EWTILENI@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Eric Tilenius) (03/31/88)
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GUIDE TO THE COCO MAILING LIST --- LAST UPDATED 3/31/88
by Eric W. Tilenius <ewtileni@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
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1. PURPOSE OF THE LIST: COCO is an electronic mail discussion list that
gives people on BITNET and ARPA a chance to discuss anything they wish
related to any model of the Tandy Color Computer.
Some of the topics discussed on CoCo are: The Tandy Color Computer 3, and
CoCo 1 and 2, OS-9 (Level I and Level II), 6809 programming, hardware,
software reviews, source code exchange (public domain only), tips, hints,
questions, rumors, and more!
* The list is run by the LISTSERV program, which also provides a unique
DATABASE of CoCo programs and information available to members of the
COCO list. These programs may be requested from the file server 24 hours
a day, and will be sent to your account.
2. THE LIST: This is an open list, and is not edited. Anything you post
will be sent out automatically to everyone subscribed to the list.
The list is open to everyone, provided they behave properly. You are
encouraged to post often to the list - an active mailing list is more
interesting for everyone!
3. HOW TO ACCESS THE LIST: The list is run on a LISTSERV processor
running on node PUCC on the BITNET network.
The following are different EMAIL addresses that may be used to get to
PUCC. In each case, ________ represents the account on PUCC to which you
are sending your message. The different accounts will be listed in a moment.
________@pucc.BITNET
________@pucc.Princeton.EDU
________%pucc.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu
rutgers!pucc.bitnet!________
rutgers!pucc.princeton.edu!________
The following accounts/userids should be put in the place of the blank
for the following occasions:
COCO -- This is the list distribution account. Whatever you send to COCO
will be posted automatically to everyone one else on the list.
Use COCO when replying to a list message, posting information, or
asking a question of everyone on the list.
LISTSERV -- This is the program that runs the mailing list and file server.
LISTSERV accepts commands only, which it will process. Some
general LISTSERV commands are listed below to get you started
using LISTSERV.
EWTILENI -- This is me, the moderator of the list. I'm a real person. :-)
Use this account if you have any trouble, want to ask a question
about how to use Listserv, wish to send a file to be placed on
Listserv (files should not be sent to COCO!), or if you would
like your distribution option changed or would like to be signed
off the list, but can't quite figure out how to get Listserv to
do it automatically.
Choose the proper account, replace the ________ above with it, and
MAIL to that address. If you're not sure which one to use, try them all,
or your own versions of the above. For example, to MAIL a letter to everyone
on the list telling them what you think of the latest CoCo 3 software package
you might type:
MAIL COCO@pucc.BITNET
And include your message text.
From now on, the USERIDs will simply be referred to as _____@PUCC. If
you are not on BITNET, you will need to use one of the full addresses
listed above, however.
Usually, you will be able to Reply to any mail messages you get from the
list, and your responses will go back out to everyone on the list.
4. ABOUT LISTSERV:
LISTSERV is a program written by Eric Thomas, and serves several major
functions:
1) It processes mail sent to COCO and sends it to everyone on the list.
2) It keeps logs of those messages so they can be retrieved later.
3) Commands may be send directly to LISTSERV to do many functions without
human intervention.
4) It is a file server, and will send out files and information upon request.
As mentioned above, COMMANDS only should be mailed to LISTSERV@PUCC.
(BITNET users, note that you can use the interactive TELL LISTSERV AT PUCC msg
command, replacing 'msg' with your command, for faster processing.)
When you send mail to LISTSERV, each of the lines in the mail body
will be treated as a command. Some commands to get you started are:
HELP - Sends you a Help Menu
REGISTER Your Real Name - Registers your full name (not ID!)
SUBSCRIBE COCO Your Real Name - Signs you up to list COCO
UNSUBSCRIBE COCO - Removes you from the list
REVIEW COCO - Reviews members & status of the list
INDEX COCO - Lists all files available to list members
INDEX OS9 - Lists all available OS-9 only files
INFO ? - Lists LISTSERV information available
INFO GEN - General information about LISTSERV
INFO FILE - Information about file server functions
INFO REFCARD - Reference card of LISTSERV commands
SENDME filename filetype COCO - SENDs you the requested file fm INDEX COCO
SENDME DACFORTH PACKAGE COCO - Get all the files associated with DACFORTH
SENDME CURRENT INFO COCO - More detail on all files currently avail.
AFD ADD CURRENT INFO COCO - Send automatic updates whenever the file
CURRENT INFO is changed. You can do this
for other files as well.
You will receive confirmation from LISTSERV for any commands you send.
Note that it is not necessary to send LISTSERV your userid or node. It
will get that information from the mail header.
BITNET users should have no trouble sending MAIL to LISTSERV (just
remember - one command per line, and no garbage - this is a program).
ARPA and UUCP users should be able to talk to ListServ as well, but
if you can't (ie. you've waited for days and no response), and want
a file or action to be taken, contact EWTILENI.
5. MORE ABOUT FILE SERVERS...
If you do an INDEX COCO command, you will be sent a file of all
current files on the COCO system. To get one of these files,
send LISTSERV the command:
SENDME filename filetype COCO
If there is a file with a filetype of $PACKAGE, that means that you can
obtain the whole set of files that deal with that subject with one command.
For instance, there is currently a FORTH package for the CoCo available
called DAC-Forth. To get all the files associated with it, tell LISTSERV:
SENDME DACFORTH PACKAGE COCO
Note that you do NOT include the "$" when requesting the package.
NOTEBOOK files have a listing of all correspondence going through the list.
The file COCO NOTEBOOK contains the first two weeks of the list. After
that, files are kept in weekly logs, in the following format:
COCO LOGyymmW -- where yy is the Year, mm is the Month,
and W is a letter for the week (A-E).
COCO LOG8801 and COCO LOG8802 are files from all of January and the
beginning of February, respectively. After that, weekly format is used.
6. SUBMITTING FILES FOR THE SERVER:
Our database of programs is only as good as YOU make it. We need submissions.
All submissions should be sent to EWTILENI@PUCC. Preferred format is ASCII,
hopefully with line lengths of < 80. For BINARY files and files with line
lengths greater than 80, we have developed an encoding system to allow safe
file transfer through mailer gateways. Called CUTS, you can request the
program by giving LISTSERV@PUCC the command: SENDME CUTS BAS COCO
For more information, send the command: SENDME CURRENT INFO COCO
If on BITNET, please use the SENDFILE (or equivalent) command to send your
text files or programs to EWTILENI. Otherwise, use mail. In either case,
please send a note to EWTILENI explaining how the program works, its format,
etc.
7. SUMMING IT UP...
Enjoy the vast resource of the COCO list, and please help make it grow!
We need active contributors to both the list and the file server!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Also, tell your friends on the network about COCO, and send this file
to them if you think they'd be interested!
8. SPECIAL NOTE TO UUCP USERS:
The UUCP gateway here is unreliable. If you find you are not getting
a response from the list, send me a message with a path, giving a nearby
ARPA or BITNET node. (For instance: moss!yoursite!yourname@RUTGERS.EDU - in
this case, Rutgers can be used for your articles, and they should get there
fine.)
9. SPECIAL NOTE TO BITNET USERS:
You can use the interactive TELL LISTSERV AT PUCC to send your commands
to LISTSERV, (or MSG LISTSERV AT PUCC, or whatever variant exists on your
system), and you also have the option of requesting what FORMAT you want
the files in. Any time you send MAIL, you will get the requested file
back as a MAIL file, unless you specify options. NETDATA, PUNCH, DISK
DUMP, and other formats are available - for more information, give LISTSERV
the command INFO FILE or INFO GENERAL or INFO REFCARD.
HAPPY HACKING! Enjoy the information and people who are on COCO!
- ERIC -
*----------------------===> SPACE IS THE PLACE... <===-----------------------*
* ewtileni@pucc.Princeton.EDU // ewtileni@pucc.BITNET *
* rutgers!pucc.bitnet!ewtileni // princeton!pucc.bitnet!ewtileni *
* ColorVenture - Microcomputer Software - "Because Life isn't Black and White"*
*--------------------===> Another proud CoCo 3 owner <===---------------------*