
	This is Part Two in the history of FidoNet. It¨
turned out that the original FIDOHIST.DOC (now called¨
FIDOHIST.DC1, or just "Part One") was useful, and many¨
people read it. Unfortunately, by the time everyone read it,¨
it became totally obsolete. Oh well. Here is Part Two.

	FIDOHIST.DOC covered the early history of FidoNet,¨
why it was done, how it was done, and the reasons for the¨
organization and obscure rituals surrounding node numbers.¨
If you havent read it yet, I suggest you do now, because¨
I'll probably refer to things that won't make any sense¨
otherwise. 

	The original FidoNet was organized very simply; each¨
FidoNet system (each node) had a number that served like a¨
phone number, uniquely identifying it. The NODELIST,¨
generated by the folks in St. Louis that had all FidoNet¨
nodes in it, contains information on all known FidoNet¨
systems. Every system in FidoNet had a current copy of the¨
NODELIST, which served as the directory of systems.

	(In the interests of brevity I'm leaving out huge¨
amounts of information; I hope you have read FIODHIST.DOC by¨
now ...)

	FidoNet has been growin7 steadily since it started¨
by accident in May 84 or so. The node list continued to /et¨
out of hand; the ori7inal FIDOHIST.DOC was written to try¨
and help smooth things out. It is impossible to¨
overemphasize the amount of work inrļlved in keeping the¨
node list accurate. Basically, the guys in St. Louis were¨
keeping track of hundreds of FidoNet systems in Boston, Los¨
Angeles, London, Stockholm and Sweden, and publishing the¨
results weekly. There has never been such a comprehensive¨
and accurate list of bulletin board systems generated.


	We talked for many months as to how we could¨
possibly find a solution to the many problems; it was at the¨
point where if a solution was not found in a few months (by¨
Aug. 85 or so) that FidoNet would collapse due to the sheer¨
weight of it's node list. 

	The newsletter, FidoNews, was, and still is, an¨
integral part of the process of FidoNet. FidoNews is the¨
only thing that unites all FidoNet sysops consistently;¨
please keep up to date on it, and stock it for your users if¨
you have the disk space. And contribute if you can!

	There were many constraints on the kind of things we¨
could do; we had no money, so it had to be done for zero¨
cost. Centralization was out, so obviously localization was¨
in; just how to do it was a total unknown. We thought of¨
going back to having people in different areas handle new¨
node requests in their area, but that always generated¨
confusion as to who a person should go to, how to avoide¨
having someone requesting a node number from different¨
people simultaneously, etc etc. 

	The old method of routing was very different than¨
the current method, and much more complex; instead of Fido¨
automatically routing to hosts, each sysop had to specify¨
(via the ROUTE.BBS file) how all routing was done in the¨
system. The was done originally by hand, later by John¨
Warren's (102/31) NODELIST program.

	Then of course there was the problem that no matter¨
what we did, it would not be done overnight. (ha ha.) It¨
would take many weeks at the least, possibly months, so that¨
whatever we did had to be compatible with the old method as¨
well.

	We went through probably hundreds of ideas in the¨
next few months, some possibly useful, some insane.¨
Eventually the insanity boiled down to a pretty workable¨
system. We chatted by FidoNet and by voice telephone.¨
Eventually, we settled on the two part number scheme, like¨
the phone company does with area codes and exchanges. It¨
accomodated backwards compatibility (you can keep your¨
present node number) and the new "area code" (net number)¨
could be added into an existing field that had been set to¨
zero. (This is why everyone was originally part of net #1).


	When a fortunate set of circumstances was to bring¨
Ezra Shapiro and me to St. Louis to speak to the McDonnell¨
Douglas Recreational Computer Club on XXXX 11th, we planned¨
ahead for a national FidoNet sysops meeting that weekend.¨
Ken and Sally Kaplan were kind enough to tolerate having all¨
of us in their living room.

	The people who showed up were (need that list) The¨
meeting lasted ten continuous hours; it was the most¨
productive meeting I (and most others) had attended. When we¨
were done, we had basically the whole thing layed out in¨
every detail.

	We stuck with the area code business (now known as¨
net and region numbers) and worked out how to break things¨
up into regions and nets. It was just one of those rare but¨
fortunate events; during the morning things went "normally",¨
but in the afternoon solutions fell into place one by one,¨
so that by late afternoon we had the entire picture laid out¨
in black and white. Two or three months of brainstorming¨
just flowed smoothly into place in one afternoon ...

	What we had done was exactly what we have now,¨
though we changed the name of "Admin" to "Region", and added¨
the "alternate" node and net numbers. (We still seem to be¨
stuck with that terrible and inaccurate word, "manager". Any¨
ideas?) I previously had a buggy test hack running using¨
area codes, and the week after the meeting it was made to¨
conform to what we had talked about that Saturday.

	When version 10C was done, it accomplished more or¨
less everything we wanted, but it sure did take a long time.¨
10C was probably the single largest change ever made to¨
Fido/FidoNet, and the most thoroughly tested version. At¨
10M, there are STILL bugs left from that early version, in¨
spite of the testing.

	Once the testing got serious, and it looked like we¨
had a shippable version, St. Louis froze the node list, and¨
started slicing it into pieces, to give to the soon-to-be¨
net and region managers. (That word again.) This caused a¨
tremendous amount of trouble for would-be sysops; not only¨
was it difficult enough to figure out how on earth to get a¨
node number, once they did they were told node numbers¨
weren't being given out just yet. Explaining why was even¨
harder, since FIDOHIST.DC2 (ahem) wasn't written yet. (I¨
have to agree, this thing is a little bit late) It was a¨
typical case of those who already knew were informaed¨
constantly of updates, but thse in the dark had a hard time.¨
Things were published fairly regularly (am I remembering¨
"conveniently" or "accurately" on this part?) 


	Eventually, 10C was released, and seemed to work¨
fairly well, ignoring all the small scale disasters due to¨
bugs, etc. We couldn't just swap over to the new area code¨
business until very close to 100% of all Fidos were using¨
the new version. This was (for me) an excruciating period,¨
basically a "hurry up and wait" situation. There had not¨
been a node list release for a month or two, and for all¨
practical purposes it looked like FidoNet had halted ...

	Finally, on June 12th, we all swapped over to the¨
new system; that afternoon, sysops were to set their net¨
number (it had been "1" for backwards compatibility), copy¨
in the new node list issued just for this occasion, and go.¨
I assumed the result was going to be perpetual chaos,¨
bringing about the collapse of FidoNet. Almost the exact¨
opposite was true; things went very smoothly (yes, there¨
were problems, but when you consider that FidoNet consists¨
of microcomputers owned by almost 300 people who had never¨
even talked to each other ...)

	Within a month or so,just about every Fido had¨
swapped over to the area code, or net/node architecture.¨
With a few exceptions, things went very smoothly. No one was¨
more suprised than pessimistic I. At this time, August, I¨
don't think there is a single system still using the old¨
node number method.

	This is all well and fine as far as the software¨
goes, but it made a mess for new sysops. For us sysops who¨
have been around for a while, there was no great problem, as¨
we saw the changes happen one by one. However, new sysops¨
frequently came out of the blue; armed with a diskette full¨
of code, they attempted to set up a FidoNet node.

	Actually, I don't understand how anyone does it. The¨
information needed is not recorded in any place that a non¨
sysop could find. On top of that, most of it is now totally¨
wrong! If you follow the original instructions, it said¨
"call Fido #1 ..." if you found a real antique, or "call¨
Fido #51 ..." if it is more current. Of course now it tells¨
you to find your region manager. "Region manager???" Well, a¨
list of region managers was published in FidoNews, but¨
unless you read FidoNews, how does anyone ever find out?¨
I'll probably never know.


	ANYWAYS ... the original reason for all the changes¨
was to DECENTRALIZE FidoNet. It just wasn't possible for Ken¨
Kaplan to keep accurate, up to date information on every¨
Fido in the US and Europe. The decentralization has been¨
more or less a total success. The number of problem¨
sintroduced were negligable compared to the problems solved,¨
and even most new problems are by this time solved.

	It is interesting to note that with the hundreds of¨
systems there are today, the national FidoNet hour is less¨
crowded than it was when there were only 50 nodes.

	Please, keep in mind that no one has done anything¨
like this before, we are all winging it, and learning¨
(hopefully) as we go. Please be patient with problems, none¨
of us is paid to do this, and it is more and more work as¨
time goes on. Somehow it seems to all get done ...

	HOW TO GET A NODE NUMBER AND ALL THAT

20 August 1985

	This is by necessity a very general idea of how it's¨
done, and you were warned earlier that this may be obsolete¨
this very minute; with that, here's the "current" process¨
for starting up a new FidoNet node.

	You can of course skip all or part o6 this if you've¨
done this before; if you haven't, well, be prepared for a¨
lot of searching and asking questions. 


	Of course, you need to have your Fido BBS system¨
running first. It's probably best that you play with id for¨
a while, and get some experience with how it all works, and¨
whether you have the patience to run a BBS. It can get¨
exasperating, and you will never find time to use the¨
computer ever again.

	Obtain the most recent copy of the nodelist¨
possible; thi may take some searching. If you get totally¨
lost, you can always contact Fido 125/1 or Fido 100/51;¨
though these are very busy systems, they both usually have¨
the very latest of anything, and can direct you to the right¨
place.

	The big problem here is to find out if oyu are in a¨
net or not, and if not, then who your region manager is. If¨
you are in a lrge city (Los Angeles, Cincinnati, etc) then¨
there is probably a net in your area. Look through the node¨
list (use the N)odebook command in Fido, or a text editor)¨
for the right area code or city.

	If there is no net in your area, then you are part¨
of a region. This is a little harder, because regions are¨
large, and sometomes cover many states. Look at all the¨
regions in the node list, you should find a region that fits¨
you.

	Once you find this, you have to contact the net or¨
region manager to get your node number. Exactly how this is¨
done depends on who the manager is, and how sticky they are¨
fir details. A near universal requirement is that you send¨
your request via FidoNet, not by manully; this isn't done to¨
make you life difficult, but to ensure that your system is¨
really working right. IF you manage to get a FidoNet message¨
to the manager, its usually safe to assume that you're¨
system is working OK. If you get a reply in return, then you¨
know both directions work.

	It is usually each sysops' responsibility to go get¨
the latest nodelist and newsletters; they are not¨
distributed to all systems because of the expense. (Though,¨
I'm trying to get them distributed to more places than they¨
are now, it's sometimes very difficult to get a copy of the¨
nodelist!)

	Again, read the FidoNew newsletter regularly; it is¨
about the only way to stay in contact with the rest of the¨
net. Programs, problems, services, bugs and interesting¨
announcements can always be found there. FidoNews articles¨
don't come out of thin air; send in anythnig you think might¨
be of interest. They don't have to be lifetime masterpieces,¨
or even well written. 

	Please remember the entire network is made of the¨
sysops; there is no central location from which good things¨
come, the net consists entirely of the sysops and their¨
contributions. If you don't do it, chances are no one else¨
will!

			Tom Jennings
			20 Aug 85



Ken Kaplan		Fido 100/51	314/432-4129
Tom Jennings		Fido 125/1	415/864-1418
Ben Baker		Fido 100/10	314/234-1462
