Re: lynx-dev I need help

[Heather Stern]

I ate the fortune cookie first, then read what Doug Kaufman wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Sep 1998, Saumitri Sankar Guha wrote:
> 
> > Toshiba laptop with Win. 95.  I do not have a TCP/IP account, as I have to
> > make an STD call to Calcutta (India) and this works out as a costly
> > affair.  So I am using a Shell account, and a local INET facility which
> > allows local calls to the Internet Service Provider (VSNL).  I am using a
> > 33.6Kbps modem (Motorola) with my machine.  I cannot configure the Windows
> > Internet Explorer with a Shell account, so I am using the modem software
> > called Quicklink fax.  This makes reading Shell text real hell as it
> > scrolls through very fast and the text is all jumbled.
> 
> This sounds like a problem with your communications software. You should
> probably use a more standard communications program from DOS when
> communicating with your shell account. Choices are many and include
> MSKERMIT and QMODEM, which are free. It sounds as if your shell account
> is expectimg a VT100 emulation, which is not provided by your
> communication program. If you have a WinModem, you may be forced to use
> windows software to call to your shell account.
> "http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/mskorder.html";
> "ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/qmodem/qm46td-1.zip";
> "ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/qmodem/qm46td-2.zip";

The problem is not with the calling software, but that Internet Explorer is
a Winsock app and cannot deal without a full PPP connection.  I recently
had a demo running via cross-connect (raw ethernet crossover cable, no hub
even) and IE couldn't even handle that.  Netscape did OK.

The scrolling-way-too-fast problem could probably be solved by setting some
environment variables to state what the screen size is.  Then the local
pager (usually 'more') would be invoked at a reasonable point, lynx would 
know what size to play on your screen, etc.

BTW I am told but haven't tried, there is supposed to be an enhancement kit
for HyperTerm that makes it a far better terminal emulator than QuickLinkII.
I believe it's a free download from Microsoft.  HyperTerm comes with every
Win95 I've ever seen, and may very well serve your needs even without the
enhancement kit.

> > Would you please help me with this problem.  Is it possible for me to use
> > a Virtual TCP/IP software with my shell account through Win. 95.  How do I
> > download and from where.
> 
> It is possible to emulate a ppp connection on a shell account with the
> SLIRP program. You have to compile it on your shell account and do some
> setup, which may be tricky. Slirp is no longer supported by its author.
> You can get slirp from:
> "http://blitzen.canberra.edu.au/slirp/";
> 
> Slirp is free. There is also a shareware program which uses lynx on your
> shell account to simulate an internet connection, called SlipKnot. See:
> "http://plaza.interport.net/slipknot/slipknot.html";

SlipKnot is great! (I say this though I haven't used it in a long while --
if it's improved any at all, I should send them money and encourage them 
some more).  

To explain what it does:  It's a dialup terminal program on the order
of HyperTerm or Kermit, but takes advantage of features known to be on both
sides of the connection.  So, it uses the shell-side's local copy of lynx
or w3 (configurable) to fetch web pages, uses the shell's sz or sx (also
configurable) to download applicable portions to your MSwin system, and 
uses its own wacky little browser to display graphically for you.  It's a 
bit slow but feels quite a bit like straight surfing.  The terminal window 
and the browser window can be switched between, so you can still use normal 
shell functions to say, hit an FTP site with a shell-based ftp client.  
Last time I saw it, it was basically a crippled HTML 2 browser - for forms,
it would popup and say you'll have to browse that in the plainer terminal 
window -- so you could use Lynx straight.

SlipKnot is called that because it is *not* establishing SLIP -- just tying
shell/textmode information to the graphical uses of it.  I love puns.

Some people at Netcom shell accounts were using TIA for awhile, which 
established its own kind of tunneled connection.  Once the TIA tunnel was up
you could use all the normal applications.  However, it was claimed to be very
processor and disk space hungry so I don't know if you can find that anymore.
I know that Netcom TIA users claimed Netcom would kill their connection if
the servers got too busy, so you might become unpopular with your provider 
if it works too well.  (I never used it myself.  Always happy with Lynx,
even the old junker in Netcom's nuglops area.)

Heather Stern  . | .  starshine.org * Starshine Technical Services
  star at:   --->*<---    lasfs.org * Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society
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