F I D O N E W S Volume 17, Number 48 20 Nov 2000 +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-714-639-0377 1:1/23 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: Warren Bonner | | | (*) | \ )) | editor@fidonews.org | | |__U__| / \// | fidonews@netscape.net | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 * EDITORAL * ............................................. 1 2. GUEST EDITORIAL .......................................... 4 -=*GUEST EDITORAL*=- ..................................... 4 3. CORRECTIONS .............................................. 6 CORRECTIONS & RECORRECTIONS .............................. 6 4. ARTICLES ................................................. 10 * ARTICLES * ............................................. 10 5. COLUMNS .................................................. 14 Column By: Stewart Honsberger ............................ 14 6. FIDONET HISTORY .......................................... 20 -=*History*=- ............................................ 20 7. GETTING TECHNICAL ........................................ 25 TECHNOTES ................................................ 25 8. NET HUMOR ................................................ 27 *HUMOR* .................................................. 27 9. QUESTION OF THE WEEK ..................................... 31 THIS WEEKS QUESTION ...................................... 31 10. NOTICES ................................................. 32 NOTICES .................................................. 32 11. FIDONET BY INTERNET ..................................... 34 12. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .................................... 39 FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 39 FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 1 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= WDBonner@fidonews.org Your editor has been following the P4 discussions and learning what many think on the subject. Some want to dump it, some want to ignore it, some want to `work around it', and believe it or not some want to work to modify it only in a couple of places to make it democratic in nature. I've taken the liberty to take excerpts of some messages in open echoes, to develop an understanding for the global reader that may not have access to these echoes. With that foundation for this editoral in mind, and the knowledge that the Policy known as P4, being a bone of contention in many Regions since it was presented to replace Policy 1.0; plus (I am informed) was never ratified by the sysops as was Policy 1.0. That coupled with the necessity of all Zones to approve any ammendments has made it a catch 22 that is the quagmire, bone of contention, etc. that plagues Fidonet and perpetuates it's nick name,"Fight-O-net". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Dallas Hinton To: Stewart Honsberger Re: ZC Election Procedures ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Stewart -- on Nov 15 2000 at 22:24, you wrote: SH> If nobody agrees to policy 4; why do people still agree to abide by SH> it? It's called being honourable, Stewart. It's the same issue as obeying speed limits at 2 AM when you know there are no cops around. Either you live an ethical and honourable life or you don't. Policy 4 is the policy that FidoNet uses. There is much of it I don't like, but until it's changed I will follow it. To do otherwise is to have anarchy, and while that was very enjoyable in the early days of FidoNet it rapidly became obvious that we couldn't continue in that pattern once we got beyond a few dozen members. Cheers... Dallas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Steven Leeman To: All Re: American elections solved :-) May also equate to PEEFOUR until modified and ratified-Ed. 8^) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everybody. NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF INDEPENDENCE To the citizens of the United States of America, In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 2 20 Nov 2000 Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The rt. hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: 1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed". 2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. 3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. 4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Although it comes as a bit of a shock, the USA did not pilot the "Battle of Britain" spitfires during the war against Germany. Likewise, Rommel was defeated by the British & Australian Armies in Africa,.... not Sylvester Stallone & Bruce Willis. Probably your biggest shock will be the fact that the US didn't enter World War 2 until halfway through the war when the Germans mistakenly sank a few US ships. By then the war was decided by the Commonwealth countries troops ..... and your guys just helped to speed the end up. 5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through. 6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your border may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 3 20 Nov 2000 played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005. 7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "sh*t". 8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day". 9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. 10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy. Thank you for your cooperation. o Steven Leeman Thanks for the funny Steven. ~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 4 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= GUEST EDITORIAL ================================================================= By David Morferrage dated 11-14-00 19:46 The ZC Election Coordinator has submitted the following election outline for publication: Draft 4, 13NOV Version C- RC's vote based on region input. (notes, timetable to be adjusted later- mostly out of nomination time) ZONE 1 COORDINATOR ELECTION - 2000 The Z1C has announced an election, for a new Z1C. Per Policy4, the ZC is elected by the RC's under them. It is the choice of the RC's to do this by the following method per P4 section 6.2. A Z1 Sysop is defined as any Sysop who is nodelisted in Z1 and physically located within the normal geographical boundries of zone 1. The nodelist used will be the nodelist.### version. Reasonable exceptions will be made during the nomination phase by the election coordinator if a node, net or region is accidently dropped from this version and this is validated by the RC or NC of the affected node. The term 'nodelisted' means listed in this version of the nodelist. Nominations Nominating time table: NOV 17-25, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST Any nodelisted Z1 Sysop of Fidonet may nominate themselves or another nodelisted Sysop of of Z1 Fidonet for the position of Z1C. The nomination must be made in the Z1_Election echo and should be addressed to the Election Coordinator. The nomination must include the name of the nominee and their Fidonet node number. Once a nomination has been received by the election coordinator, the name will be added to the list of nominees. The nomination must then be accepted by the nominee and seconded by a Z1 Sysop in the echo to become a fully eligible candidate. Discussion Period NOV 26- DEC 02, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST Following the nomination period, a period shall be allowed for each candidate to campaign for the position. During this period, questioning of the candidates is encouraged. Regional Feedback Period DEC 03-16, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 5 20 Nov 2000 Following the campaign period, the above period shall be allowed for each region to conduct selection proceedings in accordance with regional policy and such methods as are determined as appropriate based on regional policy or the desires of the Sysops within that region. All voting or other feedback including what is desired if there is a run-off election and the primary candidate your region selected is eliminated, must be concluded no later than 16 DEC. No time is alloted to conduct secondary polls of regional input once RC voting commences. Regional Coordinator Voting - DEC 17-22, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 EST Following collection of regional input, the RC's shall cast their vote. (Location TBD at this time). Initial voting will be from 17-18 DEC. The candidate with the most votes, wins. This will be calculated by a simple majority where if any one candidate receives 6 RC votes, they will be announced as the winner. If no candidate achieves 6 RC votes, a run-off election will take place from 19-20 DEC between the top 2 candidates. Contesting of the vote will take place from 21-22 DEC. Once finalized and with no RC's contesting the vote, the results will be posted in the Z1_ELECTION echo. Note, this section may be ammended after the initial Z1C election process has begun, in order to finalize the location of the RC votes. Term begin/end: Turnover date to May 2003 Upon completion of the election, the newly elected Z1C's term begins as soon as turnover can be accomplished but no later than 5 January 2001. Due to early turnover, the normal 2 year period will be extended 5 months and end May 2003. This is in order to avoid mandating a vote over the holiday season in 2 years. Z1C Election Coordinator - 2000 -=David=- TCP/IP Node kraut.dyndns.org IBN & ITN:60177 David@you-have-mail.com ... Double your pleasure, Double your fun. Xerox your pay-cheques. --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * telnet://kraut.dyndns.org (1:2613/404) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 6 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= CORRECTIONS ================================================================= The editor accepts articles, but does not accept any responsibility for their accuracy, that's why a corrections column is necessary. ~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Winston Smith To: All Re: [--- Linux OS N/A's ? ---] --------------------------------------------------------------------- I wish to correct a few of the "not applicable" n/a designations of the "LINUX OS" (moving from *DOS to *NIX) FidoNews article by Janis Kracht. n/a chsh Change shell While there is no --DIRECTLY-- applicable 'chsh' command via *DOS, as all that 'chsh' is is a batch shell script that modifies the user record in the '/etc' directory folder, one can easily write a batch script under *DOS called 'CHSH.BAT' to modify the "start up" shell selection for *DOS, which in this case is stored in the CONFIG.SYS file of the *DOS "backslash" or root folder of the directory tree rather than in the 'etc' directory folder. The "user record" for the *DOS shell is given below. Just as in Linux,you have to restart / reboot / relogin for any changes to take effect. File --> CONFIG.SYS SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:4096 /F /P n/a pwd Dispay the current working directory path There --IS-- a Print Working Directory for MS-DOS, but it is undocumented. (See the famous MicroSoft Undocumented Features, a.k.a. 'MUF', file.) C:> TRUENAME n/a swapon Turn on a swap partition While MS-DOS doesn't have a multi-tasking Virtual Machine image to swap in and out of RAM, it can set up a "single task" swap area for the command just executed be swapped in again. Okay, you got me! It is only a disk cache, but it kind of / sort of / maybe performs a similar function in a single tasking operating system that a swap image performs in a multi-tasking operating system. C:> SMARTDRV.EXE /X /V n/a swapoff Turn off a swap partition I don't know how to turn SmartDrive off. I think you have to reboot with Control-Alt-Delete? n/a mount Attach a filesystem to the root FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 7 20 Nov 2000 filesystem While you can not mount a filesystem onto your directory tree, you can do something quite similar by "mounting" phantom / virtual drive letters into your drive device table via the 'subst' command (provided that your MS-DOS 'LASTDRIVE' designation is high enough). C:>SUBST.EXE U: C:\USERS n/a umount Detach a filesystem from the root filesystem C:>SUBST.EXE U: /D n/a apropos Get help on a general topic n/a whatis Search the whatis database A 'whatis' / 'apropos' command --DOES-- exists for MS-DOS. (See below.) C:>FASTHELP That is all that I have for now. Feel free to make any additions or corrections! --- Platinum Xpress/Win/Wildcat5! v3.0pr3 * Origin: Lost in the SuperMarket - Peabody, MA - 978-531-8416 (1:101/101) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECORECTIONS By: Janis Kracht To: Winston Smith Re: Correction:[--- Linux OS N/A's ? ---] -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi there Winston, I wish to correct a few of the "not applicable" n/a designations of the "LINUX OS" (moving from *DOS to *NIX) FidoNews article by Janis Kracht. n/a chsh Change shell While there is no --DIRECTLY-- applicable 'chsh' command via *DOS, as all that 'chsh' is is a batch shell script that modifies the user record in the '/etc' directory folder, one can easily write a batch script under *DOS called 'CHSH.BAT' to modify the "start up" shell selection for *DOS, which in this case is stored in the CONFIG.SYS file of the *DOS "backslash" or root folder of the directory tree rather than in the 'etc' directory folder. The "user record" for the *DOS shell is given below. Just as in Linux, you have to restart / reboot / relogin for any changes to take effect. File --> CONFIG.SYS SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:4096 /F /P First of all, what other shells are distributed with DOS? If you FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 8 20 Nov 2000 remember,I specifically mentioned in the article that I was excluding from consideration outside utilities like GNU tools, etc. Secondly, you do not have to re-boot for changes to take affect in Linux - you do have to re-login, but that's a far cry from rebooting. Like many others have done many times, I've even re-compiled the kernal without rebooting . n/a pwd Dispay the current working directory > path There --IS-- a Print Working Directory for MS-DOS, but it is undocumented.(See the famous MicroSoft Undocumented Features, a.k.a. 'MUF', file.) C:> TRUENAME If it is undocumented, that means that MS has reservered the right to leave it out of future versions, or to have that command do something different... but ... I did miss this though: In DOS CD without an argument will show you the full path to the current working directory :) However, you know I didn't think i would be able to list every single command that DOS does not have that Linux does :) For example.. cd - (cd with a space and then a dash) will take you back to the very last directory you were in. Not like cd .., I mean like if you type /home/bbbs/inbound, and then you type cd /home/ftp/pub/gamesnet, cd - will return you to /home/bbbs/inbound. n/a swapon Turn on a swap partition While MS-DOS doesn't have a multi-tasking Virtual Machine image to swap in and out of RAM, it can set up a "single task" swap area for the command just executed be swapped in again. Okay, you got me! It is only a disk cache, but it kind of / sort of / maybe performs a similar function in a single tasking operating system that a swap image performs in a multi-tasking operating system. C:> SMARTDRV.EXE /X /V n/a swapoff Turn off a swap partition I don't know how to turn SmartDrive off. I think you have to reboot with Control-Alt-Delete? n/a mount Attach a filesystem to the root filesystem While you can not mount a filesystem onto your directory tree you can do something quite similar by "mounting" phantom / virtual drive letters into your drive device table via the 'subst' command (provided that your MS-DOS 'LASTDRIVE' designation is high enough). FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 9 20 Nov 2000 C:>SUBST.EXE U: C:\USERS No, you're misunderstanding mount . The mount command is not used for 'virtual' or logical drives but to connect physical devices to the file system. From the man page: All files accessible in a Unix system are arranged in one big tree, the file hierarchy, rooted at /. These files can be spread out over several devices. The mount command serves to attach the file system found on some device to the big file tree. Conversely, the umount(8) command will detach it again. n/a apropos Get help on a general topic n/a whatis Search the whatis database A 'whatis' / 'apropos' command --DOES-- exists for MS-DOS. (See below.) C:>FASTHELP Well apropos and whatis search a database for text strings in different ways. Fasthelp may show you the help for a command (I don't know that command), but whatis shows you a short description of only complete word matches, apropos searches a set of database files containing short descriptions of system commands for keywords and displays them all. Take care, Janis * Origin: Prism bbs (1:2320/38) ~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 10 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= By: Carol Shenkenberger Templates that match version C, to be adapted for regional use as desired: Draft 1 template A, 12NOV - weighted voting, sysops in region vote. Freely available for RC's to edit as they desire to meet needs of region collection. Z1C ELECTION - 2000 The Z1C has announced an election, for a new Z1C. Per Policy4, the ZC is elected by the RC's under them. It is the choice of the RC## to do this by election from the sysops in R##. To be eligible to vote, a SysOp must be nodelisted in R##. The nodelist used will be the current nodelist at the time of each stage in the vote. (alternative, current nodelist at time of vote) Those who are eligible to vote will be those SysOps who are nodelisted in R##. Each sysop will be allowed 1 vote, regardless of how many nodenumbers they may hold. Systems with 2 people entered as 'sysop' will recieve only 1 vote. All times refer to recipt at the election coordinators site, not time sent by the sysop. Voting Period DEC 03-10, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 #ST Following the campaign period, a period shall be allowed for each eligible voter to cast his/her vote. Votes must be sent via netmail (direct or routed) to the regional election coordinator who is (insert what's needed for your region) during the voting period and must include a keyword or password to the regional election coordinator. Votes will be cast in the following manner: Weighted voting where each vote cast attains a number of assigned 'points' based on the order in which you list them. If you list only 1 candidate, they will receive as many 'points' as there are candidates. In the sample below, that would be 4 'points'. You may not list a candidate more than once (IE: You cant get Betty Beta 10 points by listing her 4 times, sorry!). Example: 4 candidates: Abe Alpha 4 pts Betty Beta 3 pts Charlie Chuckles 2 pts Donald Delta 1 pt Winner of the election will be the one with the most total 'points'. If there is a tie, recalculation will be done counting only the top 2 votes of each member (hence your votes 3 and 4 would be cast out) to determine if a tie still exists. If a tie still exists, recalculation will commence with your first listed entry only. If that also results FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 11 20 Nov 2000 in a tie, the RC shall cast a deciding vote. These results will also be used by the RC, should there be a run-off election at the RC level voting for our region, by removing those candidates who were eliminated, and calculating the 'points' of the remaining candidates. Should this result in a tie, the RC will cast the deciding vote. *note, edit in here a 'contesting' time if your region needs one. I'd advise you do have one** RC Vote - 17-22 DEC 2000 No further time for regional input is alloted in this phase. The results of the election will be annouced in the Z1C_Election echo by the Z1C Election Coordinator ------ Draft 1 template B, 18NOV - sysops in region vote with one candidate only. Freely for RC's to edit as they desire to meet needs of region collection. Z1C ELECTION - 2000 The Z1C has announced an election, for a new Z1C. Per Policy4, the ZC is elected by the RC's under them. It is the choice of the RC## to do this by election from the sysops in R##. To be eligible to vote, a SysOp must be nodelisted in R##. The nodelist used will be the current nodelist at the time of each stage in the vote. (alternative, current nodelist at time of vote) Those who are eligible to vote will be those SysOps who are nodelisted in R##. Each sysop will be allowed 1 vote, regardless of how many nodenumbers they may hold. Systems with 2 people entered as 'sysop' will recieve only 1 vote. All times refer to recipt at the election coordinators site, not time sent by the sysop. Voting Period DEC 03-10, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 #ST Following the campaign period, a period shall be allowed for each eligible voter to cast his/her vote. Votes must be sent via netmail (direct or routed) to the regional election coordinator who is (insert what's needed for your region) during the voting period and must include a keyword or password to the regional election coordinator. Votes will be cast in the following manner, one vote per Sysop. Each vote will be counted and if a candidate is eliminated at a runoff time, the votes for that candidate will be discarded and the ones for the remaining runoff candidates will be used. If that also results in a tie, the RC shall cast a deciding vote. FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 12 20 Nov 2000 *note, edit in here a 'contesting' time if your region needs one. I'd advise you do have one** RC Vote - 17-22 DEC 2000 No further time for regional input is alloted in this phase. The results of the election will be annouced in the Z1C_Election echo by the Z1C Election Coordinator -------- Draft 1 template B, 18NOV - sysops in region vote with one candidate only. Sysops deligate vote to RC if they wish. Freely for RC's to edit as they desire to meet needs of region collection. Z1C ELECTION - 2000 The Z1C has announced an election, for a new Z1C. Per Policy4, the ZC is elected by the RC's under them. It is the choice of the RC## to do this by election from the sysops in R##. To be eligible to vote, a SysOp must be nodelisted in R##. The nodelist used will be the current nodelist at the time of each stage in the vote. (alternative, current nodelist at time of vote) Those who are eligible to vote will be those SysOps who are nodelisted in R##. Each sysop will be allowed 1 vote, regardless of how many nodenumbers they may hold. Systems with 2 people entered as 'sysop' will recieve only 1 vote. All times refer to recipt at the election coordinators site, not time sent by the sysop. Voting Period DEC 03-10, 2000 All dates start at 00:00 and end at 11:59 #ST Following the campaign period, a period shall be allowed for each eligible voter to cast his/her vote. Votes must be sent via netmail (direct or routed) to the regional election coordinator who is (insert what's needed for your region) during the voting period and must include a keyword or password to the regional election coordinator. Votes will be cast in the following manner, one vote per Sysop. Each vote will be counted and if a candidate is eliminated at a runoff time, the votes for that candidate will be discarded and the ones for the remaining runoff candidates will be used. Sysops may if they desire, deligate their vote to the RC who will then cast for them. Sysops who desire to do this, must expressly state that this is their intention either the local region echo or netmail. Under no circumstances may the RC presume to cast a vote for a Sysop, without expressed desire of the sysop for such action. If that also results in a tie, the RC shall cast a deciding vote. *note, edit in here a 'contesting' time if your region needs one. I'd advise you do have one** FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 13 20 Nov 2000 RC Vote - 17-22 DEC 2000 No further time for regional input is alloted in this phase. The results of the election will be annouced in the Z1C_Election echo by the Z1C Election Coordinator --------- Note, nothing mandated there to use them. Use your own or adapt from this if desired. xxcarol --- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4 * Origin: SHENK'S EXPRESS Norfolk VA 757-486-3057 28.8 Dual (1:275/100) ~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 14 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- ARPA History begins ----- Part I: The history of ARPA leading up to the ARPANET A climate of pure research surrounded the entire history of the ARPANET. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was formed with an emphasis towards research, and thus was not oriented only to a military product. The formation of this agency was part of the U.S. reaction to the then Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in 1957. (ARPA draft, III-6). ARPA was assigned to research how to utilize their investment in computers via Command and Control Research (CCR). Dr. J.C.R. Licklider was chosen to head this effort. Licklider came to ARPA from Bolt, Beranek and Newman, (BBN) in Cambridge, MA in October 1962. (ARPA draft, III-6) From Licklider's arrival, the department's contracts were shifted from independent corporations towards "the best academic computer centers" (ARPA draft, III-7). The then current computing mode was via batch processing (you know, input via stacks of punched cards, output: results, or lack of them, made known one or more days later.). Licklider saw improvements could be made in CCR only via work on advancing the current state of computing technology. He particularly wanted to move forward into the age of interactive computing, and the current contractors were not moving in that direction. In an Interview, Licklider told the interviewee that SDC "was based on batch processing, and while I was interested in a new way of doing things, they [SDC] were studying how to make improvements in the ways things were done already." (An Interview with J.C.R. Licklider conducted by William Aspray and Arthur Norberg on October 28, 1988 Cambridge, Mass. CBI Univ of Minn., Madison) The office "developed into a far-reaching basic research program in advanced technology." (ARPA draft III-7) Licklider's Office was renamed Information Processing Techniques (IPT or IPTO) to reflect that change. The Completion report states that "Prophetically, Licklider nicknamed the group of computer specialists he gathered the 'Intergalactic Network'." ARPA draft, III-7) Before work on the ARPANET began, the very idea of the network was planted by the creation of the Information Processing Techniques Office of ARPA. Robert Taylor, Licklider's successor at the IPTO, remembers Lick's interest in interconnecting communities: "Lick was among the first to perceive the spirit of community created among the users of the first time-sharing systems... In pointing out the community phenomena created, in part, by the sharing of resources in one timesharing system, Lick made it easy to think about interconnecting the communities, the interconnection of interactive, on-line communities of people, ..." (ARPA draft, III-21) The "spirit of community" was related to Lick's interest in having computers help people communicate with other people (Licklider, FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 15 20 Nov 2000 Licklider, and Robert Taylor, "The Computer as a Communication Device") Licklider's vision of an "intergalactic network" connecting people represented an important conceptional shift in computer science. This vision was also an important beginning to the ARPANET. After the ARPANET was up and running, the computer scientists using it realized that assisting human communication was the most fundamental advance that the ARPANET made possible. (Cite Larry Roberts) As early as 1963, a common question asked of the IPTO directors by the ARPA directors about IPTO projects was "Why don't we rely on the computer industry to do that?", or ocassionally more strongly, "We should not support that effort because ABC (read, "computer industry") will do it - if it's worth doing!" (ARPA draft, III-23) This question leads to an important point - this ARPA research was different from what the computer industry had in mind to do - or was likely to undertake. Since Licklider's creation of the IPTO, the work supported by ARPA/IPTO continued his explicit emphasis on communications. The Completion Report explains, "The ARPA theme is that the promise offered by the computer as a communication medium between people, dwarfs into relative insignificance the historical beginnings of the computer as an arithmetic engine." (ARPA draft, III-24) The Completion Report goes on to differentiate ARPA from the computer industry: "The computer industry, in the main, still thinks of the computer as an arithmetic engine. Their heritage is reflected even in current designs of their communication systems.' They have an economic and psychological commitment to the arithmetic engine model, and it can die only slowly..." (ARPA draft, III-24) The Completion Report further analyzes this problem by tracing it back to the nation's institutions: "...furthermore, it is a view that is still reinforced by most of the nation's computer science programs. Even universities, or at least parts of them, are held in the grasp of the arithmetic engine concept...." (ARPA draft, III-24) Since Licklider's creation of the IPTO, the work supported by ARPA/IPTO continued the explicit communications emphasis. Thus history has witnessed the research and development which had led to the concrete existence of first the ARPANET, and later the Internet. Without the commitment that existed via this support, such a development might never have happened. One of ARPA's criterion for supporting research was such that it had to be of such a level to offer an order of magnitude of development. As most research and development is not immediately profitable, there has to be some kind of organization which helps to set higher goals than just in developing what will be immediately profitable. What is really strange is that computer networking is an immensely profitable field right now - only it is 25 years later. Others have understood the communications promise of computers. For FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 16 20 Nov 2000 example, in RFC 1336, David Clark is quoted, "It is not proper to think of networks as connecting computers. Rather, they connect people using computers to mediate. The great success of the internet is not technical, but in human impact. Electronic mail may not be a wonderful advance in Computer Science, but it is a whole new way for people to communicate. The continued growth of the Internet is a technical challenge to all of us, but we must never loose sight of where we came from, the great change we have worked on the larger computer community, and the great potential we have for future change." Various research outside of ARPA had been done by Paul Baron, Thomas Marill and others. [This history is covered well in the article "From ARPANET to USENET" by Ronda Hauben..ref] This led Lawrence Roberts and other IPTO staff to formally introduce the topic of networking computers of differing types (incompatible hardware and software) together in order to share resources to the early 1967 meeting of ARPA's Primary Investigators (PI). In the spring of 1967 at the University of Michigan, ARPA held its yearly meeting of the "principle investigators" from each of its university and other contractors. (ARPA draft, III-25) Results from the previous year's research was summarized and future research was discussed, either introduced by ARPA or the various researchers present at the meetings. Networking was one of the topics brought up at this meeting. (ARPA draft, III-25) The Completion Report continues the story: "At the meeting it was agreed that work could begin on the conventions to be used for exchanging messages between any pair of computers in the proposed network, and also on consideration of the kinds of communications lines and data sets to be used. In particular, it was decided that the inter-host communication 'protocol' would include conventions for character and block transmission, error checking and retransmission, and computer and user identification. Frank Westervelt, then of the University of Michigan, was picked to write a position paper on these areas of communication, an ad hoc 'Communication Group' was selected from among the institutions represented, and a meeting of the group scheduled." (ARPA draft, III-26) In order to develop this network of varied computers, two main problems had to be solved: " 1. To construct a 'subnetwork' consisting of telephone circuits and switching nodes whose reliability, delay characteristics, capacity, and cost would facilitate resource sharing among computers on the network. 2. To understand , design, and implement the protocols and procedures within the operating systems of each connected computer, in order to allow the use of the new subnetwork by the computers in sharing resources." (ARPA not draft, II-8) FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 17 20 Nov 2000 After one draft and additional work on this communications position paper report, a two-day meeting was scheduled in early October 1967 by ARPA to "discuss the protocol paper and specifications for the Interface Message Processor (IMP)." The IMP was the decided upon method of connecting the participants computers (hosts) to each other via phone lines. This standardized the network which the hosts connected to. Now, only the connection of the hosts to the network would depend on vendor type, etc. ARPA had picked 19 possible participants in what was now known as the "ARPA Network", rather than the previously vague descriptions. After the time of the 1967 PI Meeting, various computer scientists who were ARPA contractors were busy thinking about various aspects which would be relevant to the planning and development of the ARPANET. Part of that work was a document outlining a beginning design for the IMP network. This specification would lead to the ability to a put out a competitive procurement for the design of the IMP subnetwork. "At the end of 1967 ARPA initiated a small contract with the Stanford Research Institute for the development of specifications for the necessary communications system. Elmer Shapiro was to be the key person on this study. Published in the final version in December of 1968 was a 71-page SRI report entitled "A Study of COmputer Network Design Parameters", an early version in early 1968 served as the first draft of the IMP specification...In February or March a memo written by Shapiro and revised by Kleinrock entitled "Functional Description of the IMP" was circulated. After the first draft by Shapiro, it is believed that Glenn Culler wrote a second draft, and Robert and Wessler of ARPA wrote the final version of the IMP specification. In any case, by the first of March, 1968, IPT was able to report to the Director of ARPA that specifications for the IMP were essentially complete, and that they would be discussed at the upcoming PI meeting with the goal of issuing a Request for Quotation shortly thereafter. The network was discussed at the PI meeting and by June 1968, the ARPANET procurement officially started." (ARPA draft, III-32) ARPA's Program Plan for the ARPANET was titled "Resource Sharing Computer Networks". It was submitted June 3, 1968, and approved by the Director June 21, 1968. The Completion Report explains that the Program Plan was, "an interesting document. The stated objectives of the program were to develop experience in interconnection computers and to improve and increase computer research productivity through resource sharing. Technical needs in scientific and military environments were cited as justification for the program objectives. Relevant prior work was described. It was noted that the computer research centers supported or partially supported by IPT provided a unique testbed for computer networking experiments, as well as providing immediate benefits to the centers and valuable research results to the military. The network planning that had gone on was described, the need for a network information center was noted, and the network design was sketched. A five year schedule for network procurement, construction, operation, and transfer out of ARPA was presented. (It was noteworthy that IPT had initially had in mind eventual transfer of the operational network to a common carrier.) Finally a several-million-dollar, several-year FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 18 20 Nov 2000 budget was stated." (ARPA draft, III-35) "The Defense Supply Service - Washington (DSS-W) agreed to be a procurement agent for ARPA. At the end of July the Request for Quotation for network IMPs was mailed to 140 potential bidders who had expressed interest in receiving it. Approximately 100 people from 51 companies attended a subsequent bidders' conference. Twelve proposals were actually received by DSS_W comprising 6.6 edge-feet of paper and presenting an awesome evaluation task for IPT, which more normally awards contracts on a sole source basis. Attempting to evaluate the proposals "strictly by the book", an ARPA-appointed evaluation committee retired to Monterey, California, to carry out their task. ARPA was pleasantly surprised that several of the respondents believed that they could construct a network which performed as much as a factor of five better than the delay constraint given in the RFQ..." (ARPA draft, III-35) ARPA developed a program plan, which developed into a set of specifications. These specifications were connected to a competitive Request for Quotation to find an organization which would design and build the subnetwork between the IMPs. BBN won the contract to develop the IMP-to-IMP subnetwork. However the second technical problem still remained to be solved. The protocol to allow the hosts to communicate with each other over the subnetwork had to be developed. This work was left "for host sites to work out among themselves." (ARPA draft, III-67) This meant that both the hardware and software necessary to connect the hosts to the IMP subnetwork had to be developed. ARPA assigned this duty to the initial designated ARPANET sites. As each site had a different type of computer to connect, they individually were the best informed designers for their personal setups. In addition the sites needed to develop the hardware and software necessary to utilize the other hosts on the network. (ARPA draft, III-39) ARPA's assigning of responsibilities makes the academic computer science community become an active part of the ARPANET development team. (Interview with Alex McKenize, Nov, 1 1993) Steve Crocker associates the placement of the initial ARPANET sites at research institutions to the fact that the ARPANET was ground-breaking research. He wrote in a message responding to my questions on the COM-PRIV mailing list: "During the initial development of the Arpanet, there was simply a limit as to how far ahead anyone could see and manage. The IMPs were placed in cooperative ARPA R&D sites with the hope that these research sites would figure out how to exploit this new communication medium." (Crocker, 1993A) The first sites of the ARPANET were picked to provide either network support services or unique resources. They were also picked as deemed technically able of developing the protocols necessary to make communications between the varied computers connected possible. The key services the first four sites provided were "UCLA - Network Measurement Center SRI - Network Information Center UCSB - Culler-Fried interactive mathematics UTAH - graphics (hidden FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 19 20 Nov 2000 line removal)" (Cerf, Vinton 1993) Steve Crocker also recounts that the reason for selecting these particular four sites was because they were "existing ARPA computer science research contractors." This was important because "the research community could be counted on to take some initiative." (RFC 1000, pg 1) The very first site to receive an IMP was UCLA. Professor Leonard Kleinrock of UCLA was involved with much of the early development of the ARPANET. His work consisted of understanding queueing theory and as such was one of the first computer scientists working on the ARPANET who was dealing with how to measure what was happening as the network would function. This made it natural to make sure that UCLA received the first node as it would be important to initiate the network from the site which would measure the networks activity. In order for the statistics to be correct and for analysis purposes - the first site had to be the measurement site. Sure enough UCLA was assigned to be the Network Measurement Center (NMC).[1] -------------------------------------------------------------------- << , >> , Title , Contents ----- ARPA History ends ----- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 20 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= FIDONET HISTORY ================================================================= Jim Smoot Report by Bob Seaborn ~~~~~~~~~ This goes back to the late-early days of Fidonet (about 10 years ago). The major distribution was set up and functioning, and a couple of talented programmers came along from Holland. One, Harald Harms, wrote and developed ALLFIX, a quality file-tosser, that is still extensively used today. A second, Gerard van der Land, wrote Gecho, an extremely powerful echomail tosser, which while not being continued today, influenced the development of similar programs. With these developments came a Fidonet sysop, one Jim Smoot, at the time living in Texas, having retired from the US military, who worked with these programmers, and others, to market the fruits of their labour under what became known as the RegSite Team, at one time having members world-wide. Jim also actively developed a series of beta teams to work with the programmers and debug the developing programs, as well as test new features. During this time, Jim also represented other programs, including InterMail/InterEcho, Telemate, and many others. The RegSite Team and beta teams are still functioning today. About 3 years ago, Jim's health dramatically failed, he was diagnosed with severe emphysema, resulting in very low lung function. This was primarily caused by his military activities, coupled with years of smoking. He also moved from Texas to Tennessee, to be closer to his immediate family (and the NASCAR tracks). After various up's and down's, he was placed on the waiting list for a lung transplant. Well the time finally arrived, last evening (November 13, 2000) I received the following email from him: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2000 08:08:14 From: Jim & Nancy Smoot Subject: The time is upon us ..... Only have a few minutes, but the Transplant Coordinator at H.H. McQuire Hospital in Richmond, VA called and they have a left lung for me. Ergo, they are sending a Jet Air Ambulance to Springfield for to pick me and Miz Nancy up and fly us to Richmond where they are going to replace my left lung tonight. They haven't even taken the lung out of the other person yet.....keeping him/her on a life support system until they can get me there. Beyond that, I have NO clue if its a guy or a girl's lung, not any of the circumstances involved with the person, nor how old or young (s)he is. I have a GREAT team of Pulmo Doctors up there, and their after surgery care is out of this world ..... really good. But, there is ALWAYS that element of chance in a procedure such as this ..... I just hope they are all sober tonight and feeling good. :) Gotta run; will keep everyone posted on whats what and how everything FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 21 20 Nov 2000 is going on with me. Miz Nancy is already in a dither, running around here like a chicken with her head cut off ..... but she DOES have a method to her madness, I guarantee. I can already see some of her "doings" starting to fall into place. :) Thats it ..... gotta scoot. C U later, gang. All The Best, --- J. Smoot ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I did have a chance to briefly talk with Jim prior to his leaving Springfield, and while he sounded somewhat worried, he was in excellent spirits, joking about his flight north. I wished him the best. At the time, he asked me to let his many Fido friends know what was happening with him. It was obviously a long sleepless night for Jim's family and close friends, and early this morning I received a phobe call from Lisa, his youngest daughter, who reported that as of 7:45 EST, Jim was still in the operating room, and the doctors were optimistic as to the prognosis. She sounded very worried and upset, albeit somewhat calm. Reported that she was in better shape than Nancy, her mother. Then about 12:15 EST Lisa called again to report that Jim was out of the operating room, and in recovery, and all is good. He will be kept there for a couple of hours, then woken up and moved to the Intensive Care Unit for a couple of days, during which time he will be asked to walk around to get the lung functional. After that, they will be monitoring him for signs of rejection. Lisa sounded very relieved, and reported that Nancy (her mother) was in high spirits. I gathered that the plans were to keep him there for a few weeks. ~~~~~~~~~Our Prayers be With Jim~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Lee Ayrton To: Warren Bonner Re: TAPS History WAS: FidoNews 17:47 [01/03] Articles St: Rcvd ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Warren: I realize that I'm in the running for FidoNet's Resident Curmudgeon position, and I'm not trying to pick on you, but you've really, really got to get an improved Paul Harvey/Ann Landers[1] filter. The *documented* history of the bugle call we now know as "taps" is much more interesting and considerably less maudlin. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editor's note: Not a contest to see who's version is correct or all that accurate, rather everyone's point of view considered. Might I add that Westpoint's *documentation* came long after Captain Ellicomb was a dim memory. Legends often are the root of true history. FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 22 20 Nov 2000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From www.west-point.org/taps/Taps.htm The Story of Taps: Ed-note: {Remodeled to please the Army brass at Westpoint} The 24-note melancholy bugle call known as "taps" is thought to be a revision of a French bugle signal, called "tattoo" that notified soldiers to cease an evening's drinking and return to their garrisons. It was sounded an hour before the final bugle call to end the day by extinguishing fires and lights. The last five measures of the tattoo resemble taps. The word "taps" is an alteration of the obsolete word "taptoo" derived from the Dutch "taptoe." Taptoe was the command - "Tap toe!" - to shut "toe to") the "tap" of a keg. The revision that gave us present-day taps was made during America's Civil War by Union Gen. Daniel Adams Butterfield, heading a brigade camped at Harrison Landing, Va., near Richmond. Up to that time, the U.S. Army's infantry call to end the day was the French final call, "L'Extinction des feux."; Gen. Butterfield decided the "lights out" music was too formal to signal the day's end. One day in July 1862 he recalled the tattoo music and hummed a version of it to an aide, who wrote it down in music. Butterfield then asked the brigade bugler, Oliver W. Norton, to play the notes and, after listening, lengthened and shortened them while keeping his original melody. He ordered Norton to play this new call at the end of each day thereafter, instead of the regulation call. The music was heard and appreciated by other brigades, who asked for copies and adopted this bugle call. It was even adopted by Confederate buglers. This music was made the official Army bugle call after the war, but not given the name "taps" until 1874. The first time taps was played at a military funeral may also have been in Virginia soon after Butterfield composed it. Union Capt. John Tidball, head of an artillery battery, ordered it played for the burial of a cannoneer killed in action. Not wanting to reveal the battery's position in the woods to the enemy nearby, Tidball substituted taps for the traditional three rifle volleys fired over the grave. Taps was played at the funeral of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson 10 months after it was composed. Army infantry regulations by 1891 required taps to be played at military funeral ceremonies. Taps now is played by the military at burial and memorial services, to accompany the lowering of the flag and to signal the "lights out" command at day's end. ----- taps.txt ends ----- A few of the sites note that there are several different versions of the lyrics, which were not appended to the bugle call until several years after its adoption by the US Army. FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 23 20 Nov 2000 Also, there's no evidence that Captain Ellicombe, USA (or, in some versions, Ellison) ever existed during the USAian "war between the states", much less that he stumbled across his own dead son in CSA uniform. That bit right there should have set off Urban Legend alarms. See also: www.va.gov/pubaff/celebAm/taps.htm www.arlingtoncemetery.com/taps.htm www.west-point.org/taps.htm www.mdw.army.mil/FS-H06.htm and, of course, the first place to look: www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/taps.htm IIRC, the snopes site includes links to a site with transcriptions of correspondence with Captain Butterfield and his recollections of the events. Ed-Note: Proof that the Army Brass designed this version, and in my mind was an after thought to the original, no disrespect to the Gen. [1] Paul Harvey, USAian radio personality and political commentatory long known for masterful retellings of compelling but false stories and Ann Landers, advice to the lovelorn columnist, long known for her lack of research and willingness to publish the most silly things. Ed-note: Bringing Paul and Ann into this as some kind of substantiation of your findings is totally irrelevant as they wrote neither version of "TAPS". --- Msged TE 05 * Origin: Binkley's Anxiety Closet! (1:320/455) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More History Subject: re: kwityer bitchin Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 10:28:40 PM From: [Click here to send a message.]lsi@lsi.clara.net To: [Click here to send a message.]editor@fidonews.org Hi, I was a member of FidoNet 1989-1994, being 3:690/611, 3:690/633, 3:691/133, 3:691/196, among others. I recall at the time there was always a lot of infighting in the heirarchies, and there was always the onerous ZMH "technical" requirement, and there was always the secretive admin echoes, to which everyone gets calendestine access anyway...... But I recall most vividly, I was just thinking of it the other day actually, one particular issue of FidoNews which contained an email from a certain Kwityer Bitchin ...... In the email, Kwityer set about most eloquently describing the woes of the time. Which were, of course, all political in nature. Now, ten years have passed, and I by accident find www.fido.net ... I FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 24 20 Nov 2000 feel like I have come home -- for a moment, until I realize why it was I left. You folks are just the same! You could dig up that copy of FidoNews from ten years ago, read Kwityer's article, and it would hold true, to the letter. I write you this email via the heirarchy-free internet, where protecting free speech means being able to say what you want, not hiding what you say in sysop conferences, because I am, to be honest, disappointed that after all this time, there has been no change in the FidoNet approach. You even have the same old policy 4. I am a FidoNet veteran -- yet still I was taken aback by the roasting I found at the very top of the editorial of the latest edition of fidonews on the web. Let's consider this. Imagine how many dog- lovers are having nightmares after inadvertently visiting the fidonet websites. Is there no sense of customer relations over there? Is the fidonews website for sharing information, or just another political tool? Don't worry, Kwityer answered that question a decade ago. Good luck Stuart Udall stuart@cyberdelix.net http://cyberdelix.net/ ..revolution through evolution PS: You are welcome to publish this letter to the editor.. I provide the following reference for your perusal. Riddle, Mike., "An Open Letter to Kwityer Bitchin", Fidonews v7 n36, Sept 3 1990, pp5-7. ~~~~~~~~~~END~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 25 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= GETTING TECHNICAL ================================================================= by Steve Leeman By: Steven Leeman To: All Re: V92 en V44 another occurence of the coming of a new modem protocol! V92 speed flag (the uplink speed will now be updated from 33k6 to 44k) and a new compression flag based on LZH giving an improvement of 1:6 instead of 1:4 called V44 was their room in the nodelist for additional flags? ===================================================================== * Forwarded by Steven Leeman (2:292/624) * Area : POINTS.028 (- FidoNet: Echo for Point from Holland) * From : Henri Derksen, 2:280/1208@FidoNet (Thursday November 16 2000 00:57) * To : Allemaal * Subj : V92 en V44 ===================================================================== * Forwarded from "044 High Speed Modems in NL" * Originally by Henri Derksen * Originally to Allemaal * Originally dated 16 Nov 2000, 0:57 Hallo Allemaal, In het Engelstalige tijdschrift Acorn User issue 225 van Oktober 2000 wordt door SysOp David Dade van Arcade BBS melding gemaakt van het feit dat de ITU-T (voorheen CCITT) zojuist de V92 en de V44 modem standaarden heeft uitgebracht. Zie ook: http://www.acornuser.com Ter illustratie eerst even de tot nu toe bekende situatie (history): HighSpeed DataComm met een V90 modem op zowel Analoge als ISDN-lijnen of een combinatie van die twee. ITU-T V90 64000/56000/33600 bps (inclusief de rest van V34) BBS-user / Point BBS BossNode / InterNet Service Provider Originate modem Answer Modem Maximaal mogelijke snelheden in bps: 1 Analoog Analoog Rx 33.600 / Tx 33.600 = V34+ / V34+ 2 ISDN Analoog Rx 33.600 / Tx 56.000 = V34+ / V90c 3 Analoog ISDN Rx 56.000 / Tx 33.600 = V90s / V34+ 4 ISDN ISDN Rx 56.000 / Tx 56.000 = V90 / V90 5 ISDN ISDN Rx 64.000 / Tx 64.000 = V90 / V90 Nieuw is de ITU-T V92 standaard met 44.000 bps in de plaats van de 33.600 bps bij High Speed Split Bitrate verbindingen. ITU-T V92 64000/56000/44000 bps (inclusief de rest van V90 en V34) BBS-user / Point BBS BossNode / InterNet Service Provider Originate modem Answer Modem Maximaal mogelijke snelheden in FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 26 20 Nov 2000 bps: 1 Analoog Analoog Rx 44.000 / Tx 44.000 = V34+ / V34+ 2 ISDN Analoog Rx 44.000 / Tx 56.000 = V34+ / V92c 3 Analoog ISDN Rx 56.000 / Tx 44.000 = V92s / V34+ 4 ISDN ISDN Rx 56.000 / Tx 56.000 = V92 / V92 5 ISDN ISDN Rx 64.000 / Tx 64.000 = V92 / V92 Noot: een oude bekende Low Speed Split Bitrate verbinding was 1200rx/75tx ;-). Vandaar de min of meer verplichte InterSpeedBuffer ! Zeker bij PC's die geen splitrate op hun seriele poort aankonden. Ook nieuw is V44 een opvolger van V42bis OnLine DataCompressie. V44 maakt gebruik van het LZJH algoritme en heeft daardoor een maximale OnLine Compressie verhouding van 1:6 tegen 1:4 bij V42bis, 25% beter dus. Vermoedelijk zijn V92 en V44 de laatste wijzigingen voor het analoge modem ? Immers na die tijd komen ISDN-, ADSL- en CAI-Coaxkabel-modems op de voorgrond. Wie weet er meer over V92 en V44? Tot nu toe heb ik er nog zeer weinig tot niets van gehoord. Ik wilde mijn ZyXEL Elite 2864 modem (V34) met een flashrom upgraden naar V90, maar ik denk dat ik beter even kan wachten, totdat ook de V92 flashromimage beschikbaar is ? Ben heel benieuwd naar jullie reacties en tot wedermails. Met een vriendelijke groet van |_| |\ | |enri |/erksen, SysOp UniCorn BBS NetMail: 77:8500/504.1 @ AcoNet 2:2801/208.1 @ FidoNet InterNet E-Mail to: Henri_Derksen@aconet.org UniCorn BBS: +31-(0)26-4425506 Modem 8N1 t/m V34 28.800 bps TeleFAX: +31-(0)26-4425506. -+- + Origin: Connectivity is the Future; UniCorn BBS 31 26 4425506 (2:280/1208) ===================================================================== `T7 ]=[ http://welcome.to/skynetbbs (Dutch/English) ... Fidonet, Where do you want to go today --- * Origin: SkyNet Bbs <32-(0)16-580862> (2:292/624) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 27 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= NET HUMOR ================================================================= This column on humor is to somewhat offset the political squabbles. I hope it gives your funny bone a mild tickle...relax and enjoy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Dead or alive? A kindergarten teacher had a pupil tell her he had found a frog. She inquired as to whether it was alive or dead. "Dead," she was informed. "How do you know?" she asked. "Because I pissed in it's ear," said the child innocently. "You did WHAT?" squealed the teacher in surprise. "You know," explained the boy, "I leaned over and went 'PSSST'. It didn't move." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Guess who may run for President 2008 ------------------------------------ Bill and Hillary are out driving in the country near Hillary's hometown. They are low on fuel, so Bill pulls into a gas station for a fill-up. The attendant comes out and begins to pump gas into the first couple's tank. As he is doing this, he looks into the passenger window. "Hey, Hillary. We used to date in high school, do you remember me?" he asks. They chat for a few minutes, Bill pays and the first couple leaves. As they drive Bill is feeling very proud of himself and looks over at Hillary. "You used to date that guy? Just think what it would be like if you had married him, "he says smugly. Hillary looks at Bill and shrugs. Then she replies, "Well I guess you'd be pumping gas and he would be the President -------------------------------------------------------------------- Little Johnny watched, fascinated, as his mother smoothed cold cream on her face. "Why do you do that mommy?" he asked. "To make myself beautiful," said his mother, who then began removing the cream with a tissue. "What's the matter?" asked Little Johnny. "Giving up?" --------------------------------------------------------- Celebrating Holidays An atheist complained to a friend, "Christians have their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; and Jews celebrate their holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur; Muslims have their holidays. EVERY religion has its holidays. But we atheists," he said, "have no recognized national holidays. It's an unfair discrimination." His friend replied, "Well... Why don't you celebrate April first?" FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 28 20 Nov 2000 --------------------------------------------------------- Popemobile POPE'S LIMOUSINE The Pope had just finished a tour of the East Coast and was taking a limousine to the airport. Having never driven a limo, he asked the chauffeur if he could drive for a while. Without much of a choice, the chauffeur climbed in the back of the limo and the Pope took the wheel. After gleefully accelerating to about 90 mph, the Pope was pulled over by the State Patrol. The trooper came to his window, took a look inside, and said, "Just a moment, please. I need to call in." The trooper called in and asked for the chief. He told the chief, "I've got a REALLY important person pulled over and I need to know what to do." The chief replied, "Who is it? A senator?" The trooper said, "No, even more important." The chief asked, "It's the Governor, isn't it?" "No. More important." "The President?" "No. More important." "Well, Who the heck is it?!," screams the chief. "I don't know," said the trooper. "But he's got the Pope as a chauffeur." --------------------------------------------------------- Every Sunday, a little old lady placed $1,000 in the collection plate. After several weeks the priest was overcome with curiosity and approached her. "I couldn't help but notice that you put $1,000 a week in the collection plate," "Why yes," she replied, "every week my son sends me money, and what I don't need I give to the church." "That's wonderful, how much does he send you?" "Oh, about $2,000 a week." "Your son must be very successful, what does he do for a living?" "He's a veterinarian," she answered. "That is an honorable profession. Where does he practice?" "Well, he has one cat house in Kansas City and another in Dallas". ------------------------------------------------------------------ Coin Flip I'm sure that the idea of tossing a coin for the presidency is not original but I suggest a coin toss with a little extra twist. The Secretary of the Treasury should go to the mint and procure a brand new silver dollar. (Are we still making silver dollars?) The dollar should then be tossed into the air and the winner of the toss will then have his choice of either the presidency or the silver dollar. If he's smart he'll take the dollar. FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 29 20 Nov 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------- A keen Texas lad applied for a salesman's job at a city department store. The store was the biggest in the world and sold everything under the sun. "Have you ever been a salesman before?" the boss asked during his interview. "Yes, I was a salesman in Texas," the lad answered. The boss took an immediate liking to him and told him he could start the next day. "I'll come and see how you made out after we close up," the boss said. The day was long and hard for the young man, but finally it was 5 o'clock. The boss closed up the store and found the lad sitting, slumped and exhausted, in a chair. "How many sales did you make today?" the boss asked. "One," said the lad. "One?" said the boss, obviously displeased. "Most of the sales people on my staff make 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale worth?" "Exactly $101,334.53," said the young man. "How did you manage that?!?" asked the boss, flabbergasted. "Well," said the lad, "this man came in and I sold him a small fish hook, then a medium fish hook, and finally a really large hook. Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium one, and huge one. I asked him where he was going fishing, and he said he was going down the coast. I said he'd probably need a boat, so I took him down to the boat department and sold him that fancy 22-foot Chris Craft with twin engines. Then he said his Honda Civic probably wouldn't be able to handle the load, so I took him to the vehicle department and sold him a new GMC 1-ton pickup truck." "You sold all that to guy who came in for a fish hook?" the boss asked in astonishment. "He didn't come in to buy a fish hook," the Texas boy explained. "He came in to buy a box of tampons for his wife, and I said to him, 'Your weekend's shot. You might as well go fishing.' " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By: Dan Ceppa, Valencia (393/9005.30) --------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 30 20 Nov 2000 I had a customer buy a deer whistle. She returned it because she found out it was to scare deer away rather than call them to her! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 31 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= QUESTION OF THE WEEK ================================================================= By: Dave Hamilton To: Ross Cassell Re: ZC Election Procedures St: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RC> As a member of the RCC, I tried to make an eloquent presentation to RC> the others for a sysop level election by presenting a scenario with RC> imaginary numbers in which a ZC could be elected by winning the most RC> regions but not winning what would amount to be the popular vote.. Let's see... Jeff Smith just said he wanted sysop-level, Carol said she wanted sysop-level. Darrell wanted sysop-level. Adding you makes four. How on earth did the vote come to be 8-2? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you said you supported sysop level elections, but voted in favour of an election policy that removed them, just say so. No one here will notice, I guarantee it. * Origin: Aurora Exploratoria - Ladysmith, BC, Canada (1:229/622) ~~~~~~~~~~END~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 32 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= ~~~~~~~ These notices are filed here with the FidoNews as many readers may not read the "Z" echoes, and need to be informed about new releases. ==================================================================== By: Ross Cassell To: All -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello All! In light of all those clammorring for open access to the Z1REGCON echo, all three of them, I am backboning an echo which has a purpose similiar to that put in place by Ward Dossche regarding the ZCC echo. ZCC-PUBLIC is an echo that allows some posts from the super secret Zone Coordinator Council echo to be made public, I believe most of which are authored by Ward or posted by Ward with permission in those cases when he isnt the author. I realize that this is not gonna alleviate all the fears expressed, but you can either take it or leave it, lets see if it works? I hope to have it backboned within a week or so, the elist message has been sent, the tagname is RCC-PUBLIC. Here are the rules: === Cut === RCC-PUBLIC RULES ================ MODERATOR - Ross Cassell 1:18/500 rcassell@home.com [Purpose Of Echo] A place in which each Zone One RC can at their option, crosspost into here anything that they posted in the Z1REGCON echo for the consumption of the rest of the ZONE. Know this: * If a message is posted in here from Z1REGCON, it must have been done so via its author. * Assuming the above, message replies may not be false ones to reveal the contents of another RC's message, in order to satisfy the above unless steps are taken to protect the identity of the person being replied to. * Messages may not be forwarded into here from Z1REGCON unless the person doing the forwarding is the author of the message being forwarded. FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 33 20 Nov 2000 * Participation in this echo by ANY Zone One RC is optional, do not draw any inference via any lack of participation by any Zone One RC. * Scully and Mulder can be found on your nearest FOX TV station, look for conspiracies with them but not in here. * You are encouraged to engage in any dialogues that may result from what got posted here, however also use this echo as tool to engage your OWN RC in the regional forums appropriate for you. [Access and Other Things] * This echo may not be distributed beyond Fidonet Zone One. * This echo may not be gated into othernets(tm). * Only Listed Fidonet sysops may access. This means not for general consumption by your BBS users, we dont need a matzdobre. Beyond this, the usual and typical etiquette should apply including but not limited to: * Real names only. * No excessive quoting. * Keep the profanity in check. -The Moderator- === Cut === Ross E-mail: rcassell@home.com ICQ = 5305939 --- GoldED/W32 3.0.1 * Origin: The Dark Corner [Mail Hub] - 864.573.7069 (1:18/500) ~~~~~~~~~~end~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 34 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= FIDONET BY INTERNET ================================================================= ------------------------------------------------------ *Fidonet-related sites . -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- . | FIDONET-RELATED SITES | ` -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- ' Last update: November 4, 2000 FidoNet Homepage: http://www.fidonet.org FidoNews: http://www.fidonews.org [HTML] ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ Echolist: http://www.baltimoremd.com/echolist/ Echomail links: http://www.osirusoft.com/fidonet/fidoip.html SDS Files: http://fidobbs.dk/download (Web Access to SDS) FTSC page: http://www.ftsc.org/ General: http://www.writebynight.com/fidonet.html Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org Region 10: http://www.r10.org http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html Net 102 http://home.earthlink.net/~kayshapero/net102.htm Net 103: http://www.webworldinc.com/club103/ Net 203: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8687/net203index.html Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/ Net 2410: http://www.earforce.dyndns.org/net2410/ Region 12: http://sparkys.dyndns.org Region 13: http://www.net264.org/r13.htm Net 264: http://www.net264.org/ Net 275: http://www.homershut.net/~mahoover/net275/ Region 14: http://www.ouijabrd.com/region14 Net 282: http://www.rxn.com/~net282/ Region 15: Region 16: Region 17: http://www.nwstar.com/~region17/ Net 140: http://www.nwstar.com/~net140 Region 18: http://techshop.pdn.net/fido/ Region 19: http://bise.tzo.com/r19 Net 124: http://www.startext.net/np/net124 http://texoma.net/~flv Net 130: http://www.startext.net/homes/net130 Net 393: http://www.chatter.com/~wb/ Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/zone2 (Z2 nodelists etc.) Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish) Region 23: http://www.fido.dk (in Danish) Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (German) http://www.was-ist-fido.de/ FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 35 20 Nov 2000 Fido-IP: http://home.nrh.de/fido/ (English/German) Region 25: http://www.literary.freeserve.co.uk/net2502/ Region 26: http://www.nemesis.ie REC 26: http://www.nrgsys.com/orb Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (French) http://Welcome.to/skynetbbs/ Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (German) ? Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (Italian) Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (Spanish) REC34: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4552/ 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 (Greek/English) Region 42: http://www.fido.cz ! Net422: http://www.fido.sk (Slovak/English) Region 50: http://www.fido7.com/ (Russian) Net 5010: http://fido.tu-chel.ac.ru/ (Russian) Net 5015: http://www.fido.nnov.ru/ (Russian) Net 5028: http://5028.yaroslavl.ru/ Net 5030: http://kenga.ru/fido/ (Russian & English) Net 5049: http://www.n5049.z2.fidonet.org (English/Russian) Net 5074: http://www.z2.n5074.fidonet.net ?? Net 5085: http://www.fidonet.uz/ (Russian) Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org Zone 4: Region 80: http://fidobrasil.8m.com (Portuguese) Region 90: Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (Spanish) Zone 5: http://www.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/ Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (Chinese) Fidonet Via Internet Hubs See also: http://www.osirusoft.com/fidoip.html a @ preceding an individual's name implies a virtual email address. The email is translated as follows firstlast@osirusoft.com will automatically route to the appropriate individual's email. Anyone in this list will also receive routed notice of this feature. In my case, it would still be joejared@osirusoft.com, but you get the idea. Also, as information is provided to me, I will be adding a latency field to each node, which is defined as the maximum time between when the message is received, and when it is sent on to other nodes, or available to be sent onward, defined in minutes. A latency of ! implies that there is an immediate response, and an attempt to deliver immediately FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 36 20 Nov 2000 after processing, or a "MinuteMail System", as it were. v-email flag firstnamelastname@osirusoft.com | email address or Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed,| Basic Rate | | |latency| -----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------ Zone 1 | | | | 10/3 | Brenda Donovan | FTP,UUE,BinkP | 384K,30| n/c 10/345 @ Todd Cochrane | FTP,BinkP,VMOT | T1,! | n/c 12/12 @ Ken Wilson | FTP | T1 | $24mo. 13/25 @ Jim Balcom | FTP | 56k | $20mo. 19/68 | Ben Ritchey | UUE:BFDS | 33.6k | n/c 103/5 @ Mark Luetger | BinkP | 384k,!| n/c 103/153 @ Michael Box | BinkP | aDSL,!| n/c 103/301 @ Joe Jared | BinkP,FTP,NFS | 384k,!| n/c 103/401 @ Warren Bonner | BinkP | aDSL,!| n/c 105/8 | Russ Johnson | FTP,BinkP,VMoT | 384k | n/c 105/72 @ Larry James | FTP, BinkP | aDSL | $50/yr 106/1 @ Steve Loupe | BinkP, FTP | 128k | ??? 106/6018 | Lawrence Garvin | FTP, VMoT | aDSL,60| n/c 107/453 @ Jeffrey Estevez| FTP,BinkP,VMoT,UUE| 56k,60| $10 mo. 140/1 @ Bob Seaborn | FTP,BinkP | T3,30 | $5/$16 167/133 | Stephen Monteith | BinkP | 128k+ | n/c 211/417 @ Korombos | BinkP,UUE,FTP | T1 | n/c 218/109 @ Matt Munson | BinkP,UUE | 33.6k | n/c 246/160 @ Mason Vye | FTP, UUE | 56K | n/c 249/116 | Carl Austin Bennett | FTP, UUE |ADSL,60 | n/c 280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo. 342/3 @ Richard Dodsworth | BinkP,FTP | 128K+ | n/c 395/670 | Arthur Stark | BinkD,FTP | 128k | n/c 379/1 @ Dale Ross | FTP, BinkP,UUE | 256K+,! n/c 396/1 @ John Souvestre | FTP,VMoT | T1,10 | $5/mo 396/45 | Marc Lewis | UUE | 33.6 | $26/yr 2604/104 @ Jim Mclaughlin | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 33.6 | $1mo 2613/404 @ David Moufarrege | BinkP,FTP,VMoT | 128k+,!| n/c 2624/306 | David Calafrancesco | VMoT | 33.6 | n/c 3613/2 @ jyates@bsdi.ldl.net | UUE | 28.8 | n/c 3632/84 | Robert Todd |FTP,VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 57.6k | n/c 3639/93 @ Ross Cassell | FTP, BinkP |128K+,!| n/c 3651/9 @ Jerry Gause | FTP,VMoT | 33.6 | $3/$6 -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 2 | 20/11 | Henrik Lindhe | BinkP | ??? | n/c 31/1 | Gabriel Plutzar | BinkP | T1+ | n/c 203/600 | Mikael Karlsson | UUE | 64k | n/c 221/360 @ Tommi Koivula | BinkP,UUE | ??? | n/c 236/205 @ Michael Kaaber | BinkP | ??? | n/c 246/2098 | Volker Imre | BinkP | ??? | n/c 280/1601 @ Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c 292/620 | Eddy Missoul | VMoT, UUE,BinkP| 64k |N/C 292/624 | Steven Leeman | UUE | 64k | N/C 292/907 | Bart Verhaeghe | BinkP,VMoT,UUE | 64K | n/c 292/2003 | Eric Vaneberck | BinkP | 768k | n/c 301/1 | Peter Witschi | BinkP | 768k | n/c 332/807 | Roberto Mascolo | BinkP | ??? | n/c FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 37 20 Nov 2000 335/535 @ Mario Mure | BinkP,VMot,UUE | 64k | n/c 335/610 | Gino Lucrezi | UUE | 33.6 | n/c 344/201 | Julio Garcia | BinkP | ??? | n/c 346/3 @ Carlos Navarro | UUE | ??? | n/c 382/100 | Sinisa Burina | BinkP | ??? | n/c 406/555 | Ofir Michaeli & | BinkP | ??? | n/c 406/555 | Marius Kaizerman | BinkP | ??? | n/c 423/81 | Milos Bajer | BinkP | ??? | n/c 464/4077 | Serguei Trouchelle| UUE | 19.2 | n/c 465/204 | Va Milushnikov | BinkP | 33.6k | n/c 469/84 | Max Masyutin | VMoT | 256k | n/c 480/112 | Adam Sarapata| FTP, VMoT, UUE,BinkP| 128k | n/c 2411/413 @ Dennis Dittrich | UUE,BinkP | 64k | n/c 2446/301 @ Lothar Behet | BinkP,VMoT,UUE,FTP | 64K | n/c 2474/275 | Christian Emig | UUE | 64k | unkn 5030/115 | Andrey Podkolzin | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5100/8 | Egons Bush | BinkP | ??? | n/c 5020/1159 | Gennady Kudryashoff | UUE | 33.6 | n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 3 633/260 @ Malcolm Miles | FTP,BinkP | 64K | n/c 640/954 | Rick Van Ruth | FTP,VMot,UUE,BinkP| 56K| n/c 774/605 @ Barry Blackford|BinkP,VMoT:10023,ifcico,FTP |33.6| n/c -------------------------------------------------------------- Zone 4 905/100 | Fabian Gervan | VMoT,UUE,BinkP | 128k | n/c 902/18 | Javier Tejedor | UUE | 33,6 | n/c -- * FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol * VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various) * UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers * BinkP = front end mailer for TCPIP networks * NFS = Linux Networking ---------------------------------------------- Fidonet oriented news servers news.osirusoft.com news.tardis.net Fidonet oriented chat rooms. room #fidonet 5PM (PDT 11AM GMT) Sundays irc.osirusoft.com (Peers wanted) ---------------------------------------------- Please send updates, corrections and suggestions to Joe Jared, 1:103/301, joejared@osirusoft.com. All email addresses here for purpose of corresponding with fidonet members about obtaining a feed. Improper use of the virtual email addresses, and most especially, email addressed to blockme@relays.osirusoft.com will be considered a request to be blocked by my open relay spam stopper at http://relays.osirusoft.com FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 38 20 Nov 2000 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 39 20 Nov 2000 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Editor: Warren D. Bonner, 1:1/23, editor@fidonews.org | | Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, jb@fidonews.org | | Columnist: Joe Jared, 1:103/0, joejared@osirusoft.com | | (Fido Via Internet Hubs column) | | Columnist: Ol' WDB, 1:103/401, fidonews@netscape.net | | Humor: Chuckles & Grins, emailed to editor | | Sites Bio: Frank Vest, 1:124/6308.1 | | (The best site of the week) | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince | | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, | | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, | | Doug Meyers | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + "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. Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet. Fidonews is Copyright (C) 2000 by Warren Bonner, though authors retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinions expressed by theauthors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to: Warren Bonner at one of his addresses above. The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from the following sources: + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Freq FIDONEWS @ 1:140/1, or 1:396/1 | | ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ | | ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/fidonet/fidonews/ | | http://www.fidonews.org | | email subscription: majordomo@fidonews.org | | (subject: help body: list) | | ftp mail: ftpmail@fidonews.org (subject: help) | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + FIDONEWS 17-48 Page 40 20 Nov 2000 -----------------------------------------------------------------