Get Adam Engst's "Internet Starter Kit"book (includes MacTCP, etc.)
How to access with MacTCP (as opposed to Open Transport) ....... MacTCP goes into System:Control Panels Config PPP goes into System:Control Panels PPP goes into System:Extensions Open MacTCP Control Panel; it has two successive screens or "pages". On the first MacTCP "page" you just click on PPP in the top window to activate that. (Click on it EVEN IF IT ALREADY APPEARS HIGHLIGHTED). Click on "More" in the bottom window to get to the second MacTCP "page" of settings. On that second MacTCP screen, be sure "Obtain Address" has the Server option checked. The "Domain Name Server Information" window should have freenet.calgary.ab.ca and then 198.161.243.11 and then check the circle to the right side. The upper-right box can be "A", move the sliding T-bar until it comes up 255.255.255.0 In the upper-left panel click on "Manual". Then in the lower-left box that says Gateway, enter 198.161.243.11. Then in the upper-left panel click on "Server". Exit MacTCP. Open Config PPP Control Panel; click on "New" and then enter "FreeNet". Make sure Port is set to "modem". Then click on "config" and select your modem speed (try 19200 if you have a 14.4 modem), enter the FreeNet phone number, ModemConnectTimeout to 90 (or 120), and I set FlowControl=CTS&RTS(DTR). I usually get by leaving the ModemInit field blank, so try that first, but some modems are picky. A set of initialization strings can be found here. (For example, the Apple Express Modem that is commonly in a PowerBook uses &F\N3 in the ModemInit box) ****************************************************************** AND, YOU MUST RESTART YOUR MACHINE AFTER MAKING THESE ENTRIES. ******************************************************************
OPTIONAL LOG-IN SCRIPT You can enter a "Connection Script" to automate the login; just open Config PPP, click on the "Config" box, and then click on "Connect Script" and then fill in the boxes. Mine looks like this : (don't enter the quotes") (Return means put a check in the CR box) (wait-for means check that box, likewise for send) wait-for "ogin:" send (userid) Return (no parentheses) wait-for "ssword:" send (password) Return (no parentheses) wait-for "PPP" (Note: CAPITAL LETTERS) send "2" Return wait-for "lirp" If it makes you nervous to have your actual password and userid visible, instead enter $USERID$ and $PASSWORD$ (all caps, and include dollar signs), and then select "Authentication" on the second Config PPP page and enter your actual userid and password there. They're masked in the Authentication boxes, and then when Config PPP is activated a dialog box will come up and request that you enter them to confirm what's in the authentication fields.
Then just launch the ConfigPPP control panel and click on CONNECT to start. When the login process is complete, launch Netscape, or whatever (leave ConfigPPP open). In fact, with a properly configured script, you *should* just be able to click on Netscape (or whatever), which will then automatically use Config PPP and execute the connect script itself. (DO NOT try to connect using ZTERM, ClarisWorks, or whatever you may have used to log into the Free-Net before.) You should also utilize a handy utility called Internet Config. You can put into it all the settings for your e-mail and such, and then when you install any Internet-Config-aware application it will get many of the settings it needs from there, so you don't have to configure each one from scratch. Without Internet Config, you will have to check the Options (or Settings, or Preferences) for each application (such as Eudora, Netscape, Fetch, etc.) even though you've entered lots of the information into MacTCP and Config PPP. (In fact, even with Internet Config there will be some things to configure specific to applications such as Netscape.)