143 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
143 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
> How do I get information on the FidoNet, how it works etc?
|
|
> How do I get connected to the FidoNet network?
|
|
> Where can I find FidoNet sites near me?
|
|
|
|
WHAT THE HELL IS FIDONET?
|
|
by Tom Jennings (tomj@fido.wps.com)
|
|
July, 1992
|
|
|
|
FidoNet is the name of a store-and-forward computer mail system based
|
|
upon "FidoNet" technology. Fido is the name of the computer Bulletin
|
|
Board System (BBS) that was, amongst other things, the original user
|
|
interface to the network. Fido/FidoNet is the name of the original
|
|
program written by me in early 1984 that performed these two functions.
|
|
It ran on DOS machines only. There are now probably over a hundred
|
|
"FidoNet compatible" programs available on nearly any "personal
|
|
computer" hardware platform.
|
|
|
|
Fido and FidoNet are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings.
|
|
|
|
WHAT IT IS (OVERALL AND SOCIALLY):
|
|
|
|
The FidoNet is a large, fully functional anarchism. It is a
|
|
communications system built with personal computers, modems, phone
|
|
lines, and many thousands of crazy and interesting people. It is run
|
|
in a profoundly casual manner. It is amazingly reliable and efficient.
|
|
There is no central repository for information, no fixed structure to
|
|
rely on. Last year's monolithic infrastructure has been thoroughly
|
|
forgotten and completely replaced with today's seemingly endless
|
|
monstrosity, which will be gone and forgotten next year. It is not
|
|
possible to tell you how to join it, because by the time you read this
|
|
it will have changed (I know, I've tried before). Neither is it
|
|
possible to tell you where to go to find some particular item. I'm not
|
|
kidding.
|
|
|
|
FidoNet is run completely by volunteers, from saints to evil power
|
|
mongers, with most people somewhere in the middle, closer to the
|
|
saintly end of things. The FidoNet is intentionally and militantly
|
|
anti-commercial; we have resisted more than one attempt to
|
|
"commercialize" the FidoNet, that is, derive profit from the workings
|
|
of network itself. The invaders were repelled quite viciously. (This
|
|
is not to say that people don't conduct business using FidoNet, or
|
|
don't sell FidoNet-related goods.)
|
|
|
|
At this writing there are 16,000 nodes (aka "host") in the FidoNet,
|
|
serving about 1,000,000 users (estimated by the EFF). FidoNet started
|
|
with two nodes in 1984, San Francisco (the authors site) and
|
|
Baltimore, John Madill. FidoNet continues to double in size every 12
|
|
-- 18 months. (There are two ancient documents covering the period
|
|
1984 -- 1986, named FIDOHIST.1 and FIDOHIST.2, drifting around the
|
|
net.)
|
|
|
|
FidoNet carries 500 - 1000 echo conferences ("news groups") as well as
|
|
email. The FidoNet echo "backbone" carries a few megabytes per day.
|
|
|
|
There is a widely distributed weekly newsletter called FidoNews, in
|
|
it's 9th year, devoted to subjects of interest to FidoNet members and
|
|
users.
|
|
|
|
A Technical Standards Committee does the usual bit with our evolving
|
|
technologies; documenting current practice, directing changes,
|
|
protocol testing, and determining whether 2000 is a leap year (it is).
|
|
|
|
It is no longer true that most FidoNet nodes are Bulletin Board
|
|
Systems. Many are, and comprise the only public access to the
|
|
network. The remaining network access is through privately owned
|
|
"mail-only" systems. While you can certainly email them, you cannot
|
|
dial into them from "the outside world", compounding the difficulty in
|
|
gaining access to the FidoNet.
|
|
|
|
There are at least a dozen networks based upon the FidoNet technology.
|
|
Some are a few thousand nodes. You'll have to contact them for
|
|
details.
|
|
|
|
HOW IT'S BUILT:
|
|
|
|
FidoNet is made of mainly personal computers -- in North America,
|
|
generally pc-clones; in Europe, mainly Atari's and Amiga's. There are
|
|
Radio Shack Color Computers ($99 retail), CP/M-80 machines (running
|
|
smart BYE programs) -- you name it we got it. While the "pc clone"
|
|
still predominates, it is by no means the only system suitable for
|
|
FidoNet. All of them run some kind of "FidoNet compatible" software.
|
|
|
|
Nearly all of FidoNet communicates with modems over ordinary dialup
|
|
telephone lines. Unlike networks with "sugar daddies", ie.
|
|
universities (our tax money!) or sites with the ability to parasite
|
|
from a bloated corpserate entity (knowingly or unknowingly), FidoNet
|
|
members pay their own phone bills.
|
|
|
|
A major feature of FidoNet is the "nodelist", a list of all nodes in
|
|
FidoNet. (Maybe the phrase "host list" makes sense to you.) It is
|
|
updated weekly, and FidoNet members receive it (actually a
|
|
"difference" file) by an agressively efficient redundant distributed
|
|
database.
|
|
|
|
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM:
|
|
|
|
There are many reasons, mostly technical, why FidoNet uses a single
|
|
list containing all member nodes. However the single most important
|
|
reason is that it gives each and every FidoNet node the information
|
|
and ability to contact any other FidoNet node directly, without
|
|
relying on any other system. No external authority can prevent any
|
|
other site from communicating freely.
|
|
|
|
Freedom costs. Efficiency is for machinery, not people. A line of text
|
|
per FidoNet node is a small price to pay for self-defense and the
|
|
ability to talk with whoever you wish. It is almost never needed, and
|
|
when it is, it is too late -- you find yourself cutoff.
|
|
|
|
ANSWERS? SOME FREE ADVICE FIRST:
|
|
|
|
How do you get up-to-date information on the FidoNet? Where can I get
|
|
a listing of FidoNet nodes nearest me? Where can I get files
|
|
describing the FidoNet technology? Where can I get FidoNet-compatible
|
|
software?
|
|
|
|
Please keep in mind that even though you're probably looking for
|
|
information on the FidoNet itself, the only public access to it will
|
|
be through Bulletin Board Systems.
|
|
|
|
Most BBSs exist for business, pleasure or a mixture. While you may
|
|
have expectations of timeliness etc. on commercial or university
|
|
systems, BBS operators are generally one person handling dozens to
|
|
hundreds of calls a day. Be patient and carry your own weight.
|
|
|
|
My universal advice is this: seek out any source of information on
|
|
Bulletin Boards in your area; COMPUTER SHOPPER and BOARDWATCH
|
|
magazines are available in most places that sell computer books.
|
|
Finding one BBS will give you leads to finding others. Your goal is to
|
|
find a BBS that also has the FidoNet information you want.
|
|
|
|
Many BBSs today are also FidoNet nodes, so if you stumble upon one --
|
|
your search still may not be over. Every BBS is completely
|
|
independent, even FidoNet-linked ones. There are various levels of
|
|
involvement with the FidoNet; from hundreds of public conferences and
|
|
files to merely a local BBS with email for the operator -- only.
|
|
|
|
So you thought you asked a simple question, huh?
|
|
|
|
If you are on the Internet, and have further questions about FidoNet,
|
|
send your questions to deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org, who in real life is
|
|
David Deitch in Atlanta, Georgia, USofA. A volunteer also, so be nice
|
|
and have patience.
|