8.1. GOPHERS
Even with tools like Hytelnet and archie, telnet and ftp can still be frustrating. There are all those telnet and ftp addresses to remember. Telnet services often have their own unique commands. And, oh, those weird directory and file names! But now that the Net has become a rich repository of information, people are developing ways to make it far easier to find and retrieve information and files. Gophers and Wide-Area Information Servers (WAISs) are two services that could ultimately make the Internet as easy to navigate as commercial networks such as CompuServe or Prodigy. Both gophers and WAISs essentially take a request for information and then scan the Net for it, so you don't have to. Both also work through menus — instead of typing in some long sequence of characters, you just move a cursor to your choice and hit enter. Gophers even let you select files and programs from ftp sites this way. Let's first look at gophers (named for the official mascot of the University of Minnesota, where the system was developed). Many public-access sites now have gophers online. To use one, type
gopher
at the command prompt and hit enter. If you know your site does not have a gopher, or if nothing happens when you type that, telnet to
consultant.micro.umn.edu
At the log-in prompt, type
gopher
and hit enter. You'll be asked what type of terminal emulation you're using, after which you'll see something like this:
Internet Gopher Information Client v1.03
Root gopher server: gopher.micro.umn.edu
—> 1. Information About Gopher/
2. Computer Information/
3. Discussion Groups/
4. Fun & Games/
5. Internet file server (ftp) sites/
6. Libraries/
7. News/
8. Other Gopher and Information Servers/
9. Phone Books/
10. Search lots of places at the U of M <?>
11. University of Minnesota Campus Information/
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/1
Assuming you're using VT100 or some other VT emulation, you'll be able to move among the choices with your up and down arrow keys. When you have your cursor on an entry that looks interesting, just hit enter, and you'll either get a new menu of choices, a database entry form, or a text file, depending on what the menu entry is linked to (more on how to tell which you'll get in a moment). Gophers are great for exploring the resources of the Net. Just keep making choices to see what pops up. Play with it; see where it takes you. Some choices will be documents. When you read one of these and either come to the end or hit a lower-case q to quit reading it, you'll be given the choice of saving a copy to your home directory or e-mailing it to yourself. Other choices are simple databases that let you enter a word to look for in a particular database. To get back to where you started on a gopher, hit your u key at a menu prompt, which will move you back "up" through the gopher menu structure (much like "cd .." in ftp). Notice that one of your choices above is "Internet file server (ftp) sites." Choose this, and you'll be connected to a modified archie program — an archie with a difference. When you search for a file through a gopher archie, you'll get a menu of sites that have the file you're looking for, just as with the old archie. Only now, instead of having to write down or remember an ftp address and directory, all you have to do is position the cursor next to one of the numbers in the menu and hit enter. You'll be connected to the ftp site, from which you can then choose the file you want. This time, move the cursor to the file you want and hit a lower-case s. You'll be asked for a name in your home directory to use for the file, after which the file will be copied to your home system. Unfortunately, this file-transfer process does not yet work with all public-access sites for computer programs and compressed files. If it doesn't work with yours, you'll have to get the file the old-fashioned way, via anonymous ftp. In addition to ftp sites, there are hundreds of databases and libraries around the world accessible through gophers. There is not yet a common gopher interface for library catalogs, so be prepared to follow the online directions more closely when you use gopher to connect to one. Gopher menu entries that end in a / are gateways to another menu of options. Entries that end in a period are text, graphics or program files, which you can retrieve to your home directory (or e-mail to yourself or to somebody else). A line that ends in <?> or <CSO> represents a request you can make to a database for information. The difference is that <?> entries call up one-line interfaces in which you can search for a keyword or words, while <CSO> brings up an electronic form with several fields for you to fill out (you might see this in online "White Pages" directories at colleges). Gophers actually let you perform some relatively sophisticated Boolean searches. For example, if you want to search only for files that contain the words "MS-DOS" and "Macintosh," you'd type
ms-dos and macintosh
(gophers are not case-sensitive) in the keyword field. Alternately, if you want to get a list of files that mention either "MS-DOS" or "Macintosh," you'd type
ms-dos or macintosh
8.2 BURROWING DEEPER
As fascinating as it can be to explore "gopherspace," you might one day want to quickly retrieve some information or a file. Or you might grow tired of calling up endless menus to get to the one you want. Fortunately, there are ways to make even gophers easier to use. One is with archie's friend, veronica (it allegedly is an acronym, but don't believe that for a second), who does for gopherspace what archie does for ftp sites. In most gophers, you'll find veronica by selecting "Other gopher and information services" at the main menu and then "Searching through gopherspace using veronica." Select this and you'll get something like this:
Internet Gopher Information Client v1.1
Search titles in Gopherspace using veronica
—> 1. . 2. FAQ: Frequently-Asked Questions about veronica (1993/08/23). 3. How to compose veronica queries (NEW June 24) READ ME!!. 4. Search Gopher Directory Titles at PSINet <?> 5. Search Gopher Directory Titles at SUNET <?> 6. Search Gopher Directory Titles at U. of Manitoba <?> 7. Search Gopher Directory Titles at University of Cologne <?> 8. Search gopherspace at PSINet <?> 9. Search gopherspace at SUNET <?> 10. Search gopherspace at U. of Manitoba <?> 11. Search gopherspace at University of Cologne <?>
Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu Page: 1/1
A few choices there! First, the difference between searching directory titles and just plain ol' gopherspace. If you already know the sort of directory you're looking for (say a directory containing MS-DOS programs), do a directory-title search. But if you're not sure what kind of directory your information might be in, then do a general gopherspace search. In general, it doesn't matter which of the particular veronicas you use — they should all be able to produce the same results. The reason there is more than one is because the Internet has become so popular that only one veronica (or one gopher or one of almost anything) would quickly be overwhelmed by all the information requests from around the world. You can use veronica to search for almost anything. Want to find museums that might have online displays from their exhibits? Try searching for "museum." Looking for a copy of the Declaration of Independence? Try "declaration." In many cases, your search will bring up a new gopher menu of choices to try. Say you want to impress those guests coming over for dinner on Friday by cooking cherries flambe. If you were to call up veronica and type in "flambe" after calling up veronica, you would soon get a menu listing several flambe recipes, including one called "dessert flambe." Put your cursor on that line of the menu and hit enter, and you'll find it's a menu for cherries flambe. Then hit your q key to quit, and gopher will ask you if you want to save the file in your home directory on your public-access site or whether you want to e-mail it somewhere. As you can see, you can use veronica as an alternative to archie, which, because of the Internet's growing popularity, seems to take longer and longer to work. In addition to archie and veronica, we now also have jugheads (no bettys yet, though). These work the same as veronicas, but their searches are limited to the specific gopher systems on which they reside. If there are particular gopher resources you use frequently, there are a couple of ways to get to them even more directly. One is to use gopher in a manner similar to the way you can use telnet. If you know a particular gopher's Internet address (often the same as its telnet or ftp address), you can connect to it directly, rather than going through menus. For example, say you want to use the gopher at info.umd.edu. If your public-access site has a gopher system installed, type this
gopher info.umd.edu
at your command prompt and you'll be connected. But even that can get tedious if there are several gophers you use frequently. That's where bookmarks come in. Gophers let you create a list of your favorite gopher sites and even database queries. Then, instead of digging ever deeper into the gopher directory structure, you just call up your bookmark list and select the service you want. To create a bookmark for a particular gopher site, first call up gopher. Then go through all the gopher menus until you get to the menu you want. Type a capital A. You'll be given a suggested name for the bookmark enty, which you can change if you want by backspacing over the suggestion and typing in your own. When done, hit enter. Now, whenever you're in gopherspace and want to zip back to that particular gopher service, just hit your V key (upper- or lower-case; in this instance, gopher doesn't care) anywhere within gopher. This will bring up a list of your bookmarks. Move to the one you want and hit enter, and you'll be connected. Using a capital A is also good for saving particular database or veronica queries that you use frequently (for example, searching for news stories on a particular topic if your public-access site maintains an indexed archive of wire-service news). Instead of a capital A, you can also hit a lower-case a. This will bring you to the particular line within a menu, rather than show you the entire menu. If you ever want to delete a bookmark, hit V within gopher, select the item you want to get rid of, and then hit your D key. One more hint: If you want to find the address of a particular gopher service, hit your = key after you've highlighted its entry in a gopher menu. You'll get back a couple of lines, most of which will be technicalese of no immediate value to most folks, but some of which will consist of the site's address.
8.3. GOPHER COMMANDS
a Add a line in a gopher menu to your bookmark list.
A Add an entire gopher menu or a database query to your bookmark
list.
d Delete an entry from your bookmark list (you have to hit v
first).
q Quit, or exit, a gopher. You'll be asked if you really want to.
Q Quit, or exit, a gopher without being asked if you're sure.
s Save a highlighted file to your home directory.
u Move back up a gopher menu structure
v View your bookmark list.
= Get information on the originating site of a gopher entry.
> Move ahead one screen in a gopher menu.
< Move back one screen in a gopher menu.
8.4. SOME INTERESTING GOPHERS
There are now hundreds of gopher sites around the world. What follows is a list of some of them. Assuming your site has a gopher "client" installed, you can reach them by typing
gopher sitename
at your command prompt. Can't find what you're looking for? Remember to use veronica to look up categories and topics!
AGRICULTURE
cyfer.esusda.gov More agricultural statistics and regulations
most people will ever need.
usda.mannlib.cornell.edu More than 140 different types of agricultural
data, most in Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet format.