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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Pathworks</span></span>

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<p><b>PATHWORKS</b> (copyright requires all letters capitalized) was the trade name used by <a href="Digital_Equipment_Corporation" title="Digital Equipment Corporation">Digital Equipment Corporation</a> of <a href="Maynard%2C_Massachusetts" title="Maynard, Massachusetts">Maynard</a>, <a href="Massachusetts" title="Massachusetts">Massachusetts</a> for a series of programs that eased the interoperation of Digital's <a href="Minicomputer" title="Minicomputer">minicomputers</a> and <a href="Computer_server" class="mw-redirect" title="Computer server">servers</a> with <a href="Personal_computer" title="Personal computer">personal computers</a>. It was available for both PC and Mac systems, with support for <a href="MS-DOS" title="MS-DOS">MS-DOS</a>, <a href="OS/2" title="OS/2">OS/2</a> and <a href="Microsoft_Windows" title="Microsoft Windows">Microsoft Windows</a> on the PC.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Before it was named PATHWORKS, it was known as <b>PCSA</b> (Personal Computing Systems Architecture).

</p><p>PATHWORKS server ran on <a href="OpenVMS" title="OpenVMS">OpenVMS</a> and <a href="Ultrix" title="Ultrix">Ultrix</a> (and later <a href="Digital_UNIX" class="mw-redirect" title="Digital UNIX">Digital UNIX</a>) and enabled a system or cluster to act as a file and <a href="Print_server" title="Print server">print server</a> for client <a href="IBM_PC_compatible" title="IBM PC compatible">IBM PC compatible</a> and <a href="Apple_Macintosh" class="mw-redirect" title="Apple Macintosh">Macintosh</a> workstations. A version of PATHWORKS server for OS/2 was also available, allowing a PC with OS/2 to act as a server to other PCs.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> PATHWORKS server was derived from LanMan/X, the portable version of <a href="OS/2" title="OS/2">OS/2</a> <a href="LAN_Manager" title="LAN Manager">LAN Manager</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-samba_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-samba-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>In 1992 DEC said that PATHWORKS revenue would soon be larger than for VMS.<sup id="cite_ref-dec19921116_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-dec19921116-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> PATHWORKS was one of DEC's most successful products ever. Analysis of sales showed that on average, each PATHWORKS license brought in at least $3,000 USD in server revenue (server HW, SW, storage, printers, networking, and services), so it was a major driver for DEC's revenue in the mid and late 1980s.

</p><p>Later versions of PATHWORKS were known as <b>Advanced Server for OpenVMS</b> (or <b>Advanced Server for Unix</b> for <a href="Tru64" class="mw-redirect" title="Tru64">Tru64</a>). Advanced Server was replaced on OpenVMS by <a href="Samba_(software)" title="Samba (software)">Samba</a> at the time of the porting of VMS to <a href="Itanium" title="Itanium">Itanium</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-samba_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-samba-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This was due to the amount of effort required to keep Advanced Server compatible with new versions of Windows and the <a href="Server_Message_Block" title="Server Message Block">Server Message Block</a> (SMB) protocol.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Features">Features</h2></div>

<p>Once installed onto the PCs, the PATHWORKS client provided the following features:<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<ul><li><a href="DECnet" title="DECnet">DECnet</a>, and later TCP/IP and NetBEUI, end-node connectivity with the host and client systems</li>

<li>PowerTerm 525 <a href="Terminal_emulation" class="mw-redirect" title="Terminal emulation">Terminal emulation</a> software from <a href="Ericom" class="mw-redirect" title="Ericom">Ericom</a></li>

<li>eXcursion, an <a href="X11" class="mw-redirect" title="X11">X11</a> server for Windows.</li>

<li>File-transfer software. This was a DECnet-DOS file transfer utility, although it was somewhat superfluous because the PATHWORKS server software presented VMS or UNIX files to the PC clients as if they were PC files being served by a Windows server.</li></ul>

<p>The PATHWORKS server software provided access to server file storage and print services using the native Microsoft protocols. Later versions of PATHWORKS servers on VMS supported NetWare and Macintosh clients, but they never achieved the volumes of the Microsoft clients. For clients running a GUI such as Windows 3.x, additional components available included an <a href="X_window_system" class="mw-redirect" title="X window system">X window system</a> server, allowing clients to access graphical apps running on VMS or <a href="UNIX" class="mw-redirect" title="UNIX">UNIX</a> hosts, and clients for DEC's <a href="ALL-IN-1" title="ALL-IN-1">ALL-IN-1</a> email and groupware system. Although primitive by modern standards, PATHWORKS was very sophisticated for its time; far more than just a file and print server, it made client microcomputers into terminals and workstations on a DEC network.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Implementation">Implementation</h2></div>

<p>LanMan normally ran across <a href="Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a>'s basic, non-routable <a href="NetBIOS" title="NetBIOS">NetBIOS/NetBEUI</a> <a href="NetBIOS_Frames" title="NetBIOS Frames">NBF</a> protocol, but PATHWORKS included a DECnet stack, including layers like the LAT transport used for terminal sessions. The complexity of DECnet by 1980s PC standards meant that the PATHWORKS client was a huge software stack to have resident in MS-DOS; configuring the PATHWORKS client was a complex task, made more so by the need to preserve enough <a href="Conventional_memory" title="Conventional memory">conventional memory</a> for DOS applications to run. To keep a reasonable amount of base memory free mandated the use of <a href="QEMM" title="QEMM">QEMM</a> or a similar <a href="Memory_management" title="Memory management">memory manager</a>. This problem went away once 386-based PCs became prevalent and MS Windows provided built-in support for large amounts of memory.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFAlan_AbrahamsDavid_A._Low1992" class="citation journal cs1">Alan Abrahams; David A. Low (1992). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/dtj/vol4num1/vol4num1art1.pdf">"An Overview of the PATHWORKS Product Family"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Digital Technical Journal</i>. <b>4</b> (1).</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/decnet/pathworks_DOS/AA-PAF5C-TK_Pathworks_for_DOS_Overview_V4.1_Aug91.pdf">"PATHWORKS for DOS Overview"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>bitsavers.org</i>. August 1991<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-01-01</span></span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-samba-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-samba_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-samba_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFAndy_Goldstein2005" class="citation web cs1">Andy Goldstein (2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://de.openvms.org/TUD2005/02_Advanced_Server_and_Samba_Andy_Goldstein.pdf">"Samba and OpenVMS"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>de.openvms.org</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-01-01</span></span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-dec19921116-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-dec19921116_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation magazine cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=N1EEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA89#v=onepage">"Digital Sizes Up The Desktop"</a>. <i>InfoWorld</i>. Vol. 14, no. 46. 1992-11-16. p. DEC3<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2025-06-30</span></span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBrad_Cooper1998" class="citation web cs1">Brad Cooper (1998-04-30). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.itprotoday.com/cloud-computing/pathworks-and-nt">"Pathworks and NT"</a>. <i>ITPro Today</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-11-06</span></span>.</cite></span>

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<p>Lawrence W. White - PATHWORKS Product Manager

</p><p>Bob Nusbaum - PATHWORKS Product Manager

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