SIMMs. This will free up three slots for memory expansion in the SPARCstation IPX and provide customers with more flexibility in expanding their systems. 34.13 9th SUG Conference & Exhibit: Dec 9-11 Subject: Sun User Group Conference (Dec. 1991) From: peter@daedalus.std.com (Peter Salus) Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix,comp.org.sug December 9-11, 1991 San Jose Convention Center San Jose, California For the past eight years, the Sun User Group (SUG) has produced THE Sun user event of the year. The conference provides the opportunity for engineers, scientists, third-party vendors, end users, developers, executives, and others to listen, share experiences, and learn how to better deal with both hardware and software decisions facing Sun and SPARC users today. The theme of this year's conference is: "DISTRIBUTED APPLICATIONS AND MULTIPROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY" and will feature... 34.14 Distribution Of the Florida SunFlash Electronic Mailing List From the SunFlash Editor The most time-consuming part of producing this service is processing mailing list is distributed via a hierarchy of aliases, there is usually nothing that I can do to fix the reported mail problems. For each article that I post, I can anticipate 20 or 30 mail messages reporting errors. Multiply that by the 20 to 30 messages per month and you can see that I have to deal with 400 to 900 delivery problem messages each month! As this mailing list continues to grow, so too will this problem. In this article I want to describe a couple of techniques for distributing this mailing list such that mail error messages are sent to the system administrators who can do something about them. 34.15 Book Review: Benchmark Handbook For Database And TP Systems This is from an article posted to the USENET newsgroup comp.databases. -johnj From: morgan@unix.SRI.COM (Morgan Kaufmann) Subject: Announcing new benchmarking book Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems, Jim Gray, Series Editor) THE BENCHMARK HANDBOOK FOR DATABASE AND TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEMS, Edited by Jim Gray (Digital Equipment Corporation) With Omri Serlin, David DeWitt, Carolyn Turbyfill, Cyril Orji, Dina Bitton, R.G.G. Cattell, Patrick E. O'Neil, Tom Sawyer, Neal Nelson April 1991; 334 pages; cloth; ISBN 1-55860-59-7; $49.95 34.16 Software Specials (August/September) Sun Microsystem's Consulting group has created many software packages for customer requirements that Sun's standard software offerings do not cover. These s/w packages have become know as 'consulting specials'. This article lists some new specials. AUGUST, 1991 Announcements: CONSULT-ST3480 Now supported IBM 3480 compatible tape units such as the Fujitsu M2480. We now have a solution for those mainframe accounts that need to access data to IBM3480 compatible tape drives from Sun. CONSULT-KBM Offered routines to map user addresses into kernel addresses spaces. Target customers are SBUS manufacturers or any value added hardware OEM with this requirement in their device drivers. 34.17 PC-NFS 3.5/ Lifeline,backup 2, Telnet PC-NFS 3.5 PC-NFS LIFELINE MAIL AND BACKUP 2.0 PC-NFS ADVANCED TELNET 1.0 - PC-NFS 3.5 - shipping as of March 11, 1991. Provides improved MS Windows 3.0 compatibility, local PC print service, network management via SNMP support, NDIS network driver support, and greatly improved documentation and packaging - PC-NFS LifeLine Mail and Backup 2.0 (FCS April 30,1991). Delivers improved mail notification, 8-bit ASCII support for inter- national compatibility, a new DOS-based scheduler for unattended PC disk backups, and improved documentation and new packaging - PC-NFS Advanced Telnet 1.0 - new product - available April 1, 1991. A PC-NFS add-on application providing terminal emulation for TN3270, VT320, VT220, VT102, and Tektronic 4014 hosts, custom-developed for Sun by Walker Richer & Quinn, the terminal emulation market leader 34.18 SunConnect Introduces NetWare Connectivity For Solaris SunConnect, a Sun Microsystems, Inc. business, today (Oct 18th, 1991) introduced NetWare SunLink. The press release is attached for your reference. This announcement should be viewed as a Sun Microsystems Computer Company (SMCC) future software direction. Actual pricing and packaging will be announced next year. Summary: * SunConnect will license Portable NetWare v3.11 from Novell and will port it to the Solaris platform. * Sun and Novell will work on joint marketing programs promoting this solution. * This solution will enable NetWare users to access Unix resources and applications, and take advantage of powerful Unix servers on their network. * It will be a server only implmentation. This means that the Sun acts as a a server for unmodified DOS, MAC and OS/2 NetWare clients, providing them with UNIX integration. (Solaris 1.0 clients can access NetWare 3.11 already through Novell's implementation of ONC/NFS.) * Provides opportunities for system integrators and resellers 34.19 OpenConnect: Server II Gateway for Sun OPENCONNECT SYSTEMS(SM) ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF OPENCONNECT SERVER II GATEWAY FOR SUN(R) PLATFORMS MIAMI, FLORIDA, Sun Microsystems National Sales Meeting, July 18, 1991 -- OpenConnect Systems today announced the release of a new version of its OpenConnect Server II (OCS II) gateway product for use on Sun Microsystems(R) platforms. The new product offering is a software product that transforms a Sun SPARCsystem into a powerful gateway for inter- connecting IBM(R) SNA and TCP/IP networks. The Sun SPARCsystem can now provide the physical connection between an IBM mainframe and/or midrange system and UNIX(R), VMS(TM) and/or DOS systems on a TCP/IP LAN. The OpenConnect Server II gateway is a true full function SNA-TCP/IP gateway running on a Sun SPARCsystem. The Sun systems acts as a front-end communications server to connect TCP/IP LANs to an SNA environment, supporting special features such as routing IP packets across an SNA backbone ("tunneling"), and NetView(TM) control of TCP/IP nodes. The full complement of existing OpenConnect software products for bi-directional terminal emulation, file transfer, remote job entry, distributed processing, and remote printing all run with the OpenConnect Server II gateway. 34.20 New Version Of eNFS Introduced This is a third party product announcement from bjd@interstream.com (Bruce J. DaCosta) -johnj (PITTSBURGH, PA) INTERSTREAM, Inc. introduced the latest version of its eNFS product, which boosts NFS write performance 2 to 5 times. "This new version of the software includes our new feature, eNFS/Display, which allows the user to see how eNFS improves their NFS server," states Bruce J. DaCosta, president of INTERSTREAM. The graphical display consists of five panels, which can give information about the write mix performed by their NFS server. The graphs display information at user selected time intervals, giving the user a dynamic view of the system. One panel displays the write efficiency, which gives a quantitative comparison of eNFS to normal NFS. Another panel shows the mixture of writes on the server. Sequential, random, diskless client and total writes are displayed. 34.21 Software Configuration Guide A new release of the Software Configuration Guide is available at no cost from your local Sun office. This article contains ---------------------- the table of contents from the Software Configuration Guide to help you determine if you need a copy. -johnj 34.22 SunVision 1.1 This is a brief description of the current version of SunVision. -johnj Accelerated Performance - Transparent acceleration of SunIPLib and RenderMan Function Library by the VX/MVX - SunVision 1.1 tools accelerated by the VX (SunIP, SunVoxel, SunART, SunGV) and VX+MVX (SunIP, SunVoxel, SunART) New RenderMan Functionality - Compliant with RenderMan Interface Specification,Version 3.1 - RenderMan shading language for user-defined shaders - Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) for many MCAD applications New Imaging Functionality - Greyscale Morphology, image contours, text annotation New Features - Spot Help (on-line help capability) - Run multiple instances of SunVision on one workstation 34.23 Sun Software Update Release History Here's the latest Software Update Release Schedule as of 10/02/91. The products are grouped into three main categories:- Sun Operating System Software, Diagnostics Software and Unbundled Software. All products are grouped alphabetically by group (ie, OS, Diag, Unbundled). Also, two columns have been added to reflect the architecture and media type(s) per release. Please note that any software product announce after 10/02/91 is not included. This list is not guaranteed to be complete. 34.24 SW Specials Monthly Sum. ( October ) In a previous article, SunFLASH Vol 34 #16, an error was made and some Sun internal phone numbers and mail aliases were given. Please disregard the phone number and mail alias given just above the footer statement in the above mentioned article. The correct phone number and mail alias are listed at the end of this announcement just above the footer. However, as with any Sun product, you may also contact your local Sun sales office for additional information. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.