What is the Internet?
The term "internet" was originally used to describe any network that connect(ed two or more computer networks to each other. Actually, it was called an "internetwork." In theory, any network of networks is an internet. For example, if the five computers in your office are connected to a network of computers at a local university, then that is an internet--a network between networks.

However, when people talk about "the Internet" they are usually referring to the internet that spans the globe, and that connects individuals, businesses, universities, governments, countries, and continents.

The reason that this internet--"the Internet"--has become so large is that it utilizes a particularly adaptable kind of software called TCP/IP. TCP/IP controls how computers communicate with each other, and it allows any kind of computer to "talk" to any other kind. This flexibility is what has allowed "the Internet" to get so big: anyone can hook up to it.

As an Internet user, you have become a member of the first truly planet-wide community, and you are part of a great experiment in nearly instantaneous communication in words, pictures, sounds, and video. Here you can find more information and entertainment than you could possibly absorb in a lifetime. Via the Internet you can make friends, do business, research hobbies or interests, influence your Congressman, and many other things.

How Did the Internet Start?
The Internet began as a U.S. military experiment called ARPAnet over 20 years ago. Because of the potential for nuclear war, and the fact that more and more aspects of national defense relied on computers, the decision was made to create a completely fault-tolerant computer network.

A fault-tolerant network was the goal because such a network would allow for the loss of certain segments of the network. For example, in a fault-tolerant network a computer in Kansas City could be destroyed without cutting off communications between Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. The system would immediately re-route all communications through Dallas, so messages would still be able to get from coast to coast.

At the same time that ARPAnet was being developed, academic researchers were increasingly using computers. Some of the problems they were tackling required access to the most powerful computers in the world. Arrangements were made to give non-military researchers access to a handful of supercomputers via the Internet as it existed then.
The ARPAnet was dismantled, and a more powerful network, NSFNET, was put in its place.

The National Science Foundation was responsible for NSFNET. Five supercomputers were installed at various locations around the country, and a network was designed and built connecting universities to each other and to the supercomputer centers. Part of the requirements for a university or college to have its connection to NSFNET and the Internet funded by the federal government was that it provide access to all of its teachers, students, and administrators.
At that time, Windows, the Macintosh system, or any type of graphical intertace, didn't exist except in experimental environments. But just the ability to send an electronic "letter" to a friend, or trade scientific papers with someone doing siMilar research, created a huge demand for Internet access. The largest contribution to the Internet, however, was made by a few independent computer networking masters who, rather than waiting for the government to do so, got together and figured out the protocols (standards) that could be used by virtually any computer to communicate with others, making the world wide Internet possible.

Eventually, with the Internet up and running, large companies who had purchased and installed national and international computer networks of their own saw that they could better utilize resources by connecting their computers to the Internet.
But in the end the true drivers of demand were college students. Having tasted the power of the Internet while in school, they demanded that their employers provide access when they entered the business community.
Today's Internet is a result of that original small experiment in maintaining control over national defense in case of war. At that time barely one hundred people participated in the Internet. Now, estimates of the number of users range from 10 million to 30 million. Nearly every country participates in the Internet, with over 25% of the computers located in Europe.

How Does the Internet Work?
A network is simply one or more computers connected to each other electronically--with wires or cables which allow them to send signals back and forth. You could have two computers at home with a cable connecting them together, and that would be a network.
Large companies, governments and universities have thousands of computers linked together. This is possible because computers can be connected at any distance using the telephone lines already installed for voice telephone service. The computers "talk" to each other over these lines as well as over lines installed specifically for computers. These lines can run from room to room, building to building, and even country to country.
When the different international companies, universities, national and local governments, and anyone else with a properly-equipped computer connect to each other you get the Internet--a network of networks.
These networks can connect to each other because they have all agreed to use the same protocols. A protocol is a set of rules that governs how computers trade information. Think about how people communicate. If I speak French and you speak German we aren't going to be able to exchange any information. However, if we both agree to speak Spanish we can talk. The "language" that all the computers on the Internet have agreed to use is called TCP/IP. TCP stands for Transmission Control Protocol and IP stands for Internet Protocol.
You are connected to the Internet by your modem which allows your computer to send and receive information over the phone line. Actually, your computer calls, or dials in to. one of iNet Communication's computers, which then connects you to the Internet.
A basic principle in networking is the client-server relationship. Understanding this helps show how the Internet works.
For the sake of analogy, think of how people network. There are always certain people who seem to know everybody. They are the "servers" of human networks. Through them, you can connect to lots of other people. Of course, in human networking, you can call someone directly once you have met them. But if you had to call the "server" each time you wanted to talk to someone else in the network, then you would have an example of the client-server relationship.
When you make a phone call, you don't call someone else's phone directly. Your call goes to the local phone company's central office. You establish a connection to a switch in the central office, which routes your call to another switch, and another, until it reaches the central of fice that can directly connect to the telephone of the person you are calling. Only then does their phone ring. When they pick it up, you have made a phone call.
Your telephone set is a client, and the phone company switch is a server (this is not exactly true, but it's close enough). Without the switch, your telephone couldn't reach anyone else's telephone. In the case of the Internet, your computer is a client, and iNet Communication's computer is the server. Unless your computer connects to a server (or is a server), it cannot communicate with other computers on the Internet. When you dial into iNet Comrnunication's server, it is like making that first connection to the local central of fice switch, except that you can now connect to other computers on the Internet or the Web via our computers. You can make all the long distance calls you want after making that first local call

While the concept of computer networking is pretty simple, the technology of making all these computers talk to each other is more complicated. Luckily for all of us the Internet can be navigated with programs that cover up all the complexity, and that are even simpler to use than your word processor. Everything on the Internet can be reached with one or two programs that are easy to learn and use.

In the early 1990's, a massive new government Internet project was approved, called the National Research and Education Network (NREN). NREN's purpose is to combine all government networks into one high-speed network. This will replace the NSFNET and greatly increase the overall performance capability of the Internet.
At the same time, phone companies and even cable companies are racing to install new high-speed fiber optic networks with the capacity to handle the tremendous amount of traffic that is expected over the next few years. This combination of government and commercially-operated networks will eventually provide Internet access to virtually every human being.

All this investment in bigger and better computers and networks ensures that the Internet will not only maintain its current capabilities, but provide higher speed at lower cost even as the volume of users and content increases
dramatically.

What's the Difference Between the Internet and the World Wide Web?
The Internet, as noted in "What is the Internet," is simply the global network of computers and smaller networks that use the TCP/IP networking standard.
While the Internet is really just that--a network of networks--we have come to use "the Internet" to describe the information that can be accessed through these connections.
In the past, most of the information available on the Internet came in the form of text. You could access books, articles, newsgroups, and you could send and receive mail; but pictures, music, and video were not generally accessible over the Internet.
Recently, however, a system has been developed that can handle multimedia material. This system is made up of two parts: browser software that can "read" or "view" multimedia documents and server computers that can support and maintain those documents. Netscape and Mosaic are two of the most popular browsers.
But the Internet and the World Wide Web are not separate entities. The computers that serve Web documents are part of the Internet network. And Web browsers can read text documents that exist on the Internet as well as the multimedia documents that exist on Web servers. So, the "World Wide Web" is a term used to identity multimedia documents as well as the computers that maintain and make it possible to view multimedia documents; it is that part or aspect of the Internet that deals with graphics, sound, and video.

Frame Relay
Definition Frame Relay is loosely defined as a lechnology tor high-speed data transfer over telephone lines using shared facilities.
It is possible to share facilities because Internet networks are "bursty," which is to say that information or data is sent across channels intermittently. Since no one person or company needs to use lOO% of the channel 100% of the time the channel can be shared. The facility that is being shared is called a Frame Relay network or a Frame Relay cloud. Multiple subscribers can use this cloud or network to connect to iNet Communication.
 

Pros and Cons:
What is good about Frame Relay is that it is less expensive than other types of high-speed Internet access. By sharing the facilities you are also sharing the cost--less line, less equipment, and less labor is required to set up each subscriber.
But because Frame Relay is a shared network technology, there is always the possibility that all sides of the network may try to talk at the same time. If this occurs the physical bandwidth of the Frame Relay cloud, or any connection to that cloud, can become overloaded.
 

This problem is limited, however, by CIR (the Committed Information Rate). CIR is the minimum speed guaranteed via your connection to the Frame Relay cloud. Usually, the CIR (which is set by the telephone company) is set at l/8th to 1/4th of the size of the circuit. So, for example, if you buy a full Tl you will generally get a CIR of 128k.
While the CIR may make Frame Relay seem less attractive, you should keep in mind that it is the minimum level of speed guaranteed. In most cases you should get actual throughput near the level of your physical circuit.

ISDN
Definition
According to the Free Online Dictionary of Compu(ing, ISDN (or Integrated Services Digital Network is "a set of communications standards allowing a single wire or optical t'iber to carry voice, digital ne~work services and video. ISDN is intended to eventually replace the plain old telephone system."
Pros and Cons ISDN can move more information more quickly than an analog-based system.
 

Modems, which use analog signals, have pretty much reached their speed limit with the 28.8kbps high speed modems we have today. And, as we all know, you can't use your phone and have your modem turned on.
ISDN, however, offers transmission speeds of 64kbps and can carry two "conversations" at the same time (sometimes three, depending on how you want to count these things). So if you have an ISDN connection, you can order Chinese food and "surf the net" at the same time; and you can do it all at high speed.
Additionally, in 90% of the cases the existing telephone lines can be used for ISDN. ISDN technology simply takes the twisted-pair copper cable that you have been receiving phone calls over and converts it into three channels--two B channels to carry "conversations" and one D channel to carry set-up information. So, for most of us ISDN service is already available.
The only real down side to ISDN is economic, because ISDN service can be expensive. But if you value your time and your access level, it may very well be worth the money.

What Can I Do on the Internet?
You can do many things on the internet: send and receive electronic mail (email), search for information, retrieve files, browse the World Wide Web, and more. The following are included with iNet-PAK software:

· Eudora: Electronic Mail
· Netscape: World Wide Web Browsing
· News: Usenet Newsgroups (Discussion Groups)
· FTP: File Transfre Protocol for Copying Files
· Gopher: Menu System for Files on the Internet
· Telnet: Remote Login Program
Eudora
Electronic mail ("email") works very much like postal mail. You receive mail at your own "address," and you send mail to others at their addresses. If you are on the Internet, you already have an email address (e.g., "philr@iNetCommunication.net.H). The name before the "@" symbol identifies the recipient of the mail (it can be a person. a position, or the name of a department or company). The information that follows the "@" symbol identifies the computer to which the mail is sent. If you have used a computer to type a letter, then you have most of the skills needed to send email. The only difference is that with regular mail you would have to print out the letter and put it in a mailbox, whereas with email you press a key or two and the letter is transmitted electronically to the recipient.
If the recipient of your email has an account with I server on the Internet, then he or she can read your letter within a few seconds. Note: Eudora is the best-known electronic mail (email) program for Windows-compatible and Macintosh personal computers.
Netscape
The World Wide Web is the most popular Internet service after email, and Netscape is a popular World Wide Web browser for accessing the Web. A World Wide Web browser is a program that is specifically designed to provide access to the multimedia information that exists on server computers. In other words, it is a program that lets you search and view documents that contain text, sound, graphics, and video.
A browser, such as Netscape, allows you to "jump" from one location to another by clicking once with your mouse on highlighted and/or underlined words or phrases. These are called "links." Links can be either words or pictures. NOTE: You know when your mouse is pointing at a link because your cursor turns into a "hand."
What's amazing about browsing the Web is that the page you see could be on any one of millions of computers in the world, and you dont need to know which one. Your web browser and the links take care of finding the computer and displaying the pages for you.

News
One of the first and most-used areas of the Internet is Usenet, a collection of discussion groups called "newsgroups." Started in 1980, Usenet is a system that is similar to email, but that is specifically designed to create and facilitate ongoing discussions about specific subject areas.
Over 9,000 separate newsgroups exist, and each one covers a different topic. Groups are organized by name hierarchically under a handful of major categories, such as comp (computer), rec (recreation) or biz (business). If you do business internationally, you might read biz.marketplace.international.discussion. If you own a racing boat, you might subscribe to rec.boats.racing, and for math geniuses, sci.math.research ("sci" for science) is available.
You can write an "article" (basically, an email message) addressed to the group, and it will be "posted&quo; for everyone to read. People can then reply to your message either by sending you a private email, or by posting a response for everyone to see.
Usenet is a tremendous resource for getting answers to questions about virtually any subject. Just post a question, and another user is likely to answer it.

NOTE: Don't confuse Usenet newsgroups with "news" events articles.
You can read newspaper articles on the Internet (see News), but that's difterent from newsgroups. Also, Usenet is where your Netiquette matters the most. Before jumping in with both feet, it's best to know the rules.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a program, as well as a set of procedures or rules, for transferring files on the Internet. Specifically, FTP is the set of rules that governs how files are copied from one computer to another.
In some cases you may need or want to use a separate FTP program to copy files, but Netscape has FTP built in. Whenever you click on a link to a text, program. or picture file in Netscape. a copy of that file is automatically transfered to your computer.
Keep in mind that Netscape only stores tiles temporarily. If you want to save a file permanently, go to "File" and choose "Save As." Once you give it a new name and location, it is yours.

Anonymous FTP:
Anonymous FTP "sites" are computers where hundreds or thousands of files are stored and made available for others to copy freely. A list of all the anonymous FIP sites can be accessed by clicking here. (please note that the list of anonymous FTP sites is extensive and will take some time to load.) Anonymous FTP sites can be used to find and copy software, documents, graphics, and more.
If you are unfamiliar with FTP, then you might want to run through the following exercise: Click on the link to the list of anonymous FTP sites given in the paragraph above. When this page is finished downloading, scroll down to the third FTP site offered. This should be the FTP site at the University of Illinois. Click on the URL link ftp://a.cs.uiuc.edu/. (Or, you can just click on the link offered here.) When you are connected to the University of Illinois, scroll down to the "pub/" directory and click on it. Now click on the "Dept. of Computer Sciences" option. If you click on "Brochures," you will be offered files on Courses, Graduate Education, and Undergraduate Education. When you are done looking around, click the "Back" button however many times it takes to return to this page.
If you were interested in going to school at the University of Illinois, you would be set. However, you probably were not. But, this example demonstrates an important point about FTPing. You can just browse through the different anonymous FTP sites in the hopes of finding something interesting, but there are more efficient ways of searching for specific items on FTP sites.
In particular, you can use "Archie" to search for file names, and "Veronica" to search for keywords. Both of these are discussed in the following sections.

Gopher
Gopher is a software system originally developed at the University of Minnesota to help organize text files on computers. It makes it easy to locate and retrieve information from the millions of servers on the Internet.
Information resources are made available through a series of hierarchical menus starting with the "mother" Gopher at Minnesota. You can move up and down through these menus that contain descriptive titles of sites, directories, and files.
For instance, if you started at the top of the worldwide Gopher menu, you could click on "Other Gopher and Information Services". This would produce a list of continents. You could then click on North America, and get a list of countries. If you clicked on the United States you would see a list of states.
Eventually, by simply clicking on titles, you could reach the Gopher site at the California State Legislature, and the directory containing copies of all the bills currently being debated in the state Assembly and Senate.
To read a bill, you would click on its name and Netscape would display it. To make a copy of this file on your computer, you would open the "File" menu item and choose "Save As." Give the document a filename on your computer, then click OK, and it is yours.
While Gopher might sound like another FTP, it is not. Gopher organizes, navigates, and retrieves information. FTP governs how this information is copied to your computer.

Telnet
Early in the development of cyberspace, you connected to another computer on the Internet through a program called Telnet. If you were listed in the remote computer's files as an authorized user, you could "log in" and use the other computer as if your keyboard were connected directly to it.
Unless you need to log into another computer at the command line level, you'll never need to use Telnet. Nearly all of the resources on the Net can now be accessed much more easily through Netscape, Gopher, or FTP.
If you are using Gopher and the information you want requires that you use Telnet, Gopher will automatically open a Telnet "session," allowing you to type in the necessary commands.

Netiquette
The Internet is a new frontier that lacks any kind of centralized government. Consequently, users must police themselves, or face justice at the hands of other users or system managers.
The Internet is often called "cyberspace" because it exists separately from "physical" human society. Like the "real" world, though, this cyberworld is sectioned off into subgroups--each with its own culture. Generally, you are welcome anywhere so long as you respect the rules of the group.
Netiquette describes the basic rules agreed upon by the majority of people in cyberspace. Following these rules will make your travels more enjoyable because without at least some agreement on conduct, the Internet could not function.