Re: IdDA & TP701 Success

["John H. Kim" <jokim@tuna.mit.edu>]

On Sat, 6 Apr 1996, Daniel Kim wrote:

> I have a recently purchased, demo 701cs 486 DX4.  I have been a mac user, 
> and have been so fed up with the quality of their powerbooks that I have 
> decided to go bi-platform, keeping my powermac desktop and purchasing the 
> tp.  I haven't loaded any software on it, and from the posts of this 
> group, it sounds like I'll be having a lot of fun putting W95 on.

Well, most of my problems came from trying to get Win95 to coexist with
other OSes (DOS, Linux).  The actual install of Win95 went pretty
smoothly.  It failed to recognize some of my hardware the second time
around, but running the "add new hardware" thing-a-ma-jig fixed it.

If you're really into tinkering, you can get Executor for DOS or Linux
and run System 6 Mac apps on your Thinkpad.  You should've seen the
look on my (Mac-only) friend's face when he saw a working Mac desktop
on my Thinkpad.  ;)

> My bios revision is BUTUS3H.  Do I have to revise the bios to get the 
> Windows 95 going?        ^^

Probably a good idea to flash it up to 3N or 3O.  There are a couple
fixes for annoying bugs (like the computer coming out of suspend every 
time you shake it).

> Also, I would love to be able to transfer files between the two different 
> platforms without having to use floppies.  Sounds like the Jeteye has 
> worked for you, Chris.  How much can you actually acomplish with this 
> set-up?  Can I use the CD ROM on my Macintosh and transfer stuff to my 
> thinkpad (a Windows 95 upgrade CD, for example)?  Can I transfer MS Word 
> documents back and forth this way?

I'm not Chris, but...

The IrDA stuff is just a serial connection, which is good for hardware.
I believe the newer Mac powerbooks also support it so it shouldn't be
too difficult to find IrDA hardware for your desktop Mac.

But because it's just a serial connection, cross-platform software might
be a problem.  You could use modem programs on the Mac and Thinkpad to 
transfer files.  Things like Laplink or Windows' built-in networking are 
unlikely to work.  TCP/IP would probably work if you got both computers 
to think the IrDA serial port was a SLIP or PPP connection.  You might
be able to get NFS running this way.  The best solution would be a
software package designed to link a Mac to a PC via a serial null-modem
cable.  I don't know if any exist.
--
John H. Kim          "Just try telling the IRS you don't feel like
jokim@mit.edu        'contributing' this year come April." -- Bob Dole
jokim@tuna.mit.edu   on Bill Clinton's avoidance of the word 'taxes'