www.virtualacorn.co.uk/forum

Is it possible to run a proper Acorn network using VA with a file server etc.? And if so is the software available to do it?

When you say a "proper Acorn network" do you mean Econet? AUN? String and tincan?

The short answer is that provided you are serving files via ShareFS then it should be possible. However I can't help as I have never done it and in my opinion the co-operative multitasking model that RISC OS uses (plus other filing issues) makes RISC OS a poor target as an OS for a file server.

Put it this way, lots of schools used Acorn kit as desktop computers, but the vast majority of file servers weren't RISC OS based.

Or any other type of server.

I have !Webjames (web server), !Deltanet (ftp server), and !Igor (telnet server) all running on my RiscOS machines (real and virtual) .....
..... but some errors tend to just stop the whole machine dead in its tracks.

AUN I suppose since that was the native protocol (I think) I'm putting together a small Level 3 5/6 client Econet with an A5000 as the fileserver as a side project and since I have VA I wondered how easy it would be to achieve something similar ie a virtual RiscPC network with a VA-RiscPC acting as a file server with a couple of VA clients.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but there is no AUN support built into VirtualRPC.

Oh well better to know now than later and it saves on buying a couple of new licenses which I can put towards the Econet.

thanks Aaron.

Since it's not been tried before once I get the L4 Server setup on the real A5000 I will have a bash on VA and see if it'll work, obviously I won't be able to connect it up but if I can get the software to run it's something I may pursue when time permits.