Faster access to the handbook

There is a Fast and a Very Fast access option. Then there are various ways of searching the handbook.

The Fast Option

If your link to the source archive is slow, try get to the handbook from one of these mirror sites:

http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/ [Norway - source]

http://ftp.tas.gov.au/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Australia]

http://www.iniaccess.net.au/simtel.net/presno/bok/

http://www.univie.ac.at/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Austria]

http://ftp.unicamp.br/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Brazil]

http://www.eunet.bg/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Bulgaria]

http://mirror.direct.ca/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Canada]

http://pub.vse.cz/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Czech Rep.]

http://ftp.net.uni-c.dk/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Denmark]

http://ftp.funet.fi/mirrors/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Finland]

http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/HOME/fischer/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Germany]

http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/simtel.net/presno/bok/

http://www.simtel.iif.hu/presno/bok/ [Hungary]

http://www.hea.ie/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Ireland]

http://serviceftp.flashnet.it/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Italy]

http://kamakura.mss.co.jp/guest/presno/bok/ [Japan]

http://www.iWorld.net/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Korea]

http://archive.bitcon.no/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Norway]

http://www.sorostm.ro/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Romania]

http://ftp.uakom.sk/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Slovakia]

http://ftp.arnes.si/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Slovenia]

http://simtel.saix.net/presno/bok/ [South Africa]

http://simtelnet.is.co.za/presno/bok/

http://ftp.sunet.se/presno/bok/ [Sweden]

http://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [Switzerland]

http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/+misc/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [U.K.]

http://ftp.globalnet.co.uk/simtel.net/presno/bok/

http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/presno/bok/ [U.S.A.]

http://oak.oakland.edu/simtel.net/presno/bok/

http://ftp.epix.net/simtel.net/presno/bok/

Note: I am looking for service providers interested in mirroring the handbook in other countries. If interested, please write me at presno@eunet.no

The Very Fast Option

Store the hypertext version of the handbook in a directory on your local hard disk. Load the locally saved index.htm file into your Web browser, and add it to its bookmark menu. (Netscape users, see here, and this is what Lynx users can do.)

To confer with the handbook while cruising the Internet, click on Bookmarks, and then on your new bookmark entry to load the index at lightening speed. Whenever stuck, start with Chapter 10.

As a Registered reader, you can retrieve a PKZipped version of the handbook after each update, or whenever you feel like it.

Searching the handbook

If you have selected the Very Fast Option above, then get yourself a copy of the Lookfor shareware program for Windows and MS-DOS users. File: lookfr50.zip.

Lookfor lets you to do super fast boolean searches in the handbook's text! In seconds, you will find all references to "Alta Vista" or "newsnet and japan."

Sure, it will display the text as it is - in hypertext. If you think this too hard to read, don't worry. Make a note about the found chapter(s). Then go back to Netscape or another browser to find and read the found text in a more elegant way. The key thing is to find where things are written. This is where Lookfor excels!

Store Lookfor in the handbook directory. To run it from a Windows icon, create a small batch file called FIND.BAT containing commands like these

   CD C:\BOK
   C:\WINDOWS
   LOOKFOR

Link the batch file to Windows, and you're ready to go.

Searching the handbook online

There is no search engine on the handbook's Web pages, but you can use tricks explained in the handbook for the job. One option is the Alta Vista search engine.

These searches will just give you the name of the chapters in which you will find what you're looking for. Use your Web browser's Find feature to locate it in the text.

Examples

To find all occurrences of the word "liszt" in The Online World resources handbook, use this search command:

   +url:presno/bok liszt

The first part forces Alta Vista to restrict your search to all Web pages containing the string "presno/bok" in their URLs (the Web address field).

As the handbook is mirrored to hosts in several countries, copies of found chapters on these hosts will also be included in Alta Vista's hit list. (Note that the pages at http://home.eunet.no/~presno/bok/ may be more up-to-date.)

You can force Alta Vista to give you hits from just one of the mirror services. For example, the primary US mirror site is at http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/presno/bok/. Use the following command to limit hits to this host:

    +url:www.simtel +url:/bok +liszt

The trick is to use a unique query string found in the mirror copy's URL address.

In some URL addresses, you'll find the hosts' country codes (AU=Australia, BR=Brazil, CA=Canada, JP=Japan, etc.) To search in the Australian version, try the command

   +url:.jp +url:/bok +liszt

Happy searching!