1189 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
1189 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:49 Page 1
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Volume 2, Number 16 3 June 1985
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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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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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Closer and Closer
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Multinet Fido is slowly approaching. The local net hosts
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and regional coordinators should be receiving a "starter
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kit" in the mail from St. Louis soon, if you haven't got it
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already.
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Ken Kaplan and Ben Baker have been busily carving up the
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country into regions and assigning numbers to them, and I
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guess they've got it finalized by now. They also managed to
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write a couple of articles about all of this, including the
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promised piece on what it means to be a regional
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coordinator.
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I wound up in region 13 somehow. Good thing I'm not
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superstitious. Not that it matters much, since I'm really
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in net 107.
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You see, the regions only matter to independents. If I were
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an independent node, then I'd be in region 13. But my mail
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is routed through node 79 in New York, so I'm in his local
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net, which is net 107.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:51 Page 2
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If it seems confusing, don't worry about it. It's mainly
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just the hosts and coordinators that have to worry about the
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fine points. Fido will chug along as always, happily
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routing mail wherever it belongs, and never bothering the
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user about how it all works.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:52 Page 3
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============================================================
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NEWS
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MIKE HAMILTON 23 MAY 1985
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SYSOP 313 & 370
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Over the past several months there have been some practices
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which the administrators of the network in southern
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California find very irritating. The item on the top of the
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list is the use of our or any network for commercial
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messages. I don't see why we should stand the cost of the
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messages for someone else's profit. Recently one such node
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was notified that we would no longer receive commercial
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messages, specifically for items for sale. This is
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accomplished by removing them from the accept-from list in
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the routing. This is a drastic step, however repeated
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requetes to stop were not honoured. I'm sure there are
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othere who feel the same way and I would recommend that they
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take the same action. If a commercial user of the network
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wants/needs to advertise then he should follow the same
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practices as the ones in our network and send out messages
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as attached files thus paying the full bill for the
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transmission.
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There have been numerous articles lately in the trade
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magazines and newspapers about software piracy. In
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expressing my opinion on the subject I tend to get pretty
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warm around the collar. I personally resent being called a
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crook before I even purchase software from a vendor. I
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realize this is pretty strong wording but that is exactly
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what is being done with the currect protection schemes. A
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measure I recommend to any one who asks for my opinion
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before purchasing is simply to only buy from those companys
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who do not call you a crook first. If enough people follow
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this advise and stopped buying products like LOTUS 123, the
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companys in question would be forced to use other means to
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protect their products. LOTUS 123 isnot the best package on
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the market but simply using Hollywood type media hype
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promote themselves as being such. Similar to the media
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advertising blitz before the openning of a loosing movie.
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One more item than I'll quit blowing off steam for a while.
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I noticed Tom Jennings articles about the Hays 2400 baud
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modems and it brought to mind a problem I'm having with
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another companys product. I'm sure everyone has seen
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articles advertising CTOS the wordprocessing package in all
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the trade mags and newspappers. We have beena use rof CTOS
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for about 3 years. Last year around June we received a new
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update. The program had a problem in dealing with CIT80
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terminals. After 9 months of asking for help, the previous
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release was patched to correct them problem, an attempt was
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made to installa new version. I said attempt because it
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didn't work. We were told they would be back in a couple of
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:54 Page 4
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days to correct the problems. Two months later, after many
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calls, we came to find out the person who was responsible
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for the installation had been sent to Europe. Letters to the
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presidend of the company have gone unanswered. The only
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comments are from the sales representives who keep saying
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give us time. This is all well and good except that a new
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maintenance renewal period is approaching. I would not and
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could not in good concience recommend to anyone the purchase
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of this product, CTOS. There are other wordprocessing
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packages that work on the entire line of DEC computers that
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are fully supported and whose vendors respond to problems in
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a more timely manner.
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Well that is all for now. Hope this will help someone. Any
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responses should be addressed to the SYSOP of #313 or #370.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:55 Page 5
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"Compu-peater" a new concept
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by Dan Taylor, Sysop Fido 411
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I may have coined a new term "Compu-peating". As you may
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have guessed, it is simply adding one or perhaps more
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computers in between you and whatever system your
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ultimately communicating with that is at the end of the
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chain. A Computer Repeater if you will. Why you would
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ever want to do this, I'll leave up to you.
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I'm sure this concept is not one that everyone can or will
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use, but for those who can benefit from it, I'll share my
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experience.
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I have an IBM-PC at home that I use like most any other
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person that has a computer at home. I have fun with it! I
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run a Fido board (411), I write my mother letters, I play
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with BASIC, Turbo Pascal and a number of other things. One
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thing I really like doing is calling up other bulletin
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boards and up/downloading files. I do that alot at and for
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work too, where I use an IBM-XT.
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Now, I save my company money on their phone bill by making
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calls to bulletin boards at night when I'm home. I also
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benefit because I can use many of the same programs that
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I'm collecting for my use at work. Enter the Compu-peater.
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Here's how I've gotten the concept to work for me.
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I've installed 2 Hayes 1200B modems in the XT at work.
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With Fido running on COM2, that leaves COM1 for MINITEL.
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It's obvious that I have 2 phone lines at work with which
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to do this. I set up Fido at work such that I can use the
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"0" command to exit to DOS. I do have WATCHDOG running so
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as not to leave things in a mess if carrier is lost between
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home and work. After calling in to Fido at work and
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exiting to DOS, I bring up MINITEL. It looks a bit strange
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on my screen, because of the direct cursor addressing
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MINITEL does. One thing you have to NOT do is TYPE AHEAD
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of any prompts. Keep in mind that you do not have a
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keyboard type ahead buffer to help you out. One thing
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you'll need to do is patch or just set the Terminal setting
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in the Compu-peater's MINITEL to NONE. If you leave it set
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to emulate VT-102, You won't get any line feeds. But
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beyond that, it works fine.
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Once MINITEL is up, you should set it's modem to respond to
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an online escape charactor other than the default of '+++'.
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I set it to look for '@@@', with the command string
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"ATS2=64". 64 is the decimal value of the ASCII charactor
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'@'. That way, if you call into a system (as I did while
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testing it out) that won't disconnect the phone when you
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say goodbye, you will have control of the remote MINITEL's
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modem, and can hang up the remote modem's phone line by
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then using the Hayes command "ATH". All I can say if you
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omit this step is "YOU'RE ASKING FOR PROBLEMS".
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I have tried downloading THROUGH the Compu-peater from a
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:57 Page 6
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public BBS. I've found that using XMODEM, MODEM7 and
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TELINK no work so good! However, KERMIT seems to work just
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fine. An alternative is to simply download to the Compu-
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peater using any of the methods above, and later, download
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from it to you.
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Again, this may not be for everyone, but for me, it's
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become an invaluable tool...
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Any questions or comments may be addressed to me Dan Taylor
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on Fido 1/411.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:00:58 Page 7
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The Duties of a Network or Region Coordinator
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by Ben Baker -- Fido 76
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and Ken Kaplan -- Fido 22
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This article defines the duties of a network or region
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coordinator.
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First, the coordinator accepts application for, and
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assigns applicants node numbers. In the case of region
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coordinators, the applicant should be located within the
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region. If he is not, he is referred to the appropriate
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coordinator. (A temporary node number, something awful like
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32767 can be assigned to permit sending him mail.) When
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applicable, a region coordinator may also refer an applicant
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to a network host.
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Applications will be accepted only via FidoNet mail.
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This verifies that the applicant's board was at least
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running once. An application must contain board name,
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sysop's name, board phone number, sysop's voice phone
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number, sysop's mailing address, board's city and state if
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different, highest baud rate supported if not 2400 and hours
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of operation. We recommend that the coordinator place a
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message in his BULLETIN.BBS file that can not be skipped,
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telling users not to request a node by leaving a message on
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his board, and that such a message will not be acknowledged.
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The new applicant is assigned a node number. For the
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first month or so, we ask coordinators to assign numbers of
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600 and up to avoid conflicts with nodes still running old
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versions of Fido. After that, any convenient assignment
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scheme may be used, provided only that all node numbers
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within the coordinator's region or network are unique.
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Via FidoNet mail, the coordinator sends the applicant
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notification of his new node number and instructions on how
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to use the '4' command to set up his Fido Net & Node. This
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step verifys that the phone number is correct, and that the
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net/node is receiving mail. He may also provide any special
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routing instructions for his network, if applicable.
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Once notification has been successfully mailed, the
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coordinator moves the new node entry into the permanent node
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list for his region or area.
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From time to time the coordinator will receive and
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process requests from existing nodes for changes to phone
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number, board name, temporary change of status (up or down),
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etc..
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If, for unknown reasons, a node stops receiving mail,
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the coordinator will replace his phone number in the node
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list with the -DOWN- flag and make a reasonable effort to
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determine the cause and necessary actions. When
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"dissappearing" nodes fail to reappear within a month or so,
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they may be removed form the node list.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:00 Page 8
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Once each week, if and only if his permanent nodelist
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has changed, the coordinator will send a copy via FidoNet
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file attach to Fido 1/0. The file will be named REGION.nnn
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or NETWORK.nnn, where nnn is the region or network number.
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Each Friday Fido 1/0 will assemble for distribution, a new
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NODELIST, using the most current file from each region or
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network.
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Finally, the coordinator will be the first point of
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contact for questions related to Fido and FidoNet. He will
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make every effort to answer questions and solve problems in
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a timely manner. He will be provided a list of "experts" on
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various subjects to whom he may refer questions he can't
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handle. Thus the right person to answer any question can be
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found quickly.
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It sounds like a lot to ask, but remember, the typical
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coordinator will be handling only a few to about thirty
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nodes. Ken Kaplan has been doing this and more for 300
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nodes! And a new coordinator will have all the help he
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needs to set him self up to take care of business.
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If you have any questions you can request help from
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Fidos 22, 51 or 76. We look forward to working with you and
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having a sucessful decentralization of the new multinet
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Fido.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:01 Page 9
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Scott Ashcraft
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Fido #50
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As many of you know, Tim Meyers has written a Fido
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look-alike in Turbo Pascal for CP/M, and has sent it to Doug
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Good, a remote sysop on Fido #50, and I to look over. Right
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now, all we have is the preliminary version, which is quite
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bare (no download or upload protocols or FidoNetting), and
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he has notified me that he will send the new version soon.
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Many of you have asked for a copy of the source code, but
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right now, as I understand it, I am not to even give out a
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compiled version, so I will be holding back on that until
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Tim informs me otherwise. This BBS (called TotoBBS) looks
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very Fidoish, and should start pulling some CP/M systems
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into the net. Doug has had some problems running TotoBBS on
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his Kaypro, and he thinks it has to do with the fact that
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Turbo Pascal dislikes working with BYE. Anyway, Doug and I
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had been working on our own BBS in Turbo Pascal for CP/M and
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MSDOS before we knew about Tim's BBS, and we have sort of
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taken it as a challenge to make our BBS better than his
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(which could turn out being a chore). Our first project is
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to get rid of BYE, so we are looking for a decent I/O driver
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for CP/M (we already have one for MS-DOS) that will poll for
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a character at the serial port, and handle buffered I/O. If
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you know of one, please mail me some info on where I can get
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my hands on it. If there are any features that you think we
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should include in our BBS, please tell us, and we will try
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to complete this project by the end of the summer.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:03 Page 10
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COMPUTER CONFERENCE - MAUI HAWAII
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JIM KNEPLER (808) 546-2196
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FIDO 488 - UNCLE SAM'S BBS
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Several of the government agencies in Hawaii are sponsoring
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an information processing conference on the island of Maui
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September 23 thru 25. We're lining up a host of top
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speakers on topics ranging from lap computers to artificial
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intelligence. Commodore Grace Hopper will be addressing
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the conference (and answering questions) via satellite-
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linked CCTV from Washington, D. C. Also, lots of vendor
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exhibits with the latest hardware and software goodies.
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The conference fee is $195, which includes two free
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lunches. The conference is being held at the
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Intercontinental Maui and they are offering some terrific
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rates: $60 single or double. The hotel also offers free
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activities for conference attendees and spouses; scuba,
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horseback riding, tennis, etc.
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For information on the conference call Jim Knepler at (808)
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546-2196 or Burl Pepper at (808) 546-8636. You can also
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leave a message on our FIDO board at (808) 546-3719. We'll
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call you back or mail you the registration and info
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package.
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:04 Page 11
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Obtaining a Fido Net Number
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by Ken Kaplan -- Fido 22
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When several existing Fido Node's make the decision to
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form a network, ie. several clustered nodes, the proposed
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host must send a FidoNet mail message to his Region
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Coordinator with the following information in order to
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obtain a Net Number:
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(1) The region number(s), and/or network number(s)
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affected by the formation of the new network. The
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region coordinator will inform Fido 1/0 and the hosts of
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any affected networks of the formation of the new
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network.
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(2) The name of the proposed network. The name
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should be descriptive of location. For example SOCALNET
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for nodes in the Southern California Area and MassNet
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for Massachusettes Area. DOGNET doesn't help others
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know what your interested in or what area of the country
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your group lives in.
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(3) A copy of the proposed network's nodelist. The
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nodelist file should be named Frrr-nnn.NET where rrr is
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the proposed host's current region or net number and nnn
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is his current node number. This file should be sent
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attached to the message of application for a Net Number.
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When Fido 1/0 receives the above items from the
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Coordinator, the information received will be verified and a
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net number assigned. A FidoNet mail message will be sent to
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all affected with the assigned net number.
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If there are any questions on the above procedure
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please send a FidoNet mail message to Fido 22, 51 or 76.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:05 Page 12
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Fidonet Regions
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The following is a listing of the multinet Fido regions.
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This only applies to independant nodes. If you are a part
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of a local network, then your network will be assigned its
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own network number.
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+----------------+
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|Sorted by Region|
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+----------------+
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Region State Area Codes
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Calif Nevada California 209, 213, 408, 415,
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619, 714, 805,
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818, 916
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Mexico 706, 905
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Nevada 702
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Central Illinois 217, 309, 312, 618,
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815
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Indiana 219, 317, 812
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Kentucky 502, 606
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Michigan 313, 517, 616, 906
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Ohio 216, 419, 513, 614
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Ontario Canada 416, 519, 613, 705
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Wisconsin 414, 608, 715
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Hawaii Hawaii 808
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Mid Atlantic Delaware 302
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District of Columbia 202
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Maryland 301
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New Jersey 201, 609
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New York 212, 315, 516, 518,
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607, 716, 718,
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914
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Pennsylvaina 215, 412, 717, 814
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Virginia 703, 804
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West Virginia 304
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Mid West Iowa 319, 515, 712
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Kansas 316, 913
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Manitoba Canada 204
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Minnesota 218, 507, 612
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Missouri 314, 417, 816
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Nebraska 308, 402
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North Dakota 701
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Ontario Canada 807
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South Dakota 605
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Mountain Arizona 602
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Colorado 303
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New Mexico 505
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:07 Page 13
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Utah 801
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Wyoming 307
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New England Connecticut 203
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Maine 207
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Massachusetts 413, 617
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New Brunswick Canada 506
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New Hampshire 603
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Newfoundland Canada 709
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Nova Scotia Canada 902
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Quebec Canada 418, 514, 819
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Rhode Island 401
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Vermont 802
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North West Alaska 907
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British Columbia Canada 604
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Idaho 208
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Montana 406
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Alberta Canada 403
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Oregon 503
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Saskatchewan Canada 306
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Washington 206, 509
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South East Alabama 205
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Caribben Islands 809
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Florida 305, 813, 904
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Georgia 404, 912
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Mississippi 601
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North Carolina 704, 919
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South Carolina 803
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Tennessee 615, 901
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Texarkana Arkansas 501
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Louisiana 318, 504
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Oklahoma 405, 918
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Texas 214, 409, 512, 713,
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806, 817, 915
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+------------------------------+
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|Sorted alphabetically by state|
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+------------------------------+
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Region State Area Codes
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South East Alabama 205
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North West Alaska 907
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North West Alberta Canada 403
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Mountain Arizona 602
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Texarkana Arkansas 501
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North West British Columbia Canada 604
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Calif Nevada California 209, 213, 408, 415,
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619, 714, 805,
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818, 916
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South East Caribben Islands 809
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Mountain Colorado 303
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New England Connecticut 203
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:09 Page 14
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Mid Atlantic Delaware 302
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Mid Atlantic District of Columbia 202
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South East Florida 305, 813, 904
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South East Georgia 404, 912
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Hawaii Hawaii 808
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North West Idaho 208
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Central Illinois 217, 309, 312, 618,
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815
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Central Indiana 219, 317, 812
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Mid West Iowa 319, 515, 712
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Mid West Kansas 316, 913
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Central Kentucky 502, 606
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Texarkana Louisiana 318, 504
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New England Maine 207
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Mid West Manitoba Canada 204
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Mid Atlantic Maryland 301
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New England Massachusetts 413, 617
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Calif Nevada Mexico 706, 905
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Central Michigan 313, 517, 616, 906
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Mid West Minnesota 218, 507, 612
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South East Mississippi 601
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Mid West Missouri 314, 417, 816
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North West Montana 406
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Mid West Nebraska 308, 402
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Calif Nevada Nevada 702
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New England New Brunswick Canada 506
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New England New Hampshire 603
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Mid Atlantic New Jersey 201, 609
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Mountain New Mexico 505
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Mid Atlantic New York 212, 315, 516, 518,
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607, 716, 718,
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914
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New England Newfoundland Canada 709
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South East North Carolina 704, 919
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Mid West North Dakota 701
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New England Nova Scotia Canada 902
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Central Ohio 216, 419, 513, 614
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Texarkana Oklahoma 405, 918
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Central Ontario 416, 519, 613, 705
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Mid West Ontario Canada 807
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North West Oregon 503
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Mid Atlantic Pennsylvaina 215, 412, 717, 814
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New England Quebec Canada 418, 514, 819
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New England Rhode Island 401
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North West Saskatchewan 306
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South East South Carolina 803
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Mid West South Dakota 605
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South East Tennessee 615, 901
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Texarkana Texas 214, 409, 512, 713,
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806, 817, 915
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Mountain Utah 801
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New England Vermont 802
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Mid Atlantic Virginia 703, 804
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North West Washington 206, 509
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Mid Atlantic West Virginia 304
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Central Wisconsin 414, 608, 715
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Mountain Wyoming 307
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:13 Page 15
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------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:13 Page 16
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Fido Message Security Loophole
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by Lloyd Miller, Fido #418
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I have discovered what I believe to be a small
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security loophole for Fido systems who are running with
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public access allowed. If a user logs in giving the name
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"ALL" that user can then wreak havok with the public
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message base. "All" can then proced to kill any message
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addressed to "All", and just by reading "his" mail it
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will be marked as (RECV'D) and if the sysop uses the
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(undocumented) "2" command then the sysop could be
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killing the messages himself.
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Of course if you validate users before letting them
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into the message section there is no problem with this.
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Don't go rushing off to make your system (semi) private
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quite yet, there is a (fairly) easy solution.
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The solution to this is simple once you know about
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it. Use sysop.exe to enter a user named "all" BEFORE
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some twit tries it. Set the password to a long string of
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random keystrokes and give the fake user $1 credit so
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sysop.exe won't expire the entry in 30 days (or whatever
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you use). For extra security you can give "All" twit
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priv. level so even if the password is found it probably
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can't be used to spend the $1. Hope you sysops out there
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see this before any malicious users find it. (My system
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has taken care of it of course).
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There is a possible problem with the $1 credit in
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that the proposed user directory utility will think
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"all" is a paid up network user. This is easily repaired
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at several stages.
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There is still one (very small) problem left.
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Public messages do not have to be addressed to "all".
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They can be To: anyone or everyone or hey you or
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whatever your users fee like. (Tom will claim this is a
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feature so you can send mail to someone who hasn't
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registered yet.) About all you can do about this is warn
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your users or ignore it till someone gets burned. Good
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luck however you treat this warning, I still think Fido
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is extremly secure for the amount it does.
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Lloyd Miller, Sysop of the Calgary_Fido #418
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------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:15 Page 17
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-------------------------------------------------------
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New Fido Utility Software
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-------------------------------------------------------
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David Purks
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Sysop #456, FIDO-FHLMC
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I have written a new Fido Sysop's user utility that is ready
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for distribution. Originally I wrote it because I am forced
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to work on our Fido from remote a majority of the time. The
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old utility is screen oriented and very difficult to work
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with from remote. The new version offers a number of
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enhancements that make it worth using even if you don't do
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any modifications of the users file from remote.
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The utility I've written looks and works much like Fido
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itself and runs 25-30% faster. From the tests we've run, I
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think it's pretty much machine independent (works on IBM and
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Rainbow 100).
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In order to do the final testing on it, I'd like to hear
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from people who would be interested in giving the routine a
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try. The first 20 or so Sysops that notify me of their
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interest, I'll Fidomail the routine and documentation to
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you. I am especially interested in hearing from Sysops who
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run Fido on equipment other than IBM & Rainbow. Give it a
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try and let me know if you have any problems, sug-gestions,
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etc. After the initial distribution, everyone else can pick
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the routine up from our board in the \FIDODIST area or any
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where else you can find it.
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[Editor's note: It is also available from 1/375]
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FIDONEWS -- 03 Jun 85 00:01:16 Page 18
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============================================================
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NOTICES
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============================================================
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Fidonews Bugs
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In the last issue of Fidonews, it was stated that the "list
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of nodes in a file" feature no longer works in Fido.
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That turns out to be only partly correct. It does not work
|
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in version 10i due to a program bug, but in version 10j it
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works as documented.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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*** Calendar of Events ***
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6 Jun 85 at 8pm; Next Fido meeting for SoCalNet, in the
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office if the sysop of Fido 370.
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9 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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