Big Dummy's Guide To The Internet Part 7

Fidonet

To send mail to people using a Fidonet BBS, you need the name they use to log onto that system and its "node number." Fidonet node numbers or addresses consist of three numbers, in this form: 1:322/190. The first number tells which of several broad geographic zones the BBS is in (1 represents the U.S. and Canada, 2 Europe and Israel, 3 Pacific Asia, 4 South America). The second number represents the BBS's network, while the final number is the BBS's "FidoNode" number in that network. If your correspondent only gives you two numbers (for example, 322/190), it means the system is in zone 1.

Now comes the tricky part. You have to reverse the numbers and add to them the letters f, n and z (which stand for "FidoNode,""network," and "zone'). For example, the address above would become

f190.n322.z1.

Now add "fidonet.org" at the end, to get f190.n322.z1.fidonet.org. Then add "FirstName.LastName@', to get

[email protected]

Note the period between the first and last names. Also, some countries now have their own Fidonet "backbone" systems, which might affect addressing. For example, were the above address in Germany, you would end it with "fido.de" instead of "fidonet.org."

Whew!

The reverse process is totally different. First, the person has to have access to his or her BBS's "net mail" area and know the Fidonet address of his or her local Fidonet/UUCP gateway (often their system operator will know it). Your Fidonet correspondent should address a net-mail message to UUCP (not your name) in the "to:" field.

In the node-number field, they should type in the node number of the Fidonet/UUCP gateway (if the gateway system is in the same regional network as their system, they need only type the last number, for example, 390 instead of 322/390). Then, the first line of the message has to be your Internet address, followed by a blank line. After that, the person can write the message and send it.

Because of the way Fidonet moves mail, it could take a day or two for a message to be delivered in either direction. Also, because many Fidonet systems are run as hobbies, it is considered good form to ask the gateway sysop's permission if you intend to pa.s.s large amounts of mail back and forth. Messages of a commercial nature are strictly forbidden (even if it's something the other person asked for). Also, consider it very likely that somebody other than the recipient will read your messages.

GEnie

To send mail to a GEnie user, add "@genie.com" to the end of the GEnie user name, for example: [email protected]

MCIMail

To send mail to somebody with an MCIMail account, add "@mcimail.com to the end of their name or numerical address. For example:

[email protected]

or

[email protected]

Note that if there is more than one MCIMail subscriber with that name, you will get a mail message back from MCI giving you their names and numerical addresses. You'll then have to figure out which one you want and re-send the message.

From MCI, a user would type

Your Name (EMS)

at the "To:" prompt. At the EMS prompt, he or she would type

internet

followed by your Net address at the "Mbx:" prompt.

Peacenet

To send mail to a Peacenet user, use this form:

[email protected]

Peacenet subscribers can use your regular address to send you mail.

Prodigy

[email protected] Note that Prodigy users must pay extra for Internet e-mail.

2.6 SEVEN UNIX COMMANDS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:

If you connect to the Net through a Unix system, eventually you'll have to come to terms with Unix. For better or worse, most Unix systems do NOT shield you from their inner workings -- if you want to copy a Usenet posting to a file, for example, you'll have to use some Unix commands if you ever want to do anything with that file.

Like MS-DOS, Unix is an operating system - it tells the computer how to do things. Now while Unix may have a reputation as being even more complex than MS-DOS, in most cases, a few basic, and simple, commands should be all you'll ever need.

If your own computer uses MS-DOS or PC-DOS, the basic concepts will seem very familiar -- but watch out for the cd command, which works differently enough from the similarly named DOS command that it will drive you crazy. Also, unlike MS-DOS, Unix is case sensitive -- if you type commands or directory names in the wrong case, you'll get an error message.

If you're used to working on a Mac, you'll have to remember that Unix stores files in "directories" rather than "folders." Unix directories are organized like branches on a tree. At the bottom is the "root" directory, with sub-directories branching off that (and sub-directories in turn can have sub-directories). The Mac equivalent of a Unix sub-directory is a folder within another folder.

cat Equivalent to the MS-DOS "type" command. To pause a file every screen, type

cat file |more

where "file" is the name of the file you want to see.

Hitting control-C will stop the display. Alternately, you could type

more file

to achieve the same result. You can also use cat for writing or uploading text files to your name or home directory (similar to the MS-DOS "copy con" command). If you type

cat>test

you start a file called "test." You can either write something simple (no editing once you've finished a line and you have to hit return at the end of each line) or upload something into that file using your communications software's ASCII protocol). To close the file, hit control-D.

cd The "change directory" command. To change from your present directory to another, type

cd directory

and hit enter. Unlike MS-DOS, which uses a to denote sub- directories (for example: stufftext), Unix uses a / (for example: /stuff/text). So to change from your present directory to the stuff/text sub-directory, you would type

cd stuff/text

and then hit enter. As in MS-DOS, you do not need the first backslash if the subdirectory comes off the directory you're already in. To move back up a directory tree, you would type

cd ..

followed by enter. Note the s.p.a.ce between the cd and the two periods -- this is where MS-DOS users will really go nuts.

cp Copies a file. The syntax is

cp file1 file2