340 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
340 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Volume 7, Number 29 16 July 1990
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| /|oo \ |
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| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
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| _`@/_ \ _ |
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| FidoNet (r) | | \ \\ |
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| International BBS Network | (*) | \ )) |
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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: Vince Perriello
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Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell
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Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
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Copyright 1990, Fido Software. All rights reserved. Duplication
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and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only.
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For use in other circumstances, please contact Fido Software.
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FidoNews is published weekly by the System Operators of the
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FidoNet (r) International BBS Network. It is a compilation of
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individual articles contributed by their authors or authorized
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agents of the authors. The contribution of articles to this
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compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors.
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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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ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous
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Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day.
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Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of
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Fido Software, Box 77731, San Francisco CA 94107, USA and are
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used with permission.
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Opinions expressed in FidoNews articles are those of the authors
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and are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Fido Software.
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Most articles are unsolicited. Our policy is to publish every
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responsible submission received.
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Table of Contents
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1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
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How Big is FidoNet? ...................................... 1
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Announcing The Programmers Distribution Network! ......... 2
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Remote Control and You ................................... 4
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2. NOTICES .................................................. 6
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The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 6
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 1 16 Jul 1990
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=================================================================
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ARTICLES
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=================================================================
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Mike Riddle
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1:285/27
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HOW BIG IS THE NETWORK?
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From time to time, some of us (far be it from me to suggest that
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there may have been a brewski or two in the room, or that the
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room was full of net 285 sysops) have wondered how big the
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network really is. After all, my knowledge is the space the
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NODELIST takes up on my disk, and we all /know/ that it's full
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of duplicates because of coordinators and hubs and zones and
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such. Right?
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As part of a class I'm taking in Mass Media Law, I had occasion
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to wonder a little more critically. The only published figures
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were several years old, and mentioned the 3,000 - 4,000 range.
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So I decided to do a little checking.
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My method was to import the nodelist into a database and check
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for duplicate telephone numbers. There were 1525 duplicates,
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base on NODELIST.194. Of these, 345 were annotated "duplicate"
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because the telephone number is "-Unpublished-".
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So, not being wanton or frivolous enough to hand check 345
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telephone numbers, I'm assuming that coordinators, regions and
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such aren't likely to have the number -Unpublished-. So, I
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added back in the -Unpublished count. The final figure, of
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presumably physically independent nodes, is
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8739 entries
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less 1525 duplicates
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plus 345 -Unpublished-
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=======================
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7559 nodes
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and that's the way it is, as of NODELIST.194. Trivial Pursuit
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fans please take note, everyone else (including yours truly)
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just try to figure out why I bothered!
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 2 16 Jul 1990
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Erik VanRiper
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Fido 1:260/230
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The Programmers Distribution Network (PDN) is here!
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After being forced to log on to BBS's all over the world to find
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the latest CXL library, (mostly because I cannot afford C$erve
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or the phone bill!) or a Library for Fossil Routines, I would
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think to myself: "Why is there no means for transferring these
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kinds of files like there is for the SDS?". Well, I finally
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decided to do something about it.
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On Monday, July 9th, I did a mass mailing to all the
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nodes in Zone 1 with a USDS flag in the nodelist. Some I could
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not get through to, for unknown reasons, but for the 100 or so I
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did get through to, I received an overwhelming response within 12
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hours. I also found a few Nets doing this same idea more locally
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and they have agreed to join forces. A lot of people came up
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with many ideas on how things should be distributed, and I have
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taken them all into consideration. I figured that the best way
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to handle the distribution would be to set up one node in each
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Region, then have that coordinator pass the files to their own
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Region, and off to one other Region. We would (of course) use
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TICK, because it works!
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Things will be set up in the following fashion:
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Area Name Area Description
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========= ================
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CEE Any MSDOS related C or C++ files
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PASCAL Any MSDOS related Pascal files
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BASIC Any MSDOS related Basic files
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ASSEMBLY Any 80xxx related Assembly files
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BATCH Any .BAT related files
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PDNOS2 Any OS/2 related files
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PDNOTHER Any Amiga, Macintosh, etc. related files
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LANGUAGE Any Other files that do not fit under the
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other areas (Unix, Modula-2, Cobol, etc).
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In the above chart, I refer to "files" as Libraries,
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Object code, or Source code in each area. I would also ask that
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the author (or authorized agent) please make sure that the file
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being entered into the PDN be documented, and functional. I
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would like to not see "CrippleWare" or "VaporWare" included.
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Only Public Domain and ShareWare should be submitted.
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The following Nodes have volunteered to be Regional
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Distribution points for the PDN:
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 3 16 Jul 1990
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Region Node
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====== ====
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10 102/531
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11 121/99
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12 240/507
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13 260/230 * See Note 1
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14 100/555
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15 302/5
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16 141/730
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17 140/53
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18 116/36 * See Note 2
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19 397/2
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* Note 1: A Gateway between Zone 1 to Zones 2 and 3 has
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been arranged via Mark Howard (260/0).
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* Note 2: 116/36 has provided gateways to the following
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Zones: 6, 8, 29, 99, and GTNet.
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If you are in a different Zone, or if you would like more
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information on the PDN, please contact one of the above PDN_RC's,
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and File Request PDNINFO.ZIP.
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If you are interested in distributing the PDN for your
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Net, please contact one of the above PDNRC's to pick up the
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area(s) your Net wants.
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There will also be two message Echo areas created, and
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they will be passed during the distribution of the files. One
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will be for the PDNRC's to coordinate the transfers, and the
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second will be used by the users of individual BBS's to enable a
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conference for support.
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Happy Programming! :-}
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 4 16 Jul 1990
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Christopher L. Browne
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Fidonet 1:141/735
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Remote Control and You
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"What? That database isn't working? Can you tell me what error
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message you're seeing?....happens too fast eh?...hmmm...Sounds
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like I'll need to hop the next red-eye to Los Angeles. That's ok,
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this Connecticut weather is bumming me out anyway. Hope the boss
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signs that travel voucher. This could get expensive..."
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Remote control. It's a pretty simple concept actually. One device
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being controlled by another device without any true physical
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contact between the devices. We use it everyday with our cable,
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TV, and stereo systems. I personally am the proud owner of 8
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"clickers"! When applied to the PC's on our desks at both home
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and work, it is the same concept.
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Using the example above, remote control can save the techie some
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considerable time and money. The administrator in LA needs only
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to run a "host" program and then sit back while the techie modems
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in from Danbury with the "guest" program, diagnoses the problem
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with the database and even fix it while connected. Everything
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that the techie is doing is being done on the PC in LA yet it is
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being controlled remotely from Danbury. Pretty neat eh?
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The possibilities are almost endless! A good true life example
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exists in Utah. At the bottom of a lake, a PC is sealed in a box
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with phone and power cables routed from the shore. This PC has
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equipment and software that monitors water temprature and flow
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and controls flood gates for a dam nearby. Attached to the PC is
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a modem. The person in charge of this system (whose office is
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about 50 miles away), can see exactly what is happening and can
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make emergency adjustments at any time simply by calling this PC
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and remotely controlling it. No trip to the lake has to be made.
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At the software level, all that is being done is redirection. The
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video output from LA is being sent and maybe translated to the
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video display of the Danbury machine. The keyboard input from
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Danbury is being sent to and processed by the machine in LA. Some
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remote control programs even re-direct printer output. Most
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remote control programs provide file transfer as well.
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Now, you are probably asking me why I'm writing this. I have
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recently created an echo conference that deals with this topic -
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remote control. I know that MANY people do use it. I know that
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MANY people don't. I know that MANY people don't understand it.
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The goal of this conference, called REMOTE, is to educate those
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that don't understand and assist those that use remote control
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software. REMOTE's sideline goals are to induce new ideas for the
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market, discuss problems with current or previous attempts at
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remote control, and keep the user aware of this little niche of
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the software industry.
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 5 16 Jul 1990
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As moderator/creator of REMOTE, I can only hope that people
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realize that a forum of this type could really benefit both the
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user and sysop of any bbs system in Fidonet. Remote control
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software is BIG. Each commercially available package is selling
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in the millions while there is a growing presence of remote
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control shareware and public domain software. A node that carries
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this conference could use it as a selling point to attract users!
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REMOTE is currently available from my system, theWeb! 1:141/735,
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along with a majority of the HUBS of Net 1:141 in Connecticut.
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With a bit of luck and lot's of usage, REMOTE could even become a
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backbone echo!
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Christopher L. Browne
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Creator/Moderator of REMOTE
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theWeb! 1:141/735 (203)790-6612
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 6 16 Jul 1990
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=================================================================
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NOTICES
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=================================================================
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The Interrupt Stack
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27 Jul 1990
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The beginning of the REGION 17 Convention at Menucha Resort in
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the Columbia Gorge, Oregon. For details contact Ken Zwaschka,
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1:105/54.
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1 Aug 1990
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Start of FidoCon '90. Contact Bill Vanglahn at 1:1/90 for
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details.
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17 Aug 1990
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Start of first ever Searchlight SysOps convention in Chicago, IL.
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Contact Marge Robbins at 1:283/120 for details.
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5 Oct 1990
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21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
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6 Nov 1990
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First anniversary of Van Diepen Automatiseert, 2:500/28
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14 Nov 1990
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Marco Maccaferri's 21rd Birthday. Send greetings to him at
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2:332/16.0
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1 Jan 1991
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Implementation of 7% Goods and Services Tax in Canada. Contact
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Joe Lindstrom at 1:134/55 for a more colorful description.
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16 Feb 1991
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Fifth anniversary of the introduction of Echomail, by Jeff Rush.
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7 Oct 1991
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Area code 415 fragments. Alameda and Contra Costa Counties
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will begin using area code 510. This includes Oakland,
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Concord, Berkeley and Hayward. San Francisco, San Mateo,
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Marin, parts of Santa Clara County, and the San Francisco Bay
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Islands will retain area code 415.
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1 Feb 1992
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Area code 213 fragments. Western, coastal, southern and
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eastern portions of Los Angeles County will begin using area
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code 310. This includes Los Angeles International Airport,
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West Los Angeles, San Pedro and Whittier. Downtown Los
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Angeles and surrounding communities (such as Hollywood and
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Montebello) will retain area code 213.
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FIDONEWS 7-29 Page 7 16 Jul 1990
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5 Jun 1997
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David Dodell's 40th Birthday
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If you have something which you would like to see on this
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calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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