GUBBINS@RADC-TOPS20.ARPA (Gern) (08/28/85)
BITnet is a store and forward 'mailnet'. I do not know of the design configuration, but it may very well be like USENET, which is a 1200 baud dial-the-next-computer-down-the-line-and-ram-the-messages-to-it. The systems may be hardwired together. Anyhow, a LOT of colleges and universities are (almost overnight) now on it and they can all send user mail to/from each other. The farthest I have seen BITnet go is to a medical school in Germany. The DDN (ArpaNet/MilNet) 'feeder' is a host called WISCVM.ARPA that is both on the DDN and BITnet which acts as a mail gateway. The problem with BITnet and the other mailnets is that it is ONLY a mail message system. The mailnetters constantly want to know how to access/FTP (DDN/INTERNET TCP/IP Host-to-host File Transfer)/etc like they read about the DDNers cross logging into other systems (TELNET) and transfering files from the public domain program directories and such. It can't be done. Mailing the programs is greatly frowned apon also due to the loading it causes on the mailnets. Well, I hope this info might be what you are looking for. Cheers, Gern -------
edelheit@MITRE.ARPA (Jeff Edelheit) (08/29/85)
Hal - Bitnet is a service of EDUCOM. Bitnet, CSNET and one or two others are all services of EDUCOM. If I remember correctly, all of the EDUCOM net services are based on RSCS (IBM for Remote spooling....(?)). There is a gateway between CSNET and Arpanet (I believe it is at WISCVM or was it CSNET-RELAY?) A bitnet user cannot FTP or TELNET to an ARPA/Milnet host. It is my understanding that it is just an email gateway. If the resources the Bitnetter wants is the SIMTEL20 archives, depending on what and how much they want, you may be able to "mail" it to them. Otherwise, Frank Wancho (Wancho@SIMTEL20) might generate one or more tapes. Hope this helps. Jeff Edelheit (edelheit@mitre)
callen@ada-uts.UUCP (09/05/85)
>Hal - Bitnet is a service of EDUCOM. Bitnet, CSNET and one or two others >are all services of EDUCOM. If I remember correctly, all of the EDUCOM Huh? I used to be at a BITNET site (U of Chicago), and BITNET is pretty much a home-rolled network based on IBM's NJE (Network Job Entry) protocol, which VM/370 supports with a product called RSCS. Administration is out of (I think) Columbia. Each site supplies a 9600 baud dedicated to the nearest node already on the network and in turn agrees to allow at least one other site to link to them. It is, in fact, a store and forward system.You can, however, shuttle interactive commands around the network, so TSO and CMS users can interactively talk to each other (though it can be S L O W . . .). There are at least 500 sites on BITNET, I think more. It is limited to educational institutions. The name Ira Fuchs comes to me as the network originator and administrator.