alt (alternatives) or (Oregon) bionet (bio research)
chi (Chicago) dc (Washington DC) la (Los Angeles)
mn (Minnesota) ne (New England) gnu (software)
tx (Texas) ut (Utah) mn (Minnesota)
houston (Houston TX) austin (Austin TX)
If you have used Usenet before, you will appreciate the way
related articles are grouped into collections and the fact that
you can quickly find old articles. And on Portal, we keep
articles around longer, so you can find that one program,
article, or recipe you remembered.
Conferencing
Conferences let you exchange messages or files with other users.
You can carry on a discussion or you can create ``libraries'' of
information. Conferences can be public or private. Portal has
public conferences on topics spanning a wide range of subjects
with new ones started whenever requested by our users. Topics
range from poetry to personal computers and are started depending
on user interests. If you have a special interest and want to
moderate a public forum we can help. Private conferences can be
set up to accommodate the needs of a user group, customer base,
company or other organization. This is typically done as part of
an overall custom application.
Public Domain Software Libraries and SIGs
Portal has collections of public domain software and SIGs
(special interest groups) for many popular computers including
MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Apple, Macintosh, and Unix-based
computers. We have thousands of programs and files available
with more added constantly. Plus, we have the tools you need to
use the library: archiving programs, file transfer utilities,
format converters, and other important programs.
We also have extensive libraries of online publications from a
number of sources. For example, we have publications on the
IBM-PC, Macintosh, Sun Microsystems workstations (Sunspots),
graphics, and many more. We keep the back issues around for a
long time, so these can serve as a valuable source of
information.
Subscriptions
The powerful subscriptions feature allows you to keep up to date
on Portal conferences efficiently and conveniently. The Portal
subscription facility allows you to selectively read only new
articles in just those conferences which interest you. Portal
receives thousands of articles a day in hundreds of conferences.
You can quickly choose which conferences you wish to read, and
weed out the rest, essentially creating a filter on information
oriented around your specific interests. Every time you log in,
you can read the new items in your subscription list. You can
change your subscriptions at any time.
Meetings - multiuser conversations
You can converse in real-time with other people using Portal
meetings. When you are in a meeting, the messages you type are
displayed immediately to others in the same conversation. Portal
meetings let you start your own conversations at any time. You
can give your conversation a descriptive title to tell other
users something about what you are doing. Your name appears on
the conversation title as the moderator and you can control who
can enter your conversation and whether they can listen or talk.
This personalized approach to online meetings is complemented by
a highly sophisticated and configurable user interface which lets
you control the look and feel of the system to meet your needs.
Portal meetings are most active in the evening. There are
typically regularly scheduled events such as trivia, bridge, and
fantasy games, as well as technical forums.
Nation-Wide Local Access
Portal can be reached through Telenet. This means you can
connect to Portal by making a local call from over 600 cities
around the country. In addition, we are connected to the Public
Data Networks of over 70 foreign countries. We take full
advantage of the X.25 standard to maximize your effectiveness and
minimize your cost during these long distance sessions.
Low Rates
Finally, Portal is inexpensive. We charge one low flat rate -
$13.95 per month. This is for a regular Portal account, which
includes 100k of storage for free. This does not include any
Telenet usage if you call using "c portal" to connect. You can
call as much as you like, at any time, at any speed. The low
cost of Portal means you don't have to worry about racking up
large online bills, or worry about the extra cost of a 2400 bps
connection. The account startup cost is a one time charge of
only $19.95. [Pc-Pursuit can provide access for as little as $1/hr. For information on PC Pursuit, call your local Sprintnet/Telenet number via modem and at the prompt, type "C Pursuit"]
For further information, send email to CS@cup.portal.com
