Revised: June 21, 1994 Release 05 -------------------------------------- WINDOWS AND TCP/IP FOR INTERNET ACCESS by Harry M. Kriz University Libraries Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0434 hmkriz@vt.edu -------- ABSTRACT Internet, the global network of computer networks, is arousing enormous popular interest. In part, this interest is being driven by the availability of free or inexpensive shareware software for Microsoft Windows. It is now technically simple for a personal computer to become a host on the internet. The casual user can find, retrieve, and view information gathered from around the world without having to learn complicated computer commands. In this paper, I describe the principal functions and services available via the internet. Then I outline the technical background and terminology needed by the beginner who wants to make his PC a host on the internet. Finally, I describe several Windows software packages and programs that facilitate using internet services. All the software is freely available over the internet. ------------ INTRODUCTION Internet, the world-wide network of computer networks, has captured the imagination of the general public. A year ago, the internet was barely mentioned in the popular computing magazines. Now it is the topic of articles in national news magazines, local newspapers, and grocery-store tabloids. Awareness of the internet has spread primarily by word-of mouth. Computer pundits were not discussing the internet in Spring 1993 when I first began investigating the internet in my work as a librarian. Indeed, most pundits seem to have acquired internet access only in the Spring of 1994. Thus, computer magazines have not been helpful for those wishing to learn about the internet. Now in June 1994, there is something of a feeding frenzy of interest in the internet. Bookstores are flooded with guides to the internet. Software vendors are rushing to market with collections of software designed for navigating the resources on the internet. It is almost as if the crest of the internet wave has passed. Pundits who did not have access to the internet last year are already writing negative opinions about the difficulties of navigating internet resources, and about the uselessness of those resources. Complaints about the internet are many. Certainly it can be difficult to find information and resources on the internet. A great deal of information is unvalidated, non-authoritative, or otherwise questionable. Some resources should not be available to children. Some would argue that some of the information should not be distributed even to adults. It is important to remember that the internet is not a service. Rather, it is a means of gaining access to services and of retrieving information and other objects that can be represented electronically. In considering complaints about the internet, one might draw an analogy between the internet and New York City. New York is big, complicated, and disorganized. The city's myriad resources can be hard to find. Some of what happens or what is available in New York should not be seen by children. For those wishing to navigate the complexity of New York, there are guide books, phone directories, magazine articles, and individuals with expert knowledge about areas of particular interest. One can navigate the complexity of the city by subway, taxi, and bus. One can even hire a private guide to conduct a tour of the city. The internet can be compared to the streets of New York City. The services available on the internet have their analogies in the city's libraries, department stores, bookshops, art galleries, street vendors, and street-corner zealots passing out literature or lecturing the passing crowds. It is safe to assume that somewhere on the streets of the city there will be found information and services of interest to almost anyone. However, finding that information might take some time for someone who is new to the city and its resources. Similarly, somewhere on the internet there also will be found information and services of interest to almost anyone. Traveling the internet requires only a few basic tools. First is a computer with a network connection to the internet. Such connections are common at universities, and becoming more common in businesses. If a direct network connection is not available, an alternative is to connect to the internet through the computer's serial port by dialing up a terminal server that offers a SLIP connection (Serial Line Internet Protocol). Either of these connections can be used with a variety of commercial or shareware software to make your local computer a host on the internet and to access services and information from the entire earth. This paper will emphasize the use of freeware and shareware versions of software running under Microsoft Windows. ----------------- INTERNET SERVICES The internet services of interest to most people consist of four basic functions. These are electronic mail (e-mail), internet news, file transfer between computers (FTP), and remote login to another computer (telnet). Access systems like Gopher and World Wide Web now supplement these basic internet functions by assisting the user in browsing and searching the internet for relevant information in a user-friendly manner. Until recently, internet functions were accessible primarily through character-based interfaces using a variety of complex command sets. Thus, in 1992 and 1993, best-selling books on the internet contained page after page of screen displays or command sequences captured from UNIX-based systems executing basic internet functions. Affordable internet software for Windows has become available only since Spring 1993. Prior to that time, Windows users were dependent for internet access on expensive, proprietary, commercial products in which each vendor's offerings were mutually incompatible with every other vendor's offerings. Publication of the Winsock applications programming interface provided a way for individual client software (such as a telnet or FTP client) to be compatible with every vendor's networking products. As a result, beginning in 1993 there was a blossoming of freeware, shareware, and commercial internet software for Windows. Of special interest has been the development of Windows interfaces to the World Wide Web, such as Cello and NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) Mosaic. The Web was developed by the high energy physics community to distribute technical papers and other forms of data. WWW is now widely viewed as a means for educators, businesses, and hobbyists to distribute multimedia information to a world-wide audience. Graphical WWW clients enable publication of data over the internet in a manner which allows the user to view text, color graphics, sound, and video in a manner that approaches the usability, and surpasses the functionality, of a printed magazine. ****** E-MAIL Electronic mail is probably the most widely used internet function. A commonly used configuration requires that a user have an account on a POP (Post Office Protocol) mail server. The e-mail client software accesses the server and downloads any incoming messages to the user's PC. Mail composed at the user's PC is transmitted to the internet through the mail server. ************* INTERNET NEWS Internet news, also known somewhat incorrectly as USENET news, is a conferencing system made up of thousands of topical conferences known as news groups. Those familiar with electronic bulletin board systems will compare internet news to echo conferences. Others will draw an analogy to mailing lists such as listserv on BITNET. The user reads the news by using client software to subscribe to a selection of news groups. When the client software accesses an NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) server, the server downloads to the client a list of subjects for all unread messages stored on the server for the selected group. The user can then select any message for reading, post a response to the message to the group, or reply directly to the original poster of the message. The client software maintains on the user's PC a list of all available groups on the server, along with records of which messages have been read or skipped over. Only the messages selected for reading are actually downloaded to the user's PC. *** FTP FTP (File Transfer Protocol) allows the transfer of files between any two computers of any type. Thus, files can be transferred from PC to PC, PC to mainframe, PC to Mac, PC to UNIX machine, and vice versa. Any kind of computer file, whether it be a text file or a binary file representing software, graphics images, or sounds, can be sent. Of course, whether the file is usable on the receiving machine depends on the nature of the file and the availability of software to make use of the file. ****** TELNET Telnet enables the user of a PC to login to a host computer at another site on the internet. The user's PC then acts as a dumb terminal attached to the remote host. Such access usually requires that the user have an account on the remote host. For instance, a student or faculty member at one university might have an account on a computer located at another university. An increasing number of commercial services are becoming available via telnet, including services such as the Dow Jones News Service and the Lexis/Nexis service. In addition, some services are available without charge. For example, hundreds of libraries in all parts of the world allow free remote access to their computerized catalogs and to some specialized databases. ****** GOPHER Gopher is a system that enables the user to find files and other internet services by navigating a system of menus and submenus. As a corollary, it provides a means for information providers to publish information on the internet in a discoverable manner. Prior to the development of Gopher at the University of Minnesota, information on the internet was located by asking friends and strangers where to look. The first step in using a Gopher client is to point the client at the address of a known Gopher server. The client then retrieves that Gopher's menu of topics. Typically, many of the topics on a Gopher menu are pointers to yet other menu items on other Gopher servers. The fact that each item in the sequence of selections might come from different Gopher servers in widely scattered parts of the world is completely transparent to the user. The Gopher client software presents the many different Gopher servers as if they represented a single application on a single machine. Navigating such menus can lead the user to skip from one Gopher server to another, literally retrieving information from servers scattered around the world in just a few minutes. Items on Gopher menus can be of many different data types in addition to menus listing choices of topics. When an item such as a text, graphics, or sound file is selected, the Gopher client transfers the file to the user's PC. Then, as an option, it may load the file into an appropriate "viewer" selected by the user. A simple text file could be loaded into Windows Notepad. A graphics file in GIF or JPEG format might be loaded into LVIEW, a popular freeware graphics viewer for Windows. A binary program file would simply be downloaded into a designated directory for use at some other time. Finding relevant Gopher menu items is facilitated through the use of Veronica, which is a database of the text of Gopher menus. Most Gopher servers will include Veronica access as a menu selection. ************** WORLD WIDE WEB World Wide Web (WWW) is a system that enables users to find and retrieve information by navigating a system of hypertext documents. In a hypertext document, selecting a highlighted word or phrase causes a new document to be retrieved and displayed. Thus, WWW leads the user to skip from one document to another, retrieving information from servers scattered around the world. This contrasts with the simple menu displays used by Gopher. Viewing a WWW document with a Windows graphical client such as Cello or Mosaic is much like reading a magazine. Information is displayed with typographic fonts and color graphics, and supplemented by sound that can be played by clicking an icon embedded in the document. Clicking on a highlighted word or phrase in the document retrieves yet another document. ----------------- TECHNICAL DETAILS It is helpful to know some internet terminology when working with your local network specialist or internet service provider to make your PC a host on the internet. The two most common modes of internet access are through a direct network connection or through a SLIP server. A direct network connection involves installing a network interface card (NIC) in your PC. Most likely this will be an ethernet card. This card in turn is connected to your organization's local area network. Wiring usually consists of coaxial cable (as in thin-wire ethernet) or twisted pair telephone wiring (as in 10Base-T ethernet). The local network in turn must be connected to the internet, and it must be capable of handling TCP/IP data packets. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the method by which data on the internet is divided into packets of bytes. Each packet is delimited with header information that includes the destination address where the packet is to be routed when it is transmitted over the internet. The local network and your PC may also be using other network protocols simultaneously with TCP/IP. For instance, your PC may already be connected to a network using Novell, LANtastic, or Windows for Workgroups network protocols. *************** SOFTWARE LAYERS Several layers of software are involved in implementing a direct network connection. A commonly used method is to first install a piece of software called a packet driver that deals directly with the network interface card. This is loaded under DOS from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file as a TSR (terminate and stay resident) program. A packet driver should be included with the software that comes with the card. If the manufacturer of the card does not supply a packet driver, free packet drivers are available in the Crynwr Packet Driver Collection as described at the end of this document. The next layer of software is the TCP/IP driver, which can be implemented in a variety of ways. Until recently, this was often another DOS TSR program loaded from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Increasingly this layer of software is implemented as a Windows dynamic link library (DLL) or as a Windows virtual device driver (VxD), which does not require any modification of the boot files on the PC. This driver, which implements TCP/IP functionality for the system, is referred to as the TCP/IP protocol stack. The driver may be written to work with a specific network card, or it can be written to interface with a packet driver. In the latter case, a single TCP/IP driver can be used with any network card for which an associated packet driver is available. Thus, the packet driver specification eliminates the need for software vendors to customize their TCP/IP protocol stack for every network card on which it is used. When using a packet driver with Windows applications, another DOS TSR referred to as a virtual packet driver may be required to interface between the Windows- based TCP/IP protocol stack and the DOS-based packet driver. When a direct network connection is not available, internet TCP/IP software can be used over serial lines to connect to a SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) server that provides a connection to the internet. SLIP does not require the drivers used for a direct network connection. The Trumpet Winsock shareware package to be described later has all SLIP functions internal to the TCP/IP driver, which is configured through a Windows dialog box. SLIP is less transparent to the user than is a direct network connection. The user first obtains an account on a SLIP server. Connecting to the internet involves dialing the SLIP server using normal serial communications software and establishing a SLIP connection. Once the connection is established, TCP/IP software running on the PC can be used just as if the PC was connected directly to the internet through a network card. SLIP users are well advised to settle for nothing less than transmission at 14,400 bits per second. Internet services such as World Wide Web transmit a great deal of data, especially when images or sound are being used. Slow modems and slow connections will discourage anyone but the most dedicated user from exploring the possibilities of the internet. TCP/IP client applications work at the top of the layers of software so far described. Clients run independently of whether the computer has a direct connection or a SLIP connection to the internet. TCP/IP applications frequently are referred to as clients because they access a corresponding server (a daemon in UNIX terminology) on another machine. An FTP client, for instance, is the application on the user's machine that accesses the FTP server running on a host computer located elsewhere on the internet. Until recently, each TCP/IP client had to be written to interface with a particular vendor's TCP/IP protocol stack. Clients that worked with one vendor's TCP/IP driver would not work with a driver from another vendor. This restriction was eliminated with the development of the Windows Sockets Application Programming Interface, otherwise known as the Winsock API, or more simply Winsock. Winsock works in the layer between the TCP/IP client and the TCP/IP protocol stack. ------- WINSOCK "Winsock" is the buzzword that dominates discussion about TCP/IP and Windows. All of the software to be described here is based on Winsock. The implementation of Winsock is transparent to the user, but it is helpful for the end-user to know how it supports Windows applications. Winsock (short for Windows sockets) is a technical specification that defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application (such as an FTP client or a Gopher client) and the underlying TCP/IP protocol stack. The nomenclature is based on the Sockets applications programming interface model used in Berkeley UNIX for communications between programs. When you launch a Winsock compliant client like HGopher, it calls procedures from the WINSOCK.DLL dynamic link library. These procedures in turn invoke procedures in the drivers supplied with the TCP/IP protocol stack. As described earlier, the TCP/IP driver communicates with the computer's ethernet card through the packet driver. The WINSOCK.DLL file is not a generic file that can be used on any system. Each vendor of a TCP/IP protocol stack supplies a proprietary WINSOCK.DLL that works only with that vendor's TCP/IP stack. The advantage of Winsock to the developer of a client is that the application will work with any vendor's Winsock implementation. Thus, the developer of an application such as a Gopher client has to understand the Winsock interface, but he does not have to know the details of each vendor's TCP/IP protocol stack in order to make his client application compatible with that stack. Winsock also eliminates the need for an application developer to include his own TCP/IP protocol stack within the application program itself as an alternative to making his application work with a particular vendor's protocol stack. The use of protocol stacks internal to the client results in conflicts when two clients try to access the single packet driver that is communicating with the network card. The ability to create applications compatible with any vendor's Winsock compliant protocol stack has resulted in a blossoming of Winsock compliant shareware applications since the summer of 1993. The Winsock standard offers advantages to the end-user. One advantage is that several Winsock applications from different vendors can be used simultaneously. This is a marked improvement over earlier packet driver applications in which each application contained a built-in TCP/IP stack. Such applications cannot share the packet driver except through the added complexity of a packet multiplexer such as PKTMUX. A second advantage to the user is that any Winsock compliant application will run with any vendor's TCP/IP protocol stack and accompanying WINSOCK.DLL. Unfortunately, some commercial vendors of TCP/IP clients are not yet taking advantage of Winsock capabilities. There are still TCP/IP clients that require dedicated access to the packet driver, and clients that will run only with the TCP/IP protocol stack supplied by one particular vendor. Fortunately, the clear trend is for all commercial vendors to make their applications more usable and portable through the use of the Winsock standard. --------------------- SOFTWARE DESCRIPTIONS Once the required networking hardware is installed and an IP address is assigned, or once a SLIP account is obtained on a server, the user needs to install a TCP/IP protocol stack and a selection of TCP/IP clients. The remainder of this paper describes such software. For each application, I briefly outline the installation procedures. I do this primarily to illustrate the simplicity of using Windows for internet access. Please be sure to read any text files included with each package in order to complete the configuration and to learn about all functions of the software. I have installed all the software described here for many of my colleagues in the Virginia Tech Libraries. With some practice I have found that I can install a complete suite of TCP/IP applications in about half an hour. Some individuals who read the previous versions of this document were up and running in less than an hour after obtaining the software. They expressed their delight at the ease of networking with Windows. *************** TRUMPET WINSOCK (TCP/IP protocol stack and basic clients, ) (including telnet, FTP, ping, Archie ) Comment: You need this package (or some other TCP/IP protocol stack that supports Winsock) before you can use any of the client software described later. Trumpet Winsock does not require any additional network software. It's TCP/IP functions can be installed over other network software such as Novell or Windows for Workgroups using a packet driver shim. Instructions for such installations are included in the ZIP file. Author: Peter Tattam, Trumpet Software International Fee: $20 shareware fee. TSI has extended the free trial period until the final release of version 1.0B, which is in beta testing at this time. Version: 1.0 Revision A File name: twsk10a.zip February 3, 1994 120,569 bytes (includes the TCP/IP protocol stack) winapps.zip November 30, 1993 131,516 bytes (includes basic clients) Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.utas.edu.au in directory /pc/trumpet/winsock or by Gopher from info.utas.edu.au under menu item UTas FTP Archive/pc/trumpet/winsock Installation: 1.) Create directory C:\TRUMPWSK and unzip TWSK10A.ZIP and WINAPPS.ZIP into this directory. 2.) Install software drivers. Ethernet network: a.) Install packet driver for your ethernet card. The entry in my AUTOEXEC.BAT file is: C:\ETHERNET\8003PKDR.EXE /B:240 /R:D000 /I:10 /E:61 b.) Install WINPKT.COM virtual packet driver included in TWSK10A.ZIP. The entry in my AUTOEXEC.BAT file is: C:\TRUMPWSK\WINPKT.COM 0x61 SLIP: No special drivers are needed because SLIP support is built into the Trumpet Winsock TCPMAN.EXE program. 3.) In Program Manager, create a program group named Network. Use File Manager to drag and drop the EXE files in C:\TRUMPWSK into the Network program group. 4.) Edit the PATH statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT to include C:\TRUMPWSK. This enables Winsock applications to find WINSOCK.DLL when they are launched. 5.) Reboot the computer and start Windows. 6.) Launch TCPMAN from the Network program group. Select Setup on the menu bar. Enter your IP address, gateway address, and nameserver address as assigned by your local network administrator. (Some SLIP servers do not use permanent IP addresses. Instead, the SLIP server assigns a temporary IP address at the start of the session. In this case, enter 0.0.0.0 as a dummy IP address.) If you are using ethernet, enter the software interrupt used by the packet driver. If you are using SLIP, check the SLIP check box and enter the appropriate COM port number in the SLIP port box. Exit from TCPMAN. The file TRUMPWSK.INI will be created in the C:\TRUMPWSK directory. 7.) Launch any Winsock compliant application. TCPMAN.EXE will start automatically if it is not already running. (If you are using SLIP, you must first connect to the server and start a SLIP session. This can be done with the dialing function in TCPMAN.) Several clients are included with the Trumpet Winsock, including TELW.EXE for telnet, FTPW.EXE for FTP, WINARCH.EXE for searching Archie databases, PINGW.EXE to ping another machine on the network, and HOPCHKW.EXE to trace the path through the internet used to reach a particular host. Note: The WINSOCK.DLL file for the Trumpet Winsock remains in the C:\TRUMPWSK directory. Some vendors may require that their WINSOCK.DLL be copied to the C:\WINDOWS directory. If you have used Winsock software from another vendor, but now want to try the Trumpet Winsock, be sure to remove the other vendor's WINSOCK.DLL so that it will not interfere with the Trumpet Winsock implementation. Tip: The WINARCH client for Archie searching that is supplied in WINAPPS.ZIP defaults to searching the Archie server at archie.au. You can access a different Archie server by using a command line argument. For instance, to use the Archie server run by AT&T, use the command line winarch.exe -archie=ds.internic.net. SLIP usage: Trumpet Winsock includes a simple dialing function. You can connect to your SLIP server by manually issuing the dialing commands. You can also write a script that will dial and start your SLIP session automatically. When your SLIP session starts, TCPMAN will use the address assigned by the SLIP server. PITFALL: After dialing with TCPMAN.EXE and establishing the SLIP session, you must press the key to escape from dialing mode and to re-enable the SLIP function in TCPMAN.EXE. If you want to dial your SLIP server automatically, but you do not care to write your own dialing script for TCPMAN.EXE, a utility named DIALER provides a convenient means of dialing the phone and automatically starting the SLIP session. DIALER can be set up to automatically issue the commands and passwords needed to start the SLIP session. DIALER version 2.0A is available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/ibmpc/windows/utilities/dialexe.zip (May 27, 1994, 31,072 bytes) ******* HGOPHER (Gopher client) Comment: Version 2.4 of HGopher was the most recent shareware version. However, HGopher has been sold to FTP Software Inc., which expects to issue a commercial version in the near future. Thus, version 2.4 is no longer available from its author. He still distributes Version 2.3 of HGopher, which is quite functional and will continue to be available as shareware. It will no longer be maintained or enhanced. Copies of version 2.4 may still be found at some anonymous FTP sites or at some Gopher sites. Author: Martyn Hampson License: Public domain. Mr. Hampson suggests you donate $10.00 to your favorite charity if you like HGopher. Version: 2.3 File name: hgopher2.3.zip October 21, 1993 190,057 bytes (Yes, that is not a valid DOS name. You will have to change it to something else when you download it.) Available by anonymous FTP from: lister.cc.ic.ac.uk in directory /pub/wingopher or by Gopher from gopher.ic.ac.uk under menu item Networking/HGopher Information Center/The Hgopher distribution and Viewers Installation: 1.) Create the directory C:\HGOPHER and unzip hgopher2.3.zip (under whatever name you saved it) into this directory. 2.) Create a new program item in the Network program group for the program C:\HGOPHER\HGOPHER.EXE. 3.) Launch HGopher. 4.) Supply the addresses and other information in the dialog boxes for the menu selections Options Gopher Set Up and Options Network Set Up. For some types of information distributed via Gopher, you will need to configure the viewers using the Options Viewers dialog box. For example, you need to tell HGopher which telnet client to use, and which program to use for viewing JPEG or GIF image files. The HGOPHER.INI file and bookmark files are kept in the C:\HGOPHER directory. ******************* TRUMPET FOR WINDOWS (internet news reader and POP mail client) Comment: To read internet news, you need access to an NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) server. To use the mail functions, you need an account on a POP (Post Office Protocol) mail server. (I have not tested the mail functions in this application because I prefer to use PC Eudora for mail.) Author: Peter Tattam. Trumpet Software International Fee: $40.00 shareware fee. TSI has extended the free trial period until the final release of version 1.0B, which is in beta testing at this time. Version: 1.0 Revision A File name: wtwsk10a.zip August 28, 1993 167,601 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.utas.edu.au in directory /pc/trumpet/wintrump or by Gopher from info.utas.edu.au under menu item /pc/trumpet/wintrump Installation: 1.) Create the directory C:\WINTRUMP and unzip WTWSK10A.ZIP into this directory. 2.) Create a new program item in the Network program group for the program C:\WINTRUMP\WT_WSK.EXE. 3.) Launch the program. 4.) Supply the address and other information in the dialog boxes for the menu selections File Setup and File Network Setup. NEWS.PRM and other configuration files will be created and stored in C:\WINTRUMP. PITFALL: The list of available news groups on your news server is stored by Trumpet in the file NEWS.GRP. At times, Trumpet fails to fully update this file with new groups available from the server. You can force Trumpet to create a new and complete list of available groups by erasing NEWS.GRP before starting Trumpet. ********* PC EUDORA (full featured mail client) Comment: You will need an account on a POP mail server to send and receive mail at your PC. QUALCOMM sells a commercial version of Eudora for both Windows and the Macintosh. Author: Jeff Beckley and Jeff Gehlhaar, QUALCOMM, Inc. License: Shareware version is free Version: Shareware: 1.4 File name: eudora14.exe December 16, 1993 275,600 bytes (self extracting archive file) Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.qualcomm.com in directory /quest/windows/eudora/1.4 Installation: 1.) Copy the file EUDORA14.EXE to the directory C:\PCEUDORA. 2.) Execute EUDORA14 from the DOS prompt to unarchive the program files. 3.) Create a new program item in the Network program group for the program C:\PCEUDORA\WEUDORA.EXE. 4.) Launch the program. 5.) Select Special Configuration from the menu bar and supply the required information. 6.) Select Special Switches and set characteristics as desired. 7.) Create mailboxes and nicknames to taste. 8.) The file EUDORA.INI and other configuration files will be created in the C:\PCEDUORA directory. Note: A revised version is in beta testing at this time. It is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.qualcomm.com in directory /quest/windows/eudora/1.4/beta under the file name eu142b16.exe (June 8, 1994 198,354 bytes) ******* WS_FTP (FTP client) WS_PING (ping client) Author: John Junod License: Public domain Version: 94.04.24 (WS_FTP) 94.01.23 (WS_PING) File names: ws_ftp.zip April 25, 1994 73,642 bytes ws_ping.zip January 27, 1994 59,373 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.usma.edu in directory /pub/msdos/winsock.files Those who want to experiment with a beta copy of a newer version of WS_FTP can download ws_ftp.zip.beta from the directory /pub/msdos. Installation: 1.) Create the directory C:\WS_. 2.) Unzip WS_FTP.ZIP into this directory. 3.) Unzip the file WS_PING.EXE from its ZIP file into this directory also. (Full source code for WS_PING is included in the ZIP file with the name WSPI_SRC.ZIP. Source code for the current version of WS_FTP is not distributed. However, source code for the 93-12-05 version of WS_FTP can be downloaded from directory /pub/msdos/winsock.files under the name ws_ftp_s.zip .) 4.) Create new program items in the Network program group for the programs C:\WS_\WS_FTP.EXE and C:\WS_\WS_PING.EXE. 5.) Launch the programs. 6.) The WS_FTP.INI file remains in the C:\WS_ directory. A file named WINSOCK.INI is created by WS_PING in the C:\WINDOWS directory. *********** NCSA MOSAIC for Microsoft Windows (World Wide Web browser) (and Gopher client ) Comment: An exquisite display of World Wide Web documents, including full color graphics and sound mixed in with text. Users should note the alpha version designation and use caution about saving work in any other running applications before launching Mosaic. As in previous versions, simply launching and then exiting from Mosaic permanently reduces by 3% to 5% the Windows user.exe resources on my machine. Launching Mosaic and exiting several times can lead to conditions that require you to restart Windows. Mosaic is a 32-bit application and will run under Windows NT, Microsoft's advanced workstation operating system. Most users will be using Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups, which are 16-bit applications. To use Mosaic with these systems, you must first install Win32s version 1.1.5 or later. This addition to the Windows operating system enables current version of Windows to run 32-bit code that is not Windows NT specific. Authors: Ryan Grant, Briand Sanderson, Darian Woodford License: Free Version: 2.0 alpha 5 File name: wmos20a5.zip June 17, 1994 272,435 bytes win32s.zip May 12, 1994 1,269,110 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in directory /PC/Mosaic Installation: 1.) Install Win32s following the instructions in the ZIP file. The files will be installed in the directory C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WIN32S. 2.) Create the directory C:\MOSAIC and unzip WMOS20A5.ZIP into this directory. 3.) Create a new program item in the Network program group for the program C:\MOSAIC\MOSAIC.EXE. 4.) Copy the file MOSAIC.INI to C:\WINDOWS. (You can put MOSAIC.INI in a different directory if you use a DOS environment variable to point to the correct directory.) 5.) Edit the INI file following instructions in the file INSTALL.TXT. 6.) Launch the program. NOTE: You can avoid the added complexity of installing Win32s and the substantial demands it places on your PC by reverting to Mosaic version 2.0 alpha 2. This version is still available from NCSA's FTP server in directory /PC/Mosaic/old. Alternatively, you can use the WWW browser Cello as described below. ***** CELLO (World Wide Web browser and Gopher client) Comment: This Web client may be more stable than Mosaic, but it lacks Mosaic's convenient bookmark menus. Users of Diamond Stealth video cards report problems with the mouse cursor, which virtually disappears when the mouse is moved. The listserv CELLO- L is busy with messages about CELLO development and about shareware for creating HTML documents for use on Web servers. Instructions for subscribing to CELLO-L are included in the Cello Help file. Author: Thomas R. Bruce License: Free Version: 1.01a File name: cello.zip March 17, 1994 328,429 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.law.cornell.edu in directory /pub/LII/Cello Installation: 1.) Create the directory C:\CELLO and unzip CELLO.ZIP into this directory. 2.) Create a new program item in the Network program group for the program C:\CELLO\CELLO.EXE. 3.) Launch the program. ***** WFTPD (FTP server) Comment: I had not imagined I would want or need to use my PC as an FTP server. However, I have found this product useful on a couple of occasions to transfer files from an IBM mainframe to my PC. This is far easier than trying to FTP to the mainframe from my PC. Even colleagues new to Windows and networking are beginning to find it useful to run their PC as an FTP server in order to exchange files with their colleagues. Note that WinQVT/Net, which is described later, has an FTP server function also. Author: Alun Jones License: $15.00. The unregistered shareware version displays a message to anyone accessing the server that the owner is unable or unwilling to pay the shareware fee. The shareware version is limited to five file transfers per session. Version: 1.9c Note that previous versions had a serious security bug and should not be used. File name: wftpd19c.zip June 14, 1994 131,178 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.cica.indiana.edu in /pub/pc/win3/winsock Installation: 1.) Create the directory C:\WFTPD and unzip WFTPD19C.ZIP into this directory. 2.) Create a new program item in the Network program group for the program C:\WFTPD\WFTPD.EXE. 3.) Launch the program. 4.) Complete the information in the Security dialog box to establish security control using access passwords and restricted home directories for those you authorize to access your PC. The file WFTPD.INI will be created in the C:\WINDOWS directory. ------ TELNET The glaring deficiency in the Winsock pantheon of internet clients is the absence of a good stand-alone telnet client. Here is a brief description of some alternatives I have tried. **** TELW Comment: TELW.EXE is included with the Trumpet Winsock package in the WINAPPS.ZIP file. It is the first client that shareware users are likely to try. It is a minimal client with no configuration possibilities. It can be useful at times as a terminal/telnet viewer in HGopher. ********** WinQVT/Net Comment: WinQVT/Net is an integrated package that includes telnet, FTP, FTP server, mail, and news reader clients. These client applications are normally launched from a console window. The telnet client is probably the best shareware Winsock telnet client available. You can select terminal emulations and customize the keyboard. The resizable telnet window includes scrollback and session logging. A deficiency is that telnet cannot be launched independently of the console window. However, if WinQVT/Net is already running, then an instance of the telnet client can be launched from another application by invoking the TNSTART.EXE program that comes with WinQVT/Net. This makes it possible to use this telnet client as the terminal/telnet viewer in HGopher. Author: QPC Software License: There has been discussion in alt.winsock and other news groups about the difficulty of getting any response to e-mail and fax messages from the author of WinQVT/Net. Paying the license fee may be difficult as a result. Version: 3.97 File name: qvtws397.zip 288,373 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: biochemistry.bioc.cwru.edu (closed to public 9-5 weekdays) or by Gopher from biochemistry.cwru.edu under menu item CWRU Biochemistry FTP Archive/qvtnet ******* TRMPTEL Comment: This is my favorite telnet client at the moment. It can be used as a terminal/telnet viewer with HGopher or with Mosaic and Cello. It is a very early release of a client that can be expected to become excellent in the near future. Author: Peter Tattam License: Free beta version Version: 0.06 File name: trmptel.exe April 28, 1994 68,608 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: petros.psychol.utas.edu.au in directory /pub/trumpet/trmptel **** EWAN Comment: EWAN (Emulator Without a Good Name) is a promising new Winsock telnet client. It also can be used as a terminal/telnet viewer with HGopher or with Mosaic and Cello. Author: Peter Zander License: Free Version: 1.0 File name: ewan10.exe June 15, 1994 129,155 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.lysator.liu.se in directory /pub/msdos/windows *********** NCSA TELNET Comment: NCSA telnet is a standard in the DOS and Macintosh environments. The Winsock client is under development. A spokesman for NCSA has posted messages to the internet saying that the existing client was thrown together quickly, and it is not supported. A student has been hired to write a new version of the client, but it was said he had to learn TCP/IP and Windows programming. I have not found this client useful, but others may wish to experiment with it. No doubt NCSA will produce an excellent telnet client in the future. License: Free Version: beta 3 File name: wintelb3.zip October 21, 1993 55,834 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in directory /PC/Telnet/windows ******* QWS3270 Comment: Telnet clients usually emulate a VT100 terminal or one of its variations, the standard for connecting to a UNIX host. However, telneting to an IBM mainframe requires emulation of an IBM 3270 terminal. QWS3270 provides the necessary functionality. I was especially pleased with the easily-configured 4 color capability that makes it easier to distinguish protected, unprotected, and highlighted text on a VM screen. Author: Jim Rymerson License: Free Version: 3.1e File name: qws3270.zip June 9, 1994 70,526 bytes Available by anonymous FTP from: ftp.ccs.queensu.ca in directory /pub/msdos/tcpip ------------------------------------- OTHER SOURCES FOR WINSOCK INFORMATION It remains true that the best guide to the internet is the internet itself. The best software for navigating the internet is freely available on the internet. Considerable information about the Winsock API, along with some application programs, is available at: sunsite.unc.edu in directory /pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock. The anonymous FTP sites that I list as sources for programs are the sites designated by the authors as their home sites. These sites will always have the latest version of the software. In addition, copies of the software may usually be obtained by anonymous FTP from ftp.cica.indiana.edu in /pub/pc/win3/winsock. However, it is the case that this directory at CICA will not always contain the current versions. Check the directory /pub/pc/win3/pending.uploads for text files that may describe new versions of programs that are still in the uploads directory and not distributed to their final directory location. Unfortunately, a recent policy change at CICA prevents anonymous users from viewing the uploads directory. Dates on the files at CICA may disagree with the dates on the files at the home sites. Note that CICA is the main internet site for Windows applications. It is usually busy, and you may have difficulty connecting. There are several other internet sites that provide mirror copies of the Windows collection at CICA. These are listed in the message displayed if you are denied access to CICA. The list of mirror sites is included in the file README in the /pub/pc/win3 directory. When using CICA, it is helpful to download the file INDEX (ascii) or INDEX.ZIP from /pub/pc/win3. INDEX contains one-line descriptions of each file in the collection. The news groups alt.winsock, and comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc carry discussions of the Winsock specification and Winsock compliant applications, as do the groups in the comp.os.ms-windows.networking hierarchy. Trumpet Winsock and related clients are discussed in several news groups in the trumpet hierarchy. Information about specific clients may be found in groups devoted to that class of client. For instance, HGopher is discussed in alt.gopher and in comp.infosystems.gopher. Cello and Mosaic are discussed in the sections of the comp.infosystems.www hierarchy. The BITNET listserv WIN3-L@UICVM carries discussions about all topics relating to Windows, including Winsock applications. Some news servers carry this listserv under the news group name bit.listserv.win3-l. A comprehensive list of FTP'able Winsock applications is available from Larsen Consulting and Sales, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. To get a copy of the list, send an e-mail message to lcsinfo@lcs.com with the Subject: FAQ. Nothing else should be in the message. A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about TCP/IP on PC-compatible computers written by Bernard D. Adoba is posted monthly on comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc. A copy can be obtained by anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu in directory /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/comp/protocols/tcp-ip/ibmpc under the decidedly non-DOS filename comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc_Frequently_Asked_Questions_(FAQ). The version dated May 4, 1994 is 145,270 bytes. I downloaded this ASCII file to my PC and saved it under the filename IBMTCP.FAQ. It is also available under the name ibmtcp.zip from netcom2.netcom.com in directory /pub/mailcom/IBMTCP. An introduction to SLIP is available by pointing your Gopher client at gopher.vt.edu. Look down the menus through Computing Center.../Experimental file system/nyman/whatslip.txt. The Crynwr packet drivers collection is available by anonymous FTP in the well-known Simtel20 collection, as well as through a variety of other methods. The primary publicly available site for Simtel files is at oak.oakland.edu. The packet drivers are in the directory /systems/ibmpc/simtel/pktdrvr: pktd11.zip November 22, 1993 435420 bytes pktd11a.zip November 22, 1993 326152 bytes pktd11b.zip November 22, 1993 344847 bytes pktd11c.zip December 14, 1993 81834 bytes. ================================================================ An early version of this document (dated February 9, 1994) was published in the "Toolkit" section of the March 14, 1994 issue of "Global Network News." GNN is part of the "Global Network Navigator," a World Wide Web publication of O'Reilly Associates. Articles in GNN are aimed at the reader with a general interest in the internet and networked information. You can read GNN by pointing Mosaic or Cello at http://www.wimsey.com/gnn/gnn.html. The latest version of "Windows and TCP/IP for internet access" is available by anonymous FTP from nebula.lib.vt.edu in the directory /pub/windows/winsock under the name wtcpip**.zip. Please send error reports to me at hmkriz@vt.edu. I would be grateful for suggestions for improvements and additions to this document. Thanks again to everyone who replied to my beginner's questions over the past year. I greatly appreciate your patience, and your willingness to share your knowledge. =================================================================