ejablow@dasys1.UUCP (Eric Robert Jablow) (01/30/88)
In trying to use the various comp.sources archives, I find myself
finding and ftping a lot of programs on spec, given only the
one-line descriptions in the index documents. Now, our department
has a small system, and we can't afford to keep everything I get; also,
we have no one interested in highly technical programs like
``dev.fd''.
Perhaps it can be arranged for each volume to have a special shar-file
kept for it that would include the manual pages of all the programs
therein. Then, a user could make a more intelligent decision about
what files to ftp or uucp from the archives.
P.S. My machine is not fully set up for uucp yet; I use others for
communications. Could somebody publish a master list of where the
various archives are kept, including their Internet numbers? I can't
get to the Sun archives because the machine I ftp from doesn't have
titan.rice.edu's number or entry in /etc/hosts. I'd like a list of
where each micro's PD programs are kept, and how to get there.
--
Eric Jablow {allegra,philabs,cmcl2}!phri\
Big Electric Cat Public Unix {bellcore,cmcl2}!cucard!dasys1!ejablow
New York, NY, USA Soon to be eric@fawn.sb.edu.
Copyright 1988 First Category Pressken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) (01/31/88)
In article <2777@dasys1.UUCP> ejablow@dasys1.UUCP (Eric Robert Jablow) writes: |Perhaps it can be arranged for each volume to have a special shar-file |kept for it that would include the manual pages of all the programs |therein. Then, a user could make a more intelligent decision about |what files to ftp or uucp from the archives. | |P.S. My machine is not fully set up for uucp yet; I use others for |communications. Could somebody publish a master list of where the |various archives are kept, including their Internet numbers? I can't |get to the Sun archives because the machine I ftp from doesn't have |titan.rice.edu's number or entry in /etc/hosts. I'd like a list of |where each micro's PD programs are kept, and how to get there. Yes, yes, yes. Where to get free software via ftp/uucp/whatever seems to be word-of-mouth knowledge. I know quite a few machines with goodies (Kermit, X, CP/M, etc) but I'm sure we all would love a list of lists. If somebody would volunteer to maintain this list, I'd be glad to send in what I know. Ken
wisner@fenchurch.MIT.EDU (Bill Wisner) (01/31/88)
A fine idea. I will probably regret this, but here it is. I volunteer to maintain a list of archive sites. In fact, perhaps two are in order, one of ftp sites and one of sites that offer anonymous UUCP, although I only know of two of the latter. Please don't believe the header; fenchurch's sendmail is highly suspect. Send mail to wisner@eddie.MIT.EDU. And you're about to see me repeat myself: -- Fenchurch doesn't get mail; reply to wisner@eddie.MIT.EDU.
dwt@zippy.eecs.umich.edu (David West) (02/03/88)
In article <6388@sol.ARPA> ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes: >Yes, yes, yes. Where to get free software via ftp/uucp/whatever seems >to be word-of-mouth knowledge. Perhaps the single most important "whatever" would be one or more mail archive-servers, along the lines of netlib, but with the ability to handle binary, perhaps by uuencoding. It is not always easy, or even possible, for some folks to retrieve archived material by ftp or uucp. -David.
ewiles@netxcom.UUCP (Edwin Wiles) (02/09/88)
In article <758@zippy.eecs.umich.edu> dwt@zippy.eecs.umich.edu (David West) writes: >In article <6388@sol.ARPA> ken@cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes: >>Yes, yes, yes. Where to get free software via ftp/uucp/whatever seems >>to be word-of-mouth knowledge. > >Perhaps the single most important "whatever" would be one or more mail >archive-servers, along the lines of netlib, but with the ability to >handle binary, perhaps by uuencoding. It is not always easy, or even >possible, for some folks to retrieve archived material by ftp or uucp. >-David. It's a nice idea, but only for a world that does not have to pay communications costs. With FTP, the line is always there, so there's not too much added costs. With uucp, you're making a direct call to the machine involved, so you're carrying the costs of getting your own software (Fair, you pay for what you get.). If you made it a mail server, then all the hops between you and the archive site would have to pay comm costs. This isn't too bad on some routes, as they are local calls. But there are routes that require long distance calls, and these people would be screaming about the high load that they are suddenly asked to support (Unfair, you're asking people who don't even know you to pay for something rather large that only you and your site can benefit from.). Usenet is already a touchy topic in many companies, where if the accounting department realized that the cost of this 'public service' was being eaten by the company, it would stop. This could seriously disable the network. Having a mail server archive would definitely increase the comm costs. [ Fortunately, I work for a semi-enlightened company. ] -- ...!hadron\ "Who?... Me?... WHAT opinions?!?" | Edwin Wiles ...!sundc\ Schedule: (n.) An ever changing | NetExpress Comm., Inc. ...!pyrdc\ nightmare. | 1953 Gallows Rd. Suite 300 ...!uunet!netxcom!ewiles | Vienna, VA 22180