<preface id="preface"> <title>Preface</title> <para> Welcome to &TCPIUG;. </para> <para> This book describes how you can configure &TCD; 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 <xref 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>