UNIT 1 INTERNET: AN OVERVIEW
Structure Page Nos.
1.0 Introduction 5
1.1 Objectives 6
1.2 Evolution of Internet 6
1.2.1 Brief History 6
1.2.2 Growth 6
1.3 Advantages of Internet 7
1.3.1 Information Sharing 7
1.3.2 Internet Tools and Services 9
1.4 Internet Components 14
1.4.1 Software Components , 14
1.4.2 Hardware Components 15
1.4.3 Internet Authorities 16
1.4.4 Internet Service Provider 16
1.5 Internet Addresses 18
1.5.1 Web Address 18
1.5.2 JP Address 19
1.5.3 E-Mail Address 19
1.6 Lets Connect to Internet 20
1.6.1 Direct Connection 20
1.6.2 Dial-up Connection 20
1.6.3 Set-up Internet Connection 21
1.7 Summary 29
1.8 Solutions/Answers 29
1.9 Further Readings 31
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The earliest computers were machines built to make repetitive numerical calculations
that had previously been done by hand. While computers continued to improve, they
were used primarily for mathematical and scientific calculations, and for encoding and
decoding messages. Computer technology was finally applied to printed
communication in the 1970s when the first word processor was created. At the same
time, computers were becoming faster, more powerful and smaller, and computer-
networks were developed for interconnecting computers. In the year 1960 the
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARP A) of the U.S. Department of Defence,
along with researchers working on military projects at research centres and
The Internet
universities across the country, developed a network called the ARPANET, for
sharing data and processing time of uniform computer connection over specially
equipped telephone lines and satellite links. Today, the Internet is the widely known
computer network. It uses interconnection of computer systems by both wired and
wireless. Internet can carry any digital signals, including video images, sounds,
graphics, animations and text. Therefore, it has become very popular communication
tool. Now, Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks which connects Remember in computer
schools, universities / institutions, hospitals, research institutes, government, science platform means
commercial, and other computers. There are thousands of networks and millions of computer hardware
users on the Internet, with the numbers expanding daily. Using the Internet, you can and/or operating system.
send electronic mail (E-mail), chat with colleagues around the world, obtain
information on a wide variety of subjects and lots more. The networks or computers
operating in different platform are connected to Internet by a common protocol known
as Transmission Control ProtocollInternet Protocol (TCPIIP).
5
,Internet Concepts
1.1 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• identify how the Internet came into existence;
• explain different advantages and tools available through Internet;
• recognise different software and hardware components used to access Internet;
• elucidate the purpose of protocols used in Internet;
• recognize different type of addresses used in Internet;
• find different methods that can be used to connect with Internet; and
• set up the dialup connection for connecting to Internet.
1.2 EVOLUTION OF INTERNET
Internet is made up of thousand and thousands of interconnected networks. Although
it has become extremely popular in the last decade, it came into being only in 1967.
Internet has a very interesting history. The following section traces the evolution of
Internet.
1.2.1 Brief History
The history of Internet is from the era of cold war. The launch of Sputnik (the first
satellite) by USSR (Russia) incited the USA to form the Advanced Research Projects
Use Internet and Agency, known as ARP A in the US Department of Defence (000), in 1958 to recoup
try to find out how a technical lead. In the mid 1960s, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
theARPANET wanted to fmd a way to connect computers so that their funded researchers could
used to work? share their findings. In 1967, ARPA proposed its idea for ARPANET, a network for
rl connecting computers. Soon, scientists using the ARPANET realised that they could
'--C..6 send and receive messages as well as data and files over the network. The ARP A NET
became the first major electronic-mail network; soon thousands of researchers all over
the world used it. Later on, the National Science Foundation (NSF) of USA helped
Packet is a data in connect more universities and non-military research sites to the ARPANET, and
network in a particular renamed it to Internet, because it was a network of networks among many different
format. organisations.
In 1972, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, who were part of core ARPANET group, started
Internetting Project with the aim to connect different networks together. Diverse
UNiX is an operating interfaces, different packet sizes, diverse transmission rates presented many
system, which first difficulties. Kahn Cerf proposed the idea of gateway as an intermediate hardware to
included the network transfer data from one network to another. In 1973, they presented the outlines and
capabilities. model of TCPIIP. At this time, responsibility of ARPANET was handed to Defence
Communication Agency (DCA). In 1978, noticing the popularity of BSD (Berkley
Software Distribution) UNIX, which included network capabilities, ARPA signed a
contract with Berkley under which TCP/lP software was incorporated in the operating
system itself. In 1983, original ARPANET protocols were aholished and TCPIIP was
made de facto standard for Internet. The first TCPIIP network was made operational
Internet has many by January 1,1983 when all hosts on the ARPANET were switched over from the
synonyms like WWW, older ARPANET protocols to TCPIIP.
Web, Net, and Cyber.
Do you know some 1.2.2 Growth
more?
Internet and WWW (World Wide Web) are often used as synonyms of each other,
which is technically wrong. The Internet is a collection of interconnected computer
networks, in contrast, the Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other
6
,
, Internet:
An Overview
resources. The World Wide Web is one of the services accessible via the Internet,
along with various others including e-mail, file sharing, etc. The World Wide Web is
an Internet-based distributed system of information sources and information Hypertext creates a
subscribers. The World Wide Web is often abbreviated as the Web or WWW. The creative linkage of
Web provides a point-and-click interface to text, images, sound and movies that has objects across the
proven to be powerfully intuitive and easy-to-use. After the invention of WWW in network or Internet.
1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at Physics Laboratory (CERN), the Internet scenario has Does help files use
changes drastically. In 1991, CERN publicized the World Wide Web project. Key of hypertext?
WWW was the use of hypertext, of a document that when selected, take the user to a
connected document. The initial purpose of the Web was to use networked hypertext
to facilitate communication among its members, who were located in several
countries. It was soon spread beyond CERN, and a rapid growth in the number of both
developers and users ensued. In addition to hypertext, the Web began to incorporate
graphics, video, and sound. An early popular web browser was Viola WWW. It was
eventually replaced in popularity by the Mosaid web browser. Mosaic was a great
innovation for the Web, came in 1992 which displayed not only the text of a Web
page, but embedded graphic elements as well.
The nature of the Internet changed suddenly in 1992, when the U.S. government
began pulling out of network management, and commercial entities offered Internet
access to the public for the first time. This change in focus marked the beginning of
the Internet's amazing expansion. By late 1994, there was growing pnhlic interest in
the previously academic, technical Internet. By 1996 usage of the word Internet had
become common plaee, and consequently, so had its misuse as a reference to the
World Wide Web. Meanwhile, over the course of the decade, the Internet successfully
accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks. During
the i990s, it was estimated that the Internet grew by 100% per year. The use of the
Web has reached global proportions and has become a defining aspect of human
culture in an amazingly short period.
1.3 ADVANTAGES OF INTERNET
Before 1995, the term Internet was anonymous to most of the people in India.
However, today Internet has become the powerful tool for people. The Internet is a How Internet is
collection of various facilities, tools, applications and resources. Although, many useful for
people think e-mail, chatting and Web surfing as the main elements of Internet but Teachers and
there are lots more. Today, Internet has brought the world on your desktop. Right Students? Find
from news across the world, wealth of knowledge to shopping, purchasing the rail, Out.
movie or air tickets everything is at your mouse click. It also became the most
excellent business tool of modem scenario. Several activities can be performed if you
have access to the Internet; like you can use it for learning or teaching, you can use it
for publicity and advertisement, you can refer Internet for career or job consultation,
etc. Let us discuss about some of the facilities, tools, applications and resources
available on the Internet.
1.3.1 Information Sharing
Information sharing undoubtedly is the biggest advantage that Internet is offering. On
Internet, you can communicate with a person sitting in the other part of the world in a
fraction of second and in a more cost effective way. Today for better communication,
you can avail the facilities of e-mail; you can chat for hours with others. There are a
number of messenger services in offering. With the help of such services, it has
become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your
thoughts, explore other cultures and ethnicity. People can post and publish their ideas,
thoughts, feeling, advertisement, knowledge, etc. on Internet through Websites, Blogs,
7
,
Structure Page Nos.
1.0 Introduction 5
1.1 Objectives 6
1.2 Evolution of Internet 6
1.2.1 Brief History 6
1.2.2 Growth 6
1.3 Advantages of Internet 7
1.3.1 Information Sharing 7
1.3.2 Internet Tools and Services 9
1.4 Internet Components 14
1.4.1 Software Components , 14
1.4.2 Hardware Components 15
1.4.3 Internet Authorities 16
1.4.4 Internet Service Provider 16
1.5 Internet Addresses 18
1.5.1 Web Address 18
1.5.2 JP Address 19
1.5.3 E-Mail Address 19
1.6 Lets Connect to Internet 20
1.6.1 Direct Connection 20
1.6.2 Dial-up Connection 20
1.6.3 Set-up Internet Connection 21
1.7 Summary 29
1.8 Solutions/Answers 29
1.9 Further Readings 31
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The earliest computers were machines built to make repetitive numerical calculations
that had previously been done by hand. While computers continued to improve, they
were used primarily for mathematical and scientific calculations, and for encoding and
decoding messages. Computer technology was finally applied to printed
communication in the 1970s when the first word processor was created. At the same
time, computers were becoming faster, more powerful and smaller, and computer-
networks were developed for interconnecting computers. In the year 1960 the
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARP A) of the U.S. Department of Defence,
along with researchers working on military projects at research centres and
The Internet
universities across the country, developed a network called the ARPANET, for
sharing data and processing time of uniform computer connection over specially
equipped telephone lines and satellite links. Today, the Internet is the widely known
computer network. It uses interconnection of computer systems by both wired and
wireless. Internet can carry any digital signals, including video images, sounds,
graphics, animations and text. Therefore, it has become very popular communication
tool. Now, Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks which connects Remember in computer
schools, universities / institutions, hospitals, research institutes, government, science platform means
commercial, and other computers. There are thousands of networks and millions of computer hardware
users on the Internet, with the numbers expanding daily. Using the Internet, you can and/or operating system.
send electronic mail (E-mail), chat with colleagues around the world, obtain
information on a wide variety of subjects and lots more. The networks or computers
operating in different platform are connected to Internet by a common protocol known
as Transmission Control ProtocollInternet Protocol (TCPIIP).
5
,Internet Concepts
1.1 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• identify how the Internet came into existence;
• explain different advantages and tools available through Internet;
• recognise different software and hardware components used to access Internet;
• elucidate the purpose of protocols used in Internet;
• recognize different type of addresses used in Internet;
• find different methods that can be used to connect with Internet; and
• set up the dialup connection for connecting to Internet.
1.2 EVOLUTION OF INTERNET
Internet is made up of thousand and thousands of interconnected networks. Although
it has become extremely popular in the last decade, it came into being only in 1967.
Internet has a very interesting history. The following section traces the evolution of
Internet.
1.2.1 Brief History
The history of Internet is from the era of cold war. The launch of Sputnik (the first
satellite) by USSR (Russia) incited the USA to form the Advanced Research Projects
Use Internet and Agency, known as ARP A in the US Department of Defence (000), in 1958 to recoup
try to find out how a technical lead. In the mid 1960s, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
theARPANET wanted to fmd a way to connect computers so that their funded researchers could
used to work? share their findings. In 1967, ARPA proposed its idea for ARPANET, a network for
rl connecting computers. Soon, scientists using the ARPANET realised that they could
'--C..6 send and receive messages as well as data and files over the network. The ARP A NET
became the first major electronic-mail network; soon thousands of researchers all over
the world used it. Later on, the National Science Foundation (NSF) of USA helped
Packet is a data in connect more universities and non-military research sites to the ARPANET, and
network in a particular renamed it to Internet, because it was a network of networks among many different
format. organisations.
In 1972, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, who were part of core ARPANET group, started
Internetting Project with the aim to connect different networks together. Diverse
UNiX is an operating interfaces, different packet sizes, diverse transmission rates presented many
system, which first difficulties. Kahn Cerf proposed the idea of gateway as an intermediate hardware to
included the network transfer data from one network to another. In 1973, they presented the outlines and
capabilities. model of TCPIIP. At this time, responsibility of ARPANET was handed to Defence
Communication Agency (DCA). In 1978, noticing the popularity of BSD (Berkley
Software Distribution) UNIX, which included network capabilities, ARPA signed a
contract with Berkley under which TCP/lP software was incorporated in the operating
system itself. In 1983, original ARPANET protocols were aholished and TCPIIP was
made de facto standard for Internet. The first TCPIIP network was made operational
Internet has many by January 1,1983 when all hosts on the ARPANET were switched over from the
synonyms like WWW, older ARPANET protocols to TCPIIP.
Web, Net, and Cyber.
Do you know some 1.2.2 Growth
more?
Internet and WWW (World Wide Web) are often used as synonyms of each other,
which is technically wrong. The Internet is a collection of interconnected computer
networks, in contrast, the Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other
6
,
, Internet:
An Overview
resources. The World Wide Web is one of the services accessible via the Internet,
along with various others including e-mail, file sharing, etc. The World Wide Web is
an Internet-based distributed system of information sources and information Hypertext creates a
subscribers. The World Wide Web is often abbreviated as the Web or WWW. The creative linkage of
Web provides a point-and-click interface to text, images, sound and movies that has objects across the
proven to be powerfully intuitive and easy-to-use. After the invention of WWW in network or Internet.
1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at Physics Laboratory (CERN), the Internet scenario has Does help files use
changes drastically. In 1991, CERN publicized the World Wide Web project. Key of hypertext?
WWW was the use of hypertext, of a document that when selected, take the user to a
connected document. The initial purpose of the Web was to use networked hypertext
to facilitate communication among its members, who were located in several
countries. It was soon spread beyond CERN, and a rapid growth in the number of both
developers and users ensued. In addition to hypertext, the Web began to incorporate
graphics, video, and sound. An early popular web browser was Viola WWW. It was
eventually replaced in popularity by the Mosaid web browser. Mosaic was a great
innovation for the Web, came in 1992 which displayed not only the text of a Web
page, but embedded graphic elements as well.
The nature of the Internet changed suddenly in 1992, when the U.S. government
began pulling out of network management, and commercial entities offered Internet
access to the public for the first time. This change in focus marked the beginning of
the Internet's amazing expansion. By late 1994, there was growing pnhlic interest in
the previously academic, technical Internet. By 1996 usage of the word Internet had
become common plaee, and consequently, so had its misuse as a reference to the
World Wide Web. Meanwhile, over the course of the decade, the Internet successfully
accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks. During
the i990s, it was estimated that the Internet grew by 100% per year. The use of the
Web has reached global proportions and has become a defining aspect of human
culture in an amazingly short period.
1.3 ADVANTAGES OF INTERNET
Before 1995, the term Internet was anonymous to most of the people in India.
However, today Internet has become the powerful tool for people. The Internet is a How Internet is
collection of various facilities, tools, applications and resources. Although, many useful for
people think e-mail, chatting and Web surfing as the main elements of Internet but Teachers and
there are lots more. Today, Internet has brought the world on your desktop. Right Students? Find
from news across the world, wealth of knowledge to shopping, purchasing the rail, Out.
movie or air tickets everything is at your mouse click. It also became the most
excellent business tool of modem scenario. Several activities can be performed if you
have access to the Internet; like you can use it for learning or teaching, you can use it
for publicity and advertisement, you can refer Internet for career or job consultation,
etc. Let us discuss about some of the facilities, tools, applications and resources
available on the Internet.
1.3.1 Information Sharing
Information sharing undoubtedly is the biggest advantage that Internet is offering. On
Internet, you can communicate with a person sitting in the other part of the world in a
fraction of second and in a more cost effective way. Today for better communication,
you can avail the facilities of e-mail; you can chat for hours with others. There are a
number of messenger services in offering. With the help of such services, it has
become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your
thoughts, explore other cultures and ethnicity. People can post and publish their ideas,
thoughts, feeling, advertisement, knowledge, etc. on Internet through Websites, Blogs,
7
,
