MacWorld 1999 May

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ MacWorld 1999 May / Macworld (1999-05).dmg / Shareware World / Comms & Internet / PPPop 2.0.4 PPC / PPPop2 Reference < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1999-02-20 | 101KB | 1,920 lines

<HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/4.05 (Macintosh; I; PPC) [Netscape]"> <TITLE>PPPop2 Reference</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#551A8B" ALINK="#0000FF" lmargin="10" width="498"> <H2> <A NAME="toc"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/pppopheader.jpg" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=251 WIDTH=345 ALIGN=RIGHT>Table of Contents</H2> 1. <A HREF="#intro">What is PPPop?</A> 2. <A HREF="#install">Requirements and Installation</A> 3. <A HREF="#quickstart">Quick Start</A> 4. <A HREF="#mainref">Reference</A> 4.1. <A HREF="#whichppp">Which PPP Software?</A> 4.2. <A HREF="#multaccount">More than one Internet Account?</A> 4.3. <A HREF="#tour">Menu by Menu</A> 4.3.1. <A HREF="#file">File Menu</A> 4.3.2. <A HREF="#edit">Edit Menu</A> 4.3.3. <A HREF="#special">Special Menu</A> 4.3.4. <A HREF="#timer">Timer Menu</A> 4.3.5. <A HREF="#server">Server Menu</A> 4.3.6. <A HREF="#profile">Profile Menu</A> 4.3.7. <A HREF="#launcher">Launcher Menu</A> 4.4. <A HREF="#shortcuts">Keyboard Shortcuts</A> 4.5. <A HREF="#script">Scripting PPPop</A> 4.6. <A HREF="#AboutIC">About Internet Config</A> 5. <A HREF="#faq">Troubles? Questions?</A> 6. <A HREF="#shareware">PPPop is Shareware: How to Register</A> 7. <A HREF="#contact">Contact Information</A> <DIV ALIGN=right>Version 2.02, December 6, 1998.</DIV> <H2> <A NAME="intro"></A>1. What is PPPop?</H2> <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/pppopicon.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=38 WIDTH=33 ALIGN=LEFT>PPPop is a Macintosh PPP operator application which is useful to anyone who uses PPP to connect to the Internet. PPPop simplifies the process of connecting and disconnecting; it provides a visual indication of your connection status; it enables you to quickly change dialup numbers and Internet accounts; it keeps track of online time, and it launches applications and URLs. <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/buttonintro.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=66 WIDTH=151 ALIGN=RIGHT>When you use PPPop, you don't need to use another control panel to open or close a connection. Just click on PPPop's button. The arrow on the button shows the current state of PPP: up or down. PPPop displays your time online in a separate little window. When a connection opens or closes, PPPop will play a distinctive sound. When you connect, PPPop can automatically run other applications or scripts, or open URLs. Likewise, when you disconnect, PPPop can close your applications and run cleanup scripts for you. PPPop has many more conveniences including session logging, time limits, separate settings for different accounts, and selection of PPP, TCP/IP, and Modem settings directly from a menu. PPPop is also scriptable. <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/themebuttons.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=66 WIDTH=352 ALIGN=RIGHT>PPPop is aware of Mac OS 8.5 Appearance Themes as well as Kaleidoscope Color Schemes. PPPop is designed to be fun to use and nice to look at. It is a Macintosh only application. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H2> <A NAME="install"></A>2. Requirements and Installation</H2> <H3> Requirements</H3> ï Hardware: Macintosh computer with a PowerPC CPU. This version of PPPop will not run on a 68k Macintosh. (An older 68k-compatible version is still available via <A HREF="http://home1.gte.net/frie/">PPPop's Web page</A>.) RAM requirement 600k, 400k with virtual memory. ï System Software: OS 7.1 or later with Appearance extension 1.0.3. OS 8 or later recommended. PPPop is optimized for OS 8.5. ï Network: OpenTransport or MacTCP with compatible PPP software. PPPop has been tested with the following PPP software: OpenTransport/PPP Apple Remote Access <A HREF="ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/conn/ppp/mac-ppp-201.hqx">MacPPP 2.0.1</A> MacPPP 2.5.1 (from Apple Internet Connection Kit, version 1.2) <A HREF="ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/conn/ppp/free-ppp-105.hqx">FreePPP 1.0.5</A> <A HREF="ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/conn/ppp/free-ppp-25v3.hqx">FreePPP 2.5v3</A> <A HREF="ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/conn/ppp/free-ppp-262.hqx">FreePPP 2.6.2</A> <H3> <A NAME="additionalsoftware"></A>Recommended Additional Software</H3> ï Internet Config 2.0 is very strongly recommended. With Internet Config 2.0, you can use PPPop to open URL items from the Launcher. Mac OS 8.5 comes with Apple's own version of Internet Config 2.0. You do not need to install it when you use OS 8.5. The latest version is available from <A HREF="ftp://ftp.share.com/pub/internet-configuration/">Stairways</A>. . ï Apple Location Manager. The version for desktop Macs is included with OS 8.1 and later. You can also download it from <A HREF="http://www.apple.com">Apple</A>. Use the Search function. <H3> Installation</H3> PPPop does not use an installer. You can run it directly from its folder as distributed. PPPop will create a "PPPop" folder in your System Preferences folder. This folder will contain your PPPop Profiles and log files. If you use Apple Location Manager, drag the "PPPop" Location Manager module onto your System folder. The System will place it in your "Location Manager Modules" folder. The next time you restart your computer, Location Manager will recognize the PPPop module. See <A HREF="#profile">Section 4.3.6 ("Profiles")</A> for more information about using PPPop with Location Manager. If you want PPPop on the Apple Menu, I recommend that you place an alias to the application there. If you want PPPop in your Startup Items folder, you probably want it to go to the background after it starts. To make PPPop go to the background you should either place PPPop itself in that folder, or place an alias there and check the "Return to Finder" option in PPPop's Special menu. <H3> Incompatibilities</H3> There are reports that it works variably with MacPPP 2.2.0. PPPop does not work with InterSLIP or with other proprietary PPP software, such as Sonic PPP, or FreePPP 2.5.1-2.5.5. Support for scriptable PPP software, such as Sagem ISDN PPP, Vicom SurfDoubler, and NTS PPP is planned for the future. You cannot use them with this version of PPPop2. PPPop is an application. It is not an extension. It does not patch or alter your System. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H2> <A NAME="quickstart"></A>3. Quick Start</H2> <H3> 1. Arrange the Windows</H3> <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/buttonexample.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=66 WIDTH=62 ALIGN=LEFT>The first thing to do after launching PPPop is to move the Button window to a good spot on your screen. You may also wish to change its size and eliminate the window's title bar. (<A HREF="#special">See Special menu</A>.) Once you eliminate the title bar, you can still move the window by holding down the Command key while dragging it. If you make the window "float", it will always be visible on top of other program's windows. <BLOCKQUOTE>Tip: You can hide/show floating windows by pressing Command-Escape from within any program.</BLOCKQUOTE> Next you should adjust the location of the Timer window. You can move it by holding down the Command key while dragging it. If you select "Auto Position Timer" from the Timer menu, the Timer window will move along with the Button. You can also select a specific font, font size, and style. To cycle the Timer through session time, daily time, and cumulative time press the space bar or click on the Timer window. To set warning time limits and to make the total time automatically reset on a specific day of the month, open the Timer Setup dialog. <BLOCKQUOTE>Important: The timer and log file do not keep time if PPPop is not running! .</BLOCKQUOTE> <H3> 2. Set up the Launcher</H3> Here is an example of how to set up Launcher items: Let's set up Eudora as our email application. We'd like it to start up automatically whenever we connect, and we also want a command key shortcut for this mail function. <TABLE WIDTH="100%" > <TR ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP> <TD>First open "Launcher Setup..." from the Launcher menu. Click "New". The Launcher Item Editor will appear. Now enter a label, "Mail" for instance. Tab to the next field and enter "M" to assign Command-M to this Launcher item. Next, press "Set..." to pick the application for PPPop to launch. Better yet - in the case of Eudora and other applications which can use different settings files - select your "Eudora Settings" file. Finally, check "Launch After Opening PPP Connection". Press "OK".</TD> <TD> <DIV ALIGN=right><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/lieexample1.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=385 WIDTH=403 ALIGN=TEXTTOP></DIV> <DIV ALIGN=right> </DIV> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP>Next, let's add a web browser Launcher item using Netscape. Click "New" again. Enter the label "Web" and a command key shortcut "W". "Set..." the application to Netscape or one if its settings files in the "Netscape Users" folder. Let's say we don't want the browser to start automatically with every connection, but we do want Netscape to quit automatically when we close the connection: check "Kill Before Closing PPP Connection". </TD> <TD> <DIV ALIGN=right><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/lieexample2.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=385 WIDTH=403 ALIGN=TEXTTOP></DIV> <DIV ALIGN=right> </DIV> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP>Finally, add a Launcher item for a frequently visited web page, for example "MacNN". Go to the Launcher Item Editor, enter the label "MacNN". No command key for this one. In the "Object" box, click the URL radio button. Enter the URL which Internet Config 2.0 will then send to your web browser: "http://macnn.com/". </TD> <TD> <DIV ALIGN=right><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/lieexample3.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=385 WIDTH=403></DIV> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> Back in the Launcher Setup screen, click "OK", and then take a look at the Launcher menu. <TABLE WIDTH="100%" > <TR> <TD><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/launchermenuexample.gif" VSPACE=2 BORDER=0 HEIGHT=176 WIDTH=240 ALIGN=TEXTTOP></TD> <TD ALIGN=LEFT VALIGN=TOP>Our three items have been added to the menu: "Mail", "Web", and "MacNN". When you select one of them from this menu, PPPop will go online and then launch the item. <BLOCKQUOTE>Tip: To conveniently launch applications and URLs from PPPop use a utility such as UltraLaunch to set a "hot key" for PPPop. You can then navigate with just the keyboard: press the hot key to bring PPPop to the front and within PPPop start any Launcher item with the command key you assigned to it. </BLOCKQUOTE> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> <H3> 3. Connect</H3> To connect, all you have to do is click the Button. If you are often getting busy signals with one dial-in number, you can set up different PPP configurations which use different dial-in numbers (if available). You then can easily switch to another number with PPPop's Server menu. For more information regarding this see the Reference section on <A HREF="#multaccount">Multiple Dialup Numbers</A> below. <H3> For more Help...</H3> Aside from this Reference, there is online help available via the Help menu. Also all menus and dialogs have balloon help. <BLOCKQUOTE>Tip: With an extended keyboard, you can use the "Help" key to turn balloons on and off.</BLOCKQUOTE> This should be enough to get you started with PPPop. If you have several Internet accounts, or several users share your computer, or if you work at different locations, you should look at the PPPop Reference sections regarding the <A HREF="#server">Server menu</A>, <A HREF="#profile">Profiles</A>, and <A HREF="#multaccount">Location Manager</A>. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H2> <A NAME="mainref"></A>4. Reference</H2> <A HREF="#whichppp">4.1. Which PPP Software?</A> <A HREF="#multaccount">4.2. More than one Internet Account?</A> <A HREF="#tour">4.3. Menu by Menu</A> <A HREF="#file">4.3.1. File Menu</A> <A HREF="#edit">4.3.2. Edit Menu</A> <A HREF="#special">4.3.3. Special Menu</A> <A HREF="#timer">4.3.4. Timer Menu</A> <A HREF="#server">4.3.5. Server Menu</A> <A HREF="#profile">4.3.6. Profile Menu</A> <A HREF="#launcher">4.3.7. Launcher Menu</A> <A HREF="#shortcuts">4.4. Keyboard Shortcuts</A> <A HREF="#script">4.5. Scripting PPPop</A> <A HREF="#AboutIC">4.6. About Internet Config</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="whichppp"></A>4.1. Which PPP Software?</H3> OpenTransport/PPP and Apple Remote Access PPPop is fully functional with current versions of OT/PPP and ARA. Once you have set up your TCP/IP configurations and PPP configurations, you can switch among them from PPPop without opening their control panels. OT/PPP and ARA are automatically installed with new System installations. FreePPP PPPop works well with FreePPP 2.6. However, no Dialing icon will appear on PPPop's button while you are connecting. PPPop will operate most earlier versions of FreePPP too (v1.0.5 and 2.5), but the Connection Status window and Dialing icon will not be available with them. MacPPP PPPop will operate MacPPP, but the Connection Status window and Dialing icon will not be available. IPNetRouter Some users of IPNetRouter have found that they must run an application to open a connection. Thereafter, PPPop can monitor the connection and close it. In the Special menu, select "Connect via Application..." and choose the application you want PPPop to run when you click the button to open a connection. <H4> More than one PPP software</H4> With Open Transport, you can have more than one PPP software installed. From the TCP/IP control panel, you can then select the PPP you wish to use. (I think the most efficient way to do this is to set up a separate TCP/IP configuration for each type of PPP.) PPPop can detect any changes in your selection of PPP software on-the-fly. There is no need to restart PPPop. I recommend that you only have one type of PPP installed unless you are actually using more than one. PPPop, and perhaps other applications, will work a little faster. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="multaccount"></A>4.2 More than one Internet Account?</H3> <H4> Multiple Dialup Numbers</H4> Your Internet account may be accessible via many telephone numbers. If you experience busy signals, get poor modem speeds, or want to call in from different locations, you may wish to set up more than one dialup number. To do this, open your PPP setup control panel or application (for example "Remote Access", "PPP", or "FreePPP Setup") and begin by duplicating the PPP configuration of your main dialup number. (In "Remote Access", for example, you need to open "Configurations..." from the File menu, select your main PPP configuration there and click "Duplicate...".) In the duplicated configuration, change the telephone number and give the new PPP configuration a descriptive name. Save your changes and quit your PPP setup control panel or application. PPPop will add the new PPP configuration(s) to the Server menu. You can now switch among them directly from the Server menu. Used in this way, all calls with PPPop will use the same Timer, Launcher items, and other options. To use separate settings for an Internet account, you should set up <A HREF="#profile">PPPop Profiles</A>. <H4> <A NAME="MultISP"></A>Multiple Internet Service Providers</H4> If you use more than one ISP, you usually need to change a lot of things to switch between them. Fortunately, with PPPop the switch-over now becomes very easy to do once you have set it up: To begin, open the TCP/IP control panel, open "Configuration..." (Command-K) in the File menu and create a new configuration for each additional ISP. (You will have to duplicate an existing configuration to create a new one.) Enter the DNS addresses as supplied by your ISP. Save the configuration with a descriptive name and quit the control panel. Next, open the Remote Access or PPP setup control panel/application and here too create a new PPP configuration for each additional ISP. The PPP configuration is where you enter the telephone number, account ID, passwords, and connection methods for the ISP. Save the new PPP configurations. At this point, you can already use PPPop to switch between ISPs by choosing the proper TCP/IP and PPP configuration from PPPop's Server menu. However, you will also notice a serious problem: many Internet applications won't work properly because they use their own settings - which haven't been changed. Your email program or web browser will probably still try to use the other ISP. NewsWatcher may insist on rebuilding the entire newsgroup list. You may find that connections are refused and passwords re-requested. You might even end up using the other ISP's servers. And PPPop, so far, will only use one set of timers and Launcher items for all of your ISPs. To switch problem-free between ISPs, use the <A HREF="#additionalsoftware">recommended additional software</A>: ï Apple Location Manager ï Internet Config 2.0 or later. ï Location Modules for Internet Config 2.0 and PPPop. And - in outline - use this procedure: <OL> <LI> In PPPop, create a new "<A HREF="#profile">Profile</A>" for each ISP.</LI> <LI> In Internet Config 2.0 (or the Internet control panel if you use Mac OS 8.5), create a new "Set" for each ISP.</LI> <LI> In Location Manager, create a new "Location" for each ISP. Tell Location Manager to automatically switch TCP/IP configuration, PPP configuration, PPPop Profile, and Internet Config Set for each ISP when you change Locations.</LI> <LI> In PPPop set up Launcher items to open your Internet applications from their preferences, settings or user files rather than launching these application directly.</LI> <LI> Use Location Manager to do the switch-over.</LI> </OL> Your Internet applications may not respond correctly to a change in Internet Config settings. You might have to quit and relaunch them. Many applications will do a better job of switching ISPs if you save a separate preferences file for each ISP. (Eudora, NewsWatcher, and Netscape support this, among others.) For each PPPop Profile, you would then set up PPPop's <A HREF="#launcher">Launcher</A> to use the specific settings file which goes with each ISP. For additional information read the chapter about the <A HREF="#server">Server Menu</A>. <H4> Using Location Manager to Manage Multiple Internet Service Providers</H4> <OL> <LI> Install Location Manager and its Control Strip from your Mac OS CD.</LI> Place the PPPop and Internet Config 2.0 Location modules in the "Location Manager Modules" folder which is in your System Extensions folder. (You will need to restart your computer before Location Manager will recognize these modules.) . <LI> Open Location Manager. Select or create a Location. In the scrolling list of available modules, check:</LI> <OL>ï AppleTalk & TCP/IP ï Internet Config ï PPPop ï Remote Access . For each of these items, click the "Edit" button to select the configuration you will use with the ISP. </OL> <LI> Repeat this setup procedure for each Location.</LI> </OL> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="tour"></A>4.3 Menu by Menu</H3> <A HREF="#file">4.3.1. File Menu</A> <A HREF="#edit">4.3.2. Edit Menu</A> <A HREF="#special">4.3.3. Special Menu</A> <A HREF="#timer">4.3.4. Timer Menu</A> <A HREF="#server">4.3.5. Server Menu</A> <A HREF="#profile">4.3.6. Profile Menu</A> <A HREF="#launcher">4.3.7. Launcher Menu</A> Don't forget balloon help for assistance with the menus! <BLOCKQUOTE>Tip: With an extended keyboard, you can use the "Help" key to turn balloons on and off.</BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="file"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/filemenu.gif" VSPACE=3 HEIGHT=122 WIDTH=188 ALIGN=RIGHT>4.3.1. File Menu</H3> <H4> Remote Access... (or PPP...)</H4> Opens your Remote Access or PPP configuration control panel or program. This may be Config PPP, FreePPP Setup, or PPP - depending upon which driver is active. <H4> TCP/IP... (or MacTCP...)</H4> Opens your TCP/IP control panel. If you have MacTCP installed instead of Open Transport, this menu item is MacTCP... <H4> Internet... (or Internet Config...)</H4> <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: Mac OS 8.5 comes with Apple's own version of Internet Config 2.0. You do not need to install it when you use OS 8.5.</BLOCKQUOTE> If you have Internet Config 2.0 installed, this menu item opens the Internet Config application (or the Internet control panel with OS 8.5) so you can edit your Internet preferences. PPPop will use the <A HREF="#AboutIC">Internet Config</A> database of helper applications to parse URL items in the <A HREF="#launcher">Launcher</A>. As of this writing, the current version of Internet Config is 2.0. (<A HREF="ftp://ftp.share.com/pub/internet-configuration/">Click here to download Internet Config</A>) <H4> Quit</H4> If you Quit PPPop while a connection is open, PPPop will close the connection automatically. If you do not want that, enable <A HREF="#Tlinkwarn">Connection Warning on Quit</A> in the Special menu. That way you can quit PPPop without closing the open PPP connection. But beware: if PPPop is not running when a connection is open, the timer and log file will not reflect your actual usage. <A HREF="#tour">Back to Menus</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="edit"></A>4.3.2. Edit Menu</H3> <H4> Copy (or Copy IP Address)</H4> When you are online and the Button window or Timer window is in front, the "Copy" item changes to "Copy IP Address". This feature comes in handy if you need to enter your current IP Address into another program, such as a network game or a telephony program. Bring the Button window or Timer window in front and select "Copy IP Address". Then in the other program, click wherever you need to enter your IP address and do a simple "Paste". When a dialog is in front, the menu item returns to the standard "Copy" function. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: The IP address is only available when you are online, even if you have a static IP address.</BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="#tour">Back to Menus</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="special"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/specialmenu.gif" VSPACE=3 HEIGHT=268 WIDTH=334 ALIGN=RIGHT>4.3.3. Special Menu</H3> <H4> Button Size</H4> <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/fgbuttonset.gif" VSPACE=2 HEIGHT=112 WIDTH=103 ALIGN=LEFT> Select a PPP operator button size: Big: 32 x 32 pixels. Small: 24 x 20 pixels. Tiny: 16 x 16 pixels. With all choices, the green up arrow means the connection is now open. The red down arrow means the connection is now closed. Clicking on the button will reverse the state of the connection. <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/fgdialerset.gif" VSPACE=2 HEIGHT=112 WIDTH=52 ALIGN=LEFT> With OT/PPP, a dialing icon appears when you click the button to open a connection. You can click the button to cancel the process. After that it may take a few seconds for OT/PPP to reset before you can try again. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: When OT/PPP's own connection dialog window is visible, PPPop may not be able to display the dialing icon. However, OT/PPP's connection dialog will serve the same purpose. </BLOCKQUOTE> <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/bgbuttonset.gif" VSPACE=2 HEIGHT=112 WIDTH=154 ALIGN=RIGHT>When PPPop becomes a background application, the button icon gets a distinctive dimmed/recessed appearance. This should allow you to quickly recognize if PPPop is the active application. <H4> Button Title Bar</H4> As shown in above examples, you can get rid of the window's title bar altogether. You can still reposition the window by command-dragging it: keep the Command key held down while clicking in the window and dragging it, then release the Command key. <H4> Floating Button</H4> You can choose to make the Button window a global floating window. Such windows will always be in front of all windows of any application, even when PPPop is not the active application. Global floating windows do not disappear when you select "Hide Others" from the Mac OS's application menu. To hide/show all floating windows, press Command-Escape. <BLOCKQUOTE>Important: There is a bug in the current implementation of floating windows: if you double-click a floating window, the program may crash! If you find yourself frequently double-clicking the Button window and crashing, you may want to make only the Timer window floating.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> Show Status Window</H4> The Connection Status window is a small utility window which displays some information about the PPP connection: your computer's IP address, the remote IP address, total number of bytes sent and received since connecting, and bytes per second data rates. The information in this window is obtained directly from the PPP software. Therefore data rates can fluctuate wildly, because they reflect the data rate of Open Transport, not of your modem or network. The Connection Status window is only available for OT/PPP, Remote Access, and FreePPP 2.6. If you require detailed connection information, consider using an application like TCPWatcher or IPNetMonitor, or use the Information window in FreePPP. <H4> Open Connection on Startup</H4> When PPPop is launched, it will immediately open a PPP connection. <H4> Connect via Application...</H4> You may have a setup which requires certain actions to be taken before a connection is opened. In this case, when you click the Button to connect, PPPop can run an application to manage the connection. Apparently, some configurations of IPNetRouter change TCP/IP configurations such that PPPop cannot open a connection. (It can still monitor and close the connection.) You can use this option to make PPPop run the IPNetRouter application when you want to connect. <H4> Return to Finder</H4> After PPPop opens or closes a connection, it will activate the Finder and go to the background. If checked, PPPop will also go to the background after it starts up. This is useful if you place an alias to PPPop in your Startup Items folder. <H4> Return to Application</H4> A "boomerang" option: after PPPop opens or closes a connection, it will (re)activate the application you were last using before you switched to PPPop. This option is intended for users who often open and close connections to save online time, e.g. to read long text passages offline. <BLOCKQUOTE>Notes: This option and "Return to Finder" are mutually exclusive. Enabling one will automatically disable the other. If PPPop is "auto launching" applications, the last application launched is always active, overriding the "Return to Application" function. Launching any application from within PPPop overrides this option.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> Hide OT/PPP Connect Dialog</H4> If checked (recommended!), OT/PPP will not show any progress dialogs while a connection opens or closes. Error messages from OT/PPP will still appear. If you want to cancel the dialup, click PPPop's button. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: This option is only in effect when operating PPP from PPPop. It will be ignored when you use the PPP control panel, a control strip, or FreePPP Menu.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> <A NAME="logfile"></A>Keep Session Log</H4> PPPop can keep a simple log file. On opening a connection, it writes a line with the date, time, and server. On closing a connection, it writes a line with the date, time, server, session time, and total time. Whenever the day changes, it writes the daily time. The log is a text file with fields delimited by tabs. (The log doesn't look too good in SimpleText because SimpleText doesn't do tabs. Use a text editor with tabs set to 14 or more for better results.) The log file may be imported into a spreadsheet for further computations. <BLOCKQUOTE>Log Example: Date Time Server Status Session Cumulative Daily 8/7/98 7:00:46 AM Delta Prime OPEN 8/7/98 7:01:49 AM Delta Prime CLOSE 00:01:03 010:04:13 8/7/98 5:00:51 PM Delta Prime OPEN 8/7/98 5:20:32 PM Delta Prime CLOSE 00:19:41 010:23:54 8/7/98 00:20:44 8/8/98 9:50:30 AM Xenon OPEN 8/8/98 10:18:45 AM Xenon CLOSE 00:28:15 010:52:09 (...)</BLOCKQUOTE> Where is the log file? PPPop creates the log file in the System Folder -> Preferences -> PPPop folder and names it after the Profile you are using. For example, if your current Profile is called "Alastor Prime", the log file will be named "Alastor Prime Log". Once the log is created by PPPop, you can move it somewhere else on your disk if you wish. <BLOCKQUOTE>Tip: Use Internet Config to set a default text editor, e.g. BBEdit. PPPop will then create the log as a file of your default editor rather than SimpleText. Notes: The log function won't work if PPPop is not running while you are connected. If you import the log into a spreadsheet program, be sure to "Save As..." with a different name. PPPop will not be able to add new entries to a non-standard text file.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> Auto Save Prefs</H4> When checked, PPPop will automatically save its preferences file (which includes all the Timer data) once per minute. This will minimize data loss in the event of a crash. <H4> <A NAME="Tlinkwarn"></A>Connection Warning on Quit</H4> If this item is checked, and a PPP connection is open while you quit PPPop, a warning alert will appear giving you the option of cancelling, closing the connection and then quitting, or just quitting. If this item is unchecked, however, PPPop will just quit without a warning alert. You may wish to disable the warning if you want to just shut down your Mac when you are finished, or if you are scripting PPPop. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: The timer and the session log will no longer reflect your actual usage if a connection is open while PPPop is not running.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> Sound Setup...</H4> Brings up the "Sound Setup" dialog for setting sound options: <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/soundsetup.gif" HEIGHT=368 WIDTH=535 ALIGN=BOTTOM> PPPop will make a clicking sound when you click on the connection button and will play a sound file when a connection opens or closes or when a time limit is reached. You can individually set the playback volume for each of these four sounds. If the group checkbox (1) is not checked, the sound will not play regardless of the volume setting. Adjust the Volume slider (2) to the right to play the sound louder. After any volume adjustment, the sound will automatically play so you can hear the new setting. To test the sound, click the Play button (3). (4) shows the current sound file name. If PPPop cannot find a previously selected sound file, you will hear a short "thwok" when you click the Play button. By default, PPPop will look in the "PPPop Sounds" folder in its own folder for the following three sound files: ï "PPPop - Going Up" ï "PPPop - Going Down" ï "PPPop - Warning" To use different sounds, click the Set button (5) and pick a new sound file. PPPop can use any System 7 sound file. Those are the ones with a little speaker on the icon and which play when double-clicked. (Their Finder type is "sfil"). PPPop will play stereo sounds if you have them. If you later move a selected sound file to another folder, PPPop should still be able to find it. Sounds play asynchronously, meaning that PPPop will not pause in its operation to wait for the sound to finish playing. So go ahead and use big 16-bit stereo sounds! A good source for sounds is <A HREF="http://www.clixsounds.com">Clixsounds</A>. But you can also look in <A HREF="ftp://mirror.apple.com/mirrors/info-mac/art/snd/">Info-Mac</A>. <BLOCKQUOTE>Notes: The maximum volume is affected by the volume in the System's Sound control panel. PPPop's volume settings range from 0 to 200% of this "master volume". To accommodate large sound files, PPPop will attempt to use "temporary memory". As long as you have enough free RAM, you should be able to use megabyte sized sound files without having to increase PPPop's memory partition with the Get Info dialog.</BLOCKQUOTE> <A HREF="#tour">Back to Menus</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="timer"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/timermenu.gif" VSPACE=3 HEIGHT=186 WIDTH=250 ALIGN=RIGHT>4.3.4. Timer Menu</H3> <H4> Show Timer</H4> Select between "Always", "Only When Connected" and "Never". Even if the Timer window is hidden, timing will continue. <H4> Time Display</H4> Select session time, daily time, or total time to display. You can rotate among these three selections directly from the keyboard by pressing tab, Shift-tab, or space. Clicking on the Timer window will also rotate the displayed time. Each of the three times has a different format so that you know at a glance which time you are seeing: <TABLE COLS=3 WIDTH="350" > <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=TOP>Session Time <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/times1.gif" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=34 WIDTH=70 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> HH:MM:SS</TD> <TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=TOP>Daily Time <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/times2.gif" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=34 WIDTH=54 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> HH:MM</TD> <TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=TOP>Total Time <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/times3.gif" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=34 WIDTH=60 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> HHH:MM</TD> </TR> </TABLE> <H4> Auto Position Timer</H4> If you don't intend to position the Timer and Button windows independently of each other, it's probably a good idea to check this menu item. If checked, the Timer window will always stay attached to the Button window when you move the Button window - positioned just below it. <H4> Floating Timer</H4> Independent of the Button window you can also choose to make the Timer window a global floating window. Such windows will always be in front of all windows of any application. Global floating windows do not disappear when you select "Hide Others" from the Mac OS's application menu. To hide or show a floating window, press Command-Escape. <BLOCKQUOTE>Important: There is a bug in the current implementation of floating windows: if you double-click a floating window, the program may crash! If you find yourself frequently double-clicking the Button window and crashing, you may want to make only the Timer window floating.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> Disable Font Menu</H4> If you have a large number of fonts installed, PPPop may take a long time to launch while the Font menu is loading. Once you settle on a timer font, check this option. It could speed up PPPop's launch time considerably. You can re-enable the Font menu at any time by unchecking this item. It might take a few seconds then until all fonts are loaded. <H4> Font, Size and Style</H4> <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/timeshot.gif" VSPACE=2 HEIGHT=35 WIDTH=132 ALIGN=RIGHT> You can customize the Timer window by using any font, size and style you like. The Timer window resizes to accommodate your choice. Depending on the font, however, some choices might not center properly or might otherwise look strange. Have fun. <H4> Timer Setup...</H4> Brings up the "Timer Setup" dialog for setting timer options: <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/timersetup.gif" HEIGHT=416 WIDTH=444 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> Manually enter the total time (1). Set the day of the month (2) for the total time to reset automatically. The Timer can round up the connection time by an optional number of minutes each time a connection is closed (3). Most Internet Service Providers which keep track of your online time round up to the next whole minute for billing purposes. I have been told that some round to the next 10 or even 15 minutes! By setting the "round up" time, you can avoid large discrepancies between your actual time online and the amount you are billed for. Set warning time limits for session (4), daily (5), and total time (6). Set the method of notification (7): a sound, and/or an alert, and/or the connection is cut off immediately. The last option may sound drastic, but it could protect you from an unattended connection: maybe you (or your kids!) left the room with an open connection and forgot to come back, or a connection opened by itself in the middle of the night, etc. <A HREF="#tour">Back to Menus</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="server"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/servermenu.gif" VSPACE=3 HEIGHT=240 WIDTH=241 ALIGN=RIGHT>4.3.5. Server Menu</H3> PPPop creates a menu with a list of PPP configurations it finds in the PPP Preferences file maintained by Config PPP (or FreePPP Setup) or the Remote Access Connections file maintained by OT/PPP. Underneath the PPP configurations PPPop will list your TCP/IP configurations if you have more than one of them. And if you use OT/PPP and have more than one modem configuration, PPPop will list them too below your TCP/IP configurations. You can directly select any PPP, TCP/IP or modem configuration from PPPop's Server menu - no need to open another control panel. To avoid conflicts, the Server menu is disabled when a PPP connection is open or when your PPP setup control panel is open. Typically, you would create a PPP configuration for each dialup number available to you. Several of these would be associated with the TCP/IP configuration of one Internet Service Provider. If you change TCP/IP configurations, you would usually need to change the PPP configuration also. I suggest that you create your configurations with descriptive names to make it easier for you to recognize them. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: it is possible to select combinations of PPP and TCP/IP configurations which do not work with each other. In the Server menu picture above, you might accidentally select "GTE Net" and try to use it with "Delta - PPP". One way to avoid this error is to use <A HREF="#profile">Profiles</A> to accomplish your switching.</BLOCKQUOTE> If you use more than one type of PPP software, you can assign each to a different TCP/IP configuration. The TCP/IP control panel allows you to select a specific PPP software for each TCP/IP configuration from a popup menu. For example, I have both OT/PPP and FreePPP installed on my system. To change from one to the other, I just change TCP/IP configurations ("Delta - FreePPP" and "Delta - PPP" in the Server menu picture above). There are a few things to look out for, though... When you switch to a different Internet Service Provider while switching TCP/IP configurations, your Internet applications won't be aware of it. For example, an email program will now need to use a different mail server with a different network address and password. You would normally have to change those manually in your email program each time you switch TCP/IP configurations. The solution to this problem is Internet Config 2.0. With Internet Config 2.0, you can now change "Sets" quickly. Do this switching with the Internet Config application, the Internet Config control strip module, or automatically with Location Manger. See <A HREF="#MultISP">Multiple Internet Service Providers</A> for some further discussion. <BLOCKQUOTE>Important: Back up "PPP Preferences" in your System's Preferences folder. It is possible that PPPop could trash it, since it must open and write to it. OT/PPP or ARA users should also backup "Remote Access Connections".</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> Remember Server with Profile</H4> If you choose to have PPPop "Remember Server with Profile", it will automatically switch to the PPP, TCP/IP, and modem configuration you were last using with a <A HREF="#profile">Profile</A>. If you do not check "Remember Server with Profile", then the Server menu's items will not be changed when you switch between Profiles. If you use Location Manager however, it would be best not to use "Remember Server with Profile". Let Location Manager do the account switching for you. <A HREF="#tour">Back to Menus</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="profile"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/profilemenu.gif" VSPACE=3 HEIGHT=116 WIDTH=141 ALIGN=RIGHT>4.3.6. Profile Menu</H3> <H4> What is a Profile?</H4> A Profile a set of PPPop preferences. PPPop stores all of your settings (any options you chose, timer data, Launcher items, log file name, and so forth) in a preferences file. You can have several of these preference sets, each with a different name, and switch between them by selecting its name from the Profile menu. <H4> When would I need Profiles?</H4> <OL> <LI> You use more than one Internet account. You may want to keep separate timer data, a separate log file, or launch different scripts or Internet applications from the Launcher for each account. If you select "Remember Server with Profile" in the Server menu PPPop can also automatically switch your PPP, TCP/IP, and modem preferences when you change Profiles.</LI> <LI> Several family members use the same computer. Each user can customize PPPop to taste with his own Profile.</LI> <LI> You use your computer at different locations and want separate settings or timer data for each. If you use Location Manager, you can even have it tell PPPop to switch Profiles for you when you make a Location change.</LI> </OL> <H4> What about my old PPPop 1.x preference files?</H4> Previous versions of PPPop used "double-clickable" preference files: you could start PPPop with a given preference set by double clicking it. That no longer works. But you can bring those sets into PPPop2 as Profiles: go to the Profile Setup dialog and click the "Import" button. <H4> Profile Setup...</H4> Brings up the "Profile Setup" dialog: <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/profilesetup.gif" HEIGHT=307 WIDTH=436 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> "Import" (1) will bring in an old PPPop 1.x preference file. This function is only useful for compatibility with previous versions of PPPop. To make a Profile active directly from this dialog, double-click on it in the scrolling list. <A HREF="#tour">Back to Menus</A> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="launcher"></A><IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/launchermenu.gif" VSPACE=3 HEIGHT=234 WIDTH=288 ALIGN=RIGHT>4.3.7. Launcher Menu</H3> There are many convenient ways to launch frequently used applications: aliases, palettes, menu additions, popups, and so forth. But PPPop's Launcher may offer an additional advantage to you: it responds to the state of your PPP connection. You may have applications or scripts which you like to start after a connection is open. There are likely some which you would like to automatically quit when the connection is closed. You may even want to run scripts or programs right after a connection closes. PPPop's Launcher does all of these things. The Launcher can also help in another situation: many people have experienced the wonder of catching their Mac dialing up and connecting all on its own (see the <A HREF="#Tpossess">PPPop FAQ</A>). To solve this problem, it is often enough to change a specific option in your PPP control panel: in OpenTransport's PPP or Remote Access control panel it is "Connect automatically when starting TCP/IP applications", in MacPPP 2.5 "Disable Auto Connect", and in FreePPP "Allow applications to open connection". Once you changed that option however, you would find that applications such as Netscape or NewsWatcher will not be able to open a connection anymore if you launch them alone. In that case, PPPop's Launcher can still get you there: it can open a connection and start the application for you. In the <A HREF="#lie">Launcher Item Editor</A> you can set items to: <UL>ï launch automatically whenever PPPop opens a connection ("Auto Open" flag) To temporarily disable items from automatic launching you have three options: <OL> <LI> Check "Disable Auto Launching" in the Launcher menu.</LI> <LI> Hold down the Shift key when you click on PPPop's connection button.</LI> <LI> Use the AppleScript command: "set launch switch to false".</LI> </OL> ï launch automatically whenever PPPop closes a connection ("Auto Close" flag) Some software, such as <A HREF="ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/">Daemonkiller</A>, should run at this time. . ï be killed whenever PPPop closes a connection ("Auto Kill" flag) This is a handy way to quit any application which you do not need anymore once you have closed the connection, e.g. NotifyMail or NCSA Telnet.</UL> <H4> Launch "Auto Open" Items</H4> Launches all of the Launcher items which have been set to "Auto Open". It enables you to launch a suite of applications manually with one command. "Launch 'Auto Open' Items" does not open a PPP connection, although some of the applications you launch may try to do so. To reduce your time online, you could use this feature to start all your regularly used Internet programs with one keystroke before opening a connection. <H4> Kill "Auto Kill" Items</H4> Quits all of the Launcher items which have been selected for "Auto Kill". <H4> Disable Auto Launching</H4> When selected PPPop ignores all "Auto Open", "Auto Kill", and "Auto Close" settings. At that point you can still manually start and quit these Launcher items with "Launch 'Auto Open' Items" and "Kill 'Auto Kill' Items". "Disable Auto Launching" does not affect the individual start of Launcher items, you can still manually start them as usual via their keyboard shortcuts or by selecting them from the Launcher menu. <H4> Launch From PPPop Only</H4> When a connection is opened or closed from another application, PPPop will not operate its Launcher. This has the same effect as "Disable Auto Launching" unless you are opening or closing a PPP connection from within PPPop. <H4> Launcher Setup...</H4> Brings up the "Launcher Setup" dialog for setting up Launcher items: <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/launchersetup.gif" HEIGHT=299 WIDTH=628 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> The Launcher Setup can hold up to 200 items (1). Each line represents one Launcher item. New (2), Edit (3), and Delete (4) act on the highlighted line in the list. A New item will enter the list immediately below the currently highlighted item. Arrow keys (up, down, Command-up, Command-down) will scroll the list. You can check the "Auto Open", "Auto Close", and "Auto Kill" flags (5) directly on the list with a mouse-click in the desired line and column. <BLOCKQUOTE>Launcher Example: In above picture the last item in the list (with the label "Mail") will do the following: When PPPop is the active application, pressing Command-M will open a connection, then launch the Eudora email program by starting its settings file, and bring it to the front. Since this Launcher item also has the "Auto Open" flag checked, the Eudora program will be launched whenever any PPP connection is opened - not just when Command-M is pressed.</BLOCKQUOTE> To take this example further, you could write a little AppleScript that launches Eudora and tells it to get your email right away: <BLOCKQUOTE>tell application "Finder" to open "Hard Disk:Eudora:Eudora Settings" as alias -- absolute path tell application "Eudora" connect with checking and sending -- check for mail, and send any queued messages end tell</BLOCKQUOTE> Save this script as an application (e.g. "Get Mail"), and set it up as an object to launch. <A NAME="lie"></A>By clicking "New", or by selecting a Launcher item and clicking "Edit", or by double-clicking any Launcher item the "Launcher Item Editor" is brought up: <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/lie.gif" HEIGHT=385 WIDTH=398 ALIGN=TEXTTOP> <H4> Required Items</H4> <UL>ï Menu Label (6): this is the name of the Launcher item and the name you will see in PPPop's Launcher menu. ï Object (7): either a URL or an application, a script, preferences file, or other file.</UL> <H4> Optional Items</H4> <UL>ï Keyboard shortcut (8). As an aid to finding a valid and unused command key, check the Command Key Filter, or use the popup menu to select a key (9). If the letters in the popup menu do not make sense on your non-US keyboard, uncheck the Command Key Filter and type the key you wish to use into the edit field. ï Automatic Actions (10): "Auto Open", "Auto Close", and "Auto Kill". Tip: To conveniently launch applications and URLs from PPPop use a utility such as UltraLaunch to set a "hot key" for PPPop. You can then navigate with just the keyboard: press the hot key to bring PPPop to the front and within PPPop start any Launcher item with the command key you assigned to it.</UL> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="shortcuts"></A>4.4. Keyboard Shortcuts</H3> <H4> Starting up PPPop</H4> <UL>ï Hold down the Shift key to temporarily disable "Open Connection on Startup" from the Special menu.</UL> <H4> Button Window</H4> <UL>ï [return] or [enter]: same as clicking on the button. ï Shift-click: temporarily disable auto-launching or auto-killing. ï Command-click or Command-enter: open Launcher Setup dialog. ï Command-drag: move the Button window. If you select "Auto Position Timer" from the Timer menu, then the Timer window will follow along, positioned just below the Button window.</UL> <H4> Timer Window</H4> <UL>ï [tab], [Shift-tab], [space] or clicking in the Timer window will cycle the timer display through daily, session, and cumulative time. ï Command-click: open the Timer Setup dialog. ï Command-drag: move the Timer window.</UL> <H4> Launcher Menu</H4> <UL>ï Shift-select: start the Launcher item without opening a PPP connection. ï Shift-Command-[key]: start the Launcher item via command key equivalent without opening a PPP connection.</UL> <H4> Connection Status Window</H4> <UL>ï "s" or "i": show or hide the Connection Status Window.</UL> <H4> Dialogs</H4> <UL>ï [return] or [enter]: same as clicking OK button. ï Command-. [Command-period] or ESC: same as clicking Cancel button. Note: If some dialogs are too large on your screen to show the OK or Cancel buttons, operate the dialog with these keyboard shortcuts.</UL> <H4> Balloon Help</H4> <UL>ï Help key (on extended keyboards): turn balloon help on and off.</UL> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="script"></A>4.5 Scripting PPPop</H3> When you start PPPop from a script, you can tell it to "run" or to "launch". PPPop2 cannot be launched from one of its preferences files. Scripts may not work correctly if other versions of PPPop are on the same disk. If you notice any problems, remove all other versions of PPPop. <H4> AppleScript Dictionary</H4> auto launch -- launch all "Auto Open" items in the <A HREF="#launcher">Launcher Menu</A> auto kill -- kill all "Auto Kill" items in the <A HREF="#launcher">Launcher Menu</A> change config -- notify PPPop that a PPPop configuration was changed connect -- no parameters disconnect -- no parameters quit get/set to: <UL>ï Boolean (true/false): <UL>blastoff -- open a PPP connection when PPPop is started boomerang -- after PPPop opens or closes a connection it switches back to the previously used application button title bar -- button with drag strip exclusive launching -- enable auto launching of applications only when PPPop itself opens or closes a connection fast quit -- on Quit, PPPop will not care if a PPP connection is still open finder -- PPPop returns to the Finder after opening or closing a connection launcher switch -- enable auto launching of applications logging -- PPPop logging function monthly time reset -- reset total time monthly PPP up -- get PPP connection status; read only <UL>Example: if PPP up then -- returns true or false</UL> remember server -- on startup or Profile switch, select last server used by PPPop round up -- when connection closes, round session time up to the value set in Timer Setup safety save -- automatically save timer data to disk once per minute show timer -- timer visible or not verbose -- show modal connection dialogs (OT/PPP only) warning alert -- post a notification alert when time limit is reached warning cut -- cut the connection when the time limit is reached warning sound -- play a sound when a connection time limit is reached </UL> ï numeric: <UL>daily limit -- daily time to trigger warning, in seconds daily time -- daily time in seconds reset day -- day of month to auto reset cumulative timer; 1-31 please session limit -- session time to trigger warning, in seconds session time -- session time in seconds total limit -- total time to trigger warning, in seconds total time -- total time in seconds <UL>Example: set total time to (2*3600 + 40*60 + 11) -- sets time to 2h40m11s <DL> </DL> </UL> </UL> ï enumerated: <UL> <DL> <DT> button size (big, small, tiny) -- PPPop operator button size</DT> <DT> display time (session, daily, total) -- which time is displayed</DT> <DD> Example:</DD> <DD> set show time to daily -- timer shows daily time</DD> <DT> show timer (always, sometimes, never) -- always/only when connected/never</DT> <DT> sound (all, off, clicks) -- all sounds, no sounds (except alerts), button clicks only</DT> </DL> </UL> ï string: <UL> <DL> <DT> IP address -- current IP address, valid only when connected; read only</DT> <DT> Modem -- active modem configuration name (OT/PPP and Remote Access only)</DT> <DT> profile -- active PPPop Profile name</DT> <DT> server -- active PPP server name</DT> <DD> Example:</DD> <DD> set server to "Delta Prime" -- alters active configuration in PPP Prefs</DD> <DT> TCPIP -- active TCP/IP configuration name</DT> </DL> </UL> </UL> <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H3> <A NAME="AboutIC"></A>4.6. About Internet Config</H3> <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: Mac OS 8.5 comes with Apple's own version of Internet Config 2.0. You do not need to install it with OS 8.5. The Internet Setup Assistant will initialize it for you.</BLOCKQUOTE> Internet Config 2.0 is a system for storing your Internet preferences in a form accessible to any application which needs them. PPPop uses Internet Config to launch URLs by, for example, opening your web browser of choice and directing it to a specific web page, or accessing a favorite ftp site. Eudora, NewsWatcher, Netscape, and Internet Explorer are other applications which use the Internet Config database. Internet Config 2.0 comes with a Control Strip module and a Location Manager module. These can make it very easy to use more than one dialup account. <H4> Using Internet Config with PPPop</H4> Run the Internet Config 2.0 application. If it asks you if you want to install the Internet Config Extension, say that you do. Click on each button in the Main window in turn, entering appropriate preferences. If you don't understand an item, turn on Balloon Help. Finally, Save your changes and Quit. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: If you use Mac OS 8.5 use the new "Internet" control panel to make these changes. This is Apple's own version of Internet Config 2.0.</BLOCKQUOTE> It is important to realize that you don't have to set every preference. For example, if you don't use WAIS, there's no need to set your WAIS Gateway preference. See Internet Config 2.0 "User Documentation" for more information. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H2> <A NAME="faq"></A>5. Troubles? Questions?</H2> <OL> <LI> <A HREF="#Tnowork">Why doesn't PPPop work?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tnofind">What does "PPP not found. I'm quitting." mean?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tnodisco">I can't connect/disconnect with PPPop.</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tpossess">Why does my modem dial up and connect all by itself as if possessed?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Thangup">Why can't I cancel when OT/PPP is connecting?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tobso">Is PPPop obsolete now that I use FreePPP?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tsound">How do I change the sounds?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tcomplex">How about some more complex logging options?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tpassword">I registered an older version of PPPop. My password doesn't work anymore.</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tworks">How does PPPop work?</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tstartcrash">PPPop2 is in my Startup Items folder and it crashes!</A></LI> <LI> <A HREF="#Tregcrash">PPPop2 crashes when I click "Register" and when I open the Help dialog.</A></LI> </OL> <H4> <A NAME="Tnowork"></A>Why doesn't PPPop work?</H4> PPPop is just an application. It does not install any extension, configure, or patch anything. But you must have a PPP driver - MacPPP, FreePPP, Remote Access, or OT/PPP - up and running before you can use PPPop. If you are having trouble with this step, I strongly recommend reading the <A HREF="http://www.rockstar.com/ppp.shtml">FreePPP 2.5 FAQ</A>. <H4> <A NAME="Tnofind"></A>What does "PPP not found. I'm quitting." mean?</H4> When PPPop runs, it checks to see which PPP driver is installed. If it doesn't find a PPP driver it knows about, it puts up this message. If you have Open Transport TCP/IP, make sure you have at least one TCP/IP configuration set up and make sure it uses one of the <A HREF="#install">PPP drivers supported by PPPop</A>. <H4> <A NAME="Tnodisco"></A>I can't connect/disconnect with PPPop.</H4> PPPop uses the same code as FreePPP 1.0.5 to open and close a PPP connection with MacPPP or FreePPP. If you cannot connect/disconnect using Config PPP (from FreePPP 1.0.5) or FreePPP Setup (from FreePPP 2.5+), then it won't work with PPPop either. If it does work with Config PPP, it should also work with PPPop. Please let me know if this is not the case. PPPop may not be compatible with MacPPP 2.2.0 or MacPPP 2.2.1SD; some users have no problems, others do. PPPop is not compatible with commercial PPP software such as InterSLIP or NTS PPP. And PPPop is not compatible with FreePPP versions between 2.5.1 and 2.5.5. <H4> <A NAME="Tpossess"></A>Why does my modem dial up and connect all by itself, as if possessed?</H4> With or without PPPop, many people have had the problem that their machine connects by itself, often in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason. There is more information about this in the <A HREF="http://www.rockstar.com/ppp.shtml">FreePPP 2.5 FAQ</A>. Here are some actions to try: <OL> <LI> If you are using MacTCP, install FreePPP 2.5v3. I am told there is a bug in MacTCP which this version can patch.</LI> <LI> If you are using Open Transport, open the TCP/IP control panel Options and select "Load only when needed". (You need to set your User Mode in the Edit menu to at least "Advanced" to get to the TCP/IP Options.)</LI> <LI> In OpenTransport's PPP or Remote Access control panel disable "Connect automatically when starting TCP/IP applications", in MacPPP 2.5 "Auto Connect", and in FreePPP "Allow applications to open connection".</LI> <LI> Isolate an extension which might be causing the problem, especially something having to do with a network. As a last resort, try starting up without extensions and adding them back in a group at a time.</LI> </OL> <H4> <A NAME="Thangup"></A>Why can't I cancel when OT/PPP is connecting?</H4> Clicking PPPop's button while a connection is being opened is supposed to cancel the process and return the connection to idle. Some people found that when they did this, either nothing happened, or PPP ended up in limbo. The problem turned out to be in the modem scripts. The proper hangup sequence had been commented out with "!" marks. It was supposed to send the "+++" escape code to get the modem into command mode rather than using hardware signalling via DTR. Simply removing the "!" marks before these 4 commands solved the problem. <BLOCKQUOTE>Bad Modem Script Example: @LABEL 92 ! Escape from data to command mode !matchclr !matchstr 1 96 "OK\13\10" !write "+++" !matchread 20 !</BLOCKQUOTE> The modem CCL scripts can be read and edited with BBEdit or another text editor. Make sure they are saved with their original file type 'mlts' and creator 'slnk'. While you are at it, set the serial port speed to 115,000 for 28.8 or faster modems - if your Mac will support it. <H4> <A NAME="Tobso"></A>Is PPPop obsolete now that I use FreePPP?</H4> FreePPP comes with a control strip module and a menu bar extension. It has a session timer and can launch an application when a connection opens. It is certainly more convenient to use FreePPP than MacPPP. But I believe most of you will find that PPPop still has a purpose in life: <UL>ï The control strip is not so handy for people who don't use its modules frequently, or who don't have a lot of screen space. . ï The menu bar can get pretty cramped with application menu, help menu, keyboard menu, desktop printer menu, time, battery status, Now Menus, Microsoft Office Manager and what-all. . ï PPPop's window can be very small, can be positioned anywhere, and gives you a visible reminder for example that you are daydreaming while composing email online. . ï PPPop gives you a separate Timer window which you can size and position anywhere. It has not only a session timer but also a daily and total timer with warning limits. . ï PPPop can not only launch an application or script automatically, it also allows you to launch them manually, launch URLs, and it can quit your applications when you go off line as well as clean up any automatic software you have running. . ï Some users don't care about any of this, but they really like the sound playing capabilities. . ï PPPop is scriptable. . ï You don't have to use either FreePPP's add-ons or PPPop: you can use them all at the same time if you want to.</UL> <H4> <A NAME="Tsound"></A>How do I change the sounds?</H4> The sounds distributed with PPPop are from <A HREF="http://www.clixsounds.com/">Clixsounds</A>. They have a large collection of sounds and I'm sure you will like some. Another favorite way to get sounds is to extract them from games. There are several good shareware sound editors which can do this. The hard way is to open the game with ResEdit, copy a 'snd ' resource, and save it as a file of type 'sfil'. You can also capture sounds from CD's, and, of course, record some with your microphone. To change the sounds PPPop uses, just go to "Sound Setup..." in the Special menu. <H4> <A NAME="Tcomplex"></A>How about some more complex logging options?</H4> This version of PPPop has an option to round up the connection time to a settable number of minutes. Many people want to compute exact connection and telephone charges. These are often rather complicated because they depend upon time of day, time connected, server used, country of residence, holiday or weekend, and so forth. I recommend that you look at Eric Preston's Internet Logger. (The current version will be on an <A HREF="ftp://mirror.aol.com/pub/info-mac/comm/inet/conn/">Info-Mac mirror</A>.) <H4> <A NAME="Tpassword"></A>I registered an older version of PPPop. My password doesn't work anymore.</H4> PPPop v1.5 was the first version to require a password to register. With v1.6 the password scheme changed. Still, anyone who registered v1.4-1.5 is entitled to a free upgrade to v1.6. Please email me if you need your new password. PPPop2 is a new program and requires its own new password. Previously registered users may upgrade for a small fee. They will receive a special upgrade password when they re-register. <BLOCKQUOTE>Note: If you have changed your email address, please include your old registration confirmation from Kagi when you contact me, if possible.</BLOCKQUOTE> <H4> <A NAME="Tworks"></A>How does PPPop work?</H4> Applications which open a connection generally do so by requesting network services. PPPop, however, operates more like a control panel for your PPP software. It talks directly to the PPP driver via a programmer's interface. When your PPP software signals that a connection has opened or closed, PPPop reacts. If PPP does not know what the state of a connection is, neither does PPPop. PPPop also reads the preferences file maintained by your PPP software to get a list of your configurations. If you change the configuration via PPPop's Server menu, then PPPop will alter this preferences file. <H4> <A NAME="Tstartcrash"></A>PPPop2 is in my Startup Items folder and it crashes!</H4> Some users have reported that when they put PPPop2 (or its alias) in their Startup Items folder, PPPop2 crashes. It seems this can happen when there are other items in the Startup which launch after PPPop2. I am still looking for the cause of this problem. These users have been able to work around the problem by renaming PPPop2 (or its alias) to "~PPPop2". As Startup items are launched in alphabetical order, this should force PPPop2 to launch last. <H4> <A NAME="Tregcrash"></A>PPPop2 crashes when I click "Register" and when I open the Help dialog.</H4> Some users have reported that PPPop2 crashes when they open the Register or Help dialogs. So far, all of these users have been running the Appearance 1.0 extension on their systems. It is buggy. Apple has replaced it with Appearance 1.0.3. Appearance 1.0.3 can be obtained from <A HREF = "http://www.apple.com">Apple</A>. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H2> <A NAME="shareware"></A>6. Registering PPPop2</H2> PPPop is Shareware. It is fully functional as distributed, but it does put up a shareware notice. When you register, you will receive a password to disable this shareware notice. Why pay? If you use the program and you like it, think of it as a tip for good service. Prices: Single-user license: US$20 Covers use by one person on one computer at a time. You do not need a separate registration for each computer you own. Single-user upgrade: US$10 Upgrade from any previously registered version of PPPop to PPPop2. Site license: US$99 Covers all users at your site (building - computer lab, university, or small company). World-wide license: US$2000 Covers all users within your organization on the entire planet and in near Earth orbit. ISP license: by arrangement Non-exclusive license for an ISP to distribute unlimited copies of PPPop with their Internet connection kit. Includes removal of shareware notices and minor customization, e.g. with company colors. You may distribute this program intact and unmodified along with the Register application and full documentation, but you may not charge for this program! <H3> How to register</H3> The easiest way is to <A HREF="http://order.kagi.com/?RF&S">Register PPPop Online</A> via Kagi Shareware. or If you prefer to deal direct, you can mail US$ in cash or check directly to the author: . Rob Friefeld 4607 Colorado Street Long Beach, CA 90814 U.S.A. . or <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/i-registericon.gif" VSPACE=2 HEIGHT=39 WIDTH=49 ALIGN=LEFT>Use "Register PPPop", the registration application distributed with PPPop. It will present you with a simple screen to produce a registration form for you. You can email, fax, or postal-mail the form to Kagi Shareware, my collection agent. If you don't have "Register PPPop", then you have an incomplete distribution archive of PPPop. Other things may be missing as well. In that case I recommend that you download the full current version from the <A HREF="http://home1.gte.net/frie/">PPPop Web Page</A>. <H3> Anti-litigation Statement</H3> PPPop is distributed because it may be useful. It is not warranted to do anything, nor to be free of bugs. If PPPop causes you grave physical, financial, or emotional harm - you have my sympathy. Beyond that, the author disclaims any liability for any kind of damages whatsoever resulting from the use of this program. You use this software at your own risk. Do not use PPPop if you do not agree to these conditions. PPPop2 is © 1998 by Rob Friefeld. All rights reserved. PPPop may not be distributed for profit or as part of any commercial offering without first obtaining the express written consent of the author. <H3> Attributions</H3> The code which controls MacPPP was derived from MacPPP 2.0.1, ©1993 Merit Network, Inc. and The University of Michigan. Control of FreePPP 2.6 is done via Steve Dagley's FreePPP Public Interface. Previous versions of PPPop have been localized. <A HREF="http://www-chimie.u-strasbg.fr/mem/GB">Guy Brand</A> has made a French localization of PPPop. <A HREF="mailto:ishi@netlaputa.ne.jp">Haruka Ishi</A> has made the Japanese localization and contributed a great deal to the design of PPPop. <A HREF="mailto:joshua@VLab.iaa.nctu.edu.tw">June-Hao Hou</A> has made a Traditional Chinese localization. <A HREF="mailto:F.G.A.Meijer@inter.nl.net">Frank Meijer</A> has made a Dutch localization. Localization of this version of PPPop is currently underway. The graphical design of PPPop is mostly the work of <A HREF="mailto:bauer@eunet.at">Andreas Bauer</A>, co-developer of PPPop. <A HREF="#toc">Back to Table of Contents</A> <H2> <A NAME="contact"></A>7. Contact Information</H2> Rob Friefeld, 4607 Colorado Street, Long Beach, CA 90814 Email 1: <A HREF="mailto:frie@gte.net">frie@gte.net</A> Email 2: <A HREF="mailto:rob@kagi.com">rob@kagi.com</A> <IMG SRC="Ref-grfx/pppopicon.gif" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=38 WIDTH=33 ALIGN=RIGHT>WorldWideWeb: <A HREF="http://home1.gte.net/frie/">PPPop Web Page</A> </BODY> </HTML>