890 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
890 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
Newsgroups: news.admin.misc,news.announce.newusers,news.answers
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From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
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Subject: How to become a USENET site
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Summary: Periodic posting about the basic steps involved in
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configuring a machine to store USENET news.
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Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 13:20:18 GMT
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Reply-To: sitefaq@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Site Setup Commentary Reception)
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Archive-name: site-setup
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Version: $Id: site-setup,v 1.123 1993/12/27 15:44:47 jik Exp $
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How to Become a USENET Site
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Jonathan Kamens <jik@security.ov.com>
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Editor and Poster
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Chris Lewis <clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca>
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Replies and comments to sitefaq@ferret.ocunix.on.ca, automatic if
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you followup or reply to this article.
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This article attempts to summarize, in a general way, the steps
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involved in setting up a machine to be on the USENET.
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It assumes that you already have some sort of USENET access
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(otherwise, how did you get this article?), or at the very least, that
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you have ftp or mail server access to get to some of the files
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mentioned in it, and that you are trying to configure your own site to
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be on the USENET after using some other site for some period of time.
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If this assumption is incorrect, then ask whoever made this article
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available to you to help you get access to the resources mentioned
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below.
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Before reading this posting, you should be familiar with the
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contents of the introductory postings in the news.announce.newusers
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newsgroup, most importantly the posting entitled "USENET Software:
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History and Sources". Many of the terms used below are defined in
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those postings. The news.announce.newusers postings (and the other
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Usenet postings mentioned below) are accessible in the periodic
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posting archive on rtfm.mit.edu [18.70.0.209], in /pub/usenet via
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anonymous ftp, or via E-mail by sending a message to
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mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (send a message with "help" in the body to
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get more information).
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*************************
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There are five basic steps involved in configuring a machine to be a
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USENET site.
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1. Make the decision -- do you *really* want to do this?
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If you just want to read USENET yourself, then putting your machine
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onto the USENET is probably not what you want to do. The process of
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doing so can be time-consuming, and regular maintenance is also
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required. Furthermore, the resources consumed by a full USENET setup
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on a machine are significant:
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- disk space for the programs (a few Mb for the binaries, another
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couple of Mb for any sources you keep online);
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- disk space for the articles - currently (as of March, 1994)
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around 3500Mb a month, although it is possible to minimize
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the amount of disk space consumed by articles by carefully
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selecting which newsgroups and/or hierarchies you wish to
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receive;
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- modem time (possibly long-distance) transferring the articles to
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your machine (assuming that you are using a modem rather than an
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Internet NNTP connection); A full feed is getting around
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15 hours per day using V.32bis modems at 14.4Kb even compressed;
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and
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- fees if you're paying someone to provide you with a news feed.
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You might choose, instead, to get an account on a public-access
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USENET site on which you can read news by dialing up. See, for
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example, the "Nixpub posting" articles in comp.misc and the "PDIAL"
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article in alt.bbs.lists.
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Even if there are no public-access USENET sites that are a local
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phone call away from you, you might still choose this approach,
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especially if you only read a few (low traffic) groups. Using a
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public-access site that is accessible via PC Pursuit or some other
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packet network might still be cheaper and/or easier than setting up
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the feed, transferring the news and configuring your machine to store
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news locally.
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You should be sure that the benefits you are going to get by storing
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news locally are going to outweigh the costs before deciding to
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proceed. In summary, however, let me say that this decision is not
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always a clear one. To explain why, let me include an alternative
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perspective, from joe@jshark.rn.com, on why getting a feed may be
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appropriate even for a single-user machine:
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When you get to long distance calls, reading the news on-line gets the
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cost rising fast. A few seconds to skip an article you've no interest
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in, maybe a minute to take in a good one plus more time to save it and
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download it later. But when the whole lot is batched together (as
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news), a) it only takes a few minutes and b) it's all conveniently
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automated. Sure, configuring the hardware and software may take a
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(small) time - but it's something you only do once.
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And unless you want to get comp.*, the disk space needed is not that
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great. (20Mb disks are about 100 dollars over here [and the
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Mb-per-dollar ratio is rising constantly - jik]; the saving in phone
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charges would pay for that in a few months)
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I also find that replying takes time, and this is where on-line
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"reading" would start to really burn dollars! The alternative, {
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download - logout - compose reply - dial back in - login - post (or
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mail) reply}, is a) inconvenient and b) still costly.
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Perhaps I see "news administration" as a simple task *because* I only
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provide news to one other site and get a very limited feed. (No
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overflowing disks, no "disappearing inodes", neither angry users nor
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management.) The initial stages were a bit fraught (200kb batches
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being bounced back because of permission problems :-( ), but very
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little effort now.
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2. Find a site to feed you news and/or mail.
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In order to make your machine a USENET site, you need to find other
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sites on the USENET that are willing to feed you news and/or mail.
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You might want to locate more than one such site if you want higher
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reliability.
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Finding feeds for a UUCP site.
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If you are going to be using a modem (and, presumably, UUCP) to
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transfer your news and mail, then then there are several resources you
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can use when trying to locate a feed site:
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a. Comp.mail.maps
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Find the postings in the comp.mail.maps newsgroup for your state,
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country, or whatever. Look in it for sites that sound like they are
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local to you. Contact their administrators and ask if they would be
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willing to give you a feed.
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Comp.mail.maps is archived at several anonymous ftp and mail
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server sites, including ftp.uu.net, so you can examine map entries
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even if the maps have expired at your news-reading site (or if you
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do not currently have USENET access). See the article entitled
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"UUCP map for README" in the comp.mail.maps newsgroup or archives
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for more information about the maps.
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The comp.mail.maps postings are also archived in rtfm.mit.edu's
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periodic posting archive, which was mentioned in detail above.
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b. News.admin.misc
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Post a message to news.admin.misc. If at all possible, post it
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with a restricted distribution, so that only people who are likely
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to be able to give you a feed will have to get it (e.g. if you have
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posting access on a machine in Massachusetts, and the site you're
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setting up is going to be in Massachusetts, then post with a
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distribution of "ne").
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Note that you can post to news.admin.misc even if you do not have
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direct USENET access right now, as long as you have E-mail access --
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send your message to news.admin.misc.usenet@decwrl.dec.com.
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However, if you use this gateway, you probably can't use a
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restricted distribution as described above, since the gateway
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probably isn't in the distribution you want to post to, and besides,
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it's not clear that it listens to the "Distribution:" header in
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postings that are mailed to it. (Other gateways:
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news.admin.misc@pws.bull.com, news-admin-misc@cs.utexas.edu,
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news.admin.misc@news.cs.indiana.edu)
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When posting your message, try to be as specific as possible.
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Mention where you are, how you intend to transfer news from your
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feed site to you (e.g. what kind of modem, how fast), approximately
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how many newsgroups you are going to want to get and from which
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hierarchies, and perhaps what kind of machine it's all for. A
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descriptive Subject line such as "news feed wanted -- Boston, MA" is
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also useful.
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If there is a regional hierarchy for the distribution in which you
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want a feed, then you might want to post a message in one of the
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regional newsgroups as well, or cross-post your message to one of
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the regional newsgroups. Look first for an "admin" group (e.g.
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"ne.admin"), then (if there is no admin group) a "config" group,
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then for a "wanted" group.
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c. Commercial services
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If all else fails, you may have to resort to paying someone to
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provide you with a feed. I know about the following service
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providers:
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a2i communications
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1211 Park Avenue #202
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San Jose, CA 95126
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Data: (408) 293-9010 (v.32bis, v.32), (408) 293-9020 (PEP)
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(log in as "guest")
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Telnet: a2i.rahul.net [192.160.13.1] (log in as "guest")
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Ftp: ftp.rahul.net [192.160.13.1], get /pub/BLURB
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info@rahul.net (a daemon will auto-reply)
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(UUCP, news feeds, mail feeds, MX forwarding, name service)
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Anterior Technology
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P.O. Box 1206
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Menlo Park, CA 94026-1206
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Voice: (415) 328-5615
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Fax: (415) 322-1753
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info@fernwood.mpk.ca.us
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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CERFnet
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P.O. Box 85608
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San Diego, CA 92186-9784
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Voice: (800) 876-CERF
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help@cerf.net
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(connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
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Attn: David C. Menges
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Colorado School of Mines
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1500 Illinois
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Golden, CO 80401
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Voice: 303-273-3471
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dcm@csn.org
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(UUCP, news feeds)
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connect.com.au (Australia)
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Attn: Hugh Irvine (hugh@connect.com.au)
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Ben Golding (bgg@connect.com.au)
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Voice: 61 3 528 2239
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, new feed, PPP, SLIP
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Demon Internet Systems
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internet@demon.co.uk
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(Internet access, SLIP, PPP, name service)
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DMConnection
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267 Cox St.
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Hudson, Ma. 01749
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Voice: (508) 568-1618
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Fax: (508) 562-1133
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info@dmc.com (a daemon will respond, followed by a human being, if
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necessary)
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(UUCP, news feeds, mail feeds, MX forwarding, file servers, mailing lists,
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anonymous FTP and UUCP address to archives, domain registration,
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FTP, SLIP, etc.)
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ExNet Systems Ltd
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37 Honley Road
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Catford
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London, SE6 2HY, UK
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Voice: +44 81 244 0077
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Fax: +44 81 244 0078
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exnet@exnet.com or exnet@exnet.co.uk
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(UUCP, mail and news feeds)
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Gordian
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20361 Irvine Ave
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Santa Ana Heights, CA 92707 (Orange County)
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Voice: (714) 850 0205
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Fax: (714) 850 0533
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E-mail: uucp-request@gordian.com
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(UUCP, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds (for SoCal sites only))
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Hatch Communications
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8635 Falmouth Ave., Suite 105
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Playa del Rey, CA 90293
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Voice: (310) 305-8758
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E-mail: info@hatch.socal.com
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(UUCP Usenet news and e-mail, SLIP connections for ftp and telnet)
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HoloNet
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Information Access Technologies, Inc.
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46 Shattuck Square, Suite 11
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Berkeley, CA 94704-1152
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Voice: 510-704-0160, Fax: 510-704-8019, Modem: 704-1058
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Telnet: holonet.net
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E-mail: info@holonet.net (automated reply)
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Support: support@holonet.net
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(UUCP/USENET feeds, local to 850+ cities nationwide)
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infocom Public Access Unix,
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White Bridge House,
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Old Bath Road,
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CHARVIL, Berkshire,
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United Kingdom,
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RG10 9QJ.
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Voice: +44 [0] 734 344000
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Fax: +44 [0] 734 320988
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Data: +44 [0] 734 340055 (you can register online interactively)
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E-mail: info@infocom.co.uk (send a message with ALL in the subject)
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(UUCP, Usenet Feeds and Internet Email to UNIX, DOS, ATARI, AMIGA, MAC)
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Internet Initiative Japan, Inc.
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Hoshigaoka Bldg.,
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2-11-2, Nagata-Cho,
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Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100 Japan
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Voice: +81 3 3580 3781
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Fax: +81 3 3580 3782
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E-mail: info@iij.ad.jp
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(UUCP, news feeds, mail feeds, MX forwarding, name service,
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anonymous FTP and UUCP services, domain registration)
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JvNCnet
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B6 von Neumann Hall
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Princeton University
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Princeton, NJ 08543
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Voice: (800) 35-TIGER
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market@jvnc.net
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(connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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MSEN, Inc.
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628 Brooks Street
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Ann Arbor, MI 48103
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Voice: (313) 998-4562
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Ftp: ftp.msen.com [148.59.1.2], see /pub/vendor/msen/*
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info@msen.com
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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MV Communications, Inc.
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P.O. Box 4963
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Manchester, NH 03108-4963
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Voice: (603) 429-2223
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Data: (603) 429-1735 (log in as "info" or "rates")
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info@mv.mv.com
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(UUCP, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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NEARnet (New England Academic and Resarch Network)
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10 Moulton Street
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Cambridge, MA 02138
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Voice: (617) 873-8730
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Fax: (617) 873-5620
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nearnet-join@nic.near.net
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(connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds (for
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NEARnet sites))
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Netcom - Online Communication Services
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4000 Moorpark Avenue - Suite 209
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San Jose, CA 95117
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Voice: (408) 554-UNIX
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Data: (408) 241-9760 (login guest, no password)
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Telnet: netcom.netcom.com [192.100.81.100] (login guest)
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E-mail: info@netcom.com
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds,
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other services)
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Northwest Nexus Inc.
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P.O. Box 40597
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Bellevue, WA 98015-4597
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Voice: (206) 455-3505
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Data: (206) 382-6245 (log in as "new")
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Fax: (206) 455-4672
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info@nwnexus.wa.com
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(Internet access, SLIP/PPP (dial-up, dedicated, 56k, FT-1), UUCP,
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news feeds, mail feeds, MX forwarding, name service, NIC
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registration, Nutshell books)
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| The PC User Group
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| PO Box 360
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| Harrow
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| London.
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| Voice: +44 81 863 1191
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| Fax: +44 81 963 6095
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| hostmaster@ibmpcug.co.uk or hostmaster@ibmpcug.uucp
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| (UUCP, mail and news feeds)
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Performance Systems International, Inc.
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11800 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 1100
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Reston, VA 22091
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Voice: (703) 620-6651 or (800) 827-7482
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Computerized info: all-info@psi.com
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Human-based info: info@psi.com
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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Portal Communications Company
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20863 Stevens Creek Boulevard
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Suite 200
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Cupertino, CA 95014
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Voice: (408) 973-9111
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Fax: (408) 725-1580
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Data: (408) 973-8091 (V.32/PEP) Call for local node near you. Nodes
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provided by Sprintnet or Tymnet have additional charges.
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Telnet: portal.com
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Email: CS@portal.com
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(UUCP, news feeds, mail feeds, MX forwarding, mailing lists, file
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archives, domain registration, FTP, SLIP/PPP, commercial
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menu-based online service, shell, telnet, irc, gopher, interface
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software available for Amiga, PC, and Sun)
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SURAnet
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8400 Baltimore Blvd.
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College Park, MD 20742
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Voice: (301) 982-3214
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Fax: (301) 982-4605
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E-mail: news-admin@sura.net
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(connectivity, name service (for SURAnet sites), news feeds (for
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SURAnet sites))
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TDK Consulting Services
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119 University Ave. East
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Waterloo, Ontario
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Canada N2J 2W9
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Voice: (519) 888-0766
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Fax: (519) 747-0881
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E-mail: info@tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
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(UUCP News/Mail feeds)
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UUNET Canada, Inc.
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1 Yonge St., Suite 1400
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Toronto, Ontario
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Canada M5E 1J9
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Voice: (416) 368-6621
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Fax: (416) 369-0515
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info@uunet.ca or uunet-ca@uunet.uu.net
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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UUNET Technologies Inc.
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3110 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 570
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Falls Church, VA 22042
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Voice: (703) 204-8000
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Fax: (703) 204-8001
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info@uunet.uu.net
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AlterNet (network connectivity) info: alternet-info@uunet.uu.net
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(UUCP, connectivity, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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UUNORTH, Inc.
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Box 445, Station E
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Toronto, Ontario
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Canada M6H 4E3
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Voice: (416) 537-4930 or (416) 225-UNIX
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Fax: (416) 537-4890
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WIMSEY
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Attn: Stuart Lynne
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225B Evergreen Dr.
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Port Moody, BC, V3H 1S1
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Voice: 604-93-7532
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sl@vanbc.wimsey.bc.ca
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(UUCP, name service, MX forwarding, news feeds)
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Xenon Systems
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Attn: Julian Macassey
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742 1/2 North Hayworth Ave.
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Hollywood, CA 90046-7142
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Voice: (213) 654-4495
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postmaster@bongo.tele.com
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(UUCP, news feeds, mail feeds)
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| XMission
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| PO Box 510063
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| Salt Lake City, UT 84151-0063
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| Data: (801) 539-0900 (log in as "guest")
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| Telnet: xmission.com [198.60.22.2] (log in as "guest")
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| Ftp: xmission.com [198.60.22.2], get /pricing
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| support@xmission.com
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| (UUCP, news feeds, mail feeds, MX forwarding, name service, SLIP/PPP)
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Note that some of these are actually network service providers which
|
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provide Internet connectivity, but some will also provide news feeds
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to their customers. For more information about many network service
|
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providers, see the anonymous ftp file /nsfnet/referral-list on
|
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nnsc.nsf.net. Also, the book "Connecting to the Internet" (see the
|
|
"Bibliography" section below) contains a list of Internet service
|
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providers and instructions for getting an updated version of the
|
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list.
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Some regional network service providers, especially in large urban
|
|
areas, offer both UUCP and TCP/IP service via modem or leased line.
|
|
If you can find such a company, the cost of a dedicated (leased
|
|
line) Internet connection will often be cheaper and more desirable
|
|
than a UUCP connection, if you plan on using it for a full newsfeed
|
|
or for frequent downloading. Some companies can offer combined
|
|
voice and data connections using T1 links, for large-scale users
|
|
seeking both Internet access and low-cost toll telephone service.
|
|
For more information about the possibility of hooking up to the
|
|
network, see the "How to Get Information about Networks" posting in
|
|
news.announce.newusers.
|
|
|
|
NOTE: I am not endorsing any of these companies in any way. I
|
|
don't know anything about the level or quality of service either of
|
|
them provides. They are simply the ones I know about. If you know
|
|
of a site that provides feeds and think it should be mentioned here,
|
|
please let me know.
|
|
|
|
d. Special information for European users
|
|
|
|
(This section discusses the various big European networks. There
|
|
are also smaller service providers, such as ExNet Systems (see
|
|
above), in Europe.)
|
|
|
|
In Europe, you can get a feed from one of EUNet's national
|
|
networks. They charge for feeds but are "non-commercial," which
|
|
means (I assume) that the fees go to the maintenance of the
|
|
networks. Most provide help on getting started, can provide source
|
|
for the mail and news software and lists of sites who have indicated
|
|
they will provide feeds. They also act as Internet forwarders (see
|
|
below for more information on this). To contact them, try sending
|
|
mail to postmaster@country.eu.net or newsmaster@country.eu.net. The
|
|
"country" in this case should be whatever country you're in.
|
|
|
|
Note that the national networks have a "no redistribution" policy
|
|
and have the option to cut off sites which break this rule. There
|
|
are other groups (such as sublink); see (a) and (b) above for
|
|
suggestions on how to contact them.
|
|
|
|
Subscribing to EUNet or to one of the NALnets (National Networks)
|
|
currently requires to be member of EurOpen either directly or
|
|
indirectly by being member of a NALUUG (National Unix User Group)
|
|
affiliated to EurOpen.
|
|
|
|
In the UK, smaller scale users and individuals can also get news
|
|
access via Demon Internet Systems. They provide very cheap dialup
|
|
Internet access, SLIP, PPP and name service entries. Contact them
|
|
(contact information is given above) for more information.
|
|
|
|
There are also several other network services providers, already
|
|
operational (or to become soon available for some of them).
|
|
Contrary to EUnet which generally accepts any organization as
|
|
customer, those networks may have restrictions and accept only some
|
|
kind of customers (generally academic and/or research) as they are
|
|
sometimes government funded.
|
|
|
|
Some of these networks are NORDunet (northern Europe), FUNET
|
|
(Finland), SWITCH (Switzerland), EASInet (European Academic
|
|
Supercomputing Initiative, mainly if not totally funded by IBM), DFN
|
|
(Germany), PIPEX(UK) and RENATER (France).
|
|
|
|
There are several anonymous ftp sites from which information about
|
|
all of these networks and about networking in Europe in general
|
|
might be obtained. They are ftp.switch.ch, ftp.easi.net,
|
|
ftp.ripe.net, ftp.eu.net, corton.inria.fr and nic.nordu.net.
|
|
|
|
Note that it is to your advantage to try to find a feed site that is
|
|
directly on the Internet, if you are not going to be. Getting a feed
|
|
from a site on the Internet will allow that site to act as your MX
|
|
forwarder (see section 5 below), and the fact that you are only one
|
|
hop off of the Internet will make both mail and news delivery fast
|
|
(assuming that the feed you get from the Internet site is for both
|
|
mail and news; of course, if you can only find someone willing to
|
|
forward mail to you but not to traffic with you the heavier load of a
|
|
news feed, then your mail delivery will still be fast).
|
|
|
|
Finding feeds for an Internet site.
|
|
|
|
It is beyond the scope of this document to discuss how you can get
|
|
onto the Internet yourself. However, many of the service providers
|
|
listed above provide Internet connections as well as newsfeeds and
|
|
will help you through the process of getting onto the Internet.
|
|
Furthermore, the book "Connecting to the Internet" (see the
|
|
"Bibliography" section below) is a step-by-step to the process of
|
|
getting connected, and contains a more extensive list of Internet
|
|
service providers.
|
|
|
|
If you are already on the Internet and would like your news feed to
|
|
be over the Internet rather than over a modem link, then you might
|
|
want to look in the UUCP maps in comp.mail.maps, as mentioned above,
|
|
since many USENET sites that are on the Internet are mentioned there.
|
|
News.admin.misc and the commercial services listed above are also
|
|
viable options. Another option which is relevant only to Internet
|
|
sites is to send mail to the mailing list nntp-managers@apple.com, and
|
|
ask if anyone on that list is willing to provide you with a news feed.
|
|
If you do this, be specific, just as if you were posting to
|
|
news.admin.misc as described above.
|
|
|
|
3. Get the software.
|
|
|
|
The "USENET Software" posting referenced above goes into quite a bit
|
|
of detail about the software that is available. There are three
|
|
components in the software at a USENET site: (a) the software that
|
|
transports the news (usually using either UUCP or NNTP), (b) the
|
|
software that stores the news on the local disks, expires old
|
|
articles, etc., and (c) the news-readers for looking at the news.
|
|
|
|
For example, if you're a UNIX site on the Internet and you're going
|
|
to be getting your news feed over the Internet, then you are probably
|
|
going to want to get one of the news transport packages mentioned in
|
|
the "USENET Software" posting (e.g., INN or C News + NNTP), as well as
|
|
one or more of the UNIX news readers mentioned there.
|
|
|
|
Since you are probably going to be exchanging mail as well as news,
|
|
and the mail software that is shipped with the OS you are using might
|
|
not be powerful enough to handle mail exchanging with the rest of the
|
|
USENET, you might want to obtain new mail software as well. There are
|
|
several packages you might choose you use. Discussion of them is
|
|
beyond the scope of this document; the books referenced below will
|
|
probably provide some useful information in this area. Furthermore,
|
|
if you are a UNIX site, the posting by Chris Lewis
|
|
<clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca> entitled "UNIX Email Software Survey FAQ"
|
|
in news.admin.misc, comp.mail.misc and news.answers provides a good
|
|
introduction to the UNIX mail software that's out there. Finally,
|
|
Eric S. Johansson <esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us>'s "FAQ - UUCP Mail,
|
|
News and Gateway Software for PCs and MACs" posting (actually, the
|
|
Subject line appears to vary somewhat, and the posting doesn't seem to
|
|
appear very regularly), in comp.mail.uucp, news.software.readers and
|
|
vmsnet.uucp, will help you to find out more about the UUCP software
|
|
that is available to you if you wish to run it on a PC or Macintosh
|
|
computer.
|
|
|
|
The basic idea is to go read the "USENET Software" posting, and then
|
|
to work from there.
|
|
|
|
Europeans can ask their national backbone site, which will usually
|
|
either be a software archive or be closely associated with one.
|
|
UKNET, for example, provides an information pack explaining what is
|
|
needed and where (and how) to get it.
|
|
|
|
4. Do what it says.
|
|
|
|
Most of the software available for news transport or storage comes
|
|
with installation instructions. Follow them. This part should be
|
|
self-explanatory (although the instructions might not be :-).
|
|
|
|
5. Register your site on the network.
|
|
|
|
The "traditional" method of advertising your site to the rest of the
|
|
USENET after setting it up is to get an entry for it added to the UUCP
|
|
maps. Doing this involves choosing a name for your site and
|
|
submitting a map entry indicating the name, other vital statistics,
|
|
and a list of your feed sites, preferentially weighted. Since many
|
|
USENET sites still rely exclusively on the UUCP maps for routing mail,
|
|
you will almost certainly want to register in the maps. To find out
|
|
more about how to do this, read the "UUCP map for README" posting in
|
|
comp.mail.maps, referenced above.
|
|
|
|
However, the past several years have witnessed a dramatic increase
|
|
in the number of sites choosing to register host names in the Internet
|
|
Domain Name Service (DNS) hierarchy, in addition to getting a host
|
|
entry added to the UUCP maps. The DNS hierarchy is becomingly
|
|
increasingly standardized, and DNS name service is more reliable than
|
|
the UUCP maps. Therefore, if register a DNS name for your site, put
|
|
that DNS name in your UUCP map entry as an alias for your site, and
|
|
use the DNS address rather than the UUCP host name in your mail and
|
|
USENET postings, both UUCP hosts and hosts that do DNS will be able to
|
|
get mail to you more efficiently and reliably.
|
|
|
|
There are two types of DNS host records that are relevant here. If
|
|
you have opted to contract with a company for a direct connection to
|
|
the Internet, then you are probably going to want to register an
|
|
address record advertising what your address will be on the Internet.
|
|
Hosts which understand DNS can then use that record to connect
|
|
directly to your machine and deliver mail to it.
|
|
|
|
If, on the other hand, you are going to be getting your mail via
|
|
UUCP from some other site, then the host record you will be
|
|
registering is a Mail eXchange (MX) record. This record announces to
|
|
the world that mail destined to your host can be directed instead to
|
|
another host that IS directly on the Internet. That host is your "MX
|
|
forwarder," and it must be one of your feed sites that knows how to
|
|
deliver mail to you. In fact, you can have multiple MX records if you
|
|
have multiple feeds on the Internet and want it to be possible for
|
|
mail to be routed through all of them (for increased reliability), if
|
|
they are willing. Note that if you use a commercial service provider
|
|
for your mail feed, it will probably also be your MX forwarder.
|
|
|
|
Even if none of your feeds are on the Internet, you may be able to
|
|
get an MX record, by finding an Internet site that is willing to
|
|
receive your mail and put it on its way through the correct UUCP
|
|
route. There are currently at least a couple of sites willing to
|
|
perform this service for no charge, in order to encourage the
|
|
increased use of DNS records. You can therefore probably locate an MX
|
|
forwarder by posting to news.admin.misc and asking if anyone is
|
|
willing to forward for you.
|
|
|
|
The procedure for registering a DNS record is quite simple. For
|
|
some Network Information Centers (the people who handle domain
|
|
registration, a.k.a. NICs), e.g., the InterNIC (see Internet RFC 1400
|
|
for more information about the InterNIC) which handles domain
|
|
registration for the original Arpanet domains (COM, EDU, etc., as
|
|
opposed to the geographic domains such as US for the United States, FR
|
|
for France, etc.), it takes a month or less; others, unfortunately,
|
|
might take a lot longer. Note that many commercial service providers,
|
|
such as UUNET, will take care of this for you when you ask for a
|
|
network connection or news/mail feed from them.
|
|
|
|
Whether you decide to register an address record or an MX record,
|
|
you need to decide what your DNS host name is going to be. Since the
|
|
DNS is arranged in a hierarchy, you need to decide what hierarchy your
|
|
name will appear in. For example, you might choose to be in the ".us"
|
|
domain if you are in the United States and want to be in the United
|
|
States geographical hierarchy. Alternatively, you might choose ".edu"
|
|
for a University, ".org" for a non-profit organization, ".com" for a
|
|
commercial company, etc. For more information about the various
|
|
hierarchies and about choosing a host name, see the "How to Get
|
|
Information about Networks" posting already referenced.
|
|
|
|
If you are not in the US, you're theoretically supposed to have no
|
|
choice about the top-level domain -- it should always be the
|
|
two-letter ISO code for your country (".fr", ".de", etc.). However,
|
|
depending on how and how well you are connected to the network, you
|
|
might be able to get away with being in one of the older domains
|
|
mentioned above (".edu", ".org", etc.). If you want to find out how
|
|
to get a host name in a particular European domain, you can probably
|
|
start by sending mail to hostmaster@mcsun.eu.net and asking for more
|
|
information.
|
|
|
|
Once you have determined your host name, you need to determine one
|
|
or more hosts (preferably two or three, so that even if one is having
|
|
trouble, the others will fill in for it) that will act as your "name
|
|
servers," advertising your host name to anyone who asks for it. Note
|
|
that many hierarchies have their own name servers, which means that
|
|
when you go through the process of figuring out which domain your host
|
|
name will be in, you may find some name servers available to you
|
|
already. Furthermore, if you opt to go with a commercial service
|
|
provider as described above, your service provider will probably be
|
|
willing to act as a name server. Different domain-administration
|
|
organizations may require fewer or more name servers (e.g. the NIC
|
|
(mentioned below) requires at least two).
|
|
|
|
Once you've got your host name picked out, you need to submit an
|
|
application to the authorities for the domain you've chosen. Many of
|
|
the domains, for example, are managed by the InterNIC -- to submit an
|
|
application to one of those domains, you would get the file
|
|
DOMAIN-TEMPLATE.TXT via anonymous ftp from rs.internic.net
|
|
(ftp://rs.internic.net/templates/domain-template.txt) fill it out, and
|
|
mail it to hostmaster@internic.net. You will probably determine the
|
|
correct method for applying for a host name in your domain during the
|
|
course of investigating which domain to put your host name in.
|
|
|
|
If you submit an application and don't get any acknowlegement or
|
|
response in a couple of weeks, it's a good idea to send another note
|
|
to the same address as you sent your original application to, asking
|
|
if it was received.
|
|
|
|
Even if you aren't going to be connecting directly to Internet at
|
|
the start, if your site is using any TCP/IP-based equipment, you
|
|
should request a block of IP addresses, to save future transition
|
|
headaches. Request one Class C address per subnet, or a Class B if
|
|
your site has a large number of systems on multiple subnets (for the
|
|
precise guidelines, see Internet RFCs 1366 and 1367). If you don't
|
|
understand any of this and don't intend on getting on the Internet,
|
|
don't worry about it. If/when you do decide to get onto the Internet,
|
|
your service provider should be prepared to help you understand what
|
|
needs to be done.
|
|
|
|
Once your application has been approved and your name entered into
|
|
your name servers' databases, update the mail software on your system
|
|
and on your MX forwarder's system to recognize and use the new domain.
|
|
|
|
[A final note: Much of the information in this section about the DNS
|
|
system is sketchy. It is intentionally so, since all of this
|
|
information is available from a number of different sources, and they
|
|
cover it much better than I can here. If you are interested in
|
|
finding out more about how the DNS works, you are strongly urged yet
|
|
again to read the "How to Get Information About Networks" posting and
|
|
to follow up on the sources of documentation that it references. You
|
|
might also want to read the book "Connecting to the Internet"; see the
|
|
entry for it in the "Bibliography" section below.]
|
|
|
|
*************************
|
|
|
|
Bibliography
|
|
|
|
In addition to the resources already mentioned, there are several
|
|
books which discuss getting on the Internet and USENET and/or UUCP
|
|
maintenance. Here's a bibliography of a few of them (some of these
|
|
entries are culled from a book-list posting by Mitch Wright
|
|
<mitch@cirrus.com> in comp.unix.questions):
|
|
|
|
TITLE: Connecting to the Internet
|
|
AUTHOR: Estrada, Susan
|
|
PUBLISHER: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
|
|
DATE: 1993
|
|
PAGES: 188
|
|
ISBN: 1-56592-061-9
|
|
APPROX_COST: 15.95
|
|
KEYWORDS: Internet
|
|
SUGGESTED_BY: Jonathan Kamens <jik@security.ov.com>
|
|
SUPPLIERS
|
|
E-mail: nuts@ora.com
|
|
Phone#: 1-800-338-NUTS
|
|
|
|
TITLE: Managing UUCP and USENET
|
|
AUTHOR: O'Reilly, Tim
|
|
AUTHOR: Todino, Grace
|
|
SUBJECT: Introduction
|
|
PUBLISHER: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
|
|
DATE: 1990
|
|
PAGES: 289
|
|
ISBN: 0-937175-48-X
|
|
APPROX_COST: 24.95
|
|
KEYWORDS: Nutshell Handbook
|
|
SUGGESTED_BY: Mitch Wright <mitch@hq.af.mil>
|
|
SUPPLIERS
|
|
E-mail: nuts@ora.com
|
|
Phone#: 1-800-338-NUTS
|
|
|
|
TITLE: Unix Communications
|
|
AUTHOR: Anderson, Bart
|
|
AUTHOR: Costales, Barry
|
|
AUTHOR: Henderson, Harry
|
|
SUBJECT: Communication Reference
|
|
PUBLISHER: The Waite Group
|
|
DATE: 1991
|
|
PAGES: 736
|
|
ISBN: 0-672-22773-8
|
|
APPROX_COST: 29.95
|
|
KEYWORDS: UUCP, USENET
|
|
COMMENTS
|
|
Covers everything the end user needs to know about email, USENET
|
|
and UUCP.
|
|
|
|
TITLE: Using UUCP and USENET
|
|
AUTHOR: Todino, Grace
|
|
AUTHOR: Dougherty, Dale
|
|
SUBJECT: Introduction
|
|
PUBLISHER: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
|
|
DATE: 1990
|
|
PAGES: 210
|
|
ISBN: 0-937175-10-2
|
|
APPROX_COST: 21.95
|
|
KEYWORDS: Nutshell Handbook
|
|
SUGGESTED_BY: Mitch Wright <mitch@hq.af.mil>
|
|
SUPPLIERS
|
|
E-mail: nuts@ora.com
|
|
Phone#: 1-800-338-NUTS
|
|
|
|
If you are going to be setting up a UUCP/modem USENET site, you will
|
|
probably find these books quite useful, especially if the UUCP
|
|
documentation that comes with the OS you're running is sparse.
|
|
|
|
*************************
|
|
|
|
Please comment on this posting!
|
|
|
|
Comments about, suggestions about or corrections to this posting are
|
|
welcomed. If you would like to ask me to change this posting in some
|
|
way, the method I appreciate most is for you to actually make the
|
|
desired modifications to a copy of the posting, and then to send me
|
|
the modified posting, or a context diff between my posted version and
|
|
your modified version (if you do the latter, make sure to include in
|
|
your mail the "Version:" line from my posted version). Submitting
|
|
changes in this way makes dealing with them easier for me and helps to
|
|
avoid misunderstandings about what you are suggesting.
|
|
|
|
Rich Braun <richb@pioneer.ci.net> provided most of the information
|
|
above about registering DNS records, and provided other useful
|
|
comments and suggestions. joe@jshark.rn.com provided some very useful
|
|
rewriting as well as some different perspectives that helped to make
|
|
the article more general, as well as providing some specific
|
|
information about working in Europe, as well as providing other useful
|
|
comments.
|
|
|
|
The following people provided useful comments and suggestions about
|
|
this article:
|
|
|
|
Vikas Aggarwal <vikas@jvnc.net>
|
|
Anton J. Aylward <uunorth@uunorth.UUCP>
|
|
Bruno Blissenbach <bubli@purodha.GUN.de>
|
|
Oliver Boehmer <oli@odbffm.in.sub.org>
|
|
Andy Brager <andyb@wndrsvr.UUCP>
|
|
Michael Bryan <michael@resonex.com>
|
|
Alan Cox <iiitac@pyr.swan.ac.uk>
|
|
John Curran <jcurran@nic.near.net>
|
|
Chris Davies <chris@visionware.co.uk>
|
|
Christopher Davis <ckd@eff.org>
|
|
Paul Eggert <eggert@twinsun.com>
|
|
Nathan F. Estey <nestey@copper.Denver.Colorado.EDU>
|
|
Stuart Freedman <stuart@orac.HQ.Ileaf.COM>
|
|
Margaret D. Gibbs <gibbsm@ll.mit.edu>
|
|
David Gilbert <dgilbert@snowhite.cis.uoguelph.ca>
|
|
B.J. Herbison <herbison@lassie.ucx.lkg.dec.com>
|
|
Dan Horner <liaison@uunet.uu.net>
|
|
Brad Isley <bgi@stiatl.salestech.com>
|
|
J. Lee Japp <jaapjl@madams.larc.nasa.gov>
|
|
Ray.Lampman@Heurikon.Com
|
|
Norman Lin <norlin@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu>
|
|
jmalcom@sura.net
|
|
Mark E. Mallett <mem@mv.MV.COM>
|
|
Owen Scott Medd <osm@msen.com>
|
|
Bertrand Meyer <bertrand@eiffel.com>
|
|
Pushpendra Mohta <pushp@cerf.net>
|
|
Mark Moraes <moraes@cs.toronto.edu>
|
|
Don Nichols <nichols@nvl.army.mil>
|
|
Andrew Partan <asp@uunet.uu.net>
|
|
Brad Passwaters <bjp@sura.net>
|
|
Michel Pollet <michel@trantor.UUCP>
|
|
Bob Rieger <bobr@netcom.com>
|
|
Rich Salz <rsalz@bbn.com>
|
|
Martin Lee Schoffstall <schoff@psi.com>
|
|
Russell Schulz <russell@alpha3.ersys.edmonton.ab.ca>
|
|
Doug Sewell <doug@ysu.edu>
|
|
Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com>
|
|
Vince Skahan <vince@atc.boeing.com>
|
|
Shih-ping Spencer Sun <spencer@phoenix.Princeton.edu>
|
|
Jerry Sweet <jns@fernwood.mpk.ca.us>
|
|
David W. Tamkin <dattier@gagme.chi.il.us>
|
|
Christophe Wolfhugel <Christophe.Wolfhugel@grasp1.univ-lyon1.fr>
|
|
Steve Yelvington <steve@thelake.mn.org>
|
|
|
|
--
|
|
Chris Lewis: _Una confibula non sat est_
|
|
Phone: Canada 613 832-0541 Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
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Latest psroff: FTP://ftp.uunet.ca/distrib/chris_lewis/psroff3.0pl17/*
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Latest hp2pbm: FTP://ftp.uunet.ca/distrib/chris_lewis/hp2pbm/*
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