Date: Thr, 11 May 2000 14:09:48 -700
From: Walter Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Can't telnet into delphi?
Ray:
As you can see from my E-Mail address, I'm a CompuServe
subscriber. What follows may seem like a round-about way to answer
your question. But, the background explains what you can expect as a
user of Net-Tamer.
On my 286 laptop -- where I have only DOS as an operating system
-- Net-Tamer is now my exclusive means of reading newsgroups and
E-Mail. In general, USENET, E-Mail, and the web -- to the extent
Net-Tamer can reach it -- are available to Net-Tamer via CompuServe.
>From me, you'll find no complaints as to GENERAL performance. There
are some unique setup and access problems, though.
Until recently, I used DOSCIM -- a CompuServe-specific program
written only for use by CompuServe subscribers -- to pull down mail
and to read some of the remaining internal forums on CompuServe. On a
286 without much in the way of XMS memory, this simply isn't feasible
-- at least in terms of reading and participating in the forums.
DOSCIM and my 286 laptop are now too slow to keep up with the pace at
which CompuServe sends messages when I attempt to do a bulk download
via DOSCIM from the forums. I could use TAPCIS as a replacement.
However, TAPCIS has a rather large footprint on disk. On a laptop
with limited diskspace, that's not a desirable situation. So, I still
use DOSCIM, but now only on a separate PENTIUM-II with *LOTS* of XMS
memory to play in. Under that environment, DOSCIM has no trouble
keeping up. So, now, I use POP3 and Net-Tamer for mail on CompuServe
when I'm on the laptop. On the Pentium, I can use EITHER DOSCIM or
Net-Tamer.
The importance of relating this to you is to help you understand
the options you do and do not have available according to the
computer and software you have available. Thus, if you have a 386
computer or better and are not visually impaired, I recommend DOSCIM
for all functions internal to CompuServe's system while I also
recommend POP3 mail services if you have I.E. or Netscape with which
to set it up. That's assuming you wish not to be bothered by
graphical banners and other "eye-candy" that only slows you down in
I.E. or Netscape. If you have only a 286 or less capable computer
with which to access CompuServe, I think you'll not get much out of
CompuServe. The following paragraphs explain why.
On my Pentium-II I could use CompuServe's "webview" and gain
access to most of CompuServe through INTERNET Explorer -- including
the forums. For that matter, I could use CS4 -- which is already
installed on the Pentium -- or CS2000. I choose not to so that I can
AVOID egregious banner ads and the time it takes to download and
paint them to the screen. Still, I occasionally use I.E. and
CompuServe's webview to accomplish things CompuServe has removed from
internal access -- therefore removing them from DOSCIM access as well
-- and that are available only through the webview. For example:
CompuServe has an arrangement with the New York Times that allows
CompuServe subscribers to read articles from that newspaper without
paying an extra fee or maintaining a free account with the New York
Times website. However, that service is ONLY available from
CompuServe's webview. This exclusivity of access shapes one of two
disadvantages for CompuServe subscribers attempting to use Net-Tamer
alone for complete access to both the INTERNET and CompuServe itself.
The webview is not available to Net-Tamer and likely never will be;
it requires a special security protocol known as "RPA." That, of
course, is not available in or to Net-Tamer. Even if it were,
CompuServe's webview makes extensive use of java, frames, and
sophisticated forms -- most of which Net-Tamer could not handle. Keep
this in mind.
The second important problem is the means by which you gain
access to a POP3 server for E-Mail services to Net-Tamer. You can
setup your own account -- an account accessible to Net-Tamer -- but
not configured *WITH* Net-Tamer. You'll need a high-end browser with
RPA capabilities to do the job of setting up your account. But, then,
for many people, the question arises: why bother if I already have
I.E. or Netscape? In my situation, of course, I have a DOS-only
laptop to accommodate. If I had only the Pentium, I'm not sure I
would have bothered. But, without the Pentium, I'd have been up the
proverbial creek in terms of setting up POP3 for that laptop. Not
even DOSCIM can gain access to the section of CompuServe that allows
for configuring POP3.
As for the big mergers over the past two years that have
dragged CompuServe along for the ride: I have to say they've only
improved CompuServe's INTERNET access. In 1997, when I first started
using Net-Tamer, CompuServe did not have a functioning POP3 mail
server available to plain-vanilla PPP software. Those with Netscape
or I.E. were accommodated even back then, however. Now, you need only
spend a few minutes configuring POP3 and you're ready to go -- even
in Net-Tamer. Newsgroup access was VERY quirky in the Summer of 1997.
Physical news servers were not synchronized, and subscribers had no
way of controlling or compensating for that problem. In other words:
you had to accept the likely circumstance that you'd either miss some
messages or have to read through a large batch of messages you'd
already seen before. Over the past three years, CompuServe's ability
to serve up newsgroups has become about as good as you'll find on
most competent ISPs.
Where CompuServe has suffered is with its internal content.
Years ago, CompuServe had some of the best technical and social
support forums you could find. If you wanted a robust online
community representing all manner of interests -- technical or
otherwise -- CompuServe was the place to go to find it. Not so today.
Most of it has flown away to USENET, AOL, and/or the web. CompuServe
was an online community all on its own. Some of that community is
still here. But, as time passes, CompuServe is becoming more like the
standard ISP. It just has a LOT more access phone numbers spread
across the country than most of the others.
Walter Scott
In Message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, riverwind
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> had the following to say on Thu, 11 May 2000
11:51:49 -0500:
NL>Lastly, how many of you are still using CompuServe, and if so, how
NL>do you go about making use of their service, since they merged with
NL>AOL?
<><> News & Views, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, are the Net <><>
NTReader v0.25(O)/Beta (Registered) in conjunction with Net-Tamer.
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