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Tips for Shell Account Users |
Dear Lyndon,
Thank you for your response. I thank you also for telling me the
address of VSNL's User's Manual. I wonder why VSNL has kept it
a secret. As far as SHELL is concerned, major part of the quality
of the service depends upon VSNL than the user.
Following are certain things for SHELL users to remember.
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- Set the terminal emulation to VT102 or VT100. ANSI causes some problems.
- Please check that you have spescified correct UpLoad & DownLoad paths in your communications program.
- For transferring files please use ZMODEM instead of KERMIT. It's really fast. Also check that you have set the Auto Crash Recovery Option in the Protocol Settings in your communications program. Thus if you get disconnected while downloading/uploading a file then next time when you restart the transfer the incomplete file will be appended. Thus it saves your time.
- Check the input & output buffer values in your comm program. It's safe to keep these values at least 12-16KB. They have a lot of effect on keeping the connection intact & transferring files.
- Try to collect more information about your comm software & it's features.
- Please don't use internal card modems for online communications. They are hard to configure.
- Make sure that you receive a user's manual when you buy a modem.
- As soon as you login. Select option #.10 & come to UNIX
prompt. you can use all the commands programs from the prompt
by simply typing the program. e.g. for Lynx type Lynx at UNIX
prompt also for Pine type Pine & so on. The advantage of going
thro' the prompt is that, if you get stuck or get hanged during
a connection then you can press Ctrl - c and exit back to UNIX
prompt. So you don't lose the connection. Otherwise you will have
to hang up you modem & re dial the no. and wait till you again
get the connection.
Well, these are the few basics. Best way is to get familiar with
your computer, Modem & Internet. It's not at all hard.
TIP OF THE DAY FOR SHELL USER
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You can directly connect to a world wide web address by simply
typing Lynx followed by the address at the UNIX prompt.
e.g. If www.theAddress.com is the site to which you want to connect then type
" lynx www.theAddress.com " at the prompt.
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I refer to your last article ("Net Gains - Feb 04, 97")
in Bombay Times. Which was 'I can't use up the 500 hours I've
Paid' & today's article ' More about VSNL problems'.
Myself being a SHELL user I had the same trouble of suddenly getting
disconnected while on-line. According to my experience the root
of this trouble is 50% with VSNL & 50% with the users. I am
using VSNL's SHELL ever since it was available. Doing some R&D
I tried to find out solutions of these bugs. I have some suggestions
to other SHELL users.
- Getting connected to the Internet.
Well, even if there are many phone nos. assigned for SHELL connection,
I recommend 2659045. I get the connection just in a single attempt
or at the most 3 attempts, even in office hours. I tried all the
other nos. also but they always seem to be busy. Another reason
is, VSNL has got more members than it can handle & hence VSNL
has to increase the no. of lines. But I am sure in near future
VSNL will try to add more lines/modems & add more servers.
- The junk ( known as " Garbage" in computer world ) that you see on the screen, while you get connected.
I am still not able to figure out the problem. This may be due to the fact that too many people are trying to get access to it at a time. According to my observation I receive this "Garbage" in the morning from 8.30 to 9.00 and in the evening from 7.30 to 8.30
( these are just the approximations). And sometimes at 12.00 in
the night. Solution: Wait for 2-3 minutes and redial.
- Getting disconnected suddenly while on-line.
I used to have the same problem when it was all new for me. According to my experience this problem can be handled only from user's side. It all depends upon your Modem & the communication software you are using with it.
Suggestions:
Please avoid to use internal modems ( the Fax/Modem cards that are installed directly on the mother board). These modems are found perfect for the purpose of Faxing, but for the particular use i.e., dial-up connections they are found to be less useful. GVC is a nice example of such type. The communication software provided with GVC doesn't seem to match it.
The external modems (they come as a separate unit which is to be externally connected to any of the COM ports) are the most common in the market. Some of them are Hayes, Motorola, US Robotics, Aiwa, GVC, Zyxel ( I think Samsung has also launched a 36.4 KBPS modem, I am not very sure. Please check. )etc.
It is very important to use an appropriate communication software with it. The software provided with the modem should be enough. I found the TELIX from DeltaComm.Inc to be the best software for all these modems. It configures itself according to your modem & supports more that 100 different modems.
To avoid getting disconnected please check the following important settings.
- Input Buffer ( Default 1kb-4KB) : This is the amount of memory allotted by the software to receive the incoming data. If the data exceeds 4k and still not handled by the software then there are chances you may get disconnect. Since I had the same problem, I recommend to make this 8K.- 12 K.
- Output Buffer ( Default 1-4 KB) : This is the amount of memory allotted for the data that is sent by the modem to the remote host. It is enough that this should be 4K-8K.
- Terminal Emulation ( Default may be ANSI-BBS or ANSI X3.64)
: The terminal emulation interprets the information for you. If
this is ANSI then you are sure to get disconnected. Please set
this to VT100 or VT102 and not VT52. This setting
should be in the "Settings/terminal emulation or devices"
menu of your communications program.
- What if the line gets disconnected while downloading a file?
It is good that VSNL added ZMODEM protocol. This is the fastest protocol available for file transfer. Now there are possibilities that you may get disconnected while transferring the file.
To overcome this problem just check the following settings. These should be available in the settings/Protocol menu of your communications program.
Zmodem Crash Recovery. This setting is the solution to this problem. If this is SET or selected then ZMODEM will append the partially transferred file. For example let's say there is a file xyz.exe having 650 Kb size. And the line gets disconnected when you have received only 300Kb. then next time you give the sz "file name..." command at UNIX prompt, the transfer will begin from the last received byte to the rest 350Kb.
There are some options available with 'sz' command I discovered accidentally.
sz -b " file name..." : Makes sure that file transfer is BINARY.
sz -k "file name...." : Makes sure that only 1024 bytes are sent at a time. These are called Data Packets. Here we set the size of one data packet to be 1024Kb to avoid the confusion between the zmodem at the remote host & the one at our end.
Now a days VSNL has come up with some strange problem. While downloading the file the rate of transfer suddenly jumps to 1145 - 1400 cps. And obviously I receive "Protocol Error".
I am unable to find out the season. Will VSNL look into this?
- The best suggestion.
If you have the terminal at your home, then I recommend that you try to login at 2.00 am - 5.00 am. This is found to be the best time with following advantages.
1. Get connected in a single shot.
2. Surf the Net at the fastest speed.
3. File transfers are smooth and often at the rate of 916-934 Cps.
This is the time I usually login for file transfers. Until the
VSNL upgrades itself this is the most recommended solution....
[Ashish Gokhale's note]
I love to work with computers , modems and of course INTERNET.
Since VSNL doesn't respond to our queries ,I am trying to find
the solutions myself. After being an VSNL's SHELL user I have
come to the conclusion that the problem is not just with VSNL,
but also with us, the users. Most of us are not aware of setting
or Installing modems properly, which plays a very important role
in dial-up connection. Also the people who sell them to you can
not always find the solution to your problem. For that may I request
the SHELL users to respond me along with the name of their Modem/s
& communication software they are using. I will try to get
the software & check these different modems. I am trying to
develop a Web Page were users can get solutions to their problems
as far as problem lies in user's side. I am already working on
Telix, ProCom Plus, QModem Plus, OmniComm, etc. With these efforts
I am sure that we will find out the best configuration of modems
& communication software. So that we can utilize these services
efficiently.
Please feel free to forward my e-mail address / phone no to other
users. I will try my best to help him/her out.
Thanking you
Ashish Gokhale.
Phone : +91 022 8060410.
FAX : +91 022 8610324.