MacTOPS 3.1.1: Sitka Corporation’s Network Software for the Macintosh
MacTOPS File Sharing and Printing is a versatile and easy–to–use networking package for Macintosh computers running on either System 6 or System 7. With MacTOPS, you can link your Macintosh to other Macintosh, PC or Sun Workstation computers on a SitkaTOPS network.
Note: This document describes a full–featured version of MacTOPS assembled especially for use on Apple's Applications Demo CD. This version can only be installed on a single Macintosh. The user is encouraged to experiment with the MacTOPS user interface, but, to use MacTOPS file–sharing abilities, the user must have at least one other MacTOPS node available on the network. See the "Where to Buy..." document included with this demo for more information.
Please be aware that a MacTOPS 3.1.1 installation from a CD ROM differs slightly from an installation performed using a floppy disk. Instructions on installing MacTOPS without the Apple installer ONLY are provided below.
Although this document describes the Print service and file translation services provided by MacTOPS 3.1.1, your demonstration copy does not include these features.
Installing the MacTOPS Software
Note: Before beginning MacTOPS installation, make sure that the AppleTalk driver is active. The AppleTalk Active button in the Chooser must be selected to turn on this driver.
You can manually install MacTOPS by simply copying the appropriate files to your startup disk and then restarting your Macintosh. Simply follow these steps:
1. Locate the MacTOPS 3.1.1 folder (which resides in the "More Information" folder on your CD).
This folder contains the MacTOPS files. The MacTOPS software also includes a folder named MacTOPS Files.
2. Double–click on the MacTOPS Files folder.
The screen changes to display the file–sharing files.
3. Move the MacTOPS files you need onto your startup disk.
Select and drag the MacTOPS files into the appropriate folders within the System Folder as listed below:
• Apple Menu Items folder: MacTOPS DA file
• Extensions folder: MacTOPS Key file, MacTOPS Filing file, MacTOPS Help file, MacTOPS DOS Icon file, MacTOPS Name Mapper file, MacTOPS UNIX Icon file
4. Complete file–sharing installation.
Although MacTOPS now appears on the Apple menu, the system has not yet loaded the software. Choose the Restart option from the Special menu to restart your Macintosh and to automatically load MacTOPS into your computer’s memory.
Your MacTOPS file–sharing software is now ready to use. (See “Loading MacTOPS” in this document for information on enabling this software.)
Removing the MacTOPS Software
You can completely remove MacTOPS by simply removing the appropriate files from your startup disk and then restarting your Macintosh. Simply follow these steps:
1. Remove the MacTOPS files from your startup disk.
Select and drag the MacTOPS files from your System Folder to the Trash. (Don't worry - you still have the originals on the CD ROM.)
• Drag the MacTOPS DA file from your Apple Menu Items folder to the Trash.
• Drag the MacTOPS Key file, MacTOPS Filing file, MacTOPS Help file, MacTOPS DOS Icon file, MacTOPS Name Mapper file, and MacTOPS UNIX Icon file from the Extensions folder to the Trash.
2. Complete file–sharing removal.
Although MacTOPS no longer appears on the Apple menu, the running system still has MacTOPS loaded. Choose the Restart option from the Special menu to restart your Macintosh and to automatically remove MacTOPS from your computer’s memory.
Loading MacTOPS
Once you have installed MacTOPS onto your Macintosh’s startup disk, your system automatically loads MacTOPS into memory every time you start it up. This section describes the loading process and also explains how you can avoid loading the MacTOPS file–sharing software.
The Loading Process:
As your Macintosh initializes, a network icon containing three different computers linked to a folder appears on the desktop. This icon is your confirmation that your system has successfully loaded the MacTOPS file–sharing software.
The MacTOPS files are initialization files. Your system stores these files in its System Folder and loads them into memory in alphabetical order during system startup. Once loaded, MacTOPS remains resident in memory until the system shuts down and intercepts and translates calls to and from remote stations on the network.
To Avoid Loading the Software:
To avoid loading MacTOPS into your system, you must start up your Macintosh without allowing it to automatically load MacTOPS into memory.
You can avoid loading the MacTOPS file–sharing software either temporarily or permanently.
• Temporary non-loading:
Choose Restart from the Special menu. As soon as the MacTOPS network icon appears, press down and hold the shift key or the mouse button. Be sure to release the key or button as soon as the icon turns gray. (Pressing the shift key or mouse button prior to seeing the MacTOPS network icon causes your station to omit loading all system extensions.)
Your system will omit loading the MacTOPS file–sharing software during this one restart. (Although your system does not load the software, the Apple menu will continue to offer MacTOPS.)
At a later date, you can load this software simply by restarting your Macintosh.
• Permanent non-loading:
Move the MacTOPS Filing file from the Extensions folder within the System Folder into another folder on your hard disk and restart your Macintosh. Your system will omit loading the file–sharing software for each restart until you return this file to its proper location on your startup disk. (Although your system does not load the software, the Apple menu will continue to offer MacTOPS.)
At a later date, you can load the MacTOPS file–sharing software by moving the MacTOPS Filing file back into the Extensions folder within the System Folder on your startup disk and restarting your Macintosh.
MacTOPS Features
Now that you have installed and loaded MacTOPS on your startup disk, you may want to know what kind of network features MacTOPS has to offer. MacTOPS features include both file sharing and printing among its many network features. This section describes the MacTOPS features.
File Sharing
Any networking operation involves a relationship between at least two SitkaTOPS network stations: a server and a client. MacTOPS includes software which provides both file server and client capability for your Macintosh.
As a file server, you can make any file or files on your Macintosh hard disk or floppy drives available to other stations on a SitkaTOPS network. (A server station makes files available to the network through a process called publishing. Once the disk drive, folder, directory or subdirectory containing these files is published to the network, it is known as a volume.)
As a file client, you can access files in a volume made available by any file server station on a SitkaTOPS network. This feature means that you can transfer files from a server to your own disk drive, load data files from a server into an application running on your own Macintosh, or, from your own Macintosh, run an application stored on a server. In short, your client Macintosh can access remote files as if they were located on your own disk drives. (A client station gains access to these files through a process called mounting.)
Printing
MacTOPS includes MacTOPS Spool, a LaserWriter (or compatible) print spooler for your Macintosh.
With this software, you can continue to perform other tasks while your documents are printing in the background, since MacTOPS Spool lets you control your print jobs from within any application. If your Macintosh crashes, MacTOPS Spool recovers files that were not printed prior to the crash.
Other Features
In addition to the basic features offered by MacTOPS, a number of other attractive features are also built into MacTOPS file–sharing and printing software.
• Compatibility with System 7 (Version 7.0 and higher) and System 6 (Versions 6.0.4, 6.0.5 and 6.0.7)
• Easy and convenient access to the network from within any application using standard Macintosh–like menus and windows facilitates network use by new users.
• Compatibility with any AppleTalk–based network system makes MacTOPS flexible among many network types and configurations, including AppleTalk Phase 2.
• Protection (passwords and read–only mode) provides security for files made available to the network.
• Automatic file sharing and access at system startup saves time and prevents errors by automatically sharing files on the network each time you start up your Macintosh.
• Multi-user application support lets you use applications that employ standard file– and record–locking routines.
• File translation, using MacLink Plus/TOPS, allows you to translate many popular PC application data formats to common Macintosh application formats, and vice versa. In conjunction with MacTOPS, MacLink Plus lets you load remote PC data files into your Macintosh applications.
The MacTOPS User Interface
You can make connections to other stations on the network by working within the MacTOPS network environment. This environment consists of a window and a pull–down menu which allow you to:
• Determine what volumes are available on the network and view each volume’s contents.
• Access volumes that are available on the network. This process is called mounting a volume. (Mounting makes volumes appear as if they were a disk drive attached to your computer.)
• Make your folders (or entire disks) available to others on the network. This process is called publishing a volume.
• Copy files to and from volumes on the network.
Opening MacTOPS
Once MacTOPS is installed, you can open it by selecting MacTOPS from the Apple menu.
The first time you sign on to a SitkaTOPS network, MacTOPS displays the Set Station Preferences dialog box to request that you enter a station name. The station name identifies your Macintosh to other stations on the network whenever you publish or mount a volume.
The MacTOPS Window
The MacTOPS window provides three elements for network functionality: the command buttons and two smaller windows, the Local View and the Network View.
The command buttons execute your network connections, while the smaller windows allow you to view stations and volumes on the network (Network View) as well as files, folders and disks which reside locally on your own computer (Local View).
To switch between the views, click anywhere within the boundary of the desired view or press the tab key. A black double line indicates the selected view.
As with other Macintosh windows, you can change the MacTOPS window’s size or close it.
Local View
The Local View, which displays the floppy, RAM and hard disks located on your computer, resides on the left–hand side of the MacTOPS window. The title bar for the Local View displays your station name.
When you select one of the disks listed in the Local View and click on the Open button (or double–click on the selected disk name), MacTOPS replaces your station name with the name of the disk you selected to open. The Local View then displays a list of files and folders on that disk.
To return to the list of local disks, use the Local View’s title bar, which functions as a pull–down menu, to list and select the level to which you need to return.
Network View
The Network View, which displays the file servers on the SitkaTOPS network, resides on the right–hand side of the MacTOPS window. The title bar for the Network View indicates the zone designation for your network. If you are on a network with more than one zone, your local zone’s name will appear in the title bar. If, however, your network resides on a single–zone network, File Servers will appear in the Network View title bar.
If there are multiple zones on your network and you want to view servers in zones other than your own, use the Network View’s title bar, which functions as a pull–down menu, to list and select the level to which you need to return.
Command buttons
The command buttons are located underneath the MacTOPS window’s title bar and above the title bars for the Local and Network Views.
Open: Select a disk, folder, server or volume at the MacTOPS window and click on the Open button to display the contents of the selected object. The title bar at the top of the window indicates which object you are now viewing.
Publish: Select a disk or folder from the Local View and click on the Publish button to make that drive or folder available to the network from your Macintosh. When you select a published volume, this button changes to Unpublish.
Copy: Select a file from the Local or Network View, open a destination folder in the other view and click on the Copy button to transfer individual data and application files from one window to another; that is, from a server station to a client station or vice–versa. The arrows that appear around the word Copy indicate the direction that the copy operation will take.
Mount: Select a published volume from the Network View and click on the Mount button to access a volume published by another station. When you select a volume that you have already mounted, the button changes to Unmount.
Help: Click on the Help button to display a list of help topics. Use the scroll bar to move through these topics and select a topic to list helpful information on that topic. Close the Help window by clicking in the Close box in the upper left–hand corner of the Help window title bar.
Note: Some MacTOPS command buttons have additional options. An ellipsis (…) follows each command listed on the MacTOPS menu that has these options; for example Publish…. You can invoke these options either by selecting the command from the MacTOPS menu or by pressing and holding down the option key on the Macintosh keyboard while clicking on the desired MacTOPS command button. And, you can invoke many MacTOPS commands by executing keystrokes from the Macintosh keyboard.
The MacTOPS Menu
MacTOPS provides additional features on its pull–down menu at the top of the screen. Position the arrow pointer on the MacTOPS menu and press and hold down the mouse button to display the MacTOPS menu options.
The following list briefly describes each menu option. (Some of these options are context sensitive; that is, their functionality depends on the objects selected in the MacTOPS window.)
About MacTOPS… Displays information about MacTOPS, including the version number, copyright date and serial number.
Help... Displays the list of Help topics.
Close Window Closes the selected window. If the selected window is the MacTOPS window, Close Window will quit MacTOPS.
Publish... / Unpublish... Displays the Publish and Unpublish dialog boxes, which provide file–protection and startup–connection options. (Unpublish appears only when you select a published volume in the Local View.)
Mount... / Unmount... Displays the Mount and Unmount dialog boxes, which provide file–protection and startup–connection options. (Unmount appears only when you select a mounted volume in the Network View.)
Get Info... Provides information pertaining to the selected object, such as type, size and access restrictions.
Show Clients... Lists your published volumes and the clients currently using them.
Show Startup Connections... Lists that volumes that you requested MacTOPS to automatically publish or mount at system startup.
Redo Connections Allows you to instantaneously republish or remount all the volumes that MacTOPS automatically publishes or mounts at system startup.
Set Station Preferences… Displays your station’s current name and Personal Access status on the network and allows you to change these values.
Open For Personal Access… Allows you to access your own station from any other station on the network. (This option becomes available, that is, darkens, when you highlight your station name in the Network View at another station’s MacTOPS window.)
Quit Exits MacTOPS.
Quick Tour: File Sharing
This section provides a tutorial to using MacTOPS to share files on the network. This tutorial assumes that you have installed MacTOPS on at least two stations on your network.
Beginning operations with MacTOPS
1. Choose the MacTOPS option from the Apple menu.
The MacTOPS window appears.
If this is the first time anyone has opened MacTOPS at your station, before the MacTOPS window appears, the Set Station Preferences dialog box will appear asking you to give the computer a station name. (Station names, which can be up to 31 characters long and must be unique on a network, identify stations to network clients.)
2. If necessary, enter a station name of up to 31 characters and click on the OK button.
The MacTOPS window appears.
The newly displayed MacTOPS window lists your computer’s disks (hard and floppy) in the Local View, an area on the left–hand side of the window, and the network file servers in your zone in the Network View, an area on the right–hand side of the window. It also displays the MacTOPS command buttons underneath the MacTOPS window’s title bar. The menu bar at the top of the screen now lists MacTOPS among its menus.
Viewing local and network files
With the Network View and the Local View, you can use the MacTOPS window to list both the files (volumes) published by the network servers as well as your own disks, folders and files.
1. Select a server from the list in the Network View and click on the Open button.
The view changes to display the contents of that server. The title bar of the view you selected also tells you the name and type of server you are viewing.
2. Select a disk from the list in the Local View and click on the Open button.
The view changes to display the contents of that local disk. The label of the view you selected also tells you the name and type of disk you are viewing.
Sharing a file
The instructions in this and subsequent sections require that you physically move from one network station to another. To clarify these moves, the instructions label your station as Station A and the other network station as Station B.
1. At your Macintosh station (Station A), select the name of a folder from the Local View and click on the Publish button.
MacTOPS makes that folder available to other users on the network; that is, it publishes the volume. Once you have published a volume, your station appears on the network as a server.
2. Physically move to another Macintosh station (Station B) on the network.
3. At the MacTOPS window on Station B, select Station A from the server list.
Remember, MacTOPS lists file servers in the Network View portion of its window.
4. Click on the Open button.
MacTOPS lists the volume you published from your station.
5. Select the volume and click on the Mount button.
6. Close the MacTOPS window.
The volume appears on your desktop represented by an icon as if it were a local folder. You may now open the MacTOPS network folder icon for this volume and work with the file and applications enclosed in that volume in the same way you would work with any local Macintosh application or file.
Showing clients
Before unpublishing a volume, you can determine what clients, if any, are using that volume. Return to Station A on the network and complete these steps to list your volume’s clients.
1. From Station A, select Show Clients... from the MacTOPS menu.
MacTOPS lists the volume you published from your station in the top panel of the Show Clients... window.
2. Select the volume.
The program lists the clients using that volume in the window’s bottom panel.
3. Click on the Show Clients... close box to exit the option.
Unmounting a volume
Return to Station B, where you mounted your published volume, and complete these steps to unmount that volume.
1. Complete your work with the application or file you mounted from Station A. You do not need to close the volume, as MacTOPS closes it as it unmounts it.
2. Drag the volume’s network icon to the Trash on Station B’s desktop.
Trashing the volume simply unmounts it from Station B, the client station; its contents remain intact on Station A, the server station.
Unpublishing a volume
Return to Station A on the network and complete these steps to unpublish your volume.
1. At the MacTOPS window, select the published volume.
The Unpublish button replaces the Publish button.
2. Click on the Unpublish button.
MacTOPS removes that volume from the network; that is, it unpublishes it. If anyone else is using that published volume, MacTOPS will display a warning message both at your server station and at its clients’ stations before unpublishing it.
About Sitka MacTOPS and Apple Network Software
Apple's System 7 File Sharing network software and AppleShare 3.0 cannot be active at the same time and on the same Macintosh as the MacTOPS file server software. To allow you to work with File Sharing and AppleShare 3.0, MacTOPS controls your file server software environment in a number of ways:
1. Publishing volumes with MacTOPS:
If you open MacTOPS and try to publish a volume while File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0 are active, you will receive a warning message, and the publish operation will not occur. To publish a volume with MacTOPS, turn off File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0.
2. Running File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0:
If you start File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0 with no volumes published in MacTOPS, the Apple network software will start up normally. However, if you start File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0 while MacTOPS has published volumes, you will receive a message and the Apple network software will not become active. To start the Apple network software, you must unpublish your MacTOPS volumes.
3. Applications and network software:
If you are running applications that are using Shared Environment Extensions (Apple designed system software extensions for use by multi-user database applications) provided by MacTOPS, and you try to start up File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0, you will receive a warning message to close your applications, and your Apple network software will not start.
Note If it appears that you have not published any volumes, but MacTOPS will not let you start up File Sharing or AppleShare 3.0, "Personal Access" may be enabled. (Personal Access is actually another form of publishing through MacTOPS.) Open the "MacTOPS" window, choose the “Set Station Preferences…” option from the “MacTOPS” menu and click on the “Enable Personal Access” check box to remove the "X" and disable this option.
MacTOPS and Macintosh Computers
Sitka has tested MacTOPS Version 3.1.1 and found that it operates correctly with both System 6 and System 7 on the Apple computers listed below:
Macintosh Plus
Macintosh Classic
Macintosh Classic II
Macintosh SE
Macintosh IILC
Macintosh Portable
Macintosh PowerBook 100
Macintosh PowerBook 140
Macintosh PowerBook 170
Macintosh II
Macintosh IIx
Macintosh SE30
Macintosh IIcx
Macintosh IIci
Macintosh IIsi
Macintosh IIfx
Macintosh Quadra 700
Macintosh Quadra 900
If you have a newer Macintosh which is not listed above, please call Sitka Technical Support for the latest information on Version 3.1.1 and your newer machine.
.c2.Sitka Technical Support
Sitka Technical Support
If you have problems with MacTOPS that you cannot solve, contact your Sitka dealer or international distributor. In the United States and Canada, you can also contact Sitka Technical Support. In either case, be sure to have the following information about your system available:
Hardware Information
• Brand names, type or model of all computers involved
• Type of connectors and cabling used by your network
• Make or model and revisions of all network interface cards
• Model of any printers involved
• Physical layout of the network
Software Information
• Version numbers of all MacTOPS software, including the part number for this version (792–1172–01)
• Macintosh System/Finder version numbers
• DOS version numbers, if applicable
• Sun Operating System version numbers, if applicable
• Any relevant applications and their version numbers
Problem Checklist
• Reproduce the sequence of events that lead to the problem.
• Write down any error messages that appear.
• Call from near your computer station, with MacTOPS running.
Sitka Contacts:
• Sitka Technical Support 510–769–8711
You can call Sitka at the above number between the hours of 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, Monday–Friday, except 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Wednesdays.
• Electronic Mail (e–mail)
You can now reach Sitka Technical Support through e–mail. Address it to sitka–support@sitka.sun.com.
• Sitka Bulletin Board Service 510–769–8774
You can dial in to this bulletin board service 24 hours a day. The settings are: 8 bits/1 stop bit/no parity.
• AppleLink
If you have access to AppleLink, you can send e–mail to Sitka Technical Support. Address it to D0098.
• CompuServe
Sitka maintains a topic in the Mac A Vendor Forum and in the PC A Vendor Forum. – For Macintosh computers, enter: GO MACAVEN – For PC computers, enter: GO PCVENA
