> > If you would like a copy, let me know, and I will send it to you ASAP.
> >
> Yes, please that would be useful.
attached.
--
Andy Sillwood
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.sills.cx/
ICQ: 13697313
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: NetConnectFAQ.txt
UNOFFICIAL NETCONNECT 2 FAQ 19/12/99
TOC
1 Introduction
2 Genesis
3 Voyager
4 MD-II
5 AmFTP
6 AmIRC
7 X-Arc
8 AmTerm
9 Contact Manager
10 NetConnect
11 Misc.
INTRODUCTION
I basically started writing this FAQ on 31/7/99 after repeated requests on
the NetConnect mailing list for one. Plus, I (and I believe many other
people) was sick and tired of people asking the same old questions time
and time again - not their fault most of the time, but there were sometimes
questions asked on the list that were answered in the HTML docs, but people
didn't bother reading them fully. There were also points left out of the
docs, probably because they didn't really fit in there. I've tried to
include as many questions as possible in this FAQ. And if there's something
that you can't find on this doc, read the HTML guide given with NC2 too,
because there's a good chance of the answer being there. Thanks!
Finally, this is the end of me writing this. I tried posting this is the list
several months ago but was promptly unsubbed. Anyhow, what with me being at uni
and all, I rarely get a chance to use the Amiga these days and need the cash to
buy things like "food" and "rent". So this is really the end of me actively
associating with the Amiga (although I still have UAE running ;)
I hope that this is of some use to anyone still using NC2 these days and thanks
to all on the list for some good conversations over the last year or two.
Thanks again
Isaac 19/12/99.
GENESIS
Q : I'm the only user of my computer - should I create a new user or just
use the standard "root".
A : You should create another user for yourself. Many servers (especially
IRC ones) do not like clients coming online with the username set to root.
Q : I've set my username as something apart from root, but every time I try
to change password or something, Genesis insists on asking me for the Root's
password, not mine!
A : Use Root for any system manager operations, and your own username for
dialup purposes - this is a feature of Genesis by design, not a fault.
Q : Help! Every time I try to dial up with Genesis, it tries to establish a
connection, but then immediately goes offline!
A : Make sure that the Interface name has no spaces in it.
Q : If I quit Genesis and then reload it, it doesn't ask for my
password/username any more!
A : Set the option, "Flush Global User on exit" in Genesis Prefs/ Options/
Misc.
Q : Why doesn't Genesis tell me the speed I'm connecting at? It just tells
me CONNECT 115200 or CONNECT 57600?
A : You must alter the init string of your modem (in the settings) to have
"W2" at the very end of the string. If this doesn't work, check your modem
manual.
Q : How can I alter the order that users appear in the list, or Interfaces
for that matter?
A : Two ways. Either you can fiddle with ToolTypes of the Genesis icon, or
you can simply drag and drop the interfaces/users in the order that you want
within Genesis Prefs. Save and exit.
Q : I want to use the feature for Genesis to check my local time with a time
server. How do I do that?
A : Go to Genesis Prefs, and tick the option for using a time server. An
example time server to enter in the tickbox is : time.u-net.com. There are
many others, and your own ISP will probably have one (and it is best to use
theirs).
VOYAGER
Q : Why does Voyager take so damned long to load?
A : Voyager automatically cleans up the cache every time it is started.
There are several ways to fix this. Firstly, you can reduce the size of the
cache in the Settings. Secondly, try a new filesystem, such as the new PFS3,
or the free SFS (both offer significant performance increases over the
standard FFS on your Amiga). The cache system is much improved in Voyager 3
though ;)
Q : Why can't I access the cache when I am browsing offline?
A : Go to settings/ General Settings/ Cache/ and change the "Verify" option
to "Never". However, when you want to go back to online browsing, make sure
you put this back to either "Upon Every Access" or "Once per session"
Q : How many connections should I leave open?
A : A good number is 8. Too few, and you will not fully realise the
potential of your bandwidth, and too many and you risk slowing everything
down too much.
Q : What about Cookies?
A : Cookies are harmless files on your computer, and it doesn't do any
damage to leave Voyager to accept them. However if you are really adament
you might want to set Voyager to ask you every time it is asked for one.
Q : I'm running on an AGA machine, and the graphics in Voyager look ugly.
A : How many colours are you running the screen on? It may take up more chip
memory, but you will achieve better results running Voyager on its on screen
(plus you'll have more room on your workbench for other apps). A good
balance between speed and colours on AGA systems is either 6 bit (64
colours) or 7 bit (128 colours). If slowdown occurs, then reduce your screen
depth accordingly - YMMV, depending on your CPU and serial card. If you're
not sure how to do this, read the NetConnect docs, there is a lengthy
section explaining this all.
Q : The cachebrowser doesn't work!
A : Make sure you have grabbed the update off www.active-net.co.uk.
MICRODOT-II
Q : How can I download several articles in one go?
A : Click on all the articles you want to download, using Shift and the Left
mouse button. Then, when they are all highlighted, go to the menu
message/download.
Q : How can I export mail/news and import it into YAM?
A : You can't... sorry! YAM doesn't support newsgroups anyway.
Q : Something about getting a full newsgroup list, esp on U-Net.
Q : Why are the To/ Subject/ Whatever fields empty when I read a message?
A : The newer versions of MD-II use new versions of textinput classes
(located in MUI:Libs/MUI). If you do not have a new enough version, these
fields will be blank.
Q : Okay, I got hold of newer versions of a friendly person. But now the
display is corrupted on several NC programs! Arghhh!
A : You were unlucky enough to be given a version that is not happy working
on AGA systems (these libraries actually worked fine on gfx-card systems).
Get some other versions and install them over these ones (or re-install the
older version if you have a backup).
Q : I deleted a user in Genesis but the damned user still comes up in the
Accounts menu in the main MD2 window! Why?
A : Go to the Accounts Manager section and use the Remove button on any
users that you don't want in MD2. But beware, once they are deleted, you
cannot bring them back again (even though they remain in the accounts
listview :/)
Q : I log into Genesis as myself, but when I load up MD2, although I can see
my own mail and stuff, the Account label at the top right shows the name of
another user! Does this mean that they can read my mail?
A : No, it's just a small bug that MD2 doesn't update the label at the top
right. MD2 knows that really you are logged in.
Q : When I click on Group Manager, even though I downloaded the newsgroup
list already, it still takes again to display. Why?
A : Your CPU still has to organise all the list of several thousand items in
order. NListview is not a particularly speedy class in this case.
Q : Signatures and stuff like that don't look right - the words and ASCII
pictures don't align nicely.
A : Change the font you're using to a fixed font.
Q : When I write and read emails, the timezone is set wrongly. What can I do
to fix this?
A : There are a couple of options. The first is to use the option built into
MD2 to change the timezone between BST and GMT (assuming you're a UK user).
However, there is another way. There is an excellent program on the net
called ClockDaemon which will automatically change your system clock and
timezone during the change of the clocks. It works with every program I use
for the net.
Q : Why is it that every time I post a message, I get a local copy as well
as the copy that I download from the newsgroup? How do I turn it off?
A : The next time you write a new message, go to PGP/Specials, and turn off
"local copy".
AM-FTP
Q : When I download files, AmFTP tells me the speed of transfers in CPS. I
want to know what I'm getting in K/sec.
A : Roughly, 1000 CPS = 1K/sec.
AM-IRC
Q : I sometimes go to channels and see AmIRC say that a sound is being
played, but I don't have that sound here! What can I do to get it?
A : Ask the person playing the sound to send it to you and copy it to your
default sounds directory. You can get the `program' DwarfX which is a set of
ARexx scripts, one of which can do this for you, but it is not particularly
easy to set up, or uninstall, in my experience.
X-ARC
Q : XArc crashes all the time on my system!
A : Make sure you've got the latest setpatch (43.6) off www.amiga.de
Q : Every time I unpack an archive, I get a message saying an error occured,
even though it worked fine!
A : Make sure the "Output to:" path in Settings/Misc is set to NIL:
Q : Some operations on archives don't work properly!
A : Have you tried newer version of lzx or lha that you already had and
copied them in place of the default ones? Some versions don't work well with
XArc, and it's best to use the default ones instead.
AM-TERM
Q : In the "Transfer" section of the Preferences, you can choose several
different XPR libraries. Which is the best one?
A : xprzmodem.library offers the most reliable and ultimately fastest method
of data transfer.
Q : Arghh! Every time I type a letter, it appears twice on screen!
A : Turn "Local Echo" off in the Terminal section of the prefs.
CONTACT MANAGER
Q : Hmmm.... I just clicked "Add Entry" to add an entry to the users page,
but nothing happened!
A : For some reason, when you click the Add Entry button, the window letting
you alter the details of the new user does not appear automatically - you
must first double click the "invisible" entry in the listview. Then the page
will appear letting you alter the name, address etc.
Q : Can I transport information between users?
A : No.
NETCONNECT
Q : I just downloaded xxxx program off www.vapor.com because it told me that
there was an update available. I unpacked it and installed it, but it now
tells me that I need to register the program first - I thought that all of
these programs were fully registered as part of the NetConnect suite?!!!
A : You ARE registered for all of these programs, BUT... only the NetConnect
version. What does this mean? It means that you can't install the regular
versions off www.vapor.com, as these versions are meant for users who have
the individual keyfile for that program (e.g. Voyager, or AmIRC). All
NetConnect versions of these programs should be downloaded from
www.active-net.co.uk. If you ever try the www.vapor.com versions, make sure
you do -NOT- install them over your NetConnect version - install it to a
different directory, and try it from there first.
Q : Urgh! All the icons are ugly MagicWB ones! What can I do?
A : Get my neticons.lha off aminet in pix/nicon :)
Q : Can I launch a new icon bar off the standard icon bar?
A : No.
Q : I want to have multiple docks, one each for different sets of programs.
A : No problem! Just create a New dock for each one you want (under the main
listview in NetConnect Prefs are "New" and "Remove" buttons).
Q : I am having trouble unsubscribing from the NetConnect mailing list. How
do I do it?
A : Why would you ever want to unsubscribe from it? :) Make sure that your
email address in your email client is set to the same as the address that
the mailing list sends emails to. For example, you might be using a
forwarding service like www.bigfoot.com to forward emails to you, even
though your "real" email address is set to something else. So make sure
these are the same, otherwise the listserv will not unsubscribe you because
the email addresses won't match.
Q : I emailed Chris Wiles about xxxxx and I haven't heard back from him.
Why?
A : Chris is a very busy chap and he unfortunately doesn't always have time
to reply to every email he has been sent. The best way to contact him is to
telephone him.
MISCELLANEOUS
Q : What's the best speed to set the serial port at?
A : It's best to set the serial port to 4x what your modem can do as
standard, because thru compression and other ingenius methods, your modem
can achieve 4x it's speed for certain files e.g. text files. So for a 33.6
modem you would set your serial port to 115200. However, the exception for
this is 56k modems - leave the serial port speed to 115200, not 230400,
because the majority of 56k modems do not support that.
Q : I did this, but my internet connection speed went down to a really slow
speed! Why?
A : Your CPU load is too high. The standard serial port is very slow and
very cheap. The result is that the CPU in your Amiga must spend a lot of
time making sure the serial port's buffers are "serviced". If your CPU is
too slow for the task, the buffers overrun, and the last packet must be sent
again. In other words, if the serial port is set too high for your CPU to
handle, it is counterproductive and results in what you experienced. On a
standard 020 machine, leave the port at 38400 maximum. 030 and 040 (and even
060) machines can easily handle 57600, but not 115200 usually. YYMV.
Q : Is there anything I can do to improve this state of affairs?
A : Yes. You can download alternate serial port drivers. Two popular ones
are 8n1.device and artser.device. You simply copy them to your DEVS: drawer
and select them in the Modem section of Genesis instead of serial.device.
Or, you can buy a dedicated serial card that will leave the CPU free of its
duty to service the buffers. These serial cards (such as the Hypercom,
PortPlus, and IOBlix) will run at upto 230400 with no CPU load whatsoever.
The result is that your CPU can concentrate on decoding images in Voyager or
whatever, resulting in faster performance for you. They are very cheap,
starting at about �30-40.
Q : Help! I installed Artser.device but Genesis doesn't find it when I typed
it in place of serial.device
A : Make sure you typed it as "artser.device" and NOT "Arster.device"!
AmigaDOS devices are case sensitive.
Q : I have a 56k modem, but when I connect, Genesis tells me I only
connected at something like 42667, or even sometimes 31200 or 33600. Why?
A : Several reasons: Firstly, if your modem is K56Flex standard, and not
V90, your ISP might not support it. Therefore, you will not be able to
establish a connection >33600. You might even get just 31200. As for not
getting "full" connects of 56700, don't worry, no-one does. The quality of
the phone line will greatly affect the speed that you connect to your ISP,
so don't use extension cables etc.. You can try phoning your telephone
operator and ask them if they can do anything about it. Reasonable speeds
are between 42667 and 44667. Any higher and you should count your blessings.
But even then, modem speeds fluctuate a lot during your time online, so even
if you get, say, an inital connection of 42667, it may rise or fall
afterwards. You can find out how by sending an AT&V (or AT&V1) to your modem
thru AmTerm and reading the HIGHEST and LAST RX rates.
Lastly, don't worry too much about it - it's just some numbers. At the end
of the day, as long as the connection seems stable and reasonably nippy,
don't worry about it :)
Q : Why when I update MUI classes do the new libraries not come into effect
straight away?
A : If you copy a newer version of a custom class over an older one that has
already been loaded into memory, then the new one will not take effect until
either the older one has been flushed from memory (by quitting all programs
using that class and doing an AVAIL FLUSH at the CLI) or from simply
rebooting. The latter method will always work.
Q : How can I make a file that I download with Voyager/ AmIRC etc. save
directly to disk instead of it being viewed first?
A : You need to load up MIMEPrefs and configure it properly. Load up
MIMEPrefs either from SYS:Prefs or from NetConnect2: drawer, depending on
where you installed it. Then, make sure that the class of file that you
download is set to "Save to disk", and not "View" or "Save & View". If you
like, you can set the entire class (e.g. image.*) to "Save to disk", but can
leave specific instances of that class (e.g. image/x-ilbm) as "Save & View" -
so any other files which are image class are automatically saved, but ilbm
files are viewed first.
Isaac Abraham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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