Following a brief but enjoyable conversation with John, I am delighted to have been asked to introduce TkNet to you as part of this new column. TkNet is already well know by a large number of people, despite having been released less than three months ago, and I have been, if not submerged, at least wetted thoroughly by very positive comments and criticisms since the version 0.9 was released in December '95! Version 1.0 followed soon after, incorporating many suggestions and comments, and was (in my admittedly biased opinion) a large improvement on the original.
So what is it???
Well, it's an attempt to make connecting to the Internet via your friendly local service provider using SLIP or PPP a much simpler operation than it has previously been. TkNet provides a simple point & click metaphor for connection, disconnection and status display, with many, many configurable options, all accessible through the Tcl/Tk based interface (for the intellectually challenged amongst you, the basis for the name TkNet!).
Check out the TkNet web page, or go directly to a screenshot of the main window. You can get version 1.0 of Tknet on all sunsite mirrors, or the latest patched (hey, I never said I was perfect!) version from the Logica FTP site. Meanwhile, I am continuing work on the next release, which will provide graphical PPP configuration - wow! I'll be releasing some screen shots onto the web site soon, but release is a month or more away, so don't hold your breath. Enjoy!
Charlie Kempson (charlie@siren.demon.co.uk)