We've finally hit the really good stuff! I titled this part of the book "Full Internet Access" because everything else we've talked about so far has either been background material or has been somehow limited. With full Internet access, as discussed in this section, you will find that your only limitations are how fast your modem can go if you need to use a PPP or SLIP connection, and how much time you want to spend using the Internet.
Note: PPP and SLIP are communication protocols that fool your MacTCP-equipped Macintosh into thinking that it's attached to a network that connects to the Internet. Instead of that network, SLIP and PPP enable the Mac to communicate over a modem, which is good because most individuals don't have access to networks connected to the Internet.
All of the chapters in Part IV, "Full Internet Access," rely on your having a full, MacTCP-based Internet connection. The easiest way to get such a connection is to use the software I've included for you on the ISKM disk, and use the ISKM Installer to install it for you. Different configurations are provided for use with the Internet Starter Kit Providers (see appendix A for a full list), but of course, the software works with any Internet provider who offers PPP or SLIP accounts, or even with any dedicated Internet connection. Chapter 16, "Internet Starter Kit Disk," explains exactly what the ISKM Installer installs, where it installs the various files, and all of those good details that you probably wish other installers provided for you.
MacTCP is the most necessary piece of the puzzle, because without MacTCP, none of the programs mentioned from here on will work well or at all. Although it requires some configuring, MacTCP is really quite simple. The ISKM Installer prevents you from needing to do much at all. But the details of exactly how you configure MacTCP are of interest, especially if something doesn't work right. Chapter 17, "MacTCP," takes you through configuring MacTCP, reveals the nasty little details of how certain confusing parts of the interface work, and finishes with a look at a few useful MacTCP utilities.
MacTCP by itself won't make your Internet connection, though, and for that you need either a direct Internet connection via a network, or a modem and either PPP or SLIP. I recommend PPP to most people, and if your Internet access provider supports PPP, it's the best way to go. In Chapter 18, "PPP," I go through the steps of configuring MacPPP, the freeware version of PPP installed by the ISKM Installer, and then take a look at some other implementations of PPP and PPP utilities.
Although I recommend PPP, SLIP is still in wide use and it's functionally identical to PPP in terms of you being able to use the same programs. You must have a different sort of account, a SLIP account, of course, but if that's all your provider offers (often through The Internet Adapter, or TIA, which I discussed back in Chapter 14, "Shell Account Enhancements"), then SLIP should work fine for you. I work through the steps for configuring InterSLIP, a free, although unsupported, implementation of SLIP from InterCon Systems, and then briefly look at other implementations of SLIP and some SLIP utilities.
Murphy's Law is right up there with gravity as one of the fundamental forces in the universe. I won't pretend that your connection will necessarily work perfectly on the first try, despite our best efforts. In those unfortunate cases, the best help I can provide is in Chapter 20, "Troubleshooting Your Connection," where I outline, in the traditional and time-honored form of a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) list, all the questions and answers that I know. I'm really not holding back on you here -- this chapter contains everything I can think of that might go wrong and the solution, assuming there is one. Do read through this carefully, and even if you're using MacPPP, say, scan through the InterSLIP section to see if a similar problem to yours may have been reported and solved for InterSLIP. Troubleshooting is a great mystery game in which no one dies, so just take a deep breath, put on your deerstalker cap, and read on for all the clues to solving your problem.
Finally! On to the MacTCP-based programs. Chapter 21, "Email," starts you off by discussing client programs for using email, the ubiquitous Internet service. Of course, with Qualcomm's excellent Eudora in the field, none of the rest even compete, so I concentrate on Eudora (which is included on the ISKM disk). Chapter 22, "Usenet News," moves on to a more congested area and looks at the main Usenet newsreaders available for the Macintosh. NewsWatcher, Nuntius, and NewsHopper are all in the ring, and it's up to you choose which you prefer. Chapter 23, "FTP," also presents a few choices, with Anarchie (which is included on the ISKM disk) and Fetch vying for the crown. To me, it's fairly obvious that Anarchie is the overall winner, with Fetch and Software Ventures' Snatcher being useful primarily in specific situations. Chapter 24, "Gopher," has shrunk from previous editions, thanks to the rise of the World Wide Web and the resulting drop in importance of Gopher clients. It's down to TurboGopher now, although I do look at a few Gopher-related programs as well, including the extremely cool TurboGopher VR. Chapter 25, "World Wide Web," expanded as the Gopher section contracted, since the Web gets more attention than any other part of the Internet these days. I look at the main Web browsers, MacWeb (which is included on the ISKM disk) and Netscape.
You probably noticed my skipping over Chapter 26in the previous list; that's because Chapter 26, "Creating Your Web Page," is a chapter of a different color (not literally) and although it follows on the heels of Chapter 25's discussion of Web browsers, it deserves it's own description.
Meanwhile, back at Chapter 27, "Utilities & Miscellany," I hit a slew of square programs that simply don't fit into the nice round holes of my organization. I'm talking about things like the videoconferencing application CU-SeeMe, Timbuktu Pro (which enables you to observe or control other Macs over the Internet), and the tank game Bolo. I've managed to break them up into some rough groups, but even still, it's a bit of a hodgepodge. Chapter 28, "Integrated Programs," goes 180 degrees in the other direction and talks about a couple of programs, TCP/Connect II from InterCon and VersaTerm-Link from Synergy, that integrated a number of Internet functions into a single program.
As I mentioned previously, the Web is where the action is on the Internet these days, and I recognize that you probably want a piece of that action. So, in an effort to provide you with the best and tastiest information about HTML, the language of the Web, I drafted my lovely wife Tonya, who's the HTML expert in the family, to write Chapter 26, "Creating Your Web Page." The chapter takes you through all the basic parts of HTML that you need to know to create your own Web page, giving examples along the way. Also, since this is a Macintosh book, Tonya looks at the basics of dealing with graphics on the Web through Macintosh-colored glasses. If you've struggled with some of the quirks and confusions while trying to create a Web page, this chapter is for you. It doesn't attempt to be a brain-dead tutorial since those are always both boring and pointless -- you want to create your Web page, not some example. The chapter also doesn't attempt to provide a stilted and alphabetically organized reference to all the HTML tags -- such references are available online on the Web (and we've got a compact one in appendix C, "HTML Tags"). Instead, Chapter 26 combines the best of both approaches, concisely explaining all the important HTML tags in the order in which you're likely to need them while creating your own Web page.
In response to suggestions from readers of the first edition, I created this chapter to walk you through, step by numbered step, the absolute basics of using the main MacTCP-based Internet programs. Most of them are on the disk, and all are discussed elsewhere in the book. You should turn to this chapter if you're having trouble with the basics of how to send email, or how to browse the Web. Most of the time the problems are extremely simple, and once you get over the first hump, you're on your way.
Chapter 16, "Internet Starter Kit Disk"
Chapter 17, "MacTCP"
Chapter 18, "PPP"
Chapter 19, "SLIP"
Chapter 20, "Troubleshooting Your Connection"
Chapter 21, "Email"
Chapter 22, "Usenet News"
Chapter 23, "FTP"
Chapter 24, "Gopher"
Chapter 25, "World Wide Web"
Chapter 26, "Creating Your Web Page"
Chapter 27, "Utilities & Miscellany"
Chapter 28, "Integrated Programs"
Chapter 29, "Step-by-Step Internet"