JHUniverse: System Accessible to Home Computers with Modem

Perhaps this has happened to you.
    Excited by the wide world of Internet information you've
discovered on JHUniverse, you tell a friend who belongs to a
commercial dial-up service such as Compuserve to try
connecting via the commands you use at work. Later, you learn
that your friend tried, but failed to get through. You wonder
if JHUniverse is only available to members of the university
community or through certain machines.
    "Theoretically, JHUniverse is accessible to anyone whose
computer has a modem or some means of connecting to the
Internet," said Lee Watkins, assistant director of the
Homewood Computing Information Center. "The part that some
find confusing is finding the correct and most efficient
route to log on to the system."
    Currently, the great majority of JHUniverse visitors
come in via gopher--a type of Internet software that enables
your computer (the display or "client" computer) to talk with
a remote source of information (the host or "server"
computer). "Gopher is a software program that retrieves files
without forcing the user to know the file names," Watkins
said. "If your PC is wired to the network through ethernet or
a similar system, and you have gopher software loaded on your
computer, you can connect to JHUniverse just by typing
'gopher' at the  C: prompt.
    "Of course, these directions are only appropriate for
users with an IBM-based PC," Watkins said. "Many users of
JHUniverse never see a C: prompt, but get there by clicking
on a gopher icon in Windows or on a Macintosh computer."
    A less desirable method of accessing JHUniverse
available to those who already have the basic range of
Internet capabilities is Telnet. "Telneting is not preferred
because when you telnet in it's just a remote login that does
not allow you to print or save documents," Watkins said.
"However, for some it's the only way to connect. People
connected to the Internet with Telnet software loaded on
their computers can reach JHUniverse by typing "telnet
jhuniverse. jhu.edu" (without the quotation marks) at the
prompt.
    Users with home computers that have a modem can dial
directly in to JHUniverse. "Again, this is a less desirable
method since a dial-in visit is treated in much the same way
as Telnet," Watkins said. "But by dialing (410) 516-6666 via
modem any computer user anywhere in the world should be able
to connect with JHUniverse."