Specifically, this package works with netatalk, currently only on linux. It adds AT protocol and ATCP negotiation to PPP, and relies on a heavily modified atalkd to do the routing.
The pppd is modular enough that almost no changes to existing code were needed, only additions in places where hooks were almost in place. The largest piece of work, and the place for continued refinement, is ATCP negotiation. RFC1378 is a starting point but is often not as clear as one would like.
Atalkd and the other parts of the netatalk package as distributed are not aware that interfaces might appear and disappear, or change addresses etc. Also some Macintosh PPP clients request that they do not receive certain types of broadcast packages. The hardest part is deleting an interface and cleaning out the tables consistently. These changes are also useful for other non-permanent ddp links, e.g. if someone writes a DDP-over-IP kernel driver. [Note: this has happened. IPTalk by Jay Schulist is such a beast.]
For a technical discussion of some problems and design alternatives, get the tarfile and read the included documentation.
If you intend to dial-in with your linux box as a client to an Appletalk LAN, currently there are only print clients available. Afpfs, an AppleShare client for linux (or other netatalk-supported platforms?) is in its infancy. Watch the linux-atalk mailing list for rumors and announcements.
| Home | May 14, 1997