F I D O N E W S -- Volume 13, Number 33 12 August 1996 +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-407-383-1372 [1:1/23] | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Christopher Baker 1:374/14 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> cbaker84@digital.net | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ STOP THE PRESSES! - I ALWAYS WANTED TO SAY THAT Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 FidoNews on the Internet and other stuff ................. 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 Creating Network Wide Bulletins [II] ..................... 2 FidoNews Available in HTML Format ........................ 4 FidoNews Internet -Text- Format Archive .................. 4 Addicted to Fidonet, but not the Internet ................ 5 Fido - Advancing the Technology and moving to the Futur .. 8 A view from Russia: Fidonet is alive and not competing ... 10 3. FIDONET HISTORY .......................................... 12 FidoNet History - Before Echomail ........................ 12 4. COORDINATORS CORNER ...................................... 19 Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 222 ...... 19 5. NET HUMOR ................................................ 20 Answer this and qualify for Sysop? ....................... 20 6. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 23 Does this mean FidoNet is dead? .......................... 23 7. QUESTION OF THE WEEK ..................................... 24 Are there other versions of FidoNews out there? .......... 24 8. NOTICES .................................................. 25 Future History ........................................... 25 9. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................................. 27 Latest Greatest Software Versions ........................ 27 10. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ..................................... 34 And more! FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 1 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= jim barchuk of 1:141/355 [jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net] has moved the FidoNews into the world of Internet HTML access. He has an article in this Issue describing access information. I've checked it out and it's cool. [grin] Thanks, jim, for the effort! The FidoNews public-key is not working here so please throw out any copies you may have of it produced prior to 10 Aug 96. I messed up the password somehow and cannot access it or revoke it. A new public-key is now available here that does work. My apologies to all who have previously freqed it or tried to send in articles using it. If you have already added the old one to your personal keyring, USE the -d DISABLE feature to disable the old one before adding in the new one. DO NOT delete it from your keyring! Disabling the old one will keep a bad copy of the old one from getting into your keyring in the future from some other keyring contents you might add. See the Masthead info section for details on obtaining the FidoNews public-key. It is also published regularly in the FIDONEWS Echo and the PKEY_DROP Echo. Zone 3 has a new Zone Coordinator in David Nugent but we still do not have an updated Zone 3 section in our Nodelist in Zone 1. Does Zone 3 show updated in Zones 2? 4? 5? 6? ZC3: do you want to tell us what's new down there? NOTE: FIDONEWS Echo is now moving over the Planet Connect part of the Zone 1 Backbone. Everyone should be able to get a link to that Echo as soon as you read this. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 2 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Creating Network Wide Bulletins [II] Damian Walker, 2:2502/666 This article continues my two-part tutorial on creating network-wide bulletins accessible from other Fidonet systems via netmail. Last week's article covered the technical aspects of setting up your choice of three pieces of software, Netmgr, FDInt or InfoMail. This week I will take a look at the bulletin text file itself. Needless to say, this article will be better read after that in FidoNews 1332. Now that our bulletin is set up in the document server software, it is time to enter the bulletin itself. All three pieces of software deal with straight text files, so you will create the bulletin using your regular text editor. First, let's look at the technical aspects of bulletin writing, such as limits imposed by the document server software. InfoMail limits bulletins to 16k, whilst FDInt allows larger bulletins, but gives the option to split messages above a size which you may specify. NetMgr mentions no message size limits. Both InfoMail and the registered version of NetMgr allow you to include macros in your bulletin text, allowing you to personalise a bulletin; the actual text of the posted message will change based upon the bulletin and the requesting user's name and address. The following table gives the macros: Macro Purpose NetMgr InfoMail ------------------------------------------------------------ Name which the request was addressed to %to {I} As above, but only the first name %fto - Name of the user who posted the request %from {N} As above, but only the first name %ffrom {F} As above, but only the last name - {L} Subject of the original message [1] %subj {D} Subject of the outgoing message [1] %subj {S} Requesting user's address %orig {U} Document server's address %dest {A} Time the message was written %time - Year the message was written %year - Month the message was written %mon - Day of the month the message was written %day - Day of the week the message was written %dow - Number of bulletin accesses - {C} Program name and version (document server) - {P} ------------------------------------------------------------ [1] NetMgr uses the same subject on inbound and outbound messages. So, to make your posted bulletins more friendly and personalised, you could include "Hi %ffrom!" or "Hi {F}!" at the top of your bulletin, or you can make use of the other macros in the table. As an added feature, InfoMail allows you to specify the minimum FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 3 12 Aug 1996 length of an expanded macro by including a number in the brace {} characters. For example, {D16} would give the document name, expanded to 16 characters. This is useful for including macros in tables or other forms of formatted text. Be careful to ensure that the message text does not include brace characters {} if you are using InfoMail, or that if it does, the document list editor has macros set to 'no' for that particular document (this prevents macros from being expanded and leaves brace characters in the bulletin text alone). If you take a look at a stored netmail message (or an echomail message for that matter), you will see that not every line is marked by a carriage return. This is because Fidonet messages are reformatted by your message reader in real time, so the message can be displayed in the best way to suit your screen. Only a paragraph needs to end with a carriage return. This is particularly useful for GUI-based systems with proportional fonts. You can take advantage of this capability in your own bulletins, by only adding a linefeed at the end of a paragraph. This looks a little ugly in most text editors, but it will look much better to the recipient of your bulletin. It also solves the problem of expanded macros, which can cause ugly reformatting of a message if they cause the remote message editor's line length to be exceeded. This tip applies to all three document servers. Now for the less technical aspects of bulletin writing. The first point is in line with message size limits. Although InfoMail is the only program here which limits messages, there are some mail processors which also have a limit. Even if you are using NetMgr or FDInt, you may encounter problems if outgoing bulletins exceed the maximum size that can be handled by your uplink's mail processor, or the mail processor of some other system along the bulletin's route. Bear in mind costs when creating your bulletin as well; other systems might object to routing large netmails, especially if the number of requests for a large bulletin is high. Publicity for your bulletin is a matter for some thought, and I covered the issue tentatively in my more general article in FidoNews 1330. In my own bulletins I now include a little section at the end, which gives details of who maintains the bulletin, who to address comments and suggestions to, and how to obtain more information on the same subject-- including bulletins by myself and others. Further, more general, advice could be offered on bulletin writing, such as presentation and clarity, but that is beyond both the scope of this article and my level of experience as an amateur writer, so I'll leave such things to your own judgement or to other sources. From this tutorial you should have a better idea of what creating a bulletin involves. For the sysop, it need not be much more complex than offering local bulletins to the users of that sysop's BBS. Even for points, the procedure is no great difficulty. If you do take up the challenge of offering bulletins via netmail, I strongly suggest you let us know about it in FidoNews, or if you don't think that the bulletin is of wide enough interest, let me know via netmail. Some Final Notes FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 4 12 Aug 1996 I have tried to make sure the information in this tutorial is complete and correct, but in the event of any ambiguity or plain stupid mistakes, I take no responsibility :-) If you don't want your computer faithfully crashmailing bulletins to all and sundry around the world, make sure you test your setup! On a more general and less negative note, I remind anyone wishing to access a bulletin via routed netmail to include something in the message body, even if the message body is ignored by the document server. As Colin Turner reminds us in the documentation for FDInt, some systems along the route may delete empty netmails. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hmmm... Would you believe FidoNews in HyperText format? jim barchuk 1:141/355 jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net ==== Why Not!? [G] Think about it... Margins, proportional font, hyperlinks. :) Would this be FidoHyperNewsText? "I don't think so, Tim". I will not be doing 'back issues', and it may take me a day or two to mark up current issues as I receive them, but it sure Looks Good. For a sample, see: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6894/ ...and 'follow the links'. Use the 'HTTP', -not- the 'FTP' link. As there are quite a handful of files involved, each issue resides in it's own subdirectory, such as '1332'. ==== Have a :) day! jB-) ----------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================= Text format FidoNews back issues available via Internet ======================================================= jim barchuk 1:141/355 FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 5 12 Aug 1996 jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net All back issues of FidoNews are available via: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6894/ Files are in individual -text- format for casual online reading, unlike fidonet.org and sstar.com which offer compressed/bulk files. Available are HTTP/web browser interface and FTP/no frills interface. ==== A few limitations: 1) This is a somewhat 'part time' site, available appx. 8AM-11PM EST, (-0500 GMT). Why? Right now I don't trust this sucker to run too unattended, and I don't want to push AT&T Worldnet 'unlimited access' -too- hard. :) 2) Presently limited to 14k4 bandwidth of my modem, but I don't think anyone can read quite that fast. :) 3) Above, I wrote 'via:'. The files do not -reside- at Geocities, but on my home server, linked via dynamic IP. This means you -can't- -bookmark- the server itself because the address is liable to change at any time. But bookmarking the Geocities page is fine. ==== New features coming as soon as I work out some CGI details: 1) Search engine; look for names/topics. 2) Online article editor; write and mail your article. Any other frills anyone would like to see, feel free to ask. Yeah, I know, 28k8 would be nice. :) ==== Another notes, MsgedSQ fans can find the current version at: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2423/ ==== Have a :) day! jB-) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Addicted to Fidonet, but not the Internet. FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 6 12 Aug 1996 Jonathan Ah Kit 3:771/160 Well, seeing some people have been lamenting about the apparent decline of Fidonet, I thought I might write about as close I as I can get to the opposite, by writing briefly about how I got into modeming, and the advantages I see in Fidonet over the Internet. BTW no disrespect meant to those people. Yes, everyone time seems to fly everywhere. Don't tell me if I'm wrong, but my brother tells me that Einstein once said that when one is moving, time moves (albeit an very immeasurable amount) faster. Maybe I should stay still all my life! ;-) Maybe that's why time seems to be faster since I discovered Fidonet. Anyway, I can't quite remember when I got onto Fidonet. I recall I got suckered into buying a 2400 modem for NZ$125 in Oct. '94. Then I found a copy of a respected Wellington BBS list compiled by a local sysop and started my BBSing on an ancient comms program, both left over when a friend of mine brought around his modem. No more than about a year later, after getting hold of a better comms program, I discovered Fidonet, as accidental as Charles Goodyear when he discovered the process for vulcanised rubber. After discovering an unusual program that craved .QWK files my new comms program apparently installed, I logged onto a local BBS, and off it went. OK. Enough about myself. Back to the subject I was meant to write about... :) IMHO, one 'thing' about Echomail from my teen view on life is (and has been repeated trillions of times no doubt) that it has a more refreshing atmosphere than the Internet's Usenet. While I'm still stuck with a 2400 modem, which gets a bit of a problem if you haven't downloaded mail for more than a week. Please don't flood my mailbox with "CORRECTION!" but from what I understand it's a bit hard to reply to postings on Usenet, because as far as I'm aware you don't have a "TO:" line, making it I guess all that harder to follow a discussion. At least that's all I understood when I used Usenet for a few times. Earlier this year as the local freenet (WCC City Net) was due to close, Fidonews came to my attention while viewing the new files list. Great publication, and I've learnt a lot since I file-requested my first 'copy'. Naturally, this is my first article writing something for Fidonews. I am willing to admit I've never read an Internet e-zine so I can't speak on that, but because we're (no offence intended to anyone BTW) smaller, we can have one newsletter/magazine/e-zine that can cover more easily quite a lot of items, and with a few extras like the Calendar, and the ASCII Comix, other than an e-zine that has the opportunity to cover at least ten million 'things' on the Internet. I'm definitely not trying to bump up sysops' phone bills by the size of our 80s national debt, let alone sending unnecessary netmail but I myself am surprised by the speed of Fidonet. For example, I had a NetMail from 1:270 at exactly Wed Jul 31 at 0628UTC, arriving in Zone 3 at 1358, arriving in N.Z. on Aug 01 at 0415. Got to my favourite BBS FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 7 12 Aug 1996 no more than twelve hours later at 1617. That's around 34 1/2 hours, and IMHO because I check my mail once every couple days, that's no problem for me, though I guess some people need virtually instant e-mail. But for some people, and I hope there's some people like me, don't usually need this sort of urgency, as is kind of available on the Internet. But it does help when you need it. I still use that Internet e-mail box primarily for sending mail to relations because they have no idea what Fidonet is. Here may be a place for more awareness. Personally, I like the idea of Fido-to- Internet gateways, but equally if people keep abusing the gateways as some people have been telling me has happened, I don't blame the gateway operators for closing them. If people stay away from Fidonet, my quick guess would be maybe we need to set up a more stable gateway for Internet mail and guard against abuse, like ftpmail, et cetera. Unfortunately, I guess I must mention costs. But with more Internet Service Providers offering Fidonet access and BBS operators offering apparently low-cost Internet mailboxes, my point may become an unnecessary one. If somehow we can capitalise on these points, I think we might just have something great here. I guess that is what my personal opinion is of Fidonet, especially Echomail, is at the moment. Fidonet itself may be appearing to decline in popularity looking at the Zone2-view nodelist stats in each Fidonews issue, but that definitely doesn't matter. Internet has WWW in graphics, Internet has telnet, but we still have our advantages, which we can use to our advantage. How time flies in a year--maybe it's time for me to make it go by faster by thinking about a new modem. ;-) Hope this long article didn't put anyone off. Unfortunately my favourite BBS (GenBOARD/2) doesn't appear to carry the Fidonews echo, so I won't hear much of the discussion on this (maybe an article in reply in a future issue?), but this is the positive side I see of Fidonet at the moment. Thanks everyone, Jonathan. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Why PRIME? Lots of good echos with nice people with both religious and technical interests that prefer to converse without profanity and obscenity. PRIME is not just for Christians only. Please spread this info around. Thanks!! As featured in Aug '93 BBS Caller's Digest and Dec '93 Online Access *************************************************************** * __________ __________ ___ ________ * * | | | | | |\ /| | * * | | | | | | \ / | | * * |________| |________| | | \ / | |______ * * | | \ | | \/ | | * * | | \ | | | | * * | | \ | | | | * * | | \ _|_ | | |_______ * * * * 'The sun never sets on the PRIME network' * FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 8 12 Aug 1996 *************************************************************** * PreRapture(tm) International Message Exchange * *************************************************************** (A ministry of the Jesus Name Apostolic Holiness Church Inc.) Hubs in NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EUROPE, and ASIA, including BRAZIL, HONG KONG, SINGAPORE, NORWAY, BELGIUM, ITALY, KOREA TEXAS (and Growing!) PRIME really is the Only True Christian worldwide network on earth. * Both Religious (Christian) and non-religious conferences. * A wholesome, family oriented network with a strict policy against profanity, lewdness, obscenity etc.. Features echos on educational and technical topics. * Elaborate Bible Discussion and Debate * False Preachers Exposed * 919-286-2100 * 919-286-3606 * 919-286-3962 Using USRobotics Dual Standard Modems V.32bis V34-33,600 * FREQ PRIME.ZIP from 1:18/98 or 1:2245/104 for network kit * **** Telnet to PRIME.ORG ***** http://www.prime.org -={ HOLY_BIBLE Echo Conference }=- Available through the PRIME Network and on the FidoNet Zone 1 and Zone 2 Backbone * The only true Christian Conference in FidoNet * ******** Acts 2:38 *++++++* John 3:5 *+ ** +* **************+ ** +************* *+++++++++++ ++++++++++* *+ ******* HOLY_BIBLE ****** +* *+++++++++++ ++++++++++* **************+ ** +************* *+ ** +* Gal 1:8 *+ ** +* Mark 12:29 *+ ** +* I Tim 3:16 *+ ** +* Acts 2:4 *+ ** +* Isa 45:21 *+ ** +* Mark 16:16 *+ ** +* Acts 10:46 *++++++* Acts 19:5 ******** Hebrews 5:9 Acts 22:16 James 1:22 HOLY_BIBLE and WHOLLY_BIBLE (C)(tm)(sm) 1988-96 Steve Winter, All rights reserved worldwide (with contributers retaining all rights to their contributions) A very strict conference designed to expose fakes by requiring that doctrines be proven with scripture. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fido - A Revolution? By Damian Stamm FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 9 12 Aug 1996 1:273/406 A lot has been made in the past couple of weeks about the future of Fidonet. Interestingly enough, this was a topic in the past Fidonews' prior to going to detention for a couple of months. However, the latest articles have clearly been more upbeat. After reading several messages of "unless we do something Fido will die" back in May, we are finally seeing people come through with solutions and ideas. But is anyone going to do anything about it? Will the people who can best coordinate such an effort, the Z1C and ZEC, care enough to put together such a plan? How will they be implimented? Are we doing nothing more than advancing our state of CTS? Certainly I was one who was published, worried about the future of Fidonet and how the technology we are using today may cause us to eventually fall to the hands of the Internet. The person I most criticized, Z1C Bob Satti (referred amorously throughout the article as B.S.) did not take too kindly to the article. But dear Robert, the message was not just about attacking you personally for no good reason. It's about doing something, ANYTHING, to help advance Fidonet, other than sit there, read PC's and vote in favor of the RC who votes for you (in this wonderful Cuban voting procedure we have in Fidonet), and spend your time worrying about petty things such as whether the Fidonews has a PGP signature because of a totally insignificant section of P4. But it is time to move forward. There have been several issues brought up, one most interestingly being a standard graphical BBS that Fidonet would use, updated message technology, and other ideas that would help move Fidonet forward. Such a procedure would require massive amounts of work with people around Fidonet, something that hasn't been done since Tom Jennings creating Fido BBS. In my opinion, the best people to take on such a task would be the Z1C and the ZEC, Bruce Bodger. To gather a group of people around the country, those who would be most qualified to take on such a task, and to produce totally new software and technical standards for Fidonet. If that means leaving someone who runs a TRS-80 with a 300 baud modem out of the dark, SO BE IT. It's about damn time we started moving forward instead of worrying about some poor schmuck who is so out of date because he won't upgrade. I have heard repeatedly, beit in Fidonews or the regional echo, how the *.msg format could easily be replaces with a faster, more efficient technical standard. Why don't we? To do so would revolutionize and re-energize Fidonet. I agree with Gregg Jennings in the past Fidonews that the source code be made freely available, and make the new software freeware so that EVERYONE can enjoy it, and that more hobby-sysops will join the network. This can only benefit Fido. To see the Z*'s put together some commission to take on such a task would be a great positive for Fidonet. I hope I get a response FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 10 12 Aug 1996 from Bruce (the only one who has the balls to stay in touch with the sysops of Fidonet,) in the ZEC echo, which I carry, or via netmail. It is my belief that they are the ones who have the resources, and the knowledge, as well as the position, to best impliment this idea. If Bob Satti answers, that would be more than welcome too, as much of a suprise it would be. Let's see what happens - and hopefully, Fido will be around for at least another 12 years. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A view from Russia: Fidonet is alive - a community of friends. By Mikhail Ramendik, 2:5020/230.4, ramen@pccross.msk.su In several issues of Fidonews, a certain topic is constantly discussed. It is whether Fidonet will live or not, and if it will, how it is going to compete with the Internet. Some of the proposed 'solutions' are, I believe, simply destructive and can result in real death of Fidonet. First of all, what IS Fidonet? Damian Walker has listed many options in Fidonews #31, but IMHO he has missed the main one - as a Russian saying goes, 'failed to notice the elephant'. He proposes various USES of Fidonet rather than describing what it IS - which means that it IS simply a certain technology (Fido Technology Net - FTN) and a global nodelist. Of course, FTN is a good technology (we'll return to this later) and Fidonet certainly has the advantage of the global nodelist, making crashmail possible. It is true that the technology has certain uses (but some of them, like document/FAQ distribution by routed mail, are simply not for Fidonet and cause great flame by overloaded hubs). But all of the uses can be done via the Internet; one can make in Internet BBS (what else is Compuserve anyway?). So some are inclined to look at Fidonet as an 'amateur, free-of-charge Internet'. To me this resembles calling the ham radio community an 'amateur CNN'. Now look at the header of the very snoozie I'm writing for. It does not say 'The newsletter of the FidoNet networking system', but 'of the FidoNet BBS *community*'. (BTW to the Editor: why not remove the long-obsolete 'BBS'?) WE ARE A COMMUNITY! Not just a set of wirez and warez: the Internet is much better at this. But if two Internetters (not writing to same newsgroups) from the same town meet, they have nothing in common. But if I, a Fidonetter from Russia, ever happen to meet a Fidonetter from Africa or Australia, it will probably be a good beering and hours of pleasant net-talk. And we have the near perfect technology for a community. From fixed links to personal echomail, FTN makes the thing that those who know FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 11 12 Aug 1996 each other, trust each other, talk to each other (personally or electronically) love to use. The archived mail bundles may be transferred not only by modem, but by everything from LAN to floppies - enabling friends to overcome troubles. And if some people want to make a community of their own, usually smaller and with rules different from Fidonet - FTN is good for them too, just number your own zone and go ahead. If within Fidonet you want an echo of your own just for the few who are interested, you can do it without the troubles of a mailing list. A filebone - just install AllFix. I can not think of anything friends would want that FTN does not provide. And what about the Internet? It *is* wirez and warez. It is a good, low-cost communication system. It might mostly replace routed netmail, but who cares - in fact, I would like a standard FTN message kludge for the email address to reply there if needed. But it will never be, and is not intended to be, a community like us. It has all the methods to transfer files (UUencode if you can't afford FTP). It has speed and reliability far above that of long-distance calls. We should not compete with it, but use it! In fact, VMODEM has provided an excellent way for such use, and I know of several IP FTN links feeding independent nodes and even nets in remote Russian towns. But even without VMODEM, just via UUE and FTP, we can take great advantage of the Internet's capability - while using the same FTN, and therefore being able to revert to phone calls in an hour or two if necessary. Now I think I have made my point. But there is a trend which may destroy the community. It is the promotion of 'cheaper than the Internet' Fidonet communication to commercial and such users. The Net should be, of course, open for everyone who wishes to join us. But it should be because one wants to be in the community, not because one wants cheaper email. We MUST NOT promote the Net semi- commercially! We MUST NOT give out or sell 'BBS user starter diskettes' of the kind that will make the user think it's a free Compuserve! Otherwise, we will become just another set of wirez and warez. And the Internet, with prices falling, will completely eliminate us. Let us remain friends! Mikhail Ramendik, Moscow, Russia 2:5020/230.4 ramen@pccross.msk.su ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 12 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= FIDONET HISTORY ================================================================= [This what we did in the 'old days' before there was Echomail. It is provided here for its historical context in our continuing series of articles relating the history of FidoNet. NOTE: the telephone numbers and addresses have been struck from the text due to age.] Ed. [original filedate 29 Aug 85] SEARCH FOR DATA-CAPABLE FIRE DEPARTMENTS RELENTLESSLY CONTINUES By Christopher Baker, Sysop, Metro-Fire Fido, 18/14 ============================== Somewhere, among the countless 25,000+ readers of FidoNews, there must be a few computer enthusiasts that are also involved with their local Fire departments in some way (other than litigation, that is). Even if it's only to buy a ticket to the Fireman's picnic. Perhaps, you have a relative in the business? Maybe, you're a vendor of goods and/or services to your local smoke-eaters? Or, perish the thought, YOU might be one of the men/women in gray/blue/black/etc.!? However you may be connected, I need your help. It is my intention (and fondest hope) to bring together as many departments as I can find into a national Fire network. The purpose of which will be to share ideas, programs, tips, warnings, techniques, etc., and to provide a common forum for the dissemination of information to as broad a base as possible. To begin this Herculean task, I need some input. If you belong to or know of or work for a Fire/Rescue department, paid or volunteer, that has telecommunication/data equipment, please give them a copy of this article and urge them to contact me through FidoNet or U.S. Mail. Send FidoMail to: Sysop, Fido 18/14. If you wish to sign-on as a user of the board, make the message PRIVATE and include your sign-on name (no handles, please), your City and State, the name and address and phone number of your department, and the password you would like to use. Please be sure to make the message PRIVATE when including password information. All FidoMail requests for access will be granted within 24 hours (usually, except for requests received on Monday and Tuesday - my days off). If you wish to send information via U.S. Mail, send to: Christopher Baker Metro-Dade Fire Communications xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Miami, FL 33173 Attention: Metro-Fire Fido. FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 13 12 Aug 1996 The results of this preliminary survey will determine the direction of my grand design, so don't let this task languish, if you can help it. I know most of you are very busy with your own operations, but this could be the start of something big (where's Steve Allen, when you need him?)! Thank you, in advance. I'll be waiting to hear from all of you. [original filedate 30 Aug 85] THE CONTINUING STORY OF LINKING FIRE DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS EVERYWHERE INTO ONE COHESIVE MASS (What a Dream!) By Christopher Baker, Sysop, Metro-Fire Fido, 18/14 ============================== Our primary function, in the beginning, will be to assemble as many depts as possible into a sub-net or a number of sub-nets to establish a base for communication between depts across the country that would not otherwise be aware of each other. While that is being accomplished and once it is in force, our function will be to provide net coordination and a central locus for collection and dissemination of information of interest to all. As you may or may not know, fire department operations bear little resemblance to any other form of endeavor. This uniqueness begs (it seems to me) for a common mode of communication to share ideas and experiences as well as computer programs specific to fire dept ops. For example, we have a dept of 1200+ members. We are writing a specific program to automate the calling of overtime, which is now done manually, that will automatically sort, file, compare qualifications and produce an updated listing of who is next eligible and qualified for overtime. With this many people and with all the different levels and types of qualifications, calling overtime is a genuine pain! Programs of this type could be shared with other depts via the sub-net we are proposing. I also hope to get a tie-in to the F.E.M.A. and National Fire Academy systems for bulletins and other info. Metro-Dade Fire & Rescue is in the process of setting up an administrative data network consisting of this 3270 set-up and a number of IBM ATs. This network will handle the daily, routine paperwork and allow for individual site E-mail and program development. This network will operate outside of the Dade County Data Processing system and be exclusively for the use of our Dept. The program development will be managed by a central office but the programming efforts will come largely from volunteers from within the Dept who work at it in their spare time or time allotted from their normal duties for this purpose. FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 14 12 Aug 1996 The in-house AT network should develop some interesting applications for this Dept that may be of use or interest to other depts, regardless of size. These developments would be available to other depts through the Fido sub-net I propose. This is, generally, what I have in mind at present for the Fire Net. I hope this information will be of assistance to those of you trying to convince your departments that computers and data links are the future and are beneficial for all concerned. I appreciate the many responses to my article. If I can be of further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to ask. FidoMail sent on Mondays & Tuesdays is not processed until Wednesday (Mon- Tue=my days off), otherwise any mail will be replied to on the next FidoMail day. If you would like access to our board, please send the name you wish to sign on under and the password you would like to use by PRIVATE FidoMail. Please include the name of your department, your city and state, and a data or voice phone number you can be reached at. Your access will be granted upon receipt. Send all requests marked PRIVATE to Sysop, 18/14. If you wish to call the board and fill out a verification questionnaire, please fell free to do so but be advised that this method may slow down your access considerably. Our data number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. If you have a question that needs a direct or immediate answer, our voice line is xxx-xxx-xxxx. Voice contact is only possible from 1430-2230, Wednesday through Sunday. (I'm off on Monday and Tuesday.) Thanks. [original filedate 18 Oct 85] ============================== WE'VE CHANGED OUR NET/NODE BUT NOT OUR STRUGGLE! By Christopher Baker, Sysop, Metro-Fire Fido, 135/14 ============================== This is just to let everyone know that Metro-Fire Fido has moved to a new net/node location in your trusty nodelist. We are now part the Miami Area Network, Net 135. This too is temporary, since we intend to form a Special Interest Region for Fire Departments. Several departments are now studying the possibilities of linking up with Fido and FidoNet. As soon as one or two more come together, I will be applying for a Region number assignment. You in FidoLand can continue to assist me in my endeavor by passing these articles to anyone you know in any Fire Department anywhere. (See also FidoNews 227 & 229.) As an update, Metro-Fire Fido now has two doctors on-line for FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 15 12 Aug 1996 questions and answers related to EMS, Trauma Networks, Hyperbaric Medicine, Diving Trauma, and General surgery and other medical questions. We are looking for an Expert-in-Residence to take up the gauntlet of Hazardous Materials, Water Rescue, Apparatus, Training, Safety, and any other areas of interest to the Fire/Rescue Services. Please feel free to lend your support/assistance/expertise or to contribute information to our system. Verification for access to our system can be made by FidoMail or call xxx-xxx-xxxx and leave information to the Sysop. The board runs in the private mode from 2230 Sunday till 1800 Friday and in the semi-private mode from 1800 Friday till 2230 Sunday. If you want to communicate in writing, address your questions/requests to: Sysop Metro-Fire Fido Metro-Dade Fire & Rescue Department Communications Bureau xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Miami, FL 33173 We'll be looking forward to your interest. Thank you. C.B., 135/14 [original filedate 13 Nov 86] *FireNet IS a Reality! Christopher Baker Metro-Fire Fido, 135/14(0) East Coast Hub for FireNet FireNet Meets Echomail and The Dream is Realized! I have been writing articles for FidoNews since early 1985. One of my goals, through these articles, has been to unite Fire and Rescue Departments through FidoNet and generate some kind of meaningful exchange of information. It has not been easy to get departments to join in for one reason or another. Many departments, only now, are becoming capable of supporting Fido systems. Those that can are beginning to understand the potential. Many others are unaware that Fido exists. It is my intention to keep at it until EVERYONE knows about Fido, et al, and the possibilities for mass communication of vital data (e.g. Hazardous Material warnings, equipment updates, program availability, conference notices, new services, etc.) within the Fire/EMS community. Toward that end, a NEW Echomail conference has been established. The FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 16 12 Aug 1996 FireNet Echo, hosted by Colorado's FireNet Leader (128/16), is a reality and available to any Node who wants to hook in. This Echo is available from 128/16 in the West and from 135/14 in the East. It encompasses the following Nodes: 128/16, 135/14, 104/610, 138/411, and 17/38. (Colorado's FireNet Leader, Metro-Fire Fido, DIVE_LINK, The Dalmatian and 65' North, respectively.) Anyone with an interest in the technical aspects of the Fire/EMS services is welcome to participate in this Echo. At the moment, we are discussing HazMat databases, hydraulic friction loss, wilderness Search & Rescue, and a new CHEMTREC service via modem to registered subscribers. If you or someone you know is involved in Fire or EMS, paid or volunteer, and has a PC and a modem and a desire to become part of a new idea in inter-departmental communications, please give them a copy of this article and have them call me or send Net mail to 135/14. If anyone would like an ARC containing all of my previous Fire-related articles to spread around to their local departments, let me know via Net mail and I will file-attach it to you as soon as I receive your request. (GET FIRENET.ARC) If you prefer the U.S. Mail (and who would?), send requests to: Christopher Baker Metro-Fire Communications xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Miami, FL 33173 Telephone: xxx-xxx-xxxx (voice) 1430-2230, Mon-Fri xxx-xxx-xxxx (data). I would be happy to assist any department or organization in setting up a Fido system. Join us! [original filedate 19 May 88] *FireNet Revisited Christopher Baker MetroFire - 135/14 FireNet Echo Recap for the Neophyte Those of you new to FidoNet may have heard of FireNet but may not be sure what FireNet is or what it does. Herein lies a brief synopsis. Shortly after getting into FidoNet back in early 1985, it occurred to me that the FidoNet structure was such that it could lend itself very well all sorts of spin-off sub-nets. Having set up this system for the fire department I work for (Metro-Dade Fire & Rescue in greater Miami) as an experiment, I began to toy with the idea that a private Net could be created that would allow direct and convenient message communication between participating departments. The software was FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 17 12 Aug 1996 readily available, operated on most standard machines and modems, and could be configured specifically for fire department use. I began to write articles for FidoNews on the subject and began contacting other departments and fire service types who might be cajoled into participating in such a venture. At that time, special interest Nets existed in FidoNet (since abandoned as redundant) so I applied for and received the number Net 911 (now operating as a private Net) and started gathering interested systems. It wasn't until the advent of Jeff Rush's famous Echomail programs that the real potential of the original idea began to emerge. Woody Wood and Chuck Sanders of the Colorado Springs Fire Department and I began to exchange ideas and plans and Woody and Chuck got Echomail installed on their system and began to link-in other FidoNet systems. Echomail was much easier to hook into for established systems and gave a new dimension to the original concept of a sub-Net or private Nodelist. For one thing, Echomail allowed users to participate without having to set up a system, first. All anyone had to do was find a system carrying FireNet and enter messages. This is how many departments first became aware of the Echo. Many of those departments went on to set up full-fledged FidoNet systems. FireNet is now carried on the Echomail Backbone and has many participating systems and even more users. A detailed account of the structure of FireNet is in the works and will be related in this forum by Chuck and Woody in a future article. Basically, FireNet is an Echo conference devoted to the Fire, EMS (Emergency Medical Services) and Public Safety sector. We discuss equipment, procedures, service related software, hazardous materials, service related legislation and other topics directly related to the Fire Services. It has been a valuable tool in communication and dissemination of bulletins and warnings. FireNet is available to anyone who has an interest in the Fire/ Rescue Services. It is available from the Host and western Hub (FireNet Leader, 128/16), from the eastern Hub (MetroFire, 135/14), or from the Echo Backbone. It is a moderated conference that anyone may read or post Fire/Rescue Service messages of international interest. A list of the systems carrying FireNet will appear in the Sanders/Wood article soon to be published. If you get a link into FireNet from the Backbone or your Regional Echo Coordinator, please let Woody or Chuck know about it by sending a Netmail message to 128/16. We are trying to compile a current list of participating systems. Try it. You'll like it. If you'd like to take a look at the Echo, you can call MetroFire at xxx-xxx-xxxx or FireNet Leader at xxx-xxx-xxxx or St. Joe's Hospital at xxx-xxx-xxxx or SoundingBoard at xxx-xxx-xxxx for starters. If you have any questions or comments, you may send them to me via FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 18 12 Aug 1996 Netmail to 135/14. I'll be happy to assist you in convincing YOUR department to set up a system and get into the FireNet Echo. For a complete ARC of all my previous FireNet articles and other FireNet material, you may GET via SEAdog or other Bark request type program the file FIRENET.ARC or just FIRENET. If you are unable to GET it, I will send it upon receipt of a Netmail request. FireNet. It's here. It works and it's growing. [end of FireNet history] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 19 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= COORDINATORS CORNER ================================================================= Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 222 By Ward Dossche, 2:292/854 ZC/2 +----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+ |Zone|Nl-194|Nodelist-201|Nodelist-208|Nodelist-215|Nodelist-222|%%| +----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+ | 1 | 13092|12897 -195 |12786 -111 |12691 -95 |12622 -69 |40| | 2 | 16486|16471 -15 |16462 -9 |16462 0 |16426 -36 |52| | 3 | 1040| 1023 -17 | 1023 0 | 1023 0 | 1023 0 | 3| | 4 | 648| 635 -13 | 636 1 | 637 1 | 637 0 | 2| | 5 | 99| 99 0 | 99 0 | 99 0 | 99 0 | 0| | 6 | 1228| 1228 0 | 1018 -210 | 1018 0 | 1020 2 | 3| +----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+ | 32593|32353 -240 |32024 -329 |31930 -94 |31827 -103 | +------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 20 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= NET HUMOR ================================================================= Can you be a Sysop if you pass this test? From: "Mike Riddle" To: "Baker, Christopher" Date: Tue, 23 Jul 96 08:58:00 -0500 Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" Subject: Re: [Fwd: Selections from the SAP] On Mon, 22 Jul 1996 18:27:29 -0500, jenniferrose wrote: From: Humor Net Subject: Selections from the SAP SELECTIONS FROM THE SYSOP APTITUDE PREPARATORY TEST (the S.A.P.) ENGLISH 1. Which of the following is the correct answer to this question? a. b. c. d. e. none of the above 2. ingot:bleak :: ingot:_______ a. tepid b. gold c. oak d. bologna e. bleak 3. pork:algae :: green:_______ a. six b. five c. ten d. marble e. red 4. mugger:park :: king:_______ a. castle b. burger c. queen d. Jacuzzi e. bleak READING COMPREHENSION Read the following carefully and answer the questions below. In addition to the obvious effects of solar activity on the upper atmosphere, some scientists contend that it also affects the weather. These contentions, however, are for the most part unconfirmed and some are very dubious. Even further afield, a British researcher on epidemiology claimed last year that "the periods of world dominance of successive major subtypes of influenza A virus have synchronized closely with the periodicity of sunspots." Correlations of biomedical phenomenon with solar activity, such as this one, are generally not taken seriously by most Western scientists. Many researchers in the Soviet Union, however, do believe in such possibilities, including even a correlation of sunspots with outbreaks of plague-spreading rodents in central Asia. 1. In what language is the British researcher speaking? a. Japanese b. Urdu c. Bengali d. British e. Media FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 21 12 Aug 1996 2. The term "most Western" means a. Hawaii b. John Ford's longest film c. nothing d. correct 3. A conclusion that could be drawn from this passage is a. Russian scientists are idiots and Russia is full of rats b. The sun has sunspots c. Don't ask a question of a British researcher if you want an answer d. all of the above MATHEMATICS 1. Which of the following is a number? a. blue b. Jacques Cousteau c. watermelon d. John Doe e. 5 2. If Juan is fourteen and weighs 150 pounds, and Grover is nine and weighs 70 pounds, what is the probability that Juan can get anything he wants from Grover? a. 0% b. 100% c. a and b d. a only e. b only 3. Delbert McBumm wants to pawn a hundred-dollar watch. The pawnbroker gives him eleven dollars for it and then sells it for a hundred and twenty-five. What was the relative rate of mark-up in the watch in relation to half of its worth, if the worth is calculated at three-quarters the difference between the pawnbrokers's offer and 78% of Delbert's assessment of the watch's value? a. 100 b. 50 c. 75 d. 115 e. none of the above /\50 6/\ 5. Calculate the shaded area 6/ \__/ \2 of the figure at the right. / 2 | a. 0 b. 50% c. c. only \ /\ | d. the answer is a. 9\ /7 \ |10 e. go back, it's a. \/ 8\__| >6. Grant McSwine is a repairman. If he tells Mr. White that it will take him about 10 hours to do a specific job, how long will it really take him? a. six weeks b. half an hour c. about three hundred dollars longer d. not enough information because the type of repair is not indicated QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON In the following questions you are asked to compare two quantities. These quantities may be equal, or one may be bigger, or neither. On your answer sheet choose a if b is bigger, choose b if a and b are equal, choose c if a is bigger, choose d if neither one is bigger, choose e if both are bigger, choose f if the answer cannot be determined from the information given, choose g if you have no idea. a. 2 b. 15 a. the area of a circle b. the area of a square FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 22 12 Aug 1996 whose area is 10 whose area is 10 a. my dad b. your dad a. New York City b. Limpid, Iowa a. something b. nothing a. a mountain b. a molehill * Courtesy of: 'Here Comes Treble'-Diverse Stuff For Diverse People * /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ /~\ /~\ Compliments of: "WEIRD THINGS" /~\ /~\ /~~~\ /~~~\ `````````````````````````````````` /~~~\ /~~~\ _/~~~~~\_/~~~~~\____Yet Another HUMOR NET Mailing!___/~~~~~\_/~~~~~\_ | ~~~~~~~ A Time Wasting Service of Rustin Kreider~~~~~~~ | Direct SUBSCRIPTION and other /~~\ HUMOR NET is a daily humor service \ information requests to: / Ho \ Your comments and submissions / \ rustin@prolog.net / Hooo \ of HUMOR are very welcome. / ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 23 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= COMIX IN ASCII ================================================================= [With all the talk in FidoNews lately about the imminent demise of FidoNet, here's something the doomsayers might want to adopt as their naysaying logo. [snicker]] Ed. --- Following message extracted from HOLYSMOKE @ 1:374/14 --- By Christopher Baker on Wed Sep 06 21:36:20 1995 From: Christopher Baker To: Dan Ceppa Date: 06 Sep 95 21:36:08 Subj: Re: Re: Dead Dogs? In a message dated: 04 Sep 95, Dan Ceppa stated: DC> Found this on another Echo. Had to do a double-take on it, DC> as it's rather subtle..... DC> .--~~x__ DC> Darn ....,-------`~~x._.' DC> That `-,,, ,_ ;'~U' DC> Nietzsche! _,-' ,'`-__; '--. DC> (_/'~~ ''''(; okay. now, he's dead. [grin] TTFN. Chris Origin: Rights On! - Titusville_FL_USA (1:374/14) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 24 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= QUESTION OF THE WEEK ================================================================= There is only one FidoNews [tm] but I hear there may be other local newsletters published in other Zones. The Question of the Week is: Do you publish [read] a locally produced Fidonews and why and when can we see one here? Answers may be made via Netmail, email, or as submissions to FidoNews. Thanks. C.B. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 25 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= Future History 15 Aug 1996 Liberation Day, South Korea 12 Oct 1996 General Elections, New Zealand. 29 Oct 1996 Republic Day, Turkey. 5 Nov 1996 Election day, U.S.A. 5 Nov 1996 Guy Fawkes Day, England. 1 Dec 1996 Twelfth Anniversary of FidoNews Volume 1, Issue 1. 12 Dec 1996 Constitution Day, Russia 26 Jan 1997 Australia Day, Australia. 6 Feb 1997 Waitangi Day, New Zealand. 16 Feb 1997 Eleventh Anniversary of invention of Echomail by Jeff Rush. 29 Feb 1997 Nothing will happen on this day. 11 Jun 1997 Independence Day, Russia 26 Jul 1997 FidoNews Editor turns 48. 6 Dec 1997 Gallileo takes close-ups of Europa to resolution of 11 meters at the north pole. 1 Dec 1998 Fifteenth Anniversary of release of Fido version 1 by Tom Jennings. 15 Sep 2000 Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens. FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 26 12 Aug 1996 -- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 27 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ================================================================= Latest Greatest Software Versions by Peter E. Popovich, 1:363/264 Hello again from sunny Orlando, where things are odd, except when they're even. I got about 6 netmails with info for updates, more than I expected for my first week. Most of the info I got is summarized below. While I'm overjoyed to see the response -- at least 6 people actually noticed the column -- a lot of the messages raised more questions than they answered. I want to provide complete info in my updates, but that means I have to get complete info from submitters or I have to go search out the info. To help ease this, I'm including a form below. Most important: Where possible, I plan to verify everything with the author. Don't assume I know who wrote what. Being sure you include the author's name and node number can save me as much as an hour per package. Multiply by 100 packages and you can understand why I'm interested in getting complete info the first time... ;-) A bit of insight: My goal is to see this column again become a recognized standard. Hopefully, authors will issue updates directly as a matter of habit. I'll be happy to return the favor by including a leading blurb about their new releases. A note about ifmail: Eugene Crosser writes ifmail, but doesn't run CM; publishing his node in the list would be inappropriate. Pablo Saratxga maintains a set of patches to the ifmail source, called 'tx'. Pablo was kind enough to offer to keep the vanilla ifmail source up for FREQ so I could list it as well. Kudos, Pablo. -=- Snip -=- Submission form for the Latest Greatest Software Versions column OS Platform : Software package name : Version : Function(s) - BBS, Mailer, Tosser, etc. : Freeware / Shareware / Commercial? : Author / Support staff contact name : Author / Support staff contact node : Magic name (at the above-listed node) : Please include a sentence describing what the package does. Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264 -=- Snip -=- MS-DOS (pending verification or other work on my end): FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 28 12 Aug 1996 Remove Tritel 2.0; Add TriBBS 10.0, TriToss 10.0, and TriDog 10.0 Update: D-Bridge 1.58, Intermail 2.29, BinkleyTerm 2.60, ARJ 2.50, ARC 6.02 (7.12 commercial), PKZIP 2.04g Investigate: FrontDoor 2.20 or 2.30 (varies: 2.02.nc, 2.12.sw, etc.) Xlax 2.54 (need clarification, XlaxDiff is up to 2.57) Add: Announcer by Peter Karlsson, 2:204/145.42 MS-DOS: Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- InfoMail 1.11 O F Damian Walker 2:2502/666 INFOMAIL Unix: Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ifmail 2.8e M G Pablo Saratxga 2:293/2219 IFMAIL ifmail-tx 2.8e-tx7.6 M G Pablo Saratxga 2:293/2219 IFMAILTX F: B-BBS, M-Mailer, N-Nodelist, T-Tosser, C-Compression, O-Other Note: Multifunction will be listed by the first match. S: F-Freeware, S-Shareware, C-Commercial, X-Crippleware, G-Source Old info from: 01/27/92 --------------------------------------------------------------------- MS-DOS Systems -------------- BBS Software NodeList Utilities Compression Name Version Name Version Utilities -------------------- -------------------- Name Version ADTBBS 1.50@ EditNL 4.00 -------------------- Aurora 1.32b FDND 1.10 ARC 7.12 DMG 2.93 MakeNL 2.31 ARJ 2.20 DreamBBS 1.05 Parselst 1.33 LHA 2.13 Fido/FidoNet 12.21 Prune 1.40 PAK 2.51 Genesis Deluxe 3.2 SysNL 3.14 PKPak 3.61 GSBBS 3.02 XlatList 2.90 PKZip 1.10 Kitten 1.01 XlaxNode/Diff 2.53 Lynx 1.30 Maximus-CBCS 2.00 Merlin 1.39n Other Utilities(A-M) Other Utilities(N-Z) Opus 1.73a* Name Version Name Version Oracomm 5.M.6P@ -------------------- -------------------- Oracomm Plus 6.E@ 2DAPoint 1.50* Netsex 2.00b PCBoard 14.5a 4Dog/4DMatrix 1.18 OFFLINE 1.35 Phoenix 1.07* ARCAsim 2.31 Oliver 1.0a ProBoard 1.20* ARCmail 3.00* OSIRIS CBIS 3.02 QuickBBS 2.75 Areafix 1.20 PKInsert 7.10 RBBS 17.3b ConfMail 4.00 PolyXarc 2.1a RemoteAccess 1.11* Crossnet 1.5 QM 1.00a SimplexBBS 1.05 DOMAIN 1.42 QSort 4.04 SLBBS 2.15C* DEMM 1.06 RAD Plus 2.11 FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 29 12 Aug 1996 Socrates 1.11 DGMM 1.06 Raid 1.00 SuperBBS 1.12* DOMAIN 1.42 RBBSMail 18.0 SuperComm 0.99 EEngine 0.32 ScanToss 1.28 TAG 2.5g EMM 2.11* ScMail 1.00 TBBS 2.1 EZPoint 2.1 ScEdit 1.12 TComm/TCommNet 3.4 FGroup 1.00 Sirius 1.0x Telegard 2.7* FidoPCB 1.0s@ SLMail 2.15C TPBoard 6.1 FNPGate 2.70 SquishMail 1.00 TriTel 2.0* GateWorks 3.06e StarLink 1.01 WildCat! 3.02* GMail 2.05 TagMail 2.41 WWIV 4.20 GMD 3.10 TCOMMail 2.2 XBBS 1.77 GMM 1.21 Telemail 1.5* GoldEd 2.31p TGroup 1.13 GROUP 2.23 TIRES 3.11 Network Mailers GUS 1.40 TMail 1.21 Name Version Harvey's Robot 4.10 TosScan 1.00 -------------------- HeadEdit 1.18 UFGATE 1.03 BinkleyTerm 2.50 HLIST 1.09 VPurge 4.09e D'Bridge 1.30 IMAIL 1.20 WEdit 2.0@ Dreamer 1.06 InterPCB 1.31 WildMail 2.00 Dutchie 2.90c ISIS 5.12@ WMail 2.2 FrontDoor 2.02 Lola 1.01d WNode 2.1 InterMail 2.01 Mosaic 1.00b XRS 4.99 Milqtoast 1.00 MailBase 4.11a@ XST 2.3e PreNM 1.48 MSG 4.5* YUPPIE! 2.00 SEAdog 4.60 MSGED 2.06 ZmailH 1.25 SEAmail 1.01 MsgLnk 1.0c ZSX 2.40 TIMS 1.0(mod8) MsgMstr 2.03a MsgNum 4.16d MSGTOSS 1.3 OS/2 Systems ------------ BBS Software Other Utilities(A-M Other Utilities(N-Z) Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Kitten 1.01 ARC 7.12 oMMM 1.52 Maximus-CBCS 2.00 ARC2 6.01 Omail 3.1 SimplexBBS 1.04.02+ ConfMail 4.00 Parselst 1.33 EchoStat 6.0 PKZip 1.02 EZPoint 2.1 PMSnoop 1.30 Network Mailers FGroup 1.00 PolyXOS2 2.1a Name Version GROUP 2.23 QSort 2.1 -------------------- LH2 2.11 Raid 1.0 BinkleyTerm 2.50 MSG 4.2 Remapper 1.2 BinkleyTerm(S) 2.50 MsgEd 2.06c SquishMail 1.00 BinkleyTerm/2-MT MsgLink 1.0c Tick 2.0 1.40.02 MsgNum 4.16d VPurge 4.09e SEAmail 1.01 Xenix/Unix 386 -------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 30 12 Aug 1996 BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- ARC 5.21 C-LHARC 1.00 MsgEd 2.06 |Contact: Willy Paine 1:343/15,| MSGLINK 1.01 |or Eddy van Loo 2:285/406 | oMMM 1.42 Omail 1.00 ParseLst 1.32 Unzip 3.10 VPurge 4.08 Zoo 2.01 QNX --- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- QTach2 1.09 QMM 0.50s Kermit 2.03 QCP 1.02 NodeList Utilities Archive Utilities QSave 3.6 Name Version Name Version QTTSysop 1.07.1 -------------------- -------------------- SeaLink 1.05 QNode 2.09 Arc 6.02 XModem 1.00 LH 1.00.2 YModem 1.01 Unzip 2.01 ZModem 0.02f Zoo 2.01 Apple II -------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- DDBBS + 8.0* Fruity Dog 2.0 deARC2e 2.1 GBBS Pro 2.1 ProSel 8.70* ShrinkIt 3.30* |Contact: Dennis McClain-Furmanski 1:275/42| ShrinkIt GS 1.04 Apple CP/M ---------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Daisy 2j Daisy Mailer 0.38 Filer 2-D MsgUtil 2.5 Nodecomp 0.37 PackUser 4 UNARC.Com 1.20 FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 31 12 Aug 1996 Macintosh --------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Software Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- FBBS 0.91 Copernicus 1.0 ArcMac 1.3 Hermes 1.6.1 Tabby 2.2 AreaFix 1.6 Mansion 7.15 Compact Pro 1.30 Precision Sys. 0.95b EventMeister 1.0 Red Ryder Host 2.1 Export 3.21 Telefinder Host Import 3.2 2.12T10 LHARC 0.41 MacArd 0.04 Mantissa 3.21 Point System Mehitable 2.0 Software OriginatorII 2.0 Name Version PreStamp 3.2 -------------------- StuffIt Classic 1.6 Copernicus 1.00 SunDial 3.2 CounterPoint 1.09 TExport 1.92 MacWoof 1.1 TimeStamp 1.6 TImport 1.92 Tset 1.3 TSort 1.0 UNZIP 1.02c Zenith 1.5 Zip Extract 0.10 Amiga ----- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Software Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- 4D-BBS 1.65 BinkleyTerm 1.00 Areafix 1.48 DLG Pro. 0.96b TrapDoor 1.80 AReceipt 1.5 Falcon CBCS 1.00 WelMat 0.44 ChameleonEdit 0.11 Starnet 1.0q@ ConfMail 1.12 TransAmiga 1.07 ElectricHerald 1.66 XenoLink 1.0 Compression FFRS 1.0@ Utilities FileMgr 2.08 Name Version Fozzle 1.0@ NodeList Utilities -------------------- Login 0.18 Name Version AmigArc 0.23 MessageFilter 1.52 -------------------- booz 1.01 Message View 1.12 ParseLst 1.66 LHARC 1.30 oMMM 1.50 Skyparse 2.30 LhA 1.10 PolyXAmy 2.02 TrapList 1.40 LZ 1.92 RMB 1.30 PkAX 1.00 Roof 46.15 UnZip 4.1 RoboWriter 1.02 Zippy (Unzip) 1.25 Rsh 4.07a Zoo 2.01 Tick 0.75 TrapToss 1.20 |Contact: Maximilian Hantsch 2:310/6| Yuck! 2.02 FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 32 12 Aug 1996 Atari ST/TT ----------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- FIDOdoor/ST 2.5.1 BinkleyTerm 2.40n9 ApplyList 1.00@ FiFo 2.1v The Box 1.95* Burep 1.1 LED ST 1.00 ComScan 1.04 MSGED 1.99 ConfMail 4.10 QuickBBS/ST 1.06* NodeList Utilities Echoscan 1.10 Name Version FDrenum 2.5.2 -------------------- FastPack 1.20 Compression ParseList 1.30 Import 1.14 Utilities EchoFix 1.20 oMMM 1.40 Name Version sTICK/Hatch 5.50 Pack 1.00 -------------------- Trenum 0.10 ARC 6.02 LHARC 2.01i PackConvert STZip 1.1* UnJARST 2.00 WhatArc 2.02 Archimedes ---------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- ARCbbs 1.61 BinkleyTerm ARC 1.20 Odyssey 0.37 2.06f-wimp !AskFor 1.01 RiscBBS 0.9.85m BatchPacker 1.00 DeLZ 0.01 MailED 0.95 NetFile 1.00 ParseLst 1.30 Raul 1.01 !Spark 2.16 !SparkMail 2.08 !SparkPlug 2.14 UnArj 2.21 UnZip 3.00 Zip 1.00 Tandy Color Computer 3 (OS-9 Level II) -------------------------------------- BBS Software Compression Utility Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- RiBBS 2.02+ Ar 1.3 Ascan 1.2 DeArc 5.12 AutoFRL 2.0 OS9Arc 1.0 Bundle 2.2 FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 33 12 Aug 1996 UnZip 3.10 CKARC 1.1 UnLZH 3.0 EchoCheck 1.01 FReq 2.5a LookNode 2.00 ParseLST PReq 2.2 RList 1.03 RTick 2.00 UnBundle 1.4 UnSeen 1.1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Key to old info: + - Netmail Capable (Doesn't Require Additional Mailer Software) * - Recently Updated Version @ - New Addition -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 34 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ================================================================= [this must be copied out to a file starting at column 1 or it won't process under PGP as a valid public-key] -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Clear-signing is Electronic Digital Authenticity! -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Pending a formal decision about including 'encrypted' material inside FidoNews from the Zone Coordinator Council, the guts of the FidoNews public-key have been removed from this listing. File-request FNEWSKEY from 1:1/23 [1:374/14] or download it from the Rights On! BBS at 1-407-383-1372 anytime except 0100-0130 ET and Zone 1 ZMH at 1200-9600+ HST/V32B. This section will contain only this disclaimer and instructions until a ZCC decision is forwarded to the Editor. Sorry for any inconvenience. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 35 12 Aug 1996 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editor: Christopher Baker Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Tom Jennings, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees "FidoNews Editor" FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS 1-407-383-1372, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(ds) more addresses: Christopher Baker -- 1:374/14, cbaker84@digital.net cbak.rights@opus.global.org (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews Editor P.O. Box 5921 Titusville, FL 32783-5921 U.S.A. voice: 1-407-264-2994 [1400-2100 ET only, please] [1800-0100 UTC/GMT] ------------------------------------------------------ FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright 1996 Christopher Baker. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the Editor. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSDnn.LZH] for a FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 36 12 Aug 1996 particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the current year [6], i.e., FNWSMAY6.ZIP for all the Issues from May 96. Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number 1 - 12 for 1984 - 1995, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in size from 48K to 1.2M. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via: http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/ STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request: Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from ftp.sstar.com in the FIDONET\FNEWS directory: FNEWSTOC.ZIP FidoNews, Table of Contents, all issues (1984 - 1995) FNEWS1.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 1, all issues (1984) FNEWS2.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 2, all issues (1985) FNEWS3.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 3, all issues (1986) FNEWS4.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 4, all issues (1987) FNEWS5.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 5, all issues (1988) FNEWS6.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 6, all issues (1989) FNEWS7.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 7, all issues (1990) FNEWS8.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 8, all issues (1991) FNEWS9.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 9, all issues (1992) FNEWSA.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 10, all issues (1993) FNEWSB.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 11, all issues (1994) FNEWSC.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 12, all issues (1995) FNEWSD01.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 13, Nr. 01 (January 1, 1996) FNEWSD02.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 13, Nr. 02 (January 8, 1996) (etc) FNEWSD31.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 13, Nr. 31 (July 29, 1996) FNEWSD32.ZIP FidoNews, Vol. 13, Nr. 32 (August 5, 1996) (etc) Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 11 Megs. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= A PGP generated public-key is available for the FidoNews Editor from 1:1/23 [1:374/14] by file-request for FNEWSKEY or by download from Rights On! BBS at 1-407-383-1372 as FIDONEWS.ASC in File Area 18. It is also posted twice a month into the PKEY_DROP Echo available on the Zone 1 Echomail Backbone. *=*=*=*=* Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may file-request GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch FIDONEWS 13-33 Page 37 12 Aug 1996 should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the previously listed address. *=*=*=*=* SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators also have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. "Disagreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or something to amuse ourselves and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -30- -----------------------------------------------------------------