Electronic news by radio ———————————— If costs were of no concern, then your applications of the online world would probably change considerably. Pay attention, as we are moving fast in that direction. Radio is one of the supporting technologies. It is used to deliver Usenet newsgroup to bulletin boards (example: PageSat Inc. of Palo Alto, U.S.A.) Also, consider this: Businesses need a constant flow of news to remain competitive. Desktop Data Inc. (tel. +1-617-890-0042) markets a real-time news service called NewsEDGE in the United States and Europe. They call it "live news processing." Annual subscriptions start at US$20,000 for ten users (1993). NewsEDGE continuously collects news from more than 100 news wires, including sources like PR Newswire, Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, Dow Jones News Service, Dow Jones Professional Investor Report and Reuters Financial News. The stories are "packaged" and immediately feed to customers' personal computers and workstations by FM, satellite, or X.25 broadcast:
* All news stories are integrated in a live news stream all day long,
* The NewsEdge software manages the simultaneous receipt of news from multiple services, and alerts users to stories that match their individual interest profiles. It also maintains a full-text database of the most recent 250,000 stories on the user's server for quick searching.
Packet radio
——————
A global amateur radio network allows users to modem around the
world, and even in outer space. Its users never get a telephone
bill.
There are over 700 packet radio based bulletin boards (PBBS).
They are interconnected by short wave radio, VHF, UHF, and
satellite links. Technology aside, they look and feel just like
standard bulletin boards.
Once you have the equipment, can afford the electricity to
power it up, and the time it takes to get a radio amateur license,
communication itself is free.
Packet radio equipment sells in the United States for less
than US$ 750. This will give you a radio (VHR tranceiver), antenna,
cable for connecting the antenna to the radio, and a controller
(TNC - Terminal Node Controller).
Most PBBS systems are connected to a network of packet radio
based boards. Many amateurs use 1200 bps, but speeds of up to
56,000 bps are being used on higher frequencies (the 420-450 MHz
band in the United States).
Hams are working on real-time digitized voice communications,
still-frame (and even moving) graphics, and live multiplayer games.
In some countries, there are also gateways available to terrestrial
public and commercial networks, such as CompuServe, and Usenet.
Packet radio is demonstrated as a feasible technology for
wireless extension of the Internet.
Radio and satellites are being used to help countries in the
Third World. Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), a private,
nonprofit organization, is one of those concerned with technology
transfers in humanitarian assistance to these countries.
VITA's portable packet radio system was used for global email
after a volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1991. Today, the
emphasis is on Africa.
VITA's "space mailbox" passes over each single point of the
earth twice every 25 hours at an altitude of 800 kilometers. When
the satellite is over a ground station, the station sends files and
messages for storage in the satellite's computer memory and
receives incoming mail. The cost of ground station operation is
based on solar energy batteries, and therefore relatively cheap.
To learn more about VITA's projects, subscribe to their mailing
list by email to LISTSERV@AUVM.BITNET. Use the command SUB DEVEL-L
Cable TV ———— Expect Cable TV networks to grow in importance as electronic high- ways, to offer gateways into the Internet and others, and to get interconnected not unlike the Internet itself. Example: Continental Cablevision Inc. (U.S.A.) lets customers plug PCs and a special modem directly into its cable lines to link up with the Internet. The cable link bypasses local phone hookups and provide the capability to download whole books and other information at speeds up to 10 million bits per second.
Electronic mail on the move —————————————- For some time, we have been witnessing a battle between giants. On one side, the national telephone companies have been pushing X.400 backed by CCITT, and software companies like Lotus, Novell, and Microsoft. On the other side, CompuServe, Dialcom, MCI Mail, GEISCO, Sprint, and others have been fighting their wars. Nobody really thought much about the Internet, until suddenly, it was there for everybody. The incident has changed the global email scene fundamentally. One thing seems reasonably certain: that the Internet will grow. In late 1992, the president of the Internet Society (Reston, Va., U.S.A.) made the following prediction:
".. by the year 2000 the Internet will consist of some 100 million hosts, 3 million networks, and 1 billion users (close to the current population of the People's Republic of China). Much of this growth will certainly come from commercial traffic."
We, the users, are the winners. Most online services now understand that global exchange of email is a requirement, and that they must connect to the Internet. Meanwhile, wild things are taking place in the grassroots arena:
* Thousands of new bulletin boards are being connected tograssroots networks like FidoNet (which in turn is connectedto the Internet for exchange of mail).
* Thousands of bulletin boards are being hooked directly intothe Internet (and Usenet) offering such access to users atstunning rates.
* The BBSes are bringing email up to a new level by lettingus use offline readers, and other types of powerful mailhandling software.
Email will never be the same.
Cheaper and better communications ————————————————- During Christmas 1987, a guru said that once the 9600 bps V.32 modems fell below the US$1,200 level, they would create a new standard. Today, such modems can be bought at prices lower than US$200. In many countries, 14,400 bits/s modems are already the preferred choice.
Wild dreams get real —————————— In the future, we will be able to do several things simultaneously on the same telephone line. This is what the promised land of ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Networks) is supposed to give us. Some users already have this capability. They write and talk on the same line using pictures, music, video, fax, voice and data. ISDN is supposed to let us use services that are not generally available today. Here are some key words:
* Chats, with the option of having pictures of the people we are talking to up on our local screen (for example in a window, each time he or she is saying something). Eventually, we may get the pictures in 3-D.
* Database searches in text and pictures, with displays of both.
* Electronic transfers of video/movies over a telephone line (fractal image compression technology may give us another online revolution). Imagine dances filmed by ethnologists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., or an educational film about the laps in northern Norway from an information provider called the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp.
The "Internet Talk Radio" is already delivering programs by anonymous ftp (e.g., through ftp.nau.edu in the directory /talk-radio).
* Online amusement parks with group plays, creative offerings (drawing, painting, building of 3-D electronic sculptures), shopping (with "live" people presenting merchandise and good pictures of the offerings, test drives, etc.), casino (with real prizes), theater with live performance, online "dressing rooms" (submit a 2-D picture of yourself, and play with your looks), online car driving schools (drive a car through Tokyo or New York, or go on safari).
The Sierra Network has been playing around with these ideas for quite some time.
* Your favorite books, old as new, available for on-screen reading or searching in full text. Remember, many libraries have no room to store all the new books that they receive. Also, wear and tear tend to destroy books after some time.
Many books are already available online, including this one.
* Instant access to hundreds of thousands of 'data cottages'. These are computers in private homes of people around the world set up for remote access. With the technical advances in the art of transferring pictures, some of these may grow to become tiny online "television stations."
These wild ideas are already here, but it will take time before they are generally available. New networks need to be in place. New and more powerful communications equipment has to be provided. Farther down the road, we can see the contours of speech-based electronic conferences with automatic translation to and from the participants' languages. Entries will be stored as text in a form that allows for advanced online searching. We may have a choice between the following:
* To use voice when entering messages, rather than entering them through the keyboard. The ability to mix speech, text, sound and pictures (single frames or live pictures).
* Messages are delivered to you by voice, as text or as a combination of these (like in a lecture with visual aids).
* Text and voice can be converted to a basic text, which then may be converted to other languages, and forwarded to its destination as text or voice.
One world ————- Within the Internet, the idea of "the network as one, large computer" has already given birth to many special services, like gopher and WAIS. Potentially, we will be able to find and retrieve information from anywhere on the global grid of connected systems. Bulletin boards have commenced to offer grassroots features modeled after telnet and ftp. These alternatives may even end up being better and more productive than the interactive commands offered "inside" the Internet. The global integration of online services will continue at full speed, and in different ways.
Rates ——- There is a trend away from charging by the minute or hour. Many services convert to subscription prices, a fixed price by the month, quarter or year. Other services, among them some major database services, move toward a scheme where users only pay for what they get (no cure, no pay). MCI Mail was one of the first. There, you only pay when you send or read mail. On CompuServe's IQuest, you pay a fixed price for a fixed set of search results.
Cheaper transfers of data ————————————- Privatization of the national telephone monopolies has given us more alternatives. This will continue. Possible scenarios:
* Major companies selling extra capacity from their owninternal networks,
* Telecommunications companies exporting their services atextra low prices,
* Other pricing schemes (like a fixed amount per month withunlimited usage),
* New technology (direct transmitting satellites, FM, etc.)
So far, data transporters have been receiving a disproportionate share of the total costs. For example, the rate for accessing CompuServe from Norway through InfoNet is US$11.00, while using the service itself costs US$12.80 at 2400 bps. Increased global competition in data transportation is quickly changing this picture, supported by general access to the Internet. Prices will most likely continue their dramatic way toward zero.
Powerful new search tools ————————————- As the sheer quantity of information expands, the development of adequate finding tools is gaining momentum. Our major problem is how to use what we have access to. This is especially true on the Internet. Expect future personal information agents, called "knowbots," which will scan databases all over the online world for specific information at a user's bidding. This will make personal knowledge of where you need to go redundant. Artificial intelligence will increase the value of searches, as they can be based on your personal searching history since your first day as a user. Your personal information agents will make automatic decisions about what is important and what is not in a query. When you get information back, it will not just be in the normal chronological order. It will be ranked by what seems to be closest to the query.
Sources for future studies ————————————— It seems appropriate to end this chapter with some online services focusing on the future: Newsbytes has a section called Trends. The topic is computers and communications. ECHO has the free database Trend, the online edition of the Trend Monitor magazine. It contains short stories about the development within electronics and computers (log on to ECHO using the password TREND). Usenet has the newsgroup clari.news.trends (Surveys and trends). Why not complement what you find here by monitoring trends in associated areas (like music), to follow the development from different perspectives? The music forum RockNet on CompuServe has a section called Trends. CompuServe's Education Forum has the section Future Talk. What educators think about the future of online services (and education) is always interesting. The Well, based just outside Silicon Valley in the United States, has The Future conference. UUCP has info-futures. Its purpose is "to provide a speculative forum for analyzing current and likely events in technology as they will affect our near future in computing and related areas." (Contact: info-futures-request@cs.bu.edu for subscription.) Usenet has comp.society.futures about "Events in technology affecting future computing." It is tempting to add a list of conferences dedicated to science fiction, but I'll leave that pleasure to you.
Have a nice trip!
Appendix 1: List of selected online services ============================================
To make a list of online services is difficult. Services come and go. Addresses and access numbers are constantly changed. Only one thing is certain. Some of the details below will be outdated, when you read this.
Affaersdata i Stockholm AB ————————————- P.O. Box 3188, S-103 63 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: + 46 8 736 59 19.
America Online ——————— has the CNN Newsroom (Turner Educational Services), The Washington Post, the National Geographic magazine, PC World and Macworld. AOL has tailor-made graphical user interfaces for Apple, Macintosh, and PC compatible computers, and about 300.000 users (in June 1993). Sending and receiving Internet mail is possible. Contact: America Online, 8619 Westwood Center Dr., Vienna, VA 22182-2285, USA. Phone: +1-703-448-8700.
APC —- The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is a worldwide partnership of member networks for peace and environmental users with host computers in several countries:
Alternex (Brazil). Email: support@ax.apc.orgChasque (Uruguay). Email: apoyo@chasque.apc.orgComLink e.V (Germany). Email: support@oln.comlink.apc.orgEcuanex (Ecuador). Email: intercom@ecuanex.apc.orgGlasNet (Russia). Email: support@glas.apc.orgGreenNet (England). Email: support@gn.apc.orgInstitute for Global Communications (U.S.A.), includesEcoNet, PeaceNet, ConflictNet, LaborNet.Email: support@igc.apc.orgNicarao - CRIES (Nicaragua). Email: ayuda@nicarao.apc.orgNordNet (Sweden). Email: support@pns.apc.orgPegasus (Australia). Email: support@peg.apc.orgWeb (Canada). Email: support@web.apc.org
While all these services are fee based, they bring a wealth of information on environmental preservation, peace (incl. Greenpeace Press Releases), human rights, grant-making foundations, Third World Resources, United Nations Information Service, Pesticide Information Service, and more. For information about APC, write to apcadmin@igc.apc.org , or APC International Secretariat, Rua Vincente de Souza, 29, 22251-070 Rio de Janeiro, BRASIL. Fax: +55-21-286-0541. For information about the PeaceNet World News Service, which delivers news digests directly to your email box, send a request to pwn@igc.apc.org.
Bergen By Byte ——————— Norwegian online service with conferences and many files. Modem tel.: +47 05 323781. PDN (Datapak) address: 0 2422 450134. Telnet: oscar.bbb.no (192.124.156.38). English-language interface available. Annual subscription rates. You can register online. Limited free usage.
BIBSYS———Book database operated by the Norwegian universities' libraries.Send Internet mail to genserv@pollux.bibsys.no with your searchword in the subject title of the message.
Big Sky Telegraph ————————- is an online community for educators, business people etc. living in rural areas in North America. Address: 710 South Atlantic, Dillon, Montana 59725, U.S.A.
BITNET———"Because It's Time NETwork" started in 1981 as a small network forIBM computers in New York, U.S.A. Today, BITNET encompasses 3,284host computers by academic and research institutions all over theworld. It has around 243,016 users (source: Matrix News 1993)All connected hosts form a worldwide network using the NJE(Network Job Entry) protocols and with a single list of nodes.There is no single worldwide BITNET administration. Severalnational or regional bodies administer the network.The European part of BITNET is called EARN (European AcademicResearch Network), while the Canadian is called NetNorth. In Japanthe name is AsiaNet. BITNET also has connections to South America.Other parts of the network have names like CAREN, ANSP, SCARNET,CEARN, GULFNET, HARNET, ECUANET, and RUNCOL.Normally, a BITNET email address looks like this:
The part to the left of the @-character is the users' mailbox code. The part to the right is the code of the mailbox computer. It is common for Internet users to refer to BITNET addresses like this: NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS.BITNET . To send email from the Internet to BITNET, it has to be sent through special gateway computers. On many systems, this is taken care of automatically. You type NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS.BITNET, and your mailbox system does the rest. On some systems, the user must give routing information in the BITNET address. For example, North American mail to BITNET can be sent through the gateway center CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU . To make mail to NOTRBCAT go through this gateway, its mail address must be changed as follows:
Explanation: The @ in the initial address is replaced with % . Then add the gateway routing: ".BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU". If you must use a gateway in your address, always select one close to where you live. Ask your local postmaster for the correct addressing in your case. BITNET has many conferences. We call them discussion lists or mailing lists. The lists are usually administered by a computer program called LISTSERV. The dialog is based on redistribution of ordinary email by mailing lists. Consequently, it is simple for users of other networks to participate in BITNET conferences. A list of discussion lists (at present around 1,600 one-line descriptions) is available by email from LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET. Write the following command in the TEXT of your message:
NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1.BITNET and NETMONTH (from BITLIB@YALEVM.BITNET) distribute regular notices about new discussion lists. Subscribe to NEW-LIST by email to LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET. Use the following command:
SUB NEW-LIST Your-first-name Your-last-name
This is how we usually subscribe to discussion lists. Send your subscription commands to a LISTSERV close to where you live. The command "SENDME BITNET OVERVIEW" tells LISTSERV to send more information about the services.
BIX —- is operated as a joint venture between General Videotex Corp. and the North American computer magazine BYTE (McGraw-Hill). To some extent, it mirrors what you can read on paper. BIX offers global Internet email, telnet and ftp, multiple conferences. In 1992, the service had about 50,000 members. The NUA address is 0310600157878. On Internet, telnet x25.bix.com . At the Username: prompt, enter BIX as a user name. At the second Username: prompt, enter NEW if you don't already have an account on the service. You can sign up for the service, and play during your first visit to the service. Read BYTE for more information, or write to General Videotex Corporation, 1030 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Phone: +1-617-354-4137.
BRS —- Bibliographic Retrieval Services is owned by InfoPro Technologies (see below). BRS/After Dark is a service for PC users. It can be accessed during evenings and weekends at attractive rates. InfoPro offers connection through their own network in Europe, and through the Internet. BRS contains about 120 databases within research, business, news, and science. The service's strengths are medicine and health. Membership in BRS costs US$80 per year, plus hourly database usage charges. It is also available through CompuServe (at a different price). Contact in Europe: BRS Information Technologies, Achilles House, Western Avenue, London W3 OUA, England. Tel. +44 81 993 9962. In North America: InfoPro Technologies. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900. Telnet: brs.com (US$6/hr).
Canada Remote Systems ——————————- is North America's largest bulletin board system (1992). It has a software library of more than 500,000 programs and files, and over 3,500 public forums and discussion areas. Canada Remote provides several news and information services, including the United Press International and Reuters news wires, North American stock exchange results, the twice-weekly edition of Newsbytes, and other publications. Tel.: +1-416-629-7000 (in the U.S.) and +1-313-963-1905 (Canada). Canada Remote Systems, 1331 Crestlawn Drive, Unit D, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L4W 2P9.
CGNET ——- is a network interconnecting a group of international research organizations. Besides email, CGNET provides news clipping services, airline reservation information, and database search. (See Dialcom) Contact: CGNET Services International, 1024 Hamilton Court, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. Telephone: +1-415-325-3061. Fax: 1-415-325-2313 Telex: 4900005788 (CGN UI) .
CIX (England) ——————- British online-service available by telnet, through PDN services and by direct dial. Telnet cix.compulink.co.uk. Compulink Information eXchange Ltd. claims to be Europe's largest conferencing system. Sign-up fee (1993): GBP 25.00. Monthly minimum: GBP 6.25. Off-peak connect rate GBP 2.40. Peak rate is 3.60 per hour. The service has full Internet access, and email exchange with CompuServe and Dialcom. CIX has many conferences, ISDN access, Usenet News, telnet and ftp. Contact: The Compulink Information Exchange Ltd., The Sanctuary Oakhill Grove, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6DU, England. Tel.: +44-81-390- 8446. Fax: +44-81-390-6561. NUA: 2342 1330 0310. Data: +44-81-390- 1255/+44-81-390-1244. Email: cixadmin@cix.compulink.co.uk .
CIX (USA) ————- The Commercial Internet eXchange is a North American association of commercial Internet providers in which they agree to carry each others' packets of mail, and more.
Clarinet————A commercial network publishing service providing information andnews in over 100 newsgroups by subject matter on Usenet. ReadChapter 9 for more information. Single-user (individual) pricesavailable.Clarinet Communications Corp., 124 King St. North, Waterloo,Ontario N2J 2X8, Canada. Email: info@clarinet.com .
Commercial Mail Relay Service (CMR)—————————————————-This service is not available anymore. They used to be availableon this address:Intermail-Request@Intermail.ISI.EDU
CompuServe ————— has about 1.3 million users (August 93) all over the world, over 1,500 databases, 200 forums, 500 newspapers, online shopping from more than 100 shops and entertainment. It's like a large electronic supermarket. You can access the service though local access numbers in over 100 countries, through Packet Switching Services, and outdial services. The international NUA address is 0313299999997. A list of available forums can be retrieved from the IBM Communication Forum. Participation in forums is normally free (no extra charge). The IQuest database service gives access to more than 800 publications, databases, and indexes within business, public affairs, research, news, etc. Bibliographic and full-text searches. Some IQuest databases are physically residing on other online services, like NewsNet, Dialog, BRS, and Vu/Text (U.S.A.), Data- Star (Switzerland), DataSolve (England. It has TASS in the World Reporter database), and Questel (France). Sometimes, it is cheaper to use these services on CompuServe, than by a call to these services directly. The connect charge for CompuServe's Alternative Pricing Plan is US$12.80/hour at 1200 and 2400 bps. 9600 bps costs US$22.80/hour. Monthly subscription US$2.50. Using the Executive News Service (clipping service) costs an extra US$15/hour. An optional flat-rate pricing plan (the Standard Pricing plan) is available for US$8.95 per month. It gives unlimited access to over 30 basic services, including CompuServe mail, The Electronic Mall, news, weather and sports, member support services, reference and travel services. Hourly rates for Standard Pricing Plan members using extended services go from US$6/hour for 300 bits/s to US$16/hour for 9600 bits/s access. (Feb. 93) In addition, there are network charges. These differ a lot by country. For example, access through European CompuServe nodes has no communication surcharges during non-prime time (19:00-8:00 local time). CompuServe can be accessed by telnet to hermes.merit.edu, or 35.1.48.150. Host: CompuServe. CompuServe Information Services Inc., POB 20212, 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd., Columbus, Ohio 43220, U.S.A. In Europe, call voice: +49-89-66550-111, fax: +49-89-66 550-255 or write to CompuServe, Jahnstrasse 2, D-8025 Unterhaching b., Munich, Germany. To contact CompuServe Africa, call (012) 841-2530 in South Africa, or (+27)(12) 841-2530 for everywhere else.
Cosine ——— COSINE (Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe) is a European Common Market "Eureka" project. It works to establish a communications network infrastructure for scientific and industrial research institutes all over Europe. IXI is the international packet data network on which the COSINE project is based. It is available Europe-wide providing links of up to 64 Kbit/s, carries non commercial traffic for the research communities, and provides links to several public data networks. The CONCISE online information service is a focal point for information of interest to European researchers. It has lists of sources of information. Internet users can access CONCISE through Telnet. Connect either to concise.ixi.ch (130.59.2.16) or concise.funet.fi (128.214.6.181). Login: concise, password: concise. For help, send email to helpdesk@concise.level-7.co.uk with the following command in the body of the text:
start help cug-email
This will give you the `CONCISE User Guide - Email Access'.
DASnet ——— forwards mail between systems that do not have any email exchange agreements. See description in Chapter 13. Contact: DA Systems, Inc., 1503 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell, CA 95008, U.S.A.
DataArkiv————-Major Scandinavian online service based in Sweden. Contact:DataArkiv, Box 1502, 171 29 Solna, Sweden. Fax: +46 8 828 296.Tel.: +46 8 705 13 11.
Data-Star ————- Formerly owned by Radio-Suisse in Switzerland, Data-Star is now owned by Knight-Ridder (U.S.A.). It offers over 200 databases within business, science and medicine. SciSearch is a database with references to over nine million stories from 4500 newspapers and magazines. Other databases: Current Patents Fast Alert, Flightline (with stories about air transport), The Turing Institute Database on artificial intelligence, Information Access (international market data), parts of SovData, Who Owns Whom, etc.. Access through Internet: telnet to rserve.rs.ch [192.82.124.4] and login as rserve , and follow standard login procedure. Contact in North America: D-S Marketing, Inc., Suite 110, 485 Devon Park Drive, Wayne, PA 19087, Tel.: +1-215-687-6777. Contact in Scandinavia: Data-Star marketing AB, Maessans gt. 18, Box 5278, S-402 25 Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel.: +46 31 83 59 75.
Delphi———has full access to Internet. Write to: General Videotex Corp., 1030Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Dialcom ———- is owned by British Telecom and is a network of data centers in many countries. Dialcom is selling its services through many agents (like EsiStreet for the music industry, and CGNet for agricultural research). Some selected services: The Official Airline Guide, news (Financial Times Profile, Newsbytes, AP, UPI, and Reuters), mail (Dialcom400), fax services and several conference type offerings (like Campus 2000 for the education market). Today, most Dialcom users are unable to exchange mail with the Internet (DASnet is a commercial alternative), but mail can be sent to users of SprintMail, IBM Mail, AT&Ts Easylink, MCI Mail, Compania Telefonica Nacional de Espana, and other X.400 systems. Contact: Dialcom, 6120 Executive Blvd., Rockville, MD 20852, U.S.A. The British service Telecom-Gold is a subsidiary of Dialcom UK. In North America, contact BT North America at tel.: +1-408-922- 7543. In Europe, contact British Telecom. CGNET can be reached through the Internet. Send a message to postmaster@cgnet.com for more information.
Dialog Information Services —————————————- is owned by Knight Ridder and has more than 400 databases online. They offer a long list of newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle in full-text, Newsbytes, Information Access, the Japan Technology database, most major global news wires, Trademarkscan, USA Today, Teikoku Databank from Japan. Knowledge Index offers evening and weekend reduced-rate access to more than 100 popular full-text and bibliographic databases and 50,000 journals (1993). Dialog has gateways to other services, like CompuServe and iNet, making the databases available to a larger market. Many databases are also available on CD-ROM. In Europe, contact DIALOG Europe, P O Box 188, Oxford OX1 5AX, England. You can telnet to DIALOG.COM (192.132.3.254, US$ 3/hour in 1992).
Down Jones News/Retrieval ————————————- focuses on news for finance and business. DJN/R is the sole online distributor of The Wall Street Journal (with articles from the international editions), Barron's, Dow Jones and Telerate's newswires in full-text. Further, it has PR Newswire, many other newspapers in full- text, clipping service, online charting for investors, and gateways to other services like Info Globe (Globe and Mail in Canada). Address: P.O. Box 300, Princeton, N.J. 08543-9963. DJN/R is also accessible through a gateway from MCI Mail. You can telnet to djnr.dowjones.com . At the WHAT SERVICE PLEASE prompt, enter DJNR and press Enter. An ENTER PASSWORD prompt will appear. Here, enter your normal DJNS account password.
ECHO——European Commission Host Organization is accessible via CONCISE.Telnet either to concise.ixi.ch (130.59.2.16) or concise.funet.fi(128.214.6.181). Login: concise, password: concise. The NUA addressis 0270448112. You can also telnet to echo.lu . Login as echotestor echo.ECHO's I'M GUIDE is a free database providing information aboutonline services within the European Common Market. It includes CD-ROMs, databases and databanks, database producers, gateways, hostorganizations, PTT contact points, and information brokers inEurope.ECHO's other databases are classified under the headingsResearch and development, Language industry, Industry and economy.For information contact: ECHO Customer Service, BP 2373, L-1023Luxembourg. Tel.: +352 34 98 1200. Fax: +352 34 98 1234.
Exec-PC Network BBS —————————- is based in Milwaukee (Wisconsin, U.S.A.). In August 1991, it had 238 incoming phone lines, 9 gigabytes of disk capacity, more than 100 new programs/day, 300,000 programs available for downloading (including the complete selection from PC-SIG California) and more than 130,000 active messages in its conferences. More than 3,300 persons called EXEC-PC each day. The service focuses on owners of IBM compatible computers (MS/PC-DOS, Windows, OS/2, Windows, Unix), Apple Macintosh, Amiga and Atari ST through over 200 conferences. You can access EXEC-PC through i-Com's outdial service, Global Access, PC-Pursuit, Connect-USA, and by direct dialing. Annual subscription costs US$60.00. You can sign on while online. Unregistered users get thirty minutes per day free.
FidoNet ———- was founded in 1984 for automatic transfers of files from one place to the other at night, when the telephone rates are low. FidoNet is one of the most widespread networks in the world. It consists mainly of personal computers (IBM/Amiga/Macintosh…). FidoNet systems exchange documents by using a modem and calling another FidoNet system. Communication can be either direct to the destination system (calling long distance) or by routing a message to a local system. Each computer connected to FidoNet is called a node. There are nodes in around 70 countries. In June 1993, the net had 24,800 nodes throughout the world (source: FidoNet nodelist). The number of nodes is growing at about 40 percent per year. Most nodes are operated by volunteers, and access is free. FidoNet is believed to have over 1.56 million users (1992). Conferences (called ECHOs or Echomail) are exchanged between interested nodes, and may thus have thousands of readers. A typical FidoNet Echomail conference gets 50 to 100 messages each day. Any connected BBS may carry 50, 100, or more echomail conferences. Net Mail is the term for storing and delivering mail. FidoNet users can send and receive mail through the Internet. The list of member bulletin boards is called the Nodelist. It can be retrieved from most boards. Each node has one line on this list, like in this example:
,10,Home_of_PCQ,Warszawa,Jan_Stozek,48-22-410374,9600,V32,MNP,XA
The commas are field separators. The first field (empty in this example) starts a zone, region, local net, Host, or denotes a private space (with the keyword Pvt). The second field (10) is the node number, and the third field (Home_of_PCQ) is the name for the node. The fourth field (Warszawa) is a geographical notation, and the fifth field (Jan_Stozek) is the name of the owner. The sixth field is a telephone contact number, and the other fields contain various technical information used in making connections. FidoNet has six major geographical zones: (1) North America, (2) Europe, etc., (3) Oceania, (4) America Latina, (5) Africa, (6) Asia. For information, contact the International FidoNet Association (IFNA), P.O. Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141, U.S.A. You can also write to postmaster@fidonet.fidonet.org . The FIDO subdirectory in the MSDOS directory on SIMTEL20 (on the Internet) contains extensive information, including explanation of FidoNet, guide for its nodes, gateways between FidoNet and Internet, and various programs and utilities. (See TRICKLE in Chapter 4 for more about how to get these files.)
Fog City Online Information Service —————————————————- is the world's largest bulletin board with AIDS information. Based in San Francisco (U.S.A.) it offers free and anonymous access for everybody. Call +1-415-863-9697. Enter "AIDS" by the question "First name?" and "INFO" by the question "Last Name?".
FT Profile ————— has full-text articles from Financial Times in London, from several European databases (like the Hoppenstedt database with more than 46,000 German companies), and the Japanese database Nikkei. Profile is available through Telecom-Gold, and can also be accessed through other online services. Clipping service. CD-ROM. Contact FT Information Services at tel.: +44-71-873-3000.
GEnie ——- General Electric Network for Information Exchange is GE's Consumer Information Service. GEnie gives access to many databases and other information services. It has around 350,000 users (1992). The basic rate is US$4.95/month plus connect charges. The surcharge is US$18/hour between 08:00 and 18:00, and US$6.00/hour for some services, like email, downloading of software, "chat," conferences, and multi-user games. Access to Internet email is available as a surcharged add-on service. (Addressing format: userid@GEnie.GEis.com) For information call +1-301-340-4492. GE Information Services, 401 N. Washington St., Rockville, MD 20850, U.S.A.
GE Information Service Co. (GEIS) ————————————————- Online service operated by General Electric. Available in over 32 countries. GEIS' QUIK-COMM service integrates multinational business communications for public and private mail systems. Its services include Telex Access; and QUIK-COMM to FAX, which allows users to send messages from their workstations to fax machines throughout the world. Contact: tel. +1-301-340-4485
GENIOS———German online service (tel.: +49 69 920 19 101). Offers informationfrom Novosti (Moscow), data about companies in the former DDR, theHoppenstedt business directories, and more.
GlasNet ———- is an international computer network that provides lowcost telecommunications to nonprofit, nongovernment organizations throughout the countries of the former Soviet Union. Email, fax, telex, public conferences. For nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations, basic GlasNet service fees are 350 rubles/month after a one-time registration fee of 1000 rubles. This does not include faxes or telexes. (1992) Write to: GlasNet, Ulitsa Yaroslavskaya 8, Korpus 3 Room 111, 129164 Moscow, Russia. Phone: (095) 217-6182 (voice). Email: fick@glas.apc.org .
Global Access——————-is a North American outdial service (see Chapter 13) owned by G-ATechnologies, Inc. It has an information BBS at +1-704-334-9030.
IASNET ——— The Institute for Automated Systems Network was the first public switched network in the xUSSR. Its main goal is to provide a wide range of network services to the scientific community in the xUSSR, including access to online databases, a catalog of foreign databases, and conferencing (ADONIS).
IBM Information Network ———————————- The IBM Information Network, based in Tampa, Florida, is IBM's commercial value-added data network offering the ability to send email and data worldwide. It is one of the largest networks in the world, with operator-owned nodes in over 36 countries. To send mail from the Internet to a user of Advantis IBMmail (also called IMX or Mail Exchange), address to their userid at ibmmail.com. You need to know their userid (IEA in IBMmail terminology) in advance. An IBMmail user can find how to address to Internet by sending mail to INFORM at IBMmail with /GET INET in the body of the text.
i-Com ——- offers outdial services to North America (ref. Chapter 13). Contact: i-Com, 4 Rue de Geneve B33, 1140 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.: +32 2215 7130. Fax: +32 2215 8999. Modem: +32 2215 8785.
ILINK (Interlink)————————-is a network for exchange of conferences between bulletin boards inU.S.A., Canada, Scotland, England, Norway, France, Australia, NewZealand, Sweden, and other countries.
Infonet ———- is a privately owned vendor of packet data services with local operations in over 50 countries, and access from more than 135 countries. Contact: Infonet Services Corp., 2100 East Grand Ave., El Segundo, CA 90245, U.S.A.
INTERNET ———— started as ARPANET, but is now a large group of more than 6,000 interconnected networks all over the world supporting mail, news, remote login, file transfer, and many other services. All participating hosts are using the protocol TCP/IP. There are around 1.3 million host computers with IP addresses (March 1992. Ref. RFC1296 and RFC 1181). The number of users is estimated to more than ten million people. Some one million people are said to exchange email messages daily. In addition, private enterprise networks have an estimated 1,000,000 hosts using TCP/IP (Source: Matrix News August 1993.) These offer mail exchange with the Internet, but not services such as Telnet or FTP to most parts of the Internet, and are estimated to have some 7.5 million users. Some claim that these figures are low. They believe it is possible to reach around 50 million mailboxes by email through the Internet. Several commercial companies offer full Internet services. Among these are Alternet (operated by UUNET) and PCI (operated by Performance Systems, Inc.). The UK Internet Consortium offers similar services in Great Britain. INTERNET gives users access to the ftp and telnet commands. Ftp gives them interactive access to remote computers for transferring files. Telnet gives access to a remote service for interactive dialog. The Interest Groups List of Lists is a directory of conferences available by ftp from ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.53). Log in to this host as user "anonymous." Do a 'cd' (change directory) to the "netinfo" directory, then enter the command "GET interest-groups." The list is more than 500 KB characters long. You can also get it by email from mail-server@nisc.sri.com . Write the following command in the TEXT of the message:
Send netinfo/interest-groups
You can telnet several bulletin boards through Internet. Here is a sample:
Name Login as Description—— ————— —————-CONRAD.APPSTATE.EDU info World news collected bymonitoring short wavebroadcasts from BBS andother global sources.ISCA.ICAEN.UIOWA.EDU ISCABBS A large amount of publicdomain programsATL.CALSTATE.EDU LEWISNTS Electronic newspapers andthe Art World.TOLSUN.OULU.FI BOX Finnish service. Englishavailable as an option.
"Internet Services Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" can be retrieved by email from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu . Write
send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/faq
in the body of your message.
Internet ———— is a term used on something many call "WorldNet" or "The Matrix." It includes the networks in INTERNET, and a long list of networks that can send electronic mail to each other (though they may not be based on the TCP/IP protocol). The Internet includes INTERNET, BITNET, DECnet, Usenet, UUCP, PeaceNet, IGC, EARN, Uninett, FidoNet, CompuServe, Alternex (Brazil), ATT Mail, FredsNaetet (Sweden), AppleLink, GeoNet (hosts in Germany, England, U.S.A.), GreenNet, MCI Mail, MetaNet, Nicarao (Nicaragua), OTC PeaceNet/EcoNet, Pegasus (Australia), BIX, Portal, PsychNet, Telemail, TWICS (Japan), Web (Canada), The WELL, CARINET, DASnet, Janet (England) "Answers to Commonly Asked New Internet User' Questions" is available by email from SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL . Send email with the following command in the message's SUBJECT heading:
One important feature of the Internet is that no one is in charge. The Internet is essentially a voluntary association. Another thing is that there are rarely any additional charges for sending and receiving electronic mail (even when sending to other networks), retrieving files, or reading Usenet Newsgroups..
Intermail ————- See Commercial Mail Relay Service.
Istel ——- A privately owned vendor of packet data services, who has operator- owned nodes in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Holland, Spain, Sweden, England. Contact: AT&T Istel. Tel.: 0527- 64295 (in England).
Kompass Online and Kompass Europe————————————————These databases are available through many services, includingAffaersdata in Sweden and Dialog. Contact: (voice) +47 22 64 05 75.
InfoPro Technologies——————————Previously Maxwell Online. InfoPro's services include BRS Onlineand Orbit Online. BRS owns BRS Online, BRS Colleague, BRS AfterDark, and BRS Morning Search, which focus on medical information.Orbit focuses on patent and patent-related searches.Orbit carries an annual membership fee of US$50 (1992), andhourly fees that differ according to database.Contact: InfoPro Technologies, 8000 Westpark Drive, McLean,VA 22102, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900.
Maxwell Online ——————— See InfoPro Technologies.
MCI Mail ———— MCI Mail, Box 1001, 1900 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20036, U.S.A.
Mead Data Central————————-operates the Nexis and Lexis services. Contact: Mead Data CentralInternational, International House, 1, St. Katharine's Way, LondonE1 9UN, England.TELNET lexis.meaddata.com or 192.73.216.20 or 192.73.216.21 .Terminal type = vt100a. Note: If characters do not echo back, setyour terminal to "local" echo.
MetaNet———-Contact: Metasystems Design Group, 2000 North 15th Street, Suite103, Arlington, VA 22201, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-703-243-6622.
MIX —- A Scandinavian bulletin board network exchanging conferences. For information, call Mike's BBS in Norway at the following numbers: +47-22-416588, +47-22-410403 and +47-22-337320.
Minitel ———- French videotex service, which is being marketed all over the world. It is based on a special graphics display format (Teletel), has over 13,000 services, and appears like a large French online hypermarche with more than seven million users (1992). Access to the French Minitel network is available via the Infonet international packet data network on a host-paid and chargeable account basis.
Mnematics————-Mnematics, 722 Main Street Sparkill, NY 10976-0019, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-914-359-4546.
NEC PC-VAN ————— Japan's largest online service measured both in number of users and geographical presence. Your communications system must be able to display Japanese characters to use the service.
Netnews ———- See Usenet.
NewsNet ———- The world's leading vendor of full-text business and professional newsletters online. Offers access to over 700 newsletters and news services within 30 industry classification groups (1993). Includes the major international news wires. You can read individual newsletter issues, and search back issues or individual newsletters or publications within an industry classification. NewsNet's clipping service is called NewsFlash. Enter PRICES at the main command prompt for an alphabetic listing of all available services. Contact: NewsNet, 945 Haverford Rd., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, U.S.A.
NIFTY-Serve—————-is Japan's number 2 online service. It had 250,000 subscribers inJanuary 1992. Access is possible via a gateway from CompuServe.Your communications system must be able to display Japanesecharacters to use the service.Nifty-Serve is jointly operated by Fujitsu and Nissho IwaiTrading in a licensing agreement with CompuServe.
NWI —- Networking and World Information, Inc. One time subscription fee: US$20 (US$5 is given to charity. US$15 is returned to the user as free time). Non-prime time access costs US$10.70/hour at 300 to 2400 bps. Otherwise, the rate is US$23.50. The service is available through PDN and outdial services. (1992) Contact: NWI, 333 East River Drive, Commerce Center One, East Hartford, CT 06108, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-203-289-6585. CompuServe users can access NWI's PARTICIPATE conferences through a gateway.
OCLC —— is a nonprofit computer library service and research organization whose computer network and products link more than 15,000 libraries in 47 countries and territories. It serves all types of libraries, including public, academic, special, corporate, law, and medical libraries. Contact: OCLC, 6565 Fratz Rd., Dublin, OH, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-614-764-6000.
Orbit——-is owned by InfoPro Technologies (formerly Maxwell Online andPergamon Orbit Infoline Inc.). It offers more than 100 science,technical and patent research, and company information databases.Contact in North America: InfoPro Technologies, 8000 West ParkDrive, McClean, VA 22102, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-703-442-0900.In Europe: ORBIT Search Service, Achilles House, Western Avenue,London W3 0UA, England. Tel.: +44 1 992 3456, Fax. +44 1 993 7335.Telnet orbit.com (US$6/hr in 1992).
Pergamon Financial Data Services ———————————————— See Orbit.
Polarnet ———— is a Scandinavian distributed conferencing system available through many boards, including Mike's BBS (see above).
Prestel ———- is owned by British Telecom. It is a videotex service based on a special graphics display format. The service is also available as "TTY Teletype." NUA address: 02341 10020020.
Prodigy ———- is a North American videotex service owned by IBM and Sears. You must have a special communications program to use the service, which claimed 2.5 million subscribers in early 1992. (Analysts estimated only 850,000 paying users). Rates: US$12.50 per family per month for up to six family members and up to 30 email messages. Annual subscription: US$ 119.95. The packet sent new users contains a communication program and a Hayes-compatible 2400 bps modem. Price: US$ 180. (early 1992) Contact: Prodigy Services Co., 445 Hamilton Ave., White Plains, NY 10601, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-914-962-0310. Email (through Internet): postmaster@inetgate.prodigy.com .
RelayNet ———— Also called PcRelay-Net. An international network for exchange of email and conferences between more than 8,500 bulletin boards. The Relaynet International Message Exchange (RIME) consists of some 1,000 systems (1992).
Relcom ——— means 'Russian Electronic Communications.' This company provides email, other network services, a gateway to Internet, and access to Usenet. In early 1992, RELCOM had regional nodes in 25 cities of the xUSSR connecting over 1,000 organizations or 30,000 users. RELCOM has a gateway to IASNET.
Saltrod Horror Show —————————- Odd de Presno's BBS system. Tel.: +47 370 31378.
The Sierra Network ————————— is one of the best things out there for online games. The service claimed more than 20,000 subscribers in 1993. Contact: The Sierra Network, P.O. Box 485, Coarsegold, CA 93614, U.S.A.
SIGnet ——— Global BBS network with over 2500 nodes around the world (1993).
SIMTEL20 Software Archives ————————————— is a system maintained by the US Army Information System Command. It contains public domain software, shareware, documentation and mail archives under the following top-level headings: HZ100, INFO- IBMPC, MSDOS, PC-BLUE, ADA, ARCHIVES, CPM, CPMUG, PCNET, SIGM, STARS, UNIX-C, VHDL, ZSYS, MACINTOSH, MISC, and TOPS20. All files are accessible by Anonymous FTP. For information, send a message to the address LISTSERV@RPIECS.BITNET with the command 'HELP' in the first line of your text.
SprintMail ————— is a large, commercial vendor of email services. It has local nodes serving customers in 108 countries through its SprintNet network (1991). Internet mail to the SprintMail user identity 'T.Germain' can be sent to T.Germain@sprint.sprint.com . For information, contact SprintMail, 12490 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 22096, U.S.A.
SuperNET ———— is an international network for exchange of conferences and mail between SuperBBS bulletin board systems. Contact: SuperNet World Host through FidoNet at 2:203/310 (+46-300-41377) Lennart Odeberg.
TCN —- is a Dialcom network. Internet email to TCN is only possible if either the sender or recipient has registered with DASnet. The email address would be: TCNxxx@das.net (where xxx is the TCN number).
Thunderball Cave ———————— Norwegian bulletin board connected to RelayNet. Call +47-22- 299441 or +47-22-299442. Offers Usenet News and Internet mail.
Tocolo BBS ————— Bulletin board for people with disabilities in Japan, or with "shintaishougaisha," which is the Japanese term. Call: +81-3-205- 9315. 1200 bps, 8,N,1. Your communications system must be able to display Japanese characters to use the service.
TRI-P——-International outdial service. Contact: INTEC America, Inc., 1270Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2315, New York, NY 10020, U.S.A. InJapan, contact Intec at 2-6-10 Sarugaku-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101.Fax: +81-3-3292-2929.
TWICS BeeLINE ——————- English-language Japanese online service with PARTIcipate, Caucus and Usenet netnews. Half the users are Japanese. Others connect from U.S.A., England, Canada, Germany, France, South Africa, and Scandinavia. The NUA address is: 4406 20000524. Direct call to +81 3 3351 7905 (14,4KB/s), or +81-3-3351-8244 (9600 bps). At CONNECT, press ENTER a few times. Wait about a second between keystrokes to get to the registration prompt. New users can sign on as GUEST for information. You can also write postmaster@twics.co.jp, or send mail to TWICS/IEC, 1-21 Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160, JAPAN. Foreign users have free access (1992).
UMI/Data Courier ———————— 620 South Street, Louisville, KY 40202, U.S.A.
Uninett ———- delivers networking services to Norwegian research and educational services.
Unison ——— North American conferencing service using PARTIcipate software. NUA address: 031105130023000. Password: US$35.00. Monthly subscription: US$6.25. Non-prime time access: US$12.00/hour. Prime time access: US$19.00/hour. Enter SIGNUP when online the first time and follow the prompts. (1991)
UUCP —— UUCP (UNIX to UNIX Copy) is a protocol, a set of files and a set of commands to copy files from one UNIX computer to another. This copying procedure is the core of the UUCP network, a loose association of systems all communicating with the UUCP protocol. UNIX computers can participate in the UUCP network (using leased line or dial-up) through any other UNIX host. The network now also has many MS-DOS and other hosts, and consisted of 16,300 hosts in January 1993 (source: UUCP map) serving more than 489,000 users. The UUCP network is based on two systems connecting to each other at specific intervals, and executing any work scheduled for either of them. For example, the system Oregano calls the system Basil once every two hours. If there's mail waiting for Oregano, Basil will send it at that time. Likewise, Oregano will at that time send any mail waiting for Basil. There are databases with connectivity information (UUCP maps), and programs (pathalias) that will help you decide the correct routing of messages. However, many UUCP hosts are not registered in the UUCP map. EUNET is a UUCP based network in Europe. JUNET is an equivalent network in Japan. There are many gateway machines that exchange mail between UUCP and the Internet. Among these, UUNET.UU.NET is among the most frequently used.
Usenet ——— Usenet, Netnews, or just "News" are common terms for a large many-to-many conferencing (only) system distributed through UUCP, Internet, FidoNet, and BITNET. This grassroots driven "network" has grown out of the global university and research domains. It is a service rather than a real network. It is not an organization, and has no central authority. Usenet's newsgroups are carried by over 69,000 host computers in five continents, and has over 1,991,000 users (source: Brian Reid, 1993). Many of these hosts have access to the Internet. The European portion of Usenet is called EUNET (European Unix NET). The local administrator of each individual node in the network decides what newsgroups to receive and make available to its users. Few systems offer access to all of them. NetNews is organized in groups of 'conferences'. Each of these classifications is organized into groups and subgroups according to topic. As of June 1, 1993, there were 4500 newsgroups and 2500 regional newsgroups. Several sites are carrying over 2600 topics. The groups distributed worldwide are divided into seven broad classifications:
"comp" Topics of interest to both computer professionals andhobbyists, including topics in computer science, softwaresource, and information on hardware and software systems.
"sci" Discussions marked by special and usually practicalknowledge, relating to research in or application of theestablished sciences.
"misc" Groups addressing themes not easily classified under anyof the other headings or which incorporate themes frommultiple categories.
"soc" Groups primarily addressing social issues and socializing.
"talk" Groups largely debate-oriented and tending to feature long discussions without resolution and without appreciable amounts of generally useful information.
"news" Groups concerned with the news network and softwarethemselves.
"rec" Groups oriented towards hobbies and recreationalactivities.
Also available are many "alternative" hierarchies, like:
"alt" True anarchy; anything and everything can and does appear. Subjects include sex, and privacy.
"biz" Business-related groups
"clari" Newsgroups gatewayed from commercial news services and other 'official' sources. (Requires payment of a fee and execution of a licence. More information by email to info@clarinet.com).
Most Netnews hosts offer both global and local conferences. Many newsgroups can be read through bulletin boards, commercial online services, or through gateways from connected hosts (like from some BITNET hosts). A full list of available groups and conferences are normally available from hosts offering Netnews, and on NETNEWS servers. All users should subscribe to news.announce.important .
Vu/Text ———- 325 Chestnut St., Suite 1300, Philadelphia, PA 19106, U.S.A.
The Well ———— The Whole Earth Lectronic Link is a commercial online service based in Sausalito (U.S.A.). It has its own conferencing culture and is an interesting starting point for those wanting to "study" what makes the area around Silicon Valley so dynamic. The Well has several hundred conferences, public and private, about 7,000 members, and is available in a variety of ways. The service has full Internet access, and can be reached by telnet to well.sf.ca.us (or 192.132.30.2). Modem tel.: +1-415-332-6106 at 1200 bps or +1-415-332-7398 at 2400 bps. You can subscribe online. Rates: US$ 20/month plus US$ 2/hour (invoiced by the minute online - 1992).
ZiffNet———-markets its services through CompuServe (ZiffNet and ZiffNet/Mac),Prodigy, and its own online service in the U.S.A. Their offeringsinclude the Ziff Buyer's Market, the ZiffNet/Mac Buyer's Guide,Computer Database Plus, Magazine Database Plus, NewsBytes, and theCobb Group Online.Contact: Ziff Communications Company, 25 First Street, Cambridge,MA 02141, U.S.A. Tel.: +1-617-252-5000.
Appendix 2:
Short takes about how to get started ====================================
* a computer * modem and a communications program
You must have a computer ———————————— It is not important what kind of computer you have, though you may find out that it is an advantage to have a popular one. The most common type of microcomputer today is called MS-DOS computers (or IBM PC compatibles or IBM clones). Your computer should have enough memory for communication. This is seldom a problem. An MS-DOS computer with 256 KB RAM is enough when using popular programs like PROCOMM. Your computer does not have to be very powerful and super fast, unless you want ultra fast transfers, use a slow communications program, or a complex system of script files. If this is the case, you'll know to appreciate speed and power. You do not need a hard disk. Many do without. Not having one, however, means more work, and less room for storage of all the nice things that you may want to retrieve by modem. Personally, I want as much hard disk space as I can possibly get. When you have read the book, I guess you'll understand why. Others may want to delay the purchase of a hard disk until they can spare the money. If you can afford it, however, do it! It is a decision that you'll never regret.
You must have a modem ——————————- Some computers are always connected to a network. If this is your situation, then you probably have what you need already. The rest of us need a modem. A modem is a small piece of equipment that is translating the internal, electrical signals of the computer to sound codes. These codes can be sent over an ordinary telephone line. You may think of it as a type of Morse alphabet. The recipient of data also needs a modem. In his case, the sound codes will have to be translated back into their original form as digital codes. When this is done, he can view text and pictures on the screen, and use the received data in other applications. You can buy modems on an expansion card for installation in your computer, or in a separate box. Often, a modem has already been built into the computer, when you buy it. Whether to buy an internal or an external modem is a question of needs: A portable computer with an internal modem is easier to bring on travels than an external modem with a modem cable and a power adapter. An external modem can serve several computers. Some of them are so compact that they fit besides your toothbrush in the toilet bag. An internal modem blocks one of your serial ports.
External modems ———————- The options are many. The modems differ on speed, features, prices - and whether they are approved for usage in your country. Some of them are connected to the phone line by cable. Others are connected to the handset (to the talk and listen part) by two rubber cups. We call such modems acoustic modems (or acoustic couplers). Acoustic modems are useful where connecting other modems to the telephone is difficult. The bad news is that you'll get more noise on the line. Acoustic modems can therefore not be recommended for use in other cases.
Asynchronous or synchronous modems? —————————————————- Formerly, data communication was done by sending job commands to a mainframe computer, and having the result returned in one batch. The modems were called synchronous. Such modems (and computers) are still in use in some large corporations. Most of today's online services are based on an interactive dialog between the user and the remote computer. The user enters a command, for example a letter or a number in a menu, and the result is returned almost immediately. The modems used for such work are called asynchronous (See "Explanation of some words and terms" in appendix 4). Unless you know that you must have a synchronous modem, buy an asynchronous one.
Choice of speed ———————- Speed is measured in many ways. One method is to use baud. Another is to use characters per second (cps) or bits per second (bps). Bps is a measure of how many data bits that can be transferred over a data channel in one second. (Each byte is split up into bits before transfer during serial communication.) The relationship between baud and bits per second is complex, and often misused. Bits per second is unambiguous. In this book, we will use it as bps. We can estimate the number of characters per second by dividing the number of bps by ten. For example. 1200 bps is roughly 120 cps. In 1987, 300, 1200 and 2400 bps asynchronous modems were the standard in many countries. Around 1990, the growth in 9600 bps modems and modem with faster speeds gained momentum. Modem user manuals often give transfer speed by referring to some international classification codes. Here are some CCITT codes with explanation:
V.21 0-300 bps Still used by a small group. Cannotfull duplex communicate with the American Bell103 standard.
V.22 1200 bps Partly compatible with the Americanfull duplex Bell 212a standard. Sometimes itworks, sometimes it fails.
V.22bis 2400 bps Used all over the world. Veryfull duplex common.
V.23 600 & 1200 Rare protocol. Used mainly in Europe. bps w/75 Half duplex. bps return ch.
V.26ter 2400 bps Used mainly in Francefull duplex
V.27ter 2400/4800 bps Used in Group III faxhalf duplex
V.29 4800, 7200 and Used in gr. III fax and in some (Ame- 9600 bps rican) modems. Do not buy V.29 if you half duplex want a 9600 bps modem.
V.32 4800/9600 bps Current standard for 9600 bps modemsfull duplex
V.32bis 4800/7200/9600, Full duplex with faster interrogation.12000/14400 bps
V.34 14400 bps A proposed high speed protocol thatnever made it.
V.42 Error correction protocol (an appendix yields compatibility w/MNP gr. 2,3 and 4 (see MNP below). For V.22, V.22bis, V.26ter and V.32.
V.42bis Data compression for V.42 modems. Meant to replace MNP and LAP. Text can be transferred three times faster than with MNP, i.e., in up to 38400 bps using a 9600 bps modem. Very common.
V.Fast Upcoming standard. If approved byalso called CCITT, it will support speeds toV.32terbo 28,800 bps for uncompressed datatransmission rates over regular dial-up, voice-grade lines. Using V.42bisdata compression, up to 86,400 bpsmay be achievable.