Contents
Foreword xixPreface xxi
Parti. Ramping Up, Getting Started 1
Chapter 1. Internet History and Technology: A Brief Introduction 3
Meet the Internet—A Little Net History 3
The Electronic Taffy-Pull 4
Line, Links, and Cables 4
Dialing for Data: Boop Boop a Doop 5
The Limits of Phone Networking 6
Multiplexing: Time, Space, and Packets 6
Packet Switching 7
Enter the ARPAnet 8
Networking for Success 9
TCP/IP—Protocols, the Next Generation 10
From ARPAnet to Internet 11
NREN, the U.S. "Government Information Highway" 13Commercialization and Appropriate Usage: Respecting and Getting Around
the Government Rules 14
The Internet Today 16
Conclusion: The ARPAnet Legacy, the Internet Promise 18
Chapter 2. The Internet on a Dollar a Day: How to Get a User Account
and Plug In 19
So You Want to Join the Internet: What You Need, Who to Call, Where to Start 19
Who Ya Gonna Call? 20
To Use the Internet, You Need an Account 22
What's a Computer Account? 22
Terminal/Shell End-User Accounts—The Easy-to-Do, Inexpensive Way to Start 24
Anyone Can Get An Internet Account 25Getting an Internet Account as an Individual: Public-Access Internet Sites, Hurrah 27
Connecting as a Terminal-Style User 28
Terminal Accounts, a.k.a. Shell Accounts 30
How to Get a Terminal, or Shell, Account 31
How Much Does an Internet Account Cost? 32
Vli
viii Contents
If You Don't Need Full Internet Access—Other Ways to Access Internet Accounts
and Services 35
Networking-Style Connections to thie Internet: TCP/IP and PPP/SLIP for Dial-Up 39
A Network Connection to the Internet: IP, PPP, and SLIP Service 40
Benefits of Direct IP Access to the Internet 40
What You Need to Connect as an IP User 41
E-IVIail Queuing 45
Other Ways to Access the Internet 45
Internet Access Lists and Tips 46
Criteria for Picking an Appropriate Type of Account or Service 46
Getting List(s) of Internet Access and Service Providers 49
Summary of Internet Accounts and Providers by Account Category 51
Internet Access and Service Provider Lists and How to Get Them 56
Tips for Getting Connected 59
Conclusion 61
Chapter 3. Internet Naming and Addressing 63
Is This More Information About Naming Than You Really Need? 64
Names Are Important 65
Internet Names Must Be Unique 65
Addresses: They're Important, Too—They Help You Locate Things and
Differentiate Among Similarly Named Things 66
Is Something a Name or an Address? 67
Uniqueness in Addresses 68
Internet Names and Address: Domain Names and IP Addresses 69
IP Addresses: Address-Like Naming 69
Telling Someone an Internet IP Address 70
Domain Names: Something More Convenient Than Numbers 71
The Structure of Domain Names 73
Top-Level Domains 73
Domain Names Are Unique 75
Other Things You Should Know Regarding Domain Names 75
Your Internet Name, Address, and Other Essential Information 77
Why You May Want to Know Your IP Address and a Few Other Key IP Addresses 78
Other Things Worth Knowing About Internet Names and Addresses 79
Summary and Conclusion 79
Chapter 4. Enough Unix to Survive as an Internet User 81
Why You (Should) Care About Unix 81
Why Do I Need to Know Unix? 82
What's an Operating System? 83
What Is Unix? 84
Why Unix Is Popular 86
Unix and Networking 86
Basic Unix Concepts 86
File Systems: Putting Information in Its Place 87
Files: Where the Data Is (and Programs Are) 87
Directories: Putting Files in Their Places 87
Directory Listings: What's in a Directory 88
Directories and Subdirectories 88
Directories and the Directory Tree: Organizing Files into a Hierarchical Structure 89
The "Root" of a Unix File System 90
Filename and Pathname 90
Current Directory, Working Directory 90
Relative Patliname 91
Setting and Resetting the Current Directory 92
Multiple Current Directories 92
Rules for Unix Filenames 93
The Root of the Unix File System and Its Major Branches 94
Naming Conventions in the Unix World 94
Those "Dot" Files 96
Using Unix 98
Giving Commands to Unix 98
Talking with Unix: You and the Shell 99
Input, Output 101
Command Lines and Syntax 101
Environment and Environment Variables 105
A Dozen Useful Unix Commands 105
The more Command: To Read Files and Output Easily 106
The caf Command: To Display Files, Output Continuously 106
The grep Command: To Search Files, Output for Text Strings 106
The echo Command: To Display a Text String or Message 107
The cd Command: To Change Current Directory 107
The pivd Command: To Display Current Directory 107
The man Command: To See the Manual Page for a Unix Command 107
The mv Command: Move a File to a New Place or Name 107
The c/7/77od Command: Modify File Read/Write/Execute Permissions 108
The cp Command: Copy File(s) 108
The pr/nf Command: Send Files to a Printer 108
The c/ear Command: Clear the Screen 108
The /ogouf Command: End Session and Log Out 108
Getting On-Line Help: Manpages and Other Facilities 109
Ten (or So) Common Mistakes that Unix Users Make 109
Spacing Out and Other Digital Dexterity 109
Just Say Yes—Error Messages and Responses 110
Environmental Impact and Other Childish Behavior 110
Trading Options 110
Accounts 11
Double, Double: The Wages of Syntax 11
It Ain't the Computer, It's the Network 11
The Path Not Taken 11
Blowing Away Files 11
Running Out of Environment Space 112
Potpourri 112
Programming in Unix: Shellscripts 112
Some Simple Unix Shellscripts 112
Part 2. Electronic Mail, Usenet, Remote Login, and File Transfer:
The Four Basic Internet Food Groups 117
General Things to Know About Internet Tools 118Ensuring Interoperability: Similarities and Differences Among Different Versions
of TCP/IP, telnet, FTP, etc. 118
Client-Server: The Front and Back Ends of Tools 120
Chapter 5. Electronic Mail—How to Exchange Messages with Other Internet
Users and Other Exciting Things You Can Do 129
Contents
Electronic Mail: What It's All About 129
What Is E-Mail? 130
What Can You Use E-Mail For? 131
E-Mail Can Save Time and Money 133
How E-Mail Works 134
Your E-Mail User Agent Program 134
The Mail Delivery Agent: The Electronic Post Office 135
E-Mail: It Works by Store and Forward 136
Fifty Ways to Get Your E-Mail 138
A Few Other Thoughts Regarding E-Mail 140
Information Overload, Underload: Automating and Organizing Your E-Mail 140
Using E-Mail Doesn't Necessarily Mean You're Using the Internet 140
Legal Aspects of E-Mail 141
Can Companies Do Business by E-Mail? 141
Using Your E-Mail Program(s) 142
Software for Working with E-Mail: Many Choices Available 142
Your E-Mail Curriculum 144
Mail Messages and Files 144
The Components of an E-Mail Message 146
What Types of Data Can Go into an E-Mail Message? 151Important Files for E-Mail Users: Configuration File, Mailbox file(s), .signature file,
"dead letter" 152
Invoking Your E-Mail Program 152
What You See When Your E-Mail Program Starts Up 154
Typical E-Mail Functions, Capabilities, and Commands 154
Examine, Read, File, Forward, Delete, etc.: Common E-Mail Management Tasks 155
Creating and Sending Messages: New, Replies, Forwarding 158
A Quick E-Mail Self-Test Checklist 161
How to Determine E-Mail Addresses 163
Determining Your Mail Address 163
Locating Other Network Users 166
Other Useful Things to Know About and Do with E-Mail 181
Netiquette and Other Tips for E-Mail Users 182
Exchanging E-Mail with People Outside the Internet 184Message Data Format: 7-Bit/8-Bit, Multimedia, Encoding, and Other Message
Content Issues 188Internet Services Based on E-Mail: Access to Archives, Documents, Programs,
and More 191
E-Mail Enabled Applications 192
Chapter 6. Usenet—The Bulletin Board of the Interest 195
What Is Usenet? 196
Some Definitions of What Usenet Is 197
And Some Definitions of What Usenet Is Not 198
The Many Ways to Participate in Usenet 199
The Origins of Usenet 200
Basic Concepts of Usenet and BBSs 201
Electronic Bulletin Boards: An Effective Way to Share Information 201
Newsgroups: Organizing Articles into Topical Groups 202
Unmoderated, Moderated, Digest 202
Threads: Organizing Articles within Newsgroups into Discussions 203
Expiration, Archiving, and Periodic Posting: No Message Lives Everywhere Forever 204
How Usenet Works, at the Cosmic Level 205
What Usenet Newsgroups Are There? 205
The Seven Basic Usenet Groups 206
Alternative Newsgroups: Alt and Others 208
BITNET, K12, DDN, and Other "Gatewayed" and Relayed Groups 209
Regional Hierarchies 210
Other Specialized and Commercial Hierarchies 210
Using Usenet 211
How to Access the Usenet 211
Software for Being a Usenet User: What's Available 213
Typical Usenet Newsreader Software 213
Important Files for Usenet Users 215
Required Reading for New Usenet Users: "Periodic Postings" 219Using Your Usenet Newsreader Program: Joining, Selecting, Reading, Posting, etc. 223
What You'll Want to Learn to Do as a Usenet User 224
Beginner's Activities 224
Intermediate 225
Start Your Newsreader Program 225
Newsgroup Level 227
Selecting the Next Current Newsgroup 227
Thread and Article Levels 229
Thread Selection Level 229
Article Selection Level 230
Article Pager Level 233
Posting (Submitting) Articles to Usenet 235
Canceling Articles 236
Required, Recommended, and Suggested Usenet Groups to Follow 237
Required Newsgroups for New Users 237
Required Newsgroups for All Users 237
Recommended Newsgroups 237
Usenet Netiquette: Usenet Dos and Don'ts 238
Summary of Points to Remember as a Usenet User 238
Some Other Usenet Netiquette and Appropriate-Usage Issues 239
Rules from a Usenet Site: The Ways of the World 240
Tips, Advice, and Suggestions for New Usenet Users 242
Bobbi Fox's Rules for Sensible Usenet Use: One User's Advice 242
Before You Post! Read the FAQs and Other Advice 243
Basic Usenet Vocabulary 244
For More Information About Usenet, Usenet Software, etc. 245
Chapter 7. Remote Login with telnet 247
Astral Projection for Computers 247
Remote Login: Getting There from Here 248
To Connect, Emulate a Terminal 250
What Remote Login Lets You Do 250
telnet: Remote Login for TCP/IP Users on the Internet 251
How fe/nef Works 252
Do You Need to Learn Every System's Version of telnet? 253
Using telnet 253
Things You'll Need to Know to Use telnet 253
Invoking telnet 254
telnet Command Synopsis 256
Essential telnet Commands to Know 257
open 258
close 258
quit 258
z, Control-Z 258
display 258
? [help command] 258
fe/nef-Variable Value 258
Other telnet Commands 259
Popular Uses for telnet 259
Using telnet to "Phone Home" to Read E-Mail, etc. 259
Anonymous-fe/nef 260
Using telnet to Reach Public-Access Accounts for internet Services 261
"telnet-Through": Doing IVIultiple telnets 262
Netiquette for Using Remote Login (telnet) 263Tieing Up the Computer Resources Required for a TCP/IP Connection (for too long) 264
Network Bandwidth 264
CPU Cycles and Storage on the Remote System 265
Netiquette for Anonymous-fe/nef 266
Warnings Regarding Privacy and Remote Login 266
Summary 266
Chapter 8. Transferring Files with FTP 269
Introduction: Why Transfer/Share Files 270
The Importance of File Transfer 270
What Is File Transfer? 271
Why Use File Transfer? 271
File Transfer Programs and Protocols 274
Error Correction and Reliability 274
What Is FTP? 275
Starting Up an FTP Session 276
What Kind of Files Can FTP Be Used to Transfer? 277
Using FTP 277
Things You'll Need to Know to Use FTP 277
Invoking FTP 280
FTP Command Synopsis 281
FTP'S Commands: You Don't Need to Know Them All 281
Specifying Filenames to FTP 282
Basic FTP Commands You Should Know 283
! [command] 283
ascii 284
binary, image 284
bye, close, exit, quit, and , such as Control-D 284
cd 284
dir 284
get 284
hash 285
help 286
led 286
Is 286
mget remote-files 286
mput local-files 286
open remote-systems 287
put 287
pwd 287
quit 287
type 287
? [help command] 287
Other FTP Commands You May Want to Learn About 287
Aborting a File Transfer 288
FTP Gotcha's and Tips 288
Beware of Using Existing Filenames When Copying 288
fe/nef-Througli for FTP Access 288
File Transfer Netiquette 289
Getting Help, Resources, and For More Information 290
Part 3. Navigating the Internet 291
Chapter 9. The Internet Dashboard: Navigating the Internet Rapids 293
Tools for Internet Users: What's What? 294
User Interface Front Ends: Making the Internet Easy(ier) to Use 296
Internet Navigators: Discovering and Getting to Services and Resources 297Internet Navigator Servers and Their Data: What Gopher. WAIS. and Other
Front Ends Do 299
Single-Purpose Information-Finding Tools: People-Locators, Mostly 299
That's/Vof All, Folks 300
Customizing: Building Your Personal View of the Internet 300
Using Internet Navigators: A Generic Overview 300
Navigators Tend to Be Made of a Client and a Server 301
Think Globally. Look for Clients Locally 301
Common Commands for Internet Navigators and Front Ends 301
Accessing Internet Navigators 303
Accessing a Locally Installed Program 303
Try Other Internet Navigators 304
Find a Public-Access Copy of the Program You Can Access via Remote Login 304
Try Finding and Using an E-Mail Interface 305
Internet Navigation Tool Netiquette 306
To Learn More About and Try Internet Tools 306
Chapter 10. Gopher, archie, WAIS, and Others: Meet the Navigators 309
Gopher: Living on Burrowed Time 309
Duct Tape for the Internet 311
Using Gopher 317
Basic Gopher Commands 319
To Learn More and Try Gopher 321
Techlnfo: The M.I.T. CWIS for Its Public Information 322
WorldWideWeb: A Hypertext View of the Internet 323
Other Front Ends, Navigators, CWISsAVWISs, etc. 327
HYTELNET 327
LIBS, Columbus. COMPASS, and More 328
Resource Discovery and Indexing: Finding Files, Resources, Services, People,
and Other Things on the Internet 328
Indexing the Internet: Go Ask archie 330
archie: Born to Collect and Catalog 330
What archie Consists Of 331
Another Grass Roots Internet Success Story 332
Tens of Millions of User Queries Answered 333
From Toy to Tools: The Business of Internet Services 334
archie's Next Jobs 335
Not Just for Internet Uses or Users 336
How to Use archie 337
Things to Know About Using archie: Searching, Sorting, Scrolling, and Stopping 340
archie Netiquette 344
To Learn More About and Try archie 345
WAIS: Finding Information Needles in Networit Haystacks 346
WAIS: Developed for Super-Searching 347
Designed for Use on Networks: WAIS Is a Client-Server Tool 348
Natural Language and Relevance Feedback: Now You're Querying 348
Find Me More Like This: Relevance Feedback Querying 349
WAIS Users Report: They Like It 350
WAIS and the Internet 350
Putting WAIS to Work 352
Using WAIS 355
The Future of WAIS 358
To Learn More About and Try Wais 358
A Few Closing Thoughts on Navigating the Internet 360
Part 4. Help, Problems, Security, and Other Aspects of Being
an Internet Citizen 361
Chapter 11. Being an Internet Citizen 363
Rules for Being a "Good Internet Citizen" 363
Appropriate Usage, or Hey, You Can't or Can Do That on the Internet 364
Appropriate Use Policies, Procedures, and Politics 366
Sample AUP Excerpts 369
Finding AUPs and Other Agreements 377
Hackers, Crackers, Snoops, and Spies—Internet Security: Why You Care and
What You Can Do 377
Internet Security: Threats and Sources 378
Why Is Internet Security a Special Challenge? 380
Qui Custodiat iPsos Networks—Who Guards the Networks? 381
Becoming a Secure Internet User 383
Legal Aspects of Security 384Electronic Privacy: The Trail of Virtual Breadcrumbs, or, the Mother of All Big
Brothers May Watch You After the Fact 384
Netiquette 388
Being a Good User 389
Cost—Who Pays for What on the Internet 391
Use of "Internet Account" 392
Your Organization's Local Network and Computing Infrastructure 392
Your Organization's Connection to the Internet 392
Internet Networks 393
Internet Technology and Infrastructure 393
Use of Internet Services and Resources 394
"Free" Services and Resources 394
Pay-for-Use Resources and Services 395
Chapter 12. Help! 397
Internet Help—Like the Internet, It's Abundant But Not Always Organized 397
Internet Help Comes in Many Forms and Sources 398
Think Globally, Seek Locally—Getting Help Sensibly 399
On-Line Internet Help 399
Help and Error Messages Built-in to Programs: Getting Help from a Program 399
"Manpages" and Other On-Line Standard Program Reference Documentation 402
Local and Other Help Facilities and Information 405
On-Line Help Information via E-Mail, File-Transfer, and Other Methods 406
"Finger" Information 410
"Tours" and Other Hypertext Help Information 411
Organizations and People Who Know About the internet and Answer Questions 411
Office Neighbor or Classmate 412
System Administrator 412
Local Internet, Unix, Network, or Whatever Wizards 412
Internet Service Provider Network Information Centers (NICs) and Network
Operation Centers (NOCs) Operations and Support Staff 413
The InterNIC (NSFnet Network Information Center) 413
CNIDR Clearinghouse for Networked Information Discovery and Retrieval 416
Other Network Information Centers (NICs) and Network Operations Centers (NOCs) 418
Other Internet Groups and Resources 418
Electronic Mailing Lists and Usenet Newsgroups 418
User Groups 418
Training, Classes, Tutorials, Conferences, Exhibitions, and Other Events 418
Guidelines and Suggestions When Calling for Help 418
Problems—and Solutions: When Bad Things Happen to Good Networks 419
Quick Things to Try 420
Where Problems Can Arise and Things to Try 420
Typical Problems, Symptoms, and Indications of Problems 424
Part 5. Commercial Services, Archives, Communities, and
IVIiscellany 427
Chapter 13. Communities of Interest: A Look at Who's Using the Internet 429
Research by Network: Reaching for Information 429
Educational Networking: From Kindergarten through College, and Community, Too 431
K-12 Networking Courtesy of Usenet and FidoNet 432
AskERIC-—People to Ask and Piles of Files 433
Networking Schools on a Shoestring 435
Examples of Internet Educational Activities—"On-Line Olympics," Talking with
Aliens, and Pen-Pals 435
Role-Playing Educational Games on the Internet 437
Big Mac Prices, Global Village Newspaper, and Antigravity 438
Big Sky Telegraph: In Support of K-12 and Community Networking 439
Libraries: Catalogs and Contents Go On-Line 441
Business, Government Stuff, Free-Nets, and Just Plain End Users 444
Business Solutions via the Internet 444
The Internet as Marketplace and "Delivery Tool" 446
Individuals on the Internet 446
Chapter 14. Commercial and Other Information Services on the Internet:
Databases, Libraries, and Other Info-Mongers 449
Background on On-Line Information Services 450
What's an On-Line Information Service? 450
What Information Is Available? 451
Who Uses Commercial On-Line Information Services? 453
Accessing On-Line Services: The Internet Way 453
Pre-lnternet Access Methods 453
Plugging into the Internet 454
The Advantages of Offering Access via the Internet 456
xvi Contents
Access, Internet Style 457
Sample Information Services Available on the Internet 458
Commercial Services Offering Internet Access 458
Library Catalog, References, and Related Services 460
Internet-Style Information Services: New Information and Internet Methods 463
Things to Think About: Service and Reachability 466
Chapter 15. Anonymous-FTP and Other Archives on the Internet: Gigabytes
for the Taking 467
What's an Archive Site? 468
Don't Be Misled by the Term Archives 469
Archive Sites and Files—Lots and Lots of Them 470
O.K., So What's in Internet Archives? 471
A Sampling of Popular Internet Archive Sites 471
A Taste of Archives—Samples of What's in the Internet Archives 472
Who Uses Archives? 473
Is What You Want Available? 473
Accessing the Archives: By File Transfer, E-Mail, and More 474
Locally Available Archives 474
Anonymous-FTP File Transfer 475
Usenet ^.sources Newsgroups 475
Via E-Mail 476
Other Ways to Get Internet Archives 476
Before You Install or Use Retrieved Software 477
Compressing, Decompressing, etc.: Packing Files for Storage and Transfer 477
Retrieval Tips from the Anonymous-FTP FAQ 478
Mac Archiving 479
One User's Learning Experiences Accessing Internet 480
Chapter 16. Electronic Mailing Lists: How to Join, Read, and Participate
in Them 481
E-Mail Lists: Groups of Interested Parties 481
The Internet's Got Lots of Mailing Lists 482
How Mailing Lists Work: Unmoderated, Moderated, Digest 483
E-Mail Distribution Methods for Efficient Use of Network and Computer Resources 484
Keep Track of Your E-Mail Subscriptions 485
Using Mailing Lists: Finding, Joining, Contributing to. Learning 485
Finding Out About a List 485
The E-Mail Subscriber's Challenge: Keeping Track of What You Get and
Remembering Who, Where, and How to Contact 490
The Move to Moderation and Newsgroups 490
Receiving Current Messages 490
Contributing (Posting) to a Mailing List 491
Replying to an Individual Regarding a Mailing List Posting 493
Mailing List Netiquette 493
Mailing List Tips 493
Chapter 17. BITNET: Another Network Worth Knowing About 497
BITNET: Origins and Today 497
The BITNET-lnternet Connection: By Gateways 499
Addressing E-Mail to BITNET 499
If You Use .bitnet Instead of a Top-Level Domain Name 499
Contents xvii
Addressing via a BITNET Gateway 500
BITNET ListServ E-l\/lail Discussion Lists 500
Sending IVIessages to a ListServ Facility 501
Sending IVIessages to a ListServ-Based Mailing List 502
Using ListServ 502
Basic Rules for ListServ 502
Essential ListServ Commands 502
Subscribing and Unsubscribing to BITNET ListServ Mailing Lists 504
Posting to ListServ Lists 505
Other Ways to Get ListServ Lists and Information About Them 505
Where and How to Get Lists of BITNET ListServ Discussions 506
For More Information 506
Chapter 18. And Away You Go—Tips, Toys, and Suggestions 507
nslookup, ping, and Other Useful Tools 508
nslookup 508
ping 508
Conversational Facilities: talk and the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) 508
talk—Talking with Another User 509
IRC—The Internet Relay Chat: Real-Time "CB Radio" Conferencing 510
Multiuser Games—Go, Chess, MUDs, and More 511
Go, Chess, Backgammon, and Other Board Games 512
MUDS—Multiuser Role-Playing Games 513
Other Interesting UNIX Facilities 513
The fortune command 513
Cookie Servers 514
Adventure—Exploring the Colossal Caves 514
Nethack—Exploring the Mazes of Menace 514
Other Miscellaneous Internet Services 514
Lists of Resources and Services 515
Scott Yanoff's "Special Internet Connections" List 515
"Zamfield's Internet BBS List" 515
The Maaslnfo Files 515
Where You Can Go from Here—Some Final Comments from the Author 516
Appendix A Third-Party TCP/IP Software for Your Computer 519
Appendix B Common Editors on Unix Systems and How to Exit Them 521
Appendix C InterNIC Access Information 525
Appendix D Free! A Simple Internet Front-End Unix Shellscrlpt 529
Appendix E Internet-Related Organizations Worth Knowing About 533
Bibliography 535
Glossary 539
Index 545
