MaasInfo.HowNet = brief descriptions of how to get started using
various network services (mostly InterNet and BitNet), version of
1993.Apr.02, copyright 1991,1992,1993 by Robert Elton Maas, all rights
reserved. This is published as "trivial shareware"; If it's worth more
than a dollar to you, do some favor in return. (See more details about
"trivial shareware" in MaasInfo.TopIndex, and a list of specific
questions waiting for answers in MaasInfo.SQWA)

Note that most services listed here are accessible via TELNET, which is
available for TCP/IP users only, and many such services handle only
VT100 emulation which is not available when connecting from VM/CMS
systems. Note the format here is to indent all lines after the first
line of each access method, but you OMIT those indentation spaces when
using the service. (The first line of instructions starts with 'To:'
for electronic mail, 'ftp' for File Transfer Protocol, 'telnet' for
TELNET i.e. remote login, and 'TELL' for Bitnet interactive messages.)

Major recent changes: Keyword-based searches in lists of interest
groups have been added. The nslookup and FIXADDR services at CSNET, and
the interface from e-mail to UseNet at Berkeley, have been withdrawn
and are no longer documented here. If similar services have been made
available anywhere recently I'd like to know about them.


UC Berkeley Network Information Service -- A network information manual
that guides new users through an introduction to the network. Contains
easy to follow directions for uploading and downloading files as well
as a listing of UC Berkeley email addresses and anonymous ftp sites.
This database was developed for students and faculty at UC Berkeley,
however it is also very useful for new users of the Internet, such as
for getting nameserver information. Update 1992.Feb: Now it works with
only minor glitches when connecting from VM/CMS hosts. Problems to
<netinfo@violet.berkeley.edu>.
telnet netinfo.berkeley.edu 117 (two IP addresses: 128.32.136.12
  128.32.206.12, port#117 on either)
Once connected, the most useful groups of commands are:
*  Internet domain nameserver query commands:
*      ANY     MX      NS      REVERSE
*  UUCP/USENET map data base query commands:
*      UFIND   UFILE   UHOST   UPATH
Note that hostname mailhost.berkeley.edu and IP addresses 128.32.136.9
& 128.32.206.9 listed in previous versions of this document are no
longer providing this service. (Thanks to Sridhar Venkataraman
<sridhar@enuxhb.eas.asu.edu> for informing me of this update at a time
when I didn't have any TCP/IP service so I couldn't use this service
myself and hence didn't notice this document was now out of date.)


WHOIS -- A service of NIC (Network Information Center), find registered
information about individual people, hosts, domains, etc. (Personally I
haven't found this service to be of much use. None of the hosts I asked
about, due to bounced e-mail, could be found here.) Any problems
encountered should be sent to ACTION@NIC.DDN.MIL
telnet nic.ddn.mil (192.112.36.5)
 WHOIS
(Update 1993.Mar.24, from KLENSIN@INFOODS.MIT.EDU (John C Klensin):)
telnet rs.internic.net
 (This service will not be complete until April 1, 1993. See RFC1400.)
 (Useful for getting e-mail address of administrative/technical contacts.)


BitNet node-entries -- Via email or RSCS you can get the node entry for
any BitNet node. It will tell you the country where it is located, the
name of the institution, and lots of other information including the
equivalent InterNet domain-style name if such exists (avoids breaking a
field across a line boundary):
To: netserv@bitnic  (use the server assigned to your region or it'll complain)
 GET NODENTRY <bitnet_node>  (8 characters maximum, no domain suffix)
Info from PETE@wmvm1.cc.wm.edu (Pete Hoyle): To see whether a given
node or gateway knows the nodename in question (exactly the same
information as above, but some fields broken across line boundaries):
To: LISTSERV@UHUPVM1  (use any Bitnet host that has a LISTSERV)
 show node <bitnet_node>  (8 characters maximum, no domain suffix)


InterNet hostnames for BitNet hosts -- If you just want to know the
InterNet name for a given BitNet host (or if the nodeentry doesn't
include that information), try this trick discovered by John K.
Duchowski <DUCHOW@UCRAC1.UCR.EDU>. Send mail to user 000000 at the
BitNet host. When the mail is returned (in a nondelivery notice), it's
FROM: the Postmaster at the InterNet host. Warning, I tried this and
started getting extra bounces, and don't know how to stop it!


Merit Net Mail Sites Database -- Lets you search for institution name
by keyword, or domain name of host. Claims to handle InterNet UseNet &
BitNet hosts. Sometimes useful for looking up names of BITNET nodes
that once existed but don't now.
birchall%pilot.njin.net@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU posted the how-to info and
might be an expert on this system.
telnet hermes.merit.edu (35.1.48.150)
 netmailsites
 verbose (That makes it print out the full information on each site,
          instead of just machine names)
 <search data> --  (this could be "New York" or any key word that you
                    would expect to be associated with your area.)


Project Gutenberg -- Special project to provide full-text of
public-domain (copyright expired) full-length documents such as books.
-- The monthly announcement of its status is posted on PACS-L (a mailing
list based at the BitNet node UHUPVM1) and accessible only via database
search commands sent to that host (somewhat of a royal pain, see
LISTDB.MEMO indexed in MaasInfo.DocIndex). The directory of full-text
books currently online isn't posted as a file anywhere either, so you
have to make an FTP connection and issue a directory command and collect
a transcript of the output yourself if you want a directory listing.
ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (128.174.201.12) etext/*
ftp quake.think.com (192.31.181.1) pub/etext/*
We also have a new site in New Zealand, for local access only.
Just ask HART@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu for more info.


WAIS (Wide-Area Information Service) -- Uses client/server system for
accessing a library of files around the net. Normally you'd have a WAIS
client installed on your local system, but you can also TELNET to this
demo client (the SWAIS interface by John Curran). I've verified it
works through a Unix host using VT100 emulation on the dialin port. I
don't know if it works when you are local to a Unix machine, nor
through other systems such as VM/CMS.
telnet quake.think.com (192.31.181.1)
 Login: wais  (Flat list of about 318 sources)
Usage instructions from Jim Fullton <fullton@mdewey.ga.unc.edu>
<fullton@rhumba.oit.unc.edu>: After pressing the space bar to select
one or more sources, hit w for keywords, then enter the words you want
to search for and hit return. The search will occur on the remote
sources (online instructions aren't clear about this). Unfortunately
there seems to be no way to guess which of the hundreds of sources to
try to find a given topic, and scrolling them page by page at 1200 baud
takes "forever" and still doesn't give a good idea what topics are in
each source. The same SWAIS, but with fewer sources, can also be
accessed indirectly via bbs.oit.unc.edu, see next entry.


The Extended Bulletin Board (EBB) -- can connect you to the information
systems in cwis-l (see MaasInfo.TopIndex). But warning: "This bbs is
for research and educational purposes ONLY! Don't even think about
using it for commercial purposes"
telnet bbs.oit.unc.edu (128.109.157.30) or (152.2.22.80) ?
 login: bbs
(Info from Judy Hallman <hallman@unc.bitnet> via Richard
<caasi@ucselx.sdsu.edu>: When you get the EBB's menu, select item 9.,
"On-line Information Systems." Nope, when I tried it item 9 said
Libraries and Campus-Wide Info Systems (LIBTEL))
(Also: 4. Simple WAIS Client -- Flat list of about 269 sources, but no
way I could find to actually connect to any of them.)
Update, new info from Jeffrey L. Needleman <needje@msen.com>, not yet
verified:
telnet nyx.cs.du.edu (130.253.192.68)
 login: new


gopher -- This is normally a client/server protocol, where you install
the client on your own Unix machine and it automatically connects to
the various servers. But you can TELNET from a Unix host using VT100
mode (doesn't work at all from VM/CMS) to try a demo client. All files
it points to are searchable via the Unix 'more' interface. For more
info, contact Paul Lindner <lindner@mudhoney.micro.umn.edu>
telnet consultant.micro.umn.edu (128.101.95.9)
 login: gopher
The last time I connected, these toplevel subjects were available:
1.  Information About Gopher
2.  Computer Information
3.  Internet file server (ftp) sites
4.  Fun & Games
5.  Libraries
6.  Mailing Lists
7.  UofM Campus Information
8.  News
9.  Other Gopher and Information Servers
10. Phone Books
11. Search lots of places at the U of M


Cleveland FreeNet -- It's sort of a giant nationwide-access
bulletin-board system. Except for three copies of an error message
(User "fnguest" does not exist in database.) on initial connection, it
seems to work ok from Unix hosts using VT100 emulation, but not from
VM/CMS hosts. One interesting feature is "Ask Sheba the Intercat".
After login, say "go inet" and you'll see it in the menu. It's sort of
a bulletin board where you can ask general questions about the network
and get answers from some sort of expert, as well as from other
members, but you have to be a registered user to ask/answer questions.
telnet freenet-in-b.cwru.edu (129.22.8.75)
telnet: connect: Connection refused
(See also cwis-l listed in MaasInfo.TopIndex for list of other freenet
bulletin board systems)


UseNet white-pages database and e-mail daemon. Suppose you want to know
the names and e-mail addresses of everyone who has posted on UseNet
since the data-collecting started (1991.Aug/Sep) and has the first or
last name "Maas":
To: mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu
 send usenet-addresses/Maas
Non-alphanumeric characters in names should be replaced with a period.
For example, to request the name "O'Connor":
To: mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu
 send usenet-addresses/O.Connor


White Pages server (PSI White Pages Pilot Project) -- Warning, commands
are case-sensitive. For example 'WHOIS' doesn't work but 'whois' does.
telnet wp.nyser.net (192.33.4.21)
 login: fred
 help


TOPIC -- Sort of pretty interface on VT100 via TELNET from Unix host,
but topic-browse mode is user-unfriendly in that it has many hundreds of
toplevel topics arranged alphabetically and it takes 13 seconds (at 2400
baud) to change pages so it takes about a half hour to page to the topic
you want, only to find there isn't anything there. It doesn't work at
all from VM/CMS.
For more info, contact Lou Rosenfeld <lou@csmil.umich.edu> or Mike Morse
(stis project manager) <mmorse@nsf.gov>
telnet stis.nsf.gov (128.150.195.40)
 login: public


Library of Congress catalog -- You can search by author or title, but
not by subject or keyword. It works fine from Unix with VT100, but
can't be used from VM/CMS. Note that only volumes indexed after 1968
(when they started cataloging on computers) are included. Mail
comments, or suggestions to CATALOG@DRA.COM
telnet dra.com (192.65.218.43)
 (No login required)


Keyword search of lists of interest groups (to avoid having to FTP the
whole giant files and search locally). Three different files are
searchable at this host, two files described in MaasInfo.TopIndex, and
the archives of an interest group where new interest groups are
announced. If you want to search all three files for the keyword MATH:
To: LISTSERV@NDSUVM1
 //DBlook   JOB   Echo=No
 Database Search DD=Rules
 //Rules DD *
 Select MATH in lists
 index
 Select MATH in intgroup
 index
 Select MATH in new-list
 index
That will give you a report of hits. To retrieve the full records it
found you'll need to submit another batch job. (It's too dangerous to
try to search and retrieve full-text blind in a single attempt, like
what if you get a thousand items of which you want only five? The index
is 1000 lines but the full text could be in the megabyte range.) Each
hit will be shown as a line starting with a number (Ref# or Item#). You
use those numbers to retrieve the full-text of the desired records in
your second batch job. For example, if you wanted to see only items 725
and 944 from intgroup, your second batch job would be:
To: LISTSERV@NDSUVM1
 //DBlook   JOB   Echo=No
 Database Search DD=Rules
 //Rules DD *
 Select MATH in intgroup
 Print all of 725 944
See MaasInfo.DocIndex for where to find full documentation for the
Database Search facility in general (not specific to these three
databases on this one LISTSERV host).


Keyword search of BitNet GLOBAL list -- (info from David Sitman
<A79@TAUNIVM>) To find all descriptions that contain the word "math":
To: LISTSERV@NCSUVM
 LIST GLOBAL /math
Note this gives you only a single line containing the name of the
mailing-list and host it resides on and a very brief title. The report
usually contains a subset of the information that would be gotten by
the Database Search of 'lists' (see previous section), thus would seem
to be of not much use except when the requestor in a real hurry and
willing to accept partial results.


Posting UseNet news via e-mail -- If you read NetNews via some means
such as NNTP or a bulletin board that doesn't allow you to post your
own articles, you may be able to send e-mail to this service and have
your message automatically posted for you (info from c.CRepin@ic.ac.UK,
not yet confirmed) (Nope, I tried it 1992.Nov.17 and my e-mail promptly
bounced, apparently this pointer was bogus. c.CRepin@ic.ac.UK replies
that only certain newsgroups are handled here, in particular not the
one I tried, misc.jobs.resumes.):
To: <newsgroup>@cis.ohio-state.edu
for example
To: news.newusers.questions@cis.ohio-state.edu
Update: stevep@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca (Steve Portigal) says to try:
To: newsgroup-name@cs.utexas.edu  (convert periods to hyphens) &ETry-IP-93.3.20


NetFind -- A kind of WHOIS/Whitepages service: Given somebody's name
and any location info you know, automatically query nameservers at lots
of appropriate hosts to find e-mail address, info from
mrichard@cie.uoregon.edu:
telnet bruno.cs.colorado.edu (128.138.243.151)
 login: netfind
Alternate Netfind servers:
        archie.au (AARNet, Melbourne, Australia)
        bruno.cs.colorado.edu (University of Colorado, Boulder)
        lincoln.technet.sg (Technet Unit, Singapore)
        malloco.ing.puc.cl (Catholic University of Chile, Santiago)
        monolith.cc.ic.ac.uk (Imperial College, London, England)
        mudhoney.micro.umn.edu (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis)
        netfind.oc.com (OpenConnect Systems, Dallas, Texas)
        redmont.cis.uab.edu (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
        sun.uakom.cs (Slovak Academy of Sciences, Czech and Slovak Fed. Repub.)


BitNet users only: InterNet alias for BitNet hosts -- Some BITNET hosts
have a formal InterNet alias. If they do, you can find it out:
TELL LISTSERV AT BITNIC SHOW ALIAS Bit_Node
where Bit_Node is the 8-character (maximum) BITNET node name.


BitNet users only: How to find the nearest NETSERV (the one that will
service you without sending you complaints about using the wrong one):
Send the QUERY SERVICE command via RSCS (not via SMTP, that won't work
because it can't figure out which BitNet node you are at) to any Netserv.
If your mailer uses RSCS for email to BitNet hosts, you can do this by
email:
To: NETSERV@BITNIC (or NETSERV@UCBCMSA or any other you know about)
 QUERY SERVICE
Otherwise you'll have use the equivalent TELL command on VM/CMS or the
SEND command on Vax-VMS:
TELL NETSERV AT BITNIC QUERY SERVICE
SEND NETSERV@BITNIC "QUERY SERVICE"


BitNet users only: How to find the human name associated with a user
name on a remote BitNet host (info from Johan Berteloot
<JBERTELO%RKC.UFSIA.AC.BE> not fully verified): Some BitNet hosts have
a virtual machine called "QNAMES". To see a help file:
TELL QNAMES AT BANUFS11 HELP
to switch that particular host from Dutch to English responses:
TELL QNAMES AT BANUFS11 ENGLISH
You can also get more verbose info if you do this first:
TELL QNAMES AT BANUFS11 MAX
Then to actually retrieve a record, for example:
TELL QNAMES AT BANUFS11 SHOW JBERTELO


X.500 experimental white-pages demo -- (Info from pflynn@curia.ucc.ie
(Peter Flynn) & helpdesk@paradise.ulcc.ac.uk) The only documentation
available is glossy hardcopy and PostScript, plus online help.
telnet paradise.ulcc.ac.uk
 Login: de
Sits there at 1200 baud printing and erasing over and over and over a
line that says:
Organizations still to search: nn
where nn decreases from about 70, so it wastes several minutes just
printing that progress line wastefully when it could have been done
already, then it says:
No entries were found.
Another search, I specify the country as Taiwan and it says:
Denmark (fuzzily matched)
then with no asking for confirmation it proceeds to spend the next 5
minutes printing that annoying progress line over and over and over
again, then as before:
No entries were found.


** 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. **
