if you want a copy of this lesson to be sent to you.
"I have found that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking for something and finding something else on the way." -- Franklin P. Adams
When I was in elementary school, I was a rather "spirited" child. I remember constantly asking my teachers why I had to learn long division when I could just as easily use a calculator to come up with the answer.
Needless to say, may parents heard from my teachers ... often.
What does this story have to do with this lesson? Well, I am proud to announce that we have just finished learning the "long division" of the Internet (FTP).
This week we are going to start using the "calculator" of the Internet -- a client/server package called "Gopher".
Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota, and it is a menu-driven application that allows you to hop around the globe looking for information. Gopher's interconnected menus allow you to "burrow" deeper and deeper until you find the information that you are looking for.
Imagine that I decide to gather together all of the information that I can find about power line-chomping squirrels, and I put that information into a menu-driven library. Also imagine that someone else who is interested in the uses of yak fur creates a menu-driven yak fur library.
If these two menu-driven libraries are interconnected, anyone who has access to my squirrel library will also have access to the yak fur library (and vice versa).
Now imagine if THOUSANDS of these specialized libraries were interconnected. That is what Gopher does, and all of these interconnected Gopher libraries make up what is called "Gopherspace."
Think of Gopherspace as being a huge stadium filled with information on a myriad of different topics. If you have ever been to a major sporting event, you will remember that your ticket to that event told you which gate you had to pass through to enter the stadium.
Once you entered the stadium, however, you were free to roam around, buy a hot dog, and make fun of the opponent's fans. You had access to EVERYTHING in that stadium, regardless of which gate you entered through.
Gopherspace is set up the same way. Your "gate" is the client that you use to enter Gopherspace. Once are in, however, you are free to roam around and take advantage of everything that is inside the "stadium".
Why is Gopher so special? Well, unlike Archie which just tells you where the information that you want can be found, Gopher actually goes out, GETS the information that you want, and puts the information on your computer screen! (You could even say that Gopher actually "goes fer" the information that you want).
A TOUR OF GOPHERSPACE
I'll explain Gopher access and Gopher commands tomorrow. Today, I want to take you on a little tour of "Gopherspace."
We are going to start our tour at GOPHER.SQUIRREL.COM -- a gopher site that I have totally made up for this tour. Remember, it does not matter where you start -- as long as you are in Gopherspace, you have access to the same information that everyone else has.
When you access your Gopher client, you will start out in your client's "root menu". Each root menu is different, but they all have the same basic stuff.
I am going to be using a UNIX Gopher client for today's tour. As I said earlier, we'll talk a little more about the commands tomorrow, but for now I want you to remember two things:
1. Your site's root menu will be different from my example.
2. In a UNIX Gopher client menu, the symbols at the end of each menu item tell you what that menu item is. The following guide will help you decipher the symbols:
/ gateways to other menu options
. text, graphic, or program files
requests you can make to a database for information
Also, in a UNIX Gopher client the --> selects which menu item you want
to enter. You move the --> up and down by using the up and down arrows,
and you select the menu item by using the enter key.
With that said, let's begin the tour! Our tour starts on the
GOPHER.SQUIRREL.COM root menu:
Since the first menu item -- "Information about the Squirrel Gopher
Server" -- is a file (it has a "." at the end of it), let's see if
we can get into it!
I move the cursor up to "Information about the Squirrel Gopher
Server," press enter, and the following appears on my screen:
WELCOME TO THE SQUIRREL.COM GOPHER SERVER
The SQUIRREL.COM gopher was created by Patrick "P-Crispy-One" Crispen
to serve as a repository for more information about squirrels than
anyone could ever possibly want to know.
While you are here, please check out our special Sally Struthers
menu which contains ...
COOL! Unlike ftp, Gopher allows us to read files before we GET
them! That's going to save us a whole bunch of time! :)
Let's go back to the root menu and start a REAL journey.
I'm going to take you to a site we visited just the other day --
SURAnet!
So I go back to the root menu:
This menu allows me to access Gophers all over the world! I'm going
to have to remember this.
Let's keep today's tour close to (my) home. I move the cursor down to
"North America", hit enter, and the following appears on my screen:
Let's keep going. I move the cursor down to the "USA" menu, press enter,
and a new menu appears on my screen:
I feel like an adventure. I move the cursor up to the "All" menu, press
enter, prop my feet up, and wait for the following new menu to appear
on my screen:
Let's drop in and see if they missed me. I move the cursor to "SURAnet",
press enter, and the following menu appears on my screen:
It turns out that the SURAnet ftp site is also linked to Gopher.
Instead of having to use a whole bunch of weird ftp commands, we can
use Gopher to look around the ftp site!
(Note: not all ftp sites are accessible through Gopher. That is why
I spent all last week teaching you ftp)
Last week we used ftp to get the file fall91.issue from the
SURAnet ftp site. Let's see if we can do the same thing using
Gopher!
I move the cursor down to "FTP gateway link to ftp.sura.net", press
enter, and the following menu appears on my screen:
I remember that the fall91.issue file is in the articles menu, so
I move the cursor down to "articles", press enter, and the following
menu appears on my screen:
I move the cursor down to fall91.issue, press enter, and the following
appears on my screen:
We just repeated last week's example, only this time:
1. We did not have to use any weird commands (all we
used was the up and down arrows, and the enter key).
2. We were able to see a directory of every menu we passed through,
and we never had to type DIR.
3. We were able to read the fall91.issue file without having
to GET the file, and without having to leave the Gopher
program.
Tomorrow, we'll talk about Gopher commands :)
HOMEWORK
Divide 14,682 by 269 ... by hand (I'm kidding).
BTW ... I know the answer, so DON'T MAIL IT TO ME :)
Patrick Douglas Crispen
The views expressed in this letter do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa.
ROADMAP: COPYRIGHT PATRICK CRISPEN 1994. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
ADDITIONS AND WEB PAGES: BeOnTheNet Inc. (1995). ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THESE LESSONS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
BeOnTheNet Inc.
+ Providers of Practical Internet Solutions
Root gopher server: gopher.squirrel.com
--> 1. Information about the Squirrel Gopher Server.
2. What's new in the Squirrel Gopher.
3. Network Resources, Services and Information/
4. Squirrel Staff Directory
I move the --> up and down by using the up and down arrows. When I
finally find a menu item that I want to select, I put the -->
next to that menu item and press the enter key.
Root gopher server: gopher.squirrel.com
1. Information about the Squirrel Gopher Server.
2. What's new in the Squirrel Gopher.
3. Network Resources, Services and Information/
4. Squirrel Staff Directory
5. Squirrel Human Resources Information/
6. Potpourri, Miscellaneous Topics/
7. Local Squirrel Archives/
--> 8. Other Gopher and Information Servers around the World/
I want to visit other Gopher sites around the world, so I use
the down arrow to move the cursor down to "Other Gopher and
Information Servers around the World", press enter, and watch as
the following appears on my screen:
Other Gopher and Information Servers around the World
1. All the Gopher Servers in the World/
2. Search All the Gopher Servers in the World
3. Search titles in Gopherspace using veronica/
4. Africa/
5. Asia/
6. Europe/
7. International Organizations/
8. Middle East/
--> 9. North America/
10. Pacific/
11. Russia/
12. South America/
... snip snip snip (these are my Internet scissors) ...
WOW! This is COOL!
North America
1. Canada/
2. Costa Rica/
3. Mexico/
--> 4. USA/
Well, that certainly narrowed things down a little :)
USA
--> 1. All/
2. General/
3. Alabama/
4. Alaska/
5. Arizona
... snip snip snip ...
51. West Virginia/
52. Wisconsin/
53. Wyoming/
Uhh ... 53 entries? Yep -- one for each of the 50 states, one for
Washington, D.C., one for "All", and one for "General".
All
1. 1994 California Voter information/
2. AACRAO National Office, Washington, DC/
3. AATF - American Association of Teachers of French/
4. ACADEME THIS WEEK (Chronicle of Higher Education)/
... snip snip snip ...
988. SUNY Office of Library Services
--> 989. SURAnet NIC/
990. Safety Information Resources on the InterNet/
991. Sailor - Maryland's Information Network/
... snip snip snip ...
WHOA! SURAnet!!! We've been there!
SURAnet NIC
1. About this Gopher.
2. Databases and Network Information/
--> 3. FTP gateway link to ftp.sura.net/
4. Information about SURAnet/
5. Monticello Electronic Library/
... snip snip snip ...
This is starting to look familiar.
FTP gateway link to ftp.sura.net
1. README.
2. SURAnet/
3. archie/
--> 4. articles/
5. books/
... snip snip snip ...
THIS IS THE DIRECTORY WE GOT THE FIRST TIME WE ENTERED SURANET!!
Is this cool or WHAT?!
articles
1. editors.box.txt.
--> 2. fall91.issue.
3. spring91.issue.
4. sub.form.text.
5. summer91.issue.
6. winter90.issue.
We're in the home stretch now!
... snip snip snip ...
On September 11th, SURAnet and MCI completed an agreement
which will deliver unprecedented benefits to all SURAnet
members ...
Neat, huh?
pcrispe1@ua1vm.ua.edu
The University of Alabama
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