home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Amiga Collections: MegaDisc
/
MegaDisc 45 (1996-03)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].zip
/
MegaDisc 45 (1996-03)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].adf
/
Internet
/
NetLink
/
NetLink
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-01-21
|
16KB
|
353 lines
Linking my home to the world
by John Collett
Okay. I give up. I had been waiting for 4 megs of fast ram to be
installed in the slot underneath my Amiga 1200 before writing this
article, but I still haven't obtained that extra ram. (The trials and
tribulations of that quest could fill an article of their own.)
But I had always intended this contribution to be a partner to one by
Peter Bagnato on how he uses 'Mlink' to access the Internet, and
Peter's article has already been written and posted.
So I'm changing the plan. This article will decribe how I link my
home to the world, and some of the things I can do even without the
extra fast ram. At some stage in the future, in another
contribution, I shall describe the difference that fast ram makes.
------------
Setting up the link
This has been a steep learning curve - a polite way of saying that
at times I was completely bewildered by it all. I have received much
help from Peter Bagnato, Derek Wong, Rachels Stubbs, Trevor Simmonds,
and many contributors to InterNet. My thanks to them all.
The Sites
It will be convenient later on to use the brief labels 'A', 'B', and
'C' for quick reference to these sites.
A B C
+---------------+
+--------+ +---------------------+ |Peter Bagnato, |
|An Amiga|<-->|University of Waikato|<-->|aminet, ftp, |
|at home | | Hamilton | |email, gopher, |
+--------+ | New Zealand | |AMosiac, |
+---------------------+ |The World, etc.|
+---------------+
I have been happily computing at sites 'A' and 'B' for years, on an
Amiga and a VAX respectively. 'A' and 'B' were not linked in any way,
but from site 'B', I became a regular user of some of the links
mentioned in 'C'. Just recently, having retired from work at the
University, I have been engaged in setting up a link from 'A' to 'B',
eventually intending to use 'B' merely as a stepping stone to 'C'.
The Hardware
I now have :
1
An Amiga 1200 which I picked up second hand, hardly
used when I got it. Its hard disk has only 40 megs, but I'll manage.
It has no fast ram (nothing in the slot underneath), and without fast
ram I will never be able to run AMosiac properly - one of my main
ambitions. So I am trying to purchase a CPU extension with 4 megs of
fast ram, but have not yet succeeded.
2
An Ellcom Modem, capable of handling 28800 bps, plugged
into a telephone socket in the wall behind my desk.
The Software
There are thousands of programs out there on the Internet (yes,
really thousands. Aminet had 22000 entries the last time I made an
estimate of its size, and it is being added to daily). I went looking
for whatever was needed for running an efficient and flexible
interface. Some of the titles I obtained were recommended or given
to me by friends, others found by browsing. I have been trying them
out, and to reduce the chaos to some sort of order I put them into
loose categories such as :
+--------------+------------+-------------------+---------------+
| Importance | Essential | A useful extra | Irrelevant |
| Quality | Excellent | Adequate | Disappointing |
| Difficulty | Beyond me | I can just manage | Dead easy |
+--------------+------------+-------------------+---------------+
The basic setup
This took me some time to grasp, and I am still struggling with the
terminology, but there seem to be three major stages to be arranged.
1
First you need what is loosely called 'a terminal
program' which dials up a destination and, if successful, establishes
a link. My immediate destination is always site 'B'. Programs I
have used for this include 'Term' (a HUGE Public Domain program)
and 'dialup'. For some tasks, this is enough, but ....
2
For more interesting activities than just sending and
receiving email, you need a TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol) program for dealing with the traffic on
the line which has been set up. There are other methods ('mlink' for
example), but the standard program for the Amiga appears to be AmiTCP
- available free in a fully-functional 'Demo' version, or in a
commercial version with fuller docs and extra features.
3
Finally, you need whatever programs you wish to use in
the linked situation - AMosaic, ftp, gopher, archie, and so on,
depending on needs and personal preferences.
My routes
For the time being (and this is quite likely to change as my
understanding increases and when certain other anticipated programs
are included in my set), I use either of the following two routes to
set myself up for network activity :
Route #1
If I want to engage in one of my regular, sometimes daily, mail
exchanges with Peter Bagnato or, less frequently, with anyone else, I
aim for the email services of site 'B' (though I intend to use Pine
instead when I have fast ram).
A complete sequence goes like this :
Run a terminal program
(I have placed mine in my ToolManager menu.
It takes just a click.)
It opens its screen, with a vast range of menu options, some of
which I understand and use. The others are still waiting to be
explored. The first time the program is used, you select menu options
to store crucial information about phone numbers, host name, baud
rate, etc., and save those settings in a '.prefs' file. Then, when
you restart, the program has all the info it requires.
This 'dummy first run' idea is excellent, since it saves you the
hassle of having to build specific configuration files by hand. I
wish certain other programs had adopted the procedure.
The first attention-grabbing message is sent. You see it echoed on
the screen : AT&D0.
My understanding is vague at this point because my User's Guide is
Taiwanese, but I read the 'AT' as the standard 'ATTENTION' call,
the '&D' as 'Data terminal ready' and the '0' as 'Don't hang up'.
The modem normally makes un unpleasant ear-piercing noise while the
dial-up is being made. I have arranged for it to work quietly by
including 'ATM0' in the initialization string, and that message
also appears on my screen. So my full initialization string is
'AT&D0\n ATM0\r', where the '\n' is a newline signal and the '\r'
marks the end of the string.
Menu selection : run logon
(Just a menu selection 'run' and a click on
the 'logon' entry in a file selector.)
From now on it's all automatic. The phone number is dialled. If the
'BUSY' message (meaning I can't get on) does not appear, I just have
to sit back and wait a few seconds. On the screen I see
'ATDT8384059' and the next thing I know is that I'm on the VAX!
Welcome to the University Of Waikato
... etc.
My username and password are automatically sent to verify access,
then a message to connect me to a Terminal Server, and my username
and password again, to verify access at that level :
Welcome to the VAX/VMS Cluster VIRTUE
I'm on, and in. I can use the VAX for any of the purposes for which
I have been a user for many years, in work at the university. For
example, if I have new mail, I can read it, or if I want to send
mail, I can send it. When I have finished, I enter 'log'.
JCOLLETT logged out at <date>
[Connection to WAIKATO.AC.NZ closed by foreign host]
I 'exit' from the terminal server, and 'quit' the terminal program.
Route #2
This route is more complicated, but is likely largely to replace the
first when fast ram is installed and certain further explorations
are completed. The terminal program I use in this case is 'dialup',
followed by AmiTCP. By this route, I do not get on to the VAX at the
university as a conventional user, but simply use the university as a
relay to the rest of the world. All I actually have to do is carry
out the steps numbered below. They in their turn carry out a series
of tasks the details of which are beyond me, but they work.
1
Open a CLI
2
Enter 'getvax'
'Getvax' is a very short script (held in S:) which runs 'Dialup-server'
followed by 'StartNet'.
'Dialup-server' runs 'dialup' and passes to it a long list of
pre-set arguments. The arguments have to be passed to dialup
in a
single line
, but here I display them in a column for ease of
reading :
Dialup PASSWORD=<mypassword>
LOGINNAME=jcollett
CONNECTSTRING=CONNECT?*
SANACONFIGFILE=slip0.config
LOGINPROMPT=Username:
SNDLOGINPROMPT="ciscots3>"
SNDLOGINNAME="slip jcollett"
SNDPASSWORDPROMPT=assword
(sic: something to do with avoiding
SNDPASSWORD=<mypassword>
case conflicts : 'P' vs.'p'?)
LOGINOK=SLIP
PHONENUMBER=8384059
'Dialup' sets up a link to the University, without actually logging
me on to the VAX. The following is among the screened feedback :
ATH0
OK
ATZ1
OK
ATS0=0
OK
AT&D2
OK
login: jcollett
Password:
Then 'Startnet' launches AmiTCP.
The price paid for using only the demo version of AmiTCP is that you
have to wait a few seconds while some publicity material is
displayed, and then click on an Okay button.
AmiTCP/IP version 4.0 demo
Copyright © 1994 AmiTCP/IP Group,
Network Solutions Development Inc., Finland.
Copyright © 1980--1991
The Regents of the University of California.
All rights reserved.
add host 130.217.99.16: gateway localhost
*
add net default: gateway 130.217.64.3
*
* These numbers uniquely identify my slip account and the university.
3
Now I can engage in any network activity which does
not demand fast ram, such as 'ncftp' (access to anything on aminet!),
and 'gopher' (access to vast lists of interest groups and their
material). When I get fast ram, I shall add AMosaic, Pine, and so
on to my activities list.
4
Enter 'hangup' when done.
A sample run with 'ncftp'
I use 'getvax' as described above, and enter 'ncftp'. The next command
is usually 'open'. The main aminet store at Washington University is
accessed via 'wustl.wuarchive.edu' and my next entry could therefore
be :
open wustl.wuarchive.edu
But a log is kept of previously accessed addresses, and so I could
abbreviate that entry to just 'o wu', even 'o w'.
We are asked, when possible, to use mirror sites which are nearer,
and so I normally try to access 'livewire.com.au' which also holds
all the aminet stuff. All I have to enter is 'o live' (even 'o l').
Here is a highly edited transcript of an 'ncftp' run which I have
just done, a few minutes ago.
ncftp>o live
Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
Welcome ftp@jcollett.slip.waikato.ac.nz to agnus.livewire.com.au!
You are currently user 1 out of a maximum of 3 accessing this system.
Sometimes I can't get on. Then I go to 'wustl'. They have a maximum
number of users in the hundreds, but even then, sometimes ... sigh ...
FTP Administrator: ross@agnus.livewire.com.au
A few lines indicating some 'rules of use', then ...
Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
Logged into livewire.com.au.
It opens at whatever directory I was in last time I used it :
docs/misc - Various documents
You can see that I was two directory levels down from the aminet
node at :
livewire.com.au:/pub/aminet/docs/misc
I enter 'cdup' twice to come back up to :
Welcome to the Aminet Amiga Archives -
A few lines of welcome and general advice.
livewire.com.au:/pub/aminet
For an overview of the holdings, I can enter 'ls' (= list)
CHARTS README biz/ docs/ ls-lR.gz pix/
INDEX RECENT comm/ game/ misc/ priv/
INDEX.Z RECENT.Z demo/ gfx/ mods/ recent/
INDEX.zip RECENT.zip dev/ hard/ mus/ text/
MOTD TREE disk/ info/ new/ util/
To some extent, I know my way around. I decide to go for 'util' and
then 'rexx'. I do it in one step, by entering 'util/rexx'.
util/rexx - AREXX tools
livewire.com.au:/pub/aminet/util/rexx
Let's see what's there :
ls
ADGLookUp.lha InfraRexx1_7.lha VerCtrl_1.16.lha
ADGLookUp.readme InfraRexx1_7.readme VerCtrl_1.16.readme
And there were 68 more lines, at three entries per line, all of them
rexx utils! One of them, called 'InfoWin10' caught my eye.
Each entry has an '.lha' item, the whole program in compressed form,
and a '.readme' file. You can 'get' either or both. Be careful, the
'.lha' files can be very large. You can check their size by getting
a more complete 'dir' listing instead of the brief 'ls' list which I
used above.
I wanted to see what 'InfoWin10' is all about, so I entered
'get InfoWin10.readme'.
InfoWin10.readme: ..........
(Each dot appears when 10% of the download has been done.)
InfoWin10.readme:
1928 bytes received in 3.97 seconds, 485.52 Bytes/sec.
I have it! To prove it, here is an extract from my CLI window :
InfoWin10.readme 1928
1 file - 5 blocks used
For the curious, the key line from that .readme file says :
InfoWin is a simple little program to keep track of messages
sent to it via its ARexx port.
I enter 'bye' to leave ncftp, and 'hangup' to close the link.
Note well the possibilities. In those few minutes I could have
downloaded complete copies of any one or more from a huge range of
freely available Amiga programs.
I can do it from home.
That's why I wanted to link my home to the world.
If and when I get my fast ram, it'll be even better ....
I'll tell you about it.
Hamilton, New Zealand October, 1995
===========================================