120 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
120 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
Copies to #1 and #10 because parts of this apply to both of you.
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Here is a list of various problems I have found on a first reading
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of the new Fido documentation for V.10 (downloaded 20 Nov. from #1).
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I think the file is not quite finished yet (mainly because there is no
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index at the end) so I probably have listed here several things you already
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caught.
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Typo's: (admittedly nit-picking)
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p. 6 Item (3) "users time limits." should be "user's time limits."
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p. 35 last sentence bad, suggest: "This is the most secure method;
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it is reccomended only if you require absolute security on upload
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files.
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p. 58 "Contact TJ at #1" should now point to #51.
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p. 85 "systems node number" s.b. "system's node number"
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There are still several references to the now-obsolete manuals:
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pp. 30, 58, 59, and 74.
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P. 85 says that new nodelists are broadcast; #51 has recently told everbody
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to go get it themselves as the network is too big to do this now.
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Omissions, features in need of revised descriptions, etc:
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Tom: There are a lot of trademarks floating around in there that really
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should be identified (on page 2) for legal reasons. Disclaimers
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maybe should be here too.
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P. 21 - (I already told this one but here it is again for completeness)
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Pin 7 is the signal common or ground and should be here; Pin 1
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is not enough and could cause ground loop problems.
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P. 37 - the new /W should be documented here.
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p. 48 - "Tabs on or off" - perhaps Tab EXPANSION on or off? I really don't
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understand the way this works from the way it is worded. Which way should
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it be set for a dumb terminal that does nothing with TABs?
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p. 53 - Locate. It should be noted that this searches the FILES.BBS in
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each area, but does not actually check the directory contents. Note
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this is the opposite of the way downloading *.* works - it catches
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anything in the directory even if it is not in the FILES.BBS. This
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inconsistancy is confusing to the user trying to correlate the two.
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p. 54 - Document the Raw-display command.
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Completely missing and needed several places throughout - documentation on
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how the attach-file feature works on message transfers.
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Also missing - what is the UNITS of the COST computation? Tom, I think
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one of your doc updates had a good description of how this works now.
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p. 59 - External events X and Z - Tom: you once sent me mail that these
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really didn't do what was expected, something about the modem actually
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disconnects but DTR still high allows it to answer the phone. I had
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originally intended to use this as the new 0 commands now works.
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Is the Z event really analogous to the 0 command or just how does it work?
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What are some suggested or potential uses, or is this now a pink elephant?
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Conflict: P. 36 shows options D and K as 24-hour limits, but p. 27 in
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the example uses 48 hours. Is this a change in V. 10?
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The new 0 command - you hit the nail on the head about needing a watchdog
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program. I am willing to pay $$$$ for a command processor that really
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does this, if you know of one or can convince somebody to make one
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PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!! I would love to use this feature.
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Questions:
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What happens to Fidonet during the transition in/out of Daylight Savings Time?
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The following appeared as bugs although I probably haven't mentioned it until
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now, they may be fixed already: Adding a reply to a net-message puts the
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+ pointer on the original, and the - pointer on the reply. If it was queued
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with Kill/Sent the + pointer is left pointing to a non-existant message.
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Another problem is that after replying to a message, it forces me into reading
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the Previous message. What I really want is to have it go back into the
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MSG menu prompt, or at least into the Next message. There was a bug with the
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sysop 1 command; it refused to actually change anything (as viewed with
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just the "1" command alone) when you were not in the MAIN menu (this is not
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a case of forgetting the "1 S").
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Comments:
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Sysop console ^o, ^n, and ^t commands: NICE TOUCH!
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Did I see something about host-host exchanges with some sort of reverse
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billing feature? I can't find it again. Anyway I would like a way to
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send a message requesting that the remote system send
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me a file - this way I could effect a download during fidonet time, yet
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let the reciepient pay for the call. The only alternative now is to
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request that the sysop send me the file in the usual way, and then the
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wrong party pays for the call. Also it seems logical to me to have message
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traffic be bi-directional during one connect; (not file transfers!).
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As long as you got the connection you might as well take care of it all,
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and I doubt if non-file message transfers cost enough to matter which way
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the charges go. OH yes, somebody just told me that File-messages need
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special treatment when a host is used in a local net. Apparently Fido does
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not forward files to the final destination. All of this should be documented.
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I believe what happens in this case is that Fidonet sends file-messages
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directly without routing.
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It is not clear to me when a message is actually charged to an account-
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if costs get charged for all messages if any one gets thru, does this mean
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that when the message tries again the next night it will be billed twice?
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And what about left-over Fidonet-internal .OUT, etc. files - if the
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system crashed during Fidonet time, does restarting Fido clean up after
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everything?
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Suggestions:
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It would really be nice to be able to use prefix codes in my nodelist for
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the various methods of making a call, when several means of long-distance
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service is available. It's cumbersome trying to put it in every entry.
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It would really be helpfull to me to be able to SET the privelege level
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needed to send attached file messages; this is too usefull a feature to
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restrict to just sysops.
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And, come to think of it, how about separate privelege settings for each file
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and message section in the same area, rather than a level for both sections
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in one area number. This would un-bundle the message and file section from
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the area groupings, straightening out the apparent area structures.
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(The user sees several areas UNDER file or message sections; the sysop sees
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just the opposite.)
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How about a separate document briefly describing the differences from version
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9, and what one has to do to upgrade existing systems?
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I think I really prefered the separate documents, but oh well.
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TOM: missing from your Fido area FILES.BBS is QUOTES.BBS and NOPWD.BBS,
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also dir.bbs. Since these do get caught in a *.* download, they should
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be documented in the Files.bbs. Also in the FILES.BBS: "see INSTALL.DOC."
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