NNTP, on the other hand, offers a little more latitude with how news is sent. The traditional store-and-forward method is, of course, available. Given the "real-time" nature of the Internet, though, other methods have been devised. Programs now keep constant connections with their news neighbors, sending news nearly instantaneously, and can handle dozens of simultaneous feeds, both incoming and outgoing.
The transmission of a Usenet article is centered around the unique Message-ID: header. When an NNTP site offers an article to a neighbor, it says it has that specific Message ID. If the neighbor finds it hasn't received the article yet, it tells the feed to send it through; this is repeated for each and every article that's waiting for the neighbor. Using unique IDs helps prevent a system from receiving five copies of an article from each of its five news neighbors, for example.
Further information on how Usenet works with relation to the various transports is available in the documentation for the Cnews and NNTP packages, as well as in RFC-1036, the Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages and RFC-977, Network News Transfer Protocol: A Proposed Standard for the Stream-Based Transmission of News. The RFCs do tend to be rather dry reading, particularly to the new user.
Mail Gateways
A natural progression is for Usenet news and electronic mailing lists to somehow become merged—-which they have, in the form of news gateways. Many mailing lists are set up to "reflect" messages not only to the readership of the list, but also into a newsgroup. Likewise, posts to a newsgroup can be sent to the moderator of the mailing list, or to the entire mailing list. Some examples of this in action are comp.risks (the Risks Digest) and comp.dcom.telecom (the Telecom Digest).
This method of propagating mailing list traffic has helped solve the problem of a single message being delivered to a number of people at the same site—-instead, anyone can just subscribe to the group. Also, mailing list maintenance is lowered substantially, since the moderators don't have to be constantly removing and adding users to and from the list. Instead, the people can read and not read the newsgroup at their leisure.
from "Dear Emily Postnews" by Brad Templeton Usenet "Netiquette"
There are many traditions with Usenet, not the least of which is dubbed netiquette—-being polite and considerate of others. If you follow a few basic guidelines, you, and everyone that reads your posts, will be much happier in the long run.
Signatures
At the end of most articles is a small blurb called a person's signature. In Unix this file is named .signature in the person's login directory—-it will vary for other operating systems. It exists to provide information about how to get in touch with the person posting the article, including their email address, phone number, address, or where they're located. Even so, signatures have become the graffiti of computers. People put song lyrics, pictures, philosophical quotes, even advertisements in their ".sigs". (Note, however, that advertising in your signature will more often than not get you flamed until you take it out.)
Four lines will suffice—-more is just extra garbage for Usenet sites to carry along with your article, which is supposed to be the intended focus of the reader. Netiquette dictates limiting oneself to this "quota" of four—-some people make signatures that are ten lines or even more, including elaborate ASCII drawings of their hand-written signature or faces or even the space shuttle. This is not cute, and will bother people to no end.
Similarly, it's not necessary to include your signature—-if you forget to append it to an article, don't worry about it. The article's just as good as it ever would be, and contains everything you should want to say. Don't re-post the article just to include the signature.
Posting Personal Messages
If mail to a person doesn't make it through, avoid posting the message to a newsgroup. Even if the likelihood of that person reading the group is very high, all of the other people reading the articles don't give a whit what you have to say to Jim Morrison. Simply wait for the person to post again and double-check the address, or get in touch with your system administrator and see if it's a problem with local email delivery. It may also turn out that their site is down or is having problems, in which case it's just necessary to wait until things return to normal before contacting Jim.
Posting Mail
In the interests of privacy, it's considered extremely bad taste to post any email that someone may have sent, unless they explicitly give you permission to redistribute it. While the legal issues can be heavily debated, most everyone agrees that email should be treated as anything one would receive via normal snailmail, {The slang for the normal land and air postal service.} , with all of the assumed rights that are carried with it.
Test Messages
Many people, particularly new users, want to try out posting before actually taking part in discussions. Often the mechanics of getting messages out is the most difficult part of Usenet. To this end, many, many users find it necessary to post their tests to "normal" groups (for example, news.admin or comp.mail.misc). This is considered a major netiquette faux pas in the Usenet world. There are a number of groups available, called test groups, that exist solely for the purpose of trying out a news system, reader, or even new signature. They include
alt.test gnu.gnusenet.test misc.test
some of which will generate auto-magic replies to your posts to let you know they made it through. There are certain denizens of Usenet that frequent the test groups to help new users out. They respond to the posts, often including the article so the poster can see how it got to the person's site. Also, many regional hierarchies have test groups, like phl.test in Philadelphia.
By all means, experiment and test—-just do it in its proper place.
Famous People Appearing
Every once in a while, someone says that a celebrity is accessible through "The Net"; or, even more entertaining, an article is forged to appear to be coming from that celebrity. One example is Stephen Spielberg—-the rec.arts.movies readership was in an uproar for two weeks following a couple of posts supposedly made by Mr. Spielberg. (Some detective work revealed it to be a hoax.)
There are a few well-known people that are acquainted with Usenet and computers in general—-but the overwhelming majority are just normal people. One should act with skepticism whenever a notable personality is "seen" in a newsgroup.
Summaries
Authors of articles occasionally say that readers should reply by mail and they'll summarize. Accordingly, readers should do just that—-reply via mail. Responding with a followup article to such an article defeats the intention of the author. She, in a few days, will post one article containing the highlights of the responses she received. By following up to the whole group, the author may not read what you have to say.
When creating a summary of the replies to a post, try to make it as reader-friendly as possible. Avoid just putting all of the messages received into one big file. Rather, take some time and edit the messages into a form that contains the essential information that other readers would be interested in.
Also, sometimes people will respond but request to remain anonymous (one example is the employees of a corporation that feel the information's not proprietary, but at the same time want to protect themselves from political backlash). Summaries should honor this request accordingly by listing the From: address as anonymous or (Address withheld by request).
Quoting
When following up to an article, many newsreaders provide the facility to quote the original article with each line prefixed by > , as in
In article <1232@foo.bar.com>, sharon@foo.bar.com wrote: > I agree, I think that basketweaving's really catching on, > particularly in Pennsylvania. Here's a list of every person > in PA that currently engages in it publicly: line … etc …
This is a severe example (potentially a horribly long article), but proves a point. When you quote another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. {But not changing their words, of course. } This gives the reader of the new article a better idea of what points you were addressing. By including the entire article, you'll only annoy those reading it. Also, signatures in the original aren't necessary; the readers already know who wrote it (by the attribution).
Avoid being tedious with responses—-rather than pick apart an article, address it in parts or as a whole. Addressing practically each and every word in an article only proves that the person responding has absolutely nothing better to do with his time.
If a "war" starts (insults and personal comments get thrown back and forth), take it into email—-exchange email with the person you're arguing with. No one enjoys watching people bicker incessantly.
Crossposting
The Newsgroups: line isn't limited to just one group—-an article can be posted in a list of groups. For instance, the line
Newsgroups: sci.space,comp.simulation
posts the article to both the groups sci.space and comp.simulation. It's usually safe to crosspost to up to three or four groups. To list more than that is considered "excessive noise."
It's also suggested that if an article is crossposted a Followup-To: header be included. It should name the group to which all additional discussion should be directed to. For the above example a possible Followup-To: would be
Followup-To: sci.space
which would make all followups automatically be posted to just sci.space, rather than both sci.space and comp.simulation. If every response made with a newsreader's "followup" command should go to the person posting the article no matter what, there's also a mechanism worked in to accommodate. The Followup-To: header should contain the single word poster:
Followup-To: poster
Certain newsreaders will use this to sense that a reply should never be posted back onto The Net. This is often used with questions that will yield a summary of information later, a vote, or an advertisement.
Recent News
One should avoid posting "recent" events—-sports scores, a plane crash, or whatever people will see on the evening news or read in the morning paper. By the time the article has propagated across all of Usenet, the "news" value of the article will have become stale. (This is one case for the argument that Usenet news is a misnomer. {Note that the Clarinet News service (Clarinet) offers news items in a Usenet format as a precise alternative to the morning paper, et. al.)
Quality of Postings
How you write and present yourself in your articles is important. If you have terrible spelling, keep a dictionary near by. If you have trouble with grammar and punctuation, try to get a book on English grammar and composition (found in many bookstores and at garage sales). By all means pay attention to what you say—-it makes you who you are on The Net.
Likewise, try to be clear in what you ask. Ambiguous or vague questions often lead to no response at all, leaving the poster discouraged. Give as much essential information as you feel is necessary to let people help you, but keep it within limits. For instance, you should probably include the operating system of your computer in the post if it's needed, but don't tell everybody what peripherals you have hanging off of it.
Useful Subjects
The Subject: line of an article is what will first attract people to read it—-if it's vague or doesn't describe what's contained within, no one will read the article. At the same time, Subject: lines that're too wordy tend to be irritating. For example:
GoodSubject: Building Emacs on a Sun Sparc under 4.1
GoodSubject: Tryin' to find Waldo in NJ.
BadSubject: I can't get emacs to work !!!
Bad Subject: I'm desperately in search of the honorable Mr. Waldo in the state of…
Simply put, try to think of what will best help the reader when he or she encounters your article in a newsreading session.
Tone of Voice
Since common computers can't portray the inflection or tone in a person's voice, how articles are worded can directly affect the response to them. If you say
Anybody using a Vic-20 should go buy themselves a life.
you'll definitely get some responses—-telling you to take a leap. Rather than be inflammatory, phrase your articles in a way that rationally expresses your opinion, like
What're the practical uses of a Vic-20 these days?
which presents yourself as a much more level-headed individual.
Also, what case (upper or lower) you use can indicate how you're trying to speak—-netiquette dictates that if you USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, people will think you're "shouting." Write as you would in a normal letter to a friend, following traditional rules of English (or whatever language you happen to speak).
Computer Religion
No matter what kind of computer a person is using, theirs is always the best and most efficient of them all. Posting articles asking questions like What computer should I buy? An Atari ST or an Amiga? will lead only to fervent arguments over the merits and drawbacks of each brand. Don't even ask The Net—-go to a local user group, or do some research of your own like reading some magazine reviews. Trying to say one computer is somehow better than another is a moot point.
The Anatomy of an Article
Frequently Asked Questions
A number of groups include Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) lists, which give the answers to questions or points that have been raised time and time again in a newsgroup. They're intended to help cut down on the redundant traffic in a group. For example, in the newsgroup alt.tv.simpsons, one recurring question is Did you notice that there's a different blackboard opening at the beginning of every Simpsons episode? As a result, it's part of the FAQ for that group.
Usually, FAQ lists are posted at the beginning of each month, and are set to expire one month later (when, supposedly, the next FAQ will be published). Nearly every FAQ is also crossposted to news.answers, which is used as a Usenet repository for them.
The Pit-Manager Archive
MIT, with Jonathan Kamens, has graciously dedicated a machine to the archiving and storage of the various periodic postings that are peppered throughout the various Usenet groups. To access them, FTP to the system pit-manager.mit.edu and look in the directory /pub/usenet.
"Be it true or false, so it be news."Ben Jonson, News from the New World
——-Telnet
Telnet is the main Internet protocol for creating a connection with a remote machine. It gives the user the opportunity to be on one computer system and do work on another, which may be across the street or thousands of miles away. Where modems are limited, in the majority, by the quality of telephone lines and a single connection, telnet provides a connection that's error-free and nearly always faster than the latest conventional modems.
Using Telnet
As with FTP (Anonymous FTP), the actual command for negotiating a telnet connection varies from system to system. The most common is telnet itself, though. It takes the form of:
telnet somewhere.domain
To be safe, we'll use your local system as a working example. By now, you hopefully know your site's domain name. If not, ask or try to figure it out. You'll not get by without it.
To open the connection, type
telnet your.system.name
If the system were wubba.cs.widener.edu, for example, the command would look like
telnet wubba.cs.widener.edu
The system will respond with something similar to
Trying 147.31.254.999…Connected to wubba.cs.widener.edu.Escape character is '^]'.
The escape character, in this example ^] (Control-]), is the character that will let you go back to the local system to close the connection, suspend it, etc. To close this connection, the user would type ^], and respond to the telnet> prompt with the command close. Local documentation should be checked for information on specific commands, functions, and escape character that can be used.
Telnet Ports
Many telnet clients also include a third option, the port on which the connection should take place. Normally, port 23 is the default telnet port; the user never has to think about it. But sometimes it's desirable to telnet to a different port on a system, where there may be a service available, or to aid in debugging a problem. Using
telnet somewhere.domain port
will connect the user to the given port on the system somewhere.domain. Many libraries use this port method to offer their facilities to the general Internet community; other services are also available. For instance, one would type
telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000
to connect to the geographic server at the University of Michigan (Geographic Server). Other such port connections follow the same usage.
Publicly Accessible Libraries
Over the last several years, most university libraries have switched from a manual (card) catalog system to computerized library catalogs. The automated systems provide users with easily accessible and up-to-date information about the books available in these libraries. This has been further improved upon with the advent of local area networks, dialup modems, and wide area networks. Now many of us can check on our local library's holdings or that of a library halfway around the world!
Many, many institutions of higher learning have made their library catalogs available for searching by anyone on the Internet. They include Boston University, the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL), and London University King's College.
To include a listing of some of the existing sites would not only be far too long for this document, it would soon be out of date. Instead, several lists are being maintained and are available either by mail or via FTP. Also, the Internet Resource Guide (IRG) also describes a few libraries that are accessible—-IRG for further information.
Art St. George and Ron Larsen are maintaining a list of Internet-accessible libraries and databases often referred to as "the St. George directory." It began with only library catalogs but has expanded to include sections on campus-wide information systems, and even bulletin board systems that are not on the Internet. The library catalog sections are divided into those that are free, those that charge, and international (i.e. non-U.S.) catalogs; they are arranged by state, province, or country within each section. There is also a section giving dialup information for some of the library catalogs. It's available for FTP (Anonymous FTP) on nic.cerf.net in the directory cerfnet/cerfnet_info/library_catalog. The file internet-catalogs has a date suffix; check for the most current date. The information is updated periodically.
Billy Barron, Systems Manager at the University of North Texas, produces a directory as an aid to his user community. It complements the St. George guide by providing a standard format for all systems which lists the Internet address, login instructions, the system vendor, and logoff information. The arrangement is alphabetic by organization name. It's available for FTP on vaxb.acs.unt.edu in the subdirectory library as the file libraries.txt.
For announcements of new libraries being available and discussion on related topics, consult the Usenet newsgroup comp.internet.library (Usenet News to learn how to read news).
Bulletin Board Systems
The Cleveland Freenet
Freenets are open-access, free, community computer systems. One such system is the Cleveland Freenet, sponsored by CWRU (Case Western Reserve University). Anyone and everyone is welcome to join and take part in the exciting project—-that of a National Telecomputing Public Network, where everyone benefits. There's no charge for the registration process and no charge to use the system.
To register, telnet to any one of
freenet-in-a.cwru.edu freenet-in-b.cwru.edu freenet-in-c.cwru.edu
After you're connected, choose the entry on the menu that signifies you're a guest user. Another menu will follow; select Apply for an account, and you'll be well on your way to being a FreeNet member.
You will need to fill out a form and send it to them through the Postal Service—-your login id and password will be created in a few days. At that point you're free to use the system as you wish. They provide multi-user chat, email, Usenet news, and a variety of other things to keep you occupied for hours on end.
Directories
There are a few systems that are maintained to provide the Internet community with access to lists of information—-users, organizations, etc. They range from fully dedicated computers with access to papers and research results, to a system to find out about the faculty members of a university.
Knowbot
Knowbot is a "master directory" that contains email address information from the NIC WHOIS database (Whois), the PSI White Pages Pilot Project, the NYSERNET X.500 database and MCI Mail. Most of these services are email registries themselves, but Knowbot provides a very comfortable way to access all of them in one place. Telnet to nri.reston.va.us on port 185.
White Pages
PSI maintains a directory of information on individuals. It will list the person's name, organization, and email address if it is given. Telnet to wp.psi.net and log in as fred. The White Pages Project also includes an interface to use Xwindows remotely.
Faculty and Staff Listings
Many universities offer access to information on current faculty and staff. Included are:
Cornell Telnet to cuinfo.cornell.edu on port 3000.NC State Telnet to ccvax1.cc.ncsu.edu and log in as info.Rutgers Telnet to hangout.rutgers.edu on port 98.U of Maryland Telnet to umail.umd.edu and log in as lookup.UNC Chapel Hill Telnet to info.acs.unc.edu and log in as info.Yale Telnet to yalevm.ycc.yale.edu on port 300.
Databases
For information on database services, Commercial Databases.Not all databases on the Internet require payment for use, though.There do exist some, largely research-driven databases, which arepublicly accessible. New ones spring up regularly.
To find out more about the databases in this section, contact the people directly responsible for them. Their areas of concentration and the software used to implement them are widely disparate, and are probably beyond the author's expertise. Also, don't forget to check with your local library—-the reference librarian there can provide information on conventional resources, and possibly even those available over the Internet (they are becoming more common).
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL)
The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL), in association with CARL Systems Inc., operates a public access catalog of services. Offered are a number of library databases, including searches for government periodicals, book reviews, indices for current articles, and access to to other library databases around the country. Other services are available to CARL members including an online encyclopedia. Telnet to pac.carl.org, or write to help@carl.org for more details.
PENpages
PENpages is an agriculturally-oriented database administered by Pennsylvania State University. Information entered into PENpages is provided by numerous sources including the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture, Rutgers University, and Penn State. Easy-to-use menus guide users to information ranging from cattle and agricultural prices to current weather information, from health information to agricultural news from around the nation. A keyword search option also allows users to search the database for related information and articles. The database is updated daily, and a listing of most recent additions is displayed after login. Telnet to psupen.psu.edu and log in as the user PNOTPA.
Clemson Univ. Forestry & Agricultural Network
Clemson maintains a database similar to PENpages in content, but the information provided tends to be localized to the Southeastern United States. A menu-driven database offers queries involving the weather, food, family, and human resources. Telnet to eureka.clemson.edu and log in as PUBLIC. You need to be on a good VT100 emulator (or a real VT terminal).
University of Maryland Info Database
The Computer Science department of the University of Maryland maintains a repository of information on a wide variety of topics. They wish to give a working example of how network technology can (and should) provide as much information as possible to those who use it. Telnet to info.umd.edu and log in as info. The information contained in the database is accessible through a screen-oriented interface, and everything therein is available via anonymous FTP.
There is a mailing list used to discuss the UMD Info Database, welcoming suggestions for new information, comments on the interface the system provides, and other related topics. Send mail to listserv@umdd.umd.edu with a body of
subscribe INFO-L Your Full Name
Listservs for more information on using the Listserv system.
University of Michigan Weather Underground
The University of Michigan's Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, & Space Sciences maintains a database of weather and related information for the United States and Canada. Available are current weather conditions and forecasts for cities in the U.S., a national weather summary, ski conditions, earthquake and hurricane updates, and a listing of severe weather conditions. Telnet to madlab.sprl.umich.edu on port 3000 to use the system.
Geographic Name Server
A geographic database listing information for cities in the United States and some international locations is maintained by Merit, Inc. The database is searchable by city name, zip code, etc. It will respond with a lot of information: the area code, elevation, time zone, and longitude and latitude are included. For example, a query of 19013 yields
0 Chester 1 42045 Delaware 2 PA Pennsylvania 3 US United States F 45 Populated place L 39 50 58 N 75 21 22 W P 45794 E 22 Z 19013 Z 19014 Z 19015 Z 19016 ..
To use the server, telnet to martini.eecs.umich.edu on port 3000. The command help will yield further instructions, along with an explanation for each of the fields in a reponse.
FEDIX—-Minority Scholarship Information
FEDIX is an on-line information service that links the higher education community and the federal government to facilitate research, education, and services. The system provides accurate and timely federal agency information to colleges, universities, and other research organizations. There are no registration fees and no access charges for FEDIX whatsoever.
FEDIX offers the Minority On-Line Information Service (MOLIS), a database listing current information about Black and Hispanic colleges and universities.
Daily information updates are made on federal education and research programs, scholarships, fellowships, and grants, available used research equipment, and general information about FEDIX itself. To access the database, telnet to fedix.fie.com and log in as fedix.
Science & Technology Information System
The STIS is maintained by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and provides access to many NSF publications. The full text of publications can be searched online and copied from the system, which can accommodate up to ten users at one time. Telnet to stis.nsf.gov and log in as public. Everything on the system is also available via anonymous FTP. For further information, contact:
STIS, Office of Information Systems, Room 401 National Science Foundation 1800 G. Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20550 stis-request@nsf.gov (202) 357-7492 (202) 357-7663 (Fax)
Ocean Network Information Center
The University of Delaware College of Marine Studies offers access to an interactive database of research information covering all aspects of marine studies, nicknamed OCEANIC. This includes the World Oceanic Circulation Experiment (WOCE) information and program information, research ship schedules and information, and a Who's Who of email and mailing addresses for oceanic studies. Data from a variety of academic institutions based on research studies is also available. Telnet to delocn.udel.edu and log in as INFO.
NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)
The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is an ongoing project, funded by NASA, to make data and literature on extragalactic objects available over computer networks. NED is an object-oriented database which contains extensive information for nearly 132,000 extragalactic objects taken from about major catalogs of galaxies, quasars, infrared and radio sources. NED provides positions, names, and other basic data (e.g. magnitude types, sizes and redshifts as well as bibliographic references and abstracts). Searches can be done by name, around a name, and on an astronomical position. NED contains a tutorial which guides the user through the retrieval process. Telnet to ipac.caltech.edu and log in as ned.
U.S. Naval Observatory Automated Data Service
Operated by the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., this automated data service provides database access to information ranging from current navigational satellite positioning, astronomical data, and software utilities. A wide variety of databases can be searched and instructions for file transfer are given. Telnet to tycho.usno.navy.mil and log in as ads.
"My consciousness suddenly switched locations, for the first time in my life, from the vicinity of my head and body to a point about twenty feet away from where I normally see the world." Howard Rheingold, Virtual Reality p255
————————- Various Tools
New and interesting ways to use the Internet are being dreamed up every day. As they gain wide-spread use, some methods become near-standard (or actual written standard) tools for Internet users to take advantage of. A few are detailed here; there are undoubtedly others, and new ideas spring up all the time. An active user of the Internet will discover most of the more common ones in time. Usually, these services are free. Commercial Services for applications that are commercially available over the Internet.
Usenet is often used to announce a new service or capability on the Internet. In particular, the groups comp.archives and comp.protocols.tcp-ip are good places to look. Information will drift into other areas as word spreads. Usenet News for information on reading news.
Finger
On many systems there exists the finger command, which yield information about each user that's currently logged in. This command also has extensions for use over the Internet, as well. Under normal circumstances, the command is simply finger for a summary of who's logged into the local system, or finger username for specific information about a user. It's also possible to go one step further and go onto the network. The general usage is
finger @hostname
To see who's currently logged in at Widener University, for instance, use
% finger @cs.widener.edu [cs.widener.edu] Login Name TTY Idle When Where brendan Brendan Kehoe p0 Fri 02:14 tattoo.cs.widene sven Sven Heinicke p1 Fri 04:16 xyplex3.cs.widen
To find out about a certain user, they can be fingered specifically (and need not be logged in):
% finger bart@cs.widener.edu[cs.widener.edu]Login name: bart In real life: Bart SimpsonDirectory: /home/springfield/bart Shell: /bin/underachieverAffiliation: Brother of Lisa Home System: channel29.fox.orgLast login Thu May 23 12:14 (EDT) on ttyp6 from channel29.fox.org.No unread mailProject: To become a "fluff" cartoon character.Plan:Don't have a cow, man.
Please realize that some sites are very security conscious, and need to restrict the information about their systems and users available to the outside world. To that end, they often block finger requests from outside sites—-so don't be surprised if fingering a computer or a user returns with Connection refused.
Internet Relay Chat
The Lamont View Server SystemOn lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu in pub/gb.tar.Z.
Ping
The ping command allows the user to check if another system is currently "up" and running. The general form of the command is ping system. {The usage will, again, vary.} For example,
ping cs.widener.edu
will tell you if the main machine in Widener University's Computer Science lab is currently online (we certainly hope so!).
Many implementations of ping also include an option to let you see how fast a link is running (to give you some idea of the load on the network). For example:
% ping -s cs.swarthmore.edu PING cs.swarthmore.edu: 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 130.58.68.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=251 time=66 ms 64 bytes from 130.58.68.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=251 time=45 ms 64 bytes from 130.58.68.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=251 time=46 ms ^C —- cs.swarthmore.edu ping statistics —- 3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 45/52/66 ms
This case tells us that for cs.swarthmore.edu it takes about 46 milliseconds for a packet to go from Widener to Swarthmore College and back again. It also gives the average and worst-case speeds, and any packet loss that may have occurred (e.g. because of network congestion).
While ping generally doesn't hurt network performance, you shouldn't use it too often—-usually once or twice will leave you relatively sure of the other system's state.
Talk
Sometimes email is clumsy and difficult to manage when one really needs to have an interactive conversation. The Internet provides for that as well, in the form of talk. Two users can literally see each other type across thousands of miles.
To talk with Bart Simpson at Widener, one would type
talk bart@@cs.widener.edu
which would cause a message similar to the following to be displayed on Bart's terminal:
Message from Talk_Daemon@cs.widener.edu at 21:45 … talk: connection requested by joe@ee.someplace.edu talk: respond with: talk joe@ee.someplace.edu
Bart would, presumably, respond by typing talk joe@ee.someplace.edu. They could then chat about whatever they wished, with instantaneous response time, rather than the write-and-wait style of email. To leave talk, on many systems one would type Ctrl-C (hold down the Control key and press C). Check local documentation to be sure.
There are two different versions of talk in common use today. The first, dubbed "old talk," is supported by a set of Unix systems (most notably, those currently sold by Sun). The second, ntalk (aka "new talk"), is more of the standard. If, when attempting to talk with another user, it responds with an error about protocol families, odds are the incompatibilities between versions of talk is the culprit. It's up to the system administrators of sites which use the old talk to install ntalk for their users.
Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS)
The WHOIS Database
The main WHOIS database is run at the Network Information Center (NIC). The whois command will let you search a database of every registered domain (e.g. mit.edu) and of registered users. It's primarily used by system postmasters or listowners to find the Points of Contact for a site, to let them know of a problem or contact them for one reason or another. You can also find out their postal address. For example:
% whois mit.eduMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) MIT.EDU 18.72.2.1Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-DOM) MIT.EDU
Note that there are two entries for mit.edu; we'll go for the second.
% whois mit-domMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-DOM)Cambridge, MA 02139
Domain Name: MIT.EDU
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Schiller, Jeffrey I. (JIS) JIS@MIT.EDU (617) 253-8400
Record last updated on 22-Jun-88.
Domain servers in listed order:STRAWB.MIT.EDU 18.71.0.151W20NS.MIT.EDU 18.70.0.160BITSY.MIT.EDU 18.72.0.3LITHIUM.LCS.MIT.EDU 18.26.0.121
To see this host record with registered users, repeat the command with a star ('*') before the name; or, use '%' to show JUST the registered users.
Much better! Now this information (sought, possibly, by a system administrator) can be used to find out how to notify MIT of a security issue or problem with connectivity.
Queries can be made for individuals as well; the following would yield an entry for the author:
% whois brendanKehoe, Brendan (BK59) brendan@cs.widener.eduWidener UniversityDepartment of Computer ScienceKirkbride 219P.O. Box 83 Widener UniversityChester, PA 19013(215)/499-4011
Record last updated on 02-May-91.
Included is the author's name, his handle (a unique sequence of letters and numbers), information on how to contact him, and the last time the record was modified in any way.
Anyone can register with the whois database. People who are administrative or technical contacts for domains are registered automatically when their domain applications are processed. For normal users, one must simply fill out a form from the NIC. FTP to nic.ddn.mil and get the file netinfo/user-template.txt. The completed form should be mailed to registrar@nic.ddn.mil.
Other Uses of WHOIS
Also, many educational sites run WHOIS servers of their own, to offer information about people who may be currently on the staff or attending the institution. To specify a WHOIS server, many implementations include some sort of option or qualifier—-in VMS under MultiNet, it's /HOST, in Unix -h. To receive information about using the Stanford server, one might use the command
whois -h stanford.edu help
A large list of systems offering WHOIS services is being maintained by Matt Power of MIT (mhpower@stan.mit.edu). It is available via anonymous FTP from sipb.mit.edu, in the directory pub/whois. The file is named whois-servers.list.
The systems available include, but are certainly not limited to, Syracuse University (syr.edu), New York University (acfcluster.nyu.edu), the University of California at San Diego (ucsd.edu), and Stanford University (stanford.edu).
"Fingers were made before forks."Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation
———-Commercial Services
Many services can be accessed through the Internet. As time progresses and more outlets for commercial activity appear, once-restricted traffic (by the NSFnet Acceptable Use Policy) may now flow freely. Now that there are other networks for that information to travel on, businesses are making their move.
Internet Service Providers
Providers (AlterNet, PSI, etc)…
Supercomputers The Internet Resource Guide (IRG) contains a chapter on computer time that's available for a fee. Rather than reproduce it here, which would fast become out-of-date as well as triple the size of this guide, it's suggested that the reader consult the IRG if such services are of interest.
Electronic Journals
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) publishes a hard-copy directory of electronic journals, newsletters, and scholarly discussion lists. It is a compilation of entries for hundreds of
sts, dozens of journals and newsletters, and a many "other" titles, including newsletter-digests, into one reference source. Each entry includes instructions on how to access the referenced publication or list.
The documents are available electronically by sending the commands
get ejournl1 directry get ejournl2 directry
to the server at LISTSERV@OTTAWA.BITNET. Listservs for further instructions on using a listserv.
The directory, along with a compilation by Diane Kovacs called Directories of Academic E-Mail Conferences, is available in print and on diskette (DOS WordPerfect and MacWord) from:
Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing Association of Research Libraries 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 ARLHQ@UMDC.BITNET (202) 232—2466 (202) 462—7849 (Fax)
The ARL is a not-for-profit organization representing over one hundred research libraries in the United States and Canada. The publication is available to ARL members for $10 and to non-members for $20 (add $5 postage per directory for foreign addresses). Orders of six or more copies will receive a 10% discount; all orders must be prepaid and sent to the ARL.
Commercial Databases
The American Institute of Physics maintains the Physics Information Network. It contains the bibliographic SPIN and General Physics Advanced Abstracts databases. Also available is access to bulletin boards and several searchable lists (job notices, announcements, etc). Telnet to pinet.aip.org; new users must log in as NEW and give registration information.
Some of the databases accessible through WAIS (WAIS) are available for a fee.
Clarinet News
Clarinet's an electronic publishing network service that provides professional news and information, including live UPI wireservice news, in the Usenet file format.
Clarinet lets you read an "electronic newspaper" right on the local system; you can get timely industry news, technology related wirestories, syndicated columns and features, financial information, stock quotes and more.
Clarinet's provided by using the Usenet message interchange format, and is available via UUCP and other delivery protocols, including NNTP.
The main feature is ClariNews, an "electronic newspaper," gathered live from the wire services of United Press International (UPI). ClariNews articles are distributed in 100 newsgroups based on their subject matter, and are keyworded for additional topics and the geographical location of the story. ClariNews includes headlines, industry news, box scores, network TV schedules, and more. The main products of ClariNews are:
ClariNews General, the general news"paper" with news, sports, and features, averaging about 400 stories per day.
TechWire, special groups for stories on science, technology, and industry stories around them.
ClariNews-Biz, business and financial stories.
Newsbytes, a daily computer industry newsmagazine.
Syndicated Columns, including Dave Barry (humor) and MikeRoyko (opinion).
Full information on ClariNet, including subscription information, is available from
Clarinet Communications Corp. 124 King St. North Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2X8 info@@clarinet.com (800) USE-NETS
or with anonymous FTP in the directory /Clarinet on ftp.uu.net (Anonymous FTP).
"Needless to say, Aristotle did not envisage modern finance."Frederick Copleston, S.J.A History of Philosophy: Vol 1 Greece & Rome Part II, p95
————-Things You'll Hear About
There are certain things that you'll hear about shortly after you start actively using the Internet. Most people assume that everyone's familiar with them, and they require no additional explanation. If only that were true!
This section addresses a few topics that are commonly encountered and asked about as a new user explores Cyberspace. Some of them are directly related to how the networks are run today; other points are simply interesting to read about.
The Internet Worm
from a letter by Severo M. Ornstein, in ACM June 89 Vol32 No6 and the appeal notice
On November 2, 1988, Robert Morris, Jr., a graduate student in Computer Science at Cornell, wrote an experimental, self-replicating, self-propagating program called a worm and injected it into the Internet. He chose to release it from MIT, to disguise the fact that the worm came from Cornell. Morris soon discovered that the program was replicating and reinfecting machines at a much faster rate than he had anticipated—-there was a bug. Ultimately, many machines at locations around the country either crashed or became "catatonic." When Morris realized what was happening, he contacted a friend at Harvard to discuss a solution. Eventually, they sent an anonymous message from Harvard over the network, instructing programmers how to kill the worm and prevent reinfection. However, because the network route was clogged, this message did not get through until it was too late. Computers were affected at many sites, including universities, military sites, and medical research facilities. The estimated cost of dealing with the worm at each installation ranged from $200 to more than $53,000. {Derived in part from a letter by Severo M. Ornstein, in the Communications of the ACM, Vol 32 No 6, June 1989.}
The program took advantage of a hole in the debug mode of the Unix sendmail program, which runs on a system and waits for other systems to connect to it and give it email, and a hole in the finger daemon fingerd, which serves finger requests (Finger). People at the University of California at Berkeley and MIT had copies of the program and were actively disassembling it (returning the program back into its source form) to try to figure out how it worked.
Teams of programmers worked non-stop to come up with at least a temporary fix, to prevent the continued spread of the worm. After about twelve hours, the team at Berkeley came up with steps that would help retard the spread of the virus. Another method was also discovered at Purdue and widely published. The information didn't get out as quickly as it could have, however, since so many sites had completely disconnected themselves from the network.
After a few days, things slowly began to return to normalcy and everyone wanted to know who had done it all. Morris was later named in The New York Times as the author (though this hadn't yet been officially proven, there was a substantial body of evidence pointing to Morris).
Robert T. Morris was convicted of violating the computer Fraud and Abuse Act (Title 18), and sentenced to three years of probation, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $10,050, and the costs of his supervision. His appeal, filed in December, 1990, was rejected the following March.
The Cuckoo's Egg
First in an article entitled "Stalking the Wily Hacker," and later in the book The Cuckoo's Egg, Clifford Stoll detailed his experiences trying to track down someone breaking into a system at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California. {See the bibliography for full citations.}
A 75-cent discrepancy in the Lab's accounting records led Stoll on a chase through California, Virginia, and Europe to end up in a small apartment in Hannover, West Germany. Stoll dealt with many levels of bureaucracy and red tape, and worked with the FBI, the CIA, and the German Bundespost trying to track his hacker down.
The experiences of Stoll, and particularly his message in speaking engagements, have all pointed out the dire need for communication between parties on a network of networks. The only way everyone can peacefully co-exist in Cyberspace is by ensuring rapid recognition of any existing problems.
Organizations
The indomitable need for humans to congregate and share their common interests is also present in the computing world. User groups exist around the world, where people share ideas and experiences. Similarly, there are organizations which are one step "above" user groups; that is to say, they exist to encourage or promote an idea or set of ideas, rather than support a specific computer or application of computers.
The Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery (the ACM) was founded in 1947, immediately after Eckert and Mauchly unveiled one of the first electronic computers, the ENIAC, in 1946. Since then, the ACM has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the leading educational and scientific societies in the computer industry.
The ACM's stated purposes are:
To advance the sciences and arts of information processing;
To promote the free interchange of information about the sciences and arts of information processing both among specialists and among the public;
To develop and maintain the integrity and competence of individuals engaged in the practices of the sciences and arts of information processing.
Membership in the ACM has grown from seventy-eight in September, 1947, to over 77,000 today. There are local chapters around the world, and many colleges and universities endorse student chapters. Lecturers frequent these meetings, which tend to be one step above the normal "user group" gathering. A large variety of published material is also available at discounted prices for members of the association.
The ACM has a number of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that concentrate on a certain area of computing, ranging from graphics to the Ada programming language to security. Each of the SIGs also publishes its own newsletter. There is a Usenet group, comp.org.acm, for the discussion of ACM topics. Usenet News for more information on reading news.
For more information and a membership application, write to:
Assocation for Computing Machinery 1515 Broadway New York City, NY 10036 ACMHELP@ACMVM.BITNET (212) 869-7440
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility from their letter to prospective members
The CPSR is an alliance of computer professionals concentrating on certain areas of the impact of computer technology on society. It traces its history to the fall of 1981, when several researchers in Palo Alto, California, organized a lunch meeting to discuss their shared concerns about the connection between computing and the nuclear arms race. Out of that meeting and the discussions which followed, CPSR was born, and has been active ever since. {This section is part of the CPSR's letter to prospective members.}
The national CPSR program focuses on the following project areas:
Reliability and Risk This area reflects on the concern that overreliance on computing technology can lead to unacceptable risks to society. It includes, but isn't limited to, work in analyzing military systems such as SDI.
Civil Liberties and Privacy This project is concerned with such topics as the FBI National Crime Information Center, the growing use of databases by both government and private industry, the right of access to public information, extension of First Amendment rights to electronic communication, and establishing legal protections for privacy of computerized information.
Computers in the Workplace The CPSR Workplace Project has concentrated its attention on the design of software for the workplace, and particularly on the philosophy of "participatory design," in which software designers work together with users to ensure that systems meet the actual needs of that workplace.
The 21st Century Project This is a coalition with other professional organizations working towards redirecting national research priorities from concentrating on military issues to anticipating and dealing with future problems as science and technology enter the next century.
For more information on the CPSR, contact them at:
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility P.O. Box 717 Palo Alto, CA 94302 cpsr@csli.stanford.edu (415) 322—3778 (415) 322—3798 (Fax)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was established to help civilize the "electronic frontier"—-the Cyberspacial medium becoming ever-present in today's society; to make it truly useful and beneficial not just to a technical elite, but to everyone; and to do this in a way which is in keeping with the society's highest traditions of the free and open flow of information and communication. {This section was derived from eff.about, available along with other material via anonymous FTP from ftp.eff.org}
The mission of the EFF is to engage in and support educational activities which increase popular understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by developments in computing and telecommunications;
to develop among policy-makers a better understanding of the issues underlying free and open telecommunications, and support the creation of legal and structural approaches which will ease the assimilation of these new technologies by society;
to raise public awareness about civil liberties issues arising from the rapid advancement in the area of new computer-based communications media and, where necessary, support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect, and extend First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and telecommunications technology;
to encourage and support the development of new tools which will endow non-technical users with full and easy access to computer-based telecommunications;
The Usenet newsgroups comp.org.eff.talk and comp.org.eff.news are dedicated to discussion concerning the EFF. They also have mailing list counterparts for those that don't have access to Usenet, eff-talk-request@eff.org and eff-news-request@eff.org. The first is an informal arena (aka a normal newsgroup) where anyone may voice his or her opinions. The second, comp.org.eff.news, is a moderated area for regular postings from the EFF in the form of EFFector Online. To submit a posting for the EFFector Online, or to get general information about the EFF, write to eff@eff.org. There is also a wealth of information available via anonymous FTP on ftp.eff.org.
The EFF can be contacted at
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc. 155 Second St. #1 Cambridge, MA 02141 eff@eff.org (617) 864-0665 (617) 864-0866 (Fax)
The Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation was started by Richard Stallman (creator of the popular GNU Emacs editor). It is dedicated to eliminating restrictions on copying, redistributing, and modifying software.
The word "free" in their name does not refer to price; it refers to freedom. First, the freedom to copy a program and redistribute it to your neighbors, so that they can use it as well as you. Second, the freedom to change a program, so that you can control it instead of it controlling you; for this, the source code must be made available to you.
The Foundation works to provide these freedoms by developing free compatible replacements for proprietary software. Specifically, they are putting together a complete, integrated software system called "GNU" that is upward-compatible with Unix. {As an aside, the editor of the GNU project, emacs, contains a built-in LISP interpreter and a large part of its functionality is written in LISP. The name GNU is itself recursive (the mainstay of the LISP language); it stands for "Gnu's Not Unix."}
When it is released, everyone will be permitted to copy it and distribute it to others. In addition, it will be distributed with source code, so you will be able to learn about operating systems by reading it, to port it to your own machine, and to exchange the changes with others.
For more information on the Free Software Foundation and the status of the GNU Project, or for a list of the current tasks that still need to be done, write to gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu.
The IEEE
Need IEEE…
The League for Programming Freedom
The League for Programming Freedom is a grass-roots organization of professors, students, businessmen, programmers and users dedicated to "bringing back" the freedom to write programs, which they contend has been lost over the past number years. The League is not opposed to the legal system that Congress intended—copyright on individual programs. Their aim is to reverse the recent changes made by judges in response to special interests, often explicitly rejecting the public interest principles of the Constitution.
The League works to abolish the new monopolies by publishing articles, talking with public officials, boycotting egregious offenders, and in the future may intervene in court cases. On May 24, 1989, the League picketed Lotus headquarters because of their lawsuits, and then again on August 2, 1990. These marches stimulated widespread media coverage for the issue. They welcome suggestions for other activities, as well as help in carrying them out.
For information on the League and how to join, write to
League for Programming Freedom 1 Kendall Square #143 P.O. Box 9171 Cambridge, MA 02139 league@prep.ai.mit.edu
Networking Initiatives
Research and development are two buzz words often heard when discussing the networking field—-everything needs to go faster, over longer distances, for a lower cost. To "keep current," one should read the various trade magazines and newspapers, or frequent the networking-oriented newsgroups of Usenet. If possible, attend trade shows and symposia like Usenix, Interop, et. al.
The National Research and Education Network (NREN) is a five-year project approved by Congress in the Fall of 1991. It's intended to create a national electronic "super-highway." The NREN will be 50 times faster than the fastest available networks (at the time of this writing). Proponents of the NREN claim it will be possible to transfer the equivalent of the entire text of the Encyclopedia Britannica in one second. Further information, including the original text of the bill presented by Senator Al Gore (D—TN), is available through anonymous FTP to nis.nsf.net, in the directory nsfnet. In addition, Vint Cerf wrote on the then-proposed NREN in RFC-1167, Thoughts on the National Research and Education Network. RFCs for information on obtaining RFCs.
A mailing list, nren-discuss@uu.psi.com, is available for discussion of the NREN; write to nren-discuss-request@uu.psi.com to be added.
"To talk in publick, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire, and to answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar." Samuel Johnson Chapter VIII The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
——- Finding Out More
Internet Resource Guide
The NSF Network Service Center (NNSC) compiles and makes available an Internet Resource Guide (IRG). The goal of the guide is to increase the visibility of various Internet resources that may help users do their work better. While not yet an exhaustive list, the guide is a useful compendium of many resources and can be a helpful reference for a new user.
Resources listed are grouped by types into sections. Current sections include descriptions of online library catalogs, data archives, online white pages directory services, networks, network information centers, and computational resources, such as supercomputers. Each entry describes the resource, identifies who can use the resource, explains how to reach the local network via the Internet, and lists contacts for more information. The list is distributed electronically by the NNSC. To receive a guide, or to get on a mailing list that alerts you to when it is updated, send a message to resource-guide-request@nnsc.nsf.net.
The current edition of the IRG is available via anonymous FTP from nnsc.nsf.net, in the directory /resource-guide.
Requests for Comments
The internal workings of the Internet are defined by a set of documents called RFCs (Request for Comments). The general process for creating an RFC is for someone wanting something formalized to write a document describing the issue and mailing it to Jon Postel (postel@isi.edu). He acts as a referee for the proposal. It is then commented upon by all those wishing to take part in the discussion (electronically, of course). It may go through multiple revisions. Should it be generally accepted as a good idea, it will be assigned a number and filed with the RFCs.
The RFCs can be divided into five groups: required, suggested, directional, informational and obsolete. Required RFCs (e.g., RFC-791, The Internet Protocol) must be implemented on any host connected to the Internet.
Suggested RFCs are generally implemented by network hosts. Lack of them does not preclude access to the Internet, but may impact its usability. RFC-793, Transmission Control Protocol, is a must for those implementing TCP.
Directional RFCs were discussed and agreed to, but their application has never come into wide use. This may be due to the lack of wide need for the specific application (RFC-937, The Post Office Protocol) or that, although technically superior, ran against other pervasive approaches (RFC-891, Hello). It is suggested that, should the facility be required by a particular site, an implementation be done in accordance with the RFC. This ensures that, should the idea be one whose time has come, the implementation will be in accordance with some standard and will be generally usable.
Informational RFCs contain factual information about the Internet and its operation (RFC-990, Assigned Numbers).
There is also a subset of RFCs called FYIs (For Your Information). They are written in a language much more informal than that used in the other, standard RFCs. Topics range from answers to common questions for new and experienced users to a suggested bibliography.
Finally, as the Internet has grown and technology has changed, some RFCs become unnecessary. These obsolete RFCs cannot be ignored, however. Frequently when a change is made to some RFC that causes a new one to obsolete others, the new RFC only contains explanations and motivations for the change. Understanding the model on which the whole facility is based may involve reading the original and subsequent RFCs on the topic.
RFCs and FYIs are available via FTP from many sources, including:
The nic.ddn.mil archive, as /rfc/rfc-xxxx.txt, where xxxx is the number of the RFC.
from ftp.uu.net, in the directory /RFC.
They're also available through mail by writing to service@nic.ddn.mil, with a Subject: line of send RFC-xxxx.TXT, again with xxxx being the RFC number.
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." Samuel Johnson Letter to Lord Chesterfield February, 1755 a book of quotes said April 18, 1775 .. the book of Johnson's works said it's 1755; I'll go with the latter.
———- Conclusion
This guide is far from complete—-the Internet changes on a daily (if not hourly) basis. However, this booklet should provide enough information to make the incredible breadth and complexity of the Internet a mite less imposing. Coupled with some exploration and experimentation, every user has the potential to be a competent net citizen, using the facilities that are available to their fullest.
You, the reader, are strongly encouraged to suggest improvements to any part of this booklet. If something was unclear, left you with doubts, or wasn't addressed, it should be fixed. If you find any problems, inaccuracies, spelling errors, etc., please report them to:
Brendan KehoeDepartment of Computer ScienceWidener UniversityChester, PA 19013