SLIP/PPP question (NOT the usual)

[tlang@freeway.apana.org.au (Tony Langdon)]

It's 23 Mar 97  01:07:34,
We'll return to dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us and All's
discussion of SLIP/PPP question (NOT the usual)

 da> I have also looked at descriptions of the SMTP and NNTP protocols.
 da> Like SLIP, there is very little to them...just commands and data packet
 da> descriptions.

True...

 da> So what is the problem?  Do we not have proper Internet tools for the
 da> A][, simply because (well, with the exception of Seven Hills' SIS)
 da> everyone is thinking in the same box, trying to emulate the structure
 da> employed on other platforms--where a SLIP dialer program runs as a
 da> background task and passes data to independent modules which handle the
 da> various protocols?
 da> It seems to me that most people, for practical reasons, do not usually
 da> open simultaneous connections for basic (non-web-browsing) Internet
 da> tasks; so why would an implementation on the ][ have to follow the
 da> socket model used on other platforms?  Since (well, except under GNO)
 da> we really don't have multitasking on the A][, couldn't the basic
 da> Internet connectivity options be bundled into the same program, so that
 da> a single program handles the basic connection, FTP, Telnet, POP, and so
 da> on?

Having it all in the same program is not new.  In the MS-DOS world, this
is done in a package called KA9Q (with a lot more things than anyone
will use on the net, because it was originally designed for amateur
packet radio).  I don't know how much memory you'd require, but even
that might be a bit of a squeeze on the 8 bit machines.  Still, the idea
is worth a thought. :-)  Maybe if you take the KA9Q idea, but without
the AX.25 and other non-Internet protocols, and also minus the server
code, and work in tight assembly language to code an Apple program, it
might just work. :-)

 da> It's just a thought; and in fact it sounds like that is what the
 da> Spectrum Internet Suite does.  I don't have the programming skills to
 da> even think about such a project (I still do most of my coding in
 da> Applesoft...); but knowing that there are lots of programming gurus
 da> here, I put the question to you:  Could it be done?  I'm not asking for
 da> it (heck, I think I am the only person at my workplace who is happy
 da> that we DON'T have PPP); I just want to know what the consensus is.

I'm not a programmer (OK, I do hack a little code on the PC
occasionally, and am learning C++ :) ), but the idea might be feasible
for a limited, single-tasking SLIP/PPP based client suite.  If it comes
to that, it might be possible to make it modular, with a TCP/IP stack
and SLIP as the "base system", and the selected client is loaded on top
of that stack from disk.  A menu would tie it together.  To create more
space, even the dialler might be a "throwaway item", once the connection
is established...

Just brainstorming, I may be completely off base here (it's been years
since I regularly hacked around with Apples, but I'd be willing to test
anyone's efforts, as I have a clone here).

... Always smile.  It makes people wonder what you're up to.
--
|Fidonet:  Tony Langdon 3:632/367.2
|Internet: tlang@freeway.apana.org.au
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