1224 lines
61 KiB
Plaintext
1224 lines
61 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 4, Number 11 23 March 1987
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| /|oo \ |
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| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
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| _`@/_ \ _ |
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| International | | \ \\ |
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| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
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| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
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| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
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| (jm) |
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Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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FidoNews is the official newsletter of the International FidoNet
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Association, and is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1.
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You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file
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ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1/1.
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Copyright (C) 1987, by the International FidoNet Association.
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All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
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for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
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please contact IFNA.
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Table of Contents
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1. EDITORIAL
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What's IFNA Up To?
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2. ARTICLES
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BROADCASTING Echo Conference
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Copyright warning, re: FidoNews and on-line info theft
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SeaDog has arrived !
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What's in a name?
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The End of FidoNews?
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Amateur Radio Novice License: A Better Bargain
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And Now for the Rest of the Story!
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Convoy to the Wall
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3. COLUMNS
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Column Without a Name
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Technical Topics - Getting It From There To Here
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4. FOR SALE
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Magazine on Disk for IBM PC and Compatibles
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5. NOTICES
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The Lost Issue
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The Interrupt Stack
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Fidonews Page 2 23 Mar 1987
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=================================================================
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EDITORIAL
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What's IFNA Up To?
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What has IFNA been doing lately? The big public hooraw for
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longer than I care to think about has been the bylaws, but that's
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over now. Onward!
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Plenty of things have been happening. Here are a few:
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1) Some more political junk. Now that we have bylaws, we have to
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start electing a Board of Directors. Lucky for me I don't
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have to do anything about it. A Nominations and Elections
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Committee has been appointed, with Bob Morris (141/333) in
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charge. I gather that, much to my surprise, he is actually
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well on his way to having a full slate for folks to vote on.
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I would have sworn that we'd never find twenty people willing
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to sit on the board, but it's starting to sound like we might
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just make it.
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2) The next conference is starting to take shape. A group has
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formed to host the event (probably somewhere in the
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Washington, DC area), and has even found a commercial backer
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to provide most of the front money.
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3) The Technical Standards Committee is continuing its fine work,
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and building on the excellent foundation it started with the
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Basic Protocol Standards Document. A subcommittee has been
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formed to investigate and evaluate 9600 baud modems. No
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vendor seems to quite have a modem yet that will work with our
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existing software on typical phone lines, but they are coming
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close. At least two modem manufacturers are working actively
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with IFNA to modify their hardware for our needs.
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4) While we don't have the resources (yet) to start our own
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lobbying group, Kurt Reisler (109/74) is working on
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establishing a legislative watchdog group to keep us informed
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on pending Federal legislation which may affect us.
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5) International mail isn't fixed yet, but the mechanism for
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handling it has been worked out, and the pieces are slowly
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being put in place. More on this in a future issue.
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In short, IFNA has been making like the proverbial duck. You may
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not see much activity up top, but we're paddling like mad
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underneath!
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Fidonews Page 3 23 Mar 1987
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ARTICLES
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NATIONAL BROADCASTERS ECHO TO BE INSTALLED
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Broadcast_Software BBS
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9026 Natural Bridge Rd
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St Louis, MO 63121
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Fido 100/517
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data:314-427-4064
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voice:314:427-4720
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Echo operated by Glen Jackson
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We are looking for FIDO's that would like to participate in a
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national Broadcast Echo. This Echo will be used for
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engineers,radio programmers, and market executives.
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Very much in the infant stage, even at our net, we feel that
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there could be more interest developed if implanted on a National
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level. This echo could also be made available to the general
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public in order for them to ask questions of the broadcast
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industry.
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100/517 will handle all of the polling for the Echo.
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We will set up our echo conference under BROADCAST.
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Any SysOps interested, please contact Glen Jackson at the
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Broadcast_Software Fido 100/517. Target date is March 25th.
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Fidonews Page 4 23 Mar 1987
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Copyright, FidoNews, and on-line information theft
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from Mark J. Welch, Fido 161/459
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Berkeley, California
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I read the March 2, 1987 issue of FidoNews (volume 4, number 9)
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with some interest (partly because one of my articles appeared in
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it).
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However, I was surprised to find that a copyrighted article from
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InfoWorld magazine was also "dropped into" the issue in the
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notices section ("Trojan PC-Write Can Trash Your Disk," page 15),
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without any note that the reprinting of that article was by
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permission [or not].
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This, my friends, is a copyright violation (unless InfoWorld had
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given permission to reprint the article; usually, when magazines
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give such permission, they require a tag line noting that the
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article was "Copyright 1987 by Mag_Name, reprinted with
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permission").
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The reason I mention this is not to get anyone in trouble, and I
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doubt that InfoWorld would take any action except to send a
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polite (or maybe nasty) letter if they found out (I, for one,
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don't consider it worth mentioning to them).
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Still, I'd like to point out that we, as BBS sysops, programmers,
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and writers, should take more care to respect copyright laws.
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You don't want your commercially-released computer program, which
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took you 18 months of 16-hour days to write, to be posted on
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every bulletin-board in the country. As a professional writer,
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you don't want your copyrighted article, written for one
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publication, to be republished by ten other magazines unless they
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pay you for the privilege. And as a BBS sysop, you probably don't
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want to be defending a copyright case and have the opposing
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attorney confront you with the fact that you had dozens of
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illegal copies of copyrighted articles and programs on your BBS,
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and took no action to remove them.
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So what *should* we do? In the case of the InfoWorld article,
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someone (e.g,, the person who sent it to Thom) should have called
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InfoWorld (800-344-4636) and asked for permission to reprint the
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article, and affixed the appropriate permission notice to the
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article. Mentioning the author's name (Jeff Angus) would also
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have been a nice, polite thing to do.
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If InfoWorld had refused to grant permission (or if there wasn't
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time to comply with their usual desire for a written request),
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the information in the article could have still been used, by
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paraphrasing it or by calling QuickSoft or the LA sysop quoted in
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the article to independently obtain the information. (Even though
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only two paragraphs were posted, they included virtually every
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word of the original article and no new material, and thus don't
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count as "fair use.")
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Fidonews Page 5 23 Mar 1987
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Again, I don't think that this incident is significant except to
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point out the conflicts that exist between on-line and print
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media, and between various on-line media. This certainly was not
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the first time that copyrighted information has appeared on-line
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without authorization; I have seen many newspaper and magazine
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articles, and many CompuServe news items, copied generously onto
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public BBSs without any thought that it might not be legal to do
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so.
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If CompuServe or InfoWorld writes a news item, and then the
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author's efforts in obtaining and writing the item are stolen and
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posted on "free" BBSs and newsletters, fewer people (eventually,
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no one) will bother to read or pay for the "legitimate" copy, and
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theoretically the firm gathering the information will go broke,
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resulting in no information-gathering at all. As a professional
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journalist who relies on words for my food, clothing and housing,
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I'm more than a little bit scared by this scenario, however
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remote.
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In the U.S., like it or not, information is an asset and people
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have a right to be paid for their words. If we, as sysops and BBS
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users, fail to respect copyright laws, we can't expect others to
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respect the laws either.
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Also, by violating copyright laws, knowingly or not, we invite
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the wrath of publishers desparate to save their jobs and profits
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and, even more frightening, of legislators concerned about tax
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revenues and the emerging information-based economy.
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"Let's be careful out there."
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Mark J. Welch Fido 161/459 [private node]
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P.O. Box 2409 BIX 'mwelch'
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San Francisco, CA 94126 CompuServe 76137,2643
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(415) 841-8759 [voice, Berkeley, CA]
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(Yes, I know I'm beginning to sound like a pest, since all my
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FidoNews articles seem to complain about something. My concern
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this time comes from *everything* I do, though: I'm a
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professional journalist [formerly at BYTE and InfoWorld, now
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freelance], a computer programmer [author of the Generic
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Adventure Game System], and a law student [!].)
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(Disclaimer: this article does not constitute legal advice.)
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(This article may be reproduced without permission, but may not
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be excerpted out of context or in a misleading way. -mjw)
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Fidonews Page 6 23 Mar 1987
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Jerry Hindle, 123/6, MemphisNet
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2400 baud MAX, 901-353-4563
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Notes from MemphisNet
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Well, I finally got SeaDog (version 4.0) in and set up on
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the system here. What this means to the rest of the FidoNet is
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easy to figure out. You are now able to do file requests from
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the Distribution Areas for both Fido and Opus. If you wish to
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find out what files are in these areas then you will need to
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request the file "distrib.arc" from 123/6 (or 123/0). I will
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honor file requests up to 0200 Central Standard time (ie 1 hr
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BEFORE the National Mail Hour) and will resume honoring them at
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0430. You will be wasting your money to try requests any time
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between 0200 and 0430. Any file in the Fido, Opus, or (in one
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instance) General file areas is available.
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Ok now that I have that out of the way I would like to
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comment on a few things that have happened since I stopped
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writing a couple of months ago to give the issue to the ByLaws
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stuff.....
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I GOTTA agree with Mr Thom Henderson on the fact that Fido
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(opus,Collie, etc) is supposed to be FUN ! If you take the FUN
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out of it then it simply becomes ANOTHER JOB (which I don't need
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right now) and ANOTHER PAIN in the keester (again I don't need
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this). I had a sneaking hunch the Thom wrote those By-Laws that
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appeared in Fnews with the rumor-mongers, and the Grand High
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Executioner. Something told me it was just his style. I say that
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if Fido is going to become a corporate giant in this world (like
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some of you out there want it to) that I wanna buy STOCK and at
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least get a return for my investment (of time and equipment). If
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we are going to run this like big business maybe we better start
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hiring people to do the managing and PR and office stuff, maybe
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we better apply for a TAX number, maybe we better start filing
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corporate returns and hire a CPA full time to manage the books,
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maybe we oughta start advertising. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?
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Well for a big corporation the above stuff is NECESSARY, for a
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hobby it is not only not necessary, but downright STUPID! I for
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one don't give a @#$%$%^ if they do decide to go corporate, to me
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it is, always has been, and ALWAYS will be a HOBBY, not a
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business. If we start running things like a business then we are
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bound to attract attention to ourselves in the form of government
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regulation and snooping into records (again something I don't
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need OR want). As examples (and I am not picking on anyone here)
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if Mike wanted to run his net like a business, let him register
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his net with the state corporate comptroller, if I wanted to run
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MemphisNet like a business I would certainly HAVE to register the
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company with at least the county tax office and file tax returns
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etc. This could really get to be more then even a 5 or 6 girl
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office could handle for IFNA since they would have to file
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reports with ALL 50 states to comply. I say stop all this BYLAWS
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crap, election crap etc. Sure collect dues (donations or
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whatever you wanna call them) to help defray the costs of
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administration, but don't add to those costs by doing exactly
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Fidonews Page 7 23 Mar 1987
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like the government does and adding a bureaucracy to it. the old
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adage of KISS applies here (Keep It Simple Stupid).
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Now on to other news....
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Seems as though Tom Jennings has decided to depart from
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APPLE (at least according to the rumor-mongers <hehe>) and go
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into business for himself. Great, but the only thing I know of
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that Tom has that I think could even be a money making
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possibility, other then his computer smarts, is FIDO. Who knows
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maybe version 12 is being held up for no other reason then to
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build a distribution chain to sell it. I applaud Tom for daring
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to leave the "relative" security of APPLE and quote "go for it",
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all I question is the rumor (and please Tom correct me if I am
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wrong) I get here, that we may wait till 1988 for 12a to arrive
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on the scene. Tom open your eyes and look at the
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nodelist.....more and more nodes are converting to OPUS for a
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variety of reasons, the least of which is lack of feedback from
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the author about bugs, we report this bug and that bug and the
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same thing is always given as the answer "yep that's a bug". If
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this keeps up then by the time you do have your skateboard
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technique down pat, this will be know as OPUSNET instead of
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FidoNet. every day you wait is that much less chance you will
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have of making 12 a commercial success, if in fact this is what
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you are shooting for.
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Now to the last of the news items...and this is more a
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request than news.
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ANYONE KNOWING THE WHEREABOUTS of one BILL BOLTON, (late of St
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Ives NSW Australia) PLEASE have him contact me ASAP. I sent him a
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set of 34 disks out over 3 months ago and have heard NOT a PEEP
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from him since. This despite the fact that I have requested
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other callers from down under to contact him asking him to let me
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know if he even got the disks (I checked with the post office and
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they are presently TRACING the package to see if it was
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delivered). I sent those disks out free with the PROMISE from
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Bill that they would be returned to me with the latest stuff for
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Fido from down under. I have gotten this stuff from my other
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users from Aussie land already, however I would like to know why
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there has been no return contact. Bill I have tried everything
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else short of getting on Quantas and flying down to see ya (wish
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I could, but alas the $$$$ ain't there) and still nothing, how
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about it, huh? TALK TO ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Fidonews Page 8 23 Mar 1987
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David Melnik, 107/233
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What's in a name?
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There has been a lot of talk around the net, intentional or
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otherwise, about the implications of the names people log in
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under. As it has been said before, we are part of a great medium
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here and, as it can never be said too often, A VERY POWERFUL one,
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Fidonet! With this means of communication comes many
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responsibilities, one of which is taking responsibility for what
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one writes. I could have easily written this note under a
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pseudonym that gave no indication of who I was, but that would
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have made this comment essentially worthless.
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What I'm trying to say is if one is part of a single or
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local BBS, then alter egos are fine, but if someone writes msgs
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that travel across the country or even the state then the sender
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should be identified! For Net business (i.e. IFNA, SYSOP or By
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law feed back echo) it is essential that a real name is used!!
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It is very discourteous if one obscures ones identity when
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trying to have any form of communication with someone. I have
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been the victim of not responding to msgs from people I did not
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know only to find out later that they were people I knew (and
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owed a favor to), but under an alter ego and therefore not
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identifiable.
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Please, heed this warning, if you have some thing to say, don't
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hide behind a name, say it using your given name! People will
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respect you for it and the ones that don't aren't worth the
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bother.
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PS. Don't send mail as SYSOP, most of us are already a sysop and
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sending mail as SYSOP just adds to the confusion.
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Fidonews Page 9 23 Mar 1987
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Bob Swift
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The Power Station
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SEAdog/Opus 140/24
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Is This The End of FidoNews?
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----------------------------
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Here it is, Wednesday night and still no sign of this week's
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FidoNews. After Thom's Editorial in Volume 4, Number 7, I am
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beginning to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for our
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beloved newsletter. I don't know about you, but I want to see it
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continue!
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How many of you remember back to September 1986 to "The Day
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FidoNews Didn't Come Out"? A pretty disturbing time for us
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"FidoNews Junkies", wasn't it? Well, that is NOTHING compared to
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the present situation and the very real possibility that the
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newsletter will be discontinued without our support.
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I have read (in the FidoNews Article Submission Guidelines) that
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the estimated readership of FidoNews is SEVENTY THOUSAND. Where
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are you all? Surely there are a few of you that have
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considerably more literary talent than I have that can submit
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something of interest for publication. The Submission Guidelines
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clearly state that "All of the articles which appear in FidoNews
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are written by users of FidoNet(tm)". Note that this said
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"users", which means you don't HAVE to be a SysOp to submit an
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article. I have seen a number of Bulletin Boards with a special
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file area devoted to "Articles & Stories", and have seen some
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excellent work there. Why not share it with the rest of us?
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Perhaps some of you are saying to yourself, "But I don't know
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what to write about." That's easy. Simply choose a topic that
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you are interested in, or something that is affecting the way we
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operate our systems, or something that you want the rest of us to
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know about. How about topics like the recent PC Magazine
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decision to allow their software to be posted on BBS's and how
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that affects the BBS community, a review of a new product like
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the Commodore RAM Expansion, or maybe just some Tips & Tricks.
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These are all articles that I would like to see here.
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It has been said that many of you are opting to post your
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articles in the EchoMail areas rather than submitting them to
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FidoNews. Perhaps this is one reason why a number of the
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EchoMail conferences are becoming too large to handle or follow.
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I look forward to reading the FidoNews every week because it
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usually gives me a brief rundown on a number of topics and I
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don't have to sort out the interesting and useful information
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from the "flames".
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It is my feeling that this newsletter belongs to all of us
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(despite the Copyright notice on the cover) and is in danger of
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going under if WE don't contribute. WE means you and me. This
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is my contribution, where's yours? With a readership of seventy
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thousand, that should leave at least sixty-nine thousand of you
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that we have yet to hear from. I look forward to reading your
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Fidonews Page 10 23 Mar 1987
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articles in FidoNews for a long time to come. Thank-you.
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Fidonews Page 11 23 Mar 1987
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Enhancements to Amateur Radio Novice License
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Steve Bonine, KB9X
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Sysop, Cope BBS, 115/777
|
|
|
|
Many of the users of Fido are amateur radio operators. This
|
|
should come as no surprise, since there is much in common between
|
|
modeming and the hobby of amateur radio. Both are basically
|
|
communication with peers who have a common interest; only the
|
|
mode of communication is different.
|
|
|
|
Amateur radio is the only hobby which is licensed by the Federal
|
|
Government. This is a mixed blessing. Without some form of
|
|
"weeding out" process, amateur radio would degenerate into the
|
|
chaos which marked Citizen's Band radio a few years ago. The
|
|
high standards of conduct and self-regulating of amateur radio
|
|
have long been a source of pride to the fraternity. Most current
|
|
operators feel that the requirement to learn Morse code to obtain
|
|
the entry-level Novice license should not be compromised.
|
|
|
|
On the other hand, this requirement to learn Morse code may
|
|
discourage too many potential ham radio operators. Why should
|
|
someone who wants to use radio with a PC and modem take the time
|
|
to obtain a Novice license, which only allows the privilege of
|
|
using Morse code? To address this issue, changes have been
|
|
approved which improve the entry-level Novice license. Beginning
|
|
March 21, Novices can use voice and computer modes in addition to
|
|
the code privileges that they previously earned.
|
|
|
|
Packet radio is a recent development in the hobby. Using AX.25,
|
|
the amateur-radio implementation of standard X.25 computer
|
|
protocol, it is possible to connect computers using radio instead
|
|
of telephone lines. There are radio-based BBS's, and
|
|
conversation between operators in different countries is possible
|
|
and becomming common. The protocol supports relaying a message
|
|
through several stations; thus it is feasible to communicate
|
|
through a large area.
|
|
|
|
On a segment of the ten meter band, Novices can use up to 200
|
|
watts of power. (This compares with the 5-watt maximum for legal
|
|
Citizen's band transmitters.) This frequency, 28 MHz, is close to
|
|
the Citizen's Band. Conditions depend upon the 11-year sunspot
|
|
cycle, which is currently at its minimum, so the range of this
|
|
band will be limited for the next few years. During the years of
|
|
sunspot maximum, it is an excellent band for worldwide
|
|
communication, and during the summer it is likely to "open up"
|
|
for nationwide communication even now during the sunspot minimum.
|
|
|
|
On a segment of the 220 MHz band, Novices can use up to 25 watts.
|
|
Packet-radio activity is growing on this frequency band, espe-
|
|
cially in urban areas. An influx of new operators will make it
|
|
more popular. Range is limited to line-of-sight, but the flexi-
|
|
bility of packet radio provides coverage throughout metropolitan
|
|
areas.
|
|
|
|
In short, the Novice license is a better bargain than ever. For
|
|
Fidonews Page 12 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
information about classes in your area, contact the American
|
|
Radio Relay League, 225 Main Street, Newington CT 06111.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 13 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tim Peeters
|
|
OPUS 139/630
|
|
Appleton, Wi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the last couple of months FidoNews has published numerious
|
|
articles about the plight of the poor ShareWare authors. We have
|
|
listened to the Mark Welch's pleaded their cases looking for our
|
|
sympathy.
|
|
|
|
I found it quite interesting when the Sysop of The Fox Valley
|
|
Techinical Institute's bulletin board, a local BBS, posted the
|
|
following message on my board:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes from the 1st Annual Shareware Conference, by Judith Brown
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was lucky enough to attend the 1st Annual Shareware conference
|
|
in Houston on February 21st for authors, librarians and system
|
|
operators. The following are some notes which I thought may be
|
|
of interest.
|
|
|
|
Jim Button has been "locked in a closet for the past year,
|
|
existing only on Twinkies and Coke which have been passed to him
|
|
through the door." He has thrown out the source code for
|
|
PC-File III and is completely rewriting it in another language.
|
|
PC-File + will be announced in the first half of March. It will
|
|
run 5 times as fast as PC-File III and be twice as easy to use.
|
|
Last year Button's income was in excess of $2,000,000.
|
|
|
|
Marshall Magee's commercial version of Automenu 4.0 will be
|
|
released March 26th as shareware. He now has over 15,000
|
|
registered users and is receiving an additional 500-700
|
|
registrations per month. Not bad for a young man whose dad told
|
|
him to forget about computers because they were a passing fad!
|
|
|
|
Bob Wallace who wrote PC-Write just recently released
|
|
version 2.7. He employs 20 people and currently recieves
|
|
$40,000-$50,000 per week. Version 3.0 will be going into Beta
|
|
testing in March or April and the final version will be released
|
|
in May or June. There will be no manual included on the disk due
|
|
to space limitations, however extensive on-line help will be
|
|
available.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Surprised? I'm not. I would imagine that Smith & Barkelew, the
|
|
authors of PROCOMM, along with many other quality shareware
|
|
Fidonews Page 14 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
authors enjoy similar rewards. I think if you have a Shareware
|
|
product that's really worth something compensation is really not
|
|
a problem.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 15 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
Todd Looney
|
|
Vietnam Veterans Valhalla
|
|
143/27
|
|
|
|
CONVOY TO THE WALL
|
|
|
|
Plans are well underway and continue for a nationwide convoy
|
|
to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. All convoys
|
|
are scheduled to arrive in D.C. for a July 4th memorial service
|
|
at the Wall. According to Bob Castagna, Organizing Chairman of
|
|
the Convoy to the Wall, an estimated two million vets and their
|
|
families are planning to be there. The following timetable is
|
|
reprinted without the permission of Penny Decker, Editor of
|
|
Pathfinders EVAC (Effective Vietnam Veterans Action Center),
|
|
Klamath, Oregon (but nothing but good can come of its further
|
|
distribution to the hundreds of veterans are active in the
|
|
International Vietnam Veterans Echomail Conference [yes...it is
|
|
now being hosted in Europe!], not to mention the countless vets
|
|
who read the Fido Newsletter, so I hope she will forgive me).
|
|
|
|
For further information, please contact Bob Castagna, VVA
|
|
Chapter #179, P.O. Box 823, Medford, Oregon, 97501, or just send
|
|
a message to me at Fidonet (tm) node 143/27 in San Jose,
|
|
California (I have Seadog running here so you can crash it to me
|
|
anytime of the day or night). Make your plans now...the
|
|
departure date is less than 4 months away!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONVOY TO THE WALL
|
|
ROUTE AND TIMETABLE
|
|
|
|
Northern Route
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
CITY ARRIVE DEPART HWY/ROUTE
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Medford, Or. 6am 6/26 I-5, 44, 395
|
|
Reno, Nv. Noon 6/26 2pm 6/26 I-80
|
|
Salt Lake City, Ut 2am 6/27 6am 6/27 I-80
|
|
Denver, Co. 8pm 6/27 6am 6/28 I-80
|
|
Omaha. Neb. 8pm 6/28 6am 6/29 I-80
|
|
Chicago, Ill. 4pm 6/29 6am 6/30 I-65, I-70
|
|
Pittburgh, Penn. 7pm 6/30 6am 7/1 I-76, I-70, I-81
|
|
Winchester, Va. 1pm 7/1
|
|
(Staging area until July 4th)
|
|
|
|
Central Route
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
CITY ARRIVE DEPART HWY/ROUTE
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Los Angeles, Ca. 6am 6/26 I-10, I-15
|
|
Gallup. New Mex. 1pm 6/26 3pm 6/26 I-15
|
|
Cedar City, Ut. 7pm 6/26 6am 6/27 I-15, I-70
|
|
Denver, Colo. 8pm 6/27 6am 6/28 I-70
|
|
Kansas City, Kan. 8pm 6/28 6am 6/29 I-70, I-64
|
|
Louisville, Ky. 7pm 6/29 6am 6/30 I-64
|
|
Fidonews Page 16 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
Charleston, W. Va. 2pm 6/30 6am 7/1 I-79, 40, I-81
|
|
Winchester, Va. 3pm 7/1
|
|
(Staging area until July 4th)
|
|
|
|
Southern Route
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
CITY ARRIVE DEPART HWY/ROUTE
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
Los Angeles, Ca. 6am 6/26 I-15, I-40
|
|
Gallup, New Mex. 9pm 6/26 6am 6/27 I-40
|
|
Amarillo, Tx. 4pm 6/27 6am 6/28 I-40
|
|
Little Rock, Ark. 7pm 6/28 6am 6/29 I-40
|
|
Nashville, Tenn. 5pm 6/29 6am 6/30 I-40, I-81
|
|
Roanoke, Va. 5pm 6/30 8am 7/1 I-81
|
|
Winchester, Va. 1pm 7/1
|
|
(Staging area until July 4th)
|
|
|
|
|
|
My wife Nancy and I plan to take the Central Route (we HATE
|
|
I-80!) and will be forming our own convoy departing San Jose, Ca.
|
|
at 9am 6/25 and to ariive in Los Angeles, Ca. at 7pm 6/25, Hwy
|
|
101, I-5. We will be ready to depart 6/26 at 6am. Hope to see
|
|
as many of you there as possible!
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 17 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
=================================================================
|
|
COLUMNS
|
|
=================================================================
|
|
|
|
Well, it's been a busy week so this may turn out shorter
|
|
than the previous columns. Monday night the local net had it's
|
|
monthly meeting and we covered a lot. We had several new boards
|
|
start since the last meeting, all of which needed to be educated
|
|
in our net's routing and echomail. We've also had a few people
|
|
switch over to OPUS, and several are waiting for SEAdog 4.0 to
|
|
come out. All in all, it made for a busy meeting. Work kept me
|
|
fairly busy the rest of the week, with Saturday being the only
|
|
day I had a good part of free.
|
|
|
|
Sunday was shot because of a Hamfest being held in the area.
|
|
If you've never attended one of these, I strongly urge you to go
|
|
to the next one. Despite the name, there is quite a lot available
|
|
for computer buffs in addition to amateur radio operators. Most
|
|
of the stuff is usually marked down quite a bit also, I picked up
|
|
a few books by QUE at $8.00 apiece and a box of paper for $20.00.
|
|
You can usually find a few good bargains at every show. One more
|
|
thing I'd like to mention about the show, one of the people there
|
|
was selling Public Domain/Shareware/whatever (nothing wrong with
|
|
this, as they had okayed it with the respective authors and were
|
|
only charging $5.00 a disk). On most of the packages there was a
|
|
sticker which urged you to pay the author's licensing fee. All to
|
|
many of us tend to ignore the license on these type of programs,
|
|
and we should try to pay for those programs we use before the
|
|
programmer's stop writing shareware type programs.
|
|
|
|
I didn't have a chance to look over any new programs this
|
|
past week, so I'm going to go over some programs I've had and
|
|
used for awhile. This first of these programs is Certificate
|
|
Maker from Springboard (list price $59.95). This program has seen
|
|
a lot of use in the past few months, mainly by others in my
|
|
family who needed or wanted to give out certificates to others
|
|
for a variety of reasons. It comes with a wide variety of
|
|
certificates to fit any given situation; from church groups
|
|
(support for most of the major religions) to the office Christmas
|
|
party (Most Coffee Breaks award), Sports awards (almost any
|
|
sport) to the outright ridiculous (Backseat Driver, Party Animal,
|
|
etc.). I only have two complaints about the program, the first is
|
|
that you have no way to preview the certificate. The only way to
|
|
see what will print is to actually print the certificate, I've
|
|
gone through too much paper through lack of being able to preview
|
|
a certificate. My other complaint is that you have no way to
|
|
design your own certificate, you're dependent on Springboard to
|
|
come out with Certificate disks or go with a very general
|
|
certificate (No pictures, "seals" or anything interesting). I
|
|
think this is a very serious limitation on an otherwise fantastic
|
|
program. You are able to do an equivalent of a form letter by
|
|
creating a list of people for which to print a certificate, this
|
|
could be very useful for grade school teachers (just enter the
|
|
names of those who have completed the multiplication tables and
|
|
have the computer print each one a personal math award) or anyone
|
|
else who needs several identical certificates with only the name
|
|
Fidonews Page 18 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
changing.
|
|
|
|
Since Certificate Maker comes with over one hundred
|
|
certificates and Springboard is supposedly working on certificate
|
|
disks, I don't see any immediate need to be able to design your
|
|
own certificates. I know I'd be hard put to come up with a
|
|
purpose not covered by the certificates included with the
|
|
program. It is very easy to use, and I'm sure many of you will
|
|
find uses for it that Springboard hasn't even thought of yet. I'd
|
|
strongly recommend this program to any grade school teachers,
|
|
people associated with any of the scouting programs, and youth
|
|
group leaders. Other groups that I can see using this program
|
|
include business that have an inhouse training program, parents
|
|
who are involved with their children's education (room mothers,
|
|
teacher assistants) and anyone who would like to award a friend
|
|
with one of the stranger certificates (look at the previous
|
|
paragraph for some examples).
|
|
|
|
Another program that has been a favorite of mine is XTREE
|
|
from Executive Systems (list price $ 49.95). This is one of the
|
|
most useful programs I've ever come across. It's a visual DOS
|
|
shell, but don't let those fancy phrases confuse you. When you
|
|
start it up it shows you a visual picture of your directory tree,
|
|
as you move the highlight bar up and down the tree (using the
|
|
arrow keys) you can see some of the files in each directory at
|
|
the bottom of the screen, press return and you can look through
|
|
the files in that directory. Press return again and the directory
|
|
tree vanishes and it uses most of the screen to show you the
|
|
files in the directory. In addition to the DOS functions rename,
|
|
copy, delete; you can view a file in either a debug type format
|
|
or in ASCII, move a file to a different directory, and tag and
|
|
untag files. Tagging files is a way of marking them for XTREE
|
|
only, you can then perform a file operation on a whole series of
|
|
files. My biggest use for this is when I clear off space on my
|
|
hard disk, XTREE keeps track of how many bytes have been tagged
|
|
so I can tell at a glance how much space I've "freed up." Once
|
|
I've gotten things down to a reasonable level, I have XTREE show
|
|
me every file on the hard drive and have it delete all tagged
|
|
files. I've also tagged files for copying to floppies, I've had a
|
|
few requests for my entire download library and XTREE can copy
|
|
the tagged files and preserve the directory structure. This way
|
|
everything is organized on the floppies the same way it is on my
|
|
hard disk, if the person is looking for the word processors he
|
|
finds the floppies with the subdirectory "\WORDPROC" and looks at
|
|
the files in the subdirectory. It could also be used as a way to
|
|
backup a hard drive and have executable files on the floppies
|
|
instead of files only useful to the restore program.
|
|
|
|
There is a demo version of the program available on a few
|
|
bulletin boards, I originally got interested in the program from
|
|
the demo that was sent across USENET. The demo is limited only by
|
|
the fact that it can't write to a disk, and this isn't that
|
|
serious of a limitation. Most people should be able to decide
|
|
from the demo whether or not to buy the program. It can still be
|
|
used for a variety of housekeeping purposes such as looking over
|
|
text files (documentation, system logs, etc.), seeing how much
|
|
Fidonews Page 19 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
space a program is taking up and printing the directory tree.
|
|
Several of my friends have bought the program on my
|
|
recommendation (or seeing it run on my machine) and now swear by
|
|
it!
|
|
|
|
No new games this time around, I'm still busy with
|
|
StarFlight and Leather Goddesses of Phobos. I've gotten a little
|
|
further in each of them, but still haven't beaten either of them.
|
|
A friend was kind enough to laminate the starchart from
|
|
StarFlight for me, and it's helped a lot since I feel better
|
|
about drawing on it now. I've heard that quite a few graphic
|
|
shops or printers can do this for you, and I picked some grease
|
|
pencils up from an office supply store in the area. It can make
|
|
navigating a lot easier because of the short cuts available, and
|
|
I can tell at a glance if I'm near any known mineral rich
|
|
planets. I've been beating my head against the wall on Leather
|
|
Goddesses, Infocom has come up with some pretty bizarre problems
|
|
and solutions for this game. It is still very entertaining and
|
|
has provided me with many hours of enjoyment, although any chance
|
|
of believability went out the door a few days ago. Both these
|
|
games are still highly recommended, although if you don't care
|
|
for text adventures you probably won't enjoy any of the Infocom
|
|
games. (Yes, I know they have a graphic game. I just haven't
|
|
bought a copy at this time.)
|
|
|
|
Best book this time around is not a computer related book,
|
|
although it deals with computers. It's "Hackers, Heroes of the
|
|
Computer Revolution" by Steven Levy. I've found it very enjoyable
|
|
reading and it gives me a new perspective on the home computer
|
|
market. The book is divided up into three sections on different
|
|
times and places in this "revolution." The first goes into the
|
|
early days (how early? how about a DEC PDP-1!) of computing at
|
|
MIT and can be fairly amusing at times. The second section goes
|
|
out to California and the "Hardware Hackers" who built and
|
|
designed machines like the Altair, Sol, and Apple computers. The
|
|
third section pretty much follows around the beginnings of Sierra
|
|
On-Line and the Apple II computer. The trailing minisection can
|
|
cause a little bit of self-examination, and out of curiosity if
|
|
anyone has a recent copy of the public domain EMACS, I would
|
|
appreciate it you could send me a copy of it along with source
|
|
code.
|
|
|
|
Once again I welcome your own comments on anything I've
|
|
mentioned in my column, or something you think I should see (and
|
|
possibly write about). My US mail address is below along with my
|
|
net/node number and USENET address. If you're a user of a BBS,
|
|
please mention to your sysop that mail to me must be routed
|
|
through either 157/0, 157/502, or 157/1. They should understand
|
|
what that means, and sysops please take note of the previous
|
|
statement. These nodes will also forward files to me and are
|
|
running SEAdog so you shouldn't have to worry too much about mail
|
|
schedules. Hmmm... this wasn't really shorter than the other
|
|
columns, must be getting easier to write 'em!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dale Lovell
|
|
Fidonews Page 20 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
3266 Vezber Drive
|
|
Seven Hills, OH 44131
|
|
|
|
usenet: ..!ncoast!lovell
|
|
FidoNet: 157/504
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 21 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bob Arnold
|
|
260/320
|
|
|
|
Technical Topics - Getting It From There To Here
|
|
|
|
Many sysops know that files can be transferred between widely
|
|
differing machines and stored for further transmission. What many
|
|
people fail to realize is that (more or less) ASCII files can be
|
|
exchanged AND USED on almost any system.
|
|
|
|
Why I said more or less above is the subject of this column.
|
|
ASCII codes are NOT necessarily used intact on other computer
|
|
systems. For example, the old Atari 8 bit line uses a Decimal 155
|
|
as the carriage return as well as several other non-standard
|
|
characters. The entire Commodore line (except for the Amiga and
|
|
the new PC compatible products) are even stranger still. Another
|
|
problem is the various word processing programs used. Even in the
|
|
PC/XT/AT world, WP programs use their own unique storage methods.
|
|
For example, a file created under Multimate is in NO WAY directly
|
|
compatible with WordStar or almost anything else.
|
|
|
|
Having multiple computer systems here I've learned a considerable
|
|
amount about getting files from one system and WP program to
|
|
function on a totally different system and program. I'll cover
|
|
some of the basics first.
|
|
|
|
You'll need a utility that will let you look at the file AS IT
|
|
RESIDED ON THE DISK. I suggest NU from the Norton Utility
|
|
package but others are equally suitable.
|
|
|
|
With this type of utility take a look at the file and see just
|
|
how bizarre it might be. If you're lucky, the file will be in
|
|
standard ASCII with at least carriage returns (or some other
|
|
unique character) either at the end of each line or paragraph. If
|
|
not then you may be in trouble.
|
|
|
|
What you do next depends on just how the file will be used when
|
|
you're finished with it. If it will appear as a bulletin or be
|
|
used on a BBS then you'll need to make sure that it's limited to
|
|
no more than 80 characters per line, has ALL characters in 7 bit
|
|
ASCII (the 8th bit must be off) and that each line must end with
|
|
a carriage return and a line feed (CR/LF) character.
|
|
|
|
This will ensure that when the file is typed or displayed that it
|
|
will look as intended. How, you ask, do you change a file around?
|
|
|
|
As a starting point, try your trusty WP program. If it will load
|
|
the file you can do the required editing by hand and in a few
|
|
rare cases this might be the ONLY way. If you're lazy (like me)
|
|
and do a considerable volume of material on a regular basis,
|
|
you'll want to automate as much of the process as possible. I
|
|
found an old BASIC program on an local BBS and ported it from
|
|
CP/M to PC-DOS using UNIFORM to read my Kaypro's DSDD 390K disks.
|
|
|
|
Since MBASIC under CP/M and BASICA or GWBASIC are almost
|
|
identical in syntax I saved the file as an ASCII file on the CP/M
|
|
Fidonews Page 22 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
disk using MBASIC's ",A" option and load it into the GWBASIC I
|
|
use on the clone. Yes, if you didn't know, Microsoft BASIC on
|
|
many diverse systems usually will load directly, or has a
|
|
provision to convert, a standard ASCII file into a BASIC program.
|
|
|
|
The original BASIC program was written to convert text files that
|
|
were terminated in a carriage return only at the end of
|
|
paragraphs into files where each line was 55 characters or less
|
|
long marked at the end by a "soft" carriage return and each
|
|
paragraph was terminated by a normal return. This is the standard
|
|
AppleWriter to WordStar document mode convresion. The program
|
|
runs well but it's slow, handling about 1k a minute. Compiling
|
|
with BASCOM under CP/M speeded things up considerably.
|
|
|
|
Fortunately for me, the PC-DOS BASIC conversion ran exactly as
|
|
had the CP/M BASIC version so no serious modifications were
|
|
needed for that particular problem. Compiling it with QuickBasic
|
|
increased the speed here too.
|
|
|
|
With a simple BASIC framework like this it's possible to change
|
|
the program to do almost any type of conversion as long as the
|
|
file is reasonably standard ASCII with no bizarre storage method
|
|
used. I've modified it so many times that my working copy bears
|
|
little resemblance to the original program. Other techniques are
|
|
needed for files using strange storage formats.
|
|
|
|
A case in point is an ongoing project involving a file created on
|
|
Multimate. This program stores the files in blocks of 512 bytes
|
|
with block and format information inbedded in each block. It
|
|
doesn't even store a document in the proper order if you've done
|
|
any editing on the file. It's almost impossible to convert this
|
|
raw file to another format such as WordStar document mode without
|
|
considerable manual effort or a complex conversion utility that
|
|
would take too long to write.
|
|
|
|
The answer? I printed the file to disk using the PRINT section of
|
|
Multimate and then ran a modified version of the conversion
|
|
program on it to remove imbedded codes intended for the daisy
|
|
wheel printer the file was printed on. The original 150K file was
|
|
stripped down to a bit less than 110K using the various utilities
|
|
involved in the conversion.
|
|
|
|
This is a topic that can occupy an entire newsletter and still
|
|
not cover all of the situations you can run into so I'll outline
|
|
some of the basic steps involved in the typical conversion:
|
|
|
|
1) Understand the format of the SOURCE FILE using some type of
|
|
disk editor utility to look at the raw file. Simply typing it
|
|
on the screen or loading it into your WP will NOT give you all
|
|
of the details you need to know. Look for unique characters
|
|
that mark the ends of lines and paragraphs and check to see if
|
|
the file has any characters with the 8th bit on. Make sure
|
|
that the file is stored in the proper order and that its not
|
|
scrambled into blocks out of sequence.
|
|
|
|
2) Compare the SOURCE format against the DESTINATION format and
|
|
Fidonews Page 23 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
see exactly where the differences are. If there are but minor
|
|
differences then by all means use a WP to correct the file.
|
|
If the differences are great and it would take considerable
|
|
time to do a manual conversion then grab that trusty
|
|
conversion utility and do some modification on it to do the
|
|
job.
|
|
|
|
3) After conversion by whatever means possible, verify that the
|
|
file is indeed in the destination format by using the disk
|
|
editor utility. Small changes may be needed and can easily be
|
|
done with your WP program. All conversion routines are not
|
|
perfect! There will almost invariably be a situation that
|
|
shows up that you haven't dealt with before.
|
|
|
|
4) If all else fails, try to find out what program created the
|
|
file and see if there is a way to have the original file
|
|
printed to disk by that program to make a "standard" file.
|
|
|
|
As an example of how this all works, I wrote this on WordStar's
|
|
document mode with the justification on. I'll print it to disk
|
|
when I'm finished but this particular version of WordStar doesn't
|
|
turn off the high bit when it prints to disk. I'll run the file
|
|
thru a conversion utility that strips off the high bits, makes
|
|
sure that each line is limited to the length specifications as
|
|
set forth in the article info file that Thom Henderson provided
|
|
and that each line has a CR/LF at the end. I then take a look at
|
|
the file by using the DOS TYPE command and if all looks good I'll
|
|
forward it by netmail/netfile to 1/1.
|
|
|
|
Seems like a long way to go doesn't it? There's a way to get
|
|
almost any ASCII file file created on one system into another and
|
|
have it useable. You just have to look for it a bit.
|
|
|
|
As a sysop, next time you get a file sent in for display for your
|
|
system from an Atari or Commodore owner just take a few minutes
|
|
to analyze it. You might find the conversion to standard ASCII
|
|
will be minor and you've got another usefull contribution to the
|
|
system instead of a worthless file.
|
|
|
|
As for the BBS users out there, ask your sysop if he/she can
|
|
convert files from other computers and don't be afraid to
|
|
contribute interesting items to both your own local system and to
|
|
the FIDO newsletter.
|
|
|
|
I'll do file conversions for material intended for newsletter
|
|
submission here at 260/320 and forward them on to Thom if you're
|
|
using another type of computer that doesn't generate standard
|
|
ASCII files. Just send me a netmail message FIRST and ask because
|
|
I expect to get swamped and may have a backup of files to
|
|
convert.
|
|
|
|
Bob
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 24 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
=================================================================
|
|
FOR SALE
|
|
=================================================================
|
|
|
|
MAGAZINE ON DISK FOR IBM PC AND COMPATIBLES
|
|
|
|
BIG BLUE DISK, the magazine on disk for the IBM PC and
|
|
compatibles, is currently available at Waldenbooks stores and
|
|
many other retail locations, as well as by mail subscription.
|
|
It is contained entirely on a floppy disk. Each issue contains
|
|
programs, articles, feedback from subscribers, program reviews
|
|
and demos, and more.
|
|
|
|
For example, issue 6, on sale soon, contains 2 disks full of
|
|
features, including:
|
|
|
|
- Foolagain's Island: In this April Fool parody section, we take
|
|
a peek (and a poke) at PC-STRIFE, the ONLY magazine on disk.
|
|
|
|
- Kalah: A computerized version of an ancient strategy game.
|
|
|
|
- Political Preference: Are you "left," "right," or just left
|
|
right out? Find out with this program.
|
|
|
|
- The Reminder System: Remember appointments, anniversaries, and
|
|
other important dates with this handy program.
|
|
|
|
- Color Test: Determine monitor color combinations.
|
|
|
|
- The MV Command: Move files around between subdirectories.
|
|
|
|
In addition, there are other programs, articles, and regular
|
|
features, including feedback from our readers.
|
|
|
|
You can order this issue by direct mail by sending $9.95 (check,
|
|
money order, or Visa/Mastercard/American Express accepted) to:
|
|
BIG BLUE DISK, DEPT F2, PO BOX 30008, SHREVEPORT, LA 71130-0008.
|
|
|
|
Mail subscriptions are also available: One year (12 monthly
|
|
issues) costs only $69.95. (A 41% savings over newsstand
|
|
price.) A six-month subscription is available for $39.95.
|
|
|
|
Lots of interesting stuff is coming up; issue 7 contains a full-
|
|
featured database program, plus the first in a series of the
|
|
humorous, animated (mis)adventures of our unique character,
|
|
Alfredo. Subscribe now and don't miss anything!
|
|
|
|
BIG BLUE DISK requires an IBM PC or compatible, with at least
|
|
256K and MS-DOS 2.0 or later. Color graphics is recommended.
|
|
|
|
Send questions/comments to Daniel Tobias on FIDO 380/2.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 25 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
=================================================================
|
|
NOTICES
|
|
=================================================================
|
|
|
|
Due to a glitch that developed in our system when we changed
|
|
machines, we seem to have sent out an empty newsletter last week.
|
|
Accordingly, Volume 4 Number 11 has been officially delayed until
|
|
this week. We'll try not to let it happen again.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
The Interrupt Stack
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 Apr 1987
|
|
Start of the Semi-Annual DECUS (Digital Equipment Corp. Users
|
|
Society) symposium, to be held in Nashville, Tennessee.
|
|
|
|
17 May 1987
|
|
Metro-Fire Fido's Second Birthday BlowOut and Floppy Disk
|
|
Throwing Tournament! All Fido Sysops and Families Invited!
|
|
Contact Christopher Baker at 135/14 for more information.
|
|
|
|
21 Aug 1987
|
|
Start of the Fourth International FidoNet Conference, to be
|
|
held at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, VA.
|
|
Details to follow.
|
|
|
|
24 Aug 1989
|
|
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you have something which you would like to see on this
|
|
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1/1.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 26 23 Mar 1987
|
|
|
|
|
|
__
|
|
The World's First / \
|
|
BBS Network /|oo \
|
|
* FidoNet * (_| /_)
|
|
_`@/_ \ _
|
|
| | \ \\
|
|
| (*) | \ ))
|
|
______ |__U__| / \//
|
|
/ Fido \ _//|| _\ /
|
|
(________) (_/(_|(____/ (jm)
|
|
|
|
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
|
|
|
|
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
|
|
pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the
|
|
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
|
|
increase worldwide communications. **
|
|
|
|
Name _________________________________ Date ________
|
|
Address ______________________________
|
|
City & State _________________________
|
|
Country_______________________________
|
|
Phone (Voice) ________________________
|
|
|
|
Net/Node Number ______________________
|
|
Board Name____________________________
|
|
Phone (Data) _________________________
|
|
Baud Rate Supported___________________
|
|
Board Restrictions____________________
|
|
Special Interests_____________________
|
|
______________________________________
|
|
______________________________________
|
|
Is there some area where you would be
|
|
willing to help out in FidoNet?_______
|
|
______________________________________
|
|
______________________________________
|
|
|
|
Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to:
|
|
|
|
International FidoNet Association
|
|
P. O. Box 41143
|
|
St Louis, Missouri 63141
|
|
USA
|
|
|
|
Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
|
|
insure the future of FidoNet.
|
|
|
|
** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
|
|
in formation and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted
|
|
by the membership in January 1987. An Elections Committee has
|
|
been established to fill positions outlined in the By-Laws for
|
|
the Board of Directors. An IFNA Echomail Conference has been
|
|
established on FidoNet to assist the Elections Committee. We
|
|
welcome your input on this Conference.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|