Dr. Bob's Hot TipsDr. Bob's Hot Tips
eed a little "spice" in your life? Getting bored with
the usual surfing products on the net? Want a little different
slant on the Web? Dr. Bob Lade spends a bit of time each day surfing
for those unusual yet entertaining Web sites he thinks most of
you CyberNetters might find amusing. Some of these links are serious,
some just plain fun. We'll try to update the listing monthly,but
if a hot URL shows up, it will be added ASAP.
ecent back issues of this news letter:
As I write this, I must report that my *new* computer is already obsolete. I purchased a Pentium 133 MHz model with 16 Megs of RAM, 2 GBytes of hard drive, 8X CD-ROM, Diamond 3-D video card with 2 Megs of VRAM, 28.8 modem, 15 inch MAG monitor, sound card with Wave Table, and the level 2 cache is large (512 kbytes). Sounds great, right? Well, I opened the paper yesterday morning and found a machine with the above specs and a P166 chip for about what I paid for this unit! So much for state of the art.
Why am I relating this ancient tale? Well, the modem compatibility problem has not gone away! I have a "no-name" 28.8 modem in my "new" machine and I have connect problems with several ISPs. If I use my trusty 33.6 US Robotics Sportster (Highly Recommended), all problems cease--or do they? Just the other day I was having a connect problem with one of the local ISPs and learned that the number I was using connected me to their Practical Peripheral bank of modems. Using a second phone number that utilizes USR devices eliminated the problem.
This information might be valuable for those of you who are experiencing connect problems. Right now we're in the middle of the "Rainy Season" and I have noticed an increase in connect problems among my clients. If you're having problems, first hook a phone up to the line you're using after dialing a single digit to eliminate the dial tone listen carefully. If you hear crackling or hum or other wierd sounds *and* if you are hooked up to the line where it enters your home the problem can be solved by contacting your local phone company. I just dial 611 to get the service people. Make sure, though, that the problem is not from faulty wiring within your home because if the phone people find that to be the case, you'll be charged by the hour for the repair. Always check the line where it enters your residence.
Now how the devil did I do that? It's easy, but it is *not* free! To begin, a little discussion of Domain Names is in order. All internet addresses contain domains. For example, cyberstreet.com; peganet.com; and gate.net are domains. Each must be registered to insure that it is unique and is properly associated with a numerical addresses, like 204.117.207.6 or whatever. The people that maintain this database is Internic. They charge $100 for the first two years and $50 a year after that to register a specific name to you. They handle the usual higher level domains like .com, .org, .net, etc., but not the government domains. At any rate, the first step in obtaining a domain name is to make sure that what you want is not already assigned. To do that, just go to the Internic Whois Server and type in the name you are interested in, like joeblow.com and see what turns up.
If it's available, the next step is to register the name using Internic's Domain Registration Template. You'll need to have a ISP in mind when you fill this out, so contact the technical rep for yours to get the information. I can help you if you need assistance. Your ISP will charge you a monthly rate to carry your virtual domain, so check with them for details.
Once you have registered your domain and completed and emailed back the template, within a day or so you will receive confirmation from Internic. At that point your ISP tech people will "associate" your domain name with the actual URL on their system and you're in business. While the added expense may not be justified for a small business, the fact that people can remember your web address may be of importance to you. Check it out!
I've got lots more "fun" topics to explore, but they'll have to wait until next time. In the meantime, if you run into something you would like to have me add to this list, give me a URL and short description via e-mail.
Don't forget to contact me if you would like to be put on an e-mail list for announcements for the Internet Special Interest Group (ISIG) meetings in the southwest Florida area. We plan on holding them monthly on the first Tuesday of the month. Next month's (August) meeting will be held on August 6th. The meeting time is 7 p.m. We'll once again meet at CyberStreet's new office complex at 1721 Hendry Street. That's just one door south of the Dunkin' Donut place on Hendry in downtown Ft. Myers. This month, Walter Peterson has agreed to try to get us a personalized tour of Sprint's facilities. This will be a good time for all of us to ask those questions about internet connectivity for which we never seem to find answers. Check back later in the month for any updates to our meeting plans.
ew schedules for the introductory
internet course are being drawn up. If you have an interest in
this class, or know of someone who is, drop a note to
me,
or give me a call at 772-1663. Have a friend interested
in joining the fun on the internet? Have him call me and we'll
get him started with an introductory package.
In addition to the introductory class, I am also available for personalized instruction on the internet, Windows95, Word Processing, or what have you. My rates are $20/hour. Reasonable for individual instruction, I believe. Give me a call at 772-1663, or send me an e-mail message and we can talk about your particular needs.
Comments about this page should be sent to Dr. Bob Lade. Reactions, positive or negative will be carefully considered. You're also invited to visit my Web Page to learn a little more about me, my family and our lifestyle.
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