529 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
529 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:24 Page 1
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Volume 2, Number 15 27 May 1985
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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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| _ |
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| / \ |
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| - FidoNews - /|oo \ |
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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 1/375. 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 1/375.
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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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Waiting for Nets
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I don't know about you, but I'm eagerly awaiting June 12th.
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That's the day we start using multiple nets, and I can start
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making some sense out of my node list.
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I also know of several Fidos in this area that have just
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started up, and that are waiting for their node numbers.
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Bad news, guys. No new node numbers until the 12th. Hang
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in there! Just a little longer now!
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Seriously, this isn't like the wait for version 10i. That
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was dependant on testing and debugging, and we all know how
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THAT works. This is a definite. As of June 12th we switch
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over to the new system. No ifs, ands, or buts! You MUST
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have Fido version 10i or greater by then, or you'll be
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dropped from the node list.
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Oh, yes, in case you haven't heard, there is a "greater"
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now. Tom Jennings released Fido version 10j for the IBM-PC
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and the DEC Rainbow a few days ago. This is mainly a bug
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fix release. (300+ people can find a bug faster than you
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would beleive!) There was some sort of problem with the
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:26 Page 2
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Index command for messages. Also, Fido was dropping a
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character every now and then when it was unpacking its
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packets (a very subtle bug; you probably never even
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noticed). I don't know what all else was done, but it's
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mainly cleanup type stuff. And sorry, still no debug
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messages during downloads.
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Also no "list of nodes in a file" any more. It's a shame,
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too. After all, he'd just gotten around to documenting it.
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I haven't checked with TJ on this, but I suspect I may be
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partly responsible for the loss of this one. I gather it
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was mainly there to make it easier for TJ to send out
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Fidonews, but I use Robot instead. Regardless, it's a
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feature that I know several people will miss.
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I've spoken to the guys in St. Louis, and they've promised a
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couple of articles about the upcoming changes. I don't
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think they'll get here in time for this issue, but they
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should be ready by next week. Ben Baker promised an article
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on what, exactly, it means to be a regional administrator,
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while Ken Kaplan is working on an article describing how the
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nodelist is going to change. Both articles should be very
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informative, and I'm sure you won't want to miss either of
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them.
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Briefly, the nodelist format is changing drastically. The
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master list will no longer be useable directly by Fido; you
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will have to run it through a new version of NODELIST.EXE
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before you can use it. The point of this is to combine the
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nodelist and the fidolist into a single file, which
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NODELIST.EXE will use to generate a Fido style NODELIST.BBS
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and/or a human readable list of nodes. The new format
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should make it easier for all the various hosts and admins
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to keep thing up to date, since only one file needs
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updating.
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Once Ken has the current node list converted to the new
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format, he'll start splitting it up and mailing the various
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pieces to the hosts and admins who will be maintaining them
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in the future. I'm hoping to get an article in the near
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future describing the whys and hows of maintaining a
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regional list. In the meantime, PLEASE don't anybody go
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assigning node numbers until we are on the new system!
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Things are going to be confusing enough as it is. Just hang
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in there, guys. Only a couple of weeks to go!
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National Fido Directory
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In order, an apology, an explanation, an update, and a plea.
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First the apology. I spoke too soon last issue, and
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incorrectly. Dave Horowitz is NOT the guy coordinating the
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national directory. He's been pushing for it and working on
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the programs, but his system doesn't have the space to
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handle it. Matt Kanter at Fido 1/79 has volunteered to
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contributed a machine to handle the data, so he's the one
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:30 Page 3
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running it.
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Next the explanation. The idea is to create a national
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directory of Fido users, showing which nodes they can be
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reached at via Fidonet (sort of a Fido phone book). This
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would be done by having various (hopefully most, if not all)
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sysops send an abstract of their user list (NOT including
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any passwords!) to a central point, where the data would all
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be collected, sorted, and formatted into a master list.
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Contribution would be completely voluntary. It would be
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nice if you contributed, but it's no problem if you can't or
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won't. (Some company boards, for example, can't release
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their user list without breaching confidentiality.)
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Now the update. Dave has written a program, called
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SHIPUSER, which Matt has been busily sending to boards all
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over the country. If you haven't seen it by now, you can
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pick it up at 1/51, 1/79, 1/375, and probably at any major
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host in your area. SHIPUSER reads a USER.BBS file and
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creates a text file giving the name, city, and number of
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times called. Matt is figuring on munging it all by hand
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the first time, then automating it later if this catches on
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(as I hope it does).
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And finally, the plea. Please run SHIPUSER on your user
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list and send its output to Fido 1/79. This is a great
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idea, and we'd all benefit from a national directory, but
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(like many things in Fidodom) it depends on your voluntary
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contribution to make it work.
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Articles Wanted
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Another thing in Fidoland that needs your contribution to
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work is Fidonews. Last issue was kind of skimpy, and right
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now it looks like this issue will be even smaller. If
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you're not sure about the format standards, just ask and
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we'll send you a copy of FIDONEWS.DOC. This newsletter is
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nothing without YOUR input!
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Remember, this newsletter is written strictly by and for its
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readers. Make your voice heard!
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:32 Page 4
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============================================================
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NEWS
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============================================================
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The following was uploaded to FIDO#74 (The Bear's Den) by
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one of my regular users. I am not sure what board it came
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off of, but message is clear, and it applies to all of us
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(SYSOP and user).
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------
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Msg # 588 Dated 03-01-85 12:50:27
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From: SYSOP
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To: ALL
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Re: TPSECRET.BAS
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To all SYSOPs and USERS:
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We have another trogan horse amongst us... it is called
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TPSECRET.BAS and was Uploaded here two days ago by a SAM
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HOLMES (from Laurel, MD, a 1200 baud caller). This protected
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(SAVEd with ,P) BASIC program simply does a very nasty "KILL
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*.*" and a "KILL A:*.*"... Beware of this program and this
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person... If SAM HOLMES turns out ot be a real person, I
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will contact the T-Systems' lawyer, and begin a law suit...
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for rarely are such Uploads from "real" people, and such a
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prank is certainly destructive enough to warrant action. If
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Sam turns out to be the Uploadee, I will keep everyone
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informed of progress...
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Sysop -
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:34 Page 5
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Tom Jennings
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Fido #1
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9 May 85
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This is a copy of a letter I sent to Inforworld on
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an article that appeared. I'm submitting it to the
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newsletter since it seems that Infoworld won't publish it.
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(Or, maybe I just didnt wait long enough.)
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InfoWorld
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Attention: Kevin Strehlo
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Re: "Modem Battle Brewing" article, 29 April
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Tom Jennings
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2269 Market St. #118
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San Francisco CA 94114
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Here's some stuff on that article, I just had to
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respond. Thanks for reading so far. If you have any
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questions, comments or whatever you can call me at the above
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number any day from 8 AM til midnight.
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There were some serious errors made in the article
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"MODEM BATTLE BREWING" on page 16 of the 29 April issue on
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the XMODEM protocol.
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Before talking about the specific problems, a
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misconception needs to be cleared up. The word "XMODEM"
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refers to both the protocol and is also the name of a
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specific CP/M program for remote bulletin boards. "XMODEM"
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is now taken to mean the binary protocol, not the name of a
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specific program residing on someones disk. This can be very
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confusing, but unless you are talking about a specific copy
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of a specific program, Xmodem refers to the protocol.
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It is completely untrue that Xmodem cannot run
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beyond 1200 baud, and equally untrue that it does not detect
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errors reliably.
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The original Xmodem program, XMODEM, MODEM7 and all
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it's variants, have a software bug that prevents them from
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operating at above 300 baud. It is a bug in the
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implementation, not the protocol, and has been there for
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years. My implementations of Xmodem (and many others') have
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been used for over three years at up to 38,400 baud (as fast
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as my serial ports go) with no problems whatsoever. The same
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program can communicate to any original XMODEM program on
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MSDOS or CP/M. In the FidoNet Bulletin Board Network, a
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public domain packet switching system consisting of more
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than 250 computers in the US and Europe, many nodes are
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using 2400 baud modems quite reliably, thank you.
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The error checking isn't quite as bad as many would
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lead you to believe. The original program by Ward
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:36 Page 6
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Christensen had only a simple checksum error check; later
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versions implement a CCITT CRC-16 error check. Also, there
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is some doubt as to whether CRC error checking is all that
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much better than checksums over dialup telephone lines;
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while it is true that adjacent single bit errors can get
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through Xmodem's checksum process, errors on phone lines are
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almost always burst errors (that is, many bytes are trashed
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by noise on the telephone), these are very rare, and so in
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"real life" Xmodem is quite reliable. In any case, CRC-16 is
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available. In any case, the worst case error rate is
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something like 0.035% using checksums. No protocol can
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guarentee 100% accuracy, no matter what they may claim.
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Xmodem has many faults, such as half duplex
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operation and requiring an eight-bit data channel (can't be
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used through Telenet or TymNet...), but it extremely easy to
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implement, and is very reliable if done right. It is surely
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far from perfect, but is very suitable for small computer
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use where the constraints don't matter.
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You will also notice that the biggest detractors are
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firms with commercial interest in their own protocols. As to
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the importance of the Xmodem protocol in the real world,
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keep in mind that the modem manufacturers (and many others)
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who came out with software products with "improved" (read:
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incompatible) protocols were forced by the micro marketplace
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to retrofit Xmodem. Two examples are SMARTCOM and CROSSTALK.
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Ward Christensens protocol has problems, as he will
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admit, but it is still very strong and usable in the current
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environment. There are probably 10,000 bulletin board
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systems in the US that support Xmodem, and probably ten
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times or more individuals that use Xmodem with bulletin
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boards or for point to point use. It may be an "underground"
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protocol, but it works well in practice, and introducing new
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protocols will have to take this huge base of users into
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account.
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:38 Page 7
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^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^o^
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Can anyone help! How do you hookup (setup) a MICOM M3012+
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or 3212+ modem to run Fido/Fidonet?
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Forward replies to Sysop, node #350. Thanks!
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-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
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FIDONEWS -- 27 May 85 00:00:38 Page 8
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============================================================
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NOTICES
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============================================================
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*** Calendar of Events ***
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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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2 Jun 85 Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews.
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12 Jun 85 Start of Multinet Fido; Make sure you have Fido
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version 10i. Stay in net 1 until this date, then
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switch over to your new net number.
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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 1/375.
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