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Volume 3, Number 37 29 September 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 ARTSPEC.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 Amateur Radio and Electronic Mail 2. ARTICLES IFNA Expenditures The Fidogram free telegram service Country Level Support for FidoNet The View from Europe 3. COLUMNS Perfect Calc to dBASE Files Bug Column - or Does Fido Still have Fleas? Computer Industry Spotlight Review of USR Micro-Link 2400bps Modem 4. WANTED Wanted: IBM PC programs for publication! 5. FOR SALE Public Domain Software Library Sale!! 6. NOTICES The Interrupt Stack WARNING: Node List Snafu Fidonews Page 2 29 Sep 1986 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= This week's guest editorial is by Karl Schinke, "The Wizard of Bendix", node 107/16 Amateur Radio and Electronic Mail I gather from some references to "amateur radio organizations" that someone has pointed out a parallel between the state of Fido sysops now and the state of radio "Hams" before Hiram Walker and friends founded the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League). Hams had demonstrated that wavelengths shorter than 200 meters (yeah, 200 METERS) were usable for communications, and commercial pressure groups were squeezing the FCC and international equivalents into allocating all the radio space to commercial use, with no room for the "hams". This after they had gobbled up all the space below 200 and left the hams the "useless" frequencies above, where they "could do no harm". Hmmm. Commercial pressure for "pay BBS" like Compuserve? The ARRL has provided many useful services for hams, members and non, by "watching for their interests" in Washington DC and internationally, publishing handbooks and guides, etc etc. THEY REQUIRE A MEMBERSHIP FEE. I'm sure we can think of many other parallels where hobbyists have had to band together under an organization to make their hobby practical, make sure that our friends in Washington don't make it illegal, and to assist the hobbyist with executing his hobby. Even without the 25,000 Fidos that have been postulated (a not unlikely situation), but even AS WE NOW ARE we have problems. In a flick of a few pens, our "representatives" can wipe our hobby out WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING THEY ARE DOING IT, as the rumors about various "kiddy porn" bills and "freedom of information" and "right to privacy" stuff has shown. Can we exist much longer without a lobby? I doubt it. And who will support such a lobby, if not we, the BBS sysops who CAN COMMUNICATE with each other. But still we can't without an organization. None of us individually can afford it! This even without the question of media relations that is killing Kaplan (from what I hear). What is the "man in the street" opinion of BBS's? A bunch of smartaleck kids who try to start World War Three, or break into banks, or move satellites out of orbit. How do you think they'd vote on whether we should be allowed to operate? Who's gonna change public opinion? The "media". And whose gonna sway them? Hunh? Fidonews Page 3 29 Sep 1986 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 4 29 Sep 1986 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Ken Kaplan, node 1/2 IFNA Expenditures I apologize for taking so long to make this data public. Due to the enormous amount of Net mail, voice phone calls, and an increased work load (and traveling) at my "real" job, I have had very little time since the conference to respond. This is not an IFNA budget, but it *IS* a start, and eventually, may become part of the IFNA budget. The IFNA expenditures in St. Louis are running between $6000 and $7000 a year at current expenses and growing as the nodelist expands. This includes voice phone bills originated by Ben Baker and I that are running around $400/month of which some $100/month goes to overseas support. This includes three support Fido systems, supplies, stationary, marketing, press releases, answering some 50 letters per week about Fido, stamps, P.O. Box, hardware maintenance, checking account and IFNA Conference preparation. The legal and accounting fees to incorporate are also included. The IFNA expenses are those dollars spent to support the Network as a whole. The data phone bills for Ben and I are low since neither of us is the outbound host, so all of our direct traffic is FidoNet network support. Our data expenses only run around $100-$125 per month, on the other side of the coin, our voice expenses run around $400 per month (a lot of months it is even higher). We would love to distribute that cost, unfortunately, when people call either Ben or myself, they want *US* to call them back. Also, it only takes 3 or 4 overseas phone calls to inflate our monthly phone bills. After Henk Weaver, Fido 2/0, took over as the European Coordinator, those calls did go considerably down and I would expect Brian Gatenby, soon to be Fido 3/0, to have a similar impact in Australia. That still doesn't stop other countries to call me and expect me to return their calls too. As Fido continues to spread overseas, my phone bill will be high as I have to talk to them at least a few times to get them organized and started. The above expenditures do *NOT* include rent, secretary, salaries, travel, lobbying, selling SEAdog(c) and Fido(c), phone costs for sending nodediffs or FidoNews, IFNA owned micros, etc. I would suggest we get over the first hurdle and get organized as a non profit tax exempt and then discuss other ways to spend money if we can solve the funding problems. Remember the original reason for going non profit and tax exempt was to seek funding from big corporations who are already targeting us as a serious market such as AT&T Reach Out America(tm), GTE PC Pursuit(tm), USRobotics Courier(tm), etc. I will start investigating what it Fidonews Page 5 29 Sep 1986 will cost to do some of the above and present the findings to the Bylaws Committee. If anyone wants to help out here please let me know. Even if we agree that some of the above expenditures make sense we need more people to make them happen. The current rule regarding tax exempt status filing states that an organization will not be treated as tax exempt for any period before the filings are make within 15 months from the end of the month in which we were organized. In our case, that was the end of August. However, it is more difficult to obtain tax exempt status the longer you wait to apply. We need to get our Bylaws done and decide which direction is best for IFNA. The Bylaws Committee being Co-Chaired by Bob Hartman and Steve Jordon are already hard at work coming up with a first draft. I would propose that IFNA should reimburse the extraordinary costs of the Executive Director, Technical Manager (the person who takes care of the nodelist), FidoNews Editor, plus any other officers as defined by the Bylaws. Whomever fills these positions should be able to recover their costs (within budget) above any reasonable and customary costs of running a board. If the officers need to send their bills to an IFNA Treasurer who has an approved list to eliminate the paranoia, then so be it. I would also propose we refrain from "second tier" funding, ie; Help Nodes, Regional Coordinators, Network Hosts, etc. until IFNA covers it's initial organizational expenses. We can talk about "second tier" funding next year at the conference. I also think that our Treasure should publish an annual statement that goes into FidoNews and I will do my utmost to cooperate in order to see that this gets done. I feel that the primary mission of IFNA is to sustain and improve FidoNet on an International level through technological coordination. The secondary goals of IFNA are numerous and for the most part still under discussion in the IFNA conference. On a more personal note, I would like to express my thanks to all of you who have supported me during the past three years. It has been very gratifying to see the net grow and expand and have the international impact that it has had so far. Granted, maybe not EVERYTHING has been handled perfectly or to everyone's taste, but I have tried long and hard to work to make FidoNet exciting and up to date. The fact that SEAdog(c) and all the other wonderful utilities have joined forces with us makes us even stronger and have eventually greater impact both in the U.S. and worldwide. Please send any feedback or comments to Fido 1/2, which is the new node number for IFNA. Ken Kaplan Fido 1/2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 6 29 Sep 1986 Luck Hurder Cape Cod Fido 101/105 Cape Cod Fido is still offering the free Fidogram service! There are many uses for Fidograms. Examples: 1. Sending greetings during holidays, birthdays, or just to renew old acquaintances. 2. Sending batches of messages to your club members who are scattered all over the country. 3. Making all your old cronies green around the edges by announcing your next month-long cruise to Timbuktu, or bragging about your recent engagement to Mr/Ms wonderful. 4. College students: telling Ma how much you miss her apple pie. 5. Requesting health and welfare information on friends or family located (or not yet located!) in a disaster area. As with anything neat like this - some cautions are in order. Since FidoGrams are not sent over commercial circuits, but rather by FCC-controlled Amateur Radio Circuits, there are some constraints. First, if you really want to make Fido curl up his lip, bare his teeth and growl, just try sending a free telegram that relates in any way to business, or the making of a profit by any party. Fido will make kitty litter out of any- thing that does not look like a personal, non-business message. Don't even attempt it. Ditto for profanity, codes, or ciphers. Finally, user normal-conversation words. Avoid difficult ones. How will your free telegrams be delivered? After being routed through the National radio Traffic System to the ultimate point of destinatiion, the telegram will be telephoned - just like with the commercial boys. Here's what Fido needs in order to keep his telegram tail-a- -waggin. 1. Y-o-u-r name, address, and telephone number in case we need to get back with you, or in case there is a return message going your way. 2. The full name, adddress, and telephone number of the persons you wish to send telegrams to. 3. The message. 4. A signature. That's the grand total. Where can you send free FidoGrams? To anyone in the USA or Canada who has a telephone. Is there a limit to the number of free FidoGrams that you can send at any one time? No. As a matter of fact, the Amateur Radio Operators use these telegrams as a way of exercising their emergency communications apparatus. They welcome large loads of message traffic in order to practice for the times when emer- Fidonews Page 7 29 Sep 1986 emergencies demand strains on their system. Go ahead - try to inundate them... If you wish to send FidoGrams, or if you have further questions send them to Luck Hurder at Cape Cod Fido 101/105. Be absolute- ly sure to include your complete name, address and voice phone number so that we wont have to incur Fidomail expenses. We hope you'll use this service often, and that you'll gain much enjoyment from it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 8 29 Sep 1986 Kilgore Trout, 107/7 FidoNet Study Group Country Level Support for FidoNet A Proposed Approach Tom Jennings has declared his intention of providing country level support for FidoNet. This is an excellent idea. I have a proposal on one possible way to do it. International mail has thus far been handled in a very different manner than domestic mail. I'll use Europe and Massnet as an example, even though they don't operate this way any more. Anyone sending mail to Europe routed it to Dave Rene in Massnet, who then passed it via DECnet to England, where it was distributed. This was implemented in multinet Fido by making England a part of the Massachusetts area. (The tail is definitely wagging the dog here!) Instead, assume that the U.S. is zone 1, and Europe is zone 2. Dave Rene would then be designated as the "link" from zone 1 to zone 2. An example of the node list might be: ZONE 1 United_States LINK 2 20 2400 Europe 1-617-632-1861 Gardner_MA LINK 3 22 1200 Indonesia 1-808-486-0407 Honolulu_HI HOST 100 22 2400 St_Louis_Area 1-314-432-4129 St_Louis_MO 507 22 1200 Sky_King 1-618-462-3550 Alton_IL (rest of the U.S. nodes) ZONE 2 Europe LINK 1 20 2400 United_States 31-8380-37156 Ede_HOLLAND LINK 3 20 2400 Indonesia 31-8380-37156 Ede_HOLLAND HOST 1 20 2400 HCC_net_Holland 31-8380-37156 Ede_HOLLAND 1 20 2400 Fido_Nl1 31-8380-37156 Ede_HOLLAND (rest of the European nodes) ZONE 3 Indonesia LINK 1 20 2400 United_States 62-21-79-3286 Jakarta_JAYA LINK 2 20 2400 Europe 62-21-79-3286 Jakarta_JAYA HOST 131 20 2400 Indonesia_Net 62-21-71-7406 Jakarta_JAYA 369 20 1200 Aditya_BBS 62-23-1-6049 Cirebon_JAYA 391 20 2400 Computeria 62-21-71-7406 Jakarta_JAYA (rest of the Indonesian nodes) The idea here is that if (for example) you want to send mail to someone in zone 3, then you route it instead to whoever is "link 3" in your own zone, and he takes care of getting it there. If there is no link designated, then current routing practices take over. The assumption here is that whoever is the link will have some other way of getting the mail there, such as Dave Rene used to have with DECnet, but it would still work with the current procedure of picking up mail. Fidonews Page 9 29 Sep 1986 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 10 29 Sep 1986 Henk Wevers, 500/1 To IFNA or not to IFNA, that's the question an European view by Henk Wevers. Courtesy Neal of 138/14 Europe is tied into the IFNA conference. If that is a blessing has to be decided yet. After reading all this barking and other emotional stuff I suggest we change directions in this area and try to rationally find out: 1) If we really need an IFNA 2) If we are really serious about IFNA, how to raise money for IFNA 3) If we find ways to raise money, how to organize IFNA. 4) If we get IFNA organized what else do we want from IFNA. If we start with point 1 and find us having a real NO somewhere along the line, we can stop answering the next points, so let's begin at the first one. Do we really need IFNA ---------------------- Oh well, this is a really difficult question to answer, because, except from food, water and housing, do we really need anything? So the answer must be NO. We don't need a computer, we don't need a net, we don't need IFNA. But still, if we are running a BBS like Fido the real question is, makes IFNA things work better for us. My personal answer here is YES, but I figure that for others the answer will be no. To make this clear for ourselves let's see where IFNA can help to make things work better for us. 1. We need some central point to give out the nodelist. This is true if we all want to be in a BIG worldwide net. Probably without a central point for the nodelist we will see a lot of small nets, some die, others are born again. No international communications, no nationwide communication. Perhaps YOU don't care, I do. 2. We need some central point to give out a newsletter. Well, without a newsletter you have to find out all kind of things by yourself. Could you really live without FidoNews? If yes, I guess you can live without Fido. 3. We need some central point to control the netstandard. Hmmm, I think without this kind of thing we will end up like the modem situation in Europe. Don't you think the situation in the USA is much better? 4. We need to reach the point of critical mass. If an Fidonews Page 11 29 Sep 1986 organization reaches a certain point in membership, the numbers alone are enough to open a lot of doors. With FidoNet we reached that point already, but we need a concentration point. I have seen this power used in FidoNews by publishing bad experiences with firms. It can be used (wisely) for other things. 5. We need long term stability. If we want to be in a FidoNet, it better lasts long. At the moment, if some people decide to stop tomorrow the net collapses a few days after that. With an organization you can avoid that. 6. We need something so we can be proud to be part of it. NO I don't mean you. I know this is not your reason to be in FidoNet, but why want people a net/nodenumber before they have their boards running and before they can mail, huh? 7. Fill in your personal reasons here --> Every single point is enough reason for me to want something like IFNA. --> How about you? How to raise money for IFNA --------------------------- First things first, at the conference I have followed the discussion about tax deduction for IFNA. The discussions about this point took about 1 hour of our limited time there. At a proposed $25 a year, I am told tax deduction could be about $5 a year. Yeach... most of the guys talking spend $60 a night in the Hilton and flew to Colorado.... My suggestion is the following: Charge an entry fee in the nodelist and an annual fee to stay in the nodelist. Divide the money between the people doing the work: the regional coordinators, the nethosts, the zone coordinators and IFNA. This must be independent from a membership of IFNA, it just should pay for the costs involved (hosts and coordinators downloading FidoNews and the nodelist updates). It will also get rid of nodes not really up or serious about the mail part of Fido. Suggested fees: Entry: $10 $2 for IFNA $2 for zonecoordinator, $6 for host/region coordinator. Annual: $ 5 $1 for IFNA $1 for zonecoordinator $3 for host/region coordinator Fidonews Page 12 29 Sep 1986 (Ok hosts, calculate your costs in maintaining the nodelist, eg uploading changes and downloading the diff files. you must have a better estimation.) Besides that a membership fee of IFNA giving you some advantages (later) and the right to vote. If you don't want to vote and don't want the advantages and still want to be part of FidoNet, fine. How to organize IFNA -------------------- This is the crucial point. I stands for international but so far all talking has been done for a (USA) national FNA (UFNA ?) For your information, long ago the Finnish FidoNet sysops have formed a Finnish FidoNet organization (just to share the costs of hosting and getting the news and nodelist updates). I think a lot of talking and thinking has to be done about this point. If you make mistakes you can end up with an organization busy talking about its own organization instead of servicing its members. Points to be decided: - Who are members of IFNA, national FNA's, zones, regions, nets, or people? - Who can be assured that we have a democratic organization that can act fast enough? - Do we want a democratic organization? Aren't we better off with a service bureau? - If we vote, how to organize that on this large scale? I am not so sure we are ready for a democratic organization, maybe we are better off without it for a year or so. I gladly pay a little fee for being in the nodelist, and if being a member of IFNA makes my life better I will pay for that too. No need to vote yet. What do we want from IFNA ------------------------- Ok, here is my wish list. 1. All points mentioned above 2. Concentration point for FidoNet related software (this alone will be worth it, ordering a disk from IFNA with the latest updates of Fido/SEAdog/Collie utilities) 3. Some day in the future I hope IFNA will run hosts to concentrate traffic between countries (states). Maybe a satellite? 4. Validation of FidoNet software Fidonews Page 13 29 Sep 1986 5. Help for people writing FidoNet software 6. ---- (please fill in) One last point -------------- FidoNet, the bigger the better? Well, that depends. I rather have a small cooperating FidoNet community than a big FidoNet that in the end will fall apart due to lack of organization. You too? Tell us, I haven't seen any comment from most of you there.... ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 14 29 Sep 1986 ================================================================= COLUMNS ================================================================= CONVERTING PERFECT CALC FILES TO dBASE Like the discovery of America, the atomic bomb, and many others of our blessings, the main secret is disclosed once you know that it can be done. With some helpful guidance from our resident dBase expert Edie Harris, I can report that you can easily take spreadsheet data from Perfect Calc files and enter it without retyping into a dBase file. I had always thought of dBase as a filer program, analogous to Perfect Filer, and having nothing to do with a spreadsheet and calculation program like Perfect Calc. It turns out, however, that dBase will do simple arithmetic on its numeric entries as well as make logical selections that qualify it for much of the work of a spreadsheet. Perfect Calc will do some mathematical operations that dBase will not; trigonometric and logarithmic functions, squares and roots, for example. But my main application was to keep my checking account in order. I also keep track of the categories of tax deductible expenses evidenced by each check. For this, the ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide was plenty. I've always like Perfect Calc. It thinks the way I do. I like the way you enter data, labels, and formulas; I like the ability to control column widths and justification, and the ability to enter information in one cell and then replicate it in a whole region. But Perfect it ain't. there is no way to locate a particular entry other then by visual search. Worse than that, it gets distinctly buggy when you try to enter too much data or (particularly) too many formulas. You are led to believe that you can have up to seven buffers, each containing a spreadsheet with 52 columns and 155 lines, with proliferation of formulas tying then all together. Just try it! Long before those theoretical bounds are reached, your program will bomb out. Now take a look at dBase. It has been expensive, but many books have been written on it. You'll never walk alone, and it may not be so expensive, since dBase III is now coming out. Once my data is transferred to dBase, I will be able to locate any check with a simple search command, and get a sum of any tax category with another. If you have lots of important information in Perfect Calc files, knowing that this can be done will encourage you to get and learn dBase. Here's how to transfer the data: Call up the PC spreadsheet. Make sure all numerical entries are Fidonews Page 15 29 Sep 1986 justified to the right and all labels to the left (these are the default settings, so they will be unless you've changed them). Mark the region of the spreadsheet which contains the data you want transferred, by marking one corner of the region with a "Mark-set" (ESC SPACE) and moving the cursor to the other. This will ordinarily exclude the titles and text at the top, and some calculations at the bottom. Then write it to a text file by using the command CTRL-XP. Do not hold the CTRL key down while you type the "P". That would act on the entire spreadsheet instead of the region you have designated. Do not type a carriage return (that would send it to the printer, or lock up the program if you don't have one connected and turned on). Instead, give a filename of a file to which it is to be 'printed', i.e. saved as a text file. You may give it any name you wish left of the period, but the extent (filetype) must be the letters "TXT". Then after giving the new file its filename.TXT name, press the carriage return. It is probably a wise precaution to call this file up in a word processor so as to count the number of spaces that are actually in each column. These spaces are critical to the process that follows, and may not correspond exactly to those in your Perfect Calc spreadsheet. Next, enter dBase with the command "DBASE", and at the dot prompt, "CREATE" a file with headings and columns exactly corresponding to those of your Perfect Calc text file. Then APPEND the Perfect Calc data with the command: APPEND FROM (filename).TXT SDF. Then examine the file with the DISPLAY, TEXT, or BROWSE commands. Despite your precautions, you may find you need to MODIFY STRUCTURE of the dBase file to change column widths, and these will destroy the data you have just APPENDed. But the APPEND process is so easy and fast that it isn't much work to repeat that part of it. There you have it; a block of data that you are already familiar with to manipulate, sort, index, calculate sums of all or nay particular part. It's a great way to get into a new program. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 16 29 Sep 1986 Fido Bug Column David Dodell, Fido Bugs' West, 1/98 Marvin Shelton, Fido Bugs' East, 1/99 Before we start with the bug reports and Tom Jenning's replies, Chris Baker of 135/14 sent the following which may be of interest to other sysops. The 'bug' you describe (note: how to log in on one line with user i.d. Sysop) is something i was having problems understanding, till it hit me. Try this next time: Sysop | | Y Password <cr>. You've got to get past the Last Name prompt so it takes TWO pipelines to get to the Yes/password prompt. BUG --- The bug is that in the message sections, the number indicated as the "last message read" is frequently actually the first unread message. This can cause a user to miss a message. This bug seems to have persisted through quite a few Fido revisions. I think what the "Last Read" indicator OUGHT to do is start at zero when a new user logs in for the first time, and thereafter stay at the number of the last message he has read. Instead, it seems to start at 1, and thereafter it frequently advances one higher than it should be. Tom Jenning's Reply: -------------------- The last message read is a mess; it will re-read the highest message if you've read them all for instance. Fido is inconsistent in its display of the number, it displays last read + 1 in some cases. It shouldn't cause a message to be missed; I will look for that one. BUG: ---- It seems that when users use the <C>hange feature to change their parameters, the changes don't always seem to "stick"... for example a user set a screen width of 40 and a length of 8 (for one of those little portable computers with a tiny screen) and that seemed to get reset to 24 lines, 79 columns when he logged off. On the other hand, other users have made various changes with no problem. The problem seems to occur when you change your screen length to something very small like the above example. Fidonews Page 17 29 Sep 1986 Tom Jenning's Reply: -------------------- Ahh ... I think I know what's up with the screen dimension thing. Fido lets you set it alright, but when the user logs on next time, Fido sanity checks things like screen width ... the logon check obviously thinks the screen dimensions are silly, and resets to defaults. This will not happen in v12. BUG: ---- I'm not sure if I remember the circumstances ... use "1 x" to move to a nonexistant area (such as 9 if the highest current system file is 7). Fido will then show the contents of SYSTEM7 but will say "Msg Area 9:". Any access with "1" shows 7, while the header shows 9. Tom Jenning's Reply: -------------------- The 1 command: Fido wont let you say "1 9" if the highest is 7; it will only let you say "1 8". (Highest + 1). Fido creates the new system.bbs file (in this case SYSTEM8.BBS) by duplicating the one last accessed ... you have to change the contents yourself. Not a bug. ------- This is the report for the week. Please send your reports directly to 1/98 or 1/99. They will be forwarded to Tom Jennings. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 18 29 Sep 1986 William/Eunhee Hunter Fido 109/626 Computer Industry Spotlight on: CONTROL DATA CORPORATION -- Control Data, one of the nation's largest computer and financial services firms, offers solutions for problems in business and industry, urban and rural revitalization, education, small enterprise services, health maintenance, energy conservation, and corrections. Control Data has openings for electrical, industrial, and mechanical engineers for manufacturing, design, production, quality control, field service, and research and development. Computer science graduates can find openings in business and scientific programming, testing, and support. Contact: Recruitment Officer, Control Data Corporation, 8100 34th Ave., S., Minneapolis, MN 55440. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 19 29 Sep 1986 Jerry Hindle 123/6 Memphis,TN I have been using U.S. Robotics "Micro-Link 2400" internal modem now for about a year with the Fido I am running and have so far had excellent service from this unit. I will attempt to pass on my findings on this modem to those out there who may be considering a purchase from USR in the near future, and although this was written about the internal version I have others in this net using the "Courier" and other brands of 2400bps modems and from the reports I have been getting from them I will try to give you as complete a rundown of the various modems as I possibly can. I ordered the modem from USR and requested they send it UPS to my business address COD. They accomplished this feat with expertise far beyond anything I have seen before. I had the modem the 2nd day after talking to the sales people. Considering the service I get from UPS this in itself it a miracle. The modem comes packaged with terminal software and an extensive user manual. The terminal software also has its own user manual almost as big as the modems. I will touch briefly on the software. Like Hayes the USR software was designed to operate the Micro- Link and thus has some special commands strictly for this purpose. It will however do an admirable job of operating both the Hayes internal and external modems, the Leading Edge internal 1200 and 2400 modems and naturally the USR "courier" external 2400bps modem. It has an autoanswer feature allowing you to call your own system with password security and have access to your files via telephone. The "BEST" feature of this software is it's ability to write an autologon file (script) the first time you call a system. If you call a system and it is your first call you can elect to have the terminal capture the logon sequence "AS YOU TYPE", no more editing script files to "create" a script ! Let the program do it for you ! The modem card is a full length card requiring a "FULL LENGTH" slot (sorry the Tandy slot is too short) and comes with instructions on setting the modem for any of the 4 com ports available. It has a small speaker built onto the board that allows you to "hear????" what's going on when you make a call. I find that this speaker is too small to hear easily over the roar of the hard drive in my machine unless I place it in high volume, which is too loud. I would suggest that they add a volume pot to the rear plate and do away with the software volume setting and have just either on during connect, on all the time, or off all the time. The telephone connections like all other modems come in thru the rear plate, but unlike other modems the are NOT labeled as to which is line and which is for the phone. They are also sideways and this makes it rather difficult to disconnect the modem by feel since the lock tab on the modular phone line is recessed into the rear panel of the computer when the modem is installed. I suggest they turn it 90 degrees so as to put the tab either on the top or bottom of the connection hole, and LABEL the connections. Fidonews Page 20 29 Sep 1986 The modem has the dip switches on the back panel (getting crowded back there now) for setting the default parameters on the modem. These switches are easy to move with a small pointed tool such as a pencil and stay put once they are set. The toggle on them is hefty enough to prevent accidental switching and easy enough to do from the front of the computer by feel or with a mirror. Here again though the ON or OFF position is not labeled. Although the manual clearly shows the user where everything goes , is set, or where to move it, the labeling would help a great deal. The switches are labeled for their NUMBER though and you have to look in a mirror or have a good memory to be able to remember if the numbering starts at the top or bottom of the plate. I had a modem filter on the line when I first installed the modem. This filter had been working very nicely with my Hayes modem but after installing the modem inside the computer I noticed that it would fail to connect on the first ring about 75 percent of the time. After repeated calls to USR tech support I still had the problem. I even went so far as to call the telephone company and have the lines checked to see if I was getting enough signal. I can't fault tech support because they did everything they could think of to help me and even offered to swap out to the external modem at no charge if I elected to do so. I understand they have since improved on their already excellent record in this department. I finally found the problem to be that the modem was not sensitive enough to detect the ring AFTER it passed thru the filter, and not have any SCHEMATICS (hint to USR) I could not find the trim pot to adjust the sensitivity to compensate for this. I have since removed the filter from the line and am running "bare". I hate to do this since lightening could do considerable damage to the system thru the phone line. I think I will call tech support and see if they can tell me where the trim pot for sensitivity is or at least provide me a SCHEMATIC. Block diagrams are nice but useless to me. Again I say the modem has operated flawlessly since the removal of the filter and I have had the filter checked out by the manufacturer and they say it is 100% operational. I also must applaud USR for their policy of rom updates. They updated my rom from version 242 to 243 free and all I did was call them. I didn't even have to send the modem in. They sent the new chip out to me with instructions on how to change it out. All they requested was that I send the old chip back (for reprogramming I suppose) which is fair enough. After all they are the ONLY ones that do this, try getting Hayes to update the rom in your modem, they will but you better get the wallet ready and be prepared to do without the modem for a while..... I am thoroughly pleased with the support given me by the sales people and tech support (except for the lack of a schematic) and the documentation is well written (where this article isn't) and through. I feel that for the money there is no other modem comparable to the USR 2400. I acquired my modem thru their "sysop deal" and would suggest that as many of you as can qualify do the same. I mean they can't keep a good thing going forever. I intend to purchase the "courier" next for the "other computer" If you have ANY questions, suggestions, comments, rebuttals, or other Fidonews Page 21 29 Sep 1986 information you feel would benefit others please send it to my attention either at FIDO 123/6 , FIDO 123/0 or via the US Postal service to: Jerry Hindle P.O. Box 16223 Memphis,TN 38186-0223 To USR (if you are reading this) I NEED A SCHEMATIC OF THE MICRO- LINK. I must use my filter if at all possible.....Thx ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 22 29 Sep 1986 ================================================================= WANTED ================================================================= Daniel Tobias, Soft Fido, 19/216 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 23 29 Sep 1986 ================================================================= FOR SALE ================================================================= 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 66 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 166/1 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... The following format choices are available: - IBM PC-DOS Backup utility - Zenith MS-DOS 2.11 Backup Utility - DSBackup - Fastback - ACS INTRCPT 720k format (Requires a 1.2m floppy drive and PC-DOS 3.2) - 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Fidonews Page 24 29 Sep 1986 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------- My appologies for the SNAFU Friday. A minor (but NOT insignificant) bug in a change I made to "improve" the build program caused it to produce NODELIST.269 with a bad CRC. The accompanying "good" NODEDIFF was incapable of recreating the bad CRC, and the edit process kinda fell apart. The error was not discovered and corrected in time to prevent several copies of the bad stuff from getting out. If your NODELIST.269 has the following CRC at the end of line 1: 32001, you are the proud owner of a "corrupt" nodelist. Actually it is eminently usable, but will not be editable next week. It can be transformed with the following editing procedure: If you have a NODEDIFF.269 containing the CRC "32001", delete it. For God's sake DO NOT DISTRIBUTE IT. Either do not distribute a NODEDIFF this week, or get a corrected version to distribute. Incidently, if you edited this nodediff to produce a nodelist, you do not have the latest version of EDITNL, XLATLIST or both! Ben -----------------------------------------------------------------