Dial-up Users

Dale Dougherty (dale@ora.com)
Wed, 27 Oct 1993 00:12:41 -0700

I'd like to know of any efforts to expand the Web's reach by
providing greater support for serial dial-up Internet users? More specifically,
MacMosaic and Mosaic for Windows ought to be able to function
on systems that are not directly connected to the network. Right
now, a SLIP/PPP connection is required to use a graphical browser; these
connections are more expensive to obtain and more difficult to install.

What can we do to enable communication over a serial line?
It seems to me you need two things: a browser that can establish
a connection over a serial line with a net host and a process that
runs on the net host to listen for the browser's requests and act
as a gateway to the network.

This capability would allow the Web to grow enormously.

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who is thinking about or actually
working on this problem.

Dale

-- 
Dale Dougherty (dale@ora.com) 
Publisher, Global Network Navigator, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
103A Morris Street, Sebastopol, California 95472 
(707) 829-3762 (home office); 1-800-998-9938