1453 lines
50 KiB
Plaintext
1453 lines
50 KiB
Plaintext
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:48 Page 1
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Volume 2, Number 12 6 May 1985
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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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| / \ |
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| - FidoNews - /|oo \ |
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| (_| /_) |
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| Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ |
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| Users Group | | \ \\ |
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| Newsletter | (*) | \ )) |
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| ______ |__U__| / \// |
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| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
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| (jm) |
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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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Publisher: Fido #375
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Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson
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Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/375. You
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are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the
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file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/375.
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Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:
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The contents of the articles contained here are not our
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responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them;
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everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
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received.
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Any Day Now
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The hot question on Fidonet these days is "When do I get
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10h?" We now have the definitive answer; you don't. It
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seems that there have been several versions of 10h (?), so
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it's going to be called 10i when it is officially released,
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in order to ensure that everyone has the same version.
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So when do we get our hands on 10i? The word I got last
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Wednesday was that it would be released no later than last
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Friday. So what happened? Well, it seems that Tom Jennings
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thought of another feature to add at the last minute, so
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release has been delayed until the new (newer?) version is
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fully tested.
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The new feature is a goodie, and should make many peoples'
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lives much easier, so it's worth the wait. It's the ability
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to have one Fido be two different net/node numbers (such as
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being, say, 1230/1 on a private net, while still being
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107/375 on the public net). In the new scheme of things, we
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will be node 375 in net 107 (Metro NY), but I plan on
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setting 1/375 as my alternate net/node for awhile until I'm
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pretty sure everyone has the new stuff working. What you
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:51 Page 2
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will do, I have no idea.
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One option you DON'T have is to leave things alone. They're
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serious about this, guys. The official rumor I hear is that
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anyone who doesn't convert to the new setup within a month
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or two is going to get dropped from the national list. The
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guys in St. Louis have been doing a bang-up job, but it's
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just gotten too big for mere mortals to cope with.
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NODELIST and ROUTEGEN will also have to change, but there's
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a bit of a hitch there. It seems John Warren (the guy who
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wrote them) is in the hospital. I'm told he's been bugging
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his wife to bring in his computer (a sentiment I can well
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understand), but I wouldn't count on anything for awhile.
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Let's just leave the guy in peace, to get well at his own
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pace. Good luck to you, John!
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So when do we get 10i? Any Day Now. In fact, this
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editorial is in severe danger of being rendered obsolete
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even as I write it (Saturday night). It's to be released
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just as soon as Tom Jennings feels secure about it. From
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what I've seen, that won't be too long. I've test-run a
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copy of 10h, and I can testify that it looks pretty good.
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If it has any bugs, I didn't find them.
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There IS one small thing I found, though. This is just a
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little unofficial advice from me to you. Don't bring up 10i
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while you still have pending outgoing messages. In my case,
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I had a whole bunch of mail waiting to go out when I brought
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up 10h and told it I was 107/375. That night, at mail hour,
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it saw a bunch of mail from some other node (375 in net 1)
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and marked them all as orphans. Then, since it had no
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instructions to forward mail for 1/375, it left them sitting
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there. I suppose I could have set my ROUTE.BBS to accept
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mail for forwarding from 1/375, but I didn't get around to
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trying it. My advice is to just sit tight and wait for your
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mail to go out, and then bring 10i up before entering any
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new messages.
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:52 Page 3
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============================================================
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NEWS
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============================================================
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**********************************************************
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Sensible Piracy Protection
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**********************************************************
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4/21/85 13:00
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Just this morning, I was thumbing back through my latest
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version of PC Magazine and came across a very unusual ad.
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It is put out by Peter Norton. In this ad, he extols his
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product, the Norton Utils. Version 3.0, which if you have
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ever used these fine utilities will agree with me that
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they are a very handy little item to have in your toolbox
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of goodies.
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These, like many other fine programs of its ilk, are not
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copy-protected. So far, so good. We at least have a step
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in the right direction. But it wasn't so much the fact
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that he changed his ad that caught my eye, but rather, it
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was the little blurb at the bottom about upgrades. To wit:
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Got an old version? Upgrade to
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Version 3 for $25. Got a pirated
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copy? Go legitimate. Get the new
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version and your own manual for
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the upgrade price. Just send a
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check and your old disk.
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A new twist in the ever-increasing heated battle against
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software piracy? YOU BET. I applaud Mr. Norton for his for-
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ward-thinking attitude about the problem, and a rational,
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thought-out approach to the problem versus that of Mr. Mitch
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Kapor who is hellbent on snagging every last pirated copy of
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Lotus and Symphony on the market today, and I can assure you
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that that number is quite large. Mr. Norton doesn't employ
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stupid copy-protection garbage like Lotus. You are free to
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make as many copies of the programs as you desire. Instead
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of punishing the pirate, he is giving them a chance to "go
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legitimate". I might point out that the current version of
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the programs goes for the tidy little sum of $99.95. So all
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in all, what we have here is a very good approach to the
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problem, instead of a knee-jerk reaction the oft-inflated
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over-blown problem of software piracy.
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Ultimately, the software industry will have to change. Users
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with super XT systems packed with megabytes of storage will
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no longer tolerate the inexcusable approach of only one
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copy on your hard-disk per floppy. There exists only one
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form of copyprotection that can not be broken (yet) and
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that is through the use of ROM-based software. And if the
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software publishers and authors think for two nanoseconds
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that I'm gonna sit still for that (and this applies to you,
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too, gentle reader) they have another thought coming.
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I, for one, will take my business elsewhere. Copy-protection
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is ultimately a means of defeating the purpose of software,
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and any kid with two bits worth of knowledge on a computer
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:55 Page 4
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can crack just about every scheme on the market today.
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Granted, there is one drawback to this problem and that
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is one relating to the legitimate users who actually pur-
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chased the software. I fully understand the objections to
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offering pirates the same benefits as a legitimate user,
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but nonetheless, I still believe this is a positive step
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in the right direction.
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Perhaps this is a trend of things to come. I don't know that
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for certain, but it certainly is an encouraging sign. Per-
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haps the software authors of the world will eventually
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learn. That remains to be seen.
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Vic Bachulis, Sysop
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Washco Fidonet Node 59
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**********************************************************
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Please direct all flames to /DEV/USR/NUL and all rational
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thoughts and comments to Sysop, Fido 59, 1-503-643-2284
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**********************************************************
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:56 Page 5
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Freeware
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David Kaplan, Fido #387
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The mainstay of bulletin boards is freeware. However, those
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of us that use public domain software at work have a problem
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many private users are not aware of.
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Corporations are extremely sensitive to the source of their
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software to ensure that any proprietary programs are
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legitimately licensed. If freeware comes with a ".doc" file
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indicating this fact, or the application itself displays
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such a message there is no problem.
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The problems arise when there is no indication that a piece
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of software is actually in the public domain. Ideally, the
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freeware message and the author's name and address would be
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desired to indicate this fact.
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This could appear in any of 3 places:
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1) Part of a ".DOC" file, or more preferably,
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2) Part of the application's screen display, or
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3) As a 'display' message that can be seen if the .EXE or
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.COM file is typed.
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Without this information, many companies are quite hesitant
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to use and perhaps enhance public domain software. Many
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utilities that we have at home are unavailable to us at
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work.
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It is an impossible task to track down existing freeware
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authors, but if we start following this concept for all new
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software, the authors will get the recognition they deserve.
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:57 Page 6
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========================================================
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**** Reply to Fido 464 and all IBM BBS Fido sysops ****
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========================================================
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In reply to Node 464's request for swapping software via
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routing boxes of disks around the country, I'm in full
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support of the idea. I currently have around 12 - 13 MB
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of IBM-only software collected from around the country
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which cost me in the neighborhood of around $800 to $900
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to download, and while it does represent a very nice bit
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of stuff, I find I'm running out of new stuff at an alar
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ming rate. If there are any takers out there who are in-
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terested, please let me know. Just about everything I
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now have has been tested for basic soundness and useful-
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ness and has withstood the test of time by hundreds of
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users in my area (Fido 59 is basically the only IBM sys-
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tem in this neck of the woods). If any of you wish to
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do some swapping, by all means let me know. I always can
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use new stuff! There are a lot of top-quality programs
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that I have that are begging to be spread around the US.
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While I'm on the topic, I need to have Fido 464 contact
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me via the net because I can't find a very current node-
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list....464, consider yourself paged!
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Please respond and direct all inquiries to:
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Sysop
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Fido 59, Washington County Fidonet, Node 59
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Beaverton, ORegon
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1-503-643-2284
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Thanks much. Vic Bachulis, Sysop.
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========================================================
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:58 Page 7
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MODULA-2
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We are looking for Modula-2 programs or users running
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Modlua-2 for the purpose of public domain program exchange.
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Comments on impressions of present compilers and systems
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are welcome at Fido node #418. We are interested in finding
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out anything relating to this new language.
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We would also like to hear from anyone who might know
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any news or have comments on the "Revisions and Amendments
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to Modula-2" by N. Wirth published in the "Journal of
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Pascal, ADA & Modula-2", 85 Jan/Feb, Vol 4 No 1 issue.
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We have Logitech Modula-2/86 source available for M2MDM,
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a XMODEM - MODEM7 package for the Sanyo MBC-55x running
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under MS-DOS 2.11. It supports up to 4800 bps and is an
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example of interrupt processing using Modula-2 co-routines.
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It lacks, at present, phone book and dialing features. So
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dialing is manual from the keyboard if your modem supports
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it. Full CRC error checking and batch transfers compatible
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with Fido are included.
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Also available is SYMDUMP for examining the contents of
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compiled ".sym" files. SymDump is quite portable and is
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especially useful if the ".def" source is not available!
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Lloyd Miller and Rick Keppler
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Calgary_Fido, node #418
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:00:59 Page 8
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PC-Rockland, located in scenic South Nyack, New York is one
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of the many RBBS systems around. However, few if any can
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claim all the features we found when we called into the
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system.
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The Sysop currently is running 3 nodes simultaneously, with
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the capacity for 1 more node immediately available when
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needed.
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The system currently supports 2400 baud, as well as the
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usual 1200 and 300 baud connections. As of last night the
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total storage space on the system exceeds 250 megabytes, all
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of which is on-line, available storage.
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The Sysop has networked an IBM AT using PC-NET along with 3
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IBM PC's to form the nucleus of his system. The AT has a 60
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megabyte internal hard drive, and an external 'tower' drive
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with tape backup. He happens to be a BETA test site for RBBS
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so you will ALWAYS find at least the most current version of
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RRBS running, and usually an advanced version, not yet
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released.
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At last count there were over 40 directories of software for
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downloading, with literally thousands of programs available,
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so every caller can find something he likes there.
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If you are interested in calling this unique system it is
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running 24 hours a day at (914) 353-2176, and all callers
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are welcome to call on that number. Once on the system the
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other numbers and associated information is displayed for
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you.
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:00 Page 9
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RUNNING FIDO ON THE SANYO 550
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WAYNE CONRAD
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FIDO #452
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Having just set up FIDO to run on my SANYO 555 with the
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Anchor Mark XII Modem, I found it to be quite an
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experience... I had problems with the DOS, problems with
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the serial interface and problems with the modem. With some
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fiddling around and a lot of help from the Sysops of the
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other SANYO BBS's around the country, I finally did get FIDO
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to work correctly with this configuration. I figure maybe
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this article will help anyone else who wants to try it.
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What the heck, maybe my instructions will even be correct!
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COMMAND-LINE SWITCHES
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The first thing I had trouble figuring out was the /V switch
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which is used in the command line to tell FIDO which bit of
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the serial port's status byte is used as the carrier detect.
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With the SANYO it is bit 7, and the mask for bit 7 is 2^7
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which is 128, so your /V switch will be like this:
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SYO_FIDO 128/V
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Of course you will need to include other switches in the
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command line for things like download limits and so forth.
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We're using bit 7 as the carrier detect because it's the
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only status bit presented by the 8251A which controls the
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serial port. The 8251A simply accepts this signal and
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reflects it's status in that bit, nothing more. If you have
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the SANYO serial card, then the signal presented to the
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8251A is the DTR (Data Terminal Ready), not the Carrier
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Detect. You can tell if you have this problem because FIDO
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will either never answer an incoming call, or it will answer
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calls that don't exist. If this is your problem, then read
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on; I'll present some solutions that should work.
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SANYO SERIAL CARD PROBLEMS
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In the SANYO serial card, the signal represented by bit 7 is
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DSR (data set ready), not CD (carrier detect) as FIDO
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expects. This will either cause FIDO to never answer the
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phone, or to always answer even when there`s no connection.
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What you need to do is to present CD to the serial card
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instead of DTR. There are a few ways to do this that I can
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think of:
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o Modify the modem cable
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o Use a Null Modem or other adapter
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o Get a serial card that allows you to select CD or DSR
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by using jumpers
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:02 Page 10
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o Modify the serial card you have
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MODIFY THE MODEM CABLE
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On the computer end of the modem cable there are two signals
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we are concerned with here:
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Pin 6 -- DSR (Data Set Ready)
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Pin 8 -- CD (Carrier Detect)
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Oh by the way, you need to have your modem set up to present
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a "true carrier" on the CD Line. I don't know how this
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works, since the Anchor always presents a "true carrier,"
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but I guess that with your modem set for "true carrier," the
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CD line goes active only after the two modems have connected
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and have good carriers on the line. Probably with a "false
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carrier" (?) the CD goes active when the phone rings or
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something like that. In any case, some modems have a switch
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for this; make sure it is set for "true carrier."
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What we want to do is to present the CD line to pin 6 rather
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than the DSR line. If your modem cable has a solder-on end,
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then you can probably do the job with a soldering iron in
|
|
just a few minutes. Just Unsolder the DSR line from pin 6
|
|
of the connecter (remember this is the connecter on the
|
|
COMPUTER END of the cable). Put a little electricians tape
|
|
or silicon jel on the now freed DSR line to prevent it
|
|
causing a short. Unsolder the CD line from pin 8 and
|
|
resolder it to pin 6. Be careful of course to check for
|
|
solder bridges and the like; Modems (and computers) get
|
|
quite upset about shorts and may punish you with DOWNTIME
|
|
and REPAIR BILLS.
|
|
|
|
If your cable is ribbon cable with the press on ends, you
|
|
will need to remove the end. This is a bit tricky, but it
|
|
can be done without destroying the connector, if you're VERY
|
|
VERY careful and if the connector cooperates with you. You
|
|
need to use a screwdriver or something to lift up the
|
|
locking parts of the connecter until it comes apart. You
|
|
might want to have a spare handy just in case; I've
|
|
destroyed more than one cable end this way. Before you
|
|
remove the ends, carefully identify which line goes to pin 6
|
|
and which line goes to pin 8 and mark them with a felt tip
|
|
pen or something. THEN remove the connector. Now you need
|
|
to split the cable to separate lines 6 and 8 from the
|
|
others. Take line 6 and 8 and exchange their places. You
|
|
might use some tape or something to keep all this stuff in
|
|
place (your cable is now split into about 5 different
|
|
parts). Then carefully align the cable on the disassembled
|
|
connector, put the connector top on, and press them
|
|
together. There is a big expensive press used for this, but
|
|
you can probably make do with a vise and a few small pieces
|
|
of wood or whatever else you can think up of. Make sure you
|
|
get the connector on the right way. Get it on the wrong
|
|
side of the cable or turned 180 degrees and nothing will
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:05 Page 11
|
|
|
|
work.
|
|
|
|
Actually, this is such a pain, and so prone to error, that I
|
|
probably wouldn't attempt it unless there was absolutely NO
|
|
other option available.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NULL MODEMS and OTHER ADAPTERS
|
|
|
|
You can make an adapter by getting one female and one male
|
|
DB-25 connector and some wire. You can do it with ribbon
|
|
cable by using press-on connectors, pressing the male
|
|
connector on one end, then splitting the cable on the other
|
|
end and doing the funny stuff above to it before pressing on
|
|
the female end. Again, it's probably better to use solder-
|
|
on connectors and shielded cable.
|
|
|
|
Connect these pins straight-across:
|
|
|
|
7 Signal Ground
|
|
2 Transmit
|
|
3 Receive
|
|
20 Data Terminal Ready
|
|
4 Request To Send
|
|
5 Clear to Send
|
|
|
|
Then you will connect pin 8 on the male (modem end)
|
|
connector to pin 6 of the female (computer end) connector.
|
|
Also, make sure the shield is connected to both of the
|
|
connector cases. Pin 1 of the rs-232 "standard" is used
|
|
for protective ground; however I'm not sure whether this
|
|
should be connected with the shield or not. It's been a
|
|
while since I've make RS-232 cables. And I hope a long
|
|
while more.
|
|
|
|
There are also these nice (and usually expensive) little
|
|
boxes called NULL MODEMS, which are basically a switchbox
|
|
with a male connector on one end and a female connector on
|
|
the other, so you can configure it any way you like. If you
|
|
are lucky enough to have one of these, set it up like I just
|
|
described above.
|
|
|
|
|
|
GET A BETTER SERIAL CARD
|
|
|
|
Not a bad idea at all. The better serial cards have jumpers
|
|
on them which allow you to decide which lines are used. All
|
|
you have to do to get the serial card to recognize CD
|
|
instead of DSR is move a jumper or two... We should all be
|
|
so lucky!
|
|
|
|
|
|
MODIFY THE SANYO SERIAL CARD
|
|
|
|
This is what I chose to do. The modem cable is build into
|
|
my Anchor, and I didn't want do tear up that ribbon cable
|
|
anyhow. And I wanted it done NOW, not after going to the
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:07 Page 12
|
|
|
|
store for parts to make an adapter and so on. This
|
|
modification takes an exacto knife, a soldering iron,
|
|
solder, and a small piece (two inches or so) of wire--I
|
|
prefer wire-wrap wire.
|
|
|
|
Take your serial card out of the computer. Now look at the
|
|
end of the card where the connecter is soldered to it. On
|
|
the connecter all the holes that the pins fit into are
|
|
numbered. Look for number 6 and number 8. Follow these
|
|
onto the card and see where they connect to it. On the top
|
|
of the board you will see a trace coming from pin 6. Cut
|
|
this trace with the knife. Now take a look at where the
|
|
trace goes to. Holding the card with the connecter away
|
|
from you and the components on top, the trace goes to the
|
|
NEAR-RIGHT pin (pin 1) of the IC at the FAR-LEFT of the
|
|
card. Turn the board over and solder one end of the wire to
|
|
that pin. Solder the other end to the pad where pin-8 of
|
|
the connector comes onto the card and you`re done. This
|
|
might not seem too clear, but just be careful with following
|
|
the pins onto the board and so on so you get the right ones.
|
|
|
|
|
|
DISCLAIMER
|
|
|
|
Please note that I wrote these instructions AFTER THE FACT,
|
|
so I cannot guarantee their accuracy. Also, as far as I
|
|
know all SANYO serial cards are the same, but there may be
|
|
look-alike-but-cost-less cards out there that have their
|
|
board laid out differently. So please be aware.
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE DTR PATCH
|
|
|
|
You will also need a patch for your DOS. both MS-DOS and
|
|
DS-DOS fool around with the DTR line during disk accesses,
|
|
this is a no-no since it causes many modems to hang up.
|
|
There is a patch you can get to fix this. There is one
|
|
patch for MS-DOS 2.11 and another patch for DS-DOS 2.11.
|
|
This patch only needs to be run once each time you boot, so
|
|
you can put it in your AUTOEXEC file. it goes by various
|
|
names but the ones I've seen are DTRPATCH.COM and
|
|
SYOPATCH.COM.
|
|
|
|
You can get the patch from FIDO #1 or many of the SANYO
|
|
bulletin boards across the country. If you can't find it
|
|
anywhere else let me know and I'll send it to the Nearest
|
|
Fido in Your Area via netmail. It's pretty small anyhow; I
|
|
think 3k for both the MS-DOS and the DS-DOS version with a
|
|
small doc' file.
|
|
|
|
|
|
BATCH FILES FOR FIDO
|
|
|
|
This is how I set up my RUNBBS.BAT file:
|
|
|
|
:LOOP
|
|
FIDO_SYO 128/V
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:09 Page 13
|
|
|
|
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO EXIT
|
|
GOTO LOOP
|
|
:EXIT
|
|
|
|
And the AUTOEXEC.BAT file is something like this:
|
|
|
|
DATE
|
|
TIME
|
|
DTRPATCH
|
|
|
|
I also have a LOCAL.BAT which I use to bring up fido in the
|
|
local mode:
|
|
|
|
FIDO_SYO /T
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE ANCHOR MODEM'S DTR PROBLEM
|
|
|
|
Most modems use DTR to hang up the phone. The Anchor Mark
|
|
XII ignores DTR. This is a problem because FIDO expects the
|
|
modem to hang up when DTR is dropped. Now, there is a fix
|
|
(requiring a transistor, a resister, and a few minutes) to
|
|
cause the Anchor to use DTR normally. I haven't done it
|
|
yet, but I might.
|
|
|
|
What happens when FIDO is sending netmail and files is that
|
|
it tries to hang up the phone when it is done by using DTR.
|
|
If it can't, or if it even suspects that it can't, it will
|
|
start beeping like crazy for you to wake up at 2am and fix
|
|
it. What a pain, but it does save you from horrid phone
|
|
bills should something happen to prevent a proper
|
|
disconnect. What I've noticed is that sometimes the
|
|
disconnect will occur but FIDO will wake me up anyhow, while
|
|
other times the disconnect will occur just fine and FIDO
|
|
won't fuss at all. I don't know why this happens, but I'm
|
|
going to modify my modem anyhow to see if it helps.
|
|
|
|
Actually, what I suspect is happening is that FIDO toggles
|
|
DTR to hang up, waits a few seconds, then checks to see if
|
|
the carrier is still there. If the remote FIDO has hung up
|
|
by then (which it usually has) then there's no carrier and
|
|
no problem, otherwise FIDO does it's beeping thing... Of
|
|
course while it's beeping away the other computer has hung
|
|
up or the smart commands FIDO issues as a backup have done
|
|
their thing, but FIDO is faithful and wants to protect your
|
|
phone bill so it wakes you up to make sure.
|
|
|
|
You can get the correct instructions for this fix from Jon
|
|
Tara of FIDO #92. He also published these instructions in
|
|
FidoNews 203, but please be aware that the instructions as
|
|
published in the FidoNews are INCORRECT. The corrections
|
|
were published in FidoNews 315, but it's probably easiest to
|
|
get the corrected instructions from #92 directly. By the
|
|
way if you get the corrected instructions from #92, I
|
|
wouldn't mind having a copy (hint, hint)...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:12 Page 14
|
|
|
|
CTTY PROBLEMS (STILL)
|
|
|
|
Here's one I still haven't figured out; the CTTY command
|
|
will not work properly. What I did to test it is to connect
|
|
with a friend by using the MINITEL communications program,
|
|
then I dropped into DOS without losing the carrier and
|
|
typed
|
|
|
|
CTTY AUX:
|
|
|
|
which went over like a led zeppelin. Didn't accept anything
|
|
from my friend or give him anything back. I don't know if
|
|
all my patches and mod's had anything to do with it, because
|
|
I had never tried it before I went in with the knife and
|
|
soldering iron.
|
|
|
|
I need for this command to work if I'm going to implement
|
|
FIDO's 0 command to allow the DOS to be run remotely. Also,
|
|
I haven't even tried Watchdog to see if it runs on the SANYO
|
|
but I really doubt it will. The Serial port is one of the
|
|
SANYO's poorest compatibility hangups.
|
|
|
|
What I might do if nothing else works is to write a small
|
|
program to take the place of the CTTY redirection and the
|
|
watchdog. Here's my ideas on that so far:
|
|
|
|
o Be invoked from the batch file RUNBBS.BAT.
|
|
|
|
o Redirect standard console input and output to it's own
|
|
device drivers. The output driver would write to
|
|
both the local screen and to the remote system. The
|
|
input driver would read from either the keyboard or
|
|
from the remote system. This would allow
|
|
simultaneous typing. Also you could see what the
|
|
remote Sysop is doing to your poor system...
|
|
|
|
o Load in a copy of COMMAND.COM and run it using the
|
|
redirected i/o drivers.
|
|
|
|
o To get back into FIDO, just type EXIT which would
|
|
return control from COMMAND.COM to the supervisor
|
|
program, which would then restore the standard output
|
|
drivers and drop back into the RUNBBS.BAT.
|
|
|
|
o The Supervisor program would check the carrier
|
|
whenever something is output. If the carrier is lost,
|
|
then it just aborts COMMAND.COM and drops into the
|
|
RUNBBS.BAT. This avoids the rather drastic re-boot
|
|
that Watchdog does when it loses the carrier. It is
|
|
important to those of us without hardware clocks to
|
|
avoid re-booting.
|
|
|
|
Of course this is not a two-hour project, especially for
|
|
someone who's never redirected standard output or run .EXE
|
|
files from withint a program. What I'm saying is, if anyone
|
|
wants to assist in this endeavor I certainly won't refuse
|
|
the help. This would probably work for the IBM without
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:14 Page 15
|
|
|
|
modification, so you IBM hackers keep that in mind; I can
|
|
use help from ANYBODY experienced in assembly language with
|
|
the things I mentioned above.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
|
|
|
|
|
|
RS-232c Specifications:
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth A. Nichols, Joseph C. Nichols and Keith R. Musson,
|
|
DATA COMMUNICATIONS FOR MICROCOMPUTERS (McGraw-Hill, 1982)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Schematic for the SANYO Serial card:
|
|
|
|
Robert Kong Win Chang, "Build a Serial Card," Byte, vol. 10
|
|
no. 3 (March, 1984), 129
|
|
|
|
|
|
Modifying the Anchor Mark XII Modem:
|
|
|
|
Fido Newsletters 208 and 315, or
|
|
Jon Tara of FIDO #92
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:15 Page 16
|
|
|
|
From: Mark Welch on Fido 459 (WelchNet, San Francisco, CA)
|
|
|
|
A Telecommunications Dictionary
|
|
-------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Tom Jennings at one point brainstormed the idea of a
|
|
"telecommunications dictionary," essentially using the known
|
|
frequent content of BBS information to reduce the time it
|
|
takes to transfer text from a BBS to the user's system.
|
|
|
|
The basic idea is that frequently-used words or
|
|
substrings (words like "message" or "the") could be encoded
|
|
in two bytes instead of sending the full strings. If the
|
|
'dictionary' were flexible enough, it might include an
|
|
entire screenful of information encoded as two bytes (a
|
|
standard menu or help screen, for example, or a log-on
|
|
logo).
|
|
|
|
I toyed with the ideas, and juggled with some of them a
|
|
bit, and wrote a quick and dirty program to test the basic
|
|
theory. While Tom had the idea of a "learning dictionary"
|
|
in which the user's software could learn new encoded strings
|
|
from the host as necessary (and in which each host would use
|
|
a different dictionary), I tended toward the idea of a
|
|
"standard" string dictionary.
|
|
|
|
By way of background: standard "squeeze" programs use
|
|
something called Huffman coding to encode strings by using
|
|
fewer bits to encode characters which occur more frequently.
|
|
Huffman coding doesn't work with interactive text because
|
|
(a) it works best on long, arbitrary text files, and (b)
|
|
Huffman coding abandons the meaning of byte boundaries, so
|
|
that one dropped bit in a transmission means the entire file
|
|
is lost unless some sort of error detection and correction
|
|
(ECC) is included. ECC eats up as much or more bits than are
|
|
saved.
|
|
|
|
My approach was to examine text files containing captured
|
|
message bases from a Fido BBS and several other on-line
|
|
systems. I analyzed the text [using a program quickly
|
|
written in Turbo Pascal] and found 32 strings (4-, 5- and 6-
|
|
bytes long) which occurred very frequently. A
|
|
telecommunications "dictionary set" might include 256 words
|
|
in each of several dictionaries; in theory, system-specific
|
|
dictionaries might exist (Fido, CompuServe, etc.).
|
|
|
|
My dictionary program replaced strings like " the "
|
|
(space,t,h,e,space) and "ing " (i,n,g,space) as two-byte
|
|
codes. Rather than write a complete BBS and telecomm
|
|
software to test the theory, my program merely encoded the
|
|
information from one file into another file. A real
|
|
telecommunications dictionary would have to do this encoding
|
|
(at the host end) and decoding (on the user's end) "on the
|
|
fly," adding a number of potential problems if existing
|
|
telecomm software is running at or near the capacity of the
|
|
CPU.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:18 Page 17
|
|
|
|
My dictionary program, using 32 strings of length 4-, 5-,
|
|
and 6-, re-coded those strings as two-byte codes: a prefix
|
|
byte (with a value greater than 128) and a suffix byte from
|
|
0..31. A "full" telecommunications dictionary would do the
|
|
same but might work from as many as 127 dictionaries (using
|
|
the full range of the prefix byte) and as many as 256 words
|
|
in each dictionary, or over 32,000 possible strings.
|
|
|
|
The result: By encoding the 32 most-frequent strings, I
|
|
reduced the file size -- which would translate to
|
|
transmission time -- by almost exactly ten percent. That 10%
|
|
savings was constant over about a half-dozen files, ranging
|
|
from Fido messages to a news column I was writing.
|
|
|
|
I would estimate that a "generalized" dictionary of 256
|
|
words might save around 15%. To obtain any significant
|
|
savings from the encoding, a system-specific dictionary
|
|
(i.e. Tom's "learning" dictionary, or a Fido-specific
|
|
dictionary) or a very large standard dictionary would have
|
|
to be used. [An important aspect of this is that use of a
|
|
single, standard 128-word dictionary by encoding into one
|
|
byte rather than two would save about 25%, but that savings
|
|
could never be enhanced later.]
|
|
|
|
Savings are always enhanced by encoding long strings
|
|
instead of short strings (i.e. if "message" occurs often and
|
|
is encoded, you save more bytes than by encoding "the").
|
|
|
|
A note: software which used some sort of dictionary-
|
|
coding to save on transmission time would have to "register"
|
|
its capability during or after sign-on, so that BBSs or
|
|
services with the dictionary available could still default
|
|
to a "dumb terminal" mode. If the software used a "learning
|
|
dictionary," it would have to be able to signal "I don't
|
|
know that word" at any time; the host would then download
|
|
the word to be added to the system's dictionary. Most
|
|
essential: all of this ought to be automatic, transparent to
|
|
the user.
|
|
|
|
I'd like to know if anyone else is interested in
|
|
following up on this idea of a "telecommunications
|
|
dictionary," and what people's ideas are on this. This was
|
|
Tom's brainstorm but he had other projects and has put it on
|
|
the shelf; likewise, I'm not actively pursuing it further
|
|
right now, but thought I should contribute my experience to
|
|
other telecommunicators. Please let me know if there's
|
|
interest in this topic; send Fido mail to me at Fido #459
|
|
(415-391-0556 6pm-9am PST only), or write to me c/o 425
|
|
Battery St., 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111.
|
|
|
|
-- Mark Welch, Fido459
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:20 Page 18
|
|
|
|
============================================================
|
|
COLUMNS
|
|
============================================================
|
|
From: Tim Meyers, Fido #365
|
|
|
|
Dated April 25,1985.
|
|
Tim Meyers
|
|
Techn-Source Systems Group.
|
|
|
|
Dear Mr. Meyers:
|
|
|
|
Thank you for your interest in becoming a service
|
|
provider for Compuserve. The first step to becoming an
|
|
information provider or a system operator for a Special
|
|
Interest Group is the preparation of a proposal
|
|
describing the proposed service.
|
|
|
|
Taken from a recent letter I received from Compuserve
|
|
Information Services, a proposal to start a Special Intrest
|
|
Group for Fido. It will be labeled as (GO FID-1) when it
|
|
arrives, but first I have to know exactly how many people
|
|
would be interested.
|
|
|
|
My company will invest $5,000 for the initial fee for the
|
|
creation of the database and files. After which point it
|
|
becomes the property of me, and or whoever wants it.
|
|
|
|
I have typed a proposal to Compuserve and should get a
|
|
response within 60 days. I spent about 20 hours on the work
|
|
of menus, methods, promotional plans, target market, current
|
|
projection, overview of information etc. etc. Now it is
|
|
completed and I hope that I haven't wasted my time. Here is
|
|
a brief review of what will be on the SIG:
|
|
|
|
1st, the newsletter. At this point in time several
|
|
people are just not receiving the newsletter. It's very
|
|
large to download and many people just cannot access the
|
|
larger systems that have it online. The newsletter
|
|
would linked to a electronic magazine, in which menus
|
|
serve as the "Table of Contents" and point to articles
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that have been written. It works very well for the
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needs of both users and sysops.
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2nd. Mr. Jennings would create a nice little "Welcome
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to the Fido Special Interest Group". Just a simple
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letter explaining what Fido is, what's so unique about
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it, etc.
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3rd. Users Questions Answered. That's it, the biggest
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problem at this point in the network. It would be a
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great place for all questions and answer to be placed at
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Compuserve's cost. Everyone has asked for it, now anyone
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that wishes to chip in can. Questions answered in a
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day, No more 100 calls to Tom Jennings. Keeps small
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questions like "What do I do with this modem?" from
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costing Mr. Jennings 25 cents. Etc. Etc. Etc. I am
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sure you can see the need for it. At this point mostly
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:24 Page 19
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all new sysops questions are addressed to Mr. Jennings.
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This way anyone that has an answer can solve somone's
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problem. Not just sysops but from a user's standpoint
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also.
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4th. Software. Every single software program related to
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Fido will be placed on the system. A message will be
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placed for which version is the newest, when updated
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etc. I made three phone calls tonight, one to node #1,
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got the newsletter, one to #375 for this article, one to
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51 for the TWIX program. When I could have made just
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one call to Compuserve, and it's a local charge.
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This could solve lots of problems with disk space on
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most systems, although I am sure many sysops will
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continue to keep Fido software online, they can at least
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have a common conference area. It's a place to keep in
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touch.
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5th. The Nodelist, Each week it could be put online.
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Instead of spending the many hours of re-dialing and
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busy signals you would be able to obtain it whenever you
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wished. I am sure the sysops of fido #50 would see the
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need of this.
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6th. What does it cost? Well there is a one time
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connection fee and several other addition cost, but I am
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signing the check here. I will sign a check for
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$5,000.00 to form the Fido SIG if I receive enough
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interest in the project. I wish to help the many other
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sysops and future sysops of Fido, including the users.
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We need somthing like this. The problem is, how many
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people would be interested? With over 250 nodes and
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growing, again it's needed.
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My Plan of attack? What is my attitude? Well here are a few
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simple figures:
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Fido SIG operates at 10% royalty rate. If Each node had a
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cumulative of 60 minutes in the SIG it would have approx.
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253 hours of use. This is resonable since many SIGs draw
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less than 100 hours a month, which is a useful amount. At
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253 hours a month, Compuserve will be happy to let Fido
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remain on the system But if it falls to less than 25 hours,
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I start paying $750.00 a month. That's a chance I will have
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to take, but first I have to consider how many people use
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the system.
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1) Each node -- users, sysop, etc. -- spend 2 minutes a day
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on the Fido SIG and we have our goal.
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2) Half the nodes spend 2 minutes and we have 2/3 our goal.
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3) 50 nodes spend 2 minutes on the SIG and I have to spend
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about $115.00. Not bad, At least we have provided as
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much information and equipment that we can to make Fido a
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:27 Page 20
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nation wide project.
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All users and Sysops, Please Send any Ideas, Comments, or
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criticism to The Sysop Fido #365 or #442. Thanks Tim Meyers.
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:27 Page 21
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============================================================
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FOR SALE
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============================================================
|
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USRobotics Courier 2400
|
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"The Intelligent Choice in Data Communications"
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__________________________________________
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/ |o o o o o o o o o| COURIER \
|
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/ |_________________________| 2 4 0 0 \
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/ HS AA CD OH RD SD TR MR AL | | || |||| \
|
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/________________________________________________\
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\______________________________________/
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"So delighted am I that I'm ready to trade in my
|
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1200 baud Hayes Smartmodem."
|
|
-Henry Kisor, "The Chicago Sun Times"
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"The Courier 2400 performed so transparently and so
|
|
steadily that it was almost immediately adopted as
|
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the remote unit used to test the other modems..."
|
|
-Emmitt Dove, "PC Products Magazine"
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|
"The new 2400 baud Courier modem is consistently
|
|
dependable, and has many thoughtful features which
|
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no other modems have."
|
|
-Peter McWilliams, "The McWilliams Letter"
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"USRobotics' 2400 baud modem doubles throughput and
|
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enhances the Hayes standard at a terrific price."
|
|
-Jeff Duntemann, "PC-Tech Journal"
|
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(product of the month, May'85 issue)
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The Price, Just $699 list.
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Contact: USRobotics, Inc.
|
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1123 West Washington
|
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Chicago, IL 60607
|
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(312) 733-0497
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FIDONEWS -- 06 May 85 00:01:28 Page 22
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============================================================
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NOTICES
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============================================================
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*** Calendar of Events ***
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12 May 85 Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews.
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17 May 85 The Next Occasional NY/NJ Sysop Meeting.
|
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27 May 85 through 31 May 85; Spring 1985 DECUS symposium,
|
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New Orleans, LA. Among other events, Kurt Reisler
|
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(sysop Fido 74) will give a 1 hour talk on Fido.
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If you have any event you want listed in this calendar,
|
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please send a note to node 107/375.
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