Macintosh PPP Configurations

TCP/IP Networking via MacTCP 2.0.6 and MacPPP 1.0.x or FreePPP 1.0.5

Critical Control Panels and Extensions

MacPPP and FreePPP are shareware PPP dialers for Apple/Macintosh dial-up networking. MacTCP 2.0.6 is preferred. Also, Mac OS system software version 7.x or later is preferred.

Important: Do not install MacPPP/FreePPP and InterSLIP at the same time—they seem to confuse MacTCP if both are available. If you want to switch between the two, completely reinstall MacTCP before switching.

If this software is not installed on your system you will need to obtain copies either by purchasing software from your local vendor or installing it from your system disk or other source(s). The Internet also provides download archives for shareware forms of the software, a good place to start such a search for this and a long list of other available software is at the invaluable Info-Mac HyperArchive.

With the MacTCP and FreePPP properly installed and enabled, you are ready to proceed with the configuration.

Configuring the MacTCP Main Window

Figure 1

1. To begin, start your system fresh, or restart if you are already up and running.

2. Access your Control panels folder and double-click the MacTCP icon.

3. Within the MacTCP window you should find one or more connection method icons, depending on what networking extensions you already have installed (see Fig. 1).

4. Select the PPP icon to enable your computer to connect to the network by modem dial-up. Local Talk and Ethernet refer to direct networking situations The following instructions will detail the configuration for PPP dial-up users…

5. Click on the ‘More’ button. This should bring you to a window requesting Domain Name Server Information (see Fig. 2).

Entering the Domain Name Server Information

Figure 2

1. Pioneer Internet’s host issues you a server-assigned address. So check the radio button for ‘Server’ under the ‘Obtain Address’ framed box.

2. To the right of this, you will find the ‘IP Address’ framed box. Since Pioneer’s host will automatically be assigning you a unique IP address, you need not worry about this field and should leave it alone. MacTCP will fill it in when you actually establish the PPP connection.

3. In the lower right portion of the same window you will find the field for ‘Domain Name Server Information’. The entries here are to be entered by you, and it is critical to match them to specified settings exactly.

4. In the dialog box below ‘Domain’ enter: pld.com

5. In the dialog box below ‘IP Address’ enter: 206.253.33.130

6. Select the ‘Default’ radio button to the right of these entries.

7. After you’ve completed the domain name server information, click the OK button to save your changes, and then close the MacTCP control panel. Depending on what you change and if you’ve used MacTCP yet that session, MacTCP may tell you that the changes won’t take effect until you restart. Go ahead and restart your Mac if necessary. If I’m troubleshooting, I usually restart every time I reconfigure MacTCP whether it tells me to or not, just to be safe.

Configuring PPP

Figure 3

1. Locate the Config PPP control panel, which should be installed in the Control Panel folder. Open Config PPP, and you should see something resembling the following (see Fig.3). The interface will vary slightly dependent upon your build of the software.

2. In the field ‘Port Name:’ check to make sure the appropriate port is indicated for your modem’s location. For most systems, you will have options such as, ‘Internal Modem’ if your modem is installed inside the computer casing or ‘Modem Port’ if you have an external modem attached.

3. Set the ‘Idle Timeout (minutes):’ to a value of 10 minutes or greater if you wish.

4. Set ‘Echo Interval (seconds)’ to ‘Off’.

5. If you find optional boxes below this, as seen in Figure 3, you can match the settings. Again, ‘Hangup on Close’ and ‘Quiet Mode’ checkboxes may be selected or deselected as you wish. The ‘Terminal Window’ should not be checked.

PPP Server Configuration

Figure 4

1. Select the ‘New’ button at the bottom. This will generate a dialog for your dialer profile.

2. You will be prompted for a name for your PPP connection. A good name for you may be ‘Pioneer’ for example.

3. After selecting the name, you will be returned to the Config PPP window. Check to make sure that the name of the connection that you just created appears next to ‘PPP Server:’. If it does, then select the ‘Config…’ button. Another window will open with the options for your new connection (see Fig. 4).

4. ‘Port Speed’ refers to the transfer rate of your modem and communications port, so your settings here should reflect the capacity of your modem. Please refer to the manufacturer’s documentation for your modem if you are unsure.

5. ‘Flow Control’ options are also specific to the modem; again, you may need to consult your modem configuration.

6. Select ‘Tone Dial’.

7. ‘Phone num’ will be the phone number that you are dialing to reach Pioneer, not your own home/work phone number from where you are calling. Please refer to the list of local access telephone numbers in your start-up kit to determine the appropriate local access number for your particular city.

8. Below this, you will find a ‘Modem Init’ prompt. This refers to the initialization string required by your modem which regulates the identity and behavior of your modem. Please use the default initialization string provided by the modem vendor. Most modems will accept ‘atz’ as a minimal standard, but this is a last resort, as you will not see the optimal performance of your modem.

Authentication

1. Now you are ready to input your user information for the automated login procedure.

2. Click on the ‘Authentication’ button at the bottom of the active window.

3. Input your username in the ‘Auth ID:’ field.

4. Input your logon password in the ‘Password:’ field.

5. Click OK.

Connect to the Internet!

1. You’re almost there…if you have confirmed each of the above steps, you should be ready to give it a test run. You may dial by clicking once on the open button in the ‘Config PPP’ window. (Just make sure that the modem and the phone line are ready to dial out).

2. A MacPPP status window should overlay the desktop and show you the stages of your connection. Beginning with the initialization of your modem…dialing…making some "odd" sounds as the modems converse…feeding your login script information…and finalizing with the PPP phase messages of Establishment…and Network or Connection Established.

3. If this proceeds properly you will find yourself back at the ‘Config PPP’ window and should see the indication of PPP UP’, indicating that the network connection is made. Depending upon the version of MacPPP that you use, you may also find this illustrated graphically with two smiling happy faces or two hands shaking.

4. Now your TCP/IP connection is established and you may run your favorite browser, mail client, etc.

5. When and if you decide to manually close your dial-up connection you may do so by clicking once on the ‘Hard Close’ or ‘Close’ button.