(Editors Note: This should be of help to those looking to get on the Internet for the first time. This is the first in a three part series, as a tutorial.)
(formerly The Big Dummy’s Guide to the Internet)
February 16, 1995
Copyright 1993, 1995 Electronic Frontier Foundation, all rights reserved.
DISTRIBUTION:
This guide is available free of charge from the EFF online archives at ftp.eff.org, gopher.eff.org, http://www.eff.org/, EFF BBS (+1 202 861 1223), AOL keyword EFF, CIS EFFSIG forum, and elsewhere.
This guide may be freely reproduced & distributed electronically or in hardcopy, provided the following conditions are met:
1) Please do not qualitatively modify the guide, and leave all copyright, distribution, attribution, and EFF information intact. Permission expressly granted for translation to other languages and conversion to other formats.
2) EFF has signed a contract with MIT Press to publish a hardcopy book version of the guide, entitled _Everybody’s_Guide_to_the_Internet_. All other for-profit distribution of printed versions of the guide is forbidden, unless permitted in writing. Non-English hardcopy editions may appear in the future. However, you may print out copies and recoup the cost of printing and distribution by charging a nominal fee.
3) Any for-profit non-paper distribution (such as shareware vendor diskettes, CD-ROM collections, etc.) must be approved by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (the time- and usage-based access fees of online services, bulletin boards, and network access providers are specifically exempted). Donations appreciated.
4) You may not charge a for-profit fee specifically for this guide, only for a collection containing the guide, with the execeptions of nominal copying charges and online usage fees as exempted above).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
1667 K St. NW, Suite 801
Washington DC 20006-1605 USA
+1 202 861 7700 (voice)
+1 202 861 1258 (fax)
+1 202 861 1223 (BBS – 16.8k ZyXEL)
+1 202 861 1224 (BBS – 14.4k V.32bis)
Internet: ask@eff.org
Internet fax gate: remote-printer.EFF@8.5.2.1.1.6.8.2.0.2.1.tpc.int
FidoNet: 1:109/1108
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword by Mitchell Kapor, co-founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Preface by Adam Gaffin, senior writer, Network World.
Chapter 1: Setting up and jacking in
1.1 Ready, set...
1.2 Go!
1.3 Public-access Internet providers
1.4 North American providers
1.5 European and other providers
1.6 If your town has no direct access
1.7 Net origins
1.8 How it works
1.9 When things go wrong
1.10 FYI
Chapter 2: E-mail
2.1. The basics
2.2 Elm -- a better way
2.3 Pine -- even better than Elm
2.4 Smileys
2.5 Sending e-mail to other networks
2.6 Seven Unix commands you can't live without
2.7 When things go wrong
Chapter 3: Usenet I
3.1 The global watering hole
3.2 Navigating Usenet with nn
3.3 nn commands
3.4 Using rn
3.5 rn commands
3.6 Essential newsgroups
3.7 Speaking up
3.8 Cross-posting
Chapter 4: Usenet II
4.1 Flame, blather and spew
4.2 Killfiles: The cure for what ails you
4.3 Downloading messages
4.4 ASCII and ye shall receive
4.5 Some Usenet hints
4.6 The brain-tumor boy, the modem tax and the chain letter
4.7 Big Sig
4.8 The First Amendment as local ordinance
4.9 Usenet history
4.10 When things go wrong
4.11 FYI
4.1 Flame, blather and spew
4.2 Killfiles, the cure for what ails you
4.3 Some Usenet hints
4.4 The Brain-Tumor Boy, the modem tax and the chain letter
4.5 Big Sig
4.6 The First Amendment as local ordinance
4.7 Usenet history
4.8 When things go wrong
4.9 FYI
Chapter 5: Mailing lists and Bitnet
5.1 Internet mailing lists
5.2 Bitnet
Chapter 6: Telnet
6.1 Mining the Net
6.2 Library catalogs
6.3 Some interesting telnet sites
6.4 Telnet bulletin-board systems
6.5 Putting the finger on someone
6.6 Finding someone on the Net
6.7 When things go wrong
6.8 FYI
Chapter 7: FTP
7.1 Tons of files
7.2 Your friend archie
7.3 Getting the files
7.4 Odd letters -- decoding file endings
7.5 The keyboard cabal
7.6 Some interesting ftp sites
7.7 ncftp -- now you tell me!
7.8 Project Gutenberg -- electronic books
7.9 When things go wrong
7.10 FYI
Chapter 8: Gophers, WAISs and the World-Wide Web
8.1 Gophers
8.2 Burrowing deeper
8.3 Gopher commands
8.4 Some interesting gophers
8.5 Wide-Area Information Servers
8.6 When things go wrong
8.7 FYI
Chapter 9: The World-Wide Web
9.1 Getting snared in the Web
9.2 Alright, already, let's go!
9.3 Addressing a problem
9.4 Imagine that -- downloading pictures
9.5 Lynx, meet Gopher
9.6 Finding things on the Web
9.7 SLIP: But I want to use my mouse!
9.8 More on SLIP
9.9 HTML: Building your own
9.10 Some interesting WWW servers
9.11 Lynx commands
9.12 When things go wrong
9.13 FYI
Chapter 10: Advanced E-mail
10.1 The file's in the mail
10.2 Receiving files
10.3 Sending files to non-Internet sites
10.4 Getting ftp files via e-mail
10.5 Downloading e-mail messages
10.6 Mining for info on Usenet via e-mail
10.7 Just the fax, ma'am
10.8 The all knowing Oracle
10.9 When things go wrong
10.10 FYI
Chapter 11: News of the world
11.1 Clarinet: Associated Press, Miss Manners and Dilbert
11.2 Still more news on the Net
11.3 The world today, FROM Belarus to Brazil
11.4 FYI
Chapter 12: IRC, MUDs and other things that are more fun than they sound
12.1 Talk
12.2 Internet Relay Chat
12.3 IRC commands
12.4 IRC in times of crisis
12.5 MUDs
12.6 Go, go, go (and chess, too)!
12.7 The other side of the coin
12.8 FYI
Chapter 13: Education and the Net
13.1 The Net in the Classroom
13.2 Some specific resources for students and teachers
13.3 Usenet and Bitnet in the classroom
Chapter 14: Business on the Net
14.1 Setting up shop
14.2 Online storefronts
14.3 The check is in the (e)-mail
14.4 The good, the bad and the ugly
14.5 FYI
Chapter 15: The end?
Appendix A: Lingo
Appendix B: Electronic Frontier Foundation Information
Foreword
By Mitchell Kapor,
Co-founder, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Welcome to the World of the Internet.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is proud to have sponsored the production of EFF’s Guide to the Internet. EFF is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to the newly emerging communications technologies vital to active participation in the events of our world. As more and more information is available online, new doors open up for those who have access to that information. Unfortunately, unless access is broadly encouraged, individuals can be disenfranchised and doors can close, as well. EFF’s Guide to the Internet was written to help open some doors to the vast amounts of information available on the world’s largest network, the Internet.
The spark for EFF’s Guide to the Internet, and its companion MIT Press book version, Everybody’s Guide to the Internet, was ignited in a few informal conversations that included myself and Steve Cisler of Apple Computer, Inc., in June of 1991. With the support of Apple Computer, EFF engaged Adam Gaffin to write the book and actually took on the project in September of 1991. The guide was originally published electronically in July of 1993 as the Big Dummy’s Guide to the Internet.
The idea was to write a guide to the Internet for people who had little or no experience with network communications. We intended to post this guide to the net in ASCII and other formats and to give it away on disk, as well as have a print edition available. We have more than realized our goal. Individuals from as geographically far away as Germany, Italy, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Scotland, Norway and Antarctica have all sent electronic mail to say that they downloaded the guide. EFF’s Guide to the Internet is now available in a wide array of formats, including ASCII text, Windows Help, World-Wide Web, PostScript, and AmigaGuide. And the guide is finally available in a printed format, as well.
You can find the electronic version of Everybody’s Guide to the Internet by using anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org and accessing /pub/Net_info/Guidebooks/EFF_Net_Guide/netguide.eff. Or send an e-mail message to info@eff.org. The electronic version is updated on a regular basis with a newletter (/pub/Net_info/Guidebooks/EFF_Net_Guide/Updates/), and occasional new versions of the guide itself.
We invite you to join with EFF in our fight to ensure that equal access to the networks and free speech are protected in newly emerging technologies. We are a membership organization, and through donations like yours, we can continue to sponsor important projects to make communications easier. Information about the Electronic Frontier Foundation and some of the work that we do can be found at the end of this book.
We hope that EFF’s Guide to the Internet helps you learn about whole new worlds, where new friends and experiences are sure to be yours. Enjoy!
Mitchell Kapor
Chairman of the Board
Electronic Frontier Foundation
[e-mail address omitted]
QUERIES: Please send all queries regarding EFF, and availability and distribution of the guide to ask@eff.org, or one of the other EFF addresses above. Please send all updates, corrections, and queries regarding the content of the guide to the author, Adam Gaffin, at [e-mail address omitted].
Preface
By Adam Gaffin,
Senior Writer, Network World, Framingham, Mass.
Welcome to the Internet! You’re about to start a journey through a unique land without frontiers, a place that is everywhere at once — even though it exists physically only as a series of electrical impulses. You’ll be joining a growing community of millions of people around the world who use this global resource on a daily basis.
With this book, you will be able to use the Internet to:
- Stay in touch with friends, relatives and colleagues around the world, at a fraction of the cost of phone calls or even air mail.
- Discuss everything from archaeology to zoology with people in several different languages.
- Tap into thousands of information databases and libraries worldwide.
- Retrieve any of thousands of documents, journals, books and computer programs.
- Stay up to date with wire-service news and sports and with official weather reports.
- Play live, “real time” games with dozens of other people at once.
Connecting to “the Net” today, takes something of a sense of adventure, a willingness to learn and an ability to take a deep breath every once in awhile. Visiting the Net today is a lot like journeying to a foreign country. There are so many things to see and do, but everything at first will seem so, well, foreign.
When you first arrive, you won’t be able to read the street signs. You’ll get lost. If you’re unlucky, you may even run into some locals who’d just as soon you went back to where you came from. If this weren’t enough, the entire country is constantly under construction; every day, it seems like there’s something new for you to figure out.
Fortunately, most of the locals are actually friendly. In fact, the Net actually has a rich tradition of helping out visitors and newcomers. Until very recently, there were few written guides for ordinary people, and the Net grew largely through an “oral” tradition in which the old-timers helped the newcomers.
So when you connect, don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’ll be surprised at how many people will lend a hand!
If you have any suggestions or comments on how to make this guide better, I’d love to hear them. You can reach me via e-mail at [e-mail address omitted]. Boston, Mass., February, 1995.
Chapter 1: SETTING UP AND JACKING IN
1.1 READY, SET …
The world is just a phone call away. With a computer and modem, you’ll be able to connect to the Internet, the world’s largest computer network (and if you’re lucky, you won’t even need the modem; many colleges and companies now give their students or employees direct access to the Internet).
The phone line can be your existing voice line — just remember that if you have any extensions, you (and everybody else in the house or office) won’t be able to use them for voice calls while you are connected to the Net.
A modem is a sort of translator between computers and the phone system. It’s needed because computers and the phone system process and transmit data, or information, in two different, and incompatible ways. Computers “talk” digitally; that is, they store and process information as a series of discrete numbers. The phone network relies on analog signals, which on an oscilloscope would look like a series of waves. When your computer is ready to transmit data to another computer over a phone line, your modem converts the computer numbers into these waves (which sound like a lot of screeching) — it “modulates” them. In turn, when information waves come into your modem, it converts them into numbers your computer can process, by “demodulating” them.
Increasingly, computers come with modems already installed. If yours didn’t, you’ll have to decide what speed modem to get. Modem speeds are judged in bits per second or “bps.” One bps means the modem can transfer roughly one bit per second; the greater the bps rate, the more quickly a modem can send and receive information. A letter or character is made up of eight bits. You can now buy a 14,400-bps modem for under $100 — and most now come with the ability to handle fax messages as well. For under $300, you can buy a modem that can transfer data at 28,800 bps (and often even faster, using special compression techniques). If you think you might be using the Net to transfer large numbers of files, a faster modem is always worth the price. It will dramatically reduce the amount of time your modem or computer is tied up transferring files and, if you are paying for Net access by the hour, will save you quite a bit in online charges.
Like the computer to which it attaches, a modem is useless without software to tell it how to work. Most modems today come with easy-to-install software that will let you connect not only to the Internet but other services, such as bulletin-board systems and many commercial online networks, such as CompuServe. Try the program out. If you find it difficult to use or understand, consider a trip to the local software store to find a better program. You can spend several hundred dollars on a communications program, but unless you have very specialized needs, this will be a waste of money, as there are a host of excellent programs available for around $100 or less. Among the basic features you want to look for are a choice of different “protocols” (more on them in a bit) for transferring files to and from the Net and the ability to write “script” or “command” files that let you automate such steps as logging into a host system.
When you buy a modem and the software, ask the dealer how to install and use them. Try out the software if you can. If the dealer can’t help you, find another dealer. You’ll not only save yourself a lot of frustration, you’ll also have practiced the prime Internet directive: “Ask. People Know.”
In addition to the software that comes with your modem, you can now also buy special software kits for getting onto the internet — at least, if you use Windows or a Macintosh. Some of these work only with a particular Internet provider; others let you connect to the provider of your choice. There are both advantages and disadvantages to these packages; we’ll look at these programs in a little more detail in Chapter 9. This guide is geared more toward folks using older style software, such as Procomm, Crosstalk and Zterm, but even if you use one of the newer all-in-one internet access kits, many of the things described in coming chapters will generally be good to know (you never know when you’ll find yourself stuck in a room with only an MS-DOS computer).
To take full Take advantage of the Net, you must spend a few minutes going over the manuals or documentation that comes with your software. There are a few things you should pay special attention to: uploading and downloading; screen capturing (sometimes called “screen dumping”); logging; how to change protocols; and terminal emulation. It is also essential to know how to convert a file created with your word processing program into “ASCII” or “text” format, which will let you share your thoughts with others across the Net.
Uploading is the process of sending a file from your computer to a system on the Net. Downloading is retrieving a file from somewhere on the Net to your computer. In general, things in cyberspace go “up” to the Net and come “down” to you.
Chances are your software will come with a choice of several METHODS to use for these transfers. These different methods are systems designed to ensure that line noise or static does not cause errors that could ruin whatever information you are trying to transfer. Essentially, when using a protocol, you are transferring a file in a series of pieces. After each piece is sent or received, your computer and the Net system compare it. If the two pieces don’t match exactly, they transfer it again, until they agree that the information they both have is identical. If, after several tries, the information just doesn’t make it across, you’ll either get an error message or your screen will freeze (at which point you get out the computer manual to see how to re-boot). In that case, try it again. If, after five tries, you are still stymied, something is wrong with a) the file; b) the telephone line; c) the system you’re connected to; or d) your own computer.
From time to time, you will likely see messages on the Net that you want to save for later viewing — a recipe, a particularly witty remark, something you want to write your congressman about, whatever. This is where screen capturing and logging come in.
When you tell your communications software to capture a screen, it opens a file in your computer (usually in the same directory or folder used by the software) and “dumps” an image of whatever happens to be on your screen at the time.
Logging works a bit differently. When you issue a logging command, you tell the software to open a file (again, usually in the same directory or folder as used by the software) and then give it a name. Then, until you turn off the logging command, everything that scrolls on your screen is copied into that file, sort of like recording on videotape. This is useful for capturing long documents that scroll for several pages — using screen capture, you would have to repeat the same command for each new screen.
Terminal emulation is a way for your computer to mimic, or emulate, the way other computers put information on the screen and accept commands from a keyboard. In general, most systems on the Net use a system called VT100. Fortunately, almost all communications programs now on the market support this system as well — make sure yours does.
You’ll also have to know about protocols. There are several different ways for computers to transmit characters. Fortunately, there are only two protocols that you’re likely to run across: 8-1-N (which stands for “8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity” — yikes!) and 7-1-E (7 bits, 1 stop bit, even parity). The latter is fairly rare these days, except on some older systems, such as CompuServe (which, as of this writing, does not offer full Internet access anyway). What if you don’t know what kind of system you’re connecting to? Try one of the settings. If you get what looks like gobbledygook when you connect, you may need the other setting. If so, you can either change the setting while connected, and then hit enter, or hang up and try again with the other setting. It’s also possible your modem and the modem at the other end can’t agree on the right bps rate. If changing the protocols doesn’t work, try using another bps rate (but no faster than the one listed for your modem). Don’t worry, remember, you can’t break anything! If something looks wrong, it probably is wrong. Change your settings and try again. Nothing is learned without trial, error and effort.
There are the basics. Now on to the Net!
1.2 GO!
Once, only people who studied or worked at an institution directly tied to the Net could connect to the world. Today, though, an ever-growing number of “public-access” systems provide access for everybody. These systems can now be found in most metropolitan areas (at least in North America) several states, and there are several companies a couple of sites that can provide access across the country.
There are two basic kinds of these host systems. One provides what is known as a dial-up account. You’ll need a basic communications program (the kind that typically comes with your modem) to connect. Once on, your computer’s brain essentially goes to sleep — virtually all of your interaction with the Internet will be via programs on your host system.
The other is known as a SLIP or PPP provider (SLIP and PPP are two types of communications standards for connecting to the Internet). This sort of host acts mainly as a gateway to your own computer. it passes information (e-mail, say, or graphics) to your computer, which then has to figure out what to do with it. This is where the all-in-one programs mentioned earlier come in (and we’ll talk a bit more about them in chapter 9).
Some sites are run by for-profit companies; others by non-profit organizations. Some of these public-access, or host, systems, are free of charge. Others charge a monthly or yearly fee for unlimited access. And a few charge by the hour. Systems that charge for access will usually let you sign up online with a credit card. Some also let you set up a billing system if you’d rather pay by check.
But cost should be only one consideration in choosing a host system, especially if you live in an area with more than one provider. Most systems let you look around before you sign up. What is the range of each of their services? How easy is each to use? What kind of support or help can you get from the system administrators?
The last two questions are particularly important because many systems provide no user interface at all; when you connect, you are dumped right into the Unix operating system. If you’re already familiar with Unix, or you want to learn how to use it, these systems offer phenomenal power — in addition to Net access, most also let you tap into the power of Unix to do everything from compiling your own programs to playing online games.
But if you don’t want to have to learn Unix, there are other public-access systems that work through menus (just like the ones in restaurants; you are shown a list of choices and then you make your selection of what you want), or which provide a “user interface” that is easier to figure out than the ever cryptic Unix (and fortunately, even on unix systems, there are ways to minimize your exposure to its commands, as we’ll see in later chapters). Some systems also have their own unique local services, ranging from extensive conferences to large file libraries.
1.3 PUBLIC-ACCESS INTERNET PROVIDERS
When you have your communications program dial one of these host systems, one of two things will happen when you connect. You’ll either see a lot of gibberish on your screen, or you’ll be asked to log in. If you see gibberish, chances are you have to change your software’s parameters (to 8-1-N or 7-1-E as the case may be). Hang up (see your modem’s manual for information on this), make the change and then dial in again.
When you’ve connected, chances are you’ll see something like this:
Welcome to THE WORLD
Public Access UNIX for the '90s
Login as 'new' if you do not have an account
login:
That last line is a prompt asking you to do something. Since this is your first call, type
new
and hit enter (at least on this particular system; each system has a different log-in procedure for newcomers) Often, when you’re asked to type something by a host system, you’ll be told what to type in quotation marks (for example, ‘new’). Don’t include the quotation marks. Repeat: Don’t include the quotation marks.
what you see next depends on the system, but will generally consist of information about its costs and services (you might want to turn on your communication software’s logging function, to save this information). You’ll likely be asked if you want to establish an account now or just look around the system.
You’ll also likely be asked for your “user name.” This is not your full name, but a one-word name you want to use while online. It can be any combination of letters or numbers, all in lower case. Many people use their first initial and last name (for example, “jdoe”); their first name and the first letter of their last name (for example, “johnd”); or their initials (“jxd”). Others use a nickname. You might want to think about this for a second, because this user name will become part of your electronic-mail address (see chapter 2 for more on that). The main exception are the various Free-Net systems, all of which assign you a user name consisting of an arbitrary sequence of letters and numbers.