F I D O N E W S Volume 16, Number 06 8 February 1999 +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | +27-41-515-913 [5:5/23] | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Henk Wolsink 5:7104/2 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Submission address: FidoNews Editor 5:5/23 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> editor@fidonews.org | | hwolsink@catpe.alt.za | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ | | please refer to the end of this file. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 2. RETRACTIONS .............................................. 2 Grunged Echomail Deleted - Retraction .................... 2 3. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 What's Not Happening - Broken Backbone ................... 3 4. NOTICES .................................................. 6 5. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 7 6. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 11 FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 1 8 Feb 1999 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Greetings, Whats happening with the routing of mail within Zone 1? Are the problems solved? ;-) Had one heck of a week, with work and more work. It's good for the pocket I hear you say? Nope, the taxman takes nearly half. Anyway, there is going to be another very busy week ahead, so please excuse the once again short note from me. ;-( Enjoy, ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 2 8 Feb 1999 ================================================================= RETRACTIONS ================================================================= Grunged Echomail Deleted - Retraction Grunged Echomail Deleted Retraction by Douglas Myers 1:279/720, doug@mdtnbbs.com Last week, I submitted an article in the name of Roy Tellason entitled "Grunged Echomail Deleted." This was originally sent to me netmail by Roy, and was intended only for my information, not for publication. I misread the intent of his netmail: he had asked of me information on contacting FIDONEWS, and I took this as a request to submit the article for him. He has since informed me that he preferred to work out the complaint more quietly, and was chagrined that I jumped the gun on publication. I'd like to publicly apologize to Roy, who's confidence I violated, and to John Souvestre, who has enough trouble right now that he doesn't need any agitation from this corner. I'd further like to congratulate these two gentlemen for making the effort to work things out without a lot of fuss, thus bucking the trend here on FightOnet. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 3 8 Feb 1999 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= What's Not Happening - Broken Backbone .-- -- -- -- -- -- WHAT'S NOT HAPPENING -- -- -- -- -- --. | There isn't always something happening on Fidonet, but | | there's always something which isn't happening. This | | column is dedicated to the lost causes which make Fido | | what it isn't today. Published semi-occasionally... | `-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --' BROKEN BACKBONE Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, doug@mdtnbbs.com After George Peace resigned as zone hub and disconnected from John Souvestre (for echomail, anyway), several participants in the BACKBONE echo pronounced the North American Backbone "broken." It's been hard to detect at this node - echomail has been coming in and going out at a seemingly undiminished rate, and all the echomail here flows through George's system. As a confirmed echomail junkie, I've attempted to follow the bloated BACKBONE echomail conference to get some idea as to what's going on. It's somewhat like panning for gold in the local Susquehanna River - I need to push through a lot of mud and debris to uncover a rare nugget. Some nuggets I've uncovered: - George is still an ZHUB, but he's no longer a NAB ZHUB. The main distinction between the two is that a ZHUB merely moves the mail, but NAB ZHUBS take on other obligations being revealed gradually by John Souvestre. The only solid information I can offer at this point is that NAB ZHUBS follow published routing charts (most of the time) to move netmail. - Of the major mail movers, George and John don't want to work together, Bob and John don't want to work together, and Ken wishes everyone would just get along. - Up until recently, George retained his connections to Bob Seaborn and Ken Wilson and continued to supply all his downlinks with echomail, with no apparant loss of mail. However, dupes started appearing on John Souvestre's system, caused by the fact that mail sent through George's system no longer contained John's node number in the seen-by lines. This caused the tossing software at Bob's and Ken's system to BOTH pack echomail messages for John. As nearly as I can tell from the conversation, dupe detectors at John's system prevented these duplicates from flowing to his downlinks. George has since relinked echomail to John's system, presumably to prevent the duplicate generation which results if he doesn't. The BACBONE isn't broken yet, but it seems like a marriage in trouble. The trial seperation didn't work out as the partners found that they have to work together, but they still haven't worked out a FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 4 8 Feb 1999 reconciliation. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, If you haven't yet heard of Fast Engines, Inc. or Fast.Serv, wel hello, hello. Fast.Serv is the Web server plug-in that turbo charges Web performance. Fast.Serv has been be praised and welcomed with open arms in the booming Web technology arena. Companies such as Morgan Stanley, The Weather Channel, CNNfn, The Vanguard Group, Hewlett Packard, BBC and many more are implementing Fast.Serv to keep up with their ever increasing demands for speed and performance on their Web sites. And as the Worldwide Web continues to grow Fast Engines, Inc. will continue to provide effective, efficient and eloquent solutions for Web speed to the Web technology community. As a respected member of high tech press, I am sending you a pre-release of a press release from Government Securities Clearance Corporation regarding their success and implementation of Fast.Serv. The release is scheduled for distribution by PRNewswire on February 3rd, 1999. Fast.Serv is an amazingly versatile product due in part to being based on the open standard protocol FastCGI. You may have read Jonathan Roy's article in Web Review (http://webreview.com/wr/pub/98/12/04/feature/index.html) last month describing the benefits of FastCGI over CGI. Fast.Serv is now available for both Netscape and Microsoft Web servers with versions for Apache and O'Reilly servers on the way. It also runs on all Unix platforms as well as Windows NT. For more information regarding Fast.Serv please visit Fast Engines' site at http://www.fastengines.com. I am looking forward to discussing Fast.Serv with you. Please contact me by email (mailto: roz@fastengines.com) or telephone 617 491-3333 with the best way and time to reach you. Best Regards, Roz Chapman Director of Communications Fast Engines, Inc. Tel 617 491-3333 Fax 617 491-9933 For Immediate Release Subject: Government Securities Clearance Corporation implements Fast Engines Inc.'s Fast.Serv FastCGI software to ensure lightning fast Web site response. Contact: Alan L. Kosow, Fast Engines, Inc., 617-491-3333 / alan@fastengines.com FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 5 8 Feb 1999 NEW YORK, NY, February 3, 1999 -- Government Securities Clearance Corporation (GSCC) today announced that it will be utilizing Fast Engines' Fast.Serv FastCGI software product to enhance its Web server performance. "GSCC is moving rapidly to deliver information using Web technology to its participant community, which consists of approximately 100 of the major Wall Street firms. Due to the anticipated high volume and complexityof these Web based information requests, GSCC needed to provide its users with rapid, reliable connections and information." Said Sal Matera, a Vice President at GSCC. "The Fast.Serv product gives GSCC the tools it needs to be successful in developing Web based application software and frameworks. Unlike expensive application servers, Fast.Serv provides the capability to leverage on existing software and hardware investment and expertise. The product allows for the initialization and establishment of persistent connections to databases and Corba servers BEFORE the client accesses our site. The result is that we are able to turn page requests around on our Digital Alpha servers very quickly. Fast.Serv was the right choice for the development process and fits well into GSCC's technology infrastructure." Continued Matera. About GSCC GSCC is the leading provider of centralized trade comparison, netting, in the world's largest marketplace. In 1998, GSCC processed more than $200 trillion in U.S. Government securities. It continually seeks to provide the latest technological advances to its Participants without compromising the stability and reliability of its systems. About Fast Engines, Inc. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fast Engines is the leader in developing and marketing high performance middleware tools for accelerating Web based applications. Fast Engines' Fast.Serv product for Netscape [NASDAQ:NS CP] and Microsoft [NASDAQ:MSFT] servers is being used by dozens of high traffic Web sites within Fortune 500 companies including The New York Times [NYSE:NYT], Morgan Stanley [NYSE:MWD], Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT], A.G. Edwards [NYSE:AGE], and Ziff Davis [NYSE:ZD]. For more information see the Fast Engines homepage at http://www.fastengines.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 6 8 Feb 1999 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= Future History 16 Feb 1999 13th Anniversary of the introduction of EchoMail by Jeff Rush. 12 May 1999 12th Anniversary of Fido Operations in Zone 4; 10th Anniversary of the creation of FidoNet Zone 4. 24 Jul 1999 XIII Pan American Games [through 8 Aug 99]. 9 Jun 1999 Tenth Anniversary of the adoption of FidoNet Policy 4.07. 10 Sep 1999 10th anniversary of Zone 5 operations. 26 Oct 1999 Thirty years from release Abbey Road album by the Beatles. 31 Dec 1999 Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed. 1 Jan 2000 The 20th Century, C.E., is still taking place thru 31 Dec. 1 Jun 2000 EXPO 2000 World Exposition in Hannover (Germany) opens. 15 Sep 2000 Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens. 21 Sep 2000 10 years of FidoNet in +7 (xUSSR) 1 Jan 2001 This is the actual start of the new millennium, C.E. -- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 7 8 Feb 1999 ================================================================= FIDONET BY INTERNET ================================================================= This is a list of all FidoNet-related sites reported to the FidoNews Editor as of this issue; see the notice at the end. FidoNet: Homepage http://www.fidonet.org FidoNews http://www.fidonews.org [HTML] http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html [ASCII] WWW sources http://travel.to/fidonet/ FTSC page http://www.ftsc.org/ Echomail [pending] General http://owls.com/~jerrys/fidonet.html http://www.nrgsys.com/orb/foti List servers: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/fidonet-discussion ============ Zone 1: http://www.z1.fidonet.org Region 10: http://www.psnw.com/~net205/region10.html Region 11: http://oeonline.com/~garyg/region11/ Region 13: Net 264: http://www.net264.org/r13.htm Region 14: Net 282: http://www.rxn.com/~net282/ Region 17: http://www.nwstar.com/~region17/ Region 18: http://techshop.pdn.net/fido/ Region 19: http://www.compconn.net/r19 Zone 1 Elist http://www.baltimoremd.com/elist/ Not sure where the following should be placed: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/snwvlly/fido.html ============ Zone 2: http://www.z2.fidonet.org ZEC2: Zone 2 Elist: http://www.fbone.ch/echolist/ Region 20: http://www.fidonet.pp.se (in Swedish) FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 8 8 Feb 1999 Region 23: http://www.fido.dk (in Danish) Region 24: http://www.swb.de/personal/flop/gatebau.html (German) Fido-IP: http://home.nrh.de/~lbehet/fido (English/German) Region 25: http://www.bsnet.co.uk/net2502/net/ Region 26: http://www.nemesis.ie REC 26: http://www.nrgsys.com/orb Region 27: http://telematique.org/ft/r27.htm Region 29: http://www.rtfm.be/fidonet/ (French) Region 30: http://www.fidonet.ch (German) Region 33: http://www.fidoitalia.net (Italian) Region 34: http://www.pobox.com/cnb/r34.htm (Spanish) REC34: http://pobox.com/~chr Region 36: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/7207/ Region 38: http://public.st.carnet.hr/~blagi/bbs/adriam.html Region 41: http://www.fidonet.gr (Greek/English) Region 42: http://www.fido.cz Region 48: http://www.fidonet.org.pl Region 50: http://www.fido7.com/ (Russian) Net 5010: http://fido.tu-chel.ac.ru/ (Russian) Net 5015: http://www.fido.nnov.ru/ (Russian) Net 5030: http://kenga.ru/fido/ (Russian & English) Net 5073: http://people.weekend.ru/soa/ (Russian) ============ Zone 3: http://www.z3.fidonet.org ============ Zone 4: Region 90: http://visitweb.com/fidonet Net 903: http://www.playagrande.com/refugio Net 904: http://members.tripod.com/~net904 (Spanish) ============ Zone 5: http://www.eastcape.co.za/fidonet/index.htm ============ Zone 6: http://www.z6.fidonet.org FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 9 8 Feb 1999 Region 65: http://www.cfido.com/fidonet/cfidochina.html (Chinese) ============ Pages listed above are as submitted to the FidoNews Editor, and generally reflect Zone and Regional Web Page sites. If no Regional site is submitted, the first Network page from that Region is used in its place. Generally, Regional pages should list access points to all Networks within the Region. TCP/IP accessible node access information should be submitted to the FidoNews Editor for inclusion in their Region or Zone. -----------oOo------------- Fidonet Via Internet Hubs Node# | Operator | Facilities (*) | Speed | Basic Rate -----------+-------------------+----------------+-------+------------ 1:12/12 | Ken Wilson | FTP | T1 | $24mo. 1:13/25 | Jim Balcom | FTP | 56k | $20mo. 1:106/1 | Matt Bedynek | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 64k | $5/$15mo. 1:106/6018 | Lawrence Garvin | FTP,VMoT | 64k | $5/mo. 1:107/451 | Andy Knifel | FTP, VMoT, UUE | 33.6 | n/c 1:124/7008 | Ben Hamilton | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 64k | $10/$20mo. 1:140/12 | Bob Seaborn | FTP | T1 | $5/$20 1:270/101 | George Peace | FTP | T1 | $30mo. 1:271/140 | Tom Barstow | UUE | T1 | n/c 1:275/1 | Joshua Ecklund | UUE | 28.8 | $10/yr. 1:280/169 | Brian Greenstreet | FTP | 33.6 | $2mo. 1:2401/305 | Peter Rocca | FTP,UUE | T1 | unkn 1:2424/10 | Alec Grynspan | FTP,UUE | T1 | n/c 1:2604/104 | Jim Mclaughlin | FTP,VMoT,UUE | 33.6 | $1mo. 1:2624/306 | D. Calafrancesco | VMoT | 33.6 | $15yr. 1:345/0 | Todd Cochrane | FTP | T1 | n/c 1:346/250 | Aran Spence | FTP,UUE | T1 | $10mo. 1:396/45 | Marc Lewis | UUE | 33.6 | $26/yr. 1:3651/9 | Jerry Gause | FTP,VMoT | 33.6 | $3/$6 1:396/1 | John Souvestre | FTP,VMoT | T1 | $15mo. 2:33/505 | Mario Mure | VMoT,UUE | 64k | n/c 2:254/175 | Alex Kemp | UUE | 56k | n/c 2:284/800 | Jeroen VanDeLeur | FTP,UUE | 64k | n/c 2:335/610 | Gino Lucrezi | UUE | 33.6 | n/c 2:469/84 | Max Masyutin | VMoT | 256k | n/c 2:2411/413 | Dennis Dittrich | UUE | 64k | n/c 2:2474/275 | Christian Emig | UUE | 64k | unkn 3:633/260 | Malcolm Miles | FTP | 33.6 | n/c 4:905/100 | Fabian Gervan | VMoT, UUE | ??? | n/c 5:7104/2 | Henk Wolsink | FTP | 28.8 | n/c -- * FTP = Internet File Transfer Protocol * VMoT = Virtual Mailer over Telnet (various) * UUE = uuencode<->email type transfers [I'm only cataloging transfer methods, eg, ftp, email, telnet. Specific programs using these protocols are no longer being listed. Contact the system operators for details of which programs they have FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 10 8 Feb 1999 available.] Compiled by C. Ingersoll, 1:2623/71, (609)814-1978, fbn@dandy.net Posted on the 1st of every month in FN_SYSOP, R13SYSOP and Fidonews. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 11 8 Feb 1999 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ------- Editor: Henk Wolsink Editors Emeritii: Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg "FidoNews Editor" FidoNet 5:5/23 BBS +27-41-515-913, 2400/9600/V.34/V.90 more addresses: Henk Wolsink -- 5:7104/2, hwolsink@catpe.alt.za (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews Editor P.O. Box 12325 Port Elizabeth, 6006 South Africa ------------------------------------------------------ FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of FidoNews and/or the Editor. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright (C) 1999 Henk Wolsink. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the Editor. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSGnn.ZIP] for a particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the current year [8], i.e., FNWSJAN8.ZIP for all the Issues from Jan 98. FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 12 8 Feb 1999 Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number 1 - 15 for 1984 - 1998, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in size from 48K to 1.4M. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via: http://www.fidonews.org ** http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm ** ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/ ftp://ftp.irvbbs.com/fidonews/ ftp://ftp.nwstar.com/Fidonet/Fidonews And in non-English formats via: ** http://www.hvc.ee/pats/fidonews (Estonian) http://www.fidonet.pp.se/sfnews (Swedish) ** LINK HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED *=*=* You may obtain an email subscription to FidoNews by sending email to: jbarchuk@worldnet.att.net with a Subject line of: subscribe fnews-edist and no message in the message body. To remove your name from the email distribution use a Subject line of: unsubscribe fnews-edist with no message to the same address above. * You may retrieve current and previous Issues of FidoNews via FTPMail by sending email to: ftpmail@fidonews.org with a Subject line of: help and FTPMail will immediately send a reply containing details and instructions. When you actually make a file request, FTPMail will respond in three stages. You find a link for this process on www.fidonews.org. *=*=* You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at: http://www.fidonews.org STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request - Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from: ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ FIDONEWS 16-06 Page 13 8 Feb 1999 Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 13 Megs. =*=*=*= The current week's FidoNews are now also available almost immediately after publication on the FidoNews Editor homepage on the World Wide Web at: http://209.77.228.66/fidonews.html There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an email link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable from 5:5/23 [5:7104/2] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators should have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141, and are used with permission. "Disagreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or something to amuse ourselves and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -----------------------------------------------------------------