Date: Tue, 05 Sep 1995 02:25:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: Doctor Bob
To: TOURBUS@colossus.net
Subject: Internet Power Tools
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TOURBUS - 05 Sep 1995
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\___/ \___/ "Why Surf When U Can Ride The Bus?" \___/
Today's Stop: Power Tools For The Internet - Part I
Welcome back! We've got almost 14,000 TOURBUS riders now from every
corner of the known universe (they don't call it cyberSPACE for no
reason), and we're hoping that the problems with duplicate and missing
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In my column for Boardwatch Magazine a few months back, I wrote about
Internet search tools and techniques. And since it's back to school
time, I thought this would be a good time to share some tutorial
stuff with the TOURBUS crowd.
So this week the 'Bus is stopping at some sites to help you find the
people, places and things you're searching for in cyberspace. And
you're stuck with me at the wheel all week, because Patrick is taking
time off to celebrate his birthday on Thursday!
The Internet and Your Basement
------------------------------
The Internet is a lot like your basement. There's a lot of good stuff
down there, but it's such a cluttered mess you can't find anything.
However there are two key factors that make the Internet more appealing
than your basement. First off, you never have to clean the Internet on
a Saturday. And secondly, there are lots of nifty tools available to
help you find what you're looking for on the Net.
So let's delve into Archie, Veronica and WAIS. Let's check out Netfind,
Whois and Four11. Let's explore the Web with Lycos & WebCrawler and
then get plugged into some cool databases that will find it if it's out
there. These are the power tools of the Net Literate.
Archie - The File Finder
------------------------
If you could visit every anonymous FTP site on the Internet, capture the
names of the files stored there and then slam it all together into a huge
searchable catalog, you'd have Archie - almost.
If you're looking for a program, image or other file, you'll fare best if
you know the exact filename. But even if you can only guess at a few
characters of the name, there's still hope. Let's say we're looking to
secure the old enterprise with PGP software. The syntax for the archie
"substring search" command would be:
archie -s pgp
This will find "pgp" anywhere in the filename. The archie output (see
figure 1) tells you the file's site, directory and name so you can use
FTP to pop off and retrieve it.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Host ftp.wustl.edu |
| |
| Location: /systems/ibmpc/garbo/crypt |
| FILE -r--r--r-- 209679 Mar 6 1993 pgp22.zip |
| FILE -r--r--r-- 62885 Oct 9 1993 pgpfront.zip |
| FILE -r--r--r-- 65430 Aug 3 1993 pgpshe22.zip |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
If you don't have archie available locally, you can telnet to any of
these addresses...
archie.rutgers.edu (USA)
archie.sura.net (USA)
archie.mcgill.ca (Canada)
archie.funet.fi (Finland)
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (UK)
archie.wide.ad.jp (Japan)
...login as "archie" and then perform the same search by issuing:
set search sub
find pgp
There are all kinds of options for archie searches. Try archie with
no parameters (or enter "help" if you're telnetting to a remote archie
server) for details on syntax.
Veronica - Your Hostess in Gopherspace
--------------------------------------
Veronica is a tool that helps you search for things stored on gopher
servers around the world, like Archie does for FTP sites. The team
of Foster and Barrie at the University of Nevada at Reno developed this
extremely useful tool, whose name is actually an acronym (Very Easy
Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computer Archives) and probably a minor
annoyance to Archie Comic Publications.
You can get to a Veronica server by gophering to gopher.tc.umn.edu,
and then selecting "Other Gopher and Information Servers" and finally
"Veronica". (If that link is down, try info.umd.edu or cwis.usc.edu
and follow the (hopefully) obvious path to Veronica. Once you connect,
you'll be greeted by a gopher menu which offers various types of searches
as well as help on how to use Veronica. (see figure 2)
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Search titles in Gopherspace using VERONICA |
| |
| 1. Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) about Veronica |
| 2. How to Compose Veronica Queries |
| 3. Search Directory by Title word(s) (via NYSERNet) |
| 4. Search GopherSpace by Title word(s) (via NYSERNet) |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Let's go for more info on PGP. A Veronica query with "Pretty Good
Privacy" as the search string will likely turn up a couple dozen hits
on which you can follow up. (see Figure 3).
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet Gopher Information Client v2.0.15 |
| |
| Search GopherSpace by Title word(s): pretty good privacy |
| |
| 1. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) version 2.3 release announcement |
| 2. Re: Pretty Good Privacy book found in N. Calif ... |
| 3. Where to get the latest PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) FAQ |
| 4. PMail with PGP (pretty good privacy |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Note: You might want to try several of the listed Veronica search sites
because all Veronicas are not equal! Some are infrequently updated,
and some offer partial or censored catalogs for searching.
WAIS Not, Want
--------------
WAIS stands for Wide Area Information Service, and is a means of
searching a set of over 500 indexed databases distributed across
the Internet. The topics range from "Aboriginal Studies" to
"Zipcodes" with lots of other interesting resources sandwiched in
between.
Betcha can't wait to try one of these... We'll start by gophering
to gopher.csuohio.edu, then select the "Search all Available WAIS
Databases" item, and with a little luck we'll see a menu like the
one in Figure 4. Select one of the listed options, pick a database
and then specify your search words.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Search all Available WAIS Databases |
| |
| --> 1. Directory of WAIS servers |
| 2. a/ |
| 3. b/ |
| 4. c/ |
| ... |
| 27. z/ |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
If you prefer a World-Wide Web interface to WAIS, then try this
server provided by Wais, Inc.
http://www.wais.com
But Wait There's More!
----------------------
If you order now, you'll get the steak knives free! Oops, wrong commercial.
Well there is more in the "Power Tools" series, but you'll have to wait for
Thursday's posting to learn about People Finders, Web Searchers, and Cool
Databases. So grab a cup of coffee and try out the ideas in this lesson
at your leisure. And speaking of coffee...
*************************************************************************
:) :( ;) ---EMugs for Internet Junkies--- :) :( ;)
Smile, Frown, Wink or your own favorite icon - Plain or Personalized!
EMugs: $6.00 (4 for $20.00) Personalized: $9.00 (4 for $27.00) + S&H
How about an EButton? Choose from 12 designs or submit your own.
EButtons: $1.75 (3 for $4.75) + S&H
If I use your mug/button idea I'll pay you royalties. Email to:
backroom@garlic.com or visit http://www.garlic.com/~backroom for details.
*************************************************************************
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TOURBUS - (c) Copyright 1995, Patrick Crispen and Bob Rankin
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