F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No.20 (15-May-1995)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
| | | \ \\ | |
| | (*) | \ )) | Editors: |
| |__U__| / \// | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| _//|| _\ / | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MORE addresses: |
| |
| submissions=>
[email protected] |
| Don --
[email protected] |
| Tim Pozar --
[email protected] |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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Table of Contents
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1. Editorial..................................................... 2
2. Articles...................................................... 2
Subject:World Wide Web browsers (Part 1).................... 2
Net Voting Issue............................................ 3
Announcing some freeware nodelist utilities................. 4
Free Listings in the Encyclopedia of Associations........... 5
EuroCon / DutchCon announcement............................. 6
Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory.......... 7
An Alien Looks at FidoNet................................... 7
Picture this, if you will................................... 9
A response to "Computer Users and the Graphic Age........... 9
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 11
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 2 15 May 1995
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Editorial
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It has always struck me that an inordinate number of problems
within Fidonet center arround the fact that the nodelist is
controled by a select few. In 99% of all cases, the ones doing
the work do it faithfully, and respect the fact that nodelist
maintenance does not confer the right to bully. The 1% left are
the problem.
What rather astonishes me is that the entire process could be
automated. Why not make every individual sysop responsible for
their own nodelist entry, and simply forward them upstream. It
would take new software, but there is probably at least one
person in the net that could figure out how to do it. Couple
that with a timeout (say an entry is good for six months, and
then needs renewal), and we would also get rid of a lot of
deadwood.
I would be willing to bet money that there are plenty of
nodes that have not existed for months ... how many NC's
actually send out mail to check on a regular basis?
Here is the snooze.
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Articles
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Subject:World Wide Web browsers (Part 1)
Ari Pollak (1:107/302)
First off, I would like to tell a little about the World
Wide Web (W3 or WWW). The WWW is not just the sites where you
log on and you can display pictures and hypertext. The WWW is
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), FTP, and gopher. FTP and
gopher can be displayed by different programs, but for HTTP, you
need a special program called a browser. I will be reviewing
the major browsers: NCSA Mosaic 2.0Beta4, Cello 2.0, Internet
Works, and Netscape, all for the Windows PC, with 3.1 or higher
with Win32s, a free upgrade that allows you to run 32-bit
programs on Win3.1.
Mosaic: This version of Mosaic is being used as a comeback
to Netscape and Internet Works, the two top-most rated browsers.
Since it is only in Beta 4 stage, I can only tell you what it
has at the moment. NCSA Mosaic was the first and still the most
used browser. Even the new version might not have many
features, it is still the best to use because of the standards.
Mosaic is also slow, but not the slowest. A disadvantage in the
current Internet World is the ability to retrieve only 1 file at
once. To sum it up, Mosaic is still one of the best browsers in
the world, but only when the official version. NCSA admits that
there is still much work to be done on Mosaic before it is
released, so only time will tell. Right now, try to stick with
Netscape. The latest version is on the FTP site:
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 3 15 May 1995
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/Mosaic/Windows .
Internet Works: Internet Works stands right behind Netscape.
It has many features, but the makers overdid it, and destroyed
most of the ease of use. Its "card catalog" format of hotlists
is very confusing. However, on the good side, it is easy to use
if you don't use all the features of it. For example, there is
a very nice local file that has many links to different places,
with a full-color menu. This also includes a full-featured
program for sending and receiving mail, and for reading and
posting to newsgroups. You may get it by FTP'ing to
ftp.booklink.com.
If you have an idea about an article I can write, something
that would be of interest to the general public, or about a
problem that many people should know about, just e-mail me (not
crash, I'm a private node) at:
Ari Pollak, 1:107/302 or
[email protected]
Coming next week: More WWW browsers
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Net Voting Issue
Joe Klemmer - 1:109/370
[email protected]
I was a little surprised when I read in the editorial of
issue 1219 that only hubs were allowed to vote in (I assume)
Net-221. Call me naive but I didn't think this kind of stuff was
done down on the Net level. Sure, on the Region and Zone level
its tradition, but on the Net level? This doesn't make sense to
me. That's probably due to the fact that I've only experienced
one net firsthand. Just to give other nets an idea I'll tell you
how Net-109 handles serious, "We need a vote" issues. (More or
less<g>).
First off, hubs are specifically NOT allowed to vote. The
only ones who can vote on an issue are the actual nodes. If
you're in the nodelist, you vote. If you have more than one
address (ie. a Hub admin address and your regular node address)
you can only use the plain node one for voting. Votes coming
from admin addresses, like hubs or the NC or such, aren't
counted. This gives everyone in the net an equal say in things.
Of course, we're lucky to get a 25% turnout on any election. The
last one had about 56 nodes who voted out of some 220 total.
Still, the opportunity is there.
My personal opinion is that any NC who would allow the
exclusion of nodes from voting on any issue of major
significance to the Net should rethink how they are running
things. This does not mean that every little thing has to have a
vote. But things like electing a new NC/NEC, changes to the CRP,
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 4 15 May 1995
node realignments and the like, those should be decided by the
net as a whole. After all, Fidonet exists for the sole purpose
of passing mail/echos/files to the NODES. The only
responsibilities that the *C, *EC and hubs have is to make sure
that the mail gets through. Why is this such a hard concept?
SURFACE MAIL: USAPPC, ASQZ-IMA
Bld I, Room 1034
2461 Eisenhower Av.
Alexandria, VA 22331-0302
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Announcing some freeware nodelist utilities
Announcing some freeware nodelist utilities
by Matthew Hildebrand of 1:247/128.2
I have long enjoyed the use of free software packages: BinkleyTerm,
Squish, MsgEd, and ARJ to name a few. These excellent programs have
provided me with everything I need to run my point system, except for
nodelist compiling and diffing software; when I heard that a friend of
mine was writing a freeware nodelist compiler, I immediately volunteered
to write a differ.
Janice (Just Another NodelIst CompilEr) was written by Alex Brodsky of
1:247/191. Janice produces V7 nodelists (very quickly, too), and is
compatible with XlaxNode configuration files.
Nodelist Differ was written by myself. ND updates nodelists. <grin>
Janice is available for Linux, 32-bit OS/2, and 32-bit extended DOS; ND
is available for Linux, 32-bit OS/2, and regular 16-bit DOS. Complete C
source code for these two DPS label programs is also freely available.
The ND source is distributed with the executables; the Janice source is
distributed separately due to its size.
If you're interested, Janice and ND are available under the filename
JANICE11.LZH (about 270 kb) from the sources below. The Janice source
is distributed separately as JANSRC11.LZH (about 60 kb), but is also
available from the following sources.
File request:
1:247/191 (2400 bps), magic filename JANICE or JANSRC
1:247/128 (14400 bps V.32bis), magic filename JANICE or JANSRC
Other:
SOFTDIST
ftp:
To be announced.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at either 1:247/128.2
or
[email protected] (preferred).
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 5 15 May 1995
Free Listings in the Encyclopedia of Associations
by Nigel Allen (1:250/438)
Free Listings in the Encyclopedia of Associations
People who start new new non-profit associations (including
othernets, lobbying groups and associations having nothing to do
with BBSes) should get their group listed, free of charge, in
the Encyclopedia of Associations, so that prospective members,
journalists and researchers can get in touch with them.
Groups based in the U.S. should write to the following address
and ask to be listed:
Editor
Encyclopedia of Associations
Gale Research Inc.
835 Penobscot Building
Detroit, MI 48226-4094
Telephone (313) 961-2242
Fax (313) 961-6815
Groups based outside the United States should instead get listed
in International Organizations, a directory published by the same
company. Its address is:
Editor
International Organizations
Gale Research Inc.
835 Penobscot Building
Detroit, MI 48226-4094
U.S.A.
Telephone +1 313 961-2242
Fax +1 313 961-6815
As well, groups based outside the United States may also want to
get listed in single-country association directories published
in their own country, such as the Directory of Associations in
Canada. Any librarian should be able to tell you how to get in
touch with your country's national association directory, if
one exists.
Most large libraries have a copy of the Encyclopedia of
Associations in hard copy or CD-ROM, but it is probably too
expensive for someone to buy for home use.
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 6 15 May 1995
EuroCon / DutchCon announcement
EuroCon / DutchCon '95 announcement
by Hans Siemons,
2:2/1995@fidonet
[email protected]
We would hereby like to announce DutchCon/EuroCon '95 which will take
place in Arnhem (a big city), The Netherlands. It will be held in our
National Sports Centre Papendal (150 ha). It is situated in one of the
most beautiful areas of Holland. Right in the middle of the vast woods
of the province of Gelderland. About eight kilometers west of Arnhem.
Tucked away under the lee of the green Veluwe-fringe. In brief: located
in beautiful surroundings.
EuroCon/DutchCon is the place for you to meet your fellow sysops and
talk eye to eye with our ZC/2, Ward Dossche.
EuroCon '95 will be held on Friday the 30th of June until Sunday the
2nd of July 1995 in Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Besides the social event, we have the following things on the program:
"Fido: the next roadkill on the info highway?"
By Alexander Holy.
"Computer virusses and measures against them."
By Jan Terpstra
"internetworking (and ways to melt/interconnect
Fido with other Nets)."
By Alexander Holy.
"ISDN"
Roland van der Put and Arjen Lentz
"*C discussion."
With Ward Dossche (ZC/2)
There are several prizes to be won during a device throwing contest
and a bingo. Please read the weekly announcements in enet.sysop for
an up-to-date list.
The location (Papendal) offers various things to do for people not
participating in the sessions. Like midgetgolf and Jeu de boules.
There is also a swimming pool which you can use for free between
0700 and 0900. And the capital city of Gelderland, Arnhem is only
8 kilometers away. A city with it's own character and lots of shops.
> We are still looking for persons and companies to sponsor the prices
> given away during the Saturday evening "bingo" and the device
> throwing contest.
For more information about further details, please file request EUROCON
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 7 15 May 1995
from either 2:2/1995, 2:512/149 or 2:512/65.
Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory
by Nigel Allen (1:250/438)
Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory
If you run a consulting business in the United States or
Canada, you may want to get it listed free of charge in the
Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory.
To request a questionnaire for the directory, just write
to the following address:
Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory
Editorial Code and Data, Inc.
645 Griswold Street, Suite 3480
Detroit, Michigan 48226-4015
U.S.A.
telephone (313) 961-2926
fax (313) 961-5919
Unfortunately, this only applies to consultants in the United States
and Canada. The directory does not list consultants in other countries.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
An Alien Looks at FidoNet
by Lisa Gronke, 1:105/6
[email protected]
I am <gasp> female! I am <gasp> a dialup BBS user! I am an alien who
uses a 10 year old Apple //e with an equally ancient comm program,
Apple DOS 3.3 and 141K floppy disks! No IBM graphics. No VT100
emulation. No ZIP, ARJ or RAR. XModem file transfer only.
I first came online in the fall of 1985. Early in 1986 I became the
sysop of an Apple BBS operating at a remote location. Shortly
thereafter, I inherited the (Portland OR) Bit Bucket BBS List, when
Rick Bensene, who started the list in 1982, retired from the BBS
world to bring up a private unix system.
Cruising local BBS in November, 1986, I found a new BBS named PSG
Portland (sysop Randy Bush). Randy had just moved up to Portland from
Coos Bay and was still acting as NC of the Coos Bay NET, 122/0. He
became NC of Net 105 the following April. I asked a lot of questions.
I got good answers. I learned a lot about FidoNet.
Since 1989, I've occupied the Ruby Tuesday alias on one or another of
Randy's systems, although I first heard the Rolling Stones song at
Reg17Con last summer, when Bob Satti dug out an old album and played
it for me. Occupying the alias happened as sort of a joke, but it
gets me into sysop conferences without going thru a lot of hassle.
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 8 15 May 1995
Newer sysops may not realize it, but the structure of FidoNet is
based on hostrouted netmail. I currently hang out at 1:105/6, which
hosts the zonegates, 1:1/2, 1:1/3 etc. Randy routinely hostroutes
incoming netmail from Zones [2-6] to Zone 1 destinations. He's one of
the last big time hostrouters.
Delivering 50+ bundles a night, in the course of a week or so,
1:105/6 calls about half of the Zone 1 Net Hosts. There are a couple
of NETS with special routing where the dawg never calls the NC, and
in any given week, a few which are not answering or are undialable.
Since 1:105/6 only calls if there is incoming international mail, it
is not a random sample, but it's the best I've got.
So here is my informal survey of the mailers Zone 1 NCs are running.
Based on nodelist.125 [05-May-95], data from....
Region 10 14 Net Hosts of 28 NETS 50.0%
Region 11 28 Net Hosts of 59 NETS 47.5%
Region 12 20 Net Hosts of 27 NETS 74.1%
Region 13 24 Net Hosts of 48 NETS 50.0%
Region 14 11 Net Hosts of 30 NETS 36.7%
Region 15 8 Net Hosts of 27 NETS 29.6%
Region 16 10 Net Hosts of 17 NETS 58.8%
Region 17 23 Net Hosts of 44 NETS 52.3%
Region 18 45 Net Hosts of 99 NETS 45.5%
Region 19 22 Net Hosts of 53 NETS 41.5%
------------------------
Total 205 Net Hosts of 432 NETS 47.5%
Mailer Number of NCs
----------------------- -------------
FrontDoor 2.30 5
FrontDoor 2.20 20
FrontDoor 2.12 34
FrontDoor 2.02 10
Total FrontDoor 69
Binkley 2.59 60
Other Bink (2.50, 2.56) 6
Total Binkley 66
InterMail 2.29 26
InterMail 2.20 1
Total InterMail 27
D'Bridge 1.58 13
Other D'Bridge (1.30, 1.54) 2
Total D'Bridge 15
TIMS 1.10 8
Portal of Power 0.63 2
Portal of Power 0.62 4
Total Portal of Power 6
Lora-CBIS 2.40 3
Opus (1.10, 1.73) 2
MainDoor (1.00, 1.01) 2
SEAdog 4.51 1
Unknown 0.01 2
Unknown 15.21 1
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 9 15 May 1995
Trap Door (Amiga) 1.85 2
StarNet (Amiga) 1.168 1
Brought to you by pencil.com, a liveware package from Serengeti
Software run by a 1.4 kg water based cup with programable RAM.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Picture this, if you will
Fredric Rice (1:102/890)
Greetings, All.
I had an idea which has some merit. <smirk> In FidoNet we
generally have magic file names for people's files (FILES,)
for their system information (ABOUT) and for the PGP keys
(PGPKEY.)
Many people have their photograph available as a GIF file on
their system. It would be nice to be able to request the
magic name PHOTO to get it if it exists on any system.
Additionally, SoundBlaster sound cards are fairly wide spread
in FidoNet. Recording a one-minute introduction into the
SysOp's system with sound effects or music which others could
download using the magic name INTRO might be nice.
After discussing issues with various participants in forums,
one could download the picture and voice of a critic, for
instance, and both see and hear what they look and sound like.
It might serve to show that there are real humans on the other
side of the wire or, alternately, confirm one's doubts of
same.
Fredric L. Rice
The Skeptic Tank
1:102/890.0 (818) 335-9601
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A response to "Computer Users and the Graphic Age
Jim Howes (2:251/203)
I have to thank Robert LaPrise (FidoNews c17) for his insights
into this facet of computing for the masses. The following is an
unorganised brain-dump of reminiscences of a bygone age of
computer people and users, and a bit of a moan about Microsoft's
plan to take over the world.
Although I am in favour of virtually anything that brings modern
technology under the control of the ordinary man in the street,
I too find the ease by which anyone can write software
disturbing. Not only is it likely to do me out of a job, but
most of the software that gets generated is at the mercy of
Microsoft. Software today is developing like a new COBOL,
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 10 15 May 1995
(which was an attempt to allow managers to understand programs).
We fought back with C, a language where you have to have a
fundamental understanding of a computer system before you can
understand it.
I like C, I never liked COBOL. I also do Fortran, Pascal, 6502,
68000, VAX Macro, but I 'll always go back to C by choice. I
write C in a C++ fashion, but I don't use C++. (You can write
modular, testable, reliable code in C).Now we have the Visual
BASIC programmers arriving in the interview room. We have
dabbled in visual basic, but on the whole, we are sticking with
C. We just have not been able to get the performance we need
from anything but C.I use window systems (preferably X-, not
MS-) mainly to get more shellson the screen.
I'm not a fan of mice, mainly because I have alway s used the
keyboard, and I am a bit of a traditionalist. I have several
non-technical users of PC's here, who are getting to grips with
Microsoft Access. I don't fully understand how it works, not
being particularly interested, and having other concerns like'
where's all my disk space gone?' to sort out. They are
continually coming to me complaining that windows has crashed or
hung, and scrambled their disks. They expect me to fix the
problem.
All I end up doing is re-installing the whole lot from
scratch because they have used CHKDSK without rebooting first
and ended up in a worse state. The main cause for the crash is
windows applications being written badly. Bugs are expected,
but the sort of errors we are getting stem from poor design, and
poor error-checking. Poor error checking is endemic in windows
software. Most applicationsseem to think that all users have
512 Megabytes of RAM, and a 50 gigabyte disk drive.
They check that creating a file worked, but never seem to
check that they have managed to write stuff to it (having run
out of space).Some software I've seen also assumes that memory
is always available. Failing to check that memory allocation
worked is the most dangerous bug a program can have. Typically,
the program will t hen scribble allover areas of memory that
control critical functions like disk writing, resulting in
scrambled disks. With the average program requiring
severalmegabytes of RAM to run, and more to do anything useful,
this checking is critical. It never ceases to amaze me how much
'stupid' software there is out there. One program we have
refuses to write to a printer, because it doesn't understand how
the driver works, but telling to write to a file called 'LPT1'
works OK.
I can't fix buggy third-party software (and a lot of it is
buggy, just look at 'Word'), my only recourse being to call up
Microsoft, who are difficult to get through to at the best of
times, (not to mention that you can't get through to the same
person who dealt with your call when their 'fix' doesn't)
Previously we used a Micro-VAX system. All the users had
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 11 15 May 1995
ordinary terminals, and ran software that myself and the other
technical guys spent years fiddling with, until we got it right.
We had a power over the users whereby if something went wrong,
they would tell us, and we could actually do something about it.
Nowadays, because the power is with a third party (I.e.
Microsoft), us systems administrators spend our days
re-installing DOS, mending network cables, re-installing DOS
again, showing users for the Nthtime how to put files onto the
network drives so they get backed up (and not turned into swiss
cheese by the next software crash).
Anyway, back to the main point, which is this. Someone,
somewhere, has to write the foundations on which the next level
of software is based.(I.e. Admin's Access software runs on
Access, which runs on Windows, which runs on DOS, which sits on
the BIOS, which sits on the bare metal). The current computer
culture is encouraging new ' programmers' to evolve who don't
know how the metal works, and consequently are dependent on
Microsoftfor support. I think this is potentially dangerous. I
have found an understanding of the fundamentals extremely useful
in seeing the whole picture in any system. By being familiar
with the basic concepts you get to understand why certain
concepts (like organising memory carefully to reduce excessive
swapping ) improve the quality of your code. You don'tneed to
continually upgrade your system to make it faster if you write
the software properly in the first place. I think the time of
the professional programmer has not passed yet, but it may soon
do so. We are about to leave the age of the 'Software
Engineer'and enter a new area of 'Microsoft User'. Background I
am a Computer Systems Manager for a computer company in Fareham,
England.
An ex-hacker from Portsmouth Polytechnic, and a computer
enthusiast since 1979. I run about 40 PC's, 8 MicroVAXs, A
selection of Unix boxes including HP, OKI, Silicon Graphics,
Sun, DEC Alpha (OSF/1 and VMS), Linux systems, various
home-built PDP-11 systems, and even a Acorn BBC/B. At home I
use an Amiga 2000 with various bolt-on's (68030, tapes etc.),
and prefer a decent shell to anything the mouse has to offer. In
my spare time, I do some work for Ladbrokes Racing in Southsea,
and I am starting to wonder if I could make more money doing
that than stayingin the computer world, although after 10 years
(I'm now 27ish), I think it could be too late for me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Information
========================================================================
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 12 15 May 1995
------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
Tom Jennings
"FidoNews" BBS
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
more addresses:
Rev. Richard Visage -- 1:163/409
Don -- 1:221/192,
[email protected]
Tim --
[email protected]
(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews
128 Church St.
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
N2H 2S4
voice: (519) 570-3137
Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in
these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
FidoNews.
Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright 1995 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use
in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds.
OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail
address.
INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews.
Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may
freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to
[email protected]. No message or text or subject is
necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated
response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch
should now mail to
[email protected] rather than the
previously listed address.
FidoNews 12-20 Page: 13 15 May 1995
SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.
"the pulse of the cursor is the heartbeat of fidonet"...
-- END
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