Networking

Learning About Internet

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Much of the personal level of communications on the Internet is done via E-Mail. New users can poke around the net using World Wide Web (WWW) software clients (such as Netscape or Mosiac, like you are likely using now). Many of the WWW clients can send E-Mail in response to certain screens and the client setup should have an E-Mail address initialized for the user. In any event, it won't be long until a WWW user will need a point of contact where E-Mail is the most appropriate sending or receiving mechanism. Be sure you have a working E-Mail address and know how to have other people send you E-Mail.

Some of the following can get pretty technical for the non-technical user. Look around until you get bored and then back up to some of the starting points and browsing sections again. With WWW, and these point and click browsers, it is handy to just poke around the world until you run out of interesting stuff and then start over again on another path.

If you are reading this text from a computer screen, then you are are already past the novice-novice stage and can click on entries to see where they lead.  You also already have a computer which can access the Internet Web pages.  To learn more about this medium of communication the following are some pointers which may broaden your knowledge.  One place to start is at the Cyber Course (presented by NewbieNET).

For beginners WWW and Internet information:   John December, has two hypertext documents available to help you find sources on the net named Internet Tools & The Internet and CMC (Computer-Mediated Communication). A little network etiquette, often referred to as "Netiquette", will help to keep you on better terms with fellow network users.

There are many references in these files which can be used as jumping off points. Just pick an area of interest and start clicking of the references. In just a few clicks you may be retrieving files from the UK, Japan, or who knows where (or do you really care where?). Likely not all of the references here will work by the time you get around to clicking on them.

Usenet newsgroups are discussion areas linking people all over the world. Newsgroup news.answers is a sample of the frequently asked questions (FAQ's) of some of the discussions and topics of Usenet. Interested people are encouraged to set up a news reader specifically designed to handle Usenet reading and posting for the 2000 (5000?, 10000?) groups currently available. Some WWW browsers (such as Netscape) are capable of reading news using the URL (location) form news:* to read all available newsgroups or news:*www* to find only the WWW related groups. For full details, have a look at The Bible Of Usenet. If Usenet does not appear to be working at your site try Web access via Deja News or Reference.COM.

Publicly accessible Mailing lists are similar to usenet except that they run run via E-Mail. A reader may send a message to the list service host computer address, which in turn, sends a copy of the E-Mail message to everyone contained on it's mailing list. Interactive conversations may be carried with a group of people via this method just as it is via Usenet. Mailing lists are often very topic limited, or have only a small participation list, compared to what might be expected from the globally accessible usenet. Private mailing lists can, of course, also exist for limited access. Lists may be moderated (a person controls whether the E-Mail passes to all list entries) or not (all mail gets sent to all list entries).

Sometimes acronyms of common slang and inflections are used in messages.  To get the scoop on Emoticons, Smileys, and acronyms, have a start at Learn how to communicate online using Emoticons and Internet Lingo.

Networking, Internet, Computers, and Software

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• Spam and Junk E-Mail fighting tools:
  • In addition to the Internet tools below.
  • SamSpade.org  and provides access checks, forward and reverse DNS lookups, and more information.
  • Abuse.net provides complaint addresses for many domains.  Additional news and tools are available from Fight Spam On The Internet.  They also have some tools and an automated mail forwarding system.  Be sure you are targeting the correct place for which to forward.
  • SpamCop provides an automated complaint tool for reporting junk Email.
  • Junkbusters provides resources for all sorts of intrusions on your life including spam, telemarketing, and various sorts of advertising.
  • Spam In the News provides pointers to recent articles and events related to junk mail.  From NewsLinx. 
  • Internet ScamBusters reports on all kinds of Internet fraud including junk Email.
  • The Email Abuse FAQ provides info and resources concerning Junk E-mail.
  • The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email provides political info and resources concerning Junk E-mail.  Check out the Spam Fighting Resources (dead? 5/6/08) page.
• Internet Tools Gateways available for WWW access:
  • A Ping gateway can attempt to verify a server machine on the Internet is in operation and the time it takes to get access. All bets are off if it happens to be buried behind a firewall.
  • Finger is sometimes configured to present details about a specific user, such as his last login time, whether he's read mail lately, and even notes prepared by the user himself. The notes, know as the ".plan", may also contain timely or interesting information. The reference is based on the users E-Mail address. All bets are off if the user happens to be buried behind a firewall.
  • FTP: Your graphical browser (Netscape, Mosaic, etc.) should be able to access FTP sites directly. In the URL/Location browser entry area, type the location using the format: "ftp://domain.name/" (e.g. "ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/"). This will be an anonymous ftp login and place you at the top of the directory tree. Domain names often (but not always) begin with "ftp", have a dot ("."), have a site name ("microsoft"), another dot ("."), and another identifier ("com") i.e. "ftp.microsoft.com" or similar. Access to a password protected FTP account can also be done by URL's using the syntax: "ftp://user:password@domain.name/" (e.g. "ftp://srohrer:secret@ftp.somewhere.com/", or doing an anonymous ftp with E-Mail address as the password would be: "ftp://anonymous:srohrer@mysite.com@ftp.somewhere.com/"). WARNING: Be aware that WWW server logs keep unencrypted copies of your user names and passwords! User names and passwords may become public knowledge.
  • HTTP: World Wide Web site access. If you are reading this page, it was retrieved via http access. See FTP for general details about building a basic entry such as "http://domain.name/".
  • Telnet: I don't know of a Telnet gateway on the Internet available for public use. Many browsers allow definition of a Telnet program which can be used from the users end. The browser then can initiate a Telnet session and provide the Telnet address to begin a Telnet session. Telnet is basically a terminal emulation which is connected to a remote computer via the network.
  • Whois lookup of Internet computer names and administrators as registered with the InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center) or MILNET.   Failing those, try Domain name registries around the world.
  • Visual Trace Route Demo from Visual Route (VisualWare) provides graphical combination of whois, ping, traceroute, and Internet connectivity.
  • traceroute  will identify all of the Internet computers used to get between a source and destination  server machine.  Although typically done by executing a traceroute program from the source machine, the Web tools listed here might be useful for some problem resolutions.  The web tool is a bit slow since it has to individually contact each machine in the route to get information. Another traceroute (dead? 5/6/08).
  • Snoop (dead? 5/6/08) looks back from a World Wide Web server and reports information about you that is accessible.  You might be surprised about what people can learn.  From Anonymizer, Inc. (dead? 5/6/08) which offers a number of Internet protection services.
  • Junkbusters: Alert on Web Privacy looks back from a World Wide Web server and reports information about you that is accessible.  You might be surprised about what people can learn.
• Computer Virus and Legends:
  • Computer Virus Myths   and Computer Virus Myths treatise tries to dispel common hoaxes and misconceptions involving the Internet.
  • Virus Information Center provides info for virus and virus hoaxes.   From  Computer Associates.
  • SARC - Virus Hoaxes provides info for virus and virus hoaxes.  From Symantec.
  • Urban Legends and Folklore references topics recently spread in mass Email.
  • CIAC Internet Hoaxes (dead? 5/6/08) tries to dispel common hoaxes and misconceptions involving the Internet.
• whatis.com provides technical terms, file type definitions/sources, computer and network references.  Beginners and advanced topics included.
• Motherboards.org provides the ability to find manufacturers and manuals and identify PC motherboards that are unrecognized.
• The Computer Information Centre (CompInfo) - the definitive directory of Computer and Communications - Main Page.
• Unix Guru Universe is a large Unix and networking resource.
• PC Pit Stop is a web site accessible test suite to tune your PC.
• The PC Guide! provides insight into how the PC works and how to troubleshoot and optimize it.
• Ziff Davis Publishing (ZD Net) including PC Magazine and Computer Shopper.
• Internet Web Text and Internet Tools are among the many references from the page of John December.
• The Dayton Microcomputing Association (DMA).
• ProcMail FAQ's:
  • Procmail FAQ

Info for WWW Providers, HTML

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HTML:

• WWW FAQ (World Wide Web Frequently Asked Questions) by Thomas Boutell.
• Webmaster's Notebook (dead? 5/6/08) from WebMaster Magazine (dead? 5/6/08).  Lots of resources.
• AOL Web Tools -- AOLpress Upgrades.  An HTML WYSIWYG HTML editor, free for Web site developers.  I've used this one and like it.  Includes spelling checker, link checker, and website organization tools.
• A Beginners Guide To HTML (from NCSA).
• HTML Quick Reference includes examples to follow.
• This HTML documentation (dead? 5/6/08) is fairly extensive.
• The HTTP and related documents from CERN have been taken over by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) . Included are the W3 and HTML Tools resource list. This site traces it's root back to the original sources. Look here to see what is being developed.
• Ian Graham's, The HTML Source Book has already been published in paper form and additional editions are coming.
• Composing Good HTML discusses some common considerations for the Web site developer.
• Yahoo! - Computers and Internet:Internet:World Wide Web
• The MIME FAQ (alternate source: MIME FAQ) (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions Frequently Asked Questions) describes document transfer types used on the Web and points to MIME types which are registered and non-registered.  For a type list, try part 3, section 3.1.2.
• Bare Bones Guide to HTML is short and to the point. Shows which HTML spec defined the entry.
• HTML Page Checkers:
  • Note where URL's are given to the checker, the pages must not be firewall protected.
  • Doctor HTML (dead? 5/6/08) checks URLs for spelling, syntax, links, form structure, table structure, and more.  Limited to 3 tests per session.
  • CyberSpyder software to check page links from your PC.
• Victor Engel's No Dither Netscape Color Palette .  Selecting colors for your pages that work well on viewers computers.
• Review of HTML Editors (Davis) (dead? 5/6/08).
• Creating A Web Server Site:
  • WW3C HTTPD server guide.
  • The Intranet Resource Center (dead? 5/6/08). WebMaster, an IDG publication, has put together a well-organized collection of intranet information, tips, and resources. The Intranet Case Studies section features examinations of corporate Webs built by companies such as Sun Microsystems and Sandia National Laboratories.
  • CGI.pm - a Perl5 CGI Library.
  • Browsers.Com provides the latest software and info on Web browsers.
• What web server software is any site running? Find out with this site.
• Paint Shop Pro is very useful for creating graphics and dealing with many formats.
• Submit It! - Promote Your URL by this one stop submission form to many Web indexes and search engines.  (Some people may not want the site traffic from world recognition though!)

Demo Material

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These some interesting things from around the world. You may have to dig down a couple of links to get some real good stuff. Have fun!

• A good educational demonstration from the University of Pennsylvania is the Interactive Textbook of math, physics, and chemistry.
• Cyber-Cards  for birthdays and all occasions.  Create a card for someone on the internet.  E-Mail is sent to them to tell them how to view it.

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