Editor: Tom Jennings
Publisher: Fido #1
Chief Procrastinator: Tom Jennings
.........................................
Disclaimer or dont-blame-me:
The contents of the articles contained here are not
my responsibility, nor do I necessarily agree with them;
everything here is subject to debate. I publish EVERYTHING
received.
You can take this to mean anything you want, but
hopefully as an invitation to comment, make suggestions, or
write articles of your own.
.........................................
HOT NEWS
Changes are a foot. Afoot. Let me start over ...
You may have noticed there was no FidoNews last
week. I was traveling, and busy also. When I finall yfound
time to do it, it was Thursday, so I thought, why bother,
there will be one on Monday. So ...
FidoNews will be coming out biweekly. Thats every
other week. It's just too much work to do once a week;
missing two days (like last week) means its only five days
til the next newsletter.
On the same subject, please not the article
submission changes. This is very important; I cannot handle
text anymore that doesnt conform to the very simple format
described. I spent three hours, formatting text to make this
issue. Next week will be the last week I'll accept text from
every possible word processor in the world, to let the word
filter out. After that, a polite note requesting that you
cange the format.
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:18:51 Page 2
I had to leave out a nice article on the SoCal
network, the most complex so far, as it blows up my text
formatter for some unknown reason. I'll try to get it
working by next week.
Bumper stickers are out; see the ad under "For
Sale".
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:18:52 Page 3
NEWS
ARTICLE SUBMISSION
All articles you see in this issue are written by
users and sysops, and have one way or another managed to
consume disk space on Fido #1. In order to get rid of them,
and free up my precious disk space, I include them here,
then quickly delete them. Then they are YOUR problem.
EDITORIAL CONTENT:
Totally up to you; I publish anything at all.
Article are generally Fido or BBS related; this is by no
means a decision on my part, nor a requirement.
FOR SALE, WANTED, NOTICES:
Pretty much self explanatory. Commercial ads are
welcomed, if of reasonable length. These will be run each
issue, or until I lose them. (Dont laugh, Ive already lost a
few.)
SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE:
Manage to get a copy of your article to Fido #1,
preferably by Fidonet mail, or by uploading. If manual
upload, please put it in the MAILFILE area, so that I can
find them all at once.
ARTICLE FORMAT: VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!
The requirements are a little tighter in this
department, due to purely practical constraints. I cannot
devote hours to converting every text format in the world to
the one I use.
1. NO LEFT MARGINS! Flush left please. These are
extremely difficult to remove.
2. RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 60 OR LESS! Less is OK,
more is definitely not. This includes fancy
boxes, dotted lines, etc.
3. KEEP FUNNY CONTROL CHARACTERS TO A MINIMUM!
This includes formfeeds and other oddities.
These areent as dificult to handle, but on long
files still takes a while.
4. WORDSTAR IS FINE IF THERE ARE NO LEFT MARGINS!
5. PLAIN ASCII (EDLIN, ED, etc) IS FINE IF LINE LENGTH
IS UNDER 60 COLUMNS!
6. NO GRAPHIC CHARACTERS! Believe it or not, not every
one in the world has an IBM PC. My computer
understands printable characters from 20 hex to
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:18:58 Page 4
7e hex. (Space to tilde) This is ASCII; "American
Standard Code for Information Interchange". We are
"Interchanging Information". Everything else is
GARBAGE. ASCII is universal; Graphics are not.
7. TOTAL ARTICLE LENGTH: Up to you; note, however, that
I will probably avoid publishing dictionaries,
bibles translated into NAPLPS, and ASCII encoded
LANDSAT pictures of Russian wheat farms.
8. WHERE ON EARTH IS THIS ARTICLE FROM? Well ... good
question! A good idea to identify yourself
somewhere, unless you wish to remain anonymous.
Thats OK too, but I may balk at publishing rude
or otherwise racy submissions.
9. AN EXAMPLE:
Article from Tom Jennings
Fido #1 4 Feb 85
Here is what an article could look like for
submission. Very simple: plain old dumb ASCII, WordStar,
PMATE, Vedit, or whatever. WordStar Document mode is fine.
Note no left column; that is done when FidoNews is
published. Note the total width is only 60 columns; it looks
narrow on your screen, but fine when formatted later.
END irrational tirade on text files ... on to bigger
and better things!
BASCOM BUGS
A number of errors discovered in IBM's BASIC Compiler
version 1.00, by Tom Hanlin at the kind invitation of the
Sysop of The Bear's Den (FIDO 74).
Cursor control: BASICA allows the cursor to be moved
right, left, up, and down, respectively, by PRINTing the
following ASCII characters: 28, 29, 30, and 31. Thus PRINT
CHR$(29);" ";CHR$(29); does a destructive backspace, which
ought to be the job of CHR$(8), but for some obscure reason
isn't. The BASIC Compiler will execute this example with no
trouble--it can handle moving the cursor backwards and
forwards, but not up and down. Interpreted BASIC programs
which use the cursor control codes may have to be modified
for this reason.
File errors: In BASICA, if you try to open a file
using a filename that's too long (for instance THIS-IS-TOO-
LONG.TXT), you will get the error you would expect: a "Bad
File Name". The compiler sees things differently, and will
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:05 Page 5
give you a "Bad File Number" error. So, if you write a
program with error trapping routines, be sure to trap for
"Bad File Number" as well as the expected "Bad File Name"
error. This will be important mostly in programs where the
file name is entered by the user, or maybe generated by the
program, rather than a constant value.
Literal strings: The BASIC interpreter will allow you
to use only two control codes as literal values in strings,
ASCII characters one (CTRL-A) and four (CTRL-D). That is,
while it's ok to use A$="x" where "x" is the control code
for these two values, for any other control code (characters
with ASCII values less than 32) you must use A$=CHR$(xx),
where "xx" is the ASCII value of the control code. That is,
of all the control codes, only CTRL-A (smily face) and CTRL-
D (diamond) can be entered directly into the program without
causing it to bomb out. This has to do with the way BASICA
stores programs in memory. The point of all this is that
BASCOM evidently doesn't expect to see any control codes
directly entered, and will act strangely if you have them in
the program.
BASCOM Machine language subroutines: When doing a CALL
ABSOLUTE, the memory location at the start of the routine
should be entered as an integer variable at the end of the
parameter list, if any, rather than being used as the name
of the function, as BASICA does it. BASCOM does not check
to be sure that this value is an integer, or even a numeric
value! For instance, if you've made a mistake, and have a
string variable at the end of the parameter list, BASCOM
will not say a word. Your program, when it attempts to
execute this function, will go off into never-never land.
So be careful! Another problem is that an integer variable
is required, whereas the value you want to use may often be
greater than 32767, the maximum value for a string. This
can be fixed by setting a single-precision variable equal to
the number, then converting it to hexadecimal and back
again, which converts the number into integer range so it
can be used... the reason is a little to esoteric to discuss
here, but it does the job. Like so: A!=START.OF.ROUTINE :
A% = VAL( "&H" + HEX$( START.OF.ROUTINE )) : CALL ABSOLUTE(
A% )
If you have any comments or questions, please send them
to me at The Bear's Den (FIDO 74) via Fidonet and I'll do my
best to get back to you.
FINALLY! 1-20-85
The Results From the Survey by Linda Rene
COMPUTER VS. FAMILY CO-SYSOP FIDO27
The majority of hours spent on the computer for the married
person was 11-20 hours weekly. For a single person it was
21 hours and over.
55% of computer users had no problem with their spouse; 40%
were not so lucky and definitely had problems with spouse;
then there was the other 5% who had no problem.SOMETIMES!
As for friends, they either like the computer or they don't.
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:13 Page 6
The ones who like the computer are usually the ones who know
how to use one; the dislikers are simply nonusers and can't
understand how a computer could be better than a party.
The purposes for the personal computer range from business,
word processing,programming,recreation,education and of course
communication, etc...
HOW DOES THE HOME COMPUTER EFFECT FAMILY LIVES?
Being the wife of a system operator,I was curious to see if
this 'computer craze' was going on outside of this house. I thought
I was the only woman competing against a computer for a man. There was
a time when I thought all I had to do was look pretty to keep my
man; now I have to have brains too?
I'll be honest with you. When I first began this survey some
months ago, I wanted to scrape up all the garbage I could about
computers. Why? I'll tell you why. I hated them. I was against them
all the way. A person can get tired of being put aside all the time
for a piece of machine. It gets pretty bad when you forget what your
own husbands face looks like, although the back of his head was
always there. I couldn't admit it then but I can now. I was jealous
of our computer and on occasion I still am. And from some of the
comments made in the survey I am not alone in these feelings.
One man commented, " She hates it. Has unplugged it in an attempt
to crash it". Another wrote " It ain't that great for your love life".
I'm sure alot of us can relate to that.
Okay I said what I wanted to say. But to stick up for all you
computer widows as myself, I'd like to ask all computer users to
at least remember us! PEOPLE HAVE FEELINGS; COMPUTERS DON'T.
Now we get on with the better half of my opinion. I'm stuck!
I can't find any garbage about home computers. They may be hard to
walk away from and time consuming. Yet we can't ignore the fact
that computers and families go together. For our childrens education
as well as our own. Fun for the whole family. To help with the
household finances and so much more.
I never thought I would be saying this but in the long run,
computers aren't that bad. I have met a few people from our system
and I consider them friends now. To me, that's the special part of
computing. Making new friends every day with people all over the world.
And you can never have too many friends. Right?
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED READING THIS AS MUCH AS I DID WRITING IT!
From: Bob Spivack
Sysop Fido #346
Subject: HP LaserJet Printer
In response to an earlier article about setting up a
printing service I don't really have a direct comment. But I
would like to bring up an important point. In my opinion,
the HP LaserJet is like a lot of other HP computer products,
good idea, but flawed implementation (close, but no cigar).
Specifically, the HP LaserJet is deficient in two areas:
interface compatibility and graphics. As delivered by HP the
Laserjet is only directly usable as a dumb, back-spacing
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:24 Page 7
line printer (to borrow the old Wordstar definition). It
does not respond to any industry standard or de facto
standard command streams for direct control over special
features (like highlighting, underlining, bold printing,
etc.) What a shame!
Secondly, the resident ram in the controller is so small
that the printer cannot:
A. Download a complete character set for user defined fonts
of any real complexity.
B. Generate anything other than limited graphics. The
graphics it can do can only be accessed by coding new
routines in your software to create them. (Lotus 1-2-3 for
the HP computer was recoded to use the LaserJet. Normal
software that generates graphics cannot be used.) Not every
software guy is a lucky as Lotus to get a multi-million
dollar order from HP to justify converting to their view of
things.
Now, fortunately there is some good news. The HP LaserJet is
based on an OEM laser mechanism known as the "Canon Engine"
(named after the company that sells it [Japanese, of
course]. This mechanism has been used in several other laser
printers, the most prominent now being the just unveiled
Apple MacIntosh companion.
A small (relatively) company named QMS in Mobile Alabama
also sells a laser printer based on the Canon. QMS
manufactures special controllers for laser printers; they
have been doing it for many years. They simply interfaced
their existing controller (68000 with 2 megabytes of
graphics memory) to the Cannon engine. This results in a
great device (in the same ball park as the Apple but
machine/computer independent). Unfortunately this printer
with controller is about $10,000.
The good news is that QMS just came out with a new version.
This model, called the QMS Smartwriter, puts a subset of
their big controller INSIDE the printer itself. The entire
thing looks identical to the HP LaserJet (no big box
controller plugged in like the other model.)
This new printer controller was made with the right ideas.
It provides full emulation of Diablo and Qume letter
quality printers. Thus, your existing software can be
configured as if driving a Diablo or Qume! Instant
compatibility with the tons of WP and other software
written.
Secondly, this integrate controller has enough local memory
to provide complete emulation of EPSON compatible graphics.
This means that any program that generates graphics for an
EPSON printer (which is the universal standard) can drive
the Laser!
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:32 Page 8
Sounds like a winning product. I plan to get my hands on
one soon to evaluate, if everyone is interested, I will
report back the results.
P.S. I have no vested interest in QMS, and if their product
turns out to be flawed, I will be the first one to let you
know.
From: Matt Gertner, Sysop of Fido Node #210
Subject: Letters to the editor
Several times while reading this newsletter I have thought
of short, simple comments or questions which, although
important, are not worthy of a full "article". This leads me
to suggest that Tom add a new filename extension (.LET?) for
use as letters to the editor. These could be printed at the
beginning of each news letter, and any replys from Tom could
follow. I think this would enrich the content of the
newsletter and could hold all sorts of information that
would be normally posted as a message (as opposed to a file)
on a BBS.
Met-Chem International Price List
---=---- ------------- ----- ----
These prices are effective as of 1-21-85. Some of the items
shown are available in limited quantities. All sales are on
a first come, first serve basis. This list is a sub-set of
the products we offer. If you have a special item in mind,
which is not on this list, please contact Met-Chem and we
will do our best to find the item for you.
Diskettes
---------
3M Memorex
SS-DD-RH ..... 2.00 EACH | SS-DD-RH (3481) . 1.90 EACH
DS-DD-RH .... 2.70 EACH | DS-DD-RH (3491) . 2.20 EACH
Tape Cartridges
---- ----------
DC 300XL .. 21.50 | DC 600A .. 25.00
Printers
--------
C-ITOH DAISYWHEEL PRINTERS
PW-50-001 132 COL STARWRITER F-10-40PU 40 CPS, P ... 1150.00
PW-50-003 132 COL PRINTER MASTER F-10-55PU 55 CPS, P .....
1400.00
C-ITOH DOT MATRIX PRINTERS
PM-50-001 80 COL 8510 A P, 120 CPS ...... 365.00
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:42 Page 9
PM-50-003 136 COL 1550 P, 120 CPS ....... 625.00
EPSON DOT MATRIX PRINTERS
EPSON RX 80, P .......................... 315.00
EPSON FX 80, F/T, P ..................... 500.00
EPSON RX 100, F/T, P .................... 525.00
EPSON FX 100, F/T, P .................... 725.00
FACIT DOT MATRIX PRINTERS
4511 (80 COL / SERIAL & PARALLEL / 160 CPS) ......... 500.00
4512 (132 COL / SERIAL & PARALLEL / 140 CPS) ........ 725.00
Tape Backup for IBM PC/XT
---- ------ --- --- -----
Cipher 5210 (25 MEG) ................................ 790.00
Hard Disk Subsystems (Drive, Controller,
Cables)
---- ---- ---------- ------- -----------
-------
Full Height
10 MEG 675.00 | 15 MEG 750.00
20 MEG 1225.00 | 32 MEG 1525.00
Half Height
10 MEG 775.00
Winchester Drive (Drive Only)
---------- ----- ------ -----
Full Height
10 MEG 425.00 | 15 MEG 500.00
20 MEG (SAME DRIVE AS USED IN AT) 895.00
32 MEG 1095.00
Half Height
10 MEG 450.00
Miscellaneous
-------------
64 k RAM CHIPS (SET OF NINE / 4164-150) ............ 35.00
8087 Coprocessor Chip .............................. 175.00
130 Watt Power Supply for IBM PC ................... 165.00
NetWare - Column 1 - 1/28/85
Synopsis: this article describes a Fido-Wide project
encouraging the development of powerful, public domaing
tools
User-Supported software is a logical extension of the hacker
movement. It is rooted in people who solve problems for
themselves, who recognize the solution is of value to
others, but that distribution it is a pain. However, some
distribution probably helped in the development of the
products. The synergy between user and developer is
essential in the growth of any software product.
Today, very little commercial software is produced by a
single programmer. Even fewer are produced and marketed by
a single individual. There are very few people with all
the talents needed to address these needs, and the few that
do probably don't have enough time and are probably being
paid very well to do something else.
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:50 Page 10
The first major pieces of "FreeWare" were communications
packages. Communications tools still dominate the freeware
"market". Why people insist on re-inventing the wheel is
slightly beyond me; that is part of the reason for this
article.
The first major departure in the individualistic approach
was Kermit. (We will discuss the other major departure,
the selling of "Freeware", another time.) Kermit was
professionally designed, and is professionally supported,
but is a totally open system. The individual
implementations are handled by individuals or groups with
no formal affiliation to the original developers. Unlike
previous FreeWare, Kermit is exponentially more potent than
normal comm tools because of the range of machines it
addresses.
[Ed. Note: Kermit is totally unsuitable as the main file
protocol for micros; it should be used only where absolutely
necessary, for mainframes. It is extremely slow, and has
design problems. ]
Fido is a perfect tool for the development of User-supported
software. It has the ability to nationally organize a
collective project, without supporting any large
corporation doing it (except maybe The Phone Company.)
The purpose of this document is to propose such a project.
There are a number of possibilites; but the one that is most
attractive seems to be a converter of tool formatted data.
Communications tools allow the transfer of data between
machines. The tool I propose will allow the conversion of
data between various (PC-DOS) tools, like Lotus or Multi-
Plan.
Sure, most commercial tools have the ability to read one or
two of the more popular data formats. However, they are not
as all encompassing as we might like.
How would this project work? Well, we would carefully
define what our tool's internal data model is. Then, we
would have to carefully define the overall structure of tool
specific modules that convert data between our internal
model and the model of the particular tool. A couple of
obvious tools would be addressed during this process.
Then, people with familiarity with particular tools would
apply same to develop the input and output modules for their
favorite tool.
There are a couple of major questions that need to be
addressed before that phase. First of all, what tools do we
plan to address? Do we limit ourselvesto MS/PC-Dos tools?
What development tools will be used?
More important than this is a clear understanding of the
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:19:57 Page 11
ownership of this work. It is to be public domain in the
purest sense of the word; it has to begiven the collective
nature of the work.
There are some obvious extensions to this particular tool.
One is the development of a full-fledged, integrated package
based on our internal transfer model.
There are a number of other projects that are appropriate to
this form of development.
Future editions of this column will outline some of the
preliminary specifications drawn up for this project, other
potential projects, your reactions, and other stuff.
Please respond to Fido336 Berkshire with any feedback. The
number is (714) 632-9117. This is an open board.
From...: Randy Berndt, Sysop, FidoNode 356
Subject: A suggestion for naming Fido News Files
Is there any reason why the first part of the name has to
be FIDONEWS? If you loosen that requirement, then a whole
lot of names become available. If you put the volume and
issue numbers in the first part of the file, then they won't
be hidden by the Q, when squeezed. For Instance:
Assume vv is volume number (why not plan ahead to volume 10!),
and nn is issue number.
Unsqueezed File Name Squeezed File Name
-------------------- ------------------
In Public Domain, It Offers More Than Other Electronic-Mail
Systems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:07 Page 12
Garry Ray
The paperless office was a dream of the 1970s.
Like the turbo-nuclear automobile of the 1960s, however,
it walloped head-on into technological reality and became
just one more pipe dream in the legacy of computing. The
result? Paper, to all appearances, will be with us for
quite some time.
On a less noticeable front, however, there's a genuine
revolution in the works. Electronic mail, an extension of
the paperless-office concept, is taking off as no "expert"
ever imagined. It seems that while the office of the
future may not be paperless, the post office of the future
certainly will be. Come to think of it, it's not going to
happen in the future at all; it's happening here, now,
today.
At the forefront of the revolution are services such as
MCI's MCI Mail and Western Union's EasyLink, both of
which allow electronic composition, storage and transmission
of all sorts of correspondence.
But the guerrilla movement of electronic mail uses
FidoNet. Borrowing concepts from high-powered systems
such as ARPANET and Usenet, this free, public-domain system
has no equal, commercially or technically, in the world of
microcomputing.
FidoNet allows users to fashion their own public,
private or semi-private electronic-mail network using
standard PCs and conventional telephone lines.
Differences and Similarities
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aside from its minimal operating environment -- IBM PCs
-- FidoNet is only marginally different from the high-
profile electronic-mail networks. As with those systems,
FidoNet users can compose messages on a built-in text
editor, address the messages to other users and forget
about the rest of the process. Message and file
packaging, addressing and transmission are totally
transparent to the user. In other regards, however,
FidoNet is vastly different from the other services.
With its ancillary program -- called Fido -- FidoNet
offers much more than just a mail system. The software
can act as a complete central communications link to
other Fido-equipped computers. But Fido and FidoNet,
although they are part of the same system, perform
different functions for different purposes.
Fido is the software that constitutes a computer-based
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:14 Page 13
"bulletin board" system (BBS). Like other BBSs, it allows
users to call in and gain access to message and file areas.
In the message areas, they can leave messages for each
other, for the general user community or for the system
operator -- the "sysop". In the file areas, users can
download programs -- be they business, entertainment
or utility software -- for use on their own systems.
ASCII text files can be handled as well.
FidoNet is the feature that pushes this software into
a class of its own. An integral part of the Fido
system, FidoNet is a full-fledged electronic-mail network
that links Fido users together. Any computer system capable
of running the Fido software can become a part of the net.
How It Works
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's how FidoNet works: Take, for example, the Acme
company, with small satellite offices throughout the
country. Acme needs to transfer documents and files to
the home office on a daily basis. FidoNet might be the
answer for them.
Users at each local office write messages and address
files to other users at other nodes throughout the
day. At a time predetermined and agreed upon by each
of the node operators, usually in the wee hours of the
morning when long-distance chrages are lowest, each node
automatically switches from Fido to FidoNet operation.
Messages and files are bundled into "packets" and
addressed to each of the other nodes. If there are four
messages for station five, they are bundled into one
packet; the six messages and three files for users of
node 10 are bundled into yet another packet, and so on.
Each node then begins a process of calling the nodes for
which it has mail packets and waiting for calls that may
come in from nodes that are sending mail. If a node
is busy sending or receiving packets, the calling node
either moves on to other tasks or waits a random length of
time before trying to call again. In any case, the
messages and files that make up a packet are eventually
sent to the correct destination.
At the end of the FidoNet timespan (usually one-half to
one hour) all nodes return to Fido operation.
Users with access to FidoNet can compose messages for
transmission to users at other locations. Since FidoNet
uses standard telephone lines and unadorned modem-equipped
PCs, users of the net can be a room, a block or a
continent apart.
Once FidoNet is installed, expenses are minimal.
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:23 Page 14
Except for late-night long-distance charges -- the cheapest
available -- FidoNet doesn't cost a penny. Messages can
be sent across the country for a mere fraction of the
costs charged by other carriers and in a much more timely
fashion than the U. S. Postal Service provides.
There are some minuses, however. First, FidoNet
is not as time-sensitive as other electronic mail.
Mail is only sent in "packets" to other nodes, and
usually only once a day. The software can be configured to
send mail more frequently, however.
Second, FidoNet requires a high degree of operator
maintenance, which varies with the complexity of the system.
Maintaining a public system using all the FidoNet
capabilities can become quite time-consuming; a
private Fido system requires far less time and effort.
FidoNet mail can include messages that are composed on
the rather primitive line-oriented text editor, which
allows a bare minimum of functions.
All messages are edited line by line, and once the
message has been completed and saved to disk, no more
changes can be made.
Fortunately, files generated by other word
processors can be "attached" to Fido-generated messages,
allowing some real power to be applied to the messaging
portion of the program. Additionally, FidoNet can
transmit binary files such as programs, spreadsheets or
accounting data. The user need only attach the file
to a mail message.
The biggest chore facing a potential operator/user of
FidoNet is getting the software. This can be done by
contacting Fido Software through the mail or by
calling a Fido node and downloading the software
directly from that system. Fido-node telephone numbers
normally can be gotten from many of the thousands of
private BBS systems across the country.
There are currently about 125 unrestricted Fido
systems up and running throughout the United States, and
lately, the rest of the world. (One node is running in
Indonesia, another in England.)
Each node has a unique, identifying number, which
functions as both an "address" for electronic mail and a
method for synchronizing the network during transmissions.
Ease of Use
~~~~~~~~~~~
It took a few days for this system operator to
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:30 Page 15
understand and install Fido. Part of this is due to the
hasty documentation, which has since been rewritten.
Part, also, is because the design of the software begs a
substantial amount of fine-tuning. The configuration that
is developed on the first day of installation may be
radically different a week later. As a systematized
method for using Fido develops in an organization, the Fido
configuration will change even more dramatically.
Fido seems to be a comparatively secure system. This
user was not able to break through any of the user
interfaces established by the software, nor was I able to
gain entrance to files or messages that were beyond my
"privilege level" or security clearance. When the /M
command switch was invoked, turning my board into a private
system, I found no method for an unauthorized user to break
in.
When a new user logs onto the system, he is asked for
a name, a password and the city and state from which
he is calling. That information is automatically entered
into a "user log", which maintains information on the
user's first log-on date, most recent log-on and
privilege level. The system operator can alter most of
these specifications with the Sysop utility program
that works in conjunction with Fido.
The six privilege levels -- Twit, Disgrace, Normal,
Privel, Extra and Sysop -- are a security provision of
Fido, allowing the sysop to control access to the
system. New users are generally given a privilege level
of Normal, which allows a wide degree of flexibility in
system use. At the other extremes, the aptly named
"Twit" level allows virtually no use of the system, while
"Sysop" allows total system control.
In addition, all system commands can be assigned
privilege levels. For example, the kill file command
would usually be assigned to the Sysop level; general
users would not be given the prerogative to recklessly
erase files from the system. On the other hand, the
message and file commands, which allow users to move
from the main Fido area into the message and file
areas, would be assigned the lowest possible privilege
levels. Otherwise, low-level users would not be able to
access anything on the system.
System Construction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fido and its main operational files reside in a "root"
directory, while the subsidiary message and file areas
are actually MS-DOS subdirectories. Each subdirectory can
have a general content name, such as "worksheet" for
spreadsheet templates or "message" for messages to other
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:38 Page 16
users. Fido keeps track of which subdirectories are message
areas, which are file areas and which privilege level
is necessary to use a given area.
In most ways, Fido is a self-maintaining system, able to
continue 24-hour operation with little operator
intervention.
The program exhibits some minor idiosyncrasies, though
none seems totally debilitating. Most "bugs" are
promptly attended to by the developer of the software,
Tom Jennings. New versions, updates and corrections are
released constantly. A healthy group of longtime users
constantly supplies the tyros with tips, fixes and news
about the system. In other words, Fido has a healthy and
growing support group that should be able to help answer
many questions and solve the inevitable problems of getting
the system up and running.
Fido is a remarkably interesting example of public-domain
software. It warrants attention because it is apparently
the sole example of a PC-based electronic messaging and
file-transfer system. It is the only software for
microcomputers that uses some of the features found on
larger electronic-mail systems such as Usenet.
Certainly, FidoNet will not suit the needs of everyone.
Sizable corporations would find this package laughably
inefficient for their operations. On the other hand, small
departments within those same corporations might find Fido
ideal for certain tasks. For many, at the unbelievably
low price of $0.00, FidoNet will certainly be worth a
try.
+------------------------------------------------------+
| PC WEEK DATABOX
|
+------------------------------------------------------+
| Product: Fido/FidoNet
|
| Category: Telecommunications
| Price: Free from the public domain; $100 from
Fido Software |
| Distribution: Direct/bulletin boards
| Description: Electronic bulletin-board system that
incorporates |
| electronic mail
| Who Should Buy: Those with a need to send
electronic mail, |
| messages and files from one site to another
| Copy-Protected: No
| Requirements: DOS 2.X, 256K bytes of RAM, two
double-sided, |
| double-density disk drives (hard disk advised)
| Company:
| Fido Software
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:46 Page 17
| 2269 Market St. #118
| San Francisco, CA 94114
| (415) 864-1418 (modem only)
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
NOTICE OF PERMISSION TO COPY: Granted 2/1/85 by
telephone/letter:
PC WEEK Licensing, Jean Lamensdorf
(212) 503-5448
To: Bob Klahn, SYSOP, Fido #211
P. O. Box 724
Wilmington, DE 19899
We are a company which provides computer
consulting,software development ,training and other
services. Some time ago we embarked on time/cost consuming
research program to find the best database system for the
IBM PC class micro. After evaluating many many databases
REVELATION clearly came out the winner. The bottom line
reasons, Upmost Flexibility,power, system approach of the
software , and ease of use. We have since developed a great
many applications using REVELATION. Revelation includes a
very powerful query language, database design tools, a
fully built-in language that resembles a combination of
BASIC ,PASCAL and C which includes very powerful database
commands as well as Trig ,and Log functions !, a Full-
screen editor for programming or forms design, a
telecommunications module and more. Revelation will use as
much memory as your machine has to 640K. Minimum is 320K.
Some great features: Variable length fields: when
defining a field in your database you need not define how
many characters have to be in that field. Most other
database require you to define how many characters will be
in a field. So for instance if you defined your Zip code
field to contain 5 characters and later changed to the 9
character zip code you would be in great trouble, in
Revelation no problem you just input as many characters as
you wish . Variable length fields can also save you lots of
disk space. A client of ours had a DBASE application which
took 38K of space on disk. After converting over to
Revelation the same file only occupied 8K! Multi-valued
fields allow you to save much disk storage as well as
organize your data more efficiently. For example I know
someone who had a file under DBASE that was 39K .After
converting over to Revelation the same file was 8K!
Multivalued fields allows you to have more than one value
per field for the same record!
I.E. Instead of:
Company Address City State
Zip Invoice#
Clear Star International 203 East Mcmillan Cinti Oh
45219 A2347
Clear Star International 203 East Mcmillan Cinti Oh
45219 G4692
Clear Star International 203 East Mcmillan Cinti Oh
45219 H3212
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:20:55 Page 18
You can have:
Clear Star International 203 East Mcmillan Cinti Oh
45219 A2347
G4692
H3212
Symbolic fields allow you to have a formula in them that
can be used for calculations, looking up information in
other files or could contain a 34K RBASIC (Revelation's
programming language) program! Joining of information of
several files is done 'on the fly' no need to dump the data
to another file before you can even see the data. Any
command which Revelation has YOU can give your own name to.
For instance instead of: List Customers ,you can have GIMME
Customers. In fact you could have dozens of names for the
same commands. This is also true of fields you define for
your databases I.E. List Customers Name,List Customer
Contact, List Customers Friend, Can all mean the same thing.
An interesting approach Cosmos took was to contract customer
support to a company calld ELF. They can be reached in the
U.S. at 1-800-422-2511. The support they provide is
incredible . I have found them able to answer questions for
those who don't know a program from a database to those who
want help on a specific application to altering Revelation
source code itself etc.. Cosmos provides SOURCE CODE for
parts of Revelation so that you can modify it. Another
incredible fact about ELF if you call and they are tied up
they will take your name and number and say they will call
you back. Guess what they really do call you back! All in
all I would say that of all the hardware and software
products we have delt with Elf provides the best technical
support I have seen yet. They also publish a monthly Journal
called REVTECH that provides lots of interesting info and
routines for Revelation including some undocumented
features. Anyway because of our enthusiasm for the product
and the support we began to show it to many of our clients
who in turn wanted to order it and have us develope
applications for them. Thus, we have taken a new direction
with Revelation and actually sell it as well now. Our price
for FIDONET Members is $735.00 plus shipping which is
$215.00 dollars off list. Revelation also supports the 8087
chip (not required ) which we sell for $100.00. We also
have provided training/education in addition to software
development for many clients. The current Revelation
version is release F. Version G in beta-test now will
operate on LAN's using NOVELL NETWARE software.Which is the
best of its kind. Also a new single user version is due out
in April which will have lots of new features.
Incidentally,Elf also markets Utility disks which contain
programs to enhance Revelation. You can also interface
Assembly language routines to Revelation. I find the
documentation very thorough and easy to read. There are a
few typos here and there but doc files on disk clear those
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:21:04 Page 19
up. The manual is divided into several sections
Tutorials,Revelation commands,Rdesign,Text editors ,RNET
and Rbasic. The tutorials correspond to sample database
files provided on disk. Also several samples Rbasic
programs are provided. Revelation itself IS NOT COPY
PROTECTED IN ANY WAY another great selling point . Average
learning time?? I would say this depends upon the scope of
the applications you are developing. You can use Revelation
within hours by following the menus. If you are developing
complicated applications and need to use the actual
programming language itself learning time will depend upon
the depth of database/programming knowledge the developer
has.
I hope this Tip of the iceberg look gives you some
conception of the capabilities Revelation has. If you
require any assistance ,further information, etc. don't
hesitate to contact me.
Warmest Regards,
Daniel Sternklar
President
Clear Star International
203 East Mcmillan
Suite 12B
Cincinnati,Oh 45219
(513) 561-0882 (513) 421-5452
Source BBY908 Compuserve 75115,73
FIDO 85 (513) 579-2587
These are the on-going adventures of The WANGMASTER. His
five year mission, to seek out and educate naive young
women, to explore strange new positions, to boldly do what
no man has done before : find desirable MTV's Martha Quinn !
Once a shy and retiring 132 pound weakling in the hills of
Maryland, Wang was inexorably drawn a few years ago to the
fast lane in too cool California, where fate led him to
that famous Tasmanian Guru, Swami Buster Rajneesh Horsedong
Hyman. This great guru took little Wang under his tutelage
and taught him the ways of Wangmastery, blessing him with
the Holy Oyster of Hugerodduperdam, before returning to his
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:21:11 Page 20
native land. Wang's duty : to educate as many women as
possible and spread the Word of the Swami from the desert to
the sea to all of southern California in preparation for the
Coming : the day when Buster would move his Promiscuous
Practice from Tasmania to So. Cal. The rest is history.
Today, Wang is a 132 pounds of irresistable manhood :
Allistair Cooke wrapped in a Tom Selleck body with a dash of
Woody Allen thrown in for vulnerability and sensitivity. He
is the James Dean of jacuzzis.
Join us each week for....The Adventures of WANGMASTER.
NOTICES
As a matter of brief introduction, I am Bill
Macneill, SYSOP of FIDO node #202 in Boston, Massachusetts
(1-617-721-1688).
Recently, one of the members of my Board (DEC-Line
-- a DEC Micro oriented board) uploaded a game file known as
JETSET.BAS...a jet plane simulator, and one of the great
classic public domain games. The problem with JETSET,
however, is that it is SOOOOOOO SLOWWWWWWW!
I would very much like the readers of this
newsletter to advise me as to whether JETSET has been
compiled to operate directly as an 'executable' under the
MSDOS operating environment. If one of you is familiar with
such a file, please advise me where I can obtain a copy...or
even better, why don't you just call and upload to DEC-
Line?? Again, we are at 1-617-721-1688 in Boston....
Bill Macneill, SYSOP
DEC-Line FIDO#202
FOR SALE
I HAVE 2 NEW 20 MEG HARD DRIVES WHICH ARE EXTERNAL
WITH CASE AND POWER SUPPLY, CABLES AND CONTROLLER CARDS.
COVERED BY ONE YEAR WARRANTY.
DRIVES MADE BY CMI. CONTROLLER-DTC CARD.
EACH UNTIL IS SELLING FOR $1375.00
ALL ARE BRAND NEW IN THE BOX WITH FULL DOC'S
CONTACT RICHARD LEVEY VIA FIDO 79.
We now have the PC to XT upgrade chip in stock for immediate
delivery. This chip allows your PC to emulate the XT in
speed for both super fast disk access, and super fast memory
access. The boot up time for a 640K machine complete with
TOTAL ram check is a mere 20 seconds...not 3 MINUTES !!!!!
The chip is a ROM replacement easily installed by any PC
owner. We sell the chip for $145.00 shipping included.
CONTACT SYSOP NODE 357 FOR DETAILS OR TO ORDER.
DELAER INQUIRIES INVITED !!!!!
I HAVE THE FOLLOWING FOR SALE AT THIS TIME.
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:21:18 Page 21
1 D.S.D.D. DRIVE BRAND NEW NEVER USED
2 S.S.D.D. DRIVES BRAND NEW NEVER USED
ALL COVERED BY MANUFACTURERS WARRANTY.
PACKAGE PRICE IS $200 (AMERICAN)
CONTACT ME VIA NODE 79 UNTIL I GET MY
NODE NUMBER.....RICHARD LEVEY
The Pacesetter Company
----------------------
11118 Cripplegate Road
Potomac, Md. 20854
(301) 299-3228 >
(301) 921-1011 > All data lines
(202) 376-7732 >
All data lines operating at 300/1200 -- 7 days / 24 hrs
"7 % over wholesale"
Prices are effective through Jan 31., 1985
The Pace - The Pacesetter Company (As Above)
Conr. La - Conroy La Pointe (800) 547-1289
Pc- Conn - PC - Connection 1-800-243-8088
Softline - Softline 1-800-221-1260
GSL Comp - GSL Computing 1-800-545-2633
For complete description see below
Item -- The Pace -- Conr. La -- PC-Conn -- Softline -- GSL Comp
AST 6-PAK w/
384K inst. 379.00 465.00 504.00 449.00 449.00
Hayes 1200
external 458.13 489.00 459.00 459.00 479.00
Hayes 2400
external 630.70 N/A N/A CALL N/A
Quadram Q-Bd.
w/384K inst. 369.00 525.00 494.00 469.00 459.00
Quadram
Quadlink 354.24 449.00 N/A N/A N/A
Quadram
Quadmeg 1652.00 N/A N/A N/A N/A
256K chips
per set of 9 140.00 N/A N/A CALL N/A
64K chips
per set of 9 28.00 35.00 39.00 40.00 32.00
AST 6-Pak comes with 384K of 200 NS RAM, clock/calendar, one
serial port, one parallel port, and software. This card is
the industry standard. It is very reliable and the software
performs well.
Hayes SM 1200 is the de facto standard of the type 212A
fidonews -- 04 Feb 85 23:21:25 Page 22
modems. Most of the communications programs available
support the Hayes. It is extremely accurate.
Hayes SM 2400 is a very new modem from Hayes. It operates at
about two times the speed of the 1200. The only drawback is
that it does not support 300 baud.
Quadram Expanded Quadboard comes with 384K of 200 NS RAM,
clock/calendar, one serial port, one parallel port, one game
port, I/O bracket, and Quadmaster software. This cards
performs as well as the AST 6-Pak and is slightly cheaper.
Quadram Quadlink allows the IBM PC to emulate the Apple II
line of computers. It comes with all cables and installation
software. It is a great tool if you already own APPLE
software.
Quadram Quadmeg is a very new product out on the market. It
allows a standard IBM PC to access two megabytes of memory.
This price includes the full two megabytes of memory and
software.
64K and 256K chips are industry standard. The 64K chips
works with all boards that are compatible with 4164-200NS
chips. The 256K chips are made for the new boards such as the
Quadram Quadmeg.
AST 6-PAK is a trademark of AST Research, Inc. Hayes 1200
and 2400 are trademarks of Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc.
Quadram Quadboard and Quadmeg are trademarks of Quadram, Inc.
64K and 256K are products of Micron Technologies, Inc.
These prices were are taken from the February 5, 1985, PC
Magazine. N/A means either the products is too new or the
company does not sell this product. CALL means call them for
the current price quote. PC Magazine is a trademark of
Ziff-Davis Publishing, Inc.
We welcome you to call these and any other mail-order firms.
These are just a sample of products that we carry. Call one
of our BBS's for the most current pricing on a complete stock
of IBM PC and compatible hardware and software. Any
suggestions welcome.
The Pacesetter Company
WANTED
WANTED TO BUY: One used Gavilan computer.
Send details (accessories, condition and price) to:
Andy Meyer, FidoNet, Fido #317 - or contact Sysop of
SMC-70 Citadel: (201) 930-6483 [24 hours, 300 baud]
