Die Ultimative Software-P…i Collection 1996 & 1997/Die Ultimative Software-Pakete CD-ROM fur Atari Collection 1996 & 1997.iso/i/internet/software/www/stik/readme

Text File | 1995-10-03 | 11.1 KB | 290 lines

STiK.ACC       Freeware TCP/IP Network Layer             Version 01.02

Introduction.

    STiK.ACC is a desk accessory that implements TCP/IP on
the Atari ST/TT/Falcon series of computers.  This software
will allow you to connect to the Internet.


Limitations.

    Currently, STiK only supports SLIP for Internet connection.
    Only HTML and IRC clients currently available...


What you need.

    To use STiK you will need a modem and an Internet Service Provider
who supports SLIP.  Apart from that, STiK should run on *ANY* model
of ST, even on an original 520ST with no hard disk.  STiK uses a
minimum of about 120K of memory to run.  Other programs written to
access the Internet using STiK might not have sufficient memory to run
on a 512k ST.  In particular, HTML-Browser will not run with STiK in
512K of memory.  At least, I have not been able to make it work.


Where to put the files.

    STiK.ACC should be placed on the root directory of your boot
disk (or in the directory where you normally place desk accessories).
The config files STIK.RSC, DEFAULT.CFG, DIAL.SCR, and HOSTA should
be placed in a directory named STIK_CFG on the same drive as STiK.ACC.

    The programs LISTPORT.TOS and IRC.PRG can be run from anywhere.

    STiK is internally configured to save a file called `DOMAIN.TXT'
every 5 minutes.  This file has a maximum size of about 35k, but is
usually smaller.  DOMAIN.TXT is written in the STIK_CFG directory.

    **NOTE**  If you want the config directory to be somewhere
else, or have a different name, then create a text file called
STIK_DIR.DAT in the root directory of your boot drive (or the
directory where STiK.ACC is started from).  The first line of
STIK_DIR.DAT should be the full pathname of the config directory
*including* the trailing '\' or '/'.  Any other lines are ignored.
eg:
d:\configs\


How to configure.

    Some people who have tested this software have found it difficult
to set up.  It might be necessary to get some help from somewhere.
Your Internet Service Provider would be a good place to start.

    [e-mail] has generously offered to help set
up STiK.  You can also email me ([e-mail]) or Denesh
([e-mail] or [e-mail]) for
assistance.  Nobody has volunteered their phone number :-))
so if you don't have access to email, you can send snail mail
to Denesh at the address listed in the SUPPORT.TXT file.

    However, the configuration is not really all that difficult,
and I've recently made some improvements.  Try editing the
DEFAULT.CFG file using a text editor.  Read the comments next
to each variable and set them to values that seem appropriate
to you (or specified by your provider).  If you don't know what
a variable is for, then leave it.  It will most probably work.

    The SERIAL_PORT variable is slightly more complicated.  To
set the serial port and speed, first run the program listport.tos
which will show all the ports and speeds your Atari computer has
to offer.  Select the port and speed you want, then edit the line
`SERIALPORT = port name' in default.cfg, and `BAUD = speed' in the
DIAL.SCR file.

    *NOTE*  If you have HSMODEM installed, listport might list
speeds that are only possible after hardware modifications.
Be carefull not to select a speed your port is not capable of.

    Disable also stops the DOMAIN.TXT file being written.


The DIAL.SCR file.

    Once again, use a text editor to edit DIAL.SCR.  Read the
comments in the file carefully, and make the appropriate changes.
If you have any trouble with the setup, your service provider
(or a friend, perhaps) should be able to help.


Using STiK.ACC.

    Once STiK.ACC has been configured correctly, it is
very easy to use.  Simply click on STiK TCP/IP from the
Desk menu, then choose an action to perform.  The current
actions are Connect, Disconnect, Disable, and Other Stuff.
The Other Stuff dialog currently only as one option,
which is to show the amount of free memory (Internal to STiK).

    The Connect and Disconnect options are quite obvious.
Connect connects to your provider, and Disconnect hangs up.
Disable is for use when you want to run another program
that uses the same serial port as STiK.  When enabled,
STiK regularly reads from the serial port, looking for
TCP/IP Packets.  This can interfere with other programs
that access the serial port by stealing some characters.
Disable prevents this input theft, and also makes STiK
appear to be missing when any program tries to access it's
features.  Once disabled, STiK can easily be re-enabled
by clicking on the Enable button.

    *NOTE*  If a program that uses STiK is already running
when you disable STiK, that program will continue to operate
normally if the connection is still established.


After you have connected.

    Once you have used the dial option and connected successfully,
you can run any program designed to use the network features of
STiK.ACC directly from the desktop.  The main program connected
with this PD release is, of course, Alexander Clauss' HTML-Browser,
now known as the Cool Atari Browser (CAB).

    I have also included a version of IRC as well.  IRC is quite
for chatting to other Atari users (and anyone else) around the
world!!  It is not a complete version of IRC, but works OK.


Brief description of IRC commands.

    This will attempt to initiate an IRC session with the IRCSERVER
that you have specified in the DEFAULT.cfg file.  It is only a
partial implementation of IRC, it is missing DCC, among other things.
It looks a little like IRC2, but it isn't, however the commands
are similar to IRC2 commands.  Here are the commands that work.

    /join #channel      joins a channel

    /part               leaves current channel.  At the moment you
    /leave              can't leave any chhannel except the current
                        channel.  If you are on multiple channels
                        you have to join each one then enter
                        /part to leave them.

    /ping nick          Pings nick.

    /msg nick text      Sends text to nick as a private message

    /me text            Sends text as  yournick text

    /nick newnick       Change your nick to newnick

    /version nick       Gets version info from nick

    /finger nick        Gets user info from nick

    /quit               Disconnect from the IRC server and
                        exit back to the menu.  If it takes
                        too long to disconnect cleanly,
                        then pressing a key will abort
                        the `clean' disconnection.

    /other...

        Other / commands also work, but are not interpreted by this
    IRC program.  Instead, they are sent just as you type them.  So
    they need to be in the proper format.  Usually, the proper format
    is simply /command parameter.  eg:-

    /whois nick
    /who #channel
    /list #channel
    /mode #channel +o nick
    etc.

        Some commands need a ':' before a multiple word parameter, eg:-

    /away :Recompiling my IRC program (again)
    /topic #atari :New Software Announcement!

    There are some control characters used for IRC special text effects.
    To use them, type one before the effect, and another afterwards to
    turn it off.  For example  ^BBold^B will make the word Bold BOLD.
    Note that these effects don't work in the input line.  Instead you
    see characters from the Atari character set...

    These are the ones I know about.

    Control B           BOLD text

    Control V           Reverse Video text

    Control -           Underlined  (Key between '0' and '=')


    There are also 3 keys that have special meanings internally in IRC.PRG

    Control P           Sends a Server ping to the server.
                        This is just to let them know you
                        are still here.  You shouldn't need it.

    Control K           This Kicks TCP.  If you have data to send
                        and you are waiting from an ACK from the
                        server, ^K will cause instant retransmission.
                        (Normally TCP retransmission works on a timer)

                        If you have no data waiting, ^K simply sends
                        a TCP ACK which has no real value, but might
                        remind the SERVER that you are still there.

    Control X           Displays Memory usage details on the screen.


    *** New Features in IRC ***

    Irc now has better multiple channel support.  Now you can be
    in multiple channels and use the left and right arrow keys
    to move through the list.  You can still only quit from
    the current channel.  DCC operations are also in this list.

    Irc now supports DCC CHAT and DCC SEND.
    To send a file to a user type /dcc send nick filespec
    To initiate DCC CHAT type /dcc chat nick

    When someone tries to send a file to you, or initiate DCC CHAT
    you get a message asking if you want to accept it.  If you answer
    anything but Y or y, the request will be ignored.

    To exit DCC at any time, press control C when DCC is the
    current operation.

    The byte count display in DCC SEND/RECV does not update
    automatically.  When you change operations with the arrow
    keys, the current status of transfers is displayed..

    Please note that there is a pause of a few seconds whenever
    a DCC operation closes.  I'll find a better way of closing
    these conenctions in a future version...


    Some quirks (non serious bugs I haven't fixed yet).

    Text output is quite slow, especially on old ST's with no blitter.
I don't really know what to do about this, but at least it should be
compatible with all ST's.



COPYRIGHTS:

    STiK.ACC may be freely distributed providing it remains unmodified.

    The software is all (c) Steve Adam 1995
    All Rights Reserved

    Except for:-

    TCP routines which are based Phil Karn's KA9Q software
    that is (c) Phil Karn 1991.  (tcpin.c, tcpout.c, tcpsubr.c)

    (c) 1994, 1995 by Jan Kriesten, Friedhofstr. 25 b, 35043 Marburg, Germany
        EMail:    Maus GI
                  90:400/[e-mail]
                  51:601/[e-mail]
                  2:2435/[e-mail]
                  [e-mail]


DISCLAIMER:

    Well, the bottom line is that this is free software that I've
worked hard at getting right.  It probably isn't quite right yet,
however I still need to tell you that I will not take responsibiity
for any loss of Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness, or your
property or assets that arises from the use of this software...

    Except that if you are unhappy about it for some reason, let
me know, and I'll make every effort to make it work for you, and
keep you happy :-))

    Read the file SUPPORT.TXT for some information on getting
easy access to bugfix versions, enhanced versions and also
general information about STiK.ACC and TCP/IP...


Steve Adam.  27/9/95
====================