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> "BITNET" only had e-mail (I don't think there are any active BITENT
> links).. From what I remember LISTSERV was written by Eric Thomas to
> implement mail liss on Bitnet. Listserv servers still exist but are
> accessed by SMTP not BITNET protocols. In the past these were
> gatewayed onto USENET but I get the feeling most of these gateways
> are dead. As well as mail lists LISTSERV also has a file store
> facility accessible by sending commands via e-mail. .
BITNET ran over NJE links. The physical connections were of varied
technology and evolved over time. Early links ran at serial baud rates
(I recall 9600 baud for some). Later, routing over ethernet and tcp/ip
links was supported. NJE links were basically capable of transferring
files, and short messages. Email traveled as files. One could also
transfer arbitrary files over the network, though one had to format such
files as 80-column card images. The short message facility could be to
send interactive messages to other users or services.
There were a number of services, including LISTSERV for mailing lists,
FILESERV for network file retrieval, etc. LISTSERV did also support
file libraries, and was capable of preserving copies of list postings in
notebooks for posterity (or until the disk space ran out). There was a
system somewhat similar to irc called RELAY. There were gateways from
BITNET to other networks for email. There was no equivalent of usenet.
On VM: RSCS provided the NJE functionality. Using SMSG, one could
interrogate the local RSCS, or through it, the RSCS or equivalent
services on other nodes. Communicating with LISTSERV and other service
machines interactively was done with MSG or TELL. Arriving mail and
files typically wound up in ones reader, and were accessed with tools
like RICEMAIL. Outbound mail was often punched to the local MAILER
service machine as a class M file for forwarding. Arbitrary files could
be transferred by spooling and tagging one's virtual punch, or by using
the SENDFILE command. The Cornell CARD utility was sometimes used to
format arbitrary files as card imagees. LISTSERV was distributed in
this format, and punched to the local LSV admin or the LISTSERV service
machine by Eric Thomas(or, later, L-Soft).
As BITNET was vanishing, Rick Troth built a tool called "uft" for the
internet to replace the unsolicited file transfer capabilities of
BITNET.
De