Volume 7, Number 24 11 June 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. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Happy Birthday FidoNet ................................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 FidoCon '90 Update: New Prices & Other Stuff! ............ 3 New Echos ................................................ 5 NEW! FidoCon '90 Registration Form ....................... 6 3. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 8 4. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 9 Latest Software Versions ................................. 9 5. NOTICES .................................................. 12 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 12 FidoNews 7-24 Page 1 11 Jun 1990 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= [Editor's note: This week marks the fifth anniversary of FidoNet's present multiple net organization. We took this occasion to invite Ken Kaplan to write a guest editorial.] This week multinet FidoNet is celebrating it's fifth birthday. It seems quite appropriate that current world events are "proclaiming an end of the Cold War and calling for a joint venture in a new world order". FidoNet is also heading into a new age of cooperation, cooling tempers, and new democratic selection procedures for its leaders. FidoNet is one of the oldest public networks and yet it has only reached a maturity level now prepared to enter kindegarden. My son Eric and FidoNet are the same age and it has been interesting over the past five years to watch them both grow and mature. The FidoNet *C's have their own bit of history. In the beginning there was a single tier network and no *C's as I was doing all the data collection, hand editing, and publishing of the nodelist. The nodelist was split into Networks and Regions right after the St Louis FidoCon on June 12th 1985. Zone's came many months later. The original RC's were located in places outside of major metropolitan areas and were there primarily to handle SYSOP's who could not locate in a network. They had little to do and complained quite a bit. In the meantime I still had too much of the workload. A few months after the original Jeff Rush echomail processor was released (Summer '86) I started a conference called REGCON between all the RC's and that's when the first RC's started getting organized and writing Policy. The RC's were not really a major factor in the control of the formation of the Nodelist until late '87 when Ben Baker released MAKENL which allowed the RC's to create their own nodelist segment. MAKENL was further enhanced in '88 to allow the NC's and even HUB's to prepare their own segment and that's when the power of the NC's came into play. The control of the FidoNet Nodelist eventually fanned out like a funnel stating with myself doing everything to the process of today where all of *C's throughout the world are now involved. I keep getting asked where is all this heading? What does future hold for FidoNet over the next decade? Computers keep getting faster and more efficient and FidoNet's developers must keep ahead of the pace if the network is to survive. FidoNet has truly brought the world a little closer together and that effort will continue into the ninties. The next five years should be very entertaining as well as exciting. I would send you all a piece of FidoNet Birthday cake, but the one in our house only has Ninja Turtles. FidoNews 7-24 Page 2 11 Jun 1990 Ken Kaplan FidoNet 1:1/10 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-24 Page 3 11 Jun 1990 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= FidoCon '90 Update: 6/11/90 We have good news, better news, and great news for you this week! The good news is that registrations have skyrocketed, and we can now say that we're confident this is going to be the biggest and most enjoyable FidoCon in years! The better news is that due to the increasing number of regis- trations, we've cancelled the July 1st pricing, and have settled on giving everyone the last $50 discount! The great news is that we're even ROLLING BACK prices for some of the plans! The conference only, conference & banquet, and spouse plan have been reduced to their original May 1st prices of $75, $105, and $620. [However, if you plan on attending and staying for meals or at the hotel, we MUST know whether you're coming by July 1st, as that is our cut-off date for notifying the hotel of our 'final' numbers. If you register after that, we cannot guarantee you a room or a meal ticket.] There's other news, as well. Chris Irwin (author of D'bridge) has told us he's coming. That means that the author of virtually every major mailer package will be attending to tell you about their programs! Ryugen Fisher of Blue Frog Micro Computing will also be speaking. "Old Frog's" going to give a talk on the future of system architecture called "You Can Always Catch the Next Bus". Hector Santos and Silver Xpress Software will be attending and giving a seminar on off-line mail readers. Telecomputing Magazine will be attending and giving a seminar, as will Dr. James Waldron of UNITEX, the United Nations Press Release and UNICEF information service. The Tomorrow's Children Foundation will be participating to tell us how local sysops have helped children enjoy their stay at the Hackensack Medical Center while being treated for cancer. Chuck Gorish and Bennett Griffin of the GeneSys Project will be demoing their new multi-line continuous mail version of the Phoenix BBS program. US Robotics, as well as giving a talk on their new v.42bis upgrade and other new products, has graciously donated an HST 9600 baud modem to our prize pool. FidoNews 7-24 Page 4 11 Jun 1990 Speaking of prizes, our pool of vendor hardware and software continues to grow! The earlier you register, the more chances you'll have to win! Registrations after 7/1 will not be eligible (we have to have SOME inducements for early registration, you know! :-) [Those registering before 5/1 will be given 3 changes in the drawings, while those registering before 6/1 will be given 2. If you register before July 1st, you can also participate in our prize drawings. Rumor has it we'll be making an announcement of a 'super prize' any day now, so keep tuned to this channel.] Please use the updated registration form you'll find in this issue of Fidonews. It's headed FIDO-CON '90 REGISTRATION FORM to take advantage of our new pricing. We hope to see you there! Bill VanGlahn, FidoCon '90 committee chairman, 1:1/90 1:107/557 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-24 Page 5 11 Jun 1990 John Bierrie Fido 1:322/235 NEW ECHOS I thought I would take this oportunity to anounce that there are two new echos available which might be of interest to some of you. -=R&R=- The R&R Echo is an offshoot from the dBase and Clipper echos, where discussions concering the use of "Report Writer" software for dBase was building. The R&R echo is dedicated to discussing the use and implimentation of report writing software used by many dBase/Foxbase/DBXL, etc., programmers. This covers both commercial and shareware versions and can be of immence help to those using these programs. The echo is open to any individual with interest in this type of software. Symbolic Name (TAG) - R&R -=RA_UTIL=- The RA_UTIL Echo is dedicated to discussions concerning the many "external" programs being written for the Remote Access BBS software package. The participants include many of the authors of such programs and the discussions range from "problem solving" to what is upcoming in the future. "Support" program authors, very often need a place to offer assistance for their users and do not always wish to utilize the primary BBS echo, the RA_UTIL Echo is available for their use. The echo is open to anyone who has interest in the external programs written for Remote Access and "authors" wishing to discuss what they are doing. Symbolic Name (TAG) - RA_UTIL ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-24 Page 6 11 Jun 1990 The Secret Sysop Society presents __ *** Conclave '90 *** / \ The SYSOPS Convention /|oo \ Home of FidoCon 1990 (_| /_) Lyndhurst, New Jersey _`@/_ \ _ August 1-5, 1990 | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Rate Plan Schedule: (Hotel rooms cannot be guaranteed if you register after July 1st!) A. Single Occupancy...................$545.00 B. Double Occupancy...................$400.00 C. Conference w/ meals................$250.00 D. Conference w/ Banquet..............$105.00 E. Conference only.....................$75.00 F. Banquet only........................$30.00 G. Registrant & Spouse................$670.00 Plans A B & G include all conference and hotel fees and meals. You must pay by Check, Money Order, or Credit Card. Please send no cash. All monies must be in U.S. Funds. Checks should be made out to: "Conclave '90" The following registration form must be completed and mailed to: PO Box 12 Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 You may register by Netmailing this completed form to 1:1/90 for processing. Rename it to ZNNNXXXX.REG where Z is your Zone number, N is your Net number, and X is your Node number. US Mail confirmation is required within 72 hours of electronic filing. If you are paying by credit card, please include the required information. For your own security, do not route any message with your credit card number on it. Crash it directly to 1:1/90. The official Conclave '90 airline is American Airlines. American offers a 5% discount the lowest applicable round-trip fare, including 1st class travel, subject to availability of inventory. All fare rules and restrictions apply. In addition, American offers 40% off their round trip unrestricted day coach fare. International travelers qualify for special benefits, including complimentary admittance to the Admiral's Club Lounge at any American Airlines terminal. Newark is an American Air- lines city with direct flights to most major cities. When making reservations, you must call American's Toll-free reservation number at 800-433-1790, and reference Star number 13704F. FidoNews 7-24 Page 7 11 Jun 1990 F I D O - C O N '90 R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M Name: __________________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________ Apt. or Suite: _________ City: _________________________ State or Province: ____________ Postal Code: __________________ Country: ______________________ Voice Phone: ______________________ Data: _____________________ Zone:Net/Node.Point@Domain: ____________________________________ Special requirements: __________________________________________ +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | Option | Full | | | Line | |(Choose 1: A-G)| Name | Qty | Pricing | Total | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN A** | | | $545.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN B** | | | $400.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN C | | | $250.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN D | | | $105.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN E | | | $ 75.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN F | | | $ 30.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN G** | | | $670.00 | | +===============+=====================+=====+==========+=======+ |*NJ Beach Trip | | | $ 24.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ |*Eve. NYC Tour | | | $ 37.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ |*NYC Shop Tour | | | $ 36.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ |*Medieval Times| | | $ 50.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ ** includes registration, Hotel, and meals | Total $ | | * Requires Pre-registration (before 7/1) +==========+=======+ MC _____ Visa _____ Card Number: _____________________________ Expiration: ___________ Signature _____________________________ ( Credit card registrations require valid signature ) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-24 Page 8 11 Jun 1990 ================================================================= LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ================================================================= From: Jim Dailey of 202/309.0 To: Vince Perriello of 1/1.0 Subj: Fnews Vol 7, Num 23 - June 4, 1990 I won't include it here as I am sure you have a copy of Policy 4. Section 1.3.6 contain wording on the use of Fido Net for commercial purposes. The above referenced issue of Fido News has an article on "Short Story Disk" and "Electronic Book Club". These articles do not represent an exchange of information between commercial interests and customers instead, the articles represent a clear act of solicitation. My question - is Fido News, the offical news letter of Fidonet(r) International BBS Network, exempt from the policies and procedures set forth in the current policy, Policy 4. [Editor's response: I wasn't really sure how to classify those submissions. I always intended to publish them, but at first I was going to do so with an associated editorial stating that I would not publish anything like it again unless the readers thought I should. Then I read the stuff again while attempting to look at things more from the public service side of things, and decided that I had gotten too sensitive. The stuff seemed to be a reasonable thing for one sysop to announce to his fellow sysops, as long as it didn't become some kind of Kalah/Superdots kind of repeater. Obviously you read those things the way I did at first. Perhaps my first opinion was correct. Of course, maybe you could try the same process I went through and arrive at the same SECOND conclusion that I reached. Now that it has become an issue, I suppose the only thing to do is to invite commentary. Was this stuff blatantly commercial? If so, is it the kind of commercial stuff we want to read here? (Examples of stuff we seem to want to read here would be USR, SEA etc announcements which are most definitely commercial in nature) Comments welcome. Preferably in ARTSPEC.DOC format with filename (something).LET. ] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-24 Page 9 11 Jun 1990 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12s+ Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5e* Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.64* TBBS 2.1 Kitten 2.16 RBBS 17.2B TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Maximus 1.00 RBBSmail 17.2 Telegard 2.5* Opus 1.12+* RemoteAccess .03* TPBoard 6.1* PCBoard 14.2* SLBBS 1.76* Wildcat! 2.10 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 ARCAsim 2.30* Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.07 FrontDoor 1.99c* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.11 Crossnet v1.5* SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 EMM 2.02 TIMS 1.0(Mod4)* XlaxDiff 2.35* Gmail 2.05 XlaxNode 2.35* GROUP 2.16 GUS 1.30 LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.1* MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.10* QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 Sirius 1.0w* SLMAIL 1.35* StarLink 1.01 TagMail 2.20 TCOMMail 2.2 Telemail 1.20* TMail 1.15 TPBNetEd 3.2 TosScan 1.00* UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.20* ZmailQ 1.10 Macintosh --------- FidoNews 7-24 Page 10 11 Jun 1990 Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b10 Tabby 2.2 MacArc 0.04 Mansion 7.15 Copernicus 1.0d* ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 FBBS 0.91* TImport 1.331 Hermes 0.88* TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 Tset 1.3 Import 3.2 Export 3.21 Sundial 3.2 PreStamp 3.2 OriginatorII 2.0 AreaFix 1.6 Mantissa 3.21 Zenith 1.5 UNZIP 1.02b Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 2.06+ BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.50* AReceipt 1.5* WelMat 0.35 booz 1.01 ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 ElectricHerald1.66* Lharc 1.10 MessageFilter 1.52* oMMM 1.49b ParseLst 1.30 PkAX 1.00 PK[UN]ZIP 1.01 PolyxAmy 2.02* RMB 1.30 TrapList 1.12* UNzip 0.86 Yuck! 1.61* Zoo 2.00 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities FidoNews 7-24 Page 11 11 Jun 1990 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 Archimedes ---------- BBS Software Mailers Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version ARCbbs 1.44* BinkleyTerm 2.03* Unzip 2.1TH ARC 1.03 !Spark 2.00d* ParseLst 1.30 BatchPacker 1.00* + 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 7-24 Page 12 11 Jun 1990 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 12 Jun 1990 Fifth anniversary of FidoNet's switch to multiple nets. 14 Jul 1990 Start of Eurocon / Techcon conference in Antwerp, Belgium. Please note that the date has changed: The conferences are one day later than originally planned ! 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" 6 Nov 1990 First anniversary of Van Diepen Automatiseert, 2:500/28 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. 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 FidoNews 7-24 Page 13 11 Jun 1990 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. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. -----------------------------------------------------------------