Some here have mentioned that many companies still use FTP, and that you can still use FTP to "access" old Macs from new. Terminal programs have also been mentioned for "access." I myself am well aware of that, but "limited access" is not the same as the robust file transfers one can perform via AppleTalk. ... I in some small way hoped to stimulate further discussion on "real alternatives" to what I in the past had accomplished with a Tiger Mac and an SE/30 via AppleTalk -- namely, the convenient means of speedy drag-and-drop file transfer for a large number of files. But so far, I have not seen any genuine "alternatives" presented here to the functionality that the AppleTalk protocol provided. FTP and Terminal apps are not complete alternatives to the functionality that AppleTalk gave us. It excites me to get the oldest Macs to do things they were never intended to do, which includes networking compact Macs with even the newest Intel Macs running Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. ... Yes, FTP and terminal apps still provide access. But such "limited access" does not excite me.

Click to expand...

First, accessing any files in a method that approaches anything close to the ease of AppleTalk on 128K or 64K ROM MFS system excites the hell out of me! Until I get MacServe 1.0 running on my 128K, MacTerminal will continue to be extremely exciting for me.

Second, I agree, it's really the compact Macs, the 68000 chips that are the most challenged when dealing with AppleTalk issues associated with OS X, and to a lesser degree the 24-bit IIx challenged Macs, of which the SE/30 is one. Any Mac that can run OS 7.6.1 or OS 8 does not necessarily face these issues in the same way and would have a somewhat different discussion.

As for solutions, I still vote for the easiest, which means an intermediary. All 10.6 has done is forced a 10.3 intermediary between 10.6 and the earliest Macs. So a 512K would need to go to an OS 8.1-9.2, to a 10.3, to a 10.6. I have two PowerBooks which would serve this function easily and quietly.

But like you I want to go directly from one into the other.

Is there an emulator that I can run on Snow Leopard that will allow use of the AppleTalk protocol to communicate with my SE/30, such that I can perform all the networking tasks I was able to do previously (such as dragging and dropping entire disk partitions from the SE/30 to make a backup on the modern Mac)?

Click to expand...

Yes, Sheepshaver will do that. I can just as easily run AppleTalk out of that environment and share with older partitions. You may not be able to open the connection from the SE/30, but it should work bi-directionally once initiated from the OS X Mac. Of course, 10.6 has broken a number of things, so that is something that will have to be tested and fixed. I'll start looking at SheepShaver to see what can be done with it on 10.6. Of course, any emulator which wants to grab the serial driver for itself, might be able to manipulate the USB/Serial adapter I use with MacTerminal to drive real AppleTalk over the port.

I've asked Paul Pratt to look into this specifically for Mini vMac due to the fact that OS X continues to leave the real Macs further and further behind and no one else seems to be interested in maintaining Apple's Classic environment on the Intel platform.