FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:24 Page 1 Volume 2, Number 15 27 May 1985 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Publisher: Fido #375 Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 1/375. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 1/375. Disclaimer or don't-blame-us: The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. Waiting for Nets I don't know about you, but I'm eagerly awaiting June 12th. That's the day we start using multiple nets, and I can start making some sense out of my node list. I also know of several Fidos in this area that have just started up, and that are waiting for their node numbers. Bad news, guys. No new node numbers until the 12th. Hang in there! Just a little longer now! Seriously, this isn't like the wait for version 10i. That was dependant on testing and debugging, and we all know how THAT works. This is a definite. As of June 12th we switch over to the new system. No ifs, ands, or buts! You MUST have Fido version 10i or greater by then, or you'll be dropped from the node list. Oh, yes, in case you haven't heard, there is a "greater" now. Tom Jennings released Fido version 10j for the IBM-PC and the DEC Rainbow a few days ago. This is mainly a bug fix release. (300+ people can find a bug faster than you would beleive!) There was some sort of problem with the FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:26 Page 2 Index command for messages. Also, Fido was dropping a character every now and then when it was unpacking its packets (a very subtle bug; you probably never even noticed). I don't know what all else was done, but it's mainly cleanup type stuff. And sorry, still no debug messages during downloads. Also no "list of nodes in a file" any more. It's a shame, too. After all, he'd just gotten around to documenting it. I haven't checked with TJ on this, but I suspect I may be partly responsible for the loss of this one. I gather it was mainly there to make it easier for TJ to send out Fidonews, but I use Robot instead. Regardless, it's a feature that I know several people will miss. I've spoken to the guys in St. Louis, and they've promised a couple of articles about the upcoming changes. I don't think they'll get here in time for this issue, but they should be ready by next week. Ben Baker promised an article on what, exactly, it means to be a regional administrator, while Ken Kaplan is working on an article describing how the nodelist is going to change. Both articles should be very informative, and I'm sure you won't want to miss either of them. Briefly, the nodelist format is changing drastically. The master list will no longer be useable directly by Fido; you will have to run it through a new version of NODELIST.EXE before you can use it. The point of this is to combine the nodelist and the fidolist into a single file, which NODELIST.EXE will use to generate a Fido style NODELIST.BBS and/or a human readable list of nodes. The new format should make it easier for all the various hosts and admins to keep thing up to date, since only one file needs updating. Once Ken has the current node list converted to the new format, he'll start splitting it up and mailing the various pieces to the hosts and admins who will be maintaining them in the future. I'm hoping to get an article in the near future describing the whys and hows of maintaining a regional list. In the meantime, PLEASE don't anybody go assigning node numbers until we are on the new system! Things are going to be confusing enough as it is. Just hang in there, guys. Only a couple of weeks to go! National Fido Directory In order, an apology, an explanation, an update, and a plea. First the apology. I spoke too soon last issue, and incorrectly. Dave Horowitz is NOT the guy coordinating the national directory. He's been pushing for it and working on the programs, but his system doesn't have the space to handle it. Matt Kanter at Fido 1/79 has volunteered to contributed a machine to handle the data, so he's the one FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:30 Page 3 running it. Next the explanation. The idea is to create a national directory of Fido users, showing which nodes they can be reached at via Fidonet (sort of a Fido phone book). This would be done by having various (hopefully most, if not all) sysops send an abstract of their user list (NOT including any passwords!) to a central point, where the data would all be collected, sorted, and formatted into a master list. Contribution would be completely voluntary. It would be nice if you contributed, but it's no problem if you can't or won't. (Some company boards, for example, can't release their user list without breaching confidentiality.) Now the update. Dave has written a program, called SHIPUSER, which Matt has been busily sending to boards all over the country. If you haven't seen it by now, you can pick it up at 1/51, 1/79, 1/375, and probably at any major host in your area. SHIPUSER reads a USER.BBS file and creates a text file giving the name, city, and number of times called. Matt is figuring on munging it all by hand the first time, then automating it later if this catches on (as I hope it does). And finally, the plea. Please run SHIPUSER on your user list and send its output to Fido 1/79. This is a great idea, and we'd all benefit from a national directory, but (like many things in Fidodom) it depends on your voluntary contribution to make it work. Articles Wanted Another thing in Fidoland that needs your contribution to work is Fidonews. Last issue was kind of skimpy, and right now it looks like this issue will be even smaller. If you're not sure about the format standards, just ask and we'll send you a copy of FIDONEWS.DOC. This newsletter is nothing without YOUR input! Remember, this newsletter is written strictly by and for its readers. Make your voice heard! FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:32 Page 4 ============================================================ NEWS ============================================================ The following was uploaded to FIDO#74 (The Bear's Den) by one of my regular users. I am not sure what board it came off of, but message is clear, and it applies to all of us (SYSOP and user). ------ Msg # 588 Dated 03-01-85 12:50:27 From: SYSOP To: ALL Re: TPSECRET.BAS To all SYSOPs and USERS: We have another trogan horse amongst us... it is called TPSECRET.BAS and was Uploaded here two days ago by a SAM HOLMES (from Laurel, MD, a 1200 baud caller). This protected (SAVEd with ,P) BASIC program simply does a very nasty "KILL *.*" and a "KILL A:*.*"... Beware of this program and this person... If SAM HOLMES turns out ot be a real person, I will contact the T-Systems' lawyer, and begin a law suit... for rarely are such Uploads from "real" people, and such a prank is certainly destructive enough to warrant action. If Sam turns out to be the Uploadee, I will keep everyone informed of progress... Sysop - ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:34 Page 5 Tom Jennings Fido #1 9 May 85 This is a copy of a letter I sent to Inforworld on an article that appeared. I'm submitting it to the newsletter since it seems that Infoworld won't publish it. (Or, maybe I just didnt wait long enough.) InfoWorld Attention: Kevin Strehlo Re: "Modem Battle Brewing" article, 29 April Tom Jennings 2269 Market St. #118 San Francisco CA 94114 Here's some stuff on that article, I just had to respond. Thanks for reading so far. If you have any questions, comments or whatever you can call me at the above number any day from 8 AM til midnight. There were some serious errors made in the article "MODEM BATTLE BREWING" on page 16 of the 29 April issue on the XMODEM protocol. Before talking about the specific problems, a misconception needs to be cleared up. The word "XMODEM" refers to both the protocol and is also the name of a specific CP/M program for remote bulletin boards. "XMODEM" is now taken to mean the binary protocol, not the name of a specific program residing on someones disk. This can be very confusing, but unless you are talking about a specific copy of a specific program, Xmodem refers to the protocol. It is completely untrue that Xmodem cannot run beyond 1200 baud, and equally untrue that it does not detect errors reliably. The original Xmodem program, XMODEM, MODEM7 and all it's variants, have a software bug that prevents them from operating at above 300 baud. It is a bug in the implementation, not the protocol, and has been there for years. My implementations of Xmodem (and many others') have been used for over three years at up to 38,400 baud (as fast as my serial ports go) with no problems whatsoever. The same program can communicate to any original XMODEM program on MSDOS or CP/M. In the FidoNet Bulletin Board Network, a public domain packet switching system consisting of more than 250 computers in the US and Europe, many nodes are using 2400 baud modems quite reliably, thank you. The error checking isn't quite as bad as many would lead you to believe. The original program by Ward FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:36 Page 6 Christensen had only a simple checksum error check; later versions implement a CCITT CRC-16 error check. Also, there is some doubt as to whether CRC error checking is all that much better than checksums over dialup telephone lines; while it is true that adjacent single bit errors can get through Xmodem's checksum process, errors on phone lines are almost always burst errors (that is, many bytes are trashed by noise on the telephone), these are very rare, and so in "real life" Xmodem is quite reliable. In any case, CRC-16 is available. In any case, the worst case error rate is something like 0.035% using checksums. No protocol can guarentee 100% accuracy, no matter what they may claim. Xmodem has many faults, such as half duplex operation and requiring an eight-bit data channel (can't be used through Telenet or TymNet...), but it extremely easy to implement, and is very reliable if done right. It is surely far from perfect, but is very suitable for small computer use where the constraints don't matter. You will also notice that the biggest detractors are firms with commercial interest in their own protocols. As to the importance of the Xmodem protocol in the real world, keep in mind that the modem manufacturers (and many others) who came out with software products with "improved" (read: incompatible) protocols were forced by the micro marketplace to retrofit Xmodem. Two examples are SMARTCOM and CROSSTALK. Ward Christensens protocol has problems, as he will admit, but it is still very strong and usable in the current environment. There are probably 10,000 bulletin board systems in the US that support Xmodem, and probably ten times or more individuals that use Xmodem with bulletin boards or for point to point use. It may be an "underground" protocol, but it works well in practice, and introducing new protocols will have to take this huge base of users into account. ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:38 Page 7 ^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^ Can anyone help! How do you hookup (setup) a MICOM M3012+ or 3212+ modem to run Fido/Fidonet? Forward replies to Sysop, node #350. Thanks! -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:38 Page 8 ============================================================ NOTICES ============================================================ *** Calendar of Events *** 27 May 85 through 31 May 85; Spring 1985 DECUS symposium, New Orleans, LA. Among other events, Kurt Reisler (sysop Fido 74) will give a 1 hour talk on Fido. 2 Jun 85 Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews. 12 Jun 85 Start of Multinet Fido; Make sure you have Fido version 10i. Stay in net 1 until this date, then switch over to your new net number. If you have any event you want listed in this calendar, please send a note to node 1/375.