"Ernest" (leucoplast@seanet.NOSPAM.com) writes: > "Ralph Glatt" wrote in message > news:ce9c44dd.0308191720.d47df4a@posting.google.com... >> Okay, gents, I just can't wait for Contiki to come out for the //c. I >> want to put together a Unix/Linux box I can use as a go-between so I >> can get software for my //c off the internet. I've talked to some of >> my geek friends at school, and they're willing to help. I also thought >> I might ask here, since I'm sure a lot of you have already done >> something like this. Any recommendations? I have (I think) a 486 that >> runs at 100 MHz, and has two ~500 Meg hard drives. I know I'm going to >> need a modem to get the 486 on the internet, any idea where I might >> get one cheap? How about software? I haven't checked the FAQ yet, but >> will after I'm done posting. Oh, yeah, I'm going to hook up my //c to >> the 486 through a serial cable. Thanks! >> >> Ralph Glatt > > When you talk about a go-between, what do you mean? If you're currently > using a Windows computer, why not just use that as your go-between -ie, > download disk images onto your current PC, and convert the images to floppy > on your IIc using a program called ADT. You can connect them together using > a standard null modem cable. ADT is easy to use, once you get it set up, and > you could keep the IIc on the desk next to your PC, which is nice because it > allows you to read FAQs and How-to's on your PC while you work on your IIc. > That's what I do. > > E. > > You can put your Apple on the internet, so long as you can find an ISP that still offers a shell account. You'd run terminal software on the Apple, and it would be basically the same as if you were dialing a BBS. Since ISPs with shells are in limited supply, the alternative is to run a shell at home. Run Linux on a computer at home, and the only real difference between it and a shell at your ISP is that your Linux computer might be more limited than the ISP's computer (but not necessarily). It will be running identical software. So the Linux computer becomes the "go-between". You connect your Apple to the Linux computer over the serial port, and run terminal software on the Apple. Instead of having to dial into your ISP with the Apple, you just start typing away. You're Apple will be seeing the shell on the Linux computer, and you enter things on the command line. You tell it to dial the ISP, and it makes a PPP connection. Then, you type "pine" (for instance) and pine will run on the Linux computer, connecting to your ISP and collecting email, but you'll be reading it on this terminal connected to the Linux computer, which happens to be an Apple. Want to browse with the Apple? Type "lynx" and you've got a text browser and you can visit most webpages. Maybe there's not much advantage in this. But if you use lynx to download an Apple program, lynx will download it to a temporary file on the Linux computer, and you can then transfer it over the serial port to the Apple. You no longer have to make a disk on the main computer, in Apple format on top of that, and move it physically to the Apple. And except for software that apparently runs on the IIGS, this is the closest many people will get to putting their Apple II on the internet. Since Linux is multiuser/multitasking, you can be using the connection for other purposes while doing things for the Apple II. I do not have any other computer connected to this computer, which is Linux, but two years ago when I installed Linux I did have a Mac Classic attached to the serial port, in this very same fashion. I could very easily be doing it right now. As it is, I have Lynx running on one of the built in consoles, I can run pine on another to check email, and on this console I've telnetted to a "freenet" to deal with newsgroups, since my ISP dropped newsgroups over a year and a half ago. It is wonderful. Michael Ralph Glatt wrote: > Mike Pfaiffer wrote in message > news:... >> As a personal opinion I find software runs faster under Linux >> than it >> does under Windows. >> >> My reccommendation is to go with something like RedHat rather >> than >> Mandrake (Crashes as much as Windows) or a Debian varient (more for >> developers). > > RedHat is what I was thinking, but I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks, > Mike! > > > Ralph Glatt In the end it really comes down to what works for you. In essence you are looking for a firewall/router/bridge/terminal server. RedHat would give you literally EVERYTHING you would ever want (except multimedia). Although I haven't used it, I hear RH 9.0 is very good as a server installation. Since you aren't using the machine with a monitor you can get away without installing all sorts of graphic and sound utilities. An alternative you may want to investegate is http://freshmeat.org for any pre-canned distributions matching your criteria. Later Mike -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Digital Civilization magazine: http://www.digitalcivilization.ca | | Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine & BBS http://www.callapple.org | | http://members.shaw.ca/pfaiffer = Mike Pfaiffer (B.A., B.Sc.) | | See my web page before you think about spamming me. I charge cash. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ----- BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK ----- Version: 3.12 GCS/G/IT/PA/SS d s+:- a? C++ UL L++ W++ N++ o+ K- w(---) O+@ M++@ V PS+ PE !PGP t+ 5+ X R tv b+ DI+++ D++ G e++* h! r-- !y-- UF++ ------ END GEEK CODE BLOCK ------ Mike Pfaiffer wrote in news:3M91b.800191$3C2.18108745@news3.calgary.shaw.ca: > > In the end it really comes down to what works for you. In > essence you are > looking for a firewall/router/bridge/terminal server. RedHat would > give you literally EVERYTHING you would ever want (except multimedia). > Although I haven't used it, I hear RH 9.0 is very good as a server > installation. Since you aren't using the machine with a monitor you > can get away without installing all sorts of graphic and sound > utilities. I hate to sound like a scratched record, but again, Freesco sounds like the ideal choice for this project: http://www.freesco.org/?L=Overview Running on a system as modest as an ancient 386 with a floppy drive and 6MB of RAM, a Freesco router (which is Linux-based) would provide all the features that you need to connect your IIC to the outside world as well as to an internal network. Some key packages that have been ported to Freesco include: PINE, Lynx, IRC Server, Bitchx (IRC client), Samba (for Windows-style file sharing), http server, telnet server, ftp server, NAT (firewall, which can be configured to allow port forwarding, the key to setting up a telnettable BBS), time server, Antivirus program, print server, dial-in server, Web- based control panel, and so much more. Of course, if you add many packages, you would naturally want to have it running from a hard drive (an 80MB drive is plenty, though I like having a lot more drive space on mine.) My current Freesco router serves as the gateway to the Internet for a nice little home network comprised of Win-98, Windows for Workgroups, and Linux boxes (at least 1 Mac will be added soon), and is set up on a 486/DX-33 (may be a DX2-66...I can't remember exactly) with 32MB RAM, 540MB and 345MB Maxtor IDE Hard Drives, 56K ISA modem, 3Com EtherLink III (RJ-45), no monitor or keyboard attached. This router (which for networking purposes, I have named Articuno) has been serving us reliably since 15-AUG-2002, and has made it possible for the two of us here to share one dialup connection without any problems. So again, if you are looking for a simple yet versatile Linux-based system to plug your IIC into the Internet, then I will always first and foremost recommend Freesco. -- Otter -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 In article , Ralph Glatt wrote: >Okay, gents, I just can't wait for Contiki to come out for the //c. I >want to put together a Unix/Linux box I can use as a go-between so I >can get software for my //c off the internet. I've talked to some of >my geek friends at school, and they're willing to help. I also thought >I might ask here, since I'm sure a lot of you have already done >something like this. Any recommendations? I have (I think) a 486 that >runs at 100 MHz, and has two ~500 Meg hard drives. I know I'm going to >need a modem to get the 486 on the internet, any idea where I might >get one cheap? What modem are you using right now? That'd be a start. If it's something old and slow (like a 2400), you should be able to score an external or ISA internal 56K modem off of eBay or something for not much. Come to think of it, last time I was at Computer Surplus Outlet, they had a box full of US Robotics/3Com internal modems...with the jumpers that were on them, I'm reasonably sure they're not winmodems. Those should be fairly cheap, and they're among the better modems that were made. As for software...if you're thinking of running Linux on your old 486, you'll want one of the more lightweight distros. Red Hat and its ilk are right out...they'll crawl, and they'll usually install far more stuff than you want on a router. There are some floppy-based distros, but getting them set up right can be tricky. Slackware is a HD-installable distro that's been around forever and runs decently on modest hardware...at work, I have Slackware 8 running on a 486DX2-66 with 16 megs of RAM; it's set up as a print server and has done fairly well at that...it's not bad at all, considering that it was thrown together from junkbox parts (total cost: $0). _/_ Scott Alfter / v \ salfter@salfter.dyndns.org (IIGS( http://alfter.us Top-posting! \_^_/ pkill -9 /bin/laden >What is the most annoying thing on Usenet? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE/QwkrVgTKos01OwkRAt1sAKCOgqVoU0nHYIwY+/kDFHWZ9JszAACeNSA9 OQRG+rJHi+h+aJV0Y+FMZAE= =6hio -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- "Ralph Glatt" wrote in message news:ce9c44dd.0308211827.17561741@posting.google.com... > Jeff Blakeney wrote in message news:... > > > > There is a program called STerm 2.0 that you could use instead if you > > wanted to run Windows on that 486 instead. I used to run Windows 95 > > on a 486DX4-100 with 16 or 24 MB of RAM and it worked okay. Here is > > the description of STerm from one site I found that lists it for > > download (ZDNetIndia I believe it was): > > > > "STerm is a Windows terminal server that provides Telnet, RLogin, > > Ping, traceroute, finger, lookup, getmail, and other Internet > > services to serial terminals. It makes it possible to use a > > serial VT100/220/320/420 terminal on the COM port of a Windows > > computer. Up to four terminals can be used simultaneously. STerm > > also has support for SOCKS 4 firewalls." > > > > It is a freeware and is only a 500 KB or so download. If you want to > > use Lynx to browse the web from you //c, there are several places that > > you can telnet to and use the version of Lynx that they make > > available. > > Okay, going to try this again. Stupid Google, can't wait until I can > post with my //c! Anyway, I tried to download STerm from ZDNet India, > but apparently the server where they get the software isn't working. > Any idea where else I might get STerm? I really want to try this out! Get it here. http://netpassport-wc.netpassport.or.jp/~wmasas/ Bill @ GarberStreet Enterprizez };-) Web Site - http://garberstreet.netfirms.com Email - willy46pa@comcast.net --- This email ain't infected, dude! Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.512 / Virus Database: 309 - Release Date: 8/19/03 On 23 Aug 2003 18:37:17 -0700, julian814@hotmail.com (Ralph Glatt) wrote: >Jeff Blakeney wrote in message news:... >> There is a program called STerm 2.0 that you could use instead if you >> wanted to run Windows on that 486 instead. I used to run Windows 95 >> on a 486DX4-100 with 16 or 24 MB of RAM and it worked okay. Here is >> the description of STerm from one site I found that lists it for >> download (ZDNetIndia I believe it was): >> >> "STerm is a Windows terminal server that provides Telnet, RLogin, >> Ping, traceroute, finger, lookup, getmail, and other Internet >> services to serial terminals. It makes it possible to use a >> serial VT100/220/320/420 terminal on the COM port of a Windows >> computer. Up to four terminals can be used simultaneously. STerm >> also has support for SOCKS 4 firewalls." >> >> It is a freeware and is only a 500 KB or so download. If you want to >> use Lynx to browse the web from you //c, there are several places that >> you can telnet to and use the version of Lynx that they make >> available. > >Jeff, do you have a copy of this program you could email me? I can't >seem to be able to download it off of ZDNet India. It seems the server >the program is stored on is down. (At least every time I tried to >download!) My email address is rbg at penn dot com. Thanks! It turns out that after I wrote this message I discovered that not only do I not have it currently installed but I no longer seem to have the archive stored anywhere. I almost always keep archives of stuff I like because you never know when it might disappear from the internet and this seems to be almost what has happened here. All the sites that I have found that mention it all point to the original site at: ftp://eot.student.utwente.nl/pub/sterm/st32v20.exe Unfortunately, that site always times out on me. What I finally ended up doing was using this site: http://www.filesearching.com/ to search for the filename "st32v20.exe" and it found it at this site: ftp://ftp.nwg.ru/SoftWare/WinNT/Telnet/st32v20.exe I just downloaded it and installed it and it is the version I remember using when I last used it. I wonder why so many places just pointed at a school ftp site instead of keeping a local copy of the file themselves? After all, it is only 511 KB. I now have the archive again and I'm going to make sure I back it up soon so I don't have to go through all of this again. :-) -- Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University in the Apple II Community on Syndicomm.com CUT the obvious from my address if you want to e-mail me