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 1:1/1.
Copyright 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 at (314) 576-4067.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
The Future of FidoNews ................................... 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3
International Technical Coordinator Retires .............. 3
The Tragedy of an On-Line Addiction ...................... 4
Paying to use Bulletin Boards ............................ 7
QNX Conference & MultiLine Mania ......................... 9
The Zones are coming ! ................................... 12
3. COLUMNS .................................................. 15
The Regular Irregular Column ............................. 15
4. NOTICES .................................................. 19
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 19
P/S 2 Compatible Available October 11, 1987 .............. 19
Latest Software Versions ................................. 20
FidoNews 4-37 Page 1 28 Sep 1987
This week's guest editorial is by Randy Edwards, 1:132/555.
The Future of FidoNews
Well, the FidoNet convention has come and gone. We now have
(like it or not) the IFNA Board of Directors in place, committees
have been set up and the whole apparatus appears to be
functioning.
A while back in the infamous SYSOP echo there was a fierce
debate over FidoNews. The main issue of this debate was the fact
that FidoNews was declared to be IFNA's official newsletter.
Many suggested that IFNA make up a new newsletter. Most people
agreed that the content of FidoNews wouldn't change too much with
it becoming the official IFNA newsletter.
Has the FidoNews been changed by it becoming IFNA's official
newsletter? Should it change more, less, or remain as is?
Should the policy of "you send it and I'll publish it" be
changed? Does the FidoNews appeal to the majority of FidoNet
users?
These are all legitimate questions. Over the last few
months I've noticed the many "political" articles that have been
popping up in the FidoNews in ever increasing numbers. Now it's
hard to do anything without politics, but do we need to limit
these in some way - or do we need to encourage more of them?
After the FidoNet conference I eagerly awaited news of what
happened at the conference. I wanted to know what went on and
what was decided. What I got in the FidoNews was the minutes of
the IFNA meetings. Though I applaud the work of the author of
the minutes, they lacked the "newsy" feeling that gives
excitement to the reader. In fact they sort of reminded me of
the boring memos and policies that I have to read at work. Since
I had already learned much of what went on at the conference
through the EchoMail I stopped reading the minutes after a page
or two and quickly dumped that issue into my text files area.
Is this the proper place for IFNA to put the minutes of its
meetings? True, it is a matter which should concern all FidoNet
Sysops, but wouldn't it be better in a separate IFNA document?
Perhaps we could replace those minutes with a more eye catching
article in the FidoNews and give reference to an IFNA document if
the reader is interested in further reading. Is it proper for
Tandy Corporation to post press releases in FidoNews making us
Sysops pay for their advertising?
Overall, what I'm asking is: Is FidoNews doing its job? Is
it appealing to all users (that includes USERS and Sysops) of the
FidoNet? Do we need to modify ARTSPEC.DOC or change the "you
FidoNews 4-37 Page 2 28 Sep 1987
send it I'll publish it" policy? Should IFNA have another
newsletter or bulletin to put out lengthy messages which may not
interest the majority of users of the FidoNet?
I think these are important questions. I've always like the
FidoNews and found it to be one of the real benefits of being in
the net. I'd hate to see it become a Sysop-only newsletter, or
for it to drift one way or the other and for it to lose
readership, or become oriented towards one specific group (other
than FidoNet users). But it has changed and still is changing -
let's make sure we know where it's going.
It is with regret that I announce the Resignation of Ben Baker
from his positions of Zone 1 Coordinator, Director of IFNA, and
Vice President - Technical Coordinator.
Ben has served for over three years as our Technical Coordinator,
"The Keeper of the Nodelist." During that time not only was he
one of the main designers of our present routing concepts, but he
has provided many specialized utilities to automate the nodelist
handling procedure, has interceded in many problems and squabbles
dealing with Network concerns (in his position as the
International Coordinator), and has spent uncountable hours in
the thankless task of making sure that the Nodelist gets out
correctly and on time.
Ben indicated to me that the reason for his decision were complex
but cited the fact that the emotional fire necessary for the
tasks he handles had "just burnt out." This has prompted him to
"Take a sabbatical for a few months" in order to unwind and and
regenerate.
Speaking for many, I'm sure that I can wish Ben all the best,
hope that things work out for him, and look forward to meeting
him again on the Net.
One last thing that Ben jokingly said to me was, "Well, here's
one 'emperor' that they won't have to worry about anymore."
Although the humor was obvious, there was also a hint of the
irony that must have been felt during the past year. It is
unfortunate that a lack of understanding and trust has helped
contribute to us losing one of our strongest contributors.
Good luck, Ben, and thanks for everything!
Don Daniels, President International FidoNet Association
= THE TRAGEDY OF AN ON-LINE ADDICTION =
- by Steve King -
"Did you know that last month's (expletive) phone bill is over
$450?" my wife scolded me in her harshest, my-husband-the-child
voice. "That's more than twice the monthly payment you make for
that (expletive) computer!" she continued as she escalated to
screaming.
"I confess! I confess!" I sobbed. "I'm just an on-line junkie;
I'm addicted to my modem! I guess I'll just have to join Modems
Anonymous before I owe my soul to the phone company."
As a counselor for Modems Anonymous, I hear numerous variations
of the preceding story every day. That insidious disease, modem
fever, is exacting a tragically large toll from the cream of our
society's computer users. Modem-mania is sweeping through the
very foundations of our country and there seems to be no stopping
it. This disease (yes, it is a social disease of almost epidemic
proportions) is becoming such a calamity that soon there's even
going to be a soap opera about on-line addiction named, "All My
Modems."
If you don't already own one of those evil instruments called a
modem, take warning! Don't even think about buying one. Modem
fever sets in very quietly; it sneaks up on you and then grabs
you by the wallet, checkbook or, heaven forbid, credit cards.
Once you own a modem, you enter the insidious addictive trap by
"dialing up" a friend who also has a modem. For some strange
reason, typing messages to each other fascinates you. (Even if it
is less than 10% of the speed that you can speak the same words
over a normal voice phone link.) Of course, you make several
attempts at hooking up before you finally figure out that at
least one of you must be in the half duplex mode; that discovery
actually titillates you (sounds impossible, but it's true).
Then your modem-buddy (friend is too good a term) sows another
seed on the road to on-line addiction by giving you the number of
a local BBS (Bulletin Board System). Once you get an BBS phone
number, you've taken the first fatal step in a journey that can
only end in on-line addiction.
After you take the next step by dialing up the the BBS your
modem-buddy told you about, you find that it's very easy to "log-
on." This weird form of conversation with an unattended computer
is strangely exciting, much more so than just typing messages
when you're on-line with your modem-buddy. The initial bulletins
scroll by and inform you about the board, but you're too "up" to
comprehend most of it. Then you read some of the messages in the
message section and maybe, in a tentative manner, you enter one
or two of your own. That's fun, but the excitement starts to
wear off; you're calming down. Thinking that it might be
worthwhile to go back and re-read the log-on bulletins, you
return to the main BBS menu.
FidoNews 4-37 Page 5 28 Sep 1987
Then it happens. The BBS provides the bait that entices you all
the way into the fiery hell of modem addiction. As you look at
the BBS main menu to learn how to return to the log-on bulletins,
you find an item called FILES. By asking your host computer for
FILES, you thread the bait onto the hook of corruption; the FILES
SUBMENU sets the hook. You start running with the line when you
LIST the files; you leap into the air with the sheer joy of the
fight when all those public domain program titles and
descriptions scroll by. They're FREE!!! All you have to do is
tell the bulletin board to download (transmit) them to you. You
download your first program and you're landed, in the creel,
cleaned and ready for the cooking fires. In just 55 minutes
after you logged-onto the board, you've downloaded six programs,
one of them is Andrew Fleugelman's PC-Talk, version 3 (truly an
instrument for evil).
BBS-LIST.DOC, which is also among the files you downloaded,
contains a list of a great number of bulletin boards throughout
the country. (There's evil all around us, constantly tempting
us!) You print the list and find about 60 RBBS phone numbers.
(Have mercy on our souls!) The list also gives you the hours of
operation, communications parameters and informs you about each
board's specialty. You decide to try PC-Talk and use it to dial-
up an BBS about three states away. Since the line is busy, you
pass the time entering all those BBS phone numbers into PC-Talk's
voluminous dialing directory.
You try the number again -- still busy. You think, "Hey, there's
one that specializes in Pascal programs. Maybe I'll try it.
It's about half-way across the country, but it's after 5pm and
the phone rates have changed. It won't be too expensive."
The Pascal board answers. After 45 minutes you've downloaded
another five programs. Then you call another board -- only this
one's completely across the country from California, in Florida.
And so it goes on into the night... And the next night... And
the next...
Some days it gets to you. You begin to feel the dirtiness of
modem addiction, particularly when your wife makes you feel like
a child by berating you for those astronomical phone bills -- if
she hasn't divorced you by then. Every time you sit down before
your computer to do some work, you dial up another BBS instead.
If that one's busy, you call another, and another, until you
connect. Then you feel OK, almost "high." When you finally hang
up, you still can't work; you can only dial up another BBS.
Your downfall as an on-line addict is just another one of this
society's terrible tragedies, such as polygamy or the compulsion
to circle all the numbers on computer magazine "bingo cards."
Eventually your whole social life relies upon only the messages
you find on electronic bulletin boards; your only happiness is
the programs you have downloaded. (You never try any of them,
you only collect them.)
Hope exists, however. We, the dedicated but under-paid staff of
FidoNews 4-37 Page 6 28 Sep 1987
Modems Anonymous, have done extensive research to find a cure for
modem mania, which has been ruining hundreds of lives. And we
have succeeded in our quest. The cure is really quite simple,
yet effective:
Set up your own bulletin board system. Then all the other modem
addicts will phone you, and their wives can nag at them about
$450 phone bills. And you can find peace -- at last.
-----
This is one of the most amusing (and bitterly true) stories I've
read. I don't know who Steve King is, but thanks Steve! And by
the way Steve, running a BBS doesn't work either - if you try
that you discover EchoMail! - Randy Edwards, Sysop 132/555
I've been seeing more and more "pay" systems these days - that
is, those that charge a fee to access the system. This fee can
take any number of forms; those that charge a monthly or yearly
"flat rate", those that charge by the minute or hour for time
spent online, and those that request "donations" from the users.
I am personally opposed to all three, for a variety of reasons.
It should be noted that I am not speaking of "pay systems" in the
traditional sense of the word, that is, CompuServe, The Source,
GEnie, etc. Nor does this apply to systems which are sponsored
by and for a limited number of users (members-only systems for a
user group, a corporate entity or some other organized
association of users). I am referring to your average, public or
semi-public privately-operated bulletin board - the kind we call
day in and day out all over the country. Now that you
(hopefully) have some idea of what my definition of a "bulletin
board" is for purposes of this article, let me share my reasons
for not supporting such systems (from a sysop's point of view).
1. The Think Tank is operated on my own computer and phone line.
I paid for the system myself, and I pay for the telephone
bills, maintenance, shareware fees for user utilities, floppy
disks for backups, paper, and any other supplies, software or
hardware I need to make the system operate smoothly. The
point is, no one ASKED me to use this computer to operate a
bulletin board! It was MY decision, so why should I ask
users to support my hobby financially?
2. The previous sentence is important to me, and it bothers me
that we may be losing sight of the fact that bulletin boards
started out as HOBBIES, not money-making ventures. Sure, I
know that very few (if any) sysops actually make a profit by
charging fees to users, but in my opinion, asking users to
pay for my hardware and/or software removes me from the realm
of "hobbyists" and places me in the position of POSSIBLY
showing a profit (no matter how remote the chances). It
could also cause the IRS to take an interest in my
activities. Income from a hobby is taxable; losses are not
deductible. Who needs that hassle?
3. Charging a fee to access my system also places me in a
position of being obligated to the users. If the hard drive
crashes, or the software develops bugs, I would have at least
a moral obligation to restore the system to full power as
soon as possible. Sure, I know I could pull the plug at any
time, take the money, and run. I even saw a captured session
from a fee system which said that a fee was required, but
nothing was guaranteed. I don't think I could operate like
that and still sleep well at night.
FidoNews 4-37 Page 8 28 Sep 1987
4. In my opinion, I am providing a somewhat valuable service to
callers. Some sysops have told me that this entitles us to
charge for these services (access to public-domain software,
message sections, FidoMail, "outside" games or features, or
whatever else may be available on any given system). I say
"Bunk!". The callers to The Think Tank don't "owe" me
anything; in fact, I owe THEM more than I could even begin to
express. I receive much of the latest and greatest software
through their generous uploads, I get most (if not all) of my
ideas for new message or file areas from users, and I get
lots of conversation which makes me think, laugh, and
sometimes pound my keyboard in frustration. And I love every
minute of it. For this they should pay me?? I repeat -
Bunk!
5. Okay, this is the paragraph where I bend my own "rules" a
bit. EchoMail. That wonderful feature which allows a large
number of BBS systems to share messages on an international
scale. I currently carry only two EchoMail areas. One is a
local echo (free), and the other is forwarded to me by the
generous HOST of Net 123 (thanks, Jerry!). However, should I
decide to add an EchoMail area sometime in the future, I will
still not charge users for the privilege of reading messages
and participating in the discussion. The key phrase here is
if *I* decide to add an Echo area, that is, one that I
personally am interested in. Now, if a group of users wants
me to provide an EchoMail conference which I have no interest
in, I'll be glad to do so (disk space permitting), but I
would also have no qualms about expecting the users to pay
for the long-distance calls. This would not qualify the Tank
as a "pay" system by my definition, because ONLY those
callers who requested the Echo area would be required to pay
for it (and only they would be able to access it).
I know there are a lot of pay systems out there, so rebuttals are
expected and welcomed. Flames, pot-shots, pats on the back, or
what have you can be sent to The Think Tank, 123/7 (24-hour
"Crash Mail" accepted), via a FidoNews article, or by direct call
(but you'll have to call twice; registration is required). If
you operate a pay system, I'd be interested in knowing how you
justify your fees, or what you offer users that is unavailable
elsewhere for free. Likewise, if you are a user who has paid a
fee to access a particular system, I'd like to know what prompted
you to do so. I'm not trying to start World War III here, far be
it from me to "tell" anyone how to operate their BBS. Just call
me curious...
QNX Echomail Conference
Real-time Process Control for the Matrix?
Ken McVay
SysOp, The Old Frog's Almanac (220/20)
A friend approached me last winter with a request for
information regarding an operating system powerful enough
for real-time applications, called QNX. It was, he'd heard,
the slickest thing to come down the pike since buttered bread.
He thought perhaps the matrix might be able to offer him some
data as to just how well QNX worked... I had not heard of the
product before, and, after sending several inquiries through the
echoes, it seemed that no one else had, either.
In February, Ken Yerex (340/10) showed me an article about QNX
which had appeared in the PC TECH JOURNAL. I read and re-read
the article, and understood at least 10 per-cent of it...the rest
appeared to have been written in some obscure language understood
only by Frogs and itinerate Greeks.... I did, however,
understand enough of what was presented to get excited about the
potential QNX might offer to matrix sysops, and sent a
note off to the developers of QNX requesting information
(Quantum Software Systems, Kanata, Ontario).
I received a package from Quantum which contained some
technical information even I could understand, and a demo
diskette...my excitement over the demonstration led to several
telephone calls to Kanata, where Dan Hildebrand, a programmer
with Quantum, did his best to answer (endless) questions. As
my interest grew, so did my telephone bill, and I finally
suggested that Dan start answering my questions via netmail,
through Al Hacker (163/1) in Ottawa.
QNX, it seemed, had been around since about the time Moses
released the PC, and had been quietly doing its job ever
since. It was, in fact, the first multitasking system released
for the IBM-PC (the fully integrated networking version was
released in 1984). A sampling of end-users provided by
Quantum read like a Who's Who in Business, and included
IBM, Air Canada, AT&T, Bell, Bell & Howell, Delco-Remy,
NASA.....well, you get the idea... 25,000 systems were already
in use!
My interest in QNX quickly led to a two-node "mini-
conference" between 163/1 and me, as I was exchanging netmail
with Dan nearly every day anyway... I began extracting
Dan's messages and sending the resulting text file all over the
net, hoping to generate some of the excitement I was feeling,
and I was successful in expanding the conference. The interest
generated perked-up Quantum's switchboard, and 163/1 began
receiving a lot of netmail requests asking Dan for QNX demo
disks. As a result of all this activity, and the interest Dan
and I shared in creating a real-time echomail system, Quantum
began distributing QNX Development Systems to several sysops in
the matrix. Shortly after that program got underway, Quantum
FidoNews 4-37 Page 10 28 Sep 1987
agreed to provide discounts to matrix sysops who had become
interested in QNX. As a result, the system is now
available at a 55% discount from Quantum Software to persons
setting QNX based bulletin board systems. The complete
development system, with a K&R 'C' Compiler, retails for
$US650.00, and is available to sysops for under $US300.00. (or
about $US200.00 without the compiler.) QDOS, a package which
allows the use of PC-DOS as a task under QNX, is $US125.00.
Shortly after Quantum announced the discount program, I was
contacted by Paul Edison-Swift (North Central Computer
Institute, Madison, Wisconsin), who sent me a functioning QNX
multiline bbs complete with source code. This BBS had been in
use for over a year at a few sites including the University of
Wisconsin, and was generously released to public domain to
facilitate the Fido / QNX effort. I passed a copy of this system
to Rick Duff, 340/11, one of the recipients of a QNX
Development System. Rick went to work putting together
a matrix-compatible mailer so he could connect the NCCI
system to FidoNet. Rick's QNX Matrix Mailer ( QMM ) is now being
alpha-tested on 340/11, (although Rick tells me there's lots
of work to do yet before he can release a beta version). One of
the problems Rick has had with QMM and the multiline NCCI
system is that of handling arcmail - I understand, however, that
the problem is close to being solved, and the system will
soon be released to QNX end-users at no charge (for non-
commercial use - a fee will be required for commercial use.)
Note: I have been running SEAdog/Opus under QNX/QDOS since July,
on a turbo XT, with far less degredation in speed than I
experienced under DoubleDOS, but I view this as a stopgap at
best, until a matrix-compatible QNX multiline is available. DOS
applications make direct screen writes which bleed through to the
QNX side, and the only way around it at present is to hang a
terminal off the system. In addition, QNX will only support a
single QDOS task (on a stand-alone system), so you cannot operate
a multiline SEAdog system, as you could with DesqView. The setup
does permit me to get acquainted with QNX while I'm waiting for
Rick's beta system. QNX is not a cost-effective multitasking
system, therefore, for DOS applications, nor a substitute for
DDOS or DesqView...with QNX-level applications, however, it is
immeasurably more powerful. (Networked versions of QNX, however,
will support a QDOS task on each system in the net - any QNX
network application may be concurrently utilized by all users on
the net - as code and libraries are shared, little demand is made
on the network's RAM when this is done!)
What's all the excitement about? (Who needs another multiline bbs
anyway?)....well, how about being able to address 16megs of RAM
(protected mode) on your AT? How about being able to hang 10
terminals off your system? How about running 24 virtual lines
into Datapac/Tymenet with the cpu (AT) idling over 90% of the
time?
A QNX multiline, running on an AT, would permit echomail messages
to be delivered to a backbone node while the user that posted
FidoNews 4-37 Page 11 28 Sep 1987
them was still on the system....it would permit multiple users to
play a D&D-type maze game simultaneously (real-time!) against not
only the computer, but against EACH OTHER! It would permit you to
hang terminals and networked pc's on the system for office
applications and process control, with little noticible
degredation in speed or efficiency...and QNX itself would permit
ALL of the resources of your network to be shared, including all
available RAM and storage - no need for a dedicated server!
Those of you who are interested in QNX are invited to tap into
our QNX conference and say hello. It's readily available, but if
you can't locate a node that carries it, contact me netmail and I
will suggest a spot where you can pick it up.
If you are interested in logging on to a functioning QNX
multiline, you are invited to call Quantum's QUICS system, at
613-591-0934 (1200bps) or 613-591-0935 (1200/2400). The system is
also available (24 lines) through Datapac (85701416), for those
of you with Network User ID's. Another 24-line system, CBCHAT,
operated by Carl Wagar, of EntreNet Systems in Ottawa, is
available through Canada's iNET system. (When you call QUICS, log
on as "UPDATE" for both name and password). The NICC multiline
can be reached via 608-263-6224 (2400 available on the third
line, 608-263-2933). NICC callers are advised to call Paul
Edison-Swift, 608-263-4838, after they register, so he can
arrange access, or send him a note via BITNET to
EDISWIFT@WISCMACC. The author of 'Yunt,' the concurrent, multi-
user maze game, is running a 10-line QNX system, and I will post
his phone numbers as an update in a later article about QNX.
Copies of the NICC multiline may be obtained by sending three
diskettes and return postage to:
Paul Edison-Swift or: Ken McVay
c/o NCII 1602B Northfield Road
610 Walnut Street Nanaimo, B.C.
Madison, WI 53705 Canada V9S 3A7
or by downloading it from QUICS.
If you are interested in QMM, you can contact Rick Duff via
the QNX Conference, or directly, via 340/11, in Victoria, B.C.
Those of you who are interested in obtaining a QNX demo diskette
(XT or AT versions available, so please specify which one you
need) should send your name and address to Dan Hildebrand, via
163/1 or 163/14 (at the time of writing, Sept.13, 1987, 163/1 is
DOWN due to drive failure, so 163/14 may be your best best!), or
you can write directly to Dan at Quantum Software, 175 Terrence
Matthews Crescent, Kanata, Ontario, CANADA K2M 1WA.
Steve Townsley
Opus 2:510/17
Log on the Tyne - Tyneside UK
CCITT V21/V23/V22/V22bis
The Region 25 Omnibus Edition
Well, there here - Zones. Makenl, Ben Baker's much advertised new
utility reached the UK this week. So in a short period of time
the much discussed 'zonesplit' will be upon the network.
Oddly enough most nodes will remain blissfully ignorant of the
change. The nodelist will get a wee bit smaller, although with
the rate of growth in Europe, we may end up being more than one
Zone. Even in communications hungry Zone 1, international mail is
rumoured to take place only on nights of the full-moon. But
seriously NET 510 must be one of the very few nets to mail its
network news internationally - in our case Scotland, Wales and
Ireland.
Hopefully, the change will be for the better. I well remember
reading a planned zone like structure in 1985. The article, in a
newsletter for Europe was written by Henk Wevers. He certainly
gets my vote for organising the european end of inter-zone
addressing. Thanks Henk.
- FidoCon -
Well FidoCon 1987 did not europe with the wave of apathy that
came over from last years' flames. I particularly appreciated
Dale Lovell's personal view, presumably written with his portable
at the conference.
In sharp contrast to last years' fiasco we in Europe saw a united
co-operative group of sysops helping each other. Definely what
was needed.
As a response to the more 'orderly' appearance of IFNA at this
years' FidoCon at least two nodes in my NET, 3000 miles from your
shores, have asked about joining IFNA. The prospects for an
international committee also look good.
I would like to thank all the sysops who spent time, money and
effort to get it right this time. Hopefully we might organise
some UK get-together in a few months time.
- The Argus Project -
Something which didn't affect yourselves as much as Europe was
the Chernobyl Nuclear Incident. Although, for those of you near
Three Mile Island, the story must have brought back many bad
memories.
A group of people in the North East of England have now started a
radiation monitoring project using OPUS as the media for
FidoNews 4-37 Page 13 28 Sep 1987
distributing data around the UK. We are very pleased that the
first node is in network 510 (2:510/94).
The object of the projects is to provide reliable information
levels about the actual background radiation levels in the UK.
Monitoring stations using modems and a 6809 based micro will link
to a central database and FidoNet.
So far many of even the public bodies in the Uk have not been
informed, even by our national government, about the true effects
on our environment due to nuclear spillage into the European air
system. Using these custom built monitoring stations, (codenamed
'The Beast'), and interacting via FidoNet it may be possible to
actually tell you whether to wear a lead lined raincoat next time
you get this side of the pond.
- Can You Beat This One -
Many US sysops must surely think we joke over here when we
complain about poor phone lines. But now that Opus has the
percentage efficiency of the line here are our worst cases, at
2400 bps.
HOST on Tyneside to some of its regular nodes.....
Cardiff 300 Miles 28% worst case 72% best
London 271 Miles 8% worst case 93% best
Keswick 70 Miles 25% worst case 60% best
Argus HQ 1 Mile 60% worst case 80% best (300 bps)
NL1 (Henk) 400 Miles 50% worst case 75% best
Mostly we get a 50% hit rate... ie 1200 bps out of a $1300 2400
modem. But remember these are european worst cases. Can YOU beat
them. Prizes at next FidoCon ??
- Mail Me -
I finally took the plunge this week, I took out a Link 7500 Email
account with Mercury Communications. Even though most people use
Telecom Gold in the UK (76,000 subscribers in the UK) I have
decided to try the competition. Bravery didn't go as far as
surrendering my Gold account but, I would really like to since
they have annouced a charge increase of between 144% and 570%.
As a result some of the UK nodes are actually proposing to run an
Echomail conference to oppose the high costs of Britains largest
communications carrier. The only parallel in the USA would be a
national conference to get Congress to close AT&T! Over here even
the national press (including THe Times) have criticised the high
price of making a phone call in the UK. For example, you (in the
USA), can call me (in the UK) more cheaply than I can phone
London - 270 miles away.
What really made me laugh is the new Opus which talks about 'zero
FidoNews 4-37 Page 14 28 Sep 1987
rated calls'. Several sysops have rang us up to find out whether
Opus is capable of disabling the phone meters at the exchange,
they really think you are joking when you talk about free local
calls.
Local call rate in the UK is $1 per hour cheap rate and $5 an
hour peak.
Anyway, to get back to my new Email address. Link 7500 is the
same system you call Easylink in the USA, I think its run by
Western Union stateside. So now I have an Easylink account I d
like to find out if any sysops in the USA use it.... so as I said
earlier why not mail me!
- End Zone - (pun intended)
Last but not least, will you get more irrelevant jotting from
Europe... ??? Only if the ZoneGate works on the 18th, see ya on
the other side or maybe in Finland the Twilight Zone!
Steve
FidoNet Address - 2:510/17.0
Telecom Gold (Dialcom) - 10072:MAG30870
Telex - 94014168 OPUS G
Link 7500 (Easylink) - 19034175
Fax - +44 91 490 1830
-- The Regular Irregular Column --
Dale Lovell
157/504
I'm finally getting around to looking over some of the stuff
I picked up at FidoCon. I'm going to be looking at some of the
better pickings over the next few weeks in this column. This week
it's going to be TBBS by eSoft. This is a fantastic product and
since I didn't know anything about it until the conference, I'm
going to assume that many of you reading this don't know
anything. I'm not really an expert on TBBS yet, so there may be a
few errors. I'll count on people like Phil Becker (the author and
president of eSoft) to let me know about my mistakes and I'll
correct myself in a future column.
-- TBBS version 2.0 by eSoft ( $299.95 2.0S, $895.00 2.0M) --
TBBS is not just another bulletin board program. Many Opus
sysops may boast about how configurable their boards are, they
don't know what configurable means! PC-Board sysops may boast
about how they can set up several systems to act as one board
with several nodes, they don't know anything about easy multi-
line set-up! Lastly all us FidoNet sysops can talk about how much
Echomail does for us, well TBBS can handle that too (although I
think Bob Hartman's ConfMail does it better). Having had TBBS in
my hands for less than a month, I can tell you that it is clearly
a world class bulletin board program. Some of the items on my
quick list of features include support for up to 52 message
areas, up to 30,000 messages, notification of waiting messages at
logon (for ALL the message areas), 255 privilege levels, 32
feature control authorization flags (with some being able to be
set depending on logon speed and/or the line being used) and
that's just the short list.
Perhaps the most fantastic feature of TBBS is the capability
of handling up to 16 users simultaneously using only ONE AT
computer. Before I went to the conference I asked a local PC-
Board sysop what he knew about TBBS and all he could tell me was
the high cost of the multi-line version (2.0M, versus 2.0S the
single line version). His current PC-Board software requires an
individual computer for each phone line, he would have come out
ahead after his second line (he currently has 5 phone lines and 5
computers all connected through a network). It was impressive to
watch a demonstration at FidoCon and see the status lights change
on 16 modems as you heard their relays click in quick succession!
Since you can control the setup for each individual line, you can
even mix and match modems without any difficulty.
One of the other big advantages to TBBS is the menus. You
have complete control over every menu, with the capability to
make the menu items vary according to the line being used and the
baud rate. There are no default menus (although a sample set is
FidoNews 4-37 Page 16 28 Sep 1987
included), everything is under your control. This means you could
set up your main menu to put people directly into a particular
message base or download area. It is up to the sysop to create
each menu; what the letter code and description are, what they
do, and how the menu should look (for example you could put the
most used commands at the top of the menu). Their are over 50
different actions a command can have, including a "goto" and
"gosub" to another menu. If you're using a "gosub" to a menu
(saving the menu to return to), the stack will allow up to 20
return menu adresses. This allows for a lot of menus and while I
wouldn't have menus 20 levels deep, it is reassuring to know that
the capability is there if I should ever need it. For someone
switching over to TBBS this can be very nice, because you can
make your board look almost identical to your old software. Given
the complete control over the menus, TBBS can be made to look
almost exactly like most of the bulletin board programs available
today. This makes it easier on your users, they don't have to
learn a whole new set of commands, most of the commands are the
same and they'll even be in the same place. While you have an
almost unlimited number of menus, you are limited to 50 entries
in each menu and each menu being no larger than 4096 characters
(and of course the 20 level maximum for nesting).
Questionnaires are just as easy to set up through a few
programs included with TBBS. You can quickly generate several
questionnaires for a variety of purposes. Some examples would be
registration, voting, user surveys and on-line order taking (for
any item you provide to your users on request) with ALL of them
being online at once through different menus and commands. It's
even possible to prevent someone from taking a questionnaire
twice by having TBBS automatically change a user flag (more on
this later) upon completion. New user questionnaires and surveys
only get filled out once while requests to bring files on-line
can always be taken. Once again you control exactly what each
questionnaire does, and creating one is almost a trivial affair
with the utilities eSoft provides. In the case of surveys, you
can even allow your users to see the current results of your poll
by creating one menu entry for each survey. While some of this
may not give the sysop anything extra, it can make the board
nicer for the users.
Some of the other features that may appeal to users are the
on-line public conferences and the CB simulator. The on-line
conferences are NOT message bases. It's a means for allowing many
of your users (you've got 16 line capability after all) to talk
to each other on-line. You also have the option of recording
these conferences in order to have an ascii text "transcript" of
the conference. This option is provided mainly for business use,
although I can see using it on a public board for speeches or
talks with local figures (a local expert giving a talk on high-
speed modems, computer security, or the stock market just for a
few quick ideas). The CB simulator is just what is sounds like.
An on-line private real time conference between two or more
users. With 40 channels available, it should be enough to please
almost any set of users. Other advantages to the user are
automatic word wrap on message entry with optional word wrap when
FidoNews 4-37 Page 17 28 Sep 1987
reading a message. You can go through a message base using
several different methods. Among them forward and reverse by date
or subject and selectively based on fragments of the From, To, or
Subject fields in the messages. Log on and mail checks at that
time are also quick. TBBS should be able to find a user name in
700ms given 16,000 users and the initial mail check will take no
more than 180ms. Those figures are from eSoft's TBBS Technical
Specifications and are based on a 4.77Mhz CPU whose hard drive
has a 90ms average seek time. What this means is that log-on and
message searches are FAST!
I've already gone over some of the features that will appeal
to sysops, but I'm going to mention some of them again. The
ability to control the menus based on line being used and baud
rate is one of the more unique aspects of TBBS. It's possible to
create up to 8 totally unique bulletin boards using only one
computer. The users might never know that they were calling the
"same" bulletin board. You've got three different methods for
logging on and control over how new users are handled. This
allows you to run as open (or closed) a board as is feasible in
your area. The options for the system log are also unique in my
experience. TBBS does more than let you choose whether or not you
want the log, and how much detail (terse, detailed, etc.). It
actually lets you decide what you want it to save in the log or
even to forget the log entirely.
Control over user access is also very well rounded. In
addition to the 255 privilege levels, you also have 32 flags for
each user. While some can be set at logon time, you could also
use them for your own purposes. One of the best uses I've come up
with for this feature is to "permanently" turn off the sysop chat
mode for certain users who have a tendency to page me all too
often. While you can create default time and download limits for
each privilege level, you also have the capability to override
these defaults on a user-by-user basis. I think that this is one
of nicer way to reward those who are actively participating on a
board. Many people like to have co-sysops who help manage the
message areas on a board. TBBS makes this very easy to do by
allowing you to define a co-sysop for any particular set of
message areas. This is accomplished quickly and painlessly. All
you have to do is mark the appropriate fields in the user record
and that user has sysop-like access to messages in the selected
areas (message areas, not commands; although you could do that
just as easily).
I can not stress enough how much I have been impressed by
TBBS. It is easily the most flexible bulletin board program I
have ever seen. The multi-line version makes an excellent program
ever better and wins high marks for the ease of upgrading from
single-line to multi-line (almost no work at all). My only
disappointment is the lack of file transfer protocols. TBBS only
supports a few ascii protocols, XMODEM (CRC and checksum) and
YMODEM (CRC and checksum). Yet while this isn't what many of us
have come to expect in bulletin board software, I think it is
sufficient for almost every purpose. There are still a couple of
other little features I'm still exploring, so this isn't the last
FidoNews 4-37 Page 18 28 Sep 1987
you'll be hearing of TBBS. Get used to seeing those letters, as I
think we'll all be seeing a lot more of them in the future.
-- Winding Down... --
Computer pilots of the world unite! We have yet another fine
flight simulator game available. While it doesn't give you the
combat capabilities of Jet or Flight Simulator, it's been
promised in a future program from the same company. The program
I'm referring to is "Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator"
(Electronic Arts, $39.95 retail). The combat simulator is
"announced" on the inside of the package and you can bet I'll be
buying of the first copies off the line, but back to the program
that's available today. To begin with, AFS is the first flight
simulator that actually teaches you to fly. Electronic Arts
accomplishes this through an on screen instructor's cursor to
show you what you should be doing. In addition there are several
obstacle courses to fly through (even trying to follow a lead
plane through them). Some of the planes available to you in this
package include a Sopwith Camel, a Mustang, the Bell X-1, a
Lockheed SR-71 (my favorite), or even some designs that were
never built (and in at least one of those cases, it was the right
decision). There's support for CGA, EGA and Hercules graphics
boards as well the capability to fly using the keyboard or a
joystick.
My only complaint on AFS is that the disk is copy protected
with the key-disk method. While it allows you to install it on
just about anything as many times as you want, you always have to
put the original disk in drive A. Enclosed inside is a coupon you
can send in with ten dollars and get a completely non-copy
protected version, I just wish that some mention of this was on
the outside of the package. I'd come to expect no copy protection
from Electronic Arts and was surprised to see it. Final
statements on AFS are if you enjoyed Microsoft's Flight Simulator
or the non-combat portions of Jet, you'll have many hours of
enjoyment playing with it. Count on nothing but book reviews or
comments on my flights for the next few weeks as it's been eating
up all my game playing time.
As always I welcome any comments you may have on my column.
I'd especially like to hear about products and programs you think
are fantastic, I like to pass the word around on a good thing.
Below you'll find my Usenet, FidoNet and US mail address. Or
those of you sending me mail through FidoNet please make sure
that it is routed through 157/1 as I'm a private node these days.
Dale Lovell
3266 Vezber Drive
Seven Hills, OH 44131
7 Dec 1987
Start of the Digital Equipment Users Society meeting in
Anaheim, CA. Contact Mark Buda at 1:132/777 for details.
14 Nov 1987
The First New England Sysop Conference, to be held at the
Lederle Graduate Research Center, 16 Floor University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. Contact Mort Sternheim at 1:321/109
for details.
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
===============================================
On Sunday October 11, 1987 at the Grand Royal Hotel
in Hempstead, New York, will be another spectacular
KGP computer show.
What makes this show different from ALL other shows
this year will the introduction of the FIRST PS/2
compatible computer named the QT/2 which will be
available at the show for demonstration, evaluation
and purchase.
The QT/2 is made entirely in the United States, and
does not face the import tariff currently being levied
against other compatibles made in the Far East.
Standard features of the QT/2 include 3 Megabytes of
memory on the motherboard, both a 3 1/2 inch floppy
drive and a 1/4 height standard 360k floppy allowing
easy transfer of software to/from either format. Both
serial and parallel ports are included as well as a
light pen port and a game adaptor port and the display
adaptor as well. A 250 watt switching power supply is
standard with a 300 watt supply available as an option.
The QT/2 allows hard drives of up to 120 Megabytes to be
FidoNews 4-37 Page 20 28 Sep 1987
installed and operated as a SINGLE drive without the use
of device drivers.
All current CGA, EGA, Monochrome and VGA display units
will operate on the QT/2. Several expansion boards have
been tested and perform to specifications.
The base price of the unit will be $995. This includes
3 Megabytes of memory and the two floppy disk drives
as well as the serial and parallel ports, the game
adaptor port, the display adaptor and an enhanced AT
style tactile touch keyboard.
The unit is covered by a 12 month warranty and service
can be obtained nationwide from over 1300 repair centers.
Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by
reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list
all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
increase worldwide communications. **
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Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to:
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Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
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** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
membership in January 1987. The first elected Board of
Directors was filled in August 1987. The IFNA Echomail
Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the
Board. We welcome your input on this Conference.
The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido
1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing them
directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee Chairmen
provide us with the latest versions of each publication, but we
can make no written guarantees.
System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____
ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member.
Fido Software's Fido/FidoNet $65.00 _____
ONLY 1 copy Fido/FidoNet per IFNA Member.
As of November 1, 1987 price will increase to
$100. Orders including checks for $65 will be
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SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
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