1158 lines
58 KiB
Plaintext
1158 lines
58 KiB
Plaintext
BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News
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COPYRIGHT 1989
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August 1989 Volume 2, Issue 8
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Table Of Contents
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-----------------
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Article Title Author
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Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Idiot-In-Chief
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Editorial Column...............................Randy Hilliard
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About FidoNet..................................Howard Duck
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Atlas Technology RAM Expansion Card............Mark Maisel
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Insights.......................................Ron Albright
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Space Travel, Via Modem........................Barry Bowden
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Update: SAS 2.0................................Mark Maisel
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Pathminder.....................................Doug Reinsch
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Backup Those Files.............................Joe Kearley
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ProFile........................................Chris Mohney
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From The Kitchen...............................Chez Stephan
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News Bits......................................Barry Bowden
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Message Board..................................Barry Bowden
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Our Local Bulletin Board Systems...............Mark Maisel
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Known BBS Numbers..............................Mark Maisel
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN
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We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and
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information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for
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damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability,if any for BTN, its
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editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions,
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etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN,
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even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood
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of such damages occurring.
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With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our
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policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish
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monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to
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publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any
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time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear
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in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise
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harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the
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content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their
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work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles
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from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a
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reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article.
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Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as
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the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the
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article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles,
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please forward a copy of your publication to:
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Mark Maisel
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Editor, BTN
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221 Chestnut St.
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BHM, AL 35210-3219
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We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that
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you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing
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all of this and not get too serious about it.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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N E W S F L A S H
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AFTER SEVERAL DELAYS, THE LONG AWAITED INDEX FOR BTN IS NOW
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AVAILABLE FOR YOUR CONSUMPTION AND USE! PLEASE TAKE TIME TO DOWNLOAD
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THIS VALUABLE RESOURCE AND USE IT AS A REFERENCE FOR EXTRACTING
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INFORMATION FROM BACK ISSUES OF BTN. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR PROVIDER
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OF THIS INDEX SO:
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T H A N K Y O U ! ! !
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The filename for the first index of BTN is BTNNDX01.ZIP. It
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contains five files, an introduction, and four text files which contain
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the index sorted in four different ways. These are by author & title,
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title & author, issue & author, and subject & author.
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Please post your comments, thoughts, ideas, and criticisms of this
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new by-product of BTN so that we may better know how to provide the kind
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of publication and services that you want to read each month.
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Thank you,
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Mark Maisel, Idiot-In-Chief
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Editorial Column
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by Randy Hilliard
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For those of you who have second sight (I.E. have to look twice to
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make sure) I'll take the time to point out the lack of 'Guest' in the
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title of this little memo of mine. It seems that I have been doing this
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little ditty long enough that Mark gave me a few powers of my own; the
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power to find another sucker... I mean volunteer. Once I have done so
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I can lapse back into my normally somnambulistic character whilst still
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enjoying the 15% pay raise Mark gave me last month.
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At any rate this issue of BTN rivals the last few issues. Its
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still as attractive as a two-headed dog, it still crawls on its belly
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like a reptile, its still FREE! It rivals the others in the fact that
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this is the largest issue since #8 (and that depends on how wordy I get
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right here!)
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Our first guest article this month is an article on FIDONET written
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by the Sysop of the Duck Pond - Mr. Howard T. Duck. For those of you
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(us) who wanted to know just what FIDONET was and is, this is a good
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primer.
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Our second guest article is the third in a series by Ron Albright
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on the benefits available on-line via the modem.
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Our third guest article is by Barry Bowden and covers a slightly
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different channel of information to those interested in Space; courtesy
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of NASA via a local BBS.
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Our forth guest article is by another local Sysop, Joe Kearley -
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The Joker's Castle - on the benefits garnered by regularly backing up
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your hard disk.
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Our fifth (and final) guest article is by Barry Bowden on two new
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(to us) users groups that are here in Birmingham.
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Did I mention that this was also a product reviews issue? Why, fer
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sure it is!
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We have a review of the Atlas Technology RAM Expansion Card by Mark
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Maisel, a update of the Swiss Army Shell, now version 2.0 by Mark
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Maisel, and a review of the PathMinder DOS shell by Doug Reinsch.
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And now a word from our sponsor: ...Rutabega!
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What a wonderful word. Let's see... Chez Stephan is back with
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some more kitchen wizardry; our ProFile this month is on Tyros; Barry
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Bowden has the Message Board for August; the Local BBS Spotlight this
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month is on LZ Birmingham; and all of this is followed by the Known BSS
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number list.
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If you think that you might be interested in writing either a
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regular article or a guest article for BTN and garner all of the
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accouterments and accolades that accompany such a position just leave
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Mark Maisel or myself a message stating your wishes on EzNet, The
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Crunchy Frog, or Channel 8250 (we hang out in some strange places) and
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we will be more than happy to accommodate you.
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Like I said; all I have to do is find ONE suc... err... volunteer.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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About FidoNet
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Copyright 1989
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by Howard Duck
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SysOp of The DUCK Pond [1:3602/42] @ (205) 822-0956
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I want you to know it's not my fault. I squirmed and wriggled but
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to no avail... still, Mark got me. About a month ago (See how well I've
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procrastinated?), I got a request from Mark Maisel, illustrious editor
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of this journal, asking me to contribute an article or two about
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FidoNet. I really didn't think I had anything to say, but Mark thought
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differently. He said he wasn't all that familiar with FidoNet and
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believed that most of his readers probably weren't either.
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So here it is: everything you always wanted to know about FidoNet
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but couldn't find anyone to ask. I guess the place to begin is with the
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answer to the question, what is FidoNet? Well, it's an association of
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electronic mail systems running on personal computers. Now that is
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probably not what most of you who have some familiarity with FidoNet
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would have given as a definition. Most would have likely said it's an
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association of BBSes, and that is primarily true. Most of FidoNet is
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made up of public-access Bulletin Board Systems, but some FidoNet
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members are simply individuals with their own private message-sending
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systems. Being a public BBS system is not the purpose of FidoNet.
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FidoNet's purpose is to distribute electronic messages. The primary and
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almost the only requirement for joining FidoNet is to have a personal
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computer capable of sending and receiving electronic mail in a manner
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compatible with the FidoNet protocol, a protocol developed by Tom
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Jennings in 1984, and placed soon afterward into the public domain. The
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network gets its name from the original Fido BBS run by Tom in San
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Francisco. Supposedly the BBS was named after Tom's dog. The logo one
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saw when logging onto his Fido BBS was an ASCII sketch of a dog and a
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fire hydrant (no, not in the position some of the more vulgar-minded of
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you might be imagining). In most respects, Fido was like other BBSes
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you see today (many are copies of Tom's work) but with Fido, Tom
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introduced a means of connecting individual systems via ordinary
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voice-grade telephone lines. Tom, in San Francisco, wanted to keep in
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contact with another BBS operator in Baltimore and take advantage of
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those great low rates that were only available at odd hours of the
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morning. Thus he created a mail system that could link the two boards,
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and from just two BBSes in two U.S. cities in 1984 grew FidoNet, a
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network that now includes more than 5,000 systems in over 30 countries.
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(A partial list covering only North America is available for viewing on
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our BBS. It is called NODETEXT.BBS and takes up over 300K-bytes.) So,
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now, how does FidoNet work? In most cases, users access FidoNet through
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a local bulletin board. In most cases, although access to the BBS is
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free and open, access to the message areas of a FidoNet board require
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application and sometimes a fee. Actually, a fee is generally required
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only for a type of electronic message called NetMail or EMail, the kind
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of message service that started FidoNet. There is another kind of
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message service that fees are not generally charged for and that is
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called EchoMail. EchoMail areas are "shared message bases" while
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NetMail areas are something like post office boxes. EchoMail on one
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board appears on every other board willing to participate in that
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conference group, but a NetMail message entered on one board travels
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only to a particular destination board where the addressee is expected
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to pick his message up. Although the rules governing these two services
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vary from board to board, I'll try to explain the differences between
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them in terms of how they are implemented on my own board. On The DUCK
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Pond, Echo Mail is a free service open to all users of normal privilege
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level or above, that is to all users who have completed a simple
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questionnaire and agreed to abide by the rules of the BBS. A normal
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user can enter any of several Echo areas and read or post messages.
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Messages must be public in these areas and above all, must be on-topic.
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On our board there are over a dozen Echo areas. These include a "help"
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area for MS-DOS users, an area for computer game players, an area for
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comic book fans, an area for C programmers, and several areas for Amiga
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users. (We are primarily a board set up to support Amiga computer
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users. In fact, in my 'humble and unbiased' opinion, we are the best
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Amiga board in the state!) If you examine the messages in these areas
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you'll see they come from many places. The 'origin line' at the bottom
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of each message identifies the BBS on which the message was entered.
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Some are from as far away as Australia. Most are from other BBSes in
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the U.S. and Canada. The cost of sending and acquiring EchoMail is
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borne by the SysOp (me!). Each night my BBS automatically calls other
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BBSes and picks up these messages, adding them to those already on our
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BBS. In my case, I pick up about 600 new messages each night, and of
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course, I send out a few messages entered by some of our own users
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during the previous day. Messages entered in our BBS's echo areas can
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wind up on BBSes anywhere in the world, although it may take a few days
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for the message to make its way to the more distant BBSes. In the case
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of NetMail, the user requests permission to use the system's NetMail
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area, normally hidden from view of the average user. The NetMail user
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must front a fee of $20 to cover his or her usage of the BBS's message
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service. It typically costs 35 cents to send a NetMail message to any
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other BBS in the U.S. and each time the user enters a message, that
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amount is deducted from the original payment. The advantage a NetMail
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user has over an EchoMail user is that the message goes wherever the
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sender wants it to go and only there, plus the message is " private"
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rather than viewable by all the other users as in the Echo areas. Most
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importantly, perhaps, is that the message usually gets to its
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destination overnight. EchoMail can conceivably take a week to get to
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the more distant BBSes. Most NetMail is transferred between 3 and 4
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a.m. C.S.T., so any message entered here in the evening will likely
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reach its targeted recipient by the time he or she wakes up the next
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morning. All the recipient needs to do is log on to his or her local
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FidoNet board and read the waiting mail. Not many use this feature of
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FidoNet, but there are a number of loyal users who find it much more
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efficient and enjoyable than the old fashioned methods of the U.S.
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Postal Service.
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Well, that's essentially it. (Mark, does that answer your
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questions?)I guess the best way to find out about FidoNet, though, is
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just to call your local FidoNet BBS and see for yourself. Our BBS, The
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DUCKPond at 822-0956, is open 23 hours each day.
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It is unavailable to human users during the 3-4 AM CST (4-5 AM
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daylight) national mail hour when North American (Zone 1) FidoNet boards
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exchange mail. First time users are asked to answer a questionnaire and
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after I approve the application are allowed to use the EchoMail areas.
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Additional application must be made to use the NetMail area. If you are
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a SysOp in the Birmingham area, and think you may wish to join FidoNet,
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just call me up and leave me a message in area one. I'll try to answer
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any questions you may have. If you are not yet a SysOp but are
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considering starting your own board, then you might be interested in
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taking a look at OPUS. It's the BBS software we are using and it's
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public domain like most of the Fido compatible software used in the net.
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Again, feel free to leave me a message if you have any questions about
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FidoNet or OPUS. I'll try to help.
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(G'bye Mark)
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Atlas Technology RAM Expansion Card
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by Mark Maisel
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Do you ever become aggravated over never having enough room in
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memory to cram that network software, TSR, or other goodie that makes
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life so much easier? Here is one possible solution that works very well.
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It is not expanded, extended, or any other exotic form of memory
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expansion. This memory is DOS usable in every way for most
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applications. It is a card that gives you an extra 64K of memory for
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DOS to use however it pleases, with one exception which we will get to
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later.
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This extra 64K of memory comes on a less than half-sized card that
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is easily installed and requires no switching of any switches, flipping
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of dips, or any other annoying setup. All you need to do is add the
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driver that brings it to life in your CONFIG.SYS file. After that, get
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used to the luxury of having an extra 64K available.
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I have tried this card with all my text-oriented software and it
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works beautifully. It is very nice to be able to shell out of one
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application and still have a sizable chunk of RAM still available for
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something else. I use Norton Commander as a DOS shell and now it is
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very easy to keep it in RAM and run other applications without giving up
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too much memory.
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Before I started using this card in my system, I would have 560K
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available from DOS before loading any shell or TSR utilities. After
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installation, I have 640K free and this makes my work run much smoother.
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The benefits of this card easily are shown if you use network software,
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large data bases, documents, or spreadsheets.
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The only drawback of this card is that it will not allow EGA or VGA
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high resolution graphics software to work correctly. I tried to use
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some of my paint programs with the driver software both in and out of
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memory and it would not work. Removing the card is the only way to get
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your high resolution graphics software to work. I spoke with the
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designer of this card and he told me that this incompatibility is
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inevitable because EGA and VGA systems compete with the card for the
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first available memory above what DOS allocates for itself. The designer
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told me that the primary market for the card is the users who needs more
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room for network software and large data bases. For these users the
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graphics problem is generally not important.
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I heartily recommend this card to you if you are a network, data
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base, or spreadsheet user and are tired of running out of RAM just as
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you are building up steam. The space you gain really takes some stress
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away from you when you would otherwise have to worry about running out
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of room. The price, I just know you have been waiting for this, is only
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$149.95 and it is well worth it if it fits your need.
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The Atlas Technology Memory Enhancement System
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$149.95 for 64K-bytes of DOS usable RAM above the 640K-bytes limit
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Atlas Technology
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3900 Montclair Road
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Birmingham, AL 35213
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(205) 871-9555
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Insights
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by Ron Albright
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Copyright (C) 1989 Ron Albright
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As you have heard me say in previous installments, one of the most
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useful characteristics of personal computers is their ability to
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communicate with each other. It was one of the first functions developed
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in the earliest days of computer design. From the primitive days of the
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'dumb terminals' (little more than a cathode- ray tube and a keyboard
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wired to a mainframe computer), the ability to exchange information from
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a central storage unit to remote locations has always been a useful
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function in varied applications. As the personal computers and their
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software matured, word- processing, databases, spreadsheets, and
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graphics supplanted inter-computer communications as the primary reason
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for buying and using PC's. Most surveys show that only 10-15 per cent of
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PC's are equipped with modems. Despite the plummeting prices of modems
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(the hardware needed for communications) and despite the proliferation
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of remote databases capable of providing information on virtually any
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subject imaginable, the 'communicating computer' remains an exceptional
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beast.
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With access to so many varied computer databases, information
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sources, and communication systems from your home computer, why have you
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not started using the telecommunication capability it has within it? I
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know why! The technology is just too complicated and vague. First, the
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books available on the subject already expect you to be strongly
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'computer literate.' Most are written for the "hacker" - that rare breed
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who know everything about a computer down to every bit, byte and chip.
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They are just plain hard to understand or too lengthy to be digested.
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Secondly, the companies that provide information sources have done a
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poor job defining what you can do 'online.' Buzzwords like 'electronic
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mail,' and 'software downloading' are bantered about but no one has
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taken the time or the effort to explain what they mean and how they can
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be used to benefit your business or your personal lives.
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Let's remedy the second problem first, and then I'll tell you how
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to solve the first. To do the job of the information providers first,
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here are just some examples of what can be accomplished by using your
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computer to communicate:
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1. Attend courses for college credit right from your home (TeleLearning
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Systems, Inc., 505 Beach St., San Francisco, CA 94133)
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2. Save money by booking your next airfare and lodging through
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Easy-Sabre's Travel Service (Delphi).
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3. Buy a VCR, a mink coat, or imported coffee (and more) on Compu-Store
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(Delphi, GEnie) or CompuServe's own Electronic Mall.
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4. Find business opportunities and obtain capital worldwide on the
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Global Venture Network (Delphi) or the International Entrepreneurial
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Network (CompuServe).
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5. Locate hard to find medical information on rare illnesses in the
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National Organization of Rare Diseases' database (CompuServe).
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6. Send a Telex message to a business or friend around the world
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(CompuServe, Delphi).
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7. Read and search through over 300 high-priced newsletters from every
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imaginable industry (NewsNet).
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8. Read today's Wall Street Journal or search through any issues back
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several years for any story or topic you choose (DJNS).
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9. Check Japan's KYODO news service for the latest news or quotes from
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the major Japanese markets and exchanges (DJNS, Delphi).
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10. Hire a large research firm to search the world's electronic
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databases for any topic or company you wish (IOD on The Source; TII
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on Delphi).
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11. Need to send a message to a foreign country that must be translated?
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Transmit the English prose from your computer to Delphi and have it
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translated to any of several languages and returned to you in less
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than a week (TII on Delphi).
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12. Concerned enough about AIDS to get the latest information and ask
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questions of informed professionals? Then use the CAIN database
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(Delphi).
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13. Get abstracts of the published reviews of software and hardware
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before your next purchase on MicroSearch (CompuServe).
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14. Check book reviews from Salem Press, Inc., before you buy any
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technical or professional books. (DJNS)
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15. Decide which video to rent this weekend from reviews of thousands of
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movies dating back to 1926 on CineMan (DJNS).
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16. Help choose you or your child's college from comparative data
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provided on more than 3000 2- or 4-year colleges and universities
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from Peterson's Guides (DJNS).
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17. Find about the intricacies of running a business from home from the
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experts and those who are already doing it successfully (The
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"Work-At-Home" Special Interest Group on CompuServe; HOSB SIG on
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GEnie).
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18. Enroll in a professionally-designed Stop Smoking program and be
|
|
coached and counselled online from home (CompuServe).
|
|
|
|
19. Set up a series of words or terms related to your business and have
|
|
the NewsGrid editors of COMTEX search 7 news services each day for
|
|
stories related to your specific interests (GEnie).
|
|
|
|
20. If you're looking for a stock with a dividend yield of 5 per cent or
|
|
more or a low p/e of 10 or less, let the Vestor stock database make
|
|
suggestions and offer detailed reports for your investments (GEnie).
|
|
|
|
21. Starting a new business or planning to relocate? Have the SuperSite
|
|
database provide concise demographics and forecasts for any area of
|
|
the country along with sales potential estimates (CompuServe).
|
|
|
|
22. If you don't want to miss a single press release from anyone
|
|
involved in your industry, check in regularly on the Business Wire.
|
|
The Wire provides the full-text of press releases announcing new
|
|
products, legal action, financial information, and personnel actions
|
|
(CompuServe or //RELEASE on DJNS).
|
|
|
|
23. Before you invest your money, check out the real financial health of
|
|
your planned stock buys. On Value Line you can find quarterly and
|
|
annual reports of 2700 major U.S. companies listed on the NYSE,
|
|
American Stock Exchange and the over-the-counter market.
|
|
Professional evaluations and forecasts are also available
|
|
(CompuServe).
|
|
|
|
24. For those who need to keep up with the business literature but
|
|
cannot afford to subscribe to all the magazines, check Management
|
|
Contents and search for just the areas that interest you - from
|
|
accounting to marketing to management. Over 100 business journals
|
|
and newsletters are abstracted and can be searched by keywords and
|
|
as far back as two years (The Source).
|
|
|
|
25. BIZDATE provides an electronic newsletter that is revised 55 times
|
|
every business day. Information is drawn from government
|
|
announcements, UPI, U.S. News Washington Letter, the Commodity News
|
|
Services, and other sources to produce reports on wide range of
|
|
financial and business topics (The Source).
|
|
|
|
26. Trying to find anything at all - and I mean anything? Check in on
|
|
Western Union's InfoMaster and have access to over 800 electronic
|
|
databases covering every subject imaginable. Searches are simple and
|
|
menu-driven so you don't need to be a "info-guru" to effectively
|
|
use the system (Western Union Infomaster, 1 Lake Street, Upper
|
|
Saddle River, NJ 07458; (800) 247-1373).
|
|
|
|
27. Maintain an electronic portfolio with Quick & Reilly (120 Wall
|
|
Street, NY, NY 10005) on CompuServe or Spear Securities (626
|
|
Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90017) on The Source and buy and sell
|
|
stocks on a 24-hour basis (execution, of course, during normal
|
|
business hours).
|
|
|
|
28. Read the full-text of the weekly newsletter "Futures Focus," dealing
|
|
with the futures market, industry news, and trading tips (Delphi).
|
|
|
|
29. Interested in incorporating your business? Check the "Incorporating
|
|
Guide" (Corporate Agents, 4305 Lancaster Pike, Wilmington, DE 19899;
|
|
(800) 441-9975) and find descriptions and analysis of 7 types of
|
|
corporations and the requirements for each of the 50 states (based
|
|
on government reports and state law) (CompuServe).
|
|
|
|
30. Did Bill Cosby really earn a Doctorate and, if so, what was his
|
|
thesis? Check Marquis' Who's Who (Knowledge Index). He did, by the
|
|
way and his thesis was on how the "Fat Albert" character can be
|
|
used to teach children social values.
|
|
|
|
When you consider that you can answer questions related to your
|
|
business and studies, can communicate and leave messages to associates
|
|
and friends across the country (not to mention the fact that you will
|
|
make new friends online!), and can gather new software programs across
|
|
the phone lines to be run right on your system - among dozens of other
|
|
applications - there is no reason to remain on the fringes of
|
|
computer-based communications! It time to wake up to these capabilities
|
|
and start applying them to productively to, virtually, every facet of
|
|
your daily lives.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Space Travel, via Modem
|
|
by Barry Bowden
|
|
|
|
While cruising thru the interstellar lines one morning I found an
|
|
interesting conference on Wells American BBS (known around these parsecs
|
|
as American BBS) titled NASA Conference. Being a curious fellow I docked
|
|
up and found an amazing amount of information. It seems NASA (National
|
|
Aeronautics and Space Administration) has set up a BBS to keep the
|
|
public abreast of current news on its space program and is run out of
|
|
the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The
|
|
system was put online in February 1988 and has 14 megabytes of main
|
|
memory, 708 megabytes of disk storage and can communicate with eight
|
|
callers simultaneously at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud.
|
|
|
|
The system was initially set up for teachers who wanted help if
|
|
arranging classroom activities that included information and/or
|
|
scientific principles relating to the space program.
|
|
|
|
The NASA Conference on American BBS allows users to view bulletins
|
|
on the past weeks daily news releases, shuttle status, a weekly status
|
|
on Magellan and even a Space Shuttle manifest. The conference has a
|
|
wealth of information and should satisfy any space nuts out there.
|
|
|
|
Randy started the conference because he had a hard time finding
|
|
news on what was going on and decided to do something about it. After
|
|
several months of talking with the public relations people Randy set up
|
|
the NASA Conference about the first of June and all of of his users love
|
|
it. Even the president of the Birmingham Astronomical Society calls
|
|
regularly to answer any questions and keeps everyone up to date with
|
|
upcoming events.
|
|
|
|
So, if you are interested in space, give the American BBS a call
|
|
and enjoy ...
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Update: SAS 2.0
|
|
by Mark Maisel
|
|
|
|
Since our review of SAS, Swiss Army Shell, the author, Steve Lee,
|
|
has made many improvements and enhancements to his product. Many of the
|
|
changes are the results of suggestions offered here and by other users.
|
|
We felt it appropriate to let you know about the new release of this
|
|
fine DOS shell.
|
|
|
|
Among the features included in version 2.0 are mouse control in
|
|
lieu of the keyboard, support of both ZIP and ARC formats, and a much
|
|
more flexible installation procedure. There is also an option that has
|
|
SAS offer your favorite 10 pieces of software in a menu for execution
|
|
from within SAS.
|
|
|
|
There is a price to be exacted for these features. RAM
|
|
requirements have grown quite a bit. If you have 640K-bytes or more of
|
|
RAM, then this should not be too much of a problem. When you tell SAS
|
|
which applications it may call for you, you can tell SAS to remove
|
|
itself from RAM or remain depending upon your needs. PAKView, the ARC &
|
|
ZIP viewer program that works with SAS, does not support the mouse or
|
|
allow viewing of files within an ARC or ZIP. The author says that he
|
|
has some code that will handle the viewing directly and will support the
|
|
mouse in the next major release.
|
|
|
|
Good shareware, such as SAS, is hard to find. The author has
|
|
indicated an interest in re-writing an object oriented SAS using the new
|
|
Turbo Pascal 5.5 but has been dismayed at the lack of support thus
|
|
far. SAS is deserving of support by users who find it to fit their need
|
|
and such support certainly will inspire the author to work on his product.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Pathminder - Westlake Data's OTHER Product
|
|
By Douglas A. Reinsch
|
|
|
|
Some people just won't take no for an answer. When I told Mark
|
|
that there was no way he could get me to write another BTN article, he
|
|
produced some rather interesting photographs the subject of which
|
|
doesn't look anything like me. However, on the outside chance that he
|
|
has more believable shots, I felt it expedient to write another piece.
|
|
|
|
If you're like me, then you don't exactly look forward to reading
|
|
reviews of software unless you are actually shopping for that particular
|
|
type of software. With that in mind I'm going to try to give you the
|
|
flavor of a package that I dearly love hopefully without boring you to
|
|
death (Well for some of you it might be a good thing if you get
|
|
"something-ed" to death, but we won't go into that here since it could
|
|
be argued that I am included in that number).
|
|
|
|
From the early days of my computer experience I searched in vain
|
|
for the perfect shell (For the sake of discussion we will define a shell
|
|
as any software which acts as a user interface, buffering the user from
|
|
working directly with DOS). Being a cheapskate, anything that hit the
|
|
public domain was a primary target, and for a long time the best user
|
|
configurable shell I could find was Automenu. While it didn't give a
|
|
very flexible shell, it did allow the user to set up fairly complex
|
|
menus to automate everyday functions (in COLOR too!). Automenu is still
|
|
a very good product and is quite useful in certain applications, but the
|
|
natural conclusion of this choice is that I still did many things from
|
|
DOS by hand. Automenu is very tedious without a hard drive (which at
|
|
the time I did not have), and just wasn't flexible enough as the
|
|
exclusive interface to DOS.
|
|
|
|
Upon entering my current job a couple of years ago I was
|
|
introduced to a product called Pathminder by Westlake Data Corporation.
|
|
Some of you may recognize Westlake Data as the manufacturer of PC
|
|
Fullback, a popular utility for backing up hard drives.
|
|
|
|
I have this theory about software user friendliness; if I can
|
|
pick up the software, without reading the documentation, load it into my
|
|
computer, run it and manage to explore most of its features without
|
|
getting bogged down, then the software is satisfactorily user friendly.
|
|
Pathminder passes this test with flying colors. In fact, probably the
|
|
best selling point that Pathminder ever had for me is the fact that you
|
|
don't HAVE to do anything in Pathminder. At any time you can hit "C"
|
|
(for Compose Command) and type in an old faithful DOS command. For the
|
|
most part, if you can run it from DOS then you can run it from within
|
|
Pathminder (even Microsoft Windows!).
|
|
|
|
In Pathminder the screen is broken into three sections. Across
|
|
the top is a command line. Filling the left side of the screen is a
|
|
window showing a file listing of the current drive, and the right side
|
|
of the screen has a window which can be configured to show: a help
|
|
screen, a status screen or a tree view of the current drive. Any of
|
|
these last three can be brought up with a single keystroke at any time,
|
|
but normally it is helpful to leave it in status screen mode.
|
|
|
|
The status screen displays a number of useful dynamic stats. At
|
|
the top it shows the current time and date for those of you who have
|
|
trouble with time- space relationships. Below that is a window which
|
|
shows the drive letter and the volume label along with the number of
|
|
bytes total, used and free on the current drive. Below this window is
|
|
another that shows the total, used and free bytes of main memory. One
|
|
drawback to this memory status is that it does not display extended or
|
|
expanded memory. Lastly, the bottom window shows who the current user
|
|
is, for use in a system usage log. This last is not useful at all
|
|
unless you have multiple people using the same machine, AND you actually
|
|
care how much each one of them uses it. If so, then the system log will
|
|
track who is using the computer and every program they run. Just in
|
|
passing, Westlake sells a version of Pathminder that can be password
|
|
protected and that provides some system management functions. My
|
|
personal opinion is that Pathminder does not make a good choice from a
|
|
security view however. Like Norton's Utilities, Pathminder can be very
|
|
useful and powerful, but if you mess up then God help you to recover
|
|
(and His consulting fee is usually pretty high).
|
|
|
|
The file listing to the left in Pathminder is deceivingly simple
|
|
and powerful. A highlight bar is positioned at the center of the screen.
|
|
The up and down arrows move the displayed directory so that you can
|
|
position any file or subdirectory name under the bar. From this point
|
|
you may execute a highlighted file by pressing Enter. EXE, COM and BAT
|
|
files execute directly, and believe it or not Pathminder will
|
|
automatically load Basic to execute a Basic program as well. Pressing
|
|
Enter with any other type of file will earn you a warning message that
|
|
only EXE, COM, BAT and BAS files are executable. If you are highlighting
|
|
a subdirectory name, then you can press Insert to "open" the directory.
|
|
That directory's files will then be shown under the directory name with
|
|
proper indentation to differentiate from the main directory files. To
|
|
"close" the directory back to just a name again, you can press Delete.
|
|
|
|
It is appropriate here to move on to the command line, because the
|
|
earlier program executions were not really that simple. As I said,
|
|
using the up and down arrows moves your position in the displayed
|
|
directory, but the left and right arrows move a highlighter from one
|
|
command to the next on the command line. The default position of this
|
|
command pointer is the "RUN" command. You could just as easily move the
|
|
command highlighter over to "EDIT" and hit return. At this point
|
|
Pathminder will attempt to open the current file in its internal editor.
|
|
The editor is nothing to write home about, but it is a decent, full
|
|
screen, quick-and-dirty editor (Come to think of it, if you change the
|
|
first two to indecent and full figured, that sounds a lot like the BTN
|
|
editor doesn't it). As an aside, you could also have hit the "E" key
|
|
while highlighting the desired file, and the editor would have kicked
|
|
in as well.
|
|
|
|
Two more of the command line entries are "FILE" and "DIRECTORY".
|
|
Selecting one of these commands will take you to a sub-menu which will
|
|
allow you to find, copy, type, rename, move, erase, kill, encrypt,
|
|
decrypt or change the attributes of a file and open, close, sort,
|
|
create, erase or rename a subdirectory. Explanation is in order for
|
|
some of these. First, Pathminder will move files from one directory to
|
|
another but only on the same drive. Move is also nondestructive, meaning
|
|
if you try to move a file on top of another file with the same name,
|
|
Pathminder will beep and refuse to move the file. Kill is different
|
|
from erase in that it completely overwrites the marked file(s) contents
|
|
so that even all of Norton's horses and men could not put it together
|
|
again.
|
|
|
|
This brings me to another point which has been unmentioned till
|
|
now. When you select any file command which you might logically want to
|
|
perform on multiple files (such as a move or erase), Pathminder will
|
|
prompt you to "Mark" each file by hitting the space bar. After marking
|
|
the desired files, Pathminder will prompt once more to make certain you
|
|
know what you're requesting, then it executes. At any time within
|
|
Pathminder you can hit Escape to back out of or halt the current
|
|
operation. Hitting Escape several times will get you out of anything,
|
|
back to the main command menu.
|
|
|
|
The ATTRIBUTES command will allow you to write protect or hide
|
|
files and visa versa. Hidden files do not display on the screen as
|
|
would be expected. Files can be TYPED to the screen or to a printer,
|
|
and all page formats can be preset through another menu option. The
|
|
SORT command under DIRECTORY will allow you to display directories
|
|
sorted by name, extension, Date/Time, Size or without any sort.
|
|
|
|
The next major entry on the command line is OPTION. This command
|
|
will allow you to modify virtually any parameter in Pathminder including
|
|
the default right window view, the screen colors, whether the editor is
|
|
full or half screen and whether Pathminder should treat you as a novice
|
|
user (prompting after every command for verification) or as an expert
|
|
(letting you do whatever you like no matter how ill-advised that is).
|
|
This is also where all printer options can be adjusted, since Pathminder
|
|
supports full page layout features. From under OPTION you may also
|
|
change the disk drive which you are currently viewing.
|
|
|
|
The last entry under OPTION allows you to create a user defined
|
|
menu. This menu is accessible from the main menu by the command
|
|
APPLICATION. You can make submenus several levels deep, but each menu
|
|
cannot be greater than ten entries long due to space constraints. To
|
|
execute a menu entry you may move the highlight bar as before or type
|
|
the first capital letter in the menu entry's name. For clarity then,
|
|
each menu entry should have a different leading capital letter, but the
|
|
capital letter need not be the first letter in the name. Hence,
|
|
"Procomm" and "pRintshop" are both valid menu entries that will not
|
|
conflict in execution. From the OPTIONs menu you must tell Pathminder a
|
|
name, a directory, a file specification and any parameters which must
|
|
follow on the command line. You may also enter a description line which
|
|
will display when the entry is highlighted. Parameters include
|
|
variables allowing you to place information that will only be known at
|
|
execution time into the command line. For instance, one variable
|
|
inserts the currently highlighted filename. Another will prompt you for
|
|
input with a customized prompt at execution. Within these constraints
|
|
just about any program can be added to your customized Pathminder menu
|
|
to be executed with two or three keystrokes.
|
|
|
|
If you do not have a particular program in your menus, then you
|
|
can use the COMPOSE command from the main menu. Pressing "C" will bring
|
|
up a blank line letting you type any valid DOS command sequence. Hitting
|
|
Enter will then execute the command in DOS. COMPOSE remembers the last
|
|
composed command entered and will allow you to edit without having to
|
|
retype a whole command line after a simple syntax error.
|
|
|
|
Overall, Pathminder is a very powerful and friendly user
|
|
interface. Its few failings are easily forgotten once you grow
|
|
accustomed to the user definable menus, since all of your favorite
|
|
programs are as accessible as you make them to be. This review has not
|
|
described all of the power to be found in Pathminder, but if you have
|
|
survived reading this far, then you have a very good idea of what
|
|
Pathminder can do. The most negative thing I can say is that since
|
|
Pathminder has become more popular over the past year, they raised the
|
|
price from $35 to $45. Pathminder is worth every penny though.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Backup Those Files
|
|
by Joe Kearley
|
|
|
|
How many times have you been working on a project or just writing
|
|
an article, when all of a sudden......ZAP!!!! There goes all or your
|
|
work into the land of WOBEGONE. It can be very frustrating to say the
|
|
least.
|
|
|
|
From personal experience with running a board, I know how important
|
|
making backups can be. If I had not had a "sorta" recent backup of the
|
|
board when I had a disk crash recently, I would have been in a very
|
|
sorry predicament. Remember when the BIG thunderstorm came through about
|
|
a month ago? I have a few very tall trees around my house and one of
|
|
them had the top of it torn off by the wind and tossed on my neighbors
|
|
power lines. Needless to say, the lines came down which caused a very
|
|
large short circuit that sent a huge power surge through my house. Guess
|
|
what?? The computer got zapped. When I got home from work and
|
|
discovered what had happened, I feared the worst. I discovered that the
|
|
power supply had bit the dust. Well I could not find out what else might
|
|
have happened until I replaced it. It took me about a week to get
|
|
another one installed and when I finally powered up I discovered the hard
|
|
drive had been corrupted. I had no choice but to reformat. If I had not
|
|
had the backups I would have had to start over from scratch with the
|
|
board. So from personal experience, I can say.....no matter how much of
|
|
a pain in the rear making backups are, if you don't do them, you are
|
|
risking MUCH HEARTACHE.
|
|
|
|
The method I am using is making a full backup once a week with
|
|
incremental backups of files that change once a day. This seems to be
|
|
the best all around solution for my use.
|
|
|
|
I hope this little article might open a few eyes to the importance
|
|
of making backups and will save someone from the land of WOEBEGONE.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
ProFile
|
|
by Chris Mohney
|
|
|
|
ProFile is a short, half-serious biographical sketch given to
|
|
various computer telecommunications personalities around Birmingham.
|
|
Victims are selected randomly from a group of names put into the
|
|
notorious Hat. Anyone who thinks himself brave or witty enough may
|
|
petition for admittance to the Hat by leaving E-Mail to me (Chris
|
|
Mohney, most boards around town) to that effect. Anyone who wishes to
|
|
suggest more questions or sneakily nominate someone without their
|
|
knowledge may take the same route....
|
|
|
|
---------
|
|
|
|
Pro File on SCOTT HOLLIFIELD
|
|
|
|
---------
|
|
|
|
Age: 19
|
|
|
|
Birthplace: (officially on record as) Birmingham, AL
|
|
|
|
Occupation: Candidate, U.S. Senate
|
|
|
|
My hobbies include: Reading, listening, talking, gathering intelligence
|
|
|
|
Years Telecomputing: About 6
|
|
|
|
Sysop, Past/Present/Future of: Hopefully, future sysop of the Doppler
|
|
Effect, the world's first liquid-oxygen
|
|
powered BBS (coming in 1990)
|
|
|
|
My oddest habit: Calling people Kenneth and asking them what the
|
|
frequency is
|
|
|
|
My greatest unfulfilled ambition: Complete adjustment and assimilation
|
|
into this strange planet you call
|
|
Earth
|
|
|
|
The single accomplishment
|
|
of which I am most proud: The establishment of what is apparently a
|
|
well-known BBS presence
|
|
|
|
My favorite performers are: Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, the Smithereens,
|
|
Squeeze, U2
|
|
|
|
The last good movie I saw was: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
|
|
|
|
The last good book I read was: VEIL: The Secret Wars of the CIA
|
|
1981-1987, by Bob Woodward
|
|
|
|
If they were making a movie of my
|
|
life, I'd like to see my part played by: Either David Byrne or Matt Frewer
|
|
|
|
My pet peeves are: Intolerance, narrow-mindedness, unwillingness to
|
|
face the future, and ear-scratching.
|
|
|
|
When nobody's looking, I like to: Radio headquarters with my latest
|
|
report.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From The Kitchen
|
|
by Chez Stephan
|
|
|
|
Hello again and how have you been? Summer is a time when we lose a
|
|
little of those extra pounds we have if for no other reason than the
|
|
fact that we are finally a little more active than those winter months.
|
|
So let's see what we can do to rectify that situation.
|
|
|
|
Were gonna start with scallops in a cream sauce:
|
|
|
|
Start by making a medium cream sauce. This is easy: to make 1 cup
|
|
of basic cream sauce (white sauce) melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a
|
|
saucepan over low heat. When melted add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose
|
|
flour. Blend together. Add to this mixture 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup
|
|
of half and half. When this starts to thicken add 1/4 teaspoon of salt,
|
|
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1 tablespoon of tarragon, 3/4 tablespoon of
|
|
sweet basil and a couple of good dashes of red pepper as well as a dash
|
|
of white pepper. Saute 1 pound of scallops in 2 tablespoons of butter.
|
|
When they are done add, to sauce and mix well. Keep the sauce stirred
|
|
during preparation.
|
|
|
|
This mixture can be used many ways. You can serve it over rice or
|
|
spaghetti. You can place it in a small baking dish and cover the top
|
|
with a mild white cheese and bake until cheese is slightly browned. Or
|
|
you can get real fancy and place in individual baking dishes cover with
|
|
a thin pastry crust and bake until golden brown. One aside here is that
|
|
if you will brush the tops of the pastry with butter when it starts to
|
|
brown you will add a more even and richer color to the pastry. You can
|
|
also substitute a number of other seafoods in this recipe. Try lump crab
|
|
meat that has been well picked.
|
|
|
|
Try broiled tomatoes with the above dish:
|
|
|
|
Wash the number of desired tomatoes. Turn upside down an cut about
|
|
1/16 of the tomato off. Place tomato in a baking dish cut side up. Place
|
|
1 tablespoon of butter on top of tomato. sprinkle tomato with salt,
|
|
pepper, cumin, oregano, and top off with some Romano or Parmigiana
|
|
cheese. Place tomatoes about 4 to 5 inches from the broiler element and
|
|
broil until cheese browns. Remove from oven and serve hot.
|
|
|
|
Snow pudding for dessert:
|
|
|
|
3/4 cup of sugar
|
|
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
|
|
1/4 teaspoon salt
|
|
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
|
|
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (actually zest are better)
|
|
1/4 cup of lemon juice (use the store bought if you have to)
|
|
2 egg whites
|
|
|
|
In a saucepan, combine sugar, gelatin and salt; add 1/2 cup of
|
|
cold water. Stir over low heat till dissolved. Remove from heat; add 3/4
|
|
cup of cold water, lemon peel and juice. Chill until partially set. Turn
|
|
into a large bowl; add egg whites. Beat with electric mixer till mixture
|
|
begins to hold its shape. Chill in eight parfait glasses. Can be served
|
|
with either a custard sauce or sprinkled with coconut flakes.
|
|
|
|
I would really like to hear from you folks as to the recipes
|
|
themselves as well as any ideas you might have as to future articles. If
|
|
you have any questions or comments then leave Mark mail in the BTN
|
|
conference on the Crunchy Frog or The Bus. Thanks loads and I hope you
|
|
enjoy.
|
|
|
|
Ciao
|
|
Chez Stephan
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
News Bits
|
|
by Barry Bowden
|
|
|
|
I have stumbled across two 'new' user groups in Birmingham for
|
|
everyone to enjoy. They are the CAD Users of Birmingham (CADUB) and the
|
|
First Osborne (hope that's spelled right) Users Group (FAOUG).
|
|
|
|
The CAD Users of Birmingham has been meeting for about two and a
|
|
half years and has focused its attention on AutoCAD, its uses and
|
|
shortcuts. Bobby Benson, president of the group, said that there are
|
|
about 25 companies represented in their membership and they try to help
|
|
each other out since for them, time is money. Bobby also stated the
|
|
group has a newsletter and library for its members dealing strictly with
|
|
AutoCAD. If you are interested in attending one of their meetings call
|
|
Bobby Benson at 791-0426 (home) or 995-0190 (work). They meet on the
|
|
third Tuesday of the month between 6:30 and 8:30 P.M.
|
|
|
|
First Alabama Osborne Users Group is certainly no newcomer to the
|
|
user group scene. The group was established over six years ago in
|
|
response to the lack of information on Osborne CP\M machines by its
|
|
users AND dealers. Over the years, the FAOUG members have migrated over
|
|
to MS-DOS and some MAC computers, but the group itself is mostly Osborne
|
|
oriented. The library has over 300 disks available to its members as
|
|
well as a monthly newsletter. FAOUG meets on the first Saturday of the
|
|
month at 1:00 P.M. For more information please contact Ed Purquez at
|
|
669-5200 (home).
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
MESSAGE BOARD
|
|
by Barry Bowden
|
|
|
|
|
|
AUGUST 1989
|
|
|
|
S M T W T F S
|
|
1 2 3 4 5
|
|
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
|
|
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
|
|
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
|
|
27 28 29 30 30
|
|
|
|
August 5 BIPUG
|
|
August 5 FAOUG
|
|
August 8 CCS (C64/C128)
|
|
August 13 BCCC
|
|
August 14 BACE
|
|
August 15 CADUB
|
|
August 18 BEPCUG
|
|
August 21 CCS (Amiga)
|
|
August 22 CCS (C64/C128)
|
|
August 27 BCCC
|
|
|
|
BEPCUG CCS
|
|
Birmingham East PC Users Group Commodore Club South
|
|
Jefferson Sate Jr. College Springville Road Library
|
|
Ruby Carson Hall, Rm 114 2nd & 4th Tuesday (C64/C128)
|
|
3rd Friday, 7-9 PM 3rd Monday (Amiga)
|
|
Paula Ballard 251-6058 (after 5PM) 7:30-10 PM
|
|
Maurice Lovelady 684-6843
|
|
|
|
BCCC BIPUG
|
|
Birmingham Commodore Computer Club Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group
|
|
POB 59564 UAB Nutrition Science Blg
|
|
Birmingham, Al 35259 RM 535/541
|
|
UAB School of Education, Rm 153 1st Sunday (delayed one week
|
|
2nd and 4th Sundays, 2 PM if meeting is a holiday)
|
|
Rusty Hargett 854-5172 Marty Schulman 967-5883
|
|
|
|
BACE FAOUG
|
|
Birmingham Atari Computer First Alabama Osborne Users
|
|
Enthusiast Group
|
|
Vestavia Library, downstairs Homewood Library
|
|
2nd Monday, 7 PM 1st Saturday, 1PM
|
|
Benny Brown 822-5059 Ed Purquez 669-5200
|
|
|
|
CADUB
|
|
CAD Users of Birmingham
|
|
Homewood Library
|
|
3rd Tuesday, 6:30PM-8:30PM
|
|
Bobby Benson 791-0426
|
|
|
|
If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed, please let
|
|
me know by sending E-Mail to me thru EzNet or on The Bus System BBS.
|
|
Please leave the group name and a contact person/phone number.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Our Local Bulletin Board Systems
|
|
Number Six In A Series
|
|
by Mark Maisel
|
|
|
|
Name: LZ Birmingham
|
|
|
|
Sysop: Loren Levson
|
|
|
|
Software: PCBoard 14.0 /D
|
|
|
|
Been Around: 1.3 years
|
|
|
|
Baud Rates: 300-2400
|
|
|
|
Bulletins: Veteran Support, Veteran Locator Database, Agencies & Groups
|
|
That Support Veteran Affairs, Shareware Software Listing,
|
|
Reunions Of Different Veteran Organizations, Poem Of The
|
|
Month (Vietnam Related) Purpose Of The Board, PC Board
|
|
Short Cuts, Grizzard's Comments On Jane Fonda, System
|
|
Statistics, 12 Steps To Recovery From Substance Abuse
|
|
|
|
Conferences: Medical Marvels (ask questions), Supporters Conference
|
|
(folks who are interested in veterans issues), Vietnam
|
|
Vets Only (private), Garage Sale (classified ads),
|
|
Alcoholics Anonymous (coming in August)
|
|
|
|
Computers Supported: IBM & compatible computers
|
|
|
|
Files Available: IBM & compatibles and a large assortment of text files
|
|
|
|
Doors Available: Add-A-Vet (add veterans to the database), Find-A-Vet
|
|
(search the database), Top Gun Trivia, ProDoor
|
|
|
|
Special Information: Our goals are to provide Vietnam Vets a way to
|
|
find each other and a forum for them to express
|
|
themselves. We provide easier access to medical
|
|
information. We also want to keep people aware
|
|
of POWS and MIAS and that some are still alive
|
|
and in prison.
|
|
|
|
Q. Why did you start your BBS?
|
|
A. I enjoy helping people and I believe that the services provided by
|
|
the system work toward that goal.
|
|
|
|
Q. What has been your greatest reward from running your BBS?
|
|
A. There have been two. The first time that I put two buddies together,
|
|
one of them had been wounded and sent home, and the other never knew
|
|
if his buddy had lived or died. I was informed of all this by
|
|
letter. The second was when I had a Vietnam vet call from Texas and I
|
|
came in on chat. I typed "Welcome Home Brother" and he hesitated for
|
|
a long time while I continued to ask where he went. His carrier did
|
|
not drop and after a while, he came back and said, "I am sorry but I
|
|
am wiping tears from my eyes. In twenty years, no one has ever said
|
|
welcome home."
|
|
|
|
Q. What are your greatest regrets and annoyance associated with running a
|
|
BBS?
|
|
A. People stating a point, having it misread, and feelings being hurt is
|
|
a great regret. When people sign on and place junk into the database
|
|
is annoying. Fortunately this can easily be remedied as the last
|
|
line of the database file tells me who made the entry.
|
|
|
|
Q. What are your future plans for the BBS?
|
|
A. Increasing the number of names in the database and making the service
|
|
and database better known.
|
|
|
|
Q. What is the funniest thing that has happened on your BBS?
|
|
A. A user that I was conversing with mentioned that he worked in a
|
|
funeral home. Two months before we had the conversation, I had met
|
|
him while burying a Vietnam vet friend of mine. I was the escort of
|
|
the widow and arranged for the funeral and other arrangements. I was
|
|
tickled by the fact that this guy turned out to be one of my users.
|
|
|
|
Q. What is your favorite hobby/pastime outside of your BBS and computers
|
|
in general?
|
|
A. Flying radio controlled airplanes. I enjoy motorcycle riding and I
|
|
love more than anything else in the world to snow-ski.
|
|
|
|
Q. What do you think your system offers that might cause someone to
|
|
prefer your board over others?
|
|
A. Veteran issues, veteran attention, services. In general, I hope
|
|
that the users find a sysop that is open minded. I don't have the
|
|
answers for myself so how can I purport to have the answers for
|
|
others.
|
|
|
|
Q. Why?
|
|
A. I appeal mainly to a certain segment of the population and once they
|
|
have the opportunity to call and learn their way around, they tend to
|
|
come back again. The veterans and their supporters are made to feel
|
|
very much at home on the LZ.
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area
|
|
|
|
NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES SUPPORTED MODEM TYPE
|
|
|
|
America Online Nodes 1-4 323-2016 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
America Online Node 5 251-2344 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 HST
|
|
*American BBS 674-1851 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*Byte Me 979-2983 1200, 2400
|
|
*Bus System BBS 595-1627 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*Channel 8250 744-8546 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Club Phoenix 942-0252 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*Crunchy Frog 956-1755 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
D3 Systems BBS 663-2759 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Duck Pond BBS 822-0956 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Elite Fleet 853-1257 300, 1200
|
|
Gateway BBS 854-5131 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Gizmo's Atari BBS 854-0698 300, 1200
|
|
I.S.A. BBS 995-6590 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Jim's Place 787-5512 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*Joker's Castle 744-6120 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 HST
|
|
ProSoft Systems BBS 853-8718 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Radio Free TROAD 592-2545 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*Role Player's Paradise 631-7654 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Smitty's BBS 849-7349 300, 1200
|
|
Sperry BBS 853-6144 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Hayes
|
|
*ST BBS 836-9311 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
*The Connection Node 1 854-9074 1200, 2400
|
|
*The Connection Node 2 854-2308 1200, 2400
|
|
*The Outer Limits 969-3262 1200, 2400, 9600 HST
|
|
The Islands BBS 870-7776 300, 1200
|
|
*The Professional's Board 856-0679 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Twilight Zone 856-3783 300, 1200
|
|
Ultra-Vision BBS 856-1593 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Willie's RBBS 979-7743 300, 1200, 2400
|
|
Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300, 1200
|
|
|
|
Boards with a "*" before their name are members of our local network,
|
|
EzNet, and public messages left in the EzNet Conferences of any of these
|
|
boards will be echoed to all members.
|
|
|
|
|