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July 1995
Connecting to the Internet
By Sam Wood
By now, most people have heard about the Internet, but many don't know how to get on it. From last month's article you learned some common terms and we covered the applications and services that are on the Internet such as Web and E-Mail. This month's article will show you, step-by-step, how you can access the Internet through Point to Point Protocol (PPP) with either your Mac or PC. Please remember, these are base line guides only. The exact configurations will vary with the service provider.
Step By Step PPP - Mac
Your Username:
Your Password:
Your E-Mail Address:
Mail Server:
Mail Gateway:
News Server:
Ensure that the MacTCP and MacPPP are installed in your System folder. Next, start the MacTCP control panel, select the More button and set the following parameters:
Obtain Address: From Server
Domain Name Server Information:
Domain IP Address
Domain name (ending with a '.')
Primary Domain Name Server IP address Default
o Secondary Domain Name Server IP Address as
o Additional Domain Name Server IP Address
Then select the Config PPP control panel and adjust the following settings: Hit the New button and type the name of your service provider. Select the appropriate Port for your modem. Set Idle Timeout to None and Echo Interval to Off. Select the Hangup on Close option.
Hit the Config button.
Port Speed: Highest Possible for your systemFlow Control: CTS Only (or CTS & RTS if your modem and cable support it)
Phone Number: Your Internet Service Providers modem number Modem Init: The appropriate string for your modem (Verify that hardware flow control is enabled.)
Modem Connect Timeout: 90 seconds
Hit the Connect Script... button.
Wait Timeout: 40 seconds
Enter the following script:
Wait ogin:
Out your username CR
Wait ssword:
Out your password CR
Wait ption:
Hit OK
Hit Done
Hit the Open button to connect. Once connected you can run your network applications.
Step by Step PPP - PC
Before you do anything, copy the files Winsock.dll, tepman.exe, hosts, services and protocol to a suitable directory. eg. e:\trumpet the essential files are:
Winsock.dll the guts of the TCP/IP driver
tepman.exe controlling program for the Winsock
sendreg.exe registration program
hosts list of host names
services list of Internet services
protocol list of Internet protocols
Modify the path line in your autoexec.bat to contain a reference to that directory. eg. path c:\dos;c:\windows;c:\trumpet
Make sure it is active by rebooting your computer or by executing autoexec.bat again. Now you are ready to start windows. Start it up! From windows, start up tcpman by selecting File/Run from the file manager, then type "tcpman". If this fails, the path is probably not set up correctly, so fix it. Later, you can set up tcpman as an icon so it can be started directly.
Assuming you are a first time user, a startup screen will appear giving you a number of options to fill in. You will need to fill in the following details to enable the TCP package to function. If you are unclear on any of them, try to seek some help from your Internet service provider-- it will save you a lot of time.
Firstly, click on Internal SLIP or Internal PPP. Some of the parameters will be greyed and others ungreyed.
IP address your Internet IP address or "bootp" in lower case only. Only use bootp if your server supports it, otherwise the Winsock will delay for up to 2 minutes and the message "Unable to perform bootp" will come up. The Winsock will not function should the bootp fail. Name server your name server IP address for DNS searches. You may provide more than one address by separating the addresses with spaces (IP addresses only).
Time server at present unused future Winsock API's may support this (IP addresses only).
Domain suffix a space separated list of domain suffixes to be used when resolving names in the DNS system.
MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit). Related to TCP MSS... usually TCP MSS + 40 (Numeric). For SLIP, we suggest 256 initially.
TCP RWIN TCP Receive Window. It is recommended that this value be roughly 3 to 4 times the value of TCP MSS (Numeric). For SLIP, we suggest 848.
TCP MSS TCP Maximum Segment Size. It is recommended that this be a smallish value when using SLIP say 512 bytes for SLIP and lower for CSLIP. CSLIP is able to compress data more efficiently when it is less than 255 (Numeric). For SLIP, we suggest 212 initially.
SLIP port your comms port number ..1=com1, 2=com2 etc., (Numeric). baud rate the speed you wish to run at (Numeric). Up to 115200 is supported although speeds greater than 19200 require suitable hardware.
Hardware handshake recommended if your link supports it. Van Jacobson CSLIP
Compression if your server will support it. You may also have to adjust MTU, MSS & RWIN to be suitable.
Online Status
Detection if your modem will support it, select DCD or DSR on-line status detection. You will need to make sure that your modem has a default power on setting of AT&C1 for this to function.
The rest of the details should be greyed out and you need not try to fill them in.
When you are done, click on ok and if all goes well, the Trumpet Winsock will be initialized. You are now ready to start using the Winsock.
Conclusion
For the third and final article in the Internet series, we will look at various Christian Internets, and the services they provide. If you know of any Christian URL's (Uniform Resource Locators) please contact me at: Wood7@applelink.apple.com. I will then compile and categorize them and you can begin surfing the 'Net! Until next time.
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