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 1988 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. IFNA may also be contacted
at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141.
Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and
are used with permission.
The contents of the articles contained here are not our
responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them.
Everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
received.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
A Call for Articles ...................................... 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2
Fredric L. Rice Warns of Nuclear Disasters ............... 4
SEA Policy on ARC ........................................ 6
3. COLUMNS .................................................. 9
Let's YACK about BBS Utilities ........................... 9
4. NOTICES .................................................. 10
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 10
Latest Software Versions ................................. 11
5. COMMITTEE REPORTS ........................................ 12
Thanks to Greater Cincinnati Sysop Association ........... 12
FidoNews 5-38 Page 1 19 Sep 1988
For the past several months, the bulletin board community
has been filled with discussions on the recent SEA/PKWare
lawsuits. Rumors have flown through many of the electronic
conferences with people both defending and accusing SEA. With yet
another round starting up with the second lawsuit, I'm going to
try something.
In two weeks, there is going to be a special edition of
FidoNews. It will focus on the SEA/PKWare lawsuits. I am
currently soliciting articles from both Phil Katz (PKWare) and
Thom Henderson (SEA). In addition to these individuals, I am
asking for the opinions of everyone reading this editorial. In
order to make it easier, I pledge to do everything within my
power to make every submission acceptable to MakeNews. As long as
you get me something close to specs, it will go into this special
edition. Send them in as files, as messages, disks through the
mail. If I can determine how it was made, and can convert it to
straight ASCII, I WILL print it.
Why am I doing this? I'm primarily doing this because I am
quickly becoming disgusted with the behavior of my fellow sysops.
I've heard many of the facts about the first case and believe
that SEA's actions were the correct and honorable thing to do.
While some of the reason's on the first lawsuit were first
reported in FidoNews, many seem to have missed the article or are
choosing to ignore it. The bulletin board community has a right
to feel concern over this issue, but before we all start
condemning individuals, let's make sure we have the facts.
FidoNet is meant to help communication, and to me this means that
we find out the facts instead of flying off the handle. If it
turns out that many of my fellow sysops and their users are
willing to turn a blind eye to the truth, then it will be my turn
to pass on the flame. I can not stay in a network should the
network at large feel inclined towards injustice, it will become
my time to leave the network. So write your opinion, send it in,
make you position public knowledge.
===========================================================
C O M M U N I T Y S E R V I C E S B U L L E T I N
===========================================================
September 1988
PACKET RADIO PROJECT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEEDS HELP
A high school teacher in the L.A. area, working with the
National Science Foundation and the JPL, is setting up a
program to network schools together using amateur radio
packet nets. Assistance is needed immediately from amateur
radio operators or others with the appropriate interests
and backgrounds to help install, maintain, and instruct
teachers on the usage of these nodes. The network is even-
tually expected to be worldwide.
To become a volunteer, or to get information on using
packet radio in your school, contact:
Owen Robbins
9340 Friendship Ave
Pico Rivera CA 90660
Also needed are people to document this project, and report
on it in detail to Community Services.
---
EMAIL SYSTEM FOR BLIND NEEDS PROGRAMMERS, DOCUMENTERS
Talking Dog is a personal FidoNet-compatible emailer for
the blind which uses a speech synthesizer, being developed
in C using existing source code as much as possible. TD
will be public domain.
The TD project has immediate need for:
+ Source code in C (preferably MicroSoft) for a message
reader/writer that can shell out to the user's choice
of editors.
+ C programmers (again, preferably with MicroSoft com-
pilers) to complete the modifications to the other
utilities being used.
+ Experienced document writers, preferably with some
FidoNews 5-38 Page 3 19 Sep 1988
background and understanding of the needs of the
blind.
Please contact David Drexler at one of the addresses below.
---
INVITATION TO JOIN ECHO FOR KIDS
All teachers, and sysops with children between the ages of
"old enough to type" and 12th grade are invited to partici-
pate in the KIDS echo. This echo is for pen-pal activities
between kids, and for parents and teachers to also join in
the fun and to communicate with each other. At 50+ messages
per day, this is one of the hotter echos around. About 2
months ago, it went international to Australia and Canada.
A link to the UK is also in the works.
To participate in this echo, contact Paul Witherspoon, KIDS
echo coordinator, at 1:383/6.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Community Services Bulletin is a service of the IFNA
Public Affairs Committee. Community Services addresses the
need for telecommunications by the public for non-commer-
cial uses. Have you heard about an interesting application
lately? Are you involved in a project that could use some
assistance? Would you like to be a part of the Community
Services team? Drop me a line, I want to hear from you!
Fredric L. Rice Warns of Nuclear Disasters
In FidoNews Volume 5, Number 36
(5 September 1988)
Written September 10, 1988 by George Falcon
Sysop 1:109/648
"The Falcon's Rock"
Hub of the MENSA and MWM Echo Conferences
As someone disappointed in seeing the growth of the world
population without maintaining growth in awareness of our planet's
needs, I'm sorry to see that Mr. Rice has chosen the anti-nuclear
argument to defend. The argument against nuclear power could be
made a great deal more potent without the numerous inaccuracies
in his article.
Mr. Rice omitted the source of his expertise. I cannot claim a
degree in nuclear, mechanical, electrical, chemical, or civil
engineering, in physics or health physics. In fact, I cannot yet
lay claim to any degree at all! I was impressed, therefore, when
I was able to see so many obvious faults in the text of Mr. Rice's
article on a topic for which he is so obviously unprepared. Surely
there must be less expensive ways to make oneself appear foolish
than to purchase a computer and invest hundreds of hours and
dollars to write a weak article like his. At the very least he
should have named as closely as possible the sources of his
information.
I work for a large computer services company in support of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation. I maintain the staff files, produce the staff input
reports, and input the data from those reports into the IBM Model
3090 mainframe which the NRC leases from the National Institutes
of Health. I have seen the time each of these engineers spends in
resolving each tiny aspect of each plant's operation (whether
power or nonpower). I am, for this article, and for the sake of
clarity and accuracy, taking sides with the nuclear industry.
Please remember, though, that I would much rather we were using
a source less hazardous to life on this planet.
In reading Mr. Rice's article, aside from numerous misspellings,
I noted the following items to which I take exception:
1. On page 5, he says, "There are a bewildering number of
nuclear reactors strung along the California coast line."
I find it difficult to understand why Mr. Rice would be bewildered
by trying to count to four. That's how many operational nuclear
power plants there are in the state of California.
2. There are basically two types of reactors: Boiling Water
Reactors (BWR's) and Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR's). Mr.
Rice does not mention the second type, but there are power plants
in which the nuclear fuel simply pressurizes, rather than boils, the
water. Most people say that water "changes phase" when it
becomes steam, rather than saying that water "expands" into
steam, as Mr. Rice does at the bottom of page 5 and top of page
FidoNews 5-38 Page 5 19 Sep 1988
6.
3. On page 6, paragraph one, line 12, Mr. Rice that "the Atomic
Energy Commission will allow leaky fuel rods to remain in
operation until the rad count rises to well above the legal limit."
The engineers here would be breaking to law to permit such
operation. If Mr. Rice knows of such a violation and fails to
notify the Department of Justice, wouldn't he be an accomplice?
I suspect that he doesn't know of any such violation, probably
because there aren't any. In addition, the Atomic Energy
Commission was reorganized fourteen years ago. The
responsibilities carried by the AEC have been borne by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission since that time. Has Mr. Rice
been doing his research in a time capsule?
4. Page 6, para. 4: I think what Mr. Rice was aiming for when
using the word "pourve" in the second line was the acronym
"PORV", which stands for Pressure-Operated Relief Valve".
5. In the next paragraph, second line, Mr. Rice gets the National
Rifle Association involved in this conspiracy... either that, or he
meant to put "NRC" in there instead of "NRA"... but if he knew
that the NRC was the responsible agency, how does the Atomic
Energy Commission fit into Mr. Rice's story?
The balance of Mr. Rice's article could be based on as little
information was displayed in the first few pages, and less, since
he wisely points out on page 7, para. 3 that he'd "...like to detail
an event which could occur at the San Onofre power plant which
would by no means be typical." I enjoy fiction, Mr. Rice, but I
prefer it when it's based on reliable facts.
A man who works around the corner from me as a supervisor in
the Performance Evaluation Branch of NRR was nice enough to
take the time to review Mr. Rice's article and comment on it for
me. He said that it was like someone who puts together a human
being with the head coming off the hip... the parts may be
working right, but they're not put together in a form that makes
sense. Mr. Rice demonstrates the old axiom, "You can't believe
everything you read" quite aptly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 5-38 Page 6 19 Sep 1988
System Enhancement Associates
Policy Statement on ARC Trademark and Copyrights
Many of our users have expressed concern regarding use of the
ARC trademark and copyrights. To better meet their needs we
have formulated this Statement of Policy, effective as of
September 13, 1988. This policy applies to anyone who does not
already have an agreement with us.
In the interest of serving the needs of the bulletin board
community and supporting the shareware concept, we pledge to:
o Maintain the ARC file format as a stable industry standard.
o Continue to upgrade ARC for speed and efficiency.
o Continue to distribute ARC as a shareware product, and
continue to allow for its free non-commercial use.
Futhermore, we pledge to foster the ingenuity and creativity of
our fellow shareware authors, whom we are happy to support in
virtually every manner.
ARC
To protect the rights of our shareware licensees, ARC may be
freely copied and distributed subject to the following
conditions:
1) No fee may be charged for such copying and distribution.
2) ARC may only be distributed in its original, unmodified
state.
3) ARC may not be distributed, in whole or in part, as part of
any commercial product or service without the express
written permission of SEA.
4) ARC may be made available for download by pay bulletin boards
and similar commercial services provided that no additional
fee is charged specifically for downloading ARC.
ARC TRADEMARK
Use of the ARC trademark may be licensed subject to the
following terms:
1) Any use of the ARC trademark means that the product is
SHAREWARE. We need a fully functional copy of the latest
version with documentation to make available on our BBS for
FidoNews 5-38 Page 7 19 Sep 1988
general download.
2) Your product must be compatible with the current version of
ARC from SEA, and must be of an acceptable level of quality
and workmanship.
3) We must have your name and address so that we can keep you
informed on any changes to ARC.
4) As the legal owner of the ARC trademark, we are bound by US
trademark laws to protect and maintain the integrity of ARC
in any program that uses the ARC trademark . To comply with
this, we must ask for fully commented source code. We will
keep your source code completely confidential if you so
desire, and we will not make use of any of your source code
in any of our products.
ARC SOURCE CODE
The ARC program sources have always been available for
informational purposes. They may be used freely in the creation
of shareware utilities that examine the contents of an ARC format
archive. Any other use of the ARC source code is subject to the
following terms and conditions:
1) Your product must be SHAREWARE. We need a fully functional
copy of the latest version with documentation to make
available on our BBS for general download.
2) The first $100,000 worth of revenues is yours to keep. We
want 6.5% of any revenue above that in return for the use
of our code.
3) For the protection of our users, your product may not produce
ARC format archives which are incompatiable with our current
version of ARC.
ARC FILE FORMAT
1) We hereby grant to the entire world and all sentient
creatures in the universe who do not already have an
agreement with us to the contrary a perpetutal, unlimited,
galaxy wide license to read, extract, create, or otherwise
manipulate ARC format archives. This does not include any
license to use our sources or trademarks.
2) If you make any changes to the format such that your file is
not compatible with the current version of ARC, then the
result may not be referred to as an ARC format Archive.
We feel that this Policy Statement is a fair and workable answer
FidoNews 5-38 Page 8 19 Sep 1988
to all concerned with ARC format archives, developers and users
alike. If any developer is unable to comply with these terms,
please contact us at (201) 473-5153 to discuss alternative
arrangements.
YACK
Yet Another Complicated Komment
by Steven K. Hoskin
( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 )
Episode 10: BBS Utilities
Let's face it -- there just isn't any easy way to go about
setting up a customized bulletin board. You've GOT to have
utilities.
So, you say, what brought about THIS amazing revelation? Well, I
like to program, and lately that passion has carried into Turbo
C. And, as a SysOp, I finally am in a position where some neat
little utilities would come in handy. I've needed some utilities
for my job, and, when needed, I write them. But these were for
ME. Well; me and Opus.
First came the need to reset those darned NON-OPTIONAL colors
that Opus sets up for you, assumedly through ANSI.SYS, which,
after leaving Opus, are still the default colors. Light blue
characters on a black background. Way to go guys, I can hardly
see it with my cheap CGA card and monochrome monitor. So is born
SC, the screen color setter (which uses ANSI.SYS instead of some
easier routes available).
Now I can see the screen but can't see those nasty d'Bridge virus
files in my Opus outbound directory; FS, the File Search utility
can list those system and hidden boogers, redirecting output to a
file to be applied to such commands as MARK (remove file
attributes) and DEL (need I say more?).
Oh, yes, we've gotten rid of those files, but what about that
"painfully" verbose Opus.Log file? CYCLE OPUS.LOG OLYYMMDD.LOG
and -- I now have a dated filename on the log cycling -- which
is, incidentally, archived and subsequently deleted.
Once a day that log cycle gets deleted, but I have a hardware
quirk in my system that forces me to reboot right at midnight;
WAITUNTL 23:59:59 during my before-midnight event followed by
REBOOT. And to insure that other events that take almost no time
at all won't be repeated? DELAY 60 insures a 60 second event.
Okay, what about posting FidoNews? Well, all we have to
do here is CYCFNEWS E:\FILE\FIDONEWS -C10 -R and now there are
only the latest 10 cycles of FidoNews in the FidoNews file area,
and only the latest one is unarchived, and in my case the -R will
retain dated entries in the FILES.BBS for any FidoNews archives
that have been removed from the directory. Any FILES.BBS entries
not pertaining to FidoNews are left alone. Who needs utilities?
METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON MENSA
PRESENTS
"A CONGRESS ON THE POTOMAC"
Speakers!
Carnelli!
Movies!
Games!
Contests!
Saturday Night Dance!
Registration:
Postmarked by September 30: $30
Received by November 14: $35
At the door: $40
Under age 20: $20
Meal Tickets:
Sat. Deli Buffet Lunch: $16
Sat. Night Banquet: $25
Sun. Brunch Buffet: $18
Three-Meal Package: $57
Meals MUST be paid for in advance. There is no guarantee of at-
the-door availability.
Hyatt Regency Crystal City
2799 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA. 22202
(703) 486-1234
Single or double, per night, plus tax $64.
Beginning Sat. night, Nov. 20, the rate drops to $49 per night for
Thanksgiving week. Make hotel reservations directly with the hotel.
For those of you who've been putting off inquiring about Mensa
membership until there was an extra-special good reason, now you
need not put it off any longer. This Regional Gathering (RG)
promises to be a great deal of fun, as most of them are... a party
that lasts all weekend. Registration is $40 at the door, or $35 if
received by the registrar (Mike Tuchman, MWM, P.O. Box 27534,
FidoNews 5-38 Page 11 19 Sep 1988
Wash., D.C., 20038) by the 14th of November. This RG will be held
in Northern Virginia from November 18th through the 20th.
Mensa accepts many standardized tests supervised by other
organizations, or you can get yourself scheduled for a locally
supervised testing session.
For more information, write to American Mensa, Ltd., 2626 E.
14th St., Bklyn., N.Y. 11235-3992.
This notice supercedes the previous notice on this R.G., which
contained inaccuracies and omissions which were entirely my fault.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Latest Software Versions
BBS Systems Node List Other
& Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version
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.
As outgoing President of IFNA I wish to express both my personal
thanks and the appreciation of the corporation to all those who
participated in the Greater Cincinnati Sysop Association's
FidoCon '88 Organizing Committee.
It was very apparent that they put a great deal of effort into
the many preparations for FidoCon. During the year, I was very
impressed with the professional and enthusiastic approach that
they put into their work and it paid off with a conference that
evryone I spoke to agreed was a productive success.
Thank you:
Tim Sullivan Rick Ashworth
Jesse Armentrout Steve Sullivan
Mark Walker Decker Doggett
Greg Hanfbauer Bill Smith
Pete Tyjewski and anyone I may have missed!
Hal DuPrie 101/106 Chairman of the Board
Bob Rudolph 261/628 President
Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President
Ray Gwinn 109/639 Vice President - Technical Coordinator
David Garrett 103/501 Secretary
Steve Bonine 115/777 Treasurer
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIVISION AT-LARGE
10 Courtney Harris 102/732? Don Daniels 107/210
11 Bill Allbritten 11/301 Hal DuPrie 101/106
12 Bill Bolton 3:54/61 Mark Grennan 147/1
13 Rick Siegel 107/27 Steve Bonine 115/777
14 Ken Kaplan 100/22 Ted Polczyinski 154/5
15 Larry Kayser 104/739? Matt Whelan 3:3/1
16 Vince Perriello 141/491 Robert Rudolph 261/628
17 Rob Barker 138/34 Steve Jordan 102/2871
18 Christopher Baker 135/14 Bob Swift 140/24
19 David Drexler 19/1 Larry Wall 15/18
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 107/233
