


This is a heavily edited/modified version of the Gopher FAQ intended to
give people just starting with gopher enough information to get a
client and jump into Gopher-space - a complete version can be obtained
as described below.  Once you have a gopher client point it at 
merlot.welch.jhu.edu and welcome to gopher-space!


Dan Jacobson

danj@welchgate.welch.jhu.edu

-----

Common Questions and Answers about the Internet Gopher, a
client/server protocol for making a world wide information service,
with many implementations.  Posted to comp.infosystems.gopher, 
comp.answers, and news.answers every two weeks.

The most recent version of this FAQ can be gotten through gopher, or
via anonymous ftp:

rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faq

Those without FTP access should send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out
how to do FTP by e-mail.

------------------------------------------------------------------- 
List of questions in the Gopher FAQ:

Q0:  What is Gopher?
Q1:  Where can I get Gopher software?
Q2:  What do I need to access Gopher?
Q3:  Where are there publicly available logins for Gopher?
Q4:  Who Develops Gopher Software?
Q5: What is the relationship between Gopher and (WAIS, WWW, ftp)?
Q6: Are papers or articles describing Gopher available?
Q7: What is veronica?
Q8: What is Available for Biology?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q0:  What is Gopher?

A0:  The Internet Gopher client/server provides a distributed
     information delivery system around which a world/campus-wide
     information system (CWIS) can readily be constructed.   While
     providing a delivery vehicle for local information,  Gopher
     facilitates access to other Gopher and information servers
     throughout the world. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1:  Where can I get Gopher software?

A1:  via anonymous ftp to boombox.micro.umn.edu.  Look in the directory
     /pub/gopher

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2:  What do I need to access Gopher?

A2:  You will need a gopher "client" program that runs on your local PC
     or workstation

     There are clients for the following systems.  The directory
     following the name is the location of the client on the anonymous
     ftp site boombox.micro.umn.edu (134.84.132.2) in the directory
     /pub/gopher.

      Unix Curses & Emacs   :  /pub/gopher/Unix/gopher1.12.tar.Z
      Xwindows (athena)     :  /pub/gopher/Unix/xgopher1.2.tar.Z
      Xwindows (Motif)      :  /pub/gopher/Unix/moog
      Xwindows (Xview)      :  /pub/gopher/Unix/xvgopher
      Macintosh Hypercard   :  /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher/old-versions *
      Macintosh Application :  /pub/gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher *
      DOS w/Clarkson Driver :  /pub/gopher/PC_client/
      NeXTstep              :  /pub/gopher/NeXT/
      VM/CMS                :  /pub/gopher/Rice_CMS/ or /pub/gopher/VieGOPHER/
      VMS                   :  /pub/gopher/VMS/
      OS/2 2.0	            :  /pub/gopher/os2/
      MVS/XA                :  /pub/gopher/mvs/

     Many other clients and servers have been developed by others, the
     following is an attempt at a comprehensive list.  

      A Microsoft Windows Winsock client "The Gopher Book"
        sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/micro/pc-stuff/ms-windows/winsock/goph_tbk.zip

      A Macintosh Application, "MacGopher".
        ftp.cc.utah.edu:/pub/gopher/Macintosh *

      Another Macintosh application, "GopherApp".
        ftp.bio.indiana.edu:/util/gopher/gopherapp *

      A port of the UNIX curses client for DOS with PC/TCP
        oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu:/public/dos/misc/dosgopher.exe

      A port of the UNIX curses client for PC-NFS
     	 bcm.tmc.edu:/nfs/gopher.exe

      A beta version of the PC Gopher client for Novell's LAN Workplace
      for DOS
         lennon.itn.med.umich.edu:/dos/gopher

      A VMS DECwindows client for use with Wollongong or UCX
         job.acs.ohio-state.edu:XGOPHER_CLIENT.SHARE


     * Note: these Macintosh clients require MacTCP.

     Most of the above clients can also be fetched via a gopher client
     itself.  Put the following on a gopher server:

       Type=1
       Host=boombox.micro.umn.edu
       Port=70
       Path=
       Name=Gopher Software Distribution.

 
     Or point your gopher client at boombox.micro.umn.edu, port 70 and
     look in the gopher directory.


     There are also a number of public telnet login sites available.
     The University of Minnesota operates one on the machine
     "consultant.micro.umn.edu" (134.84.132.4) See Q3 for more
     information about this.  It is recommended that you run the client
     software instead of logging into the public telnet login sites.  A
     client uses the custom features of the local machine (mouse,
     scroll bars, etc.)  A local client is also faster.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3:  Where are there publicly available logins (ie places to telnet to
     in order to get a taste of gopher) for Gopher?

A3:  Here is a short list, use the site closest to you to minimize
     network lag.

     Telnet Public Logins:

     Hostname                  IP#              Login   Area
     ------------------------- ---------------  ------  -------------
     consultant.micro.umn.edu  134.84.132.4	gopher  North America
     gopher.uiuc.edu           128.174.33.160   gopher  North America
     panda.uiowa.edu           128.255.40.201	panda   North America
     gopher.sunet.se           192.36.125.2     gopher  Europe
     info.anu.edu.au           150.203.84.20    info    Australia
     gopher.chalmers.se        129.16.221.40    gopher  Sweden
     tolten.puc.cl             146.155.1.16     gopher  South America
     ecnet.ec		           157.100.45.2     gopher  Ecuador
     gan.ncc.go.jp             160.190.10.1     gopher  Japan


     It is recommended that you run the client software instead of
     logging into the public login sites.  A client uses the
     custom features of the local machine (mouse, scroll bars, etc.)
     and gives faster response.  Furthermore many of the basic features
     of clients - saving a file to your hard drive, printing a file
     to a local printer, viewing images, retrieving files from ftp
     sites etc.... are not available by the telnet logins.



---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4:  Who Develops Gopher Software?

A4:  Gopher was originally developed in April 1991 by the University
     of Minnesota Microcomputer, Workstation, Networks Center to help
     our campus find answers to their computer questions.  

     It has since grown into a full-fledged World Wide Information
     System used by a large number of sites in the world.

     Many people have contributed to the project, too numerous to
     count. 

     The people behind the much of the gopher software can be reached
     via e-mail at gopher@boombox.micro.umn.edu, or via paper mail:
   
      Internet Gopher Developers
      100 Union St. SE #190
      Minneapolis, MN 55455  USA

     Or via FAX at:
 
      +1 (612) 625-6817

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5: What is the relationship between Gopher and (WAIS, WWW, ftp)?

A5: Gopher is intimately intertwined with these two other systems.
     As shipped the Unix gopher server has the capability to: 
     
       - Search local WAIS indices.
       - Query remote WAIS servers and funnel the results to gopher
         clients.
       - Query remote ftp sites and funnel the results to gopher
         clients.
       - Be queried by WWW (World Wide Web) clients (either using
         built in gopher querying or using native http querying.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6: Are papers or articles describing Gopher available?

A6: Gopher has a whole chapter devoted to it in :

     _The_Whole_Internet_, Ed Kroll, O'Reilly, 1992 (Editors note:
                             ..Great book, go out and buy a bunch!)

     _The_Internet_Passport: NorthWestNet's Guide to Our World Online"
     By Jonathan Kochmer and NorthWestNet. Published by NorthWestNet,
     Bellevue, WA. 1993. 516 pp. ISBN 0-9635281-0-6. 
     Contact info: passport@nwnet.net, or (206) 562-3000

     _A_Students_Guide_to_UNIX by Harley Hahn. (publisher McGraw Hill,
     Inc.; 1993 ISBN 0-07-025511-3)


     Other references include:

     _The_Internet_Gopher_, "ConneXions", July 1992, Interop.

     _Exploring_Internet_GopherSpace_ "The Internet Society News", v1n2 1992, 

     (You can subscribe to the Internet Society News by sending e-mail to
      isoc@nri.reston.va.us)

     _The_Internet_Gopher_Protocol_, Proceedings of the Twenty-Third
          IETF, CNRI, Section 5.3

     _Internet_Gopher_, Proceedings of Canadian Networking '92

     _The_Internet_Gopher_, INTERNET: Getting Started, SRI
          International, Section 10.5.5

     _Tools_help_Internet_users_discover_on-line_treasures, Computerworld,
          July 20, 1992

     _TCP/IP_Network_Administration_, O'Reilly.

      Balakrishan, B. (Oct 1992)
        "SPIGopher: Making SPIRES databases accessible through the
      Gopher protocol".  SPIRES Fall '92 Workshop, Chapel Hill, North
      Carolina.

      Tomer, C.  Information Technology Standards for Libraries,
      _Journal of the American Society for Information Science_,
      43(8):566-570, Sept 1992.


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7: What is veronica?

A7: veronica:  Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Net-wide Index to 
     Computerized Archives.

     veronica offers a keyword search of most gopher-server menu titles
     in the entire gopher web.  As archie is to ftp archives, veronica 
     is to gopherspace.  A veronica search produces a menu of gopher
     items, each of which is a direct pointer to a gopher data source.
     Because veronica is accessed through a gopher client, it is easy
     to use, and gives access to all types of data supported by the
     gopher protocol.

     To try veronica, select it from the "Other Gophers" menu on 
     Minnesota's gopher server, or point your gopher at:

     Name=veronica (search menu items in most of GopherSpace) 
     Type=1 
     Port=70 
     Path=1/veronica 
     Host=futique.scs.unr.edu

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q8: What is Available for Biology?

A8: There is an incredible amount of software, data and information
    availble to biologists now by gopher.

Here is a brief list of the Biological Databases that you can search 
via gopher:

      2.  BDT Tropical Data Base Searches/
      3.  Biotechnet Buyers Guide - Online Catalogues for Biology <TEL>
      4.  Search Protein Data Bank Headers <?>
      5.  Chlamydomonas Genetics Center /
      6.  Crystallization database/
      7.  HGMP Databases - Probes and Primers /
      8.  Museum of Paleontology TYPE Specimen Index <?>
      9.  MycDB - Mycobacterium DataBase <?>
      10. Search (Drosophila) Flybase (Indiana)/
      11. Search (GenBank + SWISS-PROT + PIR + PDB)  <?>
      12. Search AAtDB -  An Arabidopsis thaliana Database <?>
      13. Search ACEDB - A Caenorhabditis elegans Database <?>
      14. Search CompoundKB - A Metabolic Compound Database <?>
      15. Search Databases at Welchlab (Vectors, Promoters, NRL-3D, EST, OMI../
      16. Search EMBL <?>
      17. Search GenBank <?>
      18. Search Genbank - 2 <?>
      19. Search Genbank Updates <?>
      20. Search LiMB <?>
      21. Search PIR  <?>
      22. Search PIR (keyword,species...) <?>
      23. Search PROSITE <?>
      24. Search Rebase - Restriction Enzyme Database <?>
      25. Search SWISS-PROT <?>
      26. Search TFD <?>
      27. Search the C. elegans Strain List  <?>
      28. Search the DNA Database of Japan <?>
      29. Search the EC Enzyme Database  <?>
      30. Search the GrainGenes database  <?>
      31. Search the Maize Database /
      32.  Cloning Vectors: plasmids, phage, etc. <?>
      33.  EPD - Eukaryotic Promoter Database <?>
      34.  EST - Expressed Sequence Tag Database - Human <?>
      35.  wEST - Expressed Sequence Tag Database - C. elegans <?>
      36.  Kabat Database of Proteins of Immunological Interest <?>
      37.  NRL_3D Protein Sequence-Structure Database <?>
      38.  OMIM - Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man <?>
      39.  Seqanalref - Sequence Analysis Bibliographic Reference Data Ban.. <?>
      40. Search Rebase - Restriction Enzyme Database <?>
      41. Search the EC Enzyme Database <?>
      42. Search The Rodent Section of Genbank <?>
      43. Database Taxonomy (Genbank, Swiss-Prot ...)/
      44. Retrieve Full PDB Entries by Accession Number <?>
      45. Search for All Researchers funded by NIH <?>
      46. Search for Genome Researchers funded by DOE <?>
      47. Search for Researchers funded by NSF <?>
      48. Search for Researchers funded by the USDA <?>
      49. E-mail Addresses of Crystallographers/
      50. E-mail Addresses of Yeast Reasearchers/
      51. Phonebooks Around the World/
      52.  Search and Retrieve Software for All Computers/
      53.  Search and Retrieve Macintosh Software/
      54.  Search and Retrieve DOS Software/
      55.  Search and Retrieve GNU Software/
      56.  Search and Retrieve Software for Biology/
      57.  Search for Agricultural Software/
      58.  Search and Retrieve Graphics Software and Data/
      59.  Search and Retrieve all Online Perl Scripts/
      60.  FTP Sites For Biology (56 archives for software and data)/
