Re: Using external 56K modem with Apple IIgs?

["Jeff Blakeney" <jeff.blakeney@a2central.com.remove-cuw-this>]

  To: Michael Black
On Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:19:15 -0500, Michael Black wrote:

> On Tue, 16 Dec 2008, Jeff Blakeney wrote:
> 
>> Well, if the ISP has shell access, then SLIP and PPP are not required at
>> all.  All you need is a communications program that supports a terminal
>> type that the shell supports.  SLIP and PPP only come into play if you
>> are trying to make a TCP/IP connection to the internet and that is where
>> you need either Marinetti or Contiki to get connected.
>>
> But does that hold at all times?
> 
> You need a PPP connection in order to run programs at your end like telnet
> and a newsreader and a mail reader, but having a shell does not require
> dial up.
> 
> An ISP might decide it is simpler to use PPP for all access, in which case
> you'd make the PPP connection and then telnet to the shell server.
> 
> The few ISP's still running shell servers may indeed just happen to offer
> non-ppp connections, but one does not require the other.

True, shell access is not limited to just direct dialing.  You can get
shells that you can telnet into but generally, at least in the past, you
had either a shell account or a TCP/IP account from your ISP.

I believe it is actually easier to do the set up for a shell account and
give those users the option of running slipd or pppd to get a TCP/IP
connection through their shell than it is to set up a TCP/IP connection
and give the user the ability to telnet into a shell.  After all, you'd
have a lot of security issues to deal with by making your shell
accessable through telnet that you don't have through a dial up
connection.

I'm pretty sure the big reasons shell access went away is because there
was more technical support required, faster and more expensive hardware
was required by the ISP and then there were the issues about what some
users were doing with their shell access.