Copyright 1990, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only.
For use in other circumstances, please contact Fido Software.
FidoNews is published weekly by and for the Members of the
FidoNet (r) International Amateur Electronic Mail System. It is
a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors
or authorized agents of the authors. The contribution of articles
to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors.
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
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Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
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used with permission.
Opinions expressed in FidoNews articles are those of the authors
and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Fido Software.
Most articles are unsolicited. Our policy is to publish every
responsible submission received.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
Well, we made it through the year again .................. 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2
Other National BBS lists ................................. 2
3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 4
Latest Software Versions ................................. 4
4. NOTICES .................................................. 9
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 9
FidoNews 7-53 Page 1 31 Dec 1990
Holy shit. It's the end of the year. One week later than Phil
thought it would be. Of course, our President thought Pearl
Harbor Day was in September. What's one week among friends?
I'm certainly pleased to still be here. I'm happy to see you're
still there as well.
1991 promises to be a really interesting year. Even in FidoNet.
(My apologies to the national media, who hope to keep us thinking
that the only thing happening anywhere is in the Persian Gulf!)
This will probably be the year that we figure out how to manage
the network without becoming either total fascists or total
anarchists. I haven't a clue what we'll arrive at, but the trip
is one that you won't want to miss!
There will be changes in the way I do things here, too.
I expect to turn over my "Current Versions" section to someone
in the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee in a week or so.
I'm going to slap together a piece of code that will be able to
extract articles from netmail messages, so that you'll be able
to use available low-cost routing techniques to send me stuff.
When I have that together, there will be an update to ARTSPEC
and I'll let you know.
I'm sure disappointed that Henry Clark hasn't sent me any more
feature requests for Binkley (or a picture of Honey, for that
matter) in the past couple of weeks. I'll try to get him going
again. Any more aspiring columnists out there?
I'm already 9 minutes past deadline, so I'll bring this
worthless little soliloquy to an end. But not without wishing
all of you the very best of New Years, for you and yours.
Cheers,
Vince
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FidoNews 7-53 Page 2 31 Dec 1990
Although there is no other national BBS list as complete
as the NODELIST, I have not seen the NODELIST available for
download on any non-Fido bulletin board systems. Most of our
local nodes don't even offer it for download.
According to the notice at the beginning of the NODELIST
any use by anyone other than a Fidonet sysop is not allowed.
It appears to me that people are afraid that someone will make
some money from distributing it. As a result, end-users
looking for long distance boards to explore, via PC-Pursuit or
Starlink, are unable to use the best national BBS list.
I don't have a solution to this. But I do have an
alternative suggestion. Having your BBS listed on one of the
other national BBS lists could go a long way in garnering out-
of-town callers for your system.
One such list is the "Darwin" list. This file can be
found on many boards as USBBS??.ZIP. USBBS79.ZIP had a little
under 1500 entries as of 12/1/90.
You can get your BBS on the Darwin list by calling their
BBS at 202-547-3037, and answering Script #1. The requirements
for being on this list are: being MS/PC-DOS oriented, at least
a 2400 baud modem, at least 60 megabytes of disk, and
substantially 24-hour service (not counting maintenance and
net-mail of course).
Another national list appears in Computer Shopper
magazine. This list is maintained by FOG, The International
Nonprofit Computer Users Group. Electronic versions of this
list are available on the FOG Roundtable on GEnie and from the
FOG BBS.
The requirements for being on this list are having at
least 10 megabytes of disk and 24-hour service. You need to
submit your information every 3 months or your listing
automatically gets deleted. All computer systems may be
listed, not just IBM compatible.
You can send your BBS information to FOG at
PO Box 3474,
Daly City, CA 94015.
FAX: 415-755-3482.
Their e-mail addresses are:
GEnie : OFFICE.FOG
MCI-MAIL : 347-8112
CompuServe : 71561,570
BBS : 415-755-8315 (Leave a comment to sysop)
FidoNews 7-53 Page 3 31 Dec 1990
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FidoNews 7-53 Page 4 31 Dec 1990
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 7-53 Page 9 31 Dec 1990
1 Jan 1991
Implementation of 7% Goods and Services Tax in Canada. Contact
Joe Lindstrom at 1:134/55 for a more colorful description.
16 Feb 1991
Fifth anniversary of the introduction of Echomail, by Jeff Rush.
31 Mar 1991
Jim Grubs (W8GRT) was issued his first ham radio license forty
years ago today. His first station was made from an ARC-5
"Command Set" removed from a B-17 bomber.
12 May 1991
Fourth anniversary of FidoNet operations in Latin America and
second anniversary of the creation of Zone-4.
8 Sep 1991
25th anniversary of first airing of Star Trek on NBC!
7 Oct 1991
Area code 415 fragments. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
will begin using area code 510. This includes Oakland,
Concord, Berkeley and Hayward. San Francisco, San Mateo,
Marin, parts of Santa Clara County, and the San Francisco Bay
Islands will retain area code 415.
1 Feb 1992
Area code 213 fragments. Western, coastal, southern and
eastern portions of Los Angeles County will begin using area
code 310. This includes Los Angeles International Airport,
West Los Angeles, San Pedro and Whittier. Downtown Los
Angeles and surrounding communities (such as Hollywood and
Montebello) will retain area code 213.
1 Dec 1993
Tenth anniversary of Fido Version 1 release.
5 Jun 1997
David Dodell's 40th Birthday
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
