InetSuite FAQ - Refining your configuration

Q3.1)	When I run !InetSuite, I lose my Acorn Access / Access+ icons.
Q3.2)	I can dial out to my ISP and get online, but I cannot transfer mail or news or access any WWW pages?
Q3.3)	How can I write my own provider script?
Q3.4)	Can I get !InetSuite to transfer mail and news whist the machine is unattended?
Q3.5)	Can I configure !InetSuite to use more than one service provider?
Q3.6)	Can I configure !InetSuite to access more than one news server?
Q3.7)	Can I configure !InetSuite to fetch email from more than one account?
Q3.8)	When I run !InetSuite, I get the error `Must set Inet$HostName for Resolver`. What does this mean?
Q3.9)	When I load !InetSuite, can I stop the Internet icon from appearing on the icon bar?
Q3.10)	Can I send or receive faxes using !InetSuite?
Q3.11)	Can I use Internet Relay Chat with !InetSuite?
Q3.12)	What is the maximum speed I can use for my modem with the Suite?
Q3.13)	I can dial out to my ISP and get online, but I see `11 Bad FCS on received frame` messages in the InetSuite session* window. What do these mean?
Q3.14)	How can I remove newsgroups from the View all or New groups windows within !InetConfg?
Q3.15)	In the InetSuite session window I see `WRN expire can't open 'News:<group>./overview~' for writing`.

Q3.1) When I run !InetSuite I lose my Acorn Access / Access+ icons.

Please see the Ant Acorn Access technical document for information on solving this problem.

Q3.2) I can dial out to my ISP and get online but I cannot transfer mail or news or access any WWW pages?

To confirm that you are online use !Ping as detailed in section 11.2 of the manual to see if you can ping your service provider.
If the response is OK then open !InetConfg.Resources.UK.Serial and look for a line of the form:
IPCompressSlots=16
Change the 16 to 0 and then save the file.
Load the configuration application, !InetConfg, and click on Save before dialling out to your ISP again.

Q3.3) How can I write my own provider script?

When the Ant Suite was originally written, Ant advised people to contact them regarding new Ant provider scripts. Since I took over technical support, I am also willing to help out with providing new scripts. However, I've also written some instructions to help more advanced users create their own scripts. This is available at http://www.vigay.com/inet/providers.html.
Due to time constraints, I'm afraid I am unable to provide individual support on creating ISP scripts unless you are a member of my Inet Support Scheme.
Users of my AntUtils application can use the optional ISPMaker plugin to help them either create new provider scripts from scratch, or convert PC .INS files which are often supplied by ISPs for Windows users.

Q3.4) Can I get !InetSuite to transfer mail and news whist the machine is unattended?

The easiest method of obtaining this is via my AntUtils application, and full instructions are provided within the accompanying !Help file.
However, for users who don't have my AntUtils, or don't wish to use it, there are several small programs are supplied within !InetSuite to make this possible.
To use these features with a modem you'll need to configure the Suite for demand dialling. You may also wish to set the Idle hang up to 1 minute of inactivity (so !InetSuite ends the call once the transfer is complete). Please see section 4.4 of the manual for more information.
Alongside !InetSuite, you'll need to have a copy of Acorn's !Alarm running. This can be used to run programs at times specified by setting task alarms.
To set up a task alarm, follow the steps below;

Click on the Alarms option in the !Alarm iconbar menu. This will open the Alarms dialog.
Click Menu and then Select Set new alarm to open the Set alarm dialog.
Click on the Task alarm button to tell !Alarm that you wish to run a program when the Alarm goes off.
In the Message icons, enter any or all of the following commands:

Run Inet:Bin.InetMail (send and receive any pending mail)

Run Inet:Bin.InetNews (send and receive any pending news)

Run Inet:Bin.InetSend (send any pending mail or news)

Run Inet:Bin.InetXfer (send and receive both pending mail and news)
Now click on Save to set your Alarm.

Please note that you should refer to Acorn's documentation for more information on !Alarm, in particular the section regarding repeating alarms.
If you're using a modem with the Suite, Run Inet:Bin.InetXfer will both initiate the connection to the ISP and, once the transfers are complete, drop it.
Documentation on setting up !Alarm and task alarms can be found in the RISC OS 3 User Guide.

Q3.5) Can I configure !InetSuite to use more than one service provider?

Although this feature is not currently supported by the Internet Suite, there are two possible solutions to this depending on your reasons for wanting to have more than one service provider account configured.

I have a second service provider account but only use it to access mail: !InetSuite can be configured to fetch mail from any service provider regardless of who is providing your Internet connection.
Please refer to page 4-14 of the manual for information on setting up more than one mail fetching account.
I have a second service provider account which I like to keep completely separate from my main account: Install a second copy of !InetSuite in a separate directory. This will allow you to keep all of the mail and news for that provider separate from your main installation.
Alternatively, users of my AntUtils application can install the ChangeISP plugin, which will manage up to 25 different ISPs using a single copy of the Ant Suite. You can then easily switch between them using a single menu.

Q3.6) Can I configure !InetSuite to access more than one news server?

The news server to which you connect can be changed by clicking on News setup in the main Configuration application.
I strongly recommend that you do not do this as it can confuse the critical article numbering system and lead to unpredictable behaviour when reading news.

Q3.7) Can I configure !InetSuite to fetch email from more than one account?

Yes, please refer to page 4-14 of the Internet Suite manual.

Q3.8) When I run !InetSuite I get the error `Must set Inet$HostName for Resolver`. What does this mean?

This error implies that you have configured !InetSuite for LAN use but have not entered a fully qualified Host name.
Run the configuration program and open the LAN setup window. The Host name field should contain a name similar to my_machine.my_network.co.uk as opposed to my_machine.
You should contact your network manager to find the correct domain name for the network to which you are trying to connect.

The graphic in section 4.4 of the manual is potentially misleading on this and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Q3.9) When I load !InetSuite can I stop the Internet icon from appearing on the icon bar?

Please do the following:

In !InetSuite.Internet.Files.!InetConfg, look for the following:
```
#  Icon on iconbar (ON/OFF)
ON
```
Change the ON to OFF
Save the file.

When you next reload !InetSuite, everything will be set up but the Internet icon will not appear on the icon bar.

Q3.10) Can I send or receive faxes using !InetSuite?

You'll need ArcFax for this facility.
Alternatively, your ISP may offer an email/fax gateway. Please contact your ISP for more details on this.

Q3.11) Can I use Internet Relay Chat with !InetSuite?

Yes, please look at the Third party software section of the FAQ for details on IRC client applications.

Q3.12) What is the maximum speed I can use for my modem with the Suite?

The highest Speed option you can select in the Modem setup window within !InetConfg is limited in two ways:

The maximum speed of the serial port
If you have a Risc PC, you could use 115200. Earlier computers are limited to either 57600 or 19200 by default. However, if you are using a high speed serial card from Intelligent Interfaces or Atomwide, you could use 230400 or 460800 respectively.
The maximum speed of the modem
This is determined by the maximum DTE speed supported by your modem and you may be able to find this in the documentation supplied with it.

In theory, the highest speed you can use is the smaller of these two values.
Note that 56K modems (supporting K56flex, X2 or V.90), seem to require the speed to be set no higher than 57600.
However, your computer may not be able to respond quickly enough for reliable transfer at the fastest possible rate: symptoms of this include lots of Bad FCS messages (see the next answer) and low transfer rates in the Internet Suite status window, particularly for mail or news. If you see this, try reducing the speed until connections seem reliable. Note that you'll need to select Hangup from the !InetSuite menu, and reconnect, for changes to take effect.

Q3.13) I can dial out to my ISP and get online but I see `*11 Bad FCS on received frame` messages in the InetSuite session window. What do these mean?

These 'Bad Frame Check Sequence' messages indicate a possible problem. If you only see a few of these, they can be safely ignored.
If you see lots of these messages, there are three possible reasons:

Serial port speed too high: For more details on this, please see the previous answer.
High resolution screen mode: If you're using an older Acorn computer with a high resolution screen mode such as 28 or 31, try switching to a less demanding mode.
Interference on the line: A telephone extension cable, socket doubler or other device sharing the telephone line may be interfering sufficiently to generate the problem.
In this situation disconnect all other leads and devices. Try connecting the modem to the first telephone socket in the building (i.e. without extension cables) and see if this helps. If it does, gradually reconnect items one at a time until you are able to determine which part of the system is causing the problem.

Q3.14) How can I remove newsgroups from the View all or New groups windows within !InetConfg?

Please follow the steps below:

Click Menu in the View all window and select Mark all as old.
Quit !InetConfg.

You'll now find all the groups listed in the text file !InetSuite.Internet.Spool.News./active. Any groups you don't wish to be listed can be removed.
Once any changes have been made, save the file before transferring news again using !InetSuite.

Q3.15) In the InetSuite session window I see `WRN expire can't open 'News:<group>./overview~' for writing`.

For the affected newsgroup you'll need to lower the expiry settings. This is covered on pages 4-28 and 4-29 of the manual.
Once done, manually select Transfer -> Expire news from the !InetSuite menu and wait for this to complete.
If this isn't enough to remove the message from the InetSuite session window, you'll need to tighten the expiry settings further and expire the news again.

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Last edit: 10th Apr 2016 at 1:56pm
(3521 days ago)

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