From: m1pkd00@fed.frb.gov (Prasad K. Dharmasena)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
Subject: ** Welcome to s.c.s-l / Intro to SLNet **
Date: 5 Jan 93 21:23:13 GMT


		      { Corrections requested }

	       ***** This is a periodical posting *****

		       Last update 05-Jan-1993



** Sri Lanka Net 


Sri Lanka Net (SLNet) is a moderated, electronic mailing list which 
carries news and other articles about Sri Lanka.  News is obtained from 
wire services such as Associated Press (AP), United Press International 
(UPI), and Reuters by LAcNet for the exclusive use of SLNet membership.  
SLNet is not a discussion group.  Its sole purpose is to inform the 
members of happenings in Sri Lanka.

Please *do not* redistribute SLNet news articles.

SLNet is being moderated to keep long drawn discussions and flame wars 
out of it.  This is not meant to censor anyone.  You may send (a) articles
pertaining to Sri Lanka and/or  (b) request for information to 

	<slnet@ecse.rpi.edu> 

Mail sent to the above address will be distributed to the entire SLNet.

Even though SLNet does not have any ties with soc.culture.sri-lanka (s.c.s-l) 
newsgroup on Usenet, members are strongly encouraged to use s.c.s-l to 
express their views and ideas.

To become a member of SLNet send an e-mail to <slnetad@ganu.colorado.edu> with
the following information.  Comments are optional.  Unless you ask to be 
unlisted, this information will be made available to the SLNet membership.

  Name:		   (Last Name, First Name)
  E-mail address:  (internet format is preferred)
  Affiliation:     (company or educational institution)
  Location:        (city, state, country)
  Public List:     (Yes/No.  If yes, this information will be made available
                        to SLNet members.)
  Comments:        (Optional:  Three-line introduction, i.e. your high
                        school, personal/professional interests, etc.)


Please do NOT send requests of the form "Please add my uncle's second 
cousin's son <speter@gates.pearly.heaven.org> to the SLNet."  Have *him* 
send the request from *his own* account.



** Soc.culture.sri-lanka

It is an non-moderated newsgroup on Usenet.  It is a forum for news and
discussion of Sri Lankan Culture.  The term "Sri Lankan Culture" includes,
but not limited to, arts, literature, sciences, economics, politics, etc.
of not only Sri Lanka but also of Sri Lankan communities in other countries.
If you want to discuss anything that relates to Sri Lanka or its people,
s.c.s-l is the place.

Usenet is a collection of hundreds of news groups.  Following is a little
blurb about Usenet, taken from "Zen and the Art of the Internet - A Beginner's
Guide to the Internet" by Brendan P. Kehoe <brendan@cs.widener.edu>.

"Usenet is the set of machines that exchange articles tagged with one or more
universally-recognized labels, called 'newsgroups' (or 'groups' for short).
(Note that the term 'newsgroup' is correct while 'area,' base,' 'board,'
'bboard,' 'conference,' 'round table,' 'SIG,' etc. are incorrect.  If you want
to be understood, be accurate.)

"If the above definition of Usenet sounds vague, that's because it is.  It is
almost impossible to generalize over all Usenet sites in any non-trivial way.
Usenet encompasses government agencies, large universities, high schools,
businesses of all sizes, home computers of all descriptions, etc.

" ..... "

Please obtain a copy of "Zen and the Art of the Internet" and read it.
(It is available for anonymous ftp from "ftp.uu.net" in the directory
/inet/doc/)  Among other things, it will give you useful information
about E-Mail, FTP, Telnet and Usenet. (The guide is about 100 pages.)

Still, the best way to find out about Usenet is to get on it.  If you are a
student, then ask some fellow students how they "read news."  Ask your system
operator.  If you work for a company, then reading news is what everyone does
when the boss is not around.  Even the boss does it when you guys are not
watching.  So, all you need is the name of the news group and a little help
from someone at your end.  Subscription to news.newusers.questions group
is strongly encouraged before you fire up your flame thrower.  

The most popular software package to read news is rn.  (There is xrn for
X windows.)  Type rn soc.culture.sri-lanka to start up an rn process.  While
in rn you can get help by typing h at any prompt.

There maybe other packages to read news at your site.  (i.e. trn, nn, gnus,...)




** Anonymous FTP archives

Check anonymous ftp site ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (128.120.2.1) in the
directory /pub/slnet/ for a few collected OLD articles.  (Travel agent list,
book reviews, SLNet list, places to get SL spices, movies, cassettes, etc.)
Warning: This ftp site has not been updated in a while.



** Lanka Academic Network (LAcNet)

Lanka Academic Network (LAcNet) was created to undertake several projects,
mostly in the electronic communication.  E-mail link to Sri Lanka and
getting news items for SLNet from CompuServe are such on going projects.
As you can see, LAcNet operations do incur expenses.  Hence, LAcNet relys 
on donations from those who find its services valuable.

If you'd like to be a member of LAcNet organization, please contact
Nimal Gamage <gamage@paradox.colorado.edu>  Send him your name, e-mail
address and postal address.




** Electronic mail to Sri Lanka

LAcNet provides e-mail access to following sites in Sri Lanka.

	Univ. of Moratuwa, Dept. of CSE			cse.mrt.ac.lk
	Univ. of Colombo, ICT				ict.ac.lk
	Univ. of Sri Jayawardanapura, Dept. of Bio(?)	sjp.ac.lk
	Open Univ.					ou.ac.lk
	Institute of Fundamental Studies		ifs.ac.lk
	Arthur C. Clark Center for MT			acc.ac.lk
	University of Kelaniya				kln.ac.lk

Contact Saman Amarasingha <saman@wildhog.stanford.edu> for more info.
US-SL e-mail relay goes over international telephone lines, hence, please
do NOT send long, frivolous (say what?) or test messages.

*** If you find e-mail services to Sri Lanka valuable, please make a small
    monetary contribution towards keeping the e-mail link alive.  


Questions regarding this posting should be directed to me. 
--
Prasad Dharmasena       Internet: <pkd@fed.FRB.GOV>       UUCP: <uunet!fed!pkd>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka