PC Gopher Distributed Information Server Client

Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!mudhoney!daniel
From: dan...@mudhoney.micro.umn.edu (Daniel Torrey)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: PC Gopher Distributed Information Server Client
Summary: A PC program to access Gopher Information Servers
Keywords: distributed information client, client/server
Message-ID: <1991Sep17.225115.8498@cs.umn.edu>
Date: 17 Sep 91 22:51:15 GMT
Sender: n...@cs.umn.edu (News administrator)
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis: Under Grad Workstation Lab.
Lines: 60
Nntp-Posting-Host: mudhoney.micro.umn.edu


Gopher client for IBM PC
 
Version 1.1 of the PC Gopher client is now available by anonymous 
FTP from boombox.micro.umn.edu in the directory 
     pub/gopher/PC_client/version_1.20
 
 
About Gopher:
 
The Internet Gopher is a distributed document delivery service.  
It allows a neophyte user to access various types of data 
residing on multiple hosts in a seamless fashion.  This is 
accomplished by presenting the user a hierarchical arrangement 
of documents and by using a client-server communications model.
In addition to browsing through hierarchies of documents, gopher 
users can submit queries to gopher search servers. The search 
servers typically have full-text indexes for a set of gopher 
documents; the responce to a query is a list of documents that 
matched the search criteria. 

Internet Gopher servers accept simple queries (sent over a TCP 
connection), and respond by sending the client a document or a 
list of documents. Since this is a distributed protocol there can
be many servers... but the client software hides this fact from 
the user. We currently use this technology at the University of
Minnesota to help support microcomputer users... a couple of gopher
servers have 6000-7000 computer Q&A items that users can search
for answers to their questions. In addition, there are also gopher 
servers with recipes and other fun stuff.
 
The PC Gopher client runs on most networked PCs, but requires that 
you have loaded the appropriate Clarkson packet driver for your network 
ethernet card. The PC gopher software has a TurboVision user interface
so both keyboard and mouse are supported... and you don't need to run
MS Windows.

If you want more information about the Gopher protocol, you can anonymous  
FTP to boombox.micro.umn.edu and look in the /pub/gopher directory tree.
Currently there are gopher clients for Mac, PC and Unix (curses-based)
available from the University of Minnesota. The University of St. Thomas 
wrote a NeXT gopher client available for anonymous ftp from 
     cs.stthomas.edu (140.209.5.1)
directory gopher, file Gopher_1.0b.tar.Z (51605 bytes).
 
You can subscribe to a mailing list for announcemnets of new gopher 
servers and software by sending a request to:
          gopher-news-requ...@boombox.micro.umn.edu
          
You can send e-mail to the gopher development team at: 
          gop...@boombox.micro.umn.edu

Daniel A. Torrey
Distributed Services and Planning
Computer and Information Services
University of Minnesota
dan...@boombox.micro.umn.edu

"I don't trust you technical chaps..."
             - Ralph Richardson, "Things To Come"