with Subject: #finger
name@site.domain . My address, opresno@extern.uio.no, is at a
site.domain called ulrik.uio.no. In this case, use #finger
opresno@ulrik.uio.no .
There are some inventive applications, where finger is being used as a
general information system. For example, finger help@dir.su.oz.au for
information about how to search some databases by finger. Finger to
normg@halcyon.halcyon.com for weekly U.S. TV ratings according to the
Nielsen rating system, and to solar@xi.uleth.ca for 24-hour solar
x-ray flare activity reports.
For the Finger FAQ, send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu containing
the following: send usenet/news.answers/signature_finger_faq . On the
WWW:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/signature_finger_faq/faq.html
FTP (FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL)
A program on the Internet for sending and receiving files to and from
a remote computer to your local host. FTP lets you connect to many
remote computers, as an anonymous or guest user, to transfer files
back to your computer.
FTP only lets you list file directories on foreign systems, get or
retrieve files. You cannot browse menus, send email, or search
databases.
The easiest way is to use ftp with a World Wide Web browser program
like Mosaic. In this case, you just give the program a command line
like this:
ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/hecker/internet/slip-ppp.txt
The codes after the "//" show first the host name, then the directory,
and finally the file name of the desired file.
Many users do it by typing ftp at their system prompt, login on the
remote system, and then ask for the file they want to receive. It
transfers to their local host machine. (For more on this, read under
"Internet" in Appendix 1.)
In the latter case, unless their computer is directly connected to the
Internet, the retrieved file will then have to be transferred from
their host machine to their personal computer.
Where ftp or WWW is not available, you may also use FTPMAIL (chapter
12).
For ftp via Gopher, try
Type=1 Name=Popular FTP Sites via Gopher Path=1/FTP Searches/Popular
FTP Sites via Gopher Host=gopher.tc.umn.edu Port=70 URL:
gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu:70/11/FTP
Searches/Popular FTP Sites via Gopher
There is a "FTP Frequently Asked Questions" with interesting
background information (see FAQ above).
FSP
File Service Protocol.
.
FYI
"For Your Information." On the Internet, a subseries of RFCs that are
not technical standards or descriptions of protocols.
Online FYI copies are available in the ftp://nic.ddn.mil/fyi directory.
FYIs may also be requested by email to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL with a
subject line of "FYI ##" for text versions or a subject line of "FYI
##.PS" for PostScript versions.
To get a list of available documents (the FYI index), the subject line
of your message should read "FYI index."
Also, check out the sites carrying RFCs (see below).
GOPHER
A global information service. It works from a top-level
subject-oriented menu system that accesses other information services
across the Internet. You can be viewing a color photograph of an
ancient Chinese vase stored on a computer in Taiwan, and, on a
moment's notice, "be" in the UK, retrieving names and dates from a
historical database. Gopher combines a finding and fetching capability
in one tool.
Gopher gets information from certain locations on the Internet to
which it is connected, and brings the information to your computer. It
can get information via other Gophers at other locations connected to
yet other hosts. The Telneting or file transfer protocols are
transparent to the user.
To access gopher services, you run a browser program. The browser
reads documents, and can fetch documents and files from other sources.
There are services that let you fetch gopher information by electronic
mail (see Gophermail below).
"Common Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher" are posted to
the Usenet newsgroups comp.infosystems.gopher, comp.answers, and
news.answers every two weeks. (See FAQ above.)
The Online World handbook's support forum files are on the gopher
address login.eunet.no (URL: gopher://login.eunet.no/11/1. You can
also telnet to login.eunet.no, login: gopher).
On the Internet, you will often see pointers to Gopher sources given
like this:
Type=1
Name= United States GOVERNMENT Gophers
Path=1/gopher.welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov
Host=peg.cwis.uci.edu
Port=7000
URL: gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/11/gopher.welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov
If you are not using a communications program that can use this
information directly, then try to deduct the information from URL
line. Here, it translates into 'gopher peg.cwis.uci.edu 7000' , select
peg / gophers/ gov.
If the gopher command is not available on your system, then you can
sometimes telnet to the gopher site, and login as 'gopher' or
'info'.
Connect to gopher://boombox.micro.umn.edu for more information. To
follow gopher developments, subscribe by mail (SUB Your-Full-Name) to
gopher-news-rquest@boombox.micro.umn.edu
If in an exploratory mood, point your Internet browser at
gopher://cwis.usc.edu/11/Other_Gophers_and_Information_Resources
The choices include: How to use Gopher (free course), Guides to
Internet Resources, Gophers by Subject, Gophers by Location, Gophers
by Keyword Search (Veronica), Wide Area Information Server (WAIS)
databases, and more.
To search Popular FTP Sites via Gopher, connect to
gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu/11/FTP%20Searches/
The gophers of the world, sorted by country, are at
URL: gopher://liberty.uc.wlu.edu/11/gophers/other
Read about Veronica below.
GOPHERMAIL
lets you use Gopher by electronic mail. Messages containing menus and
gopher link information are mailed to you in response to your
requests. You reply to these messages and indicate which menu items
you want. It lets you use Gopher without requiring a direct "live"
Internet network connection.
Send a message to one of the following addresses for more information:
gomail@ncc.go.jp (in
Japan)
gopher@nig.ac.jp (in
Japan)
gophermail@Calvin.Edu (in
USA)
gopher@dsv.su.se (in
Sweden)
gopher@ftp.technion.ac.il (Israel)
gopher@earn.net
(Europe)
Just send a blank message, and a help screen will be returned to
you.
GopherMail's options include:
- Requesting the Gopher menu for a specific host name,
- Message splitting after a certain file size (for those with a size
limit on email messages),
- Re-using links to selected gopher menus by saving them in a local
"Bookmarks" file.
Binary and Sound Files are sent as uuencoded files.
To perform a search, select that menu item with an "x" and supply your
search words in the Subject: of your next reply. Note that your search
criteria can be a single word or a boolean expression such as:
computers and (macintosh or ms-dos)
HYTELNET
(1) An Internet service offering access to many other services,
including university and library catalogues around the world. Prefers
VT-100 emulation. (telnet herald.usask.ca. Login: hytelnet)
Read: ftp://ftp.usask.ca/pub/hytelnet/README
(2) A memory resident utility (MS-DOS) that provides instant
information on Internet-accessible library catalogues, Free-Nets,
Campus Wide Information Servers, Gophers, WAIS, and much more.
HYTEL-L (on listserv@kentvm.kent.edu) is a mailing list for
announcements of new versions.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD TOP-LEVEL COUNTRY CODES
Top-level country codes derived from the International Standards
Organization's international standard ISO 3166. For a current list,
retrieve the FAQ: International E-mail. It is regularly posted to
these Usenet newsgroups: comp.mail.misc, comp.mail.uucp,
news.newusers.questions alt.internet.services, alt.answers,
comp.answers, and news.answers.news.answers.
You may also retrieve it via E-mail as follows:
mail ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr
Subject: anything
open
[mime]
get pub/faq/mail/country-codes
quit
(where [ ] = optional)
IRC
Internet Relay Chat is a multi-user, multi-channel chatting network.
It allows people all over the world to talk to one another in
real-time.
Each IRC user has a nickname they use. All communication with another
user is either by nickname or by the channel that they or you are on.
It requires that you use a service that has a direct connection to
Internet.
A FAQ file, "IRC Frequently Asked Questions," is posted to the alt.irc
newsgroup every second week.
More information about IRC is available by anonymous FTP to cs.bu.edu.
Retrieve the /irc/support/tutorial* files. You may also want to take a
look at this short tutorial:
ftp://cs-ftp.bu.edu/irc/support/IRCprimer1.1.txt
Here are some sample IRC hosts:
telnet sci.dixie.edu 6677
telnet caen.fr.eu.undernet.org 6677
telnet obelix.wu-wien.ac.at 6996
(also on port 6677, 7766, and 6969)
telnet irc.tuzvo.sk 6668
telnet irc.nsysu.edu.tw (Login: irc)
ITR
Internet Talk Radio. For general information (a FAQ) about the
Internet Multicasting Service radio programs, send email to
info@radio.com. For a listing of some distribution sites, send mail
to sites@radio.com.
A list of archive sites that make the Internet Talk Radio sound files
accessible via anonymous FTP is irregularly posted to the following
newsgroups: alt.internet.talk-radio, alt.radio.internet, alt.answers,
news.answers. They may also be retrieved from
ftp://juggler.lanl.gov/pub/ITR/itr_archives.html
To access Internet Talk Radio in World Wide Web (WWW):
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/radio/radio.html
To access Internet Talk Radio via Gopher, point your gopher at:
Name=MegaGopher
Type=1
Port=70
Path=
Host=megasun.bch.umontreal.ca
and select Internet Resources/Internet Radio/Broadcasts/Broadcasts via
ftp archives/.
JUGHEAD
An interactive Internet service that gets menu information from
various gopher servers. It is a database of Gopher links, and an
acronym for Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And
Display.
Jughead accepts word searches and the search result can be used to
access menus on many remote Gophers.
More information is available as
ftp://ftp.cc.utah.edu/pub/gopher/GopherTools/jughead/jughead.ReadMe
KNOWBOT
Experimental directory services using intelligent computer programs
that automate the search and gathering of data from distributed
databases. The concept behind the Knowbot is that it is supposed to be
a Knowledge Robot - - something that goes hunting for information on
the Internet.
To reach a Knowbot: telnet CNRI.Reston.va.us port 70 . Also, try email
to kis@nri.reston.va.us. Send 'help' for instructions.
LINUX
Free Unix operation system clone for 80386/80486 computers. The "Linux
Documents Explained for Newbies" document is regularly posted to the
comp.os.linux newsgroup. Dig into this file library for more
information:
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/
Start with the current version of the Linux FAQ.
Linux has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged
Unix, including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries,
demand loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory
management and TCP/IP networking.
It supports a wide range of software, including X Windows, Emacs,
TCP/IP networking (including SLIP), the works.
LIST OF LISTS
The Interest Groups List of Lists is a directory of conferences
available as:
ftp://sri.com/netinfo/interest-groups
Note that as of March 1994, the file was around 1,400,000 bytes in
size.
You can also get it by email from mail-server@sri.com. Write the
following command in the TEXT of the message:
Send netinfo/interest-groups
LYNX
If you don't have a TCP/IP connection to an Internet provider, the
easiest way to access the World Wide Web is through Lynx. This
text-only based browser works on any VT100 (ASCII) emulating terminal
program using full screen, arrow keys, highlighting, etc., and can be
found on almost any Internet host.
Set your communications software to vt-100, dial up, logon, and type
"lynx" to see if it is available. If not, telnet to
ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu . At the login prompt, enter www and press return
to access a Lynx browser. Online help is available.
If it is available, just type "g" for go, and then type the URL of the
document you want. Type "h" for help.
Even if you have a TCP/IP connection, you may find Lynx faster than
most Windows-based browsers for some applications. It provides fast
navigation of cross-linked hypertext documents (minus multimedia) over
a low-speed dial-up connection. You can even use it with a 2,400
bits/s modem. . . .
A copy of the program, including a release for MS-DOS computers, can
be retrieved from
ftp://FTP2.cc.ukans.edu//pub/lynx/
MAILBASE
A program functioning like a LISTSERV. For more information about the
Mailbase at Newcastle University (England), send email to
MAILBASE@MAILBASE.AC.UK containing the following commands:
help (for a general help file)
send mailbase user-guide (for a User Guide)
lists (for a list of available forums)
This mailbase managed 403 mailing lists in July 1993.
MAJORDOMO
is another program that organizes mailing lists. Commands for
subscribing and unsubscribing are similar to those used with a
LISTSERV except that the name is not given at the end of the
subscription line. Further, rather than sending e-mail to LISTSERV at
the site that houses the list, send to majordomo@csn.org.
For a list of mailing lists served by this Majordomo server, send the
command 'lists' in the body of your email message. Add the command
'help' on the next line for a short help file.
MIME
The Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions is a specification that
offers a way to interchange text in languages with different character
sets, and multi-media email among many different computer systems that
use Internet mail standards.
MIME lets you create and read email messages containing these things:
- character sets other than ASCII
- enriched text (text with markup commands like to make
it more readable)
- images
- sounds
- other messages (reliably encapsulated)
- tar files
- PostScript
- FTPable file pointers
- other stuff
MIME supports several pre-defined types of non-textual message
contents, such as 8-bit 8000Hz-sampled mu-LAW audio, GIF image files,
and PostScript programs. It also permits you to define your own types
of message parts.
For details, check out FAQ 475, the newsgroup comp.mail.mime, and a
RFC- 1341 and 1523.
Note: When a MIME message is received by someone on a host without
MIME installed, it may be encoded in a binary format (BASE64) and
impossible to read. If you have this problem, try the small free
utility that is available through the TOW archive. Send GET TOW MASTER
(as explained in the preface of the book) for retrieval instructions
and file name.
NCSA MOSAIC
gives point-and-click access to the World Wide Web over a SLIP or
TCP/IP connection to the Internet. Mosaic will not work through simple
Internet gateways unless you are using pseudo-SLIP software. A direct
Internet connection, or a dedicated high-speed phone line is required.
The system runs on X Windows, the Macintosh, and Microsoft Windows,
and has integrated transparent access to other Internet services,
ranging from FTP to WAIS to Gopher.
Mosaic can display hypertext and hypermedia documents in a variety of
fonts and styles. It has support for sounds, movies, international
characters,
Mosaic can be retrieved from ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/.
The MS Windows
version is in the /PC/Mosaic directory. The Macintosh version is in
the /Mac/Mosaic directory.
NETFIND
Internet directory services that allow users to get information about
individuals. Search by name and organization/location. For more
information, send email to listserv@brownvm.brown.edu
with the
following text in the body of your mail "GET NETFIND HELP".
Here are some Netfind user lookup hosts:
telnet netfind.oc.com U.S.A.
telnet netfind.anu.edu.au Australia
telnet netfind.if.usp.br Brazil
telnet malloco.ing.puc.cl Chile
telnet nic.nm.kr Korea
telnet lincoln.technet.sg Singapore
telnet monolith.cc.ic.ac.uk England
NNTP SERVER
Usenet netnews are being distributed globally through local servers,
called NNTP servers. You should use a local server. if available, for
higher speed. Reading programs, like WinVN and Netscape, require that
you put the address of a NNTP server in the configuration file.
Netscape example:
NNTP_Server=nntp-oslo.uninett.no
NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) is an extension of the TCP/IP
protocol that describes how newsgroup messages are transported between
compatible servers.
PING (PACKET INTERNET GROPER)
A program to test a network connection on the Internet. It can be used
to check if a connection to another host is available, when your email
seems not to reach a receiver.
Ping sends a message (an ICMP echo request packet) to a specified
host, and waits for a response. It reports success or failure and
statistics about its operation.
To use ping by email, write with Subject: #ping
. This command will ping the machine 10 times and send you
the result.
PPP
Point-to-Point Protocol. A serial communications protocol for
connecting to the Internet by direct or dial-up lines. PPP systems can
receive and transfer files without having to use the intermediate host
as a transfer and rest stop.
A FAQ is posted to the comp.protocols.ppp, news.answers, and
comp.answers on a weekly basis. It should be read by anybody
interested in connecting to Internet via serial lines.
PSEUDO-SLIP
enables individual dial-up users of Unix "shell" accounts to use
programs that ordinarily require a direct SLIP connection to the
Internet. You can use applications like Mosaic and Eudora if your
shell account is set up with pseudo-SLIP software.
Oslonett A/S (Norway) distributes the Remsock pseudo-SLIP system. Send
mail to shareware@oslonett.no with "info remsock" on the subject line
for information. Shareware. Registration US$15.00 (1994).
Cyberspace Development, Inc. (USA) sells The Internet Adapter (TIA).
Send email to tia-info@marketplace.com for information, or connect via
telnet, FTP, gopher://marketplace.com, or by WWW to
http://marketplace.com/. Price (1994): US$25.00.
RFC
The Internet's Request for Comments document series. Working notes of
the Internet research and development community. A document in this
series may be on essentially any topic related to computer
communication, and may be anything from a meeting report to the
specification of a standard.
Information about new RFCs is regularly sent to the RFC-DIST
notification mailing list. Requests to be added to this list should be
sent to
RFC-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL
Note: Once a document is assigned an RFC number and published, that
RFC is never revised or re-issued with the same number. There is never
a question of having the most recent version of a particular RFC. It
is therefore important to make sure you have the most recent RFC on a
given topic!
Details on how to get RFCs via FTP or EMAIL may be obtained by sending
an EMAIL message to rfc-info@ISI.EDU with the message body help:
ways_to_get_rfcs. For example:
To: rfc-info@ISI.EDU
Subject: getting rfcs
help: ways_to_get_rfcs
SIMTEL SOFTWARE REPOSITORY
maintains a giant collection of public domain software, shareware,
documentation and mail archives under the following top-level
headings: Ada, CPM, CPMUG, HZ100, MACINTOSH, MISC, MSDOS, PC-BLUE,
SIGM, UNIX-C, ZSYS.
All files are accessible from ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/ (in the
United States). You can also retrieve them from
http://www.coast.net/SimTel/, and from several mirror sites around
the world (pick a site from the listing at
http://coast.net/SimTel/SimTel/msdos/filedocs/download.inf), from
gopher://gopher.acs.oakland.edu/1ftp%3aoak.oakland.edu%40/SimTel/
and by e-mail through the BITNET/EARN file servers, and various
FTP-mail servers (see Chapter 12).
For information by email, send a message to LISTSERV@VM1.NODAK.EDU
with the command 'GET PDGET HELP' in the first line of your text.
For a current list of available MS-DOS files, retrieve the following
file ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/filedocs/simlist.zip. Also,
consider subscribing to MSDOS-Ann (see Chapter 4).
SLIP
Serial Line Internet Protocol. A method for connecting to the
Internet. SLIP systems can receive and transfer IP packets over a
serial link, such as a dial-up or private telephone line.
IP (the Internet Protocol) is the most important of the protocols on
which the Internet is based. It allows a packet to traverse multiple
networks on the way to its final destination.
The help file "Personal Internet Access Using SLIP or PPP: How You Use
It, How It Works" is available at
URL: ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/access/hecker/internet/slip-ppp.txt
See "Pseudo-SLIP" above.
TELNET
A program on the Internet that allows you to execute commands on
remote computers as though you were logged in locally. You can browse
menus, read text files, use gopher services, and search online
databases. Sometimes, you can join live, interactive games and chat
with other callers. Usually, you cannot download files or list file
directories.
To set up a telnet connection, you need to know the name of the
computer site you want to access and have a valid user name and
password for that site.
The site's name can be in words, like "VM1.NODAK.EDU," or a numeric
address, like "134.129.111.1". Some services require that you connect
to a specific "port" on the remote system. Enter the port number, if
there is one, after the Internet address.
Some telnet sites allow for guest logins. Guest accounts typically are
restricted to the types of actions they can perform during a session.
Although your telnet session is actually running software directly on
the site's telnet computer, you will be running a program that
prevents you from accessing the general capabilities of that computer.
Once you are connected to a telnet site, you will often see a
menu-driven system which is under the control of the telnet site, and
guides you through the actions you may perform at that site.
A list of SPECIAL INTERNET CONNECTIONS, with public user names and
passwords, is available by email to bbslist@aug3.augsburg.edu. You can
also get it as ftp://ftp.csd.uwm.edu/pub/inet.services.txt, and via
alt.internet.services on Usenet.
Note: If you get a return message saying that the host was unknown or
unavailable, first check if your address syntax was correct. If it is,
try later. Also, your telnet address may have changed.
Another common use of telnet is for users to be able to log into their
computers from remote locations. In this case, users enter their own
user names and passwords and, therefore, have the same user privileges
they would have when logged in without using telnet.
Accessing commercial services like CompuServe via telnet gives you the
convenience and time savings of not having to log off and on as you
move from one host system to another. There is normally no real time
cost advantage, unless your location is closer to an Internet node
than any of these services' regular access point.
Telnet is not available to users who have email only access to the
Internet.
TRICKLE
Servers on the Internet offering the SimTel shareware and public
domain files by email (uuencoded). These servers include:
TRICKLE@TREARN.BITNET (Turkey)
TRICKLE@TAUNIVM.BITNET (Israel)
TRICKLE@IMIPOLI.BITNET (Italy)
TRICKLE@DB0FUB11.BITNET (Germany)
TRICKLE@AWIWUW11.BITNET (Austria)
TRICKLE@UNALCOL.BITNET (Colombia)
For more information and a current list of all TRICKLE servers, send a
message to one of these addresses with the command "/HELP" in the body
of your text.
URL (UNIVERSAL RESOURCE LOCATOR)
A Universal Resource Locator is the address of any multimedia resource
on the Internet. It is a standardized description of the location of a
given network resource, and the protocol used to access the
resource.
A URL may point to a WWW page file (an HTML file), a GIF image, an
MPEG movie, an AU sound file, a ftp file or directory of files, a
gopher menu, a Usenet news group, a telnet port, and so on. URLs
identify the type and location of network and local resources.
Many users with interactive connection to the Internet, use remote
network resources through local programs. These programs are called
local clients, and there are such programs for anonymous ftp, irc,
Mosaic, WWW, and more.
The local clients programs often require a terse, machine readable
resource addressing format, called "Universal Resource Locater" (URL).
It is a draft standard for specifying an object on the Internet, such
as a file or newsgroup.
Example using WWW: The URL format resource address is
http://web2.xerox.com/digitrad
This tells us:
the tool: http (see Appendix 4)
the host: web2.xerox.com
the path: digitrad
The first part of the URL, before the colon, specifies the access
method. The part of the URL after the colon is interpreted specific to
the access method. In general, two slashes after the colon indicate a
machine name (machine:port is also valid).
A Gopher example: URL uses the following
gopher://nutmeg.ukc.ac.uk/archive/uunet/archive/doc/obi
/USG/Health.Care.Security.Plan/report/forward.txt
The URL tells us:
the tool: gopher
the host: nutmeg.ukc.ac.uk
the path: archive/uunet/archive/doc/obi/USG
/Health.Care.Security.Plan/report
the file: forward.txt
A ftp example, showing site, directory, and file name:
ftp://ftp.rpi.edu/pub/communications/internet-cmc.html
A telnet example:
telnet://database.carl.org/
A newsgroup example:
news:alt.bbs
A file example, showing site, directory, and file name:
file://localhost/mysub/mypage.html
VERONICA
A service on the Internet. Maintains an index of titles of gopher
items, and provides keyword searches of those titles. The result of a
search is a set of gopher-type data items, returned to the user as a
gopher menu. The user can access any of these data items by selecting
from the returned menu.
Example: gopher://nysernet.org/11/Search%20the%20Internet. Select
Veronica alternatives from the list.
A FAQ is available at gopher://futique.scs.unr.edu/11/veronica, as
well as the choice "Search ALL of Gopherspace (5000+ gophers) using
Veronica."
Veronica is also available by email (using GopherMail. See
above).
WAIS (WIDE AREA INFORMATION SERVERS)
is a distributed text-searching system. It is a kind of indexed online
search tool to locate items based on what they contain - usually
keyword text searches. It is a powerful tool for concurrent searches
of large databases and/or newsgroups on the Internet. First, WAIS lets
you search for appropriate databases, and then for information within
them.
If Gopher is like looking in the contents of a book to determine what
chapters to read, then WAIS may be said to be like looking at a book's
index to find a particular subject or topic to read about.
The information that you retrieve can be practically anything, from
text to sound to images to whatever you can think up. The information
can reside anywhere and on many different computer systems. The WAIS
protocol is an extension of the ANSI Z39.50 information retrieval
protocol. (WAIS is pronounced "ways")
Example: gopher://gopher.ub2.lu.se/11/allWAIS/experiment/udc/general
This gopher allows you to search several General, Bibliography, and
Library science databases.
Example: Telnet QUAKE.THINK.COM (or Telnet 192.31.181.1). Login as
"wais". Telnet info.funet.fi (or 128.214.6.100). Login: info . Another
option is telnet to sunsite.unc.edu and login as swais .
WAIS can also be searched by mail. For instructions, send email to
waismail@quake.think.com with the word 'help' in the body of your
mail.
There is a WWW content router for WAIS at
URL: http://www-psrg.lcs.mit.edu/content-router.html
The content router provides query routing to over 500 WAIS servers
(1994). It is based on content labels which are constructed from WAIS
source and catalog files. The router also provides query refinement
that helps a user formulate meaningful queries. When the user
specifies a query term, the content router suggests other terms that
are related to the query. When the relevant WAIS servers are chosen,
the router searches them in parallel.
A FAQ about WAIS is posted monthly to the comp.infosystems.wais
newsgroup.
FREEWAIS
allows uncapitalized Boolean searching with any combination of
and/or/not, but no parenthesis. With freeWAIS, you _can_ search for
"dogs and cats." It also adds truncation, using "*". This lets you
easily search for plurals and root words, like "advertis*".
For information on free WAIS software contact freewais@cnidr.org. To
subscribe to the wais-discussion mailing list send a mail to
wais-discussion-request@wais.com
Usenet newsgroup: comp.infosystems.wais
VMS
Virtual Memory System. A multiuser, multitasking, virtual memory
operating system for the VAX series from Digital Equipment.
WHOIS
An Internet program that lets users query a database of people and
other Internet entities, such as domains, networks, and hosts, kept at
the NIC (see Appendix 4).
For example, Whois lets you scan through a registry of researchers in
the network field to find an Internet address, if you have only the
last name or part of it. It will give you the person's company name,
address, phone number, and email address. It had around 70,000
listings in December 1992.
.
You can access Whois by email to
MAILSERV@INTERNIC.NET. Put the word
HELP in the subject field of your mail for instruction. You can also
access it by telnet to telnet://rs.internic.net, and at
gopher://ds1.internic.net/11/.ds/.whitepages
gopher://ds.internic.net:4320/1whois
WINSOCK
The Windows Socket standard. An application programming interface
(API) designed to let Windows applications (such as a Web browser) run
over a TCP/IP network.
Requires a direct connection to the Internet, or access to a SLIP,
pseudo- SLIP, or PPP server. With Winsock, you can run several
applications that make use of the Internet at the same time.
For information, check out the newsgroup comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
and alt.winsock. There is a well-established Windows Sockets
discussion list on majordomo@mailbag.intel.com. To subscribe, leave
the subject blank, and include the following command in the body:
subscribe winsock.
Also, check out http://sunsite.unc.edu/winsock
The FAQ "Windows and TCP/IP for Internet access" contains a list of
some shareware and public domain software that can be used with
Windows to access services on the Internet. This FAQ is regularly
being posted to alt.winsock .
The Winsock Application FAQ can be retrieved by email to info@LCS.com,
Subject: FAQ. It is also on URL: http://www.lcs.com/faqhtml.html
WWW (WORLD WIDE WEB)
A global information service, much like Gopher, that provides top
level access down to various documents, lists, databases, and
services. This includes resources such as WAIS, FTP, and Gopher.
Instead of menus, WWW uses a hypertext interface with cross links
between subjects. You "click on" highlighted words to jump off onto
another track. Documents can be, and often are, linked to other
documents by completely different authors -- much like footnoting, but
you can get the referenced document instantly!
To access the Web, you run a browser program. The browser reads
documents, and can fetch documents and files from other sources. For a
comparative list of Web browsers, go to WWW Servers Comparison Chart
page at http://www.proper.com/www/servers-chart.html
You can also retrieve pages by electronic mail as explained in Chapter
12. These services are mostly for retrieval of text. They cannot
deliver pages containing graphics, sound, etc. reliably.
A Frequently Asked Questions file about WWW is available by sending
the command GET WWW FAQ to listserv@brownvm.brown.edu. Updates are
regularly posted to the Usenet newsgroups news.answers,
comp.infosystems.www, comp.infosystems.gopher, comp.infosystems.wais
and alt.hypertext. You can also get it at
URL: http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/www_faq.html
Examples: telnet www.njit.edu or telnet 128.235.163.2 (U.S.A.), telnet
telnet://telnet.w3.org or telnet 128.141.201.214 (Switzerland), telnet
vms.huji.ac.il or telnet 128.139.4.3 (Israel), and telnet
ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (USA). Login: www .
To search for WWW information pages in the WebCrawler database, point
your browser at
http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/WebCrawler/WebQuery.html
WWW to http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/mkgray/comprehensive.html for a
long HTTP site list sorted by domain (geographical area of the world).
A list of all registered HTTP servers by country is on
URL: http://www.w3.org/hypertext/DataSources/WWW/Servers.html
The Digital Tradition folk song database is available through a WWW
server that allows users to search for and display songs interactively
using any of several freely available WWW clients. The server can even
provide audio of the song tunes for some systems.
This WWW server is located at: http://web2.xerox.com/digitrad. To find
out about more, access the above WWW server or email
digitrad@world.std.com (Dick
Greenhaus)
The Australian National University's WWW server at
http://rubens.anu.edu.au offers Art-History-related images. In
January 1994, it held 2,800 images with associated short records
dealing with the history of printmaking from the 15th century to the
end of the 19th century, and a few on the classical architecture of
the Mediterranean.
For information on WWW browsers, telnet to
telnet://telnet.w3.org.
We have seen references to World Wide Web services written like
this:
Mosaic (WWW): http://lanic.utexas.edu/
Note that Mosaic is not the only browser program that will let you use
WWW. Lynx is an attractive alternative for dial-up users (see
above).
For information about the popularity of the World Wide Web, point your
browser at http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/mkgray/wow-its-big.html
There is a list of mailing lists and Usenet News groups related to WWW
on http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ucs/WWW/WWW_mailing_lists.html
The unofficial newspaper of the World Wide Web is at
URL: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html
It carries announcements of new servers on the Web and also of new
Web- related tools.
A WWW Development page is available through The WWW Virtual Library.
Topics ranges from how to develop WWW pages, to setting up servers, to
the evolution of the WWW. URL: http://www.charm.net/~web/Vlib.html
For a competitor, check out http://www.stars.com/
A collection pointers to tools, technical documentation, and
standards, both current and under development, for World Wide Web and
the Internet in general:
http://www.mcs.com/~lunde/web/aboutwww.html
For more information
You may start with "Answers to Commonly Asked New Internet User
Questions," available by email from SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL. Put the
following command in your message's SUBJECT heading:
RFC 1325
"FYI: Internet User's Glossary" can be retrieved by electronic mail
from SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL. Put the following command in the Subject of
your mail: RFC 1392 . There is also a "Internet Services Frequently
Asked Questions and Answers" (see FAQ above).
"FYI: What is the Internet?" is available by anonymous FTP as
ftp://nic.merit.edu/documents/fyi/fyi_20.txt
John December publishes the "Internet-tools list." It contains
information about many network tools and information resources (such
as Archie, Gopher, Netfind, WWW and so on.) You can retrieve it by
anonymous ftp as
ftp://ftp.rpi.edu/pub/communications/internet-tools.html
A collection of Internet tools and resources is available on the
URL:
http://www.hip.com/franklin/franklin.html
This WWW page combines comprehensive tools documents, and links to
software collections for Mac, PC, and UNIX.
"Where to Start" for New Internet Users is a commented listing of
Internet guidebooks and other materials. Retrieve by sending the
following one-line command in an email to
listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu:
GET NEWUSERS FAQ NETTRAIN F=MAIL
_____________________________________________________________
The Online World resources handbook's text on paper, disk and in any
other electronic form is © copyrighted 1995 by Odd de Presno.
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