F I D O N E W S -- | Vol. 9 No. 30 (27 July 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: The daily grind .................................... 1 2. ARTICLES ...................................................... 3 FidoCon '92 September 4-6 Dallas, TX .......................... 3 Fidosnooze back-issues ........................................ 5 SEAmail version 1.10 revision G ............................... 6 SCI&TECH -- On the Backbone! .................................. 7 New Fitness Echo .............................................. 8 OPENDOORS Programming Echo! ................................... 8 This New Echo, STDSN - What Is It? ............................ 9 3. LATEST VERSIONS ............................................... 11 Software Versions List ........................................ 11 4. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .......................................... 12 FidoNews 9-30 Page 1 27 Jul 1992 ====================================================================== EDITORIAL ====================================================================== Editorial: The daily grind by Tom Jennings (1:1/1) JUST TO KEEP YOU THINKING AND AWAKE -- I have just changed the compression method used to generate FidoNews once again. The current method is called GARGLE, and only I have a copy. It's really the best in the world, so you shouldn't mind. Seriously, it has been changed back to LHARC. In early June I switched to ZIP from LHARC because my LHARC program failed miserably when used with CTTY COM2, which I needed to remotely generate FidoNews while I was in Seattle. Everyone got mad at me then. Now that you're used to ZIP, I've changed back to LHARC. Now you can get mad at me *again*. There was a lot less griping than the last time I pulled this a year ago (for completely different and less-substantial reasons). Let's hope that a revision of LHARC allowing CTTY console redirection comes out before I have to do this all over again... * * * * * Last week I mentioned something that I thought would generate a little bit of friction, the idea that FidoNet "regions" are getting a little too big. That the number of regions should increase, so that each becomes much smaller. Imagine how surprised I was when I received one response. And a rational one at that, dammit. Have I lost my edge? I was serious though. 1000 nodes in a region is crazy. How can you expect friendly, hassle-free interactions when the RC has to deal with 1000 nodes?! I don't want FidoNews to look like PERSONAL DATA COMM MICRO MAGAZINE (pick your favorite generic computer magazine) that resorts to repetitive "our annual printer review" saying the same things about the same old products, year after year. Here at FidoNews, when the editor is bored, the editorials are boring. Honesty for a change! And for content, it randomly depends on what "you the reader" sends in. FidoNews 9-30 Page 2 27 Jul 1992 This issue is informative, but not really "hot". It seems the argumentative nature of FidoNet people drops off in the summer (really). It's only when we sit around the terminal (appropriate word...) for long enough to make us lose our sense(s) of perspective(s) that we let Sysop A's problems with Sysop B turn into a "policy war" or something. It is probably a good sign, we get out during the warm months (of course *everyone* lives well North of the equator in FidoLand, right?) I'll shut up now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-30 Page 3 27 Jul 1992 ====================================================================== ARTICLES ====================================================================== FidoCon '92 "Gateway Networking" September 4-6 Summit Hotel Dallas, Texas FidoCon '92 is now just around the corner. If you get your registration form mailed before the end of the month, you'll save $10 over the late registration price. The FIDOCON92 conference should be making its way along the FidoNet echomail backbone now. If it's not available in your area, ask your REC about it. We have reserved one of our two large conference rooms for vendor displays, and are still actively soliciting vendors to show their wares, as well as provide some of our door prizes. The schedule is beginning to get firmed up. We hope to have discussions by the major phone service providers about new technology, Caller*ID, and how these changes relate to our use of the phone system. We're working on getting the major modem vendors in attendance, where they can show their new stuff, as well as discuss the V.32, V.42, and new V.fast standards. There will be discussions about echomail cost sharing, as well as talks on the operation of some of the zone and network gateways. And we should have lots of demonstrations of network software, OS/2 V2.0, Windows/NT, etc. Vendor space is available for $200 for a 10'x10' area for both days. Hospitality suites are also available for $100 plus $49 for each of up to three attached sleeping rooms. These are per night charges. If you've got an idea for a discussion session, or know of a vendor that might be interested in attending, let us hear from you as soon as possible. Oh, and don't forget to bring your swimming suit for the net -vs- net water volleyball tournament! Registration Form ------------------------------------------------------------- Price schedule -------------- Single occupancy for 2 nights, airport transportation, conference with breaks, lunch each day, Saturday banquet ..................... $182.80 FidoNews 9-30 Page 4 27 Jul 1992 Double occupancy for 2 nights, airport transportation, conference with breaks, lunch each day, Saturday banquet ..................... $254.80 2 Double Beds King-size Bed No sleeping room, conference with breaks, lunch each day, Saturday banquet ...................... $74.00 Thursday night early arrival .......................... $49.00 Conference and breaks only ............................ $20.00 Saturday banquet ...................................... $30.00 Credit Card fee ....................................... $10.00 Registration postmarked after July 31 ................. $10.00 Official FidoCon '92 T-Shirt .......................... $12.00* At the door ...................................... $15.00 Size: S M L XL Official FidoCon '92 Mug .............................. $8.00* At the door ...................................... $10.00 Official FidoCon '92 Cap ............................... $6.00* At the door ...................................... $7.00 Galleria Mall Day Bus Trip ............................. $1.00 ------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Network address: Mailing address: Voice phone number: Please circle the items from the above list that you desire, and indicate quantity if applicable. If you wish to split the cost of a double occupancy room and want us to find you a roommate: FidoNews 9-30 Page 5 27 Jul 1992 You must pay the full price for a single occupancy room at the time you register. We will refund the difference at the conference if we are able to find you a match. Please indicate if you have any preferences about your roommate (i.e. smoking/non-smoking). If you will be sharing a double occupancy room, please give us the name of the other person: Would you like a room with a modular phone jack? Do you require any special (i.e. wheelchair) facilities? Do you desire information about rental cars? What date/time do you plan to arrive in Dallas? What date/time do you plan to leave? * If you're not planning to come to the conference, souvenirs may be shipped to you if you include appropriate shipping and handling charges. Any surplus will be refunded. However, these souvenirs will be available only in limited quantity, and people showing up to claim them in person will have first choice. If you miss out, we will refund your money. ------------------------------------------------------------- Please make your check or money order out to "FidoCon 92". Note the July 31st deadline and associated late charge above. If you wish to pay by credit card, please contact 1:1/92 for more information. Mail your payment to: FidoCon '92 PO Box 550542 Dallas, TX 75355-0542 For more information, send netmail to Ron Bemis (1:1/92) or Henry Clark (1:124/6119), or call John Summers at the FidoCon '92 Hotline 1-800-899-3585. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- By Joe Jared of 1:125/1212 (Formerly 103/200) Recently with the assistance of 102/138 I have obtained almost all of the Fidonews articles to date. Part of this was out of boredom, but there's also a need to keep the history of Fidonet alive, and the best historical document of Fidonet I've seen to date is Fidonews itself. Sure there's plenty of ranting and raving, and most of the motivators in fidonet's growth have flown the coop, but by reading these articles, one can see how as the net grew, growing pains and would be power mongers would try to push the will of the net onto lesser beings, and how fidonet has grown into the gigantic political and technical nightmare that it is. Anyway, enough rambling. For request purposes, the articles prior to 1992 are available by file request using the following numbering sequence or by name if you want specific files. FidoNews 9-30 Page 6 27 Jul 1992 FNews_## where ## is the year's worth of fidonews. There are a few stray areas that I'm looking for to complete the set, and if anyone has the missing pieces or an explaination as to the gaps, either would be appreciated. Year 1: This is all I have. FNEWS_84.ARJ FNEWS103.ARJ Fidonews Vol. 1, No. 03 FNEWS104.ARJ Fidonews Vol. 1, No. 04 FNEWS105.ARJ Fidonews Vol. 1, No. 05 Year 2: Were there any issues prior to Vol 2. No. 10? FNEWS210.ARJ Fidonews Vol. 2, No. 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- System Enhancement Associates, Inc. 520/519@AlterNet 1:107/519@Fidonet SEAmail 1.10 Revision G 09 July 1992 Revision G to SEAmail version 1.10 has been released, and incorporates the following changes: * A bug was fixed that caused delivered processes to interfere with file requests in the same session. * KITTEN now keeps track of how many messages a caller reads or enters. This information can be viewed in the REVIEW command, and is accessible via the following system macros: Total Today ===== ===== Messages read %MSGSREAD% %MSGSREADTDY% Messages written %MSGSWROTE% %MSGSWROTETDY% * MAIL now prohibits zero-level users from adding echomail or supergroup folders, or from using crash priority or requesting return receipts. * The F10 "ead - elect message" display in MAIL now highlights the subject text of any message that is marked crash priority. * RTS was not being properly managed in some situations. This should now be fixed. * The file transfer status box in DIAL and KITTEN now has a somewhat more FidoNews 9-30 Page 7 27 Jul 1992 informative title. * It was detected that the WAZOO session handler was not sending an extra TSYNC when processing a ".REQ" file during a DietIFNA session where no mail was being picked up. This has been fixed. * The TELL program was always routing as per window S, regardless of what routing window is in force at the moment. This has been fixed. * Two new routing directives, DEFAULT and MATCH, have been added. See the updated ROUTE.DOC for details. * A bug was discovered that could cause GRPIN to hang under certain circumstances when importing messages into an echomail folder. This has now been fixed. Those with SEAmail 1.10 revision F for MS-DOS can upgrade to revision G by going to their SEAmail directory and giving the command: upgrade sm110g Those with the OS/2 version should give the command: upgrade sm110gp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Science & Technology Echo Is On The Backbone David Bloomberg, 1:233/12 "Science is best defined as a careful, disciplined, logical search for knowledge about any and all aspects of the universe, obtained by examination of the best available evidence and always subject to correction and improvement upon discovery of better evidence." -- James Randi This definition probably best describes the thoughts and ideals of the moderators of the SCI&TECH echo. Some other so-called "science" echos have been "invaded" by psuedo- science and religion posing as science. Those who are actually interested in discussing the amazing changes in science and technology that are occurring all around us are being relegated to the background in those echos. It seems there are more messages about transcendental meditation and religion than any actual SCIENCE! Well, we have a solution. It's the SCI&TECH echo. You may recall an article about SCI&TECH here in the FidoNews a few months ago. Since then, we have become a backbone echo. Anybody who is interested should be able to obtain a feed through their normal backbone sources. We already span the coasts of the US! This means that even more people who are interested in discussing science and technology can now participate. FidoNews 9-30 Page 8 27 Jul 1992 From scientists to students, if you have a question, if you'd like to share your knowledge, if you want to discuss the latest findings in scientific journals or the popular press, or if you just want to talk to others with similar interests, without all the "noise" you may find elsewhere, SCI&TECH is the place for you. If you're interested, just call up your regular backbone source! -- David Bloomberg, Hector Mandel, Melissa Woo, and Eric Larson ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Mike Griffin, 1:106/5999 Fitness Echo After a few trips to the doctor and discovering that the only reason I was having back problems was due to the fact I didn't exercise enough, I decided to start working out again. I soon was so involved with pumping iron, I started feeling guilty when I didn't make a daily trip to the gym. I wanted an Echo that dealt with all aspects of physical fitness, but none were available. So I have decided FIDO needs to have an echo dedicated to the health and fitness of the human body. The "FITNESS" echo is currently available locally in the NET 106 area. Some topics of the echo are.. aerobics, nutrition, weight control, weight lifting, body building, running, biking, heart fitness, sports medicine and home exercise just to name a few. We hope to spread the echo to the national backbone soon. If you would like to receive the FITNESS echo, please send netmail to your NEC or ZEC requesting the "FITNESS" echo. If you can't wait for it to go nationally, please netmail me at 1:106/5999@Fidonet and I will be happy to arrange distribution. The "FITNESS" echo is now available here locally to about 10 sites and we are hoping to expand to the national backbone soon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Scott Burkett 1:3613/12@fidonet OPENDOORS ECHO NOW AVAILABLE! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= OPENDOORS is an internationally distributed echo designed for discussion of BBS door/utility programming, and in particular, Brian Pirie's OpenDoors C Library! FidoNews 9-30 Page 9 27 Jul 1992 The OpenDoors door programming toolkit and BBS interface package is used by Turbo C(++) / Borland C++ programmers, to write doors and utilities that are compatible with RA, Maximus, QuickBBS and many other BBS systems. The OPENDOORS Echo was created by a group of dedicated BBS door and utility programmers and designers, in order to promote discussions on BBS utility programming techniques, tasks, standards, and trends. This echo is not just for BBS door authors! Discussion of practically any aspect of BBS programming is encouraged. Brian Pirie, the author of OpenDoors is available for tech support, as are his beta-testers. The echo is not currently on the FidoNet backbone, but a feed is available from the following nodes: Scott Burkett 1:3613/12 9600v.32 Columbus, GA Mike Gurski 1:261/1062 2400 Baltimore, MD Brian Pirie 1:243/8 2400 Ottawa, Ontario Jim Imrie 2:259/14 9600v.32 Glenrothes, Scotland ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A New Star Trek Echo - STDSN By Ray Brown, Moderator SysOp, SpacePort Miami, 1:135/70 Greetings and salutations, fellow Trekkers/Trekkies! I'd like to announce a new echo, called STDSN. This echo is for discussion of the upcoming new Star Trek television series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". This new series, which is not yet in production as of this writing, is still committed to being shown over the airwaves, starting in January, 1993, and continuing for at least 22 episodes. This new show will, in most cases, be seen just before, or just after, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (now starting its' Sixth Season) in your area. The topic of discussion will be all things that relate to this new series, including, but not limited to, the actors & actresses that'll appear, the screenplays, and any "cross-over" of characters between the new series and the "ST:TNG" series (some is expected, more is anticipated). Discussion of The Original Series (TOS) of Star Trek will be off-limits. This new echo is currently seen on eight BBS's, with a request in the works to place it on at least two FidoNet Regions as Regional Echos. And, if traffic continues to increase, the echo will be elgible for requesting "Backbone" status in a short length of time. FidoNews 9-30 Page 10 27 Jul 1992 But, for now, STDSN is privately distributed on the east side of the Mississippi by me (1:135/70, North Miami, FL), and on the west side by Cindy Hill, of 1:104/43 (Denver, CO). Anybody is welcome to call and request the echo on HOLD for them to poll any time (except ZMH, of course!) from either location. The rules of the echo are f'able from me as STDSN.RUL, if anyone is interested (and a copy will be sent to Mike Fuchs' system for inclusion into the EchoList). The echo has been duly noted as being in the EchoList as of EList.207. Thank you, and keep on Trekkin'!! Ray Brown Cindy Hill Moderator Co-Moderator 1:135/70 1:104/43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-30 Page 11 27 Jul 1992 ====================================================================== LATEST VERSIONS ====================================================================== Software Versions List Please refer to the article in this issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 9-30 Page 12 27 Jul 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 (2400 only until further notice!) (Postal Service mailing address) (have patience) FidoNews c/o World Power Systems 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 $10.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US 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) FidoNet 1:125/1212 (Some missing) FidoNet 1:107/519.1 (All issues) 2400 bps: +1-201-473-1991 9600 bps HST: +1-201-473-2853 FidoNews 9-30 Page 13 27 Jul 1992 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". "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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------