
ACCESSING THE BBS THROUGH THE INTERNET

Subscribers can access the BBS through the Internet.  This should
save subscribers significant expense, as Internet connections
are typically much less expensive than long-distance telephone calls
and are often not metered.  The response time and throughput will
almost always be slower with a SLIP/PPP connection than with a
telephone connection.  Those with network connections to the
Internet may see higher throughput.

Access to the BBS through the Internet is provided through telnet
sessions.  There are many ways to use a telnet session, some allow
file transfers and others do not.  Understand that telnet sessions are a
connection type and that Telnet (with a capital 'T') is a client
program.  They are not the same.

Telnet
Telnet allows you to connect with Internet sites, but typically does not
allow you to transfer files.  Two forms of Telnet that come with IBM's
TCP/IP are popular for OS/2: TelnetPM, and Telnet for the command-line.

TelnetPM
The quick way: 
Enter <telnetpm> from the command line, or double-click on the TelnetPM
icon (there's a TelnetPM template in the Templates folder).  Enter the
address:  <bbs.os2bbs.com> for The OS/2 Shareware BBS.

The other way, to set up a TelnetPM instance:
Open your templates folder to access the TelnetPM template.  Drag and
drop the TelnetPM template to your preferred location; the settings
notebook will open automatically.  Enter the desired address to connect
to: <bbs.os2bbs.com> for The OS/2 Shareware BBS.  Change the name on the
"General" page, to reflect what Internet site you will access.  Close
the notebook by double-clicking on the upper-left corner.

Double-click on the object to start the desired Telnet session. The
system you connect with will prompt you for your user name and password.

IMPORTANT: Open "Options" from the Menu Bar, and select "Carriage Return".
Set this  to "Carriage Return only". Then re-open "Options" and select
"Save Options" to save your selection.

When finished with your Telnet session, exit the system you've connected
with as you usually do (<G>oodbye for The OS/2 Shareware BBS).  Close
the window when the connection has terminated.

See the TCP/IP User's Guide and TCP/IP Command Reference for more
information



Telnet (COMMAND LINE)
Enter <telnet> to start a session.

IMPORTANT: Use <toggle crlf> to ensure carriage returns are entered
as only carriage returns, not as carriage returns and linefeeds.

<o> and the address, to open a telnet session.  <o bbs.os2bbs.com>
    will open a connection to the BBS.   The system you connect with
    will prompt you for your user name and password.
<^]> Escape to the command line during a telnet session.
<close> End the session. 
<?> Access command line help.

See the TCP/IP User's Guide and TCP/IP Command Reference for more
information



VIRTUAL MODEM
Virtual Modem allows you to use a regular communications program to
connect via a telnet session through the Internet.  You load a driver
that connects a com port (communications, or serial port) to your
Internet-accessing software so characters sent from your communications
program are sent out your Internet connection.  This lets you use your
familiar communications program to access the Internet.  Virtual Modem
(VMODEM), is part of the SIO communications drivers by Ray Gwinn, a $25
shareware program.  (It is available for download on the BBS or via the
web server at http://web.os2bbs.com)

Follow the instructions to use VMODEM, but basically: install the
SIO.COM in your CONFIG.SYS file, specifying the appropriate com port
to use for vmodem.  Boot the computer.  Enter <vmodem> from the
command line.  Start your communications program and set it to use
the com port you specified in CONFIG.SYS.  Type <atdt> and the
Internet address to connect to.  For example <atdt bbs.os2bbs.com>
will connect you to The OS/2 Shareware BBS. <at?> will give you vmodem
help.


OTHER TELNET CLIENTS
There are many other programs that can act as telnet clients.  For
OS/2, have a look at CKermit (CKO191.ZIP as of July 1995) or the
registered version of ZOC (ZOC209B.ZIP as of July 1995).  Ckermit allows
file transfers through telnet connections and includes the Kermit file
transfer protocol as well as the ability to add external file transfer
protocols.  ZOC, in the registered version, provides a full-featured
comm program with the additional ability of connecting via a telnet
session.  There are likely many other good methods for connecting and
transferring files through a telnet session.  If you have a good one to
add, please email it to me at pnorloff@bbs.os2bbs.com.

NOTE: For a more complete listing of telnet clients and access to the
software itself, please see the web page at:

   http://web.os2bbs.com/docs/access-details-telnet.html


FINGER
Finger is a way to get Internet information, and a way to surprise
people who don't understand when you say you "fingered" somebody.
You can use finger on the Internet to get information about The
OS/2 Shareware BBS, or any other site or user.

<finger os2bbs.com> will return to you information about the BBS.
This will be periodically updated with new information and more
addresses to finger for different types of information about the BBS.



WORLD WIDE WEB 
The OS/2 Shareware BBS can be accessed from the World Wide Web.  Web
sites are computer systems connected to the Internet, which can be
accessed by Web Browsers.  Web browsers are simple-to-use, graphical
interfaces that present the information from web sites.  This allows
you to easily move around web sites by clicking on controls in the
browser.

IBM makes a very nice browser for OS/2 Warp, called Web Explorer.
The Explorer is available free of charge, by ftp'ing to IBM
(address: ftp.ibm.net).

Enter <http://web.os2bbs.com> into your web browser to connect to
The OS/2 Shareware BBS.

