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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:26 Page 1 Volume 2, Number 14 20 May 1985 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Publisher: Fido #375 Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/375. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/375. Disclaimer or don't-blame-us: The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. Fido National User Directory This is an idea that was batted around the last time the local sysops got together. How about a national directory of Fido users? You see, while Fidonet is a great idea, it does have one small problem. Say I have a few friends in California who might be using a Fido out there somewhere. How do I find out which Fido they're on? (In fact, one of the New Jersey sysops once sent mail to a board, asking about people he used to know there. He got a reply from the sysop, who turned out to be a friend of his!) Now, I could call them on the phone and ask, or I could write them a letter, or something like that, but surely we can do better. The idea we came up with is a national user directory. Sort of a phone book for Fidonet mail. The basic idea is that someone write a program that abstracts data from a USER.BBS file (leaving out passwords and such), creating a small ASCII file which could be integrated into a master directory FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:28 Page 2 at some central point and then distributed. This would all be voluntary, of course. The update cycle for something like this could be very long. The phone company updates their books once a year. I don't think we should go quite that far, but once a week is definetly more often than we need. Say, once a month, perhaps. Of course, there are some details that need to be worked out. For example, there's no point in listing users who cannot send mail. Also, a great many people use more than one board. Should we list all the boards they call? Or should we just list the board that they call the most? We also have to tie in the list of sysops, somehow. But all of this is just a matter of programming detail. The important point is whether or not most (or at least many) sysops would be willing to contribute to such a project. If you're interested and willing to participate, or just want to make comments and/or ask questions, please contact Dave Horowitz at Fido 317. Fido 10i As you probably know by now, Fido 10i is now here. If you haven't got it, by all means go and get it. I've heard a few complaints about 10i, but nothing serious. Fidonet needs and must have multiple network capability if it is to survive much longer, which means we need and must have Fido 10i, warts and all. Network growth looks to be explosive. Node number 500 has already been assigned, and I know of several Fidos in this area alone that are champing at the bit waiting for node numbers. If Fidonet is to remain humanly possible, then it MUST be decentralized. June 12th is the deadline for the switchover. Everyone is to maintain there present node number in net one until that date. At national mail hour on the 12th, everyone is supposed to switch over to their new net number, and node number assignment switches over to the hosts and the regional administrators. With luck, all will go smoothly. Frankly, that much luck doesn't exist in the universe. I think we're going to have total chaos for a couple of weeks. But then a stronger, more coherent Fidonet should emerge. Personally, I can hardly wait. The new scheme should be MUCH easier to use, since nodes will be grouped into something approaching a rational organization. FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:32 Page 3 ============================================================ NEWS ============================================================ Chris Rowley Sysop, Fido 359 The latest PC Magazine talked of our beloved communication medium, the bulletin board. I personally took great offense to this article, and the words IBM user were the first to spring to mind after the opening paragraph. I'm afraid that more and more users are beginning to sway to this viewpoint because of reading articles like this. I hope it will stop. The article nearly said outright (if it didn't) that the best bbs's are the ones with lots of files and places where you could talk seriously about technical problems. This is major b.s. in my book. The bulletin board should be another medium of communication like the letter and the phone to meet people and express viewpoints. If questions come into play, answer them. But that shouldn't be your primary concern. Neither should be files. A bbs is a great way to meet people, even if you don't know who they really are. It is also a place to show that computers don't have to be dehumanizing, that they can promote human relations. Plus this human factor can warm anti-computer people up sometimes. IBM bbs's are always the least interesting. Everyone is so preoccupied with files that the use of the public forum a board offers is lost. The lowly Trash-80 generally runs the best boards with the most bright, interesting people I sit here and watch user after user log on and soon as they see 'Main:' type the lowly 'F'. You want files? Try a HOSTCOMM. They are built for files, not messages. I find boards interesting where there are conflicts, agreements, discussions, debates, the bright, the not-so- bright, the random, the straight. Variety. The next time you log onto a board, check the messages. You may be surprised at what you're missing, or the Sysop is missing. Chris Rowley ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:33 Page 4 <:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:> FOR RAINBOW OWNERS/USERS ONLY! I am going to chair the Technical Questions and Answers session for Rainbow users at the National DECUS (Digital Equipment Computer Users Society) symposia in New Orleans (May 27-31). All the major design engineers of the Rain- bow will be there to answer any questions relating to hardware or software (DEC/DCS products only) that you may have. If you wish to have one or more technical questions answered by DEC, forward it to me before May 24th and I will present it to the appropriate engineer. Please make your question VERY clear. Include your name, address, node # & DECUS membership number (if you have one). Either I will return their response to you via FIDONET or they will write to you directly (they are very good about this). Send your questions to: RB ENGINEER Node: 350 This service is being provided by your DECUS PC Special Interest Group. If you are not a member of DECUS and would like to join (its free) send a membership request to: DECUS US CHAPTER, MEMBERSHIP PROCESSING GROUP 249 NORTHBORO ROAD, BP02 MARLBORO, MA 01752, USA PHONE: (617) 480-3418 <:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:> ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:35 Page 5 Tom Jennings Fido #1 MORE ON 2400 BAUD MODEMS This is a followup to the other article on 2400 baud modems. Since then, I've had more experience with the Hayes 2400, and got one of the U.S. Robotics Courier 2400's. Simply put, the Hayes 2400 is a piece of junk, sorry to say. It is nowhere near the quality and functionality of the old 1200 baud model. It is riddled with bugs, many of which are "features" which probably won't change. It will be OK for BBS use, since it insists on entering AutoAnswer mode at strange times, but is unreliable connecting at 1200, and 600 is useless. If you insist on buying the Hayes because of their reputation, you are making a serious mistake. Don't do it. The Courier, however, is everything the Hayes should have been. It is just about "perfect", that is, it seems to do everything it says it does, and simply and reliably. Some things you won't see are dynamic line equalization that will improve the quality of connects. It is thoroughly Hayes 1200 compatible, and is also compatible with the 2400 Hayes command set. (It does not have all the & commands, thank goodness, but they aren't needed at all.) I spent a week playing with the Hayes, and never got it to do exactly what I wanted. I read the manual cover to cover, experimented, all the usual things. I took the Courier out of the box, set the switches (clearly marked on the bottom of the modem) plugged it in, and it ran first time. Elapsed time: 5 minutes. To get the Hayes 2400 to autoanswer at 2400 requires some work. You have to issue a complex series of commands AT 2400 BAUD, then save the settings in the non volatile RAM. Only then will it answer at 2400. I won't go into all the details about the nasty side affects of raising and lowering DTR. Fido, starting in version 10I, has a special modem type (11/J) for the Hayes 2400; you must use it if you want to operate at 2400 baud. The Courier will autoanswer at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud with no difficulty. Just plug it in. No special setup for Fido is neccessary to operate it at 2400. FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:37 Page 6 ============================================================ COLUMNS ============================================================ From: Tim Meyers Sysop Fido #365 & #411. Recently I just purchased an IBM AT, after a few days I realized I was running out of space in my so called "Quick System". Later I talked with another owner and he said that he had the same problem. If only he could find out the way that IBM was putting 1 meg on the mother board of the AT. Impossible feat, right? WRONG! I called IBM, they failed to comment on it, so the next day I sent a nice letter thru the customer support systems at work, within a few hours I had a reply, It said, and I quote: To: Tim Meyers. From: Ibm Corp. Subject: At Exp. Sir: Yes, the exspansion is known to us here at Boca. We are unable to comment or provide any information on where and how to install the memory. We haven't tested the full use of the product, but it will be further tested in the future. We suggest that you install extra boards as needed. " Well so there it is, they know about it, but they wish not to say anything about it, well that's IBM for you, So, the question boils down to. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PUT 1MEG ON THE SYSTEM BOARD OF THE IBM AT?? Anyone that has information to this, Please! Send it to Fido #442. I Know it can be done, the problem is HOW? FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:38 Page 7 ============================================================ NOTICES ============================================================ *** Calendar of Events *** 26 May 85 Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews. 27 May 85 through 31 May 85; Spring 1985 DECUS symposium, New Orleans, LA. Among other events, Kurt Reisler (sysop Fido 74) will give a 1 hour talk on Fido. 12 Jun 85 Start of Multinet Fido; Make sure you have Fido version 10i. Stay in net 1 until this date, then switch over to your new net number. If you have any event you want listed in this calendar, please send a note to node 107/375. ------------------------------------------------------------ *** W A R N I N G *** W A R N I N G *** W A R N I N G *** ROGUE Piracy Warning The game program ROGUE.EXE has been making the rounds lately. A great many people have been down- and up-loading it for the simple reason that it is a dynamite adventure game. THIS IS STOLEN SOFTWARE!!! The program is property of AI Design of Mountain View, California, and is well worth the $40 which they are asking for it. These folks deserve their money for such an excellent piece of work, so please make sure it isn't on your board. There is also a shareware product called HACK, which is a sort of upgraded ROGUE that runs on any MS-DOS system. It is quite a lot larger than ROGUE, and a little rougher around the edges (no color, for example), but it is LEGAL to have available on your board, which ROGUE is NOT!