463 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
463 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:26 Page 1
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Volume 2, Number 14 20 May 1985
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| / \ |
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| - FidoNews - /|oo \ |
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| Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ |
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| Users Group | | \ \\ |
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| Newsletter | (*) | \ )) |
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| ______ |__U__| / \// |
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| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
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| (jm) |
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+----------------------------------------------------------+
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Publisher: Fido #375
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Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson
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Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/375. You
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are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
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Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the
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file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/375.
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Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:
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The contents of the articles contained here are not our
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responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them;
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everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING
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received.
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Fido National User Directory
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This is an idea that was batted around the last time the
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local sysops got together. How about a national directory
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of Fido users?
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You see, while Fidonet is a great idea, it does have one
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small problem. Say I have a few friends in California who
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might be using a Fido out there somewhere. How do I find
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out which Fido they're on? (In fact, one of the New Jersey
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sysops once sent mail to a board, asking about people he
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used to know there. He got a reply from the sysop, who
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turned out to be a friend of his!)
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Now, I could call them on the phone and ask, or I could
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write them a letter, or something like that, but surely we
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can do better.
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The idea we came up with is a national user directory. Sort
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of a phone book for Fidonet mail. The basic idea is that
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someone write a program that abstracts data from a USER.BBS
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file (leaving out passwords and such), creating a small
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ASCII file which could be integrated into a master directory
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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:28 Page 2
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at some central point and then distributed. This would all
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be voluntary, of course.
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The update cycle for something like this could be very long.
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The phone company updates their books once a year. I don't
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think we should go quite that far, but once a week is
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definetly more often than we need. Say, once a month,
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perhaps.
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Of course, there are some details that need to be worked
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out. For example, there's no point in listing users who
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cannot send mail. Also, a great many people use more than
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one board. Should we list all the boards they call? Or
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should we just list the board that they call the most? We
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also have to tie in the list of sysops, somehow. But all of
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this is just a matter of programming detail.
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The important point is whether or not most (or at least
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many) sysops would be willing to contribute to such a
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project. If you're interested and willing to participate,
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or just want to make comments and/or ask questions, please
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contact Dave Horowitz at Fido 317.
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Fido 10i
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As you probably know by now, Fido 10i is now here. If you
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haven't got it, by all means go and get it. I've heard a
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few complaints about 10i, but nothing serious. Fidonet
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needs and must have multiple network capability if it is to
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survive much longer, which means we need and must have Fido
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10i, warts and all.
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Network growth looks to be explosive. Node number 500 has
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already been assigned, and I know of several Fidos in this
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area alone that are champing at the bit waiting for node
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numbers. If Fidonet is to remain humanly possible, then it
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MUST be decentralized.
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June 12th is the deadline for the switchover. Everyone is
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to maintain there present node number in net one until that
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date. At national mail hour on the 12th, everyone is
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supposed to switch over to their new net number, and node
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number assignment switches over to the hosts and the
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regional administrators. With luck, all will go smoothly.
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Frankly, that much luck doesn't exist in the universe. I
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think we're going to have total chaos for a couple of weeks.
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But then a stronger, more coherent Fidonet should emerge.
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Personally, I can hardly wait. The new scheme should be
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MUCH easier to use, since nodes will be grouped into
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something approaching a rational organization.
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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:32 Page 3
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============================================================
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NEWS
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============================================================
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Chris Rowley
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Sysop, Fido 359
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The latest PC Magazine talked of our beloved communication
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medium, the bulletin board. I personally took great offense
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to this article, and the words IBM user were the first to
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spring to mind after the opening paragraph. I'm afraid that
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more and more users are beginning to sway to this viewpoint
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because of reading articles like this. I hope it will stop.
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The article nearly said outright (if it didn't) that the
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best bbs's are the ones with lots of files and places where
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you could talk seriously about technical problems. This is
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major b.s. in my book. The bulletin board should be another
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medium of communication like the letter and the phone to
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meet people and express viewpoints. If questions come into
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play, answer them. But that shouldn't be your primary
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concern. Neither should be files.
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A bbs is a great way to meet people, even if you don't know
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who they really are. It is also a place to show that
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computers don't have to be dehumanizing, that they can
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promote human relations. Plus this human factor can warm
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anti-computer people up sometimes.
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IBM bbs's are always the least interesting. Everyone is so
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preoccupied with files that the use of the public forum a
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board offers is lost. The lowly Trash-80 generally runs the
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best boards with the most bright, interesting people
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I sit here and watch user after user log on and soon as they
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see 'Main:' type the lowly 'F'. You want files? Try a
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HOSTCOMM. They are built for files, not messages.
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I find boards interesting where there are conflicts,
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agreements, discussions, debates, the bright, the not-so-
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bright, the random, the straight. Variety. The next time
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you log onto a board, check the messages. You may be
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surprised at what you're missing, or the Sysop is missing.
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Chris Rowley
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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:33 Page 4
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<:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:>
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FOR RAINBOW OWNERS/USERS ONLY!
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I am going to chair the Technical Questions and Answers
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session for Rainbow users at the National DECUS (Digital
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Equipment Computer Users Society) symposia in New Orleans
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(May 27-31). All the major design engineers of the Rain-
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bow will be there to answer any questions relating to
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hardware or software (DEC/DCS products only) that you may
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have.
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If you wish to have one or more technical questions
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answered by DEC, forward it to me before May 24th and I
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will present it to the appropriate engineer. Please make
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your question VERY clear. Include your name, address,
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node # & DECUS membership number (if you have one).
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Either I will return their response to you via FIDONET or
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they will write to you directly (they are very good about
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this).
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Send your questions to: RB ENGINEER Node: 350
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This service is being provided by your DECUS PC Special
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Interest Group.
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If you are not a member of DECUS and would like to join
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(its free) send a membership request to:
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DECUS US CHAPTER, MEMBERSHIP PROCESSING GROUP
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249 NORTHBORO ROAD, BP02
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MARLBORO, MA 01752, USA
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PHONE: (617) 480-3418
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<:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:><:>
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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:35 Page 5
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Tom Jennings
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Fido #1
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MORE ON 2400 BAUD MODEMS
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This is a followup to the other article on 2400 baud
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modems. Since then, I've had more experience with the Hayes
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2400, and got one of the U.S. Robotics Courier 2400's.
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Simply put, the Hayes 2400 is a piece of junk, sorry
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to say. It is nowhere near the quality and functionality of
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the old 1200 baud model. It is riddled with bugs, many of
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which are "features" which probably won't change. It will be
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OK for BBS use, since it insists on entering AutoAnswer mode
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at strange times, but is unreliable connecting at 1200, and
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600 is useless.
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If you insist on buying the Hayes because of their
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reputation, you are making a serious mistake. Don't do it.
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The Courier, however, is everything the Hayes should
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have been. It is just about "perfect", that is, it seems to
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do everything it says it does, and simply and reliably. Some
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things you won't see are dynamic line equalization that will
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improve the quality of connects. It is thoroughly Hayes 1200
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compatible, and is also compatible with the 2400 Hayes
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command set. (It does not have all the & commands, thank
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goodness, but they aren't needed at all.)
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I spent a week playing with the Hayes, and never got
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it to do exactly what I wanted. I read the manual cover to
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cover, experimented, all the usual things.
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I took the Courier out of the box, set the switches
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(clearly marked on the bottom of the modem) plugged it in,
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and it ran first time. Elapsed time: 5 minutes.
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To get the Hayes 2400 to autoanswer at 2400 requires
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some work. You have to issue a complex series of commands AT
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2400 BAUD, then save the settings in the non volatile RAM.
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Only then will it answer at 2400. I won't go into all the
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details about the nasty side affects of raising and lowering
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DTR. Fido, starting in version 10I, has a special modem type
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(11/J) for the Hayes 2400; you must use it if you want to
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operate at 2400 baud.
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The Courier will autoanswer at 300, 1200, or 2400
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baud with no difficulty. Just plug it in. No special setup
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for Fido is neccessary to operate it at 2400.
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U. S. Robotics is offering 1/2 off on the Courier
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2400 to Fido sysops; this is $350.00 for a very good modem.
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They will even ship COD. You have to be in the node list to
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get this deal. Don't pass it up if you are in the market for
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a modem.
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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:37 Page 6
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============================================================
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COLUMNS
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============================================================
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From: Tim Meyers Sysop Fido #365 & #411.
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Recently I just purchased an IBM AT, after a few days I
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realized I was running out of space in my so called "Quick
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System". Later I talked with another owner and he said that
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he had the same problem. If only he could find out the way
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that IBM was putting 1 meg on the mother board of the AT.
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Impossible feat, right? WRONG! I called IBM, they failed
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to comment on it, so the next day I sent a nice letter thru
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the customer support systems at work, within a few hours I
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had a reply, It said, and I quote:
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To: Tim Meyers.
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From: Ibm Corp.
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Subject: At Exp.
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Sir:
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Yes, the exspansion is known to us here at Boca. We are
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unable to comment or provide any information on where
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and how to install the memory. We haven't tested the
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full use of the product, but it will be further tested
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in the future. We suggest that you install extra boards
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as needed. "
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Well so there it is, they know about it, but they wish not
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to say anything about it, well that's IBM for you, So, the
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question boils down to. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO PUT 1MEG ON
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THE SYSTEM BOARD OF THE IBM AT??
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Anyone that has information to this, Please! Send it to
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Fido #442. I Know it can be done, the problem is HOW?
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FIDONEWS -- 20 May 85 00:00:38 Page 7
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============================================================
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NOTICES
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============================================================
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*** Calendar of Events ***
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26 May 85 Submissions deadline for next issue of Fidonews.
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27 May 85 through 31 May 85; Spring 1985 DECUS symposium,
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New Orleans, LA. Among other events, Kurt Reisler
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(sysop Fido 74) will give a 1 hour talk on Fido.
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12 Jun 85 Start of Multinet Fido; Make sure you have Fido
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version 10i. Stay in net 1 until this date, then
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switch over to your new net number.
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If you have any event you want listed in this calendar,
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please send a note to node 107/375.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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*** W A R N I N G *** W A R N I N G *** W A R N I N G ***
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ROGUE Piracy Warning
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The game program ROGUE.EXE has been making the rounds
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lately. A great many people have been down- and up-loading
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it for the simple reason that it is a dynamite adventure
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game.
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THIS IS STOLEN SOFTWARE!!!
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The program is property of AI Design of Mountain View,
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California, and is well worth the $40 which they are asking
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for it. These folks deserve their money for such an
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excellent piece of work, so please make sure it isn't on
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your board.
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There is also a shareware product called HACK, which is a
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sort of upgraded ROGUE that runs on any MS-DOS system. It
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is quite a lot larger than ROGUE, and a little rougher
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around the edges (no color, for example), but it is LEGAL to
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have available on your board, which ROGUE is NOT!
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