Nebula 1994 June/NEBULA_SE.ISO/Documents/FAQ/Macintosh-faq/comm-faq/part4

Internet Message Format | 1993-08-12 | 27.1 KB

Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!eric
From: [e-mail] (Eric C. Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm,news.answers,comp.answers
Subject: comp.sys.mac.comm Frequently Asked Questions [4/4]
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Date: 12 Aug 1993 04:40:33 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
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Summary: This thread of four postings contains a list of Frequently Asked
     Questions (with answers) for comp.sys.mac.comm. Anyone seeking
     information about Macintosh telecommunications is encouraged to
     read this FAQ before posting.
Keywords: FAQ
Originator: eric@oak
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.sys.mac.comm:27961 news.answers:11295 comp.answers:1571

Archive-name: macintosh/comm-faq/part4
Last-modified: Wed Aug 11 1993


================================================================================
[7] Sending and receiving Mail and Usenet News with your Macintosh
==================================================================

[7.1] How can I send/receive Internet mail with my Macintosh?
-------------------------------------------------------------

        There are a variety of ways to do this depending primarily
        on how you connect your Macintosh to the rest of the world.
        The most popular and practical methods are summarized below:

        Note: Methods of sending and receiving e-mail that are specific
              to A/UX are not discussed; see the FAQ for comp.unix.aux.

        * UUCP

        Perhaps the most practical way to interact with Usenet for most
        is to use UUCP (Unix-to-Unix-Copy). UUCP is a protocol originally
        intended to be used to transfer files between Unix machines over
        telephone lines. Various UUCP programs exist for the Macintosh,
        from freeware to shareware to payware. In addition to the UUCP
        software, you must find a host machine connected to the Internet
        (or equivalent) that is willing to send and receive your e-mail
        (and news, if you wish [see 7.2]). There are commericial
        services that provide this capability in various regions of
        the country; check the newsgroup alt.bbs.internet for more
        information. Once you have identified and arranged to receive
        and send e-mail from such a service, you need to register your
        site with a unique name in the UUCP maps.

        -> Mac/gnuucp is a port of the GNU UUCP sources to the Macintosh.
        Sources are included. The interface uses the standard Think C
        command-line substitute. A Hypercard mail reader is provided.
        Usable, but not recommended if you intend on transfering a lot
        of files.

        -> UUPC 3.0 is a substantially better freeware implementation of
        the UUCP protocol for the Macintosh. UUPC 3.0 includes support
        for various flavors of UUCP that provide better performance
        with high-speed error-correcting modems. Full source code
        is provided. UUPC 3.0 was implemented by a coalition of
        programmers led by Dave Platt. Thanks!

        -> uAccess, a payware product (about $300) from Ice
        Engineering supports the CTB and can be used to send and
        receive both e-mail and news postings via a UUCP link.
        See [7.2] for more information.

        * MacTCP: SMTP, POP

        SMTP (Simple-Mail-Transfer-Protocol) and POP (Post-Office-
        Protocol) are two protocols for transfering electronic mail
        between machines that have a TCP/IP interface or equivalent.
        Usually, on the Macintosh, such an interface is provided via
        MacTCP and/or the Communications Toolbox.

        -> Eudora is one of the best written and most popular free
        programs available for the Macintosh. Eudora is a complete and
        versatile e-mail package which can send e-mail via SMTP (either
        through the CTB or a serial connection) and receive e-mail via
        a POP server. It can even be used with UUPC 3.0 (as a mail
        reader and message generator, not a transport agent). Eudora
        can also be used to transfer arbitrary Macintosh files between
        computers through its BinHex 4.0 attachment features. Many
        accolades go to the author, Steve Dorner, who continues to
        support Eudora. As of (7/92), the latest version of Eudora can
        be FTP'd from ftp.cso.uiuc.edu in mac/eudora. Please send all
        e-mail inquiries about Eudora to [e-mail] .

        -> LeeMail is a shareware ($10) MacTCP-based SMTP mailer for
        the Macintosh. LeeMail allows you to send and receive Internet
        mail directly from your Macintosh --- if you have a fixed IP
        address (manual addressing). Otherwise, if your Macintosh uses
        dynamic addressing to determine its IP address, you can use
        LeeMail to send mail from your Macintosh but should use a
        different Reply-To address. LeeMail supports various enclosures.
        Author: Lee Fyock <[e-mail]>

        -> TCP/Connect II, from Intercon Systems, includes support for
        both SMTP and POP based e-mail.


        * Other:

        -> Fernmail, a shareware program ($20), can be used as a stand-
        alone mailer program to read and compose e-mail messages. It can
        also be used to send e-mail between different users of the same
        Macintosh but has no built-in facility to transfer messages
        between machines. It is most useful as a front-end for UUCP
        mailers that lack a sophisticated mail management program.
        Author: Dave Platt <[e-mail]>


[7.2] How can I read/post Usenet news with my Macintosh?
--------------------------------------------------------

        Again, the various options depend primarily on how your
        Macintosh is connected to Usenet. The various ways to
        connect your Macintosh to outside networks are summarized
        elsewhere in this FAQ. What follows is a brief description of
        the more popular software packages, according to connection
        method.

        Note: Methods of sending and receiving news that are specific
              to A/UX are not discussed; see comp.unix.aux instead.

        * UUCP

        -> uAccess, a commericial product (about $300) from Ice
        Engineering (and the product from which uATerm and Termy were
        derived) is a well-designed product that works well enough to
        allow you to use your Macintosh as a Usenet node (if you have
        enough disk space). uAccess supports the CTB and comes with a
        terminal emulator. It was reviewed in the July, 1992 issue of
        _UnixWorld_.

        -> rnMac, a shareware program ($25) written by Roy Wood
        <[e-mail]>, is a reasonably spiffy offline newsreader.
        The original intention was for rnMac to work in conjunction with
        UUPC and ToadNews (by John Mah <[e-mail]>)
        to allow you to set up a uucp-based Usenet newsfeed on a Mac.
        rnMac is quite stable and full-featured, and even does a passable
        job as a mailer (no match for Eudora, FernMail, etc.).  rnMac,
        ToadNews, UUPC are each available from archive sites such
        as sumex and umich.

        * MacTCP - NNTP

        Most (if not all) MacTCP-based newsreaders for the Macintosh
        will require access to a NNTP news server. NNTP (Net News
        Transfer Protocol) is a protocol used to transfer articles
        between a central news server and many client machines over
        TCP/IP or a serial link.

        -> NewsWatcher is a free MacTCP-based NNTP news client. It
        supports a graphical "point and click" interface for browsing
        and reading news. The program was featured in Apple's technical
        "d e v e l o p" magazine (#6) with source; you can also FTP the
        source from ftp.apple.com. The application itself is available
        at other archives.
        Contact: send e-mail to <[e-mail]>

        Development versions of NewsWatcher are generally made available
        for anonymous FTP from ftp.acns.nwu.edu in the directory
        pub/newswatcher. IF YOU FTP THIS, PLEASE READ THE ACCOMPANYING
        README FILE FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION. John appreciates hearing
        bug reports, but he is also often beseiged by e-mail; don't
        forget that NewsWatcher is being supported and extended by
        a group of volunteers.

        -> Nuntius is a thread-based, MacTCP-based NNTP news reader with
        a graphical Finder-like user interface. It is actively supported
        by its author.
        Author: Peter Speck <[e-mail]>

        -> TheNews is a shareware ($25) MacTCP-based NNTP news reader.
        You can respond to articles via a local SMTP server also.
        Author: Bill Cramer <[e-mail]>

        -> TCP/Connect II, from Intercon Systems, includes an NNTP based
        news reader, as well as e-mail (and other) facilities.

        * Serial - NNTP

        --> NetFeed is a NNTP newsreader designed to communicate with
        a NNTP server via modem. It includes an article reader and
        a simple scripting language to facilitate dialing the modem.
        NetFeed is shareware, but the authors seem to only ask for a
        postcard if you use their software.
        Authors: Bill Burns <[e-mail]>
                 Brad Boyer <[e-mail]>


================================================================================
[8] Miscellaneous
=================

[8.1] I don't have FTP --- How can I access the Macintosh FTP archives
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        through e-mail?

        First, look in the Appendix of this FAQ. Descriptions on how
        to access mailservers that mirror the InfoMac archives are
        provided there. Also, the University of Michigan maintains
        an e-mail server for its Macintosh archive; send a message
        to [e-mail] with the command "help" in
        the message body for details.

        If you have Gopher access, note that the InfoMac archives at
        sumex-aim.stanford.edu are accessible via Gopher. If your
        Macintosh is connected to the Internet via MacTCP, for example,
        you can use one of the many Macintosh Gopher clients to
        access InfoMac.

        If you have AFS (Andrew File System) access, you can access
        the Macintosh archive at the University of Michigan via your
        UNIX file system: cd /afs/umich.edu/group/itd/archive/mac .
        You may have to ask your AFS/system adminisrator to add
        umich.edu to the list of mounted AFS sites, however.

        For more general help on accessing FTP sites through e-mail,
        send e-mail to [e-mail] and include a line
        containing "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the
        message body. You will be e-mailed instructions on how to use
        FTP sites via e-mail.

================================================================================
Appendix
========

[A] List of Common File Suffixes and Abbreviations
--------------------------------------------------

        Suffix  Description
        ------- ------------------------------------------------------
        .bin    MacBinary files; see [2.2]
        .cpt    Compact Pro archive files; see [3.6]
        .dd     DiskDoubler archive files; see [3.6]
        .gif    Compuserve Graphics Interchange File;
        .hqx    BinHex files; see [2.3], [3.7]
        .image  Apple DiskCopy disk image file; see [2.5]
        .sea    Self-extracting archive files
        .shar   Unix shell archive file
        .sit    StuffIt archive files; [see 3.6]
        .uu     Unix uuencoded files; see [2.3]
        .Z      Unix 'compress' archive file
        .z      Unix 'gzip' archive file
        .zip    MS-DOS PC archive file

        Abbrev-
        iation  Description
        ------- ------------------------------------------------------
        A/UX    Apple Unix
        ADB     Apple Desktop Bus
        AFE     Apple File Exchange
        ARA     AppleTalk Remote Access
        bps     bits per second
        csmc    comp.sys.mac.comm
        CTB     Communications Tool Box
        CTS     Clear-To-Send
        DSR     Data-Set-Ready
        DTR     Data-Terminal-Ready
        FTP     File Transfer Protocol
        IP      Internet Protocol
        LAP     Link Acess Protocol
        MNP     Microcom Networking Protocol
        NNTP    Net News Transfer Protocol
        PPP     Point-to-Point Protocol
        RTS     Request-To-Send
        SID     Sound Input Device
        SLIP    Serial Line Internet Protocol
        TCP     Transmission Control Protocol
        uw      Unix Windows



[B] List of Macintosh archive sites available through the Internet
------------------------------------------------------------------

All shareware or freeware programs described in this FAQ are available
from one of the many archives that mirror the InfoMac archives at sumex
and at other Macintosh FTP sites described below.

Of course, since almost all files are distributed in BinHex format,
the first program you need to get hold of is "BinHex 4.0" or one of
the programs described in [2.3] that has the capability to decode
BinHex files. If you have FTP access, try to FTP the file
info-mac/util/binhex4.bin from sumex-aim.stanford.edu with 'binary'
mode set (issue the command 'binary' to the FTP server). This file
is a MacBinary version of BinHex 4.0. If you don't have a binary-
capable FTP, or if you forget to use binary, you will get a corrupted
file when you transfer the file to your Mac. Alternatively, you can
FTP a MacBinary version of StuffitExpander from wuarchive.wustl.edu
in mirrors/rascal.ics.utexas.edu/compression as the binary file
StuffIt_Expander_1.0.1_SEA_bin .

If you don't have FTP access or binary FTP doesn't seem to work for you,
try to friend who has BinHex 4.0 (or equivalent) on a disk that you can
copy. Or, if you have a Pascal compiler handy, you can download the
Pascal source from sumex and compile it. But your best bet is to ask
around.

Unless otherwise indicated, the following FTP sites are all anonymous
FTP sites available through the Internet. Logon as "anonymous" or "ftp"
and give your e-mail address as the password. Remember that the use of
anonymous FTP at these sites is a privelege, not a right, so please act
accordingly. Type 'ls' to get a directory listing. Use the command 'cd'
followed by a directory name to move to a specific directory. USe the
command 'cd ..' to move back "up" to the previous directory.
Issue the command 'binary' to change to FTP BINARY mode. Give the command
'get' followed by a filename to retrieve a specific file.

Sites are grouped by geographical location. North American users are
strongly encouraged to use the North American sites. Practically
everything found on other continents can also be found somewhere in
North America. Similarly, non-North American users are advised to check
out their local sites first. Ftp.apple.com is the notable exception.


NORTH AMERICA:

** ftp.apple.com **
This FTP site is maintained by Apple. You can FTP System 7, TuneUp,
various Developer Technical Support items (including all the Tech
Notes), QuickTime, and much more. You will need the Apple DiskCopy
program (available online) to make floppy-disk versions of the disk
images.

** mac.archive.umich.edu ** (141.211.32.2)
University of Michigan's Macintosh Public Domain and Shareware Archive.
All files are in the mac directory (mac.bin is a directory useful only
to local University of Michigan users). Has lots of Macintosh files that
don't seem to be available anywhere else (including many that are not
at sumex-aim.stanford.edu). Announcements of recent additions to the
archives are routinely seen in comp.sys.mac.digest. Read the file
'/mac/00help/submissions.txt' for details on submitting. The archive
is accessible via AFS (the Andrew File System); see [8.1]. You are
STRONGLY encouraged to investigate this FTP site if you are a frequent
user of sumex-aim; it is well maintained and frequently updated and
(currently) is not plagued by the problem of too many simultaneous
FTP users.

** microlib.cc.utexas.edu **
The University of Texas Computation Center maintains a large and useful
Macintosh archive in microlib/mac (Archives for other personal computers
are also available here). Submissions can be e-mailed (in BinHex form)
to [e-mail] (which are then rebroadcasted
elsewhere; this is the easiest way to distribute public-domain or
shareware stuff throughout the Internet).

** sumex-aim.stanford.edu ** (36.44.0.6)
Official home of the Info-Mac archives. This site is heavily used and has
anonymous FTP connections limited during local working hours, so you are
STRONGLY encouraged to use one of the many sites which mirror the sumex
archives (such as mac.archive.umich.edu or wuarchive.wustl.edu).  All
Macintosh files are stored in the directory info-mac in a tree
structure by generic file type. Announcements of recent additions are
posted (daily) to comp.sys.mac.digest. You should read the file in the
help subdirectory called 'posting-guidelines.txt' for details on
submitting files to the archive. This site is also accesible via Gopher.

** wuarchive.wustl.edu ** (128.252.135.4)
Washington University maintains a mirror archive of sumex-aim and also
mac.archive.umich.edu (among others). Look in mirrors/infomac and
mirrors/archive.umich.edu respectively. This site is also useful for
other reasons and can be mounted via NFS (see the README files in the
top level).


If you don't have FTP access, you can access the sumex-aim InfoMac
archives by using the LISTSERVer at Rice University in Houston, TX.
For example, to retrieve the file util/cpt-expand-10.hqx, send a message
containing the line "$macarch get UTIL/CPT-EXPAND-10.HQX" to
[e-mail]. Unix users may also find the following script
useful:

#!/bin/csh -f
# macarch.get
if test $# -ne 1
then
        echo Usage: $0 archive-name-of-file-to-retrieve
        exit 1
fi
echo \$macarch GET   $1 | mail [e-mail]

The files HELP/ALL-FILES.TXT, HELP/ACCESSING-FILES.TXT, and other
files in the HELP hierarchy are useful files to try retrieving
initially.


EUROPE:

** ftp.funet.fi ** (128.214.6.100)
The Finnish University and Research network (FUNET) archive site.
Macintosh files are in pub/mac. Read the README file in the top level,
especially if you are FTP-ing "long distance".

** nic.switch.ch ** (130.59.1.40)
The Swiss Academic and Research Network (SWITCH) maintains an info-mac
mirror on nic.switch.ch. Files are in the directory /mirror/info-mac
and are updated daily.

** src.doc.ic.ac.uk ** (146.169.2.1)
Archive site maintained by UKUUG Software Distribution Service,
Department of Computing, Imperial College, London, UK. Macintosh
files are in directory packages/mac. Mirrors of sumex-aim.stanford.edu
and mac.archive.umich.edu are in mac/sumex and mac/umich respectively.
Some files are compressed using Unix compress (.Z); see the README
file.

** irisa.irisa.fr ** (131.254.254.3)
Archive site maintained by Institut de Recherche en Informatique et
Systemes Aleatoires in Rennes, Brittany, France. This site maintains an
archive of various comp.binaries.* group, including comp.binaries.mac.
Files are in News/comp.binaries.mac. Warning: Files in this directory
are numbered and numerous so avoid asking for a directory listing;
that is, don't type 'ls' or 'dir'. Rather, change to this directory
and download the file 'index' which maps the "Subject:" line to
a number which you can then 'get'.


If you don't have FTP access, you can access the InfoMac archives
by sending e-mail to the mirror archive kept on [e-mail].
Files must be requested by their (14 digit) number, so first send
a message containing only the line "get macfile listing" for a full
index, or ask for the most recent additions by sending "index newmac".


AUSTRALIA:

** archie.au ** (139.130.4.6)
AARNet Archive Server, Melbourne, Australia. Macintosh files are
in micros/mac. This site also mirrors sumex-aim.stanford.edu (look in
micros/mac/infomac) and mac.archive.umich.edu (look in micros/mac/umich).


JAPAN:

** utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp ** (133.11.11.11)
University of Tokyo archive site. Macintosh files are in pub/Mac.
This site also mirrors info-mac at sumex-aim.stanford.edu; check
the pub/Mac/info-mac directory.


[C] Vendor Information
----------------------

These vendors are either mentioned in this FAQ or provide products
relating to Macintosh networking. Neither the editor of this list
nor any of the contributors necessarily endorse any of the vendors
or their products. The following information is provided for your
convenience only.

Please bring any errors or additions to the attention of the editor.

Vendor                                  Contact Methods:
--------------------------------------- --------------------------------
Advanced Software Concepts              e-mail:
                                            [e-mail]
                                        anonymous FTP at 192.70.34.153

Alverson Software                       e-mail: [e-mail]

Apple Developers Association (APDA)     [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        MacTCP orders and information:
                                        [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA] [phone] {FAX}
                                        [CANADA] [phone]

Cayman Systems                          [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        anonymous FTP at ftp.cayman.com

Compatible Systems                      [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        anonymous FTP at ftp.compatible.com

Freesoft                                [USA] [phone]

Global Village                          [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        America Online: GlobalVill
                                        CompuServe: 75300,3473

Hayes                                   [USA] [phone]
                                        [CANADA] [phone]
                                        [USA/CANADA] (800) US-HAYES {BBS}
                                        [USA/CANADA] (404) HI-MODEM {BBS}
                                        [UK] 081-848-1858
                                        [UK] 081-569-1774 {BBS}
                                        [HK] 852-887-1037

Hyde Park Software (TriSoft)            [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]

ICE Engineering, Inc.                   [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]

InterCon Systems                        [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]

Mercury System, Inc.                    [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA[ [phone] (fax)

Pacer Software                          [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]

Seaquest Software                       [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        CompuServe: 73217,3460
                                        America Online: Seaquest1

Shiva                                   [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA] [phone] {BBS}
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]
                                        anonymous FTP at shiva.com

Smartcom (Hayes)                        [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA] (800) US-HAYES (BBS)

Software Ventures Corporation           [USA] [phone]
                                        e-mail: [e-mail]

Stalker Software                        [USA] [phone] (voice)
                                        [USA] [phone] (fax)
                                        [EUROPE] 49 221 442 138

Synergy Software                        [USA] [phone]

Webster Computer Corp.                  [AUSTRALIA] 61 3 764 1100

White Pine Software                     [USA] [phone]

ZyXEL                                   [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA] [phone]
                                        [USA] [phone] (BBS)
                                        [USA] [phone] (fax)
                                        [CANADA] [phone]
                                        [CANADA] [phone]

[D] Contributors
----------------

The editor of this FAQ would like to graciously thank all of the
following individuals who have contributed in some form or another
to the answers provided above, and to the many others who have
encouraged and corrected me along the way.

        Dave Alverson                   (ZTerm, Powerbooks)
        Steve Baumgarten                (Versaterm)
        Jack Brindle                    (BinHex, MacBinary)
        Eric Behr                       (MacTCP)
        Josh Cole                       (Networking, MacTCP, AppleDouble)
        Bill Coleman                    (Smartcom)
        Steve Dorner                    (Eudora, SLIP)
        Don Gilbert                     (SLIP)
        Tom Gewecke                     (European E-Mail, Archives)
        Elliotte Rusty Harold           (General, File Transfer Programs)
        Greg Kilcup                     (MacX, SLIP, CSLIP, PPP)
        Andy Y. A. Kuo                  (Networking)
        Peter N Lewis                   (General, FTPd)
        Bill MacGregor                  (MacTCP Name Resolution)
        Leonard Rosenthol               (General, StuffIt)
        Kevin Eric Saunders             (Comet)
        Eric P. Scott                   (General)
        Jon L. Spear                    (General, Baud Etymology)
        Werner Uhrig                    (Official Archive Site Maintainer)
        Rick Watson                     (MacSLIP)

================================================================================