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NetMonth, February 1990
******** **************************************************
* * *
* * The independent guide to BITNET *
* * *
* * February, 1990 *
* * *
* * Volume 4, Number 4 *
******** * *
* *
*** * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* ** * smsg rscs cmd cunyvm cpq user diana *
* DMTCMX320E LINK CUNYVM IS NOT ACTIVE *
* * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:29:27 *
* * *
****** * tell umnews at maine checkin *
* * DMTCMX320E LINK MAINE IS NOT ACTIVE *
* * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:29:45 *
* *
******** * tell relay /who *
* * RELAY NOT LOGGED ON *
* * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:29:56 *
* * *
* * tell harry at marist yello.... *
* * LINK UCONNVM IS NOT ACTIVE *
******** * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:30:03 *
* *
*** * tell antonio at bostonu hello? *
* * * DMTCMX320E LINK BROWNVM IS NOT ACTIVE *
* * * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:30:19 *
* * * *
*** * tell all at everywhere help! *
* DMTCMX320E NO LINKS WHATSOEVER ARE ACTIVE *
****** * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:31:02 *
* * *
* * tell rscs what's going ON over there??? *
* * DMTCMX772E HEH HEH HEH. *
**** * R; T=0.02/0.02 01:31:40 *
* *
* * *
* * *
****** * *
* * *
* * *
* *
******** * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
**** **************************************************
1
* * ****** ******* * * ***** * * ******* * *
** * * * ** ** * * ** * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * ***** * * * * * * * * * * *******
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* ** * * * * * * * ** * * *
* * ****** * * * ***** * * * * *
* * * *
*********************** *******************************
Editor: Christopher Condon CONDON @ YALEVM
********************* Contents - Issue 35 *********************
*********
* *** * EDITORIAL PAGE____________________________________
* *** *
* *** * Bitnotes ....................................... 1
*** *** Flames To: ..................................... 3
* *** * BITNET Ease-of-use Redux ....................... 5
* *** *
* *** *
*********
*********
* *** * FEATURES__________________________________________
* *** *
* **** * Quanta ......................................... 7
* ***** * The Adobe File Server .......................... 9
* ****** * Sending Mail To and From Telemail ............. 11
* *** *** * The Internet NETSERVER ........................ 14
* *** ****
*********
*********
* * DEPARTMENTS_______________________________________
* *****
* *** * Headlines ..................................... 15
* *** * New Mailing Lists ............................. 16
* *** * Helpdesk ...................................... 23
***** * Feedback ...................................... 27
* * NetMonth Policies ............................. 29
*********
********************** 6083 Subscribers ************************
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*********
* *** * Bitnotes
* *** *
* *** * by Christopher Condon
*** ***
* *** * Yale University
* *** *
* *** * CONDON@YALEVM
*********
"But will it play in Peoria?"
Dave Bates wrote an interesting letter/editorial for this
issue, concerning BITNET and ease-of-use. He brought up an
interesting question, namely, how do we go about making BITNET
(or networking in general) more accessible to people in
general?
The sinister hand of computing is making it's way into more and
more people's lives, whether they like it or not. More often
than not, it is in the form of a personal computer. The
typical new PC user is abused, bemused, and confused by A:
prompts, periods, slashes, Control and Alt keys, and so on.
The new Macintosh user will take a while to figure out when to
click, double click, drag, while finding out into what folder
they accidentally moved their documents. All of this is
exacerbated by references to RAM, storage, high-density, low-
density, ASCII, inits, system folders, megabytes, kilobytes and
rebooting.
To a typical PC or Macintosh user, all of this is pretty much
old hat. To the average person who can barely hunt-and-peck on
a typewriter, it is pure horror. Imagine, then, the grief of
someone attempting to survive in a mainframe environment,
designed when the concepts of "personal" and "user-friendly"
weren't in fashion. Add to this the complications of nodes,
mail headers, messages, servers, domains, and you have quite a
number of hurdles to deal with before getting comfy with
BITNET.
People handle these obstacles because there is some payoff,
something that makes it worth all the effort. It might be raw
information, the stimulus from mailing lists and relays, the
ability to contact people quickly. It might just be fun. All
of us went through some mental gauntlet to get to the point
where using BITNET is a natural part of every day life.
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For the occasional user, or the person who isn't expecting such
a payoff, they are likely to throw their hands up in disgust
and walk away from it. The challenge, then, is to make
mainframe computing and networking as quickly and painlessly
accessible as possible. People shouldn't have to take weeks
and months to be able to get much out of BITNET.
Dave's question seems to me to be about what can be done about
these difficulties in the long run.
My question to you is, what can we do to make BITNET and its
services more accessible now? I'm asking this not only on a
network level, but on a local, "What can be done HERE?" level
as well. And what do you do already?
Virtually,
Chris Condon@YaleVM
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*********
* *** * Flames To:
* *** *
* *** * by Craig White
*** ***
* *** * University of Alabama
* *** *
* *** * CWHITE@UA1VM
*********
Hello again.
I hope your month was pleasant and uneventful. As you probably
could tell by my absence from the last issue, my work here is
keeping me very busy. So busy in fact, that I do not have
anything to flame about because I have not had time to keep up
with current net happenings. I was very surprised to receive
so few Flames from you folks. I did get several of the
standard "why is it that node so and so is always down" and
"please remind people that you should always send your requests
to be added/deleted to a list to LISTSERV and not the list".
It is sad that these types of problems never seem to be
resolved. Some think it's the transient population of BITnet
that causes this. I like to think it's simply a by-product of
the increase in involvement with electronic mail-lists.
Because my node is a member of a regional network that uses
TCP/IP, I have had the opportunity to dabble in this area of
networking recently. This caused me to think philosophically
about networks. I wonder what kind of services will we have 10
years hence. I wonder what will happen to all of our networks
when the telephone company puts digital signals straight into
our houses. So that becoming part of a network is much like
getting long distance service today.
I am happy to be able to participate in BITnet/CSnet at such a
crucial time in the formation of CREN. I think that we are
very fortunate to be involved with these networks during this
time. It will be interesting to see how well of a job the
administrators can do in integrating the two very different
groups of users. On the other hand, its possible that many
users are members of both groups making unification of the two
that much smoother. I am always surprised at the amount of
"brand" loyalty that computer users exhibit. Once upon a time
you could tell a fair amount about the type of system a person
was likely to use based on which network they were connected
to. Nowadays that is becoming increasingly difficult.
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A thought that occurs with somewhat regular frequency as I
attempt to keep track of the merger, is what happened to the
BITnet we used to know. You know the one where everything was
done by volunteers and the charges for the network were
minimal. No one cared much about what a Network Information
Center did. There was no limit on the size of files you could
send. Congestion was only an issue on the rare occasion when
Ohio State got really backlogged.
Oh well so much for the old days. This months flame is: WHEN
YOU WISH TO BE ADDED/DELETED TO A MAIL-GROUP THAT IS HANDLED
THROUGH A LISTSERVer, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND THAT REQUEST TO
LISTSERV AND NOT TO THE LIST. Next month (or the month after
that if my writing frequency for this column holds) I will be
back with "real" flames. In the meantime flames, comments, and
suggestion to CWHITE@UA1VM.
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*********
* *** * BITNET Ease-of-use Redux
* *** *
* *** * by Dave Bates
*** ***
* *** * University of Pennsylvania
* *** *
* *** * BATES@PENNHEP1
*********
Sometime before Christmas as I was reading your description of
movements within the CREN enterprise, and considering (as are
we all) What It Might All Mean / Add Up To, I had the happy
notion of asking "What could this do for me, a user?" The
cosmic - level comings and goings of Large Committees really
should work in the interest of the average user. The folks at
the phone company once knew this - and the new folks in the
multitude of new smaller phone companies are learning this all
over again.
Two almost - enirely - separate "discussions" have been taking
place in NetMonth during the several years I have been reading
it. One is conducted by the more computer - oriented
community. It deals with technical issues and, in general, the
politics of BITNET (and more recently CREN). The other is -
not so much conducted by as formed from the comments from nog -
computer oriented people. CREN could profitably note how non -
computer oriented people fail repeatedly to form organized
discussions over time in NetMonth. There's so little *focus*
to what they contribute.
However, BITNET and CREN are "about" connections providing
useful ways of communicating, whether machine - to - machine or
person - to - person / group - to - group. And both BITNET and
CREN cost participating institutions a lot of money. Who gets
served and to what extent are therefore real issues.
Is it likely that undergrads and the vast majority of faculty
either have not been exposed to BITNET or have been discouraged
by encounters with it? Is it possible that we are seeing
evidence for the latter in the comments from non - computer
oriented people in NetMonth?
Were large numbers of people within this population to find
BITNET / CREN "accessible" and *useable*, funding would be more
assured.
(And internet communications must become far more reliable and
easy to do for this to happen.)
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I suggest little about BITNET is easily and reliably
accomplished by the average academic. The common rejoinder,
"Read the manual", does not apply in this case: there is none.
In its place is a marvelous ad hocery of clever software which
can no longer be allowed to exist free of a documented user
interface coupled to reliable processes which really do what
the user asks them to through the interface.
CREN therefore has to deal with *access* in order to get the
funding it needs. It's that simple: it needs users to stay
alive, and to thrive it needs satisfied ones.
Who do we write to, we potential users?
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*********
* *** * Quanta
* *** *
* **** * by Dan Appelquist
* ***** *
* ****** * Carnegie-Mellon University
* *** *** *
* *** **** R746DA1@CMUCCVMB
*********
ÕThanks to Dave Applepie for forwarding this information.å
Quanta is a magazine devoted to Science Fiction and topics
related to science fiction. It is published bi-monthly by Dan
Appelquist (R746DA1@CMUCCVMB). Send mail to Dan to subscribe,
submit material, or just to receive more info. Quanta is
published in both straight ASCII and PostScript formats. The
introduction from the first issue follows:
"Looking Ahead"
Hi. I'm Dan Appelquist, and I have been known to sleep all
day. I've also produced, with a little help from my friends,
the magazine you're currently reading. A couple of years ago,
when I was freshmanning in computer science, I had an idea that
it would be kind of neat to set up a literary magazine and
distribute it around campus. There was certainly a need for
such a magazine, but the idea kind of fizzled. There was
really no way for a freshman to produce a magazine and
distribute it. The costs were simply too prohibitively high.
The issue of a magazine came up again several months ago when I
was asked to help produce a fanzine for a local science fiction
club. The problem of cost still cropped up. The club fizzled
out before anything developed with that, but the cost still
would have been too high.
Shortly after this, I responded to the call for subscriptions
for Jim McCabe's Athene (see ad at the end of this issue.) I
didn't realize it at the time, but this was the format I was
looking for. With the computing resources available to me as a
student at Carnegie Mellon, I could produce a professionally
typeset magazine electronically with almost no cost to myself,
and then distribute the magazine, again electronically, over
the various nets, again at no cost to myself.
Three weeks after I sent out a call for subscriptions and
submissions to Quanta, we already had over 200 subscriptions,
including, to my surprise and delight, subscriptions from the
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United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Norway, France, Canada, and
Belgium (if I've missed some, please excuse me, it's not
trivial to decode the various sorts of mail paths.) We also had
enough submissions to produce at least one issue of real
quality. I'm very excited about the material in this issue,
and fortunately there's plenty more where that came from.
In that context, I'd like to thank Peter David for donating our
only article this issue. In future issues I'd like to include
more articles, but if you're thinking of submitting an article,
please don't write it newsnet style. We got a few article
submissions that were basically newsgroup posts. We're looking
for a bit more professionalism than this.
Looking ahead, as the title of this rather hastily written
article would suggest, I see the arena of electronically
distributed magazines such as Quanta expanding greatly. For
now, here's one issue of Quanta. It comes after much blood,
sweat, tears and wrestling with unruly typesetting programs.
Enjoy.
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*********
* *** * The Adobe File Server
* *** *
* **** * edited by Christopher Condon
* ***** *
* ****** * Yale University
* *** *** *
* *** **** BITLIB@YALEVM
*********
ÕThanks to Greg Miller for forwarding this information.å
The Adobe File Server is a automatic mail-response program.
There are many documents available from the server such as
PostScript files, program source code, Adobe Font Metrics
files, and PostScript Printer Description files.
To get in touch with the server, send mail to:
PS-FILE-SERVER@ADOBE.COM
You can place commands on either the Subject: line or as the
first line of text in the body of you mail. Valid commands
are:
HELP - sends documentation on how to use the server.
INDEX - returns a list of categories
INDEX - returns a list of files under .
For example, the command INDEX Programs will return a list of
files in Programs.
SEND - sends you the requested file. For
example, you might request something with SEND Programs
ehandler.ps. Please note that the actual file names for the
programs are case-sensitive, although nothing else is.
These are the current available categories:
AFMFiles - Contains AFM files (Adobe Font Metrics) for many
currently released Adobe fonts. ÕThis is almost never a
complete list, so don't depend on it to be.å Listed by full
PostScript name (for example: AvantGarde-Book). Please don't
send for more than a handful of these files, or the system will
overload. Remember, these files are only useful if you have
the fonts to which they correspond, either in ROM or as
downloadable fonts. All Adobe downloadable PostScript fonts
are shipped with the correct AFM files.
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Documents - This directory contains PostScript source for many
documents that we routinely mail to people in paper form.
There have been many updates to this directory starting in
December of 1988, so please pay close attention to the dates in
the indexes (including this one). Some of the documents
contain new information, and have version numbers (like
EPSF2.0.ps). Others have gotten a facelift.
PPDFiles - This directory contains PostScript Printer
Description Files (PPD files) for available PostScript
printers. These files contain much of the information that is
in the PostScript supplement for each printer, but in machine-
readable form intended for parsing by spooling and document
management software. See also the documentation available
under Documents/PPDformat.ps.
Programs - Contains an assortment of helpful or interesting
PostScript files, including error handlers, a sample Adobe
Illustrator file, the program listings from the "Green Book",
and others.
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*********
* *** * Sending Mail To and From Telemail
* *** *
* **** * by Ann Westine and Chloe Holg
* ***** *
* ****** * ISI
* *** *** *
* *** **** INTERMAIL-REQUEST@ISI.EDU
*********
ÕThis article is a somewhat shortened version of the document
"Mail Forwarding Between Telemail and the Internet Using
Commercial Mail Relay (CMR)" by Ann Westine and Chloe Holg.
Thank to Chris Refuerzo for forwarding this information.å
These are the instructions for using the Commercial Mail Relay
(CMR) system that has replaced the Intermail system. The CMR
is used for transmitting computer mail between the Internet
ARPA-Mail system and users on the Telemail system. CMR may be
used in either direction.
Messages to be forwarded are sent to the CMR mailbox on the
local mail system. CMR operates a program to service mailboxes
in both the local and the destination mail systems. When the
right forwarding information is supplied either in the Internet
header "To" field, or at the beginning of a message, the
program forwards those messages to the other mail system to the
appropriate mailboxes.
The mailbox is called "TELEMAIL@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU" in ARPA-Mail
and "ÕINTERMAIL/USCISIåTELEMAIL/USA" on the Telemail system.
* Sending mail to Telemail:
In order for a message to be delivered from Internet to a
mailbox on a Telemail system the Internet Relay-Style
addressing format is used. Simply type the Telemail mailbox in
the Internet header:
user-mailbox%TELEMAIL@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU
(for TELEMAIL/USA system only)
For example:
JOHNDOE%TELEMAIL@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU
ÕUSER-MAILBOX/ORGåSYSTEM_BRANCH/COUNTRY%TELEMAIL@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU
(for all other Telenet systems)
For example:
ÕJDOE/NASAåNASAMAIL/USA%TELEMAIL@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU
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* Sending mail from Telemail:
The following is an example of how to send a message to our
user service mailbox "Intermail-Request", to Claudio in BITNET
and Eddie in the Internet. First send a message to the CMR
mailbox in Telemail called "ÕINTERMAIL/USCISIåTELEMAIL/USA".
Then add the ARPA forwarding information at the beginning of
the text of message. A typical internet address is in the form
(user@host.domain). Addresses are separated by commas (not
spaces). Note, when sending mail to BITNET, or UUCP, you must
type "Forward: ARPA", not "Forward: BITNET" or "Forward:
UUCP".
Example -------------------------------------------------------
To: ÕINTERMAIL/USCISIåTELEMAIL/USA
Subject: Test Message Number 1
Forward: ARPA
To: Intermail-Request@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU
CC: CLAUDIO@YALEVM.BITNET,
EDWARD@VENUS.YCC.YALE.EDU
Hi,
This is the text of the test message.
--Fred
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Forward: ARPA" signals the beginning of the forwarding
information and tells the forwarding program that this is mail
for the ARPA-Mail system. On the next line, "To: Intermail-
Request@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU," specifies the mailbox that it will
be delivered to. The "To:" line is required, to deliver the
message.
It is also possible to send copies to other mailboxes, using a
"Cc:" line. Note that in the forwarding information section,
the "To" and "Cc" fields must start at the beginning of the
line. Continuation lines of the "To:" and "Cc:" fields,
however, are indented. The "To" and "Cc" fields can contain
anything that ARPA-Mail allows. A blank line separates the
forwarding information from the rest of the text.
Therefore, there can't be any blank lines between the
"Forward:" line and the "To:" line. The "Subject" field from
the Telemail header will also be used as the subject in the
ARPA-Mail header, when the message is forwarded.
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Telemail users please note that forwarding information MUST be
included in the text of the message even when the "ANSWER"
command is being used.
* Notes for BITNET users:
Some systems in the BITNET world treat square brackets, "Õ" and
"å", as special characters. On these systems, a square bracket
that is used in an address must be quoted through the use of a
preceding backslash, "\". For example:
\ÕGORDON/OMNET\åMAIL/USA%TELEMAIL@INTERMAIL.ISI.EDU
Full documentation on the Commercial Mail Relay can be
requested from INTERMAIL-REQUEST@ISI.EDU.
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*********
* *** * The Internet NETSERVER
* *** *
* **** * edited by Christopher Condon
* ***** *
* ****** * Yale University
* *** *** *
* *** **** CONDON@YALEVM
*********
ÕThanks to John Price for forwarding this information.å
NETSERVER is an Internet file server with many programs and
packages of interest to VAX users. You can send commands to
NETSERVER by mail, addressed to:
NETSERVER@RML2.SRI.COM
Your commands should be in the body of your mail message, *not*
on the subject line. Valid commands are:
?HELP -- sends you a helpfile
?PACKAGE*packagename -- sends you a package
?PACKAGE*? -- sends you a list of packages
If you would like to know how this incredibly simple NETSERVER
works, have suggestions on how to improve it, or other related
topics, please feel free to send mail to the author
(chojnacki@vaxmfg.tech.nwu.edu) he'll see what he can do.
Note that much of the software on NETSERVER is available in
BITNET from the VMSSERV file servers.
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*********
* * Headlines
* *****
* *** * edited by Christopher Condon
* *** *
* *** * Yale University
***** *
* * Send your headlines to BITLIB@YALEVM
*********
* New BITNET Information (from Jim Conklin): Two files on
LISTSERV@BITNIC may be of interest to those seeking information
about BITNET: The file BITNET OVERVIEW has been updated to
reflect the new corporate structure with the Corporation for
Research and Educational Networking (a continuation of the old
BITNET, Inc.) operating BITNET. It also provides additional
data about the network. A new file named BITNET TOPICS lists
discussion-list topics supported by the LISTSERV software on
BITNET. To obtain these files, simply send the following
commands to LISTSERV@BITNIC via mail or interactive message:
SEND BITNET OVERVIEW
SEND BITNET TOPICS
* CHAMAS news (from Dirk Rode): The Chaos Mailbox System
(CHAMAS), formerly running at 107633@DOLUNI1, is now running at
the more sensible address of CHAMAS@DOLUNI1.
* NETLIB address update: The AT&T Labs server address is now
NETLIB@RESEARCH.ATT.COM.
* A new NETSERV )from Chuck Kesler): The North Carolina State
Computing Center is pleased to announce that NCSUVM is now a
NETSERV site. Forthcoming changes in the network topology will
put NCSUVM on the BITNET backbone between Virginia Tech (VTVM2)
and Florida (NER), in the place which is now occupied by TUCC.
Because of this change, we have been looking at ways in which
we can improve the level of BITNET services for the rest of
North Carolina and the Southeast, and hosting a Netserv seems
to be one way in which we can accomplish this goal. Besides
somewhat lightening the potential load on the future NCSUVM-
VTVM2 link, NETSERV@NCSUVM will provide easier accessibility
for sites in our region to the files which are important to the
operation of a BITNET site (BITEARN NODES, node update files,
XMAILER and DOMAIN names). It will also make it easier for us
to keep NCSUVM's RSCS, Mailer, and Listserv as up-to-date as
possible, which will be an important function once we are a hub
node. If there are any problems with NETSERV@NCSUVM, please
notify me, CHUCK@NCSUVM, and I'll try to rectify them as soon
as possible.
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*********
* * New Mailing Lists
* *****
* *** * edited by Christopher Condon
* *** *
* *** * Yale University
***** *
* * Send new list descriptions to NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1.
*********
Each of the lists described here is maintained on a LISTSERV
machine unless otherwise noted. To subscribe to one of these
lists you would send the following command to the the
appropriate server via mail or message.
SUBSCRIBE listname Your_full_name
For example, if your name is Kristen Shaw and you want to
subscribe to a list described as "DIAPERS@YALEVM" you would
send the following command to LISTSERV@YALEVM:
SUBSCRIBE DIAPERS Kristen Shaw
To make contributions to the list you would send mail to
DIAPERS@YALEVM. Please note that this is just and example and
to my knowledge there are no mailing lists about diapers
(although you never know).
*****
SCUBA-L@PURCCVM - SCUBA diving
This list is maintained by the Purdue University SCUBA Club,
but is open to the public. Any articles, views ideas, and
opinions relating to SCUBA diving are welcome. The list will
discuss all aspects of SCUBA diving including:
Safety/First Aid Places to Dive in INDIANA
Decompression computation Best Places to Dive
Decompression Tables History
New Equipment Dive Shops
New Technologies Mail/order Shopping
Diving Science & Technology Tropical Diving
Dive Computers Underwater Animal Life
Underwater Photography Questions/Quizzes
Underwater Vehicles Certifications
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HELPNET@NDSUVM1 - Network Emergency Response Planning
HELPNET is intended as a working list for those interested in
the roles global computer networks might play in times of
disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.
APOLLO-L@UMRVMB - Apollo computer discussion list
The purpose of this list is to provide an avenue for Apollo
computer users to share comments, ideas, and problems (and
possibly utilities), associated with the use of Apollo
computers.
3D%BFMNY0@UUNET.UU.NET - Stereo Photography
Purpose: 3D is a list for discussing 3D (stereo) photography
-- a discipline as old as photography itself, with a
fascinating history and an enthusiastic crowd of modern day
practitioners and collectors. Membership is open to everyone.
You will be most likely to enjoy subscribing if you work in
stereo yourself, or if you are generally interested and would
like to learn more. No particular expertise is required to
participate here -- it's my hope that we can share what
expertise we do have so that everyone both learns something and
has the pleasure of helping others learn. The list is
currently not moderated.
To subscribe, send your name and net mail address to:
3D-REQUEST%BFMNY0@UUNET.UU.NET
FELINE-L on UMNEWS@MAINE - Interested in cats?
The FELINE-L Discussion List is intended for the discussion and
dissemination of information about all members of the cat
family. Particular emphasis is placed on the large/feral
cats,e.g., lions, tigers, leopards, cougars, etc., both in
captivity and in the wild. However, discussion concerning any
felines, including personal pets and household tabbies, is
welcome.
Appropriate discussion subjects might include research papers
dealing with any aspect of any cat population, conservation
issues, legislation impacting these animals, management in
zoos, wildlife parks and the like, care, feeding, veterinary
considerations, research use of cats, animal rights concerns,
and almost any other area dealing with any sort of cat,
including showing, breeding, or training.
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To subscribe to this list, send the following message to
UMNEWS@MAINE via mail or message:
SUBSCRIBE FELINE-L Your_Full_Name
To post messages using E-mail, send to UMNEWS@MAINE with either
a "TO:" entry in the form:
TO: FELINE-L Discussion
or a "SUBJECT:" entry of:
SUBJECT: UMBB.FELINE-L Your_own_subject_entry_goes_here
DRUGABUS@UMAB - Drug Abuse
DRUGABUS at UMAB is intended to be a forum for issues related
to community drug abuse education and the epidemiology and
study of drug abuse. It is run by the Office of Substance
Abuse Studies at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.
9NOV89-L@DB0TUI11 - November 9th, 1989
Whoever may attach a meaning to the date of 9.11.1989 (or
89-11-09, or 11/9/89) is invited to subscribe to the 9NOV89-L
list at DB0TUI11. Unfortunately the people living in the
German Democratic Republic will not be able to participate in
this discussion, because they are not (not yet?) on this
network. The list name reflects the most important event in the
recent German history, but it can't and shouldn't be seen
isolated from what happened in Poland, the USSR, and Hungaria
before (and is still going on). And yes, dear Joe Techno, all
this will influence even such important things as our networks.
HORROR@PACEVM - Horror Fiction, Film, and Folklore
HORROR has been established for the discussion of horror
(natural, preternatural and supernatural) in legend and
literature. We want to discuss Gothic and modern horror, and
speculate on future trends in the genre. Anyone wanting to
delve into these and related topics is welcome to join.
PROCOM-L@ATSUVAX1 - Procomm User List
The PROCOM-L list is dedicated to discussion among users of the
ProComm 2.4.2, 2.4.3, and ProComm Plus Terminal Emulators on
PCs and PC clones. Subscribe by sending mail to
MAILSERV@ATSUVAX1 with the message SUB PROCOM-L Your_full_name.
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EMULPC-L@USACHVM1 - Terminal Emulation Programs for PCs
The Emulations Programs for PC compatible machines, which allow
emulate Host's terminals, are a power tool in the Information
Management, we can to achieve speed, power, networking, improve
graphics capacity, flexibility, portability and all from our
PC. This list deals with issues related to the PC Emulation
software and hardware. (PC3270, IRMA, PCOX, Extra, Graph-Tek
APA, GWSP, Yterm, Smarterm and others...)
PAGAN@DRYCAS - Paganism Discussions
The PAGAN list was created as an offshoot of PSI-L to discuss
the religions, philosophy, etc. of Paganism. To subscribe to
PAGAN, send a brief message to PAGAN-REQUEST@DRYCAS via mail
text.
INDIA-L@ANDY.BGSU.EDU - India Interest Group
Tentatively people of Indian subcontinent are the expected
readership of this group. Anything that is of interest to this
readership is welcome! To subscribe To this group, please send
your request to:
INDIA-L-REQUEST@ANDY.BGSU.EDU
C370-L@NCSUVM - C on the 370
This list has been created for the discussion of the C
programming language on 370-architecture machines. Products
covered are IBM's new C/370 compiler (5688-040), the IBM C
Program Offering (5713-AAH), Waterloo C, SAS/C, or any other
such implementations.
MOTO.CHASSIS@OCE.ORCE.EDU - Motorcycle Chassis Design
Moto.chassis is a mailing list devoted to the theory and
practice of motorcycle chassis design and construction. To
subscribe, send a mail to MOTO.CHASSIS-REQUEST@OCE.ORST.EDU.
APOGEES@FRMOP11 - Critical and Strategic Information Management
A new list has been created for persons wishing to get involved
in the study of critical and strategic information management.
Its objective is to identify information of long-term value to
an organization and to develop realistic methodologies and
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policies of management (data bases, ethics policy, education,
supervisory systems ...).
In APOGEES, we share the creation of business information
supervising systems. We discuss methodologies suitable to the
management and development of technological information through
supervisory divisions.
We welcome in APOGEES people from all fields of sciences,
management, information technology, computer science, and so
on. APOGEES needs this diversity to succeed in achieving its
objective of quality.
We also welcome managers who are concerned with several
critical items when making their business decisions. Their
practical experience will contribute to the quality of group
discussions.
BISEXU-L@BROWNVM
Bisexu-L, is a forum for discussion of issues of bisexuality.
Cordial and civilized exchange of relevant ideas, opinions and
experiences between members of all orientations is encouraged -
we do not discriminate on the basis of orientation, religion,
gender, race, etc.
This list is not intended in the spirit of separatism from any
existing lists devoted to lesbian, gay and bisexual issues but
as an additional resource for discussion of bisexual concerns
in particular; by the same token, the existence of Bisexu-L
should not imply in any way that other discussion lists are no
longer appropriate forums for discussion of bisexuality. The
list of subscribers is confidential for purposes of personal
privacy; excessively rude, obnoxious or abusive postings will
not be tolerated.
LAWSCH-L@AUVM - Law students
On December 8, 1989, the new list LAWSCH-L was created at
American University Law School. It is designed as a forum to
discuss matters of concern which affect all law students. it
is also designed to allow for interaction between students and
law schools to lessen the gap between them.
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SAFETY@UVMVM - Environmental, Health, and Safety Issues
The SAFETY list is for people interested in the various
environmental, health and safety issues and problems on college
and university campuses. These can include life safety issues
(fire protection, trip and fall and other general safety
issues), chemical safety issues (waste disposal laboratory
safety, meeting regulations), biological hazards and radiation
safety. Both users of hazardous materials and people
administering campus safety programs are welcome on this list.
WXSPOT-L@UIUCVMD - Storm Spotter Discussion List
The list WXSPOT-L has been created to facilitate discussions
about severe storm spotter training, spotter networks, training
materials, upcoming training, methods of transmitting weather
data, and local community programs. The list, although a spin-
off of STORM-L, will be used for discussions only and will
carry current weather data. It is hoped that through these
discussions better community severe storm spotter training and
public awareness programs can be developed.
MEDCONS@FINHUTC - Medical consulting and case descriptions
This list is not intended for Non-professionals or patients,
which still are welcome to follow the activity on the list. It
is intended for Physicians and investigators in the medical
field to allow medical consulting on a voluntary basis. The
final responsibility for the care of patients is always that of
the personal Physician exclusively.
Short descriptions of cases "hard to solve" in the form
anamnesis status and laboratory findings - question: what
bothered the patient - followed by the diagnosis and cure are
encouraged. Real bedside problem solving could also be
enlightened by short descriptions of the most exotic and
puzzling cases the colleagues have encountered. Absolute
anonymity for the patients is required. Please favour Latin
and professional terminology to make it more easy for me to
keep laymen from obstructing this list. Contributions from the
field of so called alternative medicine are obsolete, and will
not be redistributed to the subscribers.
INGRES-L@HDETUD1 - Inres databases
INGRES-L is a list, dedicated to the discussion of the RDBMS
INGRES. Discussion may include any topic related to the
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subject, such as problems in implementing, tuning or using the
product in any environment (MS/DOS, UNIX, VMS, CMS, MVS or a
combination of any of these), conversion to new versions (such
as from Version-5 to Version-6), announcements of conferences,
etc.
AIDS-STAT@WUBIOS.WUSTL.EDU - AIDS Statistics
AIDS-STAT is a moderated mailing list whose sole purpose is for
the distribution of AIDS statistics from various agencies. The
prime information being distributed will be the Center for
Disease Control's monthly AIDS Surveillance Report. To
subscribe, send a mail to: AIDS-STAT-REQUEST@WUBIOS.WUSTL.EDU
WORD-PC@HVRFORD
WORD-PC is a list for users of Microsoft Word running under DOS
and Windows. It is intended to serve as a forum in which all
issues related to MS Word for the PC, technical and non-
technical, may be discussed in depth. The list is not
currently moderated, but may be at a later date. Interested
persons may subscribe by sending mail with a blank subject line
and the single command SUBSCRIBE WORD-PC to MAILSERV@HVRFORD.
WORD-MAC@HVRFORD - Microsoft Word on the Nacintosh
WORD-MAC is a list for users of Microsoft Word running on
Macintosh computers. It is intended to serve as a forum in
which all issues related to MS Word for the Macintosh,
technical and non-technical, may be discussed in depth. The
list is not currently moderated, but may be at a later date.
Interested persons may subscribe by sending mail with a blank
subject line and the single command SUBSCRIBE WORD-MAC to
MAILSERV@HVRFORD.
STUTT-L@TEMPLEVM - Stuttering discussion list
Purpose: This list was designed to facilitate the exchange of
information among researchers and clinicians working on the
problem of stuttering. Researchers are encouraged to submit
descriptions of current projects (purpose, procedures, results
if any, current status) and to raise questions that may be of
interest to other researchers. Clinicians are encouraged to
describe unusual, interesting, or provocative cases and to ask
for consultation on particularly difficult cases. Individuals
who stutter may also want to get information about therapy,
recent research results, etc.
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*********
* * Helpdesk
* *****
* *** * by Murph Sewall
* *** *
* *** * University of Connecticut
***** *
* * SEWALL@UCONNVM
*********
*Q* A number of weeks ago a note was sent via LINKFAIL
regarding 4381 capacitor problems. Could somebody out there
please advise me as to what the note was in reference to?
*A* ÕBy Murph Sewallå: Send the following to LISTSERV@BITNIC
(or LISTSERV@MARIST or whichever LISTSERV is the nearest
LINKFAIL Peer distributor to you) as mail:
//
DATABASE SEARCH DD=RULES
//RULES DD *
SEARCH 4381 AND capacitor IN LINKFAIL
INDEX
PRINT ALL OF 1782
/*
I sent the INDEX command first, got the list of 'hits' and
subsequently sent the PRINT ALL OF
(you don't need to request the INDEX again to get a copy of the
messages) -
> SEARCH 4381 AND capacitor IN LINKFAIL
--> Database LINKFAIL, 2 hits.
> INDEX
Item # Date Time Recs Subject
------ ---- ---- ---- -------
001782 89/10/18 14:20 22 GITVM1 downtime on 10/21
001809 89/11/03 12:50 12 4381 Capacitors
> PRINT ALL OF 1782
>>> Item number 1782, dated 89/10/18 14:20:47 -- ALL
=====================================================
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 14:20:47 EDT
Reply-To: Dave Buechner
Sender: Link failure
From: Dave Buechner
Subject: GITVM1 downtime on 10/21
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GITVM1 will be down from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. on
Saturday, 10/21/89 for some pre-emptive hardware
work. We will be replacing capacitors in the 4381
power supply.
As an aside, 4381 users may want to check with their
CEs on capacitor problems. The other 4381 on campus
(GTRI01) was down for 16 hours 2 1/2 weeks ago when
the capacitors failed, taking the microcode diskettes
and some channel attached hardware with them. From
what our CE has indicated there are problems
appearing with capacitors that were manufactured by a
particular company whose name I forget. Good
capacitors were manufactured by GE. If anyone would
like more detail please reply to me privately.
Dave Buechner
Lead IBM Systems Programmer
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
=====================================================
You can use the format of the SEARCH command above to search
any archive of a LISTSERV list (INFONETS has useful messages on
all sorts of questions, such as, how to send email to India,
Australia and other popular destinations or to Comserv, MCImail
or FidoNet).
*Q* USENET: How does on access this, or subscribe (whichever
term applies...)?
*A* of a more correct type Õby John McMahonå: USENET is not a
true network. USENET is a collection of nodes on various
networks which distribute News files. Newsgroups are similar
to a regular mailing list, except a person does not subscribe
to a Newsgroups. He/She reads a Newsgroup like you would read
a column in a large Newspaper. In the USENET, every node
receives a copy of every message in every Newsgroup. Each node
provides a common system area where users can read any/all of
the groups and can reply to them. This is much like getting
the entire Newspaper delivered to you, and then you read the
parts of the paper you are interested in. The great advantage
to the USENET is that when a user develops a new interest, he
or she merely selects the new Newsgroup they are interested in
and starts reading. There is no time lag to subscribe and
catch up on the current topic. Also, the user doesn't have to
use up his/her own disk space since USENET news is stored in a
system common area.
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A common misconception is that the UUCP and UUNET networks and
USENET are interchangeable terms. They aren't. USENET is a
service that runs on a network, like the LISTSERV and RELAY
systems. UUCP and UUNET supports a variety of services
including USENET News.
A second misconception is that you have to be a Unix host on
UUCP/UUNET to get easy access to News. More than a few USENET
sites are on the Internet or DECnet networks, and many do not
run UNIX. USENET has grown beyond it's UNIX-only beginnings.
However, to become a USENET site your system management will
have to install special software. In some cases, the software
is available at low cost. Check the operating system mailing
lists (e.g. Info-Vax@Sri.Com for VMS) for details.
To access USENET, you must be on a site that is receiving
USENET News. Check with your system manager for details.
Finally, some USENET groups are gatewayed to mailing lists that
you can subscribe to if you don't have access to News. For
example, the News group comp.os.vms is linked to the INFO-VAX
mailing list on various BITNET LISTSERVs. Check a good
directory of mailings lists (Like issues of NetMonth) to find
if the group you are looking for is gatewayed to a mailing
list.
*Q* What does the domain name ending .EDU mean? I keep
hearing "Internet" and "Arpanet". Is .EDU an entire network?
Or is Internet (if that's what it is) part of CSNet?
*A* Õby Chris Condonå: At one time the Arpanet was one, large,
(*very* large network). A few years ago the addressing for the
Arpanet was split up into something we now call the Internet.
The major portions of the Internet are .GOV (Government), .EDU
(Education), and .COM (Commercial). Under Arpanet, one of my
addresses might have been CONDON@VENUS.ARPA. Under current
"domain" scheme, the address is now CONDON@VENUS.YCC.YALE.EDU.
While this is somewhat longer, it makes routing of the mail
somewat easier, because every computer in the Internet doesn't
need to know how to send mail to every other one. (There is
more detail on how this works in BITNET USERHELP).
CSNET is (for now) it's own animal.
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*Q* How does one send mail to Fidonet?
*A* Õby David Dodellå: FidoNet is fully coupled into the
Internet. You do not need to know any specific gateways, just
address the message correctly into the fidonet.org domain, and
everything will be routed automatically. FidoNet addresses can
be addressed in the basic format of:
FirstName_LastName@fzz.nxx.zyy.fidonet.org
zz= FidoNet Node
xx= FidoNet Network or Region
yy= FidoNet Zone (Presently only 1 to 4 are valid)
Therefore, as an example, my name David Dodell, resides at
FidoNet address 1:114/15. My FidoNet Internet address is:
David_Dodell@f15.n114.z1.fidonet.org
Now how to you go from a fidonet node to a internet style
address? Just as easy, however, you need to find a gateway on
fidonet first, since there is no automatic routing to internet
gateways at this time. For example, you could use my gateway
at 1:114/15
You would send a message to the user "uucp" at 1:114/15.
In the first line of the text, you put the internet style
address, followed by 2 returns, i.e.
The addressing is in the form:
To: user@site.domain
For example, to send to my bitnet account of ATW1H @ ASUACAD,
the fidonet message would go to "uucp" at fidonet address
1:114/15.
The first line of text in the body of the message would be:
To: atw1h@asuacad.bitnet
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*********
* * Feedback - a Letters Column
* *****
* *** * edited by Christopher Condon
* *** *
* *** * Yale University
***** *
* * Send your letters to BITLIB@YALEVM, now!!!!!!
*********
From: Joyce Neu
Subject: NetMonth
Just want to compliment you on this issue of NetMonth (loved
the greetings from Pisa) and thank you for the great p.r. for
XCULT-L and the inclusion of SLART-L in the "new lists" group.
I'm going to send the XCULT-L blurb to my students so that they
can see (especially Joan, whose article you've selected here)
that they're "famous"! (in some small, Warholian way).
From: Stephen Orton
Subject: CREN
CREN de Monthe gets two thumbs up. How about "Creme de la
CREN" for your new letters column?
* Editor's note: I dunno. People might find it a little
inCRENdible. Or would they be inCRENdulous?
From: Dave Gomberg
Subject: Mail from Listserv
I think I have offended as many BITNET folks as anyone, which
classifies me as a GRADE IX crudmugeon: There is no point in a
list with no editor. Many recent contributions have said
things like: Who is running things here? What about the
requests for HELP? And so forth.
I propose that all nodes refuse to propagate unedited lists.
I am not against anyone's free speech, and an editor must have
an exceptionally light touch, but garbage is garbage. I am
talking about things the author would be embarassed to have
sent to the list if he/she/it knew the facts. I am talking
about HELP/SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE/Is Sweetie-pie still there?
This is not free speech, this is free drooling.
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I expect that I may have a lot of time to volunteer soon, so I
will volunteer as the interim editor of any list that cannot
(temporarily) find a real one.
Now let's get our act cleaned up! Go for it!
From: Dave Bates
Subject: CREN user interface
NetMonth may be described as a highly - useful form of glue
holding the network together through repeated giving of advice
to users. While there is a legitimate need to educate new
users, and to provide guidance and instruction to users who
need to explore the more arcane or advanced "features" of the
network (taken to include listservers, etc), one has to observe
that a common thread running through the talk in Bitmonth is
the complaint that much about BITNET (now CREN) is confusing to
the person who needs what is available at some other end of
BITNET. **Using** the system and its services **in order to get
service** is problematic.
Your patience, and the patience of people offering advice, is
admirable . However, the time may have come when people
can now offer help to users through adopting a set of standartd
user interfaces along the lines of that offered by COMSERVE.
This could do a lot to increase access and accuracy and
therefore use of BITNET by **users** who are not primarily
experts in or on the system itself.
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*********
* * NetMonth Policies
* *****
* *** * Everything you ever wanted to know...
* *** *
* *** * ...but were afraid to ask.
***** *
* * 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
A subscriber can delete him/herself from the mailing list by
sending LISTSERV@MARIST the command:
UNSUB NETMONTH
Internet users may use these methods, but must address the mail
to LISTSERV@MARIST.BITNET
* Back issues:
BITNET users may get NetMonth back issues from the file server
LISTSERV@CMUCCVMA. For a list of files, send the server the
the command:
INDEX NETMONTH
* 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.
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* 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.
* Printing this file: VM users can print this file by using
the "( CC" option of the PRINT command. VAX/VMS users should
RECEIVE NetMonth with a format of FORTRAN.
John McMahon of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has
written a program or VAX/VMS users which changes Fortran form
feeds in an issue of NETMONTH to ASCII form feeds. This allows
a user on a VAX/VMS system to RECEIVE a copy of NETMONTH,
reformat it using this procedure, and print it using the
standard VMS PRINT command.
The program is internally documented, and you can get a copy by
sending the following command to LISTSERV@CMUCCVMA or MARIST:
SENDME NETMONTH COM
_
__-
__--- The
__----- BITNET
__------- Services
___________ Library "Because We're Here."
***************************************************************
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