Hi everybody, 
 
     About the messages related to "DOS PPP" of last Sept. 10th and to 
wich participated mr. T. Hammerle, mr. J. Hentsch, mr. L. Loeff, mr. S. 
Lauzon and mr. W. Baldwin (at different times, in various manners): 
 
TH> ...a DOS equivalent of OS/2's...  ...receive an incoming ppp call. 
JH> ...FTP software PC/TCP for DOS v4.1.  It can work with a 286... 
MS> ...seen it work even on a Tandy-1000 (8088 4,77 Mhz CPU, 640 Kb... 
SL> It might not be that hard to get...    
MS> ...under the names of `OnNet v. 1.2' - `PC/TCP v. 3.1'... 
MS> I have `Conex v. 7.1'...  ...help me to get the `Conex' upgrade... 
LL> ftp 131.234.242.6  login:  hrz/guest 
WB> I have a Tandy 1000 also, that I access the Internet with. 
 
     First i want to express the pleasure that i had in seeing that much 
response relatively to `PC/TCP'.  I think mr. Hentsch did a good thing 
in bringing us that particular topic.  :)  Thank you mr. Hentsch!!!  8-) 
                   
     Yesterday i re-read the question written by mister Hammerle and it 
seems, i am afraid, that i read it too fast the first time.  Now i think 
i understand it better, i'd say its about sort of a ® PPP ¯ server for 
DOS.  I don't have the hole `PC/TCP' package installed on my old `Compaq 
386' 16 Mhz computer (its ® MFM ¯ 20 Mb hard-disk is quite crowded as it 
is!)...  %)  So, i am not in a good position to make comments about the 
hole `PC/TCP' package and its capabilities, but...  I vaguely remember 
seeing file names like `DHCP.EXE' wich happens to be something an ISP 
once told me he was using when i asked him about the ® PAP ¯/® CHAP ¯ 
protocols (automated user validation)...  The question of mr. Hammerle 
reminded me that, so...  i wish to add the following question to his 
own;  i hope it follows the same line of topic.  Is there an equivalent 
to the `WildCat 5' BBS software (and it's `Windows' navigator, or any- 
thing similar), only this would be a DOS application?  Also, i have this 
question of my own in mind:  can a DOS machine be made ® TelNettable ¯ 
using `PC/TCP' and can it become a BBS?  And if such is the case, would 
it be "year 2000 compliant"?  ...'cause its coming fast!...  If i may 
sir, tell me mr. Hammerle, is it close to what you had in mind?  :^) 
 
MS> When `PC/TCP' is activated it is easy to use some of its very own 
MS> applications (`TNGlass', `POP3', `FTPSvr') and even other ones... 
SL> How to activate it?  How do you run these things? 
SL> Other PD programs use PPPdrv AFTER...  What is your address... 
MS> WWW3.Sympatico.Ca/Bicephale (/Pub/PCTCP/) 
 
     About the "phone dialers" topic, those looking for some related 
stuff may want to try that URL where i recently put a "zipped" archive 
(`PCTCP40') wich shows many details on how i used the `{Commo}' program 
as a dialer (and a ® TelNet ¯ terminal emulator too!)...  I am sorry to 
say that most comments in this archive are written in french for now but 
for those of us wich have programmer skills i suppose this should not 
pose too much of a problem...  Look at `Commo.MAC' and have it work with 
the .SET/.FON files;  it can be adapted for other DOS INet pilots too!!! 
 
     At first glance it may seem grotesque to resort to such means when 
`COMScrpt' should do it alone but the fact is that it didn't for me and 
this is why i looked for some better luck with an external dialer...  In 
the beginning many problems soon came to the surface...  For one thing, 
i did not have a suitable machine to install the package so i was forced 
to figure out by myself what to put in the .INI file...  After, it began 
taking shape and i quickly got the impression that `COMScrpt.EXE' or the 
pilot sometimes kind of needed to "have its hand" on the serial port;  i 
mean i concluded i had to load the `PPP16550.COM'/`PPPDrv.EXE' duo AFTER 
the dialer.  In doing so i happened to foresee an opportunity to develop 
it one step further by adding the capability to select one ISP amongst a 
list of many...  Then, i discovered that loading was much too slow on a 
PC-XT so i thought of using a "RAMDisk", and so on and so on...  ...and 
at the end, i finally discovered that version 4.00 was "lighter"...  In 
short, to the neophyte that i still feel to be the clues kept coming one 
after the next!  So, i am afraid that to an initiated person my style at 
doing it won't seem to follow the precepts of structured programming!... 
   
     Nonetheless, i wrote a `{Commo}' macro file to have my INet dialer 
and i tried to make this one the best i could:  many persons can - each 
one - use the same disquette/programs to access their own ISP amongst 3, 
on one of many machines (amongst three MoDem definitions)...  To make a 
try get the main `PC/TCP' files as listed in the .DOC file.  Get version 
7.0 of `{Commo}' and copy my .SET/.MAC/.FON files over its content, then 
add and adapt your own *_INI file for ISP definitions.  The .SET/.FON 
files will most probably need revision as well.  If automated validation 
like ® PAP ¯ or ® CHAP ¯ isn't used the utilities called `StuffIt' and 
`COMTool' will also be required (or `Commo.MAC' must be modified because 
those two files are part of the ® TTY/terminal ¯ validation)...  Why so, 
one might ask?...  Well, it is an other illustration of what came out of 
my trials and errors, thru a year long of experimentations...  %-)  All 
this is examplary of an unplanned result that works for me but, frankly, 
i truly hope it may soon inspire a _true_ programmer...  some day!  ;-) 
 
     Right now the dialer's script needs to be defined as a function of 
the server's opening screen(s) but with some more code i suppose a learn 
function can be added...  Anyway, the definition is done on a line entry 
of the dialing directory (.FON file).  Some parameters aren't absolutely 
needed as there is a way to start the procedure manually by using the 
[F4] key...  ;-)  After connect and automated exit, the dialer leaves a 
batch file called `LogIn.BAT':  run it after `{Commo}'/`Go.BAT' and have 
fun!  Also, please grant me your indulgence...  To all, i wish you well! 
 
                                                  Salutations,  8-) 
 
                                                  Michel Samson 
 
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