FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:35 Page 1
Volume 2, Number 21 8 July 1985
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Publisher: Fido 107/7
Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson
Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/7. You
are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the
file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/7.
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.
Computer English
We have a problem here. A minor one, 'tis true, but a
problem all the same. You see, normal English usage isn't
all that well adapted to bulletin board use.
Let me give you an example. I have several users who run
their own bulletin boards. On occasion (during chats and
such) one of them will invite me to call into his board. I
generally agree by saying something like "Okay, I'll drop in
and visit you someday." A few times this has gotten me a
reaction like "What? You're going to drive over here?" No,
I say, I mean I'll call it up and check it out.
How can I tell someone "I'll be seeing you" when I'm not
going to be seeing him at all? I'm just going to look for
messages from him. So why not "I'll be reading you"?
If I tell a user, "I'll talk to you later", isn't he going
to think I'm planning on phoning him and talking? But that
isn't what I mean at all! It's much more descriptive if I
tell him "I'll type to you later."
FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:37 Page 2
If we extend this a little bit, we can come up with a whole
lexicon of computer usage. "I'll be reading for you on
such-and-such board." "I'm a bit finger-tied today."
"Please pardon how I read, I have a frog in my hands."
Now I realize that this takes a bit of getting used to, but
isn't it much better than trying to use conventional phrases
where they don't apply? With very little practice you'll
soon find yourself easily typing things like "Gee, I haven't
typed to George in awhile. I wonder where he's dialing?"
What's the matter, cat got your fingers?
FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:38 Page 3
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NEWS
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Response to Bruce Lomasky
by Ben Baker -- Fido 76
I read with some concern Bruce Lomasky's article in last
weeks newsletter. We have not had a lot of negative
response here in St. Louis, and I hope he represents a
minority.
Bruce, I think you missed the point when you spoke of the
"'improved' Fido." A lot of people weren't coordinating
FidoNet, only two were. When we got to more than 200 nodes
it became essential that we decentralize. It had become too
big and too much work. After all, Fido is a hobby for us
too.
The network-region concept was not intended to "improve"
FidoNet, although I think that will ultimately be a result.
Instead, it was the mechanism needed to allow 30 or more
"coordinators" to have complete control over their piece of
the pie without requiring a great deal of coordination.
Now lets consider your concerns over routing.
"1) The host is VERY! busy." In the larger networks, this
is true. But most of the larger networks are served by
both an inbound and an outbound host. During the National
net window, the inbound host is in a "receive-only" mode.
You only need compete with other folks calling the same
host, not the host itself. St. Louis is one of the busiest
networks, and we get the mail in and out with few delays. I
recently sent a message to John Warren. In less than two
hours, that message traveled form 100/76 to 100/482 to
100/10 to 100/51 to 102/36 to 102/470 to 102/31, its final
destination. A "many days" delay is almost always caused by
a node that doesn't answer the phone, or a host with bad
routing files. We expect the latter problem to eventually
disappear.
"2) There is no way to know if the mail got through." True
enough, not only for FidoNet, but for the U.S. Postal
Service as well. I think FidoNet is at least as reliable,
and in most cases both faster and cheaper!
"3) More phone calls are generated / evening." Probably,
but during the National window there are actually FEWER
calls with routing because many calls carry several
messages. The other calls are during network collection and
distribution periods occurring before and after the national
window. This reduces rather than increases congestion!
If you aren't served by an outbound host and if you NEVER
send more than one message to an area, you're absolutely
right, routing won't save you anything. But it won't cost
you anything either. If you steadfastly insist on sending
FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:40 Page 4
any or all messages without routing, there is a simple
answer. Any message with a nonexistent file "attached"
will go directly to its destination, no muss, no fuss, no
bother.
I heartily endorse the KISS principle. What we have was the
simplest way to get where we wanted to be. It WAS broke!
We fixed it!
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FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:41 Page 5
Typed in by:
Robert E. Spivack
SYSOP
Fido #346 Region #10 (480) 972-8164
Boca Raton, FLA -- Micro-Systems Software Inc. recently
began shipping a full-featrued, electronic bulletin-board
software package that supports electronic mail, as well as
program or data-file exchanges for the IBM Corp. Personal
Computer and compatible systems.
The program, called BBS-PC, is said to provide 16 separate
sub-boards; four different file-transfer protocols for
uploading and downloading data; and a terminal feature that
supports a second modem, communications ports, and phone
lines.
That last feature is said to enable a user to answer one
modem aned dial out on the other.
The new feature, called terminal mode, can route calls
through to other systems using two modems, two
communciations ports, and two telephone lines. The system
can answer either line, or it can answer one line while
dialing out on the other.
The program has a suggested retail price of $249 and
requires a minimum of 256K bytes of RAM.
With BBS-PC, users can create a communciations network for
businesses, compujter-user groups, organizations or public
access. The program's sysop operator has complete control
over all access to the system and each of its 16 sections,
the company said.
Some of the sections can be open to any caller and others
can be restricted. According to the company, up to 256
security levels are possible with the BBS-PC. Each user's
access can include or exclude read, write, upload or
download functions.
The program also is said to maintain communciations at 1200
bps or 2400 bps, and it supports a variety of protocols
including Modem, Xmodem, Modem7, and other Modem-line
transfer protocols, as well as the ASCII-line or block
transmission modes.
The software options of BBS-PC are said to configure
communications parameters, line-feed options, message-base
size and member-base size, and to allow separate directory
paths for those files.
Typically, the BBS-PC system can include up to four setions:
the default drive or directory; the message-base section;
the member-base section; and the upload/download section.
The directory includes the system program, the master data
FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:45 Page 6
file, and a user-log data file. The directory is said to
provide true message formatting to the caller's terminal; to
maintain permanent user records; and to let uers send
private messages that can be read only by the addressee.
Also, the directory reclaims message space when messages are
deleted, and will provide new space, if necessary, to
support new entries, the developer said.
While the program can reside on dual-disk or single-disk-
drive systems, each section of the program can be assigned
its own drive, or, in the case of systems with hard disk
drives, each section can be assigned its own directory,
according to Micro-Systems.
One feature of the system is said to be its ability to
isolate the user from the host directory and the DOS
environment. The program's higher-level software directory
maintains all upload and download files, and handles
carrier-loss recovery - without a host-system reset - even
during file uploads or downloads.
The program is said to contain a "help" screen and other
files that can be edited or altered to suit the needs of a
particular user.
Those information features include items such as a log-on
message that identifies the system and welcomes users;
messages for new users; information on the system, such as
its purpose or the equipment being used; and messages that
aid in using the bulletin board or uploading and downloading
files.
The program also is said to include a terminal option that
can end a call with one keystroke. This is intended to be
used as a means of dealing with nuisance calls or system
crashers.
Also included in the program is a "blanking" feature that is
designed to prevent video burn-in.
In addition, there is a call-length limiting feature, as
well as a "sleep" feature that allows the computer to shut
down for a period of inactivity, the developer said.
Other software available from Micro-Systems includes (blah
blah blah blah...)
Boy, doesn't Fido for no bucks sound like a better deal!
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FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:47 Page 7
MASTER FIDO USERLIST
A few issues ago there was an article about compiling a
master list of FIDO USERS, Here is where the project now
stands:
We finally got enough response from the sysops to compile
the first test version of the master "USERLIST". The test
was done with the response from 33 nodes. We came out with
a total of 5500 users between all the boards, and after
exact duplicates were removed we ended up with 4500 names.
This list was just the TEST version to see if it was
possible so it will not be made public (Especially since we
all split into nets, the Net/Node numbers that were sent
in are not applicable any more). This is a PLEA to all
sysops.........
PLEASE SEND US YOUR USERLISTS AFTER THEY ARE
COMPILED WITH SHIPUSER.COM!!!!
If we don't get a larger response the whole project will be
a waste! We would like this to be done on a steady basis,
say at least monthly or bi-monthly, but to do this we need
LOTS OF COOPERATION.
Hopefully this master list will stir up increased usage of
FIDONET mail by users instead of mostly sysops as it is
today, becuase you'll know where to find the person to whom
you want to send a message. Also if this thing does work
out we might try to have it published which would increase
the popularity of all of our boards.
If you don't have the program SHIPUSER.COM you can get it
from Fido 107/0 in the USERLIST section, then please
forward the userlists back to node 107/0 or 107/3 either
in FIDONET mail or by uploading it. The next master list
will be compiled on JULY 15, 1985 and then distributed
starting the next day.
Matt Kanter (Sysop of DEC-WARE Fido 107/0)
aka 107/79
FIDONEWS -- 08 Jul 85 00:00:52 Page 8
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NOTICES
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Fidonews Bugs
Very sorry, folks. SEAboard went down sometime during the
week while your humble editor was on vacation. Hence, it
was not up Sunday night in order to create this issue of
Fidonews on time.
Also, our local net, Net 107, has renumbered its nodes. As
of the latest node list, we are now at node 7 in net 107.
As usual, we need and want your articles, so please ship
them to us at 107/7.