Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/375. You
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Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the
file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/375.
Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:
The contents of the articles contained here are not our
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everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
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Fido National User Directory
This is an idea that was batted around the last time the
local sysops got together. How about a national directory
of Fido users?
You see, while Fidonet is a great idea, it does have one
small problem. Say I have a few friends in California who
might be using a Fido out there somewhere. How do I find
out which Fido they're on? (In fact, one of the New Jersey
sysops once sent mail to a board, asking about people he
used to know there. He got a reply from the sysop, who
turned out to be a friend of his!)
Now, I could call them on the phone and ask, or I could
write them a letter, or something like that, but surely we
can do better.
The idea we came up with is a national user directory. Sort
of a phone book for Fidonet mail. The basic idea is that
someone write a program that abstracts data from a USER.BBS
file (leaving out passwords and such), creating a small
ASCII file which could be integrated into a master directory
FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:28 Page 2
at some central point and then distributed. This would all
be voluntary, of course.
The update cycle for something like this could be very long.
The phone company updates their books once a year. I don't
think we should go quite that far, but once a week is
definetly more often than we need. Say, once a month,
perhaps.
Of course, there are some details that need to be worked
out. For example, there's no point in listing users who
cannot send mail. Also, a great many people use more than
one board. Should we list all the boards they call? Or
should we just list the board that they call the most? We
also have to tie in the list of sysops, somehow. But all of
this is just a matter of programming detail.
The important point is whether or not most (or at least
many) sysops would be willing to contribute to such a
project. If you're interested and willing to participate,
or just want to make comments and/or ask questions, please
contact Dave Horowitz at Fido 317.
Fido 10i
As you probably know by now, Fido 10i is now here. If you
haven't got it, by all means go and get it. I've heard a
few complaints about 10i, but nothing serious. Fidonet
needs and must have multiple network capability if it is to
survive much longer, which means we need and must have Fido
10i, warts and all.
Network growth looks to be explosive. Node number 500 has
already been assigned, and I know of several Fidos in this
area alone that are champing at the bit waiting for node
numbers. If Fidonet is to remain humanly possible, then it
MUST be decentralized.
June 12th is the deadline for the switchover. Everyone is
to maintain there present node number in net one until that
date. At national mail hour on the 12th, everyone is
supposed to switch over to their new net number, and node
number assignment switches over to the hosts and the
regional administrators. With luck, all will go smoothly.
Frankly, that much luck doesn't exist in the universe. I
think we're going to have total chaos for a couple of weeks.
But then a stronger, more coherent Fidonet should emerge.
Personally, I can hardly wait. The new scheme should be
MUCH easier to use, since nodes will be grouped into
something approaching a rational organization.
FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:32 Page 3
============================================================
NEWS
============================================================
Chris Rowley
Sysop, Fido 359
The latest PC Magazine talked of our beloved communication
medium, the bulletin board. I personally took great offense
to this article, and the words IBM user were the first to
spring to mind after the opening paragraph. I'm afraid that
more and more users are beginning to sway to this viewpoint
because of reading articles like this. I hope it will stop.
The article nearly said outright (if it didn't) that the
best bbs's are the ones with lots of files and places where
you could talk seriously about technical problems. This is
major b.s. in my book. The bulletin board should be another
medium of communication like the letter and the phone to
meet people and express viewpoints. If questions come into
play, answer them. But that shouldn't be your primary
concern. Neither should be files.
A bbs is a great way to meet people, even if you don't know
who they really are. It is also a place to show that
computers don't have to be dehumanizing, that they can
promote human relations. Plus this human factor can warm
anti-computer people up sometimes.
IBM bbs's are always the least interesting. Everyone is so
preoccupied with files that the use of the public forum a
board offers is lost. The lowly Trash-80 generally runs the
best boards with the most bright, interesting people
I sit here and watch user after user log on and soon as they
see 'Main:' type the lowly 'F'. You want files? Try a
HOSTCOMM. They are built for files, not messages.
I find boards interesting where there are conflicts,
agreements, discussions, debates, the bright, the not-so-
bright, the random, the straight. Variety. The next time
you log onto a board, check the messages. You may be
surprised at what you're missing, or the Sysop is missing.
I am going to chair the Technical Questions and Answers
session for Rainbow users at the National DECUS (Digital
Equipment Computer Users Society) symposia in New Orleans
(May 27-31). All the major design engineers of the Rain-
bow will be there to answer any questions relating to
hardware or software (DEC/DCS products only) that you may
have.
If you wish to have one or more technical questions
answered by DEC, forward it to me before May 24th and I
will present it to the appropriate engineer. Please make
your question VERY clear. Include your name, address,
node # & DECUS membership number (if you have one).
Either I will return their response to you via FIDONET or
they will write to you directly (they are very good about
this).
Send your questions to: RB ENGINEER Node: 350
This service is being provided by your DECUS PC Special
Interest Group.
If you are not a member of DECUS and would like to join
(its free) send a membership request to:
DECUS US CHAPTER, MEMBERSHIP PROCESSING GROUP
249 NORTHBORO ROAD, BP02
MARLBORO, MA 01752, USA
PHONE: (617) 480-3418
This is a followup to the other article on 2400 baud
modems. Since then, I've had more experience with the Hayes
2400, and got one of the U.S. Robotics Courier 2400's.
Simply put, the Hayes 2400 is a piece of junk, sorry
to say. It is nowhere near the quality and functionality of
the old 1200 baud model. It is riddled with bugs, many of
which are "features" which probably won't change. It will be
OK for BBS use, since it insists on entering AutoAnswer mode
at strange times, but is unreliable connecting at 1200, and
600 is useless.
If you insist on buying the Hayes because of their
reputation, you are making a serious mistake. Don't do it.
The Courier, however, is everything the Hayes should
have been. It is just about "perfect", that is, it seems to
do everything it says it does, and simply and reliably. Some
things you won't see are dynamic line equalization that will
improve the quality of connects. It is thoroughly Hayes 1200
compatible, and is also compatible with the 2400 Hayes
command set. (It does not have all the & commands, thank
goodness, but they aren't needed at all.)
I spent a week playing with the Hayes, and never got
it to do exactly what I wanted. I read the manual cover to
cover, experimented, all the usual things.
I took the Courier out of the box, set the switches
(clearly marked on the bottom of the modem) plugged it in,
and it ran first time. Elapsed time: 5 minutes.
To get the Hayes 2400 to autoanswer at 2400 requires
some work. You have to issue a complex series of commands AT
2400 BAUD, then save the settings in the non volatile RAM.
Only then will it answer at 2400. I won't go into all the
details about the nasty side affects of raising and lowering
DTR. Fido, starting in version 10I, has a special modem type
(11/J) for the Hayes 2400; you must use it if you want to
operate at 2400 baud.
The Courier will autoanswer at 300, 1200, or 2400
baud with no difficulty. Just plug it in. No special setup
for Fido is neccessary to operate it at 2400.
U. S. Robotics is offering 1/2 off on the Courier
2400 to Fido sysops; this is $350.00 for a very good modem.
They will even ship COD. You have to be in the node list to
get this deal. Don't pass it up if you are in the market for
a modem.
Recently I just purchased an IBM AT, after a few days I
realized I was running out of space in my so called "Quick
System". Later I talked with another owner and he said that
he had the same problem. If only he could find out the way
that IBM was putting 1 meg on the mother board of the AT.
Impossible feat, right? WRONG! I called IBM, they failed
to comment on it, so the next day I sent a nice letter thru
the customer support systems at work, within a few hours I
had a reply, It said, and I quote:
To: Tim Meyers.
From: Ibm Corp.
Subject: At Exp.
Sir:
Yes, the exspansion is known to us here at Boca. We are
unable to comment or provide any information on where
and how to install the memory. We haven't tested the
full use of the product, but it will be further tested
in the future. We suggest that you install extra boards
as needed. "
Well so there it is, they know about it, but they wish not
to say anything about it, well that's IBM for you, So, the
question boils down to. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PUT 1MEG ON
THE SYSTEM BOARD OF THE IBM AT??
Anyone that has information to this, Please! Send it to
Fido #442. I Know it can be done, the problem is HOW?
FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:38 Page 7
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NOTICES
============================================================
*** Calendar of Events ***
26 May 85 Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews.
27 May 85 through 31 May 85; Spring 1985 DECUS symposium,
New Orleans, LA. Among other events, Kurt Reisler
(sysop Fido 74) will give a 1 hour talk on Fido.
12 Jun 85 Start of Multinet Fido; Make sure you have Fido
version 10i. Stay in net 1 until this date, then
switch over to your new net number.
If you have any event you want listed in this calendar,
please send a note to node 107/375.
------------------------------------------------------------
*** W A R N I N G *** W A R N I N G *** W A R N I N G ***
ROGUE Piracy Warning
The game program ROGUE.EXE has been making the rounds
lately. A great many people have been down- and up-loading
it for the simple reason that it is a dynamite adventure
game.
THIS IS STOLEN SOFTWARE!!!
The program is property of AI Design of Mountain View,
California, and is well worth the $40 which they are asking
for it. These folks deserve their money for such an
excellent piece of work, so please make sure it isn't on
your board.
There is also a shareware product called HACK, which is a
sort of upgraded ROGUE that runs on any MS-DOS system. It
is quite a lot larger than ROGUE, and a little rougher
around the edges (no color, for example), but it is LEGAL to
have available on your board, which ROGUE is NOT!
