F I D O N E W S -- | Vol. 9 No. 22 (1 June 1992) The newsletter of the | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: _ | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS /|oo \ | (415)-863-2739 (_| /_) | FidoNet 1:1/1 _`@/_ \ _ | Internet: | | \ \\ | fidonews@fidonews.fidonet.org | (*) | \ )) | |__U__| / \// | Editors: _//|| _\ / | Tom Jennings (_/(_|(____/ | Tim Pozar (jm) | | | Newspapers should have no friends. | -- JOSEPH PULITZER ----------------------------+--------------------------------------- Published weekly by and for the Members of the FidoNet international amateur network. Copyright 1992, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact FidoNews. Electronic Price: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . free! Paper price: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.00US For more information about FidoNews refer to the end of this file. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ..................................................... 1 Editorial: Soon to be from afar ............................... 1 2. ARTICLES ...................................................... 3 FidoNet as an instrument for Peace ............................ 3 FidoNews Version List Editor .................................. 4 The 80XXX echo ................................................ 8 New THERAPIST Echo for Psychologists, Social Workers, & Coun .. 9 DR_DOS - Available from the Great White North ................. 10 Local Echo Expanding .......................................... 10 3. LATEST VERSIONS ............................................... 12 Software Versions List ........................................ 12 4. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .......................................... 13 FidoNews 9-22 Page 1 1 Jun 1992 ====================================================================== EDITORIAL ====================================================================== Another week, another Snooze. Today I'm trying out what will be the routine for the next month; generating FidoSnooze by calling into my BBS with my nice old Tandy 200 and my original U.S. Robotics Courier 2400. Futuristic high-tech of the past. I want to make sure this set up will work. For the entire month of June, I'll be in the rainy Northwest. I should be back in time for Gay Pride Week here is San Fran. (Last weekend of June.) (Why the last weekend in June? To commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, a spontaneous response to police harrassment, and the start of the modern gay liberation movement.) I swear this won't be a political editorial. (It's also simply a fun weekend -- 300,000 people downtown San Francisco, culminating a week of events. There are even --gasp-- straight people there. Check it out.) OK, I'll shut up now. * * * * * Anyhoo, FidoNews. More specifically, article submissions. Now, ARTSPEC.DOC notwithstanding, I'm pretty loose on article format. I cleanup two or three articles a week that are simply the wrong format. This is done as a personal favor, me to you. I won't be able to do this this month. Articles better be acceptable as-is, or they will not be included in FidoNews until I return, and can properly reformat them. See, "locally" I use MATE, (stands for Mike Aronson's Text Editor), an ugly little beast that does everything that BRIEF does, 'cept windows, and is only 25,000 bytes long (not a typo). OK, so the macro language is a bit ugly. I'm using version 4.00, from 1983. (Never found a reason to upgrade.) With MATE I can do anything to the random-format files that come in pretending to be articles. With the Tandy 200's editor, I can't do that much, and it line-wraps at 40 columns. Plus, I have to download each article, edit them offline, then upload. Not pretty. (At least I have XMODEM. If you have a Tandy 200 and want a "real" terminal program, call my BBS and check out the TANDY 200 MODEM directory.) FidoNews 9-22 Page 2 1 Jun 1992 I will keep on top of things, but not at my usual near-daily rate, probably only once a week. The other editor (Tim Pozar, 1:125/555, remember him?) can kick and strangle my BBS should it drop dead. Other than a few poorly-formatted paragraphs, you shouldn't notice any difference... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-22 Page 3 1 Jun 1992 ====================================================================== ARTICLES ====================================================================== Tirs Abril & Vladimir Lebedev 2:343/106 & 2:5000/20 BROTHERHOOD MANIFEST BETWEEN TWO EUROPEAN NETS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FidoNet is an amateur, non-profit organization dedicated to electronic mail interchange in a worldwide scale; such an organization can be a immensely powerful medium for human relations and for common efforts in order to make peoples live in peace. SysOps in West Siberian Net (2:5000) and Catalonia Net (2:343) are fully aware of this fact and want to use this mean to make a declaration which will state clearly their will of peace and freedom. As a peaceful and goodwilling gesture, taking the example from lots of towns and cities all over the world, SysOps in 2:343 and 2:5000 have decided to make a brotherhood binding between their Nets; the technical or administrative effect of such a declaration is null: it is only to state a common will, hope and objective. In order to maintain this objective alive, they are going to celebrate periodical meetings in each Net, as synchronized as circumstances will allow; during these meetings, SysOps in each Net will make a toast for the other Net. When economical circunstances allow it, it would be possible to create a common echo routed between both Nets; currently, there is a periodical link between the NCs with local news exchange. Given simultaneously in Novosibirsk and Barcelona, at 15/04/92 (* ED NOTE: Some of the names below had IBM256 characters. I had to manually (and arbitrarily) change them to 7-bit ASCII, to what appeared to be the closest matching character. Sorry to those people whose names were changed. Only 7-bit ASCII is allowed in FidoNews. Not everyone has an IBM PC. *) Net 2:5000 Net 2:343 ---------- --------- Andrey Vokhmianin (2) Efraem Bayarri (105) Vladimir Vorobyev (5) (NC) Tirs Abril (106) Oleg Mazurow (6) Quim Balletbo (107) Alexey Sen (7) Carlos Terre (108) Valery Shagisultanov (9) Miquel Piulats (113) Evgeny Chupriyanov (10) Josep Francesc Serrano (114) Vadim Polyakoff (12) Jaume Roca (115) Serge Terekhov (13) Joffre Heredia (116) Victor Pai (14) Luis Manuel Sosa (118) Serge Pachkovsky (19) Ferran Delriu (119) Vladimir Lebedev (NC) (20) Pedro Gorro (120) George Kornev (21) Jordi Mas (121) Maxim Nikitin (30) Mintxo Reig (122) Serge Goncharov (128) Angie Costa (124) FidoNews 9-22 Page 4 1 Jun 1992 Arkady Bundakoff (4) Julian Gomez (201) Andrew Osadchy (8) Pere Ballve (301) Vladimir Grishko (11) Toni Serra (702) Michel Izquierdo (4) Angel Culla (401) Jordi Munoz (402) Antonio Garc!a Boadella (403) Sisco Sapena (404) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1:107/323@FidoNet THE FIDONEWS VERSION LIST IS CHANGING AGAIN ------------------------------------------- Like I didn't have enough to do. Alas, it's time to once again take on yet another task. This one is a bit more complicated than many other aspects of FidoNet, at least from an administrative standpoint. The FidoNews software version list is being rehashed, rebuilt, restructured, and re anything else you can think of. There are numerous problems which need be considered. One of the largest the mere fact that much of the software currently listed is not supported by folks reachable via FidoNet or even other FTN channels, so updates regarding these software packages seem to come from less than 100% reliable sources. Update information should, whenever possible, be submitted directly by the author, and software authors ought to keep in mind the version list when updating or releasing their software. I even came across several programs in the old version list that are no longer supported by the original publisher, and because of this it doesn't make much sense to continue to list it. Of course with every new list keeper there's a new procedure for data submission and revision. It was my conclusion that this process was traditionally dealt with completely manually, and there was no way I was going to keep that tradition going - there are just too many programs out there, and too much room for error. So, I drafted specs on a new method of version list data submission whereby software authors and/or their representatives could submit new items and/or updates and know that they would be processed as submitted, and receive a receipt of their submission. In addition, the version list output will be significantly different than it has been in the past. This is one aspect of the project that hasn't gotten as much attention yet as the data collection process has, so some experimentation, along with the collection of opinions of the authors and/or readers themselves, will eventually bring us a regular publication routine. FidoNews 9-22 Page 5 1 Jun 1992 So how does this all work now? Simple, actually. FIDONEWS VERSION LIST SUBMISSION GUIDELINES ------------------------------------------- Version 2.1 April 5, 1992 In order to help properly maintain an accurate database of which is completely remotely controlled, all software version and subsequent update submissions to the FidoNews Version List MUST be submitted via netmail ONLY to node 1:107/323@FidoNet. The netmail message MUST be addressed to VERSION LIST (case unimportant) and must be organized as shown below and using proper keywords. ** Please note and adhere to the field lengths used ** (They may change slightly over time) PKG_NAME: _________________________ VERSION : __________ TYPE : __ PLATFORM: __ DESC : ______________________________________ DIST : _ AUTHOR : ________________________________________ REQ_FILE: ________.___ INFOFILE: ________.___ REQ_ADDR: _____:_____/_____@________ REQFLAGS: _______ REQ_TEL#: ____________ UPD_OKBY: _______________________________ NOTES : __________________________ DESCRIPTION OF SUBMISSION FORM DATA FIELDS ------------------------------------------ PKG_NAME - Software Product Release Name VERSION - Current Release Level of Software TYPE - Type of Software (See Software Type Class Chart) PLATFORM - Operating System (See Platform Class Chart) DESC - Verbal Description of Software DIST - Distribution Method (See Distrib. Methods Chart) AUTHOR - Name of Publisher, Author or Company REQ_FILE - File to Request to Obtain Software INFOFILE - File to Request for Information on Software REQ_ADDR - Zone:Net/Node@Domain to Request from REQFLAGS - Any FTS-0005 Compliant Req Flags to Observe REQ_TEL# - Tel. number of Requestable or downloadable system UPD_OKBY - Name allowed to submit updates (In Msg Header!) NOTES - Misc. Notes to software or obtaining software FidoNews 9-22 Page 6 1 Jun 1992 SOFTWARE TYPE CLASSES --------------------- (Subject to Change/Expansion) Type Description of Class ----- ---------------------------- 0. Mailers 1. BBS Software 2. Nodelist Processing 4. Compression Utilities 8. Other (Misc.) Software PLATFORM CLASSES ---------------- (Subject to Change/Expansion) Type Description of Class ----- ---------------------- 1. PC-DOS / MS-DOS 2. OS/2 3. UNIX, Xenix 4. QNX 5. Apple ][ 6. Apple CP/M 7. MacIntosh 8. Amiga 9. Atari ST/TT 10. Archimedes 11. Tandy Color 3 / OS-9 II DISTRIBUTION METHODS -------------------- F. FreeWare S. ShareWare C. Commercial O. Other U. Unknown * * U)nknown will automatically be assigned to all software during conversion from the existing Version List files unless currently listed as Commercial. Since most of these categories are new ones, authors should update the listings for their software. Much of the information on presently listed software would be considered incomplete based on these new standards. Authors of software who find that their listings are incomplete should make every effort to update their listings as soon as possible for the benefit of those who might rely on the Version List's information. Also, past practice has maintained listings for software not directly related to or written by members of FidoNet. Submisssion and update data FidoNews 9-22 Page 7 1 Jun 1992 will be accepted by third parties for this software until such time as a more reliable updating method is devised. Submissions received which fail to meet the above technical standards will not be processed. All submissions, whether accepted or not, will be automatically acknowledged via netmail if the submission was properly addressed. Because the traditional method of weekly publication of an abbreviated version of the complete versions list in every issue of FidoNews seems very tedious and only serves to weaken the publication's possible importance and usefulness, a new publication method will be adopted. The FidoNews version list will be published as an weekly, rotating, incremental reference list. This means that more information per software product will be published in every issue, but the software category being published from week to week will change. Initially some of the experimentation with this publication method may cause some minor confusion, but hopefully that confusion will clear up rather quickly, or at least soon after the editor's does. However, the initial publication of the list will be a complete one. This will allow authors to update their information quickly, before the next publication of their software's information. In addition, authors of listed software may find that having their software available at the Version List editor's system may help make their programs more available to those who may be interested in them. As will be determined by the response rate, if enough authors of any given software products find any added value by having the system which updates the Versions List maintain the LATEST and greatest published version of their programs, they can directly submit a redistributable copy of their product, or its information file if the software cannot be made available due to its primary distribution method. These submissions should include netmail authorizing redistribution. The submitted programs and information files will be made available for 24 hour file request by anyone at all, and downloadable on the system maintaining the versions listing. Software and/or information files available via this channel will be noted as such within the published version list. This comprehensive version listing, accompanied by the software and/or information file relating to the software could pose as a valuable resource to those who have trouble finding what they are looking for as well as to the authors of the software used by FidoNet. New software versions will always replace older ones. No replaced version will remain available once replaced with a newer release. FidoNews 9-22 Page 8 1 Jun 1992 The complete Version List will be available for FTN file request and download on at least 1:107/323@FidoNet, HST/V32, reachable at 1-908-247-8252. If other systems duplex the file library, their addresses and telephone numbers will be publised along with the Version List. The magic request filename for the complete Version List will be VER-LIST. Other listings will be published as well. These listings will be formatted in different ways and cross-referenced to each other somehow. Details on this needs some work yet, and announcements will be made as the report generators are completed and the files become available. If any author remains with questions regarding the Version List, s/he should feel free to contact the version list editor, Fabian Gordon, at 1:107/323@FidoNet. If any author or reader of the Version List feels additional data fields should be maintained or if a new report format is in order, contact should be made with the editor at the same address. All suggestions will be considered. If you know of any program which has been updated but not reflected on the Version List, please contact the author. DO NOT contact the Version List editor yourself. Well, it took a while to get this whole procedure ready, but I suspect it was worth the wait considering the scope and diversity of the Version List and its information. I most certainly hope you find the information presented in a coherent and useable format. Fabian R. Gordon, FidoNews Version List Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Yousuf Khan, Fidonet 1:163/215.6 80XXX: The assembly language programming echo You've been meaning to learn assembly language for the longest time, but you thought it was too cryptic and hard to learn? Or you couldn't figure out which of those darned segment registers to use, so you gave up? Maybe you are nervous about learning the hex and binary number systems? Or perhaps you're interested in programming the latest DoWop Industries' UltraWarpGraphics SVGA card with a HyperRAMDAC and a SCSI interface to your Cuisinart? Then I think the 80XXX echo is for you. The 80XXX echo was started ages ago by G. Adam Stanislav, who was the original moderator. I'm now the latest in a long line of moderators (I'm the second ). It's a great little echo, I learn something new almost everyday. The average number of messages at the moment is about 30/day. It is definitely available on the Zone 1 backbone, and I've also seen it available from Zone 2 Isreal, FidoNews 9-22 Page 9 1 Jun 1992 Zone 2 Europe, and Zone 3 Australia. You might get the idea (probably from the name, 80XXX) that this is an Intel-only club. Though that was the original purpose of the echo, it is now much more generalized. I don't think there are any other forums devoted to assembly language for any other CPU platforms, so the topic of discussion is being opened up to all forms of assembly language. There are discussions going on presently about assembly language on the Z80 (CP/M), 6502 (Apple II, C64, Atari, etc.), and even various embedded controllers, just to give you an idea. Even if you're not a programmer, you'll find the echo useful. Ever wondered if Windows is 32 bit software? If OS/2 2.0 is 32 bit software? Desqview? Ever wondered what 32 bit software really is? We can help you sort these questions out. As the technology advances, it's important that you as a consumer know exactly what they mean in simple terms. Otherwise, we'll all be repeating the folly of our ancestors from the 1950's who thought the tailfins on their cars were actually aerodynamic stabilizing devices! They understood something about aerodynamics, but not enough to be skeptical. The marketeers ran them over. We won't tell you what to buy. (And please don't ask us, it's offtopic ). However, we can probably explain how it works. And you can decide from there. Oh, and please note, I brought up the names of specific operating systems up there. However the bashing of operating systems is strongly discouraged here, we're here to learn about the services that these operating systems provide. So comparisons between operating systems are not allowed on the echo. This is an OS war-free zone. Even in this age of higher and higher level languages, assembly language is still needed to accomplish the tasks the high level languages forgot about, or what they don't do well. Assembly is also what gets you close enough to your machine for you to understand its limits or its capabilities that you never knew about. Yousuf Khan, 80XXX echo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Mark R. Young @ 1:139/960 The SOCIAL WORKER BBS THERAPIST Echo . A new echo for Clinical Social Workers, Psychologists, Psycho- therapists and other professional counselors (Masters degree or above, and graduate level interns) is available for discussion of clinical/therapy issues, techniques, strategies and treatment modalities. Available to any interested sysop willing to follow some fairly simple guidelines. Send netmail request for a feed, FidoNews 9-22 Page 10 1 Jun 1992 or Self-Addressed-Stamped-Envelope by US Postal Service. Host: 1:139/960 SOCIAL WORKER BBS, SYSOP: Mark Young, MSSW, CSW. 715 Pyle Drive, Kingsford, MI 49801 (906)774-0522 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Cal Gardner, 1:247/99 (moderator) An echo has been circulating to a few FidoNet systems, and I posted a message regarding the echo in a FidoNews back about 5 weeks ago. I thought I would drop one more article just in case anyone missed it. The echo is called DR_DOS. It is for any person who uses the operating system developed by Digital Research called DR DOS. If you would like to receive this echo, please contact one of the following persons: Cal Gardner 1:247/99 David Graham 1:399/9 ..or.. Chris Grainger 1:163/518. This echo is open to all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The "PET_FORUM" Echo I would like to introduce to you, the PET_FORUM echo! To be moderated by one Rodney Harper, our local HerPETologist. Now I give you Rod. Hello, I will be the moderator of this fine forum. Basically, this forum is open to discussion for anything pet related. Whether you like Dogs, Cats, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Goats to Gnu, you are welcome here. Just to give you a little history about me: I have worked as a freelance collector for many zoo's and public aquariums over the years, and have traveled to many countries. My specialty is fish, and actually North American native fish are my fancy. At present I am back in school trying to get that Biology degree, and am working on several research projects concerning endangered and threatened species of fish and invertabrae. I have a Dog, and a few cats, some tame squirrels that live in the yard, along with a few other small mammals that like to call my yard home. I have a small colony of brown bats that live in my barn, and they have become accustom to me and like to mess around with us at night while sitting out under the oaks while BBQ'ing. FidoNews 9-22 Page 11 1 Jun 1992 Other than that, I guess I am a nature freak, and love to get out in the woods. Living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, I also spend a lot of time in the boat, and out on some of the barrier islands of the Mississippi sound watching birds and collecting fish. Well, that's me... what about you ? Rod Harper PET_FORUM Moderator Irvington, Alabama Rod! What about those Pet snakes, or better known as serpents... PET_FORUM is the Echo tag name. The current participants are 6 nodes within the Gulf_Coast_Net 3625@fidonet.org. This area was recently gated to EggNet via 1:3625/455@fidonet.org Edited by Richard Wallen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-22 Page 12 1 Jun 1992 ====================================================================== LATEST VERSIONS ====================================================================== Software Versions List Please refer to the article in this issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-22 Page 13 1 Jun 1992 ====================================================================== FIDONEWS INFORMATION ====================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Tom Jennings, Tim Pozar Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/1 Internet fidonews@fidonews.fidonet.org BBS (415)-863-2739 (9600 HST/V32) (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews Box 77731 San Francisco CA 94107 USA Published weekly by and for the Members of the FidoNet international amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. FidoNews is copyright 1992 Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact FidoNews (we're easy). OBTAINING COPIES: FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and via uucp. PRINTED COPIES mailed may be obtained from Fido Software for $5.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $7.00US elsewhere, mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.) BACK ISSUES: Available from the following sources (and possibly others), via filerequest or download (consult a recent nodelist for phone numbers). Back issues are *NOT* available from FidoNews 1:1/1. FidoNet 1:102/138 (All issues) FidoNet 1:216/21 (All but 18 issues) Internet ftp.ieee.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonew/fidonews SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/1 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". FidoNews 9-22 Page 14 1 Jun 1992 "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with permission. Asked what he thought of Western civilization, M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea". -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------