Gopher Helps with Information, Resources

Finally -- a tool to make it easier for computer novices and experts alike to find information and use resources on other computers! The Internet Gopher is an interactive service that helps you browse through simple menus, read text files and e-mail yourself copies of them, find and copy software packages, and log on to other computers. Using Gopher requires full Internet connectivity, since the service employs both telnet and ftp (file transfer program) [see THE INSTITUTE May/June 1993, p. 12]. (Electronic copies of INSTITUTE articles and e-mail-related items are now available; send to "info.email@ieee.org" for details.)

In the last two issues of THE INSTITUTE, we looked at Archie, a service that finds out where files are stored on various computers around the world. Archie has the advantage of being accessible either by telnet or e-mail. Gopher does more than Archie but requires more system resources.

Chapter 11 of Ed Krol's book The Whole Internet has an excellent description of Gopher. The service, he says, was created at the University of Minnesota to help students find and use information on campus, acting as an electronic "go-fer." This concept spread rapidly until it became an Internet-wide tool. Hundreds of Gophers are now installed at universities, corporations, and government offices.

Krol lists two public Gopher clients: "consultant.micro.umn.edu" and "gopher.uiuc.edu"-both in the central United States; your local expert may know of one closer to you. The IEEE is developing a Gopher server to make institute- related information available over the Internet. A small pilot server is currently available at "gopher.ieee.org"; an improved version is in the works.

CLIENT, SERVER.   There are two kinds of Gopher programs. The Gopher server contains all available information and resources; the Gopher client, which can be installed on any computer with full Internet connectivity, is the interface program that makes it possible to access the Gopher server by tailoring its input/output to the characteristics of your host computer. Gopher clients, excepting the so-called public ones, are available only to people with logon permission on the computer hosting the client program.

The use of public Gopher clients is free of charge to anyone who can access them over the Internet. Not all Gopher services are free, however; some are available only to those who have contracted to pay for them. A related restriction when using public Gopher clients: since you do not have file-storage permission you cannot send files to them. Experimenting with public Gopher clients is one way to learn about the system before you install a Gopher client on your host computer.

YOUR OWN GOPHER.   To find out if your host computer has a Gopher client program installed, ask your system administrator, or enter the command "gopher" at the system prompt. If the client is not there, you get an error message; if it is, you connect to the default Gopher server.

Remember: your host computer must have full Internet service, meaning telnet and ftp capability. Software to install Gopher clients on a variety of computers and operating systems is available via ftp at "ftp.ieee.org" in directory "/gopher". The client must be installed by the system administrator, who has to be familiar with this software.

Should you have a Gopher client installed, you can access the IEEE Gopher with the command "gopher gopher.ieee.org".

STARTUP.   To try out Gopher, telnet to a public Gopher client and use the login name "gopher". You will then see an overview menu with numbered entries. Select one of them using the number, the up/down arrows, your mouse, or whatever works for you; then hit Enter. There will likely be some on-screen help prompts. If the menu has more than one page, there will be commands to move between them perhaps < or >. A slash (/) at the end of a line signifies that an entry is another menu or a directory. An arrow often indicates your location in the menu.

MENUS.   The initial menu will probably include a mixture of local and general topics-for example, services at the host institution, Gopher and/or ftp sites, libraries, white pages , weather services, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). FAQs resemble USENET news in the sense that there are categories of topics with questions and answers. Topics might include e-mail, bulletin board systems, Internet, computer languages, and so on. Some Gopher servers have a very general content, while others are quite specific.

Given the range of menu items, there are three basic ways to access these resources: you can read information, such as the FAQs; you can copy files from an ftp site; and you can access a remote service, such as a library catalog service, which normally requires a telnet command. The three key words are "read," "telnet," and "ftp."

Gopher's advantage is its simplicity. You find the service you want by browsing through on-screen menus. Once you identify it, you select it with the Enter key. Read, telnet, or ftp sessions are invoked automatically as needed.

READ.   When you hit Enter on an item of text (usually indicated by a period at the end of the line) in a menu, the contents are displayed. If the item is too long to fit on a single screen, a paging mechanism comes into play. Depending on which Gopher you are using, you may need to hit the space-bar or the PgDn key, use a mouse, and so on. You may have a choice of e-mailing a copy of the text or saving it as a file in your file space on the computer running the Gopher client; generally, this option is not permitted on a public Gopher.

One type of text information you can read is a phone book, or white pages, identified by the code <CSO> at the end of the line. (The code stands for the Computing Services Office at the University of Illinois, where this kind of service was developed.) Such databases already exist at some universities. The IEEE is working on one and will let you know when it is ready.

Another kind of text information is the indexed directory resource, identified by the code <?>. When you hit Enter to select such an item, you get a request to enter keywords for a search. If you know about that topic, you enter appropriate keywords.

TELNET.   Menu items that are services requiring telnet access are identified by the code <TEL> at the end of the line.

For example, a library catalog service might be listed by the name of the university and the catalog program name. When you hit Enter to select this service, you first get a Gopher help screen. A second Enter gets you the initial screen of the service.

Some services permit free access; some require permission (and charge for use). If you leave a service successfully, you return to Gopher. If you have difficulties during a telnet session, you may not be able to return-so read that Gopher help screen carefully!

FTP.   Many entries are ftp sites. If you select one, the next menu is a set of directories, which may be repeated a number of times. Eventually you see a menu of files; selecting one makes a prompt appear. Depending on the characteristics of the Gopher client you are using, you may be able to read, e-mail, or copy automatically using ftp. Some Gopher servers use Archie and build an indexed directory resource, which makes more sophisticated searches possible.

More and more information is being made available electronically. Electronic network connections are becoming faster and more widespread, reliable, and transparent. Tools are being developed to assist users to access this information more effectively. The Internet Gopher is one of these tools. Learning about them is essential to remaining a productive engineer in the electronic age.

If you have full Internet capability, think about using Gopher and the other Internet resources. If you do not, think about the strategic advantages to yourself and your employer if you did. --Robert T.H. Alden