Stuart's Macintosh PPP Scripts
for Metricom Ricochet Packet Radios

Introduction

When using Apple Remote Access or Open Transport PPP, CCL scripts are used to control the operation of the modem.

This page provides two scripts:

Metricom Ricochet Wireless

This script is a replacement for the Metricom Ricochet Wireless script provided by Apple.

It just has a few minor changes from the Apple-supplied one, (mainly the deletion of some unneccessary pauses and the addition of one neccessary one) that make PPP connect and disconnect much faster. I made these changes at the IETF in Washington in December 1997 when I got really annoyed that my PowerBook Duo would give me the "ten second warning" that the battery was exhaused and it was going to sleep to preserve the contents of memory -- and PPP would take so long just to hang up the connection that the battery would die and I'd lose all my work anyway. With these changes PPP disconnects in about two seconds instead of about twenty, avoiding this problem. (Why PPP has to disconnect just because you are changing the battery is a discussion for another day...)

Command Line Connection

This is a "connect" script for dialing into Metricom Gateways and other command-line based PPP servers. With command-line PPP servers, users have to first type in their username and password in the terminal window before PPP can start. This script automates that process so you never have to see that terminal window again. Instructions:

1. Put the script file somewhere on your hard disk
2. Open the PPP Control Panel
3. Click the "Options..." button
4. Select the "Protocol" tab
5. Check the "Connect to a command-line host" option.
6. Check the "Use connection script" option.
7. Click the "Import Script..." button and import the "Command Line Connection" script

Now when you connect, the script will handle entering your username and password for you.