Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet Part 15

[email protected]

Some Bitnet listservers are also connected to the Internet, so if you see a listserver address ending in ".edu", you can e-mail the listserver without adding ".bitnet" to the end.

Always leave the "subject:" line blank in a message to a listserver. Inside the message, you tell the listserver what you want, with a series of simple commands:

subscribe group Your Name To subscribe to a list, where "group"

is the list name and "Your Name" is your full name, for example: subscribe econet Henry Fielding

unsubscribe group Your Name To discontinue a group, for example: unsubscribe econet Henry Fielding

list global This sends you a list of all available Bitnet discussion groups. But be careful -- the list is VERY long!

get refcard Sends you a list of other commands you can use with a listserver, such as commands for retrieving past postings from a discussion group.

Each of these commands goes on a separate line in your message (and you can use one or all of them). If you want to get a list of all Bitnet discussion groups, send e-mail to

[email protected]

Leave the "subject:" line blank and use the list global command.

When you subscribe to a Bitnet group, there are two important differences from Usenet.

First, when you want to post a message for others to read in the discussion group, you send a message to the group name at its Bitnet address. Using Econet as an example, you would mail the message to:

[email protected]

Note that this is different from the listserv address you used to subscribe to the group to begin with. Use the listserv address ONLY to subscribe to or unsubscribe from a discussion group. If you use the discussion-group address to try to subscribe or unsubscribe, your message will go out to every other subscriber, many of whom will think unkind thoughts, which they may share with you in an e-mail message).

The second difference relates to sending an e-mail message to the author of a particular posting. Usenet newsreaders such as rn and nn let you do this with one key. But if you hit your R key to respond to a discussion-group message, your message will go to the listserver, and from there to everybody else on the list! This can prove embarra.s.sing to you and annoying to others. To make sure your message goes just to the person who wrote the posting, take down his e-mail address from the posting and then compose a brand-new message.

Remember, also, that if you see an e-mail address like [email protected], it's a Bitnet address.

Two Bitnet lists will prove helpful for delving further into the network. NEW-LIST tells you the names of new discussion groups. To subscribe, send a message to [email protected]:

sub NEW-LIST Your Name

INFONETS is the place to go when you have questions about Bitnet.

It is also first rate for help on questions about all major computer networks and how to reach them. To subscribe, send e-mail to info-nets- [email protected]:

sub INFONETS Your Name

Both of these lists are also available on Usenet, the former as bit.listserv.new-list; the latter as bit.listserv.infonets (sometimes bit.listserv.info-nets).

Chapter 6: TELNET

6.1 MINING THE NET

Like any large community, cybers.p.a.ce has its libraries, places you can go to look up information or take out a good book. Telnet is one of your keys to these libraries.

Telnet is a program that lets you use the power of the Internet to connect you to databases, library catalogs, and other information resources around the world. Want to see what the weather's like in Vermont? Check on crop conditions in Azerbaijan? Get more information about somebody whose name you've seen online? Telnet lets you do this, and more.

Alas, there's a big "but!" Unlike the phone system, Internet is not yet universal; not everybody can use all of its services. Almost all colleges and universities on the Internet provide telnet access. So do all of the for-fee public-access systems listed in Chapter 1. But the Free-Net systems do not give you access to every telnet system. And if you are using a public-access UUCP or Usenet site, you will not have access to telnet. The main reason for this is cost. Connecting to the Internet can easily cost $1,000 or more for a leased, high-speed phone line. Some databases and file libraries can be queried by e-mail, however; we'll show you how to do that later on. In the meantime, the rest of this chapter a.s.sumes you are connected to a site with at least partial Internet access.

Most telnet sites are fairly easy to use and have online help systems.

Most also work best (and in some cases, only) with VT100 emulation.

Let's dive right in and try one.

At your host system's command line, type

telnet access.usask.ca

and hit enter. That's all you have to do to connect to a telnet site!

In this case, you'll be connecting to a service known as Hytelnet, which is a database of computerized library catalogs and other databases available through telnet. You should see something like this:

Trying 128.233.3.1 ...

Connected to access.usask.ca.

Escape character is '^]'.

Ultrix UNIX (access.usask.ca)

login:

Every telnet site has two addresses -- one composed of words that are easier for people to remember; the other a numerical address better suited for computers. The "escape character" is good to remember. When all else fails, hitting your control key and the ] key at the same time will disconnect you and return you to your host system. At the login prompt, type

hytelnet

and hit enter. You'll see something like this:

Welcome to HYTELNET version 6.2 ...................

What is HYTELNET? . Up/Down arrows MOVE Library catalogs . Left/Right arrows SELECT Other resources . ? for HELP anytime Help files for catalogs .

Catalog interfaces . m returns here Internet Glossary . q quits Telnet tips .

Telnet/TN3270 escape keys .

Key-stroke commands .

HYTELNET 6.2 was written by Peter Scott, U of Saskatchewan Libraries, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada. 1992 Unix and VMS software by Earl Fogel, Computing Services, U of S 1992

The first choice, "" will be highlighted. Use your down and up arrows to move the cursor among the choices. Hit enter when you decide on one. You'll get another menu, which in turn will bring up text files telling you how to connect to sites and giving any special commands or instructions you might need. Hytelnet does have one quirk.

To move back to where you started (for example, from a sub-menu to a main menu), hit the left-arrow key on your computer.

Play with the system. You might want to turn on your computer's screen-capture, or at the very least, get out a pen and paper. You're bound to run across some interesting telnet services that you'll want to try -- and you'll need their telnet "addresses."

As you move around Hytelnet, it may seem as if you haven't left your host system -- telnet can work that quickly. Occasionally, when network loads are heavy, however, you will notice a delay between the time you type a command or enter a request and the time the remote service responds.

To disconnect from Hytelnet and return to your system, hit your q key and enter.

Some telnet computers are set up so that you can only access them through a specific "port." In those cases, you'll always see a number after their name, for example: india.colorado.edu 13. It's important to include that number, because otherwise, you may not get in.

In fact, try the above address. Type

telnet india.colorado.edu 13