"Talk to TV producers who've tried for the past 20 years to get their ideas and programs through the cable industry's gate. It's roughly akin to picnicking with a tiger. You might enjoy the meal, but the tiger always eats last." -- Robert Kavner, 1/6/94. [HOTT, 1/26/94.]

A list of 230 sites publishing CS tech reports may be FTP'd as sites-list-data from pub/techreports/sites on ftp.rdt.monash.edu.au. To keep abreast of such things, sign up with [email protected]. [[email protected], comp.answers, 3/9/94.]

To set up a gopher, FTP your platform's binaries from pub/gopher on boombox.micro.umn.edu. Two configuration files may need minor changes, mostly for aesthetics or to point to source files. Unix-based installations are the best documented, but all are easy. [Roger Melvin ([email protected]), PACS-L, 3/14/94.] For help, join comp.infosystems.gopher, gopher-news @boombox.micro.umn.edu, or [email protected] (for library gophers). [Andrea L. Duda ([email protected]).] There is also a gopher-faq in /pub/usenet/news.answers on rtfm.mit.edu. For other server types, see comp.infosystems and its www, wais, and gis sub-groups. [Bruce Gilbert ([email protected]).]

World Wide Web (WWW) is based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language), an SGML subset permitting links to other Internet files and directories. You usually need to "mark up" text in HTML to display it in the Web. Mosaic is the best-known browser for the Web, but you can try an ASCII "line browser" by telnetting to info.cern.ch. [Richard Wojcik ([email protected]), LINGUIST, 3/16/94.] The FTP repository for browser software at info.cern.ch includes a hypertext browser/editor for NeXTStep 3.0. WWW documents can also be retrieved with a "send " message to [email protected]. [Marcus Speh ([email protected]), alt.uu.future, 3/14/94. net-hap.] If you have SLIP or PPP Internet access, you should download NCSA Mosaic for the Mac, Windows 3.1, or X windows from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu. The Mac requires System 7, 4MB RAM, and MacTCP 2.0.2. Windows needs at least a 386SX with 4MB RAM, but a 33MHz 486 with 8MB is recommended. Lynx, from pub/lynx on ftp2.cc.ukans.edu, supports a VT100 browser that doesn't display graphics and sounds -- although you can download them for use with other viewers. [Philip Resnik ([email protected]), LINGUIST, 3/16/94.] (In my area, SLIP is about $19.50/month and $2/hour from netcom.com.)

Stephen Spackman notes that WWW and Mosaic still have a few problems, at least from his location in Germany. File downloading and browsing are slow compared to background FTP and offline skimming. Delays are unpredictable, making it hard to do other work, and can exceed five minutes for a hyperlink click. Authors typically offer links of little relevance, and many links may take the reader to place already seen. There is also no way to know how much of a hypertext "document" you have explored. Following threads through hyperlinked documents only works if all machines in the path are up and the files have not been moved -- about a 50% chance. (Alternative paths to redundant servers are needed.) "Wait until after supper for best network performance, and bring a novel to your desk." [[email protected], LINGUIST, 3/21/94.]

ListProc software plus the ZMAILER Mail Transfer Agent (available free as /pub/zmailer.tar on cs.toronto.edu) can easily support many thousands of list subscribers on even a small Unix host. Other TCP/IP mailers are also supported. CREN has purchased the rights to ListProc, developed by Anastasios Kotsikonas ("Tasos"). Version 6.0c will remain free for non-commercial use, and newer versions will be free to non-profit CREN members. Departmental use will be encouraged. CREN also plans to develop Mac and Windows-based list management software, and the support of multimedia e-journals. [Marco Hernandez ([email protected]), unix-list, 3/18/94. net-hap.]

Want to run your own BBS? The FirstClass software for Mac servers works very well. GUI client software is available for Macs, X windows, Windows, and [soon] DOS; VT100 command-line access for other computers. It also offers Usenet newsgroups, but no RIP graphics. Roger Karraker uses FirstClass to serve hundreds of college students and 6th graders. SoftArc Inc. (Ontario); [email protected], 416-299-4723. [[email protected], online-news, 3/18/94.] (BMUG uses FirstClass to support thousands of members. If you're planning an Internet connection, though, it's easier to start with an Internet server than to gateway a BBS.)