Connected AppleTalk-equipped systems automatically assign addresses, update the distributed namespace, and configure any required inter-networking routing. AppleTalk was released in 1985, and was the primary protocol used by Apple devices through the 1980s and 1990s.
AppleShare was the #3 network operating system in the late 1980s, behind Novell NetWare and Microsoft's MS-Net.
Many of AppleTalk's more advanced autoconfiguration features have since been introduced in Bonjour, while Universal Plug and Play serves similar needs. ==History== ===AppleNet=== After the release of the Apple Lisa computer in January 1983, Apple invested considerable effort in the development of a local area networking (LAN) system for the machines.
AppleNet was announced early in 1983 with a full introduction at the target price of $500 for plug-in AppleNet cards for the Lisa and the Apple II. At that time, early LAN systems were just coming to market, including Ethernet, Token Ring, Econet and ARCNET.
This was a topic of major commercial effort at the time, dominating shows like the National Computer Conference (NCC) in Anaheim in May 1983.
By late 1983 it was clear that IBM's Token Ring would not be ready in time for the launch of the Mac, and might miss the launch of these other products as well.
Sidhu mentioned the work to Belleville only two hours after the Mac was announced. The "new" AppleBus was announced in early 1984, allowing direct connection from the Mac or Lisa through a small box that plugged into the serial port and connected via cables to the next computer upstream and downstream.
In 1984, Bill Croft at Stanford University pioneered the development of IP packets encapsulated in DDP as part of the SEAGATE (Stanford Ethernet - AppleTalk Gateway) project.
Connected AppleTalk-equipped systems automatically assign addresses, update the distributed namespace, and configure any required inter-networking routing. AppleTalk was released in 1985, and was the primary protocol used by Apple devices through the 1980s and 1990s.
In the end, Token Ring would not ship until October 1985. Jobs' earlier question to Sidhu had already sparked a number of ideas.
Details of how this would work were sketchy. ===AppleTalk=== Just prior to its release in early 1985, AppleBus was renamed AppleTalk.
By 1986, Columbia University released the first version of the Columbia AppleTalk Package (CAP) that allowed higher integration of Unix, TCP/IP and AppleTalk environments.
One particularly notable example was an alternate adaptor designed by BMUG and commercialized by Farallon as PhoneNet in 1987.
A number of companies responded, including Hayes and a few newly formed companies like Kinetics. === EtherTalk, TokenTalk and AppleShare === By 1987, Ethernet was clearly winning the standards battle over Token Ring, and in the middle of that year Apple introduced EtherTalk 1.0 for the newly released Macintosh II computer, Apple's first Macintosh with bus slots that allowed compatible cards from non-Apple 3rd party vendors.
Apple initially relied on the aforementioned LocalTalk-to-Ethernet bridge products, but contrary to Apple's belief these would be low-volume products, by the end of 1987, 130,000 such networks were in use.
Apple introduced the AppleTalk PC Card in early 1987, allowing PCs to join AppleTalk networks and print to LaserWriter printers.
In 1988, Apple released MacTCP, a system that allowed the Mac to support TCP/IP on machines with suitable Ethernet hardware.
AppleShare was effectively the replacement for the failed Macintosh Office efforts, which had been based on a dedicated file server device. ===AppleTalk Phase II and other developments=== A significant re-design was released in 1989 as AppleTalk Phase II.
Connected AppleTalk-equipped systems automatically assign addresses, update the distributed namespace, and configure any required inter-networking routing. AppleTalk was released in 1985, and was the primary protocol used by Apple devices through the 1980s and 1990s.
AppleTalk support was also available in most networked printers (especially laser printers), some file servers, and a number of routers. The rise of TCP/IP during the 1990s led to a reimplementation of most of these types of support on that protocol, and AppleTalk became unsupported as of the release of Mac OS X v10.6 in 2009.
These included updates to EtherTalk and TokenTalk, AppleTalk software and LocalTalk hardware for the IBM PC, EtherTalk for Apple's A/UX operating system allowing it to use LaserPrinters and other network resources, and the Mac X.25 and MacX products. Ethernet had become almost universal by 1990, and it was time to build Ethernet into Macs direct from the factory.
MacTCP would not become a standard part of the Classic Mac OS until 1994, by which time it also supported SNMP and PPP. For some time in the early 1990s, the Mac was a primary client on the rapidly expanding Internet.
PhoneNet's low cost, flexibility, and easy troubleshooting resulted in it being the dominant choice for Mac networks into the early 1990s. AppleTalk protocols also came to run over Ethernet (first coaxial and then twisted pair) and Token Ring physical layers, labeled by Apple as EtherTalk and TokenTalk, respectively.
EtherTalk gradually became the dominant implementation method for AppleTalk as Ethernet became generally popular in the PC industry throughout the 1990s.
MacTCP would not become a standard part of the Classic Mac OS until 1994, by which time it also supported SNMP and PPP. For some time in the early 1990s, the Mac was a primary client on the rapidly expanding Internet.
(renamed Netopia, acquired by Motorola in 2007) that also used the RS-422 port and was indistinguishable from LocalTalk as far as Apple's LocalTalk port drivers were concerned, but ran over the two unused wires in standard four-wire phone cabling.
Miramar included AppleTalk in its PC MacLAN product which was discontinued by CA in 2007.
GroupLogic continues to bundle its AppleTalk protocol with its ExtremeZ-IP server software for Macintosh-Windows integration which supports Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista as well prior versions.
AppleTalk support was also available in most networked printers (especially laser printers), some file servers, and a number of routers. The rise of TCP/IP during the 1990s led to a reimplementation of most of these types of support on that protocol, and AppleTalk became unsupported as of the release of Mac OS X v10.6 in 2009.
AppleTalk support was finally removed from the MacOS in Mac OS X v10.6 in 2009. However, the loss of AppleTalk did not reduce the desire for networking solutions that combined its ease-of-use with IP routing.
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