Sergei and all others,
I have given up on ISPs Freewwweb or Compuserve working in Los Angeles area
via Arachne for now. I got internet access from our local phone company,
Pacific Bell. They don't use the UUNET lines, so Arachne works beautifully.
I tried installing version 1.60b, but ran into memory problems (running a
small home network), so I went back to version 1.50src.
[Incidentally, are there known problems with version 1.60's setup wizard? I
couldn't even get past the video screen --always tabbed past the the
settings I wanted and then went nowhere when I ENTERed. Hit "O" for Options
and proceeded to act just as crazy on other setup screens.]
I don't know what Compuserve's problem was, but Freewwweb's use of UUNET
local access nodes (I understand that many ISPs use UUNET) is somehow
involved in tripping up Arachne within metro LA. Again, I was able to surf
with Arachne just fine on Freewwweb using an access number outside of my
area, also a UUNET node (per TRACERT) but obviously something different. Is
it possible that access nodes in Los Angeles have extra security or spam
blocking agents? Else it must be some variation in protocol or redirection
that standard browsers (IE/Netscape) are able to negotiate, yet Arachne
cannot. If Arachne is destined to fly in any metropolitan area like Los
Angeles, seems like a question worth pursuing. But I'm afraid I can't
spend any more time on it. On to other puzzles . . .
Thanks again everyone for your attention and creativity and patience.
Steve Evans
