Dialing-in from home made easy?
Dialing-in to the KU computers from home seems like such a great idea. With your home computer, modem, and terminal server account ($), you can check your e-mail, read Usenet news, and even surf the Web.
But if you've asked your friends about this, you may have heard that setting up your system to dial-in from home is more trouble than it is worth.
Getting the right software on your computer and getting things to work the first time can be quite a challenge. But help has arrived.
If you have a Mac or a Windows 3.x PC (that is an IBM-compatible running Windows 3.1), dialing-in can be easy. For just a few dollars ($3 for Windows users, $4 for Mac users), you can take home a pack designed to load (automatically) the software you'll need to dial in. And in both packs you get Netscape Navigator—the most popular Web browser.
Internet $3
Win Pack 3.x
You can get your pack at the Computer Center Business Office 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday—they take cash, checks, and plastic. Or bring the exact amount (dollar bills only) to the Computer Center lab from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday (8 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday).
Welcome to the Internet. To help you make the most of the Internet using your Windows PC computer, KU's Academic Computing Services provides you with:
1. A disk to install the software you need to connect your Windows PC to the Internet.
2. Two disks with Netscape Navigator, a World Wide Web browser.
3. Installation instructions.
4. Help with computing at KU, in the form of in brief documentation.
ACS hopes you'll find the Internet Win Pack useful. If you have questions about the Internet Win Pack software or the documentation, please call ACS consulting at 864-0410 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Academic Computing Services, University of Kansas, 196% for use only by KU students, faculty, and staff.
Internet Mac Pack
Connection to the Internet
we welcome to the Internet.
To help you make the most of your connection to the Internet,
KU's Academic Computing Services provides you with:
1. A four (4) disk set with the software you need to connect your Mac to the Internet and then use Internet resources with software such as Netscape Navigator, Eudora, Fetch, Newswatch, Telnet, and a variety of Netscape helper applications.
2. Installation instructions
3. Help with computing at KU, in the form of in Brief documentation.
ACS hopes you'll find the Internet Mac Pack documentation useful. If you have questions about the software or the documentation, please call ACS consulting at 864-0410 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The care and feeding of floppy disks
It doesn't matter what kind of computer you use—or what size disk you prefer—all computer disks need care. For starters, they like fingerprints as well as the average cat burglar. So avoid touching the surface of your disk. Your fingerprints or pawprints can corrupt your data—and ruin your day if the disk contains your only copy of a paper due by lunch.
Disks don't like dust, moisture extreme heat or cold, or smoke. And disks don't find magnets very attractive. Unless you want to erase your disk, you shouldn't stick it to a filing cabinet or the refrigerator door with a magnet. Many users swear a disk sitting on their computer or desk has suddenly become blank.
One of the best things you can do to protect your disks is to carry them in a hard plastic case. You can find reasonably priced cases at the bookstore (complete with a Jayhawk on the front) or at computer stores around town.
Even with the best care, sometimes a disk dies. If you've been making backups, pull the file you need off the backup disk. If you haven't been
making backups, don't panic yet.
Bring your old disk and a new disk to the Customer Assistance Window at the Computer Center (Room 202). Tell them you have a damaged disk. Fill out the form they give you, leave your two disks, and keep your fingers crossed.
Consultants at the Computer
Center will work on your disk. In many cases, all or part of the information on your disk can be recovered in a day or two.
If it can't, you'll begin to understand why many computer users recommend backups. And you'll probably take their advice—at least for a while.
8
THEJayhacker
Spring 1996