8BS Guide to the Internet - part 1
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by Mike Mallett D6K
I am sure many 8BSers must have been hit by all the hype about the
Internet much put about by the media with no grasp of the facts. They may
also wondered about any relevance to the 8 bit world !
This is not really the place for a history of the Internet as this has
been covered elsewhere but it has grown very rapidly in the last few
years. Much of this has been due to the World Wide Web where information
is presented a graphical point and click way. Unfortunately this needs at
least a powerful Mac or PC with a fast modem !
However the earlier facilities provided by the Internet can be still be very
useful. Probably the most useful is electronic mail where messages can be
sent all over the world for a few pence. A BBC with basic comms software
and a 1200 bps modem is a basic but useable setup if you don't intend to
send long messages or files. Some service providers offer e-mail only
accounts at low cost but you can often find local bulletin boards that
offer a limited free service. You may like to try Lentil in Southend on
01702 393114. The is run by Robert Lister who is always willing to help
beginners.
E-mail can also give access to mailing lists which are automatic messages
sent to subscribers interested in a particular topic. Try sending a message
to majordomo@netcom.net.uk with the following in the text (not the subject) :
subscribe bbc-micro
this should give some very interesting discussions from current BBC users.
It also possible to use e-mail to transfer and request files - if anyone
is interested I can provide some text files from the Internet which explain
this far better than I can!
Full Internet access now cost from £10 to £15 per month plus the cost of
(usually) local calls. If you have this luxury and a newer machine there
are a surprising number of web sites that are of interest to 8BSers. Try :
www.idt.unit.no/~robert/bbc/bbc.html
www.oit.co.uk/~james/BBCMicro/Xbeeb
www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~axc/MACHINE-ROOM/
www.acorn.co.uk (8BS is on this somewhere)
www.nvg.unit.no/bbc/
You may be lucky enough to come across emulators to run BBC software on
other machines such as a PC but that is another story !
In this short time I have only had time to touch the surface but if there
is interest I will be happy to provide more information. As I have full
access to the Internet I will try to download some software for the 8BS
library.
mike.mallett@zetnet.co.uk