The F I D O N E W S Volume 21, Number 49 06 Dec 2004 +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | |The newsletter of the | | | | | FidoNet community. | | Crash netmail articles to: | | | | | Editor @ 2:2/2 (+46-31-944907) | | | ____________| | | | | / __ | Routed netmail articles to: | | | / / \ | Bjorn Felten @ 2:203/0 | | | WOOF! ( /|oo \ | | | \_______\(_| /_) | Email attach to: | | _ @/_ \ _ | bfelten @ telia dot com | | | | \ \\ | | | | (*) | \ ))| | | |__U__| / \// | Editor: Bj”rn Felten | | ______ _//|| _\ / | | | / Fido \ (_/(_|(____/ | Newspapers should have no friends. | | (________) (jm) | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ Copyright 2004 by Fidonews Editor for Fidonews Globally. Table of Contents 1. FOOD FOR THOUGHT ......................................... 1 2. EDITORIAL ................................................ 2 3. THE SNOOZE TWENTY YEARS AGO .............................. 3 4. FIDONET BY INTERNET ...................................... 8 Fidonet Related Websites ................................. 8 5. ROBERT COUTURE'S FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................ 10 FIDONet Software References .............................. 10 6. SPECIAL INTEREST ......................................... 15 Nodelist Stats ........................................... 15 7. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 17 How to Submit an Article ................................. 17 Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability .................. 19 FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 1 6 Dec 2004 ================================================================= FOOD FOR THOUGHT ================================================================= Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius. -- Henri-Frederic Amiel ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 2 6 Dec 2004 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= Well guys, this is it, this is the big moment, this is the 20th anniversary issue of the Snooze. It seems noone seized the opportunity to make history by having a contribution in this issue... As promised, the very first issue will be on rerun in this issue. But let me tell you, I had a hard time deciding how to format it. Not because of the line length, because that's OK, but because of the page length. For some strange reason the program MAKENEWS that creates the Snooze seems to have a fixed page length of 59(!) lines hardcoded into the program, and I wanted to remove the page formatting all together for this special "article" and let the original formatting do the job. But after having spent several hours debugging the program, I had to give up, I couldn't find the place in the program where this limitation was made. So then I either had to remove the page formatting of the original issue all together, or just leave it be and let it all look rather strange. I decided to go with the latter alternative, and hope that you don't disagree too much with that decision. Read and enjoy, and may the Snooze live for another 20 years! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 3 6 Dec 2004 ================================================================= THE SNOOZE TWENTY YEARS AGO ================================================================= fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:08 Page 1 Volume 1, Number 1 1 Dec 84 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Editor: Tom Jennings Publisher: Fido #1 HOT NEWS THE FIRST FIDONET NEWSLETTER Well, it finally got done ... FidoNews, the FidoNet Users Group newsletter is real. It will be published once a week, possibly once every two weeks if it gets busy. There will be at least three regular "features": the node list, Fido list, and the route list. Hopefully there will be more interesting things later. Now you have a reason to get FidoNews. I, Tom Jennings, am apparently the editor. I do NOT wish to be editor; the last thing I need is something else to do. See the HELP WANTED section. (Not kidding) We (ahem) are also looking for a publisher; I will do that for a while at least. A freebie outgoing host would be nice. Not a short term problem, though, like finding an Editor in Chief is. *All* articles, etc are user submitted; anything and everything, as per usual Fidonet protocols (Which isn't saying much ..) Ideas, problems, questions, tips, programs, hardware, etc etc are all welcome. See the ARTICLE article. (sic) Distribution is still up in the air; it will be mailed to at least six hosts across the country. For now, it FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 4 6 Dec 2004 is available on #1 and #51. Possibly elsewhere in this thing you'll find an article on distribution. fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:15 Page 2 THE FIDONET USERS GROUP Oh yeah, I did mention that ... I hereby declare all Fido users and sysops members of the FidoNet Users Group. Sounds pretty stupid, huh? Well ... If there are 100 Fido systems around the country, and each has at least 100 users, thats 10,000 people. Any group that large has advantages, if nothing other than letters to the editor of your favorite magazine. This is just a brainstorm at this point, but is something to keep in mind. To make this fake club at least appear real, I am trying to decide whether or not to have bumber stickers made. This will be 3 3/4" X 8 1/2" white vinyl, with black artwork, will have the requisite doggie, the words "FidoNet Bulletin Board Network" and "Fido Node #" on it, and a place for a phone number, and blank space. These will cost $165.00 for 500 stickers, or about $230.00 for 1000. I'll pay part of it ($40.00?) but no more; if I get promises to buy say $125.00's worth, I'll have them made, and sell them at cost. (They cost about 34 cents each; plus 20 cents postage, plus envelopes, etc, call it a buck a piece.) The real reason for this is so I can have one, but I don't want to spend $165 for it! EDITOR'S SOAP BOX ARTICLE SUBMISSION The format of this thing is totally ad hoc; please make recomendations as to formats, sections needed, liked, or hated, columns you'd like to see, or see removed, anything at all. If you want to submit something regularly, we can start a column for you. You are ENCOURAGED to send things in for the newsletter. ANYTHING is fit for the newsletter, such as a description of your board, problems found, questions, jokes, fixes, horror stories about wrong FidoNet numbers, things for sale, etc etc etc. SUBMITTING AN ARTICLE An article should have your name, node number (if applicable), followed by the text. Text can be any ASCII derivative; WordStar, soft paragraphs, 8th bit set, etc are all OK. Articles can be uploaded at either Fido #1 or #51, FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 5 6 Dec 2004 into the NEWS File Area, or by sending it by FidoNet. There is a convention for naming the files, so that the newsletter can be published automatically. ARTICLE FILENAMES file.ART For article type things fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:21 Page 3 file.SAL Things for sale file.NOT Notices file.MSC Miscelaneous things file.EDT an Editorial file.NEW News items file.WNT Wanted items Make sure the name is unique, especially if you send it by FidoNet, so you dont overwrite another article. fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:22 Page 4 NEWS HOW THIS IS PUBLISHED This is a totally electronic newsletter; articles are written of course by users and sysops, but all other parts and proceedures are machine generated. For each newsletter, the Editor (thats me folks) does the date and volume of the title page (tough job), and whatever editorial there may be. Articles are checked out for being readable (ie. more or less English language), and bum copies (bad uploads, etc) are deleted. The lists generated by FidoNet Admin (St. Louis) such as the node list, Fido list, and the route list, come in via FidoNet during the week. On the day the newsletter is to be published, Fido #1 runs the text formatter (as a schedule) to produce the newsletter, using all the articles, the node and Fido lists. The completed newsletter is then copied into the NEWS file area. All of the article submissions are saved as last week's news, and deleted to make room for next weeks. Some canned messages are copied into Fido 1's mail area, which file attaches the newsletter to the distribution points. This completes the FidoNews Newsletter publication. FIDO SECURITY - Tom Jennings Fido is pretty secure, but there have been a few instances where callers gave them selves SYSOP priveleges, FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 6 6 Dec 2004 and ran amok ... the cure is quite simple. NEVER NEVER NEVER have your "main" Fido directory available as a download or upload area. Always make sure there is no path that can reach your .BBS files. It is OK to have it as a SYSOP only area, never let it be accessed by NORMAL users. If it is available, all someone has to do is get a copy of SYSOP.EXE, run it, and make a USER.BBS with them as SYSOP privelege. After uploading this file, they call back in, with the new name, and bingo! they are in control. A nastier version of this is to download your current user list, use SYSOP.EXE to upgrade them (or two, or three ... in case you find one of them) the upload it. If this happens to you, delete USER.BBS *immediately*. Fix it so that the Fido area is not available to users, and then you will be safe. Better do it quick, now that it's all documented here. fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:28 Page 5 NOTICES FOR SALE WANTED fidonews.man -- 04 Dec 84 00:56:29 Page 6 THE ROUTE LIST This is the latest route list (ROUTE.BBS). Please put this into ROUTE.BBS if you are not part of a local Fidonet Host system. If you are (or think you are) contact the host nearest you. One way to tel is to poke through FIDOLIST, and see if a local system found there is also in the list below. Route-To 1 1,99 Route-To 27 14,21,27,44,45,73,202,310,315,318 Route-To 51 4,10,16,17,22,51,65 Route-To 56 56,77 Route-To 59 59,309 FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 7 6 Dec 2004 Route-To 61 61,302 Route-To 69 63,69 Route-To 85 85,306,308,312,326 Route-To 79 79,204,205,317 Route-To 207 42,203,207,320 Route-To 327 327,328 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 8 6 Dec 2004 ================================================================= FIDONET BY INTERNET ================================================================= Fidonet Related Websites Thom LaCosta 1:261/1352 One approach to tracking and viewing Fidonet related websites is to visit webrings that specialize in Fidonet. A webring is a method where sites having a common theme advertise other websites with simailar themes. The advantage to the webring concept is that in theory, the sites have an interest in maintaining an accuate listing and can modify their own listings on a site by site basis. It appears that there are two fidonet webrings....the long-running system at http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=fidonet and another at http://www.fidonet.us/fidoring/ The ring at webring.com is larger, but forces the viewer to look at google ads panels. The smaller ring at fidonet.us does not depend on adverstising revenue from ads. Sysops with Fidonet related websites should consider joining one or both rings. Ring News It's a pleasure to welcome two new BBS systems to the fidonet.us webring: Pucela BBS (Valladolid, Spain) Sysop: Komunero The Realm of Darkness BBS Sysop: Ken Bowley The most current version of the list below can be viewed at http://www.fidonet.us/fidoring/sitelist.html WWW.FIDONET.US - WEBRING PARTICIPANTS BBBS Charlotte and N4RPS.net Home Page Web Page of N4RPS, Rob Sargeant, and Web portal for BBBS Charlotte, a Fidonet BBS located in Charlotte, North Carolina USA (1:379/2). http://www.n4rps.net - 6-November-2003 Fidonet - Net261 - Maryland Fidonet in Maryland - Net261 http://www.fidonet.us/net261/ - 2-March-2003 Rocasa BBS Rocasa BBS is a system accessible as both a traditional Bulletin Board System, via landline or telnet, as well as via the Web for message and file access. It is also the home of the BBBS FDN. http://bbs.rocasa.org - 16-June-2003 < E-Mail/News Gateway | | Program. Meltdown-BBS |UI |http://meltdown-bbs.sourceforge.net/ | | meltdown-bbs.project.petkan | | @spamgourmet.com | | Fido: 2:350/5 | | Meltdown-BBS is an FTN <-> | | Web/PHP/MySQL BBS forum system. MakeNL |U | http://hub2000.darktech.org/makenl | | fidonet.hub2000 [at] gmail [dot] com | | Fido: 1:229/2000 | | FidoNet Nodelist Processor FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 14 6 Dec 2004 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ National BBS List |? | http://www.usbbs.org Hispanic FIDO/BBS's |? | http://www.conecta2.org/pucela_bbs/ (in Spanish only) | | (Extensive software & BBS Listings) +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ File Archives: http://archives.thebbs.org http://www.filegate.net http://sysopscorner.thebbs.org http://www.juge.com http://www.dmine.com/bbscorner/ http://garbo.uwasa.fi http://www.simtel.net http://wuarchive.wustl.edu http://maximus.midnightshour.org http://hobbes.nmsu.edu Note: most also provide FTP access (use ftp:// instead of http:// above) *=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=* Please send corrections & additions to: Robert Couture, 1:229/2000 E-Mail: rpa4email (at) rogers (dot) com Telnet: runekeep.darktech.org (Leave Feedback as Guest or create an account) Emeritus: Ben Ritchey, Todd Cochrane, Frank Vest, Peter Popovich ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 15 6 Dec 2004 ================================================================= SPECIAL INTEREST ================================================================= Nodelist Stats Input nodelist nodelist.338 size 832.7kb date 2004-12-03 The nodelist has 6946 nodes in it and a total of 9562 non-comment entries including 6 zones 46 regions 382 hosts 487 hubs admin overhead 921 ( 13.26 %) and 1102 private nodes 273 nodes down 320 nodes on hold off line overhead 1695 ( 24.40 %) Speed summary: >9600 = 606 ( 8.72 %) 9600 = 5973 ( 85.99 %) (HST = 121 or 2.03 %) (CSP = 0 or 0.00 %) (PEP = 1 or 0.02 %) (MAX = 0 or 0.00 %) (HAY = 1 or 0.02 %) (V32 = 3114 or 52.13 %) (V32B = 265 or 4.44 %) (V34 = 4075 or 68.22 %) (V42 = 3427 or 57.37 %) (V42B = 265 or 4.44 %) 2400 = 59 ( 0.85 %) 1200 = 9 ( 0.13 %) 300 = 299 ( 4.30 %) ISDN = 548 ( 7.89 %) ---------------------------------------------------------- File Req Flag Applicable software Number of systems ---------------------------------------------------------- XA Frontdoor <1.99b 2261 Frontdoor 2.02+ Dutchie 2.90c Binkleyterm >2.1 D'Bridge <1.3 TIMS Xenia -------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 16 6 Dec 2004 XB Binkleyterm 2.0 9 Dutchie 2.90b -------------------------------------- XC Opus 1.1 7 -------------------------------------- XP Seadog 5 -------------------------------------- XR Opus 1.03 39 -------------------------------------- XW Fido >12M 284 Tabby KittenMail -------------------------------------- XX D'Bridge 1.30 3118 Frontdoor 1.99b Intermail 2.01 T-Mail -------------------------------------- None QMM 1223 -------------------------------------- CrashMail capable = 2119 ( 30.51 %) MailOnly nodes = 3914 ( 56.35 %) Listed-only nodes = 546 ( 7.86 %) Other = 367 ( 5.28 %) [Report produced by NETSTATS - A PD pgm available from 1:106/100] [ Revised by B Felten, 2:203/208] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 17 6 Dec 2004 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= How to Submit an Article If you wish to submit an article for inclusion in the Fidonews, here are some guidelines, if you send it as an attached file; the preferred method if you want reasonable control over how the published article will appear in the Fidonews: a) Plain ASCII text. If you could type it on your keyboard, it's probably quite OK. No line may be longer than 70 characters. b) Put a title to the article. Put the title in two times. The first time, on the first line, with an * before it. The second time, on the second line, without the * and centered. This will help in the format since the title with the * is removed and used in the index, the second line will become the headline. On the third line, put your name and FidoNet address, present or former. If former, you may want to add some other address where you can be reached for personal comments. c) Deadline for article submission is Sunday, 12:00 UTC. Help the Editor by following the above guides. Below are some subjects and the file extension for the article as set in the configuration file for the making of the Fidonews. Please help by putting the file extension of the correct subject on the file name if known.. Ideas for Subject areas: Subject File | Subject File ----------------------------------|---------------------------------- From the *C's *.css | Rebuttals to articles *.reb Fidonet Regional News *.reg | Fidonet Net News *.net Retractions *.rtx | General Fidonet Articles *.art Guest Editorial *.gue | Fidonet Current Events *.cur Fidonet Interviews *.inv | Fidonet Software Reviews *.rev Fidonet Web Page Reviews *.web | Fidonet Notices *.not Getting Fidonet Technical *.ftc | Question Of The Week *.que Humor in a Fido Vein *.hfv | Comix in ASCII *.cmx Fidonet's Int. Kitchen *.rec | Poet's Corner *.poe Clean Humor & Jokes *.jok | Other Stuff *.oth Fidonet Classified Ads *.ads | Corrections *.cor Best of Fidonet *.bof | Letters to the Editor *.let If you don't know or are not sure, send the article anyway. Put a .TXT on it and I'll try to figure out where it should be in the Fidonews. If you follow these simple guidelines, there should be little problem in getting your article published. If your submission is too far out of specs for the Fidonews, it will be returned to you and/or a message sent informing you of the problem. This DOES NOT mean that your article is not accepted. It means that there is something in it that I can not fix and I need your help on it. FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 18 6 Dec 2004 Send articles via e-mail or netmail, file attach or message to: Bj”rn Felten Fidonet 2:2/2 E-Mail bfelten @ telia dot com IMPORTANT! If you send the article via e-mail, make sure you put the word "fidonews" somewhere in the subject line! That way it will always pass the spam filter, ending up in the proper folder. Please include a message, telling me that you have sent an article. That way I will know to look for it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 21-49 Page 19 6 Dec 2004 Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Editor: Bj”rn Felten, 2:2/2 | | Crash mail attached: Editor@2:2/2 | | E-Mail attached: bfelten @ telia dot com | | Webmaster: Jim Barchuk, jb@fidonews.org | | Columnist: Frank Vest - Frank's Column | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince | | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, | | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, | | Doug Meyers, Warren D. Bonner, Frank L. Vest | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet. Fidonews is Copyright (C) 2004 by Bj”rn Felten, though authors retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinions expressed by the authors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to the Editor at one of the addresses above. The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from the following sources: + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | File request from 2:2/2: | | current issue FIDONEWS | | back issue, volume v, issue ii FNEWSvii.ZIP | | | | On the web: | | http://felten.dyndns.org/fidonews | | http://www.fidonet.ca/fidonews | | | | The Snooze *and* the FIDONEWS echo in your newsreader: | | news://felten.dyndns.org/FIDONEWS | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -----------------------------------------------------------------