Open Transport is Apple's latest connection technology based upon industry standards. It is faster than older versions of MacTCP/MacPPP, is entirely written in PowerPC code to fully use the speed of the PowerPC processor, and also allows full support for ISDN.

It consists of TCP/IP, which controls where your Mac goes to find things once it's hooked up to the internet, OT/PPP (Open Transport PPP), which controls dialing up to the server, and the Modem control panel where you set which kind of modem you have. You can still use ConfigPPP and FreePPP to dial in along with TCP/IP without any problems.

Configuring the Open Transport control panels is much easier than most of their older counterparts, and thus users should not consider this slick, new technology to be intimidating.
The latest version of Open Transport is v1.3, although v1.1.1 or 1.1.2 or later works fine as well. You can get the latest version or more information directly from Apple.

Contents:

• Configuring TCP/IP
• Configuring OT/PPP
• Configuring the Modem Control Panel

Configuring TCP/IP

The TCP/IP control panel is where your computer stores the information on how it connects to the internet and where it goes to look up addresses of web pages, ftp sites and news servers.
Setting up the TCP/IP is very straightforward. These simple steps below should get you going without any problems.

1. From the Apple Menu, choose Control Panels -> TCP/IP
   
2. From the Edit menu, choose User Mode...
   
3. Select 'Basic'
   
4. Click 'OK'
   
5. Set the 'Connect via:' to whichever method you use to connect with, as in 'FreePPP', 'MacPPP' (ConfigPPP) or 'OT/PPP'
   
6. Set the 'Configure:' to 'Using PPP Server'
   
7. For the 'Name server addr.:' and 'Search domain:', enter:
   • '206.87.35.216' and 'coastnet.com'
     
8. Close the window
   
9. Save the changes to the current configuration
   

That's all you need to do to set up the TCP/IP control panel.

Configuring OT/PPP

The new PPP control panel simplifies the set-up of dialing in to a server. Basically, all you need to do is type in your username, your password and the phone number.

1. From the Apple Menu, choose Control Panels -> PPP
   
2. Make sure that Registered User is selected
   
3. Type in your username in the Name: field.
   
4. Type your password in the Password: field
   
5. Click Save password to avoid typing it in each time you connect
   
6. Type in the phone number: 744-4248

If you have Call Waiting (a beep in your ear when someone calls and you are already on the phone), then put 70#, in front of the phone number (make sure you include the comma). This will disable your call waiting on a per-call basis. The beeps can cause your modem to lose its connection.

You should now see something like this:

7. Click on Options...
   
8. Click on the Redialing tab
   
9. Coastnet users may wish to set the Redial: to Redial main number only, and set the Redial ... times to 15, and the time to 3-5 seconds.

10. Click on the Connection tab
11. We recommend setting it up as in the picture below, although the Flash icon in menu bar while connected is merely to remind you that you are still online and using up connection time. This is optional and won't affect how your connection runs

PPP keeps a log of all your connections (succesful or otherwise), and you can view this by going to the PPP menu and select Activity log.... This tells you when you logged in, at what speed and what IP address you were assigned. It's not a bad idea to clear this log from time to time, as it will otherwise accumulate a large text file on your hard drive. This is nothing to be concerned of, however, and will not cause any problems

12. Click on the Protocol tab
    
13. Make sure that both Allow error correction... and Use TCP header compression are both checked. You don't need to use the terminal window or the connection script under OT/PPP

A word on saving configurations: If you have two accounts that have different dial-in phone numbers, such as both a Pacific Interconnect and a Coastnet account, then it is very easy to save both configurations under Open Transport. To do this, follow these steps below:

1. Under the File menu, select Configurations...

2. Click on Duplicate... and then type in the new configuration name (whatever is easy for you to remember; the server name is probably best).
   
3. Click on Make Active, and then you'll notice that the new name is at the top of the PPP window.
   
4. To change configurations, simply go to File/Configurations... and click on whichever service you want to make active (dial-in to), and then click on Make Active.

That's all there is to it.

You have now succesfully configured the PPP control panel for connecting to the internet. Now carry on and set up your modem from the Modem control panel

Configuring the Modem Control Panel

The Modem control panel is where you tell PPP what modem you are using and which port your modem is connected to (printer or modem/internal).

1. From the Apple Menu, choose Control Panels -> Modem
   
2. Set the Connect via: to whatever port you modem is connected through (usually the modem port). If you have an internal modem (most Performa's do), then set it to the modem port as well.
   
3. From Modem:, select your modem from the pop-up list that appears when you click on the modem list
   
4. Set Sound: to On. This lets you hear what's going on with the modem as it connects with our server
   
5. Set Dialing: to Tone
   
6. By setting Ignore dial tone, it removes the problems that many modems have if you have Call Answer on your phone line. It's usually a good idea to leave it checked even if you don't have any extra options on your phone line
   

   Your window should now resemble that below: