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index The Retirees' Newsletter is published by the Faculty and Librarian Retirees' Association of the University of Windsor, five times per year: in February, April, June, October and December.
Its main purpose is to inform faculty and librarian retirees on matters of immediate practical import to them such as pensions, benefits, association activities, etc.
In addition, The Newsletter welcomes all items that readers wish to share personal experiences, observations, arguments, reports and creative work of all kinds. A special invitation in this respect, goes to out-of-town members.
If it is at all possible, please send a diskette along with your hard copy. But don't hold back on that account even written (legibly) by hand, your item will be welcomed.
Items intended for publication must be received by the 25th of the month before publication.
The Editor is Bill Phillips. All items for publication should be sent to the Editor. Email him at philli3@uwindsor.ca. Or send items directly to his home address: 1186 Grand Marais Rd West, Windsor, ON, N9E 1C7. (519)972-0588.
Associate Editor is Joan Hackett. ALL correspondence will reach us if sent c/o the Fac/Lib Retirees' Association, Univ. of Windsor Post Office, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4. Mark them: "Newsletter".
Third in a Series - by Edwin Habib
A new user meets a number of strange terms; or worse, a number of familiar terms used in strange ways. And the jargon is growing steadily. To help, here is a start on some terms and a simple explanation of each one.
Host (Remote), Local: A host or a remote computer is one that you connect to and, like a badly behaved guest, you may askit to perform various functions for your benefit. For example, when you connect to the SGI at the University, the SGI becomes the host or remote computer and your PC becomes the local computer. You may ask the SGI to run various programs for you, such as "pine" or a "C compiler".
Upload and Download: When you transfer a file to a remote computer, you "upload" it. When you get a file from a remote computer, you "download" it.
FTP or File Transfer Protocol: When transferring a file, the communication program must have some way of detecting errors in the transmission. If errors are detected, the programme requests a retransmission of part or all of the file. The method of doing this is called a protocol. The remote and local computers must use the same protocol. The protocol chosen for use on the internet is called FTP (or simply File Transfer Protocol). Programmes that perform this task have names like FTP_32 or FTP_PM. These are dedicated file transfer programmes and are easy to use. You need only specify whether the file is a text or a binary file.
Client Server: A server is a programme that provides a service for a client , and a client is a programme that receives a service from a client. If that is not a circular argument, what is? A simple example will explain it better. There is a mail server on the SGI that receives and dispatches mail. Its name is email.uwindsor.ca. When you get mail using your local mail reader, your reader is a client and email.uwindsor.ca is the server.
Telnet: If you have an account on the SGI, i.e. a user ID and password, you can connect to it and run programs that are resident on it. Suppose that you collaborate with a colleague at UBC and have an account there, you can connect to the UBC computer via the internet using Telnet. You may then use the remote computer as if you were at UBC and avoid long-distance charges.
As reported on page 2 above, the second meeting of the computer group was postponed ( because of a scheduled eye operation on the host Edwin Habib,for a detached retina: it appears to have been totally successful, and Edwin is recovering nicely). John LaGaipa will now host that meeting at his home. To set a convenient time, John has asked that interested members call him at 966-2350.
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