sondheim@panix.com Commands for Internet Access - mainly Unix: 1. telnet Telnet allows you to connect to another computer or server as if it were your own. You can, for example, log into your account from another account through telnet. The general command is telnet as in for example telnet panix.com Once in, you'll be asked for your login name and password. In some cases you'll get something that looks like telnet> This means that the telnet program is activated; to enter a hostname you type telnet> open panix.com and to end the session you type telnet> close You can generally get out of a telnet session, crash it, by entering control-bracket as in the following (where ^ is the control key): ^] Note it's the right bracket. When you're done with telnet, type quit, and you'll be out of it. [In Netscape, you open telnet by typing telnet:// . That's all. For example, to log in to my home account, I would type telnet://panix3.panix.com ] [Note that your Netscape needs to have a helper application in order to do this.] 2. finger Finger gives you more or less limited information about someone on the Internet. To use it, type finger at the prompt; for example: finger sondheim@panix.com will give you information about me. A lot of places have disabled finger. If you are using a basic Unix account, you can modify two files, called the .plan and .project file, to give additional finger information. You can also use finger to get general information: finger @panix.com [Often you'll find finger in a graphic environment, asking for both hostname and user. For hostname, you would put down (for me) panix.com and for user, sondheim.] 3. ftp Ftp is file transfer protocol, useful for getting files. There are a number of ways to use this and the easiest is through the lynx text application for the World Wide Web. At the prompt, however, you can use it as well, particularly for _anonymous ftp,_ which gives you access to public files at a server. Here are some commands. To begin, type ftp at the prompt; for example: ftp jefferson.village.virginia.edu You will be asked to login, and you do so by typing anonymous at the prompt. You'll then be asked for a password, which is your own email address. Once in, here are some commands: dir - lists the contents of the directory you're in with full information ls - lists the contents with almost no information pwd - tell you which directory you're in, in case you're lost cd - change directory as in cd pub (change from the original directory to a subdirectory called pub) get - get a file from a directory put - put a file in a directory cd .. - move up one directory cd / - move to the root directory help - for help binary - tells ftp you will be downloading a binary file bye - leave the ftp session mget - get several files at once (uses wildcards like *) hash - lets you know the transfer is active [Anonymous ftp is automatic within Netscape. To use it, for example to do ftp to oak.oakland.edu, you would just type ftp://oak.oakland.edu and that would do it. Note the :// syntax again.] 4 lynx (entrance to the World Wide Web) [If you are using a graphics browser, ignore this entire section!] Lynx is the main text-based entrance to the Web. There are a number of basic commands, including ones running from the option bar. LEFT ARROW - takes you back a menu RIGHT ARROW - takes you forward a menu UP ARROW - moves you up the page DOWN ARROW - moves you down a page b - moves you back a page SPACEBAR - moves you ahead a page v - allows you to view your bookmarks file a - allows you to add to your bookmarks file g - allows you to go to a URL (uniform resource locator) of your choice: Most URLs begin with http:// but you can do ftp and gopher and some email within this command: ftp:// - allows you to ftp to a site within lynx. Far easier than at the command line gopher:// - allows you to gopher within lynx. mailto:
- allows you to email within lynx. telnet:// - allows you to telnet within lynx (no particular reason to do this) ^G - pulls you out of a "hung" lookup q - gets you out of lynx You can also set options for yourself, with o; for example, you can give yourself an editor, an automatic email address, and by changing from novice to expert, you'll have the URL of wherever you are always available. \ - shows you the original html document and hitting it again returns you to the hypertext form p - allows you to download to your home pc or your account, or email the file to yourself. / - allows you to search a document for a particular word or string of letters del - hitting the delete key takes you to the history list, which you can use to access previous menus from your current session You can also do lynx . to get information on your home directory; it can be used as a general file reader. 5 email Email runs from a number of different programs. When you send a post you can: Cc: (carbon-copy) it to other readers who will be listed on the header Bcc: (blind Cc) it to other readers who will not be listed on the header You can forward a post, and reply to a post, quoting or not quoting. In Pine, you can have an full header option installed, which allows you to see the complete addressing - so that if an anonymous post comes in, you can see where it is from. Lcc: List carbon copy - Bcc which will put the list name into the address header You can often have a .sig file set up containing a specialized signature that will be attached to your post. Your addresses should almost always be of the form @. and the domain can be any number of: com (commercial), org (organization), edu (education), mil (military), net (network), etc. You can save your mail in _folders_ which can be deleted and manipulated in various ways. There is, of course, an email program within current Netscape versions. 6 mailing lists Mailing lists in general work from two major pieces of software: listserv and majordomo. You subscribe and unsubscribe to mailing lists by sending requests to the software, not to the list. The command generally in listserv is: subscribe To unsubscribe, the command may be either unsubscribe or signoff For full information for a listserv list, write to the listserv, for example: listserv@listserv.aol.com and say in the body of the letter info refcard The command in majordomo is: subscribe Other commands are who who is on a list lists what lists do you carry info for information pertaining to a particular list unsubscribe for getting off a list 7 Usenet groups Newsgroups must be read through a newsreader. I use tin, which is very popular in Unix. Here are some commands: RIGHT ARROW - go to the next level LEFT ARROW - back up a level DOWN ARROW - go down on the same level UP ARROW - go up on the same level / - search y - Yank in all newsgroups (usually to do a search) w - post to a group R, r, F, f, reply to the group quoting or not or reply to the poster, ditto. - jump to a particular number m - mail the article to yourself or anyone else s - save the article in a file (you may have to uncode it) t - tag the article b - back up TAB - jump to next unread s - subscribe to a particular group u - unsubscribe to a particular group z - toggle as unread (keeps the post present in the index) q - quit g - go to a particular group and subscribe to it [Netscape and other browsers also have Newsreaders which allow you to organize the message base according to author, thread, date, etc. Read the instructions carefully. Note that there are different ways to see _all_ the newsgroups, and to search among the titles to find which ones you might want to subscribe to. In Netscape, graphics in Usenet will open up immediately.] Usenet hierarchy: biz, business; comp, computers; news, general news; rec, recreational; sci, science; soc, social; talk, debate; misc, miscellaneous; alt, alternative (the largest category by far); also humanities.* Usenet smileys (just the common ones): :) :-) :( :-( Some acronyms: LOL (laughing out loud); ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing); RTFM (read the fucking manual); BRB (be right back). 8 talk talk, ntalk, ytalk all allow synchronous communication with someone; ytalk allows multiple logins To use it type ytalk and wait. It may or may not be allowed on your machine. When you are in talk, you can often use ^z which places talk in the background, and takes you momentarily out of it (to look up information for example); hit fg (for foreground) and it springs back up. To exit talk, type ^c . You can get a simple menu in ytalk by hitting the escape key. You can make a .ytalkrc file and set your preferences in it. [There are also talk functions available with some graphic interfaces; these work roughly the same way. Some clients such as Powwow are graphic elaborations on talk. Various Web chat applications are slow and clumsy.] 9 gopher Gopher presents large sections of the Internet as a menu; you type gopher
at the prompt, although you can also do this within lynx, and some servers have a pre-installed gopher for you. Gopher searches gopherspace using search mechanisms such as Veronica, which take in string queries. ARROW KEYS work as in lynx v - view bookmark file a - add to bookmark file b - back a page m - mail o - options menu ^c - gets you out of hangup (prompts for ^g) s - save d - download SPACE - down a page [Gopher is also accessible through Netscape and other Web browsers. If you want to go to the main gopher site, for example, at the University of Minnesota, you would type, in Netscape: gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu:80 or something similar. See the various URLs.] 10 a few MOO commands connect gets you in @join takes you to the name look gives you the description of the object @quit takes you out @examine gives you a full range of possibilities say allows you to speak, question, or exclaim to others emote allows you to have emotions @go jumps you to a destination @read allows you to read an object page text allows you to call someone at a distance " and : abbreviations for say and emote @show gives detailed information for an object @list : gives detailed information for a verb @dig make a building help brings upa help menu @request allows you to request a name @subscribe gives you a list of internal mail lists @send to sends mail to someone @mail on lists last 15 messages on an internal mail list There are probably hundreds of commands; you can find your way through them as you go. Look for maps (ASCII-based) of the space as a whole. Talker Commands: : emote .emote emote (variation) say .l look .echo places line of text without accreditation .h help .news .map gives a map of the space .write write on message board .read read on message board .g go somewhere Haven Commands: /? help /n gives you a name MUD Commands: n, e, s, w go north, east, south west kill begin fighting x drop put down x take pick up x look at look at (some systems, just look ) score what your score is take all from corpse just what it says help gives command list Other forms of talkers and muds have different commands; you can try to get help by typing one of the following: ?, h, .h, .help, help, .h, .help, .?, /?, /h, and so forth. Note that almost all MOOs, talkers, MUDs, etc. have various internal messaging systems. You can get information through the help menu. These systems include: Welcome message (what you see when you log on) Personal internal email (between participants) Bulletin boards (public messaging systems that you can write to) News (messaging systems that you can't write to) Email lists (on MOOs for research; you can join and write to them) Paging/answering machines (on MOOs for leaving messages) There are various clients usable for entering MOOs, MUDs, etc. such as tiny-fugue; these are beyond the course. 11 IRC (Internet Relay Chat) /join # join a list /nick change your nickname /whois information on user /set change options - see help for this /leave # leave list /lists all lists /message private message to someone /me doing something /dcc dcc is similar to ftp; see help on this /quit quit IRC say 12 miscellaneous Unix The two most important commands for you may be man and apropos: man gives you a very complete help file for a command man man gives you the help file for man apropos lists various commands connected with the subject Site information and the health of the Internet: traceroute allows you to test the condition of an Internet path ping tells you whether the site is alive or dead ping -s sends a packet per second to a site until you stop the operation with ^c after which it gives you information about packet loss dig gives site statistics etc. whois gives basic site information who am i and whoami give you information about yourself nslookup site information host
returns IP for domain and vice versa netstat do a man netstat - a complex command giving considerable information on your server - useful if an attack or spam is occurring rusers tells who is logged on to a particular machine at a site who current users on your site cal calendar information gcal new calendar program pilot new file reading program calendar do man calendar - appointment program date tells you just that ls list current directory ls -a full listing cd change directory to the name pwd what directory am I in? cd change directory back to your home directory cd / change to the root directory du -s disk usage mv a b changes (moves) file a to file b - only b remains cp a b copies file a to file b - both a and b remain rm a removes file a and file b: note: you cannot reverse this! more a allows you to read a on the screen less a more sophisticated version of screen-reading, can go backwards pico a brings up a within a simple text-editor for working on a pine takes you to a simple email reader based on pico tin takes you to news irc takes you to internet relay chat units gives you a conversion program (i.e. pounds to grams) bc gives you a calculator program http://www.altavista.digital.com/ http://my.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------