1.0 Starting on SVPAL Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a FAQ?
A FAQ is a Frequently Asked Question(s). It is posted for quick reference
to answer the most commonly-asked questions. The SVPAL FAQ are divided
into seven sections: Starting on SVPAL, Mail, News, General or Miscellaneous,
Files, Internet and World Wide Web.
Why does my screen show a lot of garbage characters?
Your terminal emulation may not be correct. Try setting your terminal emulation
to VT100 under the Top/Personal Information/Terminal Configuration menu.
Your comm program should also be set to VT100 or VT102 terminal configuration.
NOTE: Some inexpensive comm programs will cause screen problems, especially
on World Wide Web. If your low-end comm program is causing screen problems,
try another comm program. Remember, "You get what you pay for".
Why am I getting extra blank lines on the screen?
Your comm program should be set up with line feed = off.
Why am I getting double printing on my screen?
Your comm program should be set for local echo = off.
Why don't my arrow keys work in Windows Terminal?
Try this: Under Settings, pick Terminal Preferences. Then DESELECT the
item that says "Use Function, Arrow, and Control Keys for Windows." It SHOULD
NOT have an 'x' in it. Now your arrow keys and control key commands will
work on the SVPAL screen and in Pine, Tin and WWW. Be sure you save this
in the terminal file.
What Internet services are available on SVPAL?
Your SVPAL account allows you to use many Internet services including mail,
Usenet News, FTP, Gopher, World-Wide Web, Telnet and WAIS searching.
What local/community services are available on SVPAL?
Some of the services are: - Local library-dialup numbers - Mail and email
addresses and phone numbers for government officials - Information on local
charitable organizations - We will have information on schools, colleges
community support information, connection to city computer systems, connection
to U.C. Extension, and similar information as soon as we can.
I don't know what's going on! How can I get help?
If you're that new, welcome, and here's how you can pick up some basic
information on your own.
Read ALL of the SVPAL FAQs; this should be one of the first things to
do for a new internet user, or a user just starting on SVPAL.
Cruise the menus on SVPAL; many questions can be answered by trying
something and thinking about what's happening. Practice using mail by sending
something to a friend or to yourself, and experimenting with the results.
The Pine mail screens are fairly intuitive if you read what is on the screens
and use the help functions.
Try Usenet news. Experiment. Try the basic group of 15 or so newsgroups.
The SVPAL newsgroups are particularly helpful. Post something to the svpal.test
newsgroup. Followup or respond to your test posting. Post a question in
the appropriate svpal.* newsgroup, mail, internet, etc.
Post a question in the appropriate svpal.* newsgroup, i.e., svpal.mail,
svpal.internet, svpal.general, etc.
If you're still stuck, email a question to: support@svpal.org which
will get you a response from an SVPAL support volunteer. Keep in mind that
support can really get backlogged if there are too many basic questions.
Try to get the answer yourself, from the FAQ, books, etc.
Is any training available through SVPAL?
We no longer offer training.
Are help files available on SVPAL?
Many of the menus are set up to provide help; check the lower lines. (Some
help screens are still 'under con- struction.') Tin and Pine also provide
help; the appropriate help request commands are shown in those programs.
In some areas, for instance FTP and Telnet, where it is not readily apparent,
you can sometimes get help by typing 'help' or '?' (without the quotes.)
Can I download the SVPAL FAQ to read off-line?
The FAQ are in the newsgroup svpal.announce. You can s(ave) the ones you
are interested in, and download them from your News directory to your computer.
Can I download "Introduction to the Internet" (NETTOOLS.TXT)?
The file is the one you get on screen in Top/Internet Services/ Introduction
to the Internet. You can send email to listserv@earncc.bitnet. Subject:line
should be empty. In the body of the message do: GET NETTOOLS PS if you
want the postscript version, or GET NETTOOLS TXT if you want just plain
text. Don't put anything else in the body of the message. Don't put a sig
at the end of the message. You should get a response which includes the
document. Good Luck.
Can you tell me about the SVPAL menus?
There are so many things to do and places to go on SVPAL it boggles the
mind. So the activities have been broken up into about 10 major divisions,
e.g., Personal Communications, Internet, and so on. Each of these major
divisions is further broken down into subdivisions, and many of the subdivisions
are further broken down, etc. etc.
The resulting menu hierarchy is designed to allow you to find what you're
looking for on a sensible basis, by following a logical trail to wherever
you want to go. The alternative would be to have a main menu with hundreds
of choices, which would really boggle the mind!
Each menu has several numbered choices; type a number, and hit the 'enter'
or 'return' key, and you go there. In addition, most menus have choices
for:
- help --- to get help on a selection
- u for up --- to go up a menu level
- top --- to go back to the main menu from anywhere
- bye ---logs you off the system
Note: When you are done with your SVPAL session, you
should execute 'bye' to make a clean exit. Don't just
hang up your modem.
It's VERY easy to get excited and just start pounding
keys. Be patient as you learn, READ WHAT'S ON THE
SCREEN. Reflect a little on what's happening. Enjoy.
Note: Sometimes the menus misbehave. You may get a message
"no such choice as '1'" and not all choices display. Type u
and press <enter> once or twice. That usually corrects the
problem.
What is a comm or communication program?
That is the program on your own PC which allows you to control your modem
and communicate with a system such as SVPAL. Some examples are: Windows
Terminal, Procomm, Crosstalk, etc. There are hundreds of commercial/freeware/shareware
comm programs.
What are the telephone access numbers
for SVPAL logon?
The following numbers are available for dialup access:
408-453-9950 at the Santa Clara County Office of Education.
SCCOE (troi) has 6 lines. MVLAAEC (picard) has 4 lines.
Note: The above was correct as of 4-13-09, but is subject to change.
Is it a toll call to login on SVPAL?
The 408 numbers are in ATT's San Jose zone 2.
The front pages of your phone book tell you what prefixes and zones
are a toll call from your own prefix.
How about SVPAL voice telephone access?
Customer Service support is available via voice mail at 408-448-3072.
The greeting messages are kept up to date by volunteers.
If you can't logon and suspect the system is down,
try this number since the volunteers try to get messages
about major system problems on as soon as possible.
In addition, you may leave a message to report problems,
etc., although email to support@svpal.org is best if you can send email.
Why do I sometimes get cut off from SVPAL?
Presuming your system and modem are okay, it may be telephone line noise
(static). Is there another phone in the house that someone could be picking
up? Do you have 'call waiting', which knocks your modem for a loop when
a call is received? Ask the phone company about how to disable it temporarily
if you do. You can put the 'disable call waiting' code into your modem
initialization string (init string) if you like.
Sometimes our Net link goes down. You are actually on a link as soon
as you connect to the above numbers.
What are the communications parameters for SVPAL?
Parity check - NONE or no parity Number of bits - 8 data bits, 1 stop bit
Baud rate - up to 14,400.
What is terminal emulation?
When you communicate with a remote computer, both your own comm program
and the remote machine must be using the same 'settings', called "terminal
emulation". Mismatched settings between your comm program and SVPAL can
cause extra, missing, or 'garbage' characters on your screen. SVPAL's normal,
or default setting is vt100.
Therefore, set your terminal emulation to vt100 in the Personal Information/Terminal
Emulation menu, and also, set your comm program to vt100 emulation. Once
these are correctly set, you can forget about it.
Note 1. SVPAL actually has 300-400 possible terminal emulation settings.
Most of these are remnants of the "good old" Unix days, and are seldom
used. The best, if your comm program will allow either, are vt100 or vt102.
Note 2. When you log in, the screen will always say that your emulation
is vt100 whether that is true or not.
Why aren't my SVPAL Terminal preferences saved?
Once you set the terminal type (and width, and height) they are saved.
However, some users have reported that certain non-standard settings, such
as 60 screen lines are not saved, and must be reset every time they log
in. Tech is aware of this problem.
Can I use my mouse in SVPAL?
It depends on your comm program and your own setup. For instance, with
Windows Terminal, you can use your mouse to copy-and-paste from the screen
to an editor such as 'Notepad'. But pasting into Terminal always occurs
at the screen cursor. Practice this technique by sending mail to yourself,
and responding to yourself, if it is available on your setup.
Why does it seem that sometimes SVPAL is really slow?
The computer is doing a lot of things for a lot of people. Some jobs must
be put 'on hold' momentarily while other jobs are being executed. The more
jobs to be done, the longer the 'holds'. That's why peak-usage times are
really slow. Also, sometimes Net problems cause SVPAL's response time to
slow down significantly, from a second or two, to much longer delays. During
one period early in 1995, responses from the system were delayed up to
120 seconds and more. These delays were caused in part by SVPAL's Internet
link provider, and are hopefully resolved.
Are there any extra charges on SVPAL?
Nope. If you paid your fee, there are no more charges. Now that the public
service announcement is out of the way, here comes the commercial! SVPAL
runs with an all-volunteer staff. A handful of folks, some very untechnical,
answer all email support questions. Be gentle, and patient. We're doing
the best we can. You too, can volunteer. See About SVPAL/Volunteering.
What is a directory?
A directory is an electronic repository for files. To avoid putting the
thousands of available files in a computer into one big 'pot', a directory
and subdirectories are created. This allows files to be stored in a methodical
way, grouped by whatever system the administrator establishes. Files can
thus be more easily found, viewed, edited, etc.
Technically speaking, there is only one directory which is the main,
or root directory. The others are all subdirectories within the main directory.
However, the word 'directory' is very often used when 'subdirectory' should
be used.
Think of a filing cabinet. A filing cabinet can contain many drawers.
A drawer can contain many filing jackets or folders. A filing jacket can
contain many documents. Each one of those documents contains actual information.
If the root directory is the filing cabinet, Subdirectories are the
drawers. Additional subdirectories are the filing jackets. A file is equivalent
to a paper document, in this analogy.
What are my SVPAL directories?
All SVPAL users have a 'home' directory. They also have 'Mail' and 'News'
directories "within" or "under" their home directory. Users may also have
a 'scratch' directory for temporary file storage. Any files that you create,
transfer or save are in your home, Mail, News or scratch directories. There
are several more directories whose names start with a period; you cannot
directly alter the contents of these directories, or access them from file
transfer menus.
What is the home directory?
Each SVPAL user has a personal directory referred to as (but not named)
the 'home' directory. The home directory has the same name as the user's
logon name. For instance, if a user's login name is 'highlow', the user's
home directory is named highlow. The home directory is the default directory
in use when a user logs onto SVPAL.
Note: Confusion may arise since each user's home directory is actually
located on one of three disk partitions currently named 'home', 'home2'
or 'home3'.
Which is why the user named 'highlow' could see the following when he
checks his disk usage from the menu:
KBytes Directory
------ -----------------------------
25 /home/highlow/Mail
1 /home/highlow/.tin/.mailidx
1 /home/highlow/.tin/.index
72 /home/highlow/.tin
1 /home/highlow/News
1 /home/highlow/scratch
336 /home/highlow
In the above example, user 'highlow's' home directory is actually
named 'highlow', and resides on a disk partition called 'home'.
What is the Mail directory?
Each user has a Mail directory within or under their home directory. When
a user starts the Pine mail program, the Mail directory becomes the directory
in use. Anything s)aved in Pine is in the Mail directory. However, if email
is e)xported from Pine, the email is saved as a new file in the user's
home directory.
What is the News directory?
Each user has a News directory within or under their home directory. When
a user starts the Tin newsreading program, the News directory becomes the
directory in use. Anything saved in Tin is in the News directory. HOWEVER,
you can set up the Tin newsreader, under the menu of configurable options
within Tin, to save to another directory, generally your home directory.
What is a scratch directory?
A scratch directory is a temporary directory which SVPAL creates for *temporary*
storage of files. During FTP file retrieval, for instance, files are 'parked'
in the scratch directory. The user then downloads these files to the user's
computer. Be aware that the scratch directory is occasionally purged by
SVPAL so files should be downloaded, and then deleted, as soon as possible.
What are the messages on the screen when I log on?
Those are called MOTD, or Messages Of The Day. SVPAL likes to keep the
membership informed. Important official announcements and major changes
are also posted in the SVPAL newsgroup 'svpal.announce'.
MOTD are kept for two or three months so that new and old members can
review information and track SVPAL's evolution - the good times and the
bad. You can see older messages by pressing any key except 'q' on the opening
screen.
Who answers questions mailed to support@svpal.org?
SVPAL volunteers, who handle questions on a time-available basis. They
are not all experts on all subjects. If whoever is answering the questions
on a particular day doesn't have the answer to a non-technical request
for information, he/she leaves the question "in the queue" for someone
else who may know the answer. Technical or system problem inquiries are
forwarded to tech as soon as they are read.
So it may be days before someone who knows the answer reads it. It may
be that -no one- knows the answer, in which case it is forwarded to the
technical people, which could be up to a week after the query was originally
received. The reason for that is that the really knowledgeable technical
people have their hands full with trying to keep the system up and running,
and doing all kinds of necessary background stuff. They are already overwhelmed.
Some tips to make it easier for all concerned.
- Try to limit each request to not more than two issues.
- If the subject is technical, or may involve a lengthy or complicated
answer, limit your request to one subject.
- PLEASE avoid "... as I said in my request the other day..." it is
highly probable that a different person is handling your query, and has
no idea of what was previously said.
- PLEASE avoid "...George's (or whoever's) answer worked okay but,
when I tried it, such and such happened." Again, the person responding
to your query may not know George, and almost certainly has no idea of
what "George" advised.
It's best to ask the question from the beginning. Take some time to
make the question specific enough, with enough information, to allow it
to be answered.
- Support@svpal.org will help, but make it as easy for them as possible.
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