MacPPP hates me!

[LCGuy]

So recently, after picking up a 56k external serial modem for $1 at the local tip shop, I've decided to embark on a project I've wanted to do for over 10 years now - get my LC III on the Internet. So I have the modem, with a Male 25 pin to Female 25 pin cable, and a 9 pin to 25 pin adaptor, and then after that, a MiniDIN-8 to DB9 adaptor, going to the Mac. I'm running System 7.1 and have Open Transport 1.1.2 installed, as well as MacPPP, with the ConfigPPP exetneion. The modem is a "Companion Modem Research" one, with a Maestro Jetstream 56 chipset. When I go to open the PPP connection, the Mac sees the modem, and starts dialing my ISP. It dials successfully and makes a connection. Then it hangs for a while, and then drops out saying that a connection was established, though it was unreliable, and thus terminated. I'm fairly sure I've got it configured right, I've tried slower speeds (38000 bps and 19200 bps), and I've tried with and without flow control enabled. I know the modem and all the cables are fine, as I'm currently using it to connect to the Internet on a PC running Windows XP, and its working fine. Is there a chance that switching to another PPP client (such as FreePPP) might help? I've actually never dealt with System 7 and dialup before - though I've had a Mac at home for 15 years (we've had the LC III since new), we didn't get the Internet at home until soon after OS 8.5 came out, and therefore I never got to deal with the fun that is System 7 and dialup connections. Anyone have any ideas as to what I could do? Thanks in advance

 

[tomlee59]

Are the cables fully wired -- meaning, do they have the connections for supporting hardware handshaking? If not, you won't be able to support anything higher than about 14.4 with stability.

 

[porter]

get my LC III on the Internet

Get an ethernet card.

 

[LCGuy]

Tom: I'm fairly sure they are - on the PC I had it on yesterday, I was connected at 38000 bps, and it was working perfectly.

porter: I'm on dialup (yes, yes, I know, I'm living in a rural part of Australia, with Victorian era parents, which means I'm still stuck in a bygone era ), so I'd still have to put it through another comp with a modem (most likely a PC), so meh.

 

[porter]

with Victorian era parents

(a) you're 120 years old?

( B) you don't have your own internal network?

 

[Cory5412]

It's not always easy or worthwhile to maintain a network of any quality when you're just on dialup, unless you've got a router that happens to dial-out for you, in which case it's more of a necessity than anything else.

ANyway, if you can find the right version (it does exist, trust me) you may have more luck with opentransport, if your mac has enough memory. I always found OT to be a nicer, faster, easier, and more complete solution.

 

[heebiejeebies]

Gah. I remember that horrible control panel. I had to have a bloke from my ISP come out to set it up when I first got the internet in 1997. Shortly after that, I switched to OS 8 with Open Transport. I recall having some sort of problem like that as well at some stage with the original MacPPP, and the solution was to delete some PPP log file from the system folder. I can't remember which file though I think it was in the root of the system folder, and when you delete it, you don't lose the configuration.

 

[porter]

It's not always easy or worthwhile to maintain a network of any quality when you're just on dialup, unless you've got a router that happens to dial-out for you, in which case it's more of a necessity than anything else.

A small lowpower i386 box acting as a modem dialer, providing NAT and a firewall would be advantagous.

However MacPPP is perfectley adequate if you have a complient provider.

 

[LCGuy]

( B) you don't have your own internal network?

I do, but the LCIII only has localtalk, and being in a rural area, things such as LC PDS ethernet cards are not easy to find. Not to mention that since the LCIII was my first Mac, I kinda want to keep it as original as I can.

As I said, I do have OpenTransport installed, but that only helps with TCP/IP (once you're connected), Open Transport does not have a PPP client, I think you're getting Open Transport confused with the (very good) PPP control panel that OS 8 comes with.

 

[porter]

I do, but the LCIII only has localtalk, and being in a rural area, things such as LC PDS ethernet cards are not easy to find.

I didn't realise that you don't have a postal service. I'm sure a passing trader or flying doctor could bring one if posted to one of the larger towns, or get it delivered directly to your local pub.

Not to mention that since the LCIII was my first Mac, I kinda want to keep it as original as I can.

Adding a PDS network card is a non-destructive and reversable operation.

 

[porter]

Open Transport PPP (OT/PPP)
OT/PPP works with Open Transport 1.1.1 onwards (not MacTCP) and is widely considered the best PPP choice for Macs running OT. It was shipped with MacOS from Mac OS 7.6 before being integrated with the rest of the operating system. For pre-Mac OS 7.6 Macs, it can be downloaded directly from Apple:

http://www.vintagemacworld.com/mactcpip.html

 

[LCGuy]

I didn't realise that you don't have a postal service. I'm sure a passing trader or flying doctor could bring one if posted to one of the larger towns, or get it delivered directly to your local pub.

Its not that simple, the only place I can get one is online, and whenever I mention this to my parents, their sole response is something along the lines of "teh intarwebs r bad mkay?", leaving that option out.

Adding a PDS network card is a non-destructive and reversable operation.

I never said it wasn't, just that when it comes to that machine, and only that machine, I'm just a bit of a purist, mostly because of the fact that it was my very first.

 

[porter]

Its not that simple, the only place I can get one is online, and whenever I mention this to my parents, their sole response is something along the lines of "teh intarwebs r bad mkay?", leaving that option out.

Dead easy, you scrape $20 together then ask a friend to order it.

 

[porter]

....along the lines of "teh intarwebs r bad mkay?"

Your Australian parents watch Southpark?

 

[Franklinstein]

I'm pretty sure that Counselor Mackey from South Park isn't the only person in the world who says "mkay."

Wish I could help with the PPP issues, but I've used OS 8 on the intarwebs when I had dial-up, and my System 7.5-running PowerBook 540c only dials to send the occasional fax.

 

[benjgvps]

Try FreePPP, I tried to use it for other things that I don't think are fully possible with the software I was using, though it seemed like a very good app to do it. The previous owner was using it before he gave that PowerBook to me.

 

[QuadSix50]

I remember using FreePPP YEARS ago when my family purchased a Performa 6220CD. Worked great at the time before Open Transport came on the scene.

 

[Gil]

It's hard to believe that people still use Dial-Up. 8-o

 

[LCGuy]

Yeah, we still use CRT monitors, too. Is that really so amazing?

You have to remember, not everyone lives in the big smoke like you do and can get internet access at the speed of light for dirt cheap. :-/