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F I D O N E W S -- Volume 13, Number 43 21 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. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ REPEAT AFTER ME: "FIDONET IS A HOBBY." Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 FidoNet dead ends? ....................................... 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3 Response to Bob Moravsik ................................. 3 A Short *.MSG Programming Tutorial [I] ................... 4 3. REVIEWS .................................................. 11 Digital Engineering's K-384 ISDN Network Simulator ....... 11 4. COORDINATORS CORNER ...................................... 16 Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 292 ...... 16 5. WE GET EMAIL ............................................. 17 Region 13 fun and games .................................. 17 Nodelist problem revisited ............................... 17 6. NET HUMOR ................................................ 20 Some New Telephone Options ............................... 20 May the Geeks be with you? ............................... 21 7. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 24 What price glory? ........................................ 24 8. QUESTION OF THE WEEK ..................................... 25 Who uses speech synthesizers in FidoNet? ................. 25 9. NOTICES .................................................. 26 Future History ........................................... 26 10. FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................................ 27 Latest Greatest Software Versions ........................ 27 11. FIDONEWS PUBLIC-KEY ..................................... 34 And more! FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 1 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= When FidoNet began under the sole aegis of the Fido mailer program invented by Tom Jennings, things were primitive and simple. So, too, were the issues [or lack thereof] concerning daily FidoNet ops or FidoNet structure and modus. Fido, the program, came to a dead end when Tom Jennings stopped working on it. By then, there was Opus and SEAdog and BinkleyTerm and FrontDoor and D'Bridge, to name a few, to make what was once just simple, unattended file transfers into the Hydra of today's FidoNet environment. Fido is still operated by a few hardy souls out there but it dead-ended, development-wise, for lack of interest in making it more complicated. Opus, SEAdog, and D'Bridge all dead-ended but are still in use because of our FidoNet standards. Now, we have routing systems and Echomail structures and CRPs and BBS interfaces and Internet links that make everything seem more complicated. But is it really more complicated or are a lot of folks just confused about what FidoNet is and does at the basic level? FidoNet is defined by a few published standards and its weekly Nodelist. Its glue is this weekly document. None of these things are inherently complicated when boiled down for their oil. FidoNet exists: 1. at the will of its inventor and trademark holder, Tom Jennings; 2. for the express purpose of providing a lowest common denominator means of telecommunicating with a minimum of hardware and software; 3. as an amateur hobby between consenting practitioners. The standards are maintained by an internal group known as the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee [FTSC]. This group operates under direct license from the trademark holder, Tom Jennings. Only Tom Jennings can cause the FTSC to change structure or responsibility. The FTSC does NOT create standards nor does it impose standards. The FTSC documents existing standards as they become de facto operational practices for the majority of FidoNet participants and/or software developers. This is something many folks don't understand or never knew. The FTSC collects, documents, and publishes standards and proposals. It is up the Coordinator structure to enforce those standards. It is up to the developers to get their proposals into wide acceptance and usage before they become standards. Proposals [also known as FSCs] ARE NOT standards. Their implementation is strictly voluntary. They become standards only when they become indispensable to FidoNet ops. There is discussion in several Echos and in these pages about whether the FTSC as currently configured is a dead-end. Is FidoNet going anywhere from here? Does it need to go somewhere from here? What does it take to go somewhere else? Who will be driving this bus to somewhere else? I invite all the principals to take this discussion to future Issues FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 2 21 Oct 1996 of FidoNews so all of us can better understand the dynamics and the expectations of getting FidoNet where it needs to be. ======= On a separate note, I got a message from Debra Turner in the FIDONEWS Echo asking if a text description could be included with the comix in our ASCII art section so folks using speech synthesizers to peruse FidoNews each week could get something out of that visual area. The answer was: absolutely! I apologize for not thinking of it. Today's comix contain such a description and all subsequent offerings in that section will be likewise annotated for the speech program group. Speaking of the FIDONEWS Echo, another question came in about how to format a message for FidoNews submission. Specifically, he wanted to know where the filename specification went in a message to identify where the content should go in FidoNews. The answer is: format the submission text in the body of the message as closely as possible to the ARTSPEC.DOC requirements, i.e. 70 columns, no high ASCII, etc. To define what type of submission it is, put the filename as the subject line, e.g. Subj: THISISA.JOK. All message submissions are manually processed by your Editor to meet the physical requirements of MAKENEWS. Including the apparent filename in the Subj: line makes it easier for me to determine where you wish your submission to appear. If none is included, I guess by the content and give the output file an appropriate filename for processing. The FIDONEWS Echo is open to all interested in FidoNews subjects and operations and is available via your regular Zone 1 Backbone Echo links. It is more real-time than FidoNews if you have a question. ******* As for the moving saga, who cares? I'm still not completely moved in but all the hitches have been standard [late movers, phone company foul-ups, utility headaches, etc.] so I'm sure no one cares to have me rehash it here. [grin] ASCII art and net/computer related humor is slowly starting to trickle in from new authors. That's great! Please keep it coming. Enough for now. I got a late start today by attending the simultaneous birthdays of my daughter and brother [same day, different years, similar names {Eric and Erica}] back down in Titusville from whence I fled three weeks ago. Enjoy! C.B. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 3 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= More EP2 nonsense By Lee Kindness, 2:259/7, lkindnes@csl.co.uk BM> As to the practical aspect of a Zone policy why BM> don't each of you read Section one of Policy BM> 4.07. Local policies MUST meet certain tests. BM> One important one is that they are REQUIRED BM> by local conditions. Not desired, wanted, BM> needed etc...but REQUIRED. Please, zone 2 policy is the business of zone 2 - not a zone 1 sysop. If anything EP2 will be a 'shell' of a policy, allowing policies to complement it at a regional level. I'm sure you agree regional policies make good common sense in zone 2, each region has it's own language for a start. Don't base you views on the policy Steve posted to FidoNews. That was a very early 'hash' and has been long abandoned. BM> Let me poise these questions: Well I'll answer them for a zone 2 sysop point of view, nothing else... (As i try to figure out what other possible view point i have...) BM> 1. If the people that "vote" against a Z2 EP ignore BM> it ...then what ? Depends if the policy is ratified as per EP1. If it is adopted then all nodes will be subject to it. I mean just because i don't like P4 doesn't mean i can ignore it. BM> 2. If those people put in another Z2ep is it anymore BM> enforceable then Woodmorepol. Bet you're glad I'm not Z2EC, Kindnesspol doesn't have such a harsh and evil sound ;) If it is: 1. Submitted before Steve's and ratified as per EP1 2. Ratified as per replacement conditions is EP2 Then sure. BM> Section one of the existing ratified policy contains BM> wisdom. Since message flow all over the world and BM> since any node can link to any other node via any BM> way...how do you expect to enforce a policy that BM> is limited by geography..as to a technology that BM> ISN'T. FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 4 21 Oct 1996 A zone 2 EP would apply to ZONE 2 ECHOES!!! Understand!!! BM> Look at the foolishness in Z1. First there was BM> an echopol attempt. It spent more time on distribution BM> then on policy. It bombed. Then we had "boppy". The My view is EP should focus more on distribution and technical issues rather than 'political' stuff. I mean what is the point of all the garbage about removing a moderator if it cannot be enforced? BM> OK WHAT IS THE SOLUTION: BM> So...Mr. Kindness and Mr. Woodmore. Instead of brushing BM> off an article with childish comments. Address the Good, i said last week - why not fix into ECHOPOL2 and make your views count instead of taking cheap shots in FidoNews... ECHOPOL2 was originally for the discussion of a zone 2 specific echopolicy (and that's still its main aim) but with the Z1EC's interest we might well end up with a global (well z1 + z2) policy. I think we have a broadly similar viewpoint (ie minimum politics in Fidonet) but the difference is you're out in the cold shouting where no one will take notice, if anything promoting Steve. In one of your previous messages you said something about 'zone 2 flexing it's geographical muscles' - the general consensus in ENET.SYSOP, 'about bloody time'... Sleep well, and never mind the purple crocus juice. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A Short *.MSG Programming Tutorial [I] Damian Walker, 2:2502/666 One question which pops up occasionally in programming and technical echoes is how to read and/or write netmail messages. This is one of the principal methods of communication in Fidonet, and so it seems a logical place to start when applying your programming skills to Fidonet for the first time. In this tutorial series, I hope to introduce those with moderate programming capabilities to the world of Fidonet netmail programming, using the *.MSG format (as defined in FTS-1) and the C programming language. Such knowledge could be used for a variety of purposes; you could write a simple netmail robot or other netmail utility. A while ago, someone even wrote a netmail MUD! In this series I'm not going to be nearly as ambitious; a simple netmail directory list utility will suffice for our examples. As the series goes on you will see some C source code published. This source code is in the public domain. Feel free to use it for whatever purpose you wish, whether for commercial, personal or educational purposes. Even Microsoft may use it :-) FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 5 21 Oct 1996 The series is split up as follows: Part [I] Disclaimer Introduction to the Message Format Reading *.MSG files from the netmail directory Finding *.MSG files in the netmail directory Part [II] A More Robust Routine to Read Messages Displaying the body of messages Using Other Header Fields Part [III] Writing *.MSG files Final Message Lister Conclusion Disclaimer Although I will take every precaution to ensure that the information in this tutorial is correct, the occasional typo or plain stupid mistake might creep in. In the event of mangled netmail directories, reformatted hard disks, or excessive frustration (with accompanying hair loss) resulting from use or misuse of this information, I take absolutely no responsibility. Introduction to the *.MSG Message Format The *.MSG message format is often used for netmail areas, principally by those operating FrontDoor-style mailers for their node or point. Users of BinkleyTerm-style mailers often have the option of using a *.MSG area for netmail, if their mail processor supports it. The format is defined in the document FTS-1, available from a large number of sources. Your local friendly FTSC member should have it, and any nearby node could also have it. Failing that, check the Internet sites http://www.fidonet.org or ftp://ftp.fidonet.org, or as a last resort, FReq FTS-0001.ARJ from my system (FReq's are welcome, but it may be an international call for you). Here is a quick run-down. In the *.MSG format, each message occupies a single file, the filename being the message number plus the extension '.MSG' (hence the *.MSG name). Each MSG file contains a single header followed by the message text, and 1 ASCII NUL character. The header is as follows: fromusername char/36 Sender's name tousername char/36 Recipient's name subject char/72 Subject line datetime char/20 Date/time stamp timesread int/2 Times read destnode int/2 Recipient's node number orignode int/2 Sender's node number cost int/2 Cost word orignet int/2 Sender's net number destnet int/2 Recipient's net number destzone int/2 Recipient's zone number origzone int/2 Sender's zone number FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 6 21 Oct 1996 destpoint int/2 Recipient's point number origpoint int/2 Sender's point number replyto int/2 Reply linking information attribute int/2 Attribute word nextreply int/2 Next reply to this message Early software implementations lack the zone and point information from the header, and some modern implentations have it but don't use it. For the purpose of this tutorial the full structure will be used, including zone and point numbers, and technicalities of extracting zone and point information from messages which don't use this header information will be dealt with later. The message text, as defined by FTS-1, doesn't have any limit on size. It must be terminated by an ASCII NUL character (0); some software doesn't do this so we'll have to find out how to deal with messages from such software later on. One aspect of Fidonet messages which impresses me is the fact that lines are reformatted in real time by your editor. A good message editor should produce messages in which a whole paragraph occupies one line; these paragraphs can be reformatted to suit the reader's screen, no matter what font, screen or window size is being used. This is by far preferable to the clumsy reformatting codes used by some other systems. Paragraphs (or lines in a table) should be terminated by a single carriage return (13) character, rather than a line feed or CR/LF pair. This standard is not always observed by message editors, especially those which use a standard external text editor to input the message text-- these message editors often leave the line end markers as they are produced by the text editor. The message text contains kludge lines. Although most readers will be familiar with kludge lines, I'll give a brief explanation here for completeness' sake. Kludge lines are lines in the message text beginning with the ASCII character 1 (^A, often shown as a smiley face on MSDOS screens). Most, if not all, message readers filter these lines out of the message display; you won't see them. These lines server a number of purposes. The FMPT and TOPT kludges offer point addressing information for messages in which the point header information is not used. The INTL kludge provides a similar facility for the zone information, showing both source and destination zone addresses. The MSGID kludge serves to identify a message explicitly. There are some other kludge lines in use, ranging from the vaguely useful to the downright silly. We need not consider them here. Now for the message header in C. /* FTS-1 message structure */ struct fts1 { char fromusername[36], tousername[36], subject[72], datetime[20]; int timesread, destnode, orignode, cost, orignet, FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 7 21 Oct 1996 destnet, destzone, origzone, destpoint, origpoint, replyto, attribute, nextreply; }; If you're using a 32-bit compiler such as DJGPP then you'll have to change 'int' to 'short' as all these fields are 16-bit integers. There is a more portable way of ensuring that the correct size of integers is used no matter what the compiler, involving pairs of 'char' variables, but for this tutorial I'll keep things simple. For the purposes of later examples, save this definition in a file called "fidomsg.h"; I'll refer to it later. Reading *.MSG files from the Netmail Directory Reading a netmail message is, in theory, a simple task. If the message is fully compliant with the specification, you just open the file, read the message header, read the message text, and close the file. A simple function to do that would look like this: void readmsg(struct fts1 *msg, char *text, int limit, char *filename) { FILE *msgfile; /* message file handle info */ msgfile = fopen(filename, "rb"); fread(msg, sizeof(struct fts1), 1, msgfile); fread(text, 1, limit, msgfile); fclose(msgfile); } Note that there is no error checking in this function at all; a more robust function will come later. Note also that the size of the message is limited; a more complex algorithm would be needed to read files larger than the maximum buffer you could allocate. This function would be called as in the following example: #include <stdio.h> #include "fidomsg.h" #define MAXMSGSIZE 2048 /* include the readmsg() function here */ void main(void) { struct fts1 msg; char text[MAXMSGSIZE]; readmsg(&msg, text, MAXMSGSIZE, "\\fd\\mail\\1.MSG"); printf("From: %s (%d/%d)\n", msg.fromusername, msg.orignet, FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 8 21 Oct 1996 msg.orignode); } This program defines the macro MAXMSGSIZE as 2048, meaning that the program can deal with messages up to 2k in length. Real applications would probably need to use a bigger buffer, or a more complex algorithm for reading large messages as described earlier. The program also assumes that the first message in the directory will be 1.MSG, so you'll have to make sure that this is in fact the case. Alternatively you can modify the program to load another message, or to be more useful, allow a message number or file to be specified on the command line, like this: ... void main(int argc, char *argv[]) ... readmsg(&msg, text, MAXMSGSIZE, argv[1]); ... To make the program more robust you'd have to include some error checking to make sure that there is at least one parameter used on the command line, but we're drawing away from the main point of the article so I'll leave you to figure that one out. Finding *.MSG Files in the Netmail Directory So far we have a program which will display a few details from a single netmail message, as long as the message is 1.MSG or, assuming you've experimented with the suggested modifications, as long as we know the filename of the message. This is a bit useless for our ultimate objective for this article-- to list details of messages in the netmail directory. In this task we don't know the message numbers beforehand, and of course, we want to list more than a single message. In solving this task we need to obtain a directory listing, and thus we must depart for a moment from ANSI standard C; the standard libraries contain no functions to perform this platform-specific task. For our purposes I have chosen to use the widespread functions findfirst() and findnext() defined in the file <dir.h>. These are present in many DOS and UNIX dialects of C, and other dialects may have direct equivalents (such as _dos_findfirst() and _dos_findnext()). A cumbersome way to avoid using these is described later; it needs a more robust message reading routine before we attempt to implement it. The function findfirst() takes three parameters-- a character array containing a wildcard, a pointer to a structure containing the file search information, and an attribute for the search. The findnext() function takes only one parameter-- the pointer to the structure used in findfirst(). How would we use these functions to get a list of messages in the netmail directory? Take a look at the following example code: #include <stdio.h> #include <dir.h> void main(void) FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 9 21 Oct 1996 { struct ffblk f; int done; done = findfirst("\\fd\\mail\\*.msg", &f, FA_ARCH); while(!done) { printf("Found: %s\n", f.ff_name); done = findnext(&f); } } The line containing the call to findfirst() sets up the file search parameters-- *.msg files in the \FD\MAIL\ directory, including files with the archive bit set (FA_ARCH). The ff_name member of the f variable (see the printf() line) is a simple filename without a path. The findnext() line just searches for the next occurrence of the file. As you can see, this program will print out the names of the MSG files, but it will not reference their contents. So the program is a little useless, although it could be used to verify the existence of 1.MSG for the earlier example! To make the program more useful, it would have to be combined with earlier examples: #include <stdio.h> #include <dir.h> #include "fidomsg.h" #define MAXMSGSIZE 2048 /* include the readmsg() function here */ void main(void) { struct fts1 msg; struct ffblk f; char text[MAXMSGSIZE], directory[128], wildcard[128], msgname[128]; int done; /* initialise directory and wilcard */ strcpy(directory, "\\fd\\mail\\"); sprintf(wildcard, "%s*.msg", directory); /* main list output section */ done = findfirst(wildcard, &f, FA_ARCH); while(!done) { sprintf(msgname, "%s%s", directory, f.ff_name); readmsg(&msg, text, MAXMSGSIZE, msgname); printf("%-12s From: %s (%d/%d)\n", f.ff_name, msg.fromusername, msg.orignet, msg.orignode); done = findnext(&f); } } Notice here that I've created separate variables for directory, FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 10 21 Oct 1996 wildcard and individual message filename. 'Wildcard' is needed to pass to findfirst(), 'directory' is needed in two places: in the creation of 'wildcard' and in the creation of 'msgfile', and 'msgfile' is needed to pass to readmsg(), which expects a full filename. Since the directory is a constant in these examples, the directory name could be included in literal strings, but I've purposely left the variable in there so that you can easily modify the program to obtain it by other means-- from the command line or a configuration file, perhaps. As you can see, this is the full program promised at the start of this tutorial, which lists details of messages in a netmail directory. But the tutorial is far from over, as we haven't considered extracting node and point information from the messages. This will be the subject on which next week's article starts. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 11 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= REVIEWS ================================================================= Digital Engineering's K-384 ISDN Network Simulator Fredric L. Rice (frice@stbbs.com) The Skeptic Tank 1:218/890.0 (818) 335-9601 Lately I've been evaluating the K-384 ISDN Network Simulator from Digital Engineering in Ireland and thought that there might be some netters who would be interested in this box. It's mostly intended for the manufacturer of ISDN equipment rather than the end user or the digital hacker yet the fact that the puppy will provide three ISDN interfaces and six 64K Bps data connections also makes this a pretty good kind of V.110 synchronous Terminal Adapter. The K-384 is an ISDN network simulator, a Terminal Adapter, and a protocol analyzer, granting the user insights into all of the intimate details of the ISDN protocol stack: I.430, Q.921, Q.931, and all anybody really needs of Q.932. Since there are three ISDN interfaces on this box there can be up to six 64K Bps calls up at any one time, pumping data to and from the six data connections on the back panel. It's not a real Terminal Adapter, however, and it doesn't offer asynchronous data out the back panel. If it did then I could ask GTE to bring in three ISDN lines and I could run up to six 57,600 baud connections at any one time or, if Digital Engineering elected to employ the BONDING protocol rather than just V.110 and V.120, I could have up to three 115,200 baud connections up at any one time. I'm going to ask Digital Engineering to think about putting these things into their K-384 because doing so would allow ISDN equipment manufacturers to test every aspect of their devices fully. The box itself has some good points and some bad points: 1) It's easy to use with near plug-and-playability. The menus are simple to use and the analyzer offers all the information about Layers 1, 2, and 3 that are needed. Clearing the analyzer buffer is quick and easy. Redisplaying the whole buffer upon exiting the analyzer and re-entering it is a nice feature as well. There is an LED which displays whether or not we have Layer 1 and another LED which shows us if we have established Layer 2. The ability to see easily if we have Layer 2 established is kind of nice. 2) The K-384 runs cool and silent. The power supply that I have in my sample box some times puts out a very FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 12 21 Oct 1996 quiet high frequency whine which at times can be heard (other people don't seem able to hear it at all.) 3) It doesn't appear to support Low-Power Mode / Warm Start Mode. I could just be doing something wrong, of course. There is the facility for tearing down Layer 3, Layer 2, and Layer 1 after a duration of inactivity yet I haven't been able to get it to successfully go into the deactive Warm Start state. 4) It's got bugs. Some bugs are fatal and some are not. a) Unexpected removal of the U-Interface will often cause the K-384 to crash, requiring power-cycle. Some times when the cable is quickly disconnected and reconnected, the K-384 will buzz, all the B1 and B2 lights will flicker, and then the K-384 will restart; configuration will be lost. b) Calling a B channel which has no physical device plugged into it will illuminate the B channel's LED then the K-384 will properly return a RELEASE COMPLETE yet leave the LED illuminated. I noticed that this problem seems to only exist on Port 2. c) At power-up, there are times when I continue to send ID_REQUESTs to the K-384 and the K-384 will ignore them. Shifting the cable to the other U-Interface connector on the K-384 fixes the problem. For example, there are times when I talk into Port 3 of the K-384 and send dozens of ID_REQUESTs to the K-384 which will ignores them. Moving the cable from Port 3 to Port 2 makes the device perform a Layer 1 LinkUp thereafter the K-384 responds properly to the ID_REQUEST on Port 2. Swapping the cable back to Port 3 fixes the problem on Port 3 since it will start to respond to the ID_REQUESTs. e) The "Analyzer Setup" menu contains a date/time stamp that is constantly updated. It messes up the screen. While in the "Analyzer Setup" menu, using the arrow keys to traverse the menu causes the date/time stamp that's constantly being displayed to be written over the wrong line on the display. Though it's a minor glitch, I tried all the different terminal emulations Procomm Plus has and the ANSI emulators all exhibited the same glitch. f) Output from the K384 will send both CR/LF pairs as well as isolated CRs. This is sloppy... very sloppy. For example, we'll see 0D 0A 0D 0D 0A 0D in the following. Text which follows a 0D can over-write the previous line when the log file is sent to the printer. FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 13 21 Oct 1996 0D 20 20 20 20 20 20 20-20 20 20 53 41 50 49 3D . SAPI= 20 30 2C 20 54 45 49 3D-20 34 30 2C 20 43 2F 52 0, TEI= 40, C/R 3D 20 30 2C 20 50 2F 46-3D 20 30 2C 20 54 59 50 = 0, P/F= 0, TYP 45 3D 20 49 4E 46 4F 0D-0A 0D 20 20 20 20 20 20 E= INFO... 20 20 20 20 4E 28 72 29-3D 20 38 2C 20 4E 28 73 N(r)= 8, N(s 29 3D 20 37 0D 0A 0D 0D-0A 0D 20 20 20 36 31 20 )= 7...... 61 3A 20 54 45 20 43 68 20-20 33 20 4C 33 20 20 20 : TE Ch 3 L3 So there are some software issues that Digital Engineering needs to work out of their K-384 before I would buy it. I pulled the cover off their box to check the manufacturing side of things and noticed that the box I'm using has version "V1.2 LX," whatever that is. As for the mechanics and the workmanship of the box there are also some good things and bad things. First off it took 14 sheet-metal screws to remove the top lid. This is damned good because it gives the construction of the box a great deal of strength. Because the lid rests upon a metal strip along the front and is tied together with 14 screws, I don't have any moral compunctions against stacking heavy equipment on top of it. I would probably keep the power-supply air vents uncovered, of course. The metal strip along the front that the top lid rests upon has a black plastic strip along its entire length giving it a good, solid vibration killer. There's no metal-to-metal interface tending to grind together when installed in a test environment. Lifting the lid off the first thing I noticed was the modular design. If I want any combination of U-Interfaces and S/T-Interfaced, all that Digital Engineering has to do is pop in a small module onto their primary board and then ship it to me. If I want to change the configuration of the hardware interfaces in the field, all I need to do is pull out one screw, unplug the module, and plug the new one in. Whoever designed this piece of the product did a damn good job. The through-hole on the screw is oblate allowing for a good degree of travel side to side if the machining of the container is not exactly the same every time. In so many other products I've looked inside of there is usually only a single screw hole -- circular -- and if the jack on a panel doesn't exactly match-up with the cover plate, something must be bent to make it line up. This design is superior in that the screw hole travels until there is a mechanical alignment and then the screw is tightened down; no bending required. FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 14 21 Oct 1996 They're using the Mitel MT8910AC for the U-Interface and the Mitel MT8930BE for the S/T-Interface, I noticed. I would prefer that they had used Motorola's U-Interfaces simply because I'm biased in favor of Motorola products but these Mitel products are solid and reliable. All the other digital components are manufactured in Malaysia. The power supply is also a good design. I can't tell if Digital Engineering buys this power supply from someone else and installs it in their K-384 or whether they go ahead and manufacturer it in-house. No, I unsoldered some components next to its transformer and see that the power supply was manufactured in Japan. 'Makes good financial sense. Another thing I noticed while looking for who made the power supply was the fact that there is a space for the main board's serial number but that it's blank. There is a serial number on the outside on a sticker but I wonder how Digital Engineering tracks boards if they don't put serial numbers on them. The sticker is easily removed so I could easily cheat on my warranty, I think. Bar far the worse thing about the workmanship is the outrageous number of through-holes and component pins that simply don't have enough solder in them or, in many of the components toward the front of the box, just don't have _any_ solder in them at all. This may be the cause of some of the unexplainable crashes I've been experiencing. It looks like the wave-solder process just did a bad job. Every hole should be filled entirely and every pin should be soldered down, of course. Just stepping through traces and pins and such with a continuity tester shows me that all of the pins that are not soldered onto the board nonetheless have connectivity but with a little probe tip pressure I can make some of the pins break contact with their etches. If I were sitting on a work bench with hardware grunts working on it, I could expect to have some of these pins fail. I'm guessing that because the unsoldered pins normally have continuity with their etches, it's why this particular box managed to make it through their quality control. The only other poorly done workmanship about this particular box is the front-end components driving the data ports on the back panel. It looks like there might have been some component failures and so new components were manually placed on the board to replace them. The surface mounted components are in okay and everything works yet there are tiny peaks of solder on most of the manually-soldered pins. It's not the smooth slope that I'm used to seeing. The only other thing worth mentioning is the manual. In a word, it isn't. A manual, I mean. It's more like a reference book for some of the major aspects of the device. There is a PCMCIA interface and a PCMCIA ROM/FLASH card which came with FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 15 21 Oct 1996 my K-384 which I have no idea what to do with it. The PCMCIA connector is a good one -- it has an ejector lever and it's firmly mounted -- no play; doesn't wiggle like so many other PCMCIA designs I've seen. But the manual doesn't give me any clues. The AT commands, come to think of it, aren't enough for me to utterly control the box remotely. I would also ask Digital Engineering to give me more control over configuration and control through the AT command set. I would think about writing a Windows GUI interface for the K-384 eventually but as it stands now, I don't have enough remote control hooks to get inside the box's brain. My overall summation of the Digital Engineering K-384 Network Simulator is that I would like to personally own a couple. I like the box. I wouldn't even mind actually paying for them if I were doing ISDN related hardware or software development. Before I would spend my own personal money on one, though, I would require them to solve their software problems and their solder-wave process problems first. If they did that I would also ask that they employ the V.120 Rate Adaptation Protocol so that I could do asynchronous out the back and _really_ test all of my hardware and software designs. Then I would expect a proper manual. After that then I could run six high-speed links to The Skeptic Tank -- some to my Unix box and some to the DOS box. This company, by the way, has been most helpful in answering my questions. Even though I asked some difficult technical questions they managed to locate someone with the background and knowledge to answer my questions. I have no idea what my company pays for these boxes. Being a software dink I don't have to worry about such things. It's great just being able to ask for equipment and not give a damn about the cost. Someone said that the cost was around $5,000 but he wasn't sure. There is also a 16-interface version of this Network Simulator which I'm going to ask for eventually. Before I would put 16 ISDN lines into my house, though, I would just as soon have GTE bring in a T1 / E1 span and be done with it. Ascend in Alameda, California, would probably be my T1 equipment supplier of choice. Digital Engineering Ltd. Unit #5 Antrim Line Business Park Sentry Lane, Mallusk Belfast BT36 8XX, Ireland. Telephone: 0232 840004 FAX: 0232 838164 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 16 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= COORDINATORS CORNER ================================================================= Nodelist-statistics as seen from Zone-2 for day 292 By Ward Dossche, 2:292/854 ZC/2 +----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+ |Zone|Nl-264|Nodelist-271|Nodelist-278|Nodelist-285|Nodelist-292|%%| +----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+ | 1 | 11810|11826 16 |11826 0 |11666 -160 |11666 0 |38| | 2 | 16392|16406 14 |16394 -12 |16341 -53 |16356 15 |53| | 3 | 954| 954 0 | 951 -3 | 950 -1 | 956 6 | 3| | 4 | 629| 629 0 | 629 0 | 610 -19 | 620 10 | 2| | 5 | 100| 100 0 | 100 0 | 97 -3 | 97 0 | 0| | 6 | 1020| 1020 0 | 1020 0 | 1022 2 | 1020 -2 | 3| +----+------+------------+------------+------------+------------+--+ | 30905|30935 30 |30920 -15 |30686 -234 |30715 29 | +------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 17 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= WE GET EMAIL ================================================================= --- Following message extracted from NETMAIL @ 1:374/14 --- By Christopher Baker on Thu Oct 17 19:22:38 1996 From: Joe Klemmer @ 1:109/370 To: Editor @ 1:1/23 Date: 15 Oct 96 22:16:33 Subj: Article Submission Region 13 fun and games By Joe Klemmer - 1:109/370 klemmerj@webtrek.com This will be short and to the point - The RC screwed up by not renewing the Elistings for the R13 echos. Bob Moravsik then did what is perfectly proper by Elisting the echos himself. The REC then created new R13 echos to supersede the old ones. Again, a perfectly proper thing to do. Final outcome: The old echos are no longer part of the R13 regional distribution and can be whatever the moderator wants them to be. They are not "official" (whatever that is) R13 echos so whatever happens in them means nothing to the region. See? As I said, short and simple. Phil Dampier screwed the pooch; Bob Moravsik did what he does best; the region adapted to correct the situation; the problem is non-existent. To make more of it is a waste of time and effort and only serves to cause trouble for no reason. Joe --- ----------------------------------------------------------------- --- Following message extracted from NETMAIL @ 1:374/14 --- By Christopher Baker on Sun Oct 20 14:06:22 1996 From: John Souvestre @ 1:396/1 To: Christopher Baker @ 1:374/14 Date: 19 Oct 96 03:49:50 Subj: NodeList Problem Hello Chris. Feel free to print this in FidoNews. FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 18 21 Oct 1996 Regards, John === * Original to Ward Dossche at 2:292/854 in "netmail" * Forwarded Sat Oct 19 1996 03:52:59 by John Souvestre at 1:396/1 cc: Bob Satti 1:153/6 David Nugent 3:632/348 Ariel Nardelli 4:905/101 Henk Wolsink of 5:7104/2 Kazuyoshi Shinada 6:730/9 Egons Bush 2:5100/8 ZONEGATE echo FN_SYSOP echo Hello Ward. There has been no Zone 2 updates in the Zone 1 NodeList for over 3 months. All problems with other zones seem to be fixed, including Zone 3 (which passes through your own system on it way here) and Zone 6. In Zone 1, the only remaining problem is with Zone 2 updates. > This is a matter to be sorted out among ZC's. So far ZC/1 has not > voiced a request to get a new full segment which to me means he's > doing OK! What type of leadership is this? The record speaks for itself. ZONE2.AD7 07/04/96 ZONE2.A94 07/10/96 <== Full Segment ZONE2.AD1 07/16/96 ZONE2.AD8 07/23/96 ZONE2.AD5 07/30/96 ... <== Missing... ZONE2.AD9 08/14/96 ZONE2.AD6 08/20/96 ... <== Missing... ZONE2.AD0 09/04/96 ZONE2.AD7 09/11/96 ... <== Missing... ZONE2.AD1 09/28/96 ZONE2.AD8 10/02/96 ... <== Missing... ... <== Missing... Stop playing politics and fix the problem. Either your site or Egons is handling the updates properly. Meanwhile, a full segment is still needed. Regards, FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 19 21 Oct 1996 John Via MsgTrack+ 1:396/1, Sat Oct 19 1996 at 08:55 UTC -30- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 20 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= NET HUMOR ================================================================= Some New Telephone Options by August Abolins, [a.abolins@ieee.ca, 1:253/60] (The following was found on another FTN-based echo system. The posting did not indicate any credits to an original author. I have forwared it here as it was originally posted in the echo.) With the myriad of telephone "services" now so widely available, two of which are actually useful <g> I present to you one interpretation of the madness. ..AA -=- Would the invention of the telephone ever have gotten off the ground if Alexander Graham Bell's first call had gone ... Bell: Mr. Watson, come here; I want you. Voice: If you know Watson's extension, press 1 now. If you would like to leave a message for Watson, press 2 now ... The telephone, which was satisfied for a century or so simply placing and receiving calls, has become a different animal in recent years. These days everybody has an answering machine, a speakerphone, and a slew of other telecommunication doodads. Call waiting, Caller ID, and last number redial are fine, but here are some options that can't be far behind: ON-HOLD DISRUPT. When someone puts you on hold for more than 15 seconds, a digitized voice blares over their speakerphone, "Hey! Remember me? I don't have all day!" This option also shorts out Muzak if it's being played. CALL SCHMOOZING. Stuck listening to a long-winded acquaintance? Call Schmoozing activates a speech-synthesized voice that sounds just like you and repeats, "Uh-huh ... I see ... right" while the other party babbles on. They think you're hanging on every word, when you're actually getting some work done. CALL SCHMOOZING PLUS. Your phone places call to important contacts, trades pleasantries, probes for career-enhancing information, and ends by saying, "You're beautiful. Let's do lunch. Don't ever change." GOSSIP NOTIFICATION. Company rumors are automatically broadcast to selected voice mailboxes. Time once wasted circulating gossip translates into increased productivity. CALL TERMINATE. Imagine being able to fire troublesome employees just by dialing their numbers! An excellent feature for executives with poor confrontation skills. NETWORK EAVESDROP. A must for the paranoid manager. Whenever anyone in the company mentions your name during a phone conversation, a voice- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 21 21 Oct 1996 activated tape recorder stores the call so you can review it later and hear what people say about you. SELECTIVE CALL DISCOURAGING. Program the numbers of people you _really_ don't want to speak with. When they dial your number, your phone transmits a mild electric shock through their receivers. CELLULAR CRANK CALL. On command, your car phone can dial any other car phone within a 30-mile radius and tell the driver his muffler looks as though it's about to fall off. CALL REMINDING. Store the birthdays and anniversaries of loved ones in your telephone's memory. On the appropriate days, the phone automatically calls them and relays heartfelt sentiments in a digitized voice resembling yours. CALL INTERRUPT. When you need to end a conversation quickly, a button on your phone causes a fake operator to break in and announce that you have an emergency call on the line from Steve Jobs. SUBLIMINA-CALL. Periodically during a conversation, the phone plays subliminal messages to the other party, such as "Say yes" and "Increase my department's budget." CHARGE FORWARDING. A quick push of a button charges any long-distance call to the person you're calling or to friends who don't look too closely at their phone bills. -=- ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@novia.net> To: "Baker, Christopher" <cbaker84@digital.net (Christopher Baker)> Date: Sat, 12 Oct 96 08:54:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Mike Riddle" <mriddle@novia.net> Subject: Fwd: Geekaderata ==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== >Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:05:42 -0500 >From: David Galloway <David.Galloway@chron.com> >Reply-To: David.Galloway@chron.com >Organization: Houston Chronicle Interactive >Subject: Geekaderata Geekerata (A UNIX Analog of Desiderata (Max Ehrman, 1927)) (mainly as addressed to a network process) Badri Krishnamoorthy badri@srtc.com ----- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 22 21 Oct 1996 Route placidly amid channel noise and network failures, And remember what throughput there may be in executing all alone. As far as possible, without overflowing buffer Be on communicative terms with all processes. Broadcast your data quietly and clearly And listen(2) to others. Even to the null and the unreachable, They too have their requests. Avoid long and argumentative sessions They are burdensome to the ether. If you compare your priority with others' You may become vain or bitter For always there will be greater and lesser processes than yourself. Enjoy your CPUtime as well as your idletime. Keep cognizance of your portmapper, however low-level It is a constant port in the changing mappings of the network. Exercise caution in your execution, For the kernel is full of traps. But let this not blind you to what swap space there is; Many channels strive for high bandwidths, and everywhere Computing is full of parallelism. Be yourself. (Check with getpid(2) frequently) Especially do not forge NFS file handles. Neither be cynical about sockets, For in the face of all congestion and delays They are as powerful as STREAMS. Take kindly the influx of new requests, Gracefully re-prioritizing the older ones. Nurture support of check-points to rollback from sudden crashes But do not thrash pages due to imagined pagefaults: Many core dumps are born of bus error or segmentation faults. Beyond a nominal consideration, Be nice(1) to other processes. You are a child in the kernel space No less than the daemons and the device drivers, You have a right to execute here. And whether or not it is apparent to you No doubt the kernel is crashing, though it shouldn't. Therefore be at peace with your programmer However geeky you think s/he is. And wherever your read(2)'s and recvfrom(2)'s, In the noisy communication channels of the network, Keep a valid (void *) buf available in your address space. With all its stopped jobs, missing arguments and broken pipes, It is still a UNIX shell. FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 23 21 Oct 1996 Be backward-compatible. Strive to be up and running always. -- David Galloway Houston Chronicle Interactive mailto:David.Galloway@chron.com http://www.chron.com/david ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE=================== ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 24 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= COMIX IN ASCII ================================================================= [For speech program users: The picture below depicts a stylized five dollar bill where the word dollar has been replaced with the word dullard. it is a Federal Reverse Note from the Untied States of America.] [grin] --- Following message extracted from NETMAIL @ 1:374/14 --- By Christopher Baker on Fri Oct 18 11:26:40 1996 From: Dave Aronson @ 1:109/120 To: Chris Baker @ 1:18/14 Date: 17 Oct 96 23:27:26 Subj: ascii comix CB> Date: 29 Sep 90 22:50:38 CB> From: Dave Aronson CB> To: Jonathan Rolfe @ 906/201 CB> Subj: Re: Happy New Year CB> _________________________________________________________________ CB> CB> > I always wondered what the creative could do within the CB> > constraints of ASCII! Now let's see if anyone can get some CB> > runes together for Hallowe'en! CB> CB> Maybe something like: CB> CB> _ H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N ! ! Wow, talk about ancient history! Guess I'll finally get around to submitting some of my original creations. First, here's payment for my Fidonews subscription: .--------------------------------------------------------------------. | .-- FEDERAL REVERSE NOTE .-- | | |_ ...... THE UNTIED STATES OF AMERICA |_ | | __) `````````` ______ B93810455B __) | | 2 ___ / \ 2 | | /|~\\ / _-\\ \ __ _ _ _ __ | | | |-< | | // \ | |_ | | | |_ | | \|_// | |- o o| | | | `.' |__ | | ~~~ | |\ b.' | | | B83910455B | \ '~~| | | | .-- 2 \_/ ```__/ .... 2 .-- | | |_ ///// ///// //// \__\'`\/ `` //// / //// |_ | | __) F I V E D U L L A R D S __) | `--------------------------------------------------------------------' -30- ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 25 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= QUESTION OF THE WEEK ================================================================= I am aware that there are folks out there reading FidoNews with speech programs. I know these programs are also used for Netmail and Echomail. The Question of the Week is who uses these programs, what programs are in use, and are any of these functions available inside mailers or BBS or editor programs? Please send responses as articles, Netmail, Echomail in the FIDONEWS Echo, or email to our Internet address. See the Masthead information at the end of each Issue of FidoNews for contact info. Thanks. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 26 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= Future History 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. 25 May 1997 Independence Day, Argentina 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 13-43 Page 27 21 Oct 1996 ================================================================= FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ================================================================= Latest Greatest Software Versions by Peter E. Popovich, 1:363/264 Amazingly enough, I'm still pretty much caught up. If you've sent anything in that you haven't heard back on, it was probably eaten up by the routed mail goblin; please resend it. One note: Upon request, I've changed the contact for Maximus & Squish from Gary Gilmore to "Tech" at 1:249/106. Scott Dudley really wishes I listed internet information in the list, but I don't. I will however give him a plug this week: http://www.lanius.com. Phased out this week: Apple II Software Phase-out highlights: This week: QNX Software Deadline for info: 1 Nov 1996. Last week: Archimedes Software Deadline for info: 25 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 C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Act-Up 4.6 G D Chris Gunn 1:15/55 ACT-UP BGFAX 1.60 O S B.J. Guillot 1:106/400 BGFAX 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 FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 28 21 Oct 1996 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 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 Tech 1:249/106 MAX McMail 1.0g5 M S Michael McCabe 1:1/148 MCMAIL MDNDP 1.18 N S Bill Doyle 1:388/7 MDNDP 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 RemoteAccess 2.50 B S Mark Lewis 1:3634/12 RA 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 Tech 1:249/106 SQUISH T-Mail 2.599I M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAIL 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 XRobot 3.01 O S Joaquim Homrighausen 2:201/330 XRDOS OS/2: Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BGFAX 1.60 O S B.J. Guillot 1:106/400 BGFAX FleetStreet 1.17 O S Michael Hohner 2:2490/2520 FLEET 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 Tech 1:249/106 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 Tech 1:249/106 SQUISHP T-Mail 2.599I M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAIL2 Tobruk 0.33 T F Paul Edwards 3:711/934 TOBRUK XRobot 3.01 O S Joaquim Homrighausen 2:201/330 XROS2 FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 29 21 Oct 1996 Windows (16-bit apps): Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BeeMail 1.0 M C Andrius Cepaitis 2:470/1 BEEMAIL Windows (32-bit apps): Program Name Version F C Contact Name Node Magic Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BeeMail 1.0 M C Andrius Cepaitis 2:470/1 BEEMAIL Maximus 3.01 B P Tech 1:249/106 MAXN PlatinumXpress 2.00 M C Gary Petersen 1:290/111 PXW-INFO T-Mail 2.599I M S Ron Dwight 2:220/22 TMAILNT Unix: Program Name Version F C 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 Amiga: Program Name Version F C 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 Function: B-BBS, M-Mailer, N-Nodelist, G-Gateway, T-Tosser, C-Compression, O-Other. Note: Multifunction will be listed by the first match. Cost: P-Free for personal use, F-Freeware, S-Shareware, C-Commercial, X-Crippleware, D-Demoware, G-Free w/ 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 FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 30 21 Oct 1996 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 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 FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 31 21 Oct 1996 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 -------------------- -------------------- -------------------- 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 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 Copernicus 1.00 SunDial 3.2 CounterPoint 1.09 TExport 1.92 MacWoof 1.1 TimeStamp 1.6 FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 32 21 Oct 1996 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 LHARC 2.01i PackConvert STZip 1.1* FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 33 21 Oct 1996 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 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Please send updates and suggestions to: Peter Popovich, 1:363/264 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 13-43 Page 34 21 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 13-43 Page 35 21 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 13-43 Page 36 21 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 13-43 Page 37 21 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- -----------------------------------------------------------------