Recently developed at the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, xnetlib is an X-version of netlib. We here give some quotes from their documents which you may find useful. Unlike netlib, which uses electronic mail to process requests for software and other text, xnetlib uses an X Window graphical interface and a socket-based connection between the user's machine and the xnetlib server machine to process software requests. Each time xnetlib starts up, it contacts the netlib server at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (surfer.epm.ornl.gov) to get the latest list of index files. Any new or updated index files may then be downloaded as you wish. At this time there are about 200 of these files, each about a page or two in size. To get files from xnetlib, click on library (for example) and then select from the list of libraries. Click on the files you want and then click download. The index files are stored locally. These are the same files you get by sending for the index by email from netlib.
To receive a copy of xnetlib send the message:
$ mail netlib@ornl.gov Unix Mail command. send xnetlib.shar from xnetlib Tell them this.
When you receive the shar file, remove the mail header, save it to filename, type sh filename, and follow the instructions in the README file.