T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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Contents....................................................(i)
Editorial:..................................................(1)
New Members/In the Works/Returning Members.................(2)
FTSC Election..............................................(2)
FTSC Election Time Frame...................................(2)
FidoGazette BBS List.......................................(3)
Dr.Debug Answers Your Questions............................(4)
FOOD.......................................................(5)
The Old School Toolbox: ...................................(6)
Info (Where to Send Articles)..............................(7)
Page i
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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Editorial:
=========
I was contacted this month by a student at Oxford University in
England. He's writing his dissertation for his doctorate degree on
the early days of Fidonet. I'm only aware of one chapter of his
dissertation at this point, but that alone is very interesting,
since it examines the growth of Fidonet in the early years of
1984-1990 throughout Zone 1.
I was very happy to help by sending all the information I could about
those early days. I myself joined Fidonet in 1989, at my son's
insistence. Griff, the doctoral candidate, was very interested in
this as one aspect of his study is how people 'heard' about Fidonet,
how they joined, etc., was it by word of mouth, newspapers, magazines,
or what? After they joined he wondered, why did they stay? Why did
some leave? All questions a socialogist would ask (g). Hopefully his
study will provide some interesting answers.
I found it interesting that Griff hadn't initially considered the
number of returning SysOps we see coming back to Fidonet, or the new
ones who'd joined us recently, and so I expect Griff will expand or
add some chapters to include this information.
At this point, he is working with a small amount of echomail traffic
one person sent him from one month's backup in 1993. That's great,
and Griff is very thankful for that! But Griff is looking for
archives of echomail from the period of 1984-1995. If you have any
such dated archives of echomail, logs, stored backups, qwk packets,
that you can get at (please don't contact me and tell me you have a
ton that are inaccessable to you (vbg!)), let me know! I think this
project is worthwhile in that it documents our beginnings, something
which people have tried to do in film (Jason Scott). It's something
the world ought to know about as well, I think :) "The Network"
didn't start with "the INTERNET" for some people, and this doctoral
study will help to make people more aware of that.
-#-
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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New & Returning Members
============================
By Janis KrachtM
In the Works:
===========
Kelly Beam R15, Peoria, Arizona USA
Kevin Nunn R19, McAllen, Texas USA
=#=
=============
FTSC Election
=============
FTSC standing membership election. Call for nominations
================================================================
An election for FTSC standing members starts on Sunday 27th of
September 2009 at 20:00 UTC..
As per FTA-1000.002 the number of FTSC members should be no less
than 7 and no more than 30. Of the present 16 members, 7 of them
had their term expire on August 17th 2009. That leaves room for a
maximum of 30-(16-7)=21 new members to be elected.
From FTS-1001.005
3.2 FTSC Standing Members
-------------------------
FTSC members are appointed for a two year renewable term. [50 %
of appointments on initial formation of the FTSC shall be for a 3
year renewable term, to ensure continuity of the Committee on
expiry of the terms.]
To be selected as a FTSC member, an individual must be a Fidonet
node, and should be actively involved in Fidonet. Examples
include having put out a Fidonet-related product or having updated
a product in the preceding two years, or having experience as a
Coordinator, Echomail Coordinator or mail or file Hub.
Standing members may be nominated Fidonet-wide by all of the
following methods:
1. Any RC or REC.
2. A nominating committee established for the purpose by the FTSC.
3. A nominating committee established for the purpose by the ZCC.
A nominating committee may not consist of any current member or
officer of the FTSC.
Standing members are appointed on the basis of a vote by all RCs
and RECs who are nodelisted as holding those positions at the time
the nominations are published. A successful candidate must
receive approval by a majority of votes.
Publication of the nomination and the voting procedure, and
posting of RC and REC votes, shall take place openly in the
FTSC_PUBLIC echo, and voting shall close three weeks after
publication of the vote.
In accordance with FTA-1001 3.2.2 I hereby appoint a nominating
committee that, with the exceoption of the FTSC administrator,
consists of the FTSC members who's term ended on august 17 and who
have indicated to be available for another term.
These are:
Andrew Clarke 3:633/267
Scott Little 3:712/848
The status of RC's and REC's will be determined by nodelist.268 as
issued by the ZC in the zone where they reside.
All RCs, RECs and members of the nominating committee are hereby
invited to nominate members. Nominations may be posted in the
FTSC_PUBLIC echo or in netmail/e-mail to the FTSC adminstrator.
(2:2/20, 2:280/5555 or administrator at ftsc dot org) Nominations
received by netmail or e-mail will be posted in FTSC_PUBLIC.
Nominations start at Sunday, September 27, 2009. 20:00 UTC and end
at Sunday October 18th 2009, 20:00 UTC.
Nominators are advised to sound out prospective nominees before
filing a nomination. There is little or no point in nominating
someone that has not shown interest and expressed willingness to
accept. Members of the FTSC appointed nominating committee may self
nominate.
Michiel van der Vlist
FTSC Administrator
=#=
FTSC standing member election, time frame
=========================================
Submission of nominations:
Sunday, Sept 27 2009, 20:00 UTC - Sunday, Oct 18
2009, 20:00 UTC
Acceptance of nominations by candidates:
Right after nomination - Sunday, Oct 25, 20:00 UTC
Candidates MUST accept in FTSC_PUBLIC in order to
qualify, with the exception of self nominees.
Candidates MAY campaign in FTSC_PUBLIC right after
accepting their nomination. Everyone may challenge
the candidates.
Submission of votes:
Sunday, Oct 25, 20:00 UTC - Sunday, Nov 8 2009,
20:00 UTC
Contesting of votes:
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009, 20:00 UTC -
Sunday, Nov 15 2009, 20:00 UTC
If no contest: installation of new members:
Monday Nov 16.
Michiel van der Vlist
FTSC Administrator
=#=
Page 2
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 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.
SBBS files available.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Page 3
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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=================================
Dr. DeBug Answers Your Questions!
=================================
By dr.debug @ filegate.net
Q. In linux, how can I see the contents of a gzip'd file like I can
in DOS with programs like Vern Buerg's LIST?? I really miss it!
There's more than less:
===============================
You can use the zless command - it has the same options as the
less command, but works on gziped files to page through files
without extracting the files.
For files that are tar.gzip'ed, you can use this command line:
tar --to-stdout -zxf bmail-1.3.tar.gz | less
Rather than have to remember that string, you can assign it to an
environment variable like so:
export LESSOPEN="|tar --to-stdout -zxf %s"
The above sets less to automatically display the contents of a
gzip'd file on standard output.
Lynx is more than a browser:
===========================
You can also use the lynx program to look at files in a directory..
this great program will let you zip, rename, move, edit, download, upload
and more.
For example, to view the files in the /home/bbbs/files directory,
type:
bbs@filegate.net$ cd /home/bbbs/files
bbs@filegate.net$ lynx .
(lynx "period")
Use the arrow keys to move through the directory. You can also
look at the help (?) screens to see some of the keyboard options of
lynx. There are some of interest under DIRED (directory commands)
shown here in Figure 1:
============================================================
DIRED: c - Create a new file
d - Download selected file
e - Edit selected file
f - Show a full menu of options for current file
m - Modify the name or location of selected file
r - Remove selected file
t - Tag highlighted file
u - Upload a file into the current directory
=Figure 1=================================================
bbbs@filegate.net$ lynx .
======================================================
/home/bbbs/october2009/directory
Current directory is /home/bbbs/october2009
drwxr-x--- 317 bbs bbs 126976 Oct 4 16:55 ../
-rw-r----- 1 bbs bbs 1030 Sep 21 09:58 [contents.txt]
-rw-r----- 1 bbs bbs 2778 Sep 18 16:39 recipe.txt
-rw-r----- 1 bbs bbs 41119 Sep 21 09:55 fgazv3n4.nws
-rw-r----- 1 bbs bbs 45011 Sep 21 09:55 fgazv3n5.nws
-rw-r----- 1 bbs bbs 45624 Sep 21 09:55 fgazv3n6.nws
-rw-r----- 1 bbs bbs 38146 Sep 21 09:55 fgazv3n7.nws
Commands: Use arrow keys to move, '?' for help,'q' to quit, '\<-' to go back
Arrow keys: Up and Down to move. Right to follow a link; Left to go back.
C)reate D)ownload E)dit F)ull menu M)odify R)emove T)ag U)pload
(f)
=Figure 2================================================
In Figure 2 above, the directory contents are shown in Lynx. The
file contents.txt is selected by using the arrow keys to highlight
the file. When you press f, the file options are displayed for that
file, see Figure 3 below:
==========================================================
Current directory: /home/bbbs/october2009
Current selection: /home/bbbs/october2009/contents.txt
Change directory
New File (in current directory)
New Directory (in current directory)
Modify File Name (of current selection)
Modify File Permissions (of current selection)
Change Location (of selected file)
Remove File (current selection)
UUDecode (current selection)
Compress (using Unix compress)
Compress (using gzip)
[Compress (using zip)]
Commands: Use arrow keys to move, '?' for help,'q' to quit,'\<-' to go back.
Arrow keys: Up and Down to move. Right to follow a link; Left to go back.
H)elp O)ptions P)rint G)o M)ain screen Q)uit /=search
[delete]=history list
=Figure 3=====================================================
If you move the highlight with the arrow keys, you can select the
type of compression you would like to use (zip is selected above).
When you press enter in the DIRED menu, the file is automatically
zipped (or whatever type compression you've selected, and saved in
the current directory.
-rw-r--r-- 1 bbs bbs 498 2009-10-04 17:10 contents.txt.zip
Now you can rename it if you'd like to.
-#-
Page 4
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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-=-=-=-=-=-
F O O D Even sysops have to eat!
-=-=-=-=-=-
By Janis Kracht, 1:261/38
Want to contribute something here? Send your submission to fidogazette
'at' filegate.net or email janis at filegate.net, and it will get
published here in the next issue :)
Dan Ceppa sent this one in, Thanks again Dan!
Dan says, "Had a really good one in Montana. I'm not sure if this
will duplicate, but, who knows?"
Sour Cream & Raisin Pie with Meringue
=====================================
Source: Cooking at a Glance - Pies & Pastries
Active Time: 30 Minutes
Total Time: 6 Hours 10 Minutes
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Create a decorative meringue topping by piping strips of the meringue through a
pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS
For Pie:
1 cup raisins
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups dairy sour cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Pastry for Single-Crust Pie
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
Other necessary recipes:
Basic Pie Pastry
Sour Cream & Raisin Pie with Meringue Recipe at Cooking.com
DIRECTIONS
FOR PIE: In a small saucepan add enough water to raisins to
cover. Bring to boiling. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 5
minutes. Drain raisins; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl use a
rotary beater or wire whisk to lightly beat egg yolks just till
mixed. Stir in sour cream, sugar, milk, flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon,
the nutmeg, cloves, and raisins. Set aside. Prepare pastry as
directed, except stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour and
salt. Roll out and line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Trim and
crimp edge of pastry, or attach cutouts. Pour raisin mixture into
pastry shell. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil.
Bake in a preheated 375X oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake
20-25 minutes more, or till center appears nearly set when shaken.
Remove pie and reduce oven temperature to 350X.
FOR MERINGUE: In a mixing bowl combine egg whites, vanilla, and
cream of tartar. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed about
1 minute, or till soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add the
sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high speed about 4 minutes
more, or till mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks (tips stand
straight) and sugar completely dissolves. Immediately spread
meringue over hot pie filling, carefully spreading to edge of pastry
to seal and prevent shrinkage. Bake in the 350X oven for 15
minutes. Cool on a rack for 1 hour. Chill 3-6 hours before
serving. Store in the refrigerator.
Recipe reprinted by permission of Weldon Owen. All rights reserved.
Date Added: 01/01/2008
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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=======================
|The Old School Toolbox|
=======================
By RIchard Webb, 1:116/901
Is your favorite echo an orphan?
I've talked a bit in this column about using automation to get more
out of your fidonet system and to make some of your daily net life a
bit easier. Now however we have a departure from purely technical
topics in this column as all the automation and other technical
capabilities aren't worth much if there's no human interaction going
on. After all, we participate in fidonet to interact with other
humans.
What drew you to fidonet when you first discovered it? For most of
us it was the human interaction made manifest in echomail conferences
on topics of interest.
We've all seen it before. You find an interesting appearing echo in
the listing of backbone echoes or those available on your favorite
bbs. You turn on the echo with areafix if you're a system or point
op, or you tag it for download in your qwk packets. Then along with
your other echoes you get any messages posted to it. But, there never
seem to be any. Nobody posts. No moderator posts rules on an
occasional basis, no conversation is taking place.
So, you post a message relevant to the topic of the echo hoping
to get a bit of conversation started, or because there's some
information you'd really like to find on the topic. Maybe you get one
or two responses, then conversation dries up again.
Conferences that fit this description usually find their way
eventually to the attention of the backbone administrators. If they're
active conferences they're listed in one file. If inactive they're
listed in another, and candidates for being dropped if after a few
months there is no activity in the conference. A good example of one
of these conferences is the fidonet diabetes conference, still listed
in the echolist, but no longer distributed on the fidonet backbone due
to inactivity.
How do you avoid your favorite echomail conference falling into
distribution limbo? Post a message relevant to the topic of the echo
occasionally. IF you're the moderator of record, post a brief intro to
the conference for newcomers periodically, maybe some simple rules and
guidelines for participants as well. Summarize an article you found
in a publication relating to the topic, etc. A little bit of coherent
activity can keep your favorite echo alive, and in fact might even
revive it.
Since the focus of this column is on tools let's first discuss
tools available to both moderators and users when it comes to managing
their echomail lives. Echomail conference moderators should already be
aware of these, but the bbs user or fairly new point or node operator
might not be. IF you're an old hand this column isn't going to tell
you anything you didn't already know, but stay tuned for the second
installment, it may be useful to you.
Users and sysops alike can benefit from using the tools described
here. IF you're a bbs user and can't find them on your favorite
fidonet board ask your sysop where and how to locate them. They're not
hard to use, no arcane jargon and terminology is needed to understand
what they tell you. Just download the appropriate files and go at it
with your text viewer of choice.
First there is the echolist, maintained by Tom Lacosta it is
addressable automatically at a designated fidonet address or via
internet email. For users it can probably be found somewhere in your
sysop's file areas as elis followed by a four digit number
corresponding with the month and year of issuance. The September 2009
echolist for example would be found as elis0909.zip and is distributed
in a file echo called echolist. Some systems may combine the echolist
file echo with other echomail related file areas, so if you can't find
it ask your sysop.
Within the echolist archive that you download you'll find text
files on how the echolist works and how to use it, as well as
eltag.txt and elmod.txt which are listings of echomail area tags and
moderators. You'll also find a listing of which conferences have
rules on file with the echolist and when those rules were last updated
there. You'll also find another zip archive inside, which contains all
the rules files that are on file with the echolist. IN fact, you'll
find rules files inside for echomail conferences that haven't been
distributed now for a few years \.
Not all of the echomail conferences listed in the echolist are
fidonet echoes. A good number of them pertain to another network
called familynet. But, more important to you, the fidonet participant
is the fact that not all of the echomail conferences listed in the
echolist are distributed on the backbone here in North America. Some
might not be distributed by any of the backbones throughout the world,
but are under private distribution.
What the echolist can do for moderators and backbone
administrators is assist them in determining the rightful moderator of
an echomail conference and resolve questions of duplicate echo tags if
there is such a question. This is why even those who distribute
echomail conferences privately would wish to list them with the
echolist. Still, it's a good resource if you're looking for a
possible echomail conference on a topic of interest to you.
You've found a conference of interest but it doesn't appear to be
carried on your local board. Before asking your sysop if he/she can
get it for you there are a couple tools you need to use first to see
if asking your sysop to bring it in for you is worthwhile.
The next tools we're going to want to use come from the backbone
file area. Again this may be combined with other file areas on your
host's system, so if you don't find them, ask. There are three in
number. The one you'll want to reach for first is backbone.na which
lists all echomail conference currently carried and considered to be
active on the North American Backbone. This is a simple ascii text
file with the echotag on the left side followed by a brief
description.
If your target echo is found there then all is well. IF your host
sysop doesn't carry it you can ask him/her to link to it for you.
Then, ask your questions, and participate.
Before you jump in: Check this rules listing described earlier
as part of the echolist. IF there are rules posted you'll find them
there. Otherwise, many uplink systems will automatically send the
rules file to your host system when the link is established.
Otherwise, remember that the usual rules of netiquette apply, keep
messages to the topic of the conference, and conduct yourself as you
would normally when engaged in public discourse.
What if your echo isn't listed in backbone.na? We'll talk about
that, and other ways you can ascertain if you're interested in an
orphan conference. We'll also discuss conferences that aren't quite
orphans, but more like latchkey kids. Nobody there to tend to them.
Although they appear in the proper databases and enough activity
occurs to keep them distributed there is nobody paying any attention
to them. IF your favorite echo falls into this category you want to do
something before the problem becomes too large and the situation is no
longer controllable.
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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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" \
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 \, 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 \. Spell checking your own work will help though
(something I'm typically guilty of \).
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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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume III number VIII October 2009
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