Volume 5, Number 8 22 February 1988 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief Dale Lovell Editor Emeritus: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Contributing Editors: Al Arango 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 1:1/1. Copyright 1988 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 at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them. Everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 (COLLEGE - A new echo) ................................... 3 Linking FidoNet to Other Networks ........................ 7 Packet BBS to Dial-Up BBS Linking ........................ 12 DOCUMENTATION FOR OZONE.EXE Version 2.11 ................. 13 Quick BBS And Trade Wars...A Superb Combination .......... 15 (REPORTER, the SEAdog.log analyzer) ...................... 18 Star of Bethlehem Explained .............................. 19 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 23 Let's YACK about IFNA Powers ............................. 23 4. NOTICES .................................................. 27 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 27 Latest Software Versions ................................. 27 5. COMMITTEE REPORTS ........................................ 28 FidoNews 5-08 Page 1 22 Feb 1988 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Well, it has been awhile since I graced these pages. While I had meant to have an editorial in almost every issue, personal demands on my time have not allowed it until now. First off I'd like to thank all of you who have been sending in articles. I may not have sent some of you any reply, but your work is greatly appreciated. If I see any sign on an article being submitted (usually at least a null message in my netmail area), I try and remember to send out a thank you message. The only problem is that I can't count on any such message these days. If you sent in an article and didn't receive any reply, my apologies as I do appreciate the fine articles I have been receiving. In the "good ole days" all we had to deal with was Fido and SEAdog. While many of us may reminisce about these times, I think we all appreciate the variety that has appeared in FidoNet. Thanks in no small part to the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee, we now have a multitude of different software packages from which to choose. No longer do we argue on which version of Toss/ScanMail to use, instead we have at least four different packages to worry about. While some of these are specific to bulletin board programs that do not use the FidoNet message structure, we must still keep in mind how any change will affect all users. FidoNet has grown up. Anytime a new package is written, the author MUST keep in mind how it will affect those not running their program(s). No matter how far advanced network software becomes, there will always be those who only run Fido version 11w. While this may not make much sense to some of us. These people have gotten their software to work reliably and are reluctant to change to anything new (to them). There is nothing wrong with this attitude, it is an old saw about how when something works- don't touch it. Many of us have spent a large number of hours trying to learn how these programs work (and don't work) and only now are achieving any degree of reliability. While some will always choose to try the new, there should also be a place for those who are content with what they have. Why do I bring this up? Because FidoNet is based on RELIABLE communication between systems. While many may only be concerned about EchoMail, there is much more to FidoNet than EchoMail. This isn't to say that EchoMail isn't important these days, because it is. EchoMail may be one of the most important concepts ever introduced to FidoNet. But EchoMail is only a part of FidoNet, and even it is based on reliable communication. While catching up on some EchoMail conferences this past weekend, I noticed how this idea seems to be fading. If it ever does vanish, we may very well see the end to FidoNet. After all, if I can no longer count on my mail getting through, why bother sending it at all. Another idea that seems to be vanishing is RESPONSIBILITY. FidoNet is not a right. When you joined FidoNet you were FidoNews 5-08 Page 2 22 Feb 1988 accepting the responsibility for several things. Primarily to "not excessively annoy others," "not be easily annoyed," and most important of all to make your node available only to other nodes during National Mail Hour (NMH). While NMH may be a little outdated these days with so many running continuous mail programs like SEAdog and BinkleyTerm, it is still important to observe NMH. Many nodes are unable to process mail at anytime of the day, and can only send and receive mail at specified times. To these people, NMH is the only way they can reliably send and receive mail. When the nodes they're trying to contact are always busy due to receiving a large batch EchoMail or allowing users, it only serves to annoy others. In time, it could even be classed as excessively annoying. New software could easily cause the net to come apart in days. The base FidoNet protocol is very important. Any program meant for use in FidoNet NEEDS to be able to fall back and use this original. Without this, no one would ever know where it was safe to try sending mail. While this may be considered archaic by some, it is the basis of this network. Without complete compatibility, we are endangering something that many of us have worked hard to see continue. I ask that all network software authors keep this in mind, lest they become known as the destroyer of FidoNet just because they need the ego trip of a "title" like creator of whateverNet. This is getting depressing and I need to take a break. Let's hope the echo conferences leave me in a better mood by next week. In the meantime, feel free to contact me on any ideas you might have on an article. I'd be happy to help out if possible. If you do send an article, please try and make it match the submission guidelines (which can be file requested SEAdog style as ARTSPEC.DOC from 1:1/1). I'm receiving an awful lot of articles that don't even come close and it's creating an awful lot of work. I'm sure you want your submissions to be printed as quickly as possible, and if something doesn't match specs it will usually add another week to seeing it go out. Your Editor, Dale Lovell 1:1/1 (1:157/504) 216/642-1034 (data) Home Work 3266 Vezber Drive Parma Computer Center Seven Hills, OH 44131 5402 State Road 216/524-1875 (voice) Parma, OH 44134 216/661-1808 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-08 Page 3 22 Feb 1988 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= COLLEGE - A new echo Michael Keyles 1:107/320 COLLEGE is for those people running or using an electronic bulletin board system at a high school, college or university. Hopefully we will cover such topics as: funding, getting new hardware/software, how to support users, helping non technical users with computing and running gateways to other networks. Perhaps we can even share user documentation and ideas on providing new services, extending the user base, etc. If you have any ideas, or just want to get some information, please feel free to join in. If you know of other schools that run a BBS, please let them know about us! You can link in by sending me mail at 1:107/320. I will send to you if you are in a PC Pursuit city. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-08 Page 4 22 Feb 1988 EchoList: Past, Present, Future. I wrote this article in able to get the story straight regarding the sad shape the EchoList has deteriorated to! Along with some praise there have been many flames. I hope this article will explain it all. Many moons ago (April 1986) I became a Fido Sysop. Much thanks go to Gee Wong for alot of hand holding and assistance when I started up. I was a long time user of a couple of Fido BBS and thus I knew the terrain of FidoNet. I had read all the back issues of FidoNews before becoming a sysop so not much was new. Little did I know this was going to be the dawn of EchoMail! There were only a handful of conferences. The ones I recall were SYSOP, TECH and MAGICK. Believe it or not you could count the number of conferences on both hands! It didn't take long before conferences were springing up everywhere. The growth was so rapid that nobody knew how many nor what type of conferences existed. I wanted to know! So I took it upon myself to collect data about what conferences existed and share it with whomever was interested. In the summer of '86 I worked out a draft and I then begged for information but almost nothing came. I then put Plan B into action. If the data won't come to me well I'll have to go to the data! I spent many months collecting echomail conference information from any and every source. I published that first official list in Jan '87 and then EchoList became recognized as a place to list and find conferences. There were still other sources for echomail information, but EchoList was the only publication of its kind. Well Plan B worked but this fame had its price, now not only did I scan many echos collecting data to update the EchoList I was getting updates from moderators as well and even would be moderators. The burden was getting to heavy and delays started to occur. I asked for assistance and got some replies. I attempted to deligate some tasks to aid in automation but but I guess my selection of assistants was poor because after they would get the spcification of what I needed they would fade away. I was attempting to off load my work to others and it wasn't working. This additional fustration slowed me down even more. The flames stared rolling in about how out of date EchoList was so I got frantic and rushed to get an update done. I did it but it burned me out. This was the June '87 issue and I was about to throw in the towel and pull the plug on the PC for good. Yes the EchoList was bigger and better than previous versions but that also meant big and better flames as well :-) Then guess what happens... IFNA presents an award to me at the Aug '87 Fido convention. Well the recogniztion cheered me up a bit and I went back to the old habbits of applying updates from moderators and other sysops which wanted their net listed as well as scanning the echos for updates and everything else! Well I should have taken a fresh new direction but I didn't.... FidoNews 5-08 Page 5 22 Feb 1988 I got a list published in Dec '87 but it didn't have time to apply all the updates. I thought some updates would be better than none. Well not everybody agreed :-( After this issue and one more failure in recruiting some help I saw it was time for me to get things done. I just had to automated this beast it's time was long overdue! I talked to a few sysops and kicked around a few ideas. I'm finally (sigh of relief) going to learn from my mistakes :-) In the past I wanted everthing listed. I don't know why, just call me crazy (and maybe a perfectionist?). I had some sort of idea (carried from the old days) that I had to collect the data because not everybody would send it to me. If I did get updates well that would be gravy. As Echomail Scribe I can't do it all, I'm only a human not a computer. What this means is rather than put all the responsibility at the top we need to push it down to the "moderators". What this means is that if the moderator really wants to support the conference they will need to send in an update at least once a month. If this is not done the conference will not be listed. This way I won't be banging my head against the wall doing all the work. You (the moderators) of course will get a share some of thoese flames :-) A deadline will be fixed at a later date for monthly updates. With this policy we will no longer have listings carried over from list to list. That means no outdated garbage! AMEN (the number one complaint). I am working on the specification for the format of an EchoList update message. That should appear shortly. I and a couple of sysops are currently working on the programs that will be used. Everything will be automatic! At this time I would like Echomail moderators who c