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1986-08-10
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Volume 3, Number 30 11 August 1986
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| _ |
| / \ |
| /|oo \ |
| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
| _`@/_ \ _ |
| International | | \ \\ |
| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
| (jm) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
FidoNews is the official newsletter of the International FidoNet
Association, and is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1.
You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file
FNEWSART.DOC, available from node 1/1.
Copyright (C) 1986, by the International FidoNet Association.
All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
please contact IFNA.
The contents of the articles contained here are not our
responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them.
Everything here is subject to debate.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL
Witholding Information and Morality
2. ARTICLES
In Rememberence Of...
New FidoBBS from Computertown UK!
An IBM-PC Compatibility Testing Program
Computerfest '86
What is a Julian Date?
New Outside Utility Available for Sysop's
One Man's Opinion of PC-WRITE
New Utility Reports Questionnaire Results
New Fido BBS for Vietnam Veterans!
3. COLUMNS
Subscripts, WordStar and Epson
Computer Industry Spotlight
4. WANTED
Wanted: IBM PC programs for publication!
5. FOR SALE
Entertainment Software for your PC!
Fidonews Page 2 11 Aug 1986
Public Domain Software Library Sale!!
6. NOTICES
FidoNews Bugs: The Missing Issue
The Interrupt Stack
CARTOON: Generic George, by Bruce White
dBASE EchoMail Area
Fidonews Page 3 11 Aug 1986
=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================
This week's guest editorial is by Ron Chapple of 17/36, in
Victoria, British Columbia.
Have You the Right to Withold Information?
Do we have the right to information? Is someone immoral if they
withhold information from me? Peter de Jager asked these
questions in FidoNews 3:22 and concluded that even death can
occur as the result of withholding information with the
withholder being blameless! I would be interested to know
whether Mr. de Jager perceives criminal negligence in the same
way as a court of law. Mr. de Jager has made some far-reaching
conclusions based primarily on the cost of collecting and
processing data.
He describes the cost of the processing of data into information
as "energy". The logic of the arguments used to defend the
conclusions is clear enough: the collector and supplier of
processed data has expended energy and therefore the user of the
processed data must pay the energy cost (no doubt plus a
reasonable profit) to access the information.
Despite his initial questions, what is missing from Mr. de
Jager's discussion is, in fact, the whole question of morality.
Furthermore, the estimation of energy costs is insufficient and
misplaced.
Let us deal with a few examples of energy cost and morality.
Consider the case of a child crossing a street in the path of a
vehicle. It no doubt would cost some energy to shout or to dash
out to save the child, but what is your moral position if you
don't? Collecting the data in this case would not seem to be
costly, but ask any parent of a small child, whether it is your
own child or another's, where life is even possibly at risk you
SPEND the energy regardless and frequently. You have the
information, the fact that you are not likely to convert it into
cash isn't the point. The point is that someone else needs it
and you are wrong if you don't provide it. If, on an evening
stroll, you see flames through a window you know what your moral
obligations are; at the very least you must turn in an alarm. If
you demand a reward before doing so then you aren't a member of
the human race.
Lest these examples be accused of the fallacy of the extreme
case, I would like to examine Mr. de Jager's example of the
"private weather bureau". To briefly restate his arguments, the
operators of the weather bureau spend energy (money) to collect
raw data, spend energy (money) to process it into synopses and
predictions and therefore have the right to sell the information
to whomever can or wants to pay the price. All this sounds good
to me. Even if I don't choose to buy the information myself, I
Fidonews Page 4 11 Aug 1986
agree that my life has been made richer by the presence of the
option to buy the information. That is as far as Mr. de Jager's
argument goes and it is just not far enough! John Donne said "no
man is an island" and in this context let us see what energy
costs the operators of the "private weather bureau" owe by
default to society. Were they educated in the public school
system? Did they attend a university funded in part from the
public purse? Did they use government documents and guides in
developing their collecting and reporting standards? Did they
use government-guaranteed business development loans to get
established? The list of similar questions is almost endless.
The answer of course is that before even the first prediction or
weather report is issued the operators already owe every citizen
something. How much? Well, not a free prediction for Sunday
afternoon's trip to the beach, but in the case of a major
disaster a warning is due, FREE OF CHARGE.
None of these arguments has anything to do with "makers" and
"takers", nor anything to do with depriving people of what they
have earned; just an occasional show of humanity.
Lastly, information and computer programs are not comparable in
this discussion. Programs are tools; to use them in an
unauthorized way is the same as refusing to pay for the rental of
a carpet cleaner from your local supermarket after you've used it
to clean your rugs. Stealing programs is something most of us do
simply because we can get away with it. For that you cannot
provide a moral defense, but to claim an absolute right to
withold information is no more defensible.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 5 11 Aug 1986
=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================
Jerry Hindle, 123/6
In Rememberence
I don't know if any of you out there in FREEWARE land ever
go thru back issues of FidoNews or not. I do and in issue # 226
there was a notice about the passing of a very special person.
Although I never met him, or for that matter, ever heard of
him, he affected my life in a way that has really been of immense
value to me. The person of whom I speak is none other then Mr.
Andrew Fluegelman.
If you ,like myself, never heard of him before I suggest you
stop to think about what life would be like if you had to BUY
every one of the FREEWARE, SHAREWARE, etc. type of programs that
you now enjoy at little or no cost to you. I suspect you would
have a very limited library of software for your system. After
pondering this for a few minutes, stop and think about how all of
this FREEWARE stuff got started in the first place.
AHA, I see the little bulbs lighting up now.....
Mr Fluegelman was indeed the first person to release a major
piece of software under the FREEWARE concept. To quote the writer
of the obituary posted in issue 226 of FidoNews,"He is probably
best known as the author of PC-TALK".
His contribution to the computer world will probably outlast
all of us and rightly so. He believed in the addage "The best
judge of the worth of a piece of software is the USER on his own
system".
As I said before, I have never met him; and until the other
night I never really knew of him. But after reading that notice
and looking through my library, it really hit home as to the
impact he had on me. In his own way he introduced me to software
I would never have been able to afford otherwise. He gave me the
opportunity to try new things without having to own a mint. He I
suppose made it possible Tom Jennings to be gracious enough to
release Fido to the public for public use. HE STARTED A TREND !
Freeware has become a MAJOR source of software for millions
of computer owners with a multitude of different machines, and
yet most of us (myself included) never make his concept come true
for the authors out there who labor over programs for months,
even years, simply to give it away on the premise that basically
humans are honest enough to be fair about donating something to
the author for his troubles.
As I sit here pounding on my keyboard, I make a mental
Fidonews Page 6 11 Aug 1986
promise to myself to PAY for all the FREEWARE and other freely
distributed software that I use and whenever I find the extra
cash I do indeed make every effort to send a donation of at least
the WORTH of the program to the author. I value freeware as a
concept and will continue to support it in every way I possibly
can.
AND I REMEMBER......... Thank you, Mr. Fluegelman.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 7 11 Aug 1986
John Bone, 503/17
NEW FIDO_BBS from COMPUTERTOWN UK! - LOG-on-the-TYNE
Hi, My name is JOHN BONE, and I have been using BBS since 1980,
here in the United Kingdom of GREAT BRITAIN, I now (FOOL!) have
set up the FIRST FIDO_BBS, in the north-east coast of England.
ComputerTown UK!, is alive and kicking, based to a small exent
upon the CTUSA!, newsletters of yester-year! My group
ComputerTown North east covers the TYNESIDE conurbanation of
NEWCASTLE upon TYNE , and GATESHEAD.
We have several needs.... international contacts, and help with
some of your FIDO users micros.... any ST freaks out there? we
would like any info on PUBLIC DOMAIN software, and hints/help
etc...
We also have several TANDY (TRS-80 model I/II/III IV(P) users)
who would like to swop FIDO NET MAIL and puiblic domain software,
hints etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 8 11 Aug 1986
Mark Welch, 161/459 <private>
An IBM-PC Compatibility Testing Program
NOTICE: A programming project is being started on the BYTE
Information Exchange (BIX), to write an IBM-PC-compatibility test
program. The activity is centered in the software engineering
(soft.eng) conference on BIX, but input and assistance from all
computer users is desired.
The following are the opening messages in the conference. If you
have any suggestions or comments, please send them to me at Fido
161/459, or via BIX.
-- Mark Welch
==========
soft.eng/compat #4, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:26:50 1986
----------
TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program: Overview
I wrote a long essay about compatibility, but who needs it? To
sum up: none of the available IBM-compatible computers run
every software title. Before buying a computer, most folks
would like to be forwarned of what incompatibilities that
machine might have when compared to the IBM PC.
The goal, then, is to write a program that tests a machine for
each of the "known" incompatibilities, and warns the potential
buyer.
==========
soft.eng/compat #5, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:28:34 1986
----------
TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program: Rough design:
All output of compatibility test results should be sent to the
screen, to a file, and to a printer (if selected). Status
should always be stored to disk before any action that could
potentially crash the computer, so the program, when re-
started after re-boot, will be able to figure out where it
left off, note the meaning of the crash if possible, and then
continue testing. A particularly incompatible machine may
crash a dozen or more times during testing, but the persistent
user deserves a complete report.
The testing should have several levels: one that doesn't
require activity by the user; one that requires keyboard
activity only by the user; and one which requires the user to
open the machine and play with DIP switches and reboot the
machine several times. (Rebooting may be required in any
level, if an impolite incompatibility is found.)
Fidonews Page 9 11 Aug 1986
1) Test to see if this is an IBM PC. Look for the IBM
copyright in the ROM (are there other ways? compare certain
byte locations?). If it is an IBM PC ROM, say so, and then
continue the tests anyway.
2) Measure the system's speed. If it's not 4.77 MHz, warn the
user about programs (list, please?) that are time-
dependent. Let him/her know that this problem applies to
the AT and PCjr as well. Test RAM speed, CPU speed, overall
speed, and if possible (how?) bus speed.
3) (a) Write characters to the screen using DOS, and then do a
direct screen read. Report if you can't find the screen in
the usual locations. (b) Write characters directly to the
screen, and ask the user if it says what it's supposed to.
(c) Do whatever it is that generates "snow" on some
machines but not others, and ask the user if he sees snow.
If so, it's probably more IBM-compatible, but if not, it's
better. (d) What other tests for direct-screen-access
compatibility might there be?
4) (a) Systematically test each documented BIOS function call,
using the "accepted" entry points. Report results of each.
(b) Do the same for undocumented function calls and any
known entry points used by ill-behaved programs.
5) Hardware: (a) disk drive compatibility (for copy-protected
programs using bizarre techniques. How can you test this?)
(What do programs do to floppy controllers that might bring
out incompatibilities?) Also check speed and compare to IBM
PC. (b) Hard disk compatibility. Also report speed (report
it, if present, and compare it to the IBM spec of 85 ms).
(c) Serial port: if present, check if it's in the right
location. Check if there's an 8259 there. (other test for
serial port compatibility?) (c) Ditto for parallel port:
how do you test it? (d) Keyboard: Ask the user to type
certain keys, and see what scan codes you get. Figure out
which keyboard it is, if known, and report any possible
problems.
6) Kludge time. Now begin executing individual tests. This is
where we tag on new tests.
==========
soft.eng/compat #6, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:30:04 1986
----------
TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program:
Distinct areas to test separately:
MAIN SYSTEM:
a) IBM PC motherboard features (ROM BIOS, DIP switches,
what else?)
b) PC-1 (64K) motherboard unique features
c) PC-2 (256K) motherboard unique features
d) IBM PC XT unique features
Fidonews Page 10 11 Aug 1986
e) XT 640K motherboard unique features?
f) IBM PC AT unique features
g) New AT motherboard unique features
h) 6 vs. 8 MHz (vs. higher) clocks on AT
i) IBM Portable PC unique features (are there any vs. XT?)
j) IBM PCjr unique features
k) IBM PC Convertible unique features
i) other motherboard versions?
j) Test for Compaq, Leading Edge, Epson, and other "known"
machines? (And list known problems? Or refer to text
file?)
k) Test for Phoenix, Award, other known BIOSes and version
numbers?
DISPLAY ADAPTERS:
a) IBM Color Graphics Adapter (test all modes, all
registers, etc.)
b) IBM Mono Graphics Adapter (ditto)
c) IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter (also test CGA emulation
of it)
d) Hercules Graphics Card
e) Multi-mode cards (how to check without blowing up
monitors?)
f) other?
I/O:
a) Check serial port, if present
b) parallel port
c) game adapter?
d) mouse port?
e) light pen?
f) cassette port? (snicker)
g) Clock/calendar: check for compatibility with IBM AT, AST
6Pak, Quadram Quadboard, other common clocks
h) other?
Keyboard:
a) IBM standard keyboard, enhanced keyboard, AT keyboard,
PCjr, Converible. Others?
b) test how easily the CapsLock and NumLock lights can be
confused, if present. (Does this vary among machines?)
c) check buffer, see if we can play with it cruelly.
==========
soft.eng/compat #7, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:31:02 1986
----------
TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program: Output:
The output of the program might look like this:
> This machine's video memory is not located in the same
place as the IBM PC. Therefore, the following programs
may not run: Fribozz ABC, version 4.565 and earlier; etc
etc.
Fidonews Page 11 11 Aug 1986
> This machine's ROM BIOS does not support the undocumented
call to FFE2 which waits for a keypress, and thus may not
run the following programs: Friboxx 4.5, XXXY X4.52. etc.
> This machine's keyboard seems to emulate the IBM Enhanced
keyboard. Therefore, older versions of many programs that
directly accessthe keyboard buffer will not work
properly; for example, versions of Desqview before 1.21
(except that 1.11 will work); versions of SuperKey before
x.xx. etc.
> This machine's floppy disk drives don't seem to be
compatible with IBM's full-height drives, and thus may
have difficulty with copy-protected programs using
(scheme), such as (list).
> etc.
==========
soft.eng/compat #8, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:32:29 1986
----------
TITLE: Specific Instances of Incompatibility:
----------------------------------------------
On the Tandy 2000 and Sanyo MBC 555-type machines, the second
call to the "BEEP" routine will turn off the RAM-refresh.
Makes machines go bye-bye. (BIX, btonkin)
Compatibility of the video card. For example, the EGA card and
compatibles don't have the 6845 and so some software doesn't
run properly or not at all. (BIX, kfw)
Incompatibiliy between the Princeton Graphics Max 12 monitor
and the Everex Edge display card. (BIX, feenberg)
Borland's SideKick program had many incompatibilities with a
number of compatibles, but version 1.56A fixed many of those.
(Can we get a list of those "incompatibilities?")
Flight Simulator (Direct Screen write; AT speed problem on
early versions; what else?) (Latest version works on the AT
but not the Corona/Cordata ATP-8-Q20, according to an
InfoWorld review 1/27/86 p.50)
Lotus 1-2-3 (Direct screen write; what else?) (Won't work in
Hercules or CGA mode on a Corona ATP-8-Q20, according to an
InfoWorld review 1/27/86, p.50)
Crosstalk XVI (speed problem; direct access to serial port)
Managing Your Money (won't run on many machines)
V20 incompatibilities? What programs use the undocumented 8088
instruction that the V20 uses as its reserved instruction to
enable its new instructions?
Fidonews Page 12 11 Aug 1986
Alloy's DOS-73 board (marketed by AT&T) doesn't emulate DOS
properly, as far as the COPY command is concerned on a one-
drive system (on an IBM PC, "COPY A:GLEEP B:GLORP" reads a
file, prompts for a disk swap, and then writes to the disk; on
the DOS-73 board, it just reads and writes the same disk,
without prompting for a swap.)(IW rvw., 6/23/86, p.42)
Symphony 1.1, Framework II, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Chart,
and Dbase III won't run on Alloy's DOS-73 board. (IW rvw.,
6/23/86, p.42)
Symphony 1.1
Framework II
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Chart
Dbase III
BASIC ROM (Since no compatible can legally steal IBM's BASIC
ROM, none do. Thus, any program that attempts to access fixed
addresses within the BASIC ROM will crash.
Displaywrite 3 won't run on the Zenith Z-171 (IW, 3/3/86,p.46)
==========
soft.eng/compat #9, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:35:30 1986
----------
TITLE: Implementation Options
Given the large number of excellent programmers on BIX, with
experience in almost every tongue, it could be argued forever.
My proposal is that the compatibility-test program be written
in Turbo Pascal, because that seems to be the most commonly-
owned compiler on BIX (and because I have more experience with
it than any other compiler). I'm sure that many of the tests
will need to be coded in assembler; is CHASM (the CHeap
ASseMbler, shareware and already on BIX) acceptable?
Any comments? Suggestions?
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
[Replies sent to Mark Welch at Fido 161/459 will be posted on
BIX only if requested. Because of copyright concerns, I
cannot distribute messages from BIX without the explicit
permission of the messages' authors. I wrote all of the above
messages. - mwelch]
[Please note that WelchNet has moved from Net 125 to Net 161,
and is now a private node available only through FidoMail. (I
have moved to Berkeley and will start Law School in August.)
Fidonews Page 13 11 Aug 1986
The new BBS phone number is unpublished, but you can reach me
by VOICE at 415-845-2430, or write to Mark Welch, P.O. Box
2409, San Francisco, CA 94126.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 14 11 Aug 1986
Doug Mohney, 109/74
Computerfest '86
Computerfest '86 is designed to be a gathering of local area
user groups and vendors in the Washington D.C. area, an event
where everyone can benefit from attending, from the person who
knows very little about micros to the hard-core "Give me assembly
or give me death" hacking types.
It will be on Saturday, October 25, 1986, from 9:30 AM to
5:00 PM at the Adele H. Stamp Union at the University of
Maryland, College Park.
There will be representatives from the various user groups in
the area, including the Capitol PC User Group and Washington
Apple Pi (we're still talking to the Atari & Commodore folks as
of this date <7/22/86>). They'll have public domain software, and
people to answer questions.
Seminars: We currently are in the process of arranging
seminars on the following topics: Small Business Computing,
BBSing, Desktop publishing, Computers and the Disabled, MIDI,
(and lots more if I can dig up the speakers).
Apple Computer, Inc. has stated it will send out a speaker
for our event. We also are working on getting someone from Atari
and we're talking to Bruce Webster to see if he can come and
speak (Bruce is the author of "Sundog" and has a column in
"Byte"). By the time you read this, I'm hoping we can get a
handle on someone else of note.
In addition, we'll have a number of local area vendors
displaying their equipment and peripherials in the Grand Ballroom
of the Student Union, for the whole range of personal computers
currently available today, PLUS a "Swapfest" where users can get
rid of their surplus hardware and legally acquired software.
Why should you come? Basically, this event is designed for
you to have fun and learn more about computers. It is a single
day event, so I'd feel kinda guilty if you came all the way from
New York or Florida just to say "hi". However, if you live within
an hour or two of College Park, Maryland (this means Baltimore,
large parts of Maryland, Northern Virginia), it should be worth
your time.
Admission is $6.00/general and $4.00/discount. Print a copy
of this from your printer and you qualify for a discount. Xerox
it, give it to your friend Fred, and he can get in for a
discount. Very easy to get a discount.
For more information, contact me (Doug Mohney) at
(301) 350-1437 (U.S. phone) or send Fidomail to me on 109/74.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 15 11 Aug 1986
Karl Andrews, 138/24
What is a Julian Date?
The numeric extension on the NODEDIFF files is probably the most
common example of a Julian Date, at least for Fido Sysops. It is
the number of days since the beginning of the current year. So
why is it called a Julian Date? Here is the story...
Calendars evolved from the observation that approximately 12
cycles of the moon corresponded with one cycle of the seasons.
The key word is approximately -- there are about 12.368267 lunar
months in a solar year of 365.242199 days, for an excess of about
97 days every 400 years. Since civil calendars must have an
exact number of days each year (imagine the confusion if 1987 was
to start at 09:24.7 rather than 00:00), various schemes of
inserting extra days or months were used to keep the dates
synchronized with the seasons, although some societies didn't
seem to care. For instance, the ancient Egyptians let the
seasons cycle through their calendar, so the date of the annual
flooding of the Nile (caused by melting snow in the mountains)
gradually shifted until after 1460 years it had gone completely
through the year. In 22 BC, Augustus forced them to adopt a
variant of the new Julian Calendar, but the two calendars existed
side by side for another 250 years.
The Roman calendar was originally a lunar calendar, with rather
arbitrary insertions of extra days. These adjustments were
frequently neglected, with the result that by 46 BC, their
calendar was about two months out of sync with the seasons.
Julius Caesar established a new calendar, with a year of 365.25
days by adding a leap day every fourth year, to become official
in 45 BC. He also added extra days to resynchronize the seasons,
making 46 BC some 445 days long. Because of civil disorders and
communication problems, the leap year adjustments were made
incorrectly for a while, and Augustus readjusted the calendar in
the period 8 BC to 8 AD, but the Julian Calendar survived without
further change for almost 1600 years.
Unfortunately, the mean Julian Calendar Year (365.25 days)
exceeded the length of the tropical year (365.242199 days) by
about 11 minutes, 14 seconds. The continued accumulation of this
excess adds up to about 3 days every 400 years, and causes a
gradual slippage of the seasons. By the middle of the 16th
century, this had produced a very noticeable effect on the date
of Easter, which is based on an actual astronomical observation,
so in 1582 Pope Gregory modified the calendar by NOT adding the
leap day on century years not divisible by 400, such as 1800,
1900, and 2100, making the length of the mean year 365.2425 days.
He also dropped 10 days out of October (the day after 4 October
was 15 October) to resynchronize Easter, but these changes were
not immediately adopted in non-Catholic countries -- England and
the colonies adopted the new calendar in 1752, Japan in 1873, and
Turkey in 1927.
Fidonews Page 16 11 Aug 1986
The error in the Gregorian Calendar amounts to about one day in
3300 years, and is about the same magnitude as the variation in
the rotation rate of the Earth. This, plus the fact that we now
adjust the length of the year by using leap seconds (the last
minute of June and/or December has either 61 or 59 seconds, as
needed), means that there is no astronomical reason to make any
further changes in the calendar.
The current system of counting the years from the birth of Jesus
was established in 525 by Dionysius Exiquus, but the records he
had access to were not complete, and he missed the correct date
by about 5 years (there is even now a 1 year uncertainty).
Unfortunately, this creates a problem in dating events before the
Christian Era in that not only do the years BC have a negative
sign, but there is no Year Zero. The math for date arithmetic
gets rather complicated, and there was always the question of
which calendar to use to date any given event; and we have
already seen how flaky some of those calendars were. This is why
astronomers and other scientists who need accurate ancient dates
use Julian Days.
The Julian Day system was introduced in 1583 by Joseph Scaliger,
a French/Dutch historian who was an expert on calendars, and is a
continuous count of the days since noon (GMT) on 1 January 4713
BC. He picked this date because it was when the 28-year solar
cycle, the 19-year lunar cycle, and an ancient civil cycle of 15
years all coincided (this will not happen again for another 1281
years). This had the advantage of perfectly unambiguous dates
and no negative numbers; for instance, 1 June 1986 is Julian Day
2,446,582 and 1 June 584 BC is JD 1,507,900. The irony of the
whole thing is that Julian Days have nothing at all to do with
the Julian Calendar; Scaliger named his system after his father,
Julius Scaligeri.
Calling the annual day count a Julian Date is not strictly
correct, but is typical of what happens to technical terms that
pass into the vernacular. After all, look at the current
practice of using baud to mean bits per second -- a 1200 bps
modem is actually running at 600 baud, but is using each change
of the signal level to pass two bits of data, something that was
not imagined when the term "baud" was coined.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 17 11 Aug 1986
Jim Fullton, 158/104
NEWFILES - A New FIDO Outside Utility for Sysop's
NEWFILES is a program designed to run "outside" of Fido, using
Don Daniels' (Fido 107/211) Outside utility. NEWFILES allows the
individual Fido user to enter a period in days, with the program
listing any new files posted to the board during that period.
The user will only see files present in areas which he/she has
the proper privilege level to access. The program displays
information straight from the FILES.BBS file in the particular
area.
Example:
A user has access to area 1 only, called MISC. The DIR.BBS file
contains "Misc. Files". The FILES.BBS file contains:
EXAMPLE.ARC 06-02-86 An example file
LK100.ARC 06-31-86 Data Encryption Utility
The files in area 1 are:
example.arc 19400 bytes 6-2-86
lk100.arc 38512 bytes 6-30-86
If today's date is 7-25-86, and the user enters 60 days, NEWFILES
will generate the following listing on the users screen:
Misc. Files
EXAMPLE.ARC 19400 06-02-86 An example file
LK100.ARC 38512 06-30-86 Data Encryption Utility
The users privilege level is read from LASTUSER.BBS. Sysops may
use the program by running it locally using the "S" (Sysop)
command switch, to avoid having to log on to the system. This
will allow access to all areas. The sysop may also specify a
number of days to allow in the listing, like this:
NEWFILES S 20
This will display all files in all areas entered within the last
20 days.
NEWFILES, and it's C source code, along with Outside and
SPLTNEWS, the FidoNews Splitter, are available from Nibbles &
Bytes Fido 158/104, (919) 942-9267.
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Fidonews Page 18 11 Aug 1986
One Man's Opinion of PC-WRITE
by John J. Herro, 1456 Miner Circle, Endicott, NY 13760
The author is a Senior Software Engineer for the General Electric
Company. He has no connection with Quicksoft, Inc., except for
being a registered user of PC-WRITE. Since he knows of no Fido
nodes near him, he is probably best reached by the U. S. Snail,
otherwise known as the U. S. Mule or the Phony Express.
PC-WRITE is an excellent word processor / text editor written by
Quicksoft, Inc., and marketed under the "Shareware" concept.
This means that you can download the latest version from your
favorite bulletin board and try PC-WRITE for free. You can
optionally "register" with Quicksoft for a reasonable fee, but
even if you choose not to register, you are still encouraged to
distribute copies of the program. This is such a welcome relief
from copy-protected word processors that sell for several hundred
dollars!
PC-WRITE runs on any size PC, including a PC Junior. The program
includes a brief tutorial manual and a quick reference guide,
both of which can be printed out. Thus, when you copy PC-WRITE
you are also making copies of the two manuals, without the need
of an office copying machine!
Quicksoft provides several incentives for you to register. One
is telephone support. (More about that later.) Users who register
also receive a more detailed printed manual (which would not fit
on the PC-WRITE diskette), a one-year subscription to a
newsletter, and two free updates (or one update and the source
code). Finally, when you register, Quicksoft assigns a unique
number for you to embed into the program before you give away
copies. If anyone registers from one of your copies, Quicksoft
will send you a modest sum, hence the name "Shareware."
PC-WRITE contains two major programs, ED to edit a file and PR to
print it. You simply type ED <filename> or PR <filename>; the
on-line help is excellent. When you first get PC-WRITE, you run
a special program to customize it for your particular printer. A
large menu of printer manufacturers is presented; when one is
selected, a menu of printer models made by that manufacturer
appears. Subscripts, superscripts, boldfacing, underlining, a
variety of fonts, etc., are then all available if your printer
supports them.
If your printer is not on the menu, PC-WRITE can treat the
printer as "dumb" (having no special features). Underlining and
bold-facing are still available if your printer recognizes
backspaces. Alternately, Quicksoft will help you customize
PC-WRITE.
I've found the telephone support to be excellent, and I never
received a busy signal. Even before I registered, Quicksoft was
Fidonews Page 19 11 Aug 1986
nice enough to help me with a printer problem. I have a Smith-
Corona Deville 3 Messenger typewriter with a parallel computer
interface; it isn't on the PC-WRITE menu. It amounts to a daisy-
wheel printer with a very small buffer. The DOS PRINT command
was working correctly, but when I ran PR, I would get the message
"Printer not ready, Abort, Retry, or Ignore?" Responding with R
caused errors on the printed page. My MS-DOS manual explained
how to do "infinite retry" with a SERIAL interface, but not with
a PARALLEL interface. Since my version of MS-DOS came with 90
days of telephone support, and the 90 days had not expired, I
first called the MS-DOS support telephone number. When they were
not able to help, I called Quicksoft. When Quicksoft asked if I
had registered, I said, "No. I'm willing to register, but I want
be certain that PC-WRITE will work with my printer first." They
were very courteous about giving me help, and advised me to type
MODE LPT1:,,P. That fixed the problem, and of course I added
that command to my AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Quicksoft also told me
that if I had registered first and later became dissatisfied, I
would have no trouble getting my money back.
ED, the screen editor, has a few features not found even on some
expensive word processors. For example, you can optionally make
the program continuously keep a paragraph within the margins,
even while adding words to the middle of the paragraph! I find
this feature very useful. Also, PC-WRITE works with ASCII files
- a MUST for programmers. I've even edited .EXE files, because
there's no limit to the line length. (The screen automatically
scrolls horizontally when long lines are edited.) There are a few
"font characters," for example, alternate-B for Boldfacing.
These characters can optionally be made visible or invisible.
When they are invisible, boldfacing appears on the screen as high
intensity, etc.
PR interprets the special characters for your particular printer,
and also optionally pauses at the end of each page, in case you
don't have continuous paper. It also has a nice feature for
recovering from a paper jam in a long document. If the paper
jams, you can interrupt PR and resume printing from the top of
the current page or any other page.
Other features include definable keys, mail-merge, footnotes and
headers, table of contents and index, automatic page breaks, file
includes, keyboard input during printing, etc. The method of
writing to the screen can be changed to avoid "snow" on some
systems, and the screen can be divided into two windows of
unequal size. Text can be "cut" from one file and "pasted" into
another.
Much thought has been given to assigning functions to keys,
although the assignments can be changed if desired. To COPY a
block of text, you use F3 three times: at the start of the block,
at the end of the block, and at the new location. Similarly, to
MOVE a block of text, you use F6 three times, and to DELETE a
block, you use F4 twice. (You can undelete the block with
control-F4.) For the masochists among you, most of the control
codes of Wordstar (tm of MicroPro) are duplicated. Control-D can
Fidonews Page 20 11 Aug 1986
be used instead of the -> key to move the cursor right one
character, control-F will move right one word, etc.
PC-WRITE lacks two features that are found on some expensive word
processors. At present, ED cannot handle files that are too big
to fit in memory, and there is no spelling checker. Rumor has it
that both of these deficiencies will be removed in a later
version. In the meantime, PC-WRITE will at least help you
segment large files, and spelling checkers like EZSPELL and
PC-SPELL can be found on many bulletin boards.
PC-WRITE.ARC is available on the IFNA board, 314-576-2743. I
hope that PC-WRITE will become the de facto standard for PCs and
compatibles, and that the "Shareware" concept will put an end to
copy protection forever!
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Fidonews Page 21 11 Aug 1986
Daniel Tobias, 19/216
New Utility Reports Questionnaire Results
A useful feature of FIDO is its online questionnaire. It allows
the sysop to survey the users of his system for a variety of
purposes, such as to find out the demographics of the user
population, or to do surveys of popular opinion.
However, until now, there was no easy way to find out the results
of such surveys. You could print out the answer files in their
raw format, but they just show answers by question number,
without giving the question text; you have to look in the
question file to see what question is being answered.
Also, there is no way to see at a glance how the answers to a
given question break down; the answers are shown grouped by user
without any tabulation.
A utility I have written, and am distributing as "shareware",
will solve this problem. QUESREPT (QUEStionnaire REPorT) takes
the FIDO question and answer files and automatically generates a
report of the results. Multiple choice answers are tabulated and
the number and percentage for each choice is given. Free-text
answers are listed with all answers to a given question together.
The text of your question is given immediately above the report
of its answers.
QUESREPT can get its input from the standard FIDO files
QUESTION.BBS and ANSWERS.BBS, or any other questionnaire and
answer files in standard format which you may define. The output
can go to the printer, the console, or any other file or device;
the page length to format the report may be redefined to
customize it for your system. All such parameters may be placed
in a control file so that QUESREPT can run unattended (for
example, as a regular weekly event) with no user input required.
QUESREPT can be downloaded from SOFT FIDO at (318) 636-4402. (It
can be found in a file QUESREPT.ARC in file area 6.) Direct all
questions to Daniel Tobias on FIDO 19/216.
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Fidonews Page 22 11 Aug 1986
Todd C. Looney, 143/27
VIETNAM VETERANS BULLETIN BOARD
In political terms, the "war" in Vietnam divided the United
States in a manner unseen since the time of the Civil War. Like
that war, the wounds of divisiveness have been slow to heal, and
in fact still very much a part of our society.
Since the founding of our great Republic, the traditions of
American military history has been one of citizen soldiers
answering the call to arms when needed. Even with a standing
military force, this continued to be necessary at the time of
Vietnam and hopefully will always be so. It was not our fault
that this, of all wars, was given so much "visual" publicity in
America resulting in it's being the first military action to be
so overwhelmingly unpopular in the eyes of our peers. We, as
patriotic Americans, did what we thought was best for our country
and fellow Americans by sacrificing our own personal freedom for
a few years so that others might hold on to theirs throughout
their lives. I don't think very many of us wanted, or expected a
"hero's welcome" when we returned home from that other world, but
we sure didn't expect the treatment we got either - to be
ostracized and degraded by those very people we had just finished
risking our lives for in the steamy jungles of Southeast Asia.
But, as is usually the case, time heals all wounds, and our
time for recognition is finally coming about. Slowly but surely,
our peers, the American Citizen, is coming to realize that the
vast majority of Vietnam Veterans had nothing to do with how the
war in Vietnam was waged, that we were but pawns of a a group of
confused politicians and bureaucrats. America is realizing at
long last that we did not deserve the unfair treatment most of
received when we came home, and most Vietnam Veterans are finally
beginning to feel proud of what they did for this country as
opposed to the shame they endured for so many years.
And now our time has come for a bulletin board of our very
own, a bulletin board dedicated the the American Vietnam Veteran!
It is a place where we can express our feelings in a non-
threatening forum atmosphere as well as solicit the views of
those Americans who played no active military role during the
Vietnam "War". It is a place where we can meet each other on
common turf to openly discuss our lives, both the ups and downs,
achievements and failures, happiness and pain.
All those who wish to participate in our forum are welcome
to call; this is not a restricted BBS. We invite anyone who was
affected by the political upheaval present during the Vietnam
era. We have had some very intelligent contributions from not
only those who served in the armed forces during the War, but
from ex-protesters, students, draft-dodgers, and even ex-
Vietnamese citizens, some of whom had served as Viet Cong prior
to their surrender to U.S. military forces.
Fidonews Page 23 11 Aug 1986
Other related forums on the LooneyBin include a section
devoted to the Wives, Lovers, and Friends of Vietnam Veterans, a
Soapbox Forum, and a Genealogy Forum called the ROOT CELLAR. We
also have plenty of public domain software available.
We feel that the gap we fill in today's society by hosting
such a forum as this is an extremely important and valuable one.
We solicit any sysops from other areas of the country to follow
our lead, and join us if they will by forming a Vietnam Veterans
Conference Network of FIDO BBS's. We solicit any sysop who is
interested in participating in such an effort, or just simply has
a suggestion or twelve to contact us at:
----------=====**[ THE LooneyBin ]**=====----------
408-293-7894
300/1200/2400 Baud
24 Hours a Day!
(except during FidoNet Mail and normal system maintenance)
-----=====**[ Todd and Nancy Looney ]**=====-----
SYSOPS
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Fidonews Page 24 11 Aug 1986
=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================
SUBSCRIPTS, WORDSTAR AND EPSON
by Tom Ingram
The purpose of this article is to explain how I was able to get
WordStar to print technical manuscripts on my Epson printer with
TRUE subscripts and superscripts (not the compressed Epson
characters on the same line with the rest of the text). I find
the Epson subscripts and superscripts difficult to read,
especially after reproduction of the text.
First, I patched WordStar using the WINSTALL program. At ^R I
patched the following code: 03 1B 41 06. The 03 tells WordStar
how many bytes of code are coming. The 1B is the ASCII code for
escape, the 41 is ASCII for "A". ESC A 6 causes the Epson to
space down only a half line each time it is sent a linefeed.
Once this patch is in place, I set up a document as follows:
1) On the first line of the document I issue the dot command
PL132. This sets up normal length pages for the ^R command
which is issued next.
2) Issue the ^R command on the next line of the document.
3) Now, issue the command ^O S 4. This sets the line spacing to
4 so that the document will appear double spaced. For single
spaced documents (with crowded subscripts and superscripts)
use ^O S 2 or ^O S 3 instead.
Now, in typing a document, use the subscript and superscript, ^V
and ^T, indicators as required by WordStar. The printed document
will have true half-line roll subscripts and superscripts.
That is all there is to it. It is quick and easy and it works.
One final comment: this does not allow double subscripts and
superscripts. For example, so far as I know, it will not print
out subscripted subscripts by issuing any sequence of commands
from the keyboard.
I wrote this before my latest issue of "Portable Companion"
arrived. One statement concerning patching of WordStar 3.30 from
the WINSTALL program allowed me to obtain a second solution to
the problem I have been discussing. This method is not
necessarily better than the one I described above. On the
surface it appears to be better but it has the disadvantage of
being somewhat slower in printing regular documents which do not
need subscripting or superscripting. I now have one disk
containing WordStar configured as below for subscripts and
superscripts and one configured as above for regular files. This
way I do not have to reformat all my old files for the new
procedure. Here is the second method:
Fidonews Page 25 11 Aug 1986
While in the WINSTALL program provided with WordStar 3.30, when
you get to the point where you can type X to exit to CP/M, an
undocumented command available is to type +. At this point you
can patch WordStar by entering the label at which you wish to
make a patch. The program is well prompted here and I was able
to patch in the following changes which I obtained nearly a year
ago from MicroPro:
1) PSCRLF 03 0D 0A 0A NORMAL LINEFEED
2) PSHALF 02 0D 0A HALF LINEDOWN
3) PSINIT 06 1B 40 1B 41 06 0D PRINTER RESET
4) PSFINI 02 1B 40 EOP RESET
I made the patches listed above and they work to produce properly
printed documents with subscripts and superscripts. The reason
printing is somewhat slower is that each page requires twice as
many linefeeds to print the page. Of course the other method
works the same way, but it has the advantage that regular
documents will print with 66 linefeeds per page.
For a continuous underling at ^PS and something like an alternate
pitch the following patches could be used:
5) PALT 03 1B 46 0F CONDENSED SET ON
6) PSTD 01 12 CONDENS. SET OFF
7) RIBBON 03 1B 2D 01 UNDERLINE ON
8) RIBOFF 03 1B 2D 00 UNDERLINE OFF
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Fidonews Page 26 11 Aug 1986
William/Eunhee Hunter
Fido 109/626
Computer Industry Spotlight on:
ELECTRONIC MEMORIES AND MAGNETICS CORP. -- Electronic Memories
and Magnetics Corp. is a manufacturing firm involved in the
production of computer memories, peripherals, and militarized
microcomputers. Positions generally available within the company
are in the engineering and data processing areas. On-the job and
formal classroom training are provided for all technical
personnel.
Contact: Paul Rosee, Director, Industrial Relations,
Electronic Memories and Magnetics Corp., 20630 Plumber Street,
Chatsworth, CA 91311.
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Fidonews Page 27 11 Aug 1986
=================================================================
WANTED
=================================================================
Daniel Tobias, Soft Fido, 19/216: (318) 636-4402
WANTED: IBM PC PROGRAMS FOR PUBLICATION!
SOFTDISK, INC., the already-successful publisher of magazines on
diskette for Apple II and Commodore 64 computers, will produce a
monthly disk-based publication for the IBM PC.
The first issue of this publication, to be named BIG*BLUE DISK,
and which will be contained entirely on a floppy disk, will be
shipped to thousands of retail outlets in October, including B.
Dalton Booksellers and Waldenbooks.
- - OFF-BROADWAY - -
If you have written a program for the IBM PC, please consider
publishing it on BIG*BLUE DISK; it's your chance to make some
money, and get your name in print. Programs of all categories
are being accepted.
- - YOUR REWARD - -
We will select the best programs submitted, and publish them on
issues of BIG*BLUE DISK. If we choose to publish your program,
we will pay you a minimum of $50, and possibly more-- as much as
$500, depending on the nature and quality of the program. This
money is for the privilege of publishing your program. You
retain full rights to it.
- - HOW TO SUBMIT IT - -
Submissions can be sent by FIDONET to node 19/216, or uploaded
directly to our BBS at (318) 636-4402.
Alternatively, you can send them on a floppy disk to:
BIG*BLUE DISK, PO BOX 30008, SHREVEPORT, LA 71130-0008.
BIG*BLUE DISK is a widely-distributed, carefully-prepared
publication, so make sure your programs are well-tested and
debugged, and include adequate instructions within the program.
Include a note (on paper, in a text file, or in a message to the
sysop of our BBS) describing what your program does, what files
are necessary to run it, and what system configuration (hardware
and software) is required. Please include the source code to
all compiled or assembled programs so we can make revisions if
necessary. If you have marketed your software as "shareware",
please remove all requests for money or other advertisements
from the version you submit for publication; alternatively you
can contact us for information on other terms for such programs.
- - NOTE TO SYSOPS - -
There is a finder's fee of 10% for you if you submit a program on
behalf of one of your users and it is published. Thus, you may
wish to publicize BIG*BLUE DISK and our search for programs.
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Fidonews Page 28 11 Aug 1986
=================================================================
FOR SALE
=================================================================
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE FOR YOUR PC!
SUPERDOTS! KALAH!
Professional quality games include PASCAL source! From the
author of KALAH Version 1.6, SuperDots, a variation of the
popular pencil/paper DOTS game, has MAGIC and HIDDEN DOT
options. KALAH 1.7 is an African strategy game requiring
skill to manipulate pegs around a playing board. Both games
use the ANSI Escape sequences provided with the ANSI.SYS
device driver for the IBM-PC, or built into the firmware on
the DEC Rainbow. Only $19.95 each or $39.95 for both
exciting games! Please specify version and disk format.
These games have been written in standard TURBO-PASCAL and
run on the IBM-PC, DEC Rainbow 100 (MSDOS and CPM), CPM/80,
CPM/86, and PDP-11. Other disk formats are available, but
minor customization may be required.
BSS Software
P.O. Box 3827
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
For every order placed, a donation will be made to the Fido
coordinators! Also, if you have a previous version of KALAH
and send me a donation, a portion of that donation will also
be sent to the coordinators. When you place an order, BE
CERTAIN TO MENTION WHERE YOU SAW THE AD since it also
appears in PC Magazine and Digital Review.
Questions and comments can be sent to:
Brian Sietz at Fido 107/17
(609) 429-6630 300/1200/2400 baud
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Fidonews Page 29 11 Aug 1986
Now available from Micro Consulting Associates!!
Public Domain collection - 550+ "ARC" archives - 20+ megs of
software and other goodies, and that's "archived" size! When
unpacked, you get approximately 28 megabytes worth of all kinds
of software, from text editors to games to unprotection schemes
to communications programs, compilers, interpreters, etc... Over
55 DS/DD diskettes!!
This collection is the result of more than 15 months of intensive
downloads from just about 150 or more BBS's and other sources,
all of which have been examined, indexed and archived for your
convenience. Starting a Bulletin Board System? Want to add on
to your software base without spending thousands of dollars? This
is the answer!!!
To order the library, send $100 (personal or company check,
postal money order or company purchase order) to:
Micro Consulting Associates, Fido 103/511
Post Office Box 4296
200-1/2 E. Balboa Boulevard
Balboa, Ca. 92661-4296
Please allow 3 weeks for delivery of your order.
Note: No profit is made from the sale of the Public Domain
software in this collection. The price is applied entirely to
the cost of downloading the software over the phone lines,
running a BBS to receive file submissions, and inspecting,
cataloguing, archiving and maintaining the files. Obtaining this
software yourself through the use of a computer with a modem
using commercial phone access would cost you much more than what
we charge for the service...
Please specify what type of format you would like the disks to be
prepared on. The following choices are available:
- IBM PC-DOS Backup utility
- Zenith MS-DOS 2.11 Backup Utility
- DSBackup
- Fastback
- ACS INTRCPT 720k format
- Plain ol' files (add $50)
Add $30 if you want the library on 1.2 meg AT disks (more
expensive disks). There are no shipping or handling charges.
California residents add 6% tax.
For each sale, $10 will go to the FidoNet Administrators.
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Fidonews Page 30 11 Aug 1986
=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================
FidoNews Bugs
FidoNews did not get published last week (4 August 1986) due to a
system failure over the weekend. We apologize for the
inconvenience.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Interrupt Stack
14 Aug 1986
Start of the International FidoNet Conference, Colorado
Springs, Colorado. Contact George Wing at node 1/10 for
details. Get your reservations in NOW! We'll see you there!
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1/1.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Generic George by Bruce White, 109/612
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Yes, your favorite toy does online banking, |
| / produces recipes, and keeps the household |
| / budget, but it still can't do windows. |
|/ |
| Oh yeah? Come look at this-- |
| right now it's doing FOUR ____\__ |
| windows! \ |_| \ |
| \ _____ |\ |
| | _ | | |
| ______ | |_| | | |
| __(______)_|_____|___ | |
| ||-----------------|| | |
| ______ || || | |
| \ {} / || || | |
|(c) 1986 bw \__/ ||-----------------||__|__|
+-------------------------------------------------+
-----------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE OF NEW ECHOMAIL AREA
For dBASE users and Programmers, Nationwide net already started.
To join contact 103/508.
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Fidonews Page 31 11 Aug 1986
Geoff Arthur, 155/212
This is now the second system operating in Australia NET:155
NODE:212 saying hello and asking that you make it public
knowledge that Australia is here. We are currently setting up a
network of our own and expect that within 3-4 months we should
have at least 30 NODES. Would be nice to here from you and some
of your users so please spread the word.
My phone number is Australia 02-457-8281 for THE OMEGA-LINE.
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