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
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1/1.
Copyright (C) 1986, by the International FidoNet Association.
All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
please contact IFNA.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL
Alternate Networks
2. ARTICLES
The Australian FidoNet Association
An Alternate Proposal for IFNA Bylaws
Automatically Compile the Nodelist
Doug's Column
3. COLUMNS
Notes from the distributor
Nautical View Part 4: A Review of GEOS
The World of Computing: Ram-Resident programs
4. FOR SALE
The Structured Programming Language for PC/MS DOS Dennis Baer
5. NOTICES
The Interrupt Stack
Net/Node # for WORD.DBF Project
Did you know that we are not alone? FidoNet isn't the only
amateur mail network in the world anymore. There's a group
called RamNet that's using a whole different approach to this
sort of thing. But we needn't go far afield to find other
amateur mail networks.
There's CollieNet, of course. That's the net the Collie crowd
has set up. Last I'd heard, they were trying to make their
software compatible with FidoNet so that they could exchange mail
on FidoNet. Great! The more the merrier. Tom Jennings himself
has stated publicly several times over the last couple of years
that he wants other vendors to get out there. That's a large
part of why he helped the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee
so much. Wynn Wagner grabbed the technical specs and ran with
them, and now has his Opus program in gamma test and very near
general release. TBBS and RBBS are also joining our ranks as
fully FidoNet compatible systems.
But all of that, as good as it is to hear, is still beside the
point. Opus, TBBS, and RBBS are becoming compatible with
FidoNet, and many sysops are eagerly awaiting the new software so
that they can participate in FidoNet itself. But there's also
another group forming a FidoNet compatible network competing with
FidoNet. They call it "TechNet", which may be a better term in
general than "FidoNet" is. After all, we aren't just Fidos
anymore.
This, too, is a healthy development. Nothing grows well that
grows in a vacuum. Healthy competition is good for all
concerned. And there is always the chance that if FidoNet takes
a wrong turn somewhere, TechNet will turn out to have done it
right.
For the real concerns here are ones of organization and control.
FidoNet has grown quite large, and quite a bureaucracy has grown
up to control it. Maybe we've done it wrong. How can we know?
We'll know for sure later, if it all falls apart. But that's a
bit too late. It's good to know that there's an alternative
waiting in the wings.
The Australian FidoNet Association
----------------------------------
The flow of information about IFNA to Australia has been poor.
We have been unable to plug into the IFNA conference despite
offers to pickup the conference from US boards and have had to
live what information we could gleam from occasional captures
of the conference from whenever I could log onto Ken Kaplan's
Fido.
The arrival of Fido News 344 which was totally devoted to IFNA
matters was awaited with great interest. We had become a little
alarmed at what we had seen in our snippets from the IFNA
conference and the contents of Fido News 344 only served to
increase that alarm. It seemed quite clear to a number of
sysops in Net 155 that the "I" in IFNA was a misnomer and the
only way to effectively represent the interests of Australian
Fido sysops and users would be to form an Australian FidoNet
Association.
From a purely local point of view we needed to associate to
be able to successfully lobby various arms of the Australian
Government who have recently taken an interest in Bulletin Board
systems. There is also a need to liaise with our local PTT,
Telecom Australia, on various technical aspect of Fido net
operation. So the AFNA will serve both a domestic purpose and
an international purpose for Australian Fido sysops and users
Fido is now spreading quickly Australia, from a small start in
Melbourne during 1985, with 19 active public systems on Nodelist
325 (plus one in Papua New Guinea). There are approximately 20
new Fido systems due to join the network in Australia in the
next few months. The geographical spread is also increasing
with a new network in Western Australia about to come on line.
Papua New Guinea is also adding new systems and should soon have
its own net and FidoNet Association.
It is AFNAs aim to work closely and co-operatively with other
FidoNet Associations to encourage the formation of an
International FidoNet Association made up of independent
national associations. AFNA will also maintain and enhance
FidoNet network standards in this part of the world.
A motion to form the Australian Fido-Net Association was passed
unanimously at the Network 155 sysop's meeting on November 23,
1986. A motion to adopt the following interim constitution was
passed unanimously at the same meeting.
The following sysops were elected unopposed to form the First
Fidonews Page 4 8 Dec 1986
Committee of the Australian Fido-Net Association.
John Blackett-Smith 155/301 [601/301]
Trev Roydhouse 155/213 [600/303]
Mike Hurst-Meyers 155/218 [600/402]
Brian Gatenby 155/201 [600/101]
Bill Bolton 155/219 [600/106]
Special thanks to Trev Roydhouse and Mike Hurst-Meyers for their
efforts in drafting this interim constitution.
THE INTERIM CONSTITUTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN FIDONET ASSOCIATION
1. Name: The Association shall be known as the Australian
FidoNet Association.
2. Purpose: The Association shall represent the interests of
the members.
3. Members: The Sysop Members of the Association shall be
those Fido Sysops resident in Australia who are
operational in the Australian FidoNet network
and have registered with the Association.
Associate members of the Association are those
persons who intend to be Fido Sysops, but are
not operational within the FidoNet network. On
becoming operational, they shall be
automatically be registered as Sysop Members.
4. Voting: Only Sysop Members have the right to vote on
matters within the Association. Associate
members may attend meetings but do not have a
right to vote.
5. Fees: All classes of membership of the Association
shall pay a joining fee of One Dollar. The
joining fee to be collected by the First
Committee when and if it deems it necessary.
The First Committee to be empowered to deal with
any joining fees in whatever manner it sees fit.
6. Liability: The liability of a member of the Association to
contribute towards the payment of the debts and
liabilities of the Association is limited to the
amount, if any, unpaid by the member in accordance
with Rule 5.
7. Prime Meeting:
There shall be a Prime meeting to be held not later
than 31 January 1987 to determine the Constitution
for the Association. All members must receive 21 days
notice by mail detailing the time, place, agenda and
draft Constitution. Members shall be deemed to have
received such notice by the posting for transmission
Fidonews Page 5 8 Dec 1986
by Australia Post of a notice in writing addressed to
the members last notified postal address. Such
posting to occur not less than 21 days before the
meeting date.
8. Committee: The business of the Association shall be
conducted by the First Committee until the
conclusion of Elections at the Prime Meeting.
The First Committee shall comprise of five
members. In the event of a committee member
retiring, that member shall nominate a
replacement. If the replacement is not nominated
within a reasonable time, the First Committee
shall determine how the vacancy is to be filled.
9. Elections: An election of office bearers of the Association
shall be held at the Prime meeting in accordance
with the terms of the draft Constitution when
that Constitution has been adopted by a three
quarters majority of Sysop Members voting in
person or by proxy.
10. Quorums: Any three members of the First Committee shall
constitute a quorum of that Committee. The
members of the First Committee shall elect a
chairman from among their number.
11. Definitions:
"Operational" To have installed a Fido
Bulletin Board Service in
accordance with the FidoNet
document POLICY3.DOC, and have
requested and been assigned a
Node number in accordance with
that document.
12. Election of the First Committee:
The members of the First Committee shall be
elected from amongst the Sysop Members of the
Association who are included on the FidoNet
Nodelist for day 325 of 1986 and are present in
person. That election shall take place on the
adoption of this Constitution by a simple
majority of those Sysop Members present in
person.
13. Proxy Vote:
A proxy vote shall be in writing and signed by
the person concerned, with or without voting
directions, and shall be tendered at the
commencement of a meeting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 6 8 Dec 1986
NOTE: These proposed bylaws are NOT a joke! They are presented
in all seriousness as an alternative to the previously proposed
IFNA bylaws.
PROPOSED BYLAWS
for the
INTERGALACTIC FIDONET ALLIANCE
This document contains the proposed bylaws of an organization to
be known as the Intergalactic FidoNet Alliance, herein referred
to as IFNA.
1. IFNA shall exist solely to serve the Knights of IFNA, and
such others as the Knights shall desire served.
2. The following orders of Knights are established:
A. The Order of the Golden Dawn. To be eligible, an
applicant must be the system operator in good standing of
a PUBLIC ACCESS node, and must have paid any tithes
required. A Knight of the Order of the Golden Dawn is
entitled to one vote.
B. The Order of Mercantile Grammarie. Any entity which
profits by the existence or operation of the Intergalactic
FidoNet Alliance shall be eligible to join the Order of
Mercantile Grammarie by paying the required tithes. If
said entity would otherwise be eligible for the Order of
the Golden Dawn, then it shall be entitled to one vote.
C. The Order of the Rose and Cross. The Peers of the Realm
may award membership in the Order of the Rose and Cross to
any being which they feel worthy. Knights of the Order of
the Rose and Cross are exempt from paying tithes, but are
not permitted to vote.
D. The Order of the Garter. Any being wishing to be a
Knight, but not qualifying for any other order, may join
the ranks of the Order of the Garter by submitting an
appropriate contribution to the Keeper of the Exchequer.
A Knight of the Order of the Garter is not entitled to
vote.
3. Applications for knighthood shall be submitted to the Mundane
Interface. In the case of any applicant whose character,
reputation or conduct are such that knighting them may be
questionable, the Mundane Interface shall refer the
application to the Peers of the Realm. In all other cases,
the Mundane Interface shall have the power to knight the
applicant.
4. Tithes shall be set by the Peers of the Realm, and be payable
in advance. For members outside the United States territorial
zone of the planet Earth, the Peers of the Realm shall assess
Fidonews Page 7 8 Dec 1986
such additional costs as may be required.
5. The Mundane Interface shall notify all Knights of any tithes
required to keep their peerage not less than thirty days
prior to the date the tithes are required. Any Knight who
submits his tithe within thirty days of the deadline shall
not be regarded as having lapsed.
6. No entity shall be a Peer of the Realm or hold any other
position within the Intergalactic FidoNet Alliance unless
they qualify under all applicable statutes.
7. The Peers of the Realm shall be five in number, and shall be
elected annually by the Knights. Each Knight may cast one
vote, consisting of five choices for Peers of the Realm.
8. The Peers of the Realm shall be elected by ballot cast at a
time selected by the previous Peers of the Realm, save that
they may not wait longer than eighteen months between
ballots.
9. The Mundane Interface shall notify the Knights of an
impending ballot not less than three months before the ballot
is scheduled to take place. The Mundane Interface shall also
take nominations for Peers of the Realm up to one month
before the ballot. Any Knight may be nominated for Peer of
the Realm by submitting a petition endorsed by ten other
Knights.
10. The Mundane Interface shall close nominations and post the
list of candidates one month before the scheduled ballot. If
less than six Knights are nominated for Peer of the Realm,
then the Mundane Interface shall consider them elected
without a formal ballot.
11. The Mundane Interface shall arrange for the counting of all
votes received, and shall post the result. Votes received by
the Mundane Interface after the close of balloting shall not
be counted.
12. At the first meeting of the Peers of the Realm each year they
shall elect one of their number to be the Royal Figurehead,
who will preside over all meetings of the Peers of the Realm.
They shall also appoint the following officers:
A. The Lord Chancellor
B. The Chief Executioner
C. The Grand Wizard
D. The Mundane Interface
E. The Keeper of the Excequer
13. The Peers of the Realm shall meet when and as they please,
and shall conduct their business as they see fit.
14. A majority of the Peers of the Realm or of any Squad shall
constitute a quorum at any meeting.
Fidonews Page 8 8 Dec 1986
15. Questions of order and procedure not otherwise determined by
these By-Laws or by the parties involved shall be settled by
private duel, or by Trial by Combat.
16. The Lord Chancellor shall, subject to instruction from the
Peers of the Realm and with the assistance of the Chief
Executioner, represent IFNA in its relationships with the
public and the various governments, governmental agencies and
officials with which IFNA may be concerned and shall be the
official spokesperson of IFNA in regard to all matters of
IFNA policy.
17. In the absence or disability of the Lord Chancellor, the
Chief Executioner shall assume the duties of the Lord
Chancellor.
18. The Mundane Interface shall:
A. Record the proceedings of all meetings of the Peers of the
Realm and of the Royal Kibitzers, and publish such minutes
in FidoNews.
B. Be responsible for the maintenance of the corporate status
of IFNA and the filing of all reports and certificates
which may be required of IFNA under the corporation laws
of the State of Missouri.
C. Maintain the corporate membership and voting records of
IFNA.
D. Perform other duties as described in applicable By-Laws,
of which there are plenty to keep any mortal occupied.
E. To the extent that may from time to time be required by
law, it shall act as agent for the service of process, but
only while present in the State of Missouri. It is not
authorized to accept service of process elsewhere.
19. The Keeper of the Exchequer shall:
A. Be the recipient of all monies of IFNA and shall deposit
the same in the name of IFNA in a depository of his own
choosing.
B. Sign checks drawn by the Lord Chancellor in payment of
obligations known by him to be proper and authorized.
C. Submit a report to the annual meeting of the Peers of the
Realm.
D. Post an annual finance report in FidoNews.
20. The Grand Wizard shall:
A. Be responsible for maintenance of the master NODELIST, and
the distribution of the weekly update file thereof.
B. Ensure the smooth operation of the IFNA NETWORK as
prescribed by the Peers of the Realm.
C. Serve as a member of the Designing Loft.
21. Perpetual Squads
A. The following perpetual squads are established:
1. Royal Kibitzers
2. Designing Loft
3. Rumor Mongers
Fidonews Page 9 8 Dec 1986
4. Graft and Vice
B. Appointments of all perpetual squads shall be made by the
Peers of the Realm, and may be rescinded by the Peers at
any time. The Royal Figurehead shall designate the Squad
Leader of each perpetual squad. Squads may originate
studies in their fields and may generate recommendations
to the Peers of the Realm on their own initiative.
C. The Graft and Vice Squad performs studies and makes
recommendations to the Peers of the Realm, and acts as
advisor to the Lord Chancellor, with regard to services
provided to individual Knights, other than publications
and including, but not limited to the ANNUAL MEETING.
D. The Rumor Mongers perform studies and make recommendations
to the Peers of the Realm, and act as advisors to the Lord
Chancellor, with regard to IFNA's publications, including
FidoNews.
E. The Designing Loft shall be responsible for:
1. Providing a rigorous definition of FidoNet and all
FidoNet protocols sufficient to implement a compatible
electronic mail system.
2. Producing and enhancing standards for:
a) Data Transmitted
b) Connection
c) Protocols
d) Nodelist
e) Routing
F. The Royal Kibitzers shall be responsible for:
1. Monitoring progress of the Peers actions and
recommendations in order to see that they are
expeditiously accomplished.
2. Monitoring expenditures for legal assistance.
3. Providing assistance to the staff and general counsel
in connection with recommendations by the Peers of the
Realm for petitions to the Federal Communications
Commission and other governmental agencies.
4. Evaluating for the Peers of the Realm proposed rules
and regulatory changes.
22. The Peers of the Realm, and other officers of IFNA, may
appoint additional squads to perform additional tasks on
their own initiative as the work demands and as willing
Knights are located.
23. There shall be an official publication maintained by IFNA, in
the form of a weekly journal, the name of which shall be
FidoNews. A copy of this journal shall be available each week
to every Knight in good standing. The general management of
this journal shall be in the hands of the Lord Chancellor.
The policy of the journal shall be determined by the Peers of
the Realm.
Fidonews Page 10 8 Dec 1986
24. These bylaws may be amended by a majority of the Knights who
are empowered to weild a vote.
25. Without changing their import, the Mundane Interface may from
time to time, on notice to the Peers of the Realm, renumber
these By-Laws so as to serve the purpose of ready reference.
References in these By-Laws to Articles shall be corrected,
when necessary, by the Mundane Interface to conform to the
renumbered Articles.
Roger Smith, Jr.
RSBBS - Fido 18/14
904-682-3232
300/1200/2400, 24 hours
Automatically Compiling the Fido Nodelist
I've got my Fido trained to do many things without my intervention
(he even fetches the paper). But I had a problem getting Fido to
compile the Nodelist then exit back to my batch file after receiving
the Nodediff file each week.
After trying many complex methods (even patching Fido) that all
failed to work the way I wished, I discovered that the solution is
incredibly simple. I just created a text file (CONTROLC.TXT)
containing a control-C (^C), then I executed Fido with the following
command:
FIDO_IBM <CONTROLC.TXT
Fido compiles the Nodelist, then exits to DOS.
You can create CONTROLC.TXT using the following Basic program:
10 OPEN "O",1,"CONTROLC.TXT"
20 PRINT #1, STRING$(10,3)
30 CLOSE
40 END
This program creates a text file containing 10 control-C's in the
current directory.
Make sure CONTROLC.TXT is in the current directory when you execute
Fido_IBM and Fido will compile the Nodelist if necessary then will
exit back to DOS or a batch file.
WHY I LIKE ATARI: Sig Hartmann called me up on Sunday and
wanted to know how Computerfest went. Since I'm an u-grad,
and have no spending power at all, why should Sig care about
a small user group like mine? He's of the opinion that U. of
MD is important and he would like my advice. Plus any contacts
I can give him in high-tech land.
The 520ST is the first under-$500 machine which has enough
ports & firepower to be worth the hassle to buy. The 1040 gives
you a meg of RAM for under $1,000 (street price with mono
monitor right now is $800). And the ST family is being backed
by some good public domain software; Atari has put a decent
word processor into the public domain.
WHY I AM MAD AT ATARI: Built-in VT-52 emulation in the ST
family. Like putting a Volkswagon Beetle in a Ferrari parking
lot. VT-100 would be the min, and VT-220 desirable. Someone
wasn't thinking very clearl.
Neil Harris may be more arrogant than the Apple sales
reps at U. of MD. We wanted to get a
single speaker at Computerfest. Uno. After making at least
3 phone calls on separate occasions, he FINALLY calls me back
with the big brush-off.
"You need to have at least 25-30 Atari-related vendors
there, 12,000 square feet of exhibit space, 3,000-5,000
guaranteed attendence and then we'll send a squad of 7
people with lots of hardware to demo, and products to blab
about". Uh huh. "We can't support small events all the time,
because if we did we'd lose money and never get anything done."
I've gotta have a f#$#ing Comdex/Maryland before Atari
will send ANYONE out. But wait, there's more....
"Now, I'll have our user group representative, Cathy
Austin, call you up and she'll make arrangements to send
out lots of trinkets". She never did. Even after I called back.
Thanks Neil.
APPLE ISN'T MUCH BETTER: PCA has been at Uni. of MD for
nearly 3 years. We've have Mac & Apple // SIGs for over a year.
So just what motivates the local Apple sales reps to try and
create their own user groups at College Park? Despite the fact
they know we exist (they demo'ed products at a meeting!), they
decided we weren't good enough and started making noise about
starting their own user group. Now they're just ignoring us.
GOOD PD SOFTWARE: AS-EASY-AS is a shareware clone which
looks/acts like the Lotus 1A spreadsheet (ONLY the spreadsheet,
however; you don't get DATA functions). The distribution copy
Fidonews Page 13 8 Dec 1986
I have has lots of advanced features (printing graphics, @ATAN2
function, Macros, use of Scroll key) which don't work as per
1-2-3, but I suspect if I send in $30 and register my product,
all those "bugs" will disappear.
Cavat: I haven't done a lot of heavy work with it yet, and
will share my experience as it grows. However, I am
*very* excited because this seems like the first truly useful
PD/shareware spreadsheet program; it dances rings around
PC-Calc. Interested? Write to: TRIUS, Inc., 15 Atkinson Str.,
Lynn, Mass. 01905.
NICE SOFTWARE: Was at a "junk fair" at the old Sheridon
a week ago, when a company from Harrisburg, PA caught my eye
(I wuz born in Harrisburg, mind you). Genesis Data Systems
was showing off this screen design program called "Screen
Master", creating objects, moving objects around, animating
them, and capturing screens from other programs. "Big woopie",
I muttered to myself, "I can do dat with the Mac or with
Dan Bricklin's Demo Program".
But then the salesman/demoer said "And you can call these
routines from a Quick BASIC compiler or Turbo Pascal
program". THAT got my attention. You can call up screens, save
them, move them or parts of 'em without writing lines and lines
of code. Nifty. Call 'em at (717) 652-1200 for literature.
A REASONABLE LAPTOP?: Datavue Corp. to ship a $995 PC
compatible lap-top in January. Nine pounds, 1 3 1/2" floppy,
384K RAM, and a "highly readable" (according to PC Week)
super-twist LCD. To expand to 640K of RAM, insert $99 memory
card. Standard serial, parallel, 8 hour battery pack, and
external video. Runs at either 4.77 or 9.54Hz clock.
I confess. I hope Datavue sends me one in the mail to
review. You can also get it without an LCD screen for $750.
Maybe if I get enough cash, I'll buy one; it does sound
a LOT more desirable the IBM PC Convertable.
DISCLAIMER: I make no official blessing or endorsement of
the aforementioned products, nor am I an employee, stockholder,
friend, or second cousin to the president of
any of the mentioned companies. Simply giving my opinions
and gut instincts.
IBM vs AT&T: Round 1 winner: IBM. Better marketing and
friendly salespeople. Plus the advantage of being a trend-
setter. Comparative Advantage: AT&T. They make some great
hardware; the TARGA video boards, for one thing.
PROMISES, PROMISES: Both Apple and IBM are going to
release hot hardware over the next 12 months, Apple with
the Open Mac, Mac-Workstation and interactive video and
IBM to show a "clone killer", faster/cheaper AT machine, and
a '386 machine which will have hi-res (1024 x 980) graphics,
hellfire speed, and plug-in connectivity to mainframes.
Fidonews Page 14 8 Dec 1986
I better make sure my subscription to BYTE is paid up.
DOPY IDEA IF I HAVEN'T SAID IT ALREADY: '386 accelerator
boards. $2,000 for a board which may or may not increase
your calculation speed. And is stuck with an I/O bottleneck
by going through the AT 16-bit slots. Save your money and
get a '386 AT clone instead.
OK, YOUR TURN: If you want to reach me, send me
FidoMail to Doug Mohney at 109/74. Or call me at
(301) 350-1437. Good gossip or demo copies of anything
welcome. Money not refused (although if I get real
successful, I may have to give a cut to my SYSOP at
109/74).
Jerry Hindle
123/6 123/0
MemphisNet
2400 baud MAX
901-353-4563
I would like to request that anyone sending messages to me
requesting that I send them particular files via fidomail, read the
following.
To the requestors:
I would very much like to be able to personally respond to each
and every one of the file requests that I receive daily, however due
in part to my sever lack of free funds to give to MA BELL, I must in
all fairness request that you arrange to either POLL my system (upon
receipt of a confirming file from myself to you) for any files you
may want. You may also call anytime of the day or night (except
during netmail time) and simply download whatever you may find. I do
not at the present time have SEAdog (although if someone were to
donate it to me for the system I would graciously ACCEPT !) and thus
am not able to respond to file requests via SEAdog.
Also in order for me to be able to properly respond to your
requests I would appreciate it if you would address any REQUESTS to
the "DISTRIBUTOR". This will cause my system to scan the message and
construct a return message to you telling you how to POLL me for the
files you requested. If you are sending a file to me for distribution
or inclusion in the distribution area please address the message to
the "FILE HANDLER". This will in turn trigger the process whereby
your submission will be added to the list automatically by the
system. By your co-operation I hope to be able to make the response
time drop from 2 or 3 days to SAME DAY response !!!!! Yes you will
receive a response the same day you send the message! Amazing but
true. Thus if you are requesting a file the actual time from sending
the request to being able to poll for the file will be 24 hours.
At the present time I have over 140 files in the distribution
area covering all facets of Fido operations. These files have taken
a great deal of time and money to amass and sort into some sort of
order. I would like to thank everyone who has sent me files for the
distribution area. I would also like to thank all of those who have
called requesting files. I would appreciate it if you would help me
to keep the cost of running this system for you somewhere below the
NATIONAL DEBT. I think that by following this simple outline of
operation, everyone should be a lot happier.
Please remember to send all file requests to the "DISTRIBUTOR"
and all files you send to me please address to the "FILE HANDLER". I
also have a file in area #1 of the "station" called ALLFILES.*(ARC or
TXT). This is a complete list of every file on my system showing d/l
Fidonews Page 16 8 Dec 1986
times and descriptions. This file in ARC format alone is over 34k and
un-arced is over 64k should you decide to d/l it, it will greatly
help you to decide which files you should get.
If you request that I send you the files on disk then please
send me AT LEAST a box of disks to copy the files onto (in FASTBACK
format alone it takes 10 disks) along with a self-addressed STAMPED
carton to mail them back in (BE SURE TO HAVE ENOUGH POSTAGE ON THE
CARTON). I will copy the distribution area in it entirety over to
your disks and send them RIGHT BACK. At present I am able to copy
files over in the following formats ONLY:
a) FASTBACK 360k DSDD
b) DOS BACKUP utility again 360k DSDD
c) PLAIN FILES in ARC format (requires at least 15 disks at
present.
There is NO CHARGE for copying the files. Send disks and etc to:
Jerry Hindle
P.O.Box 16223
Memphis, TN 38186-0223
Jerry Hindle
123/6 123/0
MemphisNet
2400 baud MAX
901-353-4563
+-------------------+
! The Nautical View !
+-------------------+
Part 4: Review of GEOS (By Berkeley Softworks)
Welcome back to "The Nautical View", boys and girls! Well!
I've been getting quite the favorable response, at least here in
Calgary, to my articles in this FINE PUBLICATION (it never hurts
to get in good with the publishers). Despite a complete lack of
writing style induced by ingesting large quantities of
uncontrolled substances (namely 7-11 Super Big Gulps), I managed
to attract some attention. Unfortunately, I still haven't
attracted ANY response to my request for questions, suggestions,
etc. Does this mean you folks all know everything and therefore
this column isn't needed? Nah.... hell, I don't profess to know
everything, but I take care to surround myself with those that
do. Anyways, on to the topic at hand: GEOS!
What is GEOS? Surely you've heard of GEOS by now! GEOS is
the "Graphic Environment Operating System", currently being
bundled with the new 64C computer (redesigned keyboard, same old
64). GEOS gives your worn out 64 new life by giving it something
machines like the MAC, Amiga, and Atari ST have had all their
lives: a graphics-oriented OS. The OS is booted from disk, but
"switches out" the resident OS and uses the memory space for
itself. It's all here folks: pop up windows, on-screen mouse,
etc. It is of course different in many ways to the operating
systems of the MAC and Amiga, but the similarities are striking.
To boot a program under GEOS, simply move the on-screen arrow
onto the "icon" of the file in question. Press the button twice,
and up she boots! Talk about easy! Other operations, such as
copying files (or whole disks), selecting printers and input
devices (currently only joystick is supported: a mouse driver
will be supplied later), setting the time, or setting other
system preferences are similarly easy. In fact, the hardest part
about running GEOS is typing the LOAD"*",8,1 to boot the system
up. Not too shabby...
What we have so far is an 8-bit computer with 1MHz chip
running a sophisticated graphics-oriented system. Wow. But
wait: that's not all. Did I mention that all (ALL, ALL, repeat
ALL) disk operations are intensely speeded up? No, guess I
didn't. Your 1541 need no longer be the "lumbering hippo" it
once was, and now you don't even need an Epyx Fastload Cartridge
to do it! Incidentally, the FastLoad cartridge IS compatible
with GEOS. Anyways, you also have the following:
- Preference Manager
- Built-in System Clock (uses TOD clock)
- Photo Manager
Fidonews Page 18 8 Dec 1986
- Text Manager
- Many other DOS thingies
- And -
- geoWrite
- geoPaint
Yes, Virginia, this system even has it's own software.
geoWrite is a "WYSIWYG" word processor, meaning "what you see is
what you get". Text is formatted on-screen, in your choice of
fonts and fontstyles. Graphic "scraps" from geoPaint can also be
inserted into your text for the professional touch.
geoPaint is yet another graphics program for the 64, but with
a MAJOR difference: it allows you to compose your picture on a
pixel-by-pixel basis using an entire sheet of paper as your
canvas. Consequently, you can only see a small chunk of it at a
time, but this is seldom a problem, especially if you make
liberal use of the "preview" option, which gives you a rough idea
of what the printed page will look like.
So far I've been quite liberal in my praise for GEOS. It IS a
nice program, and a boon to 64 users everywhere. However, like
most things, there are some drawbacks, some quite serious.
First, and most serious, is a complete lack of GEOS-compatible
software. Berkeley Softworks has added one feature that helps:
GEOS will boot any program that loads into the BASIC workspace
(and starts with the RUN command), be it BASIC or machine
language. However, this reduces GEOS to a quite sophisticated
boot program, and that is NOT what it was meant to be. If
Berkeley or any other third parties start making programs that
run under the GEOS environment, then GEOS will be a good
investment. At $80 Canadian, that's a hefty price for a graphics
program and a word processor...
Secondly, while geoWrite and geoPaint are QUITE user friendly,
they have drawbacks. geoWrite can be quite slow and cumbersome.
You cannot see the whole page width at one time, and when it
redraws the screen (once you hit the edge), it can lose
keystrokes while you type blindly on. This problem becomes quite
severe when using the "OUTLINE" fontstyle and/or any of the
larger fonts. It is not a word processor for the serious user:
there are no features for moving text, spell-checking, or any of
the myriad other features that word processor users have come to
expect in a good package. If you want to re-arrange a paragraph,
you delete it and re-type it. Fun, huh? As for geoPaint, it's
nice, but it REFUSES to support the multi-color hi-res mode on
the 64. True, the resolution is not as great, but YOU try mixing
lots of colors in hi-res mode! It just doesn't work out too
well, and your geoPaint picture starts looking like gibbled bits.
Additionally, it isn't "intuitive" enough (God, I HATE that word,
but it fits): while most GEOS functions can be figured out easily
and painlessly without leafing through a 500-page manual (no,
that is NOT the real size of it), some of the geoPaint functions
Fidonews Page 19 8 Dec 1986
must be studied via the manual before you'll have any hope of
making use of them.
GEOS was a long time coming. It isn't perfect, but it's a
step in the right direction. From most accounts, Berkeley seems
to be listening to the 'geoUsers' in making changes to the
program where necessary, and this is to be commended. However, a
lot of improvement needs to be made. The designers at Berkeley
have a goal, which is almost realized. If they hope to realize
it to its fullest, then a lot of work must still be done.
I'm interested in answering any of your questions about either
the C-64 or C-128. If you are having a problem, please address
your mail to Joe Lindstrom via TC-Link Fido (Calgary, Net 134
Node 7), and I'll address it in an upcoming article.
Hello, and welcome to yet another edition of The World of
Computing! There have been many new product announcements
since the last time this column appeared, as well as some
new books and other items of interest which I'd like to
share with you. Of course, there won't be time for me to do
it all this week, but I hope that with luck, I'll be able to
do this column on a semi-regular basis, and give you a
different perspective on the computer industry. So without
further ado, let's go to the news.
One of the biggest announcements in a long time was
Ashton-Tate's decision to remove copy-protection from its
products, including Framework II and dBase III.
Unfortunately, the trade-off is a steep price for service,
paid on a yearly basis. However, there are some user groups
and corporations working on this issue. At this point, that
leaves Lotus (makers of 1-2-3, Symphony, and several other
best-sellers) as the only company selling its products with
copy-protection.
Speaking of Lotus, by the time you read this, there
should be yet another word processor on the market.
Manuscript, a technical word processor, was previewed in
this month's BYTE magazine, and promises to be yet another
best-selling product from the people at Lotus. Due out soon
from the giant is HAL, a natural-language interface which
should increase 1-2-3's popularity amongst non-programmers
and business users.
InfoWorld reported something recently (about two or three
weeks ago as I write this, probably four to six as you read
it) about how CompuServe wrote a letter to a Sysop demanding
that he not offer programs for downloading which he himself
downloaded off of CompuServe. As any of you know, the way
that Bulletin Boards work is that people are constantly
uploading files to one that they downloaded off of another.
What happens when someone tries to break that chain, as
CompuServe did?
They found out. The Sysop is absolutely correct to
protest the complaint, and that's not only from a legal
standpoint, but from a moral one at that. If I write a
program and put it into the public domain (or even copyright
it as "Shareware", and distribute it through bulletin
boards), no one has the right to say that it's wrong to
download it. (If you agree with me, read an article by Mark
Whelch on Shareware in FidoNews several weeks ago -- he says
it much more eloquently, and goes into detail about it.)
As far as I know, there is only one (count 'em, one) BBS
that restricts the use of their programs for downloading.
The PC-IRS Board, run by PC Magazine, has warnings (just
like in the magazine itself) that tell you not to upload it
Fidonews Page 21 8 Dec 1986
to a BBS as you would another program. Although I disagree,
I respect their position, and was horrified to see their
programs (in the identical file name, size, date, etc.) on a
local BBS.
To make a long "news bulletin" short (as if this really
will), we must respect the authors of programs in how they
want their programs distributed. However, companies such as
CompuServe have no right to say how you can use other
people's work.
Memory-Resident Programs
------------------------
Although I am by far no expert on assembly language
(although I just bought several books on it today, and
should be experimenting in a few weeks), I do know about the
famed "TSR" call in MS-DOS. For those of you who don't
know, this allows programs to terminate, but not become
erased from the computers memory. That is to say, they're
available at the touch of a key (and thus "un-terminate", at
least for a while).
TSR's (Terminate and Stay Resident; a new way to describe
memory-resident programs) have only been out in full force
for two or three years. For a while, it was only companies
such as Borland who knew how to implement this machine call,
now there are literally hundreds of these programs either in
the public domain or on the market.
The newest things are "super-TSR's." These TSR's help
manage smaller TSR's, so you can drop them from memory, and
regain precious kilobytes that you may have lost. Such
programs are supposed to fill a need for programs that
already fill a need.
Where will it stop?
Ah, that's the question that no one really wants to face.
You see, TSR's are only a frail substitute for that
wonderful thing called "multitasking" that we don't want
Microsoft to implement for fear that our IBM's won't be
compatible with themselves. The so-called "protected mode"
on the 80286 and 80386 are wonderful things unto themselves,
but won't do anything until we accept the fact that we can't
remain an IBM-compatible community forever.
Once we become truly multitasking (and the technology's
not hard to implement; we've seen that already -- it's just
that it would make our existing programs so obsolete that we
would have to buy new ones, and no one wants that), like
some other operating systems, we won't have this need for
TSR's. Instead of typing Control-Alt to get our SideKick
notepad, we'll just type Alt-1 for our super-duper 100-digit
calculator (with memory, of course), and Alt-2 for the most
incredible address book you'd ever want, and...well, you get
the picture.
In fact, given the right operating system and software,
the change from one partition to the other would be faster
than switching over to a TSR is nowadays -- without loss of
your screen or anything else.
Fidonews Page 22 8 Dec 1986
However,I do have to admit it: I'm just as guilty of it
as anyone else. Between two PC Magazine utilties that I
couldn't live without (Pop-cal, and PR-Swap), as well as
Re-View, a 100-line virtual screen for long directories and
such, and two or three other toys, I'm hooked on TSR's as
much as the next guy.
I guess I do understand the problem that everyone else is
facing.
Working Together
----------------
I've understood for a while now the problems involved in
getting more than one microprocessor to work in a computer.
However, I didn't quite get the picture until about a month
ago, when I went to lunch at a restaurant near my school.
Usually, there are two people in the entire store: One
stands behind the counter, getting the orders, and one does
the actual cooking and "packaging" of the hamburgers. As
luck would have it, the day I went in, there were no fewer
than six people working in the entire place.
Under most circumstances, that would be no problem; it
would help the efficiency by at least three times the norm.
These people, though, obviously had never put their minds to
thinking about statistics, and it took me three times as
long as I usually wait to get my meal.
All I'm trying to say is that it may not be easy to get
more than one processor to work inside of a computer. Just
make sure when you finally put it together that you know
it's going to be faster than, say, the original that you're
trying to improve.
------------------------------------------------------------
(C) 1986 by Reuven M. Lerner. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is granted to copy this article so long as it is
for non-profit use, and this copyright notice appears at the
bottom. Should you wish to publish the article for profit,
contact the author at 21 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury,
New York 11568, or through FidoMail at Node 107/233.
------------------------------------------------------------
=================================================================
FOR SALE
=================================================================
The Structured Programming Language is a SHARE WARE free format
block structured programming language that runs on MSDOS and
PCDOS computer systems. It may be obtained by having the system
operator of your fido system reverse file attach the file
SPLLIB.ARC from fido nodes 150/1 or 1/11. It is also available
from PC BLUE in New York City.
If you like the software I strongly recommend that you REGISTER
and PAY for the software because I would like to make an honest
living just like you do. For software support call Electronic
Digital Computer Systems at 516 694 5872. Look for the language
on net.micro.pc conference on USENET.
Some major features and advantages of SPL
o SPL is an alternative to the PASCAL and C languages
o SPL programs can be run on MACINTOSH,AMIGA,ATARI ST,CP/M
o The SPL processor will run on MSDOS emulators on MACINTOSH,
AMIGA,ATARI ST
o PROCEDURES
o WHILE loops
o FOR loops with REAL and INTEGER indicies and increments
o REPEAT loops
o Powerful IF THEN ELSE constructs
o Powerful RANDOM and SEQUENTIAL INPUT/OUTPUT including
formatted OUTPUT
o GRAPHICS statements PSET DRAW LINE CIRCLE PRESET SCREEN .....
o BEGIN END blocks
o ERROR trapping
o Statement labels (multiple labels supported)
o Strong data types INTEGER REAL STRING scalars and arrays
o Names of variables and labels up to 40 characters upper and
lower case
o Supports mathematical functions SIN COS TAN LOG EXP .....
o STRING functions MID$ LEFT$ RIGHT$ STR$ VAL$ ASC$ .....
o Your compiled BASIC programs do not become obsolete link
them together
o SPL programs run faster than PASCAL programs
o SPL programs can take advantage of an entire 640k IBM PC
o The SPL processor will work on an IBM PCjr with 128k and
1 drive
New Echomail conference is now available. If you are interested
in discussions of peace and the prevention of nuclear war, and
wish to have your fido included in an echomail conference on
these issues, please contact Andy Kanter (sysop) of 101/301.
Current members of this echo include 119/13 <--> 101/301 <-->
101/302. The direct data line for the BeyondWar/IPPNW BBS is
(617) 731-1575. Many text files relating to this issue are also
available for download or FIDONET mail.
Ken McVay
1BHex Fido, 340/20
(Voice) 604-758-4137
(Data) 604-758-3072
Note to those misled folks who have been trying to reach me via
Fido 138/45, in regard to my Bible project article...I am now a
part of NET 340 (CanWest), as NODE 20. My apologies to those of
you who had to phone me (especially Dana Montgomery, in Mass.).
For those of you who wish to download WORD.ARC: Please let me
know through 340/20 in advance; just send me a message contain-
ing your log-on name, password, and WORD.ARC. Upon receipt, I
will clear access and add a call to your record to avoid the 1st
caller limit (20 minutes.) The file requires about 35 minutes,
at 1200 baud. It would be less expensive if you would send me a
disk, in a disk mailer, and $1.00 for return postage. I will
copy the file onto the disk and return it the same day via 1st.
Class Mail. If you would rather call my board, be advised that
it is best to do so immediately after an event - particularly at
23:02 hours or 07:01 hours, PST.
Charter Membership for the International FidoNet Association
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
increase worldwide communications.**
Name _________________________________ Date ________
Address ______________________________
City & State _________________________
Country_______________________________
Phone (Voice) ________________________
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Is there some area where you would be
willing to help out in FidoNet?_______
______________________________________
______________________________________
Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to:
International FidoNet Association
P. O. Box 41143
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Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
insure the future of FidoNet.
** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
in formation and BYLAWS are presently being prepared by an
International Rules Committee. Membership requirements and fees
are subject to approval of this Committee. An IFNA Echomail
Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the BYLAWS
Committee. We welcome your input on this Conference.
