1237d5018f68
c_echo



Hello Ian - 

CA>> Agora servers are 'bot' Perl scripts that accept requests
CA>> for files to be downloaded and sent to any email address
CA>> as attachments. At one time there were dozens of these
CA>> 'bots' around the world. Sadly there are only a very few
CA>> that remain. :-\ 

IW> Before I had my own internet connection, my Fido boss node
IW> provided his users/points with e-mail addresses and I used
IW> this facility to get loads of web pages via the Agora
IW> servers. 

As did I. EastPointe BBS (a hub) to be exact. Truth is I didn't
have much interest in being on the Internet at the time and my
daughter signed me up for a free 'trial' so that she could win
a contest at work. When she mentioned it to me I thought I'd
see if I could get DOS onto the Internet and used EastPointe's
Internet email along with Agora servers to collect the
necessary software (after searching for it, reading HTML
webpages, etc.). NetTamer came to my rescue. I got online and
continued to look for more DOS Internet software which lead to
FTP, MSKermit logged into public LYNX browsers, IRC, ICQ (now
broken), and others and here I am on W2K with more Internet
software than any sane person should have. ;-) 

IW> It was all a bit clumsy because my pointing software was
IW> not designed to facilitate the process. However the
IW> principal was sound. 

A certain amount of patience is required since requests are
qued and it can take days to get what you asked for. Usually it
was under an hour but some did take days. 

IW> These days I get the majority of my web pages via scripted
IW> http, which most people will think very odd but which I
IW> find suits me in that I can read material offline and so
IW> not worry about online charges. 

In countries where people pay for _all_ phone calls per minute
(even local) Agora can save some money. Being able to download
large files from a direct connect to a local BBS is much more
efficient than dealing with Internet pauses and slow connects.
In the USA we get a certain number of local calls for 'free'
included with our base charge for just having a telephone.
Americans probably don't notice how long it can take for a GUI
browser to 'render' the display after it has downloaded all the
data required. 

IW> When one thinks about it the results of collecting pages
IW> via Agora bears some resemblance to collecting via scripted
IW> http. It would be even better if ones boss was an internet
IW> node who could fetch these pages directly. 

I would guess that the original w3c had such a connection and I
think the agora in Japan that continues to function has such a
connection. I was told Agora was popular with college
professors who would, of course, have premium high-speed
servers to install it onto. :-) 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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