KU Computing Services for students
What does the Computer Center do for students? Well, there are labs for student use, free seminars, discounted workshops,and, new this semester, computer network services are available to all students on campus.
And just what are "network services?" The most popular and well known, of course, is electronic mail. With national and international networks, electronic mail can be sent around the world. You can correspond with those that share your personal or research interests. The costs of network access are included as benefits of your enrollment at KU. Up to this point there have been a limited number of accounts available on the Oread computer system that provides student network services. That system is overloaded and consequently slow. Now everyone can have electronic mail with a simple user interface that runs either on a PC or a Macintosh.
Networking is not limited to mail. It includes a variety of other services, such as News, Telnet, FTP, Gopher, and World Wide Web. This article provides a brief description of each of these. For additional information, including details about how to use the services, see the writeups on Internet Services for Macintoshes and PCs, available at the Computer Center, or online via KUfacts.
"News" is a worldwide colloquium. There are over 2000 interest groups. These groups cover subjects ranging from bread making to technical topics in computing. Within these groups people share information and vent their frustrations. News has been available to users on the Oread system, but it ran v-e-r-y slowly. Now everyone can participate at reasonable speeds.
Telnet and TN3270 are programs that allow you to sign on to computer systems around the world. On some of these systems you must be an authorized user and have a valid account; however, on many, a personal account is not required. For example, there are over 600 libraries worldwide whose catalogues can be searched with Telnet or TN3270, including the Library of Congress.
FTP (the File Transfer Protocol) is a program that can move files between computers. People have established compilations of programs, data, and documents on computer systems known as "FTP sites" or "anonymous FTP sites." (Anonymous refers to the fact that you do not need to be an authorized user at an anonymous FTP site to retrieve a file from that site.) There are more than 1000 of these sites worldwide, providing approximately 2.6 million files. To help you locate the information you want, there is a program to automatically search all sites for file names that contain a keyword you specify. The program goes by the unlikely name of "archie."
Computer systems providing services are known as "servers," while systems and programs making use of these services are known as "clients." More and more general information servers are coming into use across the networks. Presently the most popular of these is Gopher. A Gopher client will access and retrieve information from Gopher servers on the net. These Gopher clients are available for both Macs and PCs. They provide very easy to use interfaces for information retrieval and they have taken over part of the function that the more arcane FTP servers have performed in the past.
Another type of information server, the next stage in server technology development, is the World Wide Web (WWW) server. Before the year is out there will be WWW clients available for the Mac and PC. WWW servers can have formatted documents with different fonts and sizes. There can be integrated graphics in a document, even animated graphics. Documents can also contain
sounds that WWW clients will play back.
Computing Services intends to provide all of these facilities for all students. This generation of students is the "connected" generation. Sharing and discussion can be done literally worldwide using increasingly good interfaces.
Currently any student can get an account that provides access to Internet services by going to room 203a in the Computer Center and filling out a short application form. Students who have modems and computers of their own should also get a terminal server account at the same time. The terminal server account provides high-speed dial-up access to KU computer systems and the Internet. This connection can be used with Kermit or any of several other terminal emulation programs.
Dial-up use of client programs that provide a personal-computer-based interface to mail, news, and other network services requires Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) software on the desktop
system and on the network system you're calling. This summer the Computer Center installed a terminal server that provides SLIP support for incoming dialup connections, and may support PPP at some time in the future. SLIP software for Macintosh systems is available from the Burge Union Technology Center. A basic package, VersaTilities, costs $60. A package that adds terminal emulation, VersaTerm, costs $72. Computing Services is investigating several options for PC SLIP support.
Computing Services will be providing a variety of SLIP client software for Macs and PCs. Watch for updates on KUfacts. In the meantime, get your mail and terminal server accounts, and you can begin using the network now.
You'll have something to do on those nights when you don't want to do homework,you don't have a date,and it's raining. Who said that Computing Services wouldn't help you get through the difficult times?
Tour the Computer Center
+ $1 of free laser printing
Discover—student labs, where to get help, how to laser print, and more. Sign up today for Computer Center tours October 4 through 7. Come by the Computer Center or call 864-0100 for more information.
Fall 1993
The Jayhacker . . . . .
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