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1995-05-11
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71KB
Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
From: norman@afas.msfc.nasa.gov (Richard Norman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.datacomm,comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: Amiga Networking Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Part 1/2
Supersedes: <amiga/networking-faq/part1_789311796@rtfm.mit.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.datacomm
Date: 2 Feb 1995 23:01:20 GMT
Organization: none
Lines: 2271
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
Expires: 18 Mar 1995 22:56:03 GMT
Message-ID: <amiga/networking-faq/part1_791765763@rtfm.mit.edu>
Reply-To: norman@afas.msfc.nasa.gov
NNTP-Posting-Host: bloom-picayune.mit.edu
Summary: Answers to both generic and Amiga specific networking questions.
It covers both hardware and software questions. It should be read by anyone
that has a network related question before posting it to
comp.sys.amiga.datacomm or comp.sys.amiga.hardware news groups.
X-Last-Updated: 1995/02/02
Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu comp.sys.amiga.datacomm:23649 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:60545 comp.answers:9834 news.answers:34310
Archive-name: amiga/networking-faq/part1
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Version: 1.8
1. Amiga Networking FAQ
Current version 1.8
Date 01/28/95
The primary purpose of a FAQ is to preserve network bandwidth by answering
Frequently Asked Questions. A FAQ's second purpose is to provide an
altruistic public service to users and vendors.
Copyrightless & Disclaimer
Acknowledgments and Revisions
The FAQ
Related FAQs
Feedback
2. Copyrightless & Disclaimer
=======================
Lack of Copyright Notice
Distribution policy
Disclaimer
3. Lack of Copyright Notice
-----------------------------
With the exception of Trademarks which are the property of their respective
owners, the material contained in this FAQ is PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, and
therefore is NOT copyrightable.
Richard Norman is merely serving as moderator and maintainer. Anyone has
permission to copy any or all of this FAQ, but you do not have the right
to copyright it.
In the event of my demise :-( or if this FAQ should become dormant for a
period of 4 (four) months, someone else is free to assume the role of
moderator and update the FAQ. I'd prefer someone who was willing to
distribute it in as many formats as possible. Current distribution
includes ASCII, and Amiga guide. They should also distribute it as wide
as possible. News.answers or it's predecessor as a minimum.
4. Distribution policy
---------------------------------
The FAQ may be freely distributed. Portions can be included in derived
works, but may not be exclusively copyrighted (see
Lack of Copyright Notice )
(i.e. You cannot prevent others from using this information in their
derived works.)
- Page 2 -
4. Distribution policy
The FAQ is a compilation of a number of people's work, and answers provided
by users and vendors. Therefore it belongs to no one and to every one
(i.e. Public Knowledge).
5. Disclaimer
------------------------
The information contained in this FAQ is supplied "as is" without express
or implied warranty. I make no representations about the suitability or
accuracy of this document for any purpose.
If you have better information, then please share it. Altruistic
submissions are welcome. Feedback
If someone sees errors, let the moderator know, feedback and it will be
corrected as time permits.
All information provided here is meant for informational purposes and is
not to be taken as an endorsement for any particular product. (Note: in
most cases only one company provides any given service anyway). If anyone
knows of additional relevant products, let the moderator know, feedback
and they'll be added to the list as time permits.
6. Acknowledgments and Revisions
---------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Richard Gerber for being the original moderator.
Richard A. Gerber
email: gerber@zwicky.arc.nasa.gov
Thanks to everyone who posts answers not flames (even if I don't always
live up to the standard myself ;-)
Contributions by: Stefan Becker, Alan Berney, Kai Bolay, Frank Branham,
Andreas Czerniak, Jim Dutton, Arno Eigenwillig, Juha Koivisto, Dale Larson,
Jukka Marin, Neil McRae, Michael Meyer, Michael Smith, Michael Witbrock,
and many others.
Special thanks to the vendors who took time to support this effort.
And last but not least, Thanks to Stephan Surken for the text2guide utility
which got me started.
Date: 01/28/95 -- V1.8--patched for Heddley or other format
Date: 01/01/95 -- V1.7-- Added html, http info, and did some format clean
up in preparation for an HTML version.
Date: 10/14/94 -- V1.6 -- NOT released due to technical difficulties
added stuff about AmiTCP3.0b2 and SLIP install
Date: 9/06/94 -- Finished V1.5
Date: 6/02/94 -- released V1.4 official news version
Date: 4/29/94 -- news.answers Draft release V1.1 -- Richard Norman
Date: 4/29/92 -- Original release V 1.0 -- Richard Gerber
- Page 3 -
6. The FAQ
7. The FAQ
==============
The Amiga Guide version of this FAQ is available on Aminet in the
/pub/aminet/docs/help directory.
Due to the method I'm using to write the FAQ, marking the margins to
indicate new material is not feasible. Look for new questions towards the
end of each list. Also look for "!!!!", strings of exclaimation points
represent new material or news flashes.
Product Availability (A)
Product Specific
General (C)
Generic (G)
Software-Specs
Hardware-Specs
Manufacturers
8. Product Availability (A)
------------------------------------------
A01 What do I need to hook up my Amiga 2,3, 4000 to ethernet?
A02 Can I hook up an Amiga 500, 1000, or 1200 to ethernet?
A03 Is X Windows available for the Amiga?
A04 Is DECnet available?
A05 Is AppleTalk available?
A06 Is Novel Netware available?
A07 Are there any peer-peer network packages for the Amiga?
A08 Is TCP/IP available?
A09 Is Mosaic available?
A10 Is Gopher available?
A11 Is electronic mail available?
A12 Is network multimedia available?
A13 Is UUCP available?
A14 Is SLIP or PPP available?
A15 Is network parallel programming available?
A16 Is Arcnet available?
- Page 4 -
8. Product Availability (A)
A17 What is TIA, and is it useful to an Amiga user?
9. A01
------------------
What do I need to hook up my Amiga 2,3, or 4000 to ethernet?
If the following sounds like geek 8-)
then try the Generic (G) section.
Also you can try the book store for a variety of books on the subject
including "Connect your Amiga!" by Dale Larson of IAM . They can go into
a lot more detail than an FAQ.
You basically have two choices: a direct connection which requires a
ethernet card or a much slower remote connection via the serial port. An
ethernet card is also referred to as an ethernet adapter, an ethernet
controller, or as a network interface card. One reason it is called a
network interface card is that there are other types of networks out there
besides ethernet ( ARCNET for example). Ethernet is just extremely
popular.
There are several cards to choose from and they support different ethernet
cable types. See the generic section for a description of cable types.
See the product specs section to see which cards support which cables.
In addition to the card you will need a protocol to communicate to other
hosts or nodes. See a description of protocols in the generic section. The
protocols all require configuration such as an address which you should
get from your network administrator or service provider.
Ethernet cards:
The A2065 Ethernet Network Interface Adapter is by
Commodore Business Machines . The A4066 Ameristar ethernet card
supersedes the A2065 card. LAN Rover is by ASDG and is now called
the EB920. Also there is a card called the Hydra . All of these cards
are full size and most are SANA II compatible. Cheap PC ethernet cards
can be used in conjunction withe the GG2 bus+ card from
Software Results Enterprises .
A hybrid card called Ariadne by Village Tronic includes both ethernet
and parallel ports on the same card.
All these cards can be used with protocol software such as Commodore
AS225 TCP/IP Networking Software, TSSnet DECnet software by
Thunder Ridge, Inc. , and Netware by Oxxi . Also ENLAN-DFS , and
Envoy provide Amiga to Amiga networking using these cards.
Resource Management Force has a zorro II card called QuickNet which
uses thin ethernet, and special Amiga to Amiga software.
Serial port:
If you have a high speed modem and somewhere to dial into for ethernet
access, then you can use either SLIP or PPP with TCP-IP or one of the
AmigaNOSFlavors to become a full fledged TCP/IP node on the network. It
won't be as fast as a direct ethernet connection, but you can still do a
lot. Also, DECnet will work with the serial port. Again the speed being
the big trade-off.
No place to dial into? You can usually find a book on the Internet at a
- Page 5 -
9. A01
bookstore that lists the major providers, but your local user groups and
BBS users can provide good insight into which are the best or cheapest.
Or if you have email look at the WAN providers section.
Although it is feasible to use SLIP & TCP/IP over a modem to connect to a
friend's modem and machine, it is not necessary, and is much more
difficult to setup than modem software. Although there are a few more
things you can do with this type of connection, it is not for the novice
at this time.
10. A02
-----------------
Can I hook up an Amiga 500,1000, 1200 to ethernet?
Yes, Almost all Amiga models can be hooked to the ethernet. Using the
serial port is the cheapest, but the fastest is a direct connect using an
ethernet adapter card.
For the 1200 Interworks has an ethernet card called ICard that will
support the major protocols. They also have some Amiga peer to peer
software products for the ICard.
For the 500 and 1000:
The A2065 has reportedly been used successfully with third-party
expansion boxes, such as Bodega Bay. It has also been reported that the
A2065 card can be used with the Slingshot expansion device used with an
Amiga 500 and a SupraDrive 500XP's pass-through.
The A2065 has been superseded by the Ameristar A4066 . Don't know if
it works with the A500 or A1000.
The serial port approach for TCP/IP is supported by several
AmigaNOSFlavors or AmiTCP or AS225r2 all of which require SLIP
or PPP to use the serial port. DECnet can be also be used with the
serial port.
11. A03
----------------
Is X Windows available for the Amiga?
X11R4 full color for the Amiga is available from GfxBase, Inc. .
Also available are XView, OpenLook, Motif, programmers toolkits, and
Berkeley sockets library. X Windows supports Commodore TCP/IP and TSSnet
DECnet for ethernet and serial connections, SANA for local. A demo
version is available on Aminet in /pub/aminet/gfx/X11
In the same directory you can find DaggeX. More info on this later.
Also check out the X11 FAQ for help with X specific questions.
12. A04
----------------
Is DECnet available?
TSSnet DECnet from Thunder Ridge, Inc. allows your Amiga to be a phase
IV end node in a DECnet network. TSSnet supports X11R4 from
GfxBase, Inc. which provides DECWindows support for applications
running on a VAX system. TSSnet DECnet can communicate over ethernet as
well as the Amiga serial port.
- Page 6 -
12. A05
13. A05
----------------
Is AppleTalk available?
There are a few implementations of AppleTalk software and LocalTalk
hardware available for the Amiga. For Amiga 2,3, and 4000's the AMAX
board and the Emplant board offer Localtalk and Appletalk options.
14. A06
----------------
Is Novel Netware available?
A Novel Netware client package is available from Oxxi Several people have
posted that the client is not SANA II compatible yet. If you need
this, then please contact Oxxi for the latest info. I hope to post more
info in a future version of the FAQ.
15. A07
----------------
Are there any peer-peer network packages for the Amiga?
Yes, several.
ENLAN-DFS from Interworks provides peer to peer networking and
Distributed File System over SANA II compatible hardware.
Envoy from IAM provides peer to peer networking for Amigas that is
tied very close to the operating system. It too is SANA II compatible.
Resource Management Force has a zorro II card called QuickNet which
uses thin ethernet, and special Amiga to Amiga software.
ALAN-FS is a peer-to-peer network package that allows full transparent
file-sharing, device sharing over ethernet. It requires WB2.0 and the
Commodore AS225 package. It is available from GfxBase, Inc , or
Canadian Prototype Replicas . NOTE: Current Product status unknown.
FEEDBACK appreciated.
Dnet --- Dnet has client/server software for both Amiga-Amiga and
Amiga-UNIX networking over a serial line. Among other things Dnet supports
shells, file transfer, IRC, and something like NFS. Dnet is available on
Aminet . Don't have any more info at this time FeedBack appreciated.
PARnet/PARbench --- PARbench is a workbench installable version of PARnet
which allows two Amigas to be networked using a parallel port and cable.
It is basically file sharing.
16. A08
----------------
Is TCP/IP available?
Yes, three public domain versions, and a commercial version.
AS225 by Commodore Business Machines is a commercial version which
supports NFS.
- Page 7 -
16. A08
AmiTCP is a gnu public license version of TCP/IP ( see the
AmiTCP FAQ for more details). AmiTCP is available from Aminet
AmigaNOS and AmigaNOSGW are two AmigaNOSFlavors which provide TCP/IP
over the serial port and modem. Also AmigaNOS supports a HAM radio/X.25
interface.
17. A09
----------------
Is Mosaic available?
Yes, a public domain version called Amosaic is available using FTP from
max.physics.sunysb.edu Or on Aminet under comm/net.
Updates are available by accessing the Amiga home page using Amosaic.
It requires AmigaDos 3.x and TCP/IP to access remote hosts. See the product
specific section AMosaic(AM) for more hints.
Also see the generic section for a description of Mosaic. G08
18. A10
----------------
Is Gopher available?
Yes, Graham Walter has written a Gopher client for AmiTCP and AmigaNOSGW
(not to be confused with John Heaton's AmigaNOS) see AmigaNOSFlavors
There is an AmigaNOS-FAQ available as well.
The AmiTCP gopher client is available on Aminet
19. A11
----------------
Is electronic mail available?
Yes, the DECnet package from Thunder Ridge, Inc. supports VMSmail.
AmigaELM supports UUCP mail.
Both packages require a mail utility on a remote host.
You should also pick up a copy of InetUtils from Aminet. It has a SMTP
client which is suppose to work with AmigaELM. SMTP is the Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol or the Send Mail To People protocol as my friend calls
it. SMTP is a defined standard for email over the TCP/IP protocol and
therefore is widely used on the Internet. This SMTP client is not
suppose to require a remote mailbox.
Graham Walter has uploaded a SMTP daemon for AmiTCP to Aminet
Also available for both AmigaNOSflavors is a mail agent called BM,
B-Dale's Messy-Dos Mailer. It doesn't have as nice an interface as Elm,
but is easy to use and can build RFC822 formatted files.
There are probably others which I've missed Feedback
20. A12
----------------
Is network based multimedia available?
- Page 8 -
20. A12
InfoChannel is a SCALA, Inc. product that can run over LAN's or modems.
It allows remote Amiga multimedia stations to be controlled from a central
Amiga host. Data can also be stored centrally and supplied upon demand.
InfoChannel also comes with tools and graphics for creating a multimedia
service such as a kiosk.
Also Amosaic can be used as a multimedia hypertext user interface for
both local and remote data.
21. A13
----------------
Is UUCP available?
Yes, UUCP has been ported to the Amiga as AmigaUUCP.
It is available on Fred Fish and Aminet as AmigaUUCP.
It has it's own FAQ. See UUCP FAQ There are also generic UUCP FAQ's
available in the FAQ archive .
22. A14
----------------
Is SLIP or PPP available?
SLIP is available as part of AmiTCP. You can check the AmiTCP FAQ
for more info. AmiTCP can be found on Aminet . More details on SLIP will
be added to this FAQ as they become known Feedback hint, hint. ;-)
Several versions of PPP are under development. A shareware version was
recently released. I believe it is called PPP.device. You can look for it
on Aminet or watch the comp.sys.amiga.announce and
comp.sys.amiga.datacomm newsgroups for updates.
23. A15
---------------------
Is network parallel programming available?
TorqueWare (TM) is by AugmenTek and allows parallel programming
between several Amigas. Also an Amiga running AugmenTek's TorqueWare can
act as a client to a SGI or Mac running TorqueWare by Torque Systems.
24. A16
------------------
Is Arcnet available?
I don't know of any,...
!!!!!!!!!!! Memory Flash !!!!!!!!
What I should have said is that I didn't _remember_ any ;-)
Of course, CBM released the A2060 for the Amiga 2000, and the A560 for the
A500. You can probably still find these used, and apparently there is a
SANA II driver for them called ch2060.device by Carsten Heyl. Look on
Aminet.
- Page 9 -
24. A16
Thanks to Frank, and Daniel for flushing my memory cache.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CSA was working on some, but are on hold pending the outcome of the CBM
liquidation. Contact CSA if you are interested.
Arcnet runs at about 2.5 Mbits/sec which is a lot faster than parnet or
Appletalk, but not as fast as ethernet. Arcnet hardware is cheaper than
ethernet, however, so for a small shop they may be a better deal.
25. A17
-------------------
What is TIA, and is it useful to an Amiga User?
TIA ==> The Internet Adapter (TM)
by Cyberspace Development, Inc. (CSD).
marketplace.com
It is a commercial software product that enables shell account users to
have partial SLIP access to the Internet without paying the extra monthly
surcharge, and without having to have an Internet address. Since TIA runs
on the service providers host, Amiga users can take advantage of it too.
Although the service provider misses out on some revenue, they also miss
out on a lot of management headaches from SLIP. Check with your service
provider to see if TIA is endorsed.
The drawback to TIA is that you don't have your own internet address, and
therefore no one can telnet or FTP to your machine. This does not stop you
from running Mosaic or FTP *OUT*. Just the incoming is unavailable. In
other words you can act only as a client not a server.
Another drawback is that you still have to have SLIP on the Amiga side.
TIA basically sets up a software gateway that speaks SLIP to your Amiga
over the serial port of the host, and TCP/IP over the host's ethernet
card. TIA doesn't allow the AmiTCP packets to pass directly to the
Internet therefore your machine has no address as far as the Internet is
concerned. The Internet only sees the service host. TIA makes the service
host make TCP/IP requests on your behalf and then passes you back the
results. This does not work for some TCP/IP utilities such as ping. Think
of it as layers or stacks the data must filter through with TIA as a
middleman or translator.
|====< AMIGA >====| |====< Service Host >======|
| AMosaic | | TIA <====GW====> TCP/IP |
| AmiTCP | |your Shell Account || |
| SLIP | | | || |
| serial port | | serial ethernet|
|====|---|========| |===|---|===========|++++|=|
| | ||
modem<--serial line-->modem ||
ethernet LAN
- Page 10 -
25. A17
||
Internet & WWW
There are well written docs available on line from CSD that explain TIA
much better. You can FTP them from marketplace.com. You can also use
gopher and Mosaic to the same site.
26. Product Specific
================
Amosaic section is NEW!
CBM TCPIP (B)
Envoy (E)
AMosaic(AM)
AmiTCP (AT)
27. CBM TCPIP (B)
---------------------------------------
Questions about Commodore's TCPIP software
B01 I can't login to my Amiga over the network. Why?
B02 When I FTP to some hosts, I get part of an introductory
message and then either the network hangs up or
the connection gets closed. Why?
B03 Is Domain Name Resolution available with the AS225 software?
B04 Can I use NFS to mount a partition on my Amiga from a remote
machine?
B05 I can't use FTP, rsh or rcp into my Amiga. Why?
B06 FTP into my Amiga works, but rsh and rcp into my Amiga don't.
B07 I can communicate with machines on my network/floor/building,
but I can't communicate with other machines even though they
are in my inet:db/hosts file.
28. B01
--------------------
I can't login to my Amiga over the network. Why?
The AS225 software does not support interactive remote logins to the
Amiga. It does have servers for rsh (remote shell), rcp (remote copy) and
does support remote FTP logins. rsh allows you to execute commands on the
Amiga, but does not allow an interactive shell.
Late breaking news which I haven't had time to research: For AmiTCP
there are supposedly two utilities on Aminet called tnserv.lha and
FtpDaemon.lha that provide remote telnet and FTP to an Amiga. Don't know
how well they work or if they will work with AS225r2 .. You can consult
the AmiTCP FAQ or stay tuned for future releases of this FAQ. Or better
- Page 11 -
28. B01
yet, download them and see for yourself ;-)
29. B02
-------------------
When I FTP to some hosts, I get part of an introductory message and then
either the network hangs up or the connection gets closed. Why?
There apparently is a bug in the AS225 software that causes trouble when
ftp'ing to a system that has a long login message. You can suppress this
login message on some systems by typing a hyphen ('-') as the first
character in your password.
30. B03
-------------------
Is Domain Name Resolution available with the AS225 software?
For AS225r1: No. You must have an entry in the host table for each machine
you wish to reference by name (as opposed to IP address). Also the
gateways file is not currently used.
For As225r2: Yes. All variants support DNS, and gateway. These functions
are turned off and on via the config files and the ConfigINet utility.
31. B04
--------------------
Can I use NFS to mount a partition on my Amiga from a remote machine?
For AS225r1: No. Currently, the AS225 software only supports NFS as a
client. An NFS server is not included.
For AS225r2: Yes. NFSd the NFS server is included. The 'd' stands for
daemon which is a term used by the un*x community for a program which runs
continously and watches for certain events, and then loads the appropriate
program to handle a given event.
Not all variants of AS225r2 contain the NFSd.
32. B05
------------------
I can't use FTP, rsh or rcp into my Amiga. Why?
Make sure that you are running inet:s/start-inet with the servers keyword
(i.e., "execute inet:s/start-inet servers").
33. B06
--------------------
FTP into my Amiga works, but rsh and rcp into my Amiga don't.
Make sure that you have an entry in inet:db/passwd for the user who is
rshing into the Amiga (you can use the -l option to change the user trying
to do the remote access.) Make sure that you have an entry in
inet:db/hosts.equiv for the machine being rsh'd from.
34. B07
-------------------
- Page 12 -
34. B07
I can communicate with machines on my network/floor/building, but I can't
communicate with other machines even though they are in my inet:db/hosts
file.
Make sure that you have routes set up to other networks. Many networks
have one primary gateway which you should make your default route for
reaching all other networks. See the commented-out "route add default"
line in inet:s/start-inet.
35. Envoy (E)
---------------------------------------
Questions about Envoy
E1 How do I configure a machine which has both an Amiga Link
and an ethernet connection so that machines on either network
can see each other?
36. E1
-----------------
How do I configure a machine which has both an Amiga Link and an ethernet
connection so that machines on either network can see each other?
Given machines A, B, and C with node B having both Amiga Link and Ethernet
card (Quicknet) as shown below, and all running Envoy.
A <=== Alink ===> B <=== Ethernet ===> C
In order for node A to access node C or vice versa use the following
configuration scheme: (IP addresses for example only!)
node A node B node C
IP-Address: 244.1.a.a 244.1.b1.b1 244.1.c.c
244.2.b2.b2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.0.0 255.255.0.0 255.255.0.0
255.255.0.0
Use Realm: yes yes yes
Realm-Serv: NO yes yes
Realm-Name: NET NET NET
Serv-Addr: 244.1.b1.b1 244.1.b1.b1 244.2.b2.b2
Def GateWay: 244.1.b1.b1 ------ 244.2.b2.b2
Loc Realms: ------ NET 244.1.0.0 -------
Loc Realms: NET 244.2.0.0
Rem Realms: ------ ------ ------
where b1.b1, and a.a are the AmigaLink hardware addresses. i.e. the last
two bytes of the IP address MUST match the hardware address on the
AmigaLink interfaces.
On the ethernet interfaces, however, b2.b2 and c.c can be anything since
- Page 13 -
36. E1
Envoy supports ARP on ethernet.
NOTE: the IP addresses are for example ONLY! Unless you manage all the
nodes concerned you must coordinate the IP addresses with your network
administrator or provider.
This example basically creates two TCP/IP domains: 244.1 and 244.2 Each
domain can have multiple nodes. Node B serves as the gateway between the
two domains. If you were to set up additional gateways to other domains,
you would use the route command on each node that you wished to enable
communications to the new domain. The route command merely tells TCP/IP
which gateway or router to use for data that is to be sent to a particular
domain thus providing a more direct path, and avoiding sending
unnecessary traffic to other parts of the network.
The gateway provides access to other parts of a network that would not
otherwise be directly accessible. A router is dedicated to keeping track of
routes to various domains. On large networks your default gateway will
often point to a router thus negating the need to maintain route commands
on each node.
For further discussion of domains and beginner info on the Internet you
should refer to ZEN
37. AMosaic(AM)
---------------------------------------
NOTE: for more info on Mosaic check out Clive Thomas's Amosaic-FAQ
Questions about AMosaic
AM1 What do I need to run AMosaic?
AM2 Is there a way to print from AMosaic using arexx?
AM3 Having problems with "service looping" with http?
AM4 How do I connect to a news server with AMosaic?
AM5 How do I access docs in AMosaic NoNet mode?
AM6 How do I make AMosaic appear on a custom screen?
AM7 How do I change AMosaic's preferences?
38. AM1
-------------------
What do I need to run AMosaic?
*A link to the Internet
*Any Amiga running AmigaDos 3.0 or higher.
( Show your support for the Amiga... Buy 3.1! )
Aminet is the place to go for all the rest of this stuff!
* Amosaic V1.2 (latest is available on max.physics.sunysb.edu)
* MUI 2.0 or higher
* AmiTCP 3.0b2 or DNET
* SLIP (included with AmiTCP) or PPP
- Page 14 -
38. AM1
* INetUtils (optional adds SMTP, etc.)
* FTPd (optional allows inbound FTP)
*The following utilities are used by default by Amosaic, but you can
use others: amisox, edplay, zgif, ams
They are available via Amosaic once you get it up and going.
AmiTCP can be a bear to install, but if you read ALL of the docs it should
go easier. Also they have real nice postscript docs available via
anonymous FTP. Read the AmiTCP FAQ for the location.
DNET may be more useful if you are connecting to a UNIX host, but I have
no direct experience with DNET. I'm still looking for someone to
contribute some info on DNET! feedback
39. AM2
--------------------
Is there a way to print from AMosaic using arexx?
Thanks to a Quick and Dirty Hack by Mike Meyer there is!
Although I tried to type it in correctly, I cannot guarantee that it will
work since I have no way to test it.
/ *
* A QAD hack to print from Mosaic via the Rexx interface
*/
arg style
if ~show('Libraries', 'rexxarplib.library') then
if ~addlib('rexxarplib.library', 0, -30) then do
say "No rexxarplib, so no posting!"
exit
end
options results
select
when style = "TEXT" then 'get text'
when style = "FORMATTED" then 'get formatted'
when style = "POSTSCRIPT" then do
call request 0, 0, "Postscript doesn't work yet!"
exit
end
otherwise call request 0, 0, "Invalid argument" style
end
- Page 15 -
39. AM2
if ~open(printer, "prt:", "Write") then do
call request 0, 0, "Can't open printer!"
exit
end
call writech printer, result
exit
40. AM3
-------------------
Having problems with "service looping" with http?
There is a version of the AmiTCP 3.0 Beta 2 inetd which is better behaved.
It is available via anonymous FTP at remarque.berkeley.edu as
/pub/mwm/inetd_for_httpd
41. AM4
--------------------
How do I connect to a news server with AMosaic?
You specify the NNTPSERVER environment variable. This can be done at
user-startup or from a shell. Use the setenv command. SETENV NNTPSERVER
a.news.server.youre.allowed.on
42. AM5
-------------------
How do I access docs in AMosaic NoNet mode?
The Amosaic NoNet version can run in stand alone mode ( i.e. NO NETwork).
This is for testing purposes before you get your network connection. In
v1.2 or earlier you are greeted with an error message instead of a
document in this NoNet mode.
To see the local html files you must use the Open Local menu item and then
choose volumes. You must go all the way to the list of volumes because
this allows you to build the file pointer from scratch. Choose the volume
where Amosaic is stored and then work your way down to the docs/html
directory. There should be a file called index.html. Choose it and it
should open. There is a way to make this your default home page, but I'm
not sure how. At any rate, you should be able to access any of the LOCAL
html files in this manner. Once you open the index.html file it has
hypertext links to many of the other local html documents. It also has
remote links which obviously won't work in NoNet mode.
43. AM6
-------------------
How do I make AMosaic appear on a custom screen?
You can make AMosaic appear on a custom screen by using the MUI Prefs,
BUT don't do it while Amosaic is running!!! If AMosaic is running when
you change the MUI prefs to a custom screen, it will crash your machine.
Simple fix: Run MUI prefs and change the screen, and THEN run AMosaic.
- Page 16 -
43. AM7
44. AM7
--------------------
How do I change AMosaic's preferences?
In order to change AMosaic's preferences such as which page is the default
home page you can edit one of the files in the envarc:mosaic dir or you
get AMprefs which is available on the AMosaic home page. For more help get
Clive Thomas's Amosaic-FAQ
45. AmiTCP(AT)
--------------------------
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! News Flash !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These questions were triggered by 3.0b2 which should no longer be used.
Version 4.0 demo of AmiTCP has been officially released to Aminet .
Although it is a "demo", it is fully functional. There will be a
commercial version of AmiTCP available with new features.
NOTE: Do not install v4.0 over a non-working version of 3.0b2. Delete all
the 3.0b2 files off the system (i.e. wipe the slate clean).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Questions about AmiTCP
AT01 Telnet in 3.0b2 locks up my shell when I exit. Is this a bug?
AT02 Startnet in 3.0b2 says there is "no such interface" why?
AT03 My provider assigns SLIP addresses dynamically. Now What?
AT04 How do I get SLIP to work with AmiTCP?
46. AT01
--------------------
Telnet in 3.0b2 locks up my shell when I exit. Is this a bug?
Yes, and is quite typical of BETA software. Remember beta software is
still under construction and has not been extensively tested. Bug reports
and patches can be found on kampi.hut.fi
Amitcp 3.0b2 telnet when used with AmigaDOS 3.0 or 3.1 uncovered a bug in
the console software.
Solution is to either
A) use the telnet from 2.3 of AmiTCP or
B) use a console handler like KingCON which is available on Aminet
C) get a "fixed" version of telnet from kampi.hut.fi
47. AT02
--------------------
Startnet in 3.0b2 says there is "no such interface" why?
Because you failed to read the NOTE to BETA testers. This is BETA
- Page 17 -
47. AT02
software; so you ARE a Beta tester. BETA software is still under
construction and therefore so are the manuals and the install script.
There are some postscript manuals available for AmiTCP 2.x The 3.0 stuff
hasn't been added to the postscript manuals yet, so the postscript docs
aren't in the 3.0 archive, but they are available online at kampi.hut.fi
and other places.
To fix the "no such interface" problem you must edit two files:
amitcp:db/interfaces and amitcp:bin/startnet.
In amitcp:bin/startnet you must change the ifconfig commands so that
instead of file name/interface number
devs:network/a2065.device/0
you have
alias0
where alias is defined by you in the interfaces file.
Some predefined aliases are already in the interfaces file. In fact the
a2065.device is defined as ether. Therefore you could have changed the
above to ether0 in startnet and not had to change the interface file.
Also, you must change the lo/0 to lo0 in the startnet file because the
slash between the name and the unit number has been dropped and will
generate an error if you include it.
48. AT03
--------------------
My provider assigns SLIP addresses dynamically. Now What?
Now you have an excuse to learn arexx or shell scripts. ;-)
Actually some have already been written and posted. Here is one way to do
it. (NOTE: I HAVE NO WAY TO TEST THIS PROGRAM SO USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK )
In fact, it will NOT work as is. You MUST modify it for your system.
/*REXX*/
/* go slip! a program to create slip scritps with dynamic address */
/* usage rx goslip.rexx <dynamic ip address> */
option results
trace off
If = '0a'x
address REQUESTSTRING 'rtitle="GoSlip" text="Please enter your IP
address." '
direccion = result
/* changed from 19200 */
outdriver = 'baudbandit.device 0 57600 ' || direccion ' CD 7WIRE'
say outdriver
foo = open('outfile','ENV:sana2/rhslip0.config','Write')
- Page 18 -
48. AT03
foo = writeln('outfile',outdriver)
call close 'outfile'
address REQUESTSTRING 'rtitle="GoSlip" text="Please enter your
host name.(slip#, w/ out amiga.com)" '
trob = result
gene = 'HOST 128.200.142.228 ' || trob || lf || 'DOMAIN amiga.com' || lf
||'NAMESERVER 128.200.192.202' || lf ||
'NAMESERVER128.200.1.201'
foo = open('outfile','amitcp:db/netdb-myhost','Write')
foo = writeln('outfile',gene)
call close 'outfile'
address command
'run >NIL: AmiTCP:AmiTCP'
WaitForPort AMITCP
'AmiTCP:bin/ifconfig lo0 localhost'
'AmiTCP:bin/ifconfig slip0' direccion '128.200.1.201'
'AmiTCP:bin/route add' direccion 'localhost'
'AmiTCP:bin/route add default 128.200.1.201'
'Assign TCP: Exists > NIL:'
/* 'if warn' */
'Mount TCP: from AmiTCP:devs/inet-mountlist'
/* 'endif' */
'run >NIL: amitcp:bin/inetd'
49. AT04
--------------------
How do I get SLIP to work with AmiTCP?
Use AmiTCP 4.0 demo, since it is the easiest to install. It still isn't as
easy as it should be, but with a little patience... run the amitcp
installer, but do NOT reboot.
For slip you don't want AmiTCP started at boot time, but you do want the
INETD started when AmiTCP starts.
- Page 19 -
49. AT04
edit your password file in the amitcp:db directory, and add a new user
with a password of nothing (i.e. nothing between the bars || ). If you
want to avoid typing a password each time you start AmiTCP, then edit your
startnet file in the amitp:bin directory, and change the default user to
the new user you just added to the password file.
You can reboot now so that the assigns are all in place.
Make sure your modem doesn't hang up when DTR goes low. (AT&D0 on most
modems).
Use your terminal program to connect, and start the remote slip.
Quit the term program, and run the amitcp startnet program. If you have
dynamic IP numbers, you'll have to run a script which builds the startnet
file with the number, and then runs it (See the previous question.)
50. General (C)
------------------------
C01 What terminal emulations are available over ethernet?
C02 Can I use multiple protocol stacks on my Amiga at the
same time?
C03 I only have two machines, an Amiga and __________.
How can I exchange data without a net?
C04 How can I uudecode messages from binary newsgroups?
51. C01
-----------------
What terminal emulations are available over ethernet?
The AS225 package allows rlogin using the Amiga console (a termcap is
supplied) only. A separate rloginVT program is supplied for VT100
emulation. Under X Windows, xterm provides terminal emulation that
typically works with all software available on the host.
AS225r2 provides telnet and nterm (telnet with VT100).
TSSnet DECnet provides VT100 terminal emulation using the DECnet CTERM
facility or use your favorite VT compatible Amiga terminal program
including VLT.
VLT works with TSSnet DECnet, Enlan, and with tn3270.device for
AS225r2 . VLT provides Tektronix and DEC terminal emulation.
52. C02
------------------
Can I use multiple protocol stacks on my Amiga at the same time?
If all desired protocol stacks support the SANA II standard, several
protocols can be run simultaneously on the same A2065 card. Some
commercially available versions of the network protocol stacks support the
SANA II specification now. But if they don't, you can have multiple
hardware interfaces to run different protocols on the same machine
simultaneously (i.e. one A2065 used for TCP/IP and one used for
Netware).
53. C03
----------------
- Page 20 -
53. C03
I only have two machines, an Amiga and __________.
How can I exchange data without a net?
Four solutions come to mind. From least to most expensive:
1) Floppies
If the data will fit on a 720k floppy( or 1.4M floppy if you have the High
density drive) then you have it made. see appropriate section below for
details on your computer setup.
2) NULL Modem cable
If the two machines are in the same room a null modem cable is useful for
moving larger amounts of data. You will need software in addition to the
cable. You can write your own or use something like TwinExpress which is
on Aminet . In addition to moving files TwinExpress will also allow you
to print remotely. For example, If you have a postscript printer hooked to
the PC's LPT2 port, then
copy hd0:psfiles/mydoc.ps ~LPT2
will send the postscript file over the nullmodem cable to the PC printer.
3) External SCSI
The next cheapest solution is to get a SCSI external drive with removable
media such as a Syquest or Bernoulli. See below for details.
4) Ethernet
Of course there is nothing wrong with setting up an ethernet LAN between
just two machines other than cost.
PC clone to/from Amiga
--------------------------------
Floppies and removable media can be formatted in MSDOS format. The Amiga
can then read and write to them using CrossDos which is included in
AmigaDOS 2.x and higher. CrossDos can also format a MSDOS disk, but it
takes a while.
Mac to/from Amiga
--------------------------
The Mac can also read and write MSDOS format floppies using the Apple File
Exchange utility which comes with the Mac operating system. AFE is not
automatically installed so you may have to get off the master diskettes if
you cannot find it on your Mac. AFE can also format a disk as MSDOS. AFE
MUST BE RUNNING BEFORE you insert the MSDOS disk or it won't recognize
it!!
54. C04
--------------
How can I uudecode messages from binary newsgroups?
MASSDECODE is an ARexx script by Gregg Giles which will scan all
newsgroups for uuencoded binaries, joins the parts of a single binary, and
decodes the binary. Ideal for those who want to have binary newsgroups
decoded automatically and have the resulting binaries put online for their
users to download and/or access.
- Page 21 -
54. C04
It is available from Aminet as comm/news/MassDecode1.1.lha
55. Generic (G)
============
Help with basic terminology, not complete answers.
G01 What is a network?
G01a Hardware
G01b Protocols
G01c Applications
G02 What is the Internet and Usenet?
G03 How do I connect?
G03a modem to modem
G03b modem to commercial services
G03c direct to WAN provider
G04 What is a server?
G05 What is an archive?
G06 What is a mirror?
G07 What are Gopher, WWW, and WAIS?
G08 What are Mosaic, html, http, and browser?
G09 What are Veronica and Archie?
G10 What is news?
G11 What is a Set top?
56. G01
--------------------
What is a network?
short answer: Interconnected computers.
A network is two or more computers that can interconnect in a peer to peer
or client to server fashion most often over a shared and often virtual
connection. This is in direct contrast to the old terminal to host hard
wired connection. A network can still support terminal to host connections
via terminal emulators or terminal servers, but provides much greater
flexibility in switching connections.
A network is accomplished using three basic components. Hardware,
protocols (software), and Applications (useful software ;-) Each of these
is actually comprised of several layers, but we won't worry with the
details. There are many books on the subject as well as technical specs
for the standards. But you will need some knowledge of the lingo in order
to configure your networking software correctly. Consulting with your LAN
administrator or WAN service provider is also highly advisable for
checking your network software configuration.
- Page 22 -
56. G01
Among the many books on the subject is "Connect your Amiga!" by Dale
Larson of IAM . I mention Dale's book because it explicitly deals with
the Amiga whereas most of the rest are generic.
The concept of layers is very important to networking and computer designs
as well. Each layer "protects" the layer above from the layer below so
that one layer can change with minimum impact on the upper layers. In some
cases this protection is so good that an application may not know that it
is running on different hardware. The OSI network model defines seven
layers, but we are going to reduce it to three broad categories.
a => hardware b => protocols c => applications
G01a
G01b
G01c
57. G01a
------------------------
Hardware
At the heart of a network is a shared cable often called a Backbone.
In the simple case this is a PARnet cable to connect two Amigas via the
parallel port. Both machines share the cable. A more complex example is
an ethernet cable which without special equipment can be 1000ft in
length or more with a hundred or so computers attached all interconnecting
at once. This is known as a LAN or Local Area Network. A cheaper but far
more limited LAN Backbone is Localtalk which Apple unleashed upon the
world.
bridges, routers, and gateways Oh my!
To overcome the distance and node limitation of ethernet wiring you need
at least a bridge which basically acts as a repeater. A bridge can also do
a limited amount of filtering so that traffic between the LAN segments is
more efficient.
There are also distance limitations with bridges, so a more complex piece
of equipment is needed called a router. A router provides many more tools
for controlling the flow of information between segments, and can even
provide some level of security. Special security configurations of routers
are know as firewalls. For really long distances leased lines or
satellite links are used between the routers thus forming a Wide Area
Network or WAN. These links are usually provided by common carriers or
some WAN providers .
This all works great as long as the two machines are the same brand, but
since there is more than one vendor there is more than one "language"
called a protocol for communicating. A gateway must be used to translate
between the protocols. As an alternative to a gateway, some routers are
able to handle multiple protocols at the same time. Gateways are also
used most heavily for converting between electronic mail formats or to go
between two different physical media such as ethernet and Localtalk or
ethernet and SLIP. See the Envoy specific question section for an
example.
The gateway provides access to other parts of a network that would not
otherwise be directly accessible. A router is dedicated to keeping track of
routes through gateways and other routers to various domains. On large
networks your default gateway will often point to a router.
- Page 23 -
57. G01a
The distinction between gateways, routers, and bridges is not absolute
since many of the functions of each can be included in a single product.
In fact some companies call their product a brouter because it performs
both as a bridge and a router.
Another device that is used on large networks is called a __NAMESERVER__.
A nameserver maintains a database of machine names and their numeric
addresses. Computers use numbers, but humans use names. The nameserver
allows the computer to look up the numeric address when you use a name.
In addition to the nameserver you can maintain a HOSTS file locally which
is used first by your computer when trying to translate a name into a
number.
The above terminology is slanted towards the TCP/IP protocol because that
is (for better or worse) what you will most likely encounter.
ethernet cable
58. ethernet cable
------------------------------------
While looking through the What's New page of Mosaic, I stumbled across the
Ethernet Web Page. It references an ethernet FAQ from the
comp.dcom.lans.ethernet news group. So if you don't find your answer in
this crude introduction then try their FAQ.
the URL for the web page is:
http://wwwhost.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/ethernet-home.html
the gopher URL for the FAQ is:
gopher://mojo.ots.utexas.edu/11/netinfo/ethernet/ethernet-faq
An ethernet cable comes in several flavors. The maximum length of your LAN
segment is determined by which flavor you choose or which flavors you
intermix. There is twisted pair, thin coax and thick coax ethernet
cables. Each of these are rated at 10Mbit per second.
Note that this is the TOTAL capacity (bandwidth) of the cable NOT the
speed between any two nodes. The speed between nodes is determined by how
many nodes are trying to communicate at any given time. Even with only two
nodes communicating you will NOT get the entire bandwidth of the cable.
The maximum is usually only around three Mega bits per second.
The thick coax was the first used. It ran as a backbone through a building
with taps and drop cables for each node (computer).
Thin coax came into favor because of lower cost and ease of installation.
Thus thin coax is often called cheaper net. It has a shorter overall
maximum length than thick. It is routed in a daisy chain style using tee
connectors at each node. There are adapters to go between thick and thin,
but your overall length can be reduced to that of thin. There are devices
called hubs which may not reduce the limit and can provide conversion
between one cable type to another.
Twisted pair is the current rage because it can be used for other things
as well, such as voice. You can wire an entire building with twisted pair
and decide at the wiring closet what service will be provided. Ethernet
over twisted pair is called 10BaseT and is most often configured as a star
with an ethernet concentrator at the center usually in a wiring closet.
The concentrator allows for the longer length required for a star
configuration. Using a concentrator provides the LAN administrator a lot
of other benefits and options such as diagnostic tools and functions for
- Page 24 -
58. ethernet cable
monitoring the health of the LAN segment.
Several grades of twisted pair wire exist. The best class can also carry
FDDI which is a fairly new high speed token-ring style network
architecture. FDDI can handle speeds of 100Mbit per second. FDDI is usually
carried over fiber optic cable for long distances. There are also Gigabit
per second network architectures for short distance applications such as a
cluster of compute servers. As far as I know there are NO FDDI or faster
adapters for the Amiga at this time.
So the same wire can carry either FDDI or Ethernet so how do they differ?
Good question. It is obviously NOT just the wire. Ethernet and FDDI are
also specifications for how the electrical signals will be transmitted and
interpreted over the wire. The Ethernet spec was originally developed by
Xerox and DEC, and is now defined by the IEEE standards committee. IEEE
802.3 is one of the main ethernet standards in use.
One reason FDDI came into being is that ethernet performance degrades
rapidly as you approach the capacity of the bandwidth. This means you are
limited in the number of nodes that a LAN segment can support. Depending
on the activity level of the nodes you may be able to support as many as
100 nodes on a LAN segment. Beyond that and you should consider
subdividing into multiple LAN segments with bridges and routers.
59. G01b
------------------------
Protocols
A protocol is software that is required to use the physical connection. It
is responsible for establishing the connection and sending and receiving
the data in packets. Modem software is a crude example.
The software is called a protocol because there must be cooperating
software on each end, but they don't have to written by the same vendor.
Instead a "protocol" for the proper exchange of data is defined and
released as a standard (such as TCP-IP ) or licensed as proprietary
(such as DECnet ). As long as the vendor on each end adheres to the
protocol a connection can be sustained which will support an application.
TCP/IP is in the broadest use for several reasons, but mostly because
vendors could get and use the standard for basically free. DECnet was
very popular because of its robustness and the quality of the VAX systems.
The low cost, graphics power, and lure of a standard operating system drew
users to UNIX systems which used TCP/IP because of the cost and
availability. This has resulted in DECnet falling way behind in numbers.
A distant third is Appletalk or Ethertalk as it is called when it is run
over Ethernet. This protocol is best used for LAN's, and it also suffers
from being proprietary.
Due to the constant growing of the size of the wide area networks (WAN),
a more robust protocol is required which will support a large number of
addresses which is the numeric value assigned to each computer on a
network. Two approaches are being worked currently. One is to revamp and
extend TCP/IP while maintaining backwards compatibility. The other is an
international standards effort called OSI Open Systems Interconnect. OSI
is moving very slowly which is making it difficult to gain vendor support.
TCP/IP will almost certainly be enhanced regardless if OSI is successful
or not.
In addition to these major protocols there are numerous other proprietary
protocols such as SNA by IBM or IPX by Novell. Some fill special niche
requirements, and some of them don't scale well to the WAN environment.
Some are so proprietary they will not run on but a single vendor's
hardware.
- Page 25 -
59. G01b
The latest wrinkle in the protocol world are SLIP and PPP which allow
the TCP/IP protocol to be used over a modem connection. Typically a
remote machine such as a laptop is hooked by modem to a new generation of
terminal servers which can convert between SLIP or PPP and regular TCP/IP.
The terminal server is connected to the LAN and therefore the remote user
has full (although slower) TCP/IP access to the LAN.
DECnet can also be configured to use a serial connection.
TCP-IP
DECnet
SLIP
PPP
SANA II
UUCP
60. TCP-IP
------------------------
TCP-IP is a protocol that has been released as a standard which means that
vendors can implement it independently and freely and yet it still works.
The standard is defined and described in RFC documents which are
available electronically. Lots of free source code and the ability to use
it royality free make TCP/IP attractive to vendors. It has been implemented
by a large number of different vendors and therefore is popular on the
Internet. For more information on the Internet and TCP-IP concepts see
ZEN
TCP/IP as the name implies is more than one layer. The IP layer takes
care of the lowest layers of the protocol and is responsible for talking
to the device drivers (data link layers). The TCP is one of two
"transport" layer protocols which handles the packetizing of the data. TCP
is a reliable service because it insures that the packets are put back
into the right order and that they are all received. If you send packets
"a", "b", "c", then TCP will make sure they are received as "abc" and not
"bca".
UDP is the other transport protocol and it is unreliable, but has less
overhead. The applications ride on these lower protocol layers. There are
a number of applications defined in the TCP/IP standards, but vendors are
only required to supply the lower layers. See the applications section
for a partial list of TCP/IP applications. For instructions on using the
FTP application see the FTP FAQ
TCP/IP standard also provides for programming hooks which can use ports
and sockets to allow programs to talk to one another over the network. The
World Wide Web (WWW) and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) are two examples of how
these hooks can be exploited. Any programmer can use these hooks for their
own programs.
AS225 and AmiTCP are Amiga implementations of TCP/IP.
61. DECnet
--------------------------
DECnet is a proprietary standard belonging to DEC which is also made up
layers in a similar manner to TCP/IP. They break up the job quite a bit
differently. For instance with DECnet there is no need for a separate NFS
application. You can see a remote nodes disk drives by simply including
the DECnet node name in the directory command. DECnet has two ways of
- Page 26 -
61. DECnet
handling terminal traffic. For the WAN you use the SET host function of
DECnet, but it is more efficient for local traffic to use the LAT
protocol. The older model DEC terminal servers only supported LAT or
asynchronous DECnet. Newer models also support SLIP and PPP (check
the manuals) since DEC now makes computers that use TCP/IP as well.
TSSnet DECnet is an Amiga implementation of DECnet.
62. SLIP
-----------------------
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol See RFC 1055 for details. CSLIP
adds a compression technique. For details read RFC 1144.
SLIP allows your computer to run TCP/IP over the serial port. This allows
your computer to have a TCP/IP address. TCP/IP applications such as FTP
can now use TCP/IP to deliver packets directly to your address. An analogy
would be instead of having to go to the post office to get your mail, you
now have a mailbox to which the postman can deliver your mail. In more
technical terms you are no longer a terminal; you have become a node.
SLIP is a "data link" protocol. It sits between the serial port and the IP
stack. It pretty much takes the packets from IP, adds a wrapper to them,
and sends them out the serial port. It also takes packets from the serial
port, unwraps them, and passes them up to IP. SLIP has several problems,
including the fact that it is designed entirely for TCP-IP, and is
therefore of limited use for other protocols. Too many people ask for
"SLIP" when they really want "TCP/IP" with a SLIP driver. You have to
have both. Just like a terminal program is of little use without a
serial.device driver.
SLIP is not a full protocol it fits in one of the layers between hardware
and the protocol. It acts more like a device driver.
application (AMosaic, telnet, ftp, etc.)
--------------
protocol (TCP/IP)
--------------
SLIP or PPP
--------------
hardware (serial port)
63. PPP
-----------------------
PPP Point to Point Protocol
For more info see:
RFC 1332, 1333, 1334, 1376, 1377, 1548, 1549,1552, and 1570.
PPP allows your computer to run TCP/IP over the serial port. This allows
your computer to have a TCP/IP address. TCP/IP applications such as FTP
can now use TCP/IP to deliver packets directly to your address. An analogy
would be instead of having to go to the post office to get your mail, you
now have a mailbox to which the postman can deliver your mail. In more
technical terms you are no longer a terminal; you have become a node.
- Page 27 -
63. PPP
PPP is the committee-designed protocol which is supposed to be a sort of
"universal" SLIP. It is intended to replace SLIP, while providing for all
sorts of conditions, including the ability of use over non TCP/IP
protocols. The two state machines in PPP are a real pain to implement.
UNIX folks love it because a PPP implementation exists, and they pretty
much type "MAKE" and it works.
PPP's good points:
- PPP users checksums (FCS) SLIP does not
- PPP allows more than one protocol at a time, SLIP does not
- PPP automatically negotiates IP addresses, SLIP does not
- PPP can be used on non-transparent lines (e.g. when XON/XOFF is used by
the modems), SLIP cannot
Several Amiga versions of PPP are in the works.
A shareware version called ppp.device by Holger Kruse has been released on
Aminet
!!!!!!! news flash !!!!!!!!!
For dynamic IP addresses you need the latest bootpconfig file.
It is available from kampi.hut.fi in AmiTCP/bpc15.lha
Downloading "HowToUsePPP.lha" from Aminet probably wouldn't hurt either.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PPP is not a full protocol it fits in one of the layers between hardware
and the protocol. It acts more like a device driver.
application (AMosaic, telnet, ftp, etc.)
--------------
protocol (TCP/IP)
--------------
PPP or SLIP
--------------
hardware (serial port)
64. SANA II
---------------------------
SANA was an experimental DATA-link and API paper written by Dale Luck for
a DevCon several years ago. Dale suggested two schemes for creating
standard interfaces for the data-link layer and protocol stack APIs.
After Dale left Commodore, the work passed to several other people-- and
the "API" part was removed. After it had touched several people's hands,
SANA-II was put together.
SANA-II is nothing more than a standard for writing device drivers.
Having something which is SANA-II doesn't help you do networking unless
you have a real protocol stack communicating through it. FAR too many
people have seen "SANA-II", and "Amiga networking standard", and assumed
too much. It is just a device driver standard whose purpose is to prevent
- Page 28 -
64. SANA II
networking packages from hard coding to specific hardware. This is similar
to the reason for packet drivers in the PC clone arena. A side benefit to
SANA-II is that it allows multiple protocols to share the same ethernet
card.
65. UUCP
---------------------------
UUCP (Unix to Unix CoPy) is an old protocol used for transferring files
between un*x boxes. Versions of UUCP were written for other operating
systems and platforms including the Amiga.
UUCP is not interactive like a terminal program, but more of a batch
process. You give a list of commands ahead of time and then at the
specified time it calls another machine, executes the commands which
usually sends some files and receives what the other machine has for it,
and then hangs up. A store and forward methodology as opposed to a dynamic
constantly available method.
AmigaUUCP
UUCP-FAQ
66. G01c
--------------------------
Applications
The applications are the part of the network that a user is most likely to
see, but are useless without the hardware and protocols. Applications
allow a user to emulate a terminal, copy files, send electronic mail,
browse and search databases, and use applications remotely.
TCP/IP applications:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""
telnet ----- terminal access
FTP ------- file transfer protocol ( copy files)
SMTP ----- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (email) or
Send Mail To People as my friend calls it.
NFS ------ Network File System (remote mount disks)
PARnet provides a similar service on a much smaller scale.
NSLookup -- find address corresponding to a host name or vice-versa.
basically provides access to the DNS database records.
Finger --- See who is logged in
or access an X500 email database
Xwindows-- Use graphics programs on a remote system. An attempt at a
hardware independent terminal emulator. Cost and speed are
its biggest drawbacks.
NEWS ---- A BBS style messaging system global in scale NEWS FAQ
NNTP ---- A protocol that supports NEWS
RN ------ One of many NEWS readers
HTTP --- Created at CERN, Mosaic uses this to talk to WWW servers
- Page 29 -
66. G01c
IRC --- Internet Rely Chat, grapevine on the Amiga uses this
DECnet applications:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Set Host --- Terminal Access host to host
LAT --------- terminal access terminal to host
Copy -------- copy files between DEC hosts
(emulated on non-DEC hosts)
VMSmail --- electronic mail (must have gateway to
reach non-DEC systems
Dir ---------- Can be used to read remote disks
DECWindows ------ Same as Xwindows
task to task ---------- Hooks which allow user or vendor written
applications to communicate between computers
Ethertalk (Appletalk) applications:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Appleshare ----- Allows remote disk access (file copying)
Chooser --------- Supports network printing and other services including
Appleshare
Electronic mail and terminal emulation for Ethertalk must be bought from a
third party, and may require TCP/IP or DECnet drivers as well.
67. G02
---------------------
What is the Internet and Usenet?
Two examples of WAN's which use entirely different techniques, but whose
services are overlapping. There are interconnections and usenet traffic
can and does travel across the internet, but for the most part they are
separate networks. Also the Internet is actually many networks which are
interconnected on a world wide scale.
Usenet utilizes the phone system and temporary links to move information
between systems. It uses a system of store and forward. It stores up
outgoing messages. Then on a periodic basis makes a connection to a
specific computer and forwards the messages, and downloads any incoming
messages then breaks the connection. A popular usenet protocol is UUCP
and the most popular application is NEWS which is also now on the
Internet.
The Internet on the other hand is mostly a shared backbone which is
always available between the primary systems. The usenet does not use
dynamic routers. An Internet router is always on and always connected to
other routers. An internet router immediately determines an incoming
message's next destination and immediately sends it on its way. A usenet
"router" waits until the next scheduled connection time before sending the
message on its way. The most common protocol on the Internet is TCP-IP
and one of the most popular applications is Mosaic which relies heavily on
FTP and Gopher.
- Page 30 -
67. G02
68. G03
---------------------
How do I connect?
There are three basic ways with more to come hopefully.
a) modem to modem
b) modem to commercial service
c) direct to WAN provider
Or if the company where you work has a network, you should contact your
local network administrator about the procedures for getting network
access at your company.
G03a
G03b
G03c
69. G03a
-------------------------
modem to modem
This is basically the poor man's network, but it works well. Usenet uses
this method. Since there is some overlap between usenet and the internet
you can gain some access to the internet such as mail or news.
To get on the Usenet you have to either know someone who is already on it
and daisy chain from them. Or you can access a BBS which offers usenet
access. User groups and BBS are also good places to ask for usenet access.
Also you can check the UUCP FAQ for information.
Of course if you are lucky enough to have an account and modem connection
to a machine on the internet you can access most things as terminal and
use FTP to move files to your dial up host. You will need a file transfer
program to transfer from your dial up host to your machine.
Two recent protocols have evolved called SLIP and PPP which make the
intermediate system transparent and provide full TCP/IP connectivity over
a modem. In fact the intermediate system need be nothing more than a
terminal server which supports SLIP or PPP. Both SLIP and PPP allow your
computer to have an address so that TCP/IP applications can talk directly
to your node. (i.e. your machine becomes a node, not a terminal) PPP can
support other protocols than TCP/IP.
Some universities and some public access programs such as FREEnet offer
free dial up accounts. If you can't find one of these or USEnet access,
then you will need to try
option B modem to commercial services, or
option C direct to WAN provider.
70. G03b
--------------------------
modem to commercial services
- Page 31 -
70. G03b
Several commercial services such as Portal, BIX, and Compuserve now
provide internet access to varying degrees as part of their service. and in
essence have become WAN providers .
If you have internet access this makes these services far more accessible.
If you don't have internet access, they make _some_ of the internet
services available to you.
As mentioned before file transfer is a two step process. However, more
and more commercial services are providing SLIP and PPP connections
which eliminate the two step process by giving your remote host its own
internet address. They also provide full internet access, but some
applications require more speed than an analog modem can provide.
71. G03c
-------------------------
direct to WAN provider
The WAN providers offer many kinds of connectivity from a normal dial up
BBS to a full blown high speed WAN connection.
Full Blown WAN
Cheaper WAN
WAN-shopping
WAN providers
72. Full Blown WAN
--------------------------------------
The full blown WAN connection is the FASTEST, most flexible and the most
expensive. This type of connection is most useful for a group such as a
business with a LAN, since this type of connection provides a router at
your site. Generally connection speeds start at 56 Kbit/sec and go up.
A full blown WAN connection also requires a great deal of expertise to
manage. You must learn security, configuration, and troubleshooting
techniques. Some WAN providers will provide these services for additional
fees.
The setup of a WAN connection is WELL beyond the scope of an FAQ, but
there are numerous courses and books available if you wish to do the job
yourself. Also the documentation that comes with the software and hardware
is mandatory reading.
73. Cheaper WAN
--------------------------------------
Cheaper WAN: You basically pay for access to a modem, termserver port,
and use of the router at the providers site. They take care of most of the
management headaches.
Over this connection they provide SLIP and PPP which require some
networking knowledge on the user's part but not as much as managing a LAN.
SLIP and PPP offer a full set of internet services, but at a lower speed.
Generally you are limited to what speeds the local telco can provide. The
fastest is currently ISDN, but that can be expensive and has limited
availability. So most will also offer standard analog modem connections
of 14.4K or higher.
=============< End of Part 1 of 2; Amiga Networking FAQ V1.8 >=============