PlanetPPP for Macintosh

High-speed Internet and AppleTalk Connectivity over PPP

Introduction

The point-to-point protocol (PPP) is fast becoming the standard for remote networking. It is not surprising since PPP is able to carry IP, IPX, and AppleTalk traffic over a single link without the necessity of redundant encapsulation. Newly introduced standards regarding compression, multilink connections, and bridging will further enhance the utility of PPP for wide area network connections. For Macintosh users looking for high-speed Internet connectivity, the PlanetPPP software and Planet-ISDN board is an ideal combination.

PlanetPPP

The current version of PlanetPPP supports the following features:

Single B channel synchronous HDLC PPP connections using the Planet-ISDN board.
PAP and CHAP security options.
Multiple settings documents for connections to various hosts.
Both IPCP (Internet) and ATCP (AppleTalk) protocols.
Idle time out.
Connection status window.
Specification of Maximum Transmit Unit (MTU) size.
Link statistics.
Address and protocol compression.

Software Installation & Configuration

PlanetPPP can be installed and configured in less than 5 minutes. The Installer places necessary drivers into the System's Extension folder and creates the PlanetPPP folder on your hard drive. You start the PlanetPPP application by double clicking on it, configure it for use with your Planet-ISDN board, and enter appropriate security and dialing information in the settings document. Click "Connect" and in a matter of seconds (literally) you are connected with your ISDN capable Internet Service Provider at 64 Kbit/sec (56 Kbit/sec for those individuals without Clear Channel 64 Kbit/sec access). PlanetPPP seemlessly works with MacTCP. Hence, once the PPP link is established and authorization approved, you are able to use any IP based application (Mosaic, Eudora, Fetch, Netscape, Telnet, etc.).

Availability

PlanetPPP will be shipping with Planet-ISDN boards sold in the USA in the 1st Qtr 1995. Previously registered users of the Planet-ISDN board can obtain the software for a nominal fee from one of our authorized resellers.

Upgrades

We are targeting 2nd Qtr. 1995 for the first upgrade of PlanetPPP for the Macintosh. The most important feature of this upgrade is support for Multilink PPP (MLP).