BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News COPYRIGHT 1993 ISSN 1055-4548 August 1993 Volume 6, Issue 8 Edition 1 Table Of Contents ----------------- Article Title Author Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Staff From The Editor................................Scott Hollifield The Last Hegemony..............................Christopher Mohney Review: Pirate's Gold..........................Richard DeVaney Local Music in August..........................Judy Ranelli BBS Spotlight: Metromac BBS....................Eric Hunt BTN ProFile: Scott Kelley......................The Bishop Welcome To Dark Sun............................Jeff Vaughn Special Interest Groups (SIGs).................Eric Hunt Known BBS Numbers..............................James Minton ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability, if any for BTN, its editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions, etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN, even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood of such damages occurring. With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish monthly with a deadline of the last day of the month prior to publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article. Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles, please forward a copy of your publication to: Mark Maisel Publisher, BTN 606 Twin Branch Terrace BHAM, AL 35216 (205) 823-3956 We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing all of this and not get too serious about it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- F R E E B I E : G E T I T W H I L E I T S H O T ! The following boards allow BTN to be downloaded freely, that is with no charge to any existing upload/download ratios. ADAnet One Alter-Ego Bone Yard Bus System The Castle Channel 8250 C.A.B. The Comfy Chair! Crunchy Frog DC Info Exchange Final Frontier Hardware Hotline Homewood's Hell Hole Joker's Castle Lemon Grove Lion's Den Martyrdom Again?! The MATRIX Milliways BBS The Outer Limits Owlabama BBS Owl's Nest Playground Safe Harbor Southern Stallion Starbase 12 Thy Master's Dungeon Weekends BBS (This list includes some systems which are not local to Birmingham and therefore not included on our BBS Numbers list.) If you are a sysop and you allow BTN to be downloaded freely, please let me know via The Matrix or Crunchy Frog so that I can post your board as a free BTN distributor. Thanks. NOTE: Boards on this list get favored status when it comes to distributing BTN every month! NOTE (x2): I get the feeling I've left someone off this list that requested they be added, but I forget who, and I can't seem to find any record of the request. If you've asked to be included and weren't, my apologies--please leave me another note on the Matrix and I'll make sure you're listed next month. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W S F L A S H ANSI AD CONTEST! Do our work for us! Got any flashy graphic ideas as to how we could promote BTN more effectively? Stay tuned... DETAILS NEXT MONTH! YOU CAN WRITE! Become a published writer by submitting to BTN. Scribble out a message's worth of thoughts, upload them to The MATRIX or Crunchy Frog as a private file, , and bingo--you've got something to add to your resume! Leave a message to SCOTT HOLLIFIELD to close the deal, or for more details. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From The Editor by Scott Hollifield Well, try as I might, there's not much to say this month. I'm kind of pressed for time seeing as how this issue is already a few days late (again). A cursory glance at the table of contents will reveal that this issue is a little skimpy, even when compared to our usual shameless skimpery. Submissions were a bit scarce this month, and I'm not sure who to blame for that, but the fact was that I got pretty busy in handling personal stuff the last couple of weeks, and didn't have time to crack the whip too much. However, there are a couple of bright spots this month. One is the first in a three-part series by Chris Mohney. Back when he lived in Birmingham, when peace and harmony ruled the land and all was right with the world, Chris helmed the BTN ProFile, and wrote the odd article as well. Now he's gone off to one of them university things, and gotten his head full of ideas, some of which he spills out in this issue. His article should be considered required reading, in my opinion; present are some very interesting thoughts concerning these things you and I use called bulletin boards. Also, we'd like to clasp a big, furry, lemon-scented paw in handshake to welcome Richard DeVaney to this forum. Richard was a seminal force on the Birmingham BBS scene, lo these many years ago. He ran a board called The Holt, which was hands-down one of the coolest boards I remember from my feckless youth. Richard was the first sysop I ever left a message to, although both he and I--and wisely, history itself--have forgotten its content. I think I've successfully snagged Richard for a new game review column, and if things work out, we'll be reviving the old "Gamer's Corner" title just for him. That plus the usual suspects comprise this month's lean, mean issue. I do admit that I have long-term plans for BTN that involve the "bigger and better" principle, and are contigent upon expanding our staff... look for these plans to come to fruition in the coming year. In the meantime, consider this a "summer vacation" issue, and enjoy the weather. Sayonara. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== The Last Hegemony: An Information Age Cosmology ======================================================================== by Christopher Mohney ------------------- Author's Preface ------------------- "The Last Hegemony" is an essay in three parts. I started writing it when I began to feel like I needed to write about what's happening to our society as electronic links become more and more commonplace and vital. That sounds droll and probably doesn't really explain what I set out to do; originally I started composing the kind of article that I mention in Part 1, a kind of "here's what I saw" thing that has been done a million times before to no real purpose. I thought that might help me figure out what I was trying to say. However, once I began, I saw how banal and foolish it all sounded, and after a few cognitive flashes I decided to leap right into what I really wanted to talk about. Without jumping into the essay itself, the subject I'm looking into is not really anything to do with "our society" as much as the new parallel society created by the information age. I'll be using an informal first person perspective as I'll occasionally delve off into personal recollections and the like. In brief, Part 1 will be concerned with the general propositions, Part 2 with applying those propositions to the Birmingham, Alabama BBS scene, and Part 3 with the Internet and related issues. I don't think there's any real need for me to supply a long list of my qualifications to write this sort of piece. As a rule of thumb, though, when it comes to computers and computer-age society, if I didn't do it myself I probably know someone who did. I make no claims that I have discovered any absolute truths, and I welcome any comments or criticism on these essays. I can be reached over the Internet at cmohney1@ua1vm.ua.edu, or through the editorship of Birmingham Telecommunications Newsletter. Lastly, I release these essays into the public domain; they can be reproduced and republished freely as long as they are reproduced completely and without alteration. [Editor's note: Please see Statement of Policy in this month's issue for other notes on reproduction of articles.] Let's begin. ----------------------------- Part 1: A BOY AND HIS DOG ----------------------------- That corpse you planted last year in your garden, Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? O keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men, Or with his nails he'll dig it up again! - T.S. Eliot Junior really wanted a puppy. His birthday was coming up, and he pleaded and pleaded with his parents to buy him one. He promised to take care of it completely and love it without reservation, but he had made similar promises about the goldfish his mother once bought him and his parents were no longer so easily fooled (the goldfish had been dropped into Junior's toilet bowl after said toilet had been utilized; Junior claimed ignorance as to the identity of the felon). So, instead, his parents bought him a computer and a modem, which he named Spot. Spot was a sturdy beast and served Junior like a true friend. He fetched like no dog his master had ever heard of, retrieving reams and reams of data and files at a simple, concise command. Spot was always willing to play, and required little maintenance and virtually no housebreaking. Soon enough, Junior and Spot were playing almost all the time, cavorting about in places Junior had never dreamed existed. There were thousands of other boys and girls out there, and they were playing with their dogs and each other, and Junior and Spot joined in with a joyful screech of parity. With Spot's sensitive nose, there was almost nothing that Junior couldn't sniff out if he was willing to go far enough. See Spot run. What is a bulletin board system, a BBS? Ask a dedicated BBSer: "It's a computer set up to receive phone calls, where you can call in and leave messages and get files and stuff. And chat." Look at a BBS's introductory bulletins and you will get much the same thing. The mainstream media usually regurgitates up the old-line answer "It's a place where people can use computers and phones to `talk' to each other" (the quotes around "talk" are very important and illuminating here). But none of these answers really mean anything, deeply. It's like some alien visitor asking "What is abortion?" or "What is AIDS?" You can give them a straightforward, substantive answer: "It is when a human fetus is surgically removed before birth" or "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, a usually fatal condition believed to be largely caused by the virus HIV" but unless you give them a substantial further context, the alien will not have anywhere near the reaction a human would to these terms. In the case of BBS's, indeed in the case of most aspects of information age culture, we have created a substance before a context. More clearly put, the question is not "What is a BBS?" but "What does a BBS mean?" A BBS means information, pure and simple. The advent of the telelectronic community has birthed an information cloudburst so gargantuan that it dwarfs every previous human achievement. Not a single facet of life on this planet has escaped its influence. Is this good or bad? Both, of course. Asking that question is like asking is science good or bad, or is sex good or bad. Depending on the circumstances, the entire spectrum of goodness or badness can be found, usually in equal quantities. Most people concur that BBSes are about disseminating information; they might even go so far as to say they're about freedom of information. "Information wants to be free," as the old hacker adage goes. A simplification, of course; what that saying really means is "People want information. Information should not be controlled, not being a material good. Information should be free, as in free of charge." Perhaps, in the limited sense of hard information implied in that first saying, this might be true ... if we lived in Paradise. The sad fact is that information is a commodity like anything else, and always has been. The reason we have trouble dealing with this is that we abruptly have a a brutally efficient way to transfer this commodity long before an economy has evolved around it to regulate its fair exchange. Technology has far outstripped both government and industry, as was bound to happen - technology evolves geometrically, while societies tend to evolve fairly linearly. But that is changing. In response to the demand for a market, the BBS community has materialized. What you must understand is that BBS's are not about freedom of information. They are about compressing, limiting, enslaving and channeling information, minting it like kruggerands to be jealously guarded by those who control it: its high priests, tyrants and sovereigns. BBS's are not gilded pathways into a virtual world, they are fortified installations used to parcel out information to whomever their masters decide are worthy, or more importantly, whomever can pay. Just like any commodity is gradually co-opted by larger cooperative organizations (Mom & Pop's Grocery bought out by the multi-state foodservice conglomerate), BBS's are being forced to realize that the more information they can control and channel the more powerful they can become. Already there is the threat of being consumed or eclipsed by one of the large commercial info-nets like Compuserve, or of fighting the phone companies (who are belatedly realizing that they are being relegated to little more than a palace adviser to a monarch they thought they controlled). Certainly, there will always be the swarms of hobbyists who run BBS's as an avocation rather than a vocation, living their boy-and-his-dog lives amongst the telelectronic roads, but they have no more impact on the larger information market than garage sales do on the furniture industry. In fact, they are the most likely customer demographic for the commercial information services to target. A typical example of how the system of simultaneously "freeing" and limiting information works is the chat function. Here is an opportunity for one to meet hundreds of people one would otherwise have no contact with, in a safe and perhaps even anonymous environment. But in the same way that the larger BBS scene is really about refining information, online chat functions are really about suppressing information, squeezing it down such that all you know about them is what they tell you - a perfectly anonymous method of communication. At least, if you talk to someone on the phone, you hear a voice; from the way a person speaks, one can deduce things like accent, articulation, and in some cases how successful a liar the other party appears to be. However, such things do not obtain in an online chat; a superbly educated person may type text slowly and full of errors because they are a bad typist, while your average neo-teen turbohormonal computer geek may type at 80 wpm with minimal errors, simply because that's how he spends all his time. Here, as in the larger BBS scene, information is widely disseminated but thinly distributed; width with little depth, as it were. Some might deny that information can be a true commodity, because when you sell it you still have it. In the issue of value, this is irrelevant. Value is determined by how easy something is to sell. In this case, information is not only a true commodity, but probably the most quickly depreciable commodity there is, since anyone you sell to can just as quickly give that information to an almost unlimited number of people if they know which paths to tread, for free if they choose. The great majority of the debate over software copyrights and/or phone hacking has this issue at its root. Every time you sell information, that is at least one less person you can sell it to, and the value of the information decreases. Claims might also be made that people who pay for a BBS subscription are paying for access, not the information itself. This is no more true than saying that when you buy something at Wal Mart, you are paying for just access to the store as opposed to that wheelbarrow you purchased. Information can be bought and sold, and that undeniable state of affairs proves it to be a real commodity, albeit an abstract one. But there is precedent for the abstract commodity. The science of economics was revolutionized when it was realized that the movement of capital, a completely abstract force, determined the movement of goods (as opposed to vice versa) and concurrently heavily influenced the actions of politics, social reaction, etc. Now, in the information age, it is becoming apparent that there is yet another level to this equation, even more intangible: information determines the movement of capital. Every BBS is a storefront in a global information marketplace, a net thrown over a commodity so vast we are only seeing its true shape now that the net settles over it. What these stores sell is information, which can be most generally measured in "bandwidth" - how much of the BBS's information exchange capacity is used to transfer a particular chunk of data. Information's value is not always based on its sheer quantity, as opposed to how fast it can be exchanged. Of two separate BBS's with the same information, the one with the faster transfer rates will do better business because its information is a better "value." The parallel society called the telelectronic community has a radically different structure than its standard human counterpart. It can be most easily understood as an almost feudal arrangement of competing fiefdoms vying for informational dominance; in fact, the telelectronic community even interacts with standard society along these lines. This analogy will be explored in depth in Part 2 of this essay. --------------------------- Next: KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR --------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Pirate's Gold reviewed by Richard DeVaney Well well.... I made it. I didn't realize how easy it is to become a BTN writer. (To editor: I have no firstborn to give you yet but me and my wife will get to work on it right away.) Seriously though, I have a confession to make. Ladies and gentlemen, I am a hopeless PC game addict. I take comfort in the knowledge that I am not the only one. While staring glassy-eyed at another cinematic scene from Wing Commander II, it occurred to me that the world just hasn't heard my opinion of things. So this article, and hopefully the others that follow, is my humble review of current games available for the PC. The review this month is for Microprose's re-make of a classic IBM/Commodore64 favorite of mine: Pirates Gold. I, like so many others, have been looking forward to the release of this game for some time. It was a favorite of mine back in my Commodore 64 days. (64k of memory...gawd...) Concerning remakes, it is my hope that Electronic Arts will follow Microprose's idea and release an old EA favorite of mine, M.U.L.E. Alas, nothing has been said on the subject. Now back to our review already in progress. I can't help comparing this version with the old version to see what has gotten better or worse. Here are some of the comparisons I have made. 1. Gameplay : Old version vs. New Version Practically identical. If you knew how to play the old version, you will have no problems with the new version. This is a little disappointing to me. Surely there were some new ideas to try with the game. The interface is essentially the same. A player interacts with the game by choosing options, typically yes or no style answers. Ship combat is identical to the old version, if somewhat more pleasing to the eye. Duels with evil pirate Whats-his-name seemed just a little too easy to me. Admittedly I have only played this up to the Adventurer level so higher levels may be harder. Most of my duels I spent turning my opponent's leg into hamburger meat and the fight was over quickly. Invading cities guarded by forts is just a tad harder than the old version. Try to take a fort with anything larger than a barque and you had best hope that the gods of the sea take favor upon you and give you a stiff wind to get there quickly. This, in my opinion, makes planning to take a town more interesting than just blindly sailing in and dropping anchor. 2. Graphics : Old vs. New Untouchable. The quality of the graphics has grown (understandably) from the old version. I have not seen the VGA-16color version of the game to judge it but the 256color SVGA version is outstanding. The aquamarine color of the water in the town scenery makes me want to jump right in. The ships are rendered nicely as is the backdrops where various actions take place. The price for all this eye candy is steep. Pirate's Gold will plunder approximately twenty meg of hard drive space. Of course this is typical of your modern PC game. One year from now 40 megs will be the norm. (For non CD-ROM games that is.) Well, there is my comparison. Now on to the official GRIPE LIST(TM): 1. For goodness sakes, DO NOT under any circumstances sail your ship into a narrow channel. The second your ship touches land, you are booted off your ship. Just try to get back onboard. Your ship sails away and hits the opposite shore. Get back on your ship and it.... ...well you get the idea...continue ad infinitum. It took me close to 10 minutes to get myself out of a channel. (Anyone else had this problem?) 2. Here's what I call the Odo-ship (ST:DS9 reference) syndrome. Ok, sample fleet: 1 - Barque, 1 - Frigate, 1- Merchantman. Well, my sailing ship (the one used to navigate across the Carib) changes every time I change the ship I take into battle. Now you are probably saying that this is a "Gee Whiz" complaint but from what I understood, the navigation ship is based on your slowest and/or largest ship. Minor gripe. 3. Lastly is my unending complaint about Microprose software. The games they release do what they should, they are entertaining. However, every time I open the shrink wrap on a MPS product, I cringe. I can practically SEE the virtual cockroaches crawling out of the box. Pirate's Gold didn't disappoint me in that respect. Again, here I am enjoying myself, soon to defeat the person who knows where my sister is..... Here's the scenario: It is an empty street in Tortuga. Just me and Evil Spaniard Baron Whats-his-face. Before I can even get my sword out of it's scabbard. ZAP! I had just gotten sucker punched by another Microprose product. Thankfully a patch exists now. Almost every Microprose product I have ever bought (no I don't have all of them) came to me with a ticking bomb courtesy of MPS inside that innocent looking 3.5" disk. I say almost because F-15III and Gunship 2000 have yet to give me any problems whatsoever. Darklands, Pirates Gold, Mantis, B-17 however, were extremely buggy right out of the box. Ladies and Gentlemen...survey says!: + + + + + + + + + + 0 ^ 10 7.5 Recommendation: If you enjoyed the old one version and aren't looking for much in the way of new gameplay, you'll enjoy Pirates Gold. Just make sure you get the patch from your local BBS or from Microprose's BBS (don't have the number handy). Questions or suggestions for a game YOU would like me to review can be sent to the following places: The Matrix The Outer Limits Crunchy Frog Internet:richard.devaney@the-matrix.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Local Music In August by Judy Ranelli Mondays in August GLEN AND LAINE an The Nick Glen Tolbert, veteran picker of The Country Boy Eddie Show and bluegrass man, is my hero. Laine, skinny and earnest with the mandolin, is his prophet. Each Monday in August--and ya'll come back now, y'hear? Tues. 3 ITCHY WIGS at The Nick Mystery of the Month: Is Mark Kimbrall just here for the summer or has he moved permanently from New York to exciting Birmingham, Alabama, which he left two years ago? I hope so, for me; I hope not, for him. Cool band, by the way. Thurs. 5 CACTUS PIE/SHAME IDOLS at The Nick Shame Idols is Tim Boykin's new band, so it's bound to be good. Cactus Pie is an unknown. Sat. 7 THE BISQIUTS at Zydeco Featuring Will Kimbrough (of the Bushmen)--remember them? I want to confess something. I have never seen this band. But I can guess that they're poppy and happy and very good at being poppy and happy. 'Nuff said. Sun. 8 WALT MINK/SHALLOW at The Nick Ears go pop! Soupy, not like Soupy Sales but like melted ice cream. Thurs. 12 FUZZY SUNS at The Nick If you thought that last review was weird, don't go see this band; you'd never recover. Beautiful silly string entanglements. Fri. 13 TOPPER PRICE AND THE UPSETTERS at The Back Alley What? In that tiny room? Or the (tiny for a loud, raucous bar band) back porch? Go shake the timbers off the roof with a truely maniacal man. Sat. 14 SPUNKADILLY at Louie Louie Ok, this guy that looks like a sort of anorexic harlequin twists and sings like tight pants Bowie while rest of band plays strange melodies. Thurs. 19 SPACE CAMP at The Back Alley Don Tinsley, talented though he is, once predicted that I'd be an herb doctor. Good good good band. Fri. 20 THE TICKS at The Nick I'll be at the Nick; where will you be? Sat. 21 ERIC ESSEX AND MODERN MAN at On The Avenue This guy could take all us guitarists for a lesson in style. Another national recording artist from Birmingham that the city is barely aware of. (The other one I know is in Fuzzy Suns.) Sun. 22 NAIL/LOCK BODY at The Nick Different, I promise you. Children of the '80s who would be pissed at me if they read this review. Thurs. 26 BIG DIXIE at Zydeco Hear Rockabilly reverberate off the hard surfaced Zydeco dining room and beg for Sukiyaki by Sakamoto. The former Club 312 is now the NEW Club 312, and I wish I had a schedule from them to give them a push; we need MORE venues in Birmingham. Maybe next month. The former Crazy Cafe is now the new Mr. Hyde's, courtesy of Jeff who owned Dr. Jeckell's on Morris Avenue years ago...it's a metal showcase. I guess that's a way to put it. See tattooed men play LOUD. I think they should post that over the door, a sort of mutated strip joint advertisement. Count on some hardcore there too, boys and girls. ALL DATES AND ACTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bulletin Board Spotlight by Eric Hunt This Month: METROMAC BBS 1) Name of the BBS: MetroMac BBS 2) Name of the sysop: Steve Creel 3) BBS software used: TeleFinder Group Edition Host 3.1 4) How long have you been sysoping: Going on 4 years now. 5) Are you a subscription only / completely free / hybrid of the two BBS? MetroMac's currently completely free, but time limits and some restrictions are imposed. Unlimited access is provided by our sponsors to qualified users, ie: clients of Communication Arts and members of the Birmingham Apple Core. 6) How many incoming phone lines and approximate disk space? Do you support high speed modems? If so, what type(s)? MetroMac currently has two incoming high speed lines with Hayes 144 modems. The BBS is running on a Macintosh IIFX with 180 megabytes of disk space and an on-line CD-ROM. 7) Is your BBS primarily a files BBS, primarily a message based BBS, or a combination of the two? MetroMac is both a message and files BBS, but file transfers easily make up 90% of BBS activity. 8) If you've sysop'd more than just this BBS, briefly list previous endeavours and their lifespans. MetroMac's an only child, so to speak, although it has evolved from earlier incarnations. The BBS started out as MacPro BBS, running on a Mac Plus at 2400 bps, using Hermes BBS software, and tailored strictly to desktop publishing professionals. As the board and our user base expanded, it became MetroMac and now easily has something for everyone. 9) What made you decide to take the masochistic plunge and become a sysop: I thought Birmingham needed a Macintosh BBS, and nobody else stepped forward. There have been a few others over the years, but no one else has had our staying power without either closing up or shutting out the public. 10) What is the general 'thrust' or area of specialty for your BBS: Anything and everything to do with Mac computing and desktop publishing. 11) (optional) What is your regular job/career to support this leeching hobby of sysoping? I've been lucky to have the sponsorship and support of Communication Arts, a local pre-press service bureau, without whom this BBS would not be possible. 12) What are your plans for the coming year? Before the end of the year, I hope to see a Window's version of TeleFinder, and I plan to setup a Window's area tailored specifically to desktop publishing with Windows and surviving in a multi-platform environment. 13) Where would you like your BBS to go over the next 5 years? I'd like to see every Mac user in Birmingham online with us, and be able to expand the BBS to accommodate them all. I also hope to see some standards evolve to allow data and mail exchange with Internet and many of the PC networks. Of course, I'd also like to see a stack of gig drives and on-line video, too. ;-) 14) What do you feel the highlights of your BBS are? Ease of use. If you've mastered clicking and dragging in the Mac's Finder, then you know all you need to know to use MetroMac's TeleFinder software. Of course, it helps that the interface is pretty, with full-color icons, messages, and online sound and graphics. 15) What is your personal vision of the 'ideal user?' Hmmm. Maybe a lonely Cindy Crawford? Or a close second would be users who participate, whether by uploading or posting messages, jokes, questions or whatever. I've tried to create the feeling of an online community instead of a BBS for access by a mass audience, so I really appreciate users who contribute to the whole in whatever capacity. 16) What is the thing you've enjoyed most about providing your BBS? Having access to all these wonderful toys, and meeting (or at least chatting with) lots of interesting people. 17) What is the thing you've enjoyed least about providing your BBS? Having to start from scratch in learning how to do all this. There's a wealth of information out there about running a BBS on a PC, but hardly anything on trying to accomplish the same things on a Mac. It's all been trial and error so far, mostly error of course. Here's a space to write a paragraph or two to cover any points/details/questions I missed, yet you feel should be addressed. For those of you unfamiliar with MetroMac BBS or TeleFinder, the BBS is accessed with it's own user software that emulates the Mac's icon- & mouse-driven interface. Libraries, conferences and other areas appear as icons on your computer's desktop, and you open these icons and folders by simply double-clicking with the mouse. Downloading files is as simple as dragging the file's icon to your hard disk. The interface works in full color or black & white; features on-line sound (muck like America Online); lets you customize messages with multiple fonts, styles, sizes and colors; lets you preview graphics files and movies before downloading them; allows display of file libraries by icon, name, or date; and features a fast Find File function and the new multiline Chat Rooms and instant messages. Access is available after 5 pm at 323-6306, or 24-hours daily at 252-0582 to members of the Birmingham Apple Core. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- BTN ProFile by The Bishop ----------- The ProFile is a light-hearted attempt at allowing the BBS community to get to know the selected user or sysop better. The harassees...er... candidates for the ProFile are selected purely by random(or maybe not - read up on 'chaos'). If anyone has any suggestions for questions to be included in the ProFile or for users to be harassed by the ProFile, then feel free to E-Mail them to me(The Bishop on Crunchy Frog, or Aaron Dees on most other boards in town)... ----------- PRO FILE: Scott Kelley, author of several small programming utilites and YAMR. Age: 22, or thereabouts. It depends on when you read this. Birthplace: Your typical boring hospital room, in Mobile, AL. Occupation: Grad. Student / Computer Consultant / Programmer / Network Installer My hobbies include: Sleeping, eating -- no, those aren't hobbies. Hmm. Can I include programming here, too? Doesn't matter, I'll include it here anyway. I like writing programs which never get released. :) Not to mention playing pinball. I also like roller coasters. One summer, I'm going to go to all of the classic roller coasters in the US. Years telecomputing: Close to 5 years. Sysop, past/present/future of: Not a sysop, never a sysop. Perhaps, one day, I will open a hobby shop system, with a SLIP connection to the Internet, a UseNet interface, a MUD client, and make it private use only. It just depends. My oddest habit is: Writing alpha-test programs that never make it to beta. My greatest unfulfilled ambition is: To be a sucessful software writer, with several large packages on the market. Or just moderately successful, living comfortably. However, I'll probably end up poor and discontent, like the rest of the masses. And that's being optimistic. :) The single accomplishment of which I am most proud is: Graduating from college. And getting into the Master's degree program at UAB. My favorite performers are: Martin Kolbe, Ralf Illenberger, Michael Hedges The last good movie I saw was: I don't watch many movies; however, I recently went to the opening of _Jurassic Park_. Great movie, but don't sit too close to the speakers. The last good book I read was: I've read several books, but none were great. Terry Brooks is now a hack writer, so I stick to old SF. Jet Thomas had several good SF books I read, of which all the titles escape me. If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played by: So, who does dry wit well? One of the Monty Python brothers, because my life should have been a comedy. My pet peeves are: Wot's a pet peeve? Ah. People who act like complete fools, just to get the attention. Microsoft software. Buggy programs. Unstable system configurations. Crashed hard drives, mine especially. Flaky motherboards. I'll stop. When nobody's looking, I like to: Do the exact same thing I would do when they were looking, but pretend I'm doing something horrible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Welcome to Dark Sun" by Jeff Vaughn Hello gaming types. I hate to blow the top of your minds on this one, but it's not a RPG article. Nope, I'm concentrating on the novels. Sorry people, maybe next time. Okay, let's get a firm grip on what we're dealing with here. Dark Sun is a TSR "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" world. It's basically a planet that's mostly been used to waste by sorceror-kings, and it's prime arts are sorcerory and psionics. Believe it or not, it makes for good reading. Let's focus on some of the book's main characters so we can an idea on where this will be going. Kalak: The sorceror-king of the city of Tyr. Kalak is one old and ruthless guy who rules with an iron hand and a deadly mind. He's one powerful hombre in sorcery and "The Way". The Way is the name for the psionic arts on the world of Athas. Kalak intends to partially rule this world by becoming a dragon. Kalak is also immortal to top it all off. Borys: Borys is Athas' ONLY dragon. I know that's a little unusual for AD&D to come up with a world with only one dragon, but someone had to think up the idea sooner or later. He was transformed into a dragon by use of the Dark Lense (which is the main subject in the 4th novel). Agis of Asticles: Every book has it's hero, but this book had to make room for a few of them. Agis is the hero type who's always in control. Agis is a noble on Athas. He started out as a senator until he ran into some people from an underground orgaization called "The Veiled Alliance", more good guys. Agis is also a master of psionics as well and nothing to be sneezed at with a sword either. Rikus: Rikus is a "mul", a cross between a dwarf and a human. In layman's terms, he gets the best of both worlds. Rikus has one stout bod and he's a cunning warrior. Rikus is also one of the many slave population. The only problem is, slavers know his kind are the best for the gladiatorial games, so he is constantly pushed on to push it to the limit. He wants to be free very badly, and beat the sense out of Kalak as well. Sardia: A beautiful half-elvin slave girl. Yes, every book's gotta have one. Sardia is a sorceroress and a member of The Veiled Alliance as well. She's walking on the edge of using forbidden sorcerory. There are two types of sorcery as well. She's got a thing for Rikus. The only problem is, he and Agis don't get started out to well. There are jealousy problems with Rikus when she gets around Agis. Tithian: Tithian is a templar, and one who rose up in the ranks quickly due to his deceptive ways and a lot of murdering along the way. Kalak likes that in a templar. Tithian is also Agis' childhood friend. This also causes a lot of problems, but Tithian is mostly looking out for number one. Neeva: Neeva is another slave who fights in the gladatorial games. She's a human and has gone a few rounds in the sack with Rikus. She's just a little pissed at the fact that Rikus has decided to go for Sardia and it causes personal conflicts along the way with the trio. Neverthe- less, she still fights for the same freedom. * Now that we've got the names out of the way, let's get down to the meat of the matter. Athas is pretty much a barren wasteland type planet that's been almost used to it's end. It hasn't always been this way. Once there was green and oceans. The sorceror-kings ended all that REAL quick. The big problem with sorcery on Athas is that most of the power comes from its plant life. The sorceror-kings sucked the planet dry of it's plant life to around the 90% mark. People like sorceror-kings are called 'defilers' because they abuse the land. The Veiled Alliance is an underground organization that's determined to bring the sorceror-kings to their knees. They've got their resources, but they are somewhat limited. The Veiled Alliance also wants to brings slavery to an ABRUPT halt. The best I can define it is, they're working on it. The basic concept of all four books is about this small group fighting to free Athas' slave population. There's also that little thing about killing the dragon and ending his reign of terror on Athas. Athas has its secret history about how the dragon was created and all the races that WERE once in existance, but were targeted for termination. Only a few basic races remain and a place called The Pristine Tower has transformed some of the previous races and made new ones as well. Athas has its quirks, like all planets do. There's slave labor, lack of water, very thin plant life, very little metal, and obsidian is the big mineral on the plant. Obsidian is what the majority of the weapons are made of and obsidian is used to harness the power of The Way and sorceries as well. There's gold and silver, but only in small proportions. One point i must press about some Advanced Dungeons & Dragons novels is that IT'S NOT ALL FIGHTING DRAGONS and stuff. There are actual plots to these books, and some darn good ones. "Dragonlance Chronicles" was one of the best I've ever read in all the series. I am also one picky dude when it comes to AD&D and the books relating to the games. I've gamed for several years and hate it when a novelist writes something like "vampires are more powerful than death knights". That's a little personal bit i have aginst author James Lowder of "Vampires in the Mist". Fortunately, Troy Denning, the author of all the Dark Sun novels, doesn't have this problem. My point to this article is, IF you read fantasy, check out the AD&D "Dark Sun" series. I think you will be quite satisfied. The Dark Sun novels are as follows: The Verdant Passage - Book 1 The Crimson Legion - Book 2 The Amber Enchantress - Book 3 The Obsidian Oracle - Book 4 The Cerulean Storm - Book 5 (coming in September 1993) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SIG's (Special Interest Groups), Computer Related ------------------------------------------------- BIPUG Alabama UniForum Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group Homewood Public Library UAB Nutrition Science Blg 1st Tuesday RM 535/541 Shawn Cleary 870-6130 1st Sunday (delayed one week if meeting is a holiday) Marty Schulman 967-5883 Birmingham Apple Core Informal breakfast meeting every Saturday, 9am - 11am @ Kopper Kettle, lower level Brookwood Village Mall Formal meeting held second Saturday of each month, location variable (to be announced at breakfast meetings and in the user group's newsletter "The PEEL".) President: Sam Johnston - 322-5379 Vice-Prez: Marie Prater - 822-8135 The SIG listing is being re-verified. If you know of an active Computer Related user's group, please let me know. I can be reached via Internet email at eric.hunt@the-matrix.com or drop me a note directly on the MATRIX. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area Sysops, PLEASE check your listing to make sure everything is correct, especially the networks. Corrections should be mailed on the Matrix to James Minton or in a Sysop Comment on Outer Limits. Starting in the September edition of the BBS list, I'll be making a note in the list as to which BBS's support RIP graphics. If your BBS does, please let me know as soon as possible. Also, if anyone has any information about networks listed at the bottom with "uncertain at press time", let me know. NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES MODEM BBS SOFTWARE SUPPORTED TYPE ADAnet One (Nodes 1-3) 854-9074 1200-2400 PCBoard 14.5 [ez, fi, ad] ADAnet One (Node 4) 854-5863 2400-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, fi, ad] Alcatraz BBS 608-0880 300-9600 VBBS 6.0 [he, vi] Alter-Ego BBS 925-5099 1200-9600 USR HST PCBoard 14.5 [ez, mn] Asgard 663-9171 300-9600 V.32 WWIV 4.21a [ez, al, te] Baudville (Node 1) 980-1089 300-2400 Major BBS 6.10 [none] Baudville (Node 2) 991-2095 300-14400 Major BBS 6.10 [none] Baudville (Node 3) 991-9144 300-2400 Major BBS 6.10 [none] Baudville (Node 4) 995-0013 300-2400 Major BBS 6.10 [none] Bone Yard, The 631-6023 300-9600 USR HST PCBoard 14.5 [fi, ez] Boy's Room 674-8117 300-2400 Wildcat! 3.55 [none] Bus System 987-5419 300-2400 PCBoard 14.2 [none] Byte Me! 979-BYTE! 2400-14400 USR HST WWIV 4.12 [ez, th, al] Castle, The 841-7618 300-2400 Image 1.2 [none] Channel 8250 (Node 1) 744-8546 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, un] Channel 8250 (Node 2) 744-5166 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, un] Christian Apologetic 808-0763 1200-14400 V.32bis Wildcat! 3.55 [ez, wi, bc, ru] Confederates BBS 967-2626 1200-14400 V.32bis ??? [none] Crocodile Country BBS 477-6283 1200-16800 USR DS Searchlight 3.0 [sl] Crunchy Frog (Node 1) 823-3957 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, mn, lu, ll] Crunchy Frog (Node 2) 823-3958 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, mn, lu, ll] Den, The 933-8744 300-9600 USR HST ProLogon/ProDoor [ez, mn, il] Digital Publishing 854-1660 300-9600 V.32 Wildcat! 3.01 [pl] Electro-BBS 491-8402 300-14400 V.32/42 ?? [fi] Family Smorgas-Board 744-0943 300-2400 PCBoard 14.5 [ez, fi, mj, bc, fa, ic, cf, cd, np, ag, ve, ad] Final Frontier 838-5634 300-14400 VBBS 6.10 [al, he, re, fn] Flip Side 798-3961 300-2400 Renegade 8.27 [none] Genesis Online(Nodes 1-6) 620-4150 300-14400 V.32bis Major BBS 6.11 [mr] Guardian, The 425-1951 1200-14400 V.42bis VBBS 6.0 [vi] Hardeman's BBS 640-6436 1200-14400 Wildcat! 3.51 [wi, di, bc] Hardware Hotline 631-6629 300-14400 V.32/42 PCBoard 14.5 [mn, fi, ca] The Holodeck BBS 663-7229 1200-9600 V.32 TriBBS 4.02 [cc] Homewood's Hell Hole 870-9067 2400-14440 V.32bis VBBS 5.6 [he] Intruder Enterprizes 969-0870 300-9600 V.32 VBBS 5.6 [vi, al] Joker's Castle 664-5589 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, mn, un] KickAxis BBS 733-0253 1200-14400 USR DS VBBS 6.0 [he] Last Word 663-4721 300-2400 VBBS 6.0 [sn] Lemon Grove 836-1184 300-12000 V.42bis SLBBS 3.0 [fi, sl] Lions Den 969-5733 300-14400 USR DS Wildcat! 3.60 [none] Lumby's Palace 520-0041 300-14400 VBBS 6.0 [he] Magic City 664-9883 300-14400 USR DS Wildcat! 3.55 [cc, di, tr, wi] Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300-14400 USR HST PCBoard 14.5 [ez, mn] MATRIX, The (Nodes 1-10) 323-2016 300-2400 PCBoard 15.0 [ez, mn, th, il, in, al, sh, sc, gl, ic, ri, fr] MATRIX, The (Nodes 11-20) 323-6016 9600-14400 PCBoard 15.0 [ez, mn, th, il, in, al, sh, sc, gl, ic, ri, fr] MetaBoard 854-4814 300-14400 USR DS Opus CBCS 1.73 [fi, ad] MetroMac BBS 323-6306 300-2400 TeleFinder 3.0 [none] Milliways BBS (Node 1) 956-3177 1200-2400 Major BBS 6.11 [none] Milliways BBS(Nodes 2-6)956-2731 1200-2400 Major BBS 6.11 [none] Missing Link 853-1257 300-16800 USR DS C-Net Amiga 2.63 [cl, cn] Neon Moon 477-5894 300-14400 TriBBS 4.0 [dx] Nirvana 942-6702 300-14400 V.32bis VBBS 6.0 [al, vi, at, rp] Optical Illusion 995-9145 1200-14400 V.32bis VBBS 6.0 [al] Outer Limits (Node 1) 426-5611 1200-2400 Wildcat! 3.90 [fi, do, er, er, pn] Outer Limits (Node 2) 425-5871 1200-14400 USR HST Wildcat! 3.90 [fi, do, ec, er, pn] Outer Limits (Node 3) 426-2939 1200-16800 ZyXEL Wildcat! 3.90 [fi, do, ec, er, pn] (V.32/42b) Owlabama BBS 856-2521 1200-14400 GTPower 17.06 [gt, ez, mn, cc, tr, sc, ab] Owl's Nest 680-0851 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5 [ez, mn] Party Line 856-1336 300-14000 V.32bis TriBBS 4.0 [cc, tr, di] Penny Arcade 699-4625 300-2400 Running Force! 3.75 [none] Playground 681-5070 2400-14000 V.32 TriBBS 4.0 [tr, di, cc, ez, al, fr] Posys BBS 854-5131 300-9600 V.32 PCBoard [none] Programmer's Shack 988-4695 1200-9600 HST DS Renegade [fi, it] Quiet Zone 833-2066 300-2400 ExpressNet [none] Razor's Edge 995-0412 1200-2400 VBBS 5.6 [he, al] Safe Harbor (Node 1) 665-4332 300-2400 GTPower 17.06 [gt, ez, mn, il] Safe Harbor (Node 2) 665-4355 300-14400 USR DS GTPower 17.06 [gt, ez, mn, il] Sam's Domain 956-2757 1200-14400 VBBS 6.0 [da, he] Safety BBS 581-2866 300-2400 RBBS-PC 17.4 [none] Southern Stallion 322-3816 300-16800 ZyXEL PCBoard 15.0 [an, ez, lu, pr, th] (V.32/42b) Sperry BBS 853-6144 300-2400 V.32/42b PCBoard 14.5 [none] ST BBS 836-9311 300-2400 PCBoard 14.2 [ez] StarBase 12 647-7184 300-2400 TriBBS 4.0 [ez, mn, cc] The Light 979-0368 300-14400 V.32bis PCBoard 15.0 [none] Thy Master's Dungeon 940-2116 300-57600 V.32/42b PCBoard 14.5 [fr] Torch Song 328-1517 300-9600 V.32 Wildcat 3.6 [pr, se, st, do] Venus BBS 424-2872 300-2400 WWIV 4.22 [cy, te, al] Weekends BBS 841-8583 2400-16800 USR DS Wildcat! 3.9 [ca] Willie's DYM (Node 1) 664-9902 300-2400 Oracomm Plus [or] Willie's DYM (Node 2) 664-9903 300-2400 Oracomm Plus [or] Willie's DYM (Node 3) 664-9895 300-2400 Oracomm Plus [or] Willie's DYM (Node 4) 664-9896 300-2400 Oracomm Plus [or] Ziggy Unix BBS 991-5696 300-1200 UNaXess [none] The two-letter abbreviations you see on the line below the names of many of the bbs' in the list signify that they are members of one or more networks that exchange or echo mail to each other in some organized fashion. ad = ADAnet, an international network dedicated to the handicapped ag = AgapeNet, a national Christian network, multi-topic al = AlaNet, a local network, multi-topic an = AnnexNet, an international network, multi-topic at = AdultNet, a national network, adult-oriented bc = BCBNet, a local network, religion-oriented bh = BhamTalk, a local network, multi-topic ca = CafeNet, a local network, restaurant/dining, recipes, etc. cc = City2City, a national network, multi-topic cd = CDN, a national Christian network for file distribution cf = CFN, a national Christian network, multi-topic cl = CLink, uncertain at press time cn = CNet, multi-topic cy = Cybernet, uncertain at press time da = DateNet, uncertain at press time de = DevNet, an international network for programmers and developers di = Dixie Net, a regional network, multi-topic geared toward the south eastern United States do = DoorNet, a national network for the distribution of BBS doors ec = EchoNet, an international network, multi-topic er = ErosNet, an international network, adult oriented, files & messages ez = EzNet, a local IBM compatible network fa = FamilyNet, an international network, multi-topic fi = FidoNet, an international network, multi-topic fn = FrontierNet, uncertain at press time fr = FredNet, a regional network, political discussion ga = GameNet, a local network, uncertain at press time gl = GlobalLink, an international network, multi-topic gt = GTNet, an international network, multi-topic he = HellNet, a local network, multi-topic ic = ICDM, an international Christian network, multi-topic ie = Intelec, a national network, multi-topic il = ILink, an international network, multi-topic in = InterNet, an international network, linking businesses, universities, and bbs', multi-topic it = ITCNet, uncertain at press time ll = LlamaNet, a national network, freeform correspondence lo = LocalNet, uncertain at press time lu = LuciferNet, an international network, adult oriented ma = MAXnet, a local network, connecting WWIV and VBBS systems mj = MJCN, an international network for Messianic Jews mn = Metronet, an international network which echoes RIME, multi-topic mr = MajorNet, an international network, multi-topic np = NPN, a national network for new parents or = OraNet, a national E-mail network pl = PlanoNet, a national network, multi-topic pn = PoliceNet, an international network, law-enforcement only pr = PrideNet, a local homosexually oriented network rf = RF Net, a national network for ham radio users and hobbyists ri = RIME, an international network, multi-topic rb = RoboLink, a national network, multi-topic re = RealityNet, uncertain at press time rp = RPGnet, a local network for role-playing games rs = RoseNet, a national network, technically oriented ru = RushNet, a national network for Rush Limbaugh fans sc = Science Factor Net, a national network, science and technology oriented se = SEC, a regional network, homosexually oriented geared toward the southeastern United States sh = Shades N Shadows Net, a national network for role-playing games sl = SearchlightNet, a national network, multi-topic sm = SmartNet, a national network, multi-topic sn = ShadowNet, a national network for role-playing games st = StudsNet, a national network, homosexually oriented te = TECHnet, a local network, hardware and utility oriented th = ThrobNet, an international network, adult oriented tr = TTN, a national network, multi-topic un = U'NI-Net, an international network, multi-topic ve = VETLink, a national network for military veterans vi = VirtualNet, an international network, multi-topic wi = WildNet, a national network, multi-topic ww = WWIV-Net, an international network, multi-topic There were a WHOLE lot of changes made to the list this month, so if I left anything out, please forgive me. If you notice any mistakes or items that need to be updated/changed, please let me know. -James -----------------------------------------------------------------------