Networking FreeDOS - WatTCP/Watt-32
Overview:
Waterloo TCP (WatTCP) was written 1990 - 1992 at the University of
Waterloo in Ontario (Canada). The author is Erick Engelke, then a
developer in the Faculty of Engineering, today the university's
Director of Engineering Computing (see: http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/
~erick/).
The core TCP engine of WatTCP was based on Geoffrey H. Cooper's TinyTCP.
WatTCP was originally released under a homebrewed public domain license
- binary and source were free for use, distribution was allowed only for
non-commercial reasons. In 2004 Erick Engelke copyrighted it under the
terms of the GNU LGPL. WatTCP can be found at Erick Engelke's homepage
(http://www.erickengelke.com/wattcp/index.shtml). While the software
is free, the WatTCP Programmer's Reference is sold as PDF for 50$
(see: http://www.erickengelke.com/wattcp/docs.shtml).
WatTCP was ported to 32-bit by Gisle Vanem at Bergen, Norway in 1999.
The port is called Watt-32 (see: http://home.broadpark.no/
~gvanem/). It supports 32-bit protected-mode as well as 16-bit
real-mode. On the site you find binaries, source and documentation for
download. More binaries that use the Watt-32 stack can be found here
(see: http://www.filegate.net/utiln/utilnet/wt32apps.zip). There
is a developer forum (see: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/
watt-32/messages/2617?viscount=-30&l=1) which is still active.
WatTCP and Watt-32 are not external TCP/IP Kernels. Both are just sets
of libraries designated to programmers - they can use these libraries to
implement TCP/IP functions into their applications. The WatTCP package
includes such applications with built-in WatTCP kernel like "ping",
"finger", "whois" or "lpr".
Many important DOS network applications use the WatTCP libraries like
Arachne or SSH2DOS. A list of these apps is available at "DOS Solutions"
(http://www.dossolutions.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/wattcp.htm).
Installation and configuration:
So you don't have to download anything to use the WatTCP/Watt-32 kernel.
It is already in the applications. The only thing needed is a confi-
guration file, which is called "WATTCP.CFG" and is basically the same
in both versions. It is located in the applications directory per
default. The settings if you are working with fixed IPs:
--- WATTCP.CFG ---
# These are example values:
my_ip = 192.168.1.10
netmask = 255.255.255.0
nameserver = 192.168.1.1
nameserver = 129.97.128.196
nameserver = 129.97.128.1
gateway = 192.168.1.1
# Uncomment, if your receive your configuration via DHCP
# my_ip = dhcp
If you are receiving your settings by a DHCP-server/router:
--- WATTCP.CFG ---
my_ip = dhcp
netmask = 255.255.255.0
gateway = 0.0.0.0
domain_list = your.domain.com
# domain, gateway, ip, nameserver will be set via DHCP
If the application is not in the same directory as WATTCP.CFG, please
set WATTCP.CFG=\path\to\file to point to it (in AUTOEXEC.BAT).
Additional settings may be needed by the applications used. A deeper
introduction into the use of WatTCP programs can be found here
(see: http://www.web.archive.org/web/20080329105946/http://www.
smashco.com/wattcp.asp).
Copyright © 2007 Ulrich Hansen, Mainz (Germany), modified 2010
by W.Spiegl.
For more information see here.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
"GNU Free Documentation License"