@database FAQs.guide @$VER: FAQs.guide 1.00 (30.1.06) @Width 72 @node MAIN "Frequently Asked Questions:" @{b}Thank you for taking the time to read this document...@{ub} If you encounter ANY difficulties using the Internet Software, please refer to this guide. If your problem isn't covered here, then call for support:- Kev Kitching (0113 294 4224) 10:00 - 17:00hrs Mon-Fri email : kevk@firstnet.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @{b}CONTENTS@{ub} @{" Dialling " link DIAL} Simply select the relevant topic to @{" News " link NEWS} read a summary of what should happen @{" Mail " link NEWS} and useful tips ! @{" Mosaic " link WEBB} @{" Grapevine " link VINE} @{" Support " link SUPP} @{b}How to get support@{ub} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @endnode @node DIAL "Dial Up" @{b}Dial-Up Proceedure@{ub} When you click on the 'START' icon in the Internet drawer, a file is executed which sets your Modem to the factory defaults to ensure that commands are as the manufacturer intended them. The Modem then dials the FirstNet vPOP. If the connection fails, a message will appear in the dialling window giving the reason. eg: BUSY, NO-CARRIER If all goes well, you will see the message, 'CONNECT' followed by the Amiga-Modem speed. Your USER name is then passed to the Host Server and, when accepted, your password is then sent. If these have been set correctly (using the Set.Dialscript utility after installation) then the Dialling window will close and AmiTCP will start. After clicking on the OK button, the AmiTCP window closes and an output window appears showing your remote IP address for that particular session. The Host server has to issue this to you otherwise you cannot access anything! (Its rather like not giving anyone your phone number and expecting them to call you!) Once the IP output window has closed, you can then use the software provided. eg: Mosaic, Thor etc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @{b}Troubleshooting@{ub} Q: I click on Start, but all I get are error messages on screen A: You haven't used the utilities to customise the software for @{b}YOUR@{ub} personal details! Q: I click on Start, but a window flashes up on screen and then disappears. Nothing else happens. - I just have a Workbench screen. A: Your Modem is not switched on! Q: The modem dials, but cannot connect - I have a v32 Modem A: Ensure that the Serial preferences baud rate is set to 19200bps Q: I have a v34 modem and have the same problem as above, I use an Amiga with the 68000 CPU A: Your CPU cannot work fast enough for the higher transfer speeds. Try lowering the baud rate below 57600 in the Serial preferences. Q: I have dialled in, but the software says '%Invalid Login'. A: You have not set the USER name and password correctly. Run the Set.Dialscript & Set USER utilities again. (These are founf in the Customise drawer). Q: I have connected, the Host Server has issued some numbers but the output window will not go away. I've closed it manually, but nothing works. A: The Host server has got a problem. It may have a problem on the network. Try again later and inform your Service Provider. Q: When the modem dials, I can hear a BT recorded message. A: You entered an incorrect number to dial in the Dialscript! Run the 'Set.Dialscript' utility again and change the number. Q: The modem has dialled in, the output window has gone away, but the OK button on AmiTCP doesn't work A: Wait for the button to be 'un-ghosted'. This feature is because it is unregistered shareware! Q: I have dialled in, I have clicked on the AmiTCP OK button, the next window (IP output) has disappeared - all I have is the Workbench screen. A: You are on-line & networked ! Try starting Mosaic or Thor etc ! @endnode @node NEWS "Thor - Mail/News Reader" @{b}Using Thor@{ub} Thor is a very powerful News & mail package and has plenty of features including ARexx support! There are three icons in the Internet drawer:- @{b}ConfigTHOR@{ub} This will allow you to set-up Thor to YOUR personal account details. It should only need to be done once! The following is ALL that is required to set up Thor ! Many parts have been pre-configured to give optimum performance ! 1 Double-Click on the ConfigThor icon - a small option box will open on screen. 2 Click ONCE on the Global button - more options appear! Check that everything is to your liking! 3 Save when finished (If you changed anything) 4 Click on Systems - yet more options appear! @{b}This is where you enter YOUR details@{ub} 5 TYPE OPTIONS: decide if you want to have Thor use your login password (recommended). If you want security - leave this as it is FILES/PATHS: decide if you want to change download/upload paths USER INFO: enter YOUR user name & email address 6 SAVE when finished - Thor is now configured! @{b}ConnectTHOR@{ub} This connects to the server and allows you to:- GET MAIL : fairly obvoius! GET NEWS : as above.... SEND EVENTS : This allows you to post to Newsgroups & email any item which has been written in THOR while off-line! When Thor reports 'Adding Messages to Database' you can hang up the modem using the STOP icon! @{b}THOR@{ub} This is the main program. It can bee used for reading previously collected mail/news items. You can also write email and send later! The buttons at the bottom of the window are:- REPLY : Reply to the currently shown email ENTER : Start a new email PREV : Go back to previous email (if reading all mail) NEXT : Go to next email PREV CONF : Go to previous Conference in list NEXT CONF : Go to next Conference in list MARK : Mark the message as unread etc Any email can be saved as text by selection 'Save to disk' from the 'Project' pull down menu. For more information read the THOR documentation in the Manuals drawer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @{b}Troubleshooting@{ub} Q: THOR will not get mail, it reports a problem with the socket.library A: You have not Dialled in yet! The modem is off-line. Q: When I quit THOR, a messsage says unable to connect. Have I lost all the mail I've written ? A: NO - next time you dial up, simply run 'ConnectTHOR' and send events! ALL other questions are covered in the THOR documentstion. ON-LINE help is also available. Just press the 'Help' key (just above the arrow keys on your keyboard) - What do you mean, you're using an A600... @endnode @node WEBB "Amiga Mosaic" @{b}Using AMosaic@{ub} Mosaic is the Amiga equivalent of Netscape on the PC To use Mosaic, you will need at least Workbench 3.0 To use, just click on the icon. Mosaic will appear and in some respects is similar to AmigaGuide documents. Web pages which contain graphics can be very slow to load in! Any highlighted text can be clicked on ONCE with the left mouse button, and Mosaic will then get that page for you! This also applies to any graphics outlined in blue. The chequered ball in the upper right of the window will 'bounce' around while Mosaic is fetching information. Please be patient! Also at the very bottom of the window you will see Mosaic's progress report. To halt any action, simply click ONCE on the Ball ! FTP download can be done via Mosaic and Gopher can also be used by selecting a Gopher Server. The FirstNet page, which Mosaic has been set-up to use as a 'Home' document, allows you to search for other sites via the Search engines. Mosaic will also find ALL the matches of text that you have searched for. You can also add a URL to search for. URLs are usually in the form: http://www.ibm.com The http: tells the network that a HyperText Transfer Protocol is to be used, on the WorldWide Web, looking for the IBM COMpany. Simple eh? Please note - Addresses MUST be entered exactly - The web IS case sensitive. If you get the message 'ERROR - Server not responding or is refusing to serve the information to you' dont worry. The Web is a live system and a server can fail at ANY time, even while you are connected to it! Pages may also change, as they are often updated. Next time there's a Shuttle Mission, try looking at the NASA section and you'll see what I mean! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @{b}Troubleshooting@{ub} Q: Mosaic will not start, it says AmiTCP must be started first. A: Then start AmiTCP (type in "AmiTCP:AmiTCP" at a command prompt) Q: I've found the AMosaic Docs but cannot read them A: They are in HTML format (Web pages) Select 'Load from Local Disk' while in Mosaic to load the pages! I will supply text only versions for anyone who wants them :-) Q: I cannot get any graphics on screen, but everything else works. A: You need the GIF & JFIF datatypes (provided & installed with this software package). You DO NOT need the JPEG Datatype! (Move it to Storage/Datatypes) Q: Mosaic seems VERY slow, why? A: Mosaic is doing a lot of work! Speed depends on the Amiga CPU and the speed of your modem & Serial preferences. These items should be as fast s possible... Q: Mosaic crashes... A: Mosaic is only a pre-release version (It has been called IBrowse now and has become a commercial product requiring MUI 3.x) Try running it in more colours - it becomes MORE STABLE... Q: How do I revisit a page when I log in again? A: When you get to a page you think you will want to visit again (eg: Amiga Sites!) click ONCE on the 'ADD' button. You will then be able to use the page list (the button to the left of 'ADD') to see what pages you have in your 'map-book' Q: Can I load more than one Mosaic session? A: Yes! Because the Amiga Multitasks, you can load Mosaic as many times as you want within your memory limits & screen size. It is possible to have one copy of Mosaic downloading files from Aminet while you are browsing a different site in another Mosaic window! (I don't recommend it on a standard Hi-Res Screen though). Picasso 2 users can use 1024x768 in 256 colours and easily use TWO Mosaic sessions (Provided the Amiga has lots of memory!) @endnode @node VINE "InterNet Relay Chat" @{b}Using Grapevine@{ub} Grapevine is an IRC program. Basically, it allows you to join live chat-lines! What you type on-screen is seen in real-time by anyone else logged on to that channel. You can also see what others are saying! I still prefer the telephone! Support for this program is limited to the documentation provided, as I do not personally use it. (May change in the future) @endnode @node SUPP "Technical Support" @{b}Using Support@{ub} If you require support for this package you will need to quote your ID reference issued by FirstNet. No other Service Provider gives you this! We have a 'pet' developer! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is how it works:- 1 Phone 0113 294 4224 between 10:00 & 17:00 (Mon-Fri). 2 Have your User ID ready along with: Amiga Model RAM Modem Problem (try to have specific details of HOW the problem occurs) 3 You can also e-mail for a solution. (Ensure subjest header is SUPPORT) 4 Any useful information, will be emailed to you automatically! @endnode