F I D O N E W S -- Volume 14, Number 50 15 December 1997 +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-904-409-7040 [1:1/23] | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Christopher Baker 1:18/14 | | |__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. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ONLY 10 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS or 6 DAYS TILL SOLSTICE! Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Ah, the holiday poetry begins ............................ 1 2. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 2 Bah Humbug - another slant on Christmas poems ............ 2 Sobering Santa stuff? .................................... 3 3. ARTICLES ................................................. 5 Open letter from 1:395/8 ................................. 5 A MicroSoft Christmas .................................... 6 Sysop's Night Before Christmas ........................... 8 News from a fellow cyberjournalist ....................... 9 4. NET HUMOR ................................................ 11 Top 12 Reasons We Like Hanukkah .......................... 11 5. NOTICES .................................................. 12 Future History ........................................... 17 6. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................................. 19 Latest Greatest Software Versions ........................ 19 7. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ...................................... 23 FidoNews PGP public-key listing .......................... 23 8. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 24 9. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 26 FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 1 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= This Issue has pro and con Christmas poems and one Hanukkah joke. So far that's all that's come in for the effort. There isn't anything about Solstice, Ramadan or Kwanzaa, yet. If your favorite hasn't appeared, yet, you still have one more week to submit it. The ZEC election nominations are underway. A couple of well-meaning but obviously confused folks nominated and seconded yours truly for the post. Since I don't believe in Echomail [I'm an Etheist {snicker}] and don't have the technical wherewithal for such a job, I certainly decline the 'honor' for all time. Candidates who don't decline [even if they should], can publish their platforms and promises right here, if they wish. I only hope the ZEC election motivates some action in other venues like the quest for an International Coordinator. When that comes along, I most certainly will accept the nomination. [evil grin] Speaking of the Nodelist, I see we are slipping on our worldwide synchronization again. Some international network we are. [sigh] Anybody want their Christmas [or other festival] wish published next week? Send in your properly formatted text file with the extension of your choice [freq ARTSPEC.DOC] before Saturday. Details on submission are in the Masthead at the end of every Issue. ARTSPEC.DOC appears in the Notices section today in case your system cannot do a file-request or you are not a Sysop. You don't have to be a Sysop to publish in FidoNews. C.B. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 2 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ================================================================= From: "Mike Riddle" To: "Baker, Christopher" Subject: Fwd: A Bah Humbug Christmas ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== A Bah Humbug Christmas T'was the night before Christmas - Old Santa was pissed He cussed out the elves and threw down his list, Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks I have good mind to scrap the whole works I've busted my ass for damn near a year Instead of "Thanks Santa" - what do I hear The old lady bitches cause I work late at night The elves want more money - The reindeer all fight Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS And just when I thought that things would get better Those assholes from IRS sent me a letter They say I owe taxes - if that ain't damn funny Who the hell ever sent Santa Clause any money And the kids these days - they all are the pits They want the impossible ...Those mean little shits I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds Assembling dolls...Their arms, legs and heads I made a ton of yo yo's - No request for them They want computers and robots...they think I'm IBM! If you think that's bad...just picture this Try holding those brats...with their pants full of piss They pull on my nose - they grab at my beard And if I don't smile..the parents think I'm weird Flying through the air...dodging the trees Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees I'm quitting this job...there's just no enjoyment I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 3 15 Dec 1997 There's no Christmas this year...now you know the reason I found me a blonde.. I'm going SOUTH for the season!! >> ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== ----------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 15:26:16 -0500 (EST) From: BB Oros Subject: Sobering Santa Stuff 1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen. 2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish & Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each. 3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with. This is due to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits/second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has .001 second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles/household, a total trip of 75.5 million miles; not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding & etc. So Santa's sleigh must be moving at 650 miles/second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles/second. A conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles/hour. FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 4 15 Dec 1997 4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 lb.), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 lb. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see #1) could pull 10 TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with 8, or even 9 reindeer. We need 214,200. This increases the payload - not counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. This is four times the weight of the ocean-liner Queen Elizabeth. 5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles/second creates enormous air resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as a spacecraft reentering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 0.00426 of a second. Meanwhile, Santa, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-lb. Santa (seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 lb. of force. If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now. Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!!! -30- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 5 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Open letter from 1:395/8 Larry Black, 1:395/8 Dear Bruce, Jim, and Chris, I wish to thank all of you for supporting me in my time of need. At this time, I am still unable to comply with Crashmail, Zone Mail Hour, Etc., Etc., due to reasons beyond my Control. However, as an old-time member, and one of the local Founders of 395, I was very active in helping Fido acquire new nodes, and always supported the Efforts of new sysops, which was extremely Difficult in the Killeen/Fort Hood area, due to the large turnover of military personnel in our Unique situation. Every day, I watch as we Lose more and more sysops and more and more nodes around the world to that Hi-Tech THANG called the Internet!! To me, it is TOTALLY incomprehensible that a few remaining Hobbyist Sysops that helped build THE WORLD'S GREATEST AMATEUR MAIL NETWORK must be STUCK in a rut with a Policy that was enacted in the 8-bit days of computers. Meanwhile, the World is moving Forward on the Internet, which does NOT have such Draconian restrictions! For the last two years, we have watched many of the Amateur mail networks that I and the others have participated in rapidly Disappear (RBBS-Net, Egg-Net, Etc., Etc.,), mostly due to the fact that they attempted to clone the archaic policies of the larger Fidonet and Refused to adapt to the changing technology around them. I find it strange that Zone 2 has somehow managed to elude parts of the archaic Policy 4, mostly due to the infighting over the one simple rule that Fido has. Zone 2 meanwhile has an Internet Site that allows sysops with a Node Number to directly pick up mail over the Internet and has made changes to allow its users to directly participate in online conferences through the Internet. Perhaps if we were less restrictive and worried less about who has node numbers and Zone Mail Hours, and were more concerned about maintaining sysops in the nodelist instead of watching a shrinking nodelist, we could provide a more REALISTIC and REAL TIME Echolist by having numerous Internet Sites that provide access to Users and Sysops for realtime response throughout the world. The Truth is that I, as well as most of the older Fido sysops around the world, became a part of the Net not for Chit-Chat with other sysops, but so we could get Responses from PC Hardware Manufacturers, specifically Modem Manufacturers, and other communications tools about PC Hardware, so that when I need a new init string, I didn't have to sit on the phone for 14 hours at my expense to get a new AT&F string. And of course, we were able to interact with shareware/software authors around the world, which is a Good thing, in what was a super- timely manner of only 3-5 days. In the days of 2400 baud modems, that was a Wonderful thing! In today's modern world, using this wonderful thing called the WORLD WIDE WEB, every large and small PC hardware, FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 6 15 Dec 1997 modem, shareware, software, etc., company has an online WEB-SITE providing people around the world with INSTANTANEOUS access to drivers, fixes, and help!! Don't you think it's strange that us hobbyist sysops, using our sizzling fast Pentium computers and light- speed 56K modems still have to wait the same original 3-5 days (BTW, I have a Skylink satellite dish in my back yard for downloading Fidonet mail that used to cost me an annual subscription that I would gladly donate to a dedicated hobbyist if he paid the shipping cost. However, It's still cheaper (aka FREE) to get Fido echoes from zone TWO over the Internet!). I realize that all of you will see that this is irrelevant, so if you wish, because I am not in compliance, you may pull my node number. However, I would like to HUMBLY request an independent node number. If this is impossible, you may use the Internet gateway, (providing that it's still working) to send me mail at Larry.Black@ToadNet.com. Thank You. Larry Black 1:395/8_??? 86:8406/5 P.S. Instead of people at the top, Region Coordinator, Zone Coordinator, etc., dictating Archaic policies to us poor hobbyist sysops on the bottom run, maybe should allow the lowly sysops, who have kept the Net together for years, to become part of the decision- making process, by requesting that the lowly sysops provide input, recommendations, and suggestions, to modernize our network. Elections are a wonderful thing, but rather meaningless if we can really make NO changes. I feel BADLY that this network that I helped SUPPORT and BUILD is disintegrating before my eyes because no-one is willing to ROCK the BOAT or make changes for fear of being singled out as a BAD GUY or ROGUE! ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Mike Riddle" To: "Baker, Christopher" Subject: Fwd: *** Have Yourself a Microsoft Christmas*** ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== *** Have Yourself a Microsoft Christmas*** 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, except Papa's mouse. The computer was humming, the icons were hopping, As Papa did last-minute Internet shopping. The stockings were hung by the modem with care In hope that St. Nicholas would bring new software. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of computer games danced in their heads. FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 7 15 Dec 1997 PageMaker for Billy, and Quicken for Dan, And Carmen Sandiego for Pamela Ann. The letters to Santa had been sent out by Mom, To santaclaus@toyshop.northpole.com - Which has now been re-routed to Washington State Because Santa's workshop has been bought by Bill Gates. All the elves and reindeer have had to skedaddle To flashy new quarters in suburban Seattle. After centuries of a life that was simple and spare, St. Nicholas is suddenly a new billionaire, With a shiny red Porsche in the place of his sleigh, And a house on Lake Washington that's just down the way From where Bill has his mansion. The old fellow preens In black Gucci boots and red Calvin Klein jeans. The elves have stock options and desks with a view, Where they write computer code for Johnny and Sue. No more dolls or toy soldiers or little toy drums (ahem - pardon me) No more dolls or tin soldiers or little toy drums Will be under the tree, only compact disk ROMS With the Microsoft label. So spin up your drive, From now on Christmas runs only on Win95. More rapid than eagles the competitors came, And Bill whistled, and shouted, and called them by name. "Now, ADOBE! now, CLARIS! now, INTUIT! too, Now, APPLE! and NETSCAPE! you are all of you through," It is Microsoft's SANTA that the kids can't resist, It's the ultimate software with a traditional twist - Recommended by no less than the jolly old elf, And on the package, a picture of Santa himself. Get 'em young, keep 'em long, is Microsoft's scheme, And a merger with Santa is a marketer's dream. To the top of the NASDAQ! to the top of the Dow! Now dash away! dash away! dash away - wow!" And Mama in her 'kerchief and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, The whir and the hum of our satellite platter, As it turned toward that new Christmas star in the sky, The SANTALITE owned by the Microsoft guy. As I sprang from my bed and was turning around, My computer turned on with a Jingle-Bells sound. And there on the screen was a smiling Bill Gates Next to jolly old Santa, two arm-in-arm mates. And I heard them exclaim in voice so bright, Have a MICROSOFT CHRISTMAS, and TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT. ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 8 15 Dec 1997 ----------------------------------------------------------------- --- Following message extracted from 374SYSOP @ 1:18/14 --- By Christopher Baker on Sat Dec 13 20:42:07 1997 From: Genie Bohn To: All Date: 11 Dec 97 04:52:00 Subj: From the archives A S Y S O P S N I G H T B E F O R E C H R I S T M A S ------------------------------------------------------------- Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the nodes The modems were buzzing from many abodes. And the new soundcard I'd hid by the chimney with care, Had been returned by my spouse who had found it there. I knew kids had long since been poured in their beds While visions of new Apogee games danced in their heads. My spouse fell asleep in a chair next to me The computer was mine, I shouted with glee! When a ring on Node 1 woke me quick from my throes For the name on the logon thrilled me to the toes Away to the keyboard I tore like a flash Fell onto the table - broke a mouse with a crash. The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow Shone bright on the RIP screen from a user we know. And what to my wondering eyes did I see? But one SANTA CLAUS typed so very hesitatingly. In the NEWUSER script answered "YES" to real name, "North Pole" as location, the "XT" was a shame. He read all the rules and then to the bulletins he went. So perfect his logon, I was slow to get bent. I thought: "Download a file, you ain't got all night!" The menus were boring in plain black and white. But no interest in files this user displayed, And I knew that this guy might get an upgrade. He read all the Main Conference, then paused for a sec Made me wonder if the guy worked with a full deck And then, in a twinkling a message he typed When I read it, the tears from my eyes I did wipe. THANK YOU SYSOP, FOR THE ACCESS - YOU HAVE A GREAT BOARD I thought at this time the sub he couldn't afford HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, AND A BETTER NEW YEAR At least for a lockout he had nothing to fear. MRS CLAUS SENDS HER BEST AND THE ELVES SEND A GREETING Maybe we should invite this guy to our next meeting. I'LL ONLY CALL ONCE A YEAR, BUT I'LL UPLOAD A FILE! FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 9 15 Dec 1997 Just once a year? How many boards does he dial? After saving this message, to the RIPNet! echos he went, Joined the EUROPE echo quickly, and read with intent, Through RIPSYSOP and RIPCHAT and RIP Q&A he flew Even left a few messages to people I knew! Then upload he did - 'twas some warm Christmas text Made me wonder in awe at just what he'd do next I sprang to the kitchen a poured me a drink Stirred it quick with a dirty spoon right from the sink. Then back to the keyboard, but he'd logged off with a BYE No chance for a chat with this SANTA CLAUS guy. But I heard in the distance as I turned off the light, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOODNIGHT! ----------------------------------------------------------- Origin: Flamingo BBS, Melbourne, FL V34+ (407)242-8184 (1:374/46) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Journal X Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION: Kevin Bertram - (703) 938-6901 kevin@journalx.com Shane Ham - (202) 785-3916 shane@journalx.com Journal X Webzine Sends Press Release to Gain Publicity "We hope nobody sees through this sham," says editor. Journal X, a webzine devoted to politics and culture from the twentysomething perspective, sent a press release today in the hopes of gaining free publicity. Editor Kevin Bertram and Associate Editor Shane Ham dreamed up the idea in order to increase readership for their fledgling internet publication. "All kinds of people and organizations publicize themselves by convincing the media that advertising is news," said Bertram. "If it works on Entertainment Tonight, it should work for us." "Our budget is tight to say the least," said Ham. "If we can con one or two reporters to do a 'news' story on us, we can get our name and URL out without spending a penny." "We just hope we can find reporters who are gullible enough to fall for it," added Bertram. Journal X is a webzine devoted to political commentary, original fiction, and reviews of everything from movies to computer games. The entire staff is composed of young men and women in their twenties. It is published every Thursday morning, and it can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.journalx.com . The Politics and Culture department carries both conservative and FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 10 15 Dec 1997 liberal commentators that write about the world with a cynical but humorous edge. The Fiction and Reviews department carries short stories, diaries from young people living in New York and San Francisco, and Journal X's most popular feature, movie reviews. "The previous two paragraphs are the critical ones," said Bertram. "We're hoping that it will move reporters to open their browsers and look at our zine. Once they do that, my phone will be ringing off the hook with interview requests." Journal X editors brushed aside naysayers who predicted their press release scam would fail. "Just open up the newspaper," said Ham. "It is filled with articles that couldn't even be considered news in the bizarro universe. If you can read about the woman who turned her doll- making hobby into a marginally profitable home business, you should be able to read about the best new webzine on the net." He added that he hoped his upbeat tone and superlative descriptions of Journal X would convince reporters that a story about the webzine would indeed be interesting. "Sure this is a cynical ploy," said Bertram, "but everyone else does it and it works very well for politicians and celebrities. We just want our piece of the pie." Kevin Bertram and Shane Ham are both available for interviews. # 30 # ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 11 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= NET HUMOR ================================================================= From: "Mike Riddle" To: "Baker, Christopher" Subject: Fwd: Top 12 Reasons Why We Like Hanukkah ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== Top 12 Reasons Why We Like Hanukkah 12. You can't be nailed to the menorah 11. More elephants in the Hanukkah story 10. No roof damage from reindeer 9. Never a silent night when you're among your Jewish loved ones 8. Dance of the Sugar-Plum Rebbe 7. Betting Hanukkah gelt on candle races 6. Yes, Rivka'le, there is no Santa Claus 5. Naked spin-the-dreidel games 4. Fun waxy buildup 3. No awkward explanations of virgin birth 2. Cheer optional 1. No Irving Berlin songs ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 12 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines FidoNet address 1:1/23 Updated 1 Jul 1997 by Christopher Baker Updated 29 May 1991 by Tom Jennings Based on the original work by Thom Henderson | denotes a change since the last update |. "Fido" and "FidoNet" are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, Box 410923, San Francisco CA 94141, USA and are used with permission. -------- SYNOPSIS: FidoNews is the newsletter of the FidoNet computer network, its Sysops and users. It is passed to its readers electronically via the FidoNet and other computer networks and to non-network readers as well. This document intends to tell you how to write and submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Much of it describes the technical specifications which an article must meet in order to be included in the newsletter, as well as broad (very) guidelines on content. (Of course you realize articles can be submitted only electronically.) Please read it carefully. The article you save might be your own. ------------ INTRODUCTION: FidoNews was originally founded in early 1984 to include all parts of the lives of its member Sysops and users, which of course means not just technical matters. We do not have fixed goals of maximum distribution or maximum readership (i.e. lowest common denominator) but only to meet the needs of our individual network members. The success of this venture has always been contentious at best (ahem). In any case the grand experiment continues. Twelve years later (at this writing) and over 30,000 Nodes in the network, the editorial policy, or lack of one, of FidoNews has shown to best fit our ever-changing and unpredictable needs. -------------- SUBJECT MATTER: Articles on any subject of interest to FidoNet members and users FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 13 15 Dec 1997 are welcome and encouraged, not necessarily of a technical nature, though priority may be, but not necessarily, given to articles of importance to the FidoNet, its technology and its uses; other networks such as uucp and the Internet; social aspects of communications; ethical issues; other related matters. -------------- ARTICLE LENGTH: Try to keep articles short. The longer it is, the less likely people are to read it. Consider splitting long articles (more than five pages) into smaller articles to be run serially. Exceptions will be made at the whim of the editors. For practical reasons, we will attempt to keep FidoNews to a "reasonable size", which is of course a highly subjective and variable thing. As of May 1991, the goal is under 100,000 bytes. Decisions regarding content may be made based upon this, though in general it shouldn't be an issue. ------------------ WRITING GUIDELINES: We are not all professional writers, nor is that even a goal for the FidoNews -- we want real communication to and from real people; even at the expense of so-called "good writing", which is frequently a tool to exclude. There are a few minimum requirements though for any successful writing, even for the lowly FidoNews: * The subject discussed must be clear to people other than the author! Don't assume that people will pick up the context from your writing. Tell them explicitly. * Why are you writing this? It may seem obvious -- "Review of the new Acme 75-baud Modem" -- but it's not. Are you the manufacturer? An irate customer? Let us know your point of view. * Who are you? A good question! Anonymity is acceptable, though most people want to take credit for their work. Include full contact information including electronic mail addresses. * Articles submitted via Netmail or email must contain all the technically required lines and delimiters in the BODY of the message. This includes the *[title] line and the 70 character width requirement. To indicate the filename type for one of these message submissions, place the FILENAME.TYP in the Subj: line of your email, Netmail, or Echomail. Those that require extra editing may be delayed from appearing in FidoNews. * Articles will appear when space becomes available, not necessarily the "next" issue. If your article is of a time- critical nature, please say so when you submit it; the editor FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 14 15 Dec 1997 still has final say. * The editor reserves the right to request changes from an author to meet these "standards", which you have to admit are pretty loose. It is not the intent for this to be a mechanism to refuse articles the editor does not like, but simply to keep the contents intelligible. * If we have a backlog of articles, we may get fussier about things. Historically, this has not been a serious problem. --------------------- SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: If all that hasn't scared you away, the next step is to create a text file which contains the text of your article. The resulting file should be sent or uploaded to "Editor", FidoNet address 1:1/23. The "physical" location (and phone number) of FidoNews varies, and hence must be found elsewhere, such as within a recent copy of FidoNews itself. Filenames must follow the MSDOS standard: FILENAME.TYP a 1 to 8 character file name (A - Z, 0 - 9) a period, a 0 to 3 character file type (A - Z, 0 - 9) File types are used to distinguish types of submissions, as follows: .LET Letters to the Editor. .ART An article, commentary, open letter, or general news item. .GUE Want to write a Guest Editorial? [*Name & Node on line 1] .RTX Need to make a Retraction of a previous article or notice? .COL Want to become a regular contributor with your own column? .ANS Answers to the Question of the Week. .BIO FidoNet biographies - tell us your | personal | story. | .TRU True stories of FidoNet. | .HIS FidoNet history - got an anecdote to share? .REV Reviews of related product, services, or programs. .JOK Net humor in print. | .FIC FidoNet (computer related) short fiction. | .CMX Comics in ASCII. [watch those lines at 70 columns!] | [.CMX that are political will be renamed to .GUE] | .PRF Want to Proofread? Get a cookie for spotting errors. .AD Advertising FREE services or events. .SAL "For Sale" .WAN "Wanted" FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 15 15 Dec 1997 .NOT A notice for the back of the issue. Keep them short. .INT Internet addresses for FidoNet webpages of general interest. If your file doesn't have one of the above extensions, then it will lay around taking up disk space until someone takes a look at it and realizes what it is. Maybe. The name of the file is up to you, though you should use a name which is not likely to be "stepped on" by someone else -- the system will not guarantee file names are unique. For example, FNEWS.ART is probably not a good name for an article. -------------- CHARACTER SETS: The character by character contents of the file itself must meet the following standards or it cannot be published in FidoNews. The FidoNews staff WILL NOT be responsible for making file contents conform to these standards. * FLUSH LEFT MARGIN: Please do not put a "left margin" on your articles. Have the text start at the very first column. * RIGHT MARGIN AT COLUMN 70 OR LESS: Less is tolerable, more is definitely not. If your cursor is resting at column 71 when your line is ended, you're okay. One character past that even with trailing spaces and MAKENEWS will barf on your submission. If your submission is physically rejected, the Editor will have to fix it manually or send it back for reformatting. * RAGGED-RIGHT TEXT: Word-Star style "justification" (inserting spaces into sentences so that a paragraph is perfectly rec- tangular) is extremely hard to read, and consumes needless space. Please don't use it! * NO FUNNY CHARACTERS: This includes formfeeds, returns without linefeeds, linefeeds without returns, tabs and other oddities. The only control codes (character codes 0 through 31 decimal) allowed are carriage return (CR) and linefeed (LF). The only exception is: Control-Z "end of file" terminator characters are tolerated. Not required. * NO GRAPHICS CHARACTERS: Believe it or not, not everyone in the world has an IBM PC. Please restrict yourself to printable ASCII characters in the range 20 hex to 7E hex (space to tilde). * LINES TERMINATED: Each line in the article should be terminated with a 'newline' -- either the MSDOS standard (CR/LF) or the unix standard (LF only). ----------------- SUBMISSION FORMAT: FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 16 15 Dec 1997 Below is a sample article properly formatted. Features of it are discussed further below. --article file example begins below this line-- *A Sample Article [this is in LINE 1 starting at COLUMN 1] This is My Title by Joe Schmoe, [Netmail/email address] And here is my article. Note that it is flush left (zero indent). Also note that the right margin is at column seventy so that it won't overflow "most" text windows. Each line has a newline. Note the *'ed first line. My article will be listed in the table of contents exactly as it appears after the * above. Figure 1. Table 1. +-------+ ======== | A Box | Alpha +-------+ Bravo Note that we am not using any funny-o characters. This ensures that the final article will look the same to every user, no matter what sort of hardware he has. This is the last sentence of our article. --article file example ends above this line-- The FIRST line of text is the Table of Contents line. It MUST begin with an asterisk * as shown above. NO BLANK lines above title line are permitted. If you do not follow this instruction exactly, the article will not be listed in the Table of Contents. This Table of Contents listing method works for all submission file types. * Everything that follows the *'ed line will appear in the body of the newsletter. The *'ed line will be stripped out of your article text so if you want it repeated as your title in the article BE SURE to | REPEAT | it on a second line without the *. * Next should be the title or name of your article, your name, and contact information (network address(es), Postal Service address, etc) Try to keep it to one or two lines each. * Put a blank line between paragraphs. Paragraphs that all run together are very difficult to read, and may be rejected. * If you want to put in a table or a figure, go right ahead. We do not rearrange text, so your table or figure will remain exactly as you entered it. Try to limit them to ones that make the communication CLEARER. * Don't put a lot of blank space at the top or bottom. The FidoNews-generator programs will visually separate articles automatically. FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 17 15 Dec 1997 * Please check for basic errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. We're not publishing a textbook, but you don't want it to embarrass yourself do you? * Don't use FidoNews to grind your personal axes against other FidoNet members. An article presenting a side of an internal dispute is one thing. An article defaming or perseverating over several Issues is another. Articles that merely quote endlessly from other sources to no particular effect are also not a good idea. * Don't republish copyrighted material from other sources WITHOUT the permission of those sources. Include the permission in such articles. * Remember that FidoNews is no better or worse than the articles submitted to it. If you want FidoNews to be a useful newsletter, get involved and submit useful articles. It's up to YOU to make it work. -------------------- SUBMISSION DEADLINES: FidoNews is published on Monday of every week. Deadline for file submissions to the FidoNews Editor via file-attach is 2300 ET [0300 UTC/GMT] the previous Saturday. Deadline for submissions via Netmail, email, or in the FIDONEWS Echo is 2300 ET [0300 UTC/GMT] the previous Friday. Submissions which miss the deadlines will be processed the following week. Submission by deadline is not a guarantee of appearance in that week's FidoNews but it is likely depending on volume of submissions. -30- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Future History 12 Jan 1998 HAL 9000 is one year old today. 30 Apr 1998 Queens Day, Holland. 17 May 1998 Independence Day, Norway. 22 May 1998 Expo '98 World Exposition in Lisbon (Portugal) opens. 14 Sep 1998 Start of International BBS Week [thru 20 Sep 98]. 22 Sep 1998 First anniversary of the FidoNews domain of www.fidonews.org. FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 18 15 Dec 1997 1 Dec 1998 Fifteenth Anniversary of release of Fido version 1 by Tom Jennings. 24 Jul 1999 XIII Pan American Games [through 8 Aug 99]. 31 Dec 1999 Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed. 1 Jan 2000 The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec. 1 Jun 2000 EXPO 2000 World Exposition in Hannover (Germany) opens. 15 Sep 2000 Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens. 1 Jan 2001 This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E. -- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 19 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ================================================================= Latest Greatest Software Versions by Peter E. Popovich, 1:363/264 New entry: Tornado, a BBS from Konstantin Klyagin. Welcome to the list... ;-) -=- 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: Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Act-Up 4.6 G D Chris Gunn 1:15/55 ACT-UP ALLFIX 5.00 T S Harald Harms 2:281/415 ALLFIX Announcer 1.12 O S Peter Karlsson 2:206/221 ANNOUNCE BGFAX 1.60 O S B.J. Guillot 1:106/400 BGFAX Binkley Docs 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOC_260.ZIP BinkleyTerm 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOS_260.ZIP BinkleyTerm-XE XR5 M F Thomas Waldmann 2:2474/400 BTXE_DOS CFRoute 0.92 O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70 CFR CheckPnt 1.0a O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 CHECKPNT FastEcho 1.46.1 T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400 FASTECHO FastEcho/16 1.46.1 T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400 FEX FastLst 1.36 N S Alberto Pasquale 2:332/504 FASTLSTD FidoBBS (tm) 12u B S Ray Brown 1:1/117 FILES FrontDoor 2.12 M S JoHo 2:201/330 FD FrontDoor 2.20c M C JoHo 2:201/330 FDINFO GEcho 1.00 T S Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO GEcho/Plus 1.11 T C Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO GEcho/Pro 1.20 T C Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO GIGO 07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler 1:1/141 INFO GoldED 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GED GoldED/386 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEX GoldED Docs 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEM GoldNODE 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEN FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 20 15 Dec 1997 Imail 1.75 T S Michael McCabe 1:1/121 IMAIL ImCrypt 1.04 O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 IMCRYPT InfoMail/86 1.21 O F Damian Walker 2:2502/666 INFOMAIL InfoMail/386 1.21 O F Damian Walker 2:2502/666 INFO386 InterEcho 1.19 T C Peter Stewart 1:369/35 IEDEMO InterMail 2.29k M C Peter Stewart 1:369/35 IMDEMO InterPCB 1.52 O S Peter Stewart 1:369/35 INTERPCB IPNet 1.11 O S Michele Stewart 1:369/21 IPNET JD's CBV 1.4 O S John Dailey 1:363/277 CBV Jelly-Bean 1.01 T S Rowan Crowe 3:635/727 JELLY Jelly-Bean/386 1.01 T S Rowan Crowe 3:635/727 JELLY386 JMail-Hudson 2.81 T S Jason Steck 1:285/424 JMAIL-H JMail-Goldbase 2.81 T S Jason Steck 1:285/424 JMAIL-G MakePl 1.9 N G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 MAKEPL Marena 1.1 beta O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 MARENA Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAX Max User Ed. 0.18 O F Larry Cooke 1:300/53 MUE McMail 1.0 M S Michael McCabe 1:1/148 MCMAIL MDNDP 1.18 N S Bill Doyle 1:388/7 MDNDP Msged 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41D.ZIP Msged/386 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41X.ZIP NEF 2.38 O S Alberto Pasquale 2:332/504 NEFD NorthStar 3.31.29 B S A&B Darin 1:285/82 NSTAR Opus CBCS 1.79 B P Christopher Baker 1:374/14 OPUS O/T-Track 2.66 O S Peter Hampf 2:241/1090 OT PcMerge 2.8 N G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 PCMERGE PlatinumXpress 1.3 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PX13TD.ZIP QuickBBS 2.81 B S Ben Schollnick 1:2613/477 QUICKBBS RAR 2.01 C S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 RAR RemoteAccess 2.50 B S Mark Lewis 1:3634/12 RA Searchlight 4.5 B S Paul Casey 1:343/117 DEMO450.ZIP Searchlight 5.02 B C Paul Casey 1:343/117 SLBBS50.TXT Silver Xpress Door 5.4 O S Gary Petersen 1:290/111 FILES Reader 4.4 O S Gary Petersen 1:290/111 SXR44.ZIP Spitfire 3.51 B S Mike Weaver 1:3670/3 SPITFIRE Squish 1.11 T P Tech 1:249/106 SQUISH StealTag UK 1.c... O F Fred Schenk 2:284/412 STEAL_UK StealTag NL 1.c... O F Fred Schenk 2:284/412 STEAL_NL T-Mail 2.600 M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAIL Telegard 3.02 B F Tim Strike 1:259/423 TELEGARD Terminate 5.00 O S Bo Bendtsen 2:254/261 TERMINATE Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK Tornado 1.50g B F Konst Klyagin 2:461/22 TORNADO TosScan 1.01 T C JoHo 2:201/330 TSINFO TransNet 1.00 G S Marc S. Ressl 4:904/72 TN100ALL.ZIP TriBBS 11.0 B S Gary Price 1:3607/26 TRIBBS TriDog 11.0 T F Gary Price 1:3607/26 TRIDOG TriToss 11.0 T S Gary Price 1:3607/26 TRITOSS WaterGate 0.93 G S Robert Szarka 1:320/42 WTRGATE WWIV 4.24a B S Craig Dooley 1:376/126 WWIV WWIVTOSS 1.36 T S Craig Dooley 1:376/126 WWIVTOSS xMail 2.00 T S Thorsten Franke 2:2448/53 XMAIL XRobot 3.01 O S JoHo 2:201/330 XRDOS OS/2: FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 21 15 Dec 1997 Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ALLFIX/2 5.00 T S Harald Harms 2:281/415 AFIXOS2 BGFAX 1.60 O S B.J. Guillot 1:106/400 BGFAX Binkley Docs 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOC_260.ZIP BinkleyTerm 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BOS2_260.ZIP BinkleyTerm-XE XR5 M F Thomas Waldmann 2:2474/400 BTXE_OS2 CFRoute 0.92 O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70 CFR FastEcho 1.46.1 T S Tobias Burchhardt 2:2448/400 FE2 FastLst 1.36 N S Alberto Pasquale 2:332/504 FASTLST FleetStreet 1.21 O S Michael Hohner 2:2490/2520 FLEET FP-OS/2 97-03-21 O F Mike Bilow 323/107 FPOS2 GEcho/Pro 1.20 T C Bob Seaborn 1:140/12 GECHO GIGO 07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler 1:1/141 INFO GoldED 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEO GoldED Docs 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEM GoldNODE 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEN ImCrypt 1.04 O G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 IMCRYPT Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAXP Max User Ed. 0.18 O F Larry Cooke 1:300/53 MUEP Msged/2 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41O.ZIP NEF 2.38 O S Alberto Pasquale 2:332/504 NEF PcMerge 2.3 N G Michiel vd Vlist 2:500/9 PCMERGE RAR 2.01 C S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 RAR2 Squish 1.11 T P Tech 1:249/106 SQUISHP T-Mail 2.600 M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAIL2 Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK Tornado 1.50g B F Konst Klyagin 2:461/22 TORNADO2 WaterGate 0.93 G S Robert Szarka 1:320/42 WTRGATE XRobot 3.01 O S JoHo 2:201/330 XROS2 Windows (16-bit apps): Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BeeMail 1.0 M C Andrius Cepaitis 2:470/1 BEEMAIL FrontDoor APX 1.12 P S Mats Wallin 2:201/329 FDAPXW Windows (32-bit apps): Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Argus 95/IP 2.704 M S Max Masyutin 2:469/77 A9I Argus NT/IP 2.704 M S Max Masyutin 2:469/77 ANI BeeMail 1.0 M C Andrius Cepaitis 2:470/1 BEEMAIL Binkley Docs 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BDOC_260.ZIP BinkleyTerm 2.60 M F Bob Juge 1:1/102 BW32_260.ZIP BinkleyTerm-XE XR5 M F Thomas Waldmann 2:2474/400 BTXE_W32 CFRoute 0.92 O G C. Fernandez Sanz 2:341/70 CFR FastLst 1.36 N S Alberto Pasquale 2:332/504 FASTLSTW GoldED 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEO GoldED Docs 2.50 O S Len Morgan 1:203/730 GEM Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAXN Msged/NT 4.10 O G Andrew Clarke 3:635/728 MSGED41W.ZIP NEF 2.38 O S Alberto Pasquale 2:332/504 NEFW PlatinumXpress 2.00 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PXW-INFO Searchlight 5.02 B C Paul Casey 1:343/117 SLBBS50.TXT T-Mail 2.600 M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAILNT FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 22 15 Dec 1997 WinFOSSIL/95 1.12 r4 F S Bryan Woodruff 1:343/294 WNFOSSIL.ZIP WinFOSSIL/NT 1.0 beta F S Bryan Woodruff 1:343/294 NTFOSSIL.ZIP Unix: Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ifmail 2.12 M G Eugene Crosser 2:293/2219 IFMAIL ifmail-tx ...tx8.6 M G Pablo Saratxaga 2:293/2219 IFMAILTX ifmail-tx.rpm ...tx8.6 M G Pablo Saratxaga 2:293/2219 IFMAILTX.RPM Msged 4.00 O G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK Amiga: Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CrashMail 1.31 T X Rene Laederach 2:301/133 CRASHMAIL CrashTick 1.2 O F Rene Laederach 2:301/133 CRASHTICK DLG Pro BBOS 1.15 B C Holly Sullivan 1:202/720 DLGDEMO GMS 1.1.85 M S Mirko Viviani 2:331/213 GMS Msged 4.00 O G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED Tobruk 0.33 T G Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK TrapDoor 1.86.b2 M S Maximilian Hantsch 2:310/6 TRAPDOOR TrapToss 1.50 T S Rene Hexel 2:310/6 TRAPTOSS Atari: Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ApplyList 1.00 N F Daniel Roesen 2:2432/1101 APLST100.LZH BinkleyTerm/ST 3.18pl2 M F Bill Scull 1:363/112 BINKLEY BTNC 2.00 N G Daniel Roesen 2:2432/1101 BTNC JetMail 0.99beta T S Joerg Spilker 2:2432/1101 JETMAIL Semper 0.80beta M S Jan Kriesten 2:2490/1624 SMP-BETA Function: B-BBS, P-Point, M-Mailer, N-Nodelist, G-Gateway, T-Tosser, C-Compression, F-Fossil, O-Other. Note: Multifunction will be listed by the first match. Cost: P-Free for personal use, F-Freeware, S-Shareware, C-Commercial, X-Crippleware, D-Demoware, G-Free w/ Source Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 23 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= 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! mQCNAzINVLcAAAEEAM5dZN6t6j5Yc0kl7qegVFfiBeVoteuhDg4ay8h43u38Q4kO eJ9Mm7J89wXFb9vgouBVb4biIN6bTWCwcXTbGhBe5OIceLvluuxuEKsaIs/UwXNe Ogx5azIPhRfC7MJDe41Z8tMEBuHY/NE88cuxQ8yXWO126IRttavu6L/U5BwRAAUR tCRGaWRvTmV3cyBFZGl0b3IgPDE6MS8yM0BmaWRvbmV0Lm9yZz6JAJUDBRAyGwFS JZMgw7eCKz0BAZl0A/9xrfhpsEOqGiPfjy2qd9dv6tvSVPPVFu+Wy1lGTHYtuTtg FIN3fQ47AM3XzqHxWRWvp/xZYgR6sRICL7UFx94ShYBQc7CyqBBZKA0IvIWqXP/g c4Br+gQJR6CLiQK7TUyjUbqNbs6QAxuNUi4xFQM+O2Gene5/iTjHFmmSDj2C9YkB FQMFEDIOmHDTQ6/52IG1SQEBQ78H/Rz/mleIrtZwFIOhzy3JH4Z6FUTfZuM9nPcs 1ZLjZCPptHvY7wEYJWGr03lPPJ6tj1VBXwTrWJTf/hOLsoi00GKV8t1thjqGDo23 O91/bSQ+Vn0vBQ2vOEJys8ftxdoLJAyI5YLzHVT+RsMTQLIXVuPyrNcKs1vC2ql+ UDHpU1R+9cG9JUEHpGI6z0DPnQ74SKbQH3fiVBpHhYx4BmvcBC4gWQzKMkDWFiq3 8AssIZ7b9lWl3OBgQ4UM1OIDKoJyjRewIdKyl7zboKSt6Qu8LrcsXO3kb81YshOW ZpSS3QDIqfZC4+EElnB15l4RcVwnPHBaQY0FxUr4Vl4UWM36jbuJAJUDBRAyDpgY q+7ov9TkHBEBAQGoA/sFfN07IFQcir456tJfBfB9R5Z6e6UKmexaFhWOsLHqbCq6 3FGXDLeivNn6NTz81QeqLIHglTuM3NP1mu8sw215klAG8G3M1NA2xLw7Eqhspze2 raGvNeEwxl8e+PY9aZwBj4UWU+CmIm6QNiP0MtvR7QYDIKn5mZCDc3CLmr942IkB FQMFEDIOh0O8AhTPqRipPQEB4EYH/1gkDmdHL6lbEkFuQLrylF+weBl0XQ+kv7ER vWXYrvIrkppxtc4VAge6CXXEbOGJnvkFHgyNZzO9Q9O64QsmZvjip+4lhDLeNrdH X9DizS4YKXxkSKr9Yltmn2/AlBCx6jwcDIfkqy/P1tNWcikxZZMd6KryK0Wsres9 Ik12OmVmJjQSxb5bS6Q8aYUbV3qwosGXTqy+BzYh/UYAX/XJIWa5kxFVSPKFSZ+5 toiSzANd9SpHPEogGvQDHJlJ23lmsMx/6uHsR1LTsQ8su8zIk92XyqePJTjlMx2j D7KJWNR7Zzu4QHCXBkga5W8l2FfPk7D3+o7bXTLRuR1yTYGdNoiJAJUCBRAyDhwt SlKLwP4OFW0BAdaMA/9rcWQlSq44K9JuJ7fZUgt9fwxGreTud9fC8DvlbUW79+CA AHLTLLagcEF1OKsWzVBWcA2JEAp+TUTqktRN0oD8vnaw3uNJd1G5KK59hw0WR8x1 v4ivypbSjiq95Y3gBunb7WjpyiFRWDlm0PrKrWHtbWzjnpPIpetln1UuqsSfbokB FQIFEDIOG9C3N61ZQ4Dr/QEBIzMH/1VxxztmBPBszbjZLDO8Svcax9Ng8IcWpcDy WqHCAA2Hoe5VtMD0v6w31ZgVqTPIvCark2Y/aTR1GofiuN9NUqbVV534AgAYLzYk DMT1swsPvqDTpOYgQl6PCGh6A5JGAbWJfKkX9XCUHJAAmiTsEVRNnjOgL+p6qjoh EfIG8CGehghWSRKl5eGeDAtbXupZKNjFI1t2XV+ks0RFQ/RPuTH7pF7pk7WO6Cyg +Dk2ZMgua0HRL1fXvHKb5Xzr3MVgsbAl5gP8ooIiD9MI/x5Irh3oo58VyoEZNBs/ Kz+drGFDPljcS6fdiVCFtYIzMrshY6YsfLi0aB8fwOvFtxgBqli0J0NocmlzdG9w aGVyIEJha2VyIDwxOjE4LzE0QGZpZG9uZXQub3JnPrQoQ2hyaXN0b3BoZXIgQmFr ZXIgPGNiYWtlcjg0QGRpZ2l0YWwubmV0Pg== =61OQ -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- File-request FNEWSKEY from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] or download it from the Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 anytime except 0100-0130 ET and Zone 1 ZMH at 1200-9600+ HST/V32B. The FidoNews key is also available on the FidoNews homepage listed in the Masthead information. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 24 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= FIDONET BY INTERNET ================================================================= This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the Editor as of this appearance. ============ FidoNet: Homepage http://www.fidonet.org FidoNews http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html HTML FNews http://www.fidonews.org WWW sources http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/students/cs_yr94/lk/fido.html FTSC page http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/ftsc/ftscmirr.htm Echomail http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/index.html WebRing http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fnetring.html ============ Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/ Region 13: http://www.smalltalkband.com/st01000.htm Region 14: [disappeared?] Region 15: [disappeared?] Region 16: http://www.tiac.net/users/satins/region16.htm Region 17: http://www.portal.ca/~awalker/region17.htm REC17: http://www.westsound.com/ptmudge/ Region 18: http://www.citicom.com/fido.html Region 19: http://www.compconn.net ============ Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org ZEC2: http://www.proteus.demon.co.uk/zec.htm Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fbone.ch/z2_elist/ Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish) Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (in German) Region 25: http://www.trak-one.co.uk/net254 FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 25 15 Dec 1997 Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (in French) Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (in Swiss) Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (in Italian) Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (in Spanish) REC34: http://pobox.com/~chr Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/ Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (in Greek and English) Region 48: http://www.fidonet.org.pl ============ Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org ============ Zone 4: (not yet listed) Region 90: Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (in Spanish) ============ Zone 5: http://w3.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/index.htm ============ Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (China) ============ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 26 15 Dec 1997 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ------- Editor: Christopher Baker Editors Emeritii: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees "FidoNews Editor" FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS 1-904-409-7040, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(ds) more addresses: Christopher Baker -- 1:18/14, cbaker84@digital.net cbaker84@fidonews.org cbaker84@aol.com cbaker84@msn.com (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews Editor P.O. Box 471 Edgewater, FL 32132-0471 U.S.A. voice: 1-904-409-3040 [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 1997 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 FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 27 15 Dec 1997 back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSEnn.ZIP] for a particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the current year [7], i.e., FNWSAUG7.ZIP for all the Issues from Aug 97. Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number 1 - 14 for 1984 - 1997, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in size from 48K to 1.4M. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via: http://www.fidonews.org http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/ ftp://ftp.aminet.org/pub/aminet/comm/fido/ *=*=* You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to: jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the email distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist with no message to the same address above. * You may retrieve current and previous Issues of FidoNews via FTPMail by sending email to: ftpmail@fidonews.org with a Subject line of: help and FTPMail will immediately send a reply containing details and instructions. When you actually make a file request, FTPMail will respond in three stages. You find a link for this process on www.fidonews.org. *=*=* You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at: http://www.fidonews.org STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request - Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from: ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ 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. FIDONEWS 14-50 Page 28 15 Dec 1997 =*=*=*= The current week's FidoNews and the FidoNews public-key are now also available almost immediately after publication on the Editor's new homepage on the World Wide Web at: http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an email link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= A PGP generated public-key is available for the FidoNews Editor from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] by file-request for FNEWSKEY or by download from Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 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. *=*=*=*=* 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 [1:18/14] 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, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141, 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- -----------------------------------------------------------------