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┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ C A R R I E R D E T E C T │ │ │ │ The PC Communications Journal For Every Modem User! │ │ │ │ Issue #4, November 1991 │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Table of Contents: Welcome ........................................ 2 Product Evaluations ................................ 3 Solar Realms Elite Version 0.0981 .............. 3 Learning Center .................................... 7 Guide to Uploading Files With Batch Protocols ... 7 Introduction to Virus Protection ................ 10 Writing A BBS Door (Part 2) ..................... 16 Protocol Prowl ..................................... 23 Picking the Proper Protocol .................... 23 Writer's Roundup ................................... 29 Reflections 1 .................................. 29 ByteLine ........................................... 33 Feedback ........................................... 40 Product Information .............................. 40 Carrier Detect is published bimonthly by Michael W. Crosson. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. All brand and product names mentioned in this publication are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. (c) 1991 Michael W. Crosson. All rights reserved. W E L C O M E Another two months has passed, winter is upon us and the wonderful world of electronic communications has brought us together again for another GIGANTIC issue of Carrier Detect. This issue exceeds forty pages for the second time in row. This journal is starting to get so large at times I think the pure text content exceeds that of the computer magazines if we took out all the advertisements! Last month I received just two registrations for the CDR-Door which is not very encouraging. This brings the grand total to only three paid registrations. If you are reader or sysop that enjoys Carrier Detect, I urge you to please consider registering the door, making a small donation, or send in an advertisment. It takes a quite a bit of time, effort, and money to bring you this publication. This issue has a slightly different emphasis than previous issues. This time out the majority of the articles are more tutorial oriented instead of emphasizing product reviews. There are several articles with a strong learning orientation in this issue: how to uploads files in batch mode, how to protect your system against virus infection, a general guide to selecting the best protocol for the job, and the second installment of Scott Baker's popular "How to Write a BBS Door" series. In fact there is only one review this issue and it is of a BBS door. If you enjoy the reviews in Carrier Detect, don't fret, they will return in January. I am very happy to formally introduce the Carrier Detect Local Reader. The Local Reader is a new windowed front-end for reading Carrier Detect offline. Like the CDR-Door it accumulates and indexes all articles from every issue. This program uses the same .CDX files that the door does so once you have the program there is nothing extra that you will need to download. Using the Local Reader makes information retrevial and product comparison easy! Plus it allows you to extract any particular article that you desire. The Local Reader is available as CDLREAD and no registration is required for this release. It is our gift to you for a great year. Since this is the last issue of 1991, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas! Sincerely, Michael Crosson Publisher and Editor Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 2 P R O D U C T E V A L U A T I O N S Each month Carrier Detect contains several product evaluations. Most of these will be software reviews but from time to time hardware will be discussed as well. The opinions expressed in Carrier Detect are solely my own or the respective author of the article. Carrier Detect strives to be as objective as possible when evaluating software. Judgments to suitability are made with the typical modem enthusiast in mind and are not geared toward the complete novice nor the power user. Exceptions to this are noted as such in the article. * Solar Realms Elite (SRE), Version 0.098 Reviewed by Scott Baker Pros: Quick, non time consuming play Good multiple player interaction Makes good use of strategy Cons: No graphics of any form Quality of play can degrade quickly. Looking for a nice door game for your bbs system? Well, this is it. SRE is one of the most enjoyable door games that I have played in a long while. While most modern door games are very time consuming (a player could easily spend a full sixty minutes in a game such as Trade Wars 2002), SRE is a quick game that your users will only spend 5-15 minutes on. The best way to describe an online game is probably to get right to the point - what does the user do while he's playing? Following is a description of what an average player can do in a game session. Each day at logon time, the user is presented with a diplomatic phase. The diplomatic phase allows players to enter a variety of treaties with other players. A variety of treaties are available ranging from a "free trade agreement" to a full-fledged "armed defense pact." This capability is very important to SRE. While most other door games force you to choose between being someone's ally or their enemy, SRE has several gradations of treaties. You can enter a simple free trade agreement with those players you do not fully trust or enter an armed defense pact with your most trusted friends. Once you are finished with the diplomatic phase, you enter a series of five turns. These turns allow you to play out all the other aspects of the game. The turns themselves are divided into several different stages. Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 3 At the start of each turn, you complete a "resource allocation" procedure. You have to feed your people and your troops, spend money on managing your planets, provide funds for your military and police force, etc. Failure to complete any of these requests could lead to a revolution within your empire. It's wise to keep a very close eye on these resources. If for example, you run out of food and are not able to feed your troops, they will start deserting your empire very quickly. Next, if you have any covert agents, then you are presented with the covert operations menu. From here you can perform a multitude of sneaky attacks on your enemy. You can send an agent in to bomb his food storage, send a team in to take hostages, "set him up" with another player, etc. Covert operations can be the key to winning game. For example, if you could successfully "set up" two of the larger players, they could possibly start a war and annihilate each other. This would allowing smaller empires a chance to bounce back. Once you have completed the covert operations step, you are presented with the purchasing menu. You can purchase more troops, fighters, heavy cruisers, etc to defend your empire. This is also the place where you get to colonize other planets. Colonizing planets is one of the key parts of the game. There are several different types of planets you can colonize, including soldier, government, food, urban and research colonies. Your goal is to find the best mix of planets to colonize. Sure, you could buy a whole bunch of Urban planets and tax the people to make lots of money, but if you don't buy enough food planets to support them, you'll be in the middle of a revolution before you know it. Each of the different planet types have unique characteristics to them. For example, tourism planets can earn great sums of money, but only if your empire is popular and people want to come there. If you have an underdeveloped, underfed and polluted empire, then you're not going to get many tourists. Once you are done purchasing what you desire, you move on to the attack phase. From here, you can attack one empire per turn. Attacking is completely optional and if you wish to stay a peaceful emperor, that is your choice. Be aware though that planet upkeep is expensive and if you want a lot of them, then it will soon become easier (and cheaper!) to attack others than continue colonizing planets. When you decide to attack, SRE asks you how many of each of your forces you wish to send. They immediately go out and attack the enemy. If your attack is successful, Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 4 then you will carve up part of his empire and add it to yours. If not, then you just sacrificed several very expensive pieces of military hardware. It's as simple as that. The final portion of each turn includes a trading option where you may trade with any empires that you have the proper diplomatic relations with. You send a fleet containing what you wish to give and demands for what you want in return. If the other player says yes, then you perform the trade. That's about it for the actual game play. While these options may seem somewhat complex, SRE really does present them in an intelligent, easy to follow manner. Next, I'd like to talk about some of SRE's unique and helpful features. An excellent feature for new players is the protection period. The new user gets twenty turns of protection to build his empire. During this time, nobody can attack him. This gives the new player plenty of time to become accustomed to the game, contact major players for treaties, build an army, etc. In some other games, a new player can get stomped on the very day that he joins the game. In SRE, the authors thoughtfully prevented this from happening. Another interesting feature is SRE's hints." At the purchasing menu, you can hit "H" and a hint will be displayed. These hints are keyed to the status of your empire. If you have too much pollution, the game will suggest buying an anti-pollution planet. If you are just starting, the game will suggest ways to build your empire. The hints are very useful for those who are not familiar with the subtleties of the game. If you are a sysop, you may be asking "How easy is this game to set up?" Well, SRE has one of the best installation programs that I have seen in a door game. It is very user friendly and does almost everything for you. SRE supports many bbs systems and drop file formats so you most likely will not have to use a separate door converter. SRE's install will even create a batch file to execute the door for you automatically. As a passionate hater of crippleware and annoyware, I have to admit that although SRE is crippled, the crippling is minor and acceptable. The crippling consists of a few features such as the bank and a few exotic attack modes disabled until the program is registered. This is just enough incentive to get a sysop to register, but it isn't too pushy that it gets the sysop angry. Hopefully, some other shareware authors will take note of this and reduce Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 5 their crippling to an acceptable form like SRE. Most of what I've said so far about SRE has been good, but as with all programs, there are a few bad points. SRE contains no graphics. Those of you who love ANSI animation, EGA terminal programs, etc will not find them here. This is both good and bad. The good side is that SRE really does not require graphics. It plays very well with just plain text. As a door author, I really don't know where I would want to put graphics in it. It just doesn't lend itself to pictures that well. On the negative side, some users may not want to play a pure text game. Another problem about the game concerns it's enforcement of treaties. Sure, you can set up an armed defense pact with a player, but you can also cancel that treaty and go in and waste them if you see an opportunity. SRE's play also can degrade very fast. If one major player invades another and devastates him, then all of the medium and lower level players will jump in and carve up his empire. The result is that a major player who has been playing for several weeks can be utterly destroyed in a single day. Once a major player has died, he may get discouraged and quit playing the game. There is also some confusion about the combat portion of the game. For example, several times I have attacked people with nearly equal forces as my own and defeated them with minimal bloodshed. For example, an attack with 20,000 troops, 10,000 fighters, and 8,000 cruisers against a similarly armed opponent resulted in the loss of about 150 troops, 50 fighters, and 50 cruisers for both me and my opponent. I for one always enjoy the though of my forces "fighting to the death." In conclusion, I found SRE to be a compelling game with a few flaws. I would suggest that as a sysop, you put it up and see what your users think of it. They may become addicted to it or they may ignore it. It's also important to point out that the authors of SRE have produced a sequel entitled "Alpha Colony VI." Although I haven't had time to look into this thoroughly, I did notice that it does contain some ANSI pictures and a few more bells and whistles. --- Scott Baker is a shareware author and frequent contributer to Carrier Detect. He can be reached on his BBS system, The Not Yet Named BBS in Tucson, AZ at (602) 577-3650. Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 6 T H E L E A R N I N G C E N T E R The Learning Center is an area devoted tutorial articles. It is the "How-To" department of Carrier Detect. However Articles are not limited to newcomers and in fact may cover advanced concepts. * Beginner's Guide To Uploading Files with Batch Protocols Tutorial by Michael Crosson A great feature of most newer file transfer protocols is the ability to send or receive more than one file at a time. Protocols that have this ability are said to be "batch" protocols since they can send a batch of files or even entire directories in one session. Older protocols such as X Modem do not have this ability. The batch feature can be a convenience, especially if the steps leading up to the actual transfer are long or complex. In practice it is much easier to do a batch download rather than upload. This is because most of the work is done for you when you are simply receiving a file. Since the filenames are automatically passed to the receiver, most of the time all you must do is invoke the protocol. Uploading a batch of files presents more difficulties. In this case, it is your responsibility to tell the protocol what files you want to transfer. This article will explain several strategies to can help you to make the most of this useful feature. The first method is the simplest but not the most elegant way batch uploads can be accomplished. It is a down and dirty method but even a few BBS packages I've seen use it. It exploits the fact that most batch protocols accept wildcat specifications on the command line. The basic idea is to copy all the files you intend to send into a work directory and then send them using *.* as the filename. - Step One Decide what files you want to send. - Step Two Copy those files into an empty work directory. For our purposes here let's call it C:\TEMP. - Step Three When your communications program asks you for a file name, type in *.*. For example if you are using DSZ, the desired command line would be: Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 7 DSZ ha both sz c:\temp\*.* - Step Four Erase the files you copied into the work directory so you don't inadvertently send them again next time you go to do an upload again. You may want to write a small batch file to start up your Communications program to do this or include it in the batch file that calls the external protocol (if you Comm program uses batch files to do so). One such batch file that would be called when the protocol was selected is shown as an example below. @echo off c: cd c:\temp dsz ha both send *.* if errorlevel 1 goto XFERFAIL if errorlevel 0 goto XFEROK :XFERFAIL echo Attention! There was a problem during this batch UL! goto END :XFEROK echo Transfer Successful! Now deleting work files. erase *.* goto END :END exit Note that this batch file will erase the contents of your upload directory only if the transfer was successful by checking for the proper errorlevel code when the protocol exits (usually 0). Another method to simplify the batch upload process involves the use of a text file that contains the full path and file names you want to transfer. This method works with most batch protocols, although some may require that the list be named something special. Since many terms contain built in text editors or have a DOS hook for one, this method is faster than it sounds. As an example, if you wanted to use this technique with DSZ, when prompted for a filename to send the name of the file list in the form below: @[pathname]filelist.txt The DSZ command line in its entirety would be similar to this one where filelist.txt designates the text file that you created. DSZ ha both send @c:\telix\filelist.txt Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 8 The protocols that are compatible with this method include Bimodem, DSZ, HyperProtocol, Lynx, Mpt, rC-Modem, and Super Zmodem. A final way to perform efficient batch file uploads is to use an external protocol shell designed for this purpose. There are many fine shareware programs that help facilitate batch file transfers and many work with a wide assortment of protocols. One of my favorites is Byte Brother's Powernode. Powernode works with Bimodem, DSZ, Jmodem, Lynx, Mpt, and SuperK. Powernode is fully menu driven and batch uploading is as simple as tagging the files you want to send and picking your protocol! Powernode installs in a DOS hook (such as the slot for the external editor) or as an external protocol in some communications program. Installation is minimal and all the hard work is done behind the scenes. Using a shell like Powernode allows a user to avoid confusing command line parameters and switches like those I discussed above. This method is the quickest way to get up and running in batch mode. Other programs that provide a similar function include Transfer, and HotkeyZ. Finally, it should be noted that a few terminal programs have a point and shoot interface built into the program. This feature can prove to be very useful if you frequently have to send files from your computer. Examples of programs that can do batch upload with using any other additional programs include Boyan HyperAccess/5, and Telemate. Taking advantage of batch capabilities saves time and is a big convenience. It isn't difficult to do once you know a few tricks and perhaps enlist the help of a companion program. Here's a concise listing of suggested programs to look for related to this article. - Protocols program name version publisher filename Bimodem 1.24 Erik Labs BIMOD124.ARJ DSZ 10/20/91 Omen Tech. DSZ1024.ARJ HyperProtocol 1.1F Hillgraeve HYPER11F.ARJ Mpt 1.10 Matt Thomas MPT110.ARJ rC-Modem 4.40 Lavio Pareschi CMODEM44.ARJ Super ZModem 1.60 Scott Baker SZMOD160.ARJ - Protocol Shells Powernode Revision I Byte Brothers POWERNI.ARJ Transfer 5.2 Steve Lewis XFER52.ZIP Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 9 * Introduction to Virus Protection Article by Bill Logan The trend within the dark world of the Virus programmer is to write undetectable viruses that not only replicate but can cause as much damage as possible. Utilizing stealth techniques the Virus Authors are attempting to create the ultimate hidden virus, and thus creating the most dangerous as well. One that is not only undetectable to the computer user, but undetectable to the virus scanner. "The game is afoot," Holmes would have said, between the virus detection authors and the virus infection authors. It is very much like a game of cat and mouse in which the victory goes to the author with the best virus detection or the virus infection. Just what is a virus? John McAfee described this in his book, "Computer Viruses, Worms, Data Diddlers, Killer Programs, and Other Threats To Your System." A virus is a computer program created to infect other programs with copies of itself. It has the ability to clone itself, so that it can multiply, constantly seeking new host environments. That may be all it does - a single mission to replicate and spread from one system to another. Or the virus program may be written to damage other programs, alter data, and then perhaps self-destruct, leaving no evidence of itself behind, so that defenses cannot be developed against it. The growth of viruses shows an exponential spurt this year. With the present high number of viruses and the growth cycle pattern of the past, this proves to be alarming. Recently Geraldo Rivera dedicated a half hour of his popular program to this dark side of computing. A recent expert estimated that if this present growth cycle continues we will see over 100,000 strains of viruses by the year 1995. Granted, this is an alarming statistic, especially for the BBS community. But we can rest assured that as each new virus is constructed, we have experts in the field creating ways to defeat them. John McAfee, a leading virus expert and his antivirus firm, McAfee Associates, are constantly finding new and improved ways to combat virus infections. His company's programs, VirusScan, Clean, NetScan, Vcopy, and Vshield are constantly being updated and released to the computer community. These program aid thousands in helping to detect, prevent and eradicate a virus before it can do damage. John's intelligence network, worldwide contacts and reporting system often allows him to maintain an edge over competitors and affords him a unique position in Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 10 providing a line of defense against these menaces. Many other Software programmers have entered this silent war and are producing means in which we can protect ourselves against infection and safeguard our investment. Central Point and Symantec are but two of the large software publishers who have entered the war and provide programs to aid and protect the computer user. There are many other fine software firms providing the computer community with protection and others are sure to join the fight if the present growth cycle continues. It is alarming for me to talk with computer users who have become so cautious and concerned with virus infection that they take extreme measures to insure they do not become infected. I know of users who refuse to download a Shareware file from a Bulletin Board, yet feel positively secure and safe when working with commercial programs. Many other also feel a false sense of security when they take their computer to the local computer repair shop for a new Hard Drive or an upgrade. What they fail to realize is that they are just as prone to infection from those sources as they are from Shareware. In fact there are times when it is safer to obtain Shareware then it is to have your computer repaired or install a new software package from a retailer. The Bulletin Board industry has received such a bad rap over the years there are those who feel just logging onto one or receiving a text file will jepordize their computer. The reality of the situation is much different. In many instances well maintained Bulletin Boards are safer then the other avenues I pointed out. Yes, there will always be a possibility of receiving a virus infected file or a Trojan within a file, but the precautions the BBS community takes to insure the safety of their users has grown rapidly over the past few years. What many users fail to keep in mind is that the sysop of the typical Bulletin Board has invested a large amount of time, work, energy and finances into a hobby that not only provides them with enjoyment but also the hundreds of users who log on weekly. The last problem a system operator needs is have their system destroyed by a virus infection or spread an infection to his callers. If an infection spread, it would effectively shut that Bulletin Board down from lack of use and support. As a result of this the average sysop has installed many lines of defense against the threat of a virus infection. First upon receipt, all of the Shareware uploaded are decompressed and scanned for possible infection. If they pass, they are moved to the corresponding file area for the users enjoyment. If a virus is found or the archive is corrupted, the file is either deleted immediately or moved to a bad files area hidden to the public. As a result it is likely the Shareware files which end up in Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 11 the file directories are free of infection. This creates a safe computing environment for the users as well as the sysop. With commercial software, computer owners are at the mercy of the OEM's. In many instances it is common practice when a dissatisfied user returns a program to repackage, reshrink wrap and distribute the product again for resale. This is where the problem arises. For Example, A user purchases a software product at the local computer outlet. After returning home and installing it on their computer, they find the product does not perform as expected. They remove it and return it to the place of purchase. What this user did not know was that lurking on their Hard Drive was a virus infection. When they installed the program the floppy the distribution disks were not write protected. As a result, the floppy disks returned to the retailer were infected! That same computer store returns that opened software package to their OEM if there was a problem, (who repackages and resells it), or places it back on the shelve for resale. Another user eventually enters the store looking for that exact software and purchases it. This result in another virus infection. Let's take a look at a common practice among computer repair shops. They work inside computers from all over everyday. They install hard drives, RAM chips, video cards, and more. In doing so they use a copy of their favorite Disk Manager, or perhaps Diagonstic Software. This copy may have been used on one hundred different machines from one hundred different sources, any of which could have had a virus infection. In reusing this utility the repair person is unknowingly passing on an infection to every machine he services. Then these same customers bring home work from the office. After arriving at their office the following day, they take these same newly infected floppies and use them on their work computers. Other employees also work from these computers and that evening take their floppies home too. What has transpired here is a far reaching infection as a result of just one careless repair person. It is worth mentioning here one final place where extra care might be in order, colleges and universities. They are another source responsible for a high number of infections. Here too floppies from many different people and machines are constantly used and then go home for extra work. As you can see from these examples, (which are taken from actual infections I have tracked down), in relation to the commercial sector, repair industry, and academic community, the BBS community can be relatively safe. But even with precautions infections still occur. As a result, the best line of defense to practice your own safe Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 12 computing measures. This can be achieved by obtaining a good virus scanning program and virus eradication program. It is also a good idea to obtain a Virus Prevention program. I suggest McAfee's Scan, Clean and Vshield, but there are others available to get the job done. Which ever you use, make it a practice to use them. Do not just purchase Central Point Antivirus, Norton Antivirus, or McAfee's products, stick the floppies in storage and forget about them. Set them up. Install virus prevention, typically a TSR program that will scan the boot sector, partition table, and root directory on system power up as well as each program a program is invoked. It is also a safe practice to decompress and scan each program that you download from a bulletin board before using it. Even if the BBS practices AntiViral protection, it is still a wise precaution to scan it prior to use. It is wise to use your Virus Scanner to scan EVERY floppy which is used in your system that comes from another user, school, work or commercial source. Whether it is write protected or not, scan it. It is always better safe then sorry. Now we reach the last line of defense. Make frequent backups of your clean, virus free system. This insures that your data is safe in case the worst does occur. It is always a good idea to watch the goings on with your computer. Ask yourself these questions. Does the Hard Drive light come on for no reason? Does the system run slow than normal? Do you have problems copying your programs to a floppy? Do you have strange files on your hard drive you never noticed before? Do your program files appear to be getting larger when you type DIR? Do you notice strange messages or comments on your screen when you power up or warm boot? Does your monitor act strange at times, displaying odd images or strange behavior on the part of the characters on the screen? Does loading a program take longer than normal? Do disk accesses seem excessive for the simplest of tasks? Do you have less system memory then usual? Do programs or files disappear mysteriously? Do you suddenly notice a reduction in available disk space? Any of these signs can be indicative of viral infections. Always be aware of your system. Suspicious behanvior may turn out to be a glitch, bad code, a power surge, brown out, a defective Hard Drive controller or even nothing at all! But then again it just may be a virus too. If you suspect something is strange, then run your scan program. Practice safe computing! The best time to start is right now! What do you do if your computer is infected? First, do not panic. Immediately power down your computer for 15 seconds. Then cold boot with a clean, write protected system floppy. Scan and Clean your computer for infection with a clean write protected floppy which contains your Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 13 AntiViral Utilities. Some Virus scanners must first scan and obtain the name of the virus to remove prior to actually removing the infection. Be aware of your AntiViral Software, and understand how to use it. Depending on the infection it may be a simple task of removal or it may be more involved. If it is simple then the Antiviral software will perform as expected, remove the virus and your system will be clean again. However, problems can arise in the depth and scope of the infection. Some viruses are program infectors, while others will infect your boot sector and partition table. Depending on the virus it may totally corrupt the programs it has infected. It may attach itself to the beginning or end of a .EXE or .COM file, or may just randomly insert its code anywhere it can. A Virus Cleaner will overwrite that code with clean code of its own or it may use 0's or X's if it is unable to overwrite the code. It will delete it as a last resort. In any case, it will do what it has been programed to do to remove the infection. If the infection was a minor one that file can be used once again. If it was a more serious one, it may be corrupted to the point of not functioning. If the Virus Cleaner wants to delete the file, then it is a good idea to allow it. Normally it will only delete for two reasons, one, you have configured it to do so, or two, it cannot remove the virus safely. In either case this is where the frequent clean backups come into the picture. Or if the Virus Cleaner has only deleted a few .EXE, .COM, or .OVL files it is a simple task of overwriting with the original program disk. In the case of a boot sector and partition table infector the virus cleaner will overwrite the infected sectors as before. It will use code of its own or 0's. In any event due to the nature of a computer system this may cause the Hard Drive to be unusable, otherwise known as a system crash. Here too there is no need to panic and reformat the Hard Drive. It is a good practice to keep a Hard Drive Utility on hand, Norton, PC Tools, etc. With Norton's you would utilize Disk Doctor to repair the Sectors and partition table. Another method involves McAfee's programs; Scan, Clean and Vshield. Clean would be the program used to remove the infection. In version 82 and above a new switch has been added. Now it will repair the partition table and boot sector when using DOS version 4.XX and above. This is the /MAINT switch. In most cases this will repair the damage caused by the virus and you will not need to use a Disk Utility. A point here I would like to make. If you do panic and decide to reformat the Hard Drive, you may still end up with an empty infected disk. Many boot sector and partition table infectors are also TSR's. When you reformat it will simply reinfect the Hard Drive while in Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 14 memory. Here too you must first power down the computer and cold boot with a clean write protected floppy prior to the format. But please, there is no reason to do this. If you do elect to take this route of last resort, then you have wasted your time and money on your AntiVirus software. Once your system is clean and you have reinstalled any programs which were deleted or corrupted, then cold boot your computer from the hard drive. At this time your computer is safe to use and you can resume your normal activities. There are many types of viruses to watch for, so many in fact it is impossible to know them all. One virus that appears to be everywhere is the Stoned Virus. This is a boot Sector and Partition Table Infector. This is spread via the sharing of infected floppy diskettes. One common mistake made is that Stoned and other boot sector infectors are thought to be passed on though infected programs. In reality this can not happen. A boot Sector infector can only be transported via an infected floppy. There is however one way this type of virus may be passed on through a program and that is in the case of a program called a dropper. This is a program specifically written to infect the boot sector once it is invoked. But in the case of normal, everyday programs they cannot pass on a Boot Sector virus. There are many Boot Sector viruses as there are many program infectors. Also there now exists a FAT infector which has recently been reported in Europe. The name of this new virus is "DIR-II" or "FAT" and it is reaching high levels of infection in Europe. Expect other breeds of this type of virus to proliferate soon. McAfee has just released a version of Scan and Clean to combat this virus and I am sure others will soon follow. This is just an example to point out that virus authors are thinking of more creative viruses and attempting to create as much havoc as possible without being detected. The virus industry is growing but so are we, the conscientious computer user. In addition, our knowledge and arsenal to combat virus' is growing as well. We have the tools and the ability to defeat the virus authors but we must use them. Dedicated AntiVirus Authors work relentlessly to insure that a safe computing can be a reality for us of us with just an ounce of prevention. You may go for years without EVER seeing a virus, or you may NEVER see a virus, but it is always wise to be safe rather than sorry. Feel comfortable when working with a BBS, but still scan your programs. Always be aware of your computer and watch for strange signs, it could be indication of a virus infection. Be cautious of other user's floppies. Make it a habit to scan your commercial software before installation. Always scan after the computer has returned from the shop. Obtain capable and Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 15 well supported AntiVirus Software. Then learn how to use it. Maintain a clean write protected system boot disk and a copy of your AntiVirus software on it. And above all, make frequent backups of your clean system. If you practice safe computing you will have no problems, and be able to enjoy the hobby of BBSing and the business of computers with a minimium of heartbreak. --- Bill Logan is an AntiViral Consultant and a licensed McAfee Agent. He can be contacted via FidoNet at 1:300/22. * Writing a BBS Door (Part 2) Tutorial by Scott M. Baker I am happy to say that response to the first door tutorial has been very encouraging. We've received several requests for further continuation of the series, so here is the second installment. For those joining us for the first time, this series is about how to write a door program. We're programming in Turbo Pascal and using my DoorDriver kit for support. I encourage any of you who have not yet read part I to review as it contains some important introductory material. Last time I said we'd dig deeper into some interactive communication with the user. The best way to do this is with a sample program. Our last sample, HLODOOR was pretty plain, so let's write something that is a bit more exciting. The following is NUMDOOR.PAS, a simple little game designed to demonstrate some interactive communication with the user. { 1} program numdoor; { 2} { 3} uses doordriv; { 4} { 5} procedure DoTheTitle; { 6} begin; { 7} sclrscr; { 8} swriteln('Hello, '+user_first_name+ { 9} ' '+user_last_name+ {10} '. Welcome to NumDoor!'); {11} swriteln(''); {12} end; {13} {14} procedure playgame; {15} var Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 16 {16} thenum: word; {17} playerguess: word; {18} guessnum: byte; {19} done: boolean; {20} tempstr: string; {21} begin; {22} swriteln('I''m thinking of a number.'+ {23} ' Can you guess what it is?'); {24} swriteln(''); {25} guessnum:=0; {26} randomize; {27} thenum:=random(100)+1; {28} done:=false; {29} while not done do begin; {30} inc(guessnum); {31} swrite('Guess #'); {32} str(guessnum,tempstr); {33} swrite(tempstr); {34} swrite(': '); {35} sread_num_word(playerguess); {36} if playerguess>thenum then swriteln('Lower!') else {37} if playerguess<thenum then swriteln('Higher!') else {38} if playerguess=thenum then begin; {39} swriteln('Correct!'); {40} done:=true; {41} end; {42} if guessnum=10 then done:=true; {43} end; {while} {44} if thenum<>playerguess then begin; {45} swriteln('You Lost!'); {46} str(thenum,tempstr); {47} swriteln('The number was '+tempstr+'.'); {48} end; {49} end; {50} {51} procedure waitforkey; {52} var {53} ch: char; {54} begin; {55} swriteln(''); {56} swriteln('Press any key to continue.'); {57} sread_char(ch); {58} end; {59} {60} begin; {61} initdoordriver('DOORDRIV.CTL'); {62} dothetitle; {63} playgame; {64} waitforkey {65} end. Some of you were asking for a real door; well, there it is - all 62 lines worth! Those of you using our new LOCREAD program may wish to load up a second window on the Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 17 screen so you may view both the above source and the rest of the article at the same time. On with the discussion... First lets look at an overview of the structure of NUMDOOR. We've got three main procedures: DoTheTitle, PlayGame, and WaitForKey. These procedures are pretty self explanatory. DoTheTitle displays a little title information about NUMDOOR. PlayGame performs the actual task of playing the game, and WaitForKey waits for the user to press a key once the game is over. Let's go through the program section by section. At the very top, you'll notice lines one and three. Line 1 (Program NumDoor;) is simply us formally telling TP the name of our program. Line 2 (Uses Doordriv;) is the all-important "uses" statement which tells TP that we will be using the DoorDriv TPU. Procedure DoTheTitle The first procedure, DoTheTitle displays a little introduction to the user so he knows where he is. Let's look inside this procedure and see how it works: LINE 7: SCLRSCR; This is a DoorDriver procedure which we have not introduced before. Sclrscr is DoorDriver's compliment to the Turbo Pascal clrscr procedure. The clrscr procedure is provided by TP to allow us to clear the screen. If you're familiar with basic, then this is equivalent to a CLS. Obviously, we will need to clear both the remote and the local screens, so that's why we have to use DoorDriver's Sclrscr. LINES 8-10: SWRITELN('Hello, '+user_first_name+ ..... These lines display the introduction. As we learned in part one of this tutorial, SWRITELN is DoorDriver's compliment to Turbo Pascal's writeln procedure. You may notice that I have separated the parameters across three lines. This is perfectly legal - as long as the individual components include plus (+) signs in between them, we can split it up that way. Another important note about this line: We include the variables USER_FIRST_NAME and USER_LAST_NAME. These were discussed in part one. For those who may have missed it, DoorDriver places the user's first and last names into those two respective variables. Sticking them in the SWRITELN allows us to be a bit more personal to the user. LINE 11: SWRITELN(''); Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 18 You may be wondering, what is the point of writing _nothing_ to the screen? The point is, like TP's writeln, swriteln will output a CR/LF sequence. So even if we do not write any data, the Carriage Return still goes out. The effect is a blank line. Procedure PlayGame PlayGame is where all of the real work takes place. Let's take a minute to talk about what exactly the "game" is that we are playing. The game is a very common number guessing game. The computer generates a random number and the user gets ten shots to guess what it is. If the user guesses incorrect- ly, the computer will tell whether he needs to go "higher" or "lower". Now that we know what we want to do, lets see how we would go about doing it. In pseudocode, here's what we need to do: 1) Generate a random number 2) Ask the user for a guess 3) Compare the user's guess to our random number. 4) Say "lower", "higher", or "correct" based on the outcome of #3's comparison. 5) Loop back to 2 until either the user guesses the number correctly or uses up all ten tries. 6) If the user used up all ten tries, tell him he lost. That's our strategy. Now, let's go thought the actual code. LINES 16-20: Variable Declarations We need a multitude of variables to store some of our information in. THENUM is a word variable which will hold the random number which we generate. PLAYERGUESS is another word to hold the player's current guess. GUESSNUM is a counter to hold how many times the user has guessed. DONE is a boolean to tell us when we are done. And finally , TEMPSTR is a temporary string which we will discuss when we come to it. LINES 22-24: SWRITELN('I''m thinking of ..... These lines comprise a little instruction that we give the user. They're just simple swriteln statements, similar to the ones we encountered in DoTheTitle. LINE 25: GUESSNUM:=0; Since Turbo Pascal does not initialize our variables, Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 19 we will have to do it ourselves. Guessnum is our counter of how many guesses the user has made. Since he hasn't made any yet, we've got to set it to zero. LINE 26: RANDOMIZE; The Randomize procedure is provided by Turbo Pascal to randomize TP's random number generator. Without it, the game would pick the same random number each time it runs. LINE 27: THENUM:=RANDOM(100)+1 Here is where we get our random number. The random function returns a number between zero and it's parameter minus one, (i.e. Random(100) will include 0..99, not 100) so we add 1 to it to get numbers between 1 and 100. LINE 28: DONE:=FALSE; Right now, we aren't done yet, (we haven't even hardly started!) so we'd better set our variable accordingly. LINE 29: WHILE NOT DONE DO BEGIN; Line 29 sets up our "loop" which will ask the user for up to ten guesses. We want to keep going as long as DONE is not true. The loop consists of lines 29-43 which ask the user for his guess and check it's validity. LINE 30: INC(GUESSNUM); We're on the first guess, so set guessnum accordingly. LINES 31-34: SWRITE('Guess #' ..... These lines prompt the user for his guess. Although they may seem complicated, they are really nothing more than the simple SWRITE statements that we have seen before. We just need to do some "magic" to manipulate our data. Let me explain our problem: SWRITE/SWRITELN only accept string data. But, our variable GUESSNUM is a byte variable which holds numeric information. So how do we get this data into something we can use? The answer is that we use Turbo Pascal's STR procedure. STR is a very handy procedure which converts a numeric format variable to a string format variable. So, when we say STR(GUESSNUM,TEMPSTR), we are telling Pascal to "take the number in guessnum, convert it to a string, and place it in tempstr". Once this has been done, TEMPSTR now contains our number which we can send out to swrite with no problem. Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 20 LINE 35: SREAD_NUM_WORD(PLAYERGUESS); This line the major new concept that we are trying to introduce. SREAD_NUM_WORD is a DoorDriver procedure which will read a word variable from the user. It handles all the details of waiting for the user to press keys, converting the data to a word, etc and just gives us a nice word variable. This is where the "interaction" takes place. Until now, we have just been displaying information to the user. Now, we ask the user for some information back. Specifically, we ask him for his guess. The guess is stored in the variable PLAYERGUESS. LINES 36-41: If playerguess>thenum then .... This block comprises the code to test the player's guess and act upon the results. We display "higher" or "lower" if the number is higher or lower and if the user's guess is correct, we display "correct" and set DONE to true to end our loop. This code is all standard Pascal stuff (with some swrites thrown) in so I won't go into too much detail here. We've got to try to stick to the doordriver-related things or our little tutorial could get very big very quickly. LINE 42: IF GUESSNUM=10 THEN DONE:=TRUE; If we're at the tenth guess, then it's time to end our loop. LINES 44-48: IF PLAYERGUSS<>THENUM THEN BEGIN; .... We could have exited the loop for one of two reasons: 1) The user guessed correctly and DONE was set to true or 2) The user ran out of turns. These lines will check and see if the user's guess was correct. If it was not, then we got to break the bad news to him - he lost. This code also includes our little trick of using STR to convert the data. In this case, we have THENUM and we need to convert it to a string so we can tell the user what the number was. It works identically to the situation we had in lines 31-34. Procedure WaitForKey After we have finished PlayGame, we need to have a little pause so the user gets to absorb the full impact of his game playing. We could use a simple DELAY(2000) for a Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 21 20 second delay, but we are out to demonstrate interactive communication, so let's wait for a keypress. I'm not going into this line-by-line as it is such a simple procedure. Rather, I'll describe what it does. First, we tell the user we want him to hit a key with a SWRITELN statement. Then, we use DoorDriver's SREAD_CHAR procedure to read a single character. SREAD_CHAR will wait for a key and then return it to us. We used the variable CH to hold this character. The Main Procedure The main procedure, comprising lines 60-65 executes all of our other procedure. Please note that similar to HLODOOR, we had to call INITDOORDRIVER() to get DoorDriver setup and ready for use. After that, we just called DoTheTitle, PlayGame, and WaitForKey in order, then we exit. Interactive Routines We have introduced two new very important routines: SREAD_NUM_WORD and SREAD_CHAR. DoorDriver includes a whole set of similar routines for doing similar things. Here's a listing of them: SREAD(s: string); Reads in a string SREAD_NUM(i: integer); Reads in an integer SREAD_NUM_WORD(w: word); Reads in a word SREAD_NUM_LONGINT(l: longint); Reads in a longint SREAD_CHAR(CH: CHAR); Reads in a char The first four of these routines will read in data until the user presses the return key. For example "1234"<return>. They allow the user to backspace back and forth to correct his mistakes. These are very similar to Turbo Pascal's READLN and Basic's INPUT statements. The fifth procedure (SREAD_CHAR) will wait for a character and return that character. It's simply for when you want one character and only one character. The user can't correct his mistakes with backspace or anything. This routine also does not echo to the screen. SREAD_CHAR performs almost identically to Turbo Pascal's READKEY function. In Turbo Pascal you would use Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 22 ch:=READKEY; With DoorDriver, use SREAD_CHAR(CH). Conclusion This installment has turned out a lot longer than I had anticipated. However, we have gained some very important knowledge. We now know how to ask the user for data. If you like, play with DD's other input routines (SREAD,SREAD_NUM, etc) and see what you can do with them. They are very important to the operation of a door. You might also want to try altering the look and feel of NUMDOOR. You can expand the SWRITELN statements to provide a more impressive instruction and title section. Or if you are feeling really adventurous, you may want to look in the DoorDriver manual and peek into the SET_FOREGROUND procedure which will let you set the color of the text. That is one of the key concepts we will introduce next time. Please, if you have any questions or suggestions, you can either send them directly or to Michael Crosson, Editor and Publisher of Carrier Detect. Right now I am undecided as to which direction to take this series - should we work on creating one large program? Or introduce features with a lot more small programs such as NUMDOOR and HLODOOR. You tell me! --- Scott Baker is a shareware author and frequent contributer to Carrier Detect. He can be reached on his BBS system, The Not Yet Named BBS in Tucson, AZ at (602) 577-3650. P R O T O C O L P R O W L Protocol Prowl is the place to look to keep up with the latest protocols that hit the streets. * Picking The Proper Protocol Article by Michael Crosson You're on your favorite BBS system and you have finally found that elusive file. What's more, you manage to enter its name correctly when prompted and it appears as if the transfer will begin momentarily. But wait, what's this? The system is presenting something that resembles alphabet soup! It's the dreaded protocol selection menu, a constant source of confusion for many users, even those that have called bulletin board systems Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 23 for a long time. You're not sure which one to use. So, you look for a safe choice and one that you know you have. Ahh, there it is, trusty old Xmodem! If the above scenario sounds familiar to you this article is for you. The BBS caller above, blindly chose Xmodem just because it was familiar. Unfortunately it is also one of the least desirable protocols to use. After reading this article, you should have a general under- standing of protocols and be able to select an appropriate one next time you want to transfer files. By selecting the right protocol for the job, your transfer will go faster and smoother. There are many factors to consider when selecting a protocol. Speed and reliability are usually regarded as the most important, but other factors may influence your decision as well. These include the ability to resume aborted files, compress files, special considerations such as desire to chat or perform bi-directional transfers, and personal preference. A final factor is imposed by the remote system's choice of installed protocols. After all, you can't perform a transfer with a particular protocol unless it is an available option! What follows are short subjective descriptions of most popular protocols and general guidelines on when to use and when to avoid them. They are listed in rough of sophistication. Please note that this article is not intended to be the last word on protocol performance, reliability, or features. It is simply a quick critique of what each has to offer and tips on when the protocol should work well based on my extensive experience. Protocols are treated in more detail when they are reviewed individually. This article may be updated occasionally reflect new informa- tion or add additional protocols not yet discussed. - The Best of the Bunch - The most desirable protocols to choose when offered a choice. ZMODEM - Chuck Foresberg Zmodem is now regarded as the protocol of choice by most. It features stringent 16 or 32 bit CRC error checking, crash recovery, and file resume options. Packet size is variable and ranges from 64 bytes to 1024K depending on the number of errors encountered. It was originally developed by Chuck Foresberg but many others have created their own implementations of this excellent protocol and it is often built into communication programs and some BBS systems now. There are some enhanced versions of the protocol available as well including Omen Technology's Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 24 Zmodem 90 - Mobyturbo and Scott Baker's Super Z Modem. Both of these improve upon the original Z Modem specifications for even faster transfers. Another popular new Zmodem derivative is Omen's GSZ, simply DSZ (with the Zmodem-90 Mobyturbo) but with a graphical interface to make it easier to monitor the progress of the transfer session. When To Use Zmodem Zmodem offers excellent performance in most situations. The protocol is intelligent and will optimize itself even in the poorest conditions. Use Zmodem in cases where reliability and speed are most important. This protocol is also highly recommended for use over outdial services, long distance calling, and noisy phone lines. You can't go wrong using Zmodem. MPT (formerly Puma) - Matthew Thomas MPt is a new, full featured protocol written by Matthew Thomas. It features many bells and whistles much as Zmodem does. These include batch transfers, RLE compression, file resume, and error recovery. Block size is dynamic and again behaves similar to Zmodem. In addition MPt makes use of a very informative (abet busy) graphical status display screen while performing the transfer. It is not found as an internal protocol in communications programs, but is a worthwhile external protocol addition. MPt is relatively common on BBS systems. Unfortunately future development of the protocol is questionable and it has been reported that the author is no longer supporting it. (Note - some systems may still be running the older Lynx protocol by the same author. Since Lynx offers only a subset of MPt's features, it is now obsolete). When To Use MPt As you might expect from a protocol sporting as many features as does MPt, it is very speedy and accurate. MPt's performance and reliability approach the Zmodem standard and it is appropriate to use this protocol in most situations. HYPERPROTOCOL - Hilgraeve HyperProtocol is a new offering from Hilgraeve, makers of the HyperAccess/5 communications package. HyperProtocol can transfer in batch mode and compress files as they are sent, but does not offer allow files to be resumed. Hilgraeve claims that HyperProtocol is 99% efficient and its speed is unaffected by propagation delays. It is found internal to HyperAccess/5 but can be added as an Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 25 external protocol via a free DOS module. It is available on a moderate number of BBS systems, (if Hilgraeve made some design changes in the DOS module that would make it more friendly for BBS installation it's popularity would soar). When To Use HyperProtocol As the name implies, HyperProtocol is super fast and its reliability is high. HyperProtocol really shines during the transfer of uncompressed files. When HyperProtocol is sending files not already compressed with the likes of PKZIP or LHA it can blast the data through at several times the highest baud rate of your modem. Large text files can easily be send at speeds approaching 38,000 baud with a 9600 modem. This fact combined with the fact that HyperProtocol accepts wildcards on the command line, make it especially suitable for transferring entire directories at a time. HyperProtocol is also a good choice when calling long distance and over packet switching networks. - Good but Flawed - Protocols that are fast and reliable but have limitations or omissions that make them unsuitable at times. JMODEM - Richard B. Johnson This protocol was introduced in 1988 by its author Richard Johnson and generously released into the Public Domain. Under some conditions it can be extremely fast but it is limited to transferring one file at a time. Jmodem also requires that you tell it the name of the file you are receiving during a download which is a minor annoyance. It does not support resume but does incorporate code to compress files whenever possible.. This protocol transmits files in blocks ranging from 64 bytes all the way up to 8K! The fist block sent is 512K bytes and if it is sent without error, the size of the next one doubles. As an established and free protocol, Jmodem is frequently found on BBS systems across the nation although most communication software does not support it directly. When to Use Jmodem The biggest advantage of using Jmodem results from the ability to send blocks as large as 8K. When the blocks approach the maximum, Jmodem becomes very efficient and thus speedy. The downside becomes clear when an error is encountered. If the error took place during the transmission of a large block, the entire block must be resent. Of course it takes much longer to resend a block that is eight times a large as the 1024K block that most protocols utilize. It follows then that Jmodem might not Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 26 be the best choice on lines that are frequently noisy. The lack of a batch mode and inability to pass a file name when downloading also makes it unsuitable for many unattended sessions. On the other hand, if you are calling a local number or one that rarely experiences interference, it can be on the fastest protocols of all. BIMODEM - Erik Labs Erik Labs has created a truly impressive protocol engine with BiModem. BiModem is a unique protocol because of its ability to send and receive files at the same time. It is one of just a few so-called bidirectional protocols. It also includes a long list of other desirable features including batch mode, resume, 32-bit CRC error checking, file verification, file compression and the ability to chat with the remote user. Unfortunately, most BBS software is not designed for simultaneous file transfers and as a result every BBS package requires its own special interface program to handle the session properly. This fact, and the inherent higher level of complexity has dampened the enthusiasm for what otherwise is an excellent protocol. When to Use BiModem Since BiModem is a bi-directional protocol, it is a natural selection whenever there are a large number of files to both send and receive. If the call is a long distance one, the advantages of BiModem become even greater. BiModem is very fast and goes to great lengths to verify that files were sent correctly. It is not the easiest protocol to use however and takes some time to master. If you are not willing to spend some time becoming familiar with BiModem, it probably is not for you. Also, because of the delicate times of bidirectional transfers, BiModem may not be a good choice for packet-switching networks, or noisy connections. RC-MODEM - Lavio Pareschi rC-Modem is a Brazilian protocol that boasts many advanced features. Among the most important are batch transfers, resume of aborted downloads, and intelligent optimization of packet size. The status screen is graphical informative. It must be added as an external protocol to your communications program. To date, rC-Modem has not yet come into widespread use among BBS systems in the United States. When to use rC-Modem rC-Modem is a fast and dependable program when configured properly. It offers everything in terms of features that Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 27 Zmodem does and then some. Furthermore, it is highly suited to noisy lines and will perform statistical analysis to determine the best block size based on time, errors, and history. However, there are some problems with the protocol that prevent a full blown recommen- dation. Most importantly, as of version 4.40 rC-Modem does not support locked baud rates. The fastest allowable speed is 9600 baud. Also, at times the protocol requires the use of strange conventions to take advantage of the more advanced features. Read the documentation closely on rC-Modem before use. - Middle of the Road - The protocols in this grouping are not barn burners. They function acceptable, but are outdated in terms of performance and/or features. XMODEM - Ward Christansen This was the first error checking protocol to gain widespread use. Xmodem sends in tiny 128 byte blocks and waits for the remote to acknowledge every packet. It is included internally with most communication and found on the vast majority of online services and BBS systems. When to Use Xmodem Use Xmodem only when there are no alternatives (besides ASCII). It is slow, sensitive to timing, and provides only simple error checking compared to other offerings today. Avoid Xmodem at all costs on packet switching networks, (Telenet, PC Pursuit, GEnie and Compuserve), and when using MNP error correction. Just about any other protocol will be more efficient than Xmodem today. YMODEM - Chuck Foresberg Ymodem delivers acceptable performance under most conditions. It is much faster than Xmodem but not as efficient as the newer protocols. It is identical to 1K Xmodem but adds a header with the filename and size. There are variants of this protocol that support batch transfers but it lacks features such as resume and compression. Ymodem is one of the most common protocols found in communication packages and online services. When to Use Ymodem Ymodem is a good all around performer and it works OK in most situations. There are no times when it's use would be entirely off the mark. In general, avoid Ymodem when more efficient protocols are available or when noisy lines will cause the protocol to have to frequently resend its Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 28 1024K packets. YMODEM-G - Chuck Foresburg Ymodem G is the functional equivalent of Ymodem but without error checking. It relies on the modem for all error control. Most communication packages and remote systems offer this protocol. When to Use Ymodem-G Ymodem-G is designed to be used in conjunction with a modem that supports hardware error checking. If your modem supports V.42 or MNP error correction, you can use this protocol. If you do not have a modem with an error correction scheme, you absolutely should not try to use Ymodem-G. Ymodem-G is very fast because of the lack of software based error-checking overhead. However, if even one error occurs, the entire transfer must be scrapped. The file cannot be resumed at the point where it left off. Since some of the newer protocols are essentially just as fast as Ymodem-G (due to efficiency gains) and contain better error handling and crash recovery, it is hard to recommend the use of this protocol. Opt for Zmodem, MPt or HyperProtocol instead. ASCII This is the simplest protocol. It is suitable only for text transfers because it does not perform any error checking. ASCII is available as a protocol choice on most terminal packages and online services. When to use ASCII ASCII is fast but should not be used except perhaps to upload messages prepared offline to a remote system. If you have to transfer large text files a much better choice is HyperProtocol. If the information you need to transfer is of real importance, you will not want to use ASCII. W R I T E R 'S R O U N D U P Writer's Roundup is a department that features creative wrtiting submissions from readers. Essays, fictional stories, and poems are examples of the kind of reading that you might find here. However, each will share a common theme of computers and communications. Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 29 REFLECTIONS 1 (C) 1986-87 by Steve Schneider (Reprinted with Persmission) Dateline : The RainForest BBS Time : 3 AM On a Sunday This is the peace that I enjoy so well. The kids (well; mine anyway) are asleep as well as the faithful wife. And the dog snores gently laying beside me on the floor chasing rabbits in his mind as I relax in the chair and gaze into the flickering green phosphors of the monitor and watch silently as users log on and off the system. They sometimes try silly stuff at this hour as they know deep in their minds that no sane system operator is awake at three o'clock in the morning. Here's a user doing the '99E99' and other stuff at the prompt. It brings a smile to my face as I wonder what 'Pirate' board or file he read that suggested he try that on a BBS... Things are certainly much more sophisticated these days and most systems are well written to the point of being 'crash' proof from such childish attempts. I make note of the user number on a pad but will probably not do anything about the attempt, either privately or publicly. Kids; just trying to have fun? He disconnects when all attempts fail (without reading any of the 3,000 plus messages on-line or writing anything..) and the screen barely darkens before another user logs on. I can count on activity in the early hours of the morning now that school is in session during the week and on this system the prime calling hours of 8-11PM are reserved for donating Members. Ahah; here's a favored user of the system. He calls twice a day and his number of messages outnumber his number of calls; a part of the backbone to my system. He's not a Member but his 'donations' in the messaging section are just as welcome on a system such as this that depends on 75-100 new messages a day. He enters quickscan and I leave for the moment to get a fresh cup of coffee and adjust the air-conditioner. It takes longer than I expected and when I return he is off the system. I tune to a classical soft rock station and while keeping the sound down so as to not disturb the family I softly hum to the song, 'Walk of Life'. As I relax back into the comfort of the chair my mind drifts back in time to three years ago when I was but a computer-ignorant person at work with a major maker of office copying equipment. Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 30 I was 41 years old and although I had grown up making ham gear and playing in the field of electronics I had only thought of computers twice before I got the bug about a year previous. Once as a teenager looking at an article in Popular Electronics (I believe) that showed how to build a simple computer with a telephone dialer as the input device and then again in the half year I managed to survive in college while inputting card data in the reader of the IBM for a FORTRAN class in 1962. Then to the Air Force for eight years and working on fighter radar. Anyway; several years ago I got the bug again (and my son was at that age in school that had computer classes) and after studying the market and reading a ton of magazines I realize I wanted an IBM, could maybe scrape up enough for an Apple //e and wound up buying a TI-99/4A at the close out special of $100. Ha; the extended basic module cost as much as the whole computer did. After a year of typing in programs and running from a cassette recorder and getting bleary eyed from the color TV monitor I took the =BIG FINANCIAL= plunge. It was late September, 1984 and a local computer store made me a deal that I couldn't turn down. I picked up an Apple //e with 128K and dual drives as well as a modem, AE Pro, and a printer.... I was hooked! It was a school day and I played hooky from work so that I might pick up the system and install it before my son got home from school. I set it up and waited; I wasn't disappointed; I wish I could describe the look on his face... he stood in awe; the words wouldn't leave his mouth. =THAT= look was worth the price of the system. He played games on it and programmed and did school work. And when he went to bed...... WOW!! The ole man (me) turned into a BBS junkie calling local boards for six hours solid every night.... I wrote messages, downloaded programs, brought life into some BBSes, got my mental 'butt' kicked in others. I did a lot of things... copied a few programs that I shouldn't have (I don't believe in piracy.. I made an error or two), stayed up late every night, and managed to survive with 3 hours of sleep. I read computer manuals while I was supposed to be working and even got a Radio Shack M-100 eventually so that I could call BBSes during the day from work. After Christmas of 1984 the brown stuff hit the fan. My son decided he wanted to put his computer up as a BBS. (I entertained thoughts of killing him but wisely restrained myself. No computers or BBSing from a jail cell.) The RainForest went on-line for five hours a night at 300 baud on two floppies using a unpaid for Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 31 copy of a commercial BBS program with more back doors than a Fifth Street cat house... Paranoid person that I was, I stayed at the monitor for the five hours a day it was up to insure that no one would attempt to crash it. (Someone did as well as a speedup DOS wiping out the entire user file every other week. ) This lasted until the early spring and then we took it down. Not enough time to use the computer for our own programming. (Once bitten, twice shy?? Wrong!) In June of 1985 we went back on-line again with a completely rewritten program without the back doors that riddled the early BBS and which now contained a multitude of user friendly features like word replace in the editor (no retyping the whole line over to correct an error) and configured quickscan....... only read what interests you, etc. We gained a loyal following and the space on two drives was maxed out. A little finagling and I found the strength (and cash) to order a 10 meg hard drive. Dead on arrival! Wouldn't format.. Phone calls yelling; return authorization; UPS; waiting; waiting; waiting; arrival; wouldn't format again!! Aarrrggghhhh! (Naturally my troubles lent humor to the lives of the other local SysOps as I steamed about with red face and whitish clouds of moisture trailing my every movement.) To make a long story short the company showed up at a local trade show and I managed to swap my second unit for one of the Demo units. (Which has been knocked off a five foot shelf by a cat, taken the licking, and kept on ticking... in use continuously for 15 months with few problems..) I do wish that CORE International made an Apple hard drive though... ( I like CORE ) Now we had the storage but as most of you well know, 300 baud is SLOW! More money goes out the door to take advantage of USRobotic's 2400 (300/1200/2400) baud SysOp special offering. Naturally no one else in town has 2400 baud to call us with but we are prepared for the future.... besides; the sysop deal made the Courier cheaper than a 300/1200 baud Hayes.. ( I love a deal...) Now the RainForest has the loyal users, the message base, the storage, the most modern communication's interface..... what's the problem?? In December of 1985 I realized that DOS was too slow on the system and I couldn't find a reliable DOS speedup program; the ones tried kept screwing up the system. I bit the bullet and ordered a factory fresh copy of the BBS program we are now running. The program is compiled and runs like the dickens! It looks nothing like the original, or course, as I have modified it to extremes but in buying the program I also made amends to the same author that I had used an Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 32 earlier version of programming from and not paid for. (The pleasure was mine....I owe him much more than money could ever repay) I enjoy being a system operator almost as much as I did being a BBS junkie a few years ago. I still call a couple of favorite BBSes but I don't write the 30 or so messages I used to write. <sigh> There just aren't enough hours in the day..... My son, you ask; the one I bought the computer for??? I'm buying him an IBM compatible in the next week or so for his own selfish use. (Er..ah..unless I need to type out another NEWSLETTER on my system, of course....hehehehehe) He deserves one for all the help he gave in programming on the earlier versions (he won't touch the new language on the current board) and putting up with a BBS junkie like myself. (And he deserves it because he's a bright kid and I love him...) The sound of the CHAT bell (I'm definitely going to remove that line from the program one of these days!) nudges me back from that narcotic type dream state and as my eyes focus on the screen I see that another new user can't seem to find her way around the message base. Seems like no one likes to read HELP files these days... the new literacy?? <snarl...> I hit CTRL-A and start tapping the keys to talk to her... the digital clock shows that it's now 4:51 AM.... I have to find a way to get some sleep one of these days......... --- Steve Schneider is the System Operator of RainForest BBS in Cooper City, Florida. He can be reached at his BBS, (305)-434-4927. B Y T E L I N E Fast facts, tips, comments and rumors on all kinds of computer related topics. * BYTELINE By Michael Crosson and Tom Garcia A FRIEND OF MINE ordered an IVERSON PC for his office after spending a lot of time studying mail order ads. He said that he picked the IVERSON because "They are a big outfit and sell mostly to the government on big contracts so they must be good." [True]. I saw him out in front of Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 33 the courthouse and asked him if the PC had arrived and how he liked it. "Oh, it came but I sent it back." How come? "It was too big, a real monster. It made too much noise. It was ugly. And it kept locking up when I tried to run a program. Maybe DOS 4.01 [which came with it] has some bugs." I am inclined to guess that any avid BBS user could have fixed the IVERSON so that programs would run. The computer probably wasn't set up properly by my friend who is not an experienced computer user. The noise is often a problem. A number of people have suggested to PC MAGAZINE that they tell about noise in their equipment reviews. (They already do for dot matrix printers). The only noise solution (assuming you already have a computer and you are going to keep it) is to buy a new power supply from PC POWER AND COOLING. They are very quiet. There are a few big name computers such as Tandy however that are not generic enough to use this fix. SPEAKING OF TANDY: It's been several years since I have been in a Tandy Computer Center. Needing a battery for my DELL clock/calendar I stopped in a local store thinking I could pick one up. The store has changed a lot. No racks of software, cables, head cleaning kits, printer ribbons, etc., as in the olden days - no batteries either. They suggested that I go to a watch repair store a few doors away. They didn't suggest the Heath Zenith store, also a few doors away. I was in a hurry so I opted for a trip the next day to a huge local electronic parts warehouse. They seemed to have EVERYTHING. BCS has the new 3.5 inch ED disks in stock (Verbatim) at $79.90 a box, two box minimum. Their catalog looks so much like the MEI/MICRO catalog that I thought it was MEI with a new name. They (like MEI) have a $3 "handling" charge but they (unlike MEI) encourage mail-in orders by giving you a $2 discount on such orders. Prices are just about the same as MEI as is selection of goods. They have a 3.5 double disk converter for $29.95. Simple arithmetic shows that you have to convert 150 DD disks to break even. After that you are making money. Their toll free number should you want a catalog is 1-800-544-3472. THE NEW EPSON LQ-570 printer has become available via mail order. Best price seen is $259. SPOTTED A GOOD BUY (I thought) at the Price Club. A 286 with color VGA at $699. Then I noticed that the monitor was one of those "I wouldn't take it for free" .51 dot pitch jobs. You can tell the dot pitch of a Packard Bell monitor from the last two digits of the model number.... But I did get a few excellent buys in books such as MS-DOS QuickStart from QUE for about $12 (list is $19.95). Also, PC Magazine's Guide to 1-2-3 Ver. 2.3 for $14.49 (list is $27.95). The first thing I tried to find in the index was Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 34 "Protection" but it wasn't there. How about "Cell Protection"? Nope.....The north side Price Club has two DOS books. The other one being the Microsoft Press book at $13.49 (list $24.95). Decided to look up DOSKEY in the lower priced book. What I wanted to know wasn't there but I read, "DOSKEY has other features which are outside the scope of this book," (I found the missing dope on DOSKEY in PC Magazine, Sept 10th issue). The COMPUTER SELECT computer product data base is updated monthly on CD-ROM disk. You can get a free demo disk (they didn't say if the demo was floppy or CD) by calling 1-212-503-4400. IT'S TOO BAD that DOSKEY (DOS 5.0) macros won't work when NORTON COMMANDER is loaded. NORTON filters out DOSKEY macros with an "Bad command or file name" error message. MY INFORMANT at the U of A Law School tells me that Word Perfect is "it." "Nothing else is used" she tells me." And, "I still can't afford a computer but I use the ones at the law library for $25 a semester... Maybe it's a year 'cause I haven't had a bill this semester. They have Word Perfect and laser printers. We don't even have to pay for paper." That has to be the bargain of the year at $25.... She gets to use LEXIS and WESTLAW for free, too. She ended up by saying, "When you get really stressed out [on the Law School computer] you can switch from Word Perfect to Blackjack..." NOTEBOOKS - All the rage. You could buy a TOSHIBA for about $800 (no hard drive) or $1,200 with a HD. Trouble is, they don't have VGA screens and are slow 80C88 CPU machines... As recently as last March TANDON was advertising their LT/386sx laptop in PC Magazine. List price was $2,499. 1MB, VGA, 1.44 drive, 40MB IDE hard drive. But, it weighed in at almost 14 pounds. A notebook it wasn't. TANDON told me, "The demand wasn't there for that size machine. We slimmed it down to 6.5 pounds and kicked it up to 20 Mhz. It's now the SX20 Notebook and though we still support the LT we don't market it anymore. List price on the new notebook is $3,495." .... Well, the old big & sturdy computer is still available at "discontinued model pricing" of $999 plus $19 shipping from DANMARK at 1-800-729-9000. Use it as a desktop machine and still have some desktop space leftover. QUATTRO PRO has a $49 "slim & trim" version out. If you are a registered user of any Borland software you no doubt have received the offer. The new FOX PRO Ver. 2.0 sports a retrieval time for data in a 100,000 record table (a numeric field) of .55 seconds. That's <point> 55, not fifty five seconds. Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 35 DBase IV took 252 seconds. Paradox took 134 seconds, (PC Magazine Oct 15, 1991). PKLITE does a good "scrunching" job, transparent to you. It won't compress everything. For example, it thinks that WORD.EXE (5.5) is a WINDOWS program and refuses to process it... DIET is a lot of fun to use. It compresses WORD but WORD has to expand to its original size to run and that takes A LOT of time. DIET will compress all your .WK1 and .DOC files and they (being small) expand fast via a small TSR so it's a disk capacity saving to you but then the files can't be browsed straight off the disk via NORTON COMMANDER's view utility, etc. ... Not being able to view files quickly via NORTON is one of the reasons I quit using SQZ! in QUATTRO PRO. COMPUTER ASSOCIATES still offers a free working model of CA-Complete!, a multi-dimensional spreadsheet. I asked for one but it never arrived. You can try at 1-800-645-3003. Free DataPerfect demo disk and VHS video. 1-800-526-5156. Free AMI PRO working model - 1-800-TRADEUP, ext. 6026. SAW AN AD for DR DOS 6.0 ($65) but not much publicity otherwise. GATEWAY COMPUTERS come with something I dreamed up several years ago but never told anyone about (they stole my idea by reading my mind - those rascals). It's their AnyKey keyboard. F-keys along the left side and along the top too. You can re-program either set to run macros (that you write). If it works like my idea you could, for example, program F-1 as /FS~R to save a 1-2-3 file with one key stroke.... OK, so I already have <Alt> <S> in my macro library to do it, but I like the idea anyhow. They say in their ad, "Any key can be programmed to perform any function." HP's LX95 11 oz. palmtop ($695) is selling very well but now has some competition in the new PSION 8 oz. "Series 3" at $425 list. The HP is numbers oriented with 1-2-3 built-in. The PSION is text oriented with a word processor that is compatible with MS WORD. Runs on 2 AA cells and has a NEC V-30 chip as its CPU. You can imagine how tiny the keyboard has to be on an 8 oz. "computer." LAPTOP LIGHTNING lets you leave your spare battery at home, so the hype sez. It's a disk cache program from LUCID CORPORATION. They claim that "much of your PC's battery power is used up accessing hard drives and floppies. But, Lap op Lightning lets you access RAM instead." I suppose PC-CACHE etc., would work just Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 36 as well. Laptop Lightning's "introductory price" is $39.95. A COMPUTER STORE in Burbank (Wall Street Journal ad on Sept. 23) offers the TO TRAVELMATE 2000 (20 MB HD) at $1,049. DR DOS UPGRADE notices went out from Digital Research on Sept. 20th. The upgrade cost is $24.95. IN THE MARKET for a real cheap XT backup computer or one for a student in the family? EPSON makes good stuff. Left over XT compatibles are available from MIMBRO at $299 for an Equity 1+ mono system. Extra drive is $50. UNITED COMPUTER EXPRESS has the Equity 1E mono system at $298. That has a single 720K drive. Telephone numbers are: 1-800-451-9780 & 1-800-448-3738. Both outfits are in NYC. MS WORD demo disk (Ver. 5.5) is available at 1-800-541-1261, Dept. R90. QUICKEN VER 5.0 is out. I sent off my $19.95 plus $5 the day I got the upgrade notice. Why don't they make it $5 plus $19.95 shipping & handling? .... QUICKEN for WINDOWS is also supposed to be available. It's like DOS Ver. 4.0 with "some" of DOS 5.0's features. .... The new DOS version has new "user defined QuicKeys" which I suppose is some sort of macro capability. Also some built-in loan amortization features which will (providing you have set it up right) track principle & interest payments separately by dividing up the loan payment according to what it knows about the loan amount, interest rate and loan length. It will also print out a complete loan schedule for any loan. Will be interesting to see if it does that right. Most loan amortization programs don't do it right because they can't round cents properly. I use $7,000 at 7% for 7 years (12 payments a year) as a test and at about the third payment the principle and interest DON'T add up to the total payment ($105.65) for most of the programs and spreadsheet templates. DANMARK RECENTLY had an ad for a 286 laptop billed as a "well known name" which we can't mention but call us if you want to know. At $799 the price wasn't too bad except for the CGA screen, 640x400. (I thought LCD CGA was 640x200?) I could tell that the name [blocked out] had seven letters. Not being able to think of any seven letter well known names except TOSHIBA and it didn't look like a TOSHIBA I called Danmark. How's this for a well known name? CHAPLET. Well known where? At Danmark where they are stuck with a load of them. WORDSTAR INTERNATIONAL has released Wordstar for Windows. Should be interesting since Wordstar folks like to keep Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 37 their fingers on the keyboard! Wordstar users can upgrade for $99. Call 1-800-227-5609. DOES EVERYONE FANTASIZE over the computer mail order ads or am I the only one? This month two computers caught my eye. A "low ball" starter system (20 Mhz 386SX) and a speed demon 486-33 system. "System" usually means: Some kind of a monitor and hard drive included. The low ball comes from ZEOS at $1,195 though you probably couldn't live with the 512K memory. Have them yank the 512K chips (which you would have to throw away if you did the upgrade yourself) and put in a meg. You can add more later. The upgrade costs $50. I talked to Leo, a very friendly salesman at extension 1069.... The 486-33 also comes from ZEOS. Just $1,795. You can add VGA, a bigger drive and more memory later. Standard memory is a meg and the drive is a 42meg IDE. You might want to add a second floppy later as well. 1-800-423-5891. THEN THERE IS the 386-33 from Treasure Chest. 64K cache, 4 megs, 130 meg HD, 2 floppies, .28 VGA, VGA controller with a meg, mouse, WINDOWS, LOTUS WORKS, FAX/MODEM.... $1,895. Buy one for the wife or the kids for Christmas. IBM pays Microsoft about $35 for a WINDOWS package. INTEL announces a V.32BIS MODEM called the 14.4EX. This also means the prices have been slashed on their excellent 9600EX models. Nice stainless steel cases and a 5 year warranty to boot. 9600EX owners can upgrade for $200. INTEL also offers special pricing for sysops. 1-800-732-0990. THIS COULD HAPPEN to you: The computer boots then crashes while trying to load the last TSR in AUTOEXEC.BAT which happens to be CAROUSEL. The crash consists of PrtScrn happening all by itself and pushing many pages of paper thru the printer ('till I reach over and turn the printer off.) Later, without CAROUSEL I have no PATH and can't get a path set up. Programs in SUB DIRS will run but can't find their overlays, even when in the same SUB DIR. What's wrong? I was out of environment space. Fixed that by bumping the environment up to 1,024 in CONFIG.SYS and all has been well since. Now I see why I didn't (before going to 1,024) have a cursor in any CAROUSEL partition except number one. BizMart really does sell the TOSHIBA 1000SE for $499. How do they do that? Way below mail order price. HEADLINE In The Wall Street Journal on Oct. 2nd, said, "IBM to Unveil Plan to Build Macintosh Clone." The sub-head was, "Once Unthinkable Move Comes as part of Links With Apple, Motorola." Don't hold your breath on Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 38 this one. DANMARK TOLD ME when I ordered the TANDON LAPTOP that they had quickly sold out but were trying to get more and would put me on backorder if that was OK with me. It was. This was in the middle of September. If I were to get one it would be "about the middle of October." ..... After a while I got to thinking that a $499 TOSHIBA at half the weight (or better) not to mention half the price might be a better deal. I started hoping that the TANDON deal would fall through. Of course, the TOSHIBA didn't have a VGA screen or a 40 meg hard drive, or any hard drive for that matter. And, it wasn't a 386 either. ...Naturally, on Oct. 9th the office manager called to say U.P.S. had delivered two boxes for me... The TANDON. It's really BIG. Alongside a TOSHIBA T-1000SE anyhow. You sure wouldn't want to carry it on an airliner. It's bigger than the seat tray and so heavy it might break the tray. But, I mostly wanted it for the office (on my desk,) so it's working out OK (Box number two has some kind of a carrying case but I haven't opened it to see what it might be). The computer came with three manuals and DOS 4.01. WALMART is selling BASF 5 1/4 HD floppy disks for only $6.39 a box. This price is close to mail order mega houses like MEI but you don't have to order a million or worry about sleeves and labels. Lifetime Warranty too. CAN'T HARDLY BELIEVE it but ten years have past and I once again have a chance to by a mail order SANYO computer (well, it's sort of a computer) called the SANYO 550. What a deal, 128K (expandable to 256k) and complete with DOS 1.0 and a 12" composite monitor. Only $175 from American Design at 1-800 776-3700. This SANYO should work well 'cause it's a "factory refurb" and "like new." DELL has recently lowered their prices and the result are some pretty attractive looking deals. The DELL System 325P with a 25mhz 386DX, 80MB HD, VGA monitor, and 2MB of RAM is now only $1999. That's a savings of $600 buckaroos over the Summer Catalog! Call DELL at 1-800-727-4279. A RECENT ISSUE of the WRIT has an excellent article about computing in general and using computers in the office in particular titled Law Office Computing. It's by Winton D. Woods who not only knows his stuff computer wise but is also a darn good writer, (As an aside, I'm sitting here writing this in the middle of a big thunder storm on Oct. 21st, at 4:45 pm. Am I turning my equipment off 'cause I'm worried about lightning strikes, power surges, etc.? Heck no, because I'm using a laptop on a battery!) ...Back to Woods: He sez "Wordperfect 5.1 on a 386/25 machine with a great VGA monitor is like driving a big Mercedes the back way to San Francisco in the old days when Nevada didn't Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 39 have a speed limit." But, he has a lot of good things to say about the Mac too. It big interest lately has been sharing files on a PC and a Mac. After having tested a number of programs he came up with this: "MacLinkPlus/PC has everything you need to integrate a Mac into your office PC system." F E E D B A C K I am interested in getting as much feedback as possible regarding Carrier Detect and welcome suggestions or any other comments you may have. If you are a software publisher or shareware author and want to submit your program for possible inclusion in future issues you are welcome to do so. Finally, if you are interested in writing an article or review, please let me know! Prospector BBS - The Home of Carrier Detect (916) 921-9949, 24 hours, 2400 to 14.4K (v.32bis) First call access to Carrier Detect Related Files and shareware programs reviewed in the current issue. Home Mailing Address: 811 San Juan Road #199, Sacramento, CA 95834 P R O D U C T I N F O R M A T I O N Following is product information for the products reviewed in this issue of Carrier Detect. If you are interested in purchasing or evaluating any of the products please note the publisher's address listed below. In addition, all current shareware programs featured in Carrier Detect will be made available to first time callers on the Carrier Detect Support BBS. SOLAR REALMS ELITE DOOR GAME distributed as shareware version 0.098 registration - $15 published by - Amit Patel 4851 Cairnsean Houston, TX 77084-2541 Solar Realms BBS (713) 855-1665 SRE can also be FREQed as SRE at 1:106/900 Carrier Detect - Issue 4 - page 40