This article is an excerpt, reprinted with permission, from the Internet
Explorer newsletter.  (Information request:  mfisher@indirect.com)

Finding & Retrieving Files with E-Mail
    Internet Explorer Volume II Number 1

You can do it all (almost) with e-mail

Archie by Mail

    Every good library has a card catalogue and the Internet is no exception.
The Internet's catalogue is called archie.
    Archie is a program that is normally run interactively but it is also
available through e-mail.  Send an e-mail request to an archie server to
locate a file and the server will send the results of it's search directly
back to you.
    As the following example shows, archie is remarkably easy to use.  This
is the request that located the file retrieved with ftpmail from the previous
article:

To:  archie@archie.sura.net
Subj:
prog rfc1325.txt
quit

    The message is addressed to archie at "archie.sura.net".  When the archie
server receives the message, it "reads" it and goes to work based on the
commands sent in the body of the message.  In this case, the command "prog"
followed by a file name tells archie to search for this filename.
    "quit" tells archie that there are no more commands.
    Once archie has located the file, it prepares an e-mail message listing
each site that has the file and sends the message back to the requester.
    "rfc1325.txt" is a very popular file.  The reply listed dozens of sites
that make this file available for ftp.
    Once such site returned was:

    Host venera.isi.edu (128.9.0.32)
    Location: /in-notes/
    FILE  rfc1325.txt

    The message tells me the two items I need to know to use ftpmail:  the
name of the system (venera.isi.edu) and the directory where the file is
located (in-notes).
    The archie server responds to a number of other commands that may also be
used in an e-mail messge.  These will be covered in greater depth in the next
issue of the Internet Explorer.  Here are some that may come in handy as you
explore archie by mail:
    set maxhits ### - set the maximum number of matching items to find.
(Replace ### with anumber.)
    help - return a file explaining how to use the archie server.
    servers - return a list of archie servers.
    site address - return an index of files at site named in address.
    There are currently five archie servers in the United States that will
respond to your e-mail request:

    archie.sure.net
    archie.unl.edu
    archie.internic.net
    archie.rutgers.edu
    archie.ans.net

[End Article]

The Internet Explorer is dedicated to making the Internet accessible and
useful to everyone.  For more information about the Internet Explorer,
e-mail to "mfisher@indirect.com", or write to
    Pangaea Software, Inc.
    Suite 199
    P.O. Box 16800
    Mesa, AZ  85211

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 Another file downloaded from:                                NIRVANAnet(tm)

 &TOTSE                510/935-5845   Walnut Creek, CA         Taipan Enigma
 Burn This Flag        408/363-9766       San Jose, CA                Zardoz
 realitycheck          415/666-0339  San Francisco, CA    Poindexter Fortran
 Governed Anarchy      510/226-6656        Fremont, CA             Eightball
 New Dork Sublime      805/823-1346      Tehachapi, CA               Biffnix
 Lies Unlimited        801/278-2699 Salt Lake City, UT            Mick Freen
 Atomic Books          410/669-4179      Baltimore, MD               Baywolf
 Sea of Noise          203/886-1441        Norwich, CT             Mr. Noise
 The Dojo              713/997-6351       Pearland, TX               Yojimbo
 Frayed Ends of Sanity 503/965-6747     Cloverdale, OR              Flatline
 The Ether Room        510/228-1146       Martinez, CA Tiny Little Super Guy
 Hacker Heaven         860/456-9266        Lebanon, CT         The Visionary
 The Shaven Yak        510/672-6570        Clayton, CA             Magic Man
 El Observador         408/372-9054        Salinas, CA         El Observador
 Cool Beans!           415/648-7865  San Francisco, CA        G.A. Ellsworth
 DUSK Til Dawn         604/746-5383   Cowichan Bay, BC         Cyber Trollis
 The Great Abyss       510/482-5813        Oakland, CA             Keymaster

                          "Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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