Descriptions of & Pointers to 'MaasInfo' toplevel indexes to InterNet
Robert E. Maas rem@btr.com
This file is MaasInfo.ForLibr, consisting of excerpts from other
MaasInfo files, of interest to reference librarians wanting only a
brief description of the major MaasInfo indexes plus instructions where
to find the indexes and other MaasInfo files. Newly assembled
1994.Apr.07. Note that most of the MaasInfo files are published as
"trivial shareware". If they are worth more than a dollar to you,
please do some nice favor of comparable value in return, such as
supplying answers to SQWAs (Specific Questions Waiting for Answers), or
helping the author find paying employment. See MaasInfo.TopIndex for
details of "trivial shareware" policy.
%% Excerpt from MaasInfo.Files (1994.Apr.07), descriptions of my indexes:
MaasInfo.TopIndex is the "Index of Indexes", also called the "Toplevel
meta-index to the Internet", an InterNet-online file pointing at all
the major generally-useful net-related indexes lists and bibliographies
that are available by anonymous FTP or by e-mail fileserver on InterNet
or BitNet. These indexes etc. then point at all the known interest
groups, archive sites, special services such as library catalogs
file-finding and FTP-via-email, and some major tutorial documentation
that are located on InterNet BitNet or UseNet. MaasInfo.TopIndex also
points at the other attempts at meta-indexes, namely the InterNet
Resource Guide, the "Catalog of Catalogs" (TopNode), and the AARNET
Resource guide. MaasInfo.TopIndex does NOT point directly at any
hardcopy-only documents such as published books, even of those books
are in fact indexes, but it does point to some online bibliographies
that in turn point to such hardcopy-only documents. (The current
"pre-penultimate" public version is 0.21, dated 1993.Dec.31, 87k bytes.
I'm currently working on it further, towards a "penultimate" version
soon. Contact me if you want to view the in-edit "penultimate" version
before public release.)
MaasInfo.DocIndex is one of those indexes. It points at various
important documents and tutorials that are helpful when trying to use
the InterNet (including BitNet and UseNet). (The current
"pre-penultimate" public version is dated 1994.Jan.15, 67k bytes. I'm
currently working on it further, towards a "penultimate" version soon.
Contact me if you want to view the in-edit "penultimate" version before
public release.)
In addition to those two indexes, the MaasInfo files contain several
individual documents of general interest to InterNet users, an
annotated listing of the MaasInfo files, and instructions where to find
the public versions and the newer but very messy in-edit private
versions. See MaasInfo.Files for the annotated listing of most of them.
%% Excerpt from MaasInfo.FetchPub (1994.Apr.07), where to find the
latest public versions of the files:
In the access instructions below, each line after the first of a group
is indented, to show the grouping, but do NOT type those leading spaces
when requesting files:
Taiwan (host problems to h...@NCTUCCCA.edu.tw, file problems to r...@BTR.Com):
ftp NCTUCCCA.edu.tw (140.111.3.21)
Documents/Internet/MaasInfo/MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc.)
Note: This site has the most recent (1993.Dec to 1994.Jan) public
versions of: MaasInfo.TopIndex MaasInfo.DocIndex MaasInfo.HowNet
MaasInfo.NNTP MaasInfo.Archie and the new file MaasInfo.FailNet. It
also has the latest public version of MaasInfo.Files.
Europe - Continental (problems to postm...@leon.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr or
X.400: c=gr;prmd=ariadne-t;o=ariadne-t;ou=isosun;s=postmaster):
ftp leon.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr (143.233.2.1) pub/maas_info/MaasInfo.*
Note: Likewise this site has all the latest versions, copied from Taiwan.
If you find any errors in any of the public versions of MaasInfo files,
please contact the author (r...@BTR.Com or 415-969-2958) for
instructions where to find the anonymous-FTP archive containing the
latest messy in-edit draft versions. Then please check the newer
version of the particular file to be sure the error hasn't already been
corrected in that newer in-edit version. If that in-edit draft version
still is in error, then please report the error to the author by
InterNet e-mail.