1453 lines
46 KiB
Plaintext
1453 lines
46 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 3, Number 3 20 January 1986
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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 1/1
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Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
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Review Editor: Allen Miller
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 1/1. You are
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encouraged to submit articles for publication in Fidonews.
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Article submission standards are contained in the file
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FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 1/1.
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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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Table of Contents
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1. EDITORIAL
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FidoNet Administration
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2. NEWS
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Modified copies of Fido documentation
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Fido 108/62 afflicted with FidoRot
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Things That Need to be Said
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Running a "Non-Technical" Fido
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ProComm support board back on-line!
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Some more thoughts on shareware
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3. COLUMNS
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Printer Tips
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A Critique of PC Pursuit
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Rainbow Corner
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4. WANTED
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Rainbow hard disk controller needed
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Space Coast Fido is looking for people
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5. NOTICES
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All About ARC version 4.52
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The Interrupt Stack
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Special notice to Jim Filgo
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============================================================
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EDITORIAL
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This week's guest editorial is by Ken Kaplan, the National
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FidoNet Coordinator.
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FidoNet Administration
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FidoNet has been growing by leaps and bounds. It's not only
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growing in this country, but in other countries as well.
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Administering the net has grown to be an enormous task.
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So far we've been able to keep up, but it looks like that
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will be harder and harder as time goes by. The time has
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come when we need someone full time to keep up with it all.
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The cost of phone calls alone has gotten large enough to
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make my company complain, not to mention the sheer amount of
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time I spend daily on FidoNet administration.
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I don't intend to make anyone do anything they don't want to
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do. FidoNet is and always has been a voluntary thing; I
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don't propose to change that. But there is so much that I
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can do, and should do, that I am not at present able to do,
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that would make FidoNet better for all of us. I simply
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don't have the time to do the things I'd like! There are so
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many services that I could provide, if only I had the time
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to do them. We should be advertising FidoNet to
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unsophisticated users. We should be providing more support
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to the beginning sysop. We should be compiling a stack of
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ready answers to common questions. We should be compiling a
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list of services that FidoNet sysops can provide to
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commercial users (for a price, of course!) We should be
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getting involved in legislation that affects sysops.
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There are so many things that we should be doing, but nobody
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has the time! It is all I can do just to maintain the
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national net, and I see so much more that I could do, if
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only I could spend the time on it. I'm an amateur, same as
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you. I've been doing this in my spare time, same as you.
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But I've just about reached the limit of what I can do
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without offending my company.
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I'd like to be able to spend all my time on making FidoNet
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better for all of us, but I need your help. What I have in
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mind is something like freeware. If you can see your way
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clear to send some money to help out, I'll greatly
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appreciate it. At the very least, it'll help to pay for my
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phone bills. If we're lucky, enough people will help out
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enough so that I can spend all my time working on improving
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FidoNet. If enough money comes in, then I can think of
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several solid, worthwhile services I can provide that you'll
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really appreciate.
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Fidonews Page 2 20 Jan 1986
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I promise that I'll be the national coordinator as long as I
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can afford to, but please send whatever you can to:
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FidoNet(tm) Administrators
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PO Box 41143
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St. Louis, MO. 63141
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Thanks,
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Ken Kaplan and Ben Baker
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Fidonews Page 3 20 Jan 1986
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============================================================
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NEWS
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============================================================
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Rob Elliott
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Fido's #115/100 and #115/500
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I have heard many complaints from sysops concerning the dis-
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tributed documentation for Fido Version 11. The problem
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does not lie in the huge size of the file, but in the over-
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printing used to produce bold and underlined characters. It
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can take hours to print, if your printer can even handle it.
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(A surprisingly high number cannot) So, I have created two
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modified versions of the documentation that do not use this
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tedious overprinting process, and put them in archive format
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for distribution as follows:
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FIDODOC1.ARC is the original documentation with overprinting
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via backspacing. It is about 300Kb long when un-ARC'ed.
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FIDODOC2.ARC is a modified version that uses escape codes
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for bold and underline, as used by DEC LA50/LA100 type
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printers. It is about 250Kb long when un-ARC'ed.
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FIDODOC3.ARC contains no bold or underlining by any means.
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It is about 246Kb long when un-ARC'ed.
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These files are available on Sit-Ubu_Sit Fido #115/500 and
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at Illini Data RB Fido #115/100 (the latter requires good
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VT100 emulation). Possibly elsewhere by the time you read
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this.
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Fidonews Page 4 20 Jan 1986
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Tim Sullivan
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PC Techniques
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108/62
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My board seems to have an affliction that can best be
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described as 'Fidorot' or 'Fido dulldrums'. It seemed like
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an excellent idea to bring up a Fido system of my own. My
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company was willing to provide the resources and I had the
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time and interest to undertake SYSOP duties. There were
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only a few Fido nodes in my area and it seemed as if it was
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getting harder to gain access to them. I even came up with
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what I thought was a unique idea for a theme. But after
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less than three months in operation, my board seems to have
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stagnated!
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There haven't been any new ideas lately. The frequency of
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calls is dwindling. Nothing new has been uploaded. There
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hasn't been any Fido mail for days. I NEED HELP!
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Please help this board to survive! I'll listen to ideas,
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comments, suggestions or any kind of help. Please take the
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time to Fido mail your favorite freeware program, new SYSOP
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utilities, an article that you read last week, games, or
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anything of interest or controversy to keep this board
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alive.
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This board needs a quick injection of activity. If you like
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phoning Fidos in other places, how about trying PC
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Techniques! We're online from 6pm - 6am Weekdays and 24hrs
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Weekends at (513) 891-1947.
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Fidonews Page 5 20 Jan 1986
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Miscellaneous Things That Need to be Said
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Well once again I've somehow managed to find the time to
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write another one of my amazing articles for FidoNews. My
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main problem is that I've found this amazing institution
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called Private High School, and for some reason they feel
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I'm a Senior and that they should be able to take all of my
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time. By the way, this institution is called Allen Academy,
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and if any Alumni is out there send money or it won't be
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around any longer. Anyway I'm glad that someone created the
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index, it was just what Fnews needed.
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I believe that I own the world's oldest IBM Pc. The mother
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board came with 48k (in 16k chips). Of course we upgraded,
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but our BIOS is so old it won't except the 640k we put in.
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In fact we can't install a hard disk of any measurable size.
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I have a complaint! The last time I looked at the nodelist
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Bill Smith was the Sysop of Elite Software! Well, I hate to
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say this but Bill doesn't sysop the board, I do. Would
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someone fix this please?
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I don't know how many people out there use Volkswriter but
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if you don't use it you should. It spells now and is real
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nice.
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Oh, yeah. Every one that reads this is invited to my 19th
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birthday which is on the 23rd of May. And if you want you
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can stick around and go to Commencement ball (24th) and on
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the 25th you can stick around and see if I actually graduate
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this year.
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Mike Ringer
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Sysop of Elite Software
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117/1262
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3/12
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Fidonews Page 6 20 Jan 1986
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Brad Hicks
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Fido 100/523
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+-------------------------------------------------+
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: SOME THOUGHTS ON RUNNING A "NON-TECHNICAL" FIDO :
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+-------------------------------------------------+
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I've been running WeirdBase since March of 1984, and in
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those scant few months, it has grown into the one of the
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most-popular BBS in St. Louis. Along the way, I've
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learned a few things that I think are worth passing along.
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Most of these come under the heading of, "I wish somebody
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had told ME that!"
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LESSON NUMBER ONE: THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHOSE
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COMPUTERS DON'T RUN MS-DOS.
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And furthermore, a lot of them have something to
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contribute! What does this mean? To start with, it means
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that you should lose your copy of SQ.EXE, and only use ARC
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and LU to open things up, not box them in. Hundreds of
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Apple //, Macintosh, CP/M, TI, and Atari users will thank
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you. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute - would you
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call back to a BBS where roughly half of the text was
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restricted to people with a different computer?
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LESSON NUMBER TWO: THE FIDO GENERIC ON-LINE HELP SUCKS.
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Maybe it's adequate for technical users and as a quick
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reference, but otherwise it's just blatantly useless.
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Nowhere in the on-line help does it tell a new user what a
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Message Area IS, or what the difference is between an
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upload and a download, or what the difference is between
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the E)ditorial and the B)ulletin, or what he can change
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with the C)hange menu, or any of the myriad topics that a
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newcomer to Fido needs to know. Technical users will, of
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course, download the Fido Users Guide from some system,
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memorize it, and never look back. Non-technical users
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can't or won't DO it that way. The '?' command is a good
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place to put a few screens'-worth of good on-line help.
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Tip: make it specific to your board! When you describe the
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A)rea-change command, tell them what the other A)reas are
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used for, and so forth.
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LESSON NUMBER THREE: KEEP THE MESSAGE AREAS SMALL.
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There are several good reasons for this one, and not
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the least of them is that each message takes up 4 kb. At
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that rate, once you hit a thousand messages, you're
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starting to hurt for disk space.
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But the most important reason is that nobody wants to
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read more than about 60 messages before jumping into the
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conversation. When you consider how many 300 baud modems
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are still out there, and what some people pay in long-
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Fidonews Page 7 20 Jan 1986
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distance costs, you can see why.
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But what can you do for people who don't call in very
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often? See my next tip ...
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LESSON NUMBER FOUR: DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY.
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I have a long-standing complaint about bulletin boards.
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While they are a great way to collect a lot of written
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material in a hurry, a very convenient means of
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correspondence, they are completely without history.
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Outside of CompuServe, where you can occasionally find a
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file 'something.THD', old messages go to the same place
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where your lap goes when you stand up.
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On WeirdBase, I have a sloppily-hacked-together IBM PC
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BASIC utility to print out messages, which I use in
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conjunction with PC-Write 2.4 to maintain The Message
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Archive. The Message Archive is a collection of
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conversation files, from all of the areas on WeirdBase,
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separated by topic, each with around ten to thirty
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messages. For example (excuse the truncated subjects) ...
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FILENAME BYTES FROM TO MSGS AREA SUBJECT
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---------- ----- ----- ----- ---- ---- ----------------
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ALERT 21019 10/15 11/22 19 4 Pagan Action Ale
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ASTRO 21029 10/14 11/03 25 1 Astronomy, Comet
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BBSLAW 8192 09/16 10/26 9 1 Congress vs. BBS
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DRWHO2 15436 09/24 11/03 26 3 Dr. Who, fandom
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EVIL!D&D 36668 09/16 11/21 37 5 The Evils of D&D
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FANMISC1 11168 08/31 10/25 30 2 S.F. Books and M
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JOKES2 3967 10/16 11/22 15 1 More Attempted H
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SEX 10596 12/28 12/31 10 1 Sex & Contracept
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Any new user, or anyone who's been gone for awhile, can
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go to Files Area 1 and with the F)iles and T)ype command
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locate and read ONLY the messages in which he is
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interested, then switch to the Message Area indicated (in
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my FILES.BBS comments I show the range of dates, number of
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messages, and the message area for your replies) to catch
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up on this week's contributions and reply.
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LESSON NUMBER FIVE: STICK TO SUBJECTS THAT YOU KNOW
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Look - no matter how fanatical your users are, expect
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that (especially if you're just getting started) somewhere
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between 20% to 50% of the messages on your board are going
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to have to be written by the sysop. Users (quite rightly,
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I think) expect the sysop to reply to their comments, and
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to lead off new conversations.
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I've been in science fiction fandom since I was a small
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child, I'm a Neopagan Witch, I'm a gamer, I'm into
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political philosophy and Libertarianism. Wanna guess what
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the first couple of message areas on WeirdBase are? That's
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right, after #1 (general), science fiction books and fandom
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Fidonews Page 8 20 Jan 1986
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is in #2, science fiction TV and movies in #3 (I got so
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many Dr. Who fans that they needed their own area),
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Neopagan Witchcraft in #4, gaming in #5, and civil rights
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in #6. That's what I know, so that's what conversations I
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started. Fortunately, these aren't uncommon interests in
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the St. Louis modem community.
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But I've tried several times to get conversations going
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on subjects I knew less well but was interested in -
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BadFilms, Punk Rock, and so forth - and each time it
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fizzled. SOMEBODY has to take charge of a message area and
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keep it moving, or it fades away.
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LESSON NUMBER SIX: ... BUT KEEP IT LEGAL!
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This almost shouldn't have to be said. For one thing,
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you won't last long on the FidoNet if you're heavily into
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illegal activities - I doubt if many Pirate Boards will
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ever even see this article.
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Here's the list of things that I've been avoiding like
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the plague: phone numbers of Pirate Boards or any other
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information on hacking, phreaking, pirating, or crashing;
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any advice or suggestions on criminal activities; anything
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to would be classed as "pornography" by St. Louis community
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standards (for example, ASCII nudes).
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By cracking down hard on people who do such things, and
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by having a very supportive cast of regulars, I've been
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able to get away with running a completely open board, no
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validation whatsoever (knock on wood!). The people who are
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into those activities leave VERY quickly for more
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hospitable boards.
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By the way, I decided a long time ago that I wasn't
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going to have much of any software to download. There were
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three reasons, and I still stand by them. First, they
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discourage people with other machines. Second, they really
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aren't that appropriate to a non-technical, conversation-
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oriented BBS. Third, I didn't want the hassle of having to
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figure out what really was and wasn't public domain. You
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might want to think about these reasons, too. Remember,
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there are lots of other boards from which people can
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download software.
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LESSON SEVEN: BE FLEXIBLE!
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If a message area isn't getting any new messages, don't
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let it just sit there and rot - clean it out, archive the
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mess (see Lesson Four), and start something new! In fact,
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an empty message area probably looks better than one that
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is stagnant. And if worse comes to worse, you can always
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raise it to Sysop privilege, so it doesn't even show up on
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the A)rea list, until you're ready to unveil it.
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On my board, I reserved area 9 for FidoNet, so I've got
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Fidonews Page 9 20 Jan 1986
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two areas just for experimentation. At the moment we're
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using Area 7 in a group-writing project, and storing
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personal autobiographical messages in Area 8 - but that's
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very subject to change. In fact, that's why a few months
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ago I re-built the whole board so that my message areas
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were M!AREA1 through M!AREA9, and my file areas were
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F!AREA1 through F!AREA9. It encourages me to think about
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them in different ways.
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Star Tzard (normally on 125/433, lately on 100/22 and
|
|
100/523) tells me that his favorite metaphor for BBSing is
|
|
the Electronic Cocktail Party, but I prefer to think of
|
|
WeirdBase as the Electronic Science Fiction Convention -
|
|
with nine different function rooms, and an ever-rotating
|
|
schedule, and everything caught on "videotape" so that you
|
|
can review it later ... What more could anyone want?
|
|
|
|
===========================================================
|
|
Personal footnote: I'm trying to compile a list of Pagan
|
|
BBS's and boards with message/file areas dedicated to
|
|
Paganism and/or Witchcraft. If any of you know of any,
|
|
send FidoMail to Brad Hicks, 100/523. Thank you!
|
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 10 20 Jan 1986
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Tom Smith
|
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Fido 14/619
|
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PIL Software Systems is back on-line!
|
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|
|
The ProComm Support BBS, formerly Fido #10/619, is now up
|
|
and running as Fido #14/619 out of Columbia, MO.
|
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|
|
Hours: 7pm-7am CST, M-F (except for national mail time)
|
|
Plus any other time the machine's not in use. 23
|
|
hour/day service coming soon.
|
|
|
|
Number: (314) 449-9401
|
|
|
|
Focus: We're here primarily to distribute and support
|
|
ProComm, our user-supported communications
|
|
program.
|
|
|
|
Currently featuring ProComm version 2.1. 2.2 is in the works
|
|
and will feature Telink, YMODEM and MODEM7 file transfers,
|
|
among other new features.
|
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|
|
Give us a call and download ProComm, ask a question or make
|
|
a suggestion. We want to hear from you!
|
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 11 20 Jan 1986
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Some more thoughts on shareware
|
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|
|
A thought on shareware. After reading several articles in
|
|
FIDONEWS on the topic, I can't help but get my two cents in.
|
|
Our office uses several shareware programs. Among them, the
|
|
PC Write, File, Calc series, Pibterm, and AUTOMENU v 3.01.
|
|
Several utilities such as ARC are used, too.
|
|
|
|
I guess what caught my attention was mention in an article
|
|
about the personal check for Fido from an employee at MCI
|
|
who had set a Fido up for use in PC Pursuit advertising.
|
|
|
|
Many shareware authors make it easy for institutions to pay
|
|
for their products by including a formal invoice or order
|
|
form. Others, perhaps out of a desire not to appear pushy,
|
|
do not. It is impossible for my institution, under state
|
|
law, to send a check to a vendor without an invoice.
|
|
|
|
I guess the bottom line of this is -- Authors, please
|
|
include an invoice with your documentation or in the ASCII
|
|
that appears on screen when your program is called without
|
|
parameters, i.e. ARC. This will make it possible for those
|
|
of us who wish to compensate you for your work to do so.
|
|
|
|
I hope this hasn't been offensive; it is just not possible
|
|
for some institutional users to pay for items without an
|
|
invoice.
|
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|
|
Bill Allbritten, sysop, 11/301
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 12 20 Jan 1986
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============================================================
|
|
COLUMNS
|
|
============================================================
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PRINTER CARE
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|
Carol Bluestein
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|
Most people read their printer manual, plug in the printer
|
|
and never think anything more about it. I did, until
|
|
trouble developed. It is a very helpless feeling to realize
|
|
that something is going wrong and the trouble is electronic.
|
|
Most of my work is on my disks and I need that information
|
|
printed out. Oh well. The printer needed attention so I
|
|
took it in for service.
|
|
|
|
My printer was not printing a line of dots. I now know that
|
|
this means that one of the pins was inoperable. The print
|
|
head was replaced and everything was okay until the line
|
|
feed action was not consistent. Lines were being skipped or
|
|
printed at 8 lines per inch instead of 6 lines per inch, all
|
|
without my explicit direction, and a different pin was out
|
|
of commission. I took it back to be fixed. I wound up with
|
|
a new printer board and a second new print head.
|
|
|
|
Everything seemed to be okay, until another pin went. I
|
|
found this all very frustrating. I had had this printer for
|
|
10 months with no problems, and now it couldn't seem to
|
|
operate for two months straight.
|
|
|
|
This time the service people couldn't find anything wrong
|
|
with the electronics. It turned out to be something fairly
|
|
simple. The pin had gotten clogged with ink.
|
|
|
|
There is a way to fix this problem, and you can do it at
|
|
home. First remove the print head. Take out the ribbon,
|
|
and look down at the print head. There is a metal lever
|
|
that swings out and unlocks the print head. Lift the head
|
|
out. When the head is free, you will notice that it is
|
|
still attached to the printer board by a plastic cable which
|
|
has a clear plastic tab just underneath it. Never pull the
|
|
cable itself; always use the tab. Pull it horizontally, and
|
|
the print head and cable will pull free of the printer
|
|
board. Now, look at the print head and find the pins (the
|
|
part that is up against the ribbon).
|
|
|
|
Take some WD-40, and either spray it directly on the pin
|
|
heads or on a tooth brush, and then carefully brush the pin
|
|
head to clear out the clogging ink. If you want, you can
|
|
then place some lubricating oil behind the pin heads, where
|
|
you can see their shafts. To replace the print head, just
|
|
reverse the procedure, remembering to handle the cable only
|
|
by the clear tab.
|
|
|
|
And one more item. Be careful when you use multi-forms and
|
|
textured or heavy paper in your dot matrix printer.
|
|
Printing occurs when the pins strike the ribbon, which in
|
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|
|
Fidonews Page 13 20 Jan 1986
|
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|
|
turn strikes the paper. If you don't make the adjustment on
|
|
the position of the print head in relation to the paper, and
|
|
you are too close, the thickness of the paper(s) can snag
|
|
the pins. There is a lever which adjusts the pin head
|
|
distance from the platen. If you are using thick paper or
|
|
multi-forms, make the adjustment.
|
|
|
|
I sincerely hope that this saves you time and money.
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 14 20 Jan 1986
|
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|
|
C R I T I Q U E : P C P U R S U I T
|
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|
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|
|
This article is a short critique of GTE's long distance
|
|
communications service called PC Pursuit. I have attempted
|
|
to provide a maximum amount of information in a minimum
|
|
amount of space. This document was written on 25 Oct 85.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is PC Pursuit?
|
|
===================
|
|
|
|
It is a data only communications service provided by GTE.
|
|
It is available only during evenings and on weekends,
|
|
corresponding to the times when reduced long distance voice
|
|
phone charges are in effect. It is available only in 12
|
|
major cities. The service allows a subscriber to make an
|
|
unlimited number of calls to any of the twelve cities. Each
|
|
call is supposedly limited to one hour in length; I have
|
|
made a few calls longer than one hour and have not been cut
|
|
off. You can call at 300 or 1200 baud. Voice is not
|
|
supported.
|
|
|
|
|
|
How much does it cost?
|
|
======================
|
|
|
|
$25 to sign up and $25/mo. The first month's charges are
|
|
prorated based on the day of the month you subscribe. There
|
|
is no (zero) charge for connect time, number of calls, or
|
|
for using 1200 Baud. $25/mo is all GTE charges for ,as they
|
|
say, "all you can eat." GTE will bill your Visa or Master
|
|
Card, or send you invoices monthly. Depending on what your
|
|
local call telephone charges are, your local phone company
|
|
may charge you for each connection -- see next section.
|
|
|
|
|
|
How does it work?
|
|
=================
|
|
|
|
It works quite well, subject to the "problems" described
|
|
below. Each of the 12 cities has a local PC Pursuit access
|
|
number. You call this number, and a modem answers. (In my
|
|
case, this "local" number is a Zone 2 call and costs me $.07
|
|
on weekday evenings, $.04 on weekends.) The network answers
|
|
and asks you what city you want to call. (I have never
|
|
received a busy signal from the local number.) You answer
|
|
with one of the twelve city names. It asks you what the
|
|
local number is you want to call (in the requested city).
|
|
You provide the number. It asks you if you want to proceed,
|
|
or respecify city/phone number. Your specify proceed. It
|
|
asks you to hang up and wait for a call back. It hangs up.
|
|
Within about 30 seconds it calls you back. You must have a
|
|
modem capable of answering; when your modem answers you get
|
|
a series of messages stating (1) your request is on the GTE
|
|
network, (2) your call is being made, (3) your connection is
|
|
complete, or busy, or no answer. If complete, you are
|
|
automatically connected to the other number, just as if you
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 15 20 Jan 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
called using normal long distance. Otherwise the network
|
|
hangs up, and you can start again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What are the problems?
|
|
======================
|
|
|
|
The biggest one is that a 1200 baud connection has an
|
|
effective data rate of about 600 baud. This is caused by
|
|
the extra computer processing done by the PC Pursuit
|
|
network. I have not tried 300 baud. Occasionally I have
|
|
gotten a message to the effect that there are no circuits
|
|
open to the requested city; when this happens the network
|
|
hangs up after saying "Please try again later." Also, on a
|
|
very few occasions I have gotten a very noisy connection,
|
|
and also lost the connection during an upload/download
|
|
operation. In general, except for the slow data rate, I
|
|
feel the service is at least as good as normal long
|
|
distance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What are the upcoming improvements?
|
|
===================================
|
|
|
|
They will support 2400 baud sometime during 1986. In the
|
|
last few weeks the network has occasionally redialed busy
|
|
numbers 10 times. They will implement auto redial "real
|
|
soon now"; I suspect they are trying it out on a few lines
|
|
first.
|
|
|
|
|
|
How do I get more information &/or sign up?
|
|
===========================================
|
|
|
|
Call the PC Pursuit information number, 1-800-835-3001.
|
|
It's busy a lot. When you get on you'll have 10 minutes on
|
|
a stripped down Fido system. The Files section has files
|
|
giving the 12 cities, access numbers, availability times,
|
|
etc. You can download all of this data. You can also sign
|
|
up online; that's what I did.
|
|
|
|
I hope this answers more questions than it raises. I've
|
|
been using PC Pursuit since early September and, except for
|
|
the slow data rate, I really like it.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
Fidonews Page 16 20 Jan 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rainbow Corner
|
|
by Theodore Needleman
|
|
|
|
Finally, a chance to catch up a bit on Reader mail. This
|
|
week's seems to fall into two categories. More positive
|
|
comments and encouragement on Project Transport, and
|
|
questions which, surprisingly enough, are all pretty much
|
|
about the same topic.
|
|
|
|
Project Transport looks more and more likely. I'm currently
|
|
giving some thought about how to identify those software
|
|
packages to be tested, and will probably use some software
|
|
guides, such as QUE Book's as a start. Several of you have
|
|
already reported some IBM packages which will run on the
|
|
Rainbow, and I will be listing these in a couple of weeks.
|
|
|
|
I still haven't received the IBM emulator package I
|
|
mentioned last week. If it does show up, (and if it works),
|
|
I'll not only report to you on it, but try to make it part
|
|
of the project.
|
|
|
|
This week's questions all seem to be about the feasibility
|
|
of using IBM peripherals (RAM memory, hard disks,
|
|
multifunction boards, etc.) with the Rainbow. There are two
|
|
factors to be considered when discussing this possibility,
|
|
neither of which offer much encouragement. The first of
|
|
these is hardware incompatibility. IBM peripherals are
|
|
designed for a bus environment. All of the IBM's expansion
|
|
slots lie on this bus, allowing any card to be placed into
|
|
any slot. The Rainbow does not use a bus structure (strange
|
|
when you consider DEC invented the bus concept). Instead,
|
|
there are areas on the Rainbow motherboard where specific
|
|
expansion boards can be plugged in. The connectors in these
|
|
areas contain just the particular signals that are used with
|
|
the specific board that belongs in that area. Even if you
|
|
could fit a disk controller board in the area reserved for
|
|
the graphics expansion, it wouldn't work. Add to this the
|
|
fact that IBM type cards connect through fingers on the
|
|
card, while DEC cards use a plug and socket scheme. So you
|
|
can't just "plug in" an IBM type card. Beside the hardware
|
|
incompatibilities, there are also quite a few software
|
|
problems. Because IBM peripherals are used on a bus, they
|
|
must contain some method of decoding when the signals on the
|
|
bus are destined for them, rather than some other card.
|
|
Complicating things even further, the organization of the
|
|
memory (memory map) is different from the Rainbow, as are
|
|
the screen addressing and graphics, and the BIOS (Basic
|
|
Input Output System).
|
|
|
|
As you can see, it is no easy job to use an IBM type board
|
|
with a Rainbow, though, at least in theory, it can be done.
|
|
What is needed is an interface. This would plug into the
|
|
various Rainbow connectors, and the IBM type boards would
|
|
plug into the interface. Once this was accomplished, the
|
|
"BOX" would convert Rainbow signals into something the IBM
|
|
peripherals could understand, and vice-a-versa. There is a
|
|
similar type of equipment (at least in concept) used in
|
|
communications called a PROTOCOL CONVERTER. In fact, I
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 17 20 Jan 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
recently came across a rumor that DEC has commissioned such
|
|
a device from a third party OEM. I wouldn't hold your
|
|
breath though, I hear lots of rumors, most of which are
|
|
wishful thinking. Even if this one turns out to be true,
|
|
with DEC's marketing track record, it will probably cost
|
|
more to buy than a fully configured IBM-PC! If anyone could
|
|
bring out a device like this for between $500 and $750, they
|
|
would make a lot of money in very little time.
|
|
|
|
Last week I promised to spend more time on the FIDONET
|
|
system. FIDO is a public access bulletin board system (BBS)
|
|
that was written several years ago by Tom Jennings. Tom
|
|
lives in San Francisco, and though I've never met him (or
|
|
even talked to him) I have a lot of admiration for him and
|
|
his work. He put FIDO into the public domain, and it has
|
|
become the most used micro-based BBS in the world. The FIDO
|
|
BBS is an extremely user-friendly system to the dial-in
|
|
caller and most have a similar structure. There are two main
|
|
areas - a Message Area, and a File Area. Each area usually
|
|
has several (or many) sub areas. On most FIDO boards, for
|
|
example, the Message Area has sub areas for FIDONET Mail
|
|
(more on this in a moment), answers to questions to the
|
|
SYSOP (System Operator) a "general" message area where you
|
|
can leave messages for other users of the board, and several
|
|
specialized message areas that depend on the orientation of
|
|
the board and/or inclination of the SYSOP.
|
|
|
|
So far, the FIDO "system" sounds (and is) great. But I
|
|
haven't discussed the most remarkable thing about it.
|
|
Almost every FIDO BBS is networked with the others (that's
|
|
why it's called FIDONET). Each individual BBS is a node in
|
|
the network. and, as of this writing, there are 306 nodes!
|
|
This means that you can send mail, in the form of messages
|
|
or programs, to (and from) any node in the network. The way
|
|
this works is that the message is left in a special area of
|
|
the board (the FIDOMAIL area mentioned before) along with
|
|
routing instructions. Sometime during the early morning
|
|
(from 2AM to 5AM), with each board having its own assigned
|
|
time, FIDO collects all messages to a single node into a
|
|
packet, dials up those boards where a message or packet is
|
|
destined, and delivers (transmits) the FIDOMAIL. It's
|
|
really quite remarkable when you think of it. Every night,
|
|
while most of us are sleeping, all of these messages are
|
|
zipping around the country (and world). There is generally
|
|
a charge for using FIDOMAIL, albeit a very reasonable one to
|
|
help cover the phone bill. If you are interested in using
|
|
this feature of FIDONET, check with the SYSOP of the board
|
|
you use.
|
|
|
|
Next week, I'll discuss the process of up and downloading
|
|
software, review some public domain software, and give some
|
|
more DEC-oriented FIDO board numbers. See you then!
|
|
|
|
|
|
(c)opyright 1985 by Ted Needleman-all rights reserved
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 18 20 Jan 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
============================================================
|
|
WANTED
|
|
============================================================
|
|
|
|
Rob Elliott
|
|
Fido 115/100
|
|
|
|
I am in desperate need of a DEC Rainbow hard disk controller
|
|
board and a Winchester hard disk mounting plate. If you
|
|
have any of these for sale, or know of a place they are
|
|
available immediately, please reply to me at Fido 115/100.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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|
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Fidonews Page 19 20 Jan 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hello, EG&G Space Systems is collecting resumes of people
|
|
with Technological backgrounds. This is the format we would
|
|
like to see them in:
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Your Name
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Education
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Summary of schools you have attended. These include
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training in the armed forces, for work, etc. For colleges
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and universities they can just be the degree you have
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from them.
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Professional Summary
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Short summary of your work experience. Any managerial
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posts, technical positions, etc.
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Professional Experience
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Your work experience, from latest to earliest by company.
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Preferably short description of what you have accomp-
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lished, but we don't mind if you get long winded, some
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people get too terse.
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Publications and Papers
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Any documents that you have authored. Include everything.
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We will edit the list to your best advantage in any
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proposals that we submit.
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Professional Organizations and Honors
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Not all of us graduate Summa Cum Laude (gee did I spell
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that right?) or be a Phi Beta Kappa, but we can belong to
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some very interesting organizations and have honors from
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some very interesting places.
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Basically we are generating proposals for NASA and KSC in
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the advanced technology area. For more information, contact
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us:
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EG&G Space Systems
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219 Indian River Avenue, Suite 200
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P.O. Box 6505
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Titusville, Fl 32782-6505
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(305)-267-8028
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David W. Heron
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Computer Hardware/Operating Systems Specialist
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Sysop Fido 145/1
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Network Coordinator Net 145
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Space Coast Net
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Titusville & Kennedy Space Ctr.
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Brevard Co. Florida
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 20 20 Jan 1986
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============================================================
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NOTICES
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============================================================
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Thom Henderson, 107/8
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System Enhancement Associates
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Relax!
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ARC 4.52 Is Ours
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There's a great deal of confusion out there about what
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version of ARC is the "correct" one. Is it 4.52, or 4.50?
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Since this all started because of a mistake I made, then I
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should explain.
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The "official" current version of ARC is 4.50. That's what
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we have on our board, and that's the one we support.
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However, we're still working on it, as we have been all
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along. (After all, four major versions in less than a year!)
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At one point, not all that long ago, I logged onto a board
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and saw that the sysop had version 4.3, or some such. I
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thought he would appreciate the latest version, so I
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uploaded it. By mistake I uploaded an internal development
|
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version, numbered 4.52. Needless to say, I'll try not to do
|
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that again!
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At this point, I'm no longer sure just how 4.52 differs from
|
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4.50, except that you'd have to look long and hard to find
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it. It also shouldn't do any harm for you to use 4.52,
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except insofar as it's creating headaches for us.
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I'm amazed, and deeply gratified, at the storm of messages
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we've received from concerned sysops and users. Our thanks
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to you all, and I apologize for all the confusion.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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The Interrupt Stack
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24 Jan 1986
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Voyager 2 passes Uranus.
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9 Feb 1986
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Halley's Comet reaches perihelion.
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9 Feb 1986
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Diana Overholt (109/74) has another birthday.
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11 Apr 1986
|
|
Halley's Comet reaches perigee.
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19 May 1986
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Steve Lemke's next birthday.
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Fidonews Page 21 20 Jan 1986
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24 Aug 1989
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Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
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If you have something which you would like to see on this
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calendar, please send a message to Fido 1/1.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Will Jim Filgo, node 131/445, please call node 1/1 to pick
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up his mail?
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------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 22 20 Jan 1986
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