andy@cai.UUCP (andy) (10/26/84)
Hi, Does anybody know of the existence of a Unix to IBM file communications package besides UREP or Kermit? Whom do you contact for UREP from PSU? What exactly is BITNET? How do you get on it? How does it work? Thanks, Andy Rodnite (516) 868-1899 (Home.) (516) 333-6700 ext. 388 (Office.) floyd!ganash!cai!andy
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (11/02/84)
> Does anybody know of the existence of a Unix to IBM file > communications package besides UREP or Kermit? Well, you can use TCP/IP, done at UWISC and sold by IBM. > What exactly is BITNET? How do you get on it? How does it work? Bitnet is the the "Because It's There" network. You used to get on it by buying two lines to existing site. Recently, I have heard that there is going to be a centralized administration (BITNIC?). It works by spooling a bunch of files around with RSCS. UREP is an RSCS implementation for UNIX.
minitab@uwstat.UUCP (11/05/84)
> Whom do you contact for UREP from PSU? Contact the Penn State Univ. Department of Computer Science, telephone (814) 865-9505, or mail to {allegra|burdvax|...}!psuvax1!dae. The last time I checked, the distribution cost $150 and included source. Only sites with AT&T UNIX licenses (32V and later) are eligible to license UREP. It was developed under 4.1BSD and now runs under 4.2 there, but has been ported to other versions of UNIX, e.g., Version 7 for the PDP11. > What exactly is BITNET? How do you get on it? How does it work? BITNET is a quasipublic network of University computer systems and IBM labs that grew mostly by weight of its own utility from a nucleus of CUNY (City Univ. of New York), Yale, and Penn State. It now includes more than 300 nodes at more than 100 institutions in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Isreal. (Strictly speaking, only the U.S. portion is BITNET. The Canadian sites are called NETNORTH, and Europe/Isreal is EARN, the European Academic and Research Network.) BITNET grew so fast because it is easy and inexpensive to join, and communications are free for users; all expenses are born by sites as part of overhead. To join, a university must pay for the telecom equipment and lines to an existing node, and agree to let a new site attach to its own computer in the future. A grant from IBM now sponsors a network operations center at CUNY, and another IBM grant to EDUCOM (Consortium for Interuniversity Communi- cation, Princeton NJ) helps promote the network. The network uses the RSCS protocol, native to IBM mainframes running VM, and most nodes were originally VM sites. Now a wide variety of machines are on BITNET, emulating either RSCS or NJE nodes. (NJE is Network Job Entry, the native peer-to-peer networking protocol for IBM mainframes running MVS. All RSCS systems can talk the NJE protocol. And you thought IBM machines used SNA? That's to talk to terminals, not other computers!) About 20% of the nodes on the net today are VAX systems running the jnet RSCS emulation package, from Joiner Associates, Madison WI. Another few dozen nodes run UREP, the UNIX RSCS Emulation Program from Penn State, mentioned above. There are also Sperry Univac 1100s and CDC machines emulating NJE nodes, and a few others. The RSCS protocol provides store-and-forward file and mail transfer, and real- time network commands and interuser messages. Other services (such as remote login and remote file access) have been built on top of these. The physical medium is usually leased lines at 9600 baud (RSCS is a member of the bisync family of protocols), but IBM machines use channel-to-channel adapters locally, and VMS systems running jnet use DECnet connections over any distance. The use of leased lines provides very fast service for the real-time messages, and files and mail are delivered promptly, though they can be queued for short periods at busy nodes like CUNYVM, the network hub. BITNET is a part of the Internet (the "galactic network"), and users on the BITNET can be addressed from ARPA, UUCP, MAILNET, CSNET, CCNET, and CCNET via gateways. For example, to get information about UREP from the ARPANET, send mail to DAE%PSUVAX1.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA Steve Arnold, Joiner Associates Inc. ARNOLD%WISCPSLB.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (ARPA) ...!PSUVAX1!ARNOLD%WISCPSLB.BITNET (UUCP)