-- "james" <james at jdfogg.com> wrote:
Here are some
pics of a Novell file server circa 1987.
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/novell/68k_file_server
Was wondering if anyone had documentation or software for
this. I had some of the external dual drive scsi boxes for
these at one point.
This reminds me of a similar oddity I used to support years
ago. 3Com made a server, and an OS called 3+ Open. As I
recall, it was an OS/2 - LAN Manager derivative.
Ah yes, the era of the 3Server is forever seared into my
brain; my first *real* job in the computer business involved
the care and feeding of several generations of these beasties.
The Original 3Server (about the same vintage as the Novell
unit pictured earlier) used an 80188 and a heavily modified
version of MS-DOS. It used an early SCSI implementation,
which was closer to SASI, to attach MFM disks and QIC tapes
via Adaptec bridge boards.
Because there were neither video nor ISA bus, there was more
room for contiguous DOS memory; something over 700k, which
pertty cool at the time. They originally were equipped with
30MB drives, but then the 3Server70 had an 80Mb (unformatted)
unit by Vertex.
These early boxes had the (optional) QIC tape in an external
box; the 3Server3 introduced in 1986 (IIRC) had disk and tape
in one box; in addition the 3Server3 could be interfaced with
appletalk, and also sported the then-new LIM memory used to
speed up the operating system.
These 80188 systems all used either 3+Share or EtherSeries
NOS's for basic drive sharing. IN addition, 3+Mail, 3+Route
(for routing e-mail between sites), 3+Backup and other network
applications were supported under the 3+Share NOS (in <1Mb
RAM).
These were followed by the 3S400 & 3S500 machines, which are
not interesing as they are little more than stock ISA 80386
machines running at 16MHz. These guys could run 3+Share, or
3+Open (a.k.a. OS/2 LanMan as pointed out above). ISTR that
they added TCP/IP late in that products life.
Then Novell took over the world and all of the above 'stuff'
died in obscurity.
It was at this point where I learned in my life that I had a
knack for picking losers.
I need a stiff drink now . . . .
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