Engineer On A Disk

3.7 How to Send and Receive email

1. You will need your user name and password to access your e-mail account.

Username - Usually first six letters of your last name and the first letter of your first name.

Examples: John Farris ---> farrisj

Ron Smith ---> smithr

Lefty Moskowitz ---> moskowl

Password - Your student number, usually your social security number

If you do not know your pass word type "reset" at the login prompt and follow the instructions. Your pin is the four numbers representing the month and day of your birthday. For example if you were born on September 18 your PIN is 0918.

2. Open Netscape Communicator by double clicking on the Netscape Communicator Icon on the desktop.

3. Input User information into Netscape Communicator.

A. Under the Edit pull down menu select Preferences.

B. A pop up window will appear and with a sub menu titled Category. Single click on the "+" sign to the left of the Mail & Groups category. This will reveal more choices.

C. Single click on the Mail Server sub group and input boxes will appear to the right.

D. Enter the information below in the correct box.

Mail server user Name: Your River user Name

Out Going Mail server: river.it.gvsu.edu

Incoming Mail server: river.it.gvsu.edu

Note: "Leave messages on server after retrieval" box should be checked.

E. Single Click on the Identity sub category under the mail and groups category. Enter your name and email address in the appropriate box. Your e-mail address is your river user name followed by "@river.it.gvsu.edu"

F. Click on the OK button at the bottom of the pop up window to close the window.

4. Viewing incoming e-mail and sending e-mail.

A. Under the Communicator pull down menu choose Messenger Mailbox. This will bring up a new widow that displays your messages. To read a message simply click on the message.

B. To send a message select New Message under the Message pull down menu and fill in form.

C. Send a message to the lab instructor to show mastery of the e-mail system

3.7.1 How to Browse the Web

1. Open Netscape Communicator by double clicking on the Netscape Communicator Icon on the desktop. The Icon is shown below.

2. The Location shown at the top of the page is the name and location of the file displayed. use the mouse and the keyboard to enter in the locations and files listed below to explore other internet sites.

http://engineer.gvsu.edu - Information about the engineering program at GVSU.

http://patent.womplex.ibm.com - Patent information.

http://www.evworld.com/ - Information about electric vehicles.

http://www.sdp-si.com - Information about standard mechanical parts. Order a catalog here.

http://bignerds.com/ - student site

yahoo.com - search site.

http://www.mmsonline.com/ - Modern machine shop magazine.

3.7.2 How to Download Files from the Web

1. Downloading pictures or images from the internet.

A. Pictures or images can be saved to incorporate them into documents or your own web page. To save an image simply position the cursor over the information and click the right mouse button. This will cause a pop-up menu to appear. Click on the Save Image as... button. Another dialogue box will appear. Specify the name of the file you would like to save the image as and its location in the pop up menu. Finally click on the Save button. Do not forget the name and location of the file!!!!!

2. Downloading files from the internet.

A. Some links on web pages are files that require your computer to have software loaded to view the files. The web browser will ask what software you would like to use to open the file or where you would like to save the file. For security reasons always save the file before running the file. As an example go to the site http://www.engineer.gvsu.edu/faculty/default.htm and click on John Farris, then click on EGR 101 Information and finally on Download Border. Try to save this file to your floppy disc.

3.7.3 How to Store Files on river and Publish a Web Site

3.7.3.1 - Overview

When you register for classes the computer administers give you 5 megabytes of storage space on the river web server. You can store files, back up files, share files with colleagues and publish your web page in this space. By placing files in your "public_html" directory on river, you can publish them to the world. If your river user name is "smithm", then your web pages will be found on the web at www2.gvsu.edu/~smithm. For example, if you put a file "homework1.htm" in your public_html directory, then you can view it from your browser (e.g., Netscape) at www2.gvsu.edu/~smithm/homework1.htm.

If no file is specified, the browser will attempt to display the file "Welcome.html" from your public_html directory. Because of this, people usually name their Home Page file "Welcome.html".(note capitalization) If Welcome.html does not exist a list of files in the public_html directory is displayed.

You publish web documents by transferring them to your river account using FTP. FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol", a standardized way that has evolved for one machine to send files to another. The steps to do this are described below.

3.7.3.2 - Setting disc space on the river server (this step is only done once!!!!)

A. Double click on the river Icon to connect to river.

B. Enter your river user name and pass word.

C. Enter "Z" to access the Unix shell.

D. Type "makeweb" at the Unix prompt. This command creates your public_html directory.

E. Type "exit" to leave the Unix shell and type "exit again to leave river.

3.7.3.3 - Transferring files with FTP

Once public_html is created, use an FTP program to transfer files from your local machine to river. You should have an FTP (Windows) program somewhere on your machine if you are a PC user. Use the FTP program to transfer your web page document from your local directory to your public_html directory on river.it.gvsu.edu(the remote directory). One easy to use FTP program is WS_FTP 95 LE. It is already installed on the computers in all GVSU computer labs.

3.7.3.4 - Using WS_FTP 95 LE

A. Double click on the "WS_ftp 95 LE" Icon on the desktop.

B. Enter the information below except your river pass word. The program will prompt you for the password. If you enter your password at the prompt, the program will remember your password and it will be available to subsequent users.

Host Name/Address: river.it.gvsu.edu

Host type: Automatic Detect

User ID: (your river username)

Password: (your river password)

C. After a successful connection is made a window divided into two sections will appear. The left side shows the contents of your local machine and the right side shows the contents of the river machine. To transfer a file to your public_html directory on river:

In the right side window click on the public_html folder. This will direct the files transferred into your public_html folder.

Highlight the files you want to transfer in the left hand window and then click on the right facing arrow key between the windows to initiate the transfer. The file will appear in the right hand side window when the transfer is complete.

Files can be downloaded from your river space to your local machine by highlighting the file in the right side window and clicking on the arrow that points toward the left.

3.7.3.5 - Creating an html file

A. Downloading template

The easiest way to create a home page or html document is to modifying an existing one. A simple template can be found by going to the site http://www.engineer.gvsu.edu/faculty/default.htm, clicking on John Farris, then clicking on EGR 101 Information and finally on View, edit and download web page template. This will bring up a simple, generic web page that you can customize.

B. Modifying template

To modify the template go under the File pull down menu and select the Edit Page option. This will launch Netscape composer program which will allow you to modify the page. Before modifying the page you must save the file to the hard drive or floppy drive of your local machine. This is done by selecting the Save As... option under the File pull down menu. Be sure to enter a file destination on your local machine!!!!

After the file has been saved the text can be modified much like the way text in a word processor is modified. Practice modifying text by customizing the header. Save the file after each modification.

C. Adding a picture to your web page

To insert a picture:

Position the cursor where you want to add the picture To insert a picture:

1. Position the cursor where you want to add the picture

2. Click on the Insert pull down menu and select Image.

3. Enter the file name of the image you would like to insert.

4. Click on the OK button. Note the picture may not appear on your page. Do not panic yet.

D. Adding a link

A link is simply some text that will display cause your browser to jump to another web page or file when the text is clicked upon. To insert a link:

1. Highlight the text that you want to include in the link

2. Click on the Insert pull down menu and select Link.

3. Enter the file name or web address of the link you would like to insert.

4. Click on the OK button.

E. Adding an e-mail link

A mail link is link that allows people to send you e-mail. To modify the e-mail link on the bottom of the page:

1. Right click on the "E-MAIL ADDRESS" text.

2. Select Link Properties.

3. Enter your e-mail address after "mailto:". For example my link reads mailto:farrisj@gvsu.edu.

4. Click on the OK button.

3.7.3.6 - Publishing Your Web Page

To publish your web page so that others may view it follow the following steps:

1. Save the file you are modifying on your local machine as Welcome.html. The w must be capitalized.

2. FTP the Welcome.html file to your Public_html directory using directions presented earlier

3. FTP any image or other files that are referenced by your Welcome.html file to your Public_html directory. If this is not done the pictures or other files will not be displayed.

4. To check your web page, open Netscape communicator and type in the address of your web page. You may need to click on the Reload button at the top of the window to get the most recent copy of your Welcom.html file to be displayed.

3.7.3.7 - Glossary

Browser: A Browser is the software that lets the user access web pages on the internet. Examples of browsers are Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

FTP: File Transfer Protocol, a protocol computers use to transfer pretty much any type of file to one another.

HTML: HyperText Markup Language, a language that is used to create web pages. From Netscape, you can view the actual HTML file that is used to create the web page you see by choosing "View" and then "Source". For more information, see "A Beginner’s Guide to HTML".

HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol, a protocol web servers (such as www2.gvsu.edu)and browsers (such as Netscape) use to transfer web documents.

URL: Uniform Resource Locator, an addressing system that allows you to uniquely address a file on the internet. Assumes addresses are of the form protocol://server/path/filename. An example is http://www2.gvsu.edu/~stuindex/users.html.This indicates we are addressing a web document (http://) that is on the server called www2.gvsu.edu. The file on that server can be found down the path called ~stuindex (a weird UNIX way of naming a path, or series of folders), and the name of the file is users.html.

Web Server: A machine on the internet that is able to publish web documents. decision