This document contains information about connecting to the internet with PPP, software that comes with Macintosh OS. The topics discussed on this page are listed below.

If you are lacking an piece of software described below, or don't know how to install it, please refer to the installation instructions that can be found here [placeholder].

Checking the version of Macintosh OS

To check your current version, make sure you are in the Finder and click on the Apple menu in the upper left hand of your screen, and then click on About This Computer or About this Macintosh. You should see a window that looks similar to the one displayed here. Make a note of which version you have. Close the window and go to the Control Panels under the Apple menu. You should have either a MacTCP or a TCP/IP control panel. If you have MacTCP, see the corresponding ConfigPPP section, and for TCP/IP see the PPP section.

Configuring MacTCP

Go to the Apple Menu and choose Control Panels then click MacTCP. In the top part of the window, make sure the PPP icon is selected. If this is the only choice, it will automatically be highlighted. Click on More. In the Obtain Address box of this new window, make sure it is set to Server. In the IP Address box, pull the Class menu down to choice B. In the Domain Name Server Information box, type dcn.davis.ca.us into the first two Domain fields. Type 168.150.253.2 into the first IP Adress field, and type 168.150.253.1 into the second one. Check the "Default" radio button for this new entry. Click on OK then close the MacTCP control panel. You may now go on to the next section, Connecting/Disconnecting with ConfigPPP.

Connecting/Disconnecting with ConfigPPP

First, go to Control Panels under the Apple Menu and select ConfigPPP. The Port Name option should be set to the port that your modem is on. This is normally the Modem Port. Click on Config. The PPP Server Name is the name of this particular configuration, you may want to call it something like Omsoft. The port speed should be 57600 or higher. If you have a 56k modem, you should set it at 115200. Set Flow Control to CTS & RTS (DTR) and enter 297-6694 for the phone number. Click on Authentication. Enter in your username in all lowercase in the Auth Id field, and your password in its respective field. Click OK and then Done and you are ready to connect. Click Open to start your connection. If you have the Hangup on close option selected, then the modem will hang up when you close ConfigPPP. Otherwise, you can click Close in ConfigPPP in order to do so.

Since you will need to use ConfigPPP to open and close your connection, you may want to create an alias to place on your Desktop. To do so, click once on the PPP icon, then select Make Alias from the File menu, and drag the new icon to the desktop and place it wherever you want it to be. If you want, you can even place the alias in the Apple Menu Items folder so that ConfigPPP will be in the Apple menu. The Apple Menu Items can be found in the System Folder.

NOTE: Users of MacOS 8.5 and above should use the services provided with the operating system, PPP or Remote Access.

Configuring TCP/IP

To get to TCP/IP go to the Control Panels in your Apple Menu. The TCP/IP window is displayed here. The MacTCP window is very similar to this window. The Connect via... option needs to be set as PPP. The Configure option should be set as Using PPP server so that the next three option have <will be supplied by server> next to them. In the box labeled Name server addr you need to have two items: 168.150.253.1 and 168.150.253.2 as shown. You may then type in dcn.davis.ca.us under Search domains. You may now click the close box and click on Save when the dialog pops up to store your new configuration.

Connecting/Disconnecting with PPP

To dial-up and connect to the server, you need to go to the Control Panels under the Apple menu and click on PPP. You will get a window that looks similar to the one displayed here. Make sure you are set as a Registered user and type in your username and password in the appropriate spaces. If you don't want to type your password in every time you dial up, select the Save password option. Type in the appropriate phone number: 297-6694 for the Davis/Woodland/Dixon area, 795-0114 for the Winters area, and for 440-1965 for Sacramento. To connect, simply click on Connect and your modem will start to dial. You may close the PPP window if you wish, but to disconnect, you will need to load it again and click Disconnect.

Another place to find a Connect/Disconnect button is in
Remote Access Status in the Apple Menu. It looks like this:

Another alternative is the Control Strip, which has a Remote Access module:

Configuration of Eudora Light, Netscape Messenger, and Outlook Express on the Macintosh

Configuration of Eudora Light

Run Eudora Light by double clicking the program icon. Go to the Special menu and then Settings.... You should see something that looks like the screen shot to the right. If not, make sure that Getting Started is selected at the top of the toolbar on the left hand side of the window. In the field labled Real Name put in your name. The field called Username requires that you put in your userID with DCN. This is the part of your email address before the @ symbol.
So if you are joe@dcn.davis.ca.us, your username is joe. Enter your username in lowercase letters. The next field, Mail Host, is where you type the following: pop.dcn.davis.ca.us. Again, it has to be entered in all lowercase letters. The last field is for your Return Address. Put in your email address with DCN.

Click on Hosts in the left pane of the Settings window and you should see something similar to the screen shot displayed here. The only field you need to modify here is the SMTP field. The mail will already be filled in from the previous screen. Type in smtp.dcn.davis.ca.us in lowercase letters. The two remaining fields, and all of thie check boxes are not used, so you can leave those alone.

Next we go to the Checking Mail field. Click on Checking Mail so that it is selected in the lefthand pane of the Settings window. Both the Username and the Mail Host fields should be filled in with information from the previous screens. There's only a couple of really important things here. First is the check box option Check for mail every x minutes. Only check this if you want to have Eudora automatically do a mail check while you are online. Another check box is called, Leave mail on server for x days. Do not check this box, as it will cause copies of your mail to pile up on the mail server at DCN, and will eat into the disk space that you are allowed on the system.

Send on check, when on, sends outgoing mail that is waiting in the outbox whenever new mail is checked for the mailserver. Checking the Save Password box makes Eudora only ask once for your password, and saves it the first time it successfully connects with the mail server.

Press the OK button. You are set to check and send email now. You can test by going online then going to the File menu in Eudora, and selecting Check mail. If this is the first time you are checking mail using Eudora, or do not have Save Password checked, then you will be asked for your password. This is the same password that you use to connect to DCN, that you should have written down somewhere.

You will see a progress bar as it checks for and downloads new mail. When finished, Eudora will play a chime and notify you if you have new mail or not.


Configuration of Netscape Messenger

Run Netscape by double cliking its icon and then go to the Edit menu and then select the Preferences option. On the left-hand pane, find the option called Mail & Newsgroups and expand it by clicking on the triangle next to it. Click on Identity. The only required field on this screen is E-mail address which is the full username@dcn.davis.ca.us.

Next click on the Mail Servers option in the left pane. Under Outgoing mail (SMTP) server, type in smtp.dcn.davis.ca.us. As soon as you have filled that out, you may optionally fill in any of the other fields. The Incoming Mail Servers field will be blank, so you will need to hit the Add... button to bring up the next window in the configuration.

When the new window pops up, you will need to complete 3 fields. Under Server Name, type in pop.dcn.davis.ca.us. Any deviation will prevent you from getting your email. Under Server Type, select POP3 Server. Finally, under User Name, put in your username. Optionally, you may select the Remember Password option so that Netscape does not ask for your password every time you check for new email. Click Ok.

Configuration of Outlook Express

Run the Outlook Express program, and once it has finished loading, go to the Edit menu, and choose the Preferences... selection from the bottom of the menu. A new window will pop up. The first thing is to make sure that the E-mail section is selected in the Accounts section of the left hand bar. You may need to toggle the arrow icon next to the Accounts so that it points down to expose the options below it.

In the Full Name field, put in your real name. Below that is the field for your E-mail address, gets typed-in in the form of username@dcn.davis.ca.us. Moving on, the Organization field is optional and can be skipped.

The next section is Sending Mail. The field labled SMTP server needs to read smtp.dcn.davis.ca.us.

In the Recieving Mail section, there are three fields that need to be filled out. In the first one, Account ID, put in your username in lower case letters.. Next is the POP Server. This is the name of the machine that Outlook will go to look for new mail on, so it needs to be filled out. You should have pop.dcn.davis.ca.us entered on that line.

The next line is a matter of preference. If you want Outlook to ask for a password evertime you check for new mail, then leave the checkbox unchecked. If you want to just have the mail be checked without being asked for anything, then check the box, and type in your account password in the adjacent field. The password will be masked in asterixes, (something like *******) so take care to enter the password correctly.

The last field is Account name. Fill this in with your username again. Hit the OK button and you're ready to send and receive mail!