Introduction to the Internet Computer Science 1604
Standing for Because It's Time Network, BITNET began in 1981 at the City University of New York. Originally composed of mainly IBM computers located in North America and Europe, many DEC machines have since been added to the network. Machines connected to BITNET are called nodes, and a node name is composed of 8, or fewer characters.
BITNET is an electronic network operated by EDUCOM that allows transfer of information among users at educational and research institutions that are BITNET nodes and to other networks: NETNORTH (the Canadian network) and EARN (the European Academic Research Network). It primarily used to send mail and files to other BITNET users.
It primarily used to send mail and files to other BITNET users. To send mail from the Internet to BITNET, use the following address:
Using the same commands for all accessible networks, you can: send or receive files, notes and messages. It is also possible to query other nodes on BITNET. To send information across the networks, you must know the userid or username and nodeid of the recipient. If the receiving node is a VM node, files will arrive in the reader; files sent to a VAX node will appear as mail files.
A list of nodes is located under the heading Nodeid Information.
A "userid NAMES" file (where "userid" is your VM/CMS userid) is a collection of information about other computer users (nodeid, userid, name, address, phone number, etc.) with whom you communicate. Each entry in this file is assigned a nickname. You can prepare notes for and send files and messages to other users by using their nicknames in the MAIL, SENDFILE and TELL commands.
There are several methods for sending files:
Use the SENDFILE command to send files to other VM installations; the receiving node must have a RECEIVE command to reformat the data correctly.
Use the MAIL command to read mail from and send mail to users at nodes on BITNET or networks connected to BITNET.
Use the PUNCH command to send a file to another node. The file may have either fixed or variablelength records; the logical record length (lrecl) must be less than or equal to 80. Records with less than 80 characters are rightpadded with blanks. Records longer than 80 characters are rejected.
Use the PRINT command with the TO and AT options to send a file to another node. The file may have either fixed or variablelength records; but there are many other considerations regarding the logical record length (lrecl).
Using the TELL command, you can send a message to another user at any node on BITNET, NORTHNET, OR EARN, provided the user is logged on. If the user is not logged on, the message will not be received or saved.
Usage Notes:
2) Mail can be sent to userids on ARPANET, CCNET, CDNNET, CITNET, CSNET, DECENET, GRAPEVIN, JANET, MAILNET, MFENET, UNINETT and UUCP networks via the MAIL command. 3) At times, parts of BITNET may not be available. This is, usually, due to maintenance at an individual node. The SMSG command can be used to see a node is accessible. For example, the command:
(where "nodeid" is the BITNET nodeid), will query that node for the number of users currently logged on. If the node is not available via BITNET a message indicating the status of the link of the nodeid will be displayed.
4) The "BITNET NODES" table contains the entry, ALIAS, in the Network Interface Software column for some nodes. ALIAS indicates that the nodeid has been changed. The Nodeid column contains the old nodeid. The Operating System column contains the new nodeid. You can still access the old nodeid with the old name, but it is recommended that you use the new nodeid name.