Volume 2, Number 44 16 December 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 Tom Jennings' Trip to Europe 2. NEWS Multilink, JRam Boards, & Fido Using the FIDO sysop command `0' on sanyos. Introduce Deaf/Blind to Computers Free Fidogram Christmas Deadline 3. COLUMNS FidoNet Musings Why You Should Use A Retail Store Fido with Multilink Rainbow Corner 4. WANTED In Search of Rainbow BBS's Fido's Wanted- Earn Money! 5. NOTICES The Interrupt Stack ============================================================ EDITORIAL ============================================================ Tom Jennings 9 Dec 85 125/1 Some interesting things happened to me in the last few weeks; the Hobbycomputerclub (HCC) of Holland invited me over there to officially open their club-run FidoNet in Holland, consisting of some 15 or 16 Fidos. I spent a total of 12 days out of the country, visiting England as well. There is so much to tell that I don't know where to start. I'll first just cover the trip serially, but there is also important information about Fido, and BBS's in general, in Europe that will have to be covered seperately. I may have to leave out important details at first, and get to the later. Please bear with me. At first I was a bit suprised that a computer club could and would afford to fly someone from the U. S. just to attend a club show and open a FidoNet network. The real suprise was discovering that the HCC has over 25,000 members, and that their "newsletter" resembles a slightly thin issue of Byte magazine! Clubs on this scale just don't exist here in the U. S. as far as I know. I was greeted at Schipol airport, outside Amsterdam, by Henk Wevers, whose house I would be staying at. Henk, as it turns out, is a major force behind the Dutch FidoNet, and Fido in Europe in general, as well as one of the key people in the HCC. Henk also runs a Fido in Ede, which appears in the nodelist. After recovering from serious jet lag (9 hour clock difference plus a 9 hour flight) we headed to the show in Utrecht Friday morning. Utrecht is a major city in Holland, and a major business center. The show filled a large hall, similar to most US convention centers (SF's Civic Center for instance) and had about 30,000 attendees on Friday. The Fido booths were right at the main entrance; there was a large entranceway announcing the HCC show, and Fido was right where you went in. Fido had a very large presence, and there were a couple of Fidos running demos during the entire two day show. BBS's are just starting to generate large interest amongst hobbiests, because of the modem problem; while we in North America have only three universal protocols (Bell 103A, Bell 212A, and CCITT V.22bis for 2400 baud), in Europe there are at least a half dozen incompatible protocols, and the North American models are all useless. This subject will be covered in detail later. There was a tremendous amount of interest in Fido, if you had told me beforehand I would not have believed you. Fidonews Page 2 16 Dec 1985 At a talk given by Henk explaining the HCC's plans for Fidos in Holland, and where I answered questions, the room was filled to capacity, standing room only. Needless to say, I was not prepared for such a response, I'm not used to this! There was coverage on national TV, newspapers and radio about the show (the HCC is taken very seriously) including Fido. The next day, Saturday, was similar, but much busier. Hectic is not the right word, we literally ran from one event to the next for much of the day. The show was packed with visitors. I guess all computer shows are basically the same, no matter where they are held. There was row after row of booths, all displaying various products, many small machines making noise and playing games, others showing more sedate things like monitors for IBM clones, and so on. There was also a very large user group presence; anyone familiar with the unfortunate recent history of the West Coast Computer Faire will appreciate this! The fact that most communication is done in Dutch is the first indication that something is different, and after looking closely you see that emphasis is put on different kinds of products and services. The most common machine by far is the Commodore 64. While it's a popular machine here, it's nothing compared to Holland at least. I saw more add on hardware and software that I decided to think about purchasing one for myself. CP/M is very popular, mostly a thing called the Amstrad (spelling?) which from what I've seen is very nice, color graphics and so on, and seems to be high quality. On Saturday morning, Pieter van Diepen, the current publisher of the HCC magazine, gave me a quick tour of old Utrecht. (The part we were in was a typical high tech city, with the usual traffic and hotels.) The old city surrounds canals, ancient churches (I mean ancient, hard for us Yankees to appreciate 600 year old anything), and a coffehouse that has been in continuous operation for about 300 years, where we had coffee, and made us late enough to mess up the plans for opening FidoNet on live radio. Sigh. I don't remember seeing a single IBM computer; like here, most these days are Taiwan clones. The Taiwanese are changing the world of computing in ways they may not realize; someone like IBM does the large scale design, the cloners simplify and improve the design (Faraday, etc) and the Taiwanese manufacture them in *huge* quantities, for cheap, and all that I've seen are of pretty good quality. Even I have one. These are what most European Fidos are running on, and I would guess the same is true for North America. The international sysops meeting was held Saturday afternoon. Henk Wevers and other Holland sysops where there, plus Frank and Silvia Thornley from England, Martin ? from England, Bob ? (sorry for the ?) from Dataflex (a modem Fidonews Page 3 16 Dec 1985 manufacturer) in London, Arne Asplem and Robert Hercz from Norway, and of course me. Helge ? from Sweden had an accident and could not make it. It was not a big complex affair, mostly just a get together, but past experience says that more was accomplished than meets the eye. Merely putting names with faces does a lot of good. We cleared up some misunderstandings about putting the European nodes in the Boston net; for example, what we thought was a convenience turns out to really make for additional work. Since Fido doesnt know about "countries" (yet) they were included in the Boston net so that the mail would get routed properly; in reality, it makes it extremely difficult to handle mail in Europe, as most mail is done via PICKUP and POLL due to the lack of autodial modems. That night, there was a big banquet for the HCC staff that put it all together, we ate too much good food and drank real beer, not this "lite" stuff. Pour that stuff down the drain! The next day, Sunday, Frank, Silvia, Arne, Robert, Bob, Martin and I went in two cars to Belgium to take the ferry to Dover, and then on to Frank's house in Woking. The drive itself was interesting; by the time we made it on to the ferry, I had three flavors of money (dollars, guilders, pounds), which makes small purchases very interesting until you get used to it. Robert and Arne also had German marks, and presumably Norwegian money. Welcome to Europe. From the ferry we all went directly to Frank's house, where we all spent the night. The truly hardcore gang (Martin, Bob, Arne and Robert) stayed up all night setting up Robert's computer, and playing with Frank's huge collection of IBM PC software. Us more rational types went to bed. For the next few days, we talked about various things, Fido of course among them, and Frank gave us the grand tour of London and area. It was an excellent tour; it would have taken me weeks and weeks of vacationing to hit all the spots, if I could have ever found them at all. One I would not have found was the pub at Fullers brewery. The best bitter beer I ever had, period. Drank a fair amount there, took some back with us ... us hardcore types drank it and other things, the more rational ones went to sleep. Guess who had a hangover. And yes, it was worth it. For the next three days, four of us traveled around London and area, Martin and Bob having gone home. We visited Dataflex (makers of addon boards for various computers, and soon a Hayes compatible modem). On Wednesday, I returned to Holland, and spent three Fidonews Page 4 16 Dec 1985 days pointlessly wandering around Amsterdam, having a wonderful time taking pictures and freezing to death. A hint for travelers: the standard travel books (Fodors, Baedakers, etc) absolutely refuse to mention the weather, with one exception that crammed "average yearly temperatures" over much of Europe into one paragraph. Europe is miserably cold in the winter. Plan on New York City weather. Cold, wet, more cold and wet. It was supposedly colder than usual for that time of year. this always happens to me; I was in the South West high desert, and it rained. I went to Phoenix AZ four years ago, and it rained there, too. Maybe it's me. On Sunday, I returned to San Francisco, on an eleven hour flight; jet lag in this direction isn't too bad, relatively speaking. I want to thank once again everyone who made my trip over pleasant, never mind possible. Henk Wevers and his family for making me welcome at their home and to Henk for arranging things; Frank Thornley for putting me up at his home, and or putting up with all the hackers messing up his house, and for the grand tour of London. It was appreciated! And of course to the people fo the HCC for their enthusiasm for Fido and friendliness. The modem situation in Europe is very very different than here in N. A. In the U. S., we have the "benefit" of having our modem protocols dictated to us by the one time telecom monopoly, AT&T. We have the Bell 103A protocol for 300 baud and less and Bell 212A for 1200 baud. There are and were others, of course, but most have thankfully died out; Bell 202A is still used by radio amateurs, however, mainly for radio use. This is not a discussion of technical excellence in protocol design; merely observations on practical reality. I don't care for the way Bell did their 1200 baud protocol either. Anyways ... In Europe, however, things are a little different. There are at least a half dozen different protocols, most defined by the CCITT. (Don't ask ...) The main ones, I think, are 300 baud V.21, 1200 baud V.22, 1200/75 Viditel, and V.22bis 2400 baud. Modems are very expensive, and there doesn't seem to by the hobbiest/microcomputer type array of modems we have here. Fidonews Page 5 16 Dec 1985 While compared to the North American continent Europe is physically compact, (it takes 5 hours to fly from San Francisco to New York, and somewhat less than that from there to Amsterdam) there are many languages in use, most incomprehensible to each other. Lucky for us, English is the technical language of choice, so Europeans are not as intimidated by English as we are (generally) by Dutch, French, German, etc. I am familiar somewhat with AT&T's policies as to making connections to the phone line; I do not know what the situation is in countries in Europe, whether it's easy or hard, or if it varies from country or not. The PTT seems to be everywhere; is it the same across Europe or different all over? Last, but definitely not least ... The person who basically started Fido in Europe was Ron Smallwood, in London. He was Fido #33, and first started in early 1984. Talk about pioneering ... not too much was heard from him over here, due mainly to the incompatibilities, the time differences and the expense of overseas phone calls. Ron is not running Fidos anymore, but he kept things going long enough for others to pick it up. I did not get to meet Ron, I ran out of time and had to leave, but I'm sure we will meet in the future. I'm sure I missed or glossed over many important points, if there are any questions or corrections please feel free, etc. And thanks once again for everyone involved for the very pleasant and informative trip to Europe! ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 6 16 Dec 1985 ============================================================ NEWS ============================================================ LET'S GET IN TOUCH! Fido is such a great tool. There are now literally hundreds of Fido Bulletin Boards across the nation and the inter- national list is growing too. These boards provide a rich exchange of public domain software, technical questions and answers and can also be an interesting social environment. In addition to these technically-oriented boards, a number of non-techie boards are springing up. They are focused around some "special interest." For example, there are a number of boards with a medical bent, boards dedicated to music and concert reviews, etc. Sometimes these boards are not very visible and are hard to find just by browsing the board names in the Fido Node List. That is the reason we are writing this little public announcement. There are a number of boards in the net who have a "special interest" in the Gay & Lesbian Community. We'd like to let all of our gay brothers and sisters out there know who we are. The boards listed below are places that you can get in touch with the Gay & Lesbian Community. You can use these boards as a social tool and also to read and exchange information about current events and issues of importance to us all. So give us a call and let's exchange some ASCII! Bernal Bears Board San Francisco, CA 125/448 415-648-3014 1200 24 hrs Community News Board Costa Mesa, CA 102/504 714-631-5859 1200 7pm - 12pm Compu Cruise San Jose, CA 143/4 408-275-9326 1200 24 hrs Fidoplex Memphis, TN 123/2 901-377-8180 2400 8pm - 10am Laguna Xroads Laguna Beach, CA 102/522 714-494-5272 1200 24 hrs West Hollywood GBBS West Hollywood, CA 102/112 213-874-9484 2400 24 hrs We've also discovered many gay-empathetic boards, many of which have "special interest" sections among the technical! Are there any other gay Fido BBSes out there? If so, please make yourself known. There is some talk about establishing Fidonews Page 7 16 Dec 1985 a Gay Fido Network. In fact the boards in Northern Califor- nia have already been doing this for some time. This is a sensitive time for our community. We can use each other's support. We empower each other by communicating! ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 8 16 Dec 1985 Butch Walker 10/620 Multilink, Jram, & Bulletin Boards This is more of a request for help than it is an article. It seems that I am not the only Sysop having trouble with the above combination. I have talked to other Sysop's around the country and find that they also have problems with Multilink, JRam boards, and Bulletin Board software. For whatever reason, our systems will lock or crash periodically for no apparent reason. I know that several boards are running Multilink successfully without the JRam board. Allen's board (Fido 108/10) is an example. However it seems that when you add the JRam board, whether the JRam AT, or JRam 8, the problems start. Neither Tall Trees, nor Software Link are much help at solving the problem. I have talked to them repeatedly, and Rudy Gordon (Sysop of The Machine) has talked to them for the last 4 months. The problem is the same whether you run Fido as I do, or RBBS as Rudy does. What we need is for anyone that has experienced the same problem to get in touch with me. Please put out the word to non Fido boards as well. We need to put some pressure on the two companies involved to get the problem solved. Frankly it makes me mad that I spent about $1,000 buying Multilink and the "approved memory board" only to have problems that the software company doesn't seem to want to correct. Just for your information, I am running a IBM AT with 256k, a JRam AT populated at 2mb with 120ns chips, Hercules color card, Princeton HX-12, Seagate 30mb, one USR 2400 internal, and a Courier 2400 external. Please send replies to me, Butch Walker - Sysop TBLUG Fido 10/620. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 9 16 Dec 1985 EJ McKernan Node 14/386 ... The "Bit Bucket" Emporia, KS (316)343-8028 300/1200/2400 Baud ... 24 Hours/day As most of my fellow fidosysops know, fido has the ability to allow someone with a SYSOP priv. level to drop to dos, execute some code (sysop utilities, edit FILES.BBS, ect...) It works great, IF (and this is a big if) one is running fido on any machine, except for the sanyo. I've often wondered why it was that the sysop 0 command croaked on the sanyo and receintly jumped in with debugger cocked to see if I could discover what was going on. For quite some time I blamed the trouble on Sanyos AUX1.SYS driver. Sanyo goofed their first try on the serial port device driver and released AUX1 as a replacement driver. It seemed to run great if you executed "CTTY AUX" immediatly after bootup, but the system locked up if you tried it after running fido_syo.exe. Well in looking at the code for fido I discovered that the transmitter is disabled in the sanyo's serial port when fido exits. One bug down. Further looking at FIDO, I discovered that the interupts are also disabled (masked out) from the UART. It seems that sanyo coded the device driver using a ring buffer on the receiver (interupt driven) and polled the xmitter if dos needed to transmit anything. Well a quick routine to enable the transmitter and turn the interupts back on fixed everything. If your running fido on a sanyo and would like copies of the above mentioned software it's available on my board, the Bit Bucket, at 316-343-8028 in the Network file area. The file is named SANINTFX.ARC. It contains AUX1.SYS from sanyo, my RUNFIDO.BAT file, and SANINTFX.COM the interupt patch routine. It also contains a modified version of watchdog called WATCHDGS.COM (watch dog sanyo.) One other item of note. You can't must remote sanyo from a terminal with 8 bits, 1 stop, no parity. Otherwise you'll get everything echoed back from DOS but nothing will be accepted as valid keystrokes. Finally...I can remote sysop my FIDO! ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 10 16 Dec 1985 " THE BULLETIN BOARD " NET 106 NODE 100 HOUSTON TEXAS SYSOP CARL PIPKIN SYSOP CAROLYN PIPKIN We are starting a new data base in the Houston area and we are asking the help of all Fido Nodes to help me build up my Data Base. We have a lot of programs to offer our users but we are going to run short in a little while because of the great response to our system. We are offering programs in a variety of areas. But since the board is up 24 hrs there's not enough time to download programs from other boards to offer first class service to our users. So thats why I am asking the help of all of my fidonet operators to Net Mail me some Free Ware programs to help build up our Data Base " THE BULLETIN BOARD" we are on the Fidonet Network as Node 100 Net 106 Baud Rate 300 Phone No. 1-713-590-4609 any Free Ware Programs would be greatly appreciated in these areas: (1) Word Processing Programs (2) Utilities Programs (3) Games Programs (4) Spreadsheets Programs (5) Database Programs (6) Business Programs (7) Communications Programs (8) Artificial Intelligence Programs THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP SYSOP CARL PIPKIN ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 11 16 Dec 1985 Introduce Special Users to Fido If you are like many Fido network users, you probably demonstrate the system to friends and acquaintances who express even the mildest interest. How would you like to show the network to a group of people who could put Fido's potential to maximum use, but may not even know of it's existence? There are approximately 20,000 to 45,000 people in this country who are both deaf and blind. Some of the Deaf Blind are totally deaf and totally blind and special skills in sign language is needed to communicate with them. Others who are "hearing impaired" and blind, can be vocally instructed in the use of computers and can use computers with braille attachments. Still others are deaf and "visually impaired" and can see a CRT well enough to use the computer. It is for this third group that this article is written. Ever stop and think how often you use the phone to talk with friends? Give a thought about someone who can't use the phone normally and must use a Telecommunication Device for the Deaf (TDD), a sort of baby computer with one line of letters that bump across the display, teletype fashion. Deaf people with normal vision have little trouble with TDD's but a visually impaired person may have trouble reading the moving letters due to the speed they move and the person's restricted field of view. And they can't take their eyes off the display for an instant without losing track of what's being said unless they have a TDD model that also prints paper messages or has a "save" recorder feature - neither a satisfactory solution for the visually impaired. In addition they are limited to people who also have a TDD to talk to; or they must use the services of a volunteer relay service to get messages to friends without TDD's. How many people do you know have TDD's? How many have computers? Lots more! So why don't these D/B people use computers for communication? (just think of the use they could make of the FidoGram feature.) The problem is communications itself; someone must "communicate" and explain the system to them on a "one to one" basis. And that someone is reading this article right now. OK, you'll give it a try. Where do we find a D/B person to show Fido to? They may know even less about you than you know about them and some of them are actually in hiding from rejection. Some areas have D/B support groups, often associated with the American Association for the Deaf Blind (814 Thayer Ave., Silver Spring MD 20910). Some church and temples have a "Office for the Deaf". A call to the HELEN KELLER NATIONAL CENTER, Sands Point, Long Island NY (voice or TDD 516/944-8900) or the HKNC Field Service Supervisor, Dallas TX (214/630-4936) will get you the name and phone number of the HKNC district representative who may be able to advise you about groups to contact with a offer to help. These groups in turn will see if any of their members are interested in learning about computer communication. After you have meet a D/B person, then what? Two rules: (a) Fidonews Page 12 16 Dec 1985 Never take the advise of "experts" in D/B rehabilitation as the last word. Just like computer "experts" they're right most of the time and wrong just often enough to be human. (Yes, that includes this article.) (b) ASK. Just that: Ask! Ask the person you are trying to help how you can help, communicate with or show something to, how you can best do it. Each D/B person "see's" a little different and only he/she - not a expert - can tell you how. For the first contact, arm yourself with a black ink ballpoint or felt tip pen and white paper - NOT a pencil and yellow legal pad. Some visually impaired people need large letters. Others, due to restricted field of view, read normal size letters better. All need contrast between words and paper. Write out a short note telling the D/B person your name and explain your interest in computer communications. Describe the room the computer is located in before you take them into it - and be prepared to follow the Blind Persons Rule of Doors: "All the way Open or All the way Closed!" Clear the decks of anything bumpintoable. Ask the person if he/she can lipread; some can if conditions are right. If you have a mustache or are in a dimly lit room conditions are not right. And few D/B's can read smoke signals if you talk with a pipe in your mouth. Keep in mind that the D/B person can't look at you and the screen or keyboard at the same time so you can't "back seat drive" him/her thru Fidoland. Since you will have to give them a chance to become familiar with the CRT display, it would probably be best to put a text file on screen first to see how well they can read it. I'd suggest letting them read the Fido USERSMAN.UAL on screen first; this will save you the trouble of explaining how the system works and find out how well they can see the screen. Depending on their individual eyesight condition, some will do well with the standard size screen. Others will need larger size characters or a larger screen. Still others will be most comfortable reading small, sharp characters on a small screen like the Kaypro 2-84 / 4-84 or Radio Shack TRS-80 /4P (the portable model). LCD displays usually do not have enough contrast for a visually handicapped person to read. This will probably be the most important part of the project and will require some patience to help the person read the screen comfortably. If you have a file containing a logon of a fido node that you captured on disk, put it on the screen so the person can become familiar with the menus while they "hold still". Remember that the person may not be able to see the entire screen at the same time and will "scan" it by sections. (They may also need time to scan the room and the parts of the computer so don't start this project when your pressed for time.) Most D/B's will have some typing ability from using a TDD but will need a little time to adapt to the new keyboard. Some use Hi Marks (a red cement for the blind) to make small "bumps" on the right edge of the "F" and the left edge of the "J" keys. You might place a thin strip of masking tape on the edge of these keys to make locating them easier. The Fidonews Page 13 16 Dec 1985 concept of commands may be new to them and you may have to explain, for example that typing "M" at a menu will either get you into the Msg. section or back into Main Menu depending on where it's typed from. Another concept you may have to explain is the password security procedure. When you're sure the D/B person can use the screen and understands what's going to happen then it's time to go online. Dial up your favorite Fido node and let the person watch you "read the mail". Use 300 baud the first time (even if you have a capture buffer on) as 1200 may be too fast for some people to follow. And if your running on "Expert" mode, you might drop back into "Novice" with "M)ore On" for this project. Then give your D/B person a chance to try it him/her self and browse through a message or text file area. If you have a Sysop in your area who's always read to chat at the touch of a Y)ell key, give the D/B person a chance to "talk" to him/her as this "one to one" feature may be important; they will be comparing it to the TDD. (Best to make advance arrangements with the Sysop.) Be sure to explain that many Sysop's are not usually available. In addition to message posting and retrieval, explain the Fido ham telegram setup and it's restrictions (especially msg length). If they have out of state friends, and no one to make calls for them, this feature will be important. And finally, be prepared with some realistic information if he/she asks about buying his/her own computer, including pricing information. Keep in mind that the least expensive system may not be suitable for a handicapped person. Few blind people can comfortably read a Radio Shack 100. A person who can't hear a dial tone will want a Auto-Dial modem. The ability of the computer to run a program with a text file download capture buffer is almost a must for someone who can't read a screen quickly; they can always grab all the messages and exit the board to read them, then return to post answers to messages. Showing a deaf, partly blind person the Fido network may take time and patience and you will have to reexamine some of the things you take for granted. But for a D/B persons with few communication options, you will be opening the world for them. Stu Turk (User, Fido 129/13 or 129/384) ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 14 16 Dec 1985 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : : :FREE CHRISTMAS FIDOGRAM DEADLINE: : : :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The deadline for free Christmas Fidograms to arrive at 101/105 is December 20th. this should give our packet switching systems and other network sufficient time to route your messages. What are Fidograms, you say? Egads! - We've accepted Fidograms all the way from Sweden, Alberta and Holland, bound for every which way, and you don't even know about them yet? Sheesh... OK - a brief recap. Fidograms are your way of sending free personal telegrams to almost anyone in the USA who has access to a voice telephone. Just like Western Union. You provide us with your complete name, address and fone number, as well as the same complete data for the addressee of the Fidogram. Naturally, you want to provide us with the text of the Fidogram (20 words, more or less max), and a signature. That's it - we take it from there. Your Fidograms are routed from Fido 101/105 via Amateur Packet Radio at 1200 bauds into our networks, and are relayed by radio across town, or across the country until they reach the city of ultimate destination, at which point they are telephoned to the addressee. There are no limits to the number of Free Fidograms that you can send, but there ARE limits as to the contents. Nothing related to business or the making of profit to any persons may be contained in a Fidogram. You can send Fidograms to certain countries overseas, but only those whose governments have the necessary agreements with our government. Those that do include Canada, Mexico and many central and south American countries, but virtually none in Europe. If your local Fido does not yet have the file describing Fidograms, contact me at 101/105 and I'll try to get it to you. One more reminder - college and University Fidos should consider "advertising" free Fidograms during the week preceding Valentine's day. Terminals placed in college cafeterias usually net us several thousand Fidograms each year - bundles of fun! Enjoy. Luck Hurder 101/105 Cape Cod Fido ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 15 16 Dec 1985 ============================================================ COLUMNS ============================================================ FidoNet Musings by Ben Baker - 100/76 Thom has asked me if I would do a regular (or at least semiregular) column for the newsletter. It is with some misgivings that I undertake this venture. I enjoy writing on occasion when the mood strikes me, but the thought of a weekly deadline is very unsettling. My wife is the journalist in the family. Several years ago she worked for a chain of local newspapers and did a weekly column which appeared in several of them. I can still remember the days she would sit dowm at the typewriter with a blank page and nothing to say. At those times even the cats tip-toed around the house! Thom has given me no guidance as to format or content. I interpret this as having a good deal of latitude, and I shall make the most of it as I meander from subject to subject. It is incredible to me that Fido was conceived only two years ago this month, the brain-child of Tom Jennings and John Madill. I first became involved when I put up version 4 in March of 84 and was "officially listed" as Fido # 10 in April. Those were the days of at least three new software releases a week. I can recall at least one occasion when two new versions were released the same day, only hours apart. I had considered doing an "early history" piece for this first column, but things happened so fast and furious that, on reflection, it's all a blur! Unfortunately, none of us kept a journal (how could we know we were making history) and Fido's early history can, at best, only be approximated. I'm not sure how the idea of "the network" got started. I recall a telephone conversation or two with TJ in which he talked about the concept in abstract terms. "I have no intention of doing it, but wouldn't it be neat if. . ." Within a week, we had version 6 and FidoNet was born! I think that may have been June. I think the phrase "Wouldn't it be neat if. . ." is as responsible as anything for many of Fido's features. Of course, each new feature usually broke two or three old features and could be counted on to supply at least four new releases. Not all the features this phrase spawned were necessarily good. I remember when TJ added "broadcast" to FidoNet. The first version of this feature had an interesting bug. Whenever Fido received a broadcast message, it would rebroadcast it. Sort of an automated Fidonews Page 16 16 Dec 1985 electronic chain letter. A single message could have, in a week's time, choked the network! We never did get the feature to work properly, and when we passed through about forty nodes on the net, we decided we didn't want it to work right and it was removed. Our early node lists were, at best, only about seventy percent accurate. I recall two weeks of trying unsuccess- fully to send a message to a new node in Texas. Finally I dialed the number one day and a mechanical operator informed me "The number you have dialed has been changed. The new number is. . ." A call to the new number connected me with a real person. When I told her that my information was that an electronic bulletin board was supposed to answer the first number, she explained that the board was her son's. He had accidently reversed his voice and board numbers in his request for a node number. After several nights of being awakened out of a sound sleep by incessant phone jangling between three and four am., they had changed their number. Anecdotes abound, but my wife tells me a column shouldn't be too long. (I think she wants to limit the amount of proof reading sne has to do.) I would like to hear from you with suggestions for future topics, questions about FidoNet, whatever. Send FidoNet mail to 100/76. I will try to respond directly to all messages, and some with broad general interest I will share with you here. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 17 16 Dec 1985 Why You Should Use A Retail Store By Robert Bova President, MicroAge-Downtown Computer Store Lexington, Kentucky Nowadays you can buy a computer from almost anybody. Toy stores, discount stores and by mail-order. But from most of these "computer stores" all you get is a computer or some software which may or may not run in your computer. You get very little, if any, help in figuring out how to connect the cables or learning how to use the machine. After all, how do you get training by mail-order? But if you purchase a computer from a good retail computer store (and the key is finding a good computer retailer), you get more than just hardware and software -- you get a human being, one who will spend the time necessary to teach you how to use your computer. This is called SUPPORT. Support takes many forms. Not the least is the skill your sales representative has in guiding you in your purchase of equipment and software. True, no computer store can carry everything and every brand, but today's retail computer store sales representative generally has a wide selection of computer brands and software from which to choose. If the salesperson (who should really be more than a salesperson, but a guide in the often confusing world of computer hype) is doing his job, he or she can size up your requirements for computer power. Often a good computer salesperson will determine a client's needs would best be served by a less-expensive computer configuration. In many ways, today's professional computer salesperson is a consultant to the purchaser's business, rather than just someone trying to sell as much as possible to the customer. That isn't always the case, but new professionalism has come to computer retailers. It had to happen since we all want your repeat business. A good computer dealer will follow up the sale with effective and comprehensive training. He'll pre-test your computer at his shop, install it and then re-check it at your location. Plus he'll train you and your employees in its every function. Fidonews Page 18 16 Dec 1985 From hardware to software, you should know your computer and its uses after the dealer has completed his initial installation. The job isn't done here. A good dealer will stay with you until you are confident that you can make your new computer an invaluable asset. Then he'll provide follow-up support, maintenance and the consultation required to insure your success. A good dealer will make available to you reliable, tried and tested hardware and software, all sized and priced to fit your present requirements, but with the ability to grow as your needs expand. And, more importantly, the dealer makes sure you'll never be alone in your computer needs. A local computer retailer provides conveience as well. The store is nearby and you can usually test software and hardware in the store to get a feel for how it works. No ad, no matter how flashy, in a magazine can give you the feel of "hands-on" experience. And you know that if you have a problem after the sale, your local computer dealer is just going to be a local phone call away for aid and comfort. If it isn't a sale, those folks with the 800 numbers in California that sell at a discount, don't want to hear from you at their expense. My advice? Find a consultant you feel comfortable working with at a local computer store. Explain your computer needs with him or her, then give the salesperson a chance to evaluate your situation and make recommendations. Then expect your consultant to follow through with support, that magic word, which should lead to satisfaction. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 19 16 Dec 1985 Allen Miller 108/10 Fido with Multilink I would like to find out how many of you are running Fido along with Multilink multitasking software. If you are, or know of another Fido system that is, please send me a message letting me know the name of the system running Multilink (to Fido 108/10 @ 513/579-2587). One consequence, that I have found, of running Fido with Multilink is that the elapsed time computation that Fido does is off by a factor of 2 (2 if you run 2 Multilink partitions). This means that if you set your session time limit at 60 minutes, a user is really allowed to be on for 120 minutes. You can compensate for this by changing your time limit parameter to 30 if you really want to have people able to stay on for 60 minutes. The catch is in the file trans-fer transaction. If a user wants to download a file that would take 35 (real) minutes, Fido says that there is not enough time remaining even though your intention was to permit 60 minutes of wall time. A friend of mine is writing a program to work in conjunction with Fido & Multilink to correct for this elapsed time distortion. Part of the reason for this solicitation is to evaluate the usefulness of this program to a wider audience. Once again, please let me know of any Fido systems that are running with Multilink. Regards, Allen 12/08/85 ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 20 16 Dec 1985 Rainbow Corner by Theodore Needleman Welcome to Rainbow Corner. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm the guy from Business Software Beat. So much for introductions. What is "Rainbow Corner"? My hope is that it is someplace where friends will gather to talk about the DEC Rainbow. What hardware is available from DEC and other vendors to enhance it? How about software - how can we accomplish what we want to? The "Corner" was created because of requests from you, our readers, for more coverage and information on the micro side of the street. (Our Editor: "Hello Ted - Our readers are asking for more micro coverage, so we're adding a Rainbow column. Want to write it?" ME: "Well...Ah...Um...Sure!") The column comes at an auspicious time. Last week (this is being written in mid February) DEC announced it is switching the plant used for production of Rainbows over to the production of "OTHER SYSTEMS". Rumors abound. My local Digital Systems Center is claiming that production of the Rainbow is being moved to Hong Kong. Other sources say that the Rainbow 100 series is dead - when (and if) production starts up again, it will be of a new model. I've heard rumors of a completely IBM-PC compatible Rainbow, and of a lap-top Rainbow. Someone has even suggested to me that DEC will be coming out with a coprocessor system that will run both VAX and MS-DOS. Are any of these rumors true? Who knows? Only DEC, and they're not saying! In any case, there's no reason to feel abandoned. In the coming weeks Rainbow Corner will review hardware add-ons that will make your system more powerful. Numerous requests for review software have gone out, and some very interesting packages have already started to arrive. One last point before we move on to other business. The "Corner" exists as a place to share information. If there is something you are particularly interested in, drop me a line and I'll try to cover it. The same offer goes for your questions. If I don't have (or can't find) an answer, maybe another reader will be able to help. The Rainbow is a well designed and engineered computer. Its biggest defect seems to be the dearth of information available about it. Hopefully, the "Rainbow Corner" will help fill the void. Before I close this week's column, I'd like to briefly discuss an interesting piece of software that came across my desk recently. As most of you no doubt know, the "Print Screen" key works only when you are in "Terminal" Mode. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to accomplish a screen dump at other times? An inexpensive ($39.95) utility called "PRINT-SCREEN" from Micro Resources Inc., (154 Needam Street, Newton, MA., 02164, phone 617/965-2890) gives you this capability with CP/M-86/80 (versions 1 & 2) and MS-DOS (versions 2.01 & 2.05). It has a few limitations, such as not being able to print graphics screens or the Set-up mode Fidonews Page 21 16 Dec 1985 screen, but for the price, it is a worthwhile addition to your utility library. That's it for now. See you next issue. (c)opyright 1985 by Ted Needleman-all rights reserved ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 22 16 Dec 1985 ============================================================ WANTED ============================================================ Rob Elliott Fido #115/100 In Search of Rainbow BBS's If you know of any BBS's or public access mainframe systems serving the DEC Rainbow (or other DEC PC's too) that are not listed below, please send a FidoNet message to Illini Data Services Fido #115/100 with information on the BBS. FidoNet Fido Systems -------------------- 11/600 15/1002 17/22 17/28 19/67 100/16 100/17 100/22 100/51 101/14 101/27 101/44 101/45 101/111 101/112 101/202 101/310 101/367 101/4601 102/101 102/104 102/109 102/110 102/111 102/301 102/501 102/508 102/701 107/1 107/2 107/17 107/23 107/31 107/55 108/50 109/74 109/483 109/601 114/3 115/100 115/444 121/90 124/2 124/10 125/1 129/14 129/15 132/107 132/620 132/615 141/320 141/491 143/5. Other bulletin boards --------------------- SF PC LUG, CAMPPUS, Scherer's, DEC MARKET, DEC PDL, Latin Express, The Land, Albuquerque PC LUG, Oz. Illini Data Services maintains three lists of Rainbow BBS's (entitled DECBBS.LST, DECBB.LST, and DEC4BBS.LST) that are available for downloading on many of the listed boards. If you do not have access to the list, you can download it from Fido #115/100 or send us a message and we'll send the latest updates via FidoNet to you. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 23 16 Dec 1985 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 24 16 Dec 1985 ============================================================ NOTICES ============================================================ The Interrupt Stack 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. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to Fido 1/1. ------------------------------------------------------------ Fidonews Page 25 16 Dec 1985