CCN Userhelp FAQ

Here are the three most asked questions to CCN's Userhelp, in no particular order.

Can I use Netscape or Internet Explorer with CCN?

In a word, no. CCN does not currently support the type of connection necessary to use these graphic browsers. What you can do is download a web page to your own computer's hard drive and then use these browsers to view the files there. Don't forget to download the graphics that go with the page. You can do this by pressing " * " (without the quotes) to convert the graphics that are otherwise invisible in Lynx to downloadable links. Put all the graphics and the page in the same directory.

There is a move to try and provide the necessary PPP connection through CCN, but at this time it is still very experimental and months away from being available for any kind of widespread use.

Why do I have a message saying I have mail when my mailbox is empty?

CCN is in the middle of an upgrade and some functions are now run on one machine and some are run on another. The two machines talk different languages and sometimes things get lost in the translation. In this case, the Pine email program has an invisible system folder sitting on the one machine which the rest of CCN on the other machine insists on interpreting as a previously read email sitting in your inbox. The fault has proven difficult to track down but will eventually be resolved when all of CCN is moved to the one machine. In the meantime just ignore it. The message will say "You have new mail" when something new arrives in your inbox.

How do I see a page that uses frames?

While the version of the Lynx browser currently in use does not support frames, there are two ways around this. The first, if you have a basic familiarity with HTML, is to view the source code of the page using frames. A frame page is actually several other web pages being shown at once. If you type " \ " (without the quotes), you can see the source code for any page. Typing it again will put the display back the way it was. There will be some lines that say:

where in this case there are two pages making up the framed page, named 'title.html' and 'main.html'. You would then type in the URL of the framed page. Let's say it was "http://www.example.com/frame.html". You would delete the "frame.html" part and type in "main.html" (all of this without the quotes of course) to see one of the two frame component pages in this example.

The second way to view frames is with the new version of the Lynx browser being tested on CCN. On this browser, frame pages are shown as separate links to each of the sub-pages, which saves a bit of typing. The new Lynx looks pretty much like the old Lynx for all intents and seems pretty stable, but signing on would add you to the beta-lynx mailing list and you would be asked to report any bugs you might find. It is assumed you are comfortable enough with old Lynx to be able to find your way around all right.

To sign up, send a message to: majordomo@chebucto.ns.ca which is the CCN automated mail program. Don't put in a subject header and put this line in your letter, exactly as written:

subscribe beta-lynx

Do not drop this down a line, indent it, or capitalize anything. You are sending it to a computer program that doesn't understand too much. If you have a signature file you are using, delete it from your message.

You will get a response from majordomo within a few minutes if the system isn't busy. Save this email so you can unsubscribe if necessary. The next time you log onto CCN after this, you will be on the beta-lynx browser.

You may direct comments or suggestions about this column to:

Andrew D. Wright, au141@chebucto.ns.ca

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