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Copyright (C) 1986, by the International FidoNet Association.
All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
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Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL
The Day FidoNews Didn't Come Out
2. ARTICLES
IFNA no pay THENA no play ELSENA have a say!
Portland needs help!
IFNA Conference Attendee List
FidoNet in the Small Towns
3. WANTED
REWARD FOR ENCRYPTION DATA!!!
4. FOR SALE
Public Domain Software Library Sale!!
5. NOTICES
The Interrupt Stack
I'd woken up early that morning, as I always did on Mondays, and
gone down to the computer. Flipping it on, I dialed Rob's board;
commonly known as Illini Data. Rob's was the best DEC oriented
board around, sure, but at the moment that wasn't why I was
calling. Far from it. Today was Monday, and the latest FidoNews
would be up today.
I log on as quickly as possible with a brand new terminal program
that uses macros. (I figure this thing will cut at least 10% off
the time it takes to sign on and other mundane chores.) I flip to
file area 9, text files, and Raw display for "FNEWS*.*". Wait a
minute. Something screwy here. Wasn't 229 the last one?
Something tells me today isn't going to be an ordinary day. I
log off even quicker than I logged on, by dropping carrier.
(Normally, I don't do that, but I'm getting a little anxious.
Nervous people are entitled to do strange things.) I dial up a
few other boards. When the newsletter is nowhere to be found, I
start to panic. In a frenzy, I use the last resort -- I call
SEAboard itself. Busy. I sweat out the next twenty-four hours
by calling back every 5 minutes, it seems. Finally, Tuesday
night, I connect! The bulletins sweep by and -- wait, what's
this? "FidoNews did not come out this week due to a systems
failure." Or something like that.
I log off. I don't feel devestated, no. Rather, relieved,
because at least now I know the reason. But it makes me stop and
think.
Am I abnormal? No. Just a junkie. I've talked to other users
and sysops who say their palms itch and hair falls out if the
newsletter doesn't arrive on time. But these symptoms can apply
to just about anything.
Stop and think a minute. What would YOU do if the newsletter
didn't come? Some of you are lucky enough to have someone's
voice number to call and find out what the deal is. But 60% of
all sysops, and just about 99% of all users, don't have this
reassurance. Let me take the example a little bit further. What
would you do is you woke up, logged onto your board (assuming you
are a sysop) and found that there was no new FidoMail. Zilch.
NO NEW MESSAGES AT ALL. Maybe you get a slight queasy feeling.
But you have faith, so you wait until the next morning to check
again. STILL NO NEW MESSAGES. By now, your skin is chalk white
and you feel like a victim of St. Vitus' Dance. Could it be the
way you smell? Or maybe your modem blew a circuit? Yeah, that's
gotta be it! But taking the example further still, what would
you do if (God In Heaven Forbid) the NODELIST failed to arrive?
Fidonews Page 3 15 Sep 1986
The point I am trying to make here is that pretty much all
members of the human race find it easy to fall into habits. And
when you have FidoMail expected every night, FidoNews expected
every Monday, and the nodelist every Friday, it's pretty darn
easy to expect them to BE THERE, as a law of nature. It's just a
subset of the old "Immersed-in-computers-so-deeply-you-can't-
react-to-people-around-you" syndrome. I'm not saying any of us
have this (even though it's quite likely), but next time there's
an electronic delay (and there will be), keep this in mind.
Inspired by (what else?) the failure of FidoNews for the week of
August 4th.
I wish to register a loud complaint. I realize that Fido
is a volunteer organization and that means the operators
have many other, more pressing things to do, like earn a
living. However, when an article appears in Fidonews
inviting sysops to join an Echomail conferance, I think
the submitters should have the courtesy to respond to
people who accept the offer.
Fidonews 332 contains three such offers. The editorial
indicates on page 3 that an echomail conferance is set up
for IFNA business. I have sent two inquires to 103/501,
asking to join. There has been no response at all.
The notices section on pages 20 and 21 contains two more
offers. One for C programmers (103/511 - 124/108) and
one for Sci Fi (150/900). Similarly, there has been no
response from either of them.
Shame on all of you!
I will partially withdraw my complaint against the C
programmers conferance because they at least put in the
name of the conferance. That makes it possible to just
start sending messages. Unfortunately, they didn't tell
exactly which node to send messages to. 0 for 3 stinks.
I am sure that most of you, by this late date, have heard about
the Colorado Conference of last month, and some of the most un-
fortunate things that have come to pass since that time. Many of
you, no doubt, have read my "review" of the conference doings in
the NET 161 "Nooseletter" (NET161.A0A from 161/1). In short, I
stated what were my unrefined views of what happened at the
conference, FROM MY POINT OF VIEW. I have received numerous
notes from many of you that have read the document, some from
those of you that attended the conference as I did, that were
with very little exception supportive of my review and of my
feelings about IFNA at the time. Most of you shared my concerns
about Fido and FidoNet, and were quick to tell me so. I thank
all of you who replied either directly or indirectly, and I also
thank the NET 161 Sysops for allowing me to use the Nooseletter
as a forum for bringing into the open many of the issues that are
now affecting us. The Nooseletter surely has not made me a
favorite topic of discussion in St. Louis (grin), but it did
serve to get their attention! They now know that we "exist" out
here. Before that, we probably just seemed like names on some
printout called NODELIST.A?? or something. What St. Louis NOW
knows is that there are some very real human being out here, and
that we're all very much concerned about what's going on. If I
helped in some small way with my Nooseletter article to cause
this, then I am very satisfied.
OK, so I have stirred up the waters a bit, and gotten alot of
good folks "concerned" over what the guys in St. Louis "appear"
to be doing to us. This has, in turned, sparked quite a bit of
controversy (most of it very healthy). At this stage, we have
probably all formed some initial opinions about IFNA, and have
reasons that we can support as to whether we even need IFNA.
Much of what I have been reading in the various EchoMail confer-
ences comes down to the following key gripes:
(1) If you don't pay IFNA $25, then you won't get into the IFNA
nodelist (no PAY no PLAY).
(2) Only IFNA "members" can vote on FidoNet issues.
(3) Only Fido Sysops that pay the $25 fee can "vote" on issues
that affect ALL Fido Sysops.
(4) IFNA is trying to make Fido/FidoNet a BUSINESS rather than a
HOBBY.
(5) The guys in St. Louis have gotten greedy, and see FidoNet as
a way to make money for themselves.
(6) The IFNA "in group" is doing things behind our backs and is
making decisions without our input.
Fidonews Page 6 15 Sep 1986
(7) The conference was rigged to force us all to accept IFNA as
our "god", and the St. Louis Sysops as our "lords".
(8) Ken, Ben, Thom Henderson, and Tom Jennings are trying to get
"rich" off of OUR efforts.
(9) Who really OWNS the nodelist!
(10) Various and sundry other "flames"....
Do we NEED an IFNA? You'll hear all sorts of answers on THIS
issue, but I'll give only my opinion here. And that is - YES.
We need SOMETHING. If IFNA will do it for us, then by all means
let's have it. But is HAS to be OUR organization. It can NEVER
be something that's only for a select few. Otherwise, we don't
need it, we won't have it, and we'll NOT support it. Fair
enough???
Are there any facts to support the above allegations, and a host
of others that are not listed above? Well, to be honest, some of
the statements listed above ARE with merit. For example, a BIG
mistake was made by IFNA when it did not inform us before the
conference that it had incorporated, and that it had plans to
drastically change the way we deal with FidoNet and the guys up
in St. Louis. This could have been handled ALOT better by simply
publishing the agenda and a set of initial goals to get IFNA
started. By the time the conference rolled around, much of the
initial discussion could have already taken place, and we would
have been ready to get at the work to be done. Of course, Ken
Kaplan and Ben Baker REALIZE this mistake now. If they had it to
do over again, I think it would have been done differently than
it was. Hindsight, as they say, is most always 20-20.
No pay, no play? That is, if you don't pay the $25 fee, then
will you NOT get listed in the nodelist? Well, from what was
ORIGINALLY said in Colorado, this was to have been the case! But
since then, there has been so much controversy over this point
that I -think- that the policy now is that everyone will be in
the nodelist without charge for the time being. This is, of
course, subject to change at some later date, but for now we can
all breathe a little easier! I am against any fee that would
restrict the growth of the network. I find the fee to get into
the nodelist EXTREMELY nasty. But right now, it's a moot point.
Thus, until it BECOMES an issue, there really is nothing to take
issue with.
How many of you are aware that the $25 fee being charged at the
conference was NOT authorized by IFNA? According to Ken Kaplan,
there was never any agreement that a fee should be charged to get
membership into IFNA started. Turns out that it was some of the
COSUG (Colorado Springs PC User's Group) that initiated the fee
and began taking up collections for it. Ken Kaplan and IFNA were
NOT at fault for this ... HOWEVER, they were DEFINITELY at fault
for not stopping it when they discovered what had happened and
not returning everyone's money right then and there. Also, the
Fidonews Page 7 15 Sep 1986
business of "no pay, no vote" was NOT Ken Kaplan's statement but
that of George Wing, the conference Coordinator. Now, I as much
as ANYONE appreciates all of the hard work that the COSUG put
into getting the conference off the ground. Without them, it
would have never happened. But since George was NOT an IFNA
board member, he really should NOT have made a statement that has
come back time and again to "haunt" the IFNA officers. Yes, they
screwed up again by NOT putting a stop to the collection of the
fee, and for not "correcting" George on the voting thing. But
from my information, they are not really guilty of plotting a
conspiracy against us.
Is IFNA trying to turn the FidoNet HOBBY into a BUSINESS? Well,
you'll get mixed reactions on THAT issue. I think that they are
and I am most sorry to see that happen. We have enjoyed running
Fido boards and participating in FidoNet for several years now,
and it has been a most rewarding and satisfying hobby, at least
for me. I hate to think that now we have to all become a part of
a BUSINESS. Ken Kaplan makes several good and valid cases as to
why we must let FidoNet grow and become a non-profit entity.
Some of his reasons are most compelling. But at least, in MY
opinion, much of what I have heard in regard to some IFNA goals
is just not needed. We do NOT yet have an "official" document to
look at that will give us the actual goals and aspirations of
IFNA. Until we get that (being worked on now, even as I speak),
then we cannot properly address these questions. I'll hold my
final judgment until I see the docs. Ken has very kindly asked
me to be a part of the Bylaws Rules Committee, and I have given
my acceptance. I hope to be able to make a very positive con-
tribution to the process.
I don't think that the guys in St. Louis have necessarily gotten
"greedy". I am not sure that I completely agree with everything
they have told me, but then that's not to be expected. We all
have very different points of view on things, so it would be
astonding if we all agreed! One of the things that both Ken and
Ben have said that they want is an office, staffed perhaps by a
part-time employee. This employee of the IFNA corporation would
take care of answering correspondence, and other administrative
functions. This could be a good thing in the long run, as it
would free Ken and Ben up from such administration, so that they
could work on maintaining FidoNet. I have no problem with this,
AS LONG AS they provide to all of us, on demand, a complete and
accurate accounting of how all monies are spent. Such a report
MUST appear in FidoNews at least quarterly (yeah, some will no
doubt argue that this is too often, but unless Ken and Ben are
VERY forthcoming on THIS issue, there is bound to be ALOT of
mistrust, and we don't need THAT). Income generated from our
fees could be most "tempting", even to a Saint. It is therefore
incumbent upon US, the People, to keep careful tabs on how our
monies are spent, and on what. One of the things that I heard
Ken mention today on the phone was that We (all nodes) would get
ONE time to vote, as a group, on the Bylaws of the IFNA Corp. If
the Bylaws were approved, then they would possibly stipulate that
out of each Region (or other "unit") we would "elect" someone to
represent our interests on our behalf to IFNA. Sort of like the
Fidonews Page 8 15 Sep 1986
U.S. Senate. We'd be able to tell our representatives what we
want, and THEY'D take the message back to the IFNA board for
appropriate action. We'd be dealing with ELECTED OFFICIALS of
IFNA. This could be a good thing for us all. Now, this is just
TALK, so don't hold either Ken Kaplan or myself to this. It's
just ONE of the things being discussed at this time, and we'll
see how it eventually evolves!
Most everyone I have talked to seems to perceive that to be a
part of IFNA, you have to be on good terms with the "in" group.
I don't THINK this is true; I could be wrong, of course, but I
would rather hope that Ken and Ben, both very respectable guys,
would not try and "play favorites" in the net. It would surely
come back to haunt them if they did, I can guarantee you of THAT
fact! I personally have seen no evidence of favoritism going on
within FidoNet. The people that are perceived as "favorites" are
usually the ones that are doing all of the work. When was the
last time YOU volunteered to do something for FidoNet? Heck when
was the last time -I- volunteered, to be perfectly honest. Well,
I HAVE done so in the past by becoming the first Region 18
Coordinator, and later moving on to set up Network 133 in good
old Atlanta. Up until my "famous" NET 161 Nooseletter article,
most of you probably never even HEARD of me. And, as it just so
happens, I volunteered to be on the Bylaws Rules Committee. Ken
needed people to do it, so I jumped in. I may fall flat on my
face, but at least I'm trying. How 'bout the rest of you? Come
on and get involved ... you ALL have a stake in this thing, and
if you DON'T speak out and participate, then you'll not have a
right to COMPLAIN. I think that if you ask, there will be more
than enough work of the FidoNet to go around such that you'll get
your piece of it. From my perception, the "in" group is ALL of
us that pitch in and help. This article for FidoNews is one way.
Speak out and make your opinions KNOWN. That's the only true way
to effect change, folks. How 'bout it?
Do I think of the guys in St. Louis as "gods". Heck, no. They
are flesh and blood mortals like the rest of us, and prone to
make mistakes. Their handling of the conference only serves to
re-enforce that fact. This was their first conference, and they
screwed up. Should we nail them to a cross for that? Well,
maybe, given the nature of some of the blunders. But lets not
stone them until we know for sure that they're out to put the
screws to us for the sake of doing it. I have seen no evidence
as of yet that they are trying to "subjugate" us. Heck, if any
of us don't like what IFNA is doing, then let's start our own
nodelist. Nothing says we HAVE to use the IFNA nodelist, does
it? You wanna different nodelist? Then somebody out there go
start one. Maybe that's not such a bad idea, either. Whoever
DOES start one, though, is going to find it a very difficult and
tiring job. I am all in favor of helping Ken and Ben to recover
some of their out of pocket expenses via contributions - they
deserve at least that. I propose that we ALL give the IFNA guys
the benefit of the doubt now, at least until the Bylaws come out
and we can all study them. If, at that time, we don't like what
we see, then we can tell IFNA to kiss off, and start our own net.
How about that? But before we do anything like that, lets try
Fidonews Page 9 15 Sep 1986
and work with Ken and Ben, and see what they REALLY have in mind.
After all, all we have so far is SPECULATION and RUMOR. Yes, the
Colorado Calamity is over and done with, so let's put it behind
us and move on. We may ALL be pleasantly surprised!!
Who is going to get rich off of IFNA? Ken and Ben? I don't
THINK so (I might be wrong, but I just don't see it). How about
Thom Henderson? No, he's already got a business to worry about
right now (one of the partners of System Enhancement Associates)
so I can't see Thom making out like a bandit on this. Well, how
about TJ? Poor ol' Tom Jennings. If anyone in the IFNA group
DESERVES to make money out of this thing, it's TJ. Wasn't it Tom
Jennings that GAVE us Fido to start with? Over the years, Tom
has nursed the code along and enhanced it (almost to death). He
has worked HARD to make Fido what it is today, and asked so
little in return. And probably has GOTTEN so little. If anyone
deserves to make money off of IFNA, it's TJ. I hope he'll get
SOMETHING. Alot has been said about Fido distribution rights
having been "sold" to IFNA, such that if any of us want to get
Fido, we'll have to "buy" it from IFNA. I don't have any in-
formation on this, so I can't state anything in that areas as a
"fact". But would it be such a terrible thing if IFNA -did-sell
it on Tom's behalf? Maybe for something like $25 to Fido Sysops
for a mojor release, with free updates? So that TJ would get
something out of all of this that we are trying to protect so
fiercely? As a professional programmer, TJ is entitled, in my
book, to reap some reward for all that he is done, and I'd be the
first in line to give him his due. Mind you, the cost that I
stated above is just MY idea, and NOT an IFNA policy. I do not
KNOW how IFNA will be distributing Fido software, if in fact they
really are or will be in the future.
Who "owns" the nodelist? Boy, have I heard THAT one tossed about
lately. As most of you know, IFNA has put a copyright notice on
the nodeist recently, which says that the nodelist is THEIRS.
From what facts I have, this was not done with the intent of
putting the screws to us. The reason this was done was because
some bozo in Austrailia was SELLING the nodelist! This was not
fair, since he did not compile the blasted thing, and therefore
had no right to sell it to anyone. But since it was not a
copyrighted work, there was no way to prevent him from
continuing. By placing the copyright notice on the nodelist,
IFNA did, if nothing else, make it clear that the work was not to
be sold by anyone without IFNA's explicit permission to do so.
In effect, the INTENTION here was not to rob us, but rather to
PROTECT us. Now, this protection can be a double edged sword
that "cuts" both ways. On the one hand, IFNA has effectively
stopped the pirating of OUR nodelist. But on the OTHER hand,
IFNA has said that the nodelist belongs to THEM - NOT US. Now, I
understand and appreciate the good intentions, and see them as
exactly that. But in doing this, I personally feel that IFNA
over extended themselves into OUR domain. When I put together my
NET 133 nodelist, which will eventually become a PART of the
national nodelist, it is ME doing the "work"; not St. Louis. I
am the person who is creating the list, verifying the phone num-
bers, and sedning the list on up the ladder so that it can be
Fidonews Page 10 15 Sep 1986
made available to the rest of you. Is it fair for Ken Kaplan and
Ben Baker to put THEIR copyright on my work? I don't think so,
to be honest. Again, I -understand- why they did it, but I think
in this instance it's a case of shooting off your big toe in
order to get rid of a corn! I have alot of very mixed feelings
on this issue, and would appreciate input from the rest of you
out there. Do I, as a Net Coordinator, have the right, even the
DUTY, to copyright MY part of the nodelist? IFNA certainly can
copyright the COLLECTION of parts, but each PART should be
separately copyrighted to protect the work all of the various
coordinators do to produce the nodelist as we know it. But then
this is MY opinion - you may certain differ with that.
There is one more perception that I'd like to address. That's
the belief that IFNA is doing things behind our backs, with no
regard for what WE think. Well, to a degree that HAS been true
in the past. I am not going to defend IFNA, neither for the sake
of just "defending them, nor for any past mistakes they have
made. But they do seem to be willing to change, and make their
inner workings more of a public forum. Recently, we have seen
the emergence of the IFNA EchoMail Conference. It is in this
conference that Ken and Ben are MOST accessible, and where they
reply to all serious non-flame messages. A cool, rational ex-
change of information. I applaud them for taking part in this,
and for making IFNA more accessible to the rest of us. I still
think that there is alot going on that we don't know about, but
at least this is a START. And we have to start SOMEPLACE. I
hope that as the true facts about IFNA come to be generally known
to all, we'll have even more avenues of discussion and
participation available to us.
Anyhow, these are just some of my views in the wake of the
Colorado Conference, and the Nooseletter. Most of the "shock"
has finally worn off now, and it seems that we're slowly but
surely beginning to come to terms with change. None of this is
anything that we expected, for sure. But it's here and now, and
we're going to have to deal with it. Some of the things that I
have heard are IFNA goals are indeed desirable; some are not.
And again, this is MY opinion, and may not necessarily be yours.
But since I am here to offer my opinion, let me summarize:
A - We let Ken and Ben get on with things, and go ahead and set
up IFNA as they have started to do.
B - We await the results of the Bylaws Rules Committee, and see
just what it is that IFNA is really supposed to be.
C - With the facts in hand as of 1/1/87, we decide whether or not
we want to be a part of IFNA. Many of us will elect to do
so; many of us will not. We can decide, based on something
called INFORMATION at that time.
D - We all remain calm, and not fly off the handle at others who
have differing opinions. Even I have been guilty as of late
of that.
Fidonews Page 11 15 Sep 1986
E - We continue to enjoy our HOBBY.
We all have to remember that IFNA is what WE make of it. If we
don't like it, we don't have to join it. We can vote the board
out of office come election time, or just set up our own network
and forget about IFNA. It is WE that have the power; not Ken and
Ben. If they have any power at all, it is that which we give to
them. We should ALWAYS be mindful of that. It is my belief that
until Ken and Ben disappoint us, we should stand behind them now,
and see where we can take this thing called IFNA. Who knows? We
might end up even liking it!
That's it for me this week, and I invite your reply!
Ken Shackelford
NET 133 Coordinator
Atlanta
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 12 15 Sep 1986
Jason Patterson, 155/201, Fido Australia
Hi. I would like to ask a favor of you for my city. Our city is
facing a problem at the moment and so is the region we're located
in. The problem is this. Australia is going to celebrate its
bicentenary in 1988. There will be a tall ships race from
Adalaide to Melbourne in that year but they won't be wieghing
anchor at Portland Victoria. You see Portland was the FIRST
permanent settlement in Victoria and these ships will be sailing
right by us, they will be only 3 miles off shore. Melbourne will
be stealing history from us.
What I'd like you to do for me and my city is to write or call
any relevent authorities who are participating in this race to
allow at least ONE tall ship to dock here.
I beleive the NAVY and the COAST GAURD are participating in this.
So if you can help please send a message to me on this board. If
somthing won't be done the citizens of Prtland might cecede from
the rest of Australia. It might happen but then again its just a
possibility.
If the ships do past this city it would be like the U.S
celebrating two hundred years without the statue of liberty.
From: Region 19 Coordinators
Subject: Attention all nodes in Region 19!
1) Region 19 EchoMail Conference
--------------------------------
We have a fairly large region here, with a lot of
boards. As coordinators for the region, Mark and I get to
hear a lot of complaints (and at least a few compliments!)
but that's about the extent of our communications with the
rest of the region. Many of you probably aren't aware of
what's going on in other areas of the region, either.
We'd like to propose a regional echo conference so that
we can start communicating with each other about topics of
mutual concern. The state of Fido is undergoing political
upheaval and re-organization. As coordinators, we have some
input into the process, and we'd like you to share with us
your comments and ideas.
But that's just part of it! Most of us are under the
dominion of South Western Bell, the phone company that HATES
modemmers. We in Oklahoma City haven't had any real problems
with them recently, but considering their attitudes towards
us, something is bound to break sometime. We need to band
together for our own protection.
Those are only two of the reasons for a regional echo;
I'll bet there are lots of you out there who can think of
many other issues concerning this region that should be
addressed.
Setting this thing up is going to be complicated. We
already have our hands full with moderating another echo,
and with the usual regional chores. I would like to hear
from some volunteers, preferably (but not necessarily)
sysops who already have some experience with EchoMail. We
will do everything we can to help you get it started.
2) A Regional Newsletter
------------------------
I've been wanting to start a regional newsletter for
awhile now, and we're starting to hear from others around
the region who are interested, too. If we can make a re-
gional echo fly, there may not be as much need for it, but
it's still a good idea. One of the problems with an echo is
that all the messages don't always reach all the boards, or
when they do, they aren't always in a coherent order. A
newsletter can summarize the most important topics and can
be more easily distributed.
It seems like the simplest way to spread it around
would be for us to attach it to the nodelist or the Fido
newsletter, which most of you poll us for already. Not all
of the hosts do, though; some get it from other sources.
Those would have to make alternate arrangements.
It is because of them that I'm making this announce-
ment in the national newsletter; I want to be sure that
everyone knows about it.
____________________________________________________________
David Drexler, co-coordinator of Region 19, 147/1
Data number: [405] 728-2463
Fidonews Page 14 15 Sep 1986
Voice numbers:
[405] 728-9836 - (Mark Grennan)
[405] 942-7852 - (me)
We can also be reached at:
{ihnp4,cbosgd}!occrsh!gorgo!ddrex
" " " " !mark
------------------------------------------------------------
Listed below are the nodes that are currently carrying the
IFNA conference. The list was taken from the SEEN-BY lines
of the last 25 messages in the area here. Sorry if I've
missed any one. I'll try to update it regularly.
For a connection, I would suggest contacting in the
following order:
anyone from whom you are currently receiving echomail
your host
your regional coordinator
someone from the list
me when all else fails.
This is an unusual request for making a connection, but if
being done in hopes that every sysop can get involved as
quickly as possible.
As convenient as it would be, remember no one can dictate
how to make the connections, we can only recommend.
I've been reading through the messages on the Echoes regarding
the Conference in Colorado and the possible futures for FidoNet
and the International Fido Net Association. I get the feeling
that to a lot of the people involved have a feeling of, "If I
don't get my way then I'll just get (RBBS, Collie, whatever, pick
one) and tell IFNA to take a flying leap! I certainly would un-
derstand their feelings a little more if there were any evidence
that there was anything that has actually happened that can't be
attributed simply to disorganization and ignorance. Before we get
in too big of a rush to break up FidoNet I'd like to express what
FidoNet and the enhancements we've seen in the last few months
mean to me and my users.
Chico is a small city of 35,000 for four months a year and then
the State University opens and the population jumps to something
like 52,000. That means that we are still too small to have ac-
cess to Sprint or MCI or any of the discount phone services. It
also means that we don't have TeleNet, so no PC Pursuit. For us
to keep up with the latest information on our hobby/fetish we
have been individually calling boards 100-2000 miles away to get
programs, read messages and so on. The straight Fido Software is
a very good board, for file transfers its probably the best-
that's around, (or it would be with YMODEM! hint, hint). The
person who ran the local Fido (#447) didn't keep up with the
NODELIST or FidoNews. When I uploaded FidoNews as a user he'd
promptly delete and tell me it was supposed to be just for SYS-
OPs.
Then a few months ago I became the SYSOP. Three of the first
things I did was to update the NODELIST, start posting FidoNews,
and place an advertisement in this electronic newsletter asking
who out there had access to files for Commodore, Apple, and Atari
computers and I got some good answers. It turned out that there
were some Fidos out there that had really impressive libraries
and SYSOPs who were willing to help. Local people who had never-
thought of sending messages to other Fidos saw the possibility
that by making arrangements to send disks back and forth through
the mail as well as using FidoNet's abilities and SERVER we could
remain current. FidoNet had POSSIBILITIES!
But the real change came when Randy Bush (122/6) forwarded a
message about starting a Commodore Echo group, did I want to
participate? I asked my users and the answer was yes. So I star-
ted in the Commodore Echo, and later with the help of Butch Wal-
ker (161/1) and Jim Ewald (161/8) I was also able to get into the
TECH and SYSOP Echoes. Suddenly the local aficionados sat up and
saw that Fido had arrived. Here was a local board that was giving
the user almost as good of service as the $8/hour people. Other
local users who had other interests looked it over and decided
Fidonews Page 17 15 Sep 1986
that they'd like to get into some of the other Echo groups that I
just couldn't support and they started up their own Fido just to
become involved in their specialties.
I may not have made the point through all of this but FidoNet is
the *ONLY* way any of this could have happened for us. We're
years away from access to PC Pursuit or any of the services that
those of you that live in metropolitan areas can use. Its a great
equalizer, a few dedicated people can make it work to give the
same service that you take for granted.
And although I've been talking about small towns in a geographic
sense you should also realize that FidoNet does serve and can do
even more to serve the people who live in other kinds of small
worlds, the small world of a body that has more limitations than
most of us, the small world of predjudice and fear. The computer
doesn't judge anyone on their ability to walk or hear, it doesn't
care about the color of someone's skin or their sexual prefer-
ence, you aren't going to catch any diseases from reading mes-
sages from someone who's sick. How many of you who went to the
Conference were surprised at how little the people you had "met"
through FidoNet didn't look anything like the mental image you
had of that person?
I do want to continue to be a part of FidoNet, I'd be happy to
contribute as much as I can. I just hope that the dreamers' vi-
sions aren't so grandiose that there's no room left for the hob-
byist and beginners among us. I do appreciate ALL the people who
have make this system work and all the writers who've created the
system and the fabulous extensions.
Eric Ewanco, 130/3, The AmERICan BBS, Fort Worth TX
I would like to add public encryption and DES encryption in
my MSGCRYPT program, but do not have the descriptions of the
algorithms needed. I will pay $10 for up to a total of four good
submissions of either the DES algorithm or a relatively secure
public key encryption algorithm. Documents must be clear and
understandable to one without a college math education, but has
a good understanding of math and algorithms. The descriptions
must be clear and complete, covering complete encryption given
an ASCII key and a stream of data to an encrypted stream of
data, and corresponding decryption algorithm; and, if necessary,
the construction of a key for public key encryption. Source
code, preferably C or Pascal, would be appreciated, but not
required. Submissions may be from published material, or may be
written by yourself. I don't care about copyrights. I will
respect yours if you write something and declare it copyrighted,
though.
Payment will be made to those submissions that allow me to
implement the described algorithm in its entirety. If I must use
two submissions to complete my understanding of either
algorithm, each will be paid; in other words, up to four people
will be paid, two submitting DES, two public key. If one person
submits both, and both are accepted, s/he will be paid double.
Any questions, refer to 130/3. Submit via file attach or send
to:
Eric Ewanco
7633 Beckwood Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76112-6051
=================================================================
FOR SALE
=================================================================
Now available from Micro Consulting Associates!!
Public Domain collection - 550+ "ARC" archives - 20+ megs of
software and other goodies, and that's "archived" size!
When unpacked, you get approximately 28 megabytes worth of
all kinds of software, from text editors to games to
unprotection schemes to communications programs, compilers,
interpreters, etc... Over 66 DS/DD diskettes!! This
collection is the result of more than 15 months of intensive
downloads from just about 150 or more BBS's and other
sources, all of which have been examined, indexed and
archived for your convenience. Starting a Bulletin Board
System? Want to add on to your software base without
spending thousands of dollars? This is the answer!!!
To order the library, send $100 (personal or company check,
postal money order or company purchase order) to:
Micro Consulting Associates, Fido 166/1
Post Office Box 4296
200-1/2 E. Balboa Boulevard
Balboa, Ca. 92661-4296
Please allow 3 weeks for delivery of your order.
Note: No profit is made from the sale of the Public Domain
software in this collection. The price is applied entirely
to the cost of downloading the software over the phone
lines, running a BBS to receive file submissions, and
inspecting, cataloguing, archiving and maintaining the
files. Obtaining this software yourself through the use of a
computer with a modem using commercial phone access would
cost you much more than what we charge for the service...
The following format choices are available:
- IBM PC-DOS Backup utility
- Zenith MS-DOS 2.11 Backup Utility
- DSBackup
- Fastback
- ACS INTRCPT 720k format (Requires a 1.2m floppy
drive and PC-DOS 3.2)
- Plain ol' files (add $50)
Add $30 if you want the library on 1.2 meg AT disks (more
expensive disks). There are no shipping or handling
charges. California residents add 6% tax.
For each sale, $10 will go to the FidoNet Administrators.
