RFC 1689
A Status Report on Networked Information Retrieval: Tools and Groups
Pages: 226
FYI 25
FYI 25
Part 3 of 7 – Pages 70 to 99
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford and Augart, Steven Seger",
TITLE = "Prospero: A Base for Building Information
Infrastructure",
BOOKTITLE = "Proceedings of INET'93",
YEAR = 1993,
MONTH = "August"}
For the readers of this report, this is the first paper you probably
want to read about Prospero. This paper describes how Prospero can
be used to integrate internet information services, including
Gopher, WAIS, Archie, and World Wide Web. The paper was
presented at INET'93 in August.
Prospero:/papers/subjects/operating-systems/prospero/prospero-oir.ps.Z
Anonymous FTP: /pub/prospero/papers/prospero-oir.ps.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@ARTICLE{oir,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford",
TITLE = "Prospero: A Tool for Organizing {I}nternet Resources",
JOURNAL = "Electronic Networking: Research, Applications and
Policy",
MONTH = "Spring",
YEAR = 1992,
VOLUME = 2,
NUMBER = 1}
This is the first paper we give to more general computer science
audiences to read. It's also a good first paper to look at. It
gives a good overview of Prospero and what it does. It also
describes a bit about the Virtual System model, of which Prospero is
a prototype implementation. Describes what Prospero does, not how
it does it.
Anonymous FTP: /pub/prospero/papers/prospero-gfsvsm.ps.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@INPROCEEDINGS{gfsvsm,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford",
TITLE = "The {P}rospero {F}ile {S}ystem: A Global File System
based on the {V}irtual {S}ystem {M}odel",
BOOKTITLE = "Proceedings of the Workshop on File Systems",
YEAR = 1992,
MONTH = "May"}
This is a good third paper to read about Prospero. This one is
targeted more toward system implementors. It provides more
implementation details than the paper on organizing Internet
resources, but less of the vision of how Prospero can be used together
with other systems.
Prospero:
/papers/subjects/operating-systems/prospero/prospero-smlic.ps.Z
Anonymous FTP: /pub/papers/prospero/prospero-smlic.ps.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@INPROCEEDINGS{prosperosmlic,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford and Augart, Steven Seger and
Upasani, Shantaprasad",
TITLE = "Using Prospero to Support Integrated
Location-Independent Computing",
BOOKTITLE = "Proceedings of the Usenix Symposium on Mobile and
Location-Independent Computing",
YEAR = 1993,
MONTH = "August"}
This paper describes how the Prospero Directory Service can be used to
solve the server selection problem and the user location problem. The
paper was presented in August at the Usenix Symposium on Mobile
and Location-Independent Computing.
Anonymous FTP: /pub/prospero/papers/UW-CS-89-01-07.PS.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@TECHREPORT{vsmldos,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford",
TITLE = "The {V}irtual {S}ystem {M}odel for Large Distributed
Operating Systems",
INSTITUTION = "Department of Computer Science, University of
Washington",
YEAR = 1989,
MONTH = "April",
NUMBER = "89-01-07"}
This describes the initial vision for the Virtual System
Model, the model on which Prospero is based. Much of the material in
this paper appears in greater detail in other papers.
Anonymous FTP: /pub/prospero/papers/UW-CSE-90-05-01.PS.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@TECHREPORT{vsmtp,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford",
TITLE = "The {V}irtual {S}ystem {M}odel: A Scalable Approach
to Organizing Large Systems (A Thesis Proposal)",
INSTITUTION = "Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
University of Washington",
YEAR = 1990,
MONTH = "May",
NUMBER = "90-05-01"}
for a long time this was the best description of Prospero, but
all the information in this document appears in more recent papers and
the dissertation itself.
Anonymous FTP: /pub/prospero/papers/prospero-closure.ps.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@ARTICLE{nfclosure,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford",
TITLE = "The Need for Closure in Large Distributed Systems",
JOURNAL = "Operating Systems Review",
MONTH = "October",
YEAR = 1989,
VOLUME = 23,
NUMBER = 4,
PAGES = "28--30"}
This paper describes the reasons that operating systems need to
support closure, that is they need to make it clear which name space
is to be used when resolving names. While closure is one of the
important features of Prospero, the concept should be applied in other
operating systems too.
Prospero:
/papers/subjects/operating-systems/prospero/prospero-neuman-thesis.ps.Z
Anonymous FTP: /pub/prospero/papers/prospero-neuman-thesis.ps.Z
(POSTSCRIPT)
@PHDTHESIS{phdneuman,
AUTHOR = "Neuman, B. Clifford",
TITLE = "The {V}irtual {S}ystem {M}odel: A Scalable Approach
to Organizing Large Systems",
SCHOOL = "University of Washington",
MONTH = "June",
YEAR = 1992,
NOTE = "Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Technical Report 92-06-04"}
This is Clifford Neuman's Ph.D. Dissertation. It is currently the
definitive work on Prospero and the Virtual System Model. Includes
an obsolete version of the Prospero User's Manual and of the Prospero
Protocol Specification.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Information:
We provide three documented library interfaces to Prospero in order to
make client writing easy.
The PFS and PCOMPAT libraries are documented in the library reference manual. The PFS library allows one to directly make Prospero requests and parse the results and to manipulate Prospero objects as abstractions. The PCOMPAT library is an interface to the PFS library which uses the same interface as the UNIX filesystem; one can link many existing programs with the PCOMPAT library in order to get it to resolve names in the Prospero namespace. It is not as portable as the PFS library and does not provide as much functionality. The third library interface is the menu-browser API library. It is documented in the menu-based browser API manual and is used by our menu-based browser. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
VERONICA
Date template updated or checked: 28 February, 1994
By: Name: Steven Foster
Email address: foster@veronica.scs.unr.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NIR Tool Name: veronica
Brief Description of Tool:
veronica: Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized
Archives.
veronica is the comprehensive title-index of the world's gopher
servers. Because of veronica, the Gopher web is a search-and-
retrieval system as well as a browsing system. veronica is popular
because the ubiquitous Gopher client can both access the search
server, and provide immediate access to the discovered resources.
Taking advantage of Gopher's linked menus, and of the policy of open
access at most gopher sites, veronica finds and indexes almost all
items on publicly-accessible gopher servers.
As of February, 1994, veronica holds indexes to more than 3200 gopher
servers on approximately 2500 internet hosts. In February 1994 the
public-access veronica sites served an estimated 1,200,000 queries.
Most queries are resolved in less than twenty seconds. Eight server
sites offer searches to the internet community, and several other
institutions run servers for internal access.
veronica is easily accessed via any Gopher client. It offers various
types of searches, ranging from single-keyword searches to boolean
queries of indefinite complexity.
A veronica search originates with a user's request for a search,
submitted from a gopher client. The searches may include boolean
operators ( AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses ) and several options to
control the number of items returned, and to restrict the search to
certain gopher types. The result of a veronica search is a set of
gopher-type data items, which is returned to the gopher client as a
gopher menu. Each item on this menu contains the user's desired
keyword or keywords in the item title.
The user can access any of the gopher items by selecting from the
returned menu. Items on this menu may be drawn from many gopher
servers. Because veronica is accessed through gopher clients, it
provides immediate access to all types of data supported by the
gopher protocol and the client implementation.
The veronica service comprises two functions:
1) Harvesting menu data from gopher servers, and preparing it for
use;
2) Offering searches of that database to gopher clients.
These two functions are not necessarily provided by the same host
computer. Currently collection and preparation of data are done at
University of Nevada, and datasets are distributed to the other
veronica servers.
The veronica service infrastructure has been fairly stable since
July, 1993, with eight server sites offering searches for the
internet community (March 1994). These servers are supported by the
participating institutions: NYSERNET, PSI, SERRA, CNIDR, University
of Koeln, SUNET, University of Bergen and the University of Nevada
System Computing Services. Several additional servers offer searches
with access limited to internal users; in this class are servers at
MSU, SUNET, and the Australian University system.
An auxiliary tool to build a locally held menu of Public available
has been created. Called "maltshop", it has been distributed since
January, 1994. It appears that maltshop is rapidly being accepted,
but its long-term effect on loading of the servers may be
problematic.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Contact(s):
Name: veronica development team
Email address: veronica@veronica.scs.unr.edu
Postal Address: VERONICA development team
SCS Computer Center Building mailstop 270
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno,
NV 89557-0023
Telephone: +1-702-784-4292 or +1-702-784-6557
Fax: +1-702-784-1108
Name: Fred Barrie
Email address: barrie@cs.unr.edu
Postal Address: SCS Computer Center Building mailstop 270
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno,
NV 89557-0023
Telephone: +1-702-784-4292 or +1-702-784-6557
Fax: +1-702-784-1108
Name: Steven Foster
Email address: foster@nevada.edu
Postal Address: SCS Computer Center Building mailstop 270
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno,
NV 89557-0023
Telephone: +1-702-784-4292 or +1-702-784-6557
Fax: +1-702-784-1108
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Line:
Name: veronica development team
Email address: veronica@veronica.scs.unr.edu
Telephone: no telephone support available
Level of support offered: all users
Hours available: irregular response latencies to email queries,
based on schedule of developers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Working Groups: GOPHER, FACETS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsoring Organisation / Funding source:
University and Community College System of Nevada Computer Services,
and University of Nevada, Reno. Additional support has been
provided by CNIDR, Pandora Systems, Inc., and Pacific Bell Co.
Server hosts have been provided by the sites listed above in
the Description section.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailing Lists:
Address: gopher-news@boombox.micro.umn.edu
Address: veronica-news@veronica.scs.unr.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
News groups:
Name: veronica discussion happens on comp.infosystems.gopher
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Protocols:
What is supported: Gopher protocol, Gopher+ protocol
What it runs over: TCP
Other NIR tools this interworks with: Gopher, WAIS, ftp
Future plans: Implement extensions with Gopher+.
Support for URN/URL standards.
Per-site updates of indexes.
Subject-area-specific indexes.
Indexes for USENET news and LISTSERV articles.
Automated server load-levelling.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Servers:
Date completed or updated: February 28, 1994
By: Name: Steven Foster
Email address: foster@nevada.edu
Platform: UNIX
Primary Contact:
Name: veronica development team
Email address: veronica@veronica.scs.unr.edu
Telephone: +1-702-784-4292 or +1-702-784-6557
Server software available from:
Via ftp: veronica.scs.unr.edu
veronica-code/
veronica-data/
veronica-data.tar.Z
Location of more information:
Via Gopher: veronica.scs.unr.edu
veronica/
veronica-faq
how-to-compose-veronica-queries
Via Gopher: gopher.cnidr.org
veronica
veronica-faq
how-to-compose-veronica-queries
Via ftp: veronica.scs.unr.edu
veronica-code/
veronica-docs/
Latest version number: 0.6.5
Next planned version: 0.7b (March 1994)
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
Two modules: a data-collection module and a data-server module.
1. Data-collector runs on any Unix computer that does TCP
and compiles perl. This has not been distributed yet.
Data collection, data preparation, and indexing are being
done at veronica.scs.unr.edu. The harvester "walks" all
advertised gopher servers, and any newly-discovered servers.
Almost all redundant links are removed, leaving the
( hopefully ) canonical reference for each item.
Indexes are built at Nevada, and the indexed dataset is
distributed to server sites.
2. Server module.
Servers run on unix computers and answer to gopher-type-7
requests. Boolean keyword logic is implemented. See file
"how-to-compose-veronica-queries". Several options allow
retrieval of items with specified gopher-types, retrieval
of a file of links containing the search results, and
override for the default limit on number of results returned,
which is 200 items.
Server software runs on most flavors of unix, requires dbm
and perl, and requires about 1.4 GB of data on disk, with
considerable /tmp space available.
Server software is available to any site which wants to run
a server. Server sites are encouraged to offer the service
to the net at large.
Approximate number of such servers in use: twelve.
Auxiliary tool: Maltshop v. 0.2d
Maltshop builds a menu of Public Gopher Servers for the local
gopher menu.
Maltshop software available from:
Via ftp: veronica.scs.unr.edu
veronica-code/
menu-builder-0.2d
Via Gopher: veronica.scs.unr.edu, port 70
11/Search ALL of Gopherspace
12/Script to automate your local
Veronica menu
General comments:
Basic veronica service has been fairly stable since July 1993.
Indexing is quite efficient, and most queries are resolved in ten
seconds or quicker. More than 1,000,000 queries were resolved in
February, 1994.
Though veronica is well-accepted at this level of service, we are
undertaking significant upgrade efforts during Winter 93-94.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Clients:
Date completed or updated: October 19, 1993
By: Name: Steven Foster
Email address: foster@nevada.edu
Platform: veronica is accessed through any of the
gopher clients.
Primary Contact: As for gopher clients.
Client software available from: As for gopher clients.
Location of more information:
Via Gopher: gopher.tc.umn.edu, port 70
1/Information About Gopher
Future plans: veronica will interoperate with Gopher+
clients, allowing queries to be
composed by ASK blocks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Demonstration sites:
Site name: UCCSN veronica server
Access details: gopher to veronica.scs.unr.edu, port 70.
Open "veronica" folder; choose one of
the search types available.
Site name: University of Minnesota Gopher server
Access details: gopher to gopher.tc.umn.edu, port 70.
Other Gopher and Information Servers
Search Gopherspace with veronica.
choose one of the search types available.
Site name: NYSERNET veronica server
Access details: gopher to nysernet.org, port 70.
Open "Search the Internet" folder;
choose one of veronica searches.
Site name: SERRA veronica server
Access details: gopher to gopher.unipi.it, port 70.
Open "University of Pisa - Services" folder;
choose the veronica search.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation:
Document Title: veronica FAQ: Common Questions and answers
about veronica, a title search and retrieval
system for use with the internet gopher.
Location details:
Via Gopher:
Site: veronica.scs.unr.edu, port 70.
veronica
veronica FAQ
Full file name: veronica-faq
Site: gopher.micro.umn.edu, port 70.
Other Gopher and Information services
Search Gopherspace with veronica
veronica FAQ
Full file name: veronica-faq
Site: gopher.cnidr.org, port 70.
veronica
veronica FAQ
Full file name: veronica-faq
Via anonymous ftp:
Site: veronica.scs.unr.edu
veronica-docs/veronica-faq
Document Title: How to Compose veronica Search Queries.
Location details:
Via Gopher:
Site: veronica.scs.unr.edu, port 70.
veronica
How to Compose veronica Search Queries.
Full file name: how-to-query-veronica
Site: gopher.cnidr.org, port 70.
veronica
How to Compose veronica Search Queries.
Full file name: how-to-query-veronica
Via anonymous ftp:
Site: veronica.scs.unr.edu
veronica-docs/how-to-query-veronica
Document Title: About veronica.
Location details:
Via Gopher:
Site: veronica.scs.unr.edu, port 70.
veronica
About veronica
Full file name: veronica-about
Site: gopher.micro.umn.edu, port 70.
Other Gopher and Information services
Search Gopherspace with veronica
About veronica
Full file name: veronica-about
Site: gopher.cnidr.org, port 70.
veronica
About veronica
Full file name: veronica-about
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bibliography: none =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
WAIS (WAIS, Inc.)
Date template updated or checked: 1 March 1994
By: Name: Nathaniel Lee
Email address: than@wais.com
freeWAIS (CNIDR)
Date template updated or checked: 1 March 1994
By: Name: Jane Smith and Jim Fullton
Email address: Jane.Smith@CNIDR.org and Jim.Fullton@CNIDR.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NIR Tool Name: WAIS
Brief Description of Tool:
WAIS - The Wide Area Information Servers system - is an electronic
publishing software set which allows you to search out and retrieve
multimedia information from databases anywhere in the world. WAIS
databases may be accessed by WAIS, gopher, and WWW clients (such as
Mosaic), and via online services such as Delphi and America OnLine.
WAIS software includes user interfaces for most platforms, and server
software that provides automatic indexing of databases.
WAIS was developed by Thinking Machines Corporation of Cambridge,
Massachusetts in collaboration with Apple Computer, Inc., Dow Jones &
Company, and KPMG Peat Marwick. With over 100 databases and 5,000
users worldwide, WAIS is rapidly becoming a standard for information
distribution within the Internet environment.
WAIS is a client-server application. Most of the clients remain
freely available with a few exceptions. WAIS, Inc. develops and
sells commercial versions of WAIS and the Clearinghouse for Networked
Information Discovery and Retrieval (CNIDR) develops freeWAIS, a
version free for distribution and use. A few freely distributable
versions remain available from Thinking Machines, Inc. and other
organizations.
What does WAIS do?
WAIS allows multimedia information to be stored anywhere on any
platform. Using your interface of choice, WAIS enables you to
find personal, corporate and public information. The information
is accessible regardless of format: text, formatted documents,
pictures, spreadsheets, graphics, sound, or video.
WAIS recognizes natural language queries. The search and retrieval
of relevant information is made using your native language. To
date, we have used English, French, Italian, and Latin! The most
relevant documents, regardless of size, can be sent back to the
server in their entirety to further refine your search (telling
the server, "Find me more like this document.") Proven searches
can be automatically repeated, monitoring and alerting you to new
information as it becomes available.
How does WAIS work?
WAIS uses a single computer-to-computer protocol (NISO Z39.50-
1988). Each WAIS server reads your question and based on its
words, searches the full text of the database for the most
relevant documents, and ranks them using automatic word weighting.
Servers need not fully understand your query; the retrieval
process is based on a search method called relevance feedback.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Contact(s) (WAIS, Inc.):
Name: Than Lee
Email address: info@wais.com
Postal Address: 1040 Noel Drive, Suite 102, Menlo Park CA 94025
(USA)
Telephone: +1-415-617-0444
Fax: +1-415-327-6513
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Contact(s) (CNIDR):
Name: George Brett
Email address: George.Brett@CNIDR.org
Postal Address: 3021 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park
NC 27709 (USA)
Telephone: +1-919-248-1499
Fax: +1-919-248-1101
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Line (WAIS, Inc.):
Name:
Email address: support@wais.com
Telephone:
Level of support offered: commercial customers only
Hours available: anytime
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Line (CNIDR):
Name: Kevin Gamiel
Email address: Kevin.Gamiel@CNIDR.org
Telephone: +1-919-248-1499
Level of support offered: developers only
Hours available: 9-5 EST
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Working Groups (WAIS, Inc.):
Z39.50 protocol group
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Working Groups (CNIDR):
NISO: Z39.50 Implementor's Group (ZIG)
IETF: IIIR (Integrating Internet Information Resources) Working Group
URI (Uniform Resource Identifiers) Working Group
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsoring Organisation / Funding source (WAIS, Inc.):
WAIS, Inc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsoring Organisation / Funding source (CNIDR):
National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement MCNC University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill Other U.S. Government agencies
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailing Lists (WAIS, Inc. and CNIDR):
Address: wais-discussion@wais.com
Administration: wais-discussion-request@wais.com
Description: Moderated, digested biweekly posting about WAIS
and Electronic publishing subjects. Please
submit interesting material.
Archive: /pub/mail-archives/wais-discussion/issue-*@wais.com
and wais-discussion-archive WAIS server
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mailing Lists (WAIS, Inc. and CNIDR):
Address: wais-talk@wais.com
Administration: wais-talk-request@wais.com
Description: Implementors forum on WAIS/freeWAIS. This is
for talking about nitty gritty details of
protocols and implementations.
Archive: /pub/mail-archives/wais-talk@wais.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
News groups (WAIS, Inc. and CNIDR):
Name: comp.infosystems.wais
Description: Variable quality information on WAIS/freeWAIS.
Archive: wais-talk-archive WAIS server
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Protocols (WAIS, Inc. and CNIDR):
What is supported: z39.50-1988
What it runs over:
The freeware runs over tcp/ip. Production versions have worked
over x.25 and modems as well.
Other NIR tools this interworks with:
Gopher and WWW have been used as front ends to WAIS.
Future plans:
freeWAIS: Z39.50-1992 compliance, search engine independence
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Servers (WAIS, Inc.): Connection Machine WAIS server
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: Connection Machine Model 2
Primary Contact:
Name: Ottavia Bassetti
Email address: ottavia@wais.com
Telephone: +1-617-234-1000
Server software available from: Thinking Machines Corp.
245 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02145 Location of more
information:
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
Software that runs on CM2 Connection Machines to make them into WAIS
servers.
Approximate number of such servers in use:
10
General comments: Requires CM2 super computer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Servers (CNIDR): freeware for most UNIX platforms
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Jane Smith
Email address: Jane.Smith@CNIDR.org
Platform: Most Unix variations
Primary Contact:
Name: George Brett
Email address: George.Brett@CNIDR.org
Telephone: +1-919-248-1499
Server software available from:
ftp://pub/NIDR.tools/freewais @ftp.cnidr.org
gopher://gopher.cnidr.org
http://cnidr.org
Location of more information: info@CNIDR.org
Latest version number: freeWAIS 0.202
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
server and client code for freeWAIS.
Approximate number of such servers in use:
Unknown. ~568 databases are registered and freely accessible.
General comments:
Source code freely available for use and modification. Internet
community contributes to the software development, CNIDR incorporates
these developments into the freeWAIS releases.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Clients (CNIDR): many varied for most platforms
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Jane Smith
Email address: Jane.Smith@CNIDR.org
Platform: varied
Primary Contact:
Name: Kevin Gamiel
Email address: Kevin.Gamiel@CNIDR.org
Telephone: +1-919-248-1499
Client software available from:
URL:ftp://pub/NIDR.tools/freewais @ftp.cnidr.org
Location of more information:
phone or e-mail CNIDR
Latest version number: N/A
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
Many clients of varying capability available for most popular
computing platforms
General comments:
Clients developed and updated regularly; check mailing lists or ftp
sites for latest information
Future plans:
New clients when freeWAIS 1.0 (Z39.50-1992 version) is released
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Clients:
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: brewster@wais.com
Platform: NeXT
Primary Contact:
Name: Paul Burchard
Email address: burchard@math.utah.edu
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/freeware/next@wais.com via anonymous FTP
Location of more information:
Latest version number: WAIStation-NeXT-1.9.6
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments: NeXT client and server
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: brewster@wais.com
Platform: EIWAIS 1.55
Primary Contact:
Name: Kevin Gourley
Email address: pc-shareware@einet.net
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/freeware/windows@wais.com via anonymous FTP
/einet/pc@ftp.einet.net via anonymous FTP
Location of more information:
Latest version number: Version 1.55
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
WAIS client for Windows and Windows Sockets
General comments: Windows WAIS Client for Windows Sockets
- supporting multiple source queries
- advanced program/viewer launching
- embedded (any file size) text viewer
- auto-keyword highlighting
- graphics viewers included
- auto-browse mode for redirected source queries
- auto-parsing of WAIS catalogs returned by servers
- runs on wide range of winsock TCP/IP stacks
Future plans:
--------------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: telnet access (vt100)
Primary Contact:
Name: John Curran
Email address: jcurran@nnsc.nsf.net
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/freeware/unix-src/wais-8-b5.1-swais-patches @wais.com
Location of more information:
telnet to quake.think.com log in as wais.
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments:
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: brewster@wais.com
Platform: MacWAIS 1.28
Primary Contact:
Name: John Hardin
Email address: mac-shareware@einet.net
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/freeware/mac@wais.com via anonymous FTP
Location of more information:
Latest version number: 1.28
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments:
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: Mac Hypercard
Primary Contact:
Name: Francois Schiettecatte
Email address: francois@wais.com
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/freeware/mac/HyperWais* @wais.com
Location of more information: contact author
Latest version number: 1.9
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
HyperWais is a hypercard implementation of a WAIS client.
Its main characteristic is that it allows the user to remodel
the interface completely to their liking.
General comments: Requires approximately 1.7Mb to run
(including Hypercard).
Requires system 7.0 or greater.
Requires Hypercard 2.1
Requires Mac TCP
Future plans: None at present
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: VMS
Primary Contact:
Name: Jim Fullton
Email address: Jim.Fullton@cnidr.org
Telephone:
Client software available from:
Location of more information:
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments:
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: DOS
Primary Contact:
Name: Jim Fullton
Email address: Jim.Fullton@cnidr.org
Telephone:
Client software available from: /pub/freeware/dos/pc.wais @wais.com
Location of more information:
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments:
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: DOS
(Clarkson packet driver and Erick Englke's WATT/TCP)
Primary Contact:
Name: Faeiz Hindi
Email address: hindi@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/tcpip/pcwais.zip@hilbert.wharton.upenn.edu
Location of more information:
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments:
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: AVS
Primary Contact:
Name: Steve Thorpe
Email address: thorpe@ncsc.org
Telephone:
Client software available from:
avs_modules/data_input/awais/* @avs.ncsc.org
Location of more information:
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments:
Future plans:
------------------
Date completed or updated: 13th December, 1993
By: Name: Brewster Kahle
Email address: Brewster@wais.com
Platform: RS6000
Primary Contact:
Name: Dennis Shiao
Email address: shiao@ans.net
Telephone:
Client software available from:
/pub/freeware/rs6000/wais-8-b3-dist.tar.Z@wais.com
Location of more information:
Latest version number:
Brief Scope and Characteristics:
General comments: client and server
"The details are correct, but I must point out that this
version of WAIS is most outdated. I'd suggest replacing it
with AIX ports of the wais-8-b5 or freeWAIS packages, if
anyone's done those (I haven't) .."
-Dennis.
Future plans:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Demonstration sites:
List of sites which are willing to act as demonstration sites for this
application.
Site name: quake.think.com
Access details: telnet quake.think.com
login as wais.
Site name: cnidr.org
Access details: telnet cnidr.org
login as demo
select #2 (Demos of NIDR software)
select #2 (WAIS)
(this is the worst of all possible interfaces since it is just a
dumb terminal interface)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation:
o current overview
- "WAIS Server, WAIS Workstation, and WAIS Forwarder for UNIX
Technical Description", Release 1.1, December, 1993.
Available via anonymous ftp:
/pub/wais-inc-doc/msWord/Tech-description -1.1.sit.hqx @ftp.wais.com
- "Interfaces for Distributed Systems of Information Servers",
Brewster Kahle, Harry Morris, Jonathan Goldman (Thinking Machines
Corporation), Thomas Erickson (Apple Computer), John Curran (NSF
Network Service Center), March, 1992. (formally named "Interfaces
for Wide Area Information Servers")
Available via anonymous ftp:
/pub/wais-inc-doc/txt/Interfaces.txt@ftp.wais.com
or WAIS server wais-discussion-archives.src
o instructions to information providers
See the documentation in the release:
/pub/freeware/unix-src/wais-8-b5.1.tar.z@wais.com
or the wais-docs.src WAIS server.
o user manuals
The Mac interface WAIStation has a user manual. The unix
commands have man pages.
o training materials
- tutorials
- canned demos
- Macintosh demostration screen-movie: Steve Cisler of Apple put
together a short screen-recorder movie for seeing some of what
WAIStation does.
Available via anonymous FTP:
/pub/wais-doc/WAIStation-Canned-Demo.sit.hqx@wais.com
- sample session (screen dumps)
- "WAIStation, A User Interface for WAIS", February 1991, Thinking
Machines technical report TMC-203.
User interface documentation with screen shots.
- videos
Available in special circumstances. Contact info@wais.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliography:
- "WAIS Bibliography", WAIS Inc, (last update) September 1993.
Available via anonymous ftp:
/pub/wais-inc-doc/txt/WAIS-bibliography.txt @wais.com or WAIS server
wais-discussion-archive.src
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Information: Check for current information about freeWAIS on CNIDR's gopher and WWW servers: gopher.cnidr.org and www.cnidr.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
WHOIS
Date template updated or checked: 17 March, 1994
By: Name: Joan Gargano
Email address: jcgargano@ucdavis.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NIR Tool Name: Whois
Brief Description of Tool:
As currently defined, NICNAME/WHOIS services is a TCP transaction
based query/response server, running on a few specific central
machines, that provides netwide directory service to internet users.
Since the WHOIS service was defined in 1985, it has evolved into a
distributed service.
The InterNIC Registration Services is located at Network Solutions,
Inc., Herndon, VA, and is funded by a cooperative agreement from the
National Science Foundations to provide assistance in registering
networks, domains, asn's, and other entities to the Internet
community via telephone, electronic mail, and U.S. postal mail.
Databases and information servers of interest to network users are
provided, including the WHOIS registry of domains, networks, asn's
and their associated poc's. Gopher and Wais interfaces are also
available for retrieving information and accessing whois. Online
documents maintained at registration services include registration
related rfc's, registration templates, and various netinfo files.
Many of the online files are available through our automatic mail
service, MAILSERV@RS.INTERNIC.NET. Whois queries can also be
directed to rs.internic.net. From a host, use the TELNET program to
connect to host RS.INTERNIC.NET. When greeted by the Registration
host, type "WHOIS" and press RETURN.
MAILSERV@RS.INTERNIC.NET is an automated service provided by InterNIC
Registration Services. It allows access to documents and information
via ordinary electronic mail. This is especially useful for users
who do not have access to the NIC via a direct Internet link, such as
users of BITNET, CSNET and UUCP sites.
To use the mail service, send a mail message to
MAILSERV@RS.INTERNIC.NET. In the SUBJECT field, request the type of
service you wish followed by any needed arguments. The message body
is normally ignored. Large files will be broken into smaller
separate messages. The information you request will be sent back to
you as soon as possible.
WHOIS xxx Returns information about xxx from the WHOIS service.
Use "WHOIS HELP" for information on how to use WHOIS.
The MILNET Network Information Center, maintains the central NICNAME
database and server, providing online look-up of individuals, network
organizations, MILNET nodes, and other information of interest to
those involved in management of the Internet. Whois queries can be
sent to nic.ddn.mil.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Contact(s): Network Solutions, Inc.
Name: Hostmaster
Email address: hostmaster@rs.internic.net
Postal Address: Network Solutions
AttN: InterNIC Registration Services
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herndon, VA 22070
Telephone: +1-703-742-4777
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Help Line:
(for major center as well as each client)
Name: Hostmaster
Help information available via gopher,
gopher.internic.net
Email address: hostmaster@rs.internic.net
Telephone: +1-703-742-4777
Level of support offered:
o funded
o all users
Hours available: 24 hours/day, 7 days per week.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Working Groups:
Whois and Network Information Lookup Service (WNILS)
(next page on part 4)