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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv From: BobRankin@Delphi.Com (Doctor Bob) Newsgroups: alt.internet.services,alt.online-service,alt.bbs.internet,alt.answers,comp.mail.misc,comp.answers,news.newusers.questions,news.answers Subject: Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ Supersedes: <internet-services/access-via-email_805651596@rtfm.mit.edu> Followup-To: poster Date: 16 Jul 1995 11:46:04 GMT Organization: none Lines: 1392 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: 5 Aug 1995 11:45:50 GMT Message-ID: <internet-services/access-via-email_805895150@rtfm.mit.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: bloom-picayune.mit.edu Summary: This guide will show you how to retrieve files from FTP sites, explore the Internet via Gopher, search for information with Archie, Veronica, Netfind, or WAIS, tap into the World-Wide Web, and even access Usenet newsgroups using E-MAIL AS YOUR ONLY TOOL. X-Last-Updated: 1995/07/15 Originator: faqserv@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.internet.services:56349 alt.online-service:14594 alt.bbs.internet:33562 alt.answers:10662 comp.mail.misc:24844 comp.answers:13106 news.newusers.questions:76154 news.answers:48545 Archive-name: internet-services/access-via-email Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 1995/07/15 Version: 4.71 +--------------------------------------------------+ | Accessing The Internet By E-Mail | | Doctor Bob's Guide to Offline Internet Access | | 4th Edition - July 1995 | +--------------------------------------------------+ Copyright (c) 1994-95, "Doctor Bob" Rankin All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Feel free to upload to your favorite BBS or Internet server! How to Access Internet Services by E-mail ----------------------------------------- If you don't have direct access to the Internet through your BBS or online service, you're not alone. About half of the 150 countries with Internet connections have only e-mail access to this world-wide network of networks. But if you think that sounds limiting, read on. You can access almost any Internet resource using e-mail. Maybe you've heard of FTP, Gopher, Archie, Veronica, Finger, Usenet, Whois, Netfind, WAIS, and the World-Wide Web but thought they were out of your reach because you don't have a direct connection. Not so! You can use simple e-mail commands to do all of this and much more on the Internet. And even if you do have full Internet access, using e-mail services can save you time and money. If you can send a note to an Internet address, you're in the game. I encourage you to read this entire document first and then go back and try out the techniques that are covered. This way, you will gain a broader perspective of the information resources that are available, an introduction to the tools you can work with, and the best methods for finding the information you want. Recent Changes To This Document ------------------------------- 4.7 Updated contact info (new e-mail and web addresses) 4.7 New WWWmail server "agora@www.undp.org" 4.6 Added note about types of users listed in WHOIS database. 4.6 Usenet retrieval via "agora@mail.w3.org" is defunct. 4.6 Several new translations available. 4.6 The FTP Site List now has 20 parts (and growing). 4.6 The gophermail server "gopher@earn.net" is defunct. 4.6 Added some new gophermail server addresses. 4.5 Added FTPmail server "ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com". 4.5 WEBSTER dictionary lookup at infobot@infomania.com is defunct. 4.4 Usenet retrieval via "listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be" is defunct. Finding the Latest Version -------------------------- This document is now available from several automated mail servers. To get the latest edition, send e-mail to one of the addresses below. To: listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu (for US/Canada/etc.) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: GET INTERNET BY-EMAIL NETTRAIN F=MAIL To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (for Eastern US) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email To: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk (for UK/Europe/etc.) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt You can also get the file by anonymous FTP at one of these sites: Site: ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu get NETTRAIN/INTERNET.BY-EMAIL Site: rtfm.mit.edu get pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email Site: mailbase.ac.uk get pub/lists/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt Other Translations of This Document ----------------------------------- Several readers have graciously volunteered to translate this text into languages other than English. The list below shows the status of the translation work that has been done or is in progress. You can obtain any of the completed texts by sending e-mail with Subject: send accmail.xx (where "xx" is as shown below) To: BobRankin@mhv.net - Chinese (In progress) Filename: accmail.tw - Croatian (In progress) Filename: accmail.hr - Czech (Complete - 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.cz - Danish (Complete - 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.dk - Dutch (Complete - 3rd Edition) Filename: accmail.nl - French (Complete 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.fr - German (Complete - 3rd Edition) Filename: accmail.de - Hebrew (Complete - 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.he - Hungarian (In progress) Filename: accmail.hu - Indonesian (Complete 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.id - Italian (Complete 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.it - Japanese (In progress) Filename: accmail.jp - Norwegian (Complete - 4th edition) Filename: accmail.no - Persian (In progress) Filename: accmail.ir - Portuguese (Complete - 2nd Edition) Filename: accmail.pt - Romanian (Complete - 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.ro - Russian (Complete - 4th Edition) Filename: accmail.su - Serbian (In progress) Filename: accmail.sb - Spanish (In progress) Filename: accmail.sp - Swedish (In progress) Filename: accmail.se - Ukranian (In progress) Filename: accmail.ur Please contact the author if you would like to assist in the translation of this document into another language. Acknowledgements ---------------- This document is continually expanding and improving as a result of the daily flood of comments and questions received by the author. The following individuals are hereby recognized for their contributions. (If I forgot anyone, let me know and I'll gladly add you to the list.) Roddy MacLeod - Engineering Faculty Librarian, Heriot Watt University George McMurdo - Queen Margaret College Jim Milles - NETTRAIN Moderator, Saint Louis University Glee Willis - Engineering Librarian, University of Nevada Sylvain Chamberland - Enthusiastic contributor Ron Barak - Hebrew translation Claude Bay - French translation Pierre Couillard - French translation Vadim Fedorov - Russian translation Stefan Greundel - German translation Thorsten Bo Hansen - Danish translation Mihai Jalobeanu - Romanian translation Roland Ljungkvist - Swedish translation Isamar Maia - Portuguese translation Oe Wely Eko Raharjo - Indonesian translation Vidar Sarvik - Norwegian translation Martin Slunecko - Czech translation Jeene van der Hoef - Dutch translation Dario Vercelli - Italian translation The DELRINA CORPORATION, makers of WinComm Pro, Internet Messenger and other fine software products is also proud to be a corporate sponsor of this effort. A Short Aside... "What is the Internet?" ---------------------------------------- Many introductory texts on the Internet go into excruciating detail on the history, composition and protocol of the Internet. If you were looking for that you won't find it here, because this is a "how to" lesson, not a history book. When you buy a new car, they don't make you read "The Life and Times of Henry Ford" before you can turn the top down and squeal off the lot. And when you get a new computer, nobody forces you to read a text on logic design before you fire up Leisure Suit Larry or WordPerfect. So if you're the type that wants to short-circuit the preliminaries and just dig in, you've come to the right place. I'm not going to bore you with the gory details. Instead, I'll just offer up my Reader's Digest condensed definition of the Internet, and encourage you to read more about the Internet in one of the many fine Internet books and guides listed in the "Suggested Reading" section. Some of them are even free and accessible directly from the Internet! Internet (noun) - A sprawling collection of computer networks that spans the globe, connecting government, military, educational and commercial institutions, as well as private citizens to a wide range of computer services, resources, and information. A set of network conventions and common tools are employed to give the appearance of a single large network, even though the computers that are linked together use many different hardware and software platforms. The Rules of The Game --------------------- This document is meant to be both tutorial and practical, so there are lots of actual commands and internet addresses listed herein. You'll notice that when these are included in the text they are indented by several spaces for clarity. Don't include the leading spaces when you try these commands on your own! You'll also see things like "<file>" or "<name>" appearing in this document. Think of these as place holders or variables which must be replaced with an appropriate value. Do NOT include the quotes or brackets in your value unless specifically directed to do so. Most e-mail servers understand only a small set of commands and are not very forgiving if you deviate from what they expect. So include ONLY the specified commands in the Subject or body of your note, leaving off any extraneous lines such as your signature, etc. You should also ensure that you have one blank line between the note headers and the body of your note. And do pay attention to upper/lower case in directory and file names when using e-mail servers. It's almost always important! FTP BY E-MAIL ------------- FTP stands for "file transfer protocol", and is a means of accessing files that are stored on remote computer systems. In Internet lingo, these remote computers are called "sites". Files at FTP sites are typically stored in a tree-like set of directories (or nested folders for Mac fans), each of which pertains to a different subject. When visiting an FTP site using a "live" internet connection, one would specify the name of the site, login with a userid & password, navigate to the desired directory and select one or more files to be transferred back to their local system. Using FTP by e-mail is very similar, except that the desired site is reached through a special "ftpmail server" which logs in to the remote site and returns the requested files to you in response to a set of commands in an e-mail message. Using FTP by e-mail can be nice even for those with full Internet access, because some popular FTP sites are heavily loaded and interactive response can be very sluggish. So it makes sense not to waste time and connect charges in these cases. To use FTP by e-mail, you first need a list of FTP "sites" which are the addresses of the remote computer systems that allow you to retrieve files anonymously (without having a userid and password on that system). There are some popular sites listed later in this guide, but you can get a comprehensive list of hundreds of anonymous FTP sites by sending an e-mail message to the internet address: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and include these lines in the BODY of the note. send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part1 send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part2 ... (lines omitted for brevity) ... send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part20 You will then receive (by e-mail) 20 files which comprise the "FTP Site List". Note that these files are each about 60K, so the whole lot will total over a megabyte! This could place a strain on your system, so first check around to see if the list is already available locally, or consider requesting just the first few as a sampler before getting the rest. Another file you might want to get is "FTP Frequently Asked Questions" which contains lots more info on using FTP services, so add this line to your note as well: send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq After you receive the site list you'll see dozens of entries like this, which tell you the site name, location and the kind of files that are stored there. Site : oak.oakland.edu Country: USA Organ : Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan System : Unix Comment: Primary Simtel Software Repository mirror Files : BBS lists; ham radio; TCP/IP; Mac; modem protocol info; MS-DOS; MS-Windows; PC Blue; PostScript; Simtel-20; Unix If you find an interesting FTP site in the list, send e-mail to one of these ftpmail servers: ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu (USA) ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com (USA) * bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu (USA) ftpmail@census.gov (USA) bitftp@vm.gmd.de (Germany) ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de (Germany) ftpmail@ftp.luth.se (Sweden) ftpmail@src.doc.ic.ac.uk (UK) ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au (Australia) It doesn't really matter which one you choose, but a server that is close may respond quicker. In the body of the note, include these lines: open <site> * use "connect <site>" for dec.com sites dir quit This will return to you a list of the files stored in the root directory at that site. See the figure below for an example of the output when using "oak.oakland.edu" for the site name. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | -r--r--r-- 1 w8sdz OAK 1255 Nov 9 16:32 README | | drwxr-xr-x 3 w8sdz OAK 8192 Feb 25 05:17 SimTel | | d--x--x--x 3 root system 8192 Jan 19 20:26 bin | | d--x--x--x 5 root system 8192 Dec 30 05:15 etc | | drwxrwx--- 2 incoming OAK 8192 Feb 25 11:05 incoming | | drwxr-xr-x 3 w8sdz OAK 8192 Jan 30 17:37 pub | | drwxr-xr-x 2 jeff OAK 8192 Apr 17 1994 siteinfo | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ In your next e-mail message you can navigate to other directories by inserting (for example) chdir pub before the "dir" command. (The "chdir" means "change directory" and "pub" is a common directory name, usually a good place to start.) Once you determine the name of a file you want to retrieve, use: get <name of file> in the following note instead of the "dir" command. If the file you want to retrieve is plain text, this will suffice. If it's a binary file (an executable program, compressed file, etc.) you'll need to insert the command: binary in your note before the "get" command. Tip: Many directories at FTP sites contain a file called 00-index.txt, README, or something similarly named which gives a description of the files found there. If you're just exploring and your "dir" reveals one of these filenames, do a "get" on the file and save yourself some time. OK, let's grab the text of The Magna Carta. Here's the message you send to ftpmail@census.gov (or another ftpmail server): open ftp.spies.com (The name of the FTP site) chdir Gov/World (The directory where the file lives) get magna.txt (Sign here please, John) quit (Bring it on home) Here are the commands you would send to to get a file from the Simtel Software Repository that was mentioned earlier. open oak.oakland.edu (The name of the FTP site) chdir SimTel/msdos/disasm (The directory where the file lives) binary (Because we're getting a ZIP file) get bubble.zip (Sounds interesting, anyway...) quit (We're outta here!) Some other interesting FTP sites you may want to "visit" are listed below. (Use these site names on the "open" command and the suggested directory name on your "chdir" command, as in the previous examples.) ocf.berkeley.edu Try: pub/Library for documents, Bible, lyrics, etc. rtfm.mit.edu Try: pub/usenet/news.answers for USENET info oak.oakland.edu Try: SimTel/msdos for a huge DOS software library ftp.sura.net Try: pub/nic for Internet how-to documents quartz.rutgers.edu Try: pub/humor for lots of humor files gatekeeper.dec.com Try: pub/recipes for a cooking & recipe archive Remember that you can't just send e-mail to ftpmail@<anysite>, rather you send the "open <site>" command to one of the known ftpmail servers. You should note that ftpmail servers tend to be quite busy so your reply may not arrive for several minutes, hours, or days, depending on when and where you send your request. Also, some large files may be split into smaller pieces and returned to you as multiple messages. If the file that is returned to you ends up looking something like what you see below, (the word "begin" with a number and the filename on one line, followed by a bunch of 61-character lines) it most likely is a binary file that has been "uuencoded" by the sender. (This is required in order to reliably transmit binary files by e-mail.) begin 666 answer2.zip M4$L#!`H`!@`.`/6H?18.$-Z$F@P```@?```,````5$5,25@S,34N5%A480I[ M!P8;!KL,2P,)!PL).PD'%@.(!@4.!P8%-@.6%PL*!@@*.P4.%00.%P4*.`4. You'll need to scrounge up a version of the "uudecode" program for your operating system (DOS, OS/2, Unix, Mac, etc.) in order to reconstruct the file. Most likely you'll find a copy already at your site or in your service provider's download library, but if not you can use the instructions in the next section to find out how to search FTP sites for a copy. One final point to consider... If your online service charges you to store e-mail files that are sent to you and you plan to receive some large files via FTP, it would be wise to handle your "inbasket" expeditiously to avoid storage costs. ARCHIE BY E-MAIL ---------------- Let's say you know the name of a file, but you have no idea at which FTP site it might be lurking. Or maybe you're curious to know if files matching a certain naming criteria are available via FTP. Archie is the tool you can use to find out. Archie servers can be thought of as a database of all the anonymous FTP sites in the world, allowing you to find the site and/or name of a file to be retrieved. And using Archie by e-mail can be convenient because some Archie searches take a LONG time to complete, leaving you to tap your toes in the meantime. To use Archie by e-mail, simply send an e-mail message to one of the following addresses: archie@archie.rutgers.edu (USA) archie@archie.sura.net (USA) archie@archie.unl.edu (USA) archie@archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (UK) archie@archie.au (Australia) archie@archie.luth.se (Sweden) archie@archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp (Japan) To obtain detailed help for using Archie by mail, put the word help in the subject of the note and just send it off. You'll receive e-mail explaining how to use archie services. If you're the "just do it" type, then enter the command: find <file> where "<file>" is the name of the file to search for, in the BODY (not the subject) of the note. This will search for files that match your criteria exactly. If you want to find files that contain your search criteria anywhere in their name, insert the line set search sub before the "find" command. Some other useful archie commands you might want to use are: set maxhits 20 (limit output, default is 100 files) set match_domain usa (restrict output to FTP sites in USA) set output_format terse (return output in condensed form) When you get the results from your Archie query, it will contain the names of various sites at which the desired file is located. Use one of these site names and the directory/filename listed for your next FTP file retrieval request. Now you've learned enough to locate that uudecode utility mentioned in the last section. Let's send e-mail to archie@archie.rutgers.edu, and include the following lines in the message: set match_domain usa (restrict output to FTP sites in USA) set search sub (looking for a substring match...) find uudecode (must contain this string...) Note: You'll be looking for the uudecode source code, not the executable version, which would of course be a binary file and would arrive uuencoded - a Catch 22! The output of your archie query will contain lots of information like this: Host ftp.clarkson.edu (128.153.4.2) Last updated 06:31 9 Oct 1994 Location: /pub/simtel20-cdrom/msdos/starter FILE -r-xr-xr-x 5572 bytes 21:00 11 Mar 1991 uudecode.bas Location: /pub/simtel20-cdrom/msdos/starter FILE -r-xr-xr-x 5349 bytes 20:00 17 Apr 1991 uudecode.c Now you can use an ftpmail server to request "uudecode.bas" (if you have BASIC available) or "uudecode.c" (if you have a C compiler) from the ftp.clarkson.edu site. It should be noted that the latest version of uudecode can be found at the SimTel repository. Send e-mail to listserv@SimTel.coast.net, including any or all of these commands in the BODY of the note, and the requested files will be returned to you by e-mail. get uudecode.bas get uudecode.c get uudecode.doc GOPHER BY E-MAIL ---------------- Gopher is an excellent tool for exploring the Internet and is the best way to find a resource if you know what you want, but not where to find it. Gopher systems are menu-based, and provide a user-friendly front end to Internet resources, searches and information retrieval. Gopher knows where things are, thanks to the many volunteers who spend time creating pointers to useful collections of 'Net resources. And Gopher takes the rough edges off of the Internet by automating remote logins, hiding the sometimes-cryptic command sequences, and offers powerful search capabilities as well. When visiting a Gopher site using a "live" Internet connection, one would specify the name of the site, navigate through a series of hierarchical menus to a desired resource, and then either read or transfer the information back to their home system. Using Gopher by e-mail is very similar, except that the desired site is reached through a special "gophermail server" which gophers to the remote site on your behalf and and returns the requested menu, submenu or file to you in response to a set of commands in an e-mail message. Although not every item on every menu will be accessible by "gophermail", you'll still find plenty of interesting things using this technique. Down to brass tacks... let's send e-mail to one of these addresses: gophermail@calvin.edu USA gopher@ucmp1.berkeley.edu USA gopher@dsv.su.se Sweden gomail@ncc.go.jp Japan gophermail@cr-df.rnp.br Brazil gophermail@eunet.cz Czech Republic gopher@earn.net *OUT OF SERVICE* gopher@ftp.technion.ac.il Israel gopher@join.ad.jp Japan gopher@ncc.go.jp Japan gopher@nig.ac.jp Japan gopher@nips.ac.jp Japan You can optionally specify the address of a known gopher site on the Subject line to get the main menu for that site instead. Here are some interesting gopher sites you may like to explore at your leisure. cwis.usc.edu gopher.micro.umn.edu english-server.hss.cmu.edu Let's be bold and skip the HELP stuff for now. Fire off a note to one of the gophermail servers and specify Subject: cwis.usc.edu You'll get a message back from the server that looks something like the text in the figure below. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Mail this file back to gopher with an X before the items you want. | | | | 1. About USCgopher/ | | 2. How To Find Things on Gopher/ | | 3. University Information/ | | 4. Campus Life/ | | 5. Computing Information/ | | 6. Library and Research Information/ | | 7. Health Sciences/ | | 8. Research and Technology Centers/ | | 9. Other Gophers & Info Resources/ | | | | You may edit the following numbers to set the maximum sizes after | | which GopherMail should send output as multiple email messages: | | | | Split=27K bytes/message <- For text, bin, HQX messages | | Menu=100 items/message <- For menus and query responses | | # | | Name=About USCgopher | | Numb=1 | | Type=1 | | Port=70 | | Path=1/About_USCgopher | | Host=cwis.usc.edu | | # ... (some lines deleted) ... | | Name=Other Gophers and Information Resources | | Numb=9 | | Type=1 | | Port=70 | | Path=1/Other_Gophers_and_Information_Resources | | Host=cwis.usc.edu | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ To proceed to a selection on the returned menu just e-mail the whole text of the note (from the menu downwards) back to the gopher server, placing an "x" next to the items(s) you want to explore. You'll then receive the next level of the gopher menu by e-mail. Some menu choices lead to other menus, some lead to text files, and some lead to searches. In the example above, let's select x 9. Other Gophers & Info Resources and mail the whole shebang right back at the gophermail server. You should then get a menu with a number of interesting selections including "Gopher Jewels". You'll find a LOT of good stuff along that path. The Gopher Jewels project is probably the best organized collection of Internet resources around. If a menu item is labelled "Search" you can select that item with an "x" and supply your search words in the Subject: of your reply. Note that your search criteria can be a single word or a boolean expression such as: document and (historic or government) Each of the results (the "hits") of your search will be displayed as an entry on yet another gopher menu! Note: You needn't actually return the entire gopher menu and all the routing info that follows it each time you reply to the gophermail server. If you want to minimize the size of your query, you can strip out the "menu" portion at the top and include only the portion below that pertains to the menu selection you want. Just remember that if you use this approach, you must specify "get all" on the Subject line. (Exception: for searching, specify only the search terms on the Subject line.) The example below is equivalent to selecting "option 9" as we did earlier. Split=0K bytes/message Menu=0 items/message # Name=Other Gophers Numb=9 Type=1 Port=70 Path=1/Other_Gophers_and_Information_Resources Host=cwis.usc.edu If this looks like nonsense to you, here's a human translation: Connect to PORT 70 of the HOST (computer) at "cwis.usc.edu", retrieve the sub-menu "Other Gophers", and send it to me in ONE PIECE, regardless of its size. Note: Sometimes gophermail requests return a blank menu or message. This is most likely because the server failed to connect to the host from which you were trying to get your information. Send your request again later and it'll probably work. VERONICA BY E-MAIL ------------------ Speaking of searches, this is a good time to mention Veronica. Just as Archie provides a searchable index of FTP sites, Veronica provides this function for "gopherspace". Veronica will ask you what you want to look for (your search words) and then display another menu listing all the gopher menu items that match your search. In typical gopher fashion, you can then select one of these items and "go-pher it"! To try Veronica by e-mail, retrieve the main menu from a gophermail server using the method just described. Then try the choice labelled "Other Gopher and Information Servers". This menu will have an entry for Veronica. You'll have to select one (or more) Veronica servers to handle your query, specifying the search words in the Subject of your reply. Here's another example of where using e-mail servers can save time and money. Often the Veronica servers are very busy and tell you to "try again later". So select 2 or 3 servers, and chances are one of them will be able to handle your request the first time around. A Gophermail Shortcut: ---------------------- The path to some resources, files or databases can be a bit tedious, requiring several e-mail messages to the gophermail server. But here's the good news... If you've done it once, you can re-use any of the e-mail messages previously sent in, changing it to suit your current needs. As an example, here's a clipping from the Veronica menu you would get by following the previous instructions. You can send these lines to any gophermail server to run a Veronica search. Split=64K bytes/message <- For text, bin, HQX messages (0 = No split) Menu=100 items/message <- For menus and query responses (0 = No split) # Name=Search GopherSpace by Title word(s) (via NYSERNet) Type=7 Port=2347 Path= Host=empire.nysernet.org Specify the search words in the Subject line and see what turns up! You can use boolean expressions in Veronica searches. For a guide to composing Veronica searches, send these lines to a gophermail server: Name=How to Compose Veronica Queries Path=0/veronica/how-to-query-veronica Host=veronica.scs.unr.edu USENET BY E-MAIL ---------------- Usenet is a collection of over 5000 discussion groups on every topic imaginable. In order to get a proper start and avoid embarrasing yourself needlessly, you must read the Usenet new users intro document, which can be obtained by sending e-mail to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and include this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/news-newusers-intro To get a listing of Usenet newsgroups, add these commands to your note: send usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part1 send usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part2 send usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part1 send usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part2 To get the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file(s) for a given newsgroup, try a command like this: index usenet/<newsgroupname> (Substitute dots for dashes if they appear in the newsgroup name.) If any FAQ files are available, they will be listed in the returned info, and you can request them with a command like: send usenet/<newsgroupname>/<faqfilename> Once you've handled the preliminaries, you'll need to know how to read and contribute to Usenet newsgroups by e-mail. To read a newsgroup, you can use the gophermail service discussed earlier in this guide. To obtain a list of recent postings to a particular newsgroup, send the following lines to one of the gophermail servers mentioned previously. Specify "Subject: get all" and include only these lines in the message body. (You must replace "<newsgroup>" below with the name of the Usenet newsgroup you wish to access. eg: alt.answers, biz.comp.services, news.newusers.questions, etc.) ------- begin gophermail message (do not include this line) Name=<newsgroup> Type=1 Port=4324 Path=nntp ls <newsgroup> Host=pinchy.micro.umn.EDU ------- end gophermail message (do not include this line) If this doesn't work, you can try another Host by specifying Port=4320 (instead of Port=4324) and substituting one of the lines below. Host=phantom.bsu.edu Host=teetot.acusd.edu Host=infopub.uqam.ca Host=gopher.ic.ac.uk Host=info.mcc.ac.uk Note that many of these sites carry only a limited range of newsgroups, so you may have to try several before finding one which carries the newsgroup you're looking for. When the newsgroup does not exist, gophermail sends something like "'nntp ls <newsgroup>': path does not exist". When a site does not accept outside requests, gophermail sends something like "Sorry, we don't accept requests outside campus". If successful, the gophermail server will send you a typical gopher menu on which you may select the individual postings you wish to read. Note: The gophermail query in this example is the greatly edited result of many previous queries. I've pared it down to the bare essentials so it can be tailored and reused. If you decide to make a post of your own, mail the text of your post to: group-name@cs.utexas.edu group.name@news.demon.co.uk group.name@charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu group.name@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca group.name@nic.funet.fi (For an updated list send e-mail to mg5n+remailers@andrew.cmu.edu) For example, to post to news.newusers.questions, you might send your message to either of: news-newusers-questions@cs.utexas.edu news.newusers.questions@news.demon.co.uk Be sure to include an appropriate Subject: line, and include your real name and e-mail address at the close of your note. USENET SEARCHES --------------- A service at Stanford University makes it possible to search USENET newsgroups for postings that contain keywords of interest to you. You can even "subscribe" and receive a daily list of newsgroup postings that match your search criteria. Send mail to netnews@db.stanford.edu with HELP in the body of note for full details. WAIS SEARCHES BY E-MAIL ----------------------- WAIS stands for Wide Area Information Service, and is a means of searching a set of over 500 indexed databases. The range of topics is too broad to mention, and besides, you'll soon learn how to get the topic list for yourself. I recommend that you send e-mail to "waismail@sunsite.unc.edu" with HELP in the body of the note to get the full WAISmail user guide. But if you can't wait, use the info below as a quickstart. A list of WAIS databases (or "resources" as they like to be called) can be obtained by sending e-mail to the waismail server with the line search xxx xxx in the body of the note. Look through the returned list for topics that are of interest to you and use one of them in the next example. OK, let's do an actual search. Send e-mail to: waismail@sunsite.unc.edu with the following commands in the note body: maxres 10 search bush-speeches lips This will tell WAISmail to search through the text of the "bush-speeches" database and return a list of at most 10 documents containing "lips". A successful search will return one or more "DOCid:" lines, which identify the location of the matching documents. To retrieve the full text of a matching document, send one of the returned "DOCid:" lines (exactly as is) in the body of your next message to WAISmail. (Note: The WAISmail server at "quake.think.com" is defunct. The server listed above still had a few bugs as of this writing, so if it doesn't work, try the WAIS via gophermail method described next.) A list of WAIS databases can also be obtained by sending e-mail to gophermail@calvin.edu with "Subject: get all" and these lines in the message body: Type=1 Name=WAIS Databases Path=1/WAISes/Everything Host=gopher-gw.micro.umn.edu Port=70 Look through the returned list for topics that are of interest to you and select one to search. Specify your search term(s) on the Subject line, and clip out just the section of the returned gopher menu that corresponds to your target database. For example: Type=7+ Name=bush-speeches.src Path=waissrc:/WAISes/Everything/bush-speeches Host=gopher-gw.micro.umn.edu Port=70 You will (hopefully) receive a gophermail menu in response listing the matching "documents". To retrieve the full text of a matching document, just make a selection from the returned gopher menu, and the referenced file will be sent to you. In my testing, WAIS by gophermail was not reliable. Often a blank menu was returned but repeated attempts did eventually meet with success. WORLD-WIDE WEB BY E-MAIL ------------------------ The World-Wide Web is touted as the future of Internet navigational tools. It's a hypertext and multimedia system that lets you hop around the Net, read documents, and access images & sounds linked to a source. Have you ever heard someone say, "Wow, check out the cool stuff at http://www.somewhere.com/blah.html" and wondered what the heck they were talking about? Now you can retrieve WWW documents by e-mail using an Agora WWW-mail server. All you need to know is the Uniform Resource Locator (or URL, that long ugly string starting with "http:", "gopher:", or "ftp:") which defines the address of the document, and you can retrieve it by sending e-mail to either of: agora@mail.w3.org (temporarily out of service) agora@www.undp.org In the body of your note include one of these lines, replacing "<URL>" with the actual URL specification. send <URL> This will send you back the document you requested, with a list of all the documents referenced within, so that you may make further requests. deep <URL> Same as above, but it will also send you the documents referenced in the URL you specified. (May result in a LOT of data coming your way!) To try WWW by e-mail send the following commands to an Agora server : www send http://www.w3.org You'll receive in due course the Agora help file and the "WWW Welcome Page" from Cern which will include references to other Web documents you'll want to explore. Note: The URL you specify may contain only the following characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and these special characters /:._-+@%*()?~ As mentioned earlier, you can also get Usenet postings from the WWW mail server. Here are some examples: send news:comp.unix.aix (returns a list of recent postings) deep news:comp.unix.aix (returns the list AND the postings, this can be a LOT of data!) There is another WWW-mail server whose address is: webmail@curia.ucc.ie This server requires commands in the form: go <URL> Note: The WWW-mail servers are sometimes unavailable for days (or weeks) at a time without explanation. If you get an error or no reply, please retry in a day or so. WWW SEARCH BY E-MAIL -------------------- There's a lot of great stuff out on the Web, but how do you find it? Well, just like Archie and Veronica help you search FTP and gopher sites, there are several search engines that have been developed to search for information on the Web. But until now, you had to have direct Internet access to use them. After a bit of research, I have found that it is possible to use several WWW search mechanisms by e-mail. Here are some sample queries that you can use to search via Lycos, WebCrawler and the CUI W3 Catalog. Any of these lines can be sent to an Agora server (see above) to perform a search. If you're not interested in spam or frogs, then by all means feel free to use your own search keywords. For Lycos, append a dot to your keywords to force an exact match, or you will get a substring search by default. Separate words with a "+" sign. http://query1.lycos.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/pursuit?spam http://query1.lycos.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/pursuit?spam. http://query1.lycos.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/pursuit?frog.+dissection. For WebCrawler searches you must separate words with a "+" sign. All searches are exact, no trailing dot required. http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/cgi-bin/WebQuery?spam http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/cgi-bin/WebQuery?frog+dissection For CUI W3 Catalog searches you must separate words with "%20" as below. All searches are exact, no trailing dot required. http://cuiwww.unige.ch/w3catalog?spam http://cuiwww.unige.ch/w3catalog?frog%20dissection MAILING LISTS ------------- There are literally thousands of discussion groups that stay in touch using e-mail based systems known as "mailing lists". People interested in a topic "subscribe" to a "list" and then send and receive postings by e-mail. For a good introduction to this topic, send e-mail to: LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu In the body of your note include only this command: GET NEW-LIST WOUTERS Finding a Mailing List ---------------------- To find out about mailing lists that are relevant to your interests, send the following command to the same address given above. LIST GLOBAL /keyword (Of course you must replace "keyword" with an appropriate search word such as Marketing, Education, etc.) Another helpful document which details the commands used to subscribe, unsubscribe and search mailing list archives can be had by sending to: LISTSERV@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu In the body of your note include only this command: get mailser cmd nettrain f=mail New in These Parts? ------------------- If you're new to the Internet, I suggest you subscribe to the HELP-NET list where you're likely to find answers to your questions. Send the command: SUBSCRIBE HELP-NET <Firstname Lastname> in the BODY of a note to LISTSERV@VM.TEMPLE.EDU, then e-mail your questions to the list address: HELP-NET@VM.TEMPLE.EDU FINGER BY E-MAIL ---------------- "Finger" is a utility that returns information about another user. Usually it's just boring stuff like last logon, etc., but sometimes people put fun or useful information in their finger replies. To try out finger, send e-mail with Subject: FINGER jtchern@headcrash.berkeley.edu. To: infobot@infomania.com You'll receive some current sports standings! (The general form is FINGER user@site.) Just for kicks, try finger using a combination of gopher and WWW. Send the command: send gopher://<site>:79/0<user> to the WWWmail server mentioned earlier. "DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE" BY E-MAIL -------------------------------- "WHOIS" is a service that queries a database of Internet names and addresses. If you're looking for someone or you want to know where a particular Internet site is located, send e-mail with Subject: whois <name> To: mailserv@internic.net Try substituting "mit.edu" or the last name of someone you know in place of "<name>" and see what comes back! It should be noted that WHOIS is not a comprehensive listing of all Internet users. It contains mostly network administrators and some "notable" Internet figures. Another alternative name looker-upper is a database at MIT which keeps tabs on everyone who has posted a message on Usenet. Send e-mail to "mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu" and include this command ONLY in the BODY: send usenet-addresses/<name> Specify as much information as you can about the person (lastname, firstname, userid, site, etc.) to limit the amount of information that is returned to you. Here's a sample query to find the address of someone you think may be at Harvard University: send usenet-addresses/Jane Doe Harvard NETFIND is another more powerful search engine that uses a person's name and keywords describing a physical location to return a bunch of info about the person (or persons) who fit the bill. Let's say we want to find someone named Hardy at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Our Netfind query will be addressed to an Agora server (see list in WWW section) and will contain the only line: gopher://ds.internic.net:4320/7netfind%20dblookup?hardy+boulder+colorado Netfind works in two phases. First it displays a list of internet domains that match your keywords, then it looks for the person in the domain you select. Netfind by e-mail is very similar, in that you'll receive a listing of matching domains from which you must make one or more selections. Each selection is numbered and there are corresponding "gopher://" commands at the bottom of the listing. Let's pick the selection for cs.colorado.edu computer science dept, university of colorado, boulder which means that our next command to the Agora server will be: gopher://ds.internic.net:4320/0netfind%20netfind%20hardy%20cs.colorado.edu If all goes well, you'll receive a list something like this: full_name: HARDY, JOE (not a real person) email: CrazyJoe@Colorado.EDU phone: (303) 492-1234 address: Campus Box 777 department: COMPUTER SCIENCE Note that if you know the person's domain name already, you can jump right in with a query like the latter one above. You can also try the "Four11 Online User Directory", a free directory of users and their e-mail addresses. Send e-mail to info@four11.com for details on how to search the Four11 directory. ADDRESS/NAME SERVER INFO BY E-MAIL ---------------------------------- This is a little on the technical side, but anyway the Mail Name Server (dns@grasp.insa-lyon.fr) offers some useful services by e-mail. Some of the commands you can send in the BODY of your note are: help (full details) ip host.foo.bar (get host's addresses) name ip# (get host name from address) ns host.foo.bar (get host's name servers) TELNET BY E-MAIL ----------------- Sorry, it can't be done. Actually it CAN be done, but apparently nobody has done it. I'd love to be proven wrong on this! A FEW NET-GOODIES ----------------- Here are some other interesting things you can do by e-mail. (Some of them are accessible only by e-mail!) * ALMANAC, WEATHER & THE SWEDISH CHEF Infomania offers a bunch of services by e-mail! Almanac (daily updates), Weather, CD Music Catalog, etc. Send e-mail to infobot@infomania.com with subject HELP for full details. * THE USENET ORACLE A cooperative, anonymous and humorous exchange of questions and answers. Send e-mail to oracle@cs.indiana.edu for more information. * SENDING A FAX BY E-MAIL Free faxing via the Internet? You bet. For details, send the line below to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (in BODY of note) send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/fax-faq * THE ELECTRONIC NEWSSTAND The Electronic Newsstand collects articles, editorials, and tables of contents from over 165 magazines and provides them to the Internet. To get instructions on e-mail access, send a message to gophermail@enews.com * U.S. CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE Find out if your congressperson has an electronic address! Just send mail to the address congress@hr.house.gov and you'll get a listing of congressional e-mail addresses. You can also contact the President (president@whitehouse.gov) or Vice President (vice.president@whitehouse.gov), but don't expect a reply by e-mail. Messages sent to these addresses get printed out and handled just like regular paper correspondence! * OTHER SOURCES OF US GOV'T INFO: Send the lines below to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (in BODY of note) send usenet/news.answers/us-govt-net-pointers/part1 send usenet/news.answers/us-govt-net-pointers/part2 * INTERNET PATENT NEWS SERVICE Send e-mail to patents@world.std.com for more information on this service. * THE INTERNET MALL To get a copy of this long list of net-connected businesses, send e-mail to taylor@netcom.com with Subject: send mall * FINDING E-MAIL ADDRESSES For a guide to finding someone's e-mail addresses, send the line below to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (in the BODY of the note) send usenet/news.answers/finding-addresses * SENDING MAIL TO VARIOUS NETWORKS For a guide to communicating with people on the various networks that make up the Internet, send the line below to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (in the BODY of the note) send usenet/news.answers/mail/inter-network-guide * SENDING MAIL TO FAMILY MEMBERS Family Internet MailCall is a fee-based service that helps you keep in touch via a private mailing list. Details: family-info@mailcall.com * MOVIE INFO To learn how to get tons of info on movies, actors, & directors, send mailto movie@ibmpcug.co.uk with HELP in the body of note for details. * STOCK MARKET REPORT Send e-mail with subject STOCK MARKET QUOTES to martin.wong@eng.sun.com and you'll receive a rather lengthy stock market report (every day until you ask Martin to stop sending them)! Please note that this is not an automated server, so be sure to include a word of appreciation for this useful service. * STOCK MARKET QUOTES If you want to get a current quote for just 1 or 2 stocks, you can use the QuoteCom service. They offer this free service along with other fee based services. For details, send e-mail to "services@quote.com" with a subject of HELP. * THE CONTRARIAN ADVISOR A stock newsletter focusing on out-of-favor stocks. To subscribe, send e-mail to choyt@Interactive.net with Subject: Subscribe Contrarian * ANONYMOUS E-MAIL The "anon server" provides a front for sending mail messages and posting to Usenet newsgroups anonymously, should the need ever arise. To get complete instructions, send e-mail to help@anon.penet.fi * NET JOURNALS LISTING I highly recommend "The Internet Press - A guide to electronic journals about the Internet". To get it, send e-mail with Subject: subscribe to ipress-request@northcoast.com * MUSI-CAL Send e-mail to concerts@calendar.com to retrieve a help message that tells how to use the Musi-Cal online concert calendar service. * ASK DR. MATH Have a math question? No problem's too big or too small for The Swat Team. Write to dr.math@forum.swarthmore.edu * SCOUT REPORT: Scout Report is a weekly featuring announcements of new and interesting resources on the Internet. To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@is.internic.net with "Subscribe scout-report" in the body. SUGGESTED READING ----------------- There are lots of good books and guides to help you get started on the Internet, and here are some that I recommend. The first few are free (FTPmail commands listed below), and the others can be found in most bookstores that carry computer-related books. "Zen and the Art of the Internet", by Brendan Kehoe open ftp.std.com chdir obi/Internet/zen-1.0 get zen10.txt "There's Gold in them thar Networks", by Jerry Martin open nic.ddn.mil chdir rfc get rfc1402.txt "Unofficial Internet Book List", by Kevin Savetz open rtfm.mit.edu chdir pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services get book-list "The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog", by Ed Krol Publisher: O'Reilly and Associates ISBN: 1-56592-063-5 Price: $24.95 "Everybody's Guide to the Internet", by Adam Gaffin Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 0-262-57105-6 Price: $14.95 "The Internet Guide For New Users", by Daniel P. Dern Publisher: McGraw-Hill ISBN: 0-07-016511-4 Price: $27.95 CONTACTING THE AUTHOR --------------------- "Doctor Bob", also known as Bob Rankin, welcomes your feedback on this guide and can be reached at the following addresses. Send corrections, ideas, suggestions and comments by e-mail. I'll try to include any new e-mail services in future editions of this guide. E-Mail : BobRankin@MHV.net Web : http://csbh.mhv.net/~bobrankin US Mail : Doctor Bob / P.O. Box 39 / Tillson, NY / 12486 MORE PUBLICATIONS FROM DOCTOR BOB! ---------------------------------- Announcing ... +------------------------------------------------+ | "100 COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE INTERNET!" | | Doctor Bob's Internet Tour Guide | | Over 100 places you *must* visit in cyberspace | +------------------------------------------------+ This is the guide I wanted when the Internet was new to me. Just a quick overview of the "tools of the trade" and a list of "cool things to do". Not 300 pages... And not $39! This information could save you money, hours of valuable time, or lead you to a new career. There's a goldmine of information, software and services out there just waiting to be discovered! It can be yours, but it's not easy... That's why you must have this informative report which gives you the lowdown on: * Online databases * Electronic Library Catalogs * Shopping in Cyberspace * Job Postings Online * Vast software libraries * ALL FREE! You'll learn the basics of TELNETing, FTPing and GOPHERing to the information you want, with specific instructions and the "secret keys" you need to unlock all the doors on the way! +------------------------------------------------+ | Doctor Bob's Internet Business Guide | | An Introduction to Good | | Old-Fashioned Capitalism In Cyberspace | +------------------------------------------------+ There are those who say that the Internet should be free of capitalism, commerce, advertising and anything that smells like "business". But there ARE ways to conduct business on the 'Net without raising the ire of the inhabitants of the electronic domain. You can lower costs, make money and even get thanked for providing your service if you know how to do it right! I can't promise that you'll make lots of money selling your product or service, but I'm certain that after you've read this guide, you will have a better understanding of: * Internet Tools & Techniques * Business Resources on the Net * Setting Up Shop on the Net * Avoiding Net Marketing Pitfalls * What business are on the Net * Getting paid for your product To get your copy of: "100 COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE INTERNET!" - or - "DOCTOR BOB'S INTERNET BUSINESS GUIDE" Send just $5 each (cash, check or credit card) plus a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: --> DOCTOR BOB --> PO BOX 39, DEPT U4 --> TILLSON, NY 12486 USA Note: For e-mail delivery (preferred) you can skip the envelope but make sure to send your e-mail address along with your order. To pay with your Credit Card send the following information by US Mail to the address above, or by e-mail to BobRankin@MHV.net : - Visa/MasterCard/Discover/Amex card number, with expiration date - Your name (as it appears on your card) - Mailing address and phone number - Number of copies you wish to order - A statement reading "I authorize Doctor Bob Publications to charge the price of this order to my credit card." Outside the USA: Skip the stamp, but please add $1 for postage. If it's too difficult to get US funds, send 12 International Postal Coupons in lieu of cash. And if all else fails, send your own (paper) currency, estimating the conversion factor. I cannot accept checks or money orders drawn on non-US institutions. I also accept electronic payment via NetCash and First Virtual! For details send e-mail to catalog@agents.com with DOCTOR BOB on the first line of your note. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1994-95, "Doctor Bob" Rankin All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Feel free to upload to your favorite BBS or Internet server! Persons wishing to summarize this document in other publications may do so, but please include the instructions herein for obtaining the full document. I also request that you kindly supply me with a copy of the article when published. # # #