An Introduction to Using the Internet at Saint Louis University School of Law James Milles Head of Computer Services Saint Louis University Law Library (Rev. 12/16/93) Copyright 1992, 1993 James Milles Available in WordPerfect 5.1/5.2 format by anonymous ftp from sluaxa.slu.edu, directory /pub/millesjg, type binary, file interlaw.wp; also in ASCII format as interlaw.txt. Also available in ASCII from the SLU Law Library gopher (sluava.slu.edu, /Library Services/SLU Law Library Services/Internet Training and Access Info). This document may be distributed in whole, in part, or in modified form, by any means, and a fee may be charged for its distribution, but it may not be sold for a profit. Any copies, whether in whole, in part, or in modified form, must include attribution to this document. Comments and suggestions are welcome. If you use this document in the preparation of your own training materials, please send a copy to the author . An Introduction to Using the Internet at Saint Louis University School of Law I. What Is the Internet?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 II. Getting Started with Electronic Mail: the VAX MAIL System . . . . . 3 VAX E-mail and VMS Editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Creating a Signature File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Summary of EDT Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Using E-mail to Send Files Created with WordPerfect . . . . . . . . 7 Reading Your Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 III. Internet E-mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Making Sure You Get Mail: LISTSERV Discussion Lists . . . . . . . . 9 BITNET LISTSERV Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 BITNET LISTSERV Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Unix Listserv Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Unix Listserv Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Other Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 IV. Maintaining Your Mail Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Summary of MAIL Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 V. TELNET (Remote Login). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Some Selected Internet-Accessible Library Catalogs. . . . . . . . . 25 Cambridge University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Harvard University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Northwestern University. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 University of California and California State Library at Sacramento 26 University of Texas at Austin, Tarlton Law Library . . . . . . 26 Some Useful Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The Washington & Lee Law Library Guest Site. . . . . . . . . . 27 Gateway to library catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Archive of Internet documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 CARL's UnCover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Electronic Jurisprudence BBS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Archie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Washburn University Law Library (WASHLAW). . . . . . . . . . . 30 Cleveland Free-Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 U.S. Supreme Court Opinions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Usenet newsgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 VI. Other Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Gopher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 WAIS (Wide Area Information System) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 World-Wide Web. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 VII. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 The Cornell "drop-off" site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Appendix A: E-Mail Etiquette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Appendix B: Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Installing Kermit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Mailing WordPerfect Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 VAX Tricks for Customizing Your Use of MAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Set personal_name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Sending Automatic Copies to Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Stopping Those Annoying "New Mail" Messages. . . . . . . . . . 45 Using the "Spawn" Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 VAX/VMS Housekeeping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Deleting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Compressing Deleted Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Resetting the MAIL Counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Appendix C: "Where to Start" for New Internet Users. . . . . . . . . . . 49 Appendix D: Technical Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Part 1: Electronic Mail I. What Is the Internet? A typical "local area network," or LAN, may consist of a dozen or more desktop computers in an office or a building, connected with various kinds of cable, and running one or another variety of network software such as Novell, so that several users of different computers can share resources (modems, laser printers, CD-ROM drives) and exchange data (by sending electronic mail or transferring files). The Internet is a worldwide "network of networks," a collection of hundreds of thousands of computers running interactively over high-speed data communication lines, with the capability of sending and receiving information almost instantaneously. This makes the Internet radically different from other computer-mediated communication systems like CompuServe, MCImail, or Prodigy, or from large database systems like WESTLAW or LEXIS/NEXIS (although some of these systems may be connected to the Internet). With each of these systems, all users connect to a central computer, where all files, programs, and other data are stored. The Internet, however, exemplifies the concept of "distributed computing." There is no central computer to connect to; rather, any user with the correct authorization can potentially connect to any other computer, anywhere in the world, as long as it is connected to the Internet. Although there are a number of organizations that work together to develop the technical standards that make the Internet work, as well as a number of organizations that operate the underlying networks that connect one user to another, there is no central governing authority. The people who really "run" the Internet--the people who make it an essential tool by making available resources ranging from library catalogs, to shareware and public domain software, to millions of pages of documents, and by sharing their expertise through e-mail and other means--are the millions of users around the world. The vast majority of the Internet's resources are provided completely by volunteers, so much so that to many users "available on the Internet" is a synonym for "free." In fact, undoubtedly the greatest resource on the Internet is the people who use it. Because of the huge number of computer systems connected by means of the Internet, finding one's way around can be a bit of a chore. Although there are a variety of guides and other resources available, usually compiled through the voluntary efforts of one or two dedicated individuals, there is as yet no one, big directory of all the people or all the systems accessible through the Internet. In addition, because of the remote login capabilities of Internet, each computer system or library catalog the user logs into may require the user learn a new set of commands. Before you even get to that point, however, there are a number of minor obstacles that must be overcome in using the VAX. When you use the Internet, you will be accessing it through the University's VAX mainframe. This means that, in addition to being familiar with DOS, WordPerfect and your PC-based communication software (such as MS-Kermit for DOS or WinQVT for Windows), you will also be dealing with VAX commands, its EDT text editor, and the VMS operating system. The rewards are well worth the trouble, but you must be prepared to invest some time in learning these systems in order to be able to reap these rewards. Prerequisites If you do not already have an account on the SLU Academic Vax computer (SLUAVA), you will need to get a form from me to obtain an account. There is no charge for using the VAX; an "account" simply means a user ID and password which gives you access to the VAX. In addition, you will need communication software. Although any PC-based communication software will do, the best for Internet communication are MS- Kermit (for DOS computers) and WinQVT (for Windows). These "terminal emulation" programs (programs designed to make your computer act like a specialized VAX terminal) work well with the VAX computer and provide full- screen editing ("cut and paste") functions that make writing e-mail messages much easier. To avoid confusion as much as possible, the guide covers MS- Kermit only; WinQVT has certain advantages for experienced Windows users, but MS-Kermit is somewhat easier to install and to use. Finally, you will want to be familiar with a word processing program such as WordPerfect. Although you can compose messages online while connected to the VAX, the VAX EDT text editor is less sophisticated and somewhat more difficult to use, so for sending lengthy messages, it may be easier to write the message offline using WordPerfect, upload the file from your PC to the VAX, and then send the message via Internet. II. Getting Started with Electronic Mail: the VAX MAIL System Dial and connect to the VAX using the Kermit communication software. Start the Kermit program. After a few moments, you should receive an "MS-Kermit>" prompt. When you receive this prompt, type dial sluneta and press . This commences dialing the first of several alternative numbers to connect to the VAX machine. If sluneta does not work, try dial slunetb or dial slunetc. When you see the message CONNECT 2400 or CONNECT 9600 (depending on the speed of your modem), type c and press . At the "WHICH COMPUTER?" prompt, type AVA and press . At the "Username:" prompt, type in your user name and press . At the "Password:" prompt, type in your password and press . Every month, the VAX will require you to change your password. For security purposes, you should not choose an easy-to-guess password such as your birthday or your child's name; a combination of letters and numbers is best. You may want to write the password down in a safe place so you don't forget it (but don't put it on your terminal with a Post-It note, please). After a few moments and a few messages from the VAX, you should see a "$" prompt. Think of this like the C:> prompt on your PC; you can type commands at this prompt which will let you perform the various Internet functions such as mail, file transfer, and remote login. To sign off: At the "$" prompt type, lo and press . At the "Which Computer?" prompt, press to "escape back" to the MS-Kermit> prompt. At the "MS-Kermit>" prompt, type hangup and press . Type q and press to exit the MS-Kermit program. VAX E-mail and VMS Editing To enter the electronic mail system, type mail at the "$" prompt and press . The prompt should change from "$" to "MAIL>". To send a message, type send/edit and press . (You could type send by itself, but the /edit option allows you to include a "signature file" (see page 5) before you send your message.) The VAX will respond with "To:" For your first try, send a message to me. This is the simplest form of e-mail: a message to another individual at Saint Louis University. All you need to identify the recipient is the recipient's user ID; mine is MILLESJG. So, at the "To:" prompt, type millesjg . The VAX will then respond with a "Subj:" prompt. Type a brief heading here (keep it under one line, like "My first e-mail message"). Next you will see a blank screen with "[EOB]" at the top. This is the editing screen; here is where you type the text of your message. ([EOB] means "end of buffer," and indicates the last line of the file you are working on. There is nothing else in the file other than the [EOB] because you haven't typed anything in yet. As you type, the [EOB] marker will move down toward the bottom of the screen.) Use the , , , , , and keys to cut and paste text. Because you are using "terminal emulation" software to make your computer act like a VAX terminal, which has a very different key layout from a personal computer, your communication software reassigns these keys to different functions to correspond to VAX terminal keys. Use the Kermit editing key template printed in Appendix C for the proper functions of these keys. For instance, to delete text: place the cursor where you want to begin cutting; press the SELECT key; move the cursor to the end of the text you want to cut; press the DELETE key. To move text, first cut it according to the instructions above, then move the cursor to the location where you want the text to appear, then press the INSERT key. When you are finished editing your text, press -Z. This will take you out of the editing screen and give you a "*" command prompt. Type exit to send the message, or type quit to cancel it. After a few moments you should see the "MAIL>" prompt again, indicating that your message has been sent. (One of the disconcerting things about using VAX e-mail is that it generally does not tell you when you have done something right; it only gives you an error message when you have done something wrong. If you do not see an error message, assume you have done the right thing.) Creating a Signature File Since some e-mail systems that your recipients might use do not clearly indicate the name and e-mail address of the sender, it is always a good idea to include a "signature" or "sig" file at the end of any e-mail message. This should consist of at least your name, your Internet address, and the name of your institution. Optionally, some people include phone or fax numbers or a humorous message. (For more information, see Appendix A, "E-mail Etiquette.") To create a signature file: At the "$" prompt, type ed my.sig . (Actually, you could use whatever name you like; I use my.sig because it's easy to remember). Type a brief signature file, consisting of your name on one line, the name "Saint Louis University Law School" on the next line, and your Internet address on the third line. (Once you are comfortably proficient with EDT, feel free to spiff it up a bit.) When you are satisfied with your signature file, press -Z, then type ex and press . To include your signature file in a message: Enter the MAIL system, and type send/edit at the MAIL> prompt. Type your message. When you are finished editing your message, move the cursor to the last line of the text (the [EOB] line) and type -Z. At the "*" prompt, type inc my.sig to include the my.sig file at the point where the cursor stood when you exited the editing screen. Type c and press to go back into "change" (or editing) mode, so you can review the text and make sure you placed your signature file correctly. Press -Z, then type exit and press to send the message. There are a number of additional commands that can be used at the "*" prompt. Most of them you will never need; however, if you do, here is a guide to the most useful ones. Summary of EDT Commands (All these commands are entered at the "*" prompt.) C (Change) Invoke the full-screen editor D (Delete) Deletes a line or group of lines. "D11" would delete line 11; "D11:15" would delete lines 11 through 15. An easier way to do this is to use the SELECT key to block the text, then press the DELETE key to delete it. EX (Exit) Terminates an EDT editing session. If you are using the MAIL system, EX also sends the message you have just edited. H (Help) Displays on-line help. INC (Include) Allows you to copy text from another file into the file you are editing--for instance, your signature file. To add the signature file "my.sig" to the end of an e-mail message, type inc my.sig . Make sure that the pointer is at the last line of the message (indicated by [EOB]). INS (Insert) Inserts text directly before the current position in the file. Switches from "command mode" (the "*" prompt, at which you type commands) to "insert mode" (no prompt, at which you type text). Press -Z to return to the "*" prompt when you are finished inserting text. QUIT Allows you to exit EDT without saving the changes you have made. When using MAIL, allows you to cancel a message without sending it. S (Substitute) Allows you to substitute new text for old or incorrect text; the format is "substitute/oldtext/newtext." You must first specify the line to be corrected. For instance, if you mis-typed "teh" for "the" in line five, you could correct it by (1) typing 5 at the "*" prompt, and then (2) typing s/teh/the to make the substitution. (In most cases, it will be easier simply to go back into edit-screen mode by typing c at the "*" prompt.) Using E-mail to Send Files Created with WordPerfect It is also possible to use Internet to send messages composed off-line with WordPerfect. However, there are a few extra steps to go through. First, since e-mail works only with generic ASCII text (simple letters and numbers without special formatting codes), a file in WordPerfect format must be changed to generic ASCII text. Second, the ASCII file must be uploaded from your PC to the VAX. This is done using the Kermit program's SEND command. This would probably be considered a more "advanced" application of Internet e-mail. For instructions on how to send WordPerfect files, see Appendix B: Reference. Reading Your Mail Each time you sign on, if you have e-mail waiting, you will receive a message saying "You have [number] messages waiting". To view your mail: At the "$" prompt, type mail . At the "MAIL>" prompt, type dir . Scan the subject headings of your messages. (Note the "folder name" NEWMAIL at the upper right corner of the screen. If you want to keep a message after reading it, you can "file" the message in a different "folder" [see page 22].) To begin reading the first message, press . To read a particular message, type the number of the message. To reply to a message you are currently reading, type reply/edit . Compose your message as instructed on page 4. To print a copy of a message: Type the number of the message you want to display. If you want to print a copy of the message you are currently viewing, type current . Use the VAX MAIL extract command to "extract" the message into a text file. Type extract [filename] . Then use exit from MAIL and download the file to your computer. (For more detailed instructions, see page 40). III. Internet E-mail Sending e-mail to someone at another institution hundreds or thousands of miles away works just the same way; only the address is different. To send a message to someone on Internet, all you need is your correspondent's Internet address. The Internet uses an addressing system called "domain" addressing. An Internet address consists of two parts separated by an "@" symbol; the part before the @ is the "username," and the part after is the "host" or "domain name." The "domain name" part will always be made up of two or more parts separated by periods. For instance, my Internet address is millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu. Domain names are read from right to left; here, the "edu" on the far right (the "highest level domain") indicates that the addressee is at an educational institution; "slu" indicates the name of the institution; and "sluvca" indicates the VAX machine at SLU that runs the mail system. Other highest-level domains have different names; for instance, if you want to send a message to someone who uses MCImail for electronic mail, the address would be [userid]@mcimail.com; ".com" means it is a commercial organization. Other domains include "gov," for governmental bodies; "mil," for military; "org," for non-profit organizations; and "net," for network providers. In addition, e-mail addresses outside the United States have a two-letter country code at the end: "uk" for the United Kingdom, "ie" for Ireland, "nl" for the Netherlands, "cz" for Czechoslovakia, "pl" for Poland, and so on. To send a message to me over the Internet, at the "To:" prompt you would type millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu . (Be sure not to insert any spaces.) Try sending a short message to me, using my Internet address. Sometimes you will find an e-mail address that looks like an Internet address, but the part to the right of the @ symbol consists of only one word with no periods. Addresses in this format are BITNET addresses. BITNET is a another worldwide e-mail network, but it is limited solely to colleges and universities. A BITNET address must be converted to Internet format by adding ".bitnet" to the end of the address; for instance, if your correspondent's address is CS30057@WUVMD, you would address your e-mail to CS30057@WUVMD.bitnet. It is possible to send Internet e-mail to people on MCImail, CompuServe, Prodigy, America Online, and other services. These services are not really "on the Internet" in the sense of being able to use all the Internet functions like telnet, ftp, gopher, and so on, but they do have e-mail "gateways" that allow them to exchange e-mail. Each of these are commercial services, so to send a message to someone on one of these services, the format would be: [userid]@mcmail.com, [userid]@compuserve.com, [userid]@prodigy.com, or [userid]@aol.com. Note that for CompuServe user IDs, you would change the comma to a period; so, if your correspondent's CompuServe user ID is 4653,234, her Internet address would be 4653.234@compuserve.com. Note also that many of these services impose extra charges for sending or receiving Internet e-mail. As noted above, there is no universal directory of Bitnet or Internet addresses. If you want to exchange e-mail with an individual, the best thing to do is simply ask the individual for his or her address. Your Internet address is: ____________________@sluvca.slu.edu Making Sure You Get Mail: LISTSERV Discussion Lists Besides individual person-to-person e-mail, the Internet also offers thousands of "discussion lists," or e-mail conferences on topics ranging from artificial intelligence or international law to cats and popular music. They are called "lists," I suppose, because they are essentially mailing lists for e-mail. You subscribe to most lists by sending a subscription request in an ordinary e-mail message, either to a program that maintains the list automatically, or to a person who maintains it manually; thereafter, each message that is sent to the list is automatically sent on to each subscriber. Discussion lists are valuable in two ways: first, by subscribing and contributing to the lists, you may exchange information and ideas with colleagues across the world; second, you can always send private messages to any individual on the list (for instance, to engage in a more in-depth discussion on a topic of particular concern). Discussion lists are not databases; you would not "search" COMLAW-L to retrieve documents relating to computers in legal education (although it is possible to search the archives of previous e-mail messages from a given list to find messages on a particular topic). Discussion lists are more like caucuses of experts, or year-round professional meetings (except you can skip the boring sessions and nobody will know); for instance, I have used both the LAW-LIB and TEKNOIDS lists to get rapid responses to technical questions. I have also found discussion lists to be invaluable sources of ideas and sounding boards for my own thoughts. Knowledgeable people are remarkably willing to share their expertise with others through these lists. There are three predominant systems for running discussion lists: (1) the BITNET LISTSERV or "Revised LISTSERV" program, (2) the Unix Listserv or Listproc program, and (3) miscellaneous other programs and manually maintained lists. BITNET LISTSERV Lists One of the oldest systems, and still probably the most widespread, is the BITNET LISTSERV system. The original LISTSERV software was written in the early 1980's as a simple "mail exploder"; that is, a program with simply took e-mail messages sent to a discussion list and redistributed the messages to all the members of the list. This first version of LISTSERV was installed at only one site (LISTSERV@BITNIC). However, this popular system quickly became overloaded, and in the mid-1980's it was replaced by a completely new program written by Eric Thomas at the Ecole Centrale de Paris. This new version (originally called "Revised LISTSERV," now simply LISTSERV) added many new functions, including automatic subscription and unsubscription, file server functions (automatic storage and retrieval of discussion archives and other text files), and even database searching capabilities. LISTSERV currently runs only on IBM mainframes under the VM/CMS operating system, although Eric Thomas is working on new versions for Unix and VAX/VMS computers. (This does not mean that you have to be a BITNET user to subscribe to these discussion lists; as long as you can send and receive Internet e-mail, you can use any discussion list.) Every BITNET LISTSERV has two addresses: the LISTSERV address, which is the program on a particular host that maintains the discussion list, and the LISTNAME address, to which you would send messages that you intend to go out to all the readers of the list. It might help to think of the LISTSERV address as similar to the subscription office of a newspaper, and the LISTNAME address as the "letters to the editor" address. The LISTSERV address handles "administrative" functions--primarily subscribing and unsubscribing to the lists. For instance, one very popular BITNET list is PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET, the Public Access Computer Systems in Libraries discussion list. The LISTSERV address is LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.BITNET, while the LISTNAME address is PACS- L@UHUPVM1.BITNET. So, if Jane Doe wanted to subscribe to the PACS-L mailing list, she would send the following e-mail message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.BITNET: SUBSCRIBE PACS-L Jane Doe Then, if she wanted to post a message to be read by the subscribers to the PACS-L list, she would send that message to PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET. When your subscription request is received by the LISTSERV host, it will send you a "welcome" message that tells you, among other things, how to unsubscribe. You should probably save that message, perhaps in a separate MAIL FOLDER called "LISTSUBS" or some such. Here is a list of law-related and library-related BITNET LISTSERV lists. You may subscribe to any of these lists by sending an e-mail message containing only the line SUBSCRIBE [listname] Your Name to LISTSERV@[Host]. (Don't forget to add ".bitnet" to the host name, unless the Internet address is given below. Many BITNET hosts are also on the Internet.) Law: ADA-LAW@NDSUVM1 ADA Law BIZLAW-L@UMAB AALS Section on Business Associations COMLAW-L@UALTAVM Computers and Legal Education EDLAW@UKCC.uky.edu Education law EURO-LEX@ds0rus1i Legal Info Exchange Europewide FEMJUR@SUVM Discussions and Information about Feminist Legal Issues HISLAW-L@ULKYVM History of Law (Feudal, Common, Canon) H-LAW@UICVM History of Law (general) LAWAID@RUTVM1 Law School Financial Aid Discussion LAWSCH-L@AUVM Law School Discussion List Law-related and miscellaneous: AHL@GWUVM American Health Line News Service AIDS@WUVMD Sci.Med.AIDS Newsgroup AIDSBKRV@UICVM AIDS Book Review List AIDSNEWS@EB0UB011 AIDS/HIV News AJBS-L@NCSUVM Association of Japanese Business Studies BALT-L@UBVM Baltic Republics Discussion List BIOMED-L@NDSUVM1 BIOMED-L Biomedical Ethics BUSETH-L@UBVM Business Ethics Computer Network CCIJLEX@UCHCECVM Foro de Informatica Juridica CERRO-L@AEARN.BITNET Central Europe Regional Development CJMOVIES@ALBANY Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture CJUST-L@IUBVM Criminal Justice Discussion List CPSR@GWUVM Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility DEVEL-L@AUVM Technology Transfer in International Development DISARM-L@ALBNYVM1 Disarmament discussion DISARM-D@ALBNYVM1 Monthly digest of DISARM-L plus added material DOROTHYL@KENTVM Mystery Literature E-conference E-EUROPE@NCSUVM Eastern Europe Business Network EC@INDYCMS European Community ECONET@MIAMIU Discussion of Ecological and Environmental Issues ENVST-L@BROWNVM Environmental Studies Discussion List ETHICS-L@UGA (Peered) Discussion of Ethics in Computing FEDTAX-L@SHSU Federal Taxation/Accounting Discussion FINAN-HC@WUVMD Health Care Financial Matters FINANCE@TEMPLEVM The Electronic Journal of Finance HEALTHRE@UKCC Health Care Reform Discussion List HR-L@VMS.CIS.PITT.EDU Human Rights List HRS-L@BINGVMB Human Rights Research JEM@MITVMA Jewish Electronic Mail Conference JUDAICA@TAUNIVM (Peered) Judaic Studies Newsletter JUDAICA@UMINN1 (Peered) JUDAICA Jewish & Near Eastern Studies LABOR-L@YORKVM1 Forum on Labor in the Western Hemisphere MOPOLY-L@UMCVMB Discussion of Missouri political issues PEACE@INDYCMS Peace studies PJML@UTXVM The Progressive Jewish Mailing List POLAND-L@UBVM Discussion of Polish Culture POLI-SCI@RUTVM1 Political Science Digest PUBPOL-L@UMINN1 Public Policy Network RFERL-L@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu RFE-RL Daily Report (Russia and Eastern Europe) RUSSIA@arizvm1.ccit.arizona.edu Russia and Her Neighbors SLOVAK-L@UBVM Discussion of Slovak issues UN@INDYCMS United Nations UN-NEWS@UNMVMA Weekly United Nations News UNCJIN-L@ALBNYVM1 United Nations Criminal Justice Information Network URBAN-L@TREARN Urban Planning Discussion List WIN3-L@UICVM Microsoft Windows Version 3 Forum WMST-L@UMDD Women's Studies List WPWIN-L@UBVM WordPerfect For Windows Discussion List WP51-L@UOTTAWA WordPerfect 5.1 Discussion Group List Y-RIGHTS@SJUVM Y-Rights: Kid/Teen Rights Discussion Group Library: ACRLNY-L@NYUACF Listings of Library Jobs and Events ADVANC-L@IDBSU Geac Advance Library System AFAS-L@KENTVM African American Studies and Librarianship ALF-L@YORKVM1 Academic Librarian's Forum ARCHIVES@INDYCMS Archives and Archivists List ARIE-L@IDBSU RLG Ariel document transmission system ARLIS-L@UKCC Art Libraries Association of North America ATLAS-L@TCUBVM Data Research ATLAS Users AUTOCAT@UVMVM Library Cataloging and Authorities Discussion Group BI-L@BINGVMB Bibliographic Instruction BIBSOFT@INDYCMS Personal Bibliographic Database Management BIG-LAN@SUVM Campus-Size LAN Discussion Group BLACKLIB@GUVM Conference of Black Librarians CALL-L@UNBVM1 Canadian Academic Law Libraries List CARL-L@UHCCVM CARL Users CDROMLAN@IDBSU CD-ROM LAN's CIRCPLUS@IDBSU Circulation and Access Services CNI-ARCH@UCCVMA Coalition for Networked Information Architecture and Standards Work Group CNIDIR-L@UNMVM Coalition for Networked Information Working Group on Directories COLLDV-L@USCVM Library Collection Development CWIS-L@WUVMD Campus-Wide Information Systems ELEASAI@ARIZVM1 Open Library/Information Science Research Forum ETEXTCTR@RUTVM1 Electronic Text Centers EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1 Rare Books and Special Collections Forum FEMINIST@MITVMA ALA Social Responsibility Round Table Feminist Task Force FISC-L@NDSUVM1 Fee-Based Information Service Centers in Academic Libraries FORO-L@arizvm1.Ccit.Arizona.Edu Transborder Libraries Forum/foro internacional bibliotecarios GO4LIB-L@UCSBVM Gopher systems and Libraries GOVDOC-L@PSUVM Government Documents GUTNBERG@UIUCVMD Project Gutenberg Email List HELP-NET@TEMPLEVM Bitnet/Internet Help Resource HYTEL-L@KENTVM TELNET Access to Network Resources ILL-L@UVMVM Interlibrary Loan INFO+REF@INDYCMS Information + Referral List INNOPAC@MAINE Innovative Interfaces Users INT-LAW@UMINN1 Foreign & International Law Librarians LABMGR@UKCC Academic Microcomputer Lab Management LIBEVENT@USCVM Library Events in Southern California LIBEX-L@MAINE Exhibits and Academic Libraries Discussion List LIBADMIN@UMAB Library Administration and Management LIBMASTR@UOTTAWA Library Master Bibliographic Database LIBPER-L@KSUVM Library Personnel Issues LIBPLN-L@QUCDN Library Planning LIBRARY@INDYCMS Libraries and Librarians LIBREF-L@KENTVM Discussion of Library Reference Issues LIBRES@KENTVM Library and Information Science Research LIBSUP-L@UWAVM Discussion List for Library Support Personnel LIS-L@UIUCVMD Students of Library and Information Science LITANEWS@DARTCMS1 Library and Information Technology Association Newsletter MAALL@WUVMD Mid-America Association of Law Libraries Discussion List MCJRNL@UBVM MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship MEDLIB-L@UBVM Medical and Health Sciences Libraries MULTILIS@ALBNYVM1 multiLIS Users NETTRAIN@UBVM Internet/BITNET Network Trainers Discussion List NEWBOOKS@ALBNYVM1 New books from SUNY-ALBANY Graduate Library NOTIS-L@TCSVM NOTIS Users NOTISACQ@CUVMB NOTIS Acquisitions Discussion Group NOTRBCAT@INDYCMS Rare Book and Special Collections Catalogers OFFCAMP@WAYNEST1 Off-Campus Library Services List PACS-L@UHUPVM1 Public-Access Computer Systems Forum PACS-P@UHUPVM1 PACS-L Publications Only PRO-CITE@IUBVM The Personal Bibliographic Software Discussion List SERIALST@UVMVM Serials Users Discussion Group SLAJOB@IUBVM Special Libraries Association Job List SPILIB-L@SUVM SPIRES Users UNICRN-L@PSUORVM SIRSI/UNICORN Library Catalog System USMARC-L@MAINE USMARC Advisory Group Forum VIRTUAL@INDYCMS Library of the Future VTLSLIST@VTVM1 VTLS Users Discussion Group Z3950IW@NERVM Z39.50 Implementors Workshop BITNET LISTSERV Commands All BITNET LISTSERV commands should be sent to the LISTSERV@[hostname] address, not to the LISTNAME address. There's no need for all 3000 subscribers to the PACS-L list to read your mis-addressed "unsubscribe" request. SUB [listname] [your name] To subscribe, or add your address, to a list. Example: SUB PACS-L Jane Doe UNSUB [listname] To unsubscribe, or sign off from a list. It is not necessary to include your name. Example: UNSUB PACS-L REVIEW [listname] [option] F=MAIL To obtain a listing of the subscribers to a discussion list, including both names and Internet addresses. F=MAIL tells LISTSERV to send the reply back to you in an e-mail message. (Many lists are set up by default to send responses back in a BITNET format called "netdata," but only subscribers at BITNET sites can receive these files. F=MAIL guarantees that you will receive the response in a format you can use.) Example: REVIEW PACS-L F=MAIL There are several options that allow the user to determine how the REVIEW output is sorted. The most useful are: REVIEW [listname] BY NAME F=MAIL REVIEW [listname] BY COUNTRY F=MAIL INDEX [listname] F=MAIL To obtain a listing of the files maintained by LISTSERV that relate to a particular discussion, and which may be retrieved by the GET command (below) . For most BITNET lists, these files will include at least weekly or monthly archives of the messages exchanged on the list. Some lists, particularly "electronic journals" like PMC-LIST (PostModern Culture) and LIBRES (Library Research), use this file serving capability to make available individual documents such as scholarly articles. QUERY [listname] To retrieve a description of your option settings for that list. These options determine such things as whether you receive acknowledgment that your postings to the list have been received, and whether you receive copies of your own postings. The defaults for these options will vary from one list to another. SET [listname] [option] To set your user-specific options for a particular list. Some of the most useful options include: ACK You will receive acknowledgment that your postings have been successfully received. NOACK You will not received acknowledgement of postings. CONCEAL Your name and Internet address will not appear in a REVIEW listing of subscribers. NOCONCEAL Your name and Internet address will appear in REVIEW listings. REPRO You will receive copies of your own postings to the list. NOREPRO You will not receive copies of your own postings. NOMAIL Temporarily stops receipt of list messages, without having to UNSUB from the list. This is typically used when you will be on vacation and do not plan to read your e-mail. MAIL Canels a previous NOMAIL command and re-enables receipt of list messages. DIGEST You will receive postings in the form of a daily or weekly digest or compilation rather than as individual messages. To go back to receiving individual messages, send a SET [listname] MAIL command. GET [listname] [filetype] [listname] F=MAIL To retrieve an archive file, or "log," of a discussion list; may also be used to retrieve other files if available. Used after issuing the INDEX command (above} to determine what files are available. INFO To obtain a list of LISTSERV documentation files. LIST [option] The LIST command, by itself, will retrieve a listing of all discussion lists maintained by that LISTSERV site. A complete listing of all LISTSERV lists may be obtained by issuing the comand LIST GLOBAL. A listing of all LISTSERV discussion lists that related to a specific topic or key word may be retrieved by issuing the command LIST GLOBAL /[keyword], for instance, LIST GLOBAL /LAW. Unix Listserv Lists As mentioned above, the BITNET LISTSERV is available only on IBM mainframe computers using the VM/CMS operating system. However, the great majority of host computers on the Internet run under some variety of the Unix operating system. For this reason, many programmers have attempted to write "LISTSERV-like" programs for Unix computers. Most are simple and crude "mail exploders" like the original BITNIC LISTSERV program, and are only used locally where they were developed. None are "Unix versions" of LISTSERV, but rather independently developed programs that use the name "listserv," may offer some of the same functions, and may or may not use similar commands. The one program that has achieved widespread acceptance is the "listserv" or "listproc" program (the name was recently changed to avoid confusion with BITNET LISTSERV, but most systems still use the old "listserv" name) written by Anastasios Kotsikonas at Boston University. The basic commands for Unix listserv--sub and unsub--are the same as BITNET LISTSERV, but the work slightly differently. For instance, on BITNET LISTSERV, if you are a subscriber to INT-LAW but you wish to change the form of your name as it appears on the list of subscribers from "John Doe" to "Jack Doe," you simply send the command "SUB INT-LAW Jack Doe" to LISTSERV@UMINN1.BITNET; the new SUB command identifies you by your Internet address and replaces your entry. On the other hand, to change your name on a Unix listserv list, you must first send the command "UNSUB [listname]," and then issue a new "SUB [listname] [your name]" command; otherwise, you will simply receive an error message from listserv saying "you are already subscribed to [listname]." Minor inconsistencies like this often cause confusion for Internet users who are accustomed to the still more prevalent BITNET LISTSERV, but Unix listserv is rapidly gaining in popularity. Because law schools have only recently begun to join the Internet in large numbers, and law professors have begun to start new law-related discussion lists, most law-related lists use Unix listserv rather than the somewhat antiquated IBM mainframes necessary to run BITNET LISTSERV. Law: AIL-L@austin.onu.edu Artificial Intelligence & Law cali-l@chicagokent.kentlaw.edu Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction List cni-copyright@cni.org Copyright Discussion List comlaw-l@acc.wuacc.edu Communications Law cyberia-l@listserv.cc.wm.edu Law and Policy of Computer Networks ilsa-l@chicagokent.kentlaw.edu International Law Students Association list lawprof@chicagokent.kentlaw.edu Law school professors only: forum on law, legal education, technology in legal education JURIST-L@nic.surfnet.nl Dutch Lawyers' networking information lawsrc-l@fatty.law.cornell.edu Internet Resources on Law legalstudies@fatty.law.cornell.edu Teaching law at the undergraduate level legwri-l@chicagokent.kentlaw.edu Legal writing instructors teknoids@fatty.law.cornell.edu Law school computer service providers Law-Related: CPAE@catfish.valdosta.peachnet.edu The Center for Professional and Applied Ethics FEMISA@mach1.wlu.edu Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Section, International Studies Association HIM-L@fiona.umsmed.edu Health Information Management Discussion List indknow@uwavm.u.washington.edu Indigenous Knowledge Systems (human rights of indigenous peoples) MINHLTH@hamp.hampshire.edu Minority Health Issues in the U.S. Library: CNI-DIRECTORIES@cni.org Network Forum of the Coalition for Networked Information's Working Group on Directories and Resource Information Services pals-l@knuth.mtsu.edu PALS System SPIN-L@silverplatter.com SilverPlatter Info Network VISIONS@library.sdsu.edu Strategic Visions Steering Committee Electronic Discussion Forum on the Future of Librarianship Unix Listserv Commands All of these commands should be sent to listserv@[host], not to the discussion list address. For instance, to subscribe to teknoids@fatty.law.cornell.edu, send an e-mail message containing only the line sub teknoids [firstname lastname] to listserv@fatty.law.cornell.edu. sub [listname] [your name] To subscribe to a Unix listserv discussion list. Example: "sub teknoids Jon Doe" unsub [listname] To unsubscribe from a list. It is not necessary to include your name ni an "unsub" command. Example: "unsub teknoids" recipients [listname] To receive a listing of subscribers to a particular list. An alternative form is the command "review [listname]." Note that Unix listserv does not offer the option of sorting the list of recipients by name or by country. set [listname] [option] This command differs greatly from the SET command in BITNET LISTSERV. set [listname] Get a description of your current options settings for the list; cf. BITNET LISTSERV's "QUERY" command. set [listname] mail ack You will receive copies of your own postings to the list; cf. BITNET LISTSERV's "SET [listname] REPRO" command. set [listname] mail noack You will not receive copies of your own postings; cf. BITNET LISTSERV's "SET [listname] NOREPRO" command. set [listname] mail postpone Temporarily suspends receipt of messages; cf. BITNET LISTSERV's "SET [listname] NOMAIL" command. To restore receipt of messages, use any of the "mail ack," "mail noack," or "mail digest" commands. set [listname] mail digest New messages are not sent as they arrive individually, but are compiled into digests that are sent to you daily or weekly. index [listname] [/password] To obtain a list of the arrchive files for the selected list. For this command and the others that follow, the "/password" option is necessary only for private lists; try the command without the /password option first. search [listname] [/password] ["keywords"] To search the message archives of the specified list for lines containing the specified keywords. Boolean searches are possible using the symbols "~" (not), "|" (or), and "&" (and). The keywords may be enclosed in single or double quotes. Note: "." (period) is the "wild card" character. Example: search teknoids "mead & representatives" get [listname] [file] [/password] To retrieve a specified message archive file, usually after receiving the results of an "index" or "search" command. Example: get ilsa-l 931216 For more information on searching Unix listserv archives and other topics, send a message containing only the line "help" to the listserv host. Other Lists Not all discussion lists use the standard listserv software; some are operated under other software systems such as mailbase or mailserv, and some are maintained manually by the listowner. The subscription commands for each of these discussion lists are different. Some of the more useful of these lists are described below, with instructions for subscribing. If you receive a welcome message telling you how to unsubscribe, be sure to keep it for later reference. Law and Law-related: animal-rights@cs.odu.edu (Animal Rights List) Send a subscription request to animal-rights-request@cs.odu.edu. CTI-LAW (Information technology in law teaching--UK) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN CTI-LAW Firstname Lastname DONOSY (Short daily news from Poland) Send a subscription request to DONOSY@PLEARN.BitNet. ENVIROLAW@oregon.uoregon.edu (Environmental law students) Send the following command to mailserv@oregon.uoregon.edu: SUBSCRIBE ENVIROLAW Firstname Lastname ENVLAWPROFS@oregon.uoregon.edu (Environmental law professors) Send the following command to mailserv@oregon.uoregon.edu: SUBSCRIBE ENVLAWPROFS Firstname Lastname FORENS-L@FAUVAX (Forensic Medicine and Science) Send a subscription request to: FORENS-REQUEST@ACC.FAU.EDU. FSU@sovset.org (Developments in the Former Soviet Union) Send a subscription request to: FSU-REQUEST@sovset.org IPE (International Political Economy) Send the following command to mailserv@csf.colorado.edu: SUB IPE Firstname Lastname LAW-ECONOMICS (Law and Economics) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN LAW-ECONOMICS Firstname Lastname LAW-EUROPE (European law) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN LAW-EUROPE Firstname Lastname LAW-FAMILY (Family law, especially U.K. and Europe) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN LAW-FAMILY Firstname Lastname LAW-PUBLIC (UK Public/Constitutional Law List) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN LAW-PUBLIC Firstname Lastname NATION-L (The Nation Magazine Discussion List) Send the following command to listproc@yukon.cren.org: SUB NATION-L Firstname Lastname POLICY (Russian Foreign Policy) Send a subscription request to: POLICY-REQUEST@sovset.org. POLITICS (Russian Domestic Policy and Internal Reform) Send a subscription request to: POLITICS-REQUEST@sovset.org. TLTP-LAW (Law Courseware Consortium--UK) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN TLTP-LAW Firstname Lastname UKLEGAL (English and Scottish Law) Send a message to lsg001@cck.coventry.ac.uk, with UKLEGAL in the Subject: line, and your Internet address in the first line of the message. Library: Conservation DistList (Conservation of Archive, Library, and Museum Materials) Send a subscription request to Walter Henry: WHENRY@LINDY.STANFORD.EDU. DYNIX_L@OYSTER.SMCM.EDU (DYNIX Users) Send a subscription request to Todd D. Kelley: KELLEY@OYSTER.SMCM.EDU. LAW-LIB@UCDAVIS.EDU (Law Librarians) Send subscription requests to: LAW-LIB-REQUEST@UCDAVIS.EDU Contact Elizabeth St. Goar for technical questions: ESTGOAR@UCDAVIS.EDU. LIS-LAW@mailbase.ac.uk (British law librarians) Send the following command to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk: JOIN LIS-LAW Firstname Lastname LS2K@CC.UTAH.EDU (LS/2000 Users Group) Send subscription request to: LS2K-REQUEST@CC.UTAH.EDU. STUMPERS-L (Difficult Reference Questions) Send the following message to roslibref@library.sdsu.edu: SUBSCRIBE STUMPERS-L your-email-address IV. Maintaining Your Mail Files After you have finished reading your messages, you must decide what you want to do with them. If you do not want to keep a message, type del [number] . To delete multiple messages, type del 1-[number] . If you want to keep the message, you should "file" it on the VAX. For instance, suppose you have just received a valuable message from Professor Joe Blow at another law school, and you plan to reply. You might like to keep a file of all the messages that you and Joe exchange. If Joe's message was #5 in your NEWMAIL folder: type 5 to retrieve that message; type file joe_blow to file the message. If this will be a new folder, the VAX will ask if you want to create the folder; if you are adding the message to an existing folder, the VAX will simply return the "MAIL>" prompt. To retrieve a folder, type select [foldername] . For a listing of all your folders, type dir/fol . Note: Unless a message is either filed nor deleted, it is automatically moved from the NEWMAIL folder to a folder called MAIL. If you allow too many messages to hang around in this way, your file space on the VAX will eventually fill up and you will be unable to receive new messages. For this reason it is very important to keep track of your messages and delete those you do not want to keep. (To see how much file space you have available on the VAX, type show quota at the "$" prompt.) Summary of MAIL Commands (All these commands are entered at the "MAIL>" prompt.) CURRENT Re-display the current message. DEL Delete the current e-mail message, if you are viewing one. To delete messages 1 through 10, enter del 1-10 . DIR List the e-mail messages in the current folder. DIR/FOL List the e-mail folders you have created. EXTRACT [filename] Convert the current message to a straight text file without "Press RETURN for more" pauses. EXTRACT TT: Display the current message on the screen, without pauses (useful for printing long messages). EXTRACT/ALL [filename] EXTRACT all the messages in the current folder into a single file. FILE [foldername] File the current message in the specified folder. REPLY/EDIT Send a reply to the sender of the current message. If the message was distributed by a discussion list, the reply will also go to the list. The address ("To:") and subject header ("Subj:") will be supplied automatically. To reply privately to the original sender of such a message, use the send/edit command, and at the "To:" prompt, type the original sender's Internet address instead of the address for the list. SELECT [foldername] Retrieve the specified message folder. SEND/EDIT Begin an e-mail message. The system will prompt you for an address ("To:") and a subject header ("Subj:"), and will then give you the "*" EDT prompt to begin editing your message. See page 6 for a summary of EDT commands. To send a copy to yourself, type SEND/EDIT/SELF. SET PER Abbreviation for SET PERSONAL_NAME. Use this command to add your personal name to your e-mail address in the header lines of any messages you send. Example: SET PER "Jim Milles, SLU Law Library" adds that my name and affiliation to all outgoing e-mail messages. This is especially handy if you forget to include your "sig" file. (There are several other SET options that allow you to personalize VAX e-mail for your own use; type HELP SET at the MAIL> prompt for more information). SHOW PER Displays the personal name you have established for your outgoing e-mail messages with the SET PER command. To see all of your current MAIL settings, type SHOW ALL. Part 2: TELNET, FTP, and More V. TELNET (Remote Login) Telnet, or remote login, is the function that allows you to connect over the Internet to use computers in remote locations; the most common example is to search online library catalogs or other databases. Telnet itself is a remarkably simple function; simply type "telnet" followed by the Internet address of the computer system you wish to access. The complexity arises, however, in finding out what computer systems are available, and to a lesser extent, in learning the commands that each remote system uses. For instance, the Harvard library catalog may use a completely different set of search commands than the Yale catalog, the Oxford catalog, or the University of Texas catalog. There are hundreds of library catalogs accessible through the Internet; some of the largest and most useful are listed below. More are added every week. For this reason, I recommend using one of the library "gateways" such as the SLU "gopher" (see page 31)or the Washington and Lee site (page 27). Some Selected Internet-Accessible Library Catalogs Cambridge University 1. Type TELNET SUN.NSF.AC.UK. 2. At the login prompt, type janet. 3. At the hostname prompt, enter uk.ac.cambridge.university-library. 4. Enter Y. To exit, type END. Harvard University 1. Type TELNET HOLLIS.HARVARD.EDU. 2. Press RETURN when Mitek Server screen appears. 3. Type hollis on the Harvard Univ./Office for Information Technology screen. To exit, hit ESCAPE xx. Northwestern University 1. Type TELNET NUACVM.ACNS.NWU.EDU. 2. Enter 56 for VT100 when asked for terminal type. 3. TAB down to the COMMAND prompt. 4. Type DIAL VTAM. 5. When prompted for Application ID:, enter LUIS. To exit: 1. Type STOP on the LUIS command line. 2. On the University Computer Center menu, type EXIT. University of California and California State Library at Sacramento The library system is known as the MELVYL system. The MELVYL system contains library information for all universities in the University of California system and the California State Library at Sacramento. 1. Type TELNET MELVYL.UCOP.EDU. 2. When asked for terminal type, enter VT100. 3. Press RETURN when prompted to. 4. Type START LOOK for easy to use library system. - or - Type START COM for command line library system. To exit: 1. Type END or STOP. 2. Type LOGOFF. University of Texas at Austin, Tarlton Law Library 1. Type TELNET TALLONS.LAW.UTEXAS.EDU. 2. at the "login:" prompt, type LIBRARY. 3. At the GO prompt, press RETURN. 4. Type v. 5. Type y. To exit, type D on the main menu. Some Useful Sites The Washington & Lee Law Library Guest Site (telnet liberty.uc.wlu.edu, login lawlib) John Doyle, the Associate Law Librarian at Washington and Lee University Law Library, maintains what is probably the single most useful resource on the Internet, not only for lawyers and law librarians, but for all users. John keeps this system scrupulously up to date, daily adding new resources as they become available. By accessing this one location, it is possible to access almost every other resource available on the Internet through a simple, menu- driven system. The following section describes some of these resources; after most headings, an alternative telnet location is listed, for those occasions when the Washington and Lee site is unavailable. Gateway to library catalogs (also telnet access.usask.ca, login hytelnet) Washington and Lee Law Library provides two means of menu access to all Internet-accessible library catalogs. (1) Direct connection: To search U.S.libraries, at the opening menu, type 10 and press . Type S to search for the name of the library you wish to use. Type the number for that library. When you are finished, type &&& to disconnect and return to the Washington & Lee system. To search all libraries (U.S. and foreign), type R (for "Restrict set") at the opening menu. Then type 12 for "Libraries." Then type 1 to "REQUIRE that the entries be libraries" (you can also restrict by eliminating libraries from the set of resources to be searched). Type S to search for the name of the library you wish to use. When finished, type &&& to disconnect. (2) Hytelnet connection: Choose 7 from the opening menu; use the and keys to choose which type of resource you wish to search (for instance, all library catalogs or just law libraries). Use the key to choose a branch of the directory; use to return to the previous "level" or menu. (Hytelnet is a hypertext directory of Internet resources; the advantages of Hytelnet over direct connection are that Hytelnet includes some textual information about each database, and that it gives you the login procedures in case you prefer to telnet directly to a particular site.) Archive of Internet documents You may directly access many of the most popular orientation and training documents (for instance, Zen and the Art of the Internet or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet) from the Washington and Lee system. At the opening menu, choose R to restrict, then choose 30 for Internet/Bitnet/Mail. Page down (by typing N for "next page"), or type S to search, until you find the document you are interested in. Type the number of the document (do not press ) to view the document. When you are finished viewing the document, type q. The system will ask you if you wish to have the document e-mailed to you; if you type Y, you will be asked for your Internet address. CARL's UnCover (also telnet victor.umd.edu) CARL (the Colorado Association of Research Libraries) produces a periodical index and document delivery service called UnCover. This is a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary index that includes thousands of academic journals. From the Washington and Lee opening menu, choose S to search, then type "uncover+" and press [Enter]. You will then have yur choice of several libraries to connect through; any one will do (except the direct connection, which requires a password). Once connected, follow the on-screen instructions to search the database. UnCover2 is CARL's document delivery service. When browsing through the citations retrieved by your search, you may request telefax delivery at any time. To request delivery of an article, press D. You will then be prompted for a telefax phone number and your VISA or MasterCard number. (Of course, you can request the same articles for free from the Law Library's Interlibrary Loan service, but CARL's UnCover2 promises 24-hour delivery.) Electronic Jurisprudence BBS (also telnet 129.239.1.110, login telnet, TERM: dumb, $ ejbbs) This is an electronic bulletin board system operated by Trotter Hardy, a law professor at William and Mary College of Law. There are a number of interesting features on this BBS, including Professor Hardy's hypertext legal research "expert system," Paper Choice. To access the Electronic Jurisprudence BBS from the Washington and Lee system, type S to search, then type "jurisprudence". Archie (also telnet archie.unl.edu, login archie) Throughout the Internet there are a vast number of documents, as well as shareware and public domain software, that you will have access to. FTP (file transfer protocol; see page 33) is the technique that allows you to download these files to your PC; archie is the index that enables you to find them in the first place. Developed at McGill University, archie regularly scans all the publicly accessible ftp sites on the Internet and constructs an easily searchable database from this information. To access archie from Washington and Lee, choose 3 from the main menu. You will then have a choice of several Archie sites; each one offers slightly different features, so pick any one you like. Most allow you to search for either a "substring" or an "exact match." You will probably have better luck searching substrings; "exact match" requires that you know exactly how the file you are searching is name, including use of upper and lower case (some computers on the Internet are case-sensitive.) However, since substring searches can be quite slow, you will probably want to have the results e- mailed to you. You are given this option after you type the string you want to search for. There are a number of archie sites you may search (although the database is the same at each; they are simply dispersed geographically to spread the processing load). The nearest one to us is archie.unl.edu, at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. To search archie directly, without going through Washington and Lee, telnet to archie.unl.edu, and login as archie. The command to search is prog [filename]. For instance, to search for a copy of Zen and the Art of the Internet, you could enter prog zen. Archie will respond with a list of all the ftp sites containing files matching that description. For information on using ftp to retrieve those files, see page 33. Archie can also be searched by e-mail; this method is actually easier, since you do not need to maintain a connection to the archie site while it executes a lengthy search; simply e-mail your request, and the results are returned to you the same way. To search for Zen and the Art of the Internet, send a message to archie@archie.unl.edu containing only the line prog zen. These services offered through the Washington and Lee system are constantly updated and improved. The best way to learn how they work and what they can do for you is to just plunge in and try them. It's worth spending a couple of hours some afternoon or evening exploring the Internet with the use of these navigation tools. Washburn University Law Library (WASHLAW) (telnet acc.wuacc.edu, login washlaw) This is a "World-Wide Web" server (see page 33) that is the home of several unique resources of interest to lawyers and law librarians, such as bibliographies and pathfinders on various topics (by Advanced Legal Research students at Washburn), and AALL and MAALL documents--more is being added. Cleveland Free-Net (telnet freenet-in-a.cwru.edu, freenet-in-b.cwru.edu, or freenet-in-c.cwru.edu) The Cleveland Free-Net is the best, and best known, system making up the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). The goal of the NPTN organizers is to promote the creation of community computer systems throughout the United States. The Cleveland Free-Net demonstrates what such a system is capable of. Operated under the sponsorship of Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Free-Net is organized on the model of a small city, with such features as a Medical Arts Building, a Courthouse and Government Center, a Post Office, and so on. Thousands of individuals, both in Cleveland and across the world, login to the Cleveland Free-Net every day to use the many conferences and other services available. Anyone may freely read the material posted on the Free-Net; to send messages, however, it is necessary to be a registered user (at no cost). Listed below are two of the most interesting features of the Cleveland Free-Net. U.S. Supreme Court Opinions (also telnet info.umd.edu, login info) Under a two-year test program known as Project Hermes, the Cleveland Free-Net makes freely available U.S. Supreme Court Opinions as soon as they are handed down. To access the Supreme Court opinions, choose 4, The Courthouse and Government Center, from the main menu. At the next menu (The Government Center), select 2, The Courthouse. At the Courthouse menu, select 6, Supreme Court Opinions (Project Hermes). Usenet newsgroups (also read-only on World-Wide Web) Usenet is a parallel network to the Internet which makes possible the dissemination of discussion lists (called "newsgroups") similar to Bitnet discussion lists. (Actually, Usenet newsgroups and Bitnet discussion groups are technically quite different, but the result--group communication--is similar. See Brendan P. Kehoe, Zen and the Art of the Internet (1992) [TK5105.8 .I58 K43 1992] for more information.) There are hundreds of newsgroups, covering both academic and popular topics. There are also a great many means of accessing Usenet news. It is available on many campus-wide information systems; for those (like us) without direct access on campus, Cleveland Free-Net offers access. Anyone may read Usenet news on the Free-Net, but only registered users may post messages (called "articles"). To access Usenet via the Cleveland Free-Net, type go usenet. VI. Other Services Gopher Gopher is a menu-based, hierarchical system for organizing and retrieving networked information regardless of where the information is stored. It was initially developed in 1991 as a campus-wide information system for the University of Minnesota, but it quickly became very popular for a variety of applications, and now there are over 1300 Gopher servers at institutions around the world--and they are all interconnected. An Internet user, by connecting to any Gopher server, has almost instantaneous access to any other Gopher and the information stored therein. Many gophers are "campus-wide information systems," containing material like course listings, faculty/staff/student directories, local events calendars, and so on. Most also include general interest material ranging from weather forecasts and song lyrics to scholarly articles. Gopher makes it easy to retrieve information by having documents e-mailed directly to you. To access the SLU gopher, just type gopher at the $ prompt. The SLU Law Library portion of the gopher is under "Library Services". I have been storing here a variety of useful information about the Library, the Law School, and other law-related sources, especially health law and international law. (If you have suggestions for other information you would like to see on the SLU Law Library gopher, please let me know.) Gopher is very easy to navigate. Use the up and down arrows to browse the items on a menu; press the right arrow to choose a menu item, and use the left arrow to back out again. The character at the end of each menu line indicates what kind item it is: a "." denotes a text file, "/" means another menu, "" is a searchable database, "" is a telnet service, and so on. It is also possible to search all of "gopherspace": it is not necessary to know where information is stored to be able to find it. The search system for gopher is called "Veronica" (Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide Index to Computer Archives). To use Veronica, choose "Other Gophers and Information Servers" from the main menu, then select "Veronica." For instance, to find all information on "law," simply select "Veronica" and then type law. Sometimes you may receive an e-mail message describing some new and useful gopher server, with instructions on how to access it. These instructions are usually phrased as "point your gopher to nywork1.undp.org" (this is a real gopher system, operated by the United Nations to distribute U.N. information such as Security Council and General Assembly resolutions). To do this, simply type gopher nywork1.undp.org (or whatever the address happens to be) at the "$" prompt. Gopher is very easy to use, and it provides a wealth of information. The best way to become familiar with it is to spend some time "burrowing" through "gopherspace"--exploring some of the menus and seeing where they lead. WAIS (Wide Area Information System) WAIS, like gopher, is a "distributed information delivery system." WAIS was developed as a means of providing a uniform user interface to a variety of databases. The initial versions of WAIS used a weighted indexing search system, something like WESTLAW's "natural language" system. A search in a WAIS database retrieves documents sorted by "relevance" as determined by the weightings of the words in the document; the weight of a particular word is determined by its frequency in a given document and its placement in that document (headline words are weighted more heavily). Boolean search capabilities have recently been added to some implementations of WAIS. Because of this weighted indexing system, creating a WAIS database is not as simple as setting up a Gopher server; each database must be indexed and converted to a WAIS "source" file (identified by a ".src" extension). Any text file can be converted to a WAIS source file; at this writing there are over 450 WAIS databases distributed throughout the Internet, ranging from discussion list archives to transcripts of speeches from the 1992 presidential campaign. WAIS offers the ability to search a user-specified selection of databases, no matter where they are located. However, it is arranged alphabetically rather than hierarchically, so the user must have a fairly good idea of which files will contain the relevant information. Like Gopher, WAIS has the capability of directly e-mailing documents to the searcher. WAIS is accessible through the SLU gopher under "Frost Campus Information/SLU Law Library Services" (the "SLU Law Library gopher"), or you can telnet directly to quake.think.com and login as wais. World-Wide Web World-Wide Web (also known as WWW or W3) is another means of accessing distributed electronic information. Unlike Gopher and WAIS, however, W3 is a hypertext system. There are several different versions of W3 software; probably the easiest to use is the Lynx system developed at the University of Kansas. Links are indicated by highlighted text; use the up and down arrow keys to move among the links on a screen, and press the right arrow to select a link. In this way, W3 provides a relatively "seamless web" of textual information. W3 is accessible through the SLU Law Library gopher, or you can telnet directly to ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu and login as www. Of particular interest is the version of W3 developed by Tom Bruce and Professor Peter Martin of the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University School of Law. This Web includes hypertext versions of the U.C.C., federal intellectual property statutes, U.S. Supreme Court opinions, and other materials. To try out the Cornell Web: (1) Type TELNET at the "$" prompt. (2) At the "TELNET>" prompt, type set term/dev = vt100 and press . (2) Again at the "TELNET>" prompt, type connect fatty.law.cornell.edu and press . (3) At the "login:" prompt, type www and press . VII. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the Internet system for transferring a file from a remote computer to your computer (using the "get" command) or from your computer to a remote computer (using the "put" command). Ordinarily, this process would require that you have an account on the remote computer to gain access to it. However, the widespread practice on the Internet is to establish public accounts for transfer of freely available files; this public account is then given the name "anonymous." Therefore, all you have to do to access one of these public ftp sites is to login as "anonymous." Compared to e-mail, file transfer itself is amazingly simple. You only need to know two or three commands, but these commands will allow you to access a tremendous variety of publicly available text, data, and program files via Internet. However, as with telnet, the hard part is learning what files are available and where they are. There are three steps to using ftp: (1) identify and locate the document or file you need; (2) use ftp to transfer the file from the computer it is stored on (which may be anywhere in the world) to the VAX at Saint Louis University; (3) download the file from the VAX to your personal computer. (1) Identify and locate the file. Ordinarily, you would use ftp when you already know (perhaps through an e-mail message on a Bitnet list, or through an archie search [see page 29]) of the availability of a document or program that you would find useful. As a rule, anyone who posts a message about the availability of a file for ftp also includes the location information and the commands necessary to retrieve it. The information you need is: (a) the ftp address, (b) the directory, and (c) the filename. (2) Use ftp to transfer the file from the remote computer to the VAX. (a) To connect to the remote computer, at the "$" prompt type the command ftp [address] (for instance, ftp hydra.uwo.ca). (b) At the "login:" prompt, type anonymous. (c) At the next prompt, enter your Internet address. (d) At the "ftp>" prompt, enter cd [directory name]. (e) Type dir to see a list of files in that directory. (f) To retrieve a file, type get [filename]. (If you are retrieving a "binary" file--e.g., a software program or a WordPerfect document, you must enter type binary before entering the "get" command.) Be sure to type the file name exactly as it was given to you; pay particular attention to the use of upper and lower case, because most anonymous ftp computers use an operating system called Unix which, unlike DOS, is case sensitive. (g) After you have retrieved the file, type quit. (3) Download the file from the VAX to your PC. (a) At the "$" prompt, type kermit and press [Enter]. (b) At the "C-Kermit>" prompt, type server. This sets the Kermit program on the VAX to receive commands from your PC. (If you are downloading a binary file, type set file type binary.) (c) Proceed to download the file using MS-Kermit (see page 40). The Cornell "drop-off" site (ftp fatty.law.cornell.edu, login anonymous, cd incoming) Ftp is the easiest method for retrieving files across the Internet. However, you ordinarily cannot use ftp to send a file directly to another person (for instance, a co-author) because you must ordinarily have account authorization to store a file on a computer, and remote users are usually not given such access. Fortunately, Tom Bruce at Cornell Law School, as a public service to the law school community, has set up a public "drop-off" ftp site, where you may use ftp to "put" a file and another person may use ftp to "get" it. (1) Use your communications software to transfer the file from your PC to the VAX. (2) Connect to the Cornell site by typing ftp fatty.law.cornell.edu, login anonymous, directory incoming. (3) When you are in the "incoming" directory on the Cornell computer, type put [filename]. (Remember to type type binary first if you are ftp'ing a WordPerfect or program file.) (4) After the file has been transferred, type quit. (5) Contact (via phone, e-mail, or whatever) the person to whom you are sending the file and give them the access instructions above, and the name of the file they are to retrieve. Appendix A: E-Mail Etiquette Electronic mail is a quick and easy way of communicating; however, because it is so quick and easy, it can lead to miscommunication. Few people compose their writing as carefully for e-mail as they do in more formal communication, and sometimes for the sake of brevity subtleties of tone are lost. On the other hand, since the visual cues of dress, body language, and so on are absent, e-mail can be an extremely democratic means of communication; messages are more likely to be judged by their content than by who wrote them. Nonetheless, there are a number of points that are useful to keep in mind when reading and sending e-mail. Here are a few suggestions: Read carefully what you receive, to make sure that you are not misunderstanding the message. Read carefully what you send, to make sure that your message will not be misunderstood. If you are using humor or sarcasm, make sure it is clearly labeled as such. A widespread convention is the use of a sideways smiling face :-) If you are responding to a message, either include part of the original message in your message or make sure you unambiguously refer to the original message's contents. Always include a descriptive subject line in your message, particulary when posting a message to a discussion list. Many e-mail users receive dozens, even hundreds, of messages each day; the subject line helps them decide which to read immediately and which to hold until later. Keep messages to only one subject. This allows readers to quickly decide whether they need to read the message in full. Second subjects may be missed. Sign your messages. Not all mail systems allow the reader to see the address in the header of the message, and on long messages, it could be on a different screen anyway. Appending a "signature" or "sig" file to the end of your message is always appreciated. At the very least, include your name, institution, and e-mail address. When you respond to a message, first check to see if it came from a discussion group or an individual. At least once a week I read personal messages that the sender was no doubt embarassed to see displayed before several hundred people. If a message has upset or angered you, resist the temptation to fire off an immediate response. Write the response, file it away, and wait 24 hours. Reconsider the response later, in the light of a new day (and perhaps a rereading of the original message). Appendix B: Reference Installing Kermit Kermit is a free program, and it is very easy to use. That's the good news. The bad news is that, unlike many more expensive programs, it does not install itself automatically. I have tried to make the process as painless as possible; nonetheless, you will want to read these instructions carefully. (If you have a notebook or laptop computer, of course, you may bring it to my office and I will happily install Kermit for you). (1) At the C:\> prompt, type md\kermit and press . This makes a directory on your hard drive for the Kermit program. (2) Type md\hold . This makes a directory for the temporary storage of any files you may want to upload or download. (3) Type cd\kermit . This changes your location to the \KERMIT directory. (4) You should see a C:\KERMIT> prompt. Insert the "KERMIT" disk in drive A: or B: and type a:install or b:install . (5) If you will be using Windows, type copy kermit.pif c:\windows and press . (6) Add \KERMIT to the PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. (A) If you do not have Windows: (i) If you have DOS Version 5.0 or 6.0, use the DOS EDIT command: (a) Type cd\ to return to the root directory. (b) Type copy autoexec.bat autoexec.bak (to make a backup file of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, just in case). (c) Type ed autoexec.bat . (d) Find the line that begins PATH=. Move the cursor to the end of this line and add ;\KERMIT to the path statement. (e) Press and then X . (f) Press simultaneously to reboot your computer and put the changes into effect. (ii) If you have DOS version 4.01 or earlier, use WordPerfect: (a) Start WordPerfect. (b) Press . (c) Press 1 for "DOS Text." (d) Press 2. (e) Type c:\autoexec.bat . (f) Find the line that begins PATH=. Move the cursor to the end of this line and add ;\KERMIT to the path statement. (g) Press . (h) Press 1 for "DOS Text." (i) Press 1 for "Save." (j) Press . (k) Press y to replace the file. (l) Exit WordPerfect. (When WordPerfect asks "Save document," type n. Do not save the file again.) (m) Press simultaneously to reboot your computer and put the changes into effect. (B) If you have Windows: (i) Double-click on the "Accessories" group icon. (ii) Double-click on the "Notepad" icon. (iii) Click on File, then Open. (iv) In the "File Name:" box, type c:\autoexec.bat and press . (v) Find the line that begins PATH=. Move the cursor to the end of this line and add ;\KERMIT to the path statement. (vi) Press and then X . (vii) Choose a program group in which to create an icon for Kermit. You might want to use the same program group in which your WESTMATE and LEXIS programs are found. Double- click on the icon for that program group. (viii) In Program Manager, click on the File menu; then click on New and Program Item. (ix) On the "Description" line, type Kermit and press . (x) On the "Command" line, type kermit.pif . (xi) On the "Working Directory" line, type c:\hold . (xii) Click on "OK." (xiii) Press to exit Windows. (xiv) Press simultaneously to reboot your computer and put the changes into effect. Printing Printing a screen at a time is simple: just press . Printing an entire message requires a few more steps. Remember that your mail messages reside on the VAX computer rather than on your personal computer. In order to print a full message, it is necessary to download the message as a text file to your personal computer, and then use WordPerfect or another program to print. The first step is to extract the message from the MAIL system into a text file. To do this, display the message, and then type extract [filename]. Once you have extracted the message, you may file it in a folder, or delete the message--you still have the text file. Now that you have extracted the message into a file, you may download it to your personal computer using Kermit file transfer. (1) Press to exit the MAIL system. (2) At the "$" prompt, type kermit . This starts the Kermit file transfer program on the VAX computer. (3) At the "C-Kermit>" prompt, type server . This configures the VAX Kermit program to take the commands issued by your computer. (4) Press to "escape back" to the MS-Kermit> prompt on your computer. Any Kermit file transfer commands you type now, on your personal computer, will be transmitted directly to the Kermit program on the VAX. (5) At the "MS-Kermit>" prompt, type get [filename] (i.e., the file name you gave to the message when you extracted it earlier). The file will be transferred to the \HOLD directory on your hard drive; you can always move it to another directory later. (6) After the download is completed and the "MS-Kermit>" prompt reappears on the screen, type finish . (7) Type c (for "connect") and press to return to the VAX system. (8) Type to close the VAX Kermit program. Make sure that the file has downloaded properly by viewing or printing it on your computer. When you are sure that the file has been transferred successfully, you may delete the message the next time you log into your VAX account by typing del [filename];* at the "$" prompt. (The ;* is necessary because VAX file names consist of not only the name and extension--for instance, login.com--but also a version number; for instance, login.com;2.) Mailing WordPerfect Files Most of the e-mail you send will be messages composed "on the fly" while logged into the VAX. Nonetheless, there will be occasions when you want to mail a WordPerfect file; perhaps you want to send a colleague a draft of an article or other document, or you may simply want to use WordPerfect to write longer or more formal messages. In order to e-mail a WordPerfect document, it is necessary to convert it to a format that can be e-mailed. Remember that there are two basic types of computer files: binary and ASCII. WordPerfect document files, like program files, are in binary format; binary files consist of a special data format that cannot be transferred directly through e-mail. E-mail systems typically can handle only ASCII files--files consisting of simple alphanumeric characters. Once the file has been converted, it than then be uploaded to the VAX and included in an e-mail message. Actually, you can convert WordPerfect into any of several different kinds of ASCII formats for e-mailing. Simple ASCII is quite adequate for most purposes, as long as you do not need to retain special formatting elements such as special fonts, footnotes, and so on. If you do need to retain these special formatting elements, you may use "seven-bit transfer" format (for WordPerfet 5.1 for DOS) or "uuencode" format (for WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows). With these special transfer formats, all of the WordPerfect formatting features are converted into a "coded" ASCII format which can then be downloaded and converted back into the original WordPerfect format by the recipient of the message (but it cannot be read until it is converted) Let's start with a simple ASCII conversion: (1) From WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS: (A) Retrieve (or create) the file you want to send. (B) Press . (C) Press 1, "DOS Text." (D) Press 1, "Save." (E) Type c:\hold\[filename] and press . (Replace [filename] with the name of the file; the new ASCII version of the file will be saved in the c:\hold directory, and the original WordPerfect version will remain unchanged in its original directory.) (F) Exit WordPerfect. Do not save the file again; if you choose "Save document? Yes," you will re-convert it back to WordPerfect format. (2) From WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows: (A) Click on File, then on Save As. (B) Click on the "down arrow" next to the "Format:" box. (C) Scroll up through the list of formats; click on "ASCII Text (DOS)." (D) Click at the beginning of the file name in the "Save As:" box, and insert c:\hold before the file name. (E) Click on "OK." (F) Exit WordPerfect; do not save the document again, or it will be re- converted back to WordPerfect format. Now for something a little more involved: a 7-bit file transfer: (1) From WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS: (A) WordPerfect 5.1 includes a separate program called convert which converts files back and forth between WordPerfect and several other formats, such as Microsoft Word, WordStar, and "7-bit transfer format." (B) To run the WordPerfect Convert program, exit from WordPerfect and type convert . (C) Type the file name (including the path, for instance, c:\wp51\docs\[filename]) at the first prompt. (D) At the next prompt, type c:\hold\[filename] and press . (E) Choose 1 for "WordPerfect to another format." (Your recipient will choose 7 to convert the file back to WordPerfect format.) (F) Type 6 for "7-bit transfer format." (G) The WordPerfect Convert program exits automatically after the conversion is completed. (2) From WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows: WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows does not include the 7-bit transfer format option (it was one of the lesser-known features of WordPerfect 5.1, and most WordPerfect users never used it). To transfer WordPerfect for Windows programs with all their formatting, you will need to use an additional program such as binhex or uuencode (the reasons for these names are a long story; if you're really interested, I'll explain them to you at length). Before trying one of these programs, it is best to find out which format your recipient wants to use. See me for help with this. Once you have converted your WordPerfect document to either simple ASCII or another format such as 7-bit transfer, binhex, or uuencode, the next step is to upload the converted file to the VAX, and then to send it in an e-mail message. (1) To upload a file to the VAX: (A) Log on to the VAX as instructed on page 3. (B) At the "$" prompt, type kermit to call up the Kermit program on the VAX. (C) At the "C-Kermit>" prompt, type server . This sets the VAX Kermit program to take its commands from your PC. (D) Press to "escape back" to the "MS-Kermit" prompt on your PC. (E) Type send [filename] . (F) After the file transfer is completed, type finish and press to close the Kermit file transfer. (G) Press c to reconnect to the VAX. (H) Press -Z to exit the C-Kermit program on the VAX. (I) At the "$" prompt, type mail. (J) At the "MAIL>" prompt, type send/edit [filename] . (K) To include your signature file, move the cursor to the end of the message and then press -Z. At the "*" prompt, type inc my.sig . (L) To review or edit the file before sending it, type c to return to editing mode. When you are satisfied that the message is correct and ready to be sent, type ex . (M) Since you no longer need the copy of the uploaded file in your VAX filespace, press to exit the MAIL system, and then delete the file by typing del [filename];* . VAX Tricks for Customizing Your Use of MAIL Set personal_name Use the command SET PERSONAL_NAME (or the abbreviation SET PER) to add your personal name to your e-mail address in the header lines of any messages you send. Example: SET PER "Jim Milles, SLU Law Library" adds that my name and affiliation to all outgoing e-mail messages. This is especially handy if you forget to include your "sig" file. Sending Automatic Copies to Yourself Another function of the SET command in the MAIL is to determine whether or not you receive copies of your own messages to others. If you wish to retain a copy of a message you send to someone else, you would ordinarily type SEND/EDIT/SELF. However, if you find that you are sending copies to yourself more often than not, you might want to make that your default by using the command SET COPY_SELF command. To generate automatic copies to yourself for all messages that you SEND, REPLY to, or FORWARD to another, type SET COPY_SELF SEND,REPLY,FORWARD at the MAIL> prompt. Then, if you are sending a message and you do not want a copy, you can use the command SEND/EDIT/NOSELF. If at any time you wish to disable the automatic copies to yourself, simply type SET COPY_SELF NOSEND,NOREPLY,NOFORWARD at the MAIL> prompt. There are a number of other, less frequently used options to the SET command. Type HELP SET at the MAIL> prompt for more information. Stopping Those Annoying "New Mail" Messages There is also a SET command that may be typed at the $ prompt, rather than within the MAIL system. This $ SET command governs a different set of functions, mostly technical functions for VAX programmers. There is one $ SET command option that you must use occasionally: SET PASSWORD. To change your password (typically when the VAX tells you your password is due to expire), type SET PASSWORD at the $ prompt. The VAX will ask you first to type in your old password, then it will ask for your new one. You will then be asked to type in the new password again for verification. The other handy $ SET command option is SET BROADCAST=NOMAIL. If you subscribe to a number of discussion lists, and you do not want to be bothered by frequent "New mail" messages each time a new message comes in, type SET BROADCAST=NOMAIL at the $ prompt. To turn new mail notification back on, type SET BROADCAST=MAIL. Using the "Spawn" Command The SPAWN command within the MAIL system allows you to run another process (such as telnet or gopher) without leaving the MAIL system. Suppose you have just read an e-mail message about an interesting telnet or gopher site, and you want to try it out. If you have read and deleted many messages, it might take several minutes after you type EXIT for the VAX to purge your deleted mail before you can issue another command. To avoid this, simply type SPAWN (followed by the command that you would otherwise type at the $ prompt) while you are still at the MAIL> prompt. For instance, to enter the SLUVIEW gopher without leaving MAIL, type spawn sluview at the MAIL prompt. To telnet to the Washington and Lee University gateway site, without leaving the MAIL system, type spawn telnet liberty.uc.wlu.edu. If you simply type spawn without a command, you will see a $ prompt. You are still in MAIL, but you can now type any VAX command such as DIR, TELNET, and so on. To return to MAIL, type lo. VAX/VMS Housekeeping Deleting Files As noted above in the discussion of extracting and downloading mail messages (see page 41), the VMS operating system used by VAX computers handles files differently than DOS. On DOS computers (including Windows systems), any time you edit or change a file and then save those changes, the earlier version of the file is replaced by the changed version. VAX VMS computers, on the other hand, save earlier versions of edited files, and simply create new copies of the file, under different version numbers. For instance, if you edit and change your signature file (my.sig), the old file is not replaced; rather, a new file is created. If your existing signature file was the first version you had created, it would be called my.sig;1. If you modify the signature file, you are actually creating a new file, my.sig;2. To delete a file on the VAX, therefore, you have to include the version number in the delete command. For instance, to delete the old version of your signature file, at the "$" prompt, type del my.sig;1 and press . An easier way of deleting all the older versions of any files you have is to type purge at the "$" prompt; this command deletes all but the most recent versions of all of your files. To delete all copies of any file, replace the version number with an asterisk; thus, to delete all signature files, type del my.sig;* and press . Compressing Deleted Mail For some obsure reason (perhaps having something to do with the way the VAX computer saves old versions of files), mail messages that have been deleted can still take up space on your account. If this builds up long enough, you may find that your allotment of space on the VAX is filled up with old, deleted messages, thus making it impossible for you to send or receive any more messages. To prevent this--or to cure it if you run into this problem--use the MAIL system's compress command. (1) At the MAIL> prompt, type compress and press . (2) After a few moments (sometimes minutes, if there are a lot of old messages to compress) and several cryptic messages on the screen, the MAIL> prompt will return. The compress program will combine all the old, deleted mail messages into a single file called mail.old. (3) Press to exit the MAIL system and return to the "$" prompt. (4) If you do not have a separate MAIL subdirectory, you may delete the mail.old file by typing del mail.old;* and pressing . (Type dir and press to see if you have a separate MAIL subdirectory. If you do not have a separate MAIL subdirectory, you will see a list of file names all beginning witht the word MAIL. If you do have a separate MAIL subdirectory, you should see only a few file names, including one called MAIL.DIR.) (5) If you do have a separate MAIL subdirectory: (A) Type dn mail to move into your MAIL subdirectory. (B) Type del mail.old;* and press . (C) Type back to return to your main directory. (6) To see how much file space you now have, type show quota . Your file space will be reported in numbers of blocks; one block is approximately equal to 512 bytes. Resetting the MAIL Counter Occasionally, after deleting a large number of mail messages (usually you have to delete several hundred messages at a time to run into this problem), you will find that the "mail counter" is off; the VAX MAIL system may tell you that you have two or three new messages waiting, but when you SELECT NEWMAIL there are no new messages. To reset the mail counter, first clear out your NEWMAIL box by filing or deleting all the new messages; then type READ/NEW at the MAIL> prompt. Appendix C: "Where to Start" for New Internet Users Ver. 2.0 12/16/93 1. E-mail systems vary widely. For help with most e-mail questions (signature files, quoting, and so on), contact your local computer support personnel or your Internet service provider. 2. Some recommended books for new users of the Internet: LaQuey, Tracy. The Internet Companion: A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992. (Read this first; the best guide for the true beginner, useful even for the pre-beginner who has not yet signed on to the Internet.) Hahn, Harley & Rick Stout. The Internet Complete Reference. Berkeley: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1993. (Widely considered the the best of the new crop of Internet books, and at 800+ pages, by far the most comprehensive.) Krol, Ed. The Whole Internet: User's Guide & Catalog. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992. (In the fast-moving world of the Internet, for most of 1993 this was the successor to _Zen_ as the essential guide to the Internet; has now been superseded somewhat by more up-to-date works such as _The Internet Complete Reference_.) Other useful books for new users: Aboba, Bernard. The Online User's Encyclopedia: Bulletin Boards and Beyond. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994. (A remarkably useful and comprehensive work, covering everything from the basics of computer communications, to using local bulletin boards, to the intricacies of the Internet.) Dern, Daniel P. The Internet Guide for New Users. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. (Dern is the editor of Internet World magazine and author of numerous articles on the Internet in many other publications.) Engst, Adam. Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh. Indianapolis: Hayden Press, 1993. (Highly recommended by Mac users, many of whom preferred this to the Fraase book listed below. Includes a disk with a variety of Internet access software.) Fisher, Sharon. Riding the Internet Highway. Carmel, Indiana: New Riders Pub., 1993. Fraase, Michael. The Mac Internet Tour Guide: Cruising the Internet the Easy Way. Chapel Hill NC: Ventana Press, 1993. (The first Internet guide written for Macintosh users; includes a 800K disc containing useful software.) Gardner, James. A DOS User's Guide to the Internet. Waterloo, ON, Canada: MKS [Mortice Kern Systems], 1993. Gilster, Paul. The Internet Navigator. New York: John Wiley, 1993. Kehoe, Brendan. Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1993. (One of the first and most popular guides to the Internet. The first edition was distributed for free on the Internet, and is still available at many anonymous ftp sites, e.g. nic.merit.edu, directory /introducing.the.internet, filename zen.txt.) Kochmer, Jonathan and NorthWestNet. The Internet Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to Our World Online. 4th ed. Bellevue, WA: NorthWestNet, 1993. (A comprehensive guide to Internet resources, comparable to Krol's _The Whole Internet_ but even broader in scope. It covers a number of areas that other guides ignore.) Lambert, Steve & Walt Howe. Internet Basics. New York: Random House, 1993. (Although this is a good, general guide to the Internet for any user, it is especially useful for those who access the Internet through the commercial Delphi information service. Howe is the sysop of the Delphi Internet SIG) Levine, John R. and Carol Baroudi. The Internet for Dummies. San Mateo, California: IDG Books, 1993. (A very useful, well organized, and readable book, one of the publisher's popular "... for Dummies" series.) Marine, April; Kirkpatric, Susan; Neou, Vivian; and Ward, Carol. Internet: Getting Started. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PTR Prentice Hall, 1992. (Includes useful information on how to obtain Internet access, as well as other technical reference material.) Quarterman, John S. The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide. Bedford, MA: Digital Press, 1990. (A comprehensive guide to the history and present--as of 1990--state of the Internet and its component and related networks. Recommended for those who want to learn the background and history of the Internet.) Smith, Richard and Mark Gibbs. Navigating the Internet. Carmel, Indiana: SAMS Publishing, 1993. (A highly readable guide, with an easy-to-use listing of Internet resources arranged by subject. Smith is well known for his popular online "Navigating the Internet" courses.) Tennant, Roy, John Ober, & Anne G. Lipow. Crossing the Internet Threshold: An Instructional Handbook. Berkeley, CA: Library Solutions Press, 1993. (Includes helpful fact sheets on various Internet tools from ftp and telnet to archie, gopher, WAIS, and World-Wide Web.) 3. For those who know enough about using the Internet to be able to use "ftp," the following sources are very useful (note that they are regularly updated, so the version numbers and file names may change): De Presno, Odd. "The Online World." Available by anonymous ftp from oak.oakland.edu, directory /pub/msdos/info, type binary, filename online12.zip. Uncompress with PKZip 2.04g. (An excellent source for coverage of European resources, also excellent for users of commercial services like CompuServe, Genie, and MCImail.) Gaffin, Adam and Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet." December 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.eff.org, directory /pub/EFF/papers, filename bigdummy.txt. Martin, Jerry. "There's Gold in them thar Networks! or Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong Places." RFC 1402, January 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from nic.merit.edu, directory /introducing.the.internet, filename network.gold. Milles, James. "An Introduction to Using the Internet at Saint Louis University School of Law." Available by anonymous ftp from sluaxa.slu.edu, directory /pub/millesjg, filename interlaw.wp (binary, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2 format), interlaw.txt (ASCII), or interlaw.ps (PostScript). (Although the focus is on legal resources, this guide should be useful for any VAX/VMS user. It is also the only source I know of that discusses the differing commands for the BITNET and Unix listserver systems.) NCSA Education Group. "An Incomplete Guide to the Internet." July 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, directory /Education/Education_Resources/Incomplete_Guide, filename Incomp.Guide.July.txt. (Focuses on K-12 users and resources.) Noonan, Dana. "A Guide to Internet/Bitnet." June 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from vm1.nodak.edu, directory /nnews, filename guide1.nnews. (A rare and valuable guide for the VAX/VMS user.) "NYSERNet New User's Guide to Useful and Unique Resources on the Internet." Version 2.2, April 1992. Available by anonymous ftp from nysernet.org, directory /pub/guides, filename new.user.guide.V2.2.txt Parker, Elliott S. "Getting to Start: Selected Readings in Computer Communication." Ver. 4.01 (13 Dec 1993). Available by sending an e-mail message to LISTSERV@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU containing only the line GET NETSTART INFO F=MAIL. (A lengthy bibliography of books, articles, and other materials about the Internet and related topics.) Polly, Jean Armour. "Surfing the INTERNET: An Introduction." Version 2.0.2, December 16, 1992. Available by anonymous ftp from nysernet.org, directory /pub/guides, file surfing.2.0.2.txt. "SURAnet Guide to Selected Internet Resources." January 1993. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp.sura.net, directory /pub/nic, file infoguide.1-93.txt. Yanoff, Scott. "Special Internet Connections" (updated frequently). A list of interesting and useful selection showing the broad range of Internet resources, including a few Online Public Access Catalogs, chat lines, weather servers, Campus Wide Information Systems, and other reference resources. Available by anonymous ftp from csd4.csd.uwm.edu, directory /pub, filename inet.services.txt. 4. For information on how to get connected to the Internet: Engle, Mary, Marilyn Lutz, William W. Jones, Jr., and Genevieve Engel. Internet Connections: A Librarian's Guide to Dial-Up Access and Use. Lita Monographs 3. Chicago: Library and Information Technology Association, 1993. Estrada, Susan. Connecting to the Internet: An O'Reilly Buyer's Guide. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1993. If you have e-mail access to the Internet, you can obtain a copy of the Public Dialup Internet Access List (the most comprehensive list of Internet access providers for individuals and small organizations) by sending an e-mail message containing the command "Send PDIAL" to info-deli-server@netcom.com. 5. The latest version of this document, "Where to Start" for New Internet Users, is available by anonymous ftp from sluaxa.slu.edu, directory /pub/millesjg, filename newusers.faq. It may also be obtained by e-mail by sending a message to LISTSERV@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu containing only the line GET NEWUSERS FAQ NETTRAIN F=MAIL Jim Milles (listowner, NETTRAIN@UBVM) Phone: (314) 658-2759 Head of Computer Services Fax: (314) 658-3966 Saint Louis University Law Library 3700 Lindell Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63108 E-mail: millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu Appendix D: Technical Information Communication settings 9600 or 2400 baud, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit VT100 emulation or better VAX Dial-up numbers 658-2600 658-2201 658-2202 658-2564 658-2514 (9600 baud) 658-2516 (9600 baud) LOGIN.COM $ FTP == "$UCX$FTP/ULTRIX" $ SET TERMINAL/LINE_EDITING $ SET TERMINAL/DEVICE_TYPE=VT100 EDTINI.EDT set wrap 65 set mode change