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
Welcome to the Big League
2. ARTICLES
DoubleDOS - Is it worth the trouble?
Hard Disk Security & The Trojan Horse
Computerfest '86
*** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT ****
HUSITA
Modem information needed
IFNA is not International!
Thinly Disguised Ad
PC-WRITE NOW CHECKS SPELLING!
3. COLUMNS
Doug's Column
Nautical View Part 5: BBS Security
4. NOTICES
The Interrupt Stack
I've just gotten back from the Electronic Mail Association
conference for 1986, and I thought I should say something about
it while it's still fresh in my mind (or as fresh as anything CAN
be after 2 AM).
The conference was held in Washington DC, and was well attended
by all of the "biggies" in electronic mail. CompuServe and The
Source were there, as well as Western Union, MCI Mail, AT&T,
Telenet, and enough GEISCO people to sink a small battleship. I
went in more than half expecting to be told to go run and play
somewhere.
Big surprise. My usual introductory line went something like,
"I'm from the International FidoNet association; we're
representing the amateurs." My friends, they'd heard of us. They
knew we existed, and they usually knew something of how we
worked, and they weren't laughing.
Let me tell you why. I heard one speaker stand up and describe
his network. He gave these numbers as if he were describing a
large network, and people seemed to take it that way. He said
they have 250 nodes across the country, with about 12,000 users,
and that they transmitted about 10,000 messages a day.
And here we sit with more nodes than he has users, at least ten
times that many users (even by the most pessimistic estimates),
and moving hundreds of thousands of messages a day. We are NOT a
small network! I'll go further than that. Based on what I
heard, we are probably one of the largest public electronic mail
networks in the world!
Oh, some of the real "biggies" are bigger than we are. The
speaker for Western Union mentioned 2,500 nodes worldwide. But
does that sound all that big to us these days?
And they know it. By and large, they know it. Several times I
got pulled into discussions with people who mainly wanted to know
how we could get the kind of throughput we have. This sort of
thing was not at all unusual. It seemed that I could hardly turn
around without bumping into someone that had noticed an IFNA
representative on the attendance list and who was hoping to meet
me. They were all very interested and very supportive.
This is understandable, I suppose, as it is really the amateurs
that created the electronic mail industry. It's not that many
years ago that electronic mail meant bulletin boards. Most of
these companies are copying from us in a big way, and almost all
of them are counting on us to educate people about the advantages
of electronic mail.
Fidonews Page 3 15 Dec 1986
But moving on, I felt that my reason for being there was to find
out what I could about the legal issues facing sysops. Of
primary concern, of course, is the recently passed Electronic
Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). The congressman who
sponsored ECPA was a guest speaker, and I managed to buttonhole
him and his aide as they were leaving, and he promised to send me
some literature about it. But as a byproduct of my conversation
with him, I quickly wound up in a conversation with two of the
higher ranking officers of EMA, including one fellow who is a
vice president and legal adviser of one of the major data
networks, and who wrote better than two thirds of ECPA, so I can
give some pretty certain assurances about how it affects us.
In a nutshell, it doesn't.
ECPA deals mainly with assuring the privacy of electronic
communications over secure networks. Bulletin boards per se are
not private, and hence are not affected. On the one hand, it
means that the messages on your board are subject to the normal
legal protections involving search warrants and such, without the
much stricter controls on such things as wiretapping. But on the
other hand, it also means that you are not legally responsible
for the security of mail on your board.
You see, ECPA makes it very difficult for anyone to legally gain
access to private mail, but it also makes the mail system
operator responsible for ensuring that private mail is kept
private, even from the operator of the mail system. I've never
seen a BBS program yet where the sysop couldn't read private
mail, but that's a no-no under ECPA. But we're not a commercial
system, and we're not a secure system, so it doesn't apply to us.
One of the more gratifying aspects of this whole conference was
the sheer power and magnitude of legal talent that was willing
and eager to jump to our defense. I had to leave, but I was
assured that a committee meeting the next day is going to
consider our legal position in detail and draft recommended
interpretations of ECPA to ensure that we can remain in
operation. One of the earlier ideas is that they may draft for
us a recommended disclaimer to help ensure that we are not held
liable for misuse of our mail system by outsiders.
I'm left with a very strong impression: The commercial mail
systems know that we exist, and are glad that we exist, and
intend to help us to keep existing. It's a good feeling.
As many of you may know there are quite a few nodes out there
that can not have Fido using their systems 24 hours a day. There
are some solutions to this problem, one of which is to run Fido
only when you are not using the system. This method is the least
desirable as users often get a no answer and don't call back.
Also if you forget to put Fido back up you'll miss the mail
period.
The ideal way to solve the problem is to have two systems or
even better to be able to multi-task on one PC. There are some
excellent packages that can do this like Multi-link (See Allen
Miller about this), but for those of us that did not want to pay
the $500 for it, we tried DoubleDOS. The idea of DD is great
except that the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. There
are many problems with DD, some can be easily overcome while
others may not be. What I'd like to do is first tell you of some
problems that other users of DD have had and then ask you for
help in solving these problems.
1. Fido does not work with DD version V. A sysop called
SoftLogic and they admitted that Fido did not work with DD
version V. Has anyone else been able to get DD to work with V?
2. The old problem of DD crashing when the SYSOP has used CTTY
and then later switches sections and the system freezes. A fix
for this was proposed by Gee Wong, he said that the way to
handle this problem was to make sure that there was an odd
number of CTTYs in effect. This solution seemed to work for
some but not for all, so does anyone else have any other
solutions?
3. Another problem that is very similar to the above one is
running a communications program first, then starting DD and
Fido. After doing this the system freezes completely and
requires the BRS (Big Red Switch) to get going again.
4. Bill Bolton brought to my attention the fact that there are
some problems with DD and FrontDoor. He did not articulate
what these problem are, so Bill if you are reading this please
respond with some details.
I will collect and try to test the solutions you send to me
(1/105 or 107/233) and put them into Fidonews as soon as I get
them. Please when you send your additional problems and/or
solutions please be very specific as to the nature of the problem
and the system configuration.
Fidonews Page 5 15 Dec 1986
If you have additional problems not mentioned here please send
them in and we'll try to solve them together.
True Hard Disk Security
and
The GUTLESS Trojan Horse
By now, most of you are aware of the Trojan ARC513.COM. It's
story is the latest chapter in the history of vandalism against
computers.
The problems caused by this program have been discussed in BIX
and FidoNews, and were recently printed in "Best of BIX" in the
special edition Vol. 11, Num. 11 of Byte Magazine. According to
participants in the MS-DOS conference of BIX, a program called
"check4bomb" was unable to detect the dangers of ARC513.COM. In
addition, several participants discussed attempts to patch DOS
software to SIMULATE a write-protected disk by catching
interrupts. Unfortunately, ARC513.COM has not been easy to
second guess and the complicated interrupt catching often fails.
I am pleased to announce that there is now a product to help
bulletin board sysops STOP TROJANS DEAD! The device is call DISK
DEFENDER. The DISK DEFENDER is a hardware add-on device that
lets you write-protect any Winchester fixed disk on IBM PCs,
PC/XTs or compatibles. Although there is a compatibility problem
with the IBM PC/AT, DISK DEFENDER does work with most AT
compatibles. It consists of a circuit board which fits into a
short or long IBM expansion slot and a control box which connects
via a ribbon cable (so it can be placed on top of you monitor or
nearby).
The box contains a three position switch that lets you choose
between full protection, under which the entire hard disk is
write-protected; zone protection, which allows for a single
partition to be protected; or none, for full read and write
capability. Status LEDs indicate when the disk is being
accessed, when data writes are being attempted, and when write-
protection is active.
Software included with the DISK DEFENDER enhances DOS to permit
two concurrent hard disk partitions, one of which can be
protected using the zone method. Other operating systems, which
support logical units, use DISK DEFENDER without additional
software. An installation program displays a map on the screen
to show where configurations switches are and how to set them.
The Trojan nature of a program like ARC513.COM could be revealed
easily. First, select FULL write-protection for your VALUABLE
hard disk. Then run ARC513.COM with a floppy as the destination
for files. When the program tries to write on your hard disk,
you will see the WRITE LED flash, indicating that a hard disk
write was "attempted". In addition, if and only if the WRITE was
attempted through the DOS driver, you will get the message "Disk
error writing drive C:". Notice, the HARDWARE PROTECTION of the
DISK DEFENDER guarantees that no matter where the WRITE came
from, the LED would flash and NO DATA WOULD BE WRITTEN.
Fidonews Page 7 15 Dec 1986
Of course, DISK DEFENDER is extremely well suited to protecting
bulletin board computers during routine operation. A sysop can
divide his or her computer into a read-write upload area and a
write-protected area for all other files. HARDWARE protection
means that NO dial-up user, NO "whiz kid" and NO software can
penetrate your disk!
Sysops of bulletin boards generously dedicate their time and
their computers to others. It is ironic and even tragic that
these Trojans strike out against those of you who provide this
great service. At Director Technologies, we are very proud to
provide such a powerful, defensive weapon in the war against the
Trojans.
The retail price of the DISK DEFENDER is $196.00 and special
discounts are available for Fido sysops. For more information
contact, Director Technologies, Technology Innovation Center, 906
University Place, Evanston, IL 60201 or call (312) 491-2334.
Fido inquiries can be sent to Dennis Director 115/100.
Computefest '86 is designed to be a gathering of local area
user groups and vendors in the Washington D.C. area, an event
where everyone can benefit from attending, from the person who
knows very little about micros to the hard-core "Give me assembly
or give me death" hacking types.
It will be on Saturday, October 25, 1986, from 9:30 AM to
5:00 PM at the Adele H. Stamp Union at the University of
Maryland, College Park.
There will be representative from the user groups in the
area, including Capital PC User Group, Washington Apple Pi, WARUG
(I hope!), NOVAtari, AURA, Hyattsville C-64 UG, Baltimore Amiga
User Group, FOCUS, and Rockville C-64 User group. They'll have
members available to answer questions and public domain software
available for purchase.
Seminars: We currently are in the process of arranging
seminars on the following topics: Small Business Computing,
desktop publishing in three different flavors, Computers and the
Disabled, MIDI, Enhancing MS-DOS, and BBSing and Society, with
WARUG's own Kurt Reisler participating.
Apple Computer has stated it will send out a speaker for our
event. We also are working on getting someone from Atari; I'm
hoping Sig Hartmann is able to do all that he's made reference.
Unfortunately, Bruce Webster of "BYTE" magazine pulled out on us.
He's apparently going to Hackers 2.0 instead.
In addition, we'll have a number of local area vendors
displaying their equipment and peripherials in the Grand Ballroom
of the Student Union, for the whole range of personal computers
currently available today, PLUS a "Swapfest" where users can get
rid of their surplus hardware and legally acquired software.
Why should you come? Basically, this event is designed for
you to have fun and learn more about computers. It is a single
day event, so I'd feel kinda guilty if you came all the way from
New York or Florida just to say "hi". However, if you live within
an hour or two of College Park, Maryland (this means Baltimore,
large parts of Maryland, Northern Virginia), it should be worth
your time.
Admission is $6.00/general and $4.00/discount. Print a copy
of this from your printer & you qualify for a discount. Xerox it,
give it to your friend Fred & he can get in for a discount. Very
easy to get a discount.
For more information, contact me (Doug Mohney) at (301) 350-
1437 (U.S. phone) or send Fidomail to me at 109/74.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 9 15 Dec 1986
**** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT ****
To All Sysops;
With the sudden, unfortunate demise of The Star Chamber, node
151/10, as of 10/15/85, I am accepting mail and files destined
for his node.
Please make whatever changes are needed to your
nodelist/routing files to effect this change. I have changed my
alternate node number to 151/10.
I will also be accepting BUG reports, questions, and comments
concerning the Fido Utility and Smartman programs, and will
attempt to provide support for these programs.
Send Bug reports for Fido utility to FU BUGS, comments to FU
CMT, and questions to FU QUEST.
Bug reports about Smartman should be sent to SM BUGS, comments
to SM CMT, and questions to SM QUEST.
Please pass this information on to other nets and nodes.
Thanks,
David Bodman
Fido 151/3
**** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT ****
**** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT **** IMPORTANT ****
Birmingham, England September 7-11,1987
_________________________________________________________________
First International Conference on Human Service Information
Technology Applicats.
_________________________________________________________________
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS
The Computer Applications in Social Work and Allied Professions
Editorial Group The Computer Users in Social Services Network,
and the Computers in Human Services Editorial Computer Users in
Social Services Network, and the Computers in Human Services
Editorial Board are proud to announce the First International
Conference on Human Service Information Technology Applications
or HUSITA, to be held in England in September 1987.
CONFERENCE THEME
"A technology to support humanity." Presentations with this theme
will be favored.
BACKGROUND
Human Services throughout the world are utilizing new forms of
information technology in their work. The Conference will pro-
mote presentations which describe, define, share, or evaluate the
ways that these technologies can be or are being used. We are
interested in sharing and examining the roles that the human
service worker takes in regard to these technologies, approaches
to training workers to fulfill these roles, and ethical
frameworks which providea context for these roles. Computing has
altered thework situation and, in some cases, microcomputers have
made computing power available to the worker and to the people
that they serve. The Conference is a place to discuss changes in
the work situation and to provide others with ideas about how
systems are developed. Workers are particularly interested in
the way that these technologies will impact the person who is
receiving services: how will they access and use these
technologies; what will be their impact; how will they meet their
needs; how will they network with others or service providers.
How can such technologies provide power to the powerless,
minorities, women, the third world? We invite presenters to share
points of view about the development of information technology
applications in the human services. The Conference will provide
a forum in which we can gather to examine and share applications,
knowledge, and experiences, reassess our concerns, and provide
direction to our futures.
PARTICIPANTS:
Human services are carried out by different professions in dif-
ferent countries, but will commonly include social workers,
psychologist, psychiatrists, social planners, the rehabilitation
Fidonews Page 11 15 Dec 1986
professions, community educators, public and mental health work-
ers, social service workers, the allied health professionals,
community developers, public and social service administrators,
neighborhood and personal social service workers, and academics
working and training others in any of these areas.
THE CONFERENCE IS ORGANIZED INTO THREE AREAS:
* sharing and discussing experiences
* listen and learn
* vendor, product, and demonstration Fair
Share and Discuss
Presentation in this area can be organized as small groups,
seminars, or any other presentation format suitable to informal
discussion and sharing of the author's material.
Listen and Learn
Presentation in this area can be organized as workshops,
lectures, or any other presentation format suitable to formal
delivery of the author's material.
The Fair
Vendors and software developers from a number of participating
countries will demonstrate their products. The largest collection
of free software and demonstration programs in the world (over
1000 disks worth) will be available for coping at a low cost.
Presentation proposals are welcome (but not limited) to the fol-
lowing areas:
* Use * Problems * Experiences * Directions * Choosing Systems
* Finding Software * Worker Use * Empowerment * Community Change
* Administration * Computer Literacy * Privacy * Networking
* Gender Differences * Self-Help Groups * Testing * Client
Assessment * Research * Client Evaluation * Accountability
* Computer Program Development * Prototyping * Expert Systems
* Creating an Information Center * Knowledge Engineering
* Developing Information Resources * Data Base Design
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION PROPOSALS
A 500 word abstract is required by January 31st, 1987. Please
send three copies typed double space to either:
Walter LaMendola, Ph.D., Co-Chairman
Professor and Director
Information Technolgoy Center
GSSW - University of Denver
Denver, CO 80208-0274
U.S.A.
Fidonews Page 12 15 Dec 1986
Tel. 303 871 2886
or
Stuart Toole, Co-Chairman
City of Birmingham Polytechnic
Department of Sociology & Applied Social Studies
Perry Barr
Birmingham B42 2SU
England
021-356-6911 (Ext. 303 or 301)
TO RECEIVE FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT HUSITA '87:
Send your name and mailing address to either of the above
addresses.
Updates to FIDO modem compatibility information needed
I have been maintaining FIDOMDM.ARC on 11/301 for some time. It
contains user supplied info on modem usage with FIDO. As new
modems come on the market, this information needs to be updated.
If you are using any of the following modems, please send a short
message to me containing info on:
(1) Modem brand
(2) baud capabilities
(3) Bell and CCITT standards supported
(4) Cost
(5) switch settings
(6) any special modem control file entries
(7) your name, address and phone (optional)
(8) problems you might have experienced
(9) compatibility with other FidoNet systems (SEAdog, OPUS,
etc)
(10) any other comments you might have
Specific information is needed on Leading Edge 1200 and 2400
units, IBM 1200 and 2400 units, Ven-Tel modems, any generics that
have worked, Everex modems, Quibie 2400, and any of the new 9600
baud units that might have been tried with, say, OPUS, which I
believe supports that baud rate. If you indicate usage with
SEAdog, please include your modem initialization values. Many
users will no doubt appreciate your taking a moment to do this.
Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas to All, Bill Allbritten, sysop,
11/301
In my efforts to present the drawbacks of making the IFNA a truly
International organization, I wrote a minority position paper
suggesting that the IFNA limit itself to North American
membership. This document, included in FidoNews, demonstrated
why I felt that we should limit our International membership. It
did not, in any way, represent the view of the vast majority of
the By-laws and Rules Committee; in fact, I was the only one who
took this position. I would like to clarify the position
further. Please be aware that this was drafted by me without the
consultation of the Board of Directors or the By-laws and Rules
Committee; this document is my personal response to the issues at
hand.
1) Why the By-laws document is unfair to International members.
The document, as drawn up during the committee meeting in New
Hampshire, assumes geographic representation in the Board of
Directors. By grouping the International nodes into U.S.
geographic areas, we denied those sysops outside of North
America (aside from Europe, which was the basis of my legal
objection) that representation. This was done for two
reasons: first, to avoid gerrymandering (one suggestion, shot
down early Saturday morning, would have attempted to create
proportional representation, with all the border line disputes
that entails), and second, to avoid an inevitable bloating of
the Board of Directors. I feel that the second is the more
important of the two; the Board that we recommended, with 22
members, was too large to work with as it was. A larger
board, as would have been mandated by allowing each nation
listed in the nodelist to have it's own representative, would
have even less of a chance to take effective and timely
action.
2) What my position paper really was.
My commentary, added after the fact to present my case AGAINST
trying to make IFNA a truly International organization, was
drawn up to present my feelings on a significant issue. I
cannot say that it was done to attempt to address the
inequities cited above; it was, in fact, drawn up to attempt
to limit the potential criminal liabilities that I perceived
from the (possibly) illegal activities of some non-North
American nodes. It did, indirectly, allow the International
members to be associate members, and to create their own
organizations, which, if operated within the laws of their
respective nations, could petition for divisional status
within the IFNA.
3) What can be done about the inequities.
After receiving a letter from Alan Salmon of 155/229, I gave a
great deal of thought to how to redress this problem. Mr.
Fidonews Page 15 15 Dec 1986
Salmon suggested the following:
a. That we rename the organization the North American FidoNet
association. In view of the above arguments, I cannot
contest this within the context of the current IFNA
situation.
b. That we take into account the International nodes,
representing more than 10% of our current Net, and allow
them a say in the operation of the Net. This again is
reasonable.
It is apparent that the International nodes, which have their
own needs relating solely to their geographic areas, should
have a say in how the Net works, and should be represented in
the International Board of Directors. It may then be
necessary to create a separate organization to administer each
nation's nodes, and to treat International communications as a
subject beyond the scope of the present organization. If this
is the case, the present Board of Directors might recommend
the following:
a. That the administration of the nodelist be done outside of
the scope of the IFNA as presently conceived;
b. That the vote, to be taken on or about 1 January 1987,
include a referendum on whether the organization as such
should call itself the International FidoNet Association,
or should indicate the geographic bounds of the majority of
it's members to date;
c. That each major geographic region outside of the North
American continent form it's own national or geographic
FidoNet Association (hereafter read national FidoNet
Association);
d. That a separate committee on International Affairs,
including members from each of the major geographic areas
outside of North America, be formed to consider how best to
organize communications between national FidoNet
Associations;
e. That the creation and distribution of the International
Nodelist be jointly funded by the national FidoNet
Associations through the auspices of the International
Affairs Committee.
These suggestions would probably fragment the Net to some degree,
at least until each member nation formed and funded it's own
organization. In the interrim, I suggest that the present group
maintaining Net communications continue to do so, for a period to
be specified by a vote of the Board of Directors of whatever we
decide to call ourselves.
In summary, no matter what the organization is called, or how
representation is accomplished, we ARE, for the moment an
Fidonews Page 16 15 Dec 1986
International organization. There are inequities in the present
organizational scheme for those nodes outside of the North
American continent that may not give them adequate repesentation.
We should try to address the needs of these International nodes
in as fair a fashion as possible, while allowing some continuity
of Net operations, and attempt to give them adequate
representation in the International organization that the IFNA
hopes to be.
Respectfully submitted,
Edward M. Rauh
Sysop 141/215
IFNA By-laws and Rules Committee
We would appreciate your comments and opinions on this
matter.
Would you purchase a HIGH-QUALITY on-line adventure game
which is ONLY available to IBM-based sysops such as yourself? If
so, would you make this game(s) available to your users as either
a free service or a subscription feature? Remember, this game(s)
would be available ONLY for on-line use through utilities using
the "Outside" option of FIDO.
Any comments or opinions are greatly appreciated.
Please respond to:
No Shoes
P.O. Box 145
Wakefield, MA 01880
or in Fido-Mail to:
Dana Montgomery at Net 101/Node 27
Thank you in advance for your time.
sincerely,
Dana Montgomery
(The author has no connection with Quicksoft, the producers of
PC-WRITE, except for being a registered user of that Shareware.)
The long-awaited version 2.7 of the PC-WRITE word processor is
out. Since PC-WRITE is Shareware, you can download it and try it
for free. If you have an older version of PC-WRITE, it will def-
initely be worth the time to download the latest version. Since
I recently reviewed version 2.6 in FidoNews 330, I will discuss
only new features here.
The biggest new feature is the spelling checker. This is very
handy not only for poor spellers, but for bad typists like me.
I've used three different spelling checkers from bulletin boards
before, but none of them compares with the one built into version
2.7 of PC-WRITE. For one thing, the PC-WRITE spelling checker
handles words divided by a hyphen at the end of a line, and the
other spellers I've tried do not. I was tired of being told that
"tion" is not a word. Also, the dictionary resides in memory, so
the checking is very fast. Finally, the dictionary is large:
50,000 words. I'm impressed that the program manages to squeeze
50K English words into fewer than 110K bytes of memory.
Alternate-F2 brings up the spelling menu. You can check spelling
in three ways. The program can check words as you type them,
beeping at you like some of the newer typewriters. You can check
an entire document, or check only the word at the cursor.
When you check an entire document, the program highlights the
first unknown word. You can ignore it, add it to a personal dic-
tionary, edit it, or ask the program to guess the correct word.
In the last case, I've found that some of the guesses seem to
bear little relation to the word typed, while other guesses are
very useful. After you select one of these four options, the
program highlights the next unknown word, etc.
The same four options are available when you check the single
word at the cursor, or when you ask PC-WRITE to beep whenever you
type an unknown word.
You can have as many personal dictionaries as you like, but only
one can be in memory at a time, along with the main 50,000-word
dictionary. The personal dictionaries are not compressed like
the main one. A separate program is provided to merge a personal
dictionary with the main one, producing a new main dictionary.
Dictionaries are lower case; the speller ignores capitalization.
Working with a large dictionary in memory is a pleasure. I was
surprised that the program accepted "Boise," "elaboration,"
"esc," "Hoover," "identifier," "Qatar," and "Terre Haute." The
catch is that you can't use the speller if your computer has less
than 320K of memory.
Fidonews Page 19 15 Dec 1986
There are a few new features besides the spelling checker. You
can now define a single keystroke to insert the current date
and/or time in any format you like. (Date first, spell the day,
abbreviate the month, two-digit year, 24-hour time, etc.) The
help file is now loaded only when you need it, giving a fast
startup. Word wrapping can be disabled without disturbing the
right margin. More printers are supported, including those with
XON/XOFF protocol. Finally, PC-WRITE can now "import" text
placed on the screen by another program.
PC-WRITE now includes a pamphlet, ready for you to print out, ex-
plaining the differences between versions 2.6 and 2.7. This is
in addition to the familiar tutorial manual and quick reference
guide.
If I may say so, some of you FidoNews authors out there urgently
NEED a spelling checker! Version 2.7 of PC-WRITE can be found on
Daniels-Fido 107/211, (516) 367-9626, 300/1200/2400 baud. I
uploaded the program in two files, PCWRITE1.ARC and PCWRITE2.ARC.
PLEASE download it and improve the appearance of FidoNews!!
OOPS: My last column (#3) was delayed cuz I had exams &
projects up the wall. Sorry if ya missed it, and if you didn't ya
got a break....
FANS: I've gotten some fan (FIDO) mail and two phone calls;
one of which I returned and lost the phone number for the other.
Still no money or products or software to review <sigh>.
80386 IS HERE: BIG WHOOPIE: Microsoft is still working on an
OS to take advantage of the '286; best guess when we'll see '386
programs which even challenge the current crop of souped-up
Super-AT clones will be in 1987, earliest. Besides, do you
really need a '386 to do word processing, database work, or most
normal spreadsheet calculations? C'mon.
DEEP THOUGHT: My friend Mr. Bill is overjoyed to have an
Apple LaserWriter Plus to play with. He says it is the most
powerful computer Apple currently sells. Think about it. Bill is
disappointed they didn't put a diskdrive.
80386 IS HERE: YAHHHHH!!!!!!: If you crunch numbers and want
to run *practical* multiuser/multitasking systems, the '386 will
allow you to do it, abet in a glorified AT fashion. The '386er
is a boon to CAD/CAM, statistical users, and fanatic spreadsheet
freaks.
Even though you won't be able to run ADOS on it (Advanced
DOS), you can get either UNIX(TM), XENIX (a UNIX(TM) run-alike),
and VM/386. UNIX is a de facto mini/micro/mainframe operating
system standard; General Motors is going to adapt UNIX as a
company standard. The last time GM adapted standards was with the
MAP manfacturing protocols; lotta MAP products out there now.
Although I think VM is the most grotesque OS written for a
mainframe, it is a standard and there are a lot of mainframe
based programs running under VM which would be quite handy to
port down to a VM/386 PC.
WHILE WE TALK OF UNIX: I will stick my neck out on a block
and say UNIX is the future of operating systems. Sort of. UNIX
has been ported to more chips and machines than any other OS on
the face of the earth. If you don't believe me, why did Digital
come out with UNIX, and why do you find UNIX running on IBM
mainframes?
However, you won't have the mystical UNIX command set;
instead, a user-friendly, graphics-based icon shell will sit over
UNIX; if you want C or Bourne Shell, it'll be a window option.
Hopefully, UNIX will be reworked so it will be less of a disk
Fidonews Page 21 15 Dec 1986
hog.
The standards of UNIX will come from AT&T, but innovations
will come from Berkie and other Universities.
BITNET BURNOUT: BITNET is a network of over 1,000 mini &
mainframe computers stretching from Japan to Canada to Europe to
Israel -- with most of the machines on the network in the U.S.
I've been recently spending many a late evening on BITNET's
version of CB, called RELAY. RELAY has a bunch of jobs which take
messages from individual sites and forward them to the proper
locations. I've been able to "talk" to females in Ottawa, Italy,
Texas, Washington State and Portland. Awesome.
However, this form of chatting is ADDICTIVE. You can lose
track of time all too quickly, intending to leave at 10:00 PM,
and suddenly find it is 2:30 AM. OUCH! I've read of people on
CompuServe and the Source who get turned on by CB -- only to be
introduced to $300+ bills the next month. After my BIT
experiences, I'm not surprised.
NOT ALL APPLE, INC PPL: are weasels. Had an excellent chat
with Kathy Kinsburg <sp?> of Apple's Higher Education division.
It turns out she was down in Texas with Ed Romson (an Apple
person who spoke at Computerfest) for a while, then went West to
the Main Drag.
Kathy was in town to chat with U. of Maryland ppl about
"Maryland in the Apple University Consortium", and MY GOD! she
actually seemed to listen. Was very nice. One of the things I
said was "Gosh, I bought this Apple //e and once I get to
college, I find all they support here is Macintosh." She told me
they were working on the problem.
A TALE OF TWO USER GROUPS: Capital PC User Group came out
whole hog to support the computer show our user group (PCA) put
on in October, with a number of speakers and volunteers to answer
questions at a CPCUG table. CPCUG, based in Bethesda, has done
some *great* things with the D.C. community, including sponsoring
programming contests, helping out other non-profit organizations
like National Center for Missing Children, and is currently
offering a BBS grant program. I love CPCUG. It is very rare I
love anything.
On the other hand, we have Washington Apple Pi. WAP members
have been running around over the past year preaching the idea of
"user group cooperation" and an ultimate formation of a
"Washington Computer Society" a la Boston. WAP voted to come to
our computer show, but didn't. Nary a one. We're 20 minutes away
from their Bethesda office. However, they do manage to make it to
close places like Boston, Chicago, and San Fransisco, showing
what leaders they are.
But wait, there's more: After our show, we went to them with
a request to update our Mac public domain software library. PCA
Fidonews Page 22 15 Dec 1986
is composed of a bunch of u-grads (ie: poor college students) at
Maryland. The request got bounced around and they finally came
back and said "Well, you are already established, so we don't
have to help you. Besides, you could end up competiting for our
public domain software sales in the future." Oh. They really are
promoting cooperation there, yes sir. I guess they have to
protect their cash-cows as much as anyone does.
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).
+-------------------+
! The Nautical View !
+-------------------+
Part 5: BBS Security (The View From Calgary)
Hi ho, 'tis Joe from Calgary (that's in Canada, eh?) again.
I'm here this week to address a problem that has recently cropped
up here in Calgary (again) that has no doubt cropped up
EVERYWHERE: BBS security.
This issue has two major points of view, with a wide range of
variance in each: the SysOp's view, and the user's view. I'll
try to address each, since I'm one of each (did that make any
sense at all?)
The board from which this junk (not the FidoNews of course)
spouts is called "TC-Link Fido", based here in Calgary.
Recently, a user logged on under the name "Cherry Pepsi", and
proceeded to verbally lambaste the sysop and users. Needless to
say, the sysop was NOT impressed. Nevertheless, he left the
message (an edited version) online, and tacked onto the end an
appeal to the users of the board to help him make a decision:
should he continue running an open system? Or should he set it
up so that all users must be verified before full access is
granted? Or should he do the drastic thing, and limit the board
to current members only?
We've had quite the debate on this. Many ideas were broached.
From the user's perspective, the idea was that an open system is
a desirable thing. However, the solutions offered to the "Cherry
Pepsi" problem were far from viable. From a few sysop's point of
view, the idea was that the system should be run on a
verified-user-only basis. Both sides have merit. After all, a
sysop puts a board online so that everyone can have access to it
and use it to its potential. This is limited by making people
wait while their memberships are checked out. Further, some
users resent having to divulge information such as address, phone
number, and real name. However, a sysop wants some form of
control on what happens on his BBS. He does NOT want his BBS to
get a bad reputation, which has happened ALL too often here in
Calgary. So where does that leave us?
Fortunately, Fido just may have a solution. First off, it is
up to the sysop how much information he/she requires from the
user. If an open system is desired, the sysop can limit this to
things like terminal parameters, etc. However, from this point,
the user can be allowed anywhere in Fido EXCEPT the message bases
if the sysop so desires it. THIS is how people like "Cherry
Pepsi" get their kicks: calling up boards that are "open",
wreaking a little havoc, and never showing up again. Requiring
that second call will rid a sysop of most of these problem
Fidonews Page 24 15 Dec 1986
callers. I've seen this work, and work well, on 2 Calgary area
boards.
My question to you, the readers of FidoNews, is this: What do
YOU think? I am very interested in publishing some of your
responses in an upcoming issue of the FidoNews in this column.
If you want your views known, write to me. I can be reached on
TC-Link Fido (Calgary, Net 134 Node 7).
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