FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
Association as its official newsletter. 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) 1987, 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.
Thirteen Weeks to FidoCon!
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
Filling the Gap .......................................... 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2
Tentative Conference Agenda .............................. 2
Dutchie & Brinkers - A Fidonet Point System .............. 3
How to Remove Disk Labels ................................ 7
High Speed Protocols ..................................... 9
3. COLUMNS .................................................. 12
Hayes modems and compatibles ............................. 12
What's Hopp-ening? Part I of ???? by Ryugen Fisher ...... 23
The Regular Irregular Column ............................. 25
4. NOTICES .................................................. 29
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 29
Conference Hotel Room Rates .............................. 29
IFNA Board of Directors Ballot ........................... 30
FidoNews 4-19 Page 1 18 May 1987
Let's face it. As forms of communication go, electronic mail
falls short. We are all very much used to supplementing words
with tones of voice, facial gestures, and body language. It is
quite possible to communicate fully by the written word, but few
of us are Shakespears or Hemmingways. It takes a great deal of
skill and practice to fully express oneself by the written word
alone.
But the written word is all that electronic mail gives us. Worse
yet, our minds place more emphasis on the written word than on
the spoken word. A comment which would rate a raised eyebrow
when spoken results in massive flames when written. Sarcasm
becomes well nigh impossible to detect. Off-the-cuff remarks
look like rock-solid statements of position.
Fortunately, there's a way out. Once you actually meet the
people you communicate with, it becomes much easier to interpret
their messages in the way they actually meant them. Coming soon
is your big chance to do just that.
The next to last weekend of August is the Fourth International
FidoNet Conference. This is our big get-together, where you can
finally meet all those people you've been hearing from all along.
This year it's being held near Washington DC, which makes it a
great excuse to visit the nation's capitol. While you're there,
take a few extra days vacation and be sure to visit the Air and
Space Museum. You'll see everything from the Wright brother's
original plane to an Apollo capsule that went to the moon. Also
check out the Washington Zoo and see the pandas. [A tip: Wear
comfortable shoes when you visit the zoo. It's huge. I made the
mistake of wearing a new pair, and almost killed my feet. And be
sure to visit the reptile house.]
But first, last, and always, it's a chance to meet your fellow
FidoNet people. There will be interesting speakers, hospitality
suites offering free food and drinks, exhibitors showing their
latest and greatest, and swarms and swarms of people you've heard
from and talked to over the net and always wanted to meet.
I know I'll be there, and I'll be looking forward to meeeting
you. Stop by my room and say "hi". See you there!
Fourth International FidoNet Conference
A Tentative Agenda
Thursday Night
1500 Registration
1900 Welcome party
2100 Deadline for IFNA board of directors votes
Friday Morning
0900 Opening ceremonies
1000 High speed modems
1100 Report from the FTSC
Friday Afternoon - Technical Track
1300 Fido Version 12
1400 Opus
1500 TBBS
1600 Dutchie
Friday Afternoon - Legal Track
1300 Amateur versus Commercial Electronic Mail
1400 Legal Aspects of Electronic Mail
1500 Software Use and the Law
1600 Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks
Banquet
Saturday Morning
0900 FidoNet in North America
1000 FidoNet in Europe
1100 FidoNet Down Under
Luncheon
Saturday Afternoon
1300 Routing
1400 Extended Addressing: Zones and Points
1500 The FidoNet<=>UseNet Gateway
1600 Future Directions for EchoMail
Sunday
1000 IFNA Board of Directors meeting
This is still VERY tentative. Most of the speakers have not
finalized the title for their talks yet. We are also still
lining up additional speakers on additional topics. If you know
of anyone willing to speak, or if there is anything else you
would like to hear someone talk about, please contact Brian
Hughes at 109/634.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-19 Page 3 18 May 1987
Henk Wevers 500/1
Europe Proudly Announces
DUTCHIE
The first fully operating
POINT PROGRAM
DUTCHIE is written by Henk Wevers
Cloeckendaal 38
NL-6715 JH Ede
The Netherlands
DUTCHIE Copyright (C) 1987 by Henk Wevers. All rights reserved.
1. Release date of DUTCHIE.
Dutchie will be released May 1, 1987. From that date it can be
file requested or down loaded from distributing nodes around the
globe. See at the end of this article for details.
2. What is DUTCHIE ?
Dutchie is basically written to get most of the load off of
Fido/OPUS/Seadog BBSes. From now on, you can do almost all of
your communication with the BBS offline, Dutchie will take care
of sending/receiving files to and from your host and you can now
even subscribe to local, national and international echomail
conferences. They will be delivered at your home at night and,
if you wish, you can have your mail printed out before you wake
up in the morning. Messages can be entered locally and
transferred to the BBS directly or during lower phone rates at
night.
3. What do I need to run a DUTCHIE?
At the moment you need an IBM (compatible) PC with around 512K of
RAM and two floppy disk drives or a hard disk. The BBS that
serves you must run SEAdog, Opus, or Fido, or a combination. For
the best service you should pick a node running SEAdog on top of
the BBS all day.
I guess that Opus will be capable of handling all services also
in the near future. The version of Opus that will be able to do
so should be 1.00 or above.
The sysop of the serving BBS must run BRINKERS, a program to
serve DUTCHIES. Please check with him or her.
4. What can Dutchie do ?
FidoNews 4-19 Page 4 18 May 1987
Oh Boy, we can write a full manual on this, but let's try to
cover most of it.
Communications Program
----------------------
First, Dutchie is a simple but very powerful communications
program for those cases where you want to deal in real time with
the BBS that serves you. We will call that BBS the BOSS from
now, and you the POINT.
Dutchie is capable of emulating an ANSII terminal (VT-100), can
automatically dial the BOSS, and can upload/download with the
following protocols: Xmodem-Modem7-Telink-SEAlink. The latter is
a VERY fast sliding window protocol supported by Opus and SEAdog.
You can change the baud rate given 300/1200/2400/4800/9600 baud
support, and choose your communications port (1-4).
You can shell to DOS during a session to do all kinds of
fiddling.
Message editor
--------------
Dutchie has a full screen message editor to enter messages
locally. You can send and receive those messages with Dutchie's
mailer program. A few points:
- Full screen editor
- Read and write message text from/to disk
- Change messages and resend/change already sent messages.
- Attach file(s) to messages
- Request file(s) from your boss
- Send normal (nightly) mail or crash mail directly to your Boss
- Multiple area support so you can easily maintain different
echomail electronic conferences.
Mailer program
--------------
Via your Boss you can be attached to the worldwide Fidonet
without the hassle of running a Bulletin Board. The only thing
you have to do is to make some arrangements with your Boss about
forwarding mail, mail times, and costs for forwarding mail and
files. In the most simple setup all mail and files are routed
through your Boss. He/She will help you to setup things.
Remember, if you want a file from your Boss want to send her/him
a file there is no need to call into that BBS personally. Just
prepare the request or the message at your own time and let
DUTCHIE do the rest. Either at night, during cheap hours or
directly, if you are in a hurry.
The mailer program is simple, and works almost automatically.
There are menu choices for sending or requesting files
FidoNews 4-19 Page 5 18 May 1987
immediately as well as getting your mail from your boss as soon
as possible. We call this crashmail. If you are awaiting
crashmail from your boss you can tell Dutchie so and Dutchie will
wait until the mail has arrived and then exit.
On the other hand, If you want to do the mail at night or will
receive so called echomail conferences from your host during the
night, you can start Dutchie's Nightwatch utility as soon you
have finished working with your machine. Dutchie will deliver
mail at the specified times, can receive mail all night and can
pickup mail that the Boss is holding for you (you pay the phone
bill in this case) or you hold your mail and files until the Boss
picks them up (If you find a rich host. Hurry folks those
systems will have a lot of Dutchies to serve soon!)
The Mail printer
----------------
Dutchie can be told to print out all newly received mail at a
specified time. Imagine having your favorite conferences and
your private mail available at breakfast!
FidoNet
-------
Via your Boss you can exchange electronic mail and files with
other people using the Amateur Public FidoNet around the world.
We are approaching the 2000 attached computers now without any
Dutchie on the net yet! How many will these be in a year after
Dutchie?
IFNA
----
If you are going to use the Public Fidonet, you should consider
becoming a member of IFNA, the International FidoNet Association.
For a miserable $25, you help prevent the net falling apart.
There is a lot of work done behind the scenes only to keep things
running!
Advanced DUTCHIE features
-------------------------
If you are unfamiliar with electronic mail we suggest you use
Dutchie in the Basic setup as a POINT under a BOSS for a while.
The BOSS will help you and once you have 'grown up' in the
electronic mail scene you can make yourself more independent and
become a self serving system in the Matrix. (Matrix is the same
as Fidonet, Opus people use this name ).
The first feature you can enable in Dutchie is the 'External Node
scanner'. This means you need a nodelist that is published
weekly by IFNA. As soon as you have enabled this feature,
DUTCHIE will ask you for a net/node name anytime you were
referring to your BOSS. This means you now can automatically
FidoNews 4-19 Page 6 18 May 1987
dial up, poll, request files and send files to all nodes in the
nodelist. You have gained one more degree of freedom.
Another feature is to allow people on your system. If you enable
this a human caller (yes Dutchie knows the difference between a
human and another machine!) is directed to an external program.
This can well be a BBS or just a program of your own you want
them to run. There are PD programs that can be used to make a
sophisticated system.
Now, for the full flavour, Dutchie is capable of much more. You
can hook in external 'pack' and 'schedule' programs to get
another degree of freedom and do all your mailing yourself, or
send where ever you wish. At the moment of writing these
programs will still be in beta test, but they will be released
soon! Opus's packer Ommm can be used to do this, so watch out
for news about this when you are ready for it. Although being a
POINT under a BOSS gives you a lot of services with minimal
hassle and frustration.
THE PRICE
---------
Ah well, I could make this product shareware, but why bother? It
is free for all noncommercial applications. Restriction is that
it must be used in a private situation, that is no government
building, no firm, whatever. Only running on your privately
owned machine in a private home is allowed. I have put a lot of
work in this just to give you the pleasure of using it. If there
is money to be made on this it should go to me don't you think?
Now, if you don't fall in above category, just contact me. It
won't hurt. I'll probably let you use it for free after a
written request. In special cases, I may want to discuss things
with you person to person. You pay the plane and hotel, I'll
come and tell you that it is ok to use it (you may end up paying
the bill for a vacation for me and my family in the USA if I
think you can afford it ). If you are allowed to use it for free
and you like the program, send me a postcard.
SYSOPS
------
To serve POINTS you must run Brinkers. Available free. No
restriction on the use of Brinkers.
How to Remove Those Pesky, Tattered, Stuck-On Diskette Labels
Are you fed up with those ugly, stuck-on diskette labels? Do you
have so many layers of labels on your diskettes that you have to
force them into your diskette drive? Eh, Bunky, is that what's
troublin' you? Well, lift up your head, take a walk in the
sunshine and never give up; help is at hand!
Removing old diskette labels is a cheap, simple, relatively fast
process requiring three things: you, the diskette and some rubber
cement. I use "Best Test White Rubber Paper Cement" or
"Sanford's Rubber Cement," although any equivalent product should
work just as well. (There is also a "Sanford's Thinner" which is
used to reconstitute rubber cement which has thickened; since
this is probably the solvent alone, it might work just as well as
rubber cement; why don't you try it first and let me know how you
fare?)
First, remove as much of the label as possible manually. Doing
this will provide a surface which will be more easily penetrated
by the solvent in the rubber cement and will minimize the amount
of work you have to do later. Work from the corner; remembering
that the diskette is circular inside the jacket, you will be
applying no pressure to the diskette itself if you work from the
corner.
Next, apply a liberal layer of rubber cement to the remaining
label and to any glue residue still stuck to the diskette. This
step is easiest if you have purchased rubber cement in a bottle
having a little applicator brush integrated into the lid. During
this process, observe all of the caveats printed on the rubber
cement container or, if you really enjoy a Cheap High, work in a
small, unventilated area.
Next, allow the rubber cement to work for awhile but don't allow
it to dry completely. You're looking for that magic moment when
the glue holding the label to the diskette has loosened but the
rubber cement has not yet dried.
Then, using your index finger, work from the edge of the rubber
cement area and stroke toward the center of the area. The proper
technique is a combination of a stroking and one-fingered finger
painting motion. You have to do it to get the idea. As you do
this, the rubber cement will dry and will begin to roll up under
your finger. If you have timed things right, the label will roll
up right along with the rubber cement or will be loose enough to
peel away easily, leaving a relatively clean surface underneath.
After you have done the above, there could still be some
remaining label and/or glue residue. Just repeat the above
process once or twice and every shred of evidence that there was
ever a diskette label on your diskette will disappear, leaving
the diskette pristine!
Of course, you must be extremely careful to confine the rubber
FidoNews 4-19 Page 8 18 May 1987
cement to the label area. That is, don't allow any material, wet
or dry, to stray onto the magnetic surface of the diskette
proper. If you lack manual dexterity, small muscle control or
are just a complete klutz, reconcile yourself to ugly diskettes.
Developing facility with this process will require some
experimentation. Start with a diskette that you don't care
about; then, work your way up to the diskette containing the only
copy of your economic model of the universe.
Good luck. This fascinating contribution to the state-of-the-
art, high-tech frontier of personal computing was provided by:
Joe Vincent
805 Pine Way
Anchorage, Ky. 40223
(502) 244-1541
Don't send me any money. Don't send me any diskettes. Don't
send me anything. If you have any improvements to the above
process or have alternative methods for removing diskette labels,
please let me know. I might become the Peter Norton of diskette
label removal.
Quite some time ago we performed a series of benchmark tests
aimed at producing an equation for predicting XMODEM file
transfer times. The results of those tests were originally
published in FidoNews, volume 3, number 7. Insights derived from
those tests were directly responsible for the development of the
SEAlink file transfer protocol.
SEAlink is a variant of XMODEM which employs a sliding window
technique in order to eliminate turnaround time and propagation
delays. Our tests indicated that such delays are the primary
source of lost time in a typical XMODEM transfer at data rates of
1200 bps and higher.
YMODEM takes a different approach, in that it uses a larger block
size (1024 bytes versus 128 bytes) to reduce the number of times
the line must be turned around. The amount of lost time in a
YMODEM file transfer should therefore be one eighth of that of an
XMODEM file transfer. Additionally, YMODEM has fewer bytes of
protocol overhead for a given file transfer than does either
XMODEM or SEAlink. This makes it a bit more difficult to relate
the two directly.
Our original benchmark results came up with the following formula
for predicting/XMODEM CRC file transfer times on a local
connection:
Equation 1:
Blocks*1340 Blocks
Time in seconds = ----------- + ------
Baud rate 4
The last term is due to line turnaround and propagation delays.
Assuming that this is invariant, the equivalent formula for
YMODEM would be:
Equation 2:
Blocks*10300 Blocks
Time in seconds = ------------ + ------
Baud rate 4
FidoNews 4-19 Page 10 18 May 1987
Since SEAlink gets rid of the propagation delay and the
turnaround time, and also does not kill time waiting for the ACK,
the equivalent formula for SEAlink would be:
Equation 3:
Blocks*1330
Time in seconds = -----------
Baud rate
Given a file size of 1,048,576 (1 meg) at 2400 baud, this yeilds:
This is based on a turnaround delay of 0.25 seconds (0.27 seconds
was measured). If we assume an additional sattelite lag of 0.5
seconds (single hop, if I remember the numbers correctly), then
we get:
So at some point where the turnaround time is between zero and
0.25 seconds, SEAlink becomes faster than YMODEM. So where is
that point? It should be given by the formula:
Equation 4:
10640 10300
----- = ----- + X
Baud Baud
where X is the turnaround delay in seconds (note that this
equation is made by equating equations #2 and #3). This equates
to:
FidoNews 4-19 Page 11 18 May 1987
Equation 5:
10640 = 10300 + X*Baud
or:
Equation 6:
340
X = ---
Baud
Different baud rates yield the following values for X:
These assumptions are of course based on a clean line. SEAlink
becomes markedly superior to YMODEM in the case of sporadic line
hits, as (1) SEAlink retransmits fewer bytes than YMODEM, and
(2) SEAlink doesn't throw away as much received data when it gets
a bad block.
Conclusions:
We'll ignore the 300 baud case, since YMODEM is using much to big
a block for 300 baud. Normal XMODEM is quite sufficient for 300
baud use.
At 1200 baud YMODEM is slightly superior to SEAlink for local
connections on clean lines, due to less protocol overhead.
SEAlink becomes slightly superior on very long distance
connections where propagation delays become a factor. At 2400
baud SEAlink should be slightly superior even on a local
connection, becoming increasingly preferable at higher baud
rates.
In the world of modem freaks and slowly on in the industrial
world, the HAYES modem is a defacto standard.
The official standards like RS232c (USA) and V24/V28 (CCITT)
describe the Physical part of a data circuit, while the V25
(CCITT) describes the A(uto) C(call) U(unit) function. The
speeds and usage of the modems are laid down by the CCITT V-
standards, mainly in the V21 till V36 books.
Due to the different country and telephone company laws,
modems are different and not compatable with each other,
exept modems of one vendor. Some years ago, it was very
unwise to make a connection with two different modems, even
if they claimed to be according a V-xx norm. Mostly this
was no problem, because a data transport was mainly between
two predefined points via a leased line or switched network.
The connection was buildup manual, or made automatic via
autocall function ACU (V25/RS232).
The HAYES-300 modem (I think this was the start), besides
the Physical RS232/V24/V28 norm did specify the modem
control command level between modem and terminal via the AT
leadin and the <silence>+++<silence> command to return from
a data state to the command state. Also it describes the
handling of automatic speed detection. This command set
enables operators and application programmers to buildup a
connection via normal conversation. As it could be
programmed, the connection via a switched network was
possible automatical via simple statements like "CALL John".
The original HAYES-300 was not using call procedures like
108/1 or 108/2 (DTR circuit). With the HAYES-1200, this
command set was extended to cope with more than one line
speed, the BELL 103 and BELL 212A. The last one more or less
compatable with the CCITT V22 norm. Also the automatic speed
selection in 'answering' mode was build in. With the HAYES-
2400, the set was dramatically extended with three speeds,
BELL-103, BELL-212A and the CCITT V22 and V22bis norms. So
handling also in 'answering' mode an automatic selection. As
the BELL-212A and V22 uses a PSK (four-level phase shift
keying) and V22bis uses QAM (Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation) technic, which were designed for synchronous
modems, the HAYES-modem translates the asynchrone data into
FidoNews 4-19 Page 13 18 May 1987
a synchronous way by inserting and consequently removing a
STOP bit in periods where no character is send. The HAYES-
1200 is not compatible with the BELL-212A/V22 synchronous
modems. The HAYES-2400 is also in this aspect compatible and
serves also the formal Half duplex (RTS/CTS-handling). As
the HAYES-1200 did serve only the CCITT 108/2 mode, the
HAYES-2400 supports also the 108/1 mode. Really you can say,
the HAYES-2400 is a complex intelligent unit. Despite the
well written handbook of HAYES, it is a hard job to make a
compatible one. From all modems (compatibles) I have seen,
there are a few which come close to the HAYES, the most are
fare away.
As my job is Faultfinder (Support), I really was very
pleased, HAYES did implement in the HAYES-2400, a really
complete circuit test via the S16-register, even with remote
commands, so the fully V54 norm of CCITT. As most Hobbyist
but even profesionals have big problems with reliable
circuit connections, and more the solvation of it, a modem
without this feature nowadays isn't worth the word MODEM so
certainly not the word HAYES.
2. HAYES-clones.
What is "compatible". Really nothing if not exactly said
with WHAT. "HAYES compatible" is to vaque. "HAYES command
set compatible" is better. Most modems, so not all, are only
compatible with a "subset of HAYES command set". But also
most "hayes" modems have commands not existing with hayes.
Some unlucky vendors did use commands or registers not used
with hayes-1200 at that time, but later used in the HAYES-
2400. (Bad Ques).
The best I can say most of the better clones are more or
less compatible upto HAYES-1200.
As I don't know if besides HAYES-1200 and the HAYES-2400,
also a HAYES-300 exists, I further only refer to this two,
from which both I have the specifications. In Europe a lot
of 'hayes' modems with only the V21 and V23 speeds exists,
which are similar, but absolute not connectable, with the
BELL-103 and BELL-202 norm modems.
As most application programs only use a small set of the
HAYES-command set, most clones will run with these packages
such that the user is pleased, not to use his fingers and
ear to make a connection. This if he has a user friendly
telephone company (are there), but mostly the results are
hopeless in peak hours, if there is a mismatch between the
modem commands and the terminal commands. I had a modem and
a terminal program and on some day no nice CALL <my mother>
was succesfully. With finger and ear there was no problem.
Reaction of the terminal was "BUSY". The real point was, the
modem did not pickup in ATX2 mode the dial tone from the
Telephone company, so didn't start dialling. As the modem
had not a speaker (for cheapness), I could not use the ATM1
FidoNews 4-19 Page 14 18 May 1987
command, to follow the connection process. The dial signal
was strong enough, but the frequency was a little ouside
(WHO's) specification.
3. The HAYES set.
With this I hope, without copying the whole 250 pages of
both Hayes handbooks, to give enough information to
understand the HAYES-set and the differences.
Hayes propose to use as terminal program, the Hayes Smartcom
II Version 2.1.
3.1. The Physical DCE/DTE-lines.
With DTE is meant the Data Terminal Equipment (Your terminal
or Host computer) and with DCE the Data Circuit
(termination) Equipment (all equipment between two modems
RS232 plugs). The HAYES-1200B is the 1200 type but as a card
to be fitted into an IBM-PC. The same for HAYES-2400B.
The pin assignments must be in accordance to ISO 2110.
Pin # Circuit Towards Description 1200 2400
EIA/CCITT
1 AA 101 N/A prot. ground x x
7 AB 102 N/A signal ,, x x
2 BA 103 DCE transmit data x x
3 BB 104 DTE receive data x x
4 CA 105 DCE request to send x
5 CB 106 DTE clear to send H x
6 CC 107 DTE data set ready R x
20 108.1 DCE connect data set x x
20 CD 108.2 DCE data term. ready x x
22 CE 125 DTE ring indicator x x
8 CF 109 DCE data carrier detected x x
23 CI 112 DTE select altern. rate x
12 CI DTE as previous (Bell212) x x
24 DA 113 DCE TX-clock (DTE source) x
15 DB 114 DTE TX-clock (synchr.) x
17 DD 115 DTE RX-clock (synchr.) x
Remark: x means served by the modem.
H means tied to +10 volt (True).
R means tied to pin 8.
Pin 20 (DTR) can be simulated in the 1200 and
1200B type with a dipswitch.
Pin 6 and 8 can be forced to true in the 1200
and 1200B type with a dipswitch.
3.2. The telephone line.
On the telephone lin level some distinction can be made on
FidoNews 4-19 Page 15 18 May 1987
the HAYES-2400, between jack type RJ12/RJ13 (multi line
jack) and the RJ11/RJ41S/RJ45S (single line jack). The 1200
only supports the RJ11 (single line), RJ12/RJ13 (multi
line), which can be set by dipswitches. This typically is
different per country. In the USA and some other countries,
the telephone set remaines connected in parallel to the
modem. In other countries like the Netherlands the telephone
set is switched of, as soon as the modem goes off-hook.
3.3. The modulation frequencies and call setup phase tones.
The following information is not exactly the HAYES-modem
information, but a hopefully readable extract from the
CCITT-norms. As I have not the Bell-norms, more or less the
USA norms are deducted from other documents.
The frequencies used with the different baudrates are:
3.3.1. For the F(requency) S(hift) K(eying) methodes.
These can be used as well as Synchrone.
Important is, the modems use filter technics to seperate
the transmit channel and receive channel. Some autoanswering
modems also by filter technics decide in which mode they are
called.
3.3.2. Automatic answering sequence (V25).
If ringing is received on the line, the CE/CT125 circuit
(pin 22) will be raised true. If CD/108 circuit was true,
the modem goes OFF-HOOK. If not the modem waits for a true
signal on CD/108 (pin 20), before it goes OFF-HOOK. The
modem remains after 'off hook', for 1.8-2.5 sec. silent and
then transmits the 2100 Hz. answer tone during 2.6-4.0 sec.
or till 100msec. after a response from the calling station.
At least now 75 msec. silence is maintained. The 2100 Hz is
intended to disable network echo cancellers or echo
suppressors and is reversed in phase every 425-475 msec. Now
the circuit CC/107 (pin 6) is set true to indicate to the
terminal, a connection is ready. The calling modem reacts on
the answer tone also by setting circuit CC/107 (pin 6) true.
FidoNews 4-19 Page 16 18 May 1987
A response normally as mentioned is the frequency of a
binary '1'. If the equipment of the telephone company does
not have echo control devices, the 2100 Hz tone may be
replaced by any other tone e.g. directly the binary '1'.
Only after this sequence (or in ommission of it) directly
the autospeed modems will determine the baudrate norm. In
Europe, with its V23-splitbaud rate complexity, there are
Hayes compatibles trying to select at the moment after the
answer sequence to select: V21, V23 (viditel), V22 and
V22bis. This means actually a detection criteria for carrier
frequencies at 980/1180 (V21), 450/390 (V23) and 1200
V22(bis) modulated with 600 baud. At the same time all kind
of frequencies like 2100, 550, 1800 Hz. and busy tone, dial
tones around 425 Hz. has to be ignored.
3.3.3. For the D(iferential) P(hase) S(hift) K(eying)
and the Q(uadrature) A(mplitude) M(odulation) methodes.
These methodes are primarly for synchrone transmission, but
asynchrone is allowed by inserting extra stop bits between
characters.
The guard tone is only send in the high channel (2400 Hz.
carrier, so by the answering modem, but can be disabled per
country. The 550 guard tone is another option. Basically
the Bell-212 and the CCITT-V22 are the same. But in detail
there are differences. Which, I don't know yet for sure, it
may be the scrambled '0' instead '1's (see lateron). But in
the HAYES-2400, there is a command ATBn, with which the
BELL-212 (n=1) or V22 (n=0) is selected. This only for the
1200 baud FD mode. The V22bis is fully compatible with the
V22 norm. The difference between V22 (600/1200 baud) and
V22bis (1200/2400 baud) is V22 works with 2 dibits and
V22bis with quadbits. The way of working of PSK/QAM modems
is to complex to explain here, but it is important to know
that a phase change of the modulated carrier of:
0 degrees is equal to dibit 01
90 degrees is equal to dibit 00
180 degrees is equal to dibit 10
270 degrees is equal to dibit 11
These first two bits in the V22bis quadbit are compatible
with the dibits of V22, to remain compatabilty for fallback
mode. The V22bis has another 4 levels of detection by means
of a quadrature amplitude modulation technic.
FidoNews 4-19 Page 17 18 May 1987
3.3.4. Automatic answering mode V22(bis).
At calling time the sequence as described above with the FSK
type modem is valid for the V22(bis). The called modem
reacts instead or after the answer sequence with unscrambled
binary '1's at 1200 bit/sec. and well in the upper channel
(2400 Hz. carrier). This till it detects scrambled '0' or
'1's in the lower channel (1200 Hz. carrier). The calling
modem remains silent till it for 155 msec. detects
unscrambled '1's in the upper channel, after which it
remains silent for 456 msec. and then transmit unscrambled
double dibits 00 and 11, if in V22bis mode, for 100 msec.
followed by scrambled binary '1's or if in V22 mode it
transmits direct scrambled binary '1's (*). Here the
distinction 1200/2400 baud is made by the calling modem. The
called modem reacts with scrambled '1's preceded, if V22bis
with the unscrambled double dibit 00 and 11. At the moment
of detection of the double dibits, the circuit CI/112 (pin
12) is set true (indicating 2400 baud). In both cases the
scrambled '1's are observed for 600 msec. after which the
circuit CF/109 (pin 8) is set true. If V22 (1200) the data
transfer is started under control of CA/104 (pin 3). In the
V22bis mode (2400), first scrambled binary '1's are send
form both sides for 200 msec. on 2400 bit/sec. mode. Noted,
that till now all was transmitted on 1200 bit/sec. After
this 200 msec. also the V22bis mode is ready for data
transfer.
I know it is confusing, but so it works. To make it more
difficult, the (*) mentioned in the text is true for V22bis
and for V22 alternative A and B only. For V22 alternative C,
for the '1's you have to read '0's. As the V22 norm is very
confusing on some aspects, one remark has to be made. In V22
(not V22bis) 3 alternatives can be selected. Alternative A
and B are compatible with V22bis, but alternative C not. The
difference is the scrambled binary '0's stead '1's of the
calling modem. So the real difference between alternatives
A/B and C is, that alternative C includes the possibility
for mode V, for anisochronenous data upto 300 bit/sec. Which
manufacturer tells me which alternative as mentioned in V22
he serves. Or has this to do with the Bell-212 norm. Who can
tell? Has this to do with the famous ATBn command in the
HAYES-2400 modem? See above.
Be carefully with these V22 and Bell-212A norms. As
explained before only the 2400 baud (V22bis) is compatible.
The 1200 sometimes works, but sometimes not. E.g. I had an
USA RIXTON 212 modem, not corrected for the European market.
Also I had a Dutch designed (DATAD) V22(bis) V23 and V21
modem and an English (PACE) for the same speeds. The RIXTON
works pretty most at the time with both the DATAD and PACE
modem. But sometimes it goes wrong and the Eurpeans connects
at 2400, which is strange, but true. With an original HAYES-
1200 (with no ATBn) command as the HAYES-2400 has, nearly
the same result. The two Europeans hardly are connectable at
1200 baud to each other. This has in my opinion to do with
FidoNews 4-19 Page 18 18 May 1987
the way of speed selection. We try to come out of this
struggle.
3.4. Some advise on real physical level.
If you are ggiing into communications with modems and you
have no Telecomfreak-friend close to you and you want no
nervous breakdown in the near future, have at least a
"breakbox", self made or from the shop. This to follow the
different DTE/DCE levels. If you want to log a HAYES session
to evaluate the connection process or data exchange process,
make from your old computer a "DATASCOPE". (See Appendix A
for some suggestions). An other advise is to standardise
your cable set. As some manufactures make a mash of the V24
or RS232C pins, you have not to follow it. On telephone
line level it is handy to have in your surrounding a scope
or frequency counter.
3.5. Connection of the terminal to the HAYES.
The Hayes modem has a minimum and a maximum baud rate. If
you connect a terminal to the modem, make sure you have the
right pins connected in relation with the dipswitches. Also
if you have selected e.g. 108/2 mode, be sure your terminal
program support them. It is possible to connect only the
pins 2,3 and 7. So in this case the DTR and the DCD are
forced true. In general I don't like this methode. With the
Hayes-1200, RTS and CTS are not used, so only full duplex is
possible. With Hayes-2400 you have to use these signals only
if you use the Half Duplex mode (Synchrone mode). Otherwise
RTS (pin 4) is neglected and CTS (pin 5) is set true.
So if you have connected the terminal properly, at the time
you give an 'A' or 'a', the modem decides what the baudrate
is and set the terminal interface UART according to it.
Hayes is very street forward. This speed is maintained till
after the <carriage return>, which always finishes a command
line. With the next A from a new AT command line, a new
speed can be defined. There is one other possibility. In
auto answer mode or if a call is made, the baudrate can be
else as the speed in the last passed command mode. This on
real modem level, the baudrate detection selects another
speed. The Hayes reacts with the connect code on this last
command mode speed and than switches to the new speed. To
give an example. Suppose the terminalspeed is 2400 baud. A
dial is made towards a 1200 baud only modem. The Hayes will
start the connect phase as described in 3.3.2. but finally
will get a connection on 1200 baud. So he will react towards
the terminal with 2400 baud with 'CONNECT' or '1', switches
back to 1200 baud, which the terminal has to follow,
otherwise it result in a terminal/modem mismatch. Also a
<silence>+++<silence> on 2400 baud will not be accepted.
Only 1200 baud, from this moment on. So suppose the
established call at 1200 baud is broken. The Hayes will,
after the carrier disappear, fall back into command mode
still in 1200 baud. The terminal has to give an AT<string>
FidoNews 4-19 Page 19 18 May 1987
on 2400 baud if it wants the original 2400 baud connection
again.
3.6. The differences in the Hayes command set.
Very short a comparision between HAYES-1200 and HAYES-2400
modem will be given and only per command a short functional
recoqnition. First however the Hayes command-input line. It
starts with AT or at (no mix of UPPER/lower) and ends with a
cariage return from now on indicated with <CR>. The only
exeption is the A/ command, which needs no <CR>. During
commandline editing backspace (hex '08') is accepted. One or
more commands can be given after one leading AT. The max.
length of the input string however is 40 char.
Blanks can be inserted for more readability.
Command. What does it. Hayes-1200 Hayes-2400 Return code
AT Attention y y OK
A/ Repeat last comm. y y depends
A Off hook (ANS) y y none (data)
Bn 1200 (V22/Bell) - n=0-1,1 OK
Cn TX off/on n=0-1 - OK
D<modif> Dial y y see modifier
En Echo off/on(comm) n=0-1 n=0-1,1 OK
Fn Echo off/on(data) n=0-1 - OK
Hn Hook on/off/spec. n=0-2 n=0-1 none (data)
In prod.code/prom-cc n=0-1 n=0-2 info
Ln Speaker (L/M/H) - n=0-2,1 OK
Mn Speaker off/on n=0-2 n=0-3,1 OK
On Online only O n=0-1 none (data)
P Set pulse dial y y OK
Qn Result code Y/N n=0-1 n=0-1,0 OK
Sr=n Set reg. r to n r=0-16 r=0-27 OK
Sr? Display reg. r r=0-16 r=0-27 contents r
T Set touch dial y y OK
Vn Result code N/W n=0-1 n=0-1,1 OK
Xn Dial process n=0-1 n=0-4,4 OK
Yn Long disconn. - n=0-1,0 OK
Zn Reset only Z n=0-1 OK
&Cn DCD on/carrier - n=0-1,0 OK
&Dn DTR modes - n=0-3,0 OK
&F Load factory set - y OK
&Gn Gaurd tone - n=0-2,0 OK
&Jn RJ-jack sel. - n=0-1,0 OK
&Mn Asynch./Synchr. - n=0-3,0 OK
&Pn Pulse ratio - n=0-1,0 OK
&Rn CTS mode - n=0-1,0 OK
&Sn DSR mode - n=0-1,0 OK
&Tn Test local/remote - n=0-8 OK
&V Display conf/tel - y OK
&Wn Write conf. MOS - n=0-1 OK
&Xn Line clock mode - n=0-2,0 Ok
&Yn Sel. default prof.- n=0-1 OK
&Zn Store teleph. nr. - n=0-3 OK
FidoNews 4-19 Page 20 18 May 1987
Remark: n=0-2,1 means, n can be 0,1,2 and 1=default.
If n=0 this may ommitted. (ATV0 equal to ATV).
All numbers are in decimal (max.=255).
Dial What does Hayes-1200 Hayes-2400
Modifier it
P Pulse dial y y
R Reverse to ANSW y y
Sn Dial stored tel. - n=0-3
T Touch dial y y
W Wait 2e dialtone - y
. Pause y y
! Flash - y
@ Wait for silence - y
; Return to comm. y y
The registers.
Reg. What does it. Hayes-1200 Hayes-2400
S0 Ring to answ.on 0-255 0-255,00
S1 Ring count 0-255,00 0-255,00
S2 Escape code 0-127,43 0-127,43 ASCII
S3 Cariage return 0-127,13 0-127,13 ASCII
S4 Line feed code 0-127,10 0-127,10 ASCII
S5 Back space code 0-127,08 0-127,08 ASCII
S6 Wait for dial tone 0-255,02 0-255,02 Sec.
S7 Wait for carrier 1-30,30 1-30,30 Sec.
S8 Pause time comma 0-255,02 0-255,02 Sec.
S9 Carrier detect time 1-255,06 1-255,06 1/10 Sec.
S10 Lost carrier time 1-255,07 1-255,14 1/10 Sec.
S11 DTMF dialing speed 50-255,70 50-255,95 mSec.
S12 Escape code guard 0-255,50 0-255,50 1/50 Sec.
S13 UART status reg. y y
S14 Option reg. y x'AA'
S15 Flag reg. y y
S16 Modem test 0-2,0 bit settings
S17 res. - res.
S18 Modem test time - 1-255,00 Sec.
S19 Res. - Res.
S20 Res. - Res.
S21 Bit mapped options - 00
S22 Bit mapped options - x'76'
S23 Bit mapped options - 07
S24 Res. - Res.
S25 Detect DTR change - 0-255,05 1/100 Sec.
S26 RTS to CTS delay - 0-255,01 1/100 Sec.
S27 Bit mapped options - x'40'
Remark: 1-255,01 means, range 1 till 255, 01=default.
All numbers are in decimal (max.=255).
x'76' is hexadecimal.
FidoNews 4-19 Page 21 18 May 1987
Return codes Hayes-1200 Hayes-2400
Digit Word
0 OK y y
1 CONNECT y y
2 RING y y
3 NO CARRIER y y
4 ERROR y y
5 CONNECT 1200 y y
6 NO DIALTONE - y
7 BUSY - y
8 NO ANSWER - y
9 reserved - -
10 CONNECT 2400 - y
========
Appendix A. Datascope.
A datascope looks to both the RXD and the TXD line of a
V24/RS232C line. So only follows what happens on the line.
There are very nice commercial packages as FELINE, HP etc.,
but they are expensive and they use mostly a special POD to
connect to the V24 line. Most of them you have to preset on
one speed and than to start the logging.
If you have an old computer with better two speed
programmable UART or a SIO chip and you can program them in
Assembler/basic/pascal or C, you can make your one one.
The next story is a simplified logunit only to log
datastreams preceded with a AT-string. Most of the
application programs works in terminal session as well
filetransport in a half duplex mode. Or better, never the TX
and RX line transports a character. So basically in default
you have to look to the TXD-line, and look at 2400 baud for
a character x'41','06', '78' or '01'. At that moment you
know that probably the speed is 2400, 1200, 600 or 300 baud.
You get on line speeds 600 and 1200 a framing error, because
the stop-bit is not detected. Now depending the detected
speed you have to wait (time-out) till the rest of the
character is passed, then you have to change the speed of
your comm-port, and await for the 'T', If it is a 'T' than
you have the speed, if not wait on 2400 baud for the
posibilities as described above. The basic idee behind this
is really simple. If you listen with 2400 bit/sec to a 300
bit/sec send character, the start bit is detected and will
serve for the startbit and 7 bits char. bits (so 7 zero
bits). The eights char. bit is formed of the LSB bit and
well 1/8 portion of it. The second portion will be the stop
bit. So if on the line really is transmitted a 600 bit/sec
char., the same is true with 1/4 portions. Furthermore you
have to look to both the TXD and RXD line, if on one a char.
is received. If so you put this char. in its own buffer and
in the other one a x'00'. Lateron you can print it out, one
line from buffer RXD, one line from buffer TXD in Hex or
FidoNews 4-19 Page 22 18 May 1987
ASCII (or both) outfit.
Go on on the same speed till you didn't receive for 30 sec.
any character on both lines and start again with AT
synchronisation. In fact the HAYES inside micro computer is
doing the same. Don't try to write the buffer to disk at
first instance, because you need a DMA at least, but also 2
buffers. So buffer it in memory only. You can try to write
to disk in the silence just before the new AT string.
Most of the readers of this newsletter are unfamiliar with my
name and have little idea why I would be writing an occasional
column. Those who are fortunate enough to get ECHOMAIL have
probably seen my mutterings but might well not recognize the me
as Ryugen Fisher. Instead they know me as "That Old Frog" SYSOP
of 220/1, The Old Frog's Swamp.
Recently, I was asked to serve as the chairfrog of the FTSC (Fido
Technical Standards Committee) and it is in that capacity that I
am writing you today. As some of you may know, the job of the
FTSC is to document and make available to users or developers the
"complicated" parts of the way that Fido and Opus and SEAdog and
?????? talk to each other so that when the systems attempt to
talk to each other, there is every chance that they will succeed.
This is why "Net Mail" and "Echo Mail" and many of your everyday
useful utilities work, because they are written to the
specifications of a published (and available) standard.
Additionally the FTSC advises the Board of Directors about new
products (hardware and software) that might affect the net. In
this effort, I am fortunate enough to have the outstanding
contributions of (in alphabetical order) Ben Baker, Bob Hartman,
Thom Henderson, Tom Jennings [occasionally!], Ken Kaplan, Vince
Perriello, Wynn Wagner and Gee Wong. I doubt that there is a
board anywhere in the world that is not using programs developed
by at least 3 of these illustrious gentlemen. These, then, are
the members of the FTSC committee and I wish to publicly thank
them for their past, present and continuing contributions.
Recently, there have been many questions about the new 9600 baud
modems. Some of you may have them, most do not. Of course, those
folks that do have them are anxious to see them on the weekly
nodelist, and I can not blame them for this. At the present
time, the 9600 baud modems are not listed on the "official"
nodelist although Mr. Mike Johnson (Tulsa) is preparing a list of
9600 HST modems that you can add with XLATLIST to the official
list if you have a 9600 HST and wish to try to link with someone
else that has one. Many people have asked why the 9600 baud modem
is not on the official list, and explaining that is the second
reason for this column.
The first reason that the 9600 baud has not become a "standard"
is that Fido, in any of its versions currently available, will
NOT work at 9600 baud. Opus and SEAdog will handle the 9600 baud
throughput, but Fido just won't do it. I'm sure that you will
agree that this is an important consideration. We hope that as
the new Fido 12 and Opus 1.XX finish their testing, more sysops
will change to one of these systems and thus support 9600 baud
modems. But, while software development is one issue, it is not
the only (or even the major) one.
FidoNews 4-19 Page 24 18 May 1987
The major issue is compatibility. Simple put, unlike the 2400
baud modem that was designed to a standard so that Hayes and USR
and Multitech, etc could all produce a modem that could and would
talk to another brand, in the evolving world of 9600 baud modems,
there are not two brands of reliable modems that can talk to each
other at 9600 baud. Nor do all the brands "step down" to a slower
speed in the same way.
What this means is that a U S Robotics 9600 HST cannot connect
with a 9600 Telebit and neither of them talk to a 9600 Microcom.
And such major modem manufacturers as Racal Vadic, Hayes, Anchor
and Multitech have not yet even released a product! But, they are
going to. And as each of them is released, we will do our best to
test and evaluate, hoping that a common industry standard will
soon be reached. When that happens, when two diverse brands of
modems are able to repeatedly connect with each other at 9600
baud and can pass the committee's other tests, you can be certain
that you will read about it HERE before you see it in PC WEEK or
INFOWORLD.
What we are hesitant about is that at this time the FidoNet
network is the largest network in the world and our adoption in
the nodelist of a "non-standard" modem might well (artificially
and prematurely) serve to create a "defacto" standard that
actually RETARDS the development of a really great 9600 baud
modem. At this time, NONE of our testers were willing to spend
their $$$ on the products. And as long as that remains true, we
can not, in good conscience, actively or BY IMPLICATION encourage
you to purchase a 9600 baud modem.
We would like you to know that questions regarding the "standard"
F-O-S (Fido/Opus/Seadog) interface can be addressed to the FTSC
at 220/1 or via U.S. Snail at:
Standards Committee
P.O. Box 1061
Rhinelander, WI 54501
Questions can be addressed by IFNA members and non-members alike,
and we will do our best to assist you.
-- The Regular Irregular Column --
Dale Lovell
157/504
I'd like to start off this column by thanking all of those
who have taken the time to write to me. One of the things I like
best about this column is hearing from someone I've been able to
help (or who thought I had something interesting to say). While
the echomail conferences are fine for some things (like asking
questions), I think FidoNews is a better method of distributing
information that you think many people might need. Even
information that would only apply to sysops (a new or improved
utility for example), not all sysops have the time or resources
to read every message in the sysop echomail conference. While it
looks like FidoNews is getting many more submissions recently, it
still looks a little pale at times. Let's all try to keep
FidoNews in mind when we discover any useful information.
-- Oops... I goofed (Correction department) --
In my column on PageMaker and Ventura Publisher there is a
mistake. There is a run-time version of Windows. Since Ventura
didn't need GEM (it had a run-time version built-in), but
PageMaker needed Windows (the package even came with a full
Windows) I had assumed that there was no run-time version of
Microsoft Windows. David Dyer-Bennet (Sysop 14/341) brought this
to my attention. It seems that Microsoft includes a run-time
version of Windows in its Windows Development Kit. I don't know
why Aldus didn't take advantage of it with PageMaker, but it does
exist.
-- Postscript, Laser Printers, and such --
In the same column I had asked if there were any other
Postscript laser printers in the market. It was brought to my
attention a device by The Laser Connection called PS Jet. PS Jet
replaces the top of a Hewlett Packard LaserJet (or anything built
on the same engine like the Canon Laser printer) and turns it
into a Postscript Laser Printer. Please note that this can NOT be
used with the new HP LaserJet series II, only with their original
LaserJet printers. In addition to this I found a list of
PostScript printers in the latest issue of BYTE magazine. The
list includes the ITT Qume Scrip Ten, the NEC SilentWriter LC-
890, the QMS PS 800 and PS 2400, and the Texas Instruments
OMNILASER 2108. Armed with this list of names I went down to my
local dealer and found out that he is able to order the TI
printer.
Some people suggested to me that something like a LaserJet
and the JLaser board would be much quicker than PostScript. The
problem I'd have with this is Ventura doesn't really give you
that much more for a JLaser. It may be able to do some graphics
quicker and allow you to print in reverse text (white on black),
but it doesn't give you the variety of type faces and sizes.
That's where Postscript really shows its' stuff. With most of the
laser printers you have to define a font in every size you need.
FidoNews 4-19 Page 26 18 May 1987
If you design a special font, you have to create it in EVERY size
you intend to use it. A printer using PostScript doesn't have
this liability. A font is defined by it's outline. If the font is
there, great tell it what size you want to use for now. Ventura
knows about this and gives you the greatest variety and
flexibility with a PostScript printer.
Graphics with PostScript are indeed slow, but it also allows
some special things with them. If you import an AutoCad drawing
into Ventura, when printed (to a Postscript device) it will show
with the greatest resolution possible. If you're using a laser
printer, 300 dpi (dots per inch). If you have a Linotype
Linotronic L300 with the PostScript RIP, it comes out at 2540
dpi. This way you are always getting the highest resolution
possible. I don't how PostScript does these tricks, especially
enlarging and reducing a font smoothly, but it does do them and
do them well. For more information on this, I'd recommend you
pick up the May 1987 issue of BYTE magazine. There are several
articles on DeskTop Publishing, with a few dedicated to
PostScript.
-- Updates and comments --
Incidentally, Xerox has released version 1.1 of Ventura
Publisher. Included in the new release is support for many more
printers (the original version knew about less than a dozen), and
better support for some of the existing printers. One of the
extended features in Version 1.1 is the support of PostScript
download fonts. I've seen a few of these advertised for the PC,
and it's nice to see that Xerox isn't going to ignore what is
going on in the real world. Continuing support can be hard to
find these days. The price for a new copy remains the same ($895)
and updates are $100. I don't see anything wrong with this fee,
as it should include quite a bit of updates to the manual.
While I would normally complain loudly about having to pay
for an update, I'm not going to complain about this one. While it
would be nice for companies to give top notch support after
you've purchased their product (read give free updates), it would
make software prices unreasonable. Can you imagine the price
increase for a piece of software if "included" in the price was a
few decades of updates? While it would be nice, I can't see it as
being practical. If the update is because of a major bug, I think
it the company should send the updates free. But when it's a
"legitimate" update, I see no reason not to charge a reasonable
fee. If the update just consists of new disks, I can't see
charging that much for it. On the other hand, if the update
includes a new manual (only if needed, I have little use for
duplicates of manuals) I can easily see the need to charge for it
(printing costs can be very high).
-- MathCAD (MathSoft, List Price $249) --
I was given a demonstration of MathCAD this past week by a
professor at a local college. I've been interested in MathCAD
since I saw one of their ads. It looked like an interesting
FidoNews 4-19 Page 27 18 May 1987
program and while I still can't afford it, I did want to take a
look at it. The demonstration was by no means a real "test run"
although I did have a chance to play with it for awhile.
I was very impressed with MathCAD's capabilities. It really
is a "spreadsheet" for engineers in the way that Lotus is a
spreadsheet for accountants. In almost no time at all I was
getting it to calculate the results to somewhat complicated (to
me at least) formulas. Since I knew I was going to get a chance
to try it, I brought several of my old college texts in Calculus,
Computer Science, and Physics. I was able to get MathCAD to solve
many of the examples (and problems) from each textbook, even
going so far as to graph the equations. For the first time I was
able to "see" how much faster different sorting algorithms were
for a number of elements to be sorted. All I had to do was enter
the formula for average number of "swaps" (obtained out of the
textbook) for each algorithm, give a range to represent the
number of elements, and graph each function. Total elapsed time
was less than 10 minutes, and that's including some learning time
as well! When I was in college, it would have taken me over a day
to write a program to analyze the different functions and graph
them, and even then my graphs would have been much cruder (due to
lack of graphics experience and laziness). Since MathCAD lets you
insert text anywhere, my "spreadsheet" could very easily have
been a handout from a college course. Everything neatly labeled,
functions looking like they do in textbooks (no sqr(), but a
"real" root symbol), and explanations for everything. it would
have been nice to have had this when I was in college, a lot of
the work would have been completed in minutes instead of hours.
While I wouldn't recommend you send your children off to
college with a copy of MathCAD, it would be to easy for them to
just finish the book work instead of actually learning about the
topic. I would recommend this program to anyone who has to do a
lot of function solving in the course of their work. This would
probably include almost anyone designing electronic components,
buildings, and the like. Overall I am very impressed with the
program. It will work with any graphics cards (CGA, EGA, and
Hercules mono) and takes advantage of a math coprocessor if it's
installed. If you plan on running it on an XT (even a turbo XT)
get an 8087, it will crawl without one. I'd go so far as to
recommend a math coprocessor for any machine it's going to be run
on frequently. That's the only drawback I could find in the hour
or so I was able to use the program, and I can barely see that as
a drawback. Anyone who is using their computer for a math
intensive application (like MathCAD or a CAD program) should have
an 8087/80287. It can make a world of difference between barely
running, and running quite well (and quickly).
-- Winding down --
The best game I've come across this week is Silent Service
from Microprose (list price $34.95). Last week I mentioned that I
hadn't been able to get it to run. Well, the problem was in their
copy protection scheme. It just didn't like my NEC V20. I ended
up pulling the V20 out and putting the 8088 back in order to get
FidoNews 4-19 Page 28 18 May 1987
it to boot. While I can't condone a copy protection scheme that
is this unforgiving (or a program that only supports the CGA
video card like this one), I really do enjoy Silent Service.
There are several different "games" within the program ranging
from target practice to war patrol. I've been busy with the
latter for the most part (I was already familiar with the game
from my Commodore days). I start off at one of the three Pacific
sub bases and patrol the Japanese shipping lanes. I'm told when I
run across a ship or convoy. Since there are many types of ships
I can decide if the convoy is worth the time involved (one
freighter is not worth taking on 3 destroyers). While I've been
concentrating on the big ships (tankers and troop ships), I have
gone after large convoys of freighters. My biggest problems have
been with the "Kaibokan" destroyers. You usually only get one
good chance at hitting a convoy, after the first torpedo "salvo"
the convoy starts zig-zagging and the destroyers escorting them
come looking for you! It is a very accurate simulation of World
War II submarine warfare and can be very addicting. If you
getting tired of the standard shoot 'em up style games yet still
want some action, look into Silent Service. Just be prepared to
deal with strategy as well as good aim.
The best book I've found is "Solutions in C" by Rex Jaeschke
(Addison-Wesley, $17.95 list). It covers some of the more
advanced topics of C, and has helped me to understand my compiler
a little better. Most of the books I've seen on C don't cover
topics like stack and heap management, and in some cases this
could be very important. It also goes into more detail than most
of my other C books on structures, arrays, bit fields and the
like. This is not the book for someone just beginning to learn C,
but it does do nicely for someone who is trying to learn more
than is discussed in most of the books available on C. I plan on
making it a permanent part of my library and would recommend that
others do the same.
As usual there's quite a bit lying around that I haven't
gotten around to looking at yet. Part of the reason is lack of
time, but some of it is lack of interest. I would really like to
hear from some of you on programs that you've found to be
worthwhile. Not only will you "get your name in lights" (I try to
give credit where credit is due), but you could save me a lot of
time as well. Below you'll find my US mail address, uucp address,
and FidoNet net/node number. If you're sending me netmail through
FidoNet, please route it through 157/1 (157/0 will work as well,
but I hit 157/1 more often). Next week, I'll give you the current
results on my valspeak/LEX project.
Dale Lovell
3266 Vezber Drive
Seven Hills, OH 44131
uucp: ..!ncoast!lovell
FidoNet: 157/504
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-19 Page 29 18 May 1987
24 May 1987
Metro-Fire Fido's Second Birthday BlowOut and Floppy Disk
Throwing Tournament! All Fido Sysops and Families Invited!
Contact Christopher Baker at 135/14 for more information.
SEAdogs may GET more information by requesting FPICMAP.ARC
from 135/14.
20 Aug 1987
Start of the Fourth International FidoNet Conference, to be
held at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, VA.
Contact Brian Hughes at 109/634 for more information. This is
FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet
all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're
hoping to see you there!
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1/1.
A few people have contacted the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel about
obtaining a room for the upcoming FidoNet Conference and have
been somewhat surprised at the rates quoted. Please rest assured
that conference attendees do NOT have to pay full room rates!
When booking your room, be sure to tell them that you are
attending the International FidoNet Conference. This will get
you a rate of $80 per room for any number of occupants.
Bob Morris 141/333
Chairman, Elections and Nominations Committee
The next two pages are your Official ballot for the Election of
the IFNA Board of Directors. The following are the few rules
which must prevail in this election:
1. You must send a legible copy of this ballot to the address
listed on the ballot. It must be signed and bear your
net/node number.
2. You may vote for any one person in your region for the
position of Regional Director. This vote is to be cast in the
LEFT column of the ballot.
3. You may vote for any eleven people in any regions for the
position of Director at Large. These votes are to be cast in
the RIGHT column of the ballot.
4. Voting will continue until the end of registration at the
Conference in August. The results will be read during the
opening of the business meeting on the first day of the
conference.
5. Write-in Votes will be accepted and are requested during this
election.
FidoNews 4-19 Page 31 18 May 1987
IFNA Board Of Directors
Ballot
Regional At Large
Region 10:
Steve Jordan _________ ________
Region 11:
Ryugen Fisher _________ ________
Theodore Polczynski _________ ________
Region 12:
Region 13:
Don Daniels _________ ________
John Penberthy _________ ________
Thom Henderson _________ ________
Gee Wong _________ ________
Brian Hughes _________ ________
Region 14:
Ben Baker _________ ________
Ken Kaplan _________ ________
Brad Hicks _________ ________
Region 15:
David Dodell _________ ________
Larry Wall _________ ________
Region 16:
Bob Hartman _________ ________
Hal Duprie _________ ________
Region 17:
Rob Barker _________ ________
Randy Bush _________ ________
Bob Swift _________ ________
Region 18:
Wes Cowley _________ ________
FidoNews 4-19 Page 32 18 May 1987
Region 19:
Mark Grennan _________ ________
Wynn Wagner _________ ________
Name ______________________________ Net/Node ___________
Signature______________________________ Date ___________
Please complete this and mail it to:
Robert Morris
IFNA Elections Committee
210 Church Street
West Haven, Ct. 06516
or bring it with you when you come to the conference in August.
These ballots will be counted by myself since with 200 members
the charges for a CPA would be very high. Hard copies will be
made available to anyone wishing to insure that their vote was
included.
