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Anyone have Corvus Omnishare?

In the german classic computing forum we had some discussions abour Corvus Ominet (also known as ELV Network, Radio-Shack Network 4) and similar 10-Net, some have network cards (I have a 10-Net card) but nobody has software for DOS "Omnishare", but Apple II software is available. A well known usage of Omninet was on french schools, in class rooms they had Logabax Persona 1600 PCs (relabled brown colored Olivetti M24) as servers for a classroom full of Apple II machines. Maybe you want to follow up:
- https://forum.classic-computing.org/forum/index.php?thread/10897-omninet/
- https://forum.classic-computing.org/forum/index.php?thread/8690-corvus-omninet/
- https://forum.classic-computing.org/forum/index.php?thread/10066-elv-netzwerk-pc/

You also get some results for "Corvus", "Omninet", "Omnishare", "Network 4" here when searching the forum.
 
Old thread, I know, but just for completeness' sake :

I have now a running Omninet system, using 2 486/33 Mhz PC running DOS 6, one as a server, one as a workstation (client in Corvus-speak )
The software I used is the one posted in the German VzEkc forum, being the software that the ELV Easynet cards came with (basically the left-over Transportercards after Corvus stopped.)

Jos
 
jdreesen said:
Old thread, I know, but just for completeness' sake :

I have now a running Omninet system, using 2 486/33 Mhz PC running DOS 6, one as a server, one as a workstation (client in Corvus-speak )
The software I used is the one posted in the German VzEkc forum, being the software that the ELV Easynet cards came with (basically the left-over Transportercards after Corvus stopped.)

Jos
Click to expand...

Would love to have more details on the configuration and setup. I have a copy of the ELV Easynet software, but since I don't speak or read German I haven't been able to learn much about it.

Corvus had a product called PC/NOS that sort of hinted at the ability to have a PC act as server, but it's not very clear on whether the base product can do it or whether an add-on is needed.
 
shirsch said:
Would love to have more details on the configuration and setup. I have a copy of the ELV Easynet software, but since I don't speak or read German I haven't been able to learn much about it.
Click to expand...


It is easy enough...German is no issue, the very first question asked at setup is wether you want an English or German installation....

If your disks come from the posted .IMD's then you need to set the LABEL of the first disk to ELVNET1335, otherwise the installprogram fails.
Haven't tried myself, but it was claimed on the german forum that the ELV software doesn't work with MSDOS versions above 6.0. I used 5.0, instead of 6.0 as I mistakenly claimed above.

You install the program on one machine as "workstation", i.e. client. On the other machine you install it as "server". The server must have MSDOS, DRDOS etc. does not work.
The install program creates a batch file to be executed at startup, then it is just a question to start up the server before the workstation.
Remember to run MSDOS SHARE and to set LASTDRIVE to an appropriate level. Shares will show up as additional DOS drive letters.
The setup is controlled from the server with the interactive "netmgr" program, pretty much self-explanatory.

Wiring up is simply a twisted cable between the cards, with 100 Ohm termination resistors at both ends.

There is a program "omni1chk" that you can run that will verify card functionality and address/IRQ settings.
It all pretty much works out of the box. If you have specific questions let me know...

Jos
 
Last edited:
jdreesen said:
It is easy enough...German is no issue, the very first question asked at setup is wether you want an English or German installation....

If your disks come from the posted .IMD's then you need to set the LABEL of the first disk to ELVNET1335, otherwise the installprogram fails.
Haven't tried myself, but it was claimed on the german forum that the ELV software doesn't work with MSDOS versions above 6.0. I used 5.0, instead of 6.0 as I mistakenly claimed above.

You install the program on one machine as "workstation", i.e. client. On the other machine you install it as "server". The server must have MSDOS, DRDOS etc. does not work.
The install program creates a batch file to be executed at startup, then it is just a question to start up the server before the workstation.
Remember to run MSDOS SHARE and to set LASTDRIVE to an appropriate level. Shares will show up as additional DOS drive letters.
The setup is controlled from the server with the interactive "netmgr" program, pretty much self-explanatory.

Wiring up is simply a twisted cable between the cards, with 100 Ohm termination resistors at both ends.

There is a program "omni1chk" that you can run that will verify card functionality and address/IRQ settings.
It all pretty much works out of the box. If you have specific questions let me know...

Jos
Click to expand...

Wonderful! Thanks, Jos. I have an extensive collection of Corvus equipment with many different Omninet client interfaces. Will be interested to see if my Apple 2 and 3 can use a PC-based ELV server.
 
...The Stride Liaison OS does not seem to cooperate with the ELV Easynet system...
A setup with 2 PC's running DOS & ELV Easynet and a Stride 420 running IV2.1 with Liaison resulted in the Stride not finding the server. Operation between both PC's remained funtional with the Stride on the netwerk.

I'll try again if the original omnishare software ever turns up.

Jos
 
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