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MDK-12 Why can't I just run Netscape without any further fuss?
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1. YOUR NORMAL PHONE LINE ISN'T THE INTERNET

Your phone connection, in its normal form, is like a freeway connecting you directly to your destination, with no on- or off-ramps. When information starts at one end, it is headed for YOU, and you alone -- guaranteed no misdeliveries.

On the Internet, on the other hand, the information for EVERYONE is all going along the SAME road. In order for information intended for you to get to you, you have to have your own street address (called an "IP address"). So, unlike your normal phone connection, the Internet is more like the U.S. Mail -- the information is sent in envelopes addressed to the intended recipient, (and sealed to prevent damage). These envelopes are called "packets".

If you want to run the fancy network browsers on your own computer, you need two things:

  1. a phone connection which can handle these network packets.
  2. a setup on your own computer which knows how to get information from the packets and deliver it to the programs that use it (i.e., a "network configuration")
Since your phone line in its normal form doesn't know about network packets, you've got to change the way it works in order to be able to use network programs over it. There are two alternative sets of rules (protocols) for doing this, known as SLIP and PPP. Unfortunately, the University of Maryland Office of Information Technology does not offer such a connection with its MDEDU accounts, though many commercial Internet service providers will be glad to sell you one. So at first glance it would appear that, unless you fork over cash by the month and/or hour to a commercial provider (see the end of this article for where to find out more about these services), you are out of luck. But, as it turns out, that is not necessarily the case.


2. THE NETWORK-OVER-THE-PHONE CONNECTION, AND HOW TO FAKE IT

Various solutions have appeared over the years to fake SLIP and PPP connections. The one that has come into almost universal use with MDEDU accounts is a program called SLiRP. It is installed on the OIT Unix Cluster computers at the University, on which your account resides. When you dial in, log onto your account, and start running SLiRP, you computer thinks you are dialed into a normal PPP service.

Sailor note -- SLiRP will not run over a Sailor (Maryland Online Library) dialup connection. At some point Sailor will probably switch to being the sort of connection (known as "8-bit clean") that will permit SLiRP to run, but that isn't the case at present. There is a tool called "VTCP" that runs on PC's (not Macs) that can get around this, but it is not actively supported. If you have no alternative to Internet connectivity but an MDEDU account that is long distance to Baltimore and College Park, contact the "mdk12-editor 'at' umd.edu".


3. NO UNIVERSITY SUPPORT!

The only problem with SLiRP is that support for it is very limited through the Office of Information Technology at the University. SLiRP is available to run on the Unix Cluster, and this site is available for information about SLiRP, but you can't call or write the consultants asking for help in this area. However, help is available.

Two people from the MDK-12 community have taken it upon themselves to offer complete instructions on getting and setting up these various programs and the Netscape World Wide Web browser, complete with pictures. Dr. Sandy Steingart, a Baltimore County schools psychologist who had never seen the Internet before she got her account in November 1994, and Dr. Joe Campbell (now at MIT), a senior electrical engineer for the Department of Defense who headed up his children's PTA Technology Committee, put up a complete set of instructions on how to do all this for, respectively, PCs and MACs. Sandy has kept the PC SLiRP instructions up to date, and teacher Larry Eden took over responsibility for the Mac side upon Joe's departure.

In addition, many people on the MDK-12 Listserv discussion list have set it up and are willing to help.

Updated: 9 August 2002
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions should be directed to "mdk12-editor 'at' umd.edu"