Internet Mini Howto (I am using ubuntu 7.04 and kde)  :-)      Back to Main Page

This is a very short version.

This howto is without any guarantee, and you may use it on your own responsibility only.

There may be errors, but I do not want to use too much time to  write this howto.

To check specific words you may try to click:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (use the "search" field, middle left side of that page).


This explanation is made in a language of "pictures", as the technicque behind is complicated.

The Internet is to be compared with one HUGE computer, made up of millions of computers, placed all over the world, connected by the telephone net etc.

Each computer consists of a processor, harddisk, screen, printer, keyboard, mouse, adsl/broadband modem etc.

When you open a program e.g. a text editor, and write some text using the keyboard, you will see the text on the screen, but internally the text (data) is

converted into electronics signals, which you can then save into a file onto your harddisk - or print out with your printer, onto paper.

Same thing when you take a digital picture with you camera - the picture is internally made up of electronic signals, which only the computer understand, but

you can save it into a file on your harddisk - or print it out.

There are lots of other programs (spreadsheets for calculations, video -and audio programs for films and music, cd burner programs for burning computer data

onto cd/dvd's, e-mail programs for sending -and receiving e-mails, browser programs for viewing websites etc. etc.)

The computer is the interface between the human person and the digital data which makes it possible for the person to understand -and use the "machine

language" (the digital signals).

The human person sitting in front his/hers computer can thus do all sorts of things via the programs and  the data on the harddisk.

BUT he can do the same thing with data on a computer far away, via the internet.

His computer can connect to another computer via the telephone net, and get some data, open it in a program, read it, edit it and then save it on his own

harddisk (the data on the other computer is intact, and can be reused by other computers (human beings).

The typical usage is, that you contact a website e.g. "http://www.some.website.com" with your webbrowser program (e.g. Mozilla or Firefox).

The webbrowser program is so constructed, that it immediately fetch the data from the other computer, and shows it for you on your computer - really it copies

data from the other harddisk, and shows it on your screen.

You can now look at it and scroll down the webpage with its contents of e.g. text and pictures (it may be made up of several  files from the other computer's

harddisk), but you will hardly know.

You can save the webpage on your harddisk, and/or print it out on paper.

Often you can also fill some form, shown on your screen, click a "send" button, and "your" data will be sent to the other computer, where it may be processed by

some computer program, and a result send back to you, maybe for you to save the edited webpage on your harddisk, all done by your browser.

On my computer I have some 180.000 files on my harddisk, making up my operating system (linux) programs and my private data.

Please note IT IS ALL FILES on your harddisk.

All the other million of computers connected to the internet each have a similar bunch of files on their harddisks, which can be used by other people

(permissions granted - most files can only be used by the owner of the individual computer).

That means you can copy some files to your computer, maybe edit them, and then save them on your harddisk, and you can then use them on your personal

computer via your programs.

Other people can do the same with some of your files, that is copy them from your harddisk onto their own harddisk, and then use them with a program alike the

program you used to make them originally.

It is all hidden by lots of professional words and terms, mostly to confuse you and make it difficult to understand (I cannot see another reason).

The Internet is a huge amount of various files, placed on different harddisks on millions of computers all over the world, just to be downloaded -or uploaded for

other computers (people) to use via the telephone net.

When you talk about a webserver, it is really "just" a computer with a harddisk with some files for other people to fetch and use.

All these files on the webservers can in turn be handled, sorted, new files added, edited by special programs, which you do never see, but the result is still more

files for you to fetch - IT IS ALL FILES (except the computer hardware which is the stuff which manipulates the files).

As a typical example with lots of files is Google, which have lots of huge harddisks filled with various files (for you to fetch, a little bit at a time).

Their programs are mainly data base type of programs, made special by the google programmers, but their end result are still files.


9/2007