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comp.sys.mac.comm FAQ (v 2.2.8) Aug 1 2001 [3/3]
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From: Bruce Grubb <bgrubb@zianet.com> Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm Subject: comp.sys.mac.comm FAQ (v 2.2.8) Aug 1 2001 [3/3] Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 15:59:20 -0600 Message-ID: <bgrubb-A83062.15592031072001@web.zianet.com> User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.1 (PPC) Archive-name: macintosh/comm-faq/part3 ===================================================================== [5] Internet Networking ========================================== [5.1] What kind of hardware and software do I need to have a direct connection (ie use TCP/IP protocol) to the Internet? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Regardless of whether you using Classic or Open Transport networking (see [4.2]) there are some common hardware and software requirements: a program that implementes the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) TCP/IP Protocols (see [4.1]) a direct connection to an Ethernet or TokenRing network, PPP dialup connection, or a connection to a LocalTalk network with a DDP-IP router such as a Shiva FastPath, Cayman Gatorbox, Webster Multigate, or Compatible EtherRoute TCP. Both Classic Networking and Open Transport use a TCP/IP Control Panel plus a PPP extension. MacTCP 2.0.6 (Classic Networking) requires a Macintosh Plus or later CPU and System 6.0 or better and became part of the OS with System 7.5. TCP/IP (Open Transport) became part of the MacOS with 7.5.3 and needs OT/PPP 1.0 or better. Both programs provided a standard interface to TCP/IP network hardware, and makes it possible for more than one TCP/IP based application to run on a Macintosh at any one time. For example, you can simultaneously use a Telnet program, an FTP program, and share a filesystem via NFS when you use MacTCP or OT to provide the interface to your TCP/IP network. For more detailed information regarding connecting a Macintosh to a TCP/IP network using MacTCP consult Eric Behr's report on MacTCP <http://www.math.niu.edu/~behr/docs/mactcp.html>. This report also provides a lot of useful information for first-time Macintosh networking administrators. For those interesting in using Open Transport please consult Mark Sproul's <http://msproul.rutgers.edu/macintosh/OpenTpt.html> and Apple's <http://www.apple.com/macos/opentransport/> Open Transport sites. [5.2] What are SLIP, CSLIP and PPP? ------------------------------------- SLIP stands for Serial Line Internet Protocol. SLIP was a "non-standard" for framing IP packets and shipping them over a serial line (e.g. a cable, or a pair of modems), thus allowing a home machine to dial up and become part of the Internet. Effectively, SLIP turned a serial port into a logical Ethernet port. PPP (see below) has effectively replaced SLIP as the standard of choice for Internet connections. CSLIP stands for Compressed SLIP. CSLIP reduces the size of the headers in IP packets by eliminating a certain amount of redundancy. This improves interactive performance. Synergy Software offers a CSLIP MacTCP extension with its VersaTerm/VersaTerm-PRO packages. If you already own Versaterm, SLIP is a $20 upgrade. If you buy the complete VersaTerm 5.0.4 package, you will also get an FTP server and client, a Telnet connection tool, and MacTCP. Performance is comparable to that of MacSLIP. Contact: [USA] (215) 779 0522 PPP stands for Point-to-Point Protocol. PPP has been stated as a standards-track protocol by the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet Activities Board. PPP can support both synchronous and asynchronous connections and protocols that are not IP-based (such as AppleTalk). It provides specifications for error detection, feature negotiation, escaping control characters, etc. As a result PPP has become the defacto standard for connecting to the Internet with FreePPP being the most popular extension for Classic Networking. [5.3] FreePPP and OT/PPP (Remote Access) Frequently Asked Questions --------------------------------------- As stated in the FreePPP FAQ <http://www.rockstar.com/Support/ppp_faq.html#1>: "FreePPP is a group effort, by the not so coincidentally named FreePPP Group, aimed at 'unifying' the various enhancments to MacPPP that have been released since 2.0.1 as well as coordinating the efforts of the people making these enhancments." There is a 2.5 version of MacPPP around that is reasonally stable but it is recommended that FreePPP (currently at version 2.6) be used instead. * What things in MacTCP or TCP/IP do I -not- need to bother with? You can safely ignore the IP address field, Gateway Address, Subnet Mask, and generally the LCP and IPCP Options. These will be set up by the server at connect time. * How should I set the 'Obtain address' setting for MacTCP or OT TCP/IP? This should be set to 'server' The load on the Internet today has rendered manual addressing virtually useless. * Do I need to set the Domain Name Servers in MacTCP or the Name servers in TCP/IP? Yes. This information needs to provided to you from your system administrator or service provider. Without this information internet programs will not work correctly. * Which Port Speed setting should I use for FreePPP? If you are using a modern modem (e.g. V.32bis, V.34) then the best setting is likely to be 57,600. This will give you the best possible throughput of data. The Modem control panel of OT selects the best port speed for you automatically. * Which Flow Control setting should I use and what modem initialization string should I use? With a modern modem connected with a hardware handshaking cable (see [1.2]) set this to 'CTS & RTS (DTR)'. While the exact modem initialization string will depend on which modem you have (Consult your modem manual or local systems administrator for advice.) some genralizations can be made. The modem must be configured to match the Flow Control and in addition the modem must be set for 'DTR override' (&D0) in your initialization string. Many modems have at least one factory defalt setting (&F) that can be used as a starting point. * Should I specify my username/password in the Accounts/Connections box? These Authentication Dialogue boxes are only for use if you are connecting to a PPP server that supports PAP. If setting your username and password in the Accounts box does not result in a successful login, and you are sure that the information is correct, and you have ruled out any other problems, then you should not use this part of Accounts box; its fields must be left blank. In this case use the Connection Script dialogue to build a script which includes your username and password. If you do not know whether your PPP server supports PAP, check with your service provider or System administrator. * Do I need to specify a connection script? If you are connecting to a PPP server which does not support PAP, then you must specify a connection script rather than using the Authentication Dialogue box (see above). The connection script must include your username and password. If you want to "watch what happens" in order to develop a connection script, both FreePPP and OT/PPP have a Terminal Window option. Note, however, that if the Terminal Window box is checked, FreePPP will ignore your modem initialization string and telephone number. You will have to issue the modem commands by hand to establish your connection. You may need to include a command to start PPP at the remote end (this often happens automatically) - if you need to, put this command at the end of your script. * Can I control FreePPP or OT/PPP using AppleScript? Yes, this ability is allowed by the FreePPP Control add on whose homepage is <http://www.snafu.de/~sebastian.kloska/> OT/PPP supports AppleScript directly and comes with documentation and example scripts. * How do I make a FreePPP or OT/PPP Connection Script pause? You can build a pause into the connection script using the '\d' special character in an out string. '\d' represents a 1 second pause. If you need a 5 second pause use '\d\d\d\d\d'. * FreePPP or OT/PPP drops the line after a few minutes. What's wrong? This phenomena has a number of causes. 1) One cause is not setting your modem for DTR override when using 'CTS & RTS (DTR)' or 'RTS (DTR) Only' Flow Control. Mac hardware handshaking cables have the hardware line from the Mac wired to both the RTS and DTR lines of the modem. This means that when the Mac drops its handshake line to stop the flow of data from the modem, both RTS & DTR are dropped at the modem end. Dropping the modem's RTS line is fine because that stops the flow of data to the machine (until the machine is ready, whence the line is raised again and the flow of data resumes). However, if DTR is dropped, the modem will hang up. To avoid this, configure the modem for 'DTR override' by including the appropriate setting (&D0) in your modem initialization string. 2) If you have selected an Idle Timeout, then FreePPP or OT/PPP will seek to drop the connection when there has been no traffic for the period you have specified. A dialogue box will appear alerting you that PPP is disconnecting. 3) Some PPP servers will cut the link after a number of minutes of inactivity. This is to stop you tying up a network line if you are not making use of it. If you want to defeat this you will need to generate some network activity every few minutes. 4) A significant drop in the quality of the connection. To some degree the higher the modem connection is the less tolerant it is of connection quality variation. This cause is the least likly but does occur often enough that it should be noted. * When I have closed FreePPP or OT/PPP but leave some Internet programs open I discover that after while it will attempt to reconnect. How do I stop this? With FreePPP select General in the FreePPP Setup application uncheck the 'Allow Applications to open connections' box. With OT/PPP click Options, select connection, and uncheck the 'Connect automatically when starting TCP/IP appplications' box. [5.4] Do I have to know anything about Unix to use the Internet? --------------------------------------------------------------------- For the most part the answer to this question is no though there are some Unix and Internet protocals you should know about. The ones followed by a * you need to be aware of. DNS (Domain Name Server) * desinates the servers that translates domain names to IP numbers. If this server has problems then you cannot use domain names at all and have to use IP numbers. Two Mac programs that do DNS lookup are DNS Lookup and MacTCP Watcher. NFS (Network File System) file sharing protocol used by many UNIX workstations. The average Internet surfer doesn't need to worry about this as most file transfers involve FTP or HTTP not NFS. The one commecrcial product that allows NFS to be used on the MacOS is: PathWay Client NFS from Attachmate NNTP (Net News Transfer Protocol) * a protocol used to transfer articles between a central news server and many client machines over TCP/IP or a serial link. Used by about every MacOS newreader program available. SMTP (Simple-Mail-Transfer-Protocol) and POP (Post-Office-Protocol) * These are two protocols for transfering electronic mail between machines that have a TCP/IP interface or equivalent. Without these you cannot send or receive e-mail. UUCP UUCP (Unix-to-Unix-Copy) is a protocol originally intended to be used to transfer files between Unix machines over telephone lines. As with NFS it can be safely ignored by the average Internet surfer. [5.5] Is there a UNIX program that will convert between BinHex and MacBinary? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, there are at least two that will handle BinHex 4.0, MacBinary II, and other conversions. macutil and mcvert are distributed as UNIX shar archvies and can be found in the unix directory at InfoMac sites. Source code is included (of course) so you will need a C compiler to build the programs. Be warned all of these programs are old and are no longer supported by their authors. * macutil (Last upload Aug 1992) macutil is a collection of utilities for manipulating Macintosh files in MacBinary [see 2.2] or BinHex [see 2.3] format, or over AppleDouble, AUFS, or CAP servers. It includes three programs: hexbin - a program to convert BinHex 4.0 to MacBinary; it also converts uuencode (and UULite) files to their native binary format; support for .dl, .hex, and .hcx formats (all predecessors of BinHex 4.0) also exists macsave - a MacBinary filter program to convert between various MacBinary representations, including a single .bin file, three separate .data, .rsrc, .info files, and AUFS format. macsave also allows one to "peek" inside MacBinary files macunpack - a program that decompress PackIt, Compact Pro, StuffIt (Classic format), Diamond, DiskDoubler, LHarc/MacLHa, .Z (UNIX compress) and Zoom It also decodes BinHex 5.0, MacBinary, and uuencode. Support for password protected and/or multi-segment archives of various types is minimal or non-existent. The various authors of the macutil utilities are too numerous to list here; consult the README files that come with the package for the details. * mcvert (Last upload Oct 1994) mcvert allows you to convert BinHex files to MacBinary files and vice versa. In addition, you can create MacBinary files with empty resource forks from normal files, as well as perform other transformations. mcvert can also decode PackIt archives. mcvert was originally written in 1987 by Doug Moore, but had many many new features and a better interface added by Joseph Skudlarek. ===================================================================== [6] Miscellaneous ======== [6.1] I just downloaded an .AVI file but Quicktime will not play it correctly. Am I missing something? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Quite possibly as there have been serveral codecs for AVIs over the years each of which have been respresented on the mac with it own extension: Intel Raw Video (1.10.20.02), Indeo Video (3.22.24.09), Indeo Video4 (4.4.0), and Indeo Video5 (5.0). While Windows did have an i235 AVI codec no Mac extension exists to view these AVIs. The mac extensions Intel Raw Video and Indeo Video codecs were originally included in a Quicktime 1.5 and higher program called Video For Windows (c1994) which allowed to QT view these AVIs. Today the Indeo Video codecs 3 through 5 plugins for Quicktime 3.0 and 4.0 can be found at <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/indeo/> and the Intel Raw Video seems to be part of the MacOS 8.5 install. Futher complicating matters is the emergence of a new AVI codec known as DivX. Currently the only way to play these DivX AVIs on a Mac is use DivX Player <http://mac.divx.st/download/index.html> with Windows Media Player 6.3 (DivX Player does NOT work with version 7 of the player); unfortunity the OpenDiv codec <http://www.divx-digest.com/software/divxcodec4.html> which is usable with Quicktime does not seem to be able to decode DivX AVIs. ===================================================================== Appendix ======== [A] List of Common Abbreviations -------------------------------- Abbrev- iation Description ------- ------------------------------------------------------ ADB Apple Desktop Bus ARA Apple Remote Access (was AppleTalk Remote Access) bps bits per second CSLIP Compressed SLIP csmc comp.sys.mac.comm CTB Communications Tool Box CTS Clear-To-Send DSR Data-Set-Ready DTR Data-Terminal-Ready FTP File Transfer Protocol IP Internet Protocol LAP Link Acess Protocol MNP Microcom Networking Protocol NNTP Net News Transfer Protocol PPP Point-to-Point Protocol RTS Request-To-Send SID Sound Input Device SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol; also seen as SLIP TCP Transmission Control Protocol [B] Mac program archive list link and Vendor Information ------------------------------------------------------------------ Nearly all shareware or freeware programs described in this FAQ are available from one of the many archives that mirror the InfoMac and UMich archives. Over 90 of these mirror sites are listed in the FTP section of the Mac-FTP-list <http://members.aol.com/BruceG6069/ftp-list.html#mirrors> These vendors are either mentioned in this FAQ or provide products relating to Macintosh networking. Neither the editor of this list nor any of the contributors necessarily endorse any of the vendors or their products. The following information is provided for your convenience only. Please bring any errors or additions to the attention of the editor. Aladdin Software <http://www.aladdinsys.com/> [USA] (408) 685 9175 Alverson Software e-mail: davea@xetron.com Apple Developers Association (APDA) [USA] (408) 974 4667 Asante <http://www.asante.com/> Ascend Communications <http://www.ascend.com/> Attatchmate <http://www.twg.com/> Carnation Software <http://www.webcom.com/~carn/carnation/HT.Carn.Home.html> Celestin Company [USA] (800) 835-5514 [USA] (206) 385-3767 [FAX] (207) 385-3586 AOL: Celestin e-mail: celestin@pt.olympus.net COM One [France] <http://www.com1.fr> Compatible Systems <http://www.compatible.com/> [USA] (800) 356 0283 Creative Solutions, Inc. [USA] (800) 367-8465 [USA] (301) 984-0262 [FAX] (301) 770-1675 AppleLink: CSI CompuServe: 70240,504 e-mail: 70240.504@compuserve.com Dayna Communications <http://www.dayna.com/> [USA] (801) 269-7200 Farallon Computing <http://www.farallon.com/> [USA] (510) 814-5100 FreePPP Group <http://www.rockstar.com/ppp.shtml> Global Village <http://www.globalvillag.com/> [USA] (415) 390-8200 [USA] (800) 736-4821 Hayes Corporation <http://www.hayes.com/> [USA] (404) 441-1617 [CANADA] (519) 746-5000 [UK] 081-848-1858 [UK] 081-569-1774 {BBS} [HK] 852-887-1037 ICE Engineering, Inc. <http://www.ice.com/> [USA] (313) 449-8288 Mark/Space Softworks <http://www.markspace.com/> [USA] (408) 293-7299 Mercury System, Inc. [USA] (310) 553-0881 [USA] (310) 553-1291 (fax) QUALCOMM, Incorporated <http://www.qualcomm.com/> [USA] (800) 2-EUDORA [USA] (619) 587-1121 Quiotix Corporation <http://www.quiotix.com/> [USA] (650) 843-1300 Raine Storm Softworks <http://www.kagi.com/raine/> Sassy Software <http://www.cstone.net/~rbraun/mac/telnet/> Shiva <http://www.shiva.com/> [USA] (800) 458-3550 Software Ventures Corporation <http://www.svcdudes.com> [USA] (510) 644-1325 Sonic Systems <http:/www.sonicsys.com/> [USA] (408) 736-1900 [USA] (800) 535-0725 Synergy Software <http://www.synergy.com/> [USA] (215) 779-0522 Webster Computer Corp. [AUSTRALIA] 61 3 764 1100 Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc. <www: http://www.wrq.com> [North America] (800) 872-2829 [Elsewhare] +1.206.217.7100 ZyXEL Communications <http://www.zyxel.com/> [USA] (800) 255-4101 [USA] (714) 693-0808 [CANADA] (416) 534-1508 [CANADA] (416) 534-1312 [C] Contributors ---------------- The editor of this FAQ would like to graciously thank all of the following individuals who have contributed in some form or another to the answers provided above, and to the many others not listed who have nonetheless encouraged and corrected us along the way. Erik Adams (DivX information) Steve Baumgarten (Versaterm) Jack Brindle (BinHex, MacBinary) Eric Behr (MacTCP) Jim Browne (NCSA Telnet) Josh Cole (Networking, MacTCP, AppleDouble) Bill Coleman (Smartcom) Steve Dorner (Eudora, SLIP) Don Gilbert (SLIP) Tom Gewecke (European E-Mail, Archives) Elliotte Rusty Harold (General, File Transfer Programs) Patrick Hoepfner (various tidbits) Greg Kilcup (CSLIP, PPP) Andy Y. A. Kuo (Networking) Yves Lempereur (MacBinary/BinHex) Peter N. Lewis (General) Ward McFarland (Mac serial port speeds) Dick Napoli (DivX information) David Oppenheimer (original c.s.m.comm FAQ maintainer) Leonard Rosenthol (General, StuffIt) Richard Saint (MacPPP [now FreePPP] FAQ) Bonze Saunders (dataComet Inforamation) Dan Schwarz (Mac serial port speeds) Eric P. Scott (General) Jon L. Spear (General, Baud Etymology) Tony Stuckey (AppleDouble information links) Christopher Swan (Black Night) Werner Uhrig (Macintosh Expert) dzubera (56K and .z information) =====================================================================