7.1: THE ROBOTECH MAILING
LIST
7.1.1: What is it?
7.1.2: Brief list of useful
commands
7.1.3: Is there a digest
form of the list?
7.1.4: Is there an archive
for the list?
7.1.5: Are there any other
mailing lists I should know of?
7.2: THE INTERNET AND USENET
NEWS
7.2.1: What is the Internet?
7.2.2: What is News?
7.2.3: How can I get access
to News?
7.2.4: What newsgroups
would be of interest to me?
7.3: FTP Sites
7.3.1: What is FTP?
7.3.2: How do I use FTP?
7.3.3: What sites would
be of interest to me?
7.3.4: What does the *.gz
extension mean?
7.4: Web Pages
7.4.1: What is WWW, Mosaic,
and URLs? 7.4.2: What
pages would be of interest to me?
7.1: THE ROBOTECH MAILING LIST
7.1.1: WHAT IS IT?
As the name implies, the Robotech Mailing List is a mailing
list dedicated to discussion of all things related to Robotech.
The list is moderated, though the moderator will usually
not interfere with discussions unless a member of the list
become abusive or threatens the list's continuation by his
or her conduct. The list also has a much less "noise" (meaningless
posts) on it compared to alt.tv.robotech, due to the smaller
distribution and less members.
The Robotech Mailing List recently moved (June 1995) from
Georgia Tech to a new address. The new address and instructions
are listed below.
The rules of the list follow:
* RULES *
This is an unmoderated mailing list, so you're pretty
much free to post or say whatever you like, so long as it
relates in some way to Robotech. However, there are two
"house rules" that I ask everyone to follow:
- NO PUBLIC FLAMING. It's okay to disagree with other
people, but please keep personal insults and flammatory
material off the list. Posts like "John Doe is an ignorant
a**hole" and "stupid geeks get a life" are immature and
unacceptable. Repeat offenders will be barred from the
list.
- NO ENORMOUS POSTS. Stories and mecha designs are okay,
but very large postings like uuencoded GIFs and compressed
archives can fill up mail spools and cause important mail
to bounce. Also, very large posts have a tendency to play
havoc with the software that runs this list. In general,
if it's over 500 lines, you should get permission before
you try to send it.
7.1.2: BRIEF LIST OF USEFUL COMMANDS
To send something to the members of the mailing list,
mail it to:
robotech@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu
Your message will be automatically distributed to all
members of the mailing list.
You can also send certain commands directly to the mailing
list software, such as UNSUBSCRIBE and HELP. List commands
should be sent to the following address:
Majordomo@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu
To use a command, simply send mail to the above address
with the command in the body of the message. The commands
that are of most use are:
SUBSCRIBE Add your name to the mailing list. UNSUBSCRIBE
Remove your name from the mailing list. HELP Sends a copy
of the help file to your email address.
All commands are interpreted automatically and without
my supervision. If you have a problem with any of the commands,
please contact me immediately at ratinox@unilab.dfci.harvard.edU
7.1.3: IS THERE A DIGEST FORM OF THE LIST?
Yes, the new list software supports digests. To subscribe
to the digested mailing list, place the following command
in the body of your message:
subscribe robotech-digest
Send this command to the Majordomo address above, NOT
the list address.
7.1.4: IS THERE AN ARCHIVE FOR THE LIST?
Yes! The digests are archived until the list admin decides
to delete them to reclaim his hard drive space! ;) If you
want more info on downloading archived digests, email the
list admin at:
ratinox@unilab.dfci.harvard.edu
7.1.5: ARE THERE ANY OTHER MAILING LISTS I SHOULD KNOW
OF?
There is a mailing list dedicated to Palladium Books,
which by extension covers the Robotech RPG as well as Rifts
and Macross II. The address for the Palladium mailing list
is palladium@soda.cusa.berkeley.edu. To subscribe, send
email to palladium-request@soda.cusa.berkeley.edu with the
word SUBSCRIBE as your subject.
7.2: THE INTERNET AND USENET NEWS
7.2.1: WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
The Internet is a network of networks. There is no central
control, it is simply a set of specifications that a system
must conform to to send data to other sites. There is no
physical object that can be accurately called 'The Internet'.
7.2.2: WHAT IS NEWS?
News is more accurately called 'USEnet news'. USEnet is
not the same thing as Internet, however may users access
USEnet groups via the Internet. Again, there is no central
'USEnet authority', simply a set of rules and technical
specifications to be followed. USEnet news allows for public
discussion around the world by allowing users to 'post'
their comments to be read, and commented on, by others.
7.2.3: HOW CAN I GET ACCESS TO NEWS?
The undisputed *best* way is to have an account at a site
that carries USEnet news. If your current site doesn't carry
it, or has a poor interface, there are *many* commercial
or free sites that do. Check the PDIAL and Nixpub lists
to see if there is a site close to you. If you can't find
a site near you, or can't afford it, there are a few other
ways to go about it.
First, some groups have email echoes that you can subscribe
to to get the traffic. alt.tv.robotech does *not* have such
and echo, but the rec.arts.anime.* groups *do*.
These are the instructions to subscribe:
The address of the list is: anime-l@solaris.cc.vt.edu
To subscribe, send a message to: listproc@solaris.cc.vt.edu,
with the words "subscribe anime-l " as the body
of the message. The Subject line does not matter. This will
subscribe the address that you sent the message from to
the list. For more info, send a one-word message, "help",
to listproc@solaris.cc.vt.edu. There are several mailing
lists on that site, echoing the r.a.a.* groups: anime-l,
anime-info, and anime-stories, all @solaris.cc.vt.edu.
Last, there are apparently some Gopher servers out there
that allow users to read news. However, this is a cumbersome
setup and it doesn't allow for easy replies.
7.2.4: WHAT NEWSGROUPS WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ME?
7.3: FTP SITES
7.3.1: WHAT IS FTP?
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, it is a system
that allows you to grab files from special sites. There
are FTP sites for all kinds of topics, and several for anime
alone.
7.3.2: HOW DO I USE FTP?
Once you have an address for an FTP site, for example
130.215.24.1 /anime, you can FTP to that site. On most systems
that is accomplished by simply entering:
ftp address (ie ftp 130.215.24.1) at your prompt.
You will then connect to the site and be asked for your
name. Enter 'anonymous'. You will then be asked for a password.
Enter your full email address. You are then in the site.
In this case you would then 'cd /anime' to enter the anime
directory. You can list the files with the standard Unix
'ls' command.
To grab a file you use 'get filename'. If you wish to
grab a series of files, say all the files that start robotech.*,
you use 'mget robotech*'. If a site allows for uploads you
can use 'put' and 'mput' in the same way.
This is a sample run:
> ftp 130.215.24.1
Trying 130.215.24.1...
Connected to 130.215.24.1.
220 wpi.WPI.EDU FTP server (Version 4.185 Thu Sep 23 10:06:20 EDT 1993)
ready.
Name (130.215.24.1:megazone): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password:
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> cd /anime
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> ls robotech*
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls (0 bytes).
robotech.children.shadow.gz
robotech.liked.minmei.gz
robotech.misfold.1.gz
robotech.misfold.2.gz
robotech.misfold.3.gz
robotech.misfold.4.gz
robotech.misfold.5.gz
robotech.misfold.6.gz
robotech.orp.1.roll.call.gz
robotech.orp.2.soldiers.fortune.gz
robotech.skybeast.gz
226 Transfer complete.
remote: robotech*
432 bytes received in 0.22 seconds (1.9 Kbytes/s)
ftp> mget robotech.mis*
mget robotech.misfold.1.gz? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for robotech.misfold.1.gz (26521
bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: robotech.misfold.1.gz remote: robotech.misfold.1.gz
26613 bytes received in 0.17 seconds (1.5e+02 Kbytes/s)
mget robotech.misfold.2.gz? n
mget robotech.misfold.3.gz? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for robotech.misfold.3.gz (38410
bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: robotech.misfold.3.gz remote: robotech.misfold.3.gz
38542 bytes received in 0.21 seconds (1.8e+02 Kbytes/s)
mget robotech.misfold.4.gz? n
mget robotech.misfold.5.gz? n
mget robotech.misfold.6.gz? n
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.
> exit
If you are on a site that doesn't have FTP capability,
there are FTP-by-mail servers. These allow you to mail in
an FTP request and the server will grab the file for you,
and then mail it back. These are the instructions:
The address is ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
-- Help --
>>> $Id: help-text,v 1.7 1993/05/05 00:49:43 vixie Exp $
>>>
>>> ftpmail is not a supported service. From time to time it stops working;
>>> we will tend to it when we get the time. Outages of a week or more are
not
>>> abnormal.
>>> commands are:
reply set reply addr, since headers are usually wrong
connect [HOST [USER [PASS [ACCT]]]]
defaults to gatekeeper.dec.com, anonymous
ascii files grabbed are printable ascii
binary files grabbed are compressed or tar or both
chdir PLACE "get" and "ls" commands are relative to PLACE
(only one CHDIR per ftpmail session,
and it executes before any LS/DIR/GETs)
compress compress binaries using Lempel-Ziv encoding
compact compress binaries using Huffman encoding
uuencode binary files will be mailed in uuencode format
btoa binary files will be mailed in btoa format
chunksize SIZE split files into SIZE-byte chunks (def: 64000)
ls (or dir) PLACE short (long) directory listing
index THING search for THING in ftp server's index
get FILE get a file and have it mailed to you
(max 10 GET's per ftpmail session)
quit terminate script, ignore rest of mail message
(use if you have a .signature or
are a VMSMAIL user)
notes:
- you should send complaints to the ftpmail-admin address.
our postmaster does not handle ftpmail problems and you
can save her the trouble of forwarding your complaints
by just mailing them to the right address. the "ftpmail-request"
address is gone; don't use it.
- the "index" command depends on the "SITE EXEC INDEX"
feature of some ftp servers. Gatekeeper.dec.com originated
this feature, and ftp.uu.net duplicated it (with a format
change to the output, naturally). Wuarchive.wustl.edu
also has this feature, though their index seems to be
empty. The source for an ftpd that supports this feature
is on Gatekeeper.DEC.COM in /pub/DEC/gwtools.
- a password of "" or '' will be sent as a null string.
if you need this you will know it, if you don't, you won't.
- the "Subject:" of your request will be contained in
the "Subject:" of all of ftpmail's responses to you regarding
that request. You can therefore use it to "tag" different
requests if you have more than one outstanding at any
given time.
- you must give a "connect" command, default host is
gatekeeper.dec.com, default user is anonymous, default
password is your mail address with a hyphen prepended.
- binary files will not be compressed unless 'compress'
or 'compact' command is given; use this if at all possible,
it helps a lot. note that many files are already compressed.
if you use any of the binary-file qualifiers (compress,
compact, uuencode, btoa) without setting 'binary' first,
your session will abort in error.
- binary files will always be formatted into printable
ASCII with "btoa" or "uuencode" (default is "btoa"). if
you don't use the "binary" command, ftpmail will cheerfully
try to mail you the binary data, which will absolutely,
positively fail.
- all retrieved files will be split into chunks and mailed.
the size of the chunk is 64000 characters unless you change
it with the "chunksize" command. CompuServe users will
need to set this to 49000. there is no way to set it higher
than 100000, so please don't ask.
- if you ask for more than 10 files in a session, you
will receive an error message and your entire request
will be rejected.
- VMS/DOS/Mac versions of uudecode, atob, compress and
compact are available, ask your LOCAL wizard about them
if you can't locate them (but try gatekeeper.dec.com in
/archive/pub/VMS if you're still using a VMS system.)
- several mail unsplitters are hiding on gatekeeper.dec.com
in /pub/mail/ua/misc/unsplit. there is one in c, one in
perl, and one in VMS DCL.
- there is no way to request only certain parts of a
file and we do not plan to add one in the near future,
so please don't ask.
- there is no way to delete things from the queue or
to find out the status of things in the queue, and we
do not plan to add either feature in the near future,
so please don't ask.
>>> examples:
- connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get a root directory
listing:
connect
ls
quit
- connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the README.ftp
file:
connect
get README.ftp
quit
- connect to gatekeeper.dec.com and get the gnuemacs
sources:
connect
binary
uuencode
chdir /pub/GNU
get emacs-18.58.tar.Z
quit
- connect to ftp.uu.net as anonymous and get a root directory
list:
connect ftp.uu.net
binary
chdir /index/master
get by-name.Z
quit
7.3.3: WHAT SITES WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ME?
The following FTP sites may be of interest to Robotech
and Anime fans: Clicking on the site on the left will connect
you and place you in the directory on the right.
SITE FILES AVAILABLE DIRECTORY
---- --------------- ---------
ftp.std.com Robotech fanfiction /archives/anime-fan-works
ftp.tcp.com GIF/JPG Images /pub/anime-manga/sorted
Robotech Sounds /pub/anime-manga/sound
remus.rutgers.edu Robotech chronology /pub/anime/misc
Other Anime FAQs /pub/anime/faq
ftp.netcom.com Robotech Sounds & GIFs /pub/sapphire/robotech
ftp.csua.berkeley.edu Robotech RPG Stuff /pub/palladium/contrib
ftp.io.com Robotech RPG Stuff /pub/usr/deitrich
ftp.csc.ncsu.edu Robotech FAQ /pub/eos_users/r/rkswamy/www/
robotech.FAQ.txt
quest.newl.com Robotech Stuff /anime/robotech
7.3.4: WHAT DOES THE *.GZ EXTENSION MEAN?
.GZ stands for GNU Zip (abbreviated "gzip"), a compression
algorithm developed by the Free Software Foundation in Cambridge,
MA. Gzip can be used by Unix, MS-DOS, VMS, and Macintosh
computers (as well as other platforms). The following is
a list of sites and paths where utilities for uncompressing
.gz files can be found.
UNIX: prep.ai.mit.edu /pub/gnu/gzip-1.2.4.tar
MS-DOS: prep.ai.mit.edu /pub/gnu/gzip-msdos-1.2.4.exe
VMS: ftp.uu.net /pub/archiving/zip/VMS/gzip124x.vax.exe
MAC: mac.archive.umich.edu /mac/util/compression/macgzip0.22.cpt.hqx
7.4: Web Pages
7.4.1: WHAT IS WWW, MOSAIC, AND URLs?
WWW stands for "World Wide Web", sometimes called "WWW",
"W3", or just "the Web". WWW is the result of a network
project in distributed hypermedia systems started by CERN
in the late '80s and has gained tremendous popularity in
recent years. WWW stores information in documents called
"pages"; a page usually contains a single document containing
hypertext and images. Hypertext is text with pointers to
other text, which allow users to jump from text to text
based on references they want to follow. Since every WWW
page usually connects to dozens of other pages via hypertext
links, the entire network forms a humongous "web" of information
pages that stretches all over the world.
WWW pages are accessed using a "browser", like MOSAIC.
A browser is a program that can read pages, follow hypertext
links to other pages, and download information referenced
in pages upon command. Mosaic is a browser written by the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA),
located at the University of Illinois. It can be accessed
via anonymous ftp from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
Browsers access pages using a URL, or "Uniform Resource
Locator", which is a network address pointing to the desired
page. In order to view a page, you need to know the URL
of the page you are looking for. A typical URL looks like:
http://www.somewhere.edu
Where is the access method you are using to access
the file (http, ftp, telnet), is the name of the
site that has the page you are looking for, and is
the directory path to the file you want.
For more information on WWW, check out the World Wide
Web FAQ, routinely posted to newsgroups like comp.infosystems.www.users,
news.answers, and alt.hypertext.
7.4.2: WHAT PAGES WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ME?
The following URLs point to pages that may be of interest
to Robotech fans:
To conserve space (read I am lazy) other Robotech web
pages are listed at Ravi Swamy's Robotech Page.
Ravi
Swamy's Robotech Page http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/r/rkswamy/www/robotech.html
Peter
Fagan's Robotech Page http://www.paranoia.com/~theta-g/robotech.html
Dave
Deitrich's Third Invid War Page http://www.mcs.net/~deitrich/TIWinfo.html
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