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. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for
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Copyright 1989 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.
We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article
published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No
article submitted by a FidoNet SysOp will be rejected if it is
properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish
every responsible submission received.
Table of Contents
1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
Announcing: SysNL v3.01 .................................. 1
2. COLUMNS .................................................. 4
Idle Jottings From Zone 2 ................................ 4
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 7
Latest Software Versions ................................. 7
4. NOTICES .................................................. 10
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 10
FidoNews 6-50 Page 1 11 Dec 1989
With the FidoNet nodelist hitting almost half a meg, it is taking
longer and longer to process the darn thing. Saving a few
seconds here and there is all you used get if you switched
processors. I'd like to present a viable alternative.
To get you to switch compilers, you want something that makes a
REAL difference in your compilation time. From what I have
heard, Scott Samet's XlaxNode is the fastest around here. Could
I get you to switch to a compiler if it was FOUR TIMES AS FAST AS
XLAXNODE? Or maybe SIX times as fast as ParseLst...? TEN TIMES
AS FAST AS XLATLIST?
Then I'd like to introduce you to SysNL v3.01. Nodelist
processing in the modern age.
SysNL is optimised for speed. A lot of frills have been taken
out of the code. It is small, and tight. SysNL uses more ASM
code than any other compiler, and all the high-level language
code in it has been written with speed in mind.
SysNL can compile QuickBBS and Version 5 nodelists from either a
raw St. Louis nodelist file, or from a NodeList.Bbs/Fon
combination. SysNL can also create NodeList.Bbs and
Nodelist.Fon. SysNL is also the most accurate Version 6 compiler
around. It is the only processor to support the most recent Opus
v1.1x Version 6 ZMH flags. ParseLst does not.
SysNL v3.01 is also the only nodelist compiler that supports the
SEAdog<tm> v4.51 nodelist. ParseLst does not. XlaxNode does
not. As well, SysNL will also compile the SEAdog<tm> v4.10 and
TBBS v2.0 nodelists. Faster than anything else.
SysNL checks nodelist CRCs faster than any other utility. A
16-bit CRC goes through at the rate of 30-35K a second, faster
than CRCnode or any other such utility you may have been using.
SysNL merges nodelists and diff files. Fast. Automatically. So
you don't have to worry what about what your hub or NC sends you.
SysNL finds the newest, and gets it done quickly.
SysNL allows you to edit your nodelist. If you are an NC or a
Hub, you can use its full-screen ANSI nodelist editor to mani-
pulate your nodelist segment. If you are an NC, RC or ZC, SysNL
can easily merge all the updatres you get into one nodelist.
Faster than MakeNL. And MakeNL can't give you a visual ANSI-
compatible full-color editor, with complete nodelist error
FidoNews 6-50 Page 2 11 Dec 1989
checking.
Right now, all you have gotten is hot air. Let me provide some
cold and rather sobering figures to back me up. The figures are:
The first is the time and the second is processing rate in bytes
per second. All tests were done on a 6MhZ IBM AT, with 512K of
150ns RAM, and a Rodine Type 20 30meg HD. Times may vary, due to
your hardware, and your setup.
IMEXLIST.307 November 3rd, 1989 RCSA/AlterNet nodelist.
Size of Imexlist.307: 45 892 bytes.
Scan nodelist = Compile in wrong zone ie. Do not process any
entries.
-#########- = Xlatlist<tm> cannot create a Version 6 list.
Compiled into: NodeList.Bbs Version 6 Scan nodelist
As you can see, SysNL v3.01 beats all challengers, including
v2.65, and also Xlaxnode v2.31. Now we move to the area of CRC
checks. Again we use our FidoNet nodelist #237, and combat SysNL
against CRCnode.
SysNL v3.01: 21.1 sec / 22662 bytes per sec
CRCnode v1.00: 27.8 sec / 17200 bytes per sec
Again, SysNL reigns supreme. But SysNL can also make Version 5,
Version 6, and QuickBBS nodelists from a Nodelist.Bbs/Fon combin-
ation. Let's sic SysNL on OpusNode and Qnode and see what
happens.
FidoNews 6-50 Page 3 11 Dec 1989
Size of NodeList.Bbs (NodeList.237/SysNL v3.01): 254 572 bytes.
No matter what your nodelist processor is, SysNL is faster. Why
not switch to it right now? It's available on the SDS, and also
at 1:250/714 as SYSNL. An SFX version is also available here as
SYSNLSFX.
Credit, where credit is due:
SysNL: Luke Kolin
ParseLst: Bob Hartman
OpusNode: Wynn Wagner III, Wes Cowley
Qnode: Adam C. Hudson
MakeNL: Ben Baker
SEAdog<tm>: System Enhancement Associates
Xlatlist<tm>: System Enhancement Associates
Xlaxnode: Scott Samet
CRCnode: David Gilbert
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FidoNews 6-50 Page 4 11 Dec 1989
I couldn't think of a sensible title for what is, I hope, going
to be a regular contribution from Zone 2. Not that I represent
Zone 2 on any way. My BBS is a node. In the words of technical
standards documentation - the lowest form of address.
My node came into the network a few weeks ago after a pause of
almost a year not being involved with BBS's at all. So the first
job was to download this years' back issues of FidoNews from my
Host.
Much to my shock I read a few articles from people explaining
that FidoNews was no longer relevant anymore. According to these
self-proclaimed guardians of access to exclusive information, the
REAL NEWS comes in Echomail.
At best Echomail is a genuine advance in communication. At its
worst Echomail encourages the unthinking response of simply
hitting 'R' on the keyboard to reply to the last 'flame'.
Echomail also has a tendency to be a temporary medium. How many
SysOps really read the megabytes of information floating around
the net. We are hopefully more selective than that. We take some
Echos for our users, some for our specialised interests and some
to keep up to date with our particular concerns in the net.
Rarely does a SysOp take every Echo.
Echomail focuses widely on the particular as if to satisify a
demand to discuss more and more about less and less. Thus, like
Sheep, we are led into ever increasing arguement without really
addressing major issues.
However I am not here to throw my hands up and condem Echomail
for destroying the moral fibre of arguement. It is my purpose to
emphasise that by its very nature Echomail has a tendency to the
specific, addressing the problem immediately, limiting itself to
short responses, and within the week disappears into a deleted
file on many a hard disk.
Yet for this temporary medium we employ 'backbones', 'hubs', and
'co-ordinators'. We spend hours on discussion and Echomail itself
generates a political hierachy of distribution, rules and costs.
FidoNews 6-50 Page 5 11 Dec 1989
The volume of Echomail causes as many worrys as it attempts to
solve. We become obsessed with how long Echomail should be held
before it's deleted, do we censor Echomail, and can Hosts afford
to buy a 100 megabyte hard disk to cope with Echomail traffic.
Amongst all this the balance of the network itself appears to
have gone. I feel very strongly that the case needs to be put for
FidoNews to bring people back together.
FidoNews should be the place where we abandon the temporary,
write for a larger audience, and make sure every SysOp can read
FidoNews. It is my view, in my small backwater of Zone 2, that my
Host should concentrate his efforts on getting me FidoNews at the
expense of Echomail. Doing this in every net would restore much
of the balance to the network as a whole and produce a higher
level of debate about the issues facing us all.
PC-Browse
---------
On a totally different topic I have just bought a really neat
little program from Quicksoft called PC-Browse. In essence it's a
lot like the LIST utility which allows you to view files. However
it also has the added advantage that it can be made memory
resident.
So I can read this weeks' FidoNews with PC-Browse and, if I need
to, flip into a word processing session at the touch of a hot-
key. The overall result is a pleasant use of the 60K of memory
needed to run the program.
However it does much more than this. You can create PC-Browse
applications in a hyper-text environment. You can mark entries
for quick access, even run a program from inside PC-Browse. The
capability to cut and paste makes it ideal for calling up mames
and addresses from inside other applications. All in all a very
good buy.
The program is marketed as Shareware in the USA, New Zealand, and
Australia. For reasons of their own Quicksoft have excluded the
UK as a Shareware zone.
PC-Browse is available from:
Quicksoft
219 First Avenue N 224
Seattle
Washington
WA 981109
USA
FidoNews 6-50 Page 6 11 Dec 1989
Tel: (1) 206 282 0452
Cost $49.00 (cheaper if you are a registered user of PC-Write).
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FidoNews 6-50 Page 7 11 Dec 1989
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.
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FidoNews 6-50 Page 10 11 Dec 1989
Thom Henderson 1:107/528 Chairman of the Board
Les Kooyman 1:204/501 President
Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Vice President
Bill Bolton 3:3/0 Vice President-Technical Coordinator
Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Secretary
Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer
IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS
Administration and Finance *
By-laws and Rules John Roberts 1:385/49
Executive Committee (Pres) Les Kooyman 1:204/501
International Affairs *
Membership Services Jim Vaughan 1:226/300
Nominations and Elections Steve Bonine 1:1/0
Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/30.20
Publications Irene Henderson 1:107/9
Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333
Ethics *
Security and Privacy *
Grievances *
* Position in abeyance pending reorganization
IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIVISION AT-LARGE
10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210
11 John Rafuse 1:12/900 Phil Buonomo 1:107/583
12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Hawthorne 1:107/238
13 Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Tom Jennings 1:125/111
14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Irene Henderson 1:107/509
15 Kevin McNeil 1:128/45 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871
16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628
17 Kathi Crockett 1:134/30 Dave Melnik 1:107/233
18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Jim Hruby 1:107/536
19 Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Burt Juda 1:107/528
2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 Karl Schinke 1:107/516
3 Matt Whelan 3:54/99 John Roberts 1:147/14
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FidoNews 6-50 Page 12 11 Dec 1989
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
increase worldwide communications.
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Address _________________________________________________________
City ____________________________________________________________
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Country _________________________________________________________
Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________
BBS Name ________________________________________________________
BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________
Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________
Board Restrictions ______________________________________________
Your Special Interests __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in
US Funds to:
International FidoNet Association
PO Box 41143
St Louis, Missouri 63141
USA
Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
insure the future of FidoNet.
Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors
was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been
established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your
input to this Conference.
