i got an internet membership kit, and now i need to find out what to do with 
it...it keeps asking me for things like ip address, and host domain, and
other things that i've never heard of before.

HELP!!!!!!!!

13 responses total.

  Well, first off, you need to know who you are connecting to, that
will provide you with your own IP address, domain name and so on.
  Where did you get this kit?  If it was from a local net provider
like IC-Net, I'd hope they would provide some assistence for this
type of thing.

Didn 't instructions come with it?  cyberspace.org is a host domain, 
and its ip address is 152.160.30.1  There, all your problems are
solved. Next?

Rane, she can't do it that way!

Meg, what's it membership *in*?  When you first said that (back in
announcements), I kind of assumed someone had given you membership
here.  But we don't have kits that ask that kind of question.

You might want to move this discussion to info (or better yet, ask Valerie
to link it there).  STeve's answer is the right one - your internet
provider (whoever this "membership" is with) has to give you instructions.
But for a quick (& somewhat inaccurate) skim of the background:
everything (more or less) connected to the net has to have an address, called
an IP address ("internet protocol", I think).  This consists of a
series of 4 numbers, each in a fairly limited range (0-255?), commonly
written separated by dots.  Grex's is indeed 152.160.30.1.  A domain host
is a place on the net through which your machine is tied into the net,
which provides the services necessary for others on the net to find you.
One service it will provide for you is a table entry that lets people
locate you by something other than IP address.  For example, our domain here
is cyberspace.org, & we have to provide routing for grex.cyberspace.oorg
to find this machine.  (This example is complicated by the fact that the
domain host is the same machine; imagine that we've gotten big enough
to have users logged in on several different machines for different
purposes.)  Your provider is going to have to *tell* you what your IP
address is; when you establish a connection, your software will be
telling your provider who you are, in terms of IP address.

well, this is a kit done by windows, not a provider.  it gives you names of
several providers and then says to pick one, or find another that is not 
listed.  i got it for my b.d.  it comes with a free month of cerfnet.  what
it is mostly is info, and not much hardware, but it is handy none-the-less.
the problem is, it says to get all this stuff, but doesn't explain what it
is.  it says to talk to your school, but i don't know how eastern would do 
something like that.  and i have to talk to providers.  the kit lists
msen, cicnet, and merit, plus i know of icnet nd amirnet.  anybody got ideas
as to which i should go for?

I take it you got the "Internet Membership Kit" package that they're
selling in all the software stores.  Always thought it a bit of a
misnomer -- the "internet" by its very nature is not something that
one can be a "member" of.  Instead, you can get "access" to it if you
perform the correct magical incantations and grease the right palms.

If you're an EMU student and have a VAX account, one of your perks
is that Merit is available as a provider.  You need the right software
to provide the basic connectivity from your PC to Merit -- dunno what
all comes in this "kit", but is there anything there that mentions
the magic words "PPP" and "TCP"?

This response has been erased.

<<"You too can be some gravel in the Information Superhighway">>

eeyore, get an account at Northland.lib.mi.us.
Its only 18.00 a month for full internet and ppp. It's a good system.
I bought Internet In A Box and was equally confused about addresses and masks
but I called northland (or whatever your provider is) and they helped me out.
PPP is cool and worth the 18.00 bucks a month.

If you're a UoM student, you can get the necessary things from a computer
help desk (eg. Angel Hall).  They have the necessary software, and can
answer your questions re: jumping into the net via Merit.

It is probably Chameleon Sampler.  To set it up, you need to talk to the
provider.  If you got here, you obviously have a working modem and some
terminal software.  Most providers provide a shell account and will provide
detailed instructions for setting domain, host name, name server, mask and
IP address.  Best advice is to do what James said.  Not necessarily that 
provider (I can't speak to that) but call and talk.  They are in business
to provide you the info so you can connect and pay them money.  Is this a
great country or what?

that it si!

Depends on what you are looking for.  If you have a 28.8 modem, then I
would do some careful shopping around.  (Megaweb is cool!  <grin>)

        I've got a .ini file for the Chameleon sampler that *used* to work
to get anonymous access thru Merit; I don't know if it works any more.  My
modem's really too slow for PPP work.

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