goertzel@DCA-EMS.ARPA (Herbert Goertzel) (04/17/87)
I'll start with what I know, I'm connected to a host on the DDN MILNET which is a part of the ARPANET. In reading the digests I come across USENET, BITNET, CSNet, UUCP, BIX, etc. I have no idea what all these nets are, who controls them, how I can connect to them, what they are. There are many references to UH-INFO at UHUPVM1 ATARINET. Is this another net? Is it on one of the nets mentioned above? Can I get to it from ARPANET? I've noticed at least a dozen questions from other newcomers subsumed in the questions above but have not yet seen any answers. Will someone plese send me a message telling me how some(all) the pieces fit together and what paths exist from hither to yon. Thanks for any help, I'm lost. Herb Goertzel - Goertzel @ DCA-EMS.arpa
pgtrubey@watlion.UUCP (04/18/87)
In article <8704171752.AA06429@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> goertzel@DCA-EMS.ARPA (Herbert Goertzel) writes: > In reading the digests I come across USENET, BITNET, > CSNet, UUCP, BIX, etc. I have no idea what all these nets are, who controls > them, how I can connect to them, what they are. There are many references to > UH-INFO at UHUPVM1 ATARINET. Is this another net? Is it on one of the nets > mentioned above? Can I get to it from ARPANET? > > Thanks for any help, I'm lost. Well, here's my stab... Please forgive my inaccuracies. I'd be interested in knowing if and where I have erred... USENET - Sometimes refered to as the 'UUCP network'. Anarchistic network with no central authority. UUCP started years ago when a couple of Unix using universities in the States decided that they wanted to transfer some data/programs back and forth. Someone put together a set of programs and protocals, called UUCP, that would automatically transfer data from one Unix machine to another using modems and phone lines. Soon many universities wanted to get in on act, and so the 'network' grew, each site paying their own share of long-distance phone charges. It wasn't long before someone decided to write up an electronic mail program to use the UUCP protocals, and then news programs. Since its beginning, the UUCP network has grown to an estimated 6500 sites spread throughout the world, with an estimated 820,000 people being connected to UUCP via their Unix machines. The thing that I find the most remarkable about USENET is that there *is* no central authority, the network has been 'managed' via distributed volunteer effort. To use USENET, you generally must have a login on some Unix machine that is connected to any UUCP site. Couple of notes: UUCP is a store and forward network operating mostly over public phone lines at relatively low baud rates. So an e-mail message going from North America to Japan may take a few days, and travel thorough a dozen machines. BITNET - Don't know too much about the organization of this network, except that it is a network of mainframe IBM type machines. It is an interactive network with fast response times, single line messages may be shuttled around the world in a matter of seconds to minutes. I think this too is a store and forward network, but don't quote me on this. Again, to use BITNET I think you'd have to be logged onto a mainframe IBM type computer. Note that BITNET is refered as NETNORTH in Canada, and EARN (I think) in Europe. UH-INFO at ATARINET and stuff refers to a BITNET site. I think you'll have to be using BITNET to access the information contained there. CSNET - Don't know about this one... BIX - The "Byte Information eXchange". Anyone can access this network. via Tymnet in the US, Datapac in Canada or some other dial up packet switching network elsewhere in the world. The only catch for this one is that you pay $$. You pay some money to Byte to use the exchange, and some money to the packet network to access the exchange. Note that BIX isn't really a network, just a large bulletin board: ie it is centralized, all people 'logon' to a central set of computers. FIDONET - A network of bulletin board systems. e-mail is supported within the network, and so is some form of news, or mailing lists. Again, a store and forward type of network operating over phone lines. ARPANET - This is the grandfather of all large networks. It is run centrally by the Dept. of Defense in the US, and as such only US sites are allowed on the ARPANET. ARPANET is a fast store and forward network using dedicated communication lines. It has and does serve at least two purposes that I know of. First it's a great testbed for discovering and implementing new algorithms for wide area network management. Second it provides users with rapid communications with all other ARPA users via electronic mail and mailing lists. Gateways and such... Most of these networks are gatewayed to each other. That is, you can access one network from another. Unfortunately I don't know too much about the current state of all the gateways... maybe someone who did could post a summary of possible access from one network to another, both for news and e-mail? I've probably not mentioned some other networks, so consider this a partial list. Hope this helps... -- Phil Trubey pgtrubey@watlion.UUCP !{allegra,clyde,decvax,ihnp4}!watmath!watlion!pgtrubey pgtrubey%watlion%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.ARPA pgtrubey%watlion@waterloo.CSNET pgtrubey@watlion.waterloo.EDU
billw@wolf.UUCP (04/19/87)
Herbert Goertzel (goertzel@DCA-EMS.ARPA) writes: >I'll start with what I know, I'm connected to a host on the DDN MILNET which >is a part of the ARPANET. In reading the digests I come across USENET, BITNET, >CSNet, UUCP, BIX, etc. I have no idea what all these nets are, who controls >them, how I can connect to them, what they are. There are many references to >UH-INFO at UHUPVM1 ATARINET. Is this another net? Is it on one of the nets >mentioned above? Can I get to it from ARPANET? BIX is a consumer network (like CompuServe, but not as good) run by BYTE magazine. In no way is it connected to ARPA/UUCP/CSNET/BITNET/FREDNET or anything else. ATARINET is simply a file server that stores various Atari programs and files that can be retrieved (ARPA ot BITNET, I don't remember which). UUCP and USENET are synonymous; being an interconnected network of UNIX machines which get their jollies by periodically dialing up other UNIX machines and having a nice little chat session, incidentally running up tidy little phone bills. CSNET is a network of various Computer Science departments at colleges here, there, and in la-la land. I think you are rather familiar with the idea of an "ARPANET." BITNET.. I have no idea. Something like ARPA, I think, which is (like ARPA) gatewayed onto USENET. -- Bill Wisner ..{sdcsvax,ihnp4}!jack!wolf!billw
sansom@trwrb.UUCP (Richard Sansom) (04/20/87)
In article <7993@watlion.UUCP> pgtrubey@watlion.UUCP (Phil Trubey) writes: > >CSNET - Don't know about this one... > To quote from a recently published (at my place of employment) document: "CSNET consists of three physical networks treated as a single logical network: Phonenet, Telenet, and ARPANET. It is currently funded in part by the National Science Foundation, and in part by member fees ($30,000 for commercial sites). Sites on the various physical networks communicate through relay hosts (such as the ARPANET site 'csnet-relay'). CSNET sites include Purdue University and Bolt, Beranek and Newman." The document, "Addressing Electronic Mail on the SPP UNIX(tm) Systems", was written by Mike Urban, TRW Systems Productivity Program. -Rich -- /////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ /// Richard E. Sansom TRW Electronics & Defense Sector \\\ \\\ {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!trwrb!sansom Redondo Beach, CA /// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////