|
... bs.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 high high speed web hosting speed web hosting 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 high speed web hosting
"subject:" line blank, and as your message, write: Sub net-happenings
Your Name.
Chapter 7: FTP
7.1 TONS OF FILES
Hundreds of systems connected to Internet have file libraries, or high speed web hosting
archives, accessible to the public. Much of this consists of free or low-
cost shareware programs for virtually every make of computer. If you
want a different communications program for your IBM, or feel like
playing a new game on your Amiga, you'll be able to get it from the Net.
But there are also libraries of documents as well. If you
want a copy of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, you can find it on
the Net. Copies of historical documents, from the Magna Carta to the
Declaration of Independence are also yours for the asking, along with a
translation of a telegram from Lenin ordering the execution of
rebellious peasants.
You can also find song lyrics, poems, even
summaries of every "Lost in Space" episode ever made. You can also find
extensive files detailing everything you could ever possibly want to know
about the Net itself. First you'll see how to get these files; then
we'll show you where they're kept.
The commonest way to get these files is through the file transfer high speed isp
protocol, or ftp. As with telnet, not all systems that connect to the
Net have access to ftp. However, if your system is one of these, you'll
be able to get many of these files through e-mail (see the next chapter). high speed web hosting
Starting ftp is as easy as using telnet. At your host system's command
line, type
ftp site.name
and hit enter, where "site.name" is the address of the ftp site you want
to reach. One major difference between telnet and ftp is that it is
considered bad form to connect to most ftp high speed web hosting sites during their business
hours (generally 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time). This is because
transferring files across the network takes up considerable computing
power, which during the day is likely to be needed for whatever the
computer's main function is. There are some ftp sites that are
accessible to the public 24 hours a day, though.
You'll find these noted
in the list of ftp sites in section 7.6
7.2 YOUR FRIEND ARCHIE
How do you find a file you want, though?
Until a few years ago, this could be quite the pain -- there was
no master directory to tell you where a given file might be stored on
the Net. Who'd want to slog through hundreds of file libraries high speed web hosting looking
for something?
Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan and Peter Deutsch, students at McGill
University in Montreal, asked the same question. Unlike the weather,
though, they did something about it.
They created a database system, called archie, that would
periodically call up file libraries and basically find out what they had
available. In turn, anybody could dial into archie, type in a file name,
and see where on the Net it was available. Archie currently catalogs
close to 1,000 file libraries around the world.
Today, there are three ways to ask archie to find a file for you:
through telnet, "client" Archie program on your own host system or e-
mail. All three methods let you type in a full or partial file name and
will tell you where on the Net it's stored.
If you have access to telnet, you can telnet to one of the following
addresses: archie.mcgill.ca; archie.sura.net; archie.unl.edu;
archie.ans.net; or high speed web hosting archie.rutgers.edu. If asked for a log-in name, type
archie
and hit enter.
When you connect, the key command is prog, which you use in this
form:
prog filena ... |
