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Twin Cities Free-Net Help Center
Getting Started: Dialup/telnet Users

Free-Net Dialup/telnet Users and Terminal Emulation

This section is directed toward Free-Net account holders and guests that dial directly, or use telnet, to logon to Free-Net. These users must go through a login that distinguishes them from general Web users who may have wandered into the Free-Net via their own Internet Service Provider.

If you are not a dialup/telnet user, your Internet Service Provider should assist with questions about how their software, such as a graphics browser or POP mail reader, works.

All Free-Net dialup/telnet users automatically connect to the system in what is called terminal emulation (specifically, vt100 emulation). A dialup/telnet user is immediately placed under control of Lynx, the Free-Net text-mode web browser.

What Is Lynx?

Lynx (pronounced Links) is the browsing tool used by Free-Net for dialup/telnet users to browse the World-Wide Web. The Web is based on the concept of hyperlinks (or just links), where one document can have links to a number of other documents that may have related information. These documents often are on computers in many other locations around the world. Using a browsing tool, you can read a document or jump from document to document without knowing anything about the remote computer providing the information.
How Links are Displayed
Depending on your terminal software, links are displayed differently than the text surrounding them. If the terminal software is capable, and configured correctly, Lynx displays links as underlined text. Otherwise, a link may be recognized because it is highlighted.
Paging Through a Document
Look in the upper right-hand corner of your screen for "p1 of 1." For each document, Lynx keeps track of how many screens you've seen. Once you have read a screen, press the spacebar to see the next screen of the same document. If you wish to see the previous screen, press "b" for backwards.
Arrow Keys and Your Terminal Software
The arrow keys on your keyboard are the most convenient way to navigate on the web. In the Link Demo that follows, if your arrow keys do not work as described, you may need to configure your terminal software differently. Your terminal software may be reserving the keys for its own use. In some cases you must also press the "Scroll Lock" key to either activate or deactivate the Scroll Lock depending on your terminal software requirements. Consult your terminal software manual in these cases.

Here is a summary of the keystrokes you'll use to navigate (browse) with Lynx:

Up arrow and down arrow
Move to the previous/next link on the screen. If there are no links on the screen, or if the pointer is on the first/last link, the previous/next screen of text is displayed.

Right arrow
Follow the link. Press "Enter" or quot;Return" to display the document that lies at the other end. (Reminder: The right arrow points "forward" to the next document.)

Left arrow
Retrace your steps. The "left arrow" key returns you to the previous document. Lynx keeps track of all of the documents you have viewed to get to any particular document. You can press the "left arrow" key as many times as you wish to retrace your steps.

space or +
Display the next screen, regardless of how many links are on the screen.

b or -
Display the previous screen.

q
Quits Lynx.

?
View help-screens. All of the help documents are linked so you can browse through them.

Using Lynx, you can use the following software applications:

* Pine, used to send/receive e-mail and participate in newsgroups
* Caucus: Conferencing on Free-Net , for participating in a local conference 

More information about Pine and Caucus is found through the Help Center Topic Index.

Free-Net does not yet support graphical interfaces for login user accounts. However, if you have a commercial Internet Service Provider which supports graphical interfaces, such as Netscape, Mosaic or MacWeb, you can access much of the content of Free-Net with them. Under these circumstances, your ISP should supply you with ample resources that explain how to use your specific browsing, e-mail, and news software tools.

©2004, Twin Cities Free-Net
Last modified: February 2004