[10467] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
"Ask Dr. Internet" July, 1996
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael S. Hart)
Tue Jul 30 20:40:04 1996
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 14:56:50 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Michael S. Hart" <hart@prairienet.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
"Ask Dr. Internet"
July, 1996
Here are answers to questions we received from the middle of June
to the middle of July; we try to answer all the serious questions
we receive in personal email and then post the ones with the most
general interest information in this newsletter.
We do not answer questions specific to most particular kinds of a
hardware or software system for the specific individuals, but for
the most general applications of the most general users, there is
no way we could possible answer all those detailed questions.
The questions we receive the most are about viruses, email and to
help with setting up Web Pages. You can find lots of information
about these from the following sources we have provided:
Virus Home Page, by Mark Zinzow
http//ux1.cso.uiuc.edu/~markz/virus.html
http//ux1.cso.uiuc.edu/~markz/excellent.virus
Email 101, by John Goodwin [Also, remember to consult your email
provider. . .they are the ONLY ones could who know ALL about that
particular configuration.]
The HomeBrew HomePages, by Steve Weintz and Jolea Sampolesi
The second two are available as Project Gutenberg Etexts as below
and the first is a normal web page.
In addition, the "Ask Dr. Internet" staff maintains an archive to
let you brows through our previous answers, which are very likely
to have information that you need, but forgot to ask about.
You can find them at:
http://promo.net/drnet
You can contact our webmaster@promo.net, Pietro di Miceli, who is
in Italy, if you have troubles with our web sites listed, he also
has written an infobot to send you the various columns presented,
over the past two years or so.
He also maintains a Project Gutenberg site at:
http://promo.net/pg
The Web Pages he maintains for us have won several major Internet
and World Wide Web awards, and have just won another award we are
not supposed to announce until the official public announcement.
***
Now for this month's questions:
Q1
More about wasting bandwidth with chat programs, etc.
Q2
We are also still getting questions about how to get Web Pages,
ftp files, etc., via email.
Q3
Lots of people are still reporting that they are having troubles
with getting images to come up properly in various programs that
are supposed to display and/or edit Web Pages.
Q4
Why do some urls start with http://www then the ip address while others
(e.g. yours) start http:// then the ip address
[note from the webmaster: this untrue, our URL is: http://promo.net/drnet/]
www not required
Q5
How do I find the email addresses of people on the Net?
Q6
What is a URL?
Q7
If you are searching the internet to get ideas for a webpage/
homepage, what is legal or illegal about taking something you see
that you like and copying it? For example if you see a background
or icon that you would like to use and you copy for your own use..
what are the laws governing this?
Q8
More about the email virus scare, see previous editions, too.
Q9
How do you download files?
***
Q1
More about wasting bandwidth with chat programs, etc.
A1
The lowest estimate we received, from an assortment of extremely
volatile replies trying to deny the wastefulness of these, was a
header of 40 characters for the smallest possible packet of one,
just one, character. This would be an overhead of 4,000% wasted
characters just to send one character.
If this small header were applied to the chat programs that will
send a packet only at the end of a line, and the lines average a
margin of about 40 characters, then the waste will be 50%.
Of course, even using email, which will have a header of its own
of about 1,000 characters, you will have waste of 50% if you are
the kind of person who sends messages of 1,000 characters. As a
comparison, the Dr. Internet columns are usually around a 10,000
to 20,000 character size; that means most modern modems download
them in less than 10 seconds.
Obviously the "phone programs" that send sound over the net were
greatly more inefficient that anything sending characters, so we
don't recommend them for other than special cases.
Q2
We are also still getting questions about how to get Web Pages,
ftp files, etc., via email.
A2
There have been several services called "ftpmail" which did the
sort of thing you are asking about. We have been unable to see
any of them in current operation. If you hear anything, please
let us know so we can pass this on.
Q3
Lots of people are still reporting that they are having troubles
with getting images to come up properly in various programs that
are supposed to display and/or edit Web Pages. Also queries for
the same kind of thing with text files.
A3
This is one of the problems with conflicting encoding schemes--
one reason why I am [in]famous for recommending that books, and
other text files published on the Net, should be posted in what
we call Plain Vanilla ASCII, so that EVERYONE can read them.
Some of you who have subscribed to listservers containing those
discussions about Public Access Computers, and Computers in the
Humanities, and the like, have seen hundreds of messages of the
nature of these questions, on both sides of the issue.
The real issue is who can read a file and who cannot.
Can you call it "publishing" if only 1% of the computerized can
read the file?
Some of these encoding schemes are such oddballs that they will
cause a "General Protection Fault" in some peoples' Windows.
By the way there are now about a billion computers in the world
with an average of perhaps two or three users each. So we have
to realize that the days when most of the people could not read
a Plain Vanilla ASCII electronic text are coming to an end, but
that it is still easy to exclude the common person by encoding,
that is the term, your file in some format that only 1% of them
could possibly read.
The first thing you have to realize is that everyone configures
their own version of the Web Browser programs. What happens to
you with your program will not be the same as everyone else. A
person on the other end might load an image, movie, sound, etc.
with one type of program, and if your program is not compatible
with that kind of encoding scheme, then you will not see, hear,
or whatever the contents of that file. Kind of like trying the
process of reading a Word File in Word Perfect. Older versions
would at least show you what it could, but the newer ones would
just say that the file was in some incompatible format.
The solution is to try to find programs that read large numbers
of formats, and install them as your default viewer. A program
could read, .gif files and not .jpg or .bmp files, so we should
hunt up programs that read all three, something like the recent
versions of the genuine GIF viewers. These are Shareware which
means you should send a few dollars to the people who write the
programs for you. There is usually a request for this in those
programs which is easy to see.
Same for movie programs and sound programs. Most of the "Media
Viewer" type programs have various modules, that decode various
kinds of movies: .mpg, .mov, etc. Try to assemble as many for
future use as you can.
The same questions appear with all sorts of different formats--
including people who are upset as they download files that were
easy to read on the Browser screens, but have all the html code
references showing when they read them in their word processor.
Same thing. . .find a word processor that can easily read/write
to and from html formats to the others you want. Another, easy
way around this for short files, is to use "screen grabber type
programs" that allow you to just cut and paste what you see. A
program of this type usually only grabs what actually shows up,
not the underlying codes. Won't grab images, yet, though.
Q4
Why do some urls start with http://www then the ip address while
others (e.g. yours) start http:// then the ip address?
[note from our webmaster: this untrue,
our URL is: http://promo.net/drnet/]
www not required
A4
Actually, the "www" format is just for humans, and the computers
don't care one way or another.
We once had a large discussion about IP addresses, how long they
are, etc. You can look that up in our archives. The truth is--
some computers have a "word" IP address of only two words. . .as
in domain.net type addresses, while all numerical addresses have
four sections. ###.###.###.###
Q5
How do I find the email addresses of people on the Net?
A5
[webmaster suggestion: http://four11.com to search people on the net]
Q6
What is a URL?
URL stands for Universal Resource Locator. . .but. . .it is far from
achieving that ideal, as most URL's are simply pointers that aim the
program at other locations. . .and. . .if your program doesn't know,
doesn't understand, can't use, those pointers, it is useless.
For example: if these were truly Universal, then any Internet types
of programs could use them to make contact and get the information--
but if you try these "Universal" addresses with FTP programs, e-mail
programs, etc., you are generally "up the well known source of water
without the well known means of locomotion."
All those things starting with http:// are supposed to be "Universal
Resource Locator," but if you work your way into them with ftp, even
via telnet, if you can, you will usually find them anything but.
Better only try them with Browser programs.
Q7
If you are searching the internet to get ideas for a webpage/
homepage, what is legal or illegal about taking something you see
that you like and copying it? For example if you see a background
or icon that you would like to use and you copy for your own use..
what are the laws governing this?
A7
Actually, the United States was the only country that had much of
a copyright law that made a statement about this, most or all of
the other countries of the world always had much more conservative
copyrights, and only in the US was it possible to actually tell in
any sense what was copyrighted. . .before March of 1989.
However, with all the new conservative laws passed in the United
States since the assassination of President Kennedy, copyrights in
the US have become, and are still becoming, more and more of the
conservative flavor, and I should warn you that pretty much all of
the materials ever written since March of 1989 are considered to
be under copyright protection unless specifically labeled as to be
in the public domain.
Therefore, you should consider that everything you see is under
some kind of legal copyright protection, even though it would
probably cost anyone over $100,000 to sue you for infringement,
and thus it doesn't seem to happen all that often.
This is NOT legal advice, I am NOT a lawyer. We can put you in
touch with some copyright lawyers if you are really interested.
Q8
More about the email virus scare, see previous editions, too.
A8
Take this with a grain of salt. . .if you are using ANSI, FANSI, or any
of the screen control programs, there ARE ASCII character strings which
these programs interpret as commands, and one of these commands is just
a command to execute the next command as if it were typed on keyboards.
Best way to be SURE you are immune to these is NOT to use programs that
do these kinds of screen control. Be careful, installing various stuff
may install these without telling you. Check the virus stuff above.
E-MAIL VIRUS SCARE
Experts say that fears of e-mail-borne viruses appear to be overblown, and
are urging network users to stop their misguided efforts to warn others of
the "non-existent" threat. Panic over unfounded rumors causes another very
real problem -- floods of e-mail warnings that can slow Internet traffic to
a crawl. Security specialists say that plain electronic mail cannot carry a
virus, and that users can best protect themselves by not opening attachments
unless they have a good idea of what's inside. (Chronicle of Higher
Education 12 Jul 96 A19) Meanwhile, to be on the safe side, Trend Micro
Inc. offers a way to protect network servers from nasty surprises. Its
InterScan E-Mail VirusWall intercepts each e-mail message and attachment,
scanning them for any suspicious-looking code. If an infection is detected,
the message recipient and network manager are alerted to the problem before
it goes any further. The company claims it works with all popular e-mail
systems. (Investor's Business Daily 15 Jul 96 A6)
Q9
How do you download files?
A9
Uploading and downloading can happen between two computers you send
commands to, they can either both be in remote locations, or one of
them can be the one you are sitting at.
If they are remote computers, most of the uploading and downloading
is done with programs such as FTP [File Transfer Protocol]. If you
are moving binary files with FTP, just type "bin" at the ftp prompt
before you send the file; for ASCII files, you can type "ascii," or
just "a" at most FTP prompts. "i" for "image" can also be used for
setting up for binary files. If the computers are similar, you can
transfer all files using binary mode.
With FTP you only talk to ONE of the programs, and it talks to some
other FTP program at the other end for you.
What most people mean when they say upload and download is with the
modem. . .to and from their own computers, which have dialed up the
Internet over some modem connection of their "ISP" Internet Service
Provider.
With "modem programs" such as kermit, x, y, or zmodem, pctalk or an
assortment of other programs provided via Shareware or by the modem
manufacturers, you usually have to talk to TWO programs. . .one for
the remote computer, one for your own local computer right in front
of you.
In the examples below, the > signifies the end of the prompt words.
The one I use the most is kermit. . .you start the remote version--
with a command such as "kermit -s filename.ext" and that program is
going to start up the sending process and tell you to then tell the
local kermit program to receive it. Something like this:
remote> kermit -s test.txt
the program then says something like:
"escape to your local system to receive"
then I press "^]c" which means "control ]" followed by "c"
and I arrive at the local kermit prompt of "kermit>"
kermit> receive c:\directory\filename.ext
This can be abbreviated:
kermit> rec c:\directory
if you don't want to rename the file.
The same is true for binary files except when you start you type:
kermit -is filename.ext
and to receive at the remote end, just change the "s" to "r."
Practice with this, because when the point and clicking don't get
you anywhere, this is the way to get files from here to there.
This is all pretty general, there are lots of programs that could
upload and download your files, but kermit is the one you find on
more computers than anything else, it is free of charge, and will
even withstand lots of noise on the phone line. . .I have seen an
interesting demo in which the cable was even pulled off the modem
a few times during transmission and kermit kept on going fine, as
it reconnected each time and started from the last packet; I have
to admit that I have also seen this trick work SOMETIMES when the
other phones on the line were picked up and talked into. Dialing
the other phones creates more hassle.
We can't really go into detail about every modem protocol, but it
would behoove most of you who use modems to find one and learn to
get files with it.
We do not recommend point and click programs to replace these, as
you have little or no recourse when they fail. If you DO use one
of the point and click programs, at least try to find one that is
capable of letting you type REAL commands to the remote computer,
usually in one of the pull-down menus. You never know what those
point and click programs are actually sending, unless you have an
etext version of a log file that you can read.
If you are willing to get under the hood and tinker a little, the
benefits can be amazing; if you want a chauffeur driven limo, you
have to depend on the chauffeur to know where you want to go then
know how to get you there, and what to do if the road has DETOURS
in it. . . .
Using point and click programs can be easy, especially if you put
a lot of addresses on your hot list, but you might want to know--
if it really matters--how to get your information when the points
and clicks don't get you there. You might also consider saving a
lot of the information on your local computer since drives are in
the range of only $100 per gigabyte now if you buy several gig at
a time, and buy at the right places.
You might also consider keeping more than one link on your listed
hot sites for the same information if you can find an alternative
site for those important pieces of information.
We have covered some of these issues previously, but we got a LOT
of questions on these topics during the past month so we answered
here, as well as in a number of personal notes.
***
The Project Gutenberg files you might want to look at as per what
we mentioned above are:
Mon Year Title and Author [filename.ext] ###
Apr 1995 A Brief History of the Internet by Michael S. Hart[bhotixxx.xxx] 250-
Jul 1993 Email 101 by John Goodwin [email025.xxx] 75C
Sep 1992 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet, Ed Krol [hhgixxxx.xxx] 39
Jun 1992 Zen & the Art of Internet, Brendan P. Kehoe [zenxxxxx.xxx] 34
Aug 1992 The Hackers' Dictionary of Computer Jargon [jargnxxx.xxx] 38
ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu or ftp 128.174.5.14
login: anonymous
password: yourname@your.machine
cd pub
cd etext
cd gutenberg
cd etext95 [or 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90. 70's and 80's are in /etext90]
get filename (be sure to set bin, if you get the .zip files)
get more files
quit
get INDEX?00.GUT ? = 1,2,4,8
New files in etext96, of course.
Project Gutenberg Web Sites can now be reached at:
http://promo.net/pg/ [This is the definitive site for now]
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/pg_home.html
http://www.prairienet.org/pg
http://www.cdrom.com/titles/guten.html
or
ftp ftp.prairienet.org or ftp
username: anonymous
password: your email address
cd pub/providers/gutenberg/etext96
ls or dir for a listing of files
get filename.txt (ascii files)
get filename.zip (binary zipped files)
be sure to type "binary" before retrieving the .zip files!
Name: bluestem.prairienet.org
Address: 192.17.3.4
You can find newer versions of some of these files in other locations.
***
You can reach the Dr. Internet Web Sites as follows:
http://promo.net/drnet/
This page includes our disclaimer, has links to our PG site,
to all the issues and, for each issue, to ALL the
questions/answers, plus links to a page to submit question:
http://promo.net/drnet/feed.html
to a page to do searches about the issues contents:
http://www.promo.net/drnet/search.html
to our FTP site:
ftp://ftp.promo.net/drnet/
containing the original text of each isse plus a .zip
archive including all the texts so far.
The same general index page has a subscription form
to subscribe to the Drnet Newsletter.
