pozar@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Pozar) (07/11/87)
Volume 4, Number 25 6 July 1987
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| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
| _`@/_ \ _ |
| International | | \ \\ |
| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
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Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to
submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission
standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from
node 1:1/1.
Copyright 1987 by the International FidoNet Association. All
rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for
noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
please contact IFNA.
Six Weeks to FidoCon!
Table of Contents
1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1
A word from the Broadcast Echos .......................... 1
National EchoMail Conference List ........................ 3
FREEWARE: The End of Amateur Programming? ................ 14
Once Upon the Future ..................................... 16
New EchoMail Area for Mainframe Folks .................... 18
More Talk About PK vs. ARC ............................... 19
Mail Relays .............................................. 20
Turbo C - V 1.0 - A Product Review ....................... 22
Does IFNA Matter Outside the USA ? ....................... 25
The creation of FUN ...................................... 27
US Naval Observatory Time Now Available .................. 28
NEW FIDO(tm) OPUS(tm) SEADOG(tm) UTILITY ................. 29
2. COLUMNS .................................................. 31
Borland's Turbo C: Review, part 1 ........................ 31
The Regular Irregular Column ............................. 34
3. FOR SALE ................................................. 38
COMPUTER PACKAGE FOR SALE ................................ 38
4. NOTICES .................................................. 39
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 39
regarding fnews424 ....................................... 39
Latest Software Versions ................................. 39
International FidoNet Conference Registration Form ....... 41
IFNA Order Form .......................................... 42
FidoNews 4-25 Page 1 6 Jul 1987
=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================
Glen Jackson
Fido/SEAdog 100/517
Updates and such
First of all, It's sure good to be back into the net. We went
down around May 10th for our big move, and with the move came a
new phone number. Please, if you are at all interested in the
Broadcast Echos, jot this number down. 100/517 is now at
1-314-928-2501.
We're slowly growing in our little echo. We now carry three
seperate message areas dedicated the broadcast industry. They are
1)Conversations for the public and broadcasters, 2) Jobs and
situations in the broadcast industry, and 3)for Broadcasters
only.
To keep you up to date, these nodes carry the echos. If you would
like to participate, drop us netmail at 100/517, and we will co-
ordinate you into the topology. PLEASE - we would prefer to do
the co-ordinating so we can keep track of this echo. Here is who
currently participates:
113/1 Small_Biz_Net Honolulu, HI
501/4697 SVT_Public_TV Stockholm, Sweden
135/1 Ram_Soft Miami, FL
104/69 Metroplex Denver, CO
151/301 BNC_Connector Boone, NC
125/406 KLOK_FM San Francisco, CA
151/108 Drums_Opus Cary, NC
11/107 Bourbonnis_BBS Bourbonnis, IL
19/3 Dark_Cavern Lawton, OK
150/614 Charis_TBBS Philadelphia, PA
135/11 FL
104/108 Micro_Link Littleton,CO
969/500 NY
150/600 Philadelphia_Hub Pydal, PA
We currently set aside the time between 1:15 AM and 1:45 AM
(Central) for polling. Since we now have SEAdog, polls can be
accepted at any time.
NEXT - MSGDB
Recently we introduced a new utility, MSGDB. This is for OPUS and
FIDO sysops that want to do full message bit editing in all of
their message areas, or move a message from one area to another.
It can be file requested from either 100/510 or 100/517. The file
to ask for is MSGDB.ARC.
FINALLY - another BBS interface
FidoNews 4-25 Page 2 6 Jul 1987
We are also working on a full implementation of a WWIV BBS
network interface. If any of you have had experience with WWIV,
or logged on to a WWIV system, you know that this is a good
message base BBS. When we finish, WWIV will be able to handle all
netmail and echomail capabilities. If you have any comments on
this, just leave me a note.
NOW - the soapbox
Short, but sweet. This week I dropped the SYSOP ECHO. After not
being on the network for 6 weeks, I picked up all of my back
logged sysop echomail. Nothing has changed much. No sense in
carrying the same old same old and wasting disk space with it.
LET'S FINISH
We have a few TV people on the Broadcast echo that are asking for
more participation. It seems like the radio people do all the
talking. Is the reason the TV people are so quiet on the echo
because they want to be seen as well as be heard? Let's hope not.
I want to thank all of you for the support you've been over the
last few weeks. I certainly enjoy the network!
Give us a shout with any comments, etc at 100/517!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 3 6 Jul 1987
This is the FIDONEWS version of the ECHOLIST. A more detailed
version showing networks served, secondary "contact" nodes,
approximate traffic volume, number of participating nodes and
more can be File Requested as ECHOLIST.ARC from
107/316 Thomas Kenny
107/269 Mitch Kessler
We hope that more SEAdog running BBSs will want to help
distribute the ECHOLIST. Ideally such a board would allow first
time callers to File Request or download the list at 2400 Baud.
There's been a bit of a change in the format of the FidoNews
version of the list this month: proposed conferences are at the
end of the list in their own section, and ECHOS that do not name
a moderator or coordinator are not listed.
****************************************************************
AA_NA (Recovery) David Dodell 114/15
Abled David Dodell 114/15
Handicapped forum
ADAM Discussion Bill Freads 11/700
ADAM Technical Bill Freads 11/700
ADS Tracy Graves 138/39
THIS CONFERENCE IS DEAD.
Adults
Adults only conference.
(John Penberthy 129/28)
AFNA
Australian FidoNet Association
AI Richard Clark 107/222
Artificial Intelligence conference.
AIDS/ARC Bob Kovach 125/31
Amateur Radio John Dashner 133/10
Amiga Grey Mist 124/206
Amiga Prog Richard Clark 107/222
Amiga programmers technical information
Animation Mike Bader 120/17
Conference for animation info & discussion
includeing Japanese animation.
APL Chris Lincoln 107/103
FidoNews 4-25 Page 4 6 Jul 1987
Apple Bob Abbott 157/511
Apple II Gary Vedrick 102/2801
Asian-American Arnold Chu 107/16
Asian-American Community happenings
ASM Barry Dobyns 102/140
Astronomy Don Epand 114/18
alias StarNet
AT&T Mark Pinkstone 150/613
Poll/Pickup from Host (138/39, 0150-0225 PDT)
Atari Gary Vedrick 102/2801
Atari technical conference
Audio Advisor Larry Digioia 129/17
Automotive Marcel Schmelzer 129/42
Beyond War Andy Kanter 101/301
National peace issues forum.
Bible Bob Hoffman 129/34
Bible forum
Bicycles Mike Talbot 151/103
Bicycle use in sports, touring, racing & transportation.
Bitch Jim Bacon 103/507
Bloom Net Sysops Bob Stubbings 127/60
Books, Great Jim Bacon 103/507
Broadcast Glen Jackson 100/517
Radio engineering, programming & marketing.
Broadcasting Jobs Terry Travis 104/69
Broadcasting jobs/situations.
Business & Economics Randall Kobetich 150/130
Business information conference
Buy&Sell Jim Deibele 105/3
Bylaws Bob Hartman 132/101
Only for Bylaws committee members?
Bylfedbk Tom Marshall 107/324
FidoNews 4-25 Page 5 6 Jul 1987
DISCONTINUED
C Language Ed Rauh 141/215
Career Discussions Lee Johnson 125/612
Host will poll/pickup
Christ Net Baddlard Shackleford 108/70
Christian BBS only by coordinator approval.
A non-argumentative forum for Bible study,
prayer requests and fellowship.
Cincy Jesse Armontrout 108/64
Local sysop conference
COCO Echo Brian Bream 112/3
Tandy Color Computer
Commodore Marv Shelton 107/311
C64 & C128 technical conference
Commodore (local) Gary Vedrick 102/2-801
Conejo For Sale Gary Vedrick 102/2801
Conejo Music Gary Vedrick 102/2801
Conejo Tech Gary Vedrick 102/2801
Consulting Tracey Graves 138/39
Business of consulting.
Cosmopolitan Hal Duprie 101/107
Boston Metro Area: Books, Food & Good
Things of Life
dBASE Alex Hartley 100/500
dBASE users forum
Debate *NONE*
Detroit, Chicago, Colorado.
There may be to separate conferences!?
DEC Rainbow Dave Rene 101/27
Host is 101/27 who polls all the nodes.
DesqView Bob Spivack 143/3
DesqView users forum
Doggies Tracy Graves 138/39
Fido clones & compatibles confernce,
i.e. SEAdog, Collie, Guardian, etc.
FidoNews 4-25 Page 6 6 Jul 1987
Dr Debug's Laboratory Larry Digioia 129/17
Questions/answers on all computers & software
(mostly IBM compatibles).
Dungeons & Dragons Eric Daymo 102/2803
Dungeons & Dragons role playing game.
Echomail Coordinators Jon Sabol 124/210
For echomail coordinators only
Educators Tracy Graves 138/39
Feminism Kim Storment 100/523
FireNet Christopher Baker 135/14
Fire/Rescue/EMS news and information exchange.
Fish Net Leo Bores 114/14
Conference for Aquarists & fish keeping hobbyists.
Fortran Barry Dobyns 102/140
Forum Tracey Graves 138/39
Private personal communications/sharing.
Freemess Barry Dobyns 102/140
Los Angles Chatter
Gaming Robert Plamondon 143/12
Role playing games conference.
Gammaw Peter Kranz 102/2802
Gamma World role playing game.
Genealogy Ken Whitaker 143/26
The national genealogy conference (NGC).
Grand_Rounds (Mednet) David Dodell 114/15
Medical Related Discussions, primarily health
care professionals.
HACK, PC Kurt Reisler 109/483
*NET_109* PC HACK Q&A and war stories conference.
HAM Eric Daymo 102/2803
Ham radio technical conference.
Health David Page 109/604
Health related issues (MDs participating)
There is also a larger group that exchanges files only.
Healthnet David Dodell 114/15
FidoNews 4-25 Page 7 6 Jul 1987
Heath/Zenith Joe Rock 128/15
Heath/Zenith series 89, 90, 100-120
(not for Zenith 150 & up series)
Help Wanted Eunhee Hunter 109/626
HOWSWA Bill Bertholf 107/102
How's the weather in WA state!
HP3000TALK Tracy Graves 17/43
HP3000 conversations.
Hunger Chris Irwin 108/68
IFNA Policy & Politics Ken Kaplan 1/10
International Fido Net Association.
Restricted to SYSOPs only.
INTERPER Randall Kobetich 150/900
Opinion forum: moral, ethical, social issues.
Jobs Tracy Graves 138/39
Computer-related Employment Echo (Job Listings, etc.)
JR-MSG Phil Kaiser 104/904
PC jr conference
Laptops Ej McKernan 15/20
Laptop technical conference
Law Mark Pinkstone 150/613
Lawyers technical/substantive forum
Literature Steven Barnes 138/49
Conference about writers & writing.
Lotus Randy Van de Loo 124/110
Lotus users forum
MacIntosh (local) Eric Daymo 102/2803
MacIntosh technical conference
MacIntosh Leo LaPorte 125/2
MacIntosh technical conference.
Magick Brad Hicks 100/523
Merged with Alternative Religion conference.
Meadow Chuck Lawson 124/102
Opus Sysop's conference.
Mensa Jim Kay 109/612
National conference of Mensa run boards or where there is
substantial membership interest.
Menasn only Christopher Baker 135/14
FidoNews 4-25 Page 8 6 Jul 1987
Restriced to Mensa members.
Metroforum Don Daniels 107/211
*NET_107* help conference for users
Metronet Don Daniels 107/211
*NET_107* Sysop Conference
Miaminet David Gilbert 135/1
*LOCAL_MIAMI* information exchange forum
MIDI Bruce Oblander 161/594
Mindset PC James Pallack 16/635
Conference was dissolved but is back to life now!
MOD1000 Neal Curtin 138/14
Tandy Model 1000 technical conference (Tandy T1K).
Modula-2 Randy Bush 105/6
Modula-2 programming language conference
Net 102 For Sale Barry Dobyns 102/140
*NET_102*
Net 108 Chatter 108/68
THIS CONFERENCE IS DEAD.
Net 108 Forsale Steve Sullivan 108/75
*NET_108*
Net 108 Programmer Jesse Armontrout 108/64
*NET_108*
Net 109 Astronomy Rick Ward 109/635
*NET_109*
Net 109 Classifieds Alexander Wall 109/606
*NET_109* advertising, items for sale.
Net 109 dBASE J Liebsch/A Griffin 109/605
*NET_109* dBASE users conference.
Net 109 General chatter Alexander Wall 109/606
*NET_109* user chatter
Net 109 Help Jim Kay 109/617
*NET_109* User questions & answers.
Net 109 Lotus Jim Kay 109/617
*NET_109* Lotus users conference.
Net 109 Meeting J Liebsch/A Griffin 109/605
*NET_109* 12 Step Program - Experiences.
FidoNews 4-25 Page 9 6 Jul 1987
Net 109 Mensa Jim Kay 109/617
Metro Washington DC Mensa conference.
Net 109 Opinion/Oratory Robert Rudolph 109/628
Net 109 Politics Glenn Ford 109/658
*NET_109*
Net 109 Recovery Rick Ward 109/635
*NET_109* 12 Step Program - Chatter.
Net 109 Reviews Kurt Reisler 109/74
Reviews of "anything".
Net 109 Seniors Brian Hughes 109/634
Senior Citizens conference.
Net 109 Sysop Kim Wells 109/652
*NET_109* Net 109 sysop conference.
Net 124 Sysop Jon Sabol 124/210
Net 133 Sysop John Dashner 133/10
Net 138 Sysop Steve Butler 138/3
Net 138 Team Steve Butler 138/3
Net 143 Sysop Todd Looney 143/27
Net 161 Sysop Butch Walker 161/2
Networking Dave Oshea 107/35
NY Mets Jean Coppola 107/301
NY Mets baseball team conference.
Officers Ric Wentz 138/39
Conference about & for law
enforcment professionals.
Ohio Phil Ardussi 157/502
Park Richard Clark 107/222
US National Park Service only
PIB Bob Klahn 150/1
Pitt Fido Sysop Stu Turk 129/26
Pittsburg area Fido sysop conference.
Policy Jim Bacon 103/507
Conference for discusion of the
FidoNews 4-25 Page 10 6 Jul 1987
create of the policy4 document.
Politics Bill Bertholf 107/102
Politics and public policy forum
Political (local) Stu Turk 129/26
*LOCAL_PITTSBURGH* religion & current events debate forum
Programming Butch Walker 161/2
Programmer's conference.
Prolog Barry Dobyns 102/140
QNX Ken Mcvay 340/10
Quantum Software's QNX Operating System
Questions & comments Gregg Zegarelli 129/29
Questions & comments concerning current issues.
RBASE Leo Bores 114/14
RBASE User's Forum
Real Estate Al Arango 107/323
Real Estate and finance
Records Roger Smith 18/14
Record collecting and music in general
Region 15 David Dodell 114/15
*REGION_15* general news/info
Region 17 Sysop Rob Barker 138/34
Region 17 Sysop conference
Region 17 Tech Steve Butler 138/3
Rights Steve Butler 138/3
Shareware author rights, information exchange.
THIS CONFERENCE IS DEAD
Robert Arnz show Glen Jackson 100/517
Robert Arnz call in radio talk show.
Science Fiction Authors David Dyer-Bennet 14/341
Science Fiction and Fandom. Discussion of science fiction
movies, television, book, comics, and all other media.
Doctor Who, Star Trek, Hitchhiker's Guid to the Galaxy,
Zelazny, Moorcock, Asimov, Danger Mouse, Battlestar
Galactica, etc!
Science Fiction/Fantasy Mike Jacobs 150/900
Conference for fans of science fiction and fantasy.
Scuba Rod Lamping 104/610
FidoNews 4-25 Page 11 6 Jul 1987
Shortwave Listening Larry DiGioia 129/17
Sirius Bob Klahn 150/1
Sirius users forum.
SMART Neal Curtin 138/14
SMART Software System package from Innovative Software
SOBnet Anne Capola 107/107
Adult HotChat by Coordinator approval
Non-argumentative uncensored adult topics
SOCAL Barry Dobyns 102/140
Software Careers Lee Johnson 125/612
Merged into Career Discussions.
Spark Beta
Spark Software Beta testers
Sports Ed Meloan 360/1
All national sporting events.
Sysop Jon Sabol 124/210
*NATIONAL* THE National Sysop conference.
Fido bugs/fixes, news and sysop chatter.
Restricted to Sysop's ONLY!
TBBS Dave Dodell 114/15
Tech Butch Walker 161/2
*NATIONAL* *TECHNET*
Telecomm Hal Duprie 101/107
Telecommunication conference.
Telix Rob Benner 148/1
UNIX Mike Johnson 170/329
Merged into C_ECHO.
USA Wide Rick Ward 109/635
Small national general chit-chat conference.
VAX Barry Dobyns 102/140
DEC VAX technical conference.
Vietnam Vets Todd Looney 143/27
Vietnam Vetern's conference.
Wildlife Richard Clark 107/222
Discussion of nature, outdoors,
hunting, fishing, conservation.
****************************************************************
FidoNews 4-25 Page 12 6 Jul 1987
PROPOSED CONFERENCES
--------------------
Applications (James Deibele 105/3) 10/17/86
Autocad (Jim Quiesner 104/18)
Aviation Net (Mark Stappenbeck 14/609)
Airline & General Aviation
Boating (Paul Esterle 157/697)
Desktop Publishing (Larry Kayser 102/2800)
Divers (Rod Lamping 104/610)
EQUUS (Mark Indictor 104/606)
Equestrian related topics.
Fido Developers (Jim Ryan 141/9)
Share source code for FidoNet Compatible systems
Fossil (Vince Perriello 141/491)
Health Net, Allied (Bill Hliwa 260/10)
IEEE (Bill Wilkes 107/211)
Lifestyle Alternatives (Adam Selene 107/269)
Polyfidelity, Family Synergy, Celibacy, Feminism, Communalism,
Single Parenthood, Foster Parenting, ... For anyone whose lifes
path is not "mainstream".
Packet Amateur Radio (Jim Brooker 124/13)
Photography (Bill Thomas 132/225)
Portables (John Penberthy 129/28)
Region 19 (David Drexler 147/1)
Star Trek (Eric Daymo 102/2803)
Turbo Pascal (Bob Klahn 150/1)
get ECPROG for this topic
Users (Tom Baughman 119/13)
Womens Space (Gillian Boardman 107/269)
By and For Women
WordLore (Hilda Stubbing 127/70)
Discussion of word usage, nuances, grammer, etc.
WordPerfect (Mark Pinkstone 150/613)
FidoNews 4-25 Page 13 6 Jul 1987
Writing (Christopher Baker 135/14)
*****************************************************************
** Echomail Conference List, Issue 1, Number 2 (6/4/87) **
** Copyright 1986,87 by Thomas E. Kenny. All rights reserved **
*****************************************************************
-- ATTENTION ECHOMAIL COORDINATORS AND CONTACTS --
-- PLEASE send updates to IFNA node 107/316 --
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 14 6 Jul 1987
FREEWARE: The End of Amateur Programming?
-----------------------------------------
"Why aren't there very many new programs being uploaded any
more?", she asked after looking over the file areas on the board.
"Now that's a good question.", I replied. "I really don't know.
It looks as if nobody is writing any of their own programs
anymore. I wonder why....."
That is a part of the conversation that prompted this article. I
don't know if the rest of you are noticing a similar lack of
original software being uploaded by your users but it is
certainly very evident here at The Power Station. Now, that is
not to say that there are no uploads, just that there is no
uploading of local, original software.
It doesn't seem that long ago (not more than 2 or 3 years) when
almost EVERYBODY who owned a computer was writing software for
it. Most of the programs were written in BASIC and were kludgy
and slow as molasses in the spring, but all that aside, the
programmer was PROUD to have contributed something and couldn't
wait to share their offering with others. All of that seems to
have changed, now. The reason.... FREEWARE / SHAREWARE / User
Supported Software!
There is an abundance of good (in fact EXCELLENT) software
available to do almost anything a person needs or wants. This
software is of sufficient quality to rival a large portion of the
commercial software available at a fraction of the cost (for
those who choose to pay for it - but that's a different story).
Why would anybody want to slave away for hours (or days) piecing
together a program to do something when there is a FREEWARE
package readily available that does the same thing faster and
easier?
The tremendous amount of software available is largely
responsible for more and more computer systems being purchased by
people with no desire to learn to program. These people view the
systems as tools to be used to make a job easier or faster just
like any other tool.
We are becoming "users" as opposed to the computer "hobbiests"
and "enthusiasts" that used to be the norm! This is becoming
increasingly evident by the number of program requests and "wish
lists" being passed around.
Those of us who do still take the time to "patch together" the
occasional utility in BASIC, are ashamed to show it to anybody
else because we cannot compete with the software readily
available and are afraid of being ridiculed for our "obvious"
lack of programming skills.
Don't get me wrong, I am very pleased with the vast selection of
quality software available and would probably not be a part of
FidoNet without it, but I can't help feeling a little sorry for
FidoNews 4-25 Page 15 6 Jul 1987
all the "average" programmers out there that will never get the
chance to experience the joy associated with sharing their
efforts and, in some small way, being recognized for it.
FREEWARE: The End of Amateur Programming? Think about it the
next time somebody uploads something that is less than perfect!
Bob Swift
The Power Station (140/24)
Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 16 6 Jul 1987
James Zachary 115/537
"Once Upon the Future"
(c) 1986
James Zachary
The location is an unnamed park, in an unnamed Midwestern city,
sometime in the future. A young boy approaches an old man
sitting on a park bench.
"Mister..."
The young boy is insistent.
"MISTER!"
The old man looks around nervously then puts a finger to his
lips to silence the child. He then takes his thermos of coffee
and pours it over the bracelet on his left wrist. After a few
moments of wincing from the pain, he speaks.
"The only way to knock off the protein bio-chip in these dang
monitor bracelets is heat, a LOT of heat. The government still
hasn't figured how to fix that glitch. Dang things let them
know where you are and everything you say. You'll be required
to wear one as soon as you turn 13. NOW, we have only about 15
minutes to talk before "The Monitors" pull up to find out why
my bracelet went dead. I'll just say I spilled the coffee by
accident. When you see a strange vehicle or person
approaching, just stop talking and walk away. Talking in
public is not allowed ya know, especially to an old person..."
he winks, "we remember too much of the past that they want
forgotten."
"Mister, why don't they let people say what they think? Did
people talk much in the old days?"
Leaning back on the park bench with his face glowing from
pleasant memories, the old man answers.
"Surely they did, child! Back even before my time, long ago
when the country was still young, towns used to have meetings
in the square for folks to talk. They had debates and
arguments. No topic was taboo. Then telephones came along and
you could talk to anyone, anywhere in the world that also had a
phone. Nowadays, you have to have a license for a phone and
anything you say is digitally recorded and checked for
"subversive" talk by those super-smart computers. Television,
radio and newspapers were not owned by the government back
then. You could read, see and hear many facts that would help
you make up your own mind as to what was going on. We also had
CB and HAM radio, and something we called the BBS..."
His voice trails off as he again looks around nervously.
FidoNews 4-25 Page 17 6 Jul 1987
"What was a BBS, Mister?"
A deep sorrowful sigh comes before his words.
"Back in the 1980's the BBS was kind of a throw-back to the old
town meetings. Literally hundreds of people could call a
Bulletin Board computer with their personal computer and leave
messages, tell jokes, chat, argue politics, make friends..."
Tears fill the old man's eyes.
"Then the government must have figured that so many people
talking wasn't healthy, too many diverse opinions and ideas.
So, they started regulating and licensing all forms of speech,
all ways of thinking. Was gradual at first but they finally
closed them all down. I was both a D-dialer and a BBSer! We
all had real names back then instead of government numbers, but
we also had handles, kind of like nicknames. Lord, I remember
meeting some special, wonderful folks like Lady Galadriel, Lord
Ming, Bruiser, Zap, Ingvar, Oods, K-9, Badger, Hex40, Hose,
Hoagy, Mac The Navigator, Lawyer John, Grumpy, Haus Frau, Poet,
By Tor and Reiny, Opti and Falcon, The Masked Twinkie, Deep
Thought, Air Wolf, Double M, Boysie Oakes, Rocker, Multi, P.C.
Kid, Ziggy, Prak and hundreds of others just like 'em! "
"What ever happened to them all, Mister?"
"Oh, the government had trouble putting them down, they were
fighters! They were finally captured at the battle of
Staehle's vineyards. Some say MadZax escaped from the
institution," he smiles slyly, "but no one really knows for
sure."
"Who were you, Mister? What was your handle?"
The old man makes a slight hand gesture to the child,
indicating that someone is approaching. As the child begins to
walk away the old man whispers a parting thought.
"Don't matter who I was then, son. I'm nobody now..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 18 6 Jul 1987
Steve Bonine
Cope BBS, 115/777
Proposal for New Echomail Area
I attended a seminar a few weeks ago which was hosted by one of
the mainframe software vendors. They [the vendor] have a product
which is a BBS for mainframe systems programmers. For only $2600
a year, you can call it and swap problems and solutions with your
peers. The speaker at the seminar was extolling the wonders and
advantages of bulletin board systems. We've been familiar with
those for some time, haven't we?
I'm not prepared to charge anyone, so I guess that means that any
service which we might provide via echomail couldn't possibly be
as valuable as what this vendor was offering. However, it did
point out to me that there exists a potential market for a new
echomail area. As far as I know there is nothing currently in
place which addresses issues important to those of us who earn
our living ministering to large mainframe-based systems.
If you are in this category, please indicate your interest by
sending me a netmail message on 115/777. If there is enough
interest, I'll start something. This conference might even give
you a legitimate excuse to call your BBS from work, or even to
run a BBS sponsored by your company.
Maybe the subject is too broad. After all, I'm not even sure
what the definition should be for "mainframe". Maybe we'll end
up with several conferences. Maybe I only THINK that many of you
who participate in FidoNet are involved with mainframes.
I'll handle the initial distribution, and if we grow then we'll
worry about how this topology should be built. It would be
helpful in the "I am interested" message if I knew whether you
can accept crash mail, and what hours might be best.
Any other comments are more than welcome. If something like this
already exists, my project is redundant. If interest is
indicated, I would like to get started around the middle of July.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 19 6 Jul 1987
Alan D. Applegate
The Entertainment Line Fido 104/36, Lakewood (Denver), CO
Further Observations About PK vs. ARC
It seems that the discussion about PKARC/PKXARC versus ARC will
never cease. Both of these programs make our lives easier and
save space on our disk drives.
Much has been said about the incompatibility of PKARC's archives
with ARC. Not often, if ever, is PKARC's "/oct" switch mentioned
in comparative testing.
The "/oct" switch simply forces PKARC to make archives that use
file compression and time stamping techniques that ARC and other
compatible programs will understand. When this switch is used in
making the archive, either PKXARC or ARC can be used for file
extraction.
My underlying question, then, was whether PKARC still would make
smaller files than ARC, despite the absence of the newer
compression method that PKARC usually employs. The answer is
yes.
In my testing, I used four files with a total of 76,799 bytes,
with one .DOC file, one .SYS file, one .EXE file and one .COM
file. ARC made an archive of 46,523 bytes. PKARC made an
archive of 45,930 bytes, a savings of 593 bytes. Time was not a
tested element here; let it suffice to say that PKARC was
substantially quicker.
The results were not amazing, but in theory (actual results may
and probably will vary) 2 megabytes of ARC's archives, if re-
archived with PKARC using the "/oct" switch, would take up around
25,500 bytes less. Without the "/oct" switch, I would venture to
guess that they would take up even less space.
As a control, I used ARC to de-arc the archive made by PKARC, and
used PKXARC to de-arc ARC's archive. Both were successful.
To summarize, although PKARC performs better WITHOUT the "/oct"
switch, it still appears to out-perform ARC in both speed and and
archive file size categories. When PKARC is used with the "/oct"
switch, substantial time savings are realized during the
archiving process, without sacrificing compatibility with ARC.
Direct inquiries to: Alan Applegate, Sysop
The Entertainment Line Fido, 104/36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 20 6 Jul 1987
Mail Relays
In regards to the article on overly large nodelists, I wonder if
the following routing scheme might work?
EXAMPLE:
Mail originates from my node 137/71 bound for a node in
California. Instead of direct routing, this mail would be sent
to his Relay Node.
137/71 160/33 160/20
(A) Origin ------->Relay ------->Destination
The thought behind this is that the originating station calls the
Relay station, this Relay station would be in the same city as
the destination station, where a long distance call is not
required to reach the destination Node.
If you have 30 nodes in one city, then one of them will be the
Relay Node for the other 29. That eliminates 29 Nodes from the
Nodelist and this is just one city! It would eliminate a lot of
Nodes from the Nodelist and get it back down to a reasonable
size, which would be much easier to work with.
What about Crash Priority Mail, or mail with attached files?
No problem, the Relay Nodes would have a batch file written to
immediately forward Crash mail to destination upon receipt of
same. Attached files; same as regular mail.
How will we know which Node serves which other Nodes?
Publish one Master Nodelist, showing the Relay Nodes and the
Nodes they serve. This would be an ascii text file and could
then be updated when Relay Nodes add or drop Nodes they serve.
Only the updates would be published as each Node already has the
Master Nodelist.
Nodes being served might have to help out the Relay station in
terms of some kind of monetary help, as he might need a large
hard disk for temporary message storage if he is handling a large
volume of mail each night. I'm sure this could be worked out
between the Relay and Destination Nodes without too much problem.
They would have to have a volunteer Relay station, but there
should be no problem here either, since some are already serving
as inbound gates, etc.
In large metro areas, two or more Relay stations might be needed.
In small rural areas the Relay station might be the destination
station.
EXAMPLE: NET 137
FidoNews 4-25 Page 21 6 Jul 1987
137/71 is the only node in Naples, so I would be my own relay
station.
(1) Nodes other than Relay Nodes would have a Nodelist
consisting of only Relay Nodes for the entire Network. All
traffic would be routed to these Relay Nodes for forwarding
to destination Nodes.
(2) Relay Nodes would have a Nodelist consisting of all Relay
Nodes in the Network and the Nodes they serve.
Regional Coordinator duties and policies might have to be
redifined to some extent to include the Relay stations, etc.
Also, I wonder if all Regions/Networks/Nodes could switch to GMT
time? This would eliminate the problem of different time zones.
Sysops could inform their users that they were now using GMT time
for mailing purposes. I don't know of any user who calls a BBS
for a time-of-day check, so this shouldn't be a big problem. We
wouldn't have to worry about daylight savings time, EST, CST, MST
or any of the time zones, as all would be indicating the same
time, year round.
You asked for input, so here is mine. Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Bud Rogers, Sysop
CRT Classifieds
Naples, FL
137/71, 813-775-9444
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 22 6 Jul 1987
-- Borland International
Product: Turbo C (R) (Version: 1.00 )
Program: Turbo C (R) -- A C compiler
Author : Borland Intl. (Address Below)
Purpose: Turbo C is a C language compiler. It has a
compiler, linker, integrated package, make, and
libraries.
Requirements: MS/PC-DOS Version 2.00 or higher, 1 - Floppy Drive
or Hard Disk (Recommended) Amount of Memory to
operate: 384 K (Minimum) Computers that product
runs on: The MS/PC-DOS Family of Computers
Program
Functions: Turbo C features a full integrated development
environment, as well as a command line
compiler/linker/make development envronment. Some
Features include:
-- Full ANSI C standards
-- Integrated Development (With editor)
-- Command Line Compiler, Linker
-- Fast Compiler using Memory instead of Disk
-- Full Featured Libraries (See Below)
-- Make Utility
-- Lint Utility
Program
Upgrades: First Version Introduced.
Obtaining
Program: Turbo C can be purchased from Borland Intl, or
most computer software stores, (mail order as
well).
Product
Availability: Turbo C is a Commercial Program.
You must purchase a copy of it.
Turbo C V. 1.0 Cost: $ 99.95
Borland International (Retail)
4585 Scotts Valley Drive
Scotts Valley, CA 95066-9987
1-800-255-8008 -- 1-800-742-1133 (in CA)
Product
Support: Borland offers various support for Turbo C. They
are available on Compuserve (type: GO BOR), or by
US Mail [Attn: Tech Service Dept] at above
address.
Program
Quality -- "The reviewer's opinion of the product"
FidoNews 4-25 Page 23 6 Jul 1987
After using Microsoft C (4.00) for only the period of
December - May 1987, and only having that much experience
with C itself, I can't say I'm very qualified to speak of a
C compiler. Currently, however, I (we) have switched over
to Turbo C from MSC because of the advantages of the
Integrated Package.
The 2 books that come with Turbo C (A "User's Guide", and a
"Reference Guide" -- In Softbound book form), are easier for
a novice to digest than the MSC. The User's Guide devotes a
full chapter to the Turbo Pascal User who is just getting
into C (a nice chapter to include!) with examples side by
side of Turbo Pascal, and Turbo C. The Reference book goes
through the Libraries, and the ANSI language extentions that
Turbo C provides, complete with examples on selected
material.
I found the libraries to have more useable functions than
the MSC. Such as:
BIOSCOM (comm ports),
BIOSEQUIP (equipment),
BIOSDISK (Disk I/O),
BIOSMEMORY (Memory Size),
FILELENGTH (filesize in bytes),
FINDFIRST (First filename in dir),
FINDNEXT (next in dir)
[both return a structure of the DIR
information, EG: Attrib, time, date,
size, name],
FNMERGE (Filename Merge -- name with path),
FNSPLIT (Filename split -- name and path),
POKE (send value to mem),
LOCALTIME (converts date/time to struct),
and others.....
Needed
Improvements: A CodeView type Debugger, or make the code
CodeView compatible. Help screens could be better
written/designed, and be referenced more (EG: See
xxx for more details). There are others, but lets
not detract on a good review for some minor
adjustments.
Overall: A worthy opponent to MSC 4.00. Should be interesting
to see how well the "establishment" views it.
Excellent purchase for the "novice" C programmer, and
for the experienced C programmer.
PS: Some of those who might have assumed that this was
vaporware, were wrong. There's no way that they
could have put this product out that quickly, because
of it's quality.
FidoNews 4-25 Page 24 6 Jul 1987
Reviewer: David Gilbert (Sysop)
RAM-SOFT BBS (135/1) (305) 226-3310 (2400 b)
RAM-SOFT Archive Library (now over 1,300+)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 25 6 Jul 1987
Steve Townsley
Opus / SEAdog 2:510/17
CCITT V21,V23,V22,V22bis
Does IFNA Matter Outside The USA ?
One of the interesting observations made about the USA from this
side of the Atlantic is your use of grand titles. I refer
particularly to things like 'The First National Bank of
Smallville'. In the online world 'The Source' sounds like some
great prophet from the Ten Commandments rather than a computer
information bank.
Equally we English can also get confused with the 'World Series'
and in FidoNet 'The International FidoNet Association',
incorporated in Missouri !!??
In fact, after last years' conference at Colerado Springs IFNA
looked a lot like the World Series. (A strange game with a grand
title that only Americans played.)
People began writing in FidoNews that WE had created a new
international organisation. Others talked of a kind of new Mafia
wanting to 'control' the net. The surprising thing was in the
echomail conferences that got to this side of the Atlantic this
bitching was even worse because it was seen out of context,
without any common reference points.
Then the by-laws arrived. Well, my users thought it was a good
laugh. I took a copy of the by-laws and put them up on my system,
that provoked some interest. As a foreign language exercise it
was quite interesting to try to discover what the by-laws were
actual saying about an INTERNATIONAL association.
That hurdle was followed by further waves of apathy, if you can
have apathic enthusiasm, for the interim elections to the board
of directors.
Of course the major problems faced by British sysops were; how do
I get reliable communications with the USA, what happens when
Fido cannot handle the nodelist, how can we participate in
helping to develop Fido Compatible software, what is the Usenet
gateway and are there other gateways?
Then later on we wanted to know: what is Opus, how can we get
news about it, participate and help those in the USA working on
software for it, what do Help nodes actually do(!), how can I
join IFNA as a foreign sysop ?
I could add a further 1001 pratical questions that we, as Net 510
Hosts, have dealt with over the year since the Colorado
Conference including the almost daily use of Norton Utilities to
get Fido to PULSE DIAL instead of TONE when a new sysop gets a
distribution copy of Fido, (which of course he has wrongly
guessed does not work!).
FidoNews 4-25 Page 26 6 Jul 1987
Yet, we have grown. One year ago only one Net (503) in the UK now
there are four nets, new sysops, new ideas. Some of the old
favourites like Frank Thornley of Compulink have gone on to
very different things far outside FidoNet.
At present IFNA matters little to the UK sysop. The day to day
struggle of getting batch files to terminate for odd combinations
of mailer programs is the main pre-occupation. If we want to just
be in the nodelist , then "prune" and "nodesiev" are the weekly
routine of running a Email-ing BBS so that it can indeed Email
someone!
My most common requests as Host are for cut down customised
nodelists, ie a nodelist that includes Europe and Australia (its
a shame that Texas won't fit on, with the 1200 limit!).
However there is hope. The new sysops in the UK, like ourselves,
joined FidoNet in order to talk to the world. Little things like
an incomprehensible constitution, poor communication of
International aims in IFNA, illegal non-standard modems (sorry
Ma-Bell), and the whole of the world outside North America
dropping off the nodelist won't stop us.
IFNA does stand a chance. If you have a good conference, report
accurately what you discuss, explain your decisions and argue in
'friendly' way we may even take what you do seriously.
There is a massive expansion of FidoNet in Europe and most of it
is new blood.
If you involve us, however remotely, in the decisions which
affect the software we have on our systems you may get an
international association.
To those of you, both for and against the IFNA, the case for
membership, even for existance at all has not yet even been put
to Europeans in a way we can respond to. A lively conference
where you concentrate on all Fido's, not just North America, will
help people over here see relevance in what you do.
I personally think IFNA could be a big worldwide organisation of
amateur computer communications enthusiasts associated via
FidoNet. I want to join. By running a successful conference
please encourage us to want to get others over here to join too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 27 6 Jul 1987
I was thinking of fun things to do and decided to officially
create an un official organization for the elimination of UN_FUN.
Now this isn't an easy task, first I had to define what the major
objectives would be.
First to mind was just eliminate all those things in our lives
and hobbies that aren't fun. After giving that some thought I
realized that most of us don't know how to have fun so if we
eliminated the UN_FUN aspects we would have nothing left.
So the next idea (and the one I like the most (I don't work too
hard on any problem)) was to replace the doldrums with something
fun to do. What that means is if your getting tired of doing
something, don't just stop doing it but find some way to improve
it.
The second major objective would be to eliminate the UN_FUN being
forced upon us by UN_FUN people, when someone gets on our case
just tell them they are vying for the UN_FUN person of the week
award. We will have a vote, not tally the results and tell
everyone nominated that they won. Hopefully they can be brought
into the societies fold.
Maybe we will have contests and guest speakers on how to have fun
once again and award the winners and speakers with a resounding
round of laughter.
Now I know many of you are going to want to join this elite
organization so I will tell you what you need to do to become a
FUN person.
First of all have a good laugh, second take the sacred OATH.
Repeat after me "I am a FUN person and I vow to eliminate UN_FUN
where ever I may encounter it." There, now you are a member.
Lastly comes the matter of money, we all know how important this
organization is, so what I think would be fair is that you
allocate $25.00 and take someone out for a FUN time, maybe the
kids to a miniature golf course, or the wife out to dinner.
Remember though that you have to have FUN or it doesn't count.
Lastly (this time for real), you can tell people that you belong
to a non secret organization dedicated to the overthrow of UN_FUN
in your signature.
Bill
President and Chairman of the Board of FUN, an elite organization
for the elimination of UN_FUN.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 28 6 Jul 1987
Jean Coppola 107/201
US Naval Observatory Time Now Available
UPDATE.EXE is a utility to load the exact time generated by the
U.S Naval Observatory time clock directly into your PC's DOS
CLOCK. The program accesses your modem and calls Washington,
D.C. When the USNO answers it spits out repetitively the date
and time. This version does not extract the date. A future
version will.
If you really want time accuracy then this is the program for
you. It has been designed to work as an eXternal event from both
opus and seadog systems.
I heard about this service USNO had, so I thought I would try to
use it to my advantage and this program is the result.
NOTE: If you have a clock calendar card, that will have to be
reset by whatever software came with it. Only the DOS clock
gets updated.
Credit has to be given to Bill Boyer for steering me in the
proper direction.
This and many other fine utilties are available on 107/201.
Request UPDATE.ARC from 107/201 for this program.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 29 6 Jul 1987
NEW FIDO(tm) OPUS(tm) SEADOG(tm) UTILITY
COMPLETE Message Editor for FIDO(TM) OPUS(tm) and SEADOG(tm)
systems...released by the S1S Partnership Project:
Rits Board (314)-426-7144 OPUS/SEAdog 100/510
Broadcast Software (314)-427-4064 Fido 100/517
Complete pre-registration release of MSGDB will be available for
downloading from these two boards on May 25th, 1987.
What IS MSGDB ???
MSGDB allows you to change the attributes on each message in each
area you have set up. The following can be changed with MSGDB:
private/public
crash
recv'd
sent
file attached
forward
orphan
kill/sent
local
hold
res/sent
file request
recpt request
return recpt
request audit
You can also change FROM, TO, SUBJECT, COST, and # READ.
PLUS (there's more!)... how many times have you wanted to easily
move a message from one area to another without complicated batch
procedures, renaming and/or renumbering? MSGDB allows you to move
a message to another area, and gives you the option to leave the
original message in the original area, or delete it and keep it
only in the new area.
How are we distributing it? Well, for those of you that keep up
with the Sysop echo, we kind of like Bob Hartmans' idea of
FLIRTWARE. We'll have a working copy available on May 25th for
downloading on both of the boards listed. The Rits Board also
uses SEAdog, so you can file request it from area 8. The copy you
will get will do most of the basic editing functions, and will
come with some limited docs.
We're going to ask for a registration of $20.00, and this is to
cover cost of updates and new releases, plus the time we're
taking to offer such a FANTASTIC Utility. (you know how it goes).
Registered owners will be sent a FULL BLOWN working copy that
will do everything but blow your nose, along with FULL
documentation.
FidoNews 4-25 Page 30 6 Jul 1987
There are more utilities in the works, and registered users will
be automatically sent out copies of new Utilities from the S1S
Partnership Project.
By the way, if you haven't yet sent Bob Hartman $35.00 for the
full set of the FASTSCAN series, it's well worth it. Saves MUCH
time on scanning and tossing.
One more thing. MSGDB obviously is a SysOp only utility. We
thought long and hard on whether or not to include the ability to
change a private message to a public message. It is our
conclusion that it should be there, for one important reason.
Many times newer users will ask technical/help questions
privately to another user or to the SysOp. These questions, and
later answers, would in most cases be beneficial to ALL users. If
you have any thoughts on this, communicate to us through the
SysOp echo.
Mark Peters 100/510
Glen Jackson 100/517
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 31 6 Jul 1987
=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================
Eric Ewanco, private SEAdog 130/3
Borland's Turbo C:
Review, part 1
For a long, long, time, Borland has promised us Turbo C. Ever
since I contracted a passion for learning C, I have been dying to
get it. I have finally realized that dream. And I must say, in
all truthfulness, Turbo C is *THE* compiler of the century. Turbo
C is what we've all been waiting for.
Many people, include myself to some extent, were disappointed
with Turbo BASIC. Somewhat bug-ridden, non-standard, and to a
degree weak (keep in mind I'm speaking from a "C and Pascal
snob"'s point of view), it reflected the usual disadvantages of
all BASICs. Don't let Turbo BASIC give you a bad impression of
Turbo C. Turbo C is all that you would expect in a good C
compiler.
Borland has long been known for fast compiling and executing,
inexpensive compilers, packed features, good documentation, and
excellent customer acknowledgement. However, they are also known
for non-linking, non-libraries, non-standards, and compilers that
just don't fit in well. Turbo C ends all that. Before I got Turbo
C, I feared that it would be packed with annoying "extensions"
and be essentially another language only similar to C, like Turbo
Pascal. Do that was fine for Pascal, but C is different; I
thought if Philippe tried to make a splash with a new twist to C,
he'd drown. But all my fears have been laid to rest. Turbo C is
ENTIRELY K&R C, with almost all UNIX functions implemented by
MicroSoft C (what I considered the very best compiler and closest
to UNIX, a consideration I may have to rethink) and a full
implementation of ANSI draft C. (ANSI C has not been approved; it
is only a draft, so a conformity to "ANSI C" cannot be claimed,
only to "ANSI C draft.") Turbo C also offers many more functions,
surprisingly, they are along the lines of the UNIX functions that
MS C missed and some nice hardware dependent stuff. Borland did
not forget that C is a low level language and was meant to be
hardware oriented, a concept that if neglected could be fatal for
marketing. Philippe in his infinite insight did not neglect that
concept.
I have found no glaring bugs in Turbo C that I didn't already
know about; and in fact, one bug that was listed on the Borland
forum I tried to correct and it was already corrected. Another I
saw in Echomail had to do with some obscure convolution of the
environment, but not something you'd run into every day, or even
in a year, probably. I have complete faith that any bugs that ARE
in there will be corrected in the usual Borland style, with
upgrades sent free to users with bugged versions.
RUN TIME LIBRARY
FidoNews 4-25 Page 32 6 Jul 1987
The run time library is the most complete I've seen, with
over 300 functions. Strangely missing, but not very missed, are
the Borland screen I/O, graphics, sound, and other extensions
found in Turbo Pascal, Turbo BASIC, and Turbo Prolog. Since C is
a language not meant for such applications, I will not miss it.
Turbo Pascal 4.0 will surely have them, and have them in a
library we can steal from.
Borland does offer some striking functions. For instance, the
much-needed findfirst() and findnext() functions are included,
used for processing wildcard specs. searchpath() will search the
current directory then the PATH spec for a specified file. keep()
will terminate and stay resident and take care of the nasty
memory cleanup. hardxxxx() routines are used for handling
annoying "Abort, Retry, Ignore?" errors. fnmerge() and fnsplit()
process a file spec and its individual components; drive, path,
filename, and extension. getpass() is a conio function that
prints a prompt, disables echo, reads in up to 8 characters, and
returns them in a string. Absolute disk i/o is supported. You can
get and set a file's time or date. Set the DOS time or date. Get
country dependent information. Binary search, quick sort, and
linear searches. Signals. printf with pointer value display. Math
error trapping. Sharing and locking. Get FAT information. Many
time functions. Get disk free space. Full and complete string
functions. Sleep so many seconds. Set interrupt vector. And every
function in MS C except 4 functions (mentioned below). Every one
is labelled with portability considerations and cross references.
It also supports predefined macros that expand to compile time,
compile date, Turbo C version number, line number, source file
name, memory model, ANSI C compatibility, and much more.
COMPATIBILITY
As far as I can see, Turbo C is virtually identical to MS C
with the exception of a few functions. Some functions are named
differently in Turbo C and Borland was very thoughtful and
included #defines in the header files to take care of this. The
only glaring exception is that signal() is implemented as
ssignal(), but as far as I can see that's the only difference.
Turbo C has an explicit method for handling control break, but
I'm not sure if it can be done via ssignal() like it can in MS C.
The functions I found not supported explicitly in Turbo C
that are found in MS C are the following:
tempname(), tmpfile(), tmpname() (mktemp and creattemp exist)
rmtemp() onexit (implemented as atexit())
and that's about all. Turbo C is not wimpy; it implements all
global variables MS C does (error strings, error numbers,
_osmajor, _osminor, __LINE__, __FILE__, sys_errno, etc.).
In porting MS C programs to Turbo C I had little problem,
even programs from a book published by MicroSoft Press for MS C
(as soon as I changed the signal() to ssignal()). Turbo C offers
ANSI only code generation (disable extensions), optimization
FidoNews 4-25 Page 33 6 Jul 1987
speed/space, optimization of redundant jumps and reorganization
of loops and switch statements (don't ask), turn off stack
checking, string merging (ever wonder why two string constants
with the exact same value take up separate places in the object
file? Turbo C resolves that), suppression of "redundant load
operations by remembering the contents of registers and reusing
them as often as possible," nesting of comments, nesting of
#includes, selectable 1-32 significant character identifiers,
80186 instructions, enabling/disabling of 27 different warnings
(including unreachable code, code has no effect, 'x' is assigned
a value that is never used, function should return a value,
possibly incorrect assignment (like "if (a=b)", usually an error)
and various portability warnings), assembly code output, and
enable/disable register variables. Clearly Turbo C is no wimp.
Turbo C also includes startup source, a main() that does not
access the library, and a statement saying you can get the
complete library source licensed for $295. I get the sincere
impression that Turbo C will be well supported. Do I see a source
code debugger in the works?
Next week I'll discuss the environment, benchmarks, codesize,
and hardware interfacing (writing interrupts, TSRing, converting
to .COM files, inline assembler, etc.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 34 6 Jul 1987
-- The Regular Irregular Column --
Dale Lovell
157/504
This has not been a good week. I'm beginning to believe that
I'm cursed. It started out well enough, but come the weekend it
became a disaster. As a result, I didn't have a chance to look
over too many of the new products that have arrived here. Maybe
by next week I'll have looked over some of it. In the meantime,
I've learned a lot over the past week and taken a look at one
very interesting program.
-- The Curse --
It started off innocently enough, with a visit to my local
dealer Friday night. While I was there he showed me one of the
new AT clones he's just starting to carry in quantity. He's
usually had two or three AT clones in at any one point in the
past, but since the prices started dropping he's decided to
change over. Instead of stocking XT clones in quantity, he's
going to start stocking a variety of AT clones. This wasn't a
major revelation to me. In the past year prices have dropped
dramatically. A year and a half ago I bought my first IBM
compatible system from him, and have been very pleased with it.
It has never given me any trouble, and he's always been able to
help me when it came time to expand (hard drive, modem, etc.).
The problem is that I can now get an AT for what I paid for my XT
a year ago. Since he was finally buying ATs in quantity, his
priced had dropped to something I could afford. I'd been able to
afford an AT for some time but didn't want to go the mail-order
route. My dealer has always been able to help me out when I had
any questions, and usually lets me look over any software package
I'm interested in buying (in the store).
Well, I decided to take one home that night. He tried
talking me out of it because the first shipment of ATs had just
come in, and none of the machines had been tested yet. My problem
is that I'm impatient. We opened up one of them (a 10 mhz machine
none the less) and hooked everything up and tested it. Fifteen
minutes later I was satisfied that everything was working and
talked him into letting me take it home that night. Saturday was
spent transferring boards and the data on the hard drive between
my old XT and the AT. This took a while as I wanted to make sure
everything came through this minor surgery in one piece. After
everything was transferred I called up a friend who had been
drooling over the XT and proceeded to sell him my old machine.
MAJOR MISTAKE!!! Later that night the keyboard on the new system
died (or close to it). I had a meeting after work on Monday night
and it wasn't until Tuesday that I was able to get back to the
store and swap keyboards. In the meantime the system stayed up
(for my night calls) and polled my host for mail. I was even able
to get the AUTOEXEC.BAT file set up to automatically bring up
SEAdog in case of a power failure. The problem was I wasn't able
to get any work done on this column until Wednesday (the day I
usually send 'em off to Thom). There are two lessons I learned
from this experience. 1) Never rush your local dealer, they
FidoNews 4-25 Page 35 6 Jul 1987
usually know what's best and 2) Never get rid of your old
equipment until you've been using your new equipment for some
time. Please don't make the same mistake that I made. My dealer,
and hopefully yours, was very understanding when I got back and
promptly gave me a new keyboard. I am very glad that I didn't
pick up the system from a mail-order company. It could have taken
over a week with everything being sent through UPS.
-- QubeCalc (FormalWare Co. $49.95 Registration) --
Ever since Visicalc was introduced, everyone has tried to
improve on the basic idea. Multiplan added sorting to the
spreadsheet, and Lotus added graphing capabilities. That pretty
much sums up all the improvements made to spreadsheets in over 5
years. I was pretty much convinced that the area had been "panned
out" until I came across QubeCalc. While QubeCalc can't cover as
much 2 dimensional space as something like Lotus 1-2-3, it does
do some things that Lotus (and many other expensive, commercial
spreadsheets) can't do. Since the product is marketed under the
shareware/user supported software/etc. plan, you should be able
to download from a local board and decide if it will work for
you. If it does, send in $49.95 and you'll receive the latest
version, the full typeset manual (a partial manual is included in
the publicly distributed program) and they'll make sure you know
about any updates or new versions as they come out.
The basic difference in QubeCalc is that it isn't limited to
the two dimensions of most commercial spreadsheets. Instead of
representing one page, QubeCalc represents several pages stacked
on top of each other. This means you no longer have to arrange
your spreadsheet with every month's data being in another section
of the page. Instead you can have a different page for each month
with the sums of a section going "down" instead of scattering
them over a spreadsheet. You don't have to remember how you
organized the years statements, instead each month or weeks
statement is on its own "page" with one page being a grand total
of all the pages. QubeCalc also lets you rotate the data so you
could turn the "pages" into a column with the old columns
becoming the pages. I've never seen a program that allows you to
rotate and analyze data before, so I'm pretty impressed! Some of
the other features that I've been impressed with include the
capability to recalc a specific block of the "spreadcube" (my
term, not theirs), and a DataFill command that can generate all
types of curves (versus a constant step rate).
I've been using the product for several days and have been
wishing I had acquired it a year earlier. I had been working as a
night auditor for a hotel and ended up spending most of a day
working on a spreadsheet to generate my daily report. My problems
all came about because of the three dimensions of my report
(month-to-date totals, daily totals, and column of figures). It
would have greatly simplified my life if I could have gone in,
instead I had to go sideways like crazy. This program could have
saved me several hours of work. This brings up the major strength
of QubeCalc. Since it has several pages of data, you can EASILY
have it generate regular reports without having to worry about
FidoNews 4-25 Page 36 6 Jul 1987
going sideways or down and possibly running out of room before
the end of the week/month/year. The only limitation is the
version I was given (version 1.01) only handles a cube of
64x64x64. This means you can go to 64 columns, 64 rows and 64
pages. This limits you to 262,144 cells. While this may not sound
like much, think about how many reports you do that would exceed
this limit. I don't think it would be very many (if any at all).
While I don't think it's a serious limitation, I do hope that it
has or will be increased in the near future.
I had no problem becoming used to QubeCalc's commands. Just
about anyone who is familiar with Lotus 1-2-3 should be able to
use it without any problem. My only difficulty was that all
formulas start out with the equals sign ("="), and I'm too used
to starting my equations with either an "@" sign or a plus sign.
Many of the menus look similar to Lotus, and as long as you read
the menus instead of trying to operate on "full auto" it
shouldn't be that difficult to use. The setup program included
allows you to set it up to run from any directory (it has
overlays and needs to know where they are) and set the screen
colors to your personal preferences. The installation program
does a nice job of letting you "personalize" the program. I've
seen quite a few commercial programs that were nowhere near as
friendly as QubeCalc. Overall it is a very impressive program.
Anyone who is dealing with a regularly prepared report should
look into QubeCalc as it can often handle these reports easier
than many commercial spreadsheets. Consider the $49.95 price, and
you come out far ahead on my spreadcube!
-- Winding down --
Unfortunately, I spent the most of the weekend without a
machine, so I didn't have a chance to look over any games this
week. I did have a chance to go over several books and found
several I enjoyed. One of those was "Programmer's at Work, 1st
Series" with interviews by Susan Lammers (Microsoft Press, list
price $14.95). This is another of the books like "Hackers" or
"The Soul of a New Machine." Instead of concentrating on a
particular program, language, or technique; it looks at the
people who are actually creating these strange machines (and
programs). Some of the more well known names include Bill Gates
(one of the founders of Microsoft) and Dan Bricklin (VisiCalc and
Dan Bricklin's Demo Program). Each "chapter" is an interview with
a programmer and starts off with some background on the
individual. Each programmer was asked to donate some actual piece
of work. While most of the code pieces are incomplete, there are
a few "complete" pieces of work that can be keyed in and run. I
found the book fascinating, as I learned the design concepts
behind several of today's most popular programs or the beginnings
of some major advances in personal computing. If you enjoyed the
other people computer books I've looked at, here is one more you
should consider adding to your library.
That ties it up for this week. I'd enjoy hearing what you
think on anything I've written about (or missed writing about).
Many thanks go out to the many of you who have been reading my
FidoNews 4-25 Page 37 6 Jul 1987
column on Usenet. I try to respond to all the mail received,
although I do miss one every now and then. Below you'll find my
US mail, FidoNet, and uucp address (I now have several more sites
for you Usenet people). FidoNet people should route mail to me
through 157/1 or 157/0 as I'm a private node.
Dale Lovell
3266 Vezber Drive
Seven Hills, OH 44131
FidoNet: 157/504 (or 1:157/504.1 for an extended address)
uucp:
decvax\
>!cwruecmp!hal\
cbosgd/ >!ncoast!lovell
/--!necntc/
ames---\ /
talcott \/
harvard /
sri-nic/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 38 6 Jul 1987
=================================================================
FOR SALE
=================================================================
Jean Coppola Sysop 107/201
Computer & Software Package For Sale
====================================
Panansonic Sr. Partner
640K Internal Ram
8087 Co-Processor Installed
Built In Printer
Built-in Monochrome Monitor
Two 5 1/4 Inch Drives
One 22 Megabyte Hard Drive
Tandy RGB Color Monitor
Hayes Type 1200 Baud External Modem
All Cables, Power Cords, Etc;
Software Included In Above Package
====================================
PC DOS 3.1 Software Carousel
MS DOS 3.2 Print Shop
Turbo Prolog Lotus 1-2-3
Disk Optimizer dBase III+
Cubit Norton Utilities
Microsoft Windows Mace Utilities
Microsoft Quick Basic Compiler Norton Commander
Copywrite Doctor Dos
SEAdog PcTools
DoubleDos 1Dir
SuperKey Fastback
NewsRoom Pro Turbo Pascal
IBM PC LAN And Much Much More......
Best Offer Over $1200.00 Gets This Package
Contact Sysop 107/201 For More Details, etc;
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 39 6 Jul 1987
=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================
The Interrupt Stack
1 Aug 1987
Third Annual BBS Picnic in Edison, NJ. Please register before
July 10th. Admission is $7 for adults, $4 for 12 and under,
free for 5 and under. Contact John Kelley at 107/331 for
details.
20 Aug 1987
Start of the Fourth International FidoNet Conference, to be
held at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, VA.
Contact Brian Hughes at 109/634 for more information. This is
FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet
all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're
hoping to see you there!
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 FidoNet node 1:1/1.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry to say that Edition 103 of echolist will be delayed...
Since I'll be on vacation July 5-11 I don't expect to have every
thing done til sometime around July 20th (I hope). Again sorry
for the delay!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If it wasn't the middle of the summer, I would have sworn
that issue 4-24 of Fidnews was an April fools issue. The
editorial was a bit of a downer but the rest of the issue
was uniformly light harted. Could it be that our editor
actually edited that issue instead of the old FIFO system?
Could it be that our editor just was fed up with trojan
hackers and disk crashes and decided to celebrate April 1
on June 29? Will we ever know? Do we want to know? Why
am I asking all the questions? Why don't I find something
usefull to do?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Latest Software Versions
BBS Systems Node List Other
FidoNews 4-25 Page 40 6 Jul 1987
& Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version
Dutchie 2.51* EDITNL 3.3 ARC 5.21*
Fido 11w LISTGEN 05.25.86 ARCmail 0.60
Opus 0.00 Prune 1.40 EchoMail 1.31
SEAdog 4.00 RouteGen 2.81* FastEcho 2.00*
TBBS 2.0M* TestList 8.3* Renum 3.30
XlatList 2.81*
* Recently changed
Utility authors: Please help keep this list as current as
possible by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our
intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on
necessity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 41 6 Jul 1987
OFFICIAL REGISTRATION FORM
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL FIDONET CONFERENCE
RADISSON MARK PLAZA HOTEL
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
AUGUST 20 - 23, 1987
Name _________________________________ Date _____________
Address ______________________________
City & State _________________________
Phone (Voice) ________________________
Net/Node Number ______________________
Phone (Data) _________________________
Number in Your Party _________________
Staying at the Radisson? _____________
Number of Rooms? _____________________
Arrival Date? ________________________
Departure Date? ______________________
Registration Fees: How Many Total
Full Conference $60.00 each ________ $________
Late registration $10.00 each ________ $________
(after Aug. 1)
Friday Night Banquet $30.00 each ________ $________
Saturday Luncheon $16.50 each ________ $________
Total Amount Included (Registration and Meals) $________
IFNA MEMBERS ONLY:
How many in your party will
be attending the Sunday morning
Board of Directors meeting? ________
Send your registration form and a check or money order to:
Fourth International FidoNet Conference
212 E. Capitol St., Washington, D.C. 20003
Attn: Brian H. Hughes -- voice: (202) 543-4200
This registration form does not include hotel accomodations. If
you wish to stay at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel, please contact
them directly and mention you are with the FidoNet Conference.
Conference room rates are $80/night for single or double
occupancy, and $20/night for an extra cot.
Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel
5000 Seminary Rd., Alexandria, Va. 22311
1-800-228-9822
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-25 Page 42 6 Jul 1987
INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
ORDER FORM
Publications
The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido
1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing them
directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee Chairmen
provide us with the latest versions of each publication, but we
can make no written guarantees.
Hardcopy prices as of October 1, 1986
IFNA Fido BBS listing $15.00 _____
IFNA Administrative Policy DOCs $10.00 _____
IFNA FidoNet Standards Committee DOCs $10.00 _____
SUBTOTAL _____
IFNA Member ONLY Special Offers
System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____
SEAdog price as of March 1, 1987
ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member
International orders include $5.00 for
surface shipping or $15.00 for air shipping _____
SUBTOTAL _____
Mo. Residents add 5.725 % Sales tax _____
TOTAL _____
SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
IFNA
P.O. Box 41143
St. Louis, Missouri 63141 USA
Name________________________________
Net/Node____/____
Company_____________________________
Address_____________________________
City____________________ State____________ Zip_____
Voice Phone_________________________
Signature___________________________
FidoNews 4-25 Page 43 6 Jul 1987
*IFNA Membership Application
__
The World's First / \
BBS Network /|oo \
* FidoNet * (_| /_)
_`@/_ \ _
| | \ \\
| (*) | \ ))
______ |__U__| / \//
/ Fido \ _//|| _\ /
(________) (_/(_|(____/ (jm)
Membership for the International FidoNet Association
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the
international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to
increase worldwide communications. **
Name _________________________________ Date ________
Address ______________________________
City & State _________________________
Country_______________________________
Phone (Voice) ________________________
Net/Node Number ______________________
Board Name____________________________
Phone (Data) _________________________
Baud Rate Supported___________________
Board Restrictions____________________
Special Interests_____________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
Is there some area where you would be
willing to help out in FidoNet?_______
______________________________________
______________________________________
Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to:
International FidoNet Association
P. O. Box 41143
St Louis, Missouri 63141
USA
Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
insure the future of FidoNet.
** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
in formation and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted
by the membership in January 1987. An Elections Committee has
been established to fill positions outlined in the By-Laws for
the Board of Directors. An IFNA Echomail Conference has been
established on FidoNet to assist the Elections Committee. We
welcome your input on this Conference.
FidoNews 4-25 Page 44 6 Jul 1987
-----------------------------------------------------------------
--
Tim Pozar
UUCP pozar@hoptoad.UUCP
Fido 125/406
USNail KLOK-FM
77 Maiden Lane
San Francisco CA Alexah