MaasInfo.Archie = How to use the 'Archie' service to find out where files
are available on the InterNet.  Version of 1993.Apr.02

Although the information hererin is mostly public domain, this
particular organization of the information is Copyright 1991 by Robert
Elton Maas, all rights reserved. This file is posted as trivial
shareware. If it is worth more than a dollar to you, contact the author
to arrange payment by giving the author some other information of
comparable value the author wants and/or get the file MaasInfo.SQWA
which is a listing of Specific Questions Waiting for Answers which the
author has already decided are acceptable for your trivial-shareware
"fee", or even better help the author find employment (now 1.5 years
unemployed, deep in debt, and going $700 deeper into debt each month I
remain unemployed).

The author can be contacted via e-mail: rem@BTR.Com
 VoicePhone: 415-969-2958


%% ARCHIE, DIRECT ONLINE ACCESS

It is assumed you have an account on an InterNet computer with direct
TCP/IP access, and that said computer has a TELNET user program that lets
you connect to other TCP/IP hosts.

To obtain archie service is very simple. From North America, use TELNET
to connect to any of the following hosts (preferably the closest):
  archie.ans.net      (147.225.1.2)     ANS, New York, USA (completely broken)
  archie.unl.edu      (129.93.1.14)     Lincoln, Nebraska, USA (slow search)
  archie.rutgers.edu  (128.6.18.15)     Piscataway, New Jersey, USA (weird)
or from other places in the world, whichever of theses hosts is nearby:
  archie.funet.fi     (128.214.6.100)   FUnet, Helsinki, Finland (fast search)
  archie.au           (139.130.4.6)     Deakin University, Geelong, Australia (OK)
  archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.11.3)    Imperial College, London, UK (OK)
  archie.sogang.ac.kr (163.239.1.11)    (Korean server) (OK)
  archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp (130.54.20.1) (JAPAN) (OK)
  archie.nz           (130.195.9.4)     (New Zealand) (OK)
  archie.th-darmstadt.de (130.83.128.111) (GER.) (OK)
  raquel.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.11.3)    (OK)

Then log in as archie (lower case, no password). Once you get connected
you can type HELP to get detailed online documentation, but mostly you
need only a few commands to get started:


set maxhits 20
(This causes any search that results in more than 20 matches to stop at
20. This prevents the search program from running for a very long time
finding thousands of matches but with no output, then suddenly being done
with the search and sending you the matches for the next hour. Better to
have it abort after just the first 20 matches and show them to you, then
you can see why it's getting so many matches and perhaps give a more
precise query next time that doesn't result in so many matches.)

set search sub
(This causes any search to be done in case-insensitive mode. The default, if
this command isn't given first, is to be case-sensitive like Unix.)

prog <FilenameKwExp>
(Search for a file (called 'program' here) by name. If you see a program
announced by name, but the host where it was announced is unavailable,
you can see what other hosts have that program. This is also good for
browsing. You pick one program that you think is likely to be copied to
many places, and you find where it is located. Then you connect to each
of those places and browse around to see what else of a similar nature is
there.) (The expression is a 'regular expresion' from Unix infamity. It's
case-sensitive, so if you want any case of "dog" you must say
[Dd][Oo][Gg].)

whatis <TopicSubstring>
(Search for a file by keywords in its description. I hardly ever use this
command, and when I tried it it didn't work for me, so I won't say much
further, but you might want to try it sometime.)


Here is a sample session:

telnet 132.206.2.3
VM TCP/IP Telnet R1.2.1
Connecting to 132.206.2.3, port TELNET (23)
Using Line Mode...
Notes on using Telnet when in Line Mode:
- To hide Password, Hit PF3 or PF15
- To enter Telnet Command, Hit PF4-12, or PF16-24
MORE...   SUWATSON
SunOS UNIX (quiche.CS.McGill.CA)
login: archie
  ARCHIE: The McGill School of Computer Science Archive Server  ?30 May 1991?

 The email interface now supports the 'whatis' and 'list' commands. For more
 info send the word 'help' as the subject or in the body of a message to

        archie@cs.mcgill.ca

 We encourage the use of archie during off-peak hours for better response
 times. This would be between the hours of 21:00 and 9:00 EDT (GMT -04)

 Note that archie updates sites on a monthly basis (round-robin). If you
 find a site listed in the database which is no longer available for
 anonymous ftp, please let us know.

 ** corrections/additions to archie-admin@cs.mcgill.ca

 ** 'help' for help
 **  bug reports, comments etc. to archie-l@cs.mcgill.ca

archie> prog miniWRITER
# matches / % database searched:    0 /  0%             0 /  4%             0 /
 8%             0 / 12%             0 / 16%             0 / 20%             0 /
24%             0 / 28%             0 / 32%             0 / 36%             0 /
40%             1       2       2 /                 2 / 43%             2 / 44%
            2 / 48%             2 / 52%             2 / 56%             3
4       5       5 /                 5 / 59%             6       7       8
9      10      10 /                10 / 59%            11      12      13      1
4      15      15 /                15 / 59%            16      17      18      1
8 /                18 / 59%            18 / 60%            18 / 64%            1
8 / 68%            18 / 72%            18 / 76%            19      19 /
       19 / 77%            19 / 80%            19 / 84%            19 / 88%
       20      21      21 /                21 / 90%            21 / 92%
   21 / 96%

Host rascal.ics.utexas.edu   (128.83.138.20)
Last updated 05:02 18 May 1991

    Location: /misc/mac/text-utilities
      FILE      rw-r--r--       905  Apr  7  1990   miniWRITER_1.6_intro
    Location: /misc/mac/system-related
      FILE      rw-r--r--       905  Apr  7  1990   miniWRITER_1.6_intro

Host vega.hut.fi   (130.233.200.42)
Last updated 05:10 25 May 1991

    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/.resource
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x         0  May 30  1989   miniWRITER 1.4.sit
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/.finderinfo
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x       286  May 30  1989   miniWRITER 1.4.sit
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x      3456  May 30  1989   miniWRITER 1.4.sit

Host earth.rs.itd.umich.edu   (141.211.165.34)
Last updated 01:05 11 Jun 1991

    Location: /mac.bin/system.extensions/da/MiniWriter 1.6 :c4/.AppleDouble
      FILE      rw-------      1279  Apr  3 23:32   miniWRITER.appendix
    Location: /mac.bin/system.extensions/da/MiniWriter 1.6 :c4
      FILE      rw-------     20442  Apr  3 23:32   miniWRITER.appendix

Host vega.hut.fi   (130.233.200.42)
Last updated 05:10 25 May 1991

    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter/.resource

      FILE      rwxrwxr-x       690  May 30  1989   miniWRITER.appendix
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter/.finderinfo
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x       286  May 30  1989   miniWRITER.appendix
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x     20442  May 30  1989   miniWRITER.appendix

Host earth.rs.itd.umich.edu   (141.211.165.34)
Last updated 01:05 11 Jun 1991

    Location: /mac.bin/system.extensions/da/MiniWriter 1.6 :c4/.AppleDouble
      FILE      rw-------      1319  Apr  3 23:32   miniWRITER.doc
    Location: /mac.bin/system.extensions/da/MiniWriter 1.6 :c4
      FILE      rw-------     49966  Apr  3 23:32   miniWRITER.doc

Host vega.hut.fi   (130.233.200.42)
Last updated 05:10 25 May 1991

    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter/.resource
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x       690  May 30  1989   miniWRITER.doc
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter/.finderinfo
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x       286  May 30  1989   miniWRITER.doc
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter

      FILE      rwxrwxr-x     50876  May 30  1989   miniWRITER.doc
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter/.resource
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x     28432  May 30  1989   miniWRITER:aa 1.39
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter/.finderinfo
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x       286  May 30  1989   miniWRITER:aa 1.39
    Location: /appleshare/PublicDomain/DAS/MiniWriter
      FILE      rwxrwxr-x         0  May 30  1989   miniWRITER:aa 1.39

Host watserv1.waterloo.edu   (129.97.129.140)
Last updated 05:21 25 May 1991

    Location: /freeware/mac/Desk_Accessories/Miscellaneous_DAs
      FILE      rw-r--r--    106295  Feb 25 15:52   miniWRITER_DA.sit.hqx

Host earth.rs.itd.umich.edu   (141.211.165.34)
Last updated 01:05 11 Jun 1991

    Location: /mac.bin/system.extensions/da/MiniWriter 1.6 :c4/.AppleDouble
      FILE      rw-------     37133  Apr  3 23:32   miniWRITER 1.6
    Location: /mac.bin/system.extensions/da/MiniWriter 1.6 :c4
      FILE      rw-------         0  Apr  3 23:31   miniWRITER 1.6

archie> quit
Session ended. <ENTER> to return to CMS.
Telnet terminated -- Connection closed
Ready; T=0.46/1.12 01:23:30


%% ARCHIE, INDIRECT ACCESS VIA EXCHANGES OF ELECTRONIC MAIL

Send electronic mail to 'archie@quiche.cs.mcgill.ca'.
The text of the message should be a single line with just 'HELP'.
You'll get back instructions for using the above commands via email,
but basically you simply send the normal commands such as PROG ...
to that email address.


%% ARCHIE, Related topics:

- How to find where files are located on BitNet and email servers? There
is at present no general index or finder-service of such files. The best
I can suggest is look at the indexes of interest groups and see if any of
them are on a relevant topic, then ask the fileserver or mailing-list
maintainer where the files are. (Send HELP to the fileserver for a list
of commands.) See MaasInfo.TopIndex for a list of those indexes and how
to get them.

- How to find general information about how to use servers, e-mail etc.?
Usually sending HELP to a fileserver or listserver or ftpmail server etc.
will cause a starting document and list of commands to be sent back to
you via email. There are also some tutorials on use of these facilities.
See MaasInfo.TopIndex for a list of indexes of servers. See
MaasInfo.DocIndex for a list of tutorials.


%% ARCHIE, Out of service.

The following hosts may have provided archie TELNET service at some
time in the past, but didn't recently (1993.Feb.27 or Mar.20) when I
tried them:

archie.mcgill.ca (Out of service indefinitely due to major crash.)

archie.sura.net (SURAnet, College Park, Maryland, USA) (Too many users)

cs.huji.ac.il (Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)
Trying 132.65.16.10 ... (by name)
telnet: connect: Host is unreachable
Trying 132.65.6.5 ... (by number)
telnet: connect: Host is unreachable

archie.cs.huji.ac.il (Israel server) (Taking very long time to connect
... I gave up and aborted)

archie.wide.ad.jp (Japanese server) (Discontinued, only prospero mode
available, on another host)

archie.ncu.edu.tw (Taiwanese server) (Database crashed, don't try again
until 1993/2/27 2:00pm)

archie1.unl.edu (too many archie users... try again later)

dorm.Rutgers.EDU (system down while service being upgraded)

nic.funet.fi (no, refers users to: archie.funet.fi)

nic.sura.net (there are too many people already logged on)

puffin.doc.ic.ac.uk (You must be running old nameserver software)

rana.cc.deakin.OZ.AU (Login incorrect)

nis.ans.net (no, refers users to: archie.ans.net)


%% Urgent appeal from the author:

I've been unemployed since 1991.Sep.01, except for 2.5 weeks 1992.Sep,
and have gotten deep in debt keeping my family of four in an apartment,
but soon my credit may run out and we'll lose the apartment and be
forced to live in the streets, which would be a terrible hardship on my
children (ages 3.0 and 1.2). If you can, please help me find some
employment or some other source of income before it's too late.


%% ARCHIE, End.
