F I D O N E W S -- Volume 13, Number 50 9 December 1996 +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-904-409-7040 [1:1/23] | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Christopher Baker 1:18/14 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> cbaker84@digital.net | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ HAPPY HANUKKAH! Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Don't you hate it when that happens? ..................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 FrontDoor APX/w 1.10 released! ........................... 2 A call for Windows Programmers! .......................... 2 3. GETTING TECHNICAL ........................................ 4 FidoNet Standard FTS-0008 - Bark extension ............... 4 4. COORDINATORS CORNER ...................................... 16 Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 341 ...... 16 5. NET HUMOR ................................................ 17 RUSH JOB Calendar ........................................ 17 TechnoVocabulary ......................................... 17 6. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 22 Happy Hanukkah! .......................................... 22 7. NOTICES .................................................. 24 Animaniacs echo on the Z1 Backbone! ...................... 24 Future History ........................................... 24 8. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................................. 26 Latest Greatest Software Versions ........................ 26 9. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ...................................... 33 This Space intentionally left blank? ..................... 33 10. FIDONEWS INFORMATION .................................... 34 FIDONEWS 13-50 Page 1 9 Dec 1996 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= When my system moved from 1:374/14 to 1:18/14, I thought I'd sent out notices to everyone my system connected to with any regularity. I seemed to have missed a few and a few seemed to have forgotten to convert their settings. If you have Echomail or files set to exchange with me, you MUST go change everything from 1:374/14 to 1:18/14. You ALSO must kill off all references to 1:374/14 to avoid duping traffic or files back to the old Node even when you made the conversion to the new Node. AND you GOTTA remember to reset those poll events for 1:18/14 or your traffic is going to pile up here like several piles waiting for recontact [some of which go back to September]. As for sending to 1:1/23, everybody must have updated their Nodelist since September, jah? [grin] I also added a couple more Internet addresses to my contact list in the Masthead. I've had the msn.com one for some time but forgot about it since I rarely use it. I just added an AOL link [it wasn't my idea; my son has been bugging me for that connect for months.] as well. This week's FidoNet Standard is short [compared to the last 3] so the Issue won't run 65 pages today. [grin] Still waiting for .BIOs [they don't have to follow any particular format - just tell about you and FidoNet] and more ASCII art for the Comix page. C'mon. Send me an early Christmas present or a late Hanukkah present or just shut me up about it. [snicker] Enjoy! C.B. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-50 Page 2 9 Dec 1996 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= FrontDoor APX/w 1.10 release announcement by Joaquim Homrighausen, 2:201/330 STOCKHOLM December 3, 1996 Definite Solutions is proud to announce yet another addition to its FrontDoor line of products: FrontDoor APX/w 1.10 for the Windows operating environment! Have you been looking for that all-in-one, fully integrated, windows-based client/point package? Well, we just might have something that'll blow your socks off. Up to 2000 folders, organized into groups and sub-groups with ease. Automatic folder creation for newly received conferences. Manage your conferences (EchoMail) without manually written Areafix requests. Full support for real reply threading. Support for proportional and fixed-pitch fonts. Choose from one of three user interface levels, hiding those functions that just might be a bit too much - or get down to the nitty gritty technical details. Connect to any EMSI-capable server, such as FrontDoor by a dial-up connection. Connect to a FrontDoor server across a LAN. Attach to multiple server/boss systems. Configure separate Internet gateways on a per-server basis with automatic recognition of Internet e-mail addresses. Use any alternative Windows COMM driver including cFos/Win and Stomper. Name macros to avoid having to remember how to spell annoyingly long names like Joaquim Homrighausen. Private and public phone books with auto-add possibilities of unlisted senders and recipients. Automatic recognition and decompression of mail archives stored in the PKZIP 2.x, ARJ, PAK, and PKARC formats. Runs under Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, Windows NT, and OS/2 (WinOS2). This is the Shareware version of FrontDoor APX/w 1.10 with a 30-day evaluation period, after which registration (+/- USD $35 depending on country and currency) is required. FidoNet file request: FDAPX110.* (RAR 2.x, roughly 1MB) FDAPXW (magic filename) from 1:360/1, 1:170/400, 1:2401/305 2:201/329, 2:201/330, 2:203/302, 2:2/254, 2:220/470, 2:236/64, 2:254/226, 2:292/904, 2:331/501, 2:512/5, 3:713/700, 6:600/600 FTP: ftp.abs.finlink.lu (/pub/abs/abs) WWW: http://abs.finlink.lu ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Louie Gonsalves, 1:2808/16, sysop@phosphor.datasync.com FIDONEWS 13-50 Page 3 9 Dec 1996 --------------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNET needs Windows software! After seeing the nodelist decrease steadily over the last year or so, it occurred to me that part of the decline in Fido systems, and user participation, is the lack of good, end-user Windows software. Now, before the purists amongst us scream "BLASPHEMY!!," consider the facts: 1. A great number of users these days are of the Windows persuasion, with little or no knowledge of DOS. How can these users, without getting a crash-course in DOS, be active participants in Fido, a DOS-dominated endeavor? 2. DOS, at least to the media, and the general public, is a dead horse. Die-hards still use it, as well as others who can't, or refuse, to go to Windows. People see a DOS screen and scream. FidoNET seems to be ignoring this rather large market... we are isolating ourselves from the general computing public, and we don't know it. A couple of days ago, Definite Solutions released FrontDoor APX for Windows, version 1.10. This is a Windows-based program, written by Mats Wallin of Definite Solutions (Makers of FrontDoor). It's a fully-contained FTN point package, with it's own comm system, (no fossil needed), tosser/scanner, editor. Will also go thru a LAN to grab packets (great for a BBS that runs in a LAN)... best of all, it's SHAREWARE, and priced VERY reasonably... This is *not* an ad, but just an example of what can be done in Windows. Kudos to Mats and the rest of the folks at DS for releasing such an impressive package for Win! Now, we gotta get more folks doing this! Freq FDAPX110.EXE from 1:2808/16, or WWW at www.abs.finlink.lu (Definite Solutions' web page). ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-50 Page 4 9 Dec 1996 ================================================================= GETTING TECHNICAL ================================================================= [This is part of a continuing series of FidoNet Standards and Proposals published here for information and as part of our ongoing FidoNet History project. It has been reformatted for the 70 column restriction and 80 column tables have been disrupted. For a clear copy, file-request FTS-0008.ZIP.] Ed. Document: FTS-0008 Version: 003 Date: 15-Oct-1990 Updates: FTS-0001 An Enhanced FidoNet(r) Technical Standard Extending FTS-0001 to include Bark requests October 15, 1990 Status of this document: This document specifies an optional standard for the FidoNet community. Implementation of the protocols defined in this document is not mandatory, but all implementations of these protocols are expected to adhere to this standard. Distribution of this document is subject to the limitations of the copyright notice displayed below. Copyright 1989-90 by Philip L. Becker. Portions of this document are copyright 1986-90 by Randy Bush and are incorporated with his consent. All rights reserved. A right to distribute only without modification and only at no charge is granted. Under no circumstances is this document to be reproduced or distributed as part of or packaged with any product or other sales transaction for which any fee is charged. Any and all other reproduction or excerpting requires the explicit written consent of the copyright holders. A. Introduction 1. This Document This document describes the standard for "Bark" type FidoNet file request operation. Bark file requests are an extension to the basic FTS-0001 mail session, and this document presents these requests as a modification to that document. 2. What are File Requests? File Requests are a way of requesting that a specific file be sent during a FidoNet mail session. This has many advantages over FIDONEWS 13-50 Page 5 9 Dec 1996 simply logging on to a BBS and downloading a file: o You need not be a validated user o You don't have to spend time searching for the file on the BBS o You can schedule the file request to take place at any time without your being near your computer. There are two commonly used types of file requests on FidoNet today, WaZOO and Bark requests. WaZOO requests are used by Opus and BinkleyTerm, and are not documented here. See the document FTS-0006 by V. Perriello for a description of these. Bark requests were the first file request extension to the FTS-0001 protocol, and are supported (at least partially) by many mailers, including SEAdog, Dutchie, BinkleyTerm, and to a certain extent Opus. This document describes how to implement Bark-type file requests. B. Terms Used in this Document 1. The diagrams and notations used in this document are the same as those used in the FTS-0001 document. Please see FTS-0001 for a description of these. This document should be considered as an extension to the FTS-0001 session layer protocol, and you will require FTS-0001 in addition to this document to fully understand what is presented here. In addition to the data description language described in FTS-0001 section A.4, one extra terminal used in this notation: (* terminals *) someName - String of up to max chars, NOT null terminated C. Performing File Requests 1. Introduction A Bark request consists of transmitting a special Bark Request packet which contains a filename, a date (used for update requests), and optionally a password. The system receiving the request then decides if it can send the requested file or not, and if it can does so using the same protocol used to send attached files. Bark request handling is always controlled by the answering system, and consists of two phases. In phase one, the receiving system asks the calling system to honor requests it may have to ask for files from the caller. In phase two, the receiving system allows the calling system to request files from it. Update file requests are the same as normal file requests, with one exception. If the date in the Bark Request packet (described below) is greater than or equal to the date of the actual file requested, the file will not be sent. The requestor should set FIDONEWS 13-50 Page 6 9 Dec 1996 the date to the date of the the actual file on its own end if an update request is desired. D. The Bark Request Packet 1. Data Link Layer Data Definition. The Bark Request pack