From: archive@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [comp.text] Oxford Text Archive information
Date: 8 Oct 92 13:48:45 GMT
Followup-To: comp.text
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu
X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.text
X-Original-Date: 7 Oct 92 13:54:09 GMT

Archive-name: auto/comp.text/Oxford-Text-Archive-information


=====        INTERNET ACCESS TO THE OXFORD TEXT ARCHIVE          ===

As of this month, it is now possible to access machines here on JANET
directly from the InterNet. As of today, it is also (ipso facto)
possible directly to transfer files from a machine here to any other
machine on the InterNet, without specifying a password, filling in a
form, or any of that other stuff that some people find so difficult.

We'd like to start making some  -- not all -- of the Oxford Text
Archive's materials available in this way. There are two constraints.

Firstly, we cannot distribute material that does not belong to us. 
But there is a small quantity of material we can distribute, which 
we believe to be in the public domain. 

Secondly, we want to begin as we intend to go on: by distributing 
materials in TEI SGML only. But there is a small number of (mostly
very large) files which we will make available 'as is' to test the
procedure immediately. We'd appreciate your comments as to how
useful/reliable you've found the procedure.

Here's what you need to know:
 
From a machine on the Internet, you should type   
   
   FTP black.ox.ac.uk           << N.B.  this is *not* VAX.OX.AC.UK! 

or, since we're not in many people's official name tables yet,  

    FTP 129.67.1.165  

When connected, you will see the prompt

   login:

to which you respond 
   
   ftp

(or anonymous). You will be asked to supply a password, in response
to which you should type your email address.

All text archive files are kept in the directory ota. Your first command
should therefore be
   cd ota

To see a list of the files and directories currently available, type

   ls

To download a copy of a file (say shortlist.sgml), type

  get textarchive.list

To log out, type
  
  bye


Unless otherwise stated, all files contain plain uncompressed character data 

The following files are currently available in the directory ota:

    textarchive.sgml     List of OTA Holdings as of 11 August 92 in SGML
    textarchive.list     Same list, no SGML tags
    textarchive.info     Text Archive Order form and general information

The following are currently available in the directory ota/dicts 
  
    710   Directory containing the three files making up 
          the 'computer-usable' dictionary derived from 
          OALDCE by Roger Mitton 

    1054  Directory containing  the MRC Psycholinguistic Database,
          complete with manuals and simple C programs for accessing
          the database

    1192  Directory containing CED Prolog Factbase, a set of prolog facts
          generated at Virginia Tech from the Collins English Dictionary

    info  File containing brief descriptive details of all machine
          readable dictionaries currently held in the Archive, with
          illustrative examples from each
 
The following files are currently available in the directory ota/french

    192tei.queneau  
          Raymond Queneau: Exercices de Style (1946) in TEI SGML
    192text.moliere
          Moliere: Dom Juan in TEI SGML

The following files are currently available in the directory ota/laws

    ec    Directory containing the text of the Treaty on European
          Union (the "Maastricht Treaty") of 1992

   usa    Directory containing a collection of US constitutional and
          legislative papers, polemics etc. 

The following files are currently available in the directory ota/tei

    vm2tar.Z           The public domain ARC SGML parser: complete
                       source code and documentation for UNIX systems.
                       (This version has been modified to support
                        TEI dtds; it is in compressed TAR format)


So, for example, to get the plain shortlist, you'd type
   
     ftp 129.67.1.165
     anonymous
     myname@mysite
     cd ota
     get textarchive.list
     bye

Internet access is regarded here as a privilege, not a right. Please
don't overuse it! And please remember that this is an experimental
facility, which may be withdrawn or substantially modified at any time
without notice.

Lou Burnard
Alan Morrison

Oxford Text Archive  5 Feb 92; updated 1 July 92