Copyright © 1996 * No Starch Press * ISBN 1-886411-09-3
Everywhere you look these days, people are talking about the Internet. Newspaper, radio, and television ads trumpet strange-looking "e-mail" and "Web" addresses. But if you feel like you're suddenly on a different planet, don't despair. You're still on planet Earth, but these folks really are somewhere else--in cyberspace. You can join them, and it will be painless.
This book will show you why that you don't need to have a Ph.D. or a technical understanding of terms like bits, bytes, and baud to use the Internet. . In fact, you don't have to be a so-called computer person at all to use the Internet and make it do what you want it to.
Internet books often go into excruciating detail about the history, composition, and protocol of the Internet. You won't find that here. What you will find is a very direct and simple approach to using all aspects of the Internet, whether you have only an e-mail connection or a fast, graphical connection.
Can the Internet really be so simple? Don't I need to know all the technical details? Hey, when you buy a new car, the salesperson doesn't make you read The Life and Times of Henry Ford before you can roll the top down and squeal off the lot, does he? And when you purchase a new computer, nobody forces you to read a text on logic design before you fire up Doom or WordPerfect. The Internet doesn't have to be any different.
By the time you're done with the first chapter of this book, you'll know what the Internet is, what kind of resources are out there, and how to make a connection that's just right for you. And after you've finished reading the whole book, you'll be empowered to move around cyberspace with ease and confidence--gathering information, solving problems, and maybe even teaching your friends a thing or two.
It will be painless if you approach your journey with a sense of humor and an understanding that there really is no magic or rocket science involved. You can get there one step at a time. Let's start by looking at a few definitions.
The Internet is a huge, worldwide collection of computer networks that connect government, military, educational, and commercial institutions, as well as private citizens. The Internet connects all of these groups to a wide range of services, resources, information, entertainment, and more. Although the computers that make up the Internet are diverse, including many different kinds of networks, operating systems, and interfaces, the Internet looks like one big, homogeneous system--and that is its magic and wonder.
The Internet has it roots in a system known as ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), which was begun by the U.S. Department of Defense in the late 1960s. ARPANet's goal was to develop a computer network capable of withstanding a nuclear attack. Its solution was to transmit large chunks of data by splitting it into smaller pieces that were automatically routed around nonfunctioning sections of the network, and then reassembled at their final destination.
ARPANet grew throughout the seventies to encompass government, military, and university networks around the world. In the eighties, this collection of networks became known as the Internet, and rapidly grew as thousands of university, business, research, and government organizations connected their computers to it.
Today, the Internet is growing at exponential rates, with everyone from major online services to the guy down the street with a basement BBS (bulletin board system) trying to get you wired. Estimates of the number of Internet users range from 10 to 30 million, and at the rate we're going there may soon be more Internet users than people on Earth. Hey, I've just proven that there's life on other planets!
Yes and no. All of the major commercial online services such as America Online, CompuServe, and Prodigy are for members only--you pay a monthly fee to be able to use them. Your membership fee buys you access to the service's proprietary resources and information in addition to allowing you toconnect to the Internet. If you're not a member of the service, you can't use it (unless you log on as a guest), just as you couldn't enter a country club without a membership. So don't expect to connect to the Knitting Forum on Prodigy if you're a CompuServe customer.
The Internet, on the other hand, is open to anyone, though you may have to pay a monthly fee to dial in to a company that offers direct Internet service (an Internet Service Provider) unless you are lucky enough to have a free account at school or work. You'll learn more about alternatives for getting connected to the Internet in Chapter One.
On a related note, if you've heard talk of the "information superhighway" and wondered how it relates to the Internet, don't sweat it--they are one and the same. The same goes for "cyberspace" and "infobahn." For all practical purposes, their definitions are interchangeable..
Note: You're bound to encounter a number of terms that are new to you as you read this book or travel online. Remember to check the glossary when you see a word here in italics or you come across something new in your explorations.
So the Internet is a sprawling mass of wires and computers, teeming with hordes of people. Then what's the big attraction out there in cyberspace? In short, it's information and interaction.
The Internet lets you tap into government documents, get stock quotes and sports scores, discover new humor, play games, download literature, and lots more. It also enables you to communicate in real time with people around the world. Think of it as a television with 50 million channels, and each one lets you talk back.
The Internet will open your eyes to a wide range of possibilities for finding and using information. It may change the way you think about doing business, research, or even shopping. And it can help you transcend barriers to open communication that exist in the physical world. Time and money can hinder the free flow of ideas and information. The Internet exchanges painfully slow paper mail and telephone connections with lightning-fast communications that can help you succeed in the modern world--and it does so at a fraction of the cost.
Just a word about modems. Yes, you do need one to get online! A modem is the gizmo that enables your computer to communicate with another computer over a telephone line. It works by converting the analog telephone signals into a digital format your computer can process, and vice versa. Most new computers on the market today come with a built-in modem, but if you find yourself modemless, a trip to your local computer store and $100 to $200 will solve your problem.
Modems come in two flavors: internal and external. Macintosh computers always have external modems (a little box that sits on your desk), and IBM-compatible PCs most oftenhave internal modems (a circuit card that plugs inside the computer) but some use external ones. If you have a PC and you're not sure whether it has an internal modem installed, look for a telephone connector on the back of the PC (that little plastic jack). If you don't see one, you probably don't have an internal modem.
Generally speaking, you should invest in a fast modem. Modems are rated in bps (bits per second) or Kbps (kilobits per second), and the higher the number, the faster the modem. If you have a slower modem (like 9600bps or 2400bps), give some serious thought to upgrading to a 14.4 Kbps or 28.8 Kbps modem (28.8 is twice as fast as 14.4). Because slower modems send and receive data more slowly, they take longer than faster modems to send and receive files. This can get expensive when you're paying for your connection by the hour or minute.
Although internal modems cost a bit less than external ones, you might want to opt for an external modem because all you have to do is plug it into the back of your computer and connect it to a telephone line. If you want to install an internal modem, you'll have to "pop the hood" to plug it into a slot inside your computer, and you'll sometimes need to fool with tiny little switches.
You don't need to have a new telephone line installed in your home to use a modem. A standard residential phone line will work just fine, but you will be unable to make or receive calls while you're online. (However, if you have call waiting, you should disable it before dialing into an online service.) To use your existing line, just connect the telephone wire that comes from its wall jack into your modem, and then connect your telephone to the modem. (See your manual for specific options and instructions.)
If you're already an e-mail user (whether through work or an online connection at home) but you don't have direct access to the Internet , you're not alone. About half of the 150 countries with Internet connections and 20% to 30% of U.S. Internet users today have only e-mail access to the Internet.
But no problem, e-mail alone is a very powerful way to navigate and use the Internet. In fact, many people don't know that you can access almost any Internet resource by using simple e-mail commands, and that there are a bunch of cool things you can only access with e-mail. And even if you do have full Internet access, you'll find that using Internet services via e-mail can save you time, money, and the headaches that come from waiting for files to download or servers to respond.
Look for the sections in each chapter that detail how to use e-mail to maximize your
online time and minimize your online bill.