Online
Rob Hays
June 1994
	To the ancient Greeks, Delphi was the center of the world.
If you had any questions that needed answering, you would go
there to visit the oracle of Apollo. The modern Delphi may not be
in the center of the world, but it can still answer just about
any question.
	I am speaking of the online service named Delphi. While its
hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts may not be the center of the
world, thanks to the Internet the answers to your questions will
probably be more accurate than those from the oracle.
	Those with long interest in online services may remember a
company called General Videotext, begun in 1981. This was an
idea-ahead-of-its-time service to provide text to your
television. With the rise of personal computers and modems, the
company changed its name to Delphi, and became a mainstream
network along the lines of GEnie and CompuServe. In October,
1993 Delphi was bought by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, making it
part of a family that includes TV Guide magazine and the Fox TV
network. 
	The biggest difference between Delphi and the other services
we have looked at, is its connection to the Internet. Internet,
for any who don't know, is actually a collection of computer
networks. Originally cultivated to foster data exchange between
academic and governmental computer systems, Internet has grown to
mammoth proportions. Internet's scope is far beyond what can be
covered here, but for an overview of what it can mean to Amiga
owners, read Henning Vahlenkamp's article in the February issue.
	For Amiga users, Delphi itself is a mixed bag. The person in
charge of the Amiga Special Interest Group has not been online
for over a year, according to recent messages. The users have
been trying to get the Delphi administrators to appoint someone
new, and the situation may have resolved itself by the time you
read this. This is not a critical problem so far, mainly
manifesting itself as out-of-date classified ads, and the like.
The database has been well maintained, and is up-to-date,
including recent additions to the Fred Fish collection.
	One interesting section in the Amiga SIG is the Poll area.
Here, any user can browse through questions from inquiring
minds. Previous responses are tabulated and displayed as
percentages of respondents, as well as actual numbers of votes.
You can also read comments left by voters. If your mind is
curious about something not already asked, you can create your
own Poll question for others to answer.
	Delphi uses a text-based menu format, (figure 1) but without
numbered choices. To indicate a choice, you type the word for
that selection, although the first two or three letters will
work. To find the Amiga SIG from the main menu, (figure 2) type
Computing Groups, or Com. Then Amiga, or Ami, and you are there.
From the main SIG menu, your choices include joining a
conference, working with e-mail, checking the Forum for bulletin
board messages, and moving to the Database area for files. All of
these are similar in function and form to equivalent areas on
CompuServe and GEnie.
	The biggest plus is the nearly complete access to the
Internet (figure 3). Unless you already have access through your
school or workplace, Delphi may be the least expensive way to
connect with what is being touted as the best current example of
the proposed information superhighway. While you may not be
directly connected to the Internet through Delphi, it is the next
best thing to being there. Internet utilities such as Gopher,
FTP, allow you to search for and transfer files, and Telenet
allows you to remotely log on to other computer systems around
the world. The Usenet feature lets you stay up-to-the-minute on
many topics.
	This bounty of information brings up one of the down sides
to Delphi. As of March 1994, the fastest modem speed supported is
2400 bps. 9600 bps speeds are being experimented with at various
access sites, but are not generally available. With the potential
for huge amounts of information coming to you from computer
systems around the world, your allotment of free storage space on
Delphi can quickly fill up, and requires constant management.
Transferring all of this information to your home system will be
much easier once faster access speeds are the standard.
	What does it all cost? Delphi has two pricing plans. The
10/4 plan is $10 per month with the first four hours of usage
included. Additional hours are $4. The 20/20 plan is $20 per
month with 20 hours included. Additional hours are $1.80, and
Internet access adds $3 per month to either plan. There is a one
time fee of $19 to join the 20/20 plan, but if you sign up within
the first calendar month, this is reduced to $9. There are no
communications surcharges if you call between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
weekdays, or anytime weekends and holidays.
	Curious? Set your modem and terminal program to 2400 bps, 8-
N-1, and dial 1-800-695-4002. At the Username prompt, enter
JOINDELPHI. At the Password prompt, enter NWS94. This will give
you five free hours on Delphi during the calender month that you
call. Full details are provided online. If you are already on the
Internet and want to try Delphi, you can telenet to "delphi.com"
instead of dialing.
	Speaking of Internet, I received E-mail from Eddie
Goldstein, who reminded me that both CompuServe and GEnie have E-
mail connections to the Internet. This means that if you know
someone's E-mail address and you have access to any of these
networks, you can send that person E-mail across nets. If you are
sending E-mail from GEnie or CompuServe, you follow the normal
procedures for your system. The procedure for converting a
CompuServe or GEnie user ID to an Internet address depends on the
system. Using my user IDs as examples, address me at GEnie as:
R.HAYS5@GENIE.GEIS.COM. To send it to me at CompuServe, your
address line should read 72764.2066@compuserve.com. Note that
the comma in a CIS user ID changes to a period for Internet. For
Delphi, it would be: RHAYS@delphi.com.

	Remember, I can be reached as:

		R.Hays5		on GEnie
		RHAYS		on Delphi
		72764,2066	on CompuServe

	For U.S.Mail:
		Rob Hays
		P.O.Box 194
		Bloomington, IN 47402
	Please include a SASE if you need a personal reply.
	That's all for now. Next month we will take a look around
BIX and see where the developers hang out. See you online!
