A Beginner's Guide to the Internet/INTERNET.ISO/text/email/inet_by_.boo

Text File | 1996-05-06 | 130.4 KB | 3,188 lines

                                            P*.COM

                         A Guide to Accessing The Global Internet by E-mail

                                       by Ned B. Johnson

























While Prodigy is pleased to make this work available to PRODIGY
members, the information presented here is the work of its
author, Ned Johnson, and Prodigy can accept no responsibility
for it.  Inquiries regarding ordering printed copies of this
book should be sent to Ned Johnson at PRODIGY ID BVHK06C.
Please see the end of the file for complete ordering
information.




(c) Copyright 1993 by Ned B. Johnson
All Rights Reserved

No portion of this book may be copied, duplicated, reproduced or
transmitted by any means whatsoever without the expressed,
written permission of the publisher.

AUTHOR/PUBLISHER'S DISCLAIMER:

Although every effort has been made to ensure that the
information and commentaries presented in this book are true and
accurate, the very nature of the subject matter makes it
impossible to guarantee it's validity. The author and publisher
make no representations as to the accuracy or validity of any
information or accounts contained in this document. The reader
is solely responsible for the consequences of any and all use of
this information.



PRODIGY is a service mark and trademark of the Prodigy Services
Company.  Windows is a trademark of Microsoft, Incorporated;
Procomm is a trademark of Data Storm Technologies,
Incorporated; PKZIP is a trademark of PKWARE, Incorporated.
All other product names in this publication are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.

                                          Chapter 1

                                     Welcome to Cyberspace



                                     What is the Internet?


What This Book Is About

     In navigating the vast reaches of the Internet, any form of
guidance is a blessing.  When trying to access the multitude of
tools offer by the Internet using only e-mail, this is even more
true.  It only becomes more critical when you have to pay even
a small amount for that e-mail.  This book is written especially
for those who are new to the Internet and to using e-mail to
access it.  I have been a long time user of the Internet but
have never had to do things by e-mail before.  It was quite an
education for me doing the extensive research that has
culminated in this book.  What follows is a concise description
of the Internet, its capabilities and the specific techniques
needed to access it from PRODIGY using nothing but electronic
mail.  It is not complete.  It couldn't be for reasons you will
soon appreciate.  It does, however, give you everything you need
to get off to a good start and begin your own exploration of
this exciting medium of human communication.  It is an adventure
well worth the effort.  So dig in, do your homework and above
all have fun!


A Quick Definition of the Internet

     In simplest terms, the Internet is very much what its name
implies: an interaction or interconnection between computer
networks.  A little insight reveals that this is the description
of a process not a thing.  And that is what the Internet is: a
process, an event, if you prefer.  Calling it an idea would not
be totally inappropriate.

     What makes it itself and nothing else is a set of
agreements, called protocols, between the thousands of computer
networks of which it is composed.   These agreements define how
they will talk to each other and exchange information.  It is
these protocols and the information conduit they provide that
give the Internet its identity.

     In her book The Aquarian Conspiracy Marilyn Ferguson
foreshadowed the evolution of this type of phenomenon when she
introduced the idea of a "leaderless revolution."  In point of
fact, the Internet has no leader in the usual sense.  It is a
voluntary association of computer networks which, by their very
participation, are expressing a willingness to share knowledge,
resources and ideas.

     These characteristics make the Internet different from
anything else on earth; past or present.  It is itself and
nothing else.  In a very real sense it has taken on a life of
its own in recent years.  It will be very difficult, if not
impossible, to put this genie back in the bottle.  After all,
"How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen
Pairee?"

     What the Internet provides is a world-wide medium by which
individuals are able to share everything from thoughts and
feelings to art, knowledge and philosophy.  If it is our
facility with rich communication that distinguishes human kind
from all others on this planet, then the Internet is the next
step in the logical evolution of that capacity.  We are, after
all, nothing if not social creatures, and what could be more
socially satisfying than having direct access to tens of
millions of people across the face of this big, blue marble?

     By virtue of your membership in PRODIGY, you are now a part
of that evolution.  For whatever your reasons, you have stepped
up to the trail head of this exploration.  I use that last word
advisedly because there is another interesting question that
arises with the Internet: now that we have this amazing tool,
what do we do with it?

     We are right back where we were in the mid-1970s when the
microprocessor first appeared.  Most people's first exposure to
it was in the form of the first computer game called Pong.
Though an absurdly simple game by today's standards, it was
apparently the best we could come up with on the spur of the
moment.  If you look at where microcomputers have come in the
last 2 decades and project that growth on the Internet, you will
get some small idea of its potential.  Some believe that it is
a more important development than the computer itself  (if
that's even possible). In any event, we are all in on the ground
floor of what surely promises to be a most amazing development.
Where it will lead us remains uncertain.  I personally believe
that anything that brings us closer together must be essentially
beneficial.  Nothing in the history of the human race has held
greater promise to bring us closer together than this
technology.  It makes the printing press look like--well--a
printing press.


A Brief History Of The Internet

     To better understand the Internet, a short history lesson
is needed to set the stage. The roots of the Internet can be
traced back to the early 1960s when the Pentagon realized that
in the event of a nuclear holocaust, conventional communication
would be essentially obliterated.  The question was how to
establish a holocaust-proof command and control system.

     The problem was dumped in the lap of the Rand Corporation's
"think-tank" to contemplate and hopefully solve.  In 1964 the
results of their research were made public. They proposed a new
concept in system structure: the center-less network.  This
network would be composed, not of a typical hierarchical pyramid
of systems arranged in a pecking order, but an infinitely more
flexible peer-to-peer interconnection in which no single system
was in charge.  Each element in the network was autonomous and
independent.

     The key was in the way devised by which these systems were
to pass information among themselves.  Information was assembled
into packets (like bundling up Christmas gifts for all your
relatives in Cleveland) and addressed to the intended recipient.
The packet was then cast adrift on the network with its address
attached.  It was up to the network to forward it in the general
direction of its ultimate destination until it arrived.  Once
delivered, the packet was disassembled, the original information
restored and voila!  Communication.

     There are several interesting and ironic facets to this
arrangement, not the least of which is that, though it was
sponsored by the military in anticipation of a nuclear
catastrophe, it is essentially anarchistic by its very nature.
The resulting network was call ARPANET after the Pentagon's
Advanced Research Projects Agency who was its sponsor.

     To accomplish this feat it was necessary to develop a set
of rules, called protocols, which would be used by the systems
of ARPANET to talk to each other and move information.  This
protocol was called TCP/IP or Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol.  TCP defines the way in which
packets are to be handled and IP does the same for the
addressing of those packets.  Both of these protocols are still
fundamental to the identity of the Internet today.



The Internet Today

     In the intervening years, what began as ARPANET has grown
geometrically from four interconnected networks to thousands.
In 1989 the original ARPANET was decommissioned.  It had been so
successful that its role in the Internet shriveled to the point
where its demise went unnoticed by everyone except a handful of
network administrators. In recent years the number of users on
the Internet has been increasing by 20% per month!--faster than
cellular phones and fax machines but largely unnoticed by the
general public.

     There are several noteworthy properties of the Internet.
No one owns it.  There is no Internet Communications Co., Inc.
The only thing that even gives it an identity of its very own is
the protocols by which the business of communication is carried
out.  Each network connected to the Internet is owned by
someone, of course, but no one owns the Internet.  There are no
charges on the Internet itself: no long-distance charges, no on-
line charges and no dues.  You may have to pay someone to access
the network through their computer but none of that money goes
to the Internet because the Internet doesn't even have a bank
account.

     Recent estimates of the size of the Internet range from
10,000,000 to 20,000,000 users worldwide.  The problem is that
no one really knows exactly how large it is  and there isn't any
practical way to find out.  What's worse, it changes in major
ways, not just every day, but hour by minute by second.  For
example, the day that PRODIGY opened their e-mail gateway, the
Internet grew by 10-20% -- boom!



The Internet Tomorrow

     What happens next is really anyone's guess.  There are
plans, of course, but the Internet has a history of responding
to plans about as well as the weather does.  It is itself and no
one tells it what to do.  So who is the Internet?  It's you and
me and everyone else who already has, or later will, plug in.
It is the human race responding to a primal need to reach out
and touch someone.  It is the next step in the natural evolution
of human communication. Note:  There are a great many Internet
addresses and other information offered in this book.  I have
tried every one except where otherwise noted.  However, the
Internet, by its very nature, is nothing if not dynamic.  It
changes each moment.  Things aren't always where you found them
a few minutes ago.  Where there was more than one place to find
something, I have tried to find the most stable and most current
version but I can guarantee nothing.  Any of this information
could have changed moments after the last time I accessed it.
If you have trouble using any of these locations, I suggest that
you consult Veronica or other resources to find another
alternative.





                                          Chapter 2

                                What Can You Do On The Internet



Telnet

     One of the most powerful and intriguing capabilities of the
Internet is called Telnet.  Using Telnet you can connect as a
terminal to any system in the Internet -- theoretically.  In
actual practice, however, many systems require you to log-on
with a recognized ID and password.  If you don't have them,
you're out of luck.  On the other hand, there are also thousands
that will allow you at least limited access without a personal
account.

     These systems include libraries, universities, government
agencies and private systems as well.  Once logged-on, you are
free to peruse the system through whatever means are provided
for you by the host computer.  In libraries you can schmooz the
card files.  In universities you can look into campus
directories, library files, access databases and see what's new
on campus.  There are literally millions of things to explore.
You can even use one host to sign-on to another system and
another and another. Okay, here's the bad news: you can't do
this through the e-mail link provided by PRODIGY at the present
time.  You must have full Internet access to use Telnet.  The
good news is that you can acquire much of the information
available by Telnet using e-mail.  It's a little more involved
and not quite as spontaneous, but it does work well for a great
many purposes.



FTP

     Another powerful feature of the Internet is called FTP
which stands for File Transfer Protocol.  FTP allows you to
sign-on to a host strictly for the purpose of downloading and
uploading files.  Even systems you cannot Telnet to may let you
use FTP to capture information.

     The trick of FTPing is that you have to know some very
specific things before you can do it.  First, of course, you
have to know the Internet address of the system you want to get
into.  Once logged in, you need to know the exact directory or
sub-directory in which the file you're interested in is stored.
Oh yes, you can just poke around, but it's often very difficult
to know what you're looking at when all you have is a DOS-like
directory listing to work with.  Of course, there are ways to
get around this difficulty.  Chief among these is a server
program called Archie which searches thousands of FTP sites
looking for the files you request.  More often than not, Archie
will inform you that there are a variety of systems that have
what you're looking for.  You need only choose which you want to
use.

     Know what you're looking for before you go exploring.  This
can be done in a number of ways.  You can learn the exact
location of a file from someone else, or you can find a list of
files with their locations.  Most directories have an index file
in them listing all the files in the directory (typically the
index is called 00_index.txt).  Unfortunately, most of them are
just a raw directory listing without any additional annotation
which isn't much of an improvement.  Others publish nicely
annotated listings which, once you have them, make grabbing
files by FTP not much harder than using a phone book.

     While you can't FTP from PRODIGY by going on-line in the
usual fashion, you can use e-mail to do it for you.  It's not
unlike writing a batch file for DOS.  You simply send a message
to the computer who owns the information with a list of
instructions (the same ones you would type in if you had logged-
on by FTP) and it will execute them for you sending back the
result by e-mail. The requested file shows up in your PRODIGY
mailbox.  There's a little more to it than that but let's wait
a while before getting into the bits and bytes.


Listserv

     If there's one thing the Internet has an oversupply of,
it's lists.  There are thousands, if not millions, of lists
containing all manner of information.  There are lists of
people, programs, documents and books and nearly anything else
you can imagine.  There are even lists of lists!  Again, you
need to know at least something about what you're looking for
but not with the precision  required by FTP.

     When you find a list you want, you can send an e-mail
message to a computer that will send the list to you.  Many
lists are updated periodically.  If you want to be sure of
always having the most current version of one of these lists,
you can subscribe to it.  This puts you on a list of subscribers
and thereafter, whenever that list is updated, a copy is sent to
you automatically.  It simply shows up in your mailbox.

     The only bad news here is that there are so many lists,
it's hard to ferret out the few that might interest you.  Also,
and this can be very important on PRODIGY, receiving Internet
mail costs you money.  You may not know just exactly how big one
of these lists is when you order it.  By the time you receive it
and take a look, you've obligated yourself to pay for its
delivery.  At around $17 per megabyte, it can get expensive if
your tastes run toward long lists, especially if they are
updated frequently.  We'll discuss Listserv in greater detail
later.

E-mail

     E-mail is the only tool available to you in PRODIGY for
accessing the Internet.  As we have already touched on, you can
do much more than exchange messages with other users.  On the
other hand, that may be all you're really interested in.
Internet e-mail is a wonderful way to keep in touch with almost
anyone almost anywhere.

     Even better, it is also the only way to use the Internet
from PRODIGY.  In fact, it is identical to using ordinary
PRODIGY e-mail except that the addressing is a little different.
Using PRODIGY's new Mail Manager makes the task of writing,
reading and managing mail of all kinds easier than ever before.
A more thorough discussion of the proper care and feeding of
Mail Manager is included later.


Gopher and Veronica

     This is the feature of the Internet that I use most often.
As the name implies, Gopher is in the business of going-for
things you ask for.  Gopher has a "friend" named Veronica.
Actually, they are special programs called servers that search
the Internet looking for you.  Anything found is presented as a
list or menu which you can then peruse.  If you find anything of
interest, you can read it (if it's text), download it, or have
it mailed to you.  This includes programs, pictures, sound and
music files as well as documents, books, listings, directories
and...well, you get the picture.  It is not unusual to submit a
request and receive a list of hundreds or even thousands of
hits.  When accessing Veronica by mail, it is a good idea to
limit your searches by expressing relatively narrow criteria at
first.  Otherwise, you will be receiving very large response
files.  There are some ways to take the sting out of that which
will be discussed in a later section (see pages  and  for more).


Usenet Newsgroups

     Another facet of the Internet that is popular is its
equivalent of bulletin boards which are called newsgroups.
These function very much like the BBs on PRODIGY except that
there are literally thousands of them.  They are arranged in a
hierarchy, like DOS directories, with sub-topics nested within
major topics.  There are several major topic classifications
among which are:

comp    which are computer related topics
misc    for odds and ends topics
rec     for recreation related topics
sci     science topics
soc     discussions of social issues
talk    unending debates on whatever
news    what else, news
alt     for alternate topics that don't fit in elsewhere

     Each one of these major categories has numerous
"compartments."  Here is a typical newsgroup name:
rec.arts.comics.strips.  This one is in the general category of
recreation,  within that a collection of groups on the arts,
within that a specialty of comics and within that a focus on
comic strips.  Most newsgroups are layered at least three deep
if not more.  As you can see, there's sure to be something there
for everyone.

     Of course, new topics are being added even as you read
this.  I recently saw an estimate that there are a million new
messages a day added to the newsgroups collectively.
Unfortunately, I have not yet found a practical way to access
these by e-mail.


                                          Chapter 3

                                Internet Information Resources



Files On-line

     Many of the best books and other documents about the
Internet are available on the network and you can have them e-
mailed to you.  We'll get into the specifics of that later (see
page  for details).  For now it is important only to know that
the information you need is there and you can get at it once you
know how. In addition to works on the Internet itself, there are
literally millions of other files.  There are full-text copies
of classical literature (e.g., Shakespeare; Tale of Two Cities);
research papers on every imaginable subject; cookbooks;
bartender's manuals; name it and it's probably there.

     There are over 300 so called full-text projects going on in
over 100 countries, each putting some form of writing into
digital form and making it available through the Internet.  One
of the most interesting and extensive of these is called Project
Gutenberg.  Their aim is to have 10,000 titles on-line by the
turn of the century.  To do this they must double their monthly
production every year for the remainder of the century.  Last I
heard, they were still on target.  Virtually all of their work
is being done by volunteers who sit down and type an entire book
into the computer.  If you offer to help, you can choose any
book you like.  There's a wonderful story behind the project
which is listed later . Books

     There are a growing number of titles in bookstores about
the Internet.  A listing of some of the more popular ones
appears in Appendix B.


People

     When I first got involved with the Internet, I thought I'd
found the hog-heaven of research.  Early on I was fortunate to
talk to the administrator of a major system.  I expressed my
enthusiasm about searching databases on-line.  He then gave me
probably the best advice on the Internet I've ever had.  He said
to forget the databases.  Information in them is already old.
Somebody had to dig it out and write it down and get it on-line.
The real power of the Internet is establishing a dialogue
directly with the person who was the source of the data.  In
other words, talk to the horse's mouth instead of the other end.

     Intelligent, insightful use of e-mail will get you whatever
you want and it will be better information than you could get
any other way.  As an example, about a year ago I was
considering writing an article on bioengineering.  One day I saw
a television show that featured such a project going on at the
University of Adelaide in Australian.   I wrote down the name of
the man who headed up the project and the name of the school.
Ten minutes after the show was over, I had Telnetted to the
school's computer and was looking at the man's listing in the
campus directory.  I had his full name, department, title, phone
number, fax and Telex numbers, mailing address and e-mail
address.  I later decided not to write the article right away,
but when I do get around to it, I know exactly who to talk to
and how to find him. Doing this from PRODIGY is slightly more
involved but only because it would not be as convenient to find
his e-mail address.  However, once you have the address, there
is very little difference whether you're on PRODIGY or directly
on the Internet.



                                          Chapter 4

                              What is PRODIGY's Internet gateway




     PRODIGY has opened a gateway to the Internet and through
the Internet to thousands of other computer networks and tens of
millions of computers around the world.  What is a gateway?  It
is a conduit between networks through which information from
each can be moved to the other.  To do this they must speak the
same language to some extent.  In the case of the Internet, that
language is the TCP/IP protocol.  That is what PRODIGY did: they
set up a system to translate their internal processing to that
protocol and established a communications link to the Internet.
This allows information to flow to and from the networks.

     The fact that the two networks are now linked together is
nothing new.  That kind of thing has been going on for decades.
What is noteworthy, however, is that PRODIGY is the largest
single commercial network with upwards of 2 million users and
the Internet is the largest collection of interconnected
computers of any kind in the history of the world.  The
PRODIGY/Internet gateway joins these two Goliaths and represents
a marriage of biblical proportions in the context of technology
and interpersonal communications.

It may be only e-mail, but....

     It can be truthfully said that the connection between these
two giants is "only e-mail."  The thing is that Internet e-mail
is a lot more than writing a letter home.  It supports many
exotic and powerful miracles of modern technology that have
nothing to do with letters to Mom.

     To take advantage of these powerful tools requires some
understanding on your part.  That is what this book is for: to
provide you with the basic information needed to start
exercising your prerogatives on the Internet from the comfort of
your old, familiar place in Cyberspace: PRODIGY.


Your Connection To The World

     The Internet spans this planet in a way that is difficult
to grasp even for inveterate hackers, geographers and globe
trotters.  What's more, it virtually defies space and pays very
little attention to time more often than not.

     In the same way that each byte of your computer's memory
takes the same amount of time to access (the physical location
of the memory chips is irrelevant), any location in the world
can be accessed in about the same time and with the same ease as
any other.  In other words, if you live across the street from
Stanford University, you can access the library computer at the
University of Helsinki just as quickly and with no more expense
or difficulty.  As far as the Internet is concerned, they're
both just places, each coequal to the other.  As comedian Yakof
Smirnoff would say, "What a concept!"

     With new connections being opened every day (PRODIGY being
one of the most recent), the network continues to grow at a rate
that is constantly accelerating.  At its present rate of
development the Internet will be at a billion users by 1997.
This assumes that the technology is going to be available to
that many people (which it may not) but it also assumes that the
rate of growth will remain unchanged (whereas it has been
consistently accelerating for years).  Time will tell, but one
thing seems clear: global communication is on the ascendancy and
the Internet is leading the parade.



                                          Chapter 5

                                      Internet Addressing



Basic Internet Addressing

     Internet addressing is not as complex as it may at first
appear to be.  Actually, it's not so different from ordinary
postal addressing.  Consider the following postal address:

John Doe
1234 Main Street
Anywhere, AW 99999

     There are 5 parts to this address: name, address, city,
state and zip code.  These can be seen as answers to two basic
questions needed to properly deliver a letter: who does it go to
and where are they?  Electronic mail needs answers to the same
two questions in order to deliver your message, file or what
have you. When you send a note through PRODIGY to another user,
there is no need to say where they are; they're on the PRODIGY
system.  All you need to specify is who the recipient is.  Once
you leave the PRODIGY service, however, the "where" becomes very
important.  There are thousands of computer networks each of
which are potential destinations and many of which have
subsystems within them where users' mailboxes can be located.
The mail delivery system must have all the information needed to
navigate through this maze of networks to the precise mailbox
you intend.

     Realizing this makes it clear why addressing is so
important.  What's more, in the Internet you don't have a
friendly postal delivery person who can resolve ambiguities or
errors in addressing after the letter is mailed.  What you have
instead is a rather stupid computer which has been told how to
use a very precise and specific form of addressing and knows
nothing about ambiguity. Put yourself in the position of this
mail handling computer program.  What's the first thing you need
to know?  What is the name of the network on which the user's
mailbox resides?  Then you would need to know the name of the
subsystem within that network, if there is one.  Is there
another sub-sub-system and if so what is its name?  Finally, who
is the person who is to actually receive this message?

     In the postal addressing scheme, the "who" question is
answered first, then the "where" question.  That is also true of
Internet addressing.  Let's consider my Internet address on
PRODIGY. [e-mail]

     Who am I?  I am BHVK06A.  The rest of my address tells
where I am on the Internet.   Again we are moving from the
specific to the general.  Since PRODIGY has no subsystems, it is
sufficient to say that I am "at" (or just @ for short) prodigy.
So what is the "com" for?

     In the United States there are several categories of
systems connected to the Internet.  Each of these have been
given a three letter abbreviation.  They are:

com     for commercial systems
edu     for educational institutions
mil     for military installations
org     for organizations (usually nonprofit)
net     for network organizations
gov     are for government systems

     Outside the US these three letter designations are
generally replaced by a two letter country code.  For example:
ca for Canada, uk for United Kingdom, fi for Finland.  There is
an obvious logic to the selection of these country codes but
don't always take them at face value.  For example, what country
would you expect de to indicate?  If you guessed Denmark, you're
wrong.  It is Germany (Deutschland).  By the same token the code
au stands for Australia, not Austria (which is at).
Incidentally, when someone sends you e-mail from another
country, they must tack  .us on the end of your address to
indicate that you are in the United States.  If these
abbreviations seem familiar it is because our postal
abbreviations for the state of the US suffer from the same
problems.  Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas and Arizona can't all use
the first two letters of their names as their abbreviations.
The best course is to be sure before assuming.

     In any event, these two and three letter codes for systems
are called domains.  Why?  It is a term borrowed from
mathematics and you needn't be concerned about it.  So, putting
it all together, we have a model that looks like this:
[e-mail]

     When it comes to the "somewhere" part, you may have a name
that is plain English (like prodigy) or you may have some
hieroglyphic like "decxms" which defies intuitive grasp.  Again,
the only thing that matters is that you get it right.  Verbatim.

     The entire address following the @ symbol is technically
called a Fully Qualified Domain Name, or FQDN.  All this means
is that it represents an unambiguous name of a specific system.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that
technically these are not actual Internet addresses.  Internet
addresses are composed of what are called "dotted quads" which
look like this: 999.999.999.999, where the 9s can be any digit.
Actually they are a 32-bit number that represents a specific
system.  What we have been discussing are actually aliases for
those complicated numbers.  The mailing protocols on the
Internet usually do all the necessary translation for you
invisibly and automatically.  Seldom, if ever, will you have any
need to deal with the dotted quad notation.  I just wanted you
to know that this is going on behind the scenes and that every
FQDN has a dotted quad equivalent.



Other Networks

     Other networks which are connected to the Internet have
their own forms of addressing.  Usually there is an alias
translation so that you don't have to deal with them directly.
We won't be going into that here but later I will point you to
documents  that can give you more information than you want on
the nuts and bolts of this type of techno-trivia.  Occasionally
it may become critical to your purposes.


Finding Internet Addresses

     Before you can send mail to someone, whether by postal mail
or e-mail, you  must have their address.  If you need to find a
street address for someone, you can often just look in the phone
book for it.  It gets a little harder if they live in another
city, but there's always directory assistance.  In PRODIGY, you
have the Member List which, though it doesn't contain listings
for every member due to the fact that they must register to be
included, at least it gives you somewhere to look.

     The Internet, however, is quite different.  There are
problems of several kinds that make it far more difficult to
find addresses starting from scratch.  First and foremost is its
utter magnitude.  It could be said that the Internet is the
largest "city" on earth.  With upwards of 20 million
"inhabitants", it would be a practical impossibility to compile
a phone book for it.  Such a book would be on the order of 10
feet thick, just for openers!  To make matters worse, by the
time you got your Internet phone book in print, it would be
hopelessly out of date because there are over 30,000 new
citizens coming on-line every day.  What really makes it
impossible, though, is that nowhere does there exist a master
list of users.  This is due to its essentially decentralized
nature as discussed earlier.  There is no headquarters, no
command central, no home office.

     The only thing you, as an address searcher, have going for
you is that you are dealing with an electronic system.  This
means that it is fast, can manage huge amounts of data and can
be kept up-to-date with a realistic amount of effort.  It also
has a modicum of intelligence here and there.  This gives you
some advantages in locating the needle in a haystack that an e-
mail address represents.  Even so, unfortunately, you are not
always able to find what you're looking for on-line.

     Much has been written on the subject of finding addresses
on the Internet and there's no point in my reinventing the wheel
here.  What I will try to do is to give you some methods that
offer you at least a fighting chance of success and point you to
more comprehensive sources for other strategies.

     The best advice--which is usually the first suggestion
offered by the "experts"--is to try to find the address you seek
directly: ask the person you are trying to reach.  Call them on
the phone or write them by postal mail (which on the net is call
not-so-affectionately, "snailmail").  This is, when possible,
always the best and most reliable way. Even if you are able to
locate an address for someone by electronic means, there's no
guarantee that it is current.  Some people have several
addresses but use one of them to the relative exclusion of the
others.  If you find one of the "orphans" that suffers from
disuse, the message you send may never even get read.

     If you have no practical means of contacting the person you
want to find directly, or if you are just too lazy or
adventurous to try, here are some ways to find them by e-mail.

     Note:  Hereafter I will be referring to various address,
system names and programs in the text.  Most, if not all, of
these will be indicated in italics like this so you will know
that they are "loaded" words and not just part of the text.
Also, words that are in bold like TO: are labels provided by
PRODIGY or whomever and are not to be typed by you. They are
there strictly for your information or to identify the name of
the field or item associated with them.  Most of this will be
obvious but I thought I'd alert you in advance.

     Your first step is to find the address for the system on
which the person you're looking for has their account.  If you
have the system's address (domain) you're chances of finding an
individual on that system are greatly improved.  Once you've
found the host domain, you have a couple of options.  First, you
can hope they have a facility called "whois."  This is a program
that allows you to ask for a person by name.  If they have an
account on that host, you will be able to find out their address
by asking whois.  Failing that, you can write to someone else at
the host system and ask them for help in locating the address
you seek. You can access whois using e-mail by sending a message
to [e-mail] with the subject: field containing the
commands you want whois to perform.  What  are the commands
available and how do you use them?  That is a document by itself
and will not be repeated here.  You can, however, get your own
copy of that document for a cost of about 30 cents by sending a
message to the above address with a  subject of the word help.
The whois server will mail you back instructions on the proper
use of whois.  These instructions assume that you will be
accessing whois in the normal fashion on-line.  All you have to
know is that when it talks about  typing commands preceded by
whois, that is the text you should include in your subject line.
For example, a message asking for help would look like this:

TO:  [e-mail]
SUBJECT: help

     This server ignores the body of the message unless the
subject field is empty.  With PRODIGY you have the possibility
that a long command line would not fit into the subject field.
If that happens, no problem.  Just leave the subject blank and
put the command in the message itself.

     To look for my address, you would send this message:

TO: [e-mail]
SUBJECT: NAme johnson, ned

     Telling it that you're asking for a name by starting your
command with NAme will speed things up because it won't have to
look at other information contained in the record.  Actually,
NAme can be shortened  to just NA since it only looks at the
first two characters anyway.  You can also simply put a period
at the beginning of the name (.johnson, ned) to accomplish the
same thing.  All this is covered in great detail in the help
file when you get it.

     Warning!  You have no control over the size of the list of
names and addresses you get back.  If the name is a common one,
you may receive a very long file which you will have to pay for.
You can also specify the type of institution to which you want
the search limited and other qualifiers.  I would suggest
starting out being as specific as possible and if you don't get
a result, then strip away the qualifiers until there's nothing
left but the name.

     You can also use whois to find the name of a system.  For
example, this message would return the record for a fictitious
host system called myhost.

TO: [e-mail]
SUBJECT: HOst myhost

     If you intend to use whois, your first action should be to
get the help file mailed to you.  This will verify that you're
doing the mailing and addressing correctly because if you're
not, you won't get the help file.

     Another means available for address searching is called the
Knowbot Information Service (or just KIS).  To get complete
documentation on KIS send a message to
[e-mail] with the single word man (short for
manual) either as the subject or in the body of the message.

     The KIS server will send you the manual for the system by
return mail.  The file should be about 12k and will cost you 30
cents (10 for the request and 20 for the reply).

TIP:  Read this and all other documentation carefully before
using it.  Then check to make sure you have followed it
precisely.  In case you haven't already noticed, computers are
very narrow minded about things like spelling and syntax.  If
you do not send the server what it expects, it will just send
back notification of failure, often without any explanation of
what you did wrong.  Worse yet, it may look like it just
couldn't find who you were looking for when in fact it could
have if you'd only asked right.

     Suppose you have a friend who is associated with Bryn Mawr
College and you want to contact him through the campus'
postmaster.   Here's what you would do:

     Send the following e-mail to Gopher.

TO:  [e-mail]
SUBJECT:   bryn mawr
MSG:
Type=7
Name=Query Whois server rs.internic.net
Path=whois_root rs.internic.net
Port=4324
Host=gopher.uc.edu

     You would get back a message that included, in part, the
following which you would then send back in a second message.

TO:[e-mail]
SUBJECT: (none)
MSG:
Name=Raw search results
Numb=1
Type=0
Port=43
Path=bryn mawr
Host=rs.internic.net

     You would receive by return mail the following whois record
for Byrn Mawr College:

Bryn Mawr College (NET-BRYNMAWR)    BRYNMAWR    192.70.131.0
Bryn Mawr College (NET-BRYNMAWR-B)  BRYNMAWR    165.106.0.0
Bryn Mawr College (BRYNMAWR-DOM)    BRYNMAWR.EDU

     You can forget about all but the item ending with
"BRYNMAWR.EDU)  This is the one you want, not the dotted quads.
Now that you have the domain of the campus computer systems, you
can  send e-mail to their postmaster ([e-mail])
to inquire about your friend.

     In the general case, here is what your strategy should be
for address acquisition.  Start at step 1 and if it fails, go on
to the next, and the next, and so forth.

1.  Try to contact the person directly by phone, mail or
 whatever.

2.  Send a message to whois giving all the information you have,
    such as the domain of the person's host system, their name,
    etc.

3.  Keep removing qualifiers until there's nothing left but the
    name.

4.  Follow steps 2 and 3 with KIS.

5.  If you have at least found out the address of the host
    (host.domain), you can send a message to
[e-mail] and ask them for some help.  In this
 case you will be talking to an actual human being rather
 than a computer program.  This means you needn't be so
formal.  It also means that you may not hear back right away
  and that you're manners will count for a lot.  This is a
  classic case of nice guys finishing first!



                                          Chapter 6

                                  Using FTP To Download Files



     FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.  This is just a
fancy way of saying "a set of rules by which networks transfers
files from one system to another."  All you need to know is how
to use it. Ordinarily, FTP is used very much like Telnet.  The
biggest difference is that when you log on a system with FTP,
you use anonymous as your name and your e-mail address as the
password.   For this reason it is often called anonymous FTP.

     When you access FTP by e-mail, the log-in procedure is all
taken care of for you automatically.  What you need to do is
send mail to an FTP e-mail server and include in the body of the
message a list of instructions it is to type for you when it
logs-on the destination system.

     You can get information on the full range of FTP commands
by sending an e-mail message as follows:

TO: [e-mail]
SUBJECT: FTP help
MESSAGE: help

     Note:  the subject field is not used by the server.  You
are free to leave it blank or put a note to yourself there since
the subject field of the reply will contain the same text.  It
provides a way for you to look at the reply message and know
what it is about. The FTP server will send a help file by return
mail.  Here are brief descriptions of a few of the basic
commands needed to download files.

connect host.domain

     The first piece of information you must provide to the FTP
server is which host system you want it to connect with for you.
This will look just like an e-mail address which is missing
everything up to and including the @ symbol.  For example, if
PRODIGY provided FTP access (which it doesn't at present) you
would specify:

connect prodigy.com

     Ordinarily this will be the first line in the body of your
message requesting a file.

binary

     You must include this command before you attempt to
download any binary file (e.g., programs or other non-text
files).  If you fail to do so, I guarantee the file you get will
be unusable. chdir directory  This is a counterpart to the DOS
cd command.  It changes to a different disk directory.  You must
use this to navigate to the directory where the file you wish to
download is located before you attempt to get  the file.
Obviously, you must know which directory the file is in first.

get filename

     This command does just what it looks like: it gets the file
whose name follows.

chunksize size

     Since PRODIGY e-mail (and most others) limits the size of
a single message, larger files must be split into multiple
segments which are then reassembled at the other end.  This
command specifies the size of those modules.  Since the default
is 64k and PRODIGY defaults to 60k, you should always include
chunksize 59000 (or alternatively 59k) any time you are
requesting a file that may be that large.  (See the section on
uudecode for details on how to reassemble this split file).

Warning:  If you specify a chunksize be extremely careful to say
what you mean.  I recently did an FTP request in which I asked
for a chunksize of 11 instead of 11k.  The result was that I
received over 2,700 messages, each under 11 characters long!!
Doing this on PRODIGY using Mail Manager on automatic it would
cost a whopping $270!  It wasn't something complicated or
exotic, just plain carelessness.  Fortunately, I was on a direct
Internet gateway which doesn't charge me for mail so my only
penalty was having to delete all those messages by hand.  I got
off very light.  That one character (the letter k) was extremely
important and this isn't the only example I could cite.  Before
you send things out into Cyberspace be absolutely sure you're
saying what you mean to say and that it is correct.

uuencode

     This command tells the FTP server how to encode the file.
This is used with  binary files like programs as mention
previously.   All binary files will be encoded automatically but
they will use another coding system (called btoa) unless you
include this command.  I recommend that, since you can use this
decoding method with both FTP and  Gopher files, you stick to
one method just to keep it simple.

     There are more commands but these are the ones you will use
most frequently from PRODIGY.  The rest are covered in the FTP
help file when you send for it.

Note:  When I mention the cost of various items here, it is
based on PRODIGY's present pricing structure of 10 cents per 6k
block of e-mail.  Depending on the plan you are using and your
total e-mail usage for the current month, you may or may not
have to pay anything.



                                          Chapter 7

                                 Using Archie To Locate Files



     By now you're probably wondering how you're supposed to
find all the information needed to send in an FTP request.
There are several ways but the most direct is by using a program
called Archie. Archie is a service that attempts to locate files
that are available by anonymous FTP.

     To receive help on using Archie by mail, send a message to
[e-mail] with no subject and the one word message help to
receive a brief (4k) description or the message man to receive
about 10 times that amount.    This will be interpreted by the
server as a request for help which it will send by return mail.

     The whole idea behind Archie is to find the exact location
of a file which you can then download using FTP.  According to
the documentation, they try to fill Archie mail requests within
30 minutes but they freely admit that it may take until
midnight.  In my experience, you'd better figure on the next
day.  If you don't get an answer by the next day, try using the
path command which explicitly designates your e-mail address.
This can be helpful to the server in the event that the return
address included with your request is interpreted inaccurately.

     You will receive (usually within minutes) a confirmation
that your request has been received and logged.  It doesn't tell
you exactly when it will be filled but it  tells you  how many
others are ahead of you in line.   This is typically in the
range of 2,000-6,000 so you can see why it takes a while.  Also,
this type of traffic is low on the priority scale of these
systems which have a lot of serious work to do.  Don't forget,
you're getting it for nothing.

     Pay particular attention the find and whatis commands.
These are especially  useful in locating anything and everything
relating to a general subject.

Warning!  Again, if your search criteria is too general, you may
end up receiving a HUGE file which will cost you more than you
bargained for.  Try to keep your searches as narrow as possible
and broaden them only if they produce insufficient results.


                                          Chapter 8

                                      Gopher and Veronica



Using Gopher by E-mail

     As mentioned earlier, Gopher is a service whose job is to
find things for you.  What kinds of things?  Almost anything
that's on the Internet.  It finds programs, books, news
articles, computer systems, networks, addresses (but not
generally of people), lists, fact sheets, course and curricula
descriptions and the list goes on.  I can't even imagine how
many things are available using Gopher.

     Veronica is probably the most powerful function within
Gopher.  She (if I may personify a computer program) is amazing.
You tell her what you're looking for and if it exists on the
Internet, she'll find it for you.  She is also very smart.  You
can give her quite complex targets and she will figure it all
out. Veronica accepts what are called Boolean expressions.
These are statements which may contain conditions as well as
words to search for.  For example:

red and green

     All items which contain both the words red and green will
show up on the "hit list."  But you can get much slicker than
that.  How about this one.

(red or green or blue) and (round or square)

     In this case, everything that is round or square and either
red, green or blue will be a hit.  Will a red triangle be a hit?
Nope.  How about a black square?  No again.  As you can see, you
can articulate very specific requests to shorten the list of
hits you get back.  The logic is really very simple.  Everything
in the parentheses is evaluated first.  In the last example,
first it is determined if the item is red, green or blue.  If
it's not, then the search fails right there.  If it is one of
the right colors, then it checks to see if it is the right
shape.  Then and only then will it appear on the final result.

     Using Gopher and Veronica by e-mail is a bit more
complicated than Archie at first, but once you get the hang of
it, it becomes child's play.  The rewards make it well worth the
effort required to learn.

     First you should send for the gopher help file.  Send a
message to [e-mail] with the subject help and
any or no body.  This will be interpreted as a request for help.
The file you get back is about 8K and will cost you 30 cents
including the dime it cost to request it.

     Gopher is presented as a series of menus from which you
select what you want.  Of course you don't know what's on the
next menu until you select it.  The process of accessing Gopher
by mail involves sending for a menu; selecting an item from the
menu and sending back a request for that item (which is usually
another menu).  Repeat the process until you find a terminus,
which is a file or destination rather than another menu.  This
can require a lot of e-mail dialogue.

     As you will read in the help file, there are several ways
to use Gophermail.  The primary method results in some pretty
long files just to go through the menu system.  Fortunately,
there are some short cuts.  Here's how it works.

     Each menu item has a set of specifications associated with
it.  These define its location and the type of data it
represents.  When you receive mail from Gopher, following the
menu text is a list of the data for each item on that menu.
Once you have this information about a particular menu or file,
you can access it directly the next time without starting at the
top level menu and working your way down the menu tree.  I'll
give you some head-start information shortly.

     I strongly advise you to go through the whole process the
first time, so you'll know what it's about.  Besides, it will
give you an idea what kinds of services are available.  Then if
you want to "cut to the chase," fine.

     Even though the responses from Gopher are very quick
(seldom more than a couple of minutes) plan on making a project
out of learning to use the service.  I've been at it a long time
and even though I've had the advantage of using Gopher directly
rather than by mail, I still don't have the foggiest idea what's
really out there in Gopherspace as it's called.  It is
unimaginably vast and changes virtually moment by moment.  I
don't really believe anyone alive knows all that much about it.

     To put it bluntly: PRODIGY has something on the order of 3
million screens and the Internet (which is Gopher's home turf)
makes it look like a piece of confetti torn of the corner of
sky.  The difference between the two is probably at least 3
orders of magnitude and could be more.


The Nuts And Bolts Of Gopher

     To uniquely identify a menu item or file, you need so send
the following information to the server.

Name:      is the name of the menu item or file and is optional,
           although it does appear in the subject  field of your
           response.

Type:      refers to the type of item you are requesting (e.g.,
           a menu, binary file, text file, etc.)

Port:      is the port number on the host system.  Port 70 is
           assumed and you need only specify another if it is
           different.  I suggest you include this all the time
           anyway.

Path:      this is usually required.  It's best to assume  it's
           needed.

Host:      this is the (domain) name of the host computer which
           holds the item.  It is a required field and must be
           the last line! Here is an example of a fully formed
           identifier:


Type=0
Name=800-TollFree BBS (Part 1)
Path=D penninfo-srv.upenn.edu 9000 12031 African_Studies
Port=71
Host=noc.drexel.edu

     This identifier would cause the file specified in name to
be sent to you.  In this particular case a second request would
be needed because the file comes in two parts.  The second file
specification is identical to the first except that in the name
field Part 1 becomes Part 2.

     Note that Type, Name, etc. are capitalized. This is
necessary. When I sent for this file I included both
specification blocks together separated by a blank line and
received the files in a minute or two by return mail.  Part 1
was 23k and Part 2 was 14k.  The total cost, including the
Gopher request, was 80 cents.  The result is that I now have a
database of hundreds of 800 numbers for computers, government
systems, product support lines, networks and BBS systems all
over the country.  If I use it only once, it's got to be worth
80 cents.  Even though the phone call is free, not all the
systems listed are free to use, but some are.
     This is just one example of how Gopher can serve you.
Here's another.  I recently was introduced to a man who is
involved with a business in which the design work is done in
Hong Kong, the manufacturing in mainland China and the marketing
in the states.  He is constantly out of touch with his
counterparts and is very frustrated.  I suggested that the
Internet might offer some relief.
     That evening I consulted Veronica and asked for everything
in the Internet relating to Hong Kong or the Peoples' Republic
of China.  I used various search criteria like:

hong kong and internet
china and internet
hong kong and china

     You get the idea.  It took me a couple of hours to sift
through the mass of information and download the pertinent
files.  The next morning, less than 24 hours after our
conversation, he had a fax waiting on his desk outlining my
findings.  My total investment of time was about three hours.
He was impressed to say the least.  We will be working out a
communications system for him soon that will involve a hand-held
computer with a cellular fax modem. In this example I consulted
with Veronica to make my queries.  There are a number of
Veronica servers on the Internet and they all function about the
same.  You can send mail directly to one of them if you know the
details of the specification.  Here are the specifications for
several frequently used servers.

Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at NYSERNet
Path=
Port=2347
Host=empire.nysernet.org


Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at University of Pisa
Path=
Port=2347
Host=serra.unipi.it

Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at University of Cologne
Path=
Port=2347
Host=veronica.uni-koeln.de

     To inquire of any of these, just send a message to
[e-mail] with your search criteria as the
subject and the host specification as the body of the message.
You should have a list of hits back in a couple of minutes.

Hint:  You can limit the number of hits it will return by adding
-m# at the end of the subject line.  Here # is the maximum
number of lines you want returned.  This way you know it won't
overload your mailbox and wallet.  The default is about 200
which could cost a dollar or so as PRODIGY COD.  You may want to
actually increase that number but the choice is yours.

     Here is what you send to get a document of Frequently Asked
Questions about Veronica with their answers.  These FAQ
documents, as they're called, are available for a great many
things.  When you first get involved with something, it is a
good idea to ask Veronica to find any FAQs on the subject and
send them to you.  They are usually of a quite reasonable length
and very helpful, especially to a beginner.  They're available
so  use them.

Type=0
Name=FAQ:  Frequently-Asked Questions about veronica
(1993/08/23) Path=0/veronica/veronica-faq
Port=70
Host=gopher.unr.edu


     These are just a few examples of the power of the Internet,
even by e-mail.

Note:  I highly recommend getting this FAQ.  It will give you a
real head start on using Veronica to maximum effectiveness right
away.  Notice also the date.  This and most other FAQs are
updated periodically.  You may want to leave the name off this
request as it is optional anyway.  This should net you the most
current version regardless of when you make your request.



                                          Chapter 9

                                Sending Mail to Other Networks



     Many readers will no doubt be interested in exchanging e-
mail with users of other networks.  Here I offer some start-up
instructions for a few of the more popular networks and
instructions on where to find more information for networks not
covered.  When receiving mail from other systems, your address
will usually be simply [e-mail].


Fidonet

     The general form for addressing mail from Internet to
Fidonet is: john.smith@p#.f#.n#.z#.fidonet.org, where the #s are
various routing  instructions to the destination Fidonet BBS to
which you want the mail delivered.  P=the point, F=Fidonode,
N=Net and Z=Zone.  For a more complete dissertation, download
the document listed in the Appendix.

     One more word about Fidonet; it is a noncommercial network
operated by private individuals, many of whom are hobbyists.
They operate their BBSs on their own time and with their own
money.  Fidonet uses something called "echomail" which works a
little like the Pony Express.  All the boards on the network
close down in the middle of the night and forward mail and other
network traffic through predefined pathways.  This is how your
mail will be delivered.  It may take overnight or it may take
several days or it may not arrive at all.  On the other hand,
you may have access to people and places that you can't get to
otherwise.  There are thousands and thousands of Fido boards all
over the world and they were usually there first.


CompuServe

     The general form is: #####.###@compuserve.com, where the #s
are the CompuServe ID of the intended recipient.  This is very
similar to your Internet address on PRODIGY.

America On-line

     This one's very similar to CompuServe and PRODIGY.  The
general form is: [e-mail].  Not too complicated.

Glasnet

     The newly democratized Russia is now connected to the
Internet through its own fledgling network called Glasnet.  If
you know the state of their economy and telecommunications
infrastructure, you can imagine how difficult and (in their
terms) expensive it is to develop, maintain and operate such a
system.  If you're interested in contacting anyone in Russia or
if you'd like to offer to help them in their efforts to join the
twentieth century before it becomes the twenty-first, there is
an excellent document available on the Internet.  Believe me,
they can use all the help they can get.  There are tremendous
opportunities for mutual exploitation at every level already and
it will get better long before it levels off.  One of the things
they need are sponsors for local network gateways.  This can be
done for what, to us, is a pitifully small amount of money.  As
their telephone network begins to catch up to the rest of the
world, there will be more and more areas open to practical
networking.  Give it some thought.  We might as well use our
bright, new toy to real human advantage.


Other Networks

     Rather than try to cover all the networks in the world
here, I will refer you to The Internet Mailing Guide which gives
instructions on how to address e-mail to and from the following
networks:

Alanet                     Connect                 Nasamail
America Online             Easynet                 Omnet
Applelink                  Econet                  Peacenet
Attmail                    Envoy                   Signet
Bitnet                     Fidonet                 Sinet
Bix                        Geonet                  Span
Bmug                       Gsfcmail                Sprintmail
Cgnet                      MCImail                 Thenet
CompuServe                 Nfenet                  Uninet

                                         Chapter 10

                                        PRODIGY's Mail Manager



     To make your use of e-mail more convenient and practical,
PRODIGY has provided you with a very useful tool: Mail Manager.
It has several different functions but your use of it will
depend on what you want to do.  Here, we will only touch briefly
on the capabilities of Mail Manager which pertain to the
Internet. If you want to get involved with the Internet through
PRODIGY, you must have and use Mail Manager.  Not only is
composition and management of e-mail more practical with Mail
Manager, but you simply cannot read Internet mail with the on-
line reader.  Nor can you send Internet mail on-line.  You must
use Mail Manager for these purposes.  About all you can do with
the Internet on-line is to receive mail and use the COPY TO DISK
option in your mailbox to save the file to disk and read it
later.

An Overview of Mail Manager

PRODIGY's  Mail Manager has six basic functions:

1.  Compose, edit and store off-line e-mail messages (both
    PRODIGY and Internet).

2.  Read, store, manage and reply to incoming e-mail (both
    PRODIGY and Internet).

3.  Get and send e-mail using PRODIGY.  This can be done
    manually, automatically or at scheduled  times.

4.  Organize and store your e-mail, both incoming and outgoing,
    into folders so that it is far easier to manage.

5.  Download and upload file transfers and manage them for you
    off-line. Send faxes and US postal mail (You cannot receive
    either of these through PRODIGY.)

6.  Mail Manager also includes a number of creature comforts
    like a spelling checker, a character counter and a "postage
    meter" which gives you a close approximation of what you
    will pay for your outgoing traffic.

Using Mail Manager with the Internet

     In connection with the Internet you will probably be using
Mail Manager for two basic purposes: writing and reading e-mail.
Here I use the term "e-mail" to refer to both ordinary mail and
files you have requested, both encoded binary files and straight
text. Reading and writing e-mail is pretty straightforward and
are covered quite adequately by the on-line help inside of Mail
Manager so we will not  get into those matters here.  What we do
need to discuss, however, is the question of how to deal with
binary and split files received from sources on the Internet.

     It really isn't very complicated but there are a few key
concepts that you need to understand.  First, as mentioned
earlier, binary files or files that are longer than the 60k
limit of PRODIGY e-mail will be encoded using uuencode.   There
are two ways you can process these files once they have arrived
in your mailbox.

     You can just use PRODIGY's COPY TO DISK function right in
your mailbox.  This has one advantage over using Mail Manager.
You are charged for incoming Internet CODs only after you have
downloaded or read them.  When one comes into your mailbox, all
you know is who or where it was sent from and the Subject line
attached.  The one thing you do not know is the size which is
what you're going to pay for.  If you select COPY TO DISK from
the mailbox menu, you will be told how many bytes are in the
message file.  In addition to telling you exactly how much it
will cost to download it (message-size/6000 and rounded up), it
may give you a clue as to what's in it if you don't already
know.  You will get this information before you actually have to
commit to the download.  If for any reason you don't want to pay
for it, just abort the download and delete the message from your
in-box.  You will not be charged.

     If you want to download using Mail Manager, you can put a
limit on the size of CODs you are willing to accept.  By setting
this number low (which you can do in Mail Manager's setup menu)
you can prevent inadvertently downloading expensive files
because you're flying on autopilot.  This is a precaution well
worth taking because PRODIGY offers no refunds on mail once
you've accepted it.  Downloading to Mail Manager constitutes
acceptance.  Besides, you can always up the limit on a case by
case basis if you want to.

     In any event,  it is probably easier to just copy the files
to disk and eliminate the middleman.  It's also quicker usually.
If you are dealing with a multipart file which has been encoded
and split up by uuencode, you will want to be careful how you
name the files.  The first file sent (usually the last one in
your mail box) should always be given a name of the form:
???????1.uue.  The second file received would be ???????2.uue
and so forth.  This is necessary so that Extract or whatever
program you're using to decode and reassemble the files will
know how to identify them and how they fit together.

     The Subject line of all these files (except the first one)
will ordinarily end with Part # so there shouldn't be too much
confusion as to the order in which they were sent.  The first
file will not have a part number.  Don't ask me why.  I suppose
that it doesn't know at the time it's mailed that it's going to
be a split file and only discovers that when it runs out of
space and has to start a new one.  It is also possible that
files sent (a few seconds) later may arrive first.  In this case
the part numbers will be out of sequence in your mailbox.  Don't
worry.  Just name and number them according to the part number
in the Subject line. Which brings up another point.  Whatever
you put in the Subject line of your request will generally be
sent back as part of the Subject line of the reply.  If you get
wordy, by the time the Internet server adds their two-bits-worth
to that subject, the part number may be shoved off the end of
the Subject line and be useless.  Sometimes you can't avoid
this.  For example, if you are making a request of Veronica you
must use the Subject line for your search criteria.  It may be
necessary to make that statement fairly long to narrow your
search adequately.  If you get back a multipart file where the
part numbers have been lost, you have little choice but to start
with number one (which will be the one with no trace of a part
number) and try different combinations of numbering the rest
until you find the one that works.  One trick is that the last
part is usually noticeably shorter than all the others.  At
least that narrows the field and makes it child's play for files
under about 180k (since there are only three files and you know
what the first and last are).


Downloading Files with Mail Manager

     Your main use of Mail Manager will be in reading, writing
and managing conventional text messages and smaller text files.
If the occasion arises when you do download an encoded file,
here's how you get it to the point where it can be decoded.

1.  Download the file from PRODIGY using Mail Manager and leave
    PRODIGY.

2.  Highlight the file on the Mail Manager screen and press
    ENTER to read it.

3.  When the file is being displayed, hit Alt-F to bring up the
    file menu and select E for Export.

4.  Give it the name for that file and hit ENTER again.

5.  Press ESC to return to the file listing and repeat the
    process for each new file.

     Once you have done this, you are essentially in the same
position you would have been if you had used COPY TO DISK while
you were on-line in your mailbox.  I told you it was easier to
do it that way.

Warning:  If you even half way expect to be receiving any
Internet mail, especially something that is of unknown size, do
not use Mail Manager to run PRODIGY and automatically download
your incoming mail.  You could end up with one whale of a bill
at the end of the month and have little of value to show for it.
If you want to use the automatic mail download, fine.  Disable
CODs using Mail Manager's Setup menu.  It also gives you a
chance to do that again every time you use the Get/Send option
on Mail Manager's main menu.  It's a little like "DEL *.*" in
DOS: it's hard to do unintentionally, but far from impossible.

     If you have other questions about Mail Manager, check the
on-line help files (which, incidentally, can be printed out:
just hit F1, P on the main menu.)


                                         Chapter 11

                                         Getting Help



FAQs

     Most people, when they first become involved in something,
have questions about it.  Many of the questions are the same for
nearly everyone.  Based on this assumption and because of the
fundamental complexity and outright vastness of the Internet,
someone had the bright idea of routinely creating and updating
lists of Frequently Asked Questions, or just FAQs.  These are
then made easily available in a variety of ways to prospective
users of whatever they cover. There are FAQs for nearly every
aspect of the Internet from soup to nuts.  One way to determine
if there is an FAQ on a particular subject is to ask Veronica.
Send her a query something like, "archie and faq" or any other
subject. You will receive by return mail a menu of all items on
the Internet which contain both of those words.  Presumably one
or more of them will be the FAQ you were looking for.  If so,
you can send another note to Veronica and ask for the FAQ file.
She will send it back usually within minutes.

     While some FAQs are fairly extensive, most are quite
reasonable in size.  This is one of the safest things to send
for because you are not going to get a mega-file back that costs
you the rent money.



Listserv

     There are more lists on the Internet than you really want
to know about.  Even the index is a humongous document.  There
are, however, probably some lists out there that might be of
interest to you.  It's quite possible that there may be some
that will be of substantial or even irreplaceable value.

     The mechanism used to manage many of these lists is called
Listserv.  There is no way to describe the details of what is
available using Listserv here but I can tell you how to get
started finding out using e-mail.

     When I first began work on this book, I didn't fully
appreciate the scope of what was available strictly by e-mail.
The one thing I did know was that Listserv was designed with e-
mail access in mind.  This made me think that there had to be
more of that kind of thing on the net.  As it turned out, there
was a great deal more than I had imagined.  Most of it is
covered to some extent in this book.

     Services like Archie, Veronica and Gopher are accessed by
e-mail in ways that  are strikingly similar to Listserv.  The
reason why Listserv was created with e-mail in mind is because
its home was on a network called BITNET which was technically
not part of the Internet.  The only connection that existed
between them was by e-mail (sound familiar?).  To accommodate
this limitation, Listserv was designed to be accessed by e-mail.
It has been a very workable arrangement and has, in fact, been
borrowed by others. To access Listserv you need only send the
server a message.  The subject field is ignored.  Place your
instructions in the body of the message.  Here is a list of a
few of the most often used commands.

Info        <topic|?>              Get detailed info files
List        <Detail|Short|Global>  Get description of all lists
SUBscribe   listname <full_name>   Subscribe to a list
REView      listname <options>     Review a list
Query       listname               Query personal options
SET         listname  options      Set personal options
INDex       <filelist_name>        Obtain a list of files
GET         filename filetype      Get file from LISTSERV
REGister    full_name|OFF          Register yourself

     To get the complete help file, send the following message:

TO: [e-mail]
Subject:  Get help file (this is just for your use)
Message:
help

     If you want more complete information, replace "help" in
the message body with "info  refcard" to get a reference card
which is far more complete.



Usenet

     On PRODIGY you have access to dozens of bulletin boards on
which to discuss a variety of subjects.  The Internet has a
similar arrangement called newsgroups which are provided under
the aegis of Usenet.  It has been estimated that there are as
many as a million postings on newsgroups worldwide every day.
The most complete list of subject areas I have seen has over
4,000 entries.  I have no idea how complete it was and new
subjects are being added every day.  Suffice it to say that no
matter what your interest is, there's probably a newsgroup of
people who share it. (For more on Usenet see page .)

     Because of the magnitude of traffic on Usenet it is not a
practical option to access it by mail if for no other reason
than the cost would be prohibitive.  I have scoured the net
looking for a way to do this that  was practicable and have come
up empty.  It's not that you can't get there from here, but more
that you probably don't want to by any of the means  available.

     I do have some suggestions that  may prove useful, however.
Many of these groups are moderated by someone.  If you can find
out who the moderator of the group is, you can send them an e-
mail asking  for suggestions on how you can get involved.  It
may not work out, but at least it's something to try.

     You can use Veronica to "prospect" for Usenet newsgroups
which are of interest to you.  Then you may be able to download
reasonable sized portions of the dialogue.  If it is of interest
and if you can find out who the moderator is, you can write to
solicit help.  There's almost always an FAQ for the group
including the moderator's name and e-mail address.  You might
use Veronica to search for "comics faq" to find out about a
newsgroup on comics.  It might well be worth a try.

     There are a growing number of local BBS systems which
capture Usenet traffic selectively.  Again, Veronica may be
helpful in finding one in your area if you can't find one on
your own.  Otherwise, you may be limited to the offerings on
PRODIGY, which ain't chopped liver.



                                         Chapter 12

                                 Finding Full Internet Access



     As you have probably long since realized, while there is a
fantastic array of opportunities available accessing the
Internet by e-mail, it's just a substitute for actually being
on-line.  I  am connected directly to only two networks: the
Internet and PRODIGY.  Between the two, I get everything I want
and need.  I have no intentions of giving either one of them up
without one  whale of a fight.  There are some areas of overlap,
but to a surprising extent the two networks are profoundly
complementary.  What one doesn't have, the other does.

     If you find yourself drooling out of both sides of your
mouth as you read about what's available, or if you try it out
and find yourself getting frustrated at the e-mail connection
after a while, you may want to seek direct access.


Public Access Gateways

     If you're in a moderate to large city or a college town,
you've got a good chance of hitting pay dirt.  There are a
growing number of private companies offering public Internet
gateways.  You call them and they connect you to the net.  They
are, of course, like everyone else, in business.  They will
charge you to play their game.  What they charge varies
dramatically from system to system. I am very fortunate to be
paying about the same as I do for PRODIGY for unlimited access
every month.  It's a local call and I don't pay for connect
time.  In my experience, I'm getting quite a bargain.  A basic
account typically runs between $10 and $35 a month on most
systems.  You may have to pay more than that for access and
there may or may not be on-line charges.  Most system are also
starting to charge a modest, onetime installation fee.  These
typically run between $10-$35.

     If you are a student or staff member at a college, you can
probably get an account through the school's network.  Even if
you're a "civilian," you may be able to get an account through
a school or even a business in your area.  If you have no luck
finding a commercial provider or if you're just plain cheap, you
might do a little poking around to see if this is an option.  If
you're not part of the school, though, don't expect a free
account.


Freenets

     There are also an ever-increasing number of so called
Freenets springing up in cities all over the world.  Cleveland
Ohio was one of the first with their Cleveland Freenet.  In my
home state of Oregon we have freenets in Salem, the state
capital, and in La Grande.  Neither of these towns is very large
and the latter is a small college town in the middle of nowhere
in the interior of eastern Oregon.  Freenets are popping up in
Europe too.  I suspect that in the next few years freenets will
be viewed as a basic service in towns and cities of any size.
Possibly long before the turn of the century, any city without
a freenet, or something a lot like one, will be considered a
backwater, hick town.

     If there's a freenet in your area, check into it.  Most of
them offer some on-line Internet services as well as e-mail
boxes for which they may or may not charge a modest fee.  For
details on existing freenets, download the file described in the
Appendix.



Do It Yourself

     If you are willing to spend some time and money, you can
actually establish your own Internet gateway.  The system to
which I subscribe offers a Point of Presence account which gives
you the ability to run your own Gopher software and many other
goodies. There are dedicated, packet-switched phone lines
available to even fairly remote areas if you're willing to fork
over the cash.

     The worst case would probably be about $6 an hour.  Half of
that is more likely.  This situation should improve in the next
few years.  Don't forget the law of supply and demand.

     If you're on the PRODIGY service already, you are probably
in an area which is large enough to have some kind of Internet
gateway.  There are several lists of commercial Internet
providers around the net.  The best known, and probably the most
comprehensive, is called PDIAL.  It is updated periodically and
has hundreds of listing all over.  You can get it by FTP (Archie
will help you find a copy)  or Veronica will be happy to send
you a copy.  If you don't find what you want in PDIAL, then use
Veronica to ferret out other such lists and keep at it until you
succeed. Again because you're on PRODIGY already, you probably
have access to something called PC-PURSUIT.  This is a service
which sells you 30 hours of long-distance computer time a month
for about $1 an hour.  It isn't available everywhere but it is
in most large and some medium sized cities.  This would allow
you to shop the entire country for a gateway that suited your
purposes.  With inexpensive, flat-rate long-distance you can
plug into any system you like.



                                         Chapter 13

                                Utility Programs You Will Need



     As you become more deeply involved with the Internet, you
will need at least a small collection of utility programs to
assist you in manipulating the files you download.  In this
chapter we will take a look at the most important of them.

The Zip Utilities

     The files you download over the net take time and what has
become known as "bandwidth."  This term is used to describe the
fundamental measure of the capacity of a communication link to
move information from point to point.  To understand bandwidth
you need only imagine a garden hose.  You can only push so much
water through it before it begins to split its seams.  The same
is true of a communications conduit.  This capacity for carrying
information over a period of time is called bandwidth.

     In any given transmission medium there is a finite amount
of bandwidth available.  The more you use, the less you have
left.  It's not all that complicated.  The trick is to conserve
bandwidth by making the best use of what you have.

     In terms of the Internet (or any other network) one of the
ways to do this is to compress the data that is being
transmitted before it goes into the pipeline and expand it again
after it reaches its destination.  This is done by eliminating
redundant information. For example, a typical document contains
a lot of "white space": spaces, tabs, blank lines, etc.  If,
instead of sending every space and tab, you just send a summary
of where they are.  This can save considerable space and
therefore bandwidth without losing any information.

     There are a number of highly complex and well thought out
schemes around that are able to compress a typical document to
about half its original size without losing any of the
information in it.  It's a neat little trick and it really
works.

     One of the best known and most popular of these is employed
in a set of programs created and distributed by PKWARE called
PKZIP.  In this suite of programs are utilities for scrunching
and unscrunching files of all kinds as well as a few other tools
that can be very handy.

     Collectively these are often referred to as the Zip
utilities.  They are shareware, which means that you can
download them or copy them from any other source for free.  You
can try them for a while and then you are expected to either
stop using them or send in a registration form and pay for them.
They aren't expensive and they can be worth their weight in
gold.

     The vast majority of the programs you  download from the
Internet (not to mention other sources) will be compressed using
the Zip utilities.  If you don't have this software, you will be
able to download whatever you want to but you will be unable to
use it once you get it because it needs to be reconstructed in
a way only these programs know how to do.

     Another handy thing about these "archiving" utilities is
that when you compress files, you can put more than one original
in the same archive.  In other words, you can compress any
number of files and when it's all over, they have become one
file that is usually about half the size that the individual
files were originally.  This is very convenient when downloading
too, because it means that you can capture one large bundle
which contains a set of related files.

     There is a catch-22 here, just in case you haven't already
noticed.   If you download the Zip utilities and they are
compressed, how do you un-compress them so you can use them? Not
to worry.  These people are no fools.  They have anticipated
this problem and make their package available in the form of
what is call a "self-unarchiving" file.  Basically, the way it
works is this: after the files are compressed, they are turned
into a very special program.  When you run this program, it
simply extracts the file in it and returns them to their
original, individual forms.  Slick, eh?  As you will soon see,
unfortunately, not everything works out so well.


uuencode and uudecode

     There is another need that arises in the transmission of
binary data (like programs and Zip files) using e-mail instead
of a direct transfer.  There are, of course, utilities to handle
these problems, too.  One solution involves a pair of programs:
uuencode and its mate uudecode.

     You will need this pair of utility programs if you are
going to be downloading binary files such as programs.  Binary
files have to be encoded because they contain characters other
than text which can't be sent by mail.  Files longer than 60k
have to be broken into smaller pieces and reassembled at your
end after they are transmitted.  In order to make these
processes work correctly, there must be software at both ends of
the transaction that agree on the way in which it is to be done.
uuencode is a standard technique that is readily available which
encodes binary files at the sending end.  uudecode is its
counterpart which decodes and reassembles the files at the
receiving end.

     What these programs do is to convert binary files into an
equivalent file that contains only legitimate text characters
(ones you can enter from the keyboard) so it won't upset mail
programs.  Then those text-like files are translated back after
delivery into a single file that is identical to the original.
If you don't get copies of these two programs, you will have
little luck downloading programs or any other binary files.

     You can get a nice little package called Extract that
contains the functionality of both uuencode and uudecode.  It
works with both DOS and Windows 3.x and is readily available on
the Internet but, unfortunately, there is a catch-22.  If you
send for it by e-mail (which you can do), it will arrive encoded
by uuencode.  Since you don't yet have the decoder operational,
you will be unable to use it.  It's one of those things like,
"If we had some ham, we could have some ham and eggs if we only
had some eggs."  After spending many hours searching the
Internet, I found the solution right here in my own back yard.

     I'll give you detailed instructions on how to get Extract
from the best source I have found that is available to all.  It
does involve a long-distance call for most readers, but it
shouldn't amount to more than a couple of dollars if you call
during off-peak hours.  This is a good idea anyway because the
system you will be calling will not be as busy and things will
go much faster.  Plus, this is a bona fide Internet site and you
may want to take the opportunity to look around while you're
there.

     Here's an overview of what you will have to do.  The step-
by-step instructions come later.  You will place a call to a
system in Portland, Oregon called Portals.  Once on Portals, you
will follow a path through some menus that will lead you into a
Gopher server in Minnesota and eventually to a menu of Veronica
servers.  You will then ask one of them to find a copy of
Extract for you and when it has, you will download the file.
Once you have it you can either log-off Portals, or just poke
around as long as your interest and wallet permit.  Once you're
back on your own system,  you  just unzip it and you're ready to
go.  If you want to run it under Windows, you'll have to install
it first.  That's the lay of the land.  Here's what you'll need
to perform the operation.

1.  A modem program that supports the Kermit file transfer
protocol and is capable of emulating a VT-100 terminal.

2.  The PKZIP utilities package.  If you don't have it already,
    you can download it through Portals at the same time you get
    Extract.

Okay, here we go.

1.  Set your modem program's communications format to Even
parity, 7 data bits and 1 stop bit.

2.  Tell it to dial 1-503-725-5220 for 2400 baud or faster, or
    1-503-725-3201 for 1200 baud

3.  When the modem connects, press the ENTER key 4 or 5 times.
    You will then see the input prompt CISCO>.  Enter the word
    "Portals" and hit ENTER again.

4.  There will be a couple of self-explanatory prompts after
 that and then you will be at Portals' main menu.

5.  Select item 11 (Other Network Resources) by typing 11 and
    ENTER.
6.  On the next menu select item 3 (University of Minnesota
Gopher) and press ENTER.

7.  At the "login:" prompt type "gopher" and ENTER.

8.  When it prints "VT-100" just hit ENTER.

9.  This will bring you to the main Gopher menu.  Select item 8
    (Other Gopher Servers).

10. On the next menu select item 2 (Search Gopherspace using
 Veronica).

11. Now you are at the Veronica servers menu.  There will be one
    or more servers listed.  Theoretically, they are all the
 same, but some are busier than others and some seem to be
better informed on a given subject than others.  You want to
 select one of the items that says, "Search gopherspace
at..."

12. You can just type the number of the item and press ENTER.
    A box will appear and ask you what you want to look for.
  Type in "extrct34" and hit ENTER.  In a few moments you
should see a list with several items that say "extrct34.zip
<PC Bin>".

13. Use the arrow keys to move to any one of these and type "D"
    to download it.  (Note that this is a capital D without
ENTER).

14. A menu of download protocols will appear and you will select
    Kermit by typing 5.  Do not hit ENTER here.

15. In a few moments you will see a message in the lower right
    corner of the screen that says "Receiving file..."  In a few
    seconds the screen will clear and you will see a message on
    the top line that says something like "Begin your download
    procedure."  At this point hit whatever keys your
communications program requires to begin a Kermit download.
 (Often this requires you hit PgDn followed by K for Kermit.)

16. Now sit back and wait for the download to finish.  This
should take about 10 minutes at 2400 baud, much less at 9600
 baud.

17. When the download is finished, you have several choices.
  If you already have PKZIP, you can just go to step 21 and
 quit.  If not, you can download PKZIP at this time.  In
either case, you may want to stick around and do a little
exploring.  Here we will assume that you want to download
PKZIP. If you don't want to do that, skip to item 21 on this
 list.

18. To download PKZIP, press U for "Up" and you will be back at
    the Veronica menu.  Now press f to initiate another search.
    Press control-U to erase the "extrct34" you entered earlier,
    then type "pkzip and exe" in its place and press ENTER.

19. Now you will get a list of PKZIP files.  Arrow to one that
    says PKZIP???.EXE <PC Bin>"  The ??? will be a version
number.  Pick the one with the highest number.  This will     be
the most recent version of the software.

20. Now repeat steps 13 through 16 as before.

21. If you're ready to quit, skip ahead to the next item on this
    list.  If you want to do a little exploring, just type "U"
    again and you're back at Veronica.  You can do another
search for whatever you want to or you can keep hitting "U"
to back up through the menus and poke around to your heart's
 content.

22. When you're ready to quit, just type "q" for quit and "y"
  to confirm that you really mean it.  Do not hit f after
these keys.

23. Now you're back at Portals.  To explore here, type "p" for
    previous and ENTER to go back up through the menus.

24. When you're ready to quit Portals, type "q" f to quit and
  "y" f to confirm.  Hang up the phone (or wait a few moments
  and your modem will do it for you.)

     Well, it has been a somewhat long and involved process but
hopefully a successful one.  Now you should have both the Zip
utilities and the uuencode software Extract you will need to
have your way with the Internet.  You have also had at least a
minimal exposure to the Internet on-line.  This will be highly
advantageous later when you try to access things by e-mail.

     There are a few things that you should be aware of that may
occur during this procedure.  First, you may have some trouble
getting logged-on to Portals at the slower baud rates,
especially during high-traffic periods.  The best bet is to call
late at night (Pacific Time) and just keep calling back until
you get connected.  If you hit ENTER 8 or 10 times without
response, hang up and try again.

     When you make your search requests of Veronica, you may get
a message like, "Too many connections.  Try again soon."  Take
that literally.  Do it again right away.  These systems are busy
but that changes on a moment-to-moment basis.  If you try one
server several times without success, try another one.
Sometimes the message will say that you are unable to connect to
another system or that nothing was found.  Believe me, these
programs are there so don't take no for an answer.  In the worst
case, where they're all just too busy to help you, you may have
to all back at another time and try again.  This is highly
unlikely but it could happen.

     There is one other thing you should be aware of.  The
menus, both on Portals and on Gopher change without notice.  As
a result, the item numbers given here may not be the same at a
later date (possibly later today!)  That is why I gave the text
that goes along with them.  Check to be sure that the text
agrees (more or less) with the numbers before using them.  If a
menu item has another number next to it, use that number rather
than the one I gave you.  When I have told you to use the arrow
keys, you can also use the letter J to move down and K to move
up.  I tell you this just in case your VT-100 emulator isn't
quite perfect.  If that happens, the arrows may not work as
intended.

     Don't be intimidated by all these warnings.  They're only
here to cover all contingencies and because I want you to be
successful.  Chances are you will be able to get in and out with
the goods the first time in 10 or 15 minutes without a hitch.

     With split files you must adhere to a certain file naming
convention for Extract to work correctly and automatically.  It
expects you to tell it which is the first file that it will use
to find the mates and put them back together.  An example is
probably the best way to explain this.  Let's say you have a
file whose original name was abcd.zip.  The abcd is the root
file name.  If that file comes broken into four pieces, they
should be named (or renamed) to abcd1.uue, abcd2.uue, abcd3.uue
and abcd4.uue.  The .uue file extension is the default which the
program  expects.  Also be sure that you number the modules in
their correct order.  This should be obvious because the e-mail
subject line for each of them will end with "Part 2" and so on.
The first file, however, will not include a part number.  This
one you will name xxxx1.uue followed by xxxx2.uue, etc.  Once
you've done it a couple of times, it will be easy.

     That's it.  The result will be a file abcd.zip which will
be identical to the original.  If the file is very large (over
600k), you will need to allow for a two-digit count in the file
name (e.g., abcd12.uue).  Since file names are otherwise
arbitrary, you can name them just about anything you want to
without causing a problem  If the file involved is a Zip file in
the first place, you will, of course, have to unzip it after
uudecode reassembles it.

     I know this sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo but it is all
necessary and for good reasons.  You are trying to make
programs, like mailers, do things they weren't intended to do.
It is only thanks to the ingenuity and persistence of a lot of
good computer people that these facilities are there at all, let
alone work.  Really, it isn't as bad as it looks.  Once you've
done it a couple of times, you'll wonder what the big deal was.
It also gives you quite a sense of accomplishment to force a
whole network of thousands of computer systems to do your
bidding, even though it runs counter to its basic inclinations.
It can be a kind of macho thing.


                                         Chapter 14

                                  A Few Tips and A Bon Voyage



Searching for Gold with Veronica

     Whether you're adventurous, need information fast or just
have an insatiable curiosity, Veronica is your friend in need.
Granted, she's a little clumsy to use with e-mail, but at least
she's quick.  You can carry on a fairly extensive (and
successful) search in a matter of minutes, once you get the hang
of it.  The turn around time from the moment you send your query
until you get an answer back is usually only a minute or two.
You will almost certainly spend more time going over the results
of the search than it took to get them.

     One of the keys to effective use of Veronica is in devising
good search criteria. As with so many other facets of life and
learning, the better the questions you ask, the better the
answers you get.  A little practice is always helpful, but I
hope to get you off on the right foot at least.

     You may tend to make your queries too broad at first.  This
will produce large response files and what you're looking for
may not even make the cut (Remember, unless you say otherwise,
you'll only get the first couple hundred hits.  This may seem
like a lot but I've seen reasonably well constructed queries
turn up thousands of hits!).  You may go the other way and make
you're queries so specific that they will come up empty.  After
a while, you begin to get a feel for what will work best.

     Veronica is not case sensitive, fortunately, but she is
very conscious of things like spelling and punctuation.  Do not
use any punctuation at all.  For example, if you are looking for
a copy of a program called xyz.zip, don't ask for it just that
way.  Ask for either just xyz if it is likely to be unique, or
ask for xyz and zip.  That will bring back only items which
contain both words. As we discussed earlier, you can use
parentheses in your search expressions.  Learn to use them well
and you will have a much better chance of hitting what you want
the first time without having to go through a long and possibly
expensive list of hits.  I have never had any success with
"nested parens."  Those are parens within parens.  For example,
((this and that) or (these and  (those or them))).  It just
doesn't seem to compute, as they say.

     Also remember that you don't have to spell things out all
the way.  The search mechanism looks for any occurrence of the
things you specify anywhere in any of the entries it looks at.
There's no point spelling out Pittsburgh when you can just give
it pittsb instead.  This will also save precious space on the
Subject line of your query and minimize the possibility of
getting a multipart reply with the part numbers shoved off the
end.

     Try to send your queries to Veronica servers that are in a
part of the world where they are likely not to be too busy.  For
example, if it is 11pm in New York, it is only 4 am in Italy.
It might be a good time to make a Veronica query at the
University of Pisa.  If its 7 am in New York, then University of
Nevada at Reno would be a good place to go because it will be 4
am there and at least there won't be many local users on.


Controlling Costs

     I've already tried to give you the best advice I could
about controlling costs  all along.  Here are a few thoughts
that didn't come up anywhere else or that bear repeating.

     One of the keys in operating efficiently is planning.  Look
ahead before you start sending e-mail to every corner of the
earth.  If you're looking for someone's e-mail address, try to
do it in a more conventional way first.  A dollars worth of long
distance calling could bring better results than several dollars
worth of e-mail to whois servers.  Unless you can easily afford
it, just try to find a postmaster at their host system and drop
them a line asking for help.  With any luck, you should be able
to dig up an address that way for about 40 cents (4 messages;
one to whois to find the postmasters domain address; one to the
postmaster; the CODs back from those two messages).  Make it a
habit of doing all your reading and writing off-line.  You are
less likely to be in a hurry and you can check and revise things
before sending them out into Cyberspace.

     Learn from your mistakes so you won't have to make (and
pay) for them again.  It's bad enough to goof once, but to do it
again and again is a real drag.  Talk to other people who are
doing similar things and learn from each other's mistakes.
Whether you realize it or not, this book you're reading is based
on...well, a lot of mistakes I've made over a long period of
time.  If you pay close attention, you will be less likely to
make the same ones yourself.


Be Experimental

     I have long been a true believer that when it comes to
anything to do with computers, the best learning takes place
while experimenting.  Try some things, even if you're not quite
sure what will happen.  Of all the explorations I have made in
my life, expeditions into Cyberspace have been the most
consistently surprising.  You almost always end up with
something that you couldn't have guessed at.  That, for me at
least, is one of the fatal attractions of the Internet: it
continues to surprise and delight me.  It is nothing short of
magical in that respect.


Learn Your Tools

     Whether you're downloading files, sending e-mail, searching
for an address or  a piece of information, you are using the
computer as a tool.  More specifically, you are using computer
software.  The better you know your tools, the more easily,
quickly and surely you will get what you want.

     Getting involved with the Internet will of necessity bring
new tools into your life.  Get them and learn how to use them so
that they become your willing servants and not your enemies.  We
have discussed a few here but there are many more that, while
they may not be strictly speaking necessary, are nonetheless
very helpful.  Again, talk to people and find out what they're
using and where you can get it.  Then learn to use it in your
own way.

     You are embarking on what promises to be a grand adventure:
the exploration of space, Cyberspace that is.  Be like explorers
throughout the ages and bring that adventurous spirit into
everything you do in Cyberspace.  As one who has been there and
back many times, I can tell you that the world is indeed
shrinking at a breathtaking rate and the Internet is driving
that implosion as much as anything ever has.  So reach out there
and touch someone.  The world is waiting for you.  Oh yes,
don't' forget to have the time of your life!


                                         Appendix A

Glossary of Internet Terms

/

     When you see a / at the end of a line in a Gopher menu, it
indicates that this item is another directory, not a file.

<?>

     When you see a ? at the end of a line in a Gopher menu, it
indicates that this item asks you for something to search for.
Whois servers, Veronica servers and dictionaries are examples.

Archie

     A mechanism for searching the Internet for files available
for FTP downloading (see page  for more).

Archive

     A collection of information.  Often used to refer to a
database or a compressed file containing one or more programs,
text files or other information (see page  for more).

Arj

     One of the popular methods of compressing and combining
information.  Not as common on the Internet as it is on bulletin
boards.

ASCII

     A set of characters ordinarily associated with those that
can be entered on a keyboard.  (See Binary).

Bandwidth

     The amount of information that can be carried over a
communications line is finite and is referred to as bandwidth.
It is a measure of a system's capacity to convey information
from one point to another.

Baud

     A measure of the speed of data transmission over the
telephone or by other means.

<bin>

     When you see a <bin> at the end of a line in a Gopher menu,
it indicates that this item is a binary file.  (See <PC bin>)

Binary File

     A file which contains information other than simple text.
Such files contain numbers outside the range of 0-127 which is
the scope of the ASCII character set.  (See ASCII)

Client

     A program or computer which is dependent on another program
or computer for information or other necessary operating data.
The computer on which it is dependent is called the Host.  (See
Host)

Connected

     You are said to be  connected to a system when an active
communications path has been established.  This term is used
frequently when you initially dial into a system or when one
system to which you are already connected is passing you off to
another one.

Cyberspace

     This is the name users have given to the electronic reality
you encounter on the Internet.  It is meant to highlight the
contrast between the virtual reality of the Internet and the so
called "real world."

Data Bits

     Information is sent by modems in small bundles analogous to
the well known byte of storage.  In the case of data
communication, there are matters of transmission to be
considered.  The number of data bits is one of the things that
both sending and receiving computers must agree on.  As a user,
all you really need to know when calling another system is
whether it expects 7 or 8 data bits.  What is required is that
your computer agrees with the one at the other end of the wire.
With PRODIGY, this is taken care of automatically by the
software.  When dialing into another system, you have to
instruct your communication software how many data bits to use.
(See also, Stop Bits and Parity.)

Directory

     On the Internet as in DOS, files are collected into
directories.  These directories have sub-directories within them
and so on.  They use the same tree-like structure as DOS.   This
only becomes pertinent when you are using FTP to download files
remotely.  You must know the address of the remote computer, the
sub-directory in which the file resides and, of course, the name
of the file.  Unlike DOS, which uses the \ (back-slash)
character to separate directories, the systems you will
encounter on the Internet use the / (forward-slash) character
for that purpose.

Download

     This term simply means receiving a file from another
computer, usually by modem.

E-mail

     It is a contraction for electronic-mail; mail conveyed by
electronic  rather than physical means.

Fidonet

     A somewhat informal network of BBS computers which has
pioneered long-distance communication.

File Transfer

     This term applies any time a package of information in the
form of a file is transmitted from one computer to another.  It
includes uploads and downloads as well as e-mail-like transfers.


FTP

     An acronym for File Transfer Protocol.

Gateway

     Any time two computer networks provide a means of
communicating between each other, this channel is called a
gateway.

Gopher

     Gopher is a server program which is present on a great many
Internet systems.  Its function is to offer a menu driven,
reasonably friendly way of accessing the mind-boggling array of
information and resources available on the Internet.  The
systems which run Gopher servers are affectionately known as
"burrows" or just "gopher holes."  The vast range of material
accessible by Gopher is called "Gopherspace."

Gopherspace

     (See Gopher above.)

Host

     A host is any computer, system or network to which you are
connected as an outside terminal.  For example, PRODIGY is the
host when you are logged-on to it.

IP

     This is an acronym for Internet Protocol.  The IP is a set
of rules by which packets of information are addressed for
delivery throughout the Internet

Lhz

     This is another form of data compression similar to Zip,
Arc and Arj.  Less common on the Internet than on other systems.


Listserv

     As the name implies, it is a list server program accessible
at numerous points through the Internet.  It is actually under
the umbrella of BITNET and, since the Internet is only connected
to BITNET by e-mail (like PRODIGY), Listserv can only be
accessed by e-mail.  (refer to page  for more.)

Log-on

     To log-on to a system you usually must enter your account
identifier, name or other information before you are allowed to
use the resources of that system.  Sometimes it is a system
security procedure or may be, as with public systems, simply a
way of keeping internal records of system activity.  On secure
systems you must enter a valid user ID and password to proceed
any farther.

Log-off

     When you are ready to terminate your connection to a
system, you must log-off.  It is the opposite of logging-on.
You can simply hang up the phone, but this is always considered
bad form and can, in some cases, cause problems after you're
gone.  Whenever possible, exit in whatever way the host
provides.

Mail Manager

     To access the Internet by e-mail from PRODIGY you must use
their Mail Manager program.  Mail Manager allows you to read,
write, edit and manage PRODIGY e-mail.

Modem Program

     To use your modem for communicating with other computers,
you must have software to control it.   The PRODIGY software is
a special modem program that accesses only the PRODIGY system.
Other programs are more general and, while they can't be used to
access PRODIGY, they can be used with most other systems.
Procomm, Telink, BitCom and Qmodem are just a few of the
programs commonly used for this purpose.

Modem

     This is a contraction for Modulator/demodulator.  It is a
device that converts digital (computer) information into sound
so that it can be sent over telephone lines and, once it has
reached its destination, converts it back into digital form
again.  A modem can be viewed as a translator which operates
between a computer and a telephone.

Node

     When a group of computers are hooked together, each one
forms an intersection in the network.  These intersections are
called nodes.  They are like the train depots in a railway
system, in a very loose sense.  You may see this term referred
to now and then on the Internet.

On-Ramp

     In the metaphor of the "Electronic Superhighway" an on-ramp
is anyplace where you can enter the highway and merge with the
other traffic.  This is usually a "gateway" system.  From the
standpoint of e-mail, PRODIGY is an on-ramp.  A full-fledged on-
ramp would offer you Telnet and other on-line access to the
Internet.

Parity

     Parity is one of the components of the protocol used in
modem communication.  It is a "cheap" way of checking the
validity of a small bundle of data after it has been received.
It simply indicates whether there are supposed to be an even or
odd number of bits turned on in this particular bundle.  The
most common settings are: Odd, Even and None (sometimes called
Mark).

<PC bin>

     When you see this at the end of a line in a Gopher menu, it
indicates that the item in question is a binary file meant to be
used on an IBM compatible PC.  On the Internet, these files will
usually be either programs, Zip files or both.  The same would
also apply to picture, sound or other binary files, however.

Port

     Host systems on the Internet are usually large, mainframe
or minicomputers which, like a large building, have many "doors"
through which to enter and leave.  In a computer system these
doors are called ports and it is sometimes necessary to specify
which port you are addressing (just like it may be necessary to
enter or leave by a particular door in a building).  The most
likely place where you will get involved with ports is when you
are corresponding with a Gopher server by e-mail.  Fortunately,
you will almost always be simply copying a block of addressing
information which already includes a port designation and will
not have to come up with one on your own.

Protocol

     This is a set of agreements, rules or procedures which are
adhered to by two systems so that they may interact in a
reliable fashion.  TCP/IP is the fundamental protocol for the
Internet.  There are also file transfer protocols like Xmodem,
Ymodem, Zmodem and Kermit.  These are involved with the
procedures used in transferring files from one system to
another.

Register

     When you want a system to know who and where you are, or
when it wants to know, the process by which you give it that
information is called registration.  The most likely place you
will encounter this on the Internet is with the Listserv system.
Once you are registered with Listserv, it knows who you are and
it makes subscribing to and receiving lists easier.

Server

     A server is a computer program running on a host system
which exists to serve clients (which would be you) in a
particular way.  They are specialized programs such as Gopher,
Veronica, Archie, and whois.

Snailmail

     The efforts of the US Postal Department are not-so-
affectionately known as snailmail on the Internet.  This is
meant to underscore the contrast in delivery time between postal
mail and e-mail.  You must admit, there is a dramatic difference
between fractions of seconds and days.  The term is often used
with a certain haughty disdain by residents of Cyberspace.

Stop Bits

     This is an element of modem communication protocol.  The
value will be either 0 or 1, depending on the system.  In the
preponderance of cases the setting will be 1.  (See also Data
bits and Parity.)

Sub-directory

     This refers to a file directory which is within another
directory, just as in DOS.  (See Directory)

Sysop

     This is a contraction for System Operator; the person who
is responsible for the operation of a system.  In larger systems
this person is more likely to be call a System Administrator.

TCP

     This acronym stands for Transmission Control Protocol which
is the set of rules governing the transmission of information
across and between networks on the Internet.  Along with IP it
represents the essential identity of the Internet itself (See IP
for more).

<TEL>

     When you see this at the end of a line in a Gopher menu, it
indicates that this item causes you to leave the Internet and
Telnet to another system.  A typical example would be accessing
a library card catalog.

Telecommunications Program

     (See Modem Program )

Telnet

     This is a mechanism that allows users on the Internet to
log-on to remote hosts as if they were a terminal at the host's
site.  It is, unfortunately, one of the things you cannot access
from PRODIGY.

Terminal Emulation

     Large, multi-user computers are able to deal with only
certain kinds of computer terminals.  The list of compatible
terminals on a given system may be long or short but it is
always finite.  If you are calling in from a PC, you are not
actually a terminal at all.  Your modem program must therefore
"pretend" to be one of the terminals that the host expects.
This impersonation is called terminal emulation.  By far the
most common terminal emulation on the Internet is Digital
Equipment Corporation's VT-100.  This only applies when you are
actually logging on a system and is irrelevant for e-mail.  If
you are going to access the Internet only by e-mail, you will
not have to deal with terminal emulation at all.

Unix

     This is the predominant operating system found on the host
computers of the Internet.  There are certain conventions which
are intrinsic to Unix systems such as terminology and keystrokes
used for specific purposes.  In dealing with the Internet by e-
mail, most of these are virtually unimportant.  If you ever get
a direct Internet account and don't know a thing about Unix, I
strongly suggest that you get a book or take a course or
something.  Unix is a very powerful and elegant operating system
but has never been known for its user-friendliness.

Upload

     The process of transferring a file from your computer to
another is called an upload.  It is the opposite of a download
in that it moves information "up" and out of your computer
instead of "down" and into it.

User Account

     When you become a registered user on a system, you are
assigned a user account.  This usually involves a "user ID" and
an e-mail address.  You have (presumably) a user account on
PRODIGY and possibly other systems.  You cannot receive e-mail
without an account because you  have no address there .

Veronica

     Like Gopher, Veronica is a server on the Internet.  You can
ask her to find things for you on the Internet and she will go
out looking  and reply with a list of what she found.

Whois

     This is yet another server.  This one's job is, as the name
implies, to find out who someone or something is.  Basically, it
is as close to an Internet phone book as exists.  There are many
whois servers on the Internet.  Some are global in scope, others
are limited largely to a particular theater (like the military)
while still others are strictly local (a college campus or
corporation).  The more general a whois server is, the more
likely it is to have an entry for a computer system or network
and the less likely it is to have one for a particular person,
and conversely.

ZIP

     No, its got nothing to do with postal codes.  It refers to
a type of file compression implemented by PKWARE called PKZIP.
After a file is Zipped (compressed) it usually takes up about
half the space and can therefore be uploaded or downloaded in
half the time.


                                         Appendix B

                                         Bibliography

     These are not by any means the only books on the Internet,
but they are the most recent and popular.  See your local
bookstore for prices and availability.

Marine, April
Internet--getting started
PTR Prentice Hall, c1994.

Fisher, Sharon
Riding the Internet highway
New Riders Pub., 1993.

Kehoe, Brendan P.
Zen and the art of the Internet : a beginner's guide
PTR Prentice Hall, c1993.

Krol, Ed
The whole Internet : user's guide & catalog
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1992.

LaQuey, Tracy
The Internet companion : a beginner's guide to global networking
Addison-Wesley, c1993.

Malamud, Carl
Exploring the Internet : a technical travelogue
PTR Prentice Hall, c1992.

Rose, Marshall T.
The Internet message : closing the book with electronic mail PTR
Prentice Hall, c1993.


                                         Appendix C

                                    Lots of Gopher Goodies


     The following is a compilation of Gopher addresses which
will search for or retrieve files which may be of interest.
Some are text files which deal with various topics related to
the Internet, others are system destinations, servers and other
resources.  Several are lists of bulletin boards, public
Internet access providers and inter-network mailing
instructions.  Look over this listing and send for whatever
appeals to you.  To help you decide, I have included some brief
notes for each one.  This information was all tested and valid
at press time but may have since changed.  If you find that such
is the case, just use Veronica to search for another location on
the net.  That, after all, is how I found them all in the first
place.  Have fun!

Note:  For instructions on how to use these address blocs and
others listed below, refer to the Chapter 8.

Hytelnet (750k)

     This is a hyper-text database program that presents
thousands of Internet Telnet destinations in a highly accessible
format.  While you cannot Telnet to them through PRODIGY, you
can use this information to find domain names for later e-mail,
FTP or what have you.

Type=5
Name=hyteln66.zip
Path=ftp:ftp.usask.ca@/pub/hytelnet/pc/hyteln66.zip
Port=70
Host=gopher.usask.ca

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet (81k)

     A novel approach to exploring the Internet with a sense of
humor.
Type=0
Name=hitch.hikers.guide.to.the.net
Path=0/humor/computer/hitch.hikers.guide.to.the.net
Port=6969
Host=gofish.aiss.uiuc.edu

Zen And The Art Of The Internet (177k)

     A well known "industry standard" book on the Internet and
its resources.

Type=0
Name=Zen and the Art of the Internet
Path=0/onet/zen10.txt
Port=70
Host=vm.utcc.utoronto.ca

The Incomplete Guide to the Internet (545k)

     This document is largely aimed at  teachers and students
using (or wanting to use) the Internet.  It is quite extensive.

Type=0
Name=The Incomplete Guide to the Internet - ~300 pages
Path=0/etc/Doc-Swear/etc/IncompleteGuide.July.txt
Port=70
Host=jarrah.itd.adelaide.edu.au

Surfing the Internet (62k)

     An overview of wandering around the net intelligently;
another "industry standard."

Type=0
Name=surfing the Internet 2.0.3
Path=R0-61333-/Mailing-list-archives/ail-93/current/surfing the
Internet 2.0.3
Port=70
Host=gopher.csos.orst.edu


Surfing the Wild Internet (24k)

     Just for fun.

Type=0
Name=Surfing the Wild Internet (Mandel SRI)
Path=0/Comm/Surfing the Wild Internet (Mandel SRI)
Port=70
Host=groupw.cns.vt.edu

PDIAL (Public Dial-up Internet Access List, Dec. 1, 1993)(66k)

     This is the definitive list of public Internet providers.
It contains the vital statistics on hundreds of dial-up systems
which will give you direct access to the Internet.  This list is
updated periodically.  The information given here is for the
most recent version at press time.  You can subscribe to it
through Listserv.  Details on how to do that are included in
every edition of the list.

Type=0
Name=PDIAL #013: Public Dialup Internet Access List
Path=0/FAQ/alt/pdial
Port=70
Host=gopher.physics.utoronto.ca

THELIST (97k)

     This is a list of public access bulletin boards all over
everywhere.  Take a look if you want to find some BBSs in your
area.

Type=9
Name=  94 921114 BBS1192B.ZIP 'THELIST' national BBS list for
November
Path=9/pc/dos/bbslists/bbs1192b.zip
Port=70
Host=ftp.univie.ac.at

Internet Mailing Guide (22k)

     If you want to establish e-mail contact with people on
other  networks, either public or private, this is your
translating gazetteer for inter-network addressing.  It gives
the format needed to send mail to and from the Internet and
other networks.

Type=0
Name=Internet Mailing Guide (v1.1)
Path=0/INTERNET Information and Services/Internet Mailing Guide
(v1.1)
Port=70
Host=bragg.ncl.ac.uk

Project Gutenberg Files

     Project Gutenberg is an ongoing collection of full-text
books in electronic form.  It is only one such project going on
but it was the first and is still, to the best of my knowledge,
the biggest.  Here are some Gopher addresses to send to for more
information and books.

A menu of books by title:

Type=1
Name=By Title
Path=1/Ebooks/By Title
Port=70
Host=joeboy.micro.umn.edu

A list of books by author:

Type=1
Name=By Author
Path=1/Ebooks/By Author
Port=70
Host=joeboy.micro.umn.edu

     To search for books, send a Gopher message with the search
criteria in the Subject of the message:

Type=7
Name=Search Electronic Books
Path=7/indexes/etext-index/index
Port=70
Host=joeboy.micro.umn.edu

     For a history of Project Gutenberg, it's goals and methods
(note: the Path here is very long but must be included
verbatim):

Type=0
Name=Project Gutenberg - its Goals, History and Plans: Feb 92
Port=70
Path=0/Allgemeine INFORMATIONSDIENSTE (Biblotheken, Faten-DBs
...)/Electronic Books - maschinenlesbare Texte/Project Gutenberg
- its Goals, History and Plans:Feb 92
Host=alf.zfn.uni-bremen.de

Fidonet <=> Internet Mailing Instructions (18k)

     This  file was compiled by the sysop of a Fidonet BBS on
how to address e-mail between Fido and Internet.  It is more
complete than the Internet Mailing Guide but deals only with
Fido.

Type=0+
Name=gateways.fid
Path=0/0-Most-Packages/simtel20/fido/gateways.fid
Port=70
Host=src.doc.ic.ac.uk

Glasnet Description File (3k)

Type=0
Name=GlasNet P Sounds Like, and Is, a Soviet Computer Network
Path=D tiserve.mit.edu 9000 25691 css-tps
Port=71
Host=noc.drexel.edu

To Get a List of Freenets

     This isn't exactly a list, it is actually a Veronica search
on the keyword freenet.   (Please note that the Path= line is
too long for the margins here but should be spelled out on a
single line when you use it.  Also there is no hyphen in
"telnet.")

Type=1
Name=Telnet to Freenets
Path=1/Other (Weather,
HortInfo...)/testing/Freenet_Documents/telnet_to_freenets
Port=70
Host=gopher.usask.ca

List of Toll Free BBSs (Part 1-23k, Part 2-14k)

     This file contains the most extensive listing I've seen of
BBSs and other systems accessible through 800 numbers.  Access
is restricted in some cases, but there are customer support
boards for many vendors and several public and government
systems listed.  It is in two parts so don't forget to send for
both.

Type=0
Name=800-TollFree BBS (Part 1)
Path=D penninfo-srv.upenn.edu 9000 12031 African_Studies
Port=71
Host=noc.drexel.edu

Type=0
Name=800-TollFree BBS (Part 2)
Path=D penninfo-srv.upenn.edu 9000 12031 African_Studies
Port=71
Host=noc.drexel.edu

Veronica Servers:

     Here are the Gopher access addresses for every Veronica
server I have been able to find.  About half of these I didn't
even know existed until I went looking.  The most commonly used
ones are indicated with a * after the Name= line.  Do not
include the * when using these, it is strictly a notation here.
The rest I haven't actually accessed by mail but they came off
menus on current Gopher servers at various locations, so I have
every reason to expect them to be valid at press time.

Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at Veronica;at NYSERNet*
Path=
Port=2347
Host=empire.nysernet.org

Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at Veronica;at University of Pisa*
Path=
Port=2347
Host=serra.unipi.it

Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at Veronica;at University of Cologne*
Path=
Port=2347
Host=veronica.uni-koeln.de

Type=7
Name=Search gopherspace at PSINet*
Path=
Port=2347
Host=gopher.psi.com

Type=7
Name=Search Gopherspace (Imperial College, London)
Path=
Port=2347
Host=gopher.ic.ac.uk

Type=7
Name=Search Gopherspace (SUNET, Sweden)
Path=
Port=2347
Host=veronica.sunet.se

Type=7
Name=Search Gopherspace (University of Manchester, UK)
Path=
Port=2347
Host=info.mcc.ac.uk

Type=7
Name=Search Gopherspace (University of Nevada-Reno)*
Path=
Port=800
Host=comics.scs.unr.edu

Type=1
Name=veronica:  search Gopherspace by title keywords*
Path=1/veronica
Port=70
Host=kudzu.cnidr.org

Type=1
Name=Veronica
Path=1/Other_Gophers/Veronica
Port=70
Host=summit.ece.ucsb.edu

Type=1
Name=Search document titles (using veronica)
Path=1/.explore/.veronica
Port=70
Host=gopher.Princeton.EDU


Type=7
Name=Veronica Search: Looking for World-wide Gopher Servers
(from CNIDR)*
Path=
Port=70
Host=wave.scar.utoronto.ca

Type=7
Name=Search Gopherspace (via Australia)
Path=
Port=2347
Host=archie.au

FAQ for Veronica

     Send Gopher mail here to get a list of Frequently Asked
Questions about Veronica.  I highly recommend getting this
before you try to pose any questions to her.  It isn't very long
and is full of useful information for a beginner.

Type=0+
Name=FAQ:  Frequently-Asked Questions about veronica
(1993/08/23) Path=0/veronica/veronica-faq
Port=70
Host=gopher.unr.edu

Using Internic Whois Server Through Gopher

     This is the top-of-the-line whois server on the Internet.
If you are looking for a domain name or even a person, this is
the best single source I've found.  It is run by the Internet
Network Information Center, the closest thing on the net to a
"home office" for these kinds of purposes.  The details will not
be as fine as a local whois server, but there is far greater
breadth than local servers as well as greater depth than other
"wide-area" servers. (For more on using whois see page .)

Type=7
Name=Query Whois server rs.internic.net
Path=whois_root rs.internic.net
Port=4324
Host=gopher.uc.edu


                  Ordering Printed Copies Of P*.COM

Don't want to take time to download and print this book?  Prefer
to have a bound book you can hold in your hand? P*.COM has been
expanded and updated, and is now available in printed form as
Magic Mail.  This printed copy does not have the chapter on Mail
Manager, but does have two new chapters and extended resource
listings.  You can order printed copies directly from the author
for $14.95 (plus $3.00 shipping and handling: total price $17.95).
Please allow 1-3 weeks for delivery.


BY CHECK:

Make check payable to Ned Johnson and mail it with your name,
address, and number of copies ordered to:

Ned Johnson
P.O. Box 20415
Portland, OR 97220


ORDERING BY CREDIT CARD:

Write via e-mail to PRODIGY ID BVHK06C (Ned Johnson), sending
the following:

-   number of copies ordered
-   name as it appears on credit card
-   credit card number and expiration date
-   a statement that says that you authorize Ned Johnson to
charge the price of the order to your credit card

Address questions about ordering to Ned Johnson at PRODIGY ID
BVHK06C.

.