Note: Many of the URL's provided in this and other columns have changed or disappeared in the decade since this column was written. They are left intact in these columns to preserve the original content.

In the previous column (How to be a Net Newbie Without Looking Like a Net Newbie), we discussed how to get on the Internet. Assuming that you are following this series and awaiting each successive column before accomplishing your next step, be advised that at this rate it will take you approximately 18 issues before you are fully operational. By then, much of what you have learned will be obsolescent due to explosive technological progress.

Once you have a SLIP or PPP account, you then need "client" software. This is the software that you load and run on your PC or Mac to facilitate using the vast resources of the Internet.

Many client packages are available, including "Internet Chameleon" from NetManage (list price about $199 US), "Internet In a Box" from NetManage (about $100 US), "NetCruiser" from NetCom ($5 US - but you can only use on their "service", which, to be charitable - is somewhat overburdened on it's users-to-modem ratio.)

All of the above packages are fully integrated sets of utilities and generally include:

E-Mail

Perhaps the most-used facility of the Net.

NewsReader

Software to allow you to access nearly 10,000 discussion groups. (Including comp.databases.pick)

FTP

File Transfer Protocol. Allows fetching/sending any kind of files over the Net, usually through "anonymous" FTP.

Whois

Provides the ability to get information about a specific user (usually by using their E-Mail address) or "domain" (for administrative and technical support issues).

Finger

Allows fetching someone's "plan" - a text file manually created by a user and placed into their account on their host system at their IP site. This file generally contains contact and promotional information, and some include public encryption keys for utilities like PGP (Pretty Good Privacy).

Ping

Like a digital sonar, this allows sending a signal to another known or suspected site (like picksys.com) to see if they are alive and well. It can also be useful for determining if you are alive and well, since there is usually no clear way of determining this from a SLIP or PPP account.

Telnet

A remarkably useful tool considering that it represents a throwback to character-based technology. Through this, you can logon to a system anywhere in the world - for the price of a local phone call - just as if you were dialing into that system directly. We use this a lot, but you do have to have a valid logon-id and password once you reach a site, unless you're really good at guessing. (Whatever you do, don't try picksys.com)

Archie

An extremely useful utility for ferreting out files anywhere on the Net by specific keyword searches. You could, for instance, look for SB314, the new Senate Bill that would thoughtfully allow the US Government to censor your E-Mail and files. There are on-line petitions against this, in case you're interested. The Web Address for more information on SB314 is http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Legislation/Bills_new/s314.bill. Of course, if you're reading this on the Web, all you have to do is click on it. If you're reading a printout of this article, be aware that there is an "underscore" character ( "_" ) between the words "Bills" and "new".

World Wide Web Browsers

We saved the best until last. A Web browser allows you to spend way too much time "surfing" through the more than 12,000 Web sites containing Web Pages (growing at the rate of roughly 200 sites per day). The three integrated packages mentioned earlier each have their own browser. NetManage's and I-Boxes' browsers are both based on Mosaic, the first widely-used browser. NetCruiser from NetCom is home-grown, but has many of the features of the others. The best of the lot, in our opinion, is NetScape, and is available as shareware, free for downloading and using on your system. It is faster, funner, and more intuitive.

 

In the next column, we'll delve into the various benefits and features of E-Mail packages.

See you next issue

Jon Sisk
www.jes.com

Original article for Computing News & Review, March 1995

Copyright © 1995 Jonathan E. Sisk.