Volume 7, Number 22 28 May 1990 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | FidoNet (r) | | \ \\ | | International BBS Network | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Copyright 1990, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact Fido Software. FidoNews is published weekly by the System Operators of the FidoNet (r) International BBS Network. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or authorized agents of the authors. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. 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 a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with permission. Opinions expressed in FidoNews articles are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Fido Software. Most articles are unsolicited. Our policy is to publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Credit Where Credit Is Due ............................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 FidoCon '90 Update! ...................................... 2 Region 11 RC Election .................................... 4 FIDOCON 1990 REGISTRATION FORM ........................... 7 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 10 Talk Me Through It, Honey ................................ 10 4. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 12 Latest Software Versions ................................. 12 5. NOTICES .................................................. 15 And more! FidoNews 7-22 Page 1 28 May 1990 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Credit Where Credit Is Due Almost unnoticed in the past week, there has been a change in Zone 1. Steve Bonine has stepped aside as Zone Coordinator and George Peace, his elected replacement, has assumed the position. Almost unnoticed. That's as it should be. And it's part of the legacy Steve leaves us that it happened in just this manner. When he accepted the job, Steve had made it abundantly clear that he was only going to keep it for a year. There were a few times when events nearly led him to reconsider and leave earlier. I for one am grateful that he stayed the course. During Steve's tenure, a system of electing Regional Coordinators has been evolving, and several Regions have held elections either to replace their Coordinators or to confirm their public acceptance. This very real step towards Democracy in FidoNet has indeed worked quite well. Steve was never certain that Democracy could in fact work, but he devoted a lot of energy to give it a chance. Often in FidoNet, people react to others who don't agree with them by stooping to personal attacks. As one of the most influential (and exposed) members of FidoNet, Steve had to accept more of that particular kind of traffic than perhaps anyone else. Nevertheless, he continued to communicate honestly with the people of FidoNet and did not become hostile or stop trying to understand what the other parties were trying to get across to him. In a very real sense, he was able to serve as Z1C and at the same time, retain the perspective of an individual FidoNet sysop. I have nothing but respect for the mental powers and emotional stability that made such a thing possible. Thank you, Steve. Congratulations, George. You have a tough act to follow. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-22 Page 2 28 May 1990 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= What's new with FidoCon '90 (5/27/90): Well, the first discount deadline has passed, however, if you get your registrations in before June 1st, you can STILL save $50 on the conference fees! Send your application (included in this issue of FidoNews) to 1/90@FidoNet. If you can't pay for the entire conference all at once, don't forget that you can reserve your discount by sending in a non- refundable deposit of $100. Phil Becker will be attending FidoCon, and will be talking about TBBS, TDBS, and his latest creation, The Integrated Mail System for TBBS, or TIMS, which gives multi-line TBBS systems continuous mail capability! Thom Henderson will also be giving a seminar on several of System Enhancement Associates' products, as well as a look to the future for SEA. Jack Rickard of BoardWatch Magazine will be there! US Robotics will make their usual appearence at the convention, and will have several announcements for future USR products! Good Egg Net has also announced that their national convention will be held at Conclave '90, making the fourth amateur network to participate! Bit Bucket Software is also going to participate! Bob Hartman, Vince Perriello, and Alan will all be there to talk about BinkleyTerm, Confmail, etc. Jonathan Wallace will be hosting a seminar on "Sysops and the Law". Jonathan is the author of the book "SYSLAW: The Sysop's Legal Manual", and many FidoNews articles on that subject. We have scheduled several 'fun' seminars, including a "Moderator's RoundTable" to be hosted by Michele Hamilton, a role-playing game seminar (and subsequent campaign!) hosted by Karl Schinke, and a MIDI demonstration to be held by some of our local gurus! Also, don't forget the 'costume ball' to be held at the local Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. Come and eat roast chicken as they did hundreds of years ago while you cheer your champion knight to glory in contests of speed, skill, and daring! Afterwards, dance the night away at the in-house disco. (The ball is an requires an entrance fee of $50, which includes your costume for the ball!) Those of you in California and Florida know how exciting this show is. Tell your friends! FidoNews 7-22 Page 3 28 May 1990 There are several fun contests with great prizes in the works. Watch FidoNews for details to be available soon! With all the early registrations, this FidoCon looks to be the biggest ever, so be sure to get your reservations in soon! Bill VanGlahn, FIDOCON '90 Committee Chairman 1:1/90@FidoNet ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-22 Page 4 28 May 1990 Donn Bly (1:236/7) Region 11 RC Election Coordinator Region 11 is electing a new RC. The old RC, John Summers, has accepted a job in another region. In an attempt to get the rules for the election out to as many region 11 sysops as possible, and since there are probably quite a few of you who are interested in how we are running things here in Region 11, we are posting the election rules here. --------------------------- Region 11 RC Election Rules --------------------------- 1. All sysops listed as members of region 11 in FidoNet nodelist 138 for 1990 are eligible to vote. Eligibility is by sysop, not system, and no single individual may cast more than one vote. Only sysops actually listed in the nodelist may cast a vote. 2. All sysops listed as members of region 11 running a public system in FidoNet nodelist 138 for the year 1990 are eligible to run in this election. Current net coordinators may nominate themselves. Non-NC's must be nominated by a region 11 NC, not necessarily their NC, and I must receive the nomination from the NC making the nomination. Please send all nominations to 1:236/7. All coordinators are urged to nominate any qualified candidate who requests such nomination. 3. Each person nominated, and the NC in question if the nominee is not an NC, will receive a net mail message from me confirming that I have received the nomination. This note will either confirm the nomination is valid, or if it is not valid, will state the reason. If you do not receive such a message within 72 hours of sending it to me, please inform me immediately so the nomination can be resubmitted. 4. Nominations will be accepted until 18:00 EST June 2, 1990. Nominations received after the cutoff point will be rejected regardless of reason. 5. The ballot of valid candidates will be sent to all nodes in region 11 (as listed in FidoNet nodelist 138) and will be posted in the REGION11 echomail area as soon as possible after 18:00 EST, June 2, 1990. (These messages will be sent via host-routed netmail.) 6. The period for campaigning by each candidate will extend from the time they receive my confirmation of their nomination until the end of the voting period. 7. The period of voting will extend from 18:00 EST, June 2, 1990, to 18:00 EST, June 16, 1990. Each sysop should net mail his completed ballot to FidoNet 1:236/7. Each ballot received will be noted in a receipt sent by me via host-routed netmail. (The receipt will not contain the name of the candidate for whom you voted.) If you do not receive a confirmation of your vote within FidoNews 7-22 Page 5 28 May 1990 72 hours, please contact me via net mail immediately. No ballots will be accepted after the deadline for any reason. 8. Each ballot received at 1:236/7 may contain exactly one vote for one accepted candidate. Write-in votes and otherwise invalid ballots will be returned along with their reason for rejection to the sender. Each voter should also enter onto the ballot an eight (8) character alphanumeric codeword by which the voter wishes to be identified when the votes are made public. No ballot will be accepted without this codeword. Abstention will be a not be a valid option on the ballot, and all ballots not containing a vote for one of the listed candidates will be rejected. Once a valid ballot has been received from a eligible voter, no further ballots will be accepted from that voter. 9. At 18:00 EST, June 16, 1990, the votes will be counted and the winner will be made known to the zone 1 coordinator and placed in the REGION11 echomail area. The winner is the candidate receiving the majority of votes cast. 10. In the case that there is no candidate with a majority of votes cast, a run-off will be conducted between the candidates with the two highest numbers of votes. In the event of a tie for the highest number of votes, all candidates with that number of votes will participate in the run-off election. In the event of a single candidate with the highest number of votes and a tie for second highest number of votes, the candidate with the highest number of votes and all candidates with the second highest number of votes will participate in the run-off. 11. In the event a run-off is necessary, the period of voting will run from 18:00 EST, June 16, 1990 to 18:00 EST, June 23, 1990. The ballot of valid candidates will be sent to all eligible nodes in region 11 (as listed in FidoNet nodelist 138) and will be posted in the REGION11 echomail area as soon as possible. 12. The winner of the run-off will be made known to the zone 1 coordinator and announced in the REGION11 echomail area. Should the first run-off election result in no candidate receiving a majority of the votes cast, then run-off elections will be held every seven days until a candidate receives a majority of the votes cast. Rule 10 above will determine who is eligible to participate in each run-off. 13. The vote tallies for each candidate will be made public at the end of the main voting period, and, if necessary, the end of the runoff voting period(s). A list of all nodes voting, and a list of all codewords, together with the candidate for whom each codeword voted, will be posted in the REGION11 conference and made available for download or file-request from 1:236/7 as R11VOTE.TXT. Under no conditions will the true identity of the person represented by any codeword be made public. I will archive all nominations, receipts for and rejections of nominations, ballots received, and receipts for and rejections of ballots, together with the vote totals into an encrypted archive to be FidoNews 7-22 Page 6 28 May 1990 kept for at least one year by me, Donn Bly. This archive, along with its encryption key will be turned over to the current (at the time I receive the request) FidoNet zone 1 coordinator upon my receiving a signed written request that I do so. Under no circumstances whatever will it ever be turned over to anyone else. 14. After the election is over, a period for comments about the election will be opened. During this period suggestions on how to run the next RC election will be taken and considered. A modified set of rules (if any such modifications are deemed necessary) will be drafted and submitted to the new RC for use in the next election. This topic will be discussed in more detail at a later time. Donn Bly (1:236/7) Region 11 RC Election Coordinator These rules originally written by Rick Moore, 1:115/333, and reflect modifications by Steve Bonine, Peter Hru, and Donn Bly. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-22 Page 7 28 May 1990 The Secret Sysop Society presents __ *** Conclave '90 *** / \ The SYSOPS Convention /|oo \ Home of FidoCon 1990 (_| /_) Lyndhurst, New Jersey _`@/_ \ _ August 1-5, 1990 | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Rate Plan Schedule: Before 6/1/90: Before 5/1/90: -------------- -------------- A. Single Occupancy.......$595.00 $545.00 $495.00 B. Double Occupancy.......$450.00 $400.00 $350.00 C. Conference w/ meals....$300.00 $250.00 $200.00 D. Conference w/ Banquet..$205.00 $155.00 $105.00 E. Conference only........$175.00 $125.00 $ 75.00 F. Banquet only...........$130.00 $80.00 $ 30.00 G. Registrant & Spouse....$720.00 $670.00 $620.00 (All rate plans except plan F include all conference and hotel fees. Those registering before 5/1/90 get a $100.00 discount, those registering before 6/1/90 get a $50.00 discount.) You must pay by Check, Money Order, or Credit Card. Please send no cash. All monies must be in U.S. Funds. Checks should be made out to: "Conclave '90" The following registration form must be completed and mailed to: PO Box 12 Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 You may register by Netmailing this completed form to 1:1/90 for processing. Rename it to ZNNNXXXX.REG where Z is your Zone number, N is your Net number, and X is your Node number. US Mail confirmation is required within 72 hours of electronic filing. If you are paying by credit card, please include the required information. For your own security, do not route any message with your credit card number on it. Crash it directly to 1:1/90. The official Conclave '90 airline is American Airlines. American offers a 5% discount the lowest applicable round-trip fare, including 1st class travel, subject to availability of inventory. All fare rules and restrictions apply. In addition, American offers 40% off their round trip unrestricted day coach fare. International travelers qualify for special benefits, including complimentary admittance to the Admiral's Club Lounge at any American Airlines terminal. Newark is an American Air- lines city with direct flights to most major cities. When making reservations, you must call American's Toll-free reservation number at 800-433-1790, and reference Star number 13704F. FidoNews 7-22 Page 8 28 May 1990 C O N C L A V E '90 R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M Name: __________________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________ Apt. or Suite: _________ City: _________________________ State or Province: ____________ Postal Code: __________________ Country: ______________________ Voice Phone: ______________________ Data: _____________________ Zone:Net/Node.Point@Domain: ____________________________________ Special requirements: __________________________________________ +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | Option | Full | | Pricing | Line | |(Choose 1: A-G)| Name | Qty | Thru 5/1 | Total | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN A* | | | $495.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN B* | | | $350.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN C* | | | $200.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN D* | | | $105.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN E* | | | $ 75.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN F | | | $ 30.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN G* | | | $620.00 | | +===============+=====================+=====+==========+=======+ | NJ Beach Trip | | | $ 24.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | Eve. NYC Tour | | | $ 37.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | Broadway Show | | | $ 75.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | NYC Shop Tour | | | $ 36.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | Costume Ball* | | | $ 50.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ * includes all conference fees & Hotel | Total $ | | ** includes dinner, show, and costume +==========+=======+ MC _____ Visa _____ Card Number: _____________________________ Expiration: ___________ Signature _____________________________ ( Credit card registrations require valid signature ) FidoNews 7-22 Page 9 28 May 1990 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-22 Page 10 28 May 1990 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= Henry Clark 124/6120 Pizza Party -- Here in Net 124/130 land, we have a monthly Pizza Party. We alternate the location, so everybody has to drive a long ways most of the time. We talk about problems and features and whatever the mood suits. On this occasion, we discussed the pending US Robotics HST's V.42bis upgrade, relative merits of building your own PC and the fine art of dealing with policemen who have pulled you over on traffic violations. Of course, with 20 people showing up, you don't get hear everything, but quite often the words CONFIG and USER float across the room. It's neat to meet the faces behind the names you read. Funny, you don't hear any flames. I ate and drank mightily, noting the Apple Strudel Pizza, and Cinnamon Toast Pizza. Actually I hadn't eaten in 3 days, so this was the Pizza Party that SAVED MY LIFE ! Free Spaghetti -- You know those solicitous letters with the postage paid return envelopes. I got one from a 'RECOVERY' company; they said they had found 169 bucks that the state of Texas owes me, and would show me how to get it for 29 bucks. I was so outraged, I included a strand of spaghetti in the envelope ! The other night, I get a phone call about it. No mention of the spaghetti, but since I denied having sent it back, he said he'd send another letter. I got it today, so I stuffed everything back in and also a STOP SMOKING solicitation postcard. I wonder how many times this will work ?! Computer Underground -- Every heard of this? I hadn't, until someone uploaded several newsletters to MY BBS. I started looking at the latest issue, and frankly, I don't know what to think. There's some bunch trying to SUE THE FBI because their E-mail was wrongfully confiscated in a search for missing body parts at a cryogenics company. HOLY WRATH OF KHAN, BATMAN ! Right, Boy Wonder, it's LAWYER CITY. FidoNews 7-22 Page 11 28 May 1990 Some other issues list out dozens of E-mail Networks that seem a bit on the shady side, I never heard of any of 'em. Adding to my concerns was the BIG BUST here in Plano, where they nailed a bunch of modem users passing around Telco auth codes and such. It's getting downright dangerous to own a modem. Southwest Bell was reportedly checking BBS listings ! So what would you do ? I didn't know the guy that uploaded the newsletters, so I moved them offline. Paranoia ? Probably. These people have the right idea with a completely wrong approach... sort of a Kent State mentality. Thank God It's Monday -- I had one of those wonderful weekends, where nothing was planned, and I could just loaf around and get some rest. HA. Saturday morning, I get called to work, the accounting adjustments have not arrived over our backbone network. At noon, I get the request to write a program to stuff the numbers into our database. I told them, "I have a computer conference at 1", which of course, was my life saving Pizza Party. About 4 I get home and someone's over looking to buy the old car. After two hours, they don't even buy it. About 6, my boss calls, and I tell them, "I'm about half done". Honey comes in and tells me we're leaving at 6:30 for a surprise anniversary party; sure surprised me. I get home at 10 and call my boss, "I'm testing it now". Get everyone off to bed, it's 11 and I finally sit down to start. Didn't have one line of code written. At midnight I'm compiling the program in San Angelo; this is PC Anywhere from home to office, and IRMA from office to the mainframe. Fortunately, I only had one bug. Unfortunately, at 1 AM the database goes down for maintenance. At 2:30 it's back up, and I start the adjustments, and at 4 it's finally done. You know, I used to could stay up all night, easy. Now, it hurts. I have no idea why... ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-22 Page 12 28 May 1990 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12s+ Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5d1 Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.64* TBBS 2.1 Kitten 2.16 RBBS 17.2B TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Maximus 1.00 RBBSmail 17.2 Telegard 2.5* Opus 1.12+* RemoteAccess 2.0* TPBoard 6.1* PCBoard 14.2* SLBBS 1.76* Wildcat! 2.10 Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.30 EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.02 D'Bridge 1.30 MakeNL 2.20 ARCAsim 2.30* Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.0 FrontDoor 1.99c* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.01 Crossnet v1.5* SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 EMM 2.02 XlaxDiff 2.35* Gmail 2.05 XlaxNode 2.35* GROUP 2.16 GUS 1.30 LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.0 MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.10* QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 SLMAIL 1.35* StarLink 1.01 TagMail 2.20 TCOMMail 2.2 Telemail 1.20* TMail 1.14* TPBNetEd 3.2 TosScan 1.00* UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.20* ZmailQ 1.10 Macintosh --------- FidoNews 7-22 Page 13 28 May 1990 Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b10 Tabby 2.2 MacArc 0.04 Mansion 7.15 Copernicus 1.0d* ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 FBBS 0.91* TImport 1.331 TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 Tset 1.3 Import 3.2 Export 3.21 Sundial 3.2 PreStamp 3.2 OriginatorII 2.0 AreaFix 1.6 Mantissa 3.21 Zenith 1.5 UNZIP 1.02b Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 2.06+ BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.50* AReceipt 1.5* WelMat 0.35 booz 1.01 ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 ElectricHerald1.66* Lharc 1.10 MessageFilter 1.52* oMMM 1.49b ParseLst 1.30 PkAX 1.00 PK[UN]ZIP 1.01 PolyxAmy 2.02* RMB 1.30 TrapList 1.12* UNzip 0.86 Yuck! 1.61* Zoo 2.00 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities FidoNews 7-22 Page 14 28 May 1990 Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDOdoor/ST 1.5c* BinkleyTerm 1.03g3 ConfMail 1.00 Pandora BBS 2.41c The BOX 1.20 ParseList 1.30 QuickBBS/ST 0.40 ARC 6.02* GS Point 0.61 LHARC 0.51 PKUNZIP 1.10 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 Trenum 0.10 OMMM 1.40 + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) * 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 7-22 Page 15 28 May 1990 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 3 Jun 1990 Comdex/Spring, which will run from June 3-6 in Atlanta, will be held at the World Congress Center and other locations. 5 Jun 1990 David Dodell's 33rd Birthday 12 Jun 1990 Fifth anniversary of FidoNet's switch to multiple nets. 14 Jul 1990 Start of Eurocon / Techcon conference in Antwerp, Belgium. Please note that the date has changed: The conferences are one day later than originally planned ! 27 Jul 1990 The beginning of the REGION 17 Convention at Menucha Resort in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. For details contact Ken Zwaschka, 1:105/54. 1 Aug 1990 Start of FidoCon '90. Contact Bill Vanglahn at 1:1/90 for details. 5 Oct 1990 21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" 6 Nov 1990 First anniversary of Van Diepen Automatiseert, 2:500/28 14 Nov 1990 Marco Maccaferri's 21rd Birthday. Send greetings to him at 2:332/16.0 1 Jan 1991 Implementation of 7% Goods and Services Tax in Canada. Contact Joe Lindstrom at 1:134/55 for a more colorful description. 16 Feb 1991 Fifth anniversary of the introduction of Echomail, by Jeff Rush. 7 Oct 1991 Area code 415 fragments. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties will begin using area code 510. This includes Oakland, FidoNews 7-22 Page 16 28 May 1990 Concord, Berkeley and Hayward. San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, parts of Santa Clara County, and the San Francisco Bay Islands will retain area code 415. 1 Feb 1992 Area code 213 fragments. Western, coastal, southern and eastern portions of Los Angeles County will begin using area code 310. This includes Los Angeles International Airport, West Los Angeles, San Pedro and Whittier. Downtown Los Angeles and surrounding communities (such as Hollywood and Montebello) will retain area code 213. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. -----------------------------------------------------------------