What is Fidonet?

Fidonet is a worldwide public amateur network of personal computers.  Over 10,000 BBSs participate in this network.

Although Fidonet is an amateur network, it has many rules, most of which are covered in a document called Policy 4.  Fidonet participants are expected to comply with the rules set forth in this policy.  It’s a good idea to obtain a copy of this document from your host and read it prior to getting involved with Fidonet.

The most important thing to note here is that a BBS cannot participate in Fidonet conferences unless that BBS is a recognized Fidonet node listed in the Fidonet NodeList.  After you begin running the Fidonet Gateway, you may get requests from other FirstClass systems to pass Fidonet EchoMail conferences to them through FirstClass's built-in gateway.  Do not do this!  Doing so violates Fidonet policy and may cause all kinds of trouble for you.  If a non-Fidonet administrator asks you for Fidonet access, just say no.

The Fidonet Gateway for FirstClass makes it possible for FirstClass BBS systems to participate in Fidonet, a worldwide public amateur network of personal computers.  Over 10,000 BBSs participate in this network.  The Fidonet Gateway for FirstClass lets FirstClass systems send and receive Fidonet EchoMail conferences and private NetMail.

Definition of Terms
The following are some important terms that will be used throughout this document.  They are defined here for your convenience.

EchoMail
EchoMail is a way of sharing public messages between multiple computers using the Fidonet network.  An EchoMail Conference is a message area that is shared by a number of computers.  Callers on each system can read and send messages to the conference.  New messages on one system are automatically sent to all the other systems participating in the conference via Fidonet routing.

Each EchoMail conference is devoted to a specific topic.  There are hundreds (if not thousands) of conferences available on Fidonet.  On a FirstClass system, each Fidonet conference would be a separate FirstClass conference.

NetMail
NetMail is private electronic mail routed through the Fidonet network.  NetMail messages do not appear in conferences, but in private mail areas.  On a FirstClass system, this would be the recipient’s MailBox.

Node
A node is a BBS participating in Fidonet.  Each BBS in Fidonet must be assigned an address or node number.  This identifies the node, establishes basic routing, and helps prevent duplicate messages.  Again, a FirstClass BBS cannot participate in Fidonet without having a node number.  Node numbers are assigned by your local Fidonet Host.

A node number has three parts: a zone number, a net number, and a node number.  They are written like this:

Zone:Net/Node

So node 1:2605/157 would be zone 1, net 2605, and node 157.

skyNET's Node Number
We are at 3:633/204

About Fidonet Messages
As you'll see when the messages start arriving, Fidonet EchoMail conference messages are quite different from the messages sent to the local conferences on a FirstClass system.  In this chapter, we'll explain some of the differences and tell you how to address public and private Fidonet messages.

First and foremost, Fidonet messages are not native FirstClass messages.  Most of them aren't even created on Macintosh computers.  The majority of computers on Fidonet are IBM-compatible PCs.  Therefore, Fidonet messages have a unique format that is quite different from normal FirstClass messages.  Here are several points that you should keep in mind when reading/posting to these conferences on a FirstClass system.  You might want to make this information available to your system's callers.

Formatting
Most incoming Fidonet messages are formatted assuming a monospaced font (Monaco is now automatically selected for all new incoming messages), and 80 characters per line.  You will find it much easier to read them if you make the message window wider.  (Unfortunately, FirstClass doesn't provide an easy mechanism for users to set the default window size.)

Cross-Posting Messages
Cross-posting the same message to multiple conferences is usually considered bad form on Fidonet.  If you are replying to messages that were originally posted to multiple groups, make sure you have only one conference named in your To: field before you send it.

Threading
Fidonet messages originally don't contain threading information in a form usable by FirstClass.  Therefore “Open Thread” (Command-/) command doesn't work on incoming messages.

Special Characters
Do not  use non-ASCII characters (any option- or option-shift-characters on Macs such as curly quotes, bullets, or other unusual symbols) in your posting.  The export software will often mangle these characters and the result will not be what you want.

File Attachments
Do not attach files to messages posted in Fidonet EchoMail conferences.  Attached files will not be made available to other local callers or exported onto the Fidonet network.

How Fidonet Works
Fidonet works by passing EchoMail messages from computer to computer.  Not all computers in Fidonet receive all Fidonet EchoMail areas.  Instead, Fidonet nodes arrange to receive EchoMail areas they want from other nodes that carry them.  Since each net usually has one or two nodes that carry a large number of EchoMail areas, you can often find the areas you want to carry at one node.  Check with your Fidonet Host for information on where you can get EchoMail conferences.  Some nets have formalized systems for exchanging messages.  Others are very casual and let you get EchoMail from whoever you want.

Messages are exchanged in compressed mail packages. Because the messages are compressed, they can be exchanged more quickly over phone lines.  In fact, it's possible to exchange a thousand messages in less than 5 minutes!

After the mail packages are exchanged and the two computers have hung up the phone, the mailer software decompresses and sorts out the messages.  It then creates new mail packages for other computers it shares FidoNet echomail conferences with.  The next time a connection is made, these packages are exchanged.  The mailer software does all this automatically.  It really is quite amazing when you consider all the steps it needs to go through to get the job done right.

Addressing (Public) EchoMail Messages
Fidonet EchoMail conference messages can be addressed to individuals.  Native FirstClass conferences are not addressable to anything other than the conference name.  The Fidonet Gateway software has two features that attempt to deal with this difference in message style:

1)  You'll see an Originally To:  line as the first line of all Fidonet messages.  This shows to whom the poster of the message addressed the message.  You can use the Find command in the Client software to search EchoMail conferences for all messages that are addressed to you.  You do this by selecting Find, entering your last name, and selecting the Search Content of Documents option.  This will open a window which will contain any messages that are addressed to you.

2)  The Fidonet Gateway software provides a method that you can use to address your Fidonet EchoMail messages to individuals.  To do so, simply enter as the first line of your message To:  name.   The name  would consist of the name of the person to whom you're addressing your message.  For example, to address a Fidonet EchoMail conference message to me, you would enter the following as the very first line of your message:

To: Matthew Simpson
   ^
   |
Notice that there's exactly one space between the To: and Name.

The line must be entered EXACTLY as shown, with the To:  beginning at the very leftmost position of the line, a single blank space between the To:  and the name, and the name ending with a return.  If you do not include such a line in your message, or you do not follow the exact format described, any EchoMail message you create will be sent out to Fidonet addressed to All.

Sending Private Messages. (Addressing NetMail Messages)
You can also send out private NetMail messages via Fidonet.  To do so, enter the address in To: field in the format Name@Node,FidoNet.  For example, to address a Fidonet NetMail message to me, you would enter the following in the To: field of your message:

Matthew Simpson@633/204,FidoNet

Notice that the only space is the one between my first and last name.  You do not need to include the zone number as part of the node number if your message is going to someone in the same zone you are in.  You must get the person's name and node number exactly right for it to be delivered to that person on his BBS.