APP NAME: LogOn WHAT: GUI for PPP. VERSION: 0.92 beta OS: Openstep for Mach (tested on 4.2 only) (DOES NOT RUN ON NEXTSTEP) PLATFORMS: NeXT, Intel SIZE: 1.8 MB compressed 4.7 MB installed FAT (NeXT, Intel, Sparc) (English & French) 1.53 MB installed for single platform WHERE: ftp://wendy.ucsd.edu/pub/Mark/LogOn_00.92b.m.NIS.tar.gz Thank you for trying out LogOn! LogOn is intended for internet users who just want an application that launches and kills PPP which is both simple to install and easy to use. The goal was to provide an app that frees users from having to deal with chat scripts, options files, or pap-secrets files. It is not an application that helps you install PPP or configure PPP, but rather one that (hopefully) shields you from ever having to know the nitty-gritty details of pppd or chat. Installing LogOn should be as easy as entering your account name, password and phone number. Likewise, using LogOn should be as simple as saying "I want to connect to Netcom from Home using PPP 2.2." I have routinely and purposefully chosen "user-friendliness" over power every step of the way. I want LogOn ultimately to work the first time out of the box, without the need for anyone to fuss with scripts or modem configurations (an area that I really need to address). Any suggestions on how to make LogOn even easier to use would be greatly appreciated. I believe, however, that it is at the same time powerful enough even for super PPP users. I will be very anxious to hear from some of those people to see if I am right. I would like to give a special thanks to Andre Lalonde for going way out of his way to do the French translation, and also to Andy Wang for all his great suggestions - almost all of which made it into this release! INSTALLING LOGON: LogOn must be installed as root because parts of it are run setuid root. Not LogOn itself, but rather a few helper tools that shuttle some files from /tmp to /etc/ppp. There are a few files that you should probably back up before using LogOn: /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/ppp/ip-up, /etc/ppp/ip-down, and /etc/ppp/pap-secrets -- all four of these files are used by LogOn. While LogOn does a decent job of backing things up and restoring them when its finished, just to be sure you might want to back up those files.... If you have a previous version of LogOn, after installing the new version make sure that all the options, locations, and account information is still correct. Users of versions prior to .90b will notice that the account phone number has been split into area code and phone number fields. This was done to accomodate non-US style phone numbers. In order for LogOn to work, the phone number will have to be re-entered. Also, several new options arguments have been implemented, so you may want to double check them and make sure their default values are appropriate for your system. IF YOU NEED HELP [NOTE: Context Help has been temporarily removed in version .92...] There is both context sensitive help and full blown help available. For context help, hold down the "Help" or F1 keys and click on the GUI item that you want to know more information about. For other help, choose the Info->Help menu item. On my system, Edit launches and opens the Table of Contents. You then read the help in Edit. I have no idea of what happens on other platforms. If you encounter bugs while using LogOn, please send me email at: mtrombin@ix.netcom.com. Please include the following information: Your machine, your operating system and version, and version of LogOn you are using. I will do my best to get back to you. Please do not send me questions about PPP in general. Also, make sure that you have a current version of LogOn. The most recent version can be obtained by anonymous ftp at ftp://wendy.ucsd.edu/pub/Mark/LogOn... WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE Version .92 * Removed pppkill from project. Uses shell script pppdown instead. * New multi-panel Preferences Panel. * Can set time between autoredial attempts. (Andy Wang) * Dial on startup option (Andy Wang) * Kill or not kill PPP on shutdown option (Andy Wang) * If LogOn is killed before it has a chance to restore the filesystem, the next time it is run the user is asked if they wish to restore the filesystem to its previous state. * If PPP is already running when LogOn is launched, it will automatically switch to the connected state. * LogOn files are now readable/writable only by owner. (Andy Wang) * Passwords in chat scripts are now sent securely - prepended with the /q escape character. (Andy Wang) * There are now "Send Mail" and "Fetch Mail" menu items. Version .91 * Added French language project (translation by Andre Lalon ). * BUG FIX: LogOn now properly saves whether not not you want to have it issue the command to fetch your mail. Version .90 * Option Preview - you can see what your option file looks like before saving it. * New pppd arguments implemented: -vj, mru, -mru, -pc, -ac, -bsd * You can now set Peer IP Address, Local IP Address, and netmask. * Removed phone formatting to allow for non-US style phone numbers. Version .89 * Fixed bug where LogOn asked for Domain Name when editing a Local Location, which prevented you from creating new Local Locations. Version .88 * Fixed resov.conf bug (prints nameserver before nameserver, etc.) Version .87 * If user doesn't enter domain name, we don't modify resolv.conf. * If user wants us to flush mail queue, we do so right after connection and right before disconnecting. * Fixed redial bug. THINGS BROKEN IN THIS RELEASE: Trace this warning: Aug 27 20:58:55 LogOn[4252] Could not find image named `NTPlay'. Aug 27 20:58:55 LogOn[4252] Could not find image named `NTPlayH'. In main nib file (used to have those images, now removed). Sometimes when editing a phone number (NSFormCell with MATPhoneFormatter) it seems like the window loses the next responder or something. The effect is that you can't do anything outside of the NSFormCell, or else you get a beep. If you try and do something inside the NSFormCell, it doesn't beep, but it doesn't do anyting either. MessageWindow isn't redisplaying properly. i.e., says "Negotiating With Peer" when actually fetching. Flushing problem? I've tried flushWindow, [[NSDPSContext currentContext] flush] and [[NSDPS... ] wait] but that didn't help. It has to do with some system calls that are blocking. Sometimes Autoredial can't be stopped (i.e. you have to "cancel" twice). Sometimes LogOn doesn't realize that a connection failed (i.e. busy signal).