Re. [Oberon] Bluebotte and DSL Problems

[eas-lab at absamail.co.za]

Edgar wrote:
> I got DSL on last saturday. It sort of works with Bluebottle.
> There are only some funny problems.
> Connecting to a bluebottle.ethz.ch FTP server works fine with DSL and PPP.
> Connecting to my Strato FTP account fails with DSL but works with PPP.
> Sending mail to post.strato.de works with DSL and PPP.
> 
> Receiving mail from post.strato.de fails with DSL ('No new mail' even if 
> there is) Receiving mail from post.strato.de works with DSL and 
> Windows/Netscape.
> 
> Any experiences or ideas ?

Yes.   You have to start with the appropriate paradigm; which is 
NOT: "I tested it (on my system), so it's OK".

My previous posts mentioned:-----
* when I changed ISP, TextMail.<command> no longer worked.
  I had to patch the source code to remove an assumption,
  which usually worked for most systems, but was not per RFC.

* Mail.Panel V2.3.2 StandAlone would not connect to my (then) ISP,
nor V2.3.6 DOSbased; but Ver 2001 would.
There are subtle timing aspects involved.
Remember that the n-o box, the modem, the telco channel and the
ISP are all FSMs.  There are many posibilities to go wrong in the 
combination.
----

Yesterday I was reading on the ppp NewsGroup, about the
 MS patented authentication (vs. CHAP, PAP) which some ISPs use.
----

I believe that the correct method of 'managing the chaos' is to
acknowledge the lack of certainty and design the code/system
for ease of maintainability.  Admittedly - easier said than done.

Complexity/uncertainty is appropriately handled with statistical
approaches.  A relevant statistic is that few users use/test/confirm 
ETH-oberon's internet facilities - they are all playing with 'visual
effects' and using MS connectivity.

-- Chris Glur.