An Online Session

By Bob Chernow

I currently use a service provider called CyberGate. The following are annotated excerpts of an actual session on the Internet. The type of account I have on CyberGate is called a Shell Account and I can dial in using the HP DataComm program or any communication program that can provide VT-100 terminal emulation. When I log into CyberGate I wind up at a command prompt that looks like: /u1/pcbob>.

First thing I will do is check my Newsgroups. On CyberGate the preferred NewsReader is a program called "TIN". To access the program I just type in tin from the /u1/pcbob> prompt.

TIN will connect to the CyberGate News server and tell me if any new NewsGroups have been added since the last time I read News. I discover that there is a new group about hamsters and red.green (see below). Neither of them interest me so I do not add them.

My current list shows that I am subscribed to 4 Newsgroups and tells me how many new articles have been added to each since I have last read the News. The list of commands are also listed for me on the bottom of my screen.

rtin 1.2 PL2 [UNIX] (c) Copyright 1991-93 Lain Lea. Connecting to news.gate.net...

Reading news active file...

Subscribe to new group alt.pets.hamsters (y/n/q) [n]: n

Subscribe to new group alt.fan.red.green (y/n/q) [n]: n

Reading attributes file...

Reading newsgroups file...

Group Selection (news.gate.net 37 R)

1 67 comp.lang.rexx The REXX command language.

2 202 comp.sys.palmtops Super-powered calculators in the

3 319 misc.health.diabetes Discussion of diabetes management

4 97 comp.sys.handhelds Handheld computers and programmables

I choose to look at comp.sys.palmtops by using my cursor keys to move down to the second group and hit enter. I can now see the titles of the available articles along with the number of responses that I have not read yet.

comp.sys.palmtops (111T 202A 0K 0H R)

1 + 6 When was your HP calc made? Lawrence *The Dreamer

2 + 2 Portfolio files HELP! swaan@skyfox.usask

3 + Difference between HP200LX 1MB & 2MB Pradeep Chetal

4 + 2 zip.com Tom Hoover

5 + 2 Buy my HP95LX Please! Marc B. Grant 6 + 2 Differences Between SRAM & Flash Ram David Feustel

7 + Question re 200LX version of 123 David Feustel

8 + Difference between HP200LX 1MB & 2MB Mark Simms

9 + Is there a 200LX Connectivity Pack yet? Mark Simms

10+ Looking for Digital Clock for HP100LX Viczian Gergely

<n>=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select, a)uthor search, c)atchup, j=line down, k=line up, K=mark read, l)ist thread, |=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r=toggle all/unread, s)ave, t)ag, w=post

I select the first article by hitting the enter key and can read the article.

Reading...

Fri, 07 Oct 1994 17:27:49 comp.sys.palmtops Thread 1 of 111 Lines 36 Re: When was your HP calc made? 5 Responses lawrence@combdyn.com Lawrence *The Dreamer* Chen at Combustion Dynamics Ltd.

In article<371t16$itn@ccu2.auckland.ac.nz>mdw@ccu1.auckland.ac.nz(Woodhams) >wolfrum@radium.informatik.uni-bonn.de (Stefan Wolfrum) writes:

>

>[Decoding HP100LX serial numbers]

>

>>SG41400722 (that's mine)

>

>>we found out the following: It's two letters for the country (SG), >>one digit for the year (4=1994), two digits for the week (here week 14) >>and a five digits serial number (here unit 722 in week 14 of 1994).

>

>For HP calculators (e.g. my HP48SX 3127S01615) it is 31 = 31 years >since 1960 (i.e. 1991) 27 = week 27, S = manufactured in Singapore (as [1299/2398]

<n>=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select, a)uthor search, B)ody search, c)atchup, f)ollowup, K=mark read, |=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r)eply mail, s)ave, t)ag, w=post

After reading all my new articles I decide to get some files so, back at the command prompt I start FTP by typing ftp followed by an internet address where I know there are some palmtop files. When the site responds I login with an ID of "anonymous" and my Email address as a password.

/u1/pcbob>ftp ftp.cc.monash.edu.au Connected to brother.cc.monash.edu.au.

220 brother.cc.monash.edu.au FTP server (Version wu-2.4(4) Mon Aug 15

Name (ftp.cc.monash.edu.au:pcbob): anonymous

331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.

Password: pcbob@gate.net

230----------------------------

230-Local time is Mon Oct 17 11:42:15 1994

230-You are 31 out of 60 FTP connections in your class.

230-All email regarding this ftp site to steve@cc.monash.edu.au

230----------------------------

230

230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.

Once I get connected I need to use the pwd command to see what directory I am in.

ftp> pwd

257 "/" is current directory.

Now, I use the cd command to go to the pub/palmtop directory. I found out about this location by reading about it in an article in the comp.sys.palmtops NewsGroup.

ftp> cd pub/palmtop

250 CWD command successful.

Once I get to the right directory I issue the dir command to get a listing of what files are available.

ftp> dir

200 PORT command successful.

150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.

total 3083

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 4170 Jul 21 16:08 100buddy.README

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 16794 Jul 21 16:08 100grf.lzh

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 867 Jul 21 16:08 sethp9.lzh

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 68409 Jul 21 16:08 shass.zip

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 3555 Jul 21 16:08 turbo.zip

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 115912 Jul 21 16:08 vr100.zip

-rw-r--r-1 jwb system 7680 Jul 21 16:09 zoom.lzh

226 Transfer complete.

Having heard about the TURBO.ZIP <Available ON DISK> programs in The HP Palmtop Paper, I decide to get the file. Since it is a program, and in fact an archive of programs, I first set FTP to binary mode with the binary command.

ftp> binary

200 Type set to I.

OK, all set, now I issue the get command and retrieve the file.

ftp> get turbo.zip

200 PORT command successful.

150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for turbo.zip (3555 bytes).

226 Transfer complete.

3555 bytes received in 13.43 seconds (0.2584 Kbytes/s)

Enough for now, so I finish up with the quit command, and I am back at CyberGate. Did you notice the last two letters in the address ftp.cc.monash.edu.au. The "au" tells me that I just transferred a file from halfway around the world since au stands for Australia.

ftp> quit

221 Goodbye.

/u1/pcbob>

Back at CyberGate, I use the Pine program to quickly check my mail. Pine gives me a menu which allows me to look at a list of my mail, compose new mail, maintain an address book, and many other things.

/u1/pcbob>pine

PINE 3.90 MAIN MENU <mail/[]> (CLOSED) 0 Msgs

? HELP Get help using Pine

C COMPOSE MESSAGE Compose and send/post a message

I FOLDER INDEX View messages in current folder

L FOLDER LIST Select a folder OR news group to view

A ADDRESS BOOK Update address book

S SETUP Configure or update Pine

Q QUIT Exit the Pine program

Copyright 1989-1994. PINE is a trademark of the University of Washington.

? Help P PrevCmd R RelNotes

O OTHER CMDS L [ListFldrs] N NextCmd K KBLock

[Folder "INBOX" opened with 374 messages]

Not finding any thing I want to read now, I quit Pine.

PINE 3.90 FOLDER INDEX Folder: INBOX Message 1 of 374 NEW

N 1 Oct 10 Rosa Delano (3,056) Re: Wanted: mentors on issues/controv

N 2 Oct 10 Bob Legnini (2,092) Re: Dating with DM...Help!

N 3 Oct 10 Bob Legnini (1,132) New Type I list

N 4 Oct 11 Bob Legnini (2,096) Re: Answer to Arturo about islet cel

N 5 Oct 12 Bob Legnini (1,449) Dental interference

N 6 Oct 12 Bob Legnini (1,364) Re: Exercise

N 7 Oct 12 Bob Legnini (1,178) Re: Syringes & Ha1C results

N 8 Oct 13 Bob Legnini (1,669) Re: Answer to Arturo about Humanisti ? Help M Main Menu P PrevMsg PrevPage D Delete R Reply

O OTHER CMDS V [ViewMsg] N NextMsg Spc NextPage U Undelete F Forward

/u1/pcbob>

Finally, I decide to use Telnet to log into another remote system. For this example I will log back into CyberGate, from CyberGate, just to show you the use of Telnet.

I issue the command Telnet, providing the address of the remote site. Telnet then accesses the remote computer and "Logs In". I then have to type in my UserID and Password and I am in.

/u1/pcbob>telnet cyber.gate.net

Trying...

Connected to cyber.gate.net.

Escape character is '^]'.

telnet (inca)

IBM AIX Version 3.2.5 for RISC System/6000 34H (C) 1991

login: pcbob

pcbob's Password:

Welcome to CyberGate, Inc.

To read system news, Type "new" *

Introductory classes are held in Deerfield Beach on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Please call for reservations.

We have a separate account for billing inquiries. Please send all questions concerning billing to 'billing@gate.net' Thank-you.

We now have a number local to Lakeland: 813-752-5387. For a complete list of our access numbers type "phones".

The last "How to do Business on the Internet" seminar co-sponsored by CyberGate will be held on Nov. 3 at the Miami Airport Marriott (9am 4pm) Advanced registration is a must. For more info type seminar at the prompt.

Last unsuccessful login:Wed Sep 28 06:31 EDT 1994 on ts1.gate.net Last login: Mon Oct 10 00:25:49 EDT 1994 on pts/1 from ts1.gate.net You have new mail.

Enough surfing for now, time to logout and call it a day.

/u1/pcbob>logout