These are systems that you connect to through an
anonymous Telnet session to access a variety of services/information.
In some respects they resemble campuswide information systems; in others,
they are more like bulletin boards or interactive databases.
A file containing the most frequently asked questions about
bulletin board systems is available via anonymous FTP.
Source:
Anonymous FTP to polyslo.calpoly.edu
cd pub
get alt.bbs.faq
Listed below are some of these types of systems.
8.1 Cleveland Freenet - Case Western Reserve University
Telnet to freenet-in-a.cwru.edu
Follow the menu driven instructions.
8.2 Heartland Freenet
heartland.bradley.edu (136.176.10.10)
Login as fnguest
8.3 Youngstown Freenet - Youngstown State University
Telnet yfn.ysu.edu
Type visitor at userid prompt and follow menu driven
instructions.
8.4 Ocean Network Information Center
Telnet delocn.udel.edu
When the Userid: prompt appears, type INFO and press Enter/Return
key.
8.5 Geographic Name Server
Telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000
For informatin on a place, type the name of the city and state as
you would on the last line of a postal address. Example:
Zanesville, OH
8.6 ISAAC
ISAAC, the Information System for Advanced Academic Computing,
serves as a clearinghouse for information about the use of IBM-
compatible hardware and software as aids to instruction and
research in higher education. Membership is free to all students,
faculty, and staff at institutions of higher education.
For more information call (206) 543-5604.
ISAAC requires that you register before you can access the system.
To register, type register for the userid and password and fill in
the information using the tab key to go from field to field. Once
registered, you will be assigned a userid and password; then you
must reconnect, this time typing your assigned userid and
password.
To access ISAAC, you need to establish a Telnet connection over
the network. If you do not have network access, you also can call
over phone lines. Call (800) 237-5551 in the United States or,
within the local Seattle area or outside the United States, call
(206) 543-3761.
telnet isaac.engr.washington.edu or 128.95.32.61
8.7 FEDIX
FEDIX is an online information service that links the higher
education community and the federal government to facilitate
research, education, and services. The system provides accurate
and timely federal agency information to colleges, universities,
and other research organizations. There are no registration fees
and no access charges for using FEDIX. The only cost is for the
phone call.
FEDIX provides daily information updates on:
Federal education and research programs (including descriptions,
eligibility, funding, and deadlines).
Scholarships, fellowships, and grants.
Used government research equipment available.
New funding for specific research and education activities from
the Commerce Business Daily, Federal Register, and other sources.
Minority assistance research and education programs.
News and current events within participating agencies.
General information such as agency history, budget, organizational
structure, and mission statement.
For more information, contact the HELPLINE at (301) 975-0103
Monday-Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm EST, except on federal holidays.
telnet 192.111.228.1
At the login: prompt type fedix
8.8 STIS
STIS is the Science and Technology Information System at the
National Science Foundation.
Information includes the NSF Bulletin, guide to programs, grants
booklet (including forms), program announcements, press releases,
NSF telephone book, reports of the National Science Board,
descriptions of research projects funded by NSF (with abstracts),
and analytical reports and news from the International Programs
Division.
Publications may be searched by using a keyword, such as japan or
volcano; using a phrase, such as exchange of scientists and soviet
union; or by selecting a broad topic like biosciences.
For more information, contact the National Science Foundation,
Pone (202) 357-7555, FAX (202) 357-7745, TDD (202) 357-7492 or via
e-mail to stis@nsf.gov (Internet), or stis@nsf (BITNET).
telnet stis.nsf.gov
At the login: prompt type public
At the terminal type prompt, type vt100nkp
Enter your terminal type [blank=vt100]: vt100nkp
You are asked for a userid of up to eight characters. If you are
a new user, you will be asked to supply your name and address for
record keeping. You can search the NSF publications for
information and have the information sent to your e-mail address
if you wish. STIS provides a menu system. To get back to the
main menu, press the esc key until you have the main menu on the
screen. Press the arrow key until Exit is highlighted, and press
enter to exit STIS.
8.9 Weather
Source:
Telnet madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000
8.93 NASA Spacelink
A space-related information database provided by the NASA
Educational Affairs Division.
Source:
Telnet spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
Login with userid newuser
and password newuser
8.95 WAIS
Wide Area Information Server; this system uses a standard query
system for access to information databases on the Internet. It is
a client server model with clients available for Macintoshes,
NeXTs, UNIX and PCs.
Source:
Telnet quake.think.com
Login as wais
Files avaialable via anonymous FTP to quake.com
cd wais
8.96 Gopher
Gopher is a client server system that accesses information on the
Internet. Clients exist for Macintoshes, PCs, NeXTs, X Windows,
and UNIX terminals. The use of Gopher as Campus Wide Information
Systems has been exploding in the past year. If you have not
tried Gopher I would highly recommend giving it a try. It is
truly a golden Gopher.
Source:
Telnet to consultant.micro.umn.edu
Login as gopher
Files available via anonymous FTP to boombox.micro.umn.edu
cd pub/gopher
9.0 WHOIS - E-mail white pages
WHOIS is a program available on many workstation/mini/mainframe
computers that can connect to another computer. By supplying a
persons name, it will respond with information it has on the person.
A similar program called finger does the same type of thing, except
it only supplies information on individuals with an account on that
specific computer. A WHOIS database generally is contains
information on most of the individuals at a university, not just on
the machine you connect to.
In a larger sense WHOIS is a technique for finding a person's e-mail
address. There is no master list of e-mail addresses on the network.
Standards have been established for supplying e-mail addresses, but
it will take some time for it to be globally implemented. In the
meantime, the easiest way to find out is to call and ask!
I can just hear the gasps of horror, using the phone for anything but
talking to your mom, sacrilege. There are, of course, many ways of
finding a person's e-mail address. But what you don't know is if the
person even reads his/her e-mail, and in the case of multiple e-mail
addresses, which one is correct. A simple phone call the first time
will answer those unknowns quickly.
The following documents and resources will assist in finding a
person's e-mail address.
9.03 College E-mail Address
Mark Kantrowitz (mkant@cs.cmu.edu) of Caregie-Mellon University
has compiled an extensive list of techniques for locating e-mail
addresses for many universities. This document contains an
alphabetic listing of universities and searching techniques unique
to each.
Source:
Anonymous ftp to a.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Note: for password you must use your e-mail address in the
form of name@computer.
cd /afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mkant/Public/Email
Note: you must cd to this directory as above, because
intermediate directories are protected.
get college-email.-#.text.##
Note: the files are separated into several sections and you
need to specify the sections you want by replacing the #
shown above with a number 1, 2, 3 etc.
You also can send mail to mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu with
no subject and the body of the text message (with no signature)
send usenet/soc.college/FAQ:_College_Email_Addresses
_1_2_[Monthly_posting]
send usenet/soc.college/FAQ:_College_Email_Addresses
_2_2_[Monthly_posting]
Note the above commands should be all on one line.
9.05 Netfind
Netfind is a program that goes out and queries the network
in an organized way to find e-mail addresses.
Source:
Telnet bruno.cs.colorado.edu
Login is netfind
9.07 Inter-Network Guide
When mailing from one network to another you need to know what
address to use to access the gateway. For instance, if you want
to send a message from the Internet to someone on CompuServe, you
address it to 12345.1234@compuserve.com, where the 12345.1234 is
the person's CompuServe ID in the form 12345,1234.
The Inter-Network Mail Guide by John Chew provides this
information.
Source: Send a mail message to listserv@unmvm.unm.edu No subject
Message body of: GET NETWORK GUIDE
9.09 WHOIS List
The following is a list of universities that have a WHOIS service
working. A more complete list has been collected by Matt Power of
MIT (mhpower@athena.mit.edu).
Source:
Anonymous ftp to sipb.mit.edu
cd pub/whois
get whois-servers.list
The following is a short list of WHOIS servers.
9.1 The Ohio State University
Telnet to osu.edu
Use WHOIS command whois -h osu.edu
Enter firstname.lastname
Example: whois -h osu.edu jerry.smith
9.2 University of Oregon
Use WHOIS command whois -h oregon.uoregon.edu
Enter firstname.lastname
Example: whois -h oregon.uoregon.edu Rose.Smith
9.3 University of Virginia
Use WHOIS command whois -h whois.virginia.edu
Enter lastname, firstname middlename
Example: whois -h whois.virginia.edu Smith, John James
9.4 University of Pennsylvania
Use WHOIS command whois -h whois.upenn.edu
Enter lastname, firstname
Example: whois -h whois.upenn.edu Smith, Judy
9.5 University of Wisconsin
Use WHOIS command whois -h wisc.edu
Enter firstname lastname
Example: whois -h wisc.edu Jane Smith
9.6 MIT
Use WHOIS command whois -h mit.edu
Enter firstname_lastname
Example: whois -h mit.edu Robert_Smith
9.7 Indiana University
Use WHOIS command whois -h iugate.ucs.indiana.edu
Enter firstname_lastname
Example: whois -h iugate.ucs.indiana.edu Gerald_Smith
9.8 Stanford University
Use WHOIS command whois -h stanford.edu
Enter firstname lastname
Example: whois -h stanford.edu "shirley smith"
9.9 University of California at Davis
Use WHOIS command whois -h ucdavis.edu
Enter lastname,firstname
Example: whois -h ucdavis.edu smith,sandra
9.95 Directory of ERNET users in India
Use WHOIS command whois -h sangam.ernet.in help
(will give the help screen with examples)
Enter city name
Example: whois -h sangam.ernet.in bombay
(will list all computer names at bombay)
Enter name@computer
Example: whois -h sangam.ernet.in joshi@shakti
(will match all users on shakti matching the pattern "johsi")
10.0 Books
For a more complete listing, see sections 2.08 and 2.11.
Internetworking with TCP/IP Principles, Protocols, and
Architecture by Douglas Comer, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-470154-2.
The Matrix, Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide
by John S. Quarterman, Digital Press, ISBN 0-13-565607-9.
!%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing and Networks, by
Donnalyn Frey and Rick Adams, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., ISBN
0-937175-39-0.
The User's Directory of Computer Networks, Edited by Tracy L.
LaQuey, Digital Press, ISBN 0-13-950262-9.
Zen and the art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide, Second
Editon, by Brendan Kehoe, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-010778-6.
11.0 Free Periodicals/Tabloids/Magazines
Below are just a few of the periodicals available to qualified
subscribers.
The first four, PCWeek, MacWeek, Info World, and Network World, are
the ones I try to glance over routinely. Others are dedicated to
specific network, LAN, or UNIX topics that are useful if you need
that information.
PC Week
P.O. Box 1767
Riverton, NJ 08077-9767
MacWEEK
P.O. Box 1764
Riverton, NJ 08077-9764
Info World
P.O. Box 3013
Northbrook, IL 60065-3013
Network World
161 Worchester Road
Framingham, MA 01701
Computer System News
Circulation Dept.
P.O. Box 2030
Manhasset, NY 11030-7030
Network Management
Circulation Department
Box 2417
Tulsa, OK 74101-2417
Unix Review
Circulation Department
P.O. Box 7439
San Francisco, CA 94120-7439
Communication News
2504 North Tamiami Trail
Nokomis, FL 34275-9987
LAN Times
P.O. Box 652
Hightstown, NJ 08520
Communications Week
Circulations Dept.
P.O. Box 2070
Manhasset, NY 11030
LAN Computing
101 Witmer Road
O.O. Box 322
Horsham, PA 19044-0322
Midrange Systems
P.O. Box 445
Horsham, PA 19044-0445
Unix Today!
Circulation Dept.
P.O. Box 2170
Manhasset NY 11030-4376
12.0 Glossary
I use some terms here that may not be familiar to all. The
following is a brief explanation.
12.1 BITNET:
A network of mainframes or minicomputers. BITNET
connects many universities and colleges. It provides
e-mail and file transfer capabilities, but does not have the
ability to do remote login (Telnet session capability).
12.2 Internet:
A very large network that connects just about any types of
computers. It supports e-mail, file transfer (FTP), and
remote login (Telnet).
12.3 Anonymous FTP:
The ability to transfer a file from a remote computer connected
to the Internet without having an account on the remote computer.
The program that performs the file transfer is normal FTP. To
connect to a remote computer offering anonymous FTP, you can use
the following commands from a computer connected to the Internet.
FTP Internet computer name
When prompted for a userid, type anonymous
When prompted for a password, type your e-mail address
To get a listing of files type dir
To change directory, type cd directory name
To get a file, type get filename
To get a binary file, type binary then get filename
To end session, type quit
Example:
FTP pilot.njin.net
Username: anonymous
Password: yourname@computer.edu
cd pub/ftp-list
get ftp.list
quit
12.4 Telnet:
The ability to establish a connection to a remote computer
connected to the Internet network. Two types of programs are used
to do this. One, usually called Telnet, establishes a VT100-type
terminal emulation to the remote computer. The second, TN3270,
establishes a full-screen IBM 3270-type terminal connection.
12.5 Listserv:
A program available on many BITNET connected computers that can
act as a mail forwarding system and as a file repository. BITNET
is another network that links many colleges and universities It
does not normally link to military or government institutions as
does the Internet. To subscribe to a listserv, you usually send
mail to the machine that has the mailing list with the command to
subscribe. As an example, to subscribe to a list for discussion
of topics pertinent to mechanical engineering, send e-mail to
listserv@utarlvml with a message containing the one-line command
to subscribe:
SUB MECH-1 John Doe (Where John Doe would be your full name)
12.6 Usenet/Read News
Newsgroups are like public bulletin boards that you can post and
read messages from other individuals world wide. More than 1500
groups cover topics ranging from arts and recreation to more
research oriented topics such as physics, philosohy, microbiology
and many many others. Normally you gain access through a computer
that has lots of disk space and is connected directly to the
Internet. You can read many of the newgroups from the Cleveland
Freenet (section 8.1) or from commercial providors of Intenet
access; for example, Holonet (section 1.7).
Disclaimer
The information provided in the previous sections has been put
together from multiple sources acquired from the network. Much of it
came from reading newsgroups and trying things out to see how they
worked. The information is as accurate as I have been able to
determine, as of July 17, 1992.
I used a DEC5500 system running Ultrix to check most of these
sources. Most of the information is oriented toward Internet, since
it has remote login (Telnet) and file transfer (FTP).
Security Considerations
Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
Author's Address
Jerry Martin
Leader, Network Information Center
Ohio State University
Academic Computing Services
1971 Neil Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210-1210
Phone: (614) 292-4843
EMail: nic@osu.edu (Internet)
nic@ohstmail (BITNET)