Javelin FAQ

1. What is Javelin?

Javelin is the Java version of our popular Minisoft 92. Javelin provides precise emulation of HP2392A, HP700/9X, and VT320 terminals allowing for quick and reliable connectivity to HP or Unix host applications.

2. What terminals does Javelin emulate?

Javelin currently emulates the HP2392A and 700/92 terminals in one applet.

3. What network communications protocols does Javelin support?

Javelin supports the NS/VT and Telnet protocols for connections to HP e3000 computers. NS/VT is the recommended network protocol for connections to HP e3000s as it is more efficient than Telnet. Telnet connections are supported for connecting to Unix.

4. What does Javelin not do?

Javelin does not support some of the extended capabilities of the HP700 series terminals, such as ANSI emulation. We plan to incorporate these additional features in a future release.

5. How big is Javelin?

Javelin is contained in a file of 136K in .CAB format for Microsoft Internet Explorer, and in a somewhat larger .JAR file for Netscape communicator. Javelin continues to be the smallest Java “Thin Client” in the industry.

6. Does Javelin have to reside on an HP e3000?

Javelin can reside on ANY computer with a web server. For example, suppose your website is on a PC running Microsoft’s Windows NT 4.0 IIS web server. You could have a page on the PC with some text or an icon to connect to an HP or Unix host computer system. When the user clicked on the link, the PC would run a script that would authenticate the user. If the user passed the test, the PC would download Javelin to him or her, with the address of the host computer passed as a parameter. Once it was downloaded to the user’s machine, Javelin would start a connection to the host computer directly from the user’s machine.

Note that this does require that the end-user be able to make a socket connection to the host computer through the Internet. If the host is behind a firewall, the end-user still could not connect. If it is not behind a firewall, a non-authenticated user could connect to it if he discovered its address and had the requisite terminal emulator and Telnet, although he would, of course still have to log on. But at least this would be safer than just having a straight link to the host computer on the web site without the authentication, and safer than running the web server software on the HP e3000 itself.

If you want a further level of security you could design a system under which a firewall protected the host running a proxy server. The web server software on the PC would authorize the proxy server to allow through a connection from the end-user’s IP address, once the authentication had taken place. Javelin would be given the address of the proxy server instead of the host computer.

Of course, no internet traffic is totally safe from sniffers, etc., unless it is encrypted.

7. Which version of Windows works best with Javelin?

   Javelin performs best on Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP.