1321 lines
45 KiB
Plaintext
1321 lines
45 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 3, Number 5 3 February 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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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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Fidonews is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, node 1/1.
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You 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 node 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.
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Table of Contents
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1. EDITORIAL
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In Memorium
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2. NEWS
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The Dream is, and must remain, alive!
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Encryption, Public Keys and Otherwise
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Valentine's Day FidoGrams
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Don't Miss Those Calls!
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FidoNet Mail Help (A Plea)
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Fido Sysop's BBS in the making!!!
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TROFF, Part 2
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3. COLUMNS
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The World of Computing: Greetings, 1986 Predictions
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4. FOR SALE
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New hard disk/modem combo for PCjr
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5. NOTICES
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The Interrupt Stack
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Higher Education Network to Form
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South Bay Users Group sets up new Fido node 143/17
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Please Don't Ask Florida!
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The Challenger
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============================================================
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EDITORIAL
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============================================================
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Lloyd Schwartz
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node 109/74
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For those who did not identify President Reagan's moving poetic
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closing literary allusion, the following original text of the
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WWII flier's piece will be appropriate:
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"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
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And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
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Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
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Of sun-split clouds ... and done a hundred things
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You have not dreamed of ... wheeled and soared and swung
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High in sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
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I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
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My eager craft through footless halls of air ...
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Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
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I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
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Where never lark, or even eagle flew ...
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And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
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The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
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Put out my hand and touched the face of God."
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What could be a better tribute, and memorial, to those who
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died in Space?
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Fidonews Page 2 3 Feb 1986
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============================================================
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NEWS
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The Dream is, and must remain, alive!
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Kurt Reisler
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SYSOP 109/74
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The Bear's Den
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On January 28, 1986, at 11:39 am, our world was rocked.
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Once again, we will all remember exactly what we were doing
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when we heard the news. The shock, disbelief, pain and
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sorrow were felt across the country and the world. A lot
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more than seven lives were lost in those microseconds when
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the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. Along with the death
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of the seven astronauts, a little of America and the world
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died. In grief, pain and frustration, I decided to try
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to do something to make myself feel a little better.
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I setup a new editorial on both of my FIDOs, expressing my
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feelings, and asking the user population to share their
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views in a new message area. In addition, I decided that I
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would collect these messages, and try to take them to
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Senator Jake Garn's office, to show that there was support
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for the space shuttle program from a sector that is not
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usually heard from, the BBS community. I also issued the
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same request via UUCP/USENET to the UNIX community. And the
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messages have been pouring in. I have been in touch with
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Senator Garn's office, and they are very interested in the
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effort.
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So again I ask, to the SYSOPs and users of FIDONET. Please
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collect messages from your users, expressing their reactions
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to the shuttle tragedy, and their opinions as to the future
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of the manned space program. After a week or so, bundle
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them up into an archive and send them to me via FIDONET. I
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will collect them, print them out, and hand carry them to
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Senator Garn, on behalf of all of us in FIDONET.
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We need to express our opinions and make them known to the
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right people. If we don't, someone else is going to make
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the decisions without our input. And if the wrong decision
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is made, a lot is going to be lost, to us, and to future
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generations. I have received responses from as far away as
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Sidney Australia. Please help keep the program going.
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"The Dream is, and must remain alive!"
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Fidonews Page 3 3 Feb 1986
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Encryption, Public Keys and Otherwise
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PART One.
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If you know what "Public Key Encryption" is then feel
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free to skip to part two.
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Public Key Encryption is a special form of encryption
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which uses different keys for encryption (or scrambling) of
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a message and decryption (unscrambling, the reverse
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operation).
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The separate keys for each operation have several
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advantages. The first is that the encryption key can be
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distributed much more easily by less secure means without
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compromising the security of future encrypted messages.
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Simple knowledge of the encryption key does not enable
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decryption of encrypted messages. The decryption key is
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required to recreate the original message. For this reason
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the encryption key is commonly called the "public key" and
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the decryption key is the "private key".
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In operation, everyone who wants to receive secret
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messages creates their own pair of keys, one private and one
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public. The public key is them communicated to everyone who
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may want to send them a secret message. Perhaps a central
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key distribution center could be established. The private
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key is kept secret and never told to anyone.
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For example ... Art wants to send Beth a secret message.
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He would look up Beth's public key or ask her to send him
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one (in the clear). He would then use Beth's public key to
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encrypt his message and send her the encrypted message. Beth
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receives the message and decodes it with her private key. No
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one else can decrypt the message even if they get a copy of
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the encrypted message AND the public key. They need the
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private key.
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In 1978 the CACM journal published a way of doing this
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on computers. The system they described has come to be known
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as the "RSA" cypto system.
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The RSA system has an additional property beyond the
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general Public Key Encryption system described so far. With
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the RSA system the keys are interchangeable so you can use a
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private key to encrypt a message and then only the
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corresponding public key will unscramble the message. This
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is in effect a "digital signature" which "signs" a message
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showing that the encrypted message could only have been
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created with knowledge of the private key.
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Messages can also be encrypted more than once. For
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example you can sign a message with your private key and
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then encrypt the result again with the intended receiver's
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public key to make a signed, secret message. The receiver
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would then need to do the reverse two steps in the reverse
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order to get the original message back.
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Fidonews Page 4 3 Feb 1986
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Even more complex interaction can be used for special
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purposes. Articles have appeared on how to play poker over
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the phone and how to hold a secret ballot election over the
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phone and others.
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PART Two.
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I have recently completed a Public Key Encryption system
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based on the RSA system. It runs on MS-DOS using files for
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keys and messages. I am distributing the system as
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freeware/shareware. (PKSCrypt 0.0 or 0.01)
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There may be some legal or political considerations in
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this.
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I have heard rumors that this sort of stuff comes under
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certain restrictions for export of high tech (or something)
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from the USA. I don't think this quite applies to me because
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I am exporting the system TO the USA. (I live in Canada).
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I have also heard rumors that some intelligence
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organization (unnamed) is discouraging public discussion
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(let alone utilization) of these systems. I have trouble
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believing this because I had no trouble finding all the
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information I could ever desire on the subject. There was
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even an article in Byte magazine and a couple of follow-up
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letters.
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Anyone who has any solid info on this, I would like to
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hear from you. I especially would like to hear directly from
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any government organization(s) (in any country) who may
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think they are involved.
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Interested parties may contact me via Fido node 134/1.
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Lloyd Miller
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Calgary, Alberta
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1986 January 16
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Fidonews Page 5 3 Feb 1986
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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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: VALENTINES DAY FIDOGRAMS :
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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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By Luck Hurder
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"What's a Fidogram?" Aw, c'mon now! Dontcha read your Fido
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newsletters? OK, for all of you who've been chasing bytes
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in Katmandu of late, here's the scoop.
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The Fidogram service is a free telegram service. Yessiree,
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just like Western Onion; you send us the complete name,
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address and telephone number of the person you want to send
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the Fidogram to. You also provide the text and signature,
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of course. Finally, you provide the senders complete name,
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address and Phone number. This is necessary in the event
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that the Fidogram can't be delivered; no point in forcing
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the volunteer Amateur Radio Operators to spend money on
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Fidomail back to you just because you forgot to include some
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necessary information. If you include the senders info, we
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can send Fidograms for free...
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No Fidograms are accepted that relate in any way to anybody
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making money. No profit by Fidograms, period. Also, don't
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try sending Fidograms that include a lot of numerical data -
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these messages are relayed by volunteers who don't
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necessarily know anything about computers, baud rates, or
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even Fido (strange as it may seem!)
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Fido Sysops that are located on or near college campuses,
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take note! Fidograms don't have to come from just Fido
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users - this service can easily be advertised in cafeterias,
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dorms, and on bulletin boards - (you remember the old kind
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of bulletin boards, right?)
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Be sure to send time-value Fidograms in plenty of time.
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Three to four days seems about right to most larger cities
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in the USA. If you're planning on originating a hundred
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Valentines Day Fidograms, send 'em extra early
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Feel free to use and enjoy the free Fidogram service. For
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more info, call Cape Cod Fido at 617-255-9465 and download
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the Fidogram file. Oh ya, by the way, NO, we DON'T accept
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"Happy VD" Fidograms for Valentines Day!
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Fidonews Page 6 3 Feb 1986
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Don't Miss Those Calls!
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How many of you have taken the telephone off the hook to do
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Fido maintenance, and then restarted FIDO... Two hours later
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you notice the telephone is still off the hook. No wonder
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Fido was so quiet!
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After doing this one time too many I figured out an
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automated way of busying the phone, so that it would
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automatically go busy when Fido went down, and reset when
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Fido was restarted.
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Assuming you have a "Hayes Compatible" modem, here's how you
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do it in BASIC:
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10 OPEN "COM1:1200,N,8,,CS,DS,CD" AS #1
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20 PRINT #1, "AT M0 C0 S7=1800 H1"
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30 '
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40 PRINT "* COM1 Telephone Line now OFF Hook *"
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50 '
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60 'M0 = no speaker H1 = Offhook
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70 'C0 = no carrier S7 = # of sec to pick up phone
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80 '
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90 CLOSE #1
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100 SYSTEM
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If your modem won't handle 1200 baud, change the '1200' in
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line 10 to whatever your modem will handle. Your phone LINE
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is now off the hook, but your TELEPHONE isn't.
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When you are ready to run Fido again, simply execute the
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following:
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10 OPEN "COM1:1200,N,8,,CS,DS,CD" AS #1
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20 PRINT #1, "ATZ"
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30 '
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40 PRINT "* COM1 Telephone Line Now RESET *"
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50 '
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60 CLOSE #1
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70 SYSTEM
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The above resets the Modem, and FIDO can initialize it as it
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wants.
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Now, to really make this system automatic, I've added the
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execution to my RUNBBS.BAT file. Just before FIDO_IBM I
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execute OFFHOOK, as I call it, and just after FIDO_IBM I
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execute RSETCOM1. It's that simple and I can't forget.
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Every time I run the FIDO .BAT file the modem is reset, and
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FIDO starts up. When FIDO comes down for whatever reason
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(CTRL-C, External events, whatever), the modem goes off
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hook, so callers will get a busy.
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I've been using this for several months now without a
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problem and thought I'd share my laziness with others!
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Fidonews Page 7 3 Feb 1986
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David Kaplan, Sysop 142/0
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Fidonews Page 8 3 Feb 1986
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FidoNet Mail Help (A Plea)
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by
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Bob Hartman
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Sysop Fido 132/101
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The UN*X Gateway
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and Home of Rovermsg
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As everyone knows, FidoNet has grown at an
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incredible rate over the last two years. This growth has
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caused some problems. One of those problems is that the
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amount of FidoNet mail being sent has also increased. This
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is a real problem for my node. I send about 30 messages per
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night to nodes all over the country. These include personal
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messages from me and my users, and also messages from users
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on UNIX systems around the world.
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Anyway, to get to the point. The one hour national mail
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slot is simply no longer long enough! Many messages spend a
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few days to a couple of weeks on my board waiting to be
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forwarded. In particular, it is extremely difficult to
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connect to nets 102, 101, or 107. Since these are very
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large nets, that is not surprising.
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Now that I have pointed out the problem (which everyone knew
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existed anyway), the question is what to do about it. I
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would like to ask every network coordinator to send to me a
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list of times when he/she runs a FidoNet schedule, and can
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receive mail. I would also like to know if that schedule is
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run by all of the nodes in the network.
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If every network could send that information to me, I could
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create a larger number of FidoNet schedules, and attempt to
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call some nodes during the non-national mail times. This is
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an extremely important question to be addressed for my node.
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The extra messages that simply sit in my message area
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waiting to be forwarded take up valuable processing time at
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the start and end of my FidoNet schedules. This finally
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came to a peak last Tuesday when my board was trying to
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process 118 FidoNet messages. It took 40 minutes to create
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all the packets, and then it could only try about 4 phone
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calls in the remaining time! This causes a real bottleneck
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at my end, but with your help it can be stopped.
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The reason that I am placing this in the Fidonews rather
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than requesting it via FidoNet mail should be obvious!!!
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Fidonews Page 9 3 Feb 1986
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Juan Jimenez
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102/511
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DataFlex BBS
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714-675-7106 3/12/2400 baud
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Due to a lack of interest in the current theme of my BBS,
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the DataFlex RDBMS Application Development System, I am
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considering changing the main driving force of the board to
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a Fido Sysop's Board. Therefore, I would like to conduct a
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poll to determine how much interest there would be to such
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an undertaking, which, admittedly, will be one humongous
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job.
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Basically, it will be a restricted access system with regis-
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tration and questionnaire required as a prerequisite of
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password validation. Verifiable Fido Sysops will be given
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privileged access to all Sysop-related areas, others will
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have access only to the general message base and the exten-
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sive collection of IBM and compatible public domain soft-
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ware, which at this time consists of over 15 megabytes of
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software and other types of files, all in ARC format.
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The board does support 2400 baud access, and is currently up
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most of the 24 hours (and sometimes more) hours in a day.
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This Sysop is an independent consultant currently on con-
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tract to Rockwell International's Collins Defense Communica-
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tions division. I have been a programmer for over 10 years
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and also spent 4 years in the Marine Corps as an Avionics
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Technician.
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The board itself has been up since last summer.
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The subjects to be covered by the board will be many, but
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will be obviously left to the users themselves. I will
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attempt to provide some direction, but, considering the
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quite large number of Fido Sysops today, I don't think that
|
|
will be a problem.
|
|
|
|
If you are interested in this and would like to see this
|
|
project become a reality, PLEASE SEND A FIDONET MAIL MESSAGE
|
|
STATING SO!! I really want to do this but won't if there is
|
|
no interest. No point wasting time on a project that might
|
|
not get off the ground, considering how much time it takes
|
|
to set up something like this.
|
|
|
|
Send your vote to Fido 102/511. I just changed my Net/Node
|
|
number to join my local region, so I might not be on your
|
|
current nodelist. If this is the case, add the following
|
|
line to your nodelist in the Net 102 section:
|
|
|
|
,611,DataFlex_BBS,Balboa_CA,Juan_Jimenez,1-714-675-7106,2400
|
|
|
|
Thank you in advance for taking the time to send out your
|
|
vote.
|
|
|
|
Juan Jimenez
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 10 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TROFF 2
|
|
by Rich Gough FIDO 129/13
|
|
|
|
(The reaction of the Pittsburgh Area Computer Club to my
|
|
TROFF story was so positive, that I wrote a sequel 6 months
|
|
later, May 1983. At the 1984 Computerfest in Dayton, Ohio I
|
|
found out that these 2 articles had been reprinted in
|
|
computer club newsletters all over the Midwest, and that a
|
|
third story had been written using the same characters and
|
|
setting. I DIDN'T WRITE IT. I'd like to see it, if any of
|
|
you remember it, I'd appreciate someone sending me a copy
|
|
via FidoMail or just submit it to the Fidonews.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
One night a few months ago, something very strange happened
|
|
to me while I was using my home computer. I was trying to
|
|
load the operating system, and I meant to type "LOAD CPM"
|
|
but I typed "LOAD MCP" instead. Before I knew it, I found I
|
|
was being sucked into the computer through the video
|
|
display! I woke up in strange world where home computers
|
|
are computers that work at home, as opposed to office
|
|
computers who commute.
|
|
|
|
I had found myself at a computer club meeting, which is
|
|
where a bunch of computers get together every month, it
|
|
seemed to me, mostly to gripe about the people they own. I
|
|
heard two or three get specific -- that they were overused,
|
|
underused, or ignored altogether, due to their poor choice
|
|
of user (what they call the people they own.) I was about to
|
|
give them a bit of my mind when I crashed back here (to
|
|
reality?)
|
|
|
|
It has been hard for me to believe what happened, and the
|
|
one friend I confided in thought someone had spiked my pain-
|
|
reliever tablets. I knew the only way to know for sure that
|
|
I had been there was to go back. I plugged in an appliance
|
|
timer which would shut off the power and crash the system in
|
|
2 hours, to make sure I got out, and turned the computer on.
|
|
I carefully loaded the same diskette as before and took a
|
|
deep breath as I typed "M...C...P". I exhaled when nothing
|
|
happened. It must have been a dream.
|
|
|
|
I realized that my diskette drive hadn't made it's usual
|
|
clattering noise -- probably a loose connection. I tapped
|
|
it lightly with my fingernail. My finger disappeared, then
|
|
my whole hand! Too late for second thoughts now, I thought,
|
|
as I plunged through the CRT.
|
|
|
|
This time I landed on my head, on the silicon floor of a
|
|
round lobby. Fortunately, all of the computers in the room
|
|
were so engrossed in technical conversation that none of
|
|
them noticed my arrival. I started to go into the main
|
|
meeting room, but I was stopped by pudgy grey computer
|
|
wearing tinted glasses.
|
|
|
|
"Hi!" he said. "Welcome to the meeting. Are you a member or
|
|
a visitor?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 11 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"This is my second time here. Excuse me, are those glasses
|
|
you're wearing?"
|
|
|
|
"Oh these filters? I get tube-strain when I stare at a user
|
|
for too long at a time. Would you like to join the club?"
|
|
|
|
I thought about it. I got here twice, and I may make it
|
|
back twice, and it's certainly a neat place. I may have a
|
|
hard time getting past this fellow if I don't join. "Sure,"
|
|
I said.
|
|
|
|
"Good, just fill out this form" he said and handed me a
|
|
formatted diskette.
|
|
|
|
He still doesn't realize I'm just a user. He thinks I'm a
|
|
computer! I'll have to act like one.
|
|
|
|
"Ah, er excuse me. I'm sort of an inexpensive system. I
|
|
don't have a diskette drive yet. Can I fill out a cassette
|
|
and mail it to you?"
|
|
|
|
The grey system found a tattered printout. "Sure. Here,
|
|
show this to your user and answer the questions. Oh, and
|
|
include the fee, 112 bits."
|
|
|
|
I did some mental arithmatic. 2 bits to a quarter, that's 8
|
|
bits to the dollar, that makes 14 dollars. What a
|
|
coincidence! Just what it costs in the "real" world.
|
|
|
|
"And what name should I put on your tag?" he said.
|
|
|
|
"Ahhhhhhh" I said.
|
|
|
|
He looked puzzled.
|
|
|
|
"RIC. That's it, my name is RIC-20."
|
|
|
|
"Great. Always nice to see new systems. There are some
|
|
other RICs over in the corner. I think they are discussing
|
|
the best way to teach BASIC to their users. They may even
|
|
get together a class."
|
|
|
|
I went into the meeting room and got a cup of programming
|
|
fluid (we would call it coffee.) I noticed that all the
|
|
computers were careful not to spill it down their keyboard.
|
|
I started mingling.
|
|
|
|
A keypad tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around see a
|
|
middle-aged system in a one-piece beige case, with a little
|
|
round rainbow-striped logo above one side of his keyboard
|
|
(sort of like the alligator on an Izod shirt).
|
|
|
|
"Excuse me, RIC, didn't I see you here a couple of months
|
|
ago?"
|
|
|
|
"You might have. Could you tell me what happened to the
|
|
three systems that did most of the talking?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 12 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Well", the beige-cased computer said "the video game got
|
|
the teenage user he wanted and now he's so busy playing
|
|
games he doesn't bother to come to the club meetings. The
|
|
16-bit system got a multi-tasking operating system, so he
|
|
was able to acquire a second user. The second user likes to
|
|
use graphics, so he isn't bored anymore. The 16-bit system
|
|
even gets his users to send electronic mail to each other!"
|
|
|
|
"What happened to the machine that complained he was never
|
|
used?" I said.
|
|
|
|
"It was too bad. He had to sell his user at a big loss. I
|
|
think it will be a long time before he buys another one."
|
|
|
|
"Gee, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess that's just the way
|
|
the chips fall sometimes." I looked at my watch. The main
|
|
meeting would start soon.
|
|
|
|
"Say, have you heard who the speaker today is going to be?"
|
|
the beige system asked.
|
|
|
|
I looked at the newsletter I had picked up on the way in.
|
|
It's hard for me to read hexidecimal, but I managed to pick
|
|
out the headline. "Some professor from C.P.U. is going to
|
|
speak on a project there, Natural Intelligence and
|
|
Humantics."
|
|
|
|
"Waste of time" the beige computer spat. "The user never
|
|
breathed who had an ounce of real intelligence, and they're
|
|
wasting millions of bits proving it."
|
|
|
|
I smiled at him and said "Oh, I think there a few users
|
|
around here who might surprise you."
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 13 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
============================================================
|
|
COLUMNS
|
|
============================================================
|
|
|
|
THE WORLD OF COMPUTING
|
|
written by Reuven M. Lerner
|
|
FidoMail 107/33
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi! Welcome to the World of Computing. This is going
|
|
to be a mish-mash of news, ideas, Fido happenings, and
|
|
computer-related things. "The World of Computing" is,
|
|
admittedly, a strange name for a column, but until I get
|
|
any ideas, that's what it's going to be.
|
|
|
|
First of all, let me introduce myself. I've been using
|
|
computers for about six years now, from Apples to IBM's to
|
|
DEC's (I'm writing this on an old DEC VT180, my favorite
|
|
machine). In that time, I've taught a few computer classes
|
|
at my school, written columns and articles for my school
|
|
newspaper and Fido (see December 23, 1985), and some other
|
|
stuff besides.I programmed in BASIC and Logo, and for the
|
|
past few months, I've used Turbo Pascal. Some day, I hope
|
|
to go into computer engineering, but we'll take it one step
|
|
at a time.
|
|
|
|
So, back to the column. I plan on reporting some news,
|
|
talking about it, reviewing a little software and hardware,
|
|
and discussing telecommunications (and of course, Fido).
|
|
I'm more than open to ideas. If you want to tell me about
|
|
something, give me a suggestion for a topic, or anything of
|
|
that sort, just write to me at 107/33, addressed to Reuven
|
|
Lerner, or at 21 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568.
|
|
I prefer electronic mail, but plain old US (or Canadian)
|
|
mail is just as welcome.
|
|
|
|
I'd like to take a quick look back at what happened in
|
|
1985, and say what I think will happen in 1986. I'll
|
|
probably not get to everything, but here it goes.
|
|
|
|
1985 was, to say the least, a busy year. Lots of
|
|
take-overs, bankruptcies, new companies, and great new
|
|
software and hardware.
|
|
|
|
The biggest news, of course, were the Atari 520 ST and
|
|
the Commodore Amiga. I've seen and used the ST, and wow!
|
|
What a machine! The best graphics that I have ever seen
|
|
were nothing compared to this! I predict that the ST will
|
|
take over the home market in 1986, slowly but surely.
|
|
|
|
So where does that leave the Amiga? In the same market
|
|
as the Macintosh. The Amiga is, simply, a better
|
|
Macintosh. It runs faster, it has beautiful color
|
|
graphics, true multitasking, expansion slots, and
|
|
everything else that Apple forgot. Upper-class users and
|
|
small businesses will use the Amiga, leaving the old
|
|
Macintosh in the dust.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 14 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But the new Macintosh, as written up by InfoWorld, is a
|
|
different story. Watch out, Commodore! Apple's coming
|
|
back with a superMac! With 800K drives, a bigger keyboard,
|
|
some expansion slots, more memory, and lots more, this is
|
|
going to spur some real competition.
|
|
|
|
Apple announced some products this year, and
|
|
discontinued some old ones. First of all, it showed off
|
|
(and rightly so) it's megabyte memory board for the IIe.
|
|
Whatever happened to the shift to the IIc? Who knows.
|
|
Anyway, coupled with a turbo-card, the IIe is a better
|
|
machine in some ways than the IBM PC! Apple's hoping that
|
|
people will realize that, when they take into account the
|
|
fact that the new 3.5" Unidisk drive holds 800K, more than
|
|
twice a 5.25" disk on an IBM.
|
|
|
|
Apple also announced the ImageWriter II, a color version
|
|
of the popular ImageWriter. I wonder if there are going to
|
|
be any new Mac programs that take advantage of the color
|
|
abilities of this machine. If I remember correctly, the
|
|
Lisa (remember that?) could output color, even though it
|
|
couldn't display it.
|
|
|
|
How long has it been since you saw an ad for a Macintosh
|
|
with 128K? Well, probably about three months, since Apple
|
|
discontinued it in October. I wonder why they didn't do it
|
|
sooner. I guess enough people were fed up with getting
|
|
"Out of memory" errors.
|
|
|
|
And what of IBM? They formally un-announced the PC II,
|
|
making even more noise and speculation about the machine.
|
|
I think they probably have something, and just don't want
|
|
to release it. We probably won't see it until late 1986.
|
|
However, the long-awaited "Clamshell" should be around
|
|
soon. I can't believe that IBM is going to take all of the
|
|
competition from Data General and Kaypro. Look for their
|
|
new laptop in the spring or summer.
|
|
|
|
So, what's left? Software, that's what. There was a
|
|
lot of new and updated programs this year. At the top of
|
|
the list was 1-2-3, Symphony, Framework, and other programs
|
|
that took advantage of the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft/etc.
|
|
standard for breaking the 640K barrier. The software just
|
|
did a lot of memory-juggling, so that you could get about 4
|
|
megabytes from your PC.
|
|
|
|
Is it really here? I can't believe they really did it!
|
|
Microsoft finally came out with Windows, their $99
|
|
competitor to TopView and GEM. I haven't used it yet, but
|
|
all of the reviews and information that I have say that it
|
|
is going to blow the competition away. This is definitely
|
|
going to be a big winner in 1986.
|
|
|
|
Speaking of GEM, Digital Research just changed it! So
|
|
much for their ad campaign with beautiful color photos;
|
|
they had to scrap it. For those of you who don't know,
|
|
Apple threatened a lawsuit over the interface that GEM
|
|
used, stating that it's too close to the Mac. Some people
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 15 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
think that Xerox should sue Apple for taking THEIR idea.
|
|
After all, Steve Jobs borrowed the idea from PARC (the Palo
|
|
Alto Research Center, where the whole mouse-graphics
|
|
interface was born).
|
|
|
|
Borland International came out with SuperKey and
|
|
Traveling SideKick this year. Lucky for them the extended
|
|
memory specifications came out, or the "background"
|
|
programs would have taken up all 640K! Now Traveling
|
|
Software is talking with Borland about using the Traveling
|
|
name. I can understand their point, but I highly doubt any
|
|
of their business is going to be lost when Borland's logo
|
|
appears in big letters on anything of theirs.
|
|
|
|
Another background program, Ready! arrived from Living
|
|
Videotext. I have never used an outline processor, but the
|
|
more I think about it, the more I think I need it. Every
|
|
time I'm writing something, I get an idea, and then by the
|
|
time I get up to that point in the text, I've forgotten it.
|
|
I'm getting an IBM compatible soon...maybe it's worth
|
|
looking into. I'm very sure that a lot of people will get
|
|
Ready! and will discover how much it's needed. A definite
|
|
1986 hit.
|
|
|
|
News flash: About an hour ago, I read something about a
|
|
group of computer companies getting together to discuss
|
|
standards on new computers. What do I think? That's the
|
|
greatest thing that ever happened. If any of you subscribe
|
|
to the New York Times, you can read more in the Monday,
|
|
January 6 edition in the Business section. The only bad
|
|
part about this group is that IBM hasn't decided whether or
|
|
not it's going to join. Come on, IBM! You can jump on the
|
|
bandwagon for once in your life!
|
|
|
|
That about wraps it up for this issue. If I left
|
|
someone out, it's not because I didn't like them, maybe I
|
|
just forgot about them at the moment.
|
|
|
|
As I said, I'm probably getting an IBM XT compatible
|
|
within a week or two. Next time, I'll discuss IBM
|
|
compatibility and its effect on the industry.
|
|
|
|
Until next time, happy computing!
|
|
|
|
|
|
(c)1986 Reuven M. Lerner. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
Reprinting permission is given solely to Fidonews. If you
|
|
would like permission to copy this article, please write to
|
|
the author at 21 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568,
|
|
or at FidoMail 107/33.
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 16 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
============================================================
|
|
FOR SALE
|
|
============================================================
|
|
|
|
RIM ELECTRONICS, INC. Announces
|
|
The SASITALK Disk Subsystem/Intelligent Modem
|
|
|
|
The RIM ELECTRONICS SASITALK-jr fixed-disk subsystem
|
|
provides a flexible and inexpensive method of adding
|
|
fixed-disk storage to the IBM PCjr, using the industry
|
|
standard Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI). The fixed
|
|
disk provides 15MBytes of storage.
|
|
|
|
A 300/1200 baud intelligent modem can be added to the host
|
|
adapter board. Coupled with RIM's version of PROCOMM
|
|
communications software, SASITALK allows the user to
|
|
reliably upload and download using XMODEM, or KERMIT
|
|
protocols, escape to DOS without leaving the session, or run
|
|
as a task under Topview or Windows.
|
|
|
|
A SASITALK host adapter is also available for the IBM PC,
|
|
Portable PC, PC-AT, and compatibles. The SASITALK systems
|
|
enables high performance peripherals to be attached to an
|
|
IBM PC, PCjr, or upgraded versions.
|
|
|
|
The SASITALK disk subsystem and SASITALK modem are available
|
|
from:
|
|
|
|
RIM ELECTRONICS, INC.
|
|
300 Blossom Court
|
|
Morgan Hill, CA. 95037
|
|
(408) 778-1286
|
|
|
|
For a limited time RIM will be offering the SASITALK systems
|
|
at the following prices.
|
|
|
|
SASITALK System with Modem (includes host $945.00
|
|
adapter for either IBM PCjr or, PC, PC Portable,
|
|
and PC-AT as well as a 15MByte disk drive,
|
|
300/1200 Baud Intelligent Modem, PROCOMM
|
|
communications software and driver software)
|
|
|
|
SASITALK System (includes host adapter for $695.00
|
|
either IBM PCjr or, PC, PC Portable, and PC-AT
|
|
as well as a 15MByte disk drive, and driver
|
|
software)
|
|
|
|
SASITALK 300/1200 Baud Intelligent Modem with $295.00
|
|
PROCOMM communications software and disk
|
|
driver software. (You supply the SCSI
|
|
Controller and disk drive)
|
|
|
|
SASITALK Host Adapter and disk driver $ 95.00
|
|
software. (You supply the SCSI Controller and
|
|
disk drive)
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 17 3 Feb 1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
============================================================
|
|
NOTICES
|
|
============================================================
|
|
|
|
The Interrupt Stack
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 Feb 1986
|
|
Halley's Comet reaches perihelion.
|
|
|
|
9 Feb 1986
|
|
Diana Overholt (109/74) has another birthday.
|
|
|
|
1 Mar 1986
|
|
The Next Occasional MetroNet Sysop Meeting, to be held at
|
|
Matt Kanter's apartment. Check with Matt at 107/3 for
|
|
details.
|
|
|
|
1 Mar 1986
|
|
European mail hour shifts to 0230-0330 GMT. Summer time
|
|
will no longer be observed.
|
|
|
|
11 Apr 1986
|
|
Halley's Comet reaches perigee.
|
|
|
|
19 May 1986
|
|
Steve Lemke's next birthday.
|
|
|
|
24 Aug 1989
|
|
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you have something which you would like to see on this
|
|
calendar, please send a message to Fido 1/1.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Higher Education Network to Form
|
|
|
|
There appear to be several FIDO's running at colleges and
|
|
universities. 11/301, FIDO-RACER, at Murray State Univer-
|
|
sity, and 144/2, Fido/CSU, at Colorado State University,
|
|
would like to invite all colleges, universities, medical
|
|
schools, etc, that would like to join a net devoted to
|
|
information related to higher education to drop a line to
|
|
11/301 indicating interest.
|
|
|
|
We look forward to hearing from you.
|
|
|
|
Bill Allbritten, Sysop, 11/301
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
======= WELCOME =========
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fidonews Page 18 3 Feb 1986
|
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South Bay Users Group from Silicon Valley joins as a new
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Fido node 143/17. This Users Group is oriented toward Tandy
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products. The group first formed in 1977 when TRS80 Model I
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was the leading edge in personal computing.
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The BBS number is 408/253-6293 300/1200 8 N 1
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Don Rhodes and Gerry McKee are the Sysops
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Address mail to:
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South Bay Users Group
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P O Box 60116
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Sunnyvale, CA 94088
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SBUG publishes a monthly newsletter "Dynamic Memories" and
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has a large disk, tape and documentation library. Member-
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ships are $18.00. Write or call for information. Meetings
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are held every 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Cupertino
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Public Library, Cupertino, California at 7:15pm to 9:30pm.
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Apparently the sysop of Space Coast Fido has been deluged
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with mail asking about the shuttle disaster. He's asked us
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to ask you to please stop. He isn't allowed to talk about
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it yet.
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Fidonews Page 19 3 Feb 1986
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In Memorium
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Dick Scobee
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Michael J. Smith
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Ronald McNair
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Ellison Onizuka
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Gregory Jarvis
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Judith Resnik
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Christa McAuliffe
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It is hard for a romantic person to live in romantic times.
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The romantic is better off living in practical times, where
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he can read novels and dream of high adventure. Romantic
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times call for hard headed practical people to deal with the
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realities and risks of the universe.
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We are at the edge of conquering space itself. We have left
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footprints on the Moon, and we are now making space travel
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an everyday occurrence. We live in romantic times, where
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the sky itself is no longer the limit. This is an age of
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practical people who know the risks, and, knowing them, take
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them anyway.
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We have the great privilege, and the misfortune, of living
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in an age of heroes.
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Fidonews Page 20 3 Feb 1986
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