








                        NetScout User's Manual


                           Minuteman Systems
                         Copyright 1995, 1996




     NetScout is an off-line tool that browses several standard
     Internet resource lists, covering tens of thousands of
     subjects. The ability to search these wide-ranging lists off-
     line with a single tool allows you to conduct a
     comprehensive search quickly, and eliminate many on-line
     usage charges.

     This program is provided for your free evaluation for up to
     ten days. If you decide to keep it beyond that  period, you
     must purchase a permanent copy. Ordering information is
     provided at the end of this document.



     

     Table Of Contents
     Chapter 1 - Introduction
      1.1 A Quick Demonstration

     Chapter 2 - What Is The Internet?
      2.1 Commercial Services are Single-Computer Systems
      2.2 The Internet Is a Network of Networks
      2.3 Who and What Are On The Internet

     Chapter 3 - What Functions are Available On The Internet?
      3.1 Some Internet Naming Conventions
      3.2 File Transfer Protocol - FTP
      3.3 Gopher
      3.4 Newsgroups
      3.5 MailLists
      3.6 The World Wide Web
      3.7 The Great Search Sites

     Chapter 4 -  Accessing The Internet From The Major OnLine Data Services                                             20
      4.1 America OnLine
      4.2 CompuServe

     Chapter 5 - Accessing The Internet From Internet Access Providers                                                 21
      5.1 Basic-Service Providers
      5.2 Advanced-Service Providers
      5.3 A Low-cost Alternative - Free-nets

     Chapter 6 - Using NetScout

     Chapter 7 - Hints for Searching

     Chapter 8 -  Library Lists Available With NetScout

     Chapter 9 - Ordering Information

     

     Chapter 1 - Introduction

     The Internet can be a boundless source of information on
     topics ranging over the entire spectrum from recreational to
     technical subjects. Since there is so much information out
     there, finding the particular items you are interested in
     can be time-consuming and expensive.

     This document will provide information on how to use the
     NetScout, a list browser,  to rapidly locate information on
     the Internet. Since NetScout operates off-line using
     standard and easily available index lists, you avoid the
     expense of operating on-line. Your local search proceeds
     faster than would occur over telephone or other dial-in
     lines.

     NetScout can search standard lists of the following types of
     Internet resources;

     - Newsgroups
     - MailLists
     - FTP sites  (file archives)
     - frequently-asked-questions lists (FAQs)

     After determining off-line the specific resources you need
     from the above lists, you can then go back on-line to your
     Internet Service Provider and directly access the desired
     resource.

     If you're an experienced Internet user and are familiar with
     these terms, you may wish to proceed directly to chapters 6,
     7, and 8 which give detailed instructions on conducting
     searches with NetScout.

     If you are relatively new to the Internet, or perhaps a new
     member of  CompuServe or America OnLine, chapters 2 through
     5 provide tutorial information on the nature and
     capabilities of the Internet, and how to access it.

     This program is provided for your free evaluation for up to
     ten days. If you decide to keep it beyond that  period, you
     must purchase a permanent copy. Ordering information is
     provided at the end of this document. When you purchase a
     copy of the program, you will have the option to receive a
     set of the full and up-to-date resource lists that NetScout
     works with.

     

     1.1 A Quick Demonstration

     Here is a quick, walk-through of how NetScout can help you
     locate resources. To conduct a search for "humorous" topics,
     use NetScout to search for the keywords "comedy" or "humor"
     or "joke" (you can do "and" or "or" searches). Shortly, you
     are returned a list of a half-dozen "Frequently Asked
     Questions". "FAQs" are mini-encyclopedias and can be
     extremely helpful.

     In this case we note the list includes a FAQs on "Books for
     the Avid BritComedy Fan". The listing indicates an archiove
     at an FTP site. At this point you go back on-line to your
     Internet service access provider (Compuserve, America On-
     Line, or one of the many smaller providers) and use the FTP
     function to connect to the anonymous site "rtfm.mit.edu".
     (Newcomers - don't be intimidated! Detailled yet easy
     instructions for doing this are provided later on). The FAQ
     can be found at path tv/british-comedy/books/part1. You can
     then transfer the file to your provider, and download it to
     your own machine for printing or reading.

     The listing also gives us a good lead to another "humorous"
     source. Note that the FAQ is posted periodically in several
     newsgroups including alt.comedy.british. Again, back online,
     you can use your newsreader function to scan that newsgroup
     and obtain a lot more material for download.

     Please note that NetScout does not replace all on-line
     activity - it simply allows you to locate a lot of sources
     of information off-line, saving a lot of connection-time and
     it's associated expense.

     The sample lists provided with NetScout are a small clipping
     from the full lists. Instructions are provided for accessing
     the complete lists yourself. Once you do, conducting
     searches will yield far more "finds". repeating the above
     search with the full list set returns over 60 sources,
     including a number of email lists you can subscribe to, and
     a number of sites archiving humorous material and jokebooks.

     Don't let the proceeding example leave an impression that
     there are only "frivolous" topics on the Internet. Far from
     it!. A scan of the keywords "market" and `business" return
     over a hundred and fifty topics including sales, marketing,
     and business resources - examples include the
     misc.entrepreneurs newsgroup, the Applied Global Marketing
     maillist, and the Multi-Level-Marketing FAQ.





     

     Chapter 2 - What Is The Internet?


     The majority of this tutorial will be written from the
     perspective of someone using one of the major on-line data
     services such as America OnLine or CompuServe.


     2.1 Commercial Services are Single-Computer Systems

     If you have an account on one of these, you are used to
     using a computer and modem, with a graphical interface
     package, to dial into the service's system.  These major
     systems are each basically a single large computer system
     (possibly using redundant machines) which you are accessing
     via a nation-wide or world-wide telephone system.

     For example, America Online's computer system is located in
     Vienna, VA. and is illustrated below. AOL's system consists
     of 9 Stratus Inc. fault-tolerant computers. A fault-tolerant
     computer is one which can keep running, without loss of
     computation or loss of data, even when certain elements
     fail.

     America OnLine uses Sprintnet to provide telephone service.
     When you dial AOL in, say, Pittsburgh, you're really dialing
     a number AOL is buying from Sprintnet in Pittsburgh.
     Sprintnet routes the call through their system from
     Pittsburgh to their Vienna, VA office and then into AOL
     headquarters.

     Services like CompuServe, Prodigy, and others have a similar
     structure. The important thing is that each service consists
     of one centralized computer system that you are using.



     

     2.2 The Internet Is a Network of Networks


     The Internet, on the other hand, is actually a network of
     multiple computers.

     The Internet grew out of an  projected called  The ARPANET
     in the late 1960's. The project was to develop a Wide-Area-
     Network, or WAN, to link together numerous remote sites
     involved in government-sponsored research. It was very
     successful and started growing. It's use spread to non-
     restricted utilizations.




     A technical strength of the Internet is that it uses one
     communication-protocol TCP/IP as a standard for
     communication between all sites. This means that a wide
     variety of computer architectures and media can work
     together, because they all share the same "language".

     Numerous networks like the ARPANET were formed and
     interconnected. Collectively, this "Network of Networks" is
     called the Internet.  As of the Fall of 1995, the Internet
     consisted of over 5,000 networks. One "Network" on the
     Internet could consist of a single computer, or thousands of
     computers on one company's network. (Digital Equipment
     Corporation has something like 40,000 nodes on its one
     network). Given that many computers are mini- or main-frame
     computers that may have hundreds or even thousands of user
     accounts, the total number of Internet user accounts can be
     seen to be in the millions.

     Incidentally, the ARPANET itself was dismantled in the early
     90's.

     

     2.3 Who and What Are On The Internet

     The Internet is often drawn schematically as a "cloud" with
     individual networks connecting into the cloud. Anyone on a
     network connected into the cloud can utilize various
     services to communicate with other networks. It's not
     important (for us right now) what goes on inside the cloud -
     its just important that any points connected into it can
     communicate.



     Some comments about specific types of networks connected
     into the Internet.

     1.OnLine Services - The major services like CompuServe and
       Prodigy all have a point of interconnection to the
       Internet. They typically have made use of only a subset
       of the wide range of Internet services available. That's
       changing - they are all rapidly moving to support all
       Internet capabilities.

     2.Individual Companies - If you work for a company of (ball-
       park) 500 or more employees, your company may be have a
       connection from their internal network to the Internet.
       (They cost from $5000/yr up to perhaps $100,000 per year,
       depending on the rate of traffic supported and the range
       of services subscribed to.) This means you may be able to
       access some Internet services from a PC or Mac on your
       desk.

     3.Educational or Research Institutes - A large number of
       these are on the Internet, in fact as stated above they
       were the "core" of the start of the Internet. These
       organizations are still a large part of the Internet
       member community, and besides their private materials
       have a large amount of tools of interest to the network
       community. NASA has a large amount of public information
       and pictures about space activities. CERN, the European
       center for Nuclear Research in the  Swiss/French border,
       is the founding organization of "the World Wide Web" -
       the current standard tool for wide-area document
       searching.

     4.Local Access Providers - Increasingly, companies are
       being set up whose main service is to provide individuals
       inexpensive access to the Internet. These companies have
       a mini-computer, and a number of dial-in lines.
       Individuals can call up and register for accounts at a
       relatively low price (such as $5 per month plus $2 per
       hour of connect time.) When you dial in with a PC using a
       terminal-emulator communication program, such as PROCOMM,
       you have access to a full range of services on the
       Internet, and you're also allocated some reasonable
       amount of storage (1-2 Megabytes) on their system for
       moving files.

     5.Local BBSs - Many small-time Bulletin Board Systems, are
       increasingly buying an Internet connection. Magazines
       like Boardwatch and BBS Magazine usually have lists of
       BBSs that have Internet connections. If you join such a
       BBS in your area, you can use it to access the Internet.
       It also means you can log onto other Internet-accessible
       BBSs without having to dial over long-distance land-
       lines. There's virtually no "telephone charge" involved.
       (However, some may charge a membership fee)


     

     Chapter 3 - What Functions are Available On The Internet?

     The main point of the preceding chapter was that the
     Internet consists of a large number of Computers, owned by a
     variety of companies and organizations, all connected
     together and able to exchange information. But what type of
     information is out there? And how does one get at it? That
     will be addressed in this chapter.


     3.1 Some Internet Naming Conventions

     Its necessary to understand  the nomenclature used on the
     Internet to name individuals and sites.
     You will use this to send mail to individuals, or to access
     sites for file transfer.

     Addresses of individuals take the general shape
     "username@organization".


     This "organization" is the "Internet name" for the site
     itself. The "organization" consists of several names
     separated by periods such as "oak.oakland.edu" or
     "world.std.com". The rightmost name is one of several
     broadbrush categories

     com = commercial
     edu = educational
     mil = military
     gov = government
     net = network support company
     org = other organizations

     The rest of the organization usually consists of a top-most
     name (oakland) assigned by a central naming committee. The
     organization then assigns its own sub-org names (oak) and
     user-account names. This mechanism greatly simplifies the
     naming process.

     The full "username@organization" for people on the major
     data services having an Internet connection is a combination
     of their account name and their services' name. A user with
     account number 12345,6789 on CompuServe would have address
     "12345.6789@compuserve.com." User "JDoe" on America OnLine
     would be "jdoe@aol.com". Please note that each service may
     also have "local" requirements to allow you to indicate if a
     mail message you are composing is addressed to someone on
     the home system or on the Internet. Example - CompuServe
     members sending mail to each other just use the local
     account name, but any mail destined for the Internet must be
     preceded by "INTERNET:".

     The preceding description applies mostly to sending email,
     or to connecting to sites using non-graphical or "command-
     line" interfaces found on some of the less expensive
     services (more about that later). When accessing sites using
     the graphical WEB Browsers commonly found on CompuServe and
     AOL, you usually have to employ a slightly longer address
     nomenclature called a "URL" ("Uniform Resource Locator").
     The format of the URL depends upon the type of function you
     are accessing.  WEB and FTP functionality will be described
     a few pages on. For now, the following example shows the
     URLs for the Web and FTP functions at Microsoft;

     WWW URL = http://www.microsoft.com/
     FTP URL = ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/

     There are other URL types for other functions such as
     "gopher" (gopher://x.y.z) but WEB and FTP functions are the
     ones most commonly used.


     

     3.2 File Transfer Protocol - FTP

     Moving or transferring files from one site to your system is
     one of the most commonly used Internet functions. FTP, for
     File Transfer protocol, is the mechanism for doing this. The
     different graphical interfaces on the major services provide
     slightly different ways to do it, but the following
     description will closely approximate all systems.

     The way to access files on a remote system is to "log on"
     using something called "anonymous FTP". This means that you
     use the FTP function on your system to specify the name of a
     site which is known to accept public access. Ordinarily that
     system will prompt you for a USERNAME: and you would enter
     "anonymous" (sometimes this is case-sensitive!). You are
     then asked to enter a  PASSWORD:, and
     the correct response is to enter your email address. You are
     then connected to the top directory structure of that remote
     system.

     If you are using a graphical interface as is now common on
     CompuServe and America OnLine, much of the above is
     automated for you. The CompuServe Spry Mosaic browser
     requires that you input a full URL, but then it invisibly
     enters the username password. The remote systems directory
     structure is presented to you looking much like a drive
     would under Windows' File manager. You can click/browse
     through the remote systems file. There is even a "file
     search" feature. When you find the file or files you want,
     you click a button to download them

     If you are using a non-graphical interface, the remote
     system looks to you much as if you were operating "at the
     DOS prompt" instead of  inside Windows.  The major, major,
     MAJOR exception is that Internet systems do not use DOS!
     They use UNIX. Write this down! To move up and down through
     the directory structure, you use a different command set.
     And to receive files off the remote system, you use "Get"
     instead of "copy" or " Move" A brief list of UNIX and FTP-
     specific commands, follows.

     

     FTP Command Summary

     ascii     set ascii transfer type
     binary    set binary transfer type
     bye       terminate FTP session and exit
     cd        change remote working directory
     cdup      change remote working directory to parent
     directory
     close     terminate FTP session
     cr        toggle carriage return stripping on ascii gets
     delete    delete remote file
     dir       list contents of remote directory
     get       receive file
     ls        list contents of remote directory
     mkdir     make directory on the remote machine
     open      connect to remote tftp
     put       send one file
     mdelete   delete multiple files
     mdir      list contents of multiple remote directories
     mget      get multiple files
     rmdir     remove directory on the remote machine
     send      send one file
     system    show remote system type



     

     FTP Via EMAIL

     Even if you don't have full Internet access, you may still
     be able to access much FTP functionality by sending EMAIL to
     sites. There are 2 types of approaches

     1.) Info Servers - Some FTP sites respond to EMAIL requests
     as well as direct FTP connections. In general you mail a
     message to the FTP handler-address, and it executes the
     contents of the message as if it were coming from an FTP
     connection. In the event of a "get" instruction, it then
     emails back to you the requested file.

     I said "in general" for several reasons. First, not all FTP
     sites (anonymous or otherwise) support this feature.
     Secondly, those that do support FTP via mail do not all use
     the same command set. To find out how to use a particular
     sites' FTP mail functions, you (usually) can send it a
     message with the single word "help" (lowercase) in the body,
     and it will mail back to you a file with the instructions.
     While just the word "help" often works, sometimes other
     commands are supported .

     Example - mail a message to the info-server at info-
     server@nnsc.nsf.net. The "subject" field can be anything,
     but have the body be

     request: info
     topic: help

     and you will receive a set of instructions

     A list of info-servers is available via anonymous FTP at
     host pit-manager.mit.edu at directory
     pub/usenet/news.answers. Not surprisingly, its also
     available by email-server. Send a message to mail-server@pit-
     manager.mit.edu with the command "help" in the subject
     field. (Note that this is different from other systems where
     you put "help" in the body).

     2.) ftpmail-servers  - An info-server can only send files
     from its own system. There are a limited number of  FTP-via-
     email systems which allow you to access files on any
     anonymous-FTP host. An FTP-mail-server accepts a command
     string in a message from you. It then does its own anonymous
     FTP logon to the requested host, executes the command
     string, and mails you the results.

     Send a message with the one-line body "help" to
     ftpmail@pa.dec.com or ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com to receive
     instructions for using those FTP-mail-servers. (Note that
     both are sponsored by Digital Equipment Corp - "dec")
     Important Information About Transferring Files !!!

     I cannot over-emphasize that FTP is the primary mechanism
     for moving files around the Internet.  You can move some
     files using email, but there are limitations on filetypes
     and or file-lengths. I.E. Binary files are hard to move
     reliably using mail - FTP provides guaranteed movement.

     There are a couple very basic things you need to know about,
     or be warned about, regarding the transfer of files. These
     come out of 2 basic facts;

       Binary Files May Need Different Handling Than Text Files

       FTP actually handles Binary and Text files in different
       manners. ("Binary" can mean graphics files, executable
       files, or any file that's been compressed such as with
       PKZIP.) On many systems when you do a "get" or "put" the
       resident FTP program automatically detects the type of
       the file and handles it appropriately. However, on some
       systems you have to manually set a toggle to indicate if
       you're moving a binary or text file. If you're getting
       corrupted files - try setting the file type manually.
       (i.e. enter the FTP command "binary" or "ASCII".)

       Also, many mail programs can't handle binary files at
       all. (see the fix below)

       Some parts of the Internet have limits on file size.

       Even though the receiving and transmitting hosts may deal
       perfectly well with large files, the path across the
       Internet can be quirky and you may run across a link that
       rejects or corrupts anything exceeding some size
       limitation. Some equipment rejects files greater than
       56kbytes in size.

     An Important Tool - The tool pair UUENCODE/UUDECODE is used
     to translate binary files into text files for transmission,
     and back into binary at reception. Also, they have the
     ability to take a large file and break it up into numerous
     small ones, below a size you specify, and then re-assemble
     them at reception. There are versions of these tools
     available to run on all platforms.

     

     3.3 Gopher

     GOPHER is a menu-driven search tool for finding information
     on the Internet. A typical menu is shown below;


           ============================================================

                         Internet Gopher Information Client v1.13

                            Root gopher server: gopher.std.com

      -->  1.  Information About The World Public Access UNIX/
           2.  The World's ClariNews AP OnLine Newswire Index/
           3.  The World's FDCH US Congressional Committee Transcripts/
           4.  OBI The OnLine Book Initiative/
           5.  Shops on The World/
           6.  Internet and USENET Phone Books/
           7.  Commercial Services via the Internet/
           8.  Book-Sellers/
           9.  Bulletin Boards via the Internet/
           10. Consultants/
           11. FTP/
           12. Government Information/
           13. Internet Information and Resources/
           14. Libraries/
           15. Membership and Professional Associations/
           16. Metropolitan and Community News/
           17. News and Weather/
           18. Non-Profit Organizations/

           Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu
           Page: 1/2
           ============================================================


     Moving through the menu is quite straightforward. Just type
     the number of the menu-item you're interested in, or use
     up/down arrow to make a selection. There are a virtually
     unlimited combination of sub-menus. Many end in actual
     files, often text files, and you will be presented with
     options to copy the file to your home system.

     Note that there is almost always a top-level-menu entry that
     says something like "access other GOPHER servers". While no
     one GOPHER services knows about every file on the Internet,
     by hopping from server to server you can cover almost the
     entire Internet, but admittedly it can take a long time.

     Also note that GOPHER is somewhat "backwards compatible"
     with FTP. It has the ability to scan FTP-sites and present
     files for downloading.

     Besides perusing the menu, there is a search function. The
     "search" scans the titles in the menu tree and perhaps
     keywords, but it doesn't scan the contents of any documents
     (which wouldn't work with executable or other binary files
     anyhow.)

     

     3.4 Newsgroups

     These are postings of series of messages. They are
     "broadcast" across the whole Internet, on specific subjects.
     You call up a "news reader" program  on your Internet host
     to browse the different Newsgroups and read the entries in
     each.

     There are an incredible number of Newsgroups - thousands,
     with more being created every day. They range from new-
     service postings and financial news, to computer-
     professional information, to "recreational" and "alternative
     lifestyles".

     Some sample names

     alt.beer -discussions about beer
     rec.humor - jokes!
     comp.msdos.announce - announcements about msdos services and
      programs available.
     news.newsgroups.announce - news about new Newsgroups
     alt.answers - miscellaneous info about how to use the
     Internet

     The first word of the newsgroup name (alt, comp, etc) is a
     broad-brush category. The presently defined list is;

     alt - alternative systems
     biz - business related
     comp - computer-related
     k12 - education (kindergarten through grade 12)
     misc - miscellaneous
     rec - recreation
     sci - science
     soc - social topics
     talk - controversial subjects



     3.5 MailLists

     MailLists are a variant on Newsgroups. These are Mailings to
     your specific mailbox on selected topics. There are
     thousands of MailLists, and you have to subscribe to the
     ones you want. You generally send a generic message with
     "subscribe listname" or just "subscribe" in either the body
     or the "Subject:"  field to the maintainer of the MailList,
     and a program automatically enrolls you. (You may have to
     experiment.) Similarly, the MailList has an address to which
     you mail messages you want to post, and they will be
     automatically re-mailed to all members of the MailList. Some
     MailLists are "moderated" - the maintainer will censor
     messages felt to be "inappropriate" - which can mean
     illegal, immoral, or just a waste of bandwidth. Bookstores
     generally carry several books which have listings of
     MailLists, with enrollment instructions.

     Listservers are very closely related to MailLists. You
     subscribe by sending an "enrollment" message to an
     administrative address. You then receive via mail copies of
     anything posted to the listserver. Messages are posted by
     sending to a publication address, which is different from
     the enrollment address. You can execute various other
     administrative commands by sending pre-defined messages to
     the administrative address. There are many listserver lists.

     As an example, to obtain a list of listserv discussion
     groups, send a message to listserv@bitnic.bitnet. In the
     body of the message, have the single entry "list global"
     (without the quotation marks). Leave the subject field
     blank. You'll be mailed back a long file. To obtain
     instructions on other commands available, send to the same
     address a message with the body just including "INFO
     REFCARD".


     

     3.6 The World Wide Web

     The World-Wide-Web is perhaps the first mechanism to break
     the threshold of ease-of-use beyond which large numbers of
     people from varying backgrounds can find the Internet to be
     useful.

     The WEB was initially developed by CERN as a mechanism to
     view hypertext documents and provide links between multiple
     documents on multiple hosts. Technologically it has grown to
     encompass true multi-media formats. The widespread
     availability of browsers, multi-media-authoring tools, and
     the ability to create your own WEB site has resulted in a
     complementary boom in both WEB sites and WEB users. The WEB
     is expanding to include information of all types - business,
     educational, scientific, entertainment, and more.


     WEB Terminology and Operation

     The World Wide Web is known by several names ; WWW, w3, and
     "the WEB" are often  used interchangeably and all mean the
     same thing.

     Originally it went one (major) step beyond GOPHER and
     allowed a hypertext link between documents. This means that
     by selecting a "hotword" in one document, or on one screen,
     you jump to an entry point in another document. This link
     may be on the current host, or it may be to a point of
     entry, or "Home Page" on another host.

     This frees you from the rigid structure of a menu tree, and
     even more importantly allows you access into the contents of
     documents. Also, WEB sites and browsers typically have
     extensive search capabilities built into them.

     This additional freedom has some cost. Navigation can become
     harder. Even within any one site it may be difficult to keep
     track of where you are and loops are frequently encountered.
     At any point you may suddenly find that you are now on a
     different site. Also, the widespread proliferation of WEB
     home pages has made it nearly impossible to effectively
     develop white- or yellow-pages.

     Still, the advantages greatly outweigh any newly acquired
     difficulties, and work continues to develop better searching
     and tracking features.

     The basic hypertext format is defined in a semi-standard
     known as "HTML" - HyperText Markup Language. This format
     goes just beyond plain-text and includes such text-
     formatting features as fonts, sizes, bold, etc. The
     formatting has also expanded to incorporate both images and
     sound. With a full-capability (i.e. multi-media) browser, as
     you navigate the WEB you are presented with not just text
     information, but accompanying images and often audio.

     The name "Mosaic" is used a lot in reference to the WEB.
     Mosaic is one of many types of WEB browsers available. It is
     one of the most comprehensive. Versions are available for
     many platforms, it supports full multi-media capability, and
     it may be downloaded for free.

     WEB documents and browsers have exhibited fairly
     comprehensive backwards and forwards compatibility. Low-end
     text-only browsers appropriately filter out images and sound
     and make a best-effort at reformatting text. Legacy features
     such as FTP and GOPHER are generally represented quite well,
     within their given limitations.



      About addressing

     You will see the phrase "URL" employed a lot. It stands for
     "Uniform Resource Locator". In simplistic terms, this means
     "addressing". WEB sites are typically identified by some
     name such as http://www.ibm.com/.  Subdirectories within the
     sites are identified by further extensions of the name,
     although you typically don't have to keep track of this, the
     WEB browser does it for you.

     The address example given is actually a subset of a more
     comprehensive naming structure. the "http" prefix identifies
     one type of resource - "ftp://" and "gopher://" prefixes are
     used to identify those types of sites.

     About Bandwidth

     Its all well and good to talk about a complete multi-media
     interface. However, the bandwidth requirements can be
     significant. Recall that bandwidth you have available to you
     depends upon your type of Internet connection. Your
     "bandwidth" may range from a low-end of 9600 bits/sec for a
     dial-up-line at to 56kbits-to-Megabits/sec if you're at a
     company with its own IP Gateway. The low-end may be all
     right for a text-only operation from at home (don't even
     think about trying to operate with a lower-speed modem).
     Graphics, audio, and motion require successively higher
     bandwidth. You can spend a lot of time sitting there
     watching the screen get updated. Most good browsers allow
     you to selectively shut off features such as graphics if
     you're finding that operation is too slow.


     Graphical Browsing Tools

     The "avalanche" of interest in the WEB has come about
     largely due to the widespread availability of good, multi-
     platform, graphical browsers that support text, graphics,
     and audio. Perhaps the most widely known is Mosaic, although
     a number of other good ones exist, and there are lots more
     on the way.

     Mosaic was initially developed by NCSA, the National Center
     for Supercomputing Applications. NCSA was established under
     a grant from the National Science Foundation, and Mosaic is
     available for free download. The Software Development Group
     or SDG provides ongoing support of Mosaic.

     There are also a number of commercial versions of Mosaic
     available.

     Mosaic is a cross-platform tool - versions are available for
     Windows, Macintosh, Amiga, and the UNIX operating system.
     If you are operating it over a dial-up line though, please
     note that the line has to support SLIP or PPP.

     A number of commercial companies are rushing to develop
     graphical WEB browsers. Also, the Commercial OnLine Data
     Services are all working on making versions available over
     their systems. CompuServe  offers the Spry Mosaic Browse.
     This system is quite usable and makes easy WEB access
     available to a very large audience.



     Text-Based Browsers

     The earliest stages of WEB development used text-based
     browsers only. In fact the very first ones were line-at-a
     time only. LYNX was one of the first screen-mode text-based
     browsers and remains widely available on UNIX and VMS
     systems.

     If you have an account on one of the less expensive Internet
     Access providers, that only provide a command-line or text-
     based interface, LYNX may be your only available WEB
     Browser. Still, it is a pretty capable tool.

     Since LYNX is text based, many of its screen may initially
     look like GOPHER screens. As you use arrow  keys to move
     through it, you'll quickly notice that it jumps to
     highlighted words in the middle of sentences. These are the
     "hotkeys" or links to other documents and sites. Pressing CR
     or a different arrow key makes the jump. When you make a
     jump to a GOPHER site, you get a conventional GOPHER
     representation. When you make a jump to an FTP site, the
     presented screen looks a lot like a directory listing.

     Besides the navigational features, its important to note
     that at any point you can download the currently selected
     document. (This can be done by a file extract or by having
     it emailed to you at any address you select.)


     

     3.7 The Great Search Sites

     A lot of people have put great efforts into tools that
     conduct on-line searches. The majority of these are geared
     towards locating specific WWW sites that match a given
     interest, but they also may incidentally point to FTP sites,
     newsgroups, or other resources.

     Several search engines which you may reach via the WWW
     include;

       http://www.yahoo.com
       http://www.lycos.com
       http://www.excite.com
       http://www.jumpcity.com
       http://www.opentext.com
       http://www.mckinley.com
       http://www.gnn.com/wr



     

     Chapter 4 -  Accessing The Internet From The Major OnLine
     Data Services

     A great many people access the Internet from one of the
     major on-line data services such as America OnLine or
     CompuServe. These services now offer comprehensive graphical
     interfaces to the majority of  Internet services. The
     following is a brief description of how to access these the
     WWW, FTP, Gopher, and Internet email on AOL and CompuServe.


     4.1 America OnLine

     Current versions of the AOL interface package include an
     integrated series of graphical interfaces to Internet
     services. At the Main Menu, clicking "Internet Connection"
     brings up an Internet-specific menu page. This page is also
     accessible via the Keyword "Internet". The page has separate
     icons for FTP, Gopher, Newsgroups, and the WWW. Much of the
     process of accessing sites is automated for you - you enter
     a site name, or click one from a menu, and the interface
     program handles any sign-on protocol.  There are also
     buttons for functions such as downloading files.

     There is also a separate icon for composing Internet email.
     There are plenty of informational screens to explain the
     process of composing mail, and in particular the addressing
     conventions. For example, if you know the account number of
     someone on CompuServe, you are told exactly how to construct
     their valid Internet email address.

     To make use of MailLists, you use email to compose "enroll"
     messages as previously described. Mailist postings will then
     appear in your mailbox as regular mail.



     4.2 CompuServe

     CompuServe purchased the Spry company and now offers a
     customized version of  the Mosaic WEB browser. This program
     operates as a stand-alone package separate from the WICIM or
     other CompuServe interfaces. The Spry Mosaic browser is the
     mechanism for accessing WWW pages, FTP sites, Gopher, and
     Newsgroups. (use the HELP function for details on accessing
     Newsgroups. But basically you enter Newsgroups as URLs of
     the form news:newsgroup.name)

     Sending email, and accessing mailists, is not done in the
     Spry Mosaic browser. It is performed in the main CompuServe
     environment, using for example such as WinCIM. Email is sent
     to the Internet using the prefix "INTERNET:" followed by a
     valid Internet email address.



     

     Chapter 5 - Accessing The Internet From Internet Access
     Providers

     Even if you have an account on a major online data service
     provider such as CompuServe, if you're going to be using the
     Internet a lot you may find it more cost effective to have a
     separate account at an Internet Access provider.

     There has been a mini-boom in the last several years of
     Internet Access providers. These are companies that go
     through all the work described in the preceding section, of
     setting up an Internet Gateway. Then, they rent out monthly
     accounts to anyone. Accounts are accessed via dial-in lines.
     The sophistication of these systems runs from providing
     local telephone access of a command-line interface on a
     terminal-emulation session, to a nationwide-access dial-in
     system with a graphical interface.

     There are many ways to find these providers. First, they
     advertise, both locally in newspapers and in relevant
     magazines such as Internet World. Also, there are lists
     maintained on the Internet of  Dial-In Access providers.
     (We'll skip over the chicken-and-egg situation of needing to
     get on the Internet first to get at the list.) One list is
     called PDIAL and is available at the FTP server
     rtfm.mit.edu.

     A couple systems have achieved some degree of national fame
     for the depth of their services, or the character of their
     membership. Two that come to mind are The WELL, in the San
     Francisco area, and PANIX in New York City.

     A couple new features have been appearing on many of these
     providers;

       The ability to create your own World-Wide-Web home page
       They can create a network address for you that looks like
       your own commercial business address.  Instead of being
       "username@provider_name.com" you can now be
       "username@your_businessname.com" For example, I can go
       from being "bck@world.std.com" to "bobk@minuteman.com"
       This is a real plus if you're establishing a company-
       presence.


     

     5.1 Basic-Service Providers

     This is a no-frills system wherein you get an account on the
     Providers system. You use a terminal emulator to dial in and
     are presented with a command-line interface. You are
     allocated a certain amount of storage space on the system
     for composing and or moving files. Fees are rather
     reasonable - there may be no sign-up fee, and monthly costs
     may be as low as $5 basic fee plus $2 per hour. I've heard
     there are systems as inexpensive as $20 per year.

     Very often these systems are UNIX systems. A UNIX command-
     line may appear a bit cryptic to someone familiar with DOS,
     and downright puzzling to a business person trying to get
     their first exposure to the Internet. However, you really
     should have little difficulty learning to use at least the
     basics of a UNIX command-line system. Most systems have a
     "help" command and a UNIX command summary. There are also
     many good books around on UNIX. A very rudimentary UNIX
     command summary is provided in on the following pages.

     If I had to give one piece of advice to UNIX-neophytes it is
     ; watch out for case-sensitivity! UNIX paths and filenames
     are case sensitive, and this can cause a lot of grief until
     you get used to it.

     5.2 Advanced-Service Providers

     Many providers are trying to appeal to a wider customer-
     base. One way to do this is to offer a graphical interface
     that eliminates the complexities of both command-line
     interfaces and the Internet functions themselves. Also,
     instead of just providing a regional telephone number, some
     services are working with major telephone carriers to
     provide access-lines in major urban centers.

     The next-level-up of service providers, over the UNIX-
     command-line method, consists of  providers who offer SLIP
     and PPP protocols over their dial-in lines. This allows you
     to create what amounts to an Internet connection direct to
     your own machine. A primary use of this is to allow
     installation of the Mosaic WEB browser on your system.
     Mosaic, described later, is an advanced graphical interface
     for scanning the world-wide-web. It can offer text,
     graphics, and audio access to WEB sites.

     I should point out that there are Mosaic browsers available
     as freeware - it's not a proprietary program of the service
     provider. The provider's main job is to provide the SLIP or
     PPP connectivity.  They may or may not also make it easy for
     you to locate Mosaic and install it.

     At the top-level of functionality, some service providers do
     offer a proprietary graphical interface to overall Internet
     functions. Some are also expanding their telephone access
     and advertising on a national basis. These companies are
     beginning to merge into the same market, and level of
     service, as the "OnLine Data Service" companies such as
     CompuServe.

     Two such top-level services are The Pipeline and NETCOM On-
     Line Communications Services.

     One other service to mention is DELPHI Internet Services.
     DELPHI at one point was providing services similar to the
     OnLine Data Services. However, it's focus became Internet
     Connectivity.  It has been somewhat late, though, in
     developing a graphical interface. At time of writing the
     release of DELPHI's graphical interface is imminent. It thus
     rests in position somewhere between the large OnLine Data
     Services and the small-but-upcoming graphically-oriented
     Internet Access providers.


     

     5.3 A Low-cost Alternative - Free-nets

     Free-nets are free-access computer systems. They give the
     general public limited access to the Internet as well as
     access to local bulletin boards and discussion groups. They
     are  run through a  library or educational institution and
     are often sponsored by a local government. Once you've
     located a Free-net, if you have a computer and a modem you
     can logon, often for no charge.

     A given Free-net system  may have a few drawbacks. They
     don't generally have full Internet access and are usually
     limited to text-only environments.  Also, their overall size
     may be limited, and if there is a lot of demand you may find
     it difficult to avoid a busy signal when dialing in.

     Many Free-nets are also accessible via Telnet from other
     systems, so once you logon to one Free-net node, you can hop
     around to others.

     The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) serves as
     an umbrella organization for Free-nets. You can contact them
     by sending mail to info@nptn.org. They publish a weekly-
     updated list of world-wide Free-nets. It can be found posted
     in the Newsgroups alt.freenet or alt.online-service.freenet.


     

     Table 1 - UNIX Command Summary

     Above all else - remember that file and directory are case-
     sensitive !!!

     Append to a file          Command: cat file1 >> file 2

     Change Directory          Command: cd directory
                               [example   cd /pub ]
                               [cd without argument returns to
                                 home or top directory]

     Copy a file               Command: cp file1 file2

     Current Directory         Command: pwd
                               ["present working directory"]

     Compress File             Command: compress file1
                               [compresses to file1.z]

     Decompress File           Command: uncompress file1.z

     Disk Space Left           Command: du

     List Files                Command: ls -argument (include the "-")
                               arguements -s = filesize
                                          -F = file type
                                          -cl = by date
                                          -a = invisible files

     Make New Directory        Command: mkdir new-directory-name

     Move a File               Command: mv filename directory

     Remove Directory          Command: rmdir directory-name

     Remove File               Command: rm filename

     Rename File               Use "Move File" to do this

     View Contents of a file   Command: more filename




     

     Chapter 6 - Using NetScout

     Operation is straightforward. You select the resource
     library lists you wish to scan, by clicking the button
     (on/off) adjacent to each. The library lists are described
     in the next chapter.

     Then select from 1 to 3 keywords to search for. You may
     select (via a button click) if you wish to capture entries
     that contain all the keyword ("and" logic) or any of the
     keywords ("or" logic).

     You may set a maximum number of "finds" that the program
     will limit itself to. This can be a timesaver to prevent
     spending a lot of time on a poor choice of keyword that
     results in many entries being selected.  (You can also click
     the "STOP" button at any time to stop a lengthy search.) For
     example, if you were to include the keyword "PC" with "or"
     logic, you would probably find far too many irrelevant
     entries being found.

     All entries which  match the keyword criteria are stored in
     an output text file. You can save the search crireia and the
     results of the search in ouput files. One the menu bar,
     select "FILE" and drop down to "SAVE AS" to save the current
     search. The search results are stored as a plain text file
     FILENAME.OUT which can be viewed or otherwise used by any
     Word Processor program. The search conditrions themselves
     are saved in a special format file FILENAME.DAT - don't try
     to examine it.

     All the normal word-processor-like functions of  OPEN, SAVE,
     SAVE AS, CLOSE, NEW, and PRINT may be employed.

     Clicking the "RUN" button starts a search. A window
     indicates that the program is "BUSY" until the search is
     over. The number of matching entries is also displayed.

     Once you have conducted a search, you can scan the
     individual entries by pressing the "VIEW" button. With the
     "PRINT" button you can send the currently viewed entry to
     your printer. The "NEXT" button steps you through more
     entries. Clicking "STOP" ends the Viewing.

     When viewing resource descriptions, the bar at the bottom of
     the screen gives specific instructions for how to use your
     Internet Service to access the listed resource.

     You can enter choices for an additional search, or click
     "NEW" to clear all selections


     

     Chapter 7 - Hints for Searching

     To be  "effective" a search must locate all "right" answers
     while at the same time include a minimum of "wrong" answers.
     The judicious selection of keywords is the primary factor in
     conducting a quick and effective search. With time and
     practice you will naturally develop this skill. For starting
     purposes, here are a couple, perhaps obvious, tips for
     searching.


     1. Use shortened forms of words. Using "librar" will help
      find any  subject that includes "library", "libraries", or
      "librarian". Don't cut the words too short though - "lib"
      will locate  the above-mentioned words, but it will also
      find subjects containing "liberty", "alibi", and a great
      number of other subjects you don't want.

     2. Think of words related to your subject - besides
      "television", it may help to try words like "tv", "video",
      "program", "show", "sit-com", "serial", etc.

     3. Individual words may take different forms. "Sit-Com",
      above, might also be listed under "SitCom". Don't expect
      any word to have one and one-only proper usager that is
      universally followed.  Fortunately all NetScout searches
      are insensitive to case, which helps somewhat.

     4. Avoid words that are too-widely used. When searching for
      computer-topics, "Unix", "PC" and "computer" appear in so
      many subjects that there will be a uselessly-high number
      of "finds" on any search that employs any of them as a key-
      word.

     5. As a general tip, unless you are specifically looking for
      archive sites, you may wish to exclude the FTP-sitelist
      from searches. The descriptions associated with FTP sites
      employ a lot of "general" or "vague" terms that will
      result in a lot of false finds.


     


     Chapter 8 -  Library Lists Available With NetScout

     NetScout works with several library lists that are easily
     available off the Internet. Due to space considerations,
     only a sampling of the lists is supplied along with this
     evaluation copy of the program. However, you can easily
     obtain the full lists themselves following the directions
     below. In order for your downloaded  versions of the lists
     to work with NetScout, each only needs to be combined into a
     single file (if downloaded in multiple parts) and given the
     filename indicated below.

     Name:   Publicly_Accessible_Mailing_Lists
     Description:   List of Maillists on the Internet
             Lists contact procedure and gives a brief description of
             subject for each of 1000 maillists available on the Internet.
     Size:     660 KBytes non-compressed
     Location: anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path /pub/usenet-
               by-group/news.lists.
               filename Publicly_Accessible_Mailing_Lists
               (14 or more parts). Also re-posted periodically in
               newsgroup news.announce.newusers.
     Usage :   Combine all parts into one file and rename "maillist.txt"

     Name:   LISTSERV.TXT
     Description:   List of Bitnet Discussion Groups on the Internet/Bitnet
                    Gives a brief description of subject for each of 500+
                    maillists available on Bitnet, a network related to the
                    Internet. This is a different list from MAILLIST.TXT
     Size:   600K Bytes non-compressed
     Location: Send a mail message to listserv@bitnic.bitnet. In the body of
               the message, have the single entry "list global" (without the
               quotation marks). Leave the subject field blank .
     Usage:  rename as "listserv.txt"


     Name:   List_of_Active_Newsgroups
     Description: List of all active news groups. Gives newsgroup
                  name and one-line description.
     Size:   Approx. 96 Kbytes non-compressed
     Location : anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path
                /pub/usenet-by-group/news.lists
                filename List_of_Active_Newsgroups (2 parts)
     Usage :   Combine all parts into one file and rename "newslist.txt"

     Name:   ftp-sitelist.txt
     Description:   Comprehensive list of all known FTP servers world-wide.
     Size:   1 MB non-compressed
     Location :     Anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path
             /pub/usenet/new.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part**
             (17 parts at present and growing)
     Usage :   Combine all parts into one file and rename "ftplist.txt"


     Name:   List of Periodic Informational Postings
     Description:   A list of FAQs archived at a key resource
     Size:   630 KBytes non-compressed
     Location :     Anonymous FTP server rtfm.mit.edu path
               /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/.
     Usage :   Combine all parts into one file and rename "faqlist.txt"





     


     Chapter 9 - Ordering Information

     This is an evaluation copy of Net Scout. If you use it for
     more than ten days, you must pay for your copy.  Upon
     payment, you will receive a registration of the program, and
     a complete set of the most current versions of the library
     lists.

     Please use the order form below or contact us at

     Telephone: (617)489-5639
     Internet Address : bck@world.std.com
     CompuServe : 74252,2350



                            NetScout Order Form
                            -------------------
          Fill in the information below, and mail with a check or money
          order for

           ___ $ 9.95 for NetScout Program Registration alone.
       or
           ___ $19.95 for NetScout Program plus Complete Set Of List Files

       or
           ___ $39.95 for NetScout Program Plus One Year Subscription
               of List Files (Updated Quarterly)

          Send to ;
                           Minuteman Systems
                           P.O. Box 152
                           Belmont, MA. 02178


          Name __________________________________________
      Company:___________________________________________

      Land Mail:
        Street _______________________Apt\MailStop_______
        City/Town ________________ State__ ZipCode_______
        Tele - Business:____________  Home:______________

      Electronic Addresses:
      AOL :________________  Compuserve:_________________
      Internet: __________________Other:_________________



          Media :  ___ 5.25" floppy   ___  3.5" micro-floppy




