1406 lines
66 KiB
Plaintext
1406 lines
66 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 3, Number 30 11 August 1986
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+---------------------------------------------------------------+
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| _ |
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| / \ |
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| /|oo \ |
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| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
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| _`@/_ \ _ |
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| International | | \ \\ |
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| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
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| Newsletter ______ |__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 the official newsletter of the International FidoNet
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Association, and 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 file
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FNEWSART.DOC, available from node 1/1.
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Copyright (C) 1986, by the International FidoNet Association.
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All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted
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for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
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please contact IFNA.
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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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Witholding Information and Morality
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2. ARTICLES
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In Rememberence Of...
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New FidoBBS from Computertown UK!
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An IBM-PC Compatibility Testing Program
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Computerfest '86
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What is a Julian Date?
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New Outside Utility Available for Sysop's
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One Man's Opinion of PC-WRITE
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New Utility Reports Questionnaire Results
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New Fido BBS for Vietnam Veterans!
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3. COLUMNS
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Subscripts, WordStar and Epson
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Computer Industry Spotlight
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4. WANTED
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Wanted: IBM PC programs for publication!
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5. FOR SALE
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Entertainment Software for your PC!
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Fidonews Page 2 11 Aug 1986
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Public Domain Software Library Sale!!
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6. NOTICES
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FidoNews Bugs: The Missing Issue
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The Interrupt Stack
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CARTOON: Generic George, by Bruce White
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dBASE EchoMail Area
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Fidonews Page 3 11 Aug 1986
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=================================================================
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EDITORIAL
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=================================================================
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This week's guest editorial is by Ron Chapple of 17/36, in
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Victoria, British Columbia.
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Have You the Right to Withold Information?
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Do we have the right to information? Is someone immoral if they
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withhold information from me? Peter de Jager asked these
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questions in FidoNews 3:22 and concluded that even death can
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occur as the result of withholding information with the
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withholder being blameless! I would be interested to know
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whether Mr. de Jager perceives criminal negligence in the same
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way as a court of law. Mr. de Jager has made some far-reaching
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conclusions based primarily on the cost of collecting and
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processing data.
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He describes the cost of the processing of data into information
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as "energy". The logic of the arguments used to defend the
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conclusions is clear enough: the collector and supplier of
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processed data has expended energy and therefore the user of the
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processed data must pay the energy cost (no doubt plus a
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reasonable profit) to access the information.
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Despite his initial questions, what is missing from Mr. de
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Jager's discussion is, in fact, the whole question of morality.
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Furthermore, the estimation of energy costs is insufficient and
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misplaced.
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Let us deal with a few examples of energy cost and morality.
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Consider the case of a child crossing a street in the path of a
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vehicle. It no doubt would cost some energy to shout or to dash
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out to save the child, but what is your moral position if you
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don't? Collecting the data in this case would not seem to be
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costly, but ask any parent of a small child, whether it is your
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own child or another's, where life is even possibly at risk you
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SPEND the energy regardless and frequently. You have the
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information, the fact that you are not likely to convert it into
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cash isn't the point. The point is that someone else needs it
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and you are wrong if you don't provide it. If, on an evening
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stroll, you see flames through a window you know what your moral
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obligations are; at the very least you must turn in an alarm. If
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you demand a reward before doing so then you aren't a member of
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the human race.
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Lest these examples be accused of the fallacy of the extreme
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case, I would like to examine Mr. de Jager's example of the
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"private weather bureau". To briefly restate his arguments, the
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operators of the weather bureau spend energy (money) to collect
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raw data, spend energy (money) to process it into synopses and
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predictions and therefore have the right to sell the information
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to whomever can or wants to pay the price. All this sounds good
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to me. Even if I don't choose to buy the information myself, I
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Fidonews Page 4 11 Aug 1986
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agree that my life has been made richer by the presence of the
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option to buy the information. That is as far as Mr. de Jager's
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argument goes and it is just not far enough! John Donne said "no
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man is an island" and in this context let us see what energy
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costs the operators of the "private weather bureau" owe by
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default to society. Were they educated in the public school
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system? Did they attend a university funded in part from the
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public purse? Did they use government documents and guides in
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developing their collecting and reporting standards? Did they
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use government-guaranteed business development loans to get
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established? The list of similar questions is almost endless.
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The answer of course is that before even the first prediction or
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weather report is issued the operators already owe every citizen
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something. How much? Well, not a free prediction for Sunday
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afternoon's trip to the beach, but in the case of a major
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disaster a warning is due, FREE OF CHARGE.
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None of these arguments has anything to do with "makers" and
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"takers", nor anything to do with depriving people of what they
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have earned; just an occasional show of humanity.
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Lastly, information and computer programs are not comparable in
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this discussion. Programs are tools; to use them in an
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unauthorized way is the same as refusing to pay for the rental of
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a carpet cleaner from your local supermarket after you've used it
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to clean your rugs. Stealing programs is something most of us do
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simply because we can get away with it. For that you cannot
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provide a moral defense, but to claim an absolute right to
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withold information is no more defensible.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 5 11 Aug 1986
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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Jerry Hindle, 123/6
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In Rememberence
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I don't know if any of you out there in FREEWARE land ever
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go thru back issues of FidoNews or not. I do and in issue # 226
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there was a notice about the passing of a very special person.
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Although I never met him, or for that matter, ever heard of
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him, he affected my life in a way that has really been of immense
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value to me. The person of whom I speak is none other then Mr.
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Andrew Fluegelman.
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If you ,like myself, never heard of him before I suggest you
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stop to think about what life would be like if you had to BUY
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every one of the FREEWARE, SHAREWARE, etc. type of programs that
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you now enjoy at little or no cost to you. I suspect you would
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have a very limited library of software for your system. After
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pondering this for a few minutes, stop and think about how all of
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this FREEWARE stuff got started in the first place.
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AHA, I see the little bulbs lighting up now.....
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Mr Fluegelman was indeed the first person to release a major
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piece of software under the FREEWARE concept. To quote the writer
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of the obituary posted in issue 226 of FidoNews,"He is probably
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best known as the author of PC-TALK".
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His contribution to the computer world will probably outlast
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all of us and rightly so. He believed in the addage "The best
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judge of the worth of a piece of software is the USER on his own
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system".
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As I said before, I have never met him; and until the other
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night I never really knew of him. But after reading that notice
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and looking through my library, it really hit home as to the
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impact he had on me. In his own way he introduced me to software
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I would never have been able to afford otherwise. He gave me the
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opportunity to try new things without having to own a mint. He I
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suppose made it possible Tom Jennings to be gracious enough to
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release Fido to the public for public use. HE STARTED A TREND !
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Freeware has become a MAJOR source of software for millions
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of computer owners with a multitude of different machines, and
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yet most of us (myself included) never make his concept come true
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for the authors out there who labor over programs for months,
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even years, simply to give it away on the premise that basically
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humans are honest enough to be fair about donating something to
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the author for his troubles.
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As I sit here pounding on my keyboard, I make a mental
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Fidonews Page 6 11 Aug 1986
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promise to myself to PAY for all the FREEWARE and other freely
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distributed software that I use and whenever I find the extra
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cash I do indeed make every effort to send a donation of at least
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the WORTH of the program to the author. I value freeware as a
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concept and will continue to support it in every way I possibly
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can.
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AND I REMEMBER......... Thank you, Mr. Fluegelman.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 7 11 Aug 1986
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John Bone, 503/17
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NEW FIDO_BBS from COMPUTERTOWN UK! - LOG-on-the-TYNE
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Hi, My name is JOHN BONE, and I have been using BBS since 1980,
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here in the United Kingdom of GREAT BRITAIN, I now (FOOL!) have
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set up the FIRST FIDO_BBS, in the north-east coast of England.
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ComputerTown UK!, is alive and kicking, based to a small exent
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upon the CTUSA!, newsletters of yester-year! My group
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ComputerTown North east covers the TYNESIDE conurbanation of
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NEWCASTLE upon TYNE , and GATESHEAD.
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We have several needs.... international contacts, and help with
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some of your FIDO users micros.... any ST freaks out there? we
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would like any info on PUBLIC DOMAIN software, and hints/help
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etc...
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We also have several TANDY (TRS-80 model I/II/III IV(P) users)
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who would like to swop FIDO NET MAIL and puiblic domain software,
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hints etc.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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Fidonews Page 8 11 Aug 1986
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Mark Welch, 161/459 <private>
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An IBM-PC Compatibility Testing Program
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NOTICE: A programming project is being started on the BYTE
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Information Exchange (BIX), to write an IBM-PC-compatibility test
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program. The activity is centered in the software engineering
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(soft.eng) conference on BIX, but input and assistance from all
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computer users is desired.
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The following are the opening messages in the conference. If you
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have any suggestions or comments, please send them to me at Fido
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161/459, or via BIX.
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-- Mark Welch
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==========
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soft.eng/compat #4, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:26:50 1986
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----------
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TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program: Overview
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I wrote a long essay about compatibility, but who needs it? To
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sum up: none of the available IBM-compatible computers run
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every software title. Before buying a computer, most folks
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would like to be forwarned of what incompatibilities that
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machine might have when compared to the IBM PC.
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The goal, then, is to write a program that tests a machine for
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each of the "known" incompatibilities, and warns the potential
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buyer.
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||
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|
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==========
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soft.eng/compat #5, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:28:34 1986
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----------
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TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program: Rough design:
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All output of compatibility test results should be sent to the
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screen, to a file, and to a printer (if selected). Status
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should always be stored to disk before any action that could
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potentially crash the computer, so the program, when re-
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started after re-boot, will be able to figure out where it
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left off, note the meaning of the crash if possible, and then
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continue testing. A particularly incompatible machine may
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crash a dozen or more times during testing, but the persistent
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user deserves a complete report.
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The testing should have several levels: one that doesn't
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require activity by the user; one that requires keyboard
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activity only by the user; and one which requires the user to
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open the machine and play with DIP switches and reboot the
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machine several times. (Rebooting may be required in any
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level, if an impolite incompatibility is found.)
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Fidonews Page 9 11 Aug 1986
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1) Test to see if this is an IBM PC. Look for the IBM
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copyright in the ROM (are there other ways? compare certain
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byte locations?). If it is an IBM PC ROM, say so, and then
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continue the tests anyway.
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2) Measure the system's speed. If it's not 4.77 MHz, warn the
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user about programs (list, please?) that are time-
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dependent. Let him/her know that this problem applies to
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the AT and PCjr as well. Test RAM speed, CPU speed, overall
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speed, and if possible (how?) bus speed.
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3) (a) Write characters to the screen using DOS, and then do a
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direct screen read. Report if you can't find the screen in
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the usual locations. (b) Write characters directly to the
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screen, and ask the user if it says what it's supposed to.
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(c) Do whatever it is that generates "snow" on some
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machines but not others, and ask the user if he sees snow.
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If so, it's probably more IBM-compatible, but if not, it's
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better. (d) What other tests for direct-screen-access
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compatibility might there be?
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4) (a) Systematically test each documented BIOS function call,
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using the "accepted" entry points. Report results of each.
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(b) Do the same for undocumented function calls and any
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known entry points used by ill-behaved programs.
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5) Hardware: (a) disk drive compatibility (for copy-protected
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programs using bizarre techniques. How can you test this?)
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(What do programs do to floppy controllers that might bring
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out incompatibilities?) Also check speed and compare to IBM
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PC. (b) Hard disk compatibility. Also report speed (report
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it, if present, and compare it to the IBM spec of 85 ms).
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(c) Serial port: if present, check if it's in the right
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location. Check if there's an 8259 there. (other test for
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serial port compatibility?) (c) Ditto for parallel port:
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how do you test it? (d) Keyboard: Ask the user to type
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certain keys, and see what scan codes you get. Figure out
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which keyboard it is, if known, and report any possible
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problems.
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6) Kludge time. Now begin executing individual tests. This is
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where we tag on new tests.
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==========
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soft.eng/compat #6, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:30:04 1986
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----------
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TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program:
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Distinct areas to test separately:
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MAIN SYSTEM:
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a) IBM PC motherboard features (ROM BIOS, DIP switches,
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what else?)
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b) PC-1 (64K) motherboard unique features
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c) PC-2 (256K) motherboard unique features
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d) IBM PC XT unique features
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Fidonews Page 10 11 Aug 1986
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e) XT 640K motherboard unique features?
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f) IBM PC AT unique features
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g) New AT motherboard unique features
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h) 6 vs. 8 MHz (vs. higher) clocks on AT
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i) IBM Portable PC unique features (are there any vs. XT?)
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j) IBM PCjr unique features
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k) IBM PC Convertible unique features
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i) other motherboard versions?
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j) Test for Compaq, Leading Edge, Epson, and other "known"
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machines? (And list known problems? Or refer to text
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file?)
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k) Test for Phoenix, Award, other known BIOSes and version
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numbers?
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DISPLAY ADAPTERS:
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a) IBM Color Graphics Adapter (test all modes, all
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registers, etc.)
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b) IBM Mono Graphics Adapter (ditto)
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c) IBM Enhanced Graphics Adapter (also test CGA emulation
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of it)
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d) Hercules Graphics Card
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e) Multi-mode cards (how to check without blowing up
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||
monitors?)
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f) other?
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I/O:
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a) Check serial port, if present
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b) parallel port
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c) game adapter?
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d) mouse port?
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||
e) light pen?
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||
f) cassette port? (snicker)
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||
g) Clock/calendar: check for compatibility with IBM AT, AST
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||
6Pak, Quadram Quadboard, other common clocks
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||
h) other?
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Keyboard:
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a) IBM standard keyboard, enhanced keyboard, AT keyboard,
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PCjr, Converible. Others?
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b) test how easily the CapsLock and NumLock lights can be
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||
confused, if present. (Does this vary among machines?)
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c) check buffer, see if we can play with it cruelly.
|
||
|
||
|
||
==========
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soft.eng/compat #7, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:31:02 1986
|
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----------
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TITLE: A Compatibility Testing Program: Output:
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||
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The output of the program might look like this:
|
||
|
||
> This machine's video memory is not located in the same
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||
place as the IBM PC. Therefore, the following programs
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||
may not run: Fribozz ABC, version 4.565 and earlier; etc
|
||
etc.
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 11 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
> This machine's ROM BIOS does not support the undocumented
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||
call to FFE2 which waits for a keypress, and thus may not
|
||
run the following programs: Friboxx 4.5, XXXY X4.52. etc.
|
||
|
||
> This machine's keyboard seems to emulate the IBM Enhanced
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||
keyboard. Therefore, older versions of many programs that
|
||
directly accessthe keyboard buffer will not work
|
||
properly; for example, versions of Desqview before 1.21
|
||
(except that 1.11 will work); versions of SuperKey before
|
||
x.xx. etc.
|
||
|
||
> This machine's floppy disk drives don't seem to be
|
||
compatible with IBM's full-height drives, and thus may
|
||
have difficulty with copy-protected programs using
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||
(scheme), such as (list).
|
||
|
||
> etc.
|
||
|
||
|
||
==========
|
||
soft.eng/compat #8, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:32:29 1986
|
||
----------
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||
TITLE: Specific Instances of Incompatibility:
|
||
----------------------------------------------
|
||
On the Tandy 2000 and Sanyo MBC 555-type machines, the second
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||
call to the "BEEP" routine will turn off the RAM-refresh.
|
||
Makes machines go bye-bye. (BIX, btonkin)
|
||
|
||
Compatibility of the video card. For example, the EGA card and
|
||
compatibles don't have the 6845 and so some software doesn't
|
||
run properly or not at all. (BIX, kfw)
|
||
|
||
Incompatibiliy between the Princeton Graphics Max 12 monitor
|
||
and the Everex Edge display card. (BIX, feenberg)
|
||
|
||
Borland's SideKick program had many incompatibilities with a
|
||
number of compatibles, but version 1.56A fixed many of those.
|
||
(Can we get a list of those "incompatibilities?")
|
||
|
||
Flight Simulator (Direct Screen write; AT speed problem on
|
||
early versions; what else?) (Latest version works on the AT
|
||
but not the Corona/Cordata ATP-8-Q20, according to an
|
||
InfoWorld review 1/27/86 p.50)
|
||
|
||
Lotus 1-2-3 (Direct screen write; what else?) (Won't work in
|
||
Hercules or CGA mode on a Corona ATP-8-Q20, according to an
|
||
InfoWorld review 1/27/86, p.50)
|
||
|
||
Crosstalk XVI (speed problem; direct access to serial port)
|
||
|
||
Managing Your Money (won't run on many machines)
|
||
|
||
V20 incompatibilities? What programs use the undocumented 8088
|
||
instruction that the V20 uses as its reserved instruction to
|
||
enable its new instructions?
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 12 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Alloy's DOS-73 board (marketed by AT&T) doesn't emulate DOS
|
||
properly, as far as the COPY command is concerned on a one-
|
||
drive system (on an IBM PC, "COPY A:GLEEP B:GLORP" reads a
|
||
file, prompts for a disk swap, and then writes to the disk; on
|
||
the DOS-73 board, it just reads and writes the same disk,
|
||
without prompting for a swap.)(IW rvw., 6/23/86, p.42)
|
||
|
||
Symphony 1.1, Framework II, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Chart,
|
||
and Dbase III won't run on Alloy's DOS-73 board. (IW rvw.,
|
||
6/23/86, p.42)
|
||
|
||
Symphony 1.1
|
||
|
||
Framework II
|
||
|
||
Microsoft Word
|
||
|
||
Microsoft Chart
|
||
|
||
Dbase III
|
||
|
||
BASIC ROM (Since no compatible can legally steal IBM's BASIC
|
||
ROM, none do. Thus, any program that attempts to access fixed
|
||
addresses within the BASIC ROM will crash.
|
||
|
||
Displaywrite 3 won't run on the Zenith Z-171 (IW, 3/3/86,p.46)
|
||
|
||
|
||
==========
|
||
soft.eng/compat #9, from mwelch, Sat Jul 12 23:35:30 1986
|
||
----------
|
||
TITLE: Implementation Options
|
||
|
||
Given the large number of excellent programmers on BIX, with
|
||
experience in almost every tongue, it could be argued forever.
|
||
My proposal is that the compatibility-test program be written
|
||
in Turbo Pascal, because that seems to be the most commonly-
|
||
owned compiler on BIX (and because I have more experience with
|
||
it than any other compiler). I'm sure that many of the tests
|
||
will need to be coded in assembler; is CHASM (the CHeap
|
||
ASseMbler, shareware and already on BIX) acceptable?
|
||
Any comments? Suggestions?
|
||
|
||
|
||
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|
||
|
||
|
||
[Replies sent to Mark Welch at Fido 161/459 will be posted on
|
||
BIX only if requested. Because of copyright concerns, I
|
||
cannot distribute messages from BIX without the explicit
|
||
permission of the messages' authors. I wrote all of the above
|
||
messages. - mwelch]
|
||
|
||
[Please note that WelchNet has moved from Net 125 to Net 161,
|
||
and is now a private node available only through FidoMail. (I
|
||
have moved to Berkeley and will start Law School in August.)
|
||
Fidonews Page 13 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
The new BBS phone number is unpublished, but you can reach me
|
||
by VOICE at 415-845-2430, or write to Mark Welch, P.O. Box
|
||
2409, San Francisco, CA 94126.]
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 14 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Doug Mohney, 109/74
|
||
|
||
Computerfest '86
|
||
|
||
|
||
Computerfest '86 is designed to be a gathering of local area
|
||
user groups and vendors in the Washington D.C. area, an event
|
||
where everyone can benefit from attending, from the person who
|
||
knows very little about micros to the hard-core "Give me assembly
|
||
or give me death" hacking types.
|
||
|
||
It will be on Saturday, October 25, 1986, from 9:30 AM to
|
||
5:00 PM at the Adele H. Stamp Union at the University of
|
||
Maryland, College Park.
|
||
|
||
There will be representatives from the various user groups in
|
||
the area, including the Capitol PC User Group and Washington
|
||
Apple Pi (we're still talking to the Atari & Commodore folks as
|
||
of this date <7/22/86>). They'll have public domain software, and
|
||
people to answer questions.
|
||
|
||
Seminars: We currently are in the process of arranging
|
||
seminars on the following topics: Small Business Computing,
|
||
BBSing, Desktop publishing, Computers and the Disabled, MIDI,
|
||
(and lots more if I can dig up the speakers).
|
||
|
||
Apple Computer, Inc. has stated it will send out a speaker
|
||
for our event. We also are working on getting someone from Atari
|
||
and we're talking to Bruce Webster to see if he can come and
|
||
speak (Bruce is the author of "Sundog" and has a column in
|
||
"Byte"). By the time you read this, I'm hoping we can get a
|
||
handle on someone else of note.
|
||
|
||
In addition, we'll have a number of local area vendors
|
||
displaying their equipment and peripherials in the Grand Ballroom
|
||
of the Student Union, for the whole range of personal computers
|
||
currently available today, PLUS a "Swapfest" where users can get
|
||
rid of their surplus hardware and legally acquired software.
|
||
|
||
Why should you come? Basically, this event is designed for
|
||
you to have fun and learn more about computers. It is a single
|
||
day event, so I'd feel kinda guilty if you came all the way from
|
||
New York or Florida just to say "hi". However, if you live within
|
||
an hour or two of College Park, Maryland (this means Baltimore,
|
||
large parts of Maryland, Northern Virginia), it should be worth
|
||
your time.
|
||
|
||
Admission is $6.00/general and $4.00/discount. Print a copy
|
||
of this from your printer and you qualify for a discount. Xerox
|
||
it, give it to your friend Fred, and he can get in for a
|
||
discount. Very easy to get a discount.
|
||
|
||
For more information, contact me (Doug Mohney) at
|
||
(301) 350-1437 (U.S. phone) or send Fidomail to me on 109/74.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Fidonews Page 15 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Karl Andrews, 138/24
|
||
|
||
What is a Julian Date?
|
||
|
||
|
||
The numeric extension on the NODEDIFF files is probably the most
|
||
common example of a Julian Date, at least for Fido Sysops. It is
|
||
the number of days since the beginning of the current year. So
|
||
why is it called a Julian Date? Here is the story...
|
||
|
||
Calendars evolved from the observation that approximately 12
|
||
cycles of the moon corresponded with one cycle of the seasons.
|
||
The key word is approximately -- there are about 12.368267 lunar
|
||
months in a solar year of 365.242199 days, for an excess of about
|
||
97 days every 400 years. Since civil calendars must have an
|
||
exact number of days each year (imagine the confusion if 1987 was
|
||
to start at 09:24.7 rather than 00:00), various schemes of
|
||
inserting extra days or months were used to keep the dates
|
||
synchronized with the seasons, although some societies didn't
|
||
seem to care. For instance, the ancient Egyptians let the
|
||
seasons cycle through their calendar, so the date of the annual
|
||
flooding of the Nile (caused by melting snow in the mountains)
|
||
gradually shifted until after 1460 years it had gone completely
|
||
through the year. In 22 BC, Augustus forced them to adopt a
|
||
variant of the new Julian Calendar, but the two calendars existed
|
||
side by side for another 250 years.
|
||
|
||
The Roman calendar was originally a lunar calendar, with rather
|
||
arbitrary insertions of extra days. These adjustments were
|
||
frequently neglected, with the result that by 46 BC, their
|
||
calendar was about two months out of sync with the seasons.
|
||
Julius Caesar established a new calendar, with a year of 365.25
|
||
days by adding a leap day every fourth year, to become official
|
||
in 45 BC. He also added extra days to resynchronize the seasons,
|
||
making 46 BC some 445 days long. Because of civil disorders and
|
||
communication problems, the leap year adjustments were made
|
||
incorrectly for a while, and Augustus readjusted the calendar in
|
||
the period 8 BC to 8 AD, but the Julian Calendar survived without
|
||
further change for almost 1600 years.
|
||
|
||
Unfortunately, the mean Julian Calendar Year (365.25 days)
|
||
exceeded the length of the tropical year (365.242199 days) by
|
||
about 11 minutes, 14 seconds. The continued accumulation of this
|
||
excess adds up to about 3 days every 400 years, and causes a
|
||
gradual slippage of the seasons. By the middle of the 16th
|
||
century, this had produced a very noticeable effect on the date
|
||
of Easter, which is based on an actual astronomical observation,
|
||
so in 1582 Pope Gregory modified the calendar by NOT adding the
|
||
leap day on century years not divisible by 400, such as 1800,
|
||
1900, and 2100, making the length of the mean year 365.2425 days.
|
||
He also dropped 10 days out of October (the day after 4 October
|
||
was 15 October) to resynchronize Easter, but these changes were
|
||
not immediately adopted in non-Catholic countries -- England and
|
||
the colonies adopted the new calendar in 1752, Japan in 1873, and
|
||
Turkey in 1927.
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 16 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
The error in the Gregorian Calendar amounts to about one day in
|
||
3300 years, and is about the same magnitude as the variation in
|
||
the rotation rate of the Earth. This, plus the fact that we now
|
||
adjust the length of the year by using leap seconds (the last
|
||
minute of June and/or December has either 61 or 59 seconds, as
|
||
needed), means that there is no astronomical reason to make any
|
||
further changes in the calendar.
|
||
|
||
The current system of counting the years from the birth of Jesus
|
||
was established in 525 by Dionysius Exiquus, but the records he
|
||
had access to were not complete, and he missed the correct date
|
||
by about 5 years (there is even now a 1 year uncertainty).
|
||
Unfortunately, this creates a problem in dating events before the
|
||
Christian Era in that not only do the years BC have a negative
|
||
sign, but there is no Year Zero. The math for date arithmetic
|
||
gets rather complicated, and there was always the question of
|
||
which calendar to use to date any given event; and we have
|
||
already seen how flaky some of those calendars were. This is why
|
||
astronomers and other scientists who need accurate ancient dates
|
||
use Julian Days.
|
||
|
||
The Julian Day system was introduced in 1583 by Joseph Scaliger,
|
||
a French/Dutch historian who was an expert on calendars, and is a
|
||
continuous count of the days since noon (GMT) on 1 January 4713
|
||
BC. He picked this date because it was when the 28-year solar
|
||
cycle, the 19-year lunar cycle, and an ancient civil cycle of 15
|
||
years all coincided (this will not happen again for another 1281
|
||
years). This had the advantage of perfectly unambiguous dates
|
||
and no negative numbers; for instance, 1 June 1986 is Julian Day
|
||
2,446,582 and 1 June 584 BC is JD 1,507,900. The irony of the
|
||
whole thing is that Julian Days have nothing at all to do with
|
||
the Julian Calendar; Scaliger named his system after his father,
|
||
Julius Scaligeri.
|
||
|
||
Calling the annual day count a Julian Date is not strictly
|
||
correct, but is typical of what happens to technical terms that
|
||
pass into the vernacular. After all, look at the current
|
||
practice of using baud to mean bits per second -- a 1200 bps
|
||
modem is actually running at 600 baud, but is using each change
|
||
of the signal level to pass two bits of data, something that was
|
||
not imagined when the term "baud" was coined.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 17 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Jim Fullton, 158/104
|
||
|
||
NEWFILES - A New FIDO Outside Utility for Sysop's
|
||
|
||
NEWFILES is a program designed to run "outside" of Fido, using
|
||
Don Daniels' (Fido 107/211) Outside utility. NEWFILES allows the
|
||
individual Fido user to enter a period in days, with the program
|
||
listing any new files posted to the board during that period.
|
||
The user will only see files present in areas which he/she has
|
||
the proper privilege level to access. The program displays
|
||
information straight from the FILES.BBS file in the particular
|
||
area.
|
||
|
||
Example:
|
||
|
||
A user has access to area 1 only, called MISC. The DIR.BBS file
|
||
contains "Misc. Files". The FILES.BBS file contains:
|
||
|
||
EXAMPLE.ARC 06-02-86 An example file
|
||
LK100.ARC 06-31-86 Data Encryption Utility
|
||
|
||
The files in area 1 are:
|
||
|
||
example.arc 19400 bytes 6-2-86
|
||
lk100.arc 38512 bytes 6-30-86
|
||
|
||
If today's date is 7-25-86, and the user enters 60 days, NEWFILES
|
||
will generate the following listing on the users screen:
|
||
|
||
Misc. Files
|
||
|
||
EXAMPLE.ARC 19400 06-02-86 An example file
|
||
LK100.ARC 38512 06-30-86 Data Encryption Utility
|
||
|
||
The users privilege level is read from LASTUSER.BBS. Sysops may
|
||
use the program by running it locally using the "S" (Sysop)
|
||
command switch, to avoid having to log on to the system. This
|
||
will allow access to all areas. The sysop may also specify a
|
||
number of days to allow in the listing, like this:
|
||
|
||
NEWFILES S 20
|
||
|
||
This will display all files in all areas entered within the last
|
||
20 days.
|
||
|
||
NEWFILES, and it's C source code, along with Outside and
|
||
SPLTNEWS, the FidoNews Splitter, are available from Nibbles &
|
||
Bytes Fido 158/104, (919) 942-9267.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 18 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
One Man's Opinion of PC-WRITE
|
||
|
||
by John J. Herro, 1456 Miner Circle, Endicott, NY 13760
|
||
|
||
|
||
The author is a Senior Software Engineer for the General Electric
|
||
Company. He has no connection with Quicksoft, Inc., except for
|
||
being a registered user of PC-WRITE. Since he knows of no Fido
|
||
nodes near him, he is probably best reached by the U. S. Snail,
|
||
otherwise known as the U. S. Mule or the Phony Express.
|
||
|
||
|
||
PC-WRITE is an excellent word processor / text editor written by
|
||
Quicksoft, Inc., and marketed under the "Shareware" concept.
|
||
This means that you can download the latest version from your
|
||
favorite bulletin board and try PC-WRITE for free. You can
|
||
optionally "register" with Quicksoft for a reasonable fee, but
|
||
even if you choose not to register, you are still encouraged to
|
||
distribute copies of the program. This is such a welcome relief
|
||
from copy-protected word processors that sell for several hundred
|
||
dollars!
|
||
|
||
PC-WRITE runs on any size PC, including a PC Junior. The program
|
||
includes a brief tutorial manual and a quick reference guide,
|
||
both of which can be printed out. Thus, when you copy PC-WRITE
|
||
you are also making copies of the two manuals, without the need
|
||
of an office copying machine!
|
||
|
||
Quicksoft provides several incentives for you to register. One
|
||
is telephone support. (More about that later.) Users who register
|
||
also receive a more detailed printed manual (which would not fit
|
||
on the PC-WRITE diskette), a one-year subscription to a
|
||
newsletter, and two free updates (or one update and the source
|
||
code). Finally, when you register, Quicksoft assigns a unique
|
||
number for you to embed into the program before you give away
|
||
copies. If anyone registers from one of your copies, Quicksoft
|
||
will send you a modest sum, hence the name "Shareware."
|
||
|
||
PC-WRITE contains two major programs, ED to edit a file and PR to
|
||
print it. You simply type ED <filename> or PR <filename>; the
|
||
on-line help is excellent. When you first get PC-WRITE, you run
|
||
a special program to customize it for your particular printer. A
|
||
large menu of printer manufacturers is presented; when one is
|
||
selected, a menu of printer models made by that manufacturer
|
||
appears. Subscripts, superscripts, boldfacing, underlining, a
|
||
variety of fonts, etc., are then all available if your printer
|
||
supports them.
|
||
|
||
If your printer is not on the menu, PC-WRITE can treat the
|
||
printer as "dumb" (having no special features). Underlining and
|
||
bold-facing are still available if your printer recognizes
|
||
backspaces. Alternately, Quicksoft will help you customize
|
||
PC-WRITE.
|
||
|
||
I've found the telephone support to be excellent, and I never
|
||
received a busy signal. Even before I registered, Quicksoft was
|
||
Fidonews Page 19 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
nice enough to help me with a printer problem. I have a Smith-
|
||
Corona Deville 3 Messenger typewriter with a parallel computer
|
||
interface; it isn't on the PC-WRITE menu. It amounts to a daisy-
|
||
wheel printer with a very small buffer. The DOS PRINT command
|
||
was working correctly, but when I ran PR, I would get the message
|
||
"Printer not ready, Abort, Retry, or Ignore?" Responding with R
|
||
caused errors on the printed page. My MS-DOS manual explained
|
||
how to do "infinite retry" with a SERIAL interface, but not with
|
||
a PARALLEL interface. Since my version of MS-DOS came with 90
|
||
days of telephone support, and the 90 days had not expired, I
|
||
first called the MS-DOS support telephone number. When they were
|
||
not able to help, I called Quicksoft. When Quicksoft asked if I
|
||
had registered, I said, "No. I'm willing to register, but I want
|
||
be certain that PC-WRITE will work with my printer first." They
|
||
were very courteous about giving me help, and advised me to type
|
||
MODE LPT1:,,P. That fixed the problem, and of course I added
|
||
that command to my AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Quicksoft also told me
|
||
that if I had registered first and later became dissatisfied, I
|
||
would have no trouble getting my money back.
|
||
|
||
ED, the screen editor, has a few features not found even on some
|
||
expensive word processors. For example, you can optionally make
|
||
the program continuously keep a paragraph within the margins,
|
||
even while adding words to the middle of the paragraph! I find
|
||
this feature very useful. Also, PC-WRITE works with ASCII files
|
||
- a MUST for programmers. I've even edited .EXE files, because
|
||
there's no limit to the line length. (The screen automatically
|
||
scrolls horizontally when long lines are edited.) There are a few
|
||
"font characters," for example, alternate-B for Boldfacing.
|
||
These characters can optionally be made visible or invisible.
|
||
When they are invisible, boldfacing appears on the screen as high
|
||
intensity, etc.
|
||
|
||
PR interprets the special characters for your particular printer,
|
||
and also optionally pauses at the end of each page, in case you
|
||
don't have continuous paper. It also has a nice feature for
|
||
recovering from a paper jam in a long document. If the paper
|
||
jams, you can interrupt PR and resume printing from the top of
|
||
the current page or any other page.
|
||
|
||
Other features include definable keys, mail-merge, footnotes and
|
||
headers, table of contents and index, automatic page breaks, file
|
||
includes, keyboard input during printing, etc. The method of
|
||
writing to the screen can be changed to avoid "snow" on some
|
||
systems, and the screen can be divided into two windows of
|
||
unequal size. Text can be "cut" from one file and "pasted" into
|
||
another.
|
||
|
||
Much thought has been given to assigning functions to keys,
|
||
although the assignments can be changed if desired. To COPY a
|
||
block of text, you use F3 three times: at the start of the block,
|
||
at the end of the block, and at the new location. Similarly, to
|
||
MOVE a block of text, you use F6 three times, and to DELETE a
|
||
block, you use F4 twice. (You can undelete the block with
|
||
control-F4.) For the masochists among you, most of the control
|
||
codes of Wordstar (tm of MicroPro) are duplicated. Control-D can
|
||
Fidonews Page 20 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
be used instead of the -> key to move the cursor right one
|
||
character, control-F will move right one word, etc.
|
||
|
||
PC-WRITE lacks two features that are found on some expensive word
|
||
processors. At present, ED cannot handle files that are too big
|
||
to fit in memory, and there is no spelling checker. Rumor has it
|
||
that both of these deficiencies will be removed in a later
|
||
version. In the meantime, PC-WRITE will at least help you
|
||
segment large files, and spelling checkers like EZSPELL and
|
||
PC-SPELL can be found on many bulletin boards.
|
||
|
||
PC-WRITE.ARC is available on the IFNA board, 314-576-2743. I
|
||
hope that PC-WRITE will become the de facto standard for PCs and
|
||
compatibles, and that the "Shareware" concept will put an end to
|
||
copy protection forever!
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 21 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Daniel Tobias, 19/216
|
||
|
||
New Utility Reports Questionnaire Results
|
||
|
||
|
||
A useful feature of FIDO is its online questionnaire. It allows
|
||
the sysop to survey the users of his system for a variety of
|
||
purposes, such as to find out the demographics of the user
|
||
population, or to do surveys of popular opinion.
|
||
|
||
However, until now, there was no easy way to find out the results
|
||
of such surveys. You could print out the answer files in their
|
||
raw format, but they just show answers by question number,
|
||
without giving the question text; you have to look in the
|
||
question file to see what question is being answered.
|
||
|
||
Also, there is no way to see at a glance how the answers to a
|
||
given question break down; the answers are shown grouped by user
|
||
without any tabulation.
|
||
|
||
A utility I have written, and am distributing as "shareware",
|
||
will solve this problem. QUESREPT (QUEStionnaire REPorT) takes
|
||
the FIDO question and answer files and automatically generates a
|
||
report of the results. Multiple choice answers are tabulated and
|
||
the number and percentage for each choice is given. Free-text
|
||
answers are listed with all answers to a given question together.
|
||
The text of your question is given immediately above the report
|
||
of its answers.
|
||
|
||
QUESREPT can get its input from the standard FIDO files
|
||
QUESTION.BBS and ANSWERS.BBS, or any other questionnaire and
|
||
answer files in standard format which you may define. The output
|
||
can go to the printer, the console, or any other file or device;
|
||
the page length to format the report may be redefined to
|
||
customize it for your system. All such parameters may be placed
|
||
in a control file so that QUESREPT can run unattended (for
|
||
example, as a regular weekly event) with no user input required.
|
||
|
||
QUESREPT can be downloaded from SOFT FIDO at (318) 636-4402. (It
|
||
can be found in a file QUESREPT.ARC in file area 6.) Direct all
|
||
questions to Daniel Tobias on FIDO 19/216.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 22 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Todd C. Looney, 143/27
|
||
|
||
VIETNAM VETERANS BULLETIN BOARD
|
||
|
||
|
||
In political terms, the "war" in Vietnam divided the United
|
||
States in a manner unseen since the time of the Civil War. Like
|
||
that war, the wounds of divisiveness have been slow to heal, and
|
||
in fact still very much a part of our society.
|
||
|
||
Since the founding of our great Republic, the traditions of
|
||
American military history has been one of citizen soldiers
|
||
answering the call to arms when needed. Even with a standing
|
||
military force, this continued to be necessary at the time of
|
||
Vietnam and hopefully will always be so. It was not our fault
|
||
that this, of all wars, was given so much "visual" publicity in
|
||
America resulting in it's being the first military action to be
|
||
so overwhelmingly unpopular in the eyes of our peers. We, as
|
||
patriotic Americans, did what we thought was best for our country
|
||
and fellow Americans by sacrificing our own personal freedom for
|
||
a few years so that others might hold on to theirs throughout
|
||
their lives. I don't think very many of us wanted, or expected a
|
||
"hero's welcome" when we returned home from that other world, but
|
||
we sure didn't expect the treatment we got either - to be
|
||
ostracized and degraded by those very people we had just finished
|
||
risking our lives for in the steamy jungles of Southeast Asia.
|
||
|
||
But, as is usually the case, time heals all wounds, and our
|
||
time for recognition is finally coming about. Slowly but surely,
|
||
our peers, the American Citizen, is coming to realize that the
|
||
vast majority of Vietnam Veterans had nothing to do with how the
|
||
war in Vietnam was waged, that we were but pawns of a a group of
|
||
confused politicians and bureaucrats. America is realizing at
|
||
long last that we did not deserve the unfair treatment most of
|
||
received when we came home, and most Vietnam Veterans are finally
|
||
beginning to feel proud of what they did for this country as
|
||
opposed to the shame they endured for so many years.
|
||
|
||
And now our time has come for a bulletin board of our very
|
||
own, a bulletin board dedicated the the American Vietnam Veteran!
|
||
It is a place where we can express our feelings in a non-
|
||
threatening forum atmosphere as well as solicit the views of
|
||
those Americans who played no active military role during the
|
||
Vietnam "War". It is a place where we can meet each other on
|
||
common turf to openly discuss our lives, both the ups and downs,
|
||
achievements and failures, happiness and pain.
|
||
|
||
All those who wish to participate in our forum are welcome
|
||
to call; this is not a restricted BBS. We invite anyone who was
|
||
affected by the political upheaval present during the Vietnam
|
||
era. We have had some very intelligent contributions from not
|
||
only those who served in the armed forces during the War, but
|
||
from ex-protesters, students, draft-dodgers, and even ex-
|
||
Vietnamese citizens, some of whom had served as Viet Cong prior
|
||
to their surrender to U.S. military forces.
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 23 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Other related forums on the LooneyBin include a section
|
||
devoted to the Wives, Lovers, and Friends of Vietnam Veterans, a
|
||
Soapbox Forum, and a Genealogy Forum called the ROOT CELLAR. We
|
||
also have plenty of public domain software available.
|
||
|
||
We feel that the gap we fill in today's society by hosting
|
||
such a forum as this is an extremely important and valuable one.
|
||
We solicit any sysops from other areas of the country to follow
|
||
our lead, and join us if they will by forming a Vietnam Veterans
|
||
Conference Network of FIDO BBS's. We solicit any sysop who is
|
||
interested in participating in such an effort, or just simply has
|
||
a suggestion or twelve to contact us at:
|
||
|
||
----------=====**[ THE LooneyBin ]**=====----------
|
||
408-293-7894
|
||
300/1200/2400 Baud
|
||
24 Hours a Day!
|
||
(except during FidoNet Mail and normal system maintenance)
|
||
|
||
-----=====**[ Todd and Nancy Looney ]**=====-----
|
||
SYSOPS
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 24 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
COLUMNS
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
SUBSCRIPTS, WORDSTAR AND EPSON
|
||
|
||
by Tom Ingram
|
||
|
||
The purpose of this article is to explain how I was able to get
|
||
WordStar to print technical manuscripts on my Epson printer with
|
||
TRUE subscripts and superscripts (not the compressed Epson
|
||
characters on the same line with the rest of the text). I find
|
||
the Epson subscripts and superscripts difficult to read,
|
||
especially after reproduction of the text.
|
||
|
||
First, I patched WordStar using the WINSTALL program. At ^R I
|
||
patched the following code: 03 1B 41 06. The 03 tells WordStar
|
||
how many bytes of code are coming. The 1B is the ASCII code for
|
||
escape, the 41 is ASCII for "A". ESC A 6 causes the Epson to
|
||
space down only a half line each time it is sent a linefeed.
|
||
Once this patch is in place, I set up a document as follows:
|
||
|
||
1) On the first line of the document I issue the dot command
|
||
PL132. This sets up normal length pages for the ^R command
|
||
which is issued next.
|
||
|
||
2) Issue the ^R command on the next line of the document.
|
||
|
||
3) Now, issue the command ^O S 4. This sets the line spacing to
|
||
4 so that the document will appear double spaced. For single
|
||
spaced documents (with crowded subscripts and superscripts)
|
||
use ^O S 2 or ^O S 3 instead.
|
||
|
||
Now, in typing a document, use the subscript and superscript, ^V
|
||
and ^T, indicators as required by WordStar. The printed document
|
||
will have true half-line roll subscripts and superscripts.
|
||
|
||
That is all there is to it. It is quick and easy and it works.
|
||
|
||
One final comment: this does not allow double subscripts and
|
||
superscripts. For example, so far as I know, it will not print
|
||
out subscripted subscripts by issuing any sequence of commands
|
||
from the keyboard.
|
||
|
||
I wrote this before my latest issue of "Portable Companion"
|
||
arrived. One statement concerning patching of WordStar 3.30 from
|
||
the WINSTALL program allowed me to obtain a second solution to
|
||
the problem I have been discussing. This method is not
|
||
necessarily better than the one I described above. On the
|
||
surface it appears to be better but it has the disadvantage of
|
||
being somewhat slower in printing regular documents which do not
|
||
need subscripting or superscripting. I now have one disk
|
||
containing WordStar configured as below for subscripts and
|
||
superscripts and one configured as above for regular files. This
|
||
way I do not have to reformat all my old files for the new
|
||
procedure. Here is the second method:
|
||
Fidonews Page 25 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
While in the WINSTALL program provided with WordStar 3.30, when
|
||
you get to the point where you can type X to exit to CP/M, an
|
||
undocumented command available is to type +. At this point you
|
||
can patch WordStar by entering the label at which you wish to
|
||
make a patch. The program is well prompted here and I was able
|
||
to patch in the following changes which I obtained nearly a year
|
||
ago from MicroPro:
|
||
|
||
1) PSCRLF 03 0D 0A 0A NORMAL LINEFEED
|
||
2) PSHALF 02 0D 0A HALF LINEDOWN
|
||
3) PSINIT 06 1B 40 1B 41 06 0D PRINTER RESET
|
||
4) PSFINI 02 1B 40 EOP RESET
|
||
|
||
I made the patches listed above and they work to produce properly
|
||
printed documents with subscripts and superscripts. The reason
|
||
printing is somewhat slower is that each page requires twice as
|
||
many linefeeds to print the page. Of course the other method
|
||
works the same way, but it has the advantage that regular
|
||
documents will print with 66 linefeeds per page.
|
||
|
||
For a continuous underling at ^PS and something like an alternate
|
||
pitch the following patches could be used:
|
||
|
||
5) PALT 03 1B 46 0F CONDENSED SET ON
|
||
6) PSTD 01 12 CONDENS. SET OFF
|
||
7) RIBBON 03 1B 2D 01 UNDERLINE ON
|
||
8) RIBOFF 03 1B 2D 00 UNDERLINE OFF
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 26 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
William/Eunhee Hunter
|
||
Fido 109/626
|
||
|
||
Computer Industry Spotlight on:
|
||
|
||
ELECTRONIC MEMORIES AND MAGNETICS CORP. -- Electronic Memories
|
||
and Magnetics Corp. is a manufacturing firm involved in the
|
||
production of computer memories, peripherals, and militarized
|
||
microcomputers. Positions generally available within the company
|
||
are in the engineering and data processing areas. On-the job and
|
||
formal classroom training are provided for all technical
|
||
personnel.
|
||
|
||
Contact: Paul Rosee, Director, Industrial Relations,
|
||
Electronic Memories and Magnetics Corp., 20630 Plumber Street,
|
||
Chatsworth, CA 91311.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 27 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
WANTED
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
Daniel Tobias, Soft Fido, 19/216: (318) 636-4402
|
||
|
||
WANTED: IBM PC PROGRAMS FOR PUBLICATION!
|
||
|
||
SOFTDISK, INC., the already-successful publisher of magazines on
|
||
diskette for Apple II and Commodore 64 computers, will produce a
|
||
monthly disk-based publication for the IBM PC.
|
||
The first issue of this publication, to be named BIG*BLUE DISK,
|
||
and which will be contained entirely on a floppy disk, will be
|
||
shipped to thousands of retail outlets in October, including B.
|
||
Dalton Booksellers and Waldenbooks.
|
||
|
||
- - OFF-BROADWAY - -
|
||
If you have written a program for the IBM PC, please consider
|
||
publishing it on BIG*BLUE DISK; it's your chance to make some
|
||
money, and get your name in print. Programs of all categories
|
||
are being accepted.
|
||
|
||
- - YOUR REWARD - -
|
||
We will select the best programs submitted, and publish them on
|
||
issues of BIG*BLUE DISK. If we choose to publish your program,
|
||
we will pay you a minimum of $50, and possibly more-- as much as
|
||
$500, depending on the nature and quality of the program. This
|
||
money is for the privilege of publishing your program. You
|
||
retain full rights to it.
|
||
|
||
- - HOW TO SUBMIT IT - -
|
||
Submissions can be sent by FIDONET to node 19/216, or uploaded
|
||
directly to our BBS at (318) 636-4402.
|
||
Alternatively, you can send them on a floppy disk to:
|
||
BIG*BLUE DISK, PO BOX 30008, SHREVEPORT, LA 71130-0008.
|
||
|
||
BIG*BLUE DISK is a widely-distributed, carefully-prepared
|
||
publication, so make sure your programs are well-tested and
|
||
debugged, and include adequate instructions within the program.
|
||
Include a note (on paper, in a text file, or in a message to the
|
||
sysop of our BBS) describing what your program does, what files
|
||
are necessary to run it, and what system configuration (hardware
|
||
and software) is required. Please include the source code to
|
||
all compiled or assembled programs so we can make revisions if
|
||
necessary. If you have marketed your software as "shareware",
|
||
please remove all requests for money or other advertisements
|
||
from the version you submit for publication; alternatively you
|
||
can contact us for information on other terms for such programs.
|
||
|
||
- - NOTE TO SYSOPS - -
|
||
There is a finder's fee of 10% for you if you submit a program on
|
||
behalf of one of your users and it is published. Thus, you may
|
||
wish to publicize BIG*BLUE DISK and our search for programs.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 28 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
FOR SALE
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE FOR YOUR PC!
|
||
|
||
SUPERDOTS! KALAH!
|
||
|
||
Professional quality games include PASCAL source! From the
|
||
author of KALAH Version 1.6, SuperDots, a variation of the
|
||
popular pencil/paper DOTS game, has MAGIC and HIDDEN DOT
|
||
options. KALAH 1.7 is an African strategy game requiring
|
||
skill to manipulate pegs around a playing board. Both games
|
||
use the ANSI Escape sequences provided with the ANSI.SYS
|
||
device driver for the IBM-PC, or built into the firmware on
|
||
the DEC Rainbow. Only $19.95 each or $39.95 for both
|
||
exciting games! Please specify version and disk format.
|
||
These games have been written in standard TURBO-PASCAL and
|
||
run on the IBM-PC, DEC Rainbow 100 (MSDOS and CPM), CPM/80,
|
||
CPM/86, and PDP-11. Other disk formats are available, but
|
||
minor customization may be required.
|
||
|
||
BSS Software
|
||
P.O. Box 3827
|
||
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
|
||
|
||
|
||
For every order placed, a donation will be made to the Fido
|
||
coordinators! Also, if you have a previous version of KALAH
|
||
and send me a donation, a portion of that donation will also
|
||
be sent to the coordinators. When you place an order, BE
|
||
CERTAIN TO MENTION WHERE YOU SAW THE AD since it also
|
||
appears in PC Magazine and Digital Review.
|
||
|
||
Questions and comments can be sent to:
|
||
|
||
Brian Sietz at Fido 107/17
|
||
(609) 429-6630 300/1200/2400 baud
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 29 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Now available from Micro Consulting Associates!!
|
||
|
||
Public Domain collection - 550+ "ARC" archives - 20+ megs of
|
||
software and other goodies, and that's "archived" size! When
|
||
unpacked, you get approximately 28 megabytes worth of all kinds
|
||
of software, from text editors to games to unprotection schemes
|
||
to communications programs, compilers, interpreters, etc... Over
|
||
55 DS/DD diskettes!!
|
||
|
||
This collection is the result of more than 15 months of intensive
|
||
downloads from just about 150 or more BBS's and other sources,
|
||
all of which have been examined, indexed and archived for your
|
||
convenience. Starting a Bulletin Board System? Want to add on
|
||
to your software base without spending thousands of dollars? This
|
||
is the answer!!!
|
||
|
||
To order the library, send $100 (personal or company check,
|
||
postal money order or company purchase order) to:
|
||
|
||
Micro Consulting Associates, Fido 103/511
|
||
Post Office Box 4296
|
||
200-1/2 E. Balboa Boulevard
|
||
Balboa, Ca. 92661-4296
|
||
|
||
Please allow 3 weeks for delivery of your order.
|
||
|
||
Note: No profit is made from the sale of the Public Domain
|
||
software in this collection. The price is applied entirely to
|
||
the cost of downloading the software over the phone lines,
|
||
running a BBS to receive file submissions, and inspecting,
|
||
cataloguing, archiving and maintaining the files. Obtaining this
|
||
software yourself through the use of a computer with a modem
|
||
using commercial phone access would cost you much more than what
|
||
we charge for the service...
|
||
|
||
Please specify what type of format you would like the disks to be
|
||
prepared on. The following choices are available:
|
||
- IBM PC-DOS Backup utility
|
||
- Zenith MS-DOS 2.11 Backup Utility
|
||
- DSBackup
|
||
- Fastback
|
||
- ACS INTRCPT 720k format
|
||
- Plain ol' files (add $50)
|
||
|
||
Add $30 if you want the library on 1.2 meg AT disks (more
|
||
expensive disks). There are no shipping or handling charges.
|
||
California residents add 6% tax.
|
||
|
||
For each sale, $10 will go to the FidoNet Administrators.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Fidonews Page 30 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
NOTICES
|
||
=================================================================
|
||
|
||
FidoNews Bugs
|
||
|
||
FidoNews did not get published last week (4 August 1986) due to a
|
||
system failure over the weekend. We apologize for the
|
||
inconvenience.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
The Interrupt Stack
|
||
|
||
|
||
14 Aug 1986
|
||
Start of the International FidoNet Conference, Colorado
|
||
Springs, Colorado. Contact George Wing at node 1/10 for
|
||
details. Get your reservations in NOW! We'll see you there!
|
||
|
||
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 FidoNet node 1/1.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Generic George by Bruce White, 109/612
|
||
+-------------------------------------------------+
|
||
| Yes, your favorite toy does online banking, |
|
||
| / produces recipes, and keeps the household |
|
||
| / budget, but it still can't do windows. |
|
||
|/ |
|
||
| Oh yeah? Come look at this-- |
|
||
| right now it's doing FOUR ____\__ |
|
||
| windows! \ |_| \ |
|
||
| \ _____ |\ |
|
||
| | _ | | |
|
||
| ______ | |_| | | |
|
||
| __(______)_|_____|___ | |
|
||
| ||-----------------|| | |
|
||
| ______ || || | |
|
||
| \ {} / || || | |
|
||
|(c) 1986 bw \__/ ||-----------------||__|__|
|
||
+-------------------------------------------------+
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
NOTICE OF NEW ECHOMAIL AREA
|
||
|
||
For dBASE users and Programmers, Nationwide net already started.
|
||
To join contact 103/508.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
Fidonews Page 31 11 Aug 1986
|
||
|
||
|
||
Geoff Arthur, 155/212
|
||
|
||
This is now the second system operating in Australia NET:155
|
||
NODE:212 saying hello and asking that you make it public
|
||
knowledge that Australia is here. We are currently setting up a
|
||
network of our own and expect that within 3-4 months we should
|
||
have at least 30 NODES. Would be nice to here from you and some
|
||
of your users so please spread the word.
|
||
|
||
My phone number is Australia 02-457-8281 for THE OMEGA-LINE.
|
||
|
||
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
|