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NetScout User's Manual
Minuteman Systems
Copyright 1995, 1996
NetScout is an off-line tool that browses several standard
Internet resource lists, covering tens of thousands of
subjects. The ability to search these wide-ranging lists off-
line with a single tool allows you to conduct a
comprehensive search quickly, and eliminate many on-line
usage charges.
This program is provided for your free evaluation for up to
ten days. If you decide to keep it beyond that period, you
must purchase a permanent copy. Ordering information is
provided at the end of this document.
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1 - Introduction
1.1 A Quick Demonstration
Chapter 2 - What Is The Internet?
2.1 Commercial Services are Single-Computer Systems
2.2 The Internet Is a Network of Networks
2.3 Who and What Are On The Internet
Chapter 3 - What Functions are Available On The Internet?
3.1 Some Internet Naming Conventions
3.2 File Transfer Protocol - FTP
3.3 Gopher
3.4 Newsgroups
3.5 MailLists
3.6 The World Wide Web
3.7 The Great Search Sites
Chapter 4 - Accessing The Internet From The Major OnLine Data Services 20
4.1 America OnLine
4.2 CompuServe
Chapter 5 - Accessing The Internet From Internet Access Providers 21
5.1 Basic-Service Providers
5.2 Advanced-Service Providers
5.3 A Low-cost Alternative - Free-nets
Chapter 6 - Using NetScout
Chapter 7 - Hints for Searching
Chapter 8 - Library Lists Available With NetScout
Chapter 9 - Ordering Information
Chapter 1 - Introduction
The Internet can be a boundless source of information on
topics ranging over the entire spectrum from recreational to
technical subjects. Since there is so much information out
there, finding the particular items you are interested in
can be time-consuming and expensive.
This document will provide information on how to use the
NetScout, a list browser, to rapidly locate information on
the Internet. Since NetScout operates off-line using
standard and easily available index lists, you avoid the
expense of operating on-line. Your local search proceeds
faster than would occur over telephone or other dial-in
lines.
NetScout can search standard lists of the following types of
Internet resources;
- Newsgroups
- MailLists
- FTP sites (file archives)
- frequently-asked-questions lists (FAQs)
After determining off-line the specific resources you need
from the above lists, you can then go back on-line to your
Internet Service Provider and directly access the desired
resource.
If you're an experienced Internet user and are familiar with
these terms, you may wish to proceed directly to chapters 6,
7, and 8 which give detailed instructions on conducting
searches with NetScout.
If you are relatively new to the Internet, or perhaps a new
member of CompuServe or America OnLine, chapters 2 through
5 provide tutorial information on the nature and
capabilities of the Internet, and how to access it.
This program is provided for your free evaluation for up to
ten days. If you decide to keep it beyond that period, you
must purchase a permanent copy. Ordering information is
provided at the end of this document. When you purchase a
copy of the program, you will have the option to receive a
set of the full and up-to-date resource lists that NetScout
works with.
1.1 A Quick Demonstration
Here is a quick, walk-through of how NetScout can help you
locate resources. To conduct a search for "humorous" topics,
use NetScout to search for the keywords "comedy" or "humor"
or "joke" (you can do "and" or "or" searches). Shortly, you
are returned a list of a half-dozen "Frequently Asked
Questions". "FAQs" are mini-encyclopedias and can be
extremely helpful.
In this case we note the list includes a FAQs on "Books for
the Avid BritComedy Fan". The listing indicates an archiove
at an FTP site. At this point you go back on-line to your
Internet service access provider (Compuserve, America On-
Line, or one of the many smaller providers) and use the FTP
function to connect to the anonymous site "rtfm.mit.edu".
(Newcomers - don't be intimidated! Detailled yet easy
instructions for doing this are provided later on). The FAQ
can be found at path tv/british-comedy/books/part1. You can
then transfer the file to your provider, and download it to
your own machine for printing or reading.
The listing also gives us a good lead to another "humorous"
source. Note that the FAQ is posted periodically in several
newsgroups including alt.comedy.british. Again, back online,
you can use your newsreader function to scan that newsgroup
and obtain a lot more material for download.
Please note that NetScout does not replace all on-line
activity - it simply allows you to locate a lot of sources
of information off-line, saving a lot of connection-time and
it's associated expense.
The sample lists provided with NetScout are a small clipping
from the full lists. Instructions are provided for accessing
the complete lists yourself. Once you do, conducting
searches will yield far more "finds". repeating the above
search with the full list set returns over 60 sources,
including a number of email lists you can subscribe to, and
a number of sites archiving humorous material and jokebooks.
Don't let the proceeding example leave an impression that
there are only "frivolous" topics on the Internet. Far from
it!. A scan of the keywords "market" and `business" return
over a hundred and fifty topics including sales, marketing,
and business resources - examples include the
misc.entrepreneurs newsgroup, the Applied Global Marketing
maillist, and the Multi-Level-Marketing FAQ.
Chapter 2 - What Is The Internet?
The majority of this tutorial will be written from the
perspective of someone using one of the major on-line data
services such as America OnLine or CompuServe.
2.1 Commercial Services are Single-Computer Systems
If you have an account on one of these, you are used to
using a computer and modem, with a graphical interface
package, to dial into the service's system. These major
systems are each basically a single large computer system
(possibly using redundant machines) which you are accessing
via a nation-wide or world-wide telephone system.
For example, America Online's computer system is located in
Vienna, VA. and is illustrated below. AOL's system consists
of 9 Stratus Inc. fault-tolerant computers. A fault-tolerant
computer is one which can keep running, without loss of
computation or loss of data, even when certain elements
fail.
America OnLine uses Sprintnet to provide telephone service.
When you dial AOL in, say, Pittsburgh, you're really dialing
a number AOL is buying from Sprintnet in Pittsburgh.
Sprintnet routes the call through their system from
Pittsburgh to their Vienna, VA office and then into AOL
headquarters.
Services like CompuServe, Prodigy, and others have a similar
structure. The important thing is that each service consists
of one centralized computer system that you are using.
2.2 The Internet Is a Network of Networks
The Internet, on the other hand, is actually a network of
multiple computers.
The Internet grew out of an projected called The ARPANET
in the late 1960's. The project was to develop a Wide-Area-
Network, or WAN, to link together numerous remote sites
involved in government-sponsored research. It was very
successful and started growing. It's use spread to non-
restricted utilizations.
A technical strength of the Internet is that it uses one
communication-protocol TCP/IP as a standard for
communication between all sites. This means that a wide
variety of computer architectures and media can work
together, because they all share the same "language".
Numerous networks like the ARPANET were formed and
interconnected. Collectively, this "Network of Networks" is
called the Internet. As of the Fall of 1995, the Internet
consisted of over 5,000 networks. One "Network" on the
Internet could consist of a single computer, or thousands of
computers on one company's network. (Digital Equipment
Corporation has something like 40,000 nodes on its one
network). Given that many computers are mini- or main-frame
computers that may have hundreds or even thousands of user
accounts, the total number of Internet user accounts can be
seen to be in the millions.
Incidentally, the ARPANET itself was dismantled in the early
90's.
2.3 Who and What Are On The Internet
The Internet is often drawn schematically as a "cloud" with
individual networks connecting into the cloud. Anyone on a
network connected into the cloud can utilize various
services to communicate with other networks. It's not
important (for us right now) what goes on inside the cloud -
its just important that any points connected into it can
communicate.
Some comments about specific types of networks connected
into the Internet.
1.OnLine Services - The major services like CompuServe and
Prodigy all have a point of interconnection to the
Internet. They typically have made use of only a subset
of the wide range of Internet services available. That's
changing - they are all rapidly moving to support all
Internet capabilities.
2.Individual Companies - If you work for a company of (ball-
park) 500 or more employees, your company may be have a
connection from their internal network to the Internet.
(They cost from $5000/yr up to perhaps $100,000 per year,
depending on the rate of traffic supported and the range
of services subscribed to.) This means you may be able to
access some Internet services from a PC or Mac on your
desk.
3.Educational or Research Institutes - A large number of
these are on the Internet, in fact as stated above they
were the "core" of the start of the Internet. These
organizations are still a large part of the Internet
member community, and besides their private materials
have a large amount of tools of interest to the network
community. NASA has a large amount of public information
and pictures about space activities. CERN, the European
center for Nuclear Research in the Swiss/French border,
is the founding organization of "the World Wide Web" -
the current standard tool for wide-area document
searching.
4.Local Access Providers - Increasingly, companies are
being set up whose main service is to provide individuals
inexpensive access to the Internet. These companies have
a mini-computer, and a number of dial-in lines.
Individuals can call up and register for accounts at a
relatively low price (such as $5 per month plus $2 per
hour of connect time.) When you dial in with a PC using a
terminal-emulator communication program, such as PROCOMM,
you have access to a full range of services on the
Internet, and you're also allocated some reasonable
amount of storage (1-2 Megabytes) on their system for
moving files.
5.Local BBSs - Many small-time Bulletin Board Systems, are
increasingly buying an Internet connection. Magazines
like Boardwatch and BBS Magazine usually have lists of
BBSs that have Internet connections. If you join such a
BBS in your area, you can use it to access the Internet.
It also means you can log onto other Internet-accessible
BBSs without having to dial over long-distance land-
lines. There's virtually no "telephone charge" involved.
(However, some may charge a membership fee)
Chapter 3 - What Functions are Available On The Internet?
The main point of the preceding chapter was that the
Internet consists of a large number of Computers, owned by a
variety of companies and organizations, all connected
together and able to exchange information. But what type of
information is out there? And how does one get at it? That
will be addressed in this chapter.
3.1 Some Internet Naming Conventions
Its necessary to understand the nomenclature used on the
Internet to name individuals and sites.
You will use this to send mail to individuals, or to access
sites for file transfer.
Addresses of individuals take the general shape
"username@organization".
This "organization" is the "Internet name" for the site
itself. The "organization" consists of several names
separated by periods such as "oak.oakland.edu" or
"world.std.com". The rightmost name is one of several
broadbrush categories
com = commercial
edu = educational
mil = military
gov = government
net = network support company
org = other organizations
The rest of the organization usually consists of a top-most
name (oakland) assigned by a central naming committee. The
organization then assigns its own sub-org names (oak) and
user-account names. This mechanism greatly simplifies the
naming process.
The full "username@organization" for people on the major
data services having an Internet connection is a combination
of their account name and their services' name. A user with
account number 12345,6789 on CompuServe would have address
"12345.6789@compuserve.com." User "JDoe" on America OnLine
would be "jdoe@aol.com". Please note that each service may
also have "local" requirements to allow you to indicate if a
mail message you are composing is addressed to someone on
the home system or on the Internet. Example - CompuServe
members sending mail to each other just use the local
account name, but any mail destined for the Internet must be
preceded by "INTERNET:".
The preceding description applies mostly to sending email,
or to connecting to sites using non-graphical or "command-
line" interfaces found on some of the less expensive
services (more about that later). When accessing sites using
the graphical WEB Browsers commonly found on CompuServe and
AOL, you usually have to employ a slightly longer address
nomenclature called a "URL" ("Uniform Resource Locator").
The format of the URL depends upon the type of function you
are accessing. WEB and FTP functionality will be described
a few pages on. For now, the following example shows the
URLs for the Web and FTP functions at Microsoft;
WWW URL = http://www.microsoft.com/
FTP URL = ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/
There are other URL types for other functions such as
"gopher" (gopher://x.y.z) but WEB and FTP functions are the
ones most commonly used.
3.2 File Transfer Protocol - FTP
Moving or transferring files from one site to your system is
one of the most commonly used Internet functions. FTP, for
File Transfer protocol, is the mechanism for doing this. The
different graphical interfaces on the major services provide
slightly different ways to do it, but the following
description will closely approximate all systems.
The way to access files on a remote system is to "log on"
using something called "anonymous FTP". This means that you
use the FTP function on your system to specify the name of a
site which is known to accept public access. Ordinarily that
system will prompt you for a USERNAME: and you would enter
"anonymous" (sometimes this is case-sensitive!). You are
then asked to enter a PASSWORD:, and
the correct response is to enter your email address. You are
then connected to the top directory structure of that remote
system.
If you are using a graphical interface as is now common on
CompuServe and America OnLine, much of the above is
automated for you. The CompuServe Spry Mosaic browser
requires that you input a full URL, but then it invisibly
enters the username password. The remote systems directory
structure is presented to you looking much like a drive
would under Windows' File manager. You can click/browse
through the remote systems file. There is even a "file
search" feature. When you find the file or files you want,
you click a button to download them
If you are using a non-graphical interface, the remote
system looks to you much as if you were operating "at the
DOS prompt" instead of inside Windows. The major, major,
MAJOR exception is that Internet systems do not use DOS!
They use UNIX. Write this down! To move up and down through
the directory structure, you use a different command set.
And to receive files off the remote system, you use "Get"
instead of "copy" or " Move" A brief list of UNIX and FTP-
specific commands, follows.
FTP Command Summary
ascii set ascii transfer type
binary set binary transfer type
bye terminate FTP session and exit
cd change remote working directory
cdup change remote working directory to parent
directory
close terminate FTP session
cr toggle carriage return stripping on ascii gets
delete delete remote file
dir list contents of remote directory
get receive file
ls list contents of remote directory
mkdir make directory on the remote machine
open connect to remote tftp
put send one file
mdelete delete multiple files
mdir list contents of multiple remote directories
mget get multiple files
rmdir remove directory on the remote machine
send send one file
system show remote system type
FTP Via EMAIL
Even if you don't have full Internet access, you may still
be able to access much FTP functionality by sending EMAIL to
sites. There are 2 types of approaches
1.) Info Servers - Some FTP sites respond to EMAIL requests
as well as direct FTP connections. In general you mail a
message to the FTP handler-address, and it executes the
contents of the message as if it were coming from an FTP
connection. In the event of a "get" instruction, it then
emails back to you the requested file.
I said "in general" for several reasons. First, not all FTP
sites (anonymous or otherwise) support this feature.
Secondly, those that do support FTP via mail do not all use
the same command set. To find out how to use a particular
sites' FTP mail functions, you (usually) can send it a
message with the single word "help" (lowercase) in the body,
and it will mail back to you a file with the instructions.
While just the word "help" often works, sometimes other
commands are supported .
Example - mail a message to the info-server at info-
server@nnsc.nsf.net. The "subject" field can be anything,
but have the body be
request: info
topic: help
and you will receive a set of instructions
A list of info-servers is available via anonymous FTP at
host pit-manager.mit.edu at directory
pub/usenet/news.answers. Not surprisingly, its also
available by email-server. Send a message to mail-server@pit-
manager.mit.edu with the command "help" in the subject
field. (Note that this is different from other systems where
you put "help" in the body).
2.) ftpmail-servers - An info-server can only send files
from its own system. There are a limited number of FTP-via-
email systems which allow you to access files on any
anonymous-FTP host. An FTP-mail-server accepts a command
string in a message from you. It then does its own anonymous
FTP logon to the requested host, executes the command
string, and mails you the results.
Send a message with the one-line body "help" to
ftpmail@pa.dec.com or ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com to receive
instructions for using those FTP-mail-servers. (Note that
both are sponsored by Digital Equipment Corp - "dec")
Important Information About Transferring Files !!!
I cannot over-emphasize that FTP is the primary mechanism
for moving files around the Internet. You can move some
files using email, but there are limitations on filetypes
and or file-lengths. I.E. Binary files are hard to move
reliably using mail - FTP provides guaranteed movement.
There are a couple very basic things you need to know about,
or be warned about, regarding the transfer of files. These
come out of 2 basic facts;
· Binary Files May Need Different Handling Than Text Files
FTP actually handles Binary and Text files in different
manners. ("Binary" can mean graphics files, executable
files, or any file that's been compressed such as with
PKZIP.) On many systems when you do a "get" or "put" the
resident FTP program automatically detects the type of
the file and handles it appropriately. However, on some
systems you have to manually set a toggle to indicate if
you're moving a binary or text file. If you're getting
corrupted files - try setting the file type manually.
(i.e. enter the FTP command "binary" or "ASCII".)
Also, many mail programs can't handle binary files at
all. (see the fix below)
· Some parts of the Internet have limits on file size.
Even though the receiving and transmitting hosts may deal
perfectly well with large files, the path across the
Internet can be quirky and you may run across a link that
rejects or corrupts anything exceeding some size
limitation. Some equipment rejects files greater than
56kbytes in size.
An Important Tool - The tool pair UUENCODE/UUDECODE is used
to translate binary files into text files for transmission,
and back into binary at reception. Also, they have the
ability to take a large file and break it up into numerous
small ones, below a size you specify, and then re-assemble
them at reception. There are versions of these tools
available to run on all platforms.
3.3 Gopher
GOPHER is a menu-driven search tool for finding information
on the Internet. A typical menu is shown below;
============================================================
Internet Gopher Information Client v1.13
Root gopher server: gopher.std.com
--> 1. Information About The World Public Access UNIX/
2. The World's ClariNews AP OnLine Newswire Index/
3. The World's FDCH US Congressional Committee Transcripts/
4. OBI The OnLine Book Initiative/
5. Shops on The World/
6. Internet and USENET Phone Books/
7. Commercial Services via the Internet/
8. Book-Sellers/
9. Bulletin Boards via the Internet/
10. Consultants/
11. FTP/
12. Government Information/
13. Internet Information and Resources/
14. Libraries/
15. Membership and Professional Associations/
16. Metropolitan and Community News/
17. News and Weather/
18. Non-Profit Organizations/
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu
Page: 1/2
============================================================
Moving through the menu is quite straightforward. Just type
the number of the menu-item you're interested in, or use
up/down arrow to make a selection. There are a virtually
unlimited combination of sub-menus. Many end in actual
files, often text files, and you will be presented with
options to copy the file to your home system.
Note that there is almost always a top-level-menu entry that
says something like "access other GOPHER servers". While no
one GOPHER services knows about every file on the Internet,
by hopping from server to server you can cover almost the
entire Internet, but admittedly it can take a long time.
Also note that GOPHER is somewhat "backwards compatible"
with FTP. It has the ability to scan FTP-sites and present
files for downloading.
Besides perusing the menu, there is a search function. The
"search" scans the titles in the menu tree and perhaps
keywords, but it doesn't scan the contents of any documents
(which wouldn't work with executable or other binary files
anyhow.)
3.4 Newsgroups
These are postings of series of messages. They are
"broadcast" across the whole Internet, on specific subjects.
You call up a "news reader" program on your Internet host
to browse the different Newsgroups and read the entries in
each.
There are an incredible number of Newsgroups - thousands,
with more being created every day. They range from new-
service postings and financial news, to computer-
professional information, to "recreational" and "alternative
lifestyles".
Some sample names
alt.beer -discussions about beer
rec.humor - jokes!
comp.msdos.announce - announcements about msdos services and
programs available.
news.newsgroups.announce - news about new Newsgroups
alt.answers - miscellaneous info about how to use the
Internet
The first word of the newsgroup name (alt, comp, etc) is a
broad-brush category. The presently defined list is;
alt - alternative systems
biz - business related
comp - computer-related
k12 - education (kindergarten through grade 12)
misc - miscellaneous
rec - recreation
sci - science
soc - social topics
talk - controversial subjects
3.5 MailLists
MailLists are a variant on Newsgroups. These are Mailings to
your specific mailbox on selected topics. There are
thousands of MailLists, and you have to subscribe to the
ones you want. You generally send a generic message with
"subscribe listname" or just "subscribe" in either the body
or the "Subject:" field to the maintainer of the MailList,
and a program automatically enrolls you. (You may have to
experiment.) Similarly, the MailList has an address to which
you mail messages you want to post, and they will be
automatically re-mailed to all members of the MailList. Some
MailLists are "moderated" - the maintainer will censor
messages felt to be "inappropriate" - which can mean
illegal, immoral, or just a waste of bandwidth. Bookstores
generally carry several books which have listings of
MailLists, with enrollment instructions.
Listservers are very closely related to MailLists. You
subscribe by sending an "enrollment" message to an
administrative address. You then receive via mail copies of
anything posted to the listserver. Messages are posted by
sending to a publication address, which is different from
the enrollment address. You can execute various other
administrative commands by sending pre-defined messages to
the administrative address. There are many listserver lists.
As an example, to obtain a list of listserv discussion
groups, send a message to listserv@bitnic.bitnet. In the
body of the message, have the single entry "list global"
(without the quotation marks). Leave the subject field
blank. You'll be mailed back a long file. To obtain
instructions on other commands available, send to the same
address a message with the body just including "INFO
REFCARD".
3.6 The World Wide Web
The World-Wide-Web is perhaps the first mechanism to break
the threshold of ease-of-use beyond which large numbers of
people from varying backgrounds can find the Internet to be
useful.
The WEB was initially developed by CERN as a mechanism to
view hypertext documents and provide links between multiple
documents on multiple hosts. Technologically it has grown to
encompass true multi-media formats. The widespread
availability of browsers, multi-media-authoring tools, and
the ability to create your own WEB site has resulted in a
complementary boom in both WEB sites and WEB users. The WEB
is expanding to include information of all types - business,
educational, scientific, entertainment, and more.
WEB Terminology and Operation
The World Wide Web is known by several names ; WWW, w3, and
"the WEB" are often used interchangeably and all mean the
same thing.
Originally it went one (major) step beyond GOPHER and
allowed a hypertext link between documents. This means that
by selecting a "hotword" in one document, or on one screen,
you jump to an entry point in another document. This link
may be on the current host, or it may be to a point of
entry, or "Home Page" on another host.
This frees you from the rigid structure of a menu tree, and
even more importantly allows you access into the contents of
documents. Also, WEB sites and browsers typically have
extensive search capabilities built into them.
This additional freedom has some cost. Navigation can become
harder. Even within any one site it may be difficult to keep
track of where you are and loops are frequently encountered.
At any point you may suddenly find that you are now on a
different site. Also, the widespread proliferation of WEB
home pages has made it nearly impossible to effectively
develop white- or yellow-pages.
Still, the advantages greatly outweigh any newly acquired
difficulties, and work continues to develop better searching
and tracking features.
The basic hypertext format is defined in a semi-standard
known as "HTML" - HyperText Markup Language. This format
goes just beyond plain-text and includes such text-
formatting features as fonts, sizes, bold, etc. The
formatting has also expanded to incorporate both images and
sound. With a full-capability (i.e. multi-media) browser, as
you navigate the WEB you are presented with not just text
information, but accompanying images and often audio.
The name "Mosaic" is used a lot in reference to the WEB.
Mosaic is one of many types of WEB browsers available. It is
one of the most comprehensive. Versions are available for
many platforms, it supports full multi-media capability, and
it may be downloaded for free.
WEB documents and browsers have exhibited fairly
comprehensive backwards and forwards compatibility. Low-end
text-only browsers appropriately filter out images and sound
and make a best-effort at reformatting text. Legacy features
such as FTP and GOPHER are generally represented quite well,
within their given limitations.
About addressing
You will see the phrase "URL" employed a lot. It stands for
"Uniform Resource Locator". In simplistic terms, this means
"addressing". WEB sites are typically identified by some
name such as http://www.ibm.com/. Subdirectories within the
sites are identified by further extensions of the name,
although you typically don't have to keep track of this, the
WEB browser does it for you.
The address example given is actually a subset of a more
comprehensive naming structure. the "http" prefix identifies
one type of resource - "ftp://" and "gopher://" prefixes are
used to identify those types of sites.
About Bandwidth
Its all well and good to talk about a complete multi-media
interface. However, the bandwidth requirements can be
significant. Recall that bandwidth you have available to you
depends upon your type of Internet connection. Your
"bandwidth" may range from a low-end of 9600 bits/sec for a
dial-up-line at to 56kbits-to-Megabits/sec if you're at a
company with its own IP Gateway. The low-end may be all
right for a text-only operation from at home (don't even
think about trying to operate with a lower-speed modem).
Graphics, audio, and motion require successively higher
bandwidth. You can spend a lot of time sitting there
watching the screen get updated. Most good browsers allow
you to selectively shut off features such as graphics if
you're finding that operation is too slow.
Graphical Browsing Tools
The "avalanche" of interest in the WEB has come about
largely due to the widespread availability of good, multi-
platform, graphical browsers that support text, graphics,
and audio. Perhaps the most widely known is Mosaic, although
a number of other good ones exist, and there are lots more
on the way.
Mosaic was initially developed by NCSA, the National Center
for Supercomputing Applications. NCSA was established under
a grant from the National Science Foundation, and Mosaic is
available for free download. The Software Development Group
or SDG provides ongoing support of Mosaic.
There are also a number of commercial versions of Mosaic
available.
Mosaic is a cross-platform tool - versions are available for
Windows, Macintosh, Amiga, and the UNIX operating system.
If you are operating it over a dial-up line though, please
note that the line has to support SLIP or PPP.
A number of commercial companies are rushing to develop
graphical WEB browsers. Also, the Commercial OnLine Data
Services are all working on making versions available over
their systems. CompuServe offers the Spry Mosaic Browse.
This system is quite usable and makes easy WEB access
available to a very large audience.
Text-Based Browsers
The earliest stages of WEB development used text-based
browsers only. In fact the very first ones were line-at-a
time only. LYNX was one of the first screen-mode text-based
browsers and remains widely available on UNIX and VMS
systems.
If you have an account on one of the less expensive Internet
Access providers, that only provide a command-line or text-
based interface, LYNX may be your only available WEB
Browser. Still, it is a pretty capable tool.
Since LYNX is text based, many of its screen may initially
look like GOPHER screens. As you use arrow keys to move
through it, you'll quickly notice that it jumps to
highlighted words in the middle of sentences. These are the
"hotkeys" or links to other documents and sites. Pressing CR
or a different arrow key makes the jump. When you make a
jump to a GOPHER site, you get a conventional GOPHER
representation. When you make a jump to an FTP site, the
presented screen looks a lot like a directory listing.
Besides the navigational features, its important to note
that at any point you can download the currently selected
document. (This can be done by a file extract or by having
it emailed to you at any address you select.)
3.7 The Great Search Sites
A lot of people have put great efforts into tools that
conduct on-line searches. The majority of these are geared
towards locating specific WWW sites that match a given
interest, but they also may incidentally point to FTP sites,
newsgroups, or other resources.
Several search engines which you may reach via the WWW
include;
http://www.yahoo.com
http://www.lycos.com
http://www.excite.com
http://www.jumpcity.com
http://www.opentext.com
http://www.mckinley.com
http://www.gnn.com/wr
Chapter 4 - Accessing The Internet From The Major OnLine
Data Services
A great many people access the Internet from one of the
major on-line data services such as America OnLine or
CompuServe. These services now offer comprehensive graphical
interfaces to the majority of Internet services. The
following is a brief description of how to access these the
WWW, FTP, Gopher, and Internet email on AOL and CompuServe.
4.1 America OnLine
Current versions of the AOL interface package include an
integrated series of graphical interfaces to Internet
services. At the Main Menu, clicking "Internet Connection"
brings up an Internet-specific menu page. This page is also
accessible via the Keyword "Internet". The page has separate
icons for FTP, Gopher, Newsgroups, and the WWW. Much of the
process of accessing sites is automated for you - you enter
a site name, or click one from a menu, and the interface
program handles any sign-on protocol. There are also
buttons for functions such as downloading files.
There is also a separate icon for composing Internet email.
There are plenty of informational screens to explain the
process of composing mail, and in particular the addressing
conventions. For example, if you know the account number of
someone on CompuServe, you are told exactly how to construct
their valid Internet email address.
To make use of MailLists, you use email to compose "enroll"
messages as previously described. Mailist postings will then
appear in your mailbox as regular mail.
4.2 CompuServe
CompuServe purchased the Spry company and now offers a
customized version of the Mosaic WEB browser. This program
operates as a stand-alone package separate from the WICIM or
other CompuServe interfaces. The Spry Mosaic browser is the
mechanism for accessing WWW pages, FTP sites, Gopher, and
Newsgroups. (use the HELP function for details on accessing
Newsgroups. But basically you enter Newsgroups as URLs of
the form news:newsgroup.name)
Sending email, and accessing mailists, is not done in the
Spry Mosaic browser. It is performed in the main CompuServe
environment, using for example such as WinCIM. Email is sent
to the Internet using the prefix "INTERNET:" followed by a
valid Internet email address.
Chapter 5 - Accessing The Internet From Internet Access
Providers
Even if you have an account on a major online data service
provider such as CompuServe, if you're going to be using the
Internet a lot you may find it more cost effective to have a
separate account at an Internet Access provider.
There has been a mini-boom in the last several years of
Internet Access providers. These are companies that go
through all the work described in the preceding section, of
setting up an Internet Gateway. Then, they rent out monthly
accounts to anyone. Accounts are accessed via dial-in lines.
The sophistication of these systems runs from providing
local telephone access of a command-line interface on a
terminal-emulation session, to a nationwide-access dial-in
system with a graphical interface.
There are many ways to find these providers. First, they
advertise, both locally in newspapers and in relevant
magazines such as Internet World. Also, there are lists
maintained on the Internet of Dial-In Access providers.
(We'll skip over the chicken-and-egg situation of needing to
get on the Internet first to get at the list.) One list is
called PDIAL and is available at the FTP server
rtfm.mit.edu.
A couple systems have achieved some degree of national fame
for the depth of their services, or the character of their
membership. Two that come to mind are The WELL, in the San
Francisco area, and PANIX in New York City.
A couple new features have been appearing on many of these
providers;
· The ability to create your own World-Wide-Web home page
· They can create a network address for you that looks like
your own commercial business address. Instead of being
"username@provider_name.com" you can now be
"username@your_businessname.com" For example, I can go
from being "bck@world.std.com" to "bobk@minuteman.com"
This is a real plus if you're establishing a company-
presence.
5.1 Basic-Service Providers
This is a no-frills system wherein you get an account on the
Providers system. You use a terminal emulator to dial in and
are presented with a command-line interface. You are
allocated a certain amount of storage space on the system
for composing and or moving files. Fees are rather
reasonable - there may be no sign-up fee, and monthly costs
may be as low as $5 basic fee plus $2 per hour. I've heard
there are systems as inexpensive as $20 per year.
Very often these systems are UNIX systems. A UNIX command-
line may appear a bit cryptic to someone familiar with DOS,
and downright puzzling to a business person trying to get
their first exposure to the Internet. However, you really
should have little difficulty learning to use at least the
basics of a UNIX command-line system. Most systems have a
"help" command and a UNIX command summary. There are also
many good books around on UNIX. A very rudimentary UNIX
command summary is provided in on the following pages.
If I had to give one piece of advice to UNIX-neophytes it is
; watch out for case-sensitivity! UNIX paths and filenames
are case sensitive, and this can cause a lot of grief until
you get used to it.
5.2 Advanced-Service Providers
Many providers are trying to appeal to a wider customer-
base. One way to do this is to offer a graphical interface
that eliminates the complexities of both command-line
interfaces and the Internet functions themselves. Also,
instead of just providing a regional telephone number, some
services are working with major telephone carriers to
provide access-lines in major urban centers.
The next-level-up of service providers, over the UNIX-
command-line method, consists of providers who offer SLIP
and PPP protocols over their dial-in lines. This allows you
to create what amounts to an Internet connection direct to
your own machine. A primary use of this is to allow
installation of the Mosaic WEB browser on your system.
Mosaic, described later, is an advanced graphical interface
for scanning the world-wide-web. It can offer text,
graphics, and audio access to WEB sites.
I should point out that there are Mosaic browsers available
as freeware - it's not a proprietary program of the service
provider. The provider's main job is to provide the SLIP or
PPP connectivity. They may or may not also make it easy for
you to locate Mosaic and install it.
At the top-level of functionality, some service providers do
offer a proprietary graphical interface to overall Internet
functions. Some are also expanding their telephone access
and advertising on a national basis. These companies are
beginning to merge into the same market, and level of
service, as the "OnLine Data Service" companies such as
CompuServe.
Two such top-level services are The Pipeline and NETCOM On-
Line Communications Services.
One other service to mention is DELPHI Internet Services.
DELPHI at one point was providing services similar to the
OnLine Data Services. However, it's focus became Internet
Connectivity. It has been somewhat late, though, in
developing a graphical interface. At time of writing the
release of DELPHI's graphical interface is imminent. It thus
rests in position somewhere between the large OnLine Data
Services and the small-but-upcoming graphically-oriented
Internet Access providers.
5.3 A Low-cost Alternative - Free-nets
Free-nets are free-access computer systems. They give the
general public limited access to the Internet as well as
access to local bulletin boards and discussion groups. They
are run through a library or educational institution and
are often sponsored by a local government. Once you've
located a Free-net, if you have a computer and a modem you
can logon, often for no charge.
A given Free-net system may have a few drawbacks. They
don't generally have full Internet access and are usually
limited to text-only environments. Also, their overall size
may be limited, and if there is a lot of demand you may find
it difficult to avoid a busy signal when dialing in.
Many Free-nets are also accessible via Telnet from other
systems, so once you logon to one Free-net node, you can hop
around to others.
The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) serves as
an umbrella organization for Free-nets. You can contact them
by sending mail to info@nptn.org. They publish a weekly-
updated list of world-wide Free-nets. It can be found posted
in the Newsgroups alt.freenet or alt.online-service.freenet.
Table 1 - UNIX Command Summary
Above all else - remember that file and directory are case-
sensitive !!!
Append to a file Command: cat file1 >> file 2
Change Directory Command: cd directory
[example cd /pub ]
[cd without argument returns to
home or top directory]
Copy a file Command: cp file1 file2
Current Directory Command: pwd
["present working directory"]
Compress File Command: compress file1
[compresses to file1.z]
Decompress File Command: uncompress file1.z
Disk Space Left Command: du
List Files Command: ls -argument (include the "-")
arguements -s = filesize
-F = file type
-cl = by date
-a = invisible files
Make New Directory Command: mkdir new-directory-name
Move a File Command: mv filename directory
Remove Directory Command: rmdir directory-name
Remove File Command: rm filename
Rename File Use "Move File" to do this
View Contents of a file Command: more filename
Chapter 6 - Using NetScout
Operation is straightforward. You select the resource
library lists you wish to scan, by clicking the button
(on/off) adjacent to each. The library lists are described
in the next chapter.
Then select from 1 to 3 keywords to search for. You may
select (via a button click) if you wish to capture entries
that contain all the keyword ("and" logic) or any of the
keywords ("or" logic).
You may set a maximum number of "finds" that the program
will limit itself to. This can be a timesaver to prevent
spending a lot of time on a poor choice of keyword that
results in many entries being selected. (You can also click
the "STOP" button at any time to stop a lengthy search.) For
example, if you were to include the keyword "PC" with "or"
logic, you would probably find far too many irrelevant
entries being found.
All entries which match the keyword criteria are stored in
an output text file. You can save the search crireia and the
results of the search in ouput files. One the menu bar,
select "FILE" and drop down to "SAVE AS" to save the current
search. The search results are stored as a plain text file
FILENAME.OUT which can be viewed or otherwise used by any
Word Processor program. The search conditrions themselves
are saved in a special format file FILENAME.DAT - don't try
to examine it.
All the normal word-processor-like functions of OPEN, SAVE,
SAVE AS, CLOSE, NEW, and PRINT may be employed.
Clicking the "RUN" button starts a search. A window
indicates that the program is "BUSY" until the search is
over. The number of matching entries is also displayed.
Once you have conducted a search, you can scan the
individual entries by pressing the "VIEW" button. With the
"PRINT" button you can send the currently viewed entry to
your printer. The "NEXT" button steps you through more
entries. Clicking "STOP" ends the Viewing.
When viewing resource descriptions, the bar at the bottom of
the screen gives specific instructions for how to use your
Internet Service to access the listed resource.
You can enter choices for an additional search, or click
"NEW" to clear all selections
Chapter 7 - Hints for Searching
To be "effective" a search must locate all "right" answers
while at the same time include a minimum of "wrong" answers.
The judicious selection of keywords is the primary factor in
conducting a quick and effective search. With time and
practice you will naturally develop this skill. For starting
purposes, here are a couple, perhaps obvious, tips for
searching.
1. Use shortened forms of words. Using "librar" will help
find any subject that includes "library", "libraries", or
"librarian". Don't cut the words too short though - "lib"
will locate the above-mentioned words, but it will also
find subjects containing "liberty", "alibi", and a great
number of other subjects you don't want.
2. Think of words related to your subject - besides
"television", it may help to try words like "tv", "video",
"program", "show", "sit-com", "serial", etc.
3. Individual words may take different forms. "Sit-Com",
above, might also be listed under "SitCom". Don't expect
any word to have one and one-only proper usager that is
universally followed. Fortunately all NetScout searches
are insensitive to case, which helps somewhat.
4. Avoid words that are too-widely used. When searching for
computer-topics, "Unix", "PC" and "computer" appear in so
many subjects that there will be a uselessly-high number
of "finds" on any search that employs any of them as a key-
word.
5. As a general tip, unless you are specifically looking for
archive sites, you may wish to exclude the FTP-sitelist
from searches. The descriptions associated with FTP sites
employ a lot of "general" or "vague" terms that will
result in a lot of false finds.
Chapter 8 - Library Lists Available With NetScout
NetScout works with several library lists that are easily
available off the Internet. Due to space considerations,
only a sampling of the lists is supplied along with this
evaluation copy of the program. However, you can easily
obtain the full lists themselves following the directions
below. In order for your downloaded versions of the lists
to work with NetScout, each only needs to be combined into a
single file (if downloaded in multiple parts) and given the
filename indicated below.
Name: Publicly_Accessible_Mailing_Lists
Description: List of Maillists on the Internet
Lists contact procedure and gives a brief description of
subject for each of 1000 maillists available on the Internet.
Size: 660 KBytes non-compressed
Location: anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path /pub/usenet-
by-group/news.lists.
filename Publicly_Accessible_Mailing_Lists
(14 or more parts). Also re-posted periodically in
newsgroup news.announce.newusers.
Usage : Combine all parts into one file and rename "maillist.txt"
Name: LISTSERV.TXT
Description: List of Bitnet Discussion Groups on the Internet/Bitnet
Gives a brief description of subject for each of 500+
maillists available on Bitnet, a network related to the
Internet. This is a different list from MAILLIST.TXT
Size: 600K Bytes non-compressed
Location: Send a mail message to listserv@bitnic.bitnet. In the body of
the message, have the single entry "list global" (without the
quotation marks). Leave the subject field blank .
Usage: rename as "listserv.txt"
Name: List_of_Active_Newsgroups
Description: List of all active news groups. Gives newsgroup
name and one-line description.
Size: Approx. 96 Kbytes non-compressed
Location : anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path
/pub/usenet-by-group/news.lists
filename List_of_Active_Newsgroups (2 parts)
Usage : Combine all parts into one file and rename "newslist.txt"
Name: ftp-sitelist.txt
Description: Comprehensive list of all known FTP servers world-wide.
Size: 1 MB non-compressed
Location : Anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path
/pub/usenet/new.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part**
(17 parts at present and growing)
Usage : Combine all parts into one file and rename "ftplist.txt"
Name: List of Periodic Informational Postings
Description: A list of FAQs archived at a key resource
Size: 630 KBytes non-compressed
Location : Anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path
/pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/.
Usage : Combine all parts into one file and rename "faqlist.txt"
Chapter 9 - Ordering Information
This is an evaluation copy of Net Scout. If you use it for
more than ten days, you must pay for your copy. Upon
payment, you will receive a registration of the program, and
a complete set of the most current versions of the library
lists.
Please use the order form below or contact us at
Telephone: (617)489-5639
Internet Address : bck@world.std.com
CompuServe : 74252,2350
NetScout Order Form
-------------------
Fill in the information below, and mail with a check or money
order for
___ $ 9.95 for NetScout Program Registration alone.
or
___ $19.95 for NetScout Program plus Complete Set Of List Files
or
___ $39.95 for NetScout Program Plus One Year Subscription
of List Files (Updated Quarterly)
Send to ;
Minuteman Systems
P.O. Box 152
Belmont, MA. 02178
Name __________________________________________
Company:___________________________________________
Land Mail:
Street _______________________Apt\MailStop_______
City/Town ________________ State__ ZipCode_______
Tele - Business:____________ Home:______________
Electronic Addresses:
AOL :________________ Compuserve:_________________
Internet: __________________Other:_________________
Media : ___ 5.25" floppy ___ 3.5" micro-floppy
