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PRESENTS X With Your Amiga Start-up Guide * Find out how modems work * Choose the best hardware and software * Discover how to get on-line the easy way In association with PRESENTS X With Your Amiga Start-up Guide * Find out how modems work * Choose the best hardware and software * Discover how to get on-line the easy way In association with Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing by Davey Winder Excerpt introduced by Matt Bielby, editor of m\ Amiga Format November 1994 2 Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing Contents Preface by Matt Bielby 3 Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing Davey Winder Introduction 7 Getting connected 11 TheAmiga 11 The modem 12 Thephone line 17 Communications software 18 Features to look for 26 Amiga comms packages 31 Term 32 NComm2.0 36 Terminus 2.0 40 Going online 44 Get into the Net Start-up guide Preface Preface Connectyourself to a world ofinformation! You've read all about it. The information superhighway. Cyberspace. The greatest developmentin information technology since the telephone. Hell, since the printing press. And you want to get involved. Buthow? It's a strange newworld out there, packed with computer geeks, infonauts, self- sytled infobahn warriors-ifanythingwas guaranteed to putyou off, it's this lot. That's why Future Publishing'snew .net magazine is a jargon-free zone. We want to show you, simply and easily, how to get the mostout ofthe Internet. Afterall, the Internet's for everyone. Ifyou want to get involved -and you should -buy issue one today! As editor of .net, I'm obviously pleased to see oursister magazine, Amiga Format, giving away this free Internet start-up guide. Anything thathelps Amiga owners get on-line can onlybe good news. And this covermountedbook containschapters 1 and 2 ofAmigaFormat's new "Internet, Modems, and theWhole Comms Thing" book. However, it's more thanjusta tasterfor the real thing- this excerptwas chosen Amiga Format November 1994 Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing so that it will help you take your first steps in comms. Comms is a pretty techie and off-putting area, but Davey Winder, Internet god, media star and the book's author, is determined to makeit simple. Thinkofyourmodem as a car. Youbuy it to go places, notso thatyou cantinkeraround underthe bonnet. That's the attitudeofthewhole book- it's whereyou can go and what you can do that's important. How this book will help you Thesesample chapters cover thebasics, the things you need to know to getstarted. The language is friendly, the concepts simple, but the message clear. Today's modemsarefoolproofand easyto use. Today's software is cheap and powerful. And today's communications networks letyou tour the world (not simply log onto a trainspottingbulletin board in Pontefract). After reading thesechapters you'llbe able to: A Give yourself 12good reasons forbuyinga modem! A Pick the modem you need, not the one the salesman wants to shift A Pick the right softwareANDfigure outhowit works A Get yourselfonline Get into the Net Start-up guide Preface Pretty good, eh? Needless to say, this forms only a part of "Internet, Modems, and the WholeComms Thing". This is a 340-pagebookpacked with information on everyaspect ofcomms. It's a road atlas for the information superhighway, nota Haynes manual for fixing your modem. More about the book as a whole How doyou save a fortune on phonebills? How do you stop yourself catching viruses? How do you dramatically reduce time spent transferring files? It's all in here. What are bulletin boards and howdo you log on to them? How do you send electronic mail. What's Fidonet? Howdoes the Internet work and how do you find yourwayaround it? What's an InternetService Provider? How does the Internet software work? What can CompuServe and CIX do for you? What other online systems are there? Every online service that matters is explained-how to log on, how to find yourway around, how much it will cost and what you'llget out ofit. Sooner or later you're going to want to know some technical stuff too, ofcourse. That's in the book as well. Standard protocols, Hayes command set, InternetService Providers, Email routing, error-correction systems, RS232 connections, Internetsite directory, mailings lists, Amiga Format November 1994 Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing bulletin board directory, 'smilies', acronyms and a comprehensive glossaryoftechie terms. AND, as ifall thatwasn't enough, thereare also £160-worth ofvouchers forsoftware, hardware and onlineservices. Take advantageof just a couple ofthem and you've recovered the cost ofthebook! Ifyou hadn'tgot a modem, "Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing" would make you buy one, it's thatgood! MattBielby Get into the Net Start-up guide Introduction Introduction Ifyou want to breathe lifeinto your computer, then give it a modem. A modem is your introduction into the world ofcomputer communication, orcomms asitis known (unless you are anAmerican thenyouwill probablybe thinking "oh he must mean telecomputing"). And at its simplest that's exactly whatit is- communication between computers. It's the ability foryourcomputerto talk to other computers, anywhere in theworld, and to exchange informationbetweenthem. That information can take many forms,beita computerprogram, a picture, some music, a book, ananimation... you nameit. Butcomms goes further than that, you can notonlycommunicatewith anothercomputer but also with the peoplebehind the keyboard. Real conversations take place, real friendships are forged, real communities can develop. Itisn't unknown for people to fall in love across the networkofcomputer networks known as The Internet, in factI know ofa number ofpeople who are now happily married after having met this way. It doesn'tstop therethough, comms isn'tjust the future ofdating agencies (although that maywell be true), there aremany varied and exciting opportunities open to you as soon as you Amiga Format November 1994 8 Internet, Modems, and the Whole Comms Thing enter theonline arena. Here are justa few ofthe things you can do: A Communicate using Electronic Mail. No more waiting days for your post to arriveat its destination. With EMailyour lettercanbe delivered instantly to anotheruserofthe same service, literally as soonas you press the return key ithasbeen delivered and simplywaits for the recipientto connect to theservice to retrieve it. Ifthe EMail is sent to a userofa different service then itmay take an houror two to travel across the networks. Whatever, itisn't surprising that traditional postal services are known as "Snail Mail" to comms users because ofthe slowness ofdelivery! A Send faxes and receivefaxes without a fax machine. Manymodems now have a fax capabilitybuiltin, and even ifyou don't possess oneofthese then may online services offer a fax facility via your computer. A Join a homebankingscheme. Somebanks offer users withtheappropriate technology the opportunity to do theirbanking from home, getting statements, balances, issuing transfer requests etc. A Gain access to vastlibraries ofPublic Domain and Shareware programs, covering everypossible interest from games through accounting packages Get into the Net Start-up guide