357 lines
17 KiB
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357 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
From emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm Thu Feb 3 23:26:26 1994 remote from awwe
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Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 23:17:20 -0500 (EST)
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From: Nancy Ammerman <emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm>
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To: Jackie Ammerman <emory!emoryu1!awwe!root@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
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Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9402032303.K3501-0100000@flagstaff.Princeton.EDU>
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Mime-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
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Chapter 9: ADVANCED E-MAIL
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9.1 THE FILE'S IN THE MAIL
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E-mail by itself is a powerful tool, and by now you may be
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sending e-mail messages all over the place. You might even be on a
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mailing list or two. But there is a lot more to e-mail than just
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sending messages. If your host system does not have access to ftp,
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or it doesn't have access to every ftp site on the Net, you can have
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programs and files sent right to your mailbox. And using some simple
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techniques, you can use e-mail to send data files such as spreadsheets,
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or even whole programs, to friends and colleagues around the world.
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A key to both is a set of programs known as encoders and
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decoders. For all its basic power, Net e-mail has a big problem: it
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can't handle graphics characters or the control codes found in even
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the simplest of computer programs. Encoders however, can translate
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these into forms usable in e-mail, while decoders turn them back into
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a form that you can actually use. If you are using a Unix-based host
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system, chances are it already has an encoder and decoder online that
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you can use. These programs will also let you use programs posted in
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several Usenet newsgroups, such as comp.binaries.ibm.pc.
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If both you and the person with whom you want to exchange files use
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Unix host systems, you're in luck because virtually all Unix
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host systems have encoder/decoder programs online. For now, let's
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assume that's the case. First, upload the file you want to send to your
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friend to your host site (ask your system administrator how to upload a
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file to your name or "home" directory if you don't already know how).
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Then type
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uuencode file file > file.uu
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and hit enter. "File" is the name of the file you want to prepare for
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mailing, and yes, you have to type the name twice! The > is a Unix
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command that tells the system to call the "encoded" file "file.uu"
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(you could actually call it anything you want).
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Now to get it into a mail message. The quick and dirty way is to
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type
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mail friend
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where "friend" is your friend's address. At the subject line, tell
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her the name of the enclosed file. When you get the blank line, type
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~r file.uu
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or whatever you called the file, and hit enter. (on some systems, the ~
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may not work; if so, ask your system administrator what to use). This
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inserts the file into your mail message. Hit control-D, and your file
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is on its way!
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On the other end, when your friend goes into her mailbox, she
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should transfer it to her home directory. Then she should type
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uudecode file.name
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and hit enter. This creates a new file in her name directory with
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whatever name you originally gave it. She can then download it to her
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own computer. Before she can actually use it, though, she'll have to
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open it up with a text processor and delete the mail header that has
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been "stamped" on it. If you use a mailer program that automatically
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appends a "signature," tell her about that so she can delete that as
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well.
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9.2 RECEIVING FILES
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If somebody sends you a file through the mail, you'll have to go
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through a couple of steps to get it into a form you can actually use. If
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you are using the simple mail program, go into mail and type
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w # file.name
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where # is the number of the message you want to transfer and
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file.name is what you want to call the resulting file. In pine, call
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up the message and hit your O key and then E. You'll then be asked
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for a file name. In elm, call up the message and hit your S key.
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You'll get something that looks like this:
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=file.request
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Type a new file name and hit enter (if you hit enter without
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typing a file name, the message will be saved to another mail folder,
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not your home directory).
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In all three cases, exit the mail program to return to your host
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system's command line. Because the file has been encoded for mail
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delivery, you now have to run a decoder. At the command line, type
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uudecode file.name
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where file.name is the file you created while in mail. Uudecode will
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create a new, uncompressed binary file. In some cases, you may have to
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run it through some other programs (for example, if it is in "tar" form),
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but generally it should now be ready for you to download to your own
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computer (on which you might then have to run a de-compressor program
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such as PKXZIP).
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9.3 FILES TO NON-INTERNET SITES
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What if your friend only connects with a non-Unix system, such as
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CompuServe or MCIMail? There are programs available for MS-DOS, Apple
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and Amiga computers that will encode and decode files. Of course, since
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you can't send one of these programs to your friend via e-mail (how would
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she un-encode it?), you'll have to mail (the old-fashioned way) or give
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her a diskette with the program on it first. Then, she can get the file
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by e-mail and go through the above process (only on her own computer) to
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get a usable file. Remember to give her an encoder program as well, if
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she wants to send you files in return.
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For MS-DOS machines, you'll want to get uunecode.com and
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uudecode.com. Both can be found through anonymous ftp at
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wuarchive.wustl.edu in the /mirrors/msdos/starter directory. The MS-
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DOS version is as easy to use as the Unix one: Just type
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uudecode filename.ext
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and hit enter.
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Mac users should get a program called uutool, which can be found
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in the info-mac/util directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu.
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Think twice before sending somebody a giant file. Although large
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sites connected directly to the Internet can probably handle mega-files,
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many smaller systems cannot. Some commercial systems, such as CompuServe
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and MCIMail, limit the size of mail messages their users can receive.
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Fidonet doesn't even allow encoded messages. In general, a file size of
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30,000 or so bytes is a safe upper limit for non-Internet systems.
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9.4 GETTING FTP FILES VIA E-MAIL
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To help people without ftp access, a number of ftp sites have set up
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mail servers (also known as archive servers) that allow you to get files
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via e-mail. You send a request to one of these machines and they send
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back the file you want. As with ftp, you'll be able to find everything
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from historical documents to software (but please note that if you do
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have access to ftp, that method is always quicker and ties up fewer
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resources than using e-mail).
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Some interesting or useful mail servers include:
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mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu Files of "frequently asked questions"
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related to Usenet; state-by-state lists of U.S. representatives and
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Senators and their addresses and office phone numbers.
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archive-server@eff.org Information about the Electronic Frontier
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Foundation; documents about legal issues on the Net.
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archive-server@cs.widener.edu Back copies of the Computer
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Underground Digest and every possible fact you could want to know about
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"The Simpsons."
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netlib@uunet.uu.net Programs for many types of personal computers;
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archives of past postings from many Usenet newsgroups.
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archive-server@ames.arc.nasa.gov Space-related text and graphics
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(GIF-format) files.
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service@nic.ddn.mil Detailed information about Internet.
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Most mail servers work pretty much the same -- you send an e-mail
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message that tells them what file you want and how you want it sent to
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you. The most important command is "send," which tells the computer you
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want it to send you a particular file.
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First, though, you'll need to know where the mail server stores
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that file, because you have to tell it which directory or sub-
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directory it's in. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can
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send an e-mail message to the archive-server that consists of one
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line:
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index
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The server will then send you a directory listing of its main, or
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root directory. You'll then have to send a second message to the
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archive server with one line:
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index directory/subdirectory
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where that is the directory or directory path for which you want a
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listing. An alternative is to send an e-mail message to our old
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friend archie, which should send you back the file's exact location on
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the archive-server (along with similar listings for all the other
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sites that may have the file, however)
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Once you have the file name and its directory path, compose a
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message to the archive server like this:
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send directory/subdirectory/file
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Send off the message and, anywhere from a few minutes to a couple
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of days later, you'll find a new message in your mailbox: a copy of the
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file you requested. The exact time it will take a file to get to you
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depends on a variety of factors, including how many requests are in line
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before yours (mail servers can only process so many requests at a time)
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and the state of the connections between the server and you.
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Seems simple enough. It gets a little more complicated when you
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request a program rather than a document. Programs or other files that
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contain unusual characters or lines longer than 130 characters (graphics
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files, for example) require special processing by both the mail server
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to ensure they are transmitted via e-mail. Then you'll have to run them
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through at least one converter program to put them in a form you can
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actually use. To ensure that a program or other "non-mailable" file
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actually gets to you, include another line in your e-mail message to the
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server:
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encoder
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This converts the file into an encoded form. To decode it, you'll
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first have to transfer the file message into a file in your home
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directory.
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One further complication comes when you request a particularly
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long file. Many Net sites can only handle so much mail at a time. To
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make sure you get the entire file, tell the mail server to break it up
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into smaller pieces, with another line in your e-mail request like
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this:
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size 100000
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This gives the mail server the maximum size, in bytes, of each
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file segment. This particular size is good for UUCP sites. Internet
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and Bitnet sites can generally go up to 300000. When you get all of
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these files in mail, transfer them to your home directory. Exit mail
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and call up each file in your host system's text processor and delete
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each one's entire header and footer (or "signature" at the end). When
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done with this, at your host system's command line, type
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cat file1 file2 > bigfile
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where file1 is the first file, file2 the second file, and so on. The >
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tells your host system to combine them into a new megafile called
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bigfile (or whatever you want to call it). After you save the file to
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your home directory (see section 9.2 above), you can then run uudecode,
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tar, etc. One word of caution, though: if the file you want is long
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enough that it has to be broken into pieces, think of how much time it's
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going to take you to download the whole thing -- especially if you're
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using a 2400-baud modem!
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There are a number of other mail servers. To get a list, send an
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e-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu:
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send usenet/comp.sources.wanted/How_to_find_sources_(READ_THIS_BEFORE_POSTING)
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You'll have to spell it exactly as listed above. Some mail
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servers use different software, which will require slightly different
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commands than the ones listed here. In general, if you send a message
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to a mail server that says only
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help
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you should get back a file detailing all of its commands.
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But what if the file you want is not on one of these mail
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servers? That's where ftpmail comes in. Run by Digital Equipment
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Corp. in California, this service can connect to almost any ftp site
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in the world, get the file you want and then mail it to you. Using it
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is fairly simple -- you send an e-mail message to ftpmail that
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includes a series of commands telling the system where to find the
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file you want and how to format it to mail to you.
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Compose an e-mail message to
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ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
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Leave the "subject:" line blank. Inside the message, there are
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several commands you can give. The first line should be
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reply address
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where "address" is your e-mail address. The next line should be
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connect host
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where "host" is the system that has the file you want (for example:
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wuarchive.wustl.edu). Other commands you should consider using are
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"binary" (required for program files); "compress" (reduces the file
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size for quicker transmission) and "uuencode" (which encodes the file
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so you can do something with it when it arrives). The last line of
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your message should be the word "quit".
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Let's say you want a copy of the U.S. constitution. Using archie,
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you've found a file called, surprise, constitution, at the ftp site
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archive.cis.ohio-state.edu, in the /pub/firearms/politics/rkba
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directory. You'd send a message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com that looks
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like this:
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reply adamg@world.std.com
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connect archive.cis.ohio-state.edu
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binary
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compress
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uuencode
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get pub/firearms/politics/rkba/constitution
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quit
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When you get the file in your mailbox, use the above procedure
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for copying it to a file. Run it through uudecode. Then type
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uncompress file.name
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to make it usable.
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Since this was a text file, you could have changed the "binary" to
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"ascii" and then eliminated the "uuencode" file. For programs, though,
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you'll want to keep these lines. One caveat with ftpmail: it has become
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such a popular service that it could take a week or more for your
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requested files to arrive.
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9.5 THE ALL KNOWING ORACLE
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One other thing you can do through e-mail is consult with the
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Usenet Oracle. You can ask the Oracle anything at all and get back an
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answer (whether you like the answer is another question).
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First, you'll want to get instructions on how to address the Oracle
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(he, or she, or it, is very particular about such things and likes being
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addressed in august, solemn and particularly sycophantic tones). Start
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an e-mail message to
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oracle@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
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In the "subject:" line, type
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help
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and hit enter. You don't actually have to say anything in the message
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itself -- at least not yet. Hit control-D to send off your request
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for help. Within a few hours, the Oracle will mail you back detailed
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instructions. It's a fairly long file, so before you start reading
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it, turn on your communications software's logging function, to save
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it to your computer (or save the message to a file on your host system's
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home directory and then download the file). After you've digested it,
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you can compose your question to the Oracle. Mail it to the above
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address, only this time with a subject line that describes your
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question. Expect an answer within a couple of days. And don't be
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surprised if you also find a question in your mailbox -- the Oracle
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extracts payment by making seekers of knowledge answer questions as
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well!
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