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Procom to Release NETBEUI for Linux

Posted by HeUnique on from the this-is-good dept.

Procom has announced that they are releasing their NETBEUI stack to the Linux community. Press release is here. What the press release doesn't mention is that the stack will be available under the GPL license. The actual code release will be today or tomorrow (I will post a URL for the source as soon as I get it).

5 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing wrong with that by philg · · Score: 5

    Don't dis them for doing something we, as Free software advocates, have been asking companies to do -- namely giving mothballed products to everyone rather than hoarding them.

    Even if NetBEUI isn't viable anymore, it has value as an Open Source application:

    • The code may be interesting and instructive for students.
    • There might be life left in the old bird that the original company doesn't see -- but someone poking around with the code might come up with something.
    • Parts of its implementation could be useful for other OSS projects. Synergy is one of the most important advantages of Free software.

    Opening code that companies no longer value is more than just good PR -- it's a valuable practice, and it should be encouraged on general principal.

    phil

  2. Marconi Corp. GPL's the "Morse Code" stack by ch-chuck · · Score: 5

    In a move that rocked the open source community, the Marconi Corp. today announced plans to GPL their "Morse Code" telegraphy protocol stack, formerly widely used for telegram transmission. "Now that we have our entire office on the open TCP/IP protocol, we felt it was time to 'give back' to the community", said Paul J. Oldtimer III, his wrist still twitching from a long session at the key. "Our Morse Code Stack is the best in the business, with centuries of development and debugging that has left it the most mature protocol available."
    Not all agreed that this boon to humanity was a welcome offer. "Telegraphy?!?" bellowed Peter D. Spittle, a Linux enthusiast and Networking consultant to the International Megabuck Banking consortium. "Who the heck uses that anymore in a competitive business environment? Maybe as a slow secure-channel protocol to thwart crackers busting in on your IP router, but for everyday use the manual routing personnel can delay packets for as long as an hour, depending on coffee breaks".
    However, officials for the Marconi Corp. insist it is still a relevant protocol. "Look, say the line between Witchata and Flagstaff goes down, you can still get a ticker tape of the message to our guy on a horse who'll get it thru! The message must get thru!!", repeated Mr. Oldtimer, slumping in his chair as the whiskey bottle fell to the floor.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
  3. This is excellent news! by instant · · Score: 5
    Before all of you start to post "who cares" and slam NetBEUI as an outdated protocol (it is), let me point something out:

    A lot of people would like to be able to boot diskless DOS/Win95/Win98 boxes from a Linux server. There isn't a functional way to do that using TCP/IP. Yeah, there are some DOS IP stacks but using them prevents IP from working once Windows boots up.

    Currently the only real way to handle it is using Netware shares. But now it should be possible to do it with NetBEUI instead... a preferable solution for booting a Microsoft OS (call it evil if you want.) At home, this will let me run my Windows box without a hard drive just by hanging it off my Linux machine.

    Heck, this would be useful if only to recover a crashed Windows box without a rescue disk. :)

    NetBEUI is not dead yet!

  4. Because _somebody_ will want it. by Nagumo · · Score: 5

    The fact is, someone will use it. How many times do you hit "n" when you're configuring your kernel? Lot's I'll bet. I know I do. I really don't give a crap about "Amateur Radio AX.25 Level 2 protocol", and yet somehow it snuck its way into my config script. So what? I just hit "n", and then forget about it.

    Just because you don't (or the majority of users doesn't) care about a particular feature, it doesn't mean that there's not a place for it.

  5. Still a few things you can do with NETBEUI by jmoo · · Score: 5

    I'll be the first to tell you to get rid of Netbeui from your main network but there is one thing you can use it for.

    In a DMZ you can setup a web server and use netbeui to connect to a resource server in the same DMZ and keep your resource server safe from several types of hacks, not perfect but still gives old netbeui a job

    --
    The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It's run by little ones and zeroes, little bits of data.