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<20> July 1996 Volume 4 Number 7 <20>
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>Ķ
<20> Board of Trade BBS New Port Richey, Florida (813) 862-4772 <20>
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In This Issue
-------------
<20> Remembering Computers
Written by John Zagar
<20> Remembering Computers Part II: Past Reflections
<20> Computer Time Line
<20> A Look at whitehouse.gov
<20> Computer Basics
Written by Ed Garwood
<20> Heretic Level Design Part II
Written by Paul Pollack
<20> CDA Case Gives a History of the Internet
<20> All the latest news and much more
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Editor's Welcome
----------------
Thank you very much for checking out this month's Pasco BBS Magazine!
When John Zagar send a short article called "Remembering Computers," we
decided to make that the theme of this month's issue. In one article, we have
extracted some of our favorite recollections of the early days of computers
from past issues of the magazine. There is also a "Computer Time Line" which
gives a history of the computer. I want to thank John Zagar for sending in
the inspiration for this issue.
This month we also log into the home page for the White House on the World
Wide Web and report on what was found at this very popular Internet site.
There is also part two of Paul Pollack's article on Heretic level design and
another installment of Computer Basics by Ed Garwood. There was also an
important court case dealing with the Communications Decency Act and we have
reprinted some of the court papers explaining the Internet. I think you will
find it very interesting reading. Of course, all our other regular features
are back, including the latest news.
Thanks for reading!
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<20> PASCO BBS MAGAZINE <20>
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<20> EDITOR: Richard Ziegler <20>
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<20> World Wide Web Home Page: http://www.sanctum.com/pasco <20>
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Remembering Computers
---------------------
Written by John Zagar, Hudson, FL
Recently a group of my friends and I got into a discussion about our first
introductions to computers. I thought about my own experiences and saw how
far the computer has advanced in the past few years. It is surprising how few
people appreciate the advances in technology the home computer offers. Back
in the early 70's Radio Shack sold the Model I computer with 64K of RAM, this
didn't mean much to me because I had no idea what RAM was. My 14 year old son
and I had a new toy to play with. After reading the manual and learning the
BASIC Language we soon started to write simple programs and could store them
on a cassette recorder. This was a very slow process loading and saving
programs, but it was still fun.
A few years later Radio Shack offered their Model III with a 5 1/4 360K floppy
drive. We really thought we were Up-Town with this computer, transferring
data was fast and easy.
With the past experience writing BASIC programs I started to write Horse Race
Handicapping Programs. I could load my computer in the car and travel to
different motels in the cities where the races were held, and purchase the
Daily Racing Form and enter the information into the computer. Soon my
printer was printing out what it considered to be the winning horses. My win
percentage did increase slightly, besides I could now brag to my friends that
it was a computer pick.
Our next computer was an Epson QX-10. This computer offered us more graphics
and their Valdox word processor was very superior in those days. We later
added a MS-DOS board so that we could have CPM and IBM capabilities. As
prices dropped on the IBM Clones we bought our 286 16MHZ with 1 meg of RAM and
a whopping 20MEG Hard Drive and 5 1/4 & 3 1/2 floppies. We still could not
afford color so we were content with the amber monitor, it was a change from
the green screen and the old black & white days. This was my first indication
of how far the computer industry had advanced. If you had a computer running
at 8MHZ you would appreciate the 16MHZ speed. With the new games and programs
available we soon found a need for VGA, and a 2400 baud modem. We now had at
our fingertips files from the local BBSs and a chance to meet mew friends
through the message bases on the BBS.
I have upgraded my computer with a faster CPU more RAM and a larger hard
drive, a faster modem and a sound card. After seeing my own advances, I
wonder how many computer users really know what they have at their finger
tips.
I don't run a BBS, so I don't know much about them other than logging on to
their boards. I would be lost without them. I am now retired with a lot of
time on my hands, it is a pleasure to log on to a board and download an
interesting file, if I like it I register it. I like the try before you buy
concept. Thanks to all the System Operators of BBSs, you are an asset to
computer users, keep up the good work. You help make owning a computer a
pleasure.
Editor's Note: I want to thank John Zagar for sending in this article. If
you have any recollections from the early days of the personnel computer,
please send them along. We would be very happy to publish your thoughts in a
future issue.
+ + + + +
Remembering Computers Part II: Past Reflections
------------------------------------------------
Continuing with the theme for this month's issue, we present some of our
favorite recollections of the early days of computers. Over the last three
and one half years, the Pasco BBS Magazine has published many comments about
the earliest days of this industry. This article shares some of our favorite
extractions from past issues.
Popular game designer Nels Anderson talked about the pre-PC days in the very
first issue of the Pasco BBS Magazine. "I actually started programming way
back in the dark ages of computers, well before personal computers were
available. I was just in high school at the time and they had a PDP-8/L which
was hot stuff at the time (4K of memory, paper tape for I/O, and a Teletype).
I learned a lot from it and naturally some of the stuff I did was games. Very
few game ideas are totally original and that's been the case with all my
games. EGATrek was inspired by the classic minicomputer game, one of the
first computer games ever, that I've traced back at least as far as 1971.
SuperFly is actually an updated version of another pre-PC era computer game.
Where I worked we had a programmable computer terminal (the screen and
keyboard you use when connected to a minicomputer) and this terminal could
play exactly one game: 'Fly.' The terminal did not support graphics, so the
flies were just asterisks. A very simple game, it was still very addictive
and many lunch hours were spent moving the cursor around swatting asterisks.
Other programmers have had interesting recollections as well. Jetpack author
Adam Pedersen in the June 1993 issue: "I started programming on a Commodore
64 I got for Christmas. I actually started Jetpack on that, but I never got
very far on it. My parents would only let me use the computer for about an
hour a day, they thought all I did was play." Popular BBS utility author
Brent Yandel in the August 1993 issue: "Actually, I had been programming in
BASIC on any kind of home computer that came down the pike since 1981,
Commodore, Apple II, TI or whatever happen to be in the house." Ted Parker,
author of the Merlin Hurricane Tracking Tool, in the May 1995 issue: "I think
my first actual computer was a VIC-20."
Some of the comments by Sysops on the birth of their boards were also
enlightening. Ward Christensen setup the very first BBS and discussed it at
ONE BBSCON '93. Some of his reflections were published in the October 1993
issue. "What sort of hardware environment was it born on? Something that
would make you wonder how could it run. It was in fact a X-100. It had 64K
on it. Dual floppy disks, a quarter of a Meg a piece, with the 8" single
sided floppy of the day. And, a Hayes MicroModem 100. The software? The
program was written in 8080 assembler, somewhere in the tens of thousands of
lines of code."
In the March 1993 issue, Dan Linton talked of the birth of the Software
Creations BBS. "Software Creations started as an XT system with 2400 baud
lines." In the June 1993 issue Bob Mahoney talked about the birth of the
Exec-PC BBS. "I found myself with two IBM PCs, I had the largest collection
already of Shareware and free Public Domain software for the PC, I had a 30
megabyte hard drive, one of the biggest in the country for a PC and I had a
(1200 baud) modem. I started the bulletin board and it was a smash, hit,
success." In the June 1994 issue Richard Paquette talked about the early days
of the Livewire BBS. "I never even knew how to spell the word computer until
about 1986. A friend of mine bought a little Tandy, floppy driven. Then I
bought a Tandy with a little 20 Meg drive, a 300 baud modem and I started
playing around and I self-taught myself how to program. Once I learned that,
I started to run a bulletin board as a hobby, and everything grew from there."
In the February 1996 issue Mike Sussell talked about the early days of the
Invention Factory BBS. "I started on your basic PC with a ten meg hard drive.
It was a $5,000 PC that I actually paid IBM for. The modem, I think was $600
from Hayes at the time, 300 baud."
Pasco County Sysops have also shared some interesting recollections. Pasco's
first Sysop Ed Black in the April 1995 issue: "I had a spare Apple II E with
a pair of floppies sitting around, so I figured what the heck. So, I started
up Fast Eddie's BBS. I ran a 128K, Apple II E, with two 128K Apple single
sided single density floppy drives. A Hayes 300 baud SmartModem and a rotary
telephone line. I mean, not rotary like you think of it. No touch tone. The
biggest problem that I had was that my total storage on the system was 256K.
Actually less than that, because the program to run the board was about 40K
and that sat on one disk. These Apple double disk drives, the dual disks,
each disk stored 128K. That was it. It is like the stone age." Rob Marlowe,
Sysop of Pasco County's oldest BBS, in the February 1994 issue: "Back in
early 1985, two of my three younger brothers were running bulletin board
systems. Ron was running an Apple // system in Gainesville and Richard was
running an IBM system in Winter Park. We liked calling their systems and
decided to give BBSing a shot. The Inner Sanctum brought high speed (1200
bps) communications and a hard disk for storage (a whopping 10 meg drive).
All this running on a five slot IBM PC!"
As the computer industry forges ahead, it is always interesting to reflect
back on how it all began. Sometimes it is hard to believe how far we have
come in such a short period of time.
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Computer Time Line
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500 BC: The first abacus is created using wire and beads.
1642: Famous French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal invents a
mechanical adding machine.
1670: German philosopher Wilhelm von Leibniz creates a calculator that could
perform multiplication.
1833: English inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage, known as "the
father of the computer," used a grant from the British government in an
attempt to make a demonstration model of a "difference engine." Colleagues
thought the idea was ridiculous, but Babbage is generally credited with
inventing the calculating machine. However, small imperfections could throw
the machine off and the government eventually withdrew its support. Babbage
conceived another model, the "Analytical Engine," which had several key
features of modern computers. The Countess of Lovelace, Augusta Ada Byron,
daughter of English poet Lord Byron, worked with Babbage and is considered the
world's first computer programmer. She developed instructions for doing
computations on the analytical engine and published a series of notes which
eventually allowed others to do what Babbage himself could not.
1880's: After the 1880 United States census took seven and one half years to
tabulate, the U.S. government held a competition to find a way to speed up the
process. American mechanical engineer and inventor Herman Hollerith's
tabulating machine won the contest. Hollerith's machine used electrical
power compared to the mechanical power that Babbage's creation used. An
unofficial count of the 1890 census was generated in six weeks.
1896: Realizing the financial potential of his new machine, Herman Hollerith
founded the Tabulating Machine Company.
1924: IBM was formed by the merger of the Tabulating Machine Company,
International Time Recording Company of New York and Dayton Scale Company.
Thomas John Watson, Sr. headed IBM from 1924 until his death in 1956.
1930: First large scale analog computer is built at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Late 1930's: Dr. John V. Atanasoff, professor of physics at Iowa State
University, along with an assistant Clifford Berry, created the first
digital computer which worked electronically. The electronic calculating
device was designed to assist students in solving mathematical problems and
was called ABC for the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.
1944: Mark I computer built by Harvard professor of mathematics Howard
Hathaway Aiken. Aiken had read the Countess of Lovelace's notes and decided
that a modern analytical engine was feasible. IBM gave him $1 million to
create the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, which was eight feet high
and fifty-five feet long.
1946: The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was
demonstrated at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia on February 14,
1946. ENIAC, the first all-electronic computer, covered 1,500 square feet,
weighed 30 tons, contained 600 switches and 17,468 vacuum tubes, and cost
$450,000. Designed by American physicist and research engineer Dr. John
Mauchley and American engineer John Presper Eckert Jr. to calculate artillery
firing tables, the computer could calculate a trajectory in five minutes
compared to forty hours with a desktop calculator. The ENIAC could handle
5,000 additions per second and proved the hydrogen bomb was physically
possible.
1947: Dr. John Mauchley and J. Presper Eckert Jr. form their own company and
begin work on UNIVAC, which was based on the ENIAC.
1950: UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) is introduced as the first
commercial computer. The fifteen foot long UNIVAC correctly predicted that
Dwight Eisenhower would defeat Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 election after
analyzing about 5% of the vote.
1951: June 14, 1951, first UNIVAC computer is delivered to a client, the U.S.
Bureau of Census to tabulate the previous year's census.
1954: FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator) computer language developed by IBM.
FORTRAN was the first high level computer language, and was primarily designed
for scientific and mathematical use. British Telecom developed the first
modem type device, which had a speed of 110 bps.
1956: Transistor developed at Bell Laboratories by John Bardeen, Walter H.
Brattain and William Bradford Shockley. The scientists received that year's
Nobel Prize for the invention.
1957: Magnetic tape introduced as method of storing data.
1959: COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language) developed under leadership of
Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (retired). COBOL was designed for use in the
business community. The integrated circuit was developed independently by
Jack Kilby (at Texas Instrument) and Robert Noyce (at Fairfield
Semiconductor). Noyce would go on to found Intel Corporation.
1961: The National Health Institute in Maryland is the first to use a
computer to monitor a patient.
1962: Ed Thorpe wrote Beat the Dealer, a book which used computer generated
hands to beat the casino at blackjack.
1964: BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) developed at
Dartmouth College by professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz. Under the
sponsorship of IBM, Gary Kildall wrote PL/1 (Programming Language One), the
first programming language for Intel's 4004.
1965: Integrated circuit begins replacing transistors in computers.
1966: First computer dating service opens in Cambridge Massachusetts called
Operation Match.
1969: Microprocessor developed by Intel Corporation design team headed by Ted
Hoff.
1970: Floppy disk introduced by IBM. UNIX developed by Ken Thompson and
Dennis Ritchie at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Freedom of Information Act passed
by Congress.
1971: First pocket calculator introduced. It weighed 2.5 pounds, cost about
$150, and could only add, subtract, divide and multiply. The Pascal
programming language, named after the seventeenth-century French philosopher,
was developed by computer scientist Niklaus Wirth of Zurich, Switzerland.
Intel developed the 8008 microprocessor.
1972: Word processing is introduced. C programming language invented by
Dennis Ritchie at Bell Laboratories. DIALOG established as commercial
service. DIALOG grew out of a Lockheed Missiles and Space Company research
and development program begun in 1963.
1974: Ed Roberts creates the first PC, the Altair 8800. The Altair 8800 used
an Intel microprocessor and was named Altair after a destination in 1960's
television show Star Trek. John Torode and Gary Kildall developed the CP/M
disk operating system. The First Federal Savings and Loan, in Nebraska,
offered the first automatic teller machine on its outside wall. The Federal
Privacy Act was passed by Congress.
1975: The January 1975 cover of Popular Electronics featured the MITS Altair
8800 computer kit, which was the first microcomputer released in kit form in
the United States. 2,000 people mailed checks for the $397 kit featuring an
8-bit Intel 8080 processor with 256 bytes of RAM. Michael Shrayer developed
the "Electric Pencil" for the Altair, and later the Radio Shack Model I, which
was the first word processor for microcomputers. A teenage Bill Gates, along
with Paul Allen, created the Microsoft BASIC interpreter for microprocessors,
which meant programmers could develop PC applications software. Dick Heiser
opened "The Computer Store," the first retail computer store, in Los Angeles.
1976: Apple Computer formed by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The two Steves
began building the first Apple computer in their garage using $1,300 from the
sale of a Volkswagen. The World Altair Conference was held, which was the
first microcomputer conference. The CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputer) disk
operating system for MITS Altair went on sale.
1977: The Apple II is introduced as the first PC to generate color graphics.
The $1,300 machine had 4K of RAM and a jack to connect to your television.
Radio Shack introduced the Tandy TRS 80 Model computer. Commodore Business
Machines introduced the PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) computer.
Computerland opened its first franchise in Morristown, New Jersey.
1978: On February 16, 1978, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess put the first
BBS on-line. CBBS, an acroym for Computerized Bulletin Board System, was
created during a Chicago blizzard. The Apple II+ added a floppy drive to the
PC. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. was founded in 1978.
1979: VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, is introduced. VisiCalc,
written by Dan Bricklin and Robert Frankson, was produced by Personal Software
Source and released for the Apple II. Tandy introduced the TRS-80 Model II
and the word processing software WordStar was released by MicroPro.
CompuServe opened its service to microcomputer users.
1980: With over 2 million PCs in use in the United States, IBM establishes a
PC development team. The first LAN, Local Area Network, becomes available.
Ada, named after the Countess Ada Lovelace, is developed by the Pentagon as a
standard language for weapons systems. In December 1980, Apple stock was
offered to public and became quite popular with investors.
1981: IBM joins the PC market in August with a machine using an Intel 8088
microprocessor and Microsoft's DOS operating system. That first IBM PC had
two floppy disk drives, a monochrome monitor and cost $3,200. While IBM
predicted modest sales, they had the top market share within eighteen months.
IBM licensed the DOS operating system from Microsoft who then licensed DOS to
others. Microsoft reportedly paid $75,000 for the core code from a Seattle
software developer. Apple placed an ad in the trade press which read:
"Welcome, IBM! Seriously." Apple thought that IBM's entry in the market
would give the personal computer a more serious image. Also in 1981, the
Delphi on-line service was founded and Chuck Forsberg introduced the YModem
protocol. The V.21 modem standard was developed for 300 bps and Hayes
released a 300 baud modem.
1982: PC Magazine was introduced in February 1982. The V.22 modem standard
was developed and the 1200 baud modem introduced. Compaq Computer Corp. was
founded in Houston, which started the IBM clone market and made IBM the
industry standard. Andrew Fluegelman (PC-Talk) and Jim Button (PC-File)
attempted the first Shareware type marketing. Timex-Sinclair announced the
first computer priced under $100, which was a small unit that attached to the
television set. Commodore began selling the Commodore 64, a $595 unit with
64K of RAM, and the Apple III was introduced. Time Magazine named the
computer as their "Man of the Year."
1983: Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program written by Mitch Kapor, is released.
IBM introduced the PC-XT with a 4.77 MHz 8088 processor. The XT had a ten
megabyte hard drive and was the first computer to have a hard drive.
Microsoft Word was introduced, as was the IBM PC Jr. In November 1983, Tom
Jennings introduced the FidoNet message network for BBSs. The Exec-PC BBS
went on-line in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
1984: The heavily promoted Apple Macintosh was introduced in mid-January.
The Software Publishers Association is founded on April 5, 1984. The V.22 bis
modem standard is developed and 2400 baud modems are introduced. In August
1984, the IBM PC AT introduced with a 6 MHz 286 processor, 512K of RAM, a 20
meg hard drive and a cost of $5,795. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is
passed by Congress and laser printers are introduced for microprocessors.
Over the Winter of 1984-85, Ed Black sets up the first BBS in Pasco County.
Fast Eddie's BBS ran on an Apple II E with two 128K floppy drives and a Hayes
300 baud modem.
1985: On March 8, 1985, the Inner Sanctum BBS comes on-line and it remains
Pasco County's oldest BBS. PC Magazine established the PC MagNet, which is an
on-line service to provide access for readers to programs, articles, databases
and editorial staff. The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, better known as the
WELL, goes on-line. IBM signed an agreement with Microsoft to develop OS/2
and discontinued production of the IBM PC Jr. The first computer mart, called
Infomart, opened in Dallas with 90 stores devoted to computer related
businesses. Version 1.0 of Windows was released in November 1985. Commodore
introduced the Amiga computer, priced at $1,295, late in 1985.
1986: Compaq Computer released the Deskpro 386, the first 80386 based PC.
Chuck Forsberg introduced the ZModem protocol.
1987: The V.32 modem standard developed and 9600 baud modems introduced.
Boardwatch Magazine is first published in March 1987 and the Association of
Shareware Professionals is formed in April. April 1987 also saw IBM introduce
the PS/2 family of PCs, featuring a nonstandard architecture and the OS/2
operating system. IBM was attempting to take back control of the personal
computer market, but sales were unimpressive and the strategy proved
disastrous. WordPerfect 4.2 is released and became the all-time most
successful word processor.
1988: The Prodigy on-line service begins operation.
1989: A computer by the name of "Deep Thought" beat master chess player David
Levy, who had been beating computers since 1968, however, world champion Garry
Kasparov easily defeated Deep Thought. Microsoft announced plans to
concentrate on Windows rather than OS/2.
1990: In May 1990, Microsoft releases Windows version 3.0. On July 10, 1990,
the Electronic Frontier Foundation was formed.
1991: The V.32 bis modem standard developed and 14,400 baud modems are
introduced. IBM and Apple announced an alliance to develop microprocessors
and software. In August 1991, a BBS related convention known as FIDOCON91 was
held in Denver.
1992: Microsoft released Windows version 3.1. In May 1992, Apogee Software
releases id Software's landmark Shareware game Wolfenstein 3-D. In June 1992,
the Board of Trade BBS comes on-line in New Port Richey, Florida. On August
13, 1992, the first ONE BBSCON was held at Denver's Stouffer Concourse Hotel.
1993: The Pasco BBS Magazine is introduced with the January 1993 issue.
Microsoft introduces Windows NT as the operating system for corporate networks
and power users. Intel introduced the Pentium computer chip and IBM released
OS/2 Warp. The first 28,800 baud modems appeared using the V.FC standard. In
August 1993, id Software released the Shareware game Doom: Evil Unleashed.
1994: The V.34 modem standard was developed for 28,800 baud modems.
1995: On August 20, 1995, the last ONE BBSCON closes at the Tampa Convention
Center in Tampa, Florida. Amid much hype, Microsoft released Windows 95 on
August 24, 1995.
1996: The 50th anniversary of the ENIAC computer is celebrated at the
University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. Vice President Al Gore
commemorated the anniversary by restarting the ENIAC for the first time in
forty years. Also being held in conjunction with the anniversary was a chess
match between IBM super-computer Deep Blue and world chess champion Garry
Kasparov. On February 10, Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in the first match of
the six match game series. It was the first time a computer had beaten a
grandmaster under strict tournament conditions. On February 17, the series
concludes with Kasparov winning three games, Deep Blue winning once and two
games resulting in draws.
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<20><><EFBFBD> 1001 G Street NW, Suite 950 East, Washington, DC 20001 <20><><EFBFBD>
<20><><EFBFBD> (202) 347-5400 (Voice), (202) 638-6120 (BBS), eff@eff.org (Internet) <20><><EFBFBD>
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A Look at whitehouse.gov
------------------------
"Good Evening. Welcome to the White House." This is the message you will
see, if you log into http://www.whitehouse.gov some night. You will also be
greeted with a very nice digitizied image of the White House. The home page
for the President of the United States is one of the most popular on the
Internet's World Wide Web. However, this site is much more than nice
graphics.
If you click on the image of President Clinton and Vice President Gore, you
learn about "The President & Vice President: Their accomplishments, their
families, and how to send them electronic mail." Click on the calendar icon
and find out "What's New: Vice President Gore launches CyberED to provide
hands-on education technology experience across the country." A Presidential
seal icon leads one to the "Interactive Citizen's Handbook: Your guide to
information and services from the Federal government." Click on the image of
George Washington and read about the "White House History and Tours: Past
Presidents and First Families, Art in the President's House and Tours." An
icon of a book will take one to "The Virtual Library: Search White House
documents, listen to speeches, and view photos." Click on the podium icon and
enter "The Briefing Room: Today's releases, hot topics, and the latest
government statistics." A question mark icon will guide one to the "White
House Help Desk: Frequently asked questions and answers about our service."
There is also a "White House for Kids: Helping young people become more
active and informed citizens."
The Federal government continues to make more information available on-line
and whitehouse.gov is jammed full of data. Want to learn more about politics
or history, this is a good place to start. One visit and you will realize why
it is such a popular site.
+ + + + +
Computer Basics
---------------
Written by Ed Garwood, Hudson, FL
Backing Up Files
Computer owners are continually being warned to "back up" their files. This,
of course, is excellent advice, something like taking out insurance. The only
trouble is that many people do not know just what this means, and many more
have not the faintest idea how to "back up". This article, while not the
ultimate word on the subject, will at least provide a little information on
the subject.
First of all, what does the term "back up" really mean. Basically, it means
to copy certain programs or files to another place, from which they can be
recovered if the original programs/files are lost. Something like hiding a
spare key to your car under the bumper or with the gas cap. You lose your
key, you have a back-up one. So it is with computer files. The computer,
wonderful machine that it is, is NOT perfect. Next week, next month, next
year, some time will come the day when you find one or more of your files are
unobtainable. Whether you accidently erased them, whether they somehow became
corrupted, or whether your hard drive crashed, is of no material importance.
The fact is that they are GONE!!! If you were clever enough to have made
back-up copies, you need only restore them to their rightful place, and you
are back in business again. If not, as Blondie and Dagwood have been told,
"Tough Patootie."
How, then, do you make back-ups? Assume you have just bought a copy of
Quicken Version 17.3a, which came on 4 3<> inch HD disks. Before you try to
install this program, get 4 3<>" blank HD disks. Take the first Quicken disk
and put it into your A drive (or B drive, as the case may be). Type DISKCOPY
A: A: and press <Enter>. (If you're using the B drive, the command is
DISKCOPY B: B:) You'll be prompted to put the source disk into the drive
(which you have just done). The drive light will go on and the first disk of
Quicken will be copied into a temporary memory. Soon, you will be told to
remove the disk and replace it with the target disk (this will be the first
blank disk) and press <Enter>. When that disk has been filled, you will be
prompted to put the next source disk in the drive, and so on, until all four
disks have been copied. Put the original disks away in a safe place, and use
the back-up disks you just made to install your program on the hard disk,
according to the instructions in the manual. You have just made back-up
copies of your program disks.
NOTE: In the instance above, you can copy this way ONLY to a disk that is
exactly the same as the source disk. Other wise, you will get an error
message that the disks are not compatible.
Copying under WINDOWS.
The procedures under Windows are somewhat different. For instance, you will
not see the term Diskcopy in Windows, although you can actually accomplish the
same effect. First, open your File Manager. Assuming you will copy from A
drive, click on the A (upper left corner of the window). Now, to make a copy
of your disk (Like DISKCOPY), click on the DISK heading, and then click on
'Copy Disk'. A new window will open, and you will see that the two boxes
therein already are set for Drive A. Click on OK and follow further prompts.
The other type of "back up" comes later, when you have generated data files,
and wish to save them. No need to back-up the entire program, since you
probably have already have copies of the program.
In the versions of DOS, up to and including Version 5.0, DOS had a very good
back up program as a part of DOS, with which to back up files. Version 6.0
and Windows 3.1 came up with new backup programs, called MSBACKUP and MWBACKUP
respectively. Backing up with these new files is somewhat involved, and you
should read the appropriate manual.
Now, let us assume that you have been using WordPerfect for your
correspondence. You have written quite a bit, and you would like to back up
those files, to save them in a safe place. We'll also assume that you saved
all of your correspondence with the .WPM extension, and that it is in the
Files subdirectory of WordPerfect (i.e. WP\FILES). There are a couple of ways
to make your back-ups. If you want to save the correspondence files to a
single disk, (on the A Drive) , put a formatted disk in the A drive, go to the
A prompt, and type XCOPY c:\WP\files\*.WPM a: and press <Enter>. What we have
done here is tell the computer 'Copy all of the files in the Files
subdirectory of WordPerfect, which have the extension .WPM, and put them on
the disk in the A drive'. But, suppose you have so many files that one disk
wouldn't hold them all. Here's what you do. First, at the A prompt, type the
following: Attrib +A c:\WP\files\*.WPM and press <Enter>. NOTE: This gives
the 'archive' attribute to all of those files. Then, type XCOPY
c:\WP\files\*.WPM a: /m and press <Enter>.
The drive will start copying files, and when the disk is full, it will display
the message "Insufficient Disk Space" and state how many files were copied.
At this point, remove the first disk, and replace it with a second disk.
Press the F3 key, and then press <Enter>. The drive will resume the copying.
Continue this until all of those files have been copied. You have now backed-
up your correspondence files. If you wish to copy them back later on, put the
disk in the A: drive and just type: XCOPY A:\*.* c:\WP\files and press
<enter>. Continue until all files have been transferred.
If you have the BACKUP.EXE file in DOS, you need only type, at the C: prompt,
BACKUP C:\WP\FILES\*.WPM A: press <Enter>, and follow the prompts. Note that
if you use more than one floppy disk, they are numbered consecutively. To
restore the files later, put the #1 disk in the A drive, and type RESTORE
A:*.* c:\WP\FILES. NOTE: You MUST Restore files which were backed up using
BACKUP to they directory from which they were copied.
Should you just want to back up one or two files, the COPY command will work
well. The syntax is COPY C:\WP\FILES\filename.WPM A:. The same type command
can be used to restore the files to their original place.
There are some commercial programs which will do the back-up job. Among them
are Norton BackUp, PC Tools, and a shareware program called BAC. To use the
latter, type BAC C:\WP\Files\*.WPM a:. To restore them later, use the XCOPY
command as above. There are also tape units, which allow you to back up your
files on tape, rather than floppy disks. You can put about 100 MB of data on
a tape unit.
Editor's Note: Look for another installment of Computer Basics in next
month's issue. Ed Garwood may be contacted by leaving a message on the Board
of Trade BBS at (813) 862-4772. He is also active in the Pasco ComPats
Computer Club. The club meets the second and fourth Thursday of the month at
the New Port Richey City Council Chambers at the intersection of Main and
Madison Streets in New Port Richey, Florida. For more information about the
Pasco ComPats Computer Club, contact club President Robert Donbar at (813)
863-3963.
+ + + + +
*****************************************************************************
ATTENTION to Details BBS Clint Bradford, KE6LCS - Sysop
Mira Loma, California BBS (909) 681-6221 BBS
Excellence...Across the Board!(sm) Voice Support (909) 681-6210
Supporting BBS Member: AOP - Association of Online Professionals
ASP - Association of Shareware Professionals
EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation
ESC - Educational Software Cooperative
NCSA - National Computer Security Association
Message Networks: MustangNet USNet CoveNet Internet
MysticNet ILink HamRadioNet
Official Bulletin Station of the ARRL - American Radio Relay League
ATTENTION to Details BBS is managed in compliance with the
AOP and NCSA Codes of Professional Standards
*****************************************************************************
+ + + + +
EFF Quote of the Month
----------------------
"Information wants to be free."
- Stewart Brand, EFF boardmember, founder of Whole Earth Catalog and the WELL.
Editor's Note: The Electronic Frontier Foundation Quote of the Month is a
collection of the wittiest and stupidest, most sublime and most inane comments
ever said about cryptography, civil liberties, networking, government,
privacy, and more. For more information on the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, contact the EFF via the Internet, phone, fax, or US Mail. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation, 1001 G Street NW, Suite 950 E, Washington, DC
20001, (202) 347-5400 (voice), (202) 393-5509 (fax), (202) 638-6119 (BBS),
Internet: ask@eff.org.
+ + + + +
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> THE NEWS
<20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> DIRECTORY
<20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
<20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> A brief look
<20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> at some of
<20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> the news of
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> the month
AT&T has been deluged with requests for its WorldNet Internet service, which
they announced on February 27 would feature five free hours of access each
month for one year. Over 150,000 customers have been signed up, however,
600,000 have made requests to do so. Reports claim people have waited months
to get the required software, the customer support help lines have been
overwhelmed, the technical support has been lacking and that the software has
had several bugs. AT&T, along with other major telecommunications companies,
are having difficulties joining Internet Service Provider market.
ONE, Inc. has announced that ONE ISPCON '96 (formerly known as ONE BBSCON)
will not feature a Sunday schedule for this year's event. The convention will
be held from Wednesday August 7, 1996 to Saturday August 10, 1996 in San
Francisco.
A home page for this summer's centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta has been set
up on the World Wide Web at http://atlanta.olympic.org.
Democrats in the United States House of Representatives are complaining that
the Republicans are only listing the Democratic committee home pages on the
House Web Page's main menu. Democrats claim that people will have go through
Republican rhetoric to access their views. The Republicans claim that the new
policy guarantees a Web page for the minority party. The page is located at
http://www.house.gov.
Clark Gilbo has announced that his Pasco BBS Listing will be renamed Pasco BBS
Quarterly and released four times a year. The list of bulletin board systems
in western Pasco and northern Pinellas counties will be released in June,
September, December and March. There could also be intermediate updates if
the need arises. Clark Gilbo has been publishing BBS listings since 1992,
when he introduced the Westcoast 813 BBS Directory, which was later renamed
the 813 BBS Directory. The first Pasco BBS Listing came out earlier this
year.
+ + + + +
ROTFL!
------
Computer humor courtesy of Sandy Illes
Favorite Flames Number I
You obviously have so much on your mind that there isn't room left for any
brains. Some people are "has-beens," you're a "never-was." Whatever is
eating you must be suffering horribly. Some day you'll find yourself - and be
truly disgusted.
Your attempts at humor are greeted by tremendous bursts of silence, and if you
changed your mind, I wonder where you'd put the diaper. You're proof that
lack of brainwave activity is not a sign of death.
Favorite Flames Number II
You are truly pathetic. Not to be confused with imitation pathetic or
facsimile pathetic. Have you not considered that brain surgery would be a
minor operation for you? Your unimportance is matched only by your
insignificance. Since you already have an electric typewriter, I'd like to
suggest that you find a matching chair.
Favorite Flames Number III
Hello there, tall, dark and obnoxious.
It's possible that you may be a beautiful person on the inside.
Unfortunately, it's the outside that shows.
It's obvious that you have a lot on your mind - too bad there wasn't any room
left for brains. Arguing with you is like trying to blow out a light bulb.
If I ever said anything nice about you, please cancel it. Oh, and tell your
mother to spit in your face for me.
Favorite Flames Number IV
I considered replying to your inarticulate, injudicious, and unintelligible
message, but reconsidered after considering the possibility that others might
accidentally believe that I know you.
Please desist from this sick compulsion to intellectually barf all over the
net.
Favorite Flames Number V
It's disheartening to know that you're still alive and inflicting your curse
of momentary consciousness upon the masses via echomail. If you are unable to
get a life, I implore you to get a death.
Editor's Note: Thank you to ROTFL Digest!, and its editor Sandy Illes for
allowing the above to be reprinted from a prior issue of the on-line humor
magazine. ROTFL Digest! is published by Access Media Systems, which may be
contacted at (905) 847-7143, or (905) 847-7362. You may also email Sandy
Illes at sandyi@pathcom.com, or visit their home page on the World Wide Web at
http://www.pathcom.com/~sandyi.
+ + + + +
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>ͻ
<20> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>
<20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20>
<20> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>
<20> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>
<20> <20>
<20> Since 1985 - Pasco County's Oldest BBS <20>
<20> <20>
<20> Sysops - Rob & Carolyn Marlowe <20>
<20> <20>
<20> Popular Chat Board, On-Line Games, CD-ROMS, Internet, FidoNet <20>
<20> <20>
<20> Ten Lines - (813) 848-6055 Voice - (813) 845-0893 <20>
<20> <20>
<20> telenet: sanctum.com <20>
<20> <20>
<20> READ THE PASCO BBS MAGAZINE AT: http://www.sanctum.com/pasco <20>
<20> <20>
<20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>ͼ
+ + + + +
PBM Flashback - July 1994
-------------------------
In the July 1994 issue of the Pasco BBS Magazine, Rob Kittredge was
interviewed for an article on his new program QFront. The program was
designed to give PCBoard Sysops an easy way to get FidoNet up on their system.
QFront was quite successful and had been named one of the favorite add-ons for
PCBoard. A version for Wildcat! would come out later. Here is some of what
Rob Kittredge said in that issue two years ago.
"All I wanted to do was fill a gap that PCBoard had when interfacing with
Fido, there is no other FidoNet mailer compatible with PCBoard like QFront is.
That was one of my major goals, along with ease of set-up and ease of use for
the average user. QFront has better context sensitive help, as every item has
a help display on the bottom of the screen. As you move through each field it
tells you, briefly with a one line description, what you are doing. You can
press F1 to get a more detailed help display for the field you are editing."
Editor's Note: PBM Flashback will appear on a regular basis in future issues.
Each issue will have this brief look back at some of the features which have
appeared over the history of the Pasco BBS Magazine.
+ + + + +
When You Just Can't Wait: A Guide to Shareware Heretic Level Design (Part II)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A not-so-quick, but still dirty, guide to shareware Heretic level design."
Written by Paul Pollack, New Port Richey, Florida
DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for the prohibited distribution of
levels for the Shareware version. Please respect id's wishes and only use
this while waiting for your registered version to arrive. Do not distribute
levels compatible with the Shareware version, as this is prohibited by id.
Miscellaneous Items
A. Using Heretic texture names/what they look like
Another option (and one perhaps better than simply using Doom only textures;
especially in Doom ][) when designing a level is to use Heretic texture names;
DM2CONV doesn't touch 'em, and if you know what they look like (and your
editor allows you to use their names), you can pretty much get the desired
results. But how do you know what the texture names are in Heretic? Just
download the last issue of GamePlay Magazine from the Board of Trade BBS for a
list of textures found in the shareware version of Heretic from DeuTex.
Of course, this doesn't really give you that good of an idea of what the
textures actually look like; besides, this only covers the actual wall
textures. So what's a shareware PWAD editor to do?
Originally I was planning to include a series of high resolution SVGA 640x480
GIF files, created with the Graphic Workshop for DOS, containing a catalog of
the available floor textures and wall patches. But after thinking this over,
I realized that I had serious questions about the legality of such a move, and
so I'll detail how to create them yourself:
First off, you'll need DeuTex v3.1, by Olivier Montanuy and docs by HevKev
(Kevin McGrail). Then use the
DeuTex -FLATS -PATCHES -DOOM d:\heretic -XTRACT d:\heretic\heretic1.wad
command to extract the floor, ceiling, and wall patches to their respective
directories. Then do what you want with them; I recommend cataloging them
using a program like the Graphic Workshop, but you may find it more useful to
do something else with them.
B. Texture conversion chart (from DM2CONV source code)
When you use Doom textures for your level, as you'll probably do unless you
opt to use the list of Heretic textures above, it's pretty obvious that they
need to be converted. It's also pretty obvious (I told you above) that
DM2CONV with the /TEXTURE parameter is just the program that does it. But
this brings up a question; if you use Doom textures, how are you to know what
DM2CONV will replace them with when it converts them to Heretic. It would be
nice if there was some kind of chart; well, there is, thanks to the DM2CONV
source code included with the software.
Helpful hint: This isn't really an insider secret or anything, just common
sense. A helpful approach in any problem is to try and work backwards. After
seeing what the Heretic textures look like, you may have some textures already
picked out for your Heretic level; but since most of us can't put them in
directly, it's best to put in the Doom name that corresponds to the Heretic
wall. This way, when DM2CONV encounters the texture, it will be converted to
its Heretic equivalent; exactly the effect you wanted.
Most Doom level designers (based on the PWAD's I've seen) use DEU v5.21 or a
variant (like DDT, DeeP, etc.), and none of these (to the best of my
knowledge) let you insert a texture not found in the IWAD. The solution to
this (like letting you call a texture a Heretic name or a Doom I name if you
have Doom ][) is to change the default textures, which all the DEU variants
are pretty much forced to accept. Most of the time the textures are found in
the INI file of editor (DEU.INI, DDT.INI, etc.), which are in standard text
form, but in some cases (like HeeP and DeeP), this information is stored in a
different format, which has the extension CFG. If it's an INI file, you can
pretty much just invoke the DOS editor (if you have DOS 5 or above) and change
the default texture names to either a Doom name or a Heretic name (see
Appendix A for a list of wall textures). With a CFG file it's pretty much the
same procedure, except for the fact that you can't use a standard DOS/ASCII
editor. My tool of choice is DISKEDIT, which comes with the Norton Utilities.
I locate the appropriate texture name and overwrite it with the texture name
that I want it to be from Doom or Heretic. Usually, I change the default
texture name to something with the same amount of letters beforehand; just to
be sure I don't mess up the spacing when inserting characters.
C. WAD directory/Miscellaneous information
The PWAD directory structure for Heretic is also listed in the last GamePlay
Magazine. While most of the Heretic textures match up 1:1 with Doom textures,
some of them, like TMBSTON1 and CHAINMAN, are impossible to get without
putting them in manually. For example, when I created a tombstone in my
level, I could use one of the STEP? textures to get TMBSTON2 all over it, but
then the tombstone lacked any writing. So I used the nice little procedure
described in Appendix B; I edited the DEEP.CFG file with DISKEDIT and
proceeded to change the default lower texture to TMBSTON1. After that, I
cleared the previous lower texture, so the editor noticed that mine was
absent. I ran the level through the missing texture check, and sure enough,
the program put in TMBSTON1 for the missing texture, just as I had planned.
Of course, there's an alternative to having to insert the textures manually.
If you have DEU2C by the Un-Naturals (ADMiRAL and SONiC), or the Doom
Developers Toolkit, you can perform a nifty little trick, which will let you
insert wall textures (but not floor/ceiling textures) into your Heretic PWAD
quickly and easily. First of all, you'll need a copy of DM2CONV v1.6, which
comes with a nifty little tool called DMT. What DMT can do is convert an IWAD
to a PWAD and back, and it's this ability that comes into play in this
discussion. For a moment, I'll assume you're using the Doom Developers
Toolkit. Here's the trick:
You'll want both your editor, DDT, and DMT to be in the same sub-directory, so
you can make a batch file to change the main Heretic PWAD to an IWAD. In the
DDT.INI, you should have DOOM2.WAD as your main WAD file. Under that, change
the PWAD's you want to auto-load to include HERETIC1.WAD (being careful to
specify the correct path). Now you'll want to make a batch file using DMT to
convert the Heretic WAD to a PWAD, then running DDT, and then converting it
back when you're finished. I called my batch file HDDT.BAT. Here's how it
goes:
@ECHO OFF
DMT -OPEN D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD -IWAD D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD
DDT
DMT -OPEN D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD -IWAD D:\HERETIC\HERETIC1.WAD
After doing this (and changing the appropriate file paths), and running the
batch file, you should see a list of things DDT is "adding." After a few
years, when the list is finally complete, type R wadfile, where wadfile is the
name of your PWAD. For example, if I wanted to load MINE.WAD, I would type R
MINE.WAD. Then type E 1 to edit the first level, and you'll notice that the
palette is all screwed up. Disregard that for a second, and enter linedef
mode. Select a line, try changing the textures, and you'll realize that the
texture list is now that of Heretic, not Doom/Doom ][. You can simply select
textures for each of your linedefs by using this method. You'll notice that
this technique doesn't work with floors and ceilings (sigh).
There are a few textures which you'll probably want to put in either manually,
or using the technique described above, since no Doom textures will be
remapped to them when run through DM2CONV. Besides the forementioned CHAINMAN
(a 256x128 texture with a man in it), you'll also notice that DMNMSK (a gray
door with symbols) is also absent, along with STNGLS1 (a nice, multi-colored,
stained glass window). This list is not exhaustive; I'm sure there are many
more that can be found simply by comparing the lists in Appendices A and B.
General use tips (for beginners):
#1. Remember that on the sides of your door sectors, the two non-door lines
(the "door jamb" lines) should carry the IM (impassible) and Lower unpegged
flags. What this does is to ensure that the lines don't move when the door
does. A better summary can be found by downloading Scott Amspoker's terriffic
work on managing textures and the unpegged attribute.
#2. Extract the wall and floor/ceiling textures using DeuTex as described in
Appendix A. Then catalog them and use the resulting files to make sure that
the textures you use go together. Also useful for making sure textures go
together is the other miscellaneous information in Appendix A; usually, if
textures use about the same patches, they'll go pretty well together.
#3. Use the original Heretic as a model, for deciding what textures look good
where. There are some pretty neat textures, and combinations, present in the
levels, and using them as guidelines can help give your level a boost.
#4. Don't be afraid to download some tutorials for beginners, especially if
they deal with your particular editor (or a variant). I'm not afraid to admit
that I downloaded a couple when I was creating my first PWAD, and they can
contain some useful information that you otherwise might not know. I
recommend the Beginner's Guide to DEU and the Doom Level Design FAQ, version
1.2 or later.
One last tip: If you plan out your levels on paper, and I'm sure at least a
few of you do, you'd be well off using HeeP version 6.13 by Sensor Based
Systems. After it detects you have the shareware version, it won't let you
save, but since it contains all the Heretic shareware version
textures/linedefs/etc. (as well as a rather intuitive texture viewer), you
will be able to get a good idea of what the finished product will look like.
Just copy down what textures (as well as things, linedef types, etc.) look
good where on a piece of scrap paper (or your plan sheet) and input them later
with your regular Doom-based editor.
Yeah, and just a reminder: ID has not authorized, in fact, rather the
opposite, any distribution of levels compatible with the shareware versions
of their games! This is intended only for use while waiting for your
registered version to arrive. And then, once your registered version does
arrive, you can port your levels over to an editor that works with the
registered version of Heretic. If you would like to work fully with Heretic
levels (and use all the new things/textures), you need to register your
version.
Editor's Note: Thanks again to Paul Pollack for another great article. Look
for more from Paul in future issues of the Pasco BBS Magazine. Paul is an
avid gamer and frequent BBSer who, if you would like to contact him, can be
reached at Gator's Place BBS (813) 376-0087, or Dr. Duck's BBS (813) 849-3562.
You may also wish to visit his home page on the World Wide Web at
http://www.intol.com/paul/paul.htm.
+ + + + +
Case Against the CDA Provides a History of the Internet
-------------------------------------------------------
On June 11, 1996, the results of a three member judicial panel review of a
civil action filed against the government and the Communications Decency Act
were released. The case was heard in the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania before judges Dolores K. Sloviter, Ronald L.
Buckwalter and Stewart Dalzell. The court papers summarized the case:
"Before us are motions for a preliminary injunction filed by plaintiffs who
challenge on constitutional grounds provisions of the Communications Decency
Act of 1996, which constitutes Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
signed into law by the President on February 8, 1996. Plaintiffs include
various organizations and individuals who, inter alia, are associated with the
computer and/or communications industries, or who publish or post materials on
the Internet, or belong to various citizen groups."
"The defendants in these actions are Janet Reno, the Attorney General of the
United States, and the United States Department of Justice. Plaintiffs
contend that the two challenged provisions of the CDA that are directed to
communications over the Internet which might be deemed "indecent" or "patently
offensive" for minors, defined as persons under the age of eighteen, infringe
upon rights protected by the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the
Fifth Amendment."
The primary defendants, among numerous others, were the American Civil
Liberties Union and the American Libraries Association, Inc. The court ruled
that the government could not control the Internet and that access was better
left in the hands of parents rather than the government. The plaintiffs were
expected to appeal.
The court order read in part: "And now, this 11th day of June, 1996, upon
consideration of plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunction, and the
memoranda of the parties and amici curiae in support and opposition thereto,
and after hearing, and upon the findings of fact and conclusions of law set
forth in the accompanying Adjudication, it is hereby ORDERED that: 1. The
motions are GRANTED; 2. Defendant Attorney General Janet Reno, and all acting
under her direction and control, are PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED from enforcing,
prosecuting, investigating or reviewing any matter premised upon: (a)
Sections 223(a)(1)(B) and 223(a)(2) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996
("the CDA"), to the extent such enforcement, prosecution, investigation, or
review are based upon allegations other than obscenity or child pornography;
and (b) Sections 223(d)(1) and 223(d)(2) of the CDA; 3. Pursuant to Fed. R.
Civ. P. 65(c), plaintiffs need not post a bond for this injunction; and 4. The
parties shall advise the Court, in writing, as to their views regarding the
need for further proceedings on the later of (a) thirty days from the date of
this Order, or (b) ten days after final appellate review of this Order."
Before the above order was issued, the judges were given background and
historical information about the Internet. The rest of this article is an
extraction from the court papers explaining the Internet.
1. The Internet is not a physical or tangible entity, but rather a giant
network which interconnects innumerable smaller groups of linked computer
networks. It is thus a network of networks. This is best understood if one
considers what a linked group of computers -- referred to here as a "network"
-- is, and what it does. Small networks are now ubiquitous (and are often
called "local area networks"). For example, in many United States
Courthouses, computers are linked to each other for the purpose of exchanging
files and messages (and to share equipment such as printers). These are
networks.
2. Some networks are "closed" networks, not linked to other computers or
networks. Many networks, however, are connected to other networks, which are
in turn connected to other networks in a manner which permits each computer in
any network to communicate with computers on any other network in the system.
This global Web of linked networks and computers is referred to as the
Internet.
3. The nature of the Internet is such that it is very difficult, if not
impossible, to determine its size at a given moment. It is indisputable,
however, that the Internet has experienced extraordinary growth in recent
years. In 1981, fewer than 300 computers were linked to the Internet, and by
1989, the number stood at fewer than 90,000 computers. By 1993, over
1,000,000 computers were linked. Today, over 9,400,000 host computers
worldwide, of which approximately 60 percent located within the United States,
are estimated to be linked to the Internet. This count does not include the
personal computers people use to access the Internet using modems. In all,
reasonable estimates are that as many as 40 million people around the world
can and do access the enormously flexible communication Internet medium. That
figure is expected to grow to 200 million Internet users by the year 1999.
4. Some of the computers and computer networks that make up the Internet are
owned by governmental and public institutions, some are owned by non-profit
organizations, and some are privately owned. The resulting whole is a
decentralized, global medium of communications -- or "cyberspace" -- that
links people, institutions, corporations, and governments around the world.
The Internet is an international system. This communications medium allows
any of the literally tens of millions of people with access to the Internet to
exchange information. These communications can occur almost instantaneously,
and can be directed either to specific individuals, to a broader group of
people interested in a particular subject, or to the world as a whole.
5. The Internet had its origins in 1969 as an experimental project of the
Advanced Research Project Agency ("ARPA"), and was called ARPANET. This
network linked computers and computer networks owned by the military, defense
contractors, and university laboratories conducting defense-related research.
The network later allowed researchers across the country to access directly
and to use extremely powerful supercomputers located at a few key universities
and laboratories. As it evolved far beyond its research origins in the United
States to encompass universities, corporations, and people around the world,
the ARPANET came to be called the "DARPA Internet," and finally just the
"Internet."
6. From its inception, the network was designed to be a decentralized, self-
maintaining series of redundant links between computers and computer networks,
capable of rapidly transmitting communications without direct human
involvement or control, and with the automatic ability to re-route
communications if one or more individual links were damaged or otherwise
unavailable. Among other goals, this redundant system of linked computers was
designed to allow vital research and communications to continue even if
portions of the network were damaged, say, in a war.
7. To achieve this resilient nationwide (and ultimately global)
communications medium, the ARPANET encouraged the creation of multiple links
to and from each computer (or computer network) on the network. Thus, a
computer located in Washington, D.C., might be linked (usually using dedicated
telephone lines) to other computers in neighboring states or on the Eastern
seaboard. Each of those computers could in turn be linked to other computers,
which themselves would be linked to other computers.
8. A communication sent over this redundant series of linked computers could
travel any of a number of routes to its destination. Thus, a message sent
from a computer in Washington, D.C., to a computer in Palo Alto, California,
might first be sent to a computer in Philadelphia, and then be forwarded to a
computer in Pittsburgh, and then to Chicago, Denver, and Salt Lake City,
before finally reaching Palo Alto. If the message could not travel along that
path (because of military attack, simple technical malfunction, or other
reason), the message would automatically (without human intervention or even
knowledge) be re-routed, perhaps, from Washington, D.C. to Richmond, and then
to Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and finally to Palo
Alto. This type of transmission, and re-routing, would likely occur in a
matter of seconds.
9. Messages between computers on the Internet do not necessarily travel
entirely along the same path. The Internet uses "packet switching"
communication protocols that allow individual messages to be subdivided into
smaller "packets" that are then sent independently to the destination, and are
then automatically reassembled by the receiving computer. While all packets
of a given message often travel along the same path to the destination, if
computers along the route become overloaded, then packets can be re-routed to
less loaded computers.
10. At the same time that ARPANET was maturing (it subsequently ceased to
exist), similar networks developed to link universities, research facilities,
businesses, and individuals around the world. These other formal or loose
networks included BITNET, CSNET, FIDONET, and USENET. Eventually, each of
these networks (many of which overlapped) were themselves linked together,
allowing users of any computers linked to any one of the networks to transmit
communications to users of computers on other networks. It is this series of
linked networks (themselves linking computers and computer networks) that is
today commonly known as the Internet.
11. No single entity -- academic, corporate, governmental, or non-profit --
administers the Internet. It exists and functions as a result of the fact
that hundreds of thousands of separate operators of computers and computer
networks independently decided to use common data transfer protocols to
exchange communications and information with other computers (which in turn
exchange communications and information with still other computers). There is
no centralized storage location, control point, or communications channel for
the Internet, and it would not be technically feasible for a single entity to
control all of the information conveyed on the Internet.
12. Individuals have a wide variety of avenues to access cyberspace in
general, and the Internet in particular. In terms of physical access, there
are two common methods to establish an actual link to the Internet. First,
one can use a computer or computer terminal that is directly (and usually
permanently) connected to a computer network that is itself directly or
indirectly connected to the Internet. Second, one can use a "personal
computer" with a "modem" to connect over a telephone line to a larger computer
or computer network that is itself directly or indirectly connected to the
Internet. As detailed below, both direct and modem connections are made
available to people by a wide variety of academic, governmental, or commercial
entities.
13. Students, faculty, researchers, and others affiliated with the vast
majority of colleges and universities in the United States can access the
Internet through their educational institutions. Such access is often via
direct connection using computers located in campus libraries, offices, or
computer centers, or may be through telephone access using a modem from a
student's or professor's campus or off-campus location. Some colleges and
universities install "ports" or outlets for direct network connections in each
dormitory room or provide access via computers located in common areas in
dormitories. Such access enables students and professors to use information
and content provided by the college or university itself, and to use the vast
amount of research resources and other information available on the Internet
worldwide.
14. Similarly, Internet resources and access are sufficiently important to
many corporations and other employers that those employers link their office
computer networks to the Internet and provide employees with direct or modem
access to the office network (and thus to the Internet). Such access might be
used by, for example, a corporation involved in scientific or medical research
or manufacturing to enable corporate employees to exchange information and
ideas with academic researchers in their fields.
15. Those who lack access to the Internet through their schools or employers
still have a variety of ways they can access the Internet. Many communities
across the country have established "free-nets" or community networks to
provide their citizens with a local link to the Internet (and to provide
local-oriented content and discussion groups). The first such community
network, the Cleveland Free-Net Community Computer System, was established in
1986, and free-nets now exist in scores of communities as diverse as Richmond,
Virginia, Tallahassee, Florida, Seattle, Washington, and San Diego,
California. Individuals typically can access free-nets at little or no cost
via modem connection or by using computers available in community buildings.
Free-nets are often operated by a local library, educational institution, or
non-profit community group.
16. Individuals can also access the Internet through many local libraries.
Libraries often offer patrons use of computers that are linked to the
Internet. In addition, some libraries offer telephone modem access to the
libraries' computers, which are themselves connected to the Internet.
Increasingly, patrons now use library services and resources without ever
physically entering the library itself. Libraries typically provide such
direct or modem access at no cost to the individual user.
17. Individuals can also access the Internet by patronizing an increasing
number of storefront "computer coffee shops," where customers -- while they
drink their coffee -- can use computers provided by the shop to access the
Internet. Such Internet access is typically provided by the shop for a small
hourly fee.
18. Individuals can also access the Internet through commercial and non-
commercial "Internet service providers" that typically offer modem telephone
access to a computer or computer network linked to the Internet. Many such
providers -- including the members of plaintiff Commercial Internet Exchange
Association -- are commercial entities offering Internet access for a monthly
or hourly fee. Some Internet service providers, however, are non-profit
organizations that offer free or very low cost access to the Internet. For
example, the International Internet Association offers free modem access to
the Internet upon request. Also, a number of trade or other non-profit
associations offer Internet access as a service to members.
19. Another common way for individuals to access the Internet is through one
of the major national commercial "online services" such as America Online,
CompuServe, the Microsoft Network, or Prodigy. These online services offer
nationwide computer networks (so that subscribers can dial-in to a local
telephone number), and the services provide extensive and well organized
content within their own proprietary computer networks. In addition to
allowing access to the extensive content available within each online service,
the services also allow subscribers to link to the much larger resources of
the Internet. Full access to the online service (including access to the
Internet) can be obtained for modest monthly or hourly fees. The major
commercial online services have almost twelve million individual subscribers
across the United States.
20. In addition to using the national commercial online services, individuals
can also access the Internet using some (but not all) of the thousands of
local dial-in computer services, often called "bulletin board systems" or
"BBSs." With an investment of as little as $2,000.00 and the cost of a
telephone line, individuals, non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, and
businesses can offer their own dial-in computer "bulletin board" service where
friends, members, subscribers, or customers can exchange ideas and
information. BBSs range from single computers with only one telephone line
into the computer (allowing only one user at a time), to single computers with
many telephone lines into the computer (allowing multiple simultaneous users),
to multiple linked computers each servicing multiple dial-in telephone lines
(allowing multiple simultaneous users). Some (but not all) of these BBS
systems offer direct or indirect links to the Internet. Some BBS systems
charge users a nominal fee for access, while many others are free to the
individual users.
21. Although commercial access to the Internet is growing rapidly, many users
of the Internet -- such as college students and staff -- do not individually
pay for access (except to the extent, for example, that the cost of computer
services is a component of college tuition). These and other Internet users
can access the Internet without paying for such access with a credit card or
other form of payment.
22. Once one has access to the Internet, there are a wide variety of
different methods of communication and information exchange over the network.
These many methods of communication and information retrieval are constantly
evolving and are therefore difficult to categorize concisely. The most common
methods of communications on the Internet (as well as within the major online
services) can be roughly grouped into six categories: (1) one-to-one
messaging (such as "e-mail"), (2) one-to-many messaging (such as "listserv"),
(3) distributed message databases (such as "USENET newsgroups"), (4) real time
communication (such as "Internet Relay Chat"), (5) real time remote computer
utilization (such as "telnet"), and (6) remote information retrieval (such as
"ftp," "gopher," and the "World Wide Web"). Most of these methods of
communication can be used to transmit text, data, computer programs, sound,
visual images (i.e., pictures), and moving video images.
23. One-to-one messaging. One method of communication on the Internet is via
electronic mail, or "e-mail," comparable in principle to sending a first class
letter. One can address and transmit a message to one or more other people.
E-mail on the Internet is not routed through a central control point, and can
take many and varying paths to the recipients. Unlike postal mail, simple e-
mail generally is not "sealed" or secure, and can be accessed or viewed on
intermediate computers between the sender and recipient (unless the message is
encrypted).
24. One-to-many messaging. The Internet also contains automatic mailing list
services (such as "listservs"), [also referred to by witnesses as "mail
exploders"] that allow communications about particular subjects of interest to
a group of people. For example, people can subscribe to a "listserv" mailing
list on a particular topic of interest to them. The subscriber can submit
messages on the topic to the listserv that are forwarded (via e-mail), either
automatically or through a human moderator overseeing the listserv, to anyone
who has subscribed to the mailing list. A recipient of such a message can
reply to the message and have the reply also distributed to everyone on the
mailing list. This service provides the capability to keep abreast of
developments or events in a particular subject area. Most listserv-type
mailing lists automatically forward all incoming messages to all mailing list
subscribers. There are thousands of such mailing list services on the
Internet, collectively with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Users of
"open" listservs typically can add or remove their names from the mailing list
automatically, with no direct human involvement. Listservs may also be
"closed," i.e., only allowing for one's acceptance into the listserv by a
human moderator.
25. Distributed message databases. Similar in function to listservs -- but
quite different in how communications are transmitted -- are distributed
message databases such as "USENET newsgroups." User-sponsored newsgroups are
among the most popular and widespread applications of Internet services, and
cover all imaginable topics of interest to users. Like listservs, newsgroups
are open discussions and exchanges on particular topics. Users, however, need
not subscribe to the discussion mailing list in advance, but can instead
access the database at any time. Some USENET newsgroups are "moderated" but
most are open access. For the moderated newsgroups, all messages to the
newsgroup are forwarded to one person who can screen them for relevance to the
topics under discussion. USENET newsgroups are disseminated using ad hoc,
peer to peer connections between approximately 200,000 computers (called
USENET "servers") around the world. For unmoderated newsgroups, when an
individual user with access to a USENET server posts a message to a newsgroup,
the message is automatically forwarded to all adjacent USENET servers that
furnish access to the newsgroup, and it is then propagated to the servers
adjacent to those servers, etc. The messages are temporarily stored on each
receiving server, where they are available for review and response by
individual users. The messages are automatically and periodically purged from
each system after a time to make room for new messages. Responses to
messages, like the original messages, are automatically distributed to all
other computers receiving the newsgroup or forwarded to a moderator in the
case of a moderated newsgroup. The dissemination of messages to USENET
servers around the world is an automated process that does not require direct
human intervention or review.
26. There are newsgroups on more than fifteen thousand different subjects.
In 1994, approximately 70,000 messages were posted to newsgroups each day, and
those messages were distributed to the approximately 190,000 computers or
computer networks that participate in the USENET newsgroup system. Once the
messages reach the approximately 190,000 receiving computers or computer
networks, they are available to individual users of those computers or
computer networks. Collectively, almost 100,000 new messages (or "articles")
are posted to newsgroups each day.
27. Real time communication. In addition to transmitting messages that can
be later read or accessed, individuals on the Internet can engage in an
immediate dialog, in "real time", with other people on the Internet. In its
simplest forms, "talk" allows one-to-one communications and "Internet Relay
Chat" (or IRC) allows two or more to type messages to each other that almost
immediately appear on the others' computer screens. IRC is analogous to a
telephone party line, using a computer and keyboard rather than a telephone.
With IRC, however, at any one time there are thousands of different party
lines available, in which collectively tens of thousands of users are engaging
in conversations on a huge range of subjects. Moreover, one can create a new
party line to discuss a different topic at any time. Some IRC conversations
are "moderated" or include "channel operators."
28. In addition, commercial online services such as America Online,
CompuServe, the Microsoft Network, and Prodigy have their own "chat" systems
allowing their members to converse.
29. Real time remote computer utilization. Another method to use information
on the Internet is to access and control remote computers in "real time" using
"telnet." For example, using telnet, a researcher at a university would be
able to use the computing power of a supercomputer located at a different
university. A student can use telnet to connect to a remote library to access
the library's online card catalog program.
30. Remote information retrieval. The final major category of communication
may be the most well known use of the Internet -- the search for and retrieval
of information located on remote computers. There are three primary methods
to locate and retrieve information on the Internet.
31. A simple method uses "ftp" (or file transfer protocol) to list the names
of computer files available on a remote computer, and to transfer one or more
of those files to an individual's local computer.
32. Another approach uses a program and format named "gopher" to guide an
individual's search through the resources available on a remote computer.
33. A third approach, and fast becoming the most well-known on the Internet,
is the "World Wide Web." The Web utilizes a "hypertext" formatting language
called hypertext markup language (HTML), and programs that "browse" the Web
can display HTML documents containing text, images, sound, animation and
moving video. Any HTML document can include links to other types of
information or resources, so that while viewing an HTML document that, for
example, describes resources available on the Internet, one can "click" using
a computer mouse on the description of the resource and be immediately
connected to the resource itself. Such "hyperlinks" allow information to be
accessed and organized in very flexible ways, and allow people to locate and
efficiently view related information even if the information is stored on
numerous computers all around the world.
34. Purpose. The World Wide Web (W3C) was created to serve as the platform
for a global, online store of knowledge, containing information from a
diversity of sources and accessible to Internet users around the world.
Though information on the Web is contained in individual computers, the fact
that each of these computers is connected to the Internet through W3C
protocols allows all of the information to become part of a single body of
knowledge. It is currently the most advanced information system developed on
the Internet, and embraces within its data model most information in previous
networked information systems such as ftp, gopher, wais, and Usenet.
35. History. W3C was originally developed at CERN, the European Particle
Physics Laboratory, and was initially used to allow information sharing within
internationally dispersed teams of researchers and engineers. Originally
aimed at the High Energy Physics community, it has spread to other areas and
attracted much interest in user support, resource recovery, and many other
areas which depend on collaborative and information sharing. The Web has
extended beyond the scientific and academic community to include
communications by individuals, non-profit organizations, and businesses.
36. Basic Operation. The World Wide Web is a series of documents stored in
different computers all over the Internet. Documents contain information
stored in a variety of formats, including text, still images, sounds, and
video. An essential element of the Web is that any document has an address
(rather like a telephone number). Most Web documents contain "links." These
are short sections of text or image which refer to another document.
Typically the linked text is blue or underlined when displayed, and when
selected by the user, the referenced document is automatically displayed,
wherever in the world it actually is stored. Links for example are used to
lead from overview documents to more detailed documents, from tables of
contents to particular pages, but also as cross-references, footnotes, and
new forms of information structure.
37. Many organizations now have "home pages" on the Web. These are documents
which provide a set of links designed to represent the organization, and
through links from the home page, guide the user directly or indirectly to
information about or relevant to that organization.
38. As an example of the use of links, if these Findings were to be put on a
World Wide Web site, its home page might contain links such as those:
*THE NATURE OF CYBERSPACE
*CREATION OF THE INTERNET AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CYBERSPACE
*HOW PEOPLE ACCESS THE INTERNET
*METHODS TO COMMUNICATE OVER THE INTERNET
39. Each of these links takes the user of the site from the beginning of the
Findings to the appropriate section within this Adjudication. Links may also
take the user from the original Web site to another Web site on another
computer connected to the Internet. These links from one computer to another,
from one document to another across the Internet, are what unify the Web into
a single body of knowledge, and what makes the Web unique. The Web was
designed with a maximum target time to follow a link of one tenth of a second.
40. Publishing. The World Wide Web exists fundamentally as a platform
through which people and organizations can communicate through shared
information. When information is made available, it is said to be "published"
on the Web. Publishing on the Web simply requires that the "publisher" has a
computer connected to the Internet and that the computer is running W3C server
software. The computer can be as simple as a small personal computer costing
less than $1500 dollars or as complex as a multi-million dollar mainframe
computer. Many Web publishers choose instead to lease disk storage space from
someone else who has the necessary computer facilities, eliminating the need
for actually owning any equipment oneself.
41. The Web, as a universe of network accessible information, contains a
variety of documents prepared with quite varying degrees of care, from the
hastily typed idea, to the professionally executed corporate profile. The
power of the Web stems from the ability of a link to point to any document,
regardless of its status or physical location.
42. Information to be published on the Web must also be formatted according
to the rules of the Web standards. These standardized formats assure that all
Web users who want to read the material will be able to view it. Web
standards are sophisticated and flexible enough that they have grown to meet
the publishing needs of many large corporations, banks, brokerage houses,
newspapers and magazines which now publish "online" editions of their
material, as well as government agencies, and even courts, which use the Web
to disseminate information to the public. At the same time, Web publishing is
simple enough that thousands of individual users and small community
organizations are using the Web to publish their own personal "home pages,"
the equivalent of individualized newsletters about that person or
organization, which are available to everyone on the Web.
43. Web publishers have a choice to make their Web sites open to the general
pool of all Internet users, or close them, thus making the information
accessible only to those with advance authorization. Many publishers choose
to keep their sites open to all in order to give their information the widest
potential audience. In the event that the publishers choose to maintain
restrictions on access, this may be accomplished by assigning specific user
names and passwords as a prerequisite to access to the site. Or, in the case
of Web sites maintained for internal use of one organization, access will only
be allowed from other computers within that organization's local network.
44. Searching the Web. A variety of systems have developed that allow users
of the Web to search particular information among all of the public sites that
are part of the Web. Services such as Yahoo, Magellan, Altavista, Webcrawler,
and Lycos are all services known as "search engines" which allow users to
search for Web sites that contain certain categories of information, or to
search for key words. For example, a Web user looking for the text of Supreme
Court opinions would type the words "Supreme Court" into a search engine, and
then be presented with a list of World Wide Web sites that contain Supreme
Court information. This list would actually be a series of links to those
sites. Having searched out a number of sites that might contain the desired
information, the user would then follow individual links, browsing through the
information on each site, until the desired material is found. For many
content providers on the Web, the ability to be found by these search engines
is very important.
45. Common standards. The Web links together disparate information on an
ever-growing number of Internet-linked computers by setting common information
storage formats (HTML) and a common language for the exchange of Web documents
(HTTP). Although the information itself may be in many different formats, and
stored on computers which are not otherwise compatible, the basic Web
standards provide a basic set of standards which allow communication and
exchange of information. Despite the fact that many types of computers are
used on the Web, and the fact that many of these machines are otherwise
incompatible, those who "publish" information on the Web are able to
communicate with those who seek to access information with little difficulty
because of these basic technical standards.
46. A distributed system with no centralized control. Running on tens of
thousands of individual computers on the Internet, the Web is what is known as
a distributed system. The Web was designed so that organizations with
computers containing information can become part of the Web simply by
attaching their computers to the Internet and running appropriate World Wide
Web software. No single organization controls any membership in the Web, nor
is there any single centralized point from which individual Web sites or
services can be blocked from the Web. From a user's perspective, it may
appear to be a single, integrated system, but in reality it has no centralized
control point.
47. Contrast to closed databases. The Web's open, distributed, decentralized
nature stands in sharp contrast to most information systems that have come
before it. Private information services such as Westlaw, Lexis/Nexis, and
Dialog, have contained large storehouses of knowledge, and can be accessed
from the Internet with the appropriate passwords and access software.
However, these databases are not linked together into a single whole, as is
the World Wide Web.
48. Success of the Web in research, education, and political activities. The
World Wide Web has become so popular because of its open, distributed, and
easy-to-use nature. Rather than requiring those who seek information to
purchase new software or hardware, and to learn a new kind of system for each
new database of information they seek to access, the Web environment makes it
easy for users to jump from one set of information to another. By the same
token, the open nature of the Web makes it easy for publishers to reach their
intended audiences without having to know in advance what kind of computer
each potential reader has, and what kind of software they will be using.
Editor's Note: The court papers for this case generated quite a bit of
interesting reading and it is possible that additional extractions will appear
in future issues.
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Next Month
----------
Traditionally, the August issue has previewed the ONE BBSCON. With the death
of the BBSCON, we will run an article about its legacy. There will be a
preview of the first ONE ISPCON, but we will have far less coverage of the
show compared to last year when Tampa hosted the last ONE BBSCON. Look for
all our regular features, along with the latest news.
The August issue of the Pasco BBS Magazine will be available on, or before,
July 22. Make sure you do not miss a single issue of Tampa Bay's oldest free
on-line magazine!
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Important Information
---------------------
The Pasco BBS Magazine is distributed free of charge, as long as it is
unaltered and complete. When uploading make sure the original archive is
intact with all files included.
The Pasco BBS Magazine is the sole property of the Board of Trade BBS and
Richard Ziegler. It is legally copyrighted material and all rights are
reserved. No part of this magazine may be used without permission. No
compensation of any kind may be received for the viewing, distribution, or for
any other use of the magazine files.
By submitting something, you are agreeing to allow publication of the material
in the magazine. Articles reprinted with permission remain the property of
the cited source. Guest contributions may not necessarily reflect the views
of the Pasco BBS Magazine. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions,
however, this is normally only done to correct spelling or grammatical errors.
The editor makes all determinations on what and when articles will run.
Every effort is made to insure that all information contained within the Pasco
BBS Magazine is accurate, but inadvertently mistakes can appear.
The Pasco BBS Magazine, Board of Trade BBS or Richard Ziegler cannot be held
liable for information contained within this document. It is intended that
this magazine exists for the personal enjoyment of the readers.
Rather than place a trademark symbol at every occurrence of a trademarked
name, it is stated that trademarks are only being used in an editorial fashion
with no intention of any infringement of the trademark itself.
More information can be found in the other files distributed with the
magazine's archive.
Comments, questions, suggestions and submissions can be left on the Board
of Trade BBS (813) 862-4772, or mailed to Board of Trade BBS, P.O. Box 1853,
New Port Richey, FL 34656.
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(C)Copyright 1996 Richard Ziegler - All Rights Reserved
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