LanMan98 2.08 CDDL 1.0 Open Source Edition available now

Hello everyone,

With thanks to Warm Silence Software, RISC OS Developments is pleased to make LanMan98 2.08 freely available under the CDDL (Common Development and Distribution Licence) 1.0. The software can be downloaded from !Store, or you can visit http://www.riscosdev.com/lanman98 where you’ll find the software and also an additional copy of the full CDDL 1.0 licence.

For those unfamiliar, LanMan98 allows access to “SMB” network shares, used on Windows, Linux, NAS and Mac devices. Whilst similar functionality is included in RISC OS (LanManFS) as part of OmniClient, most users who have tried both have tended to find LanMan98 preferable. Historically, it was certainly more compatible with a broader range of devices. These days, LanManFS has improved, but LM98 still provides excellent connectivity and a simple front end.

The CDDL 1.0 licence was chosen carefully, and we’d like to thank both Rick Murray and Steve Fryatt for their assitance, advice and recommendations regarding licensing. The CDDL ensures that changes to LanMan98 must be fed back and kept open source, which we believe is the best way forward for the program. CDDL is already used within the RISC OS source tree (eg. SDFS) so we felt this was a compatible choice of licence for whatever direction LanMan98 and LanManFS take in the future. Sources are included in the download alongside information about the CDDL licence, and it has been tested on machines running RISC OS 4 and higher.

We would like to dedicate this release to members of the RISC OS community who are no longer with us, especially in the light of a tough 12 months. In particular, we remember past members (and thank remaining members) of the RISC OS Investment Group (RIG) who have supported ongoing networking work on RISC OS, making projects like this possible.

Best wishes to all,

Andrew

we’d like to thank both Rick Murray and Steve Fryatt

;-) You’re welcome.

We would like to dedicate this release to members of the RISC OS community who are no longer with us

Funny you should mention that. I was thinking at work, while mopping a floor (hardly a mentally challenging task!) about the Zimmer Frame Club, a private newsgroup on Argonet, “back then”.

They were nice enough to let me participate, despite being far from requiring a zimmer frame. It also allowed me to communicate with one of the most interesting people I’ve never met – Elma Alexander.
A little out of date, but maybe will nudge the grey matter: http://www.torrens.org/ZFC/

Thank you for the release of LanMan98. Interactivity with “elsewhere” is important these days.

They were nice enough to let me participate, despite being far from requiring a zimmer frame.

Very much the case for many of the “club”, but then any age can use one.

It also allowed me to communicate with one of the most interesting people I’ve never met – Elma Alexander.

RIP.
One of the few that didn’t complain about [beep] postings that [beep][beep] made noises. :)

Brilliant, thanks for organising this.

Excellent. Replaced my v2.06 very easily – v2.08 is now in use and connecting to my NAS and Win10 without problems so far. Thanks Andrew.

It was pointed out to me that the documentation had become out of sync with the application, so I have now updated that to match 2.08.

Hello everyone,
I’ve a question… how i can use LanMan98 to make a sub connection with a iMac with Big Sur??
Thanks

I’ll need to defer to others on Giulio’s question as I’m not a Mac person. The general tip is “make sure SMB 1 support is enabled in the OS” (eg. Win10 in add/remove windows components) but I have no idea how that applies to Mac/BigSur.

how i can use LanMan98 to make a sub connection with a iMac with Big Sur

RISC OS SMB connections to a Mac got stopped some ten years ago. It worked when I first got a Mac, Leopard, I think Mountain Lion stopped it.

The better news is that an NFS server can again be set up on Big Sur, Catalina put a stop to that here, it having worked previously.

Bresink’s NFS Manager can set it up. (This is on an Intel Mac, haven’t tried on Apple Silicon.)

This looks potentially useful. Are there any recommended instructions for setting up an NFS share on a Linux machine that can be used with LanMan98?

LanMan98 (& LanMan) both use the SMB CIFS protocol, not NFS. However, recent versions of RO5 include an NFS client – se the latest RO5 User Guide section on OmniClient for details how to set it up. It first needs enabling in Apps.!Omni.Files.Startup. I have used it to connect to NFS on my NAS.

Is the NFS client better or worse than Sunfish? I’ve used Sunfish to my NAS boxes for many years successfully, having never got on with LANMan, and don’t want to have SMB1 enabled in my network now anyway. I don’t suppose making LANMan98 source available makes it likely for it to be updated to SMB2 or SMB3?

Don’t know about NFS clients.

Not sure why LamMan98 source availability would help with SMB2 or SMB3, as LanManFS source has been available for a while.

These days, what are the differences between LM98 and LMFS? I know a while back, LanManFS didn’t do long filenames, but that was sorted out a while back, wasn’t it?

Is there any chance that LanMan98 is going to support SMB2, or better SMB3?

There is always a chance. LanManFS currently has a bounty for development to SMB2/3 on the ROOL website. LanMan98 is open source under the CDDL licence now, thus anyone can develop it. You could approach ROD about possibly investing some time and money in it.

To be honest I think this one of those items that needs getting a higher priority for development.

That’s what I think too, since Windows is going to dispatch SMB1 in a very near future completely, because SMB1 seems to be prone to an increasing insecurity. Hopefully, my monthly (small) investment in ROOL may contribute to a quick solution.