Whats all this stuff about - Surfin' and Internet ?
Click the link (it's underlined) when your cursor (arrow) changes, then read on.
   Basic Requirements To Access the Internet
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   Something A Little More Advanced
    What is the Net and what's it good for?

                       This giant network of networks brings to your desktop so many
                       possibilities it's staggering. It turns your computer into a super
                       repository of knowledge. It transforms entertainment from the passive
                       medium we've grown up with into an interactive medium of spiralling
                       potential. It annihilates distance. It confounds traditional notions of
                       human relationships. In short, it's a blast.

                       It's hard to know where to start -- so much is on offer. Maybe you
                       need to settle an argument over whether Kenneth Slessor's middle
                       name was Adolf or Albrecht. The answer's online. How did that blind
                       fellow (what's his name?) manage to climb the sheer face of El Captain
                       in Yosemite National Park? And while speaking of Yosemite, how can
                       you order a copy of Ansel Adam's 'Moon Over Half Dome' to grace
                       your walls?

                       Who was it who wrote "There's some corner of a foreign field that is
                       forever England", and how does the poem finish? (BACK)

    Perhaps you're after more practical help,

                       Perhaps you're after more practical help, such as how to get the
                       candle wax out of your new carpet? Or what's the latest flight you can
                       get from Perth to Adelaide on Friday? Or how many kilojoules in a
                       calorie?

                       It's all there. Entertainment, news, information, trivia, home shopping,
                       freebies, people doing all kinds of things. And you can either enter the 
                       Net on a search-and-retrieve mission or float about being tossed
                       aimlessly by the digital currents. (BACK)
 
 
 

       A (brief) History of the Internet

                       The evolution of the Internet is a delicious irony.

                       Cast your mind back to the days when the city of Berlin was divided
                       by a wall, the days when MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction -- talk
                       about ironies!) was in vogue. The days of the Cold War.

                       In those chilly days, a bunch of think tankers pondered the problem of
                       how the US could maintain a communications network during and
                       after a nuclear war. Obviously, such a network would have portions
                       completely obliterated by atomic blasts, and it could not be dependent
                       on a central authority, as such an authority would be a prime target in
                       an attack.

                       Such a rugged, post-cataclysmic network needed to be designed on
                       two fundamental principals: complete absence of central control, and
                       the ability to continue to operate even when much of it was destroyed. (BACK)
 
 

      The first network

                       The first network based on these principals was set up in Great Britain
                       in the 1960s. But it was the much bigger project funded by the US
                       Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency --
                       Arpanet -- that became the kernel of the Internet.

                       Originally, Arpanet allowed members of the research community to
                       share computing resources over long distance. However, researchers
                       quickly subverted Arpanet into something much more useful: a place to
                       share information, collaborate on projects and gossip. News and
                       e-mail became the main network traffic.

                       As the '70s progressed, other computer networks linked up with
                       Arpanet. All that was required to connect networks of diverse
                       computers was an adherence to the lingua franca of the Internet,
                       TCP/IP -- this impressive acronym stands for Transmission Control
                       Protocol/Internet Protocol, which is the protocol, or language, that
                       allows all computers, whether PCs, Macs, Unix machines or
                       whatever, to talk to each other over the Net. (BACK)
 
 

      By the '80s

                       By the '80s, the Internet had broadened far beyond its government
                       and military origins, with educational organisations, community
                       organisations and finally commercial organisations all latching
                       themselves onto this ramshackle but robust network of networks.
                       Growth was rapid, but not astounding. It was not until the emergence
                       of the World Wide Web -- the friendly face of the Net -- that growth
                       became so rapid that the Internet forced itself into the consciousness
                       of the general public.

                       It's interesting watching governments now trying to turn around and
                       control the Internet: censor it, restrict activities on it, stop its alternative
                       technologies disrupting existing structures such as the major phone
                       companies. Apart from the fact that the Net was designed to work
                       without control and suited to anarchy and chaos, the explosive growth
                       of the Internet over the last few years has made technological change
                       on the Net almost impossible for anyone -- including would-be
                       regulators -- to keep up with. (BACK)
 

      Internet networks and tools

                       The Internet is a worldwide network of networks, rather than a single
                       network, with a vast array of tools to help you use these networks.
                       Here are the most important of these tools and networks:

                       The World Wide Web. You've probably heard of the Web, as this
                       worldwide network is known as. It's not the Internet, although you
                       could be forgiven for confusing the two. It's just one part of the
                       Internet. The Web is the part of the Net that gives us light and colour
                       and movement: it's a 'publishing house' for multimedia creations as well
                       as general information.

                       What has made the Web so popular is its use of graphics and easy
                       menu-driven 'browser' software (for 'browsing the Web'), and the way
                       it makes it oh-so-simple to wander around the global network of
                       computers. With the Web, all you do is click a highlighted or
                       underlined link in the text (or a graphical link) and you're whisked to
                       the page, topic or site that link points to. (BACK)
 
 

     Introducing the Web
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                     Understanding links - Start browsing - Using your Web browser
Where on earth do I go?
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                       Contrary to what many people think, the Web isn't the Internet --
                       it's a network within the Internet. But it has fast become the
                       biggest, most important part of the Internet -- and it's certainly
                       the best place to start surfing. (BACK)
 
 

      Understanding links

                       Web pages are based on the concept of `hypertext', a way of linking
                       related items of information without regard to their physical location.
                       Once you understand this concept, you'll basically understand how to
                       use the World Wide Web.

                       If you've ever used a Windows Help file you've used hypertext --
                       those underlined words which take you from one help screen to the
                       next. Hypertext is also used in reference CD-ROM titles such as
                       Encarta to create hotlinks which jump from one topic to another. To
                       give you an idea click here to go to index, then click `Understanding Links'

                       Now imagine hypertext on a global scale, forging connections between
                       information anywhere on the Internet -- allowing you to jump to
                       another spot in the same page, to another file on the same computer,
                       or to a file on a computer on the other side of the world!

                       But that's not all! Web pages allow links from graphics as well as
                       words -- and link to more than ordinary documents -- they can show
                       glorious colourful pictures, play sound and video clips, even transfer
                       software onto your PC.

                       All of these links create a web which spans the globe: hence, the
                       World Wide Web. (BACK)
 
 

    Let's start browsing

                       Information on the Web is presented in the form of pages viewed on
                       your PC screen with a piece of specialised software called a Web
                       browser.

                       Collections of pages make up a Web site and are stored on a
                       computer, known as a Web server, connected to the Net. Each site
                       has it own address in a standard Internet form such as
                       www.flindersclubs.asn.net.au (Flinders Clubs and Socs) You
                       connect to an individual Web site by entering this address.

                       The main page on each Web site acts as a front door or index and is
                       often called the homepage.

                       Web pages can be as stark or stunning in their look, and contain as
                       little or as much content, as their author desires. This is why it's
                       important to choose your Web browser -- not all browsers allow you
                       to make the most of these more sophisticated pages. See Choosing
                       your Web browser. (BACK)
 
 

     Using your Web browser - a crash course

                       While Web browsers can vary significantly in the features they offer,
                       most share a basic set of features designed to help you surf in comfort:

                       The Address, Netsite or Location line: Underneath the menu and
                       iconbar at the top of the screen is the Address line -- well, it's called
                       different things in different browsers but it always does the same thing:
                       just type the Internet address in here, hit Enter and you'll be taken to
                       the site.

                       Forward and Back buttons: When you view each page it is stored in
                       a special `cache' directory on your PC's hard disk (the name and
                       location of the cache depends on the browser you use). This means
                       you can retrieve these pages without having to actually re-visit the site
                       by using the browser's Forward and Back buttons. Your browser will
                       also probably have a Go To option in the menu, which will take you to
                       most recently cached pages. The Home button will take you to your
                       browser's specified home page.

                       Bookmarks or Favourite Places. As you explore the Web you'll
                       discover some fantastic sites, to which you will want to return to time
                       and time again. Web browsers let you save the address of these sites
                       under a Bookmark or Favourite Places menu so you can visit them
                       with the click of a button.

                       Print or Save. From the File menu, you can print a Web page or save
                       it as an HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) file for later
                       reference.

                       The Stop button. Sometimes -- if a Web page has a lot of graphics,
                       or if the computer holding it or a link between you and that computer
                       is overloaded -- a Web page is taking just too long to load. Just hit the
                       stop button -- you can always come back to it another time.

                       Links. If you see a word or phrase underlined in a different colour
                       (such as Understanding Links, below), or if the mouse cursor changes
                       as it passes over a graphic (such as the File menu pic, above) just click
                       on the word or graphic. This will take you to another page on that
                       same site -- or on our PC User Offline CD -- or a totally different
                       Web site on the other side of the planet! Or they might `download' a
                       file onto your computer's hard disk, play a video or sound clip, and
                       more! See Understanding Links. (BACK)
 
 
 

      Where on earth do I go?
 

                      On the Web you'll find sites on any topic you can think of -- and many
                       more besides. There's just one problem -- this wealth of information is
                       untamed. The Web can be likened to a huge library in which all the
                       books have been thrown on the floor: somewhere is the knowledge
                       you need, but how to find it?

                       `Search engines' are Web sites which do the legwork for you: clever
                       librarians who have not only read every book (or indexed every Web
                       page) but remember what they read and where they read it. As soon
                       as you venture onto the Internet you should get to know a few good
                       search engines. See using Search Engines to learn more.(BACK)
 

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