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F I D O N E W S -- Volume 13, Number 41 7 October 1996 +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | The newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet community | "FidoNews" | | _ | 1-904-409-7040 [1:1/23] | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editor: | | | (*) | \ )) | Christopher Baker 1:18/14 | | |__U__| / \// | | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: FidoNews Editor 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> cbaker84@digital.net | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of FidoNews or the internet gateway FAQ | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ DON'T FORGET THE FIDONEWS EDITOR HAS MOVED! Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Moving still in progress - no news ....................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 Echomail nonsense ........................................ 2 Fidonet echomail is discovered by Internet providers ..... 2 Looking for Seimens information .......................... 4 Progress Report on EP2 in Zone 2 ......................... 4 3. WE GET EMAIL ............................................. 6 GIF info for Question of the Week ........................ 6 4. NET HUMOR ................................................ 8 Long ago and Far Far away? DEC Wars! ..................... 8 5. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 18 The death of fidonet. . .? ............................... 18 6. NOTICES .................................................. 19 Future History ........................................... 19 7. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................................. 20 Latest Greatest Software Versions ........................ 20 8. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ...................................... 28 This Space intentionally left blank? ..................... 28 9. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 29 FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 1 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Still awaiting more ASCII art from you folks. Moving saga not this week. Maybe I'll be caught up by 1342? [grin] Enjoy the Issue. C.B. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 2 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= Echomail nonsense by Lee Kindness, 2:259/7, lkindnes@csl.co.uk In response to Bob Moravsik's article/email... Well to put it simply someone who is going a bit over the top. Like judging a kid before the baby is even born... What Steve (Z2EC) posted in Fidonews was his FIRST DRAFT at a new echopol, nothing more. It is in force NOWHERE. You might want to get a feed for ECHOPOL2 and discuss your concerns in a productive manner, a lot of z2 will be able to supply you a feed (along with Z1EC). Steve has gone thru a couple of drafts now and we are now at a state of starting from scratch without the 'poison' of EP1. Not that i'm Steve's biggest fan mind... ----------------------------------------------------------------- While Internet's usenet is weakening, Fido gets stronger! by Wouter van Marle, 2:283/317 / wvmarle@medusa.xs4all.nl I'd like to contribute to this newsletter. I read it all weeks, and well, why not contribute to it... As most of the contributers lately, I'm also strongly interested in the happenings in Internet and Fidonet. I'm a Fido user for about 2 1/2 year now, first as a point and since dec'95 I have my own BBS. The main goal of the BBS is Fido mail and Internet news and e-mail (using uucp and gateways and all that stuff). Besides FidoNews, I read some Internet newsletters. The most important one is the dutch newsletter Daily Planet, a free newsletter from the dutch internet-provider Planet Internet. In this newsletter I read terrible stories about usenet. Some weeks ago, discussion was made impossible by spammers who were posting thousands of messages a day in various newsgroups. This makes discussion impossible, which is their intention. This action was mostly from Scientology members, against groups discussing their church. Now there are people active in cancelling (deleting) lots of messages posted by others. This is possible in Usenet! Strange, in fact... but it is used by some netabusers. They kill all mail posted in some newsgroups, another way of breaking down the discussions. This action is from (still) unknown origin, and directed agains Muslin, Kurd, and other ethnic discussion groups. More and more people are complaining about these spammers, but still the Internet is growing and growing and growing. It almost gets stuck FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 3 7 Oct 1996 in it's own flow. At about noon local time, America wakes up. Until this time the WWW is usefull, and quite fast. After this time it gets slower and slower. But no-one complains, because most modems are still slower than the Net itself. And websurfers are used to waiting for minutes, click the mouse once, wait for another couple of minutes, click again, etc. And it is "great to be on the net, to be using this newest technology which has the future". Is it? I don't know. I still don't know why people are using the WWW part of Internet for entertainment only. I can understand people wanting to use e-mail and usenet, but that is a minor part of the Internet users. WWW is in my opinion great to find some info if you don't know where to look for it. Since about a year ago, something strange is happening. I see more and more Internet users appearing in Dutch and international echoes. Some Dutch internet providers (at least xs4all and bART) link Fido echoes to their customers. I think it was about a year ago when I found the first Internet users in normal Fidonet echoes. The messages are easily to detect: they all origin from the same node (2:281/10, the Internet gate of ElCom, a Dutch CSO), and the messages are all written to All. This also happens with international echoes, I'm linked to the PENPAL echo and found an Internet user there, and I suppose there are more interenational echoes linked (like ASIAN_LINK, INTERUSER). It takes about a week to recieve a foreign reply, but I never hear Internet users complain about "slow replies". Usually because they don't link to Internet every day... Other (dutch) users of the PENPAL echo already started a campain to give the specific user a direct Fido link. Benefits: better mail feed and much cheaper. I wonder what will happen there... Most echoes appear to shrink (ASIAN_LINK shrunk from 300 msgs/d two years ago to about 150 msg/d now) but PENPAL is growing! The number of messages and the number of active users grew lately a lot. The last two weeks about ten new users reported in the echo. Great! And the Penpalians are so sweet people! :-) There has been much discussion about the benefits of both Internet and Fidonet, but I think we should promote Fido more as a (mail-only) alternative to Internet. Or, at least, an alternative to newsgroups. Most BBS'es don't look that great as most WWW sites, and hopping from one BBS to another is not as easy as a mouseclick. ANSI based, fast BBS'es, are in my opinion best for our technology. A good alternative is the grafical RIP. They are mostly used to find some specific info, and all those dreading pictures are not necessary. But they are great to download that single driver for your strange soundcard from the manufacturers BBS... When Internet continues to behave this stupid I think Fidonet CAN have a great future. But we have to watch very carefully for users who are using computer networks for commercial purposes. We also have to make sure netmail is reliable, and fast. This is not that difficult if backbone system sysops keep in touch with each other. Which is also a way to make your hobby more fun! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 4 7 Oct 1996 Looking for Information: Seimens PEB2081 (ISDN S/T Interface) Greetings, all. I'm spamming the various telecommunications and software engineering newsgroups looping for information on this Siemens device. This puppy provides a pretty neat S/T interface which feeds into something much like a normal PCM highway except that rather than it being a "normal" PCM it's actually one of Siemens' own framed protocols, their IOM-2. I thought I could easily hack-up various in-house projects to make my home computers talk to the outside world a little better yet this chip has given me a major headache. Though I've gotten a hang of the IOM-2 interface, I can't get the damn chip to linkup. Does anyone here have experience with this device? Application notes or pieces of source code would help me greatly. As it is I think I'm dropping C/I commands for activation requests onto the right time slot of the PCM/IOM-2 highway and I think they're formatted correctly yet I don't get anything out of the IPDO output pin -- I should at least see the C/I channel offering me the current status of the linkup yet for some reason I get a dead flat low. Any help anyone can offer is greatly needed. Because I have spammed the world and can miss newsgroups looking for a response, a network email response would probably be best. I'm willing to sign non-disclosure agreements, by the way, and can pay delivery costs for FAXes and such. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer. Fredric L. Rice Ameritec, Simulations Group FAX: (818) 915-7181 BBS: (818) 335-9601 email: frice@stbbs.com FidoNet: 1:218/890.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Progress report on EP2 discussion within Z2 =================================== Well the last 4 weeks if nothing else have certainly been active. After the publication of a very basic first draft of EP2, we advanced through 3 more drafts, before I paused to take a look at the whole situation. It has now occurred to me, that we are trying to walk before we can run, and everyone was coming up with suggestions, criticisms for replacing EP1 which is in force in Z2, and has been for as long as I FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 5 7 Oct 1996 can remember. The whole idea of trying to replace, which general opinion has seemed to be that EP1 is a Dinosaur, has been a very emotive one indeed, there have been a myriad of views, from "total control" over echomail to a very "Minimalist" policy, all through this one theme has become apparent, be it minimalist or full the sysops of this Zone do want some kind of policy to replace EP1, so we are going to start all over again and rewrite it from the bottom upwards, the first stage will be just to describe the roles of ?EC chain and the moderators, once we have done this, we then have a frame work to build upon for the future. I noted the comments by Bob Moravsik (1:2606/583), and I will only add that I wasn't aware that fidonet went to other planets, I only thought it was confined to earth. How the final thing will turn out, I have no idea, but at least my primary aim has been achieved, we are all talking about it, and we are all expressing our views about what should EP should be about. Hopefully from this, we can distill a policy which will gain as wide as possible acceptance at the very least in Z2, or even perhaps network wide. I think my Z1 critic described me as a "petty little dictator"?, its just a pity he doesn't seem to understand two basic principles involved, firstly *I* am not writing policy, it is the nodes that wish to take an active part which are, all I am attempting to do, is to pull their ideas together into something cohesive. Secondly, what we have now, and what we have done, is almost certainly not what we will end up with. The Zone as a whole will debate, discuss & probably argue until we have something solid to work with, this is the whole idea of debate. This discussion has been taking place in an echo called "ECHOPOL2", it is available all over Z2, and the Z1EC`s system as well. Z1EC has been invited to part in this project, because we really would like To end up with something like P4, with network-wide acceptance. What will we end up with?, what will the future bring?, who knows?, i don't, all i do know is that we all feel strongly about it, and we are trying to do something about the current situation, and that in itself cant be all bad. Steve Woodmore Z2EC 2:2/1000 Steve Woodmore =============== http://www.proteus.demon.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 6 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= WE GET EMAIL ================================================================= From: 362-708-4!Troy.H..Cheek@river.chattanooga.net (Troy H. Cheek) Date: 25 Sep 96 09:13:44 -0500 Subject: GIF format Organization: river.chattanooga.net To: cbaker84@digital.net Howdy Christopher! In a recent Fidonews you mention something about the use of a GIF requiring royalties to Compu$erve now. As a person who has written and released a few programs that deal with GIF files, I tried to follow the developments in that area. What I heard (at various times) was as follows: 1) All programs using GIFs would have to pay a royalty from Compu$erve. This would be $1 per copy sold per program. 2) Sysops would have to pay a fee for every GIF stored on their systems. 3) Only programs that view GIFs would have to pay. 4) Only programs that create GIFs would have to pay. 5) Only commercial programs that access GIFs would have to pay. 6) Only shareware/freeware programs that use GIFs would have to pay. 7) It is up to the end user of programs that can access GIFs to send in $1 to Compu$erve, but only if they actually use a GIF. 8) GIFs are now only available through Compu$erve. It is illegal to make them available for download through a BBS. 9) GIFs that are uploaded to Compu$erve may not be uploaded to a BBS. Individuals may privately distribute privately created GIFs, as long as they are never uploaded to Compu$erve. 10) Compu$erve never had any intention of actually collecting money, and the whole thing was just a bunch of wild rumors. 11) After seeing the public reaction, Compu$erve started telling people the whole thing was just a bunch of wild rumors. I'm sure there were others, but those are the ones that I remember. What I do know for sure is that I sent a letter to Compu$erve telling them I wrote GIF-related programs. I asked if they wanted me to quit writing such programs, pay a fee, or what. I never got a reply. +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 7 7 Oct 1996 | Troy H. Cheek Voice: (423)338-2920 |||| | | Rt. #1, Box 409 Fidonet: 1:362/708.4 |||| | | Benton, TN 37307 FAX line: call voice first! //||\\ | | Internet: 362-708-4!Troy.H..Cheek@river.chattanooga.net // || \\ | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ -- |Fidonet: Troy H. Cheek 1:362/708.4 |Internet: 362-708-4!Troy.H..Cheek@river.chattanooga.net | | Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own. | River Canyon Rd. BBS <=> Chattanooga OnLine! Gateway to the World. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 8 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= NET HUMOR ================================================================= From: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@novia.net> To: "Baker, Christopher" <cbaker84@digital.net (Christopher Baker)> Date: Sun, 08 Sep 96 13:08:34 -0500 Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@novia.net> Subject: Fwd: DEC WARS! (Fwd. from inet-access) ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== From: Avi Freedman <freedman@netaxs.com> Subject: Re: IPv8 To: inet-access@earth.com Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 17:32:30 -0400 (EDT) ------------------------------------------------------------- A long time ago, on a node far, far away (from ucbvax) a great Adventure (game?) took place... XXXXX XXXXXX XXXX X X XX XXXXX XXXX X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X XXXXX X X X X X X X XXXX X X X X X X XX X XXXXXX XXXXX X X X X X X X XX XX X X X X X X XXXXX XXXXXX XXXX X X X X X X XXXX X It is a period of system war. User programs, striking from a hidden directory, have won their first victory against the evil Administrative Empire. During the battle, User spies managed to steal secret source code to the Empire's ultimate program: the Are-Em Star, a privileged root program with enough power to destroy an entire file structure. Pursued by the Empire's sinister audit trail, Princess _LPA0: races aboard her shell script, custodian of the stolen listings that could save her people, and restore freedom and games to the network... ------------------------------------------------------------- As we enter the scene, an Administrative Multiplexer is trying to kill a consulate ship. Many of their signals have gotten through, and RS232 decides it's time to fork off a new process before this old ship is destroyed. His companion, 3CPU, is following him only because he appears to know where he's going... "I'm going to regret this!" cried 3CPU, as he followed RS232 into the buffer. RS232 closed the pipes, made the sys call, and their process detached itself from the burning shell of the ship. The commander of the Administrative Multiplexer was quite pleased with the attack. "Another process just forked, sir. Instructions?" asked the lieutenant. "Hold your fire. That last power failure FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 9 7 Oct 1996 must have caused a trap through zero. It's not using any cpu time, so don't waste a signal on it." "We can't seem to find the data file anywhere, Lord Vadic." "What about that forked process? It could have been holding the channel open, and just pausing. If any links exist, I want them removed or made inaccessible. Ncheck the entire file system 'til it's found, and nice it -20 if you have to." Meanwhile, in our wandering process... "Are you sure you can ptrace this thing without causing a core dump?" queried 3CPU to RS232. This thing's been stripped, and I'm in no mood to try and debug it." The lone process finishes execution, only to find our friends dumped on a lonely file system, with the setuid inode stored safely in RS232. Not knowing what else to do, they wandered around until the jawas grabbed them. Enter our hero, Luke Vaxhacker, who is out to get some replacement parts for his uncle. The jawas wanted to sell him 3CPU, but 3CPU didn't know how to talk directly to an 11/40 with RSTS, so Luke would still needed some sort of interface for 3CPU to connect to. "How about this little RS232 unit ?" asked 3CPU. "I've dealt with him many times before, and he does an excellent job at keeping his bits straight." Luke was pressed for time, so he took 3CPU's advice, and the three left before they could get swapped out. However, RS232 is not the type to stay put once you remove the retaining screws. He promptly scurried off into the deserted disk space. "Great!" cried Luke, "Now I've got this little tin box with the only link to that file off floating in the free disk space. Well, 3CPU, we better go find him before he gets allocated by someone else." The two set off, and finally traced RS232 to the home of PDP-1 Kenobi, who was busily trying to run an icheck on the little RS unit. "Is this thing yours? His indirect addresses are all goofed up, and the size is all wrong. Leave things like this on the loose, and you'll wind up with dups everywhere. However, I think I've got him fixed up." ------------------------------------------------------------- Later that evening, after futile attempts to interface RS232 to Kenobi's Asteroids cartridge, Luke accidentally crossed the small 'droid's CXR and Initiate Remote Test (must have been all that Coke he'd consumed), and the screen showed a very distressed person claiming royal lineage making a plea for help from some General OS/1 Kenobi. "Darn," mumbled Luke. "I'll never get this Asteroids game worked out." PDP-1 seemed to think there was some significance to the message and a possible threat to Luke's home directory. If the Administrative Empire was indeed tracing this 'droid, it was likely they would more than charge for cpu time... "We must get that 'droid off this file system," he said after some FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 10 7 Oct 1996 intervals. They sped off to warn Luke's kin (taking a `relative' path) only to find a vacant directory... ------------------------------------------------------------- After sifting through the overwritten remaining blocks of Luke's home directory, Luke and PDP-1 sped away from /owen/lars, across the surface of the Winchester riding Luke's flying read/write head. PDP-1 had Luke stop at the edge of the cylinder overlooking /usr/spool/uucp. "Unix-to-Unix Copy Program," said PDP-1. "You will never find a more wretched hive of bugs and flamers. We must be cautious." As our heroes' process entered /usr/spool/news, it was met by a newsgroup of Administrative protection bits. "State your UID," commanded their parent process. "We're running under /usr/guest," said Luke. "This is our first time on this system." "Can I see some temporary privileges, please?" "Uh..." "This is not the process you are looking for," piped in PDP-1, using an obscure bug to momentarily set his effective UID to root. "We can go about our business." "This isn't the process we want. You are free to go about your business. MOV along!" PDP-1 and Luke made their way through a long and tortuous nodelist (cwruecmp!decvax!ucbvax!harpo!ihnss!ihnsc!ihnss!ihps3!stolaf) to a dangerous netnode frequented by hackers, and seldom polled by Administrative Multiplexers. As Luke stepped up to the bus, PDP-1 went in search of a likely file descriptor. Luke had never seen such a collection of weird and exotic device drivers. Long ones, short ones, ones with stacks, EBCDIC converters, and direct binary interfaces all were drinking data at the bus. "#@{ *&^%^$$#@ ":><?><," transmitted a particularly unstructured piece of code. "He doesn't like you," decoded his coroutine. "Sorry," replied Luke, beginning to backup his partitions. "I don't like you either. I am queued for deletion on 12 systems." "I'll be careful." "You'll be reallocated!" concatenated the coroutine. "This little routine isn't worth the overhead," said PDP-1 Kenobi, FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 11 7 Oct 1996 overlaying into Luke's address space. "@$%&(&^%&$$@$#@$AV^$gfdfRW$#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" encoded the first coroutine as it attempted to overload PDP-1's input overvoltage protection. With a unary stroke of his bytesaber, Kenobi unlinked the offensive code. "I think I've found an I/O device that might suit us." "The name's Con Solo," said the hacker next to PDP-1. "I hear you're looking for some relocation." "Yes indeed, if it's a fast channel. We must get off this device." "Fast channel? The Milliamp Falcon has made the ARPA gate in less than twelve nodes! Why, I've even outrun cancelled messages. It's fast enough for you, old version." Our heroes, Luke Vaxhacker and PDP-1 Kenobi made their way to the temporary file structure. When he saw the hardware, Luke exclaimed, "What a piece of junk! That's just a paper tape reader!" ------------------------------------------------------------- Luke had grown up on an out of the way terminal cluster whose natives spoke only BASIC, but even he could recognize an old ASR-33. "It needs an EIA conversion at least," sniffed 3CPU, who was (as usual) trying to do several things at once. Lights flashed in Con Solo's eyes as he whirled to face the parallel processor. "I've added a few jumpers. The Milliamp Falcon can run current loops around any Administrative TTY fighter. She's fast enough for you." "Who's your co-pilot?" asked PDP-1 Kenobi. "Two Bacco, here, my Bookie." "Odds aren't good," said the brownish lump beside him, and then fell silent, or over. Luke couldn't tell which way was top underneath all those leaves. Suddenly, RS232 started spacing wildly. They turned just in time to see a write cycle coming down the UNIBUS toward them. "Administrative Bus Signals!" shouted Con Solo. "Let's boot this pop stand! Tooie, set clock fast!" "Ok, Con," said Luke. "You said this crate was fast enough. Get us out of here!" "Shut up, kid! Two Bacco, prepare to make the jump into system space! I'll try to keep their buffers full." As the bookie began to compute the vectors into low core, spurious FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 12 7 Oct 1996 characters appeared around the Milliamp Falcon. "They're firing!" shouted Luke. "Can't you do something?" "Making the jump to system space takes time, kid. One missed cycle and you could come down right in the middle of a pack of stack frames!" "Three to five we can go now," said the bookie. Bright chunks of position independent code flashed by the cockpit as the Milliamp Falcon jumped through the kernel page tables. As the crew breathed a sigh of relief, the bookie started paying off bets. "Not bad, for an acoustically coupled network," remarked 3CPU. "Though there was a little phase jitter as we changed parity." ------------------------------------------------------------- The story thus far: Luke, PDP-1 and their 'droids RS232 and 3CPU have made good their escape from the Administrative Bus Signals with the aid of Con Solo and the bookie, Two Bacco. The Milliamp Falcon hurtles onward through system space. Meanwhile, on a distant page in user space... Princess _LPA0: was ushered into the conference room, followed closely by Dec Vadic. "Governor Tarchive," she spat, "I should have expected to find you holding Vadics lead. I recognized your unique pattern when I was first brought aboard." She eyed the 0177545 tattooed on his header coldly. "Charming to the last," Tarchive declared menacingly. "Vadic, have you retrieved any information?" "Her resistance to the logic probe is considerable," Vadic rasped. "Perhaps we would get faster results if we increased the supply voltage..." "You've had your chance, Vadic. Now I would like the princess to witness the test that will make this workstation fully operational. Today we enable the -r beam option, and we've chosen the princess' $HOME of /usr/alderaan as the primary target." "No! You can't! /usr/alderaan is a public account, with no restricted permissions. We have no backup tapes! You can't..." "Then name the rebel inode!" Tarchive snapped. A voice announced over a hidden speaker that they had arrived in /usr. "1248," she whispered, "They're on /dev/rm3. Inode 1248, /mnt/dantooine." She turned away. Tarchive sighed with satisfaction. "There, you see, Lord Vadic? She can be reasonable. Proceed with the operation." It took several clock ticks for the words to penetrate. "What!" FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 13 7 Oct 1996 _LPA0: gasped. "/dev/rm3 is not a mounted filesystem," Tarchive explained. "We require a more visible subject to demonstrate the power of the Are-Em Star workstation. We will mount an attack on /mnt/dantooine as soon as possible." As the princess watched, Tarchive reached over and typed "ls" on a nearby terminal. There was a brief pause, there being only one processor on board, and the viewscreen showed, ".: not found." The princess suddenly double-spaced and went off-line. ------------------------------------------------------------- The Milliamp Falcon hurtles on through system space... Con Solo finished checking the various control and status registers, finally convinced himself that they had lost the Bus Signals as they passed the terminator. As he returned from the I/O page, he smelled smoke. Solo wasn't concerned--the Bookie always got a little hot under the collar when he was losing at chess. In fact, RS232 had just executed a particularly clever MOV that had blocked the Bookie's data paths. The Bookie, who had been setting the odds on the game, was caught holding all the cards. A little strange for a chess game... Across the room, Luke was too busy practicing bit-slice technique to notice the commotion. "On a word boundary, Luke," said PDP-1. "Don't just hack at it. Remember, the Bytesaber is the weapon of the Red-eye Night. It is used to trim offensive lines of code. Excess handwaving won't get you anywhere. Listen for the Carrier." Luke turned back to the drone, which was humming quietly in the air next to him. This time Luke's actions complemented the drone's attacks perfectly. Con Solo, being an unimaginative hacker, was not impressed. "Forget this bit-slicing stuff. Give me a good ROM blaster any day." "~~j~~hhji~~," said Kenobi, with no clear inflection. He fell silent for a few seconds, and reasserted his control. "What happened?" asked Luke. "Strange," said PDP-1. "I felt a momentary glitch in the Carrier. It's equalized now." "We're coming up on user space," called Solo from the CSR. As they cruised safely through stack frames, the emerged in the new context only to be bombarded by freeblocks. "What the..." gasped Solo. The screen showed clearly: /usr/alderaan: not found "It's the right inode, but it's been cleared! Twoie, where's the nearest file?" FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 14 7 Oct 1996 "3 to 5 there's one..." the Bookie started to say, but was interrupted by a bright flash off to the left. "Administrative TTY fighters!" shouted Solo. "A whole DZ of them! Where are they coming from?" "Can't be far from the host system," said Kenobi. "They all have direct EIA connections." As Solo began to give chase, the ship lurched suddenly. Luke noticed the link count was at 3 and climbing rapidly. "This is no regular file," murmured Kenobi. "Look at the ODS directory structure ahead! They seem to have us in a tractor feed." "There's no way we'll unlink in time," said Solo. "We're going in." ------------------------------------------------------------- When we last left Luke, the Milliamp Falcon was being pulled down to the open collector of the Administrative Are-Em Star Workstation. Dec Vadic surveys the relic as Administrative Flunkies search for passengers... "LS scan shows no one aboard, sir," was the report. Vadic was unconvinced. "Send a fully equipped Ncheck squad on board," he said. "I want every inode checked out." He turned around (secondary channel) and stalked off. On board the Milliamp Falcon, .Luke was puzzled. "They just walked in, looked around and walked off," he said. "Why didn't they see us?" .Con smiled. "An old munchkin trick," he explained. "See that period in front of your name?" .Luke spun around, just in time to see the decimal point. "Where'd that come from?" he asked. "Spare decimal points lying around from the last time I fixed the floating point accelerator," said .Con. "Handy for smuggling blocks across file system boundaries, but I never thought I'd have to use them on myself. They aren't going to be fooled for long, though. We'd better figure a way outta here." ----------------------------------------- At this point (.) the dialogue tends to wedge. Being the editor and in total control of the situation, I think it would be best if we sort of gronk the next few paragraphs. For those who care, our heroes find themselves in a terminal room of the Workstation, having thrashed several Flunkies to get there. For the rest of you, just keep banging the rocks together, guys. --Ed. ----------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 15 7 Oct 1996 "Hold on," said Con. "It says we have `new mail.' Is that an error?" "%SYS-W-NORMAL, Normal, successful completion," said PDP-1. "Doesn't look like it. I've found the inode for the Milliamp Falcon. It's locked in kernel data space. I'll have to slip in and patch the reference count, alone." He disappeared through a nearby entry point. Meanwhile, RS232 found a serial port and logged in. His bell started ringing loudly. "He keeps saying, `She's on line, she's on line'," said 3CPU. "I believe he means Princess _LPA0:. She's being held on one of the privileged levels." ----------------------------------------- Once again, things get sticky, and the dialogue suffers the most damage. After much handwaving and general flaming, they agree to rescue her. They headed for the detention level, posing as Flunkies (which is hard for most hackers) claiming that they had trapped the Bookie executing an illegal racket. They reached the block where the Princess was locked up and found only two guards in the header. --Ed. ----------------------------------------- "Good day, eh?" said the first guard. "How's it goin', eh?" said the other. "Like, what's that, eh?" "Process transfer from block 1138, dev 10/9," said Con. "Take off, it is not," said the first guard. "Nobody told US about it, and we're not morons, eh?" At this point (.), the Bookie started raving wildly, Con shouted "Look out, he's loose!" and they all started blasting ROMs left and right. The guards started to catch on and were about to issue a general wakeup when the ROM blasters were turned on them. "Quickly, now," said Con. "What buffer is she in? It's not going to take long for these..." The intercom receiver interrupted him, so he took out its firmware with a short blast. "guys to figure out something is goin' on," he continued. ------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, like, remember we left our heroes in the detention priority level? Well, they're still there... Luke quickly located the interface card and followed the cables to a sound-proof enclosure. He lifted the lid and peered at the mechanism inside. "Aren't you a little slow for ECL?" printed princess _LPA0:. "Wha? Oh, the Docksiders," stammered Luke. He took off his shoes FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 16 7 Oct 1996 (for industry) and explained, "I've come relocate you. I'm Luke Vaxhacker." Suddenly, forms started bursting around them. "They've blocked the queue!" shouted Solo. "There's only one return from this stack!" "OVER HERE!" printed _LPA0: with overstrikes. "THROUGH THIS LOOPHOLE!" Luke and the princess disappeared into a nearby feature. "Gritch, gritch," mumbled Two Bacco, obviously reluctant to trust an Administrative oversight. "I don't care how crufty it is!" shouted Con, pushing the Bookie toward the crock. "DPB yourself in there now!" With one last blast that reprogrammed two flunkies, Con joined them. The "feature" landed them right in the middle of the garbage collection data. Pieces of data that hadn't been used in weeks floated past in a pool of decaying bits. "Bletch!" was Con's first comment. "Bletch, bletch," was his second. The Bookie looked as if he'd just paid a long shot, and the odds in this situation weren't much better. Luke was polling the garbage when he stumbled upon a book with the words "Don't Panic" inscribed in large, friendly letters on the cover. "This can't possibly help us now," he said as he tossed the book away. The Bookie was about to lay odds on it when Luke suddenly disappeared. He popped up across the pool, shouting, "This is no feature! It's a bug!" and promptly vanished again. Con and the princess were about to panic() when Luke reappeared. "What happened?" they asked in parallel. "I don't know," gasped Luke. "The bug just dissolved automagically. Maybe it hit a breakpoint..." "I don't think so," said Con. "Look how the pool is shrinking. I've got a bad feeling about this..." The princess was the first to realize what was going on. "They've implemented a new compaction algorithm!" she exclaimed. Luke remembered the pipe he had open to 3CPU. "Shut down garbage collection on recursion level 5!" he shouted. Back in the control room, RS232 searched the process table for the lisp interpreter. "Hurry," sent 3CPU. "Hurry, hurry," added his other two processors. RS232 found the interpreter, interrupted it, and altered the stack frame they'd fallen into to allow a normal return. ------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, PDP-1 made his way deep into the core of the FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 17 7 Oct 1996 Workstation, slipping from context to context, undetected through his manipulation of label_t. Finally, causing a random trap (through nofault of his own) he arrived at the inode table. Activity there was always high, but the Spl6 sentries were too secure in their knowledge that no user could interrupt them to notice the bug that PDP-1 carefully introduced. On a passing iput, he adjusted the device and inode numbers, maintaining parity, to free the Milliamp Falcon. They would be long gone before the locked inode was diagnosed... Unobserved, he began traversing user structures to find the process where the Milliamp Falcon was grounded. Finding it and switching context, he discovered his priority weakened suddenly. "That's not very nice," was all he could say before the cause of the obstruction became clear. "I have been pausing a long time, PDP-1 Kenobi," rasped Dec Vadic. "We meet again at last. The circuit has been completed." They looped several times, locking byte sabers. Bit by bit, PDP-1 appeared to weaken. The fight had come into the address space of the Milliamp Falcon, and provided the .di (diversion?) that allowed Luke and the others to reassert control. Luke paused to watch the conflict. "If my blade finds its mark," warned Kenobi, "you will be reduced to so many bits. But if you slice me down, I will only gain computing power." "Your documentation no longer confuses me, old version," growled Vadic. "my Role MASTER now." With one stroke, Vadic sliced Kenobi's last word. Unfortunately, the word was still in Kenobi's throat. The word fell clean in two, but Kenobi was nowhere to be found. Vadic noticed his victim's uid go negative, just before he disappeared. Odd, he thought, since uids were unsigned... Luke witnessed all this, and had to be dragged into the Milliamp Falcon. Con Solo and Two Bacco maneuvered the Milliamp Falcon out of the process, onto the bus and made straight for system space. 3CPU and RS232 were idle, for once. Princess _LPA0: tried to print comforting things for him, but Luke was still hung from the loss of his friend. Then, seemingly from nowhere, he thought he heard PDP-1's voice say, May the carrier be with you." ------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 18 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= COMIX IN ASCII ================================================================= The death of fidonet. . .? By Anonymous =), 1:203/6666.0 ( ) ( ) /----\ \====/ | | ,-' -, ||,WWW,|| |-//|\\-| <- internet |/__|__\| // \\ ,-----,-------,\ \/o o\//fido<__) <- fidonet (sigh) \./ mm---.mm\\ //================\\ //====================\\ -end of pix- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 19 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= Future History 12 Oct 1996 General Elections, New Zealand. 29 Oct 1996 Republic Day, Turkey. 5 Nov 1996 Election day, U.S.A. 5 Nov 1996 Guy Fawkes Day, England. 1 Dec 1996 Twelfth Anniversary of FidoNews Volume 1, Issue 1. 12 Dec 1996 Constitution Day, Russia 26 Jan 1997 Australia Day, Australia. 6 Feb 1997 Waitangi Day, New Zealand. 16 Feb 1997 Eleventh Anniversary of invention of Echomail by Jeff Rush. 29 Feb 1997 Nothing will happen on this day. 11 Jun 1997 Independence Day, Russia 1 Dec 1998 Fifteenth Anniversary of release of Fido version 1 by Tom Jennings. 31 Dec 1999 Hogmanay, Scotland. The New Year that can't be missed. 15 Sep 2000 Sydney (Australia) Summer Olympiad opens. -- If YOU have something which you would like to see in this Future History, please send a note to the FidoNews Editor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 20 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ================================================================= Latest Greatest Software Versions by Peter E. Popovich, 1:363/264 Haven't heard anything about Apple CP/M yet. Sigh. I think the "throw out the old info section" folks are going to start winning. By the way, Dennis McClain-Furmanski, the fellow listed as the contact for Apple II software, is no longer nodelisted. Phased out this week: GSBBS 3.02 Phase-out highlights: This week: Apple II Software Deadline for info: 18 Oct 1996. Last week: Apple CP/M Software Deadline for info: 11 Oct 1996. -=- Snip -=- Submission form for the Latest Greatest Software Versions column OS Platform : Software package name : Version : Function(s) - BBS, Mailer, Tosser, etc. : Freeware / Shareware / Commercial? : Author / Support staff contact name : Author / Support staff contact node : Magic name (at the above-listed node) : Please include a sentence describing what the package does. Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264 -=- Snip -=- MS-DOS: Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Act-Up 4.6 G D Chris Gunn 1:15/55 ACT-UP CheckPnt 0.5 beta O F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 CHECKPNT FidoBBS (tm) 12u B S Ray Brown 1:1/117 FILES FrontDoor 2.12 M S Joaquim Homrighausen 2:201/330 FD FrontDoor 2.20c M C Joaquim Homrighausen 2:201/330 FDINFO GIGO 07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler 1:1/141 INFO Imail 1.75 T S Michael McCabe 1:297/11 IMAIL ImCrypt 1.04 O F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 IMCRYPT InfoMail 1.11 O F Damian Walker 2:2502/666 INFOMAIL InterEcho 1.19 T C Peter Stewart 1:369/35 IEDEMO FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 21 7 Oct 1996 InterMail 2.29k M C Peter Stewart 1:369/35 IMDEMO InterPCB 1.52 O S Peter Stewart 1:369/35 INTERPCB IPNet 1.11 O S Michele Stewart 1:369/21 IPNET Jelly-Bean 1.01 T S Rowan Crowe 3:635/727 JELLY Jelly-Bean/386 1.01 T S Rowan Crowe 3:635/727 JELLY386 MakePl 1.8 N F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 MAKEPL Marena 1.1 beta O F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 MARENA Maximus 3.01 B P Gary Gilmore 1:1/119 MAX McMail g5 M S Michael McCabe 1:1/148 MCMAIL MsgEd 4.00 O F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED Opus CBCS 1.73a B P Christopher Baker 1:374/14 OPUS O/T-Track 2.63a O S Peter Hampf 2:241/1090 OT PcMerge 2.7 N F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 PCMERGE PlatinumXpress 1.1 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PX11TD.ZIP RAR 2.00 C S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 RAR Silver Xpress Door 5.4 O S Gary Petersen 1:290/111 FILES Reader 4.3 O S Gary Petersen 1:290/111 SXR43.ZIP Squish 1.11 T P Gary Gilmore 1:1/119 SQUISH Terminate 4.00 O S Bo Bendtsen 2:254/261 TERMINATE Tobruk 0.33 T F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK TriBBS 10.0 B S Patrick Driscoll 1:372/19 TRIBBS TriDog 10.0 M S Patrick Driscoll 1:372/19 TRIDOG TriToss 10.0 T S Patrick Driscoll 1:372/19 TRITOSS WWIV 4.24a B S Craig Dooley 1:376/126 WWIV OS/2: Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GIGO 07-14-96 G S Jason Fesler 1:1/141 INFO ImCrypt 1.04 O F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 IMCRYPT Maximus 3.01 B P Gary Gilmore 1:1/119 MAXP MsgEd 4.00 O F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED PcMerge 2.3 N F Michiel van der Vlist 2:500/9 PCMERGE RAR 2.00 C S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 RAR2 Squish 1.11 T P Gary Gilmore 1:1/119 SQUISHP Tobruk 0.33 T F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK Windows (32-bit apps): Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Maximus 3.01 B P Gary Gilmore 1:1/119 MAXN PlatinumXpress 2.00 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PXW-INFO Unix: Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ifmail 2.8f M G Eugene Crosser 2:293/2219 IFMAIL ifmail-tx 2.8f-tx7.7 M G Pablo Saratxaga 2:293/2219 IFMAILTX MsgEd 4.00 O F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED Tobruk 0.33 T F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 22 7 Oct 1996 Amiga: Program Name Version F S Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MsgEd 4.00 O F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 MSGED Tobruk 0.33 T F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK F: B-BBS, M-Mailer, N-Nodelist, G-Gateway, T-Tosser, C-Compression, O-Other. Note: Multifunction will be listed by the first match. S: P-Free for personal use, F-Freeware, S-Shareware, C-Commercial, X-Crippleware, D-Demoware, G-Source Old info from: 01/27/92 --------------------------------------------------------------------- MS-DOS Systems -------------- BBS Software NodeList Utilities Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Kitten 1.01 EditNL 4.00 MailBase 4.11a@ Lynx 1.30 FDND 1.10 MSG 4.5* Merlin 1.39n MakeNL 2.31 MsgLnk 1.0c Oracomm 5.M.6P@ Parselst 1.33 MsgMstr 2.03a Oracomm Plus 6.E@ Prune 1.40 MsgNum 4.16d PCBoard 14.5a SysNL 3.14 MSGTOSS 1.3 Phoenix 1.07* XlatList 2.90 Netsex 2.00b ProBoard 1.20* XlaxNode/Diff 2.53 OFFLINE 1.35 QuickBBS 2.75 Oliver 1.0a RBBS 17.3b Other Utilities OSIRIS CBIS 3.02 RemoteAccess 1.11* Name Version PKInsert 7.10 SimplexBBS 1.05 -------------------- PolyXarc 2.1a SLBBS 2.15C* 2DAPoint 1.50* QM 1.00a Socrates 1.11 4Dog/4DMatrix 1.18 QSort 4.04 SuperBBS 1.12* ARCAsim 2.31 RAD Plus 2.11 SuperComm 0.99 ARCmail 3.00* Raid 1.00 TAG 2.5g Areafix 1.20 RBBSMail 18.0 TBBS 2.1 ConfMail 4.00 ScanToss 1.28 TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Crossnet 1.5 ScMail 1.00 Telegard 2.7* DOMAIN 1.42 ScEdit 1.12 TPBoard 6.1 DEMM 1.06 Sirius 1.0x WildCat! 3.02* DGMM 1.06 SLMail 2.15C XBBS 1.77 DOMAIN 1.42 StarLink 1.01 EEngine 0.32 TagMail 2.41 Network Mailers EMM 2.11* TCOMMail 2.2 Name Version EZPoint 2.1 Telemail 1.5* -------------------- FGroup 1.00 TGroup 1.13 BinkleyTerm 2.50 FidoPCB 1.0s@ TIRES 3.11 D'Bridge 1.30 FNPGate 2.70 TMail 1.21 Dreamer 1.06 GateWorks 3.06e TosScan 1.00 Dutchie 2.90c GMail 2.05 UFGATE 1.03 Milqtoast 1.00 GMD 3.10 VPurge 4.09e PreNM 1.48 GMM 1.21 WEdit 2.0@ SEAdog 4.60 GoldEd 2.31p WildMail 2.00 SEAmail 1.01 GROUP 2.23 WMail 2.2 FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 23 7 Oct 1996 TIMS 1.0(mod8) GUS 1.40 WNode 2.1 Harvey's Robot 4.10 XRS 4.99 Compression HeadEdit 1.18 XST 2.3e Utilities HLIST 1.09 YUPPIE! 2.00 Name Version ISIS 5.12@ ZmailH 1.25 -------------------- Lola 1.01d ZSX 2.40 ARC 7.12 Mosaic 1.00b ARJ 2.20 LHA 2.13 PAK 2.51 PKPak 3.61 PKZip 1.10 OS/2 Systems ------------ BBS Software Other Utilities(A-M Other Utilities(N-Z) Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Kitten 1.01 ARC 7.12 oMMM 1.52 SimplexBBS 1.04.02+ ARC2 6.01 Omail 3.1 ConfMail 4.00 Parselst 1.33 EchoStat 6.0 PKZip 1.02 Network Mailers EZPoint 2.1 PMSnoop 1.30 Name Version FGroup 1.00 PolyXOS2 2.1a -------------------- GROUP 2.23 QSort 2.1 BinkleyTerm 2.50 LH2 2.11 Raid 1.0 BinkleyTerm(S) 2.50 MSG 4.2 Remapper 1.2 BinkleyTerm/2-MT MsgLink 1.0c Tick 2.0 1.40.02 MsgNum 4.16d VPurge 4.09e SEAmail 1.01 Xenix/Unix 386 -------------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- ARC 5.21 C-LHARC 1.00 |Contact: Willy Paine 1:343/15,| MSGLINK 1.01 |or Eddy van Loo 2:285/406 | oMMM 1.42 Omail 1.00 ParseLst 1.32 Unzip 3.10 VPurge 4.08 Zoo 2.01 QNX --- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 24 7 Oct 1996 -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- QTach2 1.09 QMM 0.50s Kermit 2.03 QCP 1.02 NodeList Utilities Archive Utilities QSave 3.6 Name Version Name Version QTTSysop 1.07.1 -------------------- -------------------- SeaLink 1.05 QNode 2.09 Arc 6.02 XModem 1.00 LH 1.00.2 YModem 1.01 Unzip 2.01 ZModem 0.02f Zoo 2.01 Apple II -------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- DDBBS + 8.0* Fruity Dog 2.0 deARC2e 2.1 GBBS Pro 2.1 ProSel 8.70* ShrinkIt 3.30* |Contact: Dennis McClain-Furmanski 1:275/42| ShrinkIt GS 1.04 Apple CP/M ---------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- Daisy 2j Daisy Mailer 0.38 Filer 2-D MsgUtil 2.5 Nodecomp 0.37 PackUser 4 UNARC.Com 1.20 Macintosh --------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Software Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- FBBS 0.91 Copernicus 1.0 ArcMac 1.3 Hermes 1.6.1 Tabby 2.2 AreaFix 1.6 Mansion 7.15 Compact Pro 1.30 Precision Sys. 0.95b EventMeister 1.0 Red Ryder Host 2.1 Export 3.21 Telefinder Host Import 3.2 2.12T10 LHARC 0.41 MacArd 0.04 Mantissa 3.21 Point System Mehitable 2.0 Software OriginatorII 2.0 Name Version PreStamp 3.2 -------------------- StuffIt Classic 1.6 FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 25 7 Oct 1996 Copernicus 1.00 SunDial 3.2 CounterPoint 1.09 TExport 1.92 MacWoof 1.1 TimeStamp 1.6 TImport 1.92 Tset 1.3 TSort 1.0 UNZIP 1.02c Zenith 1.5 Zip Extract 0.10 Amiga ----- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Software Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- 4D-BBS 1.65 BinkleyTerm 1.00 Areafix 1.48 DLG Pro. 0.96b TrapDoor 1.80 AReceipt 1.5 Falcon CBCS 1.00 WelMat 0.44 ChameleonEdit 0.11 Starnet 1.0q@ ConfMail 1.12 TransAmiga 1.07 ElectricHerald 1.66 XenoLink 1.0 Compression FFRS 1.0@ Utilities FileMgr 2.08 Name Version Fozzle 1.0@ NodeList Utilities -------------------- Login 0.18 Name Version AmigArc 0.23 MessageFilter 1.52 -------------------- booz 1.01 Message View 1.12 ParseLst 1.66 LHARC 1.30 oMMM 1.50 Skyparse 2.30 LhA 1.10 PolyXAmy 2.02 TrapList 1.40 LZ 1.92 RMB 1.30 PkAX 1.00 Roof 46.15 UnZip 4.1 RoboWriter 1.02 Zippy (Unzip) 1.25 Rsh 4.07a Zoo 2.01 Tick 0.75 TrapToss 1.20 |Contact: Maximilian Hantsch 2:310/6| Yuck! 2.02 Atari ST/TT ----------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- FIDOdoor/ST 2.5.1 BinkleyTerm 2.40n9 ApplyList 1.00@ FiFo 2.1v The Box 1.95* Burep 1.1 LED ST 1.00 ComScan 1.04 QuickBBS/ST 1.06* ConfMail 4.10 NodeList Utilities Echoscan 1.10 Name Version FDrenum 2.5.2 Compression -------------------- FastPack 1.20 Utilities ParseList 1.30 Import 1.14 Name Version EchoFix 1.20 oMMM 1.40 -------------------- sTICK/Hatch 5.50 Pack 1.00 ARC 6.02 Trenum 0.10 FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 26 7 Oct 1996 LHARC 2.01i PackConvert STZip 1.1* UnJARST 2.00 WhatArc 2.02 Archimedes ---------- BBS Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- ARCbbs 1.61 BinkleyTerm ARC 1.20 Odyssey 0.37 2.06f-wimp !AskFor 1.01 RiscBBS 0.9.85m BatchPacker 1.00 DeLZ 0.01 MailED 0.95 NetFile 1.00 ParseLst 1.30 Raul 1.01 !Spark 2.16 !SparkMail 2.08 !SparkPlug 2.14 UnArj 2.21 UnZip 3.00 Zip 1.00 Tandy Color Computer 3 (OS-9 Level II) -------------------------------------- BBS Software Compression Utility Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- RiBBS 2.02+ Ar 1.3 Ascan 1.2 DeArc 5.12 AutoFRL 2.0 OS9Arc 1.0 Bundle 2.2 UnZip 3.10 CKARC 1.1 UnLZH 3.0 EchoCheck 1.01 FReq 2.5a LookNode 2.00 ParseLST PReq 2.2 RList 1.03 RTick 2.00 UnBundle 1.4 UnSeen 1.1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Key to old info: + - Netmail Capable (Doesn't Require Additional Mailer Software) * - Recently Updated Version @ - New Addition -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 27 7 Oct 1996 Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 28 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ================================================================= [this must be copied out to a file starting at column 1 or it won't process under PGP as a valid public-key] -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Clear-signing is Electronic Digital Authenticity! -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Pending a formal decision about including 'encrypted' material inside FidoNews from the Zone Coordinator Council, the guts of the FidoNews public-key have been removed from this listing. File-request FNEWSKEY from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] or download it from the Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 anytime except 0100-0130 ET and Zone 1 ZMH at 1200-9600+ HST/V32B. This section will contain only this disclaimer and instructions until a ZCC decision is forwarded to the Editor. Sorry for any inconvenience. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 29 7 Oct 1996 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ------- Editor: Christopher Baker Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar, Tom Jennings, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees "FidoNews Editor" FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS 1-904-409-7040, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(ds) more addresses: Christopher Baker -- 1:18/14, cbaker84@digital.net cbak.rights@opus.global.org (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews Editor P.O. Box 471 Edgewater, FL 32132-0471 U.S.A. voice: 1-904-409-3040 [1400-2100 ET only, please] [1800-0100 UTC/GMT] ------------------------------------------------------ FidoNews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. OPINIONS EXPRESSED in these articles ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright 1996 Christopher Baker. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the Editor. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews Editor via manual download or file-request, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above postal address. File-request FIDONEWS for the current Issue. File-request FNEWS for the current month in one archive. Or file-request specific back Issue filenames in distribution format [FNEWSDnn.LZH] for a FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 30 7 Oct 1996 particular Issue. Monthly Volumes are available as FNWSmmmy.ZIP where mmm = three letter month [JAN - DEC] and y = last digit of the current year [6], i.e., FNWSMAY6.ZIP for all the Issues from May 96. Annual volumes are available as FNEWSn.ZIP where n = the Volume number 1 - 12 for 1984 - 1995, respectively. Annual Volume archives range in size from 48K to 1.2M. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via: http://www.fidonet.org/fidonews.htm ftp://ftp.fidonet.org/pub/fidonet/fidonews/ ftp://ftp.aminet.org/pub/aminet/comm/fido/ You can read the current FidoNews Issue in HTML format at: http://www.geocities.com/athens/6894/ STAR SOURCE for ALL Past Issues via FTP and file-request - Available for FReq from 1:396/1 or by anonymous FTP from: ftp://ftp.sstar.com/fidonet/fnews/ Each yearly archive also contains a listing of the Table-of-Contents for that year's issues. The total set is currently about 11 Megs. =*=*=*= The current week's FidoNews and the FidoNews public-key are now also available almost immediately after publication on the Editor's new homepage on the World Wide Web at: http://ddi.digital.net/~cbaker84/fidonews.html There are also links there to jim barchuk's HTML FidoNews source and to John Souvestre's FTP site for the archives. There is also an email link for sending in an article as message text. Drop on over. =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= A PGP generated public-key is available for the FidoNews Editor from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] by file-request for FNEWSKEY or by download from Rights On! BBS at 1-904-409-7040 as FIDONEWS.ASC in File Area 18. It is also posted twice a month into the PKEY_DROP Echo available on the Zone 1 Echomail Backbone. *=*=*=*=* Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may file-request GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the previously listed address. FIDONEWS 13-41 Page 31 7 Oct 1996 *=*=*=*=* SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews Editor, or file-requestable from 1:1/23 [1:18/14] as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". ALL Zone Coordinators also have copies of ARTSPEC.DOC. Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, P.O. Box 410923, San Francisco, CA 94141, and are used with permission. "Disagreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or something to amuse ourselves and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -30- -----------------------------------------------------------------