Glossary of Computer & Internet Terms...

Access Number is the phone number you dial into to access the internet... when choosing an internet provider or online service, be sure that they have a local access number, or the toll call can cost you an additional $3/hour for use in addition to the cost for the service.

BBS Bulliten Board Systems are kind of like the internet, only you have to dial directly into their computer to access their service. It is usually a toll call if you are not in the area.

Baud Rate the speed at which signals are transferred from one computer to another. 2400 is the slowest, but now most computers as of 9/17/98 come standard with 33.6k or 56k baud modems.

Bookmark a personal list of URLs stored in the computer so that you do not have to type out the long form address.

Blatherer is someone online in a chat room, newsgroup, or Email that takes 3 pages worth of comments which could have easily been done with only 3 brief sentences.

Chat Rooms can be fun. AOL has these, and you can meet people nationwide. They have game rooms, rooms of topical items such as current news, sports, and even free form role-playing. But be careful in the romance connection rooms! Remember, a lot of these people don't think that they are ever going to meet you face-to-face, so they will put on phoney claims of many things... just take it as entertainment!

CPU (Central Processing Unit) is basically the 'brain or engine' in the computer, also known as a microprocessor, the most popular are Intel's Pentium (Motorola makes the CPUs in Macs) which are measured in MHZ (megahertz)  These days you will mostly find anything from a 386, 486 or Pentium chip which goes up as high at 166mhz at this writing. In other words, a 486/33mhz is very slow, and no comparison to a Pentium 133 or 166mhz.

Domain - Extentions in your Email addresses and websites all state its origins. My domain is tigerx.com, but the most popular is AOL (America Online) with 6 million users. The domain appears in my URL and Email address: jrc@tigerx.com - jrc (screen name) @ (at) tigerx (provider) .com (indicates it is a Commercial installation). Someone at a college will have the extension .edu (educational); .gov (government); .net (network); and .org (organization).

Drives

Email as opposed to 'snailmail' (US Postal Service) is mail sent electronically through phone lines to a center which stores them. They are easily retrieved through a computer. It is great for writing friends who are far away, if they can access the internet, it will get to them anywhere in the world in minutes! But, the longest time for a piece of Email to travel in my experience has been 10 hours, still not bad considereing.

FTP File Transfer Protocol is how computers talk to one another while transmitting files across the internet from one computer to another.

Flamed is being 'dissed or told off on the net by someone posting a nasty message to or about you.

Gopher, other than being an animal, is an internet tool for searching for files. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is sort of like CB radio from the 1970s. It links users from all different internet systems from all over the world. You can even create channels of your own.

Java Script another tool of writing web pages, this gets things to move, spin & scroll on a website.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the language in which web pages are written.

HTTP:// you will see this before the begining of any website address. It stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

Internet Invented by a guy by the name of Cerf for the Millitary, the idea here was to develop such a sophisitcated communication system of 'web' of computer stations, that if there were a war and as much as 90% of the computer nulls were hit and destroyed, all electronic communication could still get through. Although now, with all the users, there are still lags in the system to hinder it.

Newsgroups are all text, and often become time consuming to read. That is because you post a note, and someone replies to it, and then someone else, and by the end of the week you have a hundred or so replies (depending on the newsgroup) to just one message that you posted on the internet.

Online is a term usually used to describe internet services, such as the world wide web, newsgroups, chat rooms, etc.

America Online is the leading online provider with over 4 million users/subscribers. There are others such as Compuserve, Prodigy, etc. Try to find a provider that charges a flat rate for unlimited use per month, otherwise, as little as one hour of use per day on the internet through one of the big providers can easily turn into a $100 bill at the end of the month.

Online & Internet Service Providers here is a list of the internet & like service providers that I have come across and used:

Operating System Windows, OS/2 Warp, Macintosh & UNIX are all systems which help the computers run, the most popular for PC being Windows & Windows 95.

PC is a personal computer, aka 'IBM Compatibles' your other option is a Macintosh, which are better for graphics and easier to use, but a dying breed (in my little old opinion), which may explain why they made the Power Mac, which supports Windows applications.

Protocols are how computers talk to each other in different types of languages.

Smileys are computer hieroglyphics that express emotion through text. :-) is a smile :-( frown :-X drunk =) wide-eyed :-P sticking out your tongue :-P*** spitting :-D laughing :-D yelling (or typing in all CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE THIS) ::text inside of colons indicates non-verbal communication::

Spamming is when someone sends the same Email message to several people like bulk mail.

Telnet is a communications protocol that allows you to log on to a remote computer from a distance, you can also chat on here too.

UNIX is a very complex and powerful operating system that is usually on networked computer, it can make the most sophisticated technicians grimace.

URL "Earl" is short for Uniform Resource Locater, or internet address locating a site or file, for example, my URL is http://tigerx.com/jrc -- All websites begin with http:// - which stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Websites are generally made through this programming language called HTML.

World Wide Web is the most amazing part of the internet -- This is where you have the opportunity to travel the world and actually see different things because it has graphics as well as text. It is accessible from anywhere on the globe where internet service is available.

Some web FAQs

How do I get a website? You first have to have a online or internet service provider. Once you have that, many have helpful templates to create your own, basic, informational page. You can then create your own from there, or have a professional create an attractive, creative, eye-catching website for you.

How much does it cost? Aside from design fees, and depending on your provider, it can cost you as little as $29/month to keep your website online for the world to see.

How do people know my website is there?  It is easy to register with over 500 search engines if they do not find your site first with 'electronic spiders'. Then someone simpley types in a word, phrase or category, and it returns all the webpages that have those keywords in it.

Did I miss anything?  Email me... and I will try to find the answer :)

 

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