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Skriven 2008-10-27 00:39:53 av FidoNews Robot (2:2/2.0)
Ärende: FidoNews 25:43 [02/05]: General Articles
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                        GENERAL ARTICLES
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           "Rumors of my demise ... " Part II
               By Richard Webb, 1:116/901


Recently I wrote an article for the fidonews on this topic. I was also
glad to see a bit of discussion of that article in the fidonews echo,
which I don't normally carry here.

Whether or not the ideas put forth in that article might actually
work, I saw that as just a starter if you will. My objective was to
get folks to do some thinking about what fidonet is, and why it is
what it is. By looking at our past and what we continue to do well we
can then better consider a future for fidonet which offers continued
viability as a network.

One of the great things about fidonet has always been the ability to
connect and participate using a variety of computer hardware and
software platforms. Connections can be established by pots or a
variety of internet methods.

Losing even one of these methods would cause us to lose that
versatility I spoke of earlier. The ability to communicate in plain
text across a variety of computer platforms has been the forte of
fidonet now for a quarter of a century, or close to it. what works for
establishing your connection to fidonet may not work for another.

Last week a major mail mover here in zone 1 encountered some serious
difficulty with internet connections. As my system has regular links
with that system I was able to make an offer to step into the
connectivity void and provide connections to echomail and routed
netmail. By commenting out a couple of lines in my areafix software's
control file connections could quickly be made with most of the z1
backbone and other echo routings could be modified elsewhere over time
if necessary.

AS it turned out the internet outage problem was quickly resolved, but
in the interim the disconnected mail mover was able to establish
connections quickly with echomail and routed netmail. Had the problem
persisted the old standby was there and able to fill in the gaps.

WHy retain facility inr our nodelists to indicate pots connectivity?
WHy continue to support it? Along with one possible scenario I posited
a couple issues back last week provides another good reason.

FIdonet, like amateur radio offers a variety of ways to establish
connections. FOr example, the radio  amateur wishing to pass a piece
of high priority traffic might choose the easiest route, make contact
with a station using his  microphone  and pass the message. But, if
radio conditions are too poor for voice intelligibility he might opt
for one of the computerized digital modes.

WHat, no computer? There's always the old standby telegraph key on the
bench. THat carrier keyed on and off by that telegraph key will cut
through the hash and trash quite readily if the signal can be
perceived at all. tHe receiving station won't have to ask for repeats
as often, as there's no confusion which is inherent in voice
transmissions during high noise conditions. NO doubt whether that
telephone number contained a 5 or a 9, etc.

We in fidonet have at our disposal the same sort of redundancy which
will enable us to maintain communications. Even if transfer speeds
aren't quite optimum using our old dial-up lines we can always forego
the moving of large files until the broadband connections are restored
or choose a feed  enabling us to receive our echomail and routed
netmail/email and serve our users. even at 9600 baud the volume of
compressed mail you'd normally pull isn't going to be a real limiting
factor. ONe can always wait until regular links are restored to get
one's picture of the day fix <grin>.

So, give it some thought, and instead of telling folks about this
antiquated network you are part of just because it's been your hobby
now for years tell them about the variety of ways old fido offers for
remaining connected. YOu might even gain some new users or convince
that friend or coworker to become a point. AFter all, those ham radio
swap meets and flea markets have those old modems available for cheap,
and your newly minted point or user might just appreciate being able
to put one to use. You might also appreciate the fallback when a major
mail mover has an internet outage and can fall back on a pots
connection to keep the mail moving. COmments via routed netmail are
welcome, or you can post to fn_sysop which I carry.



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