125 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
125 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
FAQ for alt.2600, version 2.0
|
|
corrections, whining, etc... to this address. (jvarley@netcom.com)
|
|
1) What is alt.2600?
|
|
Alt.2600 is a Usenet newsgroup for discussion of material relating
|
|
to 2600 Magazine, the hacker quarterly. It is NOT for the Atari 2600
|
|
game machine. Len@netsys.com created the group on Emmanual Goldstein's
|
|
recommendation. Emmanuel is the editor/publisher of 2600 Magazine.
|
|
Following the barrage of postings about the Atari machine to alt.2600, an
|
|
alt.atari.2600 was created to divert all of the atari traffic from
|
|
alt.2600. Atari 2600 people are advised to hie over to
|
|
rec.games.video.classic.
|
|
2) What is 2600 Magazine's Internet address?
|
|
2600@well.sf.ca.us
|
|
3) What does "2600" mean?
|
|
2600Hz was a tone that was used by early phone phreaks (or
|
|
phreakers) in the 80's, and some currently. If the tone was sent down the
|
|
line at the proper time, one could get away with all sorts of fun stuff.
|
|
A note from Emmanuel Goldstein:
|
|
|
|
"The Atari 2600 has NOTHING to do with blue boxes or telephones
|
|
or the 2600 hertz tone. The 2600 hertz tone was simply the first
|
|
step towards exploring the network. If you were successful at
|
|
getting a toll call to drop, then billing would stop at that
|
|
point but there would be billing for the number already dialed
|
|
up until the point of seizure. 800 numbers and long distance
|
|
information were both free in the past and records of who called
|
|
what were either non-existent or very obscure with regards to
|
|
these numbers. This, naturally, made them more popular than
|
|
what were either non-existent or very obscure with regards to
|
|
these numbers. This, naturally, made them more popular than
|
|
numbers that showed up on a bill, even if it was only for
|
|
a minute. Today, many 800 numbers go overseas, which provides
|
|
a quick and free way into another country's phone system
|
|
which may be more open for exploration."
|
|
4) Are there on-line versions of 2600 available?
|
|
No.
|
|
5) What are the snail mail (U.S. Postal Service) addresses for 2600?
|
|
ADDRESS ALL SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE TO:
|
|
2600 Subscription Dept
|
|
PO BOX 752
|
|
MIddle Island NY 11953-0752
|
|
ADDRESS ALL LETTERS AND ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS TO:
|
|
2600 Editorial Dept
|
|
ADDRESS ALL LETTERS AND ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS TO:
|
|
2600 Editorial Dept
|
|
PO BOX 99
|
|
Middle Island NY 11953-0099
|
|
6) How much does it cost for a subscription to 2600?
|
|
Yearly subscription: $21 individual, $50 corporate. U.S. Funds
|
|
Only. Overseas--$30 individual, $65 corporate.
|
|
7) I can't find 2600 at any bookstores. What can I do?
|
|
Subscribe. Or, let 2600 know via the subscription address that you
|
|
think 2600 should be in the bookstore. Be sure to include the bookstores
|
|
name and address.
|
|
8) Why does 2600 cost more to subscribe to ($21 for four issues) than
|
|
to buy at a newsstand ($4 per issue)?
|
|
to buy at a newsstand ($4 per issue)?
|
|
EG: We've been selling 2600 at the same newsstand price since 1988
|
|
and we hope to keep it at that price for as long as we can get away
|
|
with it. At the same time, $21 is about the right price to cover
|
|
subscriber costs, including postage and record keeping, etc. People
|
|
who subscribe don't have to worry about finding an issue someplace,
|
|
they tend to get issues several weeks before the newsstands get them,
|
|
and they can take out free ads in the 2600 Marketplace.
|
|
9) What are some common tones?
|
|
[dilger@toadflax.cs.ucdavis.edu (Michael B. Dilger)]
|
|
Dial tone 350+440 continuous
|
|
Ringback (Normal) 440+480 2.0s on, 4.0s off
|
|
Ringback (PBX) 440+480 1.5s on, 4.5s off
|
|
Busy signal 480+620 0.5s on, 0.5s off
|
|
Congestion (toll) 480+620 0.2s on, 0.3s off
|
|
Reorder (local) 480+620 0.3s on, 0.2s off
|
|
Receiver off-hook 1400+2060 0.1s on, 0.1s off
|
|
Reorder (local) 480+620 0.3s on, 0.2s off
|
|
Receiver off-hook 1400+2060 0.1s on, 0.1s off
|
|
+2450+2600
|
|
Nickel Signal 1700+2200 0.060s on
|
|
Dime Signal 1700+2200 0.060s on, 0.060s off X2
|
|
Quarter Signal 1700+2200 33ms on, 33ms off, 5 times repeating
|
|
DTMF matrix. The tone of the button is the sum of the column and row tones.
|
|
1209 1336 1477 1633
|
|
|
|
697 1 2 3 A
|
|
770 4 5 6 B
|
|
852 7 8 9 C
|
|
941 * 0 # D
|
|
9) What is PGP? What are those "BEGIN PGP KEY" things at the bottom of
|
|
articles?
|
|
You can get the latest PGP via anonymous FTP at
|
|
soda.berkeley.edu.
|
|
From: Kevin Martin <cannon@panix.com>
|
|
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 11:22:56 -0500 (EST)
|
|
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a free program written by a gentleman
|
|
named Phil Zimmerman. It's been the subject of more than a little
|
|
controversy on a couple of counts. One, Phil used (his own
|
|
implmentation of) an algorithm which is claimed under a patent in
|
|
the USA only, called RSA (for Rivest Shamir Adelman, the three
|
|
inventors). This is the best method widely known to implement "Public
|
|
Key" cryptography.
|
|
Y'see, the trick to using encryption is, "How do you exchange keys with
|
|
other people?" If you have a secure channel to do so, why not just use
|
|
that channel for ALL communications and skip the encryption step!?
|
|
With public key methods, you have a public key and a private key;
|
|
you can publish the public key and it still only works with messages
|
|
|
|
-- 20:39 --alt.2600-- 1 MORE --help:?--82%--
|
|
With public key methods, you have a public key and a private key;
|
|
you can publish the public key and it still only works with messages
|
|
YOU encrypt with the private key. Or, anyone can use your public key
|
|
to send you a message, and only you can read it. Perfect!
|
|
The only catch is proving that your public key really came from
|
|
you. The Internet is pushing something called PEM (Privacy Enhanced
|
|
Mail), or RIPEM, where the public keys are held by a central
|
|
authority in an official directory. PGP is based on the concept that
|
|
YOU take responsibility for collecting public keys from the people you
|
|
want to deal with. No Big Brother aspect that way.... and no back door,
|
|
as in the Clipper chip proposal.
|
|
That's the other problem that has Phil in some folks' doghouse; it seems
|
|
that encryption technology is technically regarded as MUNITIONS -- there
|
|
are US export controls on all software that implements good encryption.
|
|
Phil did not export PGP, but he did publish the first generation
|
|
of it on the Internet. (Oops.) The documentation for PGP explains all
|
|
this perfectly.
|
|
|