- Archie
- Archie is a search tool, developed at McGill University, which archives
lists of files located on 'anonymous FTP' sites. Internet users can
access public Archie sites and search the Archie index for file names.
The Archie server will return a list of hits, including the name of the
file or directory, its size, the date it was last altered, and the name
of the FTP server on which it is stored.
What follows is a list of publicly accessible Archie servers. Internet
users can Telnet to these sites, login as 'archie', and conduct
searches.
It is always advisable when choosing an Archie server to choose one
close to you. All Archie servers have the same capabilities, so
choosing one close to home will never be to your disadvantage and will
always be appreciated by other Net users.
- E-Mail
- Electronic Mail was one of the original uses of the Internet. By
assigning individual addresses to users, the routing system of the
Internet is able to direct messages from user to user. This process is
usually very quick, because electronic mail is often made up of small
quantities of low-ASCII (plain text), which is not resource intensive.
Many electronic mail packages are commerically available for SLIP, PPP
and Direct Connections to the Internet.
- FTP
- File Transfer Protocol. FTP is one of the standard languages of the
Internet which determines how files are transferred from one location
to another.
Many FTP sites are called Anonymous FTP sites, because they allow users
to log in with the user name 'anonymous'. This is much like being able
to go to a private club as a guest. It also means that certain
restrictions will govern the use of a site by an anonymous user. For
example, an anonymous user will not usually be able to alter the
contents of a directory, though they may download from it.
FTP is a client server application, which means that an Internet user
must have access to an FTP client (a program which resides on the
user's computer or host computer to which they dial-up), and an FTP
server (a host computer on the Internet which will allow users to
connect and access files).
- Gopher
- A menu-driven system of organizing information in a hierarchical and
intuitive order.
What makes gopher so useful is that it is a browsing tool. It doesn't
just tell you where a document is, it takes you there, offers the
document for your perusal and then offers you the choice of abandoning
it, e-mailing it to your account or saving it to your notebook.
The following is an extract from the Internet Gopher Protocol:
University of Minnesota Microcomputer and Workstation Networks Center
Spring 1991; Revised Spring 1992. Bob Alberti, Farhad Anklesaria, Paul
Lindner, Mark McCahill, Daniel Torrey.
- gopher
- n. 1. Any of various short tailed, burrowing mammals of the
family Geomyidae, of North America. 2. (Amer. colloq.) Native or
inhabitant of Minnesota: the Gopher State. 3. (Amer. colloq.) One who
runs errands, does odd-jobs, fetches or delivers documents for office
staff. 4. (computer tech.) software following a simple protocol for
burrowing through a TCP/IP internet.
The Internet Gopher protocol is designed for distributed document
search and retrieval. The protocol and software follows a
client-server model. Documents reside on many autonomous servers on the
Internet. Users run client software on their desktop systems,
connecting to a server and sending the server a line of text, such as a
search word.
The Gopher interface is designed to resemble a file system to enable
users to easily access files and documents which are arranged according
to categories. The Gopher collects menus and documents from all over
the Internet and presents them for display or mailing in a standard
menu format.
- HTML
- HyperText Markup Language. HTML is a set of codes which World Wide Web
Browsers use to display documents in a rich format. The codes are
ordinarily placed within corner brackets. The way a user would instruct
a browser to display text in italics would be to insert italics codes
on either side of the text, such as the following.
<i>This text would be displayed in italics.</i>
- HTTP
- HyperText Transfer Protocol. This is the language used by the World
Wide Web to transfer files during a client-server session.
- Listserv
- An automated mailing list to which Internet users can subscribe and
will receive mail from regularly. Listservs are often designed for the
purpose of participating in discussions about specific topics.
- TCP/IP
- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. This is the language
which is the heart of the Internet, and allows computers to exchange
information by using the different Internet tools.
- TELNET
- The Terminal Emulation protocol which allows users to log in to host
computers remotely over the Internet. Telnet applications are available
for most operating systems and are typically provided with Internet
access accounts.
- USENET
- A distributed and decentralized world-wide system of topical discussion
groups which are arranged according to abbreviated prefix and suffix
groups. The following is an example.
alt. - prefix indicating alternative discussion groups
comp. - prefix indicating computer-related discussion groups
rec. - prefix indicating recreational discussion groups
There are approximately ten thousand different news groups.
- VERONICA
- Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives. A
search engine which locates menu items from Gopher servers around the
world. Veronica is accessed through Gopher sites.
- World Wide Web (WWW)
- The World Wide Web is a client-server application system which
transfers text, graphics and sound files through the HyperText Transfer
Protocol. The WWW clients are called Web Browsers. There are many
available, such as Mosaic and Netscape, both of which are compatible
with PC, Macintosh and Unix.
Section One
Copyright (C) Strangelove Internet Enterprises Inc., 1995. All rights
reserved.