This brief guide is intended to help first time users of Timbuktu Pro quickly set up and establish a TCP/IP connection between two systems using the Internet/IP Locator. This is by no means a definitive guide. There are alternate ways of establishing a Timbuktu Pro TCP/IP connection. This guide only presents one of them.
Note: Both the guest and the host must be connected to the Internet in order for you to make the connection. This could be either through a dial-up ISP, ISDN, Cable Modem, LAN or DSL connection.
The Internet/IP Locator was mainly designed for dial-up Internet users. Each time a user dials up to the Internet, they receive a different IP address. This causes problems for Timbuktu users because the guest may not have a way of knowing the IP address of the host machine. The Internet/IP Locator resolves this by associating an email address with the dynamic IP address. The Internet/IP Locator can also be used on a LAN, provided the proxy firewall does not block or reject requests and registration to the Internet Locator server (findme.netopia.com).
To use the IP Locator on a dial-up, DSL, or cable connection on the Mac, you must first connect to the Internet. Next launch Timbuktu, then enter an email address in the IP Locator preferences, in Setup:Preferences. Next make sure that TCP/IP incoming access is enabled. Once this is done, your email and IP address will be registered on our IP Locator server (findme.netopia.com).
After the next time you connect to the Internet all you need to do is hold down the Option key and uncheck TCP/IP Incoming access in the Timbuktu connection menu. The Timbuktu connection menu is the small icon that looks like two monitors and a face. Now, recheck TCP/IP Incoming Access while holding the Option key to reregister you email and IP address.
If your machine is behind a router, you can configure the IP Locator on the Mac version of Timbuktu to register the router's public/WAN IP address. This is a Mac specific feature only. Go to the IP Locator preferences in Timbuktu's preferences under Setup: Preferences. Click on the "Advanced" button and enter the router's public IP address in the Registered Address field in the Override Registered IP Address section. If the router's IP address is dynamic, enter 0.0.0.0. If you changed the contact port on your Timbuktu host, then enter (for example: 0.0.0.0:1843). For more information, go to: dynamicrouter.html
To use the Internet Locator on a dial-up, DSL, or cable connection on a Windows machine, you must also connect to the Internet first. Enter an email address in the Internet Locator section of the General tab in Setup\Preferences.
The next time you reconnect to the Internet, right click on the Timbuktu icon in the system tray, next to the clock, and select Exit and Shutdown Timbuktu Pro, then relaunch Timbuktu. This will reregister your email and IP address with the Internet Locator server.
The IP Locator on the Windows version is limited if the host machine is behind a router with a private IP address. You cannot make a connection from outside the network by using the email address. The IP Locator will report the private IP address and not the valid public/WAN IP address. Connecting to a machine behind a router you need to use the public IP address and will also require router configurations. For more information regarding router configurations for Timbuktu go to: nat.html
If you do not know what your public IP address is go to the following site from the host machine (the machine you are connecting to):
http://www.whatismyipaddress.com
If the public IP address of your router is dynamic, you may either purchase a static IP address or you can get a domain name or a free sub-domain name. For more information in getting a domain or sub-domain name, go to: dynamicrouter.html