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Beginner's Guide to UNIX on The World
This is the place to launch your journey into The World.
Designed specifically for the novice customer, this begin-
ner's guide provides details on how to use the basic services
available on The World.
To request a copy of this collection of documents to be sent
to you by postal mail, send your complete name and address
in an email message to Postal-Primer-Please.
The World offers a complete range of Internet services
including electronic mail (email), FTP, USENET, and World-
WideWeb (WWW). Other more advanced features of Internet are
available to you but are not described in this guide. As
the first provider of public access Internet services, The
World has a proven commitment to providing cost effective,
reliable network services for dialup customers of the Inter-
net community. In addition, we have established a reputa-
tion for providing outstanding customer support.
Software Tool & Die is a privately held corporation located
in Brookline, MA. An experienced, diverse, and dedicated
staff help to run The World. Our email address is
``support@TheWorld.com'' and our phone number is
800-THE-WRLD or 617-STD-WRLD. Our business hours (EDT) are
Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to midnight, Saturday and
Sunday, 10:00am to midnight. Feel free to contact us with
questions, problems, or suggestions.
The World
The World is a collection of computers providing Internet
services. The primary server is a Silicon Graphics Chal-
lenge XL with 24 CPUs (250 MHz R4400), 1.5 GB of main memory
and over 55GB of high speed disk space. The operating sys-
tem is SGI IRIX 6.2 which provides a complete complement of
software and utilities for use with UNIX and Internet ser-
vices. The World is connected to the Internet via multiple
high speed links (T1, 1.544Mbps) to the Alternet commercial
access network. On the dialup side, the World supports over
300 modems in numerous communities supporting all modem
speeds including 28.8k bps. In addition to the primary
server, the cluster includes a second SGI dedicated to
USENET newsgroups, and a Solbourne dedicated to email deliv-
ery.
What's In This Beginner's Guide
This document provides a detailed introduction to five basic
World services: electronic mail, file transfer, USENET, file
management, and using our on-line help system. The guide
will give you the fundamental skills necessary to interact
with The World and the Internet.
Electronic mail is the primary service used by the Internet
community. Your email messages will be sent all around the
world (the big round one) via the various computer networks.
The World (our computer) is directly connected to the
Internet, and provides immediate delivery and receipt of
your email messages.
File transfer is the service you will use to move documents
to and from your own computer and The World, as well as
between The World and other sites on the Internet. For
local host file transfer, The World supports zmodem, ymodem,
xmodem and kermit. For Internet file transfer, we discuss
the FTP program called NcFTP.
USENET is a system of newsgroups that manage discussions
between people from all over the world. You can read and
post articles, share ideas, exchange software and make
announcements in USENET. The worldwide electronic public
forum that USENET provides is one of the most attractive
features of the Internet.
File management is an essential skill for taking advantage
of The World. The operating system is called UNIX. The
handful of file management commands included in this guide
will quickly bring you up to speed on interacting with The
World. Since the Internet was built on UNIX computers and
remains predominantly a UNIX environment, these commands
will assist you as you explore other hosts and services
available on the Internet.
The WorldWideWeb (WWW), perhaps the trendiest of the Inter-
net services, provides a hypertext view of the Internet.
The final section of our guide provides a taste of using the
WWW by introducing The World's WWW help area. With the WWW
browser's powerful functionality, you can access The World's
customer support services quickly and easily. Using special
software, your local computer can also provide a graphical
view of the WWW.
Table of Contents
- Conventions Used In This Guide
- Connecting to The World
- Customer Support Services
- Electronic Mail - Using Pine
- Sending Email
- Reading Email
- Folders and Pine
- Address Book
- Sending Files with Email
- Receiving Files from Email
- Local File Transfer
- Downloading ASCII Files
- Uploading ASCII Files
- Downloading and Uploading Binary Files
- Using Kermit to Download and Upload Files
- Internet File Transfer
- NcFTP ASCII Transfer
- NcFTP Binary Transfer
- USENET - Using Tin
- Reading A Newsgroup
- Finding A Specific Newsgroup
- Reading A USENET Newsgroup
- Reading An Article
- Moving Between Levels
- Posting Articles
- Posting A Previously Prepared Article Using Pico
- Follow Up To An Already Posted Article
- Deleting A Posting
- File Management
- An Introduction to UNIX Commands
- The World's WWW (WorldWideWeb) Help System - Using Lynx
- The WWW Basics
- Quick List of Lynx Commands
- Using A WWW Graphical Browser
- The World's Command Reference Card
Throughout this guide are references to a variety of common-
place notions about working with computers that you should
be familiar with. Double quotes signify keywords and spe-
cial phrases. UNIX commands appear in boldface. Every UNIX
command requires a ``carriage return'' or ``enter'' stroke,
referred to as in this document. Commands that are
unique to a particular program are indicated by single
quotes, and may or may not require a for activa-
tion. Please refer to the appropriate section for discus-
sion of the use of the keystroke. Control
sequences will appear as ``Control-key'', and require that
you press the ``Control'' key and a letter simultaneously to
issue a command. A common shorthand notation for control
sequences in the Pine program is ``^x'', where ``x'' is the
character referenced in the command. Also keep in mind that
the capitalized word, World, refers to our computer system,
and the lower case word, world, refers to the big round one
that spins.
Before dialing into The World, make certain that your modem
and software configuration has been set properly. The World
supports communication settings of 8 data bits, no parity,
and 1 stop bit. Your terminal-emulation software must use
these settings to successfully communicate with The World.
The World also requires vt100 terminal-emulation mode for
World communications. The vt100 mode allows many of The
World's programs to obtain the full screen access that is
required for the program to function properly. Connecting
to The World with your modem, using these settings, should
work for you. If you have connection problems, please con-
tact our customer support staff via telephone at
800-THE-WRLD or 617-STD-WRLD or email at support@TheWorld.com. We have
extensive troubleshooting references that can help resolve
modem configuration problems, and we're happy to be of help
with this often confusing area.
When you dial into The World, a login procedure is begun
that contains the following elements. First, you are pre-
sented with some version of the following message:
Welcome to THE WORLD
Now using 8 bit, no parity settings!
login as ``new'' if you don't have an account
Connected to 192.203.74.1
IRIX System V.4 (world)
Welcome to The World - To create an account login as new, no password
login:
If you do not yet have an account, enter the login ``new''
at the prompt to initiate an account request. If you've
already obtained an account, enter your login name, or user-
name, at the login prompt. The World will then request your
password and, once the password has been accepted, display
the welcome message:
Last login: Tue Apr 25 22:57:49 from shell.theworld.com
Welcome to The World! An 8 x 200MHZ CPU SGI Challenge XL
(@) For a look at TODAY on the WORLD type 'help today'
(@) For customer assistance by email: support@TheWorld.com
By phone: 800-THE-WORLD/617-STD-WRLD
By USENET: wstd.general and wstd.help
By yourself: type 'help' for on-line help area
* For an up-to-date list of modem access numbers, type 'modems'.
You have mail.
TERM=(vt100)
The first line of the message is the date of your last login
session. The second line describes our SGI Challenge
machine. The next six lines are the ``motd'' (message of
the day), which includes important notices and is frequently
updated. Next, you are told whether you have received any
email messages. Finally, The World prompts you for your
terminal type. The default selection is ``vt100'' as dis-
cussed in the ``Connecting to The World'' section, above.
If your terminal-emulation software is set up properly, a
will be sufficient to set the UNIX terminal type
mode. If you have selected a higher terminal type in your
local host terminal-emulation software, that terminal type
must be entered here.
The following three elements of the login procedure, the
msgs program, fortune of the day, and email message summary,
are included on all new accounts by default. If you desire,
you may customize your login procedure to exclude any or all
of these elements. For instructions, please review the on-
line help document ``customizing-your-login'' under the
``File-Management'' topic.
The msgs program presents announcements that are intended
for the entire World community. The program requires that
you respond with a `y' to read through each announcement.
Once you have read an announcement, the program notes this
and will not redisplay it during future logins. If you are
not interested in a particular announcement, type `n' to
mark it as read and it will not be displayed during your
next login. If you choose not to read any of the announce-
ments presented, the command `q' will immediately exit the
msgs program.
Message 1:
From uunet!research.att.com!dmr Tue Oct 17 03:35:50 1989
Subject: printf
(3 lines) More? [ynq] y
Dennis Ritchie
-----
After msgs , The World displays a fortune of the day, which
is an randomly selected message from the humor database.
For example:
Lewis's Law of Travel:
The first piece of luggage out of the chute doesn't belong to anyone, ever.
Following the fortune of the day The World presents a sum-
mary of your email messages. The summary displays the
sender's name and the ``Subject:'' header for each email
message. The World`s command prompt, ``world%'' appears fol-
lowing the conclusion of the login procedure. The World's
command prompt indicates that the UNIX command line is pre-
sent and that only UNIX commands can be entered. The UNIX
operating system is case-sensitive, which means it responds
differently or not at all to commands issued in the wrong
case. Typically, UNIX commands must be issued in lowercase.
If your login name contains uppercase characters, it must be
typed as such for the login procedure to recognize you.
Each World customer has a unique login name, a private pass-
word, and a reserved disk area for storing files. For exam-
ple, customer Fred's login name is ``freduser'' and the
reserved disk area for Fred is /home/ie/freduser. Your disk
area is partially named with a foreign word for ``home'',
for example: /home/ie/login_name, /home/casa/login_name or
/home/foyer/login_name.
Your initial password was created by the account request
procedure. To modify this password, enter the UNIX command
passwd at The World's command prompt.
world% passwd
Changing password for freduser on world.
Old password:
New password:
Retype new password:
Passwords are not echoed on your computer screen. Further,
The World's staff can not determine what your password is.
However, if you happen to forget your password, a customer
support staff member can issue you a new one. Simply call
The World to make your request at 800-THE-WRLD/617-STD-WRLD.
The World is committed to providing quality customer support
services. To reach us by telephone call
800-THE-WRLD/617-STD-WRLD, or send an email message to
support@TheWorld.com. In addition, we also provide
extensive documentation on all of our ser- vices in our
on-line help area, as well as a variety of issues that
customers commonly seek information about. You may access
this area using the help command at The World's command
prompt:
world% help
The help command will call up the following display:
To view a topic, enter the name at the "Topic>" prompt. Many
topics have sub-topics to choose from. To return to The
World's command prompt, simply press and help will
exit.
When reading a help file and you see the word MORE on the
bottom of the screen, hit the space bar for the next page.
If you would like to interrupt the help file, type `q' to
get back to the "Topic>" prompt.
To become familiar with using the World, we recommend you
take a look at the files "Primer" and "HINTS". For further
assistance, send email to 'help' or call our staff at
800-THE-WRLD/617-STD-WRLD. Available help topics:
AGREEMENT food mail quota Welcome
BCS ftp misc rates World.Info
bmug games MUD software www
Books HINTS net-policies today yesterday
DOS internet newsgroups unix
Emacs INTRO obi usenet
FAQ IRC Phone.Info uunet
file-transfer Macintosh Primer weather
Topic>
The help area has built-in instructions on its use. The
``Primer'' is the electronic version of the document you are
reading right now. As you can see, an extensive array of
topics are available to you here. We encourage you to refer
to this help area for instructions on all of our services
and to the ``HINTS'' topic, in particular, for help resolv-
ing common problems. We present an overview of the most com-
monly used UNIX commands in the ``File Management'' section
below, but encourage you to refer to the help area's
``unix'' topic for the ``command-summary'' document if you
desire to learn additional ones.
If you are interested in further information about World
commands and utilities, use the extensive on-line manual.
Nearly every World command has a corresponding manual page
that provides detailed technical information on its use.
Use the World command man keyword where ``keyword'' is the
name of a World command or utility. To best understand what
the on-line manual has to offer you, try using man on
itself.
world% man man
In response to the tremendous popularity of the World Wide
Web (WWW), we are developing a new help area that is avail-
able from our WWW homepage. This new help area consists of
the same information found in our older help area, only it
is in html format and is easier to access. Please see the
final section of this document ``The World's WWW help sys-
tem'' for additional information.
Electronic mail, also known as email, is a primary service
of The World. Electronic mail is part of an internationally
linked network that allows people to exchange email directly
with other hosts on the Internet.
Your email address is ``your_login_name@TheWorld.com'',
where you substitute your World login name to the left of
the ``@'' sign. The World's complete name is TheWorld.com,
which is called an Internet domain name and uniquely identi-
fies our site on the international network. The domain is
``com'' for a commercial site and our network name is
``std'' for Software Tool & Die. The hostname of our site
is ``world''.
The World offers a variety of email programs. For new cus-
tomers we recommend Pine, a menu-driven program that was
developed at the University of Washington. To use Pine, you
must be using software that emulates a vt100 terminal.
Please see the ``Connecting to The World'' section, above,
for more information on establishing proper terminal-
emulation.
Pine is a sophisticated yet easy-to-use email program.
Unlike a command-driven operating system, Pine does not
require a to activate commands. Pine commands will
execute as soon as you make a keystroke. In addition, Pine
is not case sensitive. Both upper-case commands and lower-
case commands perform the same functions within the Pine
menus.
To start Pine, type the command pine at The World's command
prompt.
world% pine
You'll notice that the very top line of the Pine window dis-
plays the current mode. Each mode corresponds to an email
function. There is a ``Compose Message'' mode, for sending
email, a ``View Mail'' mode, for reading email, a ``Mail
Index'' mode, for displaying an index of email messages, and
an ``Address Book'' mode, for managing an on-line address
book. Here's the sample top line for the ``Main Menu''
mode:
PINE 3.89 MAIN MENU Folder: INBOX 1 Message
On the far left is the version number of Pine being used on
The World, followed by the title of the current screen,
``Main Menu''. The title is followed by the name of the
mailbox folder, called inbox, and on the far right of the
top line is the number of messages that are in this mailbox.
New email messages are kept in the ``inbox'' file. The rest
of the Pine window contains the commands available to you
from the ``Main Menu'':
? HELP - Get help using Pine
C COMPOSE MESSAGE - Compose and send a message
I FOLDER INDEX - View messages in current folder
L FOLDER LIST - Select a folder to view
A ADDRESS BOOK - Update address book
S SETUP - Configure or update Pine
Q QUIT - Exit the Pine program
Your command menu choices will always be presented in the
bottom two lines of a Pine window. The following is a brief
summary of the commands associated with the ``Main Menu''
mode:
? Help Q Quit L ListFldrs I Index S Setup
O OTHER CMDS C Compose G GotoFldr A AddrBook
When you select a menuitem, the top line of the window will
be updated to display the new function mode you've chosen.
Likewise, the command menu will be updated to display the
commands available in that mode. Of course, depending on
which function you select, a new window altogether may be
presented.
Pine has two styles of commands. Most commands are acti-
vated by typing the single letter of the command. In some
cases, the commands are preceded by ``^'', a control com-
mand. To enter these commands, press the ``Control'' key
and the character shown simultaneously. Check the menu
selections to avoid confusion between single character com-
mands and control character commands.
To return to the World's UNIX command line, enter the com-
mand `Q' for quit. This will exit Pine and return you to
The World's command prompt.
The Pine command `C', for Compose, will put you into the
``Compose Message'' mode where you can compose and send mes-
sages. Once inside this area, Pine's top line will display:
PINE 3.89 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: INBOX 2 Messages
An electronic mail message must have a header. This header
is similar to the information presented on the front of a
traditional postal envelope. The computer uses the informa-
tion in the header to determine where to send the message.
Enter the recipient's email address in the ``To:'' field.
You can mail a single message to multiple people by listing
each address in the ``To:'' field with a comma separating
them. To send a carbon copy of the message to another per-
son, enter that person's email address in the ``Cc:'' field.
The ``Attchmnt:'' field can only be used for special purpose
MIME email messages. Refer to the ``Sending Files With
Email'' section, below, for details.
Use the final header field, ``Subject'', to tell the recipi-
ent of your message what the message subject is. When you
login to your account, a list of all the email messages
you've received will appear, listed by the ``From:'' and
``Subject:'' fields, to help you identify the contents of
each one.
To best way to learn how to use Pine is to practice sending
a message to yourself. Enter your email address at the
``To:'' prompt, and anything you wish at the ``Subject:''
prompt. To keep examples clear, let's have Fred User follow
along, also sending himself his first message.
To : Fred User
Cc :
Attchmnt:
Subject : my first message
----- Message Text -----
Pine will automatically look up your login name and replace
it with your full name, and then convert your email address
to the format ``<address>''. This will occur when you
enter email addresses of other World customers as well. For
email addresses of people at other hosts (non-World
customers) Pine cannot display the full name, and the
address formats will remain unchanged.
The command menu will now show the commands available in
``Compose Message'' mode, all of which are preceded by a
``^'' character, to indicate control character commands.
Here is a sample of the two line command summary which
appears on the bottom of the screen:
^G Get Help ^C Cancel ^R Rich Hdr ^K Del Line ^O Postpone
^X Send ^D Del Char ^J Attach ^U UnDel Line
In addition, the commands `Control-N' (next line) and `Con-
trol-P' (previous line) can be used to move around the
header. If you need to modify a recipient's email address
while composing a message, for instance, use the `Control-P'
command to return to the header portion of the message. A
full list of commands is provided when the help command,
`Control-G', is issued.
To : Fred User
Cc :
Attchmnt:
Subject : my first message
----- Message Text -----
I am sending this message to myself.
--Fred
Be careful to note that the command menu will change as soon
as you move the cursor from the header section to the mes-
sage text section. Additional functions for text editing
are available when entering message text.
^G Get Help ^C Cancel ^R Read File ^Y Prev Pg ^K Cut Text ^O Postpone
^X Send ^J Justify ^W Where is ^V Next Pg ^U UnCut Text ^T To AddrBk
To send a message, use the command `Control-X' which will
prompt you ``Send message? [y]''. Enter `y' to send it, or
`n' to continue composing. To cancel the message, enter
`Control-C' and Pine will ask for confirmation before
aborting the message.
The first time you send a message using Pine, it will ask
you the following question:
Folder "sent-mail" doesn't exist. Create? (y/n) [y]:
Answer `y'. Pine will automatically save a copy of every
email message you send. The default folder for saving mes-
sages is named ``sent-mail''. By responding with `y', Pine
will send the message, save a copy in the ``sent-mail''
folder and return you to the ``Main Menu'' mode.
If you receive a new message, Pine will ``beep'' and display
a portion of the header that includes the name or address of
the sender and part of the ``Subject'' line. For example:
[New mail! From Fred User concerning first message]
To read email in Pine, issue the command `I' to access the
``Folder Index'' at the ``Main Menu''. The index of mes-
sages in the ``inbox'' appears like this:
+ N 1 Aug 7 Fred User (430) Re: my first message
The number in parenthesis is the number of characters in the
message. This number includes the characters in the header
as well as the message text. The letter in the left column
``N'' indicates the message status is new, meaning it has
not been read. Selecting `V' will enter the ``View Mail''
mode. Here is the message that Fred has just sent to ``fre-
duser@TheWorld.com''.
PINE 3.89 MESSAGE TEXT Folder: INBOX Message 1 of 1 100%
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1992 19:00:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Fred User
Subj: my first message
To: Fred user
I am sending this message to myself.
--Fred
The top line of the window indicates which Pine mode is cur-
rently active. You'll notice the message number refers to
the message being viewed out of the total number of mes-
sages. The far right number informs you what percentage of
the message is being displayed. The commands available for
``Message Text'' mode are:
? Help M Main Menu P Prev Msg - Prev Page D Delete R Reply
O OTHER CMDS V ViewAttch N Next Msg Spc Next Page U Undelete F Forward
Once you have read a message, you may delete it using the
`D' command to mark the message. Messages that you mark for
deletion will not be deleted until you exit the Pine pro-
gram. Once you select `Q' to quit, Pine will ask if the
messages marked for deletion should be expunged. Answering
`y' will cause Pine to remove the deleted messages and
return to the UNIX command mode. Once messages have been
expunged, they are gone from the computer and may not be
retrieved.
Pine uses folders to organize and store messages. These
folders are kept in the ~your_login_name/mail subdirectory.
Unless you select an alternative folder name, Pine puts a
copy of every message that you send into your ``sent-mail''
folder. To examine folders from within Pine, enter the com-
mand `L' at the ``Main Menu''. A list of folders will
appear:
PINE 3.89 FOLDER LIST Folder: INBOX 1 Message
inbox sent-mail saved-messages
The folder ``inbox'' is the folder of new messages. The
folder ``sent-mail'' contains the copies of messages you
have sent. The folder ``saved-messages'' is the default
location for storing messages. To select a folder, enter
the command `G' to ``GOTO'' the folder name you want to
access.
GOTO folder :
Type the folder name ``sent-mail'' and Pine will provide an
index of message headers contained in the ``sent-mail''
folder. You may also use your arrow keys to select the
folder you want to examine. To access the ``inbox'' folder,
simply select the `G' command again and enter the folder
name, ``inbox''. You can add, delete, rename and search
through folders in this mode.
Now, why don't you try to compose a second email message and
save it to a new folder. Enter the ``Compose Message'' mode
and again address it to yourself. Like before, Fred will
follow along so we can demonstrate by example what you
should be doing. The header looks like this:
PINE 3.89 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: INBOX 2 Messages
To : ``Fred User''
Cc :
Subject :
----- Message Text -----
Select the command `Control-R' to add two additional header
fields that you may find useful. One is the ``Bcc:'' (Blind
carbon copy) field and the other is the ``Fcc:'' (Folder
carbon copy) field.
PINE 3.89 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: INBOX 2 Messages
To : ``Fred User''
Cc :
Bcc :
Fcc : sent-mail
Subject :
----- Message Text -----
Notice that the folder name ``sent-mail'' appears on the
``Fcc:'' field automatically. Next, position the cursor on
the ``Fcc:'' field and enter the command `Control-T' to
obtain a list of current folders:
PINE 3.89 FCC: SELECT FOLDER bb Folder: sent-mail 1 Message
inbox sent-mail saved-messages
You are now in ``Fcc: Select Folder'' mode. Enter the com-
mand `S' to select the folder ``my-messages''. Pine will
switch back to the ``Compose Message'' mode where the newly
created and selected folder is listed on the ``Fcc:'' line.
PINE 3.89 COMPOSE MESSAGE Folder: my-messages 6 Messages
To : ``Fred User''
Cc :
Bcc :
Fcc : my-messages
Subject :
----- Message Text -----
Once you finish composing the message, Pine will confirm
that the message has been saved in the new folder. If you
do not want to save copies of an email message, remove the
folder name from the ``Fcc:'' field and a copy of the email
message will not be kept.
The biggest drawback to Internet email is that it lacks a
comprehensive directory of email addresses. You can build
your own list of email addresses over time as you partici-
pate in the email community. However, such a list can
become long, complicated, and difficult to keep track of.
Pine offers an address book feature that is easy-to-use and
allows you to create nicknames for frequently used email
addresses that you use often. To access this feature,
select command `A' at the ``Main Menu''. Initially, the
address book will be empty:
PINE 3.89 ADDRESS BOOK Folder: INBOX Message 0 of 0
No Addresses in Address Book.
The menuitems that appear at the bottom of the screen for
``Address Book'' mode, include:
? Help M Main Menu P PrevField - PrevPage D Delete S CreateList
o OTHER CMDS E (Edit) N NextField Spc NextPage A Add Z AddToList
Enter the command `A' to add a new address. Pine will ask
for the full name of the person, a nickname and the address.
A sample address book entry follows:
PINE 3.89 ADDRESS BOOK Folder: INBOX Message 1 of 2
mona Lisa, Mona mona@louvre.paris.france
The first column is the short nickname, the second the full
name and, finally, the actual email address for Mona Lisa.
From now on, you would need only specify the nickname mona,
and Pine will look up the corresponding email address when
addressing your message to Mona Lisa.
You may also create distribution lists in the Address Book
mode, using the `S' command. A distribution list allows you
to reference a collection of addresses using a single name.
Pine will ask for a descriptive name for the list, a nick-
name, and the individual email addresses for the people
included on the list. The following is a sample distribu-
tion list:
PINE 3.89 ADDRESS BOOK Folder: INBOX Message 1 of 2
mona Lisa, Mona mona@louvre.paris.france
composers famous composers DISTRIBUTION LIST:
bach@fugue.music
chopin@nocturne.music
mozart@concerto.music
After creating this address book entry, you need only
address the ``To:'' field to ``composers'' to direct a email
message to the associated group of people. Pine will sub-
stitute ``composers'' with all the email addresses on the
distribution list. Please note that a distribution list
that you create can only be used by you, and cannot be
shared with other World customers. Large, public distribu-
tion lists are available to you on a variety of topics, and
are called ``mailing lists''. If you are interested in
learning more about mailing lists, we encourage you to read
the information presented in the help area under the
``mail'' topic.
The most convenient feature of the Address Book is the abil-
ity to create an Address Book entry from the ``From:'' field
of a received message. For example, suppose you have just
received the following message and you are in the ``Message
Text'' mode:
PINE 3.89 MESSAGE TEXT Folder: INBOX Message 1 of 2 100%
Date: Sun, 9 Aug 1992 21:07:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: 123456.123456@compuserve.com
Subject: Greetings!
To: freduser@TheWorld.com
This message is from Fred's friend who uses the Compuserve
email system. Since Compuserve uses a cryptic address for-
mat, this person's email address is a good candidate for the
Address Book. The command `O' will display the ``Other Com-
mands'' that are available in ``Message Text'' mode. The
command `T' shown under the ``Other Commands'' menuitem list
will prompt for a nickname to represent the email address.
Upon entering the nickname, and, if desired, a full name,
the address will be saved in the Address Book.
Here's the new listing of Fred's address book:
PINE 3.89 ADDRESS BOOK Folder: INBOX Message 1 of 2
mona Lisa, Mona mona@louvre.paris.france
composers famous composers DISTRIBUTION LIST:
bach@fugue.music
chopin@nocturne.music
mozart@concerto.music
franz Listz, Franz 23456.123456@compuserve.com
Once you've exchanged email with the Internet community
you'll notice that email addresses come in a variety of for-
mats. For example, in the Compuserve address format, you
must replace the comma used between the two sets of numbers
with a period in order for your message to be delivered via
Internet email. To learn more about email address formats
for non-Internet email services, check the on-line help
subtopic ``Inter-Network Mail Guide'' under the ``mail''
topic.
You can prepare text for an email message on your local host
software, upload it to The World and then include it in an
email message during a ``Compose Message'' session. You
must create and upload text files to your World account and
into an email message in ASCII text format. Since most
local host word processing packages do not normally store
data in ASCII text files, please refer to your software man-
uals for details on converting such files properly.
After creating the ASCII text file, upload the file (see the
section on File Transfer, below) and then use the command
`Control-R' to insert it into your email message during
``Compose Message'' mode. Please note, the `Control-R' com-
mand does not appear on the menu line of the ``Compose Mes-
sage'' screen until your cursor has moved below the ``Mes-
sage Text'' line.
To send binary documents through Internet email, the data
must be encoded to represent ASCII characters to avoid cor-
ruption. Binary files can be defined by a variety of file
types, including: spreadsheet files, word processing files,
compressed (e.g., .zip) files, picture (e.g., .gif) files,
and database files. If the person who will be receiving the
email message also uses Pine, you can simply insert the
binary file on the ``Attachments:'' field when composing the
message, and it will automatically be encoded and sent. If,
however, the person who will be receiving the message does
not use Pine, you must use mail-bin to send the binary file
instead:
world% mail-bin bach@fugue.music binary.file
where ``binary.file'' is the name of the file you want to
email. The mail-bin program will invoke a text editor to
allow you to preface the encoded data with a plain text mes-
sage to the receiver. When you complete your message and
exit the editor, it will be mailed. The person who receives
this file from you will need to unpack the file (restore it
to its binary format).
If you receive a binary file from a person who also uses
Pine, and it was sent via the ``Attachments'' field in mime-
encoded format, simply use the `V' command for ``ViewAttch''
and Pine will decode and save the message to a file.
If you received a binary file from a person who does not use
Pine, then the message is likely uuencoded. Save the mes-
sage to a file in your home directory, and use the program
uuconvert to decode it:
world% uuconvert binary.file
Please refer to the ``mailing-binaries'' document in the on-
line help manual under the ``mail'' topic for additional
methods for mailing binary files.
All incoming email messages in Pine can be stored in files
or subdirectories in your home directory. If you choose to
save special messages in one file for future reference,
select the `Save' command option from the ``Folder Index''
command menuitem list (you can't view this menuitem unless
you first type `O' for ``Other Cmds''). You will be
prompted with the message ``SAVE to folder [saved-
messages]:'' and can either answer with a (Pine
interprets this as affirmation) or with an existing or new
folder name. All folders used in Pine are stored in the
mail subdirectory in your account. Please refer to the
``File Management'' section of this document for instruc-
tions on moving to subdirectories and listing and reading
files from The World's command prompt.
If you want to save a received message into a file that can
then be downloaded to your local host computer, select the
`E' for ``Export'' command option from the command menu (you
can't view this menuitem unless you first type `O' for
``Other Cmds''). You will be prompted with the message
``File (in home directory) to save message text in:'' to
create a filename for the message text. After exiting Pine,
you may then refer to this filename when downloading it to
your local host computer. Please refer to the section
``File Transfer'' for more information on downloading.
Multiple email messages may be exported to one file. Each
message will be appended to the file, creating one document
of all messages for easy download. Likewise, individual
messages can be exported to individual files.
It is highly likely that at some time or another you will be
interested in transferring files between The World and your
local host computer. Uploading occurs when you move a file
from your computer to The World and downloading occurs when
you move a file from The World to your computer. During an
upload The World will receive the file and during a download
The World will send the file. Your computer will be
referred to as the local host and World will be referred to
as the remote host in the instructions below.
The World supports the four most widely-used file transfer
programs, Zmodem, Xmodem, Ymodem and Kermit. Because Zmodem
is the fastest and most commonly used, and Xmodem and Ymodem
commands are similar in function and format, we will discuss
functionality in terms of Zmodem, but the information can
relate to all three protocols. Kermit is unlike the other
three protocols and so will be discussed separately. In
order to conduct a file transfer between The World and your
local host, please refer to your communication software doc-
umentation for information about which file transfer proto-
col it supports.
To use the file transfer programs, Xmodem and Ymodem, use
the same World commands that you use for Zmodem except
replace the ``z'' with either ``x'' (for Xmodem) or ``b''
(for Ymodem).
The document you are reading is available on-line in our
help area. If you want to download it, you need to know
that it is located in the ``/help/Primer'' file and that it
is a plain ASCII text file. ASCII files are composed of
letters, numbers and other visible characters, and are con-
sidered plain text. At The World's command prompt, enter
the UNIX command sz -a for send Zmodem in ASCII, followed by
the name of the UNIX file that is to be transferred:
world% sz -a /help/Primer
sz: 1 file requested:
/help/Primer
Sending in Batch Mode
Use the ``-a'' option to instruct Zmodem to convert the NL
(newline) characters found at the end of each line to the
proper format for your local host. This is required during
ASCII transfers between computers. If you are using Xmodem
for the transfer, replace sz with sx. If you are using Ymo-
dem for the transfer, replace sz with sb.
At this point, enter your local host command for the
``Receive Zmodem'' function. Please note that on many local
hosts, the transfer will begin immediately after typing the
download command on The World, with no need to enter a sepa-
rate local host command. Please refer to your documentation
for information about your particular program. When the
transfer is complete, The World's command prompt will be
displayed.
If you need to abort a file transfer, issue the command
`Control-X'. Sometimes you must issue `Control-X' repeat-
edly to successfully interrupt the transfer. If this com-
mand fails, you could abort the transfer and disconnect the
entire login session by turning off the modem or the com-
puter.
To transfer a file from the local host to The World, use the
UNIX command rz for receive Zmodem. Again, you must specify
the option ``-a'' to properly convert newline characters.
The World filename will be the same as your local host file-
name.
world% rz -a
rz: ready to receive filename
At this point, you should enter the local host command for
the ``Send Zmodem'' function. After the transfer is com-
plete, The World responds with The World's command prompt.
If you are using Xmodem for the transfer, replace ``rz''
with rx. If you are using Ymodem for the transfer, replace
``rz'' with rb. In order to abort the file transfer, you
would issue the command `Control-X'.
You will likely come across binary files of varying types
that you want to download to your local host. Binary files
could include the following:
image.gif -Compuserve's GIF format
archive.zip -DOS/Windows archive format
bigfile.Z -UNIX compressed file format
macfile.sit -Macintosh Stuffit format
gnu.gz -GNU (GNU not Unix) compressed file format
The binary Zmodem transfer command is issued by adding the
``-b'' option for binary mode to the sz command.
world% sz -b mona_lisa.gif
sz: 1 file requested:
CV082122.GIF
Sending in Batch Mode
**B00000000000000
Once the transfer has completed, The World's command prompt
will be displayed. To upload a binary file, issue the com-
mand rz -b.
world% rz -b mona_lisa.gif
If you are using Xmodem for the transfer, replace ``rz''
with rx. If you are using Ymodem for the transfer, replace
``rz'' with rb. In order to abort the file transfer, issue
the command `Control-X'.
Kermit file transfers for both ASCII and binary files are
performed in the same manner. To start the kermit program,
issue the command kermit. At the ``C-Kermit>'' prompt issue
the `send' command to download an ASCII or binary file:
world% kermit
C-Kermit> send mona_lisa.gif
Escape back to your local system and give a RECEIVE command...
At this point you must issue the local host command for
receive Kermit. When the transfer is complete, type `quit'
to exit Kermit and return to The World's command prompt.
C-Kermit> quit
world%
To upload an ASCII or binary file using Kermit, use the
`receive' command:
world% kermit
C-Kermit> receive filename
Escape back to your local system and give a SEND command...
After the transfer has completed, type `quit' to return to
the World prompt. If you need to abort a file transfer,
issue the command `Control-X'. Sometimes you must issue
`Control-X' repeatedly to successfully interrupt the trans-
fer. If this command fails, you could abort the transfer
and disconnect the entire login session by turning off the
modem or the computer.
Your account with The World provides you with the ability to
transfer files not only between The World and your local
host computer, but between The World and other sites on the
Internet. The Internet file transfer process uses the File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) to create a direct link between your
account on The World and a remote host on the Internet. If
you are planning to transfer files via the FTP protocol from
``public'' or ``anonymous'' sites, the program NcFTP pro-
vides some automation of the ``anonymous'' login process
that you might find convenient, so we will present NcFTP
here.
A partial list of popular ftp sites is in The World's help
area, under the ``ftp'' topic. It is not a complete list of
available sites. Instead it contains archives that we
believe are worth exploring.
For the sake of demonstration, we will guide you through a
transfer from The Electronic Frontier Foundation's ftp site.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was founded to
ensure that the principles embodied in the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights are protected as new communications tech-
nologies emerge. It is an interesting site to search as it
offers a variety of documents relating to its efforts to
establish an Electronic Democracy in the Internet community.
To start NcFTP, type ncftp hostname. To connect to
``ftp.eff.org'' from a UNIX system, type:
world% ncftp ftp.eff.org
NcFTP will respond by logging you into ``hostname'' as
``anonymous'' automatically (you will not have to enter
``anonymous'' at the login prompt or your email address at
the password prompt as you would if you were using regular
FTP):
world% ncftp ftp.eff.org
Please read the file README
it was last modified on Thu Apr 27 15:43:30 1995 - 8 days ago
Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
Logged into ftp.eff.org.
NcFTP 1.6.7 (February 20, 1994) by Mike Gleason, NCEMRSoft.
ftp.eff.org:/
ncftp>
You are now connected to The Electronic Frontier Founda-
tion's ftp site. Typically, you need to move to the appro-
priate directory, perhaps read any ``READ.ME'' files, list
the directory contents to locate the file you want to trans-
fer, and then issue the command for transfer. A is
implied for each command issued within NcFTP. For example,
you'll notice the login message recommends reading the
README file. Use the more program to do so:
ncftp> more README
This site contains many helpful and interesting documents in
its pub directory. To move to the pub directory, use the cd
command:
ncftp> cd pub
Next, to list the contents of the directory, use the ls com-
mand:
ncftp> ls
00-INDEX.pub Global/ Privacy/
00-MASTER.FILELIST.gz* Government@ Publications/
00-links.html Graphics/ README
Activism/ Groups/ README.WWW
Alerts/ Intellectual_property/ README.changes
CAF/ Legal/ README.eff.org
Censorship/ Legislation/ README.sysops
Civil_liberties_misc/ Net_info/ Security@
Crypto@ OP@ State_and_local/
EFF/ Open_Platform@ about.eff
GII_NII/ Organizations@ eff@
To list the contents of a lengthy directory through a paging
program, whereby one page is presented to you at a time,
type:
ncftp> pdir
The pub directory contains both files and other directories.
The directories are followed by a ``/''. An ``@'' follows
the names of directories that are linked to other directo-
ries. The file 00-INDEX.pub is a plain text file that con-
tains a description of the directories and files contained
in the pub directory. To transfer this document to your
World account, use the get command:
ncftp> get 00-INDEX.pub
Receiving file: 00-INDEX.pub
100% 0 4660 bytes. ETA: 0:00
00-INDEX.pub: 4660 bytes received in 0.26 seconds, 17.31 K/s.
ftp.eff.org:/pub
ncftp>
To exit from NcFTP and return to your World account use the
quit command:
ncftp> quit
world%
You can then type ls to list the files in your home direc-
tory to see that the file transferred successfully. To
download the document to your local host computer, please
review the above section on ``Local File Transfer''.
If you don't know the location of a file you are looking for
at a particular FTP site, or if you simply want to browse
the contents of an FTP site, look for ``index'', ``README''
or ``ls-lR.gz'' files for guidance. An ``ls-lR.gz'' file is
a recursive, long listing of all files in a directory, in
compressed format. If you locate a file with this name in
an FTP archive, it can be used to examine the contents of
the archive and select individual files for transfer.
Ftp sites are usually host to a wide variety of transferable
files, many of them in binary format. All files other than
ASCII text files must be transferred as binary files or the
file will be corrupted during transfer. Binary files include
filenames with the suffixes .gif, .zip, .tar.gz, .Z., .gz,
.sea, etc. At ftp.eff.org you could transfer a copy of
their ``ls-lR.gz'' file. The .gz extension indicates that
this is a GNU compressed file, and it therefore must be
transferred in binary mode. First move to the directory
this file is in, one level up from the pub directory you are
currently in:
ncftp> cd ..
Then select binary mode:
ncftp> bin
Next, transfer the file:
ncftp> get ls-lR.gz
FTP will send a copy of it to your home directory on The
World, giving it the same name. In most cases, transferring
plain text files in binary mode works well too. If you'd
like to give the file a different name:
ncftp> get ls-lR.gz newname.gz
If you are interested in learning more detailed information
about NcFTP please look at the manual page:
world% man ncftp
To exit from NcFTP:
ncftp> quit
221 Goodbye.
world%
Back at The World's command prompt, enter the ls command, to
list the local copy of the ls-lR.gz file. To review the
contents of the file, use the zmore command.
world% zmore ls-lR.gz
USENET is a collection of thousands of discussion groups
called newsgroups. These newsgroups are accessible from
sites throughout the globe. USENET is not the same as
Internet but almost every site on the Internet participates
in USENET. The World carries over 13000 newsgroups arranged
in hundreds of hierarchies. The newsgroup collection
includes an electronic newspaper, discussions from abroad in
various languages, multitudes of organizations (both private
and non-profit) and much more.
Before accessing USENET, it is important to familiarize
yourself with some conventions of the USENET culture. Pri-
mary among these is using USENET for commercial messages.
Almost all newsgroups prohibit the distribution of messages
soliciting sales of products, services or merchandise. Usu-
ally, an endorsement of a product from a satisfied customer
is acceptable on the condition that no financial gain was
involved. Similarly, people use newsgroups to gripe about
an unsatisfactory product.
There are three primary reasons for restricting commercial
use on USENET. The primary reason is general fear that if
advertising and soliciting were allowed, USENET would
rapidly be overcome with nothing but advertisements. Sec-
ond, many sites pay for each and every message that is
received and have no desire to pay for the receipt of unso-
licited advertising materials. Third, if large volumes of
commercial messages swell into USENET from one site (for
example, via World customers), the other computers out there
will refuse to distribute the offending site's articles.
Since USENET operates in a voluntary, community spirit hon-
oring the community etiquette rules are the essence of suc-
cessful membership.
Recently, newgroups have been created for announcing prod-
ucts and for vendor use. The staff at The World is eager to
assist in properly distributing commercial materials and is
available to offer advice in this area. The World offers
services specifically for commercial use through our World
Kiosk Services. Please send email to kiosk@TheWorld.com
for more information.
Obscene, illegal or obnoxious behavior is vehemently prohib-
ited in USENET. In the first place, supposedly clever
pranks on a person, a computer or the network have usually
been tried before and tend only to make people angry.
Often, pranks intended to generate humor get confused with
illegal activity and severe penalties result. Software Tool
& Die, as an Enhanced Service Provider, must cooperate with
all investigations of illegal behavior and is obligated to
do what it can to correct any such situation.
The World staff does not and will not actively edit posted
material as a corporate policy. Additionally, The World has
no control over lewd or otherwise questionable text or
graphics included in newsgroup discussions. A special area
of concern is the distribution of copyrighted materials.
The copyright holders can legally file claims against any
persons responsible for distributing their materials without
their permission.
As a general rule keep in mind that USENET, despite the lack
of face to face contact between its participants, is indeed
a public forum.
TIN (Threaded Interactive Newsreader)
Tin is a full screen, menu driven newsreader that is both
easy-to-use and very powerful. You can access help informa-
tion about Tin in a variety of ways. From within Tin, type
`h' at any time to access Tin's on-line help instructions.
At The World's command prompt, outside of Tin, you may
access a manual page description of Tin by typing:
world% man tin
Now that you know how to obtain help if you should need it,
you are ready to learn how to read USENET Newsgroup arti-
cles. To invoke Tin, type the tin command:
world% tin
It will take a few moments to configure itself, after which
it will display a welcome window that outlines basic com-
mands and instructions. Press the to display
the next screen, entitled ``Group Selection'', which will
look somewhat similar to:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Group Selection (6498) h=help
1 35 rec.arts.theatre.plays
2 133 rec.music.celtic
3 gay-net.artikel
4 388 alt.humor.puns
5 65 comp.software.international
6 3056 rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
7 125 bit.listserv.hungary
8 38 de.soc.jugendarbeit
9 126 alt.music.jethro-tull
10 14 alt.music.led-zeppelin
n=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select,
a)uther search, c)atchup, j=line down, k=line up, K=mark read, l)list thread,
|=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r=toggle all/unread, s)ave, t)ag, w=post
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The top few lines of this screen identify the current level
of Tin specifically, the ``Group Selection'' level, where
there are 6498 different newsgroups available for reading.
Below this general information, the first sixteen newsgroups
are listed and numbered, in the far left column, sequen-
tially from one to (eventually) 6498. The second column of
information provides the number of unread articles for each
newsgroup. So, for example, there are 35 articles that you
could read for the newsgroup rec.arts.theatre.plays, if you
were so inclined. The third column identifies each news-
group by name.
At the bottom edge of each screen, regardless of the level
you are currently in, Tin will provide a menu of the vari-
ous, relevant commands options available to you. Because
Tin's on-line help information defines command functions for
each screen, they won't all be discussed here. Please note
that the definitions are available to you, and remember that
to access them, press the `h' key, at any time, from inside
Tin.
By default, Tin will highlight the first newsgroup entry on
each screen as, in our example, rec.arts.theatre.plays was
for the ``Group Selection'' screen. To move to a different
newsgroup on the list, you may use your up and down arrow
keys (or press the `k' key or `j' key, respectively), which
will move the cursor to highlight one newsgroup at a time.
To locate a specific newsgroup, Tin allows you to search the
entire list of newsgroups using a search pattern or keyword.
Note that this command option is listed on the command line,
and is activated by typing `/' (forward slash) which will
then offer the following prompt at the bottom of your
screen:
Search forwards []>
Enter a keyword at this point and Tin will search the list
of newsgroups (1 through 6498) for any matches. If a match
is found, Tin will automatically move to and highlight it.
For example, to locate a newsgroup with `help' in its name,
type `help' at the ``Search forwards'' prompt. If the first
atch for this search pattern is not wstd.help, press the
`/' key and again until Tin locates it in the list,
or move to this newsgroup directly by pressing the `/' key
and then typing:
wstd.help
As a side note, all newsgroups that start with ``wstd''
(World Software Tool & Die) are available to World customers
only. Aside from being unique to our system, they can be
excellent sources of new information. Review wstd.help and
wstd.general for general assistance and helpful tips for
using your account with The World.
By now, Tin should have located and highlighted wstd.help,
which will likely appear more or less like this:
3965 33 wstd.help
To now open the wstd.help newsgroup and begin reading the 33
articles posted to it, press the key. A new screen
will appear listing all wstd.help articles and should look
more or less like the following sample:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
wstd.help (10T 34A)
1 1 Help with .html files, please Dan Schelit
2 5 Tracking ftp usage Jan Cartron
3 1 .project files? Addam Fritz
4 2 Initialization string for 14400 Rose Woods
5 4 MS-Windows Communications Fred Savich
6 1 Tulsa Printer Tony Pepper
7 6 Delete? Miles Kilom
9 3 trninit help? Bob Soroz
10 1 A people finding service Jeffrey Pebble
n=set current to n, TAB=next unread, /=search pattern, ^K)ill/select,
a)uther search, c)atchup, j=line down, k=line up, K=mark read, l)list thread,
|=pipe, m)ail, o=print, q)uit, r=toggle all/unread, s)ave, t)ag, w=post
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, the format used to list the articles is sim-
ilar to that used at the ``Group Selection'' level. The
principle difference is that here each individual article is
listed by number, title and author. You'll notice that next
to the first, farthest left column of numbers assigned to
each article (in this case 1-10), there is a second column
of numbers. For example, article number 2 in the first col-
umn, has a number 5 in the second column. This second number
indicates how many responses a particular posting has
received. In USENET jargon, these are called threads and
technically represent the number of postings relating (in
theory) to the first message. In this example there are 5
articles responding to Jan Cartron's message ``Tracking ftp
usage''.
To read a USENET article from this newsgroup, simply move
the cursor to it either by using your down arrow key, or
press `j' as indicated at the bottom of the screen. In our
example, this would highlight ``Tracking ftp usage'' (what
you may want to select will undoubtedly be different).
Although you could press at this point to view that
posting, hit `l' (lower-case L) instead. This will bring you
to the ``Thread'' level and will look something like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thread (Tracking ftp usage)
0 + [ 16] Jan Cartron (foo@TheWorld.com)
1 + [ 26] Barry Shein (bzs@TheWorld.com)
2 + [ 50] John T Bones (jtbn@TheWorld.com)
3 + [ 8] Janet Cartron (foo@TheWorld.com)
4 + [ 41] Barry Shein (bzs@TheWorld.com)
5 + [ 9] Janet Carton (foo@TheWorld.com)
=set current to n, TAB=next unread, c)atchup, d)display toggle,
h)elp, j=line down, k=line up, q)quit, t)ag, z=mark unread
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The thread level gives you a view of the responses that Jan
Cartron got to her initial article. Hers is the first arti-
cle in the newsgroup and is the base article for this par-
ticular thread. Her first response came from Barry Shein.
The ``+'' indicates that you have not yet read his response
and ``[ 26]'' tells you there are 26 lines of text in his
response. Immediately following are his full name and e-
mail address.
When travelling down through different levels, the first
message or newsgroup on the new level will be highlighted.
To view the first message here, simply hit or
``TAB''. Your screen will now contain Cartron's original
article. In addition to the text portion (what she wrote)
which is easily identifiable, Tin presents information in
the topmost few lines (the header) which would look more or
less like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed. 18 May 1994 11:28:38 wstd.help Thread 1 of 9
Lines 16 Tracking ftp usage 5 Responses
foo@TheWorld.com Jan Cartron at The World Public Access UNIX Brookline
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first piece of information gives you the date and time
that her article was posted, followed by the newsgroup it
was posted to. Next the ``Thread 1 of 9'' informs you that
you are reading the first of nine threads in the newsgroup
wstd.help. The rest is pretty straight forward, giving you
the number of lines in this response, the subject, and whom
and where it's from.
When you are finished reading the first response or screen-
ful you can hit the to move to the next article
or page. When you are ready to move to another thread sim-
ply press `q' to jump back one level. At that point you can
either select another thread or jump back to the newsgroup
level by pressing `q' again. Repeated `q' strokes will
bring you back through the levels you've traveled. Eventu-
ally you'll get all the way back to The World's command
prompt.
After you have started Tin with the command:
world% tin
Select and open the newsgroup wstd.test then move down to
the article selection level. Once there you can type 'w' to
start posting a message. Upon typing `w' you will be pre-
sented with a few prompts, the first of which will look
like:
Post subject [ ]>
As it states, this will be the subject of your posting. For
our purposes the word ``test'' will suffice, simply type
``test'' and hit the key.
Next, your default editing program will appear on the
screen. Pico is the most commonly used editor on The World
so we'll use that in our example.
Once Pico is loaded your screen will look like this:
=========================================================================
UW PICO(tm) 2.3 File: /home/ghar/.article
Subject: test
Newsgroups: wstd.test
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX
Summary:
Keywords:
[ Read 7 lines ]
^G Get Help ^O WriteOut ^R Read File ^Y Prev Pg ^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit ^J Justify ^W Where is ^V Next Pg ^U UnCut Text^T To Spell
========================================================================
The first line on this screen indicates which version of
Pico is running and where it is creating a temporary version
of the current file (here, the fictitious directory
/home/ghar/.article). When you attempt these exercises,
your home directory will be indicated in this location.
The header for this posting immediately follows. The first
few lines ``Subject'', ``Newsgroups:'' and ``Organization:''
are automatically filled in. The ``Organization'' entry is
followed by the ``Summary:'' and ``Keyword:'' entries, which
are fairly self-explanatory and are also optional. The
``Summary'' field is displayed in some newsreaders, making
it easier for people browsing the newsgroup to get a sense
of the subject of your post without having to open it.
Underneath the header portion lies the body of the message.
Whether you type in your article on-line or include a previ-
ously prepared file, this is the place it should go.
The command for reading a file into Pico is simply Control-r
(that's the ``control'' key and the ``r'' key pressed simul-
taneously). If you have previously uploaded a file, you
would identify it for inclusion into the posting here.
Specifically, after typing Control-r, the ``Insert file:''
prompt will appear. Simply enter the name of the file you
intend to insert and hit the key and Pico will do
the rest.
Whether you have typed out an article on-line or inserted a
file of text for the article that you had uploaded previ-
ously, type Control-x to exit Pico and complete the posting
process. Answer the ``Save modified buffer'' prompt with
`y' and hit when you see:
File Name to write : /yourhome/directory/.article
The final prompt before the article is posted gives you the
opportunity to q)uit, e)dit or p)ost the article, so you
will always be given a final opportunity to change your mind
before actually making the article public.
Once you've chosen to post the article, the time it takes
for your article to appear in the newsgroup listing can vary
greatly. It will take longer to show up if the newsgroup
you are posting to is moderated, and if the system
(nntp.TheWorld.com) is particularly busy it can take a few
hours (or more) for it to be posted.
The procedure for replying to a previously posted article
does not vary greatly from that of posting an article as
outlined above. The primary difference is that you must be
viewing an article to reply to it. If you'd like to test
this, I suggest you go to wstd.test as explained in the pre-
vious section.
After you have opened an article, you can ``Follow-up'' or
reply to it by typing either ``f'' or ``F''. Which one you
choose depends on whether you would like to include the
original article in your posting. The ``f'' command appends
the previous message while ``F'' doesn't. Since this is
just a question of preference, what you use is entirely up
to you.
The remaining steps of the ``Follow-Up'' procedure is the
same as finishing the posting process, so please review that
if necessary.
Tin also supports a feature that lets you delete (remove) an
article (or several) that you have posted. To delete an
article that you have already posted, simply go to the news-
group that contains the article and select it (either open
it and view it or just select it with your arrow keys).
Next, simply type `D', that's capital `d', and the article
will be removed. Note that even if the article was posted to
a large number of sites, the delete option will do it's best
to track it down and remove it from them. It won't necessar-
ily delete the article from 100% of the sites it was posted
to but it will be as thorough as possible.
To many of The World's new customers, understanding UNIX is
the most daunting aspect of having an account that provides
access to the Internet. Yet, UNIX is a widely-recognized
and fairly easy operating system to learn. Moreover, you
may not need to learn more than a dozen or so commands to
use your account efficiently. If your needs resemble most
of The World's new customers, this document will provide you
with an understanding of most of the commands you'll ever
need. If you find yourself interested in learning about
additional UNIX commands not discussed here, please review
the information presented in the on-line help area's UNIX
``command-summary'' topic.
A ``shell'' controls your account's UNIX command mode, and
the default shell for World customers is the ``csh''. Other
shells are available to you, but unless you selected a dif-
ferent shell when you created your account, you should
assume that your account uses the ``csh''. This document is
written for a ``csh'' account environment. If you are using
a different shell, you may experience some of the commands
presented in this document differently. Please contact cus-
tomer support for help in using and understanding your par-
ticular shell environment.
When you log in to your account, you are placed automati-
cally into your home directory. Configuration files needed
to control your processes reside in this area, as do any
other files that you create or move there. Each file has a
filename that may consist of a single name, or a name with a
suffix and/or a prefix. Some examples:
.login
my.schedule
phonelist
edit.session.3
You'll likely want to learn how to list, read, move, copy,
remove and rename those files, as well as view your direc-
tory pathname, create directories, change directory and view
directory contents among other things.
The UNIX command-line format offers a great deal of flexi-
bility and power to the user. The general command line for-
mat for UNIX is:
world% command options filename
The options, or flags, for UNIX commands are prefixed with a
dash or hyphen. These options come directly after the com-
mand and before the filenames.
world% sz -a my.file
Many UNIX commands require filename arguments. In this doc-
ument filenames are indicated by file1 or file2. Whenever
you see this in an example, you can replace it with the name
of the document you wish to create, access or view. Many
commands can be issued with more than one filename.
Also in this document optional values are indicated by <key-
word> where the keyword describes an optional value that you
select.
Every command should be followed by a carriage-return or
enter. The command will not be invoked until you press this
key.
World command: ls
Use this command to display the files within the current
directory. It can be used selectively, using ``*'', a wild-
card, which allows you to save a great deal of typing. To
display only those files whose names end with the numbers
92:
world% ls *92
World command: ls -a
This command shows all files in a directory, both visible
and invisible. All files preceded by a period are normally
invisible, and are not normally displayed when using ls.
These files are often called dot files and are initializa-
tion files for the various programs. Some examples of ini-
tialization files include:
.login .cshrc .newsrc .mailrc
World command: ls -s
This command displays the size of your files.
world% ls -s
1 activists.dir
2 chinese.food.brookline
12 emacs-command-summary
1 fun.internet.dir
27 Internet.books.list
1 key.letters.dir
1 mail
7 march.internet.hunt
World command: ls -F
This command will list the file type, helping you distin-
guish between regular files and directories. In the follow-
ing example, Mail/ and News/ are directories. The remaining
items are files. A ``/'' after a name indicates a directory.
Other files will be stored in the directory. Another symbol
you might see following a file or directory looks like this:
``@'', which indicates a link, an alias which allows one
file or directory to have multiple placements. You can
access these aliases, just as if they were real, using the
appropriate commands. You may see another symbol ``*'' fol-
lowing a file or directory. This indicates the file is in
World binary format and can only be used as a World command.
world% ls -F
ACT_V.Macbeth
Cyberspace.discussion
News/
Alt.Internet.services
Mail/
obi@
World command: ls -la
Other options exist for listing files in special ways. This
command is used to create a long listing of information
about the files in your directory: this includes file pro-
tections, file size, and date last edited. For example:
world% ls -la
-rw-rw-r-- 1 freduser freduser 371 Jul 27 1993 .login
-rw-rw-r-- 1 freduser freduser 729 Mar 17 23:07 .cshrc
-rw-r----- 1 freduser freduser 1558 Apr 17 12:43 sallys.humor
-rw-r----- 1 freduser freduser 9441 Mar 24 15:54 wired.info
World command: more file1
To view the contents of the specified file one page at a
time, with pauses, use the more command.
world% more big.file
Hit the to see the next page of data. To view
previous screenfuls, use `b' for ``back''. Use the command
`q' to quit from the more program. You can search for a
specific word within the text by typing the following search
command, where ``search.pattern'' is replaced by a keyword
of your choice:
/search.pattern
World command: cat file1
This command displays the contents of a file in a rapid
scroll without pausing. Use Control-c to abort from this.
world% cat big.file
World command: pico file1
Pico will invoke the text editor that is used by Pine. This
program has menus and uses arrow keys. If the file specified
does not exist, pico will create a new one by that name.
Pico is very user-friendly.
world% pico memo.john
World command: cat file1 >> file2
In order to merge two files into one, use the cat command.
This command will append the contents of file1 to the end of
file2.
world% cat marys.answer >> joes.question
World command: cp file1 file2
This command will create a copy of a file and give the copy
a new name.
world% cp phonelist party.invites
World command: cp file ~
If you were in the directory /ftp/obi/Martin.Luther.King,
you could make a copy of a famous Martin Luther King speech
and place it into your home directory with the following
command. The tilde ``~'' refers to your home directory (see
cd ~ below) and the filename will remain unchanged. Once
you issue this command, a copy of the document free.at.last
is added to your home directory.
world% cp free.at.last ~
World command: rm file1
Use this command to remove a file. By default, this command
prompts you to confirm that the file is to be removed. This
default can be modified. Please see the ``customize-your-
login'' document under the ``File-Management'' topic in our
on-line help area for details. When a file is removed it is
not recoverable. The rm command causes permanent deletion.
world% rm trash.this
World command: mv file1 new-file1
This command will rename a file to a new name. If the new
name is an existing file, this command will overwrite the
vfirst file with the contents of the second file, thus elimi-
nating the second file. Be sure this is what you want to do!
Look before you leap with the ``ls'' command. If the second
name is a directory (not a file), the file will be moved
into the directory. See ``mv file1 directory-name'' , below.
To tell the difference between a file and a directory, use
the command ls -F
world% mv book.list gifts.to.buy
World command: pwd
The pwd stands for ``print working directory'' and shows
what directory you are in. It indicates the exact path from
the root. The root is the top level of the UNIX file system,
similar to the desktop on a Macintosh, or C: on a PC.
The output to this command for user jones, for example,
would be:
world% pwd
/home/ghar/jones
World command: cd directory
Use this command to change from the present directory to
another directory. A ``/'' (slash) at the beginning of a
pathname means ``begin at the root directory''. This is
similar to beginning at the desktop on a Macintosh, or
begining at ``C:'' on a PC.
world% cd /obi
World command: cd ..
The command cd followed by two periods will take you to the
directory one level above the directory you are currently
in. For example, if the path to your current directory is
/sources/macintosh, typing cd .. would change it to
/sources.
world% cd ..
World command: cd
This command will return you to your home directory.
world% cd
World command: cd ~
This command will also return you to your home directory.
The ``~'' (tilde) can often be used as a substitute for the
path to your home directory in other UNIX commands.
world% cd ~
World command: mv file1 directory-name
This command moves a file into a directory.
world% mv file.moving.tips tech.tips.directory
World command: mkdir name
Use this command to create a new directory.
world% mkdir tech.tips.collection
World command: rmdir directory-name
Use this command to remove an empty directory. You must
remove all contents or the command won't work.
world% rmdir old.files
World command: rm -r directory-name/*
Use this command to remove EVERYTHING from a directory.
However, be careful when using this command as you cannot
undelete files on The World.
world% rm -r News/*
World command: quota -v
This command displays your disk ``usage'', ``quota'',
``limit'' and ``timeleft'' among other things. Your
``usage'' defines the amount of diskspace your files cur-
rently occupy. Your ``quota'' defines your total alloted
diskspace which you can exceed slightly. However, you will
receive warning messages until you reduce your diskspace
``usage''. Your ``limit'' defines the maximum allotment of
diskspace you can use, but it cannot be exceeded. When you
have reached your ``limit'', you will be unable to create
new files. Your ``timeleft'' defines the number of days you
have to reduce your diskspace ``usage'. Please see the on-
line help file entitled ``quota'' for further information
surrounding this issue.
world% quota -v
Disk quotas for freduser (uid 1000):
Filesystem usage quota limit timeleft file quota limit timeleft
/home/ie 154 1024 1536 28 0 0
World command: du -kas
This command reports the number of blocks(1 block = 512
bytes) contained in all files and subdirectories in your
home directory. You can get a listing of all the files in
your directories by typing:
world% du -kas
1 ./.cshrc
1 ./.login
227 ./.newsrc
0 ./mail/sent-mail
0 ./mail/saved-messages
9 ./my.schedule
23 ./program.txt
135 ./booklist
402 /home/casa/login_name
If you have numerous files and subdirectories, this command
will give you many pages of output. To manage the output of
this command so that you can review it more easily, direct
it to the more program.
world% du -kas | more
World command: ls -asR
This command lists all of your files, including ``.'' files
(-a) and their size (-s), in a recursive (-R) listing
through all of your subdirectories. Use this command to
help identify those files that are causing you to exceed
your disk quota, and that need to removed.
world% ls -asR
total 967
1 . 1 .login 16 .pinerc 1 News
31 .. 1 .msgsrc 1 .tin 1 humor
2 .cshrc 478 .newsrc 1 Mail 1 mail
./.tin:
total 430
1 . 1 .index 414 active 0 posted
1 .. 1 .mailidx 2 attributes 10 tinrc
./mail:
total 2
1 . 0 saved-messages
1 .. 0 sent-mail
World command: exit
This command will close your login process, exiting you from
your World account.
world% exit
World command: logout
This command will also end your login session on The World.
world% logout
The WorldWideWeb (W3 or WWW) is currently the ``hot'' place
to be on the Internet. It is a ``universe of network-
accessible information, an embodiment of human knowledge'',
according to its creators at CERN. It uses hypertext markup
language and multimedia techniques to make it easy for any-
one to browse the web seeking information on just about any-
thing.
The World has joined the WorldWideWeb by converting its on-
line help area to HTML format. World customers can now
access this help area using lynx or a graphical browser. If
you are interested in using a graphical web browser, please
refer to the section ``Using A WWW Graphical Browser'',
below. We encourage you to try ``the Web'' as its an embodi-
ment of how advancing technology and our insatiable hunger
for knowledge meet in a remarkably easy-to-use and powerful
interface.
The World's WorldWideWeb (WWW) on-line help area is orga-
nized to provide fast and efficient access to information
about services, commands, and utilities available on The
World. To access The World's on-line help system directly
from The World use the newhelp command:
world% newhelp
This command invokes the WorldWideWeb (WWW) software called
`` lynx For instruction on using the lynx program, please
see the ``Quick List of Lynx Commands'' section, below.
The top level of the Help area offers several categories of
help. To find out what kind of support The World offers,
choose the ``Customer Support'' entry. This area details
The World's customer support services.
To browse for new information, we recommend using the
``Glossary''. This entry includes definitions of terms,
commands, and acronyms. Each item is linked to the corre-
sponding help area for additional information .
If you know the topic that you are interested in, choose the
``Index of World Topics'' and then select the desired topic.
Each topic area includes general details about the topic
plus links to the related commands.
If you already know the command that you need help on,
choose the ``Index of World Commands'' to get directly to
the desired command definition.
WWW documents are written in the Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML). One of the features of a hypertext system is the
ability to use a word of text as a link to another document.
These links are identifiable because they are (usually) dis-
played in bold-face fonts. When the cursor is positioned on
a link it can be accessed for on-line viewing or downloading
to your local computer.
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the address of a spe-
cific WWW service, site, and document. The most common ser-
vice type is http. Although the newhelp command achieves
the same thing, you could specify the URL for The World's
help area using the lynx command, by typing:
world% lynx http://www.TheWorld.com/help
Typing Control-C at any time will exit the on-line help area
and return you to The World's command prompt. The command
`q' will also exit lynx
The following commands are available within The World's help
system. These are the same commands that are used in the ``
lynx later in this document.
The word shown in ``quotes'' indicates the mnemonic and
should assist in providing faster recall of these commands.
Character Action
q ``quit'' and return to the ``world%'' prompt
space scrolls the document forward one page
tab moves the cursor to the next link
return follows the selected link to the new document
u move ``up'' to the previous document
b scrolls the document ``back'' one page
/ search for a particular string
s search for a particular string
n find and display the next occurance of a search string
m move to the ``main'' help document
a ``add'' a link to the bookmark file
o move to the ``options'' menu for configuration settings
h get ``help''
? get help
d ``download'' the document in its HTML language
p ``print'' the document to a file in plain text
g ``goto'' another URL.
Printing Documents
The command `p' invokes the printing options on the current
document:
Save to a local file
Mail the file to yourself
Print to the screen
Use vt100 print sequence to print from your local terminal
Choosing one of these options will print the formatted ver-
sion of the document. The first selection will store the
formatted version as a file on your World account. You can
then exit from lynx and download the formatted version of
the document to your local host computer for viewing or
printing.
Downloading Documents
The command `d' invokes the download options. WWW documents
have two formats, one is the HTML language format and the
other is the formatted presentation that you see on the
screen. When you select download, you will always get the
HTML formatted version of the document. This is not useful
to download unless you have software on your local computer
that understands how to use HTML documents.
If you do choose to download the HTML source, you need to
specify the download option that matches the file transfer
protocol supported on your local host computer.
Customizing Lynx behavior
The lynx program offers several configuration options that
can be modified to suit your personal needs. One setting
that we recommend is enable numbered links. This will place
a number to the left of each link in a web document. When
the links are numbered, you can get directly to the link by
typing the number. To enable Numbered Links, choose the
command `o' and modify the setting accordingly. Be sure to
select `>' to save this modification.
Header/Footer Links
At the top and bottom of each page of a help document is a
set of links that provide quick and efficient movement to
the primary areas on The World's web server. At any time,
you can jump into another section of our web or get back to
the top level of a designated section by activating one of
these links.
Macintosh or PC users can use graphical software to access
the World Wide Web through their World account using a slip
emulation program, and some other necessary software.
Specifically, if you are a Macintosh user, you will need the
following in order to run graphical software:
graphical browser #Mosaic or Netscape
MacTCP #TCP/IP software for the Mac
InterSlip #TCP/IP software for the Mac
slip emulation #we recommend slirp or tia
If you are a MS/Windows pc user, you will need the following
in order to run graphical software:
graphical browser #Mosaic or Netscape
Winsock software #TCP/IP software for the pc
slip emulation #we recommend slirp or tia
We have established a directory on-line that you may refer-
ence for detailed instructions for Macintosh, pc's running
MS/Windows, and pc's running OS/2, using either slip emula-
tion program we have experience with here at The World: tia
and slirp. To get to this area, issue the following com-
mand:
world% cd /usr/doc/slip
Next, list the contents of the directory, distinguishing
subdirectory names with a ``/'':
world% ls -F
You should review the ``Readme'' file and follow the
instructions from there:
world% more Readme
You have now concluded your guided tour of The World.
Please refer to our on-line help area, send email to
support@TheWorld.com or telephone our Customer Support
Department if you require any additional assistance using
The World.
This document was last modified on May 22, 1995.
For the latest update, send an email request to
primer@TheWorld.com or telephone our office.
Copyright 1995 Software Tool & Die.
All rights reserved.
Software Tool & Die
info@TheWorld.com
passwd change your login password
help display The World's on-line help area topics
man print titled entries from on-line
reference materials
pine start the pine email program
mail-bin mail a binary file in uuencoded format
uuconvert reconstitute a uuencoded file
sz -a file send Zmodem file in ASCII (download)
sx -a file send Xmodem file in ASCII (download)
sb -a file send Ymodem file in ASCII (download)
rz -a receive Zmodem file in ASCII (upload)
rx -a receive Xmodem file in ASCII (upload)
rb -a receive Ymodem file in ASCII (upload)
sz -b file send Zmodem file in binary (download)
sx -b file send Xmodem file in binary (download)
sb -b file send Ymodem file in binary (download)
rz -b receive Zmodem file in binary (upload)
rx -b receive Xmodem file in binary (upload)
rb -b receive Ymodem file in binary (upload)
kermit start the kermit program for file transfer
ncftp hostname start NcFTP program to connect to
other ftp sites
zmore file.gz read a unix compressed file
tin start the USENET newsgroup program
called tin
ls list contents of directory
ls * list contents of directory using wildcards
ls -a list contents of directory including
``.'' files
ls -s list the size of the files in the directory
ls -F list the file type for contents of directory
ls -la list files in long listing format
more file view a text file one page at a time
cat file concatenate and print text files
continuously
pico file invoke the pico editor on a file
cat file1 >> file2 append the contents of one file to
end of another
cp file1 file2 create a copy of file1 in file2
cp file1 ~ create a copy of file1 in your home
directory with the same name
rm file remove a file
mv file1 new-file1 mv file1 to new-file1, deleting
file1 (rename)
pwd display the present working directory name
cd dir change directory to specified directory name
cd .. change directory, moving one level
backwards in the hierarchy
cd ~ change directory to home directory
mv file1 dir move file1 into specified directory
mkdir dir create a directory of the designated name
rmdir dir remove a directory of the designated name
rm -r dir remove the entire contents of a
designated directory
quota -v display disk space usage, quota, limit,
and timeleft
du -kas report the number of blocks contained
in your directory files
ls -asR list size of all your files, recursively
through all directories
exit exit from your World account
logout exit from your World account
newhelp start lynx on The World's WWW help area
lynx http://www.TheWorld.com/help start lynx on The World's WWW Help Area
cd /usr/doc/slip move to directory containing slip
emulation instructions
