The F I D O N E W S Volume 24, Number 40 01 Oct 2007 +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | |The newsletter of the | | | | | FidoNet community. | | Netmail attach to (POTS): | | | | | Editor @ 2:2/2 (+46-31-960447) | | | ____________| | | | | / __ | Netmail attach to (BinkP): | | | / / \ | Editor @ 2:203/0 | | | WOOF! ( /|oo \ | | | \_______\(_| /_) | Email attach to: | | _ @/_ \ _ | bfelten @ telia dot com | | | | \ \\ | | | | (*) | \ ))| | | |__U__| / \// | Editor: Bj”rn Felten | | ______ _//|| _\ / | | | / Fido \ (_/(_|(____/ | Newspapers should have no friends. | | (________) (jm) | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ Table of Contents 1. FOOD FOR THOUGHT ......................................... 1 2. FIDONET REGIONAL NEWS .................................... 2 R55, the IP-only region and its nodes .................... 2 3. GENERAL ARTICLES ......................................... 4 Articles MIA? ............................................ 4 4. COMIX IN ASCII ........................................... 6 The Meaning of life ...................................... 6 5. ROBERT COUTURE'S FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ................ 7 FidoNet Software References .............................. 7 6. SPECIAL INTEREST ......................................... 12 Nodelist Stats ........................................... 12 7. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 14 How to Submit an Article ................................. 14 Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability .................. 16 FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 1 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= FOOD FOR THOUGHT ================================================================= When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny. --Thomas Jefferson ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 2 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= FIDONET REGIONAL NEWS ================================================================= R55, the IP-only region and its nodes By Ward Dossche 2:292/854 & 2:55/0 When the region-55 was created in zone-2 some years ago the reason was to provide a 'temporary' home to IP-only nodes which could not be listed in their home-region yet for whatever reason. It could have been because of politics in the region, there could have been a technical reason and I'm convinced that some people may have found it handy to escape the wrath of some RC or NC with whom they had a less than favourable relationship. The days of such an IP-only region and the haven it afforded for such nodes are over. There is no region anymore where these nodes cannot be accomodated and the planning is that before the end of this year region-55 will have been closed-down and all nodes being listed in their proper region. The transfer which is to be executed the next 3 months can be easily done. Messages have already been written a couple of times in the region-echo so people should have been aware that things are changing. Part of the process is going to be a switchover at 2:2/0 to a new version of MAKENL to cater for the listing of "-unpublished-" nodes without "Pvt" as well as other add-ons. In a first step I am now cleaning-out the nodelist segment of this region-55. A message has appeared in the region's sysop echo about that as well and most concerned nodes have been sent netmails to inform them about their status. Some nodes cannot be reached by netmail since for over a year now they have not revealed themselves for netmail-delivery via their netmail-hub. For all I care they might not even be in the network anymore. Mail is being kept on hold, without collection attempt by its sysop, for: 2:550/34 al Fomicheff 2:550/5011 Semen Gavrilov Both these nodes are listed as "Hold" since Friday September 28th in the zone-2 version of the world nodelist. Other zones will follow a week later. (yes, Michiel, I know...) When no sign of life is emanating from them or no-one can help to get these people to contact me, then in about 2 weeks they will become "Down" and another 2 weeks later will be dropped from the nodelist. Further, I need to absolutely get a sign of life from: FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 3 1 Oct 2007 2:550/140 Eugene Glotov as his node is on "Hold" already and will be treated the same way as the 2 gentlemen mentioned above. Further, it is imperative that these people get in touch with me immediately: 2:550/222 Andy Karimov 2:550/278 Vladislav Kushchinskih 2:550/500 Vasiliy Arutyunov 2:550/1313 Dasha Paramonova Your systems are currently listed as "Down". Without a sign of life these entries will be removed from the nodelist in 2 weeks. Right. So now it has been written in echomail, it has been written in netmail _and_ it has been published in Fidonews, which every sysop is supposed to be familiar with. Hopefully no-one will come after me now, when things start moving, with an "Heyyy duuude, you never told me to ...." ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 4 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= GENERAL ARTICLES ================================================================= Articles MIA? By Ward Dossche 2:292/875 Recently there has been a flurry about the alleged refusal by the current Fidonews-editor to publish certain articles. Personally I do not believe the first letter of such accusations but then Z1 is not filled with demons and I do have the music album "50.000.000 Elvis fans can't be wrong". So is there any truth then perhaps to the claim that articles do not make it, for whatever reason that is? Personally I find it pretty childish of individuals claiming to have sent-in an article, not seeing it getting published and then, instead of trying to figure-out what went wrong, start moaning in private to another ZC. In any case, I wondered which part of the alleged problem could be due to me. .. and I found an issue. The D'Bridge mailer uses its own base-36 format naming-convention for outbound archive files. For example when I have mail for 1:140/1 Bob Seaborn, then internally it will look like "N-00103W.001". The utility-programme DBUTIL will then move this file to the appropriate directory and rename it 008C0001.xxx. So far, so good. The problem arose however in the case of unarchived netmail. DBUTIL would then use the filename 00000000.PKT ... and always the same name. So a test was set-up to see what would occur if new netmail would present itself for being MOVEd. Would nothing happen, would the existing file be appended or would it simply be overwritten. As it turned-out, the existing file was overwritten. As a result the information contained in it was lost. In the meantime the author has been informed about the bug and a fix was ready within hours so the event will not repeat itself. However, is this something which could have happened to mail containing articles for Fidonews? Theoretically "yes"! Has it happened? I cannot tell. FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 5 1 Oct 2007 Usually when mail becomes available for Bj-rn it gets delivered within a minute or two or three. Netmail to the editor at 2:2/2 will normally be routed to 2:2/0 unless people have a dedicated routing set for this particular entry. So the possibility cannot be discounted however that the connection hiccuped for a few minutes and that in this timeframe a new netmail landed thereby overwriting what was in the queue. It would explain in any case why a single netmail might have dissappeared in a black hole. On purpose I write "a single netmail" and not "all the netmail" as I do not accept that this phenomenum could explain the alleged dissappearance of 10 or more articles. After all, I do not think netmail is the preferred method of delivery with all the other options around. To learn more about that, the publication guidelines are somewhere inside this issue of Fidonews. - Ward - ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 6 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= COMIX IN ASCII ================================================================= The Meaning of life By Ward Dossche 2:292/854 1 4 22222 11 44 2 2 1 1 4 4 2 1 4 4 2 1 4 4 2 1 4 4 2 1 4444444 2 1 .. 4 2 2 111 .. 4 2222222 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 7 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= ROBERT COUTURE'S FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ================================================================= -=:{ FidoNet Software Reference }:=- Type: M=Mailer T=Tosser B=BBS D=Door C=Comm/Terminal P=Points E=Editor I=Internet U=Utility ?=Info .- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -. |Software: Author |Type |URL, Contact, Ver, Notes Help Node| `- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -' Argus |MI |http://www.ritlabs.com/argus/ 2:469/84 | | argus@ritlabs.com Tel: 373-2-246889 | | v3.210 on Mar 20th 2001 BinkleyTerm XE |M |http://btxe.sourceforge.net 1:1/102 | | v2.60XE/Gamma-6 on Nov 11th 1998 BinkD |MI |http://2f.ru/binkd/ | | maloff@corbina.net | | v0.94 on Jul 24th 2000 (Outdated) FIDO-Deluxe IP |MPUI |http://www.fido-deluxe.de.vu 2:2432/280 Michael Haase | | m.haase@gmx.net | | v2.4 on Sep 26th 2003 FrontDoor, FD/APX: |MTPC |http://www.defsol.se 2:201/330 Definite Solutions | | sales@defsol.se 1:1/101 | | v2.26SW & v2.33ml FD, v1.15 APX Husky Project |MTPUI|http://sf.net/projects/husky/ | | v1.4 RC2 on Sep 22nd 2003 Radius |MI |http://radius.pp.ru 2:5012/38 (based on Argus) | | fido5012@zaural.net Tel: 7-3522-469463 | | Last Release: v4.010 on Jan 3nd 2005 Taurus |MI |http://taurus.rinet.ru (Russian) 2:461/70 | |http://www.fidotel.com/taurus (English) (based on Radius) | | E-mail: taurus@rinet.ru | | v5.000 alpha on Oct 11th 2004 Tmail |MI |http://www.tmail.spb.ru v2608 | | Website is in Russian only WildCat! Interactive |MTBEI|http://www.santronics.com Net Server, Platinum| | sales@santronics.com Xpress: Santronics | | Tel: (305) 248-3204 Software, Inc. | | AUP 451.1 on April 26th 2004 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ Fidogate |TUI |http://www.fidogate.org | | Martin_Junius@m-j-s.net v4.4.10 FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 8 1 Oct 2007 FMail |T |http://fmail.nl.eu.org | | support@fmail.nl.eu.org v1.60 JetMail: JetSys |TU |http://www.jetsys.de js@jetsys.de (ATARI ST only) | | v1.01 on Jan 1st 2000 Squish |T |http://maximus.sourceforge.net/ | | Lanuis site redirects to above | | Squish is part of Maximus. +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ BBBS |BI |http://www.bbbs.net b@bbbs.net | | v4.00MP on Oct 25th 1999 2:22/222 ELEBBS: The Elevator |B |http://www.elebbs.com Software Production | | elebbs@elebbs.com | | v0.10.RC1 on Jun 9th 2002 EZYCom BBS |BT |http://ezycom.sytes.net | |http://members.westnet.com.au/centuryp/ | | ezycom@westnet.com.au 3:690/682 | | v2.0 on 3 May 2003 Hermes II Project |B |http://www.hermesii.org | | info@HermesII.org v3.5.9 Beta Final Maximus BBS |B |http://maximus.sourceforge.net/ | | v3.03 | |Archives back online at: | |http://maximus.outpostbbs.net/ MBSE BBS: |BI |http://mbse.sourceforge.net 2:280/2802 Michiel Broek | | mbroek@users.sourceforge.net | | v0.60.0 on June 5th 2004 Mystic BBS |B |http://www.mysticbbs.com | | v1.07.3 on May 13th 2001 Nexus BBS |B |http://www.nexusbbs.net | | groberts@nexusbbs.net | | v0.99.41-Beta on Oct 16th 2002 | | [Note: No Longer under active | | development.] Proboard BBS |B |http://www.proboard.be | | v2.17 on Jun 9th 2002 RemoteAccess BBS: |B |http://www.rapro.com 1:1/120 Bruce Morse | | bfmorse@rapro.com | | v2.62.2SW Spitfire BBS: Buffalo|B |http://www.angelfire.com/ia/buffalo/ Creek Software | | MDWoltz@aol.com 1:1/150 | | v3.6 on Aug 20th 1999 FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 9 1 Oct 2007 Synchronet BBS |BT |http://www.synchro.net | | sysop(at)vert(dot)synchro(dot)net | | v3.10L Beta Telegard BBS |B |http://www.telegard.net | | support@telegard.net | | v3.09g2 SP4 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ Atlantis Software |D |http://www.jimmyrose.com/atlantis/ | | Last Update: August 2004 Cheepware |DU |http://outpostbbs.net Sean Dennis | | sean@outpostbbs.net 1:18/200 DDS (Doorware |D |http://www.doorgames.org 1:2404/201 Distribution System)| | ruth@doorgames.org Ruth Argust | | DoorMUD |D |http://doormud.com | | v0.98 Jun 1st 2002 | | Website is down after | | past the splash page. Jibben Software |D |http://www.jibbensoftware.com | | scott@jibben.com | | 1995-99 Release dates John Dailey Software |D |http://www.johndaileysoftware.com | | support@johndaileysoftware.com Shining Star |D |http://www.shiningstar.net/bbsdoors/ | | nannette@shiningstar.net Sunrise Doors: |D |http://www.sunrisedoors.com Al Lawrence | | al@sunrisedoors.com | | Tel: (404) 256-9518 The Brainex System |D |http://www.brainex.com/brainex_system/ | | stanley@brainex.com 1994-99 Releases Trade Wars |D |http://www.eisonline.com/tradewars/ | | jpritch@eisonline.com | | v3.09 (DOS-32) in 2002 Vagabond Software: |D |http://www.vbsoft.org 1:124/7013 Bryan Turner | | vagabond@vbsoft.org | | last update: Jul 17th 2002 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ APoint |PI |http://www.apoint-mail.de | |http://www.apoint-mail.de/indexe.htm | | (English Version) | | dirk.pokorny@apoint-mail.de | | v1.25 2:2426/1210.13 FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 10 1 Oct 2007 CrossPoint (XP) |P |http://www.crosspoint.de (German Only) | | pm@crosspoint.de v3.12d Dec 22nd 1999 FreeXP |P |http://www.freexp.de 2:2433/460 | | support@freexp.de | | v3.40 RC3 Aug 31st 2003 (Snapshot) OpenXP/32 |PI |http://www.openxp.com 2:248/2004 | | (Site is in German Only) | | mk@openxp.de v3.8.15 Beta Feb 10th 2004 | | Download Page comes back 404 not found. +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ GoldEd+ |E |http://mik.nu/golded-plus/ 2:203/6600 | | v1.1.5 Snapshot on Feb 28th 2003 SqEd32 |E |http://www.sqed.de | | v1.15 on Dec 15th 1999 TimEd |E |http://blizzard.dnsalias.org/fidonet | | mail@ozzmosis.com /timed | | v1.11.a5 in March 2003 3:633/267 +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ GiGo |UI |http://www.gigo.com | | v0109 on Jan 9th 1997 Internet Rex: |UI |http://members.shaw.ca/InternetRex/ Charles Cruden | | telnet://xanadubbs.ca 1:342/806 (Khan Software) | | v2.29 on Oct 21st 2001 TransNet |UI |http://www.ressl.com.ar/transnet/ | | transnet@ressl.com.ar | | v2.11 on Jul 18th 1998 TransX: Multiboard |UI |http://www.start.ca/software/multiboard Communications, Inc.| | Unsure about support now but Free Keys | | are now available. Donations accepted. | | v3.5 (Note: KeyGen is a Windows Program) Ifmail |UI |http://ifmail.sourceforge.net | | crosser@average.org 2:5020/230 | | Ifmail is a FTN <-> E-Mail/News Gateway | | Program. Meltdown-BBS |UI |http://meltdown-bbs.sourceforge.net/ | | meltdown-bbs.project.petkan | | @spamgourmet.com | | Fido: 2:350/5 | | Meltdown-BBS is an FTN <-> | | Web/PHP/MySQL BBS forum system. MakeNL |U | http://hub2000.darktech.org/makenl | | fidonet.hub2000 [at] gmail [dot] com FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 11 1 Oct 2007 | | Fido: 1:229/2000 | | FidoNet Nodelist Processor +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ National BBS List |? | http://www.usbbs.org Hispanic FIDO/BBS's |? | http://www.conecta2.org/pucela_bbs/ (in Spanish only) | | (Extensive software & BBS Listings) +- - - - - - - - - - -+- - -+- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ File Archives: http://archives.thebbs.org http://www.filegate.net http://sysopscorner.thebbs.org http://www.juge.com http://www.dmine.com/bbscorner/ http://garbo.uwasa.fi http://www.simtel.net http://wuarchive.wustl.edu http://www.bbsfiles.com http://hobbes.nmsu.edu Note: most also provide FTP access (use ftp:// instead of http:// above) *=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=*=.=*=-=* Please send corrections & additions to: Robert Couture, 1:229/2000 E-Mail: rpa4email (at) rogers (dot) com Telnet: runekeep.darktech.org (Leave Feedback as Guest or create an account) Emeritus: Ben Ritchey, Todd Cochrane, Frank Vest, Peter Popovich ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 12 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= SPECIAL INTEREST ================================================================= Nodelist Stats Input nodelist nodelist.271 size 611.7kb date 2007-09-28 The nodelist has 5060 nodes in it and a total of 6816 non-comment entries including 5 zones 42 regions 309 hosts 332 hubs admin overhead 688 ( 13.60 %) and 629 private nodes 216 nodes down 223 nodes on hold off line overhead 1068 ( 21.11 %) Speed summary: >9600 = 416 ( 8.22 %) 9600 = 3880 ( 76.68 %) (HST = 77 or 1.98 %) (CSP = 0 or 0.00 %) (PEP = 1 or 0.03 %) (MAX = 0 or 0.00 %) (HAY = 1 or 0.03 %) (V32 = 1947 or 50.18 %) (V32B = 92 or 2.37 %) (V34 = 2669 or 68.79 %) (V42 = 2224 or 57.32 %) (V42B = 101 or 2.60 %) 2400 = 34 ( 0.67 %) 1200 = 5 ( 0.10 %) 300 = 725 ( 14.33 %) ISDN = 347 ( 6.86 %) ---------------------------------------------------------- File Req Flag Applicable software Number of systems ---------------------------------------------------------- XA Frontdoor <1.99b 1517 Frontdoor 2.02+ Dutchie 2.90c Binkleyterm >2.1 D'Bridge <1.3 TIMS Xenia -------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 13 1 Oct 2007 XB Binkleyterm 2.0 8 Dutchie 2.90b -------------------------------------- XC Opus 1.1 2 -------------------------------------- XP Seadog 2 -------------------------------------- XR Opus 1.03 24 -------------------------------------- XW Fido >12M 203 Tabby KittenMail -------------------------------------- XX D'Bridge 1.30 1994 Frontdoor 1.99b Intermail 2.01 T-Mail -------------------------------------- None QMM 1310 -------------------------------------- CrashMail capable = 1860 ( 36.76 %) MailOnly nodes = 2835 ( 56.03 %) Listed-only nodes = 421 ( 8.32 %) Other = -56 ( -1.11 %) [Report produced by NETSTATS - A PD pgm] [ Revised by B Felten, 2:203/208] ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 14 1 Oct 2007 ================================================================= FIDONEWS INFORMATION ================================================================= How to Submit an Article If you wish to submit an article for inclusion in the Fidonews, here are some guidelines, if you send it as an attached file; the preferred method if you want reasonable control over how the published article will appear in the Fidonews: a) Plain ASCII text. If you could type it on your keyboard, it's probably quite OK. No line may be longer than 70 characters. b) Put a title to the article. Put the title in two times. The first time, on the first line, with an * before it. The second time, on the second line, without the * and centered. This will help in the format since the title with the * is removed and used in the index, the second line will become the headline. On the third line, put your name and FidoNet address, present or former. If former, you may want to add some other address where you can be reached for personal comments. c) Deadline for article submission is Sunday, 22:00 UTC. Help the Editor by following the above guides. Below are some subjects and the file extension for the article as set in the configuration file for the making of the Fidonews. Please help by putting the file extension of the correct subject on the file name if known. Ideas for Subject areas: Subject File | Subject File ----------------------------------|---------------------------------- From the *C's *.css | Rebuttals to articles *.reb Fidonet Regional News *.reg | Fidonet Net News *.net Retractions *.rtx | General Fidonet Articles *.art Guest Editorial *.gue | Fidonet Current Events *.cur Fidonet Interviews *.inv | Fidonet Software Reviews *.rev Fidonet Web Page Reviews *.web | Fidonet Notices *.not Getting Fidonet Technical *.ftc | Question Of The Week *.que Humor in a Fido Vein *.hfv | Comix in ASCII *.cmx Fidonet's Int. Kitchen *.rec | Poet's Corner *.poe Clean Humor & Jokes *.jok | Other Stuff *.oth Fidonet Classified Ads *.ads | Corrections *.cor Best of Fidonet *.bof | Letters to the Editor *.let If you don't know or are not sure, send the article anyway. Put a .TXT on it and I'll try to figure out where it should be in the Fidonews. If you follow these simple guidelines, there should be little problem in getting your article published. If your submission is too far out of specs for the Fidonews, it will be returned to you and/or a message sent informing you of the problem. This DOES NOT mean that your article is not accepted. It means that there is something in it that I can not fix and I need your help on it. FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 15 1 Oct 2007 Send articles via e-mail or netmail, file attach or message to: Bj”rn Felten Fidonet 2:2/2 or 2:203/0 E-Mail bfelten @ telia dot com Skype file bfelten IMPORTANT! If you send the article via e-mail, make sure you put the word "fidonews" somewhere in the subject line! That way it will always pass the spam filter, ending up in the proper folder. Please include a message, telling me that you have sent an article. That way I will know to look for it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FIDONEWS 24-40 Page 16 1 Oct 2007 Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Editor: Bj”rn Felten, 2:2/2 | | Columnists: Frank Vest - Frank's Column | | Robert Couture - Fidonet Software Listing | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince | | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, | | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, | | Doug Meyers, Warren D. Bonner, Frank L. Vest | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet. There is no copyright attached to Fidonews, though authors retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinions expressed by the authors is strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to the Editor at one of the addresses above. The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS. These sources are normally available through your Network Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from the following sources: + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- + | | | File request from 2:2/2 or 2:203/0: | | current issue FIDONEWS | | back issue, volume v, issue ii FNEWSvii.ZIP | | | | On the web: | | http://felten.yi.org/fidonews | | http://www.fidonet.ca/fidonews | | | | The Snooze *and* the FIDONEWS echo in your newsreader: | | news://felten.yi.org/FIDONEWS | | | + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + -----------------------------------------------------------------