Surf's Up: Internet New Zealand Style

Introduction 1

Becoming an informaddict 1
A potted history 4
Other historical bits 7

Chapter One
Getting connected: What you need 11

The computer 11
The modem 12
The goodies 14
Plugging in: Finding a service provider 15
Hitting the waves 16

Chapter Two
Surfing skills: Decoding the jargon 18

Names and addresses 18

Chapter Three
Making a buck: Commerce on the Internet 21

Know thy audience 21
Be aware of your resources and obey netiquette 22
Be interesting, or associate with the interesting 23

Chapter Four
Let's go surfing: Katherine and Chris's favourite Internet sites 26

New Zealand, you're cybersurfing in it (New Zealand sites) 26
International sites 33

• When the heart sings and the spirit soars (The arts) 33
• Twinkle twinkle (Astronomy) 38
• For the bookworm, my favourite bug (Books and magazines) 39
• Takin' care of business (Business) 46
• Sent to Cyberia (Computer issues) 46
• Care and feeding of your computer (Computer support and news) 47
• You've got a friend (Counselling and support) 48
• Eenie meenie greenie scenie (Environmentalism) 49
• Pumping electrons (Exercise and sport) 49
• Moo? (Farming) 54
• Yummy! (Food) 55
• Fun and games 57
• Taking in the sites (General sites) 59
• Cybershopping (Goods for sale online) 62
• An apple a day (Health) 63
• Once upon a time. . . (History) 64
• Wanna see my butterfly collection? (Hobbies) 65
• Ha! Ha! Ha! (Humour) 69
• Gizza job (Job listings) 70
• Silver screens, big and little (Movies and TV) 71
• Bop till you drop (Music) 75
• New age for old (New age) 77
• All the news that's fit to print (Newspapers) 79
• Weirdness (Parapsychology and aliens) 81
• Look and listen (Picture and sound files) 84
• The quest for meaning (Religion) 85
• Some enchanted evening (Romance) 87
• Why is it so? (Science) 89
• Where no one has gone before. . . (Science fiction and fantasy) 94
• Sex, sex, sex 99
• I never meta-net I didn't like (Sites about the Internet) 101
• I have a dream. . . (Social issues) 101
• Foot sore and fancy free (Travel) 103
• Weather or not (Weather) 106

Glossary: How it all comes together 107

A few notes to begin 107

• TCP/IP and SLIP/PPP: Your first computer communication building blocks 108

The applications and their protocols 109

• World Wide Web: The sexiest of services 109
• Gopher 110
• Email (Electronic mail) 110
• Usenet news and NNTP 113
• Mailing lists 120
• Clarinet News 121
• Telnet 121
• Talk 121
• IRC 121
• Roleplaying games 123
• FTP 127

The search programs 128

• Archie 128
• Veronica 128
• WAIS 129

A few useful extras 130

• Ping and Trace Route 130
• Finger 131

Appendix: Dial an Internet connection 132

International Internet providers 133
National Internet providers 133
Local Internet providers 134

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