PPPShar is used heavily in Internet booths in Chennai, and a version
has appeared on the PC Quest October CD-ROM. This software is a simple but powerful
Java applet that lets you share a dial-up or ISDN connection with the rest on your LAN.
color="#FFFFFF" size="2">PPPShar 1.3 |
A Java-based software for sharing a dial-up connection over a LAN. Rs 8,500 for 5 users; Enterprise (unlimited users) Rs 30,000. Features: Works on NetWare/NT LAN (with Win 95, 98 or NT clients). Pros: Easy to use. Works with HTTP, POP3, IRC, ICQ, Usenet (NNTP), FTP. Cons: No configuration app. Source: Plans Proposals and Projects, 16 Periyar Street, Gandhi Nagar, Saligramam, Chennai 600093. Tel: 44-4831145 Fax: 4848328 E-mail: pbabu@pppindia.com Web: www.pppindia.com |
PPPShar works much like other proxy servers in so far
as you need to install it on a PC that becomes your gateway to the Net. But there is no
configuration application or screen. To change the default options (which are tailored for
Chennai VSNL) you must edit the settings.ini file found in the PPPShar directory, and put
in the values for your mail server, DNS server, et al.
In addition to HTTP, POP and SMTP, PPPShar also works with
Telnet, FTP, Socks, IRC (chat), Usenet (NNTP), RealAudio and RealVideo, SSL (via Socks)
and ICQ. The software ran well when we tested it without any slowdown on the gateway
system. But you wouldn’t take it beyond five to ten users, unless you are sharing an
ISDN connection and your gateway machine is a zippy Pentium II.
Requirements size="2">
Hardware: The gateway machine should be at least a Pentium
166 with 32 MB RAM. Other PCs can be Pentiums (depends on what browser you want to run) or
even 486s.
Software: For a Java applet PPPShar has some unusual requirements. It works only
with the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine that comes with IE 4 (also available as a separate
download–6.3 MB–from www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm31.htm).