Net access software and hardware

Citation

Andrew, A.M. (1998), "Net access software and hardware", Kybernetes, Vol. 27 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1998.06727hag.003

Net access software and hardware

Keywords Cybernetics, Internet, Systems

Net access software and hardware

Any home computer offered on the market in the last year or two has a modem and access software included as part of the package. Only a very few years further back, however, modems were an optional extra, and Internet connection was not seen as essential, and indeed was of less benefit than now. For owners of the earlier machines there is a choice of access software, and it was recently brought home to me that the choice is wider than I had previously thought.

Most of my own browsing has been with a Macintosh Power Book 150, using a version of the CompuServe Information Manager which is not the latest but which readily handles e-mail and the other facilities to which CompuServe gives direct access. Later versions of the Information Manager (which come with an integral browser) will not run on a machine with a simple monochrome screen. To get full Internet access I installed a version of Netscape that I was able to download, free of charge, from a CompuServe library. It was also necessary to install and configure PPP (Point to Point Protocol) software, which also was downloaded free of charge, and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) software, which had to be purchased from a dealer.

I was finally able to open Netscape and have since made good use of it to browse the Internet. Recently, however, something has gone wrong, causing the program to quit when the attempt is made to follow a link from one URL to another. Up to now my attempts to remedy the situation by reinstalling and reconfiguring items of software have been fruitless.

Of course, elusive "bugs" are all too common, and are not usually mentioned when publishing results that have been achieved despite them. This failure, however, prompted me to look at the CompuServe "Mac Communications" Forum (reached by the prompt GO MACCOMM). In library section 14 of the Forum there is a document indicated by the brief title OLDMACS.SIT. Once this had been decompressed or "unstuffed" (in a manner indicated by the suffix) it yielded a lengthy discussion with the heading: "Get your compact Mac on the Web".

The author of this document reviews various pieces of software that allow Internet access from smaller and older Macintosh systems. He regards Netscape as unduly large, with Mosaic slightly better in this respect, but he also introduces less well-known alternatives. One of these is particularly suitable for Macs with 68K processors, such as the Power Book 150. The necessary software can be downloaded from another entry in the same library section of the Forum, with the title MACWEB68S.

Text accompanying the software describes it as the Tradeware MacWeb browser program, and makes it clear that the downloaded copy is supplied for evaluation and remains the property of the company Tradeware. However, no limit is set on the time for evaluation, and in the meantime this software has solved my problem. It requires PPP and TCP to be installed in the system folder, but seems to be relatively insensitive to their precise configuration. It occupies just over one third of the storage space of the Netscape version previously used.

Smaller still

The author of the paper goes on to indicate means of getting Web access even with a machine with no hard disk and as little (these days) as one megabyte of RAM. It depends on a text-only internet facility called Lynx, and other software called ZTerm that can be downloaded from the site http://www.eden.com/~arena/jagshouse/Shareware.html

The author, Bill Jagisch, who signs himself as "Jag", offers other highly-compact software including a text processor sufficiently small that it can be added to the 800-kilobyte disk already carrying the system folder and the ZTerm software in the above scheme. The site from which it can be downloaded is http://www.eden.com/~arena/jagshouse/classic.html

The site also reveals the enthusiasm of Bill Jagisch for old Macintosh machines, as suggested by the inclusion of "classic" in the address. The document previously mentioned as being available in a CompuServe Forum can also be found here. It is gratifying to find attention being given to software for older machines.

Galaxy

The site that appears as the default "home page" of the MacWeb browser introduces an interesting search engine called "Galaxy". A nice feature is that users are invited to submit details of their own sites for inclusion in the Galaxy database, and this will shortly be done for the WOSC site. The Galaxy site can of course be reached using other browsers and has the address http://galaxy.einet.net/galaxy.html

Macintosh versus PC

The majority of home computers are of the PC type, but there are also strong enthusiasts for the Macintosh. It is generally agreed that the Macintosh has some very attractive features, particularly its elegant and intuitive user interface, and that its makers, Apple, have for a long time set the standard in this respect.

My own loyalty (until recently) to the Mac is mainly on account of certain software for complex typesetting that runs on the Mac, and not, as far as I know, on the PC. The prime example is the T_EXtures implementation of the T_EX typesetting scheme, particularly well suited to mathematical typesetting.

In general, though, the Macintosh user is at a disadvantage with regard to software availability. I have been able to browse the Internet from the Mac, but when I wanted to install the software necessary to set up a new website, I have to admit I gave up on the Mac and bought a second-hand PC. Because of the enormously greater potential market, developers naturally give priority to the PC versions of software, in this case to CompuServe's "Home Page Wizard".

It is interesting that of the two people who produce the Internet Tourbus, Bob Rankin has used exclusively PC equipment, and until recently Patrick Crispen used exclusively Macintosh. They are in a good position to make comparisons. In a recent Tourbus (24:4:98), Patrick Crispen was interviewed by Bob Rankin and was asked what he would now do if he had to buy a new computer. His answer was that he had in fact come into some money and had bought a new machine and it is a PC. As in my case, software availability was the overriding consideration.

The issue is felt strongly in some quarters, even to the extent that Patrick Crispen claims that people who publicly criticise the Macintosh are likely to be subjected to "flaming" (or, to use his expression, "e-mail bombing") by its more fanatical devotees. Unfortunately, though, software availability is something that nobody can afford to ignore.

Alex M. Andrew