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FidoNews · Vol 2, No 39 · 11 November 1985

          Volume 2, Number 39                         11 November 1985
          +----------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                             _            |
          |                                            /  \          |
          |    - Fidonews -                           /|oo \         |
          |                                          (_|  /_)        |
          |  Fido and Fidonet                         _`@/_ \    _   |
          |    Users  Group                          |     | \   \\  |
          |     Newsletter                           | (*) |  \   )) |
          |                             ______       |__U__| /  \//  |
          |                            / FIDO \       _//|| _\   /   |
          |                           (________)     (_/(_|(____/    |
          |                                                (jm)      |
          +----------------------------------------------------------+

          Publisher:                                          Fido 1/1
          Editor in Chief:                              Thom Henderson
          Review Editor:                                   Matt Kanter
          Chief Procrastinator Emeritus:                  Tom Jennings

          Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 1/1.  You are
          encouraged  to  submit articles for publication in Fidonews.
          Article submission  standards  are  contained  in  the  file
          FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 1/1.

          Disclaimer or don't-blame-us:

          The contents of the articles  contained  here  are  not  our
          responsibility,  nor  do  we  necessarily  agree  with them;
          everything here is subject to debate.  We publish EVERYTHING
          received.





                               Table of Contents


          1. EDITORIAL
             Future Directions
          2. NEWS
             Tom Jennings responds to Paula Giese
             A Request to Writers of Online Documentation Files
             Maple's Freeware Directory
             Exploited? Me?
             FidoGrams and Packet Radio
          3. COLUMNS
             FidoNet Route Files Explained, Part 2
          4. WANTED
             FIDONET info requested
          5. NOTICES
             The Interrupt Stack
             New Board Announcement

          Fidonews                   Page  2               11 Nov 1985





          ============================================================
                                   EDITORIAL
          ============================================================

                                Future Directions

          So what's it going to be then, eh?

          Where do we go from here?  We have this lovely network, with
          hundreds or thousands of people tied together all  over  the
          world, and what are we going to do with it?

          Well,  as a software developer,  I can see all sorts of nice
          things we could  do.  Most  of  them  involve  changing  the
          Fidonet spec,  which would be difficult to do now,  and even
          harder in the future.  I don't know if you've been  watching
          such things, or even if you care, but we are now down to two
          bits  left  in message attributes.  There's not a whole heck
          of alot you can do with two bits.  Also we  now  have  three
          different  systems  (four,  by  some  accounts) that are all
          sharing the same spec, and rumors of more to come.

          Of course,  all of this is really only  concerned  with  the
          physical  specs  of  how the net operates.  A friend of mine
          frequently accuses me of "featuritis".  In  truth,  I  can't
          offhand think of much to add that would be worth the pain of
          conversion.  But  I  also  don't  claim to have cornered the
          market on bright ideas.

          A bigger question regards where the net  is  going  overall.
          Our  European  friends  want  to extend the multinet idea to
          encompass different countries,  and I can  understand  their
          viewpoint.  I  can  also  see  that  extending  it  down  to
          "subnodes" might be useful.  This really  introduces  up  to
          four levels of the net, which may be a bit excessive.

          But seriously,  where are we going to be  in  four  or  five
          years?  I've  heard  the opinion expressed (by someone whose
          opinion I value) that this too shall pass, and Fidonet as we
          know it is really only good for a  couple  of  years;  after
          that we will all be using something else.

          But  what  will  that "something else" grow out of?  I truly
          feel that anything which replaces Fidonet will and must have
          its roots in Fidonet.  It may also grow partially from other
          nets, such as Usenet, but it will predominatly be a child of
          Fidonet.

          We've done an incredible thing here.  We've gotten thousands
          of people together in an amateur electronic mail network the
          likes of which noone (not even its creator)  ever  imagined.
          Its successor, whatever it may be, must of necessity partake
          of many of its qualities.

          We are making history here, like it or not.

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page  3               11 Nov 1985





          ============================================================
                                      NEWS
          ============================================================

          Tom Jennings
          Fido 125/1
          6 November, 85

                  This is in response to Paula Giese's article in
          newsletter 238, about "stolen" Fido.

                  The article is a good one, and you can generalize
          "Fido" or whatever to be any useable so-called "Public
          Domain" program; you probably have seen the articles in
          Infoworld and others about "Corporate world discovers
          ShareWare". I wish they hadn't found it, it wasn't lost, for
          them to find in the first place!

                  Shareware was meant for turkeys like you and I, for
          fun and games, not to save your employer money. Corporate
          use of shareware is a perversion of most authors' intent. I
          am not going to elaborate on this further, however, it's
          covered elsewhere, and I just don't have the time at this
          moment.

                  I am considering making my future program too silly
          to be useful for corporate use, wierd messages, funny
          prompts, etc.

                  There are some problems with the article as it
          stands also. First, the policy fo Fido Software (me!) has
          changed in the last year or two.

                  Fido's previous to version 11 were actually "public
          domain". I even said so. WHAT A STUPID THING! NEVER say
          "public domain"! You have NO rights to your software if you
          do. Let others use it, fine, but you want to have rights to
          it ultimately. The policy was "make as many copies as you
          need". Period.

                  I later changed this to "if you have a small number
          of systems, copy it. If you need lots of copies, contact
          me". It was still public domain. Still stupid.

                  The current versions are different. The policy
          probably won't change in substance again. No longer is Fido
          public domain; the policy (below) is very clear, and allows
          free, unlimited use in most cases.

                  Also I have to cover some specific points in Paula's
          article. First, Southwestern Bell has had a Fido since way
          back when there were less than 20 nodes, and possibly pre-
          FidoNet. I was pleased to have ANY one use the crummy thing.
          They are "grandfather claused" in any case, and have it with
          my blessings. (I assume that they have a system or two,
          being used internally.) There are many other large
          corporations that are also grandfathered or have paid for
          Fido.

          Fidonews                   Page  4               11 Nov 1985





          As an aside, I doubt that the people running the
          Fido for S.W. Bell are the ones who screwed the kid who was
          hit with the tariff. All S.W. Bell employees are not
          interchangeable, same as any other company. The perpetrators
          of that stupid policy are not the ones you get to talk to on
          the phone, they are old dinosaurs in some office building
          somewhere, who, under U.S. law, are not responsible for
          their actions, and want to make your life as miserable as
          theirs.

                  Look, in general, I'm just not going to lose any
          sleep, nor get myself an ulcer, worrying about "stolen
          programs". Unlike Lotus (may they rot in Hell) I do not
          universally consider not-paid-for programs "lost income".
          "Not paid for" is not the same as "lost money". It's a long,
          complicated subject that I won't elaborate on here, but if
          you were around in early CP/M days, you will recall the flap
          about WordStar. "Stolen" WordStar made them more money than
          any amount of advertising; for example, I worked for a large
          research laboratory; I "stole" WS.COM, everyone ran it and
          loved it, and the lab bought 10 copies the next week! (Well,
          it took 3 months to procure anything, that was the original
          problem ...)

                  There are however many instances that just piss me
          off. The GTE thing for instance. Blatant theivery. They did
          pay for it eventually, I think; it was a GTE employee who
          mailed me a personal check, not a GTE check. He said it was
          for GTE, so I didn't argue.



                  The current Fido Software policy is exactly as
          follows:



                  "Fido Software provides the Fido/FidoNet software
          (Fido) both to the Bulletin Board community at large as a
          public service, and to all other users as a commercial
          product, available for a fee.

                  "Fido can be used without charge only if the
          software is used to provide a publicly available, publicly
          accessible system open to anyone. Restrictions such as
          subscriptions may be used, but anyone still must be eligible
          to use it.

                  "All other uses of Fido are considered to be private
          or commercial, and a copy of Fido system must be purchased
          from Fido Software for each computer system. The purchase
          allows you to get updated software as versions come out, and
          a printed manual. Financial support from corporations and
          other institutions ensures that Fido will continue to be
          maintained and updated. If you have large scale or special
          requirements, simple arrangements can be made.

          Fidonews                   Page  5               11 Nov 1985





          "The intent of this policy is simple and fairly
          clear; Fido is intended as a gesture of goodwill towards the
          Bulletin Board community first, and other, commercial and
          private uses fund maintenaince and further development.

                  This policy is no different than donating products
          or services to a school or other institution as a gesture of
          goodwill. "



                  I think this is pretty clear and straightforward. I
          don't care if you charge for access to your board. I don't
          care if you are a fascist and run your BBS like a prison
          ship. I just don't care. As long as it's a public access
          BBS, I don't care. (If you wanna juggle definitions to make
          it fit I still don't care!)

                  If you are selling Fido, or using it to run a
          business, and you haven't paid for it, then I do care.
          Please mail money. If the phone number is a secret, then no
          way it's a publically accessible board, buy the goddamn
          thing, you get updates cheap. I do not use *any* stolen
          programs in my work as an employee nor for Fido Software.
          None, zippo.

                  Please don't ask me to clarify specific
          installations, or try to explain why your case is different
          than any other, use your own judgement. What I don't know
          doesn't hurt me (so they say), and there is nothing I can do
          about it anyways.

                  Like I said before, it's not really that big an
          issue, just "follow your heart" and you will know what it is
          you should do ...


          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page  6               11 Nov 1985





          A Request to Writers of Online Documentation Files
                by Bdale Garbee, sysop 129/13, the L5Net Gateway


          I have a real problem.  It's a fairly serious problem, but a
          fairly stupid one too...  Many of the documents describing
          Fido, Fidonet, and many interesting utilities make too many
          assumptions about printer capabilities.  Particularly this
          very newsletter, and the latest release of the Fido
          documentation... [sigh].

          Overstriking and underlining just don't belong in documents
          that are going to be printed on a wide variety of printers.
          Everyone's machines do it differently, and the backspaces or
          bare carriage returns create havoc on laser printers and the
          like.

          The other big problem with lots of current online
          documentation is that it does not use formfeeds, and assumes
          66 lines per page.  What if I want to run my printer at 8
          lines/inch, and still use 11 inch paper?  Or even more
          reasonably, what if I want to use a laser printer that
          inserts pagebreaks at 60 lines?

          The Arpanet Network Information Center people solved this
          problem ages ago, and in a VERY simple way.  I would like to
          propose that all users of Fidonet adopt the standard
          specified in Arpa RFC 825, from which I quote:

          "The following rules are established for the format of RFCs:

               The character codes are ASCII.

               Each page must be limited to 58 lines followed by a
               form feed on a line by itself.

               Each line must be limited to 72 characters followed by
               a carriage return and line feed.

               No overstriking (or underlining) is allowed.

               These "height" and "width" constraints include any
               headers, footers, page numbers, or left side
               indenting."

          Tear this page out of the newsletter and post it on the wall
          beside your word processor, PLEASE!

          If you really think you need to boldface something, or
          underline something, think about using all caps, or making
          better use of whitespace.  The thousands of frustrated
          people with printers that don't work exactly like yours will
          thank you over and over again...

          The only conceivable problem I can see is for those people
          with printers that don't handle formfeeds... like LA36's,
          etc.  But then, everyone I know with a printer like that has
          a program to fake formfeed capability anyway.

          Fidonews                   Page  7               11 Nov 1985





          I'm working on hacking FIDO.PRN and some of the other
          primary fidonet documentation to meet these specificiations.
          If anyone else is interested in copies of the files when I'm
          done, send me a note...



          [Editor's note: An interesting point.  I confess it never
          occurred to me to doubt the 66 lines/page "standard",
          despite having once owned a 51 lines/page terminal.  Can we
          get some more feedback on this?]

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page  8               11 Nov 1985





          Maple's Freeware Directory

          Maple's Freeware Directory provides a free service to
          software authors to help them popularize their programs.

          The freeware, also known as shareware, is a concept that
          allows free evaluation of the program by the user before
          purchase. If the software is found to be usefull and
          satisfactory a small donation to the author is suggested.
          In some cases upon receiving this donation the authors will
          send a manual. The programs are not copy protected and their
          copying and sharing is in fact welcomed.

          This concept provides the user with commercial quality
          software for a fraction of commercial software price.
          Therefore, not only are the users treated as responsible
          individuals but they are not expected to pay for the copy
          protection schemes they do not want in the first place. The
          authors, on the other hand, devote all of their creativity
          to the program itself, instead of trying to "protect" it
          from the purchaser.

          To assist both the authors and users Maple's Freeware
          Directory is compiling a comprehensive catalog of available
          freeware. In order to have their programs listed in the
          directory the authors are invited to contact us for a copy
          of our questionnaire.

          Editor
          Maple's Freeware Directory
          Box 23, Station M
          Calgary, T2P 2G9
          Canada

          Also available via Fidonet node 134/1, the Calgary_Fido.

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page  9               11 Nov 1985





          Chuck Lawson
          Fido 124/12

                                Exploited? Me?

          I am writing this in response to Paula Giese's  "Ripping Off
          Tom Jennings And All Of Us"  article in last week's FidoNews
          (Issue 238).

          I want to say,  upfront,  that I agree with Paula Giese that
          GTE (and the others mentioned) should be paying the $100 fee
          for Fido.  I am sysop of a free, open to the public, general
          interest  board  that  happens  to  be  sponsored  by,   and
          occasionally used by,  a  private  company,  and although we
          fall  in  Tom Jennings'  (and  apparently  Paula's)  list of
          general  interest   privately  owned  services,   we  should
          probably be paying too. Tom has contributed a lot to the BBS
          community in writing and supporting Fido,  and deserves some
          recompense  for those who make money from it.  I will go  so
          far  as to say that that list should probably include  "paid
          registration"  boards as well.  It is a little ridiculous to
          condemn  one  group  with  income  from  a   bulletin  board
          (regardless of whether it makes money - most don't)  and not
          the rest.

          My major quibble is with the idea of being "exploited" by PC
          Pursuit.  I am a subscriber to PC Pursuit.  I have users who
          regularly access my board via PC Pursuit. I (and the rest of
          the sysops in our net, Net 124)  enjoy  the  use  of  "free"
          Fidomail to some areas  (including  Tom Jennings'  home net,
          125)  via PC Pursuit.  And I have not once  felt  exploited.
          Maybe I'm just unenlightened.

          In my humble opinion,  I  believe  that  PC  Pursuit is just
          another carrier service, and no more (and no less) guilty of
          exploitation  than  the  various  companies  who operate the
          North American phone system.  Where  do you draw the line of
          distinction?  Of  course  PC Pursuit advertises that you can
          access bulletin boards in twelve cities.  That's kind of the
          point.  Would  you  pay  your  telephone  bill if you didn't
          believe you could call other people?  And  BOTH  parties pay
          for the privilage there.  Offhand,  that's a service,  in my
          book, and not exploitation.

          Now  I'm  not  sure  about  other  sysops,  but  I' m always
          relatively thrilled to find my board in bulletin board lists
          outside the local area.  After all,  I put the board up  for
          people  to  use,  and  am  usually  thrilled  to see someone
          from outside our local dialing area spend  their hard-earned
          dollars to call my board  (even  if  they  only  spend $25 a
          month).  I  DO  hope  that they ask the sysops of the boards
          mentioned for permission to list them, but I have never been
          asked for permission to have my board listed on a  BBS list,
          and that includes some lists that people have  attempted  to
          sell.

          All in all,  I would like to submit a public plea for GTE to
          do  two  things - send  Tom Jennings  $100  (or  more - they

          Fidonews                   Page 10              11 Nov 1985





          certainly  have  gotten  mileage  from Fido),  and  ADD MORE
          CITIES.  It  is  my belief that they have done  as  much  to
          improve  the  BBS  world  as  the  advent of cheap 1200 baud
          modems has.

          I will be attempting to start a discussion of this  topic on
          my board.  It  should  be  quite  interesting,  as we have a
          number of users who are  PC Pursuit subscribers  (some local
          who  use  it elsewhere,  some who use it to access us),  and
          several attorneys.

          I would like to invite all those with an opinion to call and
          express themselves,  or send FidoMail to Fido 124/12. I will
          re-post  the FidoMail msgs in the appropriate area  (our BBS
          Ethics discussion).

          Chuck Lawson
          Sysop, Fido 124/12, The Inside Track Edition
          (214) 422-4772
          24hrs/7days, 300/1200/2400
          Accessible Via PC Pursuit / Dallas

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page 11               11 Nov 1985





          +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
                          +                           +
                          +  FIDOGRAMS & PACKET RADIO +
                          +  BY LUCK HURDER - 101/105 +
                          +                           +
                          +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

          Those of you who've read the articles on the  Fidogram  free
          telegram  service  in  Fidonews  9/09/85  and  10/28/85  and
          certainly those of you who have utilized the  service  might
          be  interested in knowing more about how Fidograms are being
          routed to their ultimate destination.

          Regardless of where they originate or where they are  going,
          Fidograms  are  placed into a format that is familiar to the
          radio operators who will be  handling  them.  This  is  done
          because  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  may  be some
          automatic  computer  relays  involved,  at  some  point  the
          Fidogram  will  eventually have to be given to a human being
          for delivery.

          Here's an example of the format we use:

          NR 3172 R KY1T 21 DALLAS TEX VIA EASTHAM MA NOV 1
          RANDALL AND SHIRLEY JOHNSTON
          111 RIDGLEA DRMIDLAND TX 79701915 682 2384BT

          CONGRATULATIONS ON THE ENGAGEMENT OF YOUR  DAUGHTER GAIL TO
          RICHARD X LET ME KNOW IF I CAN HELP IN THE WEDDING

          BT
          BRONSON JOHNSTON

          In the event that the  delivering  operator  had  difficulty
          contacting  the  addressee,  he  has  the  option  of either
          sending it via the U.S.  Mule system,  or sending it back to
          KY1T EASTHAM, MASS (that's me), advising of non-delivery.

          For those of you interested in specifics, Fidograms leave my
          station on a 1200 baud radio link, utilizing what we believe
          to  be  a neat rendition of the X.25 protocol,  dubbed AX.25
          (the "A" standing for  Amateur).  The  Fidogram  goes  to  a
          packet  radio  BBS  (PBBS) where it is picked off by another
          Amateur radio operator,  who sends it through our system  by
          voice or (egads!) Morse Code.

          For you Sysops out there, I've been slowly getting around to
          sending  out  a  file  called "Fidograms.ARC" to Fidos in as
          many areas as possible.  This is getting expensive!  If  you
          don't yet have the file, please contact me, and I'll fire it
          off to you,  pronto.  Otherwise it'll just take me some time
          to get to your particular Fido -  if  I  don't  run  out  of
          Fidomail credit first...

          For  further  info  on this free public service,  or to send
          your first 1 (or 100) Fidograms, contact me at 101/105.

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page 12               11 Nov 1985





          ============================================================
                                    COLUMNS
          ============================================================

                         FidoNet Route Files Explained
                          Part  2 -- In the Beginning

                           by Ben Baker, Fido 100/76

               From the time he first began "routing"  messages,  Fido
          has  used  "route  files"  to tell him what messages to send
          where when.   Three  basic  route  file  commands  do  this;
          SCHEDULE  aka SEND-TO, ROUTE-TO and ACCEPT-FROM.  This week,
          we'll look at these commands in depth.

               Before  going  farther,  I  need  to define a couple of
          terms.  A "target" is a node to which your Fido will connect
          and directly send a message.  An "addressee" is the ultimate
          destination node  for  a  message.   This  is  an  important
          distinction.   Because  of  routing,  the  addressee and the
          target for a particular message are often different nodes.

               A "packet" is a collection of messages all to  be  sent
          to  a single target (though perhaps several addressees).  At
          the beginning of each schedule Fido builds all  the  packets
          he will be permitted to send during that schedule.

               Now, let's take a look at the three basic commands that
          may  appear  in  a  route file, and see how each of them can
          modify Fido's behavior.

          SCHEDULE <tag> <target list>         or
          SEND-TO <target list>

               These commands are equivalent.  They tell Fido  "During
          this  schedule,  you  may  build  packets  for any target in
          <target list>.  Include all messages to different addressees
          which  may  be routed to these targets.  Do not consider any
          outgoing messages which cannot  be  sent  to  one  of  these
          targets."  Unless  there  is  an  ACCEPT-FROM statement (see
          below) only messages originating on your Fido qualify to  go
          into  packets.   If  <target list> is empty (and this is NOT
          schedule A), Fido will not build any packets.  If he doesn't
          build  any  packets he will not send any mail, even if he is
          POLLed (see next week).

          ROUTE-TO <target> <addressee list>

               This  command  will  override  any  node  list  implied
          routing  affecting  these nodes.  It tells Fido "If <target>
          is in <target list> and there are outgoing messages for  any
          nodes  in  <addressee list>, put them in <target>'s packet."
          If <target> is not in  <target  list>  you  blew  it.   It's
          almost,  but  not quite a "no operation." No packets will be
          built for nodes in <addressee list>, even  if  they  are  in
          <target  list>!   Don't  route messages to a <target> that's
          not in the <target list> for this schedule.

          Fidonews                   Page 13              11 Nov 1985





          By  the  way,  a bug in an earlier version of Fido pre-
          vented messages to <target> from being sent  unless  he  was
          also  in  <addressee  list>.   I don't know if that has been
          corrected, but it's  still  good  general  practice  to  put
          <target> in <addressee list>.

          ACCEPT-FROM <originating list>

               Normally, Fido only  sends  mail  originating  on  your
          board.   If  you  receive  a  message  originating  on A and
          addressed to B, without this statement, your Fido  will  not
          attempt  to  send  it  along to B.  Instead, he will mark it
          "orphan" to give you an indication that  he  had  a  problem
          with  it and otherwise ignore it.  This statement in a route
          file tells Fido "When you build packets,  if  you  find  any
          messages from any nodes in <originating list>, treat them as
          if  they  originated  here.   In  other  words  FORWARD  any
          messages  from  the nodes in <originating list> that you can
          get into packets FOR THIS SCHEDULE's <target list>."

               I actually suggested this verb for this action and have
          regretted  it  ever  since!  It's a misnomer.  A better verb
          might be "FORWARD-FOR" but hindsight is  always  20-20.   It
          really  means  "Accept,  for  forwarding, only messages from
          these guys."  It's  designed  to  prevent  you  from  paying
          someone else's phone costs without prior arrangement.

               So  where  do  you  put  this  statement?  Remember two
          important points I've  mentioned  before.   1)  Route  files
          affect  how  you  SEND  mail,  not how you receive it.  2) A
          particular route file affects only  the  schedule  with  the
          matching  <tag>.   Consider  Fido  202/0, a hypothetical bi-
          directional host.  He executes three schedules  each  night.
          During  schedule  B, before the national window, he collects
          outgoing mail from his locals.  During schedule C  he  sends
          mail  from  himself  and  his  locals  to  "the network" and
          receives mail for himself and his locals from it.   Then  in
          schedule  D,  after  the national window, he distributes the
          mail he received for his locals.

               ROUTE.B  needs  neither  a <target list> nor an ACCEPT-
          FROM statement.  Indeed, he doesn't really need any  ROUTE.B
          file  at  all  because  HE  ISN'T  SENDING  ANY  MAIL DURING
          SCHEDULE B.

               ROUTE.C  has  the national net excluding 202/0's locals
          in its <target list>.  It also has  "ACCEPT-FROM  1,  2,  3,
          (all  locals)."  Now let's say that 202/3 received a message
          from 125/1 last night, but it wasn't delivered because 202/3
          was   down.   The  message  is  still  here.   Won't  it  be
          "orphaned" because 125/1 isn't in the ACCEPT-FROM list?  NO!
          Because  202/3 isn't in the <target list>, the message won't
          even be considered DURING THIS SCHEDULE.

               ROUTE.D has all the nodes in net  202  in  the  <target
          list>,  and  an  "ACCEPT-FROM ALL" statement.  Now the fore-
          going message will be processed correctly and  forwarded  to
          202/3.

          Fidonews                   Page 14               11 Nov 1985





          Now let's say that 100/76 tries to forward a message to
          Jakarta through 202/0.  202/0 cannot refuse delivery of  the
          offending  message,  so  there  it  sits  in  his mail area.
          During schedule B, he ignores all outgoing mail  because  he
          doesn't  have a <target list>.  During schedule C Jakarta is
          in his <target list>, but 100/76 is not in his  <originating
          list>, so the message is orphaned.  During schedule D 100/76
          IS in the <originating list>, but  Jakarta  is  not  in  the
          <target list> so the message is again ignored.

               Make  no  mistake,  if  Jakarta had been in the <target
          list> in schedule D, the message would have been sent,  even
          though  it  had  been  marked  an  orphan  during schedule C
          (provided, of course that a connection  could  be  made  and
          Jakarta  happened  to  be  in a mail schedule at that time).
          This means that if messages are orphaned because  of  errors
          in  your  routing  files, the routing files can be corrected
          and the messages can still be sent.  The orphan flag is  NOT
          a dead end!

               A  similar kind of bug existed (and may still;  I don't
          know) with ACCEPT-FROM as with ROUTE-TO (above).  If a route
          file  contains  an ACCEPT-FROM statement, make sure your own
          node is in the <originating list>.  (The first time  I  used
          this   statement,   I  forwarded  a  lot  of  messages,  but
          "orphaned" my own messages!)

               Well, that's how routing is  achieved.   Remember,  all
          these  statements  control  out-going mail.  You can receive
          mail even if you don't have any route files!

               A final point on routing.  If a message says it  has  a
          file  attached (even if the file doesn't exist) all bets are
          off.  Routing is suspended and  the  message  will  be  sent
          direct  from  the  originator  to  the  addressee.  Fido has
          several built-in safeguards to prevent you  from  forwarding
          someone  else's  files,  or  forwarding  your  files through
          someone else for that matter.

               Next week we'll take a close look at the goodies TJ has
          provided in version 11 and see how they are making automatic
          node list distribution at long last a reality.

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page 15               11 Nov 1985





          ============================================================
                                     WANTED
          ============================================================

          From: Michael Keller      Fido 19/329, 900/15

          I  need  more  information than is given in FIDOMAIL.DOC for
          interfacing my Model I with FidoNet.  If anyone  is  willing
          to  unARC  the  FIDO documentation and send it to me, please
          respond via one of the above nodes.  I have a  CP/M  system,
          so  if  the  doc  files  were  compressed  with SWEEP and/or
          LU.EXE, that would be fine.  The only problem I have now  is
          that  there  is  no  .ARC utility for CP/M, nor Turbo Pascal
          source for such.  ANY help or suggestions are welcome.

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          Fidonews                   Page 16               11 Nov 1985





          ============================================================
                                    NOTICES
          ============================================================

                               The Interrupt Stack


          23 Nov 1985
             European sysop conference -- Utrecht, The Netherlands.
             Contact node 3101 for details.

          27 Nov 1985
             Halley's Comet passes closest to Earth before perihelion.

           9 Dec 1985
             DECUS Anaheim.  The first session (Roadmap session) of
             the PC Special Interest Group will meet at 11:30 in the
             PC Campground (Bonita Tower, Santa Cruz room).  See you
             there...

          24 Jan 1986
             Voyager 2 passes Uranus.

           9 Feb 1986
             Halley's Comet reaches perihelion.

           9 Feb 1986
             Diana Overholt (109/74) has another birthday.

          11 Apr 1986
             Halley's Comet reaches perigee.

          19 May 1986
             Steve Lemke's next birthday.

          24 Aug 1989
             Voyager 2 passes Neptune.





          If you have something which you would like to see on this
          calendar, please send a message to Fido 1/1.

          ------------------------------------------------------------

          FIDO-RACER, Net 11, Node 301, operating at Murray State
          University, Murray, KY., is open from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00
          A.M. central time.  Our number is (502) 762-2155.  We
          operate at 300 and 1200 baud.  We are interested in
          collecting information on the use of bulletin boards in
          higher education settings.  Also, we would appreciate
          information being shared with us concerning the use of
          computers by handicapped individuals.  So far, we are an
          open access board.  SYSOP-Bill Allbritten.

          ------------------------------------------------------------



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