                             THE BIG DUMMY UPDATE
                             ====================
                            Number 2 - April, 1994
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           An online publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
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CONTENTS:

1. Just the fax, ma'am
    1.1 TPC - The Phone Company
    1.2 Chickening out in Ontario
    1.3 Faxinet - commercial faxing
    1.4 When things go wrong
    1.5 FYI
2. Downloading Usenet articles
    2.1 Directories
    2.2 Saving the articles
    2.3 Getting the articles
    2.4 ASCII and ye shall receive
    2.5 When things go wrong
3. Archie and Veronica meet the Web
    3.1 Searching via Switzerland
    3.2 Searching via Texas
4. Services of the Month
    4.1 Gopher
    4.2 FTP
    4.3 World-Wide Web
    4.4 Mailing lists
5. Public-access Internet sites
6. Changes/errata
7. Big Dummy goes into print!  Can movie deal be far behind?
8. Contact info

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1.  JUST THE FAX, MA'AM

Yes, the Internet is by far the world's largest computer network.  But 
not everybody's connected to it -- yet.  Thanks to some Internet 
pioneers, however, you can now extend the reach of the Net to people who 
still rely on fax machines.  These services take an e-mail message from 
you and turn it into a fax message delivered to the fax number you 
specify (you can even get fancy and send images to a fax machine). Two 
are free, and so far only allow you to send faxes, and then not 
everywhere.  The other is a commercial venture that says you can send a 
fax almost anywhere and has devised a system for letting you receive 
images of a fax across the Internet as well. 

1.1  TPC - THE PHONE COMPANY 

In 1993, Carl Malamud, founder of the Internet Multicasting Service 
(which now provides everything from a half-hour talk show broadcast over 
the Internet to databases of patent and SEC information) and Marshall 
Rose, a computer consultant, created a mechanism for translating Internet 
e-mail messages into faxes.  Today, you can reach a number of 
metropolitan areas in the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Korea, 
Portugal, New Zealand and the United Kingdom via their service. 

TPC depends on a series of volunteers, from individuals to large 
corporations, who have agreed to provide Internet-to-fax services in a 
given geographic area.  Technically, TPC is an experiment at this point; 
one of the issues Malamud and Rose are looking at for the long term is 
how to make the system pay for itself.

Sending a fax via TPC is as easy as sending an e-mail message, with the 
exception of figuring out the e-mail address to use for a given fax, 
which, to an outsider, looks awfully bizarre.

First, you want to get a TPC coverage list to see if the person you want 
to reach is in an area served by TPC.  Send an e-mail message to tpc-
coverage@town.hall.org (it doesn't really matter what you say in the 
message; "send info" works fine).  You'll get back a list showing the 
metropolitan areas now covered, as well as, in many cases, the specific 
exchanges within those areas you can reach. Assuming the person you want 
to reach is in one of these areas, you're ready to go. 

At least to start, it'll help to have a piece of paper. Write down the 
long-distance telephone number for the person's fax machine, including 
the country code, if any. For example, in the U.S. or Canada, that would 
be of the form 1-508-555-1212.  Do NOT include whatever digits you 
normally dial just to get an international line (for example, 011 in the 
U.S.) Strip out any hyphens, so that you get, for example, 15085551212.  
Now reverse it, to get 21215555081.  Then put periods between all those, 
to get 2.1.2.1.5.5.5.5.0.8.1.  Now add tpc.int, to get 
2.1.2.1.5.5.5.5.0.8.1.tpc.int.  And now you're finished with the part of 
the address to the right of the @ sign! 

The left half of the address will look something like this: remote-
printer.John_Doe/5th_floor.  This is actually a clever way to have a 
cover sheet printed for your fax. All TPC addresses start with "remote-
printer."  The next part, as you can see, is the name of the person you 
want to reach.  Since you can't have spaces in an Internet address, 
always separate the names with a _. A TPC fax server interprets a / as a 
message to move to the next line on the cover page.  So put all this 
together, and you get: 

remote-printer.John_Doe/5th_floor2.1.2.1.5.5.5.5.0.8.1.tpc.int.  

Phew!  But it works!  Now compose your e-mail message and send it to the 
address you've just created. Once your fax is delivered, you'll even get a 
confirmation notice via e-mail.  If you have addresses you plan to write 
to more than once, it would make eminent sense to put them in your Pine 
or Elm address book.  Speaking of Pine, you can use its ability to 
forward message attachments to send graphics as part of the fax.  See 
under FYI to see how to get information on this. 

1.2 CHICKENING OUT IN ONTARIO

Digital Chicken in Toronto bills itself as: "an experiment in government 
communications, and international remote printing and faxing."  What that 
means is that you can use the service to send faxes to any number of 
government agencies, members of parliament, newspapers, radio and TV 
stations and even public libraries in Ontario. 

The system is easier to use than TPC's because there is no backwards 
writing of fax numbers. Instead, Robert Riley, who rules the roost at DC 
(along with Planet Communications and Computing), has set up a series of 
e-mail nicknames for people and agencies reachable via his service, under 
the Chicken Internet domain:  chicken.planet.org.  If, for example, you 
wanted to send a fax to Chief McCormack of the Metro Toronto Police, 
you'd send an e-mail message to mccormac@chicken.planet.org.  At Digital 
Chicken, your e-mail would be converted into a fax image and sent to the 
chief's fax machine. There's no reverse way for the chief to respond, 
however, so include your phone number or address if you want a reply. 

You can get a complete list of the agencies, etc. covered by Digital 
Chicken by writing to Riley at riley@chicken.planet.org.  He can also 
provide instructions on sending graphics and other images via the system. 

1.3 FAXINET  - COMMERCIAL FAXING

AnyWare Associates of Boston provides a for-fee service called Faxinet 
that's similar to that of TPC. Two major differences (beyond the obvious 
fact that you have to pay them):  Their service covers far more countries 
and cities, and they say that people with fax machines can write back to 
you. 

The company has an individual plan that costs $20 to set up and then 75 
cents per page for delivery to U.S. fax machines.  Corporate rates start 
at $35 to set up and $9.95 a month to maintain, with a charge of 49 cents 
a page for faxes delivered within the U.S.  In both cases, charges are 
higher for faxes to other countries. The company also offers related 
services, for example, you can have them scan and store a copy of your 
letterhead and signature to be appended to all outgoing faxes.

As with TPC, you can also send graphics or images.  For more information, 
call (617) 522-8102 or write sales@awa.com.

1.4 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

* You get back an error message that your fax could not be delivered.

With TPC, that could mean one of two things.  Either you tried sending a 
fax to an area not covered by TPC or you made a mistake converting the 
fax number into a TPC address. Double-check both the list of TPC coverage 
areas and the address you created.

1.5 FYI

TPC (which gets its name from the 1967 movie "The President's Analyst") 
maintains a mailing list to discuss the project.  To get on it, send your 
request to  tpc-rp-request@aarnet.edu.au.  To get more detailed 
information on TPC, send a message to tpc-faq@town.hall.org. 


2.  DOWNLOADING USENET ARTICLES

2.1  DIRECTORIES

One of the nice features of many public-access Internet sites is the 
ability to store messages and files until you're ready to retrieve them.  
But then how do you get them? 

The following assumes you are connecting to a Unix public-access site 
that allows you access to its underlying Unix functions (if you use rn or 
nn, chances are you are on such a site).  For other systems, please ask 
your system administrator for advice. 

Basic to what follows is the concept of a home directory.  When you dial 
into your public-access site and get a command prompt, you are put in 
your home directory.  When you retrieve a file from an ftp, Gopher or 
World-Wide Web server, the file will end up here (assuming you have not 
changed directories for some reason).  As on an MS-DOS or Unix system, 
you can create sub-directories off this home directory (if you are used 
to Macintoshes, think of it as creating a folder within a folder).  In 
fact, many systems will automatically create a sub-directory called Mail, 
which is where you will find messages if you hit the wrong key while 
exiting a mail program such as elm. If you use a Usenet reader such as 
rn, you will find another sub-directory called News.  Retrieving a file 
from your public-access site to your home computer takes two steps.  One 
is getting it into one of your directories in the first place (for 
example, by getting a file through ftp).  Then comes the actual 
transferring from your host system to your own computer.  We'll look at 
how to do that in detail for Usenet this month.  Next month, we'll look 
at e-mail and files from remote sites (although the general principals 
are the same as those you'll read about now).

2.2  SAVING THE ARTICLES

Let's say there is an article in Usenet you want to save to your home 
computer.  There are a couple of ways to do this.  One would be to use 
your own telecommunication's logging or screen-capture function to 
capture the text as it scrolls down the screen.  This method is good if 
there's just one or two articles you want to save.  

But what if there are a whole lot of messages on a particular topic you 
want to download, or if you want to temporarily store them online before 
getting them? It might make sense to save them all to one file that you 
then download (note for you MS-DOS folks: be sure to name the file 
something you're computer can handle, for example, manual.txt, rather 
than something it can't, such as computer.manual.txt).

To do this in rn, hit a lower-case s while in the article.  You'll be 
given a default file name in which to save the article.  You can either 
use that or type in your own name. Hit enter, and you'll be asked if you 
want to save the article "in mailbox format."  Hitting y or n here makes 
little practical difference unless, for some reason, you later want to 
view the article from within elm or some other mail program.  The article 
will then be saved in a file in your News directory.  To save another 
article to that file, repeat the process, and make sure you use the same 
file name.  The article will be appended to the end of the file you 
created.

To do this in nn, hit a capital S while in the article.  You'll get 
something like this:

     Save on (+~|) +alt/internet/services

If you hit enter a couple of times, the file will be saved. But note 
those backslashes.  That means you'll actually be creating a series of 
Unix sub-directories in addition to a file (in the example above, you'd 
be creating a directory path called alt/internet in which you'd save the 
file called services).  This can be a pain!  Instead, backspace as far as 
you can and type in whatever you want to call the file.  Now hit enter a 
couple of times, and the file will be saved in your home directory.  
Repeat for other articles until done.
          
2.3  GETTING THE ARTICLES

So how do you get this thing home?  First you have to tell your host 
system that you want to transfer, or download, the file. If your 
telecommunications program has Zmodem, that's all you'll have to do -- 
the downloading will then start automatically.  If you are using 
something like Xmodem, Ymodem or Kermit, however, you'll then have to 
tell your own computer to get ready to receive a file.  To start a Zmodem 
download in Unix, type

     sz filename

where "filename" is the file you want and hit enter.  With Zmodem (and 
also batch-Ymodem), you can initiate several downloads at once by either 
typing in a series of filenames after 'sz' (for example: sz file1 file2) 
or by using Unix wildcards (which are very similar to MS-DOS wildcards; 
for example, sz man* would send you manual1, manual2 and manoman.txt).
If you use Ymodem, the command would be in the form

     sz -k filename

while if you want to use Xmodem, it would be

     sx filename

Note that in Xmodem, you have to issue an sx command for each file you 
want.

Now you rn users, recall how the files you created were being stored in 
your News directory.  That means that to get them, you'd have to type 
something like:

     sz News/filename

Otherwise, you'll get some error message.

2.4 ASCII AND YE SHALL RECEIVE

That was easy, wasn't it?  Alas, it can get more complicated.  Unix, MS-
DOS and Macintosh computers all handle the end of lines of text 
differently.  That means that when you download a text file (such as a 
collection of Usenet postings), it could look awfully odd on your 
computer, to the point of being almost unreadable.  There are a couple of 
ways to handle this.  One is to use an ASCII "flag" after sz (or sx or 
sz -k). If you're lucky, your public-access site and your own computer 
will be able to figure out that you need to have the line endings 
translated.  The command would look like this: 

     sz -a filename

or
     sz -ka filename

etc.

If you still get weird results, most Unix systems have a translator 
program that can put the proper line endings in.  Typing 

     unix2dos file.txt file.txt

would convert file.txt into a valid MS-DOS file.  A similar program 
called unix2mac works the same for Macintoshes.

2.5 WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

* Nothing happens or you get a lot of garbage on your screen when you try 
to download a file with Zmodem.

Unfortunately, transferring files over high-speed modems can still 
sometimes be troublesome. Diagnosing and fixing the problem often means 
tinkering with settings either on your end (for example, if your modem 
supports hardware "handshakes" but your telecom program is set for 
software "handshakes"); the public-access site's end (with various flags) 
or both.  The best thing to do when having problems is to send e-mail to 
your system administrator or post a message in your site's "general" or 
"help" newsgroup if there is one.   If you're having a problem, chances 
are somebody else has gone through the same thing and can help out.  It 
would probably make sense to include the type of modem you're using and 
the speed at which it connects.


3.  ARCHIE AND VERONICA MEET THE WEB

3.1  SEARCHING VIA SWITZERLAND

Was it only last month that your faithful Big Dummy was busy proclaiming 
that there were no Archie or Veronica-style search mechanisms on the 
World-Wide Web? 

Well, although there may not yet be a Web-wide search standard (as 
veronica is to gopher), there are some experimental search tools out 
there that could help you find things. At least one of them might be 
worth putting into your Web bookmark list (see Big Dummy Update No. 1 for 
more details on this). 

One of the easiest to use is run by the University of Geneva's Centre 
Universitaire d'Informatique.  Connect to it, via Lynx or Mosaic, at:
 
     http://cui_www.unige.ch/w3catalog

You'll get an intro screen.  As soon as you do, hit a lower-case s to get 
a prompt for a keyword.  Type the word or topic you're looking for and 
hit enter.  Assuming the system finds any hits, you'll then get a 
standard Web screen listing all the entries that apply.

3.2 SEARCHING VIA TEXAS

The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. also runs an 
experimental search tool.  It offers you greater choices in searching (in 
addition to Web resources, you can also hunt for things on Gopher), but 
is more difficult to use with Lynx (Mosaic users should have no problems, 
because of the way they can click on options with their mouse).  You'll 
find it at:

     http://galaxy.einet.net/

Once you get there, scroll down a page or two.  Eventually, you'll get a 
search form.  But don't click on "Search" right after you type in the 
word you're looking for!  First, go down another page and tell the system 
where you want to look (you can choose everywhere, only the Web, only 
Gopher, etc.)  You can also specifiy how many occurrences you want to 
see for each search.  Then, go back to the line with your keyword and use 
your down arrow (or mouse) to get to "Search."  Hit enter, and you'll 
then get a Web page of items that match your keyword.


4.  SERVICES OF THE MONTH

The U.S. Census Bureau went online in a big way last month, 
simulataneously launching World-Wide Web, Gopher and ftp servers, with 
the respective addresses of www.census.gov; gopher.census.gov; and 
ftp.census.gov.  You'll find all sorts of press releases and abstracts of 
Census reports.  What you won't find are detailed numbers from the 1990 
census.  However, the Web and Gopher systems do let you connect to other 
servers that do provide this sort of information.

4.1 GOPHER

CURRENCY

gopher.uni-paderborn.de   You can look up the daily value of various
4234                      European currencies against the ECU, a trade
                          unit used by the European Community.  At the
                          main menu, select "Database Searches," then
                          look for "Info: Current ECU rates" (you may
                          have to go to the second page).  Note: You
                          will have to include the 4324 when 
                          connecting to this site.

MARYLAND                

seymour.md.gov           Look under "Maryland State Information" for a
                         a variety of government info, from public-TV
                         schedules to directories of state agencies.

4.2 FTP

BLACK AND AFRICAN RESOURCES

ftp.netcom.com  Look in the pub/amcgree/african/my_african_related_lists
directory for pointers to resources and information available via the 
Internet.

INTERNET 

ftp.farces.com   The Ventana Press Electronic Visitors Center contains 
Internet freeware and shareware programs mentioned in Ventana Press's 
Internet Tour Guide series, as well as general Internet news.

ZINES

ftp.netcom.com   Look in the pub/johnl/zines directory for e-zine-list.  
This lists dozens of online zines, or publications that you likely will 
never find at your corner newsstand.

4.3 WORLD-WIDE WEB

NOTE:  To use the World-Wide Web most effectively, you'll need access to 
a "browser" program such as Mosaic or Lynx (see Big Dummy Update No. 1 
for information on Lynx).

CHICAGO

http://www.psych.nwu.edu/biancaTroll/chicago/chicago.html  Welcome to 
BiancaTroll's Chicago Smut-Shack, which features an unusual guide to 
Chicago's points of interest, from nightclubs and restaurants to the best 
places to get beer at 3 a.m. or crushed red peppers anytime.  You can 
also see what's on Bianca's coffee table on a given day or even 
electronically scrawl some grafitti on her bathroom wall.

ECONOMICS/FINANCES

http://riskweb.bus.utexas.edu/finweb.htm   The beginnings of a Web-based 
guide to databases and other resources of interest to those with an 
interest in finances.

LAW

http://venable.com/vbh.html  Venable, Batejer, Howard and Civiletti is a 
Washington, D.C. law firm.  Their Web server includes online newsletters 
on various legal topics.

PATENTS

http:/town.hall.org/patent/patent.html.  This database, developed by the 
Internet Multicasting Service, lets you search for U.S.-issued patents 
from 1994 on.

4.4 MAILING LISTS 

A couple of mailing lists will provide you with an eclectic mix of 
information dug up on the Internet by intrepid cybersurfers. 

Fishnet describes itself as "A Weekly Compendium of Assorted Discoveries 
Found in the Crannies of the Internet.'' Subscribe by sending a request 
to fishnet-request@cs.washington.edu. 

The Red Rock Eater News Service is a similar mailing list "containing 
whatever RRE's editor, Phil Agre, finds interesting on his travels around 
the Internet.  These days  most of the messages concern the social and 
political aspects of computers, but others concern linguistic sociology 
and anthropology, classical and medieval scholarship, environmental 
controversies, cognitive science, and community and labor organizing." To 
subscribe, send a message to rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu.  As your 
"subject:" line, write: 

     subscribe Your Name

substituting your first and last name for "Your Name."  Don't send 
anything within the message itself. For more help, send a message with a 
subject line of:  help


5.  PUBLIC-ACCESS INTERNET SITES

These are either changes to listings in the Big Dummy's Guide to the 
Internet or entirely new sites. Providers listed here all offer, at a 
minimum, access to electronic mail, Usenet, telnet, gopher and ftp.  
Additional services are noted.

CALIFORNIA

Concord/Walnut Creek. CCnet. Unix and menu. Modem number (510)
988-7140. $15 setup. Flat fee of $18 a month for unlimited usage with 
credit card billing. Voice: (510) 988-0680. 

FLORIDA

Clearwater.  Intelligence Network Online.  Call voice number for modem 
number.  $29 set-up fee; $29 a month.  Voice: (813) 442-0114.

Southeast Florida.  Satelnet, (305) 434-7340. Follow log-in prompts to 
set up account.  $17 a month or $60 for four months.

ILLINOIS

Naperville/Hoffman Estates.  XNet. (708) 983-6435 (Naperville); (708) 
882-1101.  $45 for three months or $75 for six months.  Voice: (708_ 983-
6064.

NORTH CAROLINA

Raleigh.  NandO Net.  Call voice number for modem number.  Menus.  Access 
to archives of the Raleigh News and Observer. $30 a month, for up to five 
accounts per household.  Voice: (919) 836-2808.

ONTARIO

Ottawa.  National Capital Freenet, (613) 564-3600.  Menus.  Free. Voice: 
(613) 788-3947.               


6. CHANGES/ERRATA

NOTE: Chapter numbers refer to chapters in the Big Dummy's Guide to the 
Internet.

Chapter 2. The correct domain for reaching somebody on GEnie is 
ge.geis.com, for example: user@ge.geis.com.  If you know GEnie users who 
want to send mail to you, tell them to go to the mail menu and create a 
mail message as they normally would. At the TO: prompt they can enter 
your address in this form: 

     YourID@YourAddress@INET#

For example: tomg@world.std.com@INET#

Chapter 6.  The correct e-mail address for submitting queries to the 
Knowbot Information Service "White Pages" is kis@cnri.reston.va.us.  You 
can also write to netaddress@sol.bucknell.edu.  See chapter 6 for more 
information on using the service. 

Chapter 7. The Library of Congress has changed the address for the ftp 
server for its online exhibits.  The new address is ftp.loc.gov.

Chapter 10. The ftp address for Brazilian news is correct, but the name 
of the file you need to get has changed.  It is now news.new for the 
day's news and news.old for previous days' news.        


7.  BIG DUMMY GOES INTO PRINT!  CAN MOVIE DEAL BE FAR BEHIND?

Yes, the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet will soon be available at a 
bookstore near you.  M.I.T. Press will put out the print version of the 
guide, which has now been available online for more than a year.  Look 
for it in early to mid-summer, with a cover price of $14.95.

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7. CONTACT INFO

The Big Dummy Update is published monthly by the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation, and is available by several routes.  To receive the 
newsletter by e-mail, send a message to big-dummy-update-request@eff.org 
As the message, write: add big-dummy-update (don't include your name). 
Current and back copies are available by anonymous ftp at ftp.eff.org in the 
pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy/Updates directory; by gopher at gopher.eff.org 
(select Net Info, then Big Dummy then Updates); and by WWW at 
http://www.eff.org/pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy/Updates/ 

To obtain a copy of the entire Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, use 
anonymous ftp to connect to ftp.eff.org and look in the 
/pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy directory, or use gopher to connect to 
gopher.eff.org and then select Net Info and then Big Dummy.  You'll find 
several versions for different types of computers.  The file bigdummy.txt 
is the generic ASCII version. 

For general information on the Electronic Frontier Foundation, send an e-
mail message to info@eff.org. To ask a specific question, write 
ask@eff.org. 
