F I D O N E W S -- Vol.10 No.46 (14-Nov-1993)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | |
| FidoNet BBS community | Published by: |
| _ | |
| / \ | "FidoNews" BBS |
| /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: |
| | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet addresses: |
| |
| Sylvia --
[email protected] |
| Donald --
[email protected] |
| Tim --
[email protected] |
| Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) |
|
[email protected] |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies and other boring but important details, |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================
1. Editorial..................................................... 2
2. Articles...................................................... 2
BEWARE!..................................................... 2
CXL International Echo to Change name to TCXL............... 3
Hayes 28,800bps Modems - $288 SysOp Price!.................. 4
An Open Letter to Steve Winter.............................. 6
Minors and the sort......................................... 8
I Second That Motion........................................ 10
Chasing Technology: FidoNet 9600, Modems 21600.............. 10
A Reflection Upon "Hi!" by Andrzej Bacinski (2:480/33.17)... 12
FidoNet for Sale?........................................... 12
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 14
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 2 14 Nov 1993
========================================================================
Editorial
========================================================================
Hello. We're running late this weekend again, but for more
enjoyable reasons than usual. Some red-haired people and a
small boy appeared. The small (age 1.2 years) boy, Nathan,
began to deconstruct the living space in a thought provoking
manner. I'd never understood before watching Nathan, that
ferris wheels and roller coasters are really versions of very
LARGE playground equipment.
As to that, I suppose large networks are really just big
versions of those old tincan/string thingies that we built as
kids. Maybe there really is an advantage to growing up ... then
again, maybe not.
Next, Ray showed up unexpectedly with a box of old ivory piano
keys to fill in the empty spaces on our hundred-and-fifty-dollar
thrift store piano. He calls himself a "piano technician", then
plays lovely riffs and Russian dances of his own invention
accompanied by the hum of less than state-of-the-art hard
drives: funky old symbol manipulating machines of different
sorts all together. Gotta like it.
Funny. Though we both consider ourselves technophiles,
accoustic instruments always seem to get preference, and we have
not had a television in the house for years. It is difficult to
write an editorial with half a dozen people playing and singing
downstairs, so I am going to end up the editorial and head back
down. Enjoy the snooze.
========================================================================
Articles
========================================================================
BEWARE!
by Henrik Schroder, 2:201/262.9
Beware! TEGFABTI have invaded!
Beware mortal users! The Evil Geniuses For A Better Tomorrow
International have invaded Fidonet! Yes! It's true! We have at last
been able to infiltrate this part of The Network. Now, we are close to
wiping out those infernal Networkers! This places us a step further
total control of the world. The only thing left after crushing The
Network is to challenge The Ancient Illuminated Seers Of Bavaria! This
will be our final test. If only The Network would cooperate with us...
At least we have an infiltrater in UseNet: Robert E Macklewayne (Or
whatever that mortal's name was)
For those of you who wants to join us AND have an IQ over 142, the
clues are all in this text.
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 3 14 Nov 1993
CXL International Echo to Change name to TCXL
by Jeff Galbraith, Moderator - CXL/TCXL International Echo
CXL International Echo to Change name to TCXL
This is a notice that on December 4, 1993, the CXL International
echo's areatag name will officially change to TCXL. The reason for
this is explained in the paragraphs below.
We've been having a lot of problems this past year with postings in
the CXL echo that were off-topic, to say the least. Even revising the
ELIST information has not been a significant deterrent against these
postings. By changing the areatag name, I hope to significantly raise
awareness of the real purpose and intent of this echo.
First, let me explain a little bit about CXL. Mike Smedley is the
original author of CXL (C eXtended Library). The shareware version of
this product caught on with many programmers, gathering a large
following. It did menus, forms, string manipulation -- in short, it
made C programming simple for the home hobbyists. Unfortunately, it
was harder and harder to get support in the C echo from Mike and then,
one day, he seemed to disappear. This was the time when I began the
CXL echo. Locally at first, then regionally, then eventually onto the
backbone. The intent was to have users support each other.
Unbeknownst to all of us, CXL was sold to Chip Rabinowitz, the owner
of Innovative Data Concepts. They took the product and reworked it
quite significantly and renamed it to TCXL (TesSeRact C eXtended
Library). They added so much to the product, that some people began to
have a harder time with it. CXL had grown up to TCXL and was now a
full-fledgling text-based user interface for professional programmers.
Besides TCXL, IDC began to offer other similar products as well. A
screen designer, a object-oriented interface to TCXL, TEdit - a full
editor using TCXL, TFile - Dbase compatible libraries, TComp -
compression libraries and much more. Today, TCXL allows for CUA
interface adherence, Windows programming, OS/2 and PM, Unix, AIX, Sun
and again, the list goes on. Recently, IDC introduced their version of
DOS-DLL libraries outside of MS-Windows. Most of these products are still
available as shareware. Meanwhile, the userbase has grown
significantly.
So now the reason behind the areatag name change is two fold. One,
create awareness of what TCXL really is so hopefully the general
programming questions will be taken elsewhere and second, to update
the echo to reflect CXL's name change to TCXL. This is a long time in
coming and I hope we'll be able to accomplish this without problems.
To make sure that everything goes just as well as it can, I will be
sending out netmail to every node that has had a message originate
from their system or pass through their system. I came across a nice
little utility called PATHS, which will give me a nice list of such
nodes. If you are one of these nodes, then expect a nice netmail from
myself. The only problem is those nodes with lurkers. If you have not
entered a message in the echo for over 2-3 months, I won't have a
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 4 14 Nov 1993
record of your node and you won't be personally notified. There has
been constant notices in the echo itself concerning this change, so
hopefully, somehow, you'll find out about it.
To reiterate, the change to the CXL International echo area will take
place on December 4, 1993 and the new name will be TCXL. Please make a
note of this for a smooth transition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hayes 28,800bps Modems - $288 SysOp Price!
by: Phillip M. Dampier
1:2613/228
HAYES 288 V.FC MODEM BREAKS MEGABYTE A MINUTE BARRIER
WITH ITS 230,400 bit/s CAPABILITY
- - - - - - - - - -
Special $288 Introductory Offer for Sysops
ATLANTA, GA, 1 November 1993 -- Hayes Microcomputer Products,
Inc. today introduced to the global market Hayes OPTIMA 288 V.FC + FAX
modem with data throughput capabilities to 230,400 bit/s (230.4 kbit/s)
using data compression. Hayes OPTIMA 288 V.FC + FAX is a powerful
solution for remote control, multi-media, remote LAN access, and the
transfer of large data files and graphic images.
Already shipping at time of announcement in the United States
and Canada for the estimated retail price of US$579 and CDN$699, Hayes
is making this product available to Sysops for the special price of
$288, 50% off estimated retail. In addition, Hayes is also offering
Sysops the opportunity to upgrade OPTIMA 96, OPTIMA 144, ULTRA 96 and
ULTRA 144 products to OPTIMA 288 V.FC + FAX for US$199. These special
Sysop offers are good through January.
This external data + fax modem supports V.Fast Class (V.FC) for
28,800 bit/s (28.8 kbit/s) data transmission; ITU-T (formerly CCITT)
V.42 bis data compression; ITU-T V.42 error-control; and Group 3 fax
using V.17 for 14,400 bit/s (14.4 kbit/s) fax transmission. This product
is fully compatible with the installed base of V.32 bis (14.4 kbit/s),
V.32 (9600 bit/s) and V.22 bis (2400 bit/s) modems. In addition, the
product will operate at 28,800 bit/s with future Hayes products
implementing the V.34 (V.Fast) standard once it is approved. Hayes will
make an upgrade to V.34 available, however, until the standard is
finalized, Hayes can only estimate that the cost will be less than
US$100.
"We are pleased to offer the Sysop community a product with the
highest data and fax speeds available today from Hayes at a very
aggressive price," said Hayes President Dennis C. Hayes. "V.FC's
widespread availability creates a new industry pre-standard for
high-speed communications. This technology not only fills the gap
between V.32 bis and V.34 but should enable Hayes to respond quickly
when V.Fast becomes a standard."
Hayes complements its high-speed modem with Hayes ESP
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 5 14 Nov 1993
Communications Accelerator, a 16-bit high-speed serial card with either
single or dual ports. Hayes ESP enables Hayes OPTIMA 288 V.FC + FAX to
achieve the full data transmission port speed of 230.4 kbit/s in
environments such as Windows, where a typical PC serial port cannot
adequately manage the very high speeds. Hayes ESP Communications
Accelerator single port is available to Sysops for US$69. Hayes ESP
Communications Accelerator dual port will be available in December to
Sysops for US$89. Both Hayes ESP Communications Accelerators are
half-card boards that incorporate a dedicated communications
co-processor with built-in automatic flow control ensuring data
integrity by eliminating buffer overrun errors experienced with even the
16550 UART at speeds of 115.2 kbit/s or higher. To maximize the PC's
performance, Hayes ESP Communications Accelerators provide dual
1024-byte send/receive buffers and a 16-bit PC Bus interface.
Approvals are currently underway for Hayes OPTIMA 288 V.FC +
FAX in France, Germany, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan,
China, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands and Spain. Product
will be available in these countries once approvals are received from
the appropriate regulatory authority. Availability in other countries,
including Latin America, is also planned.
In addition, eight of the world's largest bulletin board systems
and the three major North American mail hubs within FidoNet have joined
Hayes in extensive V.FC modem testing. "We were pleased to have the
opportunity to support Hayes in this testing. These 28.8 kbit/s modems
are reliable products and users will certainly benefit from the speed,"
said George Peace, North American FidoNet Mail Zone Hub. "We can now
perform mail exchanges twice as fast."
OPTIMA 288 V.FC + FAX comes with Smartcom for Windows LE and
Windows fax communications software. Smartcom for Windows LE includes a
Phone Book feature to store phone numbers; Smart Buttons to automate
communications; popular file transfer protocols; multiple terminal
emulations; and a peruse buffer with print and disk capture. With the
graphical user interface of Smartcom for Windows LE, users can go online
and print files.
Best known as the leader in microcomputer modems, Hayes
develops, supplies and supports computer communications equipment and
software for personal computers and computer communications networks.
The company distributes its products in over 65 countries through a
global network of authorized distributors, dealers, mass merchants,
VARs, systems integrators and original equipment manufacturers.
Hayes, OPTIMA, ESP, and Smartcom are trademarks of Hayes Microcomputer
Products, Inc. V.FC and V.Fast Class are trademarks of Rockwell
International Corporation. Other trademarks mentioned are trademarks of
their respective companies.
To obtain the sysop information and order kit, please call Online With
Hayes BBS at 1-800-874-2937 (1-800-USHAYES) and select option '9' from
the Main Menu.
For additional product information, customers may contact Hayes Customer
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 6 14 Nov 1993
Service:
Telephone Online with Hayes BBS
404/441-1617 (U.S.) 800/US HAYES (U.S. and Canada)
519/746-5000 (Canada) 404/HI MODEM
+33 1 34 22 30 15 (France) 404/729-6525 (ISDN Access)
+44 252 775544 (Europe) +44 252 775599 (Europe)
+852 887 1037 (Hong Kong) +852 887 7590 (Hong Kong)
[Note from Phillip Dampier: These modems are getting excellent reviews
from George Peace and Dave James, two of the Zone Hubs in Fidonet. The
modems are selling very heavily, and Hayes reports they are now on
backorder until December for most orders placed these days. This
advance in transmission should go a long way to help reduce the costs
for transporting files and echomail within our hobby.
I applaud Hayes for being very aggressive about pricing these modems
within reach of most any SysOp. After several years of paying
US Robotics $500 for the latest and greatest, a $200 savings is very
welcome. We use a Hayes 14,400 bps modem here with excellent
results.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
An Open Letter to Steve Winter
An Open Letter to Steve Winter
by James Jenks, Sysop of The Hermes BBS, 1:232/310
Dear Mr. Winter,
I realize that your search for truth makes you a very busy person.
Obviously you didn't have time to check out the accuracy of the claims
you made in your latest article, "The PRIME HOME_SCHOOLING Echo."
Because I'm sure you'd want to set things right and because I know how
little free time you have, I've prepared the following letter for you
to sign and post. It is a thorough apology for the message you posted
and the -- well, "misrepresentations" is a nicer word than "lies" --
that it contained.
AN APOLOGY FROM STEVE WINTER
(AS PROPOSED BY JAMES JENKS)
1. I apologize for calling Chapel Hill High School teacher David Bruton
a "Sodomite." I have no evidence that Mr. Bruton engages in oral sex
or anal sex with persons of either gender, nor do I have evidence that
Mr. Bruton engages in sex with animals. In other words, to my
knowledge Mr. Bruton does not meet the dictionary definition of a
sodomite. I was using the term "Sodomite" as a derogatory substitute
for "homosexual." This was very inaccurate of me since there are many
more heterosexual sodomites than homosexual ones. It was simply my
attempt to link homosexual love with God's wrathful destruction of an
Biblical city, a connection which is unwarranted.
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 7 14 Nov 1993
2. I also apologize to Mr. Bruton for my false statements about his
teaching activities. I said that Mr. Bruton "was giving explicit
sexual materials to his class that included even child/adult sex in
graphic detail" and called it an example of "a Sodomite public school
teacher passing out pornography." As I would know if I read the
newspaper accounts I refered to, no one is accusing Mr. Bruton of
distributing any such materials. At most, Mr. Bruton has been accused
of placing certain books on a list of optional readings without
thoroughly reading these books himself. These books are titled:
(Mr. Winter, please collect the list of books and place them here.)
and the information I posted about their content comes from:
(Mr. Winter, please choose one of the following:)
(a) my personal reading of these books.
(b) unsubstantiated heresay.
3. Since I admit to wrongly accusing Mr. Winter of both sodomy and
distribution of pornography, and because false accusations of crimes
are damaging to the character of the accused, I wouldn't blame Mr.
Bruton if he sued me to pieces for my libel.
4. Concerning my statement about "scoutmaster child molesters" in which
I asked, "(R)ead the news where they have dismissed 1700 scoutmasters
for child molesting?" -- I apologize to eveyone who read that message
and especially to the anyone connected with the Boy Scouts of America.
I was perpetuating an utterly false rumor that started when the BSA
provided approximately 1800 pieces of evidence to the discovery phase
of a disputed child abuse case in California. These 1800 items
represent the information gathered by the BSA over a 20 year period on
the general topic of alleged improprieties in many different
categories. Not all of the information had to do with sexual
activities, not all of it had to do with the Boy Scouts, and not all
of it was substantiated in any way. In other words, I took the fact
that the BSA had contributed 1800 pieces of material to an
investigation and blew it into a false accusation that 1700
scoutmasters had been dismissed for child molestation. Perhaps the
BSA and Mr. Bruton could team up and make a class action suit against
me.
5. Finally, I'd like to apologize to James Jenks. Because of my shoddy
and false accusations, Mr. Jenks felt compelled to take time out of his
day and make a couple of long distance calls to prove me wrong. I will
be forwarding a check for $27.50 to Mr. Jenks as soon as possible.
This amount covers Mr. Jenks' half hour of labor in researching these
topics and writing this apology (at a rate of $50 per hour) and the
estimated $2.50 which Mr. Jenks spent on the phone calls to the Herald
Sun in Durham, NC, and to the Boy Scouts of America office in Dallas,
TX. If I had any desire to be accurate in my posts, it wouldn't be
necessary for other people to correct my errors.
6. In order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, I am
going to cut back on the volume of messages I post and will concentrate
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 8 14 Nov 1993
on their quality. I will double-check my information before I accuse
anybody of anything. If it proves that this double-checking takes too
much of my time, I will spend less time on writing messages and running
the PRIME network. Given a choice between being accurate and writing
harsh, judgmental messages I would prefer the former.
Sincerely yours,
(Mr. Winter, please sign your name here.)
Yours in Christian love,
James Jenks
Sysop, The Hermes BBS
1:232/310
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Minors and the sort
Scott Bernard (1:107/653)
*This message may be unsuitable for minors. But then *
* these would be minors who lived in small boxes for 17 *
* years, and thus, I would be afraid of *
* If you feel the content to be offensive, well, fool, *
* stop reading it. I'm not forcing you to. Neither is *
* The snooze, they never made you un-lharc. *
I am getting sick to death of what I am seeing in the snooze,
regard who sees and who doesn't see an echo.
The echo Flame. Never read it. My local hub doesn't carry it.
If I wanted him to though, he probably would. Or so I would
hope.
If my net didn't get it off of the backbone, well then I'd need
to get 4 other nodes to want it before it would. If it does, I
wouldn't know.
Wow. Pretty sensible sounding to me. Seems to be a group of
people with patience, understanding, and the ability to work
together. Fairly democratic. I'm not saying that the democratic
way of rule is the best, ofcourse. I wouldn't want to offend
our readers from non-democratic areas. Truly.
But, just for the sake of argument, lets say one of the nodes in
my net didn't want the Echo Flame to be on our net. The
requirement of 4 nodes has been met, so there's no problem
there. That particular node isn't going to be forced to read
that echo, or to route that echo, etc. Yet this person (who
doesn't exist, remember we are making this up) is still unhappy
for some reason or another.
Lets say the reason is Minors on the echo.
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 9 14 Nov 1993
Well isn't this terrible? Little children seeing horrible curse
words and other such evil things. Oh my, we can't let that
happen. No, we adults, us wise, skillful bbsers and sysops have
to watch out for them.
Well I have news for you. Do you think that 17 yr old Bill, a
minor in the USA, has never seen a horrible evil curse word?
What about little 12 yr old Tom? Has he ever heard profanity?
Has he ever seen or heard the word 'Dick'?
All throughout elementary school, middle school, and high
school, everywhere I looked I heard or saw a curse. When I was
in 3rd grade, in the playground, kicks would curse all the time,
just to be cool. In Middle School, if you didn't curse you were
some kinda moma's boy. In High School, even the teachers cursed.
Any of us heard of pregnant teans? Or doesn't that happen? They
teach sex in most schools.
So, this one Flame echo is going to destroy civilization huh? A
whole generation of kids are going to turn out bad apples cause
someone used the word 'shit' in a message. There's gonna be a
whole slew of axe murdering rapists, because someone on an echo
said 'fuck your mother'.
Infact, I would be wholly surprised if this happened. Actually,
I would be wholly surprised if any minor was in the slightest
even remotely influenced by what they saw on an Echo. I'll even
go out on a limb and say that if any minor did get shocked by
anything on Flame, that minor is either an utter nerd, or has
few friends.
Please, wake up. Stop arguing over idiotic things such as Which
Echo contain's the most profanity and thus is insuitable for the
whole of humanity, and do something useful, such as stopping the
use of profanity itself, BY YOUR SELVES.
Where do you think children learn curses from? Do they
magically discover them in a secret database that has existed
for years only to destroy humanity? I think not. If were to
perhaps do something as stupid as improve ourselves, then
perhaps we can improve our children.
By the way, I'm only 18. I'm not a minor. I am by your
criteria, an adult. Choose to ignore me if you wish, its your
right. Show me disrespect if you wish, I don't mind. But do not
call me a child.
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 10 14 Nov 1993
I Second That Motion
Stanton McCandlish,
[email protected]
NitV-DC BBS 1:109/1103
In FidoNews 1045, Bill Birrell <
[email protected]>,
2:257/9000, moves that FidoNet policy be revised, to allow for
removal from "office" of any *C, for term limitations upon *Cs,
and for a binding policy statement that *Cs must abide by the
majority vote of the sysops of FidoNet. I think this is as it
should be, and so I second that motion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chasing Technology: FidoNet 9600, Modems 21600
By Jay Desio, Network Communications, 1:2604/222
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It appears that FidoNet is having difficulty keeping up with
technology. Before a new standard or product is actually released, it
is generally preceeded by announcements or some type of publicity. The
knowledge of a forthcoming innovation is usually well enough in advance
so that other standards or changes can be proposed and implemented,
except when it comes to FidoNet standards.
14.4k modems have been around for a number of years, now there are
16.8k, 19.2k and 21.6k modems available, however, the FidoNet nodelist
still allows for a maximum baud rate specification of 9600 baud.
Perhaps it is time to update the specifications to reflect the real
world. I believe that most nodelist and mailer software in use today
can handle these changes. As technology continues to advance, FidoNet
technology continues to fall further behind.
Shortly after USR announced release of the v.32 TERBO modems, I wrote a
message to Bob Satti, the Zone 1 Coordinator, concerning a flag to
support this new line of modems. The message was carbon copied to Burt
Juda, NC of Net 107, who serves on the FTSC.
In this message, I explained that the flag was needed, as the current
set of nodelist flags available could not properly identify the TERBO
modems, therefore, the Sysop was not able to properly determine which
modem configuration to use to achieve the optimum connect speed.
Burt responded immediately, indicating that he would send David Nugent,
the FTSC Chairman, the information. Burt's reply was carbon copied to
Bob Satti, who I assume did not respond due to the action Burt
initiated.
After not hearing anything further after several weeks had passed, I
contacted Burt in a follow-up. The next day I received a message from
David Nugent, indicating that Matt Whelan, the International
Coordinator, has not responded to any messages concerning such changes
recommended by the FTSC and that the matter would probably have to wait
until a new IC was in office.
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 11 14 Nov 1993
On November 11th I wrote a message to the IC and carbon copied it to
David Nugent as well as Bob Satti and Adam Strack at USR concerning
this matter. In this message I explained why the immediate
implementation of a nodelist flag for the v.32 TERBO modems (I
suggested V32T as the flag) was beneficial to the entire base of TERBO
modem users, as the individual savings gained by the individual Sysops,
multiplied by the entire TERBO base would result in a tremendous
savings in money to many FidoNet Sysops. I requested that Matt review
the information I had presented and make a decision based on this
information. I further requested that if the IC was not in a position
to implement such a flag, that the individual ZC's implement such a
flag for their Zone distribution nodelist.
I have not received any replies to this message as of this writing, and
would not expect a reply for at least afew days. I strongly suggest
that each and every Sysop interested in taking maximum advantage of
their capabilities, as well as the money savings gained by being able
to properly identify the modem do the following.
Write a message to Matt Whelan at 3:3/1000, carbon copy the message to
Bob Satti at 1:1/0 as well as to your Net Coordinator, requesting that
such a flag be implemented immediately. The ZC1 is in Canada and the IC
is in Australia. For the purpose of this 'project', messages concerning
the implementation of the V32T flag addressed to the ZC1 and IC can be
routed via my system (1:2604/222) and I will forward them directly to
the above coordinators after enough have been gathered to justify a
direct international call. Please don't route any messages that do not
concern this project, they will be returned.
If action isn't taken immediately to accommodate this new nodelist
flag, users of TERBO modems will not be able to take maximum advantage
of the equipment they have. The result is spending more time connected
to a remote system, which further results in additional cost. As an
interim solution, the FidoNet nodelist has provisions for user defined
nodelist flags, which many mailer programs can read and take advantage
of. The user defined flags are not for advertisements or non-essential
information. The TERBO designation is essential, it serves a very
useful purpose. Obviously, if a 'standard' isn't specified for this
purpose, there can be many different implementations of a user defined
nodelist flag, which would render the flag useless. There must be a
'standard' that is implemented by all for this to work properly.
Another potential problem is that the user defined 'specs' allow for
the character 'U' in the first user defined entry, but it should not be
repeated for each subsequent entry. If you are adding the V32T user
defined flag to a list of existing user defined flags, then it will
appear properly as V32T without any preceding characters. If you do
not currently utilize any user defined flags, the first flag should
be preceeded by the character 'U'. I initially had another idea on
how to accomplish this, but after posting the idea in the HST echo,
I received an excellant suggestion that would minimize impact to the
nodelist. Specifying the 'U' as a separate entry: ,U,V32T keeps the
user defined flags within the specs.
The user defined nodelist flag 'standard' that I propose (and that I
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 12 14 Nov 1993
have already submitted for my nodelist entry) is V32T, which stands
for V.32 TERBO. Since the modems are HST/DS modems, I will also
continue to keep my regular modem nodelist flags of H16,V32B. The
combination of the current nodelist flags and the user defined flag
will allow the modem to be properly identified. Here are afew examples
of how the nodelist entry would look for modem and user defined
nodelist flags:
9600,H16,V32B,V42B,U,V32T
9600,H16,V32B,V42B,U,FLAG,V32T
|------------user defined flag for another purpose
Specifying the V32T user defined nodelist flag gives TERBO modem users
the flag they need to achieve optimum performance until FidoNet catches
up with the technology around us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A Reflection Upon "Hi!" by Andrzej Bacinski (2:480/33.17).
By Adam Sjoegren (2:230/149).
> I would like to say SORRY to every FidoNet member. Sorry, I failed. I
> didn't teach him enough for him to understand the idea of FidoNet.
This reminds me *so* much of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star-Wars, who thought he
could teach as well his own master Yoda, and therefore taught the
promising young Anakin Skywalker in the ways of The Force. As we all
know Anakin was seduced by the Dark Side and turned in to the horrible
being called Darth Vader.
Well, what can we learn from all this? The wonderful world of Star-Wars
once again proves that it contains all. The Empire will strike back,
sure, but eventually the Rebellion will win.
So to you Andrzej and all others out there: Use The Force!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNet for Sale?
by David Savlin, CATSPAW Bulletin Board System
(Fido 1:2607/203 -- Internet
[email protected])
Recently, the NC of my net decided to get a table at a computer
flea market in a local mall (aka "computer show"). After inquiring a
little, it seemed that he would be there with one of his computers,
and our NEC would most likely also show up with one of his computers.
I didn't hear anything about banners or fancy graphics being shown to
the passerby, etc. Which wasn't all that suprising, really -- I would
have expected (and would have seen) a few carefully lettered signs
drawing some attention. But this is a mall with computer-illiterate
people walking around; they'd be doing their best to drag their kids
away from the vendors displaying the latest Castle Wolfenstein
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 13 14 Nov 1993
variant. *GRIN* The intent of bringing computers was to give people
demonstrations of the software typically used in FidoNet, but also to
provide some bored people behind the table entertainment. :-) I
decided that there had to be *some* way of catching people's attention
a little more, or at least have something for folks who might have a
clue to take home, like a flyer.
I didn't get very much classwork done that week. But that's okay, I
caught up and didn't get stuck in any wringers.
I sat myself down with CorelDraw and started working on a flyer.
Halfway through, I decided to change the flyer and make it apply to
any net who wanted to use it, by just giving me the return-address
information (yes, it's a threefold with one panel for mailing address
and such) and I could print up a photo-ready master, which I could
ship off to the requesting person to photocopy. I got a lot of
favorable comments from the other FidoNet folks who came to the show,
too. Well, I snagged a DeskJet 500C color inkjet printer from work
and brought it to the show, and on-the-spot made up Corel signs in
full-blown color, which I'm sure attracted more than one person who
said "modem? I own one of those. Maybe they're selling Prodigy or
something." I hope they were pleased to see most BBSs are free -- I
also had a flyer with a few blurbs about local systems, for those
sysops responded to my short-notice netmail. Anyway, I had
photocopied dozens of those BBS lists, had a few FidoNews issues
printed out, had 50 or so flyers folded up (all on nice colored
paper), and the color signs attracting people. Ken had some music
playing, I was busily drawing on my main (server) machine, and I had
my slave BBS machine stuck in a local logon loop, with a big sign
inviting all to follow the on-screen directions and try out a BBS.
I'm happy to say a lot of people stopped to ask just what the heck a
BBS was, and I got many many new users, though few called back ever
after. (A few of the sysops who responded quickly for that BBS list
also told me they got a few new callers as well.) In any case, the
good flyers promoting joining Fido were gone by noon, and I had to run
back to my employer's and fire up the photocopy machine for another
hundred. Ken and I were busily folding for a while.
So what's my point? We had a reasonably good time and spread lots of
word about FidoNet. That's one of the "responsibilities" of a Fido
person; to try and get others to join, as points or as nodes. Not a
requirement; not a P4 mandate; but a suggestion. For our net, we use
a cost sharing plan, so the more nodes the cheaper it is for all
involved. But that's not the main reason for promoting FidoNet; it's
to interest others in a very inexpensive way to share information and
mail. The larger the community, the better. I'd like to urge nets
across the nation (and across the globe, if feasible) to consider
getting a table at shows, or whatever. They really aren't expensive -
- I think our table was $40 -- and it does pay off. Four people
splitting a table would make it very easy. But what about all these
great flyers I keep talking about?
Well... I'll tell you what. Any NC that wants a personalized copy of
this flyer (personalized to the net and NC), just let me know. Send
me your name, address, and BBS phone number, and I'll stuff that onto
FidoNews 10-46 Page: 14 14 Nov 1993
the flyer, print it out on a LaserJet 4 and send you the master. I'll
also send along a few other things I may have developed by then. If
you want to see what they look like, I have two sets of GIFs made up
for FREQ; simply request FLYER1024 for the 1024x768 set or FLYER640
for the 640x480 (VGA) set. My node number is 1:2607/203. They aren't
very large; the SVGA set is 46k and the VGA set is 25k. The text is
more readable with the SVGA set, though.
Last point: I've been throwing around the idea of creating a few
FidoNet teeshirt designs, which anybody could get via the same method.
However, I stink at drawing. I'd like to put out a call for any kind
of designs or sketches -- heck, even if it's a felt-tip design on a
Burger King napkin -- send it to me. I'll put 'em in Corel and make
a few different layouts with slogans and such. The most popular
design will be awarded a free teeshirt of their design.
Dat's it, folks. Have a good Thanksgiving and don't let the turkey
put you to sleep. :-)
David Savlin FidoNet 1:2607/203
418 W. Fourth St - Apt 1 InterNet
[email protected]
Bethlehem, PA 18015-2933
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