Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 15:03:59 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The PC Internet Tour Guide" by Fraase BKPCINTG.RVW 940428 Ventana Press, Inc. P.O. Box 2468 Chapel Hill, NC 27515 919/942-0220 FAX 919/942-1140 dilennox@aol.com lwenzel@aol.com "The PC Internet Tour Guide", Fraase, 1994, 1-56604-084-1, U$24.95 mfraase@farces.com Fraase's book is a real grab bag. Written (on a Mac) by someone who admits to having an aversion to MS-DOS, it really has little system specificity other than the PC basis of the programs on the included disk. It has some good information, some excellent writing, some gaps, some errors, some promises and a lot of graphics (of which the author seems inordinately fond). Overall, the discussion of Internet applications and use covers the major topics, and gives the new user a reasonable understanding of the basic tools. The chapter on "Getting Connected" proposes a very broadly based and helpfully divided overview of the various options. It starts with talk of the university, government, and corporate options, of which many potential users remain unaware. The difference between dedicated dial-up IP and dial-up terminal is raised, although the promised discussion of dial-up terminal and commercial "email gateway" access never seems to materialize. The personal and community aspects of the net get a lot of space. Some important, but often neglected, aspects of file characteristics and transfer are raised, albeit briefly. The "Neat Stuff" section really does have some interesting and little known resources. On the other hand, the quality of the information is very uneven. The setup of the included programs is said to be easy, but I suspect that a very thorough familiarity with modems would be needed in view of the extremely brief instructions for the SLIP software configuration. The "points of interest" are interesting, but seldom have anything to do with the surrounding text. (A pleasant exception to this are some of the useful and helpful points in the email section.) The directions on how to use and access resources on the net are *not* going to be helpful unless you are using the included software (and that type of dial-up connection). Every set of directions starts with UMSLIP, and most use gopher, even where email or telnet would be faster and more efficient. There are a number of dated addresses, as well as some that are just plain wrong (one suspects through bad editing). Seasoned Internauts will be able to correct these errors, but then, seasoned Internauts aren't likely to be using the book. (Some of the errors relate to DOS rather than the net: the LHA program, for example, produces files with an .lzh extension rather than .lha. Again, MS-DOS users familiar with BBSes are unlikely to have problems.) At one seminar I was told to promote this book because it had software. The software included may be useful, depending upon the user's level of access to the net, but is neither necessary nor unique. Providers that do handle IP access can also handle terminal access, but many access providers cannot provide IP access at all. In any case, (as the book states almost every time UMSLIP is mentioned), both UMSLIP and Minuet are shareware, and available online. (It is also interesting to note that the book acknowledges the superiority of PPP to SLIP -- but provides SLIP.) (In any case, I can't comment on the program disk -- my review copy came without one.) An interesting feature is the promise of an electronic update to the guide, distributed via electronic mail. The book has a coupon for two of the quarterly updates free; regular price is $25 per year. I'll try to add a note to a later edition of this review. For those who want to set up a direct IP connection quickly, (particularly for residents of Minnesota,) this is probably your book. The tools are "real" TCP/IP programs, without the UUCP limitations of "The DOS User's Guide to the Internet" (cf BKDOSINT.RVW).