The Project Gutenberg eBook of E

Published：2026-08-01 04:51:18 Source: clay kits for birthday Author: Travel Retail

EMAIL 101 by John Goodwin,rag dolls for 7 year olds under 100 dollars this is an Alpha test version, your

suggestions will be included in the Beta test versions, and inthe final editions.

This rough version is missing 8 out of 28 chapters and 1 out of 5appendices.

Copyright (c) 1993 by John E. Goodwin. All Rights Reserved.

You may make and distribute verbatim copies of these course notes fornon-commercial purposes using any means, provided this copyright noticeis preserved on all copies.

For information on taking the internetworking course, contact

     John Goodwin ([email protected])
     P.O. Box 6022
     St. Charles, IL 60174, U.S.A.
1

<title> E-MAIL 101

If you like those little machines that give you 24 hour access to yourbank account, you'll love the Internet. I suppose there are stillpeople who, given a choice, will go to a drive-through teller just sothey can deal with a "live person" instead of a machine. But even thosepeople will admit that it is nice to have the option of doing things foryourself, on your own schedule, anywhere. Do you remember what it waslike before automatic tellers? Banks closed at 3 p.m. on weekdays.Each Saturday you had to guess how much money you would need for thefollowing week. If you were wrong you had to cash a check at a foodstore (and maybe buy something you didn't want). And if you were out oftown? Well, there were always credit cards.

We don't do that anymore. I think many people go to the automaticteller because they like the privacy of handling their own businesswithout having to explain it all to someone else. And we like theillusion of having access to our "own" account anytime we want.There are disadvantages to using an automatic teller card too—you mayhave to pay a fee each month or even for each transaction—and you haveto remember to deduct those fees from your account balance or you willbounce checks. But I'll bet you feel pretty competent using anautomatic teller and don't lose much sleep worrying over the fees.

This course is designed to give you that same sense of freedom andcompetence with the Internet that you have with an automatic tellermachine or the telephone. With a home computer, a modem, andcommunications software, you can connect to other computers over thephone line to exchange electronic mail (E-mail), trade files, or searchfor information. Many of those computers are connected to the worldwidenetwork called the Internet. Some few of them will—for a fee—let*you* connect to the Internet. From there you can dial any of 900,000or more computers, send E-mail to any of 25 million people, and accesshundreds of free, informative services.

In short, you are on the verge of a new method of communicating withpeople and machines called "internetworking." Internetworking lets you:

o Avoid playing phone tag;

o Sign up to receive special interest electronic newsletters andjournals;

o Access hundreds of information services and document collections inexactly the same way—no need to have hundreds of sets of differentinstructions or hundreds of (expensive) special purpose softwarepackages;

o Find and communicate with other people who share your interests.

Internetworking is an essential skill for the '90s. Your children willfind it as common as viewing television or using the telephone. Itstill has a few rough edges—but we'll explain those.

There is actually no single network owned by one company called theInternet. Instead, many medium-sized networks have grown together tocreate a "phone system" that connects together nearly a millioncomputers. Many hundreds of these computers allow some form of publicaccess. You can get the latest news or weather, download informationabout Government programs or high-tech products, search on-line librarycatalogues and databases, download free software, and do many otherthings, with little or no monetary investment beyond the cost of yourhome computer.

Using the Internet need not be expensive: you can get on the Internetfor as little as $10 a month if you own (1) a home computer, (2) a $50modem, and (3) some communications software (under $100). There aremore expensive ways to connect to the Internet, of course. These waysmake sense for businesses or organizations that make heavy use of thenetwork. But in this course we will discuss methods that cost in the$10-$40/month range. These methods are suitable for exploring the netafter hours and for casual use. We will provide some basic informationabout more expensive methods of connecting (Appendix C) so that you canmake informed decisions if your networking needs should increase in thefuture.

Internetworking well means mastering a whole host of skills—connectingtwo computers together using the Internet is just the beginning. Youhave to learn methods for transferring information from the remotecomputer to your own. This is a complex task that may involve using afile transfer protocol and compression techniques.

Because the information world is so vast, your biggest problem will mostlikely not be connecting to the Internet. It will be finding what youwant. Thus, this course covers not only the mechanics of making aconnection and transferring files, but techniques for locating materialas well. And of course you will want to be savvy about the costs ofdifferent connection methods. This means estimating whether it willcost you more per Megabyte to transfer the information or to have itfaxed to you by a friendly librarian.

This course is intended for the general public—students,businesspersons, librarians, teachers, writers, journalists—in factanyone who needs to find information and communicate with others.Whether you are researching a paper, writing an article, or trying toget technical information on a product, you will use these techniquesover and over.

Chapters marked with an asterisk are omitted from this edition.

COURSE CONTENTS

1 : The Past and the Future of Internetworking

2 : What Is the Internet?

3 : How Do I Connect to the Internet?

4 : Who Pays for the Internet?

5 : Internet Basics

6 : Getting on the Internet Step by Step

7 : Programs and Pictures

8 : File Compression Methods for Faster Transfer

9 : What to Do When You Only Have E-mail

10 : Employee Development: How to Get Your Employees Internetworking

Part II Special Concerns

11 : Special for Businesses

12 : Special for Students and their Parents

13 : Special for Writers, Journalists, Publishers, and Printers

14 : Special for Elementary and High School Teachers

15 : Special for Librarians

16 : Special for Scholars

17 : Special for Churches, Synagogues, and Mosques

Part III Research, Organization, and Writing

18 : Research Methods I: Basic Navigation Methods

*19 : Research Methods II: Usenet Newsgroups

20 : Research Methods III: Advanced Techniques

*21 : Organizing Information

*22 : Information Structures

*23 : Boolean Logic

*24 : Writing for an Internetworked World: Basic Problems

*25 : Writing for an Internetworked World: Getting Through to yourAudience

Part IV Resources

*26 : The Internet Address Book

27 : Bibliography

*28 : Glossary

Appendix A. Computer Hints for the *Really* Green

Appendix B. Using a Modem

*Appendix C. Technical Details of an Internet Connection

Appendix D. Just Enough UNIX

Appendix E. The Ten Best Things To Get If You Only Have E-Mail

<Chapter 1> The Past and Future of Internetworking

There is an old fashioned way to connect with other computers and shareinformation and there is a modern way. It is helpful to compare the twomethods briefly in order to make contact with methods you may alreadyknow and to show off the advantages of using the Internet.

The old fashioned (ca. 1980) method of making contact with othercomputers is through a bulletin board service (BBS). Bulletin boardservices grew up in the late 70s as a method for sharing software,talking, playing games, etc. with a personal computer. They range insize from small special interest Bulletin Boards with a local followingto giant national boards like CompuServe, GEnie, and The Source. Youaccess a bulletin board with a modem and communication software bydialing a telephone number. Of course, if you don't live in the localarea of the BBS you have to use a long distance carrier. This may add acouple dollars per hour to the connect fee.

The basic services offered by a Bulletin Board and by the Internet aresimilar:

(1) Access to a host computer (Internet TELNET command)

(2) File transfer capability (Internet FTP command)

  (3) The ability to contact other BBS members individually (Internet
E-mail)

  (4) The ability to post messages for general consumption in any of
several catagories. (Usenet Newsgroups)

The difference is that whereas each BBS has its own dialup procedure,menu interface, file transfer methods, billing policies, and so on, THEINTERNET USES ONE METHOD FOR ALL COMPUTERS IN THE WORLD. The savings interms of the "learning curve" is staggering. Once you know how to useanonymous FTP you know how to get information from *hundreds* ofproviders. It is like the difference between using the postal serviceor using a special courier for each person you write a letter to. Onceyou know how to address the envelope and put the stamp on, you can writeanyone.

The Internet has the added savings that any communications software youbuy for it works with all providers. You do not have to buy (orcustomize) special software for each information provider. Thus you canuse one familiar graphical user interface ("windows" program) to connectwith any computer. The usual situation where you have to buy a special"client" program to connect to each kind of "server" is replaced with asituation in which you have a single program that any "server" out therehas to comply with. This standardization is the main advantage of usingthe Internet.

Bulletin Boards are still around. In fact, one of the easiest ways toconnect to the Internet is through a national bulletin board service.One disadvantage of this method is that—as of this writing—nationalBBS's like CompuServe offer only E-mail. You can't FTP or Telnet fromthem. And they often charge per message for E-mail, so using them canbe quite expensive. There are better ways.

<Chapter 2> What is the Internet?

The best way to think of the Internet is as a communications medium likethe Telephone, Television, or the Postal Service. Using the Internetyou can send a any written text by E-mail. This is rather like mailinga letter and having it arrive in seconds—three days in the mostbackwards parts of the world. Using a special protocol called FileTransfer Protocol you can transfer text files that are too long to mail(over about 50 pages) or even transfer graphics and programs. If E-mailis the equivalent of "talking" to a person, then Telnet, the third mainInternet service, is equivalent to telephoning a computer. As long asyou know the password for logging on to a computer, you can access andsearch any of nearly a million computers. Details of E-mail, FTP, andTelnet are contained in Chapter 5, Internet Basics.

This chapter puts the Internet into context. Rather than concentratingon the trees that will occupy us in later chapters, it paints a bigpicture of the computing world in which the Internet has evolved. Whenyou pick up a telephone receiver you know you can dial households,businesses, or government offices. You can dial 800 numbers or 411 forinformation. You know how to get the time or weather, get your creditcard balance, or leave a message on an answering machine. In short, youhave a good idea of what might possibly be at the other end of the lineand a great deal of experience with negotiating their variousintricacies. But you are new to the Internet. Some sense of "what'sout there" in this new world is necessary to avoid getting lost in thethickets of acronyms, numbers, and procedures developed by differentvendors.

As we approach the middle of the 90s, the normal working situation inoffices is approaching something like this: there is a Local AreaNetwork (LAN) connecting together personal computers, workstations, andmainframes of different makes. The LAN (pronounced like "land" withoutthe "d") may be connected to other LANs as part of a Wide Area Network(WAN). The WAN may or may not be part of the global network called theInternet. In colleges, universities, and research laboratories itlikely is part of the Internet; in the commercial world, except for afew high-tech companies, it likely is not. But the difference betweenacademia and the commerical world is rapidly becoming blurred.

In addition to the LANs and WANs there are many, many home and officecomputers that *could* be part of the global network using a modem-to-host connection. These computers can be the portable computers ofoutside salespersons connecting to the central office to file a report,a computer in a home-operated desktop publishing company connectingbriefly to the Internet to get a graphic for a newsletter, or a parentsending E-mail to their child at college.

<Section 2.1> Getting Over Shell-Shock

Let's face it. Not many members of the public—even the computerliterate public-are on the Internet. There are three reasons that usingthe Internet for the first time can be rather intimidating, even thoughit is actually rather simple to use, when you get down to the nitty-gritty of internetworking:

o Getting on to the Internet can be a little bit complicated;

o The capability of logging on to computers you've never used beforeby its very nature means facing unfamiliar—and hence uncomfortable—situations; and

o The world is a very big place.

I like to think of the first problem—getting on to the Internet—byremembering what it was like using an "alternative" long distanceservice before the breakup of the Bell monopoly. People who used thealternative carriers had to dial all sorts of access codes—very often alocal access number, a credit card number, a security code, *and* thenumber of the party they were calling. They knew that whatever cameafter that was going to be easier.

That's what getting on the Internet is like. You may have to dial alocal access number, get your modem settings right, and type the rightmagic combination of words; but after all that, actually *using* theInternet is simple. We'll talk you through the initial steps—after awhile (and some frustration) it will be as unconscious as unlocking yourfront door or tuning a television set.

The second problem is a little more substantial. Using the Internet,you can get yourself into situations that are, well, experimental.Because the Internet gives you the freedom to "go anywhere" and "doanything"—at least if you know the passwords—you can uncover strangeincompatibilities and unfamiliar systems. I call this experience "shellshock". At some point you will likely find yourself face to face with acomputer program that expects you to type a command you don't happen toknow.

You can mostly avoid such situations by only trying things about whichyou have good information. The situation is not much different fromusing a telephone: if you stick to well-worn paths like dialing localnumbers or simple long distance calls, you will have little trouble; butif you start dialing other countries or special numbers you may be infor a surprise or two.

When you do log on to a new (previously unknown) computer, you canexpect to come face to face with something called a "shell prompt".Shell prompts look like this:

% (or some other obscure symbol, like a dollar-sign)

or this:

mail> (a favourite—means you're in some sort of mail program)

or like this:

prez23:

(means 23rd command since you logged into computer "prez").

A prompt means the other computer expects you to type a command for its"shell", or "command interpreter". The shell is the outer layer thatyou, the user, interact with.

Two other types of "user interfaces" you might encounter are:

o menu systems that give you choice of numbers

o "window" systems or graphical user interfaces (GUIs, pronounced"gooey").

Menu systems are popular on bulletin board services, and usually presentno problem to the novice. Their weakness is that they get cloying afterabout five minutes. Most menu systems that are designed to be used forthat length of time or longer have a "command mode", where you get—youguessed it—a shell prompt.

Even windowing systems (you know if you have one of these) very oftengive you a window that "emulates a terminal", i.e. that gives you ashell prompt inside.

So, you see, in each of the three common user interfaces—command line,menu-driven, or graphical user interface—you will likely encounter, atsome time in your life, a shell prompt. Advice on things that willlikely work to get you started is given here and in Appendix A. Someexperience of other kinds of computers, especially computers that usethe UNIX operating system is useful. Some tips about using UNIX andother operating systems you may not have encountered before is given inAppendix D.

If you do get stuck, whether by being experimental or just by accident,it is helpful to remember a few points:

o You can always disconnect from a remote service by using yourcommunications software to "hang up".

o If the computer gives you a strange symbol like a percent sign or adollar sign and just sits and stares at you, you can try "help" or "?"to try to find out what the computer expects, or else try "exit","quit", "bye", "logoff", or something similar, to return to where youwere before.

o Many times, when you log on to a system, you will get instructionson how to get further help or how to "escape" back to your own system.You should remember these or write them down!

o As a last resort, exit the communications program (and all otheractive programs) and shut off your computer, turn off your modem, anddisconnect it from the phone line. Be sure to do these steps in theorder prescribed. It is unwise (though tempting) to simply turn yourcomputer off and on, or to pull the plug on your modem with yourcomputer running.

More suggestions for the inexperienced are given in Appendix A.

The final hurdle to using the Internet is that the world, even the worldof the Internet, is indeed a very large place. When using the Internetyou have to decide:

o where to go;

o what information you want (and where it might be); and

o how to get to it (and get it back home intact).

For a system as vast as the Internet, these are hard decisions. Often,the only strategy that works is to explore and try different things.This course is designed to get you over the initial hurdles, give you afair grounding in methods that work, and point you in the rightdirection. The exploration is up to you. As an initial orientation, wedescribe the "three worlds of the known Internet" in the next section.

<Section 2.2> The Three Worlds of the Known Internet

The Internet, like ancient Gaul, is divided into three parts. Theseparts are not so much territories as worlds, each with their own sets ofassumptions, favorite dialects, and favored equipment. We mayconveniently refer to them as the "PC world", the "UNIX world", and the"Mainframe world". Here's a dossier on each of the three worlds:

     World: Personal Computer (PC)
     Typical Equipment: IBM PC and clones (85%) , Macintosh (15%)
     Conventional Operating Systems: MS-DOS, OS/2
     Windowing Systems: Windows, MacOS
     Typical Size: PC ($1k to $5k typical; few $100 used)
     Clientele: Mixed—Business, Home users, just about everybody

     World: (mostly UNIX) workstation
     Typical Equipment: Sun Workstation, VAXStations, other vendors
     Conventional Operating Systems: UNIX (two major dialects), VMS
     Windowing System: X Windows
     Typical Size: Workstation ($5k and up)
     Clientele: Engineering/Scientific users; more and more businesses

     World: Mainframe or Minicomputer
     Typical Equipment: IBM (various), Digital Equipment VAXes
     Conventional Operating Systems: VM, VMS, UNIX
     Windowing Systems: X Windows, if available
     Typical Size: Minicomputer or Mainframe ($10k to millions)
     Clientele: Big Business, Universities, Government

The neat picture of three worlds is distorted somewhat by a tendency foreach of the worlds to have two (or a few) major options, either inchoice of equipment, operating system, or vendor. So, for example, thePC world is split into two camps, the MS-DOS people and the Mac people.Similarly, the UNIX world is split into the "BSD" workstations and"System V" (i.e. "5") workstations.

The three worlds are reflected somewhat in networking. The Internet isdominated by minicomputers and workstations running UNIX and VMS, withan ever increasing influx of PCs running MS-DOS and Macs. Machinesrunning other operating systems often put a "UNIX-like" foot forward, sothe user can almost believe he or she is dealing with UNIX machines.There is a certain sense that the UNIX software is the standard for theInternet. Software tends to appear on UNIX machines first and then be"ported" to other machines.

What makes it possible for all these disparate machines to talk to eachother is the "Internet Protocol" (known more formally as TCP/IP, forTransport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). TCP/IP can be thought ofas a set of rules for two computers to use when they communicate witheach other, even if they are not from the same vendor.

We are used to thinking of computer systems as having "software" and"hardware", but it is closer to the truth to say that complicatedsystems like the Internet have many levels—in the case of the Internetas many as seven—ranging from "very software" to "very hardware". Eachlevel has its own set of rules, called its protocol. The TCP/IPprotocol belongs to two of the middle levels. At the moment, the mostcommon protocol for the two most "very hardware" levels is "Ethernet"(looks rather like the coaxial cable used for cable TV), while the "verysoftware" levels are completely dependent on the vendor. In fact, it isthis profusion of levels which lets the Internet work on just about anykind of hardware and with software from many different vendors.

Anyway, the Internet grew up as several medium-sized networks, allhaving diffent "very hardware" and "very software", but using the TCP/IPprotocol for their middle layers, were connected together. Two of thefirst, and biggest, nets to adopt the Internet Protocol were ARPAnet—Internet was first designed for this one—the network for what used tobe called DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of theU.S. Department of Defense), and NSFnet, a network connectinguniversities and government laboratories for the U.S. National ScienceFoundation. These and other large networks form the "backbone" of theInternet. But today there are hundreds of smaller nets hooked on to thebackbones.

There *are* big networks that don't use TCP/IP. For example, in thecontext of IBM mainframes at large universities and researchinstitutions, BITnet (The "Because It's Time" Network) emerged. Thislarge worldwide network does not use the Internet protocol. BITnet canbe reached from the Internet through special translators calledgateways, but it is definitely a different network. Occasionally oneencounters problems that can be traced to this fact.

<Section 2.3> The Future of the Internet

The future of any technology is difficult to forcast, and I do notprofess to know what the future holds for the Internet. Somepredictions that various forcasters have made for internetworking (andtelecommunications in general) are:

o A proposal for a data "superhighway" called the NREN (NationalResearch and Education Network) will pass the U.S. Congress. This is anupgrade for the Internet.

o Commercial use of the Internet will become more common and newschemes for charging for its use will emerge.

o The Internet will be handed by the government over to AT&T and theother "telecoms", who will charge so much to access it that the wholescheme will collapse.

o Optical Fiber will replace Coaxial Cable (Ethernet protocol) as themost common standard for LANs.

o The Internet will enter the home over ordinary phone lines.

o The Internet will enter the home over existing Cable TV coaxialcable.

o The Internet will enter the home through newly strung optical fiberas part of a unified system for Telephony, Cable TV, and the datacommunication, using [insert your favorite protocol here] as a standard.

o Personal Computers will replace telephones, answering machines,stereos, CD players, and VCRs—maybe even TV!—as a single, universaldevice for home use. Sounds like a good thing to connect to the NREN.

o Computer and telephone technology will become so intertwined thatit is hard to tell the difference. One product, already on the market,is described as "[a handheld] alphanumeric pager, an XT-compatiblecomputer with a backlit screen and PCMCIA Type III slot, a fax/modem, acellular and land-line phone, and a voice recorder"!

You are welcome to believe all or none of these predictions.

<Chapter 3> How Do I Connect To the Internet?

Connecting to the Internet involves several steps:

(1) Getting your modem and communications software working together

(2) Connecting to a provider over the phone lines (or a LAN)

(3) Using Internet services

For the first step you will have to rely on the manuals that came withyour modem and software. Appendix B contains a discussion of some ofthe obscurer terminology associated with modem settings. You might wantto read it if your manual is not well written.

Actually, you do not have to know about the second step in great detail.Mostly it is a matter of knowing enough to intellegently choose aprovider. Each provider will have a specific set of steps—modemsettings, access numbers, passwords, etc.—that you need to follow inorder to get from you to the provider. Don't lose hope! Once you getthere you've finished the hardest part. Chapter 6 contains veryexplicit instructions for connecting to one particular service, DELPHI.

Step 3 is the subject of the rest of this course—what you can do onceyou're on. The basics are discussed in the next chapter.

<Section 3.1> Connection Methods

In theory, there are three ways to connect to the Internet from apersonal computer or workstation:

(1) Your PC may have a direct connection. This means that it is partof a Local Area Network (LAN) that is in turn connected to one of thecomponent Wide Area Networks of the Internet. Your computer will haveits own Internet Protocol (IP) Address. This type of connection iscommon in offices, especially of high-tech firms, but definitely not forhome use.

(2) You may have a connection to a "host" computer that is directlyconnected to the net. If you can use a modem to connect your home PC tothe mainframe at the office and the mainframe is on the net, then youcan get an Internet connection that way. But what if your officedoesn't have a mainframe on the net? You can still subscribe to aservice that makes a host computer available to the public. This ispresently the cheapest and most common method for public access to thenet.

(3) There is a connection method in between cases (1) and (2) called aSerial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) connection. You dial up a specialhost computer—just like case (2)—called a SLIP-server. The differenceis that the SLIP server gives you a temporary IP address and talks toyour computer using the Internet Protocol. This requires yourcomputer's software to speak SLIP. Your computer thinks it is usingcase (1) even though your actual connection is closer to step 2. Theadvantage of fooling your terminal into thinking it has a directconnection is that it can use all the fancy, free software developed forcomputers with direct connections.

The software for a SLIP connection is being built into all newcommunications software. If you just bought or upgraded your software,you probably have SLIP capability already. The catch? SLIP is too slowon a cheap 2400 baud modem. But if you buy a fast FAX modem it worksfine. That's one reason that a $350 FAX modem is a good investment. Itis fast enough for SLIP and gives you the ability to send and receiveFAXes as well.

SLIP technology is still rather new and somewhat experimental, so thisdiscussion will focus on the old reliable—method 2. How do you find aservice that will give the public access to the Internet?

Depending on where you live, you may have a provider you can call inyour local area code. If not, then most of your problem will be findingthe cheapest way to make a long distance phone call. This book does nothave a list of providers, since such a list will get out of daterapidly. Instead, it gives you one cheap way to get on the Internet,then gives you instructions on how to find out who the providers are andwhat their rates are. I would rather teach you how to look out foryourself than just give you some outdated advice. This method also hasthe advantage that one set of instructions works for everybody. Thatwouldn't be true if I listed 20 or 30 providers. Instructions are givenin "Gettin on the Internet Step by Step."

<Section 3.2> Types of Internet Providers

As I said, most of the problem of getting on the net occurs when youlive in an area that doesn't have a LOCAL provider. Basically there arethree kinds of providers and three ways to get to them:

(1) Providers of direct connections. If you are setting up a businessand need a high volume direct connection for your office Local AreaNetwork and can afford several thousand a year at least, you will wantto consider these high-end providers. They are not relevant to ourdiscussion. (But see Appendix C for more information).

(2) There are several regional networks and one national one thatspecialize in low cost PC-to-host or SLIP connections. Costs range from$20-40 a month to $2000 a year, depending on the services you need.Performance Systems International (PSI) is a major provider of this kindof service. Other networks offer services similar to PSI, although PSIhas the most extensive nationwide service at this time. This servicecan be very competitive with BBS type service (see below) if you are afrequent user of the net or need to send more than an occasional E-mailmessage. It is definitely worth a look.

(3) Many computer bulletin board services offer E-mail or evenInternet connections for around $10-20 per month. Be very careful tocheck out the connection charges. If you are not careful you could becharged for using the bulletin board (per hour), using the Internet, thelong-distance connection, a surcharge for daytime use, and a per messagecharge for E-mail! One of the purposes of this book is to explain theminefield of charges so you don't get burned. The service recommendedbundles all the charges up front so there are no surprises.

Generally speaking, connecting to the Internet through a BBS is the bestmethod for the explorer. Once you've determined that you need theInternet on a regular basis, one of the regional networks or PSI isprobably the most economical route.

Unless you are fortunate enough to live in an area where an Internetprovider is a local call away, you will have to contend with longdistance charges. Actually, these can be as low as $2 an hour and aresometimes bundled in with the network connection charge.

<Section 3.3> Finding the Cheapest Long Distance Method

There are three basic methods of paying for long distance:

  (1) You just pay for a call to another area code. This is very
expensive and not recommended.

  (2) You use a provider with a toll free (800) number and pay for the
call in a higher connect charge. This is also very expensive.

  (3) You use a Public Data Network after hours and pay around $2 an
hour (may be included).

Actually, the last method is the only workable one. There are a numberof PDN's.

  CompuServe has a data network. You do not have to join CompuServe to
use it.

PSI has its own data network with many points of presence around theUS and abroad. These are divided into Class A and Class B, depending onthe level of service provided.

Tymenet and SprintNet are two other public data networks. You mayhave heard of the SprintNet service PC Pursuit. For a monthly fee thisgives you many BBS nationwide as well as any computer that can bereached by SprintNet.

In general, for a first experiment we recommend the DELPHI BBS andSprintNet. DELPHI includes the SprintNet surcharge in its $13/monthbill (after hours use only—daytime is expensive everywhere). At thiswriting you get 5 free hours the first month and 4 hours per month afterthat. Additional hours are $4 each. There is also a 20 hours for $20plan. Additional hours are $2 each with this plan. Detailedinstructions on how to sign up are given in "Connecting to the InternetStep by Step."

<Chapter 4> Who Pays for the Internet?

All this talk of cost may be making you edgy. Eventually, everyoneusing the Internet must face the fear—if I am calling up a computer inSwitzerland won't I be billed for the call? The marvelous thing aboutthe Internet is that although there is plenty of expense involved ingetting on it, there is no additional expense associated with what youdo after you are connected. THE WHOLE WORLD IS ON LOCAL. Thus, you mayhave to pay for a $2 an hour call to Massachussetts, for your PC, yourmodem and software, and a connect fee to your internet provider. Butyou DO NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR EACH AND EVERY INTERNET CALL.

Since most people find it hard to believe that you can send mailanywhere in the world or dial up a computer on the other side of theglobe without paying a special charge, I will spend some time explainingwho does pay for the Internet and how those costs are reflected back tothe user. One way or another you do pay for network usage, but thesepayments are not in the form of a direct billing for each call.

First, you already know that there is no Internet, Inc. that monitorsall the calls and bill customers. Instead there are hundreds of smallernetworks that act as relays. Those networks *could* charge theircustomers for each call, based on how much time it takes and where itgoes, but since no one is charging them, they have no real incentive topass on costs. Instead they charge a flat fee—usually based on connecttime, but for a 24 hour connection just a flat yearly fee.

Now network traffic does use up resources. Basically, the Internetworks like a potluck supper. Everyone with a direct connection allowssome of their system resources to be used by messages that are just"passing through". They allow this because other systems allow them thesame privilege. Thus, it is in everyone's interest to allow some oftheir resources to be consumed by other persons' messages, becauseeveryone comes out ahead.

So, sites with direct connections pay real costs in terms of lostcomputing cycles, extra cabling, fancier equipment, and lost disk space.These costs are passed on to their customers or shouldered by governmentsubsidy. But there are no direct charges associated with using thesystem.

In the early days of the Internet, Government subsidy of the backbonenetworks was crucial. The backbone was built with government funds andit was government funds that paid for the extra equipment needed by theuniversities and laboratories that carried more traffic than theygenerated. With the development of commercial nets alternatives to theGovernment-sponsored backbone arose. The Government subsidy is stillimportant, but becomming less so every year.

So, the short answer is that you pay for the network. You either payyour provider a flat fee or you pay as a taxpayer for Governmentsubsidized network resources. Most of the cost you actually see will bein your own equipment, the cost of placing a phone call, and whateveryour provider charges you.

<Chapter 5> Internet Basics

We've talked a lot about the Internet, but how do you actually use it?
There are three basic skills on which all Internet use is based:

Electronic Mail (E-mail)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Telnet

All three commands rely on the Internet addressing scheme. An Internet"telephone number" of another computer is its Internet Protocol (IP)address, a number that looks like this:

225.225.12.38

This form, called "dotted decimal," is still required by some computers.But, to make IP addresses easier for humans, this telephone number hasanother form which is easier to remember:

hoople.usnd.edu

This means that computer ("node") named "hoople" is located at theUniversity of Southern North Dakota. The last component, ".edu", meansthat the institution is in the educational domain. . Other domainnames look like this:

.edu : educational institutions

.gov : government (research laboratories and

.com : commercial businesses

.org : nonprofit organizations

.mil : military installations

In addition to these domain names, there are many two-letter countrycodes, e.g.

.ca : Canada

.jp : Japan

.uk : United Kingdom

.us : United States

and many more.

To send electronic mail to someone over the Internet, all you need toknow is their "username", or "handle". This is followed by an at-sign,the node name, and any domain names. Thus

[email protected]

donotes a private citizen in Chicago, Illinois, in the U.S. Joe'scomputer is called "locoweed".

As another (real) example,

[email protected]

is the E-mail address of the U.S. President.

In the examples that follow we will give details for a typicalcharacter-oriented computer. Windowing systems with menus, dialogboxes, and so on will hide many of these details, but they are happeningbehind the scenes. Also, once you are connected, you may be faced withan old-fashioned command-line system.

<Section 5.1> Electronic Mail (E-mail)

The details of using the mail system depend on your system, butbasically it looks like this:

% mail <enter the mail program with the MAIL command, orwhatever>

Welcome to Mail, Version 99.3 . . .

mail> send

     To: [email protected]
     Cc: [email protected] <or return if you don't want a
carbon sent to anyone>
     Subj: I'm on Internet

Type your message. Control-Z to exit

Bill—

I just got my Internet connection today. My address is [email protected].

Give my best to Al,

PDQ

<type control-Z or do whatever your system needs to signal an endof the message>

% <your system is now ready for your next command>

<Section 5.2> Telnet

In addition to using an Internet address to send E-mail, you can use itto call a computer. This is rather like dialing up a computer with amodem, except that the local computer (the one you called with *your*modem) is calling up the remote computer:

your PC or Mac —> "local computer" —> "remote computer"

The example assumes that "home>" is the shell prompt given by your localcomputer and that "%" is the prompt given by the remote computer (seeSection 2.2 on "shell prompts"). So remember, you don't type them.

home> telnet hoople.usnd.edu <type this on your "home" computer>

Welcome to node HOOPLE. Now running Opus 2.0

     username: pdq
     password: <type your password here>

     Last login 23:14:55 15-JUN-1752
     You have mail.

% <now type whatever commands you like until . . . >

% logoff <or bye or quit or exit or whatever>

Session with hoople.usnd.gov terminated at 21:19.

home> <now continue issuing commands on your home computer>

This method of connecting to another computer is called "telnetting".In effect, you have used the local computer to telephone the remotecomputer. You can now do anything on the remote computer (with certainrestrictions) you could do if you were "actually" logged on.

SPECIAL PROBLEMS WITH TELNETTING

Sometimes telnetting will put you into a menu-type program or even a"screen oriented" program. A special problem here is getting the othercomputer to recognize what type of screen you have. Since mostcommunications software "emulates a terminal", this amounts to tellingthe other system what type of terminal your communications system isemulating.

E.g., on a UNIX system you might type:

% set term vt100

to tell the other system that your communications software thinks it isa VT100 terminal (a very common choice for emulation programs).

If you don't get this exactly right, your telnet session will "sort ofwork". It's probably not worth spending a lot of time on this problemfor a brief contact with the other computer. If you are going to workon the remote computer every day, however, you will want to get itright. Most "flaky" behavior can be traced to this problem.

<Section 5.3> File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

It is easy to transfer files over the Internet using a special protocolcalled FTP. FTP takes the place of programs like XModem or Kermit thatmay be familiar to you if you use a bulletin board service. Now, youmight ask, if FTP transfers a file, what is the differnce betweensending E-mail and FTP; why prefer one over the other?

First of all, FTP avoids certain restrictions on the type of file sent;in particular, you can send binary (non-text) files like programs andpictures; and you are not restricted to any particular length, as isoften the case with mail programs.

Not only that, with FTP you can "browse" a directory of files beforechoosing one. You can move up and down the directory hierarchy and listfiles, looking for the one you want.

Finally, FTP lets you get places that you may not have an account (or afriend to send you mail). The method for doing this, called "anonymousFTP", is described in the next section. There are several hundred"anonymous FTP sites" worldwide, with large collections of programs,textfiles, and graphics. Anonymous FTP is the Internet equivalent ofpublishing—a very important topic indeed.

<Section 5.4> Anonymous FTP

Further facility with Anon. FTP requires a little knowledge of the UNIXoperating system. See Appendix D for an introduction.

<Chapter 6> Getting on the Internet Step by Step

This course takes a different approach to . Rather than

In particular, you should contact the following for information.

STEP 1. SIGN UP WITH A PROVIDER (example DELPHI)

To get on the Internet you need:

1. a home computer,

2. a 1200 or 2400 baud modem that understands AT commands ("HayesCommand Set Compatible"),

3. communications software, and

4. a credit card.

This example assumes that you are signing up with the bulletin boardservice DELPHI. DELPHI has no commercial relationship with the author.It was chosen for an example because its rates are typical of the lowend of the market, it offers nationwide service, it includes afterhoursaccess by SprintNet in its basic fee, and because at this time it offers5 free hours of Internet access to new subscribers.

You should definitely consider other providers. You can get informationabout other providers once you're on the Internet. In fact, that willbe one of your first steps below.

1. Set your modem to 2400 (or 1200) baud, 8 bits, NO parity, 1 stopbit, full duplex, local echo and auto linefeeds off, XON/XOFF on, VT100emulation. (see the manual for your modem, the manual for yourcommunications software, and Appendix A if you need help)

Don't worry if some of the options are missing. Usually, for example,full duplex implies local echo off and vice versa, so your software maynot list these as separate options.

2. Use your communications software to issue (or type directly toyour modem) the command ATDT 1 800 365 4656. If you have a pulse-dialphone your will use ATDP instead of ATDT.

3. DELPHI will give you explicit instructions, but for reference theywill look like this:

    A. Make sure it is after 6 or 7 p.m. or on a weekend—unless you
want a $9 surcharge for daytime access.

    B. Dial your local SprintNet access number (local call!): ATDT 123
4567.

C. After "CONNECT 2400", type @D ("D" must be capital)

D. After "terminal=" type <CR>, i.e. carriage return.

E. At the @-sign type

@C DELPHI

F. After Username: type

        Username: YOURNAME
        Password: OPENSESAME

Type your own username and password of course.

4. If at anytime you forget your Sprintnet access number, or if youare out of town, you can look up SprintNet numbers as follows.

STEP 2. Your First E-mail
    Get PDIAL, NIXPUB, INTERNET RESOURCE GUIDE, Info on PSI
    Info on LISTSERV and signing up for E-mail

STEP 3. Your First Anonyomous FTP

Get surfing the internet

STEP 4. Your First Telnet

Getting Public Access UNIX and reading Usenet news

STEP 5. First E-mail
    Getting Information on PSI
    Getting Information on LISTSERV

You can do many, many things with the Internet. The information youhave retrieved, especially the Internet Guides, will give you otherideas. We will go over some of the retrieval methods in Part III ofthis course. For now, you should experiment and explore, using theinformation you have as a starting point. The experience you gain willbe useful when we come to the more systematic study of Internet researchmethods later.

<Chapter 7> Programs and Pictures

Evenually, as you gain experience finding and transfering information,you will want to try you hand at transferring binary files containingpictures or free software from one of the large FTP archives like

wustl.edu

sumex-aim.stanford.edu (Macintosh software)

simtel-20.mil (IBM and compatible software)

In fact, some of the first software you will want to get is software forcompressing and uncompressing files (see next Chapter), processinggraphics ("image files"), and perhaps some games.

First, what is a binary file? A binary file is one that you can't read.Unlike text, which consists of groups of eight bit code lettersrepresenting "a", "b", and so on, binary files have bits that are meantto be read only by programs. You cannot "look" at them by typing themout or with a word processor—unless the word processor understands theformat of the file. Expensive word processing programs—including themost popular ones like Word Perfect and Microsoft Word—are increasinglyable to read a large variety of binary files.

Frequently encountered binary files include:

1. Files that use proprietary formats, such as word-processingprograms, spreadsheets, database programs, etc. These files containformatting (like italics, underlines, etc.) and perhaps graphics, andother goodies beyond the simple text.

2. "Application Programs". These are programs written in (thebinary) machine language that your computer understands. They are"compiled" from text files of "source code" written in a programminglanguage. Vendors almost never make their source code available—exceptfor free software, which you may have to compile yourself.

3. Text files that have been compressed to about half their size withone of the popular compression programs. Compression makes texts filesbinary. Compression doesn't do much for files that are already binaryunless the data they contain is very repetitive.

  4. Files containing graphics like GIF, TIFF, PICT, or JPEG files.
More on this below.

Transfering binary files is as easy as transfering text files once youunderstand the potential problems:

1. Most FTP programs start you out in TEXT mode. This means thattext files are *translated* when they go from computer to computer ontheir way to you. This is fatal to binary files because their bitpattern has nothing to do with the groups of eight bits that make uptext.

2. Even text files have slight compatibility problems because thethree "worlds"—IBM, Macintosh, and UNIX—use a different controlcharacter to represent "return", "enter", or "newline." Translationbetween the different dialects is handled automatically in TEXT modetransfers. It is also the main reason why text files cannot betransfered in BINARY mode.

The two control characters involved are called "linefeed" (LF) and"carriage return" (CR):

IBM PC and compatibles : <LF> <CR>

Macintosh and VAX : <CR>

UNIX : <LF>

3. As mentioned above, text files are often compressed to save space.This means that you need a program to uncompress them before you readthem—and that you have to transfer them in BINARY mode.

The most common compression programs and common file extensions are:

IBM PC and compatibles : PKZIP and PKUNZIP (.ZIP)

Macintosh : Stuffit and UnStuffit archives (.sit)

UNIX : compress and uncompress (.Z) and tape archive (.tar) withboth together being most common (.tar.Z or .taz). Note capital "Z".

UNIX also has the gzip/gunzip command pair. gzip files usually have theextension ".z" (*small* z) or ".tgz" if they are also tape archivefiles.

Fortunately you can usually find free software for you computer thatwill uncompress formats from other computer models. For currentinformation on compression software, see the FAQ for the newsgroupcomp.compression (ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/xxx).

4. Conversely, sometimes binary files are converted to a sort ofASCII that looks like gibberish so that they can be mailed ortransferred in TEXT mode—but again you need a program that translatesthem back to binary. Sometimes we encounter the ultimate absurdity, atext file that is compressed then re-encoded as ASCII for mailing.Actually this makes sense if a large number of related text files arestored in a compressed "archive".

The most common programs for this are:

uuencode/uudecode for UNIX (used for Usenet news postings of binaryfiles and for mailing programs) The file extension (rarely encounteredbecause there is little reason to store files in this format) is ".uue".

BinHex for the Macintosh (.hqx) Often combined with Stuffit(.sit.hqx). This is a common method for distributing all the files thatcome with a program as a single file.

uuencoded files can be recognized by the fact that every line beginswith a capital "M" and is exactly the same length. The file starts withthe word "begin" and ends with "end" The translating program needsthese words, but nothing above or below them. Often a uuencoded file issplit into several parts for transmission and must be reassembled (andstripped of mail headers, etc.) in a word processing program before itis decoded. If you do this be sure to save the resulting file as a textfile and not in the proprietary format of the word processing program!

<Section 7.2> What To Do With Graphics

The second topic of this chapter is graphic images. Graphics are veryimportant for Desktop Publishers—writers of newsletters, businessesthat prepare their own brochures, and small printshops. Pictures can bestored in separate files or, in some cases, embedded in other formatssuch as the proprietary format of Microsoft Word files. Picture filestake up a large amount of space—especially big pictures at highresolution. 1 Megabyte is a typical size for a smallish picture atmoderate resolution. Thus, one picture is worth about 500 pages oftext!

The lifecycle of a typical graphic goes something like this:

STEP 1. Capturing (scanning) of photograph with optical scanner orwith a special "video" camera

The better sort of optical scanner looks like a small xerox machine.There are also cheaper hand-held models. Flatbed scanners cost in the$1000+ range so you are not likely to have one unless you are in thebusiness. Most likely, the casual user will get a graphic from someoneelse, from a collection of "clip art", or create the graphic fromscratch in a drawing program.

STEP 2. Storage in a file using an interchange format

However the image is obtained, it has to be stored on disk before it canbe used. There are perhaps twenty or so common formats, but those foundmost often on the Internet and in the Usenet newsgroups are:

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) a rather old-fashioned but verycommonly found type of graphics file. Almost any software can read thisformat. This is the most common format on Anonymous FTP archives.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) Technically more versatile thanGIF and just about as common. A very good choice for exchanging filesbetween different programs.

JPEG () A special compressed image format that is becoming commonin newer software.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) Not really a graphics file per say,but a set of instructions for drawing an image. The success of thePostscript page description language for Laser printers has led to a newstategy for including graphics in word processing files. Many high endword processing programs like Microsoft Word allow you to include areference to an external Postscript file containing the figure.

Desktop publishing and high-end word processing programs can often saveand import graphics in any of these formats, especially TIFF and EPS.

In addition, you may find files in proprietary formats like MacintoshPICT files. These formats serve as standards for their line ofcomputers but not across different brands. Fortunately you can findfree software that will convert TIFF to PICT or vice versa.

STEP 3. Transmission to point of use

Suppose you have a graphics file or a word processing file containingyour brochure. How do you send that file to someone?

If you work in an academic environment, it is quite possible that one orthe other institutions is an Anonymous FTP site. You may be able to usethe Anon. FTP site as a "mailbox" to transfer the file in binary mode—or you could exchange passwords and transfer the file directly, if bothhave a direct connection to the Internet.

More commonly, you will have to send the file by E-mail. Say you'vejust finished a brochure and you want to send it cross-country. Let'ssuppose that your business has two branches—one in New York and one inLos Angeles, and that both offices have Macintoshes with Microsoft Wordand that you both have one of the free "Usenet software kits" for theMacintosh (not necessarily the same one). Then, you proceed as follows:

  A. Using UUENCODE (or BINHEX, if you like) you convert the Microsoft
Word file to a coded text file.

  B. If your mail has a size limit, you may have to break up the file
and send it in parts.

  C. At the receiving end, reassemble the file and strip any headers
and trailers added by the mail system. The file should look like

     begin <very first line>
     M
     M
     M

     M
     end <very last line>

and be saved as a TEXT file.

D. Run UUDECODE (or BINHEX) and recover the binary file.

E. Run Microsoft Word, open the binary (MS Word!) file and print.

There may be one slight glitch. Macintosh files have two parts, a"resource" part and a "data" part. The resource part contains suchinformation as the name of the application to run when you click on thefile and how to draw the cute little icon pictures. Some of the simplerprograms do not encode the resource part so you may get a genericdocument that you can't open by clicking on it (the infamous"application busy or missing" message). That's OK. Open it from*within* Word and then save it as a Word document. It should recoverthe missing parts. And get smarter software.

Certainly this procedure is complicated—and you might want to do a dryrun before you try beating a 5 o'clock deadline—but the capability oftransfering a computer file cross-country in seconds can be crucial to abusiness. The fact that it can be done with free software and a casual$10/month E-mail connection is astounding. Play around and learn to dothis. In the future, printers may commonly accept submissions by E-mailor by direct transfer over telephone lines. Imagine not having tofigure out how to keep your camera-ready copy dry on a rainy day orhaving to rush across town minutes before your deadline!

STEP 4. Image enhancing and/or color separation

One of the great advantages of having a graphic in a computer file isthat you can use free software (or shareware) to play around with theimage. Cropping, rotating, streching, zooming, and so on are allcommon. In addition, you can convert color to black and white orgreyscale, enhance the image, make halftones or color separations, andeven play with the spatial frequency spectrum if you want. (Colorseparations are the four images needed by printers—separate ones forCyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Black ink).

STEP 5. Importing or embedding in a word processing or desktoppublishing program

Once you are happy with the picture you import it as a graphic into yourDTP or word processing program. If your program reads the format thepicture is in, this is easy. If not, you will need to get free softwarethat converts from the format you have to the one you need. Thisprocess is very experimental. I've found that I have better resultsconverting from an obscure format to a standard and common format likeGIF or TIFF before converting to a proprietary target format. This iseven true if the software says it reads the obscure format directly.

STEP 6. Printing on a laser printer or other equipment

If a graphic is not solely intended for display on a (color) monitor,like a slide presentation, it must be printed out. And there it is.Your picture in print.

<Chapter 8> What to Do When You Only Have E-mail

The very first thing to do is to get information on getting a betterInternet connection! But barring that, there are many reasons that youmight need to know workarounds that only require E-mail: you might bestuck somewhere (like work) where there is no Internet access, or youcould be borrowing access from a friend. Since Internetworking is aboutcommunicating with others, in many ways this is the most importantchapter in this course.

First we consider methods for

<Section 8.1> FTP by Mail Servers

<Section 8.2> Archie by Mail

<Section 8.3> Mailservers and Fileservers

<Section 8.4> Mailing lists and how to find them

<Section 8.5> E-mail to FAX

Fax is not a useful as E-mail, except in regard to one thing.

<Section 8.6> The Top Ten Fun Things to Get by E-mail List

Now that you know the techniques, try getting some of the things on the
"Top 10" list, in Appendix E.

<Chapter 9> Employee Development: How to Get Your EmployeesInternetworking

This short Chapter contains a little advice on how to learn about the
Internet. It should be clear from the preceding Chapters that learning
how to use the Internet is a survival skill for many businesses.
Effective use of the electronic medium

o Saves employee time—time lost in phone tag, lost messages, andthey three day time delay of surface mail.

o Avoids circuitous means of transfering data like printing adocument, faxing it, and then rekeyboarding the data at the receivingend

o Allows businesses and individuals to self-publish, and distributetheir work efficiently, whether or not the text or the graphicalappearance is primary.

o Provides access to information, allows communication anddistribution of documents in a single, uniform fashion.

It should also be clear that Internetworking is not yet a smooth, easilylearned process. It requires knowledge and skills that are notpresently taught anywhere except on the Internet itself.

The next section discusses specific needs of different segments ofpeople. The final section contains a fairly systematic exposition ofthe methods and skills needed to Internetwork effectively. But far fromrepresenting these sections as the last word on the subject, I wouldlike to stress that the only way to learn Internetworking is throughundirected exploration of the Internet.

This means you have to let your employees play, at least on their owntime: play with programs, play with Anonymous FTP, and play with Usenetnews. None of these activities are directly productive, but the playingpays off when you need a new program and someone in your office can

o pick the right Usenet newsgroup and retrieve its FAQ

     o read the FAQ and learn about free software that will solve your
problem and where to find the latest version

     o connect to the software archive and (correctly) transfer the
program—even though the intervening machine is of the "wrong" make.

o properly decompress and install the software.

When all this is done competently, in less than half an hour, you willhave attained the goal of employee development.

A final caveat: *don't neglect Usenet news.* Usenet news is the mostdifficult of the "Internet basic services" to get because it is notreally an Internet service. It is commonly found on Internet computersand commonly transmitted over the Internet, but it does not fit into theE-mail-FTP-telnet scheme of things. If your Internet provider does notprovide the news, you may have to ferret it out by (1) getting anaccount on a public access UNIX system and (2) learning to use UNIX.Command-line UNIX is no easier than command-line MS-DOS, but it is worthlearning how to get on a UNIX system for the "rn" (readnews) commandalone. All you need to know to get that far (and more) is contained inAppendix D.

Any guide like this will soon be dated in terms of information sources,techniques, and software. But Usenet is up to the minute. There,hidden among the many diversions of alt., talk., and soc. hierarchies,is the latest information on the computing environment of modernInternetworking. In the opinion of this author, learning to use anewsreader and reading the network news regularly is the *single mostimportant Internetworking skill*. The Usenet newsgroups are DeweyDecimal System of the the true world library. Information can be foundin plenty elsewhere, but guides to information are rare and priceless—and the Usenet news is the guide to the Internet.

<Part II> Special Concerns

This Part lists briefly some of the ways in which various groups ofpeople can use internetworking skills.

<Chapter 11> Special for Businesses

I wish I had better news for business use of the Internet. I wish Icould describe hundreds of free services of interest to *business* andtell you how to use the Internet for profit. But it's not there yet.However, before you turn away with a sad but knowing smile on your faceshaking your head over another unlikely technological dream—you've seenit before—consider this: the main potential of the Internet is as acommunication medium. Is radio and television important to businesses?What about newspapers and magazines? Or direct mail? Very fewbusinesses make money by selling newspapers or operating radio stations,but many, many businesses use these media for advertising. You and youremployees need to become adept at using this medium for the same reasonsyou've mastered layout of newpaper ads and writing form letters.

It is very important to understand that the Internet is not a broadcastmedium but more like the telephone or mail system. It specializes incontacting individuals one at a time. In other words, you are not goingto get a list of all 25 million E-mail addresses and bombard them every10 minutes with a 30 second sound byte. Nor are you going to send 100people a letter asking them to contact 100 persons each. On the otherhand you might use the medium to contact a mailing list of yourcustomers or self-publish a promotional brochure.

The amount of commercial traffic on the Internet is disappointinglysmall—but important. Mostly this is for historical reasons. Thebackbone network in the United States, NSFnet (for National ScienceFoundation) has an "acceptable use" policy for traffic carried over it.This restricts traffic to messages that support the R&D effort ofcertain government laboratories and universities. Clearly, there isnot room for commercial traffic if you are directly connected to theNSFnet.

But nowadays one can get on the Internet without connecting directly toNSFnet, and the amount of commercial traffic is growing. Don'toverlook:

o Making product information and brochures available by E-mail aswell as by the postal service.

o Allowing customer-support inquiries by E-mail.

o Starting a mailing list for your customers or clients.

o Setting up a "mail-server" to let clients get information aboutyour product automatically, without having to wait for you to log on(required direct connection to the Internet).

o Putting your product information on an anonymous FTP server(requires that you have a fileserver on the net or find an FTP sitewilling to take the information).

Suprisingly, there are, to my knowledge, no pay-for-advertising servicesthat support mailservers or anonymous FTP sites. It is a fairprediction that this advertising medium will develop as more personsjoin the net. You could put your information on bulletin boards, ofcourse, but only members will see it there—not the 25 million peoplewith E-mail access.

The fact remains, however, that unless you are in very specificindustries that are information or paper intensive (say publishing,computing, information retrieval, and so on), or unless you need accessto government information like weather maps, that your use of theInternet will consist of downloading programs or getting the latesttechnical information.

All of this overlooks the most important aspect of the Internet forbusinesses. The Internet is evolving very rapidly. It is likely to bean important medium for transacting business, for customer service andfor advertising in the very near future no matter what industry you arein. For some industries, like publishing, high-technology industries,and the media, it will be critical. Businesses who have a pool ofemployees that are adept at using the Internet will have a competitiveadvantage over firms that don't. Thus you should encourage youremployees to get personal Internet connections and learn about theInternet after hours.

<Chapter 12> Special for Students and their Parents

Since the Internet grew up in an academic environment, universitystudents will likely have a level of access that would be the envy ofany business. All the services and research tools—not just E-mail,FTP, and telnet, but gopher, WWW, WAIS, and the rest are likely to beavailable to students from any terminal on the local "cluster" or bydial-up from their dorm rooms.

Students will be especially keen on:

  o checking the university library catalogue to see if a book is in
before walking to the library.

  o finding out about campus events (even at other universities!)
through gopher or school bulletin boards

  o posting buy and sell notices for computer equipment, cars, housing,
and so on.

o contacting potential tutors either at their own university or forhelp by E-mail. (A netwide "university" of tutors, called UsenetUniversity, is prepared to answer questions in various subjects by E-mail already exists in the Usenet newsgroups. See the alt.uu.*hierarchy).

o using online catalogues of other university libraries to find booksfor interlibrary loan or to compile bibliographies

o downloading free software and information

o finding scholarship information

Parents can communicate with their children at college by E-mail—andprobably get a faster response than waiting for the occasional letterfrom home. Worried parents will have to refrain, however, from usingthe "finger" command to find out when their children last logged in orread their mail!

<Chapter 13> Special for Writers, Journalists, Publishers, and Printers

There is probably no industry for which information is so critical asfor the media and publishing industries. Journalists who explore thenetworks will find that they use the tools described in the first partover and over to track down information, conduct prompt "interviews" bymail, and so on. Publishers will be interested in the electronictransmission of manuscripts (though writers soliciting publication willstill want to send hardcopy—the equivalent in the electronic age ofsending a self-addressed stamped envelope). Publishers will also beinterested in sharing or developing free image processing software withother publishers, and transmitting graphics.

As the net develops, libraries research will more and more often involveinternetworking. Searching for books is already easy by dial-up or overthe Internet. In addition, the amount of information that is nevercirclulated on paper will increase. This is already the case in thescientific and technical community where printing is a luxury ratherthan a necessity. Given that a single 8 mm videotape can hold 500,000pages of text, it is possible to hoard (and search) vast amounts ofinformation that you can never possibly print out. Imagine what suchtechnology will do in the hands of Government or any other bureaucracy.Finally, it is not hard to image the day when an editor will receive asmany press releases by E-mail as through the postal service.

Internetworking technology allows virtually any business or individualto set up and run their own "wire service", providing information abouttheir business or special interest to a select group of subscribers.This capability is completely analogous to Desk Top Publishing, whichput low-end printing in the hands of any business or individual.

Journalists and other writers will not want to overlook thekaleidascopic mixture of technical discussion, product announcements,gossip, and general ranting on Usenet. Usenet already has more channelsthan a typcial satellite and is growing by ten channels a day or so. Itis hard to find, but tucked in among the chit-chat and programs is theonly up to the minute information on the Internetworked World.Certainly all writers of scientific or technical columns will want totap this source of information.

<Chapter 14> Special for Elementary and High School Teachers

There are many special Internet services for Elementary and SecondarySchool teachers provided by the Government, mostly through the educationoffices of research laboratories. The best all around refernce forteachers is the NCSA Guide to the Internet, put out by the EducationOffice of the National Center for Supercompter Administration. A paperversion is available from:

The network version is located at ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu. Unfortunately, itis available only in Microsoft Word format (requires binary transfer).If you are unable to use this format directly or convert to a format youcan use, you will have to order the paper version.

The NCSA Guide covers all you need to know to connect to the Internet—both technical details and etiquette—as well as suggested projects tointroduce children to the net. You will find out how to get informationabout the space program or how to access such programs as the NewtonBulletin Board Service for Science and Math. teachers at ArgonneNational Laboratory.

In addition, Usenet has a k12.* hierarchy which provides a gateway tothe K12 network. Besides K12, there are several other regional networksspecifically for teachers and students.

One of the more exciting prospects for teachers is that of sharingworksheets, handouts, and other materials with other teachers. Althoughthis type of sharing is routine on bulletin boards and regional networksthat cater to teachers, anonymous FTP sites hold out the possibility ofa worldwide collection of such materials. Send contributed materials(in electronic format) to

ftp.cs.city.ac.uk:/freelore/incoming

by following the instructions in Chapter xx for sending a file byanonymous FTP, or mail a floppy disk (and a return mailer with prepaidpostage, if you want it back!) to

     The FreeLore Project
     P.O. Box 6022
     St. Charles, IL 60174.

Make sure your materials have a copyright notice like this course,allowing anyone to copy and distribute them for free (for educationalpurposes).

<Chapter 15> Special for Librarians

For many years, of course, libraries have been among the heaviest usersof information services—for cataloguing or to fill patron requests.Several companies now specialize in providing Internet access tolibraries, e.g. ACCESS or DRAnet. Libraries will increasingly use theseservices because the promise the following benefits:

  o Inexpensive access to hundreds of online library catalogues,
worldwide.

  o Uniform, and often cheaper, access to information services using
telnet rather than a host of special software packages.

o Access to netwide searching tools like WAIS, WWW, and GOPHER.

o Discussion by E-mail with other librarians, conference reports andannouncements, and so on.

It is true, as one librarian said to me, that you can tell thatlibrarians didn't set up the Internet. The archives grew piecemeal andtheir contents are far from uniform in quality. In addition, the wholeInternet is so vast it probably can't be catalogued. Nevertheless,rough and ready tools and customs have grown up to provide some sort ofaccess to the information that is "out there". There is a great deal ofwork to be done by librarians that will doubtless keep them employedinto the next millenium.

The main boon to librarians is the hierarchical organization of the netinto nodes, directories, and subdirectories. These provide an implicitand universal call number to *everything in the electronic world*. Theday is not far away when a cross-reference like

See ota.ox.ac.uk:/pub/HistoricalDocs/Political/US/constitution

will be as common as a bibliographic citation or See reference in a cardcatalogue.

The Internet also carries a number of hidden expenses and dangers tolibraries:

  o It will somewhat increase the expense of computer equipment,
technical personnel, software, etc. needed by libraries

  o Additional phone lines may become necessary, especially if some
sort of public access to the Internet is contemplated

o Staff training needs will be greater

o The local computer system will need virus protection software andregular backups (a good idea anyway but seldom practiced by librarians,in my experience. Persons who are trained in book conservation shouldknow better!).

o Some material on the Internet will arouse complaints from thepublic because it represents the views of unpopular minorities (e.gliberals, homosexuals, feminists, and intellectuals). There is also agreat deal of pornographic material (text and graphics) available by E-mail or through the Usenet newsgroups. Issues of censorship, publicfunding, and access for minors have yet to be played out in the domainof electronic communications.

In addition to the standard package of services from your provider,librarians should not neglect Usenet Newgroups, even if this meansgetting a special account with a different service (and accessing it bydial-up or telnet through your primary service). Learning to use theUsenet Newgroups and their invaluable FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)is the *single most important skill for professional development of yourstaff.* This means that you may want to encourage after-hours "playing"with your computer system. Think of the Usenet Newsgroups as theReference Section of the Internet.

<Chapter 16> Special for Scholars

It used to be that only scientists and technologists used the academicnetworks. But no longer. Today there are many humanists and socialscientists happily gabbing away with their friends (oops . . . I meancolleagues) at other universities, collaborating by E-mail, subscribingto and writing for E-journals, and so on. This is, of course, inaddition to the academic computing environment described in the Chapterfor students.

Your main entree to this world is some sort of E-mail access and findinga mailing list or newsgroup for your field. From there you will pick uptips on interesting materials or groups to join—in short you can startnetworking. The two main sources for such mailing lists are LISTSERVERS(traditional on BITNET) and increasingly Usenet Newsgroups. Actuallythe newsgroups are not as useful as the lists at the moment *for thehumanities*. This is because the academic hierarchy is not assubdivided as the computer science hierarchy. Thus, there is a wholehierarchy for computer science, but all of linguistics fits intosci.lang! These discussion groups either tend to have just a fewparticipants or to be so all-encompassing that they are useless. Thisdoes not mean you should ignore Usenet—the computer and networkinginformation is invaluable—just that you will not find it *directly*relevant to your field.

Listservers are another matter. They allow distribution of articles byanyone to the whole list (unless the list is moderated, i.e. refereed bythe list's owner), and they allow archiving of articles at a placeanyone on the list can access. In short, they form a sort of ElectronicJournal with a *very* big reader mail column. To find a list in yourfield, send the message "INDEX GLOBAL" to any listserver. These usuallyhave an address like "[email protected]". Then send a messagelike "SUBSCRIBE PDQFAN" to the listserver to join the list PDQFAN.After that you will send messages for publication to"[email protected]" and (human) service requests to "[email protected]".

The best way to use a listserver is to avail yourself of the "SET PDQFANDIGEST" or "SET <whateverlist> DIGEST" command so that you get the(daily?) mailing as a newspaper and not as a series of fifty or so mailmessages interspersed throughout the day. The digest includes *yourown* correspondence so that you have a record of this. This is not whathappens without the DIGEST option. For full instructions send themessage "HELP" to "[email protected]".

Ultimately the Humanities will have the same infrastructure of servicesthat already is forming in the Sciences:

o easy access to preprints and collections of journal articles

  o archives of data sets, special purpose free software, and text
databases.

  o collections of E-text source materials, if relevant. These may
include "tagged" text for special statistical studies.

o a set of free programming tools for routine scholarly tasks liketypesetting papers, creating bibliographic databases, and so on—in theformat specific to your field.

Scholars in the humanities should check the list of E-text archives(over 300 of them) at Georgetown University (send E-mail message "" to"" to get started). These archives may well have materials in yourfield that they will make available for scholarly purposes at a nominalcost. In addition, check the Oxford Text Archives at black.ox.ac.uk.(Login as "anonymous" for information—as of this writing the archivesare not searchable online by telnet, but an index is available).

<Chapter 17> Special for Churches, Synagogues, and Mosques

It is suprising that religious organizations have been so slow torecognize the importance of a new communications medium like theInternet. Many religious organizations use computers for producingnewsletters or accounting and other office tasks; but very few use themeffectively for telecommunication and internetworking.

The Internet is not like Television or Radio—it is not a broadcastmedium. In many ways the Internet is a more appropriate communicationsmedium for religions organizations than "the media". It is lessexpensive, not centrally controlled, and reaches persons who want toreceive the information on a case-by-case basis.

There is nothing to prevent a religious organization from setting up afileserver on one of the commercial nets (admittedly expensive, but youonly need one worldwide). From there any member of your organizationcan upload and download information. Thus you can keep a library ofregional or local newsletters, special software, a directory of localgroups, listings of job openings, and so on. Many organizations alreadyhave this sort of thing on Bulletin Boards, but FTP archives and E-mailprovide a less expensive method of disseminating information that canreach anywhere in the world, not just a local region or single areacode.

But the promise of internetworking goes beyond the "office environment"of your organization—which I am sure is already well developed—totouch your educational and evangelical mission. You can makeinformation about your organization and its beliefs instantly availableto 25 million people if they want it.

In addition, there is a great need for "charity work" in preparing E-texts. Most E-texts are copyrighted or locked up in proprietarydatabases. This means that they cannot be freely shared. Free E-texts,especially those written in plain "vanilla" ASCII, are in great demandamong blind people—who can use special software to convert the text tosound—and by persons in remote areas or the third world.

Distribution of free E-text is not limited to the Internet by any means.Free E-text will find its way onto thousands of bulletin boards and willbe passed to non-networked machines by floppy disks. Once printed outit can be disseminated by photocopying or any inexpensive printingmethod that uses "camera-ready" copy. The Internet is thus the backboneof a worldwide distribution network that can reach anyplacesophisticated enough to have some sort of printing (or delivery)technology.

There are basically two ways to create free E-text: you can type orscan in something in the public domain (75 years old or older) or youcan create new text that has a copyright notice like this one allowinganyone to copy and distribute the text. It is not enough merely to sellthe information at a nominal cost. Unless you allow others the right tofurther distribute information it is not really "free", even if yousometimes give it away at no cost on a floppy disk.

In fact, the only *free* religious literature (and typing even this inwas quite an accomplishment) consists of: The King James Bible(without Apocrypha), the Quran, the Nicene Creed, The Book ofMormonand related texts, the Bible in Hebrew, and the Kama Sutra.Certainly the various denominations should consider releasing theirbasic liturgical texts and a selection of their religious literature infree E-text form. Modern versions of the Bible are a problem because ofcopyright restrictions. It would certainly be a boon for someorganization to make a modern version "free" in the sense that anyonecould copy and distribute it.

<Part III> Advanced Techniques

<Chapter 18> Research Methods I: Basic Navigation Methods

The Internet is certainly a vast place. For the beginner, or for theexperienced user who wants to do more than check an occasionalbibliographic cross-reference to an FTP site, a navigation tool isalmost essential. The three most common navigation tools are discussedhere. They represent three different approaches to stategy, targetconstituency, target materials, and user interface (the part of theprogram that you see). The three services are known as GOPHER, the WIDEAREA INFORMATION SERVICE (WAIS, pron. "ways"), and the WORLD WIDE WEB(WWW or W3).

All three services are based on client-server technology. To makeinformation *available* to others you need special software called aserver. The user then uses a "client" program to access theinformation. "Clients" are often free—they are written by whoeverfunded the initial project or by volunteer hackers. The catch to usinga client is that you have to have a *direct* (usually expensive)connection to the Internet. This is the main reason that a SLIPconnection will become more and more important. It "fools" the net intothinking that you have a direct connection without the expense ofhooking your computer to a Local Area Network and then to the Internet.You can use a client program on your own home or office computer if youhave a SLIP connection.

Even if you don't yet have a SLIP connection—they're still a bitexperimental—you can use the services listed here. As of this writingall three services allow free access to a client for demonstrationpurposes. There are a number of telnet addresses where you can try outthese navigation tools. I expect that, as the traffic on the networkincreases, these public access sites will close down. But by thencommunications programs will routinely include SLIP and probably someversion of the major "clients" as well.

One word of caution: all the services here are built on top of telnetand FTP. They just provide a different and perhaps more useful way ofmaking Internet connections. Thus, the same service may appear inseveral guises, depending on the tool you use to connect to it. Thereare also gateways that let you access one service from the other—butoften at a price in terms of useability. Since the software may nottell you that you are looking at, say, a Gopher-based service via WWW,you may have to try all three services to find the one that makes themost reliable connection.

Another factor to consider is that unless you have a direct or SLIPconnection, you will be limited to using a command line interface. Youwill not experience the real power of, at least, WWW or WAIS.Nevertheless they are useful. In general, a beginner should use gopherfirst, then play with the other two services to see if they are usefulto you.

The main problem you will have is *getting* the information you find.If you do not have the client program, this is difficult. You could cutand paste the information from your screen or use your communicationsprogram's "buffer" to store it. WAIS will send you the results of yoursearch by E-mail. Often, you will have to resort to FTP to fetch theinformation once you have located it—if you can figure out where youare. One of my criticisms of search tools like Gopher or WAIS is thatthey often give you a very poor indication of where the information youfound is physically located. This is especially true of the publicallyaccessible versions.

<Section 18.1> Gopher

Gopher was created by two students, xx and xx, at the University ofMinnesota. It provides a menu-like view of that part of the Internetwhere Gopher servers are found, "gopherspace". Gopher has spread tomany universities. You can search student directories and campuscalendars, as well as the usual internet resources. It is by far theeasiest way to explore the net without entering numerous FTP and telnetcommands.

Since Gopher is the oldest and most decentralized of the services, itprovides the most extensive access to useful services. Online librarycatalogues, the Project Gutenberg library, FTP archives, and numerousexits to telnet.

The telnet access to demonstration Gopher systems (and through them to
Gopher servers on *any* campus) is through:

xxx.xxx.xxx

Students will of course want to use Gopher directly from their school'ssystem. Try typing "gopher" at any prompt.

<Section 18.2> Wide Area Information Services (WAIS)

WAIS was developed in a very different environment from Gopher. It wasdeveloped by a joint collaboration of Thinking Machines, Inc.(Artificial Intellegence technology), Dow Jones News Retrieval(Information systems), and Apple Computer (User interface). Its abilityto find information given a plain English description of what you want("hey, find everthing on Personal Computers and Health) is truely mind-boggling. It returns a list of "hits" together with a likelihood thatit contains what you wanted. It can also look for documents that are"something like" a sample document.

The user interface is a pleasure to use—but requires a direct or SLIPconnection to the Internet. The line-oriented version that ispublically available is a pale imitation of the real thing.

WAIS strength is its ability to retrieve information from almost anysource, not just FTP sites. A list of all WAIS sources is maintained ina directory-of-directories (available at think.com). You import a setof instructions on how to access a given information server to createyour own personalized list of sources.

This service is probably the one of greatest interest to business (i.e.non-academic and non-library) users. To try out WAIS, telnet think.comand log in as SWAIS.

<Section 18.3> World Wide Web (WWW or W3)

The newest of the three services is the World Wide Web. It was createdat the European European Center for High Energy Physics (CERN). It isbased on yet another technology (besides FTP and client-server)—hypertext. The World Wide Web views the entire complex of FTP sites asa single "document" with cross-references.

A WWW server lets you read that document and jump to any cross-referencethat you find—hence the term "hypertext". The result is rather like amenu driven system but (at least in the graphical interface versions)you stay inside the familiar context of a text editor. If you canimagine clicking on a cross-reference and having your text editor fetchthe document from an FTP site you will get the idea.

The documents that can be viewed by WWW are ASCII text with special"tags" that give a addresses of the "hypertext links." The tags use thesyntax of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). SGML is alanguage used by scholars to mark text for academic research. The WWWvision of the library of the future is a collection of documents spreadall over the world, the whole of which can be looked at starting fromany one of them. Sort of like having the whole world on your desktop.

There is not "top" node to the Web, but you can find points of entry at:

telnet info.cern.ch (European Center for High Energy Physics inGeneva, Switzerland, the "home" of WWW).

<Section 18.4> Summary of Navigation Tools

To summarize, here are the three systems discussed, together with theirunderlying technology and "constituency":

Gopher : Simple FTP and Telnet : Campus Info

WAIS : Artificially Intellegent searches : Business

World Wide Web : Hypertext and SGML markup : Ac. Research

<Chapter 19> Research Methods II: Usenet Newsgroups

[This chapter is under construction]

<Chapter 20> Research Methods III: Advanced Techniques

The previous two chapters covered the more or less standard techniquesfor finding your way around the net. This chapter covers more

There are three basic "problem situation" that every researcher usingthe Internet will eventually face:

(1) You know who has the information but you don't know their"address".

(2) The information is on the net, only you don't know where.

(3) The desired information is not on the net, but their *is*information on how to get it from a non-network source.

The methods described in this chapter are more tentative than in thepreceeding two chapters. They don't always work.

<Section 20.1> Finding Persons and Computers

There are a couple of standard methods for checking and verifying E-mailaddresses.

% ping rtfm.mit.edu

(Remember that "%" is the prompt the computer gives you. Your systemprompt may look different). You should get back a message saying"rtfm.mit.edu is alive" or something like that.

Many machines support a command called "nslookup" that will return thedotted decimal address given the name of the machine

% nslookup rtfm.mit.edu

returns "xxx" as the dotted decimal address.

If you can guess the name of person or institution—this is not hard—then you can try to see if you have a valid address by "fingering" yourintended victim:

% finger [email protected]

If the system supports the "finger" feature (and many don't), you cantry any number of guesses or permutations. If you succeed, you can findout lots of information about the person: their telephone number, whenthey last logged on, when they last read their mail, what departmentthey work in, etc. Many systems allow you to leave a file called".plan"—note the initial dot—that contains further contactinformation.

Good guesses for names:

o last name (bach),

o last name with one or more initials (pbach, pdqbach),

o three (or more!) initials (pdqb)

o nicknames, cute handles, etc. (fluffy,aragorn)

o work ID numbers ([email protected])

Your last resort is a search program called "netfind". It lets you finda machine or person by keyword. If you know your target is at USND, youcan try the keywords PDQ, USND, EDU and find [email protected]. Notethat you often have to guess the "domain", but this should not be hard.You can also search with PDQ, "University of Southern North Dakota",EDU, if USND is not sufficiently obvious. City and state names work,too. Try it.

The main short comings of "netfind" are:

(1) it often fails if the target computer does not support the"finger" command; and

(2) it only works on the Internet, not Bitnet or other mail systems.

To use "netfind" you have to telnet to any of several standard locationsand log in as "netfind".

If one server is busy it should give you a list of alternate servers totry.

Detailed information on how to find someone on the net is given in theUsenet FAQ (ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/ xxxx ). This FAQ is oriented towardshelping University students, who flood the networks every Fall lookingfor the E-mail addresses of their friends.

<Section 20.2> Finding Information and Software

By far the easiest way to

If you do not have Internet access, then you will have to use FTP by E-mail (use the "Archie by E-mail" archive server first to find yourtarget!).

  Finding Information and Software
    Usenet News FAQ Archives
    Archie

<Section 20.3> Finding References to Paper Documents

This is the last resort, right? Most information is still in paper,although the high cost of paper will mean that less and less isavailable this way.

  (1) Use the Internet to access bibliographic databases, especially
library catalogues

  (2) Use a document retrieval service like that provided by the
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL).

(3) Try to get someone to send you a xerox or fax.

<Chapter 21><Chapter 22><Chapter 23><Chapter 24><Chapter 25> These chapters, which deal more with abstract theory than with specific instructions, has been omitted from this special edition.

<Part IV> Resources

The main resources on the Internet are to be found on the net itself:especially the Usenet news and its many FAQs including the PDIAL andNIXPUB listings and various Internet resource guides. The resourcesprovided here are second best. Nevertheless, it was felt important toprovide a few addresses and a few book titles for the neophyte to getstarted. The information in this section is a point of departure, not aconclusive summary.

<Chapter 26> The Internet Address Book:

[This Chapter is under construction]

<Chapter 27> Bibliography

Most of the books below do not contain a great deal of how-toinformation about connecting to the Network. This course is intended tofill the gap. But they do tell you what to do once you are on. Thefirst few, which are available by Internet, are especially useful. Theydo make the network "self-describing".

AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET

The Incomplete Guide to the Internet(for Macintosh with MicrosoftWord only—for paper version see below)

A very complete guide written by the Education Office of the National Supercomputing Agency (NCSA). It contains a very complete intro- duction to the Internet and classroom Internet projects for K12 teachers. This is the best guide for public school teachers.

For paper version, write: Chuck Farmer, 152 CAB, 605 E. Springfield
Ave., Champaign, IL 61820. Cost is around $22.00 for 300 pp.

Polly, Jean Armour. Surfing the Internetnysernet.org:/pub/resources/guides (192.77.173.2). This is my all- around choice for best introduction to the Internet. It contains references to most other good sources of information together with instructions on how to get them. It is especially complete in giving information of interest to librarians.

Kehoe, Brendan. Zen and the Art of the Internet(1st ed.)

A very good guide for how-to information. Unfortunately, the FTPversions are all marked up in a dialect of the TeX typesetting system.They are still somewhat readable though, even if you don't have the TeXsystem. A Postscript version is also provided.

ftp.uu.net:/inet/doc (137.39.1.9) ftp.cs.toronto.edu:/pub/zen (147.31.254.132) ftp.cs.widener.edu:/pub/zen (147.31.254.132) files are called zen- 1.0.tar.Z, zen-1.0.dvi, and zen-1.0.PS ftp.sura.net:/pub/nic/zen-1.0.PS

PUBLISHED WORKS

Kehoe, Brendan. (1993). Zen and the Art of the Internet: a Beginner'sGuide (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-010778-6. Index.

Krol, Ed. (1992). The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog. Sebastopol,
CA: O'Reilly & Associates. ISBN 1-56592-025-2.

LaQuey, Tracey, & Ryer, J. C. (1993). The Internet Companion: a
Beginner's Guide to Global Networking.. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
ISBN 0-201-62224-6

Marine, April. (1992). INTERNET: Getting Started. Menlo Park, CA: SRI
International. ISBN 0-944604-15-3

Tennant, Roy, Ober, J., and Lipow, A. G. (1993). Crossing the InternetThreshold: An Instructional Handbook. Berkeley, CA: Library SolutionsPress. ISBN: 1-882208-01-3 (Library Solutions Institute and Press,2137 Oregon Street, Berkeley, CA 94705. Voice: 510/841-2636 FAX:510/841-2926)

<Chapter 28> Glossary

[This chapter is under construction]

<Appendix A> COMPUTER HINTS FOR THE *REALLY* GREEN

1. (turning on) Make sure the computer is plugged in and on. Issomething on the screen? Can you hear a fan? Does anything happen whenyou type or move the mouse? Are lights lit or flashing? The screen maybe frozen by a "hold" button (look for a light labelled "scroll lock" orsomething similar. Try touching the upper left button on the keyboard—F1, "escape", "hold", "break", whatever). If the computer is not onlook for a switch on back or a key labelled "on" or with a triangle onit.

2. (using a mouse) Determine whether you are looking at a characterterminal or a window-oriented screen. If window-oriented, then movingthe mouse should cause a pointer to appear and move around. Use thispointer to click on windows, buttons, etc. You click the mouse bypressing its button (leftmost one if there are three). If you hold themouse button down you can "grab" things and drag them around. Clickingon windows makes them active (ready for commands) and brings themforward.

3. (modifier and function keys) Keys labelled "shift", "alt", "meta","option", "command", "ctrl" or marked with certain funny symbols aremodifier keys. They work like shift keys on a typewriter and can changethe effect of typing a key or clicking a mouse button. Function keys,labelled F1, F2, etc., do something immediately—like edit, move to thenext page, or quit the program—when you press them. The keys on thekeypad (right hand side, looks like a calculator pad) act as functionkeys in some programs.

4. (popup menus and menubars). If there is a string of words at thetop of the screen ("menubar"), touch one of the words with the pointerusing the mouse and then hold down the mouse button. A menu should popup. If you continue holding down the mouse button and drag down themenu, then let go, you will select one of the commands. If you don'twant to activate a command, drag the pointer away from the commands(towards the middle of the screen, say) and let go.

5. (getting the computer's attention) No luck? Try hitting "return" or"enter" a few times, look for keys labelled "break" or "escape", try"control-C" (hold down the key labelled "CTRL"—it works like the shiftkey on a typewriter—and then press "c", then let go of both keys).

6. (carriage return) Once the system is responding you usually have tohit the carriage return key (marked with a hooked arrow or "return" or"enter" or "CR" or "newline") or else click the mouse (left-most buttonif there are three) before anything permanent happens—like sending acommand to the computer.

An exception is in "menu-driven" systems which print a list of optionsand expect you to type a number or letter (like "y" for yes, "n" forno). Sometimes answering a question with a carriage return gets you adefault answer. The default is often indicated in brackets:

Do you really want to quit [n]?

Hitting return here will not quit.

7. (delete key) If you make a typing mistake, there is a key in theupper righthand corner labelled "del", "delete", "backspace", or with abackwards arrow or "x" on it that will erase what you typed.

8. (logging on) If you see a message like this:

Hello. Welcome to FUBAR system. Authorized persons only.

  Username: xxx
  Password:

then the computer wants you to give it a username (nickname, handle) andtype a password. Type your last name and hit return; then type yourpassword and hit return. If you are sure the system is meant for thegeneral public—say it is a donor database run by the Red Cross—tryobvious names like "redcross", "anonymous", or "public". If the accountis meant for general use then: (1) no password will be required, or (2)any password at all will work, or (3) the password will be somethingeasy like "redcross" (again) or "donor" or "guest".

9. (system prompts and help) If the computer prints a funny symbol(called a prompt—often it is a dollar sign, percent sign, questionmark, right angle bracket or some such) and sits there blinking at you,it is waiting for a command. Try "help" or "?" to find out what ispossible. Or try "man intro" (UNIX systems only) to read the onlinemanual. There might be a help key or help command on a menu.

10. (text buffers) At some point you may be composing a message. Youtype the message, of course. You may or may not have to type "return"at the end of each line—experiment with this. You can erase anymistakes with the delete key. See if the cursor (blinking marker thatmarks where you type) can be moved around with arrow keys or a mouse.If there is a mouse, you can select text by "dragging" across it (holddown button, move mouse, release mouse). Once selected a large block oftext can be deleted with the delete key or moved by issuing the "cut"command (look for a function key or command on the "edit" menu) and thenthe "paste" command.

11. (usernames) if you need to know someone's username, try their lastname (goodwin) , first initial or both initials and last name (jgoodwin,jegoodwin), or all three initials (jeg). Be warned that many sites addnumbers (goodwin21), use serial numbers (g21135), or use cutesy aliases(thumper). Usernames are usually all lowercase.

12. (case sensitivity) if nothing seems to work the way it is supposedto check your caps lock. Most systems are either case-sensitive (likeUNIX) or automatically translate commands to all upper case. Thus"help", "HELP", and "Help" are either three differnt commands or one andthe same.

13. (saving your work) With most programs, whatever you do or changeis not permanent unless you write the changes to disk. You "save" yourwork by selecting "save" from the "file" menu or some other method.Often there are two commands for exiting—one that saves your work andone that discards it. For example, "exit" might save changes and "quit"ignore them. If your program does not have an "autosave" feature—andeven if it does—you should save your work every 15 minutes at least.

14. (quitting or logging off) After you have properly saved your workyou can quit your program or system by finding the quit command (look atthe bottom of either the first or last menu on the menu bar), or bytyping "quit", "exit", "q", "x", "bye", "lo", "logout", "logoff", orsomething similar.

APPENDIX B. USING A MODEM

Using a modem (modulator-demodulator) is relatively easy if you followthe instructions that come with the modem and the communicationssoftware. These instructions cannot

BUYING A MODEM: BASIC FEATURES

You should choose a "Hayes-compatible" modem. This is the industrystandard and works with most software. The modem is a small computerthat responds to "AT" commands, commands sent by your software beginningwith "AT" for "Attention Modem". The most common are "ATDT 1 800 5551212". This tells your modem

So make sure the modem you buy responds to AT commands. A 2400 baudHayes-compatible modem will cost about $50 by mail-order. You shouldconsider buying a FAX modem ($350), however. The more expensive modemis faster, has more features, and can turn your computer into a FAXmachine. Your connection to the outside world will never be any betterthan your modem allows, so buy a good one.

The FAXes can be displayed on your computer screen. You only print themif you want to, on an ordinary laser printer. The other features of atop of the line FAX modem include:

(1) Up to 14,440 baud rate (7 times faster than 2400 baud)

(2) Data compression (V.32bis is the name of the standard)

(3) Error correction (V.42bis is the name of the standard)

HOOKING UP THE MODEM

The modem goes between your computers serial (one-bit-at-a-time)communications port and your telephone line. Your modem probablyincluded the right kind of cable. If not, check the manual or call thedealer who sold you the modem.

The modem to phone connection will use standard telephone cable withmodular jacks on either end. You unplug your phone from the wall socketand plug in your modem instead. If you want to leave your phone,answering machine, fax machine, and so on plugged in, you can use dualplugs that allow one or more cord to be plugged into the same socket.Look on the bottom of each piece of equipment (including the modem).There should be a little sticker that tells how many ringer equivalentsthe equipment is worth. Don't exceed eight on any one phone line.

You can also buy inexpensive boxes that will let you use a single phoneline for faxes and for voice.

WARNING: usually your modem—and any other "peripherals"—should bewired to your computer before you turn the computer on. This is so thecomputer can look for the modem and confirm that it is hooked up. Checkyour computer's and modem's manual for precise instructions on hookingup a modem to your computer.

If you are connecting the computer to an office phone that is part of a
Private Branch Exchange (PBX) then …

MAKING A CONNECTION

Usually you call another computer by dialing its phone number. Eitheryou type an AT command like "ATDT 1 800 555 1212" or your software doesthis for you when you choose a "connect" command or something like thatfrom a menu.

Before you get the modem's attention you need to set your software tothe proper "modem settings". These settings are listed in literatureabout the service. As a last resort call customer service for thecomputer you are trying to connect to. Or else you can try differentsettings until you find one the lets you connect. The most common modemsettings today are either 1200 or 2400 baud and "8N1", which means 8bits, no parity, and one stop bit.

The most important settings are:

The BAUD RATE (300, 1200, and 2400 are typical low speed connections,with 2400 being the most common one for modern equipment; 9600 or 14400are

Flow control ON or OFF (often labelled XON/XOFF). If your modem isgoing to talk with your computer at a faster rate than over the phoneline, then flow control is essential. Be sure that your softwareunderstands that the phone line speed is different from the computer-to-modem speed. The phone line can't go any faster than 14,440 Baud. Yourcomputer can do four times that or more.

Full or half duplex connection (LOCAL ECHO ON or OFF). In a half duplexconnection the two computers take turns communicating on the samechannel. This means that your computer will be the one to "ECHO" what*you* type on your screen (local echo ON), since it doesn't make sensesay something, have the other computer read it, then send it back, justso you can see what you type. In a full duplex connection bothcomputers can talk at once, so local echo is OFF.

7 or 8 bits per character. Many computer systems use the last sevenbits of each byte to denote a character (up to 128 characters). Theeighth bit is used for parity, flow control, or some other importantsignal. Nowadays 8 bits is more common.

Even, Odd, or No PARITY. One way to check for errors in transmission isto tag each byte with a bit that means "even or odd", the parity bit.If a bit is transmitted incorrectly, then the parity bit won't agreewith byte sent and the software can ask for that byte or block of dataagain. NO parity is the most common setting today, however.

0,1, or 2 STOP BITS. 1 stop bit is the usual setting these days.

If your modem has its speaker on, you will here a dial tone, then themodem will dial, and then there will be a lot of squeals as the twocomputers "negotiate" about the transmission. If you are lucky, bothcomputers will establish a "carrier" tone or hum that is then modulatedto send data. At this point most modems turn of the speaker, but a"carrier detect" light should be on. As long as you have the carrieryou have the connection. The carrier is present—to your modem, atleast—even if you tell your software to "go off line" for a while. Ifyou hang up, however, the carrier is dropped.

Now that you have a carrier, whatever you type is sent to the othercomputer (and the "transmit" light flashes), and you can receive data aswell. Pay attention to any banner the service you are connecting to mayprint. In particular you need to know what "escape character" yoursystem recognizes. Typing this character or sequence of charactersallows you to stop tranmitting everything and give your own system acommand. This is especially important if are transferring a file andhave to "escape back to your own system" to tell it what to do with theincoming data.

FIRST STEPS ON A NEW SYSTEM

Many services let you sign up by connecting your computer to a

TRANSFERRING DATA

Getting data from one computer to another is a matter of running *two*programs—one on each computer. These programs use a common protocol,or procedure, to communicate. The most common protocols are XMODEM,YMODEM, ZMODEM, and KERMIT (for UNIX systems and some others). Thesteps involved—using KERMIT as an example—are:

1. Run KERMIT on the sending machine

2. Escape to the receiving machine

3. Run KERMIT on the recieving machine

4. Wait for the transfer to finish.

You will have to read your software manual for more specificinstructions, unless you have a direct internet connection or SLIPconnection. In these cases you can issue a File Transfer Protocol (FTP)command to whichever computer and the details at the other end areautomatically taken care of. See Chapter X for more detail ontransferring data.

DISCONNECTING

You will want to use whatever "logoff" procedure the remote computerwants. If your manual or other literature doesn't tell you, and youcan't get any information by trying "help" or "?", try the followingcommands: "logout", "logoff", "lo", "bye", "exit", "quit".

If all else fails you can drop the carrier using the "hangup" command(or escape back to your system and send "ATH" to your modem—attention,hangup).

As a last resort pull the plug and your telephone company willdisconnect you, then exit your software and turn off your computer.

  You may have to get your modem's attention by typing the "escape
sequence", which varies from modem to modem or connection to connection.

<Appendix C> Technical Details of Internet Connections

[This chapter is under construction]

<Appendix D> Just enough UNIX

Since the UNIX operating system may be unfamiliar to many of you, andsince many workstations on the net use UNIX, it may help some readers tosummarize some of the peculiarities of UNIX. One day you may be loggedon to a UNIX machine. Nowadays, like many operating systems, UNIX hidesbehind a graphical user interface like the X Windows system.Occasionally—and networking is unfortunately one of those occasions—its quirks like file-naming and directory hierarchy peek through.

This Appendix gives you just enough UNIX to avoid some pitfalls andissue commands needed to transfer files. The basic commands you need toknow for any system are how to display directories and list the contentsof files, how to name files, and how to get help about the system. UNIXcommands are just as quirky as MS-DOS, VMS, RSX, VM, or any otheroperating system that uses a command language. Fortunately, they are noharder.

<Section D.1> Basic Commands for Getting Around

ls : list current directory

ls -l : longer listing, with file length in bytes

cd mydir : move down one level in the hierarchy to directory "mydir"

cd .. : move up one directory in the hierarchy

<Section D.2> Hierarchical File System

Files in UNIX are arranged in a hierarchy or tree structure.

<Appendix E> The Top 10 Things to Get by E-mail

This Appendix may be distributed separately from the rest of thiscourse.

—————(cut here)—————THE FREELORE PROJECT's LIST OF THE TOP 10 THINGS TO GET BY E-MAIL

Copyright (c) 1993 by John E. Goodwin. All Rights Reserved.You may make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes provided this notice is preserved on all suchcopies.

This is a list of ten fun and useful things you can get by electronicmail. In all cases your request is handled by an automated system thatsends the materials by return mail. Systems change frequently, so somecommands may be out of date. All were tested and working as of mid-June1993.

A typical, old-fashioned E-mail system works like this

% mail <type the command to enter the E-mail program>

mail> send <or type "help" to find out what commands work>

     To: [email protected] <This is an Internet address
                                        —may look different on your
                                        system>
     Cc: [email protected]

Subj: Your Stance on Nuclear Power

     Enter Message. When Done, hit Control-Z, Control-C to quit:
     Dear Mr. President:

I was disappointed to see that . . . <etc., until you type CTRL-Z>

Message sent 23:05:44 14-JUN-1993.

mail> exit

Modern automated mailservers expect your command in the body of themessage. But some old-fashioned ones expect it as part of the *subject*line! I always tell if this is the case.

In most cases you will get a response in a few minutes. For systemsthat wait to off-peak hours to send responses you may have to wait aday.

Here are some more hints:

o Most automated systems respond to the single command "help".

o People change their directory systems around everyday it seems. Ifthe commands given don't work, try to locate what you want by Archie(see below) before requesting it by mail.

o The Double quotes around some commands aren't part of the commanditself (so don't type them!).

With that advice, here's the list. . . .

[10] The CPET (Catalog of Projects in Electronic Text) suppliesinformation about E-text archives for scholars. They have an onlinedatabase. For detailed instructions, send the message:

connect guvax.acc.georgetown.edu cd cpet_projects_in_electronic_text get cpet_user_guide.txt

to "[email protected]". [This is a service that provides InternetFile Transfer Protocol (FTP) by E-mail. See next entry].

Anonymous FTP reference for CPET user's guide:

"guvax.acc.georgetown.edu:/cpet_projects_in_electronic_text/cpet_user_guide.txt"

[9] Instructions for using Archie by Mail and FTP by Mail.

Archie is a lookup service for finding software or documents inAnonymous FTP archives on the Internet. Anonymous FTP is a method formaking materials on certain computers available to the public. Anyoneis allowed to log in with the username "anonymous" You give your realname as the password. Anonymous FTP is not available if you just haveE-mail, not a full Internet connection.

To help E-mail users access Anonymous FTP archives, an FTP by Mailserver has been set up at decwrl.dec.com. It will send you materialsyou find using Archie. Binary files (pictures and programs) are encodedas text files using the programs "btoa" or "uuencode". You need thesefreeware programs if you want to get anything besides text files, i.e.ASCII.

A. To get started with Archie, send the message "help" to"[email protected]". There are many Archie servers around theworld. Any Archie will give you a complete list.

B. To get started with FTP Mail, send the message

help quit

to "[email protected]".

[8] A list of book-length Public Domain texts Produced by ProjectGutenberg.

You may either get these texts from the Almanac server at "oes.orst.edu"or direct from Project Gutenberg at "mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu".

Send message "help" to "[email protected]". After reading the guide,send the message "send gutenberg catalog". To get an E-text by mail(e.g. Alice in Wonderland), send the message:

send etext alice

To see the contents of project gutenberg archivesj, send the message

connect mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu cd etext/articles get index quit

to "[email protected]".

To get the actual texts,

     connect mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu
     cd etext/etext93
     get
     quit

Anonymous FTP Archive references:

oes.orst.edu:/pub/data/etext

mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu:/etext/articles (general info)

mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu:/etext/etext93 (the texts)

[7] A list of E-mail mailing lists, posted to the "Frequently AskedQuestions" or FAQ part of the Usenet newsgroups.

A typical mailing list works like this: to join, say, a mailing list onpolitics, you send the request "subscribe" to "[email protected]". Thereafter, any message sent to"[email protected]" will send you message to all members of thelist. You get all the postings from other members as well [TheWhitehouse list on politics is a fake example].

Aside: Usenet newsgroup FAQ's are archived at "rtfm.mit.edu". Theycover every conceivable subject (but are especially good withcomputers). To access the archive by E-mail, send the message "help" to"[email protected]". For an index of materials available, sendthe message "index".

Here are the specific commands for getting the Mailing Lists:

send mail/mailing-lists/part1 send mail/mailing-lists/part2 send mail/mailing-lists/part3 send mail/mailing-lists/part4 send mail/mailing-lists/part5

to "[email protected]".

Other good publications in the same location:

A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing_Lists:

send social-newsgroups/part1

List of Periodic Informational Postings:

send periodic-postings/part1

(six parts).

For a more complete list of FAQs, send the commands:

send usenet/news.answers/index send usenet/news.announce.newusers/index

Anonymous FTP archive reference:

rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers; and rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet-by-group/news.announce.newusers.

Also posted as an FAQs to the Usenet newsgroup news.answers.

[6] LISTSERVERS are the best thing going for persons with E-mail butwithout full Internet service. You can send mail to an entire list andget a digest of "articles" posted on a given day. Lists are espceciallygood for anyone with an interest in the Humanities. A list of alllistservers known to any one listserver can be obtained by sending amessage to that listserver (see below).

Send the message "help" to any listserver address, e.g.

"[email protected]"

to get started.

The listserver at Brown does not respond to the global command (but isworthwhile anyway). Try sending the command "lists global" to one ofthe other listservers like "[email protected]".

For lists with lots of traffic you should consider the "set <listname>digest" command to get *one* mail message a day with a compendium ofarticles.

[5] Automatically supplied information about PSI's Internet service:

Send any message at all to address "[email protected]". There arelots of other files on their service available instantly. E.g., forinformation on their version of telnet, send any message to "[email protected]"; for their version of FTP, any message to "[email protected]".

[4] Scott Yanoff's list of Internet Resources. At last count, therewere 75 free things to do on the Internet.

Send the message:

send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/faq send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/list

to "[email protected]".

Another method is to request the materials by delayed FTP with themessage:

connect csd4.csd.uwm.edu cd pub get inet.services.txt quit

to "[email protected]".

It is also worth adding the line "get internetwork-mail-guide" to theabove request for a file on send E-mail between any two E-mail systems(file is 22k).

Anonymous FTP archive references:

csd4.csd.uwm.edu:/pub/inet.services.txt

rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet-by-group/news.anwsers/internet-services

[3] SURFING THE INTERNET, by librarian Jean Armour Polly. This must-have publication is still the best basic orientation to the Internet.The nearest thing to the "how to use the library card catalogue" speechthat opened up that other world for us when we were kids.

Send the message

connect nysernet.org cd pub/resources/guides get surfing.2.0.3.txt <that's a zero not an "oh"> quit

to "[email protected]". Other interesting files in the samedirectory are:

ftp.list whatis.internet new.user.guide.v2.2.txt speakers_on_internet.txt

Anonymous FTP archive reference:

nysernet.org:/pub/resources/guides

[2] The NIXPUB listing of public access UNIX systems (so you can readUsenet news!):

Send the message

connect vfl.paramax.com cd pub/nixpub get long quit

to "[email protected]".

Anonymous FTP archive reference:

vfl.paramax.com:pub/nixpub/long

It is also posted as a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to the Usenetnewsgroup alt.bbs.

And the critics' choice is . . .

[1] The PDIAL listing, a listing of dialup methods of connecting tothe Internet for the general public.

     Send a message to "[email protected]" with the command
"send pdial" in the *subject* line.

Alternatively, send the message "send usenet/news.answers/pdial" to"[email protected]".—————

+ + +

"What this country needs is a good 50 cent education."

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