By Shane R. Monroe
This column is short this month (sorry, I am just one man) but I
wanted to let you all know what was going to come in the future.
First, as you already know, DUP has left the realms of standard
BBSing and have opted to get on the Internet. Most of us users are on-line
now with the Net, but some are still forthcoming so please be patient with
them. The locations we can all be reached are noted in the WHERE ARE WE?
section of the newsletter.
A little run down of the Amiga interpretation of the Internet. If
you are familiar with access on other platforms, you may be familiar with
the terms and lingo of the Net. For those of you who are new to the Net,
the rest of the column is for you.
Going from BBSing to Internet is a HUGE hurdle. More than some
people can even imagine. I was a 14 year BBS vetran and the move to the Net
shell shocked me. You can start off by picking up the lingo and learning
the basics. Take note. I am NO expert to be sure. This is a column for
beginner's BY a beginner. I am sure some of my terminology may not be
perfect, so please bear with me.
First, how do you get on the Net? The best way is to locate a local
provider that can give you what is known as a PPP account. This basically
allows your computer to link DIRECTLY to the Net. By linking directly to
the Net, you can do tons of different things all at once and you will find
that this is the preferred method of connection. The cost of one of these
accounts varies from place to place and is usually paid the month or in
'blocks' of months (usually cheaper that way). I pay $55 quarterly and for
these types of accounts you usually have unlimited access 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. No hourly fees, no per connect charges (again I say usually).
The cheapest and FASTEST way to go. Connect rates on these type services
usually go to 28.8K baud.
Your alternative? Go through a service like GEnie, Delphi, Bix,
etc. This is NOT the best way. You will pay per hour, get no PPP
connections, be restricted in baud rate, be limited on hours of use, blah
blah blah. Not worth it at ALL! Do yourself a favor and get a local PPP
connection.
Now that you have a service, you need the software. For the lesser
connections like GEnie, Bix, etc. you will need your standard Terminal
Proggy like Terminus, Term, or something with VT-200 compatibility. Once
again, this will dramatically limit you to what you can do.
For those with the PPP account, you have two choices, really. MLINK
and AmiTCP/IP. MLINK is used by those without deep enough pockets to afford
the $100+ for TCP, but TCP has a lot of functions other than just Net
access. A lot of your support proggys have TCP support built in, so if you
plan on using the Net a lot, spend the cash.
FAIR WARNING: AmiTCp is no picnic to set up. Believe me, whether
you buy it or not, you will run into snags. Future articles will address
some of the frequently encountered problems with AmiTCP. Be forewarned that
you will lose some hair over the installation. I HIGHLY recommend getting
someone who has successfully installed it to join up with you.
The terms. Well, there are plenty of goodies here to keep us busy.
Let's get started quickly.
FTP - File Transfer Protocol. Basically, a host computer with a
huge hard drive on-line ready for you to connect to and get and put files.
It is much like MS-DOS (for those of you who have the displeasure of using
it). The tree structure of the directories is very similar. If using a
'dialup' connection (like GEnie, Bix, etc) you will have some terrible times
navigating around since everything is case sensative and often a pain in the
butt. For those of you lucky guys with PPP connection, get a copy of DaFTP,
a point and click GUI interface for navigating, getting and putting files.
Seems only to work with OS3.x systems (DaFTP that is). Thousands of 'sites'
are out there and all you need know is the address to call (such as
ftp.netnet.net).
IRC - Inter Relay Chat. For those of you familiar with the CB
Simulator on Compuserve, or RTCs on GEnie you will feel more or less at home
here. For those of you NOT familiar with them, imagine an electronic 'CB
Radio' with unlimited channels and nearly unlimited users. Thousands of
people are using this at any given time. 'Channels' (which are act- ually
text names) are online with almost any topic you could want to chat over.
The #amiga channel alone usually has from 10-50 people in it 24 hours a day
and there is someone knowledgeable there constantly, so you can get online
help anytime! There are two popular 'servers' of IRCs, the EFFNET and the
UNDERNET, each of them have a different group of users.
TELNET - A form of connection to hook you to another computer on the
Net. The most popular use of this connection is to link to BBSs that are
actually tied into the Net. It can also be used to link up to FTPs and IRCs
for those without a PPP connection.
DCC - A method of connection you and another person's system through
PPP that will allow the two of you to chat and/or send files directly to
each other without any host system to support it. To do this, you simply
enter an IRC, then you initiate the chat or transfer. Even if you lose
connection with the IRC, your direct connection will be maintained until the
session of DCC is ended. Of course, while chatting or trasnferring, you may
still FTP, chat over the IRC, etc etc if you have the PPP connection.
WWW - The World Wide Web. Much like a HUGE newspaper that uses
hypertext reading systems (very similar to this newsletter) to link you to
other 'pages'. The WWW is immense and almost everyone who is someone (even
some that are not anybody) has a 'home page' you can go to. DUP has one
too. It not only contains text, but graphics, animations, music, sounds, and
more.
That gives everyone something to chew on for now. Next issue we will
talk about some other Net terms, and look in depth at some of these Net
sites and possibilities.