ravi@mcnc.org (Ravi Subrahmanyan) (12/25/87)
This message contains the latest info-atari instructions to subscribers. Please go through it (even seasoned users!) and retain for future reference. Of special interest to BITNET users (and interent users with access to bitnet) is a section on accessing the 16-bit program libraries at the Univ of Houston. The info-atari moderators. Welcome To Info-Atari. 1. Sending Messages You may send messages to all "subscribers" by address- ing it to info-atari8@score.stanford.edu and/or info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Administrative messages should be sent to info-atari{8,16}-request. Please do NOT send general messages to this address. Your moderators get enough mail as it is! 2. Ground Rules All messages should be in good taste. Commercial mes- sages and advertisements are not permitted. When answering a question, please consider carefully whether the answer should go to the whole list, or just to the person who asked the question. The following ground rules should make the use of this (or of any other) mailing list much easier: * never send a message that a totally irrelevant to the mailing list's purpose to a mailing list. This espe- cially includes any expressions of irritation at another list member. * never forward a message that is totally irrelevant to the mailing list's purpose to a mailing list. * when replying to a message on a mailing list, reply only to the sender of the message unless the reply is of interest to the entire mailing list. * avoid inserting the message being replied to in a reply, especially in a message going to a mailing list. The context of the reply should be clear from *your* reply and from various mailer functionalities such as Message-ID. * when replying to an earlier reply that violates the previous rule, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT make matters worse by adding your own violation. December 25, 1987 - 2 - 3. Archives Archives are kept in several places in formats avail- able to everyone. As described below, if you are on ARPANET/DDN you will probably find it more convenient to retrieve files from the archive on radc-softvax.arpa using FTP. If you are not on ARPANET/DDN, or are unable to use FTP, you will be able to retrieve files from archives dis- tributed over several Bitnet hosts by sending mail (notes) to a program called LISTSERV. 3.1. Archives on radc-softvax.arpa Files from radc-softvax.arpa are available by FTP. FTP will work only for hosts directly connected to ARPANET/DDN. Please obtain local documentation and advice for the FTP user programming running on your host. There are two direc- tories under the anonymous account. One for atari8 and one for atari16. FTP to radc-softvax using login:guest and password:guest. To get the current list of available atari16 files do a 'get atari16/files.doc'. All of the atari16 files are stored in the atari16 subdirectory. If you need any other information, contact Marc Poulin. The archive is maintained by Rodney Peck (Peck@radc- multics.arpa) and Marc Poulin (Poulin@radc-multics.arpa or Archives@radc-softvax.arpa). 3.2. LISTSERV LISTSERV provides access to files for everyone who can send mail, independent of their location. Note, however, that intermediate notes have been known to refuse to handle long messages or have damaged them in transit. LISTSERV provides a number of features which you can access by send- ing mail (note) to LISTSERV. Only the barest minimum are described herein. On Bitnet messages should be sent to your nearest LISTSERV (the one from which you receive the info- atari digests). (If your address is not on Bitnet, an address for file servers is given below.) All mail sent to LISTSERV contains command lines. LISTSERV will respond by return mail. No subject is necessary in such mail. For more information send the command INFO 3.2.1. List Names The list_name for 16-bit Ataris is INFO-A16. The list_name for 8-bit Ataris is INFO-A8. These list names are used by Bitnet addressees for subscribing and unsubscribing December 25, 1987 - 3 - and by everyone for obtaining back copies of news digests. The list_names for programs stored in the archives are PROG-A16 and PROG-A8. 3.2.2. (Un)Subscribing If you are on Bitnet you may add or remove yourself from the distribution list. It would greatly convenience the moderators if you would do so when you no longer wish to receive digests. The command to join the list is SUBSCRIBE list_name User_name The command to remove yourself from the list is UNSUBSCRIBE list_name It would be most convenient if users took care of their own subscribing and unsubscribing, but messages to INFO- ATARI-REQUEST{8,16}@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU will still be accepted. 3.2.3. Accessing Program & Digest Archives All digests are in the archives. There is a separate program library. You can obtain copies of files from LIST- SERV by sending a message in the specified format. If you are on ARPAnet (or gatewayed to it), your mail concerning 16-bit Atari information should be addressed to LISTSERV%CANADA01.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Mail concerning 8-bit Atari information should be addressed to LISTSERV%TCSVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU To obtain a list of files in the file server, the com- mand is INDEX list_name The command to obtain a specific file is GET list_name file_name for example, GET INFO-A16 87-00076 December 25, 1987 - 4 - If you want to learn more, send the message HELP The moderator of the 8-bit program library is John R. Dunning. This library is not yet available for use, and further information will be posted to both newsgroups as it becomes available. 3.2.4. LISTSERV Moderators The person to contact if you are having problems (un)subscribing is Harry Williams (harry@marist.bitnet). The moderator of the 16-bit digest archives is Peter Jasper-Fayer (sofpjf@uoguelph.bitnet). The moderator of the 16-bit program archives is Richard Werezak (carson@mcmaster.bitnet). The moderator of the 8-bit archives is John Voigt (sysbjav@tcsvm.bitnet). The modera- tor of the 8-bit program archives is Arnold de Leon (adeleon@hmcvax.bitnet). 3.2.5. Information Concerning 16-bit Archive Organization The digests are numbered sequentially as they come in. Sometimes the files arrive here out of order, or with miss- ing ones, or with extra ones or with mail from BITNET users requesting information. Often the moderator has to logon to LISTSERV and re-name the files according to the "Subject:" line within it. Those "Subject:" lines are what end up in the indexes (in both "-A16" lists) The program files are largely extracts from the digests (INFO-A16). As far as possible, they are numbered the same as the digests they came from. Other programs were inserted somewhere in the list. The numbers of these "inserted" files were selected so that they would appear in the index at about the correct CHRONOLOGICAL sequence. If no programs were included in the digests, and no contributions were received, then those spaces in the index numbers were left blank. 3.2.6. Supplemental information for BITNET users Bitnet sites normally cannot make a connection to an internet site (such as Score) and FTP files over, so you do not have direct access to the archives on radc-softvax.arpa from your BITNET site. However, BITNET has some sites with all the good stuff, so you can get files from there. The LISTSERV's at CANADA01 and FINHUTC have old digests, and the ATARINET server at Univ of Houston has most of the best pro- grams. You can get to the LISTSERVs by saying TELL LISTSERV AT FINHUTC GET ATARI FILELIST December 25, 1987 - 5 - or TELL LISTSERV AT CANADA01 GET ATARI FILELIST to get a list of files. To get a specific file if you know it's name, you can say TELL LISTSERV AT <HOSTNAME> GET <FILENAME> <FILETYPE> To get stuff from the Univ of Houston server, you can say TELL UH-INFO AT UHUPVM1 ATARINET HELP or TELL UH-INFO AT UHUPVM1 ATARINET INDEX for further instructions. After you know a file's name, you can get it by saying TELL UH-INFO AT UHUPVM1 ATARINET SEND <FILENAME> <FILETYPE> December 25, 1987