Ask Alice This database deals with questions about the Internet. Last modified by Neil Fraser, 1/6/98. ***NEW: i.html What is the Internet? INTER*NET* SERVICES* WHAT* INTER*NET* The Internet is a global network of computer networks. It is a distributed system, meaning that there is no central computer, and nobody controls it. The Internet serves as the platform upon which several very useful communications applications are run:
E-Mail
Electronic mail. Person to person, or via mailing lists.
World Wide Web
Very popular hyperlinked graphical interface.
Usenet
Newsgroups about every possible topic.
FTP
Upload and download files between computers.
Gopher
An infinite number of menus and documents.
Telnet
Simple text-only connection to programs like MUDs and MOOs.
Other
Less commonly used services such as Finger, IRC, RealAudio, IPhone, Cu-See-Me and ICQ.
***NEW: i_email.html What is E-Mail? (WHAT|HOW)*MAIL* Electronic Mail, better known as e-mail, is the most widely used Internet service. E-mail is the primary method of communications between individuals on the Internet.

To send an electronic message, the first thing that you need is the electronic address of the person to which you want to send mail. Then use your electronic mail program (like pine, elm, pegasus, eudora, etc) to write and send your message.

Most e-mail addresses belong to a specific person (such as pm@pm.gc.ca, which is the Prime Minister's e-mail address). Other e-mail addresses belong to list servers (like schoolnet@schoolnet.ca). ***NEW: i_listserv.html What is a List Server? LIST*SERV* MAIL* LIST* !SCHOOL*NET Most e-mail addresses belong to individual people. When you sent e-mail to those addresses, its owner receives the mail in his or her electronic mail box a few moments later. However, there is another type of e-mail address called a list server that forwards all incoming mail to a group of people how have subscribed to the list.

Most list servers operate like this:

  1. You send e-mail to the list server's administrator (or to an automatic robot that has been set up), requesting that you be added to the list of subscribers.
  2. Then whenever you (or anyone else) sends e-mail to some central address, that e-mail is redistributed to everyone on the list. Each person gets a copy e-mailed to his or her address automatically.
  3. If get tired of the discussion you can request that your name be removed from the list.
***NEW: i_getaddy.html How do I find an e-mail address? E*MAIL* ADDRESS* To find the e-mail address of someone on the Internet, try using Yahoo's People Search service. If this doesn't result in a match, try one of the other services available (Yahoo will show you where they are).

If you know what machine they have their Internet account on (e.g. @carleton.freenet.ca), you could try using finger to locate them. Some machines will allow you to finger them with a users first or last name (e.g. alice@freenet.carleton.ca) and they will return a list of matching users. Unfortunately most machines are paranoid and will refuse all finger requests.

If all else fails, the easiest way to find the e-mail address of someone on the Internet is to call them, or to send them a letter asking them for their e-mail address. It is low-tech, but it works. ***NEW: i_www.html What is the World Wide Web? WWW* WEB* The World Wide Web is currently the most popular Internet service. It has a simple interface that allows one to chose links from one page to another. Web pages can have text, pictures, sounds and movies arranged on the same page.

In order to view the WWW one must use a web browser. All common web browsers also allow one to access the Gopher and FTP archives at the same time. You are currently using the Web right now.

Since there are billions of pages on the Web it can be very hard to find content one is intersted in. Fortnately there are numerous search engines that can locate information for us. ***NEW: i_browsers.html Web browsers. LYNX* MOSAIC* NETSCAPE* EXPLORER* HOT*JAVA* BROWSER* A web browser is a program that you can run on your computer that will display pages from the World Wide Web. You are using a web browser right now to look at this page. There are many popular web browsers:

Lynx
Lynx was one of the first web browsers. It is text-only, so it can't display pictures, however it can run on almost any computer. Most FreeNets use Lynx because it doesn't require a very powerful computer.
Mosaic
Mosaic was the first popular graphical web browser. It was created by NSCA so that people could use the new WWW Internet protocol to its full advantage.
Netscape
Netscape is a browser that extended the WWW with a large number of custom tags. It is one of the most popular graphical browsers since many web sites are designed to look best when using Netscape.
Explorer
Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most recent addition to the list of popular web browsers. It is virtually identical to Netscape's browser at the moment.
Other browsers include HotJava (first to use Java), the Emacs W3 browser (text-only), and Arachne (graphical browser for DOS). Most of these browsers may be downloaded from the Internet for free, see Yahoo's browser list for more details. ***NEW: i_usenet.html What is Usenet? DISCUSSION GROUPS* NEWSGROUP* USENET* Usenet is an Internet service made up of thousands of newsgroups. A newsgroup is a public discussion area allowing interested participants to read and respond to messages posted by other interested participants. Generally, there will be a few topics of discussion going on at the same time, but they all share some common theme. There are over 10,000 newsgroups in Usenet, and there are more being added all the time. There is a newsgroup dedicated to every theme one can possibly imagine, from Japanese cartoons to nuclear proliferation.

There are two types of newsgroups: moderated and unmoderated. A moderated newsgroup does not allow people to post directly to the newsgroup. Rather, the postings go to the newsgroup's moderator who determines whether or not to pass the posting to the entire group. An unmoderated newsgroup allows a reader to post directly to the other readers.

In order to access Usenet you need a news reader. Netscape and Explorer both include news readers with their product. In UNIX the 'tin' news reader is most popular. ***NEW: i_gopher.html What is Gopher? WHAT* GOPHER* The Gopher is a text-only Internet service document delivery service, or in simpler terms, a method of navigating through the Internet in a menu based system. Gopher provides a simple method of distributing and retrieving information.

The World Wide Web has largely replaced the old Gopher standard since the Web can incorporate pictures into its pages. Most web browsers (such as the program you are using now) will allow you to Gopher. An example of a gopher site is the University of Minnesota.

There are a pair of search engines called Veronica and Jughead which search for content on the Gopher. ***NEW: i_ftp.html What is FTP? FTP* FILE* TRANSFER* FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an Internet service enabling transfers of files from one computer on the Internet to another computer on the Internet. FTP is a quick and reliable means of transferring files across the Internet.

In order to FTP to a remote computer on the Internet, you need an FTP client program. Most web browsers (such as the program you are using now) will allow you to FTP. In are also several programs that are designed specifically for FTP, such as WS-FTP, QVT/FTP, CuteFTP and Fetch. These programs generally have better interfaces and are free to download from the Internet (use Yahoo to find them).

Related topics:

***NEW: i_anonftp.html What is Anonymous FTP? ANON* There are two ways to conduct an FTP session:
  1. If you have an account of the server you are FTPing to, you can use your user ID and password when starting the FTP connection. This means you should gain access to all your files in your home directory, as well as anything else your account is authorized to view.
  2. Anonymous FTP does not require an account, login, or password on the remote computer; you can simply use anonymous as your login, and your email address as your password. Obviously you could type in anything in place of your e-mail address, but it is customary to use it so that the people who run the site can compile statistics regarding the use of their site. Anonymous FTP will only let you access publicly available files on that server.
Some poor FTP clients (particularly web browsers) are incapable of logging into an FTP site using a proper name and password, so they often automatically use anonymous. Not all machines allow anonymous access.

Related topics:

***NEW: i_ascbin.html ASCII vs. Binary FTP. FTP* (ASC|BIN)* (ASC|BIN)* FTP* ASCII* BINARY* There are two different modes one can use when uploading or downloading a file using FTP.
Binary (8-bit).
This mode is required when transferring compressed files, executable programs (or 'binaries'), graphics, sounds, or anything else that isn't in plain text format. If you transfer one of these files in ASCII mode, the resulting file will be a garbled mess that will not function.
ASCII (7-bit).
This mode is only used when transferring plain text. This includes TXT and HTML files. If you transfer one of these files in Binary mode, the file will still contain all the text, but it may all be on one line, or the line breaks may all have ^M at the end. This is because different operating systems (DOS, Unix, Mac) use different codes to specify a line-break.
If in doubt, use Binary mode when transferring files. Most good FTP clients will automatically figure out which mode should be used.

Related topics:

***NEW: i_telnet.html What is Telnet? (WHAT|HOW)* TELNET* Telnet is the oldest and simplest Internet service. It is a direct text-only connection to another computer. Once a connection has been opened, text typed by the user will be sent to the remote host or network site and text sent from the site will be printed on the user's screen. Telnet, like all other Internet services, is available on many platforms. Versions for DOS, Windows, Mac, and UNIX can all be downloaded for free from the Internet. Good Telnet programs include NetTerm, QVT/Term, EWAN, and Unix's xterm.

There are a number of problems which one can encounter when using Telnet. Sometimes the Backspace key doesn't work (try using the Delete key or Ctrl-Backspace instead). Sometimes what you type doesn't appear on the screen (try toggling the local echo option in your Telnet program). Sometimes pressing Enter doesn't do anything (try changing what the enter key transmits - CR, LF or CR+LF). These problems, plus the lack of graphics, have relegated Telnet to the more technical corners of the Internet.

Today, Telnet is primarily used for logging into remote UNIX accounts, or where SLIP or PPP is unavailable, or when connecting to MUDs or MOOs. ***NEW: i_irc.html What is IRC? IRC* RELAY*CHAT* IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is an Internet service that allows two or more people to chat with each other. IRC requires the use of an IRC client. See the IRC homepage in Finland for more information.

More modern and versatile alternatives to IRC include MUDs or MOOs and Web-based chat rooms. ***NEW: i_finger.html What is Finger? FINGER* Finger is an Internet service that allows one to request a brief description of a particular person. The results of a finger might include where they live, what their interests are, when they had last logged on, and their e-mail signature file.

To finger someone, all you need is their e-mail address. Then use one of the many finger gateways that are available.

Unfortunately most organizations are paranoid about the potential security risk of giving out personal information like this. As a result most computers will refuse finger requests. ***NEW: i_freenet.html What is a FreeNet? FREENET* A FreeNet is a community based network, providing basic Internet services to users from within the community. They do not charge for the Internet access they provide, but will accept donations. There are many operational FreeNets in Canada and the US. Some of the larger Canadian cities with FreeNets include Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Edmonton and Vancover. Montreal is the only large Canadian city without a FreeNet. ***NEW: i_domain.html URLs, DNSs, and IP Addresses. IP*ADDRESS* DOMAIN* NAME* DNS* URL* Every computer on the Internet has a unique serial number or IP address such as "204.138.115.211". Humans aren't good at remembering numbers, so most Internet computers also has a human-readable domain name such as "moo.schoolnet.ca". There are dozens of computers on the Internet that only do a single job, they translate domain names into IP addresses. This is called the DNS (Domain Name Service). Without the DNS one would always have to type in a bunch of numbers every time one sent e-mail or looked up a web page. There are several available DNS gateways which will do DNS lookups (names to numbers) and reverse DNS lookups (numbers to names).

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of a particular document on the Internet. A URL is made up of the type of protocol used to get the document (http, gopher, ftp, news, telnet, etc), the domain name of the server it is on (moo.schoolnet.ca, altavista.digital.com), an optional port number, and finally the path and filename of the document itself.
Here are some sample URLs:

***NEW: i_access.html How do I get on-line? INTERNET* (COST|FREE)* HOW *MUCH* (MONEY|COST)* HOW* CONNECT* GET* ON*LINE* (GET* ON|CONNECT|ACCESS)* INTERNET* PRICE* INTERNET* WHAT* COST* FOR* INTERNET* The equipment necessary to use the Internet is very basic, but is somewhat dependent on who gives you Internet access, and on what type of access you get.