The ECN No Name Newsletter is no longer being published. This is an archived issue.
[previous article] [next article]User: What is SU-MacIP?
Mike: Stanford University Macintosh Internet Protocol.
User: Oh!?!...What is that?
Mike: Basically, MacIP is a package that allows your Mac to connect to TCP/IP machines (like ei or en) via terminal emulation. It also performs UNIX whois and finger commands without actually logging into the machine.
User: Oh!?! Isn't that what NCSA telnet does?
Mike: Yes! But many people choose to use MacIP as soon as they see/use MacIP ftp. It's all mouse driven...very easy to use! It works much like the Apple Font/DA mover. So MacIP is really the same a NCSA Telnet only easier to use.
User: Oh!?! How do *I* use it.
Mike: Well, I'm glad you asked...
The first thing you do is get the package from the "ECN Public" file server, in the folder called "MacIP".
figure 1 shown here
Now, "double-click" your mouse on MacIP 3.0. The result will be a blank screen with three menus: file, edit, and info. This is the first time we have used MacIP so we need to configure it to our own network environment. Pull down the "File" menu and select "customize".
figure 2 shown here
The result will be a full screen of all kinds of goodies to toggle and fill-in. There is really only a couple things we need to do here. Each line is pretty self-explanatory, what we are concerned with is the following:
Make sure you click the "Save" button when you are done...
figure 3 shown here
Now you're ready to go. Since ftp is what is really the neat thing about MacIP, I'll show you that first. Pull down the "File" menu (shown at the bottom of previous column) and select "Ftp". The result will be a full screen of goodies.
On the upper left is a sub-window listing your Mac desktop (top level). If you look at the buttons above the window you will see you can "Drive" to another volume, "Eject" a floppy, or "Open" a selected folder. You can also "Open" a folder by "double- clicking" on it in the window.
On the upper right, there is an empty box (that is for the machine you want to connect to for file transfer). You will notice one button highlighted, "Open".
Click the "Open" button to initiate a connection. The result will be a dialog box in the middle of your screen. Notice it contains three buttons with the names you put in for your "most commonly used hosts". If you want to connect to one of those hosts, just click the button. If not, type in the name of the host in the "Hostname: " box and hit the return key (or click OK). Now log into this machine (you will see how...trust me).
figure 4 shown here
When you're finished logging in, the upper right sub-window will still be blank, click the "List" button. You will now see all of your UNIX files in the sub-window (above the window is the UNIX path). Notice the window on the bottom is recording your ftp session. You can now travel through your UNIX directories in the same way mentioned above about traveling through your Mac folders. Look at the buttons above the window and try them out. Make sure you click the "List" button to see everything.
figure 5 shown here
Now to copy from one side to the other (Mac-UNIX or UNIX-Mac) you first select file or folder you want to transfer. (Among other things you can do...see middle buttons.)
figure 6 shown here
You will notice the middle set of buttons become highlighted, these buttons are pretty self-explanatory. I just want to copy the directory "newsletter" to my Mac desktop, so I would just click the "Copy" button. As you can see it is very easy to use, you always know exactly where you are (Mac or UNIX), what you are copying, and where you are copying it to. To quit either click the "Close" button or click the little box in the upper left hand corner of the window (the normal Mac things to quit).
Now, let's look at telnet. This functions just like "NCSA Telnet" only I think it's a little easier to use. Pull down the "File" menu and select "Telnet..." The result will be a blank window with a dialog box in the middle waiting for you to select a machine to connect to. Clicking any of the buttons will result in an attempt to connect to that machine. You can also type in the name of the machine in the "hostname" box. After the connection has been made, you log in as normal.
figure 7 shown here
You probably noticed the two other items under the "File" menu, Finger and Whois. These are the same as the UNIX commands under the same name. However with MacIP you don't have to log in to use them. I don't find them too useful, but they are there...Good luck.
HTML