Glossary
--------
ARPANet      The Advanced Research Project Agency Network, which
             has evolved into the Internet

ASCII        American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
             This standard is used for representing textual
             information

Bit          A BInary digIT is the smallest bit of information
             that can be stored or exchanged by computers.
             Network speed is measured in bits per second

Byte         Eight bits

E-Mail       Electronic Mail started as a method of sending text
             messages to people on the internet and has developed
             into a way of sending files of all descriptions from
             place to place using MIME.

FAQ          Frequently Asked Questions, a file written by
             experts to help newcomers. You should read the FAQ
             before posting to a newsgroup where possible

Flash        Flash is a menu-based Unix shell, written by Steve
             Fegan (the auditor), who hasn't decided what it
             stands for.

FTP          File Transfer Protocol is a popular way of
             transferring files across the Internet.

Gb           Gigabyte = 1024 Megabytes

GIF          Graphics Interchange Format is the most commonly
             used format for storing images.

HTML         Hyper Text Markup Language is the language used for
             writing Web pages.

HTTP         Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is the method used to
             transmit Web pages around the Internet.

Internet     The internet is the global interconnected system of
             university, commercial and other networks

IRC          Internet Relay Chat is a real-time chat system
             linking users across the Internet.

ISP          Internet Service Providers are people who allow you
             to connect to the Internet from your home using a
             phone line.

JPEG         The Joint Photographics Experts Group developed this
             method of compressing images, which throws away
             details the human eye won't notice.

Kb           Kilobyte = 1024 bytes

Linux        Linux is a type of Unix developed by Linus Torvalds,
             and it's the operating system used on Orca.

Mb           Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes = 1048576 bytes

MIME         Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions are used to
             transmit non-text messages via E-Mail.

Network      A network is a collection of computers which
             communicate using pre-determined protocols, such as
             TCP/IP or IPX.

News         Network News is a system for holding open
             discussions with people all over the internet.

NNTP         Network News Transfer Protocol is the method used to
             transmit and receive News across the internet.

Orca         This is Netsoc's Linux-based server, and it's the
             computer you connect to for all your Internet
             services.

POP mail     POP stands for Post Office Protocol. It's a way of
             getting mail from a server (like Orca) without
             having to log in.

Shell        A shell is a program that allows you to execute
             other programs.

Smileys      This is a smiley :-) It looks like a face if you
             turn your head sideways. Not all are happy :-( and
             some are surprised 8-o. They are a very useful way
             of showing if you're being serious or only light
             hearted, for example:
                 I doubt Niall was aware of our conversation.
                 I doubt Niall was aware of our conversation ;-)

TCP/IP       Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Proctol is
             protocol for communicating between computers across
             the Internet.

VRML         Virtual Reality Markup Language is like HTML, but
             allows you to create a 3-dimensional world.

WWW          The World Wide Web is the famous graphical user
             interface to the internet. You can use Netscape or
             Lynx to navigate around it.
