ARCHIE, FTP & NOW WORLD WIDE WEB BY EMAIL!!!! PCBoard PPE's Written by Nicholas Schiano!!!! Internet Services by Email Version .20b 5/1/95 A PCBoard PPE Written by Nicholas Schiano Q: What's this Internet Services by Email stuff all about? A: There are many internet services that are available by email. Anyone with an email account anywhere can use these services. The problem is that not many people know about these services or if they know about them, they don't know how to use them. Two services of particular interest are ARCHIE and FTP. ARCHIE is an internet service that helps you find files that are available on the internet. You simply send an email message to the appropriate place with a search string and the ARCHIE SERVER trys to locate matches. The results of the search are emailed back to you. If the ARCHIE SERVER makes any matches, you will receive a report with (1) The name of the system where the file is located (called the HOST), (2) The directory where the file is located on the HOST system (this is a UNIX directory, **NOT** a DOS directory, and (3) The filename. From the results of the ARCHIE search, you can use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to retrieve the file. With FTP, you supply the HOST name, the DIRECTORY where a particular file is located, the FILE name, and tell the FTP SERVER if the file is binary (i.e. EXE, ZIP, .GZ, .BMP, .JPE, .GIF) or ASCII (i.e. TXT, READ.ME). If the file is binary, you will receive the file in UUENCODED format. It if is a text file you will receive it in it's raw form. Q: What services are available from this Internet Services By Email program? A: Currently, I'm still writing the software, and as of this date, I only have the ARCHIE and FTP working. Q: Just, exactly, does this program do? A: Like I said above, anyone with an email account can do ARCHIE or FTP by email, the trick is knowing how. What Internet Services by Email does is AUTOMATE the process of writing the email requests. You simple type in the required info, the message is formated for you and automatically sent. The next time the BBS polls for email it will drop off your requests with the UUCP provider. When the BBS polls a second time for email, your request should be processed and you should have an email response waiting for you. It's a **VERY** inexpensive way to use internet services with out paying for a SHELL account or a SLIP/PPP acount! Plus it's user friendly. Q: What's in store for the future? A: I plan to make the programs more "robust" by letting users decide which servers they want to use, etc... I also plan to add a KNOWBOT or KIS service, A WHOIS service, WAIS, A dictionary service, a WRITE TO THE PRESIDENT SERVICE, etc. Q: What do I need? A: PCBoard 15.21/5, a UUCP feed that provides you internet email, and that's it! Q: How do I get it? A: A less functional shareware version is available. You can get that via uuencode email. A registered version can be obtained by sending $10.00 to me (plus $10.00 shipping if in a foreign country, if in US, shipping is free..). You'll get the latest fully functional version, updates, and support via my BBS. The support BBS, Nick's World, telephone #'s are: +1 516 981 4689 and +1 516 981 4941. Q: What if I only want WWW or just FTP or just ARCHIE by email? A: If you only want one of the PPE's than you can get a registered version either one for only $5.00. The shipping policy above still applies if in a foreign country. Update for 5/12/95... World Wide Web by email is also part of the package!!!! You can have your users type in a URL and an email request will be sent of to a mail server and a web page will be returned as though you were using a text web server. Along with the text are the URL link at the bottom of the web page so if there is an audio file or a .jpg in the page, your user will get an email message with the URL - to retreive the embedded graphics or audio, all they need to do is type in that URL in their next request. You can retreive any Web resources that you could with a "live" internet connection! Also, if you only want any particular module, I.E. just the World Wide Web by email or Just FTP by email, they are available separately for $5.00 each. Just follow the instructions above!