Announce: MaasInfo files, what they are, where to find 1994.Nov edition
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, last updated 1994.Nov.19 2052 PST. 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.SW for details of my "trivial shareware" policy.
%% Excerpts from MaasInfo.Files (1994.Nov.06), 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 public
version is 0.23, dated 1994.Nov.05, 94k bytes.)
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 public version
is dated 1994.Nov.05, 83k bytes.)
In addition to those two indexes, the MaasInfo files include several
individual documents/tutorials of general interest to InterNet users,
an annotated listing of most the MaasInfo files (MaasInfo.Files), and
instructions where to find the public versions of them
(MaasInfo.FetchPub). The documents/tutorials include separate files for
Archie, NNTP, and fixing e-mail addresses after bounces, plus
MaasInfo.HowNet (62k bytes) which currently (1994.Nov.05) contains
micro-tutorials for 33 network services not documented well elsewhere
(excerpt from MaasInfo.DocIndex here):
UseNet white-pages database and e-mail daemon
UC Berkeley Network Information Server (InterNet&UUCP host&path lookup)
Gopher (client/server information service) via TELNET, including Veronica
Keyword search of lists of interest groups
Keyword search of Bitnet GLOBAL list
NIC WHOIS (keyword search for registered users hosts and domains)
Library of Congress catalog
Gopher via e-mail, given a "bookmark" (link)
Public WWW (World-Wide Web) browsers (clients) via TELNET
Index to WWW space
URL-by-email server (offline WWW browser)
Bitnet node-entries (Bitnet hostname lookup)
WAIS (Wide-Area Information Service, client/server)
Searching the list of newsgroups remotely
Getting DNS name translated to IP number by e-mail
FINGER via e-mail
TopNode (another toplevel net-info search service)
Posting UseNet news via e-mail
"UseNet Bible" (database of full newsgroup descriptions & archive locations)
NetFind (A kind of WHOIS/Whitepages)
InterNet hostnames for Bitnet hosts
Merit Net Mail Sites Database
hermes.merit.edu special nslookup
HYTELNET online
White Pages server (PSI)
TOPIC (information service)
How to verify e-mail address without sending test message
Bitnet users only: InterNet alias for Bitnet hosts
Bitnet users only: How to find the nearest NETSERV
Bitnet users only: Remote username -> human-name
X.500 experimental white-pages demo
E-mail to White House (USA)
Tutorial for The InterNIC Directory and Database Services
%% Excerpts from MaasInfo.FetchPub (1994.Nov.15), 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 ftp...@nctuccca.edu.tw, file problems to
r...@BTR.Com). Note: This site has the most recent (1994.Nov.06) public
versions of: MaasInfo.TopIndex MaasInfo.DocIndex MaasInfo.HowNet
MaasInfo.Archie and other MaasInfo files not edited since an earlier
release. It also has the latest public version of MaasInfo.Files.
ftp NCTUCCCA.edu.tw (aka: ftp.edu.tw & archive.edu.tw)
documents/Internet/MaasInfo/MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc.)
To: ftp...@NCTUCCCA.edu.tw
open
cd /documents/Internet/MaasInfo/
get MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc.)
quit
North America #1 (problems to bed...@SHSU.edu): Note: This site now
has the most recent (1994.Nov.06) public versions, copied from the
Taiwan archive.
ftp pip.SHSU.Edu /pub/MaasInfo/
MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc. for each file, none of them split here)
To: ftp...@ftp.shsu.edu
open ftp.shsu.edu
cd pub/MaasInfo/
get MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc. for each file, none of them split here)
but the following associate site still had only the previous (1994.Sep.04)
edition, copied here 1994.Oct.14, the last time I checked (1994.Nov.15):
ftp Niord.SHSU.Edu maasinfo/
MAASINFO.TOPINDEX_*OF3 (* = 1,2,3)
MAASINFO.DOCINDEX_*OF3 (* = 1,2,3)
MAASINFO.FAILNET_*OF2 (* = 1,2)
MAASINFO.HOWNET (etc., no files split except the above)
ftp Niord.SHSU.Edu MAASINFO.DESCRIPTION (annotated directory)
To: FILE...@SHSU.Edu
SENDME MAASINFO (to send the whole package)
SENDME MAASINFO.TOPINDEX* (etc., to send parts of one of the split files)
SENDME MAASINFO.HOWNET (etc., to send any file that isn't split)
DIRECTORY MaasInfo (annotated directory of MaasInfo files in server format)
Europe - Continental (for educational/research institutions only,
problems to lengge...@gate.switch.ch): Note: This site now
has the most recent (1994.Nov.06) public versions, copied from the
Taiwan archive.
ftp nic.switch.ch = ftp.switch.ch /docs/MaasInfo/MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc.)
(Warning, when the files were copied from Taiwan, the date-last-written
was mistakenly set back to midnight at the beginning of the day the
files were originally written in Taiwan. In many cases the date
indicates up to 11 hours before the files were uploaded from my
Macintosh prior to being copied to Taiwan.)
North America #2 (problems to may...@Ra.MsState.Edu): Note: This site
still had the 1994.Sep versions, copied 1994.Sep.17 from above, the
last time I checked (1994.Nov.19):
ftp ftp.msstate.edu /pub/docs/words-l/Net-Stuff/maasinfo.topindex (Etc.)
Australia (problems to cc...@jcu.edu.au): Note: Likewise this site
still had only the 1994.Sep versions, copied 1994.Sep.27 from above,
the last time I checked (1994.Nov.19):
ftp ftp.jcu.edu.au /doc/MaasInfo/MaasInfo.TopIndex (etc.)
(As of the last time I checked, none of the other archive sites had
these new versions.)
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
is still in error, then please report the error to the author by
InterNet e-mail. (At the moment on 1994.Nov.19, there are not yet any
corrections to these files, but several sections have been pulled out
to new stand-alone micro-documents where further editing is occurring:
HowWWW.txt & HowWWW.html & TelnetWWW.txt & MailFTP.txt & MaasInfo.SW,
each of which has been posted in the Taiwan Maasinfo archive and then
automatically copied to the SHSU archive. None of the stripped-down
versions of the original MaasInfo files have been posted on the net
yet, but by the time you read this and find an error it's possible this
may all change.)