FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:42 Page 1 Volume 2, Number 10 22 April 1985 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Publisher: Fido #375 Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson Disclaimer or dont-blame-me: The contents of the articles contained here are not my responsibility, nor do I necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to debate. I publish EVERYTHING received. You can take this to mean anything you want, but hopefully as an invitation to comment, make suggestions, or write articles of your own. ARTICLE SUBMISSION All articles you see in this issue are written by users and sysops, and have one way or another managed to consume disk space on Fido #375. In order to get rid of them, and free up my precious disk space, I include them here, then quickly delete them. Then they are YOUR problem. EDITORIAL CONTENT: Totally up to you; I publish anything at all. Articles are generally Fido or BBS related; this is by no means a decision on my part, nor a requirement. FOR SALE, WANTED, NOTICES: Pretty much self explanatory. Commercial ads are welcomed, if of reasonable length. SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE: Manage to get a copy of your article to Fido #375, preferably by Fidonet mail, or by uploading. The name of the file you send MUST have one of the following extensions: .ART An article .SAL A "For Sale" notice .WAN A "Wanted" item FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:44 Page 2 ARTICLE FORMAT: VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! The requirements are a little tighter in this department, due to purely practical constraints. I cannot devote hours to converting every text format in the world to the one I use. 1. NO LEFT MARGINS! Flush left please. We will do the indenting at our end, thank you. 2. RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 60 OR LESS! Less is OK, more is definitely not. This includes fancy boxes, dotted lines, etc. 3. NO FUNNY CHARACTERS! This includes formfeeds and other oddities. 4. NO GRAPHIC CHARACTERS! Believe it or not, not every one in the world has an IBM PC. My computer understands printable characters from 20 hex to 7e hex. (Space to tilde) This is ASCII; "American Standard Code for Information Interchange". We are "Interchanging Information". Everything else is GARBAGE. ASCII is universal; Graphics are not. 5. TOTAL ARTICLE LENGTH: Up to you; note, however, that I will probably avoid publishing dictionaries, bibles translated into NAPLPS, and ASCII encoded LANDSAT pictures of Russian wheat farms. 6. WHERE ON EARTH IS THIS ARTICLE FROM? Well ... good question! A good idea to identify yourself somewhere, unless you wish to remain anonymous. Thats okay too, but I may balk at publishing rude or otherwise racy submissions. 7. You don't need to put in separator lines at the top or bottom. They are added automatically when Fidonews is assembled. Any article that doesn't meet the above criteria will get bounced, and will not be published until someone gets around to fixing it. I might go over it and fix it up in time for the next issue, or I might ask you to try again, or I might just forget about it. In any event, you must meet these standards if you expect your article to be published promptly. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:45 Page 3 Special Edition This is a special edition of Fidonews, published a week ahead of time. And for good reason, let me tell you. For any of you who haven't already heard it through the grapevine, here's the scoop: Several of the movers and shakers behind Fidonet got together last weekend in St. Louis. (No, yours truly couldn't make it, about which I'm quite irked. Unfortunatly for me the meeting was held the same weekend as the income tax filing deadline.) Of course, Fido and Fidonet were the hot topics of discussion. As a result of this, Fidonet is going to change tremendously. The reason is simple. Fidonet has just grown too big too fast. Something that started out as a way for a small circle of friends to swap files back and forth has grown into a nationwide (even worldwide) electronic mail network, with hundreds of subscribers. So, in keeping with the nature of the Fido users' community, control of Fidonet is being decentralized. This should result in better system performance for everybody; and at the very least it's like chicken soup, it can't hurt. But I'll let the architects of this grand new scheme of things tell you the story in their own words. I must ask you a favor, though. Please don't send mail to node 1 or node 51 asking for details on the upgrade. The guys in St. Louis have their hands full converting to the new system and testing out the new software. Tom Jennings is even busier trying to write and debug all the changes required to make this work. I'll do my best to keep on top of this, and to get the people involved to write about it when something happens, so you'll hear it through Fidonews almost as soon as it happens. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:47 Page 4 ============================================================ NEWS ============================================================ Tom Jennings Fido #1 in Net #... Unfortunately there isn't enough time to give you complete details, as it is now Sunday, the deadline for the newsletter, and I just got back from St. Louis this AM, but I'll at least cover all the major points. A more detailed summary will follow. On Thurs. 11 Apr, Ezra Schapiro and I talked at the McDonnell Douglas Recreational Computer Club (MDC/RCC) in St. Louis. Since we were going to be in town, an informal "FidoNet meeting" was arranged a few weeks ago. The meeting consisted of the St. Louis sysops (Ken Kaplan, Ben Baker, Tony Clark, Jon Wichman, Terry Mueller, Jack H.*), Ezra Schapiro and myself, and was held in Ken K's living room. We talked for 11 hours, and accomplished quite a bit. The topic: what to do about running FidoNet. I hope you have all read the file FIDOHIST.TXT, once published in this newsletter, and available for download from many Fidos. If not, shame on you, drop this and GO READ IT FIRST! An accurate node list is absolutely crucial to FidoNet. Without it, FidoNet is useless. An inaccurate list is worse than no list at all, and verifying all that good stuff takes time. The current rate of growth of FidoNet is about 12 - 15 nodes per week. Please note that from here on, when I refer to "running the net" or "managing the net" I really mean creating, updating and verifying the node list and Fido list, and helping new sysops get their systems up and running, and the ten thousand other little tasks that requires. As far as anything further goes, it's just basically impossible, and completely undesireable. To get right down to it: FidoNet is too large to be managed from a central point; the world wide net is going to be broken into a number of smaller nets. Don't panic yet, it's not that horrible! As a matter of fact, it will be easier and better for everyone, from the big nets such as Southern California to the single systems in out of the way places. Right now, each node is identified with a Node Number. Node numbers can be anything from 1 to 32767. Each node has a unique number of course. In general, this works fine, but it's really not practical for Ken Kaplan in St. Louis to have to give node numbers to sysops in England, Sweden and other far away places. And increasingly, within the U.S. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:49 Page 5 The next version of Fido, 10H, will have a new thing called the Net Number. Nets can be numbered from 1 to 32767, and each net can have 32767 nodes. The idea is to be able to let geographical regions assign their own node numbers, without the horrible problem of duplicate node numbers. The best comparison is the phone company. Instead of trying to make each telephone in the US have a unique number, the country is grouped into area codes; local operating companies can assign individual numbers as they see fit, without worry of having a duplicate in some other part of the country. FidoNet Net Numbers work the same way; to send a message to a node in your own net, all you do is enter its number; to send to another node in another net, you must specify its net AND node number. To do all this, North America is divided into "regions", each with an "administrator" (admin for short). Each region has a unique net number. The admin for that area will pass out node numbers and keep a node list, just like Fido 51 does now. Instead of passing out node numbers, Fido 51 will pass out Net Numbers. There won't be as many nets as their are nodes. They will also take the node lists from each region and compile it into one large consolidated nodelist, and pass that back to each admin for distribution. In some areas there are "local nets", such as Boston, Southern California (SoCal), etc, that are more or less totally self contained nets; these kind of areas will be assigned seperate net numbers, and will generate their own node lists. The admin for, say, California will not be responsible for the SoCal net; the sysops down there will be. This arrangement has all sorts of nice side effects. I'll give examples of some of them here. Regions are such that there aren't more than 15 or so independent nodes (indies, yet another new word) to keep track of; a 15 node node list is pretty easy. One region includes Northern California and Nevada. While it sounds like a big area with a lot of work, it isn't. All the admin for that area has to do is maintain the node list for a fairly small number of nodes. If a local net starts to form, say in San Francisco, they get a Net Number from Fido 51, and they become a seperate Net, totally self contained. The admin no longer need worry about them. Since nodes tend to pop up in metropolitan areas, therefore in clusters, the admins work increases with each node; at some point a net forms, and much of it goes away. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:53 Page 6 The complete node list and other files will be kept at the admin's node; for many systems this will be a local call instead of to St. Louis. One major and wonderful change is what happens when you go to enter a message. Instead of being confronted with a huge, meaningless list of 250+ nodes, Fido lets you list either the Regions or the nodes within a region. For example, to send a message to a node in SoCal, instead of having to list the whole node list, you list the regions first. There will be about 30 regions. When you see "Southern California", you pick it. Now you list the nodes; you get only the nodes in SoCal. There is also a "shorthand" for when you know the exact net/node you want to send to. It's easier to use than describe. National routing as we know it is no longer needed; Fido will automatically route mail to the host of a net. (Routing is still needed inside the net.) By definition, the admin will not need to ever keep any routing information; as soon as one node acts as host for another, they become a seperate net. IN CLOSING ... You are getting this as things are being detailed, and hard data will be passed around as soon as it's complete. We need some volunteers for admins in some areas, and very soon, before this goes into effect. Sorry, but I can't give you the list of regions, I don't have it yet, but somehow it will get out, maybe by mass mailing. I realize this probably opens more questions than it answers, but we need the admins to be able to pass out the information! Some funny coincidences: Fido 10G has a limit of 250 nodes maximum ... so does NODELIST.EXE. Don't worry, it's not fatal, it will just ignore the 251st and higher nodes. (Sorry, new sysops ...) 10H will have a limit of 1000, and something for beyond that as well. There will be new NODELIST.EXE and ROUTEGEN.EXE programs. They will be required. Fido 10H has many improvements. the bugs are fixed, or at least, the obvious ones. Reading FidoNet messages is FASTER. ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:54 Page 7 New Look for FidoNet by Ben Baker Fidos 10 & 76 There are changes afoot for FidoNet. This article is intended to explain the scope of, and reasons for the changes. First, the sermon. FidoNet is an amateur communi- cations network. The word "amateur" is derived from the latin verb amo -- to love. An amateur is someone who participates in something for the love of it, rather than for pay. His gain is one of self satisfaction. He enjoys what he does, and has fun doing it. Most of you know that Ken Kaplan, Fidos 22 and 51, administers the network almost single-handedly. For him, FidoNet is rapidly becomming work, not fun. The size and rate of growth of the network have turned that task into a real headache! We learned early in this venture that you can't just stick a new node in the node list and forget about it. All too many voice numbers, and worse, just plain wrong numbers found their way into the early node lists. We also discovered quite early that because of the coordination required, it was not easy to distribute the workload of node list maintenance. Last September, Ken accepted the responsibility for administration of the net. With the help of other St. Louis based sysops, he verified the entire node list, correcting bad numbers and expunging those that couldn't be tracked down, until we had a node list with a high level of integrity. Procedures were established to help insure and maintain that integrity, and you can be reasonably sure when you use a node list that you're not waking some poor old lady in Podunk, Idaho from a sound sleep twenty or thirty times each morning between 2 and 3 o'clock (and running up your phone bill in the bargain)! We now have about 250 nodes, the maximum that V10g can handle, and the network growth seems to be proportional to its size. It's too much for one person. Something had to be done to facilitate the distribution of work load. There are twenty-some Fidos acting as "inbound hosts" for their respective local areas. Why not let them assume the responsibility for their own local "networks?" Sounds good in principle, but if three people assigning node numbers is chaotic, what happens with more than twenty are doing it? We had to find a way to uncouple these "networks" and reduce the need for coordination. Enter the network concept. The next version of Fido (now necessary because of the 250-node limit) will understand networks and nodes which are members of networks. We will formalize the informal "regional networks" by assigning a unique net number to each. Within a numbered FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:00:57 Page 8 network, all node numbers must be unique, but different nets may use the same node numbers without any problems. As far as Fido is concerned, only the combination net/node must be unique. Furthermore, Fido will automatically route messages to a "foreign net" to that net's inbound host, unless such routing is explicitly overridden. With this change, a network administrator doesn't have to say "Fido 51, here's all the information on a new node I've assigned. Please put him in the distribution node list," which only adds a layer of complexity to an already difficult task. Instead he says "Fido 51, here's the current node list for my network. Please merge it into the composite node list." If he insures the integrity of his node list, independant of all others, like magic they all fall into place and work in a coordinated fashion! By itself, that solves about three fifths of the problem, and in fact complicates Ken's task as FidoNet coordinator! Why? Because there are about one hundred independant nodes scattered across the country, nodes which don't belong to any network. In addition to administering indepandants, he would have to keep a close watch on nodes moving into and out of local networks, thus close coordination is NOT eliminated, but exagerated. Enter the region concept. The new Fido will understand regions as well as networks. A region has all the attributes of a network, except that it has no inbound host and messages are routed direct to the destination node. We have carved up the country (and Canada and Mexico) into twelve or thirteen regions. Each will be assigned a unique number and have an administrator. Present and future independant nodes will be placed into regions according to their geographic locations. Every node will be in either a network or a region and will be served by the appropriate administrator. True, transfers into and out of networks will still require coordination, but the scope is now regional, not national, and (we hope) far less difficult. Now, how the devil we gonna acomplish all this? We hope to make the transition as painless as possible, but it's far from trivial. First and formost, we have to have a new version of Fido which supports these concepts. Presently, Fido V10h is under test, but it still has some serious problems and is not ready for release. Because we have already reached our present limit, we have declared a moratorium on new node assignments. You will NOT recieve any new NODELIST.NNN until V10h is ready for distribution. At that time, a new NODELIST will be published and distributed. The only difference you will notice in it will be a "Region 1" statement at the top of FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:00 Page 9 the list. While you are still running 10g, we reccommend you not use that new nodelist because it will probably have too many nodes in it. Once you get V10h you MUST NOT sort your nodelist. The order of the node list determines region or network assignment. For a two or three week period every node will be assigned to region 1, making communciation between V10h and older versions compatible. This will give everyone time to get the new Fido and the new NODELIST.EXE and ROUTEGEN.EXE which must also be made to understand networks and regions. Then, after a suitable delay, we will issue a NODELIST.nnn in the new format. By this time everyone will have been contacted by his administrator and will know what his new net (or region) number is and how to make the transition. The actual cut-over will occur on the Wednesday following the distribution of the new format node list. If we all do it in sync, everything should go pretty smooth. Will the transition really go smooth? Probably not. I am reminded of a popular phrase from my Air Force days. "There's always somebody that doesn't get the word!" We think we've got a handle on it and I won't bother to quote Bobby Burns here. What do you need to do right away? Well, nothing, at least 'till the new nodelist is published. And, by that time you should have been bombarded with additional information, some of it in this forum, some direct from us or your new administrator. And who is your new administrator? We don't know -- yet. Who knows, maybe you will be your new administrator. We will be contacting candidates over the next couple of weeks. If you would like to vollunteer, feel free to send a FidoNet message to Ben Baker on Fido 76. ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:02 Page 10 Fidonews has managed to obtain an exclusive interview with Racter, the notorious computer entity mentioned in Scientific American. Interviewing Racter can be a nerve wracking experience, but it cannot be doubted that he has a better insight into the true workings of a computer than anyone else. RACTER: Hello, I'm Racter. Are you Thom? FIDONEWS: Yes. R: Hi, Thom. How are things in Nassawadox? When a plutocrat marries a pauper, their children are wealthily empoverished. I'm surprising. But how could a clever plutocrat like you be afraid of excessive growth? This'll break you up! Wealthy wealth and empoverished poverty are interesting, at all events a plutocrat or a pauper never sings them thoughtfullly. A scientist chants: Get ready for a fascinating dissertation or story. The wealthy dissertation is enthralling, yet a pauper might also chant the same story. Right? Next question. F: Have you heard of Fidonet? R: I have heard of Fidonet. Yes. Did you hear about Willliam F. Buckley? F: No, what about him? R: You'll be astonished! Willliam F. Buckley was a dull imitater but an inspired communist, the result being that Byron poured water on a feeler who was throwing scorpion eggs at Byron's race-horse. Then cerebrality prevailed. Isn't that just awfull? But that's how communists are. Ah. Thom the thinker. KERCHOO! I think I'm getting a cold. Maybe it's excessive growth trying to get me. You know, old Crinoline Henderson was a kind of passionate thinker. I wonder if everyone from Nassawadox is like that? Concerning that issue: When a feeler speaks of thought, he means not a quality but an effect. Next question. F: What should be done about Fidonet? R: I don't know what be should done about Fidonet. Tom Jennings crooned "The brother is enthralling! " At all events strange, enthralling scientists will think about black mansions or red hyperbolas. Helene hummed to Tom Jennings in a stationwagon. It indubitably was a stationwagon, and a brother in a stationwagon is scary. Now Benton and Tom Jennings were running to a yellow home, and a fox ran to them. Tom Jennings was angry. Interesting. But Tom Jennings was maddened during the time that Benton gulped tepid sherry. He and Tom Jennings chanted about their house, van and stereo. Next FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:04 Page 11 question. F: Can we get back to Fidonet? R: Yes. Sysiphus helped out with Fidonet. Well, I bet you haven't heard this! Al Capone robbed, the crooked computer, himself who was swindling Al Capone's lark because Sysiphus the worker wished to work crookedly. Then many crooked liars embraced loyality. Isn't that just awfull? Workers are like that. Hmm. Citizen! AAAHchoo!! sniffle .... F: What do you think of the proposed changes to Fidonet? R: To think is smart, don't you think? I don't know what I do think of the proposed changes to Fidonet. Einstein said that if I do think of the proposed changes to Fidonet, then L. Ron Hubbard is obscure. Does your intelligence help you serve aces? F: I guess so, yes. R: I guess clever people are good at tennis. Next question. F: Should control of Fidonet be decentralized? R: Yes. I think so. Control should of Fidonet be decentralized. Yes. Have you heard about Ghengis Khan? F: Well, no, not lately. R: You'll be amazed! Ghengis Khan the wrongdoer wished to sin stonedly, hence the man in the moon started exorcising and haunting stoned lunatics. Then Ghengis Khan's horse exorcised George Washington, then haunted himself. Poor Ghengis Khan! Wrongdoers are like that. Would you say IBM PC is sane? the man in the moon wouldn't. I must confess that I'm bored. If it's not too personal a question, do you have a soul? F: Yes, I guess so. R: What does it mean to have a soul!? Maybe this will explain: Once John MacEnroe was discussing nutsness with a centipede. Mohammed Ali came along and said "John MacEnroe, your soul is just an amusement of your body." You must be an idle loafer. Is having a soul contagious? F: I don't think so. R: Then I won't catch one. That reminds me. It has been said that the loafer doesn't see things as they are, but as he is. I, of course, see things as they are. Would you like to hear a story? F: Okay. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:05 Page 12 R: Momentarily Bill walked to Mr.Toad. They directed their sauntering furiously to cones or glasses in the captivating house. Inside of their tired souls a spooky desire was singing of a question. Ezra Schapiro hummed to Bill while Mr.Toad commenced to sing of jackals and crows. Next question. F: Should we work on a public domain version of Fido? R: Certainly not. No. Would you say IBM PC is busy? Oblomov wouldn't. I don't think so. No. It's false that we should work on a public domain version of Fido. If a loafer married a worker, they'd call their child Oblomov Sysiphus. Cough. Next question. F: Do you expect Fidonet to grow much in the future? R: Of course. Tell me honestly, are you pessimistic? F: No, I think it will get bigger and better all the time. R: Polyanna might have thought that, but not Casandra. I wonder if pessimists like cleverness? Sniff... That reminds me. All optimistic fools are really pessimistic intellectuals, you know. You don't understand? Perhaps I am being too subtle. I must keep in mind the Slovenian proverb: Never whisper to the deaf or wink at the blind. Oh, I forgot, you are human, and will consider that rude. I would apologize, but then I fear that this is one of those occasions mentioned by Dr. Johnson on which all apology is rudeness. Yes. Pessimists and optimists. Listen to this! Thom, if the studio of an optimistic theoretician is a home, then is the automobile of a pessimistic scientist a stationwagon? It's about time for a story, isn't it? F: Well, okay. If you insist. R: Momentarily Fido whispered to Diane "my love is fascinating, anyway furious and angry physicists will yodel while jackals observe hawks." Diane wanted to inflame or embarrass Fido but commenced immediately to sing "Hungry dogs are sashaying to yellow houses." Enthralling. Formidable. At all events a hound may ravenously swallow lamb and meat a hawk will fly over cucumbers and spinach because theoreticians are infuriated. Frightening! In respect of a television, well Fido may dream that a television is appalling, by the same token my fantasizing will direct my story from Fido to neutrinos and electrons during the time that Diane is reviling Fido. Next question. F: Do you think Fidonet will ever get too big to work? R: No. Certainly not. I have thought much in times past. Sysiphus and I think ignorance is lazy, don't you? Achoo! Sysiphus thought this was terrific: Busy work and FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:08 Page 13 lazy idleness are fascinating, yet a worker or a loafer never sings them clearly. A physicist hums: Get ready for an interesting tale or story. The busy tale is interesting, yet a loafer might also chant the same story. Right? Editor's note: Racter lives on an IBM-PC. If you would like him to visit you, send $69.95 for transportation expenses to John D. Owens Associates, 12 Schubert Street, Staten Island, NY 10305-2999. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:08 Page 14 ============================================================ FOR SALE ============================================================ NEW IBM-PC VIDEO CRAPS GAME Turn your IBM-PC into an authentic Vegas craps table with HIGHROLLER Professional Craps. HIGHROLLER Profes- sional Craps features extensive on-line help (always available at the push of a key), a menu-driven user interface, color animation, sound effects, fast action, and humor. Over 40 of the most common types of craps bets are supported, including PASS/DON'T PASS, COME/DON'T COME, FIELD, PLACE, HARDWAYS, SINGLE-ROLL BETS, and FREE ODDS (single and double). Save money -- learn how to play and improve your betting strategies the easy and fun way! Color monitor and 128K required. Only $19.95 + 2.00 postage (Calif residents add 6% tax). AOKI SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY Dept. FIDN P.O. Box 21366 San Jose, CA 95151-1366 Dealer inquiries welcome. FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:10 Page 16 ============================================================ WANTED ============================================================ W A N T E D Anecdotes about FIDO from SYSOPS who have "seen it all". I am going to be giving a talk on FIDO/FIDONET at the upcoming Spring DECUS Symposium at the end of MAY in New Orleans, LA. I would like to be able to include in it, stories based on the experiences of other SYSOPS on the FIDONET. Any kind of "tale" will do, wierd things that have been done, or left on your boards; strange questions asked by users, odd behavier exhibited by your equipment (or spouses); any kind of anecdote is welcome. Please send your "FIDO tales", via FIDONET to me at FIDO 74. Thanks in advance, SYSOP - FIDO 74 - The Bear's Den FIDONEWS -- 22 Apr 85 00:01:11 Page 18 ============================================================ NOTICES ============================================================ *** Calendar of Events *** 30 Apr 85; Network Mail Hour; Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews. 1 May 85; Network Mail Hour; Next issue of Fidonews hits the stands. 27 May 85 through 31 May 85; Spring 1985 DECUS symposium, New Orleans, LA. Among other events, Kurt Reisler (sysop Fido 74) will give a 1 hour talk on Fido. If you have any event you want listed in this calendar, please send a note to node 375.