Volume 4, Number 15 20 April 1987 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. 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. EDITORIAL International Mail 2. ARTICLES Financing Fido Patrick Troughton (the second Dr. Who) Dies Fidogram - Free Telegram Service Notes From MemphisNet Talking Assembler (Part 2) Tradewar Anyone? CAP and the Dayton HamVention Vietnam Veterans "Convoy to the Wall" 3. COLUMNS Column Without a Name 4. WANTED Any Harvard Summer School students? 5. FOR SALE BIG BLUE DISK #7 - Latest issue of magazine on disk! 6. NOTICES The Interrupt Stack IFNA Board of Directors Ballot Fidonews Page 2 20 Apr 1987 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= International Mail Network mail has been moving internationally for over two years now, but it's never really worked well. Anybody can send international mail, provided: 1) You have International Direct Dialing (IDD), which is not available in many areas. 2) You can figure out how to cope with the extra delays involved in international dialing. 3) You don't mind paying for busy signals. (In most areas you are charged per attempt, NOT per connect!) 4) You can figure out when the person in the other country will be able to receive network mail. 5) You can figure out which overseas nodes use modems that are compatible with your own. A non-trivial problem that the overseas sysops themselves have trouble with! About the best that it's ever worked was when Dave Rene (101/27) had a clandestine link with a fellow employee in England. Every night he would pump echomail over to him using his company's network. This had the odd effect of making England part of the Massachusettes network. That MassNet<=>England link was taken by the FTSC (Fidonet Technical Standards Committee) as the model for how international mail ought to work. Briefly, the entire Earth was divided into zones. The present zones are: Zone 1 - North America Zone 2 - Europe Zone 3 - Australasia It is anticipated that other zones may be established as nodes crop up in other parts of the world, or on other worlds. Whether Lunar Nearside and Lunar Farside should be in one zone or two is an interesting topic, but not one that will be addressed here. Each zone will have a "zone gate" to every other zone. It is assumed that a zone gate has some free method of moving mail to the other zone (on the face of it a ridiculous assumption, but thankfully there seem to be such people). Tentative zone gates have already been selected for mail going from zone 1 to both of the other zones. Fidonews Page 3 20 Apr 1987 There remains the software needed to implement zones. This falls into three categories: 1) Nodelist translators; XlatList 2.70 can already handle a node list with zones. Others may need to be modified. 2) Message entry programs; SEAdog 4.0 can already create messages with interzone addresses. Others will need to be modified. 3) Zone gate interfaces; A program (appropriately called "ZoneGate") has already been written to handle this, but it has not yet been extensively tested. So as you can see, international mail is well in hand. With any luck at all we should have functional international mail channels working in a matter of months. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 4 20 Apr 1987 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Eric Ewanco SEAdog/Opus private node 130/3 Financing Fido The article in the April 5th issue of FidoNews really piqued my curosity on both a large net and alternative methods of sending mail. Fido has a great advertising capability, and there are many many multi-billion dollar companies out there that should be willing to give us grants, buy ads from us, or offer discounted services. For instance, perhaps we can hook AT&T into giving Fidonet nodes a large discount on phone rates. I would love to see the net evolve into one independent of the phone system, depending on grants of communications systems that would make a message cost nothing no matter where sent. Or maybe it would depend only on local calls. Maybe Tymnet or Telenet will give us free network time, or discounted. If we collected "taxes" of a minimal amount, $10 a year maybe, that could help offset the cost of the whole thing. Interfacing with short-wave radio is an excellent idea, too. We could set up advanced routing stations for this. Maybe by the time I get out of college in 5 years, I can work for IFNA, professionally managing such a site. Now that IFNA's a non-profit organization, doors are opened for grants and corporal organization. Who knows, maybe we can wrangle funds from the government. The ~arc (Association for Retarded Citizens, with a dove before it) is already making use of Fido, and other related non-prof organizations are too, and the government may find interest in it, plus the possiblities for war or getting information fast across the country. How about this on the 1040: "Would you like to contribute $5 to the International FidoNet Organization, a non-profit organization offering free communications across the world?" That's a coupla million dollars a year. Fidonet has great possiblities; let's explore them as much as possible. But before we can, we do need to work on forming something more tangible, which we are, through IFNA. But let's not get into politics, or secret organizations, or anything else; let's model ourselves on other non-profit organizations. Another thing: HOSTS, PLEASE DISTRIBUTE EVERY FIDONEWS TO YOUR NODES, and NODES, PLEASE READ THE FIDONEWSES AND DISTRIBUTE THEM TO YOUR USERS. USERS, PLEASE SPREAD INTERESTING ARTICLES AROUND TO NON-COMPUTER PEOPLE. In this way, we can increase FidoNews's circulation, and possible income from ads. Hey, why don't we get a newspaper company to publish it for us? That cost is very very minimal, and it will put FidoNews in everyone's hands. All nodes, please be mature; if you have problems with another node, or a subordinate, or a superior, don't SCREW UP THE Fidonews Page 5 20 Apr 1987 NETWORK by doing childish things like kicking them out because they like another piece of software and want to strengthen the net. United we stand, divided we fall. Don't let personal problems screw everything up. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR IMMATURE ACTIVITY IN FIDONET! Thanx... I make a motion we nominate Wynn Wagner for next year's Fleugalman (sp?) award, the creator of the "MILITANTLY PUBLIC DOMAIN" no-tm Opus software. He's going to do a lot for Fidonet! Eric Ewanco SEAdog/Opus 130/3 (private node) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 6 20 Apr 1987 Jean Airey, 132/101!jean@hrcca.UUCP Patrick Troughton Dies (The following was sent to DW clubs belonging to the "APC Network". Any clubs or club members on this net, please feel free to copy) Date: March 31, 1987 It is with very great regret that I must inform you that Patrick Troughton died at 7:25 AM Saturday Morning, March 28 in Columbus Georgia. While the paramedics called to help did everything they could, he was officially pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The paramedics believed he had died instantly. He was appearing at Magnum Opus Con - 2. Pat was born March 25th, 1920 and was known and loved by DW fans as the actor who created the Second Doctor. He played the role from November 1966 - June 1969 and later returned to the program to do "The Three Doctors" with Jon Pertwee and Willian Hartnell; "The Five Doctors" with Richard Hurndall, Jon Pertwee and Peter Davison; and "The Two Doctors" with Colin Baker. One of the very best of British character actors, he was at first reluctant to take on the role of The Doctor,fearing that it might cause him to lose the anonymity that he valued highly. The Doctor he created remains in the hearts of many fans as the most vulnerable and humorous. After 1969 he continued his career with appearances in over 20 TV series including "The 6 Wives of Henry The VIII," "The Persuaders," "Jenny," "The Survivors," "Space 1999," "The Feathered Serpent," "The Sweeney," "Treasure Island," and "The Magic Box." Some of his major film appearances were in: "Scars of Dracula," "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger," and "The Omen." Until 1983 he was noted for not giving interviews of "doing" conventions. However, in the spring of that year he was at the BBC Longleat Festival and gave an interview to the "Doctor Who Monthly" (#78). In November of 1983 he came over to America to the first of the Chicago "Monstercons," with some 20 other guests. In spite of that conventions' confusion, it would seem that he enjoyed the experience as he has returned several times since to do more Spirit Of Light conventions as well as several for the Doctor Who Fan Club Of America. He greatly seemed to enjoy the spirit of the fan conventions such as OMNICON. He was scheduled to do several "stops" with the BBC Festival Tour later this year. He always seemed to enjoy meeting fans and the word from some people at the convention is that although he had a very light "official" schedule on Friday, he spent most of his time walking around, talking to people, signing autographs and "having a good time." He will be very much missed by all of us. Fidonews Page 7 20 Apr 1987 The family has asked that no flowers be sent. Cards may be sent c/o the "Doctor Who" Production Office, BBC TV, Union House, 65/69 Shepherds Bush Green, London, England W12 7RJ. If anyone wishes to make a donation in Pat's memory to a cause he cared about, it should be to Cancer Research. -- Jean Airey: US Mail 1306 W. Illinois, Aurora, IL 60506 ihnp4!hrcca!jean -- Posted to the FidoNews by Kurt Reisler, SYSOP, The Bear's Den, Fido 109/74. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 8 20 Apr 1987 FidoGrams Free Telegram Service Cape Cod Fido is still offering it's free telegram service. Yes, you saw it correctly - free. In addition, we now have a west coast outlet to send messages through in addition at node 114/15. Through the courtesy of the thousands of dedicated Amateur Radio Operators who make up the American Radio Relay league's National Traffic System, Fidonet now allows you to send FidoGrams to almost anyone, almost anywhere, regardless of whether or not that person is even remotely interested in computers, modems or terminal software. There are literally thousands of uses for this free FidoGram service. Examples include: 1. Sending greetings during holidays, birthdays, or just to renew old acquaintances. 2. Sending batches of messages to your club members who are scattered all over the country. 3. Making all your old cronies green around the edges by announcing your next month-long cruise to Timbuktu, or bragging about your recent engagement to Mr/Ms wonderful. 4. College students: telling Ma how much you miss her apple pie. 5. Requesting health and welfare information on friends or family located (or not yet located!) in a disaster area. As with anything neat like this, some cautions are in order. Since these FidoGrams are not sent over commercial circuits such as Western Union, or RCA, but rather via FCC-controlled Amateur Radio Circuits, there are some constraints. First, if you really want to make Fido curl up his lip, bare his teeth and growl, just try sending a free Fidogram that relates in any way to business, or the making of a profit by any party. Fido will make kitty litter out of anything that does not look like a personal, non- business message. Don't even attempt it. Ditto for profanity. Second, when utilizing the services of many volunteers, you must consider the length of your messages. The simplest way to do this is to pretend that you were paying the standard 67 cents per word! Keep your messages short and to the point. The radio operators may even then elect to break up your messages into more than one telegram. How lengthy is lengthy? Perhaps 20-30 words per message max. Just use discretion. Allow several days for delivery. In other words, don't expect a Fidogram that arrives at Cape Cod Fido on Feb. 13th to be delivered in time for Valentine's day... How will your free telegrams be delivered? After being routed throught the National Radio Traffic System to the ultimate point of destination, the telegram will be telephoned - just like the commercial boys. Fidonews Page 9 20 Apr 1987 Here's what Fido needs in order to keep his telegram tail-a- waggin: 1. Y-o-u-r name, address, and telephone number in case we need to get back with you, or in case there is a return message going your way. 2. The full name, adddress, and telephone number of the persons you wish to send telegrams to. 3. The message. 4. A signature. That's the grand total. Where can you send free FidoGrams? To anyone in the USA or Canada who has a telephone, and to many countries overseas. Read the file called "COUNTRY" for the list of countries whose governments allow free telegrams. Here's some examples of free FidoGram format and content. Use your own format at will, but be sure to include all info. Is there a limit to the number of free FidoGrams that you can send at any one time? No. As a matter of fact, the Amateur Radio Operators use these telegrams as a way of exercising their emergency communications apparatus. They welcome large loads in order to practice for the times when emergencies create huge volumes of message traffic. Just t-r-y to inundate them... If you wish to send FidoGrams, or if you have further questions, or can offer suggestions as to how to improve this exciting new service, send the messages to Fidograms at either Node 105/101 for the east coast, or 114/15 for the West Coast . Be CERTAIN to leave your complete voice telephone number and address so that we can respond to your question by Fidogram, without invoking Fidomail charges... We hope you'll use this service often, and will gain much enjoyment from it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 10 20 Apr 1987 Jerry Hindle, 123/6 Notes From MemphisNet Well, yet another month or so has gone by and things seem to be moving along very nicely here. After my last article was run, telling you about my have installed SEADOG (tm) V4.0, I got a tremendous number of calls to get the file list via file request. I only encountered one problem and I believe this was due to the long delay time from Australia to here on phone connections. I apologize to the PNG Connection in down under land for this and am trying to get a list together for you that is small enough for me to file attach to you since I seem to have better luck contacting Australia then Australia does in contacting me. First and foremost is of course SEADOG... Thom Henderson and crew have certainly outdone themselves this time I assure you. Not only have they made an excellent program better but they have managed to keep it tidy. Usually you find most upgrades are merely butchered and patched copies of older versions, not so here. I have never used SEAdog before but after reading about 2 sentences (the usual amount of time I devote to reading "docs" I looked at the disk and found out they made it dummy-proof. Heck even I could install this thing. I had a small amount or trouble trying to stay calm while this thing did strange things to my hard drive and files and was calm again only after I got the infamous C> . I do wish the docs had covered OPUS a bit more but after sending a note to Thom I found he had wished so too, alas the OPUS docs didn't arrive in time to make the publishers date and the docs were somewhat lacking on this subject, Thom however assures me that future editions will remedy this one minor shortcoming. I am still trying to figure out the routing stuff, but in the meantime I copied all my route.xx files to one large "route.dog" file and everything is running smoothly. Hint here Thom. You may want to look over the docs on routing a bit more and show some examples of route.dog files for a host system and maybe a hub or two to give the users a feel for the system. I found the operation to be clean and bulletproof again emphasizing the ease of use. Almost everything is function key driven and little mini-menus will pop up all over the place to guide you should you ever become "lost". Anyway as I said if I can install it ANYBODY can. Thom, it is well worth the $100 I paid for it, but again like anything I buy, you put it "on sale" right after I got mine, this however is the story of my life and I am glad I paid full price for it since I can now make numerous phone calls to the guru and get straight on routing for a host system. Item #2: MAIL and CALLERS........I have received updates from Ben Baker on PRUNE and have received in a round about way from New York a program called "MINILIST", I have gotten updates on OPUSCOMM (ie version 2.73) and ONODE (v 1.31). I would ask that Wynn (if he has time to read this) or someone connected with OPUS let me know a day or so ahead of the release date so I can get copies of OPUS updates for the distribution section here. YES I do carry OPUS and OPUS utilities here too along with all the Fidonews Page 11 20 Apr 1987 stuff I have for FIDO. I am sorting thru the Fido stuff right now to see what will and what won't work with OPUS. If it will work I will list it in BOTH directories. If it will only work with one or the other I will place it in the directory where it belongs. I have gotten a program called CRASH from 18/14 and according to the author it allows FIDO to do CRASH MAIL !!!!! He also alluded to the fact that he is working on a way to have Fido handle file requests and other assorted goodies like that. I am no utility author but it seems to me that we have a large number of people out there still working with Fido and writing stuff for it. Great, I still have about 6 meg to go to fill up the system, I may just make it yet. CALLERS......I allow first time callers access to the following areas: 1: General Message and File Area 2: Fido/SEADOG Distribution Area (associated msg area is a local echomail) 3: FidoNews (I have all of this year on-line and can put ANY issue(s) up on request. For those out there supporting CBM I have FidoNews in PETASCII for the Commodore and ARCED using ARC230 for the Commodore computer. Arc230 is also available here. 4: OPUS Software Distribution Files Area (associated msg area is an open debate section. Although you will not be able to enter any messages you are free to d/l as much as your phone bill can handle. I don't keep track anyway. All I ask is if you have something I don't in the way of Fido/Opus/SeaDog utilities and support files, UPLOAD it PLEASE !!!!! This is the ONLY way to keep things going here. Again if you want to find out what I have here you can file request the file DISTRIB.ARC, this is as complete a list as possible here since it is updated every AM by the system. It will show all areas here and tells you if it is available by file request or not. I included the other stuff for info purposes ONLY in case you decide to play real caller and register here. This file is located in the NetMail files area (area 6) if you are calling as a "human". Now on to other news. We are growing here in Memphis, Adding 1 system this week and another coming on-line in another week. Both systems are OPUS/FIDO combos so you know what to expect there. The additions to MemphisNet are: 123/10 Timothy McNeill (registration on first call, access after verification). 123/2 Ken Akins (again preregistration is required) Give them a call should you want to, I am sure they will appreciate the "business". Ok well, I guess that's all for this installment. Questions may be directed to me if you want to ask them, I may or may not Fidonews Page 12 20 Apr 1987 have an answer for you but I will try to place you in contact with someone who does. Also if you have a program you want placed here let me know I will file request if possible or arrange some other method of getting it. I ask if possible you send it here anytime you want to or if not possible let me know how I can get it from you. I am doing this for you, not myself. I run only 2 items here. SEADOG & OPUS. Both excellent and both running flawlessly (knock on floppy drive) right now. TO: Tim Peeters; I would love to give you the modem maze game, however since I downloaded it from a system in Dallas I do not have any docs, nor do I know who the original author is, thus I can't in all fairness release it for d/l. I did modify the entire thing here to fit my needs and made it a selectable item on the bulletin, I added a few twists and turns to it and am always expanding it. If the author is reading this I would appreciate a copy of the original release version, so I can make sure I give out all the files you intended in it. I got a "doctored copy" and don't want to release it without your say-so. To: Ben Baker; Thanks for Prune To: Sysop 18/14 Thanks for CRASH To: whoever in NYC that sent MINILIST to 123/8 a BIG THANK YOU (she needed it, I also got copies of the other stuff you sent to her) To: The rest of the NET , Thank you for making my hobby so much FUN !!!!! I enjoy helping out where I can and I think I found a nifty little niche here. Jerry Hindle 123/6 123/0 MemphisNet 2400 baud MAX 901-353-4563 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 13 20 Apr 1987 Ned Sturzer OpusNODE 362/1 Chattanooga, TN. TALKING ASSEMBLER 2 by NED STURZER The computer hardware understands only one language - Machine Language. A program in any other language is merely data acted upon by a translator program, itself ultimately written in Machine Language, and converted into a Machine Language Program. There are two types of translator programs - compilers and interpreters. A compiler produces a distinct Machine Language program which may then be executed by the computer. An interpreter, on the other hand, does not produce a distinct Machine Language but carries out the functions of our program immediately. A compiled program usually executes more rapidly than the interpreted version since the translation into Machine Language has already been performed. With an interpreter the translation must be carried out each time the program is run. Moreover, less computer memory is required since only the compiled version need reside in memory to be executed. In the interpreted version both the program and the interpreter must be in memory. Interpreters are not to be despised however, since they are almost always easier to debug. Assembler is in all cases a compiled language. Traditionally, Assembler has been regarded in a somewhat different light than other languages. In the early days of computers assemblers were simply direct translations of Machine Language and thus they were somewhat distinct from other languages. This is no longer the case. What is true is that Assembler Language closely mimics Machine Language though I showed in the last article that they really are distinct. Assembler Language has three great str engths. It is functionally equivalent to Machine Language and thus can use the full power of the computer. It is fast. Since Assembler does closely follow Machine Language the fastest possible code may be utilized for a program. It makes efficient use of memory. This is again the result of Assembler's close relationship to Machine Language. Assembler's weakness is the complexity of writing I/O routines and floating point routines. In the compilers and interpreters of other languages these routin es are built in. The text of an Assembler Language program is often seen as a combination of two types of instructions - machine instructions and instructions to the Assembler. Machine instructions are those parts of the text which are translated directly into Machin e Language instructions, while instructions to the Assembler mostly initialize areas of memory at the start of the program, or tell the assembler how to go about its job of translating Assembler Language code into Machine Language code. An Assembler Language program consists of a series of statements. Most statements have the following syntax: Fidonews Page 14 20 Apr 1987 {name} mnemonic {operand,operand,...} {;text} Here the {} indicates the entry is optional. Name acts as a label so the statement may be referred to by other statements. The mnemonic or op code is the main part of the statement. Different mnemonics require different numbers of operands. The ;text is used for comments and is otherwise ignored by the assembler. The length of the first three sections of the statement may be a maximum of 128 characters. Before describing the 120 different machine op codes, as opposed to the many assembler codes we need to understand the flags register and the different adressing modes. The flags register has the following format: bit: 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 flag: O D I T S Z A P C As far as I can tell, the blank bits are unused and presumably could be employed in a program though I have never seen this done. The C or Carry bit is affected primarily by arithmetic operations and by certain shift or rotate operations. In addition operations the bit is set (to 1) if there is a carry of the high order bit, otherwise it is cleared (to 0). Subtraction operations set or clear the carry bit depending on whether or not there is a borrow of the high order bit. The P or Parity flag is affected by most data altering operations. When the low order byte resulting from such an operation has an even number of 1's the parity flag is set. An odd number of 1's clears the flag. Parity is not one of your more useful flags. The Auxiliary Carry flag, A, is used only by the few binary coded decimal (BCD) operations provided by the 8088. The A bit is set or cleared depending on whether or not there is a carry fron bit 3 in such an operation. Certain other operations affect this bit in an unpredictable way. Like the P flag, the Zero flag is affected by data altering operations. If the operation results in a 0 the flag is set, otherwise cleared. Unlike the P flag, the Z flag is extremely useful. The Sign or S flag is affected by arithmetical and logical operations. A positive result clears the flag while a negative result sets the flag. While the Trap bit, T, is set the program will execute an interrupt 1 after every instruction. This enables us to single- step through a program or do other interesting things. I'll discuss interrupts in the next article. As you would expect few Fidonews Page 15 20 Apr 1987 instructions affect this flag. The I or Interrupt bit when set enables hardware interrupts. If cleared all hardware interrupts except memory errors are disabled. Only a few op codes affect this flag. Within its instruction set the 8088 has a number of operations which allow for either forward or backword movement through a block of data. These string instructions are used in conjunction with the SI and DI registers. When the Direction flag, D, is cleared these registers will be incremented after a string instruction. Should the D bit be set these registers will be decremented after a string operation. The final flag is the Overflow Flag, O. This bit is affected by arithmetic operations and is set when the result of an arithmetic operation on signed numbers is of too large a magnitude to be represented. This will be discussed in full detail when I review the arithmetic operations. This is as good a spot as any to jump into the nitty-gritty of Assembler Language. An assembler program consists of a series of assembler statements as described above. The characters that may be used to form these statements are the following: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789!@# $%^&*()_-+={}[]:;",./<>\`'?|~ In most cases the assembler does not distinguish between lower and upper case letters. Integers are represented as digits (uses default radix) digitsB (binary) digitsD (decimal) digitsH (hexadecimal) Hexadecimal integers must always begin with a digit (0-9). Thus 0a34H rather than a34H. Octal integers (base 8) may also be represented but I will ignore them. I will also neglect all material only relevant to the 8087. Unless changed the default radix is decimal. The default radix is set by the .RADIX statement .RADIX 2 (binary) .RADIX 10 (decimal) .RADIX 16 (hexadecimal) A b,d, or h assignment to an integer takes precedence over the default radix. String constants consisting of one or more ASCII characters are also used in Assembler Language. A string constant is represented by 'string' or by "string". If it is necessary to use a ' but ' is the string delimiter then represent ' by ''. Similarly when " is the delimiter "" is used to represent ". For example, 'The symbol '' is called a single quotation mark.' Fidonews Page 16 20 Apr 1987 The name used in a name field must be constructed according to certain rules. The first character in a name must be a letter of the alphabet, _, @, $, or ?. The remaining characters can be any of the symbols in the list above. A name can be any length but only the first 31 characters are considered by the assembler. A mnemonic may not be used in a name field. The assembler assigns each name a type. The type can be one of the following depending on the intended use of the name: BYTE, WORD, DWORD, NEAR, FAR. Type may also be the name of a structure. We will define structures later. To assign a specific type to a name you may use the LABEL mnemonic in the syntax name LABEL type If the name is intended to represent a (symbolic) address for a machine instruction then a NEAR type name may also be achieved in two other ways as shown by these examples: routine: pop ds or by routine: pop ds Names must be defined only once in a program. A NEAR type merely means that the name is in the same segment (defined by the cs register) as any statement that refers to the name. If a name is assigned a FAR type it may be referred to from anywhere in the program. Should you need to reserve memory for data or to have data initialized to some value at the start of a program you may use the DB, DW, or DD mnemonics. The syntax of the DB (define byte) mnemonic is {name} DB value,... The values may be integers, string constants, constant expressions (to be defined later), ?, or DUP operators. If a name is given it is assigned type BYTE. Consider the example db "valid",5. When assembled this will assign six successive locations in memory with the ASCII values of v, a, l, i, d, followed by 5. A value of ? does not define an initial value but merely reserves a byte of memory. The DUP (duplicate) operator has a syntax of count DUP(value,...) where count is an integer indicating the number of times the values are to be duplicated. Values may be any expression evaluating to an integer, the ? operator, a string constant consisting of a single character, or another DUP operator. The DUP operators may be nested 17 deep. As an example consider memory_value db 4 dup("*",2 dup(56,11),?) The definition of the DW (define word) and the DD (define double word) are similar to that of DB. Remember that a word is two bytes and a double word is four bytes. We are now in a position to begin studying the machine op codes Fidonews Page 17 20 Apr 1987 and this we will do in the next article. (Article taken from the Chattanooga Computer Society Newsletter. Ned Surzer can be reached via The Last Resort BBS, message area 20, OpusNODE 362/1, 615-892-7773) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 18 20 Apr 1987 John Bekas, 115/212 Tradewar Anyone? Tradewar (Copyright Chris Serrick for Nochange software) is a multi-user game that allows users to challenge each other to be master of the universe. This is done by trading Equipment, Organics, and Iron Ore to different star-ports. You get rated on how many credits you have, and how many fighters and cargo holds you have. You can even blow someone up! Ok, if you think this sounds exciting, and would like to have it in your Outside games, any help would be graciously accepted to change this program from BASIC to Turbo Pascal or C. I am learning Turbo Pascal, and I don't know much about all the commands, so I would appriciate any and all help. I have most of the main program coded already, but for test mode only, I haven't even come close to being able to make the data files, and sector data files needed to use the game in full function. If you know something about writing data files in Turbo Pascal or C, please let me know, and you can help me :-). This program should be released (Version 1) sometime in the summer. The sooner I get it working with a data file, the sooner I can tell you about the release date. Release notice will be announced in FidoNews. Thank you for reading this, and if you can help me out, please call Beaker's Beacon OPUS at (312) 589-2827. 300/1200/2400 bauds. For the purpose for calling, put "Help with Tradewar" on one of the lines. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 19 20 Apr 1987 Stanley Quayle Fido 126/1 CIVIL AIR PATROL and THE DAYTON HAMVENTION The Ohio Wing of the Civil Air Patrol invites everyone to the Dayton HamVention, April 24-26, 1987. The Dayton HamVention is the largest gathering of amateur radio operators ("hams"). If it's electronic, it will be there! The Ohio Wing Communications Truck will be on display in flea market spaces 2232-2234. Please stop by. To get information on joining CAP, ask one of the members at the display. Working with CAP can be exciting and rewarding. If you are a CAP member, please stop by and sign our guest book. Last year, 75 members from around the country signed in. If possible, wear your uniform. Please, no fatigues or flight suits. BlackHawk 85 Mobile will be monitoring 148.15. Saturday evening, April 25, 6 P.M. to 9 P.M., Ohio Wing will host a Communications Conference in building 1222 on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Communicators from all wings are invited. Be sure to bring your membership card to get on the base. Interested non-members may be allowed to attend; more details will be available at the HamVention. HamVention is a registered trademark of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 20 20 Apr 1987 Todd Looney Vietnam Veterans Valhalla INFA Node 143/27 CONVOY TO THE WALL Plans are well underway and continue for a nationwide convoy to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. All convoys are scheduled to arrive in D.C. for a July 4th memorial service at the Wall. According to Bob Castagna, Organizing Chairman of the Convoy to the Wall, an estimated two million vets and their families are planning to be there. The following timetable is reprinted without the permission of Penny Decker, Editor of Pathfinders EVAC (Effective Vietnam Veterans Action Center), Klamath, Oregon (but nothing but good can come of its further distribution to the hundreds of veterans are active in the International Vietnam Veterans Echomail Conference [yes...it is now being hosted in Europe!], not to mention the countless vets who read the Fido Newsletter, so I hope she will forgive me). For further information, please contact Bob Castagna, VVA Chapter #179, P.O. Box 823, Medford, Oregon, 97501, or just send a message to me at Fidonet (tm) node 143/27 in San Jose, California (I have Seadog running here so you can crash it to me anytime of the day or night). Make your plans now...the departure date is less than 4 months away! CONVOY TO THE WALL ROUTE AND TIMETABLE Northern Route ----------------------------------------------------------------- CITY ARRIVE DEPART HWY/ROUTE Medford, Or. 6am 6/26 I-5, 44, 395 Reno, Nv. Noon 6/26 2pm 6/26 I-80 Salt Lake City, Ut 2am 6/27 6am 6/27 I-80 Denver, Co. 8pm 6/27 6am 6/28 I-80 Omaha. Neb. 8pm 6/28 6am 6/29 I-80 Chicago, Ill. 4pm 6/29 6am 6/30 I-65, I-70 Pittburgh, Penn. 7pm 6/30 6am 7/1 I-76, I-70, I-81 Winchester, Va. 1pm 7/1 (Staging area until July 4th) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Central Route ----------------------------------------------------------------- CITY ARRIVE DEPART HWY/ROUTE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles, Ca. 6am 6/26 I-10, I-15 Gallup. New Mex. 1pm 6/26 3pm 6/26 I-15 Cedar City, Ut. 7pm 6/26 6am 6/27 I-15, I-70 Denver, Colo. 8pm 6/27 6am 6/28 I-70 Kansas City, Kan. 8pm 6/28 6am 6/29 I-70, I-64 Louisville, Ky. 7pm 6/29 6am 6/30 I-64 Charleston, W. Va. 2pm 6/30 6am 7/1 I-79, 40, I-81 Fidonews Page 21 20 Apr 1987 Winchester, Va. 3pm 7/1 (Staging area until July 4th) Southern Route ----------------------------------------------------------------- CITY ARRIVE DEPART HWY/ROUTE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles, Ca. 6am 6/26 I-15, I-40 Gallup, New Mex. 9pm 6/26 6am 6/27 I-40 Amarillo, Tx. 4pm 6/27 6am 6/28 I-40 Little Rock, Ark. 7pm 6/28 6am 6/29 I-40 Nashville, Tenn. 5pm 6/29 6am 6/30 I-40, I-81 Roanoke, Va. 5pm 6/30 8am 7/1 I-81 Winchester, Va. 1pm 7/1 (Staging area until July 4th) My wife Nancy and I plan to take the Central Route (we HATE I-80!) and will be forming our own convoy departing San Jose, Ca. at 9am 6/25 and to ariive in Los Angeles, Ca. at 7pm 6/25, Hwy 101, I-5. We will be ready to depart 6/26 at 6am. Hope to see as many of you there as possible! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 22 20 Apr 1987 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= Well, here goes another week and I must say that FidoNews is looking healthier every week. It's nice to know that many of you out there will spend an hour or two in order to help keep the net together by writing something for OUR newsletter. Last week I went over some of the new software for Desktop Publishing, and I found something else out that makes Ventura Publisher even better. Ventura Publisher is capable of "printing" to a file. This way you can print to a file, copy the file to a diskette, and then bring the disk over to a friend who does have a laser printer and copy the file to their laser printer. You could also send the file over the net (or any communications program that allows straight files to be sent) to be printed. I've tried this using a friend's Apple LaserWriter and it seems to work out reasonably well. I've also been busy helping some people in my local net setup SEAdog (over half of my net is now running version 4.0). This time around I'll be looking at the new SEAdog (originally intended for last week but delayed because of PageMaker and Ventura, sorry Thom) and a database program I found on a local BBS, Instant Recall. -- SEAdog 4.0 (System Enhancement Associates, $100) -- While SEAdog is NOT a bulletin board program (it is primarily an electronic mail system) it can be used with many of the bulletin board programs currently available. It can be used to either give the BBS software the capability of electronic mail (such as TBBS) or to expand the capabilities of electronic mail (like FIDO). It does this by acting as a "front end" to the bulletin board, SEAdog answers the phone and if it is a "human" caller it calls up the bulletin board program. It as found wide use in the FidoNet community because it uses the same protocol as FIDO. In addition to being compatible with FIDO (in mail mode) it expands the net protocol to allow things like file requests and receipt requests, and since SEAdog answers the call it can accept mail (or file requests) at anytime. The new version of SEAdog has quite a few new features that weren't in the previous version (3.8). The biggest addition is the SEAlink protocol. When a SEAdog 4.0 calls a SEAdog 4.0 they now transfer all files using this new protocol and let me tell you one thing about it, it's FAST. I've already noticed a much shorter connect time when picking up my echomail and sending in my column. System Enhancement Associates, the makers of SEAdog, have also been busy with the new FidoNet Standards Committee documents in that the previous problems with SEAdog talking with a FIDO have been cleared up. They've also added much better support for multiple message areas in their user interface, making it easier on a sysop to use it for keeping up with his message areas. Better support for both the modem and the printer have also been added, along with support for the extended addressing that is going to affect the net in the near future (things like echomail, gateways, zones, etc.). Fidonews Page 23 20 Apr 1987 While this may sound great, some of you are probably saying "Why should I use SEAdog? What advantages does it really give me?" Well to start off you can request files from another SEAdog. If you know your friend Joe (who is running SEAdog) has a new version of a program that you want, you no longer have to either ask him to send it to you or log onto his board and download it. You merely type "GET filename FROM net/node NOW" and you will soon have the file. This is great convenience on your fellow sysops as they don't have to spend as much time on requests for files. The unofficial FIDO utility board now has SEAdog so you can also get the latest version of your favorite utilities in next to no time, and at hours you normally wouldn't be awake during. The new version will also allow people access to the board during any mail event you wish. This could be used to make it easier on hubs and hosts, no longer does everything depend on National Mail Hour. If for some reason a board doesn't reach you during your mail events, mail could be help continuously for any board. All they have to do is tell SEAdog to manually poll the system (and there is a "manual poll" feature in SEAdog). You are also capable of entering a DOS command anytime the system is waiting for a call, while this was put into SEAdog to make it easier to use the GET and SEND commands, I've used it to process some outbound echomail, update the nodelist, and even call up my favorite editor. Speaking of echomail, in my local net echomail is often processed right after the National Mail Hour. SEAdog is now capable of running an external program after receiving crashmail (mail that comes in outside of a normal mail event), and we've been using it to process the echomail (with the "echomail hubs" sending it out (via "crashmail") as soon as it's processed. The user interface goes beyond explaining, but I'll make an attempt of it anyway. You can call it up by either entering "MAIL" from the DOS prompt or merely pressing Alt-M when it's waiting for a call or event. It always starts you out in the netmail message area, but it is very easy to change message areas. Up on the top of the screen is the "header" of the message, who it's from and who it's to, complete with net/node numbers and board names. To the right of the screen is a list of options available from the function keys. All you have to do to change areas is press F8, F9, and then select the area you wish to change to from a list (up to 17 areas, you create the list in a file called AREAS.DOG). If you haven't created an AREAS.DOG, or go over the 17 areas you can enter the drive and pathname of the area. The message editor is a full screen editor, no more messing around with line oriented text editors! An added bonus of the user interface is that you can press ">" to reply to a message, this will then copy the text of the old message into the new message with the greater than symbol in front of each line. If you're reading a lot of echomail areas with the user interface, you can hide the SEEN-BY lines of the message (or see them, you can change between the two by a few keystrokes). You also have the capability to search for text, either in a name or even in the message! This can be great for looking over an echomail area for messages dealing with a given topic. This is only a short list of the features available in the user interface, and let me Fidonews Page 24 20 Apr 1987 say that it can be very addictive. Just because it is used primarily by sysops doesn't mean that you users couldn't benefit from it as well. If a board in your area is using SEAdog you could have yourself set up as a private node, then when you want to read the echomail areas just poll the board and read the messages at your own leisure. If you need a file from the board, just file request it. Since the new SEAdog has a minimal script capability, you could even use it through PC Pursuit to get files (or mail) from bulletin boards not in your local area. All this makes SEAdog when of the most worthwhile programs I've ever seen, easily worth the price ($100). If you're a sysop, you should definitely look into SEAdog. OPUS sysops can realize an even greater advantage as they would no longer have to call up FIDO to do their mail, their mail program would be constantly running! Anyone requiring more information on SEAdog should send a message to Thom Henderson at 107/7, although I'd be glad to try and answer any questions about the product. You can also look for the SEAdog echomail conference, Thom keeps up on the conference and answers many questions there as well. It isn't difficult to setup, and the manual is well written. SEA (and Thom) get high marks from me on SEAdog (both 3.8 and the 4.0 update, nice to see people who listen to their users) and yes, I don't know how I ever got along without it (which is a response/thanks you may see often in the SEAdog echo). -- Instant Recall (Precept, registered version $65.00) -- I've also been busy this past week with Instant Recall, which is a free form database program. There are two versions of Instant Recall out there; one is a free version that you will find on many bulletin boards, while the other is a commercial product costing $65. The only difference between the two is that the free version is only capable of handling an 80K database, while the commercial product can take a database up to 2 meg! A free form database is not like the databases you are familiar with if you've ever used something like dBase or Reflex, there are no neatly structured records composed of fields. Instead every "record" is made up of several lines of text (over a screen worth if need be). How do you find anything? Every word in every record is indexed. If you're looking for your notes on installing hard drives you merely ask it to find "hard drive" and it will allow you to look through the records with those words in it. Since it can be made memory resident, you don't even have to exit a program to find your notes. You can also give Instant Recall a "reminder date" when you enter a record. When you start it up on the given day, you "record" will immediately pop-up, giving you the reminder. This could be very useful for due dates on reports, reminders of important meetings (or anniversaries and birthdays, anyone else ever forget to buy a present or send flowers on important days like this?), or a things to do today list. As a test I took one of the smaller echomail areas (I haven't sent in a check for the full blown version yet, will probably due it at the end of this week when I get my paycheck Fidonews Page 25 20 Apr 1987 from work) and wrote a small program in C to get the text of each message with a unique identifier between each message. I then told Instant Recall to "import" the message with the identifier being used to separate records, with this accomplished I started browsing the messages while looking for specific topics. It always found the records that were pertinent (I double checked it afterwards), although it sometimes got records that didn't apply due to misleading text (like "after I put this on the hard drive it stopped dialing," while looking for installation tricks on hard drives). Since you are supposed to be able to cut information out of an application, I tried to take a table out of a spreadsheet. The procedure was one of the most painless cut and paste operations I've ever tried, and worked well to boot! It was also easy to take part of a record and bring it into my word processor. If nothing else, it has found a niche to fill in painlessly merging part of a spreadsheet into a word processor. I've also been using it to keep notes to myself on things to do like send out an overdue notice if I haven't received a check, and comments on programs (kept while running most of them). Now for a short list of things you can't do with it. It does not keep "nice, neat structured records" so don't try using it to keep your accounting records. It isn't capable of printing reports the way you can with dBase or Reflex, when you print a record it comes out a several lines of text. This also means you can't use it to print any type of mailing labels. While this may seem like a serious deficiency in a database program, I ask you if dBASE could help me find information in an echomail conference (without entering every message with keywords). It claims, and lives up to, being one of the first database programs that works like your mind, and it accomplishes this very easily in my mind. Add to this the chance to look at the software first (with the 80K limit) and it's one of the finest programs currently available and I plan on buying the full blown version in the very near future (as I mentioned earlier, it's just a matter of getting my paycheck this week). -- Winding Down -- The best book I've come across this past week is "The Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder (Avon books, $3.95 paperback). It's a lot like "Hackers" in that it looks at the people involved in computers rather than dealing with the computers/software/etc. It was a 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner, and covers the development of Data General's first 32 bit super minicomputer. It came highly recommended to me, and I'd like this chance to highly recommend it you as well. As far as games go, I have a confession to make. I bought a copy of "Top Gun" on videotape and been watching it too much. As a result, I've spent a lot of time this past week playing JET from subLogic (list price $49.95). It got so bad, I even went out and bought a joystick to attach up (makes it a lot easier) and have since been able to land on the carrier deck much easier. My "flying" has also improved as I've been able to bring down as many as 23 enemy fighters in one game (my old high was 12). If Fidonews Page 26 20 Apr 1987 you are looking for a flight simulator, but don't feel like going from airport to airport look into JET as it is much more like flying a combat aircraft than Microsoft's Flight Simulator. That's about it for this week. Thanks go to the anonymous person who sent me the message on USENET about EMACS, but I'm sure I've seen it ported to the PC somewhere. If you're a user of a BBS and are sending me netmail, please mention to your sysop that mail to me must be routed through either 157/0, 157/1, or 157/502. Sysop's who wish to contact me through FidoNet, just take note of the last sentence. I'll try to reply to all the messages I receive. The nodes that will forward mail to me are all running SEAdog, so you shouldn't have to worry about mail schedules too much. They will also forward a file to me, if you think I might be interested in something you've found. If you send me something through US Mail, please tell me where to send a reply, be it a usenet site name, FidoNet net/node number, or home address. If you've got a favorite program (application, language, game, anything at all) drop me a line and I'll try to take a look at it (money permitting for stuff I can't download off a local board) so everyone out there can know about a good program or book. No solid ideas on what I'll be writing about next week, but I did just get Microsoft's Macro Assembler. In the meantime, I really do want to hear from you. Dale Lovell 3266 Vezber Drive Seven Hills, OH 44131 FidoNet: 157/504 uucp: ..!ncoast!lovell ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 27 20 Apr 1987 ================================================================= WANTED ================================================================= Eric Ewanco SEAdog/Opus 130/3 7633 Beckwood Fort Worth Texas 76112-6051 I'm curious if there are any people out there going to attend the Harvard Summer School program this summer, from June 29 to August 21. If so, I'd love to get in touch with you, I'm going this summer. Please send me a Fidonet message; if you're a user, make arrangements with your Sysop to send it, or send a letter via USPS to the above address. Thanks, Eric ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 28 20 Apr 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, and more. For example, issue 7, on sale soon, contains 2 disks full of features, including: - STREETS AND ALLEYS: A computerized solitare game with a realistic shuffle. - TAKING STOCK: This quiz tests your stock market knowledge. - MEMO WRITER: This simple word processor automatically places your input in memo format. - PC-FILE III (The Blue Plate Special): Big Blue Disk is proud to present ButtonWare's full-featured database -- a completely functional program, not a demo. - ALFREDO'S LOST CAUSE: Join our ill-fated animated hero on his first Big Blue Disk adventure. - THE PAGE COMMAND: Another Kramden Utility; a tool for adding page headers to printed files. 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 8 contains several educational features: a Biology 101 quiz, a quiz maker for teachers, and an adventure game that teaches South American geography. 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 29 20 Apr 1987 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 25 Apr 1987 The Next Occasional MetroNet Sysop Meeting, to be held at the SEA office in Clifton NJ. Spouses and POSSLQs welcome. Contact Irene Henderson at 107/9 for details and directions. 27 Apr 1987 Start of the Semi-Annual DECUS (Digital Equipment Corp. Users Society) symposium, to be held in Nashville, Tennessee. 24 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. SEAdogs may GET more information by requesting FPICMAP.ARC from 135/14. 21 Aug 1987 Start of the Fourth International FidoNet Conference, to be held at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, VA. Contact Brian Hughs at 109/634 for more information. This is FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're hoping to see you there! 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- W A N T E D ----------- Additional FidoNet node needed to be West Coast Star for the following EchoMail Conferences : SFFAN, GAMING, INTERPER, MUSIC and BUSINESS. Should be willing to make one long-distance call per night. Contact Mike J at 150/900 or Randy Kobetich at 150/130. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 30 20 Apr 1987 Bob Morris 141/333 Chairman, Elections and Nominations Committee The next two pages are your Official ballot for the Election of the IFNA Board of Directors. The following are the few rules which must prevail in this election: 1. You must send a legible copy of this ballot to the address listed on the ballot. It must be signed and bear your net/node number. 2. You may vote for any one person in your region for the position of Regional Director. This vote is to be cast in the LEFT column of the ballot. 3. You may vote for any ten people in any regions for the position of Director at Large. These votes are to be cast in the RIGHT column of the ballot. 4. Voting will continue from the date of your receipt of this ballot until the end of registration at the Conference in August. The results will be read during the opening of the business meeting on the first day of the conference. 5. Write-in Votes will be accepted and are requested during this election. Fidonews Page 31 20 Apr 1987 IFNA Board Of Directors Ballot Regional At Large Region 10: Steve Jorden _________ ________ Region 11: Ryugen Fisher _________ ________ Theodore Polczynski _________ ________ Region 12: Region 13: Don Daniels _________ ________ John Penberthy _________ ________ Thom Henderson _________ ________ Gee Wong _________ ________ Brian Hughes _________ ________ Region 14: Ben Baker _________ ________ Ken Kaplan _________ ________ Brad Hicks _________ ________ Region 15: David Dodell _________ ________ Larry Wall _________ ________ Region 16: Bob Hartman _________ ________ Hal Duprie _________ ________ Region 17: Rob Barker _________ ________ Randy Bush _________ ________ Bob Swift _________ ________ Region 18: Ken Shackelford _________ ________ Wes Crowley _________ ________ Region 19: Mark Grennan _________ ________ Wynn Wagner _________ ________ Region 2: Henk Wevers _________ ________ Write-in candidates: ___________________ _________ ________ ___________________ _________ ________ Fidonews Page 32 20 Apr 1987 Name ______________________________ Net/Node ___________ Signature______________________________ Date ___________ Please complete this and mail it to: Robert Morris IFNA Elections Committee 210 Church Street West Haven, Ct. 06516 or bring it with you when you come to the conference in August. These ballots will be counted by myself since with 200 members the charges for a CPA would be very high. Hard copies will be made available to anyone wishing to insure that their vote was included. Thank You Bob Morris Elections and Nominations Committee -----------------------------------------------------------------