Other Internet Services

Apart from the Web and e-mail, the Internet provides many other services, the most common of which are described in the following sections. If you have any problems, you’ll need to contact your Internet service provider (ISP), who should confirm which services they can support.

Newsgroups

Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP), also known as Usenet, provides Internet access to numerous newsgroups, each known as a bulletin board services (BBS). A news contributor, also known as a poster, can upload data, allowing you to read it or download it as required.

• Some newsgroups provide free access while others require you to pay a subscription.

Access to Usenet, which originated as a separate network prior to the Internet, is provided via your ISP’s news server. Depending on your ISP, you may not have access to every kind of newsgroup.

The most common newsgroups application is Outlook Express, which is handy as it’s also an e-mail application, although other programs such as NewsWatcher or Nuntius can also be used. When you run such an application it creates a list all available newsgroups, also known as BBS topics, a process that can take ten minutes or more.

Each newsgroup has a name, such as:-

in which comp can be considered as a filing cabinet and hypercard as a single sheet of paper. The first part of the name separates the newsgroups into general categories such as:-

Before looking at any of the topics you should open news.announce.newusers to ensure that you understand Usenet’s rules of etiquette, sometimes known as netiquette.

Having looked through the list of topics you can open an interesting subject. This reveals a list of threads, each line showing the number of articles in the thread and the name of the thread to the right hand side. Once you’ve worked out the rules of newsgroups you can create your own thread from scratch, a process known as initiating a thread.

• If you choose to subscribe to several newsgroups your software should keep track of them. You can then select one of these newsgroups to check if any unread articles are present.

The following newsgroups are of particular interest to users of the Mac OS:-

File Transfer Protocol

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) originates from the Unix computer platform, although it’s now supported by numerous applications, including Internet Explorer, Fetch and FTP Client Pro. The protocol lets you upload (send) and download (receive) files to and from an FTP site.

• The Archie protocol employed in the Interarchy (Anarchie) application can be used to help you to search through the archives at a site.

To run an FTP application the following information should be available:-

1. FTP Host: as set in the Advanced part of the Internet control panel in the Classic Mac OS
2. User Name: if unknown, try entering anonymous
3. Password: if unknown try leaving this blank or enter your e-mail address
4. Starting Directory: this is optional.

With many applications you can enter most of this information in the form of a URL such as:-

where user_name is your full login name, complete with spaces, whilst password and ftp_address should be replaced by the appropriate text. If you enter an address without a password, as in:-

you’ll be prompted to enter your password manually. Many sites, known as anonymous FTP sites, don’t require a user name or password, as in:-

To get to all of the information at a site you may have to browse through layers of directories, the equivalent of folders, some of which are public folders, with names such as pub or mac. Note that applications such as Internet Explorer and FTP Client Pro let you upload files by simply dragging the documents into the application’s window.

• The owners of a site can prevent you from performing particular operations. For example, you may have limited access to directories, be prevented from uploading certain files or be set a specified time limit.
• You can locate FTP sites using a Web browser and a search engine, such Web Crawler at webcrawler.com. You should then enter the required subject or Anonymous FTP.
• Files at FTP sites are frequently compressed, often in non-Mac formats such as GZip (.gz), Unix compression (.z) or UUEncode (.uu). In the Classic Mac OS you should check that the File Mappings section of the Advanced window of the Internet control panel (or the matching area in your FTP application) is set up correctly to handle such files.
• FTP sends passwords as clear (unencrypted) text, allowing them to be viewed by anyone who intercepts the data. Secure Web pages are far safer for transferring important material.
• To use secure FTP (SFTP) you must have access to a Secure Shell (SSH) server (see below), which can also be used in place of an FTP server.

Mirror Sites

FTP sites are often very busy, requiring the use of alternative sites, known as mirror sites, that take away some of the traffic. These sites contain exactly the same information as the main site but have a different FTP address. The main and mirror addresses for common FTP sites include:-

Preparing Files for Uploading

Ideally, files should be compressed prior to uploading, assuming this is appropriate at the destination. Documents created in Mac OS X, Windows or other non-Mac operating systems can be compressed in standard formats, whilst Classic Mac OS users can make a self-extracting archive (SEA) file, which is then binhexed to produce a file with a ‘double’ filename extension of .sea.hqx. In addition, modern versions of StuffIt produce .sit files suitable for uploading without further processing. Uncompressed Classic Mac OS files can be simply binhexed, resulting in a filename extension of .hqx.

• The FTP application known as Fetch has a Put Folders and Files option, allowing you to select the format for both text files and non-text files. The Wrapped text option automatically wraps text as its sent, but should only be used for sending material to machines that aren’t running the Classic Mac OS

Uploading Web Site Files

Most applications that let you create a Web site also contain the necessary software to upload the files to the site using FTP. Under these circumstances you can enter the site as follows:-

where your chosen password prevents others from modifying your site. The first part following the @ is the FTP host name and is sometimes inserted automatically by your FTP application.

Uploading with Internet Explorer

The following procedure can be used to upload a Web site using Internet Explorer. Note that these instructions refer specifically to Internet Explorer 5 in the Windows operating system.

1. Start Internet Explorer 5 and connect to the Internet.
2. Type ftp://user_name​@ftp_host_name.your_domain in the Address box.
3. Enter your password when prompted and click on OK.
4. Your Web pages should appear in the window in the same way as on your computer.
5. To copy (upload) a file or folder to your Web space, drag it into the window.
6. To create a new folder, right-click in the IE5 window and select New ➡ Folder.
7. To delete a file from your Web space, right-click on it and select Delete.
8. To copy (download) an item from the Web space to your computer, right-click on it and select Copy to folder.

Having done this, you can enter the address of your website and check its appearance.

Telnet

Telnet lets you to log onto a remote computer, in most instances by emulating a VT100 terminal or VT102 terminal. The term ‘Telnet’ is derived from the Unix utility used for dialling-up Internet hosts. Other Internet services, including CompuServe and the Well can be reached via FTP.

• Once a connection is established you’ll be provided with menus and other instructions. If you’re asked what kind of terminal you’re using it’s usually best to select VT100.
• Telnet sites can be located using your Web browser and a suitable search engine, such Web Crawler at webcrawler.com. You should enter the required subject or Telnet.

Here are some example sites:-

©Ray White 2004.