Tips on setting up serious Internet accounts, with PPP and SLIPKishore Bhargava and I just took off from Madras, en route to Calcutta for the next leg of our “Business on the Internet” seminar tour. Though the flight feels somewhat like a one-eyed drunken sailor in a sack race, I have reasons to grin:

I am using my notebook computer in mid-air.

For a change, I am actually getting some work done on the flight, instead of looking out of the window staring at boring clouds. This is what notebook computers were designed for.

Just a year back, I would have been chained and handcuffed for even carrying it on board the flight in my hand baggage. Today, an unobtrusive announcement by the Indian Airlines stewardess just asks me not to use the computer during takeoff and landing.

Oh tempora, oh mores!

If only the others would come to their senses! Apart from Indian Airlines and ModiLuft, no other airline in India permits the use of computers on the flight. Considering that most of them position themselves against Indian Airlines by stating that they cater to businessmen, this is rather ridiculous!

Anyway, now that I have some (enforced) free time (the flight was delayed by an hour to begin with – some things never change), let me continue with my series on using the VSNL Internet accounts.

TCP/IP Accounts

In previous columns, I stated that the VSNL Internet gateways make almost no sense to business houses. Well, I need to restructure that statement – the SHELL accounts are effectively useless to them. The TCP/IP accounts can be surprisingly good value if used properly.

To re-cap – with a shell account, you can use just those services available off VSNL’s menu (which apparantly has no standard – it varies dependant on the city!).

However, with a TCP/IP account, you can run whatever software you want at your end – no one can limit you there. There are plenty of excellent packages available all over the Internet, and Windows 95 even ships with some pretty decent ones that you can use to retrieve more stuff.

VSNL initially tried to sell a package called “Explore” to its subscribers, but apparently could not keep up with either support or supplies. While workable (the stuff is made by FTP Software who have been around for ages and know their business), there are plenty of freeware and shareware options that work much better.

If you still use Windows 3.x (not a very good idea these days), you will require a Winsock (Windows TCP/IP sockets) program. An excellent one is Trumpet Winsock (available from ftp.trumpet.com.au). Make sure that you get version 2.1f or later. Version 2.1 is timelimited and will stop working after 30 days unless you register it. Version 2.0b is also pretty usable, and does not time out.

However, the PPP support of all versions of Trumpet Winsock earlier than version 2.1f is kaputt – don’t even try using them for PPP (PPP is the protocol used to get TCP/IP going over the serial line).

However, a little known fact is that VSNL’s routers also support SLIP (another TCP/IP-over-serial-lines protocol). Older versions of Trumpet Winsock work perfectly with SLIP, so you may want to use that instead (more on this later). The same applies to OS/2 users – the Internet Diallers shipped with most versions of OS/2 3.0 Warp have disabled or defective PPP suppport.

If you use Windows 95, you are almost there. You will need another little package known as Microsoft PLUS! for Windows 95 – cheap and easily available from any Microsoft dealer. The Plus! pack has an Internet Wizard that will quickly guide you through the process of setting up your connection.

Setting up Winsock

No matter what package you use, there are certain parameters you have to set before you strike out.

You will have to set up your IP address to begin with. Because you can never know what your IP address is going to be when you connect (it is assigned to you dynamically from a pool of addresses), set this to “0.0.0.0″.

Next comes your net mask. I don’t want to get too technical here, so just set this to “255.255.255.0″ and move on.

Some packages will ask you for your gateway address – you can usually skip this, but can also use the IP address of your remote VSNL server (shown to you when you connect).

Next comes a mission critical option – the DNS entries.

DNS (Domain Name Service) is the process that resolves internet host names to their corresponding IPaddresses. For example, if you ask your web browser to connect to “http://ece.iisc.ernet.in/monster”, the DNS will lookup “ece.iisc.ernet.in” and return the IP address (which is 144.16.64.2). Without this service, you would be limited to using IP addresses instead of host names.

Until recently, VSNL used ERnet’s Sangam and Soochak hosts as DNS servers. After complaints poured in from ERnet users about massive degradation of performance due to this, VSNL was forced to set up its own DNS servers. Their IP addresses are 202.54.1.30 and 202.54.1.18. These are the two addresses you should enter in the DNS fields (Windows 95 names them “primary” and “secondary” DNS servers, so enter one address in each of them, while trumpet has only one field – enter bother addresses there seperated by a space).

You will have to choose a modem or communications port (the latter is the one your modem is attached to). Trumpet Winsock users should ensure that the “Carrier Detect” box is checked.

Finally, you need to decide whether you are going to use the PPP or the SLIP protocol. Most people (anyone using Windows 95 for sure) will chose PPP, but you can also use SLIP.

In Windows 95, you also need to tell the Internet Dialer that a terminal window should be brought up after connection is made.

Right, now we are almost there. If you are a PPP user, you just need to dial the VSNL TCP/IP number, enter your user ID and password, then, at the “giasxxro>” prompt, enter “ppp”, and press enter. Once the acknowledgement appears stating what your IP address is, press “Continue”.

If you use Trumpet Winsock, select “Manual Dialing” and type the various modem commands required to connect to VSNL and to log in. At the “giasxxro>” prompt, type “ppp” and press Enter. Then press Escape to give control to trumpet Winsock.

You should now have a TCP/IP connection. To check this, use the “Ping” program (supplied with any TCP/IP suite, including Windows 95, OS/2 Warp and Trumpet) to check if you are getting a response from some server (try “giasbm01.vsnl.net.in”). You will know that you have been successful if you begin to see timings appearing (measured in ms). This will prove that both your TCP/IP and DNS are working – the Ping program will report the IP address of “giasbm01.vsnl.net.in” (which is 202.54.1.18).

The above procedure is fine for PPP, but SLIP is another animal.

Unlike PPP (which negotiates the IP address on its own, you have to specifically tell SLIP what IP address has been assigned to you. Unfortunately, this means that you have to resort to a script before you can get useful work done. Examples are shipped with Trumpet Winsock, please go through them and modify them as required. Make sure that your script says “slip default” instead of “ppp” in the procedure above.

Now that you are on…

If you are using Windows 95 or OS/2 Warp, you will already have some elementary TCP/IP applications, such as Telnet and FTP. If not, you will need to get some in order to foray out into the Internet wilderness. You can simply get one frrom a friend, or use the Shell account that comes with your TCP/IP account to retrieve one (all TCP/IP accounts also have a shell account – simply call the Shell account numbers and log in with your TCP/IP userid and password. You can also change your TCP/IP password from here). Use Lynx to connect to “http://ece.iisc.ernet.in/monster” and check out the Library there for some useful stuff you can download. These are just links to the files – the files themselves are not stored on our pages. Instead, selecting the links will cause the files to be transferred from their homesites – wherever in the world that may be.

Useful TCP/IP applications

Here are some definite “must-haves” for your TCP/IP suite of programs.

Netscape Navigator: The Web browser of choice. Now in version 2.0, this browser owns 75% of the market. It is free for download and personal use. Available for both Windows 95 and Windows 3.x (as well as the Macintosh), it installs quickly and easily. Also handles FTP and News reading, as well as E-Mail.

WS FTP: Probably the most usable FTP program for Windows. Again available for both flavours of Windows, this program does away with the kludgy FTP commands and allows you to click, choose, drag and drop your way through the file godowns of the Internet.

WS Archie: Don’t know where a file is located on the Internet? Use this useful applet to quickly locate them. Beats telneting to busy

Archie sites and remembering sitenames. It also works great in combination with WS FTP. Once the file has been located, just click on it, and WS Archie invokes WS FTP to download it.

Eudora: The best known among the Windows based E-Mail programs. Don’t leave home without it. Even allows file attachments, and handles Mime and UUencode/decode. However, this application is superfluous if you have Windows 95 and the Plus! Pack installed – this gives you Microsoft Exchange, which is a far more powerful E-Mail program. (OS/2 users will learn to love a program called PMMAIL – similar to Eudora, it is very fast, very usable and very powerful.)

Juggling Internet apps

Many people with past experience in communication will find a pleasant surprise waiting for them, once they are connected in TCP/IP mode – you can not only run multiple applications at a time (that’s what Windows is for, after all) but can also have multiple connections running over the single TCP/IP link, as well! For example, you could tell WS FTP to start transferring a file, then switch over to Eudora and send it off despatching and receiving e-mail, and the start up a telnet connection to an IRC server to go into a chat session with someone – all at the same time, over the same link!

Winding down

That’s about what I have space for this month. But before I sign off, I’d like to apologise to the many people who write to me via e-mail. The volume of e-mail I have been receiving from PC Quest readers has increased tremendously over the past few months, and it has become virtually impossible to answer each and every message I receive. This does not mean that I don’t want you to write – your inputs are extremely valuable to PC Quest and me, because it helps shape this column into something that reflects what you are looking for.

So keep the notes, tips, comments and criticisms coming!

Cheerio!

In August and September of ’94, Kishore Bhargava and I were on tour around the country holding seminars on datacommunications. Though we expected (and got) a lot of questions from the 450+ people who attended the seminars, one question really stumped us:

“Why aren’t there more women online?”

This was a rather embarrassing question – Kishore and I usually had to look at each other and shrug our shoulders. Being men, it was almost impossible for us to supply an answer to this one without sounding flippant or confirmed MCPs.

The plot thickened on reaching Delhi, when a member of Kishore’s ECTCnet BBS, asked the same question – online.

Time to do some serious thinking.

Have I the right…?

Traditionally, any field is initially dominated by the people who first spawn and nurture it. Now no one is saying that Cyberspace is a male invention – God knows that women played an equally important role in the development of the online community.

Then why is it that everyone assumes that Cyberspace is a male domain? Why do even women pre-assume this and stay away?

Now that I have had some time to think about it, maybe I can come up with some answers. I hope that I have it right. I am not exactly qualified to handle a subject of this sort since I am male, but I hope that I spark off discussions that will reveal more.

The male ego

The first answer fairly leaped out at me when I saw some responses to the question – from guys who seemed to represent the average online male – “…such a discussion leads nowhere…”, “…pointless…”, “…have kitty parties…”, etc.

The male ego rearing its head.

I am all for superiority – but not a gender war. Superiority of humans over, say, worms – yes. Superiority over other members of the race – no! What I was seeing here were males clearly stating that they consider women online as a waste of time. Sexist remarks flew thick and heavy. If you were the target of such ridicule, would you want to be online?

So there was the first answer. Online males consider online females as people who have nothing to contribute. And this, naturally, causes women to shy away.

Geeks

The next answer came out of the original question itself. She asked why everyone was discussing anything and everything about computers without paying attention to non-computing subjects.

Ouch! That hurt.

Being a “geek” (a computer fanatic), I naturally like to discuss computing issues. So do a whole lot of other people in the field. To be online, you need to use a computer, so the combination of our interests and the medium tends to ensure that the topic of discussion is computers.

Do women get upset with this? I don’t think so. I have had technical “wars” and discussions with possibly thousands of people online. I never realised just how many of them were women. It is a provable fact that the percentage of women in a professional field tends to be extremely high in the computing field.

Then why is the “computer oriented discussion angle” so prominent in this context?

It seems to me that the problem is not just that of women. I could easily ask the question “why aren’t there more doctors online?” or “why aren’t there more writers online?” and arrive at the same conclusion – computer discussions can make someone shy away if she (or he!) feels that they aren’t technically qualified to participate in the discussion.

This doesn’t apply to women alone – men are equally scared of being ridiculed for asking a stupid question.

Here is the official Atul Chitnis definition of a stupid question: “A stupid question isn’t one that lacks knowledge or content – a stupid question is one that isn’t asked.”

Once the hurdle of “getting active online” is crossed, things more or less fall into place. It is the “getting there” that is difficult. Which brings me back to the subject at hand.

Feeling at home

A common complaint from women is that no one takes them seriously. We all have heard jokes about “women drivers”, seen sexist remarks, etc.

This attitude isn’t the fault of women – men are the problem here. If someone has a natural “superior” attitude (I admit that I am one of these creatures), then it tends to show up in messages posted by such a person. A good example is the sort of response the lady with the question initially got to her questions.

If you want someone to interact with you, you must make that person WANT to interact with you, i.e. make him or her feel at home. “Shooting down” someone in a public forum will almost guarantee that the victim of your ridicule will stay away from future discussions.

Why should men feel “superior” in Cyberspace? For that matter, why should men feel superior at all – in any space?

In a recent issue of PC Quest, some egotistic reader wrote a letter that was supposed to prove that women are inferior in the computing field. Good grief! What a moron! His “research” was based on asking MEN – and naturally the answers he got were slanted towards the male gender. If he would have looked around he would have found that, especially here in India, the computer industry would COLLAPSE without women!

If women are so critical in the computer industry, then why do men think they can dominate the online world?

Listen up, my friend

Women have something to say to you. And you better listen. Many of my most critical insights in life came from discussions with women. Without their viewpoints, my own look at life would be completely one dimensional. Discussions with them have helped me resolve situations I couldn’t have tackled otherwise.

And not because they are women. They are human, like everyone else I discuss with. Their HUMAN viewpoints were what was of value to me.

We men, with our misplaced attitude of male superiority, are effectively cutting out 50% of our intellectual resources. We are missing out on a lot of things. Women many times can see things that we don’t – the term “female intuition” has a lot of merit to it. We lose access to that if we do not encourage them to speak up. And that is an awful price to pay. Keep out the women, and you are effectively shooting yourself in the foot.

What can we do?

The first thing to do is to think twice before you shoot down anyone in public. This doesn’t apply to women alone, but is more critical here. If you need to make a remark you think you get away with because of the supposed male dominance in Cyberspace, write it down on a piece of paper first and then read it as if it was addressed to you. Would you still feel the same?

The next thing to do is reply to questions in a supporting (but NOT patronising) manner. Anyone who has ever been online knows the warm feeling of acceptance when someone replies to his message. It encourages him to ask more questions, join discussions, and begin answering queries himself. And the same applies to women.

Some BBSs in India have now begun slamming and even debarring male users who try to “be funny” at the expense of women. I know for a fact that such attitude is not encouraged on Kishore’s ECTCnet (which is effectively run by his wife Jyoti and his sister Mala) and on my BBS (I would be skinned alive by my wife). Other BBSs are getting into the act, and it is a good thing.

ECTCnet, Primal Scream and my own BBS now also have areas that are “women only”. These areas aren’t meant to segregate women or to have any sort of apartheid. Instead, they are areas that will help women get started online, without having to worry about stupid male remarks. Once they are comfortable with online concepts, they feel more confident about venturing out into “mixed” forums – something we sysops very much encourage.

Parlez vous Anglais ?

She also pointed out another pretty elementary thing to me. When we “geeks” write messages, we use a language that sometimes cannot be understood by a person online for the first time. For example, I told someone that “I will send it to you as an attachment. When you read the message, you will be told that there is a binary attached, and you can download it.” Now all this makes sense to a computer person comfortable with online terms, but to the average Joe or Jane Ramaswamy, who have come online looking for information about, say, good restaurants in Delhi or something as serious as child abuse, this seems to be complete nonsense.

Though many women use computers, they don’t necessarily come online fully equipped with the jargon some of us use. Try using plain English for a change – if a person can understand you, he or she will probably stick around. If not – cul8r (see you later)…..

Peekaboo!

One factor that is guaranteed to keep women away is the existance of so called “adult areas” – which are in reality male-oriented cheap-thrills areas. Recent articles in various magazines (even one Indian one) have unfortunately given the impression that Cyberspace is all about GIF pictures of scantily dressed ladies and steamy discussions. Naturally, women get the feeling that they have no place in such a world. If you are a sysop reading this and have such “adult” areas on your BBS in order to attract users, think again – you are scaring away 50% of your audience! Get rid of such areas and watch your user base double.

Non-Geek Discussions

As users, you carry an equally great responsibility. Sure, you may be primarily interested in computers, but please remember that not everyone is. The computer-oriented population of this planet is miniscule. Though many people use computers, they don’t make them their life’s focal point. A good example of this are the Sports or Music forums on ECTCnet, PCQO and CiX. Confirmed “geeks”, who would discuss nothing but computers, suddenly were discussing things completely unrelated with computers! Take a pointer from that – there are more things to discuss than computers. A discussion about non-computer subjects is almost guaranteed to draw in massive and enjoyable participation from “normal” people. Women included.

Cyberspace isn’t policed in any way. But it IS the Sysop’s job to maintain law and order on the system. Don’t be lax about it, even if you are an MCP. If you see a user saying something offensive about women, warn him immediately and remove the offending message. While this COULD be called censorship, I’d call it “weeding”. If the user persists with his attitude, give him the chop, and inform your fellow sysops about it. The “nasty” guy will soon find himself persona non grata on every system in town.

Let you female users know that you care and appreciate their presence on your system, like it is with every other user. If you get complaints, react immediately, and hang the offender from the electronic castle wall as an example to others.

If you maintain areas accessible to women only, make sure that you verify a new female user by calling her up before granting access to such an area. You never know when somw slime is trying to be “cute” by saying he is female just to get into those areas.

This, then, seems to be an extremely painful rap across the knuckles for the sysops of the Cyberspace. If women aren’t staying online, then we aren’t doing our job – which is to make available a facility for the discussion of ANY subject under the sun, making available information about subjects NOT only related to computers. We are creating “elitist” worlds – a concept completely alien to the free world we are supposed to live in.

As I review the preceding paragraphs, I am getting the feeling that the problem of “women online” does not exist. The problem is really that of “humans online”. People with interests other than computers, people with a wider perspective of life, people who have something to say and nowhere to say it. Give them a chance. After all, even you were human once….

Late April was a rather busy time for me. I was in Delhi setting up PCQ Online. Now Delhi is a hot place in the month of April, but that wasn’t really bothering me (I could even live with the fact that PCQ got hit by a 440 volt surge and that PKR’s air conditioner didn’t like me and blew every time I walked in).What really bothered me was a series of meetings I had with the growing number of BBS sysops (system operators) in Delhi. They had some really disturbing statistics for me.

These statistics were about the growing number of people who log into BBSs only to download files, completely disregarding the very principle behind the concept of BBSs.

Dana Smith, the mysterious and elusive sysop of the DelhiCom BBS, called these guys “File Suckers” and has even built up a genetic hierarchy describing the genus. During dinner (yes guys – not only do I own one of the best notebook computers in the country – I have also had dinner with Dana. Now you can REALLY eat your hearts out !) Dana recited some pretty horrible statistics – more than 80% of his BBS users call to download files ! Kishore of ECTCnet echoed the same concerns, and sadly even I have to report similar statistics from my BBS.

When I started writing for PCQ, few people had heard of BBSs – today everyone and his uncle has. Surprisingly, many of them have even bought modems and are busy logging into BBSs around the country.

Almost all of them (sadly) head for the file libraries and start downloading everything in sight. Then log off.

Very condusive to information exchange, right ?

Wrong.

Settle in – this is another of those notorious “Atul Chitnis Litanies”.

Why start a BBS?

Let’s look at some background here.

Take a guy like Kishore Bhargava, the sysop of ECTCnet in Delhi. He puts up a 386, with a modem and a telephone line, to run a BBS from his home. He didn’t do it because he wanted to get rich on it (he doesn’t charge for access), nor did he do it because he wanted to become gun-bait for some perverted DoT policy.

He (like Dana [DelhiCom], Suchit [LWBBS, Bombay], myself [CiX, Bangalore] and now PKR [PC Quest Online]), did it because he wanted to help people share information, and be a part of ongoing discussions, etc.

Unfortunately, most of the BBS users in India haven’t quite got the drift of things yet, and in the process are killing the concept.

Downloading files isn’t what BBSing is all about – it’s interaction!

Many BBSs abroad do not even have file libraries. They are simply central meeting points for discussions, and they are very successful at it.

The soul of a BBS

I have had many interesting discussion threads on my BBS, as well as on other BBSs. Good examples are the “Windows v/s Macintosh”, “Unix v/s DOS”, “C v/s Pascal” wars. Some of them ran into hundreds of messages, with various angles being reviewed, and in many cases some solid good has come out of them (I learned to respect the Macintosh, installed Unix tap its power, have had users switch from C to Pascal to be more productive in their development).

In recent times, I have been involved in a discussion about the DoT’s brain damaged BBS policy – a discussion that ran simultaneously on both ECTCnet and CiX. It helped all of us to understand the policy better, and we managed to find a lot of loopholes in it. You should have seen Harsha of Knoxware take off on the policy ! (Read it in the DoT forum on CiX or ECTCnet).

Take a look at the PRG (Programming) forum on my BBS next time you pass by my BBS. There we have programming heroes like Harsha (Knoxware) answering technical queries, veterans like Siddhartha (PSI Data) arbitrating highly animated technical discussions about C and Pascal and embedded systems professionals like Mahi (Innovex) floating new and revolutionary ideas.

On Delhicom, you can find Anindo Ghosh (Active Solutions) solving problems for desperate users, while Dana Smith bends over backwards solving tricky communication problems for his users. ECTCnet has Dr.Arun Mehta (Delhi Management Association) giving the mature angle to discussions ranging from Unix v/s DOS to DoT bashing, with ECTCnet sysop Kishore taking time off to educate people on all sorts of things, including tricky WordPerfect macros, Windows installations, etc.

Then there is Suchit’s LWBBS, which has the distinction of being the only one currently on the FidoNet (a worldwide network that echoes discussions from all over the planet earth).

And then we (finally) have PKR of PC Quest Online – his thirst for interaction has lead him to start up the first BBS sponsored by an Indian publication. Though it is the “newest kid on the block”, PCQ Online is already beginning to see discussions about BBSing, modem usage, reader submissions, review-bashing, etc. Look into the LET (Letters to the Editor) forum to get a taste of things.

Making it worthwhile

As a user of BBS, you have responsibilities, too. Many BBS users seem to think that it is their “right” to come in and block the line downloading files, without contributing anything at all to the BBS.

This is as damaging to the BBS as any weird DoT policy could be. A lot of us went up in arms when the DoT policy taxing BBSs was proposed – but have you seriously thought about your own policy ?

Look, put yourself into the shoes of the average sysop. He (or she) takes all the trouble to set up a BBS for the users, hoping to see it become a center of focussed interaction. If it was just to handle file distribution, then there are better ways of doing it, like saying “come over with a diskette and take a copy”. This is much cheaper because you don’t have to block a phone line, a machine and a modem for it.

File snatchers can be really disheartening. Picture this: you write a book, slaving over it for months or years. Then you make it available free of charge. People pick it up by the droves, but they don’t read it – they use the paper to wrap “channas” ! This isn’t what you dreamt about when you spent all that time writing the book, right ? Well, sysops have dreams too.

You, as the user of a BBS, have to help make the sysop’s dream come true, otherwise the sysop will lose interest and the BBS may just go off the air. And nothing encourages a sysop more than seeing his users thrashing out issues, resolving problems, having group discussions and actually benefitting from using the BBS.

Let me give you an example:

Some months back, the DoT “leaked” its infamous policy to tax BBSs. Horrified, all sysops all over the country asked their users for reactions. The response was stupendous. In an online-uproar, users began pouring in their views. Other users reacted to these messages by putting in their own messages. This triggered off a chain-reaction that had to be seen to be believed.

The outcome was rather phenomenal. Massive discussions among the online community (which the DoT naturally didn’t officially partake in, but was watching nevertheless – make no mistake about it) saw the word “BBS” disappearing from the policy just 48 hours before it was officially announced.

The sysops on whose BBSs these discussions took place really felt a warm glow in their bellies. Their labours of love had actually produced results at the national level that could be attributed to their BBSs. These are things that make it all seem worth the while.

Read your mail !

Another nasty thing done by many users is to ignore the “You have mail waiting” notice and the system bulletins. They immediately head for the file libraries and start downloading.

This means that they miss all the news, announcements and any mail that may have been sent by the Sysop and/or other users. Since they do not read mail and do not reply, the other users lose interest and hence will not attempt again to establish contact.

The FileSnatcher mentality

While I was in Delhi, I floated an idea at a sysop meeting. Simply put, it involved knocking off all file libraries from the BBSs and making them discussion-only systems. We decided to ask a couple of users. The reactions ?

“Pleeeaassee sir, don’t do that ! Without files the BBS will surely die.”

“Ridiculous ! What do I have to gain from calling your BBS then?”

“I wouldn’t know what to write in a message. Why should I write a message then ?”

“I am not a technical person. I just want the games.”

Good grief !

When PCQ Online went on the air, complaints immediately came in because there weren’t many files – only those that were talked about in PC Quest. Tell me, did you really think that PCQ set up a BBS to cater to FileSnatchers? Not at all ! You don’t become India’s best loved computer publication by doing that. PCQ Online is supposed to cater to discussions, issues, news, etc. – NOT to supply the lates games !

Changing colours

How then do you become a “good” BBS user ?

It is simpler than you can imagine. To start off, head for a forum/area that is meant for general discussions. Post a message introducing yourself, and let people know what your interests are. You are sure to get responses, which will allow you and other users get to know each other.

Next, read all the messages in forums that cover a topic you are either familiar with or are interested in. If you see a message that asks a question you feel you can answer – do so ! If you have a question yourself – post it in a forum, no matter how silly you think it may be. BBS users are there to help you. Being stupid isn’t defined as asking silly questions – being stupid is defined as NOT asking questions !

Be regular – once people realise that you are willing to interact, they will wish to continue doing so.

And don’t type your messages online. I am not saying that to save you online time – there are better reasons.

When you type a message online, it is usually on the spur of the moment, and not very well thought out. This can lead to misleading responses or even errors in your message – not exactly a shining example of a good message.

Instead, capture all messages to a log file (use Alt-L or Alt-F1 to do this in your comm package). Then log off, and read the messages carefully. Fire up a text editor (Norton Editor, Teddy, WordStar in non-document mode, etc.) and carefully write your reply. Take your time – there is no hurry. After you finish, read your entire reply again. Find places where you can shorten sentences, check spellings and make sure that your reply in fact answers the original question.

Then go back online, and choose to reply to the message. When the BBS asks you to start typing your message, simply ASCII upload the prepared text file into the editor. Then save the message, and there you are! Now sit back and watch while people start reacting.

+++ATH0

Right, that’s it for this time. Just before I go – PCQ is running a BBS now (called PCQ Online, running at Delhi-6451734), and there is a forum called COL (Columnists Den). If you wish to ask your first questions online, why not do it there ?

Cheerio !

Here’s a question for you -Q: “What is the fastest way to drive Atul Chitnis round the bend ?”

A: “Send him to a place where he can’t connect his notebook computer’s modem to the telephone line !”

In the past few months, I have written about various modem aspects, but all of them were aimed at desktop users. Notebook computer users are increasing in numbers – it’s time to address their problems.

WHAT ? NO RJ11 SOCKET ????

This has happened to me too many times in the past. I go to a place, need to connect my modem to the phone line, and find a “strange” phone line connector.

If this was the US of A, I wouldn’t have that problem – a missing RJ11 socket (that little plastic plug found on modem-to-line cables) is more or less a federal offence, punishable with three years of potato peeling in the kitchen.

In India, such offenders would have a field day.

The RJ11 cable is probably the ultimate definition of civilised standards. The sight of that little square hole in the wall is reassuring – it is a clear indication that the establishment you are in cares. It lets you plug in your phone with minimal fuss. It is secure – no loose, crackly connection is likely. It is a standard – ANY telecommunication equipment will plug right in without a second thought, including a modem.

Tell that to the Indian P&T. They still prefer to use those miserable Bakelite boxes with lots of screws and “Y” connectors, exactly the same kind they used this time last century. Talk about resistance to change !

A TRAVELLING COMMUNICATOR’S TOOLKIT

When I travel around the country, I have to prepare myself for all sorts of “weird” connectors, and here is what you’ll find when you take a peep into my little black bag:

First of all you’ll find a standard RJ11 cable. The RJ11 cable is the lifeline from your modem to your telephone line. It usually comes in two flavours in India – one with RJ11 plugs at each end, one with an RJ11 plug at one end and “Y” lugs at the other.

My personal cable is ALWAYS one with a RJ11 plug at each end.

“So how do you use it in places where there is no RJ11 socket ?”

That’s where the other little gimmicks in my bag come into play.

There are two little connectors there. Each of them has an RJ11 socket at one end. One of them has a set of “Y” lugs at the other end, the other connector has a set of crocodile clips instead. I call the first one “Lugsy” and the second one “Jaws”, for obvious reasons.

If I go to a place where RJ11 sockets are available, then I simply use my standard RJ11 cable to plug in.

If the place is prehistoric, and uses the P&T’s ugly Bakelite box, then I have two choices.

If I am going to be in that place for an extended period of time (like a hotel room), then I connect Lugsy’s “Y” lugs to the phone line’s connector box. That will give me a semi-permanent RJ11 socket that I can plug into whenever I need to.

If I am going to be in the place for a very short time (like at a client’s place) where I will probably be history in under an hour, then I use Jaws. I simply clip the connector to the phone line using the crocodile clips. That again gives me an RJ11 socket that I can use, though of a more temporary kind.

Why not use Jaws in every situation ? Simple – crocodile connectors are convenient, but do not provide a very stable connection in the long run, since a little movement can disconnect them.

Note, too, that the connectors I use are of very good quality. Gold plated connectors are preferable, since they virtually eliminate “crackling” connections (naturally, they can’t do anything about the noise the P&T supplies).

The next piece of equipment is very obvious – a small screwdriver. I use the one that comes with my Multitech modems – it has a small flat end at one end, and a small Phillips type star head at the other. Very handy – kudos to Multitech for being the ONLY manufacturer who supplies this much needed item with their modems.

The final piece of equipment is one needed by most notebook computer communicators. Unlike normal modems, notebook modems tend to have only one connection – one for the phone line. There is rarely a provision to plug in a phone in parallel, as you would do with a desktop modem.

So Raju (my partner and the innovative ‘lectronics brain in my company) threw in a strange looking connector. He cut my RJ11 cable about 4 inches from the end where it plugs into my notebook’s modem, and wired a RJ11 socket in parallel with the RJ11 plug, then taped the whole thing up again.

The result looks hilarious – this schizophrenic cable can act as a modem cable, a phone extension cable, or both! One end has a standard RJ11 plug for connecting to the phone line, the other end has a RJ11 plug AND a RJ11 socket. The plug goes into my modem, and the socket is used if I need to plug in a phone, too (very handy when the hotel management phones in and asks if I have a modem/fax connected to my room line – I can very innocently say “If I had connected a modem, how am I talking to you now ?”)

All these connectors together cost me about Rs.200 – not much in terms of money, but invaluable when you need them.

ON THE MACHINE

Now that we have our modem securely connected, let’s see what’s on the machine.

I am a Windows freak, and since my notebook computer is emminently suited for Windows usage (it is a Compaq Contura 4/25cx, with 4 MB of RAM, a 80486-25DX, a 209 MB hard disk, a built-in 14400 bps fax modem, a built-in trackball and a glorious Active Matrix Colour VGA display – eat your hearts out !), I prefer using Windows programs for communication. Procomm Plus for Windows is the premier choice.

But most laptops and noteboooks in India tend to be more mortal – they are usually 80386SX machines with 40-80 MB of hard disk space, with only 2 MB of RAM. Running Windows under such circumstances is the rough equivalent to new shoes – they look great, but feel terrible. Also, Procomm Plus for Windows is HUGE. You may not have that much hard disk space to spare.

So the fallback is to use a DOS based communication program. Procomm Plus for DOS V2.x is best suited for this. Why ? More on this later.

I use only legal software, so the stuff I use tends to be expensive (Procomm Plus for DOS costs about Rs.9000 in India). A less expensive way is to use a shareware program like Telix.

Telix is very similar to the shareware version of Procomm (supplied with many modems), but has the added advantage of the Zmodem file transfer protocol. Since Zmodem is the ONLY way I recommend for file transfer, Telix is a given. Pick it up from my BBS next time you are on. It can be found in the COM forum’s library.

Some poor souls who purchased modems with their laptops/notebooks very soon find that they have been conned – their modems have nor error correction – a violation of Atul’s First Principle, which is “Thou shallst not attempt communication in India without MNP/V.42″. For such victims (who obviously didn’t read PC Quest before buying a modem), the solution is a program called Odyssey (also found on my BBS). Odyssey is very similar to Telix, but has built in MNP emulation. It is slower than a real MNP connection, but better than no MNP connection.

COMMUNICATIONS TO GO

Now that we are equipped with everything we need, let’s see how we tackle the problem of phone numbers.

“What’s the problem ?” you ask, “just enter the number in the comm program’s dialler, and pick it everytime you need to call”

Not so simple, my friend. Picture this.

When I am in Bangalore (sigh – what a nice place to be), I dial 011-6845520 to connect to Kishore’s BBS in Delhi, and 022-5787812 to connect to Suchit’s BBS in Bombay. And I dial 341137 to connect to my own BBS.

But if I enter these numbers into Procomm’s dialler, then I am in trouble when I go to Bombay or Delhi, since the STD codes will not apply. And I am too lazy to edit each and every phone number in the dialling directory for a 24 hour visit to Bombay or Delhi.

So what I do is to use the Long Distance Codes feature found in Procomm.

I have set it up so that “B” stands for Bombay, and contains “022″. “D” stands for Delhi and holds “011″, and “H” stands for Home (Bangalore) and holds nothing.

In the dialler, I have set up the phone numbers as B5787812, D6845520 and H341137. When I dial, Procom replaces those characters (B,D and H) with the numbers contained in them (022, 011 and nothing).

Now, when I go to Bombay, I simply edit these definitions – now B is set to blank and H is set to “080″. Voila ! On dialling, the applicable STD code is used.

This is the reason why I use Procomm – I haven’t come across any other communication program that is as powerful as Procomm, yet this easy to use.

TO TONE OR PULSE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

In Bangalore, I have tone dialling in most places (naturally, Bangalore is highly civilised and the P&T is very co-operative – they give you a phone line within 10 years of application, but don’t use BEEPs to indicate the 3/5 minute local call interval).

But when I go to other cities, I may have to deal with pulse dialling.

I get around this by defining Procomm’s dialing prefix as “ATD” instead of “ATDP” or “ATDT”. Using ATD, the modem will use the dialling method last used or whichever is found in the NVRAM’s setup.

Now, when I go to a pulse-dialling city, is simply type “ATP&W” once to the modem, and from then on, the modem will only pulse-dial. Back in Bangalore, an “ATT&W” sets things back to normal. Much easier and faster than going through Procomm’s setup.

On the other hand, there are some situations where I HAVE to use Procomm’s dialling prefix setting – for example in a hotel room.

Most hotels require you to dial “0″ or “9″ (or even “72″) before you get the P&T’s dialling tone. So if I am in such a place, I set Procomm’s dialling prefix to “ATDT0W”. This causes Procomm to dial “0″ first, then wait for the P&T tone before dialling the actual number.

THE COLOUR OF MONEY

Many BBSs (including mine) tend to make life colourful for you – literally. They use ANSI sequences to change colours for you, pop up fancy menus, etc.

But fancy ANSI screens can create deep holes in your pocket if you are calling long distance, or calling from a hotel that charges you Rs.7 per local call, since they can take a long time to draw.

A seasoned communicator (meaning one who has received a stupendous phone bill at least once) learns very quickly that while fancy ANSI screens are nice to look at, it is cheaper to turn them off. Most BBSs let you do this. I advise you to avail of that feature if possible. Raw text is faster. So if you are asked whether you want Colour, B&W or None, choose None.

+++ATH0

Before I sign off for this month, I’d like to send a note of appreciation to all those who send me monthly “critical reviews” of my columns. Especially those people living in the USA and in UK, who seem to get their copies of PCQ before anyone else does. Thanks a lot, guys. Your input is much appreciated, since the ultimate compliment to a writer is when someone takes the trouble to write in his or her comments – a postive proof that he or she has READ the column !

And hurray for PKR, PCQ’s editor. He has finally got around to buying a modem ! Nothing less than a 14400 bps model ! Let’s give him a standing ovation !

Ciao till next month.

In the past few articles I have been writing about how to communicate using modems. While a lot of ground has been covered there, we have been assuming that you are calling from one place to another via a direct telephone call.This is OK if you are talking about calling within the same city, since it is just a local call. Once you start communicating with computers that are in another city, a new (and nasty) factor shows up – long distance phone charges.

“Aaaaarrrrrrggghhhhhh!!!!!!”

The above expletive is heard in most offices at least once every two months – the time when the phone bill arrives.

Phone bills are so high due to two factors – the totally unreasonable tariff that our phone company places on us, and our own incredible desire to talk/communicate for as long as possible once we make a connection.

The first factor is something we can do very little about (apart from praying daily for privatisation in the telecom business). Unless all of us decide to shift office hours to after 10pm at night (when phone rates are at their lowest), it is unlikely that we are going to see any lowering of the phone tariff.

The second factor is human nature, and I am no judge of mankind, so I won’t try and discuss that here.

Instead, I’ll introduce you to another way of extending your reach that doesn’t cost as much as a STD/ISD call.

The Big Controversy

No aspect of Indian Telecommunication has created so much controversy and misunderstanding as the facility introduced by the D.O.T in 1992 – INET.

The controversy arose from the fact that no one, including the D.O.T. people themselves, could clearly say what INET was all about – was it a service, was it a facilty, what could one do with it, was it cheaper than STD, etc.

The misunderstandings arose when the above questions were not clearly answered.

I am not the D.O.T., but I hope that by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll understand and appreciate INET much more.

Understanding INET

To make things very simple to understand, let’s look back at how a modem works – it converts a computer’s digital signals to audio tones so that it can send them over the phone line, and at the far end another modem turns these audio tones back to digital signals.

This convoluted process is necessary because the telephone lines were not meant to carry electrical (digital) signals.

But imagine that someone rigs up a bunch of phone lines across the country that can transfer digital signals (data) instead of voice. And, because this data was controlled by computers, it could maintain many connections over a single line. And, because of this “multiplexing”, the rates were MUCH lower than a STD call.

Seems like a dream ? But it isn’t ! What I have just described is an X.25 carrier network. (As usual, X.25 is YET another CCITT label for some standard or the other, and in itself tells you nothing except that it is official.)

INET is such an X.25 network.

X.25 – looking under the hood

How does an X.25 network perform this miracle ?

Actually, it is quite simple. What happens is that the network uses an X.25 Packet Assembler-Disassembler (PAD) to break the data it receives into little packets, each one carrying “address” information that can be used to guide it to its final destination.

Then the network throws these little packets into a big stream of data that flows throughout the country. The stream consists of thousands of data packets. As the stream of data flows through each city, the local PAD examines each packet’s address information. If it is meant for that city, then it diverts this packet to it’s final destination within the city, and lets the other packets continue on their journey.

This sounds complex and slow, but in reality it is fast – VERY fast – because the PAD-to-PAD links are pure digital lines that let the PADs talk to each other at upto 64000 bits per second, or almost 30 times the speed of your ordinary 2400 bps modem ! This is in theory – in India, INET PADs are linked by 9600 bps lines as I am writing this, which is late March – but at a recent INET meet, we were promised 64Kbps links between PADs sometime in June/July. Pity they didn’t specify which year.

Anyway, this speed is divided over the users connected to the network, so that the net throughput is not much less than a direct modem connection. And, because the X.25 network is servicing many people at the same time, the line costs per user are much lower, since physically only one line is in use !

Sounds great ! So lets throw away our modems and use INET instead !

Er…nice try, but no cigar.

Connecting to INET

To connect to INET, you still need a modem. INET PADs are spread across the country, in all the metros (Bombay, Delhi, Madras and Calcutta) plus a few non-metros (Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad). Yep, there is one even in Bangalore (hurray!) which is STILL classified as a non-metro (booooo!).

So to get connected to your nearest INET PAD, you have to fire up your modem and call to a local INET number. That’s not too bad, because it is a local call.

OK, so once you are connected to INET, what do you do ? Can you directly log into my BBS in Bangalore from Delhi ?

Unfortunately – no. At least not yet.

INET Connections

There are three kinds of INET connections -

- X.28 Dialup lines – X.28 Leased lines – X.25 leased lines

INET X.28 dialups allow you to ORIGINATE calls, but not receive any.

X.28 leased lines DO allow you to receive calls, but the provided X.28 leased lines are so terrible, under-featured and useless that they can actually be only used for calling out, by people who don’t like making phone calls with their modems. If you have an X.28 leased line, you’ll know what I am talking about. If you don’t have one, count your blessings. X.28 leased lines are SO useless that I will not sully my column any further with any reference to them.

You have to have an X.25 leased line to be able to RECEIVE calls via INET. X.25 leased lines are phenomenally expensive, and getting worse. I took a nap the other day, and when I woke up, INET had raised its tariff for X.25 leased lines. To top that, you need to buy expensive X.25 equipment. The whole exercise can cost you as much as 1.5 to 2 lakhs, not counting line rentals.

So what CAN you call using INET ?

Well, to start with, you can connect to many international services such as Compuserve, MCI Mail, Bix and Dialog. Many of these require you to have a means of paying by a credit card valid outside India (which at this time is not possible unless you have benefactors abroad). The tariff for international calls via INET is Rs.200 per 64 KB of data plus Rs.4 per minute. The same 64 KB would cost you about Rs.350 if you were to call ISD.

Also, many companies in India now are setting up X.25 hosts accessible via INET. All but a few of them are completely private, meant for intra-company communications only. But some have recently thrown open their services to the public. At least three software companies I know of are planning to make their support BBS available on INET.

And finally, there is something new brewing.

INET “DialOut”

INET recently announced that they would allow “dial-out” from INET connections to non-INET subscribers. This would be something like dialling from Delhi to Bangalore on STD, but at the lower rates that are typical of INET. For example, a call from Delhi to Bangalore would cost you Rs.50 per 64 K of data. During daytime, such an exercise would cost you about Rs.160 on STD, so the savings are obvious.

Now THAT will really add a new twist. You would be able to connect to any communication host in the country at a tariff much lower than STD, even if the host itself is not running on INET.

How will this work ? Simple, actually. You connect to INET in your city, provide the phone number in the remote city along with a special code, and the call is routed to the INET PAD nearest to the called number. From there, the PAD will use a modem to dial out to the requested number, and that’s it.

At the time of writing, this facility is not yet available, but is under test in select locations in India, and is expected to be available to the rest of the country sometime this year. (To quote the king of computer journalists, Jerry Pournelle – “Real Soon Now”).

Where do you go from here ?

Well, to begin with, I’d suggest that you get yourself an INET X.28 dial-up account in your city. This will cost you about Rs.2000 initially, and will take you between 2-3 months, though INET is known to spring surprises – a friend of mine recently applied and got his account in a month’s time !

If you plan to set up a host yourself, you got the choice of blowing 2 lakhs on an X.25 connection, which will take you about a year to get.

Or you could wait for the INET DialOut facility, which we hope to see this year.

There are about 150 companies at this time who have X.25 leased line connections in India, and about 1000 X.28 dialup subscribers. The latter is likely to increase by a factor of 5 over the next year, making it more and more difficult to get such connections, so better get cracking right away.

If you are in charge of the communications department of a largish corporation, earn brownie points by investigating the use of X.25 lines. You will need one X.25 leased line to your head office (or wherever you plan to install the host), and X.28 dialup accounts in the various cities where you have your offices. The total cost of setting up the host should be between 2-3 lakhs, plus about Rs.2000 per for each outstation office X.28 dialup account.

One bonus for corporations is that if you have an X.25 host running, you can accept “Reverse Charge” calls. This means that you remote office places the call and connects to your host, but the INET charges are debited to you central account ! It is almost as if the central host has originated the call, so effective INET charges at the remote office end will be almost nil (apart from minimum charges).

INET Issues

There are some issues that you should be aware of when dealing with INET. INET is a “new kid on the block” and, though already active and useful, will show up with a few problems every now and then.

The biggest one you’ll run into is network congestion, caused by the “slow” inter-PAD connections of INET. This should be resolved soon.

The second one concerns file transfers. INET X.25 operations are not as transperant as one would wish them to be, so you may have trouble while transferring files using XMODEM or YMODEM. ZMODEM and KERMIT are fine, but still require some special setup. Work is afoot to resolve this, and I’ll keep you informed through this column on its progress.

The third problem is that of confusion. The INET staff at times cannot help you because they themselves do not have sufficient information at hand. This problem, too, should be history once INET settles in properly.

Winding up

Yikes, page three already ?

OK, time to wind up. Next month, I take a break from “monologing” and will provide answers to a whole bunch of questions that I have been receiving via my BBS, post and phone calls. After all, if PCQUEST and myself don’t answer your questions, who will ?

Beep, beep !

Many of you who have attended my seminars across the country will be very surprised seeing an article by me that actually acknowledges faxes. My (opiniated??) stand about faxing seems to be legendary – I don’t like faxes, and I don’t hesitate in saying so.Yet I must accept the fact that faxing is a way of life, especially in India, where the concept of electronic mail is yet to get widespread acceptance.

And as my job is to make you more productive, I must show you how to get the most out of faxing.

The first step is to junk your fax machine.

Ha ! Gottcha !

The Fax of the case

There is a lot to be said about faxing, and if you don’t pull the reigns on me now, not much of it is going to be complimentary. [Whoa! - Ed]

Well, let me do a Keith Timmons (of Santa Barbara fame) and state the facts of the case:

Dig out one of the more recent faxes you have received. Look at it closely. Does it look very nice? Is it at all legible ? No ? Well, there you have the first problem. Unless you are using one of those phenomenally expensive plain paper fax machines, you are looking a fading image. The thermal paper that is used by your fax machine over time loses its image, fading to a point of oblivion.

Next, look at the image itself (if you can). See those dropouts, those blurs, those smudges ? Well, that’s what you can expect with a fax machine. You see, the fax machine is really WISIWYG. Yep, no spell goof there – WISIWYG stands for “What IT sees is what YOU get”. The fax scans your printed page, and anything it “sees” is sent as part of the image – including the dirt on the scanning element, the fingerprint on the page, the ink smear in the typed matter, etc.

Then dig out the reception report that your fax machine generated after the page was received. You mean you can’t find it ? Well, go on and look for it, I’ll wait….

Got it ? OK, look at the column that tells you how long it took to receive that page. Hmmmm, almost 90 seconds ? For that single sheet of paper that didn’t have much matter on it in first place? Seems a bit much, doesn’t it ? Oh, you say it isn’t your problem, since you weren’t paying for the call ! How nice. Keep that in mind next time you send a fax.

You see, since the fax machine picked up everything that wasn’t white on the original page, it also sent a whole lot of things the sender didn’t want to send (the smudges, the stains, the dirt on the scan element, etc.) Sending all that takes time, and that is why it took so long to send the page. Add to that the fact that most fax machines only work at 9600 bps, and the seconds add up. If you are doing the sending, seconds=money.

There has to be a better way.

Enter the Fax Modem

A modem is really meant for sending data (like text, files, programs, ZIPs, etc.), but most modems today can send and receive faxes too. As a matter of fact – if you haven’t been careful, you may be the proud owner of a modem that is useless for anything else but faxing.

Fax Modems come in a variety of flavours (internal/external, cheap/expensive, good/bad), but that is a point we will discuss some other time. For the moment we will assume that you have a working fax modem.

The fax modem is effectively the same thing as your fax machine, except that it doesn’t have a scan unit, and it doesn’t print on that flimsy thermal paper.

Consider for a moment where your original printed page came from. From your word processor, right ? OK, in that case, why print it on paper, then run it through the fax machine, where the scanner’s quality can really muck things up ? Why not send the text itself ?

That’s what fax software does. It takes your text (or graphics), turns it into a fax image, then sends it on its way. Since the scanning step is bypassed altogether, there is no chance of any smudges, fingerprints or dirt on the scanner ruining the page, or adding extra overhead to the transmission time. Just because all the “scanning errors” are eliminated, you may cut your transmission time by almost 30% !

And, because of this speed increase, you will be more tempted to send high resolution faxes (which normally take more time), resulting in much better output at the far end, which is much more likely to make your customer release the payment that you asked for in the fax message.

Anyway, to look further into the case of fax modem v/s fax machine, consider the fact that most fax modems today can transmit and receive faxes at 14400 bps, which is 50% faster than most fax machines can handle. That adds up to quite a lot if you are a frequent faxer. The page that takes 90 seconds to send via a fax machine may go out in under 60 seconds if both ends are equipped with 14400 bps fax modems. If you send on an average 10 faxes a day from Bangalore to Delhi, that could mean savings of 30×10 seconds, or about Rs.150 a day !

Finally, if you receive faxes using a fax modem, then the received image isn’t printed on flimsy fax paper, but lands on your hard disk in the form of a file. This file can be printed out on just about anything capable of graphics printing, including your laser printer, ink jet printer or plain old dot matrix printer. More savings ! With the added advantage that you don’t have to print it out at all – you can view it on your screen, anytime you want. Or print it out – any number of copies, anytime you need them.

Naturally, the quality of your fax software is very important – there is good and bad stuff out there. Make sure that you choose the right fax software. Bad fax software can make even your fax machine look good and cheap.

Fax Software

Over the past two years, I have used a variety of fax software packages. And I have generally arrived at the conclusion that DOS based fax software is simply not good enough. These packages (such as QL2FAX, BITFAX, DOSFAX, etc.) simply don’t have what it takes in the modern world of fonts, italics, graphics, etc. Sure, they are quick and convenient, but there is more to life than just sending text – you want to give the message a touch of class.

Thankfully, we are not stuck with that – nowadays we have Microsoft Windows, which makes faxing a delight (if you like faxes).

Windows based fax software (such as Winfax Pro, Winfax Lite, Bitfax for Windows, etc.) treat the faxmodem as a printer, and supply printer drivers to make the job easy. You simply fire up your copy of Word for Windows (or even better, Q&A Write for Windows) or Windows Write or Ami Pro or even PageMaker or Ventura, create a document (with fonts, italics, underlines, drop caps, flourishes, kerning and what not), add graphics (such as letter heads, signatures, logos), then tell your application to print, after selecting the fax software’s printer driver. Voila ! What you see is actually what you get ! The fax software (disguised as a Windows printer driver) takes it from there – it asks you for the phone number to send it to, and the document goes out crystal clear and faster than you can say “Department of Telecommunications”.

The Fax of Life

Now that we have you sending faxes with abandon, we can look into more important things – like managing your faxing.

If you own a fax machine, then you must have used the “delayed send” feature at some time, in order to send a fax message late at night in order to save on costs. But the drawback is that you can set up only one message like that. What if you want to send a number of messages, to different people, all in the middle of the night ?

Well, fax software does that for you. You can schedule fax transmissions (any number of them to any number of destinations) so that they go out after 9 pm (so that you pay 25% of the long distance costs). And no fancy stacking of pages required, either – the fax software will do all that for you.

And then there is this problem of fax numbers – can you really recollect every fax number you need without looking at that directory of yours ? Well, fax software lets you maintain phonebooks, so that when you are ready to send a fax, you simply point at the number it should go to – the software will pick up that number and get to work.

Good fax software (like Winfax Pro) also have a “failed pages” feature, meaning that if in the middle of a multi-page transmission the line goes chop, the software will call right back and continue from that page onwards, instead of sending everything all over again.

Even better, all fax software packages will allow you to produce reports of fax transmissions and receipts, so that you can use the data in another packages (say, your accounting system) to analyse the costs.

And if you need to quickly find that fax you sent to someone a few months back, with the keyword “PAYMENT” – well, good fax software will let you find and view the desired fax document in a jiffy.

Getting under the Covers

Windows based fax software will also let you do something more – you can send “intelligent” fax cover pages, which will have all the required data automatically filled in (such as name of sender, addresseem date, time, number of pages to follow, etc.). Winfax Pro even lets you create “designer covers”, which lets you choose a cover page with some fancy graphic most suitable to the occasion (such as a guy with boxing gloves, with a message below it “Pay up, before we get tough”).

Cover pages can actually replace the need for a separate message – you can simply fill in your message on the cover sheet, and send it, rather than going the multi-page way with a cover page, followed by a page with the message on it.

Some tips and tricks

The biggest complaint about fax modems is that you can’t get your signature on the sheet.

Sez who ?

Two years ago, I simply signed on a sheet of paper using a black sketchpen, then used a scanner to get that image onto disk. After that, all I have to do in my word processor is to add the signature graphic in the right place. I have been using this signature file (which I have heavily encrypted using a custom crypt program to avoid misuse) ever since. No one knows the difference.

You say you don’t have a scanner. Heck, that’s no problem ! Just set up your fax modem for reception, then hoof it over to a place where you can use a fax machine. Fax your letter head with signature to your fax modem, then save the received image. Next time you need your letterhead/signature, just dig up this file !

Another tip is to avoid “Standard Resolution” faxes. If a bit of noise on the way junks part of the line, a standard resolution fax (100 DPI) is almost impossible to read. On the other hand, a High resolution fax message (200 DPI) sends more info about the line, increasing the chances of the page being readable even if the line is very noisy. Naturally, a HighRes fax takes a wee bit longer to send, but if it saves you from having to retransmit the message because of “line hits”, it will pay for itself.

If you are buying a new fax modem, make sure that you get good fax software along with it. If you are offered Bitfax or QL2FAX (or any other DOS based fax software), look for another modem or vendor – nothing less than a true Windows based fax package will do.

When using a Windows based fax software, always use TrueType fonts in your document, since they usually turn out best in the final fax image.

Some of you are still using pre-historic computers (like 8088/80286 based machines) which cannot run Windows properly (or at all). In such a case, try various DOS based fax software packages before you decide which to use. Look for a well known name (such as Delrina, who produce DOSfax) or at least good references from existing users. Don’t even consider clunkers like BitFax or QL2FAX, which are outdated and unreliable.

Though I do not want to make faxmodem selection a point in this article, I should tell you that there are four kinds of faxmodems:

1. Fax Only cards : The JTFax card is a typical one. Since it isn’t a real modem, you cannot use it with software like WinFax Pro. Avoid these cards.

2. Class 1 FaxModems : These are true modems with fax capabilities. But because the Class 1 fax operations depend on a really fast machine (80386 preferred), and is a pain to implement. Because of its timing-sensitive nature, the Class 1 standard tends to produce more failed faxes than others. Not all Fax software packages support Class 1.

3. Class 2 FaxModems : Again, these are true modems. The Class 2 implementation is very sturdy and is widely accepted. 99% of all fax software packages support Class 2. It is excellent when working in an environment like Windows, because the modem does most of the work.

4. Class 2.0 FaxModems : A true modem, but with a fatal flaw. The Class 2.0 “standard” is in reality completely unsupported at this time. No Class 2.0 fax software exists. Until some appears, lay off such modems.

Finally, consider abandoning faxes altogether. E-Mail is much better, faster, more convenient, more secure, cheaper, widely accepted, etc. etc.

There – I did it again.

Cheerio !

Author’s note: This article, from 1994, was probably the first “electronic activism” article that ever appeared in the Indian media, though I didn’t know it then. What I *did* know was that I was thoroughly misusing my technical column – with pretty stupendous success. I never regretted it.

Before continuing with this particular article, I must first state that the views and opinions that follow are strictly my own, and that the PCQ management may not necessarily endorse them (though I sincerely hope that it does).

A bolt from the blue

A month back, I received a VERY disturbing e-mail message from the sysop of one of the BBSs we have running in India. It said, and I quote :

“One of the main things that got me writing to you is about the apparent new policy of DOT. From the papers and from people talking, it seems that DOT has specifically mentioned BBS as one of the items to which one would have to get approval for and then pay some ridiculous fees like Rs. 15 Lakhs and give them Rs.1,000 per user etc. etc. What do you make of this and what is your gut feeling on this issue? I thought with Mr.Vittal’s entry into the DOT things would get better! He sure is one dynamic man and with a very clear vision of the future, hence this short-sited view and back-to-Licence-Raj kind of surprised me. Would like to hear your views.”

Over the next few weeks, I received dozens of messages from other people who have also heard the same thing, and have also read things about this in various newspapers. I also heard that one BBS in a metro has decided to shut down because of this threat.

Then, the final blow : I received a message from a lady working for an American megacorp, whose company was planning to do business with India but was now reconsidering its stand based on this proposed policy. She wanted me to confirm that such a policy really existed. She wasn’t really interested in the BBS part of it, but said, and again I quote :

“What really troubles us is this – if your government can even think of doing something like this, what other surprizes is it capable of springing on people ? Does it [the Indian government] not realize that the advanced state of information technology in our own country [the USA] owes a lot to the free flow of information that passes through services such as BBSs ? Does it not realize that we [the Americans] would hesitate to do business with a country that does not have a healthy communication culture that operates at grass-root levels, the way BBSs do ?”

She was echoing my very thoughts.

But let me get things into perspective.

The “Policy”

First of all, at the time of writing, the government has not YET announced any policy that proposes to tax BBS operators with license fees. But it HAS indicated that it has identified BBSs as “value added services” that should be taxed, in a fashion similar to the idiotic way they tax Fax operators.

Apparantly, the method of taxing is going to be double-edged.

First of all, the BBS operator will have to pay a license fee. It isn’t likely to be to the tune of 15 lakhs, but indications are that a figure like Rs.30,000 to Rs.1,00,000 is being played around with.

Secondly, the operator will be asked to pay an amount per user-account that his BBS handles. The figure that is streaking across some greedy government-walla’s mind seems to be Rs.100 to Rs.1000 per account.

Ergo, supposing a BBS has 200 accounts (not all of which may be active), then the operator will have to get a license, pay upto Rs.1,00,000 for it, then cough up upto Rs.1,000 per account, or, in the case of this example, another Rs.2,00,000.

Naturally the BBS operator isn’t going to pay these amounts out of his own pocket. He will ask his users to “share” the costs – over and above the small fee that most BBSs usually charge for access.

This will put the cost of BBSing into a realm out of reach for most people interested in communication of this sort, resulting in the death of a concept.

The real costs

Remember that most BBSs charge only enough to cover their own costs. Typically, this is a small amount per online hour (ranging between Rs.30 to Rs.100 per hour, depending what services are offered), plus in some cases a small contribution towards equipment costs (between Rs.100 to Rs.1000 – again dependant on what facilities are offered).

Also consider the fact that most BBS run on expensive equipment. A single line BBS usually needs a 80286 PC with at least 80MB hard disk, plus at least a 2400 bps modem. This totals to about Rs.50,000. Add to this the cost of “locking up” a phone line, and you will soon realise that the small amounts asked for barely cover the costs of the operator.

Finally, ALL BBSs running in India today are on an amateur basis, i.e. they are NOT being run by people who treat it as a full time job. I run a BBS, but that is not my main job. I spend about an hour or two a day maintaining it, but my real job is software development, writing articles and doing consultancy work.

What do we stand to lose ?

Consider for a moment just what is at stake here.

BBSs in India today are what the government has repeatedly promised us, but has been unable to give us because it has been too busy with elections and “dollar hunting” – a cheap and reliable way of electronic communication that allows a rapid exchange of ideas and knowledge.

Let’s look at a few examples:

A guy in Bombay had major problems with some modems he had bought a while back. He had repeatedly asked the manufacturer for help, but was getting nowhere.

Hearing about my BBS, he logged in and posted a query in our COM forum. As luck would have it, one of the Bangalore engineers of the modem manufacturer was also a member, and she read this message. Not her problem – right ? Wrong. Ms.C. knew what to do to resolve the issue, and a few messages later, the Bombay man’s problem was solved. Result ? Smiles all around.

Or take the example of a guy who developed a small phonebook utility. He didn’t have the resources to market it, nor did he think that he could. But he posted the utility on a Bombay BBS, from where it eventually found its way to other BBSs, including mine.

Today, hundreds of people across the country use this free utility, and someone’s career may have just taken off.

And there is the case of the stolen hard disk. Someone had his hard disk stolen in Delhi. He spread the word through one of the BBSs. I do not know whether he got the hard disk back, but the message thread that followed the original message brought to light a number of ways one can use to protect oneself against things like this. For example, did you know that ALL IDE hard disks have a unique, unalterable serial number in ROM that can be queried by software, and that this serial number can be used to identify stolen goods if they are offered to you ?

If, all of a sudden, such free flow of information was to disappear into the tangle of red tape and licensing, then we would all be stranded.

When I wrote my first article for PCQ in January ’93, few people knew what modems were and how they could be useful. Today, less than a year later, thousands of people across the country use modems as an integral part of their work. And most of them have had their first taste of computer communication by logging into a BBS – and liked it.

Just plain greedy

What prompts the DoT to even consider another License-Raj of this sort ? To me, it looks like plain, old-fashioned, callous greed.

It isn’t that the DoT loses money when someone operates a BBS, for which it must be compensated. Everyone who uses a BBS pays his phone bill. Nowadays, even local calls are timed, and one new call is charged every 3 minutes. When a user calls into a BBS across the country, he pays STD charges.

All modem users have to pay the DoT for the use of modems on P&T lines, at the rate of Rs.1,800 per modem.

And every BBS user and operator has paid Rs.3,000 to Rs.30,000 for his phone connection.

And all citizens are expected to pay taxes, which are supposedly used for sustenance of public utilities (like the telephone department, for example).

All these are earnings, but it seems the DoT wants more. Much more. And it doesn’t care if it kills the entire information industry in India in its quest for more money.

Being rational

If the government WANTS to show some degree of reason, then it should think twice before slamming such a TechnoHorror onto BBS operators.

If it thinks that it should get a “share of the profits”, then it should only consider taxing such setups that cross a particular slab of NET BBS-oriented profits, the way excise duty or income tax is levied. And this slab better be in the range of Rs.10 lakhs or above. This way, it gives the “small” guys a chance to survive, and letting the industry grow in the way God intended.

If it tries to do something like the Fax-operator levy of Rs.30,000, irrespective of whether the operator is even earning enough profits to justify this, then we will very quickly see many modem lights blinking off, the telephone lines getting very quiet, the industry grinding to a halt, computers getting isolated and useless, and international interest in business with India disappearing.

Your move, Mr.Vittal

I am sure that Mr.Vittal is not going to take very kindly to this article. If he has anything to say (provided that he even reads industry mags like this one), then an open letter in this magazine, clarifying the proposed DoT policy, would really be welcome. Even more welcome would be a flat statement that says that BBSs are tax free, just like $$$ earnings and election campaign contributions, because of their benefitial effects.

Do YOU have anything to say ? Do it ! What do you think ? Send Mr.Vittal a letter, and tell him. If you are one of the many people in the USA or Europe who read this magazine, write to the Indian Government telling them how important a healthy communication culture is deemed by those who are considering business with India.

Unfortunately, I cannot give you Mr.Vittal’s e-mail address – I doubt if he even has one. Strange, considering that I can even send E-Mail to B.Clinton, Inhabitant, White House, Washington DC, USA, telling him what I think of the cost of his haircuts. Obviously, he cares to know what the people think.

And he doesn’t tax BBSs, either.

Author’s note: Following this article, all hell broke loose in Indian cyberspace, resulting in the DoT hurridly removing the relevant sections from the proposed “Guidelines for Value Added Services”. The “Modem Tax”, as it became known, had been successfully squelched, thanks to electronic activism.

I got a call this morning. All the way from Bombay. Wow !The gentleman at the other end had a very interesting query – what’s Compuserve’s Bombay phone number ?

Oh oh.

Many moons ago I wrote a full article on Compuserve. I never had so many responses to anything I wrote in my life before ! Not even after that unfortunate incident I had with a cheque I once issued without checking my bank balance….

But the phonecall gave me reason to think – Compuserve seems to be indelibly on the Indian businessman’s mind. Am I to blame for that ? Yes ? What a nice feeling !

Anyway, I went back and dug up that issue of PCQ (the one I had to steal from Dayanand at PCQ Bangalore because I couldn’t get a copy on the newsstands), and re-read what I wrote in those days.

Woefully inadequate. Surprising that you dear people still read my column. OK, let me make amends – here’s the inside dope on how to get to Compuserve.

Modemer’s Paradise

Everytime I log into Compuserve, I have this warm feeling washing over me. It’s like coming home. The sight of the “You have Electronic Mail waiting” notice is like seeing my dog sitting on the doorstep wagging its tail seeing me approach. And, on entering the the various forums I frequent, being greeted by “11 messages waiting for you” feels like my daughter running down the garden path, arms outstretched, yelling “Papa!”.

Not for nothing does the world speak of Compuserve as “the biggest communication service in the universe (unless proven otherwise)”. With almost a million people frequenting the place, it is the world’s biggest meeting place. And it is just a phone call away.

It is surprising how easy it is to meet people on Compuserve. An innocent query in a forum, and you get responses from all over the world, from people who want to help you, who want to know you, who want to interact with you…

I have made it a habit of signing my name as “Atul Chitnis [India]” in forums. That country tag alongside my name is almost certain to get me responses – simply because people can’t believe that I am calling from India (where people supposedly still live in caves and use smoke signals to communicate).

And it also helps in business – especially since India’s markets are opening up, and there are plenty of people out there who want to do business with our motherland, but were scared because of the lack of communication facilities. The very fact that I am able to communicate via Compuserve gives them hope.

Yes, Compuserve is a modemer’s paradise.

Let me get you there.

Getting to Compuserve

There are three steps you must take to get to Compuserve.

1. You HAVE to have a modem, a phone line and a PC of sorts. 2. You have to have a line of communication to Compuserve. 3. You have to get a Compuserve account.

Let’s take them one at a time :

Getting a modem, etc.

You’ll have to have a PC (or a Mac, or a…), you have to have a phone, and you HAVE to have a modem.

The first two are usually already in place (else you wouldn’t bother reading this article).

The third part is important, because this is where most people goof. Buy a GOOD modem (not a cheap Taiwanese “deal”). The better the modem, the better the returns. Make sure it has error correction (MNP/V.42), and make sure it is fast. If you haven’t bought a modem yet, but are about to do so, do NOT buy a 2400 bps modem. Those old clunkers are outmoded and will be history in a year or so. Buy a 14400 bps, V.32bis modem.

Do NOT buy an internal modem – they are cheaper, but much more trouble. Make sure that your PC’s serial port has a 16550AF UART chip – without it, you cannot communicate at high speeds.

Do NOT buy/acquire/steal an imported modem – believe me, you’ll be sorry (unless, of course, the modem is made by a VERY reputed manufacturer such as Hayes, Multitech, Motorola, US Robotics, Supra or AT&T – just remember that the Indian P&T may not allow you to use an imported modem). And don’t judge the modem’s quality by the fact that “it sends faxes just fine” – sending a fax is not a real test – it hardly strains the modem.

Getting a line of communication to Compuserve

There are a number of ways to connect to Compuserve. Some are expensive, some are more expensive, some are ridiculously expensive.

The cheapest way is retiring to the Himalayas and establishing contact via meditation. That’s cheap, but has been know to fail, so don’t bank on this option.

A more reliable (but also more expensive) way is calling Compuserve directly with an ISD call to the USA. One of the 14400 bps numbers is 001-614-764-2917. Remember that the tariff is one pulse (local call) a second.

Cheaper than a call to the USA is calling the Compuserve node at Hong Kong. Since HK is a SAARC country, the tariff is only one pulse every 1.2 seconds. The number is 00852-30025332. The number takes both 14400, 9600 and 2400 bps calls.

Cheapest (relatively) is INET (provided you use it wisely). To get an INET account, contact your local Telecom office. It costs Rs.1820 for registration – what you need is a X.28 dialup account. INET will not give you an account unless you are using a modem cleared for use in India by the DoT – another reason for buying a reputed modem of Indian manufacture. INET is now available in 89 cities in India. INET usage charges are Rs.200/64kb of data, plus Rs.4 per minute.

Once you have your INET account, connect to the local INET node using your PC and modem.

When you get to the “*” prompt, type “Npppppp,uuuuu-03132″, where “pppppp” is your INET account’s password, and “uuuuuu” is your INET account number.

In a few seconds, you’ll see the word COM on your screen, and a few seconds later you’ll be prompted for a host name – enter “CIS”. Next you will be asked for your Compuserve User ID and password – enter them and you are on.

But we are ahead of ourselves. Let’s first of all get ourselves a Compuserve account.

Getting a Compuserve account

Actually it is very easy getting a Compuserve account – you can register online. But there is a fatal hitch – Compuserve will only let you register if you have a credit card (VISA/MasterCard/AmericanExpress) that is valid in the USA. This rules out your local credit card – the RBI rules forbid it, except for a few rare exceptions (such as when you are a registered, $$$ earning exporter).

So how do you get around this ?

One way is to ask your contact abroad to open the account for you, based on his/her credit card, and give you the user id and password. You’ll have to come to some arrangement to pay back the money. If your contact abroad has difficulties getting an account, ask him to call Compuserve’s service centre (voice) at 1-800-848-8990. Or you can call them from India at 001-614-457-8650. The service centre will give you all the help you need.

Another way is to ask someone abroad for the use of his/her credit card number *you’ll aslo need the date of expiry and the bank on which it is drawn). This is dicey, and usually works only if your contact trusts you completely (son/daughter studying/working abroad, relative, VERY good friend, etc.) Then you can use that credit card number to register online.

Connect to Compuserve using one of the ways mentioned above. When the connection to Compuserve is established,enter “177000,5000″ as User ID and “PC*MAGNET” at the password prompt. When asked for the agreement number, enter “Z11D9200″. (This may have changed, check a recent copy of PC Magazine). Enter the information that will be asked off you, (including the credit card number).

Once you have registered, you’ll be issued a user id, but not a password. The password will be sent to you by post after about 10 days, after Compuserve has verified the credit card information. Once you get your password, go online and change it immediately (GO PASSWORD).

At the end of all this, you will have a valid Compuserve account. Congratulations. Sit back and have a ThumsUp (while it is still available). Now don’t call Compuserve. You ain’t ready for it.

Using Compuserve effectively

Before you call Compuserve (after you get your own account), please sit down and think. Communication of any form can be expensive unless you do it right. Standard Compuserve rates are $12.80 per hour at 2400 bps, $24 at 9600/14400 bps. If you use only e-mail and some selected services, then these rates can be $8.95/$16.00 per month, but it is easy to go outside these selected areas.

Go out, and buy all the back issues of PCQ you can find that have 1993 in the masthead. Read my past articles. I have spent a good part of the year writing about effective communication methods, bone up on them. While you are at it, get a PCQ subscription so that you don’t miss out on anything in the future.

Get a copy of OzCIS 2.x (the world’s best Compuserve automation program). OzCIS 2.x is shareware, but you can download it only from Compuserve (GO CIS:OZCIS) or get it from a friend. BBSs (including mine) CANNOT offer OzCIS 2.0 or later because the author, Steve Sneed, does not permit it. OzCIS saves me thousands of dollars a year, because it accepts all input from me before calling Compuserve, then goes online and rips through all requested actions and logs off, allowing me to peruse the results offline. You’ll need a special script to use it with INET – you can pick it up from my BBS in the PCQ forum (filename OZINET2.ZIP).

Getting help

Once online to Compuserve, the best place to ask questions about Compuserve is in the Practice forum (GO CIS:PRACTICE). This area is free of Compuserve charges (but you will still be paying for communication costs).

Ask your questions, and you are sure to get answers. Just remember the following golden rules when posting a message :

1. Do not send a message that is ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This is considered rude and may get you banned off the area.

2. Be brief and to the point. State your question in a couple of sentences – long messages are frowned upon.

3. Don’t send unsolicited messages to anyone using e-mail. You usually will make friend with people in the forums, then can carry on your relationship with them using e-mail if they indicate that this is desirable.

There are various other ways of getting help.

The best way to learn about Compuserve is to pick the brains of a friend who has a Compuserve account.

There are also consultants who can help you (yup, guys like me), but since it is their profession, they’ll charge you for it. Dependant on how good the guy is, a consultant can very quickly get you up to speed. Make sure that HE has a Compuserve account himself and verify this on Compuserve by checking the membership directory (GO CIS:DIRECTORY) for his name. I know a number of conmen who say that they have “extensive Compuserve experience” after having seen a distant acquaintance log in once, and who’ll gladly take you for a ride at your expense. Beware of such parasites. And NEVER divulge your INET or Compuserve passwords to anyone, even your friends. Always type them in yourself when needed. A “shady” friend/consultant will show his true nature when he asks you for the password instead of asking you to type in the passwords yourself.

As a Compuserve member, you will also receive a free subscription of the Compuserve Magazine, which is also an invaluable resource.

There are some excellent books in the market – browse through your local computer bookstall, you are sure to find something.

Become a member of a BBS near you. Many Compuserve members also frequent BBSs, and you could ask them.

And finally, explore Compuserve online (carefully). Make sure that you have your capture/log file open, so that you can read everything that happened later when you are offline. Do not spend time online reading what appears on the screen.

Logout

I hope that this time round I have really given enough details on how to get to Compuserve. And I hope this article helps all those people abroad who wish to have their Indian counterparts contact them via Compuserve, but didn’t know whether (and how) it could be done.

This article completes one year of my writing for PC Quest. I hope that, in a small way, I have helped my readers get into computer communications. Beginning January ’94, I will be changing the scope of this column a bit to address a number of specific issues that have come up during the past year.

I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Productive New Year.

See you on the other side.

You know that feeling when you have spent the past hour hunting for your glasses, only to find them perched on top of your head ? I mean, a really serious situation (I am blind without my glasses) that has a perfectly stupid and simple answer ?Well, you won’t believe what I have seen people come up with when it comes to file transfers. While this article may seem funny, it is also dead serious. Read on…

“Nothing wrong on my side”

The above is probably the most common thing I get to hear when I try to figure out why some user’s file transfers keep crashing when he calls into my BBS. People rarely (if ever) accept that something could be wrong at their end – they always blame it on the other side. This makes it all the more difficult to track the real problem. The old saying that goes “you need two hands to clap” also holds good in the field of data communication. OK, here goes…

“Every time I try to download a file from an online service such as a BBS or Compuserve, the transfer crashes within seconds.”

The most common reason that I have come across that causes this is an incorrectly set download path. Communication packages like Procomm have a setting which dictates where downloaded files are to be stored. This is usually called the Default Download Path (DDP). Setting this to a non-existing directory will cause the transfer to abort the second the protocol tries to create the file. Check your settings. One of the easiest ways of testing for this problem is to wipe out the DDP setting, causing all downloaded files to land in the current directory. If this works, then you know what the fault was.

Also be aware of the way the shareware versions of Procomm (versions upto 2.4.3) want the DDP to look. For example, if you want to have all downloaded files to land in the directory C:PROCOMMDOWNLOAD, then you have to set the path to C:PROCOMMDOWNLOAD. The final backslash is important, because Procomm simply appends the filename to this setting and tries to create that file, i.e. if you are downloading 1HARRY.ZIP, Procomm will append it to the DDP so that the full pathname is C:PROCOMMDOWNLOAD1HARRY.ZIP. If you do not have the backslash at the end of the DDP, it will try to create C:PROCOMMDOWNLOAD1HARRY.ZIP, which naturally doesn’t work, and KABOOOM.

Thirdly, check if there is space on your hard disk. Some protocols like Zmodem and Ymodem Batch send the filesize along with the filename. If the size of the incoming file would be too large for the amount of free space you have, the protocol will abort immediately.

“I try to download a file using Ymodem, but it always crashes. I am using Procomm 2.4.3.”

This common problem is due to the insane nomenclature the old Procomm versions used for file protocols. Version 2.4.3 has a protocol called YMODEM (option 5). If you tell Compuserve to send you a file using YMODEM and select the YMODEM in Procomm’s protocol menu, things crash. The reason is because option 5 in Procomm 2.4.3′s protocol menu is, in fact, not Ymodem at all, but Xmodem-1K. The real Ymodem is option 6, which is called YMODEM BATCH. This anomaly was fixed in Procomm Plus.

“The transfer starts OK, but halfway through, the errors start building up and finally the transfer crashes.”

The most common reason for this is COM port overruns – the incoming data is simply too fast for the machine. However insane that may sound – be aware that almost 90% of all PC’s face this problem.

The solutions to this are to use a faster machine, a faster hard disk or a 16550AF UART chip. The best solution is to get all three, especially the last one. Communicating at speeds higher than 2400 bps is a strain that the old 8250B and 16450 UART chips cannot take. If you are going to be operating at 9600 bps and beyond, you NEED a 16550AF chip.

Check this out by using a slower protocol. For example, if you have been using Ymodem-G Batch (a fast, flowing protocol that sends data with no stops at all), switch to YMODEM BATCH instead and see what happens. Or even try XMODEM. If a switchdown solves the problem, then consider one (or all) of the above solutions.

“I can transfer files, but the protocol shows lots of errors that had to be corrected”

This can be due to two reasons – you are using a non-error correcting modem (in which case you asked for it), or you have faulty flow control. The first one can only be fixed by openig your chequebook and buying a good MNP or V.42 modem.

Faulty flow control is when your machine is unable to tell the modem to stop a sec while it does something (like write data to disk). In the days before 2400 bps modems, people used XON-XOFF for flow control. This means that when the machine wanted the data flow to stop for a while, it would send a XOFF (Ctrl-S) down the line. To restart it, it would send a XON (Ctrl-Q).

This sort of flow control has no place in highspeed communication. Instead, you have to use hardware flow control (RTS-CTS). This requires three things – your communication software must have RTS-CTS flow control enabled, the serial cable to the modem must have ALL 9 critical wires connected, and the modem must be setup to recognise hardware flow control. Check your modem and communication software’s manuals for details.

“My file transfers are error-free, but incredibly slow”

You are probably using an extremely slow protocol, such as Xmodem or Kermit. Both these protocols send data in small packets, then stop and wait for an acknowledgement before sending the next packet. Because the packet has to travel to the other end of the connection, get validated there, then an acknowledgement is sent, which has to ravel back to the sender’s side and get checked there, a small-packet protocol like Xmodem or Kermit may spend more time waiting for the acknowledgement than it takes to send a data packet.

Things are made worse by compression features of modems, which wait for a set number of bytes before compressing them and sending them on their way. The small packets of Xmodem or Kermit will not fill the modem’s buffer, so the modem has to timeout before it send the data off, causing even more delay.

Try using a flowing protocol (such as Zmodem or Ymodem-G Batch), or a protocol with larger packet sizes (Xmodem-1K or Ymodem Batch).

“I start a Zmodem download which aborts immediately, but the remote end syas that the transfer was successful”

Zmodem is a crash-recovery capable protocol. When the transfer starts, the protocol checks if a file by that name already exists. if it does, and if the file size and CRC check match that of the incoming file, then it tells the sender to skip the file, which is NOT an error.

Check if you have a file in your DDP that has the same name as the incoming file. If so, rename it to something else before retrying the transfer.

“I have mixed results using Ymodem-G Batch – sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t”

In general, try and avoid Ymodem-G Batch. While it is a very fast way of transferring files, it has a fatal flaw – it cannot recover from errors, but simply aborts if one takes place.

Try using Zmodem instead or, if Zmodem is not available, Ymodem Batch. Zmodem is as fast as Ymodem-G Batch, but is much more robust – it can easily deal with errors and can even restart a crashed transfer from the point of breakdown. Ymodem Batch is about 80% as fast as Ymodem-G Batch, but can recover from errors.

“I have downloaded about 50% of a file when I lost carrier. Since I wasn’t using Zmodem, I will have to start all over again.”

No, you don’t have to. If both sides of the connection support Zmodem, you can restart a crashed file transfer from the point of crash by using Zmodem the next time you attempt to transfer the file. Zmodem does not care what protocol was used to transfer the first part of the file – if it can find the truncated part of the file, it will take off from the point where the previous transfer had crashed.

“I try to download a file from a mainframe, but Xmodem and Ymodem always crash”

Most mainframes and minis operate using 7 data bits and Even Parity as communication parameters. Xmodem and Ymodem need 8 bits, no parity, so they cannot be used on such connects. However, Kermit can transfer 8 bit data over 7 bit lines (newer version of Zmodem can, too). If you find yourself in such a situation, you will HAVE to use Kermit, inspite of its slow performance.

“My faxmodem can send faxes just fine, but fails during file transfers”

Many people believe that if a modem can do one thing correctly, it can do everything correctly. Wrong. As a matter of fact, sending a fax is such a trivial task in terms of strain on the modem that it is not a real test at all. Always test a modem for its datacomm performance before declaing it as functional. Testing is just for fax performance is useless.

“Inspite of using an error correcting modem and achieving a MNP connect, my file transfers crash or are very slow”

MNP (and V.42) work by sending packets of data to the remote modem with extra information attached that allows the remote modem to check the data packets integrity. If an error takes place enroute, the receiving modem will tell the sending modem to retransmit the data packet.

By default, MNP modems usually send 256 byte packets. But on extremely noisy lines, MNP-packet retransmits can be more frequent. Since it takes longer to resend large packets than smaller ones, try setting your modem’s MNP packet size to 64 bytes (most modems use the ATA3 setting for 256 byte packets and ATA0 for 64 byte packets. Some modems use the AT&BS1 and AT&BS0 settings).

Also, some modems have a setting that allows the modem to “give up” if it cannot transmit correctly within 12 tries – try changing this setting.

“I use a V.42bis modem with 1:4 compression, but my file transfers are still slow”

This can be due to two reasons. The first is that the incoming data is already pre-compressed (such as a ZIP file), in which case the modem cannot compress the data further and hence you will see no benefit from the compression feature.

The other reason is that your software is set to work at the modem’s rated speed (e.g. 2400 bps). For compression to produce benefits, your port speed must be at least twice the connect speed (e.g. 4800 or 9600 bps). Also make sure that neither your modem nor your communication software attempt to adjust the port speed based on the connect speed. This is called AutoBauding in most communication packages, and should be turned off. Your modem will probably use a setting such as ATJ0 or AT$BA0 – make sure that this is set.

Logout:

That’s it for this month. I hope you are now able to resolve your file transfer problems. If not – keep reading this column. More tips are on the way. Remember, in the world of computers, nothing can really go wrong…go wrong…go wrong…go wrong…go wrong…go wrong…go wrong…

Darn. Something went wrong.

The brain behind the brawn

It is the software that makes a powerful PC, and things aren’t any different on the data communication front. While your modem may be the latest and greatest, with a zillion bits per second and industry-strength data compression, it is going to sit there on your desk quietly occupying space and being thoroughly unproductive, unless you tell it to do something useful. And to tell it something, you need to be able to talk to it. You do that with datacommunication software. Now, before I set out, I have to apologise to the Macintosh, Unix and Amiga users out there – I am going to talk strictly DOS and Intel-based PCs here. Not that there aren’t any great packages available on your platforms – it is just that I have enough trouble keeping up with the PC side of things.

Long ago and far, far away…

When I stepped into this facinating world of communications, the de-facto communcation software in use was good old Crosstalk. It was great – you could talk to the modem and through it to other modems and you could transfer files. It wasn’t sold here, but in those days nothing was, so my copy was pirated. Sure, things took time. Crosstalk wasn’t the easiest software to use, and the file transfer protocols it supported weren’t state-of-the-art, but it was functional. Crosstalk supported Xmodem, Kermit and a proprietory protocol, plus half a dozen terminal emulations, but that was it. But it worked, and for a long time, I couldn’t think of using anything else. I had a short romance with PC-Talk – a shareware comms package written in BASIC, but we soon parted company. If you are a student of ancient history, pick it off your nearest BBS. What really was the issue here was that I didn’t know what makes a good communication package, since at 1200 bps, you weren’t really asking questions. As I progressed, though, things began to take different hues. One does begin to ask questions when you use a 2400 bps modem, but can transfer files at effectively 1200 bps. One starts asking bigger questions when you just got to see drab screens with no colour and sound. And one really sits up when your software starts bombing at high speed. So I set out to find something better.

Evolving feature greed

What was I looking for ? Well, ease of use was obviously a major factor, but I was also looking at speed, reliability and features. One of the first features I looked for was support for a variety of file transfer protocols. Xmodem and Kermit were too slow and under-featured. What I wanted was support for faster protocols, which allowed me to transfer more than one file to my machine in one swoop, without having to supply all the file names again this side. Ymodem Batch had just made an appearance, and it just had to be there. Then I wanted this new-fangled thing called ANSI graphics, that allowed the remote host to clear my screen and change colours on my terminal. This meant that my dream package had to have terminal emulation support, and I wanted lots of emulations. I also wanted support for scripts, so that I could automate some aspects. I finally found DataStorm’s Procomm 2.4.2 – a shareware comms package that covered my wishlist pretty nicely. For a while, it was a marriage made in heaven. Procomm and I were a perfect team, until I got my first 2400 bps MNP modem and started having crashed file transfers when my serial port was set to 9600 bps. Investigation showed that the issue was flow control, and Procomm 2.4.2 didn’t have any settings for that. I dug around and finally got an updated version – 2.4.3 – which supported hardware flow control and also this high-speed protocol called Ymodem-G Batch. This was 1988 or thereabouts. A year or two later, I was getting greedy. I wanted more – much more. In particular, I wanted Zmodem, that wonderful file transfer protocol that was as fast as Ymodem-G batch, but as robust as a Sherman tank. I also wanted a more powerful script language, external file transfer protocols, scroll back, a Host Mode, etc. So I coughed up some money, and got myself my first legal comms package – Procomm Plus 2.0. By now, I was deep into the development of a communications host, and wanted something industrial strength and standard that I could use for testing my Mona Lisa.

End of a romance

Procomm Plus 2.x, even today, is one of the best known comms packages, and with good reason. PCPLUS (as it is known) has everything but the kitchen sink, but you can write a script to fix that. It has Zmodem, hardware flow control, a functional host mode, a built-in editor, and much more. The script language is powerful, very much like C in some aspects, very much like BASIC in others. For a long time, PCPLUS was my favourite battle-axe. I (for a short time) played with the idea of writing something like this myself, but the sight of PCPLUS is an awe-inspiring one – not a very easy act to follow. And as time progressed, I found myself in a quandry.

Going the ShareWare way…

For one, more people were getting into communications. They needed software, and I hated the idea of them using pirated stuff. PCPLUS in India costs a phenomenal (and completely unreasonable) Rs.8000++ – the combination of a short-sighted customs policy (recently rectified) and a seemingly greedy local vendor. Few people (if any) bought it here – they pirated it. The other problem was that of specialisation. There were certain communication scenarios where even Procomm Plus was useless. For example, non-MNP modems. There were plenty of these obnoxious curses on mankind around, and there were a lot of people who deemed datacomm in India unfeasible because of the junk they saw on their screens. The other angle of specialisation was Compuserve. I was getting very deep into this, and saw Dollars flowing like speeches during an election campaign. I needed something that got me up to speed, and that didn’t cost too much because I wanted others to have it, too. So I set out to find myself yet another datacomm package, but this time there wasn’t any one package that could handle all these factors. Finally, things settled down to three packages.

General Data Communcation

The pirated software angle was solved when I came across the mmmmarvellous Telix 3.21. This amazingingly feature rich package had everything that Procomm Plus had, plus an absolutely great Host mode (a fully functional BBS !) and, unlike Procomm Plus 2.0, it didn’t have a problem talking at speeds higher than 19200. It was “commfortable” even at 115200 bps ! The script language was compilable, so there was no speed loss because of interpretation, and it was so much like C that one could learn it in a jiffy (if one knew C). For those who (rightly so) thought of C as a language fit only for nerds and corporate job hunters, there was another script language called SIMPLE that lived up to its name. And Telix is shareware, meaning that you can try it before you pay the ridiculously low registration fee of $39 (or about Rs.1200). It was freely distributable, came with a whoppingly detailed manual, and was simply great. PCPLUS was banished from my hard disk forever, and I recommend use of Telix for all general communcation activities. Pick it off my BBS (COM forum, TLX321-1.ZIP, TLX321-2.ZIP, TLX321-3.ZIP and TLX321-4.ZIP) or any BBS near you. Use it, love it, pay the shareware fee – the authors deserve it.

Software for Non-MNP Modems

Yes, these terrible pieces of equipment actually still exist. Non-MNP modems are those modems that have either been bought a long time ago or were recently sold by some corrupt, uncaring cheat who conned the customer into buying them on the basis of the customer’s ignorance of such matters. Since error correction (MNP or V.42) is necessary for communication in India, there had to be some way of getting around this, and the answer is Odyssey 2.0. Ody (as it is affectionately called) is a regular communications program with a twist – it provides software-based MNP if your modem doesn’t have error correction. It is very well equipped with all the things one needs for communication, including Zmodem, terminal emulators and a script language. Our editor PKR swears by Ody, even though all his modems have built-in error correction ! One potential problem, though – Ody (like all software MNP emulators) used the public domain MNP2 error correction standard. Recently introduced high speed modems (like the ZyXEL, for example) no longer implement this protocol because it is obsolete – locking out non-error correcting modem users with Ody. Also, Ody (when emulating MNP) does not work very well on long distance lines. Ody, like Telix, is shareware, so you can try-before-you-buy. It is available on most BBSs.

Compuserve Communication

Compuserve is the place to be connected to (as many of my articles must have told you), but it is expensive. The longer you stay on, the more money you spend. If you use regular communication software like Telix, you’ll find yourself piling up a massive bill in no time flat. Along comes a knight in shining armour, in the form of Steve Sneed and his OzCIS 2.0. OzCIS is a communication program that is dedicated to Compuserve-usage. It needs at least a ’286 based machine with 2MB of FREE RAM, but once you get it up and going, you won’t know how you have ever lived without it. OzCIS takes all your “orders” from you before it connects to Compuserve, then goes online and rips through the requested actions and logs off before you realise what has happened. My Compuserve bill dropped so fast that I, in sheer awe, went and registered my copy of OzCIS twice because I felt that the $20 asked for was far too little. This software miracle requires that you use a MNP/V.42 based modem, so make sure you have one. You also (of course) require a Compuserve account and preferably an INET account. To use OzCIS on INET you need a special script which you can pick off my BBS, but you cannot get OzCIS from there. Steve has (very rightly so) prohibited distribution of OzCIS via BBSs, though you may take a copy from a friend or download it from Compuserve or order it from him directly. The reason why he does not allow distribution via BBSs is because BBSs tend to strip things down to the bare minimum to save download time, causing support havoc if a vital file is missing. And OzCIS is BIG – the ZIP file alone crosses 1 MB ! For file transfers to and from Compuserve, OzCIS uses only the CIS B+ protocol, which is found only on Compuserve and is specifically designed to work with it. It isn’t as fast as Zmodem, but does have crash recovery and auto-download/upload.

Winding up

Check your hard disk and see what you are using for communications. If you don’t have any of the above programs, make sure you get them. All three are highly recommended for their intended purpose, and will serve you well. Notice that I didn’t cover any Windows-based programs. That has a reason – Windows isn’t really meant for communications – it tops out at 19200 bps terminal speed (which is far too low these days) and is highly unreliable to boot when it comes to servicing COM ports. Stay clear of anything under Windows until things become more stable (such as a new version of Windows) or until you switch to OS/2 2.1 (which is a communicator’s heaven).