How to Access Internet Services by E-mail
LEARN ALL ABOUT EMAIL
Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ.
https://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet-services/access-via-email/
http://archive.hmvh.net/txtfiles/interbbs/EMAILNET.TXT
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.
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, Archie, Veronica, Finger, Usenet, Whois, Netfind, WAIS, and the World-Wide Web but thought they were out of your reach because you don't have a direct connection.
Annonymous FTP FAQ + How to set up an (Anonymous) FTP server?
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.
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.
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: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk (for Europe, Asia, etc.)
Enter only this line in the BODY of the note:
send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt
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 the Web in HTML format at:
Accessing The Internet By E-mail FAQ Using email as your only
tool.
Guide to Offline Internet Access
Version 10.2 - April 04, 2002 From: Gerald E. Boyd <
gboyd@expita.com
> Newsgroups:
alt.internet.services
,
alt.online-service
,
alt.bbs.internet
,
comp.mail.misc
,
news.newusers.questions
Subject: Accessing the Internet by E-mail FAQ 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.
+--------------------------------------------------+
| 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:
https://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 S”lve 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.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.
Use a webmail server to retrieve specified web pages to read Usenet
at Mailgate --
http://www.mailgate.org/
3) 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
https://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
https://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
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/
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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.
Gerald E. Boyd <gboyd@expita.com>
Last Update June 15 2004 @ 00:27 AM