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NetMonth, April 1988
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* * **** The independent guide to BITNET *
* * **** *
* * **** April, 1988 *
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* **** **** Volume 2, Number 10 *
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Christopher Condon Editor CONDON @ YALEVM
Mike Patrick Contributing Editor PATRICK @ YALEVM
Timothy Stephen Contributing Editor STEPHEN @ RPICICGE
Craig White Contributing Editor CWHITE @ UA1VM
Glen Overby Technical Assistant NU070156 @ NDSUVM1
Gary Moss Staff Supervisor MOSS @ YALEVM
******************** Contents - Issue 20 ********************
EDITORIAL PAGE_________________________________________________
Bitnotes .................................................... 1
The Human Factor ............................................ 3
Flames To: .................................................. 7
The Jedi Speaks ............................................. 9
Toward a Philosophy of BITNET, Part 1 ...................... 10
FEATURES_______________________________________________________
The Listserv LISTS Database ................................ 13
NBSLIB at the National Bureau of Standards ................. 14
CLASS FOUR: The Relay Magazine ............................ 16
Accessing the SCIT Database ................................ 17
The Computer Science Research Network ...................... 18
DEPARTMENTS____________________________________________________
Headlines .................................................. 20
Helpdesk ................................................... 21
New Mailing Lists .......................................... 22
Feedback ................................................... 24
Policies ................................................... 27
* For information on subscribing to NetMonth, submitting *
* articles, sending letters, and printing this file, see *
* the "Policies" section on the last pages of this issue. *
---------------------< Distribution: 3450 >--------------------
A publication of the BITNET Services Library
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*********
* * Bitnotes
* *
* * by Christopher Condon
* *
* * CONDON@YALEVM
*********
"If I only had a brain..."
- S. Crow
Have you ever run head first into a wall as fast as you could?
Me neither, but sometimes I act as if I did. Perhaps I hit
myself over the head with a hammer when I was very young and I
don't remember...
Last month I made something of a big deal over the the way in
which the BITNET community depends upon volunteers for many of
those services we have come to know and love (Listserv and
Relay, to name a few). In my usual doom-and-gloom manner I
recognized the contributions these people have made, but
questioned where this will lead BITNET in the future. There
has been some comment on this, notably on the mailing list
POLICY-L, some of which I have reprinted in the Feedback
column.
Beneath that editorial however, was a message which I veiled
all too well. In our correspondence Tim Stephen inadvertently
pointed it out, if with a slightly misdirected question:
"What happens to NetMonth when you graduate this term?"
Of course, I DID graduate in May of 1987 (I have been a Yuppie-
in-training at Sikorsky Aircraft for the past year) but the
question is still valid. What happens to NetMonth if and when
I decide to hang up my userid? Forget the "if". It WILL
happen, and there are several circumstances which can lead to
my departure within this year.
I have thought of this in the past, as had assumed that I would
leave the network when I graduated. There were some half-
hearted attempts at finding someone with the interest,
knowledge, and time take over the magazine (and everything that
goes with it... BITLIB, BITNET SERVERS) but let's face it: I
am not a great delegater.
Does every volunteer grapple with this question? Dave (FSFNET)
Liscomb tells me that when he finally packs it in, there will
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be no successor. FSFNET will go the way of VM/COM, CLUB, and
Vax Toolbox, albeit with style. While this would be a loss,
there are other places for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans to
go... SF-LOVERS, SF-WRITERS, and so on. It wouldn't be the
same, it wouldn't have that "Orny" touch, but the readers won't
be left high and dry.
For the NetMonth readers, however, there will be no such
recourse. And while I have no illusion that I am
indispensable, it will be very hard to find someone with the
time and commitment to fill these shoes. Talent and good
spelling, as you know, are optional.
Or should I try to find someone at all? In the spirit of the
old days, I could leave that gap in BITNET service, and let
whoever has the drive and initiative create their own
magazines. After all, one "independent guide to BITNET"
doesn't leave much room for competition. If the need is there,
someone will try to satisfy it.
But I shouldn't fool myself. These are NOT the old days. The
network has changed, and there is now, more than ever, a need
for continuity. While someone might replace NetMonth, the
transition would cause a lot of trouble and confusion. There
was a GREAT deal of trouble when Bitlist became NetMonth.
Since then the mailing list has quadrupled. Imagine the
problems it would cause now.
NetMonth should go on, with or without me. But how?
Virtually,
Chris Condon@YALEVM
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*********
* * The Human Factor
* *
* * by T. D. Stephen
* *
* * STEPHEN@RPICICGE
*********
Thanks to editor Chris Condon and others at the BITNET Services
Library, the NetMonth/NetWeek/BITNET SERVERS trio has become a
premier source for news and opinion on BITNET. Probably no
other BITNET newsletter reaches as many network users. "The
Chronicle of Higher Education," on the other hand, is the
premier publication for academic administrators, the people who
make decisions about budget allocations in colleges and
universities and who decide directions for the future. Most
college and university libraries carry the Chronicle and its
weekly 50-80 page, newspaper-style issues circulate to
approximately 79,000 professors and administrators through
individual subscriptions.
The Chronicle began to regularly feature stories on academic
computing about 4 years ago following the hype that surrounded
the introduction of IBM's Personal Computer. The
microcomputer, if you recall, was supposed to usher in the
"information society," a paperless white collar utopia where
corporate productivity would skyrocket and where the face of
education would be forever changed because courses would be
offered through microcomputer software -- or something like
that. Needless to say, there is probably more paper floating
around today than in 1984, productivity is still a problem, and
college life is chugging along much as it has for the past 20
years. But the Chronicle attempted to be responsive to
increased interest in computing by expanding its coverage of
computer-related stories.
As we all know, the one really revolutionary story in computing
for this decade is networking. The French Minitel system is
altering the social practices of an entire nation and even
BITNET, comparatively modest in scope and primitive in design,
has opened new possibilities for enhancing educational
practice. Unfortunately, the Chronicle never picked this story
up -- or so it was until the April 6th issue when Chronicle
computer reporter Judith Axler Turner finally printed something
about academic networking.
In a story titled "Uncertainties Strain Computer Networks for
U.S. Professors", Ms. Turner characterized the status of
university networks as "growing like adolescents" with a
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"Byzantine" structure, "tangles" of high speed communication
lines, and a "hodgepodge" of connections. Unfortunately,
BITNET was named in the story along with Arpanet, NSFNet, and
the Merit network. While one might agree with aspects of the
story, its implicit conclusion is that the status of American
academic networking is a mess and it may become difficult for
administrators to justify its cost in the future.
Ironically, on the same day that this story was being
circulated to those who establish policy and control academic
expenditures (i.e., those who decide how much of a school's
budget should go for academic networking), the BITNET Board of
Trustees announced that a review would be conducted sometime to
determine what BITNET's Network Information Center (BITNIC)
does best and worst. May I humbly submit *public relations*
for your consideration as candidate for The Thing That BITNIC
Does Worst? Of course, it wouldn't be fair to indict anyone who
actually works at BITNIC for our failure to utilize organs such
as the Chronicle to help bolster interest, participation, and
support for BITNET. After all, the responsibilities and duties
of BITNIC personnel are defined by the BITNET Board of
Trustees. (Remember the BITNET Board of Trustees? The Board of
Trustees is the policy-making group that consists exclusively
of computer personnel and that operates without any realistic
mechanism for gathering input from users.) Regardless of where
the responsibility lies for the paucity of positive publicity
for BITNET, I think that the publication of Ms. Turner's
article points to a genuine need for the Board of Trustees to
take steps to promote BITNET within the broader academic
community.
It is apparent that Ms. Turner could stand to have her
horizons expanded a little in terms of what it is that happens
on BITNET. According to her,
"Academics use networks to feed raw data into remote computers,
and to share research results with colleagues who manipulate
them on their own computers. They use networks to run
equipment in laboratories across the campus or across the
country. They gain access to library-sized electronic data
bases over networks, and load the information directly into
their own computers, eventually to use it in research reports."
While I'm sure it would be possible to find examples of each of
these activities on some network connected to some campus
somewhere, this not only seems a poor rendition of BITNET, but
it leaves out students entirely and, in so doing, misses a key
point in what makes BITNET valuable. Ms. Turner's description
makes it sound like BITNET is used primarily by hard science
researchers to send data sets and manuscripts back and forth.
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Of course BITNET is not used to control remotely located
equipment (except in the vaguest sense). As for the part about
getting information from library sized electronic databases
that is eventually used in publications, frankly, I don't know
what she is talking about.
Even if BITNET was used primarily for the activities Ms.
Turner mentions, BITNET would be valuable. But it is apparent
from her description that she has never been adequately
informed about what it is that is truly revolutionary this
network and what it is that makes it worth the money
universities pay to access it.
BITNET brings people into contact who would not otherwise meet
and the nature of networking helps to place them on equal
ground. BITNET is most fundamentally an interactional context
and one that bridges disciplinary boundaries and eradicates
traditional barriers to discourse (e.g., age, status, race,
sex, and physical handicap). In a world that has long decried
the hazards of disciplinary overspecialization and that has
struggled to find methods to guarantee an equal voice to women
and disenfranchised minorities, BITNET offers a context for
communication in which such barriers are significantly reduced.
There are and have always been lots of ways to transfer
information from one researcher to another (e.g., paper,
punched cards, tape, diskette, op-scan forms) and there are
many ways to communicate with colleagues (phone, letter, face-
to-face conversation). Except in special cases, BITNET may not
even be the best method of accomplishing either of these
things. However, there has never before been a social context
the likes of BITNET and our experience with Comserve@Rpicicge
during the past two academic years has frequently supplied
examples of the potential that this has created.
In addition to its database, news, and "white pages" services,
Comserve hosts some 15 "hotlines" (i.e., listserv "lists") that
are organized to represent focus areas for research and
scholarship within the communication studies discipline (e.g.,
organizational communication, mass communication and new
technologies, rhetorical studies, philosophy of communication,
research methodology, etc.). Comserve's hotlines are available
to anyone and now, following a year of publicity, they provide
a method of communication for a group of users that is just
about as diverse as the BITNET community itself.
We see the value of academic networking in the following
instances: Case 1: A student sent a question about the
sophistic movement in ancient Greece to the rhetoric hotline.
Within three days, his question had been addressed by two
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leading rhetorical scholars located hundreds of miles away.
Case 2: A fourteen year old girl, whose father has BITNET
access, sent a question about clay animation (the technique
used to create the California raisins commercials) to the mass
communication hotline. She needed the information for a school
report on how clay animation is accomplished. Within 48 hours
she received six responses including one from a producer who
had created clay animation films. The responses were
sufficiently detailed to allow her to make her own clay
animation project. Case 3: A professor of intercultural
communication uses the intercultural communication hotline to
create opportunities for her students to interact with people
from other countries. Case 4: A professor requires his
research methodology graduate students to monitor the research
methodology hotline using questions sent to the hotline as
class examples.
I could cite other examples -- of isolated professors from
small colleges keeping in contact with others in their
profession, of professionals from disparate disciplines
learning from each other in the responses they provide to
issues raised on our hotlines, or of blind and deaf subscribers
who interact on our hotlines with none of the usual barriers.
But my point is, simply, that without BITNET none of these
interactions could occur -- there is no substitute. This is
the aspect of BITNET that gives it special value and it is this
aspect of BITNET that should be highlighted when we communicate
about ourselves to the broader academic community.
It may be that even among BITNET's users there are some who
share Ms. Turner's conception of what happens on the network;
possibly this has contributed to decisions in some schools to
deny access to students. I don't know how many schools still
do this, but every now and then we hear from somebody who seems
to take it for granted that students should not be allowed to
use BITNET. Perhaps they feel that student message traffic
will slow down all those hard-science Ph.D.'s who are using
BITNET to "feed raw data into remote computers".
Misconception is the inevitable result when there is no
concerted effort to communicate. I believe academia would find
BITNET both interesting and exciting if only it heard a little
more about what really goes on here. To handle this
adequately, the BITNET Board of Trustees should take steps to
establish a public relations sub-committee charged with
communicating about BITNET within the broader academic
community. This sub-committee should feed stories to organs
such as the Chronicle and the national press and should
disseminate information about BITNET and coordinate BITNET
demonstrations within national scholarly organizations.
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*********
* * Flames To:
* *
* * by Craig White
* *
* * CWHITE@UA1VM
*********
Hello again,
I hope this finds everyone in good health and spirit. During
the past month I have thought about several things to flame
about but nothing seemed to be exactly right. Then someone
sent me a program via BITNET and I thought it would never get
here. It seems like just yesterday a comparablly sized file
would have gotten here at least overnight. I ended up waiting
about three days for a file that was 1133, 80 byte, records
well under the 300,000 byte limit on a single file (by the way,
use BITSEND and BITRCV to send larger files).
As I waited for this file, I thought about all the things that
could be holding it up. Perhaps it had been sent with the
wrong attributes; maybe there was simply too much net traffic.
During this time it occurred to me that mailing list traffic
was getting out of control. I had received several hundred
mailing list files during this three day period. I wondered
how many more like me there were. After thinking about my
pile of mail, I wondered if all this congestion was just mail.
Then it hit me, with Listserv around it has become so easy to
subscribe to mailing lists and so convenient to start one, that
it was taking its toll on the links. Before you get ready to
flame me about the virtues of Listserv, let me make it
perfectly clear that I think Listserv is a very nice server.
Further more, I think the concept of mailing lists is great and
I would fight to keep them around.
As I pondered the current state of affairs, I wondered what
could be done to eliminate some of this mess. Then from the
far reaches of my brain came this thought: wasn't there a way
to search notebooks without having to send for the whole
notebook and then search it locally? There is and it's name is
LDBASE (Listserv Data BASE.) I sent a TELL Listserv at
SENDME LDBASE EXEC. I quickly received it and
started to run it, but I found I needed another piece. I then
sent TELL Listserv at SENDME LSVIUCV MODULE.
With both pieces of the puzzle I began to try it out. I was
able to link up with a Listserv and peruse some of the
notebooks there. The exec said I should get a copy of the
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documentation by using the INFO DATABASE command. So I entered
TELL Listserv at INFO DATABASE. I received a
very nice document explaining how to search for all kinds of
things and how to get back the results of my search. I thought
"Great, now I can unsubscribe some of those mailing lists that
I wasn't really into and just use LDBASE a couple of times a
week to check out the SUBJECT: line.
I tried searching for "SUBJECT:" in a very active list. I
really get a lot of hits on that string (there is a way to
limit you search to specific dates --check the documentation).
I got the results back and I was in for some surprises. A lot
of the entries had a blank subject line and, even worse, some
didn't have one at all. Which brings us to this months flame.
Always include a SUBJECT: line in all of your mailing list
submissions. Also, make sure that if you are responding to a
mailing that your subject line contains the standard RE: which makes it much easier to follow a particular
topic.
During the next month I'm going to test out using LDBASE on
many of the lists I'm on and see how it works. I would
recommend that you give LDBASE a try with some of the lists
that you might be on. Who knows it might just cut down on some
of the traffic. Winding down, I hear that soon the semester
will end and some accounts will go on hiatus for the summer.
In preparation for that let me pass along a thought from Marvin
Klassen that he submitted to the ADVISE-L list. To unsubscribe
yourself from all lists that you may be on, use TELL Listserv
AT SIGNOFF * (NETWIDE. Also if you have
registered with the name feature of Listserv, be sure to
include a TELL Listserv AT REGISTER OFF. It
was mentioned that the global unsubscribe command will cause
one mail file per list to be sent to your userid. Be sure to
delete them from your incoming box before leaving for summer.
And finally, FLAMES TO ME: Anyone guess what this one is going
to be about? Last months Flames To: on spelling checkers
contained, of all things a spelling mistake. I used its
instead of it's. If we could only get someone to write that
superduper spelling, grammatical, punctuation checker we'd all
be doing great. Thanks to everyone who responded and so kindly
pointed out my mistake. As always if you have questions,
comments or thoughts about this column please send it to CWHITE
AT UA1VM. (NOTE: All Listserv commands could be issued via
batch mode. LDBASE is also available to VAX/VMS sites, the
name is LDBASE COM.)
Send your flames to CWHITE@UA1VM.
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*********
* * The Jedi Speaks
* *
* * by Jeffrey P. Robinson
* *
* * IP50583@PORTLAND
*********
I was talking to Chris Condon (I suppose I should call him
Fuzzyman since I am doing this for the old BITNET chatter
people), and what Fuzzyman and I were talking about was how we
were (and still are) inspired by BITNET. He asked me to write
something about the way BITNET was a few years ago. I don't
not the one to say how the network has affected me, but Fuzzy
asked me, and as a Jedi Knight how could I refuse?
I am intrigued by chatting, or rather, by the people with whom
I have chatted (relayed for you younger folks) over the years.
What I have noticed more than anything else is that people's
attitudes have changed; what the people talk about on the chats
has changed. I remember a time when we would talk about world
politics and such. You might say that I got my news that way.
Hearing people's views on things was what really got me hooked.
Not this "Well if you send me an ID-Card..." junk you see these
days.
Now people only talk about music - little stuff. It's kind of
hard to get a *REAL* conversation going on religion or politics
on a public channel anymore. This also intrigues me, perhaps
because I have always been crazy about understanding people.
Trying to figure out why they do the things they do. Other
stuff keeps me going on this network too.... mostly the NetCons
(or should I say NetCon(tm)) The chat user community has really
grown since I started around here, so the intrigue has grown
even more. The network is just like life; the more you want it
to stay the same, the more it changes on you. I do miss the
good old days. I guess it's true - you cant go home again...
A little food for thought - if you had the power to change the
the net, how would you change it, why, and would your changes
really be best for all users? I don't have an answer, nor do I
ever think I will, but what right does anyone have to think
badly of anyone else for trying to change the network for what
might make it a better place?
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*********
* * Toward a Philosophy of BITNET, Part 1.
* *
* * by Mama
* *
* * ENGL0333@UNLVM
*********
Editors note: "Mama" is the pen name of the founder of The MAMA
(Middle American Manuscript Association) Writing Project at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
"Something's happening here. What
it is ain't exactly clear."
-- Mid-Sixties Song Lyric
Three editorials in the March, 1988 issue of NetMonth indicate
that BITNET is coming of age in new and exciting ways. The
first view stems from Chris Condon's excellent ruminations on
the way in which bigger and better mousetraps may or may not
impact the system, leading to his exquisite rhetorical
queries: "Who is planning the future of BITNET, if at all? Who
is at the helm?" The second view evolves from T.D. Stephen's
analysis of language, with his valid observations that any
language system reflects the peculiar "habits of thought and
economies of expression" of the people who created it, and that
we ought to "give more consideration to the frames of reference
that characterize the population that BITNET serves." Finally,
Craig White's flaming remarks about the inanity of the Brand X
vs. Brand Y vs. Brand Z mail is right on target not only
about hardware argumentation but also about software
controversy.
Yet as a relative newcomer to the system (I've been working
with computers since 1970 and on mainframes since 1982, but a
serious automobile accident and two year's disability leave
kept me away from terminals from April, 1985 through August,
1987), what I find most intriguing about their composite
observations is the way in which they all implicitly suggest we
are achieving a new level of selfconsciousness and
introspection regarding what we are about in BITNET.
For consider, dear friends, that what has been accomplished in
such short order in BITNET is something truly revolutionary and
extraordinary. And I refer not just to the astonishing
applications of both hardware and software but, more
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importantly, to the evolutions of human mind which have
simultaneously occurred. Isn't it time we all began paying
more attention to what has been evolving implicitly among us
without much comment? Isn't it time we began grappling with
defining and understanding just who this polyglot intellectual
community is becoming? Isn't it time we started reflecting upon
the philosophy of BITNET?
After all, many if not most of us are Doctors of Philosophy, in
name at least. It is a relatively recent and bizarre quirk of
human development and culture, however, that Ph.D. has come to
stand for specialist rather than synthesist. Things were not
always that way among intellectuals. And one need not go back
to the Middle Ages to discover ideals of such harmony, for
relatively recent American history gives many examples of men
and women of vast vision and breadth of interest. Consider
someone like Benjamin Franklin, for instance, who could achieve
monumental insights not only as a theoretical scientist
(experiments with electricity), but as an applied scientist
(inventor, printer, etc.), as a politician and statesman
(drafter of pivotal U.S. documents and frequent Ambassador
abroad), as an author and philosopher (Poor Richard's Almanac),
as a founder of universities and fire departments and street
cleaning brigades, and as a simply marvelous human being who
even in his advanced age was able to chase women across France
when men half his age had drawn up panting from shortness of
breath.
Yet somewhere along the line this cosmopolitan ideal which
flourished in the Age of Reason gave way to a pragmatism which
turned intellectuals ever more inward upon themselves, limiting
their vision to increasingly constricted fields. Decades of
such evolution this century, coupled with the monumental
explosion of information in all areas of human endeavor and the
alteration of fundamental concepts in institutions of higher
learning, led to the development of "Academic Communities" in
which the concept of "community" was totally fictitious since
the pedant-scholars couldn't even know the people across the
hallway much less the people across the college or across the
campus. Indeed, the large state university in which I have
taught now for twenty years numbers almost 25,000 students with
well over 1,000 permanent professorial staff. My department
alone has over 60 professional staff and almost 200 members if
you add in the part-timers and graduate instructors. The
difficulties of establishing any meaningful community among
such staggering numbers cannot be underestimated. Then, enter
BITNET.
Suddenly, at the touch of a button it is possible to open minds
not just across campus but across continents, and all this
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without even opening an office door. Suddenly, decades upon
decades of fossilization of insight and expression as
specialist competing with specialist to publish in journals of
narrowing breadth is quite simply and quite literally blown
away by the infusion of an entirely new level of communication
within and between fields of even divergent interest. Are
there others of you out there who, like me, gaze upon this
phenomenon with almost speechless wonder and amazement? As I
survey this bubbling and frothing mass and sometimes mess which
we call BITNET, I think I perhaps understand a little of how
Henry David Thoreau must have felt when he first laid eyes upon
Walden pond, or how Ralph Waldo Emerson must have felt when he
first read through the poetry of Walt Whitman. "Something's
happening here; what it is ain't exactly clear." But what is
clear is that whatever it is is simply marvelous, and we should
take note of it because we are all part of it.
So I can agree with Chris Condon that there may be great
question of who is at the helm, but such uncertainty does not
trouble me. For in a way, we all are--though some of us rise
more prominently from time to time to fulfill specific tasks
which need doing. And I can agree with T. D. Stephen that we
increasingly need to evolve simpler and more human language
patterns, though even accidents like the etymology of BITNET do
not alarm me. For when I unpack BITNET and find "Because It's
There Network," I see a brash and assertive and quite-typically
American nonchalance which I feel more properly reflects our
spirit than would the pompous and academic sound of some
variant of EARN (European Academic and Research Network). And
when Craig White flames about the stupidity and shallowness of
some network argumentation, I say "right on!" For the
identification of such weakness is the first step toward its
resolution. I look forward to the expression of new modes of
argumentation about matters of true substance which transcend
the narrow borders of particular disciplines or schools of
thought.
Which brings me back to where I began. Now that we're
beginning to look into our consoles and see not just messages
from others but reflections of ourselves, isn't it time we
began sorting out just who we are? Isn't it time we started
evolving a Philosophy of BITNET?
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*** **** ***** ******* ******* ****
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*********
* * The Listserv LISTS Database
* *
* * by Eric Thomas
* *
* * ERIC@CEARN
*********
The Listserv database functions have been developed in an
attempt to make it possible for users to extract relevant
information from list archives without having to retrieve a
large "notebook" file and scan it locally. Users will send
commands to Listserv, requesting it to perform search
operations locally and to send out only the selected items from
the list archives. The following goals have been kept in mind
all throughout the development of the new facilities:
* The functionalities provided must be general enough to allow
for databases other than list archives (i.e. electronic mail)
to be used if needed.
* Users with little or no database experience must be able to
learn how to use the Listserv database in a few minutes.
* The syntax should be as close to "natural english" as
possible, and should be easy to remember.
* The commands must be powerful enough to be functional, but
they should not be overly complex so as not to discourage
beginners.
* Interactive access to the database through the network is
primordial. Once the search has been carried out, the user
should have the option to retrieve the results in a file rather
than as interactive output.
Because their main application is the scanning of list
archives, the Listserv database functions are document-oriented
and therefore quite different from "usual" commercial database
systems.
The database can be accessed either interactively or in "batch"
mode. In the former case, you must obtain the LDBASE user
interface by sending the following commands to your nearest
Listserv:
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* For VM/CMS systems:
GET LDBASE EXEC
GET LSVIUCV MODULE
* For VAX/VMS systems:
GET LDBASE COM
Other systems may not access the database in interactive mode.
Because of the length of the LISTDB user documentation, it is
next to impossible to print any kind of useful information
here. Intead, you should send the following command to your
nearest Listserv for complete instructions:
INFO LISTDB
The file sent to you explains some basic database concepts, and
how to access LISTDB using either the programs mentioned above
or batch (mail) mode.
*********
* * NBSLIB at the National Bureau of Standards
* *
* * by John Antonishek
* *
* * ANT@ICST-CMR.ARPA
*********
The NBSLIB is a collection of benchmarks, measurement data, and
a bibliography on benchmarking maintained at NBS as part of a
project on the performance measurement of parallel computers.
The collection exists to provide a pool of measurement data and
benchmarks on more or less "large" computers. The pool grows
by donation from the interested public. The idea for an
automatic, electronic mail-based software distribution system,
as well as the software to make it work, came from Jack
Dongarra at Argonne National Laboratory and Eric Grosse at
AT&T-Bell Labs. The idea for a collection of benchmarks to
help untangle the performance issues in parallel machines came
from a group of scientists who attended a workshop on parallel
performance measurement at NBS in June, 1985. Please send
comments, criticisms, and software donations to ANT@ICST-
CMR.ARPA or to RJB@ICST-CMR.ARPA.
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Public domain benchmarks can be obtained free of charge via
electronic mail by sending commands on the first line of a mail
message to:
NBSLIB@ICST-CMR.ARPA
For an index of the available software libraries send the line:
SEND INDEX
to the above address. And index for a single library can be
retrieved by the SEND INDEX command. For example, to get an
index of the LANL library you would issue:
SEND INDEX FOR LANL
To get the program BMK11 from the LANL directory, you would
send:
SEND BMK11 FROM LANL
The NBS Parallel Computer Benchmark Collection aims to provide
a common set of codes that can be used for performance
measurement on parallel systems.
Many innovative parallel computer architectures are being built
and a larger number being proposed, a development due in part
to advances in VLSI technology. This technology makes it
possible to use numbers of relatively cheap but powerful
processors to execute parts of the same program simultaneously.
Many of the new architectures are for special application
problems, others are considered by their designers to be
general purpose. A myriad of design choices in numbers of
processors, methods of interconnection, and memory sizes are
available. It is difficult to predict the performance of such
systems, and measurement of their performance continues to be a
research issue.
One method of performance measurement is benchmarking --
running a program on a system and noting carefully the elapsed
time and system conditions. Often the problem size, the amount
of computational and I/O work done by the benchmark program, is
varied systematically and the run times measured. Then the
timing data is analyzed in the light of the system architecture
and component speeds. The interpretation of this data is
greatly aided if the structure and characteristics of the
benchmark program are well known; but achieving this knowledge
requires some understanding of the underlying algorithms and
therefore of the application area from which the program
originates. A considerable understanding of the system
architecture is also certain to be required.
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*********
* * CLASS FOUR: The Relay Magazine
* *
* * by Dave Phillips
* *
* * V184GAVW@UBVMS
*********
CLASS FOUR is intended to be edited by, and in the large to be
written by, junior Relay operators. After all, with some
exceptions junior Ops are on frequently and have a good deal of
familiarity with what new users need to know, what harassed
female users need to know (for example), and what users who
might wish to become Ops themselves would like/need to know.
Many of these questions came out in between the mudslinging
and "let me reiterates" that RELUSR-L has become, and recent
events have made not a few Relayers do a /info and ask some
good questions.
CLASS 4 OPS: You know who you are. "You look mahvelous."
Please send *brief* comments, suggestions, questions which
MasterOps (eg) could publically answer (or answer them
yourself) in print, etc. to one of the editors listed in the
panel below. Note: we have candidates for Mexico and South/West
editors in mind but we're still in the process of contacting
them (links aren't mahvelous).
OTHER OPS: You don't get off the hook either. Write, comment,
criticize, suggest, also, to the editor nearest you.
Finally, I'm just pushing this forward to see if we can do it
and do it right: that is, to put something in the hands of all
Relayers who care about Relay that they can USE. I hope to get
it rolling and then go to rotating issue editorships. Till
then, flames to me, contributions to any of the editors, and
frets, policy-concerns, and all that good stuff to any/all of
the masterOps on the advisory panel.
If you are a Relay operator, you can receive a subscription to
CLASS FOUR by subscribing to the mailing list Relay-L@NCSUVM.
If you are NOT a Relay operator, you can subscribe to RELUSR-
L@NCSUVM. To do this, send the following commands to
Listserv@NCSUVM via mail or message:
SUBSCRIBE Relay-L your_full_name
SUBSCRIBE RELUSR-L your_full_name
Note that these mailing lists are open forums. CLASS FOUR is
distributed to them periodicly.
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*********
* * Accessing the SCIT Database
* *
* * by Mark Levinson
* *
* * SCITDOC@QUCDN
*********
Studies in Communication and Information Technology (SCIT) is
an interdisciplinary group at Queen's Univeristy in Kingston,
Ontario, which is involved in promoting research and teaching
related to the social impacts of the new information and
communication technology. Among its various activities, SCIT
mounts seminars during the academic year and publishes
occasional papers which deal with the social impacts of the new
technology. In addition, a central activity of the group is
the management of an on-line bibliographic service which
contains close to 6,000 references dealing with the social
context of the new technology. This database is being
constantly updated, and as of recently has been made available
to users outside Queen's University who have access to the
BITNET.
To access the SCIT database through BITNET, the user must first
subscribe to the particular database called SCIT-BIB. To do
this send the following command to Listserv@QUCDN via mail or
message:
SUBSCRIBE SCIT-BIB your_full_name
You will receive acknowledgement in about a day, confirming
your addition to the SCIT-BIB database. Once you are
subscribed, you may access the database at your convenience.
You must send SCIT queries to Listserv@QUCDN via mail.
The following is the format for sending queries:
+SCITBIB
//SEARCH DD *
your query goes here
/*
For example:
+SCITBIB
//SEARCH DD *
SEARCH CANADA .TITLE.
BROWSE
/*
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This will search for all TITLES with CANADA in them. The
results will be mailed in about a day.
Every entry in the SCIT Bibliography contains a number of
"fields". When searching for a reference you may search
through all fields in each entry or you may specify which field
you would like searched.The fields that can be found in the
SCIT database are:
* title
* keywords
* firstauth
* otherauth
* source
By default a search will look through all fields unless you
specify otherwise. WHen you subscribe to SCIT-BIB you will
receive a list of keywords and detailed information on how to
access SCIT.
*********
* * The Computer Science Research Network
* *
* * from the CSNET documentation
* *
* * NETSERV@BITNIC
*********
This is fourth in a series of articles about other networks.
CSNET (the computer science research network) is a data
communications network linking computer scientists and
engineers at sites throughout the United States, Canada, and
Europe.
Membership in CSNET is open to any organization engaged in
research or advanced development in computer science or
computer engineering. Members include universities, government
agencies, corporations, and non-profit organizations.
CSNET is a logical network that spans several physical nets:
the Department of Defense ARPANET, the public data network
Telenet, and a telephone-based message relay system called
PhoneNet. Bridges between these networks are transparent to
users. Network addresses are straightforward.
CSNET PhoneNet provides a store-and-forward electronic mail
delivery service. PhoneNet sites are connected via the dial-up
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telephone network to a central relay located at Bolt Beranek
and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The relay links them
to hosts on other networks such as ARPANET and BITNET.
CSNET X25Net provides high-speed interactive host-to-host
network communications over the public X.25 network Telenet.
Hosts on X25Net run the DoD protocols for electronic mail, file
transfer, and remote login that are used on the ARPANET and
other government networks.
CSNET has foreign associate sites, some of which run PhoneNet
software over a commercial packet-switched network. These
sites have agreed to act as gateways to other hosts in their
countries.
CSNET users are faculty, graduate students, undergraduates,
corporate research staff, visiting scientists, government
researchers, and other professionals in the fields of computer
science and electrical engineering.
* Electronic mail service to nearly 150 member organizations in
the United States and Canada, and six international affiliates.
* Gateways to other networks in the United States, Canada, and
Europe for the exchange of mail and files.
* A database of CSNET users, the User Name Server, indexed by
keyword, for locating network addresses and groups of users
with common interests. This centralized database can be
accessed with local software supplied by CSNET.
* Continuously updated information about CSNET and other
networks, available by electronic mail.
* Access to national network mailing lists in areas of special
interest to computer scientists and engineers: operating
systems, microcomputers, programming languages, computer
graphics, message systems, and more.
For hosts on the CSNET X25net, these additional services are
available:
* Immediate transmission of electronic mail
* Interactive processes: file transfer and remote login
* Access to hosts on the public data network Telenet
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Sending mail to people in CSNET is relatively easy. You can
address you mail to USERID@NODE.CS.NET. For example, someone
with a userid of FRED at node SEYMOUR would would have an
address that looks like this:
FRED@SEYMOUR.CS.NET
*********
* * Headlines
* *
* * Smaller particles of news, but not unimportant...
* *
* * Send them to BITLIB@YALEVM
*********
* Listserv news: Thanks to Gary Amek for his announcement of
the new Listserv@@UTARLVM1. The Listserv@TECMTYVM now has a
FILELIST known as VM-UTIL. This contains many useful and
interesting VM-related utilities. See the article New Mailing
Lists for information on the VM-UTIL mailing list as well.
Thanks also to Lois Buwalda for the announcement that
Listserv@UCF1VM is now running the /WHOIS name server package.
* Network statistics from Patricia Noeth: Altogether, over 700
institutions and 2,100 computers are connected to BITNET, EARN,
and NetNorth. Domestically, all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico
are now connected. Internationally, we can now communicate
easily and quickly with universities, colleges, and research
institutions in 29 countries on five continents: Austria,
Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Great Britain,
Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Israel, Ivory Coast,
Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan,
Turkey, and West Germany.
* INTERACT@DTUPEV5A is a file server storing software for
VAX/VMS sites which use the JNET interface to BITNET. Users
should note that the packages stored on INTERACT require system
privileges. The server will accept commands sent by both mail
and message.
The following commands are available from INTERACT:
CMD Ġcmdċ - Executes a single DCL command
DIR Ġnameċ - Lists the contents of SOFT directory Ġnameċ
HELP - Sends you help
HELP SOFT - Gives information on available software
SOFT Ġnameċ - Sends software as described in HELP SOFT
STAT - Gives information about current INTERACT users
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The following software packages are available:
INTERACT - The BITNET remote login facility for VAXes
PSEUDOTERM - VAX Pseudo terminal software
*********
* * Helpdesk
* *
* * a Question and Answer Column
* *
* * Send your questions to BITLIB@YALEVM
*********
*Q* All network mail from our node is routed through the UMass
nodes UMAECS and UMASSVM, and then through UCONNVM. Over here
we have a continual problem of error messages from UMASSVM that
say, "Link UCONNVM not active." I've been told that this is
because of a software incompatibility between UMASSVM and
UCONNVM, but it's been going on for a long time and I haven't
heard of any plans to fix it. I've tried sending messages to
OPERATOR at each of these nodes, but nobody's responded. Since
this is the only available mail route, what can I do about it?
*A* Other people you can contact who might have more
information are the Inforeps for those nodes. You can get a
list of these people by sending the command SENDME INFOREP LIST
to NICSERVE@BITNIC. You may also want to contact your won
Inforep, as he/she may have already inquired into the problem.
Otherwise, there is nothing you can do except wait.
*Q* How do I get documentation about the /WHOIS feature on some
Listservs ?
*A* If a Listserv is running /WHOIS, the command should be
documented on a file named LOCAL HELPCMD. (Send the server the
command SENDME LOCAL HELPCMD). If the file does not exist or
the information is not there, you can request the file WHOIS
HELPCMD from Listserv@BOSTONU.
And now, a question for which we do not have an answer: Any
takers?
*Q* Why isn't node OHSTMPA on routing tables? To issue any
RSCS commands to that node one must first issue them to
adjacent nodes (OHSTVMA or PSUVM). I can understand if OHSTMPA
is a temporary node but its been there for months. Any insight
on this?
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*********
* * New Mailing Lists
* *
* * from List of Lists by Rich Zellich
* *
* * ZELLICH@SRI-NIC.ARPA
*********
AMIGA-Relay@UDEL.EDU
A direct (unmoderated) bi-directional gateway with the USENET
newsgroup comp.sys.amiga for those people without access to
USENET.
All requests to be added to or deleted from this list,
problems, questions, etc., should be sent to:
AMIGA-Relay-REQUEST@UDEL.EDU
Coordinator: Chuck Cranor
INFO-HIGH-AUDIO@CSD4.MILW.WISC.EDU
This list is for the exchange of subjective comments about high
end audio equipment and modifications performed to high end
pieces. Techniques used to modify equipment especially, but
not limited to, vacuum tube electronics are exchanged. Some
comments may be subjective or intuitive and may not yet have a
measurable basis. Other topics of discussion include
turntables, arms and cartridges; preamplifiers, headamps and
cartridge matching; speakers, amplifiers and matching;
placement of speakers, and room treatments. Any comments that
prevent an open exchange of ideas and techniques are not
encouraged.
All requests to be added to or deleted from this list,
problems, questions, etc., should be sent to:
INFO-HIGH-AUDIO-REQUEST@CSD4.MILW.WISC.EDU
Coordinator: Thomas Krueger
INFO-MACH@CS.CMU.EDU
This mailing list exists for the purpose of discussing issues
related to the Mach operating system. Mach is a UNIX BSD4.3
compatible operating system based on a message passing
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architecture that incorporates such features as multiprocessor
support, lightweight tasking, external pagers, and a machine
independent vm system. Mach is being developed at Carnegie
Mellon University.
All requests to be added to or deleted from this list,
problems, questions, etc., should be sent to:
INFO-MACH-REQUEST@CS.CMU.EDU
Coordinator: Doug Orr
POLITICS@UCF1VM
A list for the serious discussion of politics, hosted by the
University of Central Florida. Since it is not being
moderated, we ask that all users refrain from making attacks or
flames of a personal nature.
To subscribe send the following command to Listserv@UCF1VM via
mail or message: SUBSCRIBE POLITICS your_full_name
Coordinator: Lois Buwalda
QUICKEYS-USERS@PLAID.SUN.COM
Discussion group for the Macintosh Quickeys product.
All requests to be added to or deleted from this list,
problems, questions, etc., should be sent to:
QUICKEYS-REQUEST@PLAID.SUN.COM
Coordinator: Chuq Von Rospach
VMXA-L@UGA
Discussion of issues in installation, operation and maintenance
of VM/XA systems. Included are both the existing VM/XA/SF
system as well as the new VM/XA/SP system. Topics include
anything related to VM/XA, as well as conversion from VM/SP and
VM/SP/HPO to VM/XA.
To subscribe send the following command to Listserv@UGA via
mail or message: SUBSCRIBE VMXA-L your_full_name
Coordinator: Harold C. Pritchett
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WHITEWATER@IUVAX.CS.INDIANA.EDU
Mail.whitewater is devoted to those who enjoy whitewater
kayaking, rafting, and canoeing. The list is a forum for the
discussion of trips, rivers, equipment, current happenings
affecting "river rats", and anything else related to the sport.
All requests to be added to or deleted from this list,
problems, questions, etc., should be sent to:
WHITEWATER-REQUEST@IUVAX.CS.INDIANA.EDU
Coordinator: Charles Daffinger
*********
* * Feedback
* *
* * Wow! People CAN think...
* *
* * Send your letters to BITLIB@YALEVM
*********
From: Eric Keller
Subject: More on Crossnet Usage Beefs
I got the March issue of NetMonth. Thanks for all the publicity
for foNETiks (a pleasant surprise) and for publishing my beefs
about X-net usage. Dave Gomberg of UCSFVM sent me a suitably
pithy comment. I thought you might want to include it in an
upcoming issue of NetMonth:
"I heard your NetMonth complaint. As a programmer since 1959,
even on machines with tubes, and the local maintainer of our
own MTA and UA, I can tell you the other networks problem is
nearly insoluble. The others (and BITNET too, if I could see it
thru the eyes of others) are both inconsistent (internally) and
in continual flux. The worst is UUNET. The only SOLUTION is
standardization and someday we will get it. Till then, the best
you can do is hang in there. If you want to take an active
role, try to get your institution entirely on Internet, and out
of the IBM BS used by BITNET. This need not be true from a
traffic perspective (99% of your traffic can still be BITNET),
but if you have an Internet interface that works like
clockwork, the rest of the world will have no bitch about how
you are reached. Good luck."
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From: A. Harry Williams
Subject: Volunteers
I almost forgot, but thanks to Chris Condon for his recent
editorial in NetMonth for jogging my memory that I promised to
start a discussion on POLICY-L about the volume of software the
network is now dependant on that is written by volunteers, and
should we be concerned. Let me set the stage a little:
* I imagine NetNorth and EARN are in similar situations, but I
cannot speak for them. (I can't speak for BITNET either, but I
can raise the BITNET questions as part of my responsibilities
as chair of the Node Management which I "volunteered" for.)
* BITNET has a mandate from the BITNET Institutional reps to be
inexpensive.
* BITNET wants to play itself to the end user, a commitment to
all disciplines at the institution. That is why fees are based
on institution budget, not Computer Center, or other entity.
* The growth of BITNET and end user involvement is due mostly
to the services provided. Users see these services as BITNET,
NOT the questions many of us have been dealing with such as
Node management or domains, etc. Most of the end users could
care less about any of that, they want the services.
* The services that have made it grow are such things as
Listserv, Netserv, Relay, CSNEWS, Comserve, ISAAC, and many
others. Others such as MAIL and MAILER in the VM world are
basic tools of some of these. Also note that most of the ones
listed above are done by volunteers, either with or without
their institutions blessings.
From: Mads Ledet
Subject: Volunteers
BITNET would not be as good as it is or show such growth if
many un-thanked volunteers had not spent long hours writing
software and maintaining systems. It is exactly this volunteer
aspect of BITNET which should be discussed as BITNET becomes an
integral part of our working environment.
Can we afford to depend on volunteer labor? How many of you
would be comfortable with having volunteers doing 1) central
site maintenance; 2) mail service; 3) telephone service
(home); 4) electric service (home)? And yet, as an example,
when the telephone was in its infancy, volunteers did maintain
it and service it and string new lines, etc.
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I believe we have to move toward standards for site software
and network "protocols". The intent of this belief is to make
it possible for the maintainers to do their work in a "network
load independent" manner. Each site should have certain minimum
networking software and that software should conform to
standards. For example, every site should have a standard name
server so that users can find someone without putting an extra
load on a volunteer or maintainer.
There should be a standard set of servers - I don't know what
all should be in it - but I would like to hear some
suggestions. This does not mean that a site couldn't have non-
standard servers! It does mean that the maintainers and maybe
some volunteers could share the workload that always comes with
software. For example, if a standard name server was available
in several versions for the different main computers, a site
could install it and assign a "maintainer". The maintainer's
job might be to just clean up and maintain databases, etc., and
to communicate with a committee of name server experts in case
of problems. With this approach the volunteers would be able to
go back to developing good additions to or new versions of
software.
My question to you is: can we (or should we) develop a model
which fits the above?
From: Dan Pressler
Subject: An idea
In the year and a half that I have been using BITNET & Relay I
have often wondered what events of interest outside of the
networks may be happening around the country and the world.
Would anyone be interested in setting up or helping to set up a
list of ongoing and/or periodic events from in the area the
live in for people who may be planning trips of one sort or
another? This could be set up either as some sort of server
or simply as an account where requests for information are sent
and replies, based on what is sent in, returned. While this
would probably not be as comprehensive as what would be
available elsewhere, it would provide a different point of view
as well as information on some of the more obscure, but no less
enjoyable events in an area.
****
**** **** **** **** ****
**** **** **** ******* ******* ****
**** *** **** ***** ***** ****
**** **** ******* ***** ***** ****
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*********
* * NetMonth Policies
* *
* * Everything you ever wanted to know...
* *
* * BITLIB@YALEVM
*********
NetMonth is a network service publication distributed free of
charge to students and professionals in BITNET and other
networks. This magazine and its companion file, BITNET SERVERS,
are the work of the BITNET Services Library (BSL) staff and
contributors from around the network.
BITNET SERVERS is BITNETs list of servers and services. If you
know of servers not listed in BITNET SERVERS, or if some listed
are no longer available, please contact the NetMonth Editor.
* Subscribing to NetMonth and BITNET SERVERS:
Send the following command to Listserv@MARIST by mail or
messgage:
SUBSCRIBE NETMONTH Your_full_name
Internet users may use this method, but must address the mail
to Listserv%MARIST.BITNET
* Back issues:
BITNET users may get NetMonth back issues from the file server
NICSERVE@BITNIC.
A subscriber can delete him/herself from the mailing list by
sending Listserv@MARIST the UNSUBSCRIBE NETMONTH command.
* Letters to the Editor: If you have questions or comments
about BITNET or NetMonth that you would like to see printed
here, mail your letter to BITLIB@YALEVM. Make sure that you
specify in the "Subject:" header or somewhere in the letter
that it is for the NetMonth letters column.
* Article Submissions: The only requirements for NetMonth
articles and columns are that they be informative, interesting,
and concern some BITNET-related topic. Send your articles and
to BITLIB@YALEVM.
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* Printing this file: VM users can print this file by first
copying it to NETMONTH LISTING and then printing the new file.
This will allow page-breaks and other formatting to be accepted
by your printer.
_
__-
__--- The
__----- BITNET
__------- Services
___________ Library "Because We're Here."
***************************************************************
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