F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.45 (07-Nov-1994) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | Small animal psychology and | | (_| /_) | Spiritual guidance Department: | | _`@/_ \ _ | Rev. Richard Visage 1:163/409 | | | | \ \\ | | | | (*) | \ )) | Editors: | | |__U__| / \// | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | Tim | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim Pozar -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | David Deitch -- 1:133/411.411, deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org | | submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 2 2. Articles...................................................... 3 Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory.......... 3 An answer to the "FrontDoor Question"....................... 3 FrontDoor Net Coordinator Offer............................. 4 FILTERED MESSAGE IDENTIFICATION FOR FIDONET................. 6 Response to the letter of James Smith in FIDONEWS44:........ 9 The History of Fidonet: A progress report................... 11 FIDONET YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW...................... 12 New Firearms Related Echomail............................... 13 FIDONET YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW...................... 14 The Hawaii Rotary BBS System needs help..................... 15 PHONE NUMBERS in Europe..................................... 16 Backbone Echo Changes [Sep-Oct]............................. 18 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 19 FidoNews 11-45 Page: 2 07 Nov 1994 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== Swamp Swine Magazine The First Church of Spandex Tube-Tops, Arkansas Rafting & Loan Society, P1S 0RF Dear Reverend Visage, I have been remiss in not writing earlier but I have been unaccountably detained by customs in Samoa. It is a testimony to the strength of Samoan ale that they formed the mistaken impression that I was Ollie North, returning to spread large wads of cash around for suspect purposes. I can only hope that they elect Ollie to the Senate with all haste and that he carpools with Teddy Kennedy at every opportunity. You will be relieved to note that Zone 1 has finally divined from the entrails of roadkill, the wisdom they needed to elect a new ZEC. No one is quite sure what a ZEC is empowered to do but it'd be a safe bet that a new policy initiative will be unleashed on the unsuspecting masses. The election rhetoric was most amusing and looked remarkably like a convention of Quotaholics. Special mention in that regard should go to Alan Rackmill whose last apparent original thought was waaay back in the late fifties. I shudder to mention Region12, but events have turned even more savage and ugly in the last couple of weeks. Our narcoleptic RC, Rick "Smart Like Hockey Puck" Johnston, has issued a policy complaint appeal decision. For our regular reader who may have missed the beginning of this stirring saga. A failed NC candidate, Matty "Pampers PosterChild 1994" Stein, was bigtime miffed that the electorate failed to recognize his obvious charms and elected someone else. Matty, in a petulant frenzy which would have made Roseanne Barr blush, filed a policy complaint against one of his tormentors. The NC250 turfed the complaint. Undaunted, Matty appealed to our somewhat conscious RC who wrote a decision containing some of the world's most contused and confused logic. Alas, poor Rickster's attempts to create several consecutive sentences must have over-taxed his system because he fouled up the nodediff processing for yet another week. The matter is in the hands of god now, and we can hope fervently that Mr. Satti (pausing to burn incense) will suggest that Rick "Dan Quayle's Less Gifted Brother" Johnston spend some remedial time in Moose Jaw. FidoNews 11-45 Page: 3 07 Nov 1994 I must go Visage. Your secretary is not the least bit amused and this has nothing at all to do with the fact that I forgot to mention that I'd put the porpoises in the hot tub. I suggest that we book her passage on short-haul Indiana commuter flights as soon as possible. Regards, Doc Logger Save the Whales: Harpoon a Greenpeacer, FlinFlon, Manitoba ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory by Nigel Allen (1:250/438) Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory If you run a consulting business in the United States or Canada, you may want to get it listed free of charge in the Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory. To request a questionnaire for the directory, just write to the following address: Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory Editorial Code and Data, Inc. 645 Griswold Street, Suite 3480 Detroit, Michigan 48226-4015 U.S.A. telephone (313) 961-2926 fax (313) 961-5919 Unfortunately, this only applies to consultants in the United States and Canada. The directory does not list consultants in other countries. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- An answer to the "FrontDoor Question" by Shawn McMahon, 1:19/34 smcmahon@infomail.com Latest FrontDoor licensing questions -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In Fidonews volume 11, issue 44, we were all treated to a lengthy discussion of what the FrontDoor distributor would be doing to all the naughty users who run the latest version without registering it. (I should add, at this point, that I am a firm believer that those who wish to be paid for their code should be paid, and that I would view anybody who ran FrontDoor beyond it's "free" period with disdain.) FidoNews 11-45 Page: 4 07 Nov 1994 Folks, you know you're going to get caught if you run FD too long. They're paranoid enough to put in code so that all of us can pay long distance charges for the priviledge of helping them track illegal usage of their software. Therefore, I'd like to remind everybody of the three options you have for dealing with this eventuality. 1) Register the damn thing. It's not that expensive. 2) Use FrontDoor 2.02/NC. You never have to register, and it works reasonably well. 3) Blow it off and use Binkleyterm. It's free, and it works just as well. And *IT* doesn't have features crippled out of it in the non-registered version. (At this point, somebody connected with FD will probably claim that there's nothing "crippled" in FD 2.02/NC. Ignore them, because there are menu options listed in that program that say "only in commercial version" when you attempt to select them. If that doesn't meet the definition of "crippleware" then I've completely failed to understand that definition in my 17 years in this business/hobby.) If everybody will do this, we can all enjoy the priviledge of *NOT* seeing any more lengthy articles from FrontDoor distributors. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.61 Comment: Privacy is a basic human right. iQCVAwUBLrc44ebJC2KuabptAQGWDQP/Qwq+4CsQ2uEE27lP9kBSKKQ+XT13LLJT havxABKkxUShUgGznSXOiItwwywSkhDfNVo7yt+ZV7k/tyvpPSyl6V9XzAhNycA6 q3JOL3y8QVO8XQwHr2xdPybE7W80cA1Qc08dw0MEdbOrHf3/HBKqsi4lfHpDOh1e 3cn05o3U8So= =fvbl -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FrontDoor Net Coordinator Offer FrontDoor Net Coordinator Offer by James Smith Online Communications, Inc. Distributor of FrontDoor for the Americas Online Communications, Inc. is pleased to acknowledge the contribution of Network Coordinators throughout FidoNET with a special reduced price on the multiline version of FrontDoor. Regular $149, the current version (2.20.c/ml) is available at the reduced price of $100 plus shipping and handling. Plus, with the next release, you will automatically receive the software upgrade (softcopy), keeping you current with the latest version! FidoNews 11-45 Page: 5 07 Nov 1994 Note: This special offering will be keyed to the net's NC node address, enabling free transfer to next NC should local changes take affect, or re keyed to the purchasers permanent node address should upon change in the NC position. To purchase, utilize the following order form. This offer is limited to Zone 1 NC's only, and is good through November 30th. One NC offer per Net. If you have questions regarding the capabilities of FrontDoor for your application or this offer, netmail us direct at 1:132/300. James Smith Online Communications, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Online Communications Inc. Order Form 11/01/94NC 22 State Street Voice: 207-941-1110 Bangor, Maine 04401 Fax: 207-990-2293 ______________________________________________________________________ Qty Program Version Unit cost Total ______________________________________________________________________ ____ FrontDoor (NC special) v2.20c.ml $100.00 $ _________ (FidoNET Net Coordinator use only) All software comes with 30 day voice support and unlimited netmail/bbs technical support. Maine residents please add 6% sales tax $ _________ Shipping and handling (US only) $ _________ (Order total $ 25-$300, shipping/handling: $ 8.00 ___________ Total $ _________ Payment: [] Check [] Money order [] Visa [] MasterCard (payable to Online Communications, Inc. - US funds only) Credit Card # _______________________________ Expiration Date ________ Signature ________________________________________________________ Name ________________________________________________________ Company ________________________________________________________ Address ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Phone (day) ______________________ (data) __________________________ Network address: (zone:net/node, if affiliated) _1:______/0___ ______________________________________________________________________ Netmail orders accepted at 1:132/300@fidonet and 255:2001/1@fdnet. Please allow 10 - 14 days for delivery. All prices subject to change without notice. ______________________________________________________________________ FidoNews 11-45 Page: 6 07 Nov 1994 This is the last line of our article. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FILTERED MESSAGE IDENTIFICATION FOR FIDONET by John Mudge @ 1:352/111 or jmudge@wln.com FILTERED MESSAGE IDENTIFICATION FOR FIDONET *DRAFT II* FIDONET TECHNICAL COMMENT Author : John Mudge Fido : 1:352/111 Date : 02OCT1994 ABSTRACT: The following document proposes a standard for filtered message identification for Fidonet and Fidonet-based electronic mail systems. The proposed standard will assist in filtered-message detection. The standard consists of mandatory provisions. STATUS OF THIS DOCUMENT: This FSC suggests a proposed protocol for the Fidonet(R) community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Distribution of this document is unlimited. Fido and Fidonet are registered marks of Tom Jennings and Fido Software. BACKGROUND: Currently, filtered messages are not uniquely identified. No schemes are in place to determine whether a message received by a Fidonet node has been filtered. Current Fido Policy (Policy4) prohibits modifying routed encrypted material except as required for technical purposes. This FSC proposes a method of identifying such traffic in order to allow downlinks to identify messages that have been tampered with. IFNA KLUDGE LINES: Fidonet supports a general method for sending additional information embedded in a message known as the "IFNA kludge line". This is a line of text beginning with the ASCII SOH character (^A). The characters following SOH are a word indicating the type of kludge line, and the remainder of the line contains information specific to that type. This standard introduces a new type of kludge line, the FILTER. FORMAT OF A MESSAGE ID - MANDATORY: FidoNews 11-45 Page: 7 07 Nov 1994 The mandatory portion of the ^AFILTER line shall consist of the Ascii SOH character immediately followed by the uppercase characters FILTER and a colon and one space. It is further required that the unique part of all ^AFILTER lines consist of a unique product identifier following the same format as specified in FSC-0046 for ^APID kludge lines and identifying the program used for filtering. This product identifier is to be one word and is to be followed by a space and the 3D, 4D, or 5D node address belonging to the system doing the filtering. EXAMPLE: ^AFILTER: NOBOGUS134 1:352/111.0@fidonet.org with NOBOGUS134 to be replaced with a two digit hex identifier at such time as a central product registry exists. MANDATORY REVIEW OF FILTER CONFIGURATION: Since message filters that currently exist (GMD, NOBOGUS, and PKTIM come to mind) can easily be configured in such a manner as to violate Policy, this standard also requires that copies of the configuration portion of any message filtering programs currently in use or having been used by a system within the prior 30 days be made available for public scrutiny by use of the standardised MAGIC name FILTER The use of MAGIC names in File Requests within Fidonet and FTN compatible networks is documented in the .DOC files included with most FTN compatible mailers but has not yet been the subject of an FTSC proposal. IMPLEMENTATIONS: As of this writing, no products exist to implement this proposal. SUMMARY: As of this date, no public repository exists for encryption/decryption product registration, but the FTSC is suggested as is the application form presented in FSC-0022. I am publishing this information as a Fidonet technical comment in hopes that other Fidonet products will eventually incorporate all or part of this standard as well, and that it will eventually form part of a Fidonet Technical Standard. CREDITS: I would like to thank all of the pioneers of Fidonet for making all of this possible. The ^AFILTER proposal is the result of the collective efforts of many of the participants of Fido who jealously guard the spirit inherent in free and open communications on a global level. Much of the wording and structure for this document I stole from authors of previous FSC proposals. Special thanks go to the brave FidoNews 11-45 Page: 8 07 Nov 1994 souls who have recently exposed the use of message text filtering within one of the largest mail movers in North America. A PLEA: I hope to see the Fidonet Technical Standards Committee adopt this proposal without delay and that the mandatory portions of this standard be immediately placed placed into effect and that the penalty for violation be immediate and permanent excommunication for any node caught modifying messages in any fashion other than those allowed within Policy and the FSC/FTSC standards and proposals. Recent events indicate that adoption of this proposal and immediate compliance must be handled on an emergency basis. ---ooo000ooo--- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Darrrrling Madam Emmy? Q: What was the biggest disaster performed by the editrix? A: She tried to tell people what to read a couple of issues ago, with regard to copy-right. YEACH! Q: What's the big deal about the satellite dish affair? Q: What do you think of gun laws? Q: What do you think of copy-right? Q: What do you think of free speach? A: I don't like those questions. Q: Why? A: They make me feel preachy if i have one answer for them. Q: Why haven't you done more work? A: So that i can be penetant and petulant and feel bad to feel good. Q: That's rather oblique. Why don't you simply do whatever you want rather than orchestrating badly? A: I'm watching. That's what i'm doing. Naa-na-naaa. Q: That's not enough. bzzzzzzzzt. ! ooooooh A: You're going to have to lock yourself in a room with paints and FidoNews 11-45 Page: 9 07 Nov 1994 no modem and a freezer full of hot-dogs for three weeks now to do some work to justify your existence, or everyone will be mad at you. Q: You're a masochist. You like to think that way. A: I HAVE MY STANDARDS. All _you_ have are questions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Area Netmail, Msg#446, Nov-03-94 00:46:20 From: Detlev Rackow (2:241/1032) Hello Sylvia, would you be so kind as to post this in the Snooze. I'm sorry that I did not freq ARTSPEC.DOC from your BBS, but connections to Z1 cost just too much. Response to the letter of James Smith in FIDONEWS44: Dear James, in your letter concerning the license policy of FD 2.xx, you told us, that : > Shareware Products: > Our shareware agreement grants a limited use license for both registered > and unregistered non-commercial use of the product. Non-registered use > is limited to a 30 day trail or evaluation of our shareware products. > After 30 days, the user must stop using the product, or register it by > purchasing a license to use (LTU) through Online Communications. > Continued unlicensed use of the product beyond the 30 day period > constitutes copyright infringement which we are prepared to litigate. When I read this statement, a different file came to my mind. It is included in BDOC_250.ARJ, and its title is license.250. It starts this way: ---------------------------cut here------------------------------------ NO WARRANTY BECAUSE BINKLEYTERM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, WE PROVIDE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING, BIT BUCKET SOFTWARE CO. AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE BINKLEYTERM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF BINKLEYTERM, AND THE ACCURACY OF ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION, IS WITH YOU. SHOULD BINKLEYTERM OR ITS ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTATION PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY FidoNews 11-45 Page: 10 07 Nov 1994 SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION. [...] Please feel free to contact us at any time to share your comments about our software and/or licensing policies. ----------------------------cut here----------------------------------- The attitude is somewhat different, don't you think? When I started my career as a Fidonode, I used FD 2.02/nc (who hasn't?). The actual release was 2.11/sw. The setup showed me lots of options (esp. for multiline-operation), which were excluded from the non-commercial version. Later, I discovered Binkleyterm. The setup was crude, and I played with it for one evening, then deleted it again, as I had neither the time nor the attitude to work through the docs. About two weeks later, I had no special plans for the weekend, and after two days of hard work, my Binkleytermsystem ran much smoother than my old FD 2.02. BT offers bidirectional protocols, fax-reception, easy multiline- operation, and a very effective use of multitaskers; I have succesfully tested the operation of 1 analog 19K2 and 2 digital 64k lines (passive cards, very demanding on the cpu!) on my 486DX33 with OS/2. I could even use DOS-versions of BT under OS/2, dial my second ISDN-Line and freq files at more than 7000 cps. Now, about 11 months after my conversion, I am still quite happy with BT/2 2.59a. Some fellow sysops around have also converted, especially when they set up their second line. So, why do I write this letter? Simple and easy answer: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!To say THANK YOU to the guys in the Binkley-Team!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By spending so much time on this great mailer, you helped hundreds of nodes and even more points to set up smoothly running bbses around the world. Btw: Is there a german translation of some part of the docs? Maybe this would give me a starting point to make a german doc which is completely up-to-date. Ciao, Detlev --- GED/2 2.50+|FE 1.40+|Itrack/2|BT/2 2.59a+ Via 2:241/1032@Fidonet @19941102.004714.70 Itrack FidoNews 11-45 Page: 11 07 Nov 1994 The History of Fidonet: A progress report The History of Fidonet: A Progress Report by Marge Robbins 1:283/120 or mrobbins@wps.com If it's possible for a snail to move at a fast pace, that would be an apt discription of my progress. I've interviewed Tony Davis and am in the process of transcribing that interview. Bob Hartman has agreed to talk. And Wow! Am I looking forward to that. Bob Satti has agreed to talk. Though I think I am going to have to fly to Canada and sit on him to actually accomplish that interview. He's a busy man. One of my users, bless her heart, is so fired up about Fidonet that she and her children have volunteered to type some of the old nodelists and articles from TJ's collection. Once that's done I will make them available via the 'net and the Fidohist FDN. The old nodelists make fascinating reading. Drum Roll!!!!!!! Big announcement here, so wake up. I now have a home page on the Internet's World Wide Web that I have opted to dedicate to Fidonet and its pioneers. To access it you need to be able to run a program like Lynx or Moasic. The URL is http://www.infonet.net/showcase/fidonet/ It has some basic information about Fidonet and the history project with links to Fido resources elsewhere on the 'net. More stuff will be added as time allows. HELP NEEDED COLUMN I still need someone or several someones to help organize and check for accurate references the stuff I have pulled from back issues of the snooze. The timeline literally sucks! I have a wealth of information about the first few years. Our early pioneers have been very generous with their time and memories. But then we have the big gap between then and now. I have little or nothing on the formation of your individual nets or the developement of your regions. Now come on guys, how hard can it be to ferret out who your first NC was and when your net was organized and send it to me? Some nets have given me complete histories. Zones 2-6 WHERE ARE YOU??????????????????????????????????? The project is in serious danger of becoming a history of zone 1. And TAHT is the last thing I want. So PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Software! I am still looking for early versions of mailers, tossers, BBSes, utils and etc whose developement aided the growth of the net. I'm also looking for early tech standards, old nodelists and diffs, early info packets, help files and anything else that is part of Fidonet's past. FidoNews 11-45 Page: 12 07 Nov 1994 People memories If you were around in the early and not so early days and would like to be interviewed, to contribute what you know PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE contact me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONET YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW FIDONET YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW by Marge Robbins 1:283/120 or mrobbins@wps.com Working on the history of Fidonet is giving me the unique oppertunity of seeing our network in a different perspective. Its fascinates me, but at the same time it gives me pause and concern. At present I have very little responsibility in Fidonet save for moderating ZEC and working on the history of Fidonet. I move very little echomail, my board runs itself, and I have no coordinator responsibilites. This gives me the time and freedom to spend many hours a week listening to voices from the past as I either interview early pioneers or convert those interviews to electronic media. At the same time my position of moderator of ZEC gives me the oppertunity to watch history in the making more as an observer than an active participant. The result is both exhilarating and alarming. Fidonet ten years ago was much different than it is today. It was smaller, more intimate. "Everybody knew everybody else", was how one old timer described it to me. It was a more peaceful time, a more congenial place to be. The focus was on taking Tom's idea of getting two fidos to talk to each other and expanding it to a multitude of systems and boards all sharing with each other. That was accomplished in a wonderful way. There is no doubt that the growth of Fidonet is nothing short of phenomenal. I love it when I can spend an hour or so working on one of my tapes and "living in the past". But....then we come to todat. To an era of chaos. To an era of bickering. To an era where cooperation seems to be a dirty word. We hear phrases like policy complaint, sue, packet ramming, mail bomb, I can do whatever I want. I never agreed to follow pol 4, control freak, etc, etc, etc, on and on and on. I have seen THREE ZECs driven out of office by those whose only goal in Fidonet seems to be to see how much chaos and conflict they can cause. I have seen an entire zone in chaos with many sysops left out of the nodelist through no fault of their own. All this makes me shake my head and wonder. Is this the same Fidonet that Tom, and Butch, and Tony, and Randy, and Bob, and David have told me so much about? Or is this a malignant changling posing as Fidonet? I also have to wonder. Where will we be ten years into the future? Will we be a backwater fight-o-net struggling for FidoNews 11-45 Page: 13 07 Nov 1994 survival? Or will we be part of the brave new world I see unfolding before my vary eyes on the information highway? Wish I know, folks. I really wish I knew. Where will Fidonet be ten years from now? I do know one thing. Our present cours is not going to tak us to the heights of our capabilities. It can't. Too much time and energy is being wasted on senseless conflict that accomplishes nothing. Let me close with a famous quote. If you aren't part of the solution you are part of the problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- New Firearms Related Echomail Two New Echomail Areas Now Available!! ====================================== As of 11/4/94, two REC's have requested that the following two new firearms related echos be added to the backbone and FIDONET.NA file. A big thank you goes to Rick Ashworth (R11EC) and Jerry Seward (R13EC) GUNS ==== An echo dedicated to the discussion of firearms, and the advancement of their uses in target shooting, hunting, defense, collecting, and just about any other legal means. This echo is not a political echo but the ocassional RTKBA discussion will not be frowned upon. Moderation of this echo is by the level headed Elmer Cooper, who is always willing to lend a hand. Discussions of all firearms, both military and civilian, are welcome. Welcome to GUNS, where safety comes first. RELOAD ====== An echo devoted to the rifle, shotgun, and pistol cartridge reloader and those that would like to learn more about this fast growing art form. How much does it cost? Where can I get the equipment? Which powder is best? Is it legal? Does it really save money? Are handloads more accurate than factory? Find the answers to these and many many more questions in the RELOAD echo. RELOAD is also moderated by Elmer Cooper. Elmer has been reloading his own for years and is a vast source of reloading knowledge. Did you know that you can reload your own shotgun shells for less than $2.00 a box? Some pistol cartridges can be reloaded for less than FidoNews 11-45 Page: 14 07 Nov 1994 three cents a round. Find out how! Subscribe to RELOAD today. RELOAD and GUNS should be available on the backbone by the time this gets published, just ask your NEC to turn it on. If you have problems getting the echo in your area, please notify Brian Murrey at 1:231/30 Currently GUNS is running about 100 messages a week, and RELOAD is running close to 60 a week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONET YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW FIDONET YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW by Marge Robbins 1:283/120 or mrobbins@wps.com Working on the history of Fidonet is giving me the unique oppertunity of seeing our network in a different perspective. Its fascinates me, but at the same time it gives me pause and concern. At present I have very little responsibility in Fidonet save for moderating ZEC and working on the history of Fidonet. I move very little echomail, my board runs itself, and I have no coordinator responsibilites. This gives me the time and freedom to spend many hours a week listening to voices from the past as I either interview early pioneers or convert those interviews to electronic media. At the same time my position of moderator of ZEC gives me the oppertunity to watch history in the making more as an observer than an active participant. The result is both exhilarating and alarming. Fidonet ten years ago was much different than it is today. It was smaller, more intimate. "Everybody knew everybody else", was how one old timer described it to me. It was a more peaceful time, a more congenial place to be. The focus was on taking Tom's idea of getting two fidos to talk to each other and expanding it to a multitude of systems and boards all sharing with each other. That was accomplished in a wonderful way. There is no doubt that the growth of Fidonet is nothing short of phenomenal. I love it when I can spend an hour or so working on one of my tapes and "living in the past". But....then we come to todat. To an era of chaos. To an era of bickering. To an era where cooperation seems to be a dirty word. We hear phrases like policy complaint, sue, packet ramming, mail bomb, I can do whatever I want. I never agreed to follow pol 4, control freak, etc, etc, etc, on and on and on. I have seen THREE ZECs driven out of office by those whose only goal in Fidonet seems to be to see how much chaos and conflict they can cause. I have seen an entire zone in chaos with many sysops left out of the nodelist through no fault of their own. FidoNews 11-45 Page: 15 07 Nov 1994 All this makes me shake my head and wonder. Is this the same Fidonet that Tom, and Butch, and Tony, and Randy, and Bob, and David have told me so much about? Or is this a malignant changling posing as Fidonet? I also have to wonder. Where will we be ten years into the future? Will we be a backwater fight-o-net struggling for survival? Or will we be part of the brave new world I see unfolding before my vary eyes on the information highway? Wish I know, folks. I really wish I knew. Where will Fidonet be ten years from now? I do know one thing. Our present cours is not going to tak us to the heights of our capabilities. It can't. Too much time and energy is being wasted on senseless conflict that accomplishes nothing. Let me close with a famous quote. If you aren't part of the solution you are part of the problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hawaii Rotary BBS System needs help By Ron Skates 1:345/0 Fidonet 1:345/9 helps Rotary Clubs in Hawaii The following appeared in the October issue of the Rotarian, in the By the Way section. Hawaii Online: Rotarians in Hawaii USA (District 5000) can now communicate via an existing Inter Island Bulletin Board (BBS) E- Mail system called Fidonet. The main system is located on Oahu and is called the Hawaii Community BBS. There is a special area called The Rotary BBS on this system that hosts and shares a statewide conference on Rotary with other BBSs on the neighbor islands. Rotarians can share information about different club projects, club bulletins or just have fellowship. A listing of Clubs, meeting times and places is also on line for visiting Rotarians to Hawaii. Information like the Rotary News Basket, and other information on Rotary International is spread this way also. Conceived by Ron Skates, a new member of the Metropolitan Club of Honolulu, it has quickly grown beyond the Metro Club to a statewide project. Other participants like Ron Nagy of the Honolulu Club, Leo Kamata of the Waikiki Club, and Adrain Lee of the Ala Moana Club are helping to guide the system to meet the ever changing needs of Rotary. They have decided to FidoNews 11-45 Page: 16 07 Nov 1994 Open it not only to Rotarians but the public also so they can learn about Rotary. They all hope it will lead to a worldwide network of BBS’s carrying Rotary information and fellowship. For more information contact Ron Skates at 808/599-4994 or via computer modem at 808/528-5515, up to 28,8 Baud 8 Data Bits/1 Stop Bit/ No Parity. Since then I have recieved calls from New Zealand to Germany by Rotary Memebers. I am looking for other Fido boards who would be willing to carry information about Rotary clubs for Roatrians and the general public. My long term goal is to establish an international Rotary conference and File area. The reason I want to use Fidonet is because it's structure is very similar to that of Rotary International, and the fact that the conferences are moderated rather than the free for all format of Internet. If any Sysops are interested, please net mail me via 1:345/0. If you are a Rotary member who uses a BBS please ask your Sysop to consider getting involved. If you do decide to carry it, I will make it a point to notify the Rotary District in your area to let their members know to help build your user base. Rotary is a worldwide organization that is very community oriented both locally and internationaly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TO........ All in FidoNet.lst FROM...... John Bone SUBJECT... Re: Phone number field Changes DATE...... 03:08pm 1st-Nov-94 Hi, everyone PHONE NUMBERS in Europe If you do not read the fidonet nodelist, a reminder that, you that the United Kingdom (GreatBritian, (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and their off-shore iles, access-ed by Country Code "44" ) have altered (as from 1st August 1994) ALL their geographic Area Codes. Please note. The 'old' area codes will stop working on 16th april 1995. For most towns and city the new code changes are fairly simple. Eg. LOTT my OPUS_CBCS/BinkleyTerm site. was -44-91-478-6272 and now is .............................. -44-191-478-6272 So almost all new area codes have a '1' added;- eg. London has two area codes 081 and 071 these are now 0181 and 0171. FidoNews 11-45 Page: 17 07 Nov 1994 FreePhone (0800) & (0500) and Premium Rate (900)&(0891) and Mobile Cellnet/Vodaphone radion mobile telephone "area" codes are NOT altered. However, there arte six TOTALLY NEW CITY AREA CODES:- The six large towns have totally different area codes, subsituted for their old codes, and have at the same time, an added an prefix digit to all subscribers numbers. Eg. Town_name Old Area code New Area Cod City_Name ( + six digit Tel Number) ( + new 7 digit Tel Number ) LEEDS 0532 nnn nnn 0113 2nn nnnn Nodelist 44-532-nnn-nnn 44-113-2nn-nnnn SHEFFIELD 0742 xxx xxx 0114 2xx xxxx Nodelist 44-742-xxx-xxx 44-114-2xx-xxxx NOTTINGHAM 0602 ccc ccc 0115 9cc cccc Nodelist 44-602-ccc-ccc 44-115-9cc-cccc LEICESTER 0533 xxx xxx 0116 2xx xxxx Nodelist 44-533-xxx-xxx 44-116-2xx-xxxx BRISTOL 0272 nnn nnn 0117 9nn nnnn Nodelist 44-272-nnn-nnn 44-117-9nn-nnnn The UK nodediff will be moving network over to the newer numbers, during the next 10 weeks. September to December 1994. Oh, yes, and IF you are over here calling "home", you must remind 'ET' to dial 00-(country code)-(national number). It is Not now 010-XX-NN-NNNNNN etc etc. Still no talk of 911 in addition to 999 for the emergency services too! (But no real date for this change...) Have a nice cup of tea dear! Cheers John Bone (G7OOE) LOG-ON-THE-TYNE OPUS BBS 2:256/18 and 2:256/17 SysOp@ LOTT --- Opus-CBCS 1.72a * Origin: LOG_on_the_TYNE (1v73_LOTT) (2:256/17.0) FidoNews 11-45 Page: 18 07 Nov 1994 Backbone Echo Changes [Sep-Oct] by Lisa Gronke, 1:105/6 lisa@m2xenix.psg.com Summary of backbone & quasi-backbone echo changes during Sep & Oct. Brought to you courtesy of (unix) diff. diff (fidonet.na + fidonet.no) 04-Sep-94 (ditto) 30-Oct-94 [edited]. Added to the backbone --------------------- > CNET_BBS International C-Net BBS support > HOLISTIC Holistic Thought & LIfestyle > MTG_WOC Magic-the-Gathering card games > MYTHOLOGY Mythology Conference > NBA_ECHO National Basketball Association Discussion > ROTTIES Rottweilers discussion > TBB4SALE Breadboard Distribution System > TCM Traditional Asian Medicine & Bodywork > TRAPFAX Trapfax support > VHEAL Vibrational Healing > WC!_CHAT Wildcat 3rd Party Support & Sysop info. > WCCODE WildCat wcCODE author support Echo > Z1_BACKBONE Zone One Mail Backbone - Users Removed from the backbone or quasi-backbone ------------------------------------------- < AFRICA_TODAY (not in EchoList since 3/1/94) < AMIGA_NET_DEV (not in EchoList since 12/1/93) < DECONONET (not in EchoList since before 1/1/92) < EXOTIC_BIRDS (not in EchoList since 10/1/93) < HANDY.SYSOP (not in EchoList since 11/1/93) < HOLY_BIBLE Bible, Wholly Bible Related Discussions. < HOME_REPAIR The Home Repair Echo < INET.EFF.TALK (not in EchoList since 9/1/92) < PERFECT WordPerfect Corporation Products Basic Echo < PERFECT_MACRO WordPerfect Corporation Products Advanced Echo < QMODEM (not in EchoList since 11/1/93) < REAL The Real Estate Discussion Echo < ROBO RoboBoard/FX Support Conference o There are 644 echos in fidonet.na [30-Oct-94] (up 19) o There are 22 echos in fidonet.no [30-Oct-94] (down 21) o for a total of 666 backbone & quasi-backbone echos (down 2) FidoNews 11-45 Page: 19 07 Nov 1994 ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Donald Tees Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) more addresses: Rev. Richard Visage -- 1:163/409 Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Madam Emilia -- 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 voice: (519) 570-3137 Fidonews is 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. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds. Articles by Madam emilia may be retransmitted freely through cyber-space. OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of 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 Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail address, or trade for copy of your 'zine. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may FidoNews 11-45 Page: 20 07 Nov 1994 freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the previously listed address. 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 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. "the pulse of the cursor is the heartbeat of fidonet"... -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------