RFC 1206 (rfc1206) - Page 2 of 32

FYI on Questions and Answers: Answers to commonly asked "new Internet user" questions

RFC 1206            FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users       February 1991


   become aware of additional questions that should be included, and of
   deficiencies or inaccuracies that should be amended in this document.
   An additional FYI Q/A will be published which will deal with
   intermediate and advanced Q/A topics.

   The Q/A mailing lists are maintained by Gary Malkin at FTP.COM.  They
   are used by a subgroup of the User Services Working Group to discuss
   the Q/A FYIs.  They include:

              This is a discussion mailing list.  Its
                           primary use is for pre-release review of
                           the Q/A FYIs.

      This is how you join the quail mailing list.

          This is a write-only list which serves as a
                           repository for candidate questions and answers.
                           It is not necessary to be on the quail mailing
                           list to forward to the quail-box.

2. Acknowledgements

   The following people deserve thanks for their help and contributions
   to this FYI Q/A:  Vint Cerf (CNRI), Ralph Droms (Bucknell),
   Tracy LaQuey Parker (UTexas), Craig Partridge (SICS), Jon Postel (ISI),
   Joyce K. Reynolds (ISI), Karen Roubicek (BBNST), Marty Schoffstall
   (PSI, Inc.), Patricia Smith (Merit), Gene Spafford (Purdue) and
   James Van Bokkelen (FTP Software, Inc.).

3. Questions About the Internet

   What is the Internet?

      The Internet is a large collection of networks (all of which run
      the TCP/IP protocols) that are tied together so that users of any
      of the networks can use the network services provided by TCP/IP to
      reach users on any of the other networks.  The Internet started
      with the ARPANET, but now includes such networks as NSFNET,
      NYSERnet, and thousands of others.  There are other major wide
      area networks, such as BITNET and DECnet networks, that are not
      based on the TCP/IP protocols and are thus not part of the
      Internet.  However, it is possible to communicate between them and
      the Internet via electronic mail because of mail gateways that act
      as "translators" between the different network protocols involved.

      Note: You will often see "internet" with a small "i".  This could
      refer to any network built based on TCP/IP, or might refer to
      networks using other protocol families that are composites built



User Services Working Group