Freeway Internet Gateway Frequently Asked Questions. ---------------------------------------------------- 31/3/1995 CONTENTS -------- 1. Introduction. 2. E-mail. 2.1. How do I post E-mail through the gateway? 2.2. My message "bounced", what's happening? 2.3. Mailing Lists and FTPmail. 2.4. UUencoded files, can I send them? 2.5. What about PGP? 3. Newsgroups 3.1. How do I access the newsgroups? 3.2. Can I post followups to a newsgroup? 3.3. I'd like to read XYZ newsgroup. Can you gate it? 4. Miscellaneous services 4.1. Can I have my own personalised system name? 5. Future developments. 6. Further information. 1. Introduction Freeway is a private Internet E-mail and news gateway which offers a range of services for selected Fido technology BBS users to the Internet. The range of services include E-mail, a limited selection of newsgroups, locally based mailing lists and personalised system names on request. Mail sent through the gateway is passed through software which translates between Fidonet mail standards and UUCP mail, which is compatible with the Internet. All systems which are serviced by freeway are given their own Internet address, which is either a numeric string, or a personalised system name. 2. E-mail. Users are able to send E-mail to and receive mail from Internet users through the gateway. The procedure is defined in detail below. 2.1. How do I send E-mail through the gateway? There are 2 ways you can use to send e-mail to Internet users. The first method is as shown below: Message headers To Address 3:632/367.99 Subject Blah blah --------------------------------------------------- body of message blah blah In this method, the to: field of the message header contains the recepient's Internet address. The second method is shown below: To UUCP Address 3:632/367.99 Subject Blah blah --------------------------------------------------- To: Then the text, blah blah In this method, the address is specified in the first line of the message body. The To: _must have a capital 'T', lowercase 'o', followed by a colon and a space, as shown above. Note: The messages _must_ be sent as netmail, not echomail. It is preferable to use the Fidonet netmail area, but this is not necessary, as the gateway is set up to handle all nets carried by The Bridge, so that systems which don't pick up Fidonet mail can use the gateway. Sending mail from the Internet through the gateway. To send mail from the Internet back to you, the sender needs to know your address. If you're on The Bridge, the address is: user.name@bridge.freeway.dialix.oz.au and the e-mail will appear as netmail in the Fido netmail (area 200) area. If you're a point using a Fidonet address, your e-mail address will be: user.name@632-367-xx.freeway.dialix.oz.au, where xx is your point number. For example, if someone wanted to send an e-mail to Joe Blow of 3:632/367.1, they'd address their e-mail to 632-367-1@freeway.dialix.oz.au. For points in other zones, the format is: zz-nnnn-ffff-pp@freeway.dialix.oz.au. e.g. For Fred Nurk of 54:6130/5, his address would become: fred.nurk@54-6130-5-0@freeway.dialix.oz.au Note: Internet users need only to send the e-mail to the appropriate address, no special formatting is needed. Can I e-mail a Fido address to save time? Yes and no. Yes, you can _attempt_ to e-mail to a Fido address, but the resulting mail will not travel via the Internet. Instead, it will be automatically routed by normal Fido channels. This is because of an agreement between Fidonet and the Internet 2.2. My message "bounced", what's happening? If E-mail bounces, it is likely that either you made an error in entering the destination address, the address toy E-mailed doesn't exist, or the E-mail was not allowed by the system for some special reason. There are two types of "bounce" messages you will encounter. The first is from mailer-daemon@freeway.dialix.oz.au. This usually indicates that you've made an error in specifying the Internet address, and the gateway didn't know what to do with your message. In this case, check that you've addressed the message correctly, and try again. The second type of bounce message comes from some other address (usually mailer-daemon@melbourne.dialix.oz.au). This means that the gateway understood your message, but the address couldn't be found on the Internet. You may have mistyped the address, it may no longer exist, or there is a problem in mail delivery, and it couldn't be sent. In this case, there's not a lot that can be done, except to double check that you have used the right E-mail address. 2.3. Mailing lists and FTPmail There are 3 types of mailing list to consider. Firstly, there are local mailing lists, some of which are attached to echos. You may subscribe to these lists, though some of them will be attached to an echo on the system, and often, it's easier to read the echo. In the future, I may host some special purpose mailing lists, and you'll be able to subscribe to these, subject to Fidonet (or othernet) restrictions). Next are the DIALix mailing lists. As these are free for me to pull in, again, they may be be gated, though you'll need to make special arrangements with me to arrange access, since the gateway doesn't accept LISTSERV requests. This does not affect local lists, since I've set up a separate list server, as LISTMGR@freeway.dialix.oz.au. All other mailing lists cost money to bring in, and you'll need to make ongoing financial arrangements with me to subscribe to these. In this case, you'll need to send me payment to cover the cost of bringing these lists in, and the cost of the list will be continuously deducted from the amount you send in. This can get a bit expensive for a high volume list. I'll provide a detailed statement of the costs at regular intervals, so you can keep track of your account balance. Note: If you are a point off The Bridge, but don't have a 3:632/367 point address, I'll subscribe you to bridge-l, so that you receive mail from BRIDGE_POINT. If you do have a 3:632/367 point address, you'll be connected to the echo instead, no need to subscribe to bridge-l. FTPmail, can I use it? Predictably, the answer is no, unless you pay (and the file is not too big. :-) ). FTPmail is very expensive, as well as combersome. If you _really_ want to get files from the Internet, I'd suggest you lash out and open your own Internet account. It's a whole heap easier in the long run (especially with modern SLIP/PPP net software), and faster, since you don't have to wait for the file to get to you. Also, with the limited space on the gateway here, and even more limited on The Bridge, large FTPmail files will clog up the works. The gateway will block any attempt to FTPmail or access LISTSERV at any address, and bounce your e-mail. 2.4. UUencoded files, can I send them? It depends on how big the file is. Certainly, for a small .COM file of less than 10k on an occasional basis, there is no problem, but large files, or frequent smaller files are not on. The mail flow is monitored for the odd message, and any excessive UUencoded e-mails will be returned with a note advising you to refrain. If the postings continue despite advice and warnings, your access to the gateway can be blocked, after which, _all_ E-mail you send will bounce, and Internet users will be notified that your address no longer exists if they attempt to E-mail you. If you really wish to post large amounts of files or other bandwidth intensive E-mail, some financial arrangement can be made with me. 2.5. What about PGP? Privacy is something which is lacking on the Net, and the Internet allows PGP to be used to make E-mail truly private. PGP encrypted E-mail is permitted through Freeway, again, as long as the volume is not too excessive. You may have to check with the other systems which carry your netmails to 3:632/367.99, as it's up to each individual sysop whether they will permit PGP encrypted mail through their system. 3. Newsgroups. There are several, mainly special interest, newsgroups available on Freeway, which are made available to users and systems in Fidonet. 3.1. How do I access the newsgroups? If you are a user, the newsgroups will appear as echomail areas, which can be read on any BBS which carries them, or downloaded in offline mail packets. The only difference is that all messages gated from the Internet will be addressed to "All". This is because there is no "To:" field in Usenet news articles. If you are a sysop or point, the newsgroups will be fed as echomail, and you'll need to arrange a feed, either from someone who carries them, or 3:632/367, if there's nowhere else. 3.2. Can I post followups? Yes, newsgroups appear as normal echomail, and the gateway will handle traffic in both directions. Simply post in the "echo", just like any other echo. The only difference is with moderated newsgroups. Again, post normally, but some time later, you'll notice your article re-appearing a second time. This is because the gateway doesn't directly post to the newsgroup, but e-mails the moderator, who will forward it to the newsgroup, causing the message to re-appear in the "echo" at a later date. This is perfectly normal. 3.3. I'd like to read XYZ newsgroup. Can you gate it for me? The answer depends on a few things. Firstly, is it available from other sources? Many newsgroups are available from another Fidonet gateway and often, these can be linked in simply by requesting them from our Fido uplinks. In this case, Darren is the person to ask. :-) If it's not available by other means, I'll consider your request, as long as the newsgroup is available from my Usenet feed, though requests for high traffic groups may be rejected for practical readons (I will listen if you offer me a 14.4 k modem though! ;-) ), since the link currently runs at 2400 bps. :-( 4. Miscellaneous services. Freeway offers some miscellaneous services, if there's something you wish, please ask, and I'll see what I can do. :-) 4.1. Can I have my own personalised system name? Yes, you only need to ask me, and tell me what you'd like to call your machine. Your Internet address will then become something like: your.name@machine.freeway.dialix.oz.au ^^^^^^^ This is your selected machine name. 5. Future Developments. The Internet gateway is always under development, and in time, a new gateway will be established at The Bridge, which will take over a lot of the services that currently run through Freeway. The new gateway will run identical software, but will be able to handle more traffic, and it will likely allow users some FTPmail, mailing lists and other medium bandwidth features. Freeway will continue to operate after the new system takes over, and will be used as a development platform to test new ideas. Possible future devopments include a TCP/IP connection to the Internet, with or without real time telnet access, packet radio interfacing and specialised mailing functions (function requests, etc). In other words, the site will become a "test bed" for new ideas and techniques, which will be advertised from time to time. Watch this space! :-) 6. Further Information. For further information, I can be contacted vis the following addresses: Fidonet: Tony Langdon, 3:632/367.2 or 3:635/727.18 Internet: tlang@freeway.dialix.oz.au