Searching the Library In Your Underwear

Searching the Library In Your Underwear!

by Don Rittner

During the early days of the Internet -- when it was known as ARPANET -- several supercomputing centers scattered around the country comprised the Net’s backbone. You had three ways to access those supercomputers. You could live in the city where one resided, commute every day if you didn't, or you could use an early Net protocol called Telnet and remotely log on as though you were physically there.

Telnet is one of those cooler features of the Net that you don’t hear much about. I suppose in part because you can’t use it to see pretty pictures like on the Web. Yet, this ability to virtually gain access to a computer’s keyboard anywhere in the world has made it possible to place and gain access to large databases on the Net. Even when you download a file from the Net using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) you are using an extension of the Telnet protocol.

There are more than 10,000 Telnet sites on the Net today! There are thousands of library card catalogs, computer bulletin boards, research databases, and other large datasets all available to you. You can find sites that deal with reference, education, environment, arts, humanities, government, business, economics, and entertainment. You can even play chess or checkers with others using telnet, chat, or check out your local weather. I’ve spent many a night at 3 AM thumbing through card catalogs at libraries in Germany, Australia, and other parts of the world.

Unlike the World Wide Web, Telnet uses a small non graphical front end. You can launch Telnet from within your Web browser but you get a new smaller fixed window that pops up. All telnet sites require you to submit a user id or password, often giving you the information on their welcome screen (if you don’t already know it).

Chances are if you are using Microsoft Explorer, or Netscape Communicator (Navigator) as your Web browser of choice, the Telnet application is already in one of the folders that came with the software. If you don’t have it, you can surf over to the NCSA - the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Homepage/Platform.html) and get a copy of NSCA Telnet. The NCSA Telnet application is the one most commonly used, but there are others.

For Mac users, Rolf Brawn has modified the NCSA version and calls it BetterTelnet (www.cstone.net/~rbrawn/mac/telnet/). If you use this one instead of NCSA Telnet, you need to set the BetterTelnet application as the one of choice in your protocol helpers preferences (NCSA Telnet is the default setting).

For PC users, Tera Term (http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html) runs on

any Windows platform including 3.1, CE, 95, 98, and NT.

There are a few good Web sites, listed below, that arrange and link the best Telnet sites for you.

Telnet Sites On The Web

http://anzio.com/telnetsites.html

This sites lists hundreds of Telnet sites arranged in broad categories from education to entertainment.

Safety, Environmental, Health, And Other Industry-Related Information

http://www.if.uidaho.edu/ehs/telnetsh.html

This Web page features a handful of environmental and educational Telnet sites.

Hytelnet

www.einet.net/hytelnet/HYTELNET.html

This is a huge searchable database of Telnet sites. You can download their client.

Telnet Protocol

http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc854.html

If you are a real geek and just need to read the original Telnet specifications, here is the original rfc854 (Request for Comments) made in 1983.

Yale’s List of Library Catalogs

gopher://libgopher.yale.edu:70/1

Go to this gopher site and access thousands of library catalogs arranged by regions, states, and countries. You can select any of them and telnet right to the catalog.

Don Rittner is the author of The iMac Book and other Net books. Reach him at drittner@aol.com or 251 River Street, Troy.