H.5. Other Interesting Packages
There are several other packages commonly available on Linux systems
that you may be interested in using. You can find out about them by
reading the appropriate HOWTO files and other accompanying
documentation.
The term utility is a client/server system that
allows you to multiplex your serial line--that is, you can log
in multiple times over a single dial-up
connection. term includes additional features
allowing you to run network clients (such as
Telnet, FTP, and Netscape Navigator) over
the serial line. You can even use term to display
remote X Window System clients on your local machine. So you can
simultaneously run a remote X session, download files, and send mail,
for example. This capability is most useful if your modem can handle
high-speed data transfer; you can get comfortable performance with a
28.8 Kbps (preferably v.34-compliant) modem.
term is somewhat like PPP
(discussed in the section "Section 15.2, "Dial-up PPP"" in Chapter 15, "TCP/IP and PPP") but term
can be executed as a normal user: no need for root access on either the client or server
side, and no need for a special PPP dial-in server.
To use term, you need a dial-in shell account on a
Unix system. You build the term
software both on that Unix system and on your Linux
machine. You dial in to the remote system and execute
term there; it now handles all data to and from
your dial-in connection. On your local machine, you place the
communications program in the background and execute
term to control the dial-in connection from your
Linux system. The two instances of term are now
communicating over the modem line.
To log in to the remote session over the term-controlled
line, you can use trsh. This starts a remote shell over
the modem line. You can run trsh many times (in different
windows or virtual consoles), starting multiple logins to the remote
machine, for example.
You can also use various network clients with term.
These include Telnet, FTP, mail
readers, and the like. These clients must be specially compiled to
use term. Many of them are available for Linux.
In order for them to work, the remote system must be connected to the
Internet (or another local network); network requests are
redirected to the remote system over the modem line. This way, it
appears as though your system is connected to the network; you can
telnet or ftp to any other
system on the Internet directly from your Linux machine. The
WWW browser Netscape Navigator, discussed in the section
"Section 16.1.1, "Using Netscape Navigator"" in
Chapter 16, "The World Wide Web and
Electronic Mail", works with
term as well.
Two other packages are worth mentioning. pcomm is
a data-communications package that intentionally resembles the ProComm
for DOS package, the most popular
DOS communications
package. Seyon offers a powerful suite of
terminal-emulation and data-communications tools.
If we've missed your favorite file-transfer or data-communications
tool, we apologize. This is certainly an area where available Linux
tools offer an embarrassment of riches. On the other hand, if you are
clinging to more primitive utilities, we hope this appendix has given you
the opportunity to learn and use more powerful tools.
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 | | H.4. Some Zmodem Usage Notes |  |
Bibliography |
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