Big Dummys Guide To The Internet | Page 2

they downloaded the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet. The guide is now available in a wide array of formats, including ACSCII text, HyperCard, World Wide Web, PostScript and AmigaGuide. And the guide will be published in a printed format by MIT Press in June of 1994.
EFF would like to thank author Adam Gaffin for doing a terrific job of explaining the Net in such a nonthreatening way. We'd also like to thank the folks at Apple, especially Steve Cisler of the Apple Library, for their support of our efforts to bring this guide to you.
We invite you to join with EFF in our fight to ensure that equal access to the networks and free speech are protected in newly emerging technologies. We are a membership organization, and through donations like yours, we can continue to sponsor important projects to make communications easier. Information about the Electronic Frontier Foundation and some of the work that we do can be found at the end of this book.
We hope that the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet helps you learn about whole new worlds, where new friends and experiences are sure to be yours. Enjoy!
Mitch Kapor
Chairman of the Board
Electronic Frontier Foundation
[email protected]
For comments, questions, or requests regarding EFF or the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, send a note to [email protected].

Preface
By Adam Gaffin,
Senior Writer, Network World, Framingham, Mass. Welcome to the Internet! You're about to start a journey through a unique land without frontiers, a place that is everywhere at once -- even though it exists physically only as a series of electrical impulses. You'll be joining a growing community of millions of people around the world who use this global resource on a daily basis. With this book, you will be able to use the Internet to:
= Stay in touch with friends, relatives and colleagues around the world, at a fraction of the cost of phone calls or even air mail. = Discuss everything from archaeology to zoology with people in several different languages. = Tap into thousands of information databases and libraries worldwide. = Retrieve any of thousands of documents, journals, books and computer programs. = Stay up to date with wire-service news and sports and with official weather reports. = Play live, "real time" games with dozens of other people at once.
Connecting to "the Net" today, takes something of a sense of adventure, a willingness to learn and an ability to take a deep breath every once in awhile. Visiting the Net today is a lot like journeying to a foreign country. There are so many things to see and do, but everything at first will seem so, well, foreign.
When you first arrive, you won't be able to read the street signs. You'll get lost. If you're unlucky, you may even run into some locals who'd just as soon you went back to where you came from. If this weren't enough, the entire country is constantly under construction; every day, it seems like there's something new for you to figure out.
Fortunately, most of the locals are actually friendly. In fact, the Net actually has a rich tradition of helping out visitors and newcomers. Until very recently, there were few written guides for ordinary people, and the Net grew largely through an "oral" tradition in which the old- timers helped the newcomers.
So when you connect, don't be afraid to ask for help. You'll be surprised at how many people will lend a hand!
Without such folks, in fact, this guide would not be possible. My thanks to all the people who have written with suggestion, additions and corrections since the Big Dummy's Guide first appeared on the Internet in 1993.
Special thanks go to my loving wife Nancy. I would also like to thank the following people, who, whether they know it or not, provided particular help.
Rhonda Chapman, Jim Cocks, Tom Czarnik, Christopher Davis, David DeSimone, Jeanne deVoto, Phil Eschallier, Nico Garcia, Joe Granrose, Joerg Heitkoetter, Joe Ilacqua, Jonathan Kamens, Peter Kaminski, Thomas A. Kreeger, Stanton McCandlish, Leanne Phillips, Nancy Reynolds, Helen Trillian Rose, Barry Shein, Jennifer "Moira" Smith, Gerard van der Leun and Scott Yanoff.
If you have any suggestions or comments on how to make this guide better, I'd love to hear them. You can reach me via e-mail at [email protected].
Boston, Mass., February, 1994.
Chapter 1
: SETTING UP AND JACKING IN

1.1 READY, SET ...
The world is just a phone call away. With a computer and modem, you'll be able to connect to the Internet, the world's largest computer network (and if you're lucky, you won't even need the modem; many colleges and companies now give their students or employees direct access to the Internet).
The phone line can be your existing voice line -- just remember that if you have any extensions, you (and everybody else in the house or office) won't be able