CONTENTS ======== 1. Getting started 2. Finding out what's new 3. Finding a specific file 4. Directory structure 5. Mirror sites of Aminet 6. Accessing Aminet on the Internet 7. Accessing Aminet without Internet 8. Copyright status and disclaimer 9. Background information 1. Getting started ------------------ Welcome to Aminet. Aminet is a set of interconnected FTP sites and other file accessing services for Amiga software. It is structured differently from most other FTP sites so please read below instructions carefully. Even more important: Read new/README.BEFORE.UPLOAD before uploading anything, or your upload is in danger of being deleted. Wherever not mentioned otherwise, pub/aminet/ is the path for the files described. If you are new to FTP, you'll find most of your questions answered in the text info/start/FTP-Help.txt on wuarchive which is also posted to the newsgroup comp.sys.amiga.introduction bi-weekly. The text also covers how to transfer files to your home Amiga via other OSes. The archivers needed to unpack the files stored here can be found in util/arc/, the archivers themselves are self-extracting (in .run format) in most cases, ie. start them and they'll unpack automatically when you run them. The program to decompress the software on Aminet is util/arc/LhA_e138.run on wuarchive. (Many mirrors don't have it anymore since it's old). It's self-extracting, run it on an Amiga to decompress it. (If it doesn't run, type 'protect LhA_e138.run rwed' in the shell first). For PC's and Macs, check util/arc/msdos-lha.exe and util/arc/mac-lha.hqx respectively. For Windows have a look at util/arc/dz.exe . Files with .dms suffix can be unpacked using util/arc/dms111.run 2. Finding out what's new ------------------------- Once you're in pub/aminet/, you can receive the file RECENT for a list of the last seven day's uploads. The newest files are on the top of the list. In FTP, you can type 'get RECENT -' or 'get RECENT |more' to see the new files. Interesting files also found in CHARTS. Most index files include the file age in weeks. Once you see a file that interests you, cd to the appropriate directory and have a look at the according .readme file. There you'll usually find a more extensive description. Based on that you may choose to download the file (but never forget to type 'bin' in FTP before you start!). Also, a copy of all recent files can be found in the directory recent/. 3. Finding a specific file -------------------------- Before you start looking, you should be aware that not all Aminet sites are complete. Most delete older files. So if you don't find something at your 'home' mirror, use one of the big sites that keep everything online like us.aminet.net de.aminet.net or uk.aminet.net To do a search, download the file INDEX.Z, uncompress it and search for the name or description you've been looking for. Under UNIX, you'd hit CTRL-Z in FTP after the download, type 'zcat INDEX.Z | fgrep -i foo' in order to look for 'foo' and then type 'fg' to return to FTP. Note: Files with an asterisk * in front of the description are not available on that site, refer to one of the complete sites. You may use the version from info/index/ if your terminal is capable of showing more than 80 characters per line. This one doesn't truncate the short descriptions and includes an age column. Better search mechanisms exist through WWW, gopher and email (see below). If you don't find something, *don't* ask the admins to find it for you, we can't do more than you. If you were looking for something on Aminet but only found it elsewhere, please do everyone a favor and upload it to Aminet to make the file easier to find for the next ones. 4. Directory structure ---------------------- Sometimes you are looking for a certain category of file without knowing a name. You then best go by directory. The directories within /pub/aminet/ are: new/ New files, upload here. (See new/README.BEFORE.UPLOAD) priv/ Private uploads. (See new/README.BEFORE.UPLOAD) biz/ Business software hard/ Hardware related comm/ Communications info/ Site information demo/ Euro style demos misc/ Miscellaneous docs/ Text documents mods/ Music modules dev/ Developer software mus/ Music software disk/ Disk tools pix/ Pictures game/ Games software text/ Text related gfx/ Graphics software util/ Utilities A complete list of the sub-directories can be found in the file TREE. A local INDEX with descriptions is in each subdirectory, however it only lists the files that exist on that site, not the ones available elsewhere on Aminet. 5. Mirror sites --------------- These are the members of Aminet and have the files from here. All mirrors have the new files but most delete old files, see the Files column below to see how many files each mirror keeps. Whenever possible, use the mirror that is the closest to your place. Most mirrors are updated twice a day. Location Name Alias IP Files USA us.aminet.net ftp.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 ALL Germany de.aminet.net ftp.uni-paderborn.de 131.234.22.34 ALL UK uk.aminet.net sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk 193.63.255.4 ALL Italy it.aminet.net ftp.cised.unina.it 192.132.34.17 ALL Sweden se.aminet.net ftp.sunet.se 130.238.253.4 ALL Germany de2.aminet.net ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de 130.149.17.12 40000 Germany de3.aminet.net ftp.uni-erlangen.de 131.188.3.71 15000 Germany de4.aminet.net ftp.uni-trier.de 136.199.8.81 4000 Germany de5.aminet.net ftp.uni-bremen.de 134.102.228.2 5000 Germany de6.aminet.net ftp.uni-stuttgart.de 129.69.18.15 3000 Germany de7.aminet.net ftp.uni-regensburg.de 132.199.2.11 3000 Germany de8.aminet.net ftp.uni-kl.de 131.246.94.94 2000 Germany de9.aminet.net ftp.fh-augsburg.de 141.82.16.242 2000 Germany de10.aminet.net ftp.dosis.uni-dortmund.de 129.217.128.54 2000 Germany de11.aminet.net ftp.aachen.aminet.org 137.226.225.3 1000 France fr.aminet.net aminet.grolier.fr 194.158.96.22 ALL Sweden se2.aminet.net ftp.luth.se 130.240.16.39 15000 Croatia hr.aminet.net thphys.irb.hr 161.53.129.16 4000 Switzerland ch.aminet.net ftp.eunet.ch 146.228.10.11 2000 Denmark dk.aminet.net sunsite.auc.dk 130.225.51.30 2000 Ireland ie.aminet.net atlantis.ucc.ie 143.239.1.200 1000 Spain es.aminet.net ftp.gui.uva.es 157.88.36.190 1000 Poland pl1.aminet.net ftp.man.szczecin.pl 212.14.63.34 1000 Poland pl2.aminet.net ftp.ispid.com.pl 195.117.124.1 1000 6. Accessing Aminet on the Internet ----------------------------------- There are many other ways than FTP to access Aminet. On the Internet: - ADT. This is a front end for FTP that allows easy access to Aminet. Get it from misc/unix/adt.c and compile it on your UNIX box by typing 'sh adt.c' - WWW. Mosaic or Lynx are a very decent way to access Aminet. Try the URLs http://us.aminet.net/aminet , http://de.aminet.net/aminet or http://uk.aminet.net/~aminet , where you can also find pointers to other Aminet sites with WWW support. - Telnet. uk.aminet.net strikes again. You can telnet there and log in as 'sources', which gives you a UNIX account where you can download the files on src using commands like 'sz' and 'kermit', or just browse around. - NFS. NFS mounting of the archive is possible at ftp.wustl.edu (see ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/README.NFS for details), at sunsite.auc.dk (see http://sunsite.auc.dk/SunSITE/access.html for details), at ftp.uni-stuttgart.de (path /serv/serv/pub/systems/amiga/aminet) and at ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de (path /export/mdd10/ftp/pub/aminet). - Samba. Use 'net use x: \\dk.aminet.net\ftp' to access to the Danish mirror using Windows file sharing. - Finger. To find out what's been uploaded to Aminet within the last week, enter 'finger -l aminet@us.aminet.net' 7. Accessing Aminet without Internet ------------------------------------ - CD-ROM. More than 20 Aminet CDs are available from Stefan Ossowski, Germany (stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de) or Fred Fish (orders@amigalib.com). The CD costs DM 25 or US$ 18. For more info check www.schatztruhe.de or www.ninemoons.com . - Get internet access. Certainly the most comfortable way to access Aminet but sometimes expensive. - Aminet mailserver. The Aminet mail server can do various things for you, like doing finds and accepting uploads, but it does not send out binaries. Send HELP to aminet-server@wuarchive.wustl.edu to find out more. - Bin mailserver. The Aminet site src.doc.ic.ac.uk has an email server that sends out uuencoded binaries. Send a message with HELP in the body to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk or ftpmail@ftp.luth.se . You can also use ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com to retrieve files from any Aminet site, but please use an American one to save bandwidth. Send HELP there for information, too. Germans try ftp-mail@uni-paderborn.de or mail-server@cs.tu-berlin.de, Canadians send HELP to MRCserv@MtRoyal.AB.CA and Italias have a look at ftpmail@ftp.unina.it - Modem. The following BBSes carry up-to-date Aminet files. Most have more phone numbers than we can mention here, call to see a list of the others. Also, many offer their files in ZConnect format. The list is sorted by phone number. Country Name FIDO Phone ISDN ------- ---- ---- ----- ---- USA (MS) The Gateway 1:3604/60 (+1)601 374 2697 USA (CA) Heavy Metal 1:202/1112 (+1)619 232 4919 USA (NC) The C: Dir (+1)919 787 6211 Canada RCN Networks (+1)418 653 3099 Canada TunnelVisio 1:153/910 (+1)604 535 9826 Canada MidnightMag (+1)905 796 2931 France Ramses 2:320/104 (+33)1 45845623 Italy Amiga Pro (+39)49 604488 Italy Glass Globe 2:332/118 (+39)577 959054 Italy SpeedOfLife 2:335/533 (+39)931 833773 Switzerland Amiga Micro 2:301/819 (+41)1 3001008 (+41)1 3001009 Switzerland Helvetica 2:301/723 (+41)1 3201781 (+41)1 3201777 Switzerland Dolphins (+41)1 8450936 (+41)1 8846028 Switzerland AmiCall 2:301/722 (+41)1 9804297 Switzerland Turicum (+41)1 9918501 (+41)1 9918503 Switzerland Dive-Inn 2:301/325 (+41)22 7518103 (+41)22 7518105 Switzerland Alphanet (+41)38 414081 Switzerland LogicPalace 2:301/706 (+41)31 7320051 (+41)31 7320044 Switzerland LINKSys (+41)61 3215643 (+41)61 3832007 Switzerland AUGS BBS (+41)62 7945041 (+41)62 7945049 Austria Amiga World 2:310/72 (+43)1 5044269 (+43)1 5047701 UK Elevate 2:251/18.0 (+44)1329 319028 UK Chaos Engin 2:259/15.0 (+44)1346 510727 UK Punters P. 2:250/361.0 (+44)1943 864070 UK Borg Homew. 2:250/344.0 (+44)113 2253772 Sweden Fabbes BBS (+46)13 175065 (+46)13 145066 Germany Surprise (+49)201 329761 (+49)201 8315005 Germany Art-Line (+49)202 596003 (+49)202 2546013 Germany T.O.M. (+49)202 595267 Germany Pleasure (+49)203 431366 Germany SMachine (+49)203 4061447 (+49)203 9940127 Germany Grisubox (+49)2065 24447 Germany Karma Designs (+49)208 670722 (+49)208 628951 Germnay Golden Gate (+49)2041 262769 Germany Future Line (+49)2041 686829 Germany Blue Moon (+49)2065 66407 Germany Waldspecht (+49)208 202509 (+49)208 851334 Germany TrkPool (+49)208 851476 (+49)208 851475 Germany Hardy Box (+49)2131 101990 (+49)2131 167212 Germany Delvinor (+49)2131 549457 (+49)2131 951253 Germany Newswire (+49)2154 5011 Germany Debuwi (+49)2236 83233 Germany Candys --- (+49)221 462138 Germany Darkness (+49)2273 1096 (+49)2273 910062 Germany X-RAY (+49)228 455893 Germany CBonn (+49)228 666588 Germany SID (+49)231 448496 Germany Blanker (+49)231 815739 (+49)231 9812094 Germany Fantasie (+49)2381 675700 Germany Stingray (+49)2385 6542 (+49)2385 910031 Germany Stardate (+49)251 262506 Germany ASBM (+49)251 791650 Germany Circus (+49)281 24001 Germany AMBO (+49)30 3739293 (+49)30 37401021 Germany TERM (+49)30 4537288 (+49)30 45470171 Germany Quick (+49)40 5479638 Germany ITHH (+49)40 6064098 (+49)40 60680341 Germany DOOM (+49)4223 8355 (+49)4223 95004 Germany Flight (+49)4442 72138 (+49)4442 920362 Germany Nexus-I (+49)5242 42065 Germany Black-Z (+49)6142 46278 (+49)6142 924080 Germany 48'er 2:2468/6020 (+49)6203 180293 Germany WestCoast 2:2468/9718.0 (+49)6221 761304 Germany RudisBox (+49)6253 86677 (+49)6253 972100 Germany HIT (+49)681 399426 (+49)681 372552 Germany Groenland (+49)6824 8444 Germany Titan (+49)6826 800391 Germany ***elOutside (+49)6838 84739 Germany BrainWave 2:246/2006.0 (+49)7071 78729 (+49)7071 971213 Germany DALLAS-BBS (+49)711 588146 (+49)711 5719063 Germany Amiga Univ. 2:246/1416.0 (+49)7195 920677 (+49)7195 940130 Germany Amiga Inside2:2476/539.0 (+49)721 841292 Germany Uplink 2:246/2320 (+49)751 96217 (+49)751 793316 Germany Fairytale 2:246/2300 (+49)7541 24362 (+49)7541 930232 Germany Melting Point 2:2476/825 (+49)7663 50103 (+49)7663 912013 Germany Predator 2:2490/1140 (+49)9131 14439 Germany LSD (+49)9133 9591 Germany Turtle 2:2490/1092 (+49)911 3241044 (+49)911 3241055 Germany Lizard (+49)911 476948 Germany Incubus (+49)931 781464 (+49)931 7900200 Australia Continental (+61)2949 4256 Australia 1990 Multi 3:690/758.0 (+61)9370 3333 Japan NIFTY-Serve (+81)3 5710 6400 - Anonymous UUCP. In Germany, you can access the Aminet files at the phone numbers of Brainwave BBS (see above) using the following entry. Download the file "Aminet:INFO" for more information. anarchy Any SER 38400 ATD BBS. ..\c ogin: uanon sword: uanon In Switzerland you can use the Alphanet BBS, ~/archives/aminet, with the login nuucp. - FIDO. If you want to file-request Aminet files, you can do so by requesting the file INFO from 2:246/2006.0. The BBSes which have a FIDO node number mentioned above allow file requests. - Mailing lists. If you want to get the list of new uploads mailed every week, send a mail with 'SUBSCRIBE aminet-weekly Your Name' in the body to listproc@mail.wustl.edu or if you want daily updates, just use 'SUBSCRIBE aminet-daily' instead. Replace 'Your Name' with your real name, of course. Keep the welcome mail in case you forget how to unsubscribe and for the password you get. - Usenet. A list of recent uploads is posted every week to the newsgroups comp.sys.amiga.misc and de.comp.sys.amiga.archive. - EZINFO. This is an internet BBS in Switzerland. Here you can download by Kermit or ZMODEM, but you need to be verified to become user. Modem dial 01 251 20 02, then type 'telnet b050' to connect to EZINFO. Also try telnet kometh.ethz.ch and 'call b050' from internet. - Aminet-on-disk. You can order single Aminet files (3 DM per disk) or per-directory subscriptions (2 DM per disk) from Martin Schulze, Parkstr. 14, 66806 Ensdorf, Germany. Phone: +49 (0) 6831 506171, email masc@coli.uni-sb.de . Send 3 DM in stamps or $2 to get an index disk with instructions. Aminet-on-disk is available on Amiga-Floppy (880k: 3DM, 1.76MB: 5DM), SyQuest 88/105/270MB and 128MB-Magneto-Optical. (DM 0.40 per Megabyte without media costs) 8. Copyright status and disclaimer ---------------------------------- While the files from Aminet are freely distributable, the collection is Copyright 1995 Urban D. Mueller. Making a CD-ROM with files from this collection or mirroring it on a regular basis requires permission from the administrators. That permission will be granted to mirrors if they provide an upload facility. If you as an uploader do not like this policy, don't upload or have your uploads removed. The policy is subject to change without notice. The administrators of Aminet give no warranties concerning the files stored. Use at your own risk. Specifically, we cannot guarantee that the programs are virus-free, uncorrupted, freely distributable or even useful in any way, although we do our best to ensure the above. 9. Background information ------------------------- - History Aminet was founded by members of ICU (computer science students' club) in Zurich, Switzerland, using an A3000UX donated by Commodore Switzerland. In the beginning it was one FTP site among many, but when the formerly biggest site (ab20.larc.nasa.gov) shut down, people started adopting amiga.physik as the replacement. In order to share the burden both performance- and network load wise, two mirror sites were installed. The new 1GB harddisk donated by Walnut Creek and the user community allowed us to keep all old files, while at the same time number of mirror FTP sites increased constantly to currently 30. Today, Aminet is the leading Internet source for Amiga software, giving authors a far-reaching distribution medium and the user community a place to look for both new and old freely distributable software. - Contact addresses Please direct reports about corrupt, illegal or infected files immediately to aminet@ftp.wustl.edu (do not rely on someone else doing it!). People who report a copyrighted file on Aminet usually get a free CD. For problems local to one mirror, check the local README's to find out about the admin there. Some of the the people involved: Moderators Urban D. Mueller umueller@aminet.net Matthias Scheler mscheler@aminet.net Default contact address: aminet@aminet.net We hope you enjoy the service.