=======================================================================
T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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+--------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| .----------------------. | 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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=======================================================================
Contents...................................................(i)
Editorial..................................................(1)
Letters to the Editor......................................(1)
New and Returning Members..................................(2)
The Slightly Crusty Sysop..................................(3)
Old School Toolbox:
Electronic mail, the Glue That Holds It Together........(4)
Cheepware News.............................................(5)
Food.......................................................(6)
FidoGazette BBS List.......................................(7)
Info (Where to Send Articles)..............................(8)
Page i
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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Editorial
=========
I see our Russian friends have made a new improved Fidonet logo, one
that includes a CD or DVD. Very nice artwork that is for sure, though
it looks like it will only be usable on the Web with color graphics,
etc.
I don't have a problem with the idea (this mag uses a
'dog-with-usb-and-computer' logo) but I wish the good folk or person
doing this very well done artwork would also have included an ascii
version... if they want it to be usable across all networks, and types
of media.
This is something that Fidonet has always tried to accomplish..
allowing CBM users, Atari users and plain old terminal users and sysops
to connect to the network, as well as IBM PC types..
In the 'old' days it was keeping protocols that would support 300bps as
well as 28800bps. These days, it is a matter of allowing telephone
modems as well as internet connectivity. In other words, we've always
encouraged and welcomed the lowest possible denominator in connections
and media types. I see no reason to change that.
=#=
Letters to the Editor:
====================
Subject: The Gaz
=========================
Hi Janis.
I just wanted to thank you for your continuing work on the Gazette.
It's good to have something _positive_ to read from within the FidoNet
world. (Unlike a certain other Fido related publication I used to try
and read.)
Your time and efforts are appreciated here.
Be well!
Best regards,
Marc
telnet://bbs.sursum-corda.com. >Celebrating 14 years on-line
Ed. Response:
Thank you Marc! All of us involved in this project hope to bring you a
decent, interesting periodical, of interest to sysops and users in the
Fidonet community every month. We'd like to do it every week, and
perhaps it will grow to that someday :)
Page 1
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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=========================
New and Returning Members
=========================
From http://www.filegate.net/zone1/ and other mirror sites such as
http://www.filegate.ca/zone1/
Returning SysOps:
================
Kevin Amstutz Region 11
Shanta McBain Region 17
Shawn Rapp Region 17
John Meeks Region 18
Daryl Stout 1:19/33 Region 19
Welcome Back! Good to have you fellows back in the network!
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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The Slightly Crusty Sysop
by Sean Dennis, 1:18/200
With spring being sprung and summer quickly upon us here in my neck of
the woods, I can tell that the "summer lull" in Fidonet is starting to
happen. That's when everyone goes outside and enjoys the great weather
only to leave the messaging for when it's cold and dreary outside. I'm
guilty of wanting to go outside, but with my allergies and my favorite
hobbies being indoor ones, I don't really have a reason to go outside
except to mow the lawn.
I recently had a BBS newbie log into my BBS. He's young (20 years old)
and says he's wanting to learn "BBSing" because he's tired of all the
problems associated with the World Wide Web. I found that very
interesting especially with today's youth having the attention span of
a gnat and being very upset if they can't text their best friend who's
two feet from them. It's been a refreshing change of pace actually
showing someone new around the BBS and explaining the "old ways".
Being able to show someone the ropes is a rare treat these days.
That brings me to the subject of BBS advertising. Sure, those of us
who've been around the block a few times with BBSing know the ropes and
where to find what we want in BBSing, but what about those who are just
learning? I agree that those people are hard to find, but what are we
doing to keep them? I know that there's a few great BBS lists out
there, but beyond that, how are we, as a community, letting people
outside our hobby who might be interested that BBSes are still quite
alive and well into the new millenium?
Granted, our hobby isn't for everyone. Only those who have a modicum
of intelligence, the ability to navigate a computer without having to
point and click our way through an operating system or program and who
have some sembelance of common sense seem to be attracted to BBSing
these days (I at least hope that's the case!). Those people seem to be
dying off and we need to replenish the BBS community by making our
hobby known and fairly easy to access (not really talking about WWW
access to a BBS; kinda defeating the purpose in my eyes).
I don't claim to have all the answers; just tossing out a question to
the general BBS community at large.
As always, your comments are welcomed--your flames are not. You can
send me your comments via netmail at 1:18/200 (preferred) or via email
at sean@nsbbs.info.
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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The Old School Toolbox
By Richard Webb, 1:116/901
Electronic mail, the Glue That Holds It Together
In recent columns I've been talking about backup plans. A backup
plan is more than archiving data. Good backup plans mean off site
storage for important data, and alternate connection methods. I
learned about the advisability of off site data storage thanks to
hurricane Katrina. Still, we're talking about backup connections in
this column at the moment. These can be just as vital, if not more-so.
Again, picture your community after the disaster, tornado, etc.
Cable TV and broadband internet are down for the count, generators are
humming near residences that are so equipped, as well as near public
institutions. But, at one agency their internet services have been
augmented with a machine on a beefy UPS well hardened against possible
sources of harm. this machine is connected to the public switched
telephone network. Not connected to a phone line which runs through
the agency's switched telephone net, but the public network.
Some of your local fidonet friends have suddenly scrambled to pull
those old modems out of the closet and get hooked up, because pots is
still working. Those buried phone lines with adequate beefy power
supply are still connecting calls, when/if you can get through, because
everybody else is dialing out too. They want to know when the power's
going to come back on, or if grandma's alright or ...
You get the idea, but you'd sure like to have your netmail, and your
echomail fix, and you haven't read your email for awhile. some family
and friends have one of your alternate email addresses using a fidonet
to internet gateway I'm sure, at least if you're like me.
Even if they don't, you can use a gateway to send a message out
letting folks know that you're okay, the camp stove and charcoal grill
will put dinner on the table, and although living conditions are a bit
primitive you're going to be just fine, maybe after patching the roof
(g)
You've connected up, and there's your mail, in the usual fidonet
tradition. Binkleyterm or Frontdoor grabbed your compressed mail
packets, some echomail, a couple of gated newsgroups, netmail, and
you've got something to do for awhile, at least while the batteries
last. I hope you've got better things to do, such as maybe assist your
neighbors, but, if not, at least you've got your favorite discussion
groups to occupy your mind for awhile.
Across town the local agency which is fidonet connected also hums
along. That's why you got echomail and gated newsgroups after all.
You and your net did a bit of groundwork and have a reliable hub. When
the hub's uplink didn't get that internet connection it dialed out,
dropping off your net's mail via regular modem. But, you're not the
only guy to get some real benefit from this. The director sent his
point system to automatically get his email which was compressed in a
packet by transnet. He can now read, and respond.
Meanwhile the organization's volunteer and paid staff are busy
checking on members, or those they serve. Shut ins might be contacted,
needs assessed and met. It's all coordinated thanks to the
organization's fido connected system, and possibly a human interactive
bbs as well.
While the director is reading, and possibly replying to mails and
trying to keep up on his duties the systems guru for the fidonet
connected organization has sent emails to the fido box thanks to his
plain old modem and his laptop. WHen that mail is processed things
start to happen.
A mail management tool such as netmgr gets updated
configurations because all the security and authentication checks on
the remote sysop's mail matched. This new configuration is going to
readdress the boss man's mails to a different gateway, with all the
proper information intact. Totally transparent to him, his emails will
leave, at the next pstn connection from outside the area, which will
probably happen that day or evening.
Is this really possible? Of course it is. We'll begin by looking at
transnet's functions as an email gate. In this mode the sysop usually
sets transnet up as a point off his system. It takes fidonet standard
messages and sends them over the internet, much as other gating
programs do it, i.e. actual internet address of destination on the
first line of body, etc.
But, your agency boss doesn't even need to go that far, because
his editor's macros make them appear normal to him, because the sysop
helped him get it all set up.
Let's use a fictitious address of 1:290/10 for an example, since net
290 doesn't exist in central Iowa anymore. Node 1:290/10 is that node
in the back room, with both internet and pstn capability. The sysop(s)
configured transnet to be 1:290/10.1000 and under normal circumstances
if the boss used his fidonet point to send mail to the gateway it was
address to 1:290/10.1000 normally. But that gate isn't working
anymore. They've made arrangements with one of the other fidonet to
internet gates to accept their users' mail. So, as soon as instructed,
the netmgr config is changed, old file which operates normally backed
up, new config file put in place with proper file name, and an
additional operation mask, which instructs it to look for mail address
to UUCP at 1:290/10.1000 and readdress it to the alternate gate, and
change the to: name to "postmaster" to be properly handled.
So, the busy agency head decides he really needs to email
joe.blow@someplace.org to tell him they could sure use some assistance,
and what kind. His message editor shows him joe.blow@someplace.org in
the to: field, and his subject line of choice. Unbeknownst to him it's
addressed actually to the transnet gateway.
A couple hours later MR. agency head uploads his sent mail, his point
system's mailer talked to the boss mailer, password protected sessions
of course, with password protected packets. Your netmail processor
sees his message when unpacked going to joe.blow and sees that it's to
readdress that mail to the alternate gateway.
Now for our example let us say I've agreed to provide backup service to
this net, because i'm pots only and have redundant connections
available at a moment's notice myself. I'm still humming along, and my
system has mail for 1:290/10. IT dutifully calls to drop off waiting
netmail, which I route for 290:10 anyway. Suddenly I've picked up that
message from the agency boss. Depending on which gateway he's got
privileges to use I might even have a direct connection with it, and
will immediately dial out to deliver that mail to the appropriate
gateway.
Now for our final piece in this installment's version of "what if"
let's say I've heard that the area covered by net 290 is stricken by
some nasty stuff. I usually hold 290/10's mail until the nighttime
hours, because they're using it for primarily fax service during the
day, or it's limited hours available. But, I decide to roll the dice,
just to see what i get because it isn't costing me any more. So, I
change the mail in the outbound to crash from hold, and we make a call.
Lo and behold, the old fido connected box with its pstn modem in the
back room answers the phone, and MR. bossman's message goes out even
quicker than expected.
Meanwhile the system hums along, organization members are checking
on more shut ins, moving folks from damaged residences to safety,
getting usable food and water to those in need. A downed tree is
arranged to be cleared; members are in contact, thanks to this system.
Things are gettin done, and this organization or agency is now part of
a community solution instead of a bunch of individual problems to be
solved. THose old junk throwaway computers and a pstn connection via
modem being available made all this happen.
I hear another question there in the back row. The gentleman asks: "but
don't those public service organizations have you ham operators with
your internet email by radio stuff available to them?" Yah, they do, if
they know where to get access. If you're at the fema temporary setup,
or the local emergency ops center you've got that if you need it, and
can convince the folks in control of it to assist you. Maybe the red
cross folks at the shelter do too. But, the church or fraternal
organization that's a real community booster probably doesn't have.
They might have, if they knew where to find a ham with it. Chances are
good however that even if they find the local ham radio response such
as their ares group they're going to be told "we can't help you right
now" or advised to join the queue. But, many of that organization's
members still have pots lines that are working. A little electronic
mail connectivity, especially shipping compressed mail bundles and
short periods of time online fit nicely here. AFter all, downloading
quite a bit of text is still possible even at 9600 baud in a short
period of time. That mail bundle compressed with pkzip or equivalent
downloaded in 60 seconds online can contain quite a bit of info about
which association members have reported in, who's alright, who needs
what. Session overhead time and everything considered the recipient
can dial in, get a hole when he can get a dial tone, dial out, transfer
mail and be off line again within two minutes. That old 386 that was
landfill bound can help keep the older shut in lady that's so important
to the lifeblood of the church connected, even if she can't afford
cable with broadband internet and the leading edge from Dell compaq or
gateway. She doesn't care about loading iTunes and she's not on
facebook, but this old throwaway box is easy for her to use, just turn
it on and let it go get her mail. A good example of this is my ghost
point I described in my last column.
Next time, more about the tools that make this email presto change-o
possible. Be thinking about those local organizations and agencies
folks. You might have another fidonet node there which will give your
net pstn access that it might not have now.
Next time, some actual nuts and bolts. Access by email to those
functions you wouldn't think you could reach.
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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Cheepware News
by Sean Dennis, 1:18/200
I figured it was time to write an article for the FG about Cheepware.
What's Cheepware you ask? It's the line of freeware DOS-based BBS
doors and sysop utilities (some of the utilities are OS/2 and Win32
native) that I've been developing since 1998. My first door was The
Magic Oracle which you may have seen on a BBS. I continue to develop
Cheepware in my spare time.
I have been in the process of rewriting all of my "doorkit" (the
programming code I use for Cheepware) to a single, unified platform to
make it easier for me to keep working on Cheepware. I've made a couple
of releases lately with the new code platform and I fully intend on
re-releasing all of my current doors that I support. I have a few new
doors in mind that I think the BBS public will like.
If you're interested in Cheepware, you can FREQ CHEEP from 1:18/200
(crash FREQ) or send an email to bbs@nsbbs.info with the subject of
FREQ and the message body of FREQ CHEEP. You can also visit my
Cheepware web page at http://nsbbs.info/cheepware.html. I also hatch
out all of my Cheepware releases via my Fidonet filebone, CHWARE. My
official support echo in Fidonet is CH-WARE.
I occasionally will hatch out other authors' software via CHWARE if
they ask me to and it doesn't conflict with other filebones.
Cheepware will run under any BBS that supports 16-bit DOS doors, a
FOSSIL driver and either the DOOR.SYS or the DORINFO1.DEF dropfiles. I
do support my doors under Linux to a very limited extent, but mainly
under Windows, DOS and OS/2-eComStation.
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number V1 June, 2010
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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, or janis kracht at
1:261/38 (filegate.net) and it will get published here in the
next issue :)
Where's the Grass-Fed Beef? Probably at a Local Farm Near You.
by Janis Kracht
Grass fed beef is finally making the headlines as the healthy type of
meat we should be eating rather than industrial beef... But what's the
difference?
The beef cuts you find in your supermarket come from what is sometimes
called 'Industrialized farmers'. Those fellows who treat raising beef
like a factory operation that might as well make shoes. They feed the
cows cheaply with cheap corn and other low-cost grains, and fatten them
up quickly. Just like people eating a high carb diet, corn-fed cows
fatten up fast (ever wonder why you can keep cutting calories and never
lose anything?). The benefits to the industrialized farmer are
obvious.. quick turnaround from birth to your supermarket shelf. But
grass-fed beef raised by your local farmer (you should check what they
are fed before purchase) is a throwback to the farming of 50 years ago,
where cows are fed something that they were born to ingest: Grass. And
by allowing the cows to graze at will on fields they roam, the cows eat
a number of things that are actually good for them to eat and pass on
to us. As it turns out, like free-range chickens, grass-fed cows are
happy(ier) animals who's meat tastes better than their unfortunate
industrialized counterparts.
There's more (grin).
Beef from grass-fed meat packs up to a third less fat per serving.
The fat it does have boasts more benefits: A three-ounce serving
contains 35 milligrams of the heart-and-brain-protecting omega-3s EPA
and DHA, compared with only 18 milligrams for the same serving of meat
from grain-fed industrialized stock. Steers that munch on pasture also
have twice the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) per serving (26
milligrams, compared with 13 milligrams in grain-fed). According to
Kate Clancy, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Minnesota Institute for
Sustainable Agriculture, early research in rats has linked higher CLA
levels with easier weight loss and a reduced risk of heart disease as
well as certain types of cancer.
Another possible health perk: fewer bouts of food sickness. The Journal
of Dairy Science has reported that levels of E. coli are usually higher
in industrialized cattle. The leading theory, says David Pimentel, Ph.D.,
professor of ecology and agricultural sciences at Cornell University,
is that grain creates an environment in a steer's stomachs (they have
four of them, remember?) that's more hospitable to E. coli, adding to
the likelihood that the meat of a grain-fed animal will be contaminated
with E. coli during processing.
We gave up eating all meats from industrial farmers quite a while ago.
The corn that grain-fed beef was fed was creating havoc with other
allergies I had. So if you've got food allergies, that's another aspect
to consider.
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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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.
FTP: ftp.filegate.net, port 60721
public access to file areas (please
note change of port for public 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.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
System.......Roach Guts BBS
FidoAddress..1:396/60
Phone:.......337-433-4135
Software.....Maximus on Port 23 (primary)
Synchronet on Port 24 (temporary)
OS...........Windows XP
C/B Verify...None
Access.......First call access to doors, files and
message reading. Message posting requires
validation.
Telnet.......roachguts.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=#=
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T h e F i d o G a z e t t e! Volume IV Number VI June, 2010
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INFO:
Fidogazette is published by Janis Kracht, Editor, with the help of
Richard Webb 1:116/901 (Old School ToolBox), and Sean Dennis 1:18/200
(The Slightly Crusty Sysop). If you have an idea for a column or a
series of articles, please contact me :)
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 at 1:261/38 Modem: 607-655-5652
1:261/100 filegate.net port 24555 via binkp or telnet mailer
(don't send articles as routed attaches, send them direct to filegate.net).
Standard binkp port only supports BinkP (24554).
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)).
To send reviews or recipes to the Food section, email or netmail Janis
as above.
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 IV Number VI June, 2010
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