Volume 4, Number 6 9 February 1987 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings FidoNews is the official newsletter of the International FidoNet Association, and is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1. 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. Copyright (C) 1987, by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES The Count is In! The Official Results on the Bylaws Ballot The Power of FidoCast! About RECOVERY 125/0 9 31 2. FOR SALE Magazine on Disk for IBM PC and Compatibles 3. NOTICES The Interrupt Stack IFNA Elections Committee Formed Fidonews Page 2 9 Feb 1987 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= ASELAGE KIEFER & CO. January 24,1987 CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS Mr. Ken Kaplan International FidoNet Association P.O. Box 41143 St. Louis, Missouri 63141 Dear Ken, This letter will serve as confirmation of our discussion on January 23, 1987. Total Votes Received 148 Total Yes Votes 127 Total No Votes 16 Total Invalid 5 This is the official count of the votes as of the cutoff date of January 17, 1987. As you can see, the ratification was overwhelmingly accepted by those who voted. I will be in contact with Mark Rubin to follow up on the 501(c)3 application and will be in touch with you for further information, etc. Yours very truly, ASELAGE, KIEFER & CO. Certified Public Accountants Christopher L Bonfanti Partner CLB/lmc cc: Mark Rubin ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 3 9 Feb 1987 Christopher Baker Metro-Fire Fido, 135/14(0) The Power and Perils of Broadcast Appeals over FidoNet! Below is the text of several messages sent over the Fido Network. If you are part of the Mensa or Sysop Echos or a Host in Region 18, you have already seen them. If you are not, you may find the information of interest. ==== Text Begins ==== Message #19 Date: 04 Jan 87 22:03:44 From: Rob Carr on 109/612, The Flying PC, Vienna VA To: All on 135/14, Metro-Fire Fido, Miami FL Subj: Help Make a Wish Hey, how about helping to make a wish come true? The "Make a Wish Foundation" is asking people to send post cards to a 7-year old boy in Scotland who has leukemia. His dream is to get his postcard collection into the "Guinness Book of World Records." It only costs 33 cents to mail a postcard to Scotland. The address is: Little Buddy P. O. Box 76 Paisley Renschewshire, Scotland, United Kingdom Please, when you log onto other BBS's, pass this message around. We'll all be helping to make this little boy's life a whole lot brighter. Thank you from Judi Duda and Lee Henry of the "Make a Wish Foundation" and from Rob and Nancy Carr (two nut-cases with a TRS-80 Model IV). Matt. 25:40 --- v1.36 * Origin: China Blue BBS * Pittsburgh, PA * (129/28) Message #38 Date: 06 Jan 87 12:14:03 From: George Falcon on 109/612, The Flying PC, Vienna VA To: Rob Carr on 135/14, Metro-Fire Fido, Miami FL Subj: Little Buddy Re: Help Make a Wish Fidonews Page 4 9 Feb 1987 Perhaps you didn't see the notification that the "Little Buddy" story is an old hoax. I haven't attempted any verification. --- * Origin: The Falcon's Rock - College Park, Md (109/648) Message #87 Date: 12 Jan 87 16:28:18 From: Christopher Baker on 135/14, Metro-Fire Fido, Miami FL To: "Wishers" Subj: Making a Wish, Part II... Message #80 0.25 (RCVD) (KILL/SENT) Date: Mon 12 Jan 87 15:14 From: David Dodell on 114/15, ST JOES HOSPITAL, Phoenix AZ To: Christopher Baker on 135/14, Metro-Fire Fido, Miami FL Subj: WISH.TXT Chris - I received a message from the moderator of the Disabled conference on Usenet telling me that this message is at least 2 years old ... it started on Usenet about 1984 and mail has been marked returned for years ... you might want to renotify everyone ... David ******** so FidoNet falls for an old Usenet gag? look for an upcoming article in FidoNews on FidoNet and broadcast appeals. TTFN. Chris --- v1.36 * Origin: Metro-Fire Fido - Miami, FL (135/14) ==== Text Ends ==== What was this all about, you ask? This was a hoax picked up from Usenet (a UNIX conferencing system) and introduced into FidoNet. What happened next? I took the message, converted it into a text file and broadcast it to the Hosts in my Region (18), IFNA HQ, 1-3/0, and the Hosts of FireNet and Health Net Echo; with a carbon copy back to the originator. Within 24 hours this message was making the rounds of the U.S., Europe, and the South Pacific; spreading like crazy from Rangoon to Reykjavik (figuratively speaking). When the word came in that this old chestnut was ancient history on Usenet, the retraction went out with the same speed. As the cancellations went out, the power and potential of this affair began to dawn on me. The International Fido Network represents over one thousand publically accessible Nodes, spanning the globe. If every Node has only 100 hundred users (very conservative figure), that now Fidonews Page 5 9 Feb 1987 represents 100,000 people who are exposed to anything put into the FidoNet. If each one of those users took the information (as a hard-copy) and posted it on a company or community bulletin board and thereby exposed 10 more people to the information, we have reached one million people. Given more people in any part of this equation and the possible exposure would be even more tremendous. Consider. This thing has been been growing by leaps and bounds since its creation but have you stopped to reflect on the enormity of what we are doing? What we have, in FidoNet, is an incredible, grass roots system for communicating world-wide with people and cultures we would never touch without it. With the adjuncts of SEAdog and Opus and the other systems to come, we have the ability to send NetMail anytime, virtually any place. Don't think just of NetMail to a Node next door. Think of the possibilities. Even though this "wish" was not genuine, the speed and power of FidoNet was amply demonstrated. Think of this "joke" as a drill that demonstrated that FidoNet is alive and well and READY for action. There is something to be gained from this experience. What I propose, now, is setting some standards for a broadcast appeal entered into the Fido Network, hereinafter referred to as a FidoCast(c).[IFNA, you are welcome to this term.] 1. The message should be labeled as a FidoCast to indicate handling over the FidoNet. 2. The contents should be verified as genuine by the Sysop/User entering the FidoCast into the system. 3. The message should contain a contact name and number (Net/Node, telephone, etc.) of some kind for the originator and/or the requestor. 4. The message should have an expiration and/or an effective date (good idea, David) to indicate how long it has been in the system and when it may be tossed. 5. When received by a Host Node, the FidoCast should be forwarded to all the Nodes that Host is responsible for thus spreading the text as far as possible. 6. When a FidoCast is posted on a Fido Node, users should be encouraged to capture or download the notice/file and post it to other BBSes or on workplace and community bulletin boards and to pass it on to as wide an audience as possible. 7. The originator or requestor should provide an update on the status of the FidoCast, i.e., what results were obtained. This report could be in the form of another FidoCast or a FidoNews notice or Fidonews Page 6 9 Feb 1987 article. FidoCast is a workable method for introducing broadcast messages into the FidoNet. The broadcast appeal has worked in the past as you may recall from the Canadian appeal for information about pediatric breathing disorders entered into the Network from Fred Blauer. The costs associated with a FidoCast are minimal if it is passed from point-to-point within the normal scope of Host or Region to Node traffic, i.e., bundled with FidoNews or with Nodediff Polls and pickups. Even if it is sent out from a few central points, the cost is still negligible compared to a telegram, mailgram or commercial time on radio or television. This is only one good way to make FidoNet responsive and respectable. It will work because FidoNet Sysops care. They care about their systems. They care about their users. They WANT to help and often do; without recompense and without hesitation. We have just scratched the surface of a communications revolution that will rival movable type! (Remember, you heard it here, first.) Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Respond here or by Net Mail to 135/14. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 7 9 Feb 1987 About RECOVERY 125/0 9 31 (415) 621-5206 Bob Kovach, sysop What is RECOVERY: RECOVERY is a Fido BBS committed to the needs of people in Twelve Step programs who are in recovery from various addictions and compulsive behaviors. RECOVERY is also a valuable source of information and support for for those who think they may have a problem with an an addiction or a compulsive behavior. The message areas include: 1) Alcoholics Anonymous 2) The Closed Meeting 3) Narcotics & Cocaine Anonymous 4) Overeaters Anonymous 5) Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous 6) Smokers Anonymous 7) Al-Anon Alateen & ACA 8) AIDS Network 9) RECOVERY Network (coming soon) The file areas contain meeting listings and various information files. The AIDS file area contains recent articles by John S. James of the San Francisco Sentinal. Many people have found the help they need and are able to use RECOVERY as a tool for personal growth and as a forum where they can share their experience, strength and hope with each other. The AIDS Network area has just started and will soon be a nationwide conference for people with AIDS and ARC and for those who are interested in learning more about the epidemic. A similar network for RECOVERY will begin soon. If you are interested in joining either of these echos please let me know. I can poll you between the hours of midnight and 3am Pacific time if you cannot afford the long distance costs. Technical Stuff: RECOVERY is running on an XT clone (8 mHz) with 640K and a 20MB hard disk. The two nodes are multitasking under DesqView with independant mail systems, schedules and phone lines, while maintaining common message and file systems and one user file. The two phone lines are in hunting and are connected by two Hayes 1200 external modems. The whole system is operating in one directory, except, of Fidonews Page 8 9 Feb 1987 course for the message, file and help subdirectories. All the Fido utilities are in a separate directory with a dos path to them. This enables some order in the Fido root directory. How does all this work in one directory with separate schedules and mail systems? A little history first. At first it was just 2 phone lines, one node number and one mail schedule, so the /i switch worked fine except for an occasional crash. I suspect the crash was caused by trying to write to user.bbs, system.bbs, nodes.bbs or some-such file simultaneously by both tasks. The next stage was two separate directories with two node numbers and separate schedules. This also meant two user files, two system files and two timelog files. I think you can see the nightmare here. The user file and total number of callers and more were totally inaccurate. A nice man named John Penberthy from CHINA BLUE 129/28 saw my plea on the SYSOP echo and sent me DPATH. I was able to have each node in a separate directory with DPATH writing to the files that needed to be common. It worked, but that setup brought DesqView to its knees. It was very slow. Then came the inspiration. I saw that it was possible to patch FIDO and it's utilities so that I could rename the files that I needed to keep separate. I used PCTools and searched for the file name in FIDO that I wanted to change and changed it. Some files appear several times in the FIDO code. The first name I changed was FIDO_IBM. I changed that to FIDO2IBM so that it could find its overlays. the other files I changed were: SCHED.BBS SCH2D.BBS WELCOME1.BBS WELCOM21.BBS MAIL.SYS MA2L.SYS LASTUSER.BBS LASTUSE2.BBS NODES.BBS NODE2.BBS Of course, the new file for the second task is called FIDO2IBM.EXE. The whole procedure is painless and I have patched SCANMAIL, TOSSMAIL, ROBOT and other utilities so that they recognize the renamed MAIL.SYS. The utilities don't seem to use overlays, so you may rename the patched files anything you like. You may use any new file names that you like, as long as the new file name is the same number of characters as the original file name. I havn't had any crashes and the system is dependably running four separate mail schedules on the two nodes so that I can distribute all the incoming mail, nodediffs, fnews and Net125 echomail without any delay. I call this whole process 'Blood on the Keyboard' but it is really gratifying to see the modified system in action. About DesqView and FIDO: I have not tried DoubleDos or MultiLink, but I know I like Fidonews Page 9 9 Feb 1987 DesqView better if for only one reason. Windows! In addition to the windows that allow me to see both tasks operating at the same time, I can open a DOS window if I need to do some file shuffling and not interupt the two FIDOS. I can cut and paste text between windows and create keyboard macros called script files to speed some operations. The user support at Quarterdeck Office Systems if knowledgeable and very helpful. For example, when I asked about setting the clocks for foreground and background tasks for FIDO, they had information on what the RBBS folks use successfully. 5 foreground and 4 background - High Speed Comm. They also helped me with a script that allows both tasks to start themselves on a re-boot. Define the ! key the way you would start things manually. When DesqView is started the ! will be executed. A SI in each window shows about a 1.0 in the foreground and 0.9 in the background with the clone running at 8 mHz. It is a little jerky appearing as the text comes out, but it is still a little too fast for me to read at 1200 baud. Xmodem transfers seem to take normal time. I Have Some Questions: 1. Is there a fix for the last message read bug? 2. My Hayes 1200s can use the X4 option. Can Fido? 3. Is there a way to start Fido without 'Local Console Off' when using the /i switch? 4. Is it possible to change the privilege for V)ersion to sysop? 5. Is there a way to make ROUTEGEN recognize a node number that is the same as the default net number? 6. Where can I get SETMARK? I'd like to thank Tim Pozar 125/406, Butch Walker 161/1 and John Penberthy 129/28 for their help in getting me this far. And I'd especially like to thank Tom Jennings for providing FIDO and for helping me get started in telecommunications three years ago. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please let me know if you would like to join the AIDS or RECOVERY echos. Keep Calling Back, It Works! Bob Kovach 125/0 9 31 Voice (415) 864-5160 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 10 9 Feb 1987 ================================================================= FOR SALE ================================================================= MAGAZINE ON DISK FOR IBM PC AND COMPATIBLES BIG BLUE DISK, the magazine on disk for the IBM PC and compatibles, is currently available at Waldenbooks stores and many other retail locations, as well as by mail subscription. It is contained entirely on a floppy disk. Each issue contains programs, articles, feedback from subscribers, program reviews and demos, and more. For example, issue 4 (now on sale) contains, as a special bonus disk, the latest version of PC-WRITE. This is not a demo; it's a complete, full-featured word processor. In addition, here's what else is in BIG BLUE DISK #4: - Cribbage Squares: A computerized version of the popular card game. - The Voting Game: A mathematical model showing how random changes in opinions can result in supremacy of one party. - The Watergate Quiz: Recall events from this turbulent era of American history. - Job Preference: Match your interests with possible careers. - The LS Command: One of the Kramden Utilities; a powerful directory list command. In addition, there are other programs, articles, and regular features, including feedback from our readers. You can order this issue by direct mail by sending $9.95 (check, money order, or Visa/Mastercard/American Express accepted) to: BIG BLUE DISK, DEPT F2, PO BOX 30008, SHREVEPORT, LA 71130-0008. Mail subscriptions are also available: One year (12 monthly issues) costs only $69.95. (A 41% savings over newsstand price.) A six-month subscription is available for $39.95. Lots of interesting stuff is coming up; issue 5 contains a useful program to index your disk collection, a versatile disk file copy command, games, educational programs, and more. Subscribe now and don't miss anything. BIG BLUE DISK requires an IBM PC or compatible, with at least 256K and MS-DOS 2.0 or later. Color graphics is recommended. Send questions/comments to Daniel Tobias on FIDO 380/2. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 11 9 Feb 1987 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 17 May 1987 Metro-Fire Fido's Second Birthday BlowOut and Floppy Disk Throwing Tournament! All Fido Sysops and Families Invited! Contact Christopher Baker at 135/14 for more information. 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A new committee has been formed to handle the matter of elections to the IFNA Board of Directors. Bob Morris has been appointed as chairman, and will appoint additional committee members as he deems fit. Anyone with any questions regarding the elections should direct them to Bob at node 141/333. If you are interested in volunteering your services for the Elections Committee, you should contact Bob as soon as possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TOPICAL TECHMAIL FILES, FidoNews 404 Ken McVay, SysOp, Fido 340/20 I done done it agin, folks! Seems every time I submit something to the News, I screw up....The CORRECT telephone numbers for those wishing to download topical archives is: 604-758-3072 The VOICE number is 604-758-4137. Files can be supplied in FASTBACK, BAC, or BACKUP format. Thanks! Ken ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 12 9 Feb 1987 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) _`@/_ \ _ | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (jm) Membership for the International FidoNet Association Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to increase worldwide communications. ** Name _________________________________ Date ________ Address ______________________________ City & State _________________________ Country_______________________________ Phone (Voice) ________________________ Net/Node Number ______________________ Board Name____________________________ Phone (Data) _________________________ Baud Rate Supported___________________ Board Restrictions____________________ Special Interests_____________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Is there some area where you would be willing to help out in FidoNet?_______ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to: International FidoNet Association P. O. Box 41143 St Louis, Missouri 63141 USA Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to insure the future of FidoNet. ** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization in formation and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the membership in January 1987. An Elections Committee has been established to fill positions outlined in the By-Laws for the Board of Directors. An IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Elections Committee. We welcome your input on this Conference. -----------------------------------------------------------------