Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 14:05:07 -0700 To: macgifts@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU From: smithe@minot.com (e s) Subject: Easy-PPP-1.5.txt Moderators, see below please... This is a MacPPP2.2.0a & MacTCP configuration guide in ASCII text format. This third version is re-arranged. It's easier to read! .. maybe... It's intended to be less painful on the eyes of experienced Mac Users, yet useful to the most inexperienced. New -> Describes how to set up a 2 node TCP/IP network between two Macs via modem. Also describes my (not so distant?) dream of one day having a freeware PPP server version of ARA (Apple Remote Access) The beginning Mac user may also benefit from: info-mac/_Information/_Communication/ez-slip-ppp-mactcp-guide-dm.hqx (336k) (not written by me) My Mac page is currently at: http://minot.com/~smithe/net.html smithe@minot.com / smithe@warp6.cs.misu.nodak.edu Demitri, Here it is, with no attachments this time, it's just an ascii text guide. Thanks! MODERATORS : Goes in --->_MacTCP/_Connections/ freeware-May be included on the CD-ROM. This replaces Easy TCP and PPP config 1.3. Could you please rename the file from easy-ppp-and-tcp-config-13.txt to easy-ppp-1.5? Because of the long filename in Netscape I can't see the version number (way to go genius Netscape programmers >:-). Also please take care not to loose it because :-) I keep loosing my copy. And then having to download it via Netscape and then strip out those annoying unix line feeds (what's that all about??) Thank you! --------------------------------------- Cut here Easy_PPPTCP_1.5 All the lengthy explanations have been left towards the end of this guide. The level of difficulty decreases as you read forward. This file is line wrapped at 60 characters per line. I wanted 70, but MW 5.1a wants 60. Sorry. For alternate versions, see my Mac home page : click here See the very end for the PPP server discussion. INSTALLATION OF MACPPP: * Remove any conflicting extensions/control panels from your system folder. Conflicting extensions are extensions which will by their nature mess up PPP. These include but are not limited to Control panels/Extensions having to do with modems or containing the words geoport, teleport, bronze, gold, silver, and fax in their names. It is also a good idea to remove any InterSLIP extensions / control panels. If you're on a Power-Mac, I guess you might need the geo-port extensions. I wouldn't know. Try without. * From your download, the configPPP control panel and the PPP extension go in the control panels folder and the extensions folder in the system folder. ConfigPPP - In LCP and ICPC, use default settings except for the check boxes: LCP: O X O X O X O X O O O X O X O X ---- ---- O X O X ---- ---- O X O X ---- ---- - - ICPC: O X O X X X X X ---- ----**1 - - **1 Fill in your gateway address here. MacTCP - * You can only change your gateway address while you're set to manual, so set back to server when done, unless you actually are using manual. Server is what you're probably using. * Class - set it to A. It doesn't seem to matter what it's set at. * Make sure the little slider pointer is as far left as it'll go. * Set your Name server(s) too, for example : Minot.Com nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn where nnn is a number. And finally, select PPP, not local talk. Info you need from your Internet Provider (4 network settings) : -Gateway address -Name server IP -Name server domain name -The modem phone number Config PPP- * Port speed: This is the speed between your modem and computer. Set it to twice or three times the speed of your modem. But if that doesn't work (like if you have an old computer) set it to that of your modem or lower (9600 should definitely work, unless your modem's slower than 9600) * Phone Number : Set it to that of your net provider's modem number. Set it so MacPPP will send the modem init. * Modem Init : AT&F should work just fine! To test your modem init, open a terminal emulator like zterm and type it in. If you get an OK back, it's a good one. Modem inits help your modem recover after crashes and may maximize efficiency. Try this one: AT &F&C1&D0&K3 L0 or at&f0 or at&f1 or at&f (f for Factory settings) and if your PPP connection still stinks, get a list of modem specific inits on the WWW.(inits not included here in the interest of saving space, and who really needs them anyway?) I've been hoping that I'd find a modem init that would enable me to transfer at that magic speed of 54,000 bps since I have a 14.4 kbps modem, but then I finally realized - with a Mac Classic II, 5 kbps is the most I'll ever get through the serial ports! So let that be a hint to you :) * Hang-up on close : X this box. * Flow Control - Set according to your modem manufacturer's recommendation, printed in the manual that accompanied your modem (look up "flow control" or "handshake" in the index). If you're still not sure (and who isn't?), try setting it to None for a modem with no data compression feature, or CTS only for an internal modem, or CTS & RTS if you have a hardware handshake cable and a modem with data compression. * Port : Printer or Modem. Modem is preferable, because AppleTalk uses the Printer port and in some systems has a tendency to turn it's self on. If AppleTalk is annoying you, get SingleTalk. * Idle time out and echo: Idle will (maybe, I dunno) close your connection after a predefined idle time. Echo will ping, so as to prevent the connection from going idle. this will prevent some systems from hanging up on you after a certain period of inactivity (The remote machine's idle time-out) - good for line sitting, bad if you pay by the minute. * LCP ICPC : these come set at default but these defaults really don't work for some providers I've tried, so use this guide to set the check boxes. First click on "Default" to set all values to default. The X means the box is checked. The O means the box is unchecked. Refer to the chart at the top of this guide. * To test your connection, you should upload as well as download a file of length of about 50 or 100k. * "*70," should turn off call waiting, in your phone number. * You may find it necessary to turn Apple Talk off and reset your MacTCP in the future as these may change by themselves, so saving your TCP configuration with MacTCP switcher might be handy. Once you've got MacPPP configured, you might need to restart again. You never know. The basic rule is that once your connection is open, MacTCP is in use. Once MacTCP has been put in use, any changes to it don't take effect until restart. In addition, note that MacTCP switcher can't change your settings with the MacTCP control panel open. * Connection Method - With Manual login (X the box) you have to type ATDT 5555555 <-your phone number. and then you have to read the prompts and respond appropriately, by typing in your login ID and password. Then garbage will stream across your screen (This is the PPP connection) and you click on OK. But Manual login doesn't have auto-redial. * Without Manual login (don't X the box) the computer dials the number, reads the prompt info and types in your user ID and password. This is done through the connect script. Writing a connect script is easy - first login through Terminal mode to see what the prompts for your particular system are. Write them down, or take a screen shot. The longer your prompt, the faster the script will run , in my experience. Your script alternates (in general) between these two types of lines: cr O out X wait ---------------- O X out O wait ---------------- X The first line being a wait - The script is waiting for the text you typed in the box (----------------) to appear. The second line is typing - The script will type the text in the box followed by a cr (carriage return) Make sure your script isn't typing before the prompt appears - this is why you use "wait" lines. In addition, you can insert codes (/r, /w ???) into your text which will cause the script to wait, however these codes somehow didn't find their way into the release notes of MAcPPP2.2.0a so I have no idea what they are. I lost them. Check my home page for the latest version of this guide. the waits are not necessary if the prompt you're waiting for comes up right away. Is necessary for the password prompt because it usually takes a second for that prompt to come up. Here's an example script : If your login looked like this : *** atdt 5555555 [connect 9600] welcome to our little server ndts1] login smithe@warp6 password: computer ndts1] ppp establishing ppp connection : header is 1500 btu or whatever PPP up. $#%@$%VNEVNDLdg#$fvnwjnjkt423ty0256@@$^#$!#$%#$%^3564;'' 254&^$#4].... *** Then your script would look like this: wait ndts1] out $USERID$ cr wait word: out $PASSWORD$ cr out ppp cr wait PPP up. out out When MacPPP prompts you for userid and password you would, for this login example, have to type "login smithe@warp6" and "computer." In my experience $USERID$ and $PASSWORD$ (which cause MacPPP to prompt you at connection time) must be on a line all by themselves. Note that you can replace $USERID$ and $PASSWORD$ with their respective equivalents ("login smithe@warp6" and )"computer." this would make your script completely automatic. Note however that an automatic script gives your computer the ability to establish a PPP connection in your name without your permission. This will happen for example if you leave Eudora open, close your ppp connection, and then an hour later Eudora decides to check your e-mail. USING MACPPP. Use a timer program like PPPremier Timer. The timer program has a button for opening your connection. In addition, when a program opens MacTCP, it will cause MacPPP to open. For this reason If you use Netscape off line(like to look at local files) set your default homepage to "". This is really annoying if the application (such as Fetch) tries to open the TCP driver again and again. For this reason, such applications should be quit before you close your connection. * Note that after a hard close, if you background the PPP connection window on a subsequent connect attempt without first restarting, your computer will freeze. IT appears that 2.2.0a does not have a soft close option. Another annoying thing: when it's in the background dialing, it freezes your computer every 3 seconds for about 1 second. Makes me wonder...However a new version of MacPPP is due out soon, according to rumors... If it doesn't work for you, You can find and purchase PPP software that is supported by a software developer/vendor, such as InterCon Systems, sales@intercon.com, (703) 709 9890 (a demo of their TCP/Connect II can be downloaded from ftp.intercon.com in InterCon/sales/mac). DEBUGGING: * Make sure you understood most of :) and followed all of the instructions. * If e-mailing me or anyone for help, please provide enough description of what is going on, step by step, so that I can understand what might be wrong. * If you've just changed MacTCP settings and you were told to restart, do so. If you've changed MacPPP settings for the first time, you may need to restart. * Verify your 4 network settings with your system administrator. (see above) * Try again with Port Speed set to 9600 or 2400, with Flow Control set to None. * MacPPP conflicts with other software - Sometimes MacPPP will conflict with a non-Apple control panel or extension in your System Folder. This is not hard to work around, but it is tedious to find the conflicting software. Here is what you can do: Remove all non-Apple and non-essential control panels and extensions from your System Folder, and put them into other folders. Be sure to leave anything essential inside your System Folder, such as your printer driver, MacTCP and PPP. Be sure to remove any FAX software, however, for the purpose of this diagnostic test. Restart your Mac. Try to use MacPPP. If it works OK this time, then you know there is a software conflict. If there is a software conflict, the only way you will discover the offending software is to move the control panels and extensions back into your System Folder, one at a time, restarting your Mac and trying to use MacPPP each time. Be sure to put the control panels back into the control panels folder, and the extensions back into the extensions folder. Don't put them in the wrong places inside your System Folder. Once you've found the control panel or extension that stops MacPPP from working, you can remove it from your System Folder and restart your Mac before you use PPP. * Increase your time-out values. * Try temporarily turning off all the switches( except the 4 IP address switches, which should be default) in the LCP and ICPC. Turn off echo and time-out. This will make for lousy performance, but might kind of work. * Be systematic in your debugging - exhaust all possibilities. * You might also have to zap your pram to get your serial port to work, especially if you've installed any Connectix software *dig.* (or so I've heard) To zap pram : hold down option-command-P-R while booting (restarting). Other Info you need from your Internet Provider : -Your login name -Your password -How much connect time do you get per month? -Do you have a Per day restriction? -What's the idle time out? -What's the name or IP of your primary server (probably the same as that of your gateway address) -They should provide you with a Pop Mailer account. -It's preferable if they give you some space on the WWW - preferably like 5 Meg. -It's preferable if they let you run cgi-bin scripts without having to have them be pre-approved. -It's preferable if they give you a nice Unix Shell account so you can run stuff like Pine, Lynx, etc... -It's preferable if they have a direct connection into the cloud - Frame Relay is to be avoided. -They should of course have 28.8 modems -They should provide at least 100 hours per month at not more than $20 per month. * You need MacTCP. MacTCP is the basic control panel that a Macintosh needs to do Internet stuff. MacPPP is an additional control panel & extension that's used in conjunction with MacTCP. MacPPP takes care of the modem-end of things. As of this upload, MacPPP is up to version 2.2.0a and MacTCP is up to at least 2.0.6. It helps to have a newer version of MacTCP, I'm not sure what the minimum recommended MacTCP version number is. Here are three good, legal ways to get a free copy of MacTCP: 1) Get it from your network administrator if your network site has a site license from Apple. 2) Buy a copy of System 7.5, or any new Macintosh computer. 3) Buy _The Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh_, 2nd edition, by Adam Engst. (Hayden Books, 1994. List is $29.95, but it often sells for around $22 - $25. Also packaged in a box set with another Mac Internet book by Engst.) _The Internet Starter Kit_ is the best introduction to this software, as well as to the leading commercial TCP/IP client programs for the Mac. There are other books that include MacTCP, but none are as helpful and readable for the novice Mac SLIP/PPP user. Adam Engst publishes the leading electronic newsletter for Mac users (Tidbits). He also runs an ftp site at tidbits.com with current versions of the essential Mac freeware and shareware. I suggest you download: ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/select/bookmarks.sea It is a list of the Fetch/Anarchie bookmarks for the essential client programs. Or just pop over to the pub/tidbits/select/ directory, which has everything you need. Or maybe Apple will some day wise up and make site licenses easier to get for small companies, or even release MacTCP to the public domain. If they did do this I imagine MacTCP would start showing up on Archie searches. Someone once said : MacTCP is on every Macintosh in every Lab in the US. Use some imagination. * It's also a good idea to have the latest system update for your system. You need system 6.0.8 or latter for use with MacPPP. If your system is horribly corrupt, reinstall it. If you've never re-installed your system software, well why not take a few days and give it a try! :-) * PPP allows your Macintosh to connect directly to the Internet using a modem. Note that without PPP, you can still use a terminal emulator such as Zterm to get a lot of information from the Internet. An excellent guide to the Internet is the book The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog by Ed Krol published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Other misc. info : * If you're going to be connecting via multiple network situations, you may want to use Mac TCP Switcher to switch between TCP configurations. I also recommend PPPremier Timer - this times your PPP usage very well. * in ICPC, you could type in the remote address (IP # of your server) and click on "want". Do this as a trouble shooting measure. * and if you have a manual address assigned to you, in addition to setting it in the TCP (see ppp server section) you could set it here and click "want." * ---->> However, you will most likely get PPP to work if you take every last "want" box in both LCP and ICPC and unclick it, and also click every last "will" box, as in the chart above. * However, for some reason all 4 boxes do have to be checked in the IP # section of the LCP. * What "want" means is that the remote or local machine (depending on the column the box is in) will insist on negotiating that aspect of the connection, be it the IP address, compression type, or whatever. The "will" box means it will allow the other machine to manage / setup? that aspect. So I figured that if I didn't fix in stone that either machine should do anything in particular (i.e. if I didn't click any "want" boxes) then they'd sort it out between themselves. And it worked. If it didn't, I guess the next logical step would be to try turning off particular items, and getting feedback in the "stats" as it could be that the server you are connection to isn't capable of something that you've said it is (by clicking it's "will" box.) Of course I could be completely wrong on this. * LCP is apparently the physical modem connection protocol and ICPC is the higher level Internet TCP type protocol. * Apple Talk has to be turned off if you're using the printer port for your modem. Really, Really basic Introduction: So you wanna use the Internet huh? Well you need PPP or SLIP. I just want to point out that all Internet applications (such as Netscape, W3, Telnet , FTP, and E-mail) require MacTCP. MacTCP uses IP to connect to the Internet. If you are using a modem, you need another protocol to bridge the gap from your computer to your Internet provider's Internet connection. So the way it works is your modem calls up the Internet provider using your phone line.... Two communications protocols I have heard of is the older SLIP and the newer PPP protocols. Typically (as of the beginning of '96) you can buy several hours (like 6) of connection time per day for only $20 per month. All cities and more and more small towns are getting ISPs who provide such Internet access Now compare this to some CSP (crappy service provider) like AOL - The way I understand it AOL used to (any may still) provide 5 or so hours of connect time per *month* for their basic fee of like $10 or so. And AOL, mind you, does not connect up with your computer system's network software - it won't let you run Netscape or any of those programs. Don't buy internet access from AOL or other such on-line services. * Congratulations, Microsoft. You took a decade longer than Apple, but you finally produced a semi-decent GUI OS in your Windoze 95... Guess what? You get to start all over again as soon as someone (hopefully Apple) releases the next generation OS. duhh.. what does that have to do with PPP? :-) If you have any information to add, please do. If after checking out the available information, you still have questions, feel free to e-mail me and I'll try and answer them for you as best I can. Let me know what you need to know - as I become more familiar with people's questions, I can make a better guide. Elliot Smith, smithe@minot.com Writing this guide was kind of difficult, as I was only able to peek at it through a 9" b/w window as I wrote it. So if you have a PowerMac that you're giving away, contact me! I'll even pay shipping! :-) Sources : My thanks to Gerard DREVON, drevon@cc.in2p3.fr for his great explanation of the PPP settings in PPPDoc(http://www.in2p3.fr:80/html/PPP/ppp.html) his simple explanation of the "will and want" was all I needed to end the PPPain with my PPP connection. I also copied a lot of stuff from the following pages: http://leo.circa.ufl.edu:80/handouts/macppp_html/macppp.html http://www.biddeford.com:80/help/macPPP.info http://marketplace.com:70/0/tia/tia.faqs/tia.mac.ppp.txt -------- PPP server section:

Note that I have never actually tried to set up ARNS in the manner described below, but I think it should work.

The original, harder to understand version, as quoted from version 1.4 of of my easy-config guide.

This guide presumes that you know how to set up a PPP connection using MacPPP. If you have difficulty with this aspect, check out my Easy-PPP-14.txt guide. I've made some setting files that you can use that will simplify the process of setting up a 2 node modem to modem TCP/IP network. Click here to download the settings.

Instructions:
Once you have the settings files installed, all you should have to do is enter in the phone number of the Mac you're calling. Also check the "Terminal" option. If the two Macs are far away from each other, the one person should call the other on the phone. The two of you should hang up at the same time, and then open your connection. The remote user should open the connection, which will bring up the terminal window into which he should type in atdt 5555555 (or whatever your phone number may be :-) to call the server Mac. When the phone rings, (or perhaps before the phone rings) the server user should open the connection, which will bring up the terminal window, and type ata
When either user sees garbage, like #@$#&%#&, click on "ok" and the Network will be established.

If the two modems are connected directly via a length of phone cord, instead of dialing, simultaneously typing ata and ato will cause them to connect. This would be a (slower) way of getting by without phone net connectors in a local network situation.

You can set up a TCP/IP network between your two Macs. This is a network only between your two macs, neither Mac can use the Internet while it is on this 2 node network IF you are going to do something that requires Appletalk, (like play Marathon, or connect via Appleshare filesharing, use Timbuktu over AppleTalk instead of over IP, run various Appletalk phone/whiteboard conferencing applications, etc... ) one mac will have to be running the ARNS server and the other mac will have to be running the ARNS IP remote atalk (sp?) Network extension. The ARNS server mac can, in addition to providing Appletalk access to it's self for the remote computer, provide appletalk access to an entire Appletalk network, depending on if your network admin lets you. (You will need the network update disk from apple if you don't have a network control panel : Network Software Installer

You can get arns from : ARNS

"So anyway, the idea is that one Macintosh running MacPPP calls another mac running MacPPP. For clarity, let's designate one mac the server mac and the other mac the remote mac. Note that in the Config PPP control panel of the server mac, the server mac is refered to as the local mac and the remote mac is refered to as the remote mac. In the Config PPP control panel of the remote mac, the remote mac is refered to as the local mac and the server mac is refered to as the remote mac. It's all relative to which Mac you're sitting at.
You need to manually set the IP address of each Mac. Choose an IP address is in the form n1.n2.n3.n4 where each n is a number from 1 to 254 (to be safe, make it 5 to 240). Each Mac should have a different IP number. For example, like I did in my settings files that I supply, the remote mac mac could be 111.111.111.111 and the server mac could be 111.111.111.112. In the Config PPP control panel, make a new POP: setting. Set it up according to my Easy-PPP-14.txt guide so that it will work for a normal PPP connection. Then fill in the IP you chose of your Mac in the IPCP "Local," in the configPPP control panel, likewise fill in the IP of the other Mac in the IPCP "Remote" IP Address.. (It's a good idea to save your existing MacTCP config with MacTCP Switcher.) Also fill in the IP of your mac in the MacTCP control panel. Do this by selecting "manually", class whatever, click "ok," fill in the IP address in the now editable IP address in the MacTCP control panel. X "terminal" in each ConfigPPP control panel. When the one mac calls the other, (atdt 555-5555), "ring" will appear in the other's term window, in which case the other user should type ATA When garbage starts to stream across the term window, each user clicks "ok." And the session will be established. If the modems are directly plugged into each other, one user should type ATA while the other types ATO I don't think the connection process can easily be automated. The client mac (Mac that's calling) can have Terminal not Xed. If it has the phone number filled in, and no connect script, it will connect once you press "open" The same could be done for the server mac - I think there's probably a modem init that will cause your modem to wait for a call and pickup when one comes - I have a modem that does this if I flip a dip switch. But MacPPP doesn't know when a call comes in. Maybe someone will come up with an applescript or something or the makers of MacPPP will build this into their interface. If the two Macs were timed to open PPP at exactly the same time, and the scripts somehow worked even though there's no login prompt (which is possible, I think) then it could be automatic, but that would be useful for very, very few people. my views ARNS does have a serial ATalk Network driver client (i.e. works over modem instead of localtalk port), but the server only runs on Unix Terminal servers or something. It takes a lot of work to develop this kind of software, so understandably the author, David Hornsby, isn't interested in exactly duplicating a product that's already available from Apple - Apple Remote Access. Apple Computer Inc., in it's infinite wisdom, and unhampered by competing products, charges about $160 for a single ARA license. I think this is a little stupid. They're obviously charging the price that will return the maximum volume/price ratio. I know that there are lots of individuals as well as sub-departments of bureaucratic tight fisted educational institutions that would benefit from less expensive communications software. All sorts of software is free - from NCSA telnet to Eudora to Netscape. In fact, Apple once gave away Power Macintosh computers to such developers as the maker of Eudora. These "Cool Tools" awards were to reward developers for contributing to the Internet. I would urge Apple to contribute in the same way as these developers. There comes a point when a company already has enough thousand percents returned on a product. Maybe I'm way off base in thinking that MacPPP and ARNS could be combined into a fully functional Appletalk PPP server, but visit my home page where I'll post the results of my inquires. If you would like to see a dial-up AppleTalk server, I urge you to e-mail the makers of ARNS and MacPPP. E-mail me as well so I can see if there's any kind of demand for this, or if it's just me :-). Note that MacTCP functions by encapsulating TCP/IP packets over Appletalk, so a dial-up Appletalk server would allow for remote MacTCP/IP connections... I think :-) ////// http://admin.gat242.misu.nodak.edu/ \\\\\\ PGP puplic key: http://minot.com/~smithe/ (||||| How do you explain school to a higher intelligence? |||||) \\\\\\ -- Elliot, in the movie "E.T." //////