02 Network resources overview (Space FAQ)
Description
This article is from the Space FAQ, by Jon Leech leech@cs.unc.edu and Mark Bradford tla@surly.org with numerous contributions by others.
02 Network resources overview (Space FAQ)
You may be reading this document on many types of computers, so much of
the material below may not apply to you. In general, however, systems
connected to 'the net' fall in one of three categories: Internet,
Usenet, or BITNET. Electronic mail may be sent between these networks,
and other resources available on one of these networks are sometimes
accessible from other networks by email sent to special 'servers'.
The space and astronomy discussion groups actually are composed of
several mechanisms with (mostly) transparent connections between them.
One mechanism is the mailing list, in which mail is sent to a central
distribution point which relays it to all recipients of the list. In
addition to the general lists for space (called SPACE Digest for
Internet users, and SPACE on BITNET), there are a number of more
specialized mailing lists described below.
A second mechanism is Usenet 'netnews'. This is somewhat like a bulletin
board operating on each system which is a part of the net. Netnews
separates contributions into hundreds of different categories based on a
'group name'. The groups dealing most closely with space topics are
called:
sci.astro - astronomy, general.
sci.astro.amateur - amateur astronomy equipment, techniques, info
sci.astro.research - moderated, for discussion of current research
in astronomy and astrophysics.
sci.astro.{fits,hubble,planetarium} - topic-specific subgroups.
sci.geo.eos - discussion of the Earth Observing System
alt.sci.planetary - planetary science. sci.space.science is a better
group for most purposes.
talk.politics.space - obsolete; replaced by sci.space.policy.
sci.space.news - moderated, for mission status reports, news
announcements, etc.
sci.space.policy - space policy and politics.
sci.space.science - moderated, space & planetary science.
sci.space.shuttle - discussion specific to the space shuttle,
including launch/landing schedules and mission activities.
sci.space.tech - moderated, technical/hardware issues.
Contributors 'post' submissions (called 'articles' in netnews
terminology) on their local machine, which sends it to other nearby
machines. Similarly, articles sent from nearby machines are stored
locally and may be forwarded to other systems, so that an article is
posted locally and eventually reaches all the Usenet sites interested in
receiving the news group to which the article was posted.
Gateway machines redirect several of the Usenet sci.space groups into
Internet and BITNET mailing lists and vice versa; the other Usenet
groups are not accessible as mailing lists. If you can receive netnews,
its more flexible interface and access to a wider range of material
usually make it the preferred option.
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