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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.084 KA-Nodes Kantronics improved on the digipeater slightly and created KA- Nodes. As with digipeaters, KA-Nodes simply repeat AX.25 frames. However, a KA-Node acknowledges every transmission each link instead of over the entire route. Therefore, instead of an end- to-end acknowledgement, KA-Nodes allow for more reliable connections because acknowledgments only carried on one link. KA-Nodes therefore are more reliable than digipeaters, but are not a true network. It is similar like having to wire your own telephone network to make a phone call. NET/ROM NET/ROM was one of the first networking schemes to try to address the problems with digipeaters. A user connects to a NET/ROM as if connecting to any other packet station. From there, he can issue the NET/ROM commands to instruct it to connect to another user locally or connect to another NET/ROM. This connect then connect again means that to a user's TNC, you are connected to a local station only and it's transmissions does not have to be digipeated over the entire network and risk loosing packets. This local connection proved to be more reliable. NET/ROM don't use all of the AX.25 protocol. Instead, they use special AX.25 packet called Unnumbered Information (UI) packets and then put their own special protocol on top of AX.25. This is again used to increase efficiency of it's transmissions. NET/ROM is a commercial firmware (software put on a chip) program that is used as a replacement ROM in TAPR type TNC's. Other programs are available to emulate NET/ROM. Among them are TheNet, G8BPQ node switch, MSYS, and some versions of NET. NET/ROM nodes, at regular intervals, transmit to other nodes their current list of known nodes. This is good because as new nodes come on-line, they are automatically integrated in the network, but if band conditions such as ducting occur, often unreachable nodes are entered into node lists. This causes the NET/ROM routing software to choose routes to distant nodes that are impossible. This problem requires users to develop a route to a distant node manually defining each hop instead of using the automatic routing feature. ROSE Rose is another networking protocol derived from X.25. Rose nodes have a static list of the nodes it can reach. For a user to use a ROSE switch, he issues a connect with the destination station and in the digipeater field places the call of the local rose switch and the distant rose switch the destination station can hear. Other then that, the network is completely transparent to the user. The static routing tables ROSE uses ensures that packet routing does not use unreliable links such as NET/ROM suffers from. However, ROSE suffers from it's inability to change it's routing table as new nodes come on line. The operator must manually change every routing table, thus ROSE networks require greater maintenance times. 3.4 BBS message transfer Many of the BBS programs used in packet radio allow for mail and bulletins to be transferred over the packet radio network. The BBS's use a special forwarding protocol developed originally by Hank Oredsen, W0RLI. Besides full service BBS's, many TNC makers have developed Personal BBS software to allow full service BBS to forward mail directly to the amateurs TNC. This allows operators to receive packet mail at night and avoid tying up the network during busy hours. - End of Amateur Packet Radio Frequently Asked Questions - Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.sys.ibm.pc.games:26758 rec.games.misc:39281 news.answers:4622 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!xn.ll.mit.edu!ames!data.nas.nasa.gov!taligent!apple!warren From: warren@Apple.COM (Chris Warren) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games,rec.games.misc,news.answers Subject: ADMIN: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games - Frequently Asked Questions - Read before posting Summary: This file should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games news group. It contains the following: 1 a list of frequently asked questions about games for the IBM PC and compatabiles, 2 Glossary of terms used by comp.sys.ibm.pc.games 3 Compilation of the most common bugs in games 4 Compilation of the most common hint requests Keywords: questions,hints,faq,info Message-ID: <75627@apple.apple.COM> Date: 15 Dec 92 22:42:35 GMT Reply-To: warren@apple.com Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA Lines: 1128 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Archive-name: pc-games-FAQ Last-Modified: 1992/10/15 Posting Frequency: Once a week NOTE cross-posting -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- comp.sys.ibm.pc.games ------------------------- ----------------------------- FAQ in 4 Parts ----------------------------- --------------------------- Rev date 10/15/92 ---------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: Note: if you want to skip to a later part of this document search for the string "Part <n>" where n is 1 to 4. On UNIX, using rn or more type "/Part <n>" (example "/Part 4:" to go to the section on Game Spoilers) Part 1: General Questions The folowing questions are covered in part 1. You can search for the coresponding number with your editor if you want to skip to that question On UNIX, using rn or more type /<number>: (example "/4:") 1: What is comp.sys.ibm.pc.games? 2: What should I be aware of when posting to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games? 3: What are all these other game groups? 4: What is a Spoiler? 5: How should I post a spoiler? 6: How do I FTP? 7: Where can I download public domain games. 8: Where can I get hints/solutions to games? 9: Where can I get cracks and or cheats for various games? 10: Which sound board should I buy? 11: Where to get the Sound Site Newsletter? 12: Where can I get music players/music files/music editors/songs/etc. for my pc's music card? 13: What is the difference between the Sound Blaster and the Sound Blaster Pro? 14: My 386/33 and Sound Blaster seem incompatible. I get garbled music when playing Ultima6/SSI games/etc. What's wrong? 15: Where can I get Infocom games? Can somebody mail me a copy (since they're out of business anyway (Is that legal?) What happened to them anyway? 16: Where can I Buy/Get support for games? 17: How do I get a particular game to best run under OS/2? Part 2: Glossary Did you ever wonder about the meaning of IMHO, CoAB, LSL5, or any of the other acronyms that fly fast and furious in this group, look here for info. Part 3: FAQ -- Game Bugs Compilation of the most common bugs in games. They are arranged by game and are by no means comprehensive but they should help people who get stuck in areas of poor game design or just plain difficulty. Part 4: FAQ -- Game Spoilers Compilation of the most common spoiler problems. They are arranged by game and are by no means comprehensive but they should help people who get stuck in areas of poor game design or just plain difficulty. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Administrivia/Soapbox: Hello, here is your friendly neighborhood FAQ [person, sacrafical lamb, lemming, ??? :] Welcome to the new group! There are still a few questions I need answers for. Please email me additions, corrections, or whatever and I will incorporate them in the next version. This FAQ will be posted every week or so. For the time being, this will crossposted to rec.games.misc for purposes of smoothing the transition to the new group. Cheers Chris Warren (editor without cause) ------------------------ Part 1: General Questions ----------------------- 1: What is comp.sys.ibm.pc.games? A: This group arose out of rec.games.misc. For some time, that group had been dominated by discussions of MSDOS games. This has proved confusing to new people, and tended to starve out non MSDOS, non computer oriented traffic. The charter of this group is to provide a forum for the discussion of games for the IBM PC or compatible machines. This is not just limited to MS-DOS, but extends to OS/2, Windows and anything else which can run on an IBM PC compatible. For example (not comprehensive): o Discussion of upcoming games o Discussion of software companies o Discussion of current and past games o Requests for help o Hints and spoilers o Personal sales and trading of games. Not for commercial sales or piracy. Any risk assumed is your own. o Discussion of locations of new demos and ftp sites Certain games have their own newsgroup. These include the games: Corewar,Empire, Hack, Moria, and Rogue. See question three for more details. Questions pertaining to one of those games should be posted to that group, and possibly here if it is of general enough interest. Also certain games that come out on the PC tend to migrate to other platforms, so this group can serve as a resource for people with questions about those games as well. 2: What should I be aware of when posting to this comp.sys.ibm.pc.games? When you post an article there a few things you can do to make life easier for others. a) Subject Headers: Note the following is voluntary. It is being suggested because it will make everyone's life easier if people use it. However if you don't use it, the net.police are not going to haul you away (or flame you away:) On the other hand, please use it and people will thank you forever, or at least until their local newsfeed runs expire. Use an all caps prefix followed by a colon to indicate the type of message. This allows others to quicky find your article if it pertains to a particular topic. Here is a list of common prefixs. [feel free to suggest others or changes] HELP: Message asking for help in a game. Replies to these messages can often contain SPOILERS. SPOILER: A message which gives something away about a game and doesn't fall under HELP: BUG: Message about a bug in a game, how to get arround a particular bug, how to get patches to fix bugs, etc. TECHHELP: Message asking for help in getting a game to run on your machine. UPCOMING: Message talking about an upcomming game REVIEW: Message reviewing a particular game 4SALE: Posting for personal sales or trading of games or game wanted. Not for commercial sales or piracy. Any risk assumed is your own. WANTED: A message posted by someone who is looking for something. ADMIN: Administrative and group info type stuff. The FAQ falls under this category MISC: Misceleneous topic FLAME: Message whose primary purpose is to vent one's spleen. If you don't use a heading, then at least please use an indication of the game that you are talking about in the subject line. For example for Civilization use a header like CIV: so people who don't care about Civilization can ignore the message. Also try to use the same header that other people use. In any event, subject line should be indicative of the contents of the message. Please don't post something with a vague title like "Question" or "Info wanted" b) Understand about SPOILERS. See question 4. c) While it is OK to talk about removing copy protection for legitimate owners of games. It is NOT cool to talk about how to pirate software, or to post requests for pirated copies of software. There sometimes can be a fine line between these two so care should be taken with respect to these areas. It is all too easy to start a flame war... (he runs for cover) 3: What are all these other game groups? A: bit.listserv.games-l -- This newsgroup is mostly for MS-DOS games, but since many people on bitnet have access to only bit.listserv.games-l you'll see all kinds of posts from Amiga questions to Nintendo questions. comp.sys.amiga.games -- Amiga specific games comp.sys.mac.games -- Macintosh specific games rec.arts.int-fiction -- Covers interactive fiction (generalized term that includes adventure games) from the standpoint of developing int-fiction as a new literary genre. For implementors of int-fiction more than players. rec.games.corewar -- Group for Core War, CRobots and other games that involve programming. rec.games.design -- General game design issues. Currently focuses on non computer based roleplaying games. Could be of interest to designers of CRPGs (Computer Role Playing Games) rec.games.frp -- Covers mostly non computer RPGs rec.games.mud -- Multi-User Dungeon rec.games.mud.lp Cool multiplayer Zork type games that you can hook onto over the internet. You text adventure type should check this, if you like the idea of playing in a zork game with other people where you can help build the universe! rec.games.pbm -- Discussion of play-by-mail games. rec.games.pinball -- Discussion of pinball, both for players of coin-op pinball games and pinball collectors. rec.games.programmer -- Discussion of the implementation and programming of computer games of all types. rec.games.rpg -- Unofficial newsgroup that is a visceral clone of rec.game.frp and a source of major irritation [read flamewars] for all involved. be a net.person.good and use rec.games.frp :) [follow up this topic on alt.flame] rec.games.vectrex -- Discussion of the discontinued Vectrex vector graphics home game system. rec.games.video -- Discussion of dedicated home video game systems (i.e. Nintendo, Genesis) and the dedicated video game market in general. Computer games are occasionally discussed, especially those for older computers (i.e. Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, Apple II). rec.games.video.arcade -- A group for discussion of arcade games (in arcades). They discuss old classics as well as current games. rec.games.netrek, -- discussion about realtime, multiplayer alt.games.xtrek space combat games Netrek and Xtrek. [ PLEASE add to this list and/or the above descriptions ] 4: What is a Spoiler? A: Anything that gives away information about a game, which could hurt a player's enjoyment of a game. It comes from "Spoil the Surprise." In this context it usually refers to the solution to a puzzle, or a description of the ending animation sequence for a game. Most people get really *pissed* if you post a spoiler with out a SPOILER WARNING. Example of a Spoiler [made up by Bryon Daly] This comes from *no* game (yet:) Hey guys: In Kazoos Of Doom, I just used the +3 Accordion Of Boredom to kill the guard and solve the riddle. Now I'm stuck on how to get down to the next level... 5: How should I post a spoiler? A: At minimum you should include the word SPOILER in your subject line and a line in your message that indicates that a Spoiler follows. One way to do this is as follows: [SPOILER ALERT] ^L (control-L) 24 carriage returns <text of spoiler> [END SPOILER ALERT] Spoilers should definitely include a form-feed character (control-L) to avoid 'giving away' the secrets. Use of multiple CR's to support readers in window oriented environments like the Mac is recommended in addition to the control-L. Some people argue with justification that newsreaders that don't support control-L as a pause are broken, and some people argue that control-L doesn't make sense in a window environment, but spoilers should definitely have a ^L included to follow usenet conventions - and support workstation readers who may have large screens. Details of inserting a cntl-L / form-feed depend very much on one's system and/or editor - the following advice may not work for everyone or even a majority of people. On some UNIX systems (maybe others), you have to type the "escape" key to enter a control. The escape key is _not_ the esc. You type ^V then ^L, and the ^L will be entered into the text. Otherwise, just a ^L will clear the screen. 6: How do I FTP? A: First of all Those without FTP access should send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources" in the body to find out how to do FTP by e-mail. [Thanks to John Gordon and Stephen M. Smith for most of what follows] [We are assuming that you are on a UNIX machine. If you are using something else, you are on your own. Sorry :( ] Directions 1) From your system prompt, type "ftp <host-name>", where <host-name> is the name of the host machine that you are trying to get to. Example: "ftp cica.cica.indiana.edu". Note: In some cases you may not be able to use the name, you will have to use the IP address number. This number is 4 numbers separated by dots, i.e. "135.56.9.2". If you have to do it this way, you would type "ftp 135.56.9.2". Presumably you can obtain the IP number from the same place you got the host-name. Or use the /usr/etc/nslookup command to find the IP number from a machine name. 2) When you connect to the host, you will have to enter a login and probably a password. Most sites support what is called "Anonymous FTP", this means that you enter "anonymous" as your login and then enter your real login as you password, i.e. "joe@comp.node.whatever". Some sites accept "ftp" as an anonymous login rather than "anonymous". I have heard that sysadmins rarely check what you entered for your password, but it is courteous to be truthful. NOTE: Most sites don't want you using anonymous FTP during prime-time, which is usually 7am-6pm *local* time. Note: Local time can often be hard to determine just from a site's name. You can use the command "telnet <site> daytime" or, failing that, "telnet <site> 13", will give the system time at <site>. 3) After you have successfully logged on, you can use "cd" and "ls", among other commands, to get where you want in the directory tree. 4) Once you are in the correct directory and know what files you want, you can use "get" to copy single files, i.e. "get file1.c", or "mget" to copy multiple files, i.e. "mget *.zip". NOTE: If the files you are copying are not plain-text files, i.e. compressed files, binary data files, etc. you will want to set the transfer mode to binary. You can do this by entering "type binary". "binary" or "tenex" may also work. 5) If you get stuck, you can type "help" or "?" and get a list of FTP commands that you can use. "man ftp" from your system prompt will also be helpful. 6) If any of the files you copied have a .Z, .shar, and/or .tar extensions, you will have to play around with the files a bit before you can use them. Check out the man pages for the commands "uncompress" (for .Z files), "shar" (for .shar files), and "tar" (for .tar files). 7) Software obtained this way will probably not have viruses, but you never know. Be careful out there. Note: I say that "it will probably not have viruses" because there is simply more "clean" software out there than there is "dirty" software, not because FTP is somehow inherently safer. Note: [thanks flee@guardian.cs.psu.edu] About ftping, what "binary" means is that the remote system is compatible with your system, and ftp will send an exact image of the file (Type I stands for Image). If, for example, both systems are Unix systems, then you can always use binary mode, even for retrieving text files. Binary mode will be a little faster, because the systems will not have to convert back and forth between local ascii and network ascii. Type tenex (L 8) is used to talk to DEC-10s and DEC-20s and other machines with 9-bit bytes. Machines with 8-bit bytes (which is nearly everyone else) need to specify the "L 8" type to send binary files to and from those machines. Of the ftp sites you list, I think WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL is the only host that needs type tenex. Example FTP session with Anotations > ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu Connected to wuarchive.wustl.edu. 220 wuarchive.wustl.edu FTP server (Version 6.11 Fri Aug 16 07:53:21 CDT 1991) Name (wuarchive.wustl.edu:myname): anonymous [enter "anonymous" or "ftp" for sign-on name] 331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password. Password: ["guest" usually works, otherwise put in your real email address for the password] 230-Welcome, archive user! This is an experimental FTP server. If you 230-have any unusual problems, please report them via e-mail to 230-root@wuarchive.wustl.edu. If you do have problems, please try using a 230-dash (-) as the first character of your password -- this will turn off 230-the continuation messages that may be confusing your ftp client. 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> cd /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/demos [change to the appropriate directory with the "cd" command, and make sure your directory dividers are "/" not "\"] 250 CWD command successful. ftp> ls ["list" the contents of the directory; for a full description use "dir" or "ls -l"] 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list. hover.zip lemmings.zip vectdemo.zip swotl.unp.txt.Z 226 Transfer complete. 56 bytes received in 0.03 seconds (1.8 Kbytes/s) ftp> binary [for any file OTHER than a text file, change to binary transfer by entering "binary"; some sites use the word(s) "tenex" or "type L 8" instead of "binary"; to change back to make a text (ASCII) transfer enter the word "ascii"] 200 Type set to I. ftp> get hover.zip [enter "get (filename)" to transfer the file to your site from the remote site] 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for hover.zip (424060 bytes). 226 Transfer complete. local: hover.zip remote: hover.zip 424060 bytes received in 38 seconds (11 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit [enter "quit" or "bye" to leave the ftp session] 221 Goodbye. > [you are returned to your system prompt] 7: Where can I download public domain games. A: here are someplaces. [please post more] risc.ua.edu 130.160.4.7 pub/games/pc PC games[?] sumex-aim.stanford.edu 36.44.0.6 ??? Mac Software mac.archive.umich.edu 141.211.164.153 ??? Mac Software msdos.archive.umich.edu 141.211.164.153 ??? Dos Software Note: Last two are the same machine. Can be accessed by archive.umich.edu ftp.ulowell.edu 129.63.32.1 msdos/Games Apogee games, some demos, misc stuff nic.funet.fi 128.214.6.100 Major Europeen site for games grape.ecs.clarkson.edu 128.153.28.12 everywhere MSDOS games Note: The stuff at this archive is rather jumbled up, and games can be found in many directories Here is a place to get demos for games: wuarchive.wustl.edu /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/demos. ftp.ulowell.edu 129.63.32.1 /pub /msdos/Games/Demo Here are some random ftp sites that may have games aisun1.ai.uga.edu language processing, msdos iraun1.ira.uka.de ham-radio, msdos, internet mdaali.cancer.utexas.edu software, msdos, mac msdos.archive.umich.edu 03/01/91 anonymous/odin@pilot.njin.net novell.macc.wisc.edu msdos) procyon.cis.ksu.edu unix-pc, pd modula2, msdos, quiche.cs.mcgill.ca 132.206.51.1 sites, msdos, bible, Hubble rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de msdos, unix, mathematics schizo.samsung.com networking sw, msdos, gifs, sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au modula 3, msdos, aus.aarnet vaxb.acs.unt.edu msdos, amiga, midi, network wuarchive.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 comp.sources.x, msdos, cc.sfu.ca 128.189.32.250 msdos, mac csc2.anu.edu.au 130.56.4.25 sun-fixes, RFCs, NCSA, msdos, doc.cso.uiuc.edu 128.174.33.105 msdos (pcsig), mac f.ms.uky.edu 128.163.128.6 mac, msdos, unix-pc garbo.uwasa.fi 128.214.12.37 msdos, win3, ts-progs, unix, grape.ecs.clarkson.edu 128.153.28.129 Opus BBS, msdos, graphics, iesd.auc.dk 130.225.48.4 amiga, mac, msdos, myth mars.ee.msstate.edu 130.18.64.3 msdos, amiga, mac, atari, meap.uta.edu 129.107.2.20 msdos engineering/science sw msdos.archive.umich.edu 141.211.165.34 msdos, mac mtsg.ubc.ca 137.82.27.1 msdos, unix, amiga, os2 orc.olivetti.com 129.189.192.20 msdos fax netinfo rfc peace.waikato.ac.nz 130.217.64.62 anu-news gnu msdos mac ncsa plains.nodak.edu 134.129.111.64 apple, msdos, mac, amiga, shasta.scl.cwru.edu 129.22.32.7 smail/pc, msdos, gif, packet sparky2.esd.mun.ca 134.153.11.101 NewPet and QuikPlot msdos sumex.edu ??? Mac Software um.cc.umich.edu 35.1.1.43 msdos, mac, apple, atari vega.hut.fi 130.233.200.42 msdos, mac, Kermit, fusion vmtecmex.cem.itesm.mx 132.254.1.4 amiga, msdos, gif