Volume 5, Number 22 30 May 1988 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief Dale Lovell Editor Emeritus: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Contributing Editors: Al Arango FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. Copyright 1988 by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. 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. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 To FidoCon or not to FidoCon ............................. 1 Computers and Kids ....................................... 2 The ChessLine System: .................................... 4 Networking. What the hell is it, and what's in it for ... 6 NODELIST Crisis -- Past, or Coming? ...................... 12 2. COLUMNS .................................................. 15 Are You Afraid! .......................................... 15 Top Downloads 5/13/88 - 5/20/88 .......................... 17 3. FOR SALE ................................................. 19 4. NOTICES .................................................. 20 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 20 FidoCon'88 Special ....................................... 20 And more! FidoNews 5-22 Page 1 30 May 1988 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Tim Sullivan 108/62 Those of you still sitting on the fence about attending this year's FidoCon in Cincinnati lend me your ears (eyes in this case). [guilt trip on] [tongue in cheek] Here we sit in Cincinnati working ourselves way too hard planing for the BEST conference this group has ever seen... and for what! Where are the registrations? Where's the commitment from our FidoNet compatriots? I see people in echos talking about how this, that or another thing can be resolved at FidoCon. Frankly I don't know how anything can be resolved if no one shows. 50 vendors are going to have a great time talking to 20 attendees! At least I know I have a one in twenty chance of winning the airline ticket we are giving away! wait....hmmm.... on second thought don't register... don't come! I have that much more likelihood of winning one of the modems too! hehehe this is great... I could use another modem and a trip to California...... bye. [tongue out of cheek] [guilt trip off] See you here in August. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 2 30 May 1988 Claude Witherspoon Fido 100/525 Kids Echo Conference and the KidsNews NewsLetter I got aquainted with the computer field about a year ago while serving this great nation with a career in the U.S. Army at an aviation unit. I was at my desk minding my own buisness when this little guy with a big truck dropped three Zenith Z-248's in front of my desk. I had never seen a computer up close till then. The computers sat there for a few days awaiting instructions. Finally, my curiosity getting the best of me, we decided to pull them out of the box. They were impressive in relation to the old typewriter. I dug through some manuels and found an operators book and finally got the things plugged in and making noises. One thing led to another and I found that I was not watching the clock like I used to do. I began to get home later and later each night. This continued for months. Each day something new would pop up on the screen. Then one day it happened. I learned to operate the modem!... I was really hooked then. My brother, Paul Witherspoon, who is also my technical advisor, took me by the hand one day and showed me the wonderful world of the Bulletin Board System. I knew right then that I was a goner. I began to ask millions of questions about the possible use of these bulletin boards. I began driving my brother crazy with my innocent curiosity of what these things could do and what "I" could make them do. While all this was going on, I was constantly proding my entire family with the thoughts of a home system of our own. Once the kids were involved with the games, it wasn't to hard to convince "Moma" (Instant sitter, ah ha!). That day finally happened and things started going pretty fast then. We got a Net/Node number which is like seeing your name in the phone book. Your somebody now!... Our new system was a joy to behold. Loaded with a BBS. Time went on and I noticed the children were always on the computer when I would arrive home. They were constantly burried in one game or the other and just as excited as I was when I started. They were very forceful in their joy about their new discoveries. Much like I was. I noticed a little of myself in what they were doing. This led me to the thoughts of possibly letting the kids run the BBS. Then a kids area was developed and the more I spoke with my brother, the more things started to grow. I got my daughter, Brandy Witherspoon, involved in publishing a KidsNews Newsletter all on her own. This started to take on more and more shape as time passed. Contributions to the newsletter were sent in and published with recognition to the the sender. Also, birthdays and special events went into the newsletter. Kids and adults were requesting the newsletter FidoNews 5-22 Page 3 30 May 1988 through messages in the echo. Distribution was very limited due to the audience which it was targeted for and the lack of knowledge on my part on exactly how to get it distributed. Still have problems there!... One day I was reading through my messages and there was one from Don Daniels, President of the International FidoNet Association, Melville, NY. He informed me of IFNA's interest in promoting the use of FidoNet for various endeavors that should accrue to the common good of mankind. He suggested that I contact David Drexler, Net/Node 147/1, to possibly combine our efforts with what David was doing with the "International Pen Pals". I checked with my brother and off the message went. David answered and was very pleased that someone else shared his interest in the children. David also mentioned a possible connection to Australia through the Telenet. This may be a reality sometime in the future? Somewhere in California there is a connection to Australia. David, your a saint. Please continue with us and we can rest assured that computing and children can lead us to a future of unlimited possibility. The KIDS Echo Conference is now on the Region 19 Backbone run by Tony Davis, 147/9, in Oklahoma City. So look for it to be a developing concept with International interest. I would like to thank all those involved with the development of a tool to insure this great nation's growth through our children. I feel certain that the best interest of our kids is being looked after through your efforts. The kids may not say it sometimes. But we can see it through thier eyes and actions. They too are pleased with you. I plan to write future articles if this one is accepted with the kids best interest in mind. I will also keep you updated on the growth of the KIDS Echo either through this newsletter or the kids newsletter. Thanks for your time in reading this. My kids thank you also. Hopefully we have generated a spark of interest in what the echo is all about. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 4 30 May 1988 Edward Hawes Fast-BBS 106/132 I wanted to let all sysops know about our new CHESSLINE system available for bbs operations. The ChessLine will give your BBS that extra feature which will attract the kind of users you want. Do you ever get tired of seeing users call in, skim the message base, then go to the files section? The ChessLine makes your board more interesting by giving them something else to do. Chess has been around for centuries, and unlike other past times, has not been harmed by the computer age. In fact, have you ever noticed that of the people you know who are interested in computers, probably more of them play chess than do not? While the game does not require a genius to play, it does attract people who are at least interested in exercising their intellectual dexterity. This is a prerequisite to personal computing and goes hand in hand with the users of a bulletin board system. The ChessLine operates in a fashion similar to 'postal chess'. A user will call your BBS, enter The ChessLine, make his move, and exit. His opponent will call later, enter The ChessLine, make his move, and then exit. What makes The ChessLine more interesting than postal chess is that you don't have to wait on the US mail. The ChessLine will store all moves and when your user calls, will set up an on-screen chessboard with the last played position shown. All moves entered are checked for their legality, as The ChessLine will permit no illegal moves. All legal moves including castling, enpassents, and pawn promotions are allowed. The ChessLine will terminate the game as soon as one player check-mates the other or if the game becomes stalemated or a player resigns. We have also added some other options to Chesline for you and your users enjoyment : 1.. The ability to leave short comments to the other player 2.. Sysop chat mode (with auto word-wrap) 3.. Sysop online play with user 4.. Netmail play (see Netmail doc's) 5.. List of all moves 6.. The ability to take back moves 7.. View other games in progress 8.. Online Help FUTURE ADDITIONS (Already under developement) 1.. U.S. CHESS Federation ranking system.. 2.. Node to Node interactive play.. CLMAIL.EXE This utility is the most exciting aspect of Chesline.. Clmail is the Net-mail utility that will send moves to any board in the E-Mail Network that has ChessLine installed. Let me explain. You see Clmail creates a outbound message with the record enclosed.. So if you wanted to play a game with a user in Washington D.C.,you make your move and clmail will send it across the wire to the Node in Washington then the FidoNews 5-22 Page 5 30 May 1988 move applied to chesline on that board.. The next day the user in Washington would send his move to your board through Clmail and so on and so on... Now that i have you confuzed lets make it worse... Say you have 20 games going on and 3 of them are network games to 3 different nodes, Clmail will automatically create the outbound messages with the node numbers there going to. (Have I got your attention?) This is a great concept because you can now play National Chess without having to call another board with procomm or whatever and sign on and go through lond distance networks just to make a move.. Now with CLmail you make all your moves locally and your mail system handles the rest..(NEAT HUH?) We are presently working on a player list utility that will list all Chessline players nationally and rank them according to U.S. Chess Federation rules and regulations then create a listing that will be distributed to all Chesline nodes so the users can select by player and ranking!! (Exciting HUH?) Well Im sure you can see how this could grow into a Chess Net! We are very excited about the possibilities this could bring... The program Clmail was written by James Brown at Brown BBS in Houston. Many Thanks to his hard work and dedication to the expansion of Chesline and the idea for the Net-Mail application. This concept has broken new ground in the E-mail Network and blazed a new path for bbs games.. THANKS James Brown.. WE APPRECIATE THE WORK!! Notes: Chesline is a very high quality program designed with the sysop in mind. It is written in assembler and uses ansi graphics for the display. It also uses RAM for file processing so the speed is kept to a maximum. It monitors the carrier and has it's own ansi interpreter so you don't have to load ansi.sys and you can still see everything on your screen that the user sees. It will allow a max of 200 games and is set up to run under multiple nodes. It will automatically get the user's name and will run at 2400/1200/300 even 9600 baud. Thise version will have the ability for the sysop to play online with user and has a chat mode as well. This program was specifically designed for opus but will run on PCBoard,Quik-BBS,GTPowercomm,RBBS. For more information on Chesline call Edward V. Hawes voice= 713 392-7801 data=713 392-0093 or James Brown voice=713 485-4993 BHC SOFTWARE 3120 SOUTHWEST FRW #400 Houston Texas 77098 Call my data number to check it out! see ya PLEASE SUPPORT THIS PRODUCT SO WE CAN GROW THE CHESS-NET!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 6 30 May 1988 Networking What the hell is it, and what's in it for me? By David Rice (1:103/506.0) 714-662-2294 The LAN (Local Area Network) is currently one of the fastest growing computer products in the business world today. In 1987 the Office Computing Group (one of the first to mass-market Net products) installed 420,000 LANs, 75% of which were in the United States. There are currently plans to place another 400,000 in 1988. The conservative estimate stands at over 3,000,000 PCs currently connected to LANs in the U.S. business world. Latest forecasts expect from 40% to 60% of business in the U.S. will have some sort of LAN set up and running by 1992. But what's a LAN? A LAN (Local Area Network) can include anything (and everything) from a large collection of dumb terminals hooked up to a controller via interfaces, to massive mainframe corporate computers sharing a common data base. For our purposes I will define a LAN as a collection of PCs in an office (or home) environment, all connected together over high-speed cables for the sole purpose of sharing common equipment, data bases, and message bases. These devices may include printers, hard (or floppy) disk drives, specified paths on a specified drive, and even modems. The methods of accomplishing these tasks are many and varied. Since there are so many different types of commercial hardware and software to set up a LAN, I will have to limit this article to the "Big Three", with side mentions of the Biggest Fourth, which is the most common. Why I'm not going to cover this most common LAN will become apparent later on. First I will cover the major TYPES of LANs. The first type of LAN to arrive, from "Corvus Constellation and Nestar Systems" in 1979 was/is what's known as a "Linear Bus Topology." That is, a main cable ("Bus Cable") is routed from one end of the building to the other, with the "Work Stations" (more about them later) hooked up by just dropping a line from this Bus to the "Network Interface Card" (NIC) in the PC. The Following Figure 1 is an example of Linear Bus. With this configuration, each Work Station listens to the main bus line, waiting for something addressed to it to come along. When the Work Station discovers that the bus is quiet, it may make a request by introducing information to this bus line. For instance, Work Station 1 may want a file from Work Station 2's hard disk. Work station 2 will be listening to the bus line, as well as Work Station 1. When Work Station 1 hears that the bus is quiet, it sends a message to Work Station 2 saying "Send Me ORGY.EXE" please. Since all the WS (Work Stations) are listening, WS 2 will see that the message was meant for it, and FidoNews 5-22 Page 7 30 May 1988 if the passwords are correct, it will send the file. What if two or more WS attempt to use the bus at the same time? A collision occurs. This is why this type of LAN is called a "Contention" type. When the bus is contended, both WSs wait a random number of nanoseconds and then try again. The well known, and excellent LAN, "Ethernet" is this type of LAN. The Ethernet is very fast, at 10,000,000 Bits Per Second data transmission. "StarLAN" is also this kind of LAN, and it runs at 1,000,000 BPS. We'll call Ethernet Top 1, as it is one of the best sellers of Net products. The second topology is called "Star Wire Ring," as it has a common "file server" at the center, with multiple WS running off of it. Novelle NetWare uses this topology under the ArcNet Protocol, which runs at 2,500,000 BPS. ArcNet is very easy to set up and run, uses coax, and is low cost ($250 approximately per NIC (Network Interface Card)). We'll call this Top 2. No doubt you have heard of the third best-seller. IBM Token Ring uses the Token Passing Protocol, under the Star Wire Ring or Distributed Star topology. "Ring" means that, unlike the bus cable that terminates at both ends, the main cable is connected in a circle, with the WS connected parallel to this main ring. The ring is quite different than the bus method. As the bus method, each WS listens in on the ring, but one at a time! What happens is that the file server passes a "Token" to one WS. That is, the server says "Ok, Work Station 1, you have the Token. What, if anything, would you like to do with the network?" If WS 1 doesn't have anything it wants to do, IT PASSES THE TOKEN to WS 2, and it is now up to WS 2 to figure out if it wants to do anything on the net. If not, it in turn passes the Token. This way, each WS waits its turn, and collisions are not possible. The IBM Token Ring Network runs at 4,000,000 BPS and is high cost. A connector alone costs $25.00, with the NIC around $450. The cable connecting the NIC to the wall connector costs $79.90 when I called IBM. The prices WILL be lower if one buys from a distributor instead of IBM directly. However, IBM Token Ring is very dependable and predictable. It uses "Type 1" cable, which is two pairs of twisted 12 gauge solid wire, in a sturdy casing. Each pair is tied together, so in essence the cable is "two conductor" even though there are four wires in it. This double duty makes it an excellent problem-free cabling system, though an expensive one. The Token Ring Connectors are gender-generic (a term I just made up), in that there is no male or female. Every connector will plug into every other connector. The money you save on gender changers you will spend on these damn connectors (!) but they are very handy and extremely reliable. FidoNews 5-22 Page 8 30 May 1988 Coax cable systems can handle very high data transmission speeds, which is why Ethernet uses Coax. There is a problem with some coax, as it may not meet the fire safety standards in some areas. Whoever installs the coax had damn well better know ahead of time. Burning coax can be deadly. The nice thing about the older version of Ethernet is that they use their own cable, as IBM does, and it meets fire safety standards and exceeds them in some specs. The cable of Ethernet, however, is thick, bright yellow, and a swatting pain in the ass to lay down! Coax cables may be terminated very cheaply, but the reliability is subject to wild fluctuations depending on how you do it. There are coax connectors that just screw on, after the installer strips back the jacket to expose the shield and cuts back the center tap. These should be avoided, but are serviceable. That is, if it were MY Net, I'd shoot the person who hands them to me. They work fine, true, but just yank on the cable, or look at it mean-like, and see what happens! My suggestion is that if one (perhaps you) are using these, set up a schedule to re-terminate them one at a time. It doesn't need to be done all at once, that is. Please note that this is a personal opinion. The better coax connector will crimp on. I suggest again that the right tool be used for the job, so invest in a REAL coax stripper. These will usually remove the jacket, cut the shield, and expose the center tap, all to desired dimentions (!) all at the same time. If you are using coax, you owe it to yourself, and the person paying for your time, to get one of these strippers! At $100 to $135, the time you save will very quickly pay for the cost of the stripper. This one tool will do more for making a reliable coax based LAN than any secondary component. A sharp knife is what I used to use, and though this method works fine, I'd fire any employee I saw using it. How much is your employee's fingers worth to you? Please, get the right tool. There are many coax crimpers available. AMP sells excellent ones. The crimper MUST be for the right "class" of coax. Using a type 1 crimper on a type 2 coax cable won't work well, if at all. That said, I will mention that there is a third type of LAN. This is called RS-232c or "Zero Slot LANs." That is, it is a software package that runs the comports on your PC as if it was an NIC. A very good, cheep LAN of this sort is made by EasyLAN, which supports from 2 to 18 users, runs at 19,200 baud on a PC and 56,000 baud on an AT. The price for two users is $220, with an additional $120 for each additional user. The Zero Slot LAN is excellent for home use, though it may be very good in the business environment. If you wish to hook up your two computers at home together, as in hooking up your bulletin board on the kitchen table to the PC in the study to use the study computer's hard disk for more storage, this is a FidoNews 5-22 Page 9 30 May 1988 very low cost way of doing so. At 19,200 baud it may take awhile to transfer the proper file from the study to the BBS, but what the heck? The user is running at 2,400 baud any ways so she/he isn't waiting for your LAN to catch up! If 19,200 baud isn't fast enough for you, that's ok, too. For $149.50 per work station you may get 115,200 BPS for up to 6 work stations. This is from Knowledge Network, and may be ideal for the home, or in the small office environment. This system is perfectly serviceable, cheep, and easy to set up, but compared to the NIC based LANs, the speed is crippling. The Zero Slot LAN is the lowest cost one. It is a Contention type LAN. LANs encourage sharing and communication. Many businesses have standard operating procedures (SOPs) that one must follow to be productive in their environment. The LAN forces the user to follow set procedures for every user, with no excuses. The Vice President must follow the same SOPs as every person who uses the LAN, so the rouge employees who insist on using Word Star when MultiMate is the corporate standard, or the employees who use DbaseIII when everyone else wants the files in R:Base System V, will have to bear the responsibility to learn the standards set by Those Who Rule. That's tough, guys, but productivity is the issue, and after all the employee will benefit by the extra training. Most LANs support a user message base, where every user may communicate with any and every other user. The manager who broadcasts a message to her/his supervisors can get feedback immediately. Some users may abuse this by passing jokes, dirty gossip, and hate mail. They must remember that the LAN manager may have a message log running, and that anything they say can and will be held against them. That means you should send stuff like "The boss is a real great guy, ain't he?" to a dummy work station, so that the boss will think highly of you. The dummy work station is so that no one else reads your message and thinks your a butt-kissing clown. Many software development houses offer LAN version of their single-user products. Lotus 1-2-3 is a good example of this. Word Perfect also provides this. Expect to pay more for the LAN version than the single-user version, and you may have to pay a licence fee for every user who uses the LAN version. Few offer site licences. The LAN Version is important, as they check the status of files before they access them. One may use a single-user version of Lotus 1-2-3 on the net, but what happens if two users are running 1-2-3 and want the same file? When the smoke clears you'll see a three-foot crater where your file server used to be (i.e. a missing or corrupt file). Heads will roll, and the Lotus Development Corporation WILL have you tossed in jail. The way around this problem is called "File Locking." FidoNews 5-22 Page 10 30 May 1988 The LAN version of the application software will "lock" the currently reading file, and no one else may use it. The whole file may be locked, or just parts of it. R:Base System V will lock records, but not the whole data file. Lotus will lock the whole spreadsheet, and no one may use it until the first user is finished with it. Version 3.0 and 4.0 of Microsoft's QuickBASIC supports file locking! If one opens a file for Read, Write, or Random, all or parts of that file may be locked. The software author does not have to program around the locking problem, therefore, because QuickBASIC handles that problem! That's why my Space Battle game for our network at work is being written in QuickBASIC. There are two types of LANs. The first is "peer-to-peer," and the second is "file-server-based." Peer-to-peer. As the name implies, each and every work station is considered equal. One may share devices freely or not, as the user wishes. If the LAN manager approves, one may share one's hard disk files with anyone, and one may get files from any other WS. This method requires that each WS be individually configured. File-server-based LANs use a central file base, which other WS use to store and retrieve files. All workstations slave to the file server. This is great for standardizing files, schedules, and memos, as there is only one copy of the document, file, or what-have-you at one time. If one trashes a file, head will roll, and the blood will run freely through the halls. Back up your LAN. If you have a file server based system, this is a must, as every WS DEPENDS on the server. If peer-to-peer, a trashed file isn't as major a problem. Some networks will run over existing telephone lines. The phone lines installed in most businesses have from 4 to 6 connectors, but only two are used. The other wires may be used for the network. Think of the money saved by not buying cable, and not having to route it through the building! The VAX often uses this method. Cabling distance is a consideration. Every cable has a maximum range it may be run before it requires a bootster. It's about 4,000 feet for coax, and perhaps 3,000 for IBM Type 1. Check the manufacturer before you buy. This is very important, as the type of cable and the distances involved will tell you if a repeater is required. Never run a memory resident program on the file server. That's just asking for trouble. Remember to protect the file server first, as it's an important link (the most) in the LAN. This includes a battery backup system in case of power failure. With many users using the same hard disk, the hard disk FidoNews 5-22 Page 11 30 May 1988 on the file server will require defragmenting now and then. A few Networking program will perform this function during lax (idle) time! Otherwise, there are many programs available to "optimize" the hard disk for you. Remember that many copy protection schemes resort to terrorist tactics, and if you optimize a hard disk after installing this software, this software may not run! Examples are Lotus 1-2-3, Chart Master, Map Master, Sign Master, Harvard Total Project Manager, just to name a very few. There are several ways to connect two LANs together. One is called a "bridge," which connects two like LANs. That is, connecting two Token Ring Nets, or two Ethernets. A "Router" will connect two LANs with similar network level protocols, but differing informational packet formats. The "Gateway" will connect just about any kind of LAN to just about any other. It is extremely costly, though. The following is some information you may wish to look into if you plan on starting a LAN. EasyLAN, mentioned above. Phone (408) 738-8377. Their package is Zero Slot LAN type, through the comports. Currently supports from 2 to 18 users. Knowledge Network. Supports up to 6 users, phone (408) 739-6800. 3+ is supplied by 3Com, from Mountain View, California. The price is around $900.00 for from 1 to 5 users, and around $1800 for unlimited users. It is file-server-based. NICs it supports are 3Com Ethernet, IBM Token Ring, StarLAN, and Appletalk. VINES & VINES/286, by Banyan Systems in Westboro, MA. Suggested price is $1,895.00 per file server. NICs supported are IBM Token Ring, 3Com Ethernet, SMC ArcNet, Proteon Pronet, Corvus Omninet, and others. It is a very good system, but limited in RAM accessing. PC Network Program by IBM, Armonk Yew York. The price is $125 per user and requires 3.1 DOS or higher. It supports the IBM Token Ring Adapter NIC only. As far as I know, the IBM Token Ring Adapter NIC will NOT work with the OS/2 model 50 or higher. Oh. The single most common LAN in use today? It's called "Sneakernet," where one puts on a good pair of running sneakers, picks up a floppy, and carries it to another PC. It is the cheapest LAN available to date, and presumably the slowest. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 12 30 May 1988 NODELIST Crisis -- Past, or Coming? by Ben Baker -- 44/76 I'm sure most of you are aware of the recent minor crisis with the FidoNet nodelist. Let me first explain what happened. In order to generate a difference file, MakeNL must first perform an analytic comparison of last week's nodelist and the one it just created. Traditional programs to perform this task have been notoriously slow because of the inordinate amount of I/O required to resynchronize the input files once a difference has been detected. MakeNL uses an algorithm which allows it to resynchronize in memory, without performing any I/O, thus speed- ing the process significantly. But when an algorithm depends on a limited resource, such as system memory, the limits of the re- source translate to limits on the algorithm. Two bad assumptions conspired to precipitate the "crisis." I thought MakeNL's difference analyzer was limited to between 9,000 and 10,000 lines of input, or more than 4,500 lines per file. And I was not keeping close track of the nodelist size, but thought it was around 3,500 lines, yielding about a 25% safety factor. Actually , the two numbers collided at just over 4,000 lines! And at a time when another "minor crisis" was oc- curring with another of my utilities! "When it rains. . ." Version 2.11 of MakeNL has now been released which corrects the problem by dividing large input files into segments of man- ageable size and analyzing differences of the segments indepen- dently. Some clever (if I do say so myself) resynchronizing of the segment boundaries in the input files results in difference files of near optimum size. From the point of view of MakeNL's difference analyzer at least, nodelists may now grow arbitrarily large! As an aside, while working on the difference analyzer, I discovered a benign, but annoying bug which can, under unusual conditions, cause unnecessarily and unreasonably large difference files to be generated. (Take a close look at the back end of NODEDIFF.134.) While only ZCs need the correction described above right away, this bug could affect ALL MakeNL users who pro- duce difference files. For that reason, I recommend all users update to V2.11. Thus, the present "nodelist crisis" has been put to bed, but as my title suggests, there is another on the horizon. Consider this. In April, 1985 (was it really only three years ago?!) a group of us met in St. Louis to resolve another nodelist crisis. An assignment freeze was artificially holding the number of nodes at about 250. We solved the problem, TJ modified Fido, we re- leased the freeze, and by August we had doubled our size to 500 or so. The following August (1986) we met at Silicon Mountain FidoNews 5-22 Page 13 30 May 1988 FidoCon, facing another crisis. We had some 1,000 nodes and were rapidly approaching Fido's 1,200 node limit. Last August the net stood 2,000 strong(?) and I forget which software had just hit a limit. By the time we get to Cincinnati this August, the net will probably have passed the 4,000 node mark. Notice the pattern -- 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000! With tens of millions of PCs and hun- dreds of millions of phone lines in America alone, I see no rea- son for the growth rate to slow, so by extrapolation, in August, 1990 we can expect FidoNet to have around 16,000 nodes, the nodelist will be about 1.25 megabytes BIG, and the difference file will be running in excess of a hundred kilobytes! Now, let's play some number games. To keep current, each node must receive each difference file exactly once. Assume that in 1990, 6,000 nodes can arrange to do that at 9600 baud and the rest support 2400 baud. 6,000 * 2.5 + 10,000 * 10 is 115,000 minutes or 1,917*4 hours or 80 days of connect time, much of it toll, just to distribute nodelist updates EVERY WEEK. Assuming 50% toll time at ROA rates, that's more than $7,500. No wonder AT&T likes FidoNet! Now, let's assume that each system, once it gets the difference file, spends an average twenty minutes doing nodelist processing. That's 5,333.33 hours, or 222.22 days, or over seven months of computer time. That translates to several days of 3080 time. Got any idea how much that would cost? Did these stats startle you? Did I get your attention? I hope so. Folks, we do indeed have a looming crisis! It is un- likely, but there may actually be network software out there which, through clever design, has no systematic limits, but all software is limited by the availability of resources it relies on; time, memory and disk space. The burgeoning nodelist is straining all three. A recent FidoNews article "proposed" a first step toward the "phone book" concept Thom Henderson has been championing for more than a year. Jeff Sheese would have the nodelist distributed as separate zone lists. I would suggest an immediate, more radical shift to region lists. It would permit operators of smaller sys- tems with modest communications needs to pick and choose only what is needed. But even that does not solve the (not very) long term problem. The "fully coupled" network, in which the software at each node has full knowledge of all other nodes, is a good concept for small networks. But far from being the necessity Tom Jennings insists it is, it is fast becoming a luxury we can't afford. For FidoNet to survive exponential growth, it MUST become a decoupled network. To achieve that end, software will have to change -- a lot of software. The fundamental concept of network addressing is involved here. And the software will have to change in a co- ordinated manner. The sooner, the better! If you think a mas- sive update of 4,000 nodes running at least six different mail servers will be traumatic, imagine the trauma of updating 16,000 FidoNews 5-22 Page 14 30 May 1988 nodes and perhaps twenty mail servers! I appeal to the netware developers. FidoNet's growth is setting your priorities for you. At this time it is not too im- portant how you connect reply chains or adjust seen-bys in echo mail. Nor do the relative elegance or utility of Wazoo vs. Bark, or Zmodem vs. SEAlink matter very much. We must first figure out how to handle growth gracefully, or it may all simply collapse. I appeal to the net administrators. FidoNet's growth will inevitably place increasing pressures on you, and let's face it, the pay is not that good. Yours is the role of the coxswain. You must provide the leadership to get us techies stroking to- gether, and in the right direction. Finally, I appeal to all sysops. FidoNet's growth is, in the final analysis, your problem. It will become more and more difficult, and require more and more of your time to operate a FidoNet system. Believe me -- without change, in another year or so, you will be seriously considering giving it up. I'd hate to see that happen. What can you do? Gentle (or if necessary, not- so-gentle) pressure from you will help get your administrators off their duffs and us techies off TDC! The shoes are starting to pinch. Let's find a replacement for them before they become crippling. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 15 30 May 1988 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= Jake Hargrove Fido 301/1 High Mesa Ranger's Does your Hair Stand On End If your hair stands on end it may not be because you are afraid, it may be because of high static electricity in your area. In the past few weeks, I have experienced several problems related to this. After moving to New Mexico in early February, I started noticing when I touched the light switch I would get a mild shock. Knowing this was caused by low humidity, I purchased some static guard. Which helped a little. Then the morning of 25 April, after having worked all night, I came back into the house, and turned on the monitor. Well for some reason it did not want to come on. So being the kind of person who figures he can fix anything that is broken if it is simple enough, I opened the case on the monitor, and in a matter of minutes had parts scattered all over the counter of the cabinet. After several attempts to locate the problem I took my Multitester and sent 200 OHMS through the on and off switch. It checked out OK. I then touched the positive end of my tester to the plug on the cord, and the end where it went into the monitor. The first result was positive, but the second was negative. I had found my trouble, 'NO POWER.' I then started checking for fuses. I finally found them, both of them. An one was scorched, so I knew what I had to do. The next morning being saturday, we drove all over town to find the little devil. An being the wise guy, I only bought 1 package of 2. Upon getting back to the house, I put one into the slot and plugged in the monitor. Well I had to tear it all down again, walk over and ground myself on my static mat before putting the 2nd one in. This worked for all of about 2 hours. Around 3am I returned from work again, reached over and touched the monitor, and ZAAAPPPPPP. Down it went again. After replacing it 4 times, I figured out what was wrong, and raised the AMPS from 2.5 to 3.15. This should not harm it according to my electronic friend. It is not good for it but what it does is gives me a buffer of .65 amps before it blows. If by now you have not guessed what was causing the problem. An you may be Afraid to Ask. I will let you in on the problem. 1. Friday 24 April. My wife purchased some anti static carpet cleaner. 1800 hours she vacummed the floor. FidoNews 5-22 Page 16 30 May 1988 2. With the anti-static stuff all over the carpet, the static electricity had no place to go. An even the static pad I was using to sit on did not displace the static from the monitor, which is highly staticy any any. An with it having no place to go when I turned it on it had just enough juice to fry my fuse. Yes I hope I have solved the problem til I can afford to purchase a swamp cooler or humidifier. I now have the monitor sitting on a static pad also which we all touch before we turn the monitor or for that fact the computer ON. This is just a little added precaution. Because this area is full of static electricity, and even the slightest jolt or volt from STATIC Electricity, can knock you on your can so imagine what it can do to your circuts or for matter, your data. Don't be afraid to ask. If you have questions, there is always someone out here who is willing to provide you with good helpful advice. An what is really nice about it, is most of it is FREE. Jake Hargrove Net Coordinator Net 301 High Mesa Net =============== ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 17 30 May 1988 Top Downloads: 5/13/88 - 5/20/88 A weekly report of the most popular downloads from contributing FidoNet systems. Report created on May 23, 1988. There is sometimes a one or two issue delay in items submited to FidoNews so this column may occassionaly reflect statistics from one or two weeks ago. Contributing systems: 135/1, Unidentified Region 18 board Total downloads: 410 Total callers: 362 Average Utilization: 43.75% File Download Report -- Top 20 Rank Area\File Name # DL's ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. *GAME\frigate.arc 7 Sea battle game 2. GAME\lotto.exe 6 Jackpot's at $10mil this week 3. GAME\lotto.arc 5 Rnd # generator for lotto 4. MISC\blkleter.arc 4 Draw block letters 5. UTIL\moreram.arc 4 Increase ram 6. MISC\bigchar.arc 3 Draw big chars 7. MISC\bigtype.arc 3 Show big characters 8. LANG\bmenu.arc 3 Create BASIC menus 9. MISC\dmbanner.arc 3 Print banners on printer 10. COMM\gt1400-2.arc 3 Comm program 11. COMM\gt1400-4.arc 3 12.*GAME\hoax.arc 3 Pretend to access NORAD 13. UNPT\kq2.arc 3 Unprotect 14. UTIL\moredos.arc 3 Use more Ram 15. MISC\planet.arc 3 Detailed astronomy program 16. COMM\tandem.arc 3 Ctrl computer via modem 17. COMM\gt1400-1.arc 2 Comm program. Vers 14 18. COMM\gt1400-3.arc 2 19. COMM\gt1400-5.arc 2 20. UTIL\chk4bomb.arc 2 Check pgms for trojans *File(s) available on only one of the participating systems Selected Files of Interest Area\Name #DL's -------------------------------------------------- BBSP\cal_110.arc 2 Bob Hartman's Netmail reminder sys BBSP\colossus.arc 2 Bulletin board program UTIL\edenv16.arc 2 Edit environment from keypad UTIL\egaeps.arc 2 Print screen from EGA to epson MISC\govtbbs.arc 2 List of Govt. BBS BBSP\o_struct.arc 2 Opus structures COMM\pcplus11.arc 2 ProComm+ (V 1.1) COMM\poe.arc 2 ProComm outside environment pgm COMM\qm31ext.arc 2 Qmodem additional files BBSP\quickeco.arc 2 QuickBBS echomail pgms MISC\setvid.arc 2 Set EGA mode for game compat. FidoNews 5-22 Page 18 30 May 1988 SWLH\swllog.arc 2 Keep track of Shortwave stations INFO\teapot.arc 2 EGA drawing of Teapot INFO\thegrin.arc 2 View macpain files and print them LANG\ada-tutr.arc 1 ADA language tutorial ARCS\arcm240.arc 1 ARCmaster arc utility LANG\crt43.arc 1 Replacement CRTINIT modules TC 1.5 LANG\d86a.arc 1 Debugger for A86 assembler LANG\d86b.arc 1 UTIL\ddos-aid.arc 1 Utils for DoubleDos BBSP\do280-30.exe 1 Nodelist editor for Dutchie SWLH\sfl-eng.txt 1 Shortwave stations heard here Transfer methods total (rank) ------------------------------------ Xmodem download/upload: 190 (1) SEAlink download/upload: 112 (2) Zmodem download/upload: 81 (3) Telink download/upload: 29 (4) Ymodem download/upload: 26 (5) External download/upload: 3 (6) If there are any other systems interested in being a part of this weekly column, please send me your system stats in a similar format via net-mail at 135/1. The system report from LogRpt would be ideal. If at all possible, include a description of files with unusual names. If there is a file you particularly want me to list, let me know. I MUST have the information by Monday's Net-mail time in order to get the stats compiled. Please keep your reports at 7 or 8 days, Friday to Friday if possible and no longer than 10 days. (We can accept net-mail anytime of the day and are PC-Pursuitable). James Gilbert RAM-SOFT Archive Library (9600HST) 1:135/1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 19 30 May 1988 ================================================================= FOR SALE ================================================================= TECHbooks: The Computer Book Specialists 3646 SE Division Street (800) TECH-BKS Portland, OR 97202 (503) 238-1005 FidoNet Address #1:105/4.4 Message-only BBS: (503) 760-1473 Selected Books _Using PC-DOS_, 2nd Edition, by Chris Devoney. Jerry Pournelle recently said it's the best book on DOS he's seen. We agree. It starts at a pace suitable for the beginner, but by the time you're through all 850+ pages, you'll be an expert. Covers up to DOS 3.3, and is TECHbooks priced at $20.65. _The C Programming Language_, 2nd Edition, by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie. Ten years ago, they defined the C language in their first edition. This book, based on the draft of ANSI C, may define the language for the next ten years. $26.05 _C: A Reference Manual_, 2nd Edition, by Samuel Harbison and Guy Steele. Recommended over and over as the best book on C. $23.35 _Public-Domain Software_, by Rusel DeMaria and George Fontaine. PC Week liked it because it grouped software together by category, then gives the good and bad points of each program. Also includes $15 of CompuServe time. $17.95 New Books _Turbo C: The Complete Reference_ by Schildt (v 1.5) $22.45 _Mastering Paradox_, 3rd Ed., by Alan Simpson (v.2 & 386). $19.75 _MS-DOS Bible_, 2nd Ed., by Steven Simrin (up to 3.3) $20.65 _Programmer's Guide to Windows, 2nd Ed. (version 2 & /386) $22.45 _PC-Write Simplified_, by Howard Frazier (version 2.7). $15.25 _Mastering AutoCAD_, 2nd Ed., by George Omura (Release 9) $26.95 _Microsoft Word: The Complete Reference_, (version 4) $22.45 _HyperCard Power: Techniques & Scripts_, Carol Kaehler $16.15 _Working with Word_, Kinata & McComb (Mac Word 3.02) $19.75 _Inside the Amiga with C_, 2nd Ed, Waite Group (WB 1.2) $22.45 Our policies: We sell computer books for 10% off the list price every day. All books are returnable within 30 days. We accept Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and Visa, personal or company checks, and approved purchase orders. If we don't have the particular book you need in stock, we can usually ship it in ten days and we'll pay the freight for making you wait. We will ship your book(s) via UPS anywhere in the United States for a $2.00 shipping charge on the first book, $.50 per additional book. Prices shown reflect the 10% discount. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 20 30 May 1988 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 5 Jun 1988 David Dodell's 31st Birthday 18 Jun 1988 Area Code 407 takes effect in East/Central Florida. All Sysops should adjust their Nodelist entries immediately. 25 Jun 1988 EuroCon II starts in Tiel, Holland. Sponsored by the Dutch Hobby Computer Club. Will run for 2 days. Contact Hans Lichthelm at 2:2/999 for information. 16 Jul 1988 A new areacode, 508, will form in eastern Massachusetts and will be effective on this date. The new area code will be formed from the current areacode 617. Greater Boston will remain areacode 617 while the rest of eastern Massachusetts will form the new areacode 508. 25 Aug 1988 Start of the Fifth International FidoNet Conference, to be held at the Drawbridge Inn in Cincinnati, OH. Contact Tim Sullivan at 108/62 for more information. This is FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're hoping to see you there! 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 FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Alamo Offers Special Rates For FidoCon'88 ----------------------------------------- If you need a car while in Cincinnati for FidoCon this August, Alamo car rental is making you a special offer. SPECIAL RATES: Daily Weekly ------------- ----- ------ Economy $26 $ 99 Compact $28 $119 Mid-Size $31 $139 FidoNews 5-22 Page 21 30 May 1988 Full-Size $34 $159 Luxury $36 $119 <- not a misprint For more information or to take advantage of this special offer just call: 1-800-732-3232. Be sure to request group I.D. #31592 Plan Code "G3". These rate are good 8/18/88 - 9/4/88. All rentals include UNLIMITED FREE MILEAGE. (other restrictions may apply) ----------------------------------------------------------------- New Echo : Role Playing Games Conference. For discussion of all aspects of role playing games. For a link, contact East Coast : Mike J, 150/199 West Coast : Robert Plamondon, 143/12 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Latest Software Versions BBS Systems Node List Other & Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version Dutchie 2.81 EditNL 4.00* ARC 5.21 Fido 12h* MakeNL 2.10* ARCmail 1.1 Opus 1.03b Prune 1.40 ConfMail 3.31 SEAdog 4.10 XlatList 2.86 EchoMail 1.31 TBBS 2.0M MGM 1.1 BinkleyTerm 1.50* QuickBBS 2.01* * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 22 30 May 1988 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Ken Kaplan 100/22 Chairman of the Board Don Daniels 107/210 President Mark Grennan 147/1 Vice President Dave Dodell 114/15 Vice President - Technical Coordinator Tom Marshall 107/524 Secretary Leonard Mednick 12/1 Treasurer IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Steve Jordan 102/2871 Don Daniels 107/210 11 Bill Allbritten 11/301 Hal DuPrie 101/106 12 Leonard Mednick 12/1 Mark Grennan 147/1 13 Rick Siegel 107/27 Brad Hicks 100/523 14 Ken Kaplan 100/22 Ted Polczyinski 154/5 15 Jim Cannell 128/13 Kurt Reisler 109/74 16 Vince Perriello 141/491 Robert Rudolph 261/628 17 Rob Barker 138/34 Greg Small 148/122 18 Christopher Baker 135/14 Bob Swift 140/24 19 Vernon Six 19/0 Larry Wall 15/18 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 Gee Wong 107/312 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 23 30 May 1988 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) _`@/_ \ _ | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Membership for the International FidoNet Association Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to increase worldwide communications. Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________ State ________________________________ Zip _____________________ Country _________________________________________________________ Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________ BBS Name ________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________ Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________ Board Restrictions ______________________________________________ Your Special Interests __________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in US Funds to: International FidoNet Association c/o Leonard Mednick, MBA, CPA 700 Bishop Street, #1014 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-4112 USA Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to insure the future of FidoNet. Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the membership in January 1987. The first elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1987. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-22 Page 24 30 May 1988 INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION ORDER FORM Publications The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido 1:1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing them directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee Chairmen provide us with the latest versions of each publication, but we can make no written guarantees. Hardcopy prices as of October 1, 1986 IFNA Fido BBS listing $15.00 _____ IFNA Administrative Policy DOCs $10.00 _____ IFNA FidoNet Standards Committee DOCs $10.00 _____ SUBTOTAL _____ IFNA Member ONLY Special Offers System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____ SEAdog price as of March 1, 1987 ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member Fido Software's Fido/FidoNet $100.00 _____ Fido/FidoNet price as of November 1, 1987 ONLY 1 copy Fido/FidoNet per IFNA Member International orders include $10.00 for surface shipping or $20.00 for air shipping _____ SUBTOTAL _____ HI. Residents add 4.0 % Sales tax _____ TOTAL _____ SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER IN US FUNDS: International FidoNet Association c/o Leonard Mednick, MBA, CPA 700 Bishop Street, #1014 Honolulu, HI. 96813-4112 USA Name________________________________ Zone:Net/Node____:____/____ Company_____________________________ Address_____________________________ City____________________ State____________ Zip_____ Voice Phone_________________________ Signature___________________________ -----------------------------------------------------------------