Volume 6, Number 50 11 December 1989 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell 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 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Copyright 1989 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 at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No article submitted by a FidoNet SysOp will be rejected if it is properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 Announcing: SysNL v3.01 .................................. 1 2. COLUMNS .................................................. 4 Idle Jottings From Zone 2 ................................ 4 3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 7 Latest Software Versions ................................. 7 4. NOTICES .................................................. 10 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 10 FidoNews 6-50 Page 1 11 Dec 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Announcing: SysNL v3.01 "The fastest nodelist utility on the planet, period." Constellation Software, 1:250/714.0@FidoNet, 89:480/210.0@Imex With the FidoNet nodelist hitting almost half a meg, it is taking longer and longer to process the darn thing. Saving a few seconds here and there is all you used get if you switched processors. I'd like to present a viable alternative. To get you to switch compilers, you want something that makes a REAL difference in your compilation time. From what I have heard, Scott Samet's XlaxNode is the fastest around here. Could I get you to switch to a compiler if it was FOUR TIMES AS FAST AS XLAXNODE? Or maybe SIX times as fast as ParseLst...? TEN TIMES AS FAST AS XLATLIST? Then I'd like to introduce you to SysNL v3.01. Nodelist processing in the modern age. SysNL is optimised for speed. A lot of frills have been taken out of the code. It is small, and tight. SysNL uses more ASM code than any other compiler, and all the high-level language code in it has been written with speed in mind. SysNL can compile QuickBBS and Version 5 nodelists from either a raw St. Louis nodelist file, or from a NodeList.Bbs/Fon combination. SysNL can also create NodeList.Bbs and Nodelist.Fon. SysNL is also the most accurate Version 6 compiler around. It is the only processor to support the most recent Opus v1.1x Version 6 ZMH flags. ParseLst does not. SysNL v3.01 is also the only nodelist compiler that supports the SEAdog v4.51 nodelist. ParseLst does not. XlaxNode does not. As well, SysNL will also compile the SEAdog v4.10 and TBBS v2.0 nodelists. Faster than anything else. SysNL checks nodelist CRCs faster than any other utility. A 16-bit CRC goes through at the rate of 30-35K a second, faster than CRCnode or any other such utility you may have been using. SysNL merges nodelists and diff files. Fast. Automatically. So you don't have to worry what about what your hub or NC sends you. SysNL finds the newest, and gets it done quickly. SysNL allows you to edit your nodelist. If you are an NC or a Hub, you can use its full-screen ANSI nodelist editor to mani- pulate your nodelist segment. If you are an NC, RC or ZC, SysNL can easily merge all the updatres you get into one nodelist. Faster than MakeNL. And MakeNL can't give you a visual ANSI- compatible full-color editor, with complete nodelist error FidoNews 6-50 Page 2 11 Dec 1989 checking. Right now, all you have gotten is hot air. Let me provide some cold and rather sobering figures to back me up. The figures are: The first is the time and the second is processing rate in bytes per second. All tests were done on a 6MhZ IBM AT, with 512K of 150ns RAM, and a Rodine Type 20 30meg HD. Times may vary, due to your hardware, and your setup. IMEXLIST.307 November 3rd, 1989 RCSA/AlterNet nodelist. Size of Imexlist.307: 45 892 bytes. Scan nodelist = Compile in wrong zone ie. Do not process any entries. -#########- = Xlatlist cannot create a Version 6 list. Compiled into: NodeList.Bbs Version 6 Scan nodelist ParseLst v1.30: 18.7 / 2454 14.2 / 3232 11.8 / 3889 SysNL v3.01: 5.2 / 8825 6.1 / 7523 3.9 / 11767 Xlatlist v2.90: 30.8 / 1490 -#########- 15.1 / 3039 Xlaxnode v2.31: 14.5 / 3165 16.1 / 2851 11.9 / 3856 Now, let's try it on something a little bit bigger. Errors will have been made in the timing of such a small 44K nodelist; let's try a 480K one. NODELIST.237 August 25th, 1989 FidoNet nodelist. Size of Nodelist.237: 478 164 bytes. All compilers were configured as being in Zone 1. Compiled into: NodeList.Bbs Version 6 Scan nodelist ParseLst v1.30: 187.9 / 2545 131.1 / 3647 111.7 / 4191 SysNL v2.65: 81.8 / 5846 83.3 / 5740 48.1 / 9941 SysNL v3.01: 33.8 / 14147 35.0 / 13662 13.8 / 34650 Xlatlist v2.90: 325.2 / 1470 -##########- 110.6 / 4323 Xlaxnode v2.31: 115.8 / 4129 129.8 / 3684 102.2 / 4679 As you can see, SysNL v3.01 beats all challengers, including v2.65, and also Xlaxnode v2.31. Now we move to the area of CRC checks. Again we use our FidoNet nodelist #237, and combat SysNL against CRCnode. SysNL v3.01: 21.1 sec / 22662 bytes per sec CRCnode v1.00: 27.8 sec / 17200 bytes per sec Again, SysNL reigns supreme. But SysNL can also make Version 5, Version 6, and QuickBBS nodelists from a Nodelist.Bbs/Fon combin- ation. Let's sic SysNL on OpusNode and Qnode and see what happens. FidoNews 6-50 Page 3 11 Dec 1989 Size of NodeList.Bbs (NodeList.237/SysNL v3.01): 254 572 bytes. SysNL v3.01 (QBBS): 21.2 / 12008 SysNL v3.01 (Ver5): 20.1 / 12665 Qnode v2.00: 125.7 / 2025 OpusNode v1.4.6: 75.4 / 3376 No matter what your nodelist processor is, SysNL is faster. Why not switch to it right now? It's available on the SDS, and also at 1:250/714 as SYSNL. An SFX version is also available here as SYSNLSFX. Credit, where credit is due: SysNL: Luke Kolin ParseLst: Bob Hartman OpusNode: Wynn Wagner III, Wes Cowley Qnode: Adam C. Hudson MakeNL: Ben Baker SEAdog: System Enhancement Associates Xlatlist: System Enhancement Associates Xlaxnode: Scott Samet CRCnode: David Gilbert ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-50 Page 4 11 Dec 1989 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= Steve Townsley 2:256/117 I couldn't think of a sensible title for what is, I hope, going to be a regular contribution from Zone 2. Not that I represent Zone 2 on any way. My BBS is a node. In the words of technical standards documentation - the lowest form of address. My node came into the network a few weeks ago after a pause of almost a year not being involved with BBS's at all. So the first job was to download this years' back issues of FidoNews from my Host. Much to my shock I read a few articles from people explaining that FidoNews was no longer relevant anymore. According to these self-proclaimed guardians of access to exclusive information, the REAL NEWS comes in Echomail. At best Echomail is a genuine advance in communication. At its worst Echomail encourages the unthinking response of simply hitting 'R' on the keyboard to reply to the last 'flame'. Echomail also has a tendency to be a temporary medium. How many SysOps really read the megabytes of information floating around the net. We are hopefully more selective than that. We take some Echos for our users, some for our specialised interests and some to keep up to date with our particular concerns in the net. Rarely does a SysOp take every Echo. Echomail focuses widely on the particular as if to satisify a demand to discuss more and more about less and less. Thus, like Sheep, we are led into ever increasing arguement without really addressing major issues. However I am not here to throw my hands up and condem Echomail for destroying the moral fibre of arguement. It is my purpose to emphasise that by its very nature Echomail has a tendency to the specific, addressing the problem immediately, limiting itself to short responses, and within the week disappears into a deleted file on many a hard disk. Yet for this temporary medium we employ 'backbones', 'hubs', and 'co-ordinators'. We spend hours on discussion and Echomail itself generates a political hierachy of distribution, rules and costs. FidoNews 6-50 Page 5 11 Dec 1989 The volume of Echomail causes as many worrys as it attempts to solve. We become obsessed with how long Echomail should be held before it's deleted, do we censor Echomail, and can Hosts afford to buy a 100 megabyte hard disk to cope with Echomail traffic. Amongst all this the balance of the network itself appears to have gone. I feel very strongly that the case needs to be put for FidoNews to bring people back together. FidoNews should be the place where we abandon the temporary, write for a larger audience, and make sure every SysOp can read FidoNews. It is my view, in my small backwater of Zone 2, that my Host should concentrate his efforts on getting me FidoNews at the expense of Echomail. Doing this in every net would restore much of the balance to the network as a whole and produce a higher level of debate about the issues facing us all. PC-Browse --------- On a totally different topic I have just bought a really neat little program from Quicksoft called PC-Browse. In essence it's a lot like the LIST utility which allows you to view files. However it also has the added advantage that it can be made memory resident. So I can read this weeks' FidoNews with PC-Browse and, if I need to, flip into a word processing session at the touch of a hot- key. The overall result is a pleasant use of the 60K of memory needed to run the program. However it does much more than this. You can create PC-Browse applications in a hyper-text environment. You can mark entries for quick access, even run a program from inside PC-Browse. The capability to cut and paste makes it ideal for calling up mames and addresses from inside other applications. All in all a very good buy. The program is marketed as Shareware in the USA, New Zealand, and Australia. For reasons of their own Quicksoft have excluded the UK as a Shareware zone. PC-Browse is available from: Quicksoft 219 First Avenue N 224 Seattle Washington WA 981109 USA FidoNews 6-50 Page 6 11 Dec 1989 Tel: (1) 206 282 0452 Cost $49.00 (cheaper if you are a registered user of PC-Write). ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-50 Page 7 11 Dec 1989 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12q+ Phoenix 1.3 TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.04 TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Kitten 2.16 RBBS 17.2B TPBoard 6.0 Opus 1.03b+ RBBSmail 17.2 Wildcat! 2.10* Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.30 EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.02 D'Bridge 1.21 MakeNL 2.20 ARCA05 2.01 Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.0 FrontDoor 2.0 Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.01* EMM 2.02 SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 Gmail 2.01 XlaxDiff 2.32 GROUP 2.16 XlaxNode 2.32 GUS 1.20M LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.0 MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.02* QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 StarLink 1.01 TCOMMail 2.2 TMail 1.12 TPBNetEd 3.2 UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.0 ZmailQ 1.09 Macintosh --------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b3 Macpoint 0.91* MacArc 0.04 Mansion 7.12 Tabby 2.1 ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 FidoNews 6-50 Page 8 11 Dec 1989 TImport 1.331 TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 Tset 1.3 Timestart 1.1 Tally 1.1 Mehitabel 1.2 Archie 1.60 Jennifer 0.25b2g Numberizer 1.5c MessageEdit 1.0 Mantissa 1.0 PreStamp 2.01 R.PreStamp 2.01 Saphire 2.1t Epistle II 1.01 Import 2.52 Export 2.54 Sundial 2.1 AreaFix 1.1 Probe 0.052 Terminator 1.1 TMM 4.0b UNZIP 1.01* Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 2.00+* BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.11 booz 1.01 WelMat 0.35* ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 Lharc 1.00* ParseLst 1.30 PkAX 1.00 RMB 1.30 UNzip 0.86 Zoo 2.00 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDO/FoReM Door 1.1* BinkleyTerm 1.03g ConfMail 1.00 Pandora BBS 2.41c* The BOX 1.10* ParseList 1.30 QuickBBS/ST 0.40* ARC 5.21 GS Point 0.61 TurboArc 1.1 FidoNews 6-50 Page 9 11 Dec 1989 LHARC 0.40 PKUNZIP 1.00 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 OMMM 1.40* Timestop 1.00 + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-50 Page 10 11 Dec 1989 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 15 Dec 1989 Network Coordinators report votes in IFNA plebiscite to Regional Coordinators 18 Dec 1989 Regional Coordinators report votes in IFNA plebiscite to Zone Coordinators 22 Dec 1989 IFNA plebiscite results posted in NODELIST.356 30 Dec 1989 Telephone area codes (5, 3 and 0) are abolished in Hong Kong 1 Feb 1990 Deadline for IFNA Policy and Bylaws election 5 Jun 1990 David Dodell's 33rd Birthday 5 Oct 1990 21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-50 Page 11 11 Dec 1989 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Thom Henderson 1:107/528 Chairman of the Board Les Kooyman 1:204/501 President Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Vice President Bill Bolton 3:3/0 Vice President-Technical Coordinator Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Secretary Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS Administration and Finance * By-laws and Rules John Roberts 1:385/49 Executive Committee (Pres) Les Kooyman 1:204/501 International Affairs * Membership Services Jim Vaughan 1:226/300 Nominations and Elections Steve Bonine 1:1/0 Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/30.20 Publications Irene Henderson 1:107/9 Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333 Ethics * Security and Privacy * Grievances * * Position in abeyance pending reorganization IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210 11 John Rafuse 1:12/900 Phil Buonomo 1:107/583 12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Hawthorne 1:107/238 13 Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Tom Jennings 1:125/111 14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Irene Henderson 1:107/509 15 Kevin McNeil 1:128/45 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871 16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628 17 Kathi Crockett 1:134/30 Dave Melnik 1:107/233 18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Jim Hruby 1:107/536 19 Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Burt Juda 1:107/528 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 Karl Schinke 1:107/516 3 Matt Whelan 3:54/99 John Roberts 1:147/14 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-50 Page 12 11 Dec 1989 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) _`@/_ \ _ | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Membership for the International FidoNet Association Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to increase worldwide communications. Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________ State ________________________________ Zip _____________________ Country _________________________________________________________ Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________ BBS Name ________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________ Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________ Board Restrictions ______________________________________________ Your Special Interests __________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in US Funds to: International FidoNet Association PO 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 and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. FidoNews 6-50 Page 13 11 Dec 1989 -----------------------------------------------------------------