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PPP Dialup on a Macintosh with Open Transport

• What is Open Transport/PPP?
  
• Obtaining the Software
  
• Installing Open Transport/PPP
  
• Setting up the Modem Control Panel
  
• Setting up the TCP/IP Control Panel
  
• Setting up Open Transport/PPP
  
• Connecting to the Network
  

We recommend the following Macintosh system to run Open Transport/PPP: A Macintosh with a 68030, 68040, or PowerPC processor (includes all Macs sold within the last 3 years), MacOS 7.6 or later and 14.4 or faster modem *Note: It is technically possible to run Open Transport/PPP using earlier versions of the MacOS, but we recommend using 7.6 or 8 for the most straightforward installation. Detailed installation instructions are available in the Open Transport/PPP manual.

If your Macintosh shipped with or has already been upgraded to MacOS 7.6 or 8, you should be able to find the Open Transport/PPP or Remote Access installer either on your hard drive, or the MacOS CD-ROM included with your system.

If you are installing Open Transport/PPP from floppies or over the network, begin by copying all of the installation folders onto your hard drive.

To start the installation, locate the OT/PPP Installation file and double click on it. The installer will display a welcome screen. Click on the Continue... button on this screen to proceed to the installation window.

Click on the Install button to install Open Transport/PPP. When the installer is finished, it will display a dialog box stating that you will need to restart your Mac to use this new software. Click on the Restart button in this dialog box to proceed.

Before you can make a connection, you must make changes within the following control panels: Modem, TCP/IP and PPP. The installation of Open Transport/PPP added the Modem and PPP control panels to your system; the TCP/IP control panel is a part of Open Transport. Note that these control panels are actually small applications with menu options as well as those within the control panel windows. For example, when you open the Modem control panel, its window is displayed on the screen, and the File and Edit menus on the menubar change to contain items relevant to Modem settings.

Select Control Panels from the Apple menu, and choose Modem from the menu that appears to the side of the Apple menu. The Modem control panel window should appear on your screen.

Click on the Connect via: popup menu to select the port to which your modem is connected.

Click on the Modem: popup menu and choose the brand and model of modem you are using. If your modem does not appear on this list, see the Troubleshooting section at the end of this document.

The Sound setting determines whether or not the modem dialing sounds will be played over the modem or computer speaker. It is on by default, as these sounds are often helpful in determining if you have made a good connection. If you do not wish to hear these sounds, select the Off button.

The Dialing setting determines whether Tone or Pulse dialing will be used. This is set to Tone by default.

The Ignore dial tone check box will direct your modem to dial regardless of whether or not a standard dial tone is present. If your phone does not have a standard dial tone (such as campus phones with voice-mail messages), you may need to check this box. Most users should leave this blank.

When you have finished making changes to this control panel, click on the close box in the upper left corner of the window. A dialog box may appear asking you to save changes. Click on the Save button to proceed.

Select Control Panels from the Apple menu, and choose TCP/IP from the menu that appears to the side of the Apple menu. The TCP/IP control panel window should appear on your screen.

Select User Mode... from the Edit menu. The User Mode window should appear. Click on the Advanced button and then click on the OK button to close this window. If you plan to use multiple network connections with your Mac, you will want to set up multiple TCP/IP configurations. For example, if you have two different service providers. To set up another TCP/IP configuration, select Configurations... from the File menu. Click on the Duplicate... button to create a duplicate of the current settings. A dialog box will appear asking for a name for the duplicate. Type in a name such as "PPPrairienet" and click on the OK button to close this dialog box. Click on the Make Active button to close the Configurations window and make changes to the configuration you have just created.

Once you have set the User Level to Advanced and, if necessary, created a new configuration, you are ready to enter the TCP/IP settings. When you are finished, your TCP/IP window should look like the following illustration:
Begin by choosing PPP from the Connect via: popup menu.

Select Using PPP Server from the Configure: popup menu.

Enter the number 255.255.255.0 in the Subnet mask: field.

Leave the Router address: field blank.

Enter the following numbers in the Name server addr.: field. 192.17.3.3
Enter prairienet.org in the Starting domain name: field.
Enter prairienet.org in the Ending domain name: field.

Once you have completed all of these steps, you may click on the close box of the TCP/IP window. A dialog box will appear, asking if you wish to save changes to the current configuration. Click on the Save button to save the changes you have made.

Select Control Panels from the Apple menu, and choose PPP from the menu that appears to the side of the Apple menu. The PPP control panel should appear on your screen.

Click on the Registered User button.

Enter your Login name in the Name: field.

Enter your password in the Password: field. Click on the Save Password check box if you would like your password to be automatically entered each time you dial in. You should not check this box if your Mac is in an insecure location where many people may have access to it, as any of those people could potentially connect to Prairienet using your Mac, using up your connection time.

Enter the Prairienet phone number you wish to connect to in the Number: field. Champaign-Urbana - 239-1001

(Helpful hint: If you have Call Waiting you might want to disable it automatically by enter *70, before the dial-in number. Ex: *70, 255-9065.)

Once you have entered the phone number you wish to dial, click on the Options... button. The Options window will appear on your screen. This window contains three tabs, allowing you to set options for redialing, connections, and protocols. Click on the Redialing tab to display the redialing options as shown in the illustration below.

The popup menu Redial has three choices: Off, Redial main number only, and Redial main and alternate numbers. Select the option that best fits your needs. Type the number of times you wish your modem to redial if it encounters a busy signal in the Redial __ times field. The Time between retries field defaults to a value of 5 seconds; unfortunately, it cannot be set to any lower amount. If you have a 28.8 or 33.6 modem, you may wish to select Redial main and alternate numbers, entering the 33.6 number as your main number, and another number that you are eligible to use as the alternate. When you are finished, click on the Connection tab to move on to the next set of options.

The first check box in the Connection screen, labeled Connect automatically when starting TCP/IP applications allows you to have a PPP connection started automatically when you launch an application such as Netscape or Telnet, or when checking mail using Eudora. This may be convenient, but if you experience problems during the connection attempt, it may be difficult to discern the cause. We recommend leaving this option off (blank), and starting all PPP connections manually, as described later in the Connecting to the Network section of this document.

Click on the Use verbose logging check box. This instructs PPP to save detailed information about all connection attempts to a text file that may be viewed later. This file can be very useful when attempting to determine the source of problems with connections.

Next, the Reminders: options offer ways to remind you that you have an open connection. You may wish to use one or more of these to ensure that you do not accidentally leave yourself connected for long periods of time, using up your dial up hours.

The first option, Flash icon in menu bar while connected does just that. A flashing icon is displayed over the Apple menu continuously while you are connected.

The second option, Prompt every __ minutes to maintain connection displays a dialog box stating "Press OK to maintain your PPP connection" after the number of minutes specified elapses.

The third option, Disconnect if idle for __ minutes will automatically close your PPP connection if there has been no network traffic for the specified number of minutes (i.e., you have not checked mail using Eudora, clicked on a link in Netscape, or pressed a key in Telnet).

You may now click on the OK button to close the Options window, and proceed to connect to the network, as described in the next section.

If you will be using another internet service provider, you will need to create a new PPP configuration. This works just as TCP/IP configurations do. To set up another PPP configuration, select Configurations... from the File menu (while you are working with the PPP control panel). Click on the Duplicate... button to create a duplicate of the current settings. A dialog box will appear asking for a name for the duplicate. Type in a name such as "PPPrairienet" and click on the OK button to close this dialog box. Click on the Make Active button to close the Configurations window and make changes to the configuration you have just created