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Windows NT Connections


Connections and communications are what makes using the computer worthwhile for some people. It's not a matter of doing something faster; it's a matter of being able to obtain and present information that drives them. Exchanging information with others means that you'll have to spend a little more time thinking about how you'll do it. Windows NT provides a lot of different types of connections, and each of them will help you communicate in some way.

I'm not going to tell you that every type of connection works well under Windows NT. You'll need to address some real problem areas in order to make things work properly. Communications aren't always as clear as they could be. You'll find that not only do you need to learn new computing skills, but you need to learn a new way of talking with other people as well. This chapter will take you through the pitfalls you could experience and help you avoid them.

This chapter has four distinctively separate parts. Two of them build on information that we've talked about in previous chapters. The first part spends some time with physical details we haven't covered yet. Hardware connections are a necessary step in getting your machine ready for information exchange of all types. I'm not going to spend any time talking about troubleshooting or network specifics here, but I will spend some time talking about common connections—the devices you use every day.

The second topic we'll talk about is software connections. Anyone who works out of his or her home knows the problems involved in keeping up with what's going on at the office. Sharing files and any other type of communication is a problem as well. Previous versions of Windows left the user out in the cold when it came to these very necessary concerns. Windows NT takes care of that discrepancy by providing some very real assistance for the remote user.



Looking Ahead: I'm not going to cover the particulars of on-line communication here. We'll cover that issue in Chapter 19, "Surfing the Net." Network connections begin in Chapter 21, "Peer-to-Peer Networking." Make sure that you look there for the ins and outs of that type of connection. We'll also cover troubleshooting in Chapter 25, "Hardware Problems." Of course, these other chapters cover a lot more than just connections; they cover many user issues as well.

When you combine the software and hardware connections Windows NT provides, you'll find a somewhat complete level of coverage. I was appalled, however, at some of the areas where Microsoft skimped when it came to this important subject. I was equally pleased at some of the new features they decided to include. Overall, Windows NT is an improvement, but perhaps not as big an improvement as you might expect. It's not time to throw away that third-party remote connection package yet, but perhaps in another few versions it will be.

This chapter also looks at two important technologies. Microsoft has added both MAPI (messaging applications programming interface) and TAPI (telephony application program interface) to this version of Windows NT. The level of support you can expect is similar to that found in Windows 95. Windows NT even includes a couple of utility programs that make sure of these new APIs.

Finally, we'll look at standards. Where would computing be with the standards we use today? If you really want to understand what's going on, you'll need to spend some time learning about those standards. The material in this chapter won't make you a communications expert, but it'll give you the resources you need to become one.

Making Hardware Attachments


As advanced as some users are when it comes to software, they're handicapped when it comes to hardware. Perhaps you've heard the story of the guy who placed a floppy disk in the space between the two drives because his machine lacked a 5 1/4-inch floppy drive. It's funny to think about someone actually doing something that silly. Of course, there's also the joke about people who use Liquid Paper to cover up on-screen mistakes. Everyone has a favorite joke about someone who did something harebrained on their computer.

Making the wrong connection in real life is another story. Finding that your printer or modem doesn't work when there is a critical deadline isn't funny at all. Frantic workers trying to figure out why their external SCSI drive or another device won't work without a terminator is enough to send chills up anyone's spine. That's the kind of serious connection work we'll talk about here. I won't bore you with stories of the oddball; I'm going to tell you about real-life connection problems and how to avoid them.

Any Port in a Storm


The first thing we need to talk about is the external ports on your machine. The problem for many people is not knowing where these ports connect or what they do. Some very different ports even look alike. There's the distinct possibility that you could confuse a game port with a thick Ethernet port, for example, because they look exactly the same. Even though most ports are easy to identify given certain clues, just grabbing any port on the back of your machine isn't such a good idea. It's always better to mark the ports and know exactly what they do before you try to use them. You might end up costing yourself a lot of time if you don't. What if you have two 9-pin serial ports on your machine, for example? Which one is COM1? Just knowing what function the port serves might not be enough.



Peter's Principle: An End to Port Confusion—Universal Serial Bus (USB)

I've spent more than a little time trying to figure out foolproof ways to make sense out of that web of confusion on the back of everyone's machine—it can't be done with today's technology. Obviously, we need some new technology that will clean up the mess sometime in the future. Just as obviously, any solution will make a big mess out of things for the interim.

Intel, Microsoft, and other companies are currently working on a new port standard called the Universal Serial Bus (USB). So what is this new standard all about? It's a standard single-sized peripheral port designed to meet the needs of every device connected to your machine. In addition, it allows you to daisychain up to 255 devices to one port (at least at the time of this writing), eliminating the need for separate interrupt and port settings for each of those devices within your machine. A user will also benefit from the 32-bit data path this new standard offers because it exceeds just about any connection offered right now.

Lest you think that all this new technology is mere vaporware, Intel actually demonstrated a desktop machine that included USB at the 1995 fall Comdex. It also released a version of the chip early in 1996. More than a few notebook vendors have signed up for USB as well. The list includes companies such as Dell Computer Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, and Toshiba. We're supposed to see all these new goodies by the 1996 fall Comdex, but I wouldn't hold my breath. What you'll probably see is a reasonable version of the machine that you could buy early in 1997 at best. Microsoft will also need to provide the operating system drivers to support this new bus—something that will take a little time and effort to do. Even if you do buy the hardware early in 1997, it'll take until the middle of 1997 to get everything working right.

Are there other flies in the ointment? Sure. Just think about the vast stockpiles of printers and other peripheral devices sitting out there right now. Even if everyone does get a USB machine out by fall Comdex that does provide full operating system support, it's going to take several years to integrate that new port into the current corporate environment. USB: It's a technology that's better than anything we have now, but it's definitely a future technology.


Fortunately, some types of ports are tough to confuse. A 25-pin port with female pins, for example, is a parallel (printer) port. Nothing else on your system uses that configuration. A 25-pin port with male pins is a serial port; nothing else uses that combination either. Of course, an external SCSI or other adapter is also pretty difficult to confuse. They usually contain so many pins that they fill the entire width of the expansion slot. But those are all of the easy ports—the ones you can identify just by looking at them. The other ports require closer identification before you know what they do.

You can make several generalizations by looking at the back of your PC. Table 17.1 contains a partial list of the clues I used to identify the ports on the back of my machine. You, too, can use these clues if there's some reason that you can't open up your machine. (Some warranty policies don't let you open the machine because the vendor is concerned about user tampering.)

Table 17.1. Adapters and their associated ports.

Adapter Port Description
Ethernet This adapter normally has a 15-pin thick Ethernet port and a coaxial cable thin Ethernet connector. The round coaxial connector is the same width as the slot and has two knobs on it for connecting the cable. The adapter might also provide DIP switches. Similar-looking cards include ArcNet adapters. However, these always lack the 15-pin port. ArcNet adapters usually provide an active indicator LED as well. (Some Ethernet cards now replace the 15-pin thick Ethernet plug with an RJ45 telephone style plug, but ArcNet cards lack this plug as well.)
I/O port combo The combination port card usually provides a 25-pin parallel port and a 9-pin serial port on the back of the adapter. The serial port is usually COM1 and the parallel port is LPT1. Be warned that the installer could have changed these default settings using the jumpers on the card or software setup. An I/O port combo adapter also includes either a 9- or 25-pin serial port and a 15-pin game port that attaches through the back of the machine. If your case doesn't provide the extra cable connector holes, these ports might appear in one of the expansion slot openings. Some older multifunction cards, such as the Intel Above Board, used this port layout as well. Fortunately, the ports served the same purpose.
SVGA display Some older versions of these cards provide both a 9-pin digital and a 15-pin analog port. Note that this 15-pin port is the same size as the 9-pin port. The pins are arranged in three rows of five rather than the two-row arrangement used by the game port. They're also a little smaller than the ones used by the game port. The display adapter might include a mouse port for a PS/2-style mouse. Some adapters provide only the 15-pin port (a requirement for SVGA). Other features on the back of this card might include DIP switches or three high-frequency connectors to connect to a high-resolution monitor.
Game This adapter usually contains two 15-pin game ports. The one nearest the top of the machine is usually the one you want to use. Game adapters almost always include a submini plug used for a variable-speed controller. This controller matches the speed of the game port to the speed of the machine.
Sound board You'll usually see a 15-pin game port that doubles as a MIDI port when you select the right jumper or software settings. This adapter also includes three submini jacks that look the same as the earphone jacks on a portable radio. The precise arrangement of these jacks varies by vendor, but they serve the following purposes: Output, microphone, and line input from an external source, such as a CD-ROM drive. Some older sound boards also include a volume level thumbwheel.
External SCSI You'll see a number of large connectors on the back of a machine. A 50-pin SCSI connector looks like a larger version of the Centronics connector that attaches to your printer. It doesn't use the same type of pins that the more familiar serial or parallel connector does.
External drive A number of older CD-ROM drives used a 37-pin plug. It looks like a huge version of the parallel port. You might see this with other types of drives as well. It's never safe to assume anything about this plug. Always check it against the vendor documentation.
Fax/modem A fax or modem card will usually provide two RJ-11 plugs (they look like the ones on your telephone). One plug allows you to connect the incoming cable, and the other plug is for your telephone. This adapter usually provides some DIP switches as well.

Besides all these combinations, there are a multitude of third-party adapters that might look like one of the adapters in Table 17.1 but won't provide the same functionality. Fortunately, you'll probably know if you have one of them installed, because you'll need it to perform some special task on your machine. The general rule to follow is this: If you see a port that you don't recognize and it isn't marked, open the machine to identify it. The second rule I always follow is that you shouldn't always believe the markings on the back your machine. If you look back there and see that all the ports you do recognize are correctly marked, you can probably assume that the rest are correct too. If you see a serial port identified as a parallel port, however, you should question whether any of the markers are correct.



Tip: Always mark the ports on the back of the machines you maintain after you identify the ports. I use pre-printed Avery (or other vendor labels) if at all possible. You can usually get them at Radio Shack or other electronics stores. Some computer stores carry them as well. When I don't have any of the pre-printed labels available, I use masking tape or a blank mailing label. Make sure that you use a permanent marker in this case to prevent smudging. Also, don't simply write down that something is a serial port. Specify COM1 or COM2 as part of the marking. Performing this little extra step can save you a lot of time later. You might want to follow this same procedure with cables, especially if the machine is connected to a workstation setup in which the cable source might become hidden. Trying to identify the correct cable when there are several possibilities is never a welcome task. It's easier to mark everything at the outset.


Printers


We covered the topic of printer installation and parallel port configuration in Chapter 14, "Exploiting Your Hardware," and Chapter 15, "Fonts and Printing," contains a lot of printer usage details. I'd like to cover printer connections in this chapter. Some people think there's only one way to connect a printer: through a parallel port. They're wrong. Every printer I know of provides a minimum of two connection types. You can always connect a printer using a serial or a parallel port. (Although it's true that you won't find many serial ports installed on printers these days as a default, you can usually order the serial port as an option.)



Tip: Some printers don't provide a serial port as standard equipment; you have to buy it as a separate piece. Your vendor manual should provide details on buying the serial port option. Look to see whether the vendor also supports other connection options that might help in some situations. Many vendors now support a network connection as standard equipment; others support it as an optional module. The new USB connection type will become an important feature; make sure that you read the Peter's Principle, "An End to Port Confusion—Universal Serial Bus (USB)," earlier in this chapter for more details.

Choosing between these two connections isn't always easy, even though it seems like a no-brainer. A parallel port delivers the data 8 bits at a time and at a faster rate than a serial port. Choosing the parallel port doesn't take too much thought if your machine has only one printer attached to it. But what if your machine acts as a print server for many different printers? You could easily run out of parallel ports in this situation. Just about everyone resorts to an AB switch to increase the number of available connections, but there might be a better solution. Connecting your printer to the machine through an unused serial port will allow better access to it. No one will have to flip an AB switch to use it. (Some AB switches provide an automatic switching scheme when you send certain commands through the printer cable, but this means training the user to send those commands and a lot of frustration when the user forgets to do so.) The problem is that the access is slower—a lot slower than with a parallel port.

Categorizing how people will use the printers attached to your machine is the next step. Placing a printer that the user is less likely to use or a printer that normally experiences a lower level of activity on a serial port shouldn't cause any problems. Just make sure that you warn people that their print job could take a little longer in the new configuration. I find that this allows me to connect at least four different printers to most machines. Of course, when you get to this level, you need to question whether you should dedicate a machine to act as a print server instead of trying to get by using a workstation on a peer-to-peer network.



Tip: There's a point where it becomes difficult to support too many printers on a peer-to-peer network. I usually start to look at other solutions after the number of workstations reaches 10 people or the number of printers exceeds four. After that limit, the performance of a peer-to-peer setup diminishes to the point where it's doubtful that you can get any useful work accomplished. There are always exceptions to the rule, but observing these limits usually provides the best measure of when it's time to upgrade.

These days, some printers come with a built-in NIC. You can attach them directly to the network without using a workstation connection. The two most popular connection types are Ethernet and AppleTalk. Of course, the appropriate selection depends on the network you're running. Whether this solution will work for you depends not on the NIC so much as it depends on the software included with the printer. The printer actually boots as a workstation or a self-contained print server on the network. You see it just as you would see any other workstation. The only difference is that this workstation is dedicated to a single task: printing. You need to find out which networks the vendor supports. Unfortunately, the very nature of this type of connection excludes it from consideration until more vendors come out with Windows-specific products (any vendor that supports a Microsoft network should work). This really is a great solution for a peer-to-peer network, because it allows you to use the printer without loading the workstation down. Adding a printer this way will also preserve precious workstation resources such as interrupts and I/O port addresses.

Printers also support some of the more exotic network connections these days, but you might be hard-pressed to find them. One solution that I see gaining in popularity is the wireless LAN. Just think, using this type of connection you could unwrap the printer, plug it in, and perform a few configuration steps to get it up and running. In the future, adding a printer to the network might be even easier than adding it to your local workstation.

Modems


There are two different kinds of modems from a connection point of view: internal and external. I prefer an external modem for several reasons. The biggest reason is portability. I can move a modem in a matter of minutes by disconnecting it from the current machine, moving it, and reconnecting it to the new machine. It's a lot faster and easier than opening the machine to get at the modem. I also find that external modems provide better visual feedback, although some software is taking care of this now by displaying all the indicators that you normally see on the modem. An external modem still has the edge when it comes to troubleshooting, because the light indicators you get from your software might not always reflect reality. In addition, most of the software out there doesn't accurately report the modem's connection speed—a necessary piece of troubleshooting information. Some modems also generate a lot of heat and could affect system performance when installed internally. Although I've never run into a heat problem from using an internal modem myself, I have heard of other people running into this problem.



Note: The old 8250 UART chip won't provide a good connection beyond 9600 bps. You must use a 16450 or 16550 UART with a 14.4 Kbps or above modem to ensure an error-free connection. Although there's nothing wrong with the UART itself, the lack of a buffer in the 8250 will cause data overflows. These overflows will, in turn, cause failures in the connection protocols.

After you get past the physical location of a modem, you get to the connections. The first connection is the telephone cable required to contact the outside world. Most offices don't have the RJ-11 plugs that a modem uses as standard equipment. They use a six-wire plug that looks like a larger version of the RJ-11. You can plug an RJ-11 jack into this plug, but I can guarantee that it won't work. Normally, you have to get an office wired for a modem before you can actually use it. Of course, home users won't run into this problem because a modem uses a standard home telephone jack.

Modems are also rated by speed and capability. The speed that a modem can communicate at is increasing all the time. It seems that just a short time ago, a 14.4 Kbps connection was considered the fastest around. Now most vendors have introduced 28.8 Kbps modems and there's talk of even higher speeds in the future. Of course, the reigning champ for standard on-line communication is still the 9600 baud modem. Internet users usually opt for a 14.4 or 28.8 Kbps modem, with 28.8 Kbps being the favored speed. Some on-line services still top out at the 9600 bps transfer rate, as do many BBSs. This will change with time. Some of the bigger on-line services, such as CompuServe, already offer 14.4 Kbps lines in the larger cities (and a very few 28.8 Kbps lines as well). The reason is simple: These larger services also provide an Internet connection, so users have pushed for the higher transfer rates. You'll also find that there are more than a few Internet providers that offer access at the 28.8 Kbps rate. Because a modem can usually communicate with any modem at its speed or lower, there's never a good reason to buy a low-speed modem unless the cost for a higher speed becomes prohibitive.

There are a ton of modem standards, most of which won't make a lot of difference to you as a user. There are some standards that you should know about, however. A lot of standardization has to do with the modem's speed, the way it corrects errors, or the method it uses to compress data. Knowing about these standards could mean the difference between getting a good buy on a modem or getting one that's almost useless. Table 17.2 provides a list of the more common modem standards, but you should also be aware of any new standards that develop around higher speed modems.

Table 17.2. Common modem standards.

Standard Description
Bell 103 The American standard for 300 baud communication. It's pretty much outdated now, but when PCs first arrived on the scene, it was the rate that everyone used.
Bell 212A The 1200 baud modem included both this standard and the Bell 103 standard if you bought an American model. The European standards included just enough differences to require a separate modem in most cases. Fortunately, we're well beyond this requirement now.
CCITT V.21 Defines the European standard for 300 baud communications. Like its counterpart, this standard is very much out of date.
CCITT V.22 The European version of the 1200 baud modem standard. It also includes the V.21 standard.
CCITT V.22bis You might wonder what the "bis" in this standard number means. Just think of it as revision B. In this case, it refers to the general standard for 2400 baud modems.
CCITT V.23 A specialty 1200/75 bps standard for the European market. The slash indicates that the modem sends at one speed and receives at another. Many modems don't support it unless they're specifically designed for overseas use. You might want to check your requirements before getting a modem that supports this standard.
CCITT V.25bis Defines an alternative command set for modems. In most cases, you won't need these alternative commands unless your modem also supports an X.25 interface.
CCITT V.32 Defines the 4800 bps, 9600 bps, 14.4 Kbps, 19.2 Kbps, and 28.8 Kbps standards.
CCITT V.34 Defines the data-compression specifics for the 28.8 Kbps standard.
CCITT V.42 Defines a data-compression method for modems. It allows the modem to transfer data at apparent rates of up to 19.2 Kbps. This standard also requires the modem to provide MNP levels 2 through 4.
CCITT V.42bis The second revision of a standard that defines how data gets compressed on a modem. It allows up to a four times compression factor or an apparent transfer rate of 38.4 Kbps from a 9600 bps modem. Of course, some of this speed gets eaten up in control characters and the like.
CCITT V.FAST This was a proprietary method of defining data compression for the 28.8 Kbps standard. It's been replaced by the CCITT V.34 standard, but some vendors still adhere to this older standard. Always look for a V.34 compatible modem for maximum compatibility.
CCITT X.25 Some asynchronous modems also support this synchronous data-transfer standard. You won't need it if your only goal is to communicate with on-line services or to access your local BBS. It does come in handy if your company plans to send interoffice data using a leased line.
MNP 2-4 The Microm Networking Protocol, a standard method of error-correcting for modems. The precise differences between levels aren't important from a user prospective. A higher level is generally better. Essentially, MNP provides a method of sending data in larger blocks, eliminating some of the control characters that usually impede data transmission.

Knowing about these standards should help you choose a modem. It's vitally important that your modem adhere to all the standards for speed and other capabilities. Otherwise, the modem might not be able to make a good connection at a lower speed. Also make sure that the modem manual outlines just how the modem adheres to the standards. It should include information on FCC rules Parts 15 and 68 or the equivalent for the country you're in. The manual should also state what kind of serial port it can connect to. The current standard is RS-232C. Some modems require that standard; others can use older ports. In most cases, you won't need to worry unless you have an older machine.

Fax Boards


The section "Modems" introduced you to modem connections. Fax boards characteristically appear on the same board as the modem does, or perhaps on a daughter card. They usually use the same telephone connector as the modem does too.

After looking at the section on modems, you might wonder what's in store for you in this section. You should follow some general rules of thumb when selecting a fax board. One of the more important issues is to get a DCA/Intel CAS (communicating applications specification) compatible fax board if you plan to do a lot of faxing or use an application that requires it. Many database applications require a fax board with this capability before they'll recognize it. You'll also want to make sure that the fax follows the same standard the application requires, because there are some variances between versions of the specification.



Note: Intel sold its CAS line of products a while back, and many people feel that this standard is out-of-date with today's software. For the most part, you're right; a product like ProComm Plus doesn't require a CAS-compatible fax to get the job done. A great number of high-traffic fax programs are out there, however, that do require a CAS-compatible modem. Database programs fall into this category as well. Fortunately, even though Intel dropped CAS support, these modems are still available from a variety of other vendors. The bottom line is that it's important to determine what your application needs in the way of fax support before you buy one.

Some vendors decided to follow the CAS standard because it provided a simplified method of accessing the fax. Before this time, every fax used its own set of port addresses and usually required a special application to access it. Using the CAS standard still allows for that flexibility, but it provides an API that allows a program to determine what that interface is and how to use it.

The only problem with CAS is cost. It's very expensive to buy a CAS-compatible fax. Invariably, the modem part of the equation is an extra cost. Fortunately, Windows NT appears to support a wide range of fax/modems—even those that don't support CAS. If all you plan to do is fax documents using Exchange, you'll be able to do so without buying a lot of fancy hardware.

Every fax/modem transfer consists of five phases. The ITU (formerly CCITT) defines these phases in several standards, which we'll examine later. These five phases aren't cast in concrete, and each one could repeat during any given session. It all depends on the capabilities of your fax/modem, the software you're using, and the environment conditions at the time.

As with modems, several fax/modem specifications exist. You'll want a fax/modem that adheres to the ITU standards listed in Table 17.3.

Table 17.3. Common fax/modem standards.

Standard Description
ITU T.4 Defines the image-transfer portion of the session used in Phase 3.
ITU T.30 Defines the negotiation and interpage phases (2, 3, 4, and 5). A normal multipage transfer uses T.30 only at the beginning of the call, between pages, and after the last page.
CCITT V.17 Defines the specifications for the 4800/1200 bps speed. The slash shows that the fax receives at one speed and sends at another. If the fax portion of a fax/modem is the sender, the data gets sent at 4800 bps, but the fax receives acknowledgments at 1200 bps. Some vendors reduce the complexity of this rating by giving only the first number (the higher of the two speeds), but this can be misleading.
CCITT V.27 Defines the specifications for the 9600/7200 bps speed.
CCITT V.29 Defines the specifications for the 14400/12000 bps speed.

Microsoft also provides for two classes of fax communication between fax/modems. Here's the user view of what these different classes mean. Class 1 communications send an editable fax to the other party. This means that the fax appears as actual text that the other party can edit. Class 2 communications are more like the fax you usually receive. They're graphic representations of the text and graphics in the document. This is the same format as Group 3 faxes, like the ones you're used to seeing in the office.

The real-world difference between Class 1 and Class 2 fax/modems is really quite distinct. A Class 1 fax performs both the T.4 and T.30 protocols in software. This allows the additional flexibility Windows NT needs in order to create editable faxes. All data translation is performed by Windows NT drivers. A Class 2 fax performs the T.4 protocol in firmware—an EEPROM in the modem that does part of the work for the processor. This is a faster solution because it removes part of the processing burden from the processor. A Class 2 fax/modem should also be able to create editable faxes. This is where the plot thickens. Because the Class 2 standard isn't defined very well, Microsoft didn't have any dependable information on what to expect from a Class 2 fax/modem. They made the decision to restrict Class 2 faxes to the Group 3 graphics format.



Note: The Electronic Industries Association (EIA) recently approved a new Class 2 standard that stringently defines what vendors need to provide in firmware. As a result, you might see software that uses Class 2 fax/modems more efficiently in the next six months to a year. Look for software vendors to make a big deal out of the new "high-speed" fax transmission capabilities offered by their products sometime in the future. It'll use this new Class 2 fax/modem specification.


Making Software Attachments


After you get your hardware up and running, you have to get some software to talk to it in order to do any useful work. That's where some of the utilities you get with Windows NT come in. They don't necessarily provide the best capabilities, but they do provide enough for you to get going. In fact, you might be surprised at just how well they meet some of your needs.

The following sections describe several of the utilities that come with Windows NT. These utilities won't help you "surf the net" or download the latest industry gossip. I'll cover general communications in the next chapter when we look at on-line services. You'll find the Internet-specific utilities in the "Using the Internet Explorer" section of Chapter 19. Both sets of utilities help you make the necessary connections.



Peter's Principle: The Right Kind of Connection

It might be very tempting to use a single type of connection to meet all your computing needs, but that wouldn't be the most efficient way to do things. You might view a direct cable connection as the panacea for all your portable data-transfer woes, but the direct cable connection is really designed for occasional, not daily, use. A direct cable connection works fine for those quick transfers from one machine to another when you have a fairly large amount of data to move. It works very well when you initially set up the portable, for example.

If you use a portable on a daily basis, using a direct cable connection is a waste of time. You'll want to find some other method of creating your connection to the desktop. A PCMCIA network card is one solution. It'll allow you to connect the portable to the network and use a much faster Ethernet connection to make the data transfer. This works only if you have a network and a PCMCIA card, however.

Windows NT also provides the Remote Access Server (which I'll cover in Chapter 18, "Talking to the Outside World"). You can use it to dial into your machine from another location. Of course, this assumes that your machine is on-line and that you have a modem with you on the road. The lack of proper phone connections in hotel rooms has become less of an issue in recent years, but you're still going to run into it. Make sure that you check with your hotel before you count on connecting to your desktop machine while on the road.

We covered the Briefcase in Chapter 2, "Exploring the Interface." This isn't a physical connection to your desktop machine, but it does do the job for smaller amounts of data. In fact, you'll find that a Briefcase can hold a substantial amount of data if you use it correctly.

OK, so the network and Briefcase options are out of the question because you're out of town. You can still make a connection to your desktop using Remote Access Server (RAS) or the Dial-Up Networking utility. It won't be as fast as some of the other techniques, but it'll allow you to get the data you require while on the road or when working from home.

Windows NT provides a lot of different connections. You need to use the right one for the job, and that means taking the time to learn about the various options available to you. A connection that works well in one instance could be a time killer in another. Don't succumb to the one-connection way of computing; use every tool that Windows NT provides.



Using Dial-Up Networking


Forget everything you know if you've used Dial-Up Networking under Windows 95; the utility provided with Windows NT doesn't even bear a close resemblance to the Windows 95 equivalent. The Windows NT program provides a means for you to create connections to other computers. It doesn't perform the actual act. What you end up with is a list of connections that you can access from other Windows NT utilities. I think Microsoft will add functionality to this program later, but what you see now is pretty limited.

Before you can use Dial-Up Networking, you need to install it using the Add/Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. We covered that procedure earlier in this book, so I won't discuss it again here. The following paragraphs assume that you've already installed Dial-Up Networking.

After you install Dial-Up Networking, you can use it as a simple method for creating connections. The first time you open the utility, you see a dialog that says the phone book is empty. (Dial-Up Networking appears on the Start menu in the Accessories folder if you install it using the default settings.) Click OK to get past this screen. You'll see an empty connection dialog box like the one shown in Figure 17.1. Notice that Dial-Up Networking automatically opens the New Phonebook Entry Wizard for you. You can also use a single-screen method for entering new numbers. All you have to do is enable the I Know All About Phonebook Entries checkbox that appears near the bottom of the dialog box. I'll show you both methods in the sections that follow.

Figure 17.1. The Dial-Up Networking utility allows you to create connections to other computers.

Using the New Phonebook Entry Wizard

I'll assume that you're already at the New Phonebook Entry Wizard screen shown in Figure 17.1 for this procedure. Let's take a look at just how easy the Wizard is to use:

  1. Type the name of the connection in the Name field. Click Next. You'll see a dialog box similar to the one in Figure 17.2. There are three options here. The Internet option is the most automatic; it makes the connection for you. The middle option comes in handy if you need to log into a remote site, even on the Internet. (The first option assumes an anonymous connection.) The third option is the least automatic; it expects you to know all about TCP/IP when you log into the remote server.

    Figure 17.2. Dial-Up Networking supports three connection types—the Internet option is the most automatic.

  2. Select a connection type and then click Next. You'll see a Phone Number dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 17.3. The Phone Number field allows you to type a phone number for this connection. Notice that this dialog box contains an Alternates button. Clicking this button displays a Phone Numbers dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 17.4. You can use this dialog box to assign multiple numbers to the same connection; Windows NT will try the numbers in order until it finds one that connects. Adding a number is easy: Just type it in the New Phone Number field and click Add. You'll see the number appear in the Phone Numbers listbox. Clicking Replace instead of Add would replace the currently selected number in the Phone Numbers listbox with the new number you typed. Highlighting a number in the Phone Numbers listbox and clicking the Up or Down button changes its position in the list. You can use the Delete button to remove the number permanently. The checkbox at the bottom of the dialog box allows you to automatically place the last successful number at the top of the list.

    Figure 17.3. The Phone Number dialog box allows you to assign a phone number to your connection.

    Figure 17.4. You can use the Phone Numbers dialog box to add multiple numbers to one connection.

  3. Add one or more phone numbers to the connection. Use the Phone Number field in Figure 17.3 for one number and the Phone Numbers dialog box in Figure 17.4 for multiple numbers. Click Next. You'll see a Finished dialog box.

  4. Click Next to exit the Finished dialog box. You'll see the Dial-Up Networking dialog box shown in Figure 17.5.

Figure 17.5. The Dial-Up Networking dialog box allows you to manage your connections.

At this point, you could simply close the Dial-Up Networking dialog box because the connection is complete. There are some additional techniques for refining the connection parameters, however. We'll cover these advanced techniques in the section that follows.

Creating Phonebook Entries Manually

After you've spent some time working with the Dial-In Networking capabilities of Windows NT, you might find it faster to create the entries manually. That's what we'll look at in this section.

Creating a page manually is a lot different than using the New Phonebook Entry Wizard we discussed in the preceding section. Open the Dial-Up Networking program from the Start menu, and you'll see the screen shown in Figure 17.5 if you have defined a connection previously (I'll assume for the moment that you have). Click the New button. You'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 17.1. This is the same dialog box you saw when opening the program for the first time. Instead of simply clicking Next like we did in the preceding section, click the checkbox at the bottom of the dialog box first. You'll see a New Phonebook Entry dialog box like the one shown in Figure 17.6.

Figure 17.6. The New Phonebook Entry dialog box provides a much greater range of choices than the New Phonebook Entry Wizard.



Note: As of this writing, turning off the New Phonebook Entry Wizard by checking the box at the bottom of the dialog box shown in Figure 17.1 is a semi-permanent change. After you perform this task the first time, you'll always see the manual screen shown in Figure 17.6 after you click the New button. There is one way to reverse the change. Click the More button and select User Preferences. On the Appearance page, you'll see an entry to enable the Wizard. Check this box, and you'll see the New Phonebook Entry Wizard again.

The Basic page shown in Figure 17.6 is the only one you have to fill out to create a new connection. It contains the connection name, a comment, the phone number you want to dial, and the device you want to use to dial it. You can also choose to use the Telephony dialing properties; I'll describe the technology as part of the "TAPI and MAPI Support" section at the end of this chapter. The user perspective is that the connection will use the location settings that I'll describe in the next section, "Managing Your Connections," if you check this box. The short take on the location setting is that it allows you to predefine prefix and suffix codes, as well as other calling necessities, such as a calling card number. Suffice it to say that you wouldn't use this feature for calling an internal company number. I've already covered using the Alternates button in the previous section in step 2. You can see this dialog box in Figure 17.4.

There is one more button on this page, and it requires a little additional explanation. Dial-Up Networking automatically manages any communications devices for you. Depending on your setup, you may have several different Dial Using entries. In most cases, you'll add them using the Modems applet in the Control Panel. One entry you'll always find here is Multiple Lines. Clicking the Configure button with a modem installed displays the Modem Configuration dialog box shown in Figure 17.7. Clicking the same button with Multiple Lines selected displays the Multiple Line Configuration dialog box shown in Figure 17.8. I won't cover the specifics of adding a modem or any other communication device here; I'll do that as part of the device-specific sections of the chapters in this book. For example, you'll find the modem configuration settings in the "Installing Faxes and Modems" section of Chapter 14.

Figure 17.7. Selecting a single connection device like a modem displays the configuration dialog box for that device.

Figure 17.8. Selecting Multiple Lines displays a dialog box that allows you to choose and configure several devices.

Now let's look at the Server page of the New Phonebook Entry dialog box. It appears in Figure 17.9. The first field on this page, Dial-Up Server Type, allows you to choose the kind of connection you'll make. The default is to connect to a Windows NT or Windows 95-style Internet server. Other common entries include a SLIP Internet server or a Windows 3.x connection. I describe these connection types in the "Adding New Services or Other Features" section of Chapter 21.

Figure 17.9. The Server page allows you to define your server type and the protocol you want to use.

The next group on the Server page, Network Protocols, allows you to define what protocols you want to use. Like the server types, I talk about the specifics of protocols in Chapter 21. Make sure that you check out the "TCP/IP—The Short Form" section in Chapter 20, "Building Your Own Internet Server," if you need help with the TCP/IP Settings button. Clicking this button displays a simple form for entering your workstation's IP address and some addresses for the server you want to use.

The last two checkboxes on this page allow you to use newer communications features. The first checkbox, Enable Software Compression, allows you to reduce network traffic and speed packet transmission using compression. Obviously, the server has to support this feature before you can use it. The Enable PPP LCP Extensions checkbox allows you to use special tracking features supported by your server. Your workstation can use this feature to request time remaining and identification packets from the server, for example.

Scripts can make using any communications software easier. Dial-Up Networking provides several methods for running scripts. Take a look at Figure 17.10 to see what the Script page of the New Phonebook Entry dialog box looks like. You can choose the None option if you don't want to run a script. The Pop Up a Terminal Window option doesn't really use a script—it displays a terminal window so that you can type in any required commands manually. One way that you would use this option is to enter a name and password when required to access the server. Selecting the Run a Script option enables the associated listbox. All you need to do is select the script you want to run from the list. Microsoft supplies a Generic Login script that you can modify to meet your own needs. That's where the Edit Scripts button comes into play. It allows you to edit any existing scripts or to save them under a new name. The Refresh List button allows you to see any new scripts you create.

Figure 17.10. Script allow you to automate certain tasks or simply access a terminal window so that you can take care of any server requests.

All the options I just described apply to the time after you dial. Dial-Up Networking provides the same features for the time before you dial. Just click the Before Dialing button, and you'll see another dialog box with the same features as those in Figure 17.10. The only difference is that these settings affect your options before you dial rather than after you dial.

The Security page of the New Phonebook Entry dialog box allows you to select various security options. These options won't affect your computer as a whole—just the current connection. Figure 17.11 shows what this dialog box looks like. As you can see, Dial-Up Networking offers three levels of security. The first option is the least secure; it accepts any form of authentication, including clear text. Unfortunately, this is the option you'll need to use most often with most Internet connections. The second option only allows encrypted authentication. You'll find that this option works with newer servers from a variety of sources. The third option will likely work only with Windows 95 and Windows NT Internet servers. It requires the use of Microsoft encryption technology. You'll find it very safe, but very limiting as well.

Figure 17.11. You can control the security of your connections by using the options on the Security page.

The final page in our New Phonebook Entry dialog box is for X.25 connections. Figure 17.12 shows what it looks like. Essentially, it accepts X.25 address information for the connection. I tell you all about X.25 connections in the "Remote Access" section of Chapter 18. I also talk about X.25 in Table 17.2.

Figure 17.12. Use the X.25 page to define the address information for an X.25 connection.

Managing Your Connections

The Dial-Up Networking utility wouldn't be much use if it only allowed you to add new connections. The previous two sections concentrated on just this activity, but there's a lot more to come. The key to managing connections is the More button displayed in Figure 17.5. Start by selecting the connection you want to work with from the Phonebook Entry to Dial field. Click the More button, and you'll see a menu like the one in Figure 17.13.

Figure 17.13. The More button shows all the management options for a particular connection.

Let's go through the entries on this menu to see what you can do with a particular connection. The first set of entries allow you to manipulate the connection in some way. Clicking Edit Entry displays a dialog box just like the one shown in Figure 17.6. You change the properties using the same criteria used to create a new entry. The title at the top of the dialog box does change to Edit Phonebook Entry. You can save yourself some time in creating new entries by using the second option on this menu: Clone Entry. As with the Edit option, you'll see a dialog box like the one in Figure 17.6. The Delete Entry option allows you to remove a connection that you don't need any more. The entry in this section that I really like is Create Shortcut to Entry. It places a shortcut to the connection on the desktop as a default, but you can choose any location you want. Clicking on this dialog box shows a directory tree—just find the folder in the directory that you want to hold the connection shortcut.

The next section of the More menu contains the monitor status. I'll talk about this dialog box as part of the "Using Remote Access Server (RAS)" section of Chapter 18.

You should see three entries in the third section of the More menu. If you click on the first entry, Operator Assisted or Manual Dialing, you'll force the connection to ask you to dial the number. This is a good option to choose for numbers that change frequently or that you don't want to compromise by placing on your computer. The User Preferences and Login Preferences menu options both display a similar dialog box (see Figure 17.14). The User Preferences option defines the setup for you as an individual user. The Login Preferences option defines the setup used when you log into a server. They both affect the way a connection is made. I'm going to describe the User Preferences dialog box, because the Login Preferences dialog box provides a subset of its features.

Figure 17.14. The User Preferences dialog box allows you to configure Dial-Up Networking to suit your personal tastes.

The first page in the dialog box, Dialing, allows you to define the connection in terms of the physical phone link. The Enable Autodial by Location listbox contains a list of the locations you've defined (I'll cover this in a bit). Just select the locations you want to use with this connection. The next three fields define how Dial-Up Networking will try to complete the phone call. They include the number of retries (0 if you only want to try once), the time you want to wait between retries, and the idle time—the amount of time to wait before the connection is considered unusable even if the remote phone answers.

Take a look at the Callback page shown in Figure 17.15. What is callback? It's a feature in which you call the server, tell it where to reach you, and then wait for the server to call you back. The text at the top of this page tells you that the feature helps you save money when making long-distance connections. Although this may be true, the callback feature is actually a security option. A remote server has the option of ignoring your request for access by not calling you back. In addition, the administrator at the other end of the line now has a phone number to use in tracing your location. Dial-Up Networking provides three levels of callback. You can choose to ignore callback altogether, have the program ask you about callback when it makes the connection, or use callback all the time. If you select the third option, Dial-Up Networking also allows you to enter a number where you can be reached—saving you the trouble of entering it manually.

Figure 17.15. Microsoft wants you to think that callback saves money, but it's more of a security feature for the remote server than anything else.

The Appearance page shown in Figure 17.16 allows you to change the way connection information is presented. The default settings enable all the options shown. As you can see, they're pretty self explanatory. The first option, for example, displays a dialog box containing the connection's phone number before you dial. There is one very important entry on this page. Look at the second-to-the last entry, and you'll see the checkbox that enables the New Connection Entry Wizard.

Figure 17.16. The Appearance page allows you to define the kinds of information presented when making a call and how the information is displayed.

The last page of the User Preferences dialog box is Phonebook. It appears in Figure 17.17. Notice that you can select one of two standard phonebooks: Personal or System. You can also create custom phonebooks by selecting the third option. All you need to do is type the name of the custom phonebook, and Dial-Up Networking will use it to store any connections you create.

Figure 17.17. The Phonebook page of the User Preferences dialog box allows you to choose a storage location for your connection.

No Matter Where You Go, There You Are

My whimsical title points out a fatal flaw with communications program in the past: They couldn't adapt very well to the needs of the mobile user. Dial-Up Networking takes care of that problem to a certain extent, by allowing you to create new locations as needed. Just click the Location button in the Dial-Up Networking dialog box shown in Figure 17.5, and you'll see a dialog box like the one shown in Figure 17.18.

Figure 17.18. The Location Settings dialog box allows you to create and manage locations for your connections.

Let's look at the process for adding a new location, because editing or deleting a location is really a subset of this process:

  1. Click Location List. You'll see the dialog box shown in Figure 17.19. Notice the Locations listbox. You can highlight a location entry here and then click Delete to remove it.

    Figure 17.19. Use the Locations dialog box to add, delete, or replace a location name.

  2. Type a new location name in the New Location field. Click Add or Replace. Clicking Add adds a new entry to the Locations listbox. Clicking Replace replaces the currently highlighted entry in the Locations listbox with the new location name you just typed in the New Location field.

  3. Click OK to complete the process. You'll return to the Location Settings dialog box shown in Figure 17.18.

  4. Select a Prefix (if necessary) and Suffix (if necessary) setting for the new location. You can add new prefixes and suffixes by clicking the Prefix List or Suffix List button. Figure 17.20 shows what the Phone Number Prefixes dialog box looks like. The Phone Number Suffixes dialog box uses the same interface, so I won't describe it here. As you can see, the New Prefix field is where you type new prefixes. Some phone lines require you to dial 9 to connect to an outside line, for example. The 9 is an example of a prefix. As with the Locations dialog box, you can add, replace, or delete prefixes. You can also change a prefix's position within the list by using the Up or Down buttons. Notice that some of the entries end with a comma. A comma forces Dial-Up Networking to pause while it waits for an action such as getting an outside line. You can also add the two alternative phone keys—* and #—to the prefix.

    Figure 17.20. The Phone Number Prefixes dialog box allows you to add the prefixes required to get a reliable outside connection.

  5. Click OK in the Location Settings dialog box to make the new location permanent.


Using Phone Dialer


I didn't think that Phone Dialer would come in very handy for me. After all, I've got an auto-dialer built right in to my phone. It's a pretty fancy auto-dialer, too. I press just one button to call my most common numbers.

Phone Dialer comes in handy not for your most common calls but for those that you make infrequently. Have you ever tried to call a government agency? I used to spend a lot of time just trying to get through, only to find that I had reached the wrong number. Phone Dialer might not fix the wrong number part of the equation, but I've found that it works very well for the first part. I can have it call in the background while I continue to work in the foreground—a very handy, time-saving feature.

Let's look at what Phone Dialer has to offer. Open Phone Dialer. You'll see a display similar to the one in Figure 17.21. Notice that there's a keypad on the left side of the dialog box, a list of speed-dial numbers on the right, and the current number at the top.

Figure 17.21. The Phone Dialer dialog box looks like a telephone keypad with an auto-dialer.

You can dial a number in several ways. You could just cut it out of your database manager and paste it into the blank at the top. This is one of the methods I use for infrequently called numbers. It has the advantage of allowing you to call a lot of numbers quickly without giving yourself a case of carpal-tunnel syndrome in the process.

Before you make any real connections, you should look at the Tools menu to see what configuration options you have. This menu has three options; each one addresses a different need. If you select the Connect Using option, you'll see the dialog box shown in Figure 17.22. This dialog box has only three fields. The first asks which modem you want to use. Only modems that you've set up using the Modems applet in the Control Panel are listed. The second field asks which telephone line you want to use to dial out. It's active only if you have more than one available. The Use Phone Dialer checkbox tells Windows NT to use Phone Dialer for all application requests. Here's the real story on that one: It services only Windows NT applications that know how to request outgoing phone services from the auto-dialer. It wasn't too surprising to see that even Access doesn't use this capability yet. Clicking the Line Properties button brings up the Modem Properties dialog box we talked about in Chapter 14.

Figure 17.22. The Connect Using dialog box allows you to select from more than one modem if you have more than one attached to your machine.

We saw how to use the Dialing Properties option of the Tools menu earlier. Essentially, it allows you to specify the location you're dialing from so that Phone Dialer can automatically compensate as needed for long-distance calls.

You can use two convenient methods for adding new numbers to your Speed Dial group. The first method is to simply click on a blank spot. (The only problem with this technique is that it works only for blank buttons. Clicking on a filled-in blank will dial the number.) You'll see the dialog box shown in Figure 17.23. This dialog box contains only two entries: the name of the person you want to call and the number to reach him or her. The buttons on the side are pretty self-explanatory.

Figure 17.23. Adding a new speed-dial number is as easy as clicking a blank button.

You can also use the Edit | Speed Dial command to display the dialog box shown in Figure 17.24. This dialog box allows you to access any of the buttons. All you need to do is click the one you want to edit. Erasing the contents of both the name and number fields will blank that button for future use.

Figure 17.24. You can use the Edit Speed Dial dialog box to change the single button connections provided by the Phone Dialer.

TAPI and MAPI Support


Application programming interfaces (APIs) allow programmers to accomplish a lot of work with only a little effort. That's the first goal of every API. The second goal is to ensure a standardized form of access to specific system resources and capabilities. Using a standard interface allows the operating system vendor to change the implementation details without "breaking" too much code. Finally, an API also standardizes the results of using specific system resources and capabilities. Using the Windows API ensures that the user will see some of the standard types of interface components that we take for granted, for example.

Windows NT provides two new APIs. The Telephony API (TAPI) provides a standardized method of handling telephone services. The Messaging API (MAPI) provides a standardized method of handling on-line services and other forms of messaging. Both APIs provide standardized methods for using your modem more efficiently to conduct business. We've already looked at the effect of both APIs earlier in this chapter. I think that this only represents the tip of the iceberg. It won't take long for vendors to start using these APIs now that they're present in both Windows 95 and Windows NT. The end result for you as a user is a lot fewer problems getting your connections to work properly.

Besides the utility programs we examined in this chapter, you'll also see the effects of TAPI directly in the Modem applet in the Control Panel. It allows you to configure your modem in one place. Any application that supports TAPI will use those settings. This includes Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Network as native Windows NT applications. It doesn't include older 16-bit Windows applications. If you want the benefits of TAPI, you'll need to upgrade those applications as the vendors come out with new versions.

Microsoft Exchange is an example of a MAPI application. It allows you to access Microsoft Mail using a MAPI driver. A different MAPI driver provides access to CompuServe. Still another driver allows you to send a fax. In fact, you could have a MAPI driver to access each on-line service you subscribe to. The presence of these drivers would allow you to access them all using one application. The result is reduced training costs and the capability to move information from one service to another with the click of a button.

MAPI and TAPI aren't limited to Windows NT-specific applications. Microsoft Word, for example, provides a Send option on the File menu. This option allows you to send all or part of a document using MAPI anywhere you can communicate. Using the native capabilities of Windows NT, this means you could send it as a fax or an e-mail, or to an on-line service—all without leaving Word.

On Your Own


Look through the vendor manual that came with your printer. See whether the vendor provides any accessories for your printer that might make it more flexible to use. Especially important is the availability of alternative port options. You also might want to check for third-party solutions for your printer. Some third-party vendors provide port accessories for some of the more prominent printers, such as the HP LaserJet.

Identify the five phases of a fax transaction if you have a fax/modem attached to your machine. This is especially easy when using an external model. The lights on the front of the device help you detect when the various phases occur. Tracking this type of information can help you troubleshoot a faulty connection.

If you have a notebook computer, and both a network and a direct cable connection are available for it, try both methods of transferring a file. Most people have a serial connection available, so try that first. You should find that the network connection is a lot faster, but it's interesting to see how much faster. Try the same thing with a parallel connection (if possible).

Install and set up Phone Dialer. Try it out for a few days to see whether its additional features make phone calling a little easier for your harder-to-reach numbers. Also try the log feature to see how well it meets your needs.

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