OS/2 Shareware BBS: 32 Periodic/32-Periodic.zip/MNLTXT.ZIP/ibmwire.txt

Text File | 1995-05-18 | 8KB | 193 lines

 OS/2 Warp and the Internet


                        by Chris Novak

 One of the many reasons why IBM's OS/2 Warp has sold millions
is the free BonusPak Internet Access Kit (IAK) included with
every  copy.  These applications help you to get online quickly,
easily and with power.  Here are a number of tips and techniques
we've collected for you to use with your BonusPak IAK (a.k.a IBM
 Internet Connection for OS/2).



OS/2 Warp gives you different Internet Connection programs to
help you do different things.  For example, Gopher finds
information and pictures, FTP transfers files to and from your
computer, and  the WebExplorer gives you multimedia
(audio/video), hypertext (fancy term for built-in footnotes and
references) access to all kinds of organizations on the Web.
The WebExplorer can also access Gopher information and transfer
files from FTP sites.  It's true; the 'secret' is in defining
the Web URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). They define the type
of Internet service at the address that follows (URL is in caps
***{E.N. - or bold?}), i.e:

 http://WWW.austin.ibm.com/pspinfo/warp.html  (IBM OS/2 Warp
page)

 means World-Wide-Web type service.  Requires WebExplorer or
MOSAIC



 FTP://ftp-os2.cdrom.com   (Hobbes OS/2 Shareware archives)
means File Transfer Protocol service.  Use FTP-PM or
WebExplorer.  (FTP-PM doesn't understand URLs.  To use a

 URL address with ftp, DROP the URL prefix "ftp://" and use
"ftp-os2.cdrom.com".

 GOPHER://index.almaden.ibm.com/1os2dsn (IBM PSP Dev. Support)
means Gopher service.  Use Gopher or WebExplorer.



 FILE:///d:\tcpip\tmp\webmap.htm  (Web map from your last
session) means a local file on your PC  (yes, this one has 3
slashes, not 2). So why would you want to use "file:///"?  Well,
WebExplorer allows you to save World-Wide-Web documents to your
disk.  It even stores the last Web map you used in
\tcpip\tmp\webmap.htm. You can specify this path (add your drive
letter where TCP/IP is installed) in WebExplorer's URL field, or
drag and drop any *.HTM

 file onto the WebExplorer icon.  To make it even easier, modify
the WebExplorer icon's SETTINGS - ASSOCIATION to add *.HTM. Now
you can double-click directly on any HTM object on your system.



 The BonusPak IAK contains 32-bit, point-and-click tools for
accessing the most popular Internet functions such as Telnet,
FTP, Gopher, News Groups, and the World-Wide-Web.  It's

 designed to make "surfers" out of the hundreds of thousands  of
"newbies" taking up the pastime of cruising the Internet.  If
you bought a very early copy of Warp, then you may be missing

 some IAK functions such as  point-to-point (PPP) support and
IBM's WebExplorer  (for the World-Wide-Web). You can download
these by using the  "Retrieve Software Updates" option of the
IAK, or you can get  them via FTP from "ftp.ibm.net" from the
/pub directory.  You can get updates to both the NewsReader
application and  the UltiMail Lite applications here as well.



Many publications today have articles about how major online
services will be offering access to the Internet.  I'm a
Prodigy subscriber, so I decided to check out their Windows-
based Internet Web Browser (which I had no problem running under
 Warp).  I was able to access not only the Web, but Gopher and
FTP resources on the Internet.  However, I did it the
old-fashioned way:  one resource at a time.



 A PPP or Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) connection to the
Internet (accessed by using Warp's  IBM Internet Connection
applications) allows you to run multiple

 Internet programs to different Internet sites at the same time.
 For example, while you're using "Retrieve Software Updates" (or
 FTP) to get the latest Internet Connection updates, you might

 also use the WebExplorer to access IBM's "home page" (http://
WWW.IBM.COM), a second copy of the WebExplorer to peruse the
Library of Congress (http://LCWEB.LOC.GOV), and the Gopher to
read a copy of Business Week online
(gopher.enews.com/business/pubs/business/bw).  You can do all
this at the same time with OS/2 Warp!



This multitasking capability also applies to any applications
which use your Internet connection such as UltiMail Lite, FTP-
PM, Telnet, Retrieve Software Updates, NewsReader/2, and others.

 You see, connecting to the Internet via a SLIP or PPP Service
Provider is very much like connecting your PC to a Local Area
Network:  once you're hooked up, you can have multiple programs
accessing multiple servers at the same time.  By having several
programs running through your SLIP/PPP connection at the same
time, you'll always have something utilizing the bandwidth your
service provider is charging you for.  Folks are constantly
amazed during Internet Connection demonstrations at how little
time we spend online and how much information we can retrieve
in 10-15 minutes by running multiple programs simultaneously

 (it also shows off OS/2 Warp's ability to multitask solidly
without timeouts or resource impacts).



 Another application which can operate across the Internet is
BonusPak's Person to Person/2 (P2P/2) desktop conferenceing.
This product allows up to eight users to share a common

 desktop work-area;  each with the ability to cut/paste, markup,
 and file transfer in full view of the others.  It's an
excellent supplement to a telephone conference call, and it's

 free with OS/2 Warp's BonusPak.  Here's how to use P2P/2 with
the IBM Internet Connection:



 P2P/2 must be configured with TCP/IP 'enabled' and "Slow-but
effective" compression selected.  After your Internet "SLIP"
connection has been started, bring up the P2P/2 Call Manager.

 Call Manager status should have changed from "Inactive" to "No
Calls."  This indicates that the TCP/IP Internet connection has
been established.  All each P2P/2 system needs now is the IP

 address of the other to complete the connection.  That
information is established dynamically at the start of each
Internet session via the IBM Global Network.  It can also be
found by maximizing the Internet Dialer and scrolling down to
the line which says: "nnn.nn.nnn.nnn (e.g. 129.37.124.135) is
your IP address."  This is the address that should be entered

 into the P2P Address of the other P2P system (and their IP
address should be placed in your P2P/2 address).  Now you're
ready to initiate contact with the other P2P/2 system.  Allow
5-20

 seconds for it to be completed, and you're ready to use any of
the P2P/2 functions across the Internet.  You will also be able
to use WebExplorer, Gopher, FTP-PM, and other Internet

 applications at the same time.  You can also get your free copy
of P2P/2's own File Transfer capability from the Internet via
"FTP.HURSLEY.IBM.COM" in the "/PUB/P2P/P2P-FT.ZIP" directory.



 Finally, when you're exploring the World-Wide-Web and you find
an interesting "page", don't forget to click the 'thumbs-up'
button on the WebExplorer's button bar.  This will 'bookmark'
where you are so you can come back another time (Gopher has a
similar facility).



 The Internet is very big, and it can be difficult to find your
way back again, but bookmarking can take you directly where you
want to go in future sessions.  Use the WebExplorer's
"Quicklist" pulldown menu to display all of your bookmarks.  You
can also use the Web Map icon which maintains your entire
Quicklist as well as all the places you've visited in the
current session.

 To save time when using the WebExplorer, disable the option to
load a "home page" when the WebExplorer starts, or change your
'home page' to be "file:///d:\tcpip\tmp\webmap.htm".  This will
give you the Web map from your last WebExplorer session and will
include all of your Quicklist access bookmarks as well.