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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Message-ID: <internet-services/access-via-email_1084363323@rtfm.mit.edu> Supersedes: <internet-services/access-via-email_1083761618@rtfm.mit.edu> Expires: 1 Jun 2004 12:02:03 GMT X-Last-Updated: 2002/04/16 Organization: none From: Gerald E. Boyd <gboyd@expita.com> Newsgroups: alt.internet.services,alt.online-service,alt.bbs.internet,alt.answers,comp.mail.misc,comp.answers,news.newusers.questions,news.answers Subject: Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Followup-To: poster Summary: This guide will show you how to explore the World Wide Web, retrieve files from FTP sites, and even access Usenet newsgroups using E-MAIL AS YOUR ONLY TOOL. Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU Date: 12 May 2004 12:03:01 GMT Lines: 1481 NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu X-Trace: 1084363381 senator-bedfellow.mit.edu 564 18.181.0.29 Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.internet.services:143573 alt.online-service:32348 alt.bbs.internet:94695 alt.answers:72847 comp.mail.misc:79677 comp.answers:57135 news.newusers.questions:726113 news.answers:271186 Archive-name: internet-services/access-via-email Posting-Frequency: weekly Last-modified: 2002/04/04 Version: 10.2 +--------------------------------------------------+ | Accessing The Internet By E-mail | | Guide to Offline Internet Access | | Version 10.2 - April 04, 2002 | +--------------------------------------------------+ Copyright (c) 1999-2002, Gerald E. Boyd gboyd@expita.com All rights reserved. Permission is granted to duplicate and distribute copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. A Brief History --------------- Accessing The Internet By E-mail or originally known as "Doctor Bob's Guide to Offline Internet Access" was the brainchild of Bob Rankin (a great net guy) who started it up in 1994. He kept it up about 5 years before passing it to me in January 1999, when it became apparent he was too busy with other projects (Internet Tourbus, writing, etc.) to continue maintaining it. In October 1997 I had taken over the moderator duties of the ACCMAIL mailing list (which is used to further develop ideas expressed in this FAQ) and started a web page based on this FAQ. I guess he figured I was the logical person to take over the FAQ. Hmmm! So there you go. How to Access Internet Services by E-mail ----------------------------------------- If you don't have direct access to the Internet through your BBS or online service, you're not alone. Many of the world's countries with Internet connections have only e-mail access to this world-wide network of networks. But if you think that sounds limiting, read on. You can access almost any Internet resource using e-mail. Maybe you've heard of FTP, Gopher, Jughead, Usenet, Finger, Whois, Nslookup, Traceroute, and the World-Wide Web but thought they were out of your reach because you don't have a direct connection. Not so! You can use simple e-mail commands to do all of this and much more on the Internet. And even if you do have full Internet access, using e-mail services can save you time and money. If you can send a note to an Internet address, you're in the game. I encourage you to read this entire document first and then go back and try out the techniques that are covered. This way, you will gain a broader perspective of the information resources that are available, an introduction to the tools you can work with, and the best methods for finding the information you want. Recent Changes To This Document ------------------------------- 10.2 web2mail signup address changed,ISPs be e-mail web page changed, Webster dictionary lookup address changed, ADD PDF CONVERSIONS BY EMAIL, wwwfmail_pro@wwwfetch.com DEFUNCT, jiscmail address change, translate@leo.org (German - English translation service) DEFUNCT mailandnews.com DEFUNCT as of 28Feb02, query@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov DEFUNCT as of 15Apr02, Revised FTP upload by e-mail help addresses, Geocities mirror DEFUNCT 10.1 revised finger; coke@cs.cmu.edu and copi@oddjob.uchicago.edu DEFUNCT, revised GAMES BY EMAIL win@yoyo.com DEFUNCT, added NUMBER SEQUENCES. MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE defunct by e-mail methods Mar01, mail2news@zedz.net now mail2news@dizum.com, GENE SPLICING AND SEQUENCE ANALYSIS via grail@ornl.gov DEFUNCT, BABEL revised retrieval intructions grabpage.com is now grabpage.org Finding the Latest Version -------------------------- This document is now available from several automated mail servers. To get the latest edition, send e-mail to one of the addresses below. To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (for US, Canada & South America) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email To: jiscmail@jiscmail.ac.uk (for Europe, Asia, etc.) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: get lis-iis\e-access-inet.txt You can also use this autoresponder address, send blank e-mail To: accmail-faq@expita.com You can also get the file by anonymous FTP at one of these sites: Site: rtfm.mit.edu get pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email Site: ftp.mailbase.ac.uk get pub/lists/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt Or on he Web in HTML format at: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet-services/access-via-email/ Much of the material in this FAQ is covered in more detail on the following web pages: http://www.expita.com/howto1.html http://www.expita.com/howto2.html http://www.expita.com/howto3.html Before You Write... ------------------- Please make sure you have the latest version of this guide before writing to the author with questions and updates. Don't give up too quickly on the busy e-mail servers, and if you get an error message, try your request again on a different day or time. If you'd like to keep up with the latest updates and announcements of new versions, send the command: SUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL Firstname Lastname in the BODY of a message to the address "LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM". In fact, the ACCMAIL list is a great place to ask any questions you have about this guide. You're likely to get a quicker response from one of the list subscribers, because the author gets several hundred messages per day! Other Translations of This Document ----------------------------------- Several readers have graciously volunteered to translate this text into languages other than English. Please contact the author if you would like to assist in the translation of this document into another language. The list below shows the status of the translation work that has been done or is in progress. To obtain any of the completed texts, send e-mail To: accmail.xx@expita.com (autoresponder address) (where "xx" is the country as shown below) NOTE: All translations earlier than Version 8 have been deleted due to them being too far out of date. Translation Filename Translation Filename ----------------------- ---------- ----------------------- ---------- Chinese GB (8th Ed.) accmail.gb Italian (8th Ed.) accmail.it Dutch (8th Ed.) accmail.nl Romanian (8th Ed.) accmail.ro Farsi (8th Ed.) accmail.ir Russian (10th Ed.) accmail.ru German (9th Ed.) accmail.de Spanish (8th Ed.) accmail.sp Hungarian (10th Ed.) accmail.hu Swedish (9th Ed.) accmail.se Indonesian (8th Ed.) accmail.id Urdu (8th Ed.) accmail.pk NOTE: Your "accmail.xx@expita.com" request MUST be in the ADDRESS line! Acknowledgements ---------------- This document is continually expanding and improving as a result of the daily flood of comments and questions received by the author. The following individuals are hereby recognized for their work in translating "Accessing" to various languages. (If I forgot anyone, let me know and I'll gladly add you to the list.) Bulgarian - Kolcho Kovachev Italian - cromatis@ecn.org Catalan - Ricard Forner Japanese - Komatsu Toshiki Chinese Big5 - Ju-En Teng Lithuanian - Darius Matuliauskas Chinese GB - Li Ying Norwegian - Vidar Sarvik Croatian - Zvonko Springer Polish - Ewa Poskrobko Croatian - Nikola Borojevic Polish - Krzysztof Buniewicz Czech - Martin Slunecko Portuguese - Joao Neves Danish - Christian Schou Romanian - Mihai Jalobeanu Dutch - Berry Van Hombeeck Russian - Sergey Ivanov Esperanto - Martin Weichert Serbian - Brankica Kranjac Farsi - Mansour Dehestani Monfared Serbian - Ivan Stamenkovic Farsi - Zahra Sheik Slovakian - Stanislav Ponca Finnish - Paavo Juntunen Somali - Yassin Ismail Ali French - Pierre Couillard Spanish - Bellanet Org German - Marc Loehrwald Swedish - Staffan Sölve Greek - Grigoris Miliaresis Thai - Boonyakiat Saengwan Hebrew - Ron Barak Ukranian - Dmitry V. Bisikalo Hungarian - Lajos Toldy Urdu - M. Shahid Khaki Indonesian - Yohanes Nugroho A Short Aside... "What is the Internet?" ---------------------------------------- If you're the type that wants to skip the preliminaries and just dig in, you've come to the right place. I'm not going to bore you with details. Instead, I'll just offer up my simple condensed definition of the Internet, and encourage you to find out more as you gain skill at using the tools described herein. Internet (noun) - A world-wide collection of computer networks, connecting government, military, educational and commercial institutions, as well as private citizens to a wide range of computer services, resources, data and information. A set of network conventions and common tools are employed to give the appearance of a single large network, even though the computers that are linked together use many different hardware and software platforms. The Rules of The Game --------------------- This document is meant to be both tutorial and practical, so there are lots of actual commands and internet addresses listed herein. You'll notice that when these are included in the text they are indented by several spaces for clarity. Don't include the leading spaces when you try these commands on your own! You'll also see things like "<file>" or "<name>" appearing in this document. Think of these as place holders or variables which must be replaced with an appropriate value. Do NOT include the quotes or brackets in your value unless specifically directed to do so. Most e-mail servers understand only a small set of commands and are not very forgiving if you deviate from what they expect. So include ONLY the specified commands in the Subject or body of your note, leaving off any extraneous lines such as your signature, etc. Unless otherwise specified, you can leave the Subject and/or body of the note empty. If your mail software insists on a Subject or body, just type "XYZZY" or something equally non-sensical. You should also ensure that you have one blank line between the note headers and the body of your note. And do pay attention to upper/lower case in directory and file names when using e-mail servers. It's almost always important. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* SPECIAL NOTE: The e-mail servers listed in this guide are for the most part operated by kind-hearted volunteers at companies or universities. If you abuse (or over-use) the servers, there's a very good chance they will be shut down permanently. This actually happened to several of the e-mail servers recently, so treat them with respect. If you have direct Internet access, let others who are less fortunate use the e-mail servers. Try to limit your data transfers to one megabyte per day. Don't swamp the servers with many requests at a time. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* FTP BY EMAIL ------------ FTP stands for "file transfer protocol", and is a means of accessing files that are stored on remote computer systems (sites). Files at FTP sites are typically stored in a tree-like set of directories (or nested folders for Mac fans), each of which pertains to a different subject. When visiting an FTP site using a "live" internet connection, one would specify the name of the site, login with a userid & password, navigate to the desired directory and select one or more files to be transferred back to their local system. Using FTP by e-mail is very similar, except that the desired site is reached through a special "ftpmail server" which logs in to the remote site and returns the requested files to you in response to a set of commands in an e-mail message. Using FTP by e-mail can be nice even for those with full Internet access, because some popular FTP sites are heavily loaded and interactive response can be very sluggish. So it makes sense not to waste time and connect charges in these cases. To use FTP by e-mail, you first need a list of FTP "sites" which are the addresses of the remote computer systems that allow you to retrieve files anonymously (without having a userid and password on that system). There are some popular sites listed later in this guide, but you can get a comprehensive list of hundreds of anonymous FTP sites by sending an e-mail message to the internet address: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and include these lines in the BODY of the note. send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part1 ... (21 lines omitted for brevity) ... send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part23 You will then receive (by e-mail) 23 files which comprise the "FTP Site List". Note that these files are each about 60K, so the whole lot will total over a megabyte! These files haven't been updated since Nov97 but they are still a valuable resource for FTP sites world-wide. Another file you might want to get is "FTP Frequently Asked Questions" which contains lots more info on using FTP services, so add this line to your note as well: send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq After you receive the site list you'll see dozens of entries like this, which tell you the site name, location and the kind of files that are stored there. Site : ftp.cs.wisc.edu Country: USA GMT : -6 Date : 23-Jul-95 Source : mail Alias : fyvie.cs.wisc.edu Admin : ftp@cs.wisc.edu Organ : University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, CS dept. Server : System : Unix URL : ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/ Comment: server can (de)compress, tar files and directories; RoadMap contains list of directories; files from shorty.cs.wisc.edu Files : 007; afs-tools; AIX; Approximation Theory; bolo; CDIFF; computer-vision; condor; connectivity table; coral; Exodus; galileo; ghost; goodman; HP; list-archives; machine learning; markhill; math prog; mcplib; Novell; par-distr-sys; paradise; shore; sohi; spim; spimsal; swartz; tech-reports; Ultimate Frisbee files; UW; warts; wisc; wwt; X; xunet If you find an interesting FTP site in the list, send e-mail to one of these ftpmail servers: ftpmail@academ.com (United States) ftpmail@btoy1.rochester.ny.us (United States) ftpmail@cnd.caravan.ru (Russia) - SLOW ftpmail@dna.affrc.go.jp (Japan) ftpmail@ftp.sunet.se (Sweden) ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de (Germany) ftpmail@gu.net (Ukraine) ftpmail@ml.imasy.or.jp (Japan) ftpmail@mail.iif.hu (Hungary) ftpmail@mercure.umh.ac.be (Belgium) ftpmail@uar.net (Ukraine) Note: There are other restricted-use FTPMAIL servers listed at http://www.expita.com/servers.html See the "WWW By E-mail" section for help retrieving this file. It doesn't really matter which one you choose, but a server that is geographically close may respond quicker. (Please DON'T use the first one in the list just because it's there!) In the body of the note, include these lines: open <site> dir quit This will return to you a list of the files stored in the root directory at that site. See the figure below for an example of the output when using "ftp.simtel.net" for the site name. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ total 20 drwxr-xr-x 9 root sys 1024 Oct 29 1999 . drwxr-xr-x 9 root sys 1024 Oct 29 1999 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 1431 Oct 18 1999 .welcome -rw-r--r-- 1 root sys 731 Oct 26 1995 README.mirroring d--x--x--x 2 root sys 96 Oct 27 1999 bin d--x--x--x 2 root sys 96 Oct 27 1999 etc drwxr-xr-x 5 root other 8192 Nov 10 1999 mir01 drwxr-xr-x 8 root other 8192 Jul 27 1999 mir02 drwxr-xr-x 5 root other 8192 Jul 27 1999 mir03 drwxr-xr-x 6 root other 8192 Jul 29 1999 mir04 drwxr-xr-x 3 root users 1024 Oct 27 1999 pub +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ In your next e-mail message you can navigate to other directories by inserting (for example) cd pub (use "chdir" if "cd" doesn't work) before the "dir" command. (The "cd" means "change directory" and "pub" is a common (public) directory name, usually a good place to start.) Once you determine the name of a file you want to retrieve, use: get <name of file> in the following note instead of the "dir" command. If the file you want to retrieve is plain text, this will suffice. If it's a binary file (an executable program, compressed file, etc.) you'll need to insert the command: binary in your note before the "get" command. Tip: Many directories at FTP sites contain a file called 00-index.txt, README, or something similarly named which gives a description of the files found there. If you're just exploring and your "dir" reveals one of these filenames, do a "get" on the file and save yourself some time. OK, let's grab the text of The Magna Carta. Here's the message you send to an ftpmail server: open wiretap.area.com (The name of the FTP site) chdir /Gov/World/ (Directory where the file lives) get magna.txt (Sign here please, John) quit (Bring it on home) Here are the commands you would send to to get a file from the Simtel Software Repository that was mentioned earlier. open ftp.simtel.net (mirrored at other world-wide sites) cd pub/simtelnet/msdos/disasm/ binary (Because we're getting a ZIP file) get bubble.zip quit Some other interesting FTP sites you may want to "visit" are listed below. (Use these site names on the "open" command and the suggested directory name on your "chdir" command, as in the previous examples.) rtfm.mit.edu Try: pub/usenet/news.answers for USENET info ftp.simtel.net Try: pub/simtelnet a huge DOS/WIN software library gatekeeper.dec.com Try: pub/recipes for a cooking & recipe archive Remember that you can't just send e-mail to ftpmail@<anysite>, rather you send the "open <site>" command to one of the known ftpmail servers. Notes: - The ftpmail servers tend to be quite busy. Your reply may not arrive for several minutes, hours, or days. - Some large files may be split into smaller pieces and returned to you as multiple messages. You can control this (and also override the return e-mail address) using special ftpmail commands. - The commands are not the same on every server - send the "help" command to find out how FTPMAIL works on the server you are using! - Often the ftpmail servers keep local archives. Open the local archives by not specifying a site on the "open" line. Using the local archives gives your request priority so it will be processed before all outside requests. If the file that is returned to you ends up looking something like what you see below, (the word "begin" with a number and the filename on one line, followed by a bunch of 61-character lines) it most likely is a binary file that has been "uuencoded" by the sender. (This is required in order to reliably transmit binary files by e-mail.) begin 666 answer2.zip M4$L#!`H`!@`.`/6H?18.$-Z$F@P```@?```,````5$5,25@S,34N5%A480I[ M!P8;!KL,2P,)!PL).PD'%@.(!@4.!P8%-@.6%PL*!@@*.P4.%00.%P4*.`4. You'll need to scrounge up a version of the "uudecode" program for your operating system (DOS, OS/2, Unix, Mac, etc.) in order to reconstruct the file. Most likely you'll find a copy already at your site or in your service provider's download library, but if not you can use the instructions in the next section to find out how to search FTP sites for a copy. ARCHIE BY EMAIL --------------- Let's say you know the name of a file, but you have no idea at which FTP site it might be lurking. Or maybe you're curious to know if files matching a certain naming criteria are available via FTP. Archie is the tool you can use to find out. Archie servers can be thought of as a database of all the anonymous FTP sites in the world, allowing you to find the site and/or name of a file to be retrieved. And using Archie by e-mail can be convenient because some Archie searches take a LONG time to complete, leaving you to tap your toes in the meantime. To use Archie by e-mail, simply send an e-mail message to this address: archie@archie.icm.edu.pl (Poland) To obtain detailed help for using Archie by mail, put the word help in the subject of the note and just send it off. You'll receive e-mail explaining how to use archie services. If you're the "just do it" type, then enter the command: find <file> where "<file>" is the name of the file to search for, in the BODY (not the subject) of the note. This will search for files that match your criteria exactly. If you want to find files that contain your search criteria anywhere in their name, insert the line set search sub before the "find" command. Some other useful archie commands you might want to use are: set maxhits 20 (limit output, default is 100 files) set match_domain usa (restrict output to FTP sites in USA) set output_format terse (return output in condensed form) When you get the results from your Archie query, it will contain the names of various sites at which the desired file is located. Use one of these site names and the directory/filename listed for your next FTP file retrieval request. Now you've learned enough to locate that UUDECODE utility mentioned in the last section. Let's send e-mail to archie@archie.icm.edu.pl and include the following lines in the message: set search sub (looking for a substring match...) find uudecode (must contain this string...) Note: You'll be looking for the uudecode source code, not the executable version, which would of course be a binary file and would arrive uuencoded - a Catch 22! The output of your archie query will contain lots of information like this: Host sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch (195.176.255.9) Last updated 14:30 14 Dec 1999 Location: /mirror/NetBSD/NetBSD-release/src/usr.bin/uudecode FILE -rw-rw-r-- 5832 02:00 23 Mar 1999 uudecode.c Host helka.iif.hu (193.225.12.48) Last updated 14:30 16 Dec 1999 Location: /pub/mirror_hosts/ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/00_start FILE -rw-r--r-- 5567 02:00 23 Feb 1999 uudecode.bas FILE -rw-r--r-- 5349 02:00 23 Feb 1999 uudecode.c Now you can use an ftpmail server to request "uudecode.bas" (if you have BASIC available) or "uudecode.c" (if you have a C compiler) from the helka.iif.hu site. SPECIAL NOTE: For DOS users, there is an EXECUTABLE ASCII version of the UUDECODE.COM program available. This is a rare exception to the rule that executable files must be encoded to survive e-mail transmission. You can receive it via e-mail and execute it "as is". To get a copy, send e-mail To: gboyd@expita.com Subject: send uudecode.com (must be lowercase). For further info on using uudecode, send e-mail To: gboyd@expita.com Subject: send uudecode.how (must be lowercase). FTP SEARCH BY EMAIL ------------------- Archie servers could be thought of as a database of all the anonymous FTP sites in the world, allowing you to find the site and/or name of a file to be retrieved. This function has been taken over by a web-based FTP search engine. To use FTP Search by e-mail, simply send an e-mail message to one of the webmail servers (see WWW section) with this line in the message BODY: send http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/cgi-bin/search?form=lycosnet\ &query=[file name or keyword]&filetype=All+files Now you've learned enough to locate that UUDECODE utility mentioned in the last section. Replace [file name or keyword] with uudecode.bas to find Basic source code, so our e-mail request looks like this: send http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/cgi-bin/search?form=lycosnet\ &query=uudecode.bas&filetype=All+files Note: You'll be looking for the uudecode Basic source code, not the executable version, which would of course be a binary file and would arrive uuencoded - a Catch 22! The output of your ftp query will contain lots of information like this: 2 /.2/simtelnet/msdos/00_start/uudecode.bas 5.4K - 1996 Feb 24 00:00 FTP Site: ftp.cdrom.com 3 /.3/msdos/00_start/uudecode.bas 5.4K - 1996 Feb 24 00:00 FTP Site: ftp.eunet.cz 4 /.4/cpm/starter-kit/uudecode.bas 1.9K - 1986 Oct 11 00:32 FTP Site: ftp.southcom.com.au Now you can use an ftpmail server to request "uudecode.bas" (if you have BASIC available) from the ftp.cdrom.com site or one of the others. GOPHER BY EMAIL --------------- Gopher is a tool for exploring the Internet and is one way to find a resource if you know what you want, but not where to find it. Gopher systems are menu-based, and provide a user-friendly front end to Internet resources, searches and information retrieval. When visiting a Gopher site using a "live" Internet connection, one would specify the name of the site, navigate through a series of hierarchical menus to a desired resource, and then either read or transfer the information back to their home system. Using Gopher by e-mail is very similar, except that the desired site is reached through a special "gophermail server" which gophers to the remote site on your behalf and and returns the requested menu, submenu or file to you in response to a set of commands in an e-mail message. NOTE: In recent years, Gopher has fallen in popularity and most of the gophermail servers have closed down. But still there is quite a bit of information available on gopher servers, and a few working gophermail servers. Although not every item on every menu will be accessible by "gophermail", you'll still find plenty of interesting things using this technique. Down to brass tacks... let's send e-mail to one of these addresses: gopher@dna.affrc.go.jp Japan gopher@ncc.go.jp Japan You can optionally specify the address of a known gopher site on the Subject line to get the main menu for that site instead. gopher.tc.umn.edu (home of gopher) Let's be bold and skip the HELP stuff for now. Send off a note to one of the gophermail servers and specify Subject: gopher.tc.umn.edu You'll get a message back from the server that looks something like the text in the figure below. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ This is response to your request with Subject: gopher.tc.umn.edu Mail this file back to gopher with an X before the menu items that you want. If you don't mark any items, gopher will send all of them. 1. Information About Gopher/ 2. Computer Information/ 3. Discussion Groups/ 4. Fun & Games/ 5. Internet file server (ftp) sites/ 6. Libraries/ 7. News/ 8. Other Gopher and Information Servers/ 9. Phone Books/ 10. Search Gopherspace with Veronica-2 / 11. Search lots of places at the University of Minnesota <?> (Send keywords in Subject:) 12. University of Minnesota Campus Information/ You may edit the following two numbers to set the maximum sizes after which GopherMail should send output as multiple e-mail messages: Split=64K bytes/message <- For text, bin, HQX messages (0 = No split) Menu=100 items/message <- For menus and query responses (0 = No split) # Name=Information About Gopher Numb=1 Type=1 Port=70 Path=1/Information About Gopher Host=gopher.tc.umn.edu # # ... (62 lines deleted) ... # Name=Search Gopherspace with Veronica-2 Numb=10 Type=1 Port=70 Path=/v2 Host=gopher.ptloma.edu # Name=Search lots of places at the University of Minnesota Numb=11 Type=7 Port=70 Path=mindex:/lotsoplaces Host=spinaltap.micro.umn.edu # Name=University of Minnesota Campus Information Numb=12 Type=1 Port=70 Path=1/uofm Host=gopher.tc.umn.edu +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ To proceed to a selection on the returned menu just e-mail the whole text of the note (from the menu downwards) back to the gopher server, placing an "x" next to the items(s) you want to explore. You'll then receive the next level of the gopher menu by e-mail. Some menu choices lead to other menus, some lead to text files, and some lead to searches. In the example above, let's select x 8. Other Gophers & Info Resources and mail the whole thing right back to the gophermail server. You should then get a menu with a number of interesting selections including "All the Gopher Servers in the World". You'll find that many of the gopher servers have closed down but still there are quite a few remaining. If a menu item is labelled "Search" you used to be able to select that item with an "x" and supply your search words in the Subject: of your reply. However, the Veronica searches are all DEFUNCT. The few remaining Jughead searches are listed in the next section. Note: You needn't actually return the entire gopher menu and all the routing info that follows it each time you reply to the gophermail server. If you want to minimize the size of your query, you can strip out the "menu" portion at the top and include only the portion below that pertains to the menu selection you want. Just remember that if you use this approach, you must specify "get all" on the Subject line. (Exception: for searching, specify only the search terms on the Subject line.) The example below is equivalent to selecting "option 8" as we did earlier. Split=0 Menu=0 # Name=Other Gopher and Information Servers Numb=8 Type=1 Port=70 Path=1/Other Gopher and Information Servers Host=gopher.tc.umn.edu If this looks like nonsense to you, here's a human translation: Connect to PORT 70 of the HOST (computer) at "gopher.tc.umn.edu", retrieve the sub-menu "Other Gophers", and send it to me in ONE PIECE, regardless of its size. Note: Sometimes gophermail requests return a blank menu or message. This is most likely because the server failed to connect to the host from which you were trying to get your information. Send your request again later and it'll probably work. VERONICA BY EMAIL ----------------- Speaking of searches, this is a good time to mention Veronica. Just as Archie provides a searchable index of FTP sites, Veronica provides this function for "gopherspace". Veronica will ask you what you want to look for (your search words) and then display another menu listing all the gopher menu items that match your search. In typical gopher fashion, you can then select one of these items and "go-pher it"! All the Veronica servers were shutdown. However, a new Veronica-2 server operated by gopher.floodgap.com is available. A Gophermail Shortcut: ---------------------- The path to some resources, files or databases can be a bit tedious, requiring several e-mail messages to the gophermail server. But here's the good news... If you've done it once, you can re-use any of the e-mail messages previously sent in, changing it to suit your current needs. As an example, here's a clipping from the Veronica menu you would get by following the previous instructions. You can send these lines to any gophermail server to run a Veronica search. Split=64K bytes/message <- For text, bin, HQX messages (0 = No split) Menu=100 items/message <- For menus and query responses (0 = No split) # Name=Search Veronica-2 Numb=23 Type=7 Port=70 Path=/v2/vs Host=gopher.floodgap.com Specify the search words in the Subject line and see what turns up! You can use boolean expressions in Veronica searches. For a guide to composing Veronica searches, send these lines to a gophermail server: Split=0 Menu=0 # Name=Search tips and how to effectively use the database Numb=5 Type=0 Port=70 Path=/v2/help/search Host=gopher.floodgap.com # Name=Help! I didn't find anything! Numb=6 Type=0 Port=70 Path=/v2/help/noluck Host=gopher.floodgap.com # Name=Accuracy of returned responses Numb=7 Type=0 Port=70 Path=/v2/help/acc Host=gopher.floodgap.com JUGHEAD BY EMAIL ---------------- Speaking of searches, this is a good time to mention Jughead. Just as Archie provides a searchable index of FTP sites, Jughead provides this function for "gopherspace". Jughead will use the Subject: to look for (your search words) and then display another menu listing all the gopher menu items that match your search. Jughead like Veronica and Gopher is almost entirely non-existant. You can send these lines to any gophermail server to run a Jughead search. Remember, the Subject line must contain your search words. The following two Jughead servers only search in their respective sites. The Marvel site contains the most information. Split=0 Split=0 Menu=0 Menu=0 # # Name=Marvel Jughead Search Name=Oswego Jughead Search Type=7 Type=7 Port=2069 Port=3000 Path= Path= Host=marvel.loc.gov Host=gopher.oswego.edu USENET BY EMAIL ---------------- Usenet is a collection of over 52000 discussion groups on every topic imaginable. In order to get a proper start and avoid embarrasing yourself needlessly, you must read the Usenet new users intro document, which can be obtained by sending e-mail to: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and include this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/news-newusers-intro To get a listing of Usenet newsgroups, add these commands to your note: send usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part1 (also get part2 & part3) send usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part1 (also get part2 & part3) To get the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file(s) for a given newsgroup, try a command like this: index usenet/<newsgroupname> (Substitute dots for dashes if they appear in the newsgroup name.) If any FAQ files are available, they will be listed in the returned info, and you can request them with a command like: send usenet/<newsgroupname>/<faqfilename> Reading Usenet Newsgroups ------------------------- Gophermail methods for reading Usenet newsgroups are non-existant as of the year 2001. NOTE: You can also get Usenet postings from several webmail servers listed in the WORLD-WIDE WEB BY EMAIL section later in this document. There are four approaches: 1) Look for an Agora server with a "Y" in the "Usenet Access" column and send a command like this in the message body: send news:<newsgroup> 2) Use a webmail server to retrieve specified web pages to search at Google (was Deja.com) which archives Usenet groups daily. Search Newsgroups -- http://groups.google.com/ Usenet Advanced Search -- http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search 3) Use a webmail server to retrieve specified web pages to read Usenet at Mailgate -- http://www.mailgate.org/ 4) Use the Relcom Usenet News mailserver. Send the word "help" in the body of a message to newsserv@litech.net Note: See the "WWW By E-mail" section below for a list of "getweb" "agora" and "www4mail" servers. With a little luck, you'll get a list of recent postings to the newsgroup, and then you can retrieve the individual postings by replying to the message from the Agora server. Make sure not to change the subject line of the reply message, and just put the number of the posting you want in the message BODY. Posting In Usenet Newsgroups ---------------------------- If you decide to make a post of your own, here are two methods to try: METHOD 1: Mail the text of your post to: mail2news-YYYYMMDD-group.name@anon.lcs.mit.edu mail2news_nospam-YYYYMMDD-group.name@anon.lcs.mit.edu group.name@berlioz.crs4.it <internal use only> group.name@comlab.ox.ac.uk <internal use only> group.name@pubnews.demon.co.uk <access controlled> outnews+netnews.group.name@andrew.cmu.edu <local use only> no.group.name@news.uninett.no <Norwegian news only> So to post to news.newusers.questions, you might send your message to: mail2news-YYYYMMDD-news.newusers.questions@anon.lcs.mit.edu Be sure to include an appropriate Subject: line, and include your real name and e-mail address at the close of your note. Substitute today's date instead of YYMMDD and the newsgroup name instead of "group.name" in the address. For more information, send to mail2news@anon.lcs.mit.edu with Subject: help METHOD 2: Mail the text of your anonymous post to: mail2news@anon.lcs.mit.edu - Subject: help mail2news@nym.alias.net - different name for above mail2news@dizum.com - Subject: help mail2news@mixmaster.shinn.net - Subject: help Searching For Usenet Newsgroups ------------------------------- Don't know the name of the newsgroup? To search for Usenet groups about "pets", for example, send e-mail to an Agora or www4mail server (see WWW section) with this line in the message BODY: send http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-Links/cgi/news.cgi?pets WORLD-WIDE WEB (WWW) BY EMAIL ----------------------------- The World-Wide Web is the premier Internet navigational tool - a hypertext and multimedia system that lets you hop around the Net, read documents, and access images & sounds linked to a source. Have you ever heard someone say, "Wow, check out the cool stuff at http://www.somewhere.com/blah.html" and wondered what in the world they were talking about? Now you can retrieve WWW documents by e-mail using an Agora server. All you need to know is the Uniform Resource Locator (or URL, that long ugly string starting with "http:", "gopher:", or "ftp:") which defines the address of the document, and you can retrieve it by sending e-mail to one of: Agora Server Address Location Usenet Access? --------------------------- -------------------- -------------- agora@dna.affrc.go.jp (Japan) Y agora@kamakura.mss.co.jp (Japan) Y agora@www.eng.dmu.ac.uk (DMU.UK users ONLY) agora@uit.no (Norwegian users ONLY) agora@mx.nsu.nsk.su (NSU.RU users ONLY) In the body of your note include one of these lines, replacing "<URL>" with the actual URL specification. send <URL> rsend <return-address> <URL> (to override your return address) This will send you back the document you requested, with a list of all the documents referenced within, so that you may make further requests. To try WWW by e-mail send the following commands to an Agora server: help send http://www.w3.org In a few minutes you should receive the Agora help file and the "W3C WWW Welcome Consortium Page" which will include references to other Web documents you'll want to explore. Please read the Agora help file, as it contains answers to many commonly asked questions! THERE ARE SOME OTHER webmail servers listed below, which run software other than Agora. They work pretty much the same, but it's a good idea to request the help file for the server you decide to use. Note: The GetWeb servers below can handle web pages which contain fill-in forms. Other webmail servers do not provide this ability. Address Syntax Comments ----------------------- ---------- ---------------------------- data@downloadslave.com <URL> in body getweb@emailfetch.com GET <URL> intermittent since Mar99 getweb@usa.healthnet.org GET <URL> page@grabpage.org URL: <URL> in Subject text@pagegetter.com <URL> in body returns text web@pagegetter.com <URL> in body returns graphic page webgate@vancouver-webpages.com GET <URL> or DUMP <URL> in body webmail@www.ucc.ie SEND <URL> or GET <URL> in body www@web2mail.com URL of page (omit http://) in Subject Note: The webmail servers are sometimes unavailable for days (or weeks) at a time without explanation. If you get an error or no reply, please try another address or retry in a day or so. THE NEW WWW4MAIL servers (combine functions of agora, getweb, and new browser e-mail integration): Address Comments ----------------------------- ------------------------------ www4mail@collaborium.org send help in body of a message www4mail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de send help in body of a message www4mail@kabissa.org send help in body of a message www4mail@unganisha.idrc.ca send help in body of a message www4mail@web.bellanet.org send help in body of a message www4mail@wm.ictp.trieste.it send help in body of a message If you want an up-to-date listing, then look at: http://www.expita.com/servers.html WWW SEARCH BY EMAIL ------------------- There's a lot of great stuff out on the Web, but how do you find it? Well, just like Archie and Veronica help you search FTP and gopher sites, there are several search engines that have been developed to search for information on the Web. But until now, you had to have direct Internet access to use them. After a bit of research, I have found that it is possible to use several WWW search mechanisms by e-mail. Here are some sample queries that you can use to search via Lycos and WebCrawler. Any of these lines can be sent to an Agora server (see above) to perform a search. If you're not interested in frogs, then by all means feel free to use your own keywords. For Lycos searches you must separate words with a "+" sign. All searches are exact. http://www.lycos.com/srch/?lpv=1&loc=searchhp&query=frog+dissection For WebCrawler searches you must separate words with a "+" sign. All searches are exact. http://www.webcrawler.com/cgi-bin/WebQuery?searchText=frog+dissection Another way to access search engines is to send a message to one of the GETWEB servers (see list above) with a line like this in the message body: SEARCH <engine> <keywords> Replace "engine" with YAHOO, ALTAVISTA, or INFOSEEK, and use your own search words. Here's an example: SEARCH YAHOO consumer protection MAILING LISTS ------------- There are literally thousands of discussion groups that stay in touch using e-mail based systems known as "mailing lists". People interested in a topic "subscribe" to a "list" and then send and receive postings by e-mail. For information concerning new lists, send e-mail to: LISTSERV@HYPATIA.CS.WISC.EDU In the body of your note include only this command: INFO NEW-LIST Finding a Mailing List ---------------------- To find out about mailing lists that are relevant to your interests, send e-mail to an webmail server and retrieve this web page: http://www.liszt.com/ New in These Parts? ------------------- If you're new to the Internet, I suggest you subscribe to the HELP-NET list where you're likely to find answers to your questions. Send the command: SUBSCRIBE HELP-NET <Firstname Lastname> in the BODY of a note to LISTSERV@CRCVMS.UNL.EDU, then e-mail your questions to the list address: HELP-NET@CRCVMS.UNL.EDU FINGER BY EMAIL --------------- "Finger" is a utility that returns information about another user. Usually it's just boring stuff like last logon, etc., but sometimes people put fun or useful information in their finger replies. To try out finger, send this line (in the message BODY) to a webmail server: send http://www.mit.edu:8001/finger?<user@site> Use one of the e-mail addresses below instead of <user@site> ... nasanews@space.mit.edu quake@gldfs.cr.usgs.gov "DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE" BY EMAIL -------------------------------- There is an e-mail address lookup database at MIT which keeps tabs on everyone who has posted a message on Usenet. Send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet-addresses/<name> Specify as much information as you can about the person (lastname, firstname, userid, site, etc.) to limit the amount of information that is returned to you. Here's a sample query to find the address of someone you think may be at Harvard University: send usenet-addresses/Jane Doe Harvard WHOIS BY EMAIL -------------- WHOIS is another tool that can be used to Search for domain name; NIC handle; host IP or lastname, firstname. The default action for Whois, unless directed otherwise with a keyword (e.g. "domain root"), is to do a very broad search, looking for matches in many fields: handle, name, or hostname and finding all record types. Let's say we want to find someone named Gerald Boyd (a noted e-mail personality). Our Whois query will be addressed to a webmail server and will contain only this one long line: http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois? STRING=name+boyd%2C+gerald&STRING=Search Whois then shows the results in one of two ways: as a full, detailed display for a single match (with possible subdisplay), or as one- or two-line summaries for multiple matches. Boyd, Gerald ([11]GBL149) gboyd@PF1HELP.COM (770) 4 13-9456 Boyd, Gerald ([12]GBY218) geboyd@EARTHLINK.NET 1-818-8 46-2478 Boyd, Gerald ([13]GB8307) gerald@PF1HELP.COM 770-4 13-9456 To single out one record, look it up with "!xxx", where xxx is the handle, shown in parenthesis following the name, which comes first. TELNET BY EMAIL --------------- Sorry, there is no way to access TELNET sites by e-mail. A FEW NET-GOODIES ----------------- Here are some other interesting things you can do by e-mail. (Some of them are accessible only by e-mail!) * 100 THINGS TO DO BY EMAIL Get instant answers amd information on almost 100 topics by e-mail. Dictonary, encyclopedia, airfares, almanac, airports, currency conversion, distance between two points, etc. etc. Send a blank e-mail message to: topics@halibot.com Also try msnbcnow@msnbc.com * ANONYMOUS EMAIL An "anon server" provides a front for sending mail messages and posting to Usenet newsgroups anonymously, should the need ever arise. To get instructions send e-mail to remailer@gacracker.org with a Subject: remailer-help * ASK DR. MATH Have a math question? Dr. Math answers questions from K-12 students and their teachers about Mathematics. Write to dr.math@forum.swarthmore.edu * ASK-A-GEOLOGIST Send your earth-shattering questions to ask-a-geologist@octopus.wr.usgs.gov and a US Geological Service scientist will try to help. * ASK-A-TECH Send your computer hardware or software support questions to helpdesk@ask-a-tech.org and this non-profit organization will try to answer your question. * BIBLE SEARCH Search the King James version of the Bible. Examples below can be sent to an Agora server. Use "+" to specify multiple words; prefix proper names with "%23"; add "&PHRASE=ON" to find a phrase. send http://estragon.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/KJV?title=&word=angel+%23Mary send http://estragon.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/KJV?title=&word=fig+tree&PHRASE=ON * CANCER DATABASE To access the National Cancer Institute's database, send e-mail to cancernet@icicb.nci.nih.gov with "help" or "spanish" in the message body. * CHECK YOUR EMAIL CONNECTION The following are all autoresponder addresses that you can use to test if your e-mail is working. You send a blank message to the address shown and in a few minutes an autoresponse is received. echo@seattlelab.com test-courrier@sogi.com (in French) echo@telcomplus.net test@alphanet.ch echo@tu-berlin.de test@mega.bw internet@gurus.com test@netsydney.com ping@stamper.itconsult.co.uk echo@tu-chemnitz.de * COUNTRY CODES The International E-mail accessibility FAQ is retrievable by e-mail. Send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/mail/country-codes Web site: http://www.nsrc.org/oclb Stumped by those 2-letter country codes in Internet addresses? Send e-mail to address-codes@GetResponse.com for an explanation. * CURRENCY CONVERSION You can get foreign exchange rates for the U.S. dollar and other currencies by sending this URL to an Agora or www4mail server: send http://cnnfn.com/markets/currencies.html * EMAIL TO SNAIL-MAIL Need to get a message to someone in Britain who doesn't have e-mail? Send it to PaperMail! For full details on this fee-based service, send e-mail to info@papermail.win-uk.net * EMOTIONAL SUPPORT There's a suicide helpline accessible by e-mail. Send your message to jo@samaritans.org -- No syntax, they have humans! Also any mail to care@netservs.com returns a listing of hundreds of emotional support resources on the Internet. * FINANCIAL AID FAQ A comprehensive guide to higher education financial aid. Send blank e-mail to send-faq@finaid.org OR query@finaid.org * FINDING EMAIL ADDRESSES For a guide to finding someone's e-mail addresses. Send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/finding-addresses * FREE HOME PAGE BY EMAIL (For German residents only) InetWire offers free non-commercial homepages with up to 500KB of space. Make a zip file with index.htm being the home page, put a URL something like "http://inetw.com/home/myname" in the Subject line and then send your zip file as an ATTACHMENT to attach@inetw.com. (If your e-mail program doesn't support file attachments, you're out of luck.) * FTP UPLOAD VIA EMAIL The first free publicly accessible FTP service that allows uploading via e-mail has instructions available at: http://mail2ftp.hypermart.net/ You can also send the word "HELP" in the body of a message to mail2ftp@rootshell.be or mail2ftp@treelife.org.ua * FTPMAIL/WEBMAIL SERVER STATUS Is your favorite FTPmail/Agora/GetWeb site overloaded or down? Find out by sending the "get file stats.txt" command to mailserv@netservs.com * INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE Get tons of info on movies, actors, and directors. Send e-mail to movie@imdb.com with HELP in the subject line. * INTERNET TIMELINE To learn the history of the Internet from 1950 to 1998, send blank e-mail to timeline@hobbes.mitre.org * THE INTERNET TOURBUS Take a virtual tour of the Internet - hop on The Internet TourBus! You'll receive a short mailing twice a week highlighting fun and interesting sites on the Internet. It's absolutely free, and you can join 80,000 others by sending SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Firstname Lastname in the BODY of a message to "LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM". * ISPs BY AREA CODE For a list of Internet Service Providers in your area code, send this line to an Agora server: http://thelist.iworld.com/areacode/XXX/ (where XXX=your area code) * LANGUAGE TRANSLATION BY EMAIL Send an e-mail as usual to a foreign language colleague in your native tongue. In the "Cc:" line, send a carbon copy of the message to the Universal T-mail Translator. The way you format the address will determine how the message is translated. Cc: (Original language)-(Final translation)@t-mail.com English (en or an), French (fr), German (ge or de), Italian (it), Spanish (sp or es), Portuguese (pt or po) So English to French translation would be en-fr@t-mail.com * LEARN TO SPEAK GEEK Get BABEL, a glossary of computer abbreviations and acronyms. Use a web-to-mail server to retrieve this file. http://www.geocities.com/ikind_babel/babel/babel.html [214K] * MEDICAL INFORMATION BY EMAIL Send a blank e-mail message to hnet@usa.healthnet.org to receive a FAQ which lists locations for medical information that can be accessed by e-mail methods. * MORE WORD FUN! The wordserver at wsmith@wordsmith.org will serve up A.Word.A.Day, Dictionary by Mail, Thesaurus by Mail, Acronym by Mail and Anagram by Mail. Send blank e-mail for the help file. Merriam-Webster dictionary offers the word of the day -- To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM with the command SUBSCRIBE MW-WOD [your name]. * MORTGAGE/LOAN CALCULATOR To calculate your monthly loan payment, send this line to an Agora server: http://www.interest.com/hugh/calc/simple.cgi?amt=100000&int=8.00&yrs=30 (Change the values for principle, interest and term as appropriate.) * NUMBER SEQUENCES To find out how a number sequence continues (such as 2 3 5 7 11 ..., the prime numbers), send e-mail to sequences@research.att.com with the following in the message body: lookup 2 3 5 7 11. For help on this service, send e-mail with a body of "help" to the same address. * PDF CONVERSIONS BY EMAIL You can convert PDF documents to text or HTML via e-mail. For internet files put the URL in the body of an e-mail message to pdf2txt@adobe.com (for plain text) or to pdf2html@adobe.com (for HTML). If the file is on your PC then include as a MIME attachment and send to the same addresses depending uopn whter you want text or HTML. * PLAY GAMES BY EMAIL You can play games via the PBeM Server, for info, send e-mail to pbmserv@gamerz.net with Subject: help tutorial * RFCS BY EMAIL Details on obtaining RFCs via FTP or EMAIL may be obtained by sending an EMAIL message To: rfc-info@ISI.EDU with help: ways_to_get_rfcs in the message body. * SCOUT REPORT ...is a weekly featuring announcements of new and interesting resources on the Internet. To subscribe, send e-mail to listserv@cs.wisc.edu with "Subscribe scout-report Your Name" in the body. * SENDING A FAX BY EMAIL The TPC.INT "Remote Printing Experiment" is the grandfather of Internet faxing services. Send e-mail to tpcfaq@info.tpc.int with no subject and "help" in the body. For a list of country phone numbers served by this service, send e-mail to tpccover@info.tpc.int with no subject and nothing in the body. You can also get the FAX FAQ via electronic mail. Send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/fax-faq * SENDING MAIL TO VARIOUS NETWORKS For a guide to communicating with people on the various networks that make up the Internet, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/mail/inter-network-guide * STATLIB A system for distributing statistical software, datasets, and information by electronic mail, FTP, and WWW. To get the index, send e-mail to statlib@lib.stat.cmu.edu with the one line message "send index". * STOCK MARKET QUOTE To get a stock market quote, send this line to an Agora server: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=xxxx where xxxx is the stock market symbol. * TRACK UPS PACKAGES You can track your UPS packages now thru e-mail. Send an e-mail to totaltrack@ups.com and in the subject or the body place the complete tracking number. * THE USENET ORACLE A cooperative, anonymous and humorous exchange of questions and answers. Send e-mail to oracle@cs.indiana.edu for more information. * U.S. CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE You can contact the President (president@whitehouse.gov) or Vice President (vice_president@whitehouse.gov). * OTHER SOURCES OF US GOV'T INFO: Send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only these lines in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/us-govt-net-pointers/part1 send usenet/news.answers/us-govt-net-pointers/part2 * VIRTUAL PIZZA! Order an electronic pizza by e-mail. Send e-mail to "pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu" with a subject of "pizza help" for details. * VIRUS PROTECTION SOFTWARE F-Prot, one of the top PC virus scanners can be requested by e-mail. To get the current version (uuencoded) send e-mail to f-prot-update@complex.is with this message body: send-as: uue * WEB PAGES BY EMAIL Use web2mail to have your favorite web pages delivered by e-mail whenever they change. The basic subscription form is at this web page: http://www.web2mail.com/signup.php * WEBSTER DICTIONARY LOOKUP To retrieve the definition of a word, send either of these lines to an Agora type server: send http://www.britannica.com/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=whatever send www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=whatever * FOR FURTHER READING For more details on using web search engines by e-mail use a web-to-mail server to get this file send ftp://ftp.expita.com/wsintro.faq SOMETHING MISSING? ------------------ This file should be somewhere between 1300 and 1500 lines of text, and about 58KB in size. If the file you have is much smaller, or says something like "part 2 of 2" near the top, you're missing something. Most likely, that's because your mail system has file size quotas that prevented part 1 from reaching you. Here's the solution: To get the file in multiple chunks, send to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and enter only these lines in the BODY of the note: size 25000 send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email The mail server will break up the file into chunks of 25000 bytes and send them in separate messages. You can change "25000" to another number if it suits your needs. CONTACTING THE AUTHOR --------------------- I welcome your feedback on this guide and can be reached at the following addresses. Send corrections, ideas, suggestions and comments by e-mail. I'll try to include any new services in future editions of this guide. E-mail : gboyd@expita.com Web : http://www.expita.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1999-2002, Gerald E. Boyd gboyd@expita.com All rights reserved. Permission is granted to duplicate and distribute copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. --------------------------------------------------------------------------