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Text File | 1986-11-14 | 29KB | 498 lines

.rm78 !====================================================================! ! ! ! CCCCC TTTTTTT SSSSS AA ! ! C T S A A ! ! C T SSSSS A A ! ! C T S AAAAAA ! ! CCCCC T SSSSS A A ! ! ! ! ! ! N N EEEE W W SSSSS L EEEEE TTTTTTT TTTTTTT EEEEE RRRR ! ! NN N E W W S L E T T E R R ! ! N N N EEE W W W SSSSS L EEE T T EEE RRRR ! ! N NN E W W W W S L E T T E R R ! ! N N EEEE W W SSSSS LLLLL EEEEE T T EEEEE R R ! ! ------------------------------------------------------------------ ! ! ------------------------------------------------------------------ ! ! ! ! Volume 2 November 13, 1986 PO Box 49474 ! ! Number 3 Austin, Tx 78765 ! ! ------------------------------------------------------------------ ! ! Disclaimer: ! ! ------------------------------------------------------------------ ! ! The CENTRAL TEXAS SYSOP ASSOCIATION takes no responsibility ! ! for the contents of the articles contained here, Nor do we ! ! necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to ! ! debate. We publish everything of interest submitted. ! ! ------------------------------------------------------------------ ! ! ! ! For further information on The CENTRAL TEXAS SYSOP ASSOCIATION ! ! or this newsletter: ! ! CALL : WRITE : ! ! CTSA HOME BBS Central Texas Sysop Association ! ! CTSA UNLIMITED P.O. Box 49474 ! ! (512) 339-7199 Austin, Texas 78765 ! ! ! !====================================================================! CTSA on The GO November bring us to the holiday season and activities are heating up. The December 11th meeting will be our annual Christmas Program. This meeting is our OPEN meeting for all members, their families, and guests. The evening will include a buffet dinner, a short meeting, and a special program. Please start planning for this date and we will not disappoint you. Further details will be posted soon as all plans are finalized. We will be at the Villa Capri starting at 7:30 pm. The "Free For All Contest", unfortunately, did not raise enough interest for a winner to be selected. We only had 5 programs entered and several had bugs in them and didn't work. The "Games Programming Contest" is stirring up quite a bit more interest and runs through the end of November. The 1200 baud modem, generously donated by MicroCity, will be awarded at the December meeting as the prize for the "Games Contest". This is a super prize and all you have to do is write a program and submit it to a CTSA member BBS by the end of the month. PLEASE be sure to include a documentation file that describes your entry and any necessary information to get the program running. The CTSA Unlimited bulletin board has been extremely busy and access has been difficult in the past month. Our second node is DOWN indefinitely (until we are able to get a stable operating system for both Nodes). Please check in as often as you can and contribute what you can. Remember every CTSA member is really a SysOp on this board and feel free to answer questions or make suggestions to make the board as good as can be. We still have many - many MEGS of space for programs, so please add to the library so we can offer our users the most complete download section in the country. Our membership drive is drawing to a close and we have picked up several new members. A few past members have not paid their dues yet and will be dropped from the membership roles soon. Dues are only $10.00 a year but what we really need is the participation of the area SysOps. There are over 100 Bulletin boards in the area and 50 or so are CTSA members. We would truly like to include all SysOps in the area so we can collect everyone's ideas to bring you the activities you want. We have adopted a new format for our meetings. We will begin a business meeting, promptly, at 7:30 on the second Thursday of each month. The meeting will consist of committee reports and discussions of new business relating to the operations of CTSA. If you want to be heard or have something to present, please, call me and lets get your subject listed on our agenda. We always have a directors meeting on the Saturday preceding our regular meeting and all members are welcome. The General meetings are always open to discussion, however, if we can organize our time we can adjourn by 8:00 or 8:30 pm and allow our "young" SysOps to attend and not interfere with school. The real purpose of CTSA is to provide a forum for members and guests to get together, meet each other, and chat about our common interests. Dinner, drinks, and lots of conversation can continue for several hours after adjournment and we encourage everyone to stay as long as you can. Communication is what all this is about and we want to hear from you. Call CTSA Unlimited at 339-7199 or call a member board and say hello. Gene Chesser President CTSA -=[]=- From the Editor's Keyboard Colby Jordan The Holiday season is closing in! Hobgoblins have had their night, the turkeys are in hiding, and soon the Santas will be out in force. What does any of this have to do with the CTSA? I want to pass on to readers of this newsletter my wish list for Christmas! I would love to see newsletter contributions under my tree. This is your newsletter and your input is valuable. Don't be shy, upload your offerings to CTSA Unlimited and leave me a message. If you can't get through try CP/M Lives! at 258-8468. -=[]=- Murphy's Fourth Law If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. -=[]=- Want 2400 bps speed? Hayes and USRobotics are both offering Sysop "deals" on modems. I took advantage of the Hayes offer and am now using a Smartmodem 2400 on CP/M Lives! The reason for these offers is to encourage sysops equip their BBSs with 2400 bps modems and therefore create a demand in the ranks of callers - so they will rush out and buy the modems a full price! But, at $325 for the Hayes and $359 for the USRobotics it is indeed a good buy for the sysop. For information on the Hayes Smartmodem 2400 contact Ms. Lynne Caldwell at (404)449-8791 - or write to: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. P.O. Box 105203 Atlanta, Georgia 30348 For information on the USRobotics offer call (800)DIAL USR -=[]=- The "Premier Issue" of "Online Access Guide" arrived in the mail recently, curtosey of GEnie. It is a magazine devoted to online services and information to business people using personal computers. Though it is primarily geared toward uses of various commercial online services it does at least mention bulletin boards and states "Amid the various online systems, the bulletin board ranks as one of the most versatile and enjoyable products." Does that give us credibility along with the "Big Boys"? We may not have the data bases available but we have the information, the help, and the software to make any personal computer user more productive! -=[]=- The CTSA was present at the Texas Wide Computer Festival at the Marriot on October 18, 1986. Though the users' groups were stuck in an out of the way room there were some stalwarts who managed to find their way to the room to visit. Those that did were greeted by members of the CTSA who in the tradition of the group gladly took on all questions and returned sage advice! -=[]=- Hoare's Law of Large Programs Inside every large program is a small one struggling to get out. -=[]=- From The Washington Post July 29, 1985 THE CRIME OF CRACKING DOWN ON TEEN-AGE COMPUTER HACKERS The murder rate may be astronomical and La Cosa Nostra may be thriving, but the high mucky-mucks of law enforcement in New Jersey want you to know that they're on the warpath against dangerous criminals operating in the Garden State. With hoopla unmatched since the Lindbergh kidnapping, come hot-dog prosecutors, sheriffs, et al. in central Jersey called a press conference to announce that they had cracked a virulent outlaw band and confiscated the sordid tools of their filthy trade. Had the law caught the guy who nailed Hoffa? Had they tracked down the mobsters on casino row? Is it safe now to walk the downtown streets at night? Not quite. No, instead of pursuing real criminals, the prosecutors had invested hundreds of man-hours preparing charges against seven high-school kids whose crime was - are your ready? - sending and receiving messages through computer bulletin boards. During the press conference, at which the miscreants' Apples, TRS-80s, etc. were displayed as if they were exotica from outer space, prosecutors charged that the Silicon 7 had used their home computers to invade Pentagon security systems and - I loved this one - to move communication satellites around in space. It was spectacular stuff. It was also preposterous. No kids had invaded any system, the Pentagon reported. "We have no indication that there's been any disruption or relocation of our satellites," said AT&T. When it came time to press formal charges, the case began to look less spectacular. The delinquency charges were based on a case of "conspiracy to commit theft." The key word is "conspiracy." The prosecutors don't need to prove that the kids actually broke into the Pentagon or moved any satellites; to win a conspiracy rap, they only have to prove that the kids talked about it. This may come as a shock to the law enforcement establishment in New Jersey, but kids have been talking like that as long as there have been street corners. The only difference is that these seven kids used the 1985 version of the street corner: A computer bulletin board. Instead of hanging out on the streets on a summer night exchanging their fantasies, kids all over the country now do their fantasizing via computer bulletin boards. So do millions of adults, for that matter. In most places, they are free to do this without harassment form headline-hungry prosecutors. According to The New York Times, the prosecutors reported that they youthful mob had "exchanged information through their systems on how to... make explosives from household chemicals..." At the risk of bringing this posse of boobs down upon me, I confess that in my teen-age years I possessed a recipe for making nitroglycerin. I got the evil information from a kid who wrote it down on a strip of paper. No prosecutor seized that kid's pencil and charged us with "conspiracy." But when the same childish transaction is carried out via computer, police sirens wail in the Jersey streets. Shortly after their ballyhooed arrest of the Silicon 7, the prosecutors announced breathlessly that they were investigating 623 other Americans. The crime? This Gang of 623 had called the same bulletin boards the original seven liked to use. It's a shame to burst this marvelous prosecutorial bubble, but frankly, any bulletin board with only 623 callers is a rinky-dink operation. If New Jersey's prosecutors don't have enough serious crime to keep them busy, the could start investigating some of the bulletin boards that have tens of thousands of callers. The whole silly business amounts to a severe case of prosecutorial ignorance. In fairness to the prosecutors, though, it must be noted that they were enforcing an equally ignorant new law passed this spring by that famed repository of wisdom, the state legislature. The legislators were trying to deal with the real, if relatively minor, law- enforcement problem of "hackers" who invade big corporate data bases that contain credit-card numbers and financial data for large numbers of people. The effective way to stop these electronic break-ins is to make sure that banks, credit card companies, etc. maintain adequate security over their data. Any computer system can be made secure against attempts to break in. But the security measures can be expensive, and some credit firms have been reluctant to spend the money. Did the legislature pass a law requiring these firms to establish adequate security over the records they maintain on all of us? Of course not. The legislature went after the weakest target, the target with no pin-striped lobbyists in the state capital: the teen-aged computer buff. A foolish law led to a foolish set of charges - charges that should, and probably will, be dropped once the prosecutors learn something about computer bulletin boards. Do you suppose they'll have a press conference when that happens? By T. R. Reid Washington Post Staff Writer -=[]=- Kitman's Law - Pure drivel tends to drive out ordinary drivel. -=[]=- CTSA T-SHIRTS BY MAIL The CTSA T-Shirts are now available by mail. CTSA even pays the postage. To order yours, send $ 9.00 to CTSA, P.O. Box 49474, Austin, Texas 78765. The T-Shirts are available in adult sizes: X-Large, Large, Medium, and Small. *** ORDER YOURS TODAY *** ********************************************************************** I N F O R M A T I O N A B O U T T H I S N E W S L E T T E R Comments? Suggestions on future articles? Offers to write, or collaborate on, an article? Want to to get on our mailing list? Call CTSA Unlimited at 339-7199 and leave a message. Your aid, help, friendly guidance, and helpful suggestions will all be appreciated! ********************************************************************** REMEMBER!! DUES FOR 1986-87 ARE PAYABLE NOW ********************************************************************** CENTRAL TEXAS BULLETIN BOARDS A Service of the Central Texas SysOp Association Official CTSA List Ver. CTSA1186.BBS CTSA MEMBER BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS The SYSOP's of the following boards are in agreement with the C.T.S.A.'s philosophies in support of your basic freedoms, encouraging public-domain programing efforts and the FreeWare(tm) concept, and intolerance of "piracy". System Phone System WkDay Maximum BBS ______ Name __________ Number __ Type _ Hrs _____ Baud _ Program __ Notes __ ACB....................345-DATA C-64 24 hrs 1200 C-Net %-*-! Austin Matchmaker......255-0803 PC-Jr 1200 custom A.S.E.U................339-8311 8pm-10am m-f Collie * Bats in the Belfry.....255-8297 24 hrs 1200 WWIV %-* Bermuda Triangle.......835-9416 PC-Jr 24 hrs 1200 COLLIE %-* Chai Way...............388-3464 ALTEX 24 hrs 2400 Fido %-* Commisary..............345-4327 IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC * Commercial Energy......255-1618 IBMAT Rg Bck 2400 WinterMute %-* Confusion Node #1..452-9477 Novell 24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC $-%-* Research Node #2..452-9478 Novell 24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC $-%-* Center Node #3..452-9479 Novell 24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC $-%-* Node #4..452-9470 Novell 24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC $-%-* CP/M Lives!............258-8468 Std Turb24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC %-* Crystal Cavern.........263-5805 IBMPC 24 hrs 2400 Fido %-*-! CTSA Unlimited.........339-7199 PCsLtdAT24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC %-* Dead End...............255-1282 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 WinterMute %-* Deep Thought...........244-1598 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Den of Iniquity........462-0207 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Diabetes Discussion....454-9821 Columb 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Dr. Chandra's Lab.....<Non-Pub> IBMAT Colossus Dog's Breath...........836-8588 24 hrs 2400 Fido %-* Dragon's Court.........255-3288 AT&T 7pm-7am 2400 Fido %-* Emmaus.................836-1072 Tandy 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Flight.................467-8836 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 custom % Forbidden Planet.......836-7117 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-*-! Freeside..............<Non-Pub> Fun World..............346-6519 IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-*-! Gallifrey..............345-6042 PCjr 24 hrs 2400 WWIV %-*-! Health-Link............444-9908 AT&T 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* The Hub - IBM U.G......328-6633 PCs Ltd 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Illuminati.............447-4449 Apple 24 hrs 300 T-Net % Jim-Net................837-0953 IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Kaypro Club of Austin..258-8328 KayPro 24 hrs 1200 ROS %-* KB5PM..2 Meter Band @ 145.01MHz Rainbow 24 hrs Packet radio board % Last Resort............255-9983 IBMXT 24hrs 1200 WinterMute %-* MicroDelicious........<Non-Pub> PCAT 24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC %-* Nightmare............1-846-6151 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 FidoNet %-* Note-BBS...............836-6637 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 WWIV %-* PC's Limited Tech Line.339-4127 PCsTurb 24hrs 2400 RBBS % Phoenix................458-5628 Tandy 24 hrs 1200 Fido %-* Pie In The Sky.........327-0476 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Principia Discordia....444-1840 Atari 24 hrs 1200 SupSys %-*-! Recording Studio.......452-2040 COMPAQ 24 hrs 2400 WntrMute %-* Ringside...............255-0221 LEPC 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* S.A.M..................463-3188 Bondwel 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-CP/M %-* Siberia................327-6241 KayPro 24 hrs 1200 OBBS %-! Silent Epidemic.......<Non-Pub> IBMXT RBBS-PC Silent Running.........835-4867 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* SoftNet................836-4232 IBMXT 24 hrs 300 RBBS-PC %-* Sphere West............323-9534 ITT-Xtr 24 hrs 1200 Fido % Star's End.............255-1030 24 hrs 2400 WinterMute %-*-! Tex-A-Caid.............465-4690 IBMXT 24 hrs 2400 RBBS-PC %-* Thunderbird BBS........448-3701 Tandy 24 hrs 2400 Fido %-* Tron...................251-7182 IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Tumbleweed's Ranch....<Non-Pub> C-64 24 hrs 1200 C-Net %-$ War Lord's World......<Soon> TRSColor custom _______________________________________________________________________________ ____ Non-Member Austin Area Systems _____ System Phone System WkDay Maximum BBS ______ Name __________ Number __ Type _ Hrs _____ Baud _ Program __ Notes __ ABnormal ENDing........331-8472 C-64 24hrs C-Net %-* Abyss..................335-8725 C-64 24 hrs 300 C-Net %-* Amiga Abusers Anon.<down temp> IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Apokolips..............471-5850 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 WWIV *-% Arcane Dimension.......832-1680 Mac 24 hrs 1200 RRHost %-! Armadillo..............385-9150 Atari 24 hrs 1200 FoReM %-* Artificial Realities...280-0230 IBMPC 24 hrs 300 $-% Aunt Billy's Kitchen...482-8871 Mac 24 hrs 1200 RRHost * Austin Matchmaker......255-0803 PCjr 24 hrs 1200 custom % AusTInet...............832-9224 TIPC 24 hrs 1200 TIgger %-* Austin Party Line......892-6521 Apple 24 hrs 300 Diversi-Dial %-$ Austin Private Library.250-5967 TI99 24 hrs 1200 % Austin Yacht Club......834-9016 Apple 24 hrs 300 TeleCat %-*-! Bates Motel............442-1022 AtariST 24 hrs 1200 Michtron %-! BBC....................255-8418 IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 FIDO %-*-! Billboard..............836-6383 TI99 24 hrs 300 % Black Box..............835-9742 Atari 24 hrs 1200 RCP/M $-%-*-! Bull Creek.............343-1612 Mac 24 hrs 2400 RRHost %-* C-5....................454-0890 C-64 24 hrs 300 C-NET %-* Chaser's...............479-6000 IBMAT 24hrs 2400 RBBS %-* Compuswing.............477-7593 Apple 24 hrs 300 Dial-Your-Mat % Computer Exchange......451-2065 IBMXT 24 hrs 2400 TBBS %-* Cracked Night..........282-4479 C-64 24 hrs 300 C-NET %-* Cygnus X-1.............331-9816 C-64 24 hrs 300 C-NET %-*-! Dial Your Match # 38...477-4747 Apple 24 hrs 1200 Dial-Your-Mat % Diner..................443-3084 Mac 24 hrs 2400 RRHost %-* Dr. Bub................440-3771 Altos 24 hrs 1200 BubNet %-* Dragon.................343-6732 24 hrs 1200 Collie % Electric Pages.........472-6028 Vax 24 hrs 1200 $-% Freebies..............472-6028 Vax 24 hrs 1200 % FixIt Forum............250-4013 6pm-8am 1200 TIgger Future Quest...........331-0083 TRS-80 24 hrs 1200 TBBS %-* Hideout................339-1822 Ti99 24 hrs 2400 % Insomniac City.........440-1948 Atari 11pm-8am 300 Irata..................462-3306 Atari 24 hrs 2400 %-* Library................339-7646 IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Mac Trade Center.......447-6882 Mac 24 hrs 1200 RRHost %-* Magic Show.............454-6204 Atari 24 hrs 2400 %-* Mailbox................327-5376 1200 Fido Match-A-Mate #1........928-9551 C-64 24 hrs 1200 % Megafone...............331-1662 Mac 24 hrs 1200 RRHost %-* Message Center.........837-2003 Columbia24 hrs 1200 Stonehenge %-* Micro Tech Times.......444-3204 C-128 24 hrs 1200 Color-64 %-* MUG....................445-6493 C-128 24 hrs 300 Color-64 %-* New Haven..............335-1455 Mac 24 hrs 1200 RRHost *-! Omega Force.<down temp>835-5706 C-64 24 hrs 300 Split %-! Outerlimit.............454-3412 24 hrs 1200 RBBS %-* Palmer Telegraph Depot.440-7627 C-64 24 hrs 300 C-NET * Phantom's Mansion......835-7282 C-64 24 hrs 1200 C-NET % Quicksilver............258-1841 IBMPC 4pm-8pm 1200 WWIV *-! River City Magazine....331-6054 Apple 24 hrs 300 AppleSIG % Sergeant Pepper's......836-7552 24 hrs 1200 % S.Ex...................478-4282 AtariST 24 hrs 1200 Michtron %-* Shaolin................331-7592 Mac+ 24 hrs 1200 RRhost %-* Silver City............836-6559 C-64 24hrs % Skullman's Castle......448-4925 C-64 24hrs C-Net %-* Smof...................836-7663 Apple 24 hrs 1200 T-Net % Star Lifter III........440-8377 Apple 24hrs 1200 GBBS.PRO %-* STarship...............448-1112 AtariST 7pm-8am 1200 Michtron *-! Texas Leprechaun.......288-2114 Apple 24 hrs 1200 T-Net %-* Thieves Den ][.........458-9008 Apple 24 hrs 300 $-%-! TI Speech..............250-4476 TIPC 24 hrs 1200 TIgger %-* Trails End.............244-7682 Atari 24 hrs 300 BBCS % University Central.....495-5120 IBMXT 24 hrs 1200 Fido * Utility Board..........443-3470 AtariST 24 hrs 1200 Michtron % View Port..............444-4780 Atari 24 hrs 1200 % Wirenuts BBS...........282-8765 C-64 24 hrs 300 C-Net %-* _______________________________________________________________________________ New Listings System Phone System WkDay Maximum BBS ______ Name __________ Number __ Type _ Hrs _____ Baud _ Program __ Notes __ Future Quest...........331-0083 TRS-80 24 hrs 1200 TBBS %-* Silver City............836-6559 C-64 24hrs % ABnormal ENDing........331-8472 C-64 24hrs C-Net %-* Skullman's Castle......448-4925 C-64 24hrs C-Net %-* Outerlimit.............454-3412 24 hrs 1200 RBBS %-* FixIt Forum............250-4013 6pm-8am 1200 TIgger Den of Iniquity........462-0207 24 hrs 1200 RBBS-PC %-* Shaolin................331-7592 Mac+ 24 hrs 1200 RRhost %-* Bats in the Belfry.....255-8297 24 hrs 1200 WWIV %-* ______________________________________________________________________________ ---Recently Dropped Boards--- Kyfho Wildlife................. IBMPC 24 hrs 1200 %-* Nancy's Carnaval............... Amiga 24 hrs 300 custom % ______________________________________________________________________________ ---Phone Number Changes--- Palmer Telegraph Depot number is 444-7627 (the number listed was incorrect) Flight's number is now 467-8836 Sphere West's number is now 323-9534 ______________________________________________________________________________ ---Other Changes--- Dragon's Court appears to be back up at 2400 baud Phoenix is back up CP/M Lives! now runs at 2400 baud What was Dragon's Lair is now called Quicksilver ______________________________________________________________________________ ---Boards That Do Not Appear To Be Up--- ______________________________________________________________________________ ---Key For Notes--- $ - Fee Required % - 24 hrs 7 Days a week * - Down Loads Available ! - On-Line Game (i.e. Dungeons and Dragons, etc.) _______________________________________________________________________________ _________ PLEASE SUPPORT AN ACCURATE BBS LIST _________ BY MAKING YOUR SYSOP AWARE OF ANY ALTERATIONS NEEDED TO THE ABOVE The home of this BBS list is Deep Thought 512-244-1598. Leave messages for SYSOP there or for Mike Stafford on CTSA Unlimited at 512-339-7199. _________ THANK YOU _________ ***************************************************************************** _________ THANK YOU _________ **********************************************************