TELECOM Digest Thu, 23 Sep 93 11:03:30 CDT Volume 13 : Issue 660
Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson
FAQ on the Internet Multicasting Service (Mark Boolootian)
Close-out Consumer Telephone Equipment From Heartland America (Nigel Allen)
H & V Distance Computing Algorithm Wanted (Jimmy Gauvin)
Information Wanted on Six-bit Code (Johan M. Karlsson)
Old Phone Located; Good Home Wanted (Rich Greenberg)
Tariff Rates for ISDN, T1, SMDS (John L. MacFarlane)
Snail-Mail Revenge (Les Reeves)
All Shook Up (Randy Gellens)
----------------------
TELECOM Digest is an e-journal devoted mostly -- but not exclusively --
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Mark Boolootian)
Subject: FAQ on the Internet Multicasting Service
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 12:07:29 PDT
In October and November, the Internet Multicasting Service will be
releasing a series of eight half-hour programs entitled "Hell's Bells:
A Radio History of the Telephone." In the below FAQ, they claim the
series "is one of the best radio programs we've ever heard."
Everything you need to know about the IMS can be found below.
FAQ for the Internet Multicasting Service
=========================================
Tired of that last subtle twist in "alt.ascii.the-letter-a"?
Do you find that com-priv has the information content of a free
real estate seminar at your local Holiday Inn?
Looking for an alternative?
You've found it in this FAQ about the Internet
Multicasting Service!
What's an FAQ?
An exchange of information cleverly patterned as a Socratic
dialogue.
Huh? What's a Socratic dialogue?
A set of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.
Socrates was a famous philosopher in ancient Greece.
So what's with the dead Greek and what does that have to do with
cyberspace?
Just in case you are intimidated by modern computer
technology, we want to put you at ease. Compared to a dead
Greek, we're *all* Unix experts.
Enough! What *is* the Internet Multicasting Service?
We're the first station in cyberspace, a source of news and
information for the Internet community. We run two
channels: Internet Talk Radio is a science and technology
channel and the Internet Town Hall is devoted to public
affairs.
The Internet Multicasting Service is a non-profit
corporation located in the National Press Building. We're
right next to all the other members of the press, like the
Kansas City Star and the Arkansas Gazette. They're not too
sure exactly what we do, but as long as the rent gets paid
they leave us alone.
"Station in cyberspace"? Get real!
No, really. We run a "radio" station, publishing sound
files which you listen to on your personal computer. You
know that funny sound your Mac makes when you start it up,
quacking like a duck or talking like Bart Simpson? Think of
our programs as a very long version of that duck.
Gee, aren't the files big?
Well, our programming is published in a sound format called
Pulse Code Modulation, which is 8000 samples per second with
each sample being 8 bits. Those 8 bits are encoded with mu-
law encoding (which is a logarithmic encoding that fits 14
bits of information into 8 bits but you didn't want to know
that).
What this all means is that an hour of programming is 30
Megabytes. We'll typically publish anywhere from 30 minutes
to 90 minutes of programming per day.
Oh my! Do you mean to tell me that you expect me to download 45
megabytes of data? Are you nuts?
Yes.
Seriously, how do I get the files to my computer?
The easiest way is to use your computer on the Internet. We
put the files onto UUNET which acts as a main distribution
point for large regional networks around the world, such as
IIJ in Japan, NASA, EUnet in Europe, and many others.
If you are a UUNET customer, you simply use anonymous ftp to
ftp.uu.net. If you belong to some other network, you'll
look for the files on your local file server.
My regional server doesn't have the files. Is there some other
way to find them?
We maintain a list of known anonymous FTP sites around the
world. There may be many others (do an Archie search on one
of our file names and see if you recognize any of the
servers). To get the known anonymous FTP sites list, send
mail to:
[email protected]
What if I just found a new site which isn't on the list?
Tell us about it! Send us mail at:
[email protected]
What if I'm not on the Internet. Can I get the files from
CompuServe?
Whew. That would be a bit tough! You're welcome to try and
use an FTP to mail gateway, but this isn't something we'd
want to do on our weekend.
I'm on the Internet, but I dial into my interactive account on a
300 baud modem. Can I get the files?
Sure. Just use Kermit, Xmodem, or something else. Of
course, it will take approximately 222 hours to download a
1-hour program.
What are you, a wise guy? I've got one of those whizbang fancy
modems with 32bis and lots of features. How about that?
That makes more sense.
Is there a better way?
Well, in the ideal world, your network manager on your
neighborhood or corporate LAN sucks the files in every night
and puts them on a file server on your local Ethernet. If
you're connected at 10 million bits per second, a 30
megabyte file doesn't seem quite as bad.
We realize this makes it tough on the home user, but
eventually we'll all have ISDN, cable TV, or some other
miracle giving us decent bandwidth into the home. Until
then, the Internet Multicasting Service is trying to figure
out what it means to be a cyberstation. You can't please
all the people all of the time, but we hope to address the
information needs of at least part of the Internet.
OK, we've got the files. Now, how do I display them on my
screen?
This is radio. You don't.
No, I mean how do you see them?
Ah, you mean "do you publish transcripts?" The answer is no
and the reason is that would increase our production costs
dramatically. However, that doesn't mean that we think that
ASCII is unimportant. A real cyberstation needs to employ
all data types and multiple distribution techniques. For
our "radio" metaphor, however, we just do audio files.
How do I play the files on my Sun?
If you are running SunOS 4.1.3 or later, simply pick
the AudioTool from your OpenWindows menu.
Or, use the "play" command. You can usually find that
in /usr/demo/SOUND (or any other place your demo
directory has been placed).
You can play the files directly, or use a tool like Xmosaic
or Gopher.
How do I play the files on my NeXT?
The Sun .au format is almost identical to the NeXT .snd
format. Use your standard sound playing utilities.
Can I convert the files to other formats?
Sure. Use the famous SoX program, available for Unix and
DOS platforms from ftp.cwi.nl.
How do I play the files on Ultrix?
AudioFile was developed by DEC's Cambridge Research
Laboratory. Supports a variety of audio devices, a
programming API and library, and some core and
contributed applications.
AudioFile is available for anonymous FTP from:
crl.dec.com:/pub/DEC/AF/
[email protected]
How do I play the files on my PC?
The source files are in the Sun .au format, which is
almost identical to the PC .wav format. If you use
SOX, you can easily convert the files to a .wav file
and play them using any of your standard sound
utilities.
Another approach is to bring the native files straight
down (no conversion) and use PLANY. This clever little
program will handle pretty much any sound format on a
Soundblaster card. The software is widely mirrored, but
one source is:
ftp.uga.edu:/msdos/mirror/sound/plany12.zip
How do I play your files on the Macintosh?
The native sound format for the Mac is the .aiff
format. You can convert the files to .aiff format using
a variety of tools. You can convert the file on a Unix
machine using the SoX program. Or, you can do the same
thing on your Mac using UUTool.
UUTool is available in the /util/compression directory
on the host mac.archive.umich.edu. The files are also
mirrored in the following places:
wuarchive.wustl.edu:mirrors/archive.umich.edu/mac,
src.doc.ic.ac.uk:packages/mac/umich,
archie.au:micros/mac/umich.
To play the files, you can use AudioShop. AudioShop
distributes a demo version of their program that can
play .aiff files. Simply load the file and play it.
AudioShop does not require System 7 so should work on
most Macintosh systems. (Provided that you have enough
disk space. ;-)
The AudioShop Demo is available in the
mac/sound/soundutil directory on mac.archive.umich.edu
and is also mirrored.
But I wanna play the file on my Mac in the native format with
my existing Internet tools. How do I do that?
You really want lots of things! OK ... you want a
u-law playing program. Mac Mosaic and the latest
Turbogopher all have the ability to call the u-law
playing program. You can find the package in the usual
places, such as:
mac.archive.umich.edu:
/mac/sound/soundutil/ulaw1.4.cpt.hqx
Are there other ways to play the files?
Sure! Do whatever you want! Lots of neat things you can
do. For example, its simple to download the program to your
MAC Powerbook or Sparcbook and put the computer on the seat
next to you on the ride home. Expensive radio, but where
else would you hear such great programming?
Lots of other things have been done. One guy spools the
data into the company voicemail system. Several
corporations run little automatic radio stations, either
using IP multicasting (check out isi.edu:/mbone/faq.txt) or
at the Ethernet level (look for the radio and tuner programs
on ftp.cwi.nl).
I want to be a scholar. How do I learn more about sound?
The ultimate source for Sound is the AudioFormats FAQ
maintained by the good people at CWI in the
Netherlands. You can find lots of good stuff in:
ftp.cwi.nl:/pub/audio/
Why don't you publish the files in MAC format? How come you
don't compress the files?
Well, we could. But, think about this. In our first
season, we published about 1.5 Gigabytes of files in four
months. We think our steady-state rate is going to be about
300 Mbytes per week.
If we publish in both the PCM and MAC formats, we would
double (at least) the amount of data on the network. There
is an old rule in networks which basically says that if you
have to play with your data (e.g., fragment it), you should
do so at the last possible hop.
We want network managers to bring the files in and *then* do
the conversions locally, publishing in whatever formats are
appropriate for the next hop. If you have lots of MAC
users, maybe you produce .aiff files. If you have lots of
users using UUCP with 9600 bps modems, maybe you convert to
GSM or some other low-volume format.
Enough of this technical mumbo-jumbo. What can I hear?
Our flagship show on Internet Talk Radio is "Geek of the
Week" featuring in-depth interviews with members of the
technical community. We've talked to all sorts of famous
engineers about topics such as the next generation of
TCP/IP, resource discovery protocols, network security, and
how to put toasters on the Internet.
Can I order audiocassettes of "Geek of the Week"?
Of course. O'Reilly & Associates has issued their new
ORAudio line of audiocassettes. Send mail to
[email protected]
and they'll tell you all about it. You can also get
information from them through gopher space or through their
whiz-bang, hypertext, multimedia magazine, the Global
Network Navigator (
[email protected]).
Is "Geek of the Week" your only show?
Au contraire. We also syndicate two radio shows from the
public radio world. TechNation: Americans and Technology
features great interviews by Dr. Moira Gunn, a former rocket
scientist at NASA. SOUNDPRINT is an NPR show that features
thoughtful looks at important topics.
We also carry occasional specials. In October and November
of 1993, for example, we're really pleased to carry "Hell's
Bells: A Radio History of the Telephone." This series
consists of 8 half-hour programs and is one of the best
radio programs we've ever heard.
What about the Internet Town Hall channel?
We have our own broadcast booth in the National Press Club,
joining C-SPAN and National Public Radio as the official
licensees for the National Press Club Luncheon series.
Speakers ranging from Miss Manners to Yassar Arafat to the
Dalai Lama appear on this series.
How do you pay for all this?
We use a public radio-like model of short, tasteful
acknowledgements for our underwriters.
Underwriters? Don't you mean ads?
Call them what you will.
Are ads legal?
You must be referring to the Appropriate Use Policy (AUP) on
NSFNET or other networks. No problem! Turns out that the
AUP is a rational thing and, since our radio shows feature
informative, educational material, we fit right into the
policies of government and research networks. Of course,
Bart Simpson might not, but we're not a Fox affiliate. Yet.
People actually pay to advertise on this?
Don't be snide. We reach 100,000 people in 30 countries.
If you're looking for a tasteful alternative to FooWorld, we
actually have better demographics than most of the trade
press!
We've had quite good support so far. Sun Microsystems and
O'Reilly & Associates started it off. (Thanks, guys!)
UUNET Technologies and MFS Datanet are providing us with a
10 Mbps Internet feed. Beame & Whiteside provides us with
TCP/IP software for our PC systems. Lots of other
organizations are eager to support the first station in
cyberspace. If you have excess money you want to dispose
of, send mail to
[email protected].
Are there any restrictions on what I can do with the files?
Well, you can't take our ads out and put your own in and
resell the files. We would not be pleased.
Basically, we'll allow you to copy the files as many times
as you want to as many people so long as:
1) money doesn't change hands; and
2) you don't alter the data.
How do I get more information?
To get this faq, send mail to:
[email protected]
To subscribe to the announcements list, send mail to:
[email protected]
For a list of known FTP sites, send mail to:
[email protected]
To talk to a human, send mail to:
[email protected]
What else does the Internet Multicasting Service do?
The radio station seems to be working out well, so we
decided to work with Dr. Marshall T. Rose of Dover Beach
Consulting to help start a new kind of telephone company.
For more information, send mail to:
[email protected]
We also occasionally pull cheap stunts, like the time we
linked up National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation:
Science Friday to the Internet for an hour of live national
radio. If you're on the announcements list, you'll hear
about these special events as they occur.
Can I start my own radio station?
You bet! Next time you're in the National Press Building
stop by for a tour. We'd be happy to show you our digital
production facilities and studio and how we set up our 10
Mbps link into the Internet. Since we're a non-profit,
we're encouraging anybody else to get into the brand new
field of desktop broadcasting.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 93 22:13:07 -0400
From:
[email protected] (Nigel Allen)
Subject: Close-Out Consumer Telephone Equipment From Heartland America
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa
Readers in the U.S. may be interested in the cheap (and presumably
discontinued) consumer telephones offered by Heartland America. A
recent ad offers a 10-channel cordless phone for US $69, for example.
To request a catalog, call 1-800-486-1549; to order, call
1-800-229-2901. The company will not ship to addresses outside the
U.S., and I have had no dealings with it myself. The company sells a
lot of non-telecom merchandise as well.
Nigel Allen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Jimmy Gauvin)
Subject: H & V Distance Computing Algorithm Wanted
Organization: Universite Laval
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 18:19:28 GMT
Hi,
Can somebody please tell me how to calculate the distance between two
NPA-NXXs given their H & V coordinates?
Thanks.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Johan M Karlsson)
Subject: Information Wanted on Six-bit Code
Date: 23 Sep 1993 11:06:18 GMT
Organization: Communication Systems, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
I just wonder if anybody know anything about the Six-bit code called
TTS, that was used by many newspapers in the 70's to receive stories
from the wire services. Like what does the letters TTS stand for?
Would be very happy for an answer!
Johan
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Rich Greenberg)
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 13:23:15 PDT
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Subject: Old Phone Located; Good Home Wanted
One of my hobbies is to cruise garage sales looking for telephones,
recondition (usually just clean up) them, and resell them.
One that I came across may be of interest to the readers of The Telcom
Digest and c.d.t.
Its a 500 phone, dated 1971, rotary dial, in PINK. Its working, and
in good shape except for two minor cracks in the case that I will
epoxy. Came with an extra long pink cord (with the plug cut off)
which you may have with it, or I will put on a modular cord.
Email if interested. I am in Los Angeles near LAX, and would prefer
not to ship it.
Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677
N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play:
[email protected] 310-649-0238
I speak for myself only. Canines: Chinook & Husky
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (John L. MacFarlane)
Subject: Tariff Rates For ISDN, T1, SMDS
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1993 11:06:46 GMT
Organization: Software.Com
Hello all,
Can anyone give me advise on where to find the tariff rates for local
T1, ISDN and SMDS services? I realize these rates vary with location
and I am also interested in this variance.
My appreciation in advance,
John MacFarlane
[email protected]
[Moderator's Note: Have you asked your own telco what they charge for
the services mentioned? PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 17:14:35 -0400 (EDT)
From:
[email protected]
Subject: Snail-Mail Revenge
The U.S. Postal Service is trying to coerce businesses into using its
Express Mail instead of private couriers, according to rivals in the
parcel industry.
During the past three years, the USPS has audited dozens of companies
and fined them more than $500,000 in "back postage" fees for shipping
"non-urgent" mail through services such as UPS and Federal Express.
Under federal law, couriers can only be used to ship "urgent" mail,
which the government defines as correspondence requiring an immediate
response.
So companies shipping out invoices or letters by private carrier for
overnight or two-day delivery could be opening themselves up to an
audit.
"Postal inspectors are being used as marketing tools to lure
businesses away from couriers," said Peter Farkas, counsel for the Air
Courier Conference of America.
The companies audited so far -- including:
Equifax of Atlanta GA, and GTE Corp. of Stamford, Conn., are being
charged fees for the amount that the postal service would have collected
if the business materials had been sent by first-class mail.
"What we are doing is totally covered by federal statute", says Paul
Griffo, a spokesman for the US Postal Inspection Service.
In 1974, Congress amended the 1872 law that gave the government a
total monopoly on first-class mail by allowing private companies to
transport urgent next-day packages, but it required the shippers to
pay at least twice the Postal Service's first-class mail rate.
Since then, the private courier business has become a grown into a $20
billion-a-year market.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Date: 23 SEP 93 10:08
Subject: All Shook Up
The Monday (9/20) edition of {The Los Angeles Times} notes that Andrew
Cuomo, an assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Develipment,
complained to aids that his desk occasionally trembled. A baffled
building crew couldn't find a thing until superintendent Elaine
Robinson opened a drawer and discovered Cuomo's pager, which vibrates
when activiated, displaying a dozen unanswered calls.
Randall Gellens . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . .
[email protected]
A Series System Software . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unisys Corporation. . . . . . . .|. . [Please forward bounce messages
Mission Viejo, CA. . . . . . . . | . . . . .to:
[email protected]]
Opinions are personal;. .facts are suspect; . I speak only for myself
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V13 #660
******************************
******************************************************************************
From Packet: CHANNEL1
Message # 191489 Area : 700 [Unlisted Conferenc
From : Telecom Moderator 09-23-93 11:03
To : Eliot Gelwan
Subj : TELECOM Digest V13 #660
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
�@FROM :
[email protected]
��(Continued from last message)
Organization: Universite Laval
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 18:19:28 GMT
Hi,
Can somebody please tell me how to calculate the distance between two
NPA-NXXs given their H & V coordinates?
Thanks.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Johan M Karlsson)
Subject: Information Wanted on Six-bit Code
Date: 23 Sep 1993 11:06:18 GMT
Organization: Communication Systems, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
I just wonder if anybody know anything about the Six-bit code called
TTS, that was used by many newspapers in the 70's to receive stories
from the wire services. Like what does the letters TTS stand for?
Would be very happy for an answer!
Johan
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Rich Greenberg)
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 13:23:15 PDT
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Subject: Old Phone Located; Good Home Wanted
One of my hobbies is to cruise garage sales looking for telephones,
recondition (usually just clean up) them, and resell them.
One that I came across may be of interest to the readers of The Telcom
Digest and c.d.t.
Its a 500 phone, dated 1971, rotary dial, in PINK. Its working, and
in good shape except for two minor cracks in the case that I will
epoxy. Came with an extra long pink cord (with the plug cut off)
which you may have with it, or I will put on a modular cord.
Email if interested. I am in Los Angeles near LAX, and would prefer
not to ship it.
Rich Greenberg Work: ETi Solutions, Oceanside & L.A. CA 310-348-7677
N6LRT TinselTown, USA Play:
[email protected] 310-649-0238
I speak for myself only. Canines: Chinook & Husky
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (John L. MacFarlane)
Subject: Tariff Rates For ISDN, T1, SMDS
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1993 11:06:46 GMT
Organization: Software.Com
Hello all,
Can anyone give me advise on where to find the tariff rates for local
T1, ISDN and SMDS services? I realize these rates vary with location
and I am also interested in this variance.
My appreciation in advance,
John MacFarlane
[email protected]
[Moderator's Note: Have you asked your own telco what they charge for
the services mentioned? PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1993 17:14:35 -0400 (EDT)
From:
[email protected]
Subject: Snail-Mail Revenge
The U.S. Postal Service is trying to coerce businesses into using its
Express Mail instead of private couriers, according to rivals in the
parcel industry.
During the past three years, the USPS has audited dozens of companies
and fined them more than $500,000 in "back postage" fees for shipping
"non-urgent" mail through services such as UPS and Federal Express.
Under federal law, couriers can only be used to ship "urgent" mail,
which the government defines as correspondence requiring an immediate
response.
So companies shipping out invoices or letters by private carrier for
overnight or two-day delivery could be opening themselves up to an
audit.
"Postal inspectors are being used as marketing tools to lure
businesses away from couriers," said Peter Farkas, counsel for the Air
Courier Conference of America.
The companies audited so far -- including:
Equifax of Atlanta GA, and GTE Corp. of Stamford, Conn., are being
charged fees for the amount that the postal service would have collected
if the business materials had been sent by first-class mail.
"What we are doing is totally covered by federal statute", says Paul
Griffo, a spokesman for the US Postal Inspection Service.
In 1974, Congress amended the 1872 law that gave the government a
total monopoly on first-class mail by allowing private companies to
transport urgent next-day packages, but it required the shippers to
pay at least twice the Postal Service's first-class mail rate.
Since then, the private courier business has become a grown into a $20
billion-a-year market.
------------------------------
From:
[email protected]
Date: 23 SEP 93 10:08
Subject: All Shook Up
The Monday (9/20) edition of {The Los Angeles Times} notes that Andrew
Cuomo, an assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Develipment,
complained to aids that his desk occasionally trembled. A baffled
building crew couldn't find a thing until superintendent Elaine
Robinson opened a drawer and discovered Cuomo's pager, which vibrates
when activiated, displaying a dozen unanswered calls.
Randall Gellens . . . . . . . . .|. . . . . .
[email protected]
A Series System Software . . . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Unisys Corporation. . . . . . . .|. . [Please forward bounce messages
Mission Viejo, CA. . . . . . . . | . . . . .to:
[email protected]]
Opinions are personal;. .facts are suspect; . I speak only for myself
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V13 #660
******************************
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Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
