Volume 4, Number 20 24 May 1987 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1/1. Copyright (C) 1987, by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Time Flies When You're Having Fun ........................ 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 FILELIST.EXE...One Sysop's Solution To File Requests ..... 2 International Nodes, "The Zones Are Coming" .............. 3 TELEBIT Trailblazer Test and Evaluation Report ........... 6 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 10 Multilink and Fido ....................................... 10 The Regular Irregular Column ............................. 21 4. NOTICES .................................................. 26 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 26 Latest Software Versions ................................. 26 IFNA Board of Directors Ballot ........................... 27 FidoNews 5-01 Page 1 24 May 1987 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Time Flies When You're Having Fun I've been editing this newsletter for over two years now. Why do I keep doing it? At least partly because it isn't that much bother. As long as everyone goes along with the simple guidelines given in ARTSPEC.DOC, which almost everyone does, it pretty much takes care of itself. Meanwhile, every now and then I get to sound off in one of these editorials. By and large it's been fun, and when it hasn't been fun at least it hasn't been a bother. I have a long history of running newsletters. I was the editor of my high school newspaper (a real fishwrapper if there ever was one), and I was a shoo-in for the job. Way back in sixth grade I started the first newsletter in the whole school. [The school was in its first year when I was in sixth grade. It covered first through twelfth, and had about 300 people when I graduated. I graduated in a class of eighteen. Growing up in a small town does have its advantages.] Writing these editorials seems to give me a different slant on things that I normally have. I feel as if I'm taking something of a longer view. I have this conception of FidoNet as some great and glorious mechanism to allow ordinary people (well, as ordinary as BBS users ever get) to reach out to each other. When I sit down to write an editorial I remember that view, and I try to talk about it. And who knows? Maybe I even make a difference in some small way. If so, then it's certainly worth it. Do you share ny vision? I hope so. Yes, we have our little squabbles. But take any three people and sit them down, and they will have their differences of opinion. We have much the same situation, only on a larger scale and vastly amplified. Sometimes it can seem almost too much to bear. But remember this: Nobody ever guaranteed you that everyone would always agree with you. There will always be those (not always the same ones) who disagree with your viewpoint. That is the price we pay for such unparalleled freedom of expression. In return for having so many people hear your viewpoint, you must pay the price of hearing viewpoints from those who disagree with you. You can refuse to pay that price, but then your own voice will be silenced. We really do want to hear from you. So some people may disagree with you. Maybe some of them will even descend to personal invective. Just remember, the same is true of any personal contact. That is a price you must pay to make your voice heard. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 4-20 Page 2 24 May 1987 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Jean Coppola Opus 107/201 FILELIST.EXE...One Sysop's Solution To File Requests With the advent of file requests I have devised a new utility that helps the Sysop cope with file requests. FILELIST.EXE is a utility that reads all the available files on a system into one file, sorts them and produces a file named REQUEST.TXT and then arc's it into a file called REQUEST.ARC. Unlike other utilities along this line FILELIST.EXE will run with either Fido or Opus and should remain compatible with new versions of both software packages. This utility DOES NOT read the system files instead it runs from a batch file and as long as there are files named FILES.BBS and as long as they contain available software this utility will not need updating. FILELIST can be run as an eXternal event from either Fido, Opus or SEAdog and will compile a list of available files and then return control to the software that called it. Here is a small sample of the output from FILELIST.EXE: Files Available From Opus 107/201 - 516-775-5811 Updated On 05-10-1987 At 11:35:03 ansianim.arc Produces Ansi Graphic Screens arc.exe Arc 5.20 Utility arce.com Fast Arc Extractor arcmail.arc Arc's/UnArc's Net Mail arcmsg12.arc Save Those Message For Posterity arcpeek.arc Allows Reading of *.Arc Files autodate.arc Sets Time Without Clock Card There Are A Total Of 7 Files Listed. As you can see the files are sorted by name and then placed into the file with the identity of the system and the phone number placed in the file for ease in locating the Net/Node number and phone number. FILELIST.ARC may be requested from 107/201 and contains all files needed to implement this on your system. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 4-20 Page 3 24 May 1987 International Nodes, "The Zones Are Coming" )))) The Problem (((( We are TOO successful. The nodelist is getting to be 1700 nodes. The nodediff files are getting big. The zones are coming. The zones are coming. This will have a large effect on our nodelist. The nodelist is THE most important thing we have! It is more important than FidoNews, more important than echos. We do not use routed mail very much, but it is the tie that binds. The nodediff takes too long to send. It takes too long to run Xlatlist or Listgen. It consumes disk space. The text version is too long for most users to download and use. Long nodelists encourage outdated nodelists. An outdated nodelist is VERY dangerous with outbound mail, especially direct mail. If I change numbers, the phone company may reissue that number. What if someone sends files attached? Every night at 4 am, some LOL (Little 'Ol Lady) will have her phone ring with no one on the other end. If that sounds funny, let me know your home VOICE number, and let me try it on YOU. What if the net / node number changes? There are boards that I like to contact when I need them. I do not need them very often, but when I do, it is VERY useful. With multi-line BBS coming up, phone numbers will change more often. <<< Present Solution >>> ZONE: level of hierarchy that is higher than net. It implies that nodes with a zone will have limited nodelist information outside their zone. Each zone will have own nodelist and nodediff. Zones will have their own coordinator who will supervise his portion of the nodelist. They may have different policy. (Policy 7 Zone 3??). The International FidoNet Coordinator will install these changes in stages. IC will define zones as continents. Later, the IC could split zones by countries. Someday, the USA could be several zones! How does this affect the average sysop? How to send mail to a node in another zone? ---Routed Mail--- A sysop could send mail "de-coupled." "De-coupled" means that the sending software sends mail to another place without verifying that the net/node exist. Fido allows that. (TJ hates that option.) That is similar to "shooting an arrow into the air," or USENET revisited. Sending mail to 2:107/6 would be routed to 2:/0 and that node would route (if possible). (By the way, points are always de-coupled. That is another discussion.) FidoNews 4-20 Page 4 24 May 1987 You cannot send a piece of mail to a specific address if you do not have that address. What is the effect? Easy, orphans! Orphans are messages that cannot leave that node. What does a node do with Orphans? Once again with another patch we can fix. I guess the orphan receiver would send net message that "Addressee no long there." The point is that "Orphans" are the net equivalent of "Dupes." (GASP!) --- Non-Routed Mail --- The sending sysop must generate and maintain a private nodelist! If 107/6 changes phone number, how will I know? If I change my personal phone number or node number, who will I notify and how? My guess is that if I notify others they will not update their lists. The "bottom line" is that zones will inhibit net mail traffic across zone lines. We are encouraging outdated private nodelist with no nodes in the nodelist on the other side of the zone. >>> My Proposal <<< --- Description --- Super nodelist with skeleton entries: all zones, all regions and all network hosts. That nodelist can include nodes from other zones that "register" as an International Node. Definition- International Node (IN)- a Node that sends / RECEIVES direct mail across zone (regional) boundaries. IN is not a more important node just one that RECEIVES DIRECT MAIL. (No one should register for vanity). Registration- International FidoNet Coordinator (IC) will control the super nodelist with updates from Regional Coordinators (RC's). The RC will give nodelist with host and IN net / node. The RC will be responsible to see that all IN are properly registered. The IC MAY require that International Nodes pay a fee. He may give discount to IFNA members. Suggested $10 charter members. $25 new IFNA members. $40 to non members. Is that reasonable? IFNA was formed to help pay for nodelist generation, of course! It is voluntary. You do not have to pay anything to be in the nodelist and send and receive mail. Just extra to receive DIRECT (crash) mail or files or file requests. Conversion will be painful. It does require that all regional and network coordinators cooperate and convert semi- simultaneously. I cannot imagine an uncooperative RC or NC. (A little irony here.) Zones were going to be painful anyway. Software to merge nodelist and generate local nodediff will have FidoNews 4-20 Page 5 24 May 1987 to be written, debugged, and published. That is not trivial, but not impossible either. --- Pro --- You are in the nodelist for free. People contribute money because they want to contribute. You can still send routed mail easily. It is possible without a complete nodelist. It is going to have to be possible because the nodelist will be split unless we change our direction. You can send no-route mail to "registered" nodes at no "extra" fees. We remain a INTERNATIONAL and NATIONAL organization. We will remain more unified. --- Con --- The program to have multiple updates of the nodelist may not exist. It may cost money to be International Node. It may require zone and point support software. NIH (not invented here). ======== Conclusion ======= We have too much of a good thing. The process will take time. To do nothing will invite chaos. Let us discuss it. I want to avoid the divisiveness that zones can cause. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 4-20 Page 6 24 May 1987 Jim Kay Opus 109/612-617 A Truly Elegant Piece of Engineering On March 23, 1987, A representative of Telebit Corporation delivered two Trailblazer modems to me for testing and evaluation. On May 11, 1987, I called that same representative and asked that the modems be picked up as my testing was complete. Here is what happened in-between and my conclusions. I was informed by a fellow sysop, Bob Catt, that Telebit was going to hold a demonstration of their Trailblazer modems at a location very close to my office. Bob invited me to attend. The demonstration consisted of connecting two PC's together via Trailblazers and two via conventional modems. The connections were direct cable connections. Some files were sent back and forth and the cables were pulled out and plugged back during transmission. All in all, it was a very impressive demonstration of the high speed capability of the Trailblazer. In part due to my position as a sysop and in part due to my position with Boeing Computer Services, I was offered a pair of modems for evaluation. I was anticip