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Glossary of terms
Bandwidth: Your upload and download capacity. On a 56k Modem this is generally about 4 KBps Upload and 7 KBps Download.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol - A location on the Internet with the purpose of storing files.
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - A location on the Internet that store web pages like this.
IP: 32 bit binary number identifying the position of a computer on the Internet - similar to the URL. The URL is usually easier to remember as it is alpha based rather than numerical.
IP Range: Usually referred to when talking about scanning a particular range of ip addresses. They can be broken down into A, B, and C ranges - AAA.BBB.CCC.xxx. Usually an entire B range will be scanned at a time.
KBps: Kilobytes per second - This is what most transfer speed are referring to. One Byte is comprised of 8 Bits.
Kbps : Kilobits per second - This is what most modem speeds are referring to. Why? Probably to make them look faster. Divide by 8 to get KBps.
FXP: File eXchange Protocol - This refers to server to server transfer. You can transfer files from one pub to another using very little of your own bandwidth. This is by far the best means for distributing large files, only problem is that a very limited number of FXP capable pubs exist.
Proxy:Generally used to speed up Internet connections by storing frequently accessed images/html locally. Used in the FXP community to hide your identity by using anonymous proxies to connect to a ftp. Usually SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 are used for FTP transfers and are located on port 1080.
Pub: This is a public ftp that anyone can connect to with anonymous access. They are usually used for transferring large files to many people because of their high speeds.
Unix: An operating system similar to DOS but much more powerful, most of the FXPable pubs are found on Unix systems.
Wingate: Similar to a proxy in that they are used to hide your identity, except all information actually passes through the Wingate, if you have a slow Wingate you get slow download/upload speeds. Wingates are also used to force FXP transfer on pubs that do not normally accept FXP, again all data passes through the Wingate so you need one that is fast for it to be useful.
Anonymous: A way of logging on to servers as a guest, which gives you limited access to that server. Many FTP sites allow you to login anonymously in order to download files. Directories or files requiring a secure User ID and Password will not be accessible.
Alpha: The first testing stage of a new program. The alpha stage occurs before a program becomes a beta version.
Beta: The second stage a software program goes through before a final is released. Software undergoes rigorous testing until it is ready to be released.
Binary: A numeric system that represents all numbers using only two digits: 1 and 0.
Bit: The basic unit of information in a binary numbering system. A computer detects the difference between two states (high current and low current) and represents these two states as one of two numbers (1 or 0).
Bandwidth: The range of frequencies a channel can carry. The higher the frequency, the higher the bandwidth and the greater the capacity of a channel. In Internet terms, higher bandwidth means a higher ability to transmit and receive data.
BPS: Bits per second. The amount of data that can be transmitted over a digital line.
Browser: A program used to view, download, upload, surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the World Wide Web. Popular Web browsers include Netscape+Internet Explorer+Opera.
Byte: A series of 8 bits, which represent a single character.
Client: A remote computer connected to a host or server computer. Also refers to the software that makes this connection possible, such as an FTP client.
CPU: Central Processing Unit. Simply put, it's the main processor of a computer that makes everything work.
DNS: Domain Name Server. Specific software that runs on a server and resolves domain names to actual IP addresses. Nodes communicate with each other using IP addresses rather than domain names, though users may never see the actual IP addresses being used.
Domain Name: The "address" or URL of a particular Web site. You can register your own domain name at www.networksolutions.com.
Domain extensions vary depending on the site in question:
* COM: An Internet domain used for business or commercial ventures.
* EDU: An Internet domain used for educational facilities.
* GOV: An Internet domain used by the government.
* MIL: An Internet domain used by the military.
* NET: An Internet domain used for network businesses.
* ORG: An Internet domain used for non-profit organizations.
Download: To copy a file from a remote computer to your computer. There are a few methods of doing this on the Internet. HTTP, FTP and e-mail attachments are the most common.
Ethernet: One of the most common local area network (LAN) wiring schemes, Ethernet has a transmission rate of 10 megabits per second; a newer standard called Fast Ethernet will carry 100 megabits per second.
Filter: A way of hiding certain file types by their file names or extensions.
Firewall: A firewall is a safeguard utilized by many Local Area Networks (LANs) or Wide Area Networks (WANs) to protect the network from unauthorized access from the outside. They are basically gates that verify the users before they leave or enter the network by way of a User ID, Password or IP address.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol. A standard protocol for transferring files between remote computer systems. Until recently, it was used almost exclusively on UNIX workstations and mainframes, but after PC users gained access to the Internet it became a popular alternative to BBS systems. The biggest limitation was that FTP-compliant software usually used a command line interface, which wasn't easy for beginners to work with. As the Internet grew in popularity, new standards appeared (Gopher, WWW), providing more user- friendly front-end software. FTP, however, still remains the popular choice among power users and computer professionals.
Gateway: A computer system for exchanging information across incompatible networks that use different protocols. For example, many commercial services have e- mail gateways for sending messages to Internet addresses.
Gigabyte: A billion bytes. A thousand megabytes.
Host: A computer that is setup to allow connections from other machines (known as clients).
Host Address: The Internet IP Address or hostname of a remote server.
Internet: Originally designed by the U.S. Defense Department so that a communication signal could withstand a nuclear war and serve military institutions worldwide, the Internet was first known as the ARPAnet. The Internet is system of linked computer networks, international in scope, that facilitates data communication services such as remote login, file transfer, electronic mail and newsgroups. The Internet is a way of connecting existing computer networks that greatly extends the reach of each participating system.
Intranet: A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same types of software that you would find on the public Internet, but is only for internal use.
IP Address: Internet Protocol Address. A numeric address that is given to servers and users connected to the Internet.
IRC: Internet Relay Chat. A live chat area of the Internet in which real-time conversations among two or more people take place via special software. Each specific IRC channel begins with a # and is dedicated to a different area of interest. IRC is considered another part of the technology of the Internet the same way FTP, Telnet and the Web are.
ISP: Internet Service Provider. A company that provides access to the Internet. Before you can connect to the Internet you must first establish an account with an ISP.
Kilobyte: A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes.
LAN: Local Area Network. A network that connects computers in a small predetermined area (like a room, a building, or a set of buildings). LAN's can also be connected to each other via telephone lines or radio waves. Workstations and personal computers in an office are commonly connected to each other with a LAN. This allows them to have send/receive files and/or have access to the files and data. Each computer connected to a LAN is called a node.
Megabyte: A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.
Modem: MOdulator, DEModulator. A device that connects your computer to a phone line in order to communicate with other computers.
Packet: The unit of data sent across a network.
Port: A place where information goes into or out of a computer.
PPP: Point-to-Point Protocol. Communication protocol used over serial lines to support Internet connectivity.
Protocol: A specification that describes how computers will talk to each other on a network.
Proxy Server: A technique used to cache information on a Web server and acts as an intermediary between a Web client and that Web server. This is common for an ISP especially if they have a slow link to the Internet. Proxy servers are also constructs that allow direct Internet access from behind a firewall. They open a socket on the server, and allow communication via that socket to the Internet. For example, if your computer is inside a protected network, and you want to browse the Web using Netscape, you would set up a proxy server on a firewall.
Queue: waiting area for files, print jobs, messages, or anything else being sent from one computer or device to another. In SmartFTP, for instance, you can put files in the queue, and transfer them all at once at another time.
RFC: (Request for Comments). The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet. A new standard is proposed and published as a "Request For Comments." If the standard is established, the reference number/name for the standard retains the acronym "RFC." For example, the official standard for FTP is RFC 959.
Server: A computer on a network that answers requests for information, such as Web servers, FTP servers and secure servers. The term server is also used to refer to the software that makes serving information possible.
TCP/IP: (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). A set of protocols that make TELNET, FTP, e-mail, and other services possible among computers that aren't on the same network.
Upload: To copy a file from your computer to a remote server, the reverse process of download.
Warez: Widely used to denote cracked or pirate versions of commercial software. In other words, illegal pirated software.
Windows : The Microsoft Windows Operating system, which runs on DOS-based PCs.
Winsock: Windows Sockets. A technical specification that defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application (such as an FTP client or a Gopher client) and the underlying TCP/IP protocol stack. The nomenclature is based on the Sockets applications programming interface model used in Berkeley UNIX for communications between programs.
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