Volume 7, Number 26 25 June 1990 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | FidoNet (r) | | \ \\ | | International BBS Network | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Copyright 1990, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact Fido Software. FidoNews is published weekly by the System Operators of the FidoNet (r) International BBS Network. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or authorized agents of the authors. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. 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. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are used with permission. Opinions expressed in FidoNews articles are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Fido Software. Most articles are unsolicited. Our policy is to publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 FidoCon '90 Update: ...................................... 1 ASIAN BBS SYSOPS' CONFERENCE 1990 ........................ 3 ARCmail - International Standard? ........................ 12 GrenadeMail And Other Lost Art Forms ................. 15 REGION 17 FIDOCON Plans Confirmed! ....................... 17 Region17 Registration Form ............................... 18 NEW! FidoCon '90 Registration Form ....................... 21 2. COLUMNS .................................................. 23 Talk Me Through It, Honey ................................ 23 3. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................... 25 And more! FidoNews 7-26 Page 1 25 Jun 1990 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= FidoCon '90 Update (6/25): With the increased participation, Conclave '90, home of this year's Fidocon, looks to be the best sysops convention yet! If you plan on attending and staying for meals or at the hotel, we MUST know whether you're coming by July 1st (that's THIS WEEK), as that is our cut-off date for notifying the hotel of our 'final' numbers. If you register after that, we cannot guarantee you a room or a meal ticket. The cut-off for discount airfare from American Airlines is July 1st THIS WEEK, so be sure to get your reservations in right away! The Grand Wizard himself, Ben Baker has agreed to attend and be our keynote speaker! Those who've heard Ben's talks in the past such as "Beyond 10,000 Nodes" or last year's "History of Amateur Electronic Networks" or his famous talk on the "Development of the Calendar" know that hearing his talks are worth the price of registration alone! Mike Ratledge is coming! Yes, the author of XRS, one of the most popular pieces of software used by members of our hobby will be attending and talking about EXpress ReSponse, and giving a seminar on the Association of Software Professionals as well. We will be mailing out the Conference packets to all registered attendees this week. It will contain instructions on getting to the hotel, a map of the area, and a tenative seminar schedule. For our adventurous attendees, we have added an optional trip to Six Flag's Great Adventure theme park in Jackson, NJ for $30/person. And now for the BIG announcement! As well as the usual HST (courtesy of US Robotics), we will be giving away a "Super System" computer package complete with a Multi-line Continuous mail TBBS/TIMS bbs package (courtesy of eSoft). Registrations after 7/1 will not be eligible (we have to have SOME inducements for early registration, you know! :-) [Those who registered before 5/1 will be given 3 changes in the drawings, while those registering before 6/1 will be given 2. If you register before July 1st, you can also participate in our prize drawings.] Please use the updated registration form you'll find in this issue of Fidonews. It's headed FIDOCON '90 REGISTRATION FORM. Also, please note that the prices listed only apply to those who pre-register using the appropriate form. FidoNews 7-26 Page 2 25 Jun 1990 We hope to see you there! Bill VanGlahn, FidoCon '90 committee chairman, 1:1/90 1:107/557 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 3 25 Jun 1990 Yoshi Mikami Fido 3:720/13.12 RESULTS OF FIRST ASIAN BBS SYSOPS' CONFERENCE IN TAIPEI - JUNE 9, 1990 ------------------------------------------------------- Note: The non-English special characters that you may see below in this memo are Japanese characters in the original text. Date: June 16, 1990 To: Kyoo-myun Hahn, Honlin Lue, Toshiyuki Omi, and Other BBS Sysops in Asia From: Yoshi Mikami, now in Taipei, Taiwan Subject: The Results of the First Asian BBS Sysops' Conference in Taipei - June 9, 1990 (First Draft Report) Dear Friends, Six people from Japan (including one who lives in Keelung, Taiwan), two from Korea and 45 from ROC/Taiwan attended the First Asian BBS Sysops' Conference that was held at Taiwan University Alumni Association Bldg. in Taipei on June 9, 1990. On the agenda were: 1. Welcome & Intro H. Lue ˜C’‘“—Ñ 20 2. BBS in Asia Japan T. Omi ‘å”ürK 20 Korea K.M. Hahn ŠØŒ\™j 20 Taiwan B.L. Lin —Ñ”Œ—´ 20 - - - - - Intermission - - - - - - - - - - - - 15 3. Multi-Byte Presentations of Asian Languages@ Taiwan C.C. Lee —›Žu¬ 20 Korea K.M. Hahn ŠØŒ\™j 20 Japan Y. Mikami ŽOã‹g•F 20 4. Special Topics: Relationship with Commercial Networks TTN-Serve A. Liu —«èɒà 20 5. Conclusion B.L. Lin —Ñ”Œ—´ 5 We had good time, superb discussions that continued all through the dinner time from 7:00pm till 9:00pm, and excellent experience to share information on what we do in the three Asian countries from which the attendees came from. Honlin Lue and Jimmy Tsai presided over the conference. Honlin kicked off the meeting at 3:30pm (it was a partially rainy day towards the end of the late April-early June rainy season and Taipei's taxicabs all disappeared), welcoming everybody and introducing the participants from overseas and then from Taiwan. We had about seven female participants. Among the participants were a computer magazine journalist from Korea and a few journalists from Taiwan. (Toshiyuki Omi was asked by the Japanese computer magazines to write about this conference.) Tad FidoNews 7-26 Page 4 25 Jun 1990 Sekineh, who lives in Keelung, Taiwan, provided simultaneous translation over the mini-FM transmitter (that Yoshi Mikami had brought from Japan), to which everybody listened with portable FM radio. Honlin had prepared a big signboad in the conference room and, to everybody, a copy of the abstracts of the speakers. He had also prepared for the foreign guests nice banners of his own design, which showed Taipei's very artistic West Gate (¼–å) that was destroyed during Japan's occupation of Taiwan. If this kind of brutality over the human culture ever happened at our time, we would stop it in a swift island-wide protest against such a stupidity, whether the government of that time felt the gate was hazardous to traffic or not, using our telecommunications network! Toshiyuki Omi, Sysop of Foreign PC User Club (FPUC) BBS, in Nagoya, spoke on the general BBS scene in Japan, which he summarized in two words: competition and cooperation. He feels that the Japanese telecommunications users, inspite of the recent competition in domestic and international telecommunication systems, cannot enjoy low cost telecommunications which the U.S. users are used to. Toshiyuki mentioned that there is a great deal of competition and cooperation among the 1,000 or so private BBSes, the many non-profit regional systems and a douzen or so big commercial networks, such as NIFTY-Serve, the Japanese version of CompuServe. He brought with him a BBS Telephone Directly (‚a‚a‚r“d˜b’ ), a quarterly publication of all known private/public/commercial BBSes in Japan. His BBS is networked with unique 8-bit NetMail to about 10 other BBSes in Japan, one of which can be dialed up through a digital packet network (TYMPAS), domestically and internationally. Toshiyuki was unique in his own way, not using the NEC computer (which is the personal computer that most Japanese users have for their home use) so much and rather liking to use foreign-made PCs (such as IBM, Mac and Amiga) for their better user interface. A question was asked which BBS host programs are typically used on the NEC; his answer was many, not any one or two particularly used. Kyoo-myun Hahn (he always wrote his name as Hahn Kyoo-myun) of Seoul, Korea, next discussed (in English) his EMPAL ("electronic mail pal=friend") BBS which runs under Xenix, a UNIX vaiant. He talked about how data communications over dial-up telephone and modem (very expensive only a few years ago) had started in Korea. Since he was so busy just before the conference, he was the only one who had not submit the abstract of his intended speech. However, his presentation was very clear and understandable. As a third speaker of the BBS Scene in Asia, Bor-lon Lin near Taichung, Taiwan, had prepared a lengthy paper on the Taiwan BBS scene, mainly taked about the FidoNet of which Honlin and he play key roles, calling overseas and coordinating the 75 or so FidoNet BBSes in Taiwan. The FidoNet sysops in Taiwan had made modifications to QuickBBS and other U.S.-made BBS host programs, FidoNews 7-26 Page 5 25 Jun 1990 and FrontDoor and other mailer programs, so that the 8-bit Chinese language (Big-5 Code) can be used in the message areas and the mailer. In the Q&A session, Bor-lon himself asked if he has to send a large amount of data for the 8 or so small number of FidoNet systems in Japan. (The FidoNet systems in Japan are under the Taiwan-Korea-Japan area with Taipei as the area hub, which is under the Australia-Far East Region with its regional hub in Sydney.) I answered that Japan FidoNet's international connection just started in January, 1990, and that some more patience is required to see an increase in the number of systems. I pointed out that his talk was rather biased to the FidoNet in Taiwan, as if no non-FidoNet BBS existed in Taiwan and that his presentation was better understood only in a FidoNet conference. (See *Note below.) There was an abstract of Taiwan's BBS history written by Honlin in Chinese, which I found was very instructive---I hope someone will translate it into English soon. We then proceeded to discuss the technical gutts of the BBSing in Asia: the Multi-Byte Presentations of the Asian languages. As we know well, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages use the "Han" characters ("Chinese characters" if you like), which are presented in a sequence of two or three bytes, in MS-DOS and UNIX (AIX if you like). First, C.C. Lee made a well prepared presentation of his view of the mult-byte presentation of Chinese language, highlighting several key points. C.C. spoke in Chinese and his abstract was written in Chinese---I wish his abstract was translated into English soon. C.C. spoke of a program written recently by Deng Lin, a 16-year old high school student, which adds the "Eten" Chinese graphic characters to the original Chinese character codes, that the receiver can display the sender's original Chinese message in any EGA-equipped IBMPC compatible (without any special "Chinese character card.") I talked to Deng, the youngest BBS sysop, during the dinner time. This kind of approach can be experimented in the Japanese and Korean personal computers. The source code is included in his package. The second speaker of the Multi-Byte presentation was K.M. Hahn. He talked about the two Korean character set standards and the fact that his BBS supports both. K.M. also discussed the somewhat emotional debate of whether the number of the Korea-unique characters (Hangeul) should be increased from the current 2,000, at the sacrifice of the Han characters. Yoshi Mikami, then, spoke about how this Asian BBS Sysops' Conference was organized (remembering his experience in the oracle bones room at the National Palace Museum in Taipei two years ago) and the Japanese view of the multi-byte presentation of the Han characters. Although Japan uses one 7,500 JISCII character set standard (sometimes called "Shift-JIS") universally, it has its own unique problems such as the new, additional 6,000 characters being defined in 1990. A set of 5 specific proposals, such as making one or two key BBSes in Taipei FidoNews 7-26 Page 6 25 Jun 1990 bilingual, and defining the Chinese common names (such as Hau) in the Japanese and Korean character sets, were made. Let's make Honlin's Modem Way BBS 02-322-5113 and C.C.'s and Jimmy's BBSes truly bilingual, Chinese and Englsh, so that the international travellers in Taipei can talk to the Chinese people here! Each speaker well exceeded the given time, eagar to communicate what they want to say. The unique nature of the multi-byte situation in each country seemed somewhat boring to some participants. Next on the agenda was our relationshi with the commercial networks. Taiwan Telecommunications Network (TTN) sent five representatives, but three of them had left because it was close to 6:30pm when Adam Liu started a well prepared presentation of TTN's TTN-Serve, the Chinese language version of CompuServe, using transparencies. He described where the gateways are located in Taiwan, what PC character codes (Big-5, TCA, etc.) can be used, which modem speeds (1200/2400 bps) and file transfer methods (XModem and CompuServe B) are supported, etc.. TTN-Serve's features, compared to the private BBSes, are reliability and availability, and connectivity to CompuServe and Japan's NIFTY-Serve, as I understood. To me, it was worthwhile to discuss this first commercial network in this area, which will start its service in July, 1990. I wish them a lot of success! At 6:30pm, Bor-lon Lin concluded the conference, thanking everybody for participation. (Or at least I guess that's what he said, because Tad had to leave for Keelung a little before 5:00pm, and Adam who picked up the simultaneous translation made his presentation in Chinese---I encouraged him to do so because the majority of the audience was from Taiwan---and nobody volunteered translation.) We proceeded immediately to the buffet-style dinner in the same room, for NT$350.00. I would like to thank Honlin, Jimmy and CC to prepare everything on the Taipei side. I hope you understand by now that my pushing you to get the abstract done, the attendees list propared, etc., etc. from Japan was after all needed, in this kind of international conference! As follow-up, I will be getting from K.M. Hahn the English-language summaries of the Korean BBS Scene and Multi-Byte Presentations, and the Korean Telecommunications Environment, which he said he would be sending to me. I would also would like to collect copies of the articles of this BBS Sysops' conference when they appear in the computer/telecommunication magazines in each country. I spent this Saturday morning at the hotel to summarize the meeting results, as above, but if you feel that I am somewhat biased, please feel free to contact me through Honlin's Modem Way BBS, 02-2-322-5113, or James' INTERNET BBS 02-931-3045. I hope to get your reactions by June 20, because I plan to make my trip to Japan June 24-30 and to report the meeting results to my BBS Sysop friends in Japan. I believe that Toshiyuki's article in the quarterly NETWORKER magazine will appear in the September 18 issue---I may have to help him on that. I will see you again in a similar meeting in Japan, Korea or FidoNews 7-26 Page 7 25 Jun 1990 Taiwan (maybe, at the same time of the year and at the same place?)! Happy BBSing! Yoshi Mikami Taipei, Taiwan (*Note) In the following week, on June 14, I attended the June monthly meeting of Taiwan Users' Group (TUG) that was held at American Legion Bldg. in Hshilin 7:30-9:00pm, and reported the results of this Asian BBS Sysops' Conference. TUG is a group of people who share information in English about the members' useof mainly IBMPC compatibles. It was an Amiga night, by the way, that night. I met there with James Thomas who told me about his GT-NET network in Taiwan, with about 25 or so BBSes, such as INTERNET BBS 02-931-3045 (English only; TUG uses it as a club BBS) and NIGHT CATS BBS 02-821-9910 (bilingual Chinese/ English). Two of the GT-NET BBSes have gateway connection to FidoNet. James takes care of calling the GT-Power network hub in Washington, D.C., regularly, and distributes NetMail and EchoMail to other GT-NET BBSes, now mostly in Taipei. So, I know now that Taiwan's BBS scene is not synonymous with FidoNet. We need eveybody's participation in what we do and therefore value even a tiny, independent BBS. We live in a free world, so multiplicity should be our mode of BBSing mentality. End of File ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 8 25 Jun 1990 * Top 10 Most 'Censored' News Stories Project Censored 89 - Top 10 Stories ------------------------------------ The growing threat of a handful of monopolistic global media lords to the international marketplace of ideas was named the top under-reported issue of 1989 according to a national panel of media experts. Ben Bagdikian, professor at the graduate school of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, warned that mammoth private organizations, driven by the profit motive, already dominate the world's mass media and threaten the freedom of information which is the basis for all liberty. The second most under-covered story of the year, cited by Project Censored, described how international sludge dealers are turning Africa into the world's toxic waste dump; the third ranked story revealed how U.S. officials are supporting "one of the most brutal holocausts since World War II" in Mozambique. Now in its 14th year, Project Censored, a national media research effort conducted annually at Sonoma State University, California, locates stories about significant issues which are not widely publicized by the national news media. Following are the top ten under-reported news stories of 1989 as announced by project director Carl Jensen, professor of Communication Studies at Sonoma State University: 1. GLOBAL MEDIA LORDS THREATEN FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. Five major media corporations already dominate the fight for hundreds of millions of minds throughout the world and they concede that before the turn of the century they may control most of the world's important newspapers, magazines, books, broadcast stations, movies, recordings and video cassettes. 2. TURNING AFRICA INTO THE WORLD'S GARBAGE CAN. Africa, already suffering from poverty, drought, famine, locusts, "contra" wars, and the AIDS epidemic, appears destined to become the world's toxic waste dump as international sludge dealers try to dump U.S. and European waste onto at least 15 African countries. 3. THE HOLOCAUST IN MOZAMBIQUE. A U.S. State Department official has called the attacks by the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) "one of the most brutal holocausts against ordinary human beings since World War II." More than one million, mostly innocent men, women, and children have already died. RENAMO is reported to be funded by South African sources and conservative, right-wing groups in the United States and Europe. FidoNews 7-26 Page 9 25 Jun 1990 4. AMERICA'S DECEITFUL WAR ON DRUGS. The government's war on drugs is more hype than reality. One of the nation's top narcotics prosecutors quit in frustration last year after State Department officials interfered in his investigations of top people in the cocaine business. A Senate subcommittee revealed that foreign policy interests sidetracked, disrupted, and undercut the "war on drugs." 5. GUATEMALAN BLOOD ON U.S. HANDS. The Bush administration strengthened ties with the oppressive Guatemalan military last year at the same time that human rights violations by the military rose sharply. One unpublicized violation occurred last year when a U.S. citizen, Sister Diana Ortiz, working as a teacher in Guatemala, was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, and sexually molested by three men, one of whom was a uniformed Guatemalan police officer. The U.S. Department of State didn't register a protest. 6. RADIOACTIVE WASTE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD LANDFILL. Radioactive waste may be joining old tires, banana peels, and other regular garbage at the local landfill if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the nuclear industry implement their little-known plan to deregulate radioactive waste to "Below Regulatory Concern." 7. OLIVER NORTH & CO. BANNED FROM COSTA RICA. In 1989, Oliver North, former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, former U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Lewis Tambs, Major General Richard Secord, and former CIA station chief in Costa Rica Joseph Fernandez were barred by President Oscar Arias from ever setting foot in Costa Rica again. A Costa Rican congressional commission concluded that the contra re-supply network in Costa Rica, which North coordinated from the White House, doubled as a drug smuggling operation. 8. WALL STREET JOURNAL CENSORS STORY OF CBS BIAS. The Wall Street Journal censored a major story by one of its top reporters, Mary Williams Walsh, which exposed how one of the nation's most respected TV news departments, CBS News, broadcast biased news coverage of the Afghanistan war to the American people. 9. PCBs AND TOXIC WASTE IN YOUR GASOLINE. The U.S. General Accounting Office, the EPA, and the FBI are investigating sophisticated "waste laundering" schemes in which hazardous toxic wastes and solvents, including PCBs, are mixed with gasoline and diesel and industrial fuel and sold to consumers. 10. THE CHICKEN INDUSTRY AND THE NATIONAL SALMONELLA EPIDEMIC. The chicken industry's drive for profits, aided by relaxed inspection practices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has led to a national epidemic of 2.5 million cases of salmonella poisoning a year, 500,000 hospitalizations, and 9,000 deaths. FidoNews 7-26 Page 10 25 Jun 1990 The other 15 under-reported stories of 1989 were: How the Federal Emergency Management Agency Failed the Nation; The Secret Pan Am 103 Report the Media Ignored; The U.S. is Poisoning the Rest of the World with Banned Pesticides; The U.S. Presence is Destroying the Environment in Central America; Media Reliance on Conservative Sources Debunk Myth of Liberal Bias; Faulty Computers Can Trigger World War III; RICO and SLAPP Lawsuits Endanger Free Speech Rights; NASA Lied to Get Plutonium Payload Into Space; U.S. Congress Ignored Soviet Plea for Nuclear Test Ban; The Oppression of Exploitation of Native Americans; How the U.S. and the Media Propagandized the War on Drugs; The Profitable Revovlving Employment Door Between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Polluters; Sellafield: The Largest Source of Radioactive Contamination in the World; The National Parks are in Serious Trouble; The Plaintive Case for Animal Rights. The panel of judges who selected the top ten stories were: Dr. Donna Allen, founding editor of Media Report to Women; Jonathan Alter, Senior Writer, Newsweek; Ben Bagdikian, professor, Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley; Jim Cameron, founder and systems operator, CompuServe Journalism Forum; Noam Chomsky, professor, Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; George Gerbner, professor, Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania; Nicholas Johnson, professor, College of Law, University of Iowa; Rhoda H. Karpatkin, executive director, Consumer's Union; Charles L. Klotzer, editor and publicsher, St. Louis Journalism Revew; Judith Krug, director, Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association; Frances Moore Lappe, executive director, Food First; Bill Moyers, executive editor, Public Affairs Television; Jack L. Nelson, professor, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University; Herbert I. Schiller, professor, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego; Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, president, D.C. Productions. Jensen, who created Project Censored in 1976, said "The impact of global media lords on the free flow of information is seen in the number of critical issues which are undercovered or "censored" by the mass media each year. The media's penchant for self-censorship and desire to avoid sensitive issues, coupled with the Bush administration which is even more secretive than the Reagan era, deprives the public of information about issues it should know about." Source: PeaceNet - gen.newsletters Posted on the New York Transfer BBS at (718) 448-2358 in the RADICAL_POLITICS echomail conference and ported from the ANEWS FidoNews 7-26 Page 11 25 Jun 1990 alternative news echomail conference. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 12 25 Jun 1990 ARCMail -- Is it REALLY the International "Standard?" Daniel J. Matlock President, CLUB 9600 Software Development (tm) Node 1:106/9600.0 A few weeks ago, almost every network coordinator in Zone 1 was sent a netmail message from my system asking them about their local network's favorite and most used compression method. The results to this survey are as follows: +--------+ Votes for each compression method: + | Region | ARC | LZH | PAK | ZIP | ZOO | +========+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+ | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +========+=======+=======+=======+=======+=======+ | Totals | 10 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 0 | +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ As you can probably tell, ZIPmail is more popular than ARCmail, the so-called "standard" in FidoNet. I collected a total of 34 votes and out of those votes: (These are rough numbers, none of them were "perfect" percentages:) 63% for ZIPmail 31% for ARCmail 3% for PAKmail 3% for LZHmail 0% for ZOOmail ==== 100% FidoNews 7-26 Page 13 25 Jun 1990 Now, on to the subject of this article. Take a look at the following segment from a recent nodelist: |\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/| | | | ;S The following flags define the type(s) of compression of | | ;S mail packets supported. | | ;S | | ;S Flag Meaning | | ;S | | ;S MN No compression supported | | ;S | | ;S NOTE: The only compression method standard in | | ;S FidoNet is archiving, using the standard SEA ARC | | ;S format, with archive names defined by the | | ;S specification for ARCMail 0.6. The absence of the | | ;S MN flag indicates that ARCMail 0.6 compression is | | ;S supported by this node. | | | |/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\| What strikes me as strange is this: if ZIPmail is used and preferred more than ARCmail, why is ARCmail still the "standard?" From the surveys that I got back, the people that use ZIP feel rather strongly for it. In fact, 50% of the ZIP people said that thier ENTIRE network used ZIP. My proposal: three new compression flags are added: "MA" and "MZ" and "MB". "MA" would signify the fact that the system supports ARCmail, and "MZ" would signify the fact that the system supports ZIPmail. Finally, "MB" would signify that the node supports both ARCmail and ZIPMail. It seems that ZIP is going to be a fairly stable compression method, as I have heard that Phil Katz, the inventor and patent holder of ZIP, does not plan to release any more versions (don't hold me to this -- that's what I heard on the local SysOp's echo). I have also seen that ZIP is available for computers other than the IBM compatible computers, also, so ZIP should be compatible with most computers that access the FidoNet network. In addition to the standard ARCmail being replaced with ZIPmail, I believe that the NODEDIFFs and FIDONEWS should originate as ZIPped files. I have found that ZIPped NODEDIFFs take up one half of the diskspace required from ARChived NODEDIFFs, and less diskspace means less time spent transmitting the files -- which means lower long distance costs. FidoNews 7-26 Page 14 25 Jun 1990 I do understand some disadvantages to changing the standard compression method. New coding will have to be added to most programs to recognize the MZ, MA, and MB flags in the nodelist. Also, our current nodelist processors must be able to unZIP instead of unARCing nodelists. This "conversion" can not take place all at once, either. I propose that all software that is now released (or is to be released in the future) support ZIPmail and ZIPped nodelists. Nodelists can be named NODELIST.Z?? (for Zipped). Nodediffs would follow the same naming structure (NODEDIFF.Z??). FIDONEWS would simply be compressed with ZIP instead of ARC, to leave us with FNEWSxxxx.ZIP. It seems that this article has grown larger than I wanted it to get, so I will end it now. If you have any comments (or hate-mail?) about this article, please contact me via netmail at 1:106/9600. I am waiting to hear YOUR opinions. SPECIAL THANKS: To ALL of Zone 1's Network Coordinators that responded. Without your help, I couldn't have made my point about ZIP! Thanks again! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 15 25 Jun 1990 By Eric Vice at 163/305 (The Main Menu QBBS) GrenadeMail And Other Lost Art Forms ======================================== I'll admit, I'm relatively new to FidoNet, and for the most part, I'm enjoying it immensely. It's like I've gained a couple thousand new users, and the best part of it is, most of them don't have to be 'trained'. (i.e. don't type in caps, play with the other children, page me more than three times within 60 seconds, and you're done like dinner, etc..) Once in a while, however, (less often in Net 163 than any other net, of course), I do wake up and power up the monitor of 'Godzilla the 386' to find a piece of GrenadeMail in my morning assortment of netmail. I get 'em from all sorts. I get 'em from my hub, I get 'em from my net, I *never* get 'em from my NC (right Charles?), and even once in a while, I get 'em from someone I've never met before in my life, who lives a couple of nets away (like the morning I woke up to find a loaded shell in the morning mail, addressed from a node in New Jersey.. luckily it was easily disarmed). My point is this: We're all (I hope) hobbiests, even the ones who charge for access. I'm *quite* sure that Tom Jennings never knew what he was getting into when he started this... he never *knew* that some day there was going to be more than 8000 nodes bouncing mail and other assorted data across five zones which span a good percentage of the civilized world. One thing I *do* know though (without even asking him) is that he did *not* intend FidoNet to be a grenade lobbing mechanism for people to take pot shots at people that they otherwise would be too scared, or too stupid (heaven forbid) to do so in person. Right now you're saying to yourself, "What is this silly fool from Canada talking about anyways? When is he going to get to his point?" I'm nearly there. I'm declaring August 1st, 1990 (or September 1st, 1990 if this article doesn't make it to press in time) to be International Fidonet GrenadeMail Disarmament Day. (Please mark this on the calendar in the back of the issue). We've all sent a few grenades through the mail channels before. On August 1st (again, presuming this article makes it to press), take the initiative! Send a message to somebody who you've stabbed in the back in days, weeks, months, or even years past! Call a truce! Tom Mack, in the documentation for his RBBS-PC bulletin board system, said (this is from memory, so excuse if the wording is a little off)... "The purpose of this Bulletin Board System is for the FREE exchange of information..." -- Information travels a lot "free'er" when you don't have to intentionally "route-around" someone who you don't want to associate with. FidoNews 7-26 Page 16 25 Jun 1990 This thing started out as a simple method of communication among friends, and if we all keep a level mind, and make a renewed effort at a pleasant, cheerful (ok, let's not go overboard) attitude, we can keep it that way, and establish a precedent by which we can ensure that Fido will live for many more years, and not meet the doom that other grenade-throwing sessions in history have met... doom, destruction, and ultimately, death. So disarm a grenade on August 1st.... The life you save, may be your own. Credits ------- Charles Herriot, my beloved, although strange-at-times NC, for coming up with the strangest terminologies sometimes, who got me hooked on the term "GrenadeMail". 'Phanteem Logger' for tackling all the jobs that are too messy for the NC to handle. Thanks again Charles... :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 17 25 Jun 1990 Janet Murray Fido 1:105/23 Welcome GUESTS at the REGION 17 FIDONET(r) CONVENTION A number of Famous Fido Folks from outside Region 17 are planning to attend the only FidoNet convention on the West Coast this summer: the REGION 17 FIDONET(r) Convention to be held July 27-29 at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in Corbett, Oregon. DOUG BOONE has promised to take a "short" vacation from Opus 1.20 development; VINCE PERRIELLO will robot the FidoNews that weekend; BOB HARTMAN will "renum" from a distance; and ROD BOWMAN will meander north from Region 10. There are also a few Famous Fido Folks in Region 17 who plan to attend: THE CURMUDGEON (ZoneGate to the Universe); KEN GANSHIRT; and STEVEN BARNES. The "Curmudgeon Toss" - traditional in Region 17 Conventions - has been replaced this year with "Curmudgeon Bungee Diving" - an event more suited to the unique natural setting of Menucha, high on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. The Oregon Chamber of Commerce and major shoe sponsors were reluctant to endorse this event, so Ken Zwaschka had a better idea: see prior issues of FidoNews for details. [Curmudgeon Clones are an endangered species!] A major international electronics firm located in Portland, Oregon, has asked permission to make a "significant" announcement at the Regional FidoNet convention. They will also be providing some of their products for prizes! (The unidentified firm is neither Nike nor a bungee-cord producer!) Send your registration form or questions to Ken Zwaschka @105/54 SOON! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 18 25 Jun 1990 Janet Murray 1:105/23 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FIDONET REGION 17 CONVENTION * * OFFICIAL REGISTRATION FORM * * July 27-29, 1990 * * Menucha Camp and Conference Grounds * * Corbett, Oregon * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Name _____________________________ FidoNet Address _________ SnailMail Address ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Date Sent ______ Voice phone (in case of questions): ________________________ Please indicate for each person attending, the option selected, and fill in the appropriate charges: _Number_ _Name(s)_ _Subtotals_ Registration fee @ $5 _____ (FidoNet Sysops ONLY) $ _____ OPTION A: Friday 5 p.m. to Sunday 11 a.m. DORM _____ Adult(s) __________________________ $ 65.50 _____ _____ Student(s) ________________________ 56.50 _____ (Age 12 to 18 OR Full-time student) _____ Child(ren) ________________________ 36.25 _____ (Age 11 and under) _____ Supply bedding @ $6 per person _____ SEMI-PRIVATE _____ Adult(s) __________________________ 83.50 _____ _____ Student(s) ________________________ 56.50 _____ (in parents' room) _____ Child(ren) ________________________ 36.25 _____ (in parents' room) PRIVATE _____ Adult(s) __________________________ 102.50 _____ OPTION B: Saturday 8 a.m. to Sunday 11 a.m. DORM _____ Adult(s) __________________________ 48.00 _____ FidoNews 7-26 Page 19 25 Jun 1990 _____ Student(s) ________________________ 42.50 _____ (Age 12 to 18 OR Full-time Student) _____ Child(ren) ________________________ 29.50 _____ (Age 11 and under) _____ Supply bedding @ $6 per person _____ SEMI-PRIVATE _____ Adult(s) ___________________________ 59.00 _____ _____ Student(s) _________________________ 42.50 _____ (in parents' room) _____ Child(ren) _________________________ 29.50 _____ (in parents' room) PRIVATE _____ Adult(s) ___________________________ 72.50 _____ OPTION C: Saturday 8 a.m. to Saturday 10 p.m. (Meals only, no accommodations) _____ Adult(s) ___________________________ 37.00 _____ _____ Student(s) _________________________ 32.00 _____ _____ Child(ren) _________________________ 21.00 _____ SUBTOTAL $ _____ LATE REGISTRATION FEES (_after_ May 15th): ================================================================ | IMPORTANT NOTE: Since we must estimate _and pay for_ | | the number who will be attending by mid-May, there | | will be a limited number of places for late registrants! | ================================================================ Paid by June 15th: _____ Number of reservations @ $10 _____ Paid by July 15th _____ Number of reservations @ $20 _____ Paid after July 15th _____ Number of reservations @ $30 _____ TOTAL ADDITIONS $ _____ TOTAL PAYMENT ENCLOSED: $ _____ Make checks payable (in U.S. Funds) to: Net 105 Treasury / REG17CON FidoNews 7-26 Page 20 25 Jun 1990 Send registration to: Region 17 Convention c/o Ken Zwaschka Ken Zwaschka & Associates P.O. Box 2226 Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. 97208-2226 Reservations and room assignments will be confirmed via NetMail within 48 hours of receipt. Registration packets with a map to Menucha and information about Portland metropolitan area shopping and recreational faciltities will be mailed to all registrants on July 1st. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 21 25 Jun 1990 The Secret Sysop Society presents __ *** Conclave '90 *** / \ The SYSOPS Convention /|oo \ Home of FidoCon 1990 (_| /_) Lyndhurst, New Jersey _`@/_ \ _ August 1-5, 1990 | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Rate Plan Schedule: (Hotel rooms cannot be guaranteed if you register after July 1st!) A. Single Occupancy...................$545.00 B. Double Occupancy...................$400.00 C. Conference w/ meals................$250.00 D. Conference w/ Banquet..............$105.00 E. Conference only.....................$75.00 F. Banquet only........................$30.00 G. Registrant & Spouse................$670.00 Plans A B & G include all conference and hotel fees and meals. Prices are for pre-registrants using this form only. You must pay by Check, Money Order, or Credit Card. Please send no cash. All monies must be in U.S. Funds. Checks should be made out to: "Conclave '90" The following registration form must be completed and mailed to: PO Box 12 Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 You may register by Netmailing this completed form to 1:1/90 for processing. Rename it to ZNNNXXXX.REG where Z is your Zone number, N is your Net number, and X is your Node number. US Mail confirmation is required within 72 hours of electronic filing. If you are paying by credit card, please include the required information. For your own security, do not route any message with your credit card number on it. Crash it directly to 1:1/90. The official Conclave '90 airline is American Airlines. American offers a 5% discount the lowest applicable round-trip fare, including 1st class travel, subject to availability of inventory. All fare rules and restrictions apply. In addition, American offers 40% off their round trip unrestricted day coach fare. International travelers qualify for special benefits, including complimentary admittance to the Admiral's Club Lounge at any American Airlines terminal. Newark is an American Air- lines city with direct flights to most major cities. When making reservations, you must call American's Toll-free reservation number at 800-433-1790, and reference Star number 13704F. FidoNews 7-26 Page 22 25 Jun 1990 F I D O - C O N '90 R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M Name: __________________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________ Apt. or Suite: _________ City: _________________________ State or Province: ____________ Postal Code: __________________ Country: ______________________ Voice Phone: ______________________ Data: _____________________ Zone:Net/Node.Point@Domain: ____________________________________ Special requirements: __________________________________________ +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | Option | Full | | Pre-Reg. | Line | |(Choose 1: A-G)| Name | Qty | Pricing | Total | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN A** | | | $545.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN B** | | | $400.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN C | | | $250.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN D | | | $105.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN E | | | $ 75.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN F | | | $ 30.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ | PLAN G** | | | $670.00 | | +===============+=====================+=====+==========+=======+ |*NJ Beach Trip | | | $ 24.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ |*Eve. NYC Tour | | | $ 37.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ |*NYC Shop Tour | | | $ 36.50 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ |*Medieval Times| | | $ 50.00 | | +---------------+---------------------+-----+----------+-------+ ** includes registration, Hotel, and meals | Total $ | | * Requires Pre-registration (before 7/1) +==========+=======+ MC _____ Visa _____ Card Number: _____________________________ Expiration: ___________ Signature _____________________________ ( Credit card registrations require valid signature ) ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 23 25 Jun 1990 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= Henry Clark 124/6120 Postcards -- I'm sorry I can't reprint all the mail I've received, but this one deserves special attention... Raymond Lowe : Hi I was just reading your column in FIDO723.NWS when I had this horrible thought - "What", I thought, "would happen if Henry stopped writing his column?" Well for starters I'd save two pages of paper a week, and about 10 minutes of reading time. Then there'd be a saving of 4K or so on each of 7000 nodes (call it 27Meg), then there's transmission time (I creep along at 1200 bps {we're not allowed to say "baud" anymore}), then savings on international phone charges, etc. I was starting to like the hang of this when I realized that without your column I'd not be able to keep up with what Honey was doing. "No," I said "it's just too much to give up; Henry will have to keep writing." Seriously though, your thoughtful and humorous insights are greatly appreciated. I just thought I'd better drop you a line as knowing the great vibrant standards of APATHYnet it is quite possible that you've not been getting any feedback from your fans. So greetings and encouragement from the other side of the world; please keep it up. Hey, Rainman, I've got nice house in Mohe for you ! But no, then there wouldn't be a BBS in Cheung Chan. Dallas is a little north of you, but almost exactly on the opposite side of the earth. "(Good {to hear} [from [you]])". I would be remiss if I didn't mention my first letter from John DeCarlo. I framed it and put it on the wall above the monitor ! ( Almost ) All ya'll : thanks. Wet and Wild 1 -- OH FOR GAWD'S SAKE ! Our local traffic areas are receiving quite a bit of attention lately concerning two topics : 1) the election versus the appointment of FIDONET officials, and 2) the voluntary versus mandatory method of supporting echomail costs. FidoNews 7-26 Page 24 25 Jun 1990 Now, I wouldn't dream of boring you kind readers with any 'to do' on these topics, but it seems to me that everyNET would have these kinds of controversy and would naturally choose the 'e-mail' forum for hashing out the details. What strikes me is the huge scale of attitudes, from vehemently opinionated to outright anger. No way would someone say these things face to face, and that's what bothers me. When you blast someone in particular ( and we all do occasionally ) you need to stop and realize that hundreds of others are going to read it as well. I mean, what if one of your workmates is unzipped. Do you tell him/her during the monthly status meeting ? No, you pick a private moment and you are discreet. I'm thinking : what about printing out some of these wild flaming fire-snorting acid attack messages, and hiring some kid to roll it up and put it the sender's front door. ( Like those stupid ads for lawn care/carpet cleaning/air conditioner maintenance/aluminum siding/etc... ) Personalize it bit, eh ? Wet and Wild 2 -- I'm pretty sure the reason Honey wouldn't go to Wet and Wild with me was because of the name. You know, how they get into these exclusive engagement things. But the other neighborhood girls talked her into it. This is the park with the big water slides, and dozen or so swimming pools. Lots of young, well, you know, uh, yeah, that's right... My daddy always said there were three kinds of girls in the world : Young, Younger, and You're under arrest. I can't decide whether to wear one of those thong deals, or my giant hot pink baggy shorts. Honey has one of these high cut, lycra tight fit deals. It's great. I like to do it head first, upside down, backwards. Especially when it's real slippery. And the water slides are fun, too. Our Creator has been fair: he trades us lawn mowing for string bikinis. I love the summer. Oh, and Rainman : Honey sends you an electronic kiss. I started to say 'blowing' but well, you know... ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 25 25 Jun 1990 ================================================================= LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ================================================================= Dave Thompson 1:18/60 I would like to clarify the term Public Domain. Although I am no lawyer, my understanding of the term public domain is it denotes the fact that the author has relinquished control over whatever it is that is contributed to the public domain. As such, the author has given up all rights associated with the product. With regard to software, that usually means the author produced a product but does not want to support or enhance it, hence he or she contributes it to the public domain for use and modification by anybody and everybody. This means that the author cannot place conditions on redistribution. Anybody can sell copies of the program if they can find someone to pay them for it. The comments of a copyright lawyer would be appropriate here. I occasionally write programs to support both QuickBBS and Remote Access BBS systems. Of the two programs I have released to the public, both are distributed as freeware. This means that sysops are free to use them without financial remuneration to me, the programmer. However, I control the code (it is copyrighted) and retain rights over how the executables are redistributed. My programs are most definitely *not* public domain. I also do not want distributors of public domain and shareware software to charge five bucks (or more) for the diskette containing my software. Why? It is a matter of principle. I do not charge for my software. If anyone has a right to profit from it, it should be me. Because I forfeit financial compensation for the software, I see no reason why someone else should profit from it. There may be a further point here. While I do not subscribe to this particular point of view, there are some people who believe very strongly that software should be free for the use. I respect that opinion and the fact that they are willing to allow me to use their intellectual property. I can not understand how they can afford to do this, but they have certainly earned my respect. I can understand that they would not want their software to be redistributed for profit. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 26 25 Jun 1990 TO: Vince Perriello of 1/1.0 FROM: Michael Baumann of 3610/60 SUBJECT: Fnews Vol 7, Num 24 - June 11, 1990 [Editor's response: . . .] Although I do agree that the articles in question were of a 'commercial' nature; I feel that you were well within the rights and responsibilities of the position you hold as editor to post them. I would also have to agree that according to the 'black and white' of the policy as adopted by FIDO, you may well be in violation of the regulations. However, as not even the laws of this nation are maintained solely by their 'black and white' representations but also by their intent, I feel it is necessary to examine the intent of this regulation as well. It seems quite clear to me; if you were to post on a continuing basis, 'sales adds' for items that are generally well known to all computer enthusiasts (i.e., diskettes, computers, commercial software, monitors, etc.) you would be in direct conflict with both the written word / and its' intent. As these articles in particular were of a 'this is a new idea to the industry and oh, by the way it is available from me' format, I feel they do not violate the intent of the policy statement. I, for one, am very glad that those articles were included in "OUR" newsletter and look forward to seeing more of that in the future. I feel you were well within your 'rights' to publish this informative type of article on the up and coming changes in our favored hobby and I would welcome the addition of a new section in the newsletter where that type of information could be passed on to us on a continuing basis. This is not to say, I would welcome additional suppliers to say 'yeah and you can also get that from me' but is intended as a place where the introduction of new events and what's on the horizon in the field can be announced. I am well aware that there may be many in the network that might not share my interpretation of the intent, but that opinion is mine and having and expressing it is one of the privileges of belonging to a 'VOLUNTEER' organization. You asked for comments on the matter and I felt compelled to express my opinion on the subject and show my support for your actions. I wish to thank you for your apparent concern to help keep us informed as to new events and changes in the industry and am very pleased that you decided to run the articles. I do regret, however, that your attempts to keep FidoNews 7-26 Page 27 25 Jun 1990 us up-to-date has caused the grief that you are now facing. In conclusion, I would think as long as you are not using 'editorial discretion' to ban certain articles submitted by those un-known or not personal friends of yours and instead use the "editor's knife" to carve out those that are of a non-informative and/or purely sales oriented nature; then you are definitely operating within the intent of the Policy. I wish to commend you for a job well done and will continue to look forward to getting the new copy of "OUR" newsletter. ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 28 25 Jun 1990 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12s+ Phoenix 1.3 TAG 2.5e* Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.64* TBBS 2.1 Kitten 2.16 RBBS 17.2B TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Maximus 1.00 RBBSmail 17.2 Telegard 2.5* Opus 1.12+* RemoteAccess .03* TPBoard 6.1* PCBoard 14.2* SLBBS 1.76* Wildcat! 2.10 Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.30 EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.02 D'Bridge 1.30 MakeNL 2.20 ARCAsim 2.30* Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.07 FrontDoor 1.99c* Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 3.11 Crossnet v1.5* SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 EMM 2.02 TIMS 1.0(Mod4)* XlaxDiff 2.35* Gmail 2.05 XlaxNode 2.35* GROUP 2.16 GUS 1.30 LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.1* MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.10* QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 Sirius 1.0w* SLMAIL 1.35* StarLink 1.01 TagMail 2.20 TCOMMail 2.2 Telemail 1.20* TMail 1.15 TPBNetEd 3.2 TosScan 1.00* UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.20* ZmailQ 1.10 Macintosh --------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 29 25 Jun 1990 Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b10 Tabby 2.2 MacArc 0.04 Mansion 7.15 Copernicus 1.0d* ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 FBBS 0.91* TImport 1.331 Hermes 0.88* TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 Tset 1.3 Import 3.2 Export 3.21 Sundial 3.2 PreStamp 3.2 OriginatorII 2.0 AreaFix 1.6 Mantissa 3.21 Zenith 1.5 UNZIP 1.02b Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 2.06+ BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.50* AReceipt 1.5* WelMat 0.35 booz 1.01 ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 ElectricHerald1.66* Lharc 1.10 MessageFilter 1.52* oMMM 1.49b ParseLst 1.30 PkAX 1.00 PK[UN]ZIP 1.01 PolyxAmy 2.02* RMB 1.30 TrapList 1.12* UNzip 0.86 Yuck! 1.61* Zoo 2.00 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities FidoNews 7-26 Page 30 25 Jun 1990 Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDOdoor/ST 1.5c* BinkleyTerm 1.03g3 ConfMail 1.00 Pandora BBS 2.41c The BOX 1.20 ParseList 1.30 QuickBBS/ST 0.40 ARC 6.02* GS Point 0.61 LHARC 0.51 PKUNZIP 1.10 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 Trenum 0.10 OMMM 1.40 Archimedes ---------- BBS Software Mailers Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version ARCbbs 1.44* BinkleyTerm 2.03* Unzip 2.1TH ARC 1.03 !Spark 2.00d* ParseLst 1.30 BatchPacker 1.00* + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 7-26 Page 31 25 Jun 1990 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 14 Jul 1990 Start of Eurocon / Techcon conference in Antwerp, Belgium. Please note that the date has changed: The conferences are one day later than originally planned ! 27 Jul 1990 The beginning of the REGION 17 Convention at Menucha Resort in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. For details contact Ken Zwaschka, 1:105/54. 1 Aug 1990 Start of FidoCon '90. Contact Bill Vanglahn at 1:1/90 for details. 5 Oct 1990 21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" 6 Nov 1990 First anniversary of Van Diepen Automatiseert, 2:500/28 14 Nov 1990 Marco Maccaferri's 21rd Birthday. Send greetings to him at 2:332/16.0 1 Jan 1991 Implementation of 7% Goods and Services Tax in Canada. Contact Joe Lindstrom at 1:134/55 for a more colorful description. 16 Feb 1991 Fifth anniversary of the introduction of Echomail, by Jeff Rush. 7 Oct 1991 Area code 415 fragments. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties will begin using area code 510. This includes Oakland, Concord, Berkeley and Hayward. San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, parts of Santa Clara County, and the San Francisco Bay Islands will retain area code 415. 1 Feb 1992 Area code 213 fragments. Western, coastal, southern and eastern portions of Los Angeles County will begin using area code 310. This includes Los Angeles International Airport, West Los Angeles, San Pedro and Whittier. Downtown Los Angeles and surrounding communities (such as Hollywood and FidoNews 7-26 Page 32 25 Jun 1990 Montebello) will retain area code 213. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. -----------------------------------------------------------------