From: fxmlk@acad3.alaska.edu (KIENENBERGER MIKE L)
Newsgroups: alt.internet.services
Subject: Re: Internet <-> Bitnet Talk connection?
Date: 6 Oct 92 09:00:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Alaska - Fairbanks
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41.UAC

In article <1992Oct6.074020.14449@news.acns.nwu.edu>, eepmatt@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Matthew Friedman) writes...
>A number of questions involving the Bitnet:

First the easy questions:

>2) Is there an equivilent to internet's telnet for machines on the bitnet? I'm
>told (by someone unsure) that there is not.

There is not.  However, some bitnet machines are also on a decnet.  For
instance, the University of Alaska computer system is connected to (or was)
the University of Washington (Seattle) and one could type "SET HOST <machine>"
and log into any of the machines in the network (This was pretty amazing way
back before internet reached our university!)

>3) A Bitnet Address that I mail to is :USERNAME%UTCVM.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
>What does the "%" do? 

CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU is a bitnet/internet gateway. "username@utcvm.bitnet" is
where you really want to send the message.  Your machine doesn't know what
to do with a *.bitnet address, so you forward it to CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU using
<some address>@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU, and CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU forwards it to the
right network.  However, since mailers only want ONE address to send
a message, you replace all of the other "@" symbols with "%" symbols.
When it arrives at a gateway, the gateway mailer parses the address, changes
a "%" to an "@" (usually the last) and forwards it on its way.

>1) Is there a way to establish an interactive connection between an internet
>account and a bitnet account? My talk program does not recognise the bitnet 
>host as a legitimate name.

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer: Yes. However, you have to
1) find a machine that is on both bitnet and internet,
2) write a program that understands an interactive message under both networks
   and can translate the messages.
3) run the program on the machine meantioned in 1).

I've written such a program (the server ran under VAX/VMS) and it would allow
any TCP/IP (internet) clients to connect as well as accept bitnet messages.
Due to the way VAX/VMS Bitnet messages are handled, the server had to run
interactively and have a physical terminal dedicated to it.  My server would
log out after some length of time, and had to be restarted on a daily basis.

This was actually just a test application (simple conference program)
for a networking protocol I designed.  The server kept track of all connections
of any type (bitnet, internet, whatever -- although I only implemented
bitnet and internet) and client applications programs could use the
following calls to communicate with other clients:
    sendone(user,message);
    sendall(message);
    sendallbutone(user,message);
It really was a great little protocol, but keeping the server running was
a lot of work under VAX/VMS.  Client applications were short and easy to
write -- the one-channel conference program meantioned above was only about
50 lines of C code.

I suppose I can make source code available anyone who wants it, but
you MUST be very familiar with VMS system and network programming as well
as understand Unix network programming.

Just as a last comment, bitnet interactive messages mostly resemble the
Unix "write" command, except that they only send one line at a time.

>Thanks much,
>Matt

=============================================================================
-Mike Kienenberger                       FXMLK@ALASKA           (BITNet)
 Academic Computing                      FXMLK@acad3.alaska.edu (Internet)
 University of Alaska-Fairbanks
 "I'm a computer programmer....<link><link><kludge><kludge> say-no-more!"
Newsgroups: alt.internet.services