Volume 7, Number 42 15 October 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 New version of ARTSPEC.DOC ............................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 8 The Planet: Pern Location is Brigadoon ................. 8 *CADNet* File Distribution Network ....................... 11 Known Distribution Networks .............................. 15 FidoNews: Must we print it all? .......................... 17 Commentary on the proposed Echomail Policy ............... 18 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 21 The Captain's Log ........................................ 21 Talk Me Through It, Honey ................................ 23 And more! FidoNews 7-42 Page 1 15 Oct 1990 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= This week I finally broke down and changed ARTSPEC.DOC to reflect the way that things actually happen around the newsroom these days. I hope this helps make things clearer, without losing all of the flavor of Thom's document. I'm publishing it here in its entirety as the fastest means of distributing it. Obviously, it will also be available from 1:1/1 as ARTSPEC.DOC. Cheers, Vince. FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines Last Updated 10 October 1990 Based on the original work by Thom Henderson FidoNews is the user group newsletter of the users of the FidoNet(R) remote bulletin board network. As of this writing it has an estimated readership of over two hundred thousand people worldwide. In keeping with the nature of FidoNet, FidoNews is an electronic newsletter which is passed from node to node over the network. All of the articles which appear in FidoNews are written or submitted by users of FidoNet. FidoNews is very much an electronic newsletter by, of, and for Fido users and sysops. This document describes the technical aspects of submitting an article to FidoNews. FidoNews 7-42 Page 2 15 Oct 1990 Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with permission. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW FidoNews is assembled in a completely manual process each week. Every Sunday evening the Editor runs a special utility called MAKENEWS, which puts together the various articles which have been received and generates the latest issue. The resulting file is sent out using HATCH to 1:1/0, who passes it on to the Region 1 Coordinators using the TICK program. It is also placed in the download/file request area of FidoNet node 1:1/1, both in compressed form (FNEWSxxx.LZH) and uncompressed form (FIDOxxx.NWS). In practice, the primary purpose of the MAKENEWS utility is to scan the articles which have been submitted for any technical disqualifications. If MAKENEWS finds an article which does not meet its technical specs, then a message is logged and that article is not included in the newsletter. At this point the article must be modified by hand until it passes the technical requirements. Since this is dependent on the availability of human resources, then an article which fails to meet the specs may be delayed indefinitely, or even cancelled entirely. It's important to note here that the FidoNews Editor is not responsible for such cleanup. Although on occasion he or she may in fact undertake to do so, there are no guarantees that a non-conforming article will ever be published in FidoNews, nor is it necessarily the responsibility of the Editor to even correspond with the author of non-conforming material. Much of this document is intended to describe the technical specifications which an article must meet in order to be included in the newsletter. Please read it carefully. The article you save might be your own. SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE The first step, of course, is to create a file which contains the text of your article. You should then send the file via FidoNet mail to node 1:1/1. Filename extensions are used to distinguish types of submissions, as follows: FidoNews 7-42 Page 3 15 Oct 1990 .ART An article, commentary, open letter, or general news item. .COL A column, or other regular feature. .LET Letters to the Editor. .SAL A "For Sale" advertisement. .WAN A "Wanted" advertisement. .NOT A notice for the back of the issue. If your file doesn't have one of the above extensions, then it will lay around taking up disk space until some human takes a look at it and realizes what it is. The name of the file is up to you, though you should use a name which is not likely to be "stepped on" by someone else. For example, FNEWS.ART is probably not a good name for an article. If you are writing a regular feature, such as a column or a series of articles, you can put a number at the end of the name, and submit several in a batch. For example, you could send in a set of five files, named: MYWORD1.COL MYWORD2.COL MYWORD3.COL MYWORD4.COL MYWORD5.COL These would be used one at a time in sequence. MYWORD1.COL would be printed the first week, MYWORD2.COL the second, and so on. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS This section describes the technical requirements which an article must pass before the MAKENEWS utility will include it in FidoNews. If your file does not meet these criteria, then, again, it will languish on the disk until some human happens to notice, and fixes it. These constraints are for purely practical reasons. There are roughly a million different word processors out there, all with their own different formats. We simply do not have the time to convert them all to the format we use. 1. FLUSH LEFT MARGIN: The finished FidoNews is indented five FidoNews 7-42 Page 4 15 Oct 1990 columns. We do that here. If your submission is also indented, then your indent will be added to ours. So please set your left margin all the way at the edge of the screen. 2. RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 65 OR LESS: Less is tolerable, more is definitely not. 3. NO FUNNY CHARACTERS: This includes formfeeds, returns without linefeeds, linefeeds without returns, tabs and other oddities. 4. NO GRAPHICS CHARACTERS: Believe it or not, not everyone in the world has an IBM PC. Please restrict yourself to printable ASCII characters in the range 20 hex to 7E hex (space to tilde). However, if you are using PC-Write to create your file, then feel free to use the "hard space", "hard hyphen", and "soft hyphen" characters. MAKENEWS understands them, and will handle them properly. 5. TOTAL ARTICLE LENGTH: Well, there IS an upper limit, but we're not going to say what it is, because: a) it's pretty big, b) it changes from time to time, and c) we override it now and then, as the circumstances merit. Advertisements and notices are an exception. Since we don't charge for ads, we feel justified in limiting them. The maximum length of an advertisement is rather small (never more than one page). 6. WHERE IS THIS ARTICLE FROM: A good question! You can submit an article anonymously if you want to, but most folks start out by stating their name and node number. You are encouraged to do so, as any article which requires verification will be automatically discarded if the author/submitter cannot be reached. If you want your article to be listed in the table of contents, then you should start it with a "content line". This is just a normal line, except that it is the FIRST line of your file, and it begins with an asterisk ("*"). Here's an example of a content line: * My Word! EXAMPLE Here's a sample of what a typical submission might look like: FidoNews 7-42 Page 5 15 Oct 1990 * A Sample Article FidoNews Editor FidoNet 1:1/1 This Is My Title And here is my article. Note that it is flush left (zero indent). Also note that the right margin is at column sixty five, so that the result will look good when the formatter sets it up. We also started the file with a content line, so my article will be listed in the table of contents. Figure 1. Table 1. +-------+ ======== | A Box | Alfa +-------+ Bravo Note that we am not using any funny characters. This ensures that the final article will look the same to every user, no matter what sort of hardware he has. This is the last sentence of our article. And that's all there is to it! You should be able to get a file like this out of any word processor. FORMATTING ADVICE There are certain things you should do to improve the general appearance of your article when it is published. After all, two hundred thousand of your fellow users will be looking at it. You want it to look good, don't you? You may have noticed that FidoNews articles are separated by dashed lines. These are inserted by MAKENEWS, so you shouldn't add them yourself. If you put a dashed line at the top and/or bottom of your article, then it will appear right next to the dashed line MAKENEWS inserts. Since your line is almost certain to be a different length, then the result will not look very good. You should also put a blank line between paragraphs. This sets them off better than just indenting the first line, and makes you article easier to read. You should not, however, put a lot of blank space at the top or bottom of your article. MAKENEWS works hard to make sure that the articles are well separated to the eye, so any space you add at the ends will just waste paper when someone prints out the news. FidoNews 7-42 Page 6 15 Oct 1990 If you want to put in a table or a figure, go right ahead. MAKENEWS does not rearrange text, so your table or figure will remain exactly as you entered it. If you want to justify the right margin, please feel free. You may also leave it ragged if you wish. An even right margin looks neater, while a ragged margin makes for text that is easier to read. We've been told that an even right margin is really just a gimmick, since typesetters don't really do it that way, but you decide for yourself. OTHER ADVICE The biggest thing we see, the thing that irks us most, is when someone submits an article that is full of basic errors in spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation. Please remember, two hundred thousand people will be reading what you write. Please, for your own sake, use a dictionary when you're not sure how a word is spelled. Or, if you're not good at grammar, get a friend to help you write your article. We ain't the Literary Digest here, and our standards are pretty (very) lax. If you're willing to write it, we'll put it in. It's just that it's in your own best interest to come off looking good. EDITORIAL CONTENT We suppose we should say something about article content. Basically, it's up to you. As we've stated many times, FidoNews isn't ours, it's yours. We will publish anything we receive that doesn't seem to cause any legal quandaries for us. Most articles tend to be related in some way to personal computing, but that is by no means a requirement on our part. WHEN WILL YOUR ARTICLE APPEAR A good question indeed, and almost impossible to answer. First of all, whether an article is published or not is MOSTLY dependent on whether it meets the criteria mentioned above. If they do not, then you're subject to the whim of the Editor. That's usually OK, but everyone has their bad days. You may never see your badly formatted article in FidoNews. As for timing: At one time, the editorial staff attempted to keep the size of the newsletter reasonably consistent by delaying publication of some articles from weeks of heavy submissions, printing them a week or so later. When the week or so of low submission volume came along, the newsletter was filled out with material that had been submitted the week or so before. This became extremely difficult during some protracted periods of extremely high volumes of submissions, and we dropped the policy entirely when sufficient people objected. FidoNews 7-42 Page 7 15 Oct 1990 By and large, everything submitted by Saturday night will make the FidoNews sent out Sunday night. Often, submissions received as late as sometime Sunday afternoon will make their way into that week's edition. There are good and bad aspects to this policy of printing stuff right away. What's good about it is that everyone can time their stuff to be published at the time they consider most appropriate. What's bad about it is that articles seem to arrive here in "spurts". We might get two articles one week, and then twenty the next. Because we print everything received in each cycle, it's entirely possible, and even somewhat likely, that you could get a fifty page newsletter one week, and a two page newsletter the next. YOUR TURN That's enough from us for now. Now it's YOUR turn to sit down and write that article you're thinking about! Best wishes, and good luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 8 15 Oct 1990 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= James Pallack, WeryLeader of High Reaches Weyr 1:325/101@FidoNet 69:2700/1 @KinkNet 10:101/101@PernNet 9:1010/11@ParaNet Press Release - Distribute Everywhere - The Brigadoon Weyr Group There's a new improved consortium of telecommunications enthusiasts in the works, recalling the good old days of Dada, Discordianism, searching for the Truth, hippie communes, and guerilla ontology, and it is known as... The Brigadoon Weyr Group The Brigadoon Weyr Group is open to any computer system that is network compatible, regardless of which network you belong to as a primary or secondary link. The Brigadoon Weyr Group is in the hobby of telecommunicating for the fun of it; whatever is easiest for YOU to link with US is the best way for EVERYONE involved. ANY network that can link successfully to any of our varied systems is welcome to join. The Brigadoon Weyr Group will remain very unstructured; it is up to the people linking to hope in and enjoy the fun. This is so all can sit back lazily and enjoy the same fun you mere mortals are enjoying, without the responsibility and awesome power of network topology handling. The Brigadoon Weyr Group is devoted to the weirder things in life -- fringe groups, nonstandard religions, Elvis searchers, cult movies, bad audio and video, and certified maniacs and politicians. It is the goal of The Brigadoon Weyr Group in its "psychological experiment to allow us to complete a doctorate in psychology" mode to allow the weird, the odd, the huddled masses yearning to be free an electronic playpen in which to espouse their varied belief systems. It is a network of losers, winners, dreamers, screamers. for a free starter kit...FREQ: BRIGADOON from 1:325/101 @FidoNet at HST 14.4 v.32 (5K) and/or PERNLIST for a system map. it includes a gift certificate good for one established link to The Brigadoon Weyr Group via your network system. Please post the gift certificate in every area you feel you can, for others to discover the joy of The Brigadoon Weyr Group. The message bases currently part of the The Brigadoon Weyr Group package are: FidoNews 7-42 Page 9 15 Oct 1990 BW_ASK_AB Auntie Bellums Parlor BW_AUDIOACTIVE Punk Rap Heavy Metal Bouts BW_GRAFWALL Great way to meet people BW_GREEN_DRAGON Green Dragon Good Time Pub BW_GUVMINT Whats wrong w/our government BW_INSANITY Insanity, anything goes BW_MAYBE Just say Maybe to drugs BW_PERN Open discussions area for the citizens of PERN BW_PAGANS_AN Pagans Against Normalcry BW_PARACITY Where the Down boys go! BW_PREACHNIX Preaching BW_VIDEOACTIVE Cult Movies, Bad Films, tapes. etc. BW_BOOKSACTIVE SciFi Books, cults, etc. BRIGADOON Brigadoon City Hall (aka SysOp's room) Feel free to pick up any or all of these echos -- via negotia- tions with the system of your choice. The ONLY thing we requests of Brigadoon Weyr postings is that they follow common- sense rules of echo procedure, whatever those are. The big things are staying on topic in the specific base, and allowing access to BW_PARACITY to people strong or old enough to handle it. We make no distinctions as to age, background, religion, sex, gender, et cetera. We are an Equal Opportunity Network, limited solely by the ability to move echomail around in a reasonably good manner. Problems with offending nodes will be dealt with via the path structure of the network until it reaches The Brigadoon Weyr Group Central (1:325/101) where we will deal with it as need be. A rough topology map will be compiled monthly to give The Brigadoon Weyr Group users an idea of who gets the net from whom, and for new users to have an idea where to plug in. In closing, I point out that we are all of us doing this as a hobby, and will tolerate no politics or powerplays. I hope to keep The Brigadoon Weyr Group open and free for all by dealing with problems as they arise. It is my hope that official regulations and policies will not be needed, to the enjoyment and betterment of all concerned. Current national hubs for The Brigadoon Weyr Group: FidoNet Net Address City Sysop Baud --------------- ------------------ ------------------ ---- 1:325/101 Burlington, VT James Pallack HST 14.4 1:363/71 Orlando, FL Carl Finkeldey 2400 1:3601/70 Gainesville, FL McArthur Sandridge 9600 HST FidoNews 7-42 Page 10 15 Oct 1990 The Brigadoon Weyr Group - The smart move for today's discriminating telecommunicator ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 11 15 Oct 1990 *CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet* * * * *CADNet* Support and Distribution Network * * Carrying AutoCAD and other CAD/CAM * * files related to user enhancement, * * information and reference. * * * *CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet*CADNet* National *CADNet* Headquarters The DawgByte at up to 14.4 USR HST at FidoNet 1:116/29 Distribution Headquarters - Kevin Snively 1:116/29 Distribution Coordinator - Stan Bimson 1:116/32 *CADNet* has been in operation since June 1990 and is an Exciting New Distribution Network For CAD/CAD-CAM and AutoCAD Support Utilities, Newsletters and Shareware Programs. We are Not Directly Affiliated with AutoDesk or any other Commercial CAD Software Companies. Many of us are Users though. Through the Network we can share the latest in AutoLisp, shareware programs and utilities for AutoCAD, drawings, slides libraries, fonts and shape files, and electronic CAD magazines. We can stay in touch directly with a *CADNet* Member specific Echo Conference called CAD_NET. As a SysOp the first thing you will need to do is find a direct link into the Network. As the Network grows it will become easier to do. I apologize in advance if it is going to be an additional long distance connect. But, it will be well worth it to be able to share CAD support files among others. Zone 1 Region 11 236/13 Mike Siebern Angola, IN 219-665-8767 2200/141 Stan Waldrup Ypsilanti, MI 313-483-1359 Region 13 107/411 Mike Quinlan Shrewsbury TWP, NJ 201-544-8193 109/420 Yann LeGuellec Germantown, MD 301-428-8998 Region 14 283/630 Peter Elliff Cedar Rapids, IA 319-377-0134 Region 18 372/42 Taine Gilliam Charleston, SC 803-556-9094 116/24 Kevin Nashville, TN 615-353-3476 116/29 Kevin Snively Nashville, TN 615-385-4268 116/32 Stan Bimson Hendersonville, TN 615-824-4938 Region 19 124/4115 Dean Lachan Irving, TX 214-556-2982 124/4225.228 Steve Nye Somewhere in the great state of TX 394/6 Brian Stanga Ponchatoula, LA 504-294-5027 FidoNews 7-42 Page 12 15 Oct 1990 First of all you will need to get TICK by Barry Geller (latest Version TICK200.LZH). Tick is the utility used to "Echo" files among the Network. If you do not have a linkup point you may link with The DawgByte at up to 14.4 USR HST @ FidoNet 1:116/29. Should you need to Drop a note to the Dawg Byte's RAID (RAID is an AreaFix for File Echos - Dawg Byte Does run a "OpenSystem" for Applicable File Echos). Also send a note with all pertanant information about your BBS and CAD Support File Area Example of Information from *CADNet* member: Board Name and information EET BBS (Electronics Engineering Technologies BBS) Nashville State Technical Institute 120 White Bridge Road, Nashville, TN 37209 615-353-3476 * 14.4 USR V32 Modem N-8-1 SysOp Kevin * System Coordinator Richard McKinney File Requestable 24hrs a day * 8 files max request per session * Pwd not needed Hours (please note mail time in your local zone, if applicable) Open System - Users allowed online 1 hr per day. Supporting Nashville Area CAD Groups Related Message areas: CAD_USER (local Echo), A_CAD (FidoNet BackBone), CAD-CAM (FidoNet BackBone) Related File areas: AutoCAD, CAD-CAM, and *CADNet* Support Files As a member of *CADNet* you may pick up from any it's members that will allow "connection" into the Network. But first please take time out and get your info into *CADNet* headquarters so we have a current membership list at all times also be sure to introduce yourself in the CAD_NET echo conference. This confer- ence is for Members Only so please do not place it online. We shall talk about new files, membership, routing, new releases, and any other topic which is benifical to the Network. Feel free to participate fully. Any participant of the Network can send files. We ask that the files be new (please no outdated files - within the last 18 months is ok), without ZIP or ARC comments, no files other than the authors original distribution files, be sure the file(s) has been properly tested, and for all of our convience sake use the CAD Files areas: ACAD - AutoCAD LCAD - LandCADD FidoNews 7-42 Page 13 15 Oct 1990 CADK - CADKey VCAD - VersaCAD GCAD - Generic CAD OCAD - Other CAD programs INGH - Intergraph CADM - CAD/CAM and Related Programs CNEW - Electronic CAD Newletters, magazines or announcements Also when "hatching" (sending) files please use a Description which follows the following Notation (Description line form): FILE.EXT XXXXX [CAD package] [file type]: [description] ^ ^ ^ | | | ACAD - AutoCAD <---+ | | VCAD - VersaCAD | normal file GCAD - Generic | notation (see others | listed above) | +-------------------------------------+------------------------+ LSP: for Lisp programs SLD: for slides and libraries DWG: for drawings, even if ADS: for the soon coming it's a block library ADS in R11 AutoCAD DRV: drivers NEW: Newsletters, articles, SHP: shape or font files, general text files not on a even if it's a SHX listed topic. Files from CAD MNU: for menus, even if and CAD/CAM magazines it's a MNX DXF: for file transfers MSC: for when you really don't have any other idea where it belongs o If the file(s) work with a particular release such as Release 10 use [R10] in the description to define that condition. o If the file(s) are a DEMO it should be noted as such. Please! o If the file(s) are not a fully operational, some form of Crippleware, it should be noted as such. o Documentation. Please check that the file has some form of documentation. It seems Lisp authors are the worst about this, some don't even put comments in their code (!?). If one of your local users can not write a few lines about the file, please at least put the description text in the file. o For-Pay-BBS: We don't want to shut anyone out, so we ask that you don't. If you charge your callers for access and you want to post this Echo's files, you must make access to them open to any caller. FidoNews 7-42 Page 14 15 Oct 1990 File Echos (so far) ACAD_LSP Lisp ACAD_DWG Drawings ACAD_DRV Drivers ACAD_SHP Font/Shape ACAD_MNU Menus ACAD_SLD Slide Lib ACAD_ADS ADS/R11 ACAD_NEW Newsletters ACAD_DXF Drawing exchange ACAD_MSC Miscellaneous Any files that support these items will be in that file echo. Right now we are just planning to carry AutoCAD related files. Can't find any BBS's for any other CAD systems but we are not limiting ourselves by any means. If you are a BBS caller, please point out this message to the SysOp of your system. And thank you for your support, Stan Bimson 1:116/32 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 15 15 Oct 1990 List of Known File Distribution Networks, Systems & Info files: List compiled by Kevin @ The Dawg Byte, 1:116/29, 14.4 HST Last Updated Friday 9/28/90 DDS Doorware hook up & System Info - Alan Davenport 1:13/75 Hq DDS.LST 14927 membership lst (6-11-90) updated at Hdq DDSINFO.TXT 7263 hook up information DVNet (Desqview Support Netork) Peter Stern 1:75/13 (DvNet Hq) DV-INFO.LZH 6906 Complete package - info & membership Net-Node.Dv or DV (magic file name) should get you a list of files in DVNet from any DVNet System. PDN (Programming) IC is Eric Vanripper @ 1:260/230 PDNINFO.ZIP 2804 Original info file (file echos renamed) PDNINFO.REQ 2809 New File - Membership Application PETNet . Was Pet Related Files and Programs. SDN (Shareware) req PID via SDN_SYSOP Ray Kaliss 1:141/840 Hq SDN300.EXE 42353 self Extract SysOps & Software authors CDN (Christian) Affiliated w/SDN - Contact Ray Waldo @ 1:394/1 CDN_JOIN.EXE 19943 self Extract Membership & Info Pkg SDS BBS & related Network Tools Tom Hendricks 1:261/662 Hdq At last look, SDS Regional coords were listed in the top of the nodelist (Zone 1) in nodes 3xx where xx is Region SDSGUIDE.ARC 9223 Original Info Packet SDS.TXT 14003 Policy & Proceedures Guide WIN*Net (Windows 3.0 Support Network) Larry Mundy 1:130/38 Hdq WININFO.ZIP 8819 Information Package for WinNet WINNET.RCT 1352 Recruitment message WINNET.MAP 3238 Distribution Map current Sept 1990 *CADNet* (CAD Support) avaliable @ 1:116/29 (Stan Bimson Cord) _CADNET_.TXT 23726 Info file and Membership application MEMBER.257 4750 Latest Membership file release In the works: - ANSI Distribution Network for ANSI Artwork & ANSI Screens .. interested? Just ask. Netmail 1:116/29 (no official announcments or documentation yet) * all have related Distribution conferences Member SysOp only * many are already avaliable in other than Zone 1 in FidoNet AND in other Networks FidoNews 7-42 Page 16 15 Oct 1990 For More Info Join in the fun on the FILE_REQ Echo Conference Avaliable via the FidoNet Backbone. I apologize for any distribution Network which is ommited. If you would please send Info packet, I will update the List. I also have all the files listed avaliable for Request 24hrs. Kenneth "Kevin" Snively FidoNet 1:116/29 End List ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 17 15 Oct 1990 Fredric Rice 1:102/901.0 In FidoNews 7-40, we are treated to someones opinion about the media motivated circus: Abortion. The debate still rages on in every city, and now, in FidoNews. The other debate, if FidoNews should print _everything_ it receives, has been discussed a lot in the past four or five years. We also got a lot of ecological enlightenment in the past month. When I wrote directly to 1:3800/6.0 about wasting SysOps money by distributing hate through FidoNews, I was informed in return mail that the SysOp simply submitted the article uploaded by a user. Basically, the SysOp refused responsibility for it. To my mind, FidoNews should be technically motivated, not politically, economically, and not repeating what the media chooses to hand to the public; We get enough of that every day. I would like to submit to the FidoNet community at large that a debate be opened in the newly created FidoNews echo NEWSCHAT, currently available from 1:369/21 or 1:135/36. If provided on the backbone, all SysOps could offer comments and suggestions to what exactly FidoNews is about and after a peroid of time, take measure of option, pass a vote, and rework or retain FidoNews policy based on the conferenced findings. One of the reasons we have had the network split into several parts is due to the political orientation FidoNet has taken on. We need to _all_ determine what FidoNews should contain, and not let just a few crack pots and religious zealots determine it for us. Fredric Rice 1:102/901.0, Universal Mayhem 1-818-335-0128 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 18 15 Oct 1990 Todd Serulneck 1:322/337 Overall, I agree with the policy. It makes sense. But I do have a few items that should be changed: More than a few months should be given to testing the policy in action. The events that fall under the jurisdiction of the document do not occur all that often such as a new moderator being implemented or a coordinator position changing hands. It not should be the *C's and the *EC's who vote for a new conference moderator, but the sysops who carry the conference. Some backbone echos are not read by the coordinators. It should be the sysops who carry the echo and have been monitoring and participating that get to vote. I agree with the policy that the coordinators should be the ones who do the final voting when it comes to electing new coordinators, but the voting time should be extended to allow the Coordinators to discuss the upcoming vote with the regular members who hold no coordinator position. I know it is important that position changes be done as swiftly and smoothly as possible, but the membership as a whole will have to be dealing with these people, so let them have some say. Possibly we should use the same voting method used in government- let the general membership report their opinions and votes to the NC or NEC if that member is in a net or to the RC or REC if he or she is independent. Then let the coordinators be delegates and represent the view of his sysops as a whole. It would be a shame to have the sysops of a net want to impeach a coordinator, not because he does his job improperly, but because he doesn't represent the views of the sysops under him when it comes to elections. I know that many coordinators would consult with their sysops under them, but it should be included for those who do not. In emergencies where a new coordinator is needed immediately there should be a provision for someone to be the acting coordinator until a permanent one can be voted in. My main grudge is the paragraph about paying for echos: 5. CHARGING FOR DISTRIBUTION: Any entity which makes a profit from the distribution (passing from system to system) of echomail shall be deemed to be excessively annoying and in violation of Fidonet policy subject to enforcement under existing Fidonet policy. Profit as defined in this paragraph is the charging for echomail distribution that exceeds actual cost to obtain and distribute the Echomail over a sustained period. The cost of the equipment used to obtain and distribute echomail may only be recovered on a strictly FidoNews 7-42 Page 19 15 Oct 1990 voluntary basis. A Sysop that charges users for access to their BBS shall NOT be in violation of this paragraph. Exactly what is that last sentence supposed to mean? Sysops who regularly charge their users may exclude themselves from the rules of the paragraph or they must make sure that they follow the rules like anyone else? Or does it mean something else? Charging for echos is an important subject. More than 4 sentences should be spent on this. I think that a standard should be made and included in this paragraph. Maybe some different scenarios for charging for echoes should be included rather than leaving the scenario up to whoever wants to implement it. I recommend placing a daily price on each echo. But what should the terminal nodes be charged for? The cost of the stars working together + the cost of the REC getting it off the nearest star + the cost of getting it from the REC to the NEC to the local hub would be difficult to compute into a value that each sysop that subscribes to the echo should pay. If I was on a regional border, I may prefer to call to a node that is a local call in a another region where echomail is free rather than pay toll fees to a coordinator in my own region. Sort of like the Massachusetts liquor tax- Buying liquor just over the New Hampshire border without the tax rather than buying it here in Massachusetts where we have to pay the tax. What do you do with people like that? Do you leave it up to the REC's of the two regions or the NEC's of the two nets? Is it to be allowed? If it is, then the regional than net borders as far as echomail is concerned will not be so definitive. And what is to be done if we can call long distance to a toll free region for less than is charged by the coordinators of the local region. My personal view is that asking for help with the phone bills is OK. Voluntarily paying is OK. But to let someone take their phone bill and divide it by the number of sysops in the net or region is absurd. I don't want to pay for echoes I don't carry. Charging for the echoes becomes a chore and then people start whining, "You charge him a dollar less because he doesn't carry this one heavy volume echo." What a mess and trouble these people who charge for echoes will be getting into. And how do the people he is charging monitor exactly what is the phone time being used for? What if they are being charged for a ton of Netmail? I am against charging for echomail. This is a hobby, not a job. If I had to pay for my echomail, the money wouldn't come from me, I'd begin to charge my users. Isn't that against the idea of fidonet? We don't want this to become like Compuserve or Prodigy where everything is toll. I understand that there is a whole huge phone bill that is not being evenly distributed. But how difficult it is to FidoNews 7-42 Page 20 15 Oct 1990 make up a separate price for everyone based upon how much it costs to get them echomail and the volume of the echos they carry. It is unfair to say, "Let the coordinators pay for it." But in a few years after I come out of college, I plan on buying a system that can handle the heavy volume of mail that a coordinators system must handle. At that time, I may want to give a coordinator a rest and wear his hat. I would be willing to foot the bill for my own system and only have sysops under me pay for the costs of getting the mail from my system to theirs, not the cost of getting it from my system to the system on the level above me. The best way to charge for echomail is to have each sysop pay for the cost of getting the mail to and from the system at a higher level. This means that non-coordinators must pay the bill from the NEC or REC or hub to his system. The hub pays for the bill from his system to the NEC. The NEC pays for the link between his system and the REC. The REC pays for his link to the nearest star. The stars pay their own way. Under this system, if a link is local, then the lower system pays nothing. If a link is toll, then the lower system pays the bill. What if a lower system can't afford it and would like to charge the systems at a lower level. I am against monetary charging because it is difficult to compute fairly. Why not instead rotate hubs every 3 months or so. Make 4 areas.bbs files (or your system's equivalent) and 4 routing files- one for each season. Then pick the 4 largest systems to take turns at hubbing. Every time a season changes, all the sysops in the net or region change the file to the one for the season. No money involved and the yearly cost is still divided among 4 systems as evenly as if monetary charges were being sent around. I'd like to hear some feedback on the following subjects: My idea of a rotating hub. Different Methods of charging. Todd M. Serulneck ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 21 15 Oct 1990 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= "Captain's Log, Stardate 9010.14..." by Phil Buonomo, 1:107/583@FidoNet 520/583@AlterNet 9:807/1@PNet It's been a number of months since I've written here, and a lot has happened since that time. Originally I stopped writing a regular column because I was so busy working on the Conclave '90 convention that we held in August in New Jersey. It was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work, but it was worth it. God knows that this hobby of ours brings us a lot of satisfaction and a lot of aggravation. Just like any love affair, I think there's a lot to be said for the love-hate relationship of what we do. Everybody's made friends and enemies through this electronic medium of ours. The lucky ones make more of the former, and fewer of the latter. It's a lot like life, I think. However, as many have pointed out before me, this is fantasy, whereas life is reality, and sometimes life has a way of reaching out and reminding us of what's important. Hurricane Hugo did that for many of us last year when one of our own lost his home to the ravages of that storm. I met a lot of folks at Conclave '90, some of whom I had only corresponded with. I also met someone there who made a big impression on me, someone who delighted in teasing me and making me uncomfortable, but all in a good naturedly way. I enjoyed that person's company very much, and looked forward to seeing them again someday. Well, reality intruded on my fantasy today about 20 minutes ago when, in the course of my reading echomail, I saw that they'd died suddenly. I will never get to meet that person again. That person is gone forever, unless I am lucky enough to meet them again 'on the other side'. Let me just say that in the little time I knew my friend, I learned what a warm hearted, good person they truly were. I shall miss that person very much, and grieve along with those that have been left behind. For a brief time, my friend brought joy to my life. I hope that person is happy once again now, wherever they are. FidoNews 7-42 Page 22 15 Oct 1990 And I hope that when I next sit down to do this activity again, I will remember to keep my priorities straight, and remember what is truly important in life. Good-bye, my friend. Sincerely, Philip J. Buonomo ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 23 15 Oct 1990 Henry Clark 124/6120 My God, It's Full of Stars -- Our little net of the woods selected a new RC, REC, and NC this past month. We got some real buttheads in office now... Just thought I'd poke the embers with a stick one last time. I actually ran for the RC position, garnering the fewest votes of any candidate. The whole election was rigged because the incumbent RC decided to run for re-election. It'll cost me a bundle in psychiatric fees to get over this one. In conjunction with that vote, the RC called for the election of the REC, and our incumbent REC was not at all amused. This led to flames of the 'Hell Fire' proportion, much policy disputing and general shakeout of the regional echomail operation in the 'Maximum Volume Load Test'. ( It works ! ) A policy complaint over the REC solicited the opinion of the ZC, no less, which is the main reason you read the Echomail Policy last week in Fidonews. After electing the RC and REC, by a majority of votes tendered, the sysops of Region 19 are probably not going to appreciate the movement toward 'old-boy-ism' touted by the new policy's selection process. On that same ballot were two regional echomail policies to choose from, neither garnered enough votes to warrant implementation. Interesting result. On a much lighter note, our NC selection process was a model of interpersonal concern. At our monthly Pizza Party, we read from the absentees mailings, narrowed the nominees, agreed on one unanimously and got back to the important stuff ( pizza and beer ). It took all of 30 minutes. None of this 6 week campaign-netmail-password stuff. It was great. Congratulations Bryny and to all of Net 124. One interesting side note on the idea of participation in these Fidonet proceedings. I suggest that a sysop in Fidonet not only run Net Mail Hour, but also respond personally to a quarterly poll from the net Host, as a condition of keeping his/her node number. I'm sick of the "simple majority - majority of sysops" arguments. Let's make this one and the same. It's redickalust to see a 30% participation rate. Mini-Blinds -- FidoNews 7-42 Page 24 15 Oct 1990 Oracle won't run in Windows Enhanced mode. It will run in Desqview. QEMM didn't help. More upgrades to follow. Let's see : write software, sell for 50. Upgrade three times for 20 each. Which is more profitable ? If you run the kernel as machine type J ( expanded memory ), you get the error "No VPCI". If you run it as type 2 ( extended memory ), you get the error "Can't get memory", which is to say the XMS driver ( QEMM ) won't give it up. There was one other configuration I tried and Windows threw up the "Can't run protected mode app in enhanced mode". ORA_DBMS is a new backbone echo, re. anything at all to do with Oracle and Relational Databases. Check it out. (Super PC Kwik Information Bulletin) Windows 3.0 and QEMM 5.11 : we have found that some people seem to be able to cache extended memory, but we can't cache expanded memory. Okay to use "loadhi" with this combination. I don't think I want to 'seem' to able to cache. Why is that Windows SDK box still unopened ? That Zoom utility is fun. Open it up to about 9/10s of the screen size and move the whole window around. Zoom zooms itself ! I'm quite sure the Spy icon is the same character as those Spy vs. Spy guys from Mad magazine. Of course, they're a rip off of Heckel and Jeckel. We already had clip-art wars, now I guess it's time for icon copyright wars. On the subject of metaphors ( aren't I always on that subject ) : I want a metaphor modifier feature. Like the ability to change color combinations, the GUI user wants to alter his desktop operation in a procedural way. For example : deleting a file. On the MAC you have that Basketball metaphor, where the file is slam dunked into a basket. ( So what ?! ) I want a World Politics motif where my file becomes a terrorist camp and I drag in an F-16 to blow it away. I want a Surgeon motif to rename a file ( you figure it out ). Instead of highlighting, I want Thor's hammer to strike a lightning bolt to start an application. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-42 Page 25 15 Oct 1990 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version DMG 2.93 Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5g* Fido 12s+ QuickBBS 2.64 TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 RBBS 17.3A TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Kitten 2.16 RBBSmail 17.3B* Telegard 2.5 Maximus 1.02* RemoteAccess 0.04a* TPBoard 6.1 Opus 1.13+ SLBBS 1.77* Wildcat! 2.15 PCBoard 14.5* Socrates 1.00 XBBS 1.15 Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.40* EditNL 4.00 ARC 7.0* D'Bridge 1.30 MakeNL 2.31 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 3.14* Crossnet v1.5 SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 EMM 2.02 TIMS 1.0(Mod8)* XlaxDiff 2.35 Gmail 2.05 XlaxNode 2.35 GROUP 2.16 GUS 1.30 HeadEdit 1.15 InterPCB 1.31* LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.1 MSGED 2.00* MSGTOSS 1.3* PK[UN]ZIP 1.10 QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 Sirius 1.0x SLMAIL 1.36* StarLink 1.01 TagMail 2.40 TCOMMail 2.2 Telemail 1.27* TMail 1.15 TPBNetEd 3.2 TosScan 1.00 UFGATE 1.03 FidoNews 7-42 Page 26 15 Oct 1990 XRS 3.40 XST 2.2 ZmailQ 1.12* OS/2 Systems ------------ Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Maximus-CBCS 1.02* BinkleyTerm 2.40* Parselst 1.31 ConfMail 4.00 VP2 4.07* oMMM 1.52 MsgEd 2.00* LH2 0.50 PK[UN]ZIP 1.02 ARC2 6.00 Xenix/Unix ---------- BBS Software Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version MaximusCBCS 1.02.Unix.B0 BinkleyTerm 2.30b* Unzip 3.10 ARC 5.21 ParseLst 1.30b ConfMail 3.31b Ommm 1.40b Msged 1.99b Zoo 2.01 C-Lharc 1.00 Omail 1.00b Apple CP/M ---------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Daisy v2j Daisy Mailer 0.38 Nodecomp 0.37 MsgUtil 2.5 PackUser v4 Filer v2-D FidoNews 7-42 Page 27 15 Oct 1990 UNARC.COM 1.20 Macintosh --------- 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 1.6b1* 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 2.07+ BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.50* AReceipt 1.5* WelMat 0.42 booz 1.01 ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 ElectricHerald1.66* Lharc 1.21 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* FidoNews 7-42 Page 28 15 Oct 1990 Zoo 2.01 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDOdoor/ST 1.5c* BinkleyTerm 2.40* 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 FiFo 2.0b* LHARC 0.60 Lharc 1.13 LED ST 0.10* BYE 0.25* 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 7-42 Page 29 15 Oct 1990 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 4 Nov 1990 Area Code 214 fragments. Part will become area code 903. 6 Nov 1990 First anniversary of Van Diepen Automatiseert, 2:500/28 13 Nov 1990 Third anniversary of Fidonet in Austria (zone 2, region 31). 14 Nov 1990 Marco Maccaferri's 21rd Birthday. Send greetings to him at 2:332/16.0 16 Nov 1990 100% Democratically elected administration takes over the coordination structure in Zone-4 Latin America 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. 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 FidoNews 7-42 Page 30 15 Oct 1990 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TELECOMPUTING MAGAZINE PARTY AT COMDEX YOU'RE INVITED! Telecomputing will be throwing a party at COMDEX in Las Vegas on Wednesday, November 14 from 6pm to 10pm at the Dunes Hotel, Regency Room. All BBSers are invited to meet the entire staff at Telecomputing, as well as some of the biggest names in BBSing. Scheduled to attend are: John Dvorak - Co-Author of Dvorak's Guide to Telecomputing Writer for computer magazines including PC Magazine, Telecomputing Nick Anis - Co-Author of Dvorak's Guide to Telecomputing Writer for numerous computer magazines Phil Katz - Author of PKZIP file compression utilities Tom Scott - Editor in Chief, Telecomputing Magazine Michael Banks - Author of computer and science fiction books. Writer for Computer Shopper, Telecomputing. Dean Kerl - Contributing Editor, Telecomputing Magazine Director of Operations, CONNECT-USA Sysop on Galaxy Information Network Tim Stryker - Author of The Major BBS Writer for Telecomputing Magazine Jerry - Writer for Byte Magazine, Telecomputing, Pournelle and other publications Mark Hiatt - Sysop on GEnie, Writer for Telecomputing Chuck - Author of ZMODEM and numerous communications FidoNews 7-42 Page 31 15 Oct 1990 Forsberg products Phil Becker - Author of TBBS, President of eSoft Jim Harrer - President of Mustang Software (Wildcat! BBS) Rusty & Edie - Sysops and owners of Rusty & Edie's BBS 50 Line PCBoard BBS in Youngstown, OH The following companies have provided door prizes to be given away at the party. They will also have representatives available to answer your questions. Company Door Prize ------- ---------- Intel - Ultra 9600 EX Modem (V.32 & V.42bis Capable) Hilgrave - 5 copies of Hyper Access V Comm Software Hayes - Ultra 9600 Modem (V.32 & V.42bis Capable) Mustang Software - 3 Copies of Wildcat! BBS Software Pro-Star - 2400 Baud Modem Henry Bird & Assc. - Demo Diskette Packages Anchor Automation - 9600 or 2400 Baud Modem Omnitronix - VCR Backup Board Ohio Software - Software Programs PC Industries - CableMate /IBM Galacticomm - 5 copies of The Major BBS Exec-PC - 2 One Year Subscriptions eSoft, Inc. - Complete 16 Line TBBS system, eSoft T-Shirts Channel 1 - 2 Six Month Subscriptions PKWare - PKZip Software Package Galaxy Networks - 9600 UFO Modem (V.32 & V.42bis Capable) Rusty & Edie's BBS - 2 One year subscriptions Telecomputing is dedicated to the world of BBSing. If you would like to receive a free copy of Telecomputing, please call (800)477-1788 during normal business hours. Telecomputing Magazine 2625 Pennsylvania NE, #225 Albuquerque, NM 87110 (505)881-6988 ----------------------------------------------------------------- TELECOMPUTING MAGAZINE TO PUBLISH BBS "YELLOW PAGES" Telecomputing Magazine will be publishing a printed national BBS FidoNews 7-42 Page 32 15 Oct 1990 Directory in the January 1991 issue of the magazine. If you operate a BBS, or would just like to see your favorite BBS listed, call Telecomputing at 800-477-1788 during normal business hours. Each system will be allowed a listing similar to a standard business listing in a telephone book. The information required is: name of system, the computer types supported, the city where the BBS is located, and the main telephone number of the system. There is no charge for this type of listing. The deadline for listings is Friday November 9, 1990. Longer, more detailed "advertisements" are available at varying charges depending on the size of the ad. Each subscriber to Telecomputing will receive a copy of the directory. Computer clubs and users groups may order bulk supplies of the directory for their members. Telecomputing is dedicated to the world of BBSing. If you would like to receive a free copy of Telecomputing, please call (800)477-1788 during normal business hours. Telecomputing Magazine 2625 Pennsylvania NE, #225 Albuquerque, NM 87110 (505)881-6988 -----------------------------------------------------------------