FidoNews · Vol 3, No 4 · 27 January 1986
Volume 3, Number 4 27 January 1986
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| _ |
| / \ |
| - Fidonews - /|oo \ |
| (_| /_) |
| Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ |
| Users Group | | \ \\ |
| Newsletter | (*) | \ )) |
| ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
| (jm) |
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Publisher: Fido 1/1
Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
Review Editor: Allen Miller
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
Fidonews is published weekly by SEAdog Leader, 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
THINK BEFORE YOU LEAP: About IFNA
2. NEWS
Fido's Archive System
The latest FIDO distribution list
Some more thoughts on Shareware
More on "improved" BBS systems
GAGS Version 1.06 released
A (Possibly) Better Way to POLL
3. WANTED
Outgoing Host Accounting System Wanted !
4. FOR SALE
Libertarian E-Mail Directory
5. NOTICES
Version 5.0 of ARC released
The Interrupt Stack
KILLROBT update
MENSA National PC-SIG Forming
PRGUSERS - Software Update
============================================================
EDITORIAL
============================================================
Tom Jennings
125/1
THINK BEFORE YOU LEAP
About IFNA
There is a file being sent around attacking the
proposed IFNA, or International Fido Net Association. If
you haven't seen it yet, you probably will. Please read
this in it's entirety. If you don't, then don't even bother
to talk to me about it.
Even though parties involved have since apologized,
serious damage has been done. The authors did not contact
any of the people mentioned in the IFNA proposal to ask what
was going on. There was no real information in the attack,
merely unthinking slanderous paranoia. Please, learning to
read implies a responsibility to learn to understand: IFNA
is not by any means the commercialization of FidoNet, it
does not mean mandatory fees, etc. Please read on.
The IFNA project is now somewhat damaged. That was
a very preliminary proposal, and way too early for such
exposure. It was not meant to be public, it was way too
early. They were ideas of the top of our collective heads,
as everyone involved realized.
What is IFNA, and why?
If you have been a FidoNet sysop long enough, you
may remember the flap over the net/node reorganization
during the summer of 1985. There were complaints that
"things are working fine, why mess with it?" The assertion
was true, at the time it was running quite smoothly, before
we changed it.
At that time the net/node changeover, a major upset
and organizational change, was made for "the future". You
may have noticed that that future is here now; if you will
think back, you will realize that the entire nodelist then
was smaller than some of today's nets. At that time, the
reason for the change was the lack of hierarchy in the
network; now we have nets that completely run themselves.
Today's FidoNet with almost 700 systems, runs smoother and
more efficiently, with less national bureaucracy, than it
did two years ago.
There has never been, is not now, and if I can help
it never will be any sort of ideological or moralistic
influences in the net administration. What a sysop does on
their board, short of illegal or outright damaging actions,
Fidonews Page 2 27 Jan 1986
is totally and completely their own business. This idea was
not talked about, merely implemented, and it permeates
through the entire organization to this day. Please realize
through all of this that the FidoNet, as it exists, is
totally and completely decentralized as much as is
practical. I don't think that many people realize just
exactly what this means, or how it came about.
Since FidoNet is totally and completely
decentralized, it makes large scale operations and changes
difficult to say the least, never mind trying to pull off
some coup that no one would cooperate with! Those that
designed FidoNet in this fashion are amongst those that
understand this fact best.
And now, I'll cover some specific points in the
attack. I will not grace all of them with comment.
The IFNA proposed "membership" does not mean that
Fido sysops, users, networks or anyone is forced to pay for
anything, period. The "membership fee" is proposed to be
for services and goods provided above and beyond what we all
have now; seriously, how on earth can anyone in FidoNet make
anyone else do anything?
To illustrate this fact, pick a node from the node
list, far away, where you don't know anybody, and demand
that the sysop pay you $50 every year. Good luck.
A printed publication mailed to your home costs
money. A full or part time employee to maintain the
nodelist and other related functions costs money, and yes,
things are getting to that point. Once again, because
things are moving very smoothly, you normally don't see the
effort behind the lines. (I am not talking about myself, I
do not have anything whatsoever to do with running the net,
thank Ken and Sally Kaplan for most of that.)
"Advertising" things such as the radio amateurs'
FidoGrams, or individual sysops' services to the deaf is not
"exploitation". It is informing people of a service that
they probably didn't know existed. And how could we
"exploit" a service that we do not perform, and have no
control of? FidoGrams and such are done by individual
sysops, on their own machines, in their own living rooms.
The assumption also was that all efforts here would be done
or directed by the people involved in it. Like I said, the
proposal was brainstorming, and incomplete.
The "magazine" (really just a newsletter, but called
"magazine" to avoid confusion with FidoNews) is not meant to
compete on the newsstands; it is meant for FidoNet users and
sysops, and others only secondarily. Similar to the
position of Boys Life to the Boy Scouts of America, if you
Fidonews Page 3 27 Jan 1986
are familiar with that. And yes of course it is proposed to
have some of the better articles from the electronic
FidoNews; ask any potential author if they would object.
Compensation and such is yet to be determined, and will
depend on income, of course. Like I said before ...
I'll be damned if I can think of how having a
printed mag could hurt anything, except the ones putting up
the dough for printing it. It will explain how new sysops
can get started, a list of Fido phone numbers for new and
existing users, general interest articles, and infinitely
more.
As to objections to users "... knowing how
economical and easy ...", since FidoNet mail is there, and
is the WHOLE POINT of FidoNet, and justification for writing
it in the first place, we have an obligation to let non-
sysop users know what it is and how to do it. It does not
mean you have to do it on your particular board.
The attack on "... assigning policy, rules,
guidelines and procedures for FidoNet" is foolish; what do
you think we do now? The national network time slot,
utility programs (LISTGEN, nodelist formats), coordinating
FidoNet packet format between the various authors (Fido,
SEAdog, Rover/gateway, FIDOUSER, etc etc), generating
nodelists, and so on fall into this category. It has to be
done, it's done haphazardly now, just ask anyone using the
Fido .MSG format about attribute bits. You think this falls
from the heavens, fully formed and ready to go?
The idea of a FidoNet itself is unlikely as hell, an
"International FidoNet Convention" isn't quite so unlikely,
since I just came back from one.
"Old FidoNews' on diskette or hardcopy, fees to be
set." Yes fees, for IFNA to issue them in that form, of
course! You can still download them! I don't see why all
of a sudden that would just go away. [ed: it wouldn't]
Insurance proposals, like I said, this was brain-
storming, it may very well turn out to be a waste of time.
Just an idea, sorry!
However, as far as "working with computer
manufacturers to obtain discounts ..." that's not quite the
same thing. How many FidoNet sysops have US Robotics
Courier 2400's? I'd bet 90% of all the 2400 baud modems you
see in the nodelist are USR's. And why? Because USR made
the special offer to FidoNet sysops *FIRST*, that's why. It
IS a good modem. Are there any objections to that sort of
thing in the future?
As to the tacky doggie: yes, the artist is quite
aware of the proposed deal, since it is me. Except those
Fidonews Page 4 27 Jan 1986
who purchased my old FidoNet bumper stickers (hopelessly
amateurish) you have not seen the dog. We do not propose to
sell ASCII character strings. It may be egotistical, but
I'd like to have a Fido sweatshirt, as a matter of fact,
I've been asked to make some, so I am anyway. Unlike car
insurance, no one will be required to waste their money on
one.
Junk mail: the proposal says "controlled (ie.
voluntary) mailing list".
"Political action committee": just an idea, there
are people rumbling about this now, IFNA should support it.
It is obviously in our interest, there are people there now
supporting us, we might as well support them with numbers of
organized sysops and users.
"... library of FidoNet utilities ..." no,
obviously, it does not mean exclusivity. The phrase "BBS
DISTRIBUTED" tells it all. Our proposal was for prepackaged
diskettes, with docs, to benefit the authors, IFNA, and the
customer who did not care to download large amounts of
utilities at random to find what they want. More on this
later, when the proposal is complete.
"To provide a liason between FidoNet and public
service activities." To get "... discourage efforts of
others ..." from this paragraph is impossible. It just
isn't there.
"IFNA would be the exclusive distributor of an
Authorized Distributor package ...". Right now, Fido
Software (me) is the exclusive distributor. If you are not
aware of it, I sell Fido/FidoNet to paying customers. And
allow it for download. I do not allow others to sell it.
My customers are businesses and individuals who do not want
to download, or who did for evaluation purposes, and now
wish to have the manual and update services. To those who
run a Fido as a public service, both individuals and
companies, it is free. It has been this way for years;
please read POLICY1.DOC.
There are other points that I'm just not going to
bother to touch. I gave credence to a lot of it be merely
mentioning it. That was not my intent at all, but it was
unavoidable.
Both Ken and I have spent large sums of our own
money to help run FidoNet and keep it all together in the
last few years, never mind the hundreds of hours of work
involved by many, many people in the last few years. Please
refer to page INTRO-4 in Fido's Operating Manual. It's just
the tip of the iceberg.
Fidonews Page 5 27 Jan 1986
IFNA's only task is to run the net independently of
any personalities, and take over the many tasks of
documenting and running the net. It needs to generate
income to pay for it's operation, and to provide the
services proposed, not all of which are in the proposal that
leaked out. It is not a way for any of us to skim money
from any sysops or users of FidoNet, and I am sorry for you
if you believe that.
Not everyone is out to screw you, this is not a TV
show, there is no cloak and dagger business here.
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 6 27 Jan 1986
============================================================
NEWS
============================================================
Jim Black
Fido 106/106
Fido's Archive System
If you do not have space problems on the hard disk that
Fido calls home - this is not for you (go read the next
article). If you have trouble keeping hard disk space then
FAS is what you need.
FAS, can decide with a little help which files on your
board are not active and archive those inactive files
releasing that valuable space for the next great utility or
game or whatever.
FAS will read your sysop.log files and extract all
downloaded or uploaded files for as far back as you have log
files for. These will become your active file. If you
desire to keep some files even though they have not been
uploaded or downloaded these can be placed in the permanent
file and will never be archived.
You tell FAS which file areas to look at for archive
purposes. All files in those areas will be archived if they
are not in the active file or the permanent file.
The Archive process will copy the files to diskette
then delete the FILES.BBS entry. Don't worry FAS can recover
any file once it is archived. All Files archived will have
the FILES.BBS description placed in the ARCHIVE file area so
that the files can be restored.
FAS is menu driven and is complete with hard copy
reports. FAS requires an IBM or compatible, 256k of memory,
and around 400k of disk space for programs and files. Oh
yes, FAS is fast. FAS is distributed under the Freeware
concept. Try it, you will love it.
Call the following Fido's for more information or to
see the ARCHIVE file area and to download your space saver.
FIDO'S PARTNER 106/101 713-458-7410 300 - 2400
BLACK STAR 106/106 713-458-5406 300 - 1200
PC-INTERCONNECTION 106/343 713-955-8120 300 - 1200
All three BBS are up 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 7 27 Jan 1986
FIDO DISTRIBUTION LIST
15 January 1986
This list was compiled from responses to a proposal I
submitted to the FIDONEWS. I know there are more
distribution nodes than this, but these are the ones that
responded. My thanks to those of you listed here. If you
are a distribution node, and would like to be added to this
list, send the relevant information to the SYSOP on 109/74 -
The Bear's Den. I will release updates to this list as new
distribution nodes are added.
NODE NODE NAME LOCATION PHONE NUMBER Version
---- --------- -------- ------------ -------
18/19 The Ark Tangent Tampa_FL 813-977-5347 * I
100/10 MDC_RCC, St._Louis_MO 314-232-6881 * D,I
100/22 PC LUG St._Louis_MO 314-576-2743 * D,I
100/51 DECUS Central St._Louis_MO 314-576-4129 * D,I
101/27 Dave's FIDO Gardner_MA 617-632-1861 * All
101/106 NewWorld Magic1 Swampscott_MA 617-595-5626 * I
106/343 PC-Interconnect Houston_TX 713-955-8120 I
106/106 Black_Star Houston_TX 713-458-5406 I
107/312 Dance_Studio E_Brunswick_NJ 201-247-0573 I
109/483 Wash-A-RUG Fairfax_VA 703-359-6549 D,I
109/603 NET-EXCHANGE Reston_VA 703-689-3561 I
114/1 Phoenix Net Phoenix, AZ 602-242-5230 I
122/6 PSG COOS Bay COOS_Bay_OR 503-269-5202 * I
124/12 Inside Track Ed Plano_TX 214-422-4772 I
125/1 Fido's Board San_Francisco_CA 415-864-1418 * All
125/521 Satore Center San_Francisco_CA 415-647-8528 I,V
128/10 The Three Laws Colorado_Spgs_CO 303-574-1110 I
129/11 TACO Sanyo Fido Trafford_PA 412-856-1428 * S
132/107 M'Cycle Bytes Amherst_NH 603-889-3366 * All
135/14 Metro-Fire Fido Miami_FL 305-596-8611 I,S,T,G
3101/1 Fido_Nl1 Ede, Holland +31-8380-37165 I
* Supports 2400 Baud
FIDO Version:
I[BM], D[EC], V[ICTOR], S[ANYO], T[ANDY], G[ENERIC]
This version of the list was squeezed a bit, to allow it to
fit into the FIDONEWS format. If you would like a full 80
column copy of this list, it may be downloaded from either
FIDO 109/74 (The Bear's Den), or FIDO 109/483 (Wash-A-RUG).
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 8 27 Jan 1986
Some more thoughts on Shareware
I couldn't help thinking about a problem that confronts
those of us who use shareware in an institutional setting
when I read the article which mentioned the personal check
sent in from an MCI employee. I work for a state
university; under state law we must have a bill for
everything. Some producers of shareware have formal
invoices already enclosed with the documentation; others ask
for a donation. I don't know if the latter group doesn't
want to appear pushy or what; the fact is that many
institutions cannot pay on this basis. A suggestion:
include an invoice in your documentation, or on your pop
screen that appears when your program is invoked without any
parameters. Many of us would like to help out but cannot,
at least through our institutions.
Bill Allbritten, 11/301
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 9 27 Jan 1986
An update on what's happening with this
brainstorm about a new type of BBS
By John Plocher, 121/90
I must have touched a responsive chord somewhere! I've
gotten so much responsive mail pertaining to my ideas on a
packet interface to remote systems that I guess another
Fidonews article is in order!
Just a note of warning: I should in NO WAY be considered
an expert on this subject, in fact I didn't know a thing
about packet networks 6 months ago. If anyone out there
knows more about this than I do, please feel free to correct
any misconceptions I have!
'Nuff of this humble introduction. On to the meat of
this note: There is a "standard" out there concerning packet
switched networks called CCITT X.25. This is an
international standard which is/should be used by common
carrier packet networks (Tymnet, etc). There is a variant
of this protocol called X.PC, which is X.25 for micros. It
was developed by McDonald Douglas/Tymshare, the parent
companies of Tymnet. The protocol specifications and related
documentation is available for no charge from:
X.PC Protocol Specification (Version 2.1)
Tymnet/McDonald Douglas Network Systems 2710 Orchard
Parkway San Jose, CA 95134
Tymnet also has a complete implementation for the IBM
PC, including source, object, and documentation on an IBM PC
disk for $20.00 - See the documentation BEFORE you send
money! I have requested all of the above materials, they
should be here by the end of January (1986, I hope).
X.PC specifically implements the NETWORK and DATA layers
of the ISO-OSI model.
At this point I need to clarify some points. These have
to do with what comes to mind when using the terms "BBS" and
"interface". I am working on developing a packet level
interface which could be used to implement a new type of
BBS, or other remote access system. Any BBS has to have
some sort of interface to the remote user; right now Fido
uses a character level interface for user I/O and a packet
level interface for file transfer. I'd like to implement an
interface which is 100% packet level, 100% of the time.
Since the current generation of BBS's are designed
around a single channel character level interface, a new BBS
would have to be written to take advantage of the multi-
channel packet interface. Thus the notion of a new BBS.
The issue of security has some relevance here, too.
Fido was designed to be a 100% secure system. That means
that even if a user would upload FORMAT.COM, s/he could
NEVER execute it. It also means that the user can never get
Fidonews Page 10 27 Jan 1986
past the Fido software interface and into the operating
system (The Sysop can, though, with the 0 command). The
result is that the users are limited to whatever features
Fido cares to let them use. RCP/M systems on the other hand
are typically not secure systems, because the user has the
ability to execute programs in addition to the usual message
oriented BBS commands.
It should be obvious that the issue of security has
little to do with the interface used to do I/O with the
user. Fido and RCP/M both use character level I/O; it is
what they do with it which determines the security of the
system. The ideas I am interested in ignore the issue of
security completely (at least for now), and propose a packet
level interface to the system which would be a replacement
for the character level interface used by Fido and RCP/M.
(UNIX people will note that UUCP, CU, and TIP also have a
packet type interface, instead of a character level
interface. In the case of CU, the packet interface is used
in such a way as to give the impression to the user of being
a character interface.)
If security is desired (and it will be for ANY type of
BBS), it would have to be added on top of this packet
interface in the same was as it is added to current systems
on top of the character level interface.
Note also that I have avoided mentioning anything about
the physical connection to the packet interface. In many
cases, it would be a RS-232 async link through a modem, but
it could also be a synchronous bi-sync link to another local
system, or a connection to a LAN, etc. The beauty of the
packet interface is that it doesn't matter how the packets
actually get from place to place, as long as they get there.
They don't even have to get there undamaged, cuz the
interface takes care of requesting a new packet if it finds
a damaged one.
I have also gotten a few responses about my mention of
Wendin's PCUNIX and their Operating Systems Toolbox. I am
still (1/13/86) waiting for my copy of PCUNIX, but I have
the OST and PCVMS. For those of you who like VMS on a DEC
VAX, PCVMS is quite similar. It is truly multi-user and
multi-tasking; I don't like VMS, and I liked PCVMS. These
products are only available for the IBM family (PC,XT,AT),
but quite a few people here in southern Wisconsin have been
pestering Wendin to port it to the Rainbow, so if you pester
them too... Anyways, back to the topic, I am working with
Wendin in developing X.PC as a network interface to the OST.
This is a necessary first step in implementing all of X.PC,
if the virtual circuit ideas are to be implemented at all.
(The multi-tasking is vital!)
Getting more into the ideas of a BBS system,
specifically conferencing systems, David Dyer-Bennet, the
Sysop of 14/341 (The Terraboard) had some interesting
comments about how to present an understandable view of a
discussion tree to the user. At a minimum, the user would
Fidonews Page 11 27 Jan 1986
have to be able to see an overview of all the conferences,
as well as details on individual conferences, all the way
down to the actual messages. His conclusions are that ideas
used in the outline processors now available could be used
to present an outline of a discussion; allowing the user to
increase or decrease the amount of detail displayed.
I'm getting a bit long winded here, so I'm going to call
it quits for now, but if the response to these ideas keeps
up I'll have to write more... (And I thought I was a
programmer, not an author!)
John Plocher 121/90
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 12 27 Jan 1986
Version 1.06 of the Generic Adventure Game System released!
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Background: The Generic Adventure Game System is an
adventure-game development system for 256K MS-DOS computers.
It allows you to create your own computer adventure games
using a fairly simple syntax and a standard text editor.
GAGS 1.0 was released as Shareware in late August, and the
previous version, 1.05, was released in October.]
-- Mark J. Welch,
sysop, Fido 125/459
I have finally finished adding features to the Generic
Adventure Game System, and have also released an interactive
editor which allows game writers to view and alter room,
noun, and creature definitions. Alas, I am unable (or
unwilling) to commit to future enhancements, because I plan
to divert my energies to other projects.
I will soon be delving into Modula-2 (GAGS was written in
Turbo Pascal) and may decide to redesign GAGS in that
language, but I can't promise anything, since I have several
other projects in mind as well. I will, of course, correct
any bugs that may be noticed in GAGS, but currently do not
plan to add new features for a long time, if ever.
GAGS has progressed somewhat since its initial release in
August. For example, Everard Cheney, sysop of the Fantasy
Factory of Pacifica, CA (415-355-6047, Fido 125/applied)
wrote an interactive editor useful to enter new room,
creature, and noun information. In response to his
inspiration, I wrote another editor which is more useful in
examining and making minor changes to existing games (and
games in various stages of development after startup).
Both of those editors are included, along with the GAGS
"engine" program, a sample game, and extensive
documentation, in GAGS_106.ARC, a 279K file. (GAGS_106.ARC
also includes the ARC452.DOC file since I've discovered that
no one bothers to download it when they download ARC452.EXE
from my board). The 279K file expands to about 450K, so it
won't all fit on one 360K floppy disk.
GAGS was reviewed favorably in the December 6, 1985 issue
of *MicroTimes*, a tabloid publication distributed in
California. I've not heard of any other reviews, but would
appreciate feedback if someone notices a review in a
publication. I sent out a bunch of review copies to
magazines I don't subscribe to.
As before, I also offer the program on disk for $10
(including postage), and will put a copy of the GAGS_106.ARC
file in the mail to any sysop who sends me a disk and
postpaid return mailer. Since it's Shareware, I encourage
people who find the program useful to become registered
users by sending me a $15 contribution. Registered users
may also elect to buy the complete source code (in Turbo
Fidonews Page 13 27 Jan 1986
Pascal) for $25 (including postage).
A note on Shareware returns: For those who are curious,
Shareware contributions have not been very substantial for
GAGS. I hadn't expected much, of course, but I am most
irritated by people who call with support questions and
start off with a lie: "I'm sending you a check for
registration, and I think GAGS is great, but how do you...."
After about a dozen of those calls, I received one of the
promised checks. I've received a number of other checks in
the mail, but my expenses still outweigh my income by more
than an order of magnitude. I doubt I'll elect to distribute
my next product as Shareware.
Another irritation: I've received at least five phone
calls from people who complain that the program doesn't
work. My immediate response is, "Did you read the READ.ME
file?" and the answer has always been "no" since the READ.ME
file explains why the program won't work unless CONFIG.SYS
has upped the number of files.
[Note: A bug in version 1.06 was discovered: the game's
introductory text was not displayed. This bug has been fixed
in version 1.06a. That bug did not effect the game in any
other way. mjw, 1-17-86]
Changes from version 1.05 to 1.06 01-13-86
of the Generic Adventure Game System MJW
-------------------------------------
There are three new features in version 1.06 of GAGS.
GAGS 1.06 is now finished. Included with it in the 279K ARC
file is EDITGAME 1E, an interactive room/noun/creature
editor.
1) Verb synonyms
I have not added User-definable verbs, but I've come
halfway. You can now define a new verb as a synonym of an
existing verb. For example, suppose you want the user to be
able to type "inspect" instead of examine. In the .DAT file,
you include a verb redefinition as follows:
VERB
EXAMINE INSPECT
END_VERB
During the game, any time the player types "inspect" as a
verb, it will be translated to "examine." You may only map
one synonym to each verb. You may include several
redefinitions in a single VERB...END_VERB entry, but each
pair of verbs must be on a separate line.
2) Winning a game
Fidonews Page 14 27 Jan 1986
Okay, I give in. There is now a way to win the game.
There is a now a new ROOM attribute called GAME_WIN, which
indicates that the player wins the game when s/he enters the
room, regardless of points held. The ROOM_DESCR information
is displayed, so you should use the ROOM_DESCR information
to present the game winner with praise, etc.
3) Creature time threshholds
For those who think the creatures are too tame, here's a
quick fix. The normal "THRESHHOLD" value indicates how many
times the player has to attack a creature with the wrong
weapon before the creature attacks and kills the player.
Now, there is a new attribute called TIME_THRESH, which is
the number of turns after the player enters a room before
the creature kills the player. Setting this to 1 would be
instant death. If you do not specify a TIME_THRESH value,
the player need not be concerned about time. To set a time
threshhold, put the line
TIME_THRESH n
in the creature definition, where n is the number of turns
the player has to try to defeat the creature. I strongly
advise that you use a number like 7 or 8, for this.
------
Note 1: Version 1.05 of GAGS fixed a bug in the way
creatures acted. In earlier versions, friendly creatures
blocked exits; the change allows players to exit rooms
without killing friendly creatures.
------
Note 2: Yes, GAGS runs on any MS-DOS computer. I've not had
firm feedback on 1.06, but 1.05 was confirmed to run on the
Sanyo 555, the TI Professional, the DEC Rainbow, an S-100
system with an 8086 card, and on the PCjr and a large number
of IBM-compatibles. While I describe it as a 256K program,
it runs fine in a 192K partition under DESQview.
------
Note 3: "The opinions expressed in this article are my own,
and are not the opinions of my employer.
Mark J. Welch 415-564-1066 voice
P.O. Box 2409 415-664-2811 BBS
San Francisco, CA 94126 Fido 125/459
* GAGS and The Generic Adventure Game System are trademarks
of Mark J. Welch. All program and documentation for GAGS
Fidonews Page 15 27 Jan 1986
are Copyright 1985, 1986 by Mark J. Welch. All rights
reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 16 27 Jan 1986
A (Possibly) Better Way to POLL
by
Bob Hartman
Sysop Fido 132/101
The UN*X Gateway
and Home of Rovermsg
How many FIDO sysops out there have been having a hard time
using the new FIDO command POLL? From personal experience I
know that it is more than just a few of us. I have devised
what I think is a slightly more robust way to use this
feature, so let me share it with you.
First of all, this method is for use when you are only
supposed to poll on certain days (for example, Saturday you
are supposed to poll for the NODELIST). The problems with
POLL usually have to do with the fact that to POLL only on a
certain day, you have to create a different FidoNet schedule
which just gets executed on that day, and has the proper
POLL statement in the ROUTE.<tag> file. To say the least,
this is a real hassle.
My solution is to simply not use the POLL statement at
all!!! I know that this sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.
I propose only using the PICKUP keyword. Place this in your
normal ROUTE.<tag> file, in place of the POLL. Then on the
days when you are supposed to POLL, simply use ROBOT to
create a dummy message, with a dummy file attached to avoid
the normal message routing (I use the message "Just to let
you know I picked-up the xxxxxxxxxx file").
What does this do? Well, all of a sudden you have a message
going to the node you wanted to POLL. This causes your
board to call that node, and since you have PICKUP in your
route file, your node will attempt to PICKUP the mail for
you. The two methods are equivalent in that either way you
get the mail you were supposed to get. The differences are
subtle, but *VERY* important:
1. Using the PICKUP method you will transfer one message
which will actually appear on the receiving board. This
is a minor drawback in my opinion.
2. Using the PICKUP method you do not have to run separate
FidoNet schedules on different nights (and hence not have
to pull your hair out trying to find out which one
executes first!).
3. This is the biggie --- Using the PICKUP method, your
board will continue to try to do the pickup every night
until it succeeds!!! Since you have a message destined
for the other node, Fido knows whether or not the
transfer succeeded. If it was unsuccessful (phone busy,
other node off-line, etc.), then the next night it will
try again. This is the major advantage of this method.
I find it very useful, and wish that some of the nodes
Fidonews Page 17 27 Jan 1986
polling my board would implement it (HINT, HINT). It
means that if you miss a poll, the message will not get
duplicated the following week, and have two of them
waiting in the queue. Since the files people are polling
me for are about 100K long, this advantage becomes very
important. Who wants to pay to transfer the same 100K
file twice in one session???
Anyway, I have been using this method myself for about a
month. It took me that long to convince myself that this
method had no drawbacks and did work at least as well as
POLL. I hope this helps others that are having problems
missing scheduled POLLs.
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 18 27 Jan 1986
============================================================
WANTED
============================================================
David Dodell, Sysop
Fido 114/15
I am looking for some type of accounting system that could
be used by an outgoing host to keep record of what systems
are sending messages. This would enable the outgoing host
to "bill" the other nodes for usage. Anyone have something
like this already written? If so can you please send mail
to David Dodell, Sysop at 114/15. Thank you.
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 19 27 Jan 1986
============================================================
FOR SALE
============================================================
Daniel Tobias, FIDO 129/13
Thanks to all who responded to my request for electronic
mail addresses of Libertarians (those individuals who
believe in personal and economic freedom and
drastically-limited government). If you wish to be listed
in this directory, this is your last chance, as the
deadline to be included in the first edition is January 31, 1986.
The LIBERTARIAN E-MAIL DIRECTORY should be ready for
shipping by mid-February. This guide contains an
alphabetic listing of Libertarians who are reachable by
electronic mail, giving their addresses on various systems
and networks such as FidoNet, CompuServe, Delphi, ARPAnet,
UUCP, BITnet, et cetera. Also included is other
information such as the organizations in which these
people are involved, their special interests, and any
other such information they chose to provide. If you are a
Libertarian, this directory will help you start pen-pal
correspondence, exchange ideas, and promote informal
networking with like-minded people. If you are not a
Libertarian at present, but are interested in knowing more
about libertarianism or the Libertarian Movement, you may
find people in this directory who would be happy to answer
your questions through electronic correspondence. The
LIBERTARIAN E-MAIL DIRECTORY is a must for anybody who uses
computerized communications and is interested in
libertarianism.
You can order this valuable reference guide now, by sending
$5 to: Daniel Tobias, 4730 Centre Ave. Apt. 212,
Pittsburgh, PA 15213. This price is postpaid. The
LIBERTARIAN E-MAIL DIRECTORY will be shipped to you by
first class mail immediately after it is printed, by
mid-February. Act now, to get this directory hot off the
press!
------------------------------------------------------------
Fidonews Page 20 27 Jan 1986
============================================================
NOTICES
============================================================
ARC 5.0 Released
New Features!
Up To 23% Faster!
Up To 10% Smaller!
System Enhancement Associates is pleased to announce the
release of version 5.0 of ARC. The new version includes the
following enhancements:
o Dynamic Lempel-Zev coding with adaptive reset.
o Path support on ALL commands!
o Improved error recovery on corrupted archives.
o Improved and expanded documentation.
o Archive encryption.
o And more!
ARC 5.0 is available for download from Fido 107/7, or on
disk by sending a check or money order for $50 to:
System Enhancement Associates
21 New Street, Wayne NJ 07470
------------------------------------------------------------
The Interrupt Stack
3 Feb 1986
Space Symposium at Disney World, Orlando, Florida.
Contact Harold Gray at node 145/1 for more details.
9 Feb 1986
Halley's Comet reaches perihelion.
9 Feb 1986
Diana Overholt (109/74) has another birthday.
1 Mar 1986
European mail hour shifts to 0230-0330 GMT. Summer time
will no longer be observed.
11 Apr 1986
Halley's Comet reaches perigee.
19 May 1986
Steve Lemke's next birthday.
Fidonews Page 21 27 Jan 1986
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.
------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Butler, sysop FIDO 17/0 (aka 138/3)
KILLROBT v2.0 is now out. Included is a version compiled
under GENERIC TURBO 3.0. This version is more in tune with
the need to run in batch mode. The list of deleted messages
can now be redirected (via DOS) to a file. The repeated
prompts for a valid path are no longer done. The program
terminates with an error message.
Further enhancement requests should be sent to FIDO 17/0
c/o Steve Butler.
Thank you for your encouragement.
PS: For those of you who use ROBOT to distribute files for
PICKUP by others and must manually delete those who
weren't (as in the weekly NODELIST); KILLROBT will help
you automate that function.
------------------------------------------------------------
Leo Cotnoir
Node 109/612
MENSA National PC-SIG Forming
We are interested in the possibility of forming a national
MENSA PC-SIG (general Personal Computing, rather than
limited to IBM PC). If anyone on FidoNet belongs to an
existing local MENSA computing SIG, or would wish to
participate in a national SIG (you must be a MENSA member),
please let us know. Among the activities we envision is a
MENSANet. Other ideas are welcome.
Please reply by FidoMail to me or Jim Kay at 109/612
------------------------------------------------------------
Software Update
***************
Program : PRGUSERS
Version : 1.3
Date : Jan 18, 1986
Fidonews Page 22 27 Jan 1986
Reason : PC-DOS 3.1 using SHARE
Thanks to Gee Wong (Fido 107/312) a major bug has been
corrected in PRGUSERS. The problem would crash the program
under PD-DOS 3.1 while using the SHARE utility. If you are
using PRGUSERS and plan on using SHARE, or already are
using SHARE and see that PRGUSERS does not run, version 1.3
will run under this envionment.
Version 1.3 is available on Dec_Ware II, Fido 107/2
(201) 750-3748
------------------------------------------------------------
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