Information Systems Announces The New Cal Poly Gopher Server! The Cal Poly Gopher Server is now running and available on all centrally supported computer systems. To access the gopher server information, simply enter the command "gopher" on the AIX, VM, and ACS Sun systems you are using. Within ACS Macintosh Labs, the workstation program that accesses the server is called "TurboGopher". Within the building 12 ACS DOS machines, the DOS command is "gopher". Users on systems with a Gopher server that does not automatically point to the Cal Poly gopher server should be able to issue the command "gopher oboe.calpoly.edu" (The ".calpoly.edu" is optional for those machines located at Cal Poly). What Is Gopher? --------------- Gopher is a protocol that is used between a client program and a server program over TCP/IP networks. You run the client program on the system you log into or on a workstation that is network attached. The client program then queries the server program (which is usually on another network attached machine) and retrieves the responses. You view the responses and can perform several tasks with them, including viewing, saving, mailing, and printing. With this protocol, gopher allows you to search for and retrieve information without having to know how to specify the explicit mechanisms which perform the actual work. This allows you to concentrate on your information search instead of on how to access the data. What information is available? ------------------------------ All the information that was available under CPNN is available under the Cal Poly gopher server. What's more, with gopher client software, a user no longer is required to login to AIX or ACADEMIC/OASIS to access the information. One of the most frequently used sources of information, the "Open Class List" will be available on the Cal Poly gopher server by the end of Fall Quarter. Through Gopher, it will be easier to search than ever! All the sub-commands that work within the UNIX "more" command may be used to search the file from a UNIX gopher client. In addition, the Cal Poly Gopher server is linked to other Gopher servers throughout the world! This allows the user access to an easy to use information network without the hassles and fuss of knowing the ftp server names, logging into them, and using ftp commands. How Do I Get My Own Copy of Gopher client software? --------------------------------------------------- Macintosh users can obtain a copy of the TurboGopher software from the Appleshare server "Oberon" which is located in the "Information Systems" zone. The software is located on the disk volume labeled "Public". NOTE: You must have a network attached system (Appletalk or TCP/IP) with MacTCP installed. The PC version should be available in the very near future for access from the /usr/local/pub/pc/gopher directory. The PC version also requires TCP/IP access. UNIX and other versions are available via anonymous ftp from "boombox.micro.umn.edu". AND once you have your own gopher, you can use it to get later updates either locally or from Minnesota! For more information on the UNIX gopher client type % man gopher or simply start gopher and go to the menu entitled "Information About Gopher".