Volume 7, Number 38 17 September 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. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 More LHARC Garbage ....................................... 1 Response to Mike Robeson's articles ...................... 4 FORMAL RETRACTION ........................................ 8 Hold My Hand, Honey ...................................... 9 2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 11 LHARC and FidoNet ........................................ 11 3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 13 Latest Software Versions ................................. 13 4. NOTICES .................................................. 17 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 17 FidoNews 7-38 Page 1 17 Sep 1990 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= More LHARC Garbage ---- ----- ------- Garner Miller 1:109/328 I'm always amazed at how inconsiderate people can be to others in an organization without even realizing it. I truly believe this is the case with Vince Perriello's LHARC fiasco: I think he really did mean well. Unfortunately, his well- meaning actions didn't go over well with FidoNet as a whole, and as for machines that aren't MS-DOS, it's an even more unpleasant story. The FidoNews article specifications state very clearly that authors should take into consideration that "Not everyone in the world has an IBM PC." Jeez - you guys must not have taken a look at that document for a long, long time if you've forgotten such a policy. The simple truth is that there isn't a reliable LHARC program available for the Macintosh. The only two that I know exist (One I got through SDS; the other I just happened to have) are both excruciatingly slow -- when they work, that is. How often is that? For most, less than 10% of the time. The other 90%+ the program simply crashes and dies, forcing me to restart the machine. I know, I know -- let me guess what's coming next: "The algorithm is in the public domain, so anyone should be able to port it." Let me clue you all in on a piece of news, folks: =WE ARE NOT ALL PROGRAMMERS= To the developers, it seems silly; perhaps even trivial. But to the average user, it's the simple truth. I shouldn't have to write a program to be able to participate in FidoNet. We already have a standard that works -- when Fido people see ".ARC," they most often think of the ARC 5.12 that we're all able to deal with. It's taken many, many years for that to become a standard, and now, all of a sudden, Vince Perriello decides on his own that he doesn't care for it, so he has the right to change the format in which the newsletter is distributed? Come on, guy. That's simply not fair to the network. I read with great interest Vince's article in FidoNews 734 -- almost with awe, in fact. He says, and I quote: "Did your batch file break [because of the format change]? I apologize. Should I have given you some warning so you could fix it beforehand? Maybe. Would this advance notice have been interpreted as license to start a NET_DEV-style filibuster? I think so." FidoNews 7-38 Page 2 17 Sep 1990 Great strategy, Vince: Do it quick and quiet -- that way, when they find out, it'll be too late. I believe similar strategies were used for bombing runs in WWII. So, of course, as a recourse for those that can continue to read the article without ripping the page in half, he continues on, saying... "However, before FidoNews went out in a .LZH file, I consulted the International Coordinator, the Zone 1 Coordinator, and the holder of the Trademark. Nobody cautioned me not to do it. Nobody told me not to do it...Nobody felt the world would come to an end if I made the change." You know why nobody told you not to do it, Vince? Because you didn't ask. You asked a grand total of three people, in a network of many thousands. Those three people, as well as yourself, run DOS systems. You never bothered to check with the people who might not have their systems configured right. You never bothered to check to see if any platforms don't have LHARC readily available. You never bothered to check how your decision would affect FidoNet. To use your phrase, "That's intolerable." Mr. Perriello concludes with, "This thread is now ended. Let's get conversation regarding FidoNews back to what's in it and not what it's in." That's a good point - I'd love to quit the whole converation. But a thread doesn't end when you say it does. You've had your say. Let's give the other several thousand THEIR turn to decide what to do with the newsletter. The only reason I'm even able to read FidoNews these days is because of the generousity of a member of Net 109 who sends me ARC copies. (It could only be expected from such a great group of people.) The thread is ended when FidoNet comes to a solution on which we all agree. John Passaniti's idea of a compression standard is an excellent one. Lucklily, one has already been established: It's called SEA ARC 5.12. If you don't like the .ARC extension, fine. Let's all call our ARC 5.12 files ".5RC," ".A5C," or something along those lines. Our NODELIST is officially distributed in ARC 5.12 format. Our NODEDIFF files each week are distributed in that same format. It's only fitting that the FidoNews files be distributed thes same way. There _IS_ a reason the NODELIST files are in that ARC format: They know it's the only format that all the members of FidoNet support. We all have our favorite compressors. Mine happens to be one called Compactor -- it can squeeze 65-70% off the NODELIST, and about 90-93% off a TIFF file. Ever heard of it? Didn't think so. Just as I hadn't heard of LHARC until a short while ago. FidoNews 7-38 Page 3 17 Sep 1990 So come on, Vince - don't just be sorry. Do something to rectify the situation. We can all appreciate your "firmly standing behind your decision." However, I know I'm not alone in believing that changing your decision would be the better move, if it would work for the ultimate good of FidoNet. Believe me, it would. Think about it. - Garner Miller (1:109/328) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-38 Page 4 17 Sep 1990 Jack Decker 1:154/8 RESPONSE TO MIKE ROBESON'S ARTICLES Fidonews Volume 7, Number 35 carried no less than three articles on environmental awareness by Mike Robeson of Fido 1:350/21.0. As some readers may be aware, I've long questioned whether Fidonews should be used as a forum for topics that have nothing to do with computers, communications, Fidonet or at least somewhat related topics. About the only similarity between recycling centers and echomail is that sometimes they're both full of garbage (sorry, couldn't resist). Anyway, one reason I oppose the use of Fidonews in this manner is because it tends to give a one-sided view of any particular issue... namely, that of the author of the article. In many cases the "opposite side" may wish to have equal time, then rebuttals follow rebuttals and pretty soon you get a 100K+ issue of which maybe 10K has anything to do with Fidonet. That would not be objectionable except for the fact that NC's are required by Policy to carry Fidonews and make it available to those in their net, and if Fidonews starts carrying a lot of unwanted material, we may see a revolt against that part of Policy someday. Actually, for a general interest publication I would not find Mike's article particularly objectionable... he kept his arguments clear and reasonable, and avoided the use of questionable language. I have a lot of respect for him because of that. At the same time, I do disagree with a few minor points in those articles. Part of the problem is that many groups (including SOME, but by no means all of the groups involved in the environmental movement) have "hidden" political agendas. These folks are not so concerned with the environment as they are with amassing political power for themselves! The problem is that some of the information they disseminate may be inaccurate, or just plain wrong (since they really don't care about the environment anyway, their involvement in the cause is just a means toward the end of giving them political clout), yet other groups will pick it up and reprint it and reuse that information (in the best tradition of recycling) and when the inaccurate information is repeated often enough, the general public becomes convinced that it must be true (because "I've heard it so many different places!"). To give but one example, one of the points in Mike's articles advises you to "Avoid plastic and polystyrene (styrofoam) products that are neither reusable nor easily recyclable, such as disposable diapers, lighters razors and plastic utensils. (Plastics make up 25% of our garbage by volume.)" FidoNews 7-38 Page 5 17 Sep 1990 Actually, plastic is one of the safest substances to put into a landfill, because it is chemically inert. That is, it doesn't break down after a few or even many years. This offends the sensibilities of some folks, who have the idea that all manufactured item should decay over time. But the fact of the matter is that if you don't use plastic, you will likely replace it with something that WILL decay over time. Now which would you rather have in a landfill, something that stays put and doesn't release any harmful substances into the ground water, or something that's going to decay over the next few years (and release who knows what into the water supply while doing so)? Consider the styrofoam container that you purchase a super size hamburger in. In some areas the environmentalists have pushed to outlaw these, probably because some organization that they're networked with said that they should. Well, if you want to take some visible action and impress folks with how powerful your organization is, I suppose that's one way to do it. And if the organization that's telling you to do this is receiving some funding from the paper industry, who cares? But the fact is that you could put thousands of those styrofoam containers into a landfill and the runoff would never kill a single fish. On the other hand, if you replace the styrofoam containers with paper ones that are "biodegradeable" (that is to say, they will rot) then the chemicals used to produce the paper plus the chemicals in any inks or dyes used on the paper will be released into the surrounding environment (sooner or later). If I had to live next to a landfill, I'd much sooner live next to the one filled with plastic, thank you. Another point in Mike's article: "Use products that are made to be used many times, such as cloth diapers, cloth napkins, towels and rags, sponges, dishes, silver-ware, rechargeable batteries, etc." Now, while this is generally good advice, one could make the point that using cloth diapers requires energy to get them clean. Mothers aren't going down to the nearest stream and beating them with rocks to clean them (if they did, someone would no doubt complain about the discharge of raw sewage into the stream). Instead, they usually put them into their electric washing machine with plenty of detergent and bleach, and then dry them in their electric dryer, increasing the consumption of whatever fuel source their local electric utility is using ("Dirty" coal, perhaps?) and the wastewater containing the detergent (Phosphates, anyone?) and bleach go into the local wastewater treatment facility and eventually back into the groundwater supply. I should add that we've used cloth diapers with all our children (even before it was fashionable to do so), but I just think that the claim that they are "better for the environment" is a bit dubious. FidoNews 7-38 Page 6 17 Sep 1990 Oh, and most rechargeable batteries contain nickel and cadmium. Cadmium is a heavy metal, and quite toxic if the battery ever gets crushed in a landfill (and NiCads DO wear out eventually). I'm not saying NiCads aren't safe when properly used, just that they have their own disposal problems. Then there's the advice that we should "Support a bottle bill that establishes a deposit on beverage containers." That would be great if it stopped there (we have such a law in Michigan, and it's done wonders to reduce the litter along the highways) but then it goes on to say "Bottle bills that call for rewashing and reusing bottles are superior to traditional bottle bills." I have to believe that Mike has never worked in a store and seen the condition that some bottles come back in. You see bottles containing all kinds of foreign substances, some identifiable (cigarette butts and ashes) and some not. You even occasionally see something really disgusting (dead rodents or worse). I sure would not want to drink out of such a bottle no matter how well it's been cleaned, but the point is that to get such bottles clean enough to re-use, you'd probably need to wash them with very hot water, detergents, bleach, or some other strong chemical to TRY and cleanse all traces of any foreign substances. And, of course, that wastewater has to go somewhere. In the article on hazardous waste in the home, it lists such items as "Cleaners; Bleach, degreasers, spot removers, rug cleaners, disinfectants, toilet cleaners, oven cleaners, drain cleaners, septic tank cleaners." Yes, these items are hazardous if used incorrectly. Yes, they should be kept out of the reach of children. Yes, you should read the label directions carefully before using them. But, these are all items which improve our quality of life and the overall health of our citizens. Consider, for example, that bleach is used precisely because it is effective in killing germs and bacteria that carry disease. I am concerned that often "environmentalists" will attempt to get a substance banned or restricted without considering the negative health impact that the restricted availability of such products may bring. This is also true of insecticides - many environmentalists would like to see these banned altogether without even considering the increase in disease and the detrimental impact on our food supply that an outright ban would bring about. I think many in the environmental movement are listening to the extremists in some cases, with the danger that if they go too far out, the average citizen will reject their message entirely. Any time you push too intensely for any cause, there is always the danger of a backlash (and law or no law, you can't easily regulate what the average citizen does in his own home. For example, if you pass laws that say that certain substances can't be sent out in the garbage collection, then some of them will wind up getting flushed down the toilet!). You really need the VOLUNTARY cooperation of citizens to make it all work, and that won't happen if the average person has a mental picture of environmentalists as some sort of extremist FidoNews 7-38 Page 7 17 Sep 1990 nuts (unfortunately, there are a few who probably are very deserving of that label!). By the way, I'm not totally knocking Mike's article. There were some very good hints in there. But is this topic appropriate for Fidonews? I have to wonder. In any case, I hope that everyone will understand that there is often two (or more) sides to every issue, and that honorable people can disagree on the best way to accomplish a particular goal, particular where a topic as sensitive as the environment is concerned. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-38 Page 8 17 Sep 1990 Brad Thurber 1:236/9 *NOTICE* *NOTICE* *NOTICE* *NOTICE* *NOTICE* *NOTICE* *NOTICE* 2 Weeks ago, I wrote a message in FidoNews requesting that people send cards to Craig Shergold, a boy with a brain tumor who would like to get into the Guiness book of world records for the most get-well cards received. As it turns out, Craig has already made it into a yet-to- be-published edition of Guiness, and the amount of cards which continue to pile in are a *major* problem for their home and their mail service. Therefore, *PLEASE REPLACE* any bulletin about sending cards to Craig with a bulletin stating *NOT* to send cards. I wish to appologize to all of you who made a special effort to help out Craig, and express my thanks to the sysops who crashed netmail to me to fill me in on the real story. Sincerely, Brad Thurber, Productive Resources ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-38 Page 9 17 Sep 1990 Hold My Hand, Honey by Kwityer Bychin Hello folks! Thought you got rid of me didn't ya! Hee! Nope, I'm back again to ruffle some feathers. What shall we talk about this week? WAIT! I know! How about *ME*! Yeah, great idea KB ... Seems that I'm famous now. Yep, some philosopher named Mike Riddle wrote an "open letter" to me a couple Snoozes ago, kinda spankin' me on the heinie about me backing up Lighthorse Harry Lee and Vince Perrier over the INFAMOUS, DEADLY LHARC-SNOOZE SCANDAL! Oh don't worry KB fans! I'm not gonna beat the guy up. He's entitled to his opinion (I guess). But I'll just say this... You don't have to be a programmer to be in Fidonet. You don't even have to be SMART (God knows there are plenty of those in the nodelist). But hey, if you had to get somebody to set up your software for you, and if fixing a batch file is a big deal for you, and you bitch that somebody changed something and complicated your life, then HEY... Time for a new hobby. Sorry Riddler, this is a hobby not a baby sitters club ... Oooh. Know what we're going start some dung flying about now? ARC 7.0, that's what! Yeah... Looks like Thom Headbanger, in an effort to keep up with the Joneses, or the Katz's as it were, unleashed a new version of ARC that you gotta BUY. Ain't no shareware deal HERE, Virginia. And already some people are whining about it "breaking" other compression programs. 'Cuz PAK thinks it one of ITS files, or whatever the deal is, I'm not really sure. Again, B.F.D. !!! The situation is SIMPLE folks. If someone sends you ARCmail compressed with this new gizmo, and you didn't ask for it, and don't WANT it, then COMPLAIN. Otherwise, KWITYER BYCHIN. This ARC 7 or ARC PLUS or ARC-a-noid or whatever it is thing is no different that any OTHER compression arrangement. That means, the only people that should be using ANYTHING other than the officially accepted Fidonet ARC standard, are those that WANT to, and have AGREED with each other to use it, them, those, whatever. ROB ECKERT tells me that since I plugged his APINET in the Snooze, he's been inundated with requests for node numbers and wants to choke me. Hee! Well, NICE JOB ROB. FidoNews 7-38 Page 10 17 Sep 1990 Oh, and sports fans... The Giants and the Bengals will be in the Super Bowl, so save yourself the $$$ moving messages around America suggesting otherwise. And finally, the NOW award (Nitwit of the Week). This week's award goes to Mark Howard, NC 260. Why??? Because there really isn't a nitwit that stands head and shoulders above the rest this week, so Mark will be our default Nitwit in the absence of a real good one. I mean, Mahatma Ravsik can only get so many awards in one month .... KB ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-38 Page 11 17 Sep 1990 ================================================================= LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ================================================================= Dear Editor, This is a response to recent controversies about lharc use in Fidonet. For the record, I fully supported SEA in its battle with Phil Katz since ARC has always been primarily a commer- cial product despite its being available to Fidonet on a no charge basis (until this summer). Now, the latest version of Arc is no longer freely available. In my opinion, it is time to change the standard since it is against Policy to support one commercial product to the harm of any other. I do think that there must be some consideration given to the following "requirements", however. First, the utility chosen should be public domain, it should run well under multi-task- ing programs, it should be "portable" to other platforms, op- erating systems, etc., and it should require as little change as possible for the grunt sysop including working with all or most currently used utilities. Both ARC and PKZIP fail the public domain requirement. Both are commercial products requiring either purchase or a regis- tration fee. ZOO and PAK may (or may not be) public domain, but they fail the compatibility test in that they make effective multitask- ing with DoubleDos on a 640 K machine impossible due to their large memory requirements in the packing mode. LHARC is public domain and source is available so it can eas- ily (ha ha) be ported to different operating systems. But it too fails the multitasking test on 640K systems, it would not be compatible with Xlaxnode, Parselst, etc. since those util- ities assume use of Arc, etc. Besides, it is as slow as sin compared to other packers. So what is the answer? How about a utility that's been used by many (if not most) in Fidonet for years? Of course, I am referring to ARCA and ARCE by Vern Buerg and Wayne Chin. It is fast, freely available, and (since it assumes the presence of earlier, source available versions of ARC) portable to the other platforms commonly used in Fidonet. Some programs will require a very minor change (Xlaxnode comes to mind), but the file formats and naming conventions will remain the same. It will not require changing multitudinous batch files for those lazy sysops (like me) who tend to suffer batchfile prolifera- tion constantly. In fact, all any text editor should be able to be told to search for and replace ARC A with ARCA and also to search for and replace ARC E with ARCE. Thus, two passes through the batchfiles should be all that's required. Grant- FidoNews 7-38 Page 12 17 Sep 1990 ed, it is not as efficient as Lharc, but it makes up for that deficiency with speed, memory usage, etc. as far as this mail mover is concerned. Finally, it will not render Fidonet and its sysops hostage to the whims of a commercial author. Many drivers choose to use U.S. Route 1 in areas where I-95 is a toll road. Sysops ought to have the same choice. Anyway, that's my opinion for what it's worth. It and seven- ty five cents will get you a cup of coffee in most places. Bob Germer Capital City BBS 1:266/21 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-38 Page 13 17 Sep 1990 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version DMG 2.93 Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5f* Fido 12s+ QuickBBS 2.64 TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 RBBS 17.3A TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Kitten 2.16 RBBSmail 17.3A Telegard 2.5 Maximus 1.02* RemoteAccess 0.04a* TPBoard 6.1 Opus 1.13+ SLBBS 1.77* Wildcat! 2.15 PCBoard 14.5* Socrates 1.00 XBBS 1.13 Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.40* EditNL 4.00 ARC 7.0* D'Bridge 1.30 MakeNL 2.20 ARCAsim 2.30 Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.07 FrontDoor 1.99c* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.11 Crossnet v1.5 SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 EMM 2.02 TIMS 1.0(Mod8)* XlaxDiff 2.35* Gmail 2.05 XlaxNode 2.35* GROUP 2.16 GUS 1.30 InterPCB 1.31* LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.1 MSGED 2.00* PK[UN]ZIP 1.10 QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 Sirius 1.0w SLMAIL 1.35 StarLink 1.01 TagMail 2.20 TCOMMail 2.2 Telemail 1.27* TMail 1.15 TPBNetEd 3.2 TosScan 1.00 UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.40 ZmailQ 1.12* FidoNews 7-38 Page 14 17 Sep 1990 Apple CP/M ---------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Daisy v2j Daisy Mailer 0.38 Nodecomp 0.37 MsgUtil 2.5 PackUser v4 Filer v2-D UNARC.COM 1.20 Macintosh --------- 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 1.6b1* FBBS 0.91* TImport 1.331 Hermes 0.88* 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* FidoNews 7-38 Page 15 17 Sep 1990 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 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 LED ST 0.10* BYE 0.25* PKUNZIP 1.10 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 Trenum 0.10 OMMM 1.40 Archimedes ---------- BBS Software Mailers Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version ARCbbs 1.44* BinkleyTerm 2.03* Unzip 2.1TH ARC 1.03 !Spark 2.00d* ParseLst 1.30 BatchPacker 1.00* + 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 7-38 Page 16 17 Sep 1990 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-38 Page 17 17 Sep 1990 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 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, 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. 1 Dec 1993 Tenth anniversary of Fido Version 1 release. 5 Jun 1997 David Dodell's 40th Birthday If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. -----------------------------------------------------------------