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3.7.4 How do I use a signature?
3.7.4.2 How do I make a signature file?
3.7.4 and 3.7.4.2 are the index numbers.
3 is the section number.
7 is the main question number.
4 and 2 are sub question numbers.
A - in front of an index number means that that question has not been answered fully yet. For example:
- 11.3.2 I typed finger and put an username after it. What is this stuff?
1. This FAQ
1.1 What's a FAQ?
1.2 What is this FAQ about?
1.3 How do I use this FAQ?
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. It's a list of commonly asked questions and the answers to them.
This FAQ is mostly about your account here at Eastern Arizona College.
You can read straight through it, or look at the index above, find a question you want answered, note the number in front of it, and then search for that number in the body of this FAQ.
You'll see some text on the screen and then Thompson's menu (see section 4) will appear. The first thing you should do is to go into email (see section 3.3) and read the piece of email there. It should be from Thompson or Zink. See section 2.1.1
A set of rules and guidelines for your account. You are expected to follow and abide by them. It's very important that you read this.
Save it. Move it into a folder (see section 3.6) or just leave it there.
You might as well go back to the main menu. See section 2.1.1.3
Type:
exit
and hit the <Enter> key.
It's the key on your keyboard that says Enter or Return on it. When you see <Enter> in this FAQ, it means to press the key that says Enter or Return on it. The Enter and Return keys are the same thing.
Well, there's a lot that you can do. You can go back into email, (see section 3), or go to the $ prompt (see section 2.2), or look around Thompson's menu (see section 4), or exit your account (see section 2.5). It's up to you.
See section 3.1
It's the command (DCL) prompt. When you learn how to really use your account, you'll probably want to be here most of the time. See section 2.2 on how to get to the $ prompt.
Go through the tutorial in section 4.
See section 2.5
Type:
6 <Enter>
while at the main menu. If you are using Morris's menu (see section 5), then type:
q <Enter>
from any menu prompt.
That's the place where the menu itself will process any commands that you give it. On Morris's menu, it will look like
Choose one::
You should see:
as the first item.
You only really leave it when you leave your account. To get back to Thompsons's menu, type:
eac <Enter>
while at the $ prompt.
If you are at the $ prompt, you can type:
logout (lo for short) <Enter>
or if you are using Thompsons's menu, type:
7 <Enter> while at the main menu. It should then ask you if you want to exit. If you do want to leave your account, type:
y <Enter>
If you change your mind and want to stay in your account, type:
n <Enter>
That will take you back to the main menu.
Email (or e-mail) stands for electronic mail. It's like sending a postcard, but through the Internet instead of using the Post Office. You can also send files.
Email is much faster than snail mail (see section 3.2.1). It also is handier and has more options. You can send email to more than one person at a time, for example, as well send yourself a copy.
Post Office mail. Mail sent through the Post Offices moves like a snail compared to email.
If you are using Thompson's menu, type:
1
and hit the <Enter> key while at the main menu. You automatically start at the main menu when you log into your account. If you are not using Thompson's menu, just type:
mail <Enter>
at the $ prompt.
Just type:
dir <Enter>
while in the email program. Dir will give you a list of the first 16 pieces of email in the current folder. Just hit:
<Enter>
to go to the listing of the next 16 pieces of email. If you wish to 'jump' ahead and start the listing at a certain piece of email, type:
dir/start=<number> <Enter>
where <number> is the number of the email you want the listing to start at.
If it's the first piece of email, just hit the
<Enter>
key. If you know the number of the email, just type:
<number of the email> <Enter>
If you don't know the number of the email you wish to read, read question 3.4 above.
A folder is just a container that you can use to sort your email. To move a piece of email into a folder while reading it, just type:
move <folder> <Enter>
where <folder> is the name of the folder you wish to create. If that folder doesn't exist, you will be asked if you want to create the folder. If you do, just type:
y <Enter>
The folder will be created and the piece of email moved to it. If you want to copy the piece of email instead, just type:
copy <folder> <Enter>
Just type:
select <folder> <Enter>
where <folder> is the name of the folder. This will take you to the folder and show you how many pieces of email are in that folder. You can also type:
dir <folder> <Enter>
This will take you to the folder and show you a listing of the first 16 pieces of email.
Just type:
dir/folders <Enter>
You can also press the Clear key on the keypad, then the = key if you are using a Macintosh in the Media Center.
While at the MAIL> prompt, type:
send <Enter>
This will bring up the To: prompt, where you type the address or addresses of the people you want to send email to. For example:
To: thompson <Enter>
Which will give you the Subject: prompt. The Subject is one line long and is intended to give an indication of what the message is about. For example:
Subject: Hello <Enter>
Now you will see a blank screen. This is where you type your message. For example:
Hello. I would like more quota.
and so on. When you are done, put your name and email address at the bottom or use a signature (see section 3.7.4). Then press
Ctrl/Z (in other words, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Z key)
which will bring up the command prompt (which looks like a *) and type
exit <Enter>
which will send the message. You will see something like
$1$DIA114:[MCOX]MAIL_20209E17_SEND.TMP;1 No lines
or
$1$DIA114:[MCOX]MAIL_20219A06_SEND.TMP;1 23 lines
which is the temporary file name. Your message has been sent at this point and you can go on.
Nothing. It just means that the mail editor is opening a new file so that you can write your message.
It's considering to be shouting. Imagine trying to talk to someone who's shouting. It's also harder to read unless you have problems with eyesight. All the words tend to blend together.
Send another message, read email, set your email preferences, leave email, etc. It's up to you.
Make a signature file (see section 3.7.4.2). Then when you are done writing your letter, hit
Ctrl/Z (in other words, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Z key)
and type:
include sign.txt <Enter>
Now type:
c <Enter>
This will take you back to your message.
You don't have to type in your name and email address, etc. It's a lot faster and easier this way. Saves you a lot of typing. It's very handy when it comes to your Geek Code (see section 12).
From the $ prompt (see question 2.1.2.2 on how to get to the $ prompt), type:
edit sign.txt <Enter>
This will put you into the editor. Here, just whatever you want to be in your signature (like your name, email address, a quote or quotes, sayings, taglines, phone number, etc.) and then press
Ctrl/Z (in other words, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Z key)
type
exit <Enter>
While reading the piece of email, type:
reply <Enter>
This will automatically address the email (that you are sending) so that it will go to the person you are replying to. It will also set the Subject line for you. You will find yourself in the mail editor. Just delete the lines you don't want, put >'s in front of each line (of the other person's), and type in what you want to send. You can choose to use a signature (see section 3.7.4) if you want to. When you are done, press:
Ctrl/Z (in other words, hold down the Ctrl key and press the Z key)
which will bring the command prompt, which looks like a *. Then type:
exit <Enter>
This will send the reply.
Move the cursor so that it is below the line that you want to delete and press
Ctrl/X (in other words, hold down the Ctrl key and press the X key)
which will delete the previous line. Repeat until done.
3.8.2 How do I put those >'s in front of each
line?
Just move the cursor until it is in front of the line you want to put a
> in front of and hold down the Shift key and press:
.
which will insert the > character. Then just go to the next line and repeat.
Because it's a polite indicator of what part of the message belongs to which person.
You will probably want to be in the Computer Center or calling in from home for this. The Media Center is not likely to make it easy for you to do this. As I recall, you can't download files while in the Media Center.
You probably should be in the Computer Center. I suggest you use one of the Pentiums in there for this step, since though I have retrieved attachments using a Macintosh, the program for retrieving attachments is not likely to be on the Mac that'll you try to use.
We use the built-in Windows FTP program. It's a simple, text-based FTP program.
It's the default and is somewhat easier to use than Morris's menu (see section 5). It's also somewhat supported by Thompson himself and is the "official" menu.
Thompson is Charles Thompson, your sysadmin (or system administrator) and in charge of Internet here at the college. He probably gave you your account. He has a webpage at
http://www.eac.cc.az.us/~thompson
People were complaining that Morris's menu (see section 5) was a little too hard to use. So Thompson decided to make his own.
For one thing, it's a lot more limited than Morris's menu. It doesn't tell you which part of the menu you are in, provides no descriptions for its items, and doesn't have as many items in it as does Morris's menu. You also can't really make any changes to it. Basically, it's a box, limiting you as to what you can do.
That's up to you. You probably will want to use Thompson's menu to start off with and then use Morris's menu when you get to the point where you can use and know how to use the extra power.
It's a lot more powerful. It also provides descriptions, including how to login to another system (if needed), additional information, more commands, more options, and is more flexible.
Morris is Morris Cox. He is the author of this FAQ and a computer and Internet tutor. He has also made available or worked on most of the stuff you have or will use in your account. For more details, visit his bio page at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5799/bio.html
Actually, he didn't. Megabyte, whose real name is Ryan Layton, was the one who thought of it. He created the basic structure of the menu and Morris filled it in. Megabyte finally tired of it and passed it on to Morris.
It's not as easy to use as Thompson's menu (see section 4) and not as intuitive. It also has more choices, so you might get confused. Some of the items are also out-of-date.
That's up to you. You probably will want to use Thompson's menu to start off with and then use Morris's menu when you get to the point where you can use and know how to use the extra power.
IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's text-based communication between multiple people. It's like ham radio, but in text form.
Yes. You also can't use Talk or play games.
It was noticed that people were using the above too much and that their grades were dropping. So it was decided to ban them. But you can use them elsewhere on campus.
See section 7.1
Talk is a program that allows you to chat with one other person on the Internet in a text environment. A similar program is Phone.
See section 8.1
Apparently, any type of "chat" except for email is banned there.
To talk to someone else in real-time. Kinda like a phone conversation in text form.
Phone is a program that allows you to talk to more than one person at a time (in a text environment), but only on the local system. That is, people here at the college.
If you wanted to talk to more than one person at a time and those people were on the local system.
You would have to wait for those people to use IRC. With Phone, they get a notification that you wish to talk to them.
Lynx is a text-based web browser.
Lynx is considered to be the best of the text-based web browsers. It is also faster than Netscape.
Real-time interactive text-based virtual reality environments. If that sounds confusing, think of a text adventure game or being able to interact with a book as well as read it.
They are useful for simulating things (at least in text form). They are educational, provide a social environment, and are very flexible. A possible use is to simulate a classroom.
They are often used as such, but that's not inherent in them. MUDs are also used as classrooms for distance education, conference rooms for businesses, meeting places, and much more. Even if used for the purpose of games, they can also be educational, as a lot of MUDS will let you add on to the place using a programming language similar to C.
Look at a mudlist like the one at http://www.mudconnect.com, use a search engine, or look under the Games menu on Morris's menu. Some MUDs are also accessible through the defs.com (see section 13).
True, but it was the best place to put them.
Finger is a program that allows you to view certain information about another person.
If you wanted to see if someone was logged into their account, the last time they was logged in, and (sometimes) if they have read their email.
Generally, if you type:
finger <Enter>
It will show you who is currently logged in here at the college (see section 11.3.1). If you type:
finger <username> <Enter>
Where <username> is the username of the person you wish to look up information on, then it will give you information on that person (see section 11.3.2). This will only work on the local system, that is, only people here at the college. If you type:
finger <email address> <Enter>
Where <email address> is the email address of the person you wish to look up information on, then it will give you information on that person if their site lets you (see section 11.3.3). This will work for most places on the Internet.
The format is shown below.
<Date> <Time-Timezone> <Uptime>
<Number of jobs> <Load average>
<User> <Personal name> <Job #> <Subsys>
<Terminal> <Console Location>
<Date> is the current date.
Example: Friday, March 21, 1997
<Time-Timezone> is the current time and timezone.
Example: 8:42PM-MST
<Uptime> is how long the system has been up in days and hours.
Example: 3 04:16:58
<Number of jobs> is basically how many people are logged in.
Example: 17
<Load average> is how loaded down the system is.
Example:
<User> shows the usernames of the people currently logged in.
Example: MCOX
<Personal name> is the first and last name of each person.
Example: Morris Cox
<Job #> is your job number. Just ignore it.
Example:
<Subsys> is the program or command you are currently running from
the command prompt.
Example: MAIL
<Terminal> is the terminal identification number.
Example: NTY2020
<Console Location> is where the user is logging is from.
Example: EACMEDIA57.EAC.CC.AZ.US
The person's username, first and last name, if they are logged in or
not (and if not, when they was last logged on, and if they are logged
in, where from), and the contents of their .plan file.
11.3.3 I typed finger and put an email address after
it. What is this?
The information about the email address that the other site allowed you
to
see.
It's a code that, when decoded, is a description of you and your likes and dislikes, etc.
It's a quick way to tell the world about yourself. It also announces that you're a geek. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
Go to
It's a file full of shortcuts. It enables you to type a short command instead of typing the command all the way out.
To save you the trouble of typing common commands all the way out all the time.
Yes.