Internet E-Mail Workshop/Internet E-Mail Workshop.iso/referenc/dumguide/internet.txt/text0001.txt

Text File | 1994-09-13 | 129.3 KB | 2,662 lines

Chapter 1:  SETTING UP AND JACKING IN




1.1  READY, SET ...

     The world is just a phone call away.  With a computer and modem,
you'll be able to connect to the Internet, the world's largest computer
network (and if you're lucky, you won't even need the modem; many
colleges and companies now give their students or employees direct access
to the Internet).
     The phone line can be your existing voice line -- just remember
that if you have any extensions, you (and everybody else in the house
or office) won't be able to use them for voice calls while connected
to the Net.
     A modem is a sort of translator between computers and the phone
system. It's needed because computers and the phone system process and
transmit data, or information, in two different, and incompatible
ways.  Computers "talk" digitally; that is, they store and process
information as a series of discrete numbers.  The phone network relies
on analog signals, which on an oscilloscope would look like a series
of waves.  When your computer is ready to transmit data to another
computer over a phone line, your modem converts the computer numbers
into these waves (which sound like a lot of screeching) -- it
"modulates" them.  In turn, when information waves come into your
modem, it converts them into numbers your computer can process, by
"demodulating" them.
     Increasingly, computers come with modems already installed. If
yours didn't, you'll have to decide what speed modem to get.  Modem
speeds are judged in "bps rate" or bits per second.  One bps means
the modem can transfer roughly one bit per second; the greater the
bps rate, the more quickly a modem can send and receive information.
A letter or character is made up of eight bits.
     You can now buy a 2400-bps modem for well under $60 -- and most now
come with the ability to handle fax messages as well.  At prices that now
start around $150, you can buy a modem that can transfer data at 14,400
bps (and often even faster, when using special compression techniques).
If you think you might be using the Net to transfer large numbers of
files, a faster modem is always worth the price. It will dramatically
reduce the amount of time your modem or computer is tied up transferring
files and, if you are paying for Net access by the hour, save you quite a
bit in online charges.
     Like the computer to which it attaches, a modem is useless
without software to tell it how to work.  Most modems today come with
easy-to-install software.  Try the program out. If you find it
difficult to use or understand, consider a trip to the local software
store to find a better program.  You can spend several hundred dollars
on a communications program, but unless you have very specialized
needs, this will be a waste of money, as there are a host of excellent
programs available for around $100 or less.  Among the basic features you
want to look for are a choice of different "protocols" (more on them in a
bit) for transferring files to and from the Net and the ability to write
"script" or "command" files that let you automate such steps as logging
into a host system.
     When you buy a modem and the software, ask the dealer how to
install and use them.  Try out the software if you can.  If the dealer
can't help you, find another dealer.  You'll not only save yourself a
lot of frustration, you'll also have practiced the a prime Internet
directive:  "Ask. People Know."
     To fully take advantage of the Net, you must spend a few minutes
going over the manuals or documentation that comes with your software.
There are a few things you should pay special attention to: uploading
and downloading; screen capturing (sometimes called "screen dumping");
logging; how to change protocols; and terminal emulation.  It is also
essential to know how to convert a file created with your word
processing program into "ASCII" or "text" format, which will let you
share your thoughts with others across the Net.
    Uploading is the process of sending a file from your computer to a
system on the Net. Downloading is retrieving a file from somewhere on
the Net to your computer. In general, things in cyberspace go "up" to
the Net and come "down" to you.
    Chances are your software will come with a choice of several
"protocols" to use for these transfers.  These protocols are systems
designed to ensure that line noise or static does not cause errors that
could ruin whatever information you are trying to transfer.
Essentially, when using a protocol, you are transferring a file in a
series of pieces.  After each piece is sent or received, your computer
and the Net system compare it. If the two pieces don't match exactly,
they transfer it again, until they agree that the information they both
have is identical.  If, after several tries, the information just
doesn't make it across, you'll either get an error message or your
screen will freeze.  In that case, try it again.  If, after five tries,
you are still stymied, something is wrong with a) the file; b) the
telephone line; c) the system you're connected to; or d) your own
computer.
    From time to time, you will likely see messages on the Net that
you want to save for later viewing -- a recipe, a particularly witty
remark, something you want to write your Congressman about, whatever.
This is where screen capturing and logging come in.
    When you tell your communications software to capture a screen, it
opens a file in your computer (usually in the same directory or folder
used by the software) and "dumps" an image of whatever happens to be
on your screen at the time.
    Logging works a bit differently.  When you issue a logging
command, you tell the software to open a file (again, usually in the
same directory or folder as used by the software) and then give it a
name. Then, until you turn off the logging command, everything that
scrolls on your screen is copied into that file, sort of like
recording on video tape.  This is useful for capturing long documents
that scroll for several pages -- using screen capture, you would have
to repeat the same command for each new screen.
    Terminal emulation is a way for your computer to mimic, or
emulate, the way other computers put information on the screen and
accept commands from a keyboard.  In general, most systems on the Net
use a system called VT100.  Fortunately, almost all communications
programs now on the market support this system as well -- make sure
yours does.
    You'll also have to know about protocols.  There are several
different ways for computers to transmit characters.  Fortunately,
there are only two protocols that you're likely to run across: 8-1-N
(which stands for "8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity" -- yikes!) and 7-1-E
(7 bits, 1 stop bit, even parity).
     In general, Unix-based systems use 7-1-E, while MS-DOS-based
systems use 8-1-N.  What if you don't know what kind of system you're
connecting to?  Try one of the settings.  If you get what looks like
gobbledygook when you connect, you may need the other setting.
If so, you can either change the setting while connected, and then hit
enter, or hang up and try again with the other setting.  It's also
possible your modem and the modem at the other end can't agree on the
right bps rate.  If changing the protocols doesn't work, try using
another bps rate (but no faster than the one listed for your modem).
Again, remember, you can't break anything!  If something looks wrong,
it probably is wrong.  Change your settings and try again.  Nothing is
learned without trial, error and effort.
     There are the basics.  Now on to the Net!


1.2 GO!


     Once, only people who studied or worked at an institution
directly tied to the Net could connect to the world.  Today, though,
an ever-growing number of "public-access" systems provide access for
everybody.  These systems can now be found in several states, and there
are a couple of sites that can provide access across the country.
     There are two basic kinds of these host systems.  The more common
one is known as a UUCP site (UUCP being a common way to transfer
information among computers using the Unix operating system) and
offers access to international electronic mail and conferences.
     However, recent years have seen the growth of more powerful sites
that let you tap into the full power of the Net.  These Internet sites
not only give you access to electronic mail and conferences but to
such services as databases, libraries and huge file and program
collections around the world.  They are also fast -- as soon as you
finish writing a message, it gets zapped out to its destination.
     Some sites are run by for-profit companies; others by non-profit
organizations.  Some of these public-access, or host, systems, are
free of charge.  Others charge a monthly or yearly fee for unlimited
access.  And a few charge by the hour. Systems that charge for access
will usually let you sign up online with a credit card.  Some also let
you set up a billing system.
     But cost should be only one consideration in choosing a host
system, especially if you live in an area with more than one provider.
Most systems let you look around before you sign up.  What is the range
of their services?  How easy is it to use? What kind of support or help
can you get from the system administrators?
     The last two questions are particularly important because many
systems provide no user interface at all; when you connect, you are
dumped right into the Unix operating system.  If you're already
familiar with Unix, or you want to learn how to use it, these systems
offer phenomenal power -- in addition to Net access, most also let you
tap into the power of Unix to do everything from compiling your own
programs to playing online games.
     But if you don't want to have to learn Unix, there are other
public-access systems that work through menus (just like the ones in
restaurants; you are shown a list of choices and then you make your
selection of what you want), or which provide a "user interface" that
is easier to figure out than the ever cryptic Unix.
     If you don't want or need access to the full range of Internet
services, a UUCP site makes good financial sense.  They tend to charge
less than commercial Internet providers, although their messages may
not go out as quickly.
     Some systems also have their own unique local services, which can
range from extensive conferences to large file libraries.


1.3  PUBLIC-ACCESS INTERNET PROVIDERS


     When you have your communications program dial one of these host
systems, one of two things will happen when you connect.  You'll
either see a lot of gibberish on your screen, or you'll be asked to
log in.  If you see gibberish, chances are you have to change your
software's parameters (to 7-1-E or 8-1-N as the case may be).  Hang
up, make the change and then dial in again.
     When you've connected, chances are you'll see something like
this:

               Welcome to THE WORLD
               Public Access UNIX for the '90s
               Login as 'new' if you do not have an account

               login:

     That last line is a prompt asking you to do something.  Since
this is your first call, type

                new

and hit enter.  Often, when you're asked to type something by a host
system, you'll be told what to type in quotation marks (for example,
the 'new' above).  Don't include the quotation marks.  Repeat: Don't
include the quotation marks.
     What you see next depends on the system, but will generally
consist of information about its costs and services (you might want to
turn on your communication software's logging function, to save this
information).  You'll likely be asked if you want to establish an
account now or just look around the system.
     You'll also likely be asked for your "user name."  This is not
your full name, but a one-word name you want to use while online.  It
can be any combination of letters or numbers, all in lower case.  Many
people use their first initial and last name (for example,
"jdoe"); their first name and the first letter of their last name
(for example, "johnd"); or their initials ("jxd").  Others use a
nickname.  You might want to think about this for a second, because this
user name will become part of your electronic-mail address (see chapter
2 for more on that).  The one exception are the various Free-Net
systems, all of which assign you a user name consisting of an arbitrary
sequence of letters and numbers.
     You are now on the Net.  Look around the system.  See if there
are any help files for you to read.  If it's a menu-based host system, chose
different options just to see what happens.  Remember: you can't break
anything.  The more you play, the more comfortable you'll be.
     What follows is a list of public-access Internet sites, which are
computer systems that offer access to the Net.  All offer international
e-mail and Usenet (international conferences).  In addition, they offer:

     FTP: File-transfer protocol -- access to hundreds of file
     libraries (everything from computer software to historical
     documents to song lyrics).  You'll be able to transfer
     these files from the Net to your own computer.

     Telnet: Access to databases, computerized library card
     catalogs, weather reports and other information services,
     as well as live, online games that let you compete with
     players from around the world.

        Additional services that may be offered include:

     WAIS:  Wide-area Information Server; a program that
     can search dozens of databases in one search.

     Gopher:  A program that gives you easy access to dozens
     of other online databases and services by making
     selections on a menu. You'll also be able to use these
     to copy text files and some programs to your mailbox.

     IRC:  Internet Relay Chat, a CB simulator that lets
     you have live keyboard chats with people around the
     world.

     However, even on systems that do not provide these services
directly, you will be able to use a number of them through telnet (see
Chapter 6 for more information on telnet).   In the list that follows,
systems that let you access services through menus (similar to those in
restaurants -- you pick what you want from a list) are noted; otherwise
assume that when you connect, you'll be dumped right into Unix (a.k.a.
MS-DOS with a college degree).  Any unique features of a given system are
noted. Several of these sites are available nationwide through national
data networks such as the CompuServe Packet Network and SprintNet.
     Please note that all listed charges are subject to change.  Many
sites require new or prospective users to log on a particular way on
their first call; this list provides the name you'll use in such cases.

ALABAMA

     Huntsville.  Nuance.  Call voice number below for modem number.
setup; $25 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

ALASKA

     Anchorage.  University of Alaska Southeast, Tundra Services, (907)
789-1314; has local dial-in service in several other cities. $20 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

ALBERTA

     Edmonton.  PUCNet Computer Connections, [phone]. Log
on as: guest. $0 setup fee; $25 for 20 hours a month plus $6.25 an hour
for access to ftp and telnet.
     Voice: [phone].

ARIZONA

     Tucson.  Data Basics, [phone]. $25 a month or $180 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

     Phoenix/Tucson.  Internet Direct, [phone] (Phoenix); (602)
321-9600 (Tucson).  QWK offline reader. Log on as: guest. $20 a month.
     Voice: [phone] (Phoenix); [phone] (Tucson).

BRITISH COLUMBIA

     Victoria  Victoria Free-Net, [phone].  Menus.  Access to all
features requires completion of a written form.  Users can "link" to
other Free-Net systems in Canada and the U.S. Free. Log on as: guest
     Voice: [phone].

CALIFORNIA

     Berkeley.  Holonet. Menus. For free trial, modem number is (510)
704-1058. For information or local numbers, call number below. $60 a year
for local access, $2 an hour during offpeak hours.
     Voice:  [phone].

     Cupertino.  Portal.  Both Unix and menus.  [phone] (2400
bps); [phone] (9600/14,400 bps). $19.95 setup fee, $19.95 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     Irvine. Dial N' CERF.  See under San Diego.

     Los Angeles/Orange County.  Kaiwan Public Access Internet, (714)
539-5726; [phone].  $15 signup; $11 a month (credit card).
     Voice: [phone].

     Los Angeles. Dial N' CERF.  See under San Diego.

     Oakland. Dial N' CERF.  See under San Diego.

     Pasadena. Dial N' CERF  See under San Diego.

     Palo Alto.  Institute for Global Communications., [phone].
Unix.  Local conferences on environmental/peace issues. Log on as: new.
$10 a month and $3 an hour after first hour.
     Voice: [phone].

     San Diego. Dial N' CERF USA, run by the California Education and
Research Federation. Provides local dial-up numbers in San Diego, Los
Angeles, Oakland, Pasadena  and Irvine.  For more information, call voice
(800) 876-CERF or [phone].  $50 setup fee; $20 a month plus $5 an
hour ($3 on weekends).
     Voice: [phone].

     San Diego.  CTS Network Services, [phone]. Log on as:
help. $15 set-up fee, monthly fee of $10 to $23 depending on services
used.
     Voice: [phone].

     San Diego.  Cyberspace Station, [phone].  Unix.  Log on as:
guest.
     Charges: $10 sign-up fee; $15 a month or $60 for six months.

     San Francisco.  Pathways, call voice number below for number.
Menus. $25 setup fee; $8 a month and $3 an hour.
     Voice: [phone].

     San Jose. Netcom, [phone] or 426-6610; [phone];
[phone], up to 9600 bps. Unix.  Maintains archives of Usenet
postings.  Log on as: guest. $15 startup fee and then $17.50 a month for
unlimited use if you agree to automatic billing of your credit-card
account (otherwise $19.50 a month for a monthly invoice).
     Voice: (408) 554-UNIX.

     San Jose.  A2i, [phone]. Log on as: guest. $20 a month; $45
for three months; $72 for six months.

     Sausalito.  The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL), (415) 332-
6106. Uses moderately difficult Picospan software, which is sort of a
cross between Unix and a menu system.  New users get a written manual.
More than 200 WELL-only conferences.  Log on as: newuser. $15 a month
plus $2 an hour.  Access through the nationwide CompuServe Packet Network
available for another $4.50 an hour.
     Voice: [phone].  Recorded message about the system's
current status: [phone] (continental U.S. only).

COLORADO

     Colorado Springs/Denver. CNS, [phone] (Colorado Springs);
[phone] (Denver).  Local calendar listings and ski and stock
reports. Users can chose between menus or Unix. Log on as: new.  $35
setup fee; $2.75 an hour (minimum fee of $10 a month).
     Voice: [phone]

     Colorado Springs.  Old Colorado City Communications, (719) 632-
4111.  Log on as: newuser. $25 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     Denver.  Denver Free-Net, [phone].  Menus.  Access to all
services requires completion of a written form.  Users can "link" to
other Free-Net systems across the country.  Free.  Log on as: guest.

     Golden.  Colorado SuperNet.  Unix.  E-mail to fax service.
Available only to Colorado residents. Local dial-in numbers available in
several Colorado cities. For dial-in numbers, call the number below. $3
an hour ($1 an hour between midnight and 6 a.m.); one-time $20 sign-up
fee.
     Voice: [phone].

FLORIDA

     Talahassee.  Talahassee Free-Net, [phone]. Menus. Full access
requires completion of a registration form.  Can "link" to other Free-Net
systems around the country.
     Voice: [phone].

ILLINOIS

     Champaign.  Prarienet Free-Net, [phone].  Menus.  Log on as:
visitor. Free for Illinois residents; $25 a year for others.
     Voice: [phone].

     Chicago. MCSNet, [phone].  $25/month or $65 for three months
of unlimited access; $30 for three months of access at 15 hours a month.
     Voice: (312) 248-UNIX.

     Peoria.  Peoria Free-Net, [phone].  Similar to Cleveland
Free-Net (see Ohio, below).  Users can "link" to the larger Cleveland
system for access to Usenet and other services.  There are also Peoria
Free-Net public-access terminals in numerous area libraries,
other government buildings and senior-citizen centers.  Contact the
number below for specific locations.  Full access (including access to
e-mail) requires completion of a written application. Free.
     Voice: [phone].

MARYLAND

     Baltimore.  Express Access, [phone]; [phone]; (714)
377-9784.  Log on as: new. $20 setup fee; $25 a month or $250 a year
     Voice: (800 969-9090.

     Baltimore.  Clarknet, [phone]; [phone]; (301) 596-
1626; [phone].  Log on as: guest. $23 a month, $126 for six months
or $228 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

MASSACHUSETTS

     Brookline.  The World, [phone]. Huge collection of MS-DOS
files, "Online Book Initiative" collection of electronic books, poetry
and other text files. Log on as: new. $5 a month plus $2 an hour or $20
for 20 hours a month. Available nationwide through the CompuServe Packet
Network for another $5.60 an hour.
     Voice: [phone].

     Lynn.  North Shore Access, [phone].  Log on as: new. $10 for
10 hours a month; $1 an hour after that.
     Voice: [phone].

     Worcester.  NovaLink, [phone].  Log on as: info. $12.95 sign-
up (includes first two hours); $9.95 a month (includes five daytime
hours), $1.80 an hour after that.
     Voice: [phone].

MICHIGAN

     Ann Arbor.  MSEN.  Contact number below for dial-in number.
Unix.
     Charges: $20 setup; $20 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     Ann Arbor. Michnet. Has local dial-in numbers in several Michigan
numbers.  For local numbers, call voice number below. $35 a month plus
one-time $40 sign-up fee.  Additional network fees for access through
non-Michnet numbers.
     Voice: [phone].

NEW HAMPSHIRE

     MV Communications, Inc.  For local dial-up numbers call voice line
below.  $5 a month mininum plus variable hourly rates depending on
services used.
     Voice: [phone].

NEW JERSEY

     New Brunswick.  Digital Express, [phone].  Log on as: new.
$20 setup fee; $25 a month or $250 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

NEW YORK

     New York. Panix, [phone].  Unix or menus.  Log on as:
newuser. $40 setup fee; $19 a month or $208 a year.
     Voice:  [phone].

      New York.  Echo, [phone].  Unix, but with local
conferencing software. Log on as: newuser.  $19.95 ($13.75 students and
seniors) a month.
      Voice:  [phone].

     New York.  MindVox, [phone].  Local conferences. Log on as:
guest.  $10 setup fee for non-credit-card accounts; $15 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     New York.  Pipeline, [phone] (9600 bps and higher); (212)
267-7341 (2400 bps). Has graphical interface for Windows.  Log on as:
guest. $20 a month and $2 an hour after first 20 hours or $35 a
month unlimited hours.
     Voice: [phone].

     New York.  Maestro, [phone]. Log on as: newuser. $12 a month
or $140 a year.
     Voice: [phone].


NORTH CAROLINA

     Charlotte.  Vnet Internet Access, [phone]; [phone].
Log on as: new. $25 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     Triangle Research Park.  Rock Concert Net.  Call number below for
local modem numbers in various North Carolina cities.  $30 a month; one-
time $50 sign-up fee.
     Voice: [phone].

OHIO

     Cleveland.  Cleveland Free-Net, [phone].  Ohio and US Supreme
Court decisions, historical documents, many local conferences.  Full
access (including access to e-mail) requires completion of a written
application. Free.
     Voice:  [phone].

     Cincinnati.  Tri-State Free-Net, [phone].  Similar to
Cleveland Free-Net. Full access (including access to e-mail) requires
completion of a written application. Free.

     Cleveland.  Wariat, [phone]. Unix or menus. $20 setup fee;
$35 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     Dayton.  Freelance Systems Programming, [phone]. $20 setup
fee; $1 an hour.
     Voice: [phone].

     Lorain.  Lorain County Free-Net, [phone] or 366-9753.
     Similar to Cleveland Free-Net.  Users can "link" to the larger
Cleveland system for additional services.  Full access (including
access to e-mail) requires completion of a written application. Free.
     Voice: [phone].

     Medina.  Medina Free-Net, [phone], 225-6732 or 335-6732.
Users can "link" to the larger Cleveland Free-Net for additional
services.  Full access (including access to e-mail) requires
completion of a written application. Free.

     Youngstown.  Youngstown Free-Net, [phone].  Users can
"link" to the Cleveland system for services not found locally.  Full
access (including access to e-mail) requires completion of a written
application. Free.

ONTARIO

     Ottawa.  National Capital FreeNet, [phone] or [phone].
Free, but requires completion of a written form for access to all
services.

     Toronto.  UUNorth.  Call voice number below for local dial-in
numbers. $20 startup fee; $25 for 20 hours a month of offpeak use.
     Voice: [phone].

     Toronto.  Internex Online, [phone].  Both Unix and menus. $40
a year for one hour a day.
     Voice: [phone].

OREGON

     Beaverton.  Techbook, [phone] (2400 bps); [phone]
(higher speeds).  $10 a month for 30 hours of "basic" Internet access or
$90 a year; $15 a month for 30 hours of "deluxe" access or $150 a year.
$10 sign-up fee for monthly accounts.

     Portland.  Agora, [phone] (2400 bps), [phone] (9600
bps or higher). Log on as: apply. $6 a month for one hour per day.

     Portland.  Teleport, [phone] (2400 bps); [phone]
(9600 and higher).  Log on as: new.  $10 a month for one hour per day.
     Voice: [phone].

PENNSYLVANIA

     Pittsburgh.  Telerama, [phone]. $6 for 10 hours a month, 60
cents for each additional hour.
     Voice: [phone].

QUEBEC

     Montreal.  Communications Accessibles Montreal, [phone] (9600
bps); [phone] (2400 bps). $25 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

RHODE ISLAND

     East Greenwich.  IDS World Network, [phone].  In addition
to Usenet, has conferences from the Fidonet and RIME networks.
Supports QMAIL offline reader, which lets you read and respond to
messages while not online.  $10 a month; $50 for six months; $100 for a
year.

     Providence/Seekonk.  Anomaly, [phone].  $125 for six months
or $200 a year. Educational rate of $75 for six months or $125 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

TEXAS

     Austin.  RealTime Communications, [phone].  Log on as: new.
$75 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

     Dallas.  Texas Metronet, [phone]; [phone].  Log on as:
info or signup. $10 to $35 setup fee, depending on service; $10 to $45 a
month, depending on service.
     Voice: [phone] or [phone].

     Houston.  The Black Box, [phone].  $21.65 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

VIRGINIA

     Norfolk/Peninsula.  Wyvern Technologies, [phone] (Norfolk);
[phone] (Peninsula).  $10 startup fee; $15 a month or $144 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

WASHINGTON, DC

     The Meta Network.  Call voice number below for local dial-in
numbers.  Caucus conferencing, menus. $15 setup fee; $20 a month.
     Voice: [phone].

     CapAccess, (202), 784-1523.  Log on as guest with a password of
visitor.  A Free-Net system (see under Cleveland, Ohio, for information).
Free.
     Voice: [phone].

     See also: listing under Baltimore, MD for Express Access and
Clarknet.

WASHINGTON STATE

     Seattle. Halcyon, [phone].  Users can choose between menus
and Unix.  Log on as: new.  $10 setup fee; $60 a quarter or $200 a year.
     Voice: [phone].

     Seattle.  Eskimo North, [phone] (all speeds), [phone]
(9600/14.4K bps).  $10 a month or $96 a year.
     Voice: [phone].


1.4 IF YOUR TOWN HAS NO DIRECT ACCESS


     If you don't live in an area with a public-access site, you'll still
be able to connect to the Net.  Several of these services offer access
through national data networks such as the CompuServe Packet Network and
PC-Pursuit, which have dozens, even hundreds of local dial-in numbers
across the country.  These include Holonet in Berkeley, Calf., Portal in
Cupertino, Calf., the WELL in Sausalito, Calf., Dial 'N CERF in San
Diego, Calf., the World in Brookline, Mass., and Michnet in Ann Arbor,
Mich.  Dial 'N CERF offers access through an 800 number.  Expect to pay
from $2 to $12 an hour to use these networks, above each provider's basic
charges.  The exact amount depends on the network, time of day and type
of modem you use.  For more information, contact the above services.
     Three other providers deliver Net access to users across the
country:
     Delphi, based in Cambridge, Mass., is a consumer-oriented network
much like CompuServe or America On-Line -- only it now offers
subscribers access to Internet services.
     Charges: $3 a month for Internet access, in addition to standard
charges.  These are $10 a month for four hours of off-peak (non-working
hours) access a month and $4 an hour for each additional hour or $20 for
20 hours of access a month and $1.80 an hour for each additional hour.
For more information, call [phone].
     BIX (the Byte Information Exchange) offers FTP, Telnet and e-mail
access to the Internet as part of their basic service. Owned by the same
company as Delphi, it also offers 20 hours of access a month for $20.
For more information, call [phone].
     PSI, based in Reston, Va., provides nationwide access to Internet
services through scores of local dial-in numbers to owners of IBM and
compatible computers.  PSILink. which includes access to e-mail,
Usenet and ftp, costs $29 a month, plus a one-time $19 registration
fee.  Special software is required, but is available free from PSI.
PSI's Global Dialup Service provides access to telnet for $39 a month
plus a one-time $39 set-up fee.  For more information, call (800)
82PSI82 or [phone].


1.5  NET ORIGINS


     In the 1960s, researchers began experimenting with linking computers
to each other and to people through telephone hook-ups, using funds from
the U.S Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).
     ARPA wanted to see if computers in different locations could be
linked using a new technology known as packet switching. This technology,
in which data meant for another location is broken up into little pieces,
each with its own "forwarding address" had the promise of letting several
users share just one communications line.  Just as important, from ARPA's
viewpoint, was that this allowed for creation of networks that could
automatically route data around downed circuits or computers.  ARPA's
goal was not the creation of today's international computer-using
community, but development of a data network that could survive a nuclear
attack.
     Previous computer networking efforts had required a line between
each computer on the network, sort of like a one-track train route. The
packet system allowed for creation of a data highway, in which large
numbers of vehicles could essentially share the same lane.  Each packet
was given the computer equivalent of a map and a time stamp, so that it
could be sent to the right destination, where it would then be
reassembled into a message the computer or a human could use.
     This system allowed computers to share data and the researchers to
exchange electronic mail, or e-mail.  In itself, e-mail was something
of a revolution, offering the ability to send detailed letters at the
speed of a phone call.
      As this system, known as ARPANet, grew, some enterprising college
students (and one in high school) developed a way to use it to conduct
online conferences.  These started as science-oriented discussions, but
they soon branched out into virtually every other field, as people
realized the power of being able to "talk" to hundreds, or even
thousands, of people around the country.
     In the 1970s, ARPA helped support the development of rules, or
protocols, for transferring data between different types of computer
networks.  These "internet" (from "internetworking") protocols made it
possible to develop the worldwide Net we have today that links all sorts
of computers across national boundaries.
     By the close of the 1970s, links developed between ARPANet and
counterparts in other countries.  The world was now tied together in a
computer web.
     In the 1980s, this network of networks, which became known
collectively as the Internet, expanded at a phenomenal rate.  Hundreds,
then thousands, of colleges, research companies and government agencies
began to connect their computers to this worldwide Net.  Some
enterprising hobbyists and companies unwilling to pay the high costs of
Internet access (or unable to meet stringent government regulations for
access) learned how to link their own systems to the Internet, even if
"only" for e-mail and conferences.  Some of these systems began
offering access to the public. Now anybody with a computer and modem --
and persistence -- could tap into the world.
     In the 1990s, the Net continues to grow at exponential rates.  Some
estimates are that the volume of messages transferred through the Net
grows 20 percent a month.  In response, government and other users have
tried in recent years to expand the Net itself.  Once, the main Net
"backbone" in the U.S. moved data at 56,000 bits per second. That proved
too slow for the ever increasing amounts of data being sent over it, and
in recent years the maximum speed was increased to 1.5 million and then
45 million bits per second. Even before the Net was able to reach that
latter speed, however, Net experts were already figuring out ways to pump
data at speeds of up to 2 billion bits per second -- fast enough to send
the entire Encyclopedia Britannica across the country in just one or two
seconds.  Another major change has been the development of commercial
services that provide internetworking services at speeds comparable to
those of the government system.  In fact, by mid-1994, the U.S.
government will remove itself from any day-to-day control over the
workings of the Net, as regional and national providers continue to
expand.


1.6  HOW IT WORKS


     The worldwide Net is actually a complex web of smaller regional
networks.
     To understand it, picture a modern road network of trans-
continental superhighways connecting large cities.  From these large
cities come smaller freeways and parkways to link together small
towns, whose residents travel on slower, narrow residential ways.
     The Net superhighway is the high-speed Internet.  Connected to
this are computers that use a particular system of transferring data
at high speeds.  In the U.S., the major Internet "backbone"
theoretically can move data at rates of 45 million bits per second
(compare this to the average home modem, which has a top speed of roughly
9,600 to 14,400 bits per second).
     Connected to the backbone computers are smaller networks serving
particular geographic regions, which generally move data at speeds
around 1.5 million bits per second.
     Feeding off these in turn are even smaller networks or individual
computers.
     Unlike with commercial networks such as CompuServe or Prodigy, there
is no one central computer or computers running the Internet -- its
resources are to be found among thousands of individual computers.  This
is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.   The approach
means it is virtually impossible for the entire Net to crash at once --
even if one computer shuts down, the rest of the network stays up.  The
design also reduces the costs for an individual or organization to get
onto the network.  But thousands of connected computers can also make it
difficult to navigate the Net and find what you want -- especially as
different computers may have different commands for plumbing their
resources.  It is only recently that Net users have begun to develop the
sorts of navigational tools and "maps" that will let neophytes get around
without getting lost.
     Nobody really knows how many computers and networks actually make
up this Net.  Some estimates say there are now as many as 5,000
networks connecting nearly 2 million computers and more than 15 million
people around the world.  Whatever the actual numbers, however, it is
clear they are only increasing.
     The Net is more than just a technological marvel. It is human
communication at its most fundamental level.  The pace may be a little
quicker when the messages race around the world in a few seconds, but
it's not much different from a large and interesting party. You'll see
things in cyberspace that will make you laugh; you'll see things that
will anger you.  You'll read silly little snippets and new ideas that
make you think.  You'll make new friends and meet people you wish would
just go away.
     Major network providers continue to work on ways to make it
easier for users of one network to communicate with those of another.
Work is underway on a system for providing a universal "white pages"
in which you could look up somebody's electronic-mail address, for
example.  This connectivity trend will likely speed up in coming years
as users begin to demand seamless network access, much as telephone
users can now dial almost anywhere in the world without worrying about
how many phone companies actually have to connect their calls.
     And today, the links grow ever closer between the Internet and such
commercial networks as CompuServe and Prodigy, whose users can now
exchange electronic mail with their Internet friends.  Some commercial
providers, such as Delphi and America Online, are working to bring their
subscribers direct access to Internet services.
     And as it becomes easier to use, more and more people will join
this worldwide community we call the Net.
     Being connected to the Net takes more than just reading
conferences and logging messages to your computer; it takes asking and
answering questions, exchanging opinions -- getting involved.
     If you chose to go forward, to use and contribute, you will become
a citizen of Cyberspace.  If you're reading these words for the first
time, this may seem like an amusing but unlikely notion -- that one
could "inhabit" a place without physical space.  But put a mark beside
these words.  Join the Net and actively participate for a year.  Then
re-read this passage.  It will no longer seem so strange to be a
"citizen of Cyberspace."  It will seem like the most natural thing in
the world.
     And that leads to another fundamental thing to remember:

                You can't break the Net!

     As you travel the Net, your computer may freeze, your screen may
erupt into a mass of gibberish.  You may think you've just disabled a
million-dollar computer somewhere -- or even your own personal
computer.  Sooner or later, this feeling happens to everyone -- and
likely more than once. But the Net and your computer are hardier than
you think, so relax.  You can no more break the Net than you can the
phone system.  If something goes wrong, try again.  If nothing at all
happens, you can always disconnect.   If worse comes to worse, you can
turn off your computer.  Then take a deep breath.  And dial right back
in. Leave a note for the person who runs the computer to which you've
connected to ask for advice.  Try it again. Persistence pays.
     Stay and contribute.  The Net will be richer for it -- and so will
you.


1.7  WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

     * Your computer connects with a public-access site and get gibberish
on your screen.  If you are using parameters of 8-1-N, try 7-1-e (or
vice-versa).  If that doesn't work, try another modem speed.
     * You have your computer dial a public-access site, but nothing
happens.  Check the phone number you typed in.  If correct, turn on your
modem's speaker (on Hayes-compatible modems, you can usually do this by
typing ATM1 in your communications software's "terminal mode").  If the
phone just rings and rings, the public-access site could be down for
maintenance or due to a crash or some other problem.  If you get a
"connect" message, but nothing else, try hitting enter or escape a
couple of times.
     * You try to log in, but after you type your password, nothing
happens, or you get a "timed out" message followed by a disconnect.
Re-dial the number and try it again.
     * Always remember, if you have a problem that just doesn't go away,
ask! Ask your system administrator, ask a friend, but ask.  Somebody will
know what to do.


1.8  FYI


     The Net grows so fast that even the best guide to its resources
would be somewhat outdated the day it was printed.  At the end of each
chapter, however, you'll find FYI pointers to places on the Net where you
can go for more information or to keep updated on new resources and
services.
     Peter Kaminski maintains a list of systems that provide public
access to Internet services.  It's availble on the network itself, which
obviously does you little good if you currently have no access, but which
can prove invaluable should you move or want to find a new system.  Look
for his "PDIAL" file in the alt.bbs.lists or news.answers newsgroups in
Usenet (for information on accessing Usenet, see Chapter 3).
     Steven Levy's book, "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution,"
(Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1984). describes the early culture and ethos
that ultimately resulted in the Internet and Usenet.
     John Quarterman's "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing
Systems Worldwide" (Digital Press, 1990) is an exhaustive look at
computer networks and how they connect with each other.
     "FYI on Where to Start - A Bibliography of Internetworking
Information,"  by Tracy LaQuey, Joyce K. Reynolds, Karen Roubicek, Mary
Stahl and Aileen Yuan (August, 1990), is an excellent list of articles,
books, newsletters and other sources of information about the Internet.
It's available via ftp from nic.ddn.mil in the rfc directory as
rfc1175.txt (see chapter 7 for information on how to retrieve such
files).
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From: Nancy Ammerman <emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm>
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Chapter 2: E-MAIL




2.1  THE BASICS


     Electronic mail, or e-mail, is your personal connection to the
world of the Net.
     All of the millions of people around the world who use the
Net have their own e-mail addresses.  A growing number of "gateways" tie
more and more people to the Net every day.  When you logged onto the host
system you are now using, it automatically generated an address for you,
as well.
    The basic concepts behind e-mail parallel those of regular mail.
You send mail to people at their particular addresses.  In turn, they
write to you at your e-mail address.  You can subscribe to the
electronic equivalent of magazines and newspapers. You might even get
electronic junk mail.
    E-mail has two distinct advantages over regular mail.  The
most obvious is speed. Instead of several days, your message can reach
the other side of the world in hours, minutes or even seconds (depending
on where you drop off your mail and the state of the connections between
there and your recipient).  The other advantage is that once you master
the basics, you'll be able to use e-mail to access databases and file
libraries.  You'll see how to do this later, along with learning how to
transfer program and data files through e-mail.
    E-mail also has advantages over the telephone.  You send your
message when it's convenient for you.  Your recipient responds at his
convenience.  No more telephone tag.  And while a phone call across
the country or around the world can quickly result in huge phone
bills, e-mail lets you exchange vast amounts of mail for only a few
pennies -- even if the other person is in New Zealand.
    E-mail is your connection to help -- your Net lifeline.  The
Net can sometimes seem a frustrating place!  No matter how hard you
try, no matter where you look, you just might not be able to find the
answer to whatever is causing you problems. But when you know how to
use e-mail, help is often just a few keystrokes away: ask your system
administrator or a friend for help in an e-mail message.
    The quickest way to start learning e-mail is to send yourself a
message.  Most public-access sites actually have several different types
of mail systems, all of which let you both send and receive mail. We'll
start with the simplest one, known, appropriately enough, as "mail," and
then look at a couple of other interfaces. At your host system's command
prompt, type this:

             mail username

where username is the name you gave yourself when you first logged on.
Hit enter.  The computer might respond with

             subject:

     Type

             test

or, actually, anything at all (but you'll have to hit enter before
you get to the end of the screen). Hit enter.
     The cursor will drop down a line. You can now begin writing the
actual message. Type a sentence, again, anything at all.  And here's
where you hit your first Unix frustration, one that will bug you
repeatedly: you have to hit enter before you get to the very end of the
line.  Just like typewriters, many Unix programs have no word-wrapping
(although there are ways to get some Unix text processors, such as emacs,
to word-wrap).
     When done with your message, hit return. Now hit control-D (the
control and the D keys at the same time).  This is a Unix command that
tells the computer you're done writing and that it should close your
"envelope" and mail it off (you could also hit enter once and then, on
a blank line, type a period at the beginning of the line and hit enter
again).
     You've just sent your first e-mail message.  And because you're
sending mail to yourself, rather than to someone somewhere else on the
Net, your message has already arrived, as we'll see in a moment.
     If you had wanted, you could have even written your message on
your own computer and then uploaded it into this electronic
"envelope."  There are a couple of good reasons to do this with long
or involved messages.  One is that once you hit enter at the end of a
line in "mail" you can't readily fix any mistakes on that line (unless
you use some special commands to call up a Unix text processor).  Also,
if you are paying for access by the hour, uploading a prepared
message can save you money.  Remember to save the document in ASCII or
text format.  Uploading a document you've created in a word processor
that uses special formatting commands (which these days means many
programs) will cause strange effects.
     When you get that blank line after the subject line, upload the
message using the ASCII protocol.  Or you can copy and paste the text,
if your software allows that. When done, hit control-D as above.
     Now you have mail waiting for you.  Normally, when you log on,
your public-access site will tell you whether you have new mail
waiting.  To open your mailbox and see your waiting mail, type

          mail

and hit enter.
     When the host system sees "mail" without a name after it, it
knows you want to look in your mailbox rather than send a message.
Your screen, on a plain-vanilla Unix system will display:

         Mail version SMI 4.0 Mon Apr 24 18:34:15 PDT 1989  Type ? for help.
         "/usr/spool/mail/adamg": 1 message 1 new 1 unread

         >N 1 adamg              Sat Jan 15 20:04   12/290   test

     Ignore the first line; it's just computerese of value only to the
people who run your system. You can type a question mark and hit
return, but unless you're familiar with Unix, most of what you'll see
won't make much sense at this point.
     The second line tells you the directory on the host system where
your mail messages are put, which again, is not something you'll likely
need to know.  The second line also tells you how many messages are in your
mailbox, how many have come in since the last time you looked and how
many messages you haven't read yet.
     It's the third line that is of real interest -- it tells you who
the message is from, when it arrived, how many lines and characters
it takes up, and what the subject is.  The "N" means it is a new
message -- it arrived after the last time you looked in your mailbox.
Hit enter. And there's your message -- only now it's a lot
longer than what you wrote!

        Message 1:
        From adamg Jan 15 20:04:55 1994
        Received: by eff.org id AA28949
        (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4/pen-ident for adamg); Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:04:55 -0400
        (ident-sender: [e-mail])
        Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 21:34:55 -0400
        From: Adam Gaffin <adamg>
        Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
        To: adamg
        Subject: test
        Status: R

        This is only a test!

     Whoa! What is all that stuff? It's your message with a postmark
gone mad.  Just as the postal service puts its marks on every piece of
mail it handles, so do Net postal systems.  Only it's called a
"header" instead of a postmark. Each system that handles or routes
your mail puts its stamp on it.  Since many messages go through a
number of systems on their way to you, you will often get messages
with headers that seem to go on forever.  Among other things, a header
will tell you exactly when a message was sent and received (even the
difference between your local time and GMT -- as at the end of line 4
above).
     If this had been a long message, it would just keep scrolling
across and down your screen -- unless the people who run your public-
access site have set it up to pause every 24 lines.  One way to deal
with a message that doesn't stop is to use your telecommunication
software's logging or text-buffer function.  Start it before you hit
the number of the message you want to see.  Your computer will ask you
what you want to call the file you're about to create. After you name
the file and hit enter, type the number of the message you want to see
and hit enter.  When the message finishes scrolling, turn off the
text-buffer function, and the message is now saved in your computer.
This way, you can read the message while not connected to the Net
(which can save you money if you're paying by the hour) and write a
reply offline.
     But in the meantime, now what?  You can respond to the message,
delete it or save it.  To respond, type a lower-case "r" and hit
enter.  You'll get something like this:

          To: adamg
          Subject: Re:  test

     Note that this time, you don't have to enter a username.  The
computer takes it from the message you're replying to and
automatically addresses your message to its sender. The computer also
automatically inserts a subject line, by adding "Re:" to the original
subject.  From here, it's just like writing a new message. But say you
change your mind and decide not to reply after all. How do you get out
of the message? Hit control-C once. You'll get this:

          (Interrupt -- one more to kill letter)

If you hit control-C once more, the message will disappear and you'll
get back to your mail's command line.
     Now, if you type a lower-case d and then hit enter, you'll
delete the original message.  Type a lower-case q to exit your
mailbox.
     If you type a "q" without first hitting "d", your message is
transferred to a file called mbox.  This file is where all read, but
un-deleted messages go.  If you want to leave it in your mailbox for
now, type a lower-case x and hit enter.  This gets you out of mail
without making any changes.
     The mbox file works a lot like your mailbox.  To access it,
type

           mail -f mbox

at your host system's command line and hit enter.
     You'll get a menu identical to the one in your mailbox from which
you can read these old messages, delete them or respond to them.  It's
probably a good idea to clear out your mailbox and mbox file from
time to time, if only to keep them uncluttered.
    Are there any drawbacks to e-mail?  There are a few.  One is that
people seem more willing to fly off the handle electronically than in
person, or over the phone.  Maybe it's because it's so easy to hit R
and reply to a message without pausing and reflecting a moment.
That's why we have smileys (see section 2.4)!  There's no online
equivalent yet of a return receipt: chances are your message got to where
it's going, but there's no absolute way for you to know for sure unless
you get a reply from the other person.  Also, because computers are quite
literal, you have to be very careful when addressing a message. Misplace
a period or a single letter in the address, and your message could come
back to you, undelivered.
     So now you're ready to send e-mail to other people on the Net.
Of course, you need somebody's address to send them mail.  How do you
get it?
     Alas, the simplest answer is not what you'd call the most
elegant: you call them up on the phone or write them a letter on paper
and ask them.  Residents of the electronic frontier are only beginning
to develop the equivalent of phone books, and the ones that exist
today are far from complete (still, later on, in Chapter 6, we'll show
you how to use some of these directories).
     Eventually, you'll start corresponding with people, which means
you'll want to know how to address mail to them.  It's vital to know
how to do this, because the smallest mistake -- using a comma when you
should have used a period, for instance, can bounce the message back
to you, undelivered.  In this sense, Net addresses are like phone
numbers: one wrong digit and you get the wrong person.  Fortunately,
most net addresses now adhere to a relatively easy-to-understand
system.
     Earlier, you sent yourself a mail message using just your user-
name.  This was sort of like making a local phone call -- you didn't
have to dial a 1 or an area code.  This also works for mail to anybody
else who has an account on the same system as you.
     Sending mail outside of your system, though, will require the use
of the Net equivalent of area codes, called "domains." A basic Net
address will look something like this:

              [e-mail]

     Tomg is somebody's user ID, and he is at (hence the @ sign) a site
(or in Internetese, a "domain") known as std.com.  Large organizations
often have more than one computer linked to the Internet; in this case,
the name of the particular machine is world (you will quickly notice
that, like boat owners, Internet computer owners always name their
machines).
     Domains tell you the name of the organization that runs a given
e-mail site and what kind of site it is or, if it's not in the U.S.,
what country it's located in.  Large organizations may have more than
one computer or gateway tied to the Internet, so you'll often see a
two-part domain name; and sometimes even three- or four-part domain
names.
     In general, American addresses end in an organizational suffix,
such as ".edu," which means the site is at a college or university.
Other American suffixes include:

          .com for businesses
          .org for non-profit organizations
          .gov and .mil for government and military agencies
          .net for companies or organizations that run large networks.

     Sites in the rest of the world tend to use a two-letter code that
represents their country.  Most make sense, such as .ca for Canadian
sites, but there are a couple of seemingly odd ones.  Swiss sites end
in .ch, while South African ones end in .za.  Some U.S. sites have
followed this international convention (such as well.sf.ca.us).
    You'll notice that the above addresses are all in lower-case.
Unlike almost everything else having anything at all to do with Unix,
most Net mailing systems don't care about case, so you generally don't
have to worry about capitalizing e-mail addresses.  Alas, there are a few
exceptions -- some public-access sites do allow for capital letters in
user names.  When in doubt, ask the person you want to write to, or let
her send you a message first (recall how a person's e-mail address is
usually found on the top of her message).
   The domain name, the part of the address after the @ sign, never
has to be capitalized.
     It's all a fairly simple system that works very well, except,
again, it's vital to get the address exactly right -- just as you have
to dial a phone number exactly right.  Send a message to [e-mail]
(which is the University of New Mexico) when you meant to send it to
[e-mail] (the University of Minnesota), and your letter will either
bounce back to you undelivered, or go to the wrong person.
     If your message is bounced back to you as undeliverable, you'll
get an ominous looking-message from MAILER-DAEMON (actually a rather
benign Unix program that exists to handle mail), with an evil-looking
header followed by the text of your message. Sometimes, you can tell
what went wrong by looking at the first few lines of the bounced
message.  Besides an incorrect address, it's possible your host system
does not have the other site in the "map" it maintains of other host
systems. Or you could be trying to send mail to another network, such
as Bitnet or CompuServe, that has special addressing requirements.
    Sometimes, figuring all this out can prove highly frustrating.
But remember the prime Net commandment: Ask.  Send a message to your
system administrator.  He or she might be able to help decipher the
problem.
    There is one kind of address that may give your host system
particular problems.  There are two main ways that Unix systems
exchange mail.  One is known as UUCP and started out with a different
addressing system than the rest of the Net.  Most UUCP systems have
since switched over to the standard Net addressing system, but a few
traditional sites still cling to their original type, which tends to
have lots of exclamation points in it, like this:

               uunet!somesite!othersite!mybuddy

     The problem for many host sites is that exclamation points (also
known as "bangs") now mean something special in the more common systems
or "shells" used to operate many Unix computers. This means that
addressing mail to such a site (or even responding to a message you
received from one) could confuse the poor computer to no end and your
message never gets sent out. If that happens, try putting backslashes in
front of each exclamation point, so that you get an address that looks
like this:

               uunet\!somesite\!othersite\!mybuddy

Note that this means you may not be able to respond to such a message
by typing a lower-case "r"  -- you may get an error message and you'll
have to create a brand-new message.
    If you want to get a taste of what's possible through e-mail,
start an e-mail message to

              [e-mail]

Leave the "subject:" line blank.  As a message, write this:

              send quote

Or, if you're feeling a little down, write this instead:

              send moral-support

     In either case, you will get back a message within a few seconds to
a few hours (depending on the state of your host system's Internet
connection).  If you simply asked for a quote, you'll get back a
fortune-cookie-like saying.  If you asked for moral support, you'll also
get back a fortune-cookie-like saying, only supposedly more uplifting.
      This particular "mail server" is run by Oregon State University.
Its main purpose is actually to provide a way to distribute agricultural
information via e-mail.  If you'd like to find out how to use the
server's full range of services, send a message to the above address
with this line in it:

              send help

You'll quickly get back a lengthy document detailing just what's
available and how to get it.
     Feeling opinionated?  Want to give the President of the United
States a piece of your mind?  Send a message to [e-mail].
Or if the vice president will do, write [e-mail].
     The "mail" program is actually a very powerful one and a Netwide
standard, at least on Unix computers.  But it can be hard to figure
out -- you can type a question mark to get a list of commands, but
these may be of limited use unless you're already familiar with Unix.
Fortunately, there are a couple of other mail programs that are easier
to use.


2.2  ELM -- A BETTER WAY


     Elm is a combination mailbox and letter-writing system that uses
menus to help you navigate through mail.  Most Unix-based host systems
now have it online. To use it, type

                elm

and hit enter.  You'll get a menu of your waiting mail, along with a
list of commands you can execute, that will look something like this:


       Mailbox is '/usr/spool/mail/adamg' with 38 messages [ELM 2.3 PL11]


     1   Sep 1  Christopher Davis  (13)   here's another message.
     2   Sep 1  Christopher Davis  (91)   This is a message from Eudora
     3   Aug 31 Rita Marie Rouvali (161)  First Internet Hunt !!! (fwd)
     4   Aug 31 Peter Scott/Manage (69)   New File <UK077> University of Londo
     5   Aug 30 Peter Scott/Manage (64)   New File <DIR020> X.500 service at A
     6   Aug 30 Peter Scott/Manage (39)   New File <NET016> DATAPAC Informatio
     7   Aug 28 Peter Scott/Manage (67)   Proposed Usenet group for HYTELNET n
     8   Aug 28 Peter Scott/Manage (56)   New File <DIR019> JANET Public Acces
     9   Aug 26 Helen Trillian Ros (15)   Tuesday
     10  Aug 26 Peter Scott/Manage (151)  Update <CWK004> Oxford University OU


   You can use any of the following commands by pressing the first character;
 d)elete or u)ndelete mail,  m)ail a message,  r)eply or f)orward mail,  q)uit
    To read a message, press <return>.  j = move down, k = move up, ? = help

     Each line shows the date you received the message, who sent it,
how many lines long the message is, and the message's subject.
     If you are using VT100 emulation, you can move up and down the
menu with your up and down arrow keys.  Otherwise, type the line number
of the message you want to read or delete and hit enter.
     When you read a message, it pauses every 24 lines, instead of
scrolling until it's done.  Hit the space bar to read the next page.
You can type a lower-case "r" to reply or a lower-case "q" or "i"
to get back to the menu (the I stands for "index").
     At the main menu, hitting a lower-case "m" followed by enter
will let you start a message.  To delete a message, type a lower-case
"d".  You can do this while reading the message.  Or, if you are in
the menu, move the cursor to the message's line and then hit D.
     When you're done with Elm, type a lower-case "q".  The program
will ask if you really want to delete the messages you marked. Then,
it will ask you if you want to move any messages you've read but
haven't marked for deletion to a "received" file.  For now, hit your n
key.
     Elm has a major disadvantage for the beginner. The default text
editor it generally calls up when you hit your "r" or "m" key is
often a program called emacs. Unixoids swear by emacs, but everybody
else almost always finds it impossible.  Unfortunately, you can't
always get away from it (or vi, another text editor often found on
Unix systems), so later on we'll talk about some basic commands that
will keep you from going totally nuts.


2.3  PINE -- AN EVEN BETTER WAY


     Pine is based on elm but includes a number of improvements that
make it an ideal mail system for beginners.   Like elm, pine starts
you with a menu.  It also has an "address book" feature that is handy
for people with long or complex e-mail addresses. Hitting A at the
main menu puts you in the address book, where you can type in the
person's first name (or nickname) followed by her address. Then, when
you want to send that person a message, you only have to type in her
first name or nickname, and pine automatically inserts her actual
address. The address book also lets you set up a mailing list.  This
feature allows you to send the same message to a number of people at
once.
     What really sets pine apart is its built-in text editor,
which looks and feels a lot more like word-processing programs
available for MS-DOS and Macintosh users.  Not only does it have
word wrap (a revolutionary concept if ever there was one), it also has a
spell-checker and a search command. Best of all, all of the commands
you need are listed in a two-line mini-menu at the bottom of each
screen.  The commands look like this:

               ^W Where is

The little caret is a synonym for the key marked "control" on your
keyboard.  To find where a particular word is in your document, you'd
hit your control key and your W key at the same time, which would bring
up a prompt asking you for the word to look for.
     Some of pine's commands are a tad peculiar (control-V for "page
down" for example), which comes from being based on a variant of
emacs (which is utterly peculiar).  But again, all of the commands you
need are listed on that two-line mini-menu, so it shouldn't take you
more than a couple of seconds to find the right one.
     To use pine, type

               pine

at the command line and hit enter.  It's a relatively new program, so
some systems may not yet have it online.  But it's so easy to use, you
should probably send e-mail to your system administrator urging him to
get it!


2.4  SMILEYS


    When you're involved in an online discussion, you can't see the
smiles or shrugs that the other person might make in a live
conversation to show he's only kidding.  But online, there's no body
language. So what you might think is funny, somebody else might take as
an insult.  To try to keep such misunderstandings from erupting into
bitter disputes, we have smileys.  Tilt your head to the left and look at
the following sideways. :-).  Or simply :).  This is your basic "smiley."
Use it to indicate people should not take that comment you just made as
seriously as they might otherwise.  You make a smiley by typing a colon,
a hyphen and a right parenthetical bracket. Some people prefer using the
word "grin," usually in this form:

          <grin>

Sometimes, though, you'll see it as *grin* or even just <g> for short.

Some other smileys include:

          ;-)      Wink;
          :-(      Frown;
          :-O      Surprise;
          8-)      Wearing glasses;
          =|:-)=   Abe Lincoln.

         OK, so maybe the last two are a little bogus :-).


2.5  SENDING E-MAIL TO OTHER NETWORKS


     There are a number of computer networks that are not directly
part of the Net, but which are now connected through "gateways" that
allow the passing of e-mail.  Here's a list of some of the larger
networks, how to send mail to them and how their users can send mail to
you:

America Online

     Remove any spaces from a user's name and append "aol.com," to get

               [e-mail]

     America Online users who want to send mail to you need only put
your Net address in the "to:" field before composing a message.


ATTMail

     Address your message to [e-mail].

     From ATTMail, a user would send mail to you in this form:

               internet!domain!user

     So if your address were [e-mail], your correspondent
would send a message to you at

               internet!world.std.com!nancy


Bitnet

     Users of Bitnet (and NetNorth in Canada and EARN in Europe) often
have addresses in this form: IZZY@INDVMS.  If you're lucky, all you'll
have to do to mail to that address is add "bitnet" at the end, to get
[e-mail].  Sometimes, however, mail to such an address will
bounce back to you, because Bitnet addresses do not always translate
well into an Internet form.  If this happens, you can send mail
through one of two Internet/Bitnet gateways. First, change the @ in
the address to a %, so that you get username%site.bitnet.  Then add
either @vm.marist.edu or @cunyvm.cuny.edu, so that, with the above
example, you would get [e-mail] or
[e-mail]
      Bitnet users have it a little easier: They can usually send mail
directly to your e-mail address without fooling around with it at all.
So send them your address and they should be OK.


CompuServe

     CompuServe users have numerical addresses in this form:
73727,545. To send mail to a CompuServe user, change the comma to a
period and add "@compuserve.com"; for example:
[e-mail].

     If you know CompuServe users who want to send you mail, tell them
to GO MAIL and create a mail message. In the address area, instead of
typing in a CompuServe number, have them type your address in this
form:

               >INTERNET:YourID@YourAddress.

     For example, >INTERNET:[e-mail].  Note that both the
">" and the ":" are required.


Delphi

     To send mail to a Delphi user, the form is [e-mail].


Fidonet

    To send mail to somebody who uses a Fidonet BBS, you need the name
they use to log onto that system and its "node number.''  Fidonet node
numbers or addresses consist of three numbers, in this form:
1:322/190.  The first number tells which of several broad geographic
zones the BBS is in (1 represents the U.S. and Canada, 2 Europe and
Israel, 3 Pacific Asia, 4 South America).  The second number
represents the BBS's network, while the final number is the BBS's
"FidoNode'' number in that network. If your correspondent only gives
you two numbers (for example, 322/190), it means the system is in zone
1.
     Now comes the tricky part. You have to reverse the numbers and
add to them the letters f, n and z (which stand for
"FidoNode,''"network,'' and "zone'). For example, the address above
would become

               f190.n322.z1.

     Now add "fidonet.org'' at the end, to get
f190.n322.z1.fidonet.org. Then add "FirstName.LastName@', to get

               [e-mail].

Note the period between the first and last names. Also, some countries
now have their own Fidonet "backbone" systems, which might affect
addressing.  For example, were the above address in Germany, you would
end it with "fido.de" instead of "fidonet.org."
     Whew!
     The reverse process is totally different. First, the person has
to have access to his or her BBS's "net mail" area and know the
Fidonet address of his or her local Fidonet/UUCP gateway (often their
system operator will know it).  Your Fidonet correspondent should
address a net-mail message to UUCP (not your name) in the "to:" field.
In the node-number field, they should type in the node number of the
Fidonet/UUCP gateway (if the gateway system is in the same regional
network as their system, they need only type the last number, for
example, 390 instead of 322/390).  Then, the first line of the message
has to be your Internet address, followed by a blank line.  After
that, the person can write the message and send it.
     Because of the way Fidonet moves mail, it could take a day or two
for a message to be delivered in either direction.  Also, because many
Fidonet systems are run as hobbies, it is considered good form to ask
the gateway sysop's permission if you intend to pass large amounts of
mail back and forth. Messages of a commercial nature are strictly
forbidden (even if it's something the other person asked for). Also,
consider it very likely that somebody other than the recipient will
read your messages.


GEnie

      To send mail to a GEnie user, add "@genie.com" to the end
of their GEnie user name, for example: [e-mail].

MCIMail

      To send mail to somebody with an MCIMail account, add
"@mcimail.com to the end of their name or numerical address. For
example:

                [e-mail]

      or

                [e-mail]

     Note that if there is more than one MCIMail subscriber with that
name, you will get a mail message back from MCI giving you their names
and numerical addresses. You'll then have to figure out which one you
want and re-send the message.

     From MCI, a user would type

                Your Name (EMS)

at the "To:" prompt.  At the EMS prompt, he or she would type

                internet

followed by your Net address at the "Mbx:" prompt.


Peacenet

     To send mail to a Peacenet user, use this form:

                [e-mail]

     Peacenet subscribers can use your regular address to send you
mail.


Prodigy

     [e-mail].  Note that Prodigy users must pay extra for
Internet e-mail.


2.6  SEVEN UNIX COMMANDS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:


     If you connect to the Net through a Unix system, eventually you'll
have to come to terms with Unix.  For better or worse, most Unix systems do
NOT shield you from their inner workings -- if you want to copy a Usenet
posting to a file, for example, you'll have to use some Unix commands if
you ever want to do anything with that file.
     Like MS-DOS, Unix is an operating system - it tells the computer how
to do things.  Now while Unix may have a reputation as being even more
complex than MS-DOS, in most cases, a few basic, and simple, commands
should be all you'll ever need.
     If your own computer uses MS-DOS or PC-DOS, the basic concepts will
seem very familiar -- but watch out for the cd command, which works
differently enough from the similarly named DOS command that it will drive
you crazy.  Also, unlike MS-DOS, Unix is case sensitive -- if you type
commands or directory names in the wrong case, you'll get an error message.
     If you're used to working on a Mac, you'll have to remember that Unix
stores files in "directories" rather than "folders."  Unix directories are
organized like branches on a tree. At the bottom is the "root" directory,
with sub-directories branching off that (and sub-directories in turn can
have sub-directories). The Mac equivalent of a Unix sub-directory is a
folder within another folder.

cat           Equivalent to the MS-DOS "type" command.  To pause a file
              every screen, type

                        cat file |more

              where "file" is the name of the file you want to see.
              Hitting control-C will stop the display.  Alternately,
              you could type

                        more file

              to achieve the same result. You can also use cat for
              writing or uploading text files to your name or home
              directory (similar to the MS-DOS "copy con" command).  If
              you type

                        cat>test

              you start a file called "test."  You can either write
              something simple (no editing once you've finished a line and
              you have to hit return at the end of each line) or upload
              something into that file using your communications software's
              ASCII protocol).  To close the file, hit control-D.

cd            The "change directory" command.  To change from your present
              directory to another, type

                        cd directory

              and hit enter. Unlike MS-DOS, which uses a \ to denote sub-
              directories (for example: \stuff\text), Unix uses a / (for
              example: /stuff/text).  So to change from your present
              directory to the stuff/text sub-directory,  you would type

                        cd stuff/text

              and then hit enter. As in MS-DOS, you do not need the first
              backslash if the subdirectory comes off the directory you're
              already in.  To move back up a directory tree, you would type

                        cd ..

              followed by enter. Note the space between the cd and the two
              periods -- this is where MS-DOS users will really go nuts.

cp            Copies a file. The syntax is

                        cp file1 file2

              which would copy file1 to file2 (or overwrite file2 with
              file1).

ls            This command, when followed by enter, tells you what's in the
              directory, similar to the DOS dir command, except in
              alphabetical order.

                        ls | more

              will stop the listing every 24 lines -- handy if there are a
              lot of things in the directory. The basic ls command does not
              list "hidden" files, such as the .login file that controls
              how your system interacts with Unix. To see these files, type

                        ls -a      or    ls -a | more

              ls -l will tell you the size of each file in bytes and tell
              you when each was created or modified.

mv            Similar to the MS-DOS rename command.

                        mv file1 file2

              will rename file1 as file2, The command can
              also be used to move files between directories.

                        mv file1 News

              would move file1 to your News directory.

rm            Deletes a file.  Type

                        rm filename

              and hit enter (but beware: when you hit enter, it's gone for
              good).

     WILDCARDS:  When searching for, copying or deleting files, you can
use "wildcards" if you are not sure of the file's exact name.

              ls man*


would find the following files:

              manual, manual.txt, man-o-man.

Use a question mark when you're sure about all but one or two characters.
For example,

              ls man?

would find a file called mane, but not one called manual.


2.7  WHEN THINGS GO WRONG


     * You send a message but get back an ominous looking message from
MAILER-DAEMON containing up to several dozen lines of computerese
followed by your message.  Somewhere in those lines you can often find a
clue to what went wrong.  You might have made a mistake in spelling the
e-mail address.  The site to which you're sending mail might have been
down for maintenance or a problem. You may have used the wrong
"translation" for mail to a non-Internet network.
     * You call up your host system's text editor to write a message or
reply to one and can't seem to get out.  If it's emacs, try control-X,
control-C (in other words, hit your control key and your X key at the
same time, followed by control and C).  If worse comes to worse, you can
hang up.
     * In Elm, you accidentally hit the D key for a message you want to
save.  Type the number of the message, hit enter and then U, which will
"un-delete" the message.  This works only before you exit Elm; once you
quit, the message is gone.
     * You try to upload an ASCII message you've written on your own
computer into a message you're preparing in Elm or Pine and you get a
lot of left brackets, capital Ms, Ks and Ls and some funny-looking
characters.  Believe it or not, your message will actually wind up looking
fine; all that garbage is temporary and reflects the problems some Unix
text processors have with ASCII uploads.  But it will take much longer
for your upload to finish.  One way to deal with this is to call up the
simple mail program, which will not produce any weird characters when you
upload a text file into a message.  Another way (which is better if your
prepared message is a response to somebody's mail), is to create a text
file on your host system with cat, for example,

          cat>file

and then upload your text into that.  Then, in Elm or Pine, you can insert
the message with a simple command (control-r in Pine, for example); only
this time you won't see all that extraneous stuff.
     *  You haven't cleared out your Elm mailbox in awhile, and you
accidentally hit "y" when you meant to hit "n" (or vice-versa) when
exiting and now all your messages have disappeared.  Look in your News
directory (at the command line, type: cd News) for a file called
recieved.  Those are all your messages.  Unfortunately, there's no way to
get them back into your Elm mailbox -- you'll have to download the file
or read it online.







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Chapter 3: USENET I




3.1  THE GLOBAL WATERING HOLE


     Imagine a conversation carried out over a period of hours and days,
as if people were leaving messages and responses on a bulletin board.  Or
imagine the electronic equivalent of a radio talk show where everybody
can put their two cents in and no one is ever on hold.
     Unlike e-mail, which is "one-to-one,"  Usenet is "many-to-many."
Usenet is the international meeting place, where people gather to meet
their friends, discuss the day's events, keep up with computer trends or
talk about whatever's on their mind.  Jumping into a Usenet discussion
can be a liberating experience.  Nobody knows what you look or sound
like, how old you are, what your background is.  You're judged solely on
your words, your ability to make a point.
     To many people, Usenet IS the Net. In fact, it is often confused
with Internet.  But it is a totally separate system. All Internet sites
CAN carry Usenet, but so do many non-Internet sites, from sophisticated
Unix machines to old XT clones and Apple IIs.
     Technically, Usenet messages are shipped around the world, from
host system to host system, using one of several specific Net
protocols.  Your host system stores all of its Usenet messages in one
place, which everybody with an account on the system can access. That
way, no matter how many people actually read a given message, each
host system has to store only one copy of it. Many host systems "talk"
with several others regularly in case one or another of their links goes
down for some reason.  When two host systems connect, they basically
compare notes on which Usenet messages they already have.  Any that one
is missing the other then transmits, and vice-versa.  Because they are
computers, they don't mind running through thousands, even millions, of
these comparisons every day.
     Yes, millions.  For Usenet is huge.  Every day, Usenet users
pump upwards of 40 million characters a day into the system -- roughly
the equivalent of volumes A-G of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
     Obviously, nobody could possibly keep up with this immense flow of
messages.  Let's look at how to find conferences and discussions of
interest to you.
     The basic building block of Usenet is the newsgroup, which is a
collection of messages with a related theme (on other networks, these
would be called conferences, forums, bboards or special-interest
groups).  There are now more than 5,000 of these newsgroups, in several
diferent languages, covering everything from art to zoology, from
science fiction to South Africa.
     Some public-access systems, typically the ones that work through
menus, try to make it easier by dividing Usenet into several broad
categories.  Choose one of those and you're given a list of newsgroups in
that category.  Then select the newsgroup you're interested in and start
reading.
     Other systems let you compile your own "reading list" so that you
only see messages in conferences you want.  In both cases, conferences
are arranged in a particular hierarchy devised in the early 1980s.
Newsgroup names start with one of a series of broad topic names.  For
example, newsgroups beginning with "comp." are about particular computer-
related topics.  These broad topics are followed by a series of more
focused topics (so that "comp.unix" groups are limited to discussion
about Unix).  The main hierarchies are:

             bionet          Research biology
             bit.listserv    Conferences originating as Bitnet mailing lists
             biz             Business
             comp            Computers and related subjects
             misc            Discussions that don't fit anywhere else
             news            News about Usenet itself
             rec             Hobbies, games and recreation
             sci             Science other than research biology
             soc             "Social" groups, often ethnically related
             talk            Politics and related topics
             alt             Controversial or unusual topics; not
                             carried by all sites

     In addition, many host systems carry newsgroups for a particular
city, state or region.  For example, ne.housing is a newsgroup where
New Englanders look for apartments.  A growing number also carry K12
newsgroups, which are aimed at elementary and secondary teachers and
students.  And a number of sites carry clari newsgroups, which is
actually a commercial service consisting of wire-service stories and
a unique online computer news service (more on this in chapter 10).


3.2 NAVIGATING USENET WITH nn


     How do you dive right in?  As mentioned, on some systems, it's all
done through menus -- you just keep choosing from a list of choices until
you get to the newsgroup you want and then hit the "read" command.  On
Unix systems, however, you will have to use a "newsreader" program.  Two
of the more common ones are known as rn (for "read news") and nn (for "no
news" -- because it's supposed to be simpler to use).
     For beginners, nn may be the better choice because it works with
menus -- you get a list of articles in a given newsgroup and then you
choose which ones you want to see.  To try it out, connect to your host
system and, at the command line, type

               nn news.announce.newusers

and hit enter.  After a few seconds, you should see something like
this:

Newsgroup: news.announce.newusers                     Articles: 22 of 22/1 NEW

a Gene Spafford   776  Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
b Gene Spafford   362  A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
c Gene Spafford   387  Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
d Gene Spafford   101  Hints on writing style for Usenet
e Gene Spafford    74  Introduction to news.announce
f Gene Spafford   367  USENET Software: History and Sources
g Gene Spafford   353  What is Usenet?
h taylor          241  A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
i Gene Spafford   585  Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I
j Gene Spafford   455  >Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II
k David C Lawrenc 151  How to Create a New Newsgroup
l Gene Spafford   106  How to Get Information about Networks
m Gene Spafford   888  List of Active Newsgroups
n Gene Spafford   504  List of Moderators
o Gene Spafford  1051  Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I
p Gene Spafford  1123  Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II
q Gene Spafford  1193  >Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III
r Jonathan Kamens 644  How to become a USENET site
s Jonathan Kamen 1344  List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part I

-- 15:52 -- SELECT -- help:? -----Top 85%-----
Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)

     Obviously, this is a good newsgroup to begin your exploration of
Usenet!  Here's what all this means:  The first letter on each line is
the letter you type to read that particular "article" (it makes sense
that a "newsgroup" would have "articles").  Next comes the name of the
person who wrote that article, followed by its length, in lines, and
what the article is about. At the bottom, you see the local time at your
access site, what you're doing right now (i.e., SELECTing articles),
which key to hit for some help (the ? key) and how many of the articles
in the newsgroup you can see on this screen. The "(moderated)" means the
newsgroup has a "moderator" who is the only one who can directly post
messages to it.  This is generally limited to groups such as this, which
contain articles of basic information or for digests, which are
basically online magazines (more on them in a bit).
      Say you're particularly interested in what "Emily Postnews" has to
say about proper etiquette on Usenet. Hit your c key (lower case!), and
the line will light up.  If you want to read something else, hit the key
that corresponds to it.  And if you want to see what's on the next page
of articles, hit return or your space bar.
     But you're impatient to get going, and you want to read that
article now.  The command for that in nn is a capital Z.  Hit it and
you'll see something like this:


Gene Spafford: Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on NetiquetteSep 92 04:17
Original-author: [e-mail] (Brad Templeton)
Archive-name: emily-postnews/part1
Last-change: 30 Nov 91 by [e-mail] (Brad Templeton)


**NOTE: this is intended to be satirical.  If you do not recognize
  it as such, consult a doctor or professional comedian.  The
  recommendations in this article should recognized for what
  they are -- admonitions about what NOT to do.


                        "Dear Emily Postnews"

        Emily Postnews, foremost authority on proper net behaviour,
        gives her advice on how to act on the net.

============================================================================

Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -- verbose@noisy

A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you
-- 09:57 --.announce.newusers-- LAST --help:?--Top 4%--

     The first few lines are the message's header, similar to the header
you get in e-mail messages.  Then comes the beginning of the message.
The last line tells you the time again, the newsgroup name (or part of
it, anyway), the position in your message stack that this message
occupies, how to get help, and how much of the message is on screen.  If
you want to keep reading this message, just hit your space bar (not your
enter key!) for the next screen and so on until done. When done, you'll
be returned to the newsgroup menu.  For now hit Q (upper case this time),
which quits you out of nn and returns you to your host system's command
line.
     To get a look at another interesting newsgroup, type

                nn comp.risks

and hit enter.  This newsgroup is another moderated group, this time a
digest of all the funny and frightening ways computers and the people
who run and use them can go wrong.  Again, you read articles by
selecting their letters.  If you're in the middle of an article and
decide you want to go onto the next one, hit your n key.
     Now it's time to look for some newsgroups that might be of
particular interest to you.  Unix host systems that have nn use a program
called nngrep (ever get the feeling Unix was not entirely written in
English?) that lets you scan newsgroups.  Exit nn and at your host
system's command line, type

                nngrep word

where word is the subject you're interested in.  If you use a Macintosh
computer, you might try

                nngrep mac

     You'll get something that looks like this:

               alt.music.machines.of.loving.grace
               alt.religion.emacs
               comp.binaries.mac
               comp.emacs
               comp.lang.forth.mac
               comp.os.mach
               comp.sources.mac
               comp.sys.mac.announce
               comp.sys.mac.apps
               comp.sys.mac.comm
               comp.sys.mac.databases
               comp.sys.mac.digest
               comp.sys.mac.games
               comp.sys.mac.hardware
               comp.sys.mac.hypercard
               comp.sys.mac.misc
               comp.sys.mac.programmer
               comp.sys.mac.system
               comp.sys.mac.wanted
               gnu.emacs.announce
               gnu.emacs.bug
               gnu.emacs.gnews
               gnu.emacs.gnus
               gnu.emacs.help
               gnu.emacs.lisp.manual
               gnu.emacs.sources
               gnu.emacs.vm.bug
               gnu.emacs.vm.info
               gnu.emacs.vms

     Note that some of these obviously have something to do with
Macintoshes while some obviously do not; nngrep is not a perfect system.
If you want to get a list of ALL the newsgroups available on your host
system, type

                nngrep -a |more

or
                nngrep -a |pg

and hit enter (which one to use depends on the Unix used on your host
system; if one doesn't do anything, try the other). You don't
absolutely need the |more or |pg, but if you don't include it, the list
will keep scrolling, rather than pausing every 24 lines.  If you are in
nn, hitting a capital Y will bring up a similar list.
     Typing "nn newsgroup" for every newsgroup can get awfully tiring
after awhile.  When you use nn, your host system looks in a file called
.newsrc.  This is basically a list of every newsgroup on the host system
along with notations on which groups and articles you have read (all
maintained by the computer).  You can also use this file to create a
"reading list" that brings up each newsgroup to which you want to
"subscribe."  To try it out, type

                nn

without any newsgroup name, and hit enter.
     Unfortunately, you will start out with a .newsrc file that has you
"subscribed" to every single newsgroup on your host system!  To delete
a newsgroup from your reading list, type a capital U while its menu is
on the screen.  The computer will ask you if you're sure you want to
"unsubscribe."  If you then hit a Y, you'll be unsubscribed and put in
the next group.
     With many host systems carrying thousands of newsgroups, this will
take you forever.
     Fortunately, there are a couple of easier ways to do this.  Both
involve calling up your .newsrc file in a word or text processor.  In a
.newsrc file, each newsgroup takes up one line, consisting of the
group's name, an exclamation point or a colon and a range of numbers.
Newsgroups with a colon are ones to which you are subscribed; those
followed by an exclamation point are "un-subscribed."  To start with a
clean slate, then, you have to change all those colons to exclamation
points.
     If you know how to use emacs or vi, call up the .newsrc file (you
might want to make a copy of .newsrc first, just in case), and use the
search-and-replace function to make the change.
    If you're not comfortable with these text processor, you can
download the .newsrc file, make the changes on your own computer and
then upload the revised file.  Before you download the file, however,
you should do a couple of things.  One is to type

                cp .newsrc temprc

and hit enter.  You will actually download this temprc file (note the
name does not start with a period -- some computers, such as those using
MS-DOS, do not allow file names starting with periods).  After you
download the file, open it in your favorite word processor and use its
search-and-replace function to change the exclamation points to colons.
Be careful not to change anything else!  Save the document in ASCII or
text format.  Dial back into your host system.  At the command line,
type

                cp temprc temprc1

and hit enter.  This new file will serve as your backup .newsrc file
just in case something goes wrong. Upload the temprc file from your
computer.  This will overwrite the Unix system's old temprc file.  Now
type

                cp temprc .newsrc

and hit enter.  You now have a clean slate to start creating a reading
list.


3.3  nn COMMANDS


To mark a specific article for reading, type the letter next to it (in lower
case).  To mark a specific article and all of its responses, type the letter
and an asterisk, for example:

          a*

To un-select an article, type the letter next to it (again, in lower case).

C               Cancels an article (around the world) that you wrote.
                Every article posted on Usenet has a unique ID number.
                Hitting a capital C sends out a new message that tells host
                systems that receive it to find earlier message and delete
                it.

F               To post a public response, or follow-up. If selected while
                still on a newsgroup "page", asks you which article to
                follow up.  If selected while in a specific article, will
                follow up that article. In either case, you'll be asked if
                you want to include the original article in yours. Caution:
                puts you in whatever text editor is your default.

N               Goes to the next subscribed newsgroup with unread articles.

P               Goes to the previous subscribed newsgroup with unread
                articles.

G news.group    Goes to a specific newsgroup. Can be used to subscribe to
                new newsgroups.  Hitting G brings up a sub-menu:

                          u     Goes to the group and shows only un-read
                                articles.

                          a     Goes to the group and shows all articles,
                                even ones you've already read.

                          s     Will show you only articles with a specific
                                subject.

                          n     Will show you only articles from a specific
                                person.

M               Mails a copy of the current article to somebody.  You'll be
                asked for the recipient's e-mail address and whether you
                want to add any comments to the article before sending it
                off.  As with F, puts you in the default editor.

:post           Post an article. You'll be asked for the name of the group.

Q               Quit, or exit, nn.

U               Un-subscribe from the current newsgroup.

R               Responds to an article via e-mail.

space           Hitting the space bar brings up the next page of articles.

X               If you have selected articles, this will show them to you
                and then take you to the next subscribed newsgroup with
                unread articles. If you don't have any selected articles,
                it marks all articles as read and takes you to the next
                unread subscribed newsgroup.

=word           Finds and marks all articles in the newsgroup with a
                specific word in the "subject:" line, for example:

                          =modem

Z               Shows you selected articles immediately and then returns
                you to the current newsgroup.

?               Brings up a help screen.

<               Goes to the previous page in the newsgroup.

>               Goes to the next page in the newsgroup.

$               Goes to the last page in an article.

^               Goes to the first page in an article.


3.4  USING rn


     Some folks prefer this older newsreader.
     If you type

                rn news.announce.newusers

at your host system's command line, you'll see something like this:

    ********  21 unread articles in news.announce.newusers--read now? [ynq]

If you hit your Y key, the first article will appear on your screen.  If
you want to see what articles are available first, though, hit your
computer's = key and you'll get something like this:

     152 Introduction to news.announce
     153 A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
     154 What is Usenet?
     155 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
     156 Hints on writing style for Usenet
     158 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I
     159 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II
     160 Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
     161 USENET Software: History and Sources
     162 A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
     163 How to Get Information about Networks
     164 How to Create a New Newsgroup
     169 List of Active Newsgroups
     170 List of Moderators
     171 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I
     172 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II
     173 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III
     174 How to become a USENET site
     175 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part I
     176 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part II
     177 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part III
    End of article 158 (of 178)--what next? [npq]

     Notice how the messages are in numerical order this time, and don't
tell you who sent them.  Article 154 looks interesting.  To read it,
type in 154 and hit enter.  You'll see something like this:

   Article 154 (20 more) in news.announce.newusers (moderated):
   From: [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)
   Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.admin,news.answers
   Subject: What is Usenet?
   Date: 20 Sep 92 04:17:26 GMT
   Followup-To: news.newusers.questions
   Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
   Lines: 353
   Supersedes: <[e-mail]>

   Archive-name: what-is-usenet/part1
   Original from: [e-mail] (Chip Salzenberg)
   Last-change: 19 July 1992 by [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)


   The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is widely
   misunderstood.  Every day on Usenet, the "blind men and the elephant"
   phenomenon is evident, in spades.  In my opinion, more flame wars
   arise because of a lack of understanding of the nature of Usenet than
   from any other source.  And consider that such flame wars arise, of
   necessity, among people who are on Usenet.  Imagine, then, how poorly
   understood Usenet must be by those outside!

   --MORE--(7%)

     This time, the header looks much more like the gobbledygook you get
in e-mail messages.  To keep reading, hit your space bar.  If you hit
your n key (lower case), you'll go to the next message in the
numerical order.
     To escape rn, just keep hitting your q key (in lower case), until
you get back to the command line.  Now let's set up your reading list.
Because rn uses the same .newsrc file as nn, you can use one of the
search-and-replace methods described above.  Or you can do this:  Type

                rn

and hit enter.  When the first newsgroup comes up on your screen, hit
your u key (in lower case).  Hit it again, and again, and again.  Or
just keep it pressed down (if your computer starts beeping, let up for a
couple of seconds).  Eventually, you'll be told you're at the end of the
newsgroups, and asked what you want to do next.
     Here's where you begin entering newsgroups.  Type

                g newsgroup

(for example, g comp.sys.mac.announce) and hit enter.  You'll be asked
if you want to "subscribe." Hit your y key.  Then type

                g next newsgroup

(for example, g comp.announce.newusers) and hit enter.  Repeat until
done.  This process will also set up your reading list for nn, if you
prefer that newsreader. But how do you know which newsgroups to
subscribe?  Typing a lower-case l and then hitting enter will show you a
list of all available newsgroups.  Again, since there could be more than
2,000 newsgroups on your system, this might not be something you want to
do.  Fortunately, you can search for groups with particular words in
their names, using the l command.  Typing

        l mac

followed by enter, will bring up a list of newsgroups with those letters
in them (and as in nn, you will also see groups dealing with emacs and
the like, in addition to groups related to Macintosh computers).
     Because of the vast amount of messages transmitted over Usenet,
most systems carry messages for only a few days or weeks.  So if there's
a message you want to keep, you should either turn on your computer's
screen capture or save it to a file which you can later download).  To
save a message as a file in rn, type

                s filename

where filename is what you want to call the file. Hit enter.  You'll be
asked if you want to save it in "mailbox format."  In most cases, you
can answer with an n (which will strip off the header).  The message
will now be saved to a file in your News directory (which you can access
by typing cd News and then hitting enter).
     Also, some newsgroups fill up particularly quickly -- go away for a
couple of days and you'll come back to find hundreds of articles!  One
way to deal with that is to mark them as "read" so that they no longer
appear on your screen.  In nn, hit a capital J; in rn, a small c.


3.5  rn COMMANDS


     Different commands are available to you in rn depending on whether you
are already in a newsgroup or reading a specific article. At any point,
typing a lower-case H will bring up a list of available commands and some
terse instructions for using them. Here are some of them:

After you've just called up rn, or within a newsgroup:

c             Marks every article in a newsgroup as read (or "caught up")
              so that you don't have to see them again. The system will ask
              you if you are sure. Can be done either when asked if you
              want to read a particular newsgroup or once in the newsgroup.

g             Goes to a newsgroup, in this form:

                        g news.group

              Use this both for going to groups to which you're already
              subscribed and subscribing to new groups.

h             Provides a list of available commands with terse
              instructions.

l             Gives a list of all available newsgroups.

p             Goes to the first previous subscribed newsgroup with un-read
              articles.

q             Quits, or exits, rn if you have not yet gone into a newsgroup.
              If you are in a newsgroup, it quits that one and brings you to
              the next subscribed newsgroup.

Only within a newsgroup:

=             Gives a list of all available articles in the newsgroup.


m             Marks a specific article or series of articles as "un-read"
              again so that you can come back to them later. Typing

                        1700m

              and hitting enter would mark just that article as un-read.
              Typing

                        1700-1800m

              and hitting enter would mark all of those articles as un-
              read.

space         Brings up the next page of article listings.  If already on
              the last page, displays the first article in the newsgroup.

u             Un-subscribe from the newsgroup.

/text/        Searches through the newsgroup for articles with a specific
              word or phrase in the "subject:" line, from the current
              article to the end of the newsgroup. For example,

                        /EFF/

              would bring you to the first article with "EFF" in the
              "subject:" line.

?text?        The same as above except it searches in reverse order from
              the current article.

Only within a specific article:

e             Some newsgroups consist of articles that are binary files,
              typically programs or graphics images.  Hitting e will convert
              the ASCII characters within such an article into a file you
              can then download and use or view (assuming you have the proper
              computer and software).  Many times, such files will be split
              into several articles; just keep calling up the articles and
              hitting e until done.  You'll find the resulting file in your
              News subdirectory.

C             If you post an article and then decide it was a mistake, call
              it up on your host system and hit this.  The message will soon
              begin disappearing on systems around the world.

F             Post a public response in the newsgroup to the current
              article.  Includes a copy of her posting, which you can then
              edit down using your host system's text editor.

f             The same as above except it does not include a copy of the
              original message in yours.

m             Marks the current article as "un-read" so that you can come
              back to it later.  You do not have to type the article
              number.

Control-N     Brings up the first response to the article. If there is no
              follow-up article, this returns you to the first unread article
              in the newsgroup).

Control-P     Goes to the message to which the current article is a reply.

n             Goes to the next unread article in the newsgroup.

N             Takes you to the next article in the newsgroup even if you've
              already read it.

q             Quits, or exits, the current article. Leaves you in the current
              newsgroup.

R             Reply, via e-mail only, to the author of the current article.
              Includes a copy of his message in yours.

r             The same as above, except it does not include a copy of his
              article.

s file        Copies the current article to a file in your News directory,
              where "file" is the name of the file you want to save it to.
              You'll be asked if you want to use "mailbox" format when
              saving. If you answer by hitting your N key, most of the
              header will not be saved.

s|mail user   Mails a copy of the article to somebody. For "user" substitute
              her e-mail address. Does not let you add comments to the
              message first, however.

space         Hitting the space bar shows the next page of the article, or, if
              at the end, goes to the next un-read article.


3.6  ESSENTIAL NEWSGROUPS


     With so much to choose from, everybody will likely have their own
unique Usenet reading list.  But there are a few newsgroups that are
particularly of interest to newcomers.  Among them:

     news.announce.newusers     This group consists of a series of
                                articles that explain various facets of
                                Usenet.

     news.newusers.questions    This is where you can ask questions
                                (we'll see how in a bit) about how
                                Usenet works.

     news.announce.newsgroups   Look here for information about new or
                                proposed newsgroups.

     news.answers               Contains lists of "Frequently Asked
                                Questions"  (FAQs) and their answers from
                                many different newsgroups.  Learn how to
                                fight jet lag in the FAQ from
                                rec.travel.air; look up answers to common
                                questions about Microsoft Windows in
                                an FAQ from comp.os.ms-windows; etc.

     alt.internet.services      Looking for something in particular on
                                the Internet?  Ask here.

     alt.infosystems.announce   People adding new information services to
                                the Internet will post details here.


3.7  SPEAKING UP


     "Threads" are an integral part of Usenet.  When somebody posts a
message, often somebody else will respond.  Soon, a thread of
conversation begins.  Following these threads is relatively easy.  In
nn, related messages are grouped together.  In rn, when you're done
with a message, you can hit control-N to read the next related
message, or followup.  As you explore Usenet, it's probably a good
idea to read discussions for awhile before you jump in.  This way, you
can get a feel for the particular newsgroup -- each of which has its
own rhythms.
     Eventually, though, you'll want to speak up.  There are two main
ways to do this.  You join an existing conversation, or you can start
a whole new thread.
     If you want to join a discussion, you have to decide if you want
to include portions of the message you are responding to in your
message.  The reason to do this is so people can see what you're
responding to, just in case the original message has disappeared from
their system (remember that most Usenet messages have a short life span
on the average host system) or they can't find it.
     If you're using a Unix host system, joining an existing
conversation is similar in both nn and rn: hit your F key when done
with a given article in the thread.  In rn, type a small f if you
don't want to include portions of the message you're responding to; an
upper-case F if you do. In nn, type a capital F.  You'll then be asked
if you want to include portions of the original message.
     And here's where you hit another Unix wall.  When you hit your F
key, your host system calls up its basic Unix text editor.  If you're
lucky, that'll be Pico, a very easy system.  More likely, however,
you'll get dumped into emacs (or possibly vi), which you've already met
in the chapter on e-mail.
     The single most important emacs command is

               control-x control-c

     This means, depress your control key and hit x.  Then depress the
control key and hit c.  Memorize this.  In fact, it's so important, it
bears repeating:

               control-x control-c

     These keystrokes are how you get out of emacs.  If it works well,
you'll be asked if you want to send, edit, abort or list the message you
were working on.  If it doesn't work well (say you accidentally hit some
other weird key combination that means something special to emacs) and
nothing seems to happen, or you just get more weird-looking emacs
prompts on the bottom of your screen, try hitting control-g. This should
stop whatever emacs was trying to do (you should see the word "quit" on
the bottom of your screen), after which you can hit control-x control-c.
But if this still doesn't work, remember that you can always disconnect
and dial back in!
     If you have told your newsreader you do want to include portions
of the original message in yours, it will automatically put the entire
thing at the top of your message.  Use the arrow keys to move down to
the lines you want to delete and hit control-K, which will delete one
line at a time.
     You can then write your message.  Remember that you have to hit
enter before your cursor gets to the end of the line, because emacs
does not have word wrapping.
     When done, hit control-x control-c.  You'll be asked the
question about sending, editing, aborting, etc.  Chose one.  If you
hit Y, your host system will start the process to sending your
message across the Net.
     The nn and rn programs work differently when it comes to posting
entirely new messages.  In nn, type

     :post

and hit enter in any newsgroup.  You'll be asked which newsgroup to
post a message to.  Type in its name and hit enter.  Then you'll be
asked for "keywords."  These are words you'd use to attract somebody
scanning a newsgroup.  Say you're selling your car.  You might type
the type of car here.  Next comes a "summary" line, which is somewhat
similar.  Finally, you'll be asked for the message's "distribution."
This is where you put how widely you want your message disseminated.
Think about this one for a second.  If you are selling your car, it
makes little sense to send a message about it all over the world.  But
if you want to talk about the environment, it might make a lot of
sense.  Each host system has its own set of distribution
classifications, but there's generally a local one (just for users of
that system), one for the city, state or region it's in, another for
the country (for example, usa), one for the continent (for Americans
and Canadians, na) and finally, one for the entire world (usually:
world).
     Which one to use?  Generally, a couple of seconds' thought will
help you decide.  If you're selling your car, use your city or regional
distribution -- people in Australia won't much care and may even get
annoyed.  If you want to discuss presidential politics, using a USA
distribution makes more sense.  If you want to talk about events in the
Middle East, sending your message to the entire world is perfectly
acceptable.
     Then you can type your message.  If you've composed your message
offline (generally a good idea if you and emacs don't get along), you
can upload it now.  You may see a lot of weird looking characters as
it uploads into emacs, but those will disappear when you hit control-X
and then control-C.  Alternately: "save" the message (for example, by
hitting m in rn), log out, compose your message offline, log back on and
upload your message into a file on your host system.  Then call up
Usenet, find the article you "saved." Start a reply, and you'll be asked
if you want to include a prepared message.  Type in the name of the file
you just created and hit enter.
     In rn, you have to wait until you get to the end of a newsgroup
to hit F, which will bring up a message-composing system.
Alternately, at your host system's command line, you can type

                Pnews

and hit enter.  You'll be prompted somewhat similarly to the nn
system, except that you'll be given a list of possible distributions.
If you chose "world," you'll get this message:


This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire
civilized world.  Your message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of
dollars to send everywhere.  Please be sure you know what you are doing.

Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this? [ny]

     Don't worry -- your message won't really cost the Net untold
amounts, although, again, it's a good idea to think for a second
whether your message really should go everywhere.
     If you want to respond to a given post through e-mail, instead of
publicly, hit R in nn or r or R in rn.  In rn, as with follow-up
articles, the upper-case key includes the original message in yours.
     Most newsgroups are unmoderated, which means that every message
you post will eventually wind up on every host system within the
geographic region you specified that carries that newsgroup.
     Some newsgroups, however, are moderated, as you saw earlier with
comp.risks.  In these groups, messages are shipped to a single
location where a moderator, acting much like a magazine editor,
decides what actually gets posted.  In some cases, groups are
moderated like scholarly journals.  In other cases, it's to try to cut
down on the massive number of messages that might otherwise be posted.
     You'll notice that many articles in Usenet end with a fancy
"signature" that often contains some witty saying, a clever drawing
and, almost incidentally, the poster's name and e-mail address.  You
too can have your own "signature" automatically appended to everything
you post.  On your own computer, create a signature file.  Try to keep
it to four lines or less, lest you annoy others on the Net.  Then,
while connected to your host system, type

               cat>.signature

and hit enter (note the period before the s).  Upload your signature
file into this using your communications software's ASCII upload
protocol.  When done, hit control-D, the Unix command for closing a
file.  Now, every time you post a message, this will be appended to it.
     There are a few caveats to posting.  Usenet is no different from
a Town Meeting or publication: you're not supposed to break the law,
whether that's posting copyrighted material or engaging in illegal
activities.  It is also not a place to try to sell products (except in
certain biz. and for-sale newsgroups).


3.8  CROSS-POSTING


     Sometimes, you'll have an issue you think should be discussed in
more than one Usenet newsgroup.  Rather than posting individual messages
in each group, you can post the same message in several groups at once,
through a process known as cross-posting.
     Say you want to start a discussion about the political
ramifications of importing rare tropical fish from Brazil.  People who
read rec.aquaria might have something to say. So might people who read
alt.politics.animals and talk.politics.misc.
     Cross-posting is easy.  It also should mean that people on other
systems who subscribe to several newsgroups will see your message only
once, rather than several times -- news-reading software can cancel out
the other copies once a person has read the message.  When you get ready
to post a message (whether through Pnews for rn or the :post command in
nn), you'll be asked in which newsgroups.  Type the names of the various
groups, separated by a comma, but no space, for example:

          rec.aquaria,alt.politics.animals,talk.politics.misc

and hit enter.  After answering the other questions (geographic
distribution, etc.), the message will be posted in the various
groups (unless one of the groups is moderated, in which case the
message goes to the moderator, who decides whether to make it public).
     It's considered bad form to post to an excessive number of
newsgroups, or inappropriate newsgroups.  Chances are, you don't really
have to post something in 20 different places.  And while you may think
your particular political issue is vitally important to the fate of the
world, chances are the readers of rec.arts.comics will not, or at least
not important enough to impose on them.  You'll get a lot of nasty e-
mail messages demanding you restrict your messages to the "appropriate"
newsgroups.