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                              The Undernet!

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Index

  * What is the Undernet and Why is it there?
  * What makes the Undernet stand out from the rest?
       o Operators and administrators
       o Protocol differences
       o Channel Service
       o Committees and mailing lists
  * Other Questions
  * Some technical documents
  * How to connect
  * Telnettable Undernet Clients
  * Undernet FTP sites
  * Other Undernet Web sites
  * An Index of Undernet Documents

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What is the Undernet and Why is it there?

The Undernet is very simply another IRC network. It started life at the end
of 1992, when WildThang set up a small network of servers so that he could
use as a playground. Quickly the idea of a network hidden away from the
main IRC network (EFNet) grew more appealing. Undernet was born. Since
those early days, the Undernet has grown and we're expecting to see 10,000
on-line users sometime soon!

To find out about those early stages of the Undernet you can read the
Undernets History

The Undernet has been formed because the EFNet (the network that 10000+
users use) is too big and too politicized. You only have to be logged on
for one evening to see a number of net splits (where two servers stop
communicating resulting in a partition of a channel). Also, the EFNet
operators do not all know each other and there is little or no co-operation
between them. The Undernet operators all co-operate (that's a
pre-requisite) and are interested in getting the best links to other
servers and generally making your time on the IRC more pleasent.

What makes the Undernet stand out from the rest?

  * Operators and administrators.
    The Undernet can draw many differences to its 'rival' networks.
    Primarily, all the server operators and administrators know one an
    other and cooperate with each other to provide a network that is
    hopefully a friendly network. A network where you can chat to people
    and not worry about what is happening around you.

    Also, on the Undernet, the server operators are there to help and will
    do so if they possibly can. The Undernet has it's own guide to how to
    behave on the Undernet, called UnderNetiquette. By the same token, the
    Operators have rules to follow and there is also a operator manual
    which is very useful to a inexperienced operator.

  * Protocol differences.
    As mentioned above, the Undernet is another IRC network. That is to
    say that it follows the same protocol as IRC and therefore the same
    client can be used to connect to the Undernet and other networks.
    (Read the html IRC info page for more details.)

    The Undernet has made changes to the standard server that can be found
    on many other networks. These features include the ability to SILENCE
    a source of annoyance, to find out when a person signed on. To see who
    made a ban on a channel and when. To find out about all of these are
    more features read the Undernet patches document distributed with the
    servers. To take advantage of these features, you will need to add
    some lines to your .ircrc file.

    The Undernet have also written something about bots, so if you don't
    know what they are take a look at the Undernet bot document.

  * Channel Service.
    In an effort to make the Undernet a happier place to chat, the
    Undernet has implemented a channel service to help preserve channels
    and prevent hostile take overs. FAQ's for the Channel Service and
    Channel Managers are available.You might like to register a channel
    using the application form. Take a look at the Channel Service web by
    interfacing with X or W .

  * Committees and mailing lists.
       o Wastelanders.
         Wastelanders is the main mailing list for the Undernet. All the
         operators are supposed to subscribe to this. The mailing list to
         subscribe to is wastelanders.

       o User Committee.
         The User Committee was set up in order to give users a chance to
         have a say in the changes and organisation of the Undernet. The
         UUC (Undernet User Committee) has a set of guidelines to follow
         outlining what the UUC gets involved in. The mailing list to
         subscribe to is user-com.

       o Documentation Committee.
         The Documentation Committee has been formed in an attempt to
         provide some standardised and helpful documents to our users. The
         mailing list to subscribe to is doco-com.

       o Public Relations Committee.
         The Public Relations Committee is in the phase of being set up.
         Here are thecommittees guidelines. The mailing list to subscribe
         to is pr-com.

       o Coder Committee.
       o Coding Committee formed for the coders of UnderNet's protocol.
         The mailing list to subscribe to is coder-com.

       o Routing Committee.
         Routing Committee to handle the routing of servers and new link
         applications. The mailing list to subscribe to is routing-com.

       o Undernet Announcements.
         This is a moderated list, and therefore very quiet. It's primary
         purpose is to provide a high signal, no noise list for the
         UnderNet. The mailing list to subscribe to is undernet-announce.

    To subscribe to any of these mailing lists, just send an email to
    [email protected] with

            subscribe list_of_your_choice

    as the body.

Other Questions?

If you have further questions about the Undernet, then hopefully the HTML'd
Undernet FAQ list (by Tonto) should answer them.

Some technical documents

Well, these will mostly be the same for the IRC Information Page, but there
are some technichal documents relating to the undernet.

You can see what needs to be done before new servers can be added. The
Undernet server protocol is significantly different from the EFNet server
protocol. It allows various different features that are not available on
the EF network. Here is the patches document that details the patches and
protocol changes that have taken place on the Undernet servers.

Undernet is significantly different from the EFNet in its manner of
routing. Routing on the UnderNet is very organised. We aim to get the most
optimal route to a server that we can, and generally succeed. Here to help
European members, is a Euopean Routing Map (Text Version), and there is a
map of how servers should be routed in the US. These are quite out of date
actually, work is in hand to update these.

How to connect

You can connect to the Undernet using the same client as you would for most
other IRC networks, you just connect to an Undernet IRC Server. Here is a
list of Undernet Servers. There is a summary list. Up to date lists can be
found from http://servers.undernet.org/server-list.html To connect to them,
start up IRCII and type :

       /server <server_name> [port_no]

  * The Uk server -- UK.Undernet.org
  * For Europe use -- EU.Undernet.org
  * and for the US -- US.Undernet.Org

If you are not using IRCII, refer to your manual to see how to change
servers.
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Telnettable Undernet Clients

You can connect to an Undernet telnet client at the following addresses.

  * United States
       o telnet telnet.wfire.net login as guest.
  * Europe
       o telnet telnet2.eu.undernet.org 6677
       o telnet telnet2.eu.undernet.org 7766

Up to date details about the Undernet telnet services can be found at
WildThangs telnet services page.
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Undernet FTP sites

  * ftp.undernet.org
  * ftp.au.undernet.org

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Other Undernet Web sites

  * Karll's Undernet IRC pages - Undernets primary web site.
  * My Undernet IRC pages - Undernets secondary web site.
  * Undernet Web from Australia.
  * Meatloaf's Pages.
  * WildThang's Undernet IRC pages.
  * Ensor's IRC pages.
  * Coder Committee maintained by Kevin Mitchell.
  * Pyber's Undernet User Committee web pages - The User Committee get
    their own web site!

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An Index of Undernet Documents

  * irc_initgame.txt - FAQ and introduction for the InitGame channel.
  * unet_bots.txt - Document detailing bots and how they affect the
    Undernet.
  * unet_cmfaq.txt - Channel Service Channel Managers FAQ listing.
  * unet_cs.txt - Document outlining the Channel Service.
  * unet_csapp.txt - Channel Service Application form.
  * unet_csfaq.txt - Channel Service FAQ listing.
  * unet_eumap.gif - Picture of European network routing.
  * unet_eumap.txt - Ascii picture of European network routing.
  * unet_faq1.txt - First part of Undernets FAQ list.
  * unet_faq2.txt - Second part of Undernets FAQ list.
  * unet_history.txt - A History of the Undernet.
  * unet_ircrc.txt - Lines to add to .ircrc file to benefit from Undernets
    modified protocol.
  * unet_logo.txt - Undernet's ASCII logo.
  * unet_newlink.txt - Document explaining the procedure for applying for
    a new server link.
  * unet_operman.txt - Guidelines for Undernets operators.
  * unet_operrules.txt - Rules that Undernets operators should follow.
  * unet_patches.txt - Document detailing and explaining Undernet patches.
  * unet_prcom.txt - Public Relations committee. The guidelines.
  * unet_route.txt - Guidelines of the routing committee.
  * unet_servers - Summary server list.
  * unet_usmap.txt - Text outline of US routing.
  * undernetiquette - Guidelines for 'behaviour' on Undernet.

Other IRC HTML documents on this site

  * IRC.html - Internet Relay Chat ( IRC ) Information page.
  * IRCNets.html - All the IRC networks in the world.
  * servers.html - Hypertext listing of Undernet's servers.
  * underfaq - Undernet's Hypertext FAQ listing.

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    [IRC - Information! | IRC - The Undernet! | James T Lowe - Home!]

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Last Update: 2nd June 1996
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