This installation procedure uses Trumpet Winsock. Trumpet Winsock is not free software - you must pay $25.00 for it.

The copy that you install using this procedure will work properly for 30 days. At the end of that time, it will cease to function if you have not paid for it.

There are a number of payment options in ordering this software, which are discussed in the "Special/License" menu command of the Trumpet Winsock program. Trumpet Software's WWW address is http://www.trumpet.com , their electronic mail address is sales@trumpet.com , and their U.S. telephone number is (909) 861-4400.

For experienced internet users, the raw facts:

Phone numbers for PPP access (our PPP uses PAP authentication):
  • (123) 456-7890
DNS Servers:
1.2.3.4 (dns1.acme.net)
5.6.7.8 (dns2.acme.net)
POP Mail Server:
mail.acme.net
USENET News Server:
news.acme.net
For inexperienced but adventurous internet users, who have some proficiency with Windows 3.1:
Step 1 Call ACME for your personal internet account. Be sure to write down your username, password, and internet E-Mail address; you won't be able to use the internet without them.
Obtain an account and password on the ACME internet server.
Step 2 Your modem must be functional before you can use your computer for internet services. You must also know the COM port to which it is attached. You must also have either a disk supplied by ACME, or a blank, formatted disk for your A: drive.
Determine your modem's COM port, test the modem, and get a disk.
Step 3 If you did not get a disk from ACME, you will have to download a copy of Trumpet Winsock.

You must arrange this with the ACME help desk before you attempt to download the software, or you will be denied access.

To download the software, follow the following steps:

  1. From within Windows, open the "Accessories" group and double-click on "Terminal".
  2. If a dialog box appears asking which COM port to use, select the appropriate one and press "OK".
  3. From the "Settings" menu, select "Binary Transfers".
  4. Make sure that "XModem/CRC" is selected, and press "OK".
  5. From the "Settings" menu, select "Communications"
  6. Set the "Baud Rate" to the highest setting - 19200, and verify that your modem's COM port is selected in the "Connector" box (select it now if it's not).
  7. Click "OK".
  8. At your keyboard, type the letters "AT" and press enter.
  9. You should see the letters "OK" appear, or, on some modems, the number zero will appear.
  10. If you do not see "OK" or a zero, you have not selected the right COM port. Call the ACME help desk.
  11. Now type: "ATDT 456-7890"
  12. After your modem dials and connects to our server, you should see a series of lines, ending with a "login:" line.
  13. Enter your account name.
  14. Enter your account password.
  15. You are now ready to begin downloading files. Enter the command "sx twsk30d.exe" - you should see a message instructing you to give your XModem Receive Command - if you do not, there is a problem, and you must call the ACME help desk.
  16. From the "Transfers" menu, select "Receive Binary File".
  17. In the "File Name" box, enter the name "twsk30d.exe" and click "OK".
  18. Trumpet Winsock will now download to your computer. It will take some time. On the bottom of your terminal window, you will see a "STOP" button, and a "BYTES" field. Don't press the "STOP" button.
  19. After the download has completed, you must download three other files (two are very short). Repeat steps 15 through 18, but substitute the following filenames for "twsk30d.exe":
    1. winap21f.exe
    2. login.ia
    3. login.il
  20. When you have downloaded all the files, close your terminal program.
  21. From the "Main" group, double-click "MS-DOS Prompt".
  22. Put your blank, formatted floppy in drive A:
  23. Enter the following commands: 
    1. copy twsk30d.exe a: /v
    2. copy winap21f.exe a: /v
    3. copy login.ia a: /v
    4. copy login.il a: /v
    5. del twsk30d.exe
    6. del winap21f.exe
    7. del login.ia
    8. del login.il
    9. exit
If you didn't get a disk, download Trumpet Winsock.
Step 4
  1. Make sure your disk is in the A: drive.
  2. From the Windows "Main" group, double-click "MS-DOS Prompt".
  3. Enter the following commands: 
    1. md \hold
    2. md \hold1
    3. cd \hold
    4. a:twsk30d
      (then wait while Trumpet unpacks) 
    5. exit
  4. From the Program Manager menu, click "File" "Run", and enter "\hold\install" in the "Command Line" box, and click "OK"
  5. Click "Install"
  6. Click "OK" for the Host file message.
  7. Click "Yes" to rename all other winsocks.
  8. Click "OK" for the "C:\trumpet" directory.
  9. Click "OK" for the "Trumpet Winsock" group.
  10. After a few moments, click "OK" for the autoexec.bat changes.
  11. Click "Save" to save your autoexec.bat.
  12. Click "Accept"
  13. A dialog box will pop. Enter the following:
    1. In the DNS server(s) box, enter: "1.2.3.4"
    2. In the Domain suffix box, enter: "acme.net"
    3. Click "PPP"
    4. Click "OK"
  14. Click "OK" on the second dialog box (leave it all blank).
  15. Click "OK" after you have removed the floppy.
  16. Click "Restart"
  17. Wait for your computer to boot, then put the floppy back in.
  18. Start Windows if it doesn't start automatically.
  19. From the "Main" group, double-click "MS-DOS Prompt".
  20. Enter the following commands: 
    1. cd \trumpet
    2. copy a:login.xx login.cmd
    3. cd \trumpet\winapps
    4. a:winap21f
      (then wait while the winapps unpack) 
    5. exit
  21. Open the "Trumpet Winsock" Group
  22. From the "File" menu, select "New"
  23. Select "Program Item" and click "OK"
  24. In the "Command Line" box, enter "\trumpet\winapps\ftpw.exe" and click "OK".
  25. Double-click on "Trumpet Winsock" in the Trumpet Winsock group.
  26. From the "File" menu, select "PPP Options".
  27. Select "Use Password Authentication Protocol (PAP)".
  28. In the "Username" box, enter the name of your ACME internet account.
  29. In the "Password" box, enter the password of your ACME internet account.
  30. Click "OK"
  31. From the "File" menu, select "Setup"
  32. In the DNS server(s) box, enter: "1.2.3.4"
  33. In the Domain suffix box, enter: "acme.net"
  34. Click "PPP"
  35. Click "OK"
  36. From the "File" menu, select "Exit"
Decompress and install Trumpet Winsock.
Step 5 Remember the next sequence of steps. You will follow this procedure in the future every time you connect to the internet.
  1. Double-click on "Trumpet Winsock" in the Trumpet Winsock group.
  2. From the "Dialer" Menu, click "Login".
  3. Click "OK" on the modem profile dialog box, unless you are sure that you have to change a parameter.
  4. You should see Trumpet Winsock dial the connection and negotiate a PPP connection. Your modem should also make some noise.
  5. After you are connected, you should see "My IP address = 1.2.3.XXX" where XXX is a number.
  6. You're now connected to the Internet!
Activate Trumpet Winsock.
Step 6 You will need a web browser if you want to "surf the web." Netscape is the world's most popular web browser, and you can download it over the internet.

However, it is not free, and you should pay for it if you use it.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer is free, but Netscape is smaller and faster.

Follow these steps to download Netscape for Windows 3.1:

  1. You must be connected to download Netscape Navigator. If you have broken the connection, you must activate Trumpet Winsock again.
  2. Double-click on "ftpw" in the Trumpet Winsock group.
  3. At the "Host:" prompt, type: "ftp.netscape.com"
  4. At the "Username:" prompt, enter 
    ftp
  5. For the password, enter your E-Mail address (i.e., jdoe@acme.net). You will not see the characters of the password as you type them.
  6. Now enter the following commands: 
    1. lcd \hold1
    2. cd /pub
    3. cd navigator
    4. cd 3.03
    5. cd shipping
    6. cd english
    7. cd windows
    8. cd windows3.1
    9. cd navigator_standard
    10. bin
    11. get n16e303.exe
  7. Go have dinner. You are downloading a 3-Megabyte file. It may take a half-hour or more. You will see a byte count on the screen as the download progresses. If your connection to the internet is broken, you will have to start over.
  8. After you see the message "Transfer Complete," enter the following command: 
    1. quit
    Now you must unpack and install Netscape.
  9. From the "Main" group, double-click "MS-DOS Prompt".
  10. Enter the following commands: 
    1. cd \hold1
    2. n16e303
      (and wait for Netscape to unpack) 
    3. exit
  11. From Program Manager, select "File" "Run".
  12. In the "Command Line" box, enter "\hold1\setup" and click "OK". Netscape will begin its installation. Follow the prompts to install Netscape. When it has finished, you will have a blue Netscape Navigator group with a Navigator Icon within it. You may use it whenever you are connected to the internet.

    Netscape's integrated USENET News client should work with minimal modifications. You must modify the news server to be news.acme.net in the Servers section of the Mail and News Options (from the "Options" menu). To activate the News client, select Window / Navigator News from the Netscape Navigator menu.

    Netscape's integrated Electronic Mail client will require substantial configuration before it will work. To configure it, follow the following steps:

    1. From the main Netscape Navigator menu, select Options.
    2. Select Mail and News Preferences...
    3. Select the Servers tab.
    4. In the "POP3 User Name:" box, type in your ACME account name.
    5. Select the Identity tab.
    6. Type your full name, as you want it to appear on all of your E-Mail messages, in the Your Name: box.
    7. Type your email address in the Your Email: box. You should have received an E-Mail address when you signed up for internet service with ACME.
    8. Select OK. Your E-Mail is now fully configured.
    9. From the main Netscape Navigator menu, select Window.
    10. Select Netscape Mail.
    11. Enter your password in the dialog box. If the password is correct, any E-Mail messages waiting for you on our server will be downloaded to your machine.

    When you are absolutely finished installing Trumpet Winsock and Netscape, you can (and should) delete the installation programs to save your disk space. Here is how:

    1. From the "Main" group, double-click "MS-DOS Prompt".
    2. Enter the following commands: 
      1. del \hold1\*.*
      2. del \hold\*.*
Download Netscape Navigator.
Step 7 Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, requires you to already have a web browser before you can download Internet Explorer (at this time, there are no published Microsoft sites that make MSIE available by anonymous FTP).

If you really want Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can:

  1. Download Netscape, and use it to download MSIE.
  2. Use our disks to install MSIE.
  3. Contact us, and we will put a copy of MSIE where you can easily download it.
If you choose to download MSIE, be prepared to wait. The compressed version of the full install is over 10 megabytes. Plan to do it overnight.
Download Internet Explorer.