Date:         Thu, 21 Oct 1993 19:25:02 EDT
Reply-To: Let's Go Gopherin' <GOPHERN@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
Sender: Let's Go Gopherin' <GOPHERN@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
From: Richard Smith <smithr@clp2.clpgh.org>
Subject:      #4 Gopher Items
X-To:         gophern@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
To: Multiple recipients of list GOPHERN <GOPHERN@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu>
Status: RO

NAVIGATING THE INTERNET: LET'S GO GOPHERIN'

Richard J. Smith and Jim Gerland

GOPHER ITEMS.

At my system prompt I type the word "gopher" and retrieve the
following menu:

                    Internet Gopher Information Client v1.11

                      Root gopher server: gopher.uiuc.edu


  -->1.Welcome to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Gopher.
2.Campus Announcements (last updated 8/18/93)/
3.What's New?(last update: 8/17/93)/
4.Information about Gopher/
5.Keyword Search of Gopher Menus <?>
6.Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Campus Information/
7.Champaign-Urbana & Regional Information/
8.Computer Documentation, Software, and Information/
9.Libraries and Reference Information/
10. Newspapers, Newsletters, and Weather/
11. Other Gopher and Information Servers/
12. Phone Books (ph)/
13. Internet File Server (ftp) Sites/
14. SPECIAL: FLOOD RELIEF INFORMATION (ILLINOIS CES)/
15. IMPORTANT!NEW TERMINAL SERVER CHANGES GO INTO EFFECT AUGUST.


Press ? for Help, q to Quit, u to go up a menu          Page: 1/1

My systems administrator has my Gopher client pointed to the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's server.  I've
retrieved a menu that has 15 items.  Most of the fifteen items
are directories designated by the forward slash "/" that is at the
end of the line.  This means if I select one of those items I
would get another menu in return.

Not all the items are directories. Number one and fifteen are text files because
they end with a period "." while number five is a searchable index, identified
by the <?>, that, if selected, would ask for a keyword to find information I'm
interested in obtaining.  Gopher can find other types of files and information
out on the Internet.  Here is a list of Gopher "items" that can be obtained:

     0       Item is a file
     1       Item is a directory
     2       Item is a CSO (qi) phone-book server
     3       Error
     4       Item is a BinHexed Macintosh file.
     5       Item is DOS binary archive of some sort.
     6       Item is a UNIX uuencoded file.
     7       Item is an Index-Search server.
     8       Item points to a text-based telnet session.
     9       Item is a binary file!  Client must read until the
              connection closes.  Beware.
     T       TN3270 connection.

     Experimental IDs.

     s       Sound type.  Data stream is a mulaw sound.
     g       GIF type.
     M       MIME type.  Item contains MIME data.
     h       html type.
     I       Image type.
     i       "inline" text type (used by panda).

The usefulness of a retrieved item will depend on whether your machine and syste
m
can make use of a particular item.  For example GIF, sound, binary files and
others need special equipment or software in order to utilize the information.
The Internet has all types of information available and new things are popping
up all the time. We will see later that specific items can be specified when we
search "Gopherspace."


Richard J. Smith
smithr@clp2.clpgh.org
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Jim Gerland
gerland@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
State University of New York at Buffalo
Academic Services, Computing and Information Technology
Manager, Network User Support Services

.