Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!FSU.BITNET!PETCHER
From: PETCHER@FSU.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Network problems: please help
Message-ID: <[gw.scri.fsu.edu].180C0C00.009157CD.PETCHER>
Date: 8 Jul 88 07:16:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 56

The following has turned out to be a rather long response to the original
posting, but I hope that it will be helpful to some others who are trying
to access netlib from bitnet.  It is basically a report on my not altogether
successful experience.

Bitnet is my usual connection with the uucp world, and generally although there
may be some initial problems in finding a working path, usually once that
hurdle is past I have no problems.  With netlib@lakesys my experience has been
different. I have been accessing netlib from bitnet, but with minimal success.
I have sent requests from two different computers.  So far from the first, I
have received somewhat more than half of the files that I requested over a
period of about a month.  (In this tally I only count paths to lakesys that I
have some reason to believe are reliable - like I got a response). Some of the
files I have not received may yet arrive though. From the second computer (the
one from which this message originates), which uses the first as a gateway to
bitnet, I have received absolutely no response from lakesys whatsoever.
As an aside, I have also tried to send letters from the second computer
using mfenet with no response.

On the index of lakesys software distributed to this newsgroup, the path
'lakesys!netlib@csd1.milw.wisc.edu' is said to be useful for some. Using
this path I am unable to get a response, although I know that I am getting
through at least to csd1.  I sent a query there and got a response from the
postmaster. However the postmaster at lakesys never responded to a similar
query.

The path that seems most reliable for me is

'uwvax!uwmcsd1!lakesys!netlib%harvard@harvunxw.bitnet'

I have also tried other paths through other gateways that are usually good
gateways to uucp for us, but in this case with no success.  On a couple of
occasions I got replies back from our mailer that attempts to deliver the
letter have failed, although the mailer will keep trying to deliver for several
more days.  This means that the path is apparently good but it somehow cannot
get through at the moment I suppose (some node is down?).

To sum it up, I suspect that there are sevaral problems possible.  The most
obvious are that either the path you use is not working, or perhaps more likely,
that netlib is unable to interpret the return address properly and the return
letter just falls somewhere into the great electronic abyss.  Yet another
thing I suppose (that can be confirmed by the lakesys people) is that there
is a large backlog of requests so that the turnaround is very slow.  This
is no doubt due to the obvious excellence of the collection of software
that has been assembled there (kudos to the organizers).   I have no
explanation for the sporadic experience I have had in receiving files when
I know the link I am using is a good one in both directions.

Is there a way to iron out these problems?  Does anyone have a clue?  (Marty,
can you help?)

Alternatively, could the bitnet sites such as canad01 (I still can't get
a response from houston) or better yet, could an ftp site stock the same
software that is available from lakesys?

                                                      Don Petcher
                                                   PETCHER@FSU.BITNET