t fidonews.66 fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:46:32 Page 1 Volume 1, Number 4 24 Dec 84 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Editor: Tom Jennings Publisher: Fido #1 Chief Procrastinator: Tom Jennings HOT NEWS Happy holidays and all that stuff ... at least FidoNet is so far pretty immune to overdose advertising! This is the fourth issue of FidoNews, and it is finally taking shape. Send articles on any subject, please Bumper stickers will be ready in Jan. They will be cheap, and totally meaningless to those unfamiliar with the little doggie. I'll take a dozen. If you are reading this (? pointless and paradoxical, but grammatically correct recursive, followed by a note referencing the phrase and the note itself ... never mind, it's late) you are are part of FidoNet, so please send articles! The first intercontinental FidoNet message was sent from Jakarta Indonesia (Fido #117, Jim Filgo) to St. Louis (Fido #51). It may have been routed through Maui, Hawaii, I don't know, I get everything second hand. See the article below. Fido is now running on the Sanyo 555, and the TI Professional version is being tested. The Sanyo version isn't released yet, it's awaiting testing on other MSDOS versions available for the Sanyo. (The MSDOS implementation from Sanyo is so bad, there are aftermarket versions!) In any case, it cannot be downloaded from Fido #1 until I get it replaced. (Dead disk drive.) Note that last weeks FIDOLIST is included this issue; my single floppy filled up while receiveing the latest mailed from St. Louis, and I didn't get a chance to get a new copy. Next issue will have the latest, I promise. (Unless I still haven't replaced my broken machine, and the fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:46:40 Page 2 disk fills up again ...) EUROPEAN FIDO There are nodes in England, one or two in Japan, and some raring to go guys in Sweden that should be up soon. There are three main problems in FidoNetting across the oceans; modem compatibility, extreme time differences, and cost. Modem compatibility may be fixed by sticking to Bell 103A 300 baud (what the Hayes, etc does). The time differences can be handled easily with two schedules; at a convenient time (for Europe) mail is sent from Europe to the US; at a convenient time (for the US, probably around the current 1:00 AM) mail is sent to Europe, who runs receive- only. The times are chosen for the lowest cost for the sender. Cost ... well, no way around that, though with the extreme connect charges (I'd guess $1.00 to $3.00 per minute) FidoNet will be much cheaper than calling direct! If the optimum four or five messages were sent at once, the cost would be about 60 cents max, not bad for an overnight intercontinental letter ... fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:46:43 Page 3 NEWS ARTICLE SUBMISSION The format of this thing is totally ad hoc; please make recomendations as to formats, sections needed, liked, or hated, columns you'd like to see, or see removed, anything at all. If you want to submit something regularly, we can start a column for you. You are ENCOURAGED to send things in for the newsletter. ANYTHING is fit for the newsletter, such as a description of your board, problems found, questions, jokes, fixes, horror stories about wrong FidoNet numbers, things for sale, etc etc etc. SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE An article should have your name, node number (if applicable), followed by the text. Text can be any ASCII derivative; WordStar, soft paragraphs, 8th bit set, etc are all OK. Articles can be uploaded at either Fido #1 or #51, into the NEWS File Area, or by sending it by FidoNet. There is a convention for naming the files, so that the newsletter can be published automatically. ARTICLE FILENAMES file.ART For article type things file.SAL Things for sale file.NOT Notices file.MSC Miscelaneous things file.EDT an Editorial file.NEW News items file.WNT Wanted items Make sure the name is unique, especially if you send it by FidoNet, so you dont overwrite another article. ------------------------------------------------------- IBM Software Digest Allen Miller Fido 85 ------------------------------------------------------- Fido 85, Allen's BOARD, in Cincinnati is an IBM based Fido, interested in public domain software of all types. I have amassed a fair collection of software over the last 2 years, but I am always interested in knowing what new and useful programs are being developed. I will provide the support effort in two areas for those of you that are interested in participating in an experiment. The two areas are: fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:46:48 Page 4 1. Compile a list of Fido's that are IBM. This will be useful to Fido's that are IBM since there is currently no way of knowing which Fido's share your interests. 2. Act as clearing house for a 'national' collection and catalogue of IBM personal computer software. All the IBM Sysops can contribute and I will compile and organize their program contributions and comments/descriptions. If you think you are interested, send me a FidoNet mail message saying you want to participate and stating any particular categories of software you are interested in (C, graphics, assembler, etc.). I will assemble a list of the people that respond and distribute the list to all of you. You can use this list to streamline your searching for software in the future. If you want to participate in phase #2, send me a few of your favorite programs with good comments if they are not thoroughly documented. I will compile a library and listing and make it available to you. If you have any additional suggestions, please let me know. ------------------------------------------------------- IBM Software Digest Allen Miller Fido 85 ------------------------------------------------------- Dallas, Texas (FNM) - A Dallas-area Fido sysop has taken Tom Tcmpidis' dilemma to heart. After reading a FidoNews article describing the continuing plight of Mr. Tcmpidis, the realization that "open" bulletin board systems can be an invitation to would-be software pirates and other traffickers in illegal information led him to implement a security system to ensure that callers to this particular board were not "perfect strangers." The means of "getting to know your callers" already exists within the current release of the Fido software, with the ability of Fido to screen callers who do not yet have a valid password, and to request information from new callers prior to the granting of full access to the features of the board. This is described in "Fido's Operating Manual," release 10, as the Private Message System. Most Fido sysops are aware that the capability for generating a "private" system exist, by simply adding the "/M" flag to the command line that starts the Fido software. However [Ed note: HOWEVER ... the rest of the text was missing from the original file!] Helpful? tip for Sysops from Ben Baker, Fido 51, St. Louis fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:46:55 Page 5 Users tend to think of FidoNet nodes in terms of location rather than node numbers. It is convenient to maintain and distribute NODELIST in node number sequence, but this is awkward at best for our users. On Fido 51, once the node list has been edited for Fido consumption, I run the following batch file against it: SORT NODELIST.TMP /+55 SORT NODELIST.BBS /+69 DEL NODELIST.TMP The first (minor) sort orders the node list by city. The second (major) sort orders by state and city within state. This is far more useful to a user who wants to send a message to someone in Podunk Idaho, but can't think of the node number. One added step may be beneficial. The sort should group the local nodes together. You may want to use your editor to move them to the front of the file. -30- Remote Contol of Fido Allen Miller Fido 85 I run a Fido system at my office and also have a PC at home. It has been very frustrating when I wanted to dial up my own Fido system from home and could not get through. There is a now device on the market that will enable you to take control of your system, from a remote location, even if a user has it tied up. This device is referred to as the BSR SYSTEM X-10, marketed by Radio Shack, Sears, and I suppose others. The system consists of a control module that plugs into the house circuit and small modules that go between wall plugs and appliances. Through the house current, the control module is able to switch the appliance modules off or on. One of the different control modules that are available has the added function of being able to 'answer' the phone and respond to a hand held remote transmitter tone generator. So, if you have an extra phone line at the Fido location and one of these devices set up, you can call the control module when the Fido line is busy and 1) turn the modem off and back on or 2) reboot the system. Once you have done this, it should be easy to get through to your system. Cost of the control module is about $50 and the appliance module is $10-$15. Remote Contol of Fido Allen Miller Fido 85 fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:47:02 Page 6 FOOD FOR THOUGHT Ben Baker - Fido 10 I recently called AT&T to inquire about the cost of inward WATS service, and was astounded by the result. A 2-line nationwide inward WATS line in Missouri or Illinois would incur these charges: One-time installation $367 Monthly access charge (both lines) $75 Connect charges (11PM-8AM) 6 second increments $5.40/hr Let's say we had a "national Fido" supported by a network of 50 of the more than 100 current Fidos. What would it cost per board? One-time installation $7.33 Monthly access charge (both lines) $1.50 Connect charges (11PM-8AM) 6 second increments $5.40/hr I have talked with TJ about this. (It was his suggestion I write this.) He would be willing to make the necessary changes to Fido to support this concept. A using Fido would call the 800 number with FidoNet and deposit out-going and pick up in-coming mail. Two calls per night would guarentee overnight service in both directions, however the Sysop of a low-traffic board might elect to call only once a week. Charges could be arranged so that the sending node paid for both legs of the transfer. Lets say a board averages 20 out-going messages per week at an average of 18 seconds transmission time per message. His average monthly charge would be: Access 1.50 Connect 1.08 Total 2.58 Cost/Message 0.13 The more messages you send, the less the per message cost. The more participating Fidos, the less the fixed cost per Fido and the less per message costs. For instance, with 100 nodes participating and 50 messages per month the costs would be: Access 0.75 Connect 2.70 Total 3.45 Cost/Message 0.07 The first per message cost above is competetive with any available alternate method of sending FidoNet mail. You can't beat the second per message cost with a stick! There are nine hours a night plus all day Saturday and much of fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:47:08 Page 7 Sunday available at this rate. If this board operated two 1-hour mail schedules each night that would leave a lot of hours that it could be operated as a national Sysops only Fido Board, with connect charges lower than CompuServe's! I am not prepared to say at this time that we will do this, but it is certainly inviting to think about. I do solicit your responses on the subject. Please send all comments via FidoNet mail to Ben Baker, Fido 10. Include suggestions, constructive criticism, willingness or unwillingness to participate, etc.. Oh, by the way -- Happy Holidays! Messages as Attached Files by Ben Baker - Fido 10 It is sometimes convenient to mail a message from one Fido to another as an attached file. For instance, lets say that one of my users leaves a messae to Sysop with a good suggestion for a change to Fido. I'm in no position to make changes to Fido, but Tom Jennings is. However, Tom hasn't logged onto my board since last May and I have no reason to believe he will do so any time soon. I have three options. I can send a message to Tom, carefully relating the suggestion (42 lines or so), I can ignore it altogether or I can send Tom the original message as an attached file. The latter is the best choice for me, but when he gets it, how does Tom read the message? It's not clear text, and only Fido or another program that understands message structures can read it easily. Since Fido is already written it's the obvious candidate, but the message must be in a message area for Fido to read it and it is in the mail files area. I solved this dilemma on Fido 10 by creating a new area with Sysop only priveledges. In it both the message and the files paths point to the FidoMail files area. If someone sends me a file, I can preview it in this area before making it available in another area for my users. If the file happens to be of the form nn.MSG, it is a message and I can read it in the message section in this special area. It's simple and direct, but very useful when you recieve messages as files. NOTICES FOR SALE WANTED WANTED TO BUY: One used Gavilan computer. Send details (accessories, condition and price) to: Andy Meyer, FidoNet, Fido #317 - or contact Sysop of fidonews.man -- 24 Dec 84 22:47:14 Page 8 SMC-70 Citadel: (201) 930-6483 [24 hours, 300 baud]