CHAPTER 6: TELNET

6.1 MINING THE NET

Like any large community, cyberspace has its libraries, places you can go
to look up information or take out a good book. Telnet is one of your
keys to these libraries.

Telnet is a program that lets you use the power of the Internet to
connect you to databases, library catalogs, and other information
resources around the world. Want to see what the weather's like in
Vermont? Check on crop conditions in Azerbaijan? Get more information
about somebody whose name you've seen online? Telnet lets you do this,
and more. Increasingly, information once available only via telnet is
being disseminated by the World-Wide Web (see Chapter 9) -- but it can
still be useful to learn your way around telnet.

Alas, there's a big "but!'' Unlike the phone system, Internet is not yet
universal; not everybody can use all of its services. Almost all
colleges and universities on the Internet provide telnet access. So do
all of the for-fee public-access systems listed in Chapter 1. But the
Free-Net systems do not give you access to every telnet system. And if
you are using a public-access UUCP or Usenet site, you will not have
access to telnet. The main reason for this is cost. Connecting to the
Internet can easily cost $1,000 or more for a leased, high-speed phone
line. Some databases and file libraries can be queried by e-mail,
however; we'll show you how to do that later on. In the meantime, the
rest of this chapter assumes you are connected to a site with at least
partial Internet access.

Most telnet sites are fairly easy to use and have online help systems.
Most also work best (and in some cases, only) with VT100 emulation.
Let's dive right in and try one.

At your host system's command line, type

telnet access.usask.ca

and hit enter. That's all you have to do to connect to a telnet site!
In this case, you'll be connecting to a service known as Hytelnet, which
is a database of computerized library catalogs and other databases
available through telnet. You should see something like this:

Trying 128.233.3.1 ...
Connected to access.usask.ca.
Escape character is '^]'.

Ultrix UNIX (access.usask.ca)

login:

Every telnet site has two addresses -- one composed of words that are
easier for people to remember; the other a numerical address better
suited for computers. The "escape character" is good to remember. When
all else fails, depressing your hitting your control key and then the ]
key at the same time will disconnect you and return you to your host
system. At the login prompt for this particular site, type

hytelnet

and hit enter. You'll see something like this:

Welcome to HYTELNET
version 6.2
...................

What is HYTELNET? <WHATIS> . Up/Down arrows MOVE
Library catalogs <SITES1> . Left/Right arrows SELECT
Other resources <SITES2> . ? for HELP anytime
Help files for catalogs <OP000> .
Catalog interfaces <SYS000> . m returns here
Internet Glossary <GLOSSARY> . q quits
Telnet tips <TELNET> .
Telnet/TN3270 escape keys <ESCAPE.KEY> .
Key-stroke commands <HELP.TXT> .

........................
HYTELNET 6.2 was written by Peter Scott,
U of Saskatchewan Libraries, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada. 1992
Unix and VMS software by Earl Fogel, Computing Services, U of S 1992

The first choice, "<WHATIS>" will be highlighted. Use your down and up
arrows to move the cursor among the choices. Hit enter when you decide
on one. You'll get another menu, which in turn will bring up text files
telling you how to connect to sites and giving any special commands or
instructions you might need. Hytelnet does have one quirk. To move back
to where you started (for example, from a sub-menu to a main menu), hit
the left-arrow key on your computer.

Play with the system. You might want to turn on your computer's screen-
capture, or at the very least, get out a pen and paper. You're bound to
run across some interesting telnet services that you'll want to try --
and you'll need their telnet "addresses.''

As you move around Hytelnet, it may seem as if you haven't left your host
system -- telnet can work that quickly. Occasionally, when network loads
are heavy, however, you will notice a delay between the time you type a
command or enter a request and the time the remote service responds.

To disconnect from Hytelnet and return to your system, hit your q key and
enter.

Some telnet computers are set up so that you can only access them through
a specific "port." In those cases, you'll always see a number after
their name, for example: india.colorado.edu 13. It's important to
include that number, because otherwise, you may not get in.

In fact, try the above address. Type

telnet india.colorado.edu 13

and hit enter. You should see something like this:

Trying 128.138.140.44 ...

Followed very quickly by this:

telnet india.colorado.edu 13

Escape character is '^]'.
Sun Jan 17 14:11:41 1994
Connection closed by foreign host.

What we want is the middle line, which tells you the exact Mountain
Standard Time, as determined by a government-run atomic clock in Boulder,
Colo.

6.2 LIBRARY CATALOGS

Several hundred libraries around the world, from the Snohomish Public
Library in Washington State to the Library of Congress are now available
to you through telnet. You can use Hytelnet to find their names, telnet
addresses and use instructions.

Why would you want to browse a library you can't physically get to? Many
libraries share books, so if yours doesn't have what you're looking for,
you can tell the librarian where he or she can get it. Or if you live in
an area where the libraries are not yet online, you can use telnet to do
some basic bibliographic research before you head down to the local
branch.

There are several different database programs in use by online libraries.
Harvard's is one of the easier ones to use, so let's try it.

Telnet to hollis.harvard.edu. When you connect, you'll see:

***************** H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y
***************** OFFICE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
*** *** ***
*** VE *** RI ***
*** *** *** HOLLIS (Harvard OnLine LIbrary System)
***** *****
**** TAS **** HUBS (Harvard University Basic Services)
*** ***
***** IU (Information Utility)
***
CMS (VM/CMS Timesharing Service)

** HOLLIS IS AVAILABLE WITHOUT ACCESS RESTRICTIONS **
Access to other applications is limited to individuals who have been
granted specific permission by an authorized person.

To select one of the applications above, type its name on the command
line followed by your user ID, and press RETURN.
** HOLLIS DOES NOT REQUIRE A USERID **

EXAMPLES: HOLLIS (press RETURN) or HUBS userid (press RETURN)
===>

Type

hollis

and hit enter. You'll see several screens flash by quickly until finally
the system stops and you'll get this:

WELCOME TO HOLLIS
(Harvard OnLine Library Information System)

To begin, type one of the 2-character database codes listed below:

HU Union Catalog of the Harvard libraries
OW Catalog of Older Widener materials
LG Guide to Harvard Libraries and Computing Resources

AI Expanded Academic Index (selective 1987-1988, full 1989- )
LR Legal Resource Index (1980- )
PA PAIS International (1985- )

To change databases from any place in HOLLIS, type CHOOSE followed by a
2-character database code, as in: CHOOSE HU

For general help in using HOLLIS, type HELP. For HOLLIS news, type
HELP NEWS. For HOLLIS hours of operation, type HELP HOURS.

ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND

The first thing to notice is the name of the system: Hollis. Librarians
around the world seem to be inordinately found of cutesy,
anthropomorphized acronyms for their machines (not far from Harvard, the
librarians at Brandeis University came up with Library On-Line User
Information Service, or Louis; MIT has Barton).

If you want to do some general browsing, probably the best bet on the
Harvard system is to chose HU, which gets you access to their main
holdings, including those of its medical libraries. Chose that, and
you'll see this:

THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNION CATALOG

To begin a search, select a search option from the list below and type its
code on the command line. Use either upper or lower case.

AU Author search
TI Title search
SU Subject search
ME Medical subject search
KEYWORD Keyword search options
CALL Call number search options
OTHER Other search options

For information on the contents of the Union Catalog, type HELP.
To exit the Union Catalog, type QUIT.

A search can be entered on the COMMAND line of any screen.

ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND.

Say you want to see if Harvard has shed the starchy legacy of the
Puritans, who founded the school. Why not see if they have "The Joy of
Sex" somewhere in their stacks? Type

TI Joy of Sex

and hit enter. This comes up:

HU: YOUR SEARCH RETRIEVED NO ITEMS. Enter new command or HELP. You typed:
TI JOY OF SEX
*******************************************************************************

ALWAYS PRESS THE ENTER OR RETURN KEY AFTER TYPING YOUR COMMAND.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTIONS: FIND START - search options HELP
QUIT - exit database
COMMAND?

Oh, well! Do they have anything that mentions "sex" in the title? Try
another TI search, but this time just: TI sex. You get:

HU GUIDE: SUMMARY OF SEARCH RESULTS 2086 items retrieved by your search:
FIND TI SEX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 SEX
2 SEX A
823 SEXA
827 SEXBO
831 SEXCE
833 SEXDR
834 SEXE
879 SEXIE
928 SEXJA
929 SEXLE
930 SEXO
965 SEXPI
968 SEXT
1280 SEXUA
2084 SEXWA
2085 SEXY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTIONS: INDEX (or I 5 etc) to see list of items HELP
START - search options
REDO - edit search QUIT - exit database
COMMAND?

If you want to get more information on the first line, type 1 and hit enter:

HU INDEX: LIST OF ITEMS RETRIEVED 2086 items retrieved by your search:
FIND TI SEX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEX
1 geddes patrick sir 1854 1932/ 1914 bks

SEX A Z
2 goldenson robert m/ 1987 bks

SEX ABUSE HYSTERIA SALEM WITCH TRIALS REVISITED
3 gardner richard a/ 1991 bks

SEX AETATES MUNDI ENGLISH AND IRISH
4 irish sex aetates mundi/ 1983 bks

SEX AFTER SIXTY A GUIDE FOR MEN AND WOMEN FOR THEIR LATER YEARS
5 butler robert n 1927/ 1976 bks

------------------------------------------------------ (CONTINUES) ------------
OPTIONS: DISPLAY 1 (or D 5 etc) to see a record HELP
GUIDE MORE - next page START - search options
REDO - edit search QUIT - exit database
COMMAND?

Most library systems give you a way to log off and return to your host
system. On Hollis, hit escape followed by

xx

One particularly interesting system is the one run by the Colorado
Alliance of Research Libraries, which maintains databases for libraries
throughout Colorado, the West and even in Boston.

Telnet pac.carl.org.

Follow the simple log-in instructions. When you get a menu, type 72 (even
though that is not listed), which takes you to the Pikes Peak Library
District, which serves the city of Colorado Springs.

Several years ago, its librarians realized they could us±e their database
program not just for books but for cataloging city records and community
information, as well. Today, if you want to look up municipal ordinances
or city records, you only have to type in the word you're looking for and
you'll get back cites of the relevant laws or decisions.

Carl will also connect you to the University of Hawaii library, which,
like the one in Colorado Springs, has more than just bibliographic
material online. One of its features is an online Hawaiian almanac that
can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Hawaiians,
including the number injured in boogie-board accidents each year (seven).

6.3 SOME INTERESTING TELNET SITES

AGRICULTURE

PENPages, run by Pennsylvania State University's College of Agricultural
Sciences, provides weekly world weather and crop reports from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. These reports detail everything from the
effect of the weather on palm trees in Malaysia to the state of the
Ukrainian wheat crop. Reports from Pennsylvania country extension
officers offer tips for improving farm life. One database lists
Pennsylvania hay distributors by county -- and rates the quality of their
hay!

The service lets you search for information two different ways. A menu
system gives you quick access to reports that change frequently, such as
the weekly crop/weather reports. An index system lets you search through
several thousand online documents by keyword. At the main menu, you can
either browse through an online manual or chose "PENPages,'' which puts
you into the agriculture system.

Telnet: psupen.psu.edu
User name: Your 2-letter state code or WORLD

California State University's Advanced Technology Information Network
provides similar information as PENPages, only focusing on California
crops. It also maintains lists of upcoming California trade shows and
carries updates on biotechnology.

Telnet: caticsuf.cati.csufresno.edu
Log in: public

You will then be asked to register and will be given a user name and
password. Hit "a'' at the main menu for agricultural information. Hit
"d'' to call up a menu that includes a biweekly biotechnology report.

AIDS

The University of Miami maintains a database of AIDS health providers in
southern Florida.

Telnet: callcat.med.miami.edu
Log in: library

At the main menu, select P (for "AIDS providers" and you'll be able to
search for doctors, hospitals and other providers that care for patients
with AIDS. You can also search by speciality.

See also under Conversation and Health.

AMATEUR RADIO

The National Ham Radio Call-Sign Callbook lets you search for American
amateur operators by callsign, city, last name or Zip code. A successful
search will give you the ham's name, address, callsign, age, type of
license and when he or she got it.

Telnet: callsign.cs.buffalo.edu 2000 or ham.njit.edu 2000.

When you connect, you tell the system how you want to search and what
you're looking for. For example, if you want to search for hams by city,
you would type

city name of city

and hit enter (for example: city Kankakee).

Other search choices are "call" (after which you would type a ham's
name), "name," and "zip" (which you would follow with a Zip code). Be
careful when searching for hams in a large city; there doesn't seem to be
anyway to shut off the list once it starts except by using control-].
Otherwise, when done, type

quit

and hit enter to disconnect.

ANIMALS

See under Health.

CALCULATORS

Hewlett-Packard maintains a free service on which you can seek advice
about their line of calculators.

Telnet: hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com
No log-in is needed.

CHEMISTRY

The Electronic Periodic Table of the Elements draws the table on your
screen and then lets you look up various properties of individual
elements.

Telnet: camms2.caos.kun.nl
No password needed.

CONVERSATION

Communications Canada, a Canadian government agency is developing
Conversational Hypertext Access Technology (CHAT) is a system being
developed by Communications Canada to provide easy database access to
people with little or no computer experience, using what are known as
hypertext links. Instead of cryptic computer commands, users type
questions in English.

Telnet: debra.doc.ca
Log in: chat

You chose one of the three databases now online, one on AIDS, and
then ask questions in English.

Ask the AIDS database, "When was AIDS first discovered?'' and it answers:

"The first case of AIDS in North America was diagnosed in 1979.
Before that, it existed in Africa, probably beginning in the 1950's.
AIDS was discovered in North America when a number of young men with
a history of homosexuality developed a rare type of cancer called
Kaposi's sarcoma.''

Sometimes, you do have to rephrase your question. For example, when asked
"What is the link between AIDS and drug use?'' the computer responds:

"I know two things about drugs: the drugs that are used to treat
people with AIDS, and the risks that drug users have in getting AIDS.
Please ask about treatments or drug users.''

COPYRIGHT LAW

See under Government.

CURRENT EVENTS

Every year, the CIA publishes a Fact Book that is essentially an almanac
of all the world's countries and international organizations, including
such information as major products, type of government and names of its
leaders. It's available for searching through the University of Maryland
Info Database.

Telnet: info.umd.edu

Chose a terminal type and hit enter (or just hit enter if you are using
VT100). At the main menu, choose the number next to "Educational
Resources." Then select the number next to "International," followed by
"Factbook." You can then search by country or agency.

This site also maintains copies of the U.S. budget, documents related to
the North American Free Trade Agreement and other government initiatives.
At the "Educational Resources" menu, select the number next to "United
States" and then the one next to "Government."

The Access Legislative Information Service lets you browse through and
look up bills before the Hawaiian legislature.

Telnet: access.uhcc.hawaii.edu

ENVIRONMENT

Envirolink is a large database and conference system about the
environment, based in Pittsburgh.

Telnet: envirolink.org
Log on: gopher

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains online databases of
materials related to hazardous waste, the Clean Lakes program and cleanup
efforts in New England. The agency plans to eventually include cleanup
work in other regions, as well. The database is actually a computerized
card catalog of EPA documents -- you can look the documents up, but
you'll still have to visit your regional EPA office to see them.

Telnet: epaibm.rtpnc.epa.gov

No password or user name is needed. At the main menu, type

public

and hit enter (there are other listed choices, but they are only for
use by EPA employees). You'll then see a one-line menu. Type

ols

and hit enter, and you'll see something like this:

NET-106 Logon to TSO04 in progress.

DATABASES:
N NATIONAL CATALOG CH CHEMICAL COLL. SYSTEM
H HAZARDOUS WASTE 1 REGION I
L CLEAN LAKES

OTHER OPTIONS:
? HELP
Q QUIT

ENTER SELECTION -->

Choose one and you'll get a menu that lets you search by document title,
keyword, year of publication or corporation. After you enter the search
word and hit enter, you'll be told how many matches were found. Hit 1
and then enter to see a list of the entries. To view the bibliographic
record for a specific entry, hit V and enter and then type the number of
the record.

The University of Michigan maintains a database of newspaper and magazine
articles related to the environment, with the emphasis on Michigan,
dating back to 1980.

Telnet: hermes.merit.edu
Host: mirlyn
Log in: meem

GEOGRAPHY

The University of Michigan Geographic Name Server can provide basic
information, such as population, latitude and longitude of U.S. cities
and many mountains, rivers and other geographic features.

Telnet: martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000

No password or user name is needed. Type in the name of a city, a Zip
code or a geographic feature and hit enter. The system doesn't like
names with abbreviations in them (for example, Mt. McKinley), so spell
them out (for example, Mount McKinley).

By typing in a town's name or zip code, you can find out a community's
county, Zip code and longitude and latitude. Not all geographic features
are yet included in the database.

GOVERNMENT

The Library of Congress Information Service lets you search current and
past legislation (dating to 1982).

Telnet: locis.loc.gov
Password: none needed.

When you connect, you'll get a main menu that lets you select from
several databases, including the Library of Congress card catalog (with
book entries dating to 1978) and a database of information on copyright
laws.

For the congressional database, select the number next to its entry and
hit enter. You'll then be asked to choose which legislative year to
search. After that, a menu similar to this will come up:

***C103- THE LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION FILE FOR THE 103RD CONGRESS,
which was updated on 05/10/93 and contains 4,044 records,
is now available for your search.

CURRENCY: All information is NOT current through the above date, which is
machine generated when ANY information is added to the file.
Bill numbers, official titles, sponsors, and status (STEP) added
within 48 hours. Indexing terms and digests added later, in
some cases several weeks after the bill is added to the file.

TO START RETRIEVE to find: EXAMPLES:
SEARCH: member name --------------> retrieve rep gingrich
retrieve sen kennedy
bill number --------------> retrieve h.r. 1
subject keywords ---------> retrieve day care

FOR HELP: Type the word HELP and press the ENTER key.

READY FOR NEW COMMAND:

The National Technical Information Service runs a system that not only
provides huge numbers of federal documents of all sorts -- from
environmental factsheets to patent abstract -- but serves as a gateway to
dozens of other federal information systems.

Telnet: fedworld.gov
Log on as: new

HEALTH

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration runs a database of health-related
information.

Telnet: fdabbs.fda.gov
Log in: bbs

You'll then be asked for your name and a password you want to use in the
future. After that, type

topics

and hit enter. You'll see this:

TOPICS DESCRIPTION

* NEWS News releases
* ENFORCE Enforcement Report
* APPROVALS Drug and Device Product Approvals list
* CDRH Centers for Devices and Radiological Health Bulletins
* BULLETIN Text from Drug Bulletin
* AIDS Current Information on AIDS
* CONSUMER FDA Consumer magazine index and selected articles
* SUBJ-REG FDA Federal Register Summaries by Subject
* ANSWERS Summaries of FDA information
* INDEX Index of News Releases and Answers
* DATE-REG FDA Federal Register Summaries by Publication Date
* CONGRESS Text of Testimony at FDA Congressional Hearings
* SPEECH Speeches Given by FDA Commissioner and Deputy
* VETNEWS Veterinary Medicine News
* MEETINGS Upcoming FDA Meetings
* IMPORT Import Alerts
* MANUAL On-Line User's Manual

You'll be able to search these topics by key word or chronologically.
It's probably a good idea, however, to capture a copy of the manual,
first, because the way searching works on the system is a little odd. To
capture a copy, type

manual

and hit enter. Then type

scan

and hit enter. You'll see this:

FOR LIST OF AVAILABLE TOPICS TYPE TOPICS
OR ENTER THE TOPIC YOU DESIRE ==>

MANUAL
BBSUSER
08-OCT-91
1 BBS User Manual

At this point, turn on your own computer's screen-capture or logging
function and hit your 1 key and then enter. The manual will begin to
scroll on your screen, pausing every 24 lines.

HIRING AND COLLEGE PROGRAM INFORMATION

The Federal Information Exchange in Gaithersburg, MD, runs two systems at
the same address: FEDIX and MOLIS. FEDIX offers research, scholarship and
service information for several federal agencies, including NASA, the
Department of Energy and the Federal Aviation Administration. Several
more federal agencies provide minority hiring and scholarship
information. MOLIS provides information about minority colleges, their
programs and professors.

Telnet: fedix.fie.com
User name: fedix (for the federal hiring database) or
molis (for the minority-college system)

Both use easy menus to get you to information.

HISTORY

Stanford University maintains a database of documents related to Martin
Luther King.

Telnet: forsythetn.stanford.edu
Account: socrates

At the main menu, type

select mlk

and hit enter.

SKI REPORTS

See under weather.

SPACE

NASA Spacelink in Huntsville, Ala., provides all sorts of reports and
data about NASA, its history and its various missions, past and present.
You'll find detailed reports on every single probe, satellite and mission
NASA has ever launched along with daily updates and lesson plans for
teachers.

The system maintains a large file library of GIF-format space graphics,
but you can't download these through telnet. If you want them, you have
to dial the system directly, at (205) 895-0028.

Telnet: spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov

When you connect, you'll be given an overview of the system and asked to
register and chose a password.

The NED-NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database lists data on more than
100,000 galaxies, quasars and other objects outside the Milky Way.

Telnet: ipac.caltech.edu.
Log in: ned

You can learn more than you ever wanted to about quasars, novae and
related objects on a system run by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.

Telnet: cfa204.harvard.edu
Log in: einline

The physics department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst runs
a bulletin-board system that provides extensive conferences and document
libraries related to space.

Telnet: spacemet.phast.umass.edu
Log on with your name and a password.

SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

The University of Maryland Info Database maintains U.S. Supreme Court
decisions from 1991 on.

Telnet: info.umd.edu

Chose a terminal type and hit enter (or just hit enter if you are
using VT100). At the main menu, choose the number next to "Educational
Resources" and hit enter. One of your options will then be for "United
States." Select that number and then, at the next menu, choose the one
next to "Supreme Court."

TELNET

Hytelnet, at the University of Saskatchewan, is an online guide to
hundreds of telnet sites around the world.

Telnet: access.usask.ca
Log in: hytelnet

WEATHER

The University of Michigan's Department of Atmospheric, Oceanographic
and Space Sciences supplies weather forecasts for U.S. and foreign cities,
along with skiing and hurricane reports.

Telnet: madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000 (note the 3000).
No log-in name is needed.

Also see under Weather in the FTP list for information on downloading
satellite and radar weather images.

6.4 TELNET BULLETIN-BOARD SYSTEMS

You might think that Usenet, with its hundreds of newsgroups, would be
enough to satisfy the most dedicated of online communicators.

But there are a number of "bulletin-board" and other systems that provide
even more conferences or other services, many not found directly on the
Net. Some are free; others charge for access. They include:

Cimarron. Run by the Instituto Technical in Monterey, Mexico, this
system has Spanish conferences, but English commands, as you can see from
this menu of available conferences:

List of Boards
Name Title
General Board general
Dudas Dudas de Cimarron
Comentarios Comentarios al SYSOP
Musica Para los afinados........
Libros El sano arte de leer.....
Sistemas Sistemas Operativos en General.
Virus Su peor enemigo......
Cultural Espacio Cultural de Cimarron
NeXT El Mundo de NeXT
Ciencias Solo apto para Nerds.
Inspiracion Para los Romanticos e Inspirados.
Deportes Discusiones Deportivas

To be able to write messages and gain access to files, you have to leave
a note to SYSOP with your name, address, occupation and phone number. To
do this, at any prompt, hit your M key and then enter, which will bring
up the mail system. Hitting H brings up a list of commands and how to use
them.

Telnet: bugs.mty.itesm.mx (8 p.m. to 10 a.m., Eastern time, only).
At the "login:" prompt, type

bbs

and hit enter.

Cleveland Free-Net. The first of a series of Free-Nets, this represents
an ambitious attempt to bring the Net to the public. Originally an in-
hospital help network, it is now sponsored by Case Western Reserve
University, the city of Cleveland, the state of Ohio and IBM. It uses
simple menus, similar to those found on CompuServe, but organized like a
city:

<<< CLEVELAND FREE-NET DIRECTORY >>>

1 The Administration Building
2 The Post Office
3 Public Square
4 The Courthouse & Government Center
5 The Arts Building
6 Science and Technology Center
7 The Medical Arts Building
8 The Schoolhouse (Academy One)
9 The Community Center & Recreation Area
10 The Business and Industrial Park
11 The Library
12 University Circle
13 The Teleport
14 The Communications Center
15 NPTN/USA TODAY HEADLINE NEWS
------------------------------------------------
h=Help, x=Exit Free-Net, "go help"=extended help

Your Choice ==>

The system has a vast and growing collection of public documents, from
copies of U.S. and Ohio Supreme Court decisions to the Magna Carta and
the U.S. Constitution. It links residents to various government agencies
and has daily stories from USA Today. Beyond Usenet (found in the
Teleport area), it has a large collection of local conferences on
everything from pets to politics. And yes, it's free!

Telnet: freenet-in-a.cwru.edu or
freenet-in-b.cwru.edu or
freenet-in-c.cwru.edu

When you connect to Free-Net, you can look around the system. However,
if you want to be able to post messages in its conferences or use e-mail,
you will have to apply in writing for an account. Information on this is
available when you connect.

DUBBS. This is a bulletin-board system in Delft in the Netherlands. The
conferences and files are mostly in Dutch, but the help files and the
system commands themselves are in English.
Telnet: tudrwa.tudelft.nl

ISCA BBS. Run by the Iowa Student Computer Association, it has more than
100 conferences, including several in foreign languages. After you
register, hit K for a list of available conferences and then J to join a
particular conference (you have to type in the name of the conference,
not the number next to it). Hitting H brings up information about
commands.
Telnet bbs.isca.uiowa.edu
At the "login:" prompt, type

bbs

and hit enter.

Youngstown Free-Net. The people who created Cleveland Free-Net sell
their software for $1 to anybody willing to set up a similar system. A
number of cities now have their own Free-Nets, including Youngstown,
Ohio. Telnet: yfn.ysu.edu At the "login:" prompt, type

visitor

and hit enter.

6.5 PUTTING THE FINGER ON SOMEONE

Finger is a handy little program which lets you find out more about
people on the Net -- and lets you tell others on the Net more about
yourself.

Finger uses the same concept as telnet or ftp. But it works with only one
file, called .plan (yes, with a period in front). This is a text file an
Internet user creates with a text editor in his home directory. You can
put your phone number in there, tell a little bit about yourself, or
write almost anything at all.

To finger somebody else's .plan file, type this at the command line:

finger email-address

where email-address is the person's e-mail address. If that person's
site allows incoming finger requests (not all do), You'll get back a
display that shows the last time the person was online, whether
they've gotten any new mail since that time and what, if anything, is
in their .plan file.

Some people and institutions have come up with creative uses for these
.plan files, letting you do everything from checking the weather in
Massachusetts to getting the latest baseball standings. Try fingering
these e-mail addresses:

weather@cirrus.mit.edu Latest National Weather Service weather
forecasts for regions in Massachusetts.

quake@geophys.washington.edu Locations and magnitudes of recent
earthquakes around the world.

jtchern@ocf.berkeley.edu Current major-league baseball standings and
results of the previous day's games.

nasanews@space.mit.edu The day's events at NASA.

coke@cs.cmu.edu See how many cans of each type of soda
are left in a particular soda machine
in the computer-science department of
Carnegie-Mellon University.

6.6 FINDING SOMEONE ON THE NET

So you have a friend and you want to find out if he has an Internet
account to which you can write? The quickest way may be to just pick up
the phone, call him and ask him. Although there are a variety of "white
pages" services available on the Internet, they are far from complete --
college students, users of commercial services such as CompuServe and
many Internet public-access sites, and many others simply won't be
listed. Major e-mail providers are working on a universal directory
system, but that could be some time away.

In the meantime, a couple of "white pages" services might give you some
leads, or even just entertain you as you look up famous people or long-
lost acquaintances.

The whois directory provides names, e-mail and postal mail address and
often phone numbers for people listed in it. To use it, telnet to

internic.net

No log-on is needed. The quickest way to use it is to type

whois name

at the prompt, where "name" is the last name or organization name you're
looking for. If there's a match, you'll get back an e-mail listing.

Another service worth trying, especially since it seems to give beginners
fewer problems, is the Knowbot Information Service reachable by telnet at

info.cnri.reston.va.us 185

Again, no log-on is needed. This service actually searches through a
variety of other "white pages" systems, including the user directory for
MCIMail. To look for somebody, type

query name

where "name" is the last name of the person you're looking for. You can
get details of other commands by hitting a question mark at the prompt.
You can also use the knowbot system by e-mail. Start a message to

netaddress@info.cnri.reston.va.us

You can leave the "subject:" line blank. As your message, type

query name

for the simplest type of search. If you want details on more complex
searches, add another line:

man

Another way to search is via the Usenet name server. This is a system at
MIT that keeps track of the e-mail addresses of everybody who posts a
Usenet message that appears at MIT. It works by e-mail. Send a message
to

mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu

Leave the "subject:" line blank. As your message, write

send usenet-addresses/lastname

where "lastname" is the last name of the person you're looking for. The
system will write back with any matches and the associated addresses.

6.7 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

* Nothing happens when you try to connect to a telnet site.

The site could be down for maintenance or problems.

* You get a "host unavailable" message.

The telnet site is down for some reason. Try again later.

* You get a "host unknown" message.

Check your spelling of the site name.

* You type in a password on a telnet site that requires one, and you get
a "login incorrect" message.

Try logging in again. If you get the message again, hit your control and
] keys at the same time to disengage and return to your host system.

* You can't seem to disconnect from a telnet site.

Use control-] to disengage and return to your host system.

6.8 FYI

The Usenet newsgroups alt.internet.services and alt.bbs.internet can
provide pointers to new telnet systems. Scott Yanoff periodically
posts his "Updated Internet Services List" in the former. The
alt.bbs.internet newsgroup is also where you'll find Aydin Edguer's
compendium of FAQs related to Internet bulletin-board systems.

Peter Scott, who maintains the Hytelnet database, runs a mailing list
about new telnet services and changes in existing ones. To get on the
list, send him a note at scott@sklib.usask.ca.

Gleason Sackman maintains another mailing list dedicated to new Internet
services and news about the new uses to which the Net is being put. To
subscribe, send a message to listserv@internic.net. Leave the "subject:"
line blank, and as your message, write: Sub net-happenings Your Name.

The soc.net-people newsgroup is a place to ask about people you can't
locate elsewhere.