usenet http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Usenet

1 History of the Internet

The birth of the Internet can be traced to a small government project in the United States of America wa back in !"#$s. It was born from the Advanced %esearch &rojects Agenc 'A%&A( network called the A%&A)*T. The A%&A)*T had several small computers called Interface +essage &rocessors 'I+&s( which were connected to each other through modems and leased lines that facilitated e,change of data between different computers via packate switching. As the news spread about A%&A)*T- more and more computers got connected to it graduall increasing its si.e and la ing the seed for the Internet. In !""/- I 0saw0 the Internet for the first time. 1ack in those da s one could connect to another computer through protocols such as telnet and 2T& using a terminal window. The telnet or 2T& commands had to manuall t ped in at the prompt 3 there was no user interface. To gain access to a remote s stem one either needed to know the username and password or one was restricted to onl the public directories 3 directories that were not protected and were thus- open to all. And if ou didn4t have an idea of how to locate a file- ou had to go through each director listing and check the file names 'assuming that the file name described its contents(5 The major growth of the Internet came with the development of HTML- the 6 perTe,t +arkup 7anguage- and programs 'browsers( that could read and displa those documents. This gave rise to the 8orld 8ide 8eb 'commonl known as 888(. )owada s 6T+7 documents- also called web pages- in addition to te,t- can also contain images- movie cllips- sound cipsanimations and much more. 9uring its short histor - the Internet has grown e,ponentiall . *ven at this ver moment as ou are reading tons of web pages and web sites are being added to this global virtual web. 8ith the advent of eas to use 8:SI8:; '8hat :ou See Is 8hat :ou ;et ( editors the techni<ues of creating a web site and putting it online has reached the hands of the common man 'or woman- if ou like(. &eople are using the Internet not onl for dail tasks such as checking and sending emails 'communication( and searching for information but are also creating their personal and business web sites or writing their hearts out on a blog. The Internet is now a global network of networks. 8hich means it consists of man smaller networks. The number of computers linked on these smaller networks can range from =3/ in a small Intranet to thousands of machines in big organi.ations. )o one knows the e,act number of computers connected to the Internet- because this figure keeps changing and is increasing with each hour. Tracing back in time- we can divide the histor of the Internet 'till the present( into three main parts.

!. 2T&: The first stage =. ;opher: The second stage /. The 8orld 8ide 8eb: The third stage

2 File Transfer Protocol - FTP

The FTP 'File Transfer Protocol( was- and is still- widel used to transfer files from one computer to the other. A user t picall logs in at an 2T& server and downloads or uploads files. Though 2T& allowed for sending and retrieving files from a remote computer- it did not facilitate browsing. Thus- a lot of time was spent 'wasted5( in searching for the re<uired information. 1ecause of this- a service called Archie was developed to simplif ke word searching of files located at 2T& servers. )owada s- 2T& is mainl used to transfer large data 'huge files or man small files( from one machine to the other. >arious 2T& clients are now available and most of them are ver simple to use. The 2ile Transfer &rotocol still remains a faster method than the 6 perTe,t Transfer &rotocol '6TT&( for uploading and downloading files. 2ile Transfer &rotocol Using 2T& with 2T& *,plorer 2T& &rograms or 2T& clients

3 Gopher - Veronica an !"#hea

Gopher was a menu3st le information browsing and retrieval s stem. 9eveloped at the Universit of +innesota as a campus3wide information s stem- ;opher was named after the Universit mascot- though some opine that ;opher stands for 4go3for4 information. ;opher overcame man of 2T&4s shortcomings but as the content increased- navigating the menu s stem became arduous. A search facilit for ;opher called Veronica was developed which was similar to Archie for 2T&. !"#hea - a local search service for ;opher was developed to facilitate searching of local networks. 9ue to the lack of multimedia support and its linear nature- ;opher soon became e,tinct with the advent of the 8eb.

$ The %orl %i e %eb

The %orl %i e %eb: ?ame into e,istence with the introduction of browsers- the first one being +osaic. The browser provided ease of use with graphical displa and was able to show images with te,t. 6 perlinking between documents broke the linear architecture of ;opher and increased the comple,it of the web. The browser was able to provide the user with a range of e,periences 3 pictures- multimedia 'sound- video( and interactivit . The web also allowed for the integration of pages with databases that resulted in d namicall generated content 3 content that is picked up from the database and integrated into 6T+7 pages or 6T+7 templates. This prompted man companies to put their wares online resulting in the e,plosive growth of the web. The Internet has been put to a variet of uses. Though it started primaril as a medium to facilitate data e,change- it is now emplo ed for information search and retrieval- communication via email- chat and voice- commerce and business processes and much more.

The two aspects of the Internet that I have alwa s admired are communication 'via email- chat( and access to information in a matter of seconds. *mail and chat have literall changed the wa we communicate 3 it4s now so eas to 0talk0 to a person sitting on the other side of the globe. I still remember m first session on the Internet. That was in !""/ and I was one of the luck few to have Internet access in India. So the first thing I searched for were the l rics of The 9oors. )ot knowing how to go about it- I t ped in 09oors0 in the search field guess what I came up with@ 3 Advice on how to paint "doors" in your house5 I did manage to get the l rics 'after revising the search phrase to 0the doors l rics0( but what struck me was the e,tent of information available. It was an ama.ing first e,perience5

& How o web e'elopers "se the Internet(

I conducted a small surve involving A$ web developers and asked them a series of <uestions. )ow web developers are ver bus people 'ahem5(- so I had to keep m <uestionnaire short and precise. In addition to other <uestions- the web developers were asked to rank the top B reasons wh the use the net... and here are the top three: !. e-mail: Tops the list as the most used application of the Internet =. Information search: 7ooking for prospects and 0knowledge0 /. Business: Though- the surve was conducted on web developers- I was surprised and most of the A$ participants placed 01usiness0 in the third place

) File Transfer Protocol - FTP

The 2ile Transfer &rotocol is an e,cellent method to transfer 'download and send( files from one computer to the other over the Internet. Though ou can transfer files using email- it is not a good choice especiall when the file si.e is large or when ou need to transfer several files. The objectives of 2T& are to:

promote file 'programs or data( sharing efficientl transfer data from one computer to another encourage indirect or implicit use of remote computers provide a common platform for file storages among different hosts

* FTP sites
2T& sites are storehouses of hundreds to thousands of files 3 programs- data- music- video etc. In order to upload or download a file from an 2T& site- ou need to know the login details 3 the FTP "serna+e and FTP passwor . Cnce connected- ou can transfer files using the binary or ASCII mode. The binar mode is used for binary files like e,ecutable programs- music- imagesvideo etc. while the ASCII mode is emplo ed for plain te,t files such as those created in )otepad- vi etc.

, %hat is anony+o"s FTP(

Cn connection to an 2T& site or 2T& server- ou would t picall be asked the login details 3 a username and password. 6owever- some severs enable what has come to be known as anonymous F !. Cn Anon mous 2T& servers ou can log in with 4anon mous4 as username and our email as password. :ou would then have access to all the data which has been placed in the anon mous 2T& section.

- FTP an web sites

The 2ile Transfer &rotocol is generall used b web developers to upload web sites to the host 3 the computer that stores the web site. 2or e,ample- if ou bu a web hosting package- the compan would provide ou with a username and password with which ou4ll connect to the 2T& server to transfer our files.

1. FTP on yo"r es/top

2T& is built into the Uni, s stem and can be accessed b t ping ftp at the Uni, prompt. 2T& is also available in 8indows. :ou need to open an +S39CS window and t pe ftp at the 9os prompt. The prompt will change to an F ! prompt. :ou can open an 2T& site with the 4open4 command. T pe 4<uit4 to come back to the 9os prompt. To get help- t pe 4help4 or 4@4 at the 2T& prompt. This will list the commands available on our s stem 3 check the image below.

To get help on a specific command- t pe help 01o++an na+e2 or ( 01o++an na+e2. So if ou need help with the verbose command- t pe help 'erbose or ( 'erbose.

11 File Transfer Protocol an the browser

+odern browsers allow ou to access sites using 2T&. 2or e,ample- if I need to connect to this web site from Internet *,plorer 'version B( on the 8indows D& s stem- I can simpl t pe in ftp344www5web e'elopersnotes5co+ in the address bar. A login window then pops up 'see

below(- in which I need to t pe in the username and password to connect to the host. I can then transfer files using the familiar drag3drop method. So one can actuall work in the user3friendl environment of the operating s stem without knowing all the arcane 2T& commands5 )ow isn4t that cool@

12 FTP clients
If ou plan to 2T& on a regular basis- I suggest ou use an FTP 1lient 3 a dedicated program for 2T&. There are man 2T& clients available 'and some of them are freeware(. The interface of each program varies- but the information re<uired is almost the same. :ou should know our username and password of the site 'if it is not anon mous 2T&( and the server address. 6ere is a list of some 2T& clients that I have used 3 2T& clients or 2T& programs. I have also put a thorough tutorial on using 2T& with a popular and free 2T& client 3 Using 2T& with 2T& *,plorer.

13 6sin# FTP with FTP 78plorer

A good web hosting service provides ou with an 2T& account through which ou can maintain and administer our site. Under 8indows- 2T& connection can be established via the 9CS prompt- but an 2T& client presents a more user friendl interface. 6ere- we look at 2T& *,plorerwhich is a freel available 2T& client for the 8Indows s stem. :ou can download it from www.ftp,.com. Cnce ou install this program- it can be accessed from the &rograms menu. The 2T& *,plorer might not have some great features found in commerciall available software such as ?ute2T& or 8S32T& but it serves its purpose well and is <uite fast.

9tep 1 - Ma/in# an acco"nt Cn starting 2T& *,plorer- ou are presented with the 1onnect window. 6ere ou can specif the various details of the server ou plan to connect to. This window with all its te,t fields might look daunting at the first glance. 6ere is a description of the common fields:

Profile na+e: This allows ou to name the connection and can be an thing of our chosing. +ake it simple and eas to remember. So for www.fontmagic.com- I use Font+a#ic as the profile name. Host a ress: The address of our server like www.fontmagic.com. Port: 7eave this at =! unless our server uses a different port 'unlikel (. Also- leave the two checkbo,es for 6se PA9V Mo e and 6se Firewall- unchecked. Lo#in: T pe our login name and click on the Anony+o"s checkbo, to remove the check mark. Passwor : T pe our password Initial Path: :ou can remove an value if it e,ists. Atte+pts: 7eave it at its default value of !. :etry ;elay: 7eave this at its default value of !$. ;ownloa Path: This field lets ou specif the director in which an downloaded files will be stored. 7eave it blank or select a download director . ;escription: Allows ou at add some e,planator te,t for the connection. 1ache ata between sessions: ?an be left blank.

Cnce ou have filled all the re<uired fields- click on the A button to add this account to the list on the left. The program stores all what ou enter in the te,t fields in its database- so ou don4t have to repeat the process for the same server the ne,t time.

9tep 2 - 7stablishin# a connection Start an Internet connection- if ou are not connected. In 2T& *,plorer- select the account name from the list on the left in the ?onnect window and

click on the 1onnect button. The program will tr to find the host and establish a connection. As the program sends commands to the host the information is displa ed at the bottom. Cnce this is done successfull the right window displa s the listing of directories and files found at the server while the left displa s the director tree. :ou should also get a 0Transfer complete0 message at the bottom.

9tep 3 - 1han#in# ;irectory The right window displa s the list of directories found on the server. To open a director double3click on it. 2T& *,plorer will now tr to retrive the director information from the server and displa it in the right window.

:ou4ll notice that the director tree in the left window e,pands and to displa the listing of the director in use- click on the 4E4 sign in front of the director name. Also- the path of the present working director is at the top of the right window.

9tep $ - 6ploa in# Files To start uploading files- click on the 0Upload0 icon . A pop3up window opens displa ing the files on our computer. :ou can navigate to the file ou want to upload and click on the CF button to start the transfer process.

To upload multiple files- use the S6I2T ke or the ?C)T%C7 ke . 2iles can be of two t pes 3 <inary and A91II. 2T& *,plorer will automaticall determine the t pe of file in use and use the appropriate transfer t pe. 9tep & - Mana#in# files on the ser'er To delete- rename or download files from the server- right3click on the file name in the right window and select the action from the pop3up menu.

;ownloa in# files Another wa to download file is to click on the download icon and follow the instructions.

1han#in# Transfer Type :ou can set the transfer t pe e,plicitl b clicking on the appropriate icon. AS?II Transfer t pe

1inar Transfer t pe )ote: 8hen transfering ?;I &erl files- it4s better to set the transfer t pe to AS?II. 1losin# the connection Cnce our work is over- ou should close the 2T& connection b clicking on ;irectory refresh an Listin# The icon refreshes the contents of the director while listing t pe for the director . icons let ou change the .

1h+o in# ?;I &erl files have to be made e,ecutable on a 7inu, server. To change the mode 'chmod(- I telnet to the account and e,ecute the command chmod #GG.

1$ FTP Pro#ra+s
2T& 3 2ile Transfer &rotocol 3 allows one to transfer files from one computer to another. It is an indispensible tool for web developers. +ost 'if not all( web hosting packages packages allow developers to put their files on the servers using 2T&.

1& %hat is FTP(

The 2ile Transfer &rotocol is an e,cellent method to retrieve or send files from one computer to the other on the Internet. Though files can be transferred using email- it is not a good choice if the file si.e is large or when ou need to transfer several files. 2T& sites can consist of hundreds to thousands of files with information on books- music- libraries etc. :ou can know more about 2T& 3 2ile Transfer &rotocol here. This page lists some of the popular 2T& programs which I have used. Though these differ in their user interfaces- the all perform the same function- transfering files from one computer to the other. The advantages of using an 2T& program are several 3 ou dont have to remember 2T& commands- the program can keep a tab on which files were transfered thus saving ou timemigration through the directories on the server becomes easier etc. %9=FTP 8SH2T& 1"teFTP ?ute2T&

LeechFTP 7eech2T& FTP 78plorer 2T& *,plorer