TCPack General Help

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TCPack Presentation 

Developed by Advanced Software Concepts,  TCPack is a Connection Tool designed to allow simultaneous TCP/IP connections using Apple’s MacTCP driver and the standard access interfaces of the Communication Toolbox.

TCPack can be used both for terminal-emulation and peer-to-peer connections:
- for terminal-emulation purposes, TCPack supports the Telnet protocol and includes a background FTP server to transfer files between your Macintosh and the host you are connected to.
- for peer-to-peer connections, developers have access to the IP Header parameters through the Scripting Interface. A technical documentation is available on request.

The IP-Address Setting

This section allows you to specify the Internet Process address of the machine you wish to communicate with, which is entered/displayed in the Address/Name field.
The list displays the names of the machines that you, or your Network Administrator, recorded previously in the Hosts File. Click on any entry to select a name. By clicking on the Get ddress button, the associated IP Address will be displayed in the Address/Name field. 

Use the Get Address button to convert a name into an IP-Address, using one of two methods:

- The Hosts file: located in your System Folder this 'TEXT' file contains a list of names and addresses. The Name-To-Address functions will first try to find the selected name in the Hosts file.

- The Domain Name Resolver:  DNR functions will try to find the name in the Domain Name Server, if there is any active on the network.

If the Name-To-Address conversion fails, you must enter the full IP-Address manually.

In other words: 
- if the name you entered is not found in the "Hosts" file, TCPack will ask the Domain Name Server to return an IP-Address matching the selected name 
- if the search is still unsuccessful, you must supply the IP-Address manually.

If the list is empty, it means you do not have a valid Hosts file. 

In some cases TCPack will not let you change the IP-Address. This happens when your System Administrator has decided to disable the editing functions.

 Note for Network Administrators:

The IP-Address list must be entered in the Hosts file of the System Folder. It can be edited with TeachText. Refer to the MacTCP documentation for the exact syntax of commands and don’t forget to specify the Domain Name Server (if any) in the MacTCP Control Panel. A sample Hosts File could be :

adminMac   A      192.70.34.50
unixbox    A      192.70.34.100
myhost     CNAME  asc-vm
rfc        CNAME  sri-nic.arpa
infomac    CNAME  sumex-aim.stanford.edu

 
The Terminal Setting

If you have checked the option Use Telnet Protocol, select the type of terminal you wish to use. This terminal type will be used only at the negociations stage while initiating a connection using the Telnet Protocol. 

The list displays the Official Names of Terminal Types as defined by the Internet community. By clicking on an item, the selected name will be displayed in the box on top of the list. 
DEC-VT100 is recommended since most Telnet implementations will support this terminal.
You will be notified by an alert when the terminal type is not recognized by the host. In such case, select either another terminal name or 'UNKNOWN' on the top of the list.

You can enter a name which is not in the list, just enter it in the edit field. Remember to follow these specifications : a terminal name may be up to 40 characters long, including uppercase letters, digits, and the two punctuation characters ‘-’ (hyphen) and ‘/’ (slash). It must start with a letter, and end with a letter or digit.

In order to enhance the Telnet negotiation possibilities, you can use four checkboxes:

Check Strip Lf after Return if you want to discard incoming Line-Feed characters following a Carriage Return. This feature is activated provided that Binary Mode has not been negotiated.

Check Request Echo if you want TCPack to request echo from the Remote Host. It must not be checked to use some terminals such as IBM-3270.

Check Request Binary if you want TCPack to request Binary Mode from the Remote Host. It should not be checked in common usage.

Check Accept Binary if you want TCPack to accept the Binary Mode negotiation initiated by the Remote Host. This is necessary to use some terminals such as IBM-3270.

In some cases TCPack will not let you change this setting. This happens when your System Administrator has decided to disable the editing functions.

Generally, you will want to initiate a connection to a remote host using a terminal emulation application. The TCP Port should be 23 (the host is ‘listening’ for terminal connections on this port) and check 'Use Telnet Protocol': these are the default settings. Port numbers must be in the range 0 to 65535.

The Insert Menu check box specifies whether to add the menu described below.

The Show Alerts check box can prevent TCPack from displaying its error alerts. This may be useful when TCPack is called from a driver or from an application which displays its own alerts.

The FTP Settings
 
The FTP Server, operating in the background of TCPack, opens a connection in stand-by state for a remote server connection.

The FTP Commands

To start an FTP session, use FTP Login from the TCP Menu.

Here is a list of the standard FTP commands such as can be found in most UNIX systems.

COMMAND       MEANING

user  <name>  Identification requested for login
pwd           Print current directory name
cd    <path>  Change current directory to <path>
cdup          Change to parent directory
mkdir <path>  Make a directory with name <path>
rmdir <path>  Remove directory with name <path>
dir   <path>  List files info in directory <path>
ls    <path>  List file names in directory <path>
get   <path>  Copy file <path> from SERVER to USER
recv  <path>  Copy file <path> from SERVER to USER
put   <path>  Copy file <path> from USER to SERVER
send  <path>  Copy file <path> from USER to SERVER
delete <path> Delete file <path>
rename <path> Rename file <path>

ascii
binary        File Transfer modes

quote macb    Enable or not the MacBinary mode.

help         
remotehelp
quote help    List available help commands

passive       Enter in passive mode for the
              next file transfer command

bye
quit          End FTP session

The TCP Menu

The first character of the title gives you the connection state :
    Blank Diamond means Connection closed,
    Dark Diamond  means Connection opened,
    Big Dot       means Listening for connection.

This status is more reliable than the state of menu items since these are controlled by the application.

The items of the menu let you issue some Telnet control sequences which you wouldn’t find on your keyboard, and to send your IP Address or the FTP Login command, as if you had typed it.

The 'FTP Settings' item launches the FTPSetup application delivered with TCPack.

The 'FTP Login' item is necessary to install the FTP server running in the background.