801 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
801 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
_______________________________________
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ZMAGAZINE MARCH 1987
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_______________________________________
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ZMAGAZINE ISSUE 45 MARCH 30, 1987
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NEW JERSEY EDITION
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_______________________________________
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PUBLISHER: SYNDICATE SERVICES
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EDITOR IN CHIEF: RON KOVACS
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EDITOR: ALAN KLOZA
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SPECIAL FEATURES EDITOR: STEVE GODUN
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ASST PUBLISHER: KEN KIRCHNER
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ZMAG HEADQUARTERS:
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THE SYNDICATE BBS
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(201) 968-8148 300/1200 BAUD
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PO BOX 74
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MIDDLESEX, NJ 08846-0074
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_______________________________________
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////This week in Zmag////
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<*> Special Sysop Survey Request
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<*> Computer Show Schedule
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<*> Updated 1088XE Documentaion
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<*> Zmag Newswire
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<*> Special Zmag/GEnie Sign-on
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<*> FCC
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All this and more in Issue 45
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_______________________________________
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////Zmag and GEnie////
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If you are interested in more info
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on siging up without a registration
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fee, then please read on. We have been
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givin passes with sign-up information
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and I pass these on to the readers who
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send me a letter with their address.
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You can now sign-up without charges.
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For free signup pass, send your name
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and address to:
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Zmagazine
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PO BOX 74
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Middlesex, NJ 08846
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GEnie provides no extra charges for
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1200 baud service. You can call at
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300/1200 for only $5.00/hr. Join the
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Atari Roundtable where you will
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discover dozens of files, Atari Live
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confrences, CB Simulator, Electronic
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Mail, multiplayer games and more.
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As stated above, as a Zmag reader,
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you are eligible to recieve a special
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limited offer from GEnie. If you sign
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up before December 31 1987, the normal
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registration fee of $18.00 will be
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waived.
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If you would like more information on
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GEnie services, call: 1 (800) 638-9636
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Comparison Chart:
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1)The Source: 2)CompuServe 3)GEnie
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REG.Fee Monthly Min 300 1200 **
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---------------------------------------
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1)49.95 10.00 8.40 10.80
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2)39.95 none 6.00 12.50
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3)none none 5.00 5.00
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Non Prime time hours are:
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Monday-Friday 6pm-8am, All day
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Saturday/Sunday and national holidays.
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Additional surcharge for 2400 baud.
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_______________________________________
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////XE1088 Documentation Update////
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_______________________________________
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Provided by the CHAOS BBS(517) 371-1106
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The final step, the 1088XE. Version 2.0
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(This one works!) By Scott Peterson,
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June 1986.
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Well, this is it for me, the last
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installment on the 130XE. I have not
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built this mother, but one has been
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built and tested by another person in
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Mass., and it works!!
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This doc assumes you have allready
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built and tested a 576K 130XE. to
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finish it you will need the following
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parts;
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Quanity part no. description.
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-------------------------------
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16 41256-15 256K DRAM'S
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1 7432 quad OR gate
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1 7404 quad invert buff.
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2 33 omh resistors.
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Small piece of PC board.
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-------------------------------
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Note: On the 74 series, you can sub
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them with 74LS series chips, they use
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less power...
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Tools;
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Nothing fancy, a fine tip soldering
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iron, screwdriver, needle nose pliers,
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and some fine wire, ect.
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Mount the 7404 and the 7432 on a small
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PC board(1in. X 2in.) connect together
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pin 14 on the 7432 and pin 14 on the
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7404 with a length of fine wire. This
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is the +5v supply to the chips, connect
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it to pin 14 of any 14 pin chip in the
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130XE or pin 16 of any 16 pin chip in
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the 130XE. Next connect a lenght of
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wire to pin 7 of the 7432 and pin 7 of
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the 7404, this is ground for the two
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chips, connect it to pin 7 of any 14
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pin chip in the 130XE or pin 8 of and
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16 pin chip.
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Next, take U23(U23) out of the socket
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and bend up pin 17, reinsert it in the
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socket. Solder a piece of wire to pin
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17 U23, and connect it to the 7432 pins
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2 and 5. Next connect a wire to pin 14
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on U23(PIA) run it to pin 1 on the 7404
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and pin 1 on the 7432. Now connect a
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wire from the 7432 pin 6 to pin 17 of
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the socket U23 is in. Find the 74LS138
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you piggy backed to the mother board
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when doing the 576k mod, remove the
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jumper from pins 1 and 16. solder a
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wire from pin 3 of the 7432 on the PC
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board to pin 1 of the piggybacked
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74LS138. Run a jumper from the 7404 pin
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2 to the 7432 pin 4. Put some double
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backed tape on the PC board and stick
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it somewhere on the mother board of the
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130XE.
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RAM-CHIP installation(lots of them!)
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Take the 16 new ram chips and cut pin
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15 on all of them in half so only the
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'fat' part is left. Now, you have to
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piggy back them on-top of the 64K rams
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the left-most row of chips). Solder in
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8 of them, connecting all pins except
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pin 15, then connect a jumper to pin 15
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of each new ram chip. Make sure you
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have about a foot left over. Solder in
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the next 8 doing the same thing (you
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might want to piggy back the 256K
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DRAM's prior to mounting them on-top of
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the 64K DRAM's). When you get done you
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should have 2 new rows of 256k DRAM's
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solder in on-top of the 64K DRAM's,
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with a 2 wires, one connected to all
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the pin 15's of the middle row and
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another connected to all the pin 15's
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of the top row. Take one wire and go
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out a few inches and install a 33 ohm
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resistor in-line, cover with heat
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shrink tubing and do the same to the
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other wire. Connect one wire to pin 15
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of the 74LS138 and the other to pin 13
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of the 74LS138. Last but not least,
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install a jumper to pin one of each of
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the left bank of ram-chips, just like
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you did in the 576k mod to the bank on
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the right. After doing this run the
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jumper to any pin one of the right
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bank, what you should wind up with is a
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common connection to every pin one of
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both banks of ram-chips.
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Your done!!!
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Sorry, as of right now I know of no
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software to run on this(maybe Mydos
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4.2? or Top-Dos 1.5+). I will provide a
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table for the control numbers, ect.
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Good Luck
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Scott
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P.S. 2 meg is very, very possible. You
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just need wwuunnn more control line.
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This would have to be bit 0 of the PIA,
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but you would lose the switch-able O.S.
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Its up to you guys from here, thats
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funny, the 1040 ST only has 1,024,000
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bytes of ram.
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_______________________________________
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////Computer Show's////
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_______________________________________
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Ken Gordon Shows April-June 1987
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April 5--
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Long Island, NY Show
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250 Tables, Grand Royal Hotel
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Hempstead-Clinton Street
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Sunday 10-4pm
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May 9--
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Boston Area Show
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350 Tables, NE Trade Center
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Woburn Exit #35 I-95 - 128
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Saturday 10-4pm
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May 16--
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South Jersey Show
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300 Tables, Betsy Ross Inn
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Pennsauken, NJ RT 130
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Saturday 10-4pm
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June 6--
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North Jersey Show
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400 Tables, Meadowlands Hilton
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Secaucus, New Jersey RT 3
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Saturday 9-4pm
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June 13--
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Maryland/DC/VA Show
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Sheraton Hotel
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New Carroliton, MD Exit 20-B, I-95
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Saturday 10-4pm
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June 20--
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Philadelphia Area Show
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George Washington Confrence Center
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Wollow Grove, PA TPKE Exit 27
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_______________________________________
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April 11-12
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The 12th Annual Trenton Computer Fest
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Trenton State College Recreation Center
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For information:
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Trenton State COllege
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Hillwood Lakes, CN4700, Trenton, NJ
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08650-4700 (609)771-2487
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_______________________________________
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May 3
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Delaware Computer Fair
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Ramada Inn, New Castle, Delaware
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I-295,RT13
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10-4pm Admission is $3.00
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For more information:
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(201) 553-1991
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_______________________________________
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June 14
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Computer Central Multi-Vendor PC Show
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Holiday Inn Itasca
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860 Irving Park Road
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Itasca, Il
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9:30-4pm
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Apple,Atari,IBM(clones),Commodork,Tandy
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For more information:
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(312) 940-7547
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_______________________________________
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////Zmag Newswire////
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_______________________________________
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The Department of Defense Proposes
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Limitations on -Electronic Press- Easy
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electronic access to public
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information, the stock in trade of such
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on-line providers as Dow Jones News
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Retrieval, Mead, Newsnet, CompuServe,
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and The Source, will be curtailed if
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the Department Of Defense has it's way.
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DOD's concerns focus on the
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computerized ease with which an agent
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of an unfriendly power might access
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large amounts of unclassified
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information, massage it electronically,
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and discover patterns in national
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behavior of great significance to
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national security.
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The Pentagon is an important source of
|
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such information, regularly releasing
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unclassified information to the news
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media which electronic information
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exchange services then repackage in an
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easily accessible form.
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To prevent potential adversaries from
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accessing this convenient source of
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information, DOD has proposed a new
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security designation termed
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-unclassified but sensitive-.
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Such information, although
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unclassified, would be restricted from
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on-line databases.
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The information industry sees this move
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as a threat to First Amendment
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freedoms. The Information Industry
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Association (IIA), a trade group
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representing vendors of online data
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services, issued a policy statement in
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January that acknowledged the
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government's legitimate concern for
|
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national defense, but opposed efforts
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by DOD and the National Security
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Council to restrict public access to
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unclassified information. Carl
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Valenti, chairman of the IIA board of
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directors and vice president of
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information services for Dow, Jones ompany, stated strong opposition to
|
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-controlling access to information
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that has always been available-
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information that you can find in your
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public library-. DOD is not the only
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government agency attempting to
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restrict access to publicly released
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information.
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The Commerce Department recently
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requested private information companies
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to identify subscribers who access the
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Department of Energy's RECON database
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(the request was later withdrawn after
|
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pressure from IIA); NASA has
|
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established a list of companies,
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including American companies, that may
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not subscribe to unclassified NASA
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information; and the CIA and FBI have
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visited Mead Data Central, providers of
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the LEXIS legal research database and
|
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the NEXIS news research database, to
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discuss how Mead could limit access to
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those unclassified databases and to
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determine whether suspect foreigners
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were subscribing.
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According to a spokesman for
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CompuServe, a major electronic
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information exchange service, the
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-unclassified but sensitive-
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designation is poorly defined and thus
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gives agencies arbitrary powers of
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censorship. In response to government
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requests that information providers
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restrict data access voluntarily, he
|
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said, -Compu$erve is not equipped to
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provide these protections, and not
|
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equipped to make these judgements- as
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to who should have access and who
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should not.
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In addition to concerns over First
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Amendment freedoms, many U.S. companies
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fear that limited access to public
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databases could take away a critical
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competitive advantage. These
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corporations have joined forces with
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the information exchange companies, the
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print media, and the American Civil
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Liberties Union to monitor government
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actions and prevent any restrictions on
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the free flow of unclassified
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information.
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In a more general effort, the Media
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Institute, a Washington D.C. based
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non-profit research foundation, has
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established the First Amendment Center
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for New Media to protect the freedoms
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of a range of electronic information
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sources such as on-line databases,
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videotext, teletext, cable television,
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and satellite news gathering.
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_______________________________________
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////Zmag Special Report////
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_______________________________________
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[ed.]
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Since I feel there are many SysOps
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reading this publication on a weekly
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basis, I decided to publish this
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article. If you are not a SysOp, dont
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respond to the requests listed, as they
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are for SysOps only. Please take the
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time and reply if you can.
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Sysops Questionnaire for Shooshan ackson ONA Study
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Introduction:
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You have an opportunity to help improve
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the services the telephone company
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provides to sysops like you and to the
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people who use your BBS.
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In particular, we want your opinion on
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the ONA BSEs. What's a BSE? Who cares?
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What do BSEs and ONAs have to do with
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me?
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Please read on a couple paragraphs and
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I will try to make it all clear.
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Background:
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Last June, (June 1986) the Federal
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Communications Commission (FCC), in its
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Computer Inquiry III proceeding,
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ordered the telephone companies to
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develop -Open Network Architecture-
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(ONA) plans which would allow for the
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improved delivery of -Enhanced
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Services- over the telephone network.
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Telephone companies have to file these
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ONA plans by February 1988. The FCC's
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order developed out of a long history
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which is too complex and detailed to
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recount here. One way to restate what
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they said in June is that the telephone
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companies should take any reasonable
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steps to make their networks better
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able to support information vendors on
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the network. By enhanced service
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providers or information service
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vendors the FCC means timesharing
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companies such as GEnie, CompuServe or
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the Source, value added networks (VANs)
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such as Telenet and Tymnet, and a host
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of non-computer services such as
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telephone answering services or burglar
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alarm services.
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The FCC's order didn't refer to sysops,
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RBBSs, or FIDO nodes -- but clearly
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these all fall into the category of
|
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enhanced service providers -- even if
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most of them don't charge for the
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service.
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Our firm was hired by a regional bell
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holding company to study enhanced
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service providers' needs for basic
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service elements (BSEs) in an open
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network architecture (ONA) environment.
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We have been meeting with all the major
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corporate enhanced service providers to
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understand their needs for improved
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network services.
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However, we feel that sysops have a
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tremendous store of knowledge based
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upon their experience with the
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provision of data base services and
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electronic mail over the telephone
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network. We would like to tap into
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that resource. Hence, this
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questionnaire. Sysops and the personal
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computer communications world will
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benefit from this questionnaire since
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they will have an opportunity for input
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into the BSE definition process (at one
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regional company).
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If you could just edit this document --
|
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inserting your answers -- and send a
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plain ASCII version or a printout to me
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at one of the addresses below I would
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appreciate it.
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Background on Respondent
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(optional -- anonymous is okay -- but I
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can't get back to you for clarification
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if your response is anonymous)
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Name:
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Address:
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Phone number (data):
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Phone number (voice):
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For how long have you been a sysop
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(years and months)?
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What BBS system do you operate?
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Computer
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Software
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How many calls a month are made to your
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BBS?
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Calls:
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Hours of activity:
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The building blocks of the ONA
|
|
environment are basic service elements
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(BSEs). I would like to ask you some
|
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questions about possible BSEs. These
|
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have not been fully investigated for
|
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feasibility -- so please don't regard
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my questions about their value as a
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statement about the technical or
|
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economic feasibility of such BSEs.
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One possible BSE is the provision of
|
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calling number identification (CLI) to
|
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the called party. With CLI, the
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telephone company would signal to your
|
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BBS the telephone number of the calling
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party before connecting the calling
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party to your machine.
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Would you use CLI?
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Without regard to cost, on what
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fraction of the calls to your BBS would
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you use CLI?
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Would you be willing to pay two cents
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per call to get CLI?
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How would you prefer CLI be transmitted
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to your PC?
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A second possible BSE is suppressed
|
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ringing (though it may be technically
|
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difficult, impossible or horribly
|
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expensive on many older switches).
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This would allow a BBS to dial-up
|
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another PC and to open the connection
|
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without sending a ringing signal. Thus,
|
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you could call another system at 2 a.m.
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and download to that system without
|
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waking anyone up.
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Would you use suppressed ringing?
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How many calls a month would you make
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using suppressed ringing?
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A third possible BSE is -single number
|
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access- which would provide firms like
|
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CompuServe and Telenet with a single
|
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seven digit number which would be valid
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over a wide area (area code region,
|
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state, etc.).
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Would single number access to such
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firms be useful to you?
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How would it help you?
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A fourth possible BSE is suppression of
|
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call waiting. In this option, call
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waiting could be turned off by dialing
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a specific code before dialing a call.
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Would this be useful to you?
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About how many calls a month would you
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use this feature on?
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Would you be willing to pay $3.00 per
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month for this feature?
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Now for the fun questions. The
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preceding questions have given you the
|
|
basic concept of a BSE. What BSEs do
|
|
you think the telephone companies
|
|
SHOULD offer?
|
|
|
|
How much would you pay for them?
|
|
|
|
Do you need them on every telephone
|
|
line in your city, state, the nation or
|
|
could you use them if only a few
|
|
telephone lines had these features?
|
|
|
|
What else can telephone companies do to
|
|
facilitate BBS operation and the growth
|
|
and health of PC communications?
|
|
|
|
Please feel free to add any other
|
|
comments you have on the Computer
|
|
InquiryIII/ONA/BSE definition issues.
|
|
|
|
Please send completed questionnaire to
|
|
me at:
|
|
|
|
(US Mail)
|
|
Chuck Jackson
|
|
Shooshan Jackson Inc.
|
|
Suite 450, 1990 M Street, N.W.
|
|
Washington, D.C. 20036
|
|
|
|
or
|
|
|
|
MCI Mail CLJ
|
|
|
|
or
|
|
(CompuServe)
|
|
Chuck Jackson [70220,271] on CompuServe
|
|
|
|
or(GEnie Email)
|
|
CLJ
|
|
BIX
|
|
AMcDonald
|
|
|
|
Please forward this questionnaire to
|
|
other sysops. I would prefer not to
|
|
see it distributed to non-sysops
|
|
because they lack the experience of
|
|
sysops and their responses could dilute
|
|
the responses from sysops.
|
|
|
|
Note: I will prepare a summary of the
|
|
responses to this questionnaire and
|
|
will post that summary back into the
|
|
sysop world. It should be in
|
|
circulation by mid-April.
|
|
|
|
Regards Chuck
|
|
_______________________________________
|
|
////FCC Update////
|
|
_______________________________________
|
|
ACTION ALERT -- FCC'S COMPUTER III
|
|
|
|
Many of you have recently asked about
|
|
the FCC's pending -Computer Inquiry
|
|
III- ruling and its implications.
|
|
|
|
In a nutshell, the FCC is considering
|
|
taking action which would subject the
|
|
competitive packet switching market to
|
|
government regulation, dramatically
|
|
increase the costs of local dial access
|
|
to packet networks, and threaten the
|
|
very existence of innovative new
|
|
services such as PC Pursuit. The FCC
|
|
currently plans to decide this issue on
|
|
March 26, so it is of great importance
|
|
to let the Commission know your views
|
|
immediately.
|
|
|
|
Letters should be sent to:
|
|
|
|
The Honorable Mark Fowler, Chairman
|
|
Federal Communications Commission
|
|
Washington, DC 20554
|
|
202/632-6600
|
|
|
|
with copies to the other Commissioners:
|
|
|
|
Commissioner James H. Quello
|
|
202/632-7557
|
|
Commissioner Mimi Weyforth Dawson
|
|
202/632-6446
|
|
Commissioner Dennis R. Patrick
|
|
202/632-7117
|
|
Commissioner Patricia Diaz Dennis
|
|
202/632-6996
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following provides some background
|
|
on this subject. Additional information
|
|
on Computer III can be found in the
|
|
general file section of the NetExchange
|
|
BBS. Computer III is a proceeding in
|
|
which the FCC is considering whether to
|
|
-re-regulate- public packet switching
|
|
networks such as Telenet, that were
|
|
deregulated in 1980. As a result of
|
|
the FCC's 1980 decision, the packet
|
|
market has flourished; many new
|
|
competitors have entered the market,
|
|
and new services such as PC Pursuit
|
|
have been introduced. ATand the
|
|
Bell Operating Companies (BOCs) are now
|
|
also entering the packet market, and
|
|
prefer to offer their services on a
|
|
regulated, tariffed basis rather than
|
|
in a nonregulated mode. They would also
|
|
like to see the existing packet
|
|
networks, such as Telenet, regulated as
|
|
well.
|
|
|
|
There are three principal reasons for
|
|
this ATBOC attitude. First, these
|
|
carriers would like to subsidize their
|
|
packet services with revenues from
|
|
their basic telephone service. This
|
|
would enable them to price their packet
|
|
services below cost, at least long
|
|
enough to drive out competition in this
|
|
market.
|
|
|
|
Second, the BOCs would like to be able
|
|
to charge competing packet networks
|
|
-carrier access charges- for the use of
|
|
local dial access lines, which would
|
|
add more than $7.00 per hour to the
|
|
cost of providing a service such as PC
|
|
Pursuit. This would provide additional
|
|
revenue for the BOCs and greatly
|
|
increase the prices which packet
|
|
competitors would have to charge for
|
|
their services, undermining their
|
|
ability to price their services at
|
|
attractive levels.
|
|
|
|
Third, re-regulation of packet services
|
|
is likely to reduce the enthusiasm of
|
|
entrepreneurs to enter this market and
|
|
provide additional competition to the
|
|
ATBOC services. Many companies
|
|
simply do not wish to operate in a
|
|
regulated industry, with all the
|
|
restrictions and red tape that
|
|
regulation may imply.
|
|
|
|
In order to achieve these three
|
|
objectives, ATand the BOCs have
|
|
pressured the FCC to reverse its 1980
|
|
decision and re-regulate all packet
|
|
networks.
|
|
|
|
In an address on Computer III, Paolo
|
|
Guidi, President of Telenet
|
|
Communications Corp., explained what
|
|
would result for the consumer if the
|
|
full extent of the proposal is voted
|
|
into being: -With the competitors
|
|
driven out of the market, prospects for
|
|
success of their own (ATs and the
|
|
RBOCS) packet services would improve.
|
|
Of course, the user would be deprived
|
|
of the benefits of competition, and
|
|
would be left with no choice but a
|
|
carrier-provided packet service which
|
|
fails to offer many of the innovative
|
|
features that have been introduced by
|
|
the Value Added Networks. Continued
|
|
rapid advancement of the remote
|
|
computer industry would be dealt a
|
|
serious blow, and the consumer would be
|
|
the ultimate loser.-
|
|
|
|
The potential consequences of the FCC's
|
|
Computer III proposal for the value
|
|
-added services you know and enjoy are
|
|
quite serious. There is no need to
|
|
take such action, and it would be
|
|
contrary to the entire deregulatory
|
|
thrust of the Reagan Administration and
|
|
the FCC in recent years. The proposal
|
|
should be stopped.
|
|
|
|
Again, time is extremely short on this
|
|
issue. Any letters or phone calls to
|
|
the FCC must be received no later than
|
|
March 23 in order to be effective.
|
|
|
|
If this change occurs, the cost of
|
|
using all online services via networks
|
|
(Tymnet, Telenet, GEISCO, etc.) will
|
|
increase substantially! Last I heard,
|
|
the FCC had received just 60 letters
|
|
objecting to the changes.
|
|
|
|
So...write to the FCC now...or pay
|
|
later!
|
|
|
|
[ED] Although this article is a bit
|
|
late. I think the news of the pending
|
|
decision is of interest to us all. I
|
|
will try to persue this story and
|
|
report my findings in the weeks ahead.
|
|
_______________________________________
|
|
////Zmagazine New Jersey////
|
|
_______________________________________
|
|
(C) Copyright 1987 Syndicate Services
|
|
Reprinting permission granted.
|
|
_______________________________________
|