7.1: THE ROBOTECH MAILING LIST
7.1.1: What is it?
7.1.2: Brief list of useful commands
7.1.3: Is there a digest form of the list?
7.1.4: Is there an archive for the list?
7.1.5: Are there any other mailing lists I should know of?
7.2: THE INTERNET AND USENET NEWS
7.2.1: What is the Internet?
7.2.2: What is News?
7.2.3: How can I get access to News?
7.2.4: What newsgroups would be of interest to me?
7.3: FTP Sites
7.3.1: What is FTP?
7.3.2: How do I use FTP?
7.3.3: What sites would be of interest to me?
7.3.4: What does the *.gz extension mean?
7.4: Web Pages
7.4.1: What is WWW, Mosaic, and URLs?
7.4.2: What pages would be of interest to me?
7.1: THE ROBOTECH MAILING LIST
7.1.1: WHAT IS IT?
As the name implies, the Robotech Mailing List is a mailing
list dedicated to discussion of all things related to Robotech.
The list is moderated, though the moderator will usually not
interfere with discussions unless a member of the list become
abusive or threatens the list's continuation by his or her
conduct. The list also has a much less "noise" (meaningless posts)
on it compared to alt.tv.robotech, due to the smaller distribution
and less members.
The Robotech Mailing List recently moved (June 1995) from
Georgia Tech to a new address. The new address and instructions
are listed below.
The rules of the list follow:
* RULES *
This is an unmoderated mailing list, so you're pretty much free
to post or say whatever you like, so long as it relates in some
way to Robotech. However, there are two "house rules" that I ask
everyone to follow:
- NO PUBLIC FLAMING. It's okay to disagree with other people,
but please keep personal insults and flammatory material off the
list. Posts like "John Doe is an ignorant a**hole" and "stupid
geeks get a life" are immature and unacceptable. Repeat
offenders will be barred from the list.
- NO ENORMOUS POSTS. Stories and mecha designs are okay, but
very large postings like uuencoded GIFs and compressed archives
can fill up mail spools and cause important mail to bounce.
Also, very large posts have a tendency to play havoc with the
software that runs this list. In general, if it's over 500
lines, you should get permission before you try to send it.
7.1.2: BRIEF LIST OF USEFUL COMMANDS
To send something to the members of the mailing list, mail it
to:
robotech@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu
Your message will be automatically distributed to all members
of the mailing list.
You can also send certain commands directly to the mailing list
software, such as UNSUBSCRIBE and HELP. List commands should be
sent to the following address:
Majordomo@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu
To use a command, simply send mail to the above address with
the command in the body of the message. The commands that are of
most use are:
SUBSCRIBE Add your name to the mailing list. UNSUBSCRIBE Remove
your name from the mailing list. HELP Sends a copy of the help
file to your email address.
All commands are interpreted automatically and without my
supervision. If you have a problem with any of the commands,
please contact me immediately at ratinox@unilab.dfci.harvard.edU
7.1.3: IS THERE A DIGEST FORM OF THE LIST?
Yes, the new list software supports digests. To subscribe to
the digested mailing list, place the following command in the body
of your message:
subscribe robotech-digest
Send this command to the Majordomo address above, NOT the list
address.
7.1.4: IS THERE AN ARCHIVE FOR THE LIST?
Yes! The digests are archived until the list admin decides to
delete them to reclaim his hard drive space! ;) If you want more
info on downloading archived digests, email the list admin at:
ratinox@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu
7.1.5: ARE THERE ANY OTHER MAILING LISTS I SHOULD KNOW OF?
There is a mailing list dedicated to Palladium Books, which by
extension covers the Robotech RPG as well as Rifts and Macross II.
The address for the Palladium mailing list is palladium@soda.cusa.berkeley.edu.
To subscribe, send email to palladium-request@soda.cusa.berkeley.edu
with the word SUBSCRIBE as your subject.
7.2: THE INTERNET AND USENET NEWS
7.2.1: WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
The Internet is a network of networks. There is no central
control, it is simply a set of specifications that a system must
conform to to send data to other sites. There is no physical
object that can be accurately called 'The Internet'.
7.2.2: WHAT IS NEWS?
News is more accurately called 'USEnet news'. USEnet is not the
same thing as Internet, however may users access USEnet groups via
the Internet. Again, there is no central 'USEnet authority',
simply a set of rules and technical specifications to be followed.
USEnet news allows for public discussion around the world by
allowing users to 'post' their comments to be read, and commented
on, by others.
7.2.3: HOW CAN I GET ACCESS TO NEWS?
The undisputed *best* way is to have an account at a site that
carries USEnet news. If your current site doesn't carry it, or has
a poor interface, there are *many* commercial or free sites that
do. Check the PDIAL and Nixpub lists to see if there is a site
close to you. If you can't find a site near you, or can't afford
it, there are a few other ways to go about it.
First, some groups have email echoes that you can subscribe to
to get the traffic. alt.tv.robotech does *not* have such and echo,
but the rec.arts.anime.* groups *do*.
These are the instructions to subscribe:
The address of the list is: anime-l@solaris.cc.vt.edu To
subscribe, send a message to: listproc@solaris.cc.vt.edu, with the
words "subscribe anime-l
" as the body of the message. The Subject line does not
matter. This will subscribe the address that you sent the message
from to the list. For more info, send a one-word message, "help",
to listproc@solaris.cc.vt.edu. There are several mailing lists on
that site, echoing the r.a.a.* groups: anime-l, anime-info, and
anime-stories, all @solaris.cc.vt.edu.
Last, there are apparently some Gopher servers out there that
allow users to read news. However, this is a cumbersome setup and
it doesn't allow for easy replies.
7.2.4: WHAT NEWSGROUPS WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ME?
7.3: FTP SITES
7.3.1: WHAT IS FTP?
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, it is a system that
allows you to grab files from special sites. There are FTP sites
for all kinds of topics, and several for anime alone.
7.3.2: HOW DO I USE FTP?
Once you have an address for an FTP site, for example
130.215.24.1 /anime, you can FTP to that site. On most systems
that is accomplished by simply entering:
ftp address (ie ftp 130.215.24.1) at your prompt.
You will then connect to the site and be asked for your name.
Enter 'anonymous'. You will then be asked for a password. Enter
your full email address. You are then in the site. In this case
you would then 'cd /anime' to enter the anime directory. You can
list the files with the standard Unix 'ls' command.
To grab a file you use 'get filename'. If you wish to grab a
series of files, say all the files that start robotech.*, you use
'mget robotech*'. If a site allows for uploads you can use 'put'
and 'mput' in the same way.
This is a sample run:
> ftp 130.215.24.1
Trying 130.215.24.1...
Connected to 130.215.24.1.
220 wpi.WPI.EDU FTP server (Version 4.185 Thu Sep 23 10:06:20 EDT 1993)
ready.
Name (130.215.24.1:megazone): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password:
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> cd /anime
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> ls robotech*
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls (0 bytes).
robotech.children.shadow.gz
robotech.liked.minmei.gz
robotech.misfold.1.gz
robotech.misfold.2.gz
robotech.misfold.3.gz
robotech.misfold.4.gz
robotech.misfold.5.gz
robotech.misfold.6.gz
robotech.orp.1.roll.call.gz
robotech.orp.2.soldiers.fortune.gz
robotech.skybeast.gz
226 Transfer complete.
remote: robotech*
432 bytes received in 0.22 seconds (1.9 Kbytes/s)
ftp> mget robotech.mis*
mget robotech.misfold.1.gz? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for robotech.misfold.1.gz (26521
bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: robotech.misfold.1.gz remote: robotech.misfold.1.gz
26613 bytes received in 0.17 seconds (1.5e+02 Kbytes/s)
mget robotech.misfold.2.gz? n
mget robotech.misfold.3.gz? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for robotech.misfold.3.gz (38410
bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: robotech.misfold.3.gz remote: robotech.misfold.3.gz
38542 bytes received in 0.21 seconds (1.8e+02 Kbytes/s)
mget robotech.misfold.4.gz? n
mget robotech.misfold.5.gz? n
mget robotech.misfold.6.gz? n
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.
> exit
If you are on a site that doesn't have FTP capability, there
are FTP-by-mail servers. These allow you to mail in an FTP request
and the server will grab the file for you, and then mail it back.
These are the instructions:
The address is ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
-- Help --
>>> $Id: help-text,v 1.7 1993/05/05 00:49:43 vixie Exp $
>>>
>>> ftpmail is not a supported service. From time to time it stops working;
>>> we will tend to it when we get the time. Outages of a week or more are
not
>>> abnormal.
>>> commands are:
reply set reply addr, since headers are usually wrong
connect [HOST [USER [PASS [ACCT]]]]
defaults to gatekeeper.dec.com, anonymous
ascii files grabbed are printable ascii
binary files grabbed are compressed or tar or both
chdir PLACE "get" and "ls" commands are relative to PLACE
(only one CHDIR per ftpmail session,
and it executes before any LS/DIR/GETs)
compress compress binaries using Lempel-Ziv encoding
compact compress binaries using Huffman encoding
uuencode binary files will be mailed in uuencode format
btoa binary files will be mailed in btoa format
chunksize SIZE split files into SIZE-byte chunks (def: 64000)
ls (or dir) PLACE short (long) directory listing
index THING search for THING in ftp server's index
get FILE get a file and have it mailed to you
(max 10 GET's per ftpmail session)
quit terminate script, ignore rest of mail message
(use if you have a .signature or
are a VMSMAIL user)
notes:
- you should send complaints to the ftpmail-admin address. our
postmaster does not handle ftpmail problems and you can save her
the trouble of forwarding your complaints by just mailing them
to the right address. the "ftpmail-request" address is gone;
don't use it.
- the "index" command depends on the "SITE EXEC INDEX" feature
of some ftp servers. Gatekeeper.dec.com originated this feature,
and ftp.uu.net duplicated it (with a format change to the
output, naturally).
- Wuarchive.wustl.edu also has this feature,
though their index seems to be empty. The source for an ftpd
that supports this feature is on Gatekeeper.DEC.COM in /pub/DEC/gwtools.
- a password of "" or '' will be sent as a null string. if you
need this you will know it, if you don't, you won't.
- the "Subject:" of your request will be contained in the
"Subject:" of all of ftpmail's responses to you regarding that
request. You can therefore use it to "tag" different requests if
you have more than one outstanding at any given time.
- you must give a "connect" command, default host is
gatekeeper.dec.com, default user is anonymous, default password
is your mail address with a hyphen prepended.
- binary files will not be compressed unless 'compress' or
'compact' command is given; use this if at all possible, it
helps a lot. note that many files are already compressed. if you
use any of the binary-file qualifiers (compress, compact,
uuencode, btoa) without setting 'binary' first, your session
will abort in error.
- binary files will always be formatted into printable ASCII
with "btoa" or "uuencode" (default is "btoa"). if you don't use
the "binary" command, ftpmail will cheerfully try to mail you
the binary data, which will absolutely, positively fail.
- all retrieved files will be split into chunks and mailed.
the size of the chunk is 64000 characters unless you change it
with the "chunksize" command. CompuServe users will need to set
this to 49000. there is no way to set it higher than 100000, so
please don't ask.
- if you ask for more than 10 files in a session, you will
receive an error message and your entire request will be
rejected.
- VMS/DOS/Mac versions of uudecode, atob, compress and compact
are available, ask your LOCAL wizard about them if you can't
locate them (but try gatekeeper.dec.com in /archive/pub/VMS if
you're still using a VMS system.)
- several mail unsplitters are hiding on gatekeeper.dec.com in
/pub/mail/ua/misc/unsplit. there is one in c, one in perl, and
one in VMS DCL.
- there is no way to request only certain parts of a file and
we do not plan to add one in the near future, so please don't
ask.
- there is no way to delete things from the queue or to find
out the status of things in the queue, and we do not plan to add
either feature in the near future, so please don't ask.
- >>> examples: connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get a root directory
listing:
connect
ls
quit
- connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the README.ftp file:
connect
get README.ftp
quit
- connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the gnuemacs sources:
connect
binary
uuencode
chdir /pub/GNU
get emacs-18.58.tar.Z
quit
- connect to ftp.uu.net as anonymous and get a root directory
list:
connect ftp.uu.net
binary
chdir /index/master
get by-name.Z
quit
7.3.3: WHAT SITES WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ME?
The following FTP sites may be of interest to Robotech and
Anime fans: Clicking on the site on the left will connect you and
place you in the directory on the right.
SITE FILES AVAILABLE DIRECTORY
---- --------------- ---------
ftp.std.com Robotech fanfiction /archives/anime-fan-works
ftp.tcp.com GIF/JPG Images /pub/anime-manga/sorted
Robotech Sounds /pub/anime-manga/sound
remus.rutgers.edu Robotech chronology /pub/anime/misc
Other Anime FAQs /pub/anime/faq
ftp.netcom.com Robotech Sounds & GIFs /pub/sapphire/robotech
ftp.csua.berkeley.edu Robotech RPG Stuff /pub/palladium/contrib
ftp.io.com Robotech RPG Stuff /pub/usr/deitrich
ftp.csc.ncsu.edu Robotech FAQ /pub/eos_users/r/rkswamy/www/
robotech.FAQ.txt
quest.newl.com Robotech Stuff /anime/robotech
7.3.4: WHAT DOES THE *.GZ EXTENSION MEAN?
.GZ stands for GNU Zip (abbreviated "gzip"), a compression
algorithm developed by the Free Software Foundation in Cambridge,
MA. Gzip can be used by Unix, MS-DOS, VMS, and Macintosh computers
(as well as other platforms). The following is a list of sites and
paths where utilities for uncompressing .gz files can be found.
UNIX: prep.ai.mit.edu /pub/gnu/gzip-1.2.4.tar
MS-DOS: prep.ai.mit.edu /pub/gnu/gzip-msdos-1.2.4.exe
VMS: ftp.uu.net /pub/archiving/zip/VMS/gzip124x.vax.exe
MAC: mac.archive.umich.edu /mac/util/compression/macgzip0.22.cpt.hqx
7.4: Web Pages
7.4.1: WHAT IS WWW, MOSAIC, AND URLs?
WWW stands for "World Wide Web", sometimes called "WWW", "W3",
or just "the Web". WWW is the result of a network project in
distributed hypermedia systems started by CERN in the late '80s
and has gained tremendous popularity in recent years. WWW stores
information in documents called "pages"; a page usually contains a
single document containing hypertext and images. Hypertext is text
with pointers to other text, which allow users to jump from text
to text based on references they want to follow. Since every WWW
page usually connects to dozens of other pages via hypertext
links, the entire network forms a humongous "web" of information
pages that stretches all over the world.
WWW pages are accessed using a "browser", like MOSAIC. A
browser is a program that can read pages, follow hypertext links
to other pages, and download information referenced in pages upon
command. Mosaic is a browser written by the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), located at the University of
Illinois. It can be accessed via anonymous ftp from
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
Browsers access pages using a URL, or "Uniform Resource
Locator", which is a network address pointing to the desired page.
In order to view a page, you need to know the URL of the page you
are looking for. A typical URL looks like:
http://www.somewhere.edu
Where
is the access method you are using to access the file
(http, ftp, telnet),
is the name of the site that has the page you are looking
for, and
is the directory path to the file you want.
For more information on WWW, check out the World Wide Web FAQ,
routinely posted to newsgroups like comp.infosystems.www.users,
news.answers, and alt.hypertext.
7.4.2: WHAT PAGES WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ME?
The following URLs point to pages that may be of interest to
Robotech fans:
|
