NEW: Going on COM online through the Internet (final Telnet setup)

[Guest guest]

Pamho. AgtSP.

 

This is good news for * A L L * COM users who are not living in

Sweden. If that includes *you*, then please read this!!! This text is a

little bit long, but it is certainly useful. Even those who are inside

Sweden but are now paying "fjaerrsamtal" can benefit.

 

If you are now calling COM by phone, then read here how you can avoid

spending tons of money on long distance phone bills.

 

If you are now sending updumps to COM through Internet e-mail, then read

how you can go on COM online and get updump results immediately, instead

of having to wait for the results to come back to you through e-mail.

 

If you have taken part in the Telnet experiment, then read now about the

final setup for Telnet access to COM at the end of this text. (Sorry

that I'm so late with the final official news).

 

Your servant,

Raktambara das

 

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> What is this all about?

 

Now you can log on to COM (online), get your mail, send the letters you

have written, and write any other COM commands, without having to pay

any international phone bills.

 

 

> Get serious. How does that work?

 

Well, instead of calling COM in Sweden, you call a place in your city or

country which is called an "Internet Service Provider" (ISP). Then

instead of starting Telix, Procomm, Hyperterminal or whatever program

you are using now, you start Teraterm (or any other Telnet program of

your choice). And instead of dialing a phone number, you dial an IP

number. That's it. There comes the login prompt:

 

 

Welcome to the NE-BBT E-Mail System

 

Type 'com' and press ENTER

 

login:

 

and you're in!

 

 

> How do I find such an ISP? How much do I pay them per month?

 

Nowadays it isn't hard to find an Internet Service Provider. They are

everywhere, since everyone is into "surfing (suffering) on the World

Wide Web". The newspapers and magazines are full of such publicity. So

wherever you see some advertisement for the WWW or for Internet, this is

an ISP who is advertising. If for some reason you cannot find any

advertisements, then go to a computer shop, and ask there. Probably they

will help you to fill in the form to order a subscription (since they

get a commission). Often they want to sell you a modem along with the

subscription (which may be a good opportunity for you to get a cheap

28800 modem if you don't have one yet). Or in the worst case, at least

the shop should be able to give you a phone number of an Internet

Service Provider (ISP).

 

The costs differ greatly depending on where you live. Nowadays, in

Europe, the USA and Australia, you pay around $12 or 19 DM per month if

you for one year. For some reason, in former communistic

countries, it is sometimes much more expensive. However, for these

devotees it will still be cheaper and more reliable than calling

directly, unless you are using a cheap and good Datapak service.

 

The kind of subscription you need is an "Internet Dial-up modem

connection, SLIP/PPP". In countries like India it might be too expensive

to get such a connection. In that case, a so-called "shell account" is

much cheaper and will do fine for connecting to COM. Ask them and make

sure you will be able to "telnet" with your subscription.

 

The software that you need in order to connect to your ISP is generally

included in the subscription price, as well as a manual that tells how

to set up the whole thing. Since even housewives are supposed to be able

to install it and surf on the Web, you need not fear that it will be too

difficult for you.

 

Devotees who are on CompuServe already have all they need in order to

log onto COM through the Internet.

 

 

> Is this way of logging on COM exactly the same as by modem?

 

Indeed, COM is behaving the same as when you log on by direct modem

connection. Everything is exactly the same. You can upload and download

your mail (also files) with the Zmodem protocol, and you can type any

other COM commands. So, whatever is said in the Manual for Long-distance

Callers also applies to logging onto COM through the Internet.

 

However, as I've said previously, your Telix, ProComm or Hyperterminal

software will not do.

 

First of all, you need to install the software to connect to your

Internet provider. If you got an ISP who is a little bit together then

this part is as easy as inserting their floppy, running "setup", and

selecting the phone number of the modem pool that is nearest to where

you live.

 

Secondly, you need a Telnet Client program. This is also easy, since I'm

giving you Tera Term.

 

If you don't like Tera Term, then you are free to use any other Telnet

client. For instance, Windows 95 includes a program called telnet.exe

which works fine. However, it does not support Zmodem up- and

downloading, while Tera Term does.

 

Note: For those who have a shell account to the Internet (many

universities plus India), you don't need all that jazz, Telix will do

fine.

 

 

> Are there any disadvantages?

 

The only disadvantage I can think of, is that it is slower than a direct

modem connection, since whatever you type and whatever COM sends back

has to travel a long way through many networks and computers.

 

It speeds up a lot if you set Local Echo to off in TeraTerm (before

logging on to COM), but then COM will no longer expand the names and

commands while you are typing them.

 

 

> How do I download TeraTerm?

 

If you are calling by modem, then you can download "TeraTerm for COM"

1.0 from COM by including the following command in the same updump file

where you normally write the letters that you send to COM: "@download

file from system teraterm.zip". Be ready to press whatever keys you have

to press in your communications program in order to actually receive the

file with the Zmodem protocol.

 

Or you can type the command "Down fi fr System teraterm.zip" directly

online.

 

If you have access to the Internet already now, then you can download it

from http://homepage.calypso.net/~ci-14953

 

 

> I have TeraTerm already.

 

TeraTerm indeed can be found here and there on the Internet, since it is

a freeware program. There is even a 32-bit version of it. However, the

TeraTerm program I'm distributing is tailored especially for COM. So

please download this one.

 

Also the devotees who have taken part in the Telnet experiment should

kindly download this new teraterm.zip, it is a new version with a few

bugs fixed (including the local echo bug).

 

 

> How do I set up my own Telnet client?

 

The best really is to use TeraTerm. It's a first-class program, it's

freeware, and it's completely set up for use with COM. You just have to

download it and start it.

 

But if you really want to use another Telnet client (Compuserve users

who use the old Compuserve software have no other choice but to use the

built-in telnet client), you need to know the following information (not

all of it may be required):

 

Host name: 194.52.188.253

TCP Port: telnet (or 23)

Terminal type: vt100

Local Echo: you may have to experiment what is the best.

 

As above mentioned, those who do not have a PPP or SLIP connection, like

those who have shell-accounts or Compuserve users who are using the old

software (why are you not getting the new Windows 95 software? It gives

you full PPP Internet access), have no other choice but to use the

software that they have received from their provider.

 

Also those who have an Apple will have to use the telnet software that

came with their system.

 

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The devotees who have taken part in the Telnet experiment in the past

few weeks, should kindly note the following changes:

 

· All logins now happen through port 23 (enable "Telnet" in TCP/IP

setup in Tera Term)

· Zmodem now works on all Telnet clients that support Zmodem

· If you use Tera Term, please download the new version (see above)

 

In three months or so, we will be getting a permanent 64 kb/s connection

to the Internet. Until that time, the 28.8 kb/s dialup connection will

have to do.

 

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Credits:

 

Many thanks to HH Harikesa Swami and Brahma Muhurta das for approving

and financing this project, and Ramakanta das for making it technically

possible.

 

Many thanks to Mr. Takashi Teranishi (Saitama, Japan) for letting us use

his nice Teraterm program.