Subject: REVIEW: Connect your Amiga! book
From: [email-masked] (Markus Illenseer)
Date: 17 Nov 1994 16:02:56 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	'Connect your Amiga!' - A book and guide to Amiga networking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	A guide to the networking capabilities of the Amiga.  This book
written by Dale Larson, former Software Engineer at the networking group of
Commodore, is an expedition into the cyberspace and the world at the other
end of your network hardware.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
	Address:	828 Ormond Avenue
			Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2604
			USA

	Telephone:	(610) 853-4406
	Fax:		(610) 853-3733

	E-mail:		[email-masked]

DISTRIBUTION

	The book should be available through any good book store.  The
ISBN number is 1-885876-02-5.  Direct ordering from IAM is possible.

	In Germany the book is made available by:

		Hirsch&Wolf OHG
		Mittelstrasse 33
		56564 Neuwied
		GERMANY

		Telephone:	(02631) 8399 0
		Fax:		(02631) 8399 31

	You can get the book in UK from:

		Almathera Systems
		Southerton House
		Boundary Business Court
		92-94 Church Road
		Mitcham, Surrey
		CR4 3TD
		ENGLAND

		Telephone:	(081) 687 0040
		Fax:		(081) 687 0490

	email: [email-masked]

	In Australia, contact:
	
		Matt Christou
		20 Clotilde St
		Mt Lawley
		Perth, Western Australia
		Australia, 6050

		Telephone:	(09) 271 0624

		email:		[email-masked]

	In Italy, the book is available from:
	
		Claudio Dosio
		Piazzale Montesquieu, 28D/7
		00137 Roma

		Telephone:	06/82 39 80

LIST PRICE

	$24.95 (US).
	Hirsch&Wolf is selling the book for about DM 50.- in Germany.

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		Eyeglasses if required, and good light.

	SOFTWARE

		The book requires profound knowledge of the English language.
		OCR software built-in in your brain.

COPY PROTECTION

	None.  Copying is easy but not encouraged though.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	No machine used. The author of this review tested the book himself. 

INSTALLATION

	Installs fairly easily on my bookshelf.  Fits nicely in my hands
whilst reading.

ABOUT THIS REVIEW

	Ahem. You might see that the comp.sys.amiga.reviews Template for
hardware and software reviews does not fit book reviews quite as well. :-)

	So, where to go? Let's start with a brief section about the
author of the reviewed book.

AUTHOR

	Dale Larson is a former Commodore employee.  He worked a long time
in the networking group and was responsible for several networking products
for the Amiga.  Furthermore, he designed the network layer standard SANA-II
for the Amiga.  Together with the networking group at Commodore, he also
developed Envoy - one standard Amiga network software.

	Dale now works at Intangible Assets Manufacturing (IAM).

	His profound knowledge of networks, especially on the Amiga, is
summarized in his book.

THE INTENDED AUDIENCE

	The book is intended for beginning and intermediate users of networks
in general and the Amiga in particular.  It is also written for intermediate
users of networks to give them more knowledge about the stuff they are
using.  There are many people who read the Net all the time and still don't
understand what they are using and how TCP/IP, SLIP and PPP actually do
work, for example. The book is for them, too.

	After sending an initial version of this review to Dale - asking him
to check for obvious and hidden errors - we both agreed that I should state
that I have decent knowledge of networks in general and of course on the
Amiga.  I do not declare myself an expert, though Dale supposed me to be
one, but I am clearly not the guy the book was written for.  Due to my
participation on the international networks and personal interest in
networking in general, only a few topics about specific software or
backgrounds over related networks were new to me.

THE BOOK

	I bought the book because the name 'Dale Larson' was known to me and
I wanted to read about the perspectives of a Commodore insider.  Alas, I
must say that my hopes were only partially satisfied by this book.

	The book is a a short but precise expedition into the Amiga's
networking possibilities.  The main topic is connecting your Amiga with
world-wide networks and the Internet, with BBSes, with local networks, and
much more.  It shows you how to connect your machine with modem to BBSes. It
describes terminal programs, some of the features of BBSes, e-mail, file
areas, online chats, and hints on uploading and downloading files.

	A chapter about LANs (Local Area Networks) tells you about basic
physical connections, the required software to communicate over this
hardware, and gives a small overview about internets and the used
applications such as telnet, ftp and WWW.  The book does not go into detail
about how to set up a local network.  It does, however, show you the
possibilities, offer overviews of hardware and software, and give hints and
tips about further references to be read if you are interested.

	A full and detailed chapter is dedicated to Amiga telecommunication
software. This is more than a simple enumeration of available applications,
as it also shows the enormous variety of the software for the Amiga. Starts
with terminal emulators, goes over Fax software to network games and ends
with modems.

	Next chapter is devoted to Amiga LANs - network hardware available
for the Amiga. This includes ethernet adaptors as well as parallel port
connections. 

	The subsequent chapters are more and more complicated and detailed
and gives introductions to the network software available.  This of course
includes AS225R2, AmiTCP and Oxxi Novell software and the Envoy system.

	Very good is the chapter about security and privacy using networks
on your Amiga - the Amiga clearly is not a multi-user machine, and hence
information about security is really important.

	Up to this point in the book, I must say that I had learned no new
information; however, the next chapters were of value even to me.  They
contain information you otherwise would have to ask on networks or wouldn't
even realize existed at all.  Lists about vendors for Amiga computers and
related third party stuff are made available, as well as lists about specific
mailing lists on Internet and Usenet.

	Every chapter is well edited and researched. Only few of them miss
the professionality required to be serious - sometimes I got the impression
that either Dale has a dark and sparking humour or is not informed at all.
For example who is 'Olag Brothel' he supposed to be the author of Term?
[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  The correct name is Olaf Barthel.  - Dan]  And why does
he announce the A4066 to be available when no one ever saw or reported
the board actually running? Also he claims that the Austrian authors of
TrapFax are German; may he fall into the TrapDoor. :-)

	Dale Larson responded to these comments with:

	o	"I think a spell-checker got carried away on poor Olaf's
		name, that or my fingers were really numb that night.
		Either way, my proofreaders didn't know him, so didn't catch
		it.  It'll be corrected in the next printing along with
		other typos and such.  I've already offered Olaf my
		apologies for the serious mistake.

	o	[...] I have an A4066 here and I know other people who have
		ordered and received one.

	o	[...] The address of the authors provided in the manual
		looked German to me, I didn't realize that it was forwarded
		to Austria (or maybe it says AUSTRIA in letters too big for
		me to read. :-)"

	I wonder what his spell-checker is called?  Maybe "Wrong-O-Saurus"
rather than thesaurus? :-)

	Dale's humour comes up to daylight every now and then.  The entire
Glossary is full of jokes.  One of the best is the definition of 'Terminator'
which I believe I must give you before I start with the conclusions:

	"Terminator:  -- Usually an electronic device place at the ends of
	an electronic bus.  [...] A T-1000 Terminator is used to eliminate
	carbon-based network problems (i.e. Mark Barrett)."

DOCUMENTATION

	No documentation available. Major drawback. :-)

LIKES

	I like the way Dale describes available network software
applications for the Amiga. Not that he states that they exist, but he gives
a short overview of the product and tells you his opinion about it.  This
should of course not be a recommendation but sure is a help to choose
between the available packages.

	The language throughout used is easy to understand. The whole book
is readable either like a novel - takes you 2 hours if you are good - or as
sort of dictionary to get hints about specific problems.

	The way he shows a typical network session or modem session is very
good and helps you to get the idea about how to communicate and deal with
the resources you are about to use.

	Personally, I found a nice source at the end of the book in the
chapter about mailing lists, vendors and recommended books.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

	I still have a strange feeling about the contents of this book.  It
is clearly directed to the networking beginner.  I myself have no further
use for the book other than recommending it to beginners and intermediate
users.  But then again, I am not the typical reader of this book.  Most of
the chapters are vague and do not really explain the stuff in detail.
Sometimes Dale rather describes how NOT to do something instead of clearly
writing how to do it.

	Dale's comment on this:  "It was a struggle to write.  I would have
liked to have explained Life, the Universe and Everything.  [...]  And they
still ask -- all the time -- 'how do I install SLIP?' I think it is fair to
say that anyone who asks that question would get a lot out of my book."

	I am not happy at all with the chapter 'Questions and Answers'.
This is a bad joke.  Questions like 'How do I connect my two Amigas?' are
answered with 'Have money - get ethernet.  Have no money - use floppy
disks.' And the important answer about how to connect your Amiga with the
world of PC begins with:  'Use Sneakernet [disks]' - in a book about
networking.  I suggest to Dale to rewrite this chapter completely and give
more detailed hints - even beginners cannot be satisfied with the current
version.

	The chapter about Envoy made me wonder if Dale supports piracy of
Envoy because it duplicates the Envoy documentation.  The chapter is a copy
of (his own) guide to Envoy and shows how to set up server and client.
Fortunately though he does not give any hint how to set up the network
itself.  This chapter clearly is used as hidden advertisement for Envoy
available at IAM.  Dale told me that the book is sold together with Envoy at
IAM and other places.  He does NOT encourage piracy of Envoy.

	The entire chapter about SANA-II does not satisfy my needs, but I
must admit that the chapter gives a good entry for intermediate users into
the world of low-level network device drivers in general.

	Big suggestion:  write a new book Dale!  One which gives valuable
hints about programming Envoy, TCP/IP, SANA-II.  How to set up networks from
the beginning on.  Make it interesting for professionals, and make it usable
for everyday and special problems.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	I have read and seen several other similar books. None of them is
really intended for the Amiga user, so this book is probably a valuable
resource for Amiga-only users. The other books I've read do not cover all the
topics Dale is writing about in his book, but those books do offer more
depth and background. Remember though, that there is almost no other book
available for Amiga networking, this makes comparison quite a hard task.

BUGS

	I have found several minor typos (the glossary is not well edited)
and know of some real errors, but they are probably not Dale's fault.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	Does a book require vendor support?  Actually Dale is offering quite
a good support to reader of his book via email, on Usenet and phone
(careful, IAM wants money when you phone them).  At least he gave good
support to me. :-)

WARRANTY

	The distributor gave me no warranty. I am not supposed to burn
the book. :-)

CONCLUSIONS

	I have mixed feelings about the book - nonetheless, I can recommend
it to beginners and intermediate user of Amiga networks.  Even the readers
of c.s.a.reviews are probably a good audience for this book!

	I rate the book with 4 stars out of 5.  The last star can be
achieved rewriting some parts of the book and by doing a major rewrite
of the chapter 'Questions and Answers'.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	This review represents my honest opinion.  Your mileage may vary -
tell me about it!  If you use this review in any way - re-publishing for
example, the author requests at least a copy of the used media.  Special
thanks to disk magazine 'Amiga Gadget' who did so in the past.

	Copyright 1994 Markus Illenseer.  All rights reserved.

	You can contact the author at:

		Markus Illenseer 
		Kurt Schumacherstr. 16
		33615 Bielefeld
		GERMANY

		[email-masked]

-- 
Markus Illenseer 

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