FidoNews is the official newsletter of the International FidoNet
Association, and is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1.
You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file
FNEWSART.DOC, available from node 1/1.
The contents of the articles contained here are not our
responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them.
Everything here is subject to debate.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL
The Right to Information
2. ARTICLES
EchoMail and Host Routing: A Plea for Sanity
New Utility: FIDODATE
The latest FIDO distribution list
Minutes - Cincinnati Fido Sysop Meeting
Help a Lost Dog Find His Way
The Survival Communication Forum
3. COLUMNS
Notes from Abroad
The World of Computing: Multitasking and multicomputers
4. WANTED
Wanted: Computer Related T-Shirts
5. FOR SALE
Entertainment Software for your PC!
6. NOTICES
The Interrupt Stack
CARTOON: Gruesome George, by Bruce White
Starting a Conference for the MINDSET PC
This week's guest editorial is by Peter de Jager of 148/103.
The Right to Information
Greetings FidoWorld! The editorial in FidoNews volume 3, number
17 has prompted this response.
The question has been asked, "Do we have a right to information?"
That is to say, "is someone immoral if they withhold information
from me?" I have heard the argument that information does not
"belong" to anyone and therefore should be accessible to all at
no cost. I disagree.
Firstly, "information" is a result of data having been processed
in some fashion. This processing of data into information,
requires energy, therefore it is not free; there is a cost
involved in its production.
Secondly, even the raw material, data, is not free. There is a
cost to collect and store it. Try to collect any datum and you
will find that you must make some effort to do so. For example,
taking the air temperature (available to to everyone) requires
the use of a thermometer, and time to take the reading.
Thirdly, assuming that nobody is currently collecting the data,
nobody is pointing a moral finger at someone else stating "It is
your moral duty to collect and analyze, in case it might provide
a solution." Nor is there a hue and cry about the fact that the
data is expensive to collect. After all, the cost of the data
collection is dictated not by some greedy individual, but by the
rules of nature.
So to tie this back to the editorial, the first example given was
of a private weather bureau that has deduced the arrival of a
hurricane through its own efforts. Only its subscribers now know
about the danger and many other people die due to lack of
knowledge. Is the company responsible for those deaths in any
fashion?
No!
My reasoning is:
a) That the raw data was available to all those that could afford
it. Granted the raw data cost is high, but the bureau did not
set that price! It was set by nature; no one is responsible
for the high cost, therefore no one is to blame.
b) The information was available to all persons that either:
1) Collected/analyzed the data themselves, and paid the high
Fidonews Page 3 9 Jun 1986
cost to do so, or
2) Paid the Bureau a subscription fee, which would be much
less than the costs involved in (1).
In other words, the bureau has provided you a FREE service by
giving you an additional option! You now have a choice! Pay the
high cost set by nature OR the lower cost made possible by the
activity of the bureau.
To now claim that the bureau is now somehow responsible for the
death of people that chose not to, or could not, pay the lower
price is worse than ludicrous. By increasing our options, the
bureau has made our life better, not worse! To inflict them with
some form of moral obligation is punishing them for being a
service to us! Since when has excelling become a crime?
To impose this moral obligation on any type of activity will
hinder its growth, to our continued detriment! Sadly, this logic
will not prevent the "takers" of the world from imposing these
types of rules on the "makers". There are many things that
happen in this world because someone is willing to take a
personal risk, then there are those that would lay claim to those
efforts based on their "need". Perhaps one day the makers will
decide it is no longer worth the effort... and shrug... and
strike... to protect their efforts from the thieves and mooches
of the world that contribute nothing but wish to inherit
everything; because they "need" it, not because they've earned
it.
Yours in frustration,
Peter de Jager
Toronto, Canada
May 1986
on 148/103
This isn't really my argument to make; I don't run a Host or even
a Hub. However, I am participating in one EchoMail with about six
other boards: the MAGICK conference. And we have had some
disagreements regarding topology and routing, so I'm bringing
this up for general discussion and response here.
There is a very strong argument to be made for NEVER HOST ROUTING
ECHOMAIL. There is only one argument in _favor_ of host routing
EchoMail; convenience (you don't have to do ANYTHING). But a
moment's reflection will show the problems in host-routing. First
and foremost, the net topology and routing structure was set up
for irregular but small mail loads. In normal use, without the
repetitive load that EchoMail imposes, a host/hub does not have
to bear a grossly huge load, just a normally large load.
EchoMail, on the other hand, demands repetition of messages. So,
if my board were to host-route, and (as the conference
coordinator wanted) all of us on the conference sent to all
others, my board would generate maybe 60 messages on a busy
night, divided between 5 recipients. What's worse, the growth is
at least quadratic, possibly exponential. Such a load on the
hosts is unfair and improper, and impedes the usual flow of
regular mail: which is supposed to be the host's primary
responsibility.
Another argument in this vein is that the hosting system is
designed for a loosely-linked system, so that the individual
board doesn't need any knowledge of the remote boards schedules.
However, in an EchoMail topology, each board is cooperating with
its EchoMail neighbors, so a direct tightly-linked system is
possible (and can be more timely).
I would like to recommend that host-routing of EchoMail be
treated as a capital offense: the offender should be doghoused.
This seems to be the trend; I caught hell from the Pack Leader
from the start, and got wise quick. (Arf!) Some hosts are not as
sure of their rights and obligations, and are continuing to
encourage this questionable practice (or at least, allow it.) A
general policy would clear things up.
Well, while I'm at it, I'd like to invite any interested boards
into the MAGICK conference. The past few weeks have seen serious
(and not so serious) discussions on Paganism & Tolerance, Heresy
(and Rumors of Heresy), Ritual vs. the Party Mentality, Political
Alerts (there's an obnoxious bill in the House Ways and Means
Committee that would ban tax exemptions from "organizations
having an interest in witchcraft"), and other interesting stuff.
Fidonews Page 5 9 Jun 1986
Drop a line to 125/93 if you are interested. Its a lot of fun and
sometimes even educational.
I have just released a fourth version of Fidodate, a program
which adds dates to the FILES.BBS file. The dates (thanks to Bill
Thomas of SeaCoast Fido) are added in the format mm-dd-yy in
front of the file description. For example, the line:
FDATE43.ARC Version 4.3 of FIDODATE
Would be changed to:
FDATE43.ARC 05-18-86 Version 4.3 of FIDODATE
If a description + date is too long, the user is prompted to
enter a shorter description. In addition, the date of the newest
file is added to the DIR.BBS file (allowing users to scan with
the 'a' command to see which of the file areas have received new
files since their last call). FIDODATE can also be run
automatically from a batch file. The program is public domain,
with a requested donation of $10-20, and it is available from the
Fido mentioned above (I unfortunately don't have the cash to mail
it out to any number of people). Source code is supplied. I hope
this program will be of use to someone.
If you are a distribution node, and would like to be added to
this list, send the relevant information to the SYSOP on 109/74 -
The Bear's Den. I will release updates to this list as new
distribution nodes are added.
NODE NODE NAME LOCATION PHONE NUMBER Version
---- --------- -------- ------------ -------
11/601 Old Frog Rhinelander_WI 715-362-3895 * ALL
100/10 MDC RCC, St._Louis_MO 314-232-6881 * ALL
100/22 PC LUG St._Louis_MO 314-576-2743 * D,I
100/51 DECUS Central St._Louis_MO 314-576-4129 * ALL
101/27 Dave's FIDO Gardner_MA 617-632-1861 * All
101/106 NewWorld Magic1 Swampscott_MA 617-595-5626 * I,G
104/56 Denver's Fido Denver, CO 303-973-9338 * ALL
106/343 PC-Interconnect Houston_TX 713-955-8120 I
106/106 Black Star Houston_TX 713-458-5406 I
107/23 HitchHikers Guide Williamson_NY 315-589-7361 D
107/312 Dance Studio E_Brunswick_NJ 201-247-0573 I
109/483 Wash-A-RUG Fairfax_VA 703-359-6549 D,I
109/603 NET-EXCHANGE Reston_VA 703-689-3561 I
114/1 Phoenix Net Phoenix_AZ 602-242-5230 I
115/100 Illini Data_RB Bolingbrook_IL 312-759-5402 * ALL
115/500 Sit UBU Sit Lombard_IL 312-960-5928 * ALL
102/101 Rainbow Data Los Angeles_CA 213-204-2996 * D
122/6 PSG COOS Bay COOS_Bay_OR 503-269-5202 * I
123/6 FIDO Hydrant Memphis_TN 901-353-4563 * I
124/12 Inside Track Ed Plano_TX 214-422-4772 I
125/1 Fido's Board San_Francisco_CA 415-864-1418 * All
125/521 Satore Center San_Francisco_CA 415-647-8528 I,V
128/10 The Three Laws Colorado_Spgs_CO 303-574-1110 I
129/11 TACO Sanyo Fido Trafford_PA 412-856-1428 * S
132/107 M'Cycle Bytes Amherst_NH 603-889-3366 * All
133/1 ATL/FIDO1 Atlanta_GA 404-928-1876 * D,I
134/1 Calgary Fido Calgary_Alberta 403-282-1703 * I,S
135/14 Metro-Fire Fido Miami_FL 305-596-8611 I,S,T,G
137/19 The Ark Tangent Tampa_FL 813-977-5347 * I
138/3 PROBUS INTRNTL Puyallup_WA 206-848-9232 * I
138/14 BECS_Tandy_Fido Seattle_WA 206-527-5619 * All
3101/1 Fido Nl1 Ede_Holland +31-8380-37165 I
This version of the list was squeezed a bit, to allow it to fit
into the FIDONEWS format. If you would like a full 80 column
copy of this list, it may be downloaded from either FIDO 109/74
(The Bear's Den), or FIDO 109/483 (Wash-A-RUG).
- NOTE -
It has been pointed out to me that not all of these listed nodes
Fidonews Page 8 9 Jun 1986
are carrying the latest release of FIDO. If you find old or
obsolete versions of FIDO on a listed distribution node, please
let me know at FIDO 109/74.
MINUTES - Cincinnati Area Fido Sysop Meeting - May 16, 1986
Allen Miller 108/10
May 16, 1986 - We had the first Fido Sysop's get together for the
Cincinnati area Fido's. A rather informal affair, it was held at
Mr. T's, a pizza parlor in Western Hills, Cincinnati. If I can
speak for the group, I would say a rather pleasant time was had
by all.
The first order of business was introductions, because other than
one or two for each of us, every face was a new one. We had nine
sysop's in attendance, seven from Cincinnati one one each from
Fairborn and Sydney.
After the introductions we moved on to the next important order
of business, pizzas, hoagies and beer.
Before, during, and after the food (and beverages) we had some
very helpful discussions. Often times there were two or three of
these discussions going on at the same time so I really can't
comment on all of them.
- Some of the sysops discussed problems with users that spend an
inordinate amount of time downloading and those that insist on
leaving messages using foul language. Preregistration, Fido's
time parameters and orientation of the Fido system were
discussed as ways to limit these activities.
- Announcement was made that only the NODEDIFF files will be
distributed automatically in the local area. File transfer
time was cited as the reason for this change. Sysops should
get XLATRGEN or LISTGEN utility to merge the NODEDIFF file with
the prior week's NODELIST.nnn file.
- General use of the Sysop "0" command and the O)utside command
were discussed, along with the OUTSIDE utility program. Sample
.BAT files were distributed illustrating structure for invoking
these functions with security of the WATCHDOG utility. One
sysop expressed interest in finding a generalized utility to
allow full screen video applications to run well in the Outside
environment.
- Several Fido operation problems were discussed and resolved
either at the meeting or after. One problem involved the "disk
full" error message generated when trying to enter messages and
was found to be caused by not having the FILES=20 and
BUFFERS=50 statements in the CONFIG.SYS file. A question was
also raised on how to upload *.* to Fido. Allen Miller's
solution is to use Telink protocol in a program such as PIBTERM
and enter the command U TC X to Fido, and then *.* to PIBTERM's
request for a filename.
- Use of .BAT files along with Fido's event scheduler were
discussed as an effective means of performing regular system
maintenance functions. Samples were distributed. One of my
Fidonews Page 10 9 Jun 1986
favorite items is to use COMMAND /C filename.BAT to have my
RUNBBS.BAT file execute its external event by calling an
external .BAT file and allowing the event statements to be
maintained in a separate file. When the event .BAT file is
completed, control is returned to the calling .BAT file.
Announcing the Official GAGS Game Contest May 26, 1986
----------------------------------------- ------------
Users of the Generic Adventure Game System (GAGS) now have a
chance to enhance their reputations and income by writing a game
using GAGS.
The author of the best game submitted to the Official GAGS Game
Contest will receive $100 or 100 floppy disks, and his or her
game will be included with all copies of GAGS for at least a
year. Depending on the number and quality of entries, other
entries showing merit may receive Honorable Mentions and token
prizes of some kind.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS:
To be considered for the contest, your game must work with
version 1.06a or later of the Generic Adventure Game System.
The game should be playable (i.e. it must be possible for a
reasonable player to complete it in less than 5 years, and not
require that the player save the game status before every step).
Please realize that the line between cleverness and cruelty in
game design is a fine one.
The winning game need not use the standard "adventure game"
format; any interesting and enjoyable script for GAGS will be
considered for the contest. It is not necessary to use any
particular feature of GAGS, and the game can be as large or
small, or as simple or complex, as you feel appropriate.
Games which rely on IBM-specific features (such as the IBM
graphics character set) will be considered, but games requiring
specific features of other computer systems will not be
considered.
Keep your game clean. If your game were a movie, it should be
rated PG-13 at the worst, since GAGS is aimed at a wide audience
including pre-teens. It should not contain explicit or offensive
language, and should certainly not require obscene or offensive
behavior on the part of the player.
The game should not infringe upon any copyrighted material or
upon any trademarks. In other words, while you are welcome to
base your game upon a fantasy-role-playing environment, or a
space travel scenario, you cannot legally use names like
"Dungeons and Dragons" or "Star Trek," which are registered
trademarks. It might be acceptable to use modified trademarks if
the game is a deliberate satire. All text must be original to the
game author(s), who must own all copyrights to the game.
Entries may be written by an individual, a team, or, if desired,
by an artificially-intelligent computer program.
Fidonews Page 12 9 Jun 1986
PRIZES:
The author of the best game submitted by September 30, 1986 will
receive his or her choice of a check for $100 or 100 double-
sided, double-density floppy disks for the IBM PC. Depending on
the number of entries and the disposition of the judge(s), other
prizes may also be awarded, either as additional prizes for the
author of the best game or as less valuable prizes awarded to
games considered worthy of an Honorable Mention.
RULES:
No purchase is necessary: You need not be a registered user to
enter the Official GAGS Game Contest, and registered users will
have no advantage in the contest.
All entries should comply with the Guidelines for Submissions
listed above.
The winner of the contest will be the game that, in the opinion
of the judge(s), is most interesting and enjoyable to use. The
contest will be judged by Mark J. Welch, or by one or more
person(s) chosen by him to judge the contest. All decisions of
the judge(s) will be final.
The winning game file will be included with all copies of GAGS
distributed by the author from October 31, 1986 to October 31,
1987, and possibly thereafter. Other than the $100 prize, the
winner will receive no additional compensation from Mark J.
Welch; however, the winning game may include a "shareware"
contribution request within the game itself. The winning game may
be edited for style and grammar before release.
All entries may be individually copyrighted by their authors, and
may be distributed as "shareware" or as "public domain" works
independent of the Official GAGS Game Contest. Entries which are
copyrighted and distributed as "shareware" by their authors,
including the winning submission if appropriate, may include
requests for contributions to their authors.
Submissions should be sent as an ASCII text file, on a 5-1/4 inch
floppy disk, formatted for use with an IBM Personal Computer.
Entries which include a return mailer and sufficient postage will
be returned; no other submissions will be returned.
All submissions must be mailed to Mark J. Welch, P.O. Box 2409,
San Francisco, CA 94126. All submissions must be postmarked by
September 30, 1986, and must be received by October 10, 1986. The
winner of the contest will be announced on or before October 31,
1986.
----------------
Sorry, games may not be submitted electronically. WelchNet (Fido
125/459) has become a private node with an unpublished phone
Fidonews Page 13 9 Jun 1986
number. I am moving to Berkeley, California effective June 1,
1986; please call Directory Assistance for my new voice number,
or call my old voice number (415-564-1066) for a referral.
----------------
For those who don't already know, the Generic Adventure Game
System (GAGS) is an adventure-game authoring system for computers
that use the MS-DOS operating system (such as the IBM PC, DEC
Rainbow, PCjr, and the Amiga with Transformer). It's distributed
as Shareware, and is available from many bulletin-board systems,
users' groups, and other sources of public-domain software
nationwide. An unregistered program disk can also be purchased
from the author for $10. Registration is $15 more; and registered
users can buy the Turbo Pascal 3.0 source code for $25 more.
----------------
Good Luck, everyone!
Mark J. Welch
P.O. Box 2409
San Francisco, CA 94126
(tm) GAGS and "Generic Adventure Game System" are trademarks of
Mark J. Welch. IBM, IBM PC, and IBM PCjr are trademarks of IBM.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. Amiga and Transformer
are trademarks of Commodore Business Machines. DEC and Rainbow
are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corp. Turbo Pascal is a
trademark of Borland International.
I am the SYSOP of the LOST DOG FIDO in Cape May, N.J. and I
propose that perhaps the FIDO sysops, working together can do
what seemingly can't be done otherwise:
I priced a "good" brand of GENERIC PC with COLOR monitor and a
20-Mbyte HD, 5151 Keyboard, serial, parallel,C/G, etc and the
total price (with 1 year guarentee) was under $2,000.00
Now I know that Tom Jennings is off-line because of a "disk
crash" and that he is "re-building" a system, but I'm sure that
the guy is busy. And he has to work for a living, (so say we
all!!). Now, I like and use the FIDO system, got a lot of good
stuff and met a few nice folks, try to upload my share, and
frankly, if I had two grand in loose cash, I'd personally send TJ
a new computer. But if you think about it the way I've thought
about it, you'd realize that it ain't the money.
So, to make a long story short, here is what I propose:
the LOST DOG FUND, c/o IFNA in St. Louis.
contributors? All interested FIDOUSERS.
how much? NO DONATION OVER $5.00!!!
and we will get TJ back on-line.....
WHY ONLY $5.00, because there are about 800 nodes in the U.S. amd
Canada, plus UNTOLD numbers of fidousers and if just 1/2 the
SYSOPS gave, then we could get TJ his system. I spoke to the guy
I get computers from and told him about it, he said that for
however much we collect, he will sell us the MOST SYSTEM with the
MOST MEMORY and DRIVES that our $$$ add up to, and AT HIS COST
plus shipping to San Francisco.
So, we have a dealer who also has a heart, we have $2,000 plus to
raise, and we have 800 plus contributors to ask. And WHILE WE'RE
AT IT... if you want to send MORE than $5.00, then make the
difference out to the IFNA fellows who do great work for no pay
and little thanks. Remember, a FIDO, by itself, is just another
bulletin board, and even THAT wouldn't run without the work TJ
did.
From: Survival Communication Forum, Santa Rosa, CA
Sysop: Don Kulha, #125/7, BBS: 707-545-0746
Howdy Folks! I'd like to take a moment here via the FidoNews
to say hello and introduce our system, SCF. Our aim with SCF is
to serve the members of the survivalist community as a
communications medium and spread the word on the merits of
preparedness to the public at large. We survivalists generally do
not fit the media stereotypes you usually see, indeed may of us
do not even refer to ourselves as such. Generally speaking our
goal is to be prepared for natural and manmade disasters, along
with the common day to day type of emergencies, which really
seems prudent doesn't it?
SCF has been in continuous operation since January of 1985.
The system was converted to FIDO about a month ago and we joined
the net as 125/7 just recently. Our Forum has 15 file areas and
16 conferences. Some of the topics are: Medicine, Radio
Communications, Independent Energy Systems, Weaponscraft, Food,
and Finance. We also have hosted discussion areas on
radio/alternative energy and Survival Viehicle maintenance and
modification, plus an online interactive version of the Game
"Diplomacy" to sharpen ones bargaining skills. Our Forum is
constantly changing and growing and you are most welcome to join
in or stop by for a visit. We also have a "sister" survival
system on the East coast, just getting started, called SURCOMM
which operates 9pm-8am EST at 703-249-5085 (soon to be in the
net).
I'd like to take a moment here to thank the Network
Administrators, Tom J. and all of the system operators who have
built and nurtured the net-without you we would not have the
opportunity to join in this truly amazing thing you've spawned.
I've also been amazed at the open, friendly and helpful manner of
all the Fido sysops I've contacted, it's a great feeling to be a
part of this family. Special thanks to Butch Walker and Bruce
Ong.
The modem situation in Europe is very complicated and from Fido's
point of view much worse then in the USA. V21 and V23 seems
fairly standard, with v22 and v22bis modems coming but at high
prices yet. Most of your callers will use v21 (300/300 baud) or
v23 (1200/75 baud). If your Fido must serve them your modem must
autoselect between the two modes and adjust accordingly. There
the problems arise, most of these so called "dual standard" types
are incompatible with each other, effectively preventing the mail
between Fido's while manual callers don't have any problems.
Also so-called "Hayes emulators" with v21 and v23 are not quite
Hayes (yet) giving more problems with the European mail
situation.
Because of these technical differences mailing to some other
European Fido is quite a jump into the deep and connection to
some Fido's will even be impossible to make. To cure this
situation we are strongly supporting the national host scheme,
with hosts taking care of international mail for the Fido's in
his/her country. Between national hosts and between Europe and
the USA we have agreed upon the v22bis system as the standard.
At the moment Fido's 3101 and 4403 the national hosts for Holland
and the UK are able to send/receive mail on this standard with
4601 and 4701 following shortly. Sending your international mail
through this hosts will costs you less because messages will be
packed and send at a high baud rate. There is some accounting
involved here, mostly the national host will require you to send
some money in advance and will deduct the actual transfers from
your account. You must contact your national host about this if
you wish to use this system. Note that for sending files to
another country this routing will not work and you must either
play your hand and try to send it, or send the file between
country hosts.
Also there is now a possibility that you can mail WITHOUT
actually having a Hayes compatible modem. You must request the
host to poll you every night and PICKUP your mail. A simple auto
answer modem is then sufficient and the scheme is also very cost
efficient if you have mail beyond an occasional message every
month. Please contact your country manager if you wish to be
"polled".
In order to accommodate for all kind of modems, and to
accommodate for the mail "pickup" and "distribution" slots, the
European time slot must shift to an earlier hour to avoid the
distribution slot winding up in high rate hours in, for instance,
Finland. Also some early birds calling in will jump in the
middle of a mail slot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 17 9 Jun 1986
THE WORLD OF COMPUTING
written by Reuven M. Lerner
FidoMail 107/233
It's been hectic for me these last few weeks. With a cold,
several article deadlines, and Passover, there has never been a
better time for me to speak about multitasking on microcomputers.
For those of you who don't know, multitasking is the ability
to do several things at the same time. For instance, if my DEC
VT180 was multitasking, I could not only do what I'm doing now
and write this column, but I could also compile my last big
program. Mainframes and minicomputers both use multitasking a
great deal; it's only been very recently that micros have had the
power to do it.
One of the best-known (and best loved/hated) multiuser,
multitasking operating systems is UNIX. Developed by Bell Labs,
it allowed one person to do more than one thing at a time, for
many different users. There were several problems with UNIX,
though, that restricted its use on micros.
Memory and storage were the biggest problem. The UNIX PC,
put out by AT&T, has a 10-megabyte drive that has nearly one-half
of its capacity used up just holding the operating system. Those
of us who use CP/M or MS-DOS know that the operating system
usually takes up a negligible 4-20K. 5 megabytes is a little much
to ask for out of a company that is experimenting with a new
operating system!
Another big problem of UNIX is that it is what could be
termed "user-hostile", being as far away from user-friendly as
possible. I've never used it myself, but the different articles
and books that give examples tell me that most businessmen aren't
going to want to sit down and learn strange commands just to find
out what files are on the disk.
Using Topview and Microsoft Windows as examples, we have
today limited multitasking for microcomputers. Both can be used
on any IBM machine, but are used best on the AT, with its
increased speed (now 8MHz, over 4.77MHz for the PC and XT) and
better graphics. The biggest problem, again, though, just like
UNIX, is memory and storage.
As Personal Computing magazine pointed out in their review of
Topview, they could easily fit 1-2-3 and WordStar and dBase III
into the AT with Topview, but then they had about 12K to work
with total! Even with the EMS (extended memory specification,
that allows you to use up to 4 Megabytes more) from
Lotus/Intel/Microsoft, there's still not a lot of room there.
Yet another problem is that it's slow. Even mainframes perform
more slowly when they have more terminals on-line; try loading 5
programs into your micro and waiting for them!
So that you IBM fans don't criticize me for not speaking
Fidonews Page 18 9 Jun 1986
about multitasking on other computers, or the lack thereof, I'll
tell you that no other computer has it. Sure, the Mac has
Switcher, and the ST series (520 and 1040) have the potential,
and the Amiga has multitasking but no software to show for it.
Does anyone here think that Apple II+'s are going to be
multitasking soon? If you ask me, the new 68000 machines (ST's
and Amigas) will have it much sooner than the others.
If you ask me again, though, it may be a while until we get
true multitasking onto any micro.
Multicomputers
I told you once before that I have four computers at home: a
DEC VT180 (on which I'm writing this), a Fountain XT (an IBM
clone), a Seicom II+ (an Apple clone), and an Osborne 1. It
seems as though I'm going to need some format-changers pretty
soon, since I'm trying to do more and more work on different
machines. One of the biggest problems that I'm beginning to have
is with the modem on the DEC, a Qubie. Either a chip is loose,
or its just not working too great, or the Old Westbury phone
lines are as bad for computers as they are for humans, but the
modem likes to drop carrier a lot.
Anyway, what I tried to do a few weeks ago was transfer a
file from the Fountain to the DEC. After about an hour of trying
different methods, I finally gave up, and in desperation,
uploaded the file to my local Fido, downloaded it onto the other
machine, and presto! All done. There's got to be a better way.
Any ideas?
Software support
I just got off the phone with Borland International several
hours ago, regarding upgrading my Turbo Pascal to the IBM version
(with windowing, color graphics, and the like). I must say that
they are very easy to deal with, and responded quickly and
courteously to my questions. If only we had more companies like
them in the world. [Editor's note: Yeah, but don't look for
reviews of their stuff here. FidoNews doesn't qualify.]
One thing that I thought was excellent was the quality of
support. It wasn't an operator who told me that she didn't know
the answer, I got a knowledgeable person who could answer
everything that I needed.
For those of you who are considering doing what I did (trade
up from CP/M to IBM), I'll give you the information that they
gave me, so you won't have to call them. Basically, you get a
certain amount of credit toward newer or different versions.
Version 3.0 gives you $39.95, 1.0 and 2.0 are $29.95. You then
apply that credit toward the purchase of a newer or different
version, send in a check with your original master diskette, and
they'll send you back a diskette with the newer version on it.
Fidonews Page 19 9 Jun 1986
Even though the Borland license is much easier to understand
that those of most other companies, I wasn't sure about if I was
allowed to keep copies of my old version of Pascal. If you are
interested in knowing, you aren't allowed to use the old
diskette. Actually, it's kind of easy to understand. The
license only applies to the diskette that you have in your
possession, and as you send in your original diskette and get
back a new one, you only are allowed to use the new one. Not
that I had so many programs in CP/M that I wanted to keep, but I
wasn't sure if I could still use both of them.
As an unsolicited plug, let me say that I advise each and
every one of you to go out and buy Turbo Pascal within the next
week. Unless you have some really weird machine, they've got a
version for you, and unless you would rather program in another
language, it's the best purchase you'll ever make (I have never
regretted switching to Pascal as my primary language).
Hot News! Hot News! (last-minute update)
I just found out that Pitney-Bowes is working on a facsimile
machine that will send and receive data using a modem! Although
it's still in the design stages, and won't be released for
another month or two, this has the potential to change a lot. I
came up with the idea (is anyone from P-B listening?) to use the
new Fastlink 10,000+ bps modem, which would enable Fax documents
to be transmitted in less than 20 seconds or so! Even without
the Fastlink, this is an incredible idea, one which may change
the face of faxes forever! I'll keep you people posted with the
news as I find it out.
Next time
As I said last time, I know that this is a short column, but
until I get myself past all of these different deadlines (next
week or so), and then an election campaign for my youth group
(which should be over by the time that you read this), and then
maybe even writing a few more programs, they may stay that way.
Depending on what I'm interested in next time, I may discuss
public-domain software, the future of BBS', computer English, or
any of a number of other things. We'll see. Until next time,
happy computing!!
(c)1986 Reuven M. Lerner. All Rights Reserved. Permission
is given to copy this column so long as it is for non-profit use.
If you wish to use it for other than non-profit use, write to the
author at 21 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568, or at
FidoMail 107/233.
Looking for T-Shirts that are imprinted with items relating to
computers. The first order would be a small purchase, but future
purchases could be in bulk. If you know of a retail and/or
wholesale company that deals in this market, the information
would be appreciated.
=================================================================
FOR SALE
=================================================================
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE FOR YOUR PC!
SUPERDOTS! KALAH!
Professional quality games include PASCAL source! From the
author of KALAH Version 1.6, SuperDots, a variation of the
popular pencil/paper DOTS game, has MAGIC and HIDDEN DOT
options. KALAH 1.7 is an African strategy game requiring
skill to manipulate pegs around a playing board. Both games
use the ANSI Escape sequences provided with the ANSI.SYS
device driver for the IBM-PC, or built into the firmware on
the DEC Rainbow. Only $19.95 each or $39.95 for both
exciting games! Please specify version and disk format.
These games have been written in standard TURBO-PASCAL and
run on the IBM-PC, DEC Rainbow 100 (MSDOS and CPM), CPM/80,
CPM/86, and PDP-11. Other disk formats are available, but
minor customization may be required.
BSS Software
P.O. Box 3827
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
For every order placed, a donation will be made to the Fido
coordinators! Also, if you have a previous version of KALAH
and send me a donation, a portion of that donation will also
be sent to the coordinators. When you place an order, BE
CERTAIN TO MENTION WHERE YOU SAW THE AD since it also
appears in PC Magazine and Digital Review.
Questions and comments can be sent to:
Brian Sietz at Fido 107/17
(609) 429-6630 300/1200/2400 baud
14 Jun 1986
The Next Occasional MetroNet Sysop Meeting, to be held in West
Milford, New Jersey. Contact The Wizard at node 107/16 for
details and directions.
14 Aug 1986
Start of the International FidoNet Conference, Colorado
Springs, Colorado. Contact George Wing at node 128/13 for
details.
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1/1.
I am looking for Fido's around the U.S. that are willing to
participate in a conference for the MINDSET computer. This would
be using the EchoMail software and dedicating a message section
to the conference.
Fidonews Page 23 9 Jun 1986
If you are interested or am willing to have this conference on
your BBS. Please contact me via FidoNet at 16/635. If you are
interested in participating, but don't have the funds for the
service, please contact me anyway. Arrangements can be worked
out (e.g. I'll pick up the mail).
