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- <!I7 Net & Web 2
- <!I1--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- I picked up Net & Web 2 at the World of Amiga show at the Novotel in
- Hammersmith, London on 17th May. here is my little review. Mainly focussing on
- Termite TCP and iBrowse.
-
- The Net & Web 2 package contains the following:
-
- iBrowse 1.10
- TermiteTCP
- Termite
- MUI 3.8
- Net & Web
- Amiga Surfin (Book - aimed at beginners)
-
- My Amiga is an A2000, with a GVP 68030 with 16MB installed, A2058 RAM board 4MB
- installed, Multiface 3, A2032 Multi-serial board, A2320 display enhancer,
- Picasso II 2MB. 2GB SCSI hard disk, Iiyama Vison Master 17" monitor, Supra Fax
- 14.4K modem, Hayes Accura 28.8K modem. So it is well capable of being a decent
- Internet machine.
-
- Firstly Net & Web is installed. This takes the form of the stable and well
- proven Commodore installer utility, and installs easily and seamlessly. A few
- bits of information are needed to set up the software. All of which will be
- provided by your IAP (Internet Access provider).
-
- Secondly Termite TCP requires installation. Again, the Commodore Installer is
- used. Some of the information that was required for the Net & Web installation
- is also required for the Termite TCP installation. The user is taken through
- the installation step by step and the software is installed easily. The modem
- needs to be set up when the software has been installed., This takes the form of
- recording a script in order that the TCP stack can automatically dial and login
- at the press of a button without the need for the user to type in his login name
- and password every time.
-
- This is where a modem list would be nice. If you are like me and you are fairly
- familiar with your modem and it's various settings then it will be no problem,
- but for the new user it would be nice to be able to select your modem from a
- list and have the program enter your init strings automatically. Anyway, once
- you have selected your modem, you dial your access provider, type in your user
- login name, password and protocol (normally ppp). You then disconnect from your
- access provider and the script has been recorded. At this stage you can modify
- the script as needed. As long as you logged in correctly, there will be no need
- to do this. Termite TCP is now set up and ready to go.
-
- Next iBrowse is installed. Out comes the Installer again. Again, this is
- readily installed, with the user prompted for more information, some of which
- has been typed in for Termite TCP and Net & Web.
-
- At this point it is worth mentioning that a rudimentary understanding of what
- the software does is useful to have. The TermiteTCP manual provides this in an
- easily understandable and humerous format, with Reggie's guide to the Internet.
- It is a nice change to see a manual present it's information in this format as
- all too often manuals are very dry and prompt the user use it as a coffee mat
- rather than a guide!
-
- Once iBrowse and MUI have been installed, you are ready to connect.
-
- To connect to the Internet all that is required is to click on the Termite TCP
- icon, and when the small window appears, click on connect. Termite then dials
- your IAP, and logs on. When this is done, the screen flashes and the word
- 'Connect' appears in the Termite window. You can now click on iBrowse and
- launch your web browser. If iBrowse is launched before Termite, you will get an
- error, as iBrowse needs to see an active TCP/IP stack before it can communicate
- with the Internet.
-
- Once running, I have found iBrowse to be very quick and extremely stable. That
- is until I changed the configuration of my machine, after which I have had
- numerous crashes! This, however, is not down to iBrowse, but to my system!
-
- I haven't actually read the Amiga Surfin book yet, as I do not need to!
- Glancing through, it looks like a well put together book, aimed at the first
- time user, I cannot comment on it further than this.
-
- All in all I am very impressed by the quality of this software package. With
- Termite, there is an FTP and Telnet client, but no IRC client. AmIRC is a good
- choice of IRC client, if IRC is what you are into. This can be found on Aminet.
- An iBrowse 1.11 update is now available from Hisoft's web site. this is
- supposed to cure a couple of minor bugs in v1.10. I haven't come across any of
- these bugs yet.
-
- Adrian Japp
- Member - Team Amiga
- Email: ajapp@spectrumlabels.demon.co.uk
-
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