T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
+--------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| .----------------------. | dr.debug: dr.debug @ filegate.net |
| | A monthly E-Zine | | bbslists: bbslists @ filegate.net |
| | published by Fidonet | | articles: fidogazette @ filegate.net|
| | to promote BBSing | +------------------------------------------+
| | ____________. | |
| | / __ | "Anyone who has never made a mistake |
| | / / \ | has never tried anything new." |
| | WOOF! ( /|oo \ | Albert Einstein |
| \_______\(_| /_) | |
| \@/ \ | Got Something To Say? |
| .---.\ _ | Say it in the |
| (jk) _ |usb| \ \\ | =The FidoGazette= |
| / | .___. \ ))| |
| / | /_ | / \// | Editor: Janis Kracht |
| |___| // || _\ / | janis @ filegate . net |
| .--`-. (_|(_|(____/ | janis kracht 1:261/38 |
| |____| (jm) | |
+--------------------------+------------------------------------------+
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==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Contents=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=======================================================================
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
======================================================================
New SysOps!................................................(1)
Positronium Back Online................................... (1)
Region13 Elects R13C.......................................(1)
FidoGazette BBSList........................................(2)
Dr.Debug...................................................(3)
Food.......................................................(4)
The Slightly Crusty Sysop..................................(5)
The Old School Toolbox: Mailers ...........................(6)
BBS GameCorner.............................................(7)
[ARTICLES]
FidoGazette: Where it started..............................(9)
Some Things Never Change..................................(10)
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
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New & Returning Members
============================
By Janis Kracht
In the Works:
=====================
David Lane, Region 14
=#=
=====================================
= Positronium is back online! =
= =
= NEW PHONE NUMBER =
= 337-984-4794 =
= =
= =
=====================================
Ben Ritchey
1:393/68, 1:19/68
=================
=#=
Region 13 Elects R13C:
=====================
fido.Z1C from Janis Kracht to All.
Entered on 24th June, 2009 at 16:20, 16 lines.
Hello All,
Election results are in, and Michael Luko has won the election as
R13C with 7 votes, to Nick Kill's 2 votes. Thanks _very_ much to _both_ of you
for running in the election, it is important to each of us in fidonet when
people volunteer to run for election for these positions. They are not
always the easiest positions to fill.
Congratulations to Michael Luko on his re-election as R13C, I am
happy to reappoint him this week!
Thank you to Robert Wolfe for taking care of election details
throughout your move!
Janis Kracht
Z1C
=#=
Page 1
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
!!! G A Z E T T E B B S L I S T !!!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
By bbslist @ filegate.net
Send updates, changes to address above or to janis @
filegate.net.
System.......Prism BBS
FidoAddress..1:261/38
Phone........607-655-5652
Software.....BBBS LiI v4.01 Flag #
OS...........Linux (Gentoo)
C/B Verify...None
Access.......First Call access to Msg bases,
and file areas.
Telnet.......filegate.net
telnet access offers full features
of the standard bbs such as doors,
qwkmail, BWmail,Files, etc.
www:.........http:/www.filegate.net:8090/bbbs
[web interface is limited really
to reading messages and replying
online, or downloading messages
in qwk packets, but not uploading
them], and file download access.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
System.......Time Warp of the Future BBS
FidoAddress..1:14/400
Phone........none
Software.....sbbs 3.15a (very beta)
OS...........win. (xp pro. sp3)
C/B Verify...None
Access.......First Call access to Msg bases, and file areas.
Telnet.......time.synchro.net:24 or time.darktech.org:24
or timewarpfuture.dyndns.org:24
telnet access offers full features
of the standard bbs such as doors,
messages or file area etc.
www:.........http://time.synchro.net:81
Web interface is limited really
to reading messages and replying online, or
downloading messages in qwk packets, but not
uploading them, and file download access.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
System.......Lionsden BBS
FidoAddress..1:224/303
Phone........613-392-8896
Software.....Sunchronet
OS...........Windows XP
C/B Verify...None
Access.......First Call access to Msg bases, and file areas.
Telnet.......lionsden.darktech.org
telnet access offers full features
of the standard bbs such as doors,
qwkmail, Files, etc.
www:.........http:/www.lionsden.darktech.org
You will redirected to a menu where you can
choose one of three sites. The first one is
private and requires PW to get into.
FTP..........FTP://lionsden.darktech.org Files only
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
System.......Christian Fellowship
FidoAddress..1:266/512
Phone........1-856-933-7096
Software.....PCBoard 15.3
OS...........Windows XP pro
C/B Verify...Manually via email or voice
usually within 24 hours.
Access.......Read only
until verified. Once
verified write access
to Msg bases, file
areas, chat and
doors/games.
Telnet.......cfbbs.dtdns.net
or cfbbs.no-ip.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
System.......Lightning BBS
FidoAddress..1:311/2
Software.....Virtual Advanced
OS...........Windows XP
C/B Verify...None
Access.......First call access to doors, files and
message reading. Message posting requires
validation.
Telnet.......lightningbbs.com
www:.........http:/www.lightningbbs.com/index.php
Thanks to VADV-PHP you can access almost
everything the BBS has to offer from the
web, with the exception of door games.
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Page 2
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
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=================================
Dr. DeBug Answers Your Questions!
=================================
By dr.debug @ filegate.net
How do I make a point list for my nodelist?
You'd just create a file with your node listed as the Boss at
the top of the file, and list your points underneath your
listing. Each entry in the list should be in the normal format
of a nodelist line:
,,,,,-Unpublished-,,
File:
// Begin POINTS.LST
Boss,1:261/38,
Point,1,Prism's_point,Windsor_NY,Janis_Kracht,-Unpublished-,9600
Point,2,list-node,Windsor_NY,Janis_Kracht,-Unpublished-,9600
// End POINTS.LST
With BBBS you include the name of the file in external.bbb in the
[nodelist] section, and bbbs will compile the file along with
your nodediff each week. With Binkley-term, you'd probably use
something like Xlaxdiff or Parselist, etc. to compile the
nodelist and diff. and point list. With BinkD, just include the
list in your list of nodes.
Regards,
Doc
Page 3
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
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-=-=-=-=-=-
F O O D Even sysops have to eat!
-=-=-=-=-=-
By Janis Kracht, 1:261/38
My Mom is staying with Ron and I until October, and it's great
having her here! We always got along very well. I am the #3
"child" of 6 so I suppose she had more time to fuss over me (g)
and she did indeed fuss over me as I was growing up.. Modeling lessons,
horse-backriding lessons ....you know all the important things (bg).
Seriously, she made sure anything I wanted to try was available
to me. We cooked together a lot and enjoyed writing a cookbook
together years ago. It was my mom who introduced me to my
favorite cookbook, "The Joy Of Cooking" when I was very very
young. It was first written by Irma Rombauer, then
continued by every generation of the Rombauer family afterward.
"The Joy of Cooking" was first published in 1932 - this is the
original brownie recipe that still remains in the current version
:) Irma and her daughter and all in the family were quite amazing
but down to earth cooks. Her grandson now carries on the tradition.
Our cookbook is nowhere as all-inclusive as the Joy is, the Joy
being encyclopedic in it's content concerning cooking, canning,
preparation and serving of food, but ours is very authentic and
good if you want to know about Italian cooking in North America. An
interesting note about the Joy.. when Irma's grandson took over
production of the cookbook and released his version with a great
deal of changes, 'Joy of Cooking''s readership essentially
rebelled! He'd taken out some of people's most treasured portions,
and recipes and helpful sections. Well you can imagine that a new
version was soon but out that included all of that again (grin).
Brownies Cockaigne
1/2 c. unsalted butter (1 stick)
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan over low
heat (best over water). Once completely melted, take it off the
burner and cool.
4 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
Beat until eggs and salt until light and fluffy. Gradually add
the sugar and vanilla while continuing to beat until thick.
Switch to a wood spoon or rubber spatula and stir in cooled
chocolate until just combined. Stir in flour and chopped nuts
Pour batter into a greased baking pan lined with foil (9×13 pan
for chewy brownies and 9×9 pan for cakey brownies) and bake at
350 F for 25 minutes.
=#=
Page 4
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
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The Slightly Crusty Sysop
by Sean Dennis, 1:18/200
July 2009
-=-=-=-=-
After last month's column and the aftermath I suffered through
because of it, I'll take a decidedly lighter tone with this
month's column and not because I'm capitulating really -- just
trying to be a nicer guy.
Speaking of nicer, I can tell I'm getting older. I finally broke
down and bought me a pair of reading glasses. Nothing expensive
of course; I paid $10 for a pair at the Walgreens three blocks
from my house. I guess it's just admitting to myself I'm not
getting any younger, but I find that my skin fits more
comfortably these days and I tend to find enjoyment in life's
little pleasures such as a early morning cup of tea out on my
front porch.
My front porch faces south and there are plenty of lovely
mountains to look at. It's a little noisy though as the American
Water Heater Company is about a quarter-mile south of me and when
they're busy doing what they do, there's a loud din of machinery
and fans on through the night. But it's good to see people are
still working in this rough economy and it makes me think that my
wife and I are lucky because we both have full-time jobs. We
certainly couldn't make it on what I make alone, so I try not to
complain too much about my work.
On to this month's main subject: finding the positive things in
Fidonet. They're there, buried under all the backbiting, apathy,
racism, inanity, pedantantry and the other "pleasant" things that
run amok in certain corners of Fidonet. But, if you look, there
are plenty of good places in Fidonet . . . they tend to go
undiscovered due to the bad signal-to-noise ratio Fight-O tends
to generate.
There's echoes that are useful and entertaining, such as one I've
been in a while: COOKING (National Cooking Echo). While there
are disagreements and an occasional flare-up (I've caused one
myself, go figure), it's a pleasant place to be. Lots of good
chit-chat and knowledge about places far away from home from the
many travelogues posted by the world travelers in the echo and
their culinary adventures. Of course, there's plenty of recipes
to be had. However, from what I understand, there is a paticular
fruit, the durian, that is terribly infamous in the echo.
Two that I carry for one of my users and lurk in are ASIAN_LINK
and MEMORIES. There are many interesting discourses and tangents
to be had in both echoes about things sundry and unusual.
I quit participating in some of the political echoes I used to be
in and was in for a very long time due to the tone the echoes
were taking. Sadly, when it comes to the three "no-nos" of sex,
religion and politics, those three are the most divisive subjects
that cause the most problems in Fidonet (leaving out egos and
pure idiocy). With the way my life's been turning, I've tried to
turn a new leaf and be a nicer person although with my last
column you'd not think that. I still am very strongly
opinionated and don't have a problem telling people what I think.
Okay, back to the suject at hand. Another good thing in Fidonet
is the friendships that have been made. Some of these people
I've talked with have known each other for two decades or more
because of Fidonet. Fidonet played a very important part in my
meeting my future wife (we'd met online). I have made life-long
friends in Fidonet and the BBS scene in general. Even though
it's difficult to put vocal inflection into text, after you've
been talking to someone for a decade, you tend to get what
they're saying.
There's something to be said of the technology also. After
twenty-five years, the technology still works quite well even
though there's no real "standards" in Fidonet, just a group
consensus (which would make it a pseudo-standard I guess?). Yet
we, as a group, have adapted to the Internet and have used it to
our advantage. It is quite easy to telnet to a BBS now instead
of calling one over dialup although I have seen a comeback to the
good ol' POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) days. I now feed a few
BBS systems via POTS for my own FTN network and I am considering
getting my Fidonet mail via POTS! I know, I'm a crazy coot, but
you know, if it ain't broke . . .
That brings me to my next point of Fidonet's vitality and reason
to exist: community. I don't give a damn what these Internet
gurus think but a web-based community just does not have the same
warmth that a long-visited Fidonet echo (conference) has. Even
though people are trying to gate Fidonet to the Internet --
something I vehemently oppose -- there is still a real sense of
community. I know that if I need help on something that there is
someone I know in Fidonet who can help me directly. If I know
them well enough, I can even call them voice if it's a real
emergency.
There are a lot of smart people in Fidonet still that can
contribute in ways that still are unheard of out in the "wild
blue yonder" of the World Wide Web (Wait?). There's also not all
the trash the Web washes up -- mainly because most of those
idiots couldn't figure out how to use a text menu if their life
depended on it . . . which I think is a good thing for our
community in general. God forbid that because we're a text-based
community that we're not thriving in this day and age.
In closing, there are a lot of good things that Fidonet can
provide. I see the problem is putting aside our cultural
differences and our fore- gone conclusions about Zone 1 and Zone
2 sysops and try to forge on to let Fidonet live another
twenty-five years. Wishful thinking, yes, but it's a goal we
could all work towards.
As always, comments about my comments are welcome. You can send
them to me via routed netmail to 1:18/200 (preferred) or email
them to me at sean@nsbbs.info (please put "Crusty Comments" as
the subject line to get my attention). If you want to send a
rebuttal, do so and I will publish it under my byline in the next
issue of the 'Gazette.
Page 5
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
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The Old School Toolbox
By Richard Webb, 1:116/901
As promised, we're going to have a look at how fidonet
mailers get their work done in this column. so, if you've been
wondering about some of those little arcane details of your
mailer's operation we'll help you understand what's happening
behind the curtain, at least when it comes to mail routing and
trafic control.
FIdonet mailers have come in two basic flavors as far back as
I can remember. The binkleyterm docs call them static and dynamic
mailers. A friend back in central Iowa called them smart and
brain dead. He referred to the dynamic mailers as smart mailers,
and the static mailers as brain dead. I'm not sure the analogy
fits, but in some aspect it was apropos.
Often documentation for software that handles ftn style mail
refers to them in somewhat different terminology. Mail
processing software documentation often refers to them as arcmail
attach mailers, or binkley style mailers. Just to keep our
terminology clear when referring to them I'll always refer to the
arcmail attach mailer as the dynamic mailer, and the binkley
style as the static. So, now that we've got the terminology usage
straight, at least for purposes of my writing we're ready to
delve into how they operate.
Dynamic mailers are called arcmail attach mailers because every
file that is to be sent will be accompanied by a message. THat
message may not have any text in the body, but the subject line
will contain the name of the file to be sent, and the path to it,
i.e. f:\files\pascal\mycode.zip etc.
When a connection is established with the system for which the
file is destined it will be sent. If the system receiving the
file is configured accordingly the empty netmail will be deleted
before the sysop ever encounters it, but the file the empty mail
referenced will be in his inbound waiting for him.
Why are they called dynamic mailers? Dynamic mailers get this
label because they are designed to handle all aspects of mail
handling. You define how mail is routed via the mailer itself.
The dynamic mailer needs to be configured for all aspects of
your system's operation. IT needs to know to whom you connect,
and how mail should be routed through those connections. IT needs
to know whether those connections will initiate the connection to
pick up waiting mail, or whether it should initiate the
connection. It handles all aspects of scheduling and mail
routing.
A dynamic mailer requires only one outbound for all zones,
and of course access to your primary netmail directory. When your
echomail processor packs echomail to be sent an empty netmail
will be placed in your primary netmail directory pointing to the
bundle name, and the path to it as in the earlier example. Even
if you use other message storage formats, i.e. squish or jam
format message bases for your other areas your primary netmail
area *must* be a *.msg format area.
When using a dynamic mailer you may see packets rebuilt multiple
times as they will be rebuilt at every new mail schedule event to
account for any differences in routing that may be required.
Examples of dynamic mailers in use in today's FIdonet are
Frontdoor, intermail, and the mailer functions of bbbs. FrontDoor
and BBBS are quite popular, and are configured using a menu
driven interface.
Only one mailer I'm aware of doesn't fit either category.
D'Bridge uses a proprietary method of handling mail which is
neither arcmail attach nor binkley style static mailer. It
offers built in tosser and other echomail processing features, a
reader/editor and more. Nick Andre its current author provided me
the following:
D'Bridge is an "all-in-one" product. The mailer, tosser,
message editor, BinKD and Internet Email/Usenet gating features
are all internally tied-in together. Nothing is seperate.
D'Bridge supports for SMS, so Apple Iphone and BlackBerry users
can send/receive Fido Netmail and Echomail using their devices.
All this capability and ease of setup make it a good choice for
the fidonet novice, and many old hands seem to prefer it as well.
It will handle mail transfers using popular internet transfer
protocols as well as supports regular modems. If writing batch
files and the other fidonet arcana aren't your bag but you'd like
to offer fidonet echomail on your web site it's a good choice for
a mailer as well. Newcomers who wish to merge their web-based
forums with a fidonet echo should make contact with the author
and discuss their needs with him. for more information contact
Nick Andre at 1:229/426.
The static mailer uses file names and subdirectories to
control all traffic. It might know about systems with which you
connect, but does nothing with the mail sent and received. All
other aspects of mail management such as routing are handled by
other software. All your static mailer needs to know about are
your nodelist, and scheduling. Define your schedules and give it
a usable version of the nodelist and it's ready to go. We'll look
at an example shortly. so, if you've been wondering about all the
arcane workings of your static mailer don't jump to that next
article just yet, because we're going to endeavor to explain what
all those directories and strange files you see are about.
Here's a simple routing example for you. You connect with a
system which only accepts mail during zmh. The rest of the day
you place mail for that node on hold, there for the other system
to pick up if it connects with yours. During zmh however you
change mail for that system from hold to crash so that your
system will initiate a connect with it. Your dynamic mailer will
handle this internally. The static mailer will require other
software to perform this task for you. Using a dynamic mailer
affords you more choices when it comes to echomail processors.
The mailer after all has facilities to handle all aspects of mail
handling for you. If you wish to use some echomail processors
with static mailers you'll need to use additional software to
bridge the capability gap. We'll get back to this point later.
Static mailers, as noted utilize file names and
subdirectories to control traffic. All the horsepower for
defining how mail is handled is in the mail processor you employ.
Unlike your dynamic mailer your static mailer doesn't use those
empty mails to indicate that a file should be sent. Except for
some convenience features offered by your mailer the static
mailer does nothing with your primary netmail area directly.
However, you may need to create more than one outbound directory
if you exchange mail with multiple zones. IF you serve 4d points
you'll also want subdirectories for these.
Now it's time to look at an example. Let us say that you are a
member of fidonet zone 1, but you belong to another net which
uses zone 73 addresses. LEt us say that your primary outbound is
d:\mailer\out for your zone 1 mail.
When you first start transacting sessions with zone 73
addresses you'll want to see that a directory is created off your
mailer directory with a name of out.049 because 49 is the
hexidecimal representation of 73. NOte the leading zero. SO, you
would have two outbounds off your mailer directory. YOu'd have
just plain out for your primary address, and out.049 for your
zone 73 mail. Many mail processors that fully support static
mailers will create needed subdirectories for you, and manage
them. In most cases, no human intervention will be required.
Note that static mailers can transact mail with zones up to 4095.
Now to make things more interesting let's say that your
zone 73 address is 73:216/45. You serve a few 4d points for your
zone 73 network. THis means that below out.049 you would have a
subdirectory 00d8002d.pnt, so the path to it would be
d:\mailer\out.049\00d8002d.pnt and this would contain mail
archives and flo files destined for your points. Oops, did I
confuse you? we'll talk about flo files shortly.
File naming conventions tell you the flavor of the mail to be
sent. LEt's first look at raw pkt files. THese will be named
*.out for normal flavored pkts. A packet which has the hold bit
set will be *.hut, *.cut for crash flavored. these files will be
converted by the mailer to *.pkt files which the mail tosser on
the receiving end will recognize. so, let us say that in your
outbound directory you have a regular mail packet with a crash
message for our good editor. THis file would be in your zone 1
outbound and named 01050026.cut which indicates this is a crash
flavored packet. Mail archives, file attaches and requests are
handled in a different manner.
Going with the flo: Instead of the empty netmail file attach to
send your echomail bundle and other files the static mailer uses
what we'll call flo files. You'll see these in all your outbound
directories. they may be named *.clo for crash flavored sends,
*.flo for normal, and *.hlo for files and mail which is placed on
hold. I've been told you might see *.dlo for direct, but as I
understand it direct isn't widely used or understood as well by
many mail processors designed with functionality for static
mailers. At least this seems true of squish when run in this
manner.
These flow files are named by hexidecimal representations of
net and node with leading zeroes. A flo file destined for my
system would be in your directory for zone 1 if your primary
address were in a different zone and would be named 00740385 74
being hexidecimal representation of 116 and 385 representing 901
in hex.
If you were to open one of these flo files with your text editor
you'd find path and file names to be sent on the next connection
with the designated system. You'll also note some additional
characters, the ^ and # character. The # will precede mail
bundles, and indicates to your mailer that the file marked thus
will be truncated to zero bytes when transmission completed. this
helps your mail processing software with its housekeeping. The ^
indicates to the mailer that the file should be deleted after
transmission. YOu might see this indicator on a .tic file if you
have file echo downlinks or submit files to file distribution
echoes.
More about those mail bundles: Your mail processor will name
archive bundles of echomail and routed netmail where appropriate
utilizing extensions for days of the week, i.e. .su* .mo* .tu*
.we* .th* .fr* .sa* with the asterisk being a digit 0 through 9.
NOw you know why your mailer will wish to truncate those archives
to zero byte files. Back in the days of pots and rigid mail
schedules some systems might only process incoming mail at
certain times of the day. IF your mail processor sent to a system
which did this and duplicated a file name some mail would by
necessity be destroyed. HEnce your mailer truncates these mail
bundles to zero bytes, the entry remains in the directory and
your mail processor will increment the archive name by one if it
exports mail to that system again today. IF you use a static
mailer and would like further explanation of all this traffic and
file management and your mailer download the binkleyterm
documentation from your favorite source. THe binkleyterm docs do
a very good job of explaning all this arcana in a fairly readable
manner.
BinkD acts in a similar manner to static mailers, except for
"mailbox" subdirectories for systems that it regularly connects
with. Binkd protocol is widely supported in many modern dynamic
mailers however. This offers choices for those who prefer
software with menu driven configuration and setup over text
files.
OUR discussion of housekeeping for static mailers is not yet
complete. We still must discuss inbound subdirectories and their
functions.
Most modern mailers offer a three tiered approach for
handling incoming mail. when coupled with the security features
of a compatible mail processor a very secure system would result.
The three categories your mailer used to decide which directory
should receive incoming mail and files is quite simple. AT the
lowest security level are systems unknown to yours, i.e. not
listed in your nodelist. THIs might include points of other
systems or a new system who had not yet made it into the
distribution nodelist.
The second level is the known level, or systems that your mailer
could find in its nodelist. Hopefully this didn't include your
points and other regular links because if implemented correctly
your points would be in the highest level, which is protected.
Systems in the protected group ar those with which you've
established session passwords.
When coupled with a mail processor that properly supports
this security scheme the sysop can define rules such as allowing
no archives to be imported from the lowest security class, or no
echomail from either the lowest or the middle level, etc.
The only time when this security scheme might not work as
expected is when your mailer falls back to fts-001 sessions from
emsi, as session password information is not exchanged during the
handshake. DUring an fts-001 session no password information is
received until the first packet is received. some static mailers
will however move that packet to the proper inbound when
completely received.
This writer drew heavily from documentation for binkleyterm and
squish to describe the operation of static mailers. Nick Andre
provided information on d'Bridge. Janis provided info on bbbs,
and my good friend and uplink Mark LEwis provided information on
a variety of mailers I'm not familiar with. Thanks all for your
assistance.
Coming in the next column: A slight departure from old school
tools but old school radio. Various strategies for improving your
wireless net range, and why you might not see the benefit you
expect.
Page 6
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III Number V July 2009
======================================================================
BBS GAMECORNER: Original BackBone/FDN Coordinator CROSSWORD
By Janis Kracht
Answers that are two names will have no space, like "JANISKRACHT", etc.
[1]
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[ ] [ ] [7] [ ] [ ]
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[ ] [ ] [8][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
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[9][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] [ ]
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[10][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] [ ]
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[11][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][12][ ]
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[13][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
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[14][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
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ACROSS DOWN
2 DDS 1 TICK v. 2.1.10
4 WIN-Net 3 SDS Daddy
5 Northern Star 4 HAM FDN
8 Programmer's Distribution Network 6 Util*Net
9 ANSI Club 7 PASCAL-Net
10 DVNet 12 FLEA
11 Southern Star
13 Western Star
14 SDN Daddy
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[ARTICLES]
FidoGazette: Where it started... and where we might be going
By Janis Kracht
The FidoGazette started a while ago when Nick Kill and I were
discusing the idea of starting a journal for Fidonet that would
be of interest to SysOps new and old, something that might even
attract new users to our network. We had plans to create one
with Nick as Editor and publisher with lots of bells and
whistles, not your typical ascii text file in other words
(smile). We were going to create a journal with one of those
tools like Drupal, etc. which can be pretty nice.
While that didn't work out due to time constraints back then,
Nick is still planning on helping out by hosting a web page as
soon as I get him some more info ... should be a really neat
site. From there, I think going to production to something like
an additional type graphical online, etc. copy would be interesting.
We'd keep the ascii text file as well, but add an additional
version to distribution.
That would be distributed a different file echo I think to allow
people to select which version they wanted, though file sizes are
so minimal, I don't think that would really be a big concern
these days.
Your comments are welcome, and important btw, so feel free to
send a post to fidogazette@filegate.net or post in the fidogazette
echo and let me know what you think about that idea.
=#=
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Some Things Never Change
By Michael Aurelio, 1:116/19
Have you ever been in a room of your peers and found that most of
the conversations are being dominated by a select few?
Is that because they are the only ones that are correct on their
assessment of world events and theology, or is it that they are
the only ones not willing to accept that other opinions might
have merit?
To these select few, having the last word far outweighs any other
aspect of conversation because it gives them closure. Somehow the
fact that they were the last one to speak on a subject gives them
a feeling of self-worth, regardless of the fact that their boasts
contain little or no truth.
A common thread in history has always been that the most dominant
dictator is the one that screams the loudest, longest and repeats
their propaganda to the masses adnauseam, regardless of the fact
that their boasts contain little or no truth.
They promote equal rights and tolerance to all groups and
opinions, as long as theirs is dominant and the moment it appears that their
theology has taken a back seat to someone else's, they scream loud
and long until their voice is the last one heard. After all, if they were the last person
to speak on a subject regardless of truthful content or the lack thereof,
they must be correct, right?
No names have been mentioned in this brief article because it
applies to every one of us, myself included. Many of us need to
come down off of our self-righteous soap boxes and admit that
other opinions matter, even if those opinions have a different
flavour.
If anyone is offended by this article, perhaps they
should take a moment to examine their own motives before speaking
or writing an opposing view. Sometimes, it is better to be silent
and to be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth and
remove all doubt.
In the end only one truth will remain, and those who see the
truth, understand it and accept it, will be set free by it.
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BBS GameCorner BACKBONE/FDN Coordinator CrossWord Puzzle Solution
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[B]
[A][L][D][A][V][E][N][P][O][R][T]
[R] [O]
[L][A][R][R][Y][M][U][N][D][Y] [M]
[E] [Y] [H]
[E] [G][E][O][R][G][E][P][E][A][C][E]
[L] [E] [N] [J]
[L] [L] [M] [D] [E]
[A] [L] [A] [R] [R]
[I] [E] [E][R][I][K][V][A][N][R][I][P][E][R]
[R] [R] [C] [C] [Y]
[D] [V] [K] [S]
[A] [S] [E]
[N] [W]
[K][E][V][I][N][S][L][I][V][E][L][Y] [A]
[E] [R]
[P][E][T][E][R][S][T][U][R][N] [D]
[V]
[J][O][H][N][S][O][U][V][E][S][T][R][E]
[N] [O]
[N]
[B]
[D][A][V][E][J][A][M][E][S]
[M]
[R][A][Y][K][A][L][I][S][S]
[S]
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INFO:
Where to Send Your Articles
Unlike most editors, I surely do not mind running my mouth when
there is a sparcity of articles for the 'zine. I'd MUCH rather
you sent in material but I think until someone starts a
discussion you feel like commenting about, you evil dullards
(just kidding!!!) will no doubt complain about "no issues" (grin)
So I will fill these issues with my meanderings and thoughts and
hopefully we will grow into something of consequence here :)
Don't be offended.. write an article!
If you WOULD like to submit an article and prove me wrong about
the dullard aspect of you guys and gals (bg), feel free to drop
your article off at:
By email attach to address: janis@filegate.net
Fidonet attach: Janis Kracht 1:261/38 Modem: 607-655-5652
1:261/100 filegate.net via telnet mailer
filegate.net via binkp mailer (don't send
articles as routed attaches, send them
direct to filegate.net).
Give it a title, sign your name and network address if you have
one and send it along!
Don't worry about the format, I can take anything you send me
and mutilate it further as you can see above. Linux is nice
that way (g). Spell checking your own work will help though
(something I'm typically guilty of (g)).
More specifics with this issue :)
To send a question to Dr. Debug, email a question to
dr.debug@filegate.net or post in the fidogazette echo! :)
To send a listing to the fidogazette internet bbs list, send your
bbs listing to bbslist@filegate.net or post it in the fidogazette
echo! :)
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