FreePPP 2.5a

[Glenn Anderson]

The latest version of FreePPP is now on the UW MacOS Software Depot.

The readme follows:

Welcome to FreePPP 2.5!

€€Reading the following will greatly enhance your experiences with FreePPP. €€

What is it and where did it come from?

First off, FreePPP is not the work of one individual. It's a group effort,
by the not so coincidentally named FreePPP Group, to enhance to work done
at Merit Network by Larry J. Blunk and others that produced MacPPP.

The folks in the FreePPP Group that have contributed to this version of
FreePPP are, in alphabetical order: Mike Alexander, Yan Arrouye, Steve
Brecher, Jim Browne, Alec Carlson, Steve Dagley, Tom Evans, Joe Husk,
Cliff McCollum, Edward Moy, Richard Reynolds, Tom Shaw and John Stephen.
The FreePPP Guide was created by Michael Will.

Additional thanks to: Aleks Totic for the use of his office and computers
for the past 3 days of finishing up FreePPP 2.5, Jamie McCarthy for the
spinning globe icons and all the beta testers for finding some really
obscure bugs.

FreePPP is a Link Access Protocol module (aka MDEV) for MacTCP or Open
Transport. In plain English, it allows you to establish a dial-up PPP
connection with a TCP/IP network like the Internet from your Macintosh.

How much is it?

FreePPP, as it's name is meant to convey, is free for individual use.
Should you feel that FreePPP is something you really would like to pay for
you are asked to make a charitable contribution, the amount of which is
completely up to you, to one of the following charitable organizations
(either a local chapter or the national organization):

Make A Wish Foundation

Institute for Objectivist Studies

South Hillsborough County Adult Day-Care

Project Inform

American Cancer Society

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.

The Nature Conservancy

American Red Cross

Green Peace

Any local public school

How do I get support?

Your first line of support should always be your Internet Service
Provider's tech support department - after all, you are paying them for
support not us. This is especially important when it comes to
configuration questions which are very time consuming to diagnose,
especially remotely. If you actually have a problem with FreePPP please
send e-mail to sda...@iu.net with a subject header of 'FreePPP Problem
Report' and try to provide a detailed yet concise report of the problem.

A note for ISDN users

FreePPP 2.5's logic for dealing with long distance dialing and area codes
does not properly handle the double phone number sequence required for
multi link PPP connections with ISDN terminal adapters like the Motorola
BitSurfr Pro and Farallon Netopia ISDN modem. This will be addressed in
FreePPP 2.5.1.

Compatibility Issues.

RAM Doubler

We "think" we fixed the RAM Doubler problems. Make sure you have the
latest version of RAM Doubler to avoid problems.

Apple Fax Extension

FreePPP is not compatible with Apple Fax Extension. We're looking into the
problem and should have it fixed for FreePPP 2.5.1

Global Village Status Display

There are some minor (no crashing) problems with this. We looked into it
and found it is Global Village assuming too many things when they draw to
the menu bar.

ConfigPPP

FreePPP is definitely not compatible with older Control Panels from FreePPP
and MacPPP including MacPPP 2.5. The Internet Setup Monkey removes it and
you should not put it back (unless you don't like connecting to the
Internet).

Third Party MacPPP Utilities

FreePPP 2.5 breaks a great deal of 3rd party utilities such as PPPop and
the PPP Control Strip. Please don't use these with FreePPP 2.5. If you are
and don't notice any problems yet that doesn't mean that problems won't
crop up later and bite you hard (ouch!!).

RockStar Studios has an SDK that they give away FREE to developers of
freeware products. If you are a developer of one of these utilities or want
to be one, go to http://www.rockstar.com to get information on the FreePPP
SDK.

Some changes from FreePPP 1.0.5 and other Free/MacPPP versions.

FreePPP 2.5 has many more connection options then other versions. When
installed FreePPP is setup to :

€ Auto Detect your modem to come up with the best init string.

Not all modems are in the auto detect database. If your modem is not
detected read the Auto
Detection Errors section of this document.

€ Connect Directly (Use PAP or CHAP Authentication)

If you normally use a connection script or terminal session to connect you
must set this option in the FreePPP Setup application included with FreePPP
2.5. To do so follow these steps:

1) Launch the FreePPP Setup application located in the FreePPP Folder on
your hard drive.

2) Expand the FreePPP Setup window and click on the "Accounts" tab.

3) Select your account (configuration) and click "Edit..."

4) Select the correct setting in the "Connect:" pop-up menu.

5) Close FreePPP Setup.

Auto Detection Errors

If FreePPP cannot detect your modem and you can't connect you will need to
specify an init string for your modem. To determine a valid init string
consult your modem manual or contact the maker of your particular modem. To
change your init string, follow these steps:

1) Launch the FreePPP Setup application located in the FreePPP Folder on
your hard drive.

2) Expand the FreePPP Setup window and click on the "Modem setup..." button.

3) Select "Per Server Init String".

4) Close the Modem Setup dialog

5) Switch to the Accounts tab

6) Select the service you want to modify and hit the "EditŠ" button.

7) Switch to the Connection tab and enter the modem init in the field provided.

8) Close the account configuration dialog.

9) Close FreePPP Setup.

A note from the FreePPP Group

There are two pieces to FreePPP 2.5, "FreePPP", the mdev that is in your
Extensions Folder, and "FreePPP Setup " the setup application that replaces
ConfigPPP.

FreePPP (the mdev) handles the connection and does all the dirty work
including displaying the connection dialog and connection alerts. This is a
very tricky piece of software that must get along with every aspect of the
MacOS. So far it seems to play nicely.

Setup FreePPP is your interface to preferences that FreePPP uses to connect
etc. Post your comments on the new interface to comp.sys.mac.comm. We'll
be reading your posts and will definitely consider all of them.

The FreePPP Menu and FreePPP Control Strip Item are owned by RockStar
Studios Inc. They are included with FreePPP because they are very useful
and replace current shareware utilities that will break under this release
of FreePPP.

MacPPP 2.5, FreePPP 2.5 and the Apple Internet Connection Kit.

MacPPP 2.5 and FreePPP 2.5 are very much the same. The same person worked
on both of them. FreePPP 2.5 has more features then MacPPP 2.5 and even
fixes some small bugs found in MacPPP 2.5. Which do you use? Its up to you.
If you are an Apple Internet Connection Kit user you might want to stick
with MacPPP 2.5 unless you are a "power user" and can deal with any minor
issues that pop up if you don't use MacPPP 2.5.

If you bought your Apple Internet Connection Kit before April 1st you may
have an older version of MacPPP (2.1.4) in that case you should download
MacPPP 2.5 from the AICK Home Page.

FreePPP 2.5 and MacPPP 2.2

Get rid of MacPPP 2.2 and use FreePPP 2.5. nuff said.

Latest news and information including a FAQ

For the latest news on FreePPP 2.5 go to http://www.rockstar.com.
There you will find the FreePPP FAQ and other tidbits of information.

We've strived to create the best PPP solution for the Macintosh and keep
it free and available. A lot of time and energy when into our creation and
we hope it shows when you use this software. Steve, Rick, Yan and the rest
of the group will be looking to comp.sys.mac.com and other Macintosh
publications anxiously awaiting your comments. Enjoy it!!

The FreePPP Team...

©1996 FreePPP Group Inc.
FreePPP, the FreePPP Icon and FreePPP Setup are copyrights owned by the
FreePPP Group Inc.
RockStar Studios and the RockStar Studios Logo are Trademarks of RockStar
Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders. Mention of non-FreePPP Group or RockStar Studios
products is for informational purposes and constitutes neither
anendorsement nor a recommendation. FreePPP Group and RockStar Studios
assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or
use of these products.