This list will be updated periodically to add items. Any suggestions as to
better phrasing/descriptions can be sent to bug@afn.org
- AFN:
- Short for Alachua Free-Net. See also Free-Net.
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- Archie:
- A way to search the Internet. The archie program searches databases
of all files available by anonymous FTP. See also Veronica.
- Bulletin Board:
-
- Often used to refer to microcomputer dial-in systems which offer a
large range of local services to users of the same type of microcomputer.
- Sometimes used to incorrectly describe Free-Net, even by Free-Net
administration. Basic difference between Bulletin Boards and Free-Net
is Free-Net is a minicomputer capable of supporting 100s of users, it
is connected to the Internet and therefore 1000s of other machines.
Free-Net is sometimes referred to as a "Gateway" to the Internet. Most
bulletin board systems do not connect into other machines.
- Slang for a public forum or newsgroup. Free-Net has hundreds of
bulletin boards when referring to this definition of bulletin board
- Documentation:
-
- A well-sought, valuable commodity which is not a natural resource of
Free-Net and therefore is in high demand.
- A priority item for the remainder of 1994 of Free-Net admin.
- E-Mail Address:
-
The address of an individual for the purpose of sending and receiving
electronic mail. Internet mail addresses are usually comprised of
two parts: 1) user id, and 2) machine name with the parts separated by
an @ sign.
(example: wood@afn.org refers to the user wood on the
machine afn.org)
- E-Mail:
-
Electronic mail. An alternative to traditional mail (aka snail mail)
or fax machines.
- Editor:
-
A crude form of a word processor program. It is used by Free-Net
any time you compose mail, write to a newsgroup, or edit a file.
Free-Net currently offers 3 distinctive editors, which users may
choose from:
- pico
- A fairly user-friendly editor because of on-screen display
of command keys and help available. This is the default
set by the system unless you change it otherwise by
"Customizing your Environment" on the "Free-Net Local Services"
menu.
- penove
- Somewhat cryptic editor emulating the "jove" common
unix editor.'
- elvis
- A cryptic editor good only for old unix "vi" types. Not
recommended for anyone who does not possess a knowledge of vi.
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- FTP:
-
File Transfer Protocol. A standard mechanism for transferring files
between machines on the Internet. Average transfer rates are in the
millions of bits per second (usually just a couple of seconds are
required to transfer a 5MB file from a machine in Australia to another
in Gainesville when using the Internet and FTP).
-
Located on the menu named "Selected FTP Server Sites" on Alachua Free-Net,
as well as available directly under some other menus.
- Free-Net:
-
- When used here, shorthand for Alachua Free-Net. See also AFN.
- A non-profit, 501(c)3, private corporation in Alachua created in 5/94.
Chartered to provide a user-friendly, free, public accessible community
information system with Internet connections and resources for the
Alachua county Area. Dependent upon local contributions to exist,
as there is no line-item on anyone's budget which says Free-Net.
- freenet slang for afn.org the machines which are running the
software which is developed to provide the Free-Net application.
- a popular new way to explore technology and communicate with friends,
families, businesses, politicians around the world for free.
- a collection of people, corporations and institutions working together
to provide this public service to Gainesville.
- Gopher:
-
- A program which is becoming a standard amoung machines on the Internet
to share textual information. A menu based system which is used often
on Free-Net to access other machines. A way to navigate around the
Internet.
- a great way to locate information on the Internet relating to
specific topics.
- Hardware/Software Handshake:
-
- the way your modem and telecommunications software is configured
to upload and download messages with another modem. Free-Net does not
support XON/XOFF (a software handshake) but prefers a hardware handshake
of CTS/RTS. A software handshake embeds control sequences in the data
itself which must be interpreted and stripped out by the software on the
other end. Hardware handshakes do not muddy up the data with control
information and are necessary for our upload/download utilities.
- a common problem with uploads/downloads.
- Home Directory:
-
a place on Free-Net's computer reserved for an individual user. Every
user has their own home directory for saving files and for storage of
e-mail once it is already read and moved into a folder.
- Internet Address:
-
- sometimes interchangeable with an e-mail address.
- a machine's address on the Internet (afn.org has an
address of 128.227.163.4)
- Internet:
-
- A large network of machines which can communicate with each other
at unbelievably fast speed. Over 1.2 million machines are "on"
the Internet. Over 20 million users have access to it via e-mail.
- Worldwide network created in the 1960s by the US Department of
Defense. A preeminent network for research and education, with
most major universities, research institutions, military bases and
large companies already on it.
- The information infastructure used for electronic communications.
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- Listserve (or list server or LISTSERV):
-
Electronic mailing lists. You can subscribe to them and receive
hundreds of e-mail messages daily on any topic you can imagine.
LISTSERV is actually the proprietary name of one computer program
that performs the list server function; the program that AFN uses
is named "majordomo".
- Local Newsgroup:
- See Bulletin Board (c). Public forums on Free-Net which allow any
user to post, reply and read responses on a variety of topics.
- Login/Login Id:
- A 4-8 character identifier for a user on a computer system. What
you enter when you see the prompt "Login:" and before you enter
your password.
- Mailer Daemon:
- The main mail delivery program.
- Newsgroup:
- See Bulletin Board (c). Currently comes in two varieties (local
and remote) where local are communitywide discussion groups like
the local Veterans have in place on the veterans menu, and remote
are Internet-wide discussion groups like the Geneology newsgroup
found on the Special Interest Groups menu (sig).
See USENET Newsgroup.
- Protocol:
- The language two computers agree on in order to transfer files and
data. (examples:ascii, xmodem, ymodem, kermit, zmodem )
- Server:
- A large computer. Free-Net currently has two: freenet and freenet2
(server 1 and server 2). These machines are not very similar but
the software is trying to remove these differences from what the
user encounters.
- Telecommunications Software:
- The software used by PCs and MacIntoshes and other microcomputers
to communicate over a telephone line.
(examples:Telix, Procomm, Z-term, Versaterm, Mirror, Phonebook,
Bitcom )
- Terminal Server:
- A microcomputer which connects our modems to the Free-Net machines.
- Terminal Type/Terminal Emulation:
-
- Computers used to use "dumb" terminals. Now many computers allow other
computers to act as terminals but require that they look the same as
some flavor of dumb terminal it knows about. Unix likes dumb terminals
named vt100. When you configure your telecommunications software, select
vt100 as a terminal type to emulate.
- Incorectly setting this causes all types of characters like ^B[[C[D
on your screen instead of clear screen, bolds, underlines, etc.
- USENET Newsgroup:
- Thousands of Internetwide discussion groups. Free-Net currently only carries
a limited number due to disk space limitations. An much expanded number of
these will be available as soon as our third server is up and running.
- Unix:
-
- The operating system used by Free-Net. We currently have 2 flavors
of Unix - AIX and Sun/OS. Soon we'll offer a third called DEC Alpha OSF/1.
- Sensitive to uppercase and lowercase character distinctions ("Z" <> "z").
- User id/User Name:
- See login id/login name. Not your given name, but a machine's
way to reference you uniquely.
- Veronica:
- A great search mechanism found in Gophers. Can locate and retrieve
information on the Internet based on a query such as "Eleanor Roosevelt",
"Supreme Court Decisions", etc.
- Volunteers:
-
- The people who are helping to make Free-Net happen.
- Wonderful, thoughtful, helpful, great resources of Free-Net.
- Overworked, non-paid, non-praised entities that like people and
put up with all the rest ...
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Last Updated: 9/19/94 dhc
Formatted by Bro