6.0521 Rs: Distance Education; mind's eye; Internet (3/124)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 17 Feb 1993 15:18:34 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0521. Wednesday, 17 Feb 1993.


(1) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 17:31:10 +0000 (61 lines)
From: S.A.Rae@open.ac.uk (Simon Rae)
Subject: RE: 6.0509 Rs: Distance Education

(2) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 93 09:46:32 GMT (12 lines)
From: Virginia Knight <ZZAASVK@cms.manchester-computing-centre.ac.uk>
Subject: In the mind's eye

(3) Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1993 16:30:35 +0200 (EET) (51 lines)
From: LBJUDY@VMSA.TECHNION.AC.IL
Subject: RE: 6.0508 Internet Connections

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 17:31:10 +0000
From: S.A.Rae@open.ac.uk (Simon Rae)
Subject: RE: 6.0509 Rs: Distance Education;


A colleague, L.R.A.Melton@open.ac.uk (Laury Melton), at the Open University
posted a note inviting 'Free Use of Distance Education Database'.

Unfortunately the Internet numbers that he quotes contain one that will probably
not work and two that there is a remote possibility will not work (why oh why
can't you get a straight YES/NO answer from Computer Services?).

The following should be correct:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Open University
> International Centre for Distance Learning
>
> Distance Education Database - Happy Week
>
> During the week 26th February through 5th March, ICDL will offer
> free trial use of its online distance education database.
>
> To take advantage of this you can access the Open University
> computer through the Internet. You can Telnet to ACSVAX.OPEN.AC.UK
> (137.108.48.8 or 137.108.48.9 ) and
> login with the Username ICDL. During the above week the Account
> Code HAPPY and Password 123456 will give access to the database.

* NOTICE - the 137.108.48.127 number previously quoted is NOT a good number to
try. One thing I did get from my friendly system guru is that a number (like
137.108.48.127) is given to a specific machine ... when the machine goes so does
the number. The address (like ACSVAX.OPEN.AC.UK) is relatively constant and will
be pointed at the relevent piece of machinery by some cunning software. At the
OU we are in the process of changing computers so all our NUMBERS (but NOT our
ADDRESS) may change in the near future (but not before 5th March hopefully!).

> Other routes to the OU are via the IPSS/PSS NUA 23428440015630,
> JANET DTE number 000041500030 (UK.AC.OPEN.ACS.VAX) or IXI number
> 204334504891.
>
> You need to be using a VT100 compatible terminal or VT100
> emulation on a microcomputer.
>
> The database contains directory information on 600 distance teaching
> institutions, information about 22,000 distance taught programmes and
> courses, and bibliographic information on 4,400 items of literature.

Cheers
------
Simon Rae, User Services Officer, | S.A.RAE@OPEN.AC.UK (Internet)
Academic Computing Service, | S.A.RAE@UK.AC.OPEN (JANET)
The Open University, Walton Hall, | phone: (0908) 652413
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom. | fax: (0908) 653744
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------25----
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 93 09:46:32 GMT
From: Virginia Knight <ZZAASVK@cms.manchester-computing-centre.ac.uk>
Subject: In the mind's eye

A related topos to the one about an image being visible in a dead eye is
the idea that an image seen at the moment of conception or later in
pregnancy can affect the appearance of the resulting child. This is
traced by Michael Reeve in an entertaining article 'Conceptions' in
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society for 1989.

Virginia Knight
University of Manchester
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------59----
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1993 16:30:35 +0200 (EET)
From: LBJUDY@VMSA.TECHNION.AC.IL
Subject: RE: 6.0508 Rs: Student Computers (3/79)

Re: Dial-up connections to Internet:

Technically, your mis-director is right, but I don't think he's
talking about what you are.

Q: Can you have a dial-up connection to the Internet?
A: No, because to be "on the Internet" a machine has to behave like
a computer: it has to have an Internet address, run the TCP/IP
software, etc. A PC can do this; a dumb terminal can't. A
dial-up connection, through a modem, actually works by having
the PC run software that makes it pretend to be a dumb terminal
(e.g. Kermit; Crosstalk; ProComm, etc.) Then all it can do is
make a phone call to a "real" computer and log in to an account
on that, just like a dumb terminal does.

BUT, if the question is:
Q2: can I, via a modem, use the Internet?
A2: of course you can! Dial to a computer connected to the Internet
on which you have an account, log in to your account; use the
telnet, ftp etc. commands on the computer you've logged in to.

NOTE: this is how we do it from home, where the only cables around
were put in by the phone co. BUT if you're in your office, check
if the department isn't wired to the campus Ethernet. If it is,
buy an Ethernet card ($150 over here, probably not more than $100
in the US), plus into an Ethernet port; get the TCP/IP software
(which should be distributed for free by your campus computer center,
eg the Clarkson package, CUTCP, is public-domain and most campuses
use it), get your local network guru to set it up for you (nontrivial
if you're new to the field, but once s/he's done one, you can do
the rest of the PCs in your dept.) -- hey presto, you're a computer
on the Internet, you don't need to dial up any more.

The $1000 charge sounds strange to me. Perhaps it was for wiring
your dept. up to the campus Ethernet? If you need to pull wires,
could be reasonable. If it was merely for the priviledge of getting
a username and minimum disk space on one of the university
computers (so you can dial in to them and use the Internet from
there), I'd say you need a meeting with whoever the director's
boss is, pronto...

Good luck!

Judy Koren,
Elyachar Central Library,
Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology,
Haifa, Israel.