gtaylor@cornell.UUCP (04/26/84)
Hello. Some physicists about to be connected to the network have beaten a path to my desk with a request: "I would like to try to contact Dr. X at a)Livermore b)Fermilab c)SLAC d)LBL e)Argonne f)Brookhaven Are there any machines for them on this network? If they are not, are there any networks on which I can reach them?" Are there any of you out there with a bit of experience stalking the physicist on the net who can answer my physicist pals? I have never offended one before, and hence fear their wrath. Thanks in advance. Gregory Taylor ( gtaylor@cornell )
minitab@uwstat.ARPA (04/28/84)
Many physicists have access to the High Energy Physics DECnet or the BITNET. I know little about the former, other than SLAC, Fermilab, Wisconsin's Physical Sciences Lab and others are connected. Obviously, these machines are all VAXen running VMS. The BITNET is an inter-University network started in 1981 by CUNY with Yale and Penn State as the first non-CUNY participants. There are now >50 institutions and >150 nodes in the U.S. with connections to a similar network in Europe now in testing, and another similar network forming in eastern Canada and planning to connect. HEP sites on BITNET include SLAC, Fermilab, WiscPSL, Cornell's Wilson Lab, ANL, Colorado State Physics Dept., and probably many others I don't know about. Overseas connections will include CERN, KFA, and the Weizman Inst. of Science. The BITNET uses the Remote Spooling Communications Subsystem Networking protocol (RSCS), a protocol native to IBM mainframes running VM/SP and CMS. RSCS supports file transfer (and thus mail) via store-and-forward, and real-time messages among users, and from users to nodes (network commands). The physical link is usually 9600 leased lines for long hauls, and channel- to-channel adapters between IBM machines locally. The net is **VERY** fast and reliable; it is feasible to have interactive conversations with colleagues 5 nodes away on the other side of the country. Importantly for we netlanders, BITNET has 5 internet gateways: to ARPA via a Unix VAX at Berkeley, to USENET via a Unix VAX at Penn State, to IBMs internal VNET (2000 nodes!) via an VM IBM at CUNY, and to MAILNET via a Multics Honeywell at MIT. It is also possible to put your own computer on BITNET: you must pay for the leased line to another node and the necessary datacom equipment, and agree to allow a down-stream node to attach to your machine in the future. Machines that can participate in all aspects of BITNET activities are usually of one of three configurations: IBM or compatible mainframe running VM/SP and RSCS Networking VAX running VMS and jnet, an RSCS emulator developed at Penn State and sold by Joiner Associates of Madison WI any machine (but usually VAX) running 4.1-2 BSD and UREP, another RSCS emulator developed at Penn State For more information, contact: CUNY, about BITNET IBM, about RSCS Penn Stat Computer Science, ...!burdvax!psuvax!owens, about UREP Joiner Associates, (608) 238-8134 or SLA@PSUVMS1.BITNET, about jnet Steve Arnold, jnet Product Manager Joiner Associates Inc. P.O. Box 5445 Madison WI 53705