Volume 2, Number 41 25 November 1985 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - Fidonews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and Fidonet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Publisher: Fido 1/1 Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson Review Editor: Allen Miller Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 1/1. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 1/1. Disclaimer or don't-blame-us: The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL Freeware, Again 2. NEWS GTE TELENET (PC Pursuit), LDX, SPRINT, MCI, AT&T My Views More PC-PURSUIT Beyond War Fido Returns--Distributes World-Wide Petition PC Pursuit for the Uninitiated Reach Out and Play! New version of SHUFFLE available 3. COLUMNS FidoNet Route Files Explained, Part 4 4. WANTED Fido's Wanted- Earn Money! Need DEC Rainbow accessories 5. NOTICES New version of ARC released The Interrupt Stack ============================================================ EDITORIAL ============================================================ Freeware, Again Yes, I'm beating the drum for freeware, yet again. Do you have any idea what it takes to bring a product to the market? Never mind the "expensive cost of copy protection". That just adds to the software development. Reproducing it is very cheap. Far and away, the major cost of marketing anything is the so-called "marketing costs". It costs, roughly speaking, about a metric ton of dollars to get anything on your dealers' shelves and suitably advertised so that anyone will buy it. Put yourself in the store owner's shoes for a moment. Shelf space is money. Why waste that on a product which won't sell? This is why your local store has such a limited selection -- he's only going to carry things which have a good chance of being sold with the machine. This is why the software market peaks and slumps with the hardware market. In addition, most distributors don't want to waste their time with a product which doesn't have a proven track record. Why should they? It costs money to stock an item; why spend that money on an item which isn't a proven seller? So how does a new author enter the market? If nobody has ever heard of you, then you obviously don't have a proven track record, and why should anyone gamble their money on you? One alternative is to start by advertising and go for mail or phone order sales first. Then you can prove your product before asking people to gamble on it. But that costs money. Call up any trade journal and ask; advertising is EXPENSIVE! Another approach is freeware. Anybody at all can market anything at all as freeware. No initial capital investment is required. Just put a freeware license in the code (copy it from almost anywhere) and you're off! This allows truly cheap software. The bulk of the costs (the marketing costs) are totally bypassed. In addition, anyone can do it. As a final plus (as if we needed it), the end user gets to try out the software in actual pratice to make sure that it really is what he needs and wants for his own particular application. If everything really worked, then everyone would benefit. There's just one small fly in the ointment. The best estimates we've ever heard place freeware license compliance at about ten percent. Our own somewhat pessimistic estimates put it down somewhere less than one percent. Fidonews Page 2 25 Nov 1985 We had a user on our bulletin board who, in all seriousness, was asking for a definition of freeware, specifically wondering if his company (a major New York bank) should pay for it. We told him thjat his company could not credibly plead poverty, so he must. But why was he asking in the first place? This to me indicates a regrettable lack of understanding about what is really going on here. I see freeware licensing as a tacit admission that copy protection can't really be enforced, coupled with an ingenious marketing idea that woould really benefit everyone. But only if everyone is truly capable of being trusted to the extent that freeware authors are trusting their users. Let's face it, if you are still using a freeware package after two weeks, then it is obviously useful to you, and you should pay the fee. Are you are freeware pirate? ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 3 25 Nov 1985 ============================================================ NEWS ============================================================ J Hobbs Fido 104/56 After reading an article by Paula Giese ( Nov 4, 1985 ) which part of it discussed how GTE is selling Sysop's services, I thought I would give another opinion. First of all, I'm not a Sysop so my views may differ from those of you who are Sysops. However I am a user of a lot of BBS's, most of them being various Fidos, both local and not so local. I own a DEC Rainbow and unfortunately there are no local DEC Fidos. I have to utilize a long distance carrier to get to a DEC Fido to obtain customized utilities that are created specifically for the DEC machines. (Perhaps you noticed the generic use of 'long distance carrier') If a Sysop runs a PUBLIC, SEMI-PUBLIC, or PRIVATE Fido (or other BBS) that I have access to, and I must use someone's service to access that bulletin board, why cannot the choice be the cheapest one. Why should it matter to the Sysop if I use MCI, SPRINT, LDX, AT&T or GTE. These are all large corporations that make big bucks, so why punish me (a single person, the PUBLIC who you are using Fido to service) to have to spend more money out of my pocket to gain access to a remote BBS. Currently I have not decided whether or not I am going to use another service other than AT&T because I have heard about problems with noise and bad lines. Granted the local users may call more often and have more to offer in the sence of uploads (since they are not paying $$$ by the minute) but is not the purpose of BBS's to allow the FREE (or relatively free) exchange of ideas, comments and solution of problems? (A few games and other utilities are nice too!) The few long distance callers a BBS may have probably don't last that long (because of the $$$) or occur that often. But as in my case are necessary, utilities like SEDT (a very good full screen editor), AME86 (allows CPM .CMD programs to run under DOS), KERMIT, PACMAN and other games for my Rainbow are not available locally. I guess what it boils down to is this, if you are a Sysop and decide to run a PUBLIC Fido, and you voluntarily list your phone number for others to use, WE the PUBLIC (whether we live 5 or 5000 miles away) should have the right to use any long distance carrier WE desire to reach out and compute with someone. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 4 25 Nov 1985 I have trouble understanding Paula Giese's reaction to Pc-Pursuit. I think it represents a great opportunity for most sysops. Here's why: It allows long distance users to join in the message sections (probably for the first time) All the sysops I know hate "board rapers". You know,the guy who logs on time after time and goes straight to the downloads without reading your new editorial or even scanning the message section. Face it, Most long distance callers can't afford the luxury of scanning and entering messages...it's just too costly..so by and large most long distance callers are in search of downloads. Enter PC-PURSUIT. For a measly $25 you can call any board in the 12 cities currently offering the service for up to an hour at a time. Now at last it's practical for long distance users to become active in the message sections and really start contributing. On Fido 123/4 we try to emphasize the message areas. Sure we have downloads, 12 file areas in fact but what makes the board thrive is the discussion and debates held in several of our message sections. Currently we are not in a city where PC-PURSUIT is available but I look forward to the day when we get it. I expect to pick up quite a few valuable users. Charles Grisamore Subsysop IBM Section Grape-Vine 123/4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 5 25 Nov 1985 Andy Kanter, Sysop Beyond War/IPPNW BBS Fido 101/301 Beyond War Fido Returns For those of you familiar with the Beyond War BBS (OLD FIDO 301), you will be happy to know that it is back on-line in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is now called the Beyond War/IPPNW BBS (FIDO 101/301), and now includes information relating to the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Operating 22 hours a day (except 0400-0600 EST for mail), it accepts 300/1200, 8/N/1. Offering more information and programs than ever before. This is the computer to call if you are interested in peace and the prevention of nuclear war. Give us a call: ( 6 1 7 ) 8 7 6 - 0 4 2 2 NEWSFLASH!!! NEWSFLASH!!! NEWSFLASH!!! NEWSFLASH!!! Important!!! On December 14, 1985, the 1985 Beyond War Award will be presented to the six signers of the Five Continent Peace Initiative via a 7-way, 5-continent, satellite broadcast. This is the first time such a space- bridge has connected five continents in the history of the planet. At the ceremony, a petition in support of the Initiative will be presented with (hopefully) 1 million signatures from people around the world. If you would be interested in signing the below petition, send me a fidonet message to SYSOP of FIDO 101/301 (the Beyond War/IPPNW BBS) and I will include your name on the petition. IF YOU ARE SO MOTIVATED... please take the below petition, copy it, and have as many people sign it as possible. Then mail them back to: Andy Kanter, 1580 Massachusetts Ave. Apt. 8A, Cambridge, MA 02138! Before December 7, 1985. If you would like more information about the presentation (it can be viewed at 140+ locations around the globe, including the U.N.), or more info about Beyond War, you can also send a message to FIDO 101/301 or call Andy at (617) 876-0931, or the Beyond War Office at (415) 328-7756. This is of the utmost importance and EVERY SIGNATURE COUNTS!!! Please sign!!! *********************************************************** A CALL TO END THE THREAT OF WAR Six World Leaders have spoken, issuing The Delhi Declaration of the Five Continent Peace Initiative on January 28, 1985, saying in part: "Forty years ago, when atomic bombs were blasted over Hiro- shima and Nagasaki, the human race became aware that it could destroy itself... Fidonews Page 6 25 Nov 1985 "We find ourselves in this situation because the nuclear weapons states have applied traditional doctrines of a war in a world where new weapons have made them obsolete. What is the point of nuclear 'superiority' or 'balance' when each side has enough weapons to devastate the earth dozens of times over? If the old doctrines are applied in the future, the holocaust will be inescapable sooner or later. But nuclear war can be prevented if our voices are joined in a universal demand in defense of our right to live. "It is imperative to find a remedy to the existing situation where hundreds of billions of dollars, amounting to approx- imately one and a half million per minute, are spent annual- ly on weapons. This stands in dramatic contrast to the poverty, and in some cases misery, in which two-thirds of the world population lives. "We urge the people, parliaments and governments the world over to lend forceful support to this appeal... Only then will governments summon the necessary political will to overcome the many obstacles which lie in the path of peace. "For centuries, men and women have fought for their rights and freedoms. We now face the greatest struggle of all--for the right to live, for ourselves and for future generations. Signed by: H.E. Mr. Raul Alfonsin H.E. Mr. Olof Palme Pres. of Argentina P.M. of Sweden H.E. Mr. Miguel de la H.E. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi Madrid Pres. of Mexico P.M. of India H.E. Mr. Julius Nyerere H.E. Mr. Andreas Papandreou Pres. of Rep. of Tanzania P.M. of Greece STATEMENT OF PERSONAL RESPONSE I support the above principles as expressed in the Delhi Declaration and join the voices calling upon the parliaments the world over to end the threat of war. ___________________________________________ Name State Country ___________________________________________ Name State Country ___________________________________________ Name State Country Return by 12/1/85 to: A. Kanter, 1580 Mass. Ave. #8A, Cambridge, MA 02140 ************************************************************ 5 to: A. Kanter, 1580 Mass. Ave. #8A, Cambridge, MA 02140 *************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 7 25 Nov 1985 Chuck Lawson Sysop Fido 124/12 The Inside Track Edition PC Pursuit for the Uninitiated With all of the articles in FidoNews lately, there appears to be some misunderstanding of what PC Pursuit is and does. As an active user of PC Pursuit, I'd like to take this opportunity to explain a little bit about what PC Pursuit is and what it means to sysops and users alike. The issue of GTE's compensation to Tom Jennings has been adequately discussed in (many) other articles, so I won't discuss it here. PC Pursuit allows "Free" access to 300 and 1200 baud data numbers from and to many numbers in 12 citys in the US. If you don't live within the local calling area of one of these citys, PC Pursuit cannot benefit you (nor can it exploit you). If you do live within a local call of one of these cities, PC Pursuit presents an excellent opportunity for you to take advantage of low-cost calling to the other areas supported by the service, and if you are a sysop (of any kind of board), will provide you with many new users from all over the country. If you are a Fido sysop in an enterprising network in one of these areas, you might find an even greater benefit: free mail to and from other networks in PC Pursuit supported areas. To use PC Pursuit to place calls, you need to subscribe to the service. The cost (as of this writing) is $25 per month, and a one time $25 installation fee. This entitles you to place calls through the service during evenings and weekends. The only limit is 60 minutes per call, but you can place as many 60 minute calls as you like, even if they are all to the same number. Once set up, to use the service you simply call the local PC Pursuit phone number, and give it your phone number, the name of the city that you wish to call, and the number you wish to call. PC Pursuit will then disconnect. You must set your modem/comm package to autoanswer, and from one to five minutes after you place the call, PC Pursuit will call YOU, and attempt to place your call. After thrashing around with the internals of Telenet for a few minutes, PC Pursuit will call the requested number. If the number doesn't answer, it will disconnect after two tries. If the number is busy, Pursuit will retry for approximately 10 minutes. Otherwise, if it can make a connection, it announces that you are connected, and you are on your own. As a sysop, to get callers via PC Pursuit, you need do Fidonews Page 8 25 Nov 1985 nothing. In fact, they will come to you whether you encourage them or not. A PC Pursuit caller is indistiguishable from any other caller. If you do not care for long distance users, or wish to keep the board open for your regulars during evening hours, you can simply follow Tom Jennings' example, and not allow new callers during PC Pursuit hours. In order to get free fidomail via PC Pursuit, you need to either be willing to do the work involved in setting up the facilities, or have someone else in your net do the work and provide it to the rest. In our net, net 124, we have been lucky enough to have someone who has been willing to do the work and share it with the rest of us. The same thing has happened in San Francisco Bay Net, Net 125, and I'm sure has happened or will happen in other places. The details of how this is done will vary from net to net, but in our net it is completely transparent to those not directly participating in the project. We simply set the price to $00.00, and send the mail. Once it is routed to the host, it is re-routed through the "Pursuit Net" and is gone. Using PC Pursuit is not without it's irritations. Telenet causes delays in the line, and sometimes the echo back from the board at the other end will fall behind your typing, but the effect is not as pronounced as I have seen on some boards which are multitasked. Having to use the "place a call - get a call back" system is frustrating as well, but this is a blessing to users who pay metered charges for local calls - you only have to pay for a one minute local call. Inventive use of script files and command files in CrossTalk and ProComm 2.0 make short work of the details involved in placing calls through PC Pursuit. Other irritations are relatively minor. PC Pursuit places the call back at the same speed and parity that you used calling in. This wouldn't be a problem, except that PC Pursuit wants 7 bit even parity for your call in, and we know how well protocals like XMODEM like that. To get around this, one can simply call at 8/N/1 and PC Pursuit will synchonize after your first few lines of input. After using it a few times, you know what the prompts are anyway, and it's relatively easy to live with garbaged prompts. Shortcomings to the service at this point include a lack of 2400 baud service, and limited access to area codes other than the primary area code in many cities. GTE has indicated that it will address both of these problems around the first of the year. That, in a nutshell, is what PC Pursuit is all about. It has it's problems, but it is as much bang for your telephone buck that is available at the moment. I easily spent three to four times the monthly fee placing calls through Sprint or MCI before I started using PC Pursuit. Disclaimer: I have no association with GTE except as a Fidonews Page 9 25 Nov 1985 satisfied customer of PC Pusuit, and a sometimes disgruntled customer of it's local phone service. Chuck Lawson, Sysop Fido 124/12 The Inside Track Edition (214) 422-4772 Dallas's News Fido 300/1200/2400, 24 hrs, 7 days a week Full access to first time callers, with questionaire. Real Names Only, Please. Accessible Via PC Pursuit / Dallas. Long distance callers welcome! (yes, this is a plug!) ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 10 25 Nov 1985 From: David Drexler/Mark Grennan, sysops REMARK 19/202 Subject: R.O.A.P.: Reach Out And Play Date: 20 NOV 85 Are there any Go players in the crowd? Have you ever tried to play a game by mail? It's pretty hard to keep your moti- vation up, since there may be many hundreds of moves in a typical game, and even if the turnaround is only 24 hours, that works out to be a VERY long time... I had an idea awhile back for playing long-distance Go without overly enriching Mother Bell in the process. It involved a couple of pc's & modems at each end (of course), and two cooperative amateur radio operators in the middle. The pc's would run a specialized communications program that could also plot the board graphically on screen and printer, verify the moves, store them, take them off the board, etc. Multiple games could be conducted at the same time by pre- fixing each move transmitted with an identifying header. It seemed possible to hold remote tournaments that way. It never got off the ground. Turned out to be more trouble to coordinate all the events and people than I thought it would be, the program never got finished, and everybody in my Go club lost interest. The whole project was pushed into background and forgotten -- until last night, when it occured to me that there was a much better alternative to Ma Bell than ham radio: Compuserve. Using "chat" mode, we could do everything that we were going to do with the hams, do it anytime we wanted to, and still for minimal cost. At 300 baud, during the "cheap" time, it'll cost only $6 per hour, and two hours would be plenty enough time to play a couple games. With three players at each end splitting the charge, it comes out to just a couple bucks apiece. But why stop at Go? Why not Pente, Chess, Othello, or any other board game? All that's needed at each end is a program that can display the board and verify the moves. A real smart program could handle several of those games. Comments, anyone? For the chess players out there who want to play by the more conventional move-at-a-time by mail, feel free to drop us a line here. We promise to give you a strong game. REMARK Information System (405) 728-2463 - Fido 19/202 The board for serious computerists ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 11 25 Nov 1985 From Robert Lederman Met-Chem Fido 16/42 NEW VERSION OF SHUFFLE ===-=======-==-======= Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming response I received to SHUFFLE. I have just released a significant upgrade. SHUFFLE is a Fido sysop utility for maintaining download file areas. Files and corresponding FILES.BBS entries can be redirected among directories. Version 2.0 supports full-screen operation and a host of new features. FILES.BBS entries can be redirected to specific points in the destination FILES.BBS. File dates can be changed and can be automatically added to FILES.BBS. Remote full screen sessions are supported under PibTerm, ProComm, Mintel, and FANSI-console. A generic MS-DOS version is now under test. You can get the current version of SHUFFLE by calling Met-Chem BBS, Fido 16/42, at 203/281-7287. Thanks, Robert ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 12 25 Nov 1985 ============================================================ COLUMNS ============================================================ FidoNet Route Files Explained Part 4 -- LISTGEN and ROUTE.CTL by Ben Baker, Fido 100/76 LISTGEN Version 2 will automatically generate route files for you if you desire. The advantage is that LISTGEN is driven by a control file, ROUTE.CTL, in which you specify the statements necessary with symbolic parameters that you define in terms of nets, area codes, etc.. A properly designed ROUTE.CTL need only change when your routing needs change. LISTGEN will continue to create correct route files week after week as the nodelist changes. Before I begin, I'd like to do a quick review of the route file commands and their effect. SCHEDULE or SEND-TO Determines which nodes may have packets build to SEND mail to. ROUTE-TO Directs that messages to par- ticular addressees be SENT in packets to another node. ACCEPT-FROM Specifies which oritinators' messages may be SENT. RECV-ONLY States that packets may only be SENT by being picked up. HOLD States that packets to part- icular nodes may only be SENT by being picked up. PICK-UP States that it is OK to receive mail from particular nodes when we originate calls to SEND them packets. POLL Directs that packets (empty if necessary) be generated and SENT to particular nodes in order to pick up mail. SEND-ONLY States that calls may be made rapid-fire to SEND as many packets as possible. Note that each definition above includes the verb SEND or SENT. I did that deliberately to emphasize that these commands all control some aspect of sending mail. LISTGEN has been adaquately documented and I do not intend to re-document it here, but I would like to show you how ROUTE.CTL commands map to the ROUTE. commands covered above. SCHEDULE Fidonews Page 13 25 Nov 1985 When LISTGEN encounters this command in ROUTE.CTL it does two things. First it closes any route file it may be working on and creates a new ROUTE. file for the new . Then it generates a SCHEDULE statement from the specifications in this one for the new ROUTE., expanding any symbolic parameters to lists of nodes from the nodelist. In other words, it begins a new route file as you would expect it to by defining the . FROM This phrase, when encountered, generates an ACCEPT-FROM statement. TO [ VIA ] If the VIA clause is present, this statement generates a "ROUTE-TO ." Successive TO phrases without VIA clauses accumulate to make a larger until a VIA clause IS found. Then the entire list is routed to the . (I'm not entirely happy with this "feature," but that's the way it works.) If no VIA clause is ever found, the TO phrase generates no output at all! It does serve as documentation in your ROUTE.CTL file, saying "I expect to be sending mail TO these nodes in this schedule." All of the other route file commands discussed above map one-for-one in the same format from ROUTE.CTL to ROUTE.. The big advantage in using LISTGEN is to be able to use simple symbols which it will translate into long lists of nodes. To illustrate, net 100 spans two area codes, 314 in Missouri and 618 in Illinois. To minimize the number of toll calls placed accross the Mississippi, I serve as "Metro East" hub to concentrate the Illinois traffic. I have the following statements (among others) in my ROUTE.CTL file: define Metro-East as Net-100 except Area-314 ; Area 618 define Outbound as 100/10 define World as all except Metro-East * * * FROM Metro-East TO World VIA Outbound Nodes may come and go, both in our net and across the country, and these statements need not change. LISTGEN interprets them week after week and builds the right route files every time. And in several months, if our outbound host should change making it necessary to change ROUTE.CTL, I can look at this and not have to say to myself "What on earth was I trying to do here?" It's all pretty obvious. Before I wrap it up, there are two important exceptions to the things I have said. First, schedule A is special in that the always is the entire nodelist, no matter what ROUTE.A says. For that reason, if you do any routing not defined by the node list, I recommend that you Fidonews Page 14 25 Nov 1985 DO NOT USE SCHEDULE A. For all other schedules, Fido does exactly what ROUTE. tells it to do and nothing more. And second, ROUTE.BBS is a special route file that affects all schedules for which there are no ROUTE. files. For that reason, I recommend that you FORGET YOU EVER HEARD OF ROUTE.BBS. It'll cause more problems than it'll ever solve! So, routing can get pretty complex (just ask 'em in Southern California), but it doesn't need to be complicated once you know what the objective of each schedule is from your point of view, and what your Fido needs to do to meet those objectives. In fact, it's pretty easy if you just remember the two points I have been hammering at you since we began: 1) Route files control the way you send messages, not the way you receive them. Every command we discussed above controls some aspect of sending messages. And. . . 2) A particular route file only affects the schedule with the matching . What you say in ROUTE.B has no bearing whatever on schedule C. Each schedule must be separately spelled out. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 15 25 Nov 1985 ============================================================ WANTED ============================================================ Steve Nyman Fido 107/22 NEED FIDO'S TO PRINT E-MAIL My company, Micro Information Services, needs Fido's from across the U.S. to receive our customer's e-mail, print it and mail it via U.S. Mail. We anticipate moderate mail volume, depending upon the region. NO COST TO YOU: All envelopes, paper, and postage will be provided in advance. PROFITS: You will be paid for your services. IF INTERESTED: Direct inquiries via e-mail to Steve Nyman on Fido 107/22. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 16 25 Nov 1985 Need DEC Rainbow accessories. I have a DEC Rainbow 100 (old version) and would like to run Fido on it. I also have a Microscience 10 MB Hard Disk. Do any of you know of a controller that I could use with a ST506 hard disk? I also would like to run MS-DOS on the Rainbow. Where is it available? Thanks in advance. Please contact me at address below: Submitted by: David Messer - SYSOP Fido 14/415 UUCP: ihnp4!quest!dave ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 17 25 Nov 1985 ============================================================ NOTICES ============================================================ ARC Version 4.5 We are pleased to announce the release of ARC version 4.5. This version adds compression suppression and archive "freshening". We've also changed our naming scheme to use .ARC and .$$$ instead of .BAK and .ARC, which allows for more painless error recovery. In case of an error, your original archive will be preserved with its original name. We are gratified at the positive response you've shown to our little utility. Thanks to you all for making ARC such a success. Thom Henderson and Andy Foray System Enhancement Associates Fido 107/7 ------------------------------------------------------------ The Interrupt Stack 27 Nov 1985 Halley's Comet passes closest to Earth before perihelion. 9 Dec 1985 DECUS Anaheim. The first session (Roadmap session) of the PC Special Interest Group will meet at 11:30 in the PC Campground (Bonita Tower, Santa Cruz room). See you there... 24 Jan 1986 Voyager 2 passes Uranus. 9 Feb 1986 Halley's Comet reaches perihelion. 9 Feb 1986 Diana Overholt (109/74) has another birthday. 11 Apr 1986 Halley's Comet reaches perigee. 19 May 1986 Steve Lemke's next birthday. 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. Fidonews Page 18 25 Nov 1985 If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to Fido 1/1. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 19 25 Nov 1985