Subject: comp.sys.mac.comm Frequently Asked Questions [4/4] Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm,news.answers,comp.answers From: davido@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (David L. Oppenheimer) Date: Tue, 3 May 1994 12:41:43 GMT Archive-name: macintosh/comm-faq/part4 Last-modified: Tue May 03 1994 ================================================================================ [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 perhaps the best written and most popular e-mail program 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. Free and commercial versions of Eudora exist: (1/94) Eudora 1.3.1 (free) -- last version to work under System 6 & 7 Eudora 1.4.1 (free) -- System 7 only; expanded feature set Eudora 2.0.1 (pay) --- commericial version; even more features You can FTP the free versions of Eudora from ftp.qualcomm.com in mac/eudora. Please send all e-mail inquiries about Eudora to eudora-info@qualcomm.com . Qualcomm has said it will continue to release new versions. -> 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 -> 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 [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 , is a reasonably spiffy offline newsreader. The original intention was for rnMac to work in conjunction with UUPC and ToadNews (by John Mah ) 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. Development versions of NewsWatcher are generally made available for anonymous FTP from ftp.acns.nwu.edu in the directory pub/newswatcher. Contact: send e-mail to -> Nuntius is a thread-based, MacTCP-based NNTP news reader with a graphical Finder-like user interface. It is actively supported by its author. One nice feature of Nuntius is its ability to automatically extract binaries from selected threads. Nuntius is designed to be used with Eudora as its editor and mailer. Author: Peter Speck Contact: send e-mail to -> InterNews is described as "a Macintosh interface to the world of Usenet news". It is a relatively new but well-designed MacTCP-based NNTP client for the Macintosh. Subscriptions, newsgroups, and articles are organized and selectable via resizable and configurable panes. InterNews is free to users of educational and non-profit organizations; it is available for anonymous FTP at ftp.dartmouth.edu:/pub/mac. Commercial and government users are asked to purchase a license. -> TheNews is a shareware ($25) MacTCP-based NNTP news reader. You can respond to articles via a local SMTP server also. Author: Bill Cramer <70322.3412@compuserve.com> -> TCP/Connect II, from Intercon Systems, includes an NNTP based news reader, as well as e-mail (and other) facilities. -> VersaTerm-Link includes a NNTP based news reader, as well as e-mail 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 Brad Boyer ================================================================================ [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 mac@mac.archive.umich.edu 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 mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu 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 (image file) .gz Gnu zip archive file; MacGzip .hqx BinHex files; see [2.3], [3.7] .image Apple DiskCopy disk image file; see [2.5] .jpg JPEG image file, also .jpeg .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; MacGZip .z UNIX (gnu zip) 'gzip' archive file; MacGZip .zip MS-DOS PC archive file; ZipIt Abbrev- iation Description ------- ------------------------------------------------------ A/UX Apple Unix ADB Apple Desktop Bus AFE Apple File Exchange ARA Apple Remote Access (was AppleTalk Remote Access) bps bits per second CSL/IP Compressed SL/IP 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 SL/IP Serial Line Internet Protocol; also seen as SLIP 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 better -- 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 /systems/mac/info-mac/util as the binary file stuffit-expander-303.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) which is by far the best way to access it; see [8.1]. ** 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 macgifts@mac.archive.umich.edu (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/info-mac 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 listserv@ricevm1.rice.edu. 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 LISTSERV@ricevm1.rice.edu 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 fileserv@irlearn.ucd.ie. 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: adv.soft@applelink.apple.com anonymous FTP at 192.70.34.153 Alverson Software e-mail: davea@xetron.com Apple Developers Association (APDA) [USA] (408) 974 4667 e-mail: APDA@applelink.apple.com MacTCP orders and information: [USA] (800) 282-2732 [USA] (408) 562-3971 {FAX} [CANADA] (800) 637-0029 Cayman Systems [USA] (800) 473 4776 e-mail: info@cayman.com e-mail: sales@cayman.com anonymous FTP at ftp.cayman.com cc:Mail/Lotus Development [USA] (800) 448-2500 [Int'l] 011-44-784-455-445 e-mail: support@ccmail.com Compatible Systems [USA] (800) 356 0283 e-mail: support@compatible.com anonymous FTP at ftp.compatible.com Freesoft [USA] (412) 846-2700 Global Village [USA] (415) 390-8300 e-mail: GLOBALVILLAG@applelink.apple.com America Online: GlobalVill CompuServe: 75300,3473 Hayes [USA] (404) 441-1617 [CANADA] (519) 746-5000 [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 ICE Engineering, Inc. [USA] (313) 449-8288 e-mail: info@ice.com e-mail: time@ice.com InterCon Systems [USA] (800) 468-7266 (sales) [USA] (703) 709-5500 (sales) [USA] (703) 709-5520 (tech) e-mail: sales@intercon.com Mark/Space Softworks [USA] (408) 982-9781 (fax) [USA] (408) 982-9046 (bbs) e-mail: mspace@netcom.com America Online: MARKSPACE AppleLink: MARKSPACE anonymous ftp at netcom.com:pub/mspace Mercury System, Inc. [USA] (310) 553-0881 [USA[ (310) 553-1291 (fax) Pacer Software [USA] (619) 454-0565 e-mail: support@pacersoft.com QUALCOMM, Incorporated [USA] (800) 2-EUDORA [USA] (619) 587-1121 e-mail: eudora-hotline@qualcomm.com ftp: ftp.qualcomm.com [192.35.156.5] Seaquest Software [USA] (503) 531-0252 e-mail: seaquest1@aol.com e-mail: peterm@cs.pdx.edu CompuServe: 73217,3460 America Online: Seaquest1 Shiva [USA] (800) 458-3550 [USA] (617) 621-0190 {BBS} e-mail: info@shiva.com e-mail: sales@shiva.com e-mail: support@shiva.com anonymous FTP at shiva.com Smartcom (Hayes) [USA] (404) 441-1617 [USA] (800) US-HAYES (BBS) Software Ventures Corporation [USA] (510) 644-1325 e-mail: microphone@svcdudes.com Stalker Software [USA] (800) 262 4722 (voice) [USA] (408) 370 3170 (fax) [EUROPE] 49 221 442 138 StarNine Technologies [USA] (510) 649-4949 [USA] (510) 548-0393 (fax) e-mail: info@starnine.com Synergy Software [USA] (215) 779-0522 e-mail: D2296@appleLink.apple.com TriSoft (Hyde Park sales/support) [USA] (800) 531-5170 Webster Computer Corp. [AUSTRALIA] 61 3 764 1100 White Pine Software [USA] (603) 886-9050 ZyXEL [USA] (800) 255-4101 [USA] (714) 693-0808 [USA] (714) 693-0762 (BBS) [USA] (714) 693-8811 (fax) [CANADA] (416) 534-1508 [CANADA] (416) 534-1312 [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 not listed who have nonetheless encouraged and corrected me along the way. Dave Alverson (ZTerm, Powerbooks) Steve Baumgarten (Versaterm) Jack Brindle (BinHex, MacBinary) Eric Behr (MacTCP) Jim Browne (NCSA Telnet) Josh Cole (Networking, MacTCP, AppleDouble) Bill Coleman (Smartcom) Steve Dorner (Eudora, SL/IP) Don Gilbert (SL/IP) Tom Gewecke (European E-Mail, Archives) Elliotte Rusty Harold (General, File Transfer Programs) Greg Kilcup (MacX, CSL/IP, 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 (Macintosh Expert) Rick Watson (MacSLIP) ================================================================================