Stuff from the E-Mail Guy

Stuff from the E-Mail Guy

by Jeff Carrell, E-Mail Liaison

reprinted from Fort Worth Section Signals September 1995

Have you been thinking about doing your own Web page, but aren't sure how to go about it? Well if you didn't throw away your August 1995 of The Institute (you know, that newspaper thingie included with the IEEE Spectrum you get from IEEE every month ;-) look at Bob Alden's article on page 4. It covers most everything you need to know to get started in this process.

Curious about local DFW Internet Access providers, Web pages and general Internet related topics? If so, pick up copies of Texas Computing and/or Computer Currents magazines. They are available at most 'big' bookstores, some computer stores and other locations, and best of all, they are *free*.

Acronyms and definitions:

'Net: Nickname for the Internet.

Browser: a utility that displays both text and graphics and follows hypertext links.

Firewall: A security system that provides a barrier for an organization's network and systems from unauthorized access from an Internet connection.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol - protocol used to transfer files between computers on the Internet (also computers connected via TCP/IP).

Gopher: a utility that allows you to search for files, etc., on the Internet.

GUI: Graphical User Interface (like MS Windows).

Home page: The first or 'top' page when accessing a WWW resource.

HTML: HyperText Markup Language. The language used to make regular text documents into Web documents.

HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol. A standard way of transferring WEB documents on the Internet.

Hypertext: Text that includes links to other documents.

PPP: Point-to-Point Protocol - the 'standard' form of SLIP [both SLIP & PPP are used for dial-up based TCP/IP, although only one can be used at a time].

SLIP: Serial Line Internet Protocol - dial-up TCP/IP access.

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - protocol used by computers to communicate with each other on the Internet.

Telnet: a terminal emulation protocol allowing you to logon to other computers connected to the Internet (also computers connected via TCP/IP).

URL: Universal Resource Locator. The address or location of a document, file, access point, etc., on Internet or WWW.

WWW: World Wide Web. On the Internet it is a network of documents of many different types connected to each other with embedded hypertext links.

WWW sites:

http://www.ieee.org/ IEEE home page

http://power.eng.mcmaster.ca/alden/alden.html

Bob Alden's home page (writes the monthly e-page article in The Institute)

http://www.utdallas.edu:80/DFW/dfw-www.html

A *great* listing of many systems available in the DFW metroplex area

DFW Internet Access Providers:

http://www.computek.net Compu-Net

http://www.connect.net/ Connection Technologies

http://www.dfw.net/ DFW Internet

http://www.fastlane.net Fastlane Communications

http://www.i-link.net I-Link

http://www.iadfw.net Internet America

http://www.intex.net InTex.Net

http://www.onramp.net/ On-Ramp Technologies

http://www.pic.net/ Pic Net

http://www.metronet.com/ Texas Metronet Inc.

http://www.unicomp.net Unicomp

[Know of a cool Web Page, send me an email with the URL]

Receiving e-mail from your e-mail guy: Have an e-mail id, but don't get stuff from me? Send me your id to add to my list. Lots of IEEE info comes my way and I send it on to those I know about.

Information from all:

Have something that other IEEE'ers need to see or be alerted to? Send me a note and I'll forward it on to those I have e-mail id's for.

Have a question or want to know more details about e-mail or the Internet? Send me a note and I'll cover it in a future article.

If your society would like an Internet presentation, demo, discussion, etc., let me know. I would be happy to give a talk to any interested group (no commercial pitch, just plain 'ole techie talk :-)

Contact me at:

e-mail: j.carrell@ieee.org

snail-mail: Jeff Carrell POB 1593 Hurst TX 76053

phone: 817.595.0343