Volume 7, Number 8 19 February 1990 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | FidoNet (r) | | \ \\ | | International BBS Network | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings 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 the System Operators of the FidoNet (r) International BBS Network. 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 Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are 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. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 LSTFMT Version 1.60 ...................................... 1 2. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 5 Latest Software Versions ................................. 5 3. NOTICES .................................................. 8 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 8 FidoNews 7-08 Page 1 19 Feb 1990 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= LSTFMT Version 1.60 The NodeList Formatting Utility for FTSC Compliant NodeLists Steven K. Shapiro SysOp LoneStar CBCS FidoNet 1:382/35 AlterNet 7:49/382 Network 8:7102/35 EggNet 99:9100/35 LSTFMT is an abbreviated form which stands for List Formatter. LSTFMT is designed to take a RAW, FTSC compliant nodelist, and produce output in a variety of formats based on the user specified switches. When I first became a member of FidoNet, I wanted to have just a list of those nodes in my local net. In order to get it I had to edit a 500K+ nodelist and then search for Host,382 (which took a LONG time). Then, once I had extracted this information, I still had to 'tidy it up' to be of a more human readable form. I also wanted all of the fields to line up. And then, to get it to all fit in 80 columns. What I also wanted to do was extract all of the nodelist header comments to be able to read about any new developments going on in the net. Thus the initial release of LSTFMT only supported these 2 functions. But, as is the nature of software, other SysOps had additional ideas of functionality I could add. So, in a mere 3 months, the current version scarcely resembles the original. Here is a brief list of the features of LSTFMT: 1. Ability to extract comments from a nodelist. 2. Ability to extract information about nodes that match a keyword. 3. Ability to format information about any zone, region or net in the nodelist. 4. Ability to format the information in a variety of forms: 1. Raw output 2. Formatted output 132 columns wide 3. Formatted output 80 columns wide FidoNews 7-08 Page 2 19 Feb 1990 4. Explicitly specify which fields to format and output 5. Shrink the nodelist for specific net processing 5. Ability to append multinet information into a single list. Because all you need is an FTSC compliant nodelist, you may use nodelists from virtually all of the amateur networks, including but not limited to FidoNet, EggNet, AlterNet, Network and more! The following is a brief description of the operation of the program: LSTFMT /I /O /N /S /Pnscypbf /K,, /C /T /A /R Where all arguments are entered on the same line interactively or via a batch file. All arguments are optional. /I This is the nodelist file from which to extract the information. If you fail to specify the filename extension, LSTFMT will calculate the day number of the current nodelist and will attempt to open the file with the nodelist day as the file name extension. If you do not use this switch, LSTFMT will attempt to use the current expected NODELIST.### file. You may use any valid Drive:\directory\path\filename.ext. /N This is the Zone, Region, or Host net from which to extract and format the information. If an '*' is specified as the net_number, then all nets in the input nodelist will be formatted. This parameter will supercede the /S switch. /C This indicates that all comments should be extracted from the nodelist input file. Only comments with text following them will be extracted. /O Is the file to which the extracted information is to be written. This file does not have to exist, but it will be created in the same directory as LSTFMT if it does not exist. You may specify any valid Drive:\directory\path\filename.ext. FidoNews 7-08 Page 3 19 Feb 1990 If this switch is not specified, the output will be sent to the system terminal (console). If the cannot be opened, or if none is specified, then the output will be sent to the system terminal (console). *WARNING* If the file exists, it will be deleted and the current output from LSTFMT will be directed to the new file. Refer to the use of the /A switch for appending output to existing files. /S This is specific system information that LSTFMT is to search for and extract to the output file. This may be any text string. Each system found which contains this information in the input_file will be formatted and written to the output file. This may be system name, sysop name, baud rate, etc. If no /N net number is specified, all Zones, Regions and Hosts in the input file will be searched. If a /N net number is specified, only that net will be searched for this information. /T This indicates that the /Net output should be formatted for 80 columns. This is handy if you wish to use the output file for display via a B)ulletins Menu item. /A This switch indicates that the output is to be appended to the output file if it exists, rather than deleting the existing file first. If the file specified does not exist, it will be created. /R This switch allows for RAW nodelist output. If specified, the output will not be formatted for display purposes. This switch overrides the /T switch. /K,, This switch will cause LSTFMT to produce a shrunK, or pruned NODELIST file which may be used as input to such programs as Parselst or Xlatlst. LSTFMT does not attempt to provide the same kind of versatility as is available with programs such as ShrinkNl or Prune. The intended purpose of this feature is to produce a list for the SysOp who only wishes to have a nodelist which is comprised of his local net, or a small number of specific nets. This switch overrides the /P, /T and /R switches. FidoNews 7-08 Page 4 19 Feb 1990 These parameters must be in the order indicated. Each parameter is optional. If you do not specify any Zones, Regions or Nets, then LSTFMT will ignore this switch. If you omit the Region and Net number, then LSTFMT will produce a list containing ALL nodes in ALL Nets in ALL Regions in the Zone specified. If you omit the Net number, then LSTFMT will produce a list containing ALL nodes in ALL Nets in the Region specified. This switch supercedes the /N, /S, /P, /T and /R switches. /Pnscypbf This switch allows for POSITIONAL nodelist output. If specified, the output will be positionally formatted for display purposes. This switch overrides the /T switch and the /R switch. The fields to be output are specified via the argument list. These are: 1. N - Node number. This includes any information such as HOST, HUB, etc. The field width is 10 characters wide. 2. S - System name. The field width is 25 characters wide. 3. C - City. The field width is 25 characters wide. 4. Y - sYsop name. The field width is 21 characters wide. 5. P - Phone. The field width is 16 characters wide. 6. B - Baud. The field width is 5 characters wide. 7. F - Flags. The field width is 25 characters wide. If the data for any field is larger than the field width, the data is truncated so that the information may be formatted in the specified widths. These switches may be in any order and may be in either upper or lower case. They must be separated by a space. And that's all there is to it. LSTFMT is available via the SDS, or from LoneStar CBCS by using the 'magic' filename of, what else, LSTFMT. Regards, Steve. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-08 Page 5 19 Feb 1990 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12q+ QuickBBS 2.62* TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 RBBS 17.2B TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Kitten 2.16 RBBSmail 17.2 TPBoard 6.0 Opus 1.03c+ RemoteAccess 0.01* Wildcat! 2.10* Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5d1* Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.30 EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.02 D'Bridge 1.30* MakeNL 2.20 ARCA06 2.20* Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.0 FrontDoor 1.99b* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.01* EMM 2.02 SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 Gmail 2.05* XlaxDiff 2.32 GROUP 2.16 XlaxNode 2.32 GUS 1.30* LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.0 MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.02* QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 StarLink 1.01 TagMail 2.11b* TCOMMail 2.2 TMail 1.12 TPBNetEd 3.2 TosScan 1.00* UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.10 ZmailQ 1.10* Macintosh --------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities FidoNews 7-08 Page 6 19 Feb 1990 Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b4 Tabby 2.1 MacArc 0.04 Mansion 7.15 Copernicus 1.0d* ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 TImport 1.331 TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 Tset 1.3 Import 2.52 Export 2.54 Sundial 2.1 UNZIP 1.01* Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 2.00+* BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.11 booz 1.01 WelMat 0.35* ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 Lharc 1.10* oMMM 1.43b* ParseLst 1.30 PkAX 1.00 PK[UN]ZIP 1.01* RMB 1.30 UNzip 0.86 Zoo 2.00 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDOdoor/ST 1.5c* BinkleyTerm 1.03g3 ConfMail 1.00 Pandora BBS 2.41c The BOX 1.20 ParseList 1.30 QuickBBS/ST 0.40 ARC 6.02* GS Point 0.61 LHARC 0.51 PKUNZIP 1.10 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 Trenum 0.10 OMMM 1.40 FidoNews 7-08 Page 7 19 Feb 1990 + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) * Recently changed 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-08 Page 8 19 Feb 1990 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 17 Mar 1990 Release date for Opus v1.10 5 Jun 1990 David Dodell's 33rd Birthday 12 Jun 1990 Fifth anniversary of FidoNet's switch to multiple nets. 27 Jul 1990 The beginning of the REGION 17 Convention at Menucha Resort in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. For details contact Ken Zwaschka, 1:105/54. 1 Aug 1990 Start of FidoCon '90. Contact Bill Vanglahn at 1:1/90 for details. 5 Oct 1990 21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" 14 Nov 1990 Marco Maccaferri's 21rd Birthday. Send greetings to him at 2:332/16.0 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. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. -----------------------------------------------------------------