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(formerly The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet)
Adam Gaffin
Oct. 23, 1995
Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 Electronic Frontier Foundation.
All rights reserved.
DISTRIBUTION:
This guide is available free of charge from the EFF online archives at
ftp.eff.org, gopher.eff.org, http://www.eff.org/, AOL keyword EFF, CIS
EFFSIG forum, and elsewhere.
This guide may be freely reproduced & distributed electronically or in
hardcopy, provided the following conditions are met:
1) Please do not qualitatively modify the guide, and leave all copyright,
distribution, attribution, and EFF information intact. Permission expressly
granted for translation to other languages and conversion to other formats.
Please see :
http://www.eff.org/pub/Net_info/EFF_Net_Guide/README.making_new_versions
for information on the applicable restrictions, or ask mech@eff.org for a
copy of this README document.
2) EFF has signed a contract with MIT Press to publish a hardcopy book
version of the guide, entitled _Everybody's_Guide_to_the_Internet_.
All other for-profit distribution of printed versions of the guide
is forbidden, unless permitted in writing. More non-English hardcopy editions
may appear in the future (Japanese and Hungarian are currently available).
However, you may print out copies and recoup the cost of printing and
distribution by charging a nominal fee. Thus, you are welcome to use the
Guide as instructional material, and for other not-for-profit purposes.
3) Any for-profit non-paper distribution (such as shareware vendor
diskettes, CD-ROM collections, etc.) must be approved by the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (the time- and usage-based access fees of online services,
bulletin boards, and network access providers are specifically exempted).
Donations appreciated.
4) You may not charge a for-profit fee specifically for this guide, only for
a collection containing the guide, with the execeptions of nominal copying
charges and online usage fees, as exempted above.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
P.O. Box 170190
San Francisco CA 94117 USA
+1 415 668 7171 (voice)
+1 415 668 7007 (fax)
Internet: ask@eff.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword by Mitchell Kapor, co-founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Preface by Adam Gaffin, senior writer, Network World.
Chapter 1: Setting up and jacking in
1.1 Ready, set ...
1.2 Go!
1.3 Public-access Internet providers
1.4 North American providers
1.5 European and other providers
1.6 If your town has no direct access
1.7 Net origins
1.8 How it works
1.9 When things go wrong
1.10 FYI
Chapter 2: E-mail
2.1 The basics
2.2 Elm -- a better way
2.3 Pine -- an even better way
2.4 Smileys
2.5 Sending e-mail to other networks
2.6 Seven Unix commands you can't live without
2.7 When things go wrong
Chapter 3: Usenet I
3.1 The global watering hole
3.2 Navigating Usenet with nn
3.3 nn commands
3.4 Using rn
3.5 rn commands
3.6 Essential newsgroups
3.7 Speaking up
3.8 Cross-posting
Chapter 4: Usenet II
4.1 Flame, blather and spew
4.2 Killfiles: The cure for what ails you
4.3 Downloading messages
4.4 Some Usenet hints
4.5 The Brain-Tumor Boy, the modem tax and the FCC
4.6 Big Sig
4.7 The First Amendment as local ordinance
4.8 Usenet history
4.9 When things go wrong
4.10 FYI
Chapter 5: Mailing lists and Bitnet
5.1 Internet mailing lists
5.2 Bitnet
Chapter 6: Telnet
6.1 Mining the Net
6.2 Library catalogs
6.3 Some interesting telnet sites
6.4 Telnet bulletin-board systems
6.5 Putting the finger on someone
6.6 Finding someone on the Net
6.7 When things go wrong
6.8 FYI
Chapter 7: FTP
7.1 Tons of files
7.2 Your friend archie
7.3 Getting the files
7.4 Odd letters -- decoding file endings
7.5 The keyboard cabal
7.6 Some interesting ftp sites
7.7 ncftp -- now you tell me!
7.8 Project Gutenberg -- electronic books
7.9 When things go wrong
7.10 FYI
Chapter 8: Gophers and WAISs
8.1 Gophers
8.2 Burrowing deeper
8.3 Gopher commands
8.4 Some interesting gophers
8.5 Wide-Area Information Servers
8.6 When things go wrong
8.7 FYI
Chapter 9: The World-Wide Web
9.1 Getting snared in the Web
9.2 Alright, already, let's go!
9.3 Addressing a problem
9.4 Imagine that -- downloading pictures
9.5 Lynx, meet Gopher
9.6 Finding things on the Web
9.7 SLIP: But I want to use my mouse!
9.8 More on SLIP
9.9 HTML: Building your own
9.10 Some interesting WWW servers
9.11 Lynx commands
9.12 When things go wrong
9.13 FYI
Chapter 10: Advanced E-mail
10.1 The file's in the mail
10.2 Receiving files
10.3 Sending files to non-Internet sites
10.4 Getting ftp files via e-mail
10.5 Mining for info on Usenet via e-mail
10.6 Just the fax, ma'am
10.7 The all knowing Oracle
10.8 When things go wrong
10.9 FYI
Chapter 11: News of the world
11.1 Clarinet: Associated Press, Miss Manners and Dilbert
11.2 Still more news on the Net
11.3 The world today, FROM Belarus to Brazil
11.4 FYI
Chapter 12: IRC, MUDs and other things that are more fun than they sound
12.1 Talk
12.2 Internet Relay Chat
12.3 IRC commands
12.4 IRC in times of crisis
12.5 MUDs
12.6 Go, go, go (and chess, too)!
12.7 The other side of the coin
12.8 FYI
Chapter 13: Education and the Net
13.1 The Net in the Classroom
13.2 Some specific resources for students and teachers
13.3 Usenet and Bitnet in the classroom
Chapter 14: Business on the Net
14.1 Setting up shop
14.2 Online storefronts
14.3 The check is in the (e)-mail
14.4 The good, the bad and the ugly
14.5 FYI
Chapter 15: The end?
Appendix A: The Lingo
Appendix B: Electronic Frontier Foundation Information
Foreword
By Mitchell Kapor,
Co-founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Welcome to the World of the Internet.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is proud to have sponsored the
production of EFF's Guide to the Internet. EFF is a nonprofit
organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to ensuring that
everyone has access to the newly emerging communications technologies
vital to active participation in the events of our world. As more and
more information is available online, new doors open up for those who
have access to that information. Unfortunately, unless access is broadly
encouraged, individuals can be disenfranchised and doors can close, as
well. EFF's Guide to the Internet was written to help open some doors to
the vast amounts of information available on the world's largest network,
the Internet.
The spark for EFF's Guide to the Internet, and its companion MIT Press
book version, Everybody's Guide to the Internet, was ignited in a few
informal conversations that included myself and Steve Cisler of Apple
Computer, Inc., in June of 1991. With the support of Apple Computer, EFF
engaged Adam Gaffin to write the book and actually took on the project in
September of 1991. The guide was originally published electronically in
July of 1993 as the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet.
The idea was to write a guide to the Internet for people who had little
or no experience with network communications. We intended to post this
guide to the net in ASCII and other formats and to give it away on disk,
as well as have a print edition available. We have more than realized
our goal. Individuals from as geographically far away as Germany, Italy,
Canada, South Africa, Japan, Scotland, Norway and Antarctica have all
sent electronic mail to say that they downloaded the guide. EFF's Guide
to the Internet is now available in a wide array of formats, including
ASCII text, Windows Help, World-Wide Web, PostScript, and AmigaGuide.
And the guide is finally available in a printed format, as well.
You can find the electronic version of Everybody's Guide to the Internet
by using anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org and accessing
/pub/Net_info/Guidebooks/EFF_Net_Guide/netguide.eff. Or send an e-mail
message to info@eff.org. The electronic version is updated on a regular
basis with a newletter (/pub/Net_info/Guidebooks/EFF_Net_Guide/Updates/),
and occasional new versions of the guide itself.
EFF would like to thank author Adam Gaffin for doing a terrific job of
explaining the net in such a nonthreatening way. We'd also like to thank
the folks at Apple, especially Steve Cisler of the Apple Library, for
their support of our efforts to bring this guide to you. Finally, we'd
like to thank our publishers at MIT Press, especially Bob Prior, for
working out an arrangement with us where we can continue to distribute
the text in electronic format and forego our royalties in order to keep
the price of the book low.
We invite you to join with EFF in our fight to ensure that equal access
to the networks and free speech are protected in newly emerging
technologies. We are a membership organization, and through donations
like yours, we can continue to sponsor important projects to make
communications easier. Information about the Electronic Frontier
Foundation and some of the work that we do can be found at the end of
this book.
We hope that EFF's Guide to the Internet helps you learn about whole new
worlds, where new friends and experiences are sure to be yours. Enjoy!
Mitchell Kapor
Chairman of the Board
Electronic Frontier Foundation
mkapor@eff.org
QUERIES: Please send all queries regarding EFF, and availability and
distribution of the guide to ask@eff.org, or one of the other EFF addresses
above. Please send all updates, corrections, and queries regarding the
content of the guide to the author, Adam Gaffin, at adamg@world.std.com.
Preface
By Adam Gaffin,
Senior Writer, Network World, Framingham, Mass.
Welcome to the Internet! You're about to start a journey through a unique
land without frontiers, a place that is everywhere at once -- even though
it exists physically only as a series of electrical impulses. You'll be
joining a growing community of millions of people around the world who
use this global resource on a daily basis.
With this book, you will be able to use the Internet to:
= Stay in touch with friends, relatives and colleagues around the
world, at a fraction of the cost of phone calls or even air
mail.
= Discuss everything from archaeology to zoology with people in
several different languages.
= Tap into thousands of information databases and libraries
worldwide.
= Retrieve any of thousands of documents, journals, books and
computer programs.
= Stay up to date with wire-service news and sports and
with official weather reports.
= Play live, "real time" games with dozens of other people at once.
Connecting to "the Net" today, takes something of a sense of adventure, a
willingness to learn and an ability to take a deep breath every once in
awhile. Visiting the Net today is a lot like journeying to a foreign
country. There are so many things to see and do, but everything at first
will seem so, well, foreign.
When you first arrive, you won't be able to read the street signs.
You'll get lost. If you're unlucky, you may even run into some locals
who'd just as soon you went back to where you came from. If this weren't
enough, the entire country is constantly under construction; every day,
it seems like there's something new for you to figure out.
Fortunately, most of the locals are actually friendly. In fact, the Net
actually has a rich tradition of helping out visitors and newcomers.
Until very recently, there were few written guides for ordinary people,
and the Net grew largely through an "oral" tradition in which the old-
timers helped the newcomers.
So when you connect, don't be afraid to ask for help. You'll be
surprised at how many people will lend a hand!
Without such folks, in fact, this guide would not be possible. My thanks
to all the people who have written with suggestion, additions and
corrections since the Big Dummy's Guide first appeared on the Internet in
1993.
Special thanks go to my loving wife Nancy. I would also like to thank
the following people, who, whether they know it or not, provided
particular help.
Adam Atkinson, Rhonda Chapman, Jim Cocks, Tom Czarnik, Christopher Davis,
David DeSimone, Jeanne deVoto, Phil Eschallier, Nico Garcia, Joe
Granrose, Joerg Heitkoetter, Joe Ilacqua, Jonathan Kamens, Peter
Kaminski, Thomas A. Kreeger, Stanton McCandlish, Leanne Phillips, Nancy
Reynolds, Helen Trillian Rose, Barry Shein, Jennifer "Moira" Smith,
Gerard van der Leun and Scott Yanoff.
If you have any suggestions or comments on how to make this guide
better, I'd love to hear them. You can reach me via e-mail at
adamg@world.std.com.
Boston, Mass., February, 1995.
Chapter 1: SETTING UP AND JACKING IN
1.1 READY, SET ...
The world is just a phone call away. With a computer and modem, you'll
be able to connect to the Internet, the world's largest computer network
(and if you're lucky, you won't even need the modem; many colleges and
companies now give their students or employees direct access to the
Internet).
The phone line can be your existing voice line -- just remember that if
you have any extensions, you (and everybody else in the house or office)
won't be able to use them for voice calls while you are connected to the
Net.
A modem is a sort of translator between computers and the phone system.
It's needed because computers and the phone system process and transmit
data, or information, in two different, and incompatible ways. Computers
"talk" digitally; that is, they store and process information as a series
of discrete numbers. The phone network relies on analog signals, which
on an oscilloscope would look like a series of waves. When your computer
is ready to transmit data to another computer over a phone line, your
modem converts the computer numbers into these waves (which sound like a
lot of screeching) -- it "modulates" them. In turn, when information
waves come into your modem, it converts them into numbers your computer
can process, by "demodulating" them.
Increasingly, computers come with modems already installed. If yours
didn't, you'll have to decide what speed modem to get. Modem speeds are
judged in bits per second or "bps." One bps means the modem can
transfer roughly one bit per second; the greater the bps rate, the more
quickly a modem can send and receive information. A letter or character
is made up of eight bits. You can now buy a 14,400-bps modem for under
$100 -- and most now come with the ability to handle fax messages as
well. For under $300, you can buy a modem that can transfer data at
28,800 bps (and often even faster, using special compression techniques).
If you think you might be using the Net to transfer large numbers of
files, a faster modem is always worth the price. It will dramatically
reduce the amount of time your modem or computer is tied up transferring
files and, if you are paying for Net access by the hour, will save you
quite a bit in online charges.
Like the computer to which it attaches, a modem is useless without
software to tell it how to work. Most modems today come with easy-to-
install software that will let you connect not only to the Internet but
other services, such as bulletin-board systems and many commercial online
networks, such as CompuServe. Try the program out. If you find it
difficult to use or understand, consider a trip to the local software
store to find a better program. You can spend several hundred dollars on
a communications program, but unless you have very specialized needs,
this will be a waste of money, as there are a host of excellent programs
available for around $100 or less. Among the basic features you want to
look for are a choice of different "protocols" (more on them in a bit)
for transferring files to and from the Net and the ability to write
"script" or "command" files that let you automate such steps as logging
into a host system.
When you buy a modem and the software, ask the dealer how to install
and use them. Try out the software if you can. If the dealer can't help
you, find another dealer. You'll not only save yourself a lot of
frustration, you'll also have practiced the prime Internet directive:
"Ask. People Know."
In addition to the software that comes with your modem, you can now also
buy special software kits for getting onto the internet -- at least, if
you use Windows or a Macintosh. Some of these work only with a particular
Internet provider; others let you connect to the provider of your choice.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to these packages; we'll
look at these programs in a little more detail in Chapter 9. This guide
is geared more toward folks using older style software, such as Procomm,
Crosstalk and Zterm, but even if you use one of the newer all-in-one
internet access kits, many of the things described in coming chapters
will generally be good to know (you never know when you'll find yourself
stuck in a room with only an MS-DOS computer).
To take full Take advantage of the Net, you must spend a few minutes
going over the manuals or documentation that comes with your software.
There are a few things you should pay special attention to: uploading and
downloading; screen capturing (sometimes called "screen dumping");
logging; how to change protocols; and terminal emulation. It is also
essential to know how to convert a file created with your word processing
program into "ASCII" or "text" format, which will let you share your
thoughts with others across the Net.
Uploading is the process of sending a file from your computer to a
system on the Net. Downloading is retrieving a file from somewhere on the
Net to your computer. In general, things in cyberspace go "up" to the Net
and come "down" to you.
Chances are your software will come with a choice of several METHODS
to use for these transfers. These different methods are systems designed
to ensure that line noise or static does not cause errors that could ruin
whatever information you are trying to transfer. Essentially, when using
a protocol, you are transferring a file in a series of pieces. After
each piece is sent or received, your computer and the Net system compare
it. If the two pieces don't match exactly, they transfer it again, until
they agree that the information they both have is identical. If, after
several tries, the information just doesn't make it across, you'll either
get an error message or your screen will freeze (at which point you get
out the computer manual to see how to re-boot). In that case, try it
again. If, after five tries, you are still stymied, something is wrong
with a) the file; b) the telephone line; c) the system you're connected
to; or d) your own computer.
From time to time, you will likely see messages on the Net that you want
to save for later viewing -- a recipe, a particularly witty remark,
something you want to write your congressman about, whatever. This is
where screen capturing and logging come in.
When you tell your communications software to capture a screen, it opens
a file in your computer (usually in the same directory or folder used by
the software) and "dumps" an image of whatever happens to be on your
screen at the time.
Logging works a bit differently. When you issue a logging command, you
tell the software to open a file (again, usually in the same directory or
folder as used by the software) and then give it a name. Then, until you
turn off the logging command, everything that scrolls on your screen is
copied into that file, sort of like recording on videotape. This is
useful for capturing long documents that scroll for several pages --
using screen capture, you would have to repeat the same command for each
new screen.
Terminal emulation is a way for your computer to mimic, or emulate, the
way other computers put information on the screen and accept commands
from a keyboard. In general, most systems on the Net use a system called
VT100. Fortunately, almost all communications programs now on the market
support this system as well -- make sure yours does.
You'll also have to know about protocols. There are several different
ways for computers to transmit characters. Fortunately, there are only
two protocols that you're likely to run across: 8-1-N (which stands for
"8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity" -- yikes!) and 7-1-E (7 bits, 1 stop bit,
even parity). The latter is fairly rare these days, except on some
older systems, such as CompuServe (which, as of this writing, does not
offer full Internet access anyway). What if you don't know what kind of
system you're connecting to? Try one of the settings. If you get what
looks like gobbledygook when you connect, you may need the other setting.
If so, you can either change the setting while connected, and then hit
enter, or hang up and try again with the other setting. It's also
possible your modem and the modem at the other end can't agree on the
right bps rate. If changing the protocols doesn't work, try using
another bps rate (but no faster than the one listed for your modem).
Don't worry, remember, you can't break anything! If something looks
wrong, it probably is wrong. Change your settings and try again.
Nothing is learned without trial, error and effort.
There are the basics. Now on to the Net!
1.2 GO!
Once, only people who studied or worked at an institution directly tied
to the Net could connect to the world. Today, though, an ever-growing
number of "public-access" systems provide access for everybody. These
systems can now be found in most metropolitan areas (at least in North
America) several states, and there are several companies a couple of
sites that can provide access across the country.
There are two basic kinds of these host systems. One provides what
is known as a dial-up account. You'll need a basic communications
program (the kind that typically comes with your modem) to connect. Once
on, your computer's brain essentially goes to sleep -- virtually all of
your interaction with the Internet will be via programs on your host
system.
The other is known as a SLIP or PPP provider (SLIP and PPP are two types
of communications standards for connecting to the Internet). This sort
of host acts mainly as a gateway to your own computer. it passes
information (e-mail, say, or graphics) to your computer, which then has
to figure out what to do with it. This is where the all-in-one programs
mentioned earlier come in (and we'll talk a bit more about them in
chapter 9).
Some sites are run by for-profit companies; others by non-profit
organizations. Some of these public-access, or host, systems, are free
of charge. Others charge a monthly or yearly fee for unlimited access.
And a few charge by the hour. Systems that charge for access will usually
let you sign up online with a credit card. Some also let you set up a
billing system if you'd rather pay by check.
But cost should be only one consideration in choosing a host system,
especially if you live in an area with more than one provider. Most
systems let you look around before you sign up. What is the range of
each of their services? How easy is each to use? What kind of support or
help can you get from the system administrators?
The last two questions are particularly important because many
systems provide no user interface at all; when you connect, you are
dumped right into the Unix operating system. If you're already familiar
with Unix, or you want to learn how to use it, these systems offer
phenomenal power -- in addition to Net access, most also let you tap into
the power of Unix to do everything from compiling your own programs to
playing online games.
But if you don't want to have to learn Unix, there are other public-
access systems that work through menus (just like the ones in
restaurants; you are shown a list of choices and then you make your
selection of what you want), or which provide a "user interface" that is
easier to figure out than the ever cryptic Unix (and fortunately, even on
unix systems, there are ways to minimize your exposure to its commands,
as we'll see in later chapters). Some systems also have their own unique
local services, ranging from extensive conferences to large file
libraries.
1.3 PUBLIC-ACCESS INTERNET PROVIDERS
When you have your communications program dial one of these host systems,
one of two things will happen when you connect. You'll either see a lot
of gibberish on your screen, or you'll be asked to log in. If you see
gibberish, chances are you have to change your software's parameters (to
8-1-N or 7-1-E as the case may be). Hang up (see your modem's manual for
information on this), make the change and then dial in again.
When you've connected, chances are you'll see something like this:
Welcome to THE WORLD
Public Access UNIX for the '90s
Login as 'new' if you do not have an account
login:
That last line is a prompt asking you to do something. Since this is
your first call, type
new
and hit enter (at least on this particular system; each system has a
different log-in procedure for newcomers) Often, when you're asked to type
something by a host system, you'll be told what to type in quotation
marks (for example, 'new'). Don't include the quotation marks. Repeat:
Don't include the quotation marks.
what you see next depends on the system, but will generally consist
of information about its costs and services (you might want to turn on
your communication software's logging function, to save this
information). You'll likely be asked if you want to establish an account
now or just look around the system.
You'll also likely be asked for your "user name." This is not your
full name, but a one-word name you want to use while online. It can be
any combination of letters or numbers, all in lower case. Many people
use their first initial and last name (for example, "jdoe"); their first
name and the first letter of their last name (for example, "johnd"); or
their initials ("jxd"). Others use a nickname. You might want to think
about this for a second, because this user name will become part of your
electronic-mail address (see chapter 2 for more on that). The main
exception are the various Free-Net systems, all of which assign you a
user name consisting of an arbitrary sequence of letters and numbers.
You are now on the Net. Look around the system. See if there are
any help files for you to read. If it's a menu-based host system, choose
different options just to see what happens (and if all you see is a
simple prompt, try typing 'help' or read on). Remember: You can't break
anything. The more you play, the more comfortable you'll be.
what follows are lists of public-access Internet sites, which are
computer systems that offer access to the Net. The first list is for
North America; the second for the rest of the world. All offer
international e-mail and Usenet (international conferences). In
addition, they offer:
FTP: File-transfer protocol -- access to hundreds of file
libraries (everything from computer software to historical
documents to song lyrics). You'll be able to transfer
these files from the Net to your own computer.
Telnet: Access to databases, computerized library card
catalogs, weather reports and other information services,
as well as live, online games that let you compete with
players from around the world.
Additional services that may be offered include:
Lynx: An easy-to-use interface for the World-Wide Web
information resource.
WAIS: Wide-area Information Server; a program that
can search dozens of databases in one search.
Gopher: A program that gives you easy access to dozens
of other online databases and services by making
selections on a menu. You'll also be able to use these
to copy text files and some programs to your mailbox.
IRC: Internet Relay Chat, a CB simulator that lets
you have live keyboard chats with people around the
world.
SLIP/PPP service. you'll need this if you want to interact with
the internet directly on your own computer. will often cost more
than standard dial-up service.
However, even on systems that do not provide all these services directly,
you will be able to use a number of them through telnet (see Chapter 6).
In the lists that follow, systems that let you access services through
menus are noted; otherwise assume that when you connect, you'll be dumped
right into Unix (a.k.a. MS-DOS with a college degree). Several of these
sites are available nationwide through national data networks such as the
CompuServe Packet Network and SprintNet.
Please note that all listed charges are subject to change. Many sites
require new or prospective users to log on a particular way on their
first call; this list provides the name you'll use in such cases.
1.4 NORTH AMERICAN PROVIDERS
ALABAMA
Huntsville. Nuance. Call voice number for modem number. $35 setup; $25 a
month. Voice: (205) 533-4296.
ALASKA
Anchorage. University of Alaska Southeast, Tundra Services, (907)
789-1314; has local dial-in service in several other cities. $20 a month.
Voice: (907) 465-6453.
ALBERTA
Edmonton. PUCNet Computer Connections, (403) 484-5640. Log on as: guest.
$10 setup fee; $25 for 20 hours a month plus $6.25 an hour for access to
ftp and telnet. Voice: (403) 448-1901.
ARIZONA
Tucson. Data Basics, (602) 721-5887. $25 a month or $180 a year. Voice:
(602) 721-1988.
Phoenix/Tucson. Internet Direct, (602) 274-9600 (Phoenix); (602) 321-9600
(Tucson). Log on as: guest. $20 a month. Voice: (602) 274-0100
(Phoenix); (602) 324-0100 (Tucson).
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Victoria Victoria Free-Net, (604) 595-2300. Menus. Access to all
features requires completion of a written form. Users can "link" to other
Free-Net systems in Canada and the United States. Free. Log on as: guest
Voice: (604) 389-6026.
CALIFORNIA
Berkeley. Community ConneXion, (510) 549-1383. Log in as: guest. $10 a
month. Voice: (510) 841-2014.
Berkeley. Holonet. Menus. For free trial, modem number is (510) 704-1058.
For information or local numbers, call the voice number. $60 a year for
local access, $2 an hour during offpeak hours. Voice: (510) 704-0160.
Concord/Walnut Creek. CCnet. Unix and menu. Modem number (510) 988-7140.
$15 setup. Flat fee of $18 a month for unlimited usage with credit card
billing. Voice: (510) 988-0680.
Cupertino. Portal. Unix and menus. (408) 725-0561 (2400 bps); (408)
973-8091 (9600/14,400 bps). $19.95 setup fee, $19.95 a month. Voice: (408)
973-9111.
Cupertino. Aimnet. (408) 366-9000 (Cupertino); (415) 610-8625
(Belmont); (510) 227-8730 (Pleasanton); (415) 288-9720 (San Francisco).
$20 set-up and $20 a month; $25 set-up and $20 a month for SLIP/PPP.
Voice: (408) 257-0900.
Irvine. Dial N' CERF. See under San Diego.
Los Angeles/Orange County. Kaiwan Public Access Internet, (714) 539-5726;
(310) 527-7358. $15 signup; $11 a month (credit card). Voice: (714) 638-
2139.
Los Angeles. Dial N' CERF. See under San Diego.
Oakland. Dial N' CERF. See under San Diego.
Pasadena. Dial N' CERF See under San Diego.
Palo Alto. Institute for Global Communications., (415) 322-0284. Unix.
Local conferences on environmental/peace issues. Log on as: new. $10 a
month and $3 an hour after first hour. Voice: (415) 442-0220.
San Diego. Dial N' CERF USA, run by the California Education and Research
Federation. Provides local dial-up numbers in San Diego, Los Angeles,
Oakland, Pasadena and Irvine. For more information, call voice (800)
876-CERF or (619) 534-5087. $50 setup fee; $20 a month plus $5 an hour
($3 on weekends). Voice: (800) 876-2373.
San Diego. CTS Network Services, (619) 637-3660. Log on as: help. $15
set-up fee, monthly fee of $10 to $23 depending on services used. Voice:
(619) 637-3637.
San Diego. Cyberspace Station, (619) 634-1376. Unix. Log on as: guest.
Charges: $10 sign-up fee; $15 a month or $60 for six months.
San Francisco. Pathways, call voice number for number. Menus. $25 setup
fee; $8 a month and $3 an hour. Voice: (415) 346-4188.
San Jose. Netcom, (510) 865-9004 or 426-6610; (408) 241-9760; (415) 424-
0131, up to 9600 bps. Unix or graphical interface. Log on as: guest. $15
startup fee and then $17.50 a month for unlimited use with credit-card
billing; otherwise $19.50 a month. Voice: (408) 554-UNIX.
San Jose. A2i, (408) 293-9010. Log on as: guest. $20 a month; $45 for
three months; $72 for six months.
Sausalito. The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL), (415) 332-6106. Uses
moderately difficult Picospan software, which is sort of a cross between
Unix and a menu system. New users get a PRINTED written manual. More than 200
WELL-only conferences. Log on as: newuser. $15 a month plus $2 an hour.
Access through the nationwide CompuServe Packet Network available for
another $4.50 an hour. Voice: (415) 332-4335. Recorded message about the
system's current status: (800) 326-8354 (continental U.S. only).
COLORADO
Colorado Springs/Denver. CNS, (719) 570-1700 (Colorado Springs); (303)
758-2656 (Denver). Local calendar listings and ski and stock reports.
Users can chose between menus or Unix. Log on as: new. $35 setup fee;
$2.75 an hour (minimum fee of $10 a month). Voice: (719) 592-1240.
Colorado Springs. Old Colorado City Communications, (719) 632-4111. Log
on as: newuser. $25 a month. Voice: (719) 632-4848.
Denver. Denver Free-Net, (303) 270-4865. Menus. Access to all services
requires completion of a written form. Users can "link" to other Free-Net
systems across the country. Free. Log on as: guest.
Golden. Colorado SuperNet. Available only to Colorado residents. Local
dial-in numbers available in several Colorado cities. For dial-in numbers,
call the number below. $3 an hour ($1 an hour between midnight and 6
a.m.); one-time $20 sign-up fee. Voice: (303) 273-3471.
CONNECTICTUT
Middlefield. Connix, (203) 349-1176. $20 start-up fee; $2 an hour with a
$10 monthly minimum or $20 a month for 20 hours a month. SLIP is $25 for
20 hours a month plus a $25 set-up fee. Voice: (203) 349-7059.
DELAWARE
Middletown. Systems Solutions, (302) 378-1881. $20 setup fee; $25 a month
for full Internet access. Voice: (800) 331-1386.
FLORIDA
Broward County. SEFLIN Free-Net, (305) 357-7318. Menus. Free. Users can
"link" to other Free-Net systems. Voice: (305) 357-7318.
Clearwater. Intelligence Network Online. Call voice number for modem
number. $29 set-up fee; $29 a month. Voice: (813) 442-0114.
Deerfield Beach/Miami/Tampa/Orlando. CyberGate. $17.50 a month; $29.50 a
month for 25 hours of SLIP/PPP access (plus $50 set-up fee). Voice: (305)
428-GATE or (800) NET GATE outside of 305.
Southeast Florida. Satelnet, (305) 434-7340. Follow log-in prompts to set
up account. $17 a month or $60 for four months.
Tallahassee. Symnet, (904) 385-8177. Menus or Unix. $15 a month or six
months for $75; SLIP for $30 set-up and $30 for 30 hours a month. Voice:
(904) 385-1061.
Talahassee. Talahassee Free-Net, (904) 488-5056. Menus. Full access
requires completion of a registration form. Can "link" to other Free-Net
systems around the country. Voice: (904) 488-5056.
GEORGIA
Atlanta. Netcom, (303) 758-0101. See under San Jose, California, for
information on rates.
ILLINOIS
Champaign. Prarienet Free-Net, (217) 255-9000. Menus. Log on as:
visitor. Free for Illinois residents; $25 a year for others. Voice: (217)
244-1962.
Chicago. WorldWide Access, (312) 282-8605. Charges: $19.50 a month; $25 a
month for SLIP/PPP access. Voice number: (708) 367-1870.
Chicago. MCSNet, (312) 248-0900. $25/month or $65 for three months of
unlimited access; $30 for three months of access at 15 hours a month.
Voice: (312) 248-UNIX.
Naperville/Hoffman Estates. XNet. (708) 983-6435 (Naperville); (708) 882-
1101. $45 for three months or $75 for six months. Voice: (708) 983-6064.
Peoria. Peoria Free-Net, (309) 674-1100. Similar to Cleveland Free-Net
(see Ohio, below). Users can "link" to the larger Cleveland system for
access to Usenet and other services. There are also Peoria Free-Net
public-access terminals in numerous area libraries, other government
buildings and senior-citizen centers. Contact the number below for
specific locations. Full access (including access to e-mail) requires
completion of a written application. Free. Voice: (309) 677-2544.
Vernon Hills. WorldWide Access, (708) 367-1871. Charges: $19.50 a
month;$25/month for SLIP/PP access. Voice number: (708) 367-1870.
MARYLAND
Baltimore. Digital Express, (410) 766-1855; (301) 220-0462; (714) 377-
9784. Log on as: new. $20 setup fee; $25 a month or $250 a year. Voice:
(800 969-9090.
Baltimore. Clarknet, (410) 730-9786; (410) 995-0271; (301) 596-1626;
(301) 854-0446. Log on as: guest. $23 a month, $126 for six months or
$228 a year. Voice: (410) 730-9765.
MASSACHUSETTS
Bedford. The Internet Access Company, (617) 275-0331. To log on, follow
on-line prompts. $20 setup fee; $19.50 a month. Voice: (617) 275-2221.
Brookline. The World, (617) 739-9753. Log on as: new. $5 a month plus $2
an hour or $20 for 20 hours a month. Also has local dial-up numbers in
Lowell and Westboro. Available nationwide through the CompuServe Packet
Network for another $5.60 an hour. Voice: (617) 739-0202.
Lynn. North Shore Access, (617) 593-4557. Log on as: new. $10 for 10
hours a month; $1 an hour after that. Voice: (617) 593-3110.
Shrewsbury/Worcester. NovaLink, (508) 754-4009. Log on as: info. $12.95
sign-up (includes first two hours); $9.95 a month (includes five daytime
hours), $1.80 an hour after that. Voice: (800) 274-2814.
MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor. MSEN. Call voice number for dial-in number. Unix. Charges:
$20 setup; $20 a month. Voice: (313) 998-4562.
Ann Arbor. Michnet. Has local dial-in numbers in several Michigan numbers.
For local numbers, call voice number below. $35 a month plus one-time $40
sign-up fee. Additional network fees for access through non-Michnet
numbers. Voice: (313) 764-9430.
MISSOURI
Springfield. Ozarks Regional Information Online Network, (417) 864-6100.
Log on as: guest. Local conferences and information, access to many
Internet resources and to other Free-Net sites in the U.S. and Canada.
Complete access requires completion of written registration form. Free.
Voice: (417) 837-5050, ext. 15.
Las Vegas. Evergreen Internet Express. For modem number, call voice number
below. $240 a year unlimited access; $360 a year for unlimited SLIP/PPP
access. Voice: (702) 361-2258.
Las Vegas. @wizard.com, (702) 871-3102. Menus or Unix. $14.95 set-up
fee, $25 a month. Voice: (702) 871-4461.
NEWFOUNDLAND
St.John's. Compusult Limited. Call voice number for modem number.
$24.95 a month for 25 hours access; $3 an hour for each additional hour.
SLIP/PPP access: $50 set-up fee; $24.95 a month. Voice (709) 745-
7914; Fax: (709) 745-7927.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Manchester. MV Communications, Inc. For local dial-up numbers call voice
line below. $5 a month mininum plus variable hourly rates depending on
services used. Voice: (603) 429-2223.
NEW JERSEY
New Brunswick. Digital Express, (908) 937-9481. Log on as: new. $20
setup fee; $25 a month or $250 a year. Voice: (800) 969-9090.
Wyckoff. NIC. Call voice number for modem number. Menus or Unix. $10 set-
up fee, $10 a month for 20 hours or $20 a month for 60 hours. Voice: (201)
934-1445.
NEW YORK
Buffalo. Buffalo Free-Net, (716) 645-3085. Log on as: visitor. Local
conferences and information, access to many Internet resources and to
other Free-Net sites in the U.S. and Canada. Complete access requires
completion of written registration form. Free.
New York. Panix, (212) 787-3100. Unix or menus. Log on as: newuser. $40
setup fee; $19 a month or $208 a year. Voice: (212) 877-4854.
New York. Echo, (212) 989-8411. Unix, but with local conferencing
software. Log on as: newuser. $19.95 ($13.75 students and seniors) a
month. Voice: (212) 255-3839.
New York. MindVox, (212) 989-4141. Local conferences. Log on as: guest.
$10 setup fee for non-credit-card accounts; $15 a month. Voice: (212) 989-
2418.
New York. Pipeline, (212) 267-8606 (9600 bps and higher); (212) 267-7341
(2400 bps). Offers graphical interface for Windows for $90. Log on as:
guest. $20 a month and $2 an hour after first 20 hours or $35 a month
unlimited hours. Voice: (212) 267-3636.
New York. Maestro, (212) 240-9700. Log on as: newuser. $12 a month or
$140 a year. Voice: (212) 240-9600.
New York. Interport Communications, (212) 989-1258. Log on as: newuser.
$25 a month for 60 hours a month. Voice: (212) 989-1128.
Rockland County. TZ-Link, (914) 353-4618, Menus or Unix. Log in as guest
with a password of: guest. $36 a quarter. Voice: (914) 353-5443.
Rye. WestNet Internet Services, (914) 967-7802. Log in as: new. $45 a
quarter; $150 a year. Voice: (914) 967-7816.
White Plains. Cloud 9 Internet, (914) 682-0384. Menus or Unix. $45 a
quarter or $180 a year; #90 a quarter or $360 a year for SLIP. Voice:
(914)682-0626.
NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte. Vnet Internet Access, (704) 347-8839; (919) 406-1544. Log on
as: new. $25 a month. Voice: (704) 374-0779.
Raleigh. NandO Net. Call voice number for modem number. Menus. Access
to archives of the Raleigh News and Observer. $30 a month, for up to five
accounts per household. Voice: (919) 836-2808.
Triangle Research Park. Rock Concert Net. Call number below for local
modem numbers in various North Carolina cities. $30 a month; one-time $50
sign-up fee. Voice: (919) 248-1999.
OHIO
Cleveland. Cleveland Free-Net, (216) 368-3888. Ohio and US Supreme Court
decisions, historical documents, many local conferences. Full access
(including access to e-mail) requires completion of a written application.
Free. Voice: (216) 368-8737.
Cleveland. Wariat, (216) 481-9436. Unix or menus. $20 setup fee; $35 a
month. Voice: (216) 481-9428.
Dayton. Freelance Systems Programming, (513) 258-7745. $20 setup fee; $1
an hour. Voice: (513) 254-7246.
Lorain. Lorain County Free-Net, (216) 233-5929. Users can "link" to the
larger Cleveland Free-Net for additional services. Full access
(including access to e-mail) requires completion of a written
application. Free. Voice: (216) 366-4200.
Medina. Medina Free-Net, (216) 723-6732, 225-6732 or 335-6732. Users can
"link" to the larger Cleveland Free-Net for additional services. Full
access (including access to e-mail) requires completion of a written
application. Free.
Youngstown. Youngstown Free-Net, (216) 742-3072. Users can "link" to the
Cleveland system for services not found locally. Full access (including
access to e-mail) requires completion of a written application. Free.
ONTARIO
Ottawa. National Capital Freenet, (613) 564-3600. Menus. Free, but
requires completion of a written form for access to all services. Voice:
(613) 788-3947.
Toronto. Internex Online, (416) 363-3783. Both Unix and menus. $40 a
year for one hour a day. Voice: (416) 363-8676.
Toronto. The Wire. Graphical interface. Call (416) 214-WIRE for rates
and dial-in number.
OREGON
Portland. Agora, (503) 293-1772 (2400 bps), (503) 293-2059 (9600 bps or
higher). Log on as: apply. $6 a month for one hour per day.
Portland. Teleport, (503) 220-0636 (2400 bps); (503) 220-1016 (9600 and
higher). Log on as: new. $10 a month for one hour per day. Voice: (503)
223-4245.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh. Telerama, (412) 481-5302. $6 for 10 hours a month, 60 cents
for each additional hour. Voice: (412) 481-3505.
QUEBEC
Montreal. Communications Accessibles Montreal. To start account,
call voice number. $25 month plus tax for 10 hours a week. Voice:
(514) 288-2581.
RHODE ISLAND
East Greenwich. IDS World Network, (401) 884-9002. In addition to
Usenet, has conferences from the Fidonet and RIME networks. $10 a month;
$50 for six months; $100 for a year.
Providence/Seekonk. Anomaly, (401) 331-3706. $125 for six months or
$200 a year. Educational rate of $75 for six months or $125 a year. Voice:
(401) 273-4669.
TEXAS
Austin. RealTime Communications, (512) 459-4391. Log on as: new. $80 for
six months. Voice: (512) 206-3800.
Dallas. Texas Metronet, (214) 705-2901; (817) 261-1127. Log on as: info
or signup. $10 to $35 setup fee, depending on service; $10 to $45 a month,
depending on service. Voice: (214) 705-2900 or (817) 543-8756.
Houston. The Black Box, (713) 480-2686. $21.65 a month. Voice: (713)
480-2684.
UTAH
Salt Lake City. XMission, (801) 539-0900 Voice: (801) 539-0852. Menu and
Unix. CSLIP/PPP usage no extra charge. $5 for the first month; $19 a
month after that; $102 for six months.
VIRGINIA
Norfolk/Peninsula. Wyvern Technologies, (804) 627-1828 (Norfolk); (804)
886-0662 (Peninsula). $10 startup fee; $15 a month or $144 a year. Voice:
(804) 622-4289.
Williamsburg. Global Connect. For modem number, call voice number below.
Menus or Unix. $15 a month or $150 a year for 40 hours per month; $40 a
month or $400 a year for 70 hours of SLIP/PPP access a month. Voice: (804)
229-4484.
WASHINGTON, DC
The Meta Network. Call voice number below for local dial-in numbers.
Caucus conferencing, menus. $15 setup fee; $20 a month. Voice: (703) 243-
6622.
CapAccess, (202), 785-1523. Log on as guest with a password of visitor.
A Free-Net system (see under Cleveland, Ohio, for information). Free.
Voice: (202) 994-4245.
See also: listing under Baltimore, MD for Digital Express and Clarknet,
both of which have Washington, DC numbers.
WASHINGTON STATE
Seattle. Halcyon, (206) 382-6245. Users can choose between menus and
Unix. Log on as: new. $10 setup fee; $60 a quarter or $200 a year.
Voice: (206) 955-1050.
Seattle. Eskimo North, (206) 367-3837 (all speeds), (206) 362-6731
(9600/14.4K bps). $10 a month or $96 a year. Voice: (206) 367-7457.
Seattle. Seattle Community Network, (206) 386-4140. Log on as: visitor.
Local conferences and information, access to many Internet resources and
to other Free-Net sites in the U.S. and Canada. Complete access requires
completion of written registration form. Free.
1.5 EUROPEAN AND OTHER PROVIDERS
AUSTRALIA
Canberra. InterConnect Australia. $95 set-up fee; $20 a month
plus 15 cents a minute, $1 per megabyte of FTP'ed files. For dial-in
numbers call one of their voice numbers: 008 818 262 or 03 528 2239.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Sydney. InterConnect Australia. See under Canberra.
Sydney. DIALix Services, (02) 948-6918, log in as: guest. $80 a year
minimum; 1 cent a minute plus 1 cent per every 1,000 bytes of Internet
traffic.
QUEENSLAND
Brisbane. InterConnect Australia. See under Canberra.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Adelaide. InterConnect Australia. See under Canberra.
Adelaide. APANA, (08) 373-5485, log in as: guest. $65 a year.
VICTORIA
Melbourne. InterConnect Australia. See under Canberra.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Perth. InterConnect Australia. See under Canberra.
Perth. DIALix Services, (09) 244-3233, log in as: guest. $80 annual
minimum fee; 1 cent per minute and 1 cent per 1,000 bytes Internet
traffic.
GERMANY
Erlangen-Nuernburg. Free-Net Erlangen-Nuernburg, 09131-85-8111. Log on
as: guest. Local conferences and information, access to many Internet
resources and to other Free-Net sites in the U.S. and Canada. German and
English menus. Complete access requires completion of written registration
form, 2DM registration fee. Voice: 09131-85-2693.
ITALY
Milan. Galactica, 02/29.00.60.58 (up to 2400 bps); 02/29.00.60.91 (up to
14.4 Kbps). 24.000 lire/month; 71.400/three months; 178.500/year,
including IVA. Voice: 02/29.00.61.50
Milan. Agora, (02) 48403680 (see under Rome).
Pavia. Telnet, 0382 529121. Voice: 0382 529751.
Rome. Agora, (06) 69920412, (06) 6990532 and (06) 69200112. Also
available via ITAPAC: NUA 26430303, 26420265 (1200 bps). Voice: 06
6991742/3
Rome. MC-link Technimedia Srl, (06) 4180440 and (06) 4513900.
ITAPAC: NUA 26410420. 216.000 lire per year or 72.000 lire per
quarter. Voice: 06 418921.
UNITED KINGDOM
London. Demon Internet Systems, 44 (0)81 343 4848. 12.50 pounds setup
fee; 10 a month or 132.50 a year. Voice: 44 (0)81 349 0063.
1.6 IF YOUR TOWN HAS NO DIRECT ACCESS
If you don't live in an area with a public-access site, you'll still be
able to connect to the Net. Several services offer access through
national data networks such as the CompuServe Packet Network and
SprintNet, which have dozens, even hundreds of local dial-in numbers
across the country. These include Holonet in Berkeley, Calf., Portal in
Cupertino, Calf., the WELL in Sausalito, Calf., Dial 'N CERF in San
Diego, Calf., the World in Brookline, Mass., and Michnet in Ann Arbor,
Mich. Dial 'N CERF offers access through an 800 number. Expect to pay
from $2 to $12 an hour to use these networks, above each provider's basic
charges. The exact amount depends on the network, time of day and type
of modem you use. For more information, contact the above services.
Four other providers deliver Net access to users across the country:
Delphi, based in Cambridge, Mass., is a consumer-oriented network much
like CompuServe or America Online -- only it now offers subscribers
access to Internet services. Delphi charges $3 a month for Internet
access, in addition to standard charges. These are $10 a month for four
hours of off-peak (non-working hours) access a month and $4 an hour for
each additional hour or $20 for 20 hours of access a month and $1.80 an
hour for each additional hour. For more information, call (800) 695-
4005.
BIX (the Byte Information Exchange) offers FTP, Telnet and e-mail access
to the Internet as part of their basic service. Owned by the same company
as Delphi, it also offers 20 hours of access a month for $20. For more
information, call (800) 695-4775.
PSI, based in Reston, Va., provides nationwide access to Internet
services through scores of local dial-in numbers to owners of IBM and
compatible computers. PSILink. which includes access to e-mail, Usenet
and ftp, costs $29 a month, plus a one-time $19 registration fee.
Special software is required, but is available free from PSI. PSI's
Global Dialup Service provides access to telnet for $39 a month plus a
one-time $39 set-up fee. For more information, call (800) 82PSI82 or
(703) 620-6651.
NovX Systems Integration, based in Seattle, Washington, offers full
Internet access through an 800 number reachable across the United States.
There is a $24. setup fee, in addition to a monthly fee of $19.95 and a
$10.5 hourly charge. For more information, call (206) 447-0800.
1.7 NET ORIGINS
In the 1960s, researchers began experimenting with linking computers to
each other and to people through telephone hook-ups, using funds from the
U.S Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).
ARPA wanted to see if computers in different locations could be linked
using a new technology known as packet switching. This technology, in
which data meant for another location is broken up into little pieces,
each with its own "forwarding address" had the promise of letting several
users share just one communications line. Just as important, from ARPA's
viewpoint, was that this allowed for creation of networks that could
automatically route data around downed circuits or computers. ARPA's
goal was not the creation of today's international computer-using
community, but development of a data network that could survive a nuclear
attack.
Previous computer networking efforts had required a line between each
computer on the network, sort of like a one-track train route. The packet
system allowed for creation of a data highway, in which large numbers of
vehicles could essentially share the same lane. Each packet was given
the computer equivalent of a map and a time stamp, so that it could be
sent to the right destination, where it would then be reassembled into a
message the computer or a human could use.
This system allowed computers to share data and the researchers to
exchange electronic mail, or e-mail. In itself, e-mail was something of
a revolution, offering the ability to send detailed letters at the speed
of a phone call.
As this system, known as ARPANet, grew, some enterprising college
students (and one in high school) developed a way to use it to conduct
online conferences. These started as science-oriented discussions, but
they soon branched out into virtually every other field, as people
recognized the power of being able to "talk" to hundreds, or even
thousands, of people around the country.
In the 1970s, ARPA helped support the development of rules, or protocols,
for transferring data between different types of computer networks.
These "internet" (from "internetworking") protocols made it possible to
develop the worldwide Net we have today that links all sorts of computers
across national boundaries. By the close of the 1970s, links developed
between ARPANet and counterparts in other countries. The world was now
tied together in a computer web.
In the 1980s, this network of networks, which became known collectively
as the Internet, expanded at a phenomenal rate. Hundreds, then
thousands, of colleges, research companies and government agencies began
to connect their computers to this worldwide Net. Some enterprising
hobbyists and companies unwilling to pay the high costs of Internet
access (or unable to meet stringent government regulations for access)
learned how to link their own systems to the Internet, even if "only" for
e-mail and conferences. Some of these systems began offering access to
the public. Now anybody with a computer and modem, persistance and a
small amount of money -- and persistence -- could tap into the world.
In the 1990s, the Net continues to grow at exponential rates. Some
estimates are that the volume of messages transferred through the Net
grows 20 percent a month. In response, government and other users have
tried in recent years to expand the Net itself. Once, the main Net
"backbone" in the U.S. moved data at 56,000 bits per second. That proved
too slow for the ever increasing amounts of data being sent over it, and
in recent years the maximum speed was increased to 1.5 million and then
45 million bits per second. Even before the Net was able to reach that
latter speed, however, Net experts were already figuring out ways to pump
data at speeds of up to 2 billion bits per second -- fast enough to send
the entire Encyclopedia Britannica across the country in just one or two
seconds. Another major change has been the development of commercial
services that provide internetworking services at speeds comparable to
those of the government system. In fact, what started as a government
experiment is now largely a private enterprise.
1.8 HOW IT WORKS
The worldwide Net is actually a complex web of smaller regional networks.
To understand it, picture a modern road network of trans-continental
superhighways connecting large cities. From these large cities come
smaller freeways and parkways to link together small towns, whose
residents travel on slower, narrow residential ways.
The Net superhighway is the high-speed Internet. Connected to this are
computers that use a particular system of transferring data at high
speeds. In the U.S., the major Internet "backbones" theoretically can
move data at rates of 45 million bits per second (compare this to the
average home modem, which has a top speed of roughly 9,600 to 14,400 bits
per second). Connected to the backbone computers are smaller networks
serving particular geographic regions, which generally move data at
speeds around 1.5 million bits per second. Feeding off these in turn are
even smaller networks or individual computers.
Unlike with commercial networks such as CompuServe or Prodigy, there is
no one central computer or computers running the Internet -- its
resources are to be found among thousands of individual computers. This
is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The approach
means it is virtually impossible for the entire Net to crash at once --
even if one computer shuts down, the rest of the network stays up. The
design also reduces the costs for an individual or organization to get
onto the network. However, thousands of connected computers can also
make it difficult to navigate the Net and find what you want --
especially as different computers may have different commands for
plumbing their resources. It is only recently that Net users have begun
to develop the sorts of navigational tools and "maps" that will let
neophytes get around without getting lost.
Nobody really knows how many computers and networks actually make up this
Net. Some estimates say there are now as many as 12,000 networks
connecting nearly 4 million computers and more than 20 million
people around the world. Whatever the actual numbers, however, it is
clear they are only increasing.
The Net is more than just a technological marvel. It is human
communication at its most fundamental level. The pace may be a little
quicker when the messages race around the world in a few seconds, but
it's not much different from a large and interesting party. You'll see
things in cyberspace that will make you laugh; you'll see things that
will anger you. You'll read silly little snippets and new ideas that
WILL make you think. You'll make new friends and meet people you wish
would just go away. And you'll do it all in a community that transcends
state lines and national borders.
major network providers continue to work on ways to make it
easier for users of one network to communicate with those of another.
Work is underway on a system for providing a universal "white pages"
in which you could look up somebody's electronic-mail address, for
example. This connectivity trend will likely speed up in coming years
as users begin to demand seamless network access, much as telephone
users can now dial almost anywhere in the world without worrying about
how many phone companies actually have to connect their calls.
Today, the links grow ever closer between the Internet and such
commercial networks as CompuServe and Prodigy, whose users can now
exchange electronic mail with their Internet friends. All of the major
commercial networks, such as CompuServe and America Online are gradually
bringing internet access to their users (one network, Delphi, already
offers complete access).
And as it becomes easier to use, more and more people will join this
worldwide community we call the Net.
Being connected to the Net takes more than just reading conferences and
logging messages to your computer; it takes asking and answering
questions, exchanging opinions -- getting involved.
If you chose to go forward, to use and contribute, you will become a
citizen of Cyberspace. If you're reading these words for the first time,
this may seem like an amusing but unlikely notion -- that one could
"inhabit" a place without physical space. But put a mark beside these
words. Join the Net and actively participate for a year. Then re-read
this passage. It will no longer seem so strange to be a "citizen of
Cyberspace." It will seem like the most natural thing in the world.
And that leads to another fundamental thing to remember:
You can't break the Net!
As you travel the Net, your computer may freeze, your screen may erupt
into a mass of gibberish. You may think you've just disabled a million-
dollar computer somewhere -- or even your own personal computer. Sooner
or later, this feeling happens to everyone -- and likely more than once.
But the Net and your computer are hardier than you think, so relax. You
can no more break the Net than you can the phone system. If something
goes wrong, try again. If nothing at all happens, you can always
disconnect. If worse comes to worse, you can turn off your computer.
Then take a deep breath. And dial right back in. Leave a note for the
person who runs the computer to which you've connected to ask for advice.
Try it again. Persistence pays.
Stay and contribute. The Net will be richer for it -- and so will you.
1.9 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* Your computer connects with a public-access site and get gibberish
on your screen.
If you are using parameters of 8-1-N, try 7-1-E (or vice-versa).
If that doesn't work, try another modem speed.
* You have your computer dial a public-access site, but nothing
happens.
Check the phone number you typed in. If correct, turn on your modem's
speaker (on Hayes-compatible modems, you can usually do this by typing
ATM1 in your communications software's "terminal mode"). If the phone
just rings and rings, the public-access site could be down for
maintenance or due to a crash or some other problem. If you get a
"connect" message, but nothing else, try hitting enter or escape a couple
of times.
* You try to log in, but after you type your password, nothing happens,
or you get a "timed out" message followed by a disconnect.
Re-dial the number and try it again.
* Always remember, if you have a problem that just doesn't go away, ask!
Ask your system administrator, ask a friend, but ask. Somebody will know
what to do.
1.10 FYI
The Net grows so fast that even the best guide to its resources would be
somewhat outdated the day it was printed. At the end of each chapter,
however, you'll find FYI pointers to places on the Net where you can go
for more information or to keep updated on new resources and services.
One of those resources is Everybdy's Internet Update. Every month, this
free electronic newsletter will update you on new Net services and
resources. Look for it in Usenet's alt.internet.services and
comp.org.eff.talk conferences (see chapter 3) and on the Electronic
Frontier Foundation's archive site (see chapter 7).
InterNIC, the Internet Network Information Center, maintains lists of
systems that provide public access to Internet services. They're
available on the network itself, which obviously does you little good if
you currently have no access, but which can prove invaluable should you
move or want to find a new system. To access the lists, use gopher (see
Chapter 8) to connect to ds.internic.net. From the main menu, select
"InterNIC Information Services" and then "Getting Connected to the
Internet."
Benoit Carl Lips maintains a list of Internet access providers in
Europe. It's available via the World-Wide Web at
http://www.earth.org/~lips/ (see Chapter 9 to decipher this) or via FTP
at sumex-aim.stanford.edu in the /info-mac/comm/information directory
(see Chapter 7 for details on this).
The Society for Electronic Access in New York maintains a
comprehensive list of Internet providers in the New York/Tri-State area.
You can get a copy by using Gopher to connect to gopher.panix.com. At the
main menu, select SEA.
Zik Saleeba maintains a list of Australian sites. You can get the most
current version of the list (which also includes information on sites
that provide e-mail and Usenet access) via ftp/ncftp and World-Wide Web.
For the former, connect to archie.au (again, look in Chapter 6 to
decipher this). Look in the usenet/FAQs/alt.internet.access.wanted
directory for Network_Access_in_Australia_FAQ file. For the former,
point your Web client at http://www.cs.monash.edu.au/~zik/netfaq.html
Steven Levy's book, "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution,"
(Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1984). describes the early culture and ethos
that ultimately resulted in the Internet and Usenet.
You'll find numerous documents about the Internet, its history and its
resources in the pub/Net_info directory on the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's ftp server (see chapter 7 to decipher this).
Chapter 2: E-MAIL
2.1 THE BASICS
Electronic mail, or e-mail, is your personal connection to the world of
the Net.
All of the millions of people around the world who use the Net have their
own e-mail addresses. A growing number of "gateways" tie more and more
people to the Net every day.
The basic concepts behind e-mail parallel those of regular mail. You
send mail to people at their particular addresses. In turn, they write
to you at your e-mail address. You can subscribe to the electronic
equivalent of magazines and newspapers. Sooner or later, you'll probably
even get electronic junk mail.
E-mail has two distinct advantages over regular mail. The most obvious
is speed. Instead of several days, your message can reach the other side
of the world in hours, minutes or even seconds (depending on where you
drop off your mail and the state of the connections between there and
your recipient). The other advantage is that once you master the basics,
you'll be able to use e-mail to access databases and file libraries.
You'll see how to do this later, in chapter 10, along with learning how
to transfer program and data files through e-mail.
E-mail also has advantages over the telephone. You send your message
when it's convenient for you. Your recipients respond at their
convenience. No more telephone tag. And while a phone call across the
country or around the world can quickly result in huge phone bills, e-
mail lets you exchange vast amounts of mail for only a few pennies --
even if the other person is on the other side of the earth.
E-mail is your connection to help -- your Net lifeline. The Net can
sometimes seem a frustrating place! No matter how hard you try, no
matter where you look, you just might not be able to find the answer to
whatever is causing you problems. But when you know how to use e-mail,
help is often just a few keystrokes away: you can ask your system
administrator or a friend for help in an e-mail message.
The quickest way to start learning e-mail is to send yourself a message.
Most public-access sites actually have several different types of mail
systems, all of which let you both send and receive mail. We'll start
with the simplest one, known, appropriately enough, as "mail," and then
look at a couple of other interfaces. At your host system's command
prompt, type:
mail username
where username is the name you gave yourself when you first logged on.
Hit enter. The computer might respond with
subject:
Type
test
or, actually, anything at all (but you'll have to hit enter before you
get to the end of the screen). Hit enter.
The cursor will drop down a line. You can now begin writing the actual
message. Type a sentence, again, anything at all. And here's where you
hit your first Unix frustration, one that will bug you repeatedly: you
have to hit enter before you get to the very end of the line. Just like
typewriters, many Unix programs have no word-wrapping (although there are
ways to get some Unix text processors, such as emacs, to word-wrap).
When done with your message, hit return. Now hit control-D (hold down the
control key, then hit your d key). This is a Unix command that tells the
computer you're done writing and that it should close your "envelope" and
mail it off (you could also hit enter once and then, on a blank line,
type a period at the beginning of the line and hit enter again).
You've just sent your first e-mail message. And because you're sending
mail to yourself, rather than to someone somewhere else on the Net, your
message has already arrived, as we'll see in a moment.
If you had wanted, you could have even written your message on your own
computer and then uploaded it into this electronic "envelope." There are
a couple of good reasons to do this with long or involved messages. One
is that once you hit enter at the end of a line in "mail" you can't
readily fix any mistakes on that line (unless you use some special
commands to call up a Unix text processor). Also, if you are paying for
access by the hour, uploading a prepared message can save you money.
Remember to save the document in ASCII or text format. Uploading a
document you've created in a word processor that uses special formatting
commands (which these days means many programs) will cause strange
effects.
When you get that blank line after the subject line, upload the message
using the ASCII protocol. Or you can copy and paste the text, if your
software allows that. When done, hit control-D as above.
Now you have mail waiting for you. Normally, when you log on, your
public-access site will tell you whether you have new mail waiting. To
open your mailbox and see your waiting mail, type
mail
and hit enter.
When the host system sees "mail" without a name after it, it knows you
want to look in your mailbox rather than send a message. On a plain-
Unix system, your screen will display something like:
Mail version SMI 4.0 Mon Apr 24 18:34:15 PDT 1989 Type ? for help.
"/usr/spool/mail/adamg": 1 message 1 new 1 unread
>N 1 adamg Sat Jan 15 20:04 12/290 test
Ignore the first line; it's just computerese of value only to the
people who run your system. You can type a question mark and hit return
to bring up a list of help files, but unless you're familiar with Unix,
most of what you'll see won't make much sense.
The second line tells you the directory on the host system where your
mail messages are put, which again, is not something you'll likely need
to know. The second line also tells you how many messages are in your
mailbox, how many have come in since the last time you looked and how
many messages you haven't read yet.
It's the third line that is of real interest -- it tells you who the
message is from, when it arrived, how many lines and characters it takes
up, and what the subject is. The "N" means it is a new message -- it
arrived after the last time you looked in your mailbox. Hit enter. And
there's your message -- only now it's a lot longer than what you wrote!
Message 1:
From adamg Jan 15 20:04:55 1994
Received: by eff.org id AA28949
(5.65c/IDA-1.4.4/pen-ident for adamg); Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:04:55 -0400
(ident-sender: adamg@eff.org)
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 21:34:55 -0400
From: Adam Gaffin <adamg>
Message-Id: <199204270134.AA28949@eff.org>
To: adamg
Subject: test
Status: R
This is only a test!
Whoa! What is all that stuff? It's your message with a postmark gone mad.
Just as the postal service puts its marks on every piece of mail it
handles, so do Net postal systems. Only it's called a "header" instead
of a postmark. Each system that handles or routes your mail puts its
stamp on it. Since many messages go through a number of systems on their
way to you, you will often get messages with headers that seem to go on
forever. Among other things, a header will tell you exactly when a
message was sent and received (even the difference between your local
time and Greenwich Mean Time -- as at the end of line 4 above).
If this had been a long message, it would just keep scrolling across and
down your screen -- unless the people who run your public-access site
have set it up to pause every 24 lines. One way to deal with a message
that doesn't stop is to use your telecommunication software's logging or
text-buffer function. Start it before you hit the number of the message
you want to see. Your computer will ask you what you want to call the
file you're about to create. After you name the file and hit enter, type
the number of the message you want to see and hit enter. When the
message finishes scrolling, turn off the text-buffer function. The
message is now saved in your computer. This way, you can read the
message while not connected to the Net (which can save you money if
you're paying by the hour) and write a reply offline.
But in the meantime, now what? You can respond to the message, delete it
or save it. To respond, type a lowercase r and hit enter. You'll get
something like this:
To: adamg
Subject: Re: test
Note that this time, you don't have to enter a user name. The computer
takes it from the message you're replying to and automatically addresses
your message to its sender. The computer also automatically inserts a
subject line, by adding "Re:" to the original subject. From here, it's
just like writing a new message. But say you change your mind and decide
not to reply after all. How do you get out of the message? Hit control-C
once. You'll get this:
(Interrupt -- one more to kill letter)
If you hit control-C once more, the message will disappear and you'll get
back to your mail's command line.
Now, if you type a lowercase d and then hit enter, you'll delete the
original message. Type a lowercase q to exit your mailbox.
If you type a q without first hitting d, your message is transferred to a
file called mbox. This file is where all read, but un-deleted, messages
go. If you want to leave it in your mailbox for now, type a lowercase x
and hit enter. This gets you out of mail without making any changes.
The mbox file works a lot like your mailbox. To access it, type
mail -f mbox
at your host system's command line and hit enter.
You'll get a menu identical to the one in your mailbox from which you can
read these old messages, delete them or respond to them. It's probably a
good idea to clear out your mailbox and mbox file from time to time, if
only to keep them uncluttered.
Are there any drawbacks to e-mail? There are a few. One is that people
seem more willing to fly off the handle electronically than in person, or
over the phone. Maybe it's because it's so easy to hit r and reply to a
message without pausing and reflecting a moment. That's why we have
smileys (see section 2.4)! There's no online equivalent yet of a return
receipt: chances are your message got to where it's going, but there's no
absolute way for you to know for sure unless you get a reply from the
other person.
So now you're ready to send e-mail to other people on the Net. Of
course, you need somebody's address to send them mail. How do you get
it?
Alas, the simplest answer is not what you'd call the most elegant: you
call them up on the phone or write them a letter on paper and ask them.
Residents of the electronic frontier are only beginning to develop the
equivalent of phone books, and the ones that exist today are far from
complete (still, later on, in Chapter 6, we'll show you how to use some
of these directories).
Eventually, you'll start corresponding with people, which means you'll
want to know how to address mail to them. It's vital to know how to do
this, because the smallest mistake -- using a comma when you should have
used a period, for instance, can bounce the message back to you,
undelivered. In this sense, Net addresses are like phone numbers: one
wrong digit and you get the wrong person. Fortunately, most net
addresses now adhere to a relatively easy-to-understand system.
Earlier, you sent yourself a mail message using just your user-name.
This was sort of like making a local phone call -- you didn't have to
dial a 1 or an area code. This also works for mail to anybody else who
has an account on the same system as you.
Sending mail outside of your system, though, will require the use of the
Net equivalent of area codes, called "domains." A basic Net address will
look something like this:
tomg@world.std.com
Tomg is somebody's user ID, and he is at (hence the @ sign) a site (or in
Internetese, a "domain") known as std.com. Large organizations often
have more than one computer linked to the Internet; in this case, the
name of the particular machine is world (you will quickly notice that,
like boat owners, Internet computer owners always name their machines).
Domains tell you the name of the organization that runs a given e-mail
site and what kind of site it is or, if it's not in the U.S., what
country it's located in. Large organizations may have more than one
computer or gateway tied to the Internet, so you'll often see a two-part
domain name; and sometimes even three- or four-part domain names.
In general, American addresses end in an organizational suffix, such as
".edu" (which means the site is at a college or university). Other
American suffixes include:
.com for businesses
.org for non-profit organizations
.gov and .mil for government and military agencies
.net for companies or organizations that run large networks.
Sites in the rest of the world tend to use a two-letter code that
represents their country. Most make sense, such as .ca for Canadian
sites, but there are a couple of seemingly odd ones (at least to
Americans). Swiss sites end in .ch, while South African ones end in .za.
A few U.S. sites have followed this international convention (such as
nred.reading.ma.us).
You'll notice that the above addresses are all in lower-case. Unlike
almost everything else having anything at all to do with Unix, most Net
mailing systems don't care about case, so you generally don't have to
worry about capitalizing e-mail addresses. Alas, there are a few
exceptions -- some public-access sites do allow for capital letters in
user names. When in doubt, ask the person you want to write to, or let
her send you a message first (recall how a person's e-mail address is
usually found on the top of her message). The domain name, the part of
the address after the @ sign, never has to be capitalized.
It's all a fairly simple system that works very well, except, again, it's
vital to get the address exactly right -- just as you have to dial a
phone number exactly right. Send a message to tomg@unm.edu (which is the
University of New Mexico) when you meant to send it to tomg@umn.edu (the
University of Minnesota), and your letter will either bounce back to you
undelivered, or go to the wrong person.
If your message is bounced back to you as undeliverable, you'll get an
ominous looking-message from MAILER-DAEMON (actually a rather benign Unix
program that exists to handle mail), with an evil-looking header followed
by the text of your message. Sometimes, you can tell what went wrong by
looking at the first few lines of the bounced message. Besides an
incorrect address, it's possible your host system does not have the other
site in the "map" it maintains of other host systems. Or you could be
trying to send mail to another network, such as Bitnet or CompuServe,
that has special addressing requirements.
Sometimes, figuring all this out can prove highly frustrating. But
remember the prime Net commandment: Ask. Send a message to your system
administrator. Include a copy of the header from the original message.
He or she might be able to help decipher the problem.
There is one kind of address that may give your host system particular
problems. There are two main ways that Unix systems exchange mail. One
is known as UUCP and started out with a different addressing system than
the rest of the Net. Most UUCP systems have since switched over to the
standard Net addressing system, but a few traditional sites still cling
to their original type, which tends to have lots of exclamation points in
it, like this:
uunet!somesite!othersite!mybuddy
The problem for many host sites is that exclamation points (also known as
"bangs") now mean something special in the more common systems or
"shells" used to operate many Unix computers. This means that addressing
mail to such a site (or even responding to a message you received from
one) could confuse the poor computer to no end and your message never
gets sent out. If that happens, try putting backslashes in front of each
exclamation point, so that you get an address that looks like this:
uunet\!somesite\!othersite\!mybuddy
Note that this means you may not be able to respond to such a message by
typing a lowercase r -- you may get an error message and you'll have to
create a brand-new message.
If you want to get a taste of what's possible on the Net, start a message
to this address:
president@whitehouse.gov
Compose some well wishes (or grumblings, if you're so inclined). Send
off the message, and within a few seconds to a few hours (depending on
the state of your Net connection), you'll get back a reply that your
message has been received. If you don't feel like starting at the top,
send a message instead to
vice-president@whitehouse.gov
The "mail" program is actually a very powerful one and a Netwide
standard, at least on Unix computers. But it can be hard to figure out -
- you can type a question mark to get a list of commands, but these may
be of limited use unless you're already familiar with Unix. Fortunately,
there are a couple of other mail programs that are easier to use.
2.2 ELM -- A BETTER WAY
Elm is a combination mailbox and letter-writing system that uses menus to
help you navigate through mail. Most Unix-based host systems now have it
online. To use it, type
elm
and hit enter. You'll get a menu of your waiting mail, along with a list
of commands you can execute, that will look something like this:
Mailbox is '/usr/spool/mail/adamg' with 38 messages [ELM 2.3 PL11]
1 Sep 1 Christopher Davis (13) here's another message.
2 Sep 1 Christopher Davis (91) This is a message from Eudora
3 Aug 31 Rita Marie Rouvali (161) First Internet Hunt !!! (fwd)
4 Aug 31 Peter Scott/Manage (69) New File <UK077> University of Londo
5 Aug 30 Peter Scott/Manage (64) New File <DIR020> X.500 service at A
6 Aug 30 Peter Scott/Manage (39) New File <NET016> DATAPAC Informatio
7 Aug 28 Peter Scott/Manage (67) Proposed Usenet group for HYTELNET n
8 Aug 28 Peter Scott/Manage (56) New File <DIR019> JANET Public Acces
9 Aug 26 Helen Trillian Ros (15) Tuesday
10 Aug 26 Peter Scott/Manage (151) Update <CWK004> Oxford University OU
You can use any of the following commands by pressing the first character;
d)elete or u)ndelete mail, m)ail a message, r)eply or f)orward mail, q)uit
To read a message, press <return>. j = move down, k = move up, ? = help
Each line shows the date you received the message, who sent it, how many
lines long the message is, and the message's subject.
If you are using VT100 or similar emulation, you can move up and down the
menu with your up and down arrow keys. Otherwise, type the line number
of the message you want to read or delete and hit enter.
When you read a message, it pauses every 24 lines, instead of scrolling
until it's done. Hit the space bar to read the next page. You can type
a lowercase r to reply or a lower-case q or i to get back to the menu
(the I stands for "index").
At the main menu, hitting a lowercase m followed by enter will let you
start a message. To delete a message, type a lower-case d. You can do
this while reading the message. Or, if you are in the menu, move the
cursor to the message's line and then hit d.
When you're done with elm, type a lower-case q. The program will ask if
you really want to delete the messages you marked. Then, it will ask you
if you want to move any messages you've read but haven't marked for
deletion to a "received" file. For now, hit your n key. Elm has
a potentially major disadvantage for the beginner. The default text
editor it often generally calls up when you hit your r or m key is often
a program called emacs. Unixoids swear by emacs, but everybody else
almost always finds it impossible. Unfortunately, you can't always get
away from it (or vi, another text editor often found on Unix systems), so
later on we'll talk about some basic commands that will keep you from
going totally nuts. If you're lucky, though, your system administrator
will have changed emacs to Pico, a much easier to use text processor
(more on that in the Pine section below).
If you want to save a message to your own computer, hit s, either within
the message or with your cursor on the message entry in the elm menu. A
filename will pop up. If you do not like it, type a new name (you won't
have to backspace). Hit enter, and the message will be saved with that
file name in your "home directory" on your host system. After you exit
elm, you can now download it (ask your system administrator for specifics
on how to download -- and upload -- such files).
2.3 PINE -- AN EVEN BETTER WAY
Pine is based on elm but includes a number of improvements that make it
an ideal mail system for beginners. Like elm, pine starts you with a
menu. It also has an "address book" feature that is handy for people
with long or complex e-mail addresses. Hitting A at the main menu puts
you in the address book, where you can type in the person's first name
(or nickname) followed by her address. Then, when you want to send that
person a message, you only have to type in her first name or nickname,
and Pine automatically inserts her actual address. The address book
also lets you set up a mailing list. This feature allows you to send the
same message to a number of people at once.
What really sets Pine apart is its built-in text editor, which looks and
feels a lot more like word-processing programs available for MS-DOS and
Macintosh users. Not only does it have word wrap (a revolutionary
concept if ever there was one), it also has a spell-checker and a search
command. Best of all, all of the commands you need are listed in a two-
line mini-menu at the bottom of each screen. The commands look like
this:
^W Where is
The little caret is a synonym for the key marked "control" on your
keyboard. To find where a particular word is in your document, hit
control-w (depress your control key, then hit w) you'd hit your control
key and your W key at the same time, which would bring up a prompt asking
you for the word to look for. Some of Pine's commands are a tad peculiar
(control-V for "page down" for example), which comes from being based on
a variant of the emacs text processor (which is utterly peculiar). But
again, all of the commands you need are listed on that two-line mini-
menu, so it shouldn't take you more than a couple of seconds to find the
right one. To use Pine, type
pine
at the command line and hit enter.
2.4 SMILEYS
When you're involved in an online discussion, you can't see the smiles or
shrugs that the other person might make in a live conversation to show
he's only kidding. But online, there's no body language. So what you
might think is funny, somebody else might take as an insult. To try to
keep such misunderstandings from erupting into bitter disputes, we have
smileys. Tilt your head to the left and look at the following sideways.
:-). Or simply :). This is your basic "smiley." Use it to indicate
people should not take that comment you just made as seriously as they
might otherwise. You make a smiley by typing a colon, a hyphen and a
right parenthetical bracket. Some people prefer using the word "grin,"
usually in this form:
<grin>
Sometimes, though, you'll see it as *grin* or even just <g> for short.
Some other smileys include:
;-) Wink;
:-( Frown;
:-O Surprise;
8-) Wearing glasses;
=|:-)= Abe Lincoln.
OK, so maybe the last two are a little bogus :-).
2.5 SENDING E-MAIL TO OTHER NETWORKS
There are a number of computer networks that are not directly part of the
Net, but which are now connected through "gateways" that allow the
passing of e-mail. Here's a list of some of the larger networks, how to
send mail to them and how their users can send mail to you:
America Online
--------------
Remove any spaces from a user's name and append "@aol.com," to get
user@aol.com
America Online users who want to send mail to you need only put your
Net address in the "to:" field before composing a message.
ATTMail
-------
Address your message to user@attmail.com.
From ATTMail, a user would send mail to you in this form:
internet!domain!user
So if your address were nancyr@world.std.com, your correspondent would
send a message to you at
internet!world.std.com!nancyr
Bitnet
------
Users of Bitnet (and NetNorth in Canada and EARN in Europe) often have
addresses in this form: IZZY@INDVMS. If you're lucky, all you'll have to
do to mail to that address is add "bitnet" at the end, to get
izzy@indvms.bitnet. Sometimes, however, mail to such an address will
bounce back to you, because Bitnet addresses do not always translate well
into an Internet form. If this happens, you can send mail through one of
two Internet/Bitnet gateways. First, change the @ in the address to a %,
so that you get username%site.bitnet. Then add either @vm.marist.edu or
@cunyvm.cuny.edu, so that, with the above example, you would get
izzy%indyvms.bitnet@vm.marist.edu or izzy%indvyvms.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Bitnet users have it a little easier: They can usually send mail directly
to your e-mail address without fooling around with it at all. So send
them your address and they should be OK.
CompuServe
----------
CompuServe users have numerical addresses in this form: 73727,545.
To send mail to a CompuServe user, change the comma to a period and add
"@compuserve.com"; for example: 73727.545@compuserve.com.
Note that many CompuServe users must pay extra to receive mail from the
Internet.
If you know CompuServe users who want to send you mail, tell them to GO
MAIL and create a mail message. In the address area, instead of typing in
a CompuServe number, have them type your address in this form:
INTERNET:YourID@YourAddress.
For example, INTERNET:adamg@world.std.com.
Delphi
------
To send mail to a Delphi user, the form is username@delphi.com.
Fidonet
-------
To send mail to people using a Fidonet BBS, you need the name they use to
log onto that system and its "node number.'' Fidonet node numbers or
addresses consist of three numbers, in this form: 1:322/190. The first
number tells which of several broad geographic zones the BBS is in (1
represents the U.S. and Canada, 2 Europe and Israel, 3 Pacific Asia, 4
South America). The second number represents the BBS's network, while
the final number is the BBS's "FidoNode'' number in that network. If your
correspondent only gives you two numbers (for example, 322/190), it means
the system is in zone 1.
Now comes the tricky part. You have to reverse the numbers and add to
them the letters f, n and z (which stand for "FidoNode,''"network,'' and
"zone'). For example, the address above would become
f190.n322.z1.
Now add "fidonet.org'' at the end, to get f190.n322.z1.fidonet.org. Then
add "FirstName.LastName@', to get
FirstName.LastName@f190.n322.z1.fidonet.org
Note the period between the first and last names. Also, some countries
now have their own Fidonet "backbone" systems, which might affect
addressing. For example, were the above address in Germany, you would
end it with "fido.de" instead of "fidonet.org."
Whew!
The reverse process is totally different. First, the person has to have
access to his or her BBS's "net mail" area and know the Fidonet address
of his or her local Fidonet/UUCP gateway (often their system operator
will know it). Your Fidonet correspondent should address a net-mail
message to UUCP (not your name) in the "to:" field. In the node-number
field, they should type in the node number of the Fidonet/UUCP gateway
(if the gateway system is in the same regional network as their system,
they need only type the last number, for example, 390 instead of
322/390). Then, the first line of the message has to be your Internet
address, followed by a blank line. After that, the person can write the
message and send it.
Because of the way Fidonet moves mail, it could take a day or two for a
message to be delivered in either direction. Also, because many Fidonet
systems are run as hobbies, it is considered good form to ask the gateway
sysop's permission if you intend to pass large amounts of mail back and
forth. Messages of a commercial nature are strictly forbidden (even if
it's something the other person asked for). Also, consider it very likely
that somebody other than the recipient will read your messages.
GEnie
-----
To send mail to a GEnie user, add "@genie.geis.com" to the end of the
GEnie user name, for example: walt@genie.geis.com.
MCIMail
-------
To send mail to somebody with an MCIMail account, add "@mcimail.com to
the end of their name or numerical address. For example:
555-1212@mcimail.com
or
jsmith@mcimail.com
Note that if there is more than one MCIMail subscriber with that name,
you will get a mail message back from MCI giving you their names and
numerical addresses. You'll then have to figure out which one you want
and re-send the message.
From MCI, a user would type
Your Name (EMS)
at the "To:" prompt. At the EMS prompt, he or she would type
internet
followed by your Net address at the "Mbx:" prompt.
Prodigy
-------
UserID@prodigy.com. Note that Prodigy users must pay extra for
Internet e-mail.
2.6 SEVEN UNIX COMMANDS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT
If you connect to the Net through a Unix system, eventually you'll have
to come to terms with Unix. For better or worse, most Unix systems do
NOT shield you from their inner workings -- if you want to copy a Usenet
posting to a file, for example, you'll have to use some Unix commands if
you ever want to do anything with that file.
Like MS-DOS, Unix is an operating system - it tells the computer how to
do things. Now while Unix may have a reputation as being even more
complex than MS-DOS, in most cases, a few basic, and simple, commands
should be all you'll ever need.
If your own computer uses MS-DOS or PC-DOS, the basic concepts will seem
very familiar -- but watch out for the cd command, which works
differently enough from the similarly named DOS command that it will
drive you crazy. Also, unlike MS-DOS, Unix is case sensitive -- if you
type commands or directory names in the wrong case, you'll get an error
message.
If you're used to working on a Mac, you'll have to remember that Unix
stores files in "directories" rather than "folders." Unix directories
are organized like branches on a tree. At the bottom is the "root"
directory, with sub-directories branching off that (and sub-directories
in turn can have sub-directories). The Mac equivalent of a Unix sub-
directory is a folder within another folder.
cat ROUGHLY Equivalent to the MS-DOS "type" command. To pause a file
every screen, type
cat file |more
where "file" is the name of the file you want to see (and
| is the thing that looks like an overgrown colon).
Hitting control-C will stop the display. Alternately,
you could type
more file
to achieve the same result. You can also use cat for
writing or uploading text files to your name or home
directory (similar to the MS-DOS "copy con" command). If
you type
cat>test
you start a file called "test." You can either write
something simple (no editing once you've finished a line and
you have to hit return at the end of each line) or upload
something into that file using your communications software's
ASCII protocol). To close the file, hit control-D.
cd The "change directory" command. To change from your present
directory to another, type
cd directory
and hit enter. Unlike MS-DOS, which uses a \ to denote sub-
directories (for example: \stuff\text), Unix uses a / (for
example: /stuff/text). So to change from your present
directory to the stuff/text sub-directory, you would type
cd stuff/text
and then hit enter. As in MS-DOS, you do not need the first
backslash if the subdirectory comes off the directory you're
already in. To move back up a directory tree, you would type
cd ..
followed by enter. Note the space between the cd and the two
periods -- this is where MS-DOS users will really go nuts.
cp Copies a file. The syntax is
cp file1 file2
which would copy file1 to file2 (or overwrite file2 with
file1).
ls This command, when followed by enter, tells you what's in the
directory, similar to the DOS dir command, except in
alphabetical order.
ls | more
will stop the listing every 24 lines -- handy if there are a
lot of things in the directory. The basic ls command does not
list "hidden" files, such as the .login file that controls
how your system interacts with Unix. To see these files, type
ls -a or ls -a | more
ls -l will tell you the size of each file in bytes and tell
you when each was created or modified.
mv Similar to the MS-DOS rename AND MOVE commands.
mv file1 file2
will rename file1 as file2, The command can
also be used to move files between directories.
mv file1 News
would move file1 to your News directory.
rm Deletes a file. Type
rm filename
and hit enter (but beware: when you hit enter, it's gone for
good).
WILDCARDS: When searching for, copying or deleting files, you can use
"wildcards" if you are not sure of the file's exact name.
ls man*
would find the following files:
manual, manual.txt, man-o-man.
Use a question mark when you're sure about all but one or two characters.
For example,
ls man?
would find a file called mane, but not one called manual.
2.7 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* You send a message but get back an ominous looking message from
MAILER-DAEMON containing up to several dozen lines of computerese
followed by your message.
Somewhere in those lines you can often find a clue to what went
wrong. You might have made a mistake in spelling the e-mail address.
The site to which you're sending mail might have been down for
maintenance or a problem. You may have used the wrong "translation" for
mail to a non-Internet network.
* You call up your host system's text editor to write a message or reply
to one and can't seem to get out.
If it's emacs, try control-X, control-C DELETE(in other words, hit your
control key and your X key at the same time, followed by control and C).
If worse comes to worse, you can hang up.
* In elm, you accidentally hit the D key for a message you want to save.
Type the number of the message, hit enter and then U, which will "un-
delete" the message. This works only before you exit Elm; once you quit,
the message is gone.
* You try to upload an ASCII message you've written on your own computer
into a message you're preparing in Elm or Pine and you get a lot of left
brackets, capital Ms, Ks and Ls and some funny-looking characters.
Believe it or not, your message may actually wind up looking fine; all
that garbage is temporary and reflects the problems some Unix text
processors have with ASCII uploads. But it will take much longer for
your upload to finish. One way to deal with this is to call up the
simple mail program, which will not produce any weird characters when you
upload a text file into a message. Another way (which is better if your
prepared message is a response to somebody's mail), is to create a text
file on your host system with cat, for example,
cat>file
and then upload your text into that. Then, in elm or pine, you can
insert the message with a simple command (control-R in pine, for
example); only this time you won't see all that extraneous stuff.
* You haven't cleared out your Elm mailbox in awhile, and you
accidentally hit "y" when you meant to hit "n" (or vice-versa) when
exiting and now all your messages have disappeared.
The system has put all the messages in a file called received in your
Mail directory. To get to the messages, call up Elm again, and hit your
c key. You'll be asked which folder to change to. Type
=received
and hit enter. You'll be prompted as if you're about to exit Elm; when
done answering the questions, you'll get a menu of messages in your
receive folder. You can reply to them, delete them, etc., as you would
normally.
Chapter 3: USENET I
3.1 THE GLOBAL WATERING HOLE
Imagine a conversation carried out over a period of hours and days, as if
people were leaving messages and responses on a bulletin board. Or
imagine the electronic equivalent of a radio talk show where everybody
can put their two cents in and no one is ever on hold.
Unlike e-mail, which is usually "one-to-one," Usenet is "many-to-many."
Usenet is the international meeting place, where people gather to meet
their friends, discuss the day's events, keep up with computer trends or
talk about whatever's on their mind. Jumping into a Usenet discussion
can be a liberating experience. Nobody knows what you look or sound
like, how old you are, what your background is. You're judged solely on
your words, your ability to make a point.
To many people, Usenet IS the Net. In fact, it is often confused with
Internet. But it is a totally separate system. All Internet sites CAN
carry Usenet, but so do many non-Internet sites, from sophisticated Unix
machines to simple bulletin-board systems running on old XT clones and
Apple IIs.
Technically, Usenet messages are shipped around the world, from host
system to host system, using one of several specific Net protocols. Your
host system stores all of its Usenet messages in one place, which
everybody with an account on the system can access. That way, no matter
how many people actually read a given message, each host system has to
store only one copy of it. Many host systems "talk" with several others
regularly to exchange messages in case one or another of their links goes
down for some reason. When two host systems connect, they basically
compare notes on which Usenet messages they already have. Any that one
is missing the other then transmits, and vice-versa. Because they are
computers, they don't mind running through thousands, even millions, of
these comparisons every day.
Yes, millions. For Usenet is huge. Every day, Usenet users pump upwards
of 100 million characters a day into the system -- nearly an
encyclopedia's worth of writing. Obviously, nobody could possibly keep up
with this immense flow of messages. Let's look at how to find
conferences and discussions of interest to you.
The basic building block of Usenet is the newsgroup, which is a
collection of messages with a related theme (on other networks, these
would be called conferences, forums, bboards or special-interest groups).
There are now more than 9,000 of these newsgroups, in several diferent
languages, covering everything from art to zoology, from science fiction
to South Africa (not all systems carry all newsgroups, however).
Some public-access systems, typically the ones that work through menus,
try to make it easier by dividing Usenet into several broad categories.
Choose one of those and you're given a list of newsgroups in that
category. Then select the newsgroup you're interested in and start
reading.
Other systems let you compile your own "reading list" so that you only
see messages in conferences you want. In both cases, conferences are
arranged in a particular hierarchy devised in the early 1980s. Newsgroup
names start with one of a series of broad topic names. For example,
newsgroups beginning with "comp." are about computer-related topics.
These broad topics are followed by a series of more focused topics (so
that "comp.unix" groups are limited to discussion about Unix). The main
hierarchies are:
bionet Research biology
bit.listserv Conferences originating as Bitnet mailing lists
biz Business
comp Computers and related subjects
misc Discussions that don't fit anywhere else
news News about Usenet itself
rec Hobbies, games and recreation
sci Science other than research biology
soc "Social" groups, often ethnically related
talk Politics and related topics
alt Controversial or unusual topics; not
carried by all sites
In addition, many host systems carry newsgroups for a particular city,
state or region. For example, ne.housing is a newsgroup where New
Englanders can look for apartments. A growing number also carry K12
newsgroups, which are aimed at elementary and secondary teachers and
students. And a number of sites carry clari newsgroups, which is
actually a commercial service consisting of wire-service stories and a
unique online computer news service (more on this in chapter 11).
3.2 NAVIGATING USENET WITH nn
How do you dive right in? As mentioned, on some systems, it's all done
through menus -- you just keep choosing from a list of choices until you
get to the newsgroup you want and then hit the "read" command. On Unix
systems, however, you will have to use a "newsreader" program. Two of
the more common ones are known as rn (for "read news") and nn (for "no
news" -- because it's supposed to be simpler to use).
For beginners, nn may be the better choice because it works with menus --
you get a list of articles in a given newsgroup and then you choose which
ones you want to see. To try it out, connect to your host system and, at
the command line, type
nn news.announce.newusers
and hit enter. After a few seconds, you should see something like this:
Newsgroup: news.announce.newusers Articles: 22 of 22/1 NEW
a Gene Spafford 776 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
b Gene Spafford 362 A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
c Gene Spafford 387 Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
d Gene Spafford 101 Hints on writing style for Usenet
e Gene Spafford 74 Introduction to news.announce
f Gene Spafford 367 USENET Software: History and Sources
g Gene Spafford 353 What is Usenet?
h taylor 241 A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
i Gene Spafford 585 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I
j Gene Spafford 455 >Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II
k David C Lawrenc 151 How to Create a New Newsgroup
l Gene Spafford 106 How to Get Information about Networks
m Gene Spafford 888 List of Active Newsgroups
n Gene Spafford 504 List of Moderators
o Gene Spafford 1051 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I
p Gene Spafford 1123 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II
q Gene Spafford 1193 >Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III
r Jonathan Kamens 644 How to become a USENET site
s Jonathan Kamen 1344 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part I
-- 15:52 -- SELECT -- help:? -----Top 85%-----
Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)
Obviously, this is a good newsgroup to begin your exploration of Usenet!
Here's what all this means: The first letter on each line is the letter
you type to read that particular "article" (it makes sense that a
"newsgroup" would have "articles"). Next comes the name of the person
who wrote that article, followed by its length, in lines, and what the
article is about. At the bottom, you see the local time at your access
site, what you're doing right now (i.e., SELECTing articles), which key
to hit for some help (the ? key) and how many of the articles in the
newsgroup you can see on this screen. The "(moderated)" means the
newsgroup has a "moderator" who is the only one who can directly post
messages to it. This is generally limited to groups such as this, which
contain articles of basic information, or for digests, which are
basically online magazines (more on them in a bit).
Say you're particularly interested in what "Emily Postnews" has to say
about proper etiquette on Usenet. Hit your c key (lower case!), and the
line will light up. If you want to read something else, hit the key that
corresponds to it. And if you want to see what's on the next page of
articles, hit return or your space bar.
But you're impatient to get going, and you want to read that article now.
The command for that in nn is a capital Z. Hit it and you'll see
something like this:
Gene Spafford: Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on NetiquetteSep 92 04:17
Original-author: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
Archive-name: emily-postnews/part1
Last-change: 30 Nov 91 by brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
NOTE: this is intended to be satirical. If you do not recognize
it as such, consult a doctor or professional comedian. The
recommendations in this article should recognized for what
they are -- admonitions about what NOT to do.
"Dear Emily Postnews"
Emily Postnews, foremost authority on proper net behaviour,
gives her advice on how to act on the net.
============================================================================
Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -- verbose@noisy
A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you
-- 09:57 --.announce.newusers-- LAST --help:?--Top 4%--
The first few lines are the message's header, similar to the header you
get in e-mail messages. Then comes the beginning of the message. The
last line tells you the time again, the newsgroup name (or part of it,
anyway), the position in your message stack that this message occupies,
how to get help, and how much of the message is on screen. If you want
to keep reading this message, just hit your space bar (not your enter
key!) for the next screen and so on until done. When done, you'll be
returned to the newsgroup menu. For now hit Q (upper case this time),
which quits you out of nn and returns you to your host system's command
line.
To get a look at another interesting newsgroup, type
nn comp.risks
and hit enter. This newsgroup is another moderated group, this time a
digest of all the funny and frightening ways computers and the people who
run and use them can go wrong. Again, you read articles by selecting
their letters. If you're in the middle of an article and decide you want
to go onto the next one, hit your n key.
Now it's time to look for some newsgroups that might be of particular
interest to you. Unix host systems that have nn use a program called
nngrep (ever get the feeling Unix was not entirely written in English?)
that lets you scan newsgroups. Exit nn and at your host system's command
line, type
nngrep word
where word is the subject you're interested in. If you use a Macintosh
computer, you might try
nngrep mac
You'll get something that looks like this:
alt.music.machines.of.loving.grace
alt.religion.emacs
comp.binaries.mac
comp.emacs
comp.lang.forth.mac
comp.os.mach
comp.sources.mac
comp.sys.mac.announce
comp.sys.mac.apps
comp.sys.mac.comm
comp.sys.mac.databases
comp.sys.mac.digest
comp.sys.mac.games
comp.sys.mac.hardware
comp.sys.mac.hypercard
comp.sys.mac.misc
comp.sys.mac.programmer
comp.sys.mac.system
comp.sys.mac.wanted
gnu.emacs.announce
gnu.emacs.bug
gnu.emacs.gnews
gnu.emacs.gnus
gnu.emacs.help
gnu.emacs.lisp.manual
gnu.emacs.sources
gnu.emacs.vm.bug
gnu.emacs.vm.info
gnu.emacs.vms
Note that some of these obviously have something to do with Macintoshes
while some obviously do not; nngrep is not a perfect system. If you want
to get a list of ALL the newsgroups available on your host system, type
nngrep -a |more
or
nngrep -a |pg
and hit enter (which one to use depends on the Unix used on your host
system; if one doesn't do anything, try the other). You don't absolutely
need the |more or |pg, but if you don't include it, the list will keep
scrolling, rather than pausing every 24 lines. If you are in nn, hitting
a capital Y will bring up a similar list.
Typing "nn newsgroup" for every newsgroup can get awfully tiring after
awhile. When you use nn, your host system looks in a file called
.newsrc. This is basically a list of every newsgroup on the host system
along with notations on which groups and articles you have read (all
maintained by the computer). You can also use this file to create a
"reading list" that brings up each newsgroup to which you want to
"subscribe." To try it out, type
nn
without any newsgroup name, and hit enter.
Unfortunately, you will start out with a .newsrc file that has you
"subscribed" to every single newsgroup on your host system! To delete a
newsgroup from your reading list, type a capital U while its menu is on
the screen. The computer will ask you if you're sure you want to
"unsubscribe." If you then hit a Y, you'll be unsubscribed and put in
the next group.
With many host systems carrying thousands of newsgroups, this will take
you forever.
Fortunately, there are a couple of easier ways to do this. Both involve
calling up your .newsrc file in a word or text processor. In a .newsrc
file, each newsgroup takes up one line, consisting of the group's name,
an exclamation point or a colon and a range of numbers. Newsgroups with
a colon are ones to which you are subscribed; those followed by an
exclamation point are "un-subscribed." To start with a clean slate,
then, you have to change all those colons to exclamation points.
If you know how to use emacs or vi, call up the .newsrc file (you might
want to make a copy of .newsrc first, just in case), and use the search-
and-replace function to make the change.
If you're not comfortable with these text processor, you can download the
.newsrc file, make the changes on your own computer and then upload the
revised file. Before you download the file, however, you should do a
couple of things. One is to type
cp .newsrc temprc
and hit enter. You will actually download this temprc file (note the
name does not start with a period -- some computers, such as those using
MS-DOS, do not allow file names starting with periods). After you
download the file, open it in your favorite word processor and use its
search-and-replace function to change the exclamation points to colons.
Be careful not to change anything else! Save the document in ASCII or
text format. Dial back into your host system. At the command line, type
cp temprc temprc1
and hit enter. This new file will serve as your backup .newsrc file
just in case something goes wrong. Upload the temprc file from your
computer. This will overwrite the Unix system's old temprc file. Now
type
cp temprc .newsrc
and hit enter. You now have a clean slate to start creating a reading
list.
The first time you go into a newsgroup, there could be dozens, even
hundreds of articles. If you want to start from scratch, hit a capital
J. This will mark all the articles in that newsgroup as "read," so that
the next time you enter the conference, you will only see messages posted
since the last time you were there.
3.3 nn COMMANDS
To mark a specific article for reading, type the letter next to it (in lower
case). To mark a specific article and all of its responses, type the letter
and an asterisk, for example:
a*
To un-select an article, type the letter next to it (again, in lower case).
C Cancels an article (around the world) that you wrote.
Every article posted on Usenet has a unique ID number.
Hitting a capital C sends out a new message that tells host
systems that receive it to find earlier message and delete
it.
F To post a public response, or follow-up. If selected while
still on a newsgroup "page", asks you which article to
follow up. If selected while in a specific article, will
follow up that article. In either case, you'll be asked if
you want to include the original article in yours. Caution:
puts you in whatever text editor is your default.
N Goes to the next subscribed newsgroup with unread articles.
P Goes to the previous subscribed newsgroup with unread
articles.
G news.group Goes to a specific newsgroup. Can be used to subscribe to
new newsgroups. Hitting G brings up a sub-menu:
u Goes to the group and shows only un-read
articles.
a Goes to the group and shows all articles,
even ones you've already read.
s Will show you only articles with a specific
subject.
n Will show you only articles from a specific
person.
M Mails a copy of the current article to somebody. You'll be
asked for the recipient's e-mail address and whether you
want to add any comments to the article before sending it
off. As with F, puts you in the default editor.
:post Post an article. You'll be asked for the name of the group.
Q Quit, or exit, nn.
U Un-subscribe from the current newsgroup.
R Responds to an article via e-mail.
space Hitting the space bar brings up the next page of articles.
X If you have selected articles, this will show them to you
and then take you to the next subscribed newsgroup with
unread articles. If you don't have any selected articles,
it marks all articles as read and takes you to the next
unread subscribed newsgroup.
=word Finds and marks all articles in the newsgroup with a
specific word in the "subject:" line, for example:
=modem
Z Shows you selected articles immediately and then returns
you to the current newsgroup.
? Brings up a help screen.
< Goes to the previous page in the newsgroup.
> Goes to the next page in the newsgroup.
$ Goes to the last page in an article.
^ Goes to the first page in an article.
3.4 USING rn
Some folks prefer this older newsreader. If you type
rn news.announce.newusers
at your host system's command line, you'll see something like this:
******** 21 unread articles in news.announce.newusers--read now? [ynq]
If you hit your Y key, the first article will appear on your screen. If
you want to see what articles are available first, though, hit your
computer's = key and you'll get something like this:
152 Introduction to news.announce
153 A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
154 What is Usenet?
155 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
156 Hints on writing style for Usenet
158 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I
159 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II
160 Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
161 USENET Software: History and Sources
162 A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
163 How to Get Information about Networks
164 How to Create a New Newsgroup
165 List of Active Newsgroups
166 List of Moderators
169 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I
170 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II
171 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III
172 How to become a USENET site
173 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part I
174 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part II
175 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part III
End of article 158 (of 178)--what next? [npq]
Notice how the messages are in numerical order this time, and don't tell
you who sent them. Article 154 looks interesting. To read it, type in
154 and hit enter. You'll see something like this:
Article 154 (20 more) in news.announce.newusers (moderated):
From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.admin,news.answers
Subject: What is Usenet?
Date: 20 Sep 92 04:17:26 GMT
Followup-To: news.newusers.questions
Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
Lines: 353
Supersedes: <spaf-whatis_715578719@cs.purdue.edu>
Archive-name: what-is-usenet/part1
Original from: chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg)
Last-change: 19 July 1992 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is widely
misunderstood. Every day on Usenet, the "blind men and the elephant"
phenomenon is evident, in spades. In my opinion, more flame wars
arise because of a lack of understanding of the nature of Usenet than
from any other source. And consider that such flame wars arise, of
necessity, among people who are on Usenet. Imagine, then, how poorly
understood Usenet must be by those outside!
--MORE--(7%)
This time, the header looks much more like the gobbledygook you get in e-
mail messages. To keep reading, hit your space bar. If you hit your n
key (lower case), you'll go to the next message in the numerical order.
To escape rn, just keep hitting your q key (in lower case), until you get
back to the command line. Now let's set up your reading list. Because
rn uses the same .newsrc file as nn, you can use one of the search-and-
replace methods described above. Or you can do this: Type
rn
and hit enter. When the first newsgroup comes up on your screen, hit
your u key (in lower case). Hit it again, and again, and again. Or just
keep it pressed down (if your computer starts beeping, let up for a
couple of seconds). Eventually, you'll be told you're at the end of the
newsgroups, and asked what you want to do next.
Here's where you begin entering newsgroups. Type
g newsgroup
for example, g comp.sys.mac.announce) and hit enter. You'll be asked
if you want to "subscribe." Hit your y key. Now you'll be asked where
to put the newsgroup. If you want it up high in your reading list, type
a number (1, for example, would put the list at the very top of your
list); otherwise, hit a $ (yep). Then type
g next newsgroup
(for example, g comp.announce.newusers) and hit enter. Repeat until
done. This process will also set up your reading list for nn, if you
prefer that newsreader. But how do you know which newsgroups to
subscribe? Typing a lowercase l and then hitting enter will show you a
list of all available newsgroups. Again, since there could be more than
2,000 newsgroups on your system, this might not be something you want to
do. Fortunately, you can search for groups with particular words in
their names, using the l command. Typing
l mac
followed by enter, will bring up a list of newsgroups with those letters
in them (and as in nn, you will also see groups dealing with emacs and
the like, in addition to groups related to Macintosh computers). If you
find what you want, but the list looks like it will keep going on for
awhile, hit your q key until you get back to the normal rn prompts
(normally, this will only be one or two q's).
because of the vast amount of messages transmitted over Usenet,
most systems carry messages for only a few days or weeks. So if there's
a message you want to keep, you should either turn on your computer's
screen capture or save it to a file which you can later download). To
save a message as a file in rn, type
s filename
where "filename" is what you want to call the file. Hit enter. You'll be
asked if you want to save it in "mailbox format." In most cases, you
can answer with an n (which will strip off the header). The message
will now be saved to a file in your News directory (which you can access
by typing cd News and then hitting enter).
Also, some newsgroups fill up particularly quickly -- go away for a
couple of days and you'll come back to find hundreds of articles! One
way to deal with that is to mark them as "read" so that they no longer
appear on your screen. Within a newsgroup, type a lower-case c. You'l
be asked if you're sure you want to mark the current messages as "read."
assuming you are, hit y.
3.5 rn COMMANDS
Different commands are available to you in rn depending on whether you
are already in a newsgroup or reading a specific article. At any point,
typing a lowercase h will bring up a list of available commands and some
terse instructions for using them. Here are some of them:
After you've just called up rn, or within a newsgroup:
c Marks every article in a newsgroup as read (or "caught up")
so that you don't have to see them again. The system will ask
you if you are sure. Can be done either when asked if you
want to read a particular newsgroup or once in the newsgroup.
g Goes to a newsgroup, in this form:
g news.group
Use this both for going to groups to which you're already
subscribed and subscribing to new groups.
h Provides a list of available commands with terse
instructions.
l Gives a list of all available newsgroups.
p Goes to the first previous subscribed newsgroup with un-read
articles.
q Quits, or exits, rn if you have not yet gone into a newsgroup.
If you are in a newsgroup, it quits that one and brings you to
the next subscribed newsgroup.
Only within a newsgroup:
= Gives a list of all available articles in the newsgroup.
m Marks a specific article or series of articles as "un-read"
again so that you can come back to them later. Typing
1700m
and hitting enter would mark just that article as un-read.
Typing
1700-1800m
and hitting enter would mark all of those articles as un-
read.
space Brings up the next page of article listings. If already on
the last page, displays the first article in the newsgroup.
u Un-subscribe from the newsgroup.
/text/ Searches through the newsgroup for articles with a specific
word or phrase in the "subject:" line, from the current
article to the end of the newsgroup. For example,
/EFF/
would bring you to the first article with "EFF" in the
"subject:" line.
?text? The same as /text/ except it searches in reverse order from
the current article.
Only within a specific article:
e Some newsgroups consist of articles that are binary files,
typically programs or graphics images. Hitting e will convert
the ASCII characters within such an article into a file you
can then download and use or view (assuming you have the proper
computer and software). Many times, such files will be split
into several articles; just keep calling up the articles and
hitting e until done. You'll find the resulting file in your
News subdirectory.
C If you post an article and then decide it was a mistake, call
it up on your host system and hit this. The message will soon
begin disappearing on systems around the world.
F Post a public response in the newsgroup to the current
article. Includes a copy of her posting, which you can then
edit down using your host system's text editor.
f The same as above except it does not include a copy of the
original message in yours.
m Marks the current article as "un-read" so that you can come
back to it later. You do not have to type the article
number.
Control-N Brings up the first response to the article. If there is no
follow-up article, this returns you to the first unread article
in the newsgroup).
Control-P Goes to the message to which the current article is a reply.
n Goes to the next unread article in the newsgroup.
N Takes you to the next article in the newsgroup even if you've
already read it.
q Quits, or exits, the current article. Leaves you in the current
newsgroup.
R Reply, via e-mail only, to the author of the current article.
Includes a copy of his message in yours.
r The same as above, except it does not include a copy of his
article.
s file Copies the current article to a file in your News directory,
where "file" is the name of the file you want to save it to.
You'll be asked if you want to use "mailbox" format when
saving. If you answer by hitting your N key, most of the
header will not be saved.
s|mail user Mails a copy of the article to somebody. For "user" substitute
an e-mail address. Does not let you add comments to the
message first, however.
space Hitting the space bar shows the next page of the article, or, if
at the end, goes to the next un-read article.
3.6 ESSENTIAL NEWSGROUPS
With so much to choose from, everybody will likely have their own unique
Usenet reading list. But there are a few newsgroups that are
particularly of interest to newcomers. Among them:
news.announce.newusers This group consists of a series of
articles that explain various facets of
Usenet.
news.newusers.questions This is where you can ask questions
(we'll see how in a bit) about how
Usenet works.
news.announce.newsgroups Look here for information about new or
proposed newsgroups.
news.answers Contains lists of "Frequently Asked
Questions" (FAQs) and their answers from
many different newsgroups. Learn how to
fight jet lag in the FAQ from
rec.travel.air; look up answers to common
questions about Microsoft Windows in
an FAQ from comp.os.ms-windows; etc.
alt.internet.services Looking for something in particular on
the Internet? Ask here.
alt.infosystems.announce People adding new information services to
the Internet will post details here.
3.7 SPEAKING UP
"Threads" are an integral part of Usenet. When somebody posts a message,
often somebody else will respond. Soon, a thread of conversation begins.
Following these threads is relatively easy. In nn, related messages are
grouped together. In rn, when you're done with a message, you can hit
control-N to read the next related message, or followup. As you explore
Usenet, it's probably a good idea to read discussions for awhile before
you jump in. This way, you can get a feel for the particular newsgroup
-- each has its own rhythms.
Eventually, though, you'll want to speak up. There are two main ways to
do this. You join an existing conversation, or you can start a whole new
thread.
If you want to join a discussion, you have to decide if you want to
include portions of the message you are responding to in your message.
The reason to do this is so people can see what you're responding to,
just in case the original message has disappeared from their system
(remember that most Usenet messages have a short life span on the average
host system) or they can't find it.
If you're using a Unix host system, joining an existing conversation is
similar in both nn and rn: hit your F key when done with a given article
in the thread. In rn, type a small f if you don't want to include
portions of the message you're responding to; an uppercase F if you do.
In nn, type a capital F. You'll then be asked if you want to include
portions of the original message.
And here's where you hit another Unix wall. When you hit your F key,
your host system calls up its basic Unix text editor. If you're lucky,
that'll be pico, a very easy system. More likely, however, you'll get
dumped into emacs (or possibly vi), which you've already met in the
chapter on e-mail.
The single most important emacs command is
control-x control-c
This means, depress your control key and hit x. Then depress the control
key and hit c. Memorize this. In fact, it's so important, it bears
repeating:
control-x control-c
These keystrokes are how you get out of emacs. If they work well, you'll
be asked if you want to send, edit, abort or list the message you were
working on. If they don't work well (say you accidentally hit some other
weird key combination that means something special to emacs) and nothing
seems to happen, or you just get more weird-looking emacs prompts on the
bottom of your screen, try hitting control-g. This should stop whatever
emacs was trying to do (you should see the word "quit" on the bottom of
your screen), after which you can hit control-x control-c. But if this
still doesn't work, remember that you can always disconnect and dial back
in!
If you have told your newsreader you do want to include portions of the
original message in yours, it will automatically put the entire thing at
the top of your message. Use the arrow keys to move down to the lines
you want to delete and hit control-K, which will delete one line at a
time.
You can then write your message. Remember that you have to hit enter
before your cursor gets to the end of the line, because emacs does not
have word wrapping.
When done, hit control-X control-C. You'll be asked the question about
sending, editing, aborting, etc. Chose one. If you hit Y, your host
system will start the process to sending your message across the Net.
The nn and rn programs work differently when it comes to posting entirely
new messages. In nn, type
:post
and hit enter in any newsgroup. You'll be asked which newsgroup to
post a message to. Type in its name and hit enter. Then you'll be
asked for "keywords." These are words you'd use to attract somebody
scanning a newsgroup. Say you're selling your car. You might type
the type of car here. Next comes a "summary" line, which is somewhat
similar. Finally, you'll be asked for the message's "distribution."
This is where you put how widely you want your message disseminated.
Think about this one for a second. If you are selling your car, it
makes little sense to send a message about it all over the world. But
if you want to talk about the environment, it might make a lot of
sense. Each host system has its own set of distribution
classifications, but there's generally a local one (just for users of
that system), one for the city, state or region it's in, another for
the country (for example, usa), one for the continent (for Americans
and Canadians, na) and finally, one for the entire world (usually:
world).
Which one to use? Generally, a couple of seconds' thought will help you
decide. If you're selling your car, use your city or regional
distribution -- people in Australia won't much care and may even get
annoyed. If you want to discuss presidential politics, using a USA
distribution makes more sense. If you want to talk about events in the
Middle East, sending your message to the entire world is perfectly
acceptable. One caveat: these rules are not absolute, some systems pick
up messages from all over, regardless of the distribution you've set, so
don't be surprised if, sooner or later, you get a response to a "local"
message from several thousand miles away.
Then you can type your message. If you've composed your message
offline (generally a good idea if you and emacs don't get along), you
can upload it now. You may see a lot of weird looking characters as
it uploads into emacs, but those will disappear when you hit control-X
and then control-C. Alternately: "save" the message (for example, by
hitting m in rn), log out, compose your message offline, log back on and
upload your message into a file on your host system. Then call up
Usenet, find the article you "saved." Start a reply, and you'll be asked
if you want to include a prepared message. Type in the name of the file
you just created and hit enter.
In rn, you have to wait until you get to the end of a newsgroup to hit F,
which will bring up a message-composing system. Alternately, at your
host system's command line, you can type
Pnews
and hit enter. You'll be prompted somewhat similarly to the nn
system, except that you'll be given a list of possible distributions.
If you chose "world," you'll get this message:
This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire
civilized world. Your message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of
dollars to send everywhere. Please be sure you know what you are doing.
Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this? [ny]
Don't worry -- your message won't really cost the Net untold amounts,
although, again, it's a good idea to think for a second whether your
message really should go everywhere.
If you want to respond to a given post through e-mail, instead of
publicly, hit R in nn or r or R in rn. In rn, as with follow-up
articles, the upper-case key includes the original message in yours.
Most newsgroups are unmoderated, which means that every message you post
will eventually wind up on every host system within the geographic region
you specified that carries that newsgroup.
Some newsgroups, however, are moderated, as you saw earlier with
comp.risks. In these groups, messages are shipped to a single location
where a moderator, acting much like a magazine editor, decides what
actually gets posted. In some cases, groups are moderated like scholarly
journals. In other cases, it's to try to cut down on the massive number
of messages that might otherwise be posted.
You'll notice that many articles in Usenet end with a fancy "signature"
that often contains some witty saying, a clever drawing and, almost
incidentally, the poster's name and e-mail address. You too can have
your own "signature" automatically appended to everything you post. On
your own computer, create a signature file. Try to keep it to four lines
or less, lest you annoy others on the Net. Then, while
connected to your host system, at the prompt, type
cat>.signature
and hit enter (note the period before the s). Upload your signature
file into this using your communications software's ASCII upload
protocol. When done, hit control-D, the Unix command for closing a
file. Now, every time you post a message, this will be appended to it.
There are a few caveats to posting. Usenet is no different from a Town
Meeting or publication: you're not supposed to break the law, whether
that's posting copyrighted material or engaging in illegal activities.
It is also not a place to try to sell products (except in certain biz.
and for-sale newsgroups).
3.8 CROSS-POSTING
Sometimes, you'll have an issue you think should be discussed in more
than one Usenet newsgroup. Rather than posting individual messages in
each group, you can post the same message in several groups at once,
through a process known as cross-posting.
Say you want to start a discussion about the political ramifications of
importing rare tropical fish from Brazil. People who read rec.aquaria
might have something to say. So might people who read
alt.politics.animals and talk.politics.misc.
Cross-posting is easy. It also should mean that people on other systems
who subscribe to several newsgroups will see your message only once,
rather than several times -- news-reading software can cancel out the
other copies once a person has read the message. When you get ready to
post a message (whether through Pnews for rn or the :post command in nn),
you'll be asked in which newsgroups. Type the names of the various
groups, separated by a comma, but no space, for example:
rec.aquaria,alt.politics.animals,talk.politics.misc
and hit enter. After answering the other questions (geographic
distribution, etc.), the message will be posted in the various
groups (unless one of the groups is moderated, in which case the
message goes to the moderator, who decides whether to make it public).
It's considered bad form to post to an excessive number of newsgroups, or
inappropriate newsgroups. Probably, you don't really have to post
something in 20 different places. And while you may think your
particular political issue is vitally important to the fate of the world,
chances are the readers of rec.arts.comics will not, or at least not
important enough to impose on them. You'll get a lot of nasty e-mail
messages demanding you restrict your messages to the "appropriate"
newsgroups.
Chapter 4: USENET II
4.1 FLAME, BLATHER AND SPEW
Something about online communications seems to make some people
particularly irritable. Perhaps it's the immediacy and semi-anonymity of
it all. Whatever it is, there are whole classes of people you will soon
think seem to exist to make you miserable.
Rather than pausing and reflecting on a message as one might do with a
letter received on paper, it's just so easy to hit your R or F key and
tell somebody you don't really know what you really think of them. Even
otherwise calm people sometimes find themselves turning into raving
lunatics. When this happens, flames erupt.
A flame is a particularly nasty, personal attack on somebody for
something he or she has written. Periodically, an exchange of flames
erupts into a flame war that begin to take up all the space in a given
newsgroup (and sometimes several; flamers like cross-posting to let the
world know how they feel). These can go on for weeks (sometimes they go
on for years, in which case they become "holy wars," usually on such
topics as the relative merits of Macintoshes and IBMs). Often, just when
they're dying down, somebody new to the flame war reads all the messages,
gets upset and issues an urgent plea that the flame war be taken to e-
mail so everybody else can get back to whatever the newsgroup's business
is. All this usually does, though, is start a brand new flame war, in
which this poor person comes under attack for daring to question the
First Amendment, prompting others to jump on the attackers for impugning
this poor soul... You get the idea.
Every so often, a discussion gets so out of hand that somebody predicts
that either the government will catch on and shut the whole thing down or
somebody will sue to close down the network, or maybe even the wrath of
God will smote everybody involved. This brings what has become an
inevitable rejoinder from others who realize that the network is, in
fact, a resilient creature that will not die easily: "Imminent death of
Usenet predicted. Film at 11.''
Flame wars can be tremendously fun to watch at first. They quickly grow
boring, though. And wait until the first time you're attacked!
Flamers are not the only net.characters to watch out for.
Spewers assume that whatever they are particularly concerned about either
really is of universal interest or should be rammed down the throats of
people who don't seem to care -- as frequently as possible. You can
usually tell a spewer's work by the number of articles he posts in a day
on the same subject and the number of newsgroups to which he then sends
these articles -- both can reach well into double digits. Often, these
messages relate to various ethnic conflicts around the world. Frequently,
there is no conceivable connection between the issue at hand and most of
the newsgroups to which he posts. No matter. If you try to point this
out in a response to one of these messages, you will be inundated with
angry messages that either accuse you of being an insensitive
racist/American/whatever or ignore your point entirely to bring up
several hundred more lines of commentary on the perfidy of whoever it is
the spewer thinks is out to destroy his people.
Closely related to these folks are the Holocaust revisionists, who
periodically inundate certain groups (such as soc.history) with long
rants about how the Holocaust never really happened. Some people attempt
to refute these people with facts, but others realize this only
encourages them.
Blatherers tend to be more benign. Their problem is that they just can't
get to the point -- they can wring three or four screenfuls out of a
thought that others might sum up in a sentence or two. A related
condition is excessive quoting. People afflicted with this will include
an entire message in their reply rather than excising the portions not
relevant to whatever point they're trying to make. The worst quote a
long message and then add a single line:
"I agree!"
or some such, often followed by a monster .signature (see section 4.7)
There are a number of other Usenet denizens you'll soon come to
recognize. Among them:
Net.weenies. These are the kind of people who enjoy LOWER
CASEDinsulting others, the kind of people who post nasty messages in a
sewing newsgroup just for the hell of it.
Net.geeks. People to whom the Net is Life, who worry about what
happens when they graduate and they lose their free, 24-hour access.
Net.gods. The old-timers; the true titans of the Net and the
keepers of its collective history. They were around when the Net
consisted of a couple of computers tied together with baling wire.
Lurkers. Actually, you can't tell these people are there, but
they are. They're the folks who read a newsgroup but never post or
respond.
Wizards. People who know a particular Net-related topic inside
and out. Unix wizards can perform amazing tricks with that operating
system, for example.
Net.saints. Always willing to help a newcomer, eager to share
their knowledge with those not born with an innate ability to navigate
the Net, they are not as rare as you might think. Post a question
about something and you'll often be surprised how many responses you
get.
The last group brings us back to the Net's oral tradition. With few
written guides, people had traditionally learned their way around the Net
by asking somebody, whether at the terminal next to them or on the Net
itself. That tradition continues: if you have a question, ask.
Today, one of the places you can look for help is in the
news.newusers.questions newsgroup, which, as its name suggests, is a
place to learn more about Usenet. But be careful what you post. Some of
the Usenet wizards there get cranky sometimes when they have to answer
the same question over and over again. Oh, they'll eventually answer your
question, but not before they tell you should have asked your host system
administrator first or looked at the postings in news.announce.newusers.
4.2 KILLFILES: THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS YOU
As you keep reading Usenet, you are going to run across topics or people
that really drive you nuts -- or that you just get tired of seeing.
Killfiles are just the thing for you. When you start your newsreader, it
checks to see if you have any lists of words, phrases or names you don't
want to see. If you do, then it blanks out any messages containing those
words.
Such as cascades.
As you saw earlier, when you post a reply to a message and include parts
of that message, the original lines show up with a > in front of them.
Well, what if you reply to a reply? Then you get a >> in front of the
line. And if you reply to that reply? You get >>>. Keep this up, and
soon you get a triangle of >'s building up in your message.
There are people who like building up these triangles, or cascades.
They'll "respond" to your message by deleting everything you've said,
leaving only the "In message 123435, you said:" part and the last line of
your message, to which they add a nonsensical retort. On and on they go
until the triangle has reached the right end of the page. Then they try
to expand the triangle by deleting one > with each new line. Whoever gets
to finish this mega-triangle wins.
There is even a newsgroup just for such folks: alt.cascade.
Unfortunately, cascaders would generally rather cascade in other
newsgroups. Because it takes a lot of messages to build up a completed
cascade, the targeted newsgroup soon fills up with these messages. Of
course, if you complain, you'll be bombarded with messages about the
First Amendment and artistic expression -- or worse, with another
cascade. The only thing you can do is ignore them, by setting up a
killfile.
There are also certain newsgroups where killfiles will come in handy
because of the way the newsgroups are organized. For example, readers of
rec.arts.tv.soaps always use an acronym in their subject: line for the
show they're writing about (AMC, for example, for "All My Children").
This way, people who only want to read about "One Life to Live" can blank
out all the messages about "The Young and the Restless" and all the
others (to keep people from accidentally screening out messages that
might contain the letters "gh" in them, "General Hospital" viewers always
use "gh:" in their subject lines).
Both nn and rn let you create killfiles, but in different ways.
To create a killfile in nn, go into the newsgroup with the offending
messages and type a capital K. You'll see this at the bottom of your
screen:
AUTO (k)ill or (s)elect (CR => Kill subject 30 days)
If you hit return, nn will ask you which article's subject you're
tired of. Chose one and the article and any follow-ups will disappear,
and you won't see them again for 30 days.
If you type a lower-case k instead, you'll get this:
AUTO KILL on (s)ubject or (n)ame (s)
If you hit your S key or just enter, you'll see this:
KILL Subject: (=/)
Type in the name of the offending word or phrase and hit enter. You'll
then be prompted:
KILL in (g)roup 'eff.test' or in (a)ll groups (g)
except that the name of the group you see will be the one you're actually
in at the moment. Because cascaders and other annoying people often
cross-post their messages to a wide range of newsgroups, you might
consider hitting a instead of g. Next comes:
Lifetime of entry in days (p)ermanent (30)
The P key will screen out the offending articles forever, while hitting
enter will do it for 30 days. You can also type in a number of days for
the blocking.
Creating killfiles in rn works differently -- its default killfile
generator only works for messages in specific groups, rather than
globally for your entire newsgroup list. To create a global killfile,
you'll have to write one yourself.
To create a killfile in rn, go into the newsgroup where the offending
messages are and type in its number so you get it on your screen. Type a
capital K. From now on, any message with that subject line will
disappear before you read the group. You should probably choose a reply,
rather than the original message, so that you will get all of the
followups (the original message won't have a "Re: " in its subject line).
The next time you call up that newsgroup, rn will tell you it's killing
messages. When it's done, hit the space bar to go back into reading mode.
To create a "global" kill file that will automatically wipe out articles
in all groups you read, start rn and type control-K. This will start
your whatever text editor you have as your default on your host system
and create a file (called KILL, in your News subdirectory).
On the first line, you'll type in the word, phrase or name you don't want
to see, followed by commands that tell rn whether to search an entire
message for the word or name and then what to do when it finds it.
Each line must be in this form
/pattern/modifier:j
"Pattern" is the word or phrase you want rn to look for. It's case-
insensitive: both "test" and "Test" will be knocked out. The modifier
tells rn whether to limit its search to message headers (which can be
useful when the object is to never see messages from a particular
person):
a: Looks through an entire message
h: Looks just at the header
You can leave out the modifier command, in which case rn will look only
at the subject line of messages. The "j" at the end tells rn to screen
out all articles with the offending word.
So if you never want to see the word "foo" in any header, ever again,
type this:
/foo/h:j
This is particularly useful for getting rid of articles from
people who post in more than one newsgroup, such as cascaders, since
an article's newsgroup name is always in the header.
If you just want to block messages with a subject line about cascades,
you could try:
/foo/:j
To kill anything that is a followup to any article, use this pattern:
/Subject: *Re:/:j
When done writing lines for each phrase to screen, exit the text editor
as you normally would, and you'll be put back in rn.
One word of caution: go easy on the global killfile. An extensive global
killfile, or one that makes frequent use of the a: modifier can
dramatically slow down rn, since the system will now have to look at
every single word in every single message in all the newsgroups you want
to read.
If there's a particular person whose posts you never want to see again,
first find his or her address (which will be in the "from:" line of his
postings) and then write a line in your killfile like this:
/From: *name@address\.all/h:j
4.3 DOWNLOADING MESSAGES
Let's say there is an article in Usenet you want to save to your home
computer. There are a couple of ways to do this. One would be to use
your own telecommunication's logging or screen-capture function to
capture the text as it scrolls down the screen. This method is good if
there's just one or two articles you want to save.
But what if there are a whole lot of messages on a particular topic you
want to download, or if you want to temporarily store them online before
getting them? It might make sense to save them all to one file that you
then download.
To do this in nn, hit a capital S while in the article. You'll get
something like this:
Save on (+~|) +alt/internet/services
If you hit enter a couple of times, the file will be saved. But note
those backslashes. That means you'll actually be creating a series of
Unix sub-directories in addition to a file (in the example above, you'd
be creating a directory path called alt/internet in which you'd save the
file called services). This can be a pain! Instead, backspace as far as
you can and type in whatever you want to call the file. Now hit enter a
couple of times, and the file will be saved in your home directory.
Repeat for other articles until done. Assuming you use the same file
name each time, each message will be stored in that file.
Note for you MS-DOS folks: be sure to name the file something you're
computer can handle, for example, manual.txt, rather than something it
can't, such as computer.manual.txt).
To do this in rn, hit a lower-case s while in the article. You'll be
given a default file name in which to save the article. You can either
use that or type in your own name. Hit enter, and you'll be asked if you
want to save the article "in mailbox format." Hitting y or n here makes
little practical difference unless, for some reason, you later want to
view the article from within elm or some other mail program. The article
will then be saved in a file in your News directory (which is a
subdirectory off the normal directory you are put in when you connect to
your public-access provider). To save another
article to that file, repeat the process, and make sure you use the same
file name. The article will be appended to the end of the file you
created.
Now to get the messages home. First, you tell your host system that you
want to transfer, or download, the file. If your telecommunications
program has Zmodem, that's all you'll have to do -- the downloading will
then start automatically. If you are using something like Xmodem, Ymodem
or Kermit, however, you'll then have to tell your own computer to get
ready to receive a file. To start a Zmodem download in Unix, type
sz filename
where "filename" is the file you want and hit enter. With Zmodem (and
also batch-Ymodem), you can initiate several downloads at once by either
typing in a series of filenames after 'sz' (for example: sz file1 file2)
or by using Unix wildcards (which are very similar to MS-DOS wildcards;
for example, sz man* would send you manual1, manual2 and manoman.txt).
If you use Ymodem, the command would be in the form
sz -k filename
while if you want to use Xmodem, it would be
sx filename
Note that in Xmodem, you have to issue an sx command for each file you
want.
With Ymodem and Xmodem, you'll then have to tell your own computer's
communications program that you're about to download a file and what you
want to call it.
Now you rn users, recall how the files you created were being stored in
your News directory. That means that to get them, you'd have to type
something like:
sz News/filename
Otherwise, you'll get an error message.
4.4 ASCII AND YE SHALL RECEIVE
That was easy, wasn't it? Alas, it can get more complicated. Unix, MS-
DOS and Macintosh computers all handle the end of lines of text
differently. That means that when you download a text file (such as a
collection of Usenet postings), it could look awfully odd on your
computer, to the point of being almost unreadable. There are a couple of
ways to handle this. One is to use an ASCII "flag" after sz (or sx or
sz -k). If you're lucky, your public-access site and your own computer
will be able to figure out that you need to have the line endings
translated. The command would look like this:
sz -a filename
or
sz -ka filename
etc.
If you still get weird results, most Unix systems have a translator
program that can put the proper line endings in. Typing
unix2dos file.txt file.txt
would convert file.txt into a valid MS-DOS file. A similar program
called unix2mac works the same for Macintoshes.
4.4 SOME USENET HINTS
Case counts in Unix -- most of the time. Many Unix commands, including
many of those used for reading Usenet articles, are case sensitive. Hit
a d when you meant a D and either nothing will happen, or something
completely different from what you expected will happen. So watch that
case!
In nn, you can get help most of the time by typing a question mark (the
exception is when you are writing your own message, because then you are
inside the text-processing program). In rn, type a lower-case h at any
prompt to get some online help.
When you're searching for a particular newsgroup, whether through the l
command in rn or with nngrep for nn, you sometimes may have to try
several keywords. For example, there is a newsgroup dedicated to the
Grateful Dead, but you'd never find it if you tried, say, l grateful
dead, because the name is rec.music.gdead. In general, try the smallest
possible part of the word or discussion you're looking for, for example,
use "trek" to find newsgroups about "Star Trek." If one word doesn't
produce anything, try another.
4.5 THE BRAIN-TUMOR BOY, THE MODEM TAX AND THE FCC
Like the rest of the world, Usenet has its share of urban legends and
questionable activities. There are three in particular that plague the
network. Spend more than, oh, 15 minutes within Usenet and you're sure
to run into the Brain Tumor Boy, the plot by the evil FCC to tax your
modem and Dave Rhode's miracle cure for poverty. For the record, here's
the story on all of them:
There once was a seven-year-old boy in England named Craig Shergold who
was diagnosed with a seemingly incurable brain tumor. As he lay dying,
he wished only to have friends send him postcards. The local newspapers
got a hold of the tear-jerking story. Soon, the boy's wish had changed:
he now wanted to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the
largest postcard collection. Word spread around the world. People by the
millions sent him postcards.
Miraculously, the boy lived. An American billionaire even flew him to
the U.S. for surgery to remove what remained of the tumor. And his wish
succeeded beyond his wildest dreams -- he made the Guinness Book of World
Records.
But with Craig now well into his teens, his dream has turned into a
nightmare for the post office in the small town outside London where he
lives. Like Craig himself, his request for cards just refuses to die,
inundating the post office with millions of cards every year. Just when
it seems like the flow is slowing, along comes somebody else who starts
up a whole new slew of requests for people to send Craig post cards (or
greeting cards or business cards -- Craig letters have truly taken on a
life of their own and begun to mutate). Even Dear Abby has been powerless
to make it stop!
What does any of this have to do with the Net? The Craig letter seems to
pop up on Usenet as often as it does on cork boards at major
corporations. No matter how many times somebody like Gene Spafford posts
periodic messages to ignore them or spend your money on something more
sensible (a donation to the local Red Cross, say), somebody manages to
post a letter asking readers to send cards to poor little Craig.
Don't send any cards to the Federal Communications Commission, either.
In 1987, the FCC considered removing a tax break it had granted
CompuServe and other large commercial computer networks for use of the
national phone system. The FCC quickly reconsidered after alarmed users
of bulletin-board systems bombarded it with complaints about this "modem
tax."
Now, every couple of months, somebody posts an "urgent" message warning
Net users that the FCC is about to impose a modem tax. This is NOT true.
The way you can tell if you're dealing with the hoax story is simple: it
ALWAYS mentions an incident in which a talk-show host on KGO radio in San
Francisco becomes outraged on the air when he reads a story about the tax
in the New York Times.
Another way to tell it's not true is that it never mentions a specific
FCC docket number or closing date for comments.
Save that letter to your congressman for something else.
Sooner or later, you're going to run into a message titled "Make Money
Fast." It's your basic chain letter. The Usenet version is always about
some guy named Dave Rhodes who was on the verge of death, or something,
when he discovered a perfectly legal way to make tons of money -- by
posting a chain letter on computer systems around the world. Yeah, right.
4.6 BIG SIG
There are .sigs and there are .sigs. Many people put only bare-bones
information in their .sig files -- their names and e-mail addresses,
perhaps their phone numbers. Others add a quotation they think is funny
or profound and a disclaimer that their views are not those of their
employer.
Still others add some ASCII-art graphics. And then there are those who
go totally berserk, posting huge creations with multiple quotes, hideous
ASCII "barfics" and more e-mail addresses than anybody could humanly
need. College freshmen unleashed on the Net seem to excel at these.
You can see the best of the worst in the alt.fan.warlord newsgroup, which
exists solely to critique .sigs that go too far, such as:
___________________________________________________________________________
|#########################################################################|
|#| |#|
|#| ***** * * ***** * * ***** ***** ***** |#|
|#| * * * * ** ** * * * * |#|
|#| * ****** *** * * * *** * ** ***** ***** |#|
|#| * * * * * * * * * * * |#|
|#| * * * ***** * * ***** ***** * * |#|
|#| |#|
|#| **** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** |#|
|#| * ** * * * * * * * * |#|
|#| **** * * ** ***** * * ** * * * |#|
|#| * ** * * * ** * * * * * * * |#|
|#| **** ***** ***** ** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** |#|
|#| |#|
|#| T-H-E M-E-G-A B-I-G .S-I-G C-O-M-P-A-N-Y |#|
|#| ~-----------------------------~ |#|
|#| "Annoying people with huge net.signatures for over 20 years..." |#|
|#| |#|
|#|---------------------------------------------------------------------|#|
|#| "The difference between a net.idiot and a bucket of shit is that at |#|
|#| least a bucket can be emptied. Let me further illustrate my point |#|
|#| by comparing these charts here. (pulls out charts) Here we have a |#|
|#| user who not only flames people who don't agree with his narrow- |#|
|#| minded drivel, but he has this huge signature that takes up many |#|
|#| pages with useless quotes. This also makes reading his frequented |#|
|#| newsgroups a torture akin to having at 300 baud modem on a VAX. I |#|
|#| might also add that his contribution to society rivals only toxic |#|
|#| dump sites." |#|
|#| -- Robert A. Dumpstik, Jr |#|
|#| President of The Mega Big Sig Company |#|
|#| September 13th, 1990 at 4:15pm |#|
|#| During his speech at the "Net.abusers |#|
|#| Society Luncheon" during the |#|
|#| "1990 Net.idiots Annual Convention" |#|
|#|_____________________________________________________________________|#|
|#| |#|
|#| Thomas Babbit, III: 5th Assistant to the Vice President of Sales |#|
|#| __ |#|
|#| ========== ______ Digital Widget Manufacturing Co. |#|
|#| \\ / 1147 Complex Incorporated Drive |#|
|#| )-======= Suite 215 |#|
|#| Nostromo, VA 22550-1147 |#|
|#| #NC-17 Enterpoop Ship :) Phone # 804-844-2525 |#|
|#| ---------------- Fax # 804-411-1115 |#|
|#| "Shut up, Wesley!" Online Service # 804-411-1100 |#|
|#| -- Me at 300-2400, and now 9600 baud! |#|
|#| PUNet: tbabb!digwig!nostromo |#|
|#| Home address: InterNet: dvader@imperial.emp.com |#|
|#| Thomas Babbit, III Prodigy: Still awaiting author- |#|
|#| 104 Luzyer Way ization |#|
|#| Sulaco, VA 22545 "Manufacturing educational widget |#|
|#| Phone # 804-555-1524 design for over 3 years..." |#|
|#|=====================================================================|#|
|#| |#|
|#| Introducing: |#|
|#| ______ |#|
|#| The |\ /| / |#|
|#| | \/ | / |#|
|#| | | / |#|
|#| | | / |#|
|#| | | ETELHED /_____ ONE |#|
|#|'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'|#|
|#| 50Megs Online! The k00l BBS for rad teens! Lots of games and many |#|
|#| bases for kul topix! Call now and be validated to the Metelhed Zone|#|
|#| -- 804-555-8500 -- |#|
|#|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\V/////////////////////////////////////|#|
|#| "This is the end, my friend..." -- The Doors |#|
|#########################################################################|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hit "b" to continue
Hahahha... fooled u!
4.7 THE FIRST AMENDMENT AS LOCAL ORDINANCE
Usenet's international reach raises interesting legal questions that have
yet to be fully resolved. Can a discussion or posting that is legal in
one country be transmitted to a country where it is against the law?
Does the posting even become illegal when it reaches the border? And
what if that country is the only path to a third country where the
message is legal as well? Several foreign colleges and other
institutions have cut off feeds of certain newsgroups where Americans
post what is, in the U.S., perfectly legal discussions of drugs or
alternative sexual practices. Even in the U.S., some universities have
discontinued certain newsgroups their administrators find offensive,
again, usually in the alt. hierarchy.
An interesting example of this sort of question happened in 1993, when a
Canadian court issued a gag order on Canadian reporters covering a
particularly controversial murder case. Americans, not bound by the gag
order, began posting accounts of the trial -- which any Canadian with a
Net account could promptly read.
4.8 USENET HISTORY
In the late 1970s, Unix developers came up with a new feature: a system
to allow Unix computers to exchange data over phone lines.
In 1979, two graduate students at Duke University in North Carolina, Tom
Truscott and Jim Ellis, came up with the idea of using this system, known
as UUCP (for Unix-to-Unix CoPy), to distribute information of interest to
people in the Unix community. Along with Steve Bellovin, a graduate
student at the University of North Carolina and Steve Daniel, they wrote
conferencing software and linked together computers at Duke and UNC.
Word quickly spread and by 1981, a graduate student at Berkeley, Mark
Horton and a nearby high school student, Matt Glickman, had released a
new version that added more features and was able to handle larger
volumes of postings -- the original North Carolina program was meant for
only a few articles in a newsgroup each day.
Today, this system, now called Usenet, connects tens of thousands of
sites around the world, from mainframes to Amigas. With more than 3,000
newsgroups and untold thousands of readers, it is perhaps the world's
largest computer network.
4.9 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* When you start up rn, you get a "warning" that "bogus newsgroups"
are present.
Within a couple of minutes, you'll be asked whether to keep these or
delete them. Delete them. Bogus newsgroups are newsgroups that your
system administrator or somebody else has determined are no longer
needed.
* While in a newsgroup in rn, you get a message: "skipping unavailable
article."
This is usually an article that somebody posted and then decided to
cancel.
* You upload a text file to your Unix host system for use in a Usenet
message or e-mail, and when you or your recipient reads the file, every
line ends with a ^M.
This happens because Unix handles line endings differently than MS-DOS or
Macintosh computers. Most Unix systems have programs to convert incoming
files from other computers. To use it, upload your file and then, at your
command line, type
dos2unix filename filename or
mac2unix filename filename
depending on which kind of computer you are using and where filename is
the name of the file you've just uploaded. A similar program can prepare
text files for downloading to your computer, for example:
unix2dos filename filename or
unix2mac filename filename
will ensure that a text file you are about to get will not come out
looking odd on your computer.
* Nothing happens or you get a lot of garbage on your screen when you try
to download a file with Zmodem.
Unfortunately, transferring files over high-speed modems can still
sometimes be troublesome. Diagnosing and fixing the problem often means
tinkering with settings either on your end (for example, if your modem
supports hardware "handshaking" but your telecom program is set for
software "handshaking"); the public-access site's end (with various
flags) or both. The best thing to do when having problems is to send e-
mail to your system administrator or post a message in your site's
"general" or "help" newsgroup if there is one. If you're having a
problem, chances are somebody else has gone through the same thing and
can help out. It would probably make sense to include the type of modem
you're using and the speed at which it connects.
4.10 FYI
Leanne Phillips periodically posts a list of frequently asked questions
(and answers) about use of the rn killfile function in the
news.newusers.questions and news.answers newsgroups on Usenet. Bill
Wohler posts a guide to using the nn newsreader in the news.answers and
news.software newsgroups. Look in the news.announce.newusers and
news.groups newsgroups on Usenet for "A Guide to Social Newsgroups and
Mailing Lists,'' which gives brief summaries of the various soc.
newsgroups.
"Managing UUCP and Usenet,' by Tim O'Reilly and Grace Todino (O'Reilly &
Associates, 1992) is a good guide for setting up your own Usenet system.
chap3
Chapter 5: MAILING LISTS AND BITNET
5.1 INTERNET MAILING LISTS
Usenet is not the only forum on the Net. Scores of "mailing lists"
represent another way to interact with other Net users. Unlike Usenet
messages, which are stored in one central location on your host system's
computer, mailing-list messages are delivered right to your e-mail box.
You have to ask for permission to join a mailing list -- although
in many cases that means only sending a message to a particular computer,
which then automatically adds you to the list. Unlike Usenet, where your
message is distributed to the world, on a mailing list, you send your
messages to a central moderator, who either re-mails it to the other
people on the list or uses it to compile a periodic "digest" mailed to
subscribers.
Given the number of newsgroups, why would anybody bother with a mailing
list?
Even on Usenet, there are some topics that just might not generate enough
interest for a newsgroup; for example, the Queen list, which is all about
the late Freddie Mercury's band.
And because a moderator decides who can participate, a mailing list can
offer a degree of freedom to speak one's mind (or not worry about
net.weenies) that is not necessarily possible on Usenet. Several groups
offer anonymous postings -- only the moderator knows the real names of
people who contribute. Examples include 12Step, where people enrolled in
such programs as Alcoholics Anonymous can discuss their experiences, and
sappho, a list limited to gay and bisexual women.
You can find mailing addresses and descriptions of these lists in the
news.announce.newusers newsgroup with the subject of "Publicly Accessible
Mailing Lists." Mailing lists now number in the hundreds, so this
posting is divided into several parts.
If you find a list to which you want to subscribe, send an e-mail message
to the listed address, which will often be of the form
list-request@address.site
or
majordomo@address.site
(majordomo is a common program used to manage mailing lists). If you're
writing to a list-request address, chances are good your message will go
to a live person. Ask to be put on the list and include your e-mail
address, just in case something happens to your header. If it's a
majordomo address, you'll typically be told to send a message in this
form:
subscribe listname
where "listname" is the name of the list. As with Usenet, it's generally
a good idea to "listen" to the messages for a few days before jumping in.
once you want to send a message to everybody on the list, send it to
listname@address.site
If you want to get off a mailing list, write to the same address you used
for subscribing in the first place, only this time, write
unsubscribe listname
substituting the actual name of the mailing list.
5.2 BITNET
As if Usenet and mailing lists were not enough, there are Bitnet
"discussion groups" or "lists."
Bitnet is an international network linking colleges and universities, but
it uses a different set of technical protocols for distributing
information from the Internet or Usenet. It offers hundreds of discussion
groups, comparable in scope to Usenet newsgroups. As with Internet
mailing lists, Bitnet discussions take place in e-mail. However, where
mailing lists are often maintained by a person, all Bitnet discussion
groups are automated -- you subscribe to them through messages to a
"listserver" computer. This is a kind of robot moderator that controls
distribution of messages on the list. In many cases, it also maintains
indexes and archives of past postings in a given discussion group, which
can be handy if you want to get up to speed with a discussion or just
search for some information related to it.
Many Bitnet discussion groups are now "translated" into Usenet form and
carried through Usenet in the bit.listserv hierarchy. In general, it's
probably better to read messages through Usenet if you can. It saves
some storage space on your host system's hard drives as well as reducing
clutter in your mailbox. Think of opening your e-mailbox one day to find
200 messages in it -- 199 of them from a discussion group and one of them
a "real" e-mail message that's important to you.
Subscribing and canceling subscriptions is done through an e-mail message
to the listserver computer. For addressing, all listservers are known as
"listserv" (yep) at some Bitnet address. This means you will have to add
".bitnet" to the end of the address, if it's in a form like this:
listserv@miamiu. For example, if you have an interest in environmental
issues, you might want to subscribe to the Econet discussion group. To
subscribe, send an e-mail message to
listserv@miamiu.bitnet
Some Bitnet listservers are also connected to the Internet, so if you
see a listserver address ending in ".edu", you can e-mail the
listserver without adding ".bitnet" to the end.
Always leave the "subject:" line blank in a message to a listserver.
Inside the message, you tell the listserver what you want, with a series
of simple commands:
subscribe group Your Name To subscribe to a list, where "group"
is the list name and "Your Name" is
your full name, for example:
subscribe econet Henry Fielding
unsubscribe group Your Name To discontinue a group, for example:
unsubscribe econet Henry Fielding
list global This sends you a list of all available
Bitnet discussion groups. But be careful
-- the list is VERY long!
get refcard Sends you a list of other commands you
can use with a listserver, such as
commands for retrieving past postings
from a discussion group.
Each of these commands goes on a separate line in your message (and you
can use one or all of them). If you want to get a list of all Bitnet
discussion groups, send e-mail to
listserv@bitnic.educom.edu
Leave the "subject:" line blank and use the list global command.
When you subscribe to a Bitnet group, there are two important differences
from Usenet.
First, when you want to post a message for others to read in the
discussion group, you send a message to the group name at its Bitnet
address. Using Econet as an example, you would mail the message to:
econet@miamiu.bitnet
Note that this is different from the listserv address you used to
subscribe to the group to begin with. Use the listserv address ONLY to
subscribe to or unsubscribe from a discussion group. If you use the
discussion-group address to try to subscribe or unsubscribe, your message
will go out to every other subscriber, many of whom will think unkind
thoughts, which they may share with you in an e-mail message).
The second difference relates to sending an e-mail message to the author
of a particular posting. Usenet newsreaders such as rn and nn let you do
this with one key. But if you hit your R key to respond to a discussion-
group message, your message will go to the listserver, and from there to
everybody else on the list! This can prove embarrassing to you and
annoying to others. To make sure your message goes just to the person who
wrote the posting, take down his e-mail address from the posting and then
compose a brand-new message. Remember, also, that if you see an e-mail
address like IZZY@INDYVMS, it's a Bitnet address.
Two Bitnet lists will prove helpful for delving further into the network.
NEW-LIST tells you the names of new discussion groups. To subscribe, send
a message to listserv@ndsuvm1.bitnet:
sub NEW-LIST Your Name
INFONETS is the place to go when you have questions about Bitnet. It is
also first rate for help on questions about all major computer networks
and how to reach them. To subscribe, send e-mail to
info-nets-request@think.com:
sub INFONETS Your Name
Both of these lists are also available on Usenet, the former as
bit.listserv.new-list; the latter as bit.listserv.infonets (sometimes
bit.listserv.info-nets).
Chapter 6: TELNET
6.1 MINING THE NET
Like any large community, cyberspace has its libraries, places you can go
to look up information or take out a good book. Telnet is one of your
keys to these libraries.
Telnet is a program that lets you use the power of the Internet to
connect you to databases, library catalogs, and other information
resources around the world. Want to see what the weather's like in
Vermont? Check on crop conditions in Azerbaijan? Get more information
about somebody whose name you've seen online? Telnet lets you do this,
and more. Increasingly, information once available only via telnet is
being disseminated by the World-Wide Web (see Chapter 9) -- but it can
still be useful to learn your way around telnet.
Alas, there's a big "but!'' Unlike the phone system, Internet is not yet
universal; not everybody can use all of its services. Almost all
colleges and universities on the Internet provide telnet access. So do
all of the for-fee public-access systems listed in Chapter 1. But the
Free-Net systems do not give you access to every telnet system. And if
you are using a public-access UUCP or Usenet site, you will not have
access to telnet. The main reason for this is cost. Connecting to the
Internet can easily cost $1,000 or more for a leased, high-speed phone
line. Some databases and file libraries can be queried by e-mail,
however; we'll show you how to do that later on. In the meantime, the
rest of this chapter assumes you are connected to a site with at least
partial Internet access.
Most telnet sites are fairly easy to use and have online help systems.
Most also work best (and in some cases, only) with VT100 emulation.
Let's dive right in and try one.
At your host system's command line, type
telnet access.usask.ca
and hit enter. That's all you have to do to connect to a telnet site!
In this case, you'll be connecting to a service known as Hytelnet, which
is a database of computerized library catalogs and other databases
available through telnet. You should see something like this:
Trying 128.233.3.1 ...
Connected to access.usask.ca.
Escape character is '^]'.
Ultrix UNIX (access.usask.ca)
login:
Every telnet site has two addresses -- one composed of words that are
easier for people to remember; the other a numerical address better
suited for computers. The "escape character" is good to remember. When
all else fails, depressing your hitting your control key and then the ]
key at the same time will disconnect you and return you to your host
system. At the login prompt for this particular site, type
hytelnet
and hit enter. You'll see something like this:
Welcome to HYTELNET
version 6.2
...................
What is HYTELNET? <WHATIS> . Up/Down arrows MOVE
Library catalogs <SITES1> . Left/Right arrows SELECT
Other resources <SITES2> . ? for HELP anytime
Help files for catalogs <OP000> .
Catalog interfaces <SYS000> . m returns here
Internet Glossary <GLOSSARY> . q quits
Telnet tips <TELNET> .
Telnet/TN3270 escape keys <ESCAPE.KEY> .
Key-stroke commands <HELP.TXT> .
........................
HYTELNET 6.2 was written by Peter Scott,
U of Saskatchewan Libraries, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada. 1992
Unix and VMS software by Earl Fogel, Computing Services, U of S 1992
The first choice, "<WHATIS>" will be highlighted. Use your down and up
arrows to move the cursor among the choices. Hit enter when you decide
on one. You'll get another menu, which in turn will bring up text files
telling you how to connect to sites and giving any special commands or
instructions you might need. Hytelnet does have one quirk. To move back
to where you started (for example, from a sub-menu to a main menu), hit
the left-arrow key on your computer.
Play with the system. You might want to turn on your computer's screen-
capture, or at the very least, get out a pen and paper. You're bound to
run across some interesting telnet services that you'll want to try --
and you'll need their telnet "addresses.''
As you move around Hytelnet, it may seem as if you haven't left your host
system -- telnet can work that quickly. Occasionally, when network loads
are heavy, however, you will notice a delay between the time you type a
command or enter a request and the time the remote service responds.
To disconnect from Hytelnet and return to your system, hit your q key and
enter.
Some telnet computers are set up so that you can only access them through
a specific "port." In those cases, you'll always see a number after
their name, for example: india.colorado.edu 13. It's important to
include that number, because otherwise, you may not get in.
In fact, try the above address. Type
telnet india.colorado.edu 13
and hit enter. You should see something like this:
Trying 128.138.140.44 ...
Followed very quickly by this:
telnet india.colorado.edu 13
Escape character is '^]'.
Sun Jan 17 14:11:41 1994
Connection closed by foreign host.
What we want is the middle line, which tells you the exact Mountain
Standard Time, as determined by a government-run atomic clock in Boulder,
Colo.
6.2 LIBRARY CATALOGS
Several hundred libraries around the world, from the Snohomish Public
Library in Washington State to the Library of Congress are now available
to you through telnet. You can use Hytelnet to find their names, telnet
addresses and use instructions.
Why would you want to browse a library you can't physically get to? Many
libraries share books, so if yours doesn't have what you're looking for,
you can tell the librarian where he or she can get it. Or if you live in
an area where the libraries are not yet online, you can use telnet to do
some basic bibliographic research before you head down to the local
branch.
There are several different database programs in use by online libraries.
Harvard's is one of the easier ones to use, so let's try it.
Telnet to hollis.harvard.edu. When you connect, you'll see:
***************** H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y
***************** OFFICE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
*** *** ***
*** VE *** RI ***
*** *** *** HOLLIS (Harvard OnLine LIbrary System)
***** *****
**** TAS **** HUBS (Harvard University Basic Services)
*** ***
***** IU (Information Utility)
***
CMS (VM/CMS Timesharing Service)
** HOLLIS IS AVAILABLE WITHOUT ACCESS RESTRICTIONS **
Access to other applications is limited to individuals who have been
granted specific permission by an authorized person.
To select one of the applications above, type its name on the command
line followed by your user ID, and press RETURN.
** HOLLIS DOES NOT REQUIRE A USERID **
EXAMPLES: HOLLIS (press RETURN) or HUBS userid (press RETURN)
===>
Type
hollis
and hit enter. You'll see several screens flash by quickly until finally
the system stops and you'll get this:
WELCOME TO HOLLIS
(Harvard OnLine Library Information System)
To begin, type one of the 2-character database codes listed below:
HU Union Catalog of the Harvard libraries
OW Catalog of Older Widener materials
LG Guide to Harvard Libraries and Computing Resources
AI Expanded Academic Index (selective 1987-1988, full 1989- )
LR Legal Resource Index (1980- )
PA PAIS International (1985- )
To change databases from any place in HOLLIS, type CHOOSE followed by a
2-character database code, as in: CHOOSE HU
For general help in using HOLLIS, type HELP. For HOLLIS news, type
HELP NEWS. For HOLLIS hours of operation, type HELP HOURS.
ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND
The first thing to notice is the name of the system: Hollis. Librarians
around the world seem to be inordinately found of cutesy,
anthropomorphized acronyms for their machines (not far from Harvard, the
librarians at Brandeis University came up with Library On-Line User
Information Service, or Louis; MIT has Barton).
If you want to do some general browsing, probably the best bet on the
Harvard system is to chose HU, which gets you access to their main
holdings, including those of its medical libraries. Chose that, and
you'll see this:
THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNION CATALOG
To begin a search, select a search option from the list below and type its
code on the command line. Use either upper or lower case.
AU Author search
TI Title search
SU Subject search
ME Medical subject search
KEYWORD Keyword search options
CALL Call number search options
OTHER Other search options
For information on the contents of the Union Catalog, type HELP.
To exit the Union Catalog, type QUIT.
A search can be entered on the COMMAND line of any screen.
ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND.
Say you want to see if Harvard has shed the starchy legacy of the
Puritans, who founded the school. Why not see if they have "The Joy of
Sex" somewhere in their stacks? Type
TI Joy of Sex
and hit enter. This comes up:
HU: YOUR SEARCH RETRIEVED NO ITEMS. Enter new command or HELP. You typed:
TI JOY OF SEX
*******************************************************************************
ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTIONS: FIND START - search options HELP
QUIT - exit database
COMMAND?
Oh, well! Do they have anything that mentions "sex" in the title? Try
another TI search, but this time just: TI sex. You get:
HU GUIDE: SUMMARY OF SEARCH RESULTS 2086 items retrieved by your search:
FIND TI SEX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 SEX
2 SEX A
823 SEXA
827 SEXBO
831 SEXCE
833 SEXDR
834 SEXE
879 SEXIE
928 SEXJA
929 SEXLE
930 SEXO
965 SEXPI
968 SEXT
1280 SEXUA
2084 SEXWA
2085 SEXY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTIONS: INDEX (or I 5 etc) to see list of items HELP
START - search options
REDO - edit search QUIT - exit database
COMMAND?
If you want to get more information on the first line, type 1 and hit enter:
HU INDEX: LIST OF ITEMS RETRIEVED 2086 items retrieved by your search:
FIND TI SEX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEX
1 geddes patrick sir 1854 1932/ 1914 bks
SEX A Z
2 goldenson robert m/ 1987 bks
SEX ABUSE HYSTERIA SALEM WITCH TRIALS REVISITED
3 gardner richard a/ 1991 bks
SEX AETATES MUNDI ENGLISH AND IRISH
4 irish sex aetates mundi/ 1983 bks
SEX AFTER SIXTY A GUIDE FOR MEN AND WOMEN FOR THEIR LATER YEARS
5 butler robert n 1927/ 1976 bks
------------------------------------------------------ (CONTINUES) ------------
OPTIONS: DISPLAY 1 (or D 5 etc) to see a record HELP
GUIDE MORE - next page START - search options
REDO - edit search QUIT - exit database
COMMAND?
Most library systems give you a way to log off and return to your host
system. On Hollis, hit escape followed by
xx
One particularly interesting system is the one run by the Colorado
Alliance of Research Libraries, which maintains databases for libraries
throughout Colorado, the West and even in Boston.
Telnet pac.carl.org.
Follow the simple log-in instructions. When you get a menu, type 72 (even
though that is not listed), which takes you to the Pikes Peak Library
District, which serves the city of Colorado Springs.
Several years ago, its librarians realized they could use their database
program not just for books but for cataloging city records and community
information, as well. Today, if you want to look up municipal ordinances
or city records, you only have to type in the word you're looking for and
you'll get back cites of the relevant laws or decisions.
Carl will also connect you to the University of Hawaii library, which,
like the one in Colorado Springs, has more than just bibliographic
material online. One of its features is an online Hawaiian almanac that
can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Hawaiians,
including the number injured in boogie-board accidents each year (seven).
6.3 SOME INTERESTING TELNET SITES
AGRICULTURE
PENPages, run by Pennsylvania State University's College of Agricultural
Sciences, provides weekly world weather and crop reports from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. These reports detail everything from the
effect of the weather on palm trees in Malaysia to the state of the
Ukrainian wheat crop. Reports from Pennsylvania country extension
officers offer tips for improving farm life. One database lists
Pennsylvania hay distributors by county -- and rates the quality of their
hay!
The service lets you search for information two different ways. A menu
system gives you quick access to reports that change frequently, such as
the weekly crop/weather reports. An index system lets you search through
several thousand online documents by keyword. At the main menu, you can
either browse through an online manual or chose "PENPages,'' which puts
you into the agriculture system.
Telnet: psupen.psu.edu
User name: Your 2-letter state code or WORLD
California State University's Advanced Technology Information Network
provides similar information as PENPages, only focusing on California
crops. It also maintains lists of upcoming California trade shows and
carries updates on biotechnology.
Telnet: caticsuf.cati.csufresno.edu
Log in: public
You will then be asked to register and will be given a user name and
password. Hit "a'' at the main menu for agricultural information. Hit
"d'' to call up a menu that includes a biweekly biotechnology report.
AIDS
The University of Miami maintains a database of AIDS health providers in
southern Florida.
Telnet: callcat.med.miami.edu
Log in: library
At the main menu, select P (for "AIDS providers" and you'll be able to
search for doctors, hospitals and other providers that care for patients
with AIDS. You can also search by speciality.
See also under Conversation and Health.
AMATEUR RADIO
The National Ham Radio Call-Sign Callbook lets you search for American
amateur operators by callsign, city, last name or Zip code. A successful
search will give you the ham's name, address, callsign, age, type of
license and when he or she got it.
Telnet: callsign.cs.buffalo.edu 2000 or ham.njit.edu 2000.
When you connect, you tell the system how you want to search and what
you're looking for. For example, if you want to search for hams by city,
you would type
city name of city
and hit enter (for example: city Kankakee).
Other search choices are "call" (after which you would type a ham's
name), "name," and "zip" (which you would follow with a Zip code). Be
careful when searching for hams in a large city; there doesn't seem to be
anyway to shut off the list once it starts except by using control-].
Otherwise, when done, type
quit
and hit enter to disconnect.
ANIMALS
See under Health.
CALCULATORS
Hewlett-Packard maintains a free service on which you can seek advice
about their line of calculators.
Telnet: hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com
No log-in is needed.
CHEMISTRY
The Electronic Periodic Table of the Elements draws the table on your
screen and then lets you look up various properties of individual
elements.
Telnet: camms2.caos.kun.nl
No password needed.
CONVERSATION
Communications Canada, a Canadian government agency is developing
Conversational Hypertext Access Technology (CHAT) is a system being
developed by Communications Canada to provide easy database access to
people with little or no computer experience, using what are known as
hypertext links. Instead of cryptic computer commands, users type
questions in English.
Telnet: debra.doc.ca
Log in: chat
You chose one of the three databases now online, one on AIDS, and
then ask questions in English.
Ask the AIDS database, "When was AIDS first discovered?'' and it answers:
"The first case of AIDS in North America was diagnosed in 1979.
Before that, it existed in Africa, probably beginning in the 1950's.
AIDS was discovered in North America when a number of young men with
a history of homosexuality developed a rare type of cancer called
Kaposi's sarcoma.''
Sometimes, you do have to rephrase your question. For example, when asked
"What is the link between AIDS and drug use?'' the computer responds:
"I know two things about drugs: the drugs that are used to treat
people with AIDS, and the risks that drug users have in getting AIDS.
Please ask about treatments or drug users.''
COPYRIGHT LAW
See under Government.
CURRENT EVENTS
Every year, the CIA publishes a Fact Book that is essentially an almanac
of all the world's countries and international organizations, including
such information as major products, type of government and names of its
leaders. It's available for searching through the University of Maryland
Info Database.
Telnet: info.umd.edu
Chose a terminal type and hit enter (or just hit enter if you are using
VT100). At the main menu, choose the number next to "Educational
Resources." Then select the number next to "International," followed by
"Factbook." You can then search by country or agency.
This site also maintains copies of the U.S. budget, documents related to
the North American Free Trade Agreement and other government initiatives.
At the "Educational Resources" menu, select the number next to "United
States" and then the one next to "Government."
The Access Legislative Information Service lets you browse through and
look up bills before the Hawaiian legislature.
Telnet: access.uhcc.hawaii.edu
ENVIRONMENT
Envirolink is a large database and conference system about the
environment, based in Pittsburgh.
Telnet: envirolink.org
Log on: gopher
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains online databases of
materials related to hazardous waste, the Clean Lakes program and cleanup
efforts in New England. The agency plans to eventually include cleanup
work in other regions, as well. The database is actually a computerized
card catalog of EPA documents -- you can look the documents up, but
you'll still have to visit your regional EPA office to see them.
Telnet: epaibm.rtpnc.epa.gov
No password or user name is needed. At the main menu, type
public
and hit enter (there are other listed choices, but they are only for
use by EPA employees). You'll then see a one-line menu. Type
ols
and hit enter, and you'll see something like this:
NET-106 Logon to TSO04 in progress.
DATABASES:
N NATIONAL CATALOG CH CHEMICAL COLL. SYSTEM
H HAZARDOUS WASTE 1 REGION I
L CLEAN LAKES
OTHER OPTIONS:
? HELP
Q QUIT
ENTER SELECTION -->
Choose one and you'll get a menu that lets you search by document title,
keyword, year of publication or corporation. After you enter the search
word and hit enter, you'll be told how many matches were found. Hit 1
and then enter to see a list of the entries. To view the bibliographic
record for a specific entry, hit V and enter and then type the number of
the record.
The University of Michigan maintains a database of newspaper and magazine
articles related to the environment, with the emphasis on Michigan,
dating back to 1980.
Telnet: hermes.merit.edu
Host: mirlyn
Log in: meem
GEOGRAPHY
The University of Michigan Geographic Name Server can provide basic
information, such as population, latitude and longitude of U.S. cities
and many mountains, rivers and other geographic features.
Telnet: martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000
No password or user name is needed. Type in the name of a city, a Zip
code or a geographic feature and hit enter. The system doesn't like
names with abbreviations in them (for example, Mt. McKinley), so spell
them out (for example, Mount McKinley).
By typing in a town's name or zip code, you can find out a community's
county, Zip code and longitude and latitude. Not all geographic features
are yet included in the database.
GOVERNMENT
The Library of Congress Information Service lets you search current and
past legislation (dating to 1982).
Telnet: locis.loc.gov
Password: none needed.
When you connect, you'll get a main menu that lets you select from
several databases, including the Library of Congress card catalog (with
book entries dating to 1978) and a database of information on copyright
laws.
For the congressional database, select the number next to its entry and
hit enter. You'll then be asked to choose which legislative year to
search. After that, a menu similar to this will come up:
***C103- THE LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION FILE FOR THE 103RD CONGRESS,
which was updated on 05/10/93 and contains 4,044 records,
is now available for your search.
CURRENCY: All information is NOT current through the above date, which is
machine generated when ANY information is added to the file.
Bill numbers, official titles, sponsors, and status (STEP) added
within 48 hours. Indexing terms and digests added later, in
some cases several weeks after the bill is added to the file.
TO START RETRIEVE to find: EXAMPLES:
SEARCH: member name --------------> retrieve rep gingrich
retrieve sen kennedy
bill number --------------> retrieve h.r. 1
subject keywords ---------> retrieve day care
FOR HELP: Type the word HELP and press the ENTER key.
READY FOR NEW COMMAND:
The National Technical Information Service runs a system that not only
provides huge numbers of federal documents of all sorts -- from
environmental factsheets to patent abstract -- but serves as a gateway to
dozens of other federal information systems.
Telnet: fedworld.gov
Log on as: new
HEALTH
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration runs a database of health-related
information.
Telnet: fdabbs.fda.gov
Log in: bbs
You'll then be asked for your name and a password you want to use in the
future. After that, type
topics
and hit enter. You'll see this:
TOPICS DESCRIPTION
* NEWS News releases
* ENFORCE Enforcement Report
* APPROVALS Drug and Device Product Approvals list
* CDRH Centers for Devices and Radiological Health Bulletins
* BULLETIN Text from Drug Bulletin
* AIDS Current Information on AIDS
* CONSUMER FDA Consumer magazine index and selected articles
* SUBJ-REG FDA Federal Register Summaries by Subject
* ANSWERS Summaries of FDA information
* INDEX Index of News Releases and Answers
* DATE-REG FDA Federal Register Summaries by Publication Date
* CONGRESS Text of Testimony at FDA Congressional Hearings
* SPEECH Speeches Given by FDA Commissioner and Deputy
* VETNEWS Veterinary Medicine News
* MEETINGS Upcoming FDA Meetings
* IMPORT Import Alerts
* MANUAL On-Line User's Manual
You'll be able to search these topics by key word or chronologically.
It's probably a good idea, however, to capture a copy of the manual,
first, because the way searching works on the system is a little odd. To
capture a copy, type
manual
and hit enter. Then type
scan
and hit enter. You'll see this:
FOR LIST OF AVAILABLE TOPICS TYPE TOPICS
OR ENTER THE TOPIC YOU DESIRE ==>
MANUAL
BBSUSER
08-OCT-91
1 BBS User Manual
At this point, turn on your own computer's screen-capture or logging
function and hit your 1 key and then enter. The manual will begin to
scroll on your screen, pausing every 24 lines.
HIRING AND COLLEGE PROGRAM INFORMATION
The Federal Information Exchange in Gaithersburg, MD, runs two systems at
the same address: FEDIX and MOLIS. FEDIX offers research, scholarship and
service information for several federal agencies, including NASA, the
Department of Energy and the Federal Aviation Administration. Several
more federal agencies provide minority hiring and scholarship
information. MOLIS provides information about minority colleges, their
programs and professors.
Telnet: fedix.fie.com
User name: fedix (for the federal hiring database) or
molis (for the minority-college system)
Both use easy menus to get you to information.
HISTORY
Stanford University maintains a database of documents related to Martin
Luther King.
Telnet: forsythetn.stanford.edu
Account: socrates
At the main menu, type
select mlk
and hit enter.
SKI REPORTS
See under weather.
SPACE
NASA Spacelink in Huntsville, Ala., provides all sorts of reports and
data about NASA, its history and its various missions, past and present.
You'll find detailed reports on every single probe, satellite and mission
NASA has ever launched along with daily updates and lesson plans for
teachers.
The system maintains a large file library of GIF-format space graphics,
but you can't download these through telnet. If you want them, you have
to dial the system directly, at (205) 895-0028.
Telnet: spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
When you connect, you'll be given an overview of the system and asked to
register and chose a password.
The NED-NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database lists data on more than
100,000 galaxies, quasars and other objects outside the Milky Way.
Telnet: ipac.caltech.edu.
Log in: ned
You can learn more than you ever wanted to about quasars, novae and
related objects on a system run by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.
Telnet: cfa204.harvard.edu
Log in: einline
The physics department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst runs
a bulletin-board system that provides extensive conferences and document
libraries related to space.
Telnet: spacemet.phast.umass.edu
Log on with your name and a password.
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS
The University of Maryland Info Database maintains U.S. Supreme Court
decisions from 1991 on.
Telnet: info.umd.edu
Chose a terminal type and hit enter (or just hit enter if you are
using VT100). At the main menu, choose the number next to "Educational
Resources" and hit enter. One of your options will then be for "United
States." Select that number and then, at the next menu, choose the one
next to "Supreme Court."
TELNET
Hytelnet, at the University of Saskatchewan, is an online guide to
hundreds of telnet sites around the world.
Telnet: access.usask.ca
Log in: hytelnet
WEATHER
The University of Michigan's Department of Atmospheric, Oceanographic
and Space Sciences supplies weather forecasts for U.S. and foreign cities,
along with skiing and hurricane reports.
Telnet: madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000 (note the 3000).
No log-in name is needed.
Also see under Weather in the FTP list for information on downloading
satellite and radar weather images.
6.4 TELNET BULLETIN-BOARD SYSTEMS
You might think that Usenet, with its hundreds of newsgroups, would be
enough to satisfy the most dedicated of online communicators.
But there are a number of "bulletin-board" and other systems that provide
even more conferences or other services, many not found directly on the
Net. Some are free; others charge for access. They include:
Cimarron. Run by the Instituto Technical in Monterey, Mexico, this
system has Spanish conferences, but English commands, as you can see from
this menu of available conferences:
List of Boards
Name Title
General Board general
Dudas Dudas de Cimarron
Comentarios Comentarios al SYSOP
Musica Para los afinados........
Libros El sano arte de leer.....
Sistemas Sistemas Operativos en General.
Virus Su peor enemigo......
Cultural Espacio Cultural de Cimarron
NeXT El Mundo de NeXT
Ciencias Solo apto para Nerds.
Inspiracion Para los Romanticos e Inspirados.
Deportes Discusiones Deportivas
To be able to write messages and gain access to files, you have to leave
a note to SYSOP with your name, address, occupation and phone number. To
do this, at any prompt, hit your M key and then enter, which will bring
up the mail system. Hitting H brings up a list of commands and how to use
them.
Telnet: bugs.mty.itesm.mx (8 p.m. to 10 a.m., Eastern time, only).
At the "login:" prompt, type
bbs
and hit enter.
Cleveland Free-Net. The first of a series of Free-Nets, this represents
an ambitious attempt to bring the Net to the public. Originally an in-
hospital help network, it is now sponsored by Case Western Reserve
University, the city of Cleveland, the state of Ohio and IBM. It uses
simple menus, similar to those found on CompuServe, but organized like a
city:
<<< CLEVELAND FREE-NET DIRECTORY >>>
1 The Administration Building
2 The Post Office
3 Public Square
4 The Courthouse & Government Center
5 The Arts Building
6 Science and Technology Center
7 The Medical Arts Building
8 The Schoolhouse (Academy One)
9 The Community Center & Recreation Area
10 The Business and Industrial Park
11 The Library
12 University Circle
13 The Teleport
14 The Communications Center
15 NPTN/USA TODAY HEADLINE NEWS
------------------------------------------------
h=Help, x=Exit Free-Net, "go help"=extended help
Your Choice ==>
The system has a vast and growing collection of public documents, from
copies of U.S. and Ohio Supreme Court decisions to the Magna Carta and
the U.S. Constitution. It links residents to various government agencies
and has daily stories from USA Today. Beyond Usenet (found in the
Teleport area), it has a large collection of local conferences on
everything from pets to politics. And yes, it's free!
Telnet: freenet-in-a.cwru.edu or
freenet-in-b.cwru.edu or
freenet-in-c.cwru.edu
When you connect to Free-Net, you can look around the system. However,
if you want to be able to post messages in its conferences or use e-mail,
you will have to apply in writing for an account. Information on this is
available when you connect.
DUBBS. This is a bulletin-board system in Delft in the Netherlands. The
conferences and files are mostly in Dutch, but the help files and the
system commands themselves are in English.
Telnet: tudrwa.tudelft.nl
ISCA BBS. Run by the Iowa Student Computer Association, it has more than
100 conferences, including several in foreign languages. After you
register, hit K for a list of available conferences and then J to join a
particular conference (you have to type in the name of the conference,
not the number next to it). Hitting H brings up information about
commands.
Telnet bbs.isca.uiowa.edu
At the "login:" prompt, type
bbs
and hit enter.
Youngstown Free-Net. The people who created Cleveland Free-Net sell
their software for $1 to anybody willing to set up a similar system. A
number of cities now have their own Free-Nets, including Youngstown,
Ohio. Telnet: yfn.ysu.edu At the "login:" prompt, type
visitor
and hit enter.
6.5 PUTTING THE FINGER ON SOMEONE
Finger is a handy little program which lets you find out more about
people on the Net -- and lets you tell others on the Net more about
yourself.
Finger uses the same concept as telnet or ftp. But it works with only one
file, called .plan (yes, with a period in front). This is a text file an
Internet user creates with a text editor in his home directory. You can
put your phone number in there, tell a little bit about yourself, or
write almost anything at all.
To finger somebody else's .plan file, type this at the command line:
finger email-address
where email-address is the person's e-mail address. If that person's
site allows incoming finger requests (not all do), You'll get back a
display that shows the last time the person was online, whether
they've gotten any new mail since that time and what, if anything, is
in their .plan file.
Some people and institutions have come up with creative uses for these
.plan files, letting you do everything from checking the weather in
Massachusetts to getting the latest baseball standings. Try fingering
these e-mail addresses:
weather@cirrus.mit.edu Latest National Weather Service weather
forecasts for regions in Massachusetts.
quake@geophys.washington.edu Locations and magnitudes of recent
earthquakes around the world.
jtchern@ocf.berkeley.edu Current major-league baseball standings and
results of the previous day's games.
nasanews@space.mit.edu The day's events at NASA.
coke@cs.cmu.edu See how many cans of each type of soda
are left in a particular soda machine
in the computer-science department of
Carnegie-Mellon University.
6.6 FINDING SOMEONE ON THE NET
So you have a friend and you want to find out if he has an Internet
account to which you can write? The quickest way may be to just pick up
the phone, call him and ask him. Although there are a variety of "white
pages" services available on the Internet, they are far from complete --
college students, users of commercial services such as CompuServe and
many Internet public-access sites, and many others simply won't be
listed. Major e-mail providers are working on a universal directory
system, but that could be some time away.
In the meantime, a couple of "white pages" services might give you some
leads, or even just entertain you as you look up famous people or long-
lost acquaintances.
The whois directory provides names, e-mail and postal mail address and
often phone numbers for people listed in it. To use it, telnet to
internic.net
No log-on is needed. The quickest way to use it is to type
whois name
at the prompt, where "name" is the last name or organization name you're
looking for. If there's a match, you'll get back an e-mail listing.
Another service worth trying, especially since it seems to give beginners
fewer problems, is the Knowbot Information Service reachable by telnet at
info.cnri.reston.va.us 185
Again, no log-on is needed. This service actually searches through a
variety of other "white pages" systems, including the user directory for
MCIMail. To look for somebody, type
query name
where "name" is the last name of the person you're looking for. You can
get details of other commands by hitting a question mark at the prompt.
You can also use the knowbot system by e-mail. Start a message to
netaddress@info.cnri.reston.va.us
You can leave the "subject:" line blank. As your message, type
query name
for the simplest type of search. If you want details on more complex
searches, add another line:
man
Another way to search is via the Usenet name server. This is a system at
MIT that keeps track of the e-mail addresses of everybody who posts a
Usenet message that appears at MIT. It works by e-mail. Send a message
to
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
Leave the "subject:" line blank. As your message, write
send usenet-addresses/lastname
where "lastname" is the last name of the person you're looking for. The
system will write back with any matches and the associated addresses.
6.7 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* Nothing happens when you try to connect to a telnet site.
The site could be down for maintenance or problems.
* You get a "host unavailable" message.
The telnet site is down for some reason. Try again later.
* You get a "host unknown" message.
Check your spelling of the site name.
* You type in a password on a telnet site that requires one, and you get
a "login incorrect" message.
Try logging in again. If you get the message again, hit your control and
] keys at the same time to disengage and return to your host system.
* You can't seem to disconnect from a telnet site.
Use control-] to disengage and return to your host system.
6.8 FYI
The Usenet newsgroups alt.internet.services and alt.bbs.internet can
provide pointers to new telnet systems. Scott Yanoff periodically
posts his "Updated Internet Services List" in the former. The
alt.bbs.internet newsgroup is also where you'll find Aydin Edguer's
compendium of FAQs related to Internet bulletin-board systems.
Peter Scott, who maintains the Hytelnet database, runs a mailing list
about new telnet services and changes in existing ones. To get on the
list, send him a note at scott@sklib.usask.ca.
Gleason Sackman maintains another mailing list dedicated to new Internet
services and news about the new uses to which the Net is being put. To
subscribe, send a message to listserv@internic.net. Leave the "subject:"
line blank, and as your message, write: Sub net-happenings Your Name.
The soc.net-people newsgroup is a place to ask about people you can't
locate elsewhere.
Chapter 7: FTP
7.1 TONS OF FILES
hundreds of systems connected to Internet have file libraries, or
archives, accessible to the public. Much of this consists of free or low-
cost shareware programs for virtually every make of computer. If you
want a different communications program for your IBM, or feel like
playing a new game on your Amiga, you'll be able to get it from the Net.
But there are also libraries of documents as well. If you want a copy of
a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, you can find it on the Net. Copies
of historical documents, from the Magna Carta to the Declaration of
Independence are also yours for the asking, along with a translation of a
telegram from Lenin ordering the execution of rebellious peasants. You
can also find song lyrics, poems, even summaries of every "Lost in Space"
episode ever made. You can also find extensive files detailing
everything you could ever possibly want to know about the Net itself.
First you'll see how to get these files; then we'll show you where
they're kept.
Increasingly, you can get these files via gopher or the World-Wide
Web (see Chapter 8 for gopher; Chapter 9 for the Web). But it's still
good to know how to use the original way of getting files across the Net:
file-transfer protocol, or FTP, because there is still a large
number of files stil stored on FTP sites.
Starting ftp is as easy as using telnet. At your host system's command
line, type
ftp site.name
and hit enter, where "site.name" is the address of the ftp site you want
to reach. One major difference between telnet and ftp is that it is
considered bad form to connect to most ftp sites during their business
hours (generally 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time). This is because
transferring files across the network takes up considerable computing
power, which during the day is likely to be needed for whatever the
computer's main function is. There are some ftp sites that are
accessible to the public 24 hours a day, though. You'll find these noted
in the list of ftp sites in section 7.6.
7.2 YOUR FRIEND ARCHIE
How do you find a file you want, though?
Until a few years ago, this could be quite the pain -- there was no
master directory to tell you where a given file might be stored on the
Net. Who'd want to slog through hundreds of file libraries looking for
something?
Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan and Peter Deutsch, students at McGill University
in Montreal, asked the same question. Unlike the weather, though, they
did something about it.
They created a database system, called archie, that would periodically
call up file libraries and basically find out what they had available.
In turn, anybody could dial into archie, type in a file name, and see
where on the Net it was available. Archie currently catalogs some 1,000
file libraries around the world.
Today, there are three ways to ask archie to find a file for you: through
telnet, "client" Archie program on your own host system or e-mail. All
three methods let you type in a full or partial file name and will tell
you where on the Net it's stored.
If you have access to telnet, you can telnet to one of the following
addresses: archie.mcgill.ca; archie.sura.net; archie.unl.edu;
archie.ans.net; or archie.rutgers.edu. If asked for a log-in name, type
archie
and hit enter.
When you connect, the key command is prog, which you use in this form:
prog filename
Followed by enter, where "filename" is the program or file you're looking
for. If you're unsure of a file's complete name, try typing in part of
the name. For example, "PKZIP" will work as well as "PKZIP204.EXE." The
system does not support DOS or Unix wildcards. If you ask archie to look
for "PKZIP*," it will tell you it couldn't find anything by that name.
One thing to keep in mind is that a file is not necessarily the same as a
program -- it could also be a document. This means you can use archie to
search for, say, everything online related to the Beetles, as well as
computer programs and graphics files.
A number of Net sites now have their own archie programs that take your
request for information and pass it onto the nearest archie database --
ask your system administrator if she has it online. These "client"
programs seem to provide information a lot more quickly than the actual
archie itself! If it is available, at your host system's command line,
type
archie -s filename
where filename is the program or document you're looking for, and hit
enter. The -s tells the program to ignore case in a file name and lets
you search for partial matches. You might actually want to type it this
way:
archie -s filename|more
which will stop the output every screen (handy if there are many sites
that carry the file you want). Or you could open a file on your computer
with your text-logging function.
The third way, for people without access to either of the above, is e-
mail. Send a message to archie@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca. You can leave the
subject line blank. Inside the message, type
prog filename
where filename is the file you're looking for. You can ask archie to
look up several programs by putting their names on the same "prog" line,
like this:
prog file1 file2 file3
Within a few hours, archie will write back with a list of the appropriate
sites.
In all three cases, if there is a system that has your file, you'll get a
response that looks something like this:
Host sumex-aim.stanford.edu
Location: /info-mac/comm
FILE -rw-r--r-- 258256 Feb 15 17:07 zterm-09.hqx
Location: /info-mac/misc
FILE -rw-r--r-- 7490 Sep 12 1991 zterm-sys7-color-icons.hqx
Chances are, you will get a number of similar looking responses for each
program. The "host" is the system that has the file. The "Location"
tells you which directory to look in when you connect to that system.
Ignore the funny-looking collections of r's and hyphens for now. After
them, come the size of the file or directory listing in bytes, the date
it was uploaded, and the name of the file.
7.3 GETTING THE FILES
Now you want to get that file.
Assuming your host site does have ftp, you connect in a similar fashion
to telnet, by typing:
ftp sumex-aim.stanford.edu
(or the name of whichever site you want to reach). Hit enter. If the
connection works, you'll see this:
Connected to sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
220 SUMEX-AIM FTP server (Version 4.196 Mon Jan 13 13:52:23 PST 1992) ready.
Name (sumex-aim.stanford.edu:adamg):
If nothing happens after a minute or so, hit control-C to return to your
host system's command line. But if it has worked, type
anonymous
and hit enter. You'll see a lot of references on the Net to
"anonymous ftp." This is how it gets its name -- you don't really have
to tell the library site what your name is. The reason is that these
sites are set up so that anybody can gain access to certain public
files, while letting people with accounts on the sites to log on and
access their own personal files. Next, you'll be asked for your
password. As a password, use your e-mail address. This will then come
up:
230 Guest connection accepted. Restrictions apply.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp>
Now type
ls
and hit enter. You'll see something awful like this:
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
total 2636
-rw-rw-r-- 1 0 31 4444 Mar 3 11:34 README.POSTING
dr-xr-xr-x 2 0 1 512 Nov 8 11:06 bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 11030960 Apr 2 14:06 core
dr--r--r-- 2 0 1 512 Nov 8 11:06 etc
drwxrwsr-x 5 13 22 512 Mar 19 12:27 imap
drwxr-xr-x 25 1016 31 512 Apr 4 02:15 info-mac
drwxr-x--- 2 0 31 1024 Apr 5 15:38 pid
drwxrwsr-x 13 0 20 1024 Mar 27 14:03 pub
drwxr-xr-x 2 1077 20 512 Feb 6 1989 tmycin
226 Transfer complete.
ftp>
Ack! Let's decipher this Rosetta Stone.
First, ls is the ftp command for displaying a directory (you can actually
use dir as well, but if you're used to MS-DOS, this could lead to
confusion when you try to use dir on your host system, where it won't
work, so it's probably better to just remember to always use ls for a
directory while online).
The very first letter on each line tells you whether the listing is for a
directory or a file. If the first letter is a ``d,'' or an "l", it's a
directory. Otherwise, it's a file.
The rest of that weird set of letters and dashes consist of "flags" that
tell the ftp site who can look at, change or delete the file. You can
safely ignore it. You can also ignore the rest of the line until you get
to the second number, the one just before the date. This tells you how
large the file is, in bytes. If the line is for a directory, the
number gives you a rough indication of how many items are in that
directory -- a directory listing of 512 bytes is relatively small. Next
comes the date the file or directory was uploaded, followed (finally!) by
its name.
Notice the README.POSTING file up at the top of the directory. Most
archive sites have a "read me" document, which usually contains some
basic information about the site, its resources and how to use them.
Let's get this file, both for the information in it and to see how to
transfer files from there to here. At the ftp> prompt, type
get README
and hit enter. Note that ftp sites are no different from Unix sites in
general: they are case-sensitive. You'll see something like this:
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for README (4444 bytes).
226 Transfer complete. 4444 bytes received in 1.177seconds (3.8 Kbytes/s)
And that's it! The file is now located in your home directory on your host
system, from which you can now download it to your own computer. The
simple "get" command is the key to transferring a file from an archive
site to your host system.
If you want to download more than one file at a time (say a series of
documents, use mget instead of get; for example:
mget *.txt
This will transfer copies of every file ending with .txt in the given
directory. Before each file is copied, you'll be asked if you're sure
you want it. Despite this, mget could still save you considerable
time -- you won't have to type in every single file name. If you want to
save even more time, and are sure you really want ALL of the given files,
type
prompt
before you do the mget command. This will turn off the prompt, and all
the files will be zapped right into your home directory.
There is one other command to keep in mind. If you want to get a copy of
a computer program, type
bin
and hit enter. This tells the ftp site and your host site that you are
sending a binary file, i.e., a program. Most ftp sites now use binary
format as a default, but it's a good idea to do this in case you've
connected to one of the few that doesn't.
To switch to a directory, type
cd directory-name
(substituting the name of the directory you want to access) and hit
enter. Type
ls
and hit enter to get the file listing for that particular directory.
To move back up the directory tree, type
cd ..
(note the space between the d and the first period) and hit enter. Or
you could type
cdup
and hit enter. Keep doing this until you get to the directory of
interest. Alternately, if you already know the directory path of the
file you want (from our friend archie), after you connect, you could
simply type
get directory/subdirectory/filename
On many sites, files meant for public consumption are in the pub or
public directory; sometimes you'll see an info directory.
Almost every site has a bin directory, which at first glance sounds like
a bin in which interesting stuff might be dumped. But it actually stands
for "binary" and is simply a place for the system administrator to store
the programs that run the ftp system. Lost+found is another directory
that looks interesting but actually never has anything of public interest
in them.
Before, you saw how to use archie. From our example, you can see that
some system administrators go a little berserk when naming files.
Fortunately, there's a way for you to rename the file as it's being
transferred. Using our archie example, you'd type
get zterm-sys7-color-icons.hqx zterm.hqx
and hit enter. Instead of having to deal constantly with a file called
zterm-sys7-color-icons.hqx, you'll now have one called, simply,
zterm.hqx.
Those last three letters bring up something else: Many program files are
compressed to save on space and transmission time. In order to actually
use them, you'll have to use an un-compress program on them first.
7.4 ODD LETTERS -- DECODING FILE ENDINGS
There are a wide variety of compression methods in use. You can tell
which method was used by the last one to three letters at the end of a
file. Here are some of the more common ones and what you'll need to un-
compress the files they create (most of these decompression programs can
be located through archie).
.txt or .TXT By itself, this means the file is a document, rather than a
program.
.ps or .PS A PostScript document (in Adobe's page description
language). You can print this file on any PostScript
capable printer, or use a previewer, like GNU project's
GhostScript.
.doc or .DOC Another common "extension" for documents. No decompression
is needed, unless it is followed by:
.Z This indicates a Unix compression method. To uncompress,
type
uncompress filename.Z
and hit enter at your host system's command line. If the
file is a compressed text file, you can read it online by
instead typing
zcat filename.txt.Z |more
u16.zip is an MS-DOS program that will let you download
such a file and uncompress it on your own computer. The
Macintosh equivalent program is called MacCompress (use
archie to find these).
.zip or .ZIP These indicate the file has been compressed with a common
MS-DOS compression program, known as PKZIP (use archie to
find PKZIP204.EXE). Many Unix systems will let you un-ZIP
a file with a program called, well, unzip.
.gz A Unix version of ZIP. To uncompress, type
gunzip filename.gz
at your host system's command line.
.zoo or .ZOO A Unix and MS-DOS compression format. Use a program called
zoo to uncompress
.Hqx or .hqx Mactintosh compression format. Requires the BinHex program.
.shar or Another Unix format. Use unshar to uncompress.
.Shar
.tar Another Unix format, often used to compress several related
files into one large file. Most Unix systems will have a
program called tar for "un-tarring" such files. Often, a
"tarred" file will also be compressed with the gz method,
so you first have to use uncompress and then tar.
.sit or .Sit A Mactinosh format that requires the StuffIt program.
.ARC Another MS-DOS format, which requires the use of the ARC
or ARCE programs.
.LHZ Another MS-DOS format; requires the use of LHARC.
A few last words of caution: Check the size of a file before you get it.
The Net moves data at phenomenal rates of speed. But that 500,000-byte
file that gets transferred to your host system in a few seconds could
take more than an hour or two to download to your computer if you're
using a 2400-baud modem. Your host system may also have limits on the
amount of bytes you can store online at any one time. Also, although it
is really extremely unlikely you will ever get a file infected with a
virus, if you plan to do much downloading over the Net, you'd be wise to
invest in a good anti-viral program, just in case.
7.5 THE KEYBOARD CABAL
System administrators are like everybody else -- they try to make things
easier for themselves. And when you sit in front of a keyboard all day,
that can mean trying everything possible to reduce the number of keys you
actually have to hit each day.
Unfortunately, that can make it difficult for the rest of us.
You've already read about bin and lost+found directories. Etc is another
seemingly interesting directory that turns out to be another place to
store files used by the ftp site itself. Again, nothing of any real
interest.
Then, once you get into the actual file libraries, you'll find that in
many cases, files will have such non-descriptive names as V1.1-AK.TXT.
The best known example is probably a set of several hundred files known
as RFCs, which provide the basic technical and organizational information
on which much of the Internet is built. These files can be found on many
ftp sites, but always in a form such as RFC101.TXT, RFC102.TXT and so on,
with no clue whatsoever as to what information they contain.
Fortunately, almost all ftp sites have a "Rosetta Stone" to help you
decipher these names. Most will have a file named README (or some
variant) that gives basic information about the system. Then, most
directories will either have a similar README file or will have an index
that does give brief descriptions of each file. These are usually the
first file in a directory and often are in the form 00INDEX.TXT. Use the
ftp command to get this file. You can then scan it online or download it
to see which files you might be interested in.
Another file you will frequently see is called ls-lR.Z. This contains a
listing of every file on the system, but without any descriptions (the
name comes from the Unix command ls -lR, which gives you a listing of all
the files in all your directories). The Z at the end means the file has
been compressed, which means you will have to use a Unix un-compress
command before you can read the file.
And finally, we have those system administrators who almost seem to
delight in making things difficult -- the ones who take full advantage of
Unix's ability to create absurdly long file names. On some FTP sites,
you will see file names as long as 80 characters or so, full of capital
letters, underscores and every other orthographic device that will make
it almost impossible for you to type the file name correctly when you try
to get it. Your secret weapon here is the mget command. Just type mget,
a space, and the first five or six letters of the file name, followed by
an asterisk, for example:
mget This_F*
The FTP site will ask you if you want to get the file that begins with
that name. If there are several files that start that way, you might have
to answer 'n' a few times, but it's still easier than trying to recreate
a ludicrously long file name.
7.6 SOME INTERESTING FTP SITES
What follows is a list of some interesting ftp sites, arranged by
category. With hundreds of ftp sites now on the Net, however, this list
barely scratches the surface of what is available. Liberal use of archie
will help you find specific files.
The times listed for each site are in Eastern time and represent the
periods during which it is considered acceptable to connect.
AMIGA
ftp.uu.net Has Amiga programs in the systems/amiga directory.
Available 24 hours.
wuarchive.wustl.edu. Look in the pub/aminet directory.
Available 24 hours.
ATARI
atari.archive.umich.edu Find almost all the Atari files you'll ever
need, in the atari directory.
7 p.m. - 7 a.m.
BOOKS
rtfm.mit.edu The pub/usenet/rec.arts.books directories has
reading lists for various authors as well as lists of recommended
bookstores in different cities. Unfortunately, this site uses incredibly
long file names -- so long they may scroll off the end of your screen if
you are using an MS-DOS or certain other computers. Even if you want
just one of the files, it probably makes more sense to use mget than get.
This way, you will be asked on each file whether you want to get it;
otherwise you may wind up frustrated because the system will keep telling
you the file you want doesn't exist (since you may miss the end of its
name due to the scrolling problem).
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu Project Gutenberg is an effort to translate
paper texts into electronic form. Already available are more than 100
titles, from works by Lewis Carrol to Mark Twain; from "A Tale of Two
Cities" to "Son of Tarzan." Look in the /etext/etext92 and
/etext/etext93 directories.
6 p.m. - 9 a.m.
COMPUTER ETHICS
ftp.eff.org The home of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Use cd
to get to the pub directory and then look in the EFF, SJG and CPSR
directories for documents on the EFF itself and various issues related to
the Net, ethics and the law.
Available 24 hours.
CONSUMER
rtfm.mit.edu The pub/usenet/misc.consumers directory has
documents related to credit. The pub/usenet/rec.travel.air directory
will tell you how to deal with airline reservation clerks, find the best
prices on seats, etc. See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp
site.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
COOKING
wuarchive.wustl.edu Look for recipes and recipe directories in the
usenet/rec.food.cooking/recipes directory.
gatekeeper.dec.com Recipes are in the pub/recipes directory.
ECONOMICS
neeedc.umesbs.maine.edu The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston uses
this site (yes, there are three 'e's in "neeedc") to house all sorts of
data on the New England economy. Many files contain 20 years or more of
information, usually in forms that are easily adaptable to spreadsheet or
database files. Look in the frbb directory.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
town.hall.org. Look in the edgar directory for the beginnings of a
system to distribute annual reports and other data publicly held
companies are required to file with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The other/fed directory holds various statistical files from
the Federal Reserve Board.
FTP
iraun1.ira.uka.de Run by the computer-science department of the
University of Karlsruhe in Germany, this site offers lists of anonymous-
FTP sites both internationally (in the anon.ftp.sites directory) and in
Germany (in anon.ftp.sites.DE).
12 p.m. to 2 a.m.
ftp.netcom.com The pub/profiles directory has lists of ftp sites.
GOVERNMENT
ncsuvm.cc.ncsu.edu The SENATE directory contains bibliographic
records of U.S. Senate hearings and documents for the past several
Congresses. Get the file README.DOS9111, which will explain the cryptic
file names.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
nptn.org The General Accounting Office is the investigative wing of
Congress. The pub/e.texts/gao.reports directory represents an experiment
by the agency to use ftp to distribute its reports.
Available 24 hours.
info.umd.edu The info/Government/US/Whitehouse directory has copies
of press releases and other documents from the Clinton administration.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
leginfo.public.ca.gov This is a repository of legislative
calendars, bills and other information related to state government in
California.
Available 24 hours.
whitehouse.gov Look for copies of presidential position papers,
transcripts of press conferences and related information here.
Available 24 hours.
See also under law.
HISTORY
nptn.org This site has a large, growing collecting of text files.
In the pub/e.texts/freedom.shrine directory, you'll find copies of
important historical documents, from the Magna Carta to the Declaration
of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation.
Available 24 hours.
ra.msstate.edu Mississippi State maintains an eclectic database of
historical documents, detailing everything from Attilla's battle strategy
to songs of soldiers in Vietnam, in the docs/history directory.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
seq1.loc.gov The Library of Congress has acquired numerous
documents from the former Soviet government and has translated many of
them into English. In the pub/soviet.archive/text.english directory,
you'll find everything from telegrams from Lenin ordering the death of
peasants to Khrushchev's response to Kennedy during the Cuban missile
crisis. The README file in the pub/soviet.archive directory provides an
index to the documents.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
HONG KONG
nok.lcs.mit.edu GIF pictures of Hong Kong pop stars, buildings
and vistas are available in the pub/hongkong/HKPA directory.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
INTERNET
ftp.eff.org The pub/Net_info directory has a number of sub-
directories containing various Internet resources guides and information
files, including the latest online version of EFF's Guide to the Internet.
Available 24 hours.
nic.ddn.mil The internet-drafts directory contains information about
Internet, while the scc directory holds network security bulletins.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
LAW
info.umd.edu U.S. Supreme Court decisions from 1989 to the present
are stored in the info/Government/US/SupremeCt directory. Each term has
a separate directory (for example, term1992). Get the README and Index
files to help decipher the case numbers.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
ftp.uu.net Supreme Court decisions are in the court-opinions
directory. You'll want to get the index file, which tells you which file
numbers go with which file names. The decisions come in WordPerfect and
Atex format only.
Available 24 hours a day.
LIBRARIES
ftp.unt.edu The library directory contains numerous lists of
libraries with computerized card catalogs accessible through the Net.
LITERATURE
nptn.org In the pub/e.texts/gutenberg/etext91 and etext92
directories, you can get copies of Aesop's Fables, works by Lewis Carroll
and other works of literature, as well as the Book of Mormon.
Available 24 hours.
world.std.com The obi directory has everything from online fables
to accounts of Hiroshima survivors.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
MACINTOSH
sumex-aim.stanford.edu This is the premier site for Macintosh
software. After you log in, switch to the info-mac directory, which will
bring up a long series of sub-directories of virtually every free and
shareware Mac program you could ever want.
9 p.m. - 9 a.m.
ftp.uu.net You'll find lots of Macintosh programs in the
systems/mac/simtel20 directory.
Available 24 hours a day.
MOVIE REVIEWS
lcs.mit.edu Look in the movie-reviews directory.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
MS-DOS
wuarchive.wustl.edu This carries one of the world's largest
collections of MS-DOS software. The files are actually copied, or
"mirrored" from a computer at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range
(which uses ftp software that is totally incomprehensible). It also
carries large collections of Macintosh, Windows, Atari, Amiga, Unix, OS9,
CP/M and Apple II software. Look in the mirrors and systems directories.
The gif directory contains a large number of GIF graphics images.
Accessible 24 hours.
ftp.uu.net Look for MS-DOS programs and files in the
systems/msdos/simtel20 directory.
Available 24 hours a day.
MUSIC
cs.uwp.edu The pub/music directory has everything from lyrics of
contemporary songs to recommended CDs of baroque music. It's a little
different - and easier to navigate - than other ftp sites. File and
directory names are on the left, while on the right, you'll find a brief
description of the file or directory.
potemkin.cs.pdx.edu The Bob Dylan archive. Interviews, notes,
year-by-year accounts of his life and more, in the pub/dylan directory.
9 p.m. - 9 a.m.
ftp.nevada.edu Guitar chords for contemporary songs are in the
pub/guitar directory, in subdirectories organized by group or artist.
NATIVE AMERICANS
pines.hsu.edu Home of IndianNet, this site contains a variety
of directories and files related to Indians and Eskimos, including
federal census data, research reports and a tribal profiles database.
Look in the pub and indian directories.
PETS
rtfm.mit.edu The pub/usenet/rec.pets.dogs and
pub/usenet.rec.pets.cats directories have documents on the respective
animals. See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
PICTURES
wuarchiv.wustl.edu The graphics/gif directory contains hundreds of
GIF photographic and drawing images, from cartoons to cars, space images
to pop stars. These are arranged in a long series of subdirectories.
PHOTOGRAPHY
ftp.nevada.edu Photolog is an online digest of photography news, in
the pub/photo directory.
RELIGION
nptn.org In the pub/e.texts/religion directory, you'll find
subdirectories for chapters and books of both the Bible and the Koran.
Available 24 hours.
SCIENCE FICTION
elbereth.rutgers.edu In the pub/sfl directory, you'll find plot
summaries for various science-fiction TV shows, including Star Trek (not
only the original and Next Generation shows, but the cartoon version as
well), Lost in Space, Battlestar Galactica, the Twilight Zone, the
Prisoner and Doctor Who. There are also lists of various things related
to science fiction and an online science-fiction fanzine.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
SEX
rtfm.mit.edu Look in the pub/usenet/alt.sex and
pub/usenet/alt.sex.wizards directories for documents related to all
facets of sex. See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
SHAKESPEARE
atari.archive.umich.edu The shakespeare directory contains most of
the Bard's works. A number of other sites have his works as well, but
generally as one huge mega-file. This site breaks them down into various
categories (comedies, poetry, histories, etc.) so that you can download
individual plays or sonnets.
SPACE
ames.arc.nasa.gov Stores text files about space and the history of
the NASA space program in the pub/SPACE subdirectory. In the pub/GIF
and pub/SPACE/GIF directories, you'll find astronomy- and NASA-related
GIF files, including pictures of planets, satellites and other celestial
objects.
9 p.m. - 9 a.m.
TV
coe.montana.edu The pub/TV/Guides directory has histories and other
information about dozens of TV shows. Only two anonymous-ftp log-ins are
allowed at a time, so you might have to try more than once to get in.
8 p.m. - 8 a.m.
ftp.cs.widener.edu The pub/simpsons directory has more files than
anybody could possibly need about Bart and family. The pub/strek
directory has files about the original and Next Generation shows as well
as the movies.
See also under Science Fiction.
TRAVEL
nic.stolaf.edu Before you take that next overseas trip, you might
want to see whether the State Department has issued any kind of advisory
for the countries on your itinerary. The advisories, which cover
everything from hurricane damage to civil war, are in the pub/travel-
advisories/advisories directory, arranged by country.
7 p.m. - 7 a.m.
USENET
ftp.uu.net In the usenet directory, you'll find "frequently asked
questions" files, copied from rtfm.mit.edu. The communications
directory holds programs that let MS-DOS users connect directly with UUCP
sites. In the info directory, you'll find information about ftp and ftp
sites. The inet directory contains information about Internet.
Available 24 hours.
rtfm.mit.edu This site contains all available "frequently
asked questions" files for Usenet newsgroups in the pub/usenet directory.
See under Books for a caveat in using this ftp site.
6 p.m. - 6 a.m.
VIRUSES
ftp.unt.edu The antivirus directory has anti-virus programs for MS-
DOS and Macintosh computers.
7 p.m. - 7 a.m.
WEATHER
wuarchive.wustl.edu The /multimedia/images/wx directory contains GIF
weather images of North America. Files are updated hourly and take this
general form: CV100222. The first two letters tell the type of file: CV
means it is a visible-light photo taken by a weather satellite. CI
images are similar, but use infrared light. Both these are in black and
white. Files that begin with SA are color radar maps of the U.S. that
show severe weather patterns but also fronts and temperatures in major
cities. The numbers indicate the date and time (in GMT - five hours
ahead of EST) of the image: the first two numbers represent the month,
the next two the date, the last two the hour. The file WXKEY.GIF explains
the various symbols in SA files.
7.7 ncftp -- NOW YOU TELL ME!
If you're lucky, the people who run your host system or public-access
site have installed a program called ncftp, which takes some of the edges
off the ftp process.
For starters, when you use ncftp instead of plain old ftp, you no longer
have to worry about misspelling "anonymous" when you connect. The
program does it for you. And once you're in, instead of getting line
after line filled with dashes, x's, r's and d's, you only get listings of
the files or directories themselves (if you're used to MS-DOS, the
display you get will be very similar to that produced by the dir/w
command). The program even creates a list of the ftp sites you've used
most recently, so you can pick from that list, instead of trying to
remember some incredibly complex ftp site name.
Launching the program, assuming your site has it, is easy. At the
command prompt, type
ncftp sitename
where "sitename" is the site you want to reach (alternately, you could
type just ncftp and then use its open command). Once connected, you can
use the same ftp commands you've become used to, such as ls, get and
mget. Entries that end in a / are directories to which you can switch
with cd; others are files you can get. A couple of useful ncftp commands
include type, which lets you change the type of file transfer (from ASCII
to binary for example) and size, which lets you see how large a file is
before you get it, for example
size declaration.txt
would tell you how large the declaration.txt file is before you get it.
When you say "bye" to disconnect from a site, ncftp remembers the last
directory you were in, so that the next time you connect to the site, you
are put back into that directory automatically. If you type
help
you'll get a list of files you can read to extend the power of the
program even further.
7.8 PROJECT GUTENBERG -- ELECTRONIC BOOKS
Project Gutenberg, coordinated by Michael Hart, has a fairly ambitious
goal: to make more than 10,000 books and other documents available
electronically by the year 2001. In 1993, the project uploaded an
average of four books a month to its ftp sites; in 1994, they hope to
double the pace.
Begun in 1971, the project already maintains a "library" of hundreds of
books and stories, from Aesop's Fables to "Through the Looking Glass"
available for the taking. It also has a growing number of current-
affairs documents, such as the CIA's annual "World Factbook" almanac.
Besides nptn.org, Project Gutenberg texts can be retrieved from
mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu in the etext directory.
7.9 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* You get a "host unavailable" message. The ftp site is down for some
reason.
Try again later.
* You get a "host unknown" message.
Check your spelling of the site name.
* You misspell "anonymous" when logging in and get a message telling you
a password is required for whatever you typed in.
Type something in, hit enter, type bye, hit enter, and try again.
Alternately, try typing "ftp" instead of "anonymous." It will work on a
surprising number of sites. Or just use ncftp, if your site has it, and
never worry about this again.
*You connect to a site, but then the site promptly disconnects you.
Try again in a few minutes. As the internet becomes more popular, more
and more sites are being overloaded by the demand.
7.10 FYI
Liberal use of archie will help you find specific files or documents.
For information on new or interesting ftp sites, try the comp.archives
newsgroup on Usenet. You can also look in the comp.misc,
comp.sources.wanted or news.answers newsgroups on Usenet for lists of ftp
sites posted every month by Tom Czarnik and Jon Granrose.
The comp.archives newsgroup carries news of new ftp sites and interesting
new files on existing sites.
In the comp.virus newsgroup on Usenet, look for postings that list ftp
sites carrying anti-viral software for Amiga, MS-DOS, Macintosh, Atari
and other computers.
The comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest and comp.sys.mac.digest newsgroups provide
information about new MS-DOS and Macintosh programs as well as answers to
questions from users of those computers.
Chapter 8: GOPHERS AND WAISs
8.1 GOPHERS
Even with tools like Hytelnet and archie, telnet and ftp can still be
frustrating. There are all those telnet and ftp addresses to remember.
Telnet services often have their own unique commands. And, oh, those
weird directory and file names!
But now that the Net has become a rich repository of information, people
are developing ways to make it far easier to find and retrieve
information and files. Gophers and Wide-Area Information Servers (WAISs)
are two services that are helping to make the internet far easier to
use.
Both gophers and WAISs essentially take a request for information and
then scan the Net for it, so you don't have to. Both also work through
menus -- instead of typing in some long sequence of characters, you just
move a cursor to your choice and hit enter. Gophers even let you select
files and programs from ftp sites this way.
Let's first look at gophers (named for the official mascot of thE
University of Minnesota, where the system was developed). Most
public-access sites now have gophers online. To use one, type
gopher
at the command prompt and hit enter. If you know your site does not have
a gopher, or if nothing happens when you type that, telnet to
consultant.micro.umn.edu
At the login prompt, type
gopher
and hit enter. You'll be asked what type of terminal emulation you're
using, after which you'll see something like this:
Internet Gopher Information Client v1.03
Root gopher server: gopher.micro.umn.edu
--> 1. Information About Gopher/
2. Computer Information/
3. Discussion Groups/
4. Fun & Games/
5. Internet file server (ftp) sites/
6. Libraries/
7. News/
8. Other Gopher and Information Servers/
9. Phone Books/
10. Search lots of places at the U of M <?>
11. University of Minnesota Campus Information/
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/1
Assuming you're using VT100 or some other VT emulation, you'll be able to
move among the choices with your up and down arrow keys. When you have
your cursor on an entry that looks interesting, just hit enter, and
you'll either get a new menu of choices, a database entry form, or a text
file, depending on what the menu entry is linked to (more on how to tell
which you'll get in a moment).
Gophers are great for exploring the resources of the Net. Just keep
making choices to see what pops up. Play with it; see where it takes
you. Some choices will be documents. When you read one of these and
either come to the end or hit a lower-case q to quit reading it, you'll
be given the choice of saving a copy to your home directory or e-mailing
it to yourself. Other choices are simple databases that let you enter a
word to look for in a particular database. To get back to where you
started on a gopher, hit your u key at a menu prompt, which will move you
back "up" through the gopher menu structure (much like "cd .." in ftp).
Notice that one of your choices above is "Internet file server (ftp)
sites." Choose this, and you'll be connected to a modified archie
program -- an archie with a difference. When you search for a file
through a gopher archie, you'll get a menu of sites that have the file
you're looking for, just as with the old archie. Only now, instead of
having to write down or remember an ftp address and directory, all you
have to do is position the cursor next to one of the numbers in the menu
and hit enter. You'll be connected to the ftp site, from which you can
then choose the file you want. This time, move the cursor to the file
you want and hit a lower-case s. You'll be asked for a name in your home
directory to use for the file, after which the file will be copied to
your home system. Unfortunately, this file-transfer process does not yet
work with all public-access sites for computer programs and compressed
files. If it doesn't work with yours, you'll have to get the file the
old-fashioned way, via anonymous ftp.
In addition to ftp sites, there are hundreds of databases and libraries
around the world accessible through gophers. There is not yet a common
gopher interface for library catalogs, so be prepared to follow the
online directions more closely when you use gopher to connect to one.
Gopher menu entries that end in a / are gateways to another menu of
options. Entries that end in a period are text, graphics or program
files, which you can retrieve to your home directory (or e-mail to
yourself or to somebody else). A line that ends in <?> or <CSO>
represents a request you can make to a database for information. The
difference is that <?> entries call up one-line interfaces in which you
can search for a keyword or words, while <CSO> brings up an electronic
form with several fields for you to fill out (you might see this in
online "White Pages" directories at colleges).
Gophers actually let you perform some relatively sophisticated Boolean
searches. For example, if you want to search only for files that contain
the words "MS-DOS" and "Macintosh," you'd type
ms-dos and macintosh
(gophers are not case-sensitive) in the keyword field. Alternately, if
you want to get a list of files that mention either "MS-DOS" or
"Macintosh," you'd type
ms-dos or macintosh
8.2 BURROWING DEEPER
As fascinating as it can be to explore "gopherspace," you might one day
want to quickly retrieve some information or a file. Or you might grow
tired of calling up endless menus to get to the one you want.
Fortunately, there are ways to make even gophers easier to use.
One is with archie's friend, veronica (it allegedly is an acronym, but
don't believe that for a second), who does for gopherspace what archie
does for ftp sites.
In most gophers, you'll find veronica by selecting "Other gopher and
information services" at the main menu and then "Searching through
gopherspace using veronica." Select this and you'll get something like
this:
Internet Gopher Information Client v1.1
Search titles in Gopherspace using veronica
--> 1. .
2. FAQ: Frequently-Asked Questions about veronica (1993/08/23).
3. How to compose veronica queries (NEW June 24) READ ME!!.
4. Search Gopher Directory Titles at PSINet <?>
5. Search Gopher Directory Titles at SUNET <?>
6. Search Gopher Directory Titles at U. of Manitoba <?>
7. Search Gopher Directory Titles at University of Cologne <?>
8. Search gopherspace at PSINet <?>
9. Search gopherspace at SUNET <?>
10. Search gopherspace at U. of Manitoba <?>
11. Search gopherspace at University of Cologne <?>
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/1
A few choices there! First, the difference between searching directory
titles and just plain ol' gopherspace. If you already know the sort of
directory you're looking for (say a directory containing MS-DOS
programs), do a directory-title search. But if you're not sure what kind
of directory your information might be in, then do a general gopherspace
search. In general, it doesn't matter which of the particular veronicas
you use -- they should all be able to produce the same results. The
reason there is more than one is because the Internet has become so
popular that only one veronica (or one gopher or one of almost anything)
would quickly be overwhelmed by all the information requests from around
the world.
You can use veronica to search for almost anything. Want to find museums
that might have online displays from their exhibits? Try searching for
"museum." Looking for a copy of the Declaration of Independence? Try
"declaration."
In many cases, your search will bring up a new gopher menu of choices to
try.
Say you want to impress those guests coming over for dinner on Friday by
cooking cherries flambe. If you were to call up veronica and type in
"flambe" after calling up veronica, you would soon get a menu listing
several flambe recipes, including one called "dessert flambe." Put your
cursor on that line of the menu and hit enter, and you'll find it's a
menu for cherries flambe. Then hit your q key to quit, and gopher will
ask you if you want to save the file in your home directory on your
public-access site or whether you want to e-mail it somewhere.
As you can see, you can use veronica as an alternative to archie, which,
because of the Internet's growing popularity, seems to take longer and
longer to work.
In addition to archie and veronica, we now also have jugheads (no bettys
yet, though). These work the same as veronicas, but their searches are
limited to the specific gopher systems on which they reside.
If there are particular gopher resources you use frequently, there are a
couple of ways to get to them even more directly.
One is to use gopher in a manner similar to the way you can use telnet.
If you know a particular gopher's Internet address (often the same as its
telnet or ftp address), you can connect to it directly, rather than going
through menus. For example, say you want to use the gopher at
info.umd.edu. If your public-access site has a gopher system installed,
type this
gopher info.umd.edu
at your command prompt and you'll be connected.
But even that can get tedious if there are several gophers you use
frequently. That's where bookmarks come in. Gophers let you create a
list of your favorite gopher sites and even database queries. Then,
instead of digging ever deeper into the gopher directory structure, you
just call up your bookmark list and select the service you want.
To create a bookmark for a particular gopher site, first call up gopher.
Then go through all the gopher menus until you get to the menu you want.
Type a capital A. You'll be given a suggested name for the bookmark enty,
which you can change if you want by backspacing over the suggestion and
typing in your own. When done, hit enter. Now, whenever you're in
gopherspace and want to zip back to that particular gopher service, just
hit your V key (upper- or lower-case; in this instance, gopher doesn't
care) anywhere within gopher. This will bring up a list of your
bookmarks. Move to the one you want and hit enter, and you'll be
connected.
Using a capital A is also good for saving particular database or veronica
queries that you use frequently (for example, searching for news stories
on a particular topic if your public-access site maintains an indexed
archive of wire-service news).
Instead of a capital A, you can also hit a lower-case a. This will bring
you to the particular line within a menu, rather than show you the entire
menu.
If you ever want to delete a bookmark, hit V within gopher, select the
item you want to get rid of, and then hit your D key.
One more hint:
If you want to find the address of a particular gopher service, hit your
= key after you've highlighted its entry in a gopher menu. You'll get
back a couple of lines, most of which will be technicalese of no
immediate value to most folks, but some of which will consist of the
site's address.
8.3 GOPHER COMMANDS
a Add a line in a gopher menu to your bookmark list.
A Add an entire gopher menu or a database query to your bookmark
list.
d Delete an entry from your bookmark list (you have to hit v
first).
q Quit, or exit, a gopher. You'll be asked if you really want to.
Q Quit, or exit, a gopher without being asked if you're sure.
s Save a highlighted file to your home directory.
u Move back up a gopher menu structure
v View your bookmark list.
= Get information on the originating site of a gopher entry.
> Move ahead one screen in a gopher menu.
< Move back one screen in a gopher menu.
8.4 SOME INTERESTING GOPHERS
There are now hundreds of gopher sites around the world. What follows is
a list of some of them. Assuming your site has a gopher "client"
installed, you can reach them by typing
gopher sitename
at your command prompt. Can't find what you're looking for? Remember to
use veronica to look up categories and topics!
AGRICULTURE
cyfer.esusda.gov More agricultural statistics and regulations
most people will ever need.
usda.mannlib.cornell.edu More than 140 different types of agricultural
data, most in Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet format.
ANIMALS
saimiri.primate.wisc.edu Information on primates and animal-welfare
laws.
ARCHITECTURE
libra.arch.umich.edu Maintains online exhibits of a variety of
architectural images.
ART
marvel.loc.gov The Library of Congress runs several online
"galleries" of images from exhibits at the
library. Many of these pictures, in GIF or JPEG
format, are HUGE, so be careful what you get
first. Exhibits include works of art from the
Vatican, copies of once secret Soviet documents
and pictures of artifacts related to Columbus's
1492 voyage. At the main menu, select 2 and then
"Exhibits."
galaxy.ucr.edu The California Museum of Photography maintains its
own online galery here. At the main menu,
select "Campus Events," then "California
Museum of Photography," then "Network Ex-
hibitions."
ASTRONOMY
cast0.ast.cam.ac.uk A gopher devoted to astronomy, run by the
Institute of Astronomy and the Royal Greenwich
Observatory, Cambridge, England.
CENSUS
bigcat.missouri.edu You'll find detailed federal census data for
communities of more than 10,000 people, as well
as for states and counties here. At the main
menu, select "Reference and Information Center,"
then "United States and Missouri Census
Information" and "United States Census."
COMPUTERS
wuarchive.wustl.edu Dozens of directories with software for all sorts
of computers. Most programs have to be
"un-compressed" before you can use them.
sumex-aim.stanford.edu A similar type of system, with the emphasis on
Macintosh programs and files.
DISABILITY
val-dor.cc.buffalo.edu The Cornucopia of Disability Information carries
numerous information resources on disability issues
and links to other disability-related services.
ENVIRONMENT
ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu Copies of Environmental Protection Agency
factsheets on hundreds of chemicals, searchable
by keyword. Select "Education" and then
"Environmental fact sheets."
envirolink.org Dozens of documents and files related to
environmental activism around the world.
ENTOMOLOGY
spider.ento.csiro.au All about creepy-crawly things, both the good
and the bad ones.
GEOLOGY
gopher.stolaf.edu Select "Internet Resources" and then "Weather
and geography" for information on recent
earthquakes.
GOVERNMENT
marvel.loc.gov Run by the Library of Congress, this site
provides numerous resources, including access
to the Library card catalog and all manner of
information about the U.S. Congress.
gopher.lib.umich.edu Wide variety of government information, from
Congressional committee assignments to economic
statistics and NAFTA information.
ecix.doc.gov Information on conversion of military
installations to private uses.
sunsite.unc.edu Copies of current and past federal budgets can
be found by selecting "Sunsite archives," then
"Politics," then "Sunsite politcal science
archives."
wiretap.spies.com Documents related to Canadian government can be
found in the "Government docs" menu.
stis.nih.gov Select the "Other U.S. government gopher
servers" for access to numerous other federal
gophers.
HEALTH
odie.niaid.nih.gov National Institutes of Health databases on AIDS,
in the "AIDS related information" menu.
helix.nih.gov For National Cancer Institute factsheets on
different cancers, select "Health and clinical
information" and then "Cancernet information."
nysernet.org Look for information on breast cancer in the
"Special Collections: Breast Cancer" menu.
welchlink.welch.jhu.edu This is Johns Hopkins University's medical
gopher.
HISTORY
See under Art.
INTERNET
gopher.lib.umich.edu Home to several guides to Internet resources
in specific fields, for example, social
sciences. Select "What's New & Featured
Resources" and then "Clearinghouse."
ISRAEL
jerusalem1.datasrv.co.il This Israeli system offers numerous documents
on Israel and Jewish life.
JAPAN
gopher.ncc.go.jp Look in the "Japan information" menu for
documents related to Japanese life and culture.
MUSIC
mtv.com Run by Adam Curry, an MTV video jock, this site
has music news and Curry's daily "Cybersleaze"
celebrity report.
NATURE
ucmp1.berkeley.edu The University of California at Berkeley's
Museum of Paleontology runs several online
exhibits here. You can obtain GIF images of
plants and animals from the "Remote Nature" menu.
The "Origin of the Species" menu lets you read
Darwin's work or search it by keyword.
SPORTS
culine.colorado.edu Look up schedules for teams in various professional
sports leagues here, under "Professional Sports
Schedules."
WEATHER
wx.atmos.uiuc.edu Look up weather forecasts for North America or
bone up on your weather facts.
8.5 WIDE-AREA INFORMATION SERVERS
Now you know there are hundreds of databases and library catalogs
you can search through. But as you look, you begin to realize that each
seems to have its own unique method for searching. If you connect to
several, this can become a pain. Gophers reduce this problem somewhat.
Wide-area information servers promise another way to zero in on
information hidden on the Net. In a WAIS, the user sees only one
interface -- the program worries about how to access information on
dozens, even hundreds, of different databases. You tell give a WAIS a
word and it scours the net looking for places where it's mentioned. You
get a menu of documents, each ranked according to how relevant to your
search the WAIS thinks it is.
Like gophers, WAIS "client" programs can already be found on many public-
access Internet sites. If your system has a WAIS client, type
swais
at the command prompt and hit enter (the "s" stands for "simple"). If it
doesn't, telnet to bbs.oit.unc.edu, which is run by the University of
North Carolina At the "login:" prompt, type
bbs
and hit enter. You'll be asked to register and will then get a list of
"bulletins,'' which are various files explaining how the system works.
When done with those, hit your Q key and you'll get another menu. Hit 4
for the "simple WAIS client," and you'll see something like this:
SWAIS Source Selection Sources: 23#
Server Source Cost
001: [ archie.au] aarnet-resource-guide Free
002: [ archive.orst.edu] aeronautics Free
003: [nostromo.oes.orst.ed] agricultural-market-news Free
004: [sun-wais.oit.unc.edu] alt-sys-sun Free
005: [ archive.orst.edu] alt.drugs Free
006: [ wais.oit.unc.edu] alt.gopher Free
007: [sun-wais.oit.unc.edu] alt.sys.sun Free
008: [ wais.oit.unc.edu] alt.wais Free
009: [ archive.orst.edu] archie-orst.edu Free
010: [ archie.au] archie.au-amiga-readmes Free
011: [ archie.au] archie.au-ls-lRt Free
012: [ archie.au] archie.au-mac-readmes Free
013: [ archie.au] archie.au-pc-readmes Free
014: [ pc2.pc.maricopa.edu] ascd-education Free
015: [ archie.au] au-directory-of-servers Free
016: [ cirm2.univ-mrs.fr] bib-cirm Free
017: [ cmns-sun.think.com] bible Free
018: [ zenon.inria.fr] bibs-zenon-inria-fr Free
Keywords:
<space> selects, w for keywords, arrows move, <return> searches, q quits, or ?
Each line represents a different database (the .au at the end of some of
them means they are in Australia; the .fr on the last line represents a
database in France). And this is just the first page! If you type a
capital K, you'll go to the next page (there are several pages).
Hitting a capital J will move you back a page.
The first thing you want to do is tell the WAIS program which databases
you want searched. To select a database, move the cursor bar over the
line you want (using your down and up arrow keys) and hit your space bar.
An asterisk will appear next to the line number. Repeat this until
you've selected all of the databases you want searched. Then hit your W
key, after which you'll be prompted for the key words you're looking for.
You can type in an entire line of these words -- separate each with a
space, not a comma.
Hit return, and the search begins.
Let's say you're utterly fascinated with wheat. So you might select
agricultural-market-news to find its current world price. But you also
want to see if it has any religious implications, so you choose the Bible
and the Book of Mormon. What do you do with the stuff? Select recipes
and usenet-cookbook. Are there any recent Supreme Court decisions
involving the plant? Chose supreme-court. How about synonyms? Try roget-
thesaurus and just plain thesaurus.
Now hit w and type in wheat. Hit enter, and the WAIS program begins its
search. As it looks, it tells you whether any of the databases are
offline, and if so, when they might be ready for a search. In about a
minute, the program tells you how many hits it's found. Then you get a
new menu, that looks something like this:
Keywords:
# Score SourceTitleLines
001: [1000] (roget-thesaurus) #465. [results of comparison. 1] Di 19
002: [1000] (roget-thesaurus) #609. Choice. -- N. choice, option; 36
003: [1000] (roget-thesaurus) #465. [results of comparison. 1] Di 19
004: [1000] (roget-thesaurus) #609. Choice. -- N. choice, option; 36
005: [1000] (recipes) aem@mthvax Re: MONTHLY: Rec.Food.Recipes 425
006: [1000] ( Book_of_Mormon) Mosiah 9:96
007: [1000] ( Book_of_Mormon) 3 Nephi 18:185
008: [1000] (agricultural-ma) Re: JO GR115, WEEKLY GRAIN82
009: [ 822] (agricultural-ma) Re: WA CB351 PROSPECTIVE PLANTINGS 552
010: [ 800] ( recipes) kms@apss.a Re: REQUEST: Wheat-free, Suga 35
011: [ 750] (agricultural-ma) Re: WA CB101 CROP PRODUCTION258
012: [ 643] (agricultural-ma) Re: SJ GR850 DAILY NAT GRN SUM72
013: [ 400] ( recipes) pat@jaamer Re: VEGAN: Honey Granola63
014: [ 400] ( recipes) jrtrint@pa Re: OVO-LACTO: Sourdough/Trit 142
Each of these represents an article or citing that contains the word wheat,
or some related word. Move the cursor bar (with the down and up arrow
keys) to the one you want to see, hit enter, and it will begin to appear
on your screen. The "score" is a WAIS attempt to gauge how closely the
citing matches your request. Doesn't look like the Supreme Court has had
anything to say about the plant of late!
Now think of how much time you would have spent logging onto various
databases just to find these relatively trivial examples.
8.6 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
As the Internet grows ever more popular, its resources come under more of
a strain. If you try to use gopher in the middle of the day, at least on
the East Coast of the U.S., you'll sometimes notice that it takes a very
long time for particular menus or database searches to come up.
Sometimes, you'll even get a message that there are too many people
connected to whichever service you're trying to use and so you can't get
in. The only alternative is to either try again in 20 minutes or so, or
wait until later in the day, when the load might be lower. When this
happens in veronica, try one of the other veronica entries.
When you retrieve a file through gopher, you'll sometimes be asked if you
want to store it under some ludicrously long name (there go our friends
the system administrators again, using 128 characters just because Unix
lets them). With certain MS-DOS communications programs, if that name is
longer than one line, you won't be able to backspace all the way back to
the first line if you want to give it a simpler name. Backspace as far
as you can. Then, when you get ready to download it to your home
computer, remember that the file name will be truncated on your end,
because of MS-DOS's file-naming limitations. Worse, your computer might
even reject the whole thing. What to do? Instead of saving it to your
home directory, mail it to yourself. It should show up in your mail by
the time you exit gopher. Then, use your mail command for saving it to
your home directory -- at which point you can name it anything you want.
Now you can download it.
8.7 FYI
David Riggins maintains a list of gophers by type and category. You can
find the most recent one at the ftp site ftp.einet.net, in the pub
directory. Look for a file with a name like "gopher-jewels.txt."
Alternately, you can get on a mailing list to get the latest version sent
to your e-mailbox automatically. Send a mail message to gopherjewelslist-
request@tpis.cactus.org (yep, that first part is all one word). Leave
the "subject:" line blank, and as a message, write SUBSCRIBE.
Blake Gumprecht maintains a list of gopher and telnet sites related to,
or run by, the government. He posts it every three weeks to the
news.answers and soc.answers newsgroups on Usenet. It can also be
obtained via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu, as
/pub/usenet/news.answers/us-govt-net-pointers.
Students at the University of Michigan's School of Information and
Library Studies, recently compiled separate lists of Internet resources
in 11 specific areas, from aeronautics to theater. They can be obtained
via gopher at gopher.lib.umich.edu, in the "What's New and Featured
Resources" menu.
The Usenet newsgroups comp.infosystems.gopher and comp.infosystems.wais
are places to go for technical discussions about gophers and WAISs
respectively.
CHAPTER 9: THE WORLD-WIDE WEB
9.1 GETTING SNARED IN THE WEB
As nice as gophers are, there's an even better way to navigate and find
information resources on the Net -- the World-Wide Web.
Originally developed as a resource for physicists, the Web today is
fast becoming the Main Street of cyberspace. You'll find interesting
characters wandering around, museums and galleries to visit, schools to
teach you new skills, even restaurants (some of which will deliver real
food in response to e-mail). You name it, chances are somebody's created a
Web server about it. Growing numbers of people even have their own
personal Web "pages" where they let the world know what they're
interested in.
The Web's exploded in popularity for two reasons. One is that it is
fairly easy to use. As with gophers, you navigate the Web by making
selections from your screen -- no more cryptic Unix commands to memorize.
The Web also lets you connect to FTP sites, so you no longer even have to
use arcane anonymous-FTP commands in most cases.
But what really sets the Web apart is hyperlinks. To understand
hyperlinks, think of an encyclopedia. As you read an article on, say,
Africa, your eye is drawn to a picture of an elephant. You want to learn
more about the animal, so you get out the "E" volume and look up
"elephant" and start reading.
Hyperlinks are the online equivalent of this browsing process. Tim
Berners-Lee, who developed the original Web model, came up with a simple
language that lets somebody developing a Web document embed pointers to
related resources. When you then call up that document, you'll see some
words in a different color or somehow otherwise highlighted. By moving
your cursor to one of those words and then hitting enter (or clicking on
it with your mouse, depending on your interface), you'll then call up the
linked document.
Because these hyperlinks are easy to create (more on that in a bit) --
anybody can put together a Web resource that can become a central
clearinghouse of information on virtually any topic, linking documents
that could be physically stored in dozens of locations around the world.
9.2 ALRIGHT, ALREADY, LET'S GO!
We're almost there. But first a word about graphics. If you've heard of
the Web, chances are good you've also heard of Mosaic. Mosaic, developed
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University
of Illinois, brought a graphical, point-and-click interface to the Web,
and in less than a year became almost synonymous with it.
There are a couple of problems with Mosaic (and related programs),
however. One is that you need a machine capable of providing a graphical
user interface, such as those running Unix, Windows or the Macintosh
operating system. MS-DOS users are out of luck. So are the blind.
Also, Mosaic requires a fairly large chunk of computing and network
capabilities to work well, so forget about using it on your old 2400-bps
modem).
If you do have these capabilities, we'll talk about how to set up Mosaic
and similar programs in a bit. But for now, let's look at Lynx, a text-
based program that gives universal access to the Web -- via a simple
dial-up connection in most cases. It doesn't give you the pretty
pictures (although you'll be able to download many of them) and it
doesn't work with a mouse. But it's simple enough to use -- and one
could argue that if you're using the Web just to find information, you
might not want pictures, anyway, because they can take so long to get to
your computer and display.
Lynx, the creation of Michael Grobe, Lou Montulli and Charles Rezac of
the University of Kansas, will remind you of gophers in many ways. As
with gopher, probably the best way to learn how to use Lynx is just to
dive right in. At your host system's command prompt, type
lynx
and hit enter (Free-Net users: go into the "Teleport" area and look for
the "Communications Tower"). If you're lucky, your system administrator
has already installed Lynx and you'll see something like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE WEB [IMAGE]
There is no "top" to the World-Wide Web. You can look at it from many
points of view. Here are some places to start.
[IMAGE] by Subject
The Virtual Library organises information by subject matter.
List of servers
All registered HTTP servers by country
by Service Type
The Web includes data accessible by many other protocols. The
lists by access protocol may help if you know what kind of
service you are looking for.
If you find a useful starting point for you personally, you can
configure your WWW browser to start there by default.
-- press space for more, use arrow keys to move, '?' for help, 'q' to quit
Arrow keys: Up and Down to move. Right to follow a link; Left to go back.
H)elp O)ptions P)rint G)o M)ain screen Q)uit /=search [delete]=history list
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
If nothing happens, consider asking your system administrator to get Lynx
(tell him it's available via anonymous ftp at ftp2.cc.ukans.edu in the
pub/lynx directory). Until he does, you can try out Lynx by using telnet
to connect to this address:
sunsite.unc.edu
When you connect, log on as: lynx
This is a popular site, so it can be slooow at times. Alternately, you
could use telnet to connect to
ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
with a log on of: www
However, this site (the home of Lynx's creators) will not let you use all
of Lynx's features.
As you can see from the above, the Web has no real menus, at least not in
the sense that gopher does. Instead, the system is composed of documents
or "pages" (the "title of contents" or opening page on a Web site is
known as its "home page"). If you are using VT100 or similar emulation and
a color monitor, the above screen would have certain words in a different
color than the others. These words are the hyperlinks. By moving your
cursor to one and then hitting enter, you'll move to a new page -- which
could be located on a completely different computer somewhere else in the
world.
The above main page, which comes from the CERN, the European High-Energy
Physics Research Center (where Tim Berners-Lee developed the Web) has
three main hyperlinks:
[IMAGE] by Subject
List of servers
by Service Type
The first one contains a list of various Web resources around the world,
categorized by subject. The second one lists them by continent, country
and then city. The final one lets you browse among non-Web services,
such as our friend gopher and Wide-Area Information Servers (in fact,
you could live your entire Internet life within the Web; not only does it
let you connect to gophers, ftp sites and the like, but with some Web
software, you can even read and reply to Usenet messages as well). To
call up any of them, you move your cursor to it (with the down or up
arrows) and hit enter.
Play with the Web! Move your cursor around, hit enter, and see where you
pop up. The key navigational keys are your arrow keys.
The up and down arrow keys let you hop among highlighted links. The right
arrow key is the same as enter -- it sends you to the highlighted service.
The left arrow key is analogous to 'u' in gopher -- it takes you back to
the previous document. This arrangement can take a little getting used
to. If there are two hyperlinks listed on one line, you would use your
down or up arrow to move between them -- NOT your right or left ones!
There are additional navigational commands that will come in handy in a
hypertext system (without them, it would be easy to get lost rather
quickly). A key one is your backspace or delete key. Hitting that will
bring up a list of links you've made in the current session; you can then
choose one if you want to get back somewhere. Hitting m will bring you
back to your "main page," that is, the first page you saw when you
started up Lynx.
9.3 ADDRESSING A PROBLEM
One feature Lynx has that gophers do not is the ability to go directly to
a service by typing in its address. You get to this function by hitting
a lower-case g at any point in Lynx. Here's where you run into the mess
that is Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The idea behind URLs is
actually a good one: to create a universal system for accessing
information on the Internet, no matter if it's a single file on an
anonymous-FTP site, an entire gopher server, or a Web image.
Unfortunately, that means that, in WWW, you're going to have to get used
to seeing, and typing, things like:
http://www.germany.eu.net/books/eegtti/eegtti.html
(which is actually the Web address for an enhanced version of Everybody's
Guide to the Internet). Ack! The "http" means you're dealing with a WWW
resource -- it stands for "HyperText Transport Protocol," which is the
particular way the Web moves information around the world. Lynx needs
that information to be able to figure out how to connect to the system.
Next comes the name of the site on which the resource is located, followed
by the directory path. URLs are case sensitive, so be careful!
In the above example, notice how the last item ends in ".html." That
stands for "HyperText Markup Language," which is the coding used to
create hyperlinks. You'll often find Web addresses ending in that,
because they will be pointers to main pages for particular resources.
Sometimes, if you are trying to reach a service without a main HTML page
(a gopher, for example), you may have to end the address with a /, for
example: gopher://gopher.eff.org/
Fortunately, in many cases, you will have to type these long names only
once. Recall how hitting your backspace or delete key creates a list of
hyperlinks to services you've tried in a particular session. You can also
create a list of "bookmarks" to speed you to particular services in the
future. To add a page to your list, hit a lower-case a while on that
page. You'll be asked if you want to add the document or the hyperlink
to your bookmark page. Choose the document option and it'll be added.
To see your bookmark list, hit v. You'll then be able to zoom to
any services in the list by moving your cursor to its highlighted name
and hitting enter.
9.4 IMAGINE THAT -- DOWNLOADING PICTURES
As you play with Lynx, you'll notice that some pages will have entries
that look like this: [IMAGE]. If the word is the same color as the other
text on your screen, you won't be able to download it. If it's a
different color or somehow highlighted, you should be able to put your
cursor on it and hit enter. You'll get one of two messages. One says
something about how the "client" can't display an ISMAP image. In that
case, there's not much you can do, except hit your left arrow key to get
back to the previous page -- Lynx at this point can't handle this
particular system for displaying maps.
The other message also looks potentially frustrating: "This file cannot
be displayed on this terminal. D)ownload or C)ancel." This is actually
good news, however, because it means it's an image you can retrieve. If
you hit a lower-case d, you'll be asked if you want to save the image to
your host system, or if you want to use Zmodem to download it directly to
your own computer. If you're using a communications program with Zmodem,
selecting the latter will immediately start the process of transferring
it to you. The file names will always look something like: L23015.HTM.
In most cases, the files will be GIF images, occasionally JPEG images,
and, rarely, TIFF images. You'll need a GIF/JPEG viewer on your computer
to view these. If you don't have Zmodem, save the image to your host
system. Interestingly, when you do this, you'll get a more descriptive
file name, OLDBONES.GIF instead of L2015.HTM, for example. In either
case, when you're done transferring the file, hit your left arrow key to
get back to the previous page. Before you actually download the file,
you'll see a message indicating how large it is -- handy to know if
you're using a relatively slow modem.
Sometimes, instead of the above message, you'll get a more forbidding
looking one:
showpicture -viewer xv /tmp/L229787.html
This message contains a picture, which can currently only be
viewed when running X11. If you read this message while running
X11, and have your DISPLAY variable set, you will then
be able to see the picture properly.
Yikes! Ignore this and look for the prompt asking if you want to save
this to a file. Hit a lower-case y and you'll be prompted for a name.
Type in whatever you want to call the file and hit enter. You've just
saved a copy of the file to your home directory on your Internet host,
which means that, when you're done with Lynx, you can download it to your
home computer.
A related function to downloading is retrieving a copy of a document. To
do that, hit p within a document. You'll be given several choices as to
how to retrieve it, including sending it to yourself via e-mail or saving
it to a file in your home directory on your public-access site.
9.5 LYNX, MEET GOPHER
One of the nice things about Lynx is that you can also use it to reach
non-Web resources, from FTP and telnet sites to gophers. This means that
you can use it as your one-stop interface for Internet information
services.
Recall earlier how you have to type "http://" as part of the URLs for Web
sites. There are similar prefixes for other types of services, for
example: gopher://, ftp:// and telnet://.
Telnet is the easiest to use. Say you want to connect to the Electronic
Periodic Table of the Elements at camm57.caos.kun.nl. In Lynx, hit a
lower-case g and then type:
telnet://camm57.caos.kun.nl
and hit enter, and you'll be connected. The one caveat with telnet sites
is that many have their own user interfaces, so keys may do different
things than they would if you were connected to a Web site. If you're
ever stuck on a telnet site and can't get out, hit control-] (your
"control" and "]" keys at the same time) to return to Lynx.
Connecting to an FTP site works basically the same: for example, to get
to ftp.uu.net, type a lower-case g and then
ftp://ftp.uu.net
You won't have to log in, though, which is nice. And once you're in,
you'll be able to navigate by making selections off a menu, rather than
having to type any Unix commands. If you already know a particular
file's name and path on a site, you could even go to it directly, by
hitting a lower-case g and then typing in site name and path, like this:
ftp://ftp.uu.net/systems/ibmpc/msdos/simtel/zip/pkz204g.exe
Getting to a gopher works basically the same, except you'd substitute
"gopher://" for "telnet://" or "ftp://." Where it does get tricker with
gophers, however, is if you want to get to a specific document or
directory on a gopher. This is because gopher administrators usually
mask their Unix directory names with natural-language titles, for
example, "Sports and recreation" rather than "sports_rec." But URLs use
the Unix paths, so that if you're used to being told "Connect to
gopher.site.com, select 'Society' and then 'Sports and recreation'" you'd
have to translate that into URL-ese as something like:
gopher://gopher.site.com/11/soc/sports_rec. How to find these? Connect to
the top-level gopher address, for example:
gopher.std.com
Then make selections until you get to the document or directory you want.
Now either hit a lower-case a to add the path to your bookmark list, or,
if you want to write it down, hit an equal sign, which will show you the
path.
9.6 FINDING THINGS ON THE WEB
Like Gopher, the Web is a fascinating place to explore -- just keep
following links to see where they take you. In fact, Lynx and other Web
programs are often called "browsers" for just this reason. Eventually,
however, you might want to find something specific on the Web and you
might want to find it now.
Unlike with Gopher and Veronica, there is no single way to search the Web.
Instead, several organizations around the world have developed different
types of databases that let you find Web documents and hyperlinks. The
ones that follow are all fairly powerful yet relatively easy to use.
Because they all seem to use different methods for finding things, it can
sometimes be worthwhile to try several of them as part of your search --
you'll find different resources with each. An added bonus is that
often, the people who maintain one search "engine" will provide quick
links to the others, making it easy for you to get from one to the other.
One of the more useful systems is EINet Galaxy, run by the
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. in Austin, Texas, both
because it's easy to use and because it lets you search for both Web and
Gopher resources.
To get to it, hit a lower-case g within Lynx and then type:
http://galaxy.einet.net
When you connect, you'll actually see what looks an awful lot like a
table of contents or index for the entire Internet -- dozens of entries
on broad topics from architecture to sociology. If you're not in a hurry,
these entries can prove an interesting introduction to just what's
avaialable these days. But today, we are in a hurry, so keep hitting
enter until you see something that looks like this:
Search for: ____________________ Search Clear selections [40 hits_]
( )Galaxy Pages ( )Galaxy Entries ( )World-wide Web ( )Gopher
( )Hytelnet
Up - Home - Help - Search - Top -- EINet Galaxy
First, notice the "Search" in the bottom list of options. If you moved
your cursor to that and hit enter, you'd be given a list of links to
other searchable databases of Web resources. But for now, move your
cursor (with the down-arrow key) until it's on the dashes. Here is where
you type in the word or words you're looking for (don't worry about
capitalization). Now it gets slightly tricky (because the system was
designed with mouse users in mind). Hit your down-arrow key until you
get to the space before "Galaxy Entries." Hit enter, and you'll see an
asterisk appear. As you might surmise, you're telling the system to
search for your keyword among "Galaxy Entries" (which are those indexed
listings we just passed over). Hit your down arrow again to move to the
"World-wide Web" entry and hit enter again. Do it once more for Gopher.
Now use your up key to move backwards, until the word "Search" is
highlighted. Hit enter.
EINet Galaxy now starts a search of its database, looking for any
potential matches in both Web and Gopher documents. Let's say you were
searching for information about the King, ol' Elvis himself. Had you
used "Elvis" as your search word, something like this would come back:
Galaxy Entry Results - for `` elvis''
4 documents found
* ELVIS+ WWW server from RUSSIA - Score: 1000 Size: 29
* Elvis Aron Presley Home Page - Score: 1000 Size: 28
* Elvis Aron Presley Home Page - Score: 1000 Size: 28
* The Elvis Costello home page - Score: 1000 Size: 28
World-wide Web Results - for `` elvis''
28 documents found
(Option list) Hit return and use arrow keys and return to select option
Each of the lines starting with an asterisk turns out to be a hyperlink
to a particular Web server. Curious about the first one, you move your
cursor there and hit enter -- and discover that a group of Russian
computer programmers have set up a software company they've decided to
call ELVIS+. OK. So you hit your left arrow key to get back to the
EINet Galaxy search results. Try the next one, and you find yourself
reading about the King. The "score" represents the database's attempt to
show you how relevant a particular item is to your search. If the word
you're looking for appears in a document's title or first paragraph, for
example, it will score higher in the databases 1-to-1000 ranking than if
it did not appear until the very last paragraph.
Another good Web info-searcher is David Filo and Jerry Yang's Yahoo server
at Stanford University (it stands for something along the lines of "Yet
Another Hierarchically Organized Oracle"). It'll remind you of EINet
Galaxy -- it, too, provides a table-of-contents type of interface to Web
(no Gopher) services, along with a more specific search tool. You'll
want to connect to:
http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo
One of your choices in a menu bar across the bottom of the screen will be
"Search." Select it, and you'll get a small form similar to EINet
Galaxy's. Although Yahoo will let you find all sorts of resources, it
really shines in the area of online businesses and the services they
offer.
Lycos at Carnegie-Mellon University is a third search system, which is
interesting in part because of the way new entries are added to its
database. Part of Lycos consists of an automated "web crawler" that
periodically, well, crawls around the Web looking for new servers and
documents. It then adds the information to the database. Connect to
http;//lycos.cs.cmu.edu. You'll be given a choice of searching Lycos1,
Lycos2 or Lycos3. These are different computers, but each contains the
same database, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose (unless
one doesn't work, then try one of the others). You'll then get a page
with these choices:
Lycos Search Language description
Form-based search with options (same database)
Register your own URLs with Lycos or Delete your own URLs
Lycos: Frequently Asked Questions
Select the second one and hit enter, which will bring up the search form.
It will then return a list of potentially relevant documents -- along
with snippets from those documents to help you decide whether you want
to look at them. By default, the computer will only respond with the
first 10 matches it finds. You can change that via a setting in the
search form.
9.7 SLIP: BUT I WANT TO USE MY MOUSE!
OK, so you have a Windows computer or Macintosh and you want to use the
Internet via a point-and-click interface. You can. Many Internet
providers now offer Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point to
Point Protocol (PPP) connections. Among other things, this sort of link
will let you run a growing number of programs that let you fully
integrate everything from e-mail to the Web into the interface with which
you're familiar -- you can use your mouse, drag and drop things, etc.
IBM now includes such software as part of its OS/2 operating system,
while Microsoft Corp. has similar plans for its Windows 95 operating
system. There are also several companies that offer complete graphical
Internet starter kits. For example, O'Reilly and Associates sells an
"Internet in a Box" kit for Windows users. And two Internet providers,
Netcom and Pipeline, offer their own, proprietary graphical user
interfaces for the Internet.
Although using these programs can be easy, setting them up is sometimes a
pain (it gets even more complex if you decide to download free and low-
cost software from the Internet that provides the same features). First,
check with your provider to see if they do offer SLIP or PPP access, and
if so, at what price (some may charge extra). If they do not, ask if
they will allow the use of The Internet Adapter, software that lets
Macintosh and Windows users use graphical programs via a standard dial-up
connection.
9.8 MORE ON SLIP
Computers tied directly to the Internet communicate with each other using
a standard known as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP). This standard allows for direct interaction between these
computers -- so that, for example, you can tap into a database halfway
around the world over the Net (it also deals with such issues as routing
information from A to B).
This is NOT what you are doing when you dial into a public-access site
with, say, Procomm. Once your computer and your host establish a link,
your computer basically goes to sleep and you interact with the network
via programs on your host. That terminal emulation you always have to
remember to set is merely a way to tell the host system what kind of
keyboard to pretend you'd be using if you were actually at the host
computer sitting at one of its terminals. All of the programs you need to
run to interact with the Net, from mail and Usenet readers to Gopher and
Lynx, are actually running on your provider's computer (or network); the
only time your computer wakes up is when you do something like download a
file (and even then, you're not using any particular Internet program).
SLIP makes your computer an active participant on the network (PPP
essentially does the same thing). With a SLIP account, it's essentially
your host that goes to sleep, acting only as a sort of doorway to the
rest of the Internet for you and your computer. Now your computer has
direct access to TCP/IP message packets (which can be anything from e-
mail to World-Wide Web images). Of course, this also means you'll need
all the software to do things sitting on your hard drive. Think of it as
the difference between renting an apartment, where the landlord takes
care of the maintenance, and owning your own house, where you gain the
freedom to do things the way you want.
9.9 HTML: BUILDING YOUR OWN
A growing number of Internet providers let users set up their own Web
home pages. If your providers is one of these, and you want to tell the
world your story, you'll need to know the HyperText Markup Language
(HTML). Fortunately, this is tedious rather than difficult to learn, and
there are HTML "authoring" programs out there that can help reduce the
burden.
The basic idea behind HTML is to embed codes within a standard ASCII text
document that tell the computer displaying the document to do something,
whether that's to put a word in bold, display an image, or jump to
another document. Here's what a simple HTML command looks like:
<title>Web Intro</title>
HTML commands are always between such brackets. The first instruction
tells the computer that what is to follow is a document title and to
display it at the top of the page (in Lynx, that's actually the top right
hand corner of the screen). The ending command, again in brackets, tells
the computer that that's the end of that instruction. The user doesn't
see these commands.
There are similar HTML commands for paragraphs, italics, inserting
graphics, creating lists, etc. The command for linking to another
document elsewhere on the Web looks like this:
<a href="http://www.std.com/NE/boston.html">Boston Online</a>
Note that the URL is in quotation marks. The "a" (or "anchor") command
tells your Web browser that a link is about to be displayed. "Boston
Online" will be highlighted when a user calls up the page. The "</a>" at
the end tells the browser to go back to normal type.
To build a Web page, you'll need at least two things. First is
permission from your provider and instructions relating to your specific
site (for example, where to put the documents you create). Second is a
guide to HTML (see FYI below) and a word processor capable of creating
ASCII or text documents. Third, and optionally, is an HTML authoring
program that can help relieve you of the drudgery of typing in all those
HTML commands (again, see FYI below).
9.10 SOME INTERESTING WWW SERVERS
AREA CODES
http://www.xmission.com/~americom/ Ever wondered what the area code is
for Watertown, NY, or the country code for Andorra? Help is now as near
as your keyboard. AmeriCom, a long-distance company, has created a Web-
based server with info on some 80,000 cities around the world.
ART
http://www.wimsey.com/Pixel_Pushers/ The Electronic Art Gallery in
Calgary is exactly what it sounds like.
BOSTON
http://www.std.com/NE/boston.html An online guide to the city that
modestly calls itself the Hub of the Universe, from restaurant and movie
listings to car-repair recommendations and neighborhood profiles.
CALIFORNIA
http://www.research.digital.com/SRC/virtual-tourist/California.html This
is your basic tourist-info center just over the state line on the
Information Highway. It offers everything from traffic and road-
condition reports to maps and pictures of tourist attractions.
CHINA
http://www.ihep.ac.cn:3000/ihep.html This is the People's Republic's
first Internet connection, run by the Institute for High Energy Physics
in Beijing, providing everything from e-mail addresses of Chinese
scientists to information on Chinese regions and a directory of foreign
companies in Beijing.
DINOSAURS
http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/dinos/dinos1.html Look here for images of
dinosaur skeletons.
DUBLIN
http://www.dsg.cs.tcd.ie/dsg_people/czimmerm/pubs.html This is "the
definitive review of Dublin's watering holes.''
ENVIRONMENT
http://www.econet.apc.org/lcv/scorecard.html See how your local
congressman/woman is ranked by the League of Conservation Voters.
http://polyn.net.kiae.su/polyn/manifest.html A group of researchers at
the Kurchatov Institute for Atomic Energy in Moscow have created a World-
Wide Web resource devoted to the Chernobyl melt-down.
GAMES
http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain The Games Domain is the place to go
for information on dozens of computer games. Resources include lists of
hints for specific games and an online games magazine.
GOVERNMENT
http://www.fedworld.gov FedWorld is a gateway to dozens of federal
information services in the U.S., some free, some requiring a fee to use.
http://thomas.loc.gov The Library of Congress's Thomas (as in Thomas
Jefferson) service lets you look up pending bills by keyword and read
the Congressional Record (back to January, 1994).
LAW
http://www.law.cornell.edu/lii.table.html Cornell University's Legal
Information Institute provides a variety of law-related documents,
including information on specific legal issues and copies of U.S. Supreme
Court decisions.
http://venable.com/vbh.html Venable, Batejer, Howard and Civiletti is a
Washington, D.C. law firm. Its Web server includes online newsletters on
various legal topics.
LEGOS
http://legowww.itek.norut.no/catalog/index.html Yes, it's a set of
documents (with pictures) all about the little plastic blocks with the
pegs on top.
MOVIES
http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk/Movies/moviewquery.html You can search for
filmographies for particular actors and directors here.
http://bvp.wdp.com/BVPM/ The Buena Vista Pictures Web server has
information and photos of current Disney and Buena Vista Pictures movies
-- even some QuickTime loops for Macintosh owners (caveat: those are
large files).
MUSIC
http://www.music.indiana.edu/misc/music_resources.html This resource at
Indiana University will help you find Web sites devoted to virtually
every type of music and band.
NEW ZEALAND
http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/People/mjw/NZ/MainPaige.html Your personal
guided tour of New Zealand, complete with pictures of its cities, scenery
and people, begins here.
PATENTS
http:/town.hall.org/patent/patent.html. This database, run by the
Internet Multicasting Service, lets you search for U.S.-issued patents
from 1994 on.
REAL ESTATE
http://www.gems.com/realestate/ Real-estate listings from several
cities around the U.S.
SLOVENIA
http://www.ijs.si/slo.html Learn more about the former Yugoslav republic
in words and photographs.
SMALL BUSINESS
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov The U.S. Small Business Administration uses
its Web site to provide tips for businesses and lists of available
resources.
SOUTH DAKOTA
http://www.state.sd.us All you ever wanted to know about the state, from
tourist attractions to pending legislation, can be found here.
SPACE
http://sspp.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Look here for info on discount space flights
from NASA, like the "Get Away Special" -- only $27,000 to launch a
90-pound cannister aboard a space shuttle.
TIME WASTERS
http://www.primus.com/staff/paulp/useless.html It's amazing what some
people are using the Web for. There's the guy in California who's
connected his hot tub and refrigerator, so you can check the temperature
in both; people who let you send messages to their cat; digital cameras
that take periodic snapshots of coffee pots. Paul Phillips has assembled
links to them all.
WINE
http://augustus.csscr.washington.edu/personal/bigstar-mosaic/wine.html
Look for information about the grape beverage here. Besides links to
other Internet resources, it also lets you leave tasting notes for other
enthusiasts, and provides information on wineries in Washington
state.
9.11 LYNX COMMANDS
Down arrow Go to next highlighted link
Up arrow Go to previously highlighted link
Right arrow Same as hitting enter on a highlighted link
Left arrow Move back to previous document
+ Scroll down to next page
- Scroll back to previous page
? or h Help
a Add current page to bookmark file
c Send a comment to the creator of the current document
d Download the document on your screen
g Go to specific resource (you'll have to type in its
address, or URL)
m Return to main, or first, screen
o Set personal options (for example, your e-mail address)
p Print, save or download a document
v View your bookmark file
z Cancel document or image transfer
backspace View your past links in the current session
delete Same as backspace
= Get address information for current file or link
/ Scan the current document for a keyword
9.12 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* You try to connect to a site, but get an error message along the lines
of "ERROR 404 Not found - file doesn't exist or is read protected [even
tried multi]"
Re-check the spelling of the site address you entered. WWW addresses are
case-sensitive, so that might be a problem, as well. Hit your left arrow
key, then g, then try entering the address again. It is also possible you
did nothing wrong, but that the person in charge of maintaining the site
either forgot to set the document so that outsiders could read it or
deleted it without telling anybody.
* You know the URL is correct, but when you type it in and hit enter, you
get a "not available" message.
Sometimes, links just don't seem to work the first time. Hit g and enter
again and it may work the second time.
* You try to use g to get to a new site and nothing happens.
Lynx does not seem to let you go to sites from error-message pages and
some other pages. If that happens, hit your left arrow, then try again.
* You try to go to the next (or previous) hyperlink on a page, but are
instead transported to an entirely different document.
Chances are you tried to get to the next hyperlink by using your left or
right arrow keys, rather than your down or up keys (remember, this'll
take some getting used to). If you think you hit your right arrow key,
now hit your left arrow key and you'll be brought back to the original
page. If you hit your left arrow key, go to your history page (by
hitting your delete key) and then chose the appropriate page to which you
want to return.
9.13 FYI
If you want to see what's new each week on the Web, check out the What's
New service at http://gnn.com/gnn.wn.whats-new.html. You'll also find
postings of new services in the alt.internet.services and
comp.infosystems.www.announce Usenet newsgroups.
Once a month, Thomas Boutell posts a WWW FAQ (answers to "Frequently
Asked Questions") in the news.answers and comp.infosystems.www newsgroups
in Usenet. You can also retrieve a copy via anonymous ftp (or ncftp) at
rtfm.mit.edu. Look in the pub/usenet/news.answers/www directory for a
file called faq.
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications maintains a good
introductory guide to HTML and related programs at
http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html.html
You can get more information about TIA software via anonymous ftp at
marketplace.com. In the /tia directory, you'll find copies of the
software for several Unix varieties. In the /tia/docs directory, you'll
find documentation, answers to frequently asked questions, etc.
Frank Hecker's "Personal Internet Access Using SLIP or PPP; How You Use
It, How It Works," gives a good overview of how the two protocols work.
It's available via FTP at ftp.digex.net as
/pub/access/hecker/internet/slip-ppp.txt or via the World-Wide Web at
http://www.charm.net/ppp.html.
At that latter URL, you'll find numerous other documents and programs
related to SLIP/PPP access, including information and files related to
Macintosh SLIP service.
Henry Kriz has written a three-part series on connecting Windows computers
to the Internet via TCP/IP, SLIP, etc. that goes into more technical
detail than what you've just read. It's available via anonymous FTP at
nebula.lib.vt.edu in the /pub/windows/winsock directory. Look for a file
with a name like wtcpip05.asc, where the two digits in the first part of
the name indicate the current version number.
Chapter 10: ADVANCED E-MAIL
10.1 THE FILE'S IN THE MAIL
E-mail by itself is a powerful tool, and by now you may be sending e-mail
messages all over the place. You might even be on a mailing list or two.
But there is a lot more to e-mail than just sending messages. If your
host system does not have access to ftp, or it doesn't have access to
every ftp site on the Net, you can have programs and files sent right to
your mailbox. And using some simple techniques, you can use e-mail to
send data files such as spreadsheets, or even whole programs, to friends
and colleagues around the world.
A key to both is a set of programs known as encoders and decoders. For
all usefulness, basic Net e-mail has a big problem: it can't handle
graphics characters or the control codes found in even the simplest of
computer programs. Encoders however, can translate these into forms
usable in e-mail, while decoders turn them back into a form that you can
actually use. If you are using a Unix-based host system, chances are it
already has an encoder and decoder online that you can use. These
programs will also let you use programs posted in several Usenet
newsgroups, such as comp.binaries.ibm.pc.
If both you and the person with whom you want to exchange files use Unix
host systems, you're in luck because virtually all Unix host systems have
encoder/decoder programs online. For now, let's assume that's the case.
First, upload the file you want to send to your friend to your host site
(ask your system administrator how to upload a file to your name or
"home" directory if you don't already know how). Then type
uuencode file file > file.uu
and hit enter. "File" is the name of the file you want to prepare for
mailing, and yes, you have to type the name twice! The > is a Unix
command that tells the system to call the "encoded" file "file.uu" (you
could actually call it anything you want).
Now to get it into a mail message. The quick and dirty way is to type
mail friend
where "friend" is your friend's address. At the subject line, type the
name of the enclosed file. When you get the blank line, type
~r file.uu
or whatever you called the file, and hit enter. (on some systems, the ~
may not work; if so, ask your system administrator what to use). This
inserts the file into your mail message. Hit control-D, and your file is
on its way!
On the other end, when your friend goes into her mailbox, she should
transfer it to her home directory. Then she should type
uudecode file.name
and hit enter. This creates a new file in her name directory with
whatever name you originally gave it. She can then download it to her
own computer. Before she can actually use it, though, she'll have to
open it up with a text processor and delete the mail header that has been
"stamped" on it. If you use a mailer program that automatically appends
a "signature," tell her about that so she can delete that as well.
The past couple of years have seen the development of the Multi-purpose
Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), which make e-mailing these files
even easier.
If you use an e-mail program such as cc:Mail or Microsoft Mail at work,
or if you dial into bulletin-board systems, then you're used to the idea
of file attachments -- you write a message, and then tell the computer
you want to attach a file. MIME is essentially the Internet equivalent.
The one caveat is that your recipient also has to have a MIME-enabled
mail program; otherwise you could run into problems (and in that case,
you'll have to fall back on uuencode).
Probably the best way to use MIME on a Unix public-access site is with
Pine -- it makes it very easy. Let's say you've just uploaded a graphics
file that you want to mail to a friend. Call up Pine and start a message
to your friend. With the cursor still in the header area (i.e., the area
where you put in his e-mail address), hit control-J. You'll be asked for
the name of the file you want to attach. Type in its name (or path if you
put it somewhere besides your home directory) and that's it! You can now
compose a message to your friend and then send it off as you would
normally (only now it will come with an attached file).
Assuming your recipient also uses Pine, when he gets your message, one of
his options will be to hit control-V. If he hits that, he'll be asked if
he wants to view or save the attached file. Assuming it's a binary file,
he should hit his s key and then type in the name of the file under which
to save the attachment. When he exits Pine, he can then download the file
-- without the muss of first uudecoding it.
A number of companies now sell software that lets users of proprietary e-
mail systems send and receive MIME attachments. So if you plan on
exchaning binary files with somebody on one of these systems (our friend,
the cc:Mail user, for example) -- ask if her system can accept MIME
attachments. It will make life a lot easier for both of you.
10.2 RECEIVING FILES
If somebody sends you a uuencoded file through the mail, you'll have to
go through a couple of steps to get it into a form you can actually use.
If you are using the simple mail program, go into mail and type
w # file.name
where # is the number of the message you want to transfer and file.name
is what you want to call the resulting file. In pine, call up the
message and hit your O key and then E. You'll then be asked for a file
name. In elm, call up the message and hit your S key. You'll get
something that looks like this:
=file.request
Type a new file name and hit enter (if you hit enter without typing a
file name, the message will be saved to another mail folder, not your
home directory).
In all three cases, exit the mail program to return to your host system's
command line. Because the file has been encoded for mail delivery, you
now have to run a decoder. At the command line, type
uudecode file.name
where file.name is the file you created while in mail. Uudecode will
create a new, uncompressed binary file. In some cases, you may have to
run it through some other programs (for example, if it is in "tar" form),
but generally it should now be ready for you to download to your own
computer (on which you might then have to run a de-compressor program
such as PKUNZIP).
Now if somebody sends you a MIME attachment, retrieving the attachment is
simple. In both pine and elm, you'll be asked if you want to save the
attachment to a file. If you answer by hitting your y key, you'll be
asked for a file name to save it under (or just hit enter to save it
under the default name suggested by the computer). You can now retrieve
the file by exiting mail and then using the techniques listed in Chapter
4 for downloading Usenet files.
All this brings up a related issue. Say somebody sends you a plain old
e-mail message that you want to transfer to your own computer (as
opposed to an encoded file). Assuming you're connected to a Unix public-
access site, and that the message is straight ASCII, you have a couple of
options.
The quick and dirty way is to start your computer's screen-capture or
logging function before you open the message. Then call up the message
and, when done, stop the logging, and the file's saved to your computer.
That method's good if you only want to transfer one message. But what if
you want to save several messages to a single file (a bunch of items from
a mailing list, say)? Then you might want to save them to a file on your
public-access site first and then download that.
If you use the Pine mail program, open up the message and then hit your e
key. You'll be asked to enter a file name in your home directory. Once
done, go to the next message and repeat the process. When finished,
you'll have a single large file in your home directory for downloading.
Note that when you do this, Pine will mark the message for deletion, so
if you want to keep it in your mailbox (to reply, perhaps), answer N when
you exit pine and are asked if you want to delete the marked files.
If you use elm, instead, hit your s key, either within the message or
with the cursor on its entry in the message menu. You'll get something
that looks like this:
=jdoe
which comes from the e-mail address of the sender. If you hit enter,
you'll save the message to a file called jdoe in your Mail directory. If
you want to save it to a differently named file in your home directory,
hit your backspace key once and then type in the file name you want (but
without the equal sign). As in pine, the messages will be marked for
deletion, so keep that in mind if you want to retain them in your
mailbox.
In either case, you can now download the file, again using the comands
discussed in Chapter 4 for retrieving similarly collected Usenet
messages.
10.3 SENDING FILES TO NON-INTERNET SITES
What if your friend only connects with a non-Unix system, such as
CompuServe or MCIMail? There are programs available for MS-DOS, Apple
and Amiga computers that will encode and decode files. Of course, since
you can't send one of these programs to your friend via e-mail (how would
she un-encode it?), you'll have to mail (the old-fashioned way) or give
her a diskette with the program on it first. Then, she can get the file
by e-mail and go through the above process (only on her own computer) to
get a usable file. Remember to give her an encoder program as well, if
she wants to send you files in return.
For MS-DOS machines, you'll want to get uunecode.com and uudecode.com.
Both can be found through anonymous ftp at wuarchive.wustl.edu in the
/mirrors/msdos/starter directory. The MS-DOS version is as easy to use as
the Unix one: Just type
uudecode filename.ext
and hit enter.
Mac users should get a program called uutool, which can be found in the
info-mac/util directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
Think twice before sending somebody a giant file. Although large sites
connected directly to the Internet can probably handle mega-files, many
smaller systems cannot. Some commercial systems, such as CompuServe and
MCIMail, limit the size of mail messages their users can receive.
Fidonet doesn't even allow encoded messages. In general, a file size of
30,000 or so bytes is a safe upper limit for non-Internet systems.
10.4 GETTING FTP FILES VIA E-MAIL
To help people without ftp access, a number of ftp sites have set up mail
servers (also known as archive servers) that allow you to get files via
e-mail. You send a request to one of these machines and they send back
the file you want. As with ftp, you'll be able to find everything from
historical documents to software (but please note that if you do have
access to ftp, that method is always quicker and ties up fewer resources
than using e-mail).
Some interesting or useful mail servers include:
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu Files of "frequently asked questions"
related to Usenet; state-by-state lists of U.S. representatives and
Senators and their addresses and office phone numbers.
archive-server@cs.widener.edu Back copies of the Computer
Underground Digest and every possible fact you could want to know about
"The Simpsons."
netlib@uunet.uu.net Programs for many types of personal computers;
archives of past postings from many Usenet newsgroups.
archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov Space-related text and graphics
(GIF-format) files.
service@nic.ddn.mil Detailed information about Internet.
Most mail servers work pretty much the same -- you send an e-mail message
that tells them what file you want and how you want it sent to you. The
most important command is "send," which tells the computer you want it to
send you a particular file.
First, though, you'll need to know where the mail server stores that
file, because you have to tell it which directory or sub-directory it's
in. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can send an e-mail
message to the archive-server that consists of one line:
index
The server will then send you a directory listing of its main, or root
directory. You'll then have to send a second message to the archive
server with one line:
index directory/subdirectory
where directory/subdirectory is the directory path for which you want a
listing. An alternative is to send an e-mail message to our old friend
archie, which should send you back the file's exact location on the
archive-server (along with similar listings for all the other sites that
may have the file, however)
Once you have the file name and its directory path, compose a message to
the archive server like this:
send directory/subdirectory/file
Send off the message and, anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days
later, you'll find a new message in your mailbox: a copy of the file you
requested. The exact time it will take a file to get to you depends on a
variety of factors, including how many requests are in line before yours
(mail servers can only process so many requests at a time) and the state
of the connections between the server and you.
Seems simple enough. It gets a little more complicated when you request a
program rather than a document. Programs or other files that contain
unusual characters or lines longer than 130 characters (graphics files,
for example) require special processing by the mail server to ensure they
are transmitted via e-mail. Then you'll have to run them through at
least one converter program to put them in a form you can actually use.
To ensure that a program or other "non-mailable" file actually gets to
you, include another line in your e-mail message to the server:
encoder
This converts the file into an encoded form. To decode it, you'll first
have to transfer the file message into a file in your home directory.
One further complication comes when you request a particularly long file.
Many Net sites can only handle so much mail at a time. To make sure you
get the entire file, tell the mail server to break it up into smaller
pieces, with another line in your e-mail request like this:
size 100000
This gives the mail server the maximum size, in bytes, of each file
segment. This particular size is good for UUCP sites. Internet and
Bitnet sites can generally go up to 300000. When you get all of these
files in mail, transfer them to your home directory. Exit mail and call
up each file in your host system's text processor and delete each one's
entire header and footer (or "signature" at the end). When done with
this, at your host system's command line, type
cat file1 file2 > bigfile
where file1 is the first file, file2 the second file, and so on. The >
tells your host system to combine them into a new megafile called bigfile
(or whatever you want to call it). After you save the file to your home
directory (see section 10.2 above), you can then run uudecode, tar, etc.
One word of caution, though: if the file you want is long enough that it
has to be broken into pieces, think of how much time it's going to take
you to download the whole thing -- especially if you're using a 2400-baud
modem!
There are a number of other mail servers. To get a list, send an e-mail
message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu:
send usenet/comp.sources.wanted/How_to_find_sources_(READ_THIS_BEFORE_POSTING)
You'll have to spell it exactly as listed above. Some mail servers use
different software, which will require slightly different commands than
the ones listed here. In general, if you send a message to a mail server
that says only
help
you should get back a file detailing all of its commands.
But what if the file you want is not on one of these mail servers?
That's where ftpmail comes in. Run by Digital Equipment Corp. in
California, this service can connect to almost any ftp site in the world,
get the file you want and then mail it to you. Using it is fairly simple
-- you send an e-mail message to ftpmail that includes a series of
commands telling the system where to find the file you want and how to
format it to mail to you.
Compose an e-mail message to
ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
Leave the "subject:" line blank. Inside the message, there are several
commands you can give. The first line should be
reply address
where "address" is your e-mail address. The next line should be
connect host
where "host" is the system that has the file you want (for example:
wuarchive.wustl.edu). Other commands you should consider using are
"binary" (required for program files); "compress" (reduces the file
size for quicker transmission) and "uuencode" (which encodes the file
so you can do something with it when it arrives). The last line of
your message should be the word "quit".
Let's say you want a copy of the U.S. constitution. Using archie, you've
found a file called, surprise, constitution, at the ftp site
archive.cis.ohio-state.edu, in the /pub/firearms/politics/rkba directory.
You'd send a message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com that looks like this:
reply adamg@world.std.com
connect archive.cis.ohio-state.edu
binary
compress
uuencode
get pub/firearms/politics/rkba/constitution
quit
When you get the file in your mailbox, use the above procedure for
copying it to a file. Run it through uudecode. Then type
uncompress file.name
to make it usable.
Since this was a text file, you could have changed the "binary" to
"ascii" and then eliminated the "uuencode" file. For programs, though,
you'll want to keep these lines. One caveat with ftpmail: it has become
such a popular service that it could take a week or more for your
requested files to arrive.
10.5 MINING FOR INFO ON USENET VIA E-MAIL
Grizzled Usenet veterans (you can always tell them by the coffee-stained
leather jackets they wear) proudly recall the days when they could read
every single article posted on the network each day and still find time
to do some work.
But now, with the number of newsgroups approaching 10,000, that, of
course, is impossible. That causes a potential problem, though. What if
there's a discussion going on somewhere you might be interested in?
Sure, Usenet is divided into hierarchies and newsgroups with the goal of
helping people find discussions on specific topics, but given the number
of people who now post each day, even that might mean you'll miss
something. And if you go on vacation and you come back to 2,000 new
articles in your favorite group, the temptation is awfully high to just
mark them all as read rather than trying to dig through them for
useful/interesting messages.
Meet Stanford University's Netnews Filtering Server. Somewhere at
Stanford sits a computer that creates a daily index of all Usenet
messages that pass through it. Through simple e-mail commands, you can
get this machine to filter out articles for you and then send you a daily
summary of what it finds. If the summaries of each article look
intriguing enough, you can then have the entire articles mailed to you.
The basic commands are really simple. You tell the computer what to look
for and how frequently you want to receive its reports. Send an e-mail
message to
netnews@db.stanford.edu.
Leave the subject line blank, and as the message, write
subscribe phrase or word
period 1
For example,
subscribe boston bruins
period 1
would set the machine to searching for references to the Boston Bruins
and then report back to you every day (if you substituted "period 2," it
would report back to you every two days; you can go as high as 5).
There's an optional third command, "expire,'' which you would use to tell
the computer how many days to keep looking for you. For example,
expire 30
would end the search after 30 days.
Now let's say you do get an article you want to read more about. Each
article will have a message number. To get it, write back to
netnews@db.stanford.edu and as your message, write
get news.group.#
for example,
get alt.sex.hamsters.duct-tape.4601
You can also search the Stanford database for existing articles. Again,
write to netnews@db.stanford.edu. As your message, write
search word or phrase
You'll get back a list of possibly relevant articles.
10.6 JUST THE FAX, MA'AM
Yes, the Internet is by far the world's largest computer network. But
not everybody's connected to it -- yet. Thanks to some Internet
pioneers, however, you can now extend the reach of the Net to people who
still rely on fax machines.
In 1993, Carl Malamud, founder of the Internet Multicasting Service
(which now provides everything from a half-hour talk show broadcast over
the Internet to databases of patent and SEC information) and Marshall
Rose, a computer consultant, created a mechanism for translating Internet
e-mail messages into faxes. Today, you can reach a number of
metropolitan areas in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Korea,
Portugal, New Zealand and the United Kingdom via their service.
TPC depends on a series of volunteers, from individuals to large
corporations, who have agreed to provide Internet-to-fax services in a
given geographic area. Technically, TPC is an experiment at this point;
one of the issues Malamud and Rose are looking at for the long term is
how to make the system pay for itself.
Sending a fax via TPC is as easy as sending an e-mail message, with the
exception of figuring out the e-mail address to use for a given fax,
which, to an outsider, looks awfully bizarre.
First, you want to get a TPC coverage list to see if the person you want
to reach is in an area served by TPC. Send an e-mail message to tpc-
coverage@town.hall.org (it doesn't really matter what you say in the
message; "send info" works fine). You'll get back a list showing the
metropolitan areas now covered, as well as, in many cases, the specific
exchanges within those areas you can reach. Assuming the person you want
to reach is in one of these areas, you're ready to go.
Now to figure out the e-mail address for a given fax number.
Take the phone number and add the particular country's international
dialing code to the front -- even if you're sending a fax to somebody in
your own country (the U.S.'s international code is 1). Do not, however,
include whatever digits you would dial just to get an international
circuit (which in the U.S. would be 011). Now remove any parentheses,
hyphens or spaces. So, for example, 1 (213) 555-1234 would become
12135551234. Add ".iddd.tpc.int" to the end of that, for example:
12135551234.iddd.tpc.int
That's the part of the address to the right of the @ sign. The left half
of the address will look something like this:
remote-printer.John_Doe/5th_floor
This is actually a clever way to have a cover sheet printed for your fax.
All TPC addresses start with "remote-printer." The next part, as you can
see, is the name of the person you want to reach. Since you can't have
spaces in an Internet address, always separate the names with a _. A TPC
fax server interprets a / as a message to move to the next line on the
cover page. So put all this together, and you get:
remote-printer.John_Doe/5th_floor@12135551234.iddd.tpc.int
Phew! But it works! Now compose your e-mail message and send it to the
address you've just created. TPC will then route it to the nearest
participating fax machine, for delivery to your recipient. Once your fax
is delivered, you'll even get a confirmation notice via e-mail. If you
have addresses you plan to write to more than once, it would make eminent
sense to put them in your Pine or Elm address book. Speaking of Pine,
you can use its ability to forward message attachments to send graphics
as part of the fax. See under FYI to see how to get information on this.
10.7 THE ALL KNOWING ORACLE
One other thing you can do through e-mail is consult with the Usenet
Oracle. You can ask the Oracle anything at all and get back an answer
(whether you'll like the answer is another question).
First, you'll want to get instructions on how to address the Oracle (he,
or she, or it, is very particular about such things and likes being
addressed in august, solemn and particularly sycophantic tones). Start
an e-mail message to
oracle@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
In the "subject:" line, type
help
and hit enter. You don't actually have to say anything in the message
itself -- at least not yet. Hit control-D to send off your request
for help. Within a few hours, the Oracle will mail you back detailed
instructions. It's a fairly long file, so before you start reading
it, turn on your communications software's logging function, to save
it to your computer (or save the message to a file on your host system's
home directory and then download the file). After you've digested it,
you can compose your question to the Oracle. Mail it to the above
address, only this time with a subject line that describes your
question. Expect an answer within a couple of days. And don't be
surprised if you also find a question in your mailbox -- the Oracle
extracts payment by making seekers of knowledge answer questions as
well!
10.8 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
* You get back an error message that your fax could not be delivered.
With TPC, that could mean one of two things. Either you tried sending a
fax to an area not covered by TPC or you made a mistake converting the
fax number into a TPC address. Double-check both the list of TPC coverage
areas and the address you created.
10.9 FYI
To get a more comprehensive guide to Stanford's Netnews Filtering Server,
which includes tips on helping the computer better refine your searches,
write netnews@db.stanford.edu. Leave the subject line blank, and as your
message, write:
help
TPC (which gets its name from the 1967 movie "The President's Analyst")
maintains a mailing list to discuss the project. To get on it, send your
request to tpc-rp-request@aarnet.edu.au. To get more detailed
information on TPC, send a message to tpc-faq@town.hall.org.
Chapter 11: NEWS OF THE WORLD
11.1 CLARINET: ASSOCIATED PRESS, MISS MANNERS AND DILBERT
Usenet "newsgroups" can be something of a misnomer. They may be
interesting, informative and educational, but they are often not news, at
least, not the way most people would think of them. But there are several
sources of news and sports on the Net.
One of the largest is Clarinet, a company in Cupertino, Calf., that
distributes wire-service news and columns, along with a news service
devoted to computers and even the Dilbert comic strip, in Usenet form.
Because Clarinet charges for its service, not all host systems carry its
articles. Those that do carry them as Usenet groups starting with
"clari." As with other Usenet hierarchies, these are named starting with
broad area and ending with more specific categories. Some of these
include business news (clari.biz); general national and foreign news,
politics and the like (clari.news), sports (clari.sports); columns by
Mike Royko, Miss Manners, and others (clari.feature); and NewsBytes
computer and telecommunications reports (clari.nb). Because Clarinet
started in Canada, there is a separate set of clari.canada newsgroups.
The clari.nb newsgroups are divided into specific computer types
(clari.nb.apple, for example).
Clari newsgroups feature stories updated around the clock. There are
even a couple of "bulletin" newsgroups for breaking stories:
clari.news.bulletin and clari.news.urgent. Clarinet also sets up new
newsgroups for breaking stories that become ongoing ones (such as major
natural disasters, coups in large countries and the like).
Occasionally, you will see stories in clari newsgroups that just
don't seem to belong there. This happens because of the way wire
services work. AP uses three-letter codes to route its stories to
the newspapers and radio stations that make up most of its clientele, and
harried editors on deadline sometimes punch in the wrong code.
11.2 STILL MORE NEWS ON THE NET
Several newspapers around the world now offer online editions on the
World-Wide Web. Typically, this includes not only copies of current news
and sports stories, but features and, increasingly, advertisements (well,
they have to pay for it somehow).
One of the first newspapers to go online with a daily edition was the
Charlotte News and Observer in North Carolina, at http://www.nando.net.
You'll find world news, sports news (including homepages devoted to
specific teams) and features about North Carolina.
You'd expect the San Jose Mercury News, in the heart of California's
Silicon Valley, to be online, and it is, at http://www.sjmercury.com.
Look for daily news and sports, as well as documents and features not
always found in the printed version. The Mercury News also offers a for-
fee service that will e-mail you stories and classifieds with keywords
you specify.
The London Telegraph's Electronic Telegraph provides a similar supply
of stories, with a British slant, naturally, at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk. You'll have to register to use the service,
but it's free.
Also online is Time magazine, at http://www.timeinc.com. In addition to
providing copies of news stories, this Web site also lets you participate
in online conferences about the news.
11.3 THE WORLD TODAY, FROM BELARUS TO BRAZIL
The Open Media Research Institute (formerly known as Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty) provides daily news summaries from Eastern Europe and the former
Soviet Union. The digests are available via e-mail. Write to
listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu. Leave the "subject:" line blank, and as your
message, write:
subscribe omri-l your name
The Voice of America, a government broadcasting service aimed at other
countries, provides transcripts of its English-language news reports
through both gopher and anonymous ftp. For the former, use gopher to
connect to this address:
gopher.voa.gov
and for the latter, to this address:
ftp.voa.gov
Daily Brazilian news updates are available (in Portuguese) from the
University of Sao Paulo. Use anonymous ftp to connect to
uspif.if.usp.br
Use cd to switch to the whois directory. The news summaries are stored
in files with this form: NEWS.23OCT92;1. But to get them, leave off the
semicolon and the 1, and don't capitalize anything, for example:
get news.23oct92
11.4 FYI
Steve Outing maintains a list of newspapers with online services and how
to connect to them. It's available on the Web at
http://marketplace.com/e-papers.list.www/e-papers.outing.html
The clari.net.newusers newsgroup on Usenet provides a number of
articles about Clarinet and ways of finding news stories of interest
to you.
To discuss the future of newspapers and newsrooms in the new
electronic medium, subscribe to the online-news mailing list. Send a mail
message of
Subscribe online-news Your Name
to majordomo@marketplace.com.
Look in the alt.radio.networks.npr newsgroup in Usenet for
summaries of NPR news shows such as "All Things Considered." This
newsgroup is also a place to discuss the network and its shows,
personalities and policies.
A number of media organizations now encourage readers, listeners and
viewers to communicate with them electronically, via Internet e-mail
addresses. they range from internationally known newspapers such as the
Times of London to college-owned FM stations. You can get a list of
media outlets with e-mail addresses via anonymous ftp or ncftp at
ftp.std.com, in the /periodicals/middlesex-news directory. Get
the file called medialist.
Chapter 12: IRC, MUDs AND OTHER THINGS THAT ARE MORE FUN THAN THEY SOUND
Many Net systems provide access to a series of interactive services that
let you hold live "chats" or play online games with people around the
world. To find out if your host system offers these, you can ask your
system administrator or just try them -- if nothing happens, then your
system does not provide them. In general, if you can use telnet and ftp,
chances are good you can use these services as well.
12.1 TALK
This is the Net equivalent of a telephone conversation and requires that
both you and the person you want to talk to have access to this function
and are online at the same time. To use it, type
talk user@site.name
where user@site.name is the e-mail address of the other person. She will
see something like this on her screen:
talk: connection requested by yourname@site.name
talk: respond with: talk yourname@site.name
To start the conversation, she should then type (at her host system's
command line):
talk yourname@site.name
where that is your e-mail address. Both of you will then get a top
and bottom window on your screen. She will see everything you type in
one window; you'll see everything she types in the other. To
disconnect, hit control-C.
One note: Public-access sites that use Sun computers sometimes have
trouble with the talk program. If talk does not work, try typing
otalk
or
ntalk
instead. However, the party at the other end will have to have the same
program online for the connection to work.
12.2 INTERNET RELAY CHAT
IRC is a program that lets you hold live keyboard conversations with
people around the world. It's a lot like an international CB radio - it
even uses "channels." Type something on your computer and it's instantly
echoed around the world to whoever happens to be on the same channel with
you. You can join in existing public group chats or set up your own.
You can even create a private channel for yourself and as few as one or
two other people. And just like on a CB radio, you can give yourself a
unique "handle" or nickname.
IRC currently links host systems in 20 different countries, from
Australia to Hong Kong to Israel. Unfortunately, it's like telnet --
either your site has it or it doesn't. If your host system does have it,
Just type
irc
and hit enter. You'll get something like this:
*** Connecting to port 6667 of server world.std.com
*** Welcome to the Internet Relay Network, adamg
*** Your host is world.std.com, running version 2.7.1e+4
*** You have new mail.
*** If you have not already done so, please read the new user information with
+/HELP NEWUSER
*** This server was created Sat Apr 18 1992 at 16:27:02 EDT
*** There are 364 users on 140 servers
*** 45 users have connection to the twilight zone
*** There are 124 channels.
*** I have 1 clients and 3 servers
MOTD - world.std.com Message of the Day -
MOTD - Be careful out there...
MOTD -
MOTD - ->Spike
* End of /MOTD command.
23:13 [1] adamg [Mail: 32] * type /help for help
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You are now in channel 0, the "null" channel, in which you can look up
various help files, but not much else. As you can see, IRC takes over
your entire screen. The top of the screen is where messages will appear.
The last line is where you type IRC commands and messages. All IRC
commands begin with a /. The slash tells the computer you are about to
enter a command, rather than a message. To see what channels are
available, type
/list
and hit enter. You'll get something like this:
*** Channel Users Topic
*** #Money 1 School CA$H (/msg SOS_AID help)
*** #Gone 1 ----->> Gone with the wind!!! ------>>>>>
*** #mee 1
*** #eclipse 1
*** #hiya 2
*** #saigon 4
*** #screwed 3
*** #z 2
*** #comix 1 LET'S TALK 'BOUT COMIX!!!!!
*** #Drama 1
*** #RayTrace 1 Rendering to Reality and Back
*** #NeXT 1
*** #wicca 4 Mr. Potato Head, R. I. P.
*** #dde^mhe` 1 no'ng chay? mo*? ...ba` con o*iiii
*** #jgm 1
*** #ucd 1
*** #Maine 2
*** #Snuffland 1
*** #p/g! 4
*** #DragonSrv 1
Because IRC allows for a large number of channels, the list might scroll
off your screen, so you might want to turn on your computer's screen
capture to capture the entire list. Note that the channels always have
names, instead of numbers. Each line in the listing tells you the
channel name, the number of people currently in it, and whether there's a
specific topic for it. To switch to a particular channel, type
/join #channel
where "#channel" is the channel name and hit enter. Some "public"
channels actually require an invitation from somebody already on it. To
request an invitation, type
/who #channel-name
where channel-name is the name of the channel, and hit enter. Then ask
someone with an @ next to their name if you can join in. Note that
whenever you enter a channel, you have to include the #. Choose one with
a number of users, so you can see IRC in action.
If it's a busy channel, as soon as you join it, the top of your screen
will quickly be filled with messages. Each will start with a person's
IRC nickname, followed by his message.
It may seem awfully confusing at first. There could be two or three
conversations going on at the same time and sometimes the messages will
come in so fast you'll wonder how you can read them all.
Eventually, though, you'll get into the rhythm of the channel and things
will begin to make more sense. You might even want to add your two cents
(in fact, don't be surprised if a message to you shows up on your screen
right away; on some channels, newcomers are welcomed immediately). To
enter a public message, simply type it on that bottom line (the computer
knows it's a message because you haven't started the line with a slash)
and hit enter.
Public messages have a user's nickname in brackets, like this:
<tomg>
If you receive a private message from somebody, his name will be between
asterisks, like this:
*tomg*
12.3 IRC COMMANDS
Note: Hit enter after each command.
/away When you're called away to put out a grease fire
in the kitchen, issue this command to let others know
you're still connected but just away from your terminal
or computer for awhile.
/help Brings up a list of commands for which there is a help
file. You will get a "topic:" prompt. Type in the
subject for which you want information and hit enter.
Hit enter by itself to exit help.
/invite Asks another IRC to join you in a conversation.
/invite fleepo #hottub
would send a message to fleepo asking him to join you on
the #hottub channel. The channel name is optional.
/join Use this to switch to or create a particular channel,
like this:
/join #hottub
If one of these channels exists and is not a private
one, you will enter it. Otherwise, you have just
created it. Note you have to use a # as the first
character.
/list This will give you a list of all available public
channels, their topics (if any) and the number of users
currently on them. Hidden and private channels are not
shown.
/m name Send a private message to that user.
/mode This lets you determine who can join a channel you've
created.
/mode #channel +s
creates a secret channel.
/mode #channel +p
makes the channel private
/nick This lets you change the name by which others see you.
/nick fleepo
would change your name for the present session to
fleepo. People can still use /whois to find your e-mail
address. If you try to enter a channel where somebody
else is already using that nickname, IRC will ask you to
select another name.
/query This sets up a private conversation between you and
another IRC user. To do this, type
/query nickname
Every message you type after that will go only to that
person. If she then types
/query nickname
where nickname is yours, then you have established a
private conversation. To exit this mode, type
/query
by itself. While in query mode, you and the other
person can continue to "listen" to the discussion on
whatever public channels you were on, although neither
of you will be able to respond to any of the messages
there.
/quit Exit IRC.
/signoff Exit IRC.
/summon Asks somebody connected to a host system with IRC to
join you on IRC. You must use the person's entire e-mail
address.
/summon fleepo@foo.bar.com
would send a message to fleepo asking him to start IRC.
Usually not a good idea to just summon people unless you
know they're already amenable to the idea; otherwise you
may wind up annoying them no end. This command does not
work on all sites.
/topic When you've started a new channel, use this command to let
others know what it's about.
/topic #Amiga
would tell people who use /list that your channel is meant
for discussing Amiga computers.
/who <chan> Shows you the e-mail address of people on a particular
channel.
/who #foo
would show you the addresses of everybody on channel foo.
/who
by itself shows you every e-mail address for every person
on IRC at the time, although be careful: on a busy night
you might get a list of 500 names!
/whois Use this to get some information about a specific IRC
user or to see who is online.
/whois nickname
will give you the e-mail address for the person using
that nickname.
/whois *
will list everybody on every channel.
/whowas Similar to /whois; gives information for people who
recently signed off IRC.
12.4 IRC IN TIMES OF CRISIS
IRC has become a new medium for staying on top of really big breaking
news. In 1993, when Russian lawmakers barricaded themselves inside the
parliament building, some enterprising Muscovites and a couple of
Americans set up a "news channel" on IRC to relay first-person accounts
direct from Moscow. The channel was set up to provide a continuous loop
of information, much like all-news radio stations that cycle through the
day's news every 20 minutes. In 1994, Los Angeles residents set up a
similar channel to relay information related to the Northridge
earthquake. In both cases, logs of the channels were archived somewhere
on the Net, for those unable to "tune in" live.
How would you find such channels in the future? Use the /list command to
scroll through the available channels. If one has been set up to discuss
a particular breaking event, chances are you'll see a brief description
next to the channel name that will tell you that's the place to tune.
12.5 MUDs
Multiple-User Dimensions or Dungeons (MUDs) take IRC into the realm of
fantasy. MUDs are live, role-playing games in which you enter assume a
new identity and enter an alternate reality through your keyboard. As
you explore this other world, through a series of simple commands (such
as "look," "go" and "take"), you'll run across other users, who may
engage you in a friendly discussion, enlist your aid in some quest or try
to kill you for no apparent reason.
Each MUD has its own personality and creator (or God) who was willing to
put in the long hours required to establish the particular MUD's rules,
laws of nature and information databases. Some MUDs stress the social
aspects of online communications -- users frequently gather online to
chat and join together to build new structures or even entire realms.
Others are closer to "Dungeons and Dragons" and are filled with
sorcerers, dragons and evil people out to keep you from completing your
quest -- through murder if necessary.
Many MUDs (there are also related games known as MUCKs and MUSEs) require
you to apply in advance, through e-mail, for a character name and
password. One that lets you look around first, though, is HoloMuck at
McGill University in Montreal. The premise of this game is that you
arrive in the middle of Tanstaafl, a city on the planet Holo. You have
to find a place to live (else you get thrown into the homeless shelter)
and then you can begin exploring. Magic is allowed on this world, but
only outside the city limits. Get bored with the city and you can roam
the rest of the world or even take a trip into orbit (of course, all this
takes money; you can either wait for your weekly salary or take a trip to
the city casino). Once you become familiar with the city and get your
own character, you can even begin erecting your own building (or subway
line, or almost anything else).
To connect, telnet to
collatz.mcrcim.mcgill.edu 5757
When you connect, type
connect guest guest
and hit enter. This connects you to the "guest" account, which has a
password of "guest." You'll see this:
The Homeless Shelter(#22Rna)
You wake up in the town's Homeless Shelter, where vagrants are put for
protective holding. Please don't sleep in public places-- there are plenty of
open apartments available. Type 'apartments' to see how to get to an
apartment building with open vacancies.
There is a small sign on the wall here, with helpful information. Type 'look
sign' to read it.
The door is standing open for your return to respectable society. Simply walk
'out' to the center.
Of course, you want to join respectable society, but first you
want to see what that sign says. So you type
look sign
and hit enter, which brings up a list of some basic commands. Then
you type
out
followed by enter, which brings up this:
You slip out the door, and head southeast...
Tanstaafl Center
This is the center of the beautiful town of Tanstaafl. High Street runs north
and south into residential areas, while Main Street runs east and west into
business districts.
SW: is Tanstaafl Towers. Please claim an apartment... no sleeping in public!
SE: the Public Library offers both information and entertainment.
NW: is the Homeless Shelter, formerly the Town Jail.
NE: is Town Hall, site of several important services, including: Public
Message Board, Bureau of Land Management (with maps and regulations), and
other governmental/ bureaucratic help.
Down: Below a sign marked with both red and blue large letter 'U's, a
staircase leads into an underground subway passage.
(Feel free to 'look' in any direction for more information.)
[Obvious exits: launch, d, nw, se, w, e, n, s, ne, sw]
Contents:
Instructions for newcomers
Directional signpost
Founders' statue
To see "Instructions for newcomers", type
look Instructions for newcomers
and hit enter. You could do the same for "Directional signpost" and
"Founders' statue." Then type
SW
and enter to get to Tanstaafl Towers, the city housing complex, where
you have to claim an apartment (you may have to look around; many will
already) be occupied. And now it's off to explore Holo! One command
you'll want to keep in mind is "take." Periodically, you'll come
across items that, when you take them will confer certain abilities or
powers on you. If you type
help
and enter, you'll get a list of files you can read to learn more about
the MUD's commands.
The "say" command lets you talk to other players publicly. For example,
say Hey, I'm here!
would be broadcast to everybody else in the room with you. If you
want to talk to just one particular person, use "whisper" instead of
"say."
whisper agora=Hey, I'm here!
would be heard only by agora. Another way to communicate with somebody
regardless of where on the world they are is through your pager. If you
suddenly see yours go off while visiting, chances are it's a wizard
checking to see if you need any help. To read his message, type
page
To send him a message, type
page name=message
where name is the wizard's name (it'll be in the original message).
Other MUDs and MUCKs may have different commands, but generally use the
same basic idea of letting you navigate through relatively simple English
commands.
When you connect to a MUD, choose your password as carefully as you would
one for your host system; alas, there are MUD crackers who enjoy trying
to break into other people's MUD accounts. And never, never use the same
password as the one you use on your host system!
MUDs can prove highly addicting. "The jury is still out on whether
MUDding is 'just a game' or 'an extension of real life with gamelike
qualities'," says Jennifer Smith, an active MUD player who wrote an FAQ
on the subject.
She adds one caution: "You shouldn't do anything that you wouldn't do in
real life, even if the world is a fantasy world. The important thing to
remember is that it's the fantasy world of possibly hundreds of people,
and not just yours in particular. There's a human being on the other
side of each and every wire! Always remember that you may meet these
other people some day, and they may break your nose. People who treat
others badly gradually build up bad reputations and eventually receive
the NO FUN Stamp of Disapproval."
12.6 GO, GO, GO (AND CHESS, TOO)!
Fancy a good game of go or chess? You no longer have to head for the
nearest park with a board in hand. The Internet has a couple of machines
that let you engage people from around the world in your favorite board
games. Or, if you prefer, you can watch matches in progress.
To play go,
telnet hellspark.wharton.upenn.edu 6969
log on as: guest
You'll find prompts to various online help files to get you started.
For a chess match,
telnet chess.lm.com 5000
log on as: guest
You'll find prompts for online help files on the system, which lets you
choose your skill level. Other game servers include:
The Backgammon Server (telnet): fraggel65.mdstud.chalmers.se 4321
Bridge on the Internet (the Web): http://www.cts.com/~okbridge/
12.7 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN
All is not fun and games on the Net. Like any community, the Net has its
share of obnoxious characters who seem to exist only to make your life
miserable (you've already met some of them in chapter 4). There are
people who seem to spend a bit more time on the Net than many would find
healthy. It also has its criminals. Clifford Stoll writes in "The
Cuckoo's Egg" how he tracked a team of German hackers who were breaking
into U.S. computers and selling the information they found to the
Soviets. Robert Morris, a Cornell University student, was convicted of
unleashing a "worm" program that effectively disabled several thousand
computers connected to the Internet.
Of more immediate concern to the average Net user are crackers who seek
to find other's passwords to break into Net systems and people who infect
programs on ftp sites with viruses.
There is a widely available program known as "Crack" that can decipher
user passwords composed of words that might be found in a dictionary
(this is why you shouldn't use such passwords). Short of that, there are
the annoying types who take a special thrill in trying to make you
miserable. The best advice in dealing with them is to count to 10 and
then ignore them -- like juveniles everywhere, most of their fun comes in
seeing how upset you can get.
Meanwhile, two Cornell University students pleaded guilty in 1992 to
uploading virus-infected Macintosh programs to ftp sites. If you plan to
try out large amounts of software from ftp sites, it might be wise to
download or buy a good anti-viral program.
But can law enforcement go too far in seeking out the criminals? The
Electronic Frontier Foundation was founded in large part in response to a
series of government raids against an alleged gang of hackers. The raids
resulted in the near bankruptcy of one game company never alleged to have
had anything to do with the hackers, when the government seized its
computers and refused to give them back. The case against another
alleged participant collapsed in court when his attorney showed the
"proprietary" and supposedly hacked information he printed in an
electronic newsletter was actually available via an 800 number for about
$13 -- from the phone company from which that data was taken.
12.8 FYI
You can find discussions about IRC in the alt.irc newsgroup.
"A Discussion on Computer Network Conferencing," by Darren Reed (May,
1992), provides a theoretical background on why conferencing systems such
as IRC are a Good Thing. It's available through ftp at nic.ddn.mil in
the rfc directory as rfc1324.txt.
Every Friday, Scott Goehring posts a new list of MUDs and related games
and their telnet addresses in the newsgroup rec.games.mud.announce. There
are several other mud newsgroups related to specific types of MUDs,
including rec.games.mud.social, rec.games.mud.adventure,
rec.games.mud.tiny, rec.games.mud.diku and rec.games.mud.lp.
For a good overview of the impact on the Internet of the Morris Worm,
read "Virus Highlights Need for Improved Internet Management," by the
U.S. General Accounting Office (June, 1989). You can get a copy via ftp
from cert.sei.cmu.edu in the pub/virus-l/docs directory. It's listed as
gao_rpt.
Clifford Stoll describes how the Internet works and how he tracked a
group of KGB-paid German hackers through it, in "The Cuckoo's Egg:
Tracking a Spy through the Maze of Computer Espionage," Doubleday (1989).
For information on keeping your e-mail private, use anonymous FTP
or ncftp to connect to ftp.eff.org and switch to the
pub/Net_info/EFF_Net_Guide/Updates directory and get the file
netupdate.003.
Chapter 13: EDUCATION AND THE NET
13.1 THE NET IN THE CLASSROOM
If you're a teacher, you've probably already begun to see the potential
the Net has for use in the class. Usenet, the Web and ftp have
tremendous educational potential, from keeping up with world events to
arranging international science experiments.
Because the Net now reaches so many countries and often stays online even
when the phones go down, you and your students can "tune in" to first-
hand accounts during international conflicts. Look at your system's list
of Usenet soc.culture groups to see if there is one about the country or
region you're interested in. Even in peacetime, these newsgroups can be
great places to find people from countries you might be studying.
The biggest problem may be getting accounts for your students, if you're
not lucky enough to live within the local calling area of a Free-Net
system. Many colleges and universities, however, are willing to discuss
providing accounts for secondary students at little or no cost. Several
states, including California and Texas, have Internet-linked networks for
teachers and students.
13.2 SOME SPECIFIC RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
In addition, there are a number of resources on the Internet aimed
specifically at elementary and secondary students and teachers. You can
use these to set up science experiments with classes in another country,
learn how to use computers in the classroom or keep up with the latest
advances in teaching everything from physics to physical education.
Among them:
ArtsEdge Federally sponsored Online arts resources for students
and teachers, it's available on the web at
http://k12.cnidr.org/janice_k12/artsedge/artsedge2.html
Ask Dr. Math Math professors and college students help k12 students
with tough math questions. Students can ask questions
by e-mail and browse past answers on the Web. The
e-mail address is dr.math@forum.swarthmore.edu; the Web
url http://olmo.swarthmore.edu/dr-math/dr-math.html
AskERIC Run by the Educational Resource and Information Center,
AskERIC provides a way for educators, librarians and
others interested in K-12 education to get more
information about virtually everything. The center
maintains an e-mail address (askeric@ericir.syr.edu) for
questions and promises answers within 48 hours. It also
maintains a Web site that contains digests of
questions and answers, lesson plans in a variety of
fields and other educationally related information. The
Web address is http://ericir.syr.edu/.
Health-Ed A mailing list for health educators. Send a request to
health-ed-request@stjhmc.fidonet.org
K12Net Begun on the Fidonet hobbyist network, K12Net is now also
carried on many Usenet systems and provides a host of
interesting and valuable services. These include
international chat for students, foreign-language
discussions (for example, there are French and German-
only conference where American students can practice
those languages with students from Quebec and German).
There are also conferences aimed at teachers of specific
subjects, from physical education to physics. The K12
network still has limited distribution, so ask your
system administrator if your system carries it.
Kidsphere Kidsphere is a mailing list for elementary and secondary
teachers, who use it to arrange joint projects and
discuss educational telecommunications. You will find
news of new software, lists of sites from which you can
get computer-graphics pictures from various NASA
satellites and probes and other news of interest to
modem-using teachers.
To subscribe, send a request by e-mail to kidsphere-
request@vms.cis.pitt.edu or joinkids@vms.cis.pitt.edu and
you will start receiving messages within a couple of
days.
To contribute to the discussion, send messages to
kidsphere@vms.cis.pitt.edu.
KIDS is a spin-off of KIDSPHERE just for students
who want to contact students. To subscribe, send a
request to joinkids@vms.cis.pitt.edu, as above. To
contribute, send messages to kids@vms.cist.pitt.edu.
MicroMUSE This is an online, futuristic city, built entirely by
participants (see chapter 12 for information on MUSEs
and MUDs in general). Hundreds of students from all
over have participated in this educational exercise,
coordinated by MIT. Telnet to michael.ai.mit.edu.
Log on as guest and then follow the prompts for more
information.
NASA Spacelink This system, run by NASA in Huntsville, Ala.,
provides all sorts of reports and data about NASA, its
history and its various missions, past and present.
Telnet spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov or 128.158.13.250.
When you connect, you'll be given an overview of the
system and asked to register. The system maintains a
large file library of GIF-format space graphics, but note
that you can't download these through telnet. If you want
to, you have to dial the system directly, at (205) 895-
0028. Many can be obtained through ftp from
ames.arc.nasa.gov, however.
Newton Run by the Argonne National Laboratory, it offers
conferences for teachers and students, including one
called "Ask a Scientist."
Telnet: newton.dep.anl.gov.
Log in as: cocotext
You'll be asked to provide your name and address. When
you get the main menu, hit 4 for the various conferences.
The "Ask a Scientist" category lets you ask questions of
scientists in fields from biology to earth science.
Other categories let you discuss teaching, sports and
computer networks.
OERI The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational
Resources and Improvement runs a gopher system that
provides numerous educational resources, information and
statistics for teachers. Use gopher to connect to
gopher.ed.gov.
Spacemet Forum If your system doesn't carry the K12 conferences, but
does provide you with telnet, you can reach the
conferences through SpaceMet Forum, a bulletin-board
system aimed at teachers and students that is run by the
physics and astronomy department at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst.
Telnet: spacemet.phast.umass.edu.
When you connect, hit escape once, after which you'll be
asked to log on. Like K12Net, SpaceMet Forum began as a
Fidonet system, but has since grown much larger. Mort
and Helen Sternheim, professors at the university,
started SpaceMet as a one-line bulletin-board system
several years ago to help bolster middle-school science
education in nearby towns.
In addition to the K12 conferences, SpaceMet carries
numerous educationally oriented conferences. It also has
a large file library of interest to educators and
students, but be aware that getting files to your site
could be difficult and maybe even impossible. Unlike
most other Internet sites, Spacemet does not use an ftp
interface. The Sternheims say ZMODEM sometimes works over
the network, but don't count on it.
Yahoo This Stanford University web service provides an archive of
links to other educational resources on the net at
http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Education/
13.3 USENET AND BITNET IN THE CLASSROOM
There are numerous Usenet newsgroups of potential interest to
teachers and students.
As you might expect, many are of a scientific bent. You can find these by
typing l sci. in rn or using nngrep sci. for nn. There are now close to
40, with subjects ranging from archaeology to economics (the "dismal
science," remember?) to astronomy to nanotechnology (the construction of
microscopically small machines).
One thing students will quickly learn from many of these groups: science
is not just dull, boring facts. Science is argument and standing your
ground and making your case. The Usenet sci. groups encourage critical
thinking.
Beyond science, social-studies and history classes can keep busy learning
about other countries, through the soc.culture newsgroups.
Most of these newsgroups originated as ways for expatriates of a given
country to keep in touch with their homeland and its culture. In times
of crisis, however, these groups often become places to disseminate
information from or into the country and to discuss what is happening.
From Afghanistan to Yugoslavia, close to 50 countries are now represented
on Usenet. To see which groups are available, use l soc.culture. in rn
or nngrep soc.culture. for nn.
Several "talk" newsgroups provide additional topical discussions, but
teachers should screen them first before recommending them to students.
They range from talk.abortion and talk.politics.guns to
talk.politics.space and talk.environment.
One caveat: Teachers might want to peruse particular newsgroups before
setting their students loose in them. Some have higher levels of flaming
and blather than others, not to mention content that some might not
consider appropriate in a school setting. Some schools have developed
"contracts" that students are required to sign that set out acceptable
Net behavior.
There are also a number of Bitnet discussion groups of potential interest
to students and teachers. See Chapter 5 for information on finding and
subscribing to Bitnet discussion groups. Some with an educational
orientation include:
biopi-l ksuvm.bitnet Secondary biology education
chemed-l uwf.bitnet Chemistry education
dts-l iubvm.bitnet The Dead Teacher's Society list
phys-l uwf.bitnet Discussions for physics teachers
physhare psuvm.bitnet Where physics teachers share resources
scimath-l psuvm.bitnet Science and math education
To get a list of ftp sites that carry astronomical images in the GIF
graphics format, use ftp to connect to nic.funet.fi. Switch to the
/pub/astro/general directory and get the file astroftp.txt. Among the
sites listed is ames.arc.nasa.gov, which carries images taken by the
Voyager and Galileo probes, among other pictures.
CHAPTER 14: BUSINESS ON THE NET
14.1 SETTING UP SHOP
Back in olden days, oh, before 1990 or so, there were no markets in the
virtual community -- if you wanted to buy a book, you still had to jump
in your car and drive to the nearest bookstore.
This was because back then, the Net consisted mainly of a series of
government-funded networks on which explicit commercial activity was
forbidden. Today, much of the Net is run by private companies, which
generally have no such restrictions, and businesses are falling over
themselves to get online -- from giant companies like AT&T to small
flower shops. In 1994, Home Shopping Network, better known for selling
cubic zirconia on cable TV, bought the Internet Shopping Network, an
online computer store. Its rival, QVC, also has plans for an Internet
service.
So with an Internet account today, you can buy everything from computers
to condoms. Much of this is being driven by the World-Wide Web, which
makes possible such things as online catalogs and order forms. To be
sure, there were online stores before the Web took off, but the Web lets
a company show off its wares, and logo, in an easy-on-the-eyes (and easy-
to-use) format. And pre-Web efforts concentrated more on giving you
limited access to an online catalog -- you still had to call a phone
number somewhere to actually place an order.
14.2 ONLINE STOREFRONTS
Some companies, particularly large computer companies such as Digital
Equipment Corp. and Sun Microsystems, Inc., have set up their own online
storefronts. Smaller companies, though, are increasingly setting up shop
in online "malls." The idea behind these malls is similar to that of
real ones -- you go to the mall for one particular item, and then browse
around seeing what else there is (for stores, the advantages are also
similar -- the mall owner is responsible for advertising, promises a
certain amount of "foot traffic" and does all the maintenance).
One of the earliest malls, in fact, one based on gopher, is run by Msen,
a public-access Internet provider in Ann Arbor, Mich. Its Msen
Marketplace offers a travel agency, "Internet Business Pages" listing
companies with services available on the Internet, and an "Online Career
Center, offering help-wanted ads from across the U.S. You can reach Msen
through gopher at
gopher.msen.com
At the main menu, select "Msen Marketplace."
As of this writing (November, 1994), CommerceNet remains more a concept
than an actual online mall. But if you want to take a peek through a
knothole at the construction, point your Web browser at
http://www.commerce.net
HotWired and the Global Network Navigator represent two other ways to do
business on the Internet. Both are online magazines on the Web,
featuring not only links to other services, but original writing, as well
(HotWired, started by Wired magazine, even lets readers participate in
public forums on the articles). Both carry advertising in the form of
icons. Click on the icons (or in the case of Lynx, move your cursor to
the advertiser's name and hit enter) and you'll be connected to
advertising material related to whatever the company in question is
trying to sell. You can try HotWired at
http://www.hotwired.com
and Global Network Navigator at
http://gnn.com
For the former, you'll have to register first (unusual for a Web
resource); for the latter, you'll have to chose a local GNN server first.
14.3 THE CHECK IS IN THE (E)-MAIL
But are *you* going to buy something over the Internet? For all the hype
over small florists getting international orders over the Internet, one
has to wonder whether these storefronts will ultimately prove more
successful than the ones that have long been present on commercial
networks such as CompuServe and Prodigy. Are you going to entrust your
credit-card number to the Internet, a network on which security concerns
have made front-page news more than once?
Some electronic merchants say that sending your credit-card number over
the Internet is really no more risky than handing it over to a clerk in a
department store. Their argument is base on security through obscurity --
there are so many e-mail messages pouring through the Internet each day
that it would be virtually impossible for a hacker to find the ones
containing credit-card information.
Others, however, are more wary -- as are their potential customers.
Merchants also want some assurances that the person making an order
really is who she says she is. Internet e-mail is simply ASCII text, and
while the sheer volume of it these days would make it difficult to find
specific messages, one should never underestimate the ability of a
harcker with a computer to find a needle in a haystack (i.e., one credit
card number out of thousands of messages).
As you might expect, a number of companies are working on making the
Internet safe for business. CommerceNet, a joint venture between the U.S.
government and companies in California's Silicon Valley, has developed a
system based on encryption. When you fill out an online order form, it
is encoded in such a way that only the merchant you're sending it to can
de-code it -- and inside will be your unique "digital signature," proving
you are, in fact, you.
But this approach relies on you having a special piece of software on
your computer to encrypt the order form. Netscape's World-Wide Web
browser is the first to incorporate this software (that's what the little
broken key in the lower left hand corner is for), but other companies
that sell Web browsers will be adding it over the next few months.
The basic way it works relies on a technique known as public-key
encryption. In this system, the merchant has a public key, or
mathematical formula, that can be used to encrypt messages meant for him.
Anybody can use this key, but only the merchant has the private key that
can open up the message. Now you can fill out an online order form and
include your credit-card number -- and be assured that nobody can
But some argue this sort of technique would impede impulse purchase
(surely a right enshrined in the U.S.
Constitution), because you need the right software to handle the
encryption on your computer.
So other companies are working on the online equivalent of credit cards
good at participating merchants. First, you apply for an account with
one of these companies the old-fashioned way -- by telephone or postal
mail.
Then, when you connect to a participating merchant and submit an order,
the merchant's computer sends a message to the "credit card" computer.
That computer then sends a message to you, asking you to confirm the
order. One company's computer will even ask you to answer a question
only you could answer (such as your mother's maiden name or your dog's
name). Assuming you answer affirmatively, the transaction is then
completed.
A third approach involves an attempt to create an electronic equivalent
of cold, hard cash. Proponents say one of the problems with the first
two approaches is that somebody, somewhere, is keeping track of who you
are and what you buy. Instead, in an approach developed by a Dutch
company called DigiCash, your bank essentially lets you withdraw funds
into a digital account that sits on your personal computer. Then when
you enter an online store that accepts this digital money, you can pay
them with these funds.
This approach, like the cryptography one, requires special software
(which creates your "digital signature"), as well as an account with a
participating bank.
Now proponents of the last two methods argue that, ultimately, the bulk
of Internet business will center not on big-ticket items such as
computers or cars, but on information. Right now, information for sale
tends to be very expensive and sold on the basis of high hourly rates.
With the potential mass market represented by the Internet, though,
people with information to sell might find it more lucrative to lower
their rates and go for volume. With an all electronic system, it might
become possible, say, to sell information for a small per-article or per-
search charge.
Over the next year or so, you'll see all three types of systems become
more common in online stores. Expect some confusion as merchants and
users try to figure out which system to use.
14.4 THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
1994 represented something of a watershed for the Internet -- it was the
year the people who normally advertise in the back of the National
Inquirer and Cosmopolitan discovered the Net.
Usenet participants found their favorite conferences filled with ads for
everything from thigh-reducing cream to pornography. Canter and Siegel,
a pair of lawyers in Phoenix, Ariz., gained national media attention when
they flooded some 6,000 separate Usenet newsgroups with ads for a $99
immigration service.
The reason they gained such notice was not because they had done
something unique (in January, 1994, a system administrator at a small
college in Pennsylvania did much the same thing with postings about how
the Los Angeles earthquake proved the Second Coming was imminent), but
because of the reaction of Internet users. Simply, they were outraged
that no matter what newsgroup they went into, whether it was to discuss
Unix programming or planning a wedding, they found the same darn ad, over
and over and over. Some responded by posting messages on how to get the
same services offered by the lawyers for free. More deluged the lawyers
-- and the administrators at the system they used -- with protest
messages, some 200 megabytes worth in just two days. Suddenly, the once
obscure Usenet phrase "to spam" (from the Monty Python skit about the
restaurant that only serves the stuff) was making the pages of the New
York Times.
But what the lawyers pulled may be the last time anybody gets away with
something like that. Today, numerous Usenet users stay on the alert for
spamming. Using a technique known as "cancelling," they are able to wipe
out such messages almost as soon as they pop up.
The moral of the story is that Internet users do not object to
advertising in general, but that many feel it has a proper place -- in
online catalogs that users have to make a point of going to, not shoved
down people's throats in discussion areas.
14.5 FYI
You can read about Digicash's e-cash proposal at its Web site:
http://www.digicash.com.
Open Marketplace, Inc., is developing a credit-card type of approach
to commerce. You can get a look on the Web at
http://www.openmarket.com/omp.html.
Dave Taylor's "Internet Shopping Mall" is a comprehensive listing of
online stores. You can get it via anonymous FTP at ftp.netcom.com.
Look in the /pub/Gu/Guides directory. It's also available via Gopher
at peg.cwis.uci.edu. From the main menu, select Accessing the
Internet, PEG, Internet Assistance and then Internet Shopping Mall
(you may have to go down a couple of pages to get there).
If you want to discuss the online shopping experience, the imall-chat
mailing list is for you. To subscribe, write to listserv@netcom.com.
Leave your subject line blank, and as your message, write: subscribe
imall-chat.
Bob O'Keefe at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute maintains an extensive
listing of businesses on the Net. It's available via the Web at
http://www.rpi.edu/okeefe/businss.html.
You'll find another extensive listing at Stanford University's Yahoo
site on the Web: http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Business/Corporations
Kent State University in Ohio maintains a repository of "Business Sources
on the Net." Use gopher to connect to refmac.kent.edu.
Two books to take a look at are Jill Ellsworth's "The Internet
Business Book" (John Wiley and Sons) and Mary Cronin's "Doing Business
on the Internet" (1994, Van Nostrand Reinhold).
The alt.current-events.net-abuse Usenet newsgroup is the place to discuss
spamming and other obnoxious advertising.
Chapter 15: THE END?
The revolution is just beginning. New communications systems and digital
technologies have already meant dramatic changes in the way we live.
Think of what is already routine that would have been considered
impossible just ten years ago. You can browse through the holdings of
your local library -- or of libraries halfway around the world -- do your
banking and see if your neighbor has gone bankrupt, all through a
computer and modem.
Imploding costs coupled with exploding power are bringing ever more
powerful computer and digital systems to ever growing numbers of people.
The Net, with its rapidly expanding collection of databases and other
information sources, is no longer limited to the industrialized nations
of the West; today it extends from Siberia to Zimbabwe. The cost
of computers and modems used to plug into the Net, meanwhile, continue
to plummet, making them ever more affordable, even as the Internet
becomes easier to use.
Cyberspace has become a vital part of millions of people's daily
lives. People form relationships online, they fall in love, they get
married, all because of initial contacts in cyberspace, that ephemeral
``place'' that transcends national and state boundaries. Business
deals are transacted entirely in ASCII. Political and social
movements begin online, coordinated by people who could be thousands
of miles apart.
Yet this is only the beginning.
We live in an age of communication, yet the various media we use to talk
to one another remain largely separate systems. One day, however, your
telephone, TV, fax machine and personal computer will be replaced by a
single ``information processor'' linked to the worldwide Net by strands
of optical fiber.
Beyond databases and file libraries, power will be at your fingertips.
Linked to thousands, even millions of like-minded people, you'll be able
to participate in social and political movements across the country and
around the world.
How does this happen? In part, it will come about through new
technologies. High-definition television will require the development of
inexpensive computers that can process as much information as today's
workstations. Telephone and cable companies will cooperate, or in some
cases compete, to bring those fiber-optic cables into your home.
The Clinton administration, arguably the first led by people who know how
to use not only computer networks but computers, is pushing for creation
of a series of "information superhighways" comparable in scope to the
Interstate highway system of the 1950s (one of whose champions in the
Senate has a son elected vice president in 1992).
Right now, we are in the network equivalent of the early 1950s, just
before the creation of that massive highway network. Sure, there are
plenty of interesting things out there, but you have to meander along
two-lane roads, and have a good map, to get to them.
Creation of this new Net will require more than just high-speed channels
and routing equipment; it will require a new communications paradigm: the
Net as information utility. The Net remains a somewhat complicated and
mysterious place. To get something out of the Net today, you have to
spend a fair amount of time with a Net veteran or a manual like this.
You have to learn such arcana as the vagaries of the Unix cd command.
Contrast this with the telephone, which now also provides access to large
amounts of information through push buttons, or a computer network such
as Prodigy, which one navigates through simple commands and mouse clicks.
Internet system administrators have begun to realize that not all people
want to learn the intricacies of Unix, and that that fact does not make
them bad people. We are already seeing the development of simple
interfaces that will put the Net's power to use by millions of people.
You can already see their influence in the menus of gophers and the
World-Wide Web, which require no complex computing skills but which open
the gates to thousands of information resources. Mail programs and text
editors such as pico and pine promise much of the power of older programs
such as emacs at a fraction of the complexity.
Some software engineers are taking this even further, by creating
graphical interfaces that will let somebody navigate the Internet just by
clicking on the screen with a mouse or by calling up an easy text editor,
sort of the way one can now navigate a Macintosh computer -- or a
commercial online service such as Prodigy.
Then there are the Internet services themselves.
For every database now available through the Internet, there are probably
three or four that are not. Government agencies are only now beginning
to connect their storehouses of information to the Net. Several
commercial vendors, from database services to booksellers, have made
their services available through the Net.
Few people now use one of the Net's more interesting applications. A
standard known as MIME lets one send audio and graphics files along with
an E-mail message. Imagine opening your e-mail one day to hear your
granddaughter's first words, or a "photo" of your friend's new house.
Eventually, this standard could allow for distribution of even small
video displays over the Net.
All of this will require vast new amounts of Net power, to handle both
the millions of new people who will jump onto the Net and the new
applications they want. Replicating a moving image on a computer screen
alone takes a phenomenal amount of computer bits, and computing power to
arrange them.
All of this combines into a National Information Infrastructure able to
move billions of bits of information in one second -- the kind of power
needed to hook information "hoses" into every business and house.
As these "superhighways" grow, so will the "on ramps," for a high-speed
road does you little good if you can't get to it. The costs of modems
seem to fall as fast as those of computers. High-speed modems (9600 baud
and up) are becoming increasingly affordable. At 9600 baud, you can
download a satellite weather image of North America in less than two
minutes, a file that, with a slower modem could take up to 20 minutes to
download. Eventually, homes could be connected directly to a national
digital network. Most long-distance phone traffic is already carried in
digital form, through high-volume optical fibers. Phone companies are
ever so slowly working to extend these fibers the "final mile" to the
home. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to ensure these
links are affordable.
Beyond the technical questions are increasingly thorny social, political
and economic issues. Who is to have access to these services, and at what
cost? If we live in an information age, are we laying the seeds for a
new information under class, unable to compete with those fortunate
enough to have the money and skills needed to manipulate new
communications channels? Who, in fact, decides who has access to what?
As more companies realize the potential profits to be made in the new
information infrastructure, what happens to such systems as Usenet,
possibly the world's first successful anarchistic system, where everybody
can say whatever they want?
What are the laws of the electronic frontier? When national and state
boundaries lose their meaning in cyberspace, the question might even be:
WHO is the law? What if a practice that is legal in one country is
"committed" in another country where it is illegal, over a computer
network that crosses through a third country? Who goes after computer
crackers?
What role will you play in the revolution?
Appendix A: THE LINGO
Like any community, the Net has developed its own language. What follows
is a glossary of some of the more common phrases you'll likely run into.
But it's only a small subset of net.speak. You an find a more complete
listing in "The New Hacker's Dictionary," compiled by Eric Raymond (MIT
Press). Raymond's work is based on an online reference known as "The
Jargon File," which you can get through anonymous ftp from
ftp.gnu.mit.ai.mit as jarg300.txt.gz in the pub/gnu directory (see
chapter 7 for information on how to un-compress a .gz file).
AFAIK As Far As I Know.
ASCII Has two meanings. ASCII is a universal computer code
for English letters and characters. Computers store
all information as binary numbers. In ASCII, the
letter "A" is stored as 01000001, whether the computer
is made by IBM, Apple or Commodore. ASCII also refers
to a method, or protocol, for copying files from one
computer to another over a network, in which neither
computer checks for any errors that might have been
caused by static or other problems.
ANSI Computers use several different methods for deciding
how to put information on your screen and how your
keyboard interacts with the screen. ANSI is one of
these "terminal emulation" methods. Although most
popular on PC-based bulletin-board systems, it can also
be found on some Net sites. To use it properly, you
will first have to turn it on, or enable it, in your
communications software.
ARPANet A predecessor of the Internet. Started in 1969 with
funds from the Defense Department's Advanced Projects
Research Agency.
backbone A high-speed network that connects several powerful
computers. In the U.S., the backbone of the Internet is
often considered the NSFNet, a government funded link
between a handful of supercomputer sites across the
country.
Baud The speed at which modems transfer data. One baud is
roughly equal to one bit per second. It takes eight
bits to make up one letter or character. Modems rarely
transfer data at exactly the same speed as their listed
baud rate because of static or computer problems. More
expensive modems use systems, such as Microcom Network
Protocol (MNP), which can correct for these errors or
which "compress" data to speed up transmission.
BITNet Another, academically oriented, international computer
network, which uses a different set of computer
instructions to move data. It is easily accessible to
Internet users through e-mail, and provides a large
number of conferences and databases. Its name comes from
"Because It's Time."
Bookmark A gopher or Web file that lets you quickly connect to
page listed sites.
Bounce What your e-mail does when it cannot get to its
recipient -- it bounces back to you -- unless it goes
off into the ether, never to be found again.
Command line On Unix host systems, this is where you tell the
machine what you want it to do, by entering commands.
Communications A program that tells a modem how to work.
software
Daemon An otherwise harmless Unix program that normally works
out of sight of the user. On the Internet, you'll most
likely encounter it only when your e-mail is not
delivered to your recipient -- you'll get back your
original message plus an ugly message from a "mailer
daemon.
Distribution A way to limit where your Usenet postings go. Handy for
such things as "for sale" messages or discussions of
regional politics.
Domain The last part of an Internet address, such as "news.com."
Dot When you want to impress the net veterans you meet at
parties, say "dot" instead of "period," for example: "My
address is john at site dot domain dot com."
Dot file A file on a Unix public-access system
that alters the way you or your messages interact with
that system. For example, your .login file contains
various parameters for such things as the text editor you
get when you send a message. When you do an ls command,
these files do not appear in the directory listing; do ls
-a to list them.
Down When a public-access site runs into technical trouble,
and you can no longer gain access to it, it's down.
Download Copy a file from a host system to your computer. There
are several different methods, or protocols, for
downloading files, most of which periodically check the
file as it is being copied to ensure no information is
inadvertently destroyed or damaged during the process.
Some, such as XMODEM, only let you download one file at
a time. Others, such as batch-YMODEM and ZMODEM, let
you type in the names of several files at once, which
are then automatically downloaded.
EMACS A standard Unix text editor preferred by Unix types
that beginners tend to hate.
E-mail Electronic mail -- a way to send a private message to
somebody else on the Net. Used as both noun and verb.
Emoticon See smiley.
F2F Face to Face. When you actually meet those people you
been corresponding with/flaming.
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions. A compilation of answers to
these. Many Usenet newsgroups have these files, which
are posted once a month or so for beginners.
Film at 11 One reaction to an overwrought argument: "Imminent death
of the Net predicted. Film at 11."
Finger An Internet program that lets you get some bit of
information about another user, provided they have first
created a .plan file.
Flame Online yelling and/or ranting directed at somebody else.
Often results in flame wars, which occasionally turn into
holy wars (see).
Followup A Usenet posting that is a response to an earlier
message.
Foo/foobar A sort of online algebraic place holder, for example: "If
you want to know when another site is run by a for-
profit company, look for an address in the form of
foo@foobar.com."
Fortune cookie An inane/witty/profund comment that can be found around
the net.
Freeware Software that doesn't cost anything.
FTP File-transfer Protocol. A system for transferring files
across the Net.
Get a life What to say to somebody who has, perhaps, been spending a
wee bit too much time in front of a computer.
GIF Graphic Interchange Format. A format developed in the
mid-1980s by CompuServe for use in photo-quality graphics
images. Now commonly used everywhere online.
GNU Gnu's Not Unix. A project of the Free Software
Foundation to write a free version of the Unix operating
system.
Hacker On the Net, unlike among the general public, this is not
a bad person; it is simply somebody who enjoys stretching
hardware and software to their limits, seeing just what
they can get their computers to do. What many people
call hackers, net.denizens refer to as crackers.
Handshake Two modems trying to connect first do this to agree on
how to transfer data.
Hang When a modem fails to hang up.
Hotlist Same as a to bookmark page (see).
Holy war Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith,
about which one cannot disagree without setting one of
these off. For example: IBM PCs are inherently superior to
Macintoshes.
Host system A public-access site; provides Net access to people
outside the research and government community.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language. The coding used on Web
pages to define hyperlinks (see), graphics and the like.
HTTP Hypertext Transport Protocol. The system used to
connect World-Wide Web resources to each other and to
users.
Hyperlink A way to connect two Internet resources via a simple
word or phrase on which a user can click to start the
connection.
IMHO In My Humble Opinion.
Internet A worldwide system for linking smaller computer
networks together. Networks connected through the
Internet use a particular set of communications
standards to communicate, known as TCP/IP.
Killfile A file that lets you filter Usenet postings to some
extent, by excluding messages on certain topics or from
certain people.
Log on/log in Connect to a host system or public-access site.
Log off Disconnect from a host system.
Lurk Read messages in a Usenet newsgroup without ever saying
anything.
Mailing list Essentially a conference in which messages are delivered
right to your mailbox, instead of to a Usenet newsgroup.
You get on these by sending a message to a specific e-
mail address, which is often that of a computer that
automates the process.
MOTSS Members of the Same Sex. Gays and Lesbians online.
Originally an acronym used in the 1980 federal census.
Net.god One who has been online since the beginning, who knows
all and who has done it all.
Net.personality Somebody sufficiently opinionated/flaky/with plenty of
time on his hands to regularly post in dozens of
different Usenet newsgroups, whose presence is known to
thousands of people.
Net.police Derogatory term for those who would impose their
standards on other users of the Net. Often used in
vigorous flame wars (in which it occasionally mutates to
net.nazis).
Netiquette A set of common-sense guidelines for not annoying others.
Network A communications system that links two or more
computers. It can be as simple as a cable strung
between two computers a few feet apart or as complex
as hundreds of thousands of computers around the world
linked through fiber optic cables, phone lines and
satellites.
Newbie Somebody new to the Net. Sometimes used derogatorily by
net.veterans who have forgotten that, they, too, were
once newbies who did not innately know the answer to
everything. "Clueless newbie" is always derogatory.
Newsgroup A Usenet conference.
NIC Network Information Center. As close as an Internet-
style network gets to a hub; it's usually where you'll
find information about that particular network.
NSA line eater The more aware/paranoid Net users believe that the
National Security Agency has a super-powerful computer
assigned to reading everything posted on the Net. They
will jokingly (?) refer to this line eater in their
postings. Goes back to the early days of the Net when
the bottom lines of messages would sometimes disappear
for no apparent reason.
NSF National Science Foundation. Funds the NSFNet, a
high-speed network that once formed the backbone of the
Internet in the U.S.
Offline When your computer is not connected to a host system
or the Net, you are offline.
Online When your computer is connected to an online service,
bulletin-board system or public-access site.
Ping A program that can trace the route a message takes from
your site to another site.
.plan file A file that lists anything you want others on the Net to
know about you. You place it in your home directory on
your public-access site. Then, anybody who fingers (see)
you, will get to see this file.
Post To compose a message for a Usenet newsgroup and then send
it out for others to see.
Postmaster The person to contact at a particular site to ask for
information about the site or complain about one of
his/her user's behavior.
Protocol The method used to transfer a file between a host
system and your computer. There are several types,
such as Kermit, YMODEM and ZMODEM.
Prompt When the host system asks you to do something and
waits for you to respond. For example, if you see
"login:" it means type your user name.
README files Files found on FTP sites that explain what is in a given
FTP directory or which provide other useful information
(such as how to use FTP).
Real Soon Now A vague term used to describe when something will
actually happen.
RFC Request for Comments. A series of documents that
describe various technical aspects of the Internet.
ROTFL Rolling on the Floor Laughing. How to respond to a
particularly funny comment.
ROT13 A simple way to encode bad jokes, movie reviews that give
away the ending, pornography, etc. Essentially, each
letter in a message is replace by the letter 13 spaces
away from it in the alphabet. There are online decoders
to read these; nn and rn have them built in.
RTFM Read the, uh, you know, Manual. Often used in flames
against people who ask computer-related questions that
could be easily answered with a few minutes with a
manual. More politely: RTM.
Screen capture A part of your communications software that
opens a file on your computer and saves to it whatever
scrolls past on the screen while connected to a host
system.
Server A computer that can distribute information or files
automatically in response to specifically worded e-mail
requests.
Shareware Software that is freely available on the Net. If you
like and use the software, you should send in the fee
requested by the author, whose name and address will be
found in a file distributed with the software.
.sig file Sometimes, .signature file. A file that, when placed in
your home directory on your public-access site, will
automatically be appended to every Usenet posting you
write.
.sig quote A profound/witty/quizzical/whatever quote that you
include in your .sig file.
Signal-to-noise The amount of useful information to be found in a given
ratio Usenet newsgroup. Often used derogatorily, for example:
"the signal-to-noise ratio in this newsgroup is pretty low."
SIMTEL20 The White Sands Missile Range used to maintain a giant
collection of free and low-cost software of all kinds,
which was "mirrored" to numerous other ftp sites on the
Net. In the fall of 1993, the Air Force decided it had
better things to do than maintain a free software library
and shut it down. But the collection lives on, now
maintained by a Michigan company.
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol. Used to turn home
computers into Internet sites over a phone line.
Smiley A way to describe emotion online. Look at this with
your head tilted to the left :-). There are scores
of these smileys, from grumpy to quizzical.
Snail mail Mail that comes through a slot in your front door or a
box mounted outside your house.
Spam Message posted to numerous Usenet newsgroups to which
it has absolutely no relevance (also a verb).
Sysadmin The system administrator; the person who runs a host
system or public-access site.
Sysop A system operator. Somebody who runs a bulletin-board
system.
TANSTAAFL There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The
particular system for transferring information over a
computer network that is at the heart of the Internet.
Telnet A program that lets you connect to other computers on
the Internet.
Terminal There are several methods for determining how your
emulation keystrokes and screen interact with a public-access
site's operating system. Most communications programs
offer a choice of "emulations" that let you mimic the
keyboard that would normally be attached directly to
the host-system computer.
UUCP Unix-to-Unix CoPy. A method for transferring Usenet
postings and e-mail that requires far fewer net resources
than TCP/IP, but which can result in considerably slower
transfer times.
Upload Copy a file from your computer to a host system.
URL Uniform Resource Locator. An address on the World-Wide
Web.
User name On most host systems, the first time you connect you
are asked to supply a one-word user name. This can be
any combination of letters and numbers.
VT100 Another terminal-emulation system. Supported by many
communications program, it is the most common one in
use on the Net. VT102 is a newer version.
WWW World-Wide Web or the Web.
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