Welcome to the Cyberspace<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Wow! Do you believe it? Cybermania has hit
\nIndonesia so soon? I have received letters and faxes eagerly
\nasking for information on access to Internet. That's no surprise,
\ngiven the fact that Internet has been featured in Fortune,
\nScientific American, PC\/Computing, PC World, Byte, and many other
\npublications in the last few months.<\/p>\n
By the way, the best of all these letters came from an
\nexpatriate in Bukittinggi, the lovely little town in West Sumatra
\nwhere I was born. In his letter he told me that he had been a
\nstudent of the same university where I attended graduate school.
\nWhat a small world! Yet the world will become even much, much
\nsmaller when you're already on Internet.<\/p>\n
Here's the information I have owed you for some time: In
\nIndonesia, Internet can be accessed through INDO.GTW, which is
\nmanaged by the Center for Computer Science of the University of
\nIndonesia (PUSILKOM UI), Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately though, the number of its users has grown so
\nfast that new individual applicants have to be tightly screened.
\nInstitutions, however, can still join.<\/p>\n
The access number of INDO.GTW is (21) 390-7403 (2 channels).
\nTo register, you have to deposit Rp 250,000, which cannot be
\nrefunded in cash when you decide to quit -- just let the manager
\nknow that you're going to terminate membership well in advance,
\nand the deposit can be used toward payments of your subsequent
\nmonthly charges.<\/p>\n
The monthly charge itself will be a multiple of Rp 25,000,
\ndepending on usage. First of all, however, you have to obtain a
\nregistration form from PUSILKOM UI. Here's the contact address:<\/p>\n
Network Manager
\n Mr. R. Prabowo
\n Universitas Indonesia
\n Pusat Ilmu Komputer
\n Jl. Salemba Raya No. 4
\n P.O. Box 3442, Jakarta 10002
\n Fax (21) 310-2774<\/p>\n
To accommodate individual Internetter wannabes, PUSILKOM UI is
\nsetting up a BBS that they call Kala Warta. The BBS is still in
\nthe beta-testing stage, so I'm still unable to give you its dial-
\nup numbers. Once it gets off the ground, individuals will also be
\nable to access Internet. However, the access fees for Kala Warta,
\nI was told, will be around 30 percent higher than most other
\nBBSs.<\/p>\n
Take heart, though. The management of another BBS in town has
\njust informed me that they have struck a deal with PT Indosat to
\nenable them to connect all Cyberspace enthusiasts in Indonesia to
\nInternet.<\/p>\n
If everything works fine, you'll be able to log on to that BBS
\nnext month. So, be patient. I'll furnish you with further
\ninformation as I receive it.<\/p>\n
Largest network<\/p>\n
For the uninitiated, Internet is the largest but largely
\nunmanned computer network on Earth. One estimate says that more
\nthan 20 million computer users all over the world log on to the
\nnetwork. There is no way of determining the exact figure since
\nthe network is so decentralized. At any rate, when you're on
\nInternet, you can exchange messages or even chat with a geologist
\nin Siberia or a student in Beirut.<\/p>\n
Internet was started in 1969, when the U.S. Defense Department
\ndecided to build a network that had no central hub yet a high
\ndegree of redundancy, so that even if nuclear war broke out
\ncommunications among military command centers would survive. If
\nyou want to join it, you'll have to have a unique user name and
\naddress, and the vast network has enough intelligence to forward
\nE-mail to your address.<\/p>\n
Who constructed the network? Well, in the beginning, ARPANet
\nwas built on computing centers belonging to universities and
\nmilitary centers. Today, giant corporations such as IBM have
\njoined it. Internet will become one of the major components of
\nthe U.S. Information Superhighway, a brainchild of Al Gore and
\nthe Clinton Administration.<\/p>\n
What can you do when you're already on the Net? Well, E-mail
\nis the first thing that comes to mind, naturally. There are
\nspecial interest groups in which you can exchange the latest
\ninformation. Using the Net, you can also even run programs on a
\ncomputer located thousands of miles away. There are virtually an
\ninfinite number of files containing data and information that you
\ncan download, if you wish.<\/p>\n
Here's a true story that may illustrate one of the practical
\nuses of Internet. Once during my time as a student at the
\nUniversity of Hawaii, I had to purchase an airplane ticket for a
\nfriend of mine who was coming from Jakarta with his bride (the
\nfare is slightly lower if you buy the ticket in Honolulu instead
\nof in Jakarta).<\/p>\n
He happened to be a staff member of PUSILKOM UI and therefore
\nhad access to Internet. Two days before his departure, Garuda
\nIndonesia's Honolulu office still had not sent the necessary
\ntelex concerning the ticket to Jakarta, so my friend was unable
\nto pick it up from Garuda's Jakarta office.<\/p>\n
Thanks to Internet, he was able to 'E-mail' me and inform me
\nof the problem, and I was able to call the Honolulu office in
\ntime. The telex was immediately sent. The beauty of the story was
\nthat it cost this friend of mine virtually nothing to contact me,
\nespecially compared to the cost of the telephone call he would
\notherwise have been forced to make.<\/p>\n
Well, to round up our brief encounter with Cyberspace and BBSs
\ntoday, here's a bonus for those of you out there who always
\nhunger for more BBSs: USI IBM also runs a BBS that is available
\nto everybody. You can send private or public E-mail, upload and
\ndownload software, shareware, freeware, and fixes for OS\/2.<\/p>\n
You can ask questions and get answers regarding various
\nissues, including OS\/2. You can even access IBMNet, Big Blue's
\nnetwork that links their BBSs in other countries. The only
\nproblem is that it is not linked to Internet.<\/p>\n
If you're an OS\/2 early adopter, this is the BBS you shouldn't
\noverpass. Set your communication software to 8, N, and 1. To
\nconnect, dial (21) 520-9476 for the maximum speed of 9600 bps, or
\n(21) 570-0974 for 2400 bps.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/welcome-to-the-cyberspace-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}