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"BROWSING THE WORLD WIDE WEB" FOR COMMODORE USERS:
Offered to an adoring and grateful public by Glenn P.

The following information is current as of Monday, July 3, 1995.

REQUIREMENTS: Access to Telnet, and access to a terminal program
capable of VT-100 emulation.

CAUTION: No information is available concerning access to the Web
in 40 columns. A screen width of at least 80 columns is recommended.

NOTE: This text assumes that you have an account on the CompuServe
Information Service, and that you use a Commodore-128 and thus have
no access to CompuServe's CIM program (or any other GUI-based
Internet access program). Nonetheless, the information furnished
below should be readily adaptable by the reader, even if these
assumptions are not wholly correct.

                    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

PREFACE:

Commodore users are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to
browsing the World Wide Web -- we lack a graphical interface with
which to do our Browsing. And CompuServe itself is of no help, as it
does *not* support Commodore computers. What to do?

Well, fortunately, Commodore users *DO* have access to Telnet, which
is perfectly usable in ASCII interface. (Whether the services
accessed via Telnet allow simple ASCII translation is of course
another matter!) In my own case, I have found a Web Browser,
accessible via Telnet, which offers TEXT BASED Web Browsing, which
obviates the need for a graphical interface. The downside to this is
that it DOES require VT-100 terminal emulation; the better this is
implemented on your system, the better off you will be.


A LITTLE BACKGROUND:

To access a given location on the Web, you need to know its address,
or "URL". (I forget exactly what that stands for; I *think* it's
"Uniform Reference Link", but I won't swear to it.) URL's are those
those funny-looking Internet-style addresses you see floating about
the USENET Newsgroups with "http://" prefixes. The "http" stands for
HyperText Transfer Protocol, because what you actually access on the
Web is what is know as a "Hypertext Document". Most "http://"'s that
you find on USENET and such are called "Homepages", because each one
is a starting point for a given set of hypertext documents, set up
by a single company or individual.

Why "hyper"-text? Because you do more than just READ it. With a
graphic interface, you'll get pictures. (We won't, alas, since we'll
be using a text-only Browser, but bear with me.) More importantly,
however, the text you read will be sprinkled with what would at
first seem to be simple footnotes -- numbers enclosed within
brackets: [1], like that. In fact, they ARE footnotes -- in a way.
But THESE "footnotes" can turn out to be whole BOOKS! That's because
they are in fact pointers, or "links", to OTHER hypertext documents,
located elsewhere on the Web! When you enter the number of such a
Link, you interrupt your reading of the CURRENT document, and start
reading the new one; when you're finished with that, you can return
to the first document at the press of a single key -- or, if you
prefer, you can follow other links contained in the NEW document,
going even further afield! Thus you can follow a line or thread of
interest to wherever the Web will take you, as far as you please to
go, to get to your point of interest.

This "interlinking" is the precise reason why it's called a "Web"!

The interesting thing is that, apart from the FIRST document, you
need never know the address of any of the other, subsequent
documents at all -- that's all handled automatically by the Browser.
It's something like CompuServe's menus -- each choice you make
presents you with more choices! No WONDER the Web is so addicting!
And we Commodore users can access it!!!


ACCESSING THE WEB:

As discussed above, to get on the Web, you need to Telnet to a Web
Browser, and you'll need VT-100 terminal emulation. Start by
entering GO CIS:TELNET at the "!" prompt nearest you, to access the
CompuServe Telnet Menu.

But DON'T make any choices yet! We need to set up VT-100 emulation
*before* we enter a sitename.

That's because CompuServe communicates, invisibly and transparently,
with the remote host as your connection is established, and informs
the remote host of a few things about you -- such as the size of
your screen, and the type of terminal emulation you are using. I
didn't know this the first time I used Telnet to access the Browser;
I figured I could switch to VT-100 once I got there. In fact, unless
CompuServe thinks you're in VT-100 mode already, it'll tell the
remote host you're using something else -- whereupon the remote host
will "harrumph" and dump you ("Connection closed by foriegn host" --
don't you just love that one?) unceremoniously back to the Telnet
menu again!

So here's what to do: (1) Type SET TERM VT100 at the Telnet menu
prompt, but DON'T PRESS RETURN YET. (2) Set your terminal program to
VT-100 emulation. (3) NOW you can press RETURN. You'll get the
Telnet Menu again, but now you will be in VT-100 emulation mode.

We are now ready to enter a sitename.

Select item 8 (Access specific site) from the menu. Then, when
prompted for the site name, enter:

                         fatty.law.cornell.edu

This is the sitename of the Web Browser we'll be using.

Press your RETURN key after the sitename. Ignore the disclaimer and
other blather -- press RETURN again -- and the actual Telnet session
will begin.

After a few moments, you'll receive a connection message from the
computers at Cornell University, asking for a login. This screen
will be rather messy; don't worry about that, it'll come out right.
And don't dilly-dally here, either, because the Cornell computers
aren't the LEAST bit patient -- if you take more than a few seconds
to say something, you'll be very rudely dumped. Enter "www" in
lowercase at the Login: prompt (don't use the quotes!) and press
RETURN.

You'll get an introductory screen; press RETURN and your first
(default) hypertext document screen will be presented to you!

The important thing about this screen is NOT its contents (which are
of almost NO interest to us Commodore users) but its *layout*. But
before I discuss that, let us digress long enough to customize the
server itself. Press the "o" key (*DON'T* press RETURN).

Most of the screen should clear, leaving a menu-like list of system
variables and options to change. Here is where the nuances of VT-100
come into play: your cursor will appear to the right of the choice
you are changing, WITHOUT the whole screen being re-written -- the
remote program is using cursor controls! However, YOU select the
option itself by first letter.

First type "p" (for "Personal Mail Address") to enter your E-Mail
address. This will make it VERY easy to mail yourself some of the
documents you'll find on the Web. (More on this rather later on.)
Don't be alarmed if the address you type is mysteriously preceded
by a couple of strange letters or numbers -- these are VT-100 codes,
and do no harm. Just type the address.

Next type "k" ("Keypad") several times until "Links are numbered"
appears at the right side of the screen, and press RETURN to select
this. If you don't, all those "footnote-like" thingies I've been
discussing won't appear!

Lastly, type "c" to change the "Character Set". Press "C" several
times to cycle through the various options, until "7-bit
approximations" appears. This will help to keep the screenfuls of
text that you get nice and readable. Press RETURN to select this. We
are now ready to Browse the Web! Press "r" now to return to the
starting screen.

Take a moment now to notice the few "footnotes" (bracketed numbers)
on the screen. (The server was a trifle balky at this; they might
not be visible! Nonetheless, they are there. Try entering numbers.)

These, as previously discussed, are hypertext links, and lead to
other documents. Try typing one of these numbers in, and pressing
your RETURN key. You'll see the "---press spacebar to continue---"
at the bottom of the screen disappear and be replaced by "Read
link: #" (where # is the number you are in the process of typing
in). Change your mind? Delete the number you're typing and press
RETURN without ANY number being entered. "Aborted!", the server will
scream, and the "---press spacebar to continue---" will
reappear.

If you DO enter a number, you'll see some information "flash by" at
the bottom of the screen, the text on the screen will be "re-drawn",
and you'll be faced with a different document. This is the general
pattern. Press space to continue reading; type a "cursor-up" to go
back (the server is a bit flaky in this regard, however, you might
have to press cursor-up several times in quick succession before it
listens to you), and a cursor-left to return to the original main
screen. Of course, there may be other "links" (footnotes) in THIS
document that interest you -- type them in! You can always return to
the FIRST, main, screen, by typing "m" and answering "yes" to the
question.

For now, just move around a bit long enough to become comfortable
with this strange new method of navigation. When finished, return to
the main screen by typing "m" and "y"...

And you should now be staring at the starting screen again! As I
said before, the important thing about this screen is not so much
what it SAYS, as the way it's laid out, because a similar layout
will be presented throughout your session.

The top couple of lines are not clear on my screen, because my
implementation of VT-100 is imperfect. It's *supposed* to be in
reverse video, for example, but it isn't, at least not on my screen.
These lines are meant to display information about the current
hypertext document you are reading, including its link name (that
is, its "http://" address). Frankly, I'm not interested, since you
don't really NEED this information anyway.

The rest of the screen, down to about the last three or four lines,
is text. This might not be perfectly displayed, either, and might
have remnants of earlier screens visible on it. Again, if this is
the case, it is due to imperfections in your terminal program's
implementation of VT-100. Generally, however, it should be easily
readable.

The botom few lines are IMPORTANT. The topmost of these lines will
*usually* read "---press spacebar to continue---"; below this
will be a list of valid options. You'll notice that "O)ptions" is
one of them; we just used this a moment ago to tweak the server to
our needs. "H)elp" is available too, although it is rather confusing
and technical, and not particularly helpful. By far and away the
most *useful* option listed, however, is "G)o URL" Press "g"
(*don't* press RETURN). Immediately, the "press spacebar" prompt
will *vanish* and be replaced by a prompt asking you to supply the
"URL to open", with your cursor to the immediate right of this
prompt.

Of course you need a hyptertext address, don't you? Hmmm! Well, you
might try entering this (type carefully!):

                         http://www.msen.com/~brain/

(On a Commodore-128, the "~" character is created by typing a
shifted "^".) Now press RETURN.

The prompt vanishes and, in very quick succession, you'll see the
line replaced by other, single, lines explaining what's happening,
including a count of bytes the document contains and and how many
are actually being retrieved. Within a couple of moments, the screen
will be "re-drawn", and the document itself -- the "Homepage" of
someone called "Jim Brain" -- will appear... then the information
line will be replaced by that "---press spacebar to continue---"
prompt again!

You should have the basic idea by this time; you can proceed here
just as you did at the Main Screen, paging through the text with
your spacebar, and entering link numbers to "digress" to additional
information of interest to you. Remember that a cursor-left will
take you back to the previously read document, and that cursor-up
and cursor-down will allow you to move within the CURRENT document.
If your go back to re-read a "previous" document, a cursor-right
will move you back to the "next" one (!). Of course, the Commodore-
128 has those four cursor keys at the top of the keyboard, which
makes this very easy.

In all your explorations, just remember four things:
     1. You can't get lost! If you think you're lost, just press "m"
and answer "yes" to return to the original main screen, where you
can always start over.
     2. The "abort code" is Control-G. Why they chose this is a
matter of pure conjecture, but there it is. If you try to access a
link and the system seems to "freeze", it may be due to
unavailability of that link, or for some other reason, but you grow
impatient waiting you can always abort with Control-G.
     3. Don't forget the meter running in the background: this comes
out of your free Internet time, if you have any left, and if you
don't it is charged to you by the hour.
     4. Don't get TOO hung up with the meter -- have Fun!


RETREIVING A DOCUMENT FOR FUTURE REVIEW:

O.K., you've found this k00l document, full of things you always
wanted to know but were afraid to ask... but, uh, how do you save it
to disk?

Your first impulse will surely be to save it to your text buffer as
it is drawn on your screen. Do yourself a favor: DON'T. You're still
in VT-100 emulation, remember? VT-100 inserts all sorts of control
characters and strange codes, and doesn't use proper line lengths,
etc. In short, what you will get in your buffer will be a flat-out
MESS. Oh, the text will BE there, all right, and you CAN edit it
into shape if you're patient enough; it's just that very few people
have that much patience! What to do?

You have two options, and both involve the "p" (print) command
(listed at the bottom of the screen). If the document is *short*,
you CAN use the "save to buffer" method -- in combination with the
"p" command. To do this, type "p", and a print menu should appear.

Ignore option 1 (save to local file) because it apparently requires
an account with Cornell and isn't available via Telnet. We're
interested in options 2 and 3.

What you want is option 3. Type "3", and you'll be prompted to press
RETURN. NOW open your text buffer, and press RETURN. The text will
be sent to you continuously, with only minimal VT-100 translation,
(or if you're very lucky, with none at all).

But this is a little cumbersome for very sizable documents, and
that's where option 2 comes in. Type "p" and then "2", and you'll be
prompted for your E-Mail address -- which, if you've followed my
instructions, will appear automatically as the default! (You entered
this from the "Options" screen, remember?) Just press RETURN (or
enter your address first, if you didn't earlier), and the document
will be translated to simple ASCII and E-Mailed right to you! What
could be easier?


CONGRATULATIONS!

The first time I actually managed to access the Web, I spent FIVE
AND A HALF HOURS browsing it and never noticed the time. When I went
to bed, it was nine o'clock -- in the MORNING!!! (*Boy*, I'm glad
I'm on the Internet Club!) Of course, I can't be doing that ALL the
time, but isn't it good to know that one can do it at all???

I think you'll find the World Wide Web to be JUST as interesting as
I did. Congratulations on entering the Internet Bigtime -- and happy
browsing!!!

                    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

SYSTEM INFORMATION: My system consists of a flat C-128, 1571, 1581,
Aprotek Minimodem C24 (2400 baud), and BobsTerm Pro.C128 terminal
program. The VT-100 emulation I use is *NOT* the standard VT-100
offered by BobsTerm, but a custom version contained in a macro
supplied by a user of one of the Commodore Forums on CompuServe. I'm
sorry I don't remember his name; if I did, I'd credit him.

                    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This text is Copyrighted (C) 1995 by Glenn P. No big deal about
that; feel free to copy and distribute this text -- but you DON'T
have my permission to SELL it, O.K.? Thanx!

Comments or questions regarding this textfile are welcome. Send your
queries or remarks to Glenn P.>INTERNET: [e-mail].

                                                       --Glenn P.

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