Welcome to Minicom FAQs

 

 

License Cost and sites

Q. What does Minicom cost and how many sites can I use it on?

A. Minicom costs a one time payment of $20.00. You may use it on as many PCs on the same network, as you wish.

Operating Systems

Q. Which operating systems does Minicom work on?

A. Minicom works on Win'95, Win'98, Win NT 4.0 and Win 2000 systems.

Minicom and Minirem Installation

Q. How do I install Minicom?

A. Run mc30day.exe (30 day release) or mc.exe (unlimited time release) on each PC that you want to control.

Q. Can I remote install Minicom and Minirem?

A. Yes, if Minirem 3.5 is already running on the remote PC.
If you have installed the mc30day test version of 3.5 you can use Minicom screen to
install the purchased version of Minicom over the top of the 30 day version.
Start the Minicom installation and answer the questions as usual.
There will be a short disconnect while the old Minirem stops and the new one starts.

Tip1:

Set up a shortcut on the remote PC eg on the desktop or in a folder, to run your latest version of Minicom install ( mc.exe or mc30day.exe )
eg. \\MyPC\c\myfolder\mc.exe

Tip2:

We are advised it may also be possible to use Telnet with some operating systems, to initially install Minicom. Haven't tried it tho'.

Q. Why are there 2 programs, Minicom.exe and Minirem.exe and what do they do?

A. Minicom.exe is the user interface ie where you control the other PCs from.
Minirem.exe is the smaller hidden monitor program which runs on the remote PCs.

There is also a separate hidden program for Modem control "RASInt.exe".

Q. Do I need both Minicom.exe and Minirem.exe installed on a PC?

A.
As Minicom.exe is the user interface/ controller program, you need it on each PC that you want to control your network from or use other functions such as Clipboard, Chatboard etc..

Minirem.exe is the monitor program and you need it installed on each PC that you wish to control.

If you want to control modems or make modem connections on a PC you need RASInt.exe.

Tip:
The easy way is install all the software on each PC. Limit the functionality of Minicom.exe with remote configure.

Q. What is the minimum installation for a Controller PC?

A. Minicom.exe and comnet.dll. You may want the help htm files additionally.

Q. What is the minimum installation for a Controlled PC?

A. Minirem.exe, (RASInt.exe if there are modems) and comnet.dll.
(If you want Chatboard you are going to need Minicom.exe as well.)

Intranet/ LAN Setup

Q. Which protocols do I need to install?

A. TCP-IP and/ or IPX/SPX.
Our experience is that users have less problems with IPX/SPX.
However, TCP-IP has name resolution so although its more complicated, once its installed you can just give the network name of the other PC instead of the IP address.

Q. I've got IPX/SPX installed, how do I find out the Network and Node number of the PCs?

A. For the Network number checkout Control Panel/ Network/ NWLink.
For the Node number run winipcfg.exe.

You can check and change the network numbers on Control Panel/Network/Services/Protocols/NWLink..

Tip:
The least problem Network number seems to be 00000000.

Q. I have a small network and want to set TCP-IP up on it to run Minicom. How do I set up the network card addresses?

A: Make sure that you have the network cards set to fixed IP addresses.
Eg 150.100.100.1 for PC 1 and and 150.100.100.2 for PC2.
Set the subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 on each machine.
See Control Panel/ Network/TCP-IP "network card"/ Properties/ IP Address.
Make sure Wins and DNS are disabled.

Modem (Dial-Up) Setup

Q. Which protocols do I need to install?

A. TCP-IP and/ or IPX/SPX. Our experience is that users have less problems with IPX/SPX.
(Although TCP-IP on Win'98 and Win2000 is a breeze :-) )

If you want a Win'95 PC to be a dial-up server, install IPX/SPX on both the called and calling PCs and don't forget to install Win'95 Plus! on the called PC.

Q. My telephone just rings when I dial into my other PC. Why doesn't Minirem answer the call?

A. Minirem isn't designed to answer the call. This should be done by setting Auto-Answer on the "Dialup Networking" setup. ( Win'95 requires Plus! and IPX/SPX installed).

Setting the PCs Auto-Answer:

For Win'98 and Win'95 select Connection/ Dial-up Server. Select "Allow Caller Access" and set the PC Password with "Change Password".
For Win NT4.0 select Control Panel/Network/Services/Remote Access Setup/Configure and set the appropriate modem.
For Win 2000 select "Start/Settings/Network and Dial-up connections/Make a new connection" and create an "incoming connection"

Q. I want to do TCP-IP Dial-Up to a Win NT4.0 server. How should I set it up?

A. Install RAS Manager and Remote Access Connection Manager on the NT4.0 server.

You can set the TCP-IP address range on the NT4.0 Server, or install DHCP, and set "obtain an IP address automatically" on the connecting PC.
Use the Server PC name (Network Identity) in Minicom / Select a PC.

Other Things

Q. Why does the cursor blink on the controlled PC when I'm remote watching the screen?

A. This depends on the video driver and is usually when the default vga.sys is installed. Check with your graphics board manufacturer for the latest driver.

Q. On Win NT4.0, do I need to run RASMAN if there are no modems installed?

A. No. With Minicom 3.5 there is a special process, RASInt.exe, to handle modem connections. If there are no modems to control RASInt doesn't run on Win NT 4.0 .

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