Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.networking,comp.sys.amiga.datacomm,comp.sys.amiga.applications,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: AmiTCP/IP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Reply-To: atcpfaq@contessa.phone.net Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.networking Summary: This post contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about AmiTCP/IP. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post about or use AmiTCP/IP. Archive-name: amiga/AmiTCP-faq Posting-Frequency: semimonthly Last-modified: 1994/10/27 Version: 2.14 AmiTCP/IP Frequently asked Questions and their Answers. ======================================================= This Document is the AmiTCP/IP Frequently Asked Questions and their answers (I hope ;-). I decided to create this after I got my Amiga connected through AmiTCP/IP, and I found the same questions being asked again and again, I also found myself to be answering some of them also :-) This FAQ will be posted by myself every semimonthly: news.answers, comp.answers, comp.sys.amiga.datacomm, comp.sys.amiga.applications and comp.sys.amiga.networking newsgroups. If you have any suggestions, queries or corrections please email me at atcpfaq@contessa.phone.net and I will do my best to answer it. I hope this document is helpful to new people and experienced people alike and answers some queries that they may have. If you want to flame me, mail to nobody@localhost. This FAQ is not a guide to TCP/IP, for that look for TCP/IP books in your bookstore or search the Internet for Information, which is where most of the information came to create this document. It is also not a guide to the internet I have explained briefly some of the Internet protocols but they are very basic explanation and I have only included them because they bear some relevance to AmiTCP/IP. Mail all spelling errors to must_try_harder@domino.demon.co.uk :-) AmiTCP/IP is forewith refered to as AmiTCP. "SLIP/PPP or other dialup protocol" will commonly be referred to as "dialup" through out. Legal Mumbo Jumbo. ------------------ This document is copyright Neil J. McRae and Mike W. Meyer. Permission is granted for this to be freely distributed UNALTERED, as long as all credits are left intact. If you plan to use this file, or any part of it, in a publication you MUST contact me first and ask my permission. Any part of this document may be quoted on USENET. Permission is given for this document to be posted to USENET and to be uploaded to any anonymous FTP servers. Disclaimer. ----------- If you screw up it`s your fault and not mine. This information is provided as is and any damage occuring to you or your equipment is your own fault. Neil J. McRae and Mike W. Meyer disclaims any liability of any kind of damage that may occur from use of the information within this FAQ. Neil J. McRae and Mike W. Meyer also disclaims any liability as to the information's accuracy. While much effort has gone into providing accurate data, there is no guarantee that I have succeeded. Acknowledgments. ----------------- Neil J. McRae deserves much credit for creating and maintaining version 1 of this document. Just a few thanks to a few people who helped me in some way while creating this document. I`d like to thank the who are: Pekka Pessi Jarno Rajahalme Markus Peuhkuri Tomi Ollila Thanks for doing this guys! Keep up the good work on AmiTCP. And thanks also to: Oliver Smith Michael B. Smith Jake Dias James R Grinter Graham Walter Wyrd Synapse Leslie Orchard <343GJZL@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu> Dan Murrell Jnr. Matthew Zeier Douglas Scott Demon Internet Holger Kruse All the regulars on #amiga & #GB and all the posters of FAQ`s that made me get off my backside and do this :-) ---------------------------------------- Frequently asked Questions. =========================== Index of questions answered. ---------------------------- 1> What is AmiTCP? 2> What is TCP/IP? 3> What is the Internet? 4> Where can I get AmiTCP? 5> Where is the AmiTCP Documentation? 6> How can I order the commercial version of AmiTCP/IP? 7> Where is the list of AmiTCP applications? 8> What is the latest version of AmiTCP? 9> How do I contact the AmiTCP author`s? 10> I think I found a bug in AmiTCP what should I do? 11> Is there an AmiTCP mailing list? 12> Where are the archives of the AmiTCP Mailing List? 13> What do I need to be able to use AmiTCP? 14> Are there any alternatives to AmiTCP? 15> What is SANA-II? 16> What does Resource Allocation Failure mean? 17> What is C/SLIP? 18> What is the problem with SLIP and the A2232 board? 19> What is PPP? 20> What is Ethernet? 21> What is an RFC? 22> What is NFS? 23> I get a message could not open serial device unit 0 when I run AmiTCP after I connect to my SLIP server. I tried quitting Term but my connection to my server is terminated. a) Why is this?, b) How can I fix it? and c) How do I stay online? 24> Can I use AmiTCP with a dynamic IP address? 25> I have connected to my host fine but I cannot connect to any hosts outside my University or Network. How can I fix this? 26> What mail and news clients can I use with AmiTCP? 27> Is there an IRC client for AmiTCP? 28> What is NapsaTerm used for? 29> Is there a telnet daemon? 30> Do I need MultiUser? 31> How can I see whats happening with my network connection? 32> AmigaELM uses the HOSTNAME but AmiTCP seems to want the fully qualified domain name, How can I resolve this problem? 33> What is a Domain Name Server? And How do I get one? 34> What is are "Domain Names to Search"? 35> What is Mosaic? 36> Can I setup a WWW Server with AmiTCP? 37> I've heard Mosaic is only for version 3.0 Amigas. Why? and is there an alternative for version 2.x Amigas? 38> I only log on for a few seconds to see if I've got mail waiting. Would AmiTCP be overkill for those situations? 39> I thought Emacs was just a text editor. I've seen it mentioned in a few posts. What is it used for? 40> My internet provider does offer SLIP accounts for a small extra charge. If I change my account to a SLIP account, can I still access it the "old" way, in case I just want to quickly check my mail or something? 41> If I'm using AmiTCP, is my mail and downloaded files being stored on my local hard drive? 42> Am I correct in stating that I can be connected to several different computers using several different applications? 43> Where can I find more programs for use with AmiTCP? 44> What should I do if I have a question that is not answered here? 45> What other references might be useful? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1> What is AmiTCP? AmiTCP is a set of programs that enables the Amiga to connect to a TCP/IP network. AmiTCP lets the user use commands such as ftp, telnet from your Amiga. AmiTCP also lets remote users connect to your machine from other TCP/IP hosts. AmiTCP is a TCP/IP protocol stack for implementing basic Internet protocols on top of any SANA-II network device driver, such as one for SLIP or Ethernet. AmiTCP can be configured to let other users connect and login or transfer files form your computer. AmiTCP/IP is a commercial product, but there is also a demo version, which can be used. If you think that AmiTCP/IP is a good product, and want the documentation and enchanced version of the software, then please buy the commercial version. That way you can also support the AmiTCP/IP authors to keep working hard on the AmiTCP/IP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2> What is TCP/IP? TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP/IP is a protocol that allows any system on a network to talk "directly" to any other, by passing packets of information back and forth. TCP/IP (and its later relative OSI) is usually used over networks built on top of Ethernet, Token-Ring, Starlan and other LANS. The Internet uses TCP/IP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3> What is the Internet? An "internet" is a network comprised of computers that talk to each other using TCP/IP. The "Internet" is a vast network of hundreds of thousands of machines using TCP/IP to communicate. The Internet grew out of a US government funded project in inter-computer communications that grew into an enormous network of systems. One of the principle characteristics of this network is that machines are addressed by domain names which identify the destination, rather than addresses that are constructed out of the route from machine-to-machine-to-machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4> Where can I get AmiTCP? AmiTCP is available from several places: Any Aminet mirror :- ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.luth.se And from: ftp.demon.co.uk, ftp.funet.fi via Anonymous FTP. Aminet:comm/net/AmiTCP-demo-40.lha ftp.funet.fi:pub/amiga/net The home site for AmiTCP is kampi.hut.fi:AmiTCP/ and this is where the current version is available from. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5> Where is the AmiTCP Documentation? The documentation is included in the commercial version of AmiTCP/IP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6> How can I order the commercial version of AmiTCP/IP? Read the file "HowToOrder" included into the AmiTCP/IP 4.0 demo version archive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7> Where is the list of AmiTCP applications? These are available from gopher: and World Wide Web: Updates to this list should be mailed to: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 8> What is the latest version of AmiTCP? The latest release version is AmiTCP 4.0 demo version. The commercial version of AmiTCP/IP will be available in November 1994. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 9> How do I contact the AmiTCP author`s? The AmiTCP author`s can be Contacted via email at:- amitcp-group@hut.fi Please only contact the group on AmiTCP matters, if you have a problem with a client or a server with AmiTCP contact the author of that program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 10> I think I found a bug in AmiTCP what should I do? Check it in the newsgroup comp.sys.amiga.networking before taking it to the authors; make sure they spend their time working on our beloved AmiTCP, rather than repeatedly answering the same questions by mail. Then once you are SURE that it is a bug and you can reproduce it several times mail Amitcp-bugs@hut.fi giving as much information regarding your hardware and software setup as possible, with an accurate description of the bug and the steps needed to take show the bug`s performance ;-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 11> Is there an AmiTCP mailing list? Yes, it is meant for developers of software for AmiTCP. Please consult the file AmiTCP:README.FIRST. ;-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 12> Where are the archives of the AmiTCP Mailing List? (thanks Markus :) These are available in two places from gopher the URL is: and also via Anonymous FTP at: kampi.hut.fi:AmiTCP/amitcp-listYYYY-MM.gz Where YYYY-MM is the year and month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 13> What do I need to be able to use AmiTCP? You need the following Hardware: --------- An Amiga running AmigaOS 2 or greater, recommended are hard disk and 2MB of ram. And some for of Connection to a Network, e.g. a Modem for a Serial connection or an Ethernet card for an Ethernet connection. See the FAQ What is Ethernet? for information about Ethernet cards. You need the following Software: --------- Either com?ercial (recommended :-) or demo version of AmiTCP/IP 4.0. Read the file "HowToInstall" and use provided the installer script. See above for information on how to obtain the archive. You also need a SANA-II Network driver. A SLIP and CSLIP drivers are included. See below for more information on SANA-II. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 14> Are there any alternatives to AmiTCP? The only other freely available TCP/IP stack is AmigaNOS. There is also AS225r2 but as I write this is only available to registered Commodore Developers. There is also AS225r1, which was sold together with the Commodore Arnet and Ethernet board. Unlike AS225r2 it is available to the general public -- if you manage to get a Commodore Arcnet/Ethernet board. This is not SANA2 compatible and does not drive SLIP or PPP. Other networking like programs include DNET and AmigaUnixWindows, these and AmigaNOS are available on Aminet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 15> What is SANA-II? SANA-II is the software interface between AmiTCP and your network interface. There are SANA-II drivers for SLIP. CSLIP, the A2060 card and the A2065 card and PPP that are freely available. If you are purchasing a card to connect your Amiga to a network, e.g. Ethernet, make sure that the card has a a SANA-II driver if you are planning to use AmiTCP, with the card. The SANA-II is the standard Amiga network device driver specification released by Commodore-Amiga. The SANA-II specification is available on the Aminet, fish disks and other forums. (Thanks Jarno) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 16> What does Resource Allocation failure mean? (Thanks Oliver) This means your particular SANA2 Driver (RHCSlip, GWCSlip, Slip, PPP) cannot fire itself up; this can often be due to an error in your configuration file (usually in (env|envarc):sana2 ... slip0.config or ppp0.config or similar) or may be that some resource on which the driver relies (e.g. serial.device) is missing, wrongly configured or not working. With GWCSlip this is usually because you've omitted something like the "DialScript=AmiTCP:DB/DialScript" parameter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 17> What is C/SLIP? SLIP is Serial Line Internet Protocol SLIP is used, most commonly, for connecting a computer to a TCP/IP network using a modem. SLIP lets IP packets be sent up and down a serial line. CSLIP is an extension of the SLIP protocol, which reduces the typical TCP/IP packet-overhead of 40-bytes per packet to 3 or 5 bytes by "remembering" a number of active connections and (a) not resending unused fields (b) only sending changes to the headers. Since a compression algorithm is not used, it does not impair any compression added by your modem, and thus presents a significant improvement in packet throughput! CSLIP gives much better response in interactive applications such as Telnet. (Thanks Oliver and Markus) If your providers don't have slip, or if you are your provider, and you don't have slip, it is publically available. Ask you System Administrator for more information. Existing AmiTCP CSLIP drivers will only use CSLIP if it is available on the remote end, otherwise they will gracefully degrade to using ordinary SLIP. For a detailed description of SLIP and CSLIP consult a book on TCP/IP protocols. There is a SLIP faq available in comp.protocols.tcp-ip newsgroup. SLIP is described in RFC 1055 CSLIP is described in RFC 1055 & 1144 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 18> What is the problem with SLIP and the A2232 baord? The problem is with EOFMODE. The A2232 does not handle this feature properly. The rhcslip.device V38.8 or 38.9 works also with A2232. The newest rh(c)slip.device is distributed with newest AmiTCP/IP releases. It is also availible from Aminet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 19> What is PPP? Point to Point Protocol is another way of connecting to your network. It is a more robust protocol than SLIP, and addresses many of SLIP`s weaknesses. However it is much more difficult than SLIP to implement but the advantage over SLIP make it the serial protocol of the future. (this is my opinion ;-) Again for a detailed description of PPP consult a book on TCP/IP or get the PPP faq available via anonymous FTP from RTFM.MIT.EDU:/usenet/comp.protocols.ppp/* PPP is described in RFCs 1332, 1333, 1334, 1376, 1377, 1552, 1570, 1598, 1619,1638 and 1663 phew! As the FAQ was prepared a PPP SANA-II driver was uploaded to Aminet: Aminet:comm/net/PPP1_0.lha This is a non registered version. A shareware version with many more features is also on Aminet but requires a key file which you must pay the author $15. I personally plan to register. Consult the documentation for more details on this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 20> What is Ethernet? (thanks to http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/ :) A coaxial cable local area network first described by Metcalfe & Boggs of Xerox PARC in 1976. Specified by DEC, INTEL & XEROX (DIX), Now recognised as the industry standard. Data is broken into packets. Packets are transmitted using the CSMA/CD algorithm until they arrive at the destination without colliding with any other. The first contention slot after a transmission is reserved for an acknowledge packet. A node is either transmitting or receiving at any instant. Bandwidth ~10Mbit/s. Disk-Ethernet-Disk transfer rate with TCP/IP is typically 30 kbyte/s. The cable is a 50 ohm coaxial cable with multiple shielding. EtherNet is described in lots of RFCs. Read the index if you're that keen to find out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 21> What is an RFC? RFC are documents that are used to define the Internet standards. RFC stands for Request For Comments. De facto: Requirement For Conformance. (thanks Michael) RFC`s are available from many FTP sites including ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.demon.co.uk. rs.internic.net is the "official" place in the United States. ftp.uu.net is the best connected place to get them in the USA. The file "rfc-index.txt" which should be available on every RFC repository, contains an index of all published RFC's --------------------------------------------------------------------- 22> What is NFS? (From the Sun NFS documentation:) NFS is a network file system developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. The Sun Network Filesystem (NFS) protocol provides transparent remote access to shared filesystems over local area networks. The NFS protocol is designed to be machine, operating system, network architecture, and transport protocol independent. Again for a detailed description of NFS consult a TCP/IP book. The NFS Client by Carsten Heyl is included info the AmiTCP distribution. See the ch_nfs documentation in AmiTCP:help. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 23> I get a message could not open serial device unit 0 when I run AmiTCP after I connect to my SLIP server. I tried quitting Term but my connection to my server is terminated. a) Why is this?, b) How can I fix it? and c) How do I stay online? a) There are many reasons for this problem. The most common is that the serial device in use by another program, for example your comms package. (Term, Terminus etc). If you are using a terminal package to dial into your TCP/IP server this will give this error. And your modem is not set to ignore DTR, so when you quit term the modem hangs up the phone, thus ending your Connection. b) There are many solutions to avoid this problem. I am going to suggest 2. The first is to use the Dial in arexx script that in on Aminet, this automates the entire connection process, Arexx is used to dial up your Server enter your account details and startup AmiTCP when it has connected and logged in. The script is very flexible and also handles Dynamic IP assign, you may need to modify the script depending on your setup, however this is a very straightforward process. The script is available from Aminet: Aminet:comm/net/amitcp_dial10.lha Also there is another dialer program caller dialer. This program acts as a go between serial.device and your PPP/SLIP driver. This program dials up your hosts and logs the user in and then puts the SANA driver online. This is available from Demon: ftp.demon.co.uk:pub/amiga/amitcp/dialer_1.lha I`m currently using this and I find it excellent. I similar type program is gwcslip. Which is by Graham Walter. This is a CSLIP SANA driver which dials into your host. It works very similar to the above program. This program is available from Demon: ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/amiga/amitcp/gwslip#?.lha Look for the revision number which is part of the filename. c) The other is to set you modem to ignore DTR. Start your terminal program, issue the command from the modem manual that causes it to ignore DTR, Dial into your server, login in as normal, issue what commands you need to start up your TCP/IP connection (e.g. sliplogin). When you have started up your serving program QUIT your terminal program leaving the call running and THEN start AmiTCP by executing AmiTCP:bin/startnet NOTE: You MUST ensure that the BAUD RATE your terminal program is using is the SAME AS the BAUD RATE YOU have configured your SLIP/CSLIP/PPP driver to use. NOTE2: If all you are using your modem for is SLIP, you may want to configure it to always ignore DTR. Again, see your modem manual for information on how to save a configuration. PLEASE, remember to set your baud rate to the configuration file of the SANA-II device driver you are using. See the documentation inluded with your SANA-II driver for more information on this file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 24> Can I use AmiTCP with a dynamic IP address? Yes. The startnet script produced by the AmiTCP's installation script accepts the IP address as an argument. You can also use the Arexx scripts available on the Aminet. Generally you need to edit these scripts to match your system. Also the PPP driver on Aminet has special options for connecting to dialup hosts. Consult the excellent documentation within the archive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 25> I have connected to my host fine but I cannot connect to any hosts outside my University or Network. How can I fix this? This is a routing problem, you must add a route to your default gateway using the command: AmiTCP:bin/route add default your.default.gateways.number 158.152.6.65 is my default gateway. Ask your system administrator for this number. This command should be already in your startnet script if you have followed the Install procedure correctly. This could also be because of a firewall, too. That is, the IP traffic from your hosts is not passed to the Internet. Your Network provider will be able to give you more information on this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 26> What mail and news clients can I use with AmiTCP? There is only one complete Mail and News package called INetUtils by Michael B. Smith, I use these and I recommend them to all. These utilities work as drop in commands for AUUCP and let you use UUCP compatible newsreaders, such as TIN, and UUCP compatible mail readers, such as AmigaELM. The faq was posted to USENET using TIN with InetUtils. Please note however that the mail programs contain some bugs, and mail loss has been reported :( The next release of InetUtils (1.4) is supposed to fix these problems. GRn is also available for AMITCP which allows direct connection with your news server. AmiPOP by Scott Ellis is also included with InetUtils for users who can connect to POP mail servers. All the above mentioned programs are available on Aminet: Aminet:comm/news/ Aminet:comm/mail/ Aminet:comm/net/ Also Gnus can be used with GNU Emacs (albeit a tad slow) works fine for reading news, For mail with emacs you still require an external transport unit such as InetUtils. Gnus was one of the first applications used to test AmiTCP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 27> Is there an IRC client for AmiTCP? There is one written Emacs LISP. Which requires Emacs. This is available from kampi.hut.fi, however, there are some funtions that cause normal irc client to display error messages, so if people moan at you you know why :-) :-) Emacs is available on Aminet. The Grapevine Amiga IRC works with AmiTCP. It has a nice graphic interface and DCC support. The latest version is available on the support site, helser56.res.iastate.edu. Grapevine is also available on AmiNet, but the support site is always current. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 28> What is NapsaTerm used for? Napsaterm is a remote login program which can emulate a VT terminal. It lets you login to a host that uses either rlogin or telnet protocol. Consult the docs (on AmiTCP:help/) for more information. NB: If you wish to specify a port number for telnet, use the -s command; e.g. 1.> telnet auntie.bbcnc.org.uk 9999 is replaced with 1.> napsaterm -d TELNET -s 9999 auntie.bbcnc.org.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 28> Is there a telnet daemon? Tnserv on Aminet, however it is an active daemon and also does not use the AmiTCP passwd file for password information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 29> Do I need MultiUser? If you plan to use a FTP server and want more than anonymous ftp then you will have to install Multiuser at some point. MultiUser is very handy if you plan to have you machine on the net all the time. MultiUser is on Aminet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 31> How can I see whats happening with my network connection? The command AmiTCP:bin/netstat will show you all the active connections to your machine and where they are from, and which port they are connected to. For example if you had a connection to port 25 it would mean that your Amiga was getting new mail. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 32> AmigaELM uses the HOSTNAME but AmiTCP seems to want the fully qualified domain name, How can I resolve this problem? (Thanks to Jarno and Michael) "You could probably use the variable to "name only", since AmiTCP/IP itself does not use the variable at all. Some application programs (e-mail programs, etc) might have problems, though. The current standard on the various Unix versions is that the HOSTNAME includes the fully qualified host name (i.e.. with the domain). The current release (4.0) of the AmiTCP/IP fixes this by implementing the gethostname() function differently (the name is taken from the name server/host database instead of the HOSTNAME variable if possible). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 33> What is a Domain Name Server? And How do I get one? A Domain Name Server put simply is a massive address book of the internet, It enables the user to use hostnames while not having them in their Amitcp:db/hosts file. A named implementation is on ftp.demon.co.uk, however as someone who has setup his own nameserver, I would recommend that you use someone elses :-) DNS is quite a complex system and unless you are running a massive network you don`t really need your own. For more information on DNS again consult a TCP/IP book. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 34> What is/are "Domain Names to Search"? (thanks Jarno :) "The "Domain names to search" are the domain names which are appended to a given host name on the search. If you have a name "foo" and the domain names to search are "bar.edu" and "zip.zop" then the "foo.bar.edu" is tried first, and if that fails, the "foo.zip.zop" is tried next. It the name to search includes the domain part, it is also searched as it is." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 35> What is Mosaic? Mosaic is a client for the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web is a new application on the Internet which allows pictures, sounds, animations to be viewed from anywhere on the Internet. Amiga Mosaic in on Aminet. Aminet:comm/net/Mosaic1.2.1_AmiTCP.lha Mosaic can also be used to access FTP servers from a GUI front end, and to access Gopher and many other services. The next release of Mosaic will even allow you to connect to telnet services listed on WWW pages. If you have GNU Emacs working with TCP, you can also use the emacs-w3 client as a world wide web server. It is a text only client, using a fixed width font. However, it does support forms. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 36> Can I set up a World Wide Web Server with AmiTCP? Yes an _excellent_ http daemon (httpd) exists ported by Graham Walter, It has been included with AMosaic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 37> I've heard Mosaic is only for version 3.0 Amigas. Why? and is there an alternative for version 2.x Amigas? This is no longer true. Mosaic version 1.2 works with 2.x Amigas, though not very well. Since there are no datatypes, you lose inlined images. Version 1.2.1 was an emergency bug fix, and is reported to fail miserably on Amigas. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 38> I only log on for a few seconds to see if I've got mail waiting. Would AmiTCP be overkill for those situations? In this case yes connecting via AmiTCP would be a bit of an overkill. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 39> I thought Emacs was just a text editor. I've seen it mentioned in a few posts. What is it used for? Emacs is the GOD of all editors :-). It has it`s own programming language that lets the user run programs on it. Emacs has gopher, IRC and WWW programs that can be used with AmiTCP. And also Gnus for news reading. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 40> My internet provider does offer SLIP accounts for a small extra charge. If I change my account to a SLIP account, can I still access it the "old" way, in case I just want to quickly check my mail or something? The only people who can answer that are your Network providers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 41> If I'm using AmiTCP, is my mail and downloaded files being stored on my local hard drive? Yes if you use FTP from your Amiga then the files are transferred DIRECTLY to your Amiga`s hard disk drive. No more ZMODEM!!! The same goes for mail, news etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 42> Am I correct in stating that I can be connected to several different computers using several different applications? (thanks Markus :-) Yes, this is correct, however, the more connections you have the more bandwidth is required/used on your link. For example you could be using FTP, while on IRC. OR you could be viewing Mosaic pages while reading news. However, if there is no traffic on some connections (= are idle), they do not use bandwidth at all. So it is the same if you have ten or one terminal sessions open if you are just using one (at the time). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 43> Where can I find more programs for use with AmiTCP? Aminet is always the place to look, usually in the comm directory, Also look in ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/amitcp/ this site dedicated to the Internet. And look in the applications list available via gopher: and On the World Wide Web: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 44> What should I do if I have a question that is not answered here? Your best option is to post to USENET in the comp.sys.amiga.networking newsgroup. Include as much information as possible, what system your running, what version of AmiTCP your running, What the problem is. The more info you give the better the chance you have of your question being answered. Alternatively mail me or the Amitcp-group@hut.fi and we will try to answer your questions. This is of course after you have read all the AmiTCP Documentation and any additional documentation that comes with the software that you use :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 45> What other references might be useful? [Authors note: I'm including both commercial and non-commercial references, along with how to find either them or more information. This is not an endorsement, merely a pointer to more information.] "Connect Your Amiga! A Guide to the Internet, LANs, BBSs and Online Services," by Dale L. Larson. ISBN 1-885876-02-5, US$24.95. For more info: Intangible Assets Manufacturing 828 Ormond Avenue Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2604 USA VOICE: +1 610 853 4406 FAX: +1 610 853 3733 EMAIL: info@iam.com WWW: http://www.iam.com/iam ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Mike W.Meyer AmiTCP FAQ Administrator and contributor. ---------------------------------------------------- | ALL FAQ related information should be mailed to: | | atcpfaq@contessa.phone.net | ----------------------------------------------------