     Volume 6, Number 11                                 13 March 1989
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     |                                                  _            |
     |                                                 /  \          |
     |                                                /|oo \         |
     |        - FidoNews -                           (_|  /_)        |
     |                                                _`@/_ \    _   |
     |        International                          |     | \   \\  |
     |     FidoNet Association                       | (*) |  \   )) |
     |         Newsletter               ______       |__U__| /  \//  |
     |                                 / FIDO \       _//|| _\   /   |
     |                                (________)     (_/(_|(____/    |
     |                                                     (jm)      |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     Editor in Chief:                                  Vince Perriello
     Editors Emeritus:                                     Dale Lovell
                                                        Thom Henderson
     Chief Procrastinator Emeritus:                       Tom Jennings
     Contributing Editors:                                   Al Arango
     
     FidoNews  is  published  weekly  by  the  International   FidoNet
     Association  as  its  official newsletter.  You are encouraged to
     submit articles for publication in FidoNews.  Article  submission
     standards  are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC,  available from
     node 1:1/1.    1:1/1  is  a Continuous Mail system, available for
     network mail 24 hours a day.
     
     Copyright 1989 by  the  International  FidoNet  Association.  All
     rights  reserved.  Duplication  and/or distribution permitted for
     noncommercial purposes only.  For  use  in  other  circumstances,
     please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted
     at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141.
     
     Fido  and FidoNet  are registered  trademarks of  Tom Jennings of
     Fido Software,  164 Shipley Avenue,  San Francisco, CA  94107 and
     are used with permission.
     
     We  don't necessarily agree with the contents  of  every  article
     published  here.  Most of these materials are  unsolicited.    No
     article will be rejected which is properly attributed and legally
     acceptable.    We   will  publish  every  responsible  submission
     received.


                        Table of Contents
     1. ARTICLES  .................................................  1
        National Major League Baseball Echo Proposed  .............  1
        FrontDoor - Mailer for the 90's  ..........................  2
        SEA Letter: USNO  .........................................  6
        Will ZIP Replace ARC?  ....................................  7
     2. COLUMNS  .................................................. 10
        The Old Frog's Almanac - Update  .......................... 10
        Trapped  .................................................. 12
        Let's YACK about (How) FidoNet Gains Independence!  ....... 14
     3. LATEST VERSIONS  .......................................... 15
     And more!
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 1                   13 Mar 1989


     =================================================================
                                 ARTICLES
     =================================================================


               National Major League Baseball Echo Proposed


     While looking  through a list of available national echos recently,
     I was surprised  to  note  there  is not an echo dedicated to Major
     League Baseball.  As  an  ardent fan of the game, I decided to take
     it upon myself and start  one.  In the process, I have enlisted the
     aid of Glen Jackson, sysop of  the local IBM User's Group's BBS, as
     well as his own BBS here in St.  Louis, Mo.

     I am involved in broadcast media, and  am  in  the press contingent
     that  covers  the  St.  Louis Cardinals locally.    This  gives  me
     occasional insight into the game from a different perspective  from
     most fans.  It is also our hope to be  able  to  draw an occasional
     response  or  visit  from  various others in media and in the  game
     itself on the echo.  There are a lot of computer users  in the game
     itself, and in the people on the fringe of the game.

     The  scope  of  the discussion would be limited to Major League and
     AAA Minor  League  Baseball.   It is our belief that it should also
     restrict itself to  discussion  of  the game, and the merits of its
     participants  both  present  and  past,  and  to  avoid  "flaming,"
     advertising  of  any  nature,  and,    in   general,  promote  good
     conversation  in a courteous environment.   While  there  are  some
     great  rivalries  in the game between various  teams,  the  inheret
     nastiness they bring out would also be avoided  by  rules.   We are
     more interested in promoting the discussion of the game itself than
     continuing friendly, and  not-so-friendly  discussions between fans
     of rival team.

     It is our best  hope  to  have the echo started by the beginning of
     baseball season in April;   if  we can get enough boards on-line in
     time, perhaps we could start during  spring training.  Baseball has
     been setting attendance records across the country-  last  year was
     the best season ever.  I think this  makes  it an excellent time to
     begin a national echo for our national sport!

                                --- David Blair @ 100/617

     For  those  of  you that would be interested:   we  will  first  be
     putting  together  a list of those nodes that wish to  participate.
     This  will  NOT  be a closed echo.  If enough nodes  request  links
     immediatly, we will ask to have this run through the backbone.   If
     not, 100/617 will Host it.

     Moderator will be  David  Blair.   Conference Rules will be posted.
     For more information, you may send netmail to:  David Blair 100/617

                                 --- Glen Jackson 100/617 (100/0)

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     FidoNews 6-11                Page 2                   13 Mar 1989


                         F R O N T  D O O R  2 . 0
                         =========================

                          The Mailer for the 90's!
                                    -by-
                              Onanus Maximus
                          (Michael Nelson, 143/20)


        How 'bout it,  Bunky?  Would you like a FREE 5 megabytes of hard
     disc space?  Would  you  like  to  stop juggling 10 or 12 programs,
     just to get the ol' mail in and out?

        Would  you  like to do everything with function keys, instead of
     having to  constantly  exit  from  your  mailer to modify countless
     batch, routing, event, and config files?

        Would  you  like  an editor that is virtually a word  processor?
     How  'bout  a terminal program that is every bit as good  as  TELIX
     3.11, but integrated into your mailer program?

        If all this sounds good, you should take a look at "Front Door",
     Joaquim  Homrighausen's superb integrated mailer.  The  "Last  Test
     Release (1.13g)" of Front Door 2.00 came out last week, and several
     members of Net 143 have converted to it.   Every  one I have talked
     to who has tried it is delighted with FD.  Why?

     The SETUP Program:

        Front Door is a truly INTEGRATED mailer package.  To begin with,
     one of the first features of FD you encounter when setting it up is
     the SETUP.EXE  program.    This  is a very nicely done, menu-driven
     program that lets  you  set  up  all  parameters  required for FD's
     operation.  After you have run Setup.exe the first time and have FD
     running, you can modify all  parameters,  on  the  fly,  by  merely
     pressing your F6 key!

        The Setup program even gives you  dropdown  menu  driven control
     over your event schedules and security (session  passwording,  file
     passwording, etc.).  You can easily setup colors for the mailer and
     for  the terminal program.  Modem control is also  accessible  from
     Setup, as is complete control over file requests.

        If  you  are  running  a  ConfMail-type  message  system,  Setup
     includes up to 200 "Folders"  for  Echo,  Local, and NetMail areas,
     all configurable from the menu.

        For those of you with Assistant Sysops (boy, that  must  be  THE
     LIFE!),  Setup  includes  multiple  levels  of  password  protected
     security for the Sysop and the Assistant sysop.  You can allow your
     Assistant access to only certain functions and areas, if you like.

        And, Setup allows control of security for FD's  powerful  Server
     function.  More about the Server later....

     The Mailer Program:
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 3                   13 Mar 1989


        The Mailer program  is  the  heart  and soul of Front Door, and,
     when you compare it  with  BinkleyTerm 2.00, it is evident that you
     are dealing with state of  the  art  mailer design.  Every function
     you  need  is  instantly  accessible  through  multiple  layers  of
     Function keys, with context sensitive help available at most points
     just by pressing the F1 key.

        If you are tired of oMMM and its mysterious  ways, you will love
     Front  Door.    FD  includes its own integrated packer which  packs
     bundles  on  the  fly,  only  when they are to be sent  during  the
     current  event.    FD  also includes a complete set of easy to  use
     routing commands, and it supports route scheduling which is tied to
     your events.

        Recent history stats  are automatically maintained, and you have
     control through Setup as to how much history FD should keep.  There
     are separate Inbound and Outbound history screens with all the data
     you  could  possibly  need,  and  these  data  screens  are  easily
     maintained, again through the use of Function  Keys.   You can sort
     data, tag it, dump it to a file,  print  it,  etc.,  all  from  the
     Manager sub-menus.

        There are  pre-programmed  Function  keys  as  well  as  10 user
     definable ones, accessible as Alt-Fx series keys.

        Just  got  a  new  NodeDiff?   No problem...    FD  includes  an
     integrated  NodeList  compiler, and the resulting compiled NodeList
     files are  so  much smaller than the ones required for Bink that it
     is ridiculous!   A  savings  of  several hundred K of disc space is
     realized  by these files  alone!    You  can  easily  compile  your
     NodeList with a simple press  of a function key, or you can put the
     necessary code into your RUNFD.BAT batch  file to handle it for you
     when the new NodeDiff arrives.  (I  should point out, however, that
     the FREE version of FD will not yet  merge  the  NodeDiff  with the
     existing  NodeList...   that feature is included in the  commercial
     version,  though).  Because of the built-in compiler, you will  not
     need  ParseList,  XlatList, or XlaxNode (but you WILL need XlaxDiff
     to do the merge).


     The Editor:

        The editor built into FD 2.0 is by far the  best  editor  in any
     mailer  package.    This sucker is virtually a word processor, with
     such functions  (again,  all  accessible through multiple layers of
     function keys) as importing a text file into a message, the ability
     to send multiple copies of the message out buy typing CC:  and then
     either the name or the  net/node number, file attach, file request,
     forwarding, replying, reply with quoting, ten user definable Origin
     lines that you select from a menu,  accessing a specific message by
     number, and scanning for unread messages.

        There is a second level of function keys under the Utilities key
     which allows you to do  such  things  as printing a single message,
     tagging  several messages either manually or  through  a  selection
     process,  printing  tagged  messages, dumping messages to  a  file,
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 4                   13 Mar 1989


     purging messages by user or system...  it  goes  on  and on!  There
     are eight pages in the manual devoted to the  many varied functions
     of the editor alone!

     The Terminal Program:

        Calling  Front Door's terminal program a "Dumb Terminal" is like
     calling Albert  Einstein  "slow".   This terminal program is easily
     the equal of  Telix  3.11,  and for a SYSOP, it is much better!  It
     includes the ability to  use  the  entire  nodelist  as  a  dialing
     directory, and to easily import a node's data into the 200 position
     dialing directory.  You can either  enter  a  net/node  number or a
     Sysop's name, and this terminal will find the right number.  If you
     enter a name search string, FD will find  all  the  matches  in the
     NodeList, and pop up a menu for you to  select from.  For instance,
     if  you type in Todd Looney, it will show you  143/0,  143/27,  and
     even 143/28  (Integrated  Systems,  Todd's business BBS).  You then
     select the one  you want with the moving bar menu, and it will dial
     out.

        The terminal has the ability to store over  60  thousand sets of
     macro keys for logon codes, etc, and will store  information  about
     the macro key set you use with that particular BBS.

        All of the great file transfer protocols are hard coded into the
     program,  and  it includes  automatic  Zmodem  downloads,  YModem-G
     (great for those of us who have HST's, PEP's, or MNP modems because
     YModem-G does not use any error  correction  and  therefore is much
     faster  with  error correcting modems), and SeaLink  Overdrive,  in
     addition to the old standbys like Xmodem and Ymodem.

     The Server Program:

        Front Door's Server program allows  you  to  call in with a pre-
     written script, sent in the form  of a message, and the script will
     execute  in a fashion similar to a  DOS  batch  file.    Basically,
     anything you can do with a batch file,  you  can  do  with  Server!
     And,  for  security, Server sessions are password protected.   This
     really  gives you capabilities similar to (but not as powerful  as)
     programs such as Carbon Copy Plus and PC Anywhere III.

     Point Support:

        Front  Door's support of points  is  unsurpassed  by  any  other
     mailer.  Full point addressing is  used  (1:143/20.3, etc.), and is
     also supported by Joaquim's optional FDTosScan program  for tossing
     and scanning mail.

     Zone Awareness:

        Since Joaquim is Swedish, and does lots of  EchoMail  with nodes
     in Europe, he and Peter Stewart have taken extra  pains  to make FD
     especially  Zone-Aware.    For  those  of  you who are involved  in
     multiple  Nets  such  as  EggNet  and  AlterNet,  FD will make your
     interzone work  painless.    In  fact,  Zone  Awareness was such an
     important part of  FD's  development  that the company that Joaquim
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 5                   13 Mar 1989


     and Peter started is called InterZone Software!

     Summary:

        Hopefully I have not  "gushed" too much about Front Door, but it
     is the most exciting development  in  mailers since BinkleyTerm was
     introduced, and you may have guessed  that  I  am very enthusiastic
     about it.  It has already made  my  life as a SYSOP easier, and has
     reduced my phone bills to boot, because FD  performs  mail transfer
     handshaking  MUCH faster, thereby reducing your connect time.   Put
     those benefits together with the enormous savings in disc space, (I
     picked    up  about  4  megabytes  of  free  space  by  converting,
     considering I  was  able  to  blow away TELIX, Binkley, oMMM, Bonk,
     XlaxNode, Please, Amax,  and  go  to  fewer  and  smaller  NodeList
     files), and it makes Front Door pretty hard to beat!

        If you have any  doubts about all this, please feel free to send
     me NetMail at 1:143/20 or  1:143/400.    Or,  check with any of the
     nodes who have recently converted to  this state of the art mailer.
     The  list  currently  includes  143/23,  143/20,  143/29,   143/27,
     143/120, and 204/42.  Several other nodes in  143  have  freq'd the
     program from me and are in process of converting.   You can freq FD
     from me either under the magic name "FD" or as  FD113.PAK.  It is a
     big archive though (about 523K), and takes about 40 minutes at 2400
     bps or about 8 minutes at 9600/ARQ (*HST*).


     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 6                   13 Mar 1989


                          What's Happening at SEA?


     When  it  was  first  introduced,  the  USNO  program  by  System
     Enhancement Associates, Inc. was widely hailed as by far the best
     such program anywhere.  So what did we do?  We made it better.

     USNO is a program that calls the U.S.  Naval Observatory and sets
     your system clock.  What could be simpler?  However, that can get
     a bit expensive for those of us  who  don't  happen  to  live  in
     Maryland.

     It  has  always  been  possible  to tell USNO to dial a different
     phone number,  but that hasn't helped much as there is a severely
     limited supply of Naval Observatories in the United States.

     But  with  the advent of the SHELL statement in SEAdog 4.50,  any
     SEAdog system can be a "Naval Observatory" for  his  friends  and
     neighbors.  All it takes is a copy of USNO version 1.05,  and the
     following statement in your CONFIG.DOG file:

         shell 84 usno EST -r30

     Change the time zone to whatever yours happens to be,  of course.
     Now  anyone  with USNO version 1.05 can tell it to use YOUR phone
     number.



     Files mentioned this week:

                   USNO.ARC            The USNO clock-setter.

     USNO.ARC may be downloaded from our  technical  support  bulletin
     board  at  (201)  473-1991,  or may be file-requested from either
     520/1015@AlterNet or 1:107/1015@FidoNet.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 7                   13 Mar 1989


     John Herro
     1:363/6


                           Will ZIP Replace ARC?



     Bulletin boards store most files in a  compressed  form  for  two
     reasons.  First,  it  reduces  the time it takes to send files by
     modem, saving on telephone charges.  Second, it saves disk space.

     At  one  time,  most files were compressed with the  program  SQZ
     (Squeeze).  Also,  several  related  files  were grouped into one
     "library" file with LU (Library Utility).

     System  Enhancement  Associates  (SEA)  improved file compression
     dramatically with a shareware program called  ARC (Archive).  ARC
     compresses  files and groups them into one file,  all in one pro-
     gram.  Also,  it compresses files harder (to a smaller size) than
     SQZ.  Although  .ARC  files are not compatible with SQZ, ARC is a
     much better program.  So almost overnight, ARC files replaced SQZ
     files on bulletin boards.

     Phil Katz of  PKWARE  then produced a  shareware  program  PKARC,
     which was compatible with ARC, but ran much faster.  A later ver-
     sion of PKARC was able to squeeze some files harder than  SEA ARC
     at the expense  of  compatibility.  However,  it had an option to
     produce SEA ARC compatible files.  Even with the greater compres-
     sion turned on, PKARC ran much faster than SEA ARC.

     Then SEA  sued  PKWARE  for violating its copyright and for using
     the name "ARC" and the .ARC  file format.  Which side (if either)
     was right is  debatable,  but the court ordered  PKWARE  to  stop
     selling ARC compatible programs and to stop using the name "ARC."

     NoGate Consulting  produced a shareware program PAK that can pro-
     duce  ARC  compatible files.  It squeezes harder than PKARC,  but
     runs considerably slower.  It is still faster than SEA ARC.

     Just now  PKWARE  released the shareware program  PKZIP.  It pro-
     duces .ZIP files  (called zipfiles)  that are not compatible with
     ARC.  However,  it runs as fast as  PKARC  or even faster, and it
     squeezes harder than PKARC.  Also,  with extra compression turned
     on  (by typing the options  -ea4 -eb4),  it  squeezes even harder
     than  NoGate  PAK  and  runs about as fast compressing,  and much
     faster expanding!

     I benchmarked all these programs by compressing version  1.21  of
     my ADA-TUTR (Ada Tutor) program, which contains 33 files totaling
     more than  700K.  The files are of a variety of types.  I  didn't
     benchmark PKPAK, because it is the same as  PKARC  except for the
     file extension.  The benchmarks were run on a  Toshiba T1200 lap-
     top.  The results show that PKZIP is clearly the winner:


     FidoNews 6-11                Page 8                   13 Mar 1989


     PROGRAM:    COMPRESSED SIZE: COMPRESSION TIME:    EXPANSION TIME:

     Normal Compression:
     PKARC v. 3.5          319577      62 secs.           63 secs.
     PKZIP v. 0.9          297045      61 secs.           66 secs.

     Maximum Compression:
     NoGate PAK v. 1.0     287228     155 secs.          154 secs.
     PKZIP -ea4 -eb4       257399     160 secs.           57 secs.

     It looks as though Phil Katz actually outdid himself with  PKZIP.
     In normal compression,  it runs in about the same time as  PKARC,
     but compresses harder.  In maximum compression, it squeezes hard-
     er than  NoGate  PAK,  compressing in about the same time and ex-
     panding 2.7 times faster!

     PKZIP has a few new features, such as the ability to include sub-
     directories.  However,  these  are  unimportant compared with the
     excellent compression the program achieves.

     I have no connection with  PKWARE,  except for being a registered
     user of PKZIP.  However,

        ------------------------------------------------------------
        |  I think that ZIP will soon replace ARC as the standard  |
        |  for bulletin boards, just as ARC earlier replaced SQZ.  |
        ------------------------------------------------------------

     There are more reasons besides the superior performance of PKZIP.
     First, if I correctly understood  SEA's  announcement in FidoNews
     607, the latest version of SEA ARC is not shareware but a commer-
     cial program!  This is just what I had feared in the article  "My
     Two Cents Worth on PK vs. SEA" in FidoNews 540.   Clearly we want
     a  shareware  file compressor that can be freely spread around on
     bulletin boards!  Second,  Phil  Katz  explicitly placed the name
     ZIP  and the  ZIP  file format in the Public Domain, to encourage
     others to write  ZIP  compatible software.  SEA has not done this
     with ARC, which is why the court could stop  PKWARE  from selling
     ARC compatible software.  By placing the ZIP file format and name
     in the Public Domain, Phil Katz is wisely preventing a repetition
     of the unfortunate legal battle that recently took place.

     Some sysops may hesitate to  use  PKZIP  because  their  bulletin
     board software  (e.g., Opus)  can list the contents of an ARChive
     but not a ZIPfile.  However, as ZIP becomes the new standard, the
     software  writers  will  make  their software compatible with it.
     Who will be the first person to write a  ZIPmail  program similar
     to ARCmail?

     PKZIP  is distributed as the self extracting program  PKZ090.EXE.
     You can find it on many bulletin boards,  including  Society BBS,
     1:363/6, 407-773-2831.  Get a copy,  spread it around, and evalu-
     ate it.  If you like it,  register and use it.  (Those who regis-
     tered PKARC need not register PKZIP.)   Let's  make the BEST file
     compression method the new BBS standard!

     FidoNews 6-11                Page 9                   13 Mar 1989


     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 10                  13 Mar 1989


     =================================================================
                                  COLUMNS
     =================================================================


                "Too zoon oldt unt too late schmart..."
                      by Ken McVay, 1:153/20

     There  is an inexorable line of progression that seems to  impose
     itself upon those of us who become enamoured of FidoNet.

     First,  of course, is that surge of excitement when  you  receive
     your  new  node number, and your first netmail message.  As  time
     goes  on, you find yourself becoming more and more interested  in
     some  specific  area, and, over a period  of  time,  increasingly
     proud of your clever accomplishments.

     You become an expert at creating ever more efficient batch files.
     You  watch, you learn from your mistakes, and from your  fellows,
     and your knowledge continues to grow....until perhaps one day you
     look  at  your  system and smugly say  to  yourself  "Ain't  this
     grand?"

     You become quite convinced it just CAN'T be improved.

     And then some gen-u-wine Old Phart who perhaps had "Node 12" when
     all of this began pops in for a few hours, looks at your  system,
     shakes  his head, and says "Have you considered doing  that  THIS
     way instead?"

     Invariably, having implemented his suggestions, you discover that
     not  only has your system become FAR more efficient, but that  he
     has  simplified complexities to the point where your mind  begins
     (sigh...)  to  reel at the new possibilities.....and  the  circle
     continues to turn...

     Such was the case with me, when I began submitting columns  about
     my Almanac extraction system a few weeks ago. Having fought  with
     the  task for nearly three years, I was quite certain that I  had
     finally  arrived....hell, it was 99% automatic, right? And if  my
     SEAdog  batch file had grown to nearly 100K, and its  sheer  bult
     had began to impact on everything ELSE the system did, well, that
     was  a  small price to pay for the terrific stuff it  was  doing.
     Hell,  if  I  had  to spend another pile of  money  on  a  faster
     computer,  why  not? Perhaps I had simply become so  terrific  at
     what I do that I had outgrown this screamer in a short 5  months,
     and it was time to get more toys, right?

     Wrong. My old net host, Ken Yerex (now 153/1103), dropped in  for
     a weekend's social frolic...Ken is a certified Old Phart if there
     ever was one, so I started showing off my toys, including my  98K
     batch file...hey, you show most folks a 98K batch file, and  they
     fall  all over themselves telling you how smart you  are,  right?
     When  I showed it to Ken, however, and told him it was too  slow,
     and  I was going to buy a 20MHz machine to solve the problem,  he
     just smiled and said "What on earth for?"
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 11                  13 Mar 1989


     He  then proceeded to reduce the size of the batch file  to  24K,
     make the entire system lightening fast, and leave on Sunday  with
     a big grin on his face.....and here I sit, 5 years of  experience
     shattered in 4 hours, thinking about all the POWER he gave me  to
     play with...letssee now...I think I can REALLY do some neat stuff
     NOW....so, you see, the circle turns once again.

     What did he do? Well, for starters, he introduced me to the  CALL
     command  (DOS  3.3 +) and we began creating smaller  batch  files
     that wouldn't require searching 1600 lines to edit. He created  a
     RAMDisk of tiny proportions in extended ram, and moved everything
     into it. Then the REAL education began.  Next week I'll show you
     how Yerex built a Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear :-)

     Cheers!


     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 12                  13 Mar 1989


     Pam Murray
     Fido 1:340/12

                                TRAPPED


          The leopard  paces  slowly  back and forth in his cage.  As he
     looks out through  the  iron bars, he can see the faces of children
     and adults laughing at  him.    A  piece  of  popcorn  thrown  by a
     condescending  spectator  bounces  off  his  nose,  and  he  growls
     menacingly,  leaping against the bars and  frightening  the  people
     away.

          The leopard looks longingly out at the  open  fields and sunny
     meadows the peacocks and rabbits romp in.   The  leopard  has  been
     living in his cage at the zoo for two  years now, and every day the
     metal  grows  colder,  and the artificial cave he lives in  becomes
     drearier.   He was born to be a wild animal, and  roamed  the  open
     African  plains  freely until he was captured and imprisoned in the
     zoo.

          The leopard  slowly heads toward his cage and lies on the cold
     metal floor.   Sure,  the attendants spread hay on the floor of his
     cage so that the  cage  look  more realistic, but the leopard knows
     that he is lying on  reinforced steel;  not the warm brown soils of
     his homeland.

          The  leopard  closes his eyes and  tries  to  imagine  himself
     racing after an antelope and dragging his prey back home to eat it,
     but  he is brought back to reality by  the  resounding  echo  of  a
     slamming  metal door.  There were no doors in  his  homeland,  only
     warm, rolling plains, and long grass that he could hide  in.    The
     zookeeper  brings the leopard his food.  The leopard misses hunting
     for his  own  food.    Hunting was his livelihood - if not his main
     reason for living.    He thrived on the thrill of the chase and the
     exhilaration of killing his  prey.    Now,  in the zoo, his food is
     brought to him.  The leopard is becoming fat, and he knows that the
     aches in his bones are caused by lack of exercise.

          The leopard snarls at his keeper and climbs his concrete tree.
     From here he can see his cage  in  all  its  grandeur  -  the flies
     swarming about his food dish, the stale popcorn  and the floor, the
     artificial  turf,  the dry hay, and the flourescent lights  in  the
     ceiling.    The  leopard  descends  from the 'tree' and enters  his
     'cave'.  Here, knowing he will never return to Africa, he lies down
     to sleep, and never wakes up.

          Perhaps he  is  happier  this  way.    No doubt, the leopard's
     heaven is full  of antelope, warm soils, and blue skies.  There are
     rolling plains and long green grass he can hide in there, and he is
     the king of it all.  His heaven knows no cages, bars, or artificial
     anything.  The leopard had died,  but we must not mourn him, for he
     is truly happy now.  (P)

                                                          PAM!
                                                          ----
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 13                  13 Mar 1989


     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 14                  13 Mar 1989


                                    YACK
                      Yet Another Complicated Komment

                            by Steven K. Hoskin
                        ( STEVE HOSKIN at 1:128/31 )

                  Episode 23:  FidoNet Gains Independence!


     A long time ago (in a galaxy far,  far away -  oops, wrong scene)
     there was a man with a vision.  To see personal computers  around
     the  world  linked  together  in an electronic mail network.  The
     network was FidoNet,  and the man was Ol'  Grandad Fido  himself,
     Tom Jennings.

     For a long while this vision grew and took form,  and the history
     of FidoNet tells the tale of this expansion,  a dream  coming  to
     life in the modern-day electronic wizardry of the 20th Century.

     As  the network grew in leaps and bounds,  many of the Great Ones
     in FidoNet repeatedly expressed a  desire  to  form  a  fraternal
     organization  of FidoNet Sysops;  an organization that could be a
     source of  strength  when  the  chips  were  down;  a  source  of
     equipment  when the hardware was down;  a pool of money and legal
     resources when the law came down in  the  inevitable  user  abuse
     court  cases.   What  they  wanted was an organization OF FidoNet
     Sysops FOR FidoNet Sysops.

     It was natural to fear that an organization which was  collecting
     and  pooling  money  for this central source of aid would have to
     pay taxes;  and knowing that the money would not  come  easy,  we
     wanted  to  lose absolutely nothing we didn't have to.  A natural
     sounding solution was to become a tax-sheltered organization, for
     example, a non-profit organization.  After all, this organization
     WOULDN'T be making any profit,  it would  merely  be  a  pool  of
     resources for FidoNet Sysops.

     The  International  FidoNet  Association  (IFNA)  was formed as a
     result of this second dream.  Once it was formed as  a  corporate
     entity,  it fought for and finally received 501(c)  status - that
     of a general not-for-profit organization.  Success!  Right?

     Well...

     Due to the legalisms of BEING a 501(c)  company,  IFNA  must  now
     take all hands off of FidoNet and work FOR THE PUBLIC.  Educating
     the  public  about telecommunication by disseminating information
     about FidoNet technology.  Not running or helping FidoNet.

     You're on your own again, FidoNet.  Good Luck!

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 15                  13 Mar 1989


     =================================================================
                              LATEST VERSIONS
     =================================================================

                          Latest Software Versions

                           Bulletin Board Software
     Name        Version    Name        Version    Name       Version

     Fido            12k*   Opus          1.03b    TBBS           2.1
     QuickBBS       2.03    TPBoard         5.0    TComm/TCommNet 3.2
     Lynx           1.22    Phoenix         1.3    RBBS         1.71D


     Network                Node List              Other
     Mailers     Version    Utilities   Version    Utilities  Version

     Dutchie       2.90C*   EditNL         4.00    ARC           6.01*
     SEAdog         4.50*   MakeNL         2.12    ARCmail        2.0*
     BinkleyTerm    2.00    Prune          1.40    ConfMail      4.00
     D'Bridge       1.10    XlatList       2.90*   TPB Editor    1.21
     FrontDoor       2.0    XlaxNode       2.32*   TCOMMail       2.0
     PRENM          1.40    XlaxDiff       2.32*   TMail         8901*
                            ParseList      1.30    UFGATE        1.02*
                                                   GROUP         2.04*
                                                   EMM           1.40
                                                   MSGED         1.99*

     * Recently changed

     Utility authors:  Please help  keep  this  list  up  to  date  by
     reporting  new  versions  to 1:1/1.  It is not our intent to list
     all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 16                  13 Mar 1989


     =================================================================
                                  NOTICES
     =================================================================

                          The Interrupt Stack


      8 May 1989
        Digital Equipment Corporations User Society (DECUS) will be
        holding its semi-annual symposium in Atlanta, GA. Runs
        through May 12. As usual sysop's will get together and chat.

     19 May 1989
        Start of EuroCon III at Eindhoven, The Netherlands

     24 Aug 1989
        Voyager 2 passes Neptune.

     24 Aug 1989
          FidoCon '89 starts at the Holiday Inn in San Jose,
          California.  Trade show, seminars, etc. Contact 1/89
          for info.

      5 Oct 1989
        20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus"

     If you have something which you would like to see on this
     calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------

     FidoNews 6-11                Page 17                  13 Mar 1989


     =================================================================
                                  REPORTS
     =================================================================

     Don Daniels, Chairman
     Bylaws and Rules Committee
     1:107/210

                        Report on New IFNA Bylaws

     The purpose of this report to provide a listing of those bylaws
     amendments that were passed in the recent election and to discuss
     some of the ramifications of such passage, in certain instances.

     Those proposed Bylaw amendments that passed are as follows:

     DEF.02      DEF.03      DEF.04      DEF.05      DEF.06      01.01
     01.02       02/03       04          05          06          07
     09          10          11          12          14          16
     17          18          19          22
     24.01       24.02       24.03       24.04       24.05       24.08
     28          29          30          35.01       35.02       39
     40.01       40.02       42          43          44          45


     In discussing the impact of these bylaws changes, my intention is
     to skip over those which strike me as relatively insignificant.
     These include those which clarified "ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING" and
     "ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING" as opposed to just "ANNUAL MEETING",
     removed certain responsibilities from the Secretary or extended
     them to his/her designate, and other similar matters of
     housekeeping.  If, perchance, I've overlooked something you
     consider significant, then please feel free to respond to the
     address above or to submit a letter to the editor.


     Bylaws Amendments Enacted in the Recent Election
     ================================================

     DEF.02 - This amendment changed all references from "IFNA
     Network/Nodelist" to "FidoNet Network/Nodelist".  It is unclear
     what the effect of this will be considering the Board's action to
     move further away from FidoNet in response to what was felt as
     the desire of the membership as expressed in other areas and the
     purposes of the organization as spelled out in the Articles of
     Association.


     DEF.04 - By adding this definition for International Coordinator,
     IFNA now has formal recognition of the position.  However,
     nowhere else in the bylaws is this position mentioned and the
     claim that the IC is "elected by the various Zones and Regional
     Coordinators to arbitrate and rule on Inter-Zonal disputes" is
     not in accordance with historical fact.  This bylaw seems to
     really be worthless in terms of the current position of IFNA.

     FidoNews 6-11                Page 18                  13 Mar 1989


     01.01 - Life members are now entitled to the full rights of such
     additional membership categories for which they eligible.


     01.02 - This amendment is going to create quite a few problems
     because it was not well crafted.  Its intention was to provide
     some direct representation for FidoNet sysops who were unwilling
     to join IFNA.  The compromise it suggests may be reasonable in
     intent, but the administrative problems it creates are
     significant.  The board of Directors, recognizing this, has
     established a processing fee equal to the actual cost per ballot
     of the past election to cover at least some of this potential
     administrative burden.  However, it is still unclear as to just
     how to best interpret some of the clauses of this amendment and
     to apply them to our real-life situation.  In addition, current
     changes of direction as expressed by the board may do much to
     remove the original problem this amendment attempted to solve.

     It would appear that the most likely way in which this could
     actually work is as follows:

       o  Anyone who was listed in the FidoNet nodelist for 180 days
          prior to the last annual membership meeting may apply to
          become an at-large member of IFNA.  No annual dues are
          presently associated with this application.  [The burden of
          proof for meeting the requirement has not as yet been
          allocated; it may be left to the applicant to provide the
          proof as part of the application.]

       o  Anyone who becomes a member under this clause will therefore
          become an at-large member for one year and will be entitled
          to vote as indicated.  Ballots will be sent to all such
          members of record as of the cut-off date established in the
          rules for the election.  How the processing fee will be
          collected is unclear; probably it will be required to be
          returned with the ballot, if not required at the time of
          application.


     09 - This amendment should provide for better reporting of the
     activities of the corporation by reducing the lead time for the
     reports and by extending the number of reports required.


     10 - The previous lead-time requirements for parts of the
     election process were much too long in practice.  Many people
     discovered that they were too late to respond to the requirments
     last year.  Therefore, these dates have been shortened to more
     meaningful time frames.  However, there are problems with
     overseas responses; it is expected that procedures currently
     being implemented will address these problems so that the
     shortened time spans will not burn one segment of the membership
     at the benefit of another.


     18 - Under the old bylaws, a Director could not be recalled in
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 19                  13 Mar 1989


     the last six months of a term; this has now been reduced to
     three months.


     24.02 - This amendment, well intentioned though it may be, is
     going to present so much of a problem that it is probable that
     the BoD will have to intercede and change it prior to the next
     election.  The worst thing about it is that it INCREASES the
     Board of Directors from the current 22 to 24.  The Board is
     convinced that it cannot operate effectively with such a number.
     Discussions in St. Louis seemed to point to ten as being a more
     realistic number in order to assure effective participation.
     However, getting down to so low a number will require additional
     bylaws changes to account for shortened terms - an unhappy
     prospect.

     Meanwhile, please consider the distribution this amendment has
     created in terms of approximate nodes per voting division:

       DIV NODES    DIV NODES    DIV NODES    DIV NODES    DIV NODES

         2 1180       3  257      10  457      11  750      12 190
        13  560      14  147      15  263      16  291      17 457
        18  563      19  610

     Based on 22 directors, there should be approximately 530 nodes in
     each division.  As can be seen from the above, splitting voting
     division 12 into 12 and 3 was totally unnecessary as their
     combined level of 447 already resulted in greater representation
     per node than average.  The division which should have been split
     into two was unquestionably division 2 (1180/2=590).  It can also
     be seen that divisions 14, 15, and 16 should probably be combined
     or redistributed (147+263+291=701).

     In any event, the Board has already indicated that it wishes to
     reduce its membership and that it desires to maintain roughly
     equal representation.  There should soon be an amendment to this
     bylaw presented to the Board which will effect this for the
     upcoming election.  The Board also considered the problem of
     international representation.  None of the three overseas
     directors was able to make the recent meeting, and two of them
     turned out to be completely unrepresented.  Obviously, whatever
     solution that is reached in terms of distribution, must take into
     account the difficulties of real international representation.


     24.08 - This amendment allows the Board of Directors to change
     the voting Divisions.  It is expected that being able to do this
     will result in fairer representation.  As indicated above, some
     of the Divisions do not provide reasonably fair per capita
     representation, and it is expected that this will be corrected
     shortly.


     29 - This amendment has removed responsibility for a nodelist
     from the Vice President - Technical Coordinator, which is more in
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 20                  13 Mar 1989


     line with current reality.  In addition, it also removes the line
     declaring responsibility for the "smooth operation of the FidoNet
     Network."  Based on this direction from the membership, the board
     has moved further away from any direct involvement with FidoNet.


     35.01 - See 40.01 below.


     35.02 - See 40.01 below.


     39 - The policy for FidoNews has been explicitly stated to be "to
     publish all submitted articles of interest to the FidoNet
     community, within the bounds of legality and good taste."  The
     only difficulty with this is in determining what is "legal and in
     good taste" within the FidoNet community, considering it is so
     large and encompasses so many local variations.  The Board has
     affirmed the power of the Editor to act as the executor of this
     policy, with the exception that either the Publications Committee
     or the Executive Committee may override the Editor and cause an
     article to be published which the Editor had chosen to withhold.


     40.01 - With the changes to Bylaw 35, the responsibilities of the
     Bylaws Committee in the Bylaws amendment process is now made much
     more clear and the rights of minority groups to demand changes
     are firmly established.


     40.02 - This amendment is a compromise between those that feel
     that the bylaws should be changed by the BoD and those that feel
     that they should be changed by the membership.  The BoD may
     hereafter change Bylaws, but all such changes are automatically
     to be subjected to the review of the membership during the next
     election.  The BoD has since exercised this right, as indicated
     below.


     42 - This new bylaw simply clarifies the order of precedence of
     new conditions at a BoD meeting.


     43 - This new bylaw is intended to dictate the basis upon which
     IFNA is to relate to various networks.  Should various network
     entities enter into such agreement, it will clarify much of the
     confusion and reduce the resulatant bad will such has existed in
     the case of IFNA and FidoNet.


     44 - An adjunct to the previous amendment, the establishment of a
     grievance mechanism to resolve problems within the scope of
     formal agreements only should also reduce ill will.


     45 - The intent of this bylaw is to encourage innovative means of
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 21                  13 Mar 1989


     operating IFNA.  To date, we have been severely hog-tied due to
     the fact that there was no basis whereby we were assured we could
     legally transact business in electronic sessions.  This should
     help to alleviate that problem by giving us the mandate to do so.
     The only thing that would trip us up on this now is if controling
     jurisdictions pass laws specifically forbidding the transaction
     of business through such means.


     Bylaws Amendments Enacted by the Board of Directors
     ===================================================

     46 - "Official communications of the Board of Directors or
     Executive Commitee may be presented, in lieu of written form as
     called for within these bylaws, through electronic means,
     providing such means are secure and their authenticity
     verifiable."

     This bylaw will make it much easier for IFNA officials to do
     their jobs in a timely manner.


     Unfortunately, the complete list of these amendments is not
     available.  In addition to the one above, there was one that
     established how certain IFNA officials could be removed from
     office.  There may have been one more, but I'm not sure as to
     what it was at present.  Hopefully, the transcriptions of the
     meeting will soon be completed from the audio tapes and will
     provide this information.  Once available, I will prepare a
     follow-up report.

     The complete set of the current Articles and Bylaws may be
     obtained from 1:107/210 as BYLAWS.ARC.  It contains ARTICLES.TXT,
     BYLAWS.TXT, and yymmdd.DOC which specifies the date the file was
     last revised.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 22                  13 Mar 1989


            OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION

     Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Chairman of the Board
     Bob Rudolph    1:261/628 President
     Matt Whelan    3:3/1     Vice President
     Bill Bolton    3:54/61   Vice President-Technical Coordinator
     Linda Grennan  1:147/1   Secretary
     Kris Veitch    1:147/30  Treasurer


            IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS

     Administration and Finance     Mark Grennan    1:147/1
     Board of Directors             Mort Sternheim  1:321/109
     Bylaws                         Don Daniels     1:107/210
     Ethics                         Ivan Schaffel   1:141/390
     Executive Committee            Bob Rudolph     1:261/628
     International Affairs          Rob Gonsalves   2:500/1
     Membership Services            David Drexler   1:147/1
     Nominations & Elections        David Melnick   1:107/233
     Public Affairs                 David Drexler   1:147/1
     Publications                   Rick Siegel     1:107/27
     Security & Individual Rights   Jim Cannell     1:143/21
     Technical Standards            Rick Moore      1:115/333


                      IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

         DIVISION                               AT-LARGE

     10  Courtney Harris   1:130/732    Don Daniels     1:107/210
     11  Bill Allbritten   1:11/301     Mort Sternheim  1:321/109
     12  Bill Bolton       3:54/61      Mark Grennan    1:147/1
     13  Irene Henderson   1:107/9       (vacant)
     14  Ken Kaplan        1:100/22     Ted Polczyinski 1:154/5
     15  Scott Miller      1:128/12     Matt Whelan     3:54/99
     16  Ivan Schaffel     1:141/390    Robert Rudolph  1:261/628
     17  Neal Curtin       1:343/1      Steve Jordan    1:206/2871
     18  Andrew Adler      1:135/47     Kris Veitch     1:147/30
     19  David Drexler     1:147/1       (vacant)
      2  Henk Wevers       2:500/1      David Melnik    1:107/233

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
     FidoNews 6-11                Page 23                  13 Mar 1989


                                      __
                 The World's First   /  \
                    BBS Network     /|oo \
                    * FidoNet *    (_|  /_)
                                    _`@/_ \    _
                                   |     | \   \\
                                   | (*) |  \   ))
                      ______       |__U__| /  \//
                     / Fido \       _//|| _\   /
                    (________)     (_/(_|(____/ (tm)

            Membership for the International FidoNet Association

     Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
     pays  a  specified  annual   membership  fee.   IFNA  serves  the
     international  FidoNet-compatible  electronic  mail  community to
     increase worldwide communications.

     Member Name _______________________________  Date _______________
     Address _________________________________________________________
     City ____________________________________________________________
     State ________________________________  Zip _____________________
     Country _________________________________________________________
     Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________
     Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________

     Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________
     BBS Name ________________________________________________________
     BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________
     Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________
     Board Restrictions ______________________________________________

     Your Special Interests __________________________________________
     _________________________________________________________________
     _________________________________________________________________
     In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________
     _________________________________________________________________
     _________________________________________________________________
     Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in
     US Funds to:
                   International FidoNet Association
                   PO Box 41143
                   St Louis, Missouri 63141
                   USA

     Thank you for your membership!  Your participation will help to
     insure the future of FidoNet.

     Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
     and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
     membership in January 1987.  The second elected Board of Directors
     was filled in August 1988.  The IFNA Echomail Conference has been
     established on FidoNet to assist the Board.  We welcome your
     input to this Conference.

     -----------------------------------------------------------------
