The Datafile PD-CD 3/PDCD_3.iso/internet/nbase054n/!Newsbase/Support/newsbase/new_news/bin,FFF

Text File | 1995-04-29 | 123KB | 2,806 lines

#! rnews
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 08:00:07 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
From: [e-mail] (Mark Moraes)
Subject: Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
Newsgroups: newsbase.announce.newusers
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Followup-To: news.newusers.questions
Approved: [e-mail] (Mark Moraes)
Lines: 405

Original-author: [e-mail] (Brad Templeton)
Archive-name: emily-postnews/part1
Last-change: 26 Oct 1994 by [e-mail] (Mark Moraes)
Changes-posted-to: news.misc,news.answers

**NOTE: this is intended to be satirical.  If you do not recognize
  it as such, consult a doctor or professional comedian.  The
  recommendations in this article should recognized for what
  they are -- admonitions about what NOT to do.


            "Dear Emily Postnews"

    Emily Postnews, foremost authority on proper net behaviour,
    gives her advice on how to act on the net.

============================================================================

Q: Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -- verbose@noisy

A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you
can.  It's much more important than your article, of course, so try
to have more lines of signature than actual text.

Try to include a large graphic made of ASCII characters, plus lots of
cute quotes and slogans.  People will never tire of reading these
pearls of wisdom again and again, and you will soon become personally
associated with the joy each reader feels at seeing yet another
delightful repeat of your signature.

Be sure as well to include a complete map of Usenet with each
signature, to show how anybody can get mail to you from any site in
the world.  Be sure to include Internet gateways as well.  Also tell
people on your own site how to mail to you.  Give independent
addresses for Internet, UUCP, and BITNET, even if they're all the
same.

Aside from your reply address, include your full name, company and
organization.  It's just common courtesy -- after all, in some
newsreaders people have to type an *entire* keystroke to go back to
the top of your article to see this information in the header.

By all means include your phone number and street address in every
single article.  People are always responding to Usenet articles with
phone calls and letters.  It would be silly to go to the extra trouble
of including this information only in articles that need a response by
conventional channels!
                ------
Q: Dear Emily: Today I posted an article and forgot to include my
signature.  What should I do?  -- forgetful@myvax

A: Dear Forgetful: Rush to your terminal right away and post an
article that says, "Oops, I forgot to post my signature with that last
article.  Here it is."

Since most people will have forgotten your earlier article,
(particularly since it dared to be so boring as to not have a nice,
juicy signature) this will remind them of it.  Besides, people care
much more about the signature anyway.  See the previous letter for
more important details.

Also, be sure to include your signature TWICE in each article.  That
way you're sure people will read it.

                ------
Q: Dear Ms. Postnews: I couldn't get mail through to somebody on another
site.  What should I do? -- [e-mail]

A: Dear Eager: No problem, just post your message to a group that a
lot of people read.  Say, "This is for John Smith.  I couldn't get
mail through so I'm posting it.  All others please ignore."

This way tens of thousands of people will spend a few seconds scanning
over and ignoring your article, using up over 16 man-hours their
collective time, but you will be saved the terrible trouble of
checking through Usenet maps or looking for alternate routes.  Just
think, if you couldn't distribute your message to 30,000 other
computers, you might actually have to (gasp) call directory assistance
for 60 cents, or even phone the person.  This can cost as much as a
few DOLLARS (!) for a 5 minute call!

And certainly it's better to spend 10 to 20 dollars of other people's
money distributing the message then for you to have to waste $9 on an
overnight letter, or even 29 cents on a stamp!

Don't forget.  The world will end if your message doesn't get through,
so post it as many places as you can.

                ------
Q: What about a test message?

A: It is important, when testing, to test the entire net.  Never test
merely a subnet distribution when the whole net can be done.  Also put
"please ignore" on your test messages, since we all know that
everybody always skips a message with a line like that.  Don't use a
subject like "My sex is female but I demand to be addressed as male."
because such articles are read in depth by all USEnauts.

                ------
Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars.  What
should I do? - [e-mail]

A: Post the correct answer at once!  We can't have people go on
believing that!  Very good of you to spot this.  You'll probably be
the only one to make the correction, so post as soon as you can.  No
time to lose, so certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if
somebody else has made the correction.

And it's not good enough to send the message by mail.  Since you're
the only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have to
inform the whole net right away!

Using the most confrontational and impolite language you can, don't
forget to point out the folly of the error made by the person.

                ------
Q: I read an article that said, "reply by mail, I'll summarize."  What
should I do?

A: Post your response to the whole net.  That request applies only to
dumb people who don't have something interesting to say.  Your
postings are much more worthwhile than other people's, so it would be
a waste to reply by mail.

                ------
Q: I collected replies to an article I wrote, and now it's time to
summarize.  What should I do?

A: Simply concatenate all the articles together into a big file and
post that.  On Usenet, this is known as a summary.  It lets people
read all the replies without annoying newsreaders getting in the way.
Do the same when summarizing a vote.

                ------
Q: I saw a long article that I wish to rebut carefully, what should I
do?

A: Include the entire text with your article, particularly the
signature, and include your comments closely packed between the lines.
Be sure to post, and not mail, even though your article looks like a
reply to the original.  Everybody *loves* to read those long
point-by-point debates, especially when they evolve into name-calling
and lots of "Is too!" -- "Is not!" -- "Is too, twizot!" exchanges.

Be sure to follow-up everything, and never let another person get in
the last word on a net debate.  Why, if people let other people have
the last word, then discussions would actually stop!  Remember, other
net readers aren't nearly as clever as you, and if somebody posts
something wrong, the readers can't possibly realize that on their own
without your elucidations.  If somebody gets insulting in their net
postings, the best response is to get right down to their level and
fire a return salvo.  When I read one net person make an insulting
attack on another, I always immediately take it as gospel unless a
rebuttal is posted.  It never makes me think less of the insulter, so
it's your duty to respond.

                ------
Q: How can I choose what groups to post in?

A: Pick as many as you can, so that you get the widest audience.
After all, the net exists to give you an audience.  Ignore those who
suggest you should only use groups where you think the article is
highly appropriate.  Pick all groups where anybody might even be
slightly interested.

Always make sure followups go to all the groups.  In the rare event
that you post a followup which contains something original, make sure
you expand the list of groups.  Never include a "Followup-to:" line in
the header, since some people might miss part of the valuable
discussion in the fringe groups.

                ------
Q: How about an example?

A: Ok.  Let's say you want to report that Gretzky has been traded from
the Oilers to the Kings.  Now right away you might think
rec.sport.hockey would be enough.  WRONG.  Many more people might be
interested.  This is a big trade!  Since it's a NEWS article, it
belongs in the news.* hierarchy as well.  If you are a news admin, or
there is one on your machine, try news.admin.  If not, use news.misc.

The Oilers are probably interested in geology, so try sci.geo.fluids.
He is a big star, so post to sci.astro, and sci.space because they are
also interested in stars.  And of course comp.dcom.telecom because he
was born in the birthplace of the telephone.  And because he's
Canadian, post to soc.culture.Ontario.southwestern.  But that group
doesn't exist, so cross-post to news.groups suggesting it should be
created.  With this many groups of interest, your article will be
quite bizarre, so post to talk.bizarre as well.  (And post to
comp.std.mumps, since they hardly get any articles there, and a "comp"
group will propagate your article further.)

You may also find it is more fun to post the article once in each
group.  If you list all the newsgroups in the same article, some
newsreaders will only show the the article to the reader once!  Don't
tolerate this.

                ------
Q: How do I create a newsgroup?

A: The easiest way goes something like "inews -C newgroup ....", and
while that will stir up lots of conversation about your new newsgroup,
it might not be enough.

First post a message in news.groups describing the group.  This is a
"call for discussion."  (If you see a call for discussion, immediately
post a one line message saying that you like or dislike the group.)
When proposing the group, pick a name with a TLA (three-letter
acronym) that will be understood only by "in" readers of the group.

After the call for discussion, post the call for flames, followed by a
call for arguments about the name and a call for run-on puns.
Eventually make a call for "votes." Usenet is a democracy, so voters
can now all post their votes to ensure they get to all 30,000 machines
instead of just the person counting. Every few days post a long
summary of all the votes so that people can complain about bad mailers
and double votes.  It means you'll be more popular and get lots of
mail.  At the end of 21 days you can post the vote results so that
people can argue about all the technical violations of the guidelines
you made.  Blame them on the moderator-of-the-week for
news.announce.newgroups.  Then your group might be created.

To liven up discussion, choose a good cross-match for your hierarchy
and group.  For example, comp.race.formula1 or soc.vlsi.design would
be good group names.  If you want your group created quickly, include
an interesting word like "sex" or "activism."  To avoid limiting
discussion, make the name as broad as possible, and don't forget that
TLA.

If possible, count votes from a leaf site with a once-a-week polled
connection to botswanavax.  Schedule the vote during your relay site's
head crash if possible.

Under no circumstances use the trial group method, because it
eliminates the discussion, flame, pun, voting and guideline-violation
accusation phases, thus taking all the fun out of it.  To create an
ALT group, simply issue the creation command.  Then issue an rmgroup
and some more newgroup messages to save other netters the trouble of
doing that part.

                ------
Q: I cant spell worth a dam.  I hope your going too tell me what to
do?

A: Don't worry about how your articles look.  Remember it's the
message that counts, not the way it's presented.  Ignore the fact that
sloppy spelling in a purely written forum sends out the same silent
messages that soiled clothing would when addressing an audience.

                ------
Q: How should I pick a subject for my articles?

A: Keep it short and meaningless.  That way people will be forced to
actually read your article to find out what's in it.  This means a
bigger audience for you, and we all know that's what the net is for.
If you do a followup, be sure and keep the same subject, even if it's
totally meaningless and not part of the same discussion.  If you
don't, you won't catch all the people who are looking for stuff on the
original topic, and that means less audience for you.

                ------
Q: What sort of tone should I take in my article?

A: Be as outrageous as possible.  If you don't say outlandish things,
and fill your article with libelous insults of net people, you may not
stick out enough in the flood of articles to get a response.  The more
insane your posting looks, the more likely it is that you'll get lots
of followups.  The net is here, after all, so that you can get lots of
attention.

If your article is polite, reasoned and to the point, you may only get
mailed replies.  Yuck!

                ------
Q: The posting software suggested I had too long a signature and too
many lines of included text in my article.  What's the best course?

A: Such restrictions were put in the software for no reason at all, so
don't even try to figure out why they might apply to your article.
Turns out most people search the net to find nice articles that
consist of the complete text of an earlier article plus a few lines.

In order to help these people, fill your article with dummy original
lines to get past the restrictions.  Everybody will thank you for it.

For your signature, I know it's tough, but you will have to read it in
with the editor.  Do this twice to make sure it's firmly in there.  By
the way, to show your support for the free distribution of
information, be sure to include a copyright message forbidding
transmission of your article to sites whose Usenet politics you don't
like.

Also, if you do have a lot of free time and want to trim down the text
in your article, be sure to delete some of the attribution lines so
that it looks like the original author of -- say -- a plea for world
peace actually wrote the followup calling for the nuking of Bermuda.

                ------
Q: They just announced on the radio that the United States has invaded
Iraq.  Should I post?

A: Of course.  The net can reach people in as few as 3 to 5 days.
It's the perfect way to inform people about such news events long
after the broadcast networks have covered them.  As you are probably
the only person to have heard the news on the radio, be sure to post
as soon as you can.

                ------
Q: I have this great joke.  You see, these three strings walk into a
bar...

A: Oh dear.  Don't spoil it for me.  Submit it to rec.humor, and post
it to the moderator of rec.humor.funny at the same time.  I'm sure
he's never seen that joke.

                ------
Q: What computer should I buy?  An Atari ST or an Amiga?

A: Cross post that question to the Atari and Amiga groups.  It's an
interesting and novel question that I am sure they would love to
investigate in those groups.  In fact, post your question at once,
to as many technical groups as you can think of, concluding your
request with the line "Please reply by mail, as I do not follow this
group."  (No one will find such a statement impertinent; remember,
the net is a resource to help you.)

There is no need to read the groups in advance or examine the
"frequently asked question" lists to see if the topic has already
been dealt with.  Any such warnings are for people without your
innate sense of netiquette, and whose uninspired questions are bound
to be repetitive.  Your question is sure to be unique; no point
checking the list to see if the answer might be there already.  How
could it be, when you only just thought of the question?

                ------
Q: What about other important questions?  How should I know when to
post?

A: Always post them.  It would be a big waste of your time to find a
knowledgeable user in one of the groups and ask through private mail
if the topic has already come up.  Much easier to bother thousands of
people with the same question.

                ------
Q: Somebody just posted a query to the net, and I want to get the
answer too.  What should I do?

A: Immediately post a following, including the complete text of the
query.  At the bottom add, "Me too!"  If somebody else has done this,
follow up their article and add "Me three," or whatever number is
appropriate.  Don't forget your full signature.  After all, if you
just mail the original poster and ask for a copy of the answers, you
will simply clutter the poster's mailbox, and save people who do
answer the question the joyful duty of noting all the "me (n)s" and
sending off all the multiple copies.

                ------
Q: What is the measure of a worthwhile group?

A: Why, it's Volume, Volume, Volume.  Any group that has lots of noise
in it must be good.  Remember, the higher the volume of material in a
group, the higher percentage of useful, factual and insightful
articles you will find.  In fact, if a group can't demonstrate a high
enough volume, it should be deleted from the net.

                ------
Q: Emily, I'm having a serious disagreement with somebody on the net.
I tried complaints to his sysadmin, organizing mail campaigns, called
for his removal from the net and phoning his employer to get him
fired.  Everybody laughed at me.  What can I do?

A: Go to the daily papers.  Most modern reporters are top-notch
computer experts who will understand the net, and your problems,
perfectly.  They will print careful, reasoned stories without any
errors at all, and surely represent the situation properly to the
public.  The public will also all act wisely, as they are also fully
cognizant of the subtle nature of net society.

Papers never sensationalize or distort, so be sure to point out things
like racism and sexism wherever they might exist.  Be sure as well
that they understand that all things on the net, particularly insults,
are meant literally.  Link what transpires on the net to the causes of
the Holocaust, if possible.  If regular papers won't take the story,
go to a tabloid paper -- they are always interested in good stories.

By arranging all this free publicity for the net, you'll become very
well known.  People on the net will wait in eager anticipation for
your every posting, and refer to you constantly.  You'll get more mail
than you ever dreamed possible -- the ultimate in net success.

                ------
Q: What does foobar stand for?

A: It stands for you, dear.

---
Christian_Paulus <[e-mail]> has a french translation of
''Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette''.
This translation (posted in fr.news.misc and fdn.misc monthly) is available at:

    ftp://ftp.fdn.fr/FDN/Doc/Emily-Postnews-repond-a-vos-questions

or on the World Wide Web:

    http://www.fdn.fr/fdn/doc-misc/Emily-Postnews.html


#! rnews
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 08:00:39 GMT
Expires: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 08:00:38 GMT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
From: [e-mail] (Mark Moraes)
Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet
Newsgroups: newsbase.announce.newusers
Followup-To: news.newusers.questions
Approved: [e-mail] (Mark Moraes)
Lines: 863

Archive-name: usenet-faq/part1
Original-author: [e-mail] (Jerry Schwarz)
Comment: enhanced & edited until 5/93 by [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)
Last-change: 27 Oct 1994 by [e-mail] (Mark Moraes)
Changes-posted-to: news.misc,news.answers

           Frequently Submitted/Asked Items

This document discusses some questions and topics that occur
repeatedly on Usenet.  They frequently are submitted by new users, and
result in many followups, sometimes swamping groups for weeks. The
purpose of this note is to head off these annoying events by answering
some questions and warning about the inevitable consequence of asking
others.  If you don't like these answers, let the poster of thie
article know.

Note that some newsgroups have their own special "Frequent Questions &
Answers" posting.  You should read a group for a while before posting
any questions, because the answers may already be present.
Comp.unix.questions and comp.unix.internals are examples -- Steve Hayman
regularly posts an article that answers common questions, including
some of the ones asked here.

This list is often referred to as FAQ -- the Frequently Asked
Questions.  If you are a new user of the Usenet and don't find an
answer to your questions here, you can try asking in the
news.newusers.questions group.  You might also read through other FAQ
lists, cross-posted to the news.answers group.


                   Contents
                   ========

 1.  What does UNIX stand for?
 2.  What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word?
 3.  Is a machine at "foo" on the net?
 4.  What does "rc" at the end of files like .newsrc mean?
 5.  What does :-) mean?
 6.  How do I decrypt jokes in rec.humor?
 7.  misc.misc or misc.wanted: Is John Doe out there anywhere?
 8.  sci.math: Proofs that 1=0.
 9.  rec.games.*: Where can I get the source for empire or rogue?
10.  comp.unix.questions: How do I remove files with non-ascii
     characters in their names?
11.  comp.unix.internals: There is a bug in the way UNIX handles
     protection for programs that run suid, or any other report of
     bugs with standard software.
12.  Volatile topics, e.g., soc.women: What do you think about abortion?
13.  soc.singles: What do MOTOS, MOTSS, and MOTAS  stand for?
     What does LJBF mean?
14.  soc.singles and elsewhere:  What does HASA stand for?
15.  sci.space.shuttle: Shouldn't this group be merged with sci.space?
16.  How do I use the "Distribution" feature?
17.  Why do some people put funny lines ("bug killers") at the beginning
     of their articles?
18.  What is the address or phone number of the "foo" company?
19.  What is the origin of the name "grep"?
20.  How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, Internet to BITNET, JANET etc. etc.?
21.  Didn't some state once pass a law setting pi equal to 3 ?
22.  Where can I get the necessary software to get a "smart"
     mail system running on my machine that will take advantage
     of the postings in comp.mail.maps?  (E.g., pathalias, smail, etc.)
23.  What is "food for the NSA line-eater"?
24.  Does anyone know the {pinouts, schematics, switch settings,
     what does jumper J3 do} for widget X?
25.  What is "anonymous ftp"?
26.  What is UUNET?
27.  Isn't the posting mechanism broken?  When I post an article to both
     a moderated group and unmoderated groups, it gets mailed to the
     moderator and not posted to the unmoderated groups.
28.  comp.arch and elsewhere:  What do FYI and IMHO mean?
29.  Would someone repost {large software distribution}?
30.  How do I contact the moderator of an Internet mailing list rather than
     post to the entire list?
31.  I see BTW (or "btw"), wrt and RTFM in postings.  What do they mean?
32.  Are there any restrictions on posting e-mail someone sends to me?
33.  What's an FQDN?
34.  How do you pronounce "char" in C, "ioctl" in UNIX, the character
     "#", etc., etc.?
35.  How do you pronounce "TeX"?
36.  What is the last year of the 20th century A.D.?
37.  I heard these stories about a dying child wanting
     postcards/get-well cards/business cards to get in the Guinness Book
     of World Records.  Where can I post the address for people to help?
38.  I just heard about a scheme the FCC has to implement a tax on
     modems!  Where can I post a message so everyone will hear about
     this and do something to prevent it?
39.  Is there a public access Unix system near me?  How can I get
     access to system for news and mail?
40.  In rec.pets: My pet has suddenly developed the following symptoms
     .... Is it serious?  In sci.med: I have these symptoms .... Is it
     serious?
41.  I have this great idea to make money.  Alternatively, wouldn't an
     electronic chain letter be a nifty idea?
42.  Where can I get archives of Usenet postings?
43.  Is it possible to post messages to the Usenet via electronic mail?
44.  Is it possible to read Usenet newsgroups via electronic mail?
45.  How do I get the news software to include a signature with my
     postings?
46.  I'm on Bitnet -- can I connect to the net?
47.  What is a "flame"?
48.  What is a mail-server/listserv?
49.  Should one write USENET or Usenet?

            Questions and Answers
            =====================

 1.  What does UNIX stand for?

     It is not an acronym, but is a pun on "Multics".  Multics is a
     large operating system that was being developed shortly before
     UNIX was created.  Brian Kernighan is credited with the name.

 2.  What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word?

     The favorite story is that it comes from "fubar" which is an
     acronym for "fouled up beyond all recognition", which is supposed
     to be a military term.  (Various forms of this exist, "fouled"
     usually being replaced by a stronger word.) "Foo" and "Bar" have
     the same derivation.

 3.  Is a machine at "foo" on the net?

     These questions belong in news.config (if anywhere), but in fact
     your best bet is usually to phone somebody at "foo" to find out.
     If you don't know anybody at "foo" you can always try calling and
     asking for the "comp center."  Also, see the newsgroup
     comp.mail.maps where maps of Usenet and the uucp network are posted
     regularly.  If you have access to telnet, connect to ds.internic.net
     and try the "whois" command.  (See also the answer to question
     #7, below.)

 4.  What does "rc" at the end of files like .newsrc mean?

     It is related to the phrase "run commands." It is used for any
     file that contains startup information for a command.  The use of
     "rc" in startup files derives from the /etc/rc command file used
     to start multi-user UNIX.

 5.  What does :-) mean?

      This is the net convention for a "smiley face".  It means that
      something is being said in jest.  If it doesn't look like a smiley
      face to you, flop your head over to the left and look again.
      Variants exist and mean related things; for instance, :-( is sad.

      Collections of smileys are posted to various newsgroups from
      time to time. One was posted to comp.sources.misc in v23i102.

 6.  How do I decrypt jokes in rec.humor?

     The standard cypher used in rec.humor is called "rot13."  Each
     letter is replaced by the letter 13 farther along in the alphabet
     (cycling around at the end).  Most systems have a built-in
     command to decrypt such articles; readnews and nn have the "D"
     command, emacs/gnus has the "^C^R" combination, rn has the "X" or
     "^X" commands, notes has "%" or "R", and VMS news has the
     read/rot13 command.  If your system doesn't have a program to
     encrypt and decrypt these, you can quickly create a shell script
     using "tr":
    tr A-Za-z N-ZA-Mn-za-m
     On some versions of UNIX, the "tr" command should be written as:
    tr "[a-m][n-z][A-M][N-Z]" "[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-M]"

 7.  misc.misc or misc.wanted: Is John Doe out there anywhere?

     I suspect that these items are people looking for Freshman room-
     mates that they haven't seen in ten years.  If you have some idea
     where the person is, you are usually better off calling the
     organization.  For example, if you call any Bell Labs location and
     request John Doe's number they can give it to you even if he works
     at a different location.  If you must try the net, use newsgroup
     soc.net-people *NOT* misc.misc or misc.wanted.  Also, you can try
     the "whois" command (see item #3).  There is a periodic posting
     in the news.newusers.questions and news.answers newsgroups that
     gives information on other ways to locate people.

 8.  sci.math: Proofs that 1=0.

     Almost everyone has seen one or more of these in high school.
     They are almost always based on either division by 0, confusing
     the positive and negative square roots of a number, or performing
     some ill-defined operation.

 9.  rec.games.*: Where can I get the source for empire or rogue?

     You can't get the source of rogue.  The authors of the game, as is
     their right, have chosen not to make the sources available.
     However, several rogue-like games have been posted to the
     comp.sources.games group and they are available in the archives.

     You can obtain the source to a version of empire if you provide
     a tape and SASE *plus* a photocopy of your UNIX source license.
     To obtain further info, contact mcnc!rti-sel!polyof!john.
     You can also call John at [phone] (9am-9pm EST only).

     Sites with Internet access can ftp several versions of empire
     from site ftp.ms.uky.edu in the directory pub/games/empire.

     Also, please note that the wizards' passwords in games like these
     are usually system-dependent and it does no good to ask the
     net-at-large what they are.

10.  comp.unix.questions: How do I remove files with non-ascii
     characters in their names?

     You can try to find a pattern that uniquely identifies the file.
     This sometimes fails because a peculiarity of some shells is that
     they strip off the highorder bit of characters in command lines.
     Next, you can try an rm -i, or rm -r. Finally, you can mess around
     with i-node numbers and "find".

     Some Emacs editors allow you to directly edit a directory, and
     this provides yet another way to remove a file with a funny name
     (assuming you have Emacs and figure out how to use it!).

     To remove a file named "-" from your directory, simply do:
     rm ./-

11.  comp.unix.internals: There is a bug in the way UNIX handles
     protection for programs that run suid, or any other report of
     bugs with standard software.

     There are indeed problems with the treatment of protection in
     setuid programs.  When this is brought up, suggestions for changes
     range from implementing a full capability list arrangement to new
     kernel calls for allowing more control over when the effective id
     is used and when the real id is used to control accesses.  Sooner
     or later you can expect this to be improved.  For now you just
     have to live with it.

     Always discuss suspected bugs or problems with your site software
     experts before you post to the net.  It is likely that the bugs
     have already been reported.  They might also be local changes and
     not something you need to describe to the whole Usenet.

12.  Volatile topics, e.g., soc.women: What do you think about abortion?

     Although abortion might appear to be an appropriate topic for
     soc.women, more heat than light is generated when it is brought
     up.  All abortion-related discussion should take place in the
     newsgroup talk.abortion.  If your site administrators have chosen
     not to receive this group, you should respect this and not post
     articles about abortion at all.

     This principle applies to other topics: religious upbringing of
     children should be restricted to talk.religion.misc and kept out
     of misc.kids.  Similarly, rape discussions should be kept to
     talk.rape and not in soc.singles, alt.sex and/or soc.women,
     Zionism discussions should be kept to talk.politics.mideast and
     not in soc.culture.jewish; likewise, evangelical and
     proseletyzing discussions of Jesus or of religions other than
     Judaism should go to newsgroups for the appropriate religion or
     to talk.religion.misc or alt.messianic.  Any attempts to
     proselytize any religious view belongs in talk.religion.misc, if
     they belong on the net at all.  Discussions on the merits of
     Affirmative Action and racial quotas belong in a talk.politics
     subgroup or alt.discrimination, not in
     soc.culture.african.american.  Discussions about evolution vs.
     creationism should be confined to the talk.origins group.

     Usenet newsgroups are named for mostly historical reasons, and
     are not intended to be fully general discussion groups for
     everything about the named topic.  Please accept this and post
     articles in their appropriate forums.

13.  soc.singles: What do MOTOS, MOTSS, MOTAS, and SO stand for?
     What does LJBF mean?

     Member of the opposite sex, member of the same sex, and member of
     the appropriate sex, respectively.  SO stands for "significant
     other."

     LJBF means "Let's just be friends."  This phrase is often heard
     when you least want it.

14.  soc.singles and elsewhere:  What does HASA stand for?

     The acronym HASA originated with the Heathen and Atheistic SCUM
     Alliance; the Hedonistic Asti-Spumante Alliance, Heroes Against
     Spaghetti Altering, the Society for Creative Atheism (SCATHE),
     SASA, SALSA, PASTA, and many others too numerous to mention all
     followed.  HASA started in (what is now) talk.religion.misc and
     also turns up in soc.singles, talk.bizarre, et al. because members
     post there too.

15.  sci.space.shuttle: Shouldn't this group be merged with sci.space?

     No.  sci.space.shuttle is for timely news bulletins.  sci.space is for
     discussions.

16.  How do I use the "Distribution" feature?

     When your posting software (e.g., Pnews or postnews) prompts you
     for a distribution, it's asking how widely distributed you want
     your article.  The set of possible replies is different,
     depending on where you are, but at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New
     Jersey, possibilities include (for example):
    local    local to this machine
    mh    Bell Labs, Murray Hill Branch
    nj    all sites in New Jersey
    btl    All Bell Labs machines
    att    All AT&T machines
    usa    Everywhere in the USA
    na    Everywhere in North America
    world    Everywhere on Usenet in the world
     Many of the posting programs will provide a list of
     distributions, if your site admin has kept the files up-to-date.

     If you hit return, you'll get the default, which is usually
     "world.".  This default is often not appropriate -- PLEASE take a
     moment to think about how far away people are likely to be
     interested in what you have to say.  Used car ads, housing wanted
     ads, and things for sale other than specialized equipment like
     computers certainly shouldn't be distributed to Europe and Korea,
     or even to the next state.

     It is generally not possible to post an article to a distribution
     that your own machine does not receive.  For instance, if you
     live in Indiana, you can't post an article for distribution only
     in New Jersey or Germany unless your site happens to exchange
     those particular distributions with another site.  Try mailing
     the article to someone in the appropriate area and asking them to
     post it for you.

     If you cannot determine what distributions are valid for your
     site, ask someone locally rather than posting a query to the
     whole network!

17.  Why do some people put funny lines ("bug killers") at the beginning
     of their articles?

     Some earlier versions (mid-80s) of news had a bug which would
     drop the first 512 or 1024 bytes of text of certain articles.
     The bug was triggered whenever the article started with
     whitespace (a blank or a tab).  A fix many people adopted was to
     begin their articles with a line containing a character other
     than white space.  This gradually evolved into the habit of
     including amusing first lines.

     The original bug has since been fixed in newer version of news,
     and sites running older versions of news have applied a patch to
     prevent articles from losing text.  The "bug-killer" lines are
     therefore probably no longer needed, but they linger on.

18.  What is the address or phone number of the "foo" company?

     Try the white and yellow pages of your phone directory, first; a
     sales representative will surely know, and if you're a potential
     customer they will be who you're looking for.  Phone books for
     other cities are usually available in libraries of any size.
     Whoever buys or recommends things for your company will probably
     have some buyer's guides or national company directories. Call or
     visit the reference desk of your library; they have several
     company and organization directories and many will answer
     questions like this over the phone.  Remember if you only know
     the city where the company is, you can telephone to find out
     their full address or a dealer.  Calls to 1-800-555-1212 will
     reveal if the company has an "800" number you can call for
     information.  The network is NOT a free resource, although it may
     look like that to some people.  It is far better to spend a few
     minutes of your own time researching an answer rather than
     broadcast your laziness and/or ineptitude to the net.

19.  What is the origin of the name "grep"?

     The original UNIX text editor "ed" has a construct g/re/p,
     where "re" stands for a regular expression, to Globally
     search for matches to the Regular Expression and Print the
     lines containing them.  This was so often used that it was
     packaged up into its own command, thus named "grep".  According
     to Dennis Ritchie, this is the true origin of the command.

20.  How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, Internet to BITNET, JANET etc.?

     There are so many networks and mail systems in use now, it would
     take a book to describe all of them and how to send mail between
     them.  Luckily, there are a couple of excellent books that do
     exactly that, and in a helpful, easy-to-use manner:

         "!%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing & Networks"
         by Donnalyn Frey and Rick Adams, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc,
         2nd edition 1990.

         "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems
         Worldwide" by John Quarterman, Digital Press, 1990.

     Another excellent book to have on your bookshelf (to keep those
     two company) is "The User's Directory of Computer Networks" edited
     by Tracy LaQuey, Digital Press, 1990.

21.  Didn't some state once pass a law setting pi equal to 3 ?

     Indiana House Bill #246 was introduced on 18 January 1897, and
     referred to the Committee on Canals "midst general cheerfulness."
     The text states, "the ratio of the diameter and circumference is
     as five-fourths to four", which makes pi 3.2 (not 3), but there
     are internal contradictions in the bill as well as contradictions
     with reality.  The author was a mathematical crank.  The bill was
     passed by the state House on 5 February, but indefinitely tabled
     by the state Senate, in part thanks to the fortuitous presence
     on other business of a Purdue professor of mathematics.

     For details, including an annotated text of the bill, read the
     article by D. Singmaster in "The Mathematical Intelligencer" v7
     #2, pp 69-72.

22.  Where can I get the necessary software to get a "smart"
     mail system running on my machine that will take advantage
     of the postings in comp.mail.maps?  (E.g., pathalias, smail, etc.)

     There are a couple of packages available through the supporters of
     the comp.sources.unix archives.  If sites next to you don't have
     what you want, contact your nearest comp.sources.unix archive, or
     the moderator.  Information on archive sites, and indices of
     comp.sources.unix back issues are posted regularly in
     comp.sources.unix and comp.sources.d.

23.  What is "food for the NSA line-eater"?

     This refers to the alleged scanning of all Usenet traffic by the
     National Security Agency (and possibly other intelligence
     organizations) for interesting keywords.  The "food" is believed to
     contain some of those keywords in the fond hope of overloading NSA's
     poor computers.  Other posters have taken up this practice, either
     as an ambiguous form of political statement, or as an attempt at
     humor.  The bottom line is that excessive signatures in any form are
     discouraged, the joke has worn stale amongst long-time net readers,
     and there are specific newsgroups for the discussion of politics.

24.  Does anyone know the {pinouts, schematics, switch settings,
     what does jumper J3 do} for widget X?

     These postings are almost always inappropriate unless the
     manufacturer has gone out of business or no longer supports the
     device.  If neither of these is the case, you're likely to get a
     better and faster response by simply telephoning the
     manufacturer.

25.  What is "anonymous ftp"?

     "FTP" stands for File Transfer Protocol; on many systems, it's
     also the name of a user-level program that implements that
     protocol.  This program allows a user to transfer files to and
     from a remote network site, provided that network site is
     reachable via the Internet or a similar facility.  (Ftp is
     also usable on many local-area networks.)

     "Anonymous FTP" indicates that a user may log into the remote
     system as user "anonymous" with an arbitrary password.  A common
     convention is that the user's email address is supplied as the
     password, e.g. "yourname@yoursite".  This is useful to those
     sites that track ftp usage.  Also note that most sites restrict
     when transfers can be made, or at least suggest that large
     transfers be made only during non-peak hours.

26.  What is UUNET?

     UUNET is a for-profit communications service designed to provide
     access to Usenet news, mail, and various source archives at low
     cost by obtaining volume discounts.  Charges are calculated to
     recover costs.

     For more information send your US mail address to
     [e-mail] (uunet!info).

27.  Isn't the posting mechanism broken?  When I post an article to both
     a moderated group and unmoderated groups, it gets mailed to the
     moderator and not posted to the unmoderated groups.

     This is a question that is debated every few months.  The answer
     is "No, it was designed to work that way."  The software is
     designed so that the moderator can crosspost the article so it
     appears in the regular groups as well as the moderated group, if
     appropriate.  If the article were to be posted immediately to the
     unmoderated groups, the moderated group name would have to be
     deleted from the header and you would lose the crossposting.

     Whether or not this is correct behavior is a matter of opinion.
     If you want your article to go out immediately to the unmoderated
     groups, post it twice -- once to the unmoderated groups and once
     to the moderated groups.

28.  comp.arch and elsewhere:  What do FYI and IMHO mean?

     Those are abbreviations for common phrases.  FYI is "For Your
     Information" and IMHO is "In My Humble Opinion" or "In My
     Honest Opinion."  This is used sarcastically as often as not.

29.  Would someone repost {large software distribution}?

     This question should never be posted unless you are reporting a
     widespread problem in article propagation. Lamentably, there ARE
     occasional glitches in article transport. Large source or binary
     postings, by their sheer size, are an inviting target.

     If the problem is isolated, it is much better to take it upon
     yourself to obtain the bad portions of the program than to ask
     thousands of sites to spend thousands of dollars to needlessly
     move several hundred kilobytes of code. There are archive sites
     around the net that make most source/binary newsgroups available
     via anonymous FTP and UUCP. If you get desperate, you can always
     mail the author a blank disk or magnetic tape with provisions for
     return postage.

30.  How do I contact the moderator of an Internet mailing list rather than
     post to the entire list?

     To do this you should know that there are, by convention, two
     mailing addresses for every mailing list (except where noted by
     the List of Lists):

         list-request@host    (e.g. [e-mail])
         list@host        (e.g. [e-mail])

     When you have something for everyone on the mailing list to read,
     mail to the list@host address. HOWEVER, if you have an
     administrative request to make (e.g. "please add me to this list",
     "please remove me from this list", "where are the archives?",
     "what is this mailer error I got from sending to this list?"), it
     should be directed to the list-request@host address, which goes
     only to the mailing list administrator.

     It is considered to be in bad taste to send administrative
     requests to the entire mailing list in question, and if (as is
     often the case) the administrator does not read the mailing list
     (i.e. he just takes care of the admin tasks for the list), he will
     not see your request if you don't send it to the right address.

31.  I see BTW (or "btw"), wrt and RTFM in postings.  What do they mean?

     BTW is shorthand for "by the way."  WRT is "With respect to".

     RTFM is generally used as an admonition and means "read the f*ing
     manual" (choice of f-words varies according to reader).  The
     implication is that the answer to a query or complaint is easy to
     find if one looks in the appropriate location FIRST.  Most FAQ
     postings (Frequently-Asked Questions) that answer these questions
     may be found cross-posted in news.answers.

32.  Are there any restrictions on posting e-mail someone sends to me?

     At a minimum, it is only polite for you to contact the author of
     the letter and secure her or his permission to post it to the net.

     On a more serious note, it can be argued that posting someone's
     e-mail to the net without their permission is a violation of
     copyright law.  Under that law, even though a letter was
     addressed to you, it does not grant you the right to publish the
     contents, as that is the work of the author and the author
     retains copyright (even if no explicit copyright mark appears).

     Basically, your letters are your intellectual property.  If
     someone publishes your letters they are violating your copyright.
     This principle is well-founded in "paper media," and while
     untested in electronic forums such as Usenet, the same would
     probably apply if tested in court.

33.  What's an FQDN?

     A fully-qualified domain name.  That is, a hostname containing
     full, dotted qualification of its name up to the root of the
     Internet domain naming system tree.  Example: uiucuxc is the
     single-word hostname (suitable for, e.g., UUCP transport
     purposes) of the machine whose FQDN is uxc.cso.uiuc.edu.

34.  How do you pronounce "char" in C, "ioctl" in UNIX, the character
     "#", etc., etc.?

     Opinions differ.  Pick pronunciations close to what your
     colleagues use.  After all, they're the ones you need to
     communicate with.

35.  How do you pronounce "TeX"?

     To quote Donald Knuth, the creator of TeX: "Insiders pronounce
     the X of TeX as a Greek chi, not as an 'x', so that TeX rhymes
     with the word blecchhh.  It's the 'ch' sound in Scottish words
     like loch or German words like ach; it's a Spanish 'j' and a
     Russian 'kh'.  When you say it correctly to your computer, the
     terminal may become slightly moist."  [The TeXbook, 1986, Addison
     Wesley, page 1]

36.  What is the last year of the 20th century A.D.?

     The A.D. (Latin, Anno Domini, In the Year of Our Lord) system was
     devised before "origin 0 counting" was invented.  The year during
     which Jesus was (incorrectly) assumed to have been born was
     numbered 1.  (The preceding year was 1 B.C.)  So the 1st century
     was 1 to 100, the 2nd was 101 to 200, the 20th is 1901 to 2000.
     This is standard terminology no matter how much some of you may
     dislike it.  However, "a" century is any span of 100 years; so if
     you want to celebrate the end of "the century", meaning the
     1900's, on December 31, 1999, nobody will stop you.  It just
     isn't the end of the "20th century A.D.".

37.  I heard these stories about a dying child wanting
     postcards/get-well cards/business cards to get in the Guinness
     Book of World Records.  Where can I post the address for people to
     help?

     Post it to "junk," or better yet, don't post it at all.  The
     story of the little boy keeps popping up, even though his mother
     and the agencies involved have been appealing for people to stop.
     So many postcards were sent that the agencies involved in the
     effort don't know what to do with them.  The Guinness people have
     recorded the boy, Craig Shergold, as the record holder in the
     category.  However, they will not accept claims for a new try at
     the record.  For confirmation, you can see page 24 of the 29 July
     1990 NY Times or call the publisher of the Guinness Book (in the
     US, call "Facts on File" @ 212-683-2244).

     According to the 1993 edition of the GBWR, on page 213:
    Craig Shergold (born 1979) of Carshalton, Surrey when
    undergoing cancer chemo-therapy was sent a record 33
    million get-well cards until May 1991 when his mother
    pleaded for no more.  A successful 5 hour operation on
    a brain tumour by neurosurgeon Neal Kassel at the
    University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA in March 1991
    greatly    improved his condition.

     If you want to do something noble, donate the cost of a stamp and
     postcard (or more) to a worthwhile charity like UNICEF or the
     International Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Magen David).  There are
     tens of thousands of children dying around the world daily, and
     they could use more than a postcard.

38.  I just heard about a scheme the FCC has to implement a tax on
     modems!  Where can I post a message so everyone will hear about
     this and do something to prevent it?

     Post it the same place as the articles in response to #37, above.
     This is an old, old story that just won't die.  Something like
     this was proposed many YEARS back and defeated.  However, the
     rumor keeps spreading and people who hear about it for the first
     time get all upset.  Before posting stories like this, check with
     the organizations involved (like the FCC) to see if the story is
     true and current.

39.  Is there a public access Unix system near me?  How can I get
     access to system for news and mail?

     Phil Eschallier posts a list of open access Unix sites (he calls
     them "Nixpub" sites) on a regular basis to the following
     newsgroups: comp.misc and alt.bbs.   Check his posting
     for information on sites you can contact.

     Furthermore, a list of open access sites that are not necessarily
     Unix sites is posted regularly in alt.bbs.lists; see the postings
     entitled "NetPub listing" for more information.

40.  In rec.pets: My pet has suddenly developed the following symptoms
     .... Is it serious?  In sci.med: I have these symptoms .... Is it
     serious?

     Could be.  The only way to tell for sure is to see an expert.  The
     network reaches a vast audience with considerable talent, but that
     can never replace the expert observation and diagnosis of a
     trained professional.  Do yourself or your pet a big favor -- if
     there is a problem, go see an appropriate practitioner.  If there
     is a serious problem, it is important that it is dealt with promptly.

 41. I have this great idea to make money.  Alternatively, wouldn't an
     electronic chain letter be a nifty idea?

     In a few words: don't even think about it.  Trying to use the net
     to make vast sums of money or send chain letters is a very bad
     idea.  First of all, it is an inappropriate use of resources, and
     tends to use up vast amounts of net bandwidth.  Second, such
     usage of the net tends to produce extremely negative reactions by
     people on the net, adding even more to the volume -- most of it
     directed to you.  Users, particularly system admins, do not like
     that kind of activity, and they will flood your mailbox with
     notices to that effect.

     And last, and perhaps most important, some of this activity is
     against the law in many places.  In the US, you can (and will) be
     reported by hacked-off system administrators for suspicion of wire
     fraud or mail fraud.  In one incident, at *least* a half dozen
     people reported the poster to Postal Service inspectors; I'm not
     sure what the outcome was, but it probably was not a nice
     experience.

     Bottom line: don't try clever schemes to sell things, solicit
     donations, or run any kind of pyramid or Ponzi scheme.  Also,
     don't start or support electronic chain letters.

 42. Where can I get archives of Usenet postings?

     Most Usenet newsgroups are not archived in any organized fashion,
     though it's likely that if you look hard enough someone will have
     kept much or most of the traffic (either on disk or on some tape
     gathering dust somewhere).  The volume on Usenet is simply too
     high to keep everything on rotating magnetic media forever,
     however.  The signal-to-noise ratio is too low in many groups to
     make them good candidates for archiving.

     One person's signal is another person's noise; if you're lucky,
     you'll find someone who has been keeping the good parts of a
     particular newsgroup in their own personal stash to save up for
     later.  How to get access to a group that *is* archived depends
     on what kind of group it is:

     * The "sources" and "binaries" groups are generally archived at
       multiple sites; for more information about getting access to
       them, see the posting entitled "How to find sources" in
       comp.sources.wanted.

     * Some non-source newsgroups can be found by asking "archie"
       about the group name.  See the comp.sources.wanted posting
       mentioned above for information about how to use "archie."

     * In other groups, if the group has a Frequently Asked Questions
       posting or another periodic posting about the group, check that
       posting to see if it mentions where the group is archived.  If
       not, then you'll have to post a message in the newsgroup and
       ask if it is archived anywhere.

 43. Is it possible to post messages to the Usenet via electronic mail?

     There are a few sites on the Usenet that offer a full-scale mail
     to news gateway, so that you can post via E-mail to any newsgroup
     available on that site.

     One of them is decwrl.dec.com.  To use its gateway, you mail the
     message you wish to post to [e-mail].
     For example, to post to news.newusers.questions, you would send
     your message to [e-mail].
     This gateway is an unsupported service, as are most other
     such gateways.

     Mail-to-news gateways of this sort tend to be overloaded.
     Therefore, please do not use this gateway or any other similar
     gateway if you have other posting access to the Usenet.

 44. Is it possible to read Usenet newsgroups via electronic mail?

     Most Usenet newsgroups do not correspond to any mailing list, so
     the conventional answer to this question is "no" for most groups.
     However, there are some newsgroups that are gatewayed to mailing
     lists.  For a list of them, see the "List of Active Newsgroups"
     or the "Mailing Lists Available in Usenet" postings in news.lists.

     If you know a Usenet site admin who is willing to act as a personal
     gateway for you, you might be able to get him/her to set up his/her
     system to forward messages from individual newsgroups to you via
     E-mail.  However, most admins don't like to do this because it adds
     to the outgoing traffic from their site, so DO NOT post messages to
     the net saying, "Hey, is there someone willing to gateway newsgroups
     to me?"

     In general, if you can receive Usenet newsgroups by any means other
     than e-mail, you should!  Usenet volume is such that any centralized
     service that tries to convert from news to email is easily
     overloaded.

     There are two freely available services that allow you to access
     newsgroups by e-mail.

    - The Stanford Netnews Filtering Service

    This is a clipping service and will send you news articles
    relevant to your interests. Send an e-mail message to
    [e-mail] containing the single line
        help
    in the body of the message.

    - The K.U.Leuven Listserv in Belgium

    This allows you to receive a set of newsgroups by e-mail.  Send
    an e-mail message to [e-mail] containing the
    single line
        /nnhelp
    in the body of the message.

     As with other freely offered services on the net, please do not
     abuse or overload them, or they will likely disappear.

 45. How do I get the news software to include a signature with my
     postings?

     This is a question that is best answered by examining the
     documentation for the software you're using, as the answer
     varies depending on the software.

     However, if you're reading news on a Unix machine, then you can
     probably get a signature to appear on your outgoing messages by
     creating a file called ".signature" in your home directory.  Two
     important things to remember are:

     1. Many article-posting programs will restrict the length of the
        signature.  For example, the "inews" program will often only
        include the first four lines.  This is not something you
        should be trying to find a way to defeat; it is there for
        a reason.  If your signature is too long, according to the
        software, then shorten it.  Even if the software does not
        complain, keep your .signature under four lines as a courtesy
        to others.

     2. Under some news configurations, your .signature file must be
        world-readable, and your home directory world-executable, for
        your signature to be included correctly in your articles.  If
        your .signature does not get included, try running these
        commands:
           chmod a+x $HOME
           chmod a+r $HOME/.signature

 46. I'm on BitNet -- can I connect to the Usenet?

     Many BitNet sites also have connections to other networks. Some
     of these sites may be receiving Usenet with NNTP or by other
     methods. IBM VM/CMS sites which only have a connection to BitNet
     may still gain access to Usenet if they get a software package
     called NetNews, which is available from Penn State University at
     no charge. The PSU NetNews software allows sites to receive
     Usenet news over BITNET.  Talk to your local site administraters
     to find out if your site has this software installed and how to
     access it from your account. Also, contact your favorite BITNET
     LISTSERV and get the list NETNWS-L.  That list carries info on
     the necessary procedures and software.



 47. What is a "flame"?

     A "flame" usually refers to any message or article that contains
     strong criticism, usually irrational or highly emotional.  Avoid
     "flames", and if you do get "flamed", relax, calm down and decide
     if it's really worth "counter-flaming".  Usually, it isn't worth
     it -- a complete waste of bandwidth and time;  it also gets you
     perceived as a "flamer" by the large silent majority of Usenet
     readers, who will probably start ignoring your articles.

 48. What is a mail-server/list-server?

     Mail servers are a family of programs that answer email
     automatically.  These programs are also called list servers (or
     listserv, from the original BITNET LISTSERV list management program)
     when the automatically maintain mailing lists, or info-servers or
     netlibs if they permit automatic software retrieval).  Most mail
     servers will tell you all about themselves if you send them
     a message with no Subject: and the one-line body
        help
     (without the indentation, of course!)

 49.  Should one write USENET or Usenet?

     The A News documents (18 Dec 1980) and Internet RFCs 850/1036 used
     "USENET".  Most newer documents use Usenet (including Henry Spencer's
     upcoming revision of RFC 1036 and the Nutshell Handbook on UUCP and
     Usenet) because it is not an acronym.  Thus, "Usenet" should now be
     considered the correct capitalization.

--
Christian_Paulus <[e-mail]> has a french translation of
''Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet''.
This translation (posted in fr.news.divers monthly) is available at:

        ftp://ftp.fdn.fr/pub/FDN/Faq/usenet-faq.fr

or on the World Wide Web:

        http://www.fdn.fr/fdn/doc-misc/usenet-faq.fr.html


#! rnews
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: newsbase.announce.newusers
Subject: FAQ: Using Acorns for Internet Access, issue 6
Followup-To: comp.sys.acorn
Date: 1 Apr 1995 09:38:04 -0000
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, England
Sender: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <3gnkps$[e-mail]>

FAQ: Using Acorns for Internet Access
=====================================

Issue 8, 1st April 1995

This FAQ brings together information and hints on using Acorn computers
(Archimedes, Risc PC etc) on the Internet.  It is posted monthly to
comp.sys.acorn.announce, comp.sys.acorn.networking, comp.sys.acorn.misc
and demon.ip.support.archimedes.  While the new hierarchy is settling
in, it is also cross-posted to comp.sys.acorn.  It is archived on
ftp.demon.co.uk in directory /pub/archimedes as
FAQ-Using-Acorns-For-Internet-Access.txt.  It may be retrieved
via email by sending a message to [e-mail] with the
"Subject:" field set to "GET Documents.AIFAQ" (the body of the message
is ignored).

It is maintained by Kevin Quinn - please send any comments, suggestions,
corrections etc. to [e-mail].  There are several things
I would particularly like further information on for inclusion in the
FAQ; I have added a paragraph at the bottom of the FAQ listing these.

Copyright 1994,1995 Kevin Quinn.  Freely distributable in unmodified form.


#include <std/disclaimer.h>

I take no responsibility for the accuracy or otherwise of information
contained in this FAQ.  It is provided "as is" without express or implied
warranty.  All information contained in this FAQ is subject to change
without notice.



============================================================================


Introduction and FAQ structure

This FAQ contains quite a lot of information.  As a result I have
instigated a glossary at the end of the FAQ to explain various points
in an ordered fashion.  Many of these points come up in the main body
of the FAQ, and this avoids repeating detailed explanations.  If you
find anything in the FAQ that is unclear or confusing, please drop me
a line (send email to [e-mail]) and I will attempt to
clarify things.

Throughout the FAQ I refer to "Acorn machines" which, unless otherwise
stated, includes the Archimedes range, the A30x0, A4000, A5000 and
Risc PC.  Similarly when I mention "Arc" (for example "Arc software")
I mean all machines.

The main body of the FAQ is separated into the following sections:

         1) What do I need to connect to the Internet?
         2) Who can supply direct IP access?
         3) Who can supply indirect access?
         4) What software do I need for direct access services?
         5) What software do I need for indirect access?
         6) What newsreaders are there for the Acorn range?
         7) Can I use WWW, Gopher etc. on my Acorn?
         8) Serial ports, serial modules, transfer rates and other mysteries.
         9) Use of TCP/IP over packet radio.
        10) Other software utilities
        11) Products "on the way"

To make it easy to get to the start of a section, you can search for the
number with the bracket, for example to get to the section on suppliers
of indirect access, you would search for "3)" (without the quotes, of
course!).  To this end all other lists use letters or roman numerals.
Sections are also separated by lines of "-".

There are several appendices at the end of the FAQ, collating information
that is distributed through the FAQ into single points of reference.

         Appendix A: List of Software including where to find it
         Appendix B: Contact Addresses mentioned elsewhere in this FAQ
         Appendix C: Glossary of terms
         Appendix D: Things I'd like to know :-)


============================================================================


1) What do I need to connect to the Internet?

   First, you need a service provider.  These come essentially in two
   flavours; those providing direct IP access, and those providing access
   to a machine they have on the Internet.  Second, you need the relevant
   software.  The software you need depends on the type of service
   provider.

   To elaborate, service providers like Demon Internet Services provide
   dial-up access to low-level Internet.  This means that your machine is
   actually a machine on the Internet, albeit intermittently.  To
   use this kind of service you need to run complex software on your
   machine (known as TCP/IP software).  You cannot use simple comms
   software (Arcterm, Hearsay etc) to use this kind of service.  You can
   use any facilities of the Internet for which you have the relevant
   software.

   Services like CIX (Compulink Information eXchange) provide a facility
   whereby their machine runs the TCP/IP software, and you get an account
   on their machine.  Essentially this means that your machine is used
   as a terminal onto their machine.  For this kind of service, you use
   normal comms software (Arcterm, Hearsay etc).  You can only run the
   facilities that are available on the service provider's machine.

   Increasingly, bulletin boards are providing "gateways" to the Internet,
   usually for EMail and Network News (also known as Usenet).  This is a
   much more limited form of Internet access, but is much cheaper for
   the user.

   If you only have email access to the Internet (for example you might
   have email at work but no more, perhaps behind a "firewall"), it is
   surprising how much you can do with simple email, including Gopher
   and believe it or not, WWW!  There is an excellent document available
   by sending mail to [e-mail] with the subject field left
   blank and the following in the body:

       send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt

   and you will receive the document by return-of-email :-)  Also available
   via anonymous ftp from mailbase.ac.uk in /pub/lists/lis-iis/files.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


2) Who can supply direct IP access?

   At the moment there appears to be an explosion in the number of service
   providers for the individual user.  The BBC service is currently
   suffering from "contractual difficulties" with the Arc software,
   however it is up and running for other platforms, and will be supporting
   Acorn machines.

   However, here are a few services that are available now.  I have limited
   this list to those providers who have subscribers using Acorn machines,
   and the list is in alphabetic order to avoid favouritism :)  Several
   phrases I use may be unfamiliar - take a look at the glossary at the
   end of this FAQ.

   a) Demon Internet Services (UK)

      A UK-wide provider, cheap and effective.  Mail [e-mail] for
      information.  Or download ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/doc/Demon.txt.  Points
      of presence in many areas, supplying local-call access to a large
      number of subscribers.  Tel: [phone]
      Support available in the newsgroup demon.ip.support.archimedes.
      Fixed IP address service.

   b) Geko (AUS)

      Internet Provider in Sydney, Australia.  Email to [e-mail]
      for information.  Provides SLIP, PPP and CLI accounts for the same
      rates.  [e-mail] handles the Acorn-related side of things.
      !TCPIP, Slipdial work with this service.  Web support for Acorns
      is also available.
      Information can be obtained from http://www.geko.com.au/,
                                       ftp://ftp.geko.com.au/pub/
      Tel : [phone], Fax [phone],
      PO BOX 473, Crows Nest, NSE 2065, Australia.

   c) Pavilion Internet (UK)

      A Brighton-based supplier.  Email [e-mail] for more info.
      Dynamic IP address service.

   d) Stichting Hack-Tic Network (NL)

      Supplies service to the Netherlands.  Email to [e-mail]
      for further information.  Supplies both UUCP-style and direct
      SLIP/PPP access to the Internet.

   e) Stichting Knoware (NL)

      Supplies service to the Netherlands.  Email to [e-mail] for
      information.  !TCPIP works with this service, as does !ReadNews.
      Michiel Koolen ([e-mail]) runs their Arc support,
      and provides a starter-pack preconfigured for Knoware.

   f) Zynet (UK)

      This service is provided by a sister-company to Minerva Software,
      who have been in the Acorn arena for many years now, and are well
      placed to talk Acorn-speak to Acorn users :-), so I'm going to say
      a bit more about Zynet than I have about the others.

      Email [e-mail], or telephone [phone] (fax 421762).
      Fixed IP address service.  Rates are 12UKP+VAT pcm for 15 hours pcm
      or 18UKP +VAT for unlimited time (discounts available for quarterly
      and yearly payment).  They also provide a specially designed schools
      service.

      Zynet can provide customers with a collection of PD/Shareware
      software which is tailored for Zynet, and pre-configured for easy
      setup.



   There are a couple of lists available that are more comprehensive; a list
   of UK providers can be found via ftp from ftp.demon.co.uk as
   /pub/archives/uk-internet-list/inetuk.lng.  There is an international
   list distributed from <[e-mail]> - send email with
   "Send PDIAL" as the text body to get the latest version.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


3) Who can supply indirect access?

   There are many of these.  They can usually be used with normal comms
   software, eg. Arcterm, Hearsay etc.

   a) CIX - Compulink Information eXchange

      A London-based conferencing system, also providing email, ftp, telnet,
      irc, gopher, www etc.  Email: [e-mail],
      Tel: [phone] (voice), 081 390 1244/1255 (modem).
      Join conferences "archimedes" or "bbc" to find other Acorn users.

      CIX are soon to launch a direct SLIP/PPP connection as well.

   b) Compuserve

      A large international conferencing system (albeit with a heavy US
      bias).  Currently provides an EMail interface and access to the Usenet
      News (GO INTERNET).  More comprehensive internet access is planned,
      including FTP and TELNET.  Forum UKCOMP topic Acorn/Z88 is the place
      to find other Acorn users.
      Tel: London [phone], Birmingham [phone],
           Reading [phone] or 569 025, Bristol [phone]

   c) Many bulletin boards provide EMail and limited newsgroup access.
      The following is a list of the more popular ones - all are 24hour
      boards and support most modem speeds:

         Arcade BBS (0181 654 2212)
         Archiboard Central BBS [phone]
         Rich in Paradise BBS [phone]
         The Digital Databank [phone])
         The World Of Cryton (01749 670030)

      These also hold lists of other Acorn-relevant bulletin boards.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


4) What software do I need for direct access services?

   There are several options.  Under RISC OS, there is !TCPIP, also known as
   KA9Q (the call-sign of the radio ham who first wrote it for the PC), and
   Acorn's TCP/IP Suite, although you need a suitable driver for dial-up use
   (Gnome Software market a SLIP driver).  Most software that makes use of
   the serial port will need !SerialDev, the serial device drivers.  These
   are written by Hugo Fiennes ([e-mail]) and are available
   from most sources of Acorn software.

   Under RISCiX, everything you need should already be there.  You should
   find that most UNIX sofware compiles without too much trouble (see
   below).  Running X-Windows (and hence using graphical WWW clients
   like X-Mosaic) is possible, if a little slow.


4.1) Issues relating to !TCPIP - the port of KA9Q

   Some of these are somewhat oriented towards use with Demon's dial-up
   service; however most if not all points are relevant to all dial-up
   SLIP services.

   a) Where can I find it?

   A "Starter-pack" has been assembled by Dr. Alan Hassey
   ([e-mail]), of a selection of various pieces PD
   software that provides an easy way to set yourself up for Demon
   Internet.  Available via ftp from ftp.demon.co.uk in directory
   /pub/archimedes/acorn-starter-pak.  Instructions for download and
   de-archiving the software are given when you "cd" to that directory.
   This sets up enough to use EMail, Usenet News and the basic Internet
   protocols (FTP, TELNET etc).  This is by far the easiest way to set up
   initially.  You can always try different newsreaders etc. later on.
   The pack also includes files for use with Zynet.

   Latest versions of the software can be found via ftp from ftp.demon.co.uk
   in /pub/archimedes.  Other popular sites that carry copies include Hensa
   (micros.hensa.ac.uk), Stuttgart (ftp.uni-stuttgart.de).  Can also be
   found on Compuserve (GO UKCOMP), and bulletin boards (eg. Arcade, The
   Digital Databank).

   Make sure you have all of the following:

      !TCPIP
      !SlipDial or !CallDemon
      !TCPIPUser
      !SerialDev
      A newsreader (see below)

   It is probably best to put all the above in one directory - some of them
   assume that the Filer has "seen" some of the others.

   b) Who develops/developed it?

   Currently maintained by Anthony Frost ([e-mail], G8UDV)
   and Adam Goodfellow (email to [e-mail] for
   TCPIP-related stuff).
   Original software for DOS by Phil Karn (KA9Q), first ported to the
   Archimedes by Jonathan Naylor (G4KLX).

   c) Does it work on the Risc PC?

   As of version 2.01, it works well.

   d) News is taking ages - how can I speed it up?

   This often happens if you don't connect for a week - the retrieval of
   messages over a day or two old seems to take forever.  The solution is
   to edit the "DemLast" file to a more recent date.  The problem will
   probably vary in severity depending on the speed of (and load on) your
   local news server.  The DemLast file is found inside ...!TCPIP.nntp
   on versions of !TCPIP up to 2.00f, from 2.01 onwards it is found
   in !TCPIPUser.NNTP.  On configurations other than Demon, the file
   may be called something else, but it will be <something>Last.

   e) !TCPIP (KA9Q) crashes with "Bad Memory Access".

   Several possible causes, none of which should occur with v2.03...
   i)   long lines in the "DemGroup" file - split into two or more lines.
   ii)  Forgetting to surroung numeric addresses with square brackets -
        use "[127.0.0.1]" not "127.0.0.1".  From version 2.01 this is not
        a problem - both forms of address are accepted.
   iii) "DemHist" file over ~20K.  Quick solution is to delete the file,
        the problem will then go away (until DemHist grows too big again!)
        DemHist should be "trimmed" regularly, by deleting some lines
        from the beginning of the file (it doesn't matter how many, as
        long as you delete whole lines and the resulting file is
        a fair bit under 20K).
        The best way to do this is to use the likes of !SlipDial, which
        can automatically trim the file each time you connect.
        This should also not be a problem from version 2.01 onwards,
        although it is still a good idea to trim the DemHist file regularly
        for speed.
        Note that when configured for systems other than Demon the
        "DemHist" file might be called <somethingelse>Hist.

   f) !TCPIP (KA9Q) can't find a site.

   If the machine that "resolve" uses to resolve hostnames is down, then
   the site will not be found.  Unfortunately, this information is "cached",
   i.e. the resolver remembers that the site is unavailable and next time
   you can't get to it even if the resolve server is back up.  Type
   "resolve purge" to clear the cache, and try again.

   Resolve as implemented in !TCPIP currently can only resolve one hostname
   at a time - if a second request is made before the first is completed then
   the site comes back as unknown.  This has the same effect on the resolve
   cache as above; solution is to type "resolve purge" in the same way.

   g) How do I configure !TCPIP (KA9Q) for setups other than Demon?

   Knoware works with a similar setup to Demon's - contact Michiel Koolen
   for details ([e-mail]).

   The main differences on other systems are the connection sequence (for
   which a suitable !SlipDial script is required) and the host names of
   the relevant mail and news servers.  Some of the smaller providers
   use dynamic IP addresses (i.e. you're IP address is different every
   time you log on) which is where !SlipDial comes into its own.  Look
   at the script "default" for an example of how to cope with this.

   h) I keep getting "resolve timeout" errors when first connecting - what
   is wrong?

   Nothing is wrong.  With Demon's system, it takes time to set up the
   routing tables at their end so that packets get sent down your serial
   line.  Until these tables are set up nothing can find it's way to
   you, including the response to resolver requests.  The timeout message
   just indicates that a fresh request is being sent as a response has
   not been received.

   To stop the messages, you can add all the hosts mentioned in the
   AutoExec file to the resolve.hosts file - to do this you will need
   to know the IP addresses of the relevant hosts.  For example, my
   resolve.hosts file looks like:

        {ip_addr} {host} local
        158.152.1.193    ns.demon.co.uk
        158.152.1.72     post.demon.co.uk
        158.152.1.76     ntp.demon.co.uk
        158.152.1.83     betanews.demon.co.uk
        158.152.1.44     ftp.demon.co.uk

   However, doing this means that if the IP address changes (some of
   these sites are aliases for other sites and the alias may change
   from time to time) then the resolve.hosts file will need to be
   updated to reflect the changes.  If you can live with the messages,
   you can just have the first line in your resolve.hosts file and
   you won't have to worry about changing IP addresses.

   i) When I try using !TCPIP, it doesn't seem to get the modem to
   dial up.  What am I doing wrong?

   This is a common mistake, often made by people used to the DIS software
   provided by Demon for PC users.  DIS incorporates a "dialler", whereas
   the current version of !TCPIP does not.  A "dialler" of some sort is
   required to make the initial connection and log on - !TCPIP assumes that
   it can start talking SLIP to the serial port as soon as it is launched.

   There are several ways to dial the modem; you can use the likes of
   !ArcTerm7, !Hearsay etc. or you can use a special dialler application.
   There are two "diallers" on ftp.demon.co.uk, !CallDemon and !SlipDial.
   !CallDemon is a simple dialler, and !SlipDial provides a scripting
   language and can do clever things, like dial alternate numbers and
   re-configure !TCPIP for dynamic IP situations on-the-fly etc.

   j) The last email I send doesn't get deleted properly, and gets sent
   out every time I connect.

   This is due to the faulty SMTP implementation on some email gateways.
   In English, this means that although !TCPIP is working correctly,
   sometimes the machine that email goes to has duff software on it.

   As of version 2.03 of !TCPIP, there is a new command
   "smtp delay yes|no" which disables and enables respectively the
   use by !TCPIP of the (standard) SMTP facility to close the connection
   with the last message.  In other words, if you suffer from this problem
   try putting "smtp delay yes" into the Config file inside !TCPIPUser.

   Here are a few other ways to combat the problem:

   i)   After sending your E-mail delete the last message manually.
        (hmm..)

   ii)  Write a widget to do it for you, and run that after succesful
        mailing.

        For example, put the following two lines in an "Obey" file (i.e.
        create a normal textfile and use the filer menu to set the type to
        obey) - strip off the leading spaces (if you want!):


        Wipe <Mail$Dir>.spool.mqueue.text.* ~CF~R~V
        Wipe <Mail$Dir>.spool.mqueue.work.* ~CF~R~V


   iii) Put a message in <TCPIP$Dir>.MailDir.spool.mqueue.text (phew)
        and a message header in <TCPIP$Dir>.MailDir.spool.mqueue.work
        with name '9999' (or any other high number) and send it do a
        null E-mail address.  The message will always remain in the
        queue, but it is sent to the great electronic garbage can.
        Ask your service provider if they have such a thing (often
        something like "dev/null@<site>).

   k) Can !TCPIP be used with providers of dynamic-IP systems?

   Usually, yes.  This can be achieved using !SlipDial to read the
   IP address allocated at login and to stuff it into the !TCPIP
   Config file.  !SlipDial comes with an example of a script to
   do this (see the file "default" in the !SlipDial.Scripts directory).
   A new feature of !TCPIP (v2.03) allows the configuration of the
   IP address without resorting to slightly dirty tricks like modifying
   the config file; !TCPIP can now be set up to read the IP address from
   an OS variable.

   This only works however if the IP address is sent during the login
   sequence (usually as part of a welcome banner).  Most (probably all)
   dynamic-IP providers do this.


4.2) Issues relating to the TCP/IP suite (Acorn)

   Contains a good VT220 emulation, and a basic TCP/IP stack.  Does not
   provide SMTP (email) or NNTP (network news) at the moment.  The suite
   provides a Berkeley socket look-alike interface, which should enable
   software to be ported without too much difficulty, however I am unaware
   of any such available software.

   A SLIP driver (IP-SLIP) is available fromn Gnome Computers, Cambridge,
   which is needed for dial-up connections.  Gnome can also supply a
   DOMAIN module which provides domain-name lookup.

   Acorn are working on major additions to the suite to include support
   for more protocols, in particular they are working on a Web browser.
   Current ETA for the Web Browser is very roughly the middle of 1995.


4.3) Issues relating to RiscIX and the TCP/IP stack.

   As said above, this is not a problem for those who know UNIX.
   Some things worth noting, however.  Get the kernel kit from Acorn or
   Granada MicroCare, and build a kernel with PPP support built-in, then
   compile PPPD.  Use ifconfig etc. to configure the routeing.  This is too
   complex a process to describe in detail here, and you should only do this
   sort of thing if you know what you are doing anyway!  There is also a
   "BIND" patch, which reduces dependency on the local hosts databases.
   The BIND patch is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.acorn.co.uk
   in directory /pub/riscix/named.

   Granada MicroCare are on Harrogate [phone].

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


5) What software do I need for indirect access?

   All that is needed here is normal comms software, like !Arcterm 7 from
   The Serial Port and !Hearsay from Beebug.  Both are perfectly competent;
   both have many satisfied users.  There is a little public domain
   software, !ZAnsi includes ZModem file transfer which is the most
   efficient commonly used transfer protocol in the BBS world.

   As with indirect access, message reading and composing can usually be
   done on-line; however this can get expensive as you end up spending a lot
   of money on your 'phone bill.  To alleviate this problem, OLRs (Off-Line
   Readers) are available.  !ReaderS from Anthony Frost supports several
   BBS formats, including those used by most Acorn-related bulletin boards.
   For CompuServe, a package is available from Richard Proctor called
   !Arctic.  See below for further information.

   Arcterm 7 and Hearsay both provide scripting facilities which allow
   automation of sessions.  Scripts are available for several bulletin
   boards, and also for CIX.

   If you are or would like to be an Arc bulletin board operator,
   the Archiboard software package from Supreme Software Systems Ltd
   supports transfer of news and email to/from the Internet via a
   Demon Internet account.  This software also supports mailing lists.
   Send email to [e-mail] for further information.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


6) What newsreaders are there for the Acorn range?

   There are no commercial newsreaders available (yet).  However there
   are several PD and Shareware/Careware newsreaders around.  A few months
   ago there were only two real contenders here (!ReadNews and !ReaderS),
   but all of a sudden we are spoilt for choice!  I could say something
   about public transport and buses here...

   In an attempt at not appearing biased, I have listed them in alphabetic
   order.  I hope that any comments I have made are fair - people get very
   touchy about their favourite newsreader, source of many a flame war!.


   a) !Arctic

      This is dedicated to CompuServe, currently supports conference
      messaging, mail, and file transfers amongst other things.  Available
      from the UKCOMP forum (Acorn/Z88 topic) and from good bulletin boards.
      It is shareware, registration currently costs 10 UKP.  It automates
      reading, posting, file upload and downloads amongst other things.  For
      further information contact Richard Proctor on Compuserve (user ID
      100031.604) or as [e-mail] on the Internet.

      Current hints:

        None really.  Make sure you have the latest version (well over 2.4
        now) as Compuserve have recently upgraded their system.  Note that
        it only works with Compuserve at the moment.


   b) !EasyMail

      This news/email reader also handles message downloads from BBS
      systems running ArcBBS (including Arcade, The Digital Databank,
      Rich In Paradise and The World of Cryton).  Written by Marc L.Veary,
      [e-mail].


   c) !News

      This is available via ftp from ftp.demon.co.uk in /pub/archimedes.
      Still haven't had time to try it out yet...
      Written by Timothy Kimber ([e-mail] term time,
         [e-mail] other times)


   d) !News-o-saurus

      This is a single-tasking newsreader (i.e. doesn't use any nice
      windows!) and needs a large amount of RAM (2Mb+), as it is written
      in Perl.
      However, it doesn't crash, and handles threads very well.  Similar
      in style to "rn" et. al. on UNIX systems.
      In my opinion it has the best threading capability of the available
      newsreaders that I've seen.
      Available via FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk in /pub/archimedes
      Written by Martin Portman, "Freeware".

      Current hints:

        None really.  Does what it does without much difficulty.  If it fails
        to run, this is invariably due to lack of memory.  Increase the
        wimpslot (edit the !Run file) and try again.


   e) !ReaderS

      This is a general-purpose reader that caters for Bulletin Boards
      as well as interfacing with !TCPIP.  It provides good navigation
      of threads, but doesn't follow this through when posting messages.
      Also a little unstable for Internet access at the time of writing.
      Easy to set up.  Good option if you already use it for BBS use.
      Written by Anthony Frost ([e-mail]).
      "Careware".

      Current hints:

        a) !ReaderS locks up when I try to start it

           The !MailDir application MUST have been seen by the filer
           before !ReaderS is used for News and Email.  !MailDir is the
           repository for incoming and outgoing mail with !TCPIP (KA9Q).
           As of version 2.01 of !TCPIP, a new application !TCPIPUser
           replaces !MailDir, and in this case !TCPIPUser must be seen
           by the filer.

        b) When !ReaderS crashes, just try again.  The only reliable way to
           get !ReaderS working when it repeatedly crashes is to delete the
           message database (unfortunately).  Delete the file "DemMail" from
           the !ReadBack application.  Reliability seems to vary quite
           considerably - some people find it crashes all the time when
           used for Usenet News access while others find it is relatively
           stable.

        c) !ReaderS doesn't work on my nice new Risc PC

           Yes it does :-)  Load the !Run file inside the !ReaderS
           application into an editor (!Edit is fine).  Change the
           line that sets the WimpSlot to

               Wimpslot -min 300K -max 300K

           and it'll work again.


   f) !ReadNews

      A competent newsreader.  Many facilities; easy to add your own.
      Unfortunately suffers from a limit of 77 article per newsgroup,
      and doesn't provide any neat threading facilities.  A little daunting
      to set up initially as it was written to interface with !RUCP, not
      !TCPIP.  Read the help files supplied with (at least) the versions
      on ftp.demon.co.uk for step-by-step instructions.
      New version (0.31) imminent, which will solve the 77-arcticle limit,
      the spurious CTRL-A that appears between postings and the signature,
      and it should also simplify the setting up procedure.
      Written by Julian Wright ([e-mail])
      "Freeware".

      Current hints:

        i)   To solve the CTRL-A problem (see above), select
             Options->Signature->Script from the main menu.

        ii)  Article limit.  No real reliable solution here (that I know of)
             You can try using the likes of !Memphis to support more than
             77 files in the News subdirectory structure, but this is slow
             and unreliable.

        iii) Having trouble setting up?

           a) You need to set up !RUCP - however only bits of it are
              relevant.  The files you need are !Boot, !Run, Passwd,
              SystemRC, Systems, the directory trees UserHome and uucp.
              In the "Systems" file, the actual details are ignored by
              !ReadNews, the important thing is to write one line for
              "news" and one for "post" on a Demon setup, so that !ReadNews
              knows about the NNTP server and mail server respectively.
              In the "SystemRC" file, set "MailServ=post", leave the rest
              alone.  In the "!Boot" file, set RUCP$NodeName to your node
              name (the first word in your hostname, for example my hostname
              is banana.demon.co.uk, so my node name is banana).  Set
              RUCP$Domain to the domain name (in my case demon.co.uk) and
              RUCP$User to your normal username.  That should complete
              the setting up required for !Rucp.

           b) With the latest version of !Incorp, the debatcher that goes
              with !ReadNews no longer needs the filters needed for previous
              versions.  However to work properly with !TCPIP (KA9Q)  you
              need to ensure that the mail separator is ^A - to do this
              change the "Config" file in !TCPIP so that it reads:

                  smtp separator ^A

              Although "smtp separator rnews" would be quicker, it fails
              because !TCPIP (KA9Q) adds an extra line between mail messages
              for some reason.  Future versions of either !TCPIP or !Incorp
              may cure this, which would speed up debatching considerably.
              The default setup of !TCPIP (KA9Q) comes configured with
              "smtp separator from", which causes the machine to crash
              needing a CTRL-Break when used with !Incorp.

           c) !ReadNews itself is simple, just copy it along with !Incorp
              into your internet directory.


   g) !TTFN and !NewsBase

      Together these form an excellent pair.  TTFN is a news/email reader,
      NewsBase is a news database thingy.  TTFN looks somewhat like
      !ReadNews, but is far superior (IMHO).  A lot of effort appears to
      have been made to make them easy to configure, automatically picking
      information up from !TCPIP (KA9Q).
      Currently !NewsBase supports !TCPIP (KA9Q), Taylor UUCP and !UUCP.
      !TTFN supports whatever !NewsBase supports...
      Latest versions available from ftp.demon.co.uk in the Archimedes
      section.
      TTFN written by Robert Orwin ([e-mail])
      Newsbase written by Graham Allan ([e-mail])

      Current hints:

        None, really.  Note that threading is by article title only.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


7) Can I use WWW, Gopher etc. on my Acorn?

   There is a Gopher client, written by Anthony Frost, available for
   ftp from ftp.demon.co.uk which interfaces with !TCPIP (KA9Q) v2.01.
   The gopher client allows access to Veronica, which is a search utility
   linked to gopher.


   There are two Web clients available in the public domain.
   ArcWeb, written by Stewart Brodie is available from ftp.demon.co.uk
   /pub/archimedes/www.  Currently lacking "Forms", but this is on the
   way.
   Webster, written by Andrew Pullan ([e-mail])
   is also available from ftp.demon.co.uk, in /pub/archimedes/developers.
   Other products are on their way - Doggysoft are hoping that !Termite
   will support WWW etc. fairly soon.


   There are also public access clients available via TELNET which
   provide access to the facilities without the need for local
   client software.  There is a trade off in speed and often
   functionality, but it's better than nothing.  For most of these
   types of facility you need a telnet client capable of supporting
   VT100 terminal emulation (or above).  !TCPIP (KA9Q) supports this, as
   does Acorn's TCP/IP suite, which includes a VT220 emulator.

   Here is a list of a few sites for various TELNET facilities:

   a) WWW (World Wide Web)
      The following public-access Lynx clients are available (Lynx is a text
      based WWW browser; no pictures and sound but it's better than nothing):
          telnet www.tecc.co.uk 9001        (The "9001" is very important)
          telnet telnet.w3.org
          telnet panda.uiowa.edu

   b) Gopher
      The following public-access gopher clients are available via telnet:
          telnet gopher.brad.ac.uk
          telnet panda.uiowa.edu

      You can also access gopher through the World Wide Web.  In other
      words you can get at it via public-access Lynx clients (see (a)
      above).  Press "g" to perform a "goto", then type in:

          gopher://<whereever>


   c) IRC
      telnet to irc.demon.co.uk, for a public access IRC client.  Be
      prepared to be on-line for a long time...


   As far as indirect access is concerned, the above public access
   clients are of course still available to those services supplying
   telnet access.  CIX supplies its own facilties for the above,
   again running text-only versions for VT100-capable terminals.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


8) Serial ports, serial modules, transfer rates and other mysteries.

   a) Serial ports and SerialDev.

   The various different models of Acorn Archimedes et. seq. computers have
   different capabilities with respect to their in-built serial ports.  The
   older machines often have difficulty above 9600bps.  There are two
   modules available via ftp from ftp.acorn.co.uk in /pub/riscos/patches
   which alleviate problems (Risc OS 3.11 does not need these as they are
   already on ROM).  This should enable reliable communication at 9600bps
   and possibly at 19.2Kbps
   The other solution is to purchase one of the serial port cards available.
   These give high-speed capability, and recoup their cost rapidly.  Go for
   one that can support 115200bps - this may seem excessive but the V34
   standard has now been ratified which gives a modem-modem speed
   of 28800bps; with V42bis compression this can theoretically come though
   to the computer at up to 4x28800=115200bps.

   In order to assist software to communicate with the various serial port
   systems, Hugo Fiennes developed the "Serial Block Drivers", which are
   needed for most comms software.  They are available as an application
   called !SerialDev from most sources.

   Acorn have issued a detailed application note that includes lots of
   useful information on serial ports, AppNote234.  Available from Acorn's
   FTP site (ftp.acorn.co.uk), a copy can also be found on ftp.demon.co.uk
   and various bulletin boards.

   b) Serial modules - SerialDev, SerialUtil, SerialBuff, SerPatch

   There various "features" of the multitude of serial port implementations
   on the various machines in the Acorn range.  As far as I know, the
   implementation in the Risc PC works well.  On older machines some of the
   modules may be necessary to drive the internal serial port reliably.

   SerialDev is required on older machines (A3000, A3x0, A4x0) if
   reliable communication is required with Risc OS 3.10.

   SerialBuff provides an extended serial buffer for the internal port,
   which reduces character loss.  Should be RMLoaded before the serial
   port is used.

   SerialUtil is a patch to enable older Risc OS 2 software to run with
   Risc OS 3.1.  Probably not needed with recent software.

   SerPatch is an application which patches the module SerialDeviceDriver
   to improve interrupt handling.  Load the patched module on boot-up if
   you have problems after loading SerialDev.


   c) Transfer rates.

   With a 14.4Kbps V32bis modem, you should be able to get up to 1400 bytes
   per second when transferring binary files (i.e. files that are compressed)
   with FTP, and up to 2500 bytes per second and above when transferring
   text files.  Note however that transfer rates also depend on the speed of
   the route between your service provider and the machine at the other end.
   Often this can reduce flow considerably.
   In this case, find out if your service provider supplies a "BatchFTP"
   service, where you can send mail to one of their machines which will then
   transfer the required file to their own machine, from which you can
   download the file at full speed later on.  Both Demon and CIX supply this
   service at no extra charge.

   d) UUencoding, Tar, Zip etc.

   When a binary file is sent over the Network News system, it has to be
   coded in ASCII as the news system does not generally support 8-bit
   transfer.  In this case the most common form of encoding is called
   "UUEncoding".  The results are distinguishable by long files of gibberish
   where the first letter of each line is "M".  To decode these files, you
   need "UUDecode", a version of which is available from all the usual
   places.

   If a file is very long, it is often split into several parts.  To decode
   these files, they need to be recombined before decoding.  Often, due to
   the way the news system operates, the parts can become jumbled.  They
   should be labelled "part 2 of 3" etc to enable reliable recombination.
   There are several utilities which can do this for you automatically; for
   example !UUExplode, which is available from the usual sources.  This
   enables you to double-click on a file of type UUEncode (7FE) and watch it
   explode into the decoded files automatically.  Some newsreaders will
   cope with this, automatically glueing multi-part uuencoded files together
   for easy decode (the only available one that does at the moment is
   !ReadNews).

   Once you have the decoded file, it will often be an archive of some sort,
   probably compressed.  Most software repositories which deal with
   Arc software use "!Spark" from David Pilling to archive and compress the
   software.  !SparkPlug is available in the public domain to decompress
   such archives.  The other utility commonly used is !ArcFS, as used by
   the various Acorn magazines for their cover discs.  This is read-only;
   !ArcFSR/W is the read/write version, and is available commercially from
   most outlets.

   In the PC world, the most common utility is "PKZIP", these files can be
   noted by their ".zip" suffix.  !SparkFS supports the PKZIP format.  And
   of course you could use PKZIP itself with a PC Emulator if you have one.

   In the UNIX world, a combination of "tar" and "compress" are used,
   versions of which are available for the Acorn machines.  "tar" takes a
   set of files and combines them into one file, and "compress" compresses
   files.  Usually such "tarchives" are noticeable by the ".tar.Z" suffix.
   Sometimes "GNUZip" is used instead of "compress", in which case the
   suffix is ".tar.gz".  A port of GNUZip is also available from the usual
   sources.

   SparkFS from David Pilling also handles uuencoded and ".tar.Z" stuff.
   However it doesn't cope with multi-part uuencoded postings if they
   arrive out of order.  As far as ".tar" and ".Z" are concerned it is
   complete.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


9) Use of TCP/IP over packet radio.

   !TCPIP (KA9Q) is well suited to running TCP/IP over packet radio; after
   all that is what it was written for in the first place.  However there
   are strict (global) regulations regarding what can and cannot be
   transmitted over the amateur bands.  This technically outlaws copying
   stuff to and from the Internet without taking care to vet all material.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


10) Other Software Utilities

   This section discusses briefly other utilities that are relevant to
   using the Internet.

   a) !MailList

   This utility provides mailing list and mail server functions alongside
   !NewsBase (see section 6g above).  A mailing list is an automatic
   facility that takes incoming email to a user account, and copies that
   email to all subscribers to the mailing list.  A mail server is a
   facility for retrieving files via email.

   To obtain a copy send email to [e-mail] with the
   subject field set to "SEND INDEX" to find out the filename of the
   latest version, and send another message to retrieve the software
   itself with the subject field set to "SEND <filename> <size>",
   where <size> is optional and places an upper limit in Kb of the
   messages sent back.


   b) !MailBot

   This is a general purpose automatic email "robot".  It relies on
   <Mail$Dir>, which is part of the !TCPIP/KA9Q distribution.  It can
   be used to process incoming mail to an account automatically.

   It can be obtained via FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk in directory
   /pub/archimedes, or from HENSA.  For full information, send
   a blank email to [e-mail].

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


11) Products "on the way"

   This new section contains brief overviews of products that are soon to
   be released.  I wasn't going to do this originally, but there is a
   veritable swarm of software on the way from various quarters and people
   considering connecting their Arc to the Internet will find this
   information useful.  Please let me know if you think this section is
   a good or a bad idea.

   Please bear in mind that information provided here is done so in good
   faith; please contact the relevant supplier for full details.

   a) ANT Ltd

   The ANT Internet Tools Suite, scheduled for release in Q2 1995, provides
   all the software neccessary to take advantage of the Internet from the
   RISC OS Desktop.  Components of the suite include; easy to use desktop
   configuration, Marcel (EMail & News) supporting MIME/IMAP/SMTP/NNTP and
   offline mail/news, Fresco (WWW browser with FORMs!), OmniClient (remote
   file server connectivity) NFS (AUN Econet/WindowsNT/OS2/AppleTalk/Novell
   etc. available separately), desktop FTP filer for drag & drop file
   transfers, terminal emulation, RISC OS servers (WWW, FTP, Telnet,
   Finger, etc), Archie, Finger, Host, WhoIs, Ethernet packet monitor,
   remote time, DNS resolver ...

   The supplied Internet stack allows access via standard Ethernet cards,
   or dial-up accounts using SLIP or PPP.

   Contact: [e-mail] for more details, or see www.ant.co.uk



============================================================================


Appendix A: List of Software including where to find it


  Archiboard
    From Supreme Software Systems Limited.

  Arcterm7
    Most Acorn retailers, or direct from The Serial Port.

  Arctic
    Compuserve (UKFORM Acorn/Z88), Arcade, The Digital Databank.

  ArcWeb
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes/www

  CallDemon
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  Gopher
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  Hearsay
    Most Acorn retailers, or direct from Beebug

  Newsbase and TTFN
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  News-o-saurus
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes (soon!)

  ReaderS
    Direct from Anthony Frost ([e-mail])

  ReadNews, Incorp, RUCP and filters
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  RiscIX related software
    Granada Microcare

  SerialDev
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  SlipDial
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  Spark, SparkFS, Sparkplug
    Sparkplug can be found in most public places.  Spark and SparkFS are
    available direct from David Pilling, email [e-mail]

  TCPIP (KA9Q)
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes

  TCP/IP Suite
    Most Acorn retailers.  SLIP driver and DOMAIN module available from
    Gnome Computers.

  Unix utilities, tar, compress, gzip etc.
    Try Hensa (micros.hensa.ac.uk) or the Acorn-related bulletin boards,
    e.g. Arcade and The Digital Databank.  David Pilling has ported many
    unix utilities, email [e-mail].

  Webster
    FTP from ftp.demon.co.uk /pub/archimedes/developers

  Zansi
    Available on good Acorn-related BBS systems

============================================================================


Appendix B: Contact Addresses mentioned elsewhere in this FAQ

  ANT Ltd:
    Email: [e-mail]
    Tel: [phone]
    Web: http://www.ant.co.uk/

  Anthony Frost:
    Email [e-mail]

  Adam Goodfellow:
    Email [e-mail] for !TCPIP (KA9Q) related stuff,
    otherwise email [e-mail] for

  Arcade BBS:
    Tel: Modem London [phone], [phone] most speeds.

  Beebug:
    Tel: St. Albans [phone]

  CIX (Compulink Information eXchange):
    Tel: London [phone] or email [e-mail]
         Modem [phone]/1244 most speeds (on-line registration
         is available).

  CompuServe:
    Tel: London [phone], Birmingham [phone],
         Reading [phone] or 569 025, Bristol [phone]

  David Pilling:
    Email [e-mail]

  Demon Internet Services:
    Email: [e-mail]
    Tel: London [phone]
    Web: http://www.demon.co.uk/
    FTP: ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/


  The Digital Databank BBS:
    Tel: (Modem) Welwyn Garden [phone] most speeds

  Gnome Computers:
    Tel: Huntingdon [phone]

  Graham Allan:
    Email
    [e-mail].

  Granada Microcare:
    Tel: Harrogate [phone]

  Hugo Fiennes:
    Email: [e-mail] (see also The Serial Port)

  The Internet Account (AUS)
    Email: [e-mail]
    Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]
    Web: http://www.geko.com.au/
    FTP: ftp://ftp.geko.com.uk/pub/

  Julian Wright:
    Email [e-mail]

  Rich in Paradise BBS:
    Tel: (Modem) Hemel Hempstead [phone] most speeds

  Risc Developments:
    Have gone into receivership.  Direct any queries to Beebug (see above)

  Robert Orwin:
    Email [e-mail] for !TTFN related stuff, otherwise
    email [e-mail].

  Stichting Hack-Tic Netwerk/XS4ALL (NL)
    Email [e-mail]

  Stichting Knoware (NL)
    Email [e-mail]

  Supreme Software Systems Ltd
    Tel: [phone] (voice) and [phone] (data/BBS)
    Email: [e-mail]

  The Serial Port:
    Tel: Wells [phone]
         The World Of Cryton BBS - (Modem) Wells [phone] most speeds

  Zynet:
    Email: [e-mail]
    Tel: [phone], fax [phone]
    Web: http://www.zynet.co.uk/
    FTP: ftp://ftp.zynet.co.uk/

============================================================================


Appendix C: Glossary

This is a new section.  If you spot any term or phrase used in the FAQ
which would benefit from elaboration here in the glossary, please let
me know.


Dynamic IP Services
    Services whereby your Internet address is assigned when you dial in,
    so that the address changes each time you connect.

Fixed IP Services
    Services whereby your Internet address is permanently assigned.
    Enables incoming FTP, TELNET etc.

Protocol
    A standardised method of communication understood by both ends of
    a connection.  For the Internet, these include TCP, UDP, IP, ICMP,
    IGMP, SLIP, PPP, NNTP, FTP, TELNET etc. etc.

Resolving
    This is the term given to the process of converting a numeric Internet
    address (e.g. 123.132.1.2) to a host name (e.g. fred.co.uk) and vice
    versa.

TCP/IP (stack).
    Generic term used to describe the "protocols" used across the Internet.
    The TCP/IP stack is a collection of the various protocols that use
    each other in a stack-like formation, for example FTP uses TCP which
    uses IP which uses SLIP.

URLs
    "Uniform Resource Locators" appear all the way through the FAQ.
    They are generally of the form: <protocol>://<site>/<directory>,
    for example ftp://ftp.src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/systems/ means access
    using the FTP protocol, to site "src.doc.ic.ac.uk" in directory
    "/pub/systems".  URLs are used by Web browsers to locate resources.



============================================================================



Appendix D: Things I'd like to know :-)

If you have further information on the following that I could include in
this FAQ, please drop me an email.  If you have further information that
you think could be relevant that isn't on the list please send it anyway!

Information on configuring and using KA9Q (and any other TCP/IP software
for that matter) with IP suppliers other than Demon, especially the Pipex
resellers who use dynamic IP address allocation (DynaSLIP etc).

Information on software that is available and of use on the Internet,
commercial or otherwise.

Acorn-related bulletin boards with Internet gateways.

Anything about the relative merits of the various newsreaders - I don't
have time to use them all in anger.  Especially !EasyMail and !News.


============================================================================

Credits:

Many people have contributed to this FAQ, however to list everybody
would double the size of the FAQ!  Contributions are much appreciated,
without them the FAQ would be a fraction of the size it is now, so
please keep them flowing in.

Comments, suggestions etc. to [e-mail] (Kevin F. Quinn).



#! rnews
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: newsbase.announce.newusers
Path: mnhep1.hep.umn.edu!umn.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!acorn!not-for-mail
Subject: Listing of Acorn-related Mailing-Lists
Followup-To: comp.sys.acorn.misc
Date: 18 Apr 1995 15:10:11 +0100
Organization: Acorn Computers Ltd, Cambridge, England
Lines: 269
Sender: [e-mail]
Approved: [e-mail] (Alan Glover)
Message-ID: <3n0h83$[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: acorn.acorn.co.uk

Archive-name: acorn/mailing-lists
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 16-Mar-1995
Version: 0.10

                Listing of Acorn-related Mailing-Lists
                          Maurice Hendrix
                       [e-mail]

        PLEASE USE AN UP-TO-DATE COPY OF THIS OVERVIEW

 This overview is maintained by Maurice Hendrix <[e-mail]>.
Please send your suggestions, updates, remarks to me.

 Up-to-date copies of this overview are available by sending email to
<[e-mail]> with the Subject: SEND FAQ.AcornLists
Other Acorn related FAQ's are available here too. Send email with the
Subject: SEND INDEX to retrieve a listing of available files.

 In this overview angle-brackets <> are used to indicate that the text
within them is an email-address.

 This overview lists all known mailing-lists concerned with the
discussion of Acorn computers or software for these computers in
alphabetical order. The format of the listing is as follows:


-ListName-      -email-address for submitting articles-

   -Charter-

   -Subscription information-



-----------------------------

ACORN-L         <[e-mail]> or <[e-mail]>

   This list is used to discuss all Acorn related topics.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]> or
   <[e-mail]> in the body of the message enter the
   command:

   SUBSCRIBE ACORN-L <your-full-name>

   E.g. SUBSCRIBE ACORN-L John H. P. Doe

-----------------------------

BBC-LIST        <[e-mail]>

   The bbc-list is basically for anyone interested in anything
   associated with the 6502 based BBC micro. Traffic is light, but it's
   still running, and there are some good people who can answer most
   technical questions.

   Admin info should be sent to [e-mail]. That's
   handled manually.

-----------------------------

CS-ARM

   CS-ARM is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.arm'.
   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide
   a mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CS-ARM
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA

   CSA is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn'.
   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide
   a mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-ANN

   CSA-ANN is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.announce'.
   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide
   a mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-ANN
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-APPS

   CSA-APPS is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.apps'.

   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn (TM) machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide a
   mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-APPS
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-GAMES

   CSA-GAMES is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.games'.
   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide
   a mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-GAMES
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-HARDW

   CSA-HARDW is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.hardware'.

   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn (TM) machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide a
   mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-HARDW
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-MISC

   CSA-MISC is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.misc'.

   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn (TM) machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide a
   mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-MISC
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-NET

   CSA-NET is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.networking'.

   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn (TM) machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide a
   mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-NET
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-PROG

   CSA-PROG is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.programmer'.

   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn (TM) machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide a
   mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-PROG
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

CSA-TECH

   CSA-TECH is a oneway mailing-list for the distribution of the USEnet
   newsgroup 'comp.sys.acorn.tech'.
   The mailing-list is aimed at users of Acorn machines who have
   email-only access to the Internet. The mailing-list does NOT provide
   a mail-to-news-gateway. Distribution is done via digests only.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON CSA-TECH
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

FORTHMACS       <[e-mail]>

    FORTHMACS is a forum for all RiscOS Forthmacs users discussing all
    matters concerning Forthmacs. bugs, updates and new tools/applications
    are announced in here.

    To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
    with the SUBJECT: subscribe FORTHMACS

-----------------------------

MAILLIST-L      <[e-mail]>

   MAILLIST-L is a mailing-list concerning the discussion of bugs and
   features of the application !MailList. The mailing-list is aimed at
   host-owners (who are using this application on their machine) and
   list-owners (who are managing mailing-lists with this application)
   !MailList is an application which provides a mailing-list and
   mail-server robot and a simple mail/news scheduler to users of the Acorn
   range of RISC computers and requires the RiscOS v3.10 platform.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   with the SUBJECT: SIGNON MAILLIST-L
   The rest of the message will be ignored.

-----------------------------

TAYLOR          <[e-mail]>

   TAYLOR is a mailing-list concerning the discussion of bugs and
   features of the application !uucp (Taylor UUCP 1.04) by Thomas Aeby.
   The list is aimed at users of this application.

   To subscribe send email to: <[e-mail]>
   There is a human on the other side.

-----------------------------

With thanks to all the contributors.

________________________________________________________________________

  Copyright (c)1995 by Maurice Hendrix, all rights reserved.
  This overview may be distributed freely on a non-commercial basis.
  When doing so this overview must be distributed as-is, with no changes
  made to it and this copyright notice included.
  This overview may NOT be included in commercial collections or
  compilations without the express permission from the author.

  This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranties.
  While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the
  information contained in this article, the author assumes no
  responsibilities for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from
  the use of the information contained herein.
________________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________________

[e-mail], moderator of comp.sys.acorn.announce. Submissions to
[e-mail], other related mail to [e-mail].