The built-in Ethernet capabilities and 68040 processors of the 500-series PowerBooks make them an ideal choice for a network-protocol analyzer. The PowerBooks' design changes drastically increase performance over previous models, which were slowed by their external SCSI-to-Ethernet adapters. The AG Group reports that while a PowerBook 140 running the company's EtherPeek software captured all Ethernet frames at a 25 percent load, a 500-series PowerBook can handle an 82 percent load. In Neon Software's tests, a beta version of its NetMinder Ethernet software running on a 25MHz PowerBook 520 collected all packets at up to a 75 percent load.
Both Neon and the AG Group are updating their programs for the PowerBook 500 models. The AG Group offers a free EtherPeek upgrade via the Inter-net, CompuServe, AppleLink, or ARA. Neon's NetMinder Ethernet version 3.2 is available via eWorld, AppleLink, ARA, and the Internet. The AG Group, 510/937-7900; Neon Software, 510/283-9771.
November 1994, page: 145
Copyright © 1995 Macworld Communications, Inc.