         
                     ===ECHOMAIL TUTORIAL===

              This is a brief  tutorial  about  a  new  Fido 
         phenomena  called EchoMail.  The first half of this 
         tutorial is for users.  It explains how  you  enter 
         messages,  and  use  EchoMail  to  send messages to 
         others. The second half is for EchoMail sysops.  It 
         is  to  explain  how  to implement EchoMail on your 
         board.  
         
         
                       ===USER'S TUTORIAL===
         
              What EchoMail does for you  is  allow  you  to 
         talk  to  people  on  other  Fido boards across the 
         country without having to know who,  or where  they 
         are.  You  can  tell an EchoMail Area from the Area 
         Name.  It will say something about  echo,  mirrors, 
         national  conference,  etc.  All  you have to do is 
         enter a message in one of these areas,  and  it  is 
         automatically  sent  out to any and all Fido boards 
         participating in that particular area.  

                 ===CAUTION! PRIVATE MESSAGES ECHO===
              
              All the messages in each echo  area  are  sent 
         out  to  other  boards,  even  if  they are labeled 
         private.  Also,  anyone with Sysop  priveleges  can 
         read a private message. Beware! If you want to send 
         a  private  message to someone,  try to use another 
         area besides an Echo Area.  

              ===IF YOU DO NOT WANT A MESSAGE ECHOED===

              EchoMail does provide a way to enter a message 
         into an area and  have  it  stay  locally  on  that 
         board. In order to do that, you enter a key word on 
         the  first  line  of the message.  If you enter the 
         word 'NOECHO' as the first line of a  message,  all 
         in caps,  without leading spaces,  the message will 
         appear in that  area  only  on  the  board  it  was 
         entered on.  

              Now,  all  you have to do to use EchoMail,  is 
         read the messages in the Echo Areas,  and enter  or 
         reply  to  them.  EchoMail  takes care of the rest.  
         Please participate in EchoMail with us.  We provide 
         this as a sevice,  and would really enjoy seeing it 
         put to use. Enjoy!  

                ===ODDITIES AND IDEOSYNCHROSIES===

              At the end of each message in  an  Echo  Area, 
         there are several lines of information  about  that 
         particular message's travel across the country. The 
         first  is call the Origin line,  and shows the name 
         of the board that the message was entered on.  That 
         name may or may not be a familiar name to  you.  At 
         the  end  of  the  line  there  are  two numbers in 
         parenthesis separated by a slash (/).  This is  the 
         address  of  the  originating  bulletin board.  The 
         first number is called  the  net  number,  and  the 
         second  is  called the node number.  The net number 
         defines a geographical area.  I.E.  Dallas  is  net 
         124. The node number refers to the particular board 
         within  that area that originally sent the message.  
         This board number is 210. You can find a listing of 
         all the net/node numbers in the entire world  in  a 
         file  called  'FIDOLIST.BBS'  on  almost  any  Fido 
         board.  
         
              The rest of  the  message  is  composed  of  a 
         series  of lines that start with the keyword 'SEEN-
         BY'.  This is a list of Fido  net/nodes  that  have 
         already received that message. This is how EchoMail 
         tells whether it has already sent a message or not.  
         You can usually ignore the information in the seen-
         by  line  unless you are trying to figure out how a 
         message got from there to here. The seen-by is used 
         by the sysop to determine  if  he  is  distributing 
         mail to all the nodes as efficiently as possible.  

              Sometimes  you will see the same message twice 
         in an Echo Area.  This is the most annoying part of 
         using  an  EchoMail  area.  Since the messages pass 
         from  node  to  node  through  the   phone   lines, 
         sometimes  a  message  get  garbled or not all of a 
         group of messages get passed down  the  line.  When 
         this  happens,  Fido decides it is better to resend 
         all the messages and make sure  at  least  one  set 
         gets  through  intact.  Sometimes  this  results in 
         having the same message sent twice.  

              The rest of this tutorial is designed to  help 
         new  sysops set up an EchoMail area on there board.  
         Unless you are trying to set up a Fido or EchoMail, 
         you can press Control-C or Control-K to  return  to 
         the   board   now.   I   hope  you  enjoy  national 
         conferencing with EchoMail!  


                   ===NEW ECHOSYSOP'S TUTORIAL===

              If you are a  Fido  sysop  trying  to  set  up 
         EchoMail,  this  section should help you.  EchoMail 
         allows you to  share  common  message  bases  among 
         several  Fidos.  In  fact,  some of the conferences 
         have a few hundred boards participating.  Echo  has 
         added  greatly  to  the communications abilities of 
         Fido,  and has helped a lot of us get to know  each 
         other. The problem with regular netmail is that you 
         have to =know= someone to send mail to, or you have 
         to  be  replying  to  a message that they sent you.  
         EchoMail  simplifies  this.   You  'hook   in'   to 
         EchoMail, and the conversations are already there.  
              
              EchoMail  is not free.  Someone has to pay for 
         transmitting  the  messages   just   like   regular 
         netmail.  The  established  procedure  is  to  find 
         someone either locally,  or in a low toll zone  for 
         you   to   poll.   Other   arrangements   are  made 
         frequently,  this is just the most common method of 
         approaching it.  Unless the person you are attached 
         to is using a business line to make his  calls,  or 
         is  a local call for you,  you will probably end up 
         having to pay for the service.  

              On a per message basis,  EchoMail  is  cheaper 
         than  regular  mail,  but  the  volume is EXTREMELY 
         higher.  This means you can expect  your  telephone 
         bill to increase dramatically if you decide to join 
         in EchoMail.  However,  the information gained, and 
         the enjoyment of having ongoing conversations  with 
         people around the world far outweigh the costs.  

                  
            === HOOKING INTO AN ECHOMAIL CONFERENCE ===                   


              Probably  the  first  step  in linking into an 
         EchoMail conference is to contact your network,  or 
         region  host.  These  people  are  starting to keep 
         track of the participants in EchoMail, and can more 
         than likely steer you to a person in your area  who 
         is  carrying  the conference you are interested in.  
         Start by sending a note  to  your  host  requesting 
         information  about the conference you care to join.  
         If he replies with a note referring you to a  local 
         node,  send  them  a  message  including your voice 
         number. It is much easier to set things up by voice 
         than by typing at each other.  Eventually you  will 
         get  in  contact  with  the local person,  and make 
         arrangements.  Later in this document we will  talk 
         about the specifics of implementing EchoMail. We'll 
         leave  it  as  being  up  to  you and your EchoMail 
         contact to make arrangements  about  times,  calls, 
         conferences,  etc.  Needless to say, this will vary 
         greatly depending on phone costs and  the  existing 
         method of distribution in your area.  

              If  you  cannot  find a local connection,  the 
         next step is to contact the EchoMail coordinator in 
         your  region.  These  people  are  responsible  for 
         maintaining  information about EchoMail conferences 
         that cross regional boundaries.  That means if  you 
         are  looking  for  a link into the 'basket weaving' 
         conference,  and it is only  carried  in  net  141, 
         you're on your own.  Regional traffic is just that.  
         If it is a  local  conference,  you  will  not  get 
         information   for  linking  in  from  the  regional 
         EchoMail coordinator.  

              On the other hand,  if the conference you  are 
         looking for is national in scope,  these people can 
         be of great assistance in locating a link point for 
         you.  The person from the following list  that  you 
         should  contact  will  depend on the region you are 
         in.  If you are in region 13, don't call the person 
         in region 19.  


               === REGIONAL ECHOMAIL COORDINATORS ===

              
            Region           Name          Network Address

              10         Butch Walker           161/1
              11         Don Walker             120/20
              12 Pacific Not Assigned      Contact Jon Sabol
              13         Gee Wong               107/312
              14         Alex Hartley           100/500
              15         David Dodell           114/15
              16         Bob Hartman            132/101
              17         Randy Bush             122/6
              18         Wes Cowley             137/19
              19         Jon Sabol              124/210


              These  people  should  be  able  to put you in 
         contact with someone who can feed you an Echo link.  
         Currently the Pacific region is unassigned as there 
         does not appear to be an  Echo  conference  running 
         out  there.  This  is  a  case  where  costs become 
         important.  For someone in Hawaii to participate in 
         a  national  conference,  they  would  have to make 
         overseas calls to get their mail. That would become 
         quite expensive.  

              Last, but not least, you can try someone who's 
         name you see in an  existing  conference.  If,  and 
         only  if  the  above  methods  do  not  work,   try 
         contacting someone who is geographically  close  to 
         you and is participating in the conference. Usually 
         they  can  at  least  steer you to someone else who 
         might be able to tie you into the area.  


                    === OPERATIONAL OVERVIEW ===


              EchoMail  operation  is  fairly  complex   and 
         requires  a  considerable amount of processing time 
         outside of  the  regular  mail  times.  It  is  not 
         automatic.  You  must  set  up a series of external 
         events to run the EchoMail  programs,  and  process 
         your  incoming  and  outgoing mail.  This WILL take 
         some time away from your normal BBS operations, but 
         will provide your users with a much  nicer  set  of 
         message  areas.  Besides,  most  of  the processing 
         takes place in the wee hours of  the  morning,  and 
         caller activity is low then anyway.  

              Echo works by moving mail back and forth 
         between your mail area, and the message bases you 
         specify to be EchoMail areas. This is done using a 
         control file called 'AREAS.BBS'. It must reside in 
         your Fido root directory, and consists of the 
         following format:

         (line 1) <Board Name> ! <Sysop's Name>
         
                   Board name is the name you want to appear 
                   in   the  seenby  line  of  each  message 
                   originating on your board.  

                   ! is a delimiter and is required.
         
                   Sysop's  name   is   the   name   to   be 
                   substituted in messages from the sysop on 
                   your board.  
         
         (line 2) <AREA_NUMBER> <AREA_TAG> <NODELIST>

                   AREA_NUMBER   is   the  Fido  messagebase 
                   number that you want to use for the  Echo 
                   area.  

                   AREA_TAG  is  the  name  that the message 
                   base uses to keep it seperate from  other 
                   Echo traffic.  

                   NODELIST  is  a  list of net/node numbers 
                   that you have made arrangements to  share 
                   messages  with.  DO  NOT  ARBITRARILY ADD 
                   NODES TO THIS LIST!!!  

              This   repeats   for   each   area   you   are 
         participating in.  


              There are basically two programs that comprise 
         the heart of EchoMail: 
         
                   TOSSMAIL moves  incoming  mail  into  the 
                            appropriate message bases.  
         
                   SCANMAIL moves mail entered on your board 
                            into the netmail area to be sent 
                            to other boards.  

              Scanmail  is  run  right after a mail event to 
         move messages out of the mail area,  and  into  the 
         area you have chosen to hold a conference. Tossmail 
         is  run  right before a mail event to move messages 
         originating on your board into the mail area to  be 
         sent to the other participating nodes.  This is the 
         simplest method of implementing EchoMail, it is not 
         the most  efficient.  Fido  is  extremely  slow  in 
         packetting and unpacketting mail.  This will result 
         in an extreme degredation of the  system.  You  can 
         expect  a  delay  of  approximately 1 minute per 10 
         messages of outgoing mail,  and  1  minute  per  25 
         messages incoming mail using Fido to packet and de-
         packet EchoMail.  This is significant since most of 
         the national conferences average about 40  messages 
         per day.  

              However, Thom Henderson has provided us with a 
         utility  that  packets  mail  without  Fido.  It is 
         called ARCmail,  and will dramatically improve  the 
         speed  of  your  pre  and  post  mail events.  This 
         utility reads all  the  messages  to  a  node,  and 
         creates  a  file that can be transmitted instead of 
         the messages themselves.  This means  that  whether 
         you  are  sending  one  or a hundred messages,  you 
         still only use Fido to packet one message.  ARCmail 
         runs  approximately 75 percent faster than Fido for 
         packetting mail.  

              There are  several  other  EchoMail  utilities 
         that can make life a little easier.  KILLDUPES is a 
         fast program that goes through a message  base  and 
         deletes messages that have the same From, To, Date, 
         and  Subject  fields.  This  is the biggest problem 
         with EchoMail.  If it is not implemented right, you 
         end up spending someone else's money to send repeat 
         messages. Killdupes somewhat solves this problem.  

              TidyMail  goes through a message base and does 
         some similar things.  In addition, it can sort your 
         message base chronologically if you so desire. This 
         is a matter of personal taste. Some people like it, 
         others don't.  

              Seenby is a very important utility if you ever 
         add  anyone  to  your  distribution  list.  It goes 
         through and marks a message  base  as  having  been 
         sent  already  to  a  group  of  nodes.  If you add 
         someone to a message base that has 300 messages  in 
         it,  you don't want to send them all out.  You want 
         to let that person start  at  the  current  message 
         number in that area. Seenby makes this easy.  


                 === SUMMARY AND INFORMATION ===

              This concludes this brief summary of EchoMail.  
         If you have not captured this entire document,  you 
         can  download  it  in  area  one  under the name of 
         ECHTUTOR.DOC.    More   thorough   information   is 
         available  in the documentation for EchoMail.  This 
         is an overview to help you decide if  you  want  to 
         start  EchoMail  on  your  system.  I hope this has 
         helped, if not you can contact: 
         
                   Jon Sabol      National EchoMail Help
                   Fido  124/210
                   214/380-9063 (data)
                   214/380-2474 (voice)

