DnA 3-4: Internet Series Part I
Introduction to the Internet
Written by Pazuzu - June 23, 1993
The Internet is the closest thing to the "Cyberspace" described in William Gibson's novels - vast, uncharted, ungoverned (for the most part), and sometimes dangerous. It is a subject of much confusion for the newcomer - even the process of how to get "into" the Net is a mystery to a great many people. I shall attempt to shed blinding light on the subject of the Net, and make you yearn to get "on".
First off, I think a section on terminology and concepts relating to the Net is in order. So, here we go...
- FTP: FTP Stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it's well, a file transfer protocol. It's how you "download" and "upload" over the Internet. It's also (usually) the name of the program you have to run to access FTP.
- Telnet: DO NOT confuse this with "TELENET"! This is how you login to other computers over the Internet. It's often confused with "TELENET", which is a packet-switched network wholly separate from the Internet. Usually, you type "telnet <address>" to login to another computer.
- Usenet: This is a "network" of sorts consisting of several thousand newsgroups (kind of like subboards on a BBS) on every topic you could possibly think of. Usenet is mentioned a lot in conversations about the Net because its primary transportation method is through the Internet. However, Usenet IS NOT Internet, nor is it a "part" of Internet.
- UUCP: UUCP stands for Unix-to-Unix Copy Protocol. That's what is used to be - a way to copy files between UNIX machines. Today, UUCP is available on almost every operating system and hardware platform in existance. It is used to transport mail and Usenet news between systems.
Yes, there are many more terms you'll come across, and I'll explain them as we get to them. I just wanted to get those out of the way, because they're the most important ones.
I'd like to start off the "real" part of this article by talking about how computers are addressed on the Net. Each computer on the Internet has at least two addresses. One is the "human readable" address such as "eff.org", and the other is 4 numbers separated by dots, like 950.1493.666.123 (that IS NOT a real address!). Most people prefer to use the human readable form, which is fine, because you hardly ever need the numeric IP address. You can furthermore break the human readable address down into component parts, like this:
- eff - this is the name of the computer
- org - it belongs to an ORGanization
The last part of an address is called the "top-level domain". There are several:
- org - ORGanization
- com - COMpany
- mil - MILitary
- gov - GOVernment
- net - NETwork
- edu - EDUcational Institution
And so on and so forth. There is also an alternate set of top-level domains which use the geographical location of the computer:
- .santa-cruz.ca.us - the city of Santa Cruz, state of California, United States of America.
- .paris.fr - Paris, France
The previous example of "eff.org" is a simple one - just a computer, and a top-level domain. The standard for these addresses allows many more domains other than the top-level:
- gatekeeper.dec.com - Computer "gatekeeper", at site "dec", which is a COMpany.
- shit.mac.apple.com - computer "shit", at the site "mac", location "apple", which is a COMpany.
So as you can see, this scheme allows for millions of possible addresses.
Now that you know a little of how addressing works, and have a few example addresses, you're probably wondering what to do with them. Well, there's quite a bit. If you're logged into a computer connected to the Net, you can telnet to any other computer on the net. In the UNIX operating system, type "telnet <address>" and you're connected. Note that you won't be logged in, you'll just be connected, sitting at a login prompt, as if you'd called via a modem. What's really cool about this is that the system you're telnetting FROM doesn't ever place a real telephone call to the system you're going to. It's all done through the Net. So, if your home machine is connected to the Net, you can telnet to Germany, and never pay a cent for telephone charges. And, most Internet links are done through 57.6Kbps leased lines, so it's BLAZING fast. Most of the major sites are linked via 1Mbps T1 leased lines, and some are even using **45Mbps** T3 leased lines.
Before I go too far, I'd like to shed light on the most confusing issue surrounding the Net: How to Get On. Until recently, I thought that getting onto the Net was quite difficult. Now I know that I was wrong. It's damned easy. There are several ways:
- If you go to a medium to large university, Internet access will be free for the asking - every major school is connected.
- You can hack an account on a university system - not recommended.
- Go through a service provider - This is by far the best way. My favorite provider, Netcom will let you access their computer, which is fully connected to the Net for only $19.50 a month. You can have a dialup UUCP connection (for your BBS) that includes a REGISTERED domain name for $65 a month. Note that with a UUCP connection, your BBS won't actually be "on" Internet, you'll just have email and Usenet access. And, for the ultimate, you can have a full-blown SLIP connection to the Net for $150 a month. This will make your computer a true Internet node, and people can Telnet and FTP to your system - great for BBSs. There are several other service providers around, but Netcom is the best and the least expensive.
Another thing you can do on the Net is send email to anyone in the world with an account on a Net system, almost instantaneously, for free of course. All you need is their address, and (on a UNIX) you just type "mail <address>" and type in your mail. It'll get there in mere seconds. This allows all kinds of fun: you can send hate mail to Bill Gates, rip on Vice President Gore, and all kinds of other fun stuff.
There is also something called Internet Relay Chat (IRC, most people call it), which is like the chat BBSs that some fools call, except IRC can have literally THOUSANDS of people on all at once. There are many channels available - #hack, #phreak, #warez, #hotsex, and many others - you're sure to find one you like.
The last thing I'm going to talk about is FTP. This is how you download over the Net. You type "ftp <address>", then (usually) you login as anonymous, and then you're in. You can type dir, which will list files (just like in DOS), and you can use cd to change directories. When you finally find the file you want, just type "get <filename>" and it'll be sent right to your machine (sort of). Note that if you're on a university system or on a provider's system as a user, it'll be sent to THEIR machine, then you have to use sz (send zmodem) to get it to your machine. If your machine is connected via a SLIP connection, or some other method, it'll be on your machine, of course.
Well, that should about do it for my first Internet article. If this sounded like a commercial for the Net, it is, really. The Net is so great, everyone that uses a modem should have access. Stay tuned for the next Internet article, where I'll list some major underground archive sites.
FTP Sites to Play With For the Beginner:
NOTE: Login as "anonymous"
ftp.eff.org
ftp.uu.net
ftp.sura.net
ftp.netcom.com
cs.uwp.edu --> lyrics to EVERY song you could ever imagine!
