OK - so the title isn't as accurate as it could be - it should really
read How to share an Internet connection from your OS/2 PC. Sorry.
If you're still reading, here we go.
I'm the sad kind of person who has loads of PCs at home (seven actually, but don't tell my wife) and likes to muck around networking them. I have a networked printer as well (HP Laserjet 4 with a Token Ring Jet Direct card in it since you ask). My network preference of choice is Token Ring as I believe that anything with Collision Detection in it has a fundamental flaw. However, I have a 10 Mbps Ethernet setup as well. So I muck around with networking, and I muck around with lots of PCs on at once. However, I only have one modem connection to the Internet.
So - how to share it. With other PCs running other operating systems (I run a mixture of 2000, Linux and OS/2 here).
The answer for me is Internet Gate from Maccasoft which comes in two flavours - an OS/2 server and an NT server. And the best thing? It's free. Indeed - if you want to use the server with one client (that's two PCs connected to the Internet at once), there is no charge. That's my kind of software.
All you need to do is install it properly (I managed that), and then follow the instructions. It uses whatever connection you have defined already in your Dial up Other Internet Providers without you having to change a thing. You can test the connection with one simple button click. Then, you need to configure the client correctly - I didn't manage this. What you should actually do is read the on-line manual rather than just pile in assuming that you know what you're doing. Guess which I did.
And onwards - the server end is easy-peasy to setup. One word of warning - the program creates a file called DIAL.LOG which actually contains your password in plain text. Digging further, this plain text is also in x:\MPTN\ETC\TCPOS2.INI. So, be careful if you think it's encrpyted everywhere because it's not.
So to the client - the OS/2 client is easy - just configure your OS/2 PC's Socks setup and everything is done. Windows is a bit more difficult. The images here are taken from a Windows 2000 client running IE 5.0.
What you need to do is configure your browser - here IE 5.0 - select Tools, Internet Options, then Connections.
Then, click on LAN Settings
Then, select Advanced and enter the IP address of your server PC
And, er, that's it really. Whenever the client starts up its Internet Browser, it connects to the Internet Gate PC which dials up and then the page displays on your PC. As long as your DOIP connection works, this works. You can configure on the server PC how long a period of inactivity you want before the line is dropped, so it won't waste your phone bill. You can configure how large th cache is on the server PC as well.
It's good software, well priced with decent prices if you want to add further concurrent clients, easy to set up and works with virtually any client - OS/2 or any Windows 95/98/NT/2000 client.
Mind out for the password though.
Email me if you want some more information.
Version 1.0
Date 20/04/2000