The LCS community needs to communicate computer tools and services found in one group of possible use to the whole community. This series of notes gives brief statements of how to access tools or services available through the LCS computer resource. Contributions are welcome. ******* Good Practice: Finger and .plan Newcomers to LCS, Welcome!! The LCS Theory group, a UNIX environment, recently issued a good practice note that may apply widely. "Finger" is a very useful utility that returns account information about a user. In addition, it looks at a ".plan" file in your home directory for additional information you provide, such as a nickname. By convention, up-to-date address and phone information is usually listed in the .plan file. Since email connections fail occasionally and people move around, it makes it much easier to get in touch with you if you have the right information in your ".plan" file. ******* Typing Hazards: A special problem at LCS The problem of keyboard associated illness is being highlighted in several forums at MIT. At LCS in the last 12 months 10 community members have had wrist problems. Information about this topic is available on techinfo. To access the information do the following: telnet techinfo.mit.edu Then from the techinfo menu system choose 4:COMPUTING-- then choose 4:HEALTHHAZARD. ******* TakeABreak: A local hack A tool for UNIX-X-window users exists to increase awareness of session time. TakeABreak, a modification to the mail notifier xbiff, is available. It will remind you to rest every 30 minutes, or whatever period you set. To obtain it ftp ftp.lcs.mit.edu login: anonymous pswd: yourmailaddress Five files are in the directory /common/pub/takeabreak. FTP them to your machine and read READ.ME. If your group mounts /common on your server you may just visit /common/pub/takeabreak. (Thank you to Keith Packard for this public service). ******* An Internet Geographic Name Server: Zip codes etc The Geographic Name Server provides on- line information about known geographic locations. This information includes latitude, longitude, zip code, area code,population, and altitude. To access the Server from a unix platform telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000 Type ? or HELP for instructions. ****** GAO Reports: A test service The following U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reports are available over the Internet as part of a test to determine whether there is sufficient interest to warrant making all GAO reports available . 1. Computer Security: Government wide Planning Process Had Limited Impact 2. Drug-Exposed Infants: A Generation at Risk 3. High-Definition Television: Applications for This New Technology 4. Home Visiting: A Promising Early Intervention Strategy for At-Risk Families, 5. Meeting the Government's Technology Challenge: Results of a GAO Symposium, 6. Strategic Defense System: Stable Design and Adequate Testing Must Precede Decision to Deploy 7. Training Strategies: Preparing Noncollege Youth for Employment in the U.S. and Foreign Countries The reports are in ASCII text format and available at the NIH computer center in the Anonymous FTP directory GAO-REPORTS as REPORT1,REPORT2, etc. To obtain a report ftp cu.nih.gov login: anonymous pswd: yourname The service providers ask that you, send an e- mail note to KH3@CU.NIH.GOV stating your name, organization and what report you used. ******* ATHENA: Obtaining an account LCS members may use their MIT ID number to obtain an Athena account. Do the following from an LCS workstation : telnet athena.dialup.mit.edu login: register pswd: athena Follow the menus. You may wish to change mail forwarding from Athena by changing data in the Athena Service Management System database MOIRA. To correct entries in MOIRA do the following: telnet athena.dialup.mit.edu login: moira pswd: moira Follow the menus. The account has several present benefits, and is expected to become more valuable as new services are negotiated for the MIT community. ******* Modems: Terms of interest The addition of new standards to the 9600 bps service on the LCS dialup means that modems from many vendors can now be used. The LCS dialup service now supports the relatively new V.32bis and V.42bis international standards of the CCITT: V.32bis - for data signal rates up to 14,400 bps both ways. V.32bis includes the earlier V.32 standard and complying modems adjust speeds with the type of connecting modems and line conditions. V.42bis - data compression standard that includes the earlier V.42 error correction standard. This ensures error free data transmission between the modems and effective data All modems that comply with these standards can now be used with Terminus by calling 258-6222. All other calls should continue to use 258-7111. Send e-mail notes about tools or information you wish to share to . These notes may be read on-line on ftp.lcs.mit.edu in /COMMON/PUB/CRSNTS.