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GCFN Frequently Asked Questions

I thought I had an active GCFN.ORG account. What happened to it?
Free-Net has discontinued providing e-mail and dial-up services, effective July 1, 2005. You can obtain e-mail, national dial-up, and dial-up web acceleration services under the GCFN.ORG name through WDY Enterprises (http://wdyllc.com).

How do I connect to GCFN to edit my web pages?
You may upload web pages to our server via FTP. Please be aware that some firewalls can interfere with web publication to Free-Net by disrupting FTP communications.

How do I change my password?

How do I check my billing status on GCFN?

What are the GCFN IP addresses?
As a matter of system policy, the Help Desk can not release the IP addresses for the various GCFN machines. IP addresses are the unique numeric identifiers which allow machines to be located on the Internet. However, IP addresses are difficult to remember and are subject to various kinds of changes with little or no notice. In fact, utilizing IP addresses to reach GCFN may adversely affect the performance you (and other users) receive from GCFN. Users must remember that GCFN is not a single machine -- it is a group of machines, working together. We encourage all users to utilize the Domain Name Service (DNS) to locate the GCFN on the Internet. DNS, which can be configured with the assistance of your local system or network administrator or your Internet service provider, maps names to IP addresses automatically.

Users should use the following identifiers to connect to GCFN:

logins: gcfn.org
searches: search.gcfn.org
WWW: www.gcfn.org
all else: gcfn.org

Using any other identifier or using IP addresses will almost certainly fail at some point, due to how we've configured the cluster. If you need further explanations or have further questions about this, please respond to this message and note that you would like the system administrator to look into this technical issue. Please supply a telephone number that you can be reached at during business hours, so that the system staff can contact you directly. The Help Desk Staff will forward your message to the appropriate people.

Getting Help
Questions regarding the use of GCFN web space can be directed to the telephone support consultants at (614) 292-3200 or by e-mailing support@gcfn.org.

Giving to GCFN
If you would like to make a personal donation to GCFN, send a check made out to: OSU Development Fund, GCFN. Our mailing address is:

GCFN
1224 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH 43210

Hosting WWW pages at GCFN
GCFN provides web hosting services for not-for-profit groups.
For pricing information, please click here.
For information on setting up web hosting services at GCFN, please click here.

Making suggestions
Please e-mail your suggestions to suggest@gcfn.org.

Password problems

How do I start a WWW site?

Suspended Accounts
To reactivate a suspended account, please call our technical support line at 614/292-3200.

What is GCFN?
GCFN is a public service project of the Ohio Supercomputer Center and The Ohio State University. The "Free-Net, founded in 1994, was a pioneer in the use of the Internet in Columbus to distribute information about public services and not-for-profit activities. For many years, Free-Net provided a low cost dial-up Internet service that taught over 40,000 different people how to use the Internet.

As the Internet has matured, Free-Net has dropped its dial-in service but continues to provide web hosting for not-for-profit groups and participates in community oriented development projects.

One of the major current projects for Free-Net is its work on Community Connection (http://communityconnection.osu.edu). Developed collaboratively by The Ohio State University’s Service Learning Initiative, Project Community and P-12 Project, The Community Connection’s main goal is to assist with the recruitment, training, placement, and support of students as volunteers in the local neighborhood communities.

The Diversity Leadership Transcript Program (DLTP) is a voluntary program for any undergraduate, graduate or professional student interested in enhancing his/her OSU experience with a concentration on diversity and leadership in the classroom and through co-curricular involvement. It encourages students to gain scholarly expertise in diversity as well as to participate in skill building and community involvement. (see http://multiculturalcenter.osu.edu/dltp/).

For more information on web hosting and community service projects, please click here or call Steve Gordon at 614/292-4132.

What is the Internet?
The Internet is a vast network of millions of computers all over the world. The computers are all connected seamlessly so that a piece of information can travel from one computer to any other computer usually within seconds. This is accomplished by sending out data in envelopes, called Internet Protocol (IP) packets, that are addressed to a specific computer. This address is called an IP address. The information is then passed through the network via specialized high speed telephone lines, passing through various other computers along the way, until it reaches its destination. GCFN is a part of the Internet and has an IP address. Therefore, users of GCFN can access any other computer on the Internet and vice-versa. This access includes being able to send e-mail to anyone who can receive Internet e-mail. It also means being able to connect to other computers and access information using various network software packages. For example, the menu-driven interface that is used at GCFN (Gopher) is a way to connect to another computer on the Internet and retrieve information. What our gopher client is doing "behind the scenes" when you select various menu items is looking up IP addresses for other computers on the Internet whose resources you are accessing. Then GCFN's computer contacts the other computer and opens up a gopher connection. Information is sent back and forth between the computers through IP packets, and presto! the information you selected pops up on your screen. Information is transferred in a similar manner when using various other Internet clients such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Telnet.