463 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
463 lines
19 KiB
Plaintext
FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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This is a long and convoluted document; it has been
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sorely needed for months now, and it finally got done.
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FidoNet is growing at a tremendous rate, and newer sysops
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don't have the information that us oldies (pre Sept 84
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sysops) assume everyone knows; hence the history section
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here. There is a lot of extremely important material covered
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here that was assumed to be known by all; we are finding out
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otherwise.
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This also covers some of the dark mysterious secrets
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about the magical node numbers, and how the magical node
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lists appear from nowhere. Those of you that have been
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FidoNet nodes since way back when, spring and summer of
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1984, and watched all this develop (such as it was) in full
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Technicolor, will know most of this; if you are a relatively
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new sysop, much of this may come as a suprise. Everyone
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should read this, experienced sysops, new sysops, and all
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Fido and FidoNet users.
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FidoNet is no longer just a piece of software; it
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has become complex organism. There are about 160 Fidos in
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FidoNet right now; this does not include Fidos being run as
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Bulletin Board only systems, just ones that you can converse
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with over the net. If the average number of users on each
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system is 300 people, you can start to guess at the scale of
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things today.
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HISTORY:
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When FidoNet was first tested, there were two nodes:
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myself here at Fido #1 in San Francisco, and John Madill at
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Fido #2 in Baltimore. John and I did all of the testing and
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development for the first pass at FidoNet. Its purpose: to
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see if it could be done, merely for the fun of it, like ham
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radio. It quickly became useful; instead of trying to call
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each others' boards up to leave messages, or expensive voice
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phone calls, Fidonet messages became more or less routine.
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This was version 7 of Fido sometime in June 84 or
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so; it did not have routing, file attach, retry control,
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error handling, cost accounting, log files, or any of the
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niceties since added. A packet was made, a call placed, the
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packet transferred, that was it. This was adequate for a
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month or two, when there were less than 20 nodes.
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In August of 84, the number of nodes was approaching
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30; the net was becoming clogged, believe it or not. FidoNet
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wasn't too smart about making calls then. With 30 systems,
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coordination became difficult; instead of a simple voice
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phone call to the (very few!) sysops to straighten out
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problems like modems not answering, wrong numbers, clock
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problems, etc, it took days to get the slightest problem
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repaired. There were by now six nodes in St. Louis, and Fido
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#1 was making seperate phone calls for each, when obviously
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one could be made. Enter the beginnings of routing.
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FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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The "original" FidoNet was very simple and friendly;
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you told me at Fido #1 that you had a FidoNet node ready, I
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put you in the list, with your phone number, and people
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called up and downloaded the list; done!
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Well ... at first, "everyone knew each other"; we
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were in more or less constant contact. However, when the
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node numbers got into the twenties, there were people
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bringing up FidoNodes who none of us knew. This was good,
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but it meant we were not in close contact anymore.
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The Net started to deteriorate; every single week
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without fail there was at least one wrong number, usually
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two. To impress on you the seriousness of wrong numbers in
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the node list, imagine you are a poor old lady, who every
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single night is getting phone calls EVERY TWO MINUTES AT
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4:00AM, no one says anything, then hangs up. This actually
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happened; I would sit up and watch when there was mail that
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didn't go out for a week or two, and I'd pick up the phone
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after dialing, and was left in the embarrasing position of
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having to explain bulletin boards to an extremely tired,
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extremely annoyed person.
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There were also cases where the new node really
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wasn't up yet, and the number given was a home phone to be
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used temporarily, but I'd forget that, and include it in the
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list anyways. Or the new node wasn't really up yet, and we'd
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all make calls to it and it would not answer, or worse, the
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modem would answer but the software wasn't running, and we'd
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get charged for the call.
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This obviously could not go on. We had to have some
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way to make sure that at least the phone numbers were
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correct! I started a new policy; before giving out a node
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number and putting it in the list, I had to receive a
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FidoNet message from the new node, directly. This verified
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that at least the new Fido was half way running. At the
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time, Fido had a provision whereby Fido #1 could set the
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node number remotely; I'd send a message back, and presto! a
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new node was up.
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Well, this didn't work properly either; at the same
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time, the Fido software was changing so rapidly, to
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accomodate all the changes (literally a version a day for a
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few weeks there) that I was losing new node requests, wrong
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numbers caused by illegible handwriting, all sorts of
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problems. Out of laziness I would still assign nodes "word
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of mouth", and got in the same trouble as before.
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The people in St. Louis (Tony Clark, Ben Baker, Ken
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Kaplan, Jon Wichman, Mike Mellinger) had their local Fidos
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going strong, and understood what FidoNet did, how it
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worked, and what it was about. They volunteered to take over
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the node list, handle new node requests, and leave me with
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the software. They tightened up on the FidoNet message
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requirement, and in a few months, had the "error rate"
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(wrong numbers, etc) down to practically zero, where it is
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FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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today.
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Though I did the programming, Ken Kaplan, Ben Baker,
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and the crowd in St. Louis did much of the design and most
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of the testing of routing, forwarding, and local nets. They
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still remain the experts on the intricacies of routing, and
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help sysops set up local nets.
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Please keep in mind the entire process, from two
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nodes to over 50, took only three months! Fifty nodes is
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more than it sounds; at that level it becomes a large scale
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project. FidoNet went from about 50 nodes in Sept 84 or so,
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to the current 160+ in Jan/Feb of 85.
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FidoNet today is a network quickly approaching the
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levels of complexity of commercial networks, and has many
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more capabilities than many "mini" networks, such as USENET,
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which has no routing or hosts. Only ARPAnet has some of the
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features of FidoNet. The southern California local network
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is three levels deep, with hosts in Orange, LA, Ventura, San
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Berdino and San Diego counties.
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FidoNet is just too large today to run as an
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informal club. The potential for error is just too high to
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include numbers at random within the node list. I imagine we
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are in a predicament today what the radio ameteur operators
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had a number of years ago.
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The requirements for new FidoNet nodes are pretty
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minimal, and they appear to be arbitrary and harsh if you
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aren't aware of what's going on. This is to spell them out
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in detail, so everyone will understand the process.
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FidoNet'S PURPOSE:
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Very simple; it is a hobby, a non-commercial network
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of computer hobbiests ("hackers", in the older, original
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meaning) who want to play with, and find uses for, packet
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switch networking. It is not a commercial venture in any
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way; FidoNet is totally supported by it's users and sysops,
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and in many ways is similar to ham radio, in that other than
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a few "stiff" rules, each sysop runs their system in any way
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they please, for any reason they want.
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THE STIFF RULES:
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Actually, not as bad as it sounds; basically,
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politeness as a rule:
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1. New nodes, see below.
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2. If your system is going to be down for a week or
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more, please let Fido 51 know. They can take you
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out of the list while you are gone, so other FidoNet
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sysops won't be wasting phone calls.
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3. If you change your phone number, or decide to stop
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FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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running Fido, let them know, so other FidoNet sysops
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won't be wasting phone calls.
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The thing to keep in mind is that FidoNet's
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telephone calls to send mail are costing someone money; if
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you are down just for a night or so, don't worry about it,
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just make sure your modem doesn't answer.
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THE NODE LIST
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Obviously (if you are a FidoNet sysop that is) the
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node list is a text file containing all the names, phone
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numbers and other things on each node, and as distributed by
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Fido 51, routing information for the many local networks. It
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is a very compact list, and so there is no clue as to how
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that list is made.
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Here is the current process for new nodes to obtain
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a node number, and get into the node list. This assumes you
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want to run a public access Fido; specialized systems are
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covered seperately, below.
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SET UP FIDO
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Of course, you should get your Fido running first;
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no sense in trying to run mail if your Fido doesn't run! In
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your FidoNet area, enter a message for Fido #51, and include
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the following information:
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1. Your boards name
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2. City and state
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3. Sysops name
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4. Board phone number
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5. Maximum baud rate; 1200 assumed otherwise
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6. Hours of operation; 24 hrs assumed otherwise
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7. Way to contact the sysop during the day. This is
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not absolutely necessary, but it makes it easier
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if there is some problem.
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Most of this is pretty obvious. The sysops voice
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phone number will be kept secret; it will not be given out.
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It is only used if there is some problem, and a FidoNet
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message can't be sent for some reason.
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For Fidos that want to run with an unlisted phone
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number, a few other things are needed:
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8. A public FidoNet to act as mail host
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9. The systems actual phone number
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A host is required for an unlisted number, so that
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you can receive mail. (If you don't want to receive mail,
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then there is no reason for you to be part of FidoNet!) The
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host system will have to have the unlisted phone number, of
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course.
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FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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Fido 51 needs to have the phone number also, but it
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will be kept secret. This is so that they can contact you
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directly if there is any problem, such as a known bug or a
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question, or if your host drops out of the network, so there
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is some way to contact the local nodes.
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GETTING A NODE NUMBER
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This is the part that seems so arbitrary if you
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aren't aware of what's happening. What happens is: you send
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Fido 51 the message described above. When they receive it,
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they put the stuff into the node list and fido list, pick
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you a node number, and mail a copy of it to you the next
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weekend.
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This tests your system at the same time; you have to
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be able to sucessfully send and receive mail in order to get
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the node number. Out of it, you get a copy of the latest
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lists.
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NOTE: Fido 51 does not mail out copies of the lists to
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everyone on a regular basis; it would mean too many phone
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calls ($$$ ...). You can get the new node list Friday
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evening at Fidos 10 and 51, or Fidos 1 and 2 later that
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weekend or early the next week, and usually most any other
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busy Fido.
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If it all works, then 1) you know your system is
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working 2) Fido 51, the node list keepers, knows it's
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working 3) the other 160 or so Fido sysops know that your
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system was working at least as recently as the last node
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list. Print out the last few weeks nodelists; compare all
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the changes, not just the additions.
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This is why node numbers aren't given out "word of
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mouth", or at other sysops request. It has to be done
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directly, as a test.
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WHAT FIDO 51 REALLY DOES
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Making the node list is more than just typing in the
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information; they make sure that the information in the list
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is accurate as possible. This frequently means voice phone
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calls to double check, or calls to the new system to see
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what the problem is; sometimes it is as simple as the wrong
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baud rate, the time wrong on the new system, so that it is
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not running FidoNet at the right time.
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Ken Kaplan and Ben Baker do the node list work when
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they have "spare time"; please be patient! As the number of
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new nodes increases every week, response time goes up.
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Currently, the node list is done once a week; new node
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requests must be received in Wednesday nights mail (by
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Thursday morning) so that they can work on it Thursday
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night, and send it out on Friday night, so that you will
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have it over the weekend. The volume of mail is such that it
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FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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may take a few days to get out.
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(Please note that Fido 51 is an unattended node;
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there is no one there to answer Y)ells unless someone
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happens to walk by. The machine is located at Data Research
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Associates, who kindly donated the phone line, and runs on a
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DEC Rainbow 100+, donated by Digital Equipment Corp.)
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Fido 51 is an extremely busy system; they receive
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125 messages a week through FidoNet alone, so please be
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patient.
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CHANGES, MISTAKES AND UPDATES
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If you ever find wrong information in the node list,
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please send the information to Fido 51; they will include it
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in the next list.
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If you become part of a local net, ie. you have an
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incoming host, notify them, and it will be included in the
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node list also. Other changes might be baud rate (got a new
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modem!) hours of operation, board name or sysop, etc.
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SOME OTHER THINGS ...
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If you have questions or problems with any part of
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Fido or FidoNet, please ask. Here's where to go for
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problems:
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HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, PERFORMANCE OR INSTALLATION TROUBLES
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Call or FidoNet to Fido #1, me, Tom Jennings.
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FidoNet is best, if possible; that way, I have your "address
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and phone" handy. If not, then call Fido #1 and leave a
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message. If you leave it at G)oodbye, when you call back
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looking for a reply, remember to check in the ANSWERS area;
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Fido will NOT tell you if there is mail for you, you have to
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search for it.
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Fido #1 always has the latest versions of Fido for
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all hardware supported, available for download. Fido #1
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ALWAYS runs one revision later than the released version; it
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is used to test new features or bug fixes, so that when
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released they will be working. Check the FIDO download area
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for the current Fido version.
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I have nothing to do anymore with maintaining the
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node list, nor do I hand out node numbers.
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ROUTING, NODE LIST, LOCAL NET QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
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Fido 51. Since they keep the list, they're the ones
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to contact for node list problems. If you want advice on how
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to set up a local net in your area, they can offer help and
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advice.
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FidoNet History and Operation 8 Feb 85
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SPECIALIZED SYSTEMS
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If you are setting up a private network, and it is
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to be truly private, what you do with it is your own
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business. If, however, there is any possiblility that
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members of your private network may wish to communicate with
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any members of the public network, you should contact Fido
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51 for the allocation of a block of node numbers to be
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assigned by you to the nodes in your network. This is to
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avoid node number conflicts upon receipt of FidoNet mail in
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the public network.
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LOCAL NETS
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Neither I nor Ken Kaplan nor Ben Baker "run"
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FidoNet; local networks such as the one in Southern
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California and Massachusetts are entirely the responsibility
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of the sysops in the area; the only thing we ask is that the
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designated "incoming host" for that area be somewhat
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reliable, for the obvious reason that it will be receiving
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lots of phone calls from across the country.
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As a matter of fact, you are encouraged to form
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local networks, or join one that exists locally. IT makes it
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cheaper for other systems to send you mail, and generally
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streamlines FidoNet operation.
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Other than that, local nets are totally standalone;
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that is what they are for! For instance, SoCal can run their
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net anyway they please; it is their hardware, their phone
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lines, and their phone bills. It is their investment in
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work, and they should reap the benefits. If there is a
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"FidoNet policy", this is it.
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AND SO ON ...
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I hope FidoNet is a bit clearer now; if you have any
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suggestions, or want to volunteer to help, please let us
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know. Our only interest is in keeping the node list correct
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and up to date; this simple list is what ties the entire net
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together.
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Ken Kaplan Fido #51 314/432-4129
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Tom Jennings Fido #1 415/864-1418
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Ben Baker Fido #10 314/234-1462
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