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╔════════════════╗ ║ ║ ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ║ ╔╝ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ║ ║ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ ▄▄▄▄█ █ ▄▄▄▄█ █ ▄▄▄ █ ║ ╔╝ █ ▄▄▄▄█ █ ▄▄▄ █ █▄▄▄▄ █ █ █▄▄▄▄ █ █▄█ █ ║ ║ █▄█ █▄█ █▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ ║ ║ ║ ║ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ║ ╔═╝ █ ▄▄ █▄ █ ▄▄ █▄ █ ▄▄▄▄█ ║ ║ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ █▄▄▄▄ █ ║ ╔╝ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ ║ ║ ║ ╔══╝ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ╔═══╝ ║ █ ▄ ▄ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ ▄▄▄▄█ █ ▄▄▄ █ █▄▄▄ ▄█ █▄ ▄█ █ ▀██ █ █ ▄▄▄▄█ ║ ╔╝ █ █ █ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ █▄▄ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ ▄█▀▄██▄ ▄█ █▄ █ █▄▀ █ █ ▄▄▄█▄ ║ ╔╝ █▄█▀█▄█ █▄█ █▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄█ █▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄█ █▄█▀█▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ ║ ╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╩═══╗ ║ July 1996 Volume 4 Number 7 ║ ╟───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ Board of Trade BBS New Port Richey, Florida (813) 862-4772 ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ In This Issue ------------- ■ Remembering Computers Written by John Zagar ■ Remembering Computers Part II: Past Reflections ■ Computer Time Line ■ A Look at whitehouse.gov ■ Computer Basics Written by Ed Garwood ■ Heretic Level Design Part II Written by Paul Pollack ■ CDA Case Gives a History of the Internet ■ All the latest news and much more + + + + + Editor's Welcome ---------------- Thank you very much for checking out this month's Pasco BBS Magazine! When John Zagar send a short article called "Remembering Computers," we decided to make that the theme of this month's issue. In one article, we have extracted some of our favorite recollections of the early days of computers from past issues of the magazine. There is also a "Computer Time Line" which gives a history of the computer. I want to thank John Zagar for sending in the inspiration for this issue. This month we also log into the home page for the White House on the World Wide Web and report on what was found at this very popular Internet site. There is also part two of Paul Pollack's article on Heretic level design and another installment of Computer Basics by Ed Garwood. There was also an important court case dealing with the Communications Decency Act and we have reprinted some of the court papers explaining the Internet. I think you will find it very interesting reading. Of course, all our other regular features are back, including the latest news. Thanks for reading! + + + + + ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PASCO BBS MAGAZINE │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Tampa Bay's Oldest Free On-line Magazine! │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Member of the Association of Online Professionals │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ EDITOR: Richard Ziegler │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ HOME BBS: Board of Trade BBS (813) 862-4772 │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.sanctum.com/pasco │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ + + + + + Remembering Computers --------------------- Written by John Zagar, Hudson, FL Recently a group of my friends and I got into a discussion about our first introductions to computers. I thought about my own experiences and saw how far the computer has advanced in the past few years. It is surprising how few people appreciate the advances in technology the home computer offers. Back in the early 70's Radio Shack sold the Model I computer with 64K of RAM, this didn't mean much to me because I had no idea what RAM was. My 14 year old son and I had a new toy to play with. After reading the manual and learning the BASIC Language we soon started to write simple programs and could store them on a cassette recorder. This was a very slow process loading and saving programs, but it was still fun. A few years later Radio Shack offered their Model III with a 5 1/4 360K floppy drive. We really thought we were Up-Town with this computer, transferring data was fast and easy. With the past experience writing BASIC programs I started to write Horse Race Handicapping Programs. I could load my computer in the car and travel to different motels in the cities where the races were held, and purchase the Daily Racing Form and enter the information into the computer. Soon my printer was printing out what it considered to be the winning horses. My win percentage did increase slightly, besides I could now brag to my friends that it was a computer pick. Our next computer was an Epson QX-10. This computer offered us more graphics and their Valdox word processor was very superior in those days. We later added a MS-DOS board so that we could have CPM and IBM capabilities. As prices dropped on the IBM Clones we bought our 286 16MHZ with 1 meg of RAM and a whopping 20MEG Hard Drive and 5 1/4 & 3 1/2 floppies. We still could not afford color so we were content with the amber monitor, it was a change from the green screen and the old black & white days. This was my first indication of how far the computer industry had advanced. If you had a computer running at 8MHZ you would appreciate the 16MHZ speed. With the new games and programs available we soon found a need for VGA, and a 2400 baud modem. We now had at our fingertips files from the local BBSs and a chance to meet mew friends through the message bases on the BBS. I have upgraded my computer with a faster CPU more RAM and a larger hard drive, a faster modem and a sound card. After seeing my own advances, I wonder how many computer users really know what they have at their finger tips. I don't run a BBS, so I don't know much about them other than logging on to their boards. I would be lost without them. I am now retired with a lot of time on my hands, it is a pleasure to log on to a board and download an interesting file, if I like it I register it. I like the try before you buy concept. Thanks to all the System Operators of BBSs, you are an asset to computer users, keep up the good work. You help make owning a computer a pleasure. Editor's Note: I want to thank John Zagar for sending in this article. If you have any recollections from the early days of the personnel computer, please send them along. We would be very happy to publish your thoughts in a future issue. + + + + + Remembering Computers Part II: Past Reflections ------------------------------------------------ Continuing with the theme for this month's issue, we present some of our favorite recollections of the early days of computers. Over the last three and one half years, the Pasco BBS Magazine has published many comments about the earliest days of this industry. This article shares some of our favorite extractions from past issues. Popular game designer Nels Anderson talked about the pre-PC days in the very first issue of the Pasco BBS Magazine. "I actually started programming way back in the dark ages of computers, well before personal computers were available. I was just in high school at the time and they had a PDP-8/L which was hot stuff at the time (4K of memory, paper tape for I/O, and a Teletype). I learned a lot from it and naturally some of the stuff I did was games. Very few game ideas are totally original and that's been the case with all my games. EGATrek was inspired by the classic minicomputer game, one of the first computer games ever, that I've traced back at least as far as 1971. SuperFly is actually an updated version of another pre-PC era computer game. Where I worked we had a programmable computer terminal (the screen and keyboard you use when connected to a minicomputer) and this terminal could play exactly one game: 'Fly.' The terminal did not support graphics, so the flies were just asterisks. A very simple game, it was still very addictive and many lunch hours were spent moving the cursor around swatting asterisks. Other programmers have had interesting recollections as well. Jetpack author Adam Pedersen in the June 1993 issue: "I started programming on a Commodore 64 I got for Christmas. I actually started Jetpack on that, but I never got very far on it. My parents would only let me use the computer for about an hour a day, they thought all I did was play." Popular BBS utility author Brent Yandel in the August 1993 issue: "Actually, I had been programming in BASIC on any kind of home computer that came down the pike since 1981, Commodore, Apple II, TI or whatever happen to be in the house." Ted Parker, author of the Merlin Hurricane Tracking Tool, in the May 1995 issue: "I think my first actual computer was a VIC-20." Some of the comments by Sysops on the birth of their boards were also enlightening. Ward Christensen setup the very first BBS and discussed it at ONE BBSCON '93. Some of his reflections were published in the October 1993 issue. "What sort of hardware environment was it born on? Something that would make you wonder how could it run. It was in fact a X-100. It had 64K on it. Dual floppy disks, a quarter of a Meg a piece, with the 8" single sided floppy of the day. And, a Hayes MicroModem 100. The software? The program was written in 8080 assembler, somewhere in the tens of thousands of lines of code." In the March 1993 issue, Dan Linton talked of the birth of the Software Creations BBS. "Software Creations started as an XT system with 2400 baud lines." In the June 1993 issue Bob Mahoney talked about the birth of the Exec-PC BBS. "I found myself with two IBM PCs, I had the largest collection already of Shareware and free Public Domain software for the PC, I had a 30 megabyte hard drive, one of the biggest in the country for a PC and I had a (1200 baud) modem. I started the bulletin board and it was a smash, hit, success." In the June 1994 issue Richard Paquette talked about the early days of the Livewire BBS. "I never even knew how to spell the word computer until about 1986. A friend of mine bought a little Tandy, floppy driven. Then I bought a Tandy with a little 20 Meg drive, a 300 baud modem and I started playing around and I self-taught myself how to program. Once I learned that, I started to run a bulletin board as a hobby, and everything grew from there." In the February 1996 issue Mike Sussell talked about the early days of the Invention Factory BBS. "I started on your basic PC with a ten meg hard drive. It was a $5,000 PC that I actually paid IBM for. The modem, I think was $600 from Hayes at the time, 300 baud." Pasco County Sysops have also shared some interesting recollections. Pasco's first Sysop Ed Black in the April 1995 issue: "I had a spare Apple II E with a pair of floppies sitting around, so I figured what the heck. So, I started up Fast Eddie's BBS. I ran a 128K, Apple II E, with two 128K Apple single sided single density floppy drives. A Hayes 300 baud SmartModem and a rotary telephone line. I mean, not rotary like you think of it. No touch tone. The biggest problem that I had was that my total storage on the system was 256K. Actually less than that, because the program to run the board was about 40K and that sat on one disk. These Apple double disk drives, the dual disks, each disk stored 128K. That was it. It is like the stone age." Rob Marlowe, Sysop of Pasco County's oldest BBS, in the February 1994 issue: "Back in early 1985, two of my three younger brothers were running bulletin board systems. Ron was running an Apple // system in Gainesville and Richard was running an IBM system in Winter Park. We liked calling their systems and decided to give BBSing a shot. The Inner Sanctum brought high speed (1200 bps) communications and a hard disk for storage (a whopping 10 meg drive). All this running on a five slot IBM PC!" As the computer industry forges ahead, it is always interesting to reflect back on how it all began. Sometimes it is hard to believe how far we have come in such a short period of time. + + + + + ╒╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤════════════════════════════════════════════╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╕ ╞╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪ Board of Trade BBS ╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪ New Port Richey, Florida ╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪╪╪ (813) 862-4772 ╪╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪ FidoNet: 1:3619/10 ╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪ ╪╪╡ ╞╪ The Hobby BBS for the Entire Family! ╪╡ │ │ │ Pasco County's Information Source │ │ Home of the Pasco BBS Magazine, DA BUCS and BBS Basics │ │ │ │ Call here FIRST for the BEST in Shareware │ │ Official Distribution Site for the Most Popular Authors │ ╞╪ ╪╡ ╞╪╪╪ Supporting the Local Computer Community ╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪ Local Author Support File Directory ╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪╪╪ Official Support BBS for Pasco ComPats Computer Club ╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪ ╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╞╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪ Member: AOP and EFF ╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╪╡ ╘╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╛ + + + + + Computer Time Line ------------------ 500 BC: The first abacus is created using wire and beads. 1642: Famous French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal invents a mechanical adding machine. 1670: German philosopher Wilhelm von Leibniz creates a calculator that could perform multiplication. 1833: English inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage, known as "the father of the computer," used a grant from the British government in an attempt to make a demonstration model of a "difference engine." Colleagues thought the idea was ridiculous, but Babbage is generally credited with inventing the calculating machine. However, small imperfections could throw the machine off and the government eventually withdrew its support. Babbage conceived another model, the "Analytical Engine," which had several key features of modern computers. The Countess of Lovelace, Augusta Ada Byron, daughter of English poet Lord Byron, worked with Babbage and is considered the world's first computer programmer. She developed instructions for doing computations on the analytical engine and published a series of notes which eventually allowed others to do what Babbage himself could not. 1880's: After the 1880 United States census took seven and one half years to tabulate, the U.S. government held a competition to find a way to speed up the process. American mechanical engineer and inventor Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine won the contest. Hollerith's machine used electrical power compared to the mechanical power that Babbage's creation used. An unofficial count of the 1890 census was generated in six weeks. 1896: Realizing the financial potential of his new machine, Herman Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company. 1924: IBM was formed by the merger of the Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company of New York and Dayton Scale Company. Thomas John Watson, Sr. headed IBM from 1924 until his death in 1956. 1930: First large scale analog computer is built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Late 1930's: Dr. John V. Atanasoff, professor of physics at Iowa State University, along with an assistant Clifford Berry, created the first digital computer which worked electronically. The electronic calculating device was designed to assist students in solving mathematical problems and was called ABC for the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. 1944: Mark I computer built by Harvard professor of mathematics Howard Hathaway Aiken. Aiken had read the Countess of Lovelace's notes and decided that a modern analytical engine was feasible. IBM gave him $1 million to create the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, which was eight feet high and fifty-five feet long. 1946: The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was demonstrated at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia on February 14, 1946. ENIAC, the first all-electronic computer, covered 1,500 square feet, weighed 30 tons, contained 600 switches and 17,468 vacuum tubes, and cost $450,000. Designed by American physicist and research engineer Dr. John Mauchley and American engineer John Presper Eckert Jr. to calculate artillery firing tables, the computer could calculate a trajectory in five minutes compared to forty hours with a desktop calculator. The ENIAC could handle 5,000 additions per second and proved the hydrogen bomb was physically possible. 1947: Dr. John Mauchley and J. Presper Eckert Jr. form their own company and begin work on UNIVAC, which was based on the ENIAC. 1950: UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) is introduced as the first commercial computer. The fifteen foot long UNIVAC correctly predicted that Dwight Eisenhower would defeat Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 election after analyzing about 5% of the vote. 1951: June 14, 1951, first UNIVAC computer is delivered to a client, the U.S. Bureau of Census to tabulate the previous year's census. 1954: FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator) computer language developed by IBM. FORTRAN was the first high level computer language, and was primarily designed for scientific and mathematical use. British Telecom developed the first modem type device, which had a speed of 110 bps. 1956: Transistor developed at Bell Laboratories by John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Bradford Shockley. The scientists received that year's Nobel Prize for the invention. 1957: Magnetic tape introduced as method of storing data. 1959: COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language) developed under leadership of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (retired). COBOL was designed for use in the business community. The integrated circuit was developed independently by Jack Kilby (at Texas Instrument) and Robert Noyce (at Fairfield Semiconductor). Noyce would go on to found Intel Corporation. 1961: The National Health Institute in Maryland is the first to use a computer to monitor a patient. 1962: Ed Thorpe wrote Beat the Dealer, a book which used computer generated hands to beat the casino at blackjack. 1964: BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) developed at Dartmouth College by professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz. Under the sponsorship of IBM, Gary Kildall wrote PL/1 (Programming Language One), the first programming language for Intel's 4004. 1965: Integrated circuit begins replacing transistors in computers. 1966: First computer dating service opens in Cambridge Massachusetts called Operation Match. 1969: Microprocessor developed by Intel Corporation design team headed by Ted Hoff. 1970: Floppy disk introduced by IBM. UNIX developed by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Freedom of Information Act passed by Congress. 1971: First pocket calculator introduced. It weighed 2.5 pounds, cost about $150, and could only add, subtract, divide and multiply. The Pascal programming language, named after the seventeenth-century French philosopher, was developed by computer scientist Niklaus Wirth of Zurich, Switzerland. Intel developed the 8008 microprocessor. 1972: Word processing is introduced. C programming language invented by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories. DIALOG established as commercial service. DIALOG grew out of a Lockheed Missiles and Space Company research and development program begun in 1963. 1974: Ed Roberts creates the first PC, the Altair 8800. The Altair 8800 used an Intel microprocessor and was named Altair after a destination in 1960's television show Star Trek. John Torode and Gary Kildall developed the CP/M disk operating system. The First Federal Savings and Loan, in Nebraska, offered the first automatic teller machine on its outside wall. The Federal Privacy Act was passed by Congress. 1975: The January 1975 cover of Popular Electronics featured the MITS Altair 8800 computer kit, which was the first microcomputer released in kit form in the United States. 2,000 people mailed checks for the $397 kit featuring an 8-bit Intel 8080 processor with 256 bytes of RAM. Michael Shrayer developed the "Electric Pencil" for the Altair, and later the Radio Shack Model I, which was the first word processor for microcomputers. A teenage Bill Gates, along with Paul Allen, created the Microsoft BASIC interpreter for microprocessors, which meant programmers could develop PC applications software. Dick Heiser opened "The Computer Store," the first retail computer store, in Los Angeles. 1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The two Steves began building the first Apple computer in their garage using $1,300 from the sale of a Volkswagen. The World Altair Conference was held, which was the first microcomputer conference. The CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputer) disk operating system for MITS Altair went on sale. 1977: The Apple II is introduced as the first PC to generate color graphics. The $1,300 machine had 4K of RAM and a jack to connect to your television. Radio Shack introduced the Tandy TRS 80 Model computer. Commodore Business Machines introduced the PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) computer. Computerland opened its first franchise in Morristown, New Jersey. 1978: On February 16, 1978, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess put the first BBS on-line. CBBS, an acroym for Computerized Bulletin Board System, was created during a Chicago blizzard. The Apple II+ added a floppy drive to the PC. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. was founded in 1978. 1979: VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, is introduced. VisiCalc, written by Dan Bricklin and Robert Frankson, was produced by Personal Software Source and released for the Apple II. Tandy introduced the TRS-80 Model II and the word processing software WordStar was released by MicroPro. CompuServe opened its service to microcomputer users. 1980: With over 2 million PCs in use in the United States, IBM establishes a PC development team. The first LAN, Local Area Network, becomes available. Ada, named after the Countess Ada Lovelace, is developed by the Pentagon as a standard language for weapons systems. In December 1980, Apple stock was offered to public and became quite popular with investors. 1981: IBM joins the PC market in August with a machine using an Intel 8088 microprocessor and Microsoft's DOS operating system. That first IBM PC had two floppy disk drives, a monochrome monitor and cost $3,200. While IBM predicted modest sales, they had the top market share within eighteen months. IBM licensed the DOS operating system from Microsoft who then licensed DOS to others. Microsoft reportedly paid $75,000 for the core code from a Seattle software developer. Apple placed an ad in the trade press which read: "Welcome, IBM! Seriously." Apple thought that IBM's entry in the market would give the personal computer a more serious image. Also in 1981, the Delphi on-line service was founded and Chuck Forsberg introduced the YModem protocol. The V.21 modem standard was developed for 300 bps and Hayes released a 300 baud modem. 1982: PC Magazine was introduced in February 1982. The V.22 modem standard was developed and the 1200 baud modem introduced. Compaq Computer Corp. was founded in Houston, which started the IBM clone market and made IBM the industry standard. Andrew Fluegelman (PC-Talk) and Jim Button (PC-File) attempted the first Shareware type marketing. Timex-Sinclair announced the first computer priced under $100, which was a small unit that attached to the television set. Commodore began selling the Commodore 64, a $595 unit with 64K of RAM, and the Apple III was introduced. Time Magazine named the computer as their "Man of the Year." 1983: Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program written by Mitch Kapor, is released. IBM introduced the PC-XT with a 4.77 MHz 8088 processor. The XT had a ten megabyte hard drive and was the first computer to have a hard drive. Microsoft Word was introduced, as was the IBM PC Jr. In November 1983, Tom Jennings introduced the FidoNet message network for BBSs. The Exec-PC BBS went on-line in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1984: The heavily promoted Apple Macintosh was introduced in mid-January. The Software Publishers Association is founded on April 5, 1984. The V.22 bis modem standard is developed and 2400 baud modems are introduced. In August 1984, the IBM PC AT introduced with a 6 MHz 286 processor, 512K of RAM, a 20 meg hard drive and a cost of $5,795. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is passed by Congress and laser printers are introduced for microprocessors. Over the Winter of 1984-85, Ed Black sets up the first BBS in Pasco County. Fast Eddie's BBS ran on an Apple II E with two 128K floppy drives and a Hayes 300 baud modem. 1985: On March 8, 1985, the Inner Sanctum BBS comes on-line and it remains Pasco County's oldest BBS. PC Magazine established the PC MagNet, which is an on-line service to provide access for readers to programs, articles, databases and editorial staff. The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, better known as the WELL, goes on-line. IBM signed an agreement with Microsoft to develop OS/2 and discontinued production of the IBM PC Jr. The first computer mart, called Infomart, opened in Dallas with 90 stores devoted to computer related businesses. Version 1.0 of Windows was released in November 1985. Commodore introduced the Amiga computer, priced at $1,295, late in 1985. 1986: Compaq Computer released the Deskpro 386, the first 80386 based PC. Chuck Forsberg introduced the ZModem protocol. 1987: The V.32 modem standard developed and 9600 baud modems introduced. Boardwatch Magazine is first published in March 1987 and the Association of Shareware Professionals is formed in April. April 1987 also saw IBM introduce the PS/2 family of PCs, featuring a nonstandard architecture and the OS/2 operating system. IBM was attempting to take back control of the personal computer market, but sales were unimpressive and the strategy proved disastrous. WordPerfect 4.2 is released and became the all-time most successful word processor. 1988: The Prodigy on-line service begins operation. 1989: A computer by the name of "Deep Thought" beat master chess player David Levy, who had been beating computers since 1968, however, world champion Garry Kasparov easily defeated Deep Thought. Microsoft announced plans to concentrate on Windows rather than OS/2. 1990: In May 1990, Microsoft releases Windows version 3.0. On July 10, 1990, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was formed. 1991: The V.32 bis modem standard developed and 14,400 baud modems are introduced. IBM and Apple announced an alliance to develop microprocessors and software. In August 1991, a BBS related convention known as FIDOCON91 was held in Denver. 1992: Microsoft released Windows version 3.1. In May 1992, Apogee Software releases id Software's landmark Shareware game Wolfenstein 3-D. In June 1992, the Board of Trade BBS comes on-line in New Port Richey, Florida. On August 13, 1992, the first ONE BBSCON was held at Denver's Stouffer Concourse Hotel. 1993: The Pasco BBS Magazine is introduced with the January 1993 issue. Microsoft introduces Windows NT as the operating system for corporate networks and power users. Intel introduced the Pentium computer chip and IBM released OS/2 Warp. The first 28,800 baud modems appeared using the V.FC standard. In August 1993, id Software released the Shareware game Doom: Evil Unleashed. 1994: The V.34 modem standard was developed for 28,800 baud modems. 1995: On August 20, 1995, the last ONE BBSCON closes at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. Amid much hype, Microsoft released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995. 1996: The 50th anniversary of the ENIAC computer is celebrated at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. Vice President Al Gore commemorated the anniversary by restarting the ENIAC for the first time in forty years. Also being held in conjunction with the anniversary was a chess match between IBM super-computer Deep Blue and world chess champion Garry Kasparov. On February 10, Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in the first match of the six match game series. It was the first time a computer had beaten a grandmaster under strict tournament conditions. On February 17, the series concludes with Kasparov winning three games, Deep Blue winning once and two games resulting in draws. + + + + + █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ███ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ███ ███ █████████████████████████████████████████▀▀ ▀▀███████████████ ███ ███ ██████████████████████████████████████▀ ▀████████████ ███ ███ ██ The ███████████████ ▄▄ ▀██████████ ███ ███ ██████████████████████ █████ █▄ █████████ ███ ███ ██ Electronic ████████ ████ █ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████████████████ ████████ ███ ███ ██ Frontier ██████████ ████ █▀ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████████████████ █████ █▀ █████████ ███ ███ ██ Foundation ████████ ▀ ▄██████████ ███ ███ ██████████████████████████████████████▄ ▄████████████ ███ ███ ████████████████████████████████████████▄▄ ▄▄██████████████ ███ ███ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ███ ███▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄███ █████████████████████ Fighting for our on-line rights! ██████████████████████ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ███ 1001 G Street NW, Suite 950 East, Washington, DC 20001 ███ ███ (202) 347-5400 (Voice), (202) 638-6120 (BBS), eff@eff.org (Internet) ███ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ + + + + + A Look at whitehouse.gov ------------------------ "Good Evening. Welcome to the White House." This is the message you will see, if you log into http://www.whitehouse.gov some night. You will also be greeted with a very nice digitizied image of the White House. The home page for the President of the United States is one of the most popular on the Internet's World Wide Web. However, this site is much more than nice graphics. If you click on the image of President Clinton and Vice President Gore, you learn about "The President & Vice President: Their accomplishments, their families, and how to send them electronic mail." Click on the calendar icon and find out "What's New: Vice President Gore launches CyberED to provide hands-on education technology experience across the country." A Presidential seal icon leads one to the "Interactive Citizen's Handbook: Your guide to information and services from the Federal government." Click on the image of George Washington and read about the "White House History and Tours: Past Presidents and First Families, Art in the President's House and Tours." An icon of a book will take one to "The Virtual Library: Search White House documents, listen to speeches, and view photos." Click on the podium icon and enter "The Briefing Room: Today's releases, hot topics, and the latest government statistics." A question mark icon will guide one to the "White House Help Desk: Frequently asked questions and answers about our service." There is also a "White House for Kids: Helping young people become more active and informed citizens." The Federal government continues to make more information available on-line and whitehouse.gov is jammed full of data. Want to learn more about politics or history, this is a good place to start. One visit and you will realize why it is such a popular site. + + + + + Computer Basics --------------- Written by Ed Garwood, Hudson, FL Backing Up Files Computer owners are continually being warned to "back up" their files. This, of course, is excellent advice, something like taking out insurance. The only trouble is that many people do not know just what this means, and many more have not the faintest idea how to "back up". This article, while not the ultimate word on the subject, will at least provide a little information on the subject. First of all, what does the term "back up" really mean. Basically, it means to copy certain programs or files to another place, from which they can be recovered if the original programs/files are lost. Something like hiding a spare key to your car under the bumper or with the gas cap. You lose your key, you have a back-up one. So it is with computer files. The computer, wonderful machine that it is, is NOT perfect. Next week, next month, next year, some time will come the day when you find one or more of your files are unobtainable. Whether you accidently erased them, whether they somehow became corrupted, or whether your hard drive crashed, is of no material importance. The fact is that they are GONE!!! If you were clever enough to have made back-up copies, you need only restore them to their rightful place, and you are back in business again. If not, as Blondie and Dagwood have been told, "Tough Patootie." How, then, do you make back-ups? Assume you have just bought a copy of Quicken Version 17.3a, which came on 4 3½ inch HD disks. Before you try to install this program, get 4 3½" blank HD disks. Take the first Quicken disk and put it into your A drive (or B drive, as the case may be). Type DISKCOPY A: A: and press <Enter>. (If you're using the B drive, the command is DISKCOPY B: B:) You'll be prompted to put the source disk into the drive (which you have just done). The drive light will go on and the first disk of Quicken will be copied into a temporary memory. Soon, you will be told to remove the disk and replace it with the target disk (this will be the first blank disk) and press <Enter>. When that disk has been filled, you will be prompted to put the next source disk in the drive, and so on, until all four disks have been copied. Put the original disks away in a safe place, and use the back-up disks you just made to install your program on the hard disk, according to the instructions in the manual. You have just made back-up copies of your program disks. NOTE: In the instance above, you can copy this way ONLY to a disk that is exactly the same as the source disk. Other wise, you will get an error message that the disks are not compatible. Copying under WINDOWS. The procedures under Windows are somewhat different. For instance, you will not see the term Diskcopy in Windows, although you can actually accomplish the same effect. First, open your File Manager. Assuming you will copy from A drive, click on the A (upper left corner of the window). Now, to make a copy of your disk (Like DISKCOPY), click on the DISK heading, and then click on 'Copy Disk'. A new window will open, and you will see that the two boxes therein already are set for Drive A. Click on OK and follow further prompts. The other type of "back up" comes later, when you have generated data files, and wish to save them. No need to back-up the entire program, since you probably have already have copies of the program. In the versions of DOS, up to and including Version 5.0, DOS had a very good back up program as a part of DOS, with which to back up files. Version 6.0 and Windows 3.1 came up with new backup programs, called MSBACKUP and MWBACKUP respectively. Backing up with these new files is somewhat involved, and you should read the appropriate manual. Now, let us assume that you have been using WordPerfect for your correspondence. You have written quite a bit, and you would like to back up those files, to save them in a safe place. We'll also assume that you saved all of your correspondence with the .WPM extension, and that it is in the Files subdirectory of WordPerfect (i.e. WP\FILES). There are a couple of ways to make your back-ups. If you want to save the correspondence files to a single disk, (on the A Drive) , put a formatted disk in the A drive, go to the A prompt, and type XCOPY c:\WP\files\*.WPM a: and press <Enter>. What we have done here is tell the computer 'Copy all of the files in the Files subdirectory of WordPerfect, which have the extension .WPM, and put them on the disk in the A drive'. But, suppose you have so many files that one disk wouldn't hold them all. Here's what you do. First, at the A prompt, type the following: Attrib +A c:\WP\files\*.WPM and press <Enter>. NOTE: This gives the 'archive' attribute to all of those files. Then, type XCOPY c:\WP\files\*.WPM a: /m and press <Enter>. The drive will start copying files, and when the disk is full, it will display the message "Insufficient Disk Space" and state how many files were copied. At this point, remove the first disk, and replace it with a second disk. Press the F3 key, and then press <Enter>. The drive will resume the copying. Continue this until all of those files have been copied. You have now backed- up your correspondence files. If you wish to copy them back later on, put the disk in the A: drive and just type: XCOPY A:\*.* c:\WP\files and press <enter>. Continue until all files have been transferred. If you have the BACKUP.EXE file in DOS, you need only type, at the C: prompt, BACKUP C:\WP\FILES\*.WPM A: press <Enter>, and follow the prompts. Note that if you use more than one floppy disk, they are numbered consecutively. To restore the files later, put the #1 disk in the A drive, and type RESTORE A:*.* c:\WP\FILES. NOTE: You MUST Restore files which were backed up using BACKUP to they directory from which they were copied. Should you just want to back up one or two files, the COPY command will work well. The syntax is COPY C:\WP\FILES\filename.WPM A:. The same type command can be used to restore the files to their original place. There are some commercial programs which will do the back-up job. Among them are Norton BackUp, PC Tools, and a shareware program called BAC. To use the latter, type BAC C:\WP\Files\*.WPM a:. To restore them later, use the XCOPY command as above. There are also tape units, which allow you to back up your files on tape, rather than floppy disks. You can put about 100 MB of data on a tape unit. Editor's Note: Look for another installment of Computer Basics in next month's issue. Ed Garwood may be contacted by leaving a message on the Board of Trade BBS at (813) 862-4772. He is also active in the Pasco ComPats Computer Club. The club meets the second and fourth Thursday of the month at the New Port Richey City Council Chambers at the intersection of Main and Madison Streets in New Port Richey, Florida. For more information about the Pasco ComPats Computer Club, contact club President Robert Donbar at (813) 863-3963. + + + + + ***************************************************************************** ATTENTION to Details BBS Clint Bradford, KE6LCS - Sysop Mira Loma, California BBS (909) 681-6221 BBS Excellence...Across the Board!(sm) Voice Support (909) 681-6210 Supporting BBS Member: AOP - Association of Online Professionals ASP - Association of Shareware Professionals EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation ESC - Educational Software Cooperative NCSA - National Computer Security Association Message Networks: MustangNet USNet CoveNet Internet MysticNet ILink HamRadioNet Official Bulletin Station of the ARRL - American Radio Relay League ATTENTION to Details BBS is managed in compliance with the AOP and NCSA Codes of Professional Standards ***************************************************************************** + + + + + EFF Quote of the Month ---------------------- "Information wants to be free." - Stewart Brand, EFF boardmember, founder of Whole Earth Catalog and the WELL. Editor's Note: The Electronic Frontier Foundation Quote of the Month is a collection of the wittiest and stupidest, most sublime and most inane comments ever said about cryptography, civil liberties, networking, government, privacy, and more. For more information on the Electronic Frontier Foundation, contact the EFF via the Internet, phone, fax, or US Mail. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, 1001 G Street NW, Suite 950 E, Washington, DC 20001, (202) 347-5400 (voice), (202) 393-5509 (fax), (202) 638-6119 (BBS), Internet: ask@eff.org. + + + + + ▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▒ THE NEWS ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ DIRECTORY ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▒▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▓▒▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▒ A brief look ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▒ at some of ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▒ ▓▓▓▒▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ the news of ▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▒ ▓▓▓▓▒ the month AT&T has been deluged with requests for its WorldNet Internet service, which they announced on February 27 would feature five free hours of access each month for one year. Over 150,000 customers have been signed up, however, 600,000 have made requests to do so. Reports claim people have waited months to get the required software, the customer support help lines have been overwhelmed, the technical support has been lacking and that the software has had several bugs. AT&T, along with other major telecommunications companies, are having difficulties joining Internet Service Provider market. ONE, Inc. has announced that ONE ISPCON '96 (formerly known as ONE BBSCON) will not feature a Sunday schedule for this year's event. The convention will be held from Wednesday August 7, 1996 to Saturday August 10, 1996 in San Francisco. A home page for this summer's centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta has been set up on the World Wide Web at http://atlanta.olympic.org. Democrats in the United States House of Representatives are complaining that the Republicans are only listing the Democratic committee home pages on the House Web Page's main menu. Democrats claim that people will have go through Republican rhetoric to access their views. The Republicans claim that the new policy guarantees a Web page for the minority party. The page is located at http://www.house.gov. Clark Gilbo has announced that his Pasco BBS Listing will be renamed Pasco BBS Quarterly and released four times a year. The list of bulletin board systems in western Pasco and northern Pinellas counties will be released in June, September, December and March. There could also be intermediate updates if the need arises. Clark Gilbo has been publishing BBS listings since 1992, when he introduced the Westcoast 813 BBS Directory, which was later renamed the 813 BBS Directory. The first Pasco BBS Listing came out earlier this year. + + + + + ROTFL! ------ Computer humor courtesy of Sandy Illes Favorite Flames Number I You obviously have so much on your mind that there isn't room left for any brains. Some people are "has-beens," you're a "never-was." Whatever is eating you must be suffering horribly. Some day you'll find yourself - and be truly disgusted. Your attempts at humor are greeted by tremendous bursts of silence, and if you changed your mind, I wonder where you'd put the diaper. You're proof that lack of brainwave activity is not a sign of death. Favorite Flames Number II You are truly pathetic. Not to be confused with imitation pathetic or facsimile pathetic. Have you not considered that brain surgery would be a minor operation for you? Your unimportance is matched only by your insignificance. Since you already have an electric typewriter, I'd like to suggest that you find a matching chair. Favorite Flames Number III Hello there, tall, dark and obnoxious. It's possible that you may be a beautiful person on the inside. Unfortunately, it's the outside that shows. It's obvious that you have a lot on your mind - too bad there wasn't any room left for brains. Arguing with you is like trying to blow out a light bulb. If I ever said anything nice about you, please cancel it. Oh, and tell your mother to spit in your face for me. Favorite Flames Number IV I considered replying to your inarticulate, injudicious, and unintelligible message, but reconsidered after considering the possibility that others might accidentally believe that I know you. Please desist from this sick compulsion to intellectually barf all over the net. Favorite Flames Number V It's disheartening to know that you're still alive and inflicting your curse of momentary consciousness upon the masses via echomail. If you are unable to get a life, I implore you to get a death. Editor's Note: Thank you to ROTFL Digest!, and its editor Sandy Illes for allowing the above to be reprinted from a prior issue of the on-line humor magazine. ROTFL Digest! is published by Access Media Systems, which may be contacted at (905) 847-7143, or (905) 847-7362. You may also email Sandy Illes at sandyi@pathcom.com, or visit their home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.pathcom.com/~sandyi. + + + + + ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ▀█▀ █▀▀█ █▀▀█ █▀▀▀ █▀█ █▀▀▀ █▀▀█ █▀▀█ █▀▀█ ▀▀█▀▀ █ █ █▀█▀█ ║ ║ █ █ █ █ █ █▀ █▀▀█ ▀▀▀█ █▀▀█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ ║ ║ ▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀ ▀ ║ ║ ║ ║ █▀█ █▀█ █▀▀▀ ║ ║ █▀▀█ █▀▀█ ▀▀▀█ ║ ║ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ║ ║ ║ ║ Since 1985 - Pasco County's Oldest BBS ║ ║ ║ ║ Sysops - Rob & Carolyn Marlowe ║ ║ ║ ║ Popular Chat Board, On-Line Games, CD-ROMS, Internet, FidoNet ║ ║ ║ ║ Ten Lines - (813) 848-6055 Voice - (813) 845-0893 ║ ║ ║ ║ telenet: sanctum.com ║ ║ ║ ║ READ THE PASCO BBS MAGAZINE AT: http://www.sanctum.com/pasco ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ + + + + + PBM Flashback - July 1994 ------------------------- In the July 1994 issue of the Pasco BBS Magazine, Rob Kittredge was interviewed for an article on his new program QFront. The program was designed to give PCBoard Sysops an easy way to get FidoNet up on their system. QFront was quite successful and had been named one of the favorite add-ons for PCBoard. A version for Wildcat! would come out later. Here is some of what Rob Kittredge said in that issue two years ago. "All I wanted to do was fill a gap that PCBoard had when interfacing with Fido, there is no other FidoNet mailer compatible with PCBoard like QFront is. That was one of my major goals, along with ease of set-up and ease of use for the average user. QFront has better context sensitive help, as every item has a help display on the bottom of the screen. As you move through each field it tells you, briefly with a one line description, what you are doing. You can press F1 to get a more detailed help display for the field you are editing." Editor's Note: PBM Flashback will appear on a regular basis in future issues. Each issue will have this brief look back at some of the features which have appeared over the history of the Pasco BBS Magazine. + + + + + When You Just Can't Wait: A Guide to Shareware Heretic Level Design (Part II) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "A not-so-quick, but still dirty, guide to shareware Heretic level design." Written by Paul Pollack, New Port Richey, Florida DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for the prohibited distribution of levels for the Shareware version. Please respect id's wishes and only use this while waiting for your registered version to arrive. Do not distribute levels compatible with the Shareware version, as this is prohibited by id. Miscellaneous Items A. Using Heretic texture names/what they look like Another option (and one perhaps better than simply using Doom only textures; especially in Doom ][) when designing a level is to use Heretic texture names; DM2CONV doesn't touch 'em, and if you know what they look like (and your editor allows you to use their names), you can pretty much get the desired results. But how do you know what the texture names are in Heretic? Just download the last issue of GamePlay Magazine from the Board of Trade BBS for a list of textures found in the shareware version of Heretic from DeuTex. Of course, this doesn't really give you that good of an idea of what the textures actually look like; besides, this only covers the actual wall textures. So what's a shareware PWAD editor to do? Originally I was planning to include a series of high resolution SVGA 640x480 GIF files, created with the Graphic Workshop for DOS, containing a catalog of the available floor textures and wall patches. But after thinking this over, I realized that I had serious questions about the legality of such a move, and so I'll detail how to create them yourself: First off, you'll need DeuTex v3.1, by Olivier Montanuy and docs by HevKev (Kevin McGrail). Then use the DeuTex -FLATS -PATCHES -DOOM d:\heretic -XTRACT d:\heretic\heretic1.wad command to extract the floor, ceiling, and wall patches to their respective directories. Then do what you want with them; I recommend cataloging them using a program like the Graphic Workshop, but you may find it more useful to do something else with them. B. Texture conversion chart (from DM2CONV source code) When you use Doom textures for your level, as you'll probably do unless you opt to use the list of Heretic textures above, it's pretty obvious that they need to be converted. It's also pretty obvious (I told you above) that DM2CONV with the /TEXTURE parameter is just the program that does it. But this brings up a question; if you use Doom textures, how are you to know what DM2CONV will replace them with when it converts them to Heretic. It would be nice if there was some kind of chart; well, there is, thanks to the DM2CONV source code included with the software. Helpful hint: This isn't really an insider secret or anything, just common sense. A helpful approach in any problem is to try and work backwards. After seeing what the Heretic textures look like, you may have some textures already picked out for your Heretic level; but since most of us can't put them in directly, it's best to put in the Doom name that corresponds to the Heretic wall. This way, when DM2CONV encounters the texture, it will be converted to its Heretic equivalent; exactly the effect you wanted. Most Doom level designers (based on the PWAD's I've seen) use DEU v5.21 or a variant (like DDT, DeeP, etc.), and none of these (to the best of my knowledge) let you insert a texture not found in the IWAD. The solution to this (like letting you call a texture a Heretic name or a Doom I name if you have Doom ][) is to change the default textures, which all the DEU variants are pretty much forced to accept. Most of the time the textures are found in the INI file of editor (DEU.INI, DDT.INI, etc.), which are in standard text form, but in some cases (like HeeP and DeeP), this information is stored in a different format, which has the extension CFG. If it's an INI file, you can pretty much just invoke the DOS editor (if you have DOS 5 or above) and change the default texture names to either a Doom name or a Heretic name (see Appendix A for a list of wall textures). With a CFG file it's pretty much the same procedure, except for the fact that you can't use a standard DOS/ASCII editor. My tool of choice is DISKEDIT, which comes with the Norton Utilities. I locate the appropriate texture name and overwrite it with the texture name that I want it to be from Doom or Heretic. Usually, I change the default texture name to something with the same amount of letters beforehand; just to be sure I don't mess up the spacing when inserting characters. C. WAD directory/Miscellaneous information The PWAD directory structure for Heretic is also listed in the last GamePlay Magazine. While most of the Heretic textures match up 1:1 with Doom textures, some of them, like TMBSTON1 and CHAINMAN, are impossible to get without putting them in manually. For example, when I created a tombstone in my level, I could use one of the STEP? textures to get TMBSTON2 all over it, but then the tombstone lacked any writing. So I used the nice little procedure described in Appendix B; I edited the DEEP.CFG file with DISKEDIT and proceeded to change the default lower texture to TMBSTON1. After that, I cleared the previous lower texture, so the editor noticed that mine was absent. I ran the level through the missing texture check, and sure enough, the program put in TMBSTON1 for the missing texture, just as I had planned. Of course, there's an alternative to having to insert the textures manually. If you have DEU2C by the Un-Naturals (ADMiRAL and SONiC), or the Doom Developers Toolkit, you can perform a nifty little trick, which will let you insert wall textures (but not floor/ceiling textures) into your Heretic PWAD quickly and easily. First of all, you'll need a copy of DM2CONV v1.6, which comes with a nifty little tool called DMT. What DMT can do is convert an IWAD to a PWAD and back, and it's this ability that comes into play in this discussion. For a moment, I'll assume you're using the Doom Developers Toolkit. Here's the trick: You'll want both your editor, DDT, and DMT to be in the same sub-directory, so you can make a batch file to change the main Heretic PWAD to an IWAD. In the DDT.INI, you should have DOOM2.WAD as your main WAD file. Under that, change the PWAD's you want to auto-load to include HERETIC1.WAD (being careful to specify the correct path). Now you'll want to make a batch file using DMT to convert the Heretic WAD to a PWAD, then running DDT, and then converting it back when you're finished. I called my batch file HDDT.BAT. Here's how it goes: @ECHO OFF DMT -OPEN D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD -IWAD D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD DDT DMT -OPEN D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD -IWAD D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD After doing this (and changing the appropriate file paths), and running the batch file, you should see a list of things DDT is "adding." After a few years, when the list is finally complete, type R wadfile, where wadfile is the name of your PWAD. For example, if I wanted to load MINE.WAD, I would type R MINE.WAD. Then type E 1 to edit the first level, and you'll notice that the palette is all screwed up. Disregard that for a second, and enter linedef mode. Select a line, try changing the textures, and you'll realize that the texture list is now that of Heretic, not Doom/Doom ][. You can simply select textures for each of your linedefs by using this method. You'll notice that this technique doesn't work with floors and ceilings (sigh). There are a few textures which you'll probably want to put in either manually, or using the technique described above, since no Doom textures will be remapped to them when run through DM2CONV. Besides the forementioned CHAINMAN (a 256x128 texture with a man in it), you'll also notice that DMNMSK (a gray door with symbols) is also absent, along with STNGLS1 (a nice, multi-colored, stained glass window). This list is not exhaustive; I'm sure there are many more that can be found simply by comparing the lists in Appendices A and B. General use tips (for beginners): #1. Remember that on the sides of your door sectors, the two non-door lines (the "door jamb" lines) should carry the IM (impassible) and Lower unpegged flags. What this does is to ensure that the lines don't move when the door does. A better summary can be found by downloading Scott Amspoker's terriffic work on managing textures and the unpegged attribute. #2. Extract the wall and floor/ceiling textures using DeuTex as described in Appendix A. Then catalog them and use the resulting files to make sure that the textures you use go together. Also useful for making sure textures go together is the other miscellaneous information in Appendix A; usually, if textures use about the same patches, they'll go pretty well together. #3. Use the original Heretic as a model, for deciding what textures look good where. There are some pretty neat textures, and combinations, present in the levels, and using them as guidelines can help give your level a boost. #4. Don't be afraid to download some tutorials for beginners, especially if they deal with your particular editor (or a variant). I'm not afraid to admit that I downloaded a couple when I was creating my first PWAD, and they can contain some useful information that you otherwise might not know. I recommend the Beginner's Guide to DEU and the Doom Level Design FAQ, version 1.2 or later. One last tip: If you plan out your levels on paper, and I'm sure at least a few of you do, you'd be well off using HeeP version 6.13 by Sensor Based Systems. After it detects you have the shareware version, it won't let you save, but since it contains all the Heretic shareware version textures/linedefs/etc. (as well as a rather intuitive texture viewer), you will be able to get a good idea of what the finished product will look like. Just copy down what textures (as well as things, linedef types, etc.) look good where on a piece of scrap paper (or your plan sheet) and input them later with your regular Doom-based editor. Yeah, and just a reminder: ID has not authorized, in fact, rather the opposite, any distribution of levels compatible with the shareware versions of their games! This is intended only for use while waiting for your registered version to arrive. And then, once your registered version does arrive, you can port your levels over to an editor that works with the registered version of Heretic. If you would like to work fully with Heretic levels (and use all the new things/textures), you need to register your version. Editor's Note: Thanks again to Paul Pollack for another great article. Look for more from Paul in future issues of the Pasco BBS Magazine. Paul is an avid gamer and frequent BBSer who, if you would like to contact him, can be reached at Gator's Place BBS (813) 376-0087, or Dr. Duck's BBS (813) 849-3562. You may also wish to visit his home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.intol.com/paul/paul.htm. + + + + + Case Against the CDA Provides a History of the Internet ------------------------------------------------------- On June 11, 1996, the results of a three member judicial panel review of a civil action filed against the government and the Communications Decency Act were released. The case was heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania before judges Dolores K. Sloviter, Ronald L. Buckwalter and Stewart Dalzell. The court papers summarized the case: "Before us are motions for a preliminary injunction filed by plaintiffs who challenge on constitutional grounds provisions of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which constitutes Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, signed into law by the President on February 8, 1996. Plaintiffs include various organizations and individuals who, inter alia, are associated with the computer and/or communications industries, or who publish or post materials on the Internet, or belong to various citizen groups." "The defendants in these actions are Janet Reno, the Attorney General of the United States, and the United States Department of Justice. Plaintiffs contend that the two challenged provisions of the CDA that are directed to communications over the Internet which might be deemed "indecent" or "patently offensive" for minors, defined as persons under the age of eighteen, infringe upon rights protected by the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment." The primary defendants, among numerous others, were the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Libraries Association, Inc. The court ruled that the government could not control the Internet and that access was better left in the hands of parents rather than the government. The plaintiffs were expected to appeal. The court order read in part: "And now, this 11th day of June, 1996, upon consideration of plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunction, and the memoranda of the parties and amici curiae in support and opposition thereto, and after hearing, and upon the findings of fact and conclusions of law set forth in the accompanying Adjudication, it is hereby ORDERED that: 1. The motions are GRANTED; 2. Defendant Attorney General Janet Reno, and all acting under her direction and control, are PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED from enforcing, prosecuting, investigating or reviewing any matter premised upon: (a) Sections 223(a)(1)(B) and 223(a)(2) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 ("the CDA"), to the extent such enforcement, prosecution, investigation, or review are based upon allegations other than obscenity or child pornography; and (b) Sections 223(d)(1) and 223(d)(2) of the CDA; 3. Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(c), plaintiffs need not post a bond for this injunction; and 4. The parties shall advise the Court, in writing, as to their views regarding the need for further proceedings on the later of (a) thirty days from the date of this Order, or (b) ten days after final appellate review of this Order." Before the above order was issued, the judges were given background and historical information about the Internet. The rest of this article is an extraction from the court papers explaining the Internet. 1. The Internet is not a physical or tangible entity, but rather a giant network which interconnects innumerable smaller groups of linked computer networks. It is thus a network of networks. This is best understood if one considers what a linked group of computers -- referred to here as a "network" -- is, and what it does. Small networks are now ubiquitous (and are often called "local area networks"). For example, in many United States Courthouses, computers are linked to each other for the purpose of exchanging files and messages (and to share equipment such as printers). These are networks. 2. Some networks are "closed" networks, not linked to other computers or networks. Many networks, however, are connected to other networks, which are in turn connected to other networks in a manner which permits each computer in any network to communicate with computers on any other network in the system. This global Web of linked networks and computers is referred to as the Internet. 3. The nature of the Internet is such that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine its size at a given moment. It is indisputable, however, that the Internet has experienced extraordinary growth in recent years. In 1981, fewer than 300 computers were linked to the Internet, and by 1989, the number stood at fewer than 90,000 computers. By 1993, over 1,000,000 computers were linked. Today, over 9,400,000 host computers worldwide, of which approximately 60 percent located within the United States, are estimated to be linked to the Internet. This count does not include the personal computers people use to access the Internet using modems. In all, reasonable estimates are that as many as 40 million people around the world can and do access the enormously flexible communication Internet medium. That figure is expected to grow to 200 million Internet users by the year 1999. 4. Some of the computers and computer networks that make up the Internet are owned by governmental and public institutions, some are owned by non-profit organizations, and some are privately owned. The resulting whole is a decentralized, global medium of communications -- or "cyberspace" -- that links people, institutions, corporations, and governments around the world. The Internet is an international system. This communications medium allows any of the literally tens of millions of people with access to the Internet to exchange information. These communications can occur almost instantaneously, and can be directed either to specific individuals, to a broader group of people interested in a particular subject, or to the world as a whole. 5. The Internet had its origins in 1969 as an experimental project of the Advanced Research Project Agency ("ARPA"), and was called ARPANET. This network linked computers and computer networks owned by the military, defense contractors, and university laboratories conducting defense-related research. The network later allowed researchers across the country to access directly and to use extremely powerful supercomputers located at a few key universities and laboratories. As it evolved far beyond its research origins in the United States to encompass universities, corporations, and people around the world, the ARPANET came to be called the "DARPA Internet," and finally just the "Internet." 6. From its inception, the network was designed to be a decentralized, self- maintaining series of redundant links between computers and computer networks, capable of rapidly transmitting communications without direct human involvement or control, and with the automatic ability to re-route communications if one or more individual links were damaged or otherwise unavailable. Among other goals, this redundant system of linked computers was designed to allow vital research and communications to continue even if portions of the network were damaged, say, in a war. 7. To achieve this resilient nationwide (and ultimately global) communications medium, the ARPANET encouraged the creation of multiple links to and from each computer (or computer network) on the network. Thus, a computer located in Washington, D.C., might be linked (usually using dedicated telephone lines) to other computers in neighboring states or on the Eastern seaboard. Each of those computers could in turn be linked to other computers, which themselves would be linked to other computers. 8. A communication sent over this redundant series of linked computers could travel any of a number of routes to its destination. Thus, a message sent from a computer in Washington, D.C., to a computer in Palo Alto, California, might first be sent to a computer in Philadelphia, and then be forwarded to a computer in Pittsburgh, and then to Chicago, Denver, and Salt Lake City, before finally reaching Palo Alto. If the message could not travel along that path (because of military attack, simple technical malfunction, or other reason), the message would automatically (without human intervention or even knowledge) be re-routed, perhaps, from Washington, D.C. to Richmond, and then to Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and finally to Palo Alto. This type of transmission, and re-routing, would likely occur in a matter of seconds. 9. Messages between computers on the Internet do not necessarily travel entirely along the same path. The Internet uses "packet switching" communication protocols that allow individual messages to be subdivided into smaller "packets" that are then sent independently to the destination, and are then automatically reassembled by the receiving computer. While all packets of a given message often travel along the same path to the destination, if computers along the route become overloaded, then packets can be re-routed to less loaded computers. 10. At the same time that ARPANET was maturing (it subsequently ceased to exist), similar networks developed to link universities, research facilities, businesses, and individuals around the world. These other formal or loose networks included BITNET, CSNET, FIDONET, and USENET. Eventually, each of these networks (many of which overlapped) were themselves linked together, allowing users of any computers linked to any one of the networks to transmit communications to users of computers on other networks. It is this series of linked networks (themselves linking computers and computer networks) that is today commonly known as the Internet. 11. No single entity -- academic, corporate, governmental, or non-profit -- administers the Internet. It exists and functions as a result of the fact that hundreds of thousands of separate operators of computers and computer networks independently decided to use common data transfer protocols to exchange communications and information with other computers (which in turn exchange communications and information with still other computers). There is no centralized storage location, control point, or communications channel for the Internet, and it would not be technically feasible for a single entity to control all of the information conveyed on the Internet. 12. Individuals have a wide variety of avenues to access cyberspace in general, and the Internet in particular. In terms of physical access, there are two common methods to establish an actual link to the Internet. First, one can use a computer or computer terminal that is directly (and usually permanently) connected to a computer network that is itself directly or indirectly connected to the Internet. Second, one can use a "personal computer" with a "modem" to connect over a telephone line to a larger computer or computer network that is itself directly or indirectly connected to the Internet. As detailed below, both direct and modem connections are made available to people by a wide variety of academic, governmental, or commercial entities. 13. Students, faculty, researchers, and others affiliated with the vast majority of colleges and universities in the United States can access the Internet through their educational institutions. Such access is often via direct connection using computers located in campus libraries, offices, or computer centers, or may be through telephone access using a modem from a student's or professor's campus or off-campus location. Some colleges and universities install "ports" or outlets for direct network connections in each dormitory room or provide access via computers located in common areas in dormitories. Such access enables students and professors to use information and content provided by the college or university itself, and to use the vast amount of research resources and other information available on the Internet worldwide. 14. Similarly, Internet resources and access are sufficiently important to many corporations and other employers that those employers link their office computer networks to the Internet and provide employees with direct or modem access to the office network (and thus to the Internet). Such access might be used by, for example, a corporation involved in scientific or medical research or manufacturing to enable corporate employees to exchange information and ideas with academic researchers in their fields. 15. Those who lack access to the Internet through their schools or employers still have a variety of ways they can access the Internet. Many communities across the country have established "free-nets" or community networks to provide their citizens with a local link to the Internet (and to provide local-oriented content and discussion groups). The first such community network, the Cleveland Free-Net Community Computer System, was established in 1986, and free-nets now exist in scores of communities as diverse as Richmond, Virginia, Tallahassee, Florida, Seattle, Washington, and San Diego, California. Individuals typically can access free-nets at little or no cost via modem connection or by using computers available in community buildings. Free-nets are often operated by a local library, educational institution, or non-profit community group. 16. Individuals can also access the Internet through many local libraries. Libraries often offer patrons use of computers that are linked to the Internet. In addition, some libraries offer telephone modem access to the libraries' computers, which are themselves connected to the Internet. Increasingly, patrons now use library services and resources without ever physically entering the library itself. Libraries typically provide such direct or modem access at no cost to the individual user. 17. Individuals can also access the Internet by patronizing an increasing number of storefront "computer coffee shops," where customers -- while they drink their coffee -- can use computers provided by the shop to access the Internet. Such Internet access is typically provided by the shop for a small hourly fee. 18. Individuals can also access the Internet through commercial and non- commercial "Internet service providers" that typically offer modem telephone access to a computer or computer network linked to the Internet. Many such providers -- including the members of plaintiff Commercial Internet Exchange Association -- are commercial entities offering Internet access for a monthly or hourly fee. Some Internet service providers, however, are non-profit organizations that offer free or very low cost access to the Internet. For example, the International Internet Association offers free modem access to the Internet upon request. Also, a number of trade or other non-profit associations offer Internet access as a service to members. 19. Another common way for individuals to access the Internet is through one of the major national commercial "online services" such as America Online, CompuServe, the Microsoft Network, or Prodigy. These online services offer nationwide computer networks (so that subscribers can dial-in to a local telephone number), and the services provide extensive and well organized content within their own proprietary computer networks. In addition to allowing access to the extensive content available within each online service, the services also allow subscribers to link to the much larger resources of the Internet. Full access to the online service (including access to the Internet) can be obtained for modest monthly or hourly fees. The major commercial online services have almost twelve million individual subscribers across the United States. 20. In addition to using the national commercial online services, individuals can also access the Internet using some (but not all) of the thousands of local dial-in computer services, often called "bulletin board systems" or "BBSs." With an investment of as little as $2,000.00 and the cost of a telephone line, individuals, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and businesses can offer their own dial-in computer "bulletin board" service where friends, members, subscribers, or customers can exchange ideas and information. BBSs range from single computers with only one telephone line into the computer (allowing only one user at a time), to single computers with many telephone lines into the computer (allowing multiple simultaneous users), to multiple linked computers each servicing multiple dial-in telephone lines (allowing multiple simultaneous users). Some (but not all) of these BBS systems offer direct or indirect links to the Internet. Some BBS systems charge users a nominal fee for access, while many others are free to the individual users. 21. Although commercial access to the Internet is growing rapidly, many users of the Internet -- such as college students and staff -- do not individually pay for access (except to the extent, for example, that the cost of computer services is a component of college tuition). These and other Internet users can access the Internet without paying for such access with a credit card or other form of payment. 22. Once one has access to the Internet, there are a wide variety of different methods of communication and information exchange over the network. These many methods of communication and information retrieval are constantly evolving and are therefore difficult to categorize concisely. The most common methods of communications on the Internet (as well as within the major online services) can be roughly grouped into six categories: (1) one-to-one messaging (such as "e-mail"), (2) one-to-many messaging (such as "listserv"), (3) distributed message databases (such as "USENET newsgroups"), (4) real time communication (such as "Internet Relay Chat"), (5) real time remote computer utilization (such as "telnet"), and (6) remote information retrieval (such as "ftp," "gopher," and the "World Wide Web"). Most of these methods of communication can be used to transmit text, data, computer programs, sound, visual images (i.e., pictures), and moving video images. 23. One-to-one messaging. One method of communication on the Internet is via electronic mail, or "e-mail," comparable in principle to sending a first class letter. One can address and transmit a message to one or more other people. E-mail on the Internet is not routed through a central control point, and can take many and varying paths to the recipients. Unlike postal mail, simple e- mail generally is not "sealed" or secure, and can be accessed or viewed on intermediate computers between the sender and recipient (unless the message is encrypted). 24. One-to-many messaging. The Internet also contains automatic mailing list services (such as "listservs"), [also referred to by witnesses as "mail exploders"] that allow communications about particular subjects of interest to a group of people. For example, people can subscribe to a "listserv" mailing list on a particular topic of interest to them. The subscriber can submit messages on the topic to the listserv that are forwarded (via e-mail), either automatically or through a human moderator overseeing the listserv, to anyone who has subscribed to the mailing list. A recipient of such a message can reply to the message and have the reply also distributed to everyone on the mailing list. This service provides the capability to keep abreast of developments or events in a particular subject area. Most listserv-type mailing lists automatically forward all incoming messages to all mailing list subscribers. There are thousands of such mailing list services on the Internet, collectively with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Users of "open" listservs typically can add or remove their names from the mailing list automatically, with no direct human involvement. Listservs may also be "closed," i.e., only allowing for one's acceptance into the listserv by a human moderator. 25. Distributed message databases. Similar in function to listservs -- but quite different in how communications are transmitted -- are distributed message databases such as "USENET newsgroups." User-sponsored newsgroups are among the most popular and widespread applications of Internet services, and cover all imaginable topics of interest to users. Like listservs, newsgroups are open discussions and exchanges on particular topics. Users, however, need not subscribe to the discussion mailing list in advance, but can instead access the database at any time. Some USENET newsgroups are "moderated" but most are open access. For the moderated newsgroups, all messages to the newsgroup are forwarded to one person who can screen them for relevance to the topics under discussion. USENET newsgroups are disseminated using ad hoc, peer to peer connections between approximately 200,000 computers (called USENET "servers") around the world. For unmoderated newsgroups, when an individual user with access to a USENET server posts a message to a newsgroup, the message is automatically forwarded to all adjacent USENET servers that furnish access to the newsgroup, and it is then propagated to the servers adjacent to those servers, etc. The messages are temporarily stored on each receiving server, where they are available for review and response by individual users. The messages are automatically and periodically purged from each system after a time to make room for new messages. Responses to messages, like the original messages, are automatically distributed to all other computers receiving the newsgroup or forwarded to a moderator in the case of a moderated newsgroup. The dissemination of messages to USENET servers around the world is an automated process that does not require direct human intervention or review. 26. There are newsgroups on more than fifteen thousand different subjects. In 1994, approximately 70,000 messages were posted to newsgroups each day, and those messages were distributed to the approximately 190,000 computers or computer networks that participate in the USENET newsgroup system. Once the messages reach the approximately 190,000 receiving computers or computer networks, they are available to individual users of those computers or computer networks. Collectively, almost 100,000 new messages (or "articles") are posted to newsgroups each day. 27. Real time communication. In addition to transmitting messages that can be later read or accessed, individuals on the Internet can engage in an immediate dialog, in "real time", with other people on the Internet. In its simplest forms, "talk" allows one-to-one communications and "Internet Relay Chat" (or IRC) allows two or more to type messages to each other that almost immediately appear on the others' computer screens. IRC is analogous to a telephone party line, using a computer and keyboard rather than a telephone. With IRC, however, at any one time there are thousands of different party lines available, in which collectively tens of thousands of users are engaging in conversations on a huge range of subjects. Moreover, one can create a new party line to discuss a different topic at any time. Some IRC conversations are "moderated" or include "channel operators." 28. In addition, commercial online services such as America Online, CompuServe, the Microsoft Network, and Prodigy have their own "chat" systems allowing their members to converse. 29. Real time remote computer utilization. Another method to use information on the Internet is to access and control remote computers in "real time" using "telnet." For example, using telnet, a researcher at a university would be able to use the computing power of a supercomputer located at a different university. A student can use telnet to connect to a remote library to access the library's online card catalog program. 30. Remote information retrieval. The final major category of communication may be the most well known use of the Internet -- the search for and retrieval of information located on remote computers. There are three primary methods to locate and retrieve information on the Internet. 31. A simple method uses "ftp" (or file transfer protocol) to list the names of computer files available on a remote computer, and to transfer one or more of those files to an individual's local computer. 32. Another approach uses a program and format named "gopher" to guide an individual's search through the resources available on a remote computer. 33. A third approach, and fast becoming the most well-known on the Internet, is the "World Wide Web." The Web utilizes a "hypertext" formatting language called hypertext markup language (HTML), and programs that "browse" the Web can display HTML documents containing text, images, sound, animation and moving video. Any HTML document can include links to other types of information or resources, so that while viewing an HTML document that, for example, describes resources available on the Internet, one can "click" using a computer mouse on the description of the resource and be immediately connected to the resource itself. Such "hyperlinks" allow information to be accessed and organized in very flexible ways, and allow people to locate and efficiently view related information even if the information is stored on numerous computers all around the world. 34. Purpose. The World Wide Web (W3C) was created to serve as the platform for a global, online store of knowledge, containing information from a diversity of sources and accessible to Internet users around the world. Though information on the Web is contained in individual computers, the fact that each of these computers is connected to the Internet through W3C protocols allows all of the information to become part of a single body of knowledge. It is currently the most advanced information system developed on the Internet, and embraces within its data model most information in previous networked information systems such as ftp, gopher, wais, and Usenet. 35. History. W3C was originally developed at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, and was initially used to allow information sharing within internationally dispersed teams of researchers and engineers. Originally aimed at the High Energy Physics community, it has spread to other areas and attracted much interest in user support, resource recovery, and many other areas which depend on collaborative and information sharing. The Web has extended beyond the scientific and academic community to include communications by individuals, non-profit organizations, and businesses. 36. Basic Operation. The World Wide Web is a series of documents stored in different computers all over the Internet. Documents contain information stored in a variety of formats, including text, still images, sounds, and video. An essential element of the Web is that any document has an address (rather like a telephone number). Most Web documents contain "links." These are short sections of text or image which refer to another document. Typically the linked text is blue or underlined when displayed, and when selected by the user, the referenced document is automatically displayed, wherever in the world it actually is stored. Links for example are used to lead from overview documents to more detailed documents, from tables of contents to particular pages, but also as cross-references, footnotes, and new forms of information structure. 37. Many organizations now have "home pages" on the Web. These are documents which provide a set of links designed to represent the organization, and through links from the home page, guide the user directly or indirectly to information about or relevant to that organization. 38. As an example of the use of links, if these Findings were to be put on a World Wide Web site, its home page might contain links such as those: *THE NATURE OF CYBERSPACE *CREATION OF THE INTERNET AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CYBERSPACE *HOW PEOPLE ACCESS THE INTERNET *METHODS TO COMMUNICATE OVER THE INTERNET 39. Each of these links takes the user of the site from the beginning of the Findings to the appropriate section within this Adjudication. Links may also take the user from the original Web site to another Web site on another computer connected to the Internet. These links from one computer to another, from one document to another across the Internet, are what unify the Web into a single body of knowledge, and what makes the Web unique. The Web was designed with a maximum target time to follow a link of one tenth of a second. 40. Publishing. The World Wide Web exists fundamentally as a platform through which people and organizations can communicate through shared information. When information is made available, it is said to be "published" on the Web. Publishing on the Web simply requires that the "publisher" has a computer connected to the Internet and that the computer is running W3C server software. The computer can be as simple as a small personal computer costing less than $1500 dollars or as complex as a multi-million dollar mainframe computer. Many Web publishers choose instead to lease disk storage space from someone else who has the necessary computer facilities, eliminating the need for actually owning any equipment oneself. 41. The Web, as a universe of network accessible information, contains a variety of documents prepared with quite varying degrees of care, from the hastily typed idea, to the professionally executed corporate profile. The power of the Web stems from the ability of a link to point to any document, regardless of its status or physical location. 42. Information to be published on the Web must also be formatted according to the rules of the Web standards. These standardized formats assure that all Web users who want to read the material will be able to view it. Web standards are sophisticated and flexible enough that they have grown to meet the publishing needs of many large corporations, banks, brokerage houses, newspapers and magazines which now publish "online" editions of their material, as well as government agencies, and even courts, which use the Web to disseminate information to the public. At the same time, Web publishing is simple enough that thousands of individual users and small community organizations are using the Web to publish their own personal "home pages," the equivalent of individualized newsletters about that person or organization, which are available to everyone on the Web. 43. Web publishers have a choice to make their Web sites open to the general pool of all Internet users, or close them, thus making the information accessible only to those with advance authorization. Many publishers choose to keep their sites open to all in order to give their information the widest potential audience. In the event that the publishers choose to maintain restrictions on access, this may be accomplished by assigning specific user names and passwords as a prerequisite to access to the site. Or, in the case of Web sites maintained for internal use of one organization, access will only be allowed from other computers within that organization's local network. 44. Searching the Web. A variety of systems have developed that allow users of the Web to search particular information among all of the public sites that are part of the Web. Services such as Yahoo, Magellan, Altavista, Webcrawler, and Lycos are all services known as "search engines" which allow users to search for Web sites that contain certain categories of information, or to search for key words. For example, a Web user looking for the text of Supreme Court opinions would type the words "Supreme Court" into a search engine, and then be presented with a list of World Wide Web sites that contain Supreme Court information. This list would actually be a series of links to those sites. Having searched out a number of sites that might contain the desired information, the user would then follow individual links, browsing through the information on each site, until the desired material is found. For many content providers on the Web, the ability to be found by these search engines is very important. 45. Common standards. The Web links together disparate information on an ever-growing number of Internet-linked computers by setting common information storage formats (HTML) and a common language for the exchange of Web documents (HTTP). Although the information itself may be in many different formats, and stored on computers which are not otherwise compatible, the basic Web standards provide a basic set of standards which allow communication and exchange of information. Despite the fact that many types of computers are used on the Web, and the fact that many of these machines are otherwise incompatible, those who "publish" information on the Web are able to communicate with those who seek to access information with little difficulty because of these basic technical standards. 46. A distributed system with no centralized control. Running on tens of thousands of individual computers on the Internet, the Web is what is known as a distributed system. The Web was designed so that organizations with computers containing information can become part of the Web simply by attaching their computers to the Internet and running appropriate World Wide Web software. No single organization controls any membership in the Web, nor is there any single centralized point from which individual Web sites or services can be blocked from the Web. From a user's perspective, it may appear to be a single, integrated system, but in reality it has no centralized control point. 47. Contrast to closed databases. The Web's open, distributed, decentralized nature stands in sharp contrast to most information systems that have come before it. Private information services such as Westlaw, Lexis/Nexis, and Dialog, have contained large storehouses of knowledge, and can be accessed from the Internet with the appropriate passwords and access software. However, these databases are not linked together into a single whole, as is the World Wide Web. 48. Success of the Web in research, education, and political activities. The World Wide Web has become so popular because of its open, distributed, and easy-to-use nature. Rather than requiring those who seek information to purchase new software or hardware, and to learn a new kind of system for each new database of information they seek to access, the Web environment makes it easy for users to jump from one set of information to another. By the same token, the open nature of the Web makes it easy for publishers to reach their intended audiences without having to know in advance what kind of computer each potential reader has, and what kind of software they will be using. Editor's Note: The court papers for this case generated quite a bit of interesting reading and it is possible that additional extractions will appear in future issues. + + + + + ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ▓ ▓ ▓ Board of Trade BBS New Port Richey, Florida ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ (813) 862-4772 12/24/48/96/144/28800 baud ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ The Hobby BBS for the Entire Family! ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ Pasco County's Information Source ▓ ▓ Home of the Pasco BBS Magazine, DA BUCS and BBS Basics ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ Call here FIRST for the BEST in Shareware ▓ ▓ Official Distribution Site: ▓ ▓ Alive Software, Apogee Software, Epic MegaGames, Gamer's Edge, ▓ ▓ Id Software, Impulse Software, MVP Software, Safari Software, ▓ ▓ Software Creations, Soleau Software and Union Logic Software ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ Supporting the Local Computer Community ▓ ▓ Local Author Support File Directory ▓ ▓ Official Support BBS for Pasco ComPats Computer Club ▓ ▓ ▓ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ + + + + + Next Month ---------- Traditionally, the August issue has previewed the ONE BBSCON. With the death of the BBSCON, we will run an article about its legacy. There will be a preview of the first ONE ISPCON, but we will have far less coverage of the show compared to last year when Tampa hosted the last ONE BBSCON. Look for all our regular features, along with the latest news. The August issue of the Pasco BBS Magazine will be available on, or before, July 22. Make sure you do not miss a single issue of Tampa Bay's oldest free on-line magazine! + + + + + Important Information --------------------- The Pasco BBS Magazine is distributed free of charge, as long as it is unaltered and complete. When uploading make sure the original archive is intact with all files included. The Pasco BBS Magazine is the sole property of the Board of Trade BBS and Richard Ziegler. It is legally copyrighted material and all rights are reserved. No part of this magazine may be used without permission. No compensation of any kind may be received for the viewing, distribution, or for any other use of the magazine files. By submitting something, you are agreeing to allow publication of the material in the magazine. Articles reprinted with permission remain the property of the cited source. Guest contributions may not necessarily reflect the views of the Pasco BBS Magazine. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions, however, this is normally only done to correct spelling or grammatical errors. The editor makes all determinations on what and when articles will run. Every effort is made to insure that all information contained within the Pasco BBS Magazine is accurate, but inadvertently mistakes can appear. The Pasco BBS Magazine, Board of Trade BBS or Richard Ziegler cannot be held liable for information contained within this document. It is intended that this magazine exists for the personal enjoyment of the readers. Rather than place a trademark symbol at every occurrence of a trademarked name, it is stated that trademarks are only being used in an editorial fashion with no intention of any infringement of the trademark itself. More information can be found in the other files distributed with the magazine's archive. Comments, questions, suggestions and submissions can be left on the Board of Trade BBS (813) 862-4772, or mailed to Board of Trade BBS, P.O. Box 1853, New Port Richey, FL 34656. + + + + + (C)Copyright 1996 Richard Ziegler - All Rights Reserved + + + + +