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From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.lists,news.groups,news.announce.newusers
Subject: Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies (Updated: 17 August 1988)
Summary: describes the following alternate hierarchies: alt, bionet, biz,
    gnu, inet/ddn, pubnet, unix-pc
Message-ID: <4692@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
Date: 18 Aug 88 04:08:43 GMT
Expires: 8 Sep 88 04:08:41 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
Lines: 268
Approved: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU
Supersedes: <4535@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>

Original-from: hoptoad!gnu (John Gilmore) and spaf@purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
[Most recent change: 17 August 1988 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)]

Introduction
------------
The Usenet software allows the support and transport of hierarchies of
newsgroups not part of the "traditional" Usenet through use of the
distribution mechanism. These hierarchies of groups are available to
sites wishing to support them and finding a feed.  In general, these
groups are not carried by the entire network due to their volume, a
restricted sphere of interest, or a different set of administrative
rules and concerns.

In general it is a bad idea to forward these newsgroups to your
neighbors without asking them first; they should only be received at a
site by choice.  Not only is this generally-accepted net etiquette, it
helps to preserve the freedom to do and say as the posters please in
these newsgroups, since the only people who get them are those who
asked to get them.  This freedom is more restricted in the Usenet as a
whole, since every mainstream posting and every mainstream newsgroup
name must be acceptable to a much wider audience than is present in
these hierarchies.   Due to the sheer size of the mainstream Usenet,
extra-long or controversial postings are more likely to cause problems
when posted to the Usenet; however, these alternative hierarchies exist
precisely to support those kinds of postings (if germane to the
hierarchy).

Usually, there is is no restriction on getting these groups as long
as you have the capacity to receive, store, and forward the groups;
2.10.3 or 2.11 news is required to make the distribution mechanism
work properly for these groups.  How to join each distribution is
described below.

Note that the "uunet" service carries all of these hierarchies.
Contact uunet!postmaster for subscription details.

Also note -- the lists in this article are totally unofficial and
possibly incomplete or inaccurate.  I try to keep the lists up-to-date,
but make no guarantee that any of the information contained corresponds
with the named groups in any significant way.  Corrections and comments
should be mailed directly to me.

Alt
---
"alt" is a small collection of newsgroups which are being distributed
by a collection of sites that choose to carry them.  Many Usenet sites
are not interested in these groups.  Here is a recent list
of the 'alt" newsgroups:

alt.aquaria		The aquarium & related as a hobby.
alt.config		Alternative subnet discussions and connectivity.
alt.cyberpunk		Alternative interactions among computers and people.
alt.drugs		Alternative discussions about drugs, man.
alt.emusic		Electronic music discussions?
alt.flame		Alternative, literate, pithy, succinct screaming.
alt.gourmand		Recipes & cooking info. (Moderated)
alt.great-lakes		??
alt.hypertext		Discussion of hypertext -- uses, transport, etc.
alt.individualism	??
alt.recovery		12-step groups (such as AA, ACA, GA, etc)
alt.rock-n-roll		Counterpart to alt.sex and alt.drugs....
alt.sca			Society for Creative Anachronism
alt.sex			Postings of a prurient nature.
alt.slack		Posting relating to the Church of the Subgenius.
alt.sources		Alternative source code, unmoderated.
alt.sources.amiga	Technically-oriented Amiga PC sources.  (Moderated)
alt.test		Alternative subnetwork testing.

Submissions to the moderated alt.gourmand group should be mailed to
recipes@decwrl.dec.com (Brian Reid).

You can join the "alt subnet" by finding a site in your area that
carries the groups.  Either send mail to the administrators of the
sites you connect to, or post something to a local "general" or
"wanted" newsgroup for your area .  If no sites nearby are getting
them, you can get them from uunet.

Bionet
------
There is a newsgroup heirarchy for molecular biology called "bionet"
originating from BIONET-20.ARPA and carried on a limited number of
machines including rutgers, phri, mit-eddie, ukma, and all of the
machines at UCSD.  Contact Eliot Lear  for
more details.  The current newsgroup list looks like this:

bionet.general			General BIONET announcements.
bionet.jobs			Scientific Job opportunities.
bionet.molbio.bio-matrix	Computer applications to biological databases.
bionet.molbio.embldatabank	Info about the EMBL Nucleic acid database.
bionet.molbio.evolution		How genes and proteins have evolved. 
bionet.molbio.genbank		Info about the GenBank Nucleic acid database.
bionet.molbio.gene-express	How genes are regulated in cells.
bionet.molbio.gene-org		How genes are organized on chromosomes. 
bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts	Requests for information and lab reagents.
bionet.molbio.news		Research news of interest to the community.
bionet.molbio.oncogenes		Genes that cause cancer.
bionet.molbio.pir		The PIR protein sequencing database.
bionet.molbio.plant		Molecular biology of plants.
bionet.molbio.proteins		Research on proteins and protein databases.
bionet.molbio.seqnet		Redistribution of European SEQNET bboard.
bionet.molbio.swiss-prot	Discussions on the Swiss Protein database.
bionet.molbio.yeast		Molecular biology of yeast.
bionet.politics			Political issues relevant to science.
bionet.sci-resources		Info on funding agencies & programs.
bionet.software.contrib		Info on programs contributed to BIONET.
bionet.software.pc		Info on PC software for scientists.
bionet.software.pc.comm		Info on PC communications software.

Biz
---
"Biz" is a distribution of newsgroups that are carried and propagated
by sites interested in the world of business products around them -- in
particular, computer products and services.  This includes product
announcements, announcements of fixes and enhancements, product
reviews, and postings of demo software.  Current biz groups include:
	biz.config	biz.control		biz.newgroup
	biz.test	biz.comp.hardware	biz.comp.software
	biz.comp.software.demos			biz.comp.services
	biz.comp.telebit			biz.comp.mcs
Feeds can be obtained from ddsw1 and spl1, among others.

GNU
---
"gnu.all" is a set of newsgroups that are gated bi-directionally
with the Internet mailing lists concerned with the GNU Project of the
Free Software Foundation.  GNU (GNU's Not Unix) will be a complete
development of an operating system with freely redistributable source
code.  The GNU Project is led by Richard Stallman.

Current groups include:

Newsgroup	Description
---------	-----------
gnu.announce	Status and announcements from the Project (moderated)
gnu.config	GNU's Not Usenet administration and configuration
gnu.test	GNU's Not Usenet alternative sub-network testing
gnu.emacs	Editor/development environment and occasional sources
gnu.emacs.bug	GNU Emacs bug reports and suggested fixes
gnu.emacs.vms	Discussion of the VMS port of GNU Emacs
gnu.emacs.lisp.manual	Working group on the GNU Emacs LISP Programmer's Manual
gnu.gdb.bug	GNU DeBugger bug reports and suggested fixes
gnu.gcc		Discussion of the GNU C Compiler
gnu.gcc.bug	GNU C Compiler bug reports and suggested fixes
gnu.g++		Discussion of the GNU C++ Compiler and GDB+ Debugger
gnu.g++.bug	G++ and GDB+ bug reports and suggested fixes
gnu.chess	Discussion of the GNU Chess program
gnu.utils.bug	Discussion of bugs in GNU utility programs (e.g., gnumake)

Usenet sites carrying the gnu.all newsgroups include
bloom-beacon.mit.edu, bu-cs.bu.edu, decwrl.dec.com, im4u.cs.utexas.edu,
mailrus.cc.umich.edu, mandrill.ces.cwru.edu, osu-cis, cs.purdue.edu,
rutgers.edu, tut.cis.ohio-state.edu, uccba.uc.edu, and uunet.uu.net, as
well as many more.  Ask usenet@any of these sites for a feed.

Questions about GNU can be directed to gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu or:
   Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   675 Mass Ave
   Cambridge, MA 02139
   USA
   +1 (617) 876-3296

Inet/DDN
--------
Another alternative hierarchy is the "inet/ddn" distribution.  This
consists of many newsgroups bearing names similar to traditional Usenet
groups and corresponding to Arpa discussion lists.  These groups are
circulated using the NNTP transport mechanism amongst sites on the
Internet in an attempt to reduce the number of copies of these groups
flowing through the mail (some sites get these groups via UUCP and
other tranpost mechanisms, but the volume can be substantial and load
may be significant without a high-speed link).  Further details may be
obtained by writing to Erik Fair (fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu).

Current inet groups are:
  comp.ai.edu		Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Education.
  comp.ai.vision		Artifical Intelligence Vision Research. (Moderated)
  comp.arch.parallel-sym	Parallel symbolic computing.
  comp.dcom.lans.hyperchannel	Hyperchannel networks within an IP network.
  comp.dcom.lans.v2lni	Proteon Pronet/V2LNI Ring networks.
  comp.editors		Topics related to computerized text editing.
  comp.edu.composition	Writing instruction in computer-based classrooms.
  comp.lang.asm370	Programming in IBM System/370 Assembly Language.
  comp.lang.clu		The CLU language & related topics. (Moderated)
  comp.lang.forth.mac	The CSI MacForth programming environment.
  comp.lang.icon		Topics related to the ICON programming language.
  comp.lang.idl		IBL (Interface Description Language) related topics.
  comp.lang.lisp.franz	The Franz Lisp programming language.
  comp.lang.lisp.x	The XLISP language system.
  comp.lang.rexx		The REXX command langauge.
  comp.lang.scheme.c	The Scheme language environment.
  comp.lang.visual	Visual programming languages.
  comp.lsi.cad		Electrical Computer Aided Design.
  comp.mail.multi-media	Multimedia Mail.
  comp.music		Applications of computers in music research.
  comp.os.aos		Topics related to Data General's AOS/VS.
  comp.os.cpm.amethyst	Discussion of Amethyst, CP/M-80 software package.
  comp.os.rsts		Topics related to the PDP-11 RSTS/E operating system.
  comp.os.v		The V distributed operating system from Stanford.
  comp.periphs.printers	Information on printers.
  comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ	The ISO Development Environment.
  comp.protocols.iso.x400	X400 mail protocol discussions.  (Moderated)
  comp.protocols.iso.x400.gateway	X400 mail gateway discussions.  (Moderated)
  comp.protocols.pcnet	Topics related to PCNET (a personal computer network).
  comp.protocols.pup	The Xerox PUP network protocols.
  comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains	Topics related to Domain Style names.
  comp.sys.cdc		Control Data Corporation Computers (e.g., Cybers).
  comp.sys.handhelds	Handheld computers and programmable calculators.
  comp.sys.ibm.pc.net	The IBM PC Token Ring.
  comp.sys.intel.ipsc310	Anything related to Xenix on an Intel 310.
  comp.sys.northstar	Northstar microcomputer users.
  comp.sys.super		Supercomputers.
  comp.sys.ti.explorer	The Texas Instruments Explorer.
  comp.sys.zenith		Heath terminals and related Zenith products.
  comp.terminals.bitgraph	The BB&N BitGraph Terminal.
  comp.terminals.tty5620	AT&T Dot Mapped Display Terminals (5620 and BLIT).
  comp.theory		Theoretical Computer Science.
  comp.theory.cell-automata	Discussion of all aspects of cellular automata.
  comp.theory.dynamic-sys	Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems.
  comp.theory.self-org-sys	Topics related to self-organization.
  comp.unix.cray		Cray computers and their operating systems.
  news.software.nntp	The Network News Transfer Protocol.
  rec.games.vectrex	The Vectrex game system.
  rec.mag.fsfnet		A Science Fiction "fanzine." (Moderated)
  sci.bio.technology	Any topic relating to biotechnology.
  sci.math.num-analysis	Numerical Analysis.
  sci.philosophy.meta	Discussions within the scope of "MetaPhilosophy."
  soc.culture.esperanto	The neutral international language Esperanto.

Pubnet
------
The "pubnet" distribution is for public-access systems and was originated
by Bill Wisner.  Current groups include:
   pubnet.config   Pubnet connectivity discussions.
   pubnet.nixpub   The "nixpub" list of public access UNIXes.
   pubnet.sources  Software of interest to BBS users and sysops.
   pubnet.talk     Miscellaneous BBS talk.
   pubnet.test     Pubnet subnet testing.
   pubnet.wanted   "Wanted" messages with a limited audience.
   pubnet.sysops   Discussions between sysops of BBS systems.
Currently, the following sites receive the group, and the system admins
there can be contacted for more info or to establish a feed:  chinet,
dasys1, ddsw1, gryphon, icus, igloo, killer, ncoast, netsys, qetzal,
mit-eddie and tapa.

Unix-PC
-------
Another such hierarchy is the "unix-pc" distribution.  This consists of
groups devoted to users of the AT&T Unix-PC.  These groups were
originated as a mailing list started by three owners of AT&T Unix PCs:
Gary Smith, David Dalton and Kathy Vincent.  As the list expanded, it
turned into a newsgroup hierarchy, and more and more sites began to
carry the groups; hundreds of sites now carry these groups.  To recieve
them, you need to contact a site already getting them; att, gatech,
mit-eddie, psuvax1, ucsd and ukma are well-known sites getting these
groups and the admins there may be willing to help find a feed should
you desire (and ask nicely); uunet also carries these groups. The
unix-pc groups circulated include:

unix-pc.general 	General information and discussion.
unix-pc.sources 	Source code to various programs.
unix-pc.uucp 		Configuration and management of uucp on Unix-PCs.
unix-pc.test 		Test group.

-- 
Gene Spafford
NSF/Purdue/U of Florida  Software Engineering Research Center,
Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-2004
Internet:  spaf@cs.purdue.edu	uucp:	...!{decwrl,gatech,ucbvax}!purdue!spaf