The following is intended as a guide for people new to the Internet. If you are already familiar with some of the features of Internet this may not prove useful, but you could be really nice and read it anyway. You might even learn something.
This guide is now in its second edition. I've tried to make it easier to read (less text and fewer sarcastic comments) and I've added some information, too. I still don't claim to know everything about the 'Net, and I don't guarantee that this will solve all of your problems. I hope it helps you get started exploring. As always, I welcome comment and suggestions.
[Editor's note: Minor revisions to this document were made 9/13/2000 to reflect the new server environment.]
Congratulations! You are the proud owner of an account on the Sun Microsystems Enterprise/250 servers at Claremont High School. (These powerful multi-processor UltraSPARC Unix servers were donated to our school because of a research grant given to students in 1993.) We usally call this cluster of servers "CHS" or, simply, the Suns.
Your address probably looks something like this:
yourname@chs.cusd.claremont.edu
If you'd like you can now tell everyone who is "digitally inclined" about your new email address; you could even simplify things a bit by dropping the ".cusd" part. Your address will still work.
In actuality, you have accounts on two additional computers which "share" all your new, private files, your e-mail, etc., between them. This "cluster" of Unix servers includes Dome.cusd.claremont.edu and Etna.cusd.claremont.edu. You can log into any of the three computers to access your account; and any of these computers can send/receive Internet traffic for your account.
So now you can do all this cool stuff like write to people in Russia and look at space photos and find out the news before the newspaper comes and....wait! You don't know how to do any of that. So now what? You've heard about all the cool things you can do on the Internet, but how do you get at them? What's the good of this enormous network if no one or nothing can tell you where to go? Relax. You're not alone, but you are right. No one out there knows everything about the net, and certainly not me. However, I've learned some fairly basic things that I thought you might like to know.
The following topics are covered below:
1. Getting help--where to find it, etc...
3. Newsgroups--tin (and its oh-so-friendly editor: vi)
4. Finding Stuff--using Gopher and Archie
5. Getting there--FTP-ing, telnetting, Lynx, Netscape, fingering
6. Miscellaneous--Signatures, plans, fingering, privacy, and taking up space.
At the bottom of each section is a list of commands that are most important. You can find them by reading the text, too.
One of the first things you should know is how to get help. Many programs, (which you'll read about soon) have a help page. Usually you can get at help by typing 'help', '?' or 'h' (I'll write all commands with single quotes (') around them....the command should be typed without these.)
Many programs have help by subject. Typing 'help' will give you a list of commands on which you can ask for help. For example, you could type 'help quit' to find out what the 'quit' command does.
When you aren't in a program, the manual pages can be useful. To use the manual, type 'man *subject' (I'll use the * to represent a large category...the * should not be included in your entry) If there is an entry in the manual regarding the subject you asked for, this information will appear on the screen. If there is no entry, the message 'no manual entry for *subject' will appear. Sometimes the manual won't tell you any more than what something is..it won't tell you how to use it. Unfortunately, this probably means that the person who wrote the manual entry didn't know very much about it.
CHS has its own help group called net-support-l. Email
majordomo@chs.cusd.claremont.edu
for subscription information. On net-support-l, you can ask questions and any student who knows the answer can mail it to you. You'll also be able to read other people's questions and answers--you might learn about things you didn't even know existed. There are other special-interest groups, but net-support-l is a good place to start asking.
'?',;'h', and 'help' are good guesses for finding a help screen in almost any program "man *subject" lets you read in the UNIX manual about that subject
(Back up to the Table of Contents... )
Okay, so now you know how to get help. "But what can I DO?" you're asking yourself. Another thing you're going to want to know is howto use email. Electronic mail (Email) is one of the things you'll probably use the most on the Internet. Email is one of the fastest forms of communication (and its free). At CHS, most people use a mailer called pine. At the system prompt--a prompt is any place where you can enter a command--the system prompt looks like this:
CHS:/usr/users/student/username%
Type 'pine' and you will be in pine. In pine you can read, save, delete, print, compose, reply to, and forward mail. You should, of course, read the help page, but here are some basic commands.
'I'- inbox - shows you what's in your mailbox.
<enter>- allows you to view the message the cursor is on.
'C'- compose a message.
'^R'- reply to letter on screen (or change the To: address and reply to someone else) (The ^ in front of these letters means Control + *letter)
'^F'- forward letter to another recipient.
'^S'- save a letter to a folder. You can create a folder by typing its name; or you can save your mail to the saved-messages default file. To save a message to a folder, just type '^S' and the folder name.
'^Y'- print. Pine sometimes has trouble printing; you may have to play with the configurations of your computer and printer.
When mailing a message to someone at CHS from a CHS computer or dial-in port, you don't need to type their entire name and address, their username or full name will do.
You can also use the Cc: command to send a message to a second (and third, and forth) person. (Cc: stands for "carbon copy.") Type the first address at the To: prompt and the next address at the Cc: prompt. If mailing to more than two people, separate their names and addresses in the Cc line by commas. Pine will send the message to all of them.
The attachment feature is used to attach another file to the mail message. If, for example, you download an interesting file and want to send it to someone, use 'J' at the attachment: prompt. Then type the name of the file you wish to attach. (All files have names. Be sure to get the name exactly correct, or the computer won't be able to find it.) You can also add a descriptive line about your attachment. To read an attachment, select it from the message reading screen. (try it out....it will make more sense) If you want to send someone email that you received from somewhere else, you can't attach it to anything. While you're looking at the mail, press 'F.' The message will appear on the screen with a blank To: line at the top. Put in the new address here. You can add to the message, or delete parts of it, before mailing it with '^C'
Pine will also allow you to create an address book. Using the address book, you can create a list of your twenty very-best friends to whom you often want to send the same message. At the To: prompt, type *friends to send this message to all twenty of them at once. Simply follow the instructions in 'update address book' to create such a list. You can also use the address book to store a long address under a shorter, easier name.
There are more things you can do in Pine--read the commands at the bottom of the screen and the help page to find out. To leave Pine, type 'q.'
There are other mailers available, but none so simple as Pine. Elm, another common one, requires that you know a little bit about editors, which I'll discuss later in the next section.
Mail, an older UNIX mail program, is well-documented in various Internet instruction books but is somewhat harder to use and doesn't have all the nice features of Pine or Elm.
(Back up to the Table of Contents... )
Newsgroups are another Internet favorite--they're also known as Usenet news or simply, news. (Their real name is newsgroups, though.) At CHS we have access to two basic newsgroup readers: tin and trn. They both seem to read the same groups, and tin is more user-friendly than trn, so that's the one I'll talk about.
You can access tin by simply typing 'tin' at the system prompt. After thinking for a minute, the computer will report *No Groups* or a similar message. What this means is that there are no groups to which you have subscribed. To see the complete list of groups, type 'y' (yank). A list of several thousand groups will appear (okay, so only the first 20 or so will appear at once, but the list is several thousand long) If you see a group you might like to investigate, move the cursor to it and press enter. You will find another list, with various sub-topics. Select any of these topics you'd like. To move forward on one particular post or through the topics, use the space bar. To back up to the sub-topic list (or even to the newsgroup list), use 'q' If you find a group to which you'd like to post a response, press 'w' It will ask you the topic name; type it in. Now you come to the editor part.
Tin runs under an editor known as vi. vi isn't self-explanatory, but the man page is useful. Here, however, are the commands you'll need to post things to a newsgroup.
-Once you're on the page with a ~ at the beginning of each line,type 'i' or 'a' to begin typing. This tells the computer that you want tobe in compose (not edit) mode.
-When you're done typing your message, press esc (escape), then : This tells the computer that you want the editing mode back. Then type'x' (I could sound smart and say that 'x' stands for eXecute, but I don'tknow.) Then follow the instructions.
Generally, when you post to a newsgroup, you should keep it relevant to the group. People who read newsgroups don't appreciate people who post stupid messages...it wastes their time and yours. If you have something to say, though, don't hesitate to post it to an appropriate group if you want responses from many people.
You can make up your own personal newsgroup list by subscribing tothe lists in which you are interested. Do this by pressing 's' when thecursor is on the name of the group. You can unsubscribe with 'u' Subscribing to a group means you never have to try to find it in the big long list again.Groups to which you've subscribed will appear on the firstscreen (the one that said *No Groups*) You can still read other groups by using 'y'.
y- yank in groups (bring up list of groups)
s- subscribe
u- unsubscribe
q- back up or quit
w- respond (type in subject)
(Back up to the Table of Contents... )
Gopher is a very useful searching tool if you know what you're looking for and have some idea of where you might find it. Gopher is run through the University of Minnesota, but you can get to many institutions through it. You can even get to Honnold library and read the card catalog.
Gopher is very user-friendly, but it would take me pages and pages to attempt to explain what is under each subject. Here's an example of something a typical Gopher user might do:
1. search other institutions
2. north america
3. united states
4. massachusetts
5. williams college
In the above case, I wanted to look at the course description catalogues of Williams College. While there, I was also able to find the email address of a former CHS student who is now at Williams.
Most Gopher searches look something like this; one advances on a search by selecting a category and can always go backwards. You'll learn the most about Gopher just by trying it yourself, just follow the directions.
<enter>- selects a choice (just keep selecting to get where you're going)
Archie will look everywhere and anywhere for anything you tell it to. If, for example, you wanted to find a game called "Fun With Barnie," you could use Archie. There are four ways of searching with Archie.
sub: a 'sub' search will look for your word in any way, shape, or form. If you search for "Barnie," Archie will also find "BAR", "Arnie", and "nie"...etc......
substring: a substring search is like a sub search, but it is case-sensitive. A search for "Barnie" will only find "Bar", "arnie", etc...
exact: an exact search should only be used if you know EXACTLY what you are looking for. A search for "Fun_with_Barnie" will not find "Fun_With_Barnie".
regex: a regex search is sort of strange...you probably won't use it much, but you can use it to search for patterns of names, such as all names ending with .cows or beginning with *..*eod.......read more about regex in Archie if you want it.
To use Archie effectively, you have to tell it how to behave. Use the 'show' command to see how Archie is running. Archie will spit out a list of things, most of which won't mean very much and you won't need to worry about. You should, however, make sure the 'pager' is set--otherwise pages of information will scroll by on the screen too fast for you to read if you aren't using a Mac. To set the pager, type 'set pager.' Another thing you might want to adjust is the maxhits number. Maxhits is the number of matches Archie will find before stopping its search. Since a search can take a while, keep this number set fairly low, especially when you're just experimenting. You can set anything on Archie using the 'set *thing' command....remember to enter a number as well when setting things like the maxhits. If you want to change the type of search you're using, this can be changed with 'set search *search_type'.
To use Archie effectively, you also have to get to it. There several Archie supporters, both in the United States and in the world. It doesn't really matter which one you use...I happen to like one known as archie.sura.net. You can get there via telnet (I'll explain telnet, don't panic). If there are too many people logged onto a particular server, the server will give you a list of other places to try.
Now that you're in Archie and have told it how you want it to behave, you can actually begin searching. The search command is 'prog' Use prog like this: 'prog *subject' Archie will tell you where you are in line and how long it estimates the search will take. In my experience, however, Archie does not estimate time very well. A search that it says will take 5 seconds might take 7 minutes, and an estimate of 1 hour 22 minutes might be done in just a few seconds. When Archie is done searching, it will begin to spit out lists of things that look as though they're in a foreign language. If you look at them carefully, though, each is an address and a file name. You should copy down the host (the address) and the file name of the things that sound interesting to you.
Remember that Archie can't read your mind, and it might give you listings of things you don't want. The search for the Barnie game above might have turned up a bunch of files on palentology and entertainment, as well as a game.
When you've finished using Archie, type quit. You now have a list of things you'd like to get to, but you can't get there from Archie.
show- shows you all of Archie's specifications
set *item- sets any of the specifications
prog *subject- tells Archie to search for a subject
(Back up to the Table of Contents... )
FTP-ing is the most common way of downloading information (downloading is a fancy way of saying 'going somewhere and sending something back to you') FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, which is a piece of useless Internet trivia.
FTP-ing is very easy...just type 'ftp hostname' If there aren't too many people FTPing to the same place, the host will give you access to certain files. If there ARE too many people, the host will kick you off and tell you to try again later. Don't take it personally--the computer may only allow a certain number of people. If you connect, the host will probably ask you for a username; type anonymous. It will then ask you for a login name and password. Type anonymous as the login name and your email address as the password. This just lets the host know who is using their computer...you could lie and it wouldn't know the difference, but if you have to lie, you probably shouldn't be there in the first place.
The 'ls' command will list the files stored for remote access. The filenames you are looking for are probably stored in directories, which also appear in their names. The first time you type 'ls', you will see a list of all the directories. In a file name (like /dir1/dir2/filename) dir1 should be the top "level." dir2 is inside of dir1, and the actual file is inside of dir2. You have to get to the bottom level to retrieve your file. Do this by changing directories. (Type 'cd *directory name') If you type 'ls' again, the list will be of everything that is inside that directory. When you're done going through directories, the last 'ls' command should show you your file (as well as a bunch of others).
Use the command 'get' to get things from the remote host....just type 'get *file'.
Once you've gotten a file, you can't read it in FTP. You'll have to get out of FTP (with 'quit'). At the system prompt type 'ls'...this will list the files that you have. The file you downloaded should be there. However, you will need an editor to read it, so we'll take a short time-out to talk about the wonders of editing. You can use the vi editor (which was briefly mentioned when I talked about newsgroups) to read the file, but there are others out there.
The term "editor" refers to the program or set of commands that let you look at a file. vi, jove, pico, and emacs are all editors. There is a manual page on each editor that will tell you more about it than you ever wanted to know. To look at a document, you must select an editor by typing *editor *filename. (pico is the editor used by pine; you might find this the easiest and it is certainly the most friendly.) You can also compose a document by naming an editor and giving the file you are going to create a name.
You can, however, avoid the whole editor problem by attaching the file to a message and mailing it to yourself. (see the description of PINE)
When you've downloaded something and read it, you might not want to keep it anymore. If you want to get rid of a file, type 'rm (for remove) *file.' Once you remove a file, you can't get it back, so don't delete something unless you know exactly what it is. FYI, 'rm -r *directoryname' will remove an entire directory. Again, you can't get it back once it is gone.
You can also use Archie through Gopher, using the 'search FTP sites with Archie' option. This simplifies Archie considerably, and lets you get and read things in the same place. It seems a little slower than normal Archie, though.
Sometimes you might download something that appears as a bunch of garbage on your screen. When this happens, it means you downloaded it in the wrong mode or "format." Computers deal with two formats: ASCII and BIN. Files that are completely text (words like this only, no graphics, interfaces, etc...) are usually ASCII files. Any other file is a BIN file. If you download something unreadable, you may have to go back to the host and re-get it. You can change the mode by typing either 'asc' or 'bin' at the FTP prompt. Generally, however, anything (including text) transferred in BIN will come out okay.
ftp hostname@location.com- gets you to the host
ls- lists directories or files within a directory
cd- changes directories
get- gets a file (remember you can't get directories...you have to get simple files)
asc- transfers file in ASCII
bin- transfers file in BIN
*editor *filename- chooses an editor with which to read a file
rm *file- removes a file
rm dir *directory- removes a directory
Telnet is another method of getting to remote hosts. To use Telnet, type 'telnet *remotehost.somewhere.domain' Most places to which you can Telnet are designed to be telnetted to, and won't let you just wander around. You will be presented with a menu, from which you can choose what you want to do. For example, 'telnet madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000' gets you to a handy weather server which will tell you the weather prediction for just about anywhere. Telnetting is the fastest and simplest way to read information from a remote host: you don't have to send it to yourself or learn any other languages.
Occasionally when telnetting somewhere, the host will ask for a login name. Enter anonymous and your address. For some telnet hosts, such as those which host Archie, you should enter what you want to do: when telnetting to Archie enter 'Archie', when telnetting to the Honnold Catalog (Blais) enter 'libraries' This will usually bypass the password prompt. Most really nice hosts are used to you (and hundreds of other users) visiting them, so they won't ask for a name or they'll tell you what name to enter.
If you telnet to a location where you already have an account, you can enter your username and password. On most systems, you will have as much access as you do when you login directly.
telnet hostname.domain- gets you there
~login as anonymous
~use your address as your password
I probably should have put Lynx under the FINDING THINGS category, because it does that, too. However, I put it here because it also gets you there--you don't have to mail it to yourself and THEN read it. (kind of nice, don't you think?) You can access Lynx by simply typing 'lynx' at the system prompt. You will be greeted by the CHS home page. Other people (at remote hosts) can access our homepage as well. (In fact our server at CHS often get more than 10000 visits per day!) To navigate in Lynx, just move the cursor around the various highlighted keywords. (Depending on your monitor, they might be bold, colored or in reverse ype--you'll recognize them when you see them). Lynx is sort of like Gopher in that it lets you travel on almost any path you want to. With lynx, you will be going to various homepages on the 'Net. A homepage is like a station: you can stop there and look around and link to somewhere else. There is a homepage for almost anything you could want on the 'Net. There are even bookstores, surveys, and mail-order companies. A WORD OF WARNING: some places will offer you the chance to buy things with a credit card. When you enter your credit card number, a skilled cracker can get at it and use it him/herself. While shopping over the 'Net sounds like fun, it may be like leaving your wallet in your shopping cart. Be careful!
Some places which you will access through lynx will give you pages and pages of information that you can't read all in one sitting. You can mail lynx information to yourself by telling the computer to print. It will give you a few options; one of which is mailing the document to yourself, another is print the document.
Just for your info, Lynx is one of our links to the World Wide Web (also known as WWW) If you've heard people talk about the Web, this is it!
For LYNX COMMANDS, see the section below (they're all the same)
Netscape is a unique program on the CHS campus because you do not need your account and password to use it. It is very similar to lynx, but is more of a point-and-click web browser. It will let you look at all of the graphics that lynx won't, which makes "netsurfing" much more fun. Netscape can be found in the telecommunications folder of most computers on campus. When you open it, you will begin on the CHS homepage. You can follow the links people on our page have set up, or you can use the 'go' button to enter your own address to visit. World-Wide Web addresses look like this: http://www.address.etc Netscape can go to any address that is formatted like this, as long as the computer at that address is working. (If it won't connect, check the address again. If it still won't work, the computer on the other end is probably down)
One place you should definitely visit if you just want to surf is http://www.yahoo.com/ Yahoo has a bunch of links already set up for you, but you can also search for any word or combination of words that you want. If it finds any links to these words, it gives them to you. This makes research go much faster (a hint for those of you who don't like the library)
Because of the way that Netscape is set up at CHS, everyone has access to it. Netscape will take you anywhere, including places where there may be pornographic material or other things you might find offensive. Use of the CHS networks for such inappropriate uses may jepordize your account and may result in other disciplinary actions, as well. So far there haven't been too many problems with people going to places they're not to supposed to, and most of us want to keep it that way so that everyone will _continue_ to have access to the net.
up/down arrows--jump around the highlighted words
right arrow--follow a link
left arrow--go back a link
<delete>--see your history list- this is a fast way of going back or forward to
somewhere you already were
q--quit
p--print. also use this mail something to yourself.
Fingering (despite its odd name) is a very useful tool. It can be used to look at other hosts...fingering a remote host will tell you who is logged on to that host at the moment. (Some hosts, however, don't like people doing this and won't let you finger the hostname itself. This is to protect their own users) If you type 'finger' at the system prompt, the computer will tell you who else is on the Claremont Suns. If you finger *username@somehost.somewhere you can see who *username is and when they last logged on. (This is otherwise known as being nosy.) You can't actually get into a remote host by fingering it, but you can tell if it's working or not.
Pinging is another method checking on a host. If you were trying to telnet somewhere, for example, and couldn't get in, try pinging the host. (type 'ping *hostname.location) The computer will tell you if that host is responding. If it isn't, you can't do much about it...it's probably down for servicing or won't allow outside access. If it is, try another method of getting there....and always check for typos.
(Back up to the Table of Contents... )
You've probably noticed that many people who mail things have a signature that appears at the bottom of all their mail. This has two purposes: it lets people know a little about you, and it provides a return address (which some mailers DON'T automatically attach--pine does). A signature is just a small file that is attached to all of your mail. You can create one by picking your favorite editor and naming the file .signature. After you are done composing your signature, type '^O' to install it. It will appear at the bottom of your messages as long as they are composed in pine. You can change your signature by going back into the file and editing it. Make sure you use '^X' (if you're using pico) to exit, and to tell it to save your changes.
Experienced Internet users frown on signature files longer than 4-5 lines; it wastes bandwidth to send long, complex ASCII art routinely attached to two-sentence email messages! If you don't want to be seen as an Internet newbie, keep your .sig file very short.
When you are fingered, there is also space for you to enter a "plan" and a "project." They are both small files that automatically attach themselves when you compose them. Just choose your favorite editor and the filenames .plan and .project. The project can only be one line of text long, but the plan can be as long as you want it to be. (Keep in mind, though, that not everyone can scroll backwards on their screen, and if the first part goes past they won't be able to read it) These two places are an opportunity for you to tell people a little about yourself, your views, or just leave them with an interesting thought.
It is possible to send TALK requests on our network, and to write brief messages to others who are logged in. This can be fun, but is an interruption to the person on the other end...TALK and WRITE messages disrupt whatever they're doing at the moment. You should not initiate talk sessions with other UNLESS you know in advance tht they would welcome such disturbances. Use email, instead. If you don't want to be bothered by talking or writing, use the 'mesg n' command. This means "no messages." A star appears by your name in the finger widow, and no messages can get to you. You'll have to set this each time you log in if you don't want to risk people trying to contact you.
Make sure you change your password regularly. The system will force you to change it at least every three months. Use the command 'passwd' to change it. The system will ask for your old password, then your new one, then your new one again. Don't give your password to people... tell them to get their own accounts. (You will lose your own account if you share it!)
It is possible (and no, I won't tell you how if you don't know) to access parts of other people's accounts. You can look at any files they have stored and edit them, if they specifically allow it. (This is a good thing and has always been a part of the Unix culture to allow for "open" systems; you can learn a lot of neat tricks this way.) You cannot read their mail or change their fingering information. Attempting to do so will result in severe penalities. Respect other's privacy.
With a growing number of accounts each year, there is a limited amount of storage space on CHS. You can watch how much room you take up by typing 'du' If the bottom number is bigger than 2000, you're taking up too much room and Mr. Muir will probably send you mail about it. If you don't cut down your space, you may lose netowrk access until you can become a better 'Net Citizen. Delete files you don't need and mail you don't want on a regular basis. Remember: rm *filename will delete a file.
(Back up to the Table of Contents... )
^]--quit from application (will sometimes get you all the way out, sometimes will only take you back a screen)
quit--quit from application (will usually take you all the way out)
q--quit
logout--disconnect from server. (You will have to logout twice from a dial-in port)
help--find help
help *subject--find help on *subject or find out what *subject command does
h--find help
?--find help
passwd--change password. You should do this every three months or so. The computer will warn you when your password is about to expire
pine--gets you into pine, a mail reader
elm--gets you into elm, a mail reader
mail--gets you into mail, a not-very-nice mail reader
gopher--gets you into gopher, a search program
telnet *hostname--connects you to a remote host
lynx--connects you to lynx, a search/read program
ftp *hostname--connects you to a remote host
tin--gets you into a newsgroup reader
finger--tells you who else is on the CHS network
finger *username@host--tells you identity of user
who--tells you who is logged on and where they are
ping--checks to see if remote host exists/responds
Remember, if you have questions ASK!! (Otherwise you'll make a fool of yourself and have people angry at you.) Post questions to the net-support-l, the mac-support-l, or the ibm-support-l groups, or just ask around campus. Think about buying a good book on the Internet.
I hope this helps you get started on your exploring, but remember that the best way to learn is to explore for yourself. The above is just to give you a little guidance--there's much more available.
Up to the CHS Web
homepage Revised: September 13, 2000 by Robs Muir
URL http://www.cusd.claremont.edu/computing/doc/intro/internetting_guide.html