John E. Goodwin

“ Eventually, everyone using the Internet must face the fear—if I am calling up a computer in Switzerland won't I be billed for the call? The marvelous thing about the Internet is that although there is plenty of expense involved in getting on it, there is no additional expense associated with what you do after you are connected. THE WHOLE WORLD IS ON LOCAL. Thus, you may have to pay for a $2 an hour call to Massachussetts, for your PC, your modem and software, and a connect fee to your internet provider. ”

“ We are used to thinking of computer systems as having "software" and "hardware", but it is closer to the truth to say that complicated systems like the Internet have many levels—in the case of the Internet as many as seven—ranging from "very software" to "very hardware". Each level has its own set of rules, called its protocol. The TCP/IP protocol belongs to two of the middle levels. ”

“ It is very important to understand that the Internet is not a broadcast medium but more like the telephone or mail system. It specializes in contacting individuals one at a time. In other words, you are not going to get a list of all 25 million E-mail addresses and bombard them every 10 minutes with a 30 second sound byte. Nor are you going to send 100 people a letter asking them to contact 100 persons each. On the other hand you might use the medium to contact a mailing list of your customers or self-publish a promotional brochure. ”

“ Since most people find it hard to believe that you can send mail anywhere in the world or dial up a computer on the other side of the globe without paying a special charge, I will spend some time explaining who does pay for the Internet and how those costs are reflected back to the user. ”

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

“ The best way to think of the Internet is as a communications medium like the Telephone, Television, or the Postal Service. Using the Internet you can send a any written text by E-mail. This is rather like mailing a letter and having it arrive in seconds—three days in the most backwards parts of the world. Using a special protocol called File Transfer Protocol you can transfer text files that are too long to mail (over about 50 pages) or even transfer graphics and programs. ”

“ There is actually no single network owned by one company called the Internet. Instead, many medium-sized networks have grown together to create a "phone system" that connects together nearly a million computers. Many hundreds of these computers allow some form of public access. You can get the latest news or weather, download information about Government programs or high-tech products, search on-line library catalogues and databases, download free software, and do many other things, with little or no monetary investment beyond the cost of your home computer. ”

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

“ The Internet is evolving very rapidly. It is likely to be an important medium for transacting business, for customer service and for advertising in the very near future no matter what industry you are in. For some industries, like publishing, high-technology industries, and the media, it will be critical. Businesses who have a pool of employees that are adept at using the Internet will have a competitive advantage over firms that don't. Thus you should encourage your employees to get personal Internet connections and learn about the Internet after hours. ”

“ You may have a connection to a "host" computer that is directly connected to the net. If you can use a modem to connect your home PC to the mainframe at the office and the mainframe is on the net, then you can get an Internet connection that way. But what if your office doesn't have a mainframe on the net? You can still subscribe to a service that makes a host computer available to the public. This is presently the cheapest and most common method for public access to the net. ”

“ There, hidden among the many diversions of alt., talk., and soc. hierarchies, is the latest information on the computing environment of modern Internetworking. In the opinion of this author, learning to use a newsreader and reading the network news regularly is the *single most important Internetworking skill*. The Usenet newsgroups are Dewey Decimal System of the the true world library. Information can be found in plenty elsewhere, but guides to information are rare and priceless— and the Usenet news is the guide to the Internet. ”

“ Nowadays, like many operating systems, UNIX hides behind 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 and issue commands needed to transfer files. The basic commands you need to know for any system are how to display directories and list the contents of files, how to name files, and how to get help about the system. ”

“ Internetworking well means mastering a whole host of skills—connecting two computers together using the Internet is just the beginning. You have to learn methods for transferring information from the remote computer to your own. This is a complex task that may involve using a file transfer protocol and compression techniques.
Because the information world is so vast, your biggest problem will most likely not be connecting to the Internet. ”

“ 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 is dominated by minicomputers and workstations running UNIX and VMS, with an ever increasing influx of PCs running MS-DOS and Macs. Machines running other operating systems often put a "UNIX-like" foot forward, so the 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 the Internet. ”

“ Even windowing systems (you know if you have one of these) very often give you a window that "emulates a terminal", i.e. that gives you a shell 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, at some time in your life, a shell prompt. Advice on things that will likely work to get you started is given here and in Appendix A. Some experience of other kinds of computers, especially computers that use the UNIX operating system is useful. ”

“ With a home computer, a modem, and communications software, you can connect to other computers over the phone line to exchange electronic mail (E-mail) , trade files, or search for information. Many of those computers are connected to the worldwide network called the Internet. Some few of them will—for a fee—let *you* connect to the Internet. From there you can dial any of 900,000 or more computers, send E-mail to any of 25 million people, and access hundreds of free, informative services. ”

“ But you are new to the Internet. Some sense of "what's out there" in this new world is necessary to avoid getting lost in the thickets of acronyms, numbers, and procedures developed by different vendors.
As we approach the middle of the 90s, the normal working situation in offices is approaching something like this: there is a Local Area Network (LAN) connecting together personal computers, workstations, and mainframes of different makes. ”

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

“ It used to be that only scientists and technologists used the academic networks. But no longer. Today there are many humanists and social scientists happily gabbing away with their friends (oops . . . I mean colleagues) at other universities, collaborating by E-mail, subscribing to and writing for E-journals, and so on. This is, of course, in addition to the academic computing environment described in the Chapter for students.
Your main entree to this world is some sort of E-mail access and finding a mailing list or newsgroup for your field. ”

“ The three services are known as GOPHER, the WIDE AREA INFORMATION SERVICE (WAIS, pron. "ways") , and the WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW or W3) .
All three services are based on client-server technology. To make information *available* to others you need special software called a server. The user then uses a "client" program to access the information. "Clients" are often free—they are written by whoever funded the initial project or by volunteer hackers. The catch to using a client is that you have to have a *direct* (usually expensive) connection to the Internet. ”

“ The user interface is a pleasure to use—but requires a direct or SLIP connection to the Internet. The line-oriented version that is publically available is a pale imitation of the real thing.
WAIS strength is its ability to retrieve information from almost any source, not just FTP sites. A list of all WAIS sources is maintained in a directory-of-directories (available at think.com) . You import a set of instructions on how to access a given information server to create your own personalized list of sources. ”

“ SGML is a language used by scholars to mark text for academic research. The WWW vision of the library of the future is a collection of documents spread all over the world, the whole of which can be looked at starting from any one of them. Sort of like having the whole world on your desktop. ”

“ The service recommended bundles all the charges up front so there are no surprises.
Generally speaking, connecting to the Internet through a BBS is the best method for the explorer. Once you've determined that you need the Internet on a regular basis, one of the regional networks or PSI is probably the most economical route.
Unless you are fortunate enough to live in an area where an Internet provider is a local call away, you will have to contend with long distance charges. Actually, these can be as low as $2 an hour and are sometimes bundled in with the network connection charge. ”

“ You should remember these or write them down!
o As a last resort, exit the communications program (and all other active programs) and shut off your computer, turn off your modem, and disconnect it from the phone line. Be sure to do these steps in the order prescribed. It is unwise (though tempting) to simply turn your computer off and on, or to pull the plug on your modem with your computer running.
More suggestions for the inexperienced are given in Appendix A.
The final hurdle to using the Internet is that the world, even the world of the Internet, is indeed a very large place. ”

“ It is easy to transfer files over the Internet using a special protocol called FTP. FTP takes the place of programs like XModem or Kermit that may be familiar to you if you use a bulletin board service. Now, you might ask, if FTP transfers a file, what is the differnce between sending E-mail and FTP; why prefer one over the other? ”

“ A typical mailing list works like this: to join, say, a mailing list on politics, you send the request "subscribe" to "politics- request@whitehouse.gov". Thereafter, any message sent to "[email protected]" will send you message to all members of the list. You get all the postings from other members as well [The Whitehouse list on politics is a fake example] .
Aside: Usenet newsgroup FAQ's are archived at "rtfm.mit.edu". They cover every conceivable subject (but are especially good with computers) . To access the archive by E-mail, send the message "help" to "[email protected]". ”

“ There is probably no industry for which information is so critical as for the media and publishing industries. Journalists who explore the networks will find that they use the tools described in the first part over and over to track down information, conduct prompt "interviews" by mail, and so on. ”

“ Publishers will also be interested in sharing or developing free image processing software with other publishers, and transmitting graphics.
As the net develops, libraries research will more and more often involve internetworking. Searching for books is already easy by dial-up or over the Internet. In addition, the amount of information that is never circlulated on paper will increase. ”

“ Suppose you have a graphics file or a word processing file containing your brochure. How do you send that file to someone?
If you work in an academic environment, it is quite possible that one or the other institutions is an Anonymous FTP site. You may be able to use the Anon. FTP site as a "mailbox" to transfer the file in binary mode— or you could exchange passwords and transfer the file directly, if both have a direct connection to the Internet.
More commonly, you will have to send the file by E-mail. Say you've just finished a brochure and you want to send it cross-country. ”