This is nearly $Revision: 0.10 $ of this FAQ (http://www.cam.net.uk/manuals/os2faq/os2faq.html), last updated $Date: 1998/08/14 14:14:14 $.
Please send comments to Patrick Campbell-Preston
(patrick@cam.net.uk).
You may need to have your OS/2 installation CDs or floppy disks available, and you will also need your CamNet user ID and password which can be found on your welcome letter.
You should have a modem either installed inside your PC or connected externally to a spare serial port. Although OS/2 recognises a wide selection of different modems, it may help to have the modem manufacturer's documentation to hand.
Although a few cosmetic details have changed between version 3 and version 4 (in particular the default arrangement of the Desktop is quite different), most of the instructions below apply identically to both versions; differences are noted where necessary. I don't have access to a copy of Warp Connect, but since this is basically Warp version 3 with some extra LAN support, it should not be too different to set up.
If you are using an earlier version of OS/2, you may still be able to access CamNet, although this will depend on obtaining a suitable version of 'IBM TCP/IP for OS/2', since TCP/IP support was not originally supplied free with the operating system. I don't know whether TCP/IP support for all OS/2 versions is still available (still less whether it is now free), but you could try looking on the IBM Internet helpdesk home page for Europe, Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"), or phoning the IBM UK Software Enquiry Desk (01329 242728) for further advice.
OS/2 support for Internet access has been under continuous development over the past few years, so unless you have a brand new copy of Warp version 4 it is almost certainly worth looking at EMEA or the IBM Software Download library for upgrades and bugfixes to your particular version. A good list of these on the web is the Cincinnati Team OS/2 Master Warp Update List.
Some early copies of Warp version 3 (eg the version shipped with many PCs sold in Germany a few years ago) came with a somewhat restricted version of the Internet Access Kit, with no WebExplorer and no support in the dialler for the PPP protocol - although it is possible to connect to CamNet from one of these systems using SLIP instead of PPP, it will be easier if you obtain and install a more recent version of the IAK. Feel free to contact me if you need help with this.
'OS/2 System' -> 'System Setup' -> 'Install/Remove'.Select the option 'TCP/IP services' from the list of choices presented, and follow the remaining instructions. At the end you will be prompted to reboot your PC to complete the installation and take account of the changes it has made to CONFIG.SYS.
'IBM Information Superhighway' -> 'IBM Internet Connection for OS/2' ->
'Internet Utilities'
(along with other useful programs such as FTP-PM), while the WebExplorer,
Newsreader/2 and Ultimedia Mail/2 Lite can be found in the parent folder
'IBM Information Superhighway' -> 'IBM Internet Connection for OS/2'Some help for the TCP/IP applications and commands can be found in
'IBM Information Superhighway' -> 'IBM Internet Connection for OS/2' ->
'Introduction to the IBM Internet Connection'
'Programs' -> 'Internet (Modem)' -> 'Internet Utilities (Modem)'while the WebExplorer and other programs can be found as before in the parent folder
'Programs' -> 'Internet (Modem)'The on-line reference manual for TCP/IP applications can be found in
'Assistance Center' -> 'Information' -> 'Reference and Commands' ->
'TCP/IP Command Reference'
or alternatively by typing tcphelp at an OS/2 command prompt.
Note: see the Hints section below for ideas on managing the clutter of folders and objects which come with the IAK, to make it easier to get at the programs you actually use regularly.
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The 'IBM Dial-up for TCP/IP' utility SLIPPM.EXE can be found in the 'Internet Utilities' folder, where it is named 'Dial Other Internet Providers' (don't be confused by the 'IBM Internet Dialer', which is only useful for connecting to IBM's global network). |
To set up a dialler configuration which you can use to connect to CamNet, double-click on the 'Dial Other Internet Providers' icon, then click on the 'Add Entry' button. This brings up a window with the first of four pages with fields for you to fill in:
Once you have finished filling the settings on all four pages, close the window and select 'Save'; you can now connect to CamNet by clicking on the 'Dial' button of the main Dialler window.
Recent versions of WebExplorer support many more HTML extensions
(but not all - the chief omission is any support for frames) than the
version which shipped with Warp 3, have better mail and news
integration, and are also much more stable - so it's well worth
downloading the latest version from the IBM
WebExplorer home page
(the latest available at the time of writing is version 1.1h).
WebExplorer is simple to use, and relatively small and fast, with a few really neat features: in particular, the WebMap hierarchical history is an excellent way of working out where you've been in a browsing session and how you got there; and the Presentation mode (which hides the menus and icon bar to fill the whole screen with the web page) is occasionally very useful.
Nevertheless, WebExplorer does suffer from a few limitations (even assuming that you can live without framebloat) - for example: it does not cope gracefully with very large pages; it has no 'New window with this link' function; the Quicklist is just a flat list of URLs which you cannot group into categories or annotate with long descriptions; and it does not understand Java (even in Warp 4, which comes with Java support built in). Much has been made of WebExplorer's inability to let you follow a link while a page is still loading, but in truth it isn't too difficult to get into the habit of hitting the Escape key when you want to interrupt the loading of a slow page.
It is unlikely that IBM will continue to develop WebExplorer at a rate which will enable it to catch up with prevailing browser fashion, if at all; for all these reasons, even if you continue to use WebExplorer for some purposes, you will probably find yourself wanting to obtain an 'industry standard' browser before too long (see below).
There are several alternative mail programs available, both free and commercial; of these I would recommend Innoval's Post Road Mailer (of which a free edition is available), unless of course you prefer to use the mailer which is built into Netscape.
To configure FTP-PM to connect to CamNet, start it by double-clicking on the icon, and set the host name to ftp.cam.net.uk. Set your username and password as usual, and the program should start up with a view of your CamNet home directory. Remember to put web pages into the web subdirectory, or they won't be visible; see How to use CamNet Web Space for more details.
To use TelnetPM to access the CamNet BBS interface, simply click on the 'Telnet (Modem)' icon, and then select 'Open session...' from the 'Connection' menu; enter bbs.cam.net.uk in the 'Host name' field and select VT100 emulation. When you hit 'OK' you should see a login prompt from CamNet's BBS machine, at which point you can just enter your CamNet username and password as usual to enter the Lynx browser.
Although it's a port of an out-of-date version of Netscape, it has full support for multimedia plug-ins and both Java and Javascript, and has been well integrated with OS/2 features such as VoiceType navigation, support for Desktop URL objects, drag and drop and so on. It also seems to be very stable - so long as you don't try to close it while it's busy loading a page (in which case it sometimes locks up). It is, however, huge, and I still use WebExplorer regularly because it's so much quicker to start up.
I haven't tried using Netscape for mail and news under OS/2, but it looks as if it's very easy to set up, so it might be the simplest approach to these for some (especially those already used to the Netscape interface and happy with it).
As with the WebExplorer, you will need to configure Netscape to use the CamNet web proxy server www-proxy.cam.net.uk (in the 'Manual Proxy' section under 'Network Preferences...' in the 'Options' menu) if you want to be able to access the external web pages which we support.
The standard Emacs mail and news packages (rmail and gnus) are supported, and are reasonably straightforward to set up - instructions are given in the README file which comes with the distribution. You should also be able to use the slightly more advanced Emacs mail package vm if you prefer; but this does not come with the standard distribution, so you need to obtain it separately from UUNET. Other Emacs packages and related GNU software can be found on the GNU ftp site at MIT.
Note: under Warp 4 some mail configuration details have changed slightly - in particular the files you need to customise will be found in \MPTN\ETC rather than \TCPIP\ETC, and sendmail.cf is slightly more complicated because of Warp 4's extra LAN support.
If you do not want to use Ultimail at all, you can replace sendmail.uml with a copy of your customised sendmail.cf; this means that outgoing mail created with Emacs can be queued whenever you like and will be sent automatically when you next connect to CamNet.
Beware: if for any reason you should need to modify TCP/IP settings using the TCP/IP Configuration program (usually this will not be necessary unless your computer is on a LAN) , you should realise that it may overwrite some of the files you customise for Emacs, so it's a good idea to take copies of them before you do so, in case any of your changes are lost.
Kim Rasmussen's Internet Adventurer is a web browser with an integrated suite of applications which also supports FTP, IRC, telnet, mail, and news.
When you close a work-area folder, all windows belonging to the objects within the folder are closed automatically and the view of each object is saved. When you open the folder the next time, the windows for the objects in the folder are displayed with their previous view. Thus a work-area folder behaves like a kind of meta-application, which you can use to start several programs at once, and when you have finished with them, close them all down at once. While the folder is open, you can of course start and stop the enclosed applications as normal. Oddly enough, exactly the same mechanism is used in the OS/2 Desktop itself (the only difference being that the Desktop is a folder which you cannot close except by shutting down the system).
This facility is extremely useful if you usually run several TCP/IP applications at once when you connect to CamNet; simply create a new folder on the Desktop, make it into a work-area folder, and fill it with shadows of the Dialler and other applications you want to use while connected (in some cases you may prefer to create new program objects rather than shadows, for example if you want to supply specific parameters when dialling CamNet but not in general).
A further benefit of using a work-area folder for the applications you use with CamNet is that you will no longer need to go digging in the clutter of folders in which the applications were originally installed in order to find them!
You can use drag and drop from a browser window to create a URL object, and conversely can load the page back into a running browser by dropping the URL object on it. You can also create a VoiceType macro for each URL object so that you can jump to it quickly (see below).
Where VoiceType navigation really pays off is in controlling Netscape or the WebExplorer: you can jump straight to your favourite pages, follow arbitrary links, scroll around, and do anything you can do with the pull-down menus, all without touching the mouse or the keyboard! Of course, you almost certainly won't want to use it all the time, but there are some kinds of browsing for which it really is the best option. And it's nice to be able to show off by saying things like
"Jump to camnet"
"Jump to os2faq"
to dial in, start a browser, and load a particular page.
WBI is a cute toy with a few rough edges, but it is very useful if you habitually switch between two or more browsers, if you find yourself bookmarking hundreds of pages and find the list difficult to manage, or if you often forget to bookmark a page you will want to see again. It is available free from IBM's alphaWorks web site (set up to give away new Internet technology early in the development cycle to get some feedback before IBM Marketing get their hands on it - they're also doing some interesting things with Java).
All these sites should be supported by the CamNet web proxy, so if you cannot reach any of them from within the CamNet firewall, please report the problem to Editor@cam.net.uk.
See the CamNet Support page for details of all the different ways to get help if you are having difficulties connecting to CamNet and using the facilities. General support via email is available from support@cam.net.uk, while for discussion of OS/2 specific problems there is a dedicated newsgroup cam.net.support.os2.
All trademarks acknowledged. Many thanks to those here plagiarised
(and credited where possible).
The right of Patrick Campbell-Preston to identify himself as the
author of these opinions has been asserted.