wongl@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lisa K.Y. Wong) (05/23/91)
Hi there, I am a newuser on the net. I want to know how to use it to do research. How can I find out about all the resources available on the net and get at them? Does any one know of any good non-technical user's guide for beginners? Guidance of any sort will be a big help. Thanks! -- Lisa
brendan@cs.widener.edu (Brendan Kehoe) (05/23/91)
wongl@iris.ucdavis.edu wrote: > I am a newuser on the net. I want to know how to use it to > do research. How can I find out about all the resources > available on the net and get at them? Does any one know of any good > non-technical user's guide for beginners? Guidance of any > sort will be a big help. Thanks! I'm in the middle (well, the third) of writing one. A draft probably won't be ready until the middle of June, though. -- Brendan Kehoe - Widener Sun Network Manager - brendan@cs.widener.edu Widener University in Chester, PA A Bloody Sun-Dec War Zone
jgabriel@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx (Ing. J. Gabriel Ruiz P.) (05/24/91)
wongl@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lisa K.Y. Wong) writes: > I am a newuser on the net. I want to know how to use it to > do research. How can I find out about all the resources > available on the net and get at them? Does any one know of any good > non-technical user's guide for beginners? Guidance of any > sort will be a big help. Thanks! You can get 'The Matrix' book, I don't know the editor's name, but I a well known book about Internet, it helps to the beginner user and to the expert ones. You can get the Internet-Tour too, this is a stack for HyperCard (tm) with history, email, ftp and telnet information. You can get this file via anonymous ftp from nnsc.nsf.net:/internet-tour/Internet-Tour. You can read the What is Usenet? file from Chip Salzengerg, you can read it in the news.admin newsgroup or via anonymous ftp from mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx:/pub/Usenet/What_is_Usenet [131.178.1.5]. Hope this helps.. -- Juan Gabriel Ruiz Pinto Internet: Ing. Sistemas Electronicos jgabriel@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx I.T.E.S.M. Campus Monterrey
birchall@pilot.njin.net (Official Random) (05/24/91)
Lisa -
You might want to ask one of the operators or assistants at your college.
Several universities I've visited have a variety of pamphlets or xeroxed
pages giving help on various topics. Also, if you have a question about a
specific function or command on your machine and don't mind putting up with
a bit of technical jargon, you can probably access manuals on the machine
itself using the command: 'man <topic>'.
Other than that, I'm sure something is available somewhere from FTP...
This group being the group that it is, I'd also heartily suggest checking
yourself into one of the Internet BBSes and reading discussions there about
the net, we do speak normal coherent English, for the most part. On Quartz
I know there are rooms for FTP, IRC, MUDs, Telnet, and several other tech-y
subjects (and quite a few non-technical ones as well.) If you'd like to
take a look:
'telnet quartz.rutgers.edu'
login: 'bbs'
Be forewarned that it's very busy and hard to get onto since it only
supports 8 or 10 users at a time. Another system like it, ISCABBS, can be
accessed as follows:
'telnet isca01.isca.uiowa.edu'
login: 'iscabbs'
Good luck with your quest for knowledge [And hey, I'll answer any question
sent to me in e-mail to the best of my ability, if all else fails.] and happy
netting! :-)
-sh
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Birchall [ Shag ] birchall@njin
NJIN Official Random birchall@pilot.njin.net
Promoting Alt.BBS.Internet, QuartzBBS/QuartzParadise, and clues for sale cheap.jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) (05/24/91)
Check the "FYI" documents published in concert with the Internet "RFC"
documents.
I have included at the end of this message the Index of FYIs, which tells what
is available and how to get copies of them.
--
Jonathan Kamens USnail:
MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace
jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134
Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710
--
FYI INDEX
-------------
This file contains citations for all FYIs in reverse numeric order. FYI
citations appear in this format:
## Author 1.; Author 2.; Author 3. Title of FYI. Issue date;
## p. (Format: PS=xxx TXT=zzz bytes) (Also RFC #### )
(Obsoletes xxx; Obsoleted by xxx; Updates xxx; Updated by xxx)
Key to citations:
## is the FYI number; ## p. is the total number of pages.
The format and byte information follows the page information in
parenthesis. The format, either ASCII text (TXT) or PostScript
(PS) or both, is noted, followed by an equals sign and the number
of bytes for that version. (PostScript is a registered trademark
of Adobe Systems Incorporated.) The example (Format: PS=xxx
TXT=zzz bytes) shows that the PostScript version of the FYI is
xxx bytes and the ASCII text version is zzz bytes.
The (Also RFC ####) phrase gives the equivalent RFC number for
each FYI document. Each FYI is also an RFC.
"Obsoletes xxx" refers to other FYIs that this one replaces;
"Obsoleted by xxx" refers to FYIs that have replaced this one.
"Updates xxx" refers to other FYIs that this one merely updates
(but does not replace); "Updated by xxx" refers to FYIs that have
been updated by this one (but not replaced). Only immediately
succeeding and/or preceding FYIs are indicated, not the entire
history of each related earlier or later FYI in a related series.
For example:
1 Malkin, G.S.; Reynolds, J.K. F.Y.I. on F.Y.I.: Introduction to the
F.Y.I. notes. 1990 March; 4 p. (Format: TXT=7867 bytes) (Also RFC 1150)
Paper copies of all FYIs are available from the NIC, either
individually or as part of an RFC subscription service (for more
information contact NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL). Online copies are available via
FTP or Kermit from NIC.DDN.MIL as FYI:FYI##.TXT or FYI:FYI##.PS (## is
the FYI number without leading zeroes).
Additionally, FYIs may be requested through electronic mail from the
automated NIC mail server by sending a message to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL
with a subject line of "FYI ##" for text versions or a subject line
of "FYI ##.PS" for PostScript versions. To obtain the FYI index,
the subject line of your message should read "FYI index".
FYI INDEX
7 Malkin, G.; Marine, A.N.; Reynolds, J.K. FYI on Questions and Answers:
Answers to commonly asked "experienced Internet user questions. 1991
February; 15 p. (Format: TXT=33385 bytes) (Also RFC 1207)
6 Scheifler, R.W. FYI on the X window system. 1991 January; 3 p.
(Format: TXT=3629 bytes) (Also RFC 1198)
5 Libes, D. Choosing a name for your computer. 1990 August; 8 p.
(Format: TXT=18472 bytes) (Also RFC 1178)
4 Malkin, G.S.; Marine, A.N. FYI on Questions and Answers: Answers to
commonly asked "new Internet user" questions. 1991 February; 32 p.
(Format: TXT=72479 bytes) (Also RFC 1206) (Obsoletes RFC 1177)
3 Bowers, K.L.; LaQuey, T.L.; Reynolds, J.K.; Roubicek, K.; Stahl, M.K.;
Yuan, A. FYI on where to start: A bibliography of internetworking
information. 1990 August; 42 p. (Format: TXT=67330 bytes) (Also RFC
1175)
2 Stine, R.H.,ed. FYI on a network management tool catalog: Tools for
monitoring and debugging TCP/IP internets and interconnected devices.
1990 April; 126 p. (Format: TXT=336906, PS=555225 bytes) (Also RFC 1147)
1 Malkin, G.S.; Reynolds, J.K. F.Y.I. on F.Y.I.: Introduction to the
F.Y.I. notes. 1990 March; 4 p. (Format: TXT=7867 bytes) (Also RFC 1150)
cavrak@kira.UUCP (Steve Cavrak) (05/27/91)
wongl@iris.ucdavis.edu wrote:
I am a newuser on the net. I want to know how to use it to do
research. How can I find out about all the resources
available on the net and get at them? Does any one know of
any good non-technical user's guide for beginners? Guidance
of any sort will be a big help. Thanks!
Most of the internet exists as an (electronic) oral tradition. The
best way to learn is to find someone who will give you a 10 or 15
minute tour. Since as Madison Avenue is happy to point out, local
dealer participation is optional, your milage may vary, batteries
not included, etc., you will find that local variations in internet
access will vary from institution to instituion, from platform to
platform, from vendor to vendor.
Basicall there are only three useful things -- mail (which you know
how to do), Telnet (which gives you a login session on a host
somewhere, which you also know how to do), and FTP (file transfer
program / protocol, which is what you use to do your internet
shopping.)
That said, some nice things to grab, (which you have to do over the
internet ! hence a visit to your local computer center or hackers den
might help), are:
a. If you are a Macintosh User, there is a hypercard stack that gives
you a guide to the internet. You can get it via anonymous ftp
from nnsc.nsf.net, with a dialog that goes something like ...
("something like" because there are details that change from site
to site and one of the things you have to learn is to be flexible
and creative in exploring Cyberspace.
<< You type what's in lowercase ... in lowercase !>>
$ ftp nnsc.nsf.net
...
NAME: anonymous
PASSWORD: jqpublic@big.state.edu
dir ! to list directories
cd internet-tour ! to change directory
dir ! to see whats there
get internet-tour-README ! to get this file
get internet-tour.hqx ! to get this file
quit
b. If you are an MS-DOS user, there is a "Hytelnet" TSR browser that
lists some nice things. (But read the section above to get a
flavor on how to do anonymous ftp)
The browser is basically a series of ASCII files connected by
hypertext links. The information on the addresses was gleaned from
many sources, the authors of which are mentioned below.
HYTELNET is available by anonymous ftp from wsmr-Simtel20.army.mil
and can be found in the directory
PD1:<MSDOS.HYPERTEXT>HYTELN11.ZIP.1
-or-
by anonymous ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu, and can be found in
the directory /mirrors/msdos/hypertext as hyteln11.zip;1
-or-
by anonymous ftp from vaxb.acs.unt.edu, and can be found in the
directory HSC1$DUA1:[ANON] as HYTELNET.ZIP;1
c. Or as a unin user, you can grab something call the Internet Pocket
Guide and the HitchHikers Guide to the Internet from nic.near.netrussb@well.sf.ca.us (Russ Button) (05/29/91)
Try "Using UUCP and Usenet" published by O'Reilly & Associates. You can reach them at (707) 829-0515, or through e-mail to: uunet!ora!nuts You might also find thier "nutshell" series of guides in your favorite computer bookstore. Russ Button russb@well.sf.ca.us
seitz@netcom.COM (Matthew Seitz) (06/01/91)
In article <9019@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> wongl@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lisa K.Y. Wong) writes: > >Hi there, > > I am a newuser on the net. I want to know how to use it to > do research. How can I find out about all the resources > available on the net and get at them? Does any one know of any good > non-technical user's guide for beginners? Guidance of any > sort will be a big help. Thanks! > > > -- Lisa The best I've seen is USING UUCP AND USENET by Grace Todino and Dale Dougherty. It's published by O'Reilly & Associates at 632 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol, CA 95472. Phone 800-338-6887 or 707-829-0515. It's 199 pages for $21.95. I don't think this book is perfect. It leaves out some Internet specific items like ftp and telnet. But it's the best I've encountered. -- Matthew Seitz Note new address: seitz@netcom.com