Volume 5, Number 10 7 March 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 What's become of trust? .................................. 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 Opus Date Bug Fix ........................................ 3 PC-SIG CD-ROM On-line 24 hrs ............................. 4 My Answer to "How do you write?" ......................... 6 Consolidate or Divide? The Future of EchoMail ........... 11 MENSA Echo Loses Its Founder and Host .................... 18 3. COLUMNS .................................................. 19 Corrections to "Routed Gateways" ......................... 19 4. NOTICES .................................................. 20 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 20 Latest Software Versions ................................. 20 5. COMMITTEE REPORTS ........................................ 22 Agenda and Minutes of IFNA BoD Meeting February 19-21, ... 22 A Statement of Position by IFNA Board of Directors ....... 28 FidoNews 5-10 Page 1 7 Mar 1988 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= What's become of trust? It used to be you could trust what you read in EchoMail, not to mention FidoNews. Everyone treated FidoNet (and it's users and sysops) with respect and decency. If you received a netmail message from someone, you knew it was legitimate. Likewise, no one would have thought of impersonating anyone in EchoMail. What brings all this up? Let me tell you... I thought it very odd when some messages supposedly written by Thom Henderson popped up in the sysop echomail conference. I thought it very odd because they didn't sound like Thom, besides which I was under the impression he was leaving FidoNet alone. Well, the other day I received a phone call at work. Even though Thom is now in AlterNet, we keep in touch. This was unusual only because I was the one who usually placed the call. Thom's main reason for the call was to find out if I had seen any messages from him in the sysop echomail conference. After a long discussion with Thom, I am convinced that he isn't the one who sent those messages. If you've received a nasty message from Thom, odds are you've been hit by someone with a juvenile mentality and no respect for FidoNet. This is also the case with "Auntie Tyranny" and NeuterNet. The person behind these messages doesn't understand that FidoNet is about communication and understanding. All their messages prove is their senders immaturity. FidoNet has to learn to ignore these type of messages. The attention given to bogus messages like this only serve to destroy FidoNet. The attention gives rise to mistrust and flames. This isn't what Tom Jennings envisioned with FidoNet. This also isn't what most of us want to see happen in FidoNet. All in all, what happened to the trust I learned in Alexandria last August at FidoCon. Is that spirit of cooperation and understanding still alive? How long will it take for us to learn to work together instead of flaming at each other. Sadly, 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 5-10 Page 2 7 Mar 1988 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= "You're More Than Your Physical Body" The key phrase for a very new, and needed bulletin board system dedicated to the New Age and Occult community. The Astral Plane (r) Online is a relatively new, yet very quickly upcoming BBS in Linthicum, Maryland. The board is run by the owners of The Astral Plane, an Occult and New Age store also found in Linthicum which carries hundreds of curios, books, herbs, crystals, and other items on this, very rapidly growing, area. The main interest for The Astral Plane (TAP) which is stated in our welcome messages is to "Provide Information On A New Age." there are a lot of misguided and hollywood created images on Magick, Witchcraft, and Psychic abilities that almost everyone has a different idea and/or opinion on what it really is: Satan worship? A bunch of frauds? Some crazy people who don't know any better? Those are just some of the thoughts about people who are "into" Magick, Witchcraft, and New Age and Psychic related areas of study. The sad part is that many people havnt had the chance to actually, safely, find out what it is all about. Since there is a good and bad to everything it is important to shift through and find out what is and what isn't. Although, sometimes that becomes quite a task! To make sure we don't lead the reader to the wrong impression, TAP is not only for the New Age and Occult community. We support message areas and U/Ds for Commodore, CoCo, Apple, IBM, and Atari computers and several echomails! See for yourself what TAP has to offer, we're pretty sure that we will have something for everyone and your suggestions are always welcomed! Call us at 301-768-7947 24 hours a day 300/1200/2400 baud. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-10 Page 3 7 Mar 1988 Opus Date Bug --------------- There is a problem in OPUS-CBCS (v1.03a) that can cause it to miscalculate events between 3/1/88 and 3/1/94. A "fix" is available in an archive called OBUG_103.ARC. The archive contains a 330 byte .COM file that will patch OPUS.EXE. When executed, it will patch the system and set a new version number (1.03b). Source code for the fix program is being posted in the MEADOW echomail area. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-10 Page 4 7 Mar 1988 The IEEE Port CD-ROM at 1:107/233 516-757-9469 As of March 16th 1987, the entire PC-SIG 705 disk library of public-domain and shareware programs is on-line at the IEEE Port (1:107/233). This has been done through the sponsorship of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) which has provided a Philips CM 100 CD-ROM player and the PC-SIG Disks 1-705 CD-ROM. We have established a somewhat convoluted procedure for gaining access to the over 700 directories on the PC-SIG CD-ROM disk. This process is described below and is also readable on- line. The files listed below are file requestable 24hrs from 1:107/233. They are the ARCed Tables of Contents of the various disks. Note that because all these files are ARCed you are required to first download each of them to your own disk and unARC them. Once you have done this, you may search for occurrences of any particular string in the Tables of Contents with one of these commands: DFIND "string" FFIND "string" outfile.nam where "string" is the value for which you wish to search. DFIND will display the results directly on the screen, whereas FFIND will write the output of the search to a disk file which you may subsequently search manually with an editor or list program. Index to PC-SIG Disks 1-705 =========================== P001-100.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 1 through 100 P101-200.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 101 through 200 P201-300.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 201 through 300 P301-400.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 301 through 400 P401-500.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 401 through 500 P501-600.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 501 through 600 P601-700.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 601 through 700 P701-705.ARC Table Of Contents for disks 701 through 705 PC-BIBLE.ARC Table Of Contents for The Bible (King James Vers) FIND.ARC Batch commands to search Table of Contents files SEALINK.ARC SEAlink 1.13 Excellent protocol to use for batch downloading. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PC-SIG LIBRARY - Disk Access Procedure FidoNews 5-10 Page 5 7 Mar 1988 When you log on to the IEEE Port (300/1200/2400) (no pre- registration is required) type "F" from the main menu to get to the files area. The procedure to select which particular disk is started in area 16 by typing "F". You will be given a menu that looks like this: Enter I - To get information on what files and programs are available. D - To get information on addressing a particular disk from the PC-SIG Library and then to select a disk. S - I've seen it all before, let's just select a disk! C - Explain the use of SEAlink protocol for downloading a disk. Q - Quit. I highly recommend option "C" for those who do not use SEAlink in some form or another. It will save you a lot of time and typing. Since you have the instructions here type "S" to select the disk you wish to DL from. You will be prompted to enter the number of the PC-SIG disk you wish to access. Type the numbers as three whole numbers (i.e. to select disk 49 type "049"). You will then be informed that you selection has gone thru and to proceed to files area 99. In order to actually the access the PC-SIG disk that you selected you will have to transfer to file area 99. This area does not appear in the list of areas maintained by OPUS; that's OK, just use the A99 to go there anyway. Area 99 area will be pointing to the PC-SIG disk you select. Before OPUS will let you in to area 99 you must enter the access code "PCSIG". Although you won't be able to use the F(ile List) command here, you will be able to use the R(aw Directory) display to see the names of all the files on the selected disk. You may then download any file(s) as you normally would from any file area, the only difference being that you will be DLing from a subdirectory of the CD-ROM. Usually there is a file named DISK###.TXT on each PC-SIG disk so if you select disk 694, use the T(ype) command to list out DISK694.TXT and get a descriptive file listing of the selected disk. I run SEAdog 4.11 on top of Opus 1.03a on an original IBM XT with 2 ST 225s. A Zoom Short 2400 baud modem (internal) and a Philips CM 100 CD-ROM Player. If you have any questions or suggestions I am reachable at 1:107/233. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-10 Page 6 7 Mar 1988 My Answer to "How do you write?" David Rice (103/503) I got a letter in the mail. Usually I toss all mail received into the trash unexplored, which means that every month when the bills come I have to leave the state under an assumed name. It's cheaper than paying my phone bill. This letter felt different somehow, so I decided to read it. "Dear Sir," it began. I knew immediately trouble was creeping my way by the "Dear". "I read and enjoyed your article 'Missing Socks and the Rings of Saturn' very much. I'm a writer too. Would you share your method of writing with me? Your good friend, John." Tall order, indeed! I was tempted to throw the letter down the used food recycler (toilet), but after all, it did come with a stamped, self addressed envelope. I sat down and answered. My Dear, good friend John, This is how I write. Five in the morning. Dragging my body from the floor mat, I grope weakly for the heater's "ON" button. Why I do this every morning is a mystery, as the heater has never worked in the six months I've been living here. But I keep the faith, as hope, they say, springs eternal. If I'm in a playful mood I also grope my roommate, which tends to heat the room almost as well (if not better) than the wall h