* * * * ** * ***** ***** ** ** ***** * * ***** * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * *** * * * * * * * * * * * ***** * ** * * * ** * * * * ** * * * * * ***** * * * * ***** * * * * * * * * A monthly guide to BITNET servers and services * *********************************************************** Volume 1 Number 1 - July 1986 Editor: Chris Condon BITLIB@YALEVMX Contents: Bitnotes The Psychnet Services New Mailing Lists The Revised List Processor You Are Here /Links File Server Quick Reference Guide Letters A complete list of servers and services is available from any NETSERV file server as the file named BITNET SERVERS. News, article submissions, additions to the list of servers and services, requests to be added to the mailing list, and letters should be sent to BITLIB@YALEVMX. Subscribers to NetMonth are also sent the file BITNET SERVERS each month. ***************************************************************************** * Bitnotes Issue 1 * ******************************************************************************* Welcome to NetMonth. This magazine, along with the file BITNET SERVERS, replaces the old, faithful, Bitlist. Old? It was hardly more than a year young. It had a large, growing circulation, a fair amount of usefulness, and an inkling of respectability. More important (to me at least) it taught me much about writing, teaching, responsibility, ego(!), and (yes) BITNET. It put me in a spot I never expected to find myself in: one where people actually listened to what I had to say. Not that what I had to say was particularly earth-shattering, intelligent, or funny as I intended it to be, but they (you) listend. Bitlist has been good to me. Why am I replacing it? Well, a lot of the time there wasn't enough news to justify mailing out the magazine every week. I mailed out the entire list of servers and services every week, come rain, shine, or national holiday. It wasn't necessary. I also had to face some serious facts of life: I work full time in the summer, and a large portion of that time is spent in front of a Cathode Ray Tube. So, of course, in my spare time I head down to the Computer Center to spend a few more hours in front of a terminal! I am coming up on my senior year and some pretty tough classes and would like to hang on to my 3.03 GPA. (Last semester I earned a 3.71, which tells you something about the PREVIOUS semesters.) You get the picture. So here is NetMonth. I will hopefully produce a magazine of the standards you were used to in Bitlist (whatever they were). This might even become almost as good as VM/COM. (Stop dreaming, kid. They have a staff of 3+ and you have a staff of 1.) Which brings me to another point. Like VM/COM I will be accepting articles for publication. My only requirements are that they be informative, interesting, and deal with BITNET services. Oh, they should also be in the 80-column format you are reading now. Since I am Editor, staff writer, photographer, art director, and janitor for this magazine, I reserve the right to refuse article submissions. However, if you think you can live up to that pressure, send your articles to BITLIB@YALEVMX. Remember, you are the reporters. Just like Bitlist, this magazine will depend on YOU for news, hot tips, and information. I will also have a Letters column, provided that you send me letters. I am open to commentary on BITNET, servers, problems, questions, etc. All that I ask is that you specify that the letter is for NetMonth Letters Column in the "Subject:" header. Those should also be mailed to BITLIB@YALEVMX. As a matter of fact, everything should be mailed to BITLIB@YALEVMX: The news, articles, letters, requests, to be added to the mailing list, and all that fun stuff. Just like Bitlist. Only better. Virtually; Chris BITLIB@YALEVMX ***************************************************************************** * The Psychnet Services * ******************************************************************************* PP II P I P I SS SS PSIPSI (tm) "Serving psychology worldwide through electronic mail" Multiple choice question: Q: Psychnet is a a. Newsletter, keeping the psychology community informed. b. Mailing list, keeping the psychology community informed. c. File server - a Subserver of the file server UH-INFO@UHUPVM1. d. All of the above. A: If you picked 'd', you got it right. Once a week, all members of the Psychnet mailing list are sent the latest Psychnet Newsletter and an index of files available from the file server. Send the file server the PSYCHNET HELP command for information on how to use it. For those who aren't comfortable with networking, EXEC and COM files have been written to make it virtually painless (pun intended). The initial purpose of Psychnet is distribution of academic papers in advance of the 1986 APA convention. Other purposes include developing as the needs and interests of Psychnet users (and the profession) become known. If you have a question or comment you wish distributed to members of the mailing list, you may send it to userid EPSYNET@UHUPVM1 and it will be sent out, usually as a part of "The Readers Write" page of the next Psychnet Newsletter. All requests to be added to or deleted from the mailing list, or to have files distributed should be sent to: Robert C. Morecock, Psychnet Editor, EPSYNET@UHUPVM1 For more information on how to use the Psychnet file server, send the command PSYCHNET HELP to the file server UH-INFO@UHUPVM1. ***************************************************************************** * New Mailing Lists * ******************************************************************************* INFO-TMODEM@SIMTEL20.ARPA BUG-TMODEM@SIMTEL20.ARPA The INFO-TMODEM list is a means for the maintainer of the TMODEM program to send notices to users of TMODEM. Users of TMODEM send bug reports and feature requests to BUG-TMODEM@SIMTEL20. TMODEM is a new TOPS-20 implementation of the Christensen Protocol, with all the latest features, such as: o wildcard file transfers in the style of MODEM7 (YMODEM batch is coming) o the YMODEM implementation of the K option with a new algorithm to return to K mode after falling back to "normal" mode o extensive built-in HELP for all commands and options. TMODEM is an amalgamation of the old TOPS-20 MODEM program, originally written by Bill Westfield while he was at SRI and now at Stanford, major pieces of the TOPS-20 TELNET program, currently maintained by Mark Crispin, and some pieces of code stolen from TTLINK and KERMIT-20 by Frank da Cruz at Columbia University. All requests to be added to or deleted from this list, problems, questions, etc., should be sent to INFO-TMODEM-REQUEST@SIMTEL20.ARPA. Coordinator: Frank J. Wancho For more information on these and other mailing lists and digests, request the files ARPANET SIGLIST1 and ARPANET SIGLIST2 from any NETSERV file server. The list is maintained by Rich Zellich. Please note that addition to many of these mailing lists will result in LARGE amounts of mail arriving in your electronic mailbox. It is strongly suggested that you make sure you are really interested in a particular digest before you request it. Also, be sure to send a note to the moderator of the list when you change userids or your account expires. Please send additions and corrections for the digest list to ZELLICH@SRI-NIC.ARPA. ***************************************************************************** * The Revised List Processor (LISTSERV@FRECP11) by Eric Thomas * ******************************************************************************* LISTSERV@FRECP11 is the prototype distribution list server which is being developed at the Ecole Centrale de Paris. It offers the following improvements over the current LISTSERV code: - Mail is no longer sent from the list processor userid (LISTSERV). It now comes directly from the distribution list userid itself, which, apart from being much more logical and "intuitive" for the average end- user, offers the important advantage of not messing the MAIL/RECEIVE packages any longer and allowing you to define a different NOTEBOOK for *each* list! Which was *a bit* of a pain when all mail came from the LISTSERV userid regardless of the mailing list. For example, mail sent to "TEST-L@FRECP11" will be sent out from "TEST-L@FRECP11", not "LISTSERV@FRECP11". - IBM NOTE headers, both SHORT and LONG format, are fully supported. Note that the only fields that are recognized in a NOTE header are "Date:", "From:", "To:", "cc:" and "Subject:" (and they must be in that order). - Irrelevant information is stripped off the outgoing mail header. Every effort has been made to reduce the size of the mail header. - The "Acknowledge-To:" keyword, if present, is suppressed. - Whenever several users at the same VM node appear in a list, they are grouped together and only a single mail file is sent to that node (pro- vided that there is a mailer at that node). This should significantly reduce the number of outgoing mail files for large lists. Note that this does not apply to users of the local node, who do NOT get grouped together. - You do not get a copy of the mail you just sent to the list. You DO get an acknowledgement, though (very short mail file). - Normal (non-mail) files can be sent to the list. To send a file to a list, all you have to do is to SPOOL your virtual PUNCH FORM REDIST and send the desired file to the list userid, in the desired format. Multi- ple files (DISK and CARD format) are supported. Example: SPOOL PUNCH FORM REDIST SENDFILE RELAY REXX TO RELAY-L at FRECP11 The file will then be re-sent to all recipients of the list (except yourself) in the format you specified, with DIST = list-name and FORM= QUREDIST (this will toggle the "quiet file transfer" feature). The file class will be left unchanged. *** IMPORTANT NOTE *** The reason why the file must be sent with form = REDIST is to avoid "oopses". For this reason you should make sure that your virtual punch is spooled back to STANDARD or QUIET after sending a file. - The LISTSERVs can now be linked as peers rather than hierarchically. You don't have to mail to the highest LISTSERV in the hierarchical order to make sure that your mail will be sent to all the recipients. Enhanced list control: - Apart from the postmaster(s), who have sovereign authority over all lists, an owner (or list of co-owners) can be defined for each list, who will be able to maintain the list without any intervention from the postmaster(s). - Under the supervision of the list owner(s), users can be allowed to automatically subscribe to a list by issuing a "SUBSCRIBE" command to the server. They are then automatically added to the list and the owner receives a notification note. This option can be enabled or disabled on a list basis. If it is disabled, a request-for-addition mail is automa- tically sent to the list owner(s) whenever a "SUBSCRIBE" command is received. - Similarly, users can sign off a list at any time by issuing a "SIGNOFF" command to the server. Notification is then sent to the owner(s). - Provision has been made to allow the list owner to add or remove users from a list without having to fetch it from the server, edit it and send it back. Those are the "ADD" and "DELete" commands. Notification is automatically sent to the newly added/dismissed users. - Several keywords control who can review the list, who can mail/send files to it, etc. Owners can protect their lists from UREP hijacking with a password. AVAILABLE COMMANDS (non-privileged users): Send these commands to LISTSERV@FRECP11 with your local interactive messaging command (i.e TELL, SEND/REMOTE). List Get a description of all lists. The default option is "Short", and will send you a brief description of each list (via messages). The "Long" and "Detailed" options are synonyms and will send you the "header" por- tion of each list (via file). Info Sends you a file much like this article Help Sends you brief description of the most useful commands. SUBscribe listname your_full_name SIGNUP Use this command to subcribe to a list. You will be automatically added to it unless the list owner has disabled this option, in which case he will be sent a request-for-addition note. If you have misspelled your name when issuing this command in the first place, you will be able to correct it by re-issuing it without having to first sign off from the list. Note that in that case no notification is sent to the list owner. SIGNOFF listname UNSubscribe This is the counterpart of the SUBSCRIBE command. Note that you can remove yourself from any list you have been added to, unless it is specially protected by a password; whether you have subscribed to the list yourself or you have been added to it by the owner is irrelevant. REView listname Sends you the (formatted) contents of a list. Private lists cannot be reviewed by users who do not appear on it. Comments and complaints should be sent to Eric Thomas Please avoid generating too much traffic on this server. FRECP11 is a dead-end node and cannot afford to unduly load the network. Editors Note: The following lists are currently run on LISTSERV@FRHECP11: AGGIE-L - The fightin' Texas Aggies' list!!! CHAT - Distribution list for the Chat code INF - Option Informatique Generale RSCSMODS - The RSCS modifications list LSTSRV-L - Distribution list for the Revised LISTSERV code QUIET-L - "Quiet file transfer" information list The new list server LISTSERV@CLVM is uses the same code, and runs these lists: ERC-L - List of ERC staff (including Administrative Computing) LASER-L - Laser Printers Aquisitions list SYSTEM-L - Systems Information Mailing list RSCSMODS - RSCS Modifications TERMITE - TERMITE discussion/distribution List More detailed information on these mailing lists can be obtained by sending both list servers the LIST L command. ***************************************************************************** * You Are Here * ******************************************************************************* Are you lost? Not quite sure of where you stand in the Big Picture? There's help for you! Paul Kunz of SLACVM maintains a map of BITNET sites and how they are connected to each other. In addition, the map lists the date that each site was connected to the network. It does not list individual nodes, but the name of the institution instead. For example, University of Florida has two nodes, but it is listed as one site. The map also shows the location of internet gateways. If your node does not already have this map in it's network documentation, you can get a copy from any NETSERV file server. The map is named BITNET TOPOLOGY. Below is a small sample: + + *--------* \ *--------* *--------* \ *--------* ]IllTech ] \ ]Loyola ] ]NFlorida] \ ]UFlorida] *----(1)-*\ \ /*----(1)-* *----(1)-*\ \ /*----(2)-* \ \ / \ \ / * - - - -* \*--------*/ *--------* *--------* \*--------*/ *--------* ]NorIllUn] ]UIChicgo]---]IllEdCon] ]WestFla ]---]FlaNERDC]---]UnCFla ] * - -(1)-* /*----(4)-*\ *----(1)-* *----(1)-* /*----(2)-*\ *----(2)-* ] / ] \ / ] \ *--------*/ *--------* \ *--------*/ *--------* \*--------* ]Argonne ]---]FermiLab] \ ]FlaState] ]FlaSERD ] ]CFlaRDC ] *---(12)-* *---(12)-* \ *----(5)-* *----(1)-* *----(2)-* ] / \ *--------* to to *--------* * - - - -* *--------* *--------* ]UChicago] Colmba Uni ]UIUrbana]---]S Ill U ] ]NewMexSt]---]UTxElPso] *----(3)-* Univ Nebr *---(10)-* * - -(1)-* *----(3)-* *----(2)-* ] \ ] ] *--------* * - - - -* \*--------* *--------* *--------* *--------* ]NotrDame] ]Okla U ]---]Missouri]---]WshngtnU] ]TxTechU ] ]UTxArlg ] *----(3)-* * - -(1)-* *---(11)-* *----(5)-* *----(1)-* /*----(1)-* ] ] ] / *--------* *--------* *--------* *--------* *--------*/ *--------* ]Purdue ] ]LouisaSt]---]Rice ]---]UTxCancr] ]UTxDalls]---]NTxStUn ] *----(1)-* *----(3)-* *----(4)-* *----(2)-* *----(1)-*\ *----(3)-* ] ] ] ] \ *--------* *--------* *--------* *--------* *--------* \*--------* ]Ind/PurU] ]Tulane ] ]Houston ]---]TexasA&M]---]UTxAustn] ]SMethUn ] *----(2)-* *----(1)-* *----(4)-* *---(21)-* /*----(4)-* *----(1)-* ] ] / ] *--------* *--------* *--------*/ *--------* * - - - -* ]Indiana ] ]NOrleans] ]UTxHSC ] ]UTxSAntn]---]MontryIT] *----(2)-* *----(1)-* *----(1)-* *----(2)-* * - -(1)-* ***************************************************************************** * /Links * ******************************************************************************* Thanks to Jeff Kell and Christian Schaeke for their news about two new Relays: RELAY @ BLEKUL11 - Katholieke Universiteit, Belgium RELAY @ BNANSP10 - Facultes Universaires N.D de la Paix Don't ask me to translate. My non-English is very poor (as many of you know). This brings the Relay count up to 36. Hmmmmmm. Any guesses as to how many weeks it will be before there are 100? ***************************************************************************** * File Server Quick Reference Guide * ******************************************************************************* Userid @ Node Send a list of files Send a file -------- - -------- --------------------------- ---------------------------- BITSERVE @ CUNYVM - SEARCHF I INDEX SENDME fn ft CANSERVE @ CANADA01 - LIST SENDME fn ft CSNEWS @ MAINE - SENDME CSNEWS FILES SENDME fn ft ÕFROM å KERMSRV @ CUVMA - DIR Õfn ftå SEND fn ft KERMSRV @ UOFT02 - DIR SEND fn.ext LFCNET @ ICNUCEVM - /CMSLISTING fn ft /SEND fn ft , /GET fn ft MACSERVE @ BITNIC - DIR GET fn ft NDCSNEWS @ NDSUVM1 - SENDME NDCSNEWS FILES SENDME fn ft NICSERVE @ BITNIC - INDEX SENDME fn ft , GET fn ft NYSHARE @ WEIZMANN - LISTPACK SENDME fn ft SERVER @ TAMCBA - DIR , SENDME SENDME fn ft SERVER @ UOGUELPH - LIST SENDME fn ft SILMARIL @ FINHUTC - DIR Õfn ftå GET fn ft TCSSERVE @ TCSVM - DIR SENDME fn ft UH-INFO @ UHUPVM1 ACSNET Subserver - ACSNET INDEXF ACSNET SENDME fn ft PSYCHNET Subserver - PSYCHNET INDEXF PSYCHNET SENDME fn ft VMBBOARD @ WEIZMANN - SEARCH SINCE mm/dd/yy GET entry_number Conventions used in this guide: The commands listed here to receive a list of files will result in a file being sent to you. Some of the servers have alternate commands where a list of files is sent as a message. The parameters fn ft refer to the filename and filetype of a file. All parameters in brackets Õå are optional. All of these servers will send you more information on valid commands in response to the HELP command. ***************************************************************************** * Letters to NetMonth * ******************************************************************************* Since this is the first issue of NetMonth, there are no letters to print. However, this gives me the opportunity to sneak in my letter printing policies: If you have questions or comments about BITNET or NetMonth that you would like printed here, mail your letter to BITLIB@YALEVMX. Make sure that you specify in the "Subject:" header or somewhere in the letter that it is for the NetMonth letters column. This doesn't mean that your letter will be printed, but it helps. Article Submissions: The only requirements for NetMonth articles are that they be informative, interesting, and deal with BITNET services. They should also be in the 80-column format you are reading now. Submitting an article is not a guarantee that it will be printed. The Editor will attempt to inform you if any chanages are made to your writing. Send your articles to BITLIB@YALEVMX. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FuzzyBytes Electronic Publishing "Because We're Here."