6.1  MINING THE NET


Like any large community, cyberspace has its libraries, places you can go 
to look up information or take out a good book.  Telnet is one of your 
keys to these libraries. 

Telnet is a program that lets you use the power of the Internet to 
connect you to databases, library catalogs, and other information 
resources around the world.  Want to see what the weather's like in 
Vermont? Check on crop conditions in Azerbaijan? Get more information 
about somebody whose name you've seen online? Telnet lets you do this, 
and more.  Increasingly, information once available only via telnet is 
being disseminated by the World-Wide Web (see Chapter 9) -- but it can 
still be useful to learn your way around telnet.

Alas, there's a big "but!''  Unlike the phone system, Internet is not yet 
universal;  not everybody can use all of its services.  Almost all 
colleges and universities on the Internet provide telnet access.   So do 
all of the for-fee public-access systems listed in Chapter 1. But the 
Free-Net systems do not give you access to every telnet system.  And if 
you are using a public-access UUCP or Usenet site, you will not have 
access to telnet. The main reason for this is cost.  Connecting to the 
Internet can easily cost $1,000 or more for a leased, high-speed phone 
line. Some databases and file libraries can be queried by e-mail, 
however; we'll show you how to do that later on. In the meantime, the 
rest of this chapter assumes you are connected to a site with at least 
partial Internet access. 
     
Most telnet sites are fairly easy to use and have online help systems. 
Most also work best (and in some cases, only) with VT100 emulation.  
Let's dive right in and try one.

At your host system's command line, type
 
     telnet access.usask.ca
 
and hit enter.  That's all you have to do to connect to a telnet site!  
In this case, you'll be connecting to a service known as Hytelnet, which 
is a database of computerized library catalogs and other databases 
available through telnet.  You should see something like this:
 
     Trying 128.233.3.1 ...
     Connected to access.usask.ca.
     Escape character is '^]'.
 
     Ultrix UNIX (access.usask.ca)
 
     login: 

Every telnet site has two addresses -- one composed of words that are 
easier for people to remember; the other a numerical address better 
suited for computers.  The "escape character" is good to remember.  When 
all else fails, depressing your hitting your control key and then the ] 
key at the same time will disconnect you and return you to your host 
system.  At the login prompt for this particular site, type 
 
      hytelnet
 
and hit enter.  You'll see something like this:
 
                            Welcome to HYTELNET 
                                version 6.2  
                            ...................
                                                                               
   What is HYTELNET?              .        Up/Down arrows MOVE 
   Library catalogs               .        Left/Right arrows SELECT
   Other resources                .        ? for HELP anytime
   Help files for catalogs         .                
   Catalog interfaces             .        m returns here
   Internet Glossary            .        q quits
   Telnet tips                    . 
   Telnet/TN3270 escape keys  . 
   Key-stroke commands          . 
                                          
                                          
                          ........................
                      HYTELNET 6.2 was written by Peter Scott,
         U of Saskatchewan Libraries, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada.  1992
     Unix and VMS software by Earl Fogel, Computing Services, U of S 1992
                                                                       
The first choice, "" will be highlighted.  Use your down and up 
arrows to move the cursor among the choices.  Hit enter when you decide 
on one.  You'll get another menu, which in turn will bring up text files 
telling you how to connect to sites and giving any special commands or 
instructions you might need.  Hytelnet does have one quirk. To move back 
to where you started (for example, from a sub-menu to a main menu), hit 
the left-arrow key on your computer.  

Play with the system.  You might want to turn on your computer's screen-
capture, or at the very least, get out a pen and paper. You're bound to 
run across some interesting telnet services that you'll want to try -- 
and you'll need their telnet "addresses.'' 

As you move around Hytelnet, it may seem as if you haven't left your host 
system -- telnet can work that quickly.  Occasionally, when network loads 
are heavy, however, you will notice a delay between the time you type a 
command or enter a request and the time the remote service responds. 

To disconnect from Hytelnet and return to your system, hit your q key and 
enter. 

Some telnet computers are set up so that you can only access them through 
a specific "port."  In those cases, you'll always see a number after 
their name, for example:  india.colorado.edu 13. It's important to 
include that number, because otherwise, you may not get in. 

In fact, try the above address. Type 
 
     telnet india.colorado.edu 13
 
and hit enter.  You should see something like this:
 
     Trying 128.138.140.44 ...
 
Followed very quickly by this:
 
     telnet india.colorado.edu 13 
        
     Escape character is '^]'.
     Sun Jan 17 14:11:41 1994
     Connection closed by foreign host.
     
What we want is the middle line, which tells you the exact Mountain 
Standard Time, as determined by a government-run atomic clock in Boulder, 
Colo.