Volume 6, Number 1 2 January 1989 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|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. 1:1/1 is available for network mail between NMH-1 hour to NMH+1 hour. At all other times, netmail is not accepted although submissions can be uploaded. 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. Happy New Year!!! Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 Backmail - A new comm. program ........................... 1 Followup to "Last Saturday" .............................. 3 VETNet is ALIVE!!!!! ..................................... 5 2. COLUMNS .................................................. 12 RegComm - Communications From RegCon ..................... 12 Rogel's Corner: Laptops ................................. 14 Let's YACK about Culture ................................. 21 3. NOTICES .................................................. 22 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 22 And more! FidoNews 6-01 Page 1 2 Jan 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= BACKMAIL Product Description: A new kind of micro-computer communications program which provides modem to modem E-Mail and file transfers etween any two MS-DOS machines running the program. A small (35K RAM) TSR automatically schedules, calls and sends mail to up to 100 destinations at a time in the background. TSR answers the phone, receives messages or files and sends any messages or files addressed to the calling program (identified by phone number). Automatically retries if busy, or broken connec- tion. A hot key brings up (by memory swapping) a front end program which allows the user to read, send and monitor mail flow. *Very* fast and unobtrusive in operation. Point and shoot menus throughout. Easy to use. A full screen text editor for messages (max 3.5K), word wrap,full cursor movement. Messages automatically stamped with: time sent or received; letter heads, forwarding and reply history. Incoming and outgoing mail listed by subject line, time received or posted and destination name. Mailboxes support: delete message, delete all messages, delete all read/sent messages. Messages can be appended to separate files. On screen notification of arrival of mail. Eight user definable prefixes (for inter-office numbers, local, long distance...). Handles Long numbers or short extensions. Allows separate phone entries for destination's voice and data lines. Destinations can be give priority in scheduling. Destina- tions can me marked so calling system refuses return mail (for long distance calling). Status Display shows pending messages, number of times called for all pending files or messages. Calls to specific destinations can be suspended so traffic is delivered only when that destin- ation calls. Status Display also records aborted transmissions with diagnosis of cause of failure. Program maintains a mailing list of up to 1000 phone numbers. Messages are addressed by menu of phone directory. A message can be addressed to up to 100 separate destinations per access. Allows bulk mailing for inter-office or local numbers (up to 1000). For each destination in mailing directory the program stores information on when the destination is available for data traffic and how many times the destination should be retried if busy. Each user declares own availability time and maximum retries and this info is exchanged whenever two BackMails communicate. Calls are automatically scheduled and retried to take account of dest- ination's window of availability. FidoNews 6-01 Page 2 2 Jan 1989 File directory listing, wildcards permitted. Up to 100 files can be addressed at to 1-100 separate destinations each access. Sends files of any size. File sending protocol insures destination has sufficient disk space. Setup menu allows user extensive control of program parameters, including: toggle user notification, data only versus voice & data operation, Wait for dial tone, defining hot keys, on screen clock, screen colors, customized modem command strings and modem response codes. Happily cohabits with most other TSRs. The program is share ware. It periodically asks you to register your copy ($30), whines for 20 seconds if you don't. To register you hit a key and fill out a form with credit card info. As soon as the registration screen is completed the program will not bother you again. The credit card info is sent to an 800 data number (US & Canada). Registered users receive strong technical support. BackMail is available through BBS's and Information services. Alethic offers SYSOPS and SIGs a royalty arrangement which provides a $3.00 royalty for each copy registered. Contact Alethic for details. Alethic Software, 52 Parkhill Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3P 1R2 Voice: (902) 420-0734 BIX(alethic) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 3 2 Jan 1989 FOLLOWUP TO "LAST SATURDAY" Tom Jennings Node 1:125/111 This short article is a followup to the one in FNEWS5-48; maybe it will provide a little background and answer some questions. The FidoNet itself was based upon the principles I try to live my life by; respecting others rights, principles and lives; self- determination, and organization by cooperation, not coercion. All of these are, after all, the most basic anarchist principles. There is no contradiction in what I say vs. what I do. The language in the article was a violent response to a violent day. And yes, my life is my personal business only, and not yours: however there are people out there who want to meddle in MY business for THEIR reasons. I have no right to interfere with you if you like to hang out in suburban malls, stay home and read the Bible, join the army, drop out of school and become a hippy, or anthing else that doesn't interfere with MY life. The very first negative comment I received said "All that you have done is to reinforce the views about homosexuals held by such unthinking individuals as the driver of that car. And you may have steered some of the rest of us toward the same path by your inclusion of such explicit terms and references..." Well spoken: this is exactly what my article is about. The second sentence above says that in response to what I wrote, violence against me, and the legal (or not) removal of my rights is an acceptable response. Now after reading my article you could call me an ass, tasteless, rude, disgusting, awful, inconsiderate, perverse, whatever you want, you're entitled to your opinion. But violence? I cannot tell you how common this train of thought is, and how often it is followed up with violence or death. It is simply a rationalization of the desire to commit violence upon someone, for reasons of the perpetrators alone. This is what my article is about. No, it's not very pleasant at all, is it? The article had almost nothing to do with sexuality; it had to do with fascist (look it up in a dictionary) behaviour, as it exists, today, in the USA. I never said that IV (or any other) drug use is "OK", or unprotected anal sex is "OK", or that you or I would find these things comfortable subjects. Nor are they related except for disease transmission. Gay people do them no more often than straight ones. The fact remains that many people DO do these things, that's life, even people who read this newsletter. Defending peoples rights is not the same as defending what they do. I will defend myself, my friends, and your right to live as we each see fit. That, my friends, is what fighting for individual freedom, and First Amendment rights, really means. Have you ever read the United States Constitution? Read it, and FidoNews 6-01 Page 4 2 Jan 1989 see the intent behind the words. Look around you and see the attempts to circumvent it. Send me $1.00 (Tom Jennings, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107) and I will mail you a typeset copy, nicely annotated, for your reference. I've said more than I planned on the subject; I'm not here to argue with anybody, you can believe what you want. I do not like to argue politics or personal ethics, it offends everyone. This is the last I will say on this subject. Remember the quote by that Catholic priest in Nazi Germany: "When they came for the jews, I didn't object because I wasn't a jew ... when they came for me, there was no one left to object." Sheesh, I'm not usually so grim and serious. I promise I'll shut up now. I have received more positive mail than hate mail, and that's a good sign. But hell, I knew the net was filled with mostly cool intelligent people, and could absorb something a a bit (ahem) shocking. Sometimes things don't get spoken, because... they just don't get said. Inertia. Time to speak out, boys and girls. * * * As an aside, from my point of view, the network, all 4000+ nodes, seems to run amazingly well. I know there's a lot of fighting over control structures and such, as in the current trauma over "other" networks, but the fact remains I can send a message just about anywhere with incredible reliability. We haven't been struck dumb by Babel, the nodelist is still wonderful, and the RCs and NCs do a damn good job. Looks great!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 5 2 Jan 1989 VETNet is ALIVE!!!!! By: Todd C. Looney Vietnam Veterans' Valhalla 1:143/27 300/1200/2400 Bauds (408) 293-7894 The sysops of the Vietnam Veterans Valhalla bulletin board are both Vietnam combat veterans; I served during the war as a Medical Field Surgeon in the U.S. Navy attached to an Emergency Field Evac Hospital and later a long-range recon team near Dac To, and spent more than my fair share of time in a VC/NVA prison camp across the border in Laos, and Nancy my wife, who is a veteran of a different sort having fought HER war *years* after I returned to the United States, battling the problems I brought back from that little country tucked thousands of miles away in Southeast Asia. Nancy and I have, for the most part, conquered all of the problems of that traumatic past through years of hard work! Many of the men and women who returned from that war continue to carry it's memories and nightmares with them today. Although most Vietnam veterans live a successful, happy life, there are those whose every day is a bitter struggle to survive, trying to find some way to either escape the horrible memories, or to come to terms with themselves so they and their families can begin to live a normal life!! We feel it is our responsibility as caring and empathetic individuals to share ourselves with those Vietnam combat veterans of both kinds; the ex-military soldier-at-arms, and their wives, friends, and lovers, with the hope that somehow the knowledge and understanding we gained from the years encompassing our own struggle might be of some help to those who are still fighting their war!!! THE VIETNAM VETERANS' VALHALLA BULLETIN BOARD IS DEDICATED TO VIETNAM VETERANS, THEIR WIVES, FRIENDS, & LOVERS! And to the memory of the 58,000 men and women who never came home Our system has been successfully operating for nearly 3 years now, and received well over 37,000 calls! We also founded and coordinated the International Vietnam Veterans' EchoConference (IVVEC) which can be seen on more than 200 bulletin boards across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Please contact our system, or one of the nodes listed below who carry our conference and join in. You don't need to be a veteran of any kind to participate. We welcome you with open arms to learn who we are and what we are all about! Nancy and I are looking forward to meeting you all, as are the Sysops of the nearly 200 VETNet BBs systems below: ================================================================= VETNet NODELIST FidoNews 6-01 Page 6 2 Jan 1989 Compiled by the Vietnam Veterans In Canada ================================================================= As of 25 November 88 these are the net/nodes that are currently listed as receiving the International Vietnam Veterans Echo. If your local BBS is not listed, please send a message to Woody Carmack 153/130 (1-604-462-8753) or leave a message in the IVVEC. NET/ MAX NODE BBS NAME City/State/Country Phone BAUD ================================================================ 632/350 Yarra Valley BBS Melbourne Austr AU 61-3-848-331 1200 114/113 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-894-1470 2400 114/13 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-894-1470 2400 153/123 DAETECH Burnaby BC 1-604-420-2641 9600 153/130 Vietnam Veterans In Canada Vancouver_BC 1-604-462-8753 153/501 Valley Hub Clearbrook BC 1-604-850-0021 2400 153/133 Hot Line Data Network Langley BC 1-604-533-0421 2400 220/20 Old Frog's Almanac Nanaimo BC 1-604-758-3072 2400 103/507 Philosopher's Log Anaheim CA 1-714-535-1258 9600 402/100 The Board Room Belmont Shores CA 1-213-498-6425 2400 161/502 Wildcat Benicia CA 1-707-746-5820 2400 161/66 Generic BBS Citrus Heights CA 1-916-722-3659 2400 203/66 Generic BBS Citrus Heights CA 1-916-722-3659 2400 161/1 Nerd's Nook Concord CA 1-415-672-2504 9600 202/401 jabberWOCky Escondido CA 1-619-743-9935 2400 161/34 Now and Zen OPUS Fair Oaks CA 1-916-962-1952 9600 161/56 Nat'l Family Forum Freemont, CA 1-415-651-4147 2400 161/7 Mover Mouse BBS Fremont, CA 1-415-883-1644 2400 161/39 Nightline Mather AFB, CA 1-916-362-1755 2400 161/509 Enterprize Pinole, CA 1-415-758-1650 2400 161/11 The Byte Boutique Sacramento CA 1-916-483-8032 2400 FidoNews 6-01 Page 7 2 Jan 1989 161/5 River City II OPUS Sacramento, CA 1-916-646-9678 9600 161/943 Eagle's Nest Sacramento, CA 1-916-334-2822 9600 10/215 Silver BBS San Diego, CA 1-619-226-4502 2400 125/31 Echo Coord San Francisco CA 1-415-621-5206 9600 143/27 Vietnam Veterans Valhalla San Jose CA 1-408-293-7894 2400 143/86 Cat's Tail BBS S T O P San Mateo CA 1-415-349-8245 2400 125/78 Living Sober BBS San Mateo, CA 1-415-342-2859 2400 125/12 The Grape Vine Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-546-4938 2400 125/7 Survival Forum Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-545-0746 2400 103/501 Mount Silverthorn Tustin, CA 1-714-544-3369 2400 104/28 Pinecliff BBS Boulder, CO 1-303-444-7073 2400 128/13 COSUG-Colorado's User Clrdo Spg CO 1-404-548-0726 2400 128/16 Firenet Leader Colorado Spring CO 1-303-591-9600 2400 104/739 The Phoenix Parker, CO 1-303-841-9570 2400 104/51 P2 B2 South Denver, CO 1-303-329-3337 2400 141/488 Alice's Restaurant Branford CT 1-203-488-1115 2400 141/250 Wilton Woods Wilton, CT 1-203=762-8481 9600 135/27 Bitsy's Place Miami Beach FL 1-305-865-0495 1200 135/35 The Way Out BBS Miami, FL 1-305-665-3283 1200 363/9 Wit's End Orlanda, FL 1-305-894-0807 1200 363/10 Midas Touch Orlando, FL 1-305-648-1133 1200 366/38 Jolly Green Giant Shalimar, FL 1-904-651-3875 9600 18/43 Athens Echo Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 9600 370/10 OnLine OPUS Athens, GA 1-404-548-0726 2400 370/5 Athens Forum Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 9600 12/7 HPCUA Honolulu HI 1-808-422-8406 9600 12/1 Aura Net Honolulu, HI 1-808-533-0190 2400 115/761 ICS/TRIX 1 OPUS Chicago, IL 1-312-761-7887 2400 FidoNews 6-01 Page 8 2 Jan 1989 115/529 Elk Grove Repeater Elk Grove Vlg IL 1-312-529-1586 2400 115/20 North Shore BBS Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 2400 115/429 Chicago Business Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 2400 11/109 Peoria OPUS Net Peoria, IL 1-309-691-5416 2400 11/202 The SouthSide BBS Indianapolis, IN 1-317-882-9330 1200 227/1 Michiana TechLine Mishawaka, IN 1-219-258-0286 9600 227/150 The SX Project Whiting IN 1-219-659-2711 2400 108/90 DATANET Information Syste Erlanger KY 1-606-727-3638 2400 108/50 The ZOO BBS Independence, KY 1-606-283-2040 2400 321/109 Pioneer Valley PCUG-1 Amherst, MA 1-413-256-1037 9600 321/201 Mountain Top Dalton, MA 1-413-684-2886 2400 321/202 Jones' Nose Great Barringto MA 1-413-243-0034 9600 321/203 VETLink #1 Pittsfield, MA 1-413-443-6313 2400 109/722 Ronnie's Roadies BBS Camp Springs MD 1-301-736-0135 1200 109/648 Falcon's Rock College Park, MD 1-301-345-7459 2400 13/29 Berkshire Board Essex, MD 1-301-574-1984 9600 13/33 Avi-Technic Lutherville, MD 1-301-252-0717 9600 13/30 The Futurists BBS Perry Hall, MD 1-301-529-0716 9600 261/628 Liberty Hall Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 2400 261/628.1 Systemhouse Link Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 2400 109/717 The Tin Badge BBS Silver Spring, MD 1-301-589-2016 1200 1/214 Region 14 Echo Coor Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3398 2400 1/314 Software Dist Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3469 2400 282/1 Midwest Echo Star Minneapolis, MN 1-612-377-3469 9600 151/20 Metro Link Charlotte, NC 1-704-541-8626 2400 151/60 VMC-BBS Lewisville, NC 1-919-945-4850 2400 151/100 NC Central Raleigh, NC 1-919-851-8460 9600 151/1000 REDCON Raleigh, NC 1-919-859-3353 2400 FidoNews 6-01 Page 9 2 Jan 1989 143/99 Friend's BBS Omaha, NE 1-402-896-2669 2400 132/101 BBS Source Archive Nashua, NH 1-603-888-8179 2400 150/803 Jersey Vertex Moorestown, NJ 1-609-869-0139 2400 15/4 NASW New Mexico Las Cruces, NM 1-505-646-2868 2400 381/401 Border Connection Santa Fe NM 1-505-678-1318 2400 107/105 NY Transfer Staten Island, NY 1-718-442-1056 2400 108/105 Global Time Systems Cincinnati, OH 1-606-341-7910 2400 157/1 Auer Register Cleveland, OH 1-216-883-0578 2400 110/20 EDS Data Dayton, OH 1-513-455-2431 2400 157/501 The PC-Key BBS Girard OH 1-216-545-9205 2400 157/504 The Revelstone TBBS Cleveland, OH 1-216-642-1034 9600 385/4 Info-Net Lawton, OK 1-405-357-6181 2400 385/6 Bink's Barn Lawton, OK 1-405-357-2473 2400 147/14 Dark Star TBBS Oklahoma City, OK 1-405-691-0863 9600 148/120 Genetic Research Vat Toronto ON 1-416-480-0551 2400 11/700 FCAU IBM Net Toronto, ON 1-416-427-0682 9600 221/156 Waterloo CBCS PUBLIC Waterloo, ON 1-519-746-5020 9600 221/157 Waterloo CBCS Echomail Waterloo, ON Unpublished 9600 105/16 Net 105 EchoMail Hub Portland, OR 1-503-761-3003 2400 105/61 Shotgun OPUS Portland, OR 1-503-760-4521 2400 157/506 Beacon Hill OPUS Transfer, PA 1-412-962-9514 2400 362/1 The Mines of Moria Chattanooga, TN 1-615-344-9601 2400 362/501 Coconut Telegraph Chattanooga, TN 1-615-698-4858 2400 18/7 Flash Port Memphis TN 1-901-525-2710 2400 18/6 The Burnout Board Memphis, TN 1-901-353-4563 2400 130/5 CUSSNET UTA Arlington, TX 1-817-273-3966 2400 136/200 The Chai Way II Austin, TX 1-214-358-3738 2400 124/210 Hardwired Dallas TX 1-214-437-4075 9600 FidoNews 6-01 Page 10 2 Jan 1989 124/214 *CHRYSALIS* Dallas TX 1-214-895-9054 2400 124/106 CHAI Way II Dallas, TX 1-214-250-3323 9600 124/110 Flying Dutchman Dallas, TX 1-214-642-3436 9600 124/117 NCC-1701 Node 1 Dallas, TX 1-214-240-8821 2400 124/117 NCC-1701 Dallas, TX 1-214-240-8821 2400 124/14 Chrysalis Dallas, TX 1-214-985-9054 2400 124/200 Dallas Outbound Dallas, TX 1-214-437-4075 2400 124/201 Hardweird Dallas, TX 1-204-931-2987 2400 19/5 Micro Application El Paso TX 1-915-594-9738 2400 106/386 Information Center Exchan Houston TX 1-713-872-4429 2400 106/108 Stormy Weather I Houston, TX 1-713-644-4345 9600 106/111 Shutterbug's OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-880-4329 2400 106/113 The Opus Network Houston, TX 1-713-780-4153 2400 106/114 The Fireside Houston, TX 1-713-496-6319 2400 106/357 TMBBS Houston, TX 1-713-497-5433 2400 106/666 Anything Goes OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-997-2624 2400 106/132 Fast BBS OPUS Katy, TX 1-713-392-0093 2400 382/1 Crystal Palace Lake Travis, TX 1-512-339-8037 2400 382/14 Corona Del Mar Rockport, TX 1-512-729-7026 9600 381/201 Pro Link San Angelo, TX 1-915-944-2952 2400 387/401 Comp-U-Gen II San Antonio TX 1-512-496-9373 2400 387/601 NCOA International BBS San Antonio TX 1-512-653-0409 2400 387/800 NCOA International BBS San Antonio TX 1-800-365-6262 2400 109/604 ShanErin Alexandria, VA 1-703-941-8291 2400 109/639 The RENEX BBS Woodbridge, VA 1-703-494-8331 2400 343/111 Lessor Puget TB Edmonds, WA 1-206-742-8067 2400 343/9 Everett OPUS Everett, WA 1-206-355-1295 1200 138/4 PTC Net Mount Vernon, WA 1-206-757-5248 2400 FidoNews 6-01 Page 11 2 Jan 1989 1/217 Region 17 Echo Coord Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 2400 138/101 Story Board Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 9600 138/3 Puget Sound Gateway Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-9232 2400 138/49 The Cohort Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-2646 9600 138/35 US HDS Human Service Seattle, WA 1-206-442-8127 2400 138/52 Burrell's Ballpark Tacoma, WA 1-206-752-4672 2400 139/640 Fox Valley Tech Appleton, WI 1-414-735-2513 2400 154/200 PC-Express Greenfield, WI 1-414-327-5300 2400 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 12 2 Jan 1989 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= RegComm - Communications From RegCon. A very happy holiday season to you and yours from your Regional Coordinators. May you all enjoy the best of everything and we look forward to another year helping make FidoNet what YOU want it to be. It looks like we're moving ahead rapidly on the implementation of new nodelist flags. The tentative schedule is to have a revision out on the 23rd of December with comments and completion on or before January 13, 1989. As soon as the new nodelist flags are accepted we will begin implementation and hopefully the new flags will all be in place by February 15th. Like all schedules, this one is not cast in concrete but is the target. We will certainly do our best to help assure that all changes are made as quickly as possible. If there are incorrect flags listed for any node, all flags will be stripped and that node will be listed as a "plain vanilla" node handling mail during Zone Mail Hour only. That will help us spot any that were missed and assure we get them corrected quickly. We'll do our best to keep all Net Coordinators advised as to the schedule so the changes can be made as smoothly as possible. The RegCon team is also implementing a method to protect the delivery of the nodediff. This method will be a very basic one, designed to avoid the possibility of anyone sending out a bad nodediff to the net, either by accident or by intent. There is also a program available in most areas named CRCNODE.EXE that will run a quick test of the nodediff to see if the CRC is still valid. While some feel these steps unnecessary, we have decided that it's worth a little more work from us to help assure you get an accurate and uncorrupted nodediff. No-one enjoys chasing all over looking for a nodediff unnecessarily. There has recently been a considerable amount of conversation taking place in several conferences concerning the practice of making private messages public without permission of the person sending the private message. As there are several different opinions on additions to FidoNet policy concerning messages sent by NetMail that are `private', we would like your input on the matter. Is private NetMail to be handled as the word intends, "not for public or common use", or should we be more liberal and allow open dissemination of all NetMail? Please share your feelings on this by NetMail to your Regional Coordinator. Your input will help us formulate the next version of FidoNet policy. ("RegComm" will be a weekly column in FidoNews and your comments are welcome. Please address your concerns and comments via NetMail to your Net or Regional Coordinator, you should receive an answer within a few days. It's your net and we are in need of your input in order for us to fairly represent you.) FidoNews 6-01 Page 13 2 Jan 1989 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 14 2 Jan 1989 ROGEL'S CORNER: LAPTOPS -- A LOT OF COMPUTER POWER ON THE HOOF ============================================================= ------------------------------------------- | Laptops: Decisions, decision, decisions | ------------------------------------------- Last year at about this time the "field" of laptop contenders was fairly small and the prices were fairly high. In fact the choice of laptop was fairly easy, provided you were willing to make some big sacrifices in computing power in order to "have one for the road". In the July 21, 1987 issue of PC Magazine (Vol. 6, No. 13), Paul Somerson raved about the Z-183 which "sprints along at 8 MHz". The October 27, 1987 issue of PC Magazine (Vol. 6, No. 18) recommended "for big spenders, the dazzling Zenith Z-181 or Z-183 Portable PC . . . with its 10-megabyte hard disk, 8-MHz clock speed, and remarkable 6-by 8-inch backlit display, the Z-183 remains a heart-stopper." Less than 6 months later, however, the Z-183 fell from grace; this time Mr. Somerson criticized the Z-183 as, among other shortcomings, being "a real arm-stretcher" and with a 8-MHz speed, it "plods along with an anachronistic CMOS 8088" (March 29, 1988 issue, Vol. 7, No. 6). What happened to it being a "heart-stopper"? Was Mr. Somerson guilty of having a fickle heart, did the Z-183 change for the worse, or was there something else? Choose door number 3: something else. That something else was improved competition offering laptops with more speed and more power. Laptop computers have finally come of age. Finally convinced that a promising market for laptops does exist, manufacturers have been falling over themselves to get new and improved laptops into the stream of commerce. A week does not go by now without an announcement in the computer trade papers about a new laptop. No longer is this market limited to just a few companies such as NEC, Toshiba, and Zenith. The Olivetti's, Samsung's, Mitsubishi's, and many others are entering the fray and each trying to outdo the others with feature-rich portables. These features include 286, 386SX, and 386 chip technology; substantially improved screen displays; the addition of standard, non-proprietary expansion slots; increased RAM and support for EMS; and larger storage capacity. If rumors are to be believed, we may even see color screen displays in the near future. The consumer is the beneficiary of this increased competition. Although choosing a laptop in today's market will not be as easy as it was a year ago, it will be much FidoNews 6-01 Page 15 2 Jan 1989 more exciting. I have prepared a chart, set out below, comparing various features of some popular and/or new laptops. This chart contains only a sampling of the many laptops presently available. [The original chart has been substantially modified to satisfy FidoNews' margin requirements] In view of the prospects of an increasing number of faster and more powerful laptops entering the market in the next several months, anyone interested in purchasing a laptop should use this chart as a starting point only and then keep abreast of current laptop developments through PC Magazine and other computer publications. Two magazines devoted to portable computers are listed at the end of this column. Finally, I have included a brief discussion about the variety of screen display technology that is or may soon be available for laptops. * * * * * -------------------------------- | COMPARISON OF SELECT LAPTOPS | -------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ MODEL Datavue Datavue Mitsubhishi Spark Snap MP286L 1+1 ============================================================ CPU 80C88 V20 286 SPEED 9.54 9.54 12 RAM 384 640 640 DRIVE 1x3.5 2x3.5 2x3.5 /720k /720k SCRN super 10.5" 11" blue NTN super BATT nicad nicad 3d party WT 9 10 15.9 EXPANSION n/a 1/2 size 4 {proprietary} LIST $995 $2,295 $3,195 OPTIONS 3.5 dr., 20MB, 20MB ($3,995), BL, EL, BL super ext. 3.5" fd, expansion or BL EL num.keypad, chassis 1 fd/20MB add'l 2MB combo RAM ------------------------------------------------------------ MODEL NEC NEC NEC MultiSpeed MultiSpeed MultiSpeed EL HD FidoNews 6-01 Page 16 2 Jan 1989 ============================================================ CPU V30 V30 V30 SPEED 9.54 9.54 9.54 RAM 640 640 640 DRIVE 2x3.5 2x3.5 3.5 /720k /720k /720k 20MB SCRN super 10.5" BL BATT nicad nicad nicad WT 11.2 12 14 EXPANSION n/a n/a n/a LIST $2,195 $2,495 $3,695 OPTIONS BL, EL BL ------------------------------------------------------------ MODEL Toshiba Toshiba Toshiba 1000 1100+ 1200 ============================================================ CPU 88 86 86 SPEED 4.77 7.16 9.54 RAM 512 640 1MB DRIVE 3.5 2x3.5 3.5 /720k /720k 20MB SCRN super super super BATT nicad nicad nicad WT 6.4 10 10.8 EXPANSION n/a n/a n/a LIST $1,199 $2,099 $3,499 OPTIONS 640k expansion expansion LIM/EMS, chassis chassis /720k num.keypad battery charger num.keypad ------------------------------------------------------------ MODEL Toshiba Toshiba Toshiba 3100/20 3200 5100 ============================================================ CPU 286 286 386 SPEED 8 12 16 RAM 640 1MB 2mb DRIVE 3.5 3.5 3.5 /720k /720k /1.44MB 20MB 40MB 40MB SCRN gas gas gas BATT n/a n/a n/a WT 15 18.7 15 EXPANSION n/a n/a n/a LIST $4,699 $5,499 $7,499 OPTIONS num.keypad expansion FidoNews 6-01 Page 17 2 Jan 1989 chassis, num. keypad, add'l 2MB RAM ------------------------------------------------------------ MODEL Zenith Zenith Zenith 181 183 SupersPort 88 ============================================================ CPU 88 88 88 SPEED 8 8 8 RAM 640 640 640 EMS DRIVE 2x3.5 3.5 2x3.5 /720k /720k /720k 10-20MB SCRN BL BL BL BATT nicad nicad nicad WT 11.9 15 <12 EXPANSION n/a n/a ? LIST $2,399 $3,599 $2.399 OPTIONS 20MB, 20MB, 20MB ($3,599) recharger recharger ------------------------------------------------------------ MODEL Zenith Zenith SupersPort TurboSport 286 386 ============================================================ CPU 286 386 SPEED 12 12 RAM 1MB 2MB EMS EMS DRIVE 3.5 3.5 /1.4MB /720k 20MB or 1.4MB 40MB SCRN BL "Page white" BATT nicad nicad WT <12 25 EXPANSION ? ? LIST $4,999 $7,999 OPTIONS 40MB ($5,599) 2,400 modem($8,499) ------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE REGARDING ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS USED =========================================== BL = Backlit supertwist screen display (see below) EL = electroluminescent backlit supertwist screen FidoNews 6-01 Page 18 2 Jan 1989 display (see below) Expansion = IBM standard / nonproprietary expansion slots Fd = floppy disk drive Gas = gas plasma Nicad = nickel cadmium battery [as opposed to lead acid] Page white = Zenith's new display technology; see discussion of fluorescent backlighting below Super = supertwist screen (see below) SCRN = screen * * * * * ----------------------------- |Laptop screen technologies | ----------------------------- 1. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) a. General Like the technology used on watches and calculators, the LCD has the advantage of being lightweight and consuming little battery power. Its disadvantages include poor contrast/readability. b. Supertwist i. non-backlit The screen is twisted so that it will reflect light in all directions and not just straight ahead. ii. backlit By adding light to the supertwist screen, readability is improved by at the expense of greater battery power consumption. (1) Electroluminescent (EL) The screen, containing phosphor, glows when powered. (2) Fluorescent Small tubes provide the backlighting. Slightly more battery power is used than with the electroluminescent screens. Examples include Datavue's amber gaslight and, apparently, Zenith's newest laptop entry, the TurbosPort 386, featuring black characters on a white screen. This display, which Zenith calls its "page white" display, is the product of an extra layer of polarizing material which filters out blue light from the screen. 2. Neutralized Twisted Nematic (NTN) FidoNews 6-01 Page 19 2 Jan 1989 Light is used to increase the screen's contrast ratio, resulting in a black on white image. Mitsubishi's new MP286L with an 11-inch cold cathode tube (CCT) screen and black characters on a white background (with reversible screen colors), which Mitsubishi claims can be read in all light conditions, is an excellent example of this new technology. 3. Gas Plasma A flat panel non-LCD screen. Each screen pixel is on or off, providing a high contrast ration but requiring greater power. Toshiba's high-end laptops use this type of technology. 4. Active Matrix A transistor is assigned to each screen pixel, resulting in a contrast equivalent to a backlit LCD but without the backlighting. Apparently the screen becomes unusable if any one transistor ceases to operate. According to *DataGram*, this technology is being considered by several laptop manufacturers but is not presently available. * * * * * For a complimentary subscription to Datavue's interesting periodical entitled: * DataGram: The Exciting World of Laptop Computing * write to: DataGram 4351 Shackleford Road Norcross, Georgia 30093 Portable computer magazines: Portable Computer Review IDG Communications/Peterborough 80 Elm Street Peterborough, New Hampshire 03458 (Spring '88 Portable Computer Review: $3.95) PICO Magazine Post Office Box 428 Peterborough, New Hampshire (1 yr. subscription: $29.97) Sincerely, Todd S. Rogel Raleigh, North Carolina July 2, 1988 Home (919) 851-2103 MMS (919) 779-6674 [151/102] NCC (919) 851-8460 [151/100] FidoNews 6-01 Page 20 2 Jan 1989 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 21 2 Jan 1989 YACK Yet Another Complicated Komment by Steven K. Hoskin ( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 ) Episode 20: Culture Reading the IFNA EchoMail conference is good fuel for FidoNews columns and articles. There's a lot of people out there, all with ideas, a lot of discussions, generally pertinent to FidoNet and, therefore, FidoNews. There's the occasional humor, too, which I personally find a pleasant relief from all the serious talk (and yell) that goes on out there. Something is becoming clear to me, however. IFNA, SYSOP, and many other important EchoMail Conferences go all over FidoNet; as it should be. So does FidoNews. But FidoNews, and a great many of the international conferences, are usually very American; de- signed, written, subscribed to and supported by Americans. This isn't in itself a bad thing. I'm American and certainly I am proud of my country, hence why I serve in its armed forces; and of course I agree that we've done some rather odd, sometimes stupid, things in our short 202 years here. But we are not the world. And FidoNet doesn't stay in the United States anymore. It hasn't for a long time. And there's a senti- ment out there that Americans are simply not welcome in some in- ternational conferences that are otherwise open to members of any race, color, creed or national origin. Why? We're seen as arrogant, and perhaps rightly so. We are quite accumstomed to being free to do just about anything we darn well please over here, and often neglect to realize that other cultures do not always afford the same freedoms. There are places in the world where something you say can be cause for death - by law. That is one of the more morbid conditions, but is an indication of how carefully we must tread if we are going to cross international and cultural boundaries. Usually our trespasses are not across "blood lines" of death, but rather of "social lines". There are subjects that simply are not accept- able discussion material in some places. It's considered to be in bad taste. Americans have, in the past 50 years or so, been increasingly un- interested in cultural development; education in other cultures. Because of this we are insulting people worldwide, usually unin- tentionally and often unknowingly. But THEY are noticing it. Freedom of speech is great, but open-mindedness is, too. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 22 2 Jan 1989 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. 5 Oct 1989 20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Latest Software Versions Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12i Opus 1.03b TBBS 2.1* QuickBBS 2.03 TPBoard 4.2 TComm/TCommNet 3.2 Lynx 1.10 Phoenix 1.3 RBBS 1.71C Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version Dutchie 2.90b EditNL 4.00 ARC 5.32 SEAdog 4.10 MakeNL 2.12 ARCmail 1.1 BinkleyTerm 2.00 Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 D'Bridge 1.10 XlatList 2.86 TPB Editor 1.21 FrontDoor 2.0 XlaxNode 2.22 TCOMMail 1.4* PRENM 1.40 XlaxDiff 2.22 TMail 8812* ParseList 1.30* UFGATE 1.02* GROUP 2.04* EMM 1.40 * 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 6-01 Page 23 2 Jan 1989 ================================================================= COMMITTEE REPORTS ================================================================= IFNA Treasurer's Report December, 1988 Steve Bonine 115/777 IFNA Treasurer's report for December, 1988 RECIEPTS & DEPOSITS Membership fees 100.00 Orders for publications 20.00 TOTAL RECEIPTS $120.00 DISBURSEMENTS Postage 8.75 Professional services (Marc Rubin) 144.50 TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS 153.25 EXCESS RECEIPTS OVER DISBURSEMENTS (33.25) ADD BEGINNING BALANCE 6041.35 BALANCE IN ACCOUNT 6008.10 Full year-to-date IFNA financial data is available for file- request from 1/11 using the name of IFNA$. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 24 2 Jan 1989 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Hal DuPrie 1:101/106 Chairman of the Board Bob Rudolph 1:261/628 President Matt Whelan 3:3/1 Vice President Ray Gwinn 1:109/639 Vice President - Technical Coordinator David Garrett 1:103/501 Secretary Steve Bonine 1:115/777 Treasurer IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732? Don Daniels 1:107/210 11 Bill Allbritten 1:11/301 Hal DuPrie 1:101/106 12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Grennan 1:147/1 13 Rick Siegel 1:107/27 Steve Bonine 1:115/777 14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5 15 Larry Kayser 1:104/739? Matt Whelan 3:3/1 16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628 17 Rob Barker 1:138/34 Steve Jordan 1:102/2871 18 Christopher Baker 1:135/14 Bob Swift 1:140/24 19 David Drexler 1:19/1 Larry Wall 1:15/18 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 David Melnik 1:107/233 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-01 Page 25 2 Jan 1989 __ 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 PO Box 41143 St Louis, Missouri 63141 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 second elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. -----------------------------------------------------------------