Network Q & A

A: Yes, information about exchange rates for foreign currency is available through UWIN (see page 24 ). Once you start UWIN, use this path from the Service Index screen:

NEWS --> CECON --> C-FIN

This means:

1. Use the cursor keys to select (highlight) the category named "Electronic news."

2. Select the subcategory named "Economic and business news."

3. Select and start the newsgroup named "General financial news."

Q: What can I do when email I send bounces back to me?

A: If an email message you send cannot be delivered, the email system sends you a notice. This notice is called a bounced message, and it comes from postmaster, root, daemon, mailer, or some other system account. The bounced message includes details to help you understand what went wrong and what you can do to successfully re-send the message.

Two kinds of bounced messages are common:

• Host unknown" errors are messages returned to you within seconds because the local system could not figure out where to start delivery. "Host unknown" and its Bitnet equivalent "Mailbox not found" indicate a problem with the domain name (everything to the right of the @ symbol in the email address). Check to make sure you typed the correct domain and then contact the recipient to confirm his or her email address.

• User unknown" errors are the opposite of "host unknown" errors. Your email made it to the recipient's site, but the destination computer could not find a user with that name. Here, the problem is most likely with the user name (everything to the left of the @ symbol). Again, check your typing and then contact the recipient to confirm his or her email address.

In rare cases, email goes into a "black hole": a message never gets delivered and it never bounces back. If you have repeatedly sent a message and have not received a response in over a week, this might be the case. If possible, call the recipient to check whether or not they received the message. When you are sure this is black-hole email, call Network Operations or send email to help@cac.washington.edu

One thing to remember about bounced email is if you send one message to multiple people or to a mailing list, each delivery is considered a separate piece of email. If you send a notice out to four people and get one bounced message, then three people got the message and one did not.

Q: Since the Micom switch is scheduled to be removed this summer, I have made arrangements to replace my Micom connection with an Ethernet connection. Will I still be able to access everything I do now?

A: Yes, you will be able to access everything you have used from the Micom, and more. For example, Information Systems' users enjoy the Ethernet's ability to provide multiple logons to the administrative applications (such as online purchase orders and payroll records). In addition, a direct Ethernet connection will be much faster and more reliable than a Micom connection.

Q: How will the removal of the Micom affect dialins?

A: The dialin modem pools (685-7712, 685-7724, and 685-7796) have never been part of the Micom and will continue to operate. The removal of the Micom will not affect these dialin pools in any way.

Q: How can I find the email address for someone at another university?

A: How to find email addresses is one of the most frequently asked questions. It is often difficult to find email addresses electronically, and you might find it easier in many cases to just call and ask.

The University of Washington includes email addresses in its faculty/staff directory, which you can access through UWIN. In addition, over 200 institutions around the world have phone/email directories that are available over the Internet. Some of these directories are faculty/staff only, but most include students as well.

You can use the Gopher service in UWIN to search through these directories. The Gopher service is in the NET category on the UWIN service index. Once in Gopher, you will see an item labeled "Phone Books--Other Institutions." That is where you want to go. From the Phone Books screen, you have different options, depending on where the institution is located. Once you choose a region, the system presents a list of email directories.

Email directories that have a <?> following their names will ask you only one question: "Index Word(s) to search for." In these cases, just enter the last name of the person you want.

Other entries have <CSO> following their name. When you select one of these, you may search for their name, phone, email, or address. Even with CSO directories, all you need to do is put the last name in the name field and press <Return> twice to start the search.

When you find your results, write them down or save them some other way. You must exit Gopher and UWIN and then restart Pine or your favorite mailer to send out your email.

If you found the right university but it did not list the person you are looking for or it did not include an email address, you are out of luck.

If the university/institution in question does not have a directory, you can at least confirm that it is on the Internet. Knowing that a site is on the network will not help you contact a particular person, but it may convince you that a phone call to ask about email is more worthwhile.

Both the United States and Japan have directories of Internet-connected sites. Both of these directories are available through the Gopher service mentioned above. For the U.S., the directory is "Network Solutions, Inc." in the North America section of the Phone Books screen; for Japan it is "Japan Network Information Center" in the Asia Pacific section.

When you search the Japanese directory, if you want to see a directory listing in English, you must add a "/e" to the end of the index words. For example, if you are searching for the University of Tokyo, when prompted for the index words you would type:

University of Tokyo/e

The directory list will appear in English.