<preface id="preface">

    <title>Preface</title>

    <para>

        Welcome to &TCPIUG;.

    </para>

    <para>

        This book describes how you can configure &TC;; to use the

        telephone network as physical medium for data transmission

        using computers, so you can create your own collaborative

        networks to share information with your friends in freedom.

    </para>

    <para>

        To implement the configuration described in this book, you

        need two or more computers connected to the telephone network

        of your country by mean of modem devices. Optionally, you

        could use Ethernet devices (e.g., switches) to create local

        area networks (LANs) on both ends of each connection

        established over the telephone network for sharing information

        between them. For example, consider an infrastructure where

        you have one LAN for each province in your country and then,

        each of these LANs is connected one another to share

        information between them using the country's telephone

        network.  This infrastructure would be as expensive as

        telephone calls and consume of electrical power required by

        computers and communication devices would be.

    </para>

    <para>

        To make the information of this book managable, it has been

        organized in the following parts:

    </para>

    <itemizedlist>

    <listitem>

    <para>

        <xref linkend="connectivity" /> describes how to configure

        server and client computers to transfer IP packages through

        the telephone network. This is the first step you need to

        setup in order to use the internet services described in 

        linkend="services" />.

    </para>

    </listitem>

    <listitem>

    <para>

        <xref linkend="services" /> describes how to configure server

        and client computers to exchange information using internet

        services over the telephone network. Once you complete this

        part of the book, your collaborative network should be ready

        for production.

    </para>

    </listitem>

    <listitem>

    <para>

        <xref linkend="licenses" /> describes the lincense documents

        mentioned in this book so you can know what you can and cannot

        do with the information provided in this book.

    </para>

    </listitem>

    </itemizedlist>

    &preface-overview;

    &preface-docconvs;

    &preface-feedback;

</preface>