The Internet Metayoga Pages

                  Merit Network Information Center Services
                                NIC.MERIT.EDU
                                FTP.MERIT.EDU 
                               FTP.MICHNET.NET
                                 NIS.NSF.NET
                                 (35.1.1.48)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ACCESS GUIDE TO INTRODUCING.THE.INTERNET
 
                             by Ellen Hoffman
                   Merit Network Information Services
 
                     Version Date: 26 October 1992
 
 
 
 
You probably found this document because you saw a bibliography called 
"FYI on Introducing the Internet--A Short Bibliography of Introductory 
Internetworking Readings for the Network Novice."
 
This guide is a basic introduction to obtaining files that are 
described in the FYI bibliography. (And if you didn't see the 
bibliography, it's one of the files you can get using the access 
methods described here.)
 
There are several computers (servers) on the Internet which have on-
line collections (archives) containing the introductory documents in 
the bibliography. While you can use any of the servers listed, we 
recommend picking a site near you to get the documents. All the 
servers listed here will have the same files, although there may be 
some minor differences in which directory the files have been stored. 
If you need more help in obtaining files on the Internet, your best 
resource is your Internet network provider.
 
 
 
WHAT ARE THE FILES IN THIS DIRECTORY?
 
This is a list of the files that are available in the archive, 
introducing.the.internet. Except for the Internet Resource Guide 
(IRG), they are all actually stored in the archive. Because the 
Internet Resource Guide is long and frequently updated, the 
internet.resource.guide file gives you more detail on how to actually 
get the original source for the IRG.
 
The files in this directory are updated as new materials become 
available that are helpful to new Internet users. Be sure you look at 
the date on this document and if it isn't current, you may want to 
check to see if a newer version is available.
 
 
File Name                Full Citation
----------               --------------- 
 
access.guide              Access Guide to Introducing.the.Internet
                          (The document you are now reading.)
                          Hoffman, Ellen
                          Sep 1992
 
answers.to.new.user.questions
                          FYI on Questions and Answers:  Answers to 
                          Commonly asked "New Internet User"
                          Questions.
                          Malkin, G.S., A. Marine   (RFC 1325)
                          May 1992
 
internet.resource.guide   How to Get and Use the INTERNET RESOURCE
                          GUIDE.
                          NSF Network Service Center
                          Jul 1992
 
intro.to.ip               Introduction to the Internet Protocols.
                          Hedrick, C.
                          Jul 1987
 
intro.internet.biblio     FYI on Introducing the Internet--A Short
                          Bibliography of Introductory Internetworking
                          Readings for the Network Novice.
                          Hoffman, E., Jackson, L.
                          Oct 1992
 
linkletter                The current issue of the Link Letter, a
                          bi-monthly NSFNET newsletter published by
                          Merit, includes a variety of articles on
                          current networking topics and the NSFNET
                          project.
                          Current edition
 
network.gold              There's Gold in them thar Networks!  or 
                          Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong
                          Places. 
                          Martin, J.   (RFC 1290)
                          Dec 1991
 
where.to.start            FYI on Where to Start:  A Bibliography 
                          of Internetworking Information. 
                          Bowers, K.L.  (RFC 1175)
                          Aug 1990
 
zen.ps                    Zen and the Art of the Internet.
                          Brendan P. Kehoe (on-line edition)
                           [PS. means postscript--you can print this
                           file on a postscript printer but you can't
                           read it this way on your screen. Or see
                           next file for plain text version!] 
                          PostScript--Feb 1992
 
zen.txt                   Zen and the Art of the Internet.
                          Brendan P. Kehoe (on-line edition)
                          Text--Feb 1992
 
 
 
 
WHAT SERVERS HAVE THE INTRODUCING.THE.INTERNET DIRECTORY VIA FTP
 
Location      Internet names       Directory
---------     --------------       ------------------
 
 Michigan      nic.merit.edu        introducing.the.internet
 
 Minnesota     nic.mr.net           pub/introducing.the.internet
 
 California    ftp.nisc.sri.edu     introducing.the.internet
 
 Hawaii        ftp.hawaii.edu       mirrors/introducing.the.internet
 
 
 
 
GETTING FILES WITH ANONYMOUS FTP
 
If you are on a machine connected to the Internet and can use FTP 
(file transfer protocol), you can access the files in this directory 
from any of the listed servers. If your VM/CMS, VAX/VMS, UNIX, DOS, 
Macintosh, or other system has FTP capability, you can probably use 
the sample commands as they are listed. If your machine doesn't work 
using the sample commands, you may still have FTP access. You will 
need to ask your system administrator or local network consultant. If 
you don't know about FTP, one of the other methods listed below may 
work for you so FTP isn't required.
 
If you are using a UNIX machine, you can use FTP directly from a 
system prompt. For other machines, there are commercial and public 
domain programs that will allow you to use FTP. (For the Macintosh, a 
very easy-to-use shareware program is called "Fetch"; for DOS machines 
you can use a program such as NCSA Telnet.)
 
Once you establish that you have FTP access, you will need to send a 
series of commands to reach the specific machine, change to the 
appropriate directory, and have the file transferred to your machine. 
A typical FTP session is described here, but not all software is 
exactly alike. If you have problems, check your software's 
documentation (man page) or contact your local help-desk.
 
(1) Tell your computer what address you are trying to reach:
              ftp ftp.hawaii.edu   [see server sites above for correct
                                    Internet names]
 
(2) Signon to the machine and give it a password:
              anonymous
              guest                [Passwords vary but most machines
                                    will make a suggestion after
                                    you've spelled anonymous correctly
                                    and hit return!]
 
(3) Navigate through the directory to find the file you need. Two
    useful commands for this are the one to change directory:
 
              cd mirrors/introducing.the.internet    [see directory
                                                     names above]
 
    or check to see what's in any given directory:
              dir
 
(4) Give a command to have the file sent to your machine:
              get filename         [pick the file you want from
                                    the list]
 
(5) Be polite and signoff from the machine:
              quit
 
 
 
GETTING FILES VIA E-MAIL
 
If you can send to and receive mail from the Internet, you can get 
introducing.the.internet files sent to you. Many e-mail systems 
interconnect to the Internet, including Compuserve, MCIMail, 
SprintMail, BITNET mail, and others. You may need to check with your 
user help contact if you don't know how to send mail to the Internet. 
Generally, Internet mail addresses look something like this: 
username@nic.merit.edu
 
Merit provides an e-mail service for the introducing.the.internet 
files. To get a file, send a message to nis-info@nic.merit.edu. If you 
are having trouble using the mail service, you can get a longer help 
file by sending mail to nis-info@nic.merit.edu with the text section 
having just the word help.
 
       Send message to                  Text of message
       ----------------                 ----------------
       nis-info@nic.merit.edu           send filename
 
 
 
GETTING FILES USING CLIENT-BASED INFORMATION TOOLS
 
You can also use Internet information retrieval tools such as Gopher, 
Archie, or WAIS to access the files in this list. These are tools 
designed to make it easier to find and use information resources on 
the Internet. They are client-server based, which means there is 
software on your machine (the client) that is designed to access 
"servers" on the Internet. These servers have many kinds of 
information, including documents, software, publications, graphics, 
and other kinds of files. The client does lots of the work for you to 
locate files without the user needing to remember lots of Internet 
addresses or complicated command sets.
 
To use one of thes tools usually means having a client for one of the 
information tools installed on your machine. All the information tools 
have clients that are public domain software, which means you can get 
them free from servers on the Internet. Since this guide isn't 
intended to be a detailed tutorial, if you want to know more about 
Gopher, WAIS, or Archie, you might try reading about them in "Zen and 
the Art of the Internet" or one of the books listed in this 
bibliography. With the client installed, you can easily get any of the 
documents.
 
Merit has put introducing.the.internet into Gopher and WAIS servers 
which makes it possible to not only retrieve the files, but also 
search them for specific information.
 
 
 
ACCESSING FILES USING TELNET
 
Telnet is an Internet application for logging on to another machine. 
While you can't use telnet to directly log into the machines with the 
introducing.the.internet directory, there are various sites on the 
Internet that allow you to access Gopher or Archie using telnet. From 
these, you can get to the introductory documents. However, since 
Gopher and Archie are designed for using clients on your own machine, 
this is probably not the method you will want to use unless other ways 
described here won't work for you.
 
(1) Telnet access to Gopher servers--you can telnet to any of these
    locations and access other servers. At present, only the Merit
    server has the introducing.the.internet directory so you will
    need to choose one of the listed servers and find the Merit
    Gopher in their menus. Follow through the menus to Other Servers
    then North America until you get to the Merit Gopher Server.
 
 
Telnet to:                Login         Place  Choose server
---------------           ------        -----  -------------------
consultant.micro.umn.edu  gopher        MN     Other/NAmer/Merit
gopher.uiuc.edu           gopher        IL     Other/NAmer/Merit
panda.uiowa.edu           VT-100        IA     Online/Oth/Oth/NA/Merit
hermes.merit.edu          um-gopherblue MI     Gopher on Campus/Merit
info.anu.edu.au           info       Australia Other/Other/NA/Merit
gopher.chalmers.se        gopher      Sweden   Other/Other/NAmer/Merit
 
 
 
(2) Telnet access to Archie--several locations have telnet access to
    Archie, which is a tool for finding files on the Internet. Once
    you are in an Archie service, type help to find out how to use the
    system. You can get information about Archie by sending e-mail to
    archie@archie.mcgill.ca with the word help as the text of the
    message.
 
            Telnet to:                   Location
            -------------------          -----------
            archie.sura.net              Maryland
            archie.rutgers.edu           New Jersey
            archie.ans.net               New York
            archie.unl.edu               Nebraska
            archie.mcgill.ca             Canada
            archie.au                    Australia
            archie.funet.fi              Finland
            archie.doc.ic.ac.uk          United Kingdom
            cs.huji.ac.il                Middle East
 
 
 
 
ACCESSING FILES WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE E-MAIL OR AN INTERNET CONNECTION
 
It is possible to view the files listed here if you have a modem and a 
communications package as long as you are willing to make a long-
distance telephone call. This is not the easiest way to get to the 
information, but will work if you do not have direct Internet access. 
Given the drawbacks, this probably should be used only as a last 
resort. This access method will get you into a Gopher service from 
which you can reach the Merit Gopher.
 
Merit has a number of dial-in locations which allow modem access in 
Michigan (US). But you don't have to live in Michigan to access 
Merit's dial in. Several modem speeds are possible. Once you are 
connected, you will see a "Which Host?" prompt. At the prompt, type 
UM-gopherblue [this gets you the University of Michigan Gopher] and 
then select Other gopher servers on campus, followed by Merit Network 
Information Services.
 
                   Modem speed        Access number
                   -----------        -------------
 
                   1200               313/763-6520
                   2400               313/764-4800
                   9600 (v.32)        313/747-3400
 
 
WHAT IF I WANT OTHER INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET?
 
Some of the access methods, such as FTP, telnet, or client-based 
information tools, can get you to other information documents as well. 
When you access a service, try exploring. If you got there, you 
already have a key to using the Internet for finding resources. Or 
read the introducing.the.internet documents to find out more about 
what you can do!