Big Dummys Guide To The Internet | Page 3

EFF
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 to use them for voice calls while you are
connected to the Net.
A modem is a sort of translator between computers and the phone
system. It's needed because computers and the phone system process
and transmit data, or information, in two different, and incompatible
ways. Computers "talk" digitally; that is, they store and process
information as a series of discrete numbers. The phone network relies
on analog signals, which on an oscilloscope would look like a series of
waves. When your computer is ready to transmit data to another
computer over a phone line, your modem converts the computer
numbers into these waves (which sound like a lot of screeching) -- it
"modulates" them. In turn, when information waves come into your
modem, it converts them into numbers your computer can process, by
"demodulating" them.
Increasingly, computers come with modems already installed. If yours
didn't, you'll have to decide what speed modem to get. Modem speeds
are judged in "bps rate" or bits per second. One bps means the modem
can transfer roughly one bit per second; the greater the bps rate, the
more quickly a modem can send and receive information. A letter or
character is made up of eight bits.
You can now buy a 2400-bps modem for well under $60 -- and most

now come with the ability to handle fax messages as well. At prices
that now start around $150, you can buy a modem that can transfer data
at 14,400 bps (and often even faster, using special compression
techniques). If you think you might be using the Net to transfer large
numbers of files, a faster modem is always worth the price. It will
dramatically reduce the amount of time your modem or computer is
tied up transferring files and, if you are paying for Net access by the
hour, will save you quite a bit in online charges.
Like the computer to which it attaches, a modem is useless without
software to tell it how to work. Most modems today come with
easy-to-install software. Try the program out. If you find it difficult to
use or understand, consider a trip to the local software store to find a
better program. You can spend several hundred dollars on a
communications program, but unless you have very specialized needs,
this will be a waste of money, as there are a host of excellent programs
available for around $100 or less. Among the basic features you want to
look for are a choice of different "protocols" (more on them in a bit) for
transferring files to and from the Net and the ability to write "script" or
"command" files that let you automate such steps as logging into a host
system.
When you buy a modem and the software, ask the dealer how to install
and use them. Try out the software if you can. If the dealer can't help
you, find another dealer. You'll not only save yourself a lot of
frustration, you'll also have practiced the prime Internet directive: "Ask.
People Know."
To fully take advantage of the Net, you must spend a few minutes
going over the manuals or documentation that comes with your
software. There are a few things you should pay special attention to:
uploading and downloading; screen capturing (sometimes called
"screen dumping"); logging; how to change protocols; and terminal
emulation. It is also essential to know how to convert a file created with
your word processing program into "ASCII" or "text" format, which
will let you share your thoughts with others across the Net.
Uploading is the process of sending a file from your computer to a

system on the Net. Downloading is retrieving a file from somewhere on
the Net to your computer. In general, things in cyberspace go "up" to
the Net and come "down" to you.
Chances are your software will come with a choice of several
"protocols" to use for these transfers. These
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