F I D O N E W S -- Volume 14, Number 20 19 May 1997 +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | 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. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ IS IT JUST A TECHNICALITY? Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Moving right along? ...................................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 Bulletin Boards vs the InterNet .......................... 2 3. GETTING TECHNICAL ........................................ 4 Proposed Update of FTS-0001 Product Codes ................ 4 Proposed Update to FTS-0005 .............................. 6 Suggested use of Nodelist Fields ......................... 18 Proposal For Standard Fidonet Addressing ................. 19 4. COORDINATORS CORNER ...................................... 24 Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 136 ...... 24 5. NET HUMOR ................................................ 25 Redneck's Guide to Computer Lingo ........................ 25 6. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 26 IT'S Everywhere? ......................................... 26 7. ANSWERS OF THE WEEK ...................................... 27 Old Nodelist Answer #1 ................................... 27 8. NOTICES .................................................. 28 Future History ........................................... 28 9. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................................. 30 Latest Greatest Software Versions ........................ 30 10. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ..................................... 35 FidoNews PGP public-key listing .......................... 35 11. FIDONET BY INTERNET ..................................... 36 And more! FIDONEWS 14-20 Page 1 19 May 1997 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= The ZEC Election did get called off in Zone 1. ZEC1 now has a temporary appointee. The ZEC Echo has a temporary Moderator. The more things change the more they stay the same. Unfortunately, there is still no International Coordinator. But do we really need one after all? Do we need any of these Coordinators? The Technical section contains no old stuff this week. There's a batch of new stuff from Z2. What a relief. [grin] There has been only one response to the call for sources for old Nodelists from last week's Issue. It appears later. If you have old Nodelists available on your system or webpage, please let us know by sending in a note to FidoNews or a file with the .ANS extension for Answer of the Week. The R19 page moved again and there is a new entry for REC17 in the Internet section. There is still no update for the ZEC2 page. C.B. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-20 Page 2 19 May 1997 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Bulletin Boards vs the InterNet by Bobby Darin, (1:285/82.0), Bellevue, NE There has been much about the death of Fido-Net lately in different sysop conferences. These premature death calls I think are both over rated and short lived. The largest group of such claim are coming from the InterNet circle. The InterNet -- We hear about it everywhere. We know what it is, but do we really know what it is not? Hopefully, I will describe what the InterNet is not. I have been in the computer arena since way back when.... about 17 years. In the early days of computers, things were very different from the way they are now as I'm sure they are going to be different in the future. The biggest difference, in my opinion, are the trends. I believe the InterNet is just another trend, like the Atari 2600, the Commodore 64, and much like the Sega systems of today. While these trends have come and gone - old trends being replaced with new ones, the bulletin board community has not "come and gone." Since RBBS' first release, the bulletin board or BBS has been a steady and stable platform for communications. Its rather ironic how the faltering trends have always said the BBS was dead. When in actuality, it was they who where dying. I personally have been a BBS sysop for 11 years and have seen many changes. Perhaps none as dramatic as the InterNet. Since its commercialization I have constantly watched it embroil its self in a tangled web of various crimes, from QUAKE being stolen off of their home page to people being murdered and children being molested. If this is the future of communications, then I'll gladly accept my place in a dying bread of computer users. I can honestly say the worse thing that happened on my system is I got complaint because the users did not like my ANSI. I feel the InterNet (in its current state) will not be able to hold its captive audiences the way it does now for the following reason. This is probably my greatest complaint against the InterNet. There are inadequate measure to provide a secure environment for children. Many companies have jumped on the band wagon of writing programs the can supposedly block sites. This is total gibberish. Companies selling paranoia in place of proper parental guidance is idiotic. The level of greed in these companies ask for their "programs" is just as preposterous. Filters and blockers are NOT the answer to controlling unwanted garbage on the InterNet. If we wanted to rid the InterNet of the kind of trash (pornography in inappropriate places, child molesters, and scam artists) then we first must deal with reputable InterNet Service Providers (ISP) and rid the FIDONEWS 14-20 Page 3 19 May 1997 market of ISPs that only want to line their pockets. An ISP that will let any one on for the money is 75% of the reason as to why the InterNet has become what it is. Adult material has its place, but NOT in a missing child news group or of a similar place. At one time I was devout reader of MISSING_CHILD, after the InterNet connection was made, the trash that came from the InterNet was intolerable. I no longer carry the echo. I do NOT like the idea of my users reading about how some moron who supposedly raped a ten year old girl, especially since my system is family oriented. I like it even less when ISP such as AOL call the NewsGroups (message areas) Bulletin Boards. Not only do they drop their unwanted trash in the NewsGroups, but they have the audacity to compare themselves with the Bulletin Board community. Talk about a frame up, they pollute and WE (the true Bulletin Boards) get the black eye. This is truly pathetic. We all know about acid boards, pirate BBSes, and hackers clubs. They have been around since the start of the Bulletin Board circuit. None of these, in my opinion, even remotely have damaged the integrity of the BBS community compared to the InterNet. I have no place for anarchy, chaos, unruliness. These three components are the heart of the demise of the InterNet. The InterNet has its place, but NOT as the expense of our morals and dignity. I believe the InterNet will survive ONLY if the ISP owners take more community responsibility. The lawlessness of the InterNet will be its own undoing. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 14-20 Page 4 19 May 1997 ================================================================= GETTING TECHNICAL ================================================================= Proposed Update of FTS-0001 Product Codes by Lee Kindness, 2:259/7 The following text is an updated section of fts-0001.016 to allow use of 16 bit product codes. 16bit product codes used in type 2+_ and type 2.2 packet headers break a type 2 8bit product code. This solution preserves the 8 bit code while permitting a 16 bit code. Changes are marked by '|' This was submitted to the FTSC over 7 months ago with no result. If a 'new FTSC' is reading then consider this a submission. Keep me posted. F Network Layer: the Network's View of the System, Routing and Packets 1. Network Layer Data Definition : the Packet Header The packet contains messages in packed format to be transferred over the net during a connection. As this data structure is transferred, its definition is critical to FidoNet. A packet may contain zero or more packed messages. A packet without messages is often generated as a poll packet. Every packet begins with a packet header. The fields of the packet header are of fixed length. Packet Header Offset dec hex .-----------------------------------------------. 0 0 | origNode (low order) | origNode (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 2 2 | destNode (low order) | destNode (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 4 4 | year (low order) | year (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 6 6 | month (low order) | month (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 8 8 | day (low order) | day (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 10 A | hour (low order) | hour (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 12 C | minute (low order) | minute (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 14 E | second (low order) | second (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 16 10 | baud (low order) | baud (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ FIDONEWS 14-20 Page 5 19 May 1997 18 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 20 14 | origNet (low order) | origNet (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 22 16 | destNet (low order) | destNet (high order) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ | 24 18 | prodCode1 | serialNo | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 26 1A | | | password (some impls) | | eight bytes | | null padded | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 34 22 | origZone (low) (opt) | origZone (high) (opt) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 36 24 | destZone (low) (opt) | destZone (high) (opt) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 38 26 | fill | | ~ 18 bytes ~ | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ | 56 38 | prodCode2 (low byte) | prodCode2 (high byte) | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ 58 3A | zero or more | ~ packed ~ | messages | +-----------------------+-----------------------+ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | `-----------------------+-----------------------' Packet = PacketHeader { PakdMessage } 00H 00H PacketHeader = origNode (* of packet, not of messages in packet *) destNode (* of packet, not of messages in packet *) year (* of packet creation, e.g. 1986 *) month (* of packet creation, 0-11 for Jan-Dec *) day (* of packet creation, 1-31 *) hour (* of packet creation, 0-23 *) minute (* of packet creation, 0-59 *) second (* of packet creation, 0-59 *) baud (* max baud rate of orig and dest, 0=SEA *) PacketType (* old type-1 packets now obsolete *)