"What is FidoNet?"
Tim Pozar's view

     This is a quicky file that describes the FidoNet computer network.
FidoNet is a public, worldwide network of Bulletin Board Systems.

     The network spans over countries in North & South America, all parts 
of the pacific rim including the Orient, Australia, and New Zealand, 
Western and parts of eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

     The Service provided is primarily message handling.  Protocols are 
defined within the network to provide a limited amount of file transfer over 
the network topology.  Users, however, are often free to connect to a 
particular node on FidoNet directly by dial-up telephone lines to perform 
message and file transfer.

     Private "NetMail" exits as well as open conference message areas 
spanning hundreds of topics called "EchoMail."  It is very similiar to 
newsgroups or usergroups on other networks, except the overall etiquette is 
somewhat different since access is open to anyone of the general public with 
suitable computer and modem equipment.

     Active gateways currently exist between INTERNET, USENET, BITNET and 
other networks for NetMail.  There are also many EchoMail conferences 
currently cross-link with newsgroups/usergroups of INTERNET and USENET.

    There are several layers to the topology or addressing of FidoNet.  
The world is divided into "Zones."  A Zone often spans a continent.  A Zone 
is further divided into "Regions."  In North America (Zone 1), a Region 
often spans several U.S. states or Canadian provinces.  In Europe (Zone 2), 
a Region often identifies one country.  Further, a Region is divided into 
"Nets."  A net is comprises a particular local population or metropolitan 
area. Within a net, are individual Bulletin Board systems called "nodes."
A node is comprised of a collection of individual users, who access the node 
via dial-up lines.  

    A node is uniquely identified by it's FidoNet address.  A particular 
person is typically addressed by both their name and the address of the 
system they locally use, similar to methods used on INTERNET.  More 
recently, a node has been further divided into a "point," which merely 
provides a unique address to one person who has installed the Fido 
compatible network driver software on their own computer.  

    The general form of a mail address is:
                     FirstName LastName@Zone:Net/Node.Point
The name, Net, and Node are mandatory.  The Zone number is required only for 
addressing outside of one's zone. The Point designator is required only for 
someone not using their own network drivers.

     Each node will have a file that list all of the nodes in FidoNet.  
This database is called the "NodeList".  It is simliar to the UUCP map 
project, but is slighty more limited in the information contained in the 
database.  A copy of the Nodelist may be availible from a local FidoNet 
site.  

     Finding a local FidoNet site may be a "Catch-22" in that you may not 
know where one is.  If you can find any BBS in your area, you can leave
messages asking.  You should be pointed to some BBS "in the know".  If all
else fails, try emailing to deitch@gisalt.fidonet.org.  David Deitch is
kind enough to volunteer to help out with questions regarding FidoNet.  If
you have questions regarding the Internet/FidoNet gateway, send mail to
hostmaster@fidonet.fidonet.org.

     There are two methods of connection to the network.  First, by a manual 
dial-up to a BBS system.  Second, there also exists software which permits 
automatic access to a node which handles the logon/logoff procedure as well 
as the message/file packet transfer process.  In addition to simplfied BBS 
access, this carries an added advantage of minimum telephone on-line time.
This software is commonly known as "Point Software".

     If you are interested in getting infomation on how to join FidoNet,
drop me mail asking for the "joinfido.txt" file.

             Tim Pozar  -  pozar@kumr.lns.com

[Thanks to Brian Crawford (crawford@enuxha.eas.asu.edu) for a good
percentage of the text. -- Tim Pozar (pozar@kumr.lns.com)]