***** Using SLICS and TMSTAMP or TMSEAL with NETCOM *****

A number of users have reported problems accessing ICC and FICS thru the
NETCOM service.  These problems are due to bugs in the NETCOM implementation
of Winsock.  Under earlier versions of NETCOM Winsock, SLICS (and other
SLIP/PPP clients as well) had difficulty connecting reliably to the chess
servers.  Under the latest version of NETCOM Winsock, it appears that SLICS
(and other clients) can now connect reliably, but unf you cannot use TMSTAMP
or TMSEAL, because NETCOM Winsock cannot connect to "localhost".

The best solution is to switch providers if you can.  However, if you cannot
switch, there is a workaround that will enable TMSTAMP and TMSEAL to function
acceptably.  You can keep NETCOM service, just use a different Winsock
implementation to dial in.  I recommend Trumpet Winsock.  You can download
the latest version of the Trumpet Winsock distribution from trumpet.com.au .
If you can't connect to trumpet.com.au , you can try doing an archie
search for winsock.  A version of Trumpet Winsock is also available from the
ICC server chess.lm.com , in the directory
	/pub/icc/winsock/ .
(You do not need to be an ICC member to use the ICC's ftp server.)
Follow the instructions in the Trumpet distribution.  Be sure to install
Trumpet in a different directory from your NETCOM s/w .

See also: "help timestamp", "help slics-tmstmp".

Here is some information i received from NETCOM technical support.  If you
need further assistance using Trumpet with NETCOM, please contact NETCOM
support at support@ix.netcom.com or ICC support at icc@chess.lm.com .

Good luck.  --- Don Fong

>The following information we have found useful, but we do not
>officially support it, or the programs represented herein.  If you need
>more help, you will need to contact the manufacturers of the product.
>
>You can use Trumpet Winsock with your NetCruiser account with the
>following setup:
>
>1.  Go into the Trumpet setup and choose Internal PPP connection. 
>
>2.  Make sure that the Com port and Baud rates are set correctly for
>    your computer.
>
>3.  The IP that Trumpet should first list is 0.0.0.0.  After your first
>    login that number will be what your last IP was.  Leave that number
>    for each subsequent login.
>
>4.  Configuration Settings:
>
>	DNS or Name Server 	199.182.120.203
>
>	Domain Suffix 		ix.netcom.com
>
>	MU 			576
>
>	TCPRWIN 		2048
>
>	TCPMSS 			512
>
>	Demand Load time out 	5
>
>	TCPRTO Max 		60
>
>5.  Select OK and then close and reload Trumpet. 
>
>6.  After Trumpet reloads, select Dialer from the pull down menus.  Run
>    the SETUP.CMD file.  This will allow you to setup your local
>    dial-in number, your user name (in the format #username), and then
                                                   ^^^^^^^^^
NOTE, the above means that you must type a pound character (#) before
your username.  if you attempt to do this in a trumpet login script,
be warned that the pound character needs to be "escaped" with a backslash
because otherwise Trumpet will interpret it as the start of a comment.

>    your password.
>
>7.  If you want Trumpet to dial in automatically, you will need to get
>    a login script.  You can find these at the web page:
>
>	http://www.netcom.com/faq/pc/i-twsk.htm#login
>
>    This page will also give you useful information for using Trumpet
>    with NetCruiser.
>
>8.  To login select "Dialer" and then "Login."  
>
>9.  You would then use other winsock programs such as Netscape or
>    Eudora to access the web and read your mail.
>
>You can get various third party winsock applications at these URLs:
>
>	http://www.lcs.com/faqhtml.html
>	http://www.acs.oakland.edu/oak/SimTel/win3/winsock.html.
>	http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neuroses/cwsa.html
>	http://homepage.eznet.net/~rwilloug/ewa.html
>
>If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact
>us.  Please include all text from previous mail messages in your reply.
>
>Jennifer
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>E-mail Technical Support 
>NETCOM On-Line Communications Services	         support@ix.netcom.com
>24-Hour Technical Support 			        (408) 983-5970
>NetCruiser FAQ WWW Page			    http://www.netcom.com/faq/