Welcome to the internet!


1/4- INTRODUCTION

The Internet is a collection of computer networks that connects millions of computers around the world, including the one on your desktop. It is also a vast source of information that is constantly changing and expanding.
Since its creation in the 1960's, it has grown immensely and is now used by over 40 million people, from those in commercial and educational institutions to individual consumers.

Each of the computers connected to the Internet is able to perform one or more of the following basic functions:

 

The Internet can bring you all the following services:

 

In order for you to access these services, you will have to subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) which could be:

 

 

2/4- A BRIEF HISTORY

 

In the early 1960's, in the midst of the Cold War, the US Government commissioned a study to the Rand Corporation about a destruction-proof communication system between its military bases everywhere in the world.

The objective was to set up a system that could withstand partial destruction without losing its ability to transmit sensitive data from one point to the other.

The result of this study was a model where there was no focal point susceptible to be destroyed; the smart solution, proposed by Larry Roberts and Paul Baran, was the following:

This communication method, called Internet Protocol (IP), made it virtually impossible to stop a message. Each packet was independent and seemingly invulnerable. This ancestor of the Internet, called Arpanet, was set up between 4 nodes based in the United States.

Arpanet grew to 37 nodes (in 1972), fuelled by the needs of research centres and universities to exchange information, reports, theses, etc. At that date, a demonstration of Arpanet to international specialists led to the creation of the InterNetwork Working Group (INWG). This group worked on elaborating a series of international communication standards (network architecture, protocols and message formats). Internet was born!

In the 1980's, federal agencies (National Science Foundation, NASA) and universities throughout the world joined the Internet and the number of nodes grew to tens of thousands and the number of users to 4 million At that time, using the Internet was not very user friendly and was limited to technical or scientific communications.

In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee, a CERN engineer, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) or the Web for short, which enabled an easy creation of standard information "pages" (thanks to a new programming language: HTML) as well as the creation of links between the various Internet servers. The Internet community welcomed the WWW which made the information accessible at last to novice users.

However, in order for anybody to be able to "surf" on those new "pages", an essential part was missing: a piece of software that would make "surfing" easy and visually attractive. In 1993, a 21-year old student at the University of Illinois, Marc Andreesen, created and literally gave away to the Internet community "Mosaic", the first "browser". Mosaic became an instant standard.

In 1994, America On LineŽ, a major online service provider, opened a gate for its users to the Internet. This brought hundreds of thousands of new users and generated huge media coverage. Later that year, a new company, Netscape, introduced Netscape Navigator, a revolutionary successor to Mosaic. The Web had become a revolution comparable to the invention of TV or Radio, both a technological breakthrough, an extraordinary new tool and a major fashion phenomenon...

Today, the Internet is already used by over 40 million people worldwide and is growing rapidly, due to decreasing costs (due to fierce competition), technological advances (that make it possible to enrich the Web content with images, sound and even live video!) and the immense need for information and communication.

 

 

3/4- THE ONLY JARGON YOU WILL EVER NEED

 

Here is a short list of terms that you will encounter during your exploration of the Internet galaxy:

 

Address
Each resource on the Internet is characterised by its "address". This address contains 3 levels:

  Examples: (all parts of names are separated by full stops: name.subdomain.domain)

 

Browser
Special software that enables you to move around the World Wide Web on the Internet. The two main commercial browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

 

Browsing
Going into the areas that interest you on the Internet. Also known as "surfing"!

 

Download
To retrieve electronic information from a particular source straight to your computer.

 

E-mail
Electronic mail, used to send and receive messages and documents directly to and from your computer rather than through the post.

 

FTP
Short for File Transfer Protocol. An efficient method of transferring information files from the Internet libraries directly onto your computer (see "download").

 

Home page
A place on the World Wide Web (a part of the Internet) where you can advertise your existence using text, images, sounds and links to other areas of the Internet. Home pages are used by corporations to communicate about themselves and their products. Don't forget to visit Packard Bell's home page at the following address: http://www.packardbell-europe.com .

 

Icon
An on-screen "button" which identifies a particular action you can carry out on your computer. You can click (with your mouse) on an icon to perform this action and access the relevant information or software.

 

Internet
A global inter-network of computer networks. It is made up of thousands of independent military, academic and commercial networks which have adopted a common means of connecting and interacting with each other.

 

Internet Directory
A service that helps you search for information by focusing on the subject you're looking for: sports, then soccer etc.

 

Search engine
An automatic searcher. Give a word to the search engine and wait for the response.
After a few seconds, you obtain the best links to the Web pages relating to your subject.

 

Site
A location on the Internet where specific information or software is found.

 

URL
Universal Resource Locator. The address of a "home page" (or site) on the Web. To access a specific site on the Web, simply type in its URL in your browser.

 

Virtual
Just like the real thing, but in electronic form: e.g. "virtual world"!

 

World Wide Web, WWW, the Web
Hundreds of thousands of commercial and personal "pages" containing all sorts of information, images, sounds, etc. Using a "browser", you can "surf" from page to page using "links".

 

 

4/4- HOW DO I ACCESS THE INTERNET FROM MY PACKARD BELL PC?

 

With the NET@PASS, Packard Bell offers you your first experience of the Internet for the price of a local phone call.

CLICK HERE NOW to discover Packard Bell NETP@SS.

 

Your Packard Bell PC also offers you different Internet Service Providers, each of which offers specific services. Depending on your level of computer expertise, your requirements for extended services (information, forums, etc) and the time you want to spend online, you can choose between Channel 6, CompuServe,   AOL, MSN or others.

Each of these services is detailed in one of the following chapters and each of them offers you a "free trial period" which gives you the possibility to test the service for one month. You will find a quick description of these services in the booklets that come with your Packard Bell computer. These booklets also contain your own special codes that give you access for a free trial period.

We suggest that you simply choose the service that seems to best meet your needs, go to the relevant chapter, follow the registration procedure and enjoy surfing and exploring all the services. You will be given your own Internet address as a way for you to become an active member of the Internet community!

note.gif (965 octets) NOTE
You will need to enter a credit card number to validate your registration. Nothing will be charged to your account if you terminate your subscription as described in the instructions given. If you are fully satisfied with the service, after the trial period, the corresponding monthly payment will be charged to your account. If you wish to cancel your subscription at any time, please contact your service provider for information on how to do so.