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NetConnect promises even easier net access for
Amiga users. Neil Mohr takes a sneak preview
ith the recent boom in media
ht
coverage of the Internet it seems
everyone is slapping together all-
- in-one Internet access packages -
first Amiga Technologies with
their Surfer pack and most recently FliSoft's
Net & Web. NetConnect is hoping to surpass
both these products by offering simplified
configuration and setup along with the latest
versions of the most popular Internet programs.
The first thing that will strike you about
NetConnect is the toolbar front end, from
which all the configuration and programs are
accessed. The toolbar is very reminiscent of
the docks used by ToolManager and is setup
in a similar fashion, allowing variable rows
and columns of either icons or text buttons_
Anyone who has had a look at Miami will be
glad to know that NetConnect has 'borrowed'
the simple setup front end 0'Sed to configure
all the aspects of logging on to your Internet
provider.
NetConnect will simplify this even beyond
what Miami offers by maintaining a list of
Internet providers and their details, so making
the initial setup a matter of selecting which
country you live in, your provider and the local
Pop you will be using. Currently the
tsktConnect database covers a MO providers
in 30 different countries, 40 of which are
British.
Once this is done you are left with having to
enter your own specific user details such as
user name and password. As with Miami there
is a large list of modems which, if it includes
yours, will handle the modem initialisation
automatically.
So NetConnect gives you a good program
launcher and set up interface but what else
does it offer? Well for starters you will be getting
ArniTCP 4,3, the latest version of the ubiq-
....... _
An up-lo-na te vorsM n of Voya ge r will
make We b browsing a n e a sy ta sk
uitous TCP/IP stack which has quite a few
advancements over previous versions, generally
making it far easier to configure and setup.
This is an advantage over Miami which uses its
OWERMAIL
. One of the completely new programs that comes with
NetConnect is PowerMail. Written by the author of
Metal
-
not, Taking advantage of all the new features introduced
in a MUI 3 PowerMairs interface is fully drag and drop,
allowing M i you to move mail attachments to the clip
board,
I next m
between mails and save them off to disk Another
spin off
generation
is that if
version
you multiselect
of the original
a bunch
software.
of mails and
e
drag them over to the address book all the email
addresses c o of the people who sent these mails will auto-
0. matically m be added to the address book
pAny l included images will be displayed in-line with
the i received a mail and similarly images can be dragged
over n into t mails and will be automatically decoded as
part m of the mail using the installed Datatypes.
a
i
AMIGA COMPUTING
l
OCTOBER 1996
e
r
,
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• • •
own specific TCP stack and could cause co
patibility problems with some software.
There will also be the latest version
ArriFTP - in my opinion the best FP program
around - along with AmIRC, again one of the
best IRC clients available for any computer.
Both these programs should be getting an
updated interlace for the NetConnect release
making them even easier to use
Web support will come in the form of
Voyager v11. This is not going to be as complete
as Voyager NC which will support everything
that NetScape does, but it will add tables
and possibly animated Cif support. This means
the majority of Web sites will be perfectly displayed.
Additional programs such as AmTelNet
and mFinger both look good and are not provided
for currently by the other Net packages.
Due to the heavy use of MI - well all the
programs use MUI - the latest version will be
bundled with NetConnea This version will be
3.5 and has many more bug fixes along with
even more speed increases and new pop up
menus.
Currently NetConnect looks an excellent allin-one
package with a lot of thought having
gone into it. With the final version all the programs
will be installed from a single installer
that will also initially set up your account and
provider details letting you get linked up and
on-line as soon as possible.
With the simple configuration GUI, the full
version of AmiTCP 4_3 and the all-in-one icon
driven front end, NetConnect does looks good
and should be out soon.
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Looking 41 mie n? bit a s good a s it is to use .
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is a n e xce lle nt M ime ma ile r
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