F I D O N E W S Volume 16, Number 28 12 July 1999

F I D O N E W S Volume 16, Number 28 12 July 1999
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
| FidoNet community | "FidoNews" |
| _ | +27-41-581-5913 [5:5/23] |
| / \ | |
| /|oo \ | |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
| | | \ \\ | Editor: |
| | (*) | \ )) | Henk Wolsink 5:7104/2 |
| |__U__| / \// | |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Submission address: FidoNews Editor 5:5/23 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| MORE addresses: |
| |
| submissions=> [email protected] |
| [email protected] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2
FTSC biannual report ..................................... 2
FTSC Frequently Asked Questions .......................... 4
FTSC Mirror Sites ........................................ 5
Censorship of FidoNet in Russia? ......................... 7
3. NOTICES .................................................. 9
Future History ........................................... 9
4. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 10
5. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 14
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 1 12 Jul 1999

=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================

Greetings,

This is a short very short note from, as I'm not feeling well
today. Flu is the cause.

Did the Z1C election take place?

Happy reading.

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FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 2 12 Jul 1999

=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================

FTSC biannual report
By Colin Turner, 2:2/20, [email protected]

At the end of June my term as FTSC Administrator had been running for
six months. I have therefore chosen this time to write an article into
FidoNews reporting FTSC business.

For those of you that don't know what the FTSC is, it is the FidoNet
Technical Standards Committee. It is our job to attempt to document
current technical practice within FidoNet (and also in the wider
context of FidoNet Technology Networks (FTNs)). A more detailed
explanation of our responsibilities can be found in our charter,
document FTA-1000. Details on how to retrieve this and other FTSC
documents can be found in another article below.

First of all I'd like to discuss some of what we've done in the last
few months.

* We have constructed a new FTSC website which provides access to the
whole family of current FTSC documents. This is to be found at the
domain name of www.ftsc.org, which was newly purchased for the
committee. Considerable further enhancements are planned for this
site, but other tasks are taking precedence.

* Similarly, an anonymous ftp server for FTSC documents can be found
at ftp.ftsc.org.

* Similarly, every FTSC member has been given an email address in the
ftsc.org domain, in order to make members more accessible.

* A list of mirror sites (for FidoNet) from which FTSC documents can
be obtained as been created. Please contact me if you would like to
be added.

* A "Road Map" for the technical documents has been created. We
understand that many proposals are de facto standards, and we hope
to correct that problem soon. In the meantime, it's essential that
new developers can determine which documents they should consult.

To facilitate this, a Road Map document has been produced, listing
the most important documents in each of several fields.

* Several new product codes have been allocated and published.

* Some new FSP documents have been released, specifically
FSP-1010 - Via control line;
FSP-1011 - BinkP protocol;
FSP-1012 - InterNet nodelist flags.

* The FTS documents are under review, with the production of
FTS-5000 - Main Nodelist format;
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 3 12 Jul 1999

FTS-5001 - Nodelist flags,
which obsolete FTS-0005.
Additionally a discussion document detailing the various Type 2
Packet formats has been produced which will eventually spawn the
new standard documents for these.

* We have reviewed two existing FSP documents and found that we cannot
recommend them for promotion to FTS documents. These have been
placed in the FRL (Reference Library) sequence. We have also
included detailed adjudications of why these decisions were taken.

* Further work and discussion has occured on fields such as Document
Submission Requirements, and how "kludge" or "control lines" should
be documented in future. Even the structure of the committee and how
it might be streamlined has been discussed. It's quite possible that
the public (in FTSC_PUBLIC) will be asked to vote on several of
these issues in the near future.

The public feedback in the FTSC_PUBLIC conference has been both
gratifying and helpful, and I would invite other nodes to consider
reading and contributing to this conference.

Next, I'd like to deal with what I anticipate will take place in the
next few months.

* Further review of the existing FTS documents.

* Discussion of several FSP documents with decisions made to elevate
them to standards, or relegate them to the Reference Library.

* Year 2000 tests of "critical" FTN subsystems, such as nodelist
generation.

Unfortunately, although many nodes and developers downloaded the
FTSC Year 2000 test set, feedback has been almost non existant.
The committee itself has limited time with which to run tests and so
we will limit ourselves to what we regard as the most critical
programs.

I hope to make a full report on this by the end of August.

* The elected terms of many members will expire at the end of
September this year. Therefore election procedures will be put in
place in time so that those members being reelected can do so
without interruption of work.

Of course we will also be looking for applications from new members.
If you feel you would like to join the committee, and could
contribute positively to its work, then please contact me for
details now so you will be well informed when the election comes
around.

I would personally like to thank the members of the committee for
their hard work, good debates and support. I would also like to thank
all those nodes, points and others who have taken the time to provide
input in FTSC_PUBLIC or otherwise.
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 4 12 Jul 1999

If you'd like to contact the FTSC, please feel free to direct any
queries to Colin Turner at 2:2/20 or [email protected].

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FTSC Frequently Asked Questions
by Colin Turner, 2:2/20, [email protected]

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) concerning
the FTSC.

* How do I join the FTSC?

The FTSC is an elected body, and you can only be appointed in this
way.

Elections are held periodically. You can ask in FTSC_PUBLIC when
the next election is likely to be. Keep watching FTSC_PUBLIC and
FidoNews for announcements.

* How do I suggest my own new standard?

Any point or node can suggest a new standard. You should read
FTA-1002 and to a lesser extent FTA-1001, FTA-1006 and FTA-1007.
After that you should know all you need to, but you can always
contact the FTSC administrator to clarify any problems.

* Where do I find the development information I need?

Experienced developers can find the information they require on
the FTSC Archive site:

WWW
http://www.ftsc.org

FTP
ftp://ftp.ftsc.org

FidoNet 2:443/13.0 and 2:443/14.0

A list of mirrors is also available.

Beginners might find it useful to look at the RoadMap project to
help them find the documents of interest.

* How can I contact the FTSC?

The FTSC can be contacted in a variety of ways.

FidoNet

Contact the Administrator, Colin Turner, at 2:2/20
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 5 12 Jul 1999

InterNet email

Contact [email protected]

Snail mail

FTSC
PO Box 443
Bangor
Northern Ireland
BT20 3BF
UK

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FTSC Mirror Sites
By Colin Turner, 2:2/20, [email protected]

This is a list of sites which provide an archive of some or all FTSC
material. If you run a similar site, on FidoNet, the InterNet or
otherwise, and would like to see your site included, please contact

Colin Turner, 2:2/20

With information about how the files are available, File Request, BBS
downloads, FTP, HTTP etc. and the star rating you feel appropriate
(see below).

Mirror Sites on FidoNet
=======================

Denmark
-------

Bruno Olsen, 2:236/42

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Yes
Star Rating : **

Germany
-------

Lothar Behet, 2:446/301

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Unknown
Star Rating : *

Italy
-----

Mario Mure', 2:335/533
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 6 12 Jul 1999

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Unknown
Star Rating : **

Holland
-------

Jan Vermeulen, 2:280/100

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Yes
Star Rating : **

United Kingdom
--------------

Colin Turner, 2:443/13

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Yes
Star Rating : ***

United States of America
------------------------

California
----------

David Hallford, 1:208/103

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Unknown
Star Rating : *

Louisiana
---------

John Souvestre, 1:396/1

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Unknown
Star Rating : ***

Texas
-----

Lawrence Garvin, 1:106/6018

File Request : Yes
BBS Access : Yes
Star Rating : ***

Mirror Sites on the Internet
============================

FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 7 12 Jul 1999

Primary Archive

WWW : http://www.ftsc.org
FTP : ftp://ftp.ftsc.org

Other Archives

FTP : ftp://ftp.eforest.net/e/filearea/fido/ftsc

* One Star

This sort of site has a collection of all current FTA, FTS and FSC,
FSP documents. (That is, administrative documents, standards and
proposals).

** Two Star

This sort of site also has all FRL documents.

*** Three Star

This sort of site also has documents and files related to specific
working groups. (For example, there are a number of relevant files
for working group Y (Year 2000 issues) which have not been released
by the FTSC channel itself).

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Censorship of FidoNet in Russia?

My suspicion has been aroused that Soviet-era-type censorship may
still be continuing in Russia. The following gave rise to this
suspicion.

In 1996 I carried on extensive netmail correspondence with a person
in Moscow. At some point he made critical remarks about Russian
politicians. Soon after this our correspondence stopped. I heard no
more from him, and my netmail to him went unanswered.

Until recently we carried on a fairly active correspondence with
people in Russia via the ENGLISH_TUTOR echo. Then some critical
comments were made about Russia's role in the Kosovo crisis, and all
of our Russian correspondents suddenly fell silent. I've since
received netmail from one of them, complaining that no more messages
are showing up in ENGLISH_TUTOR over there. This despite the fact
that there are messages in this echo from North America and Europe.

The above is insufficient to establish that the spiritual heirs of
the former Soviet KGB are monitoring and censoring FidoNet in Russia,
but it is enough to arouse such a suspicion.
To help me settle this question, I'm writing this to ask the other
users of FidoNet whether they have had similar experiences in
communicating with Russians. If so, I would like to receive
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 8 12 Jul 1999

documentation of such experiences by netmail or e-mail along with
suggestions on how to combat such odious Russian censorship. I think
it's worth the effort to settle this question one way or another.

Andy Manninger
Moderator, ENGLISH_TUTOR
Netmail: 1:153/831
E-mail: [email protected]

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FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 9 12 Jul 1999

=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================

Future History

24 Jul 1999
XIII Pan American Games [through 8 Aug 99].

10 Sep 1999
10th anniversary of Zone 5 operations.

26 Oct 1999
Thirty years from release Abbey Road album by the Beatles.

31 Dec 1999
Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed.

1 Jan 2000
The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec.

1 Jun 2000
EXPO 2000 World Exposition in Hannover (Germany) opens.

15 Sep 2000
Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens.

21 Sep 2000
10 years of FidoNet in +7 (xUSSR)

1 Jan 2001
This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E.

-- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this
Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor.

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FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 10 12 Jul 1999

=================================================================
FIDONET BY INTERNET
=================================================================

This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the
FidoNews Editor as of this issue; see the notice at the end.

FidoNet:

Homepage http://www.fidonet.org
FidoNews http://www.fidonews.org [HTML]
http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html [ASCII]
WWW sources http://travel.to/fidonet/
FTSC page http://www.ftsc.org/
Echomail [pending]
General http://owls.com/~jerrys/fidonet.html
http://www.nrgsys.com/orb/foti
List servers:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/fidonet-discussion

============

Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org

Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html

Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/

Region 13: http://www.net264.org/r13.htm

Net 264: http://www.net264.org/

Region 14:

Net 282: http://www.rxn.com/~net282/

Region 17: http://www.nwstar.com/~region17/

Region 18: http://techshop.pdn.net/fido/

Region 19: http://members.home.net/hbh3/r19

Zone 1 Elist http://www.baltimoremd.com/elist/

Not sure where the following should be placed:

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/snwvlly/fido.html

============

Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org

ZEC2:
Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fbone.ch/echolist/

Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish)
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 11 12 Jul 1999

Region 23: http://www.fido.dk (in Danish)

Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (German)
Fido-IP: http://home.nrh.de/~lbehet/fido (English/German)

Region 25: http://www.bsnet.co.uk/net2502/net/

Region 26: http://www.nemesis.ie
REC 26: http://www.nrgsys.com/orb

Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm

Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (French)

Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (German)

Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (Italian)

Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (Spanish)
REC34: http://pobox.com/~chr

Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/

Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html

Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (Greek/English)

Region 42: http://www.fido.cz

Region 48: http://www.fidonet.org.pl

Region 50: http://www.fido7.com/ (Russian)
Net 5010: http://fido.tu-chel.ac.ru/ (Russian)
Net 5015: http://www.fido.nnov.ru/ (Russian)
Net 5030: http://kenga.ru/fido/ (Russian & English)
Net 5073: http://people.weekend.ru/soa/ (Russian)
Net 5085: http://www.fidonet.uz/ (Russian)

============

Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org

============

Zone 4:

Region 90: http://visitweb.com/fidonet
Net 903: http://www.playagrande.com/refugio
Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (Spanish)

============

Zone 5: http://www.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/

============

FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 12 12 Jul 1999

Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org

Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (Chinese)

============

Pages listed above are as submitted to the FidoNews Editor,
and generally reflect Zone and Regional Web Page sites. If
no Regional site is submitted, the first Network page from
that Region is used in its place. Generally, Regional pages
should list access points to all Networks within the Region.

TCP/IP accessible node access information should be submitted
to the FidoNews Editor for inclusion in their Region or Zone.

-----------oOo-------------

Fidonet Via Internet Hubs

Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed | Basic Rate
-----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------
1:12/12 | Ken Wilson | FTP | T1 | $24mo.
1:13/25 | Jim Balcom | FTP | 56k | $20mo.
1:106/1 | Matt Bedynek | BinkP, FTP | 128k | n/c
1:106/6018 | Lawrence Garvin | FTP, VMoT | 64k | $5/mo.
1:107/451 | Andy Knifel | FTP, VMoT, UUE | 33.6 | n/c
1:140/12 | Bob Seaborn | FTP | T1 | $5/$20
1:270/101 | George Peace | FTP | T1 | $30mo.
1:271/140 | Tom Barstow | UUE | T1 | n/c
1:275/1 | Joshua Ecklund | UUE | 28.8 | $10/yr.
1:280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo.
1:2401/305 | Peter Rocca | FTP,UUE | T1 | unkn
1:2424/10 | Alec Grynspan | FTP,UUE | T1 | n/c
1:2604/104 | Jim Mclaughlin | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 33.6 | $1mo.
1:2624/306 | D. Calafrancesco | VMoT | 33.6 | $15yr.
1:345/0 | Todd Cochrane | FTP | T1 | n/c
1:346/250 | Aran Spence | FTP,UUE | T1 | $10mo.
1:396/45 | Marc Lewis | UUE | 33.6 | $26/yr.
1:3651/9 | Jerry Gause | FTP,VMoT | 33.6 | $3/$6
1:396/1 | John Souvestre | FTP,VMoT | T1 | $15mo.
2:335/535 | Mario Mure | VMoT,UUE | 64k | n/c
2:254/175 | Alex Kemp | UUE | 56k | n/c
2:284/800 | Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c
2:335/610 | Gino Lucrezi | UUE | 33.6 | n/c
2:469/84 | Max Masyutin | VMoT | 256k | n/c
2:2411/413 | Dennis Dittrich | UUE | 64k | n/c
2:2474/275 | Christian Emig | UUE | 64k | unkn
3:633/260 | Malcolm Miles | FTP | 33.6 | n/c
4:902/18 | Javier Tejedor | UUE | 33,6 | n/c
4:905/100 | Fabian Gervan | VMoT, UUE | ??? | n/c
--
* FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol
* VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various)
* UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers
[I'm only cataloging transfer methods, eg, ftp, email, telnet.
Specific programs using these protocols are no longer being listed.
FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 13 12 Jul 1999

Contact the system operators for details of which programs they have
available.]

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FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 14 12 Jul 1999

=================================================================
FIDONEWS INFORMATION
=================================================================

------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION -------

Editor: Henk Wolsink

Editors Emeriti: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell,
Donald Tees, Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg

"FidoNews Editor"
FidoNet 5:5/23
BBS +27-41-581-5913, 2400/9600/V34

more addresses:
Henk Wolsink -- 5:7104/2, [email protected]

(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews Editor
P.O. Box 12325
Port Elizabeth,
6006
South Africa

------------------------------------------------------

FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
does not diminish the rights of the authors. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in
these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of
FidoNews and/or the Editor.

Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright (C) 1999 Henk Wolsink. All rights reserved. Duplication
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For
use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or
the Editor.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or
file-request, or from various sites in FidoNet and the Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal
address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request
FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific
back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSGnn.ZIP] for a
particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP
where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the
current year [9], i.e., FNWSJAN9.ZIP for all the Issues from Jan 99.

FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 15 12 Jul 1999

Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number
1 - 16 for 1984 - 1999, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in
size from 48K to 1.4M.

INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via:

http://www.fidonews.org
** http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm
** ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/
ftp://ftp.irvbbs.com/fidonews/
ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/Fidonet/Fidonews

And in non-English formats via:

** http://www.hvc.ee/pats/fidonews (Estonian)
http://www.fidonet.pp.se/sfnews (Swedish)

** LINK HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED

*=*=*

You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to:

[email protected]

with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist

and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the
email distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist
with no message to the same address above.

*

You may retrieve current and previous Issues of FidoNews via FTPMail
by sending email to:

[email protected]

with a Subject line of: help

and FTPMail will immediately send a reply containing details and
instructions. When you actually make a file request, FTPMail will
respond in three stages. You find a link for this process on
www.fidonews.org.

*=*=*

You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at:

http://www.fidonews.org

and http://www.fidonet.dynip.com/public/fidonews/default.htm

and in the FIDONEWS echo.

FIDONEWS 16-28 Page 16 12 Jul 1999

STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request -
Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from:

ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/

Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents
for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 13 Megs.

=*=*=*=

The current week's FidoNews are now also available almost immediately
after publication on the FidoNews Editor homepage on the World Wide
Web at:

http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html

There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and
to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an
email link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable
from 5:5/23 [5:7104/2] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators
should have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it.

"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141,
and are used with permission.

"Disagreement is actually necessary,
or we'd all have to get in fights
or something to amuse ourselves
and create the requisite chaos."
-Tom Jennings

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