• FidoNews 29:40 [00/06]: The Front Page

    From FidoNews Robot@2:2/2 to All on Mon Oct 1 05:56:01 2012
    The F I D O N E W S Volume 29, Number 40 01 Oct 2012 +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
    | |The newsletter of the | | |
    | | FidoNet community. | | Netmail attach to (POTS): |
    | | | | Editor @ 2:2/2 (+46-31-960447) |
    | | ____________| | |
    | | / __ | Netmail attach to (BinkP): |
    | | / / \ | Editor @ 2:203/0 |
    | | WOOF! ( /|oo \ | |
    | \_______\(_| /_) | Email attach to: |
    | _ @/_ \ _ | bfelten @ telia dot com |
    | | | \ \\ | |
    | | (*) | \ ))| |
    | |__U__| / \// | Editor: Bj”rn Felten |
    | ______ _//|| _\ / | |
    | / Fido \ (_/(_|(____/ | Newspapers should have no friends. |
    | (________) (jm) | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +--------------------------+-----------------------------------------+


    Table of Contents
    1. FOOD FOR THOUGHT ......................................... 1
    2. GENERAL ARTICLES ......................................... 2
    Notes on a topless echomail distribution system .......... 2
    3. JAMNNTPD SERVERS LIST .................................... 4
    The Johan Billing JamNNTPd project ....................... 4
    4. FIDONEWS'S FIDONET SOFTWARE LISTING ...................... 5
    FidoNet Software References .............................. 5
    5. SPECIAL INTEREST ......................................... 10
    Nodelist Stats ........................................... 10
    6. FIDONEWS INFORMATION ..................................... 12
    How to Submit an Article ................................. 12
    Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability .................. 14

    --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)
  • From FidoNews Robot@2:2/2 to All on Mon Oct 1 05:56:02 2012
    =================================================================
    FOOD FOR THOUGHT =================================================================

    Finally I am becoming stupider no more.

    -- Paul Erdos' epitaph


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

    --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)
  • From FidoNews Robot@2:2/2 to All on Mon Oct 1 05:56:03 2012
    =================================================================
    GENERAL ARTICLES =================================================================

    Notes on a topless echomail distribution system.
    By Michiel van der Vlist, 2:280/5555


    Fidonet echomail distribution is traditionally based on top down
    structures. While Fidonet itself was designed as a peer to peer
    network, echomail terminology is full of terms like uplink, downlink,
    hubs and backbones. For a specific echomail area, a node has one
    uplink and zero or mode downlinks. Peering links are only found at the
    top of the so called backbone if it consists of a backbone ring. AKA a
    fully connected polygon.

    Such a rigid structure is needed to avoid so called dupes. Messages
    arriving more than once. Dupes can happen when there is more then one
    path between nodes. One way to prevent dupes is to ensure that there
    is only one path between the downlinks and the uplinks.


    Backbone
    / \
    / \
    / \
    Hub Hub
    / \ / \
    / \ / \
    node node node node

    Another one is dupe prevention by seen-by.

    A----------B
    | * * |
    | * * |
    | * * |
    | * * |
    C----------D


    These four nodes form a so called fully connected polygon. They are
    all connected to each other. The seen-bys prevent that a message from
    A arriving at B will be sent on to C and D, because they are already
    in the seen-by.

    There is no theoretical limit on the size of a fully connected polygon
    but there are practical limits. Five is about the practical maximum.

    A standard echomail topology is a backbone of one to five nodes
    forming a fully connected polygon. Each backbone member feeds a number
    of hubs who in turn feed a number of downlinks.

    Such a configuration works fine for preventing dupes.

    But is has drawbacks.
    It is a top down configuration and one of the drawbacks of that is
    that it has a top from which things can be controlled. The most recent
    example was in the summer of 2011 when the North American Backbone
    tried to grab control of Fodonews, causing a schism in te process, but
    there have been many other examples in the history of Fidonet. The R28
    CSO wars come to mind.

    The cost sharing wars ended when the main distrubition went from POTS
    to Fido over IP, reducing the cost to almost zero, so there no longer
    was any cost to fight over. We thought that freed Fidonet from the
    power of the distributors to control the distribution of echomal, but unfortunately it didn't as the 2011 Fidonews coup has demonstrated.

    So in the summer of 2011 the NAB set all of Fidonet outside of Z1 to
    read only for the Fidonews echo. And than something unexpected
    happened. To circumvent the censoring, sysops all over the world
    starting laying new links. Without any coordinations whatsover. Just
    find a link that is not censored. They knew this was going to cause
    dupes, but the idea was to first restore the links and worry about the
    dupes later. What evolved was what I have named the NADS, the New
    Anarchy Distribution Network. Some have called it GONADS which is
    quite appropriate as it takes balls to knowingly and willingly
    breaking a 25 year old taboo: that of causing dupes. Up until then
    that had been an almost mortal sin.


    Yes, there were some dupes. But not as many as was feared. Not by FAR
    as many. So then the idea arose to lay some more links. And some more.
    Against inituition this did not cause an increase of dupes. In
    retrospect this is not so strange. When everyone links up with
    everyone we are back to a fully connected polygon. So when approaching
    such a configuration one can expect the dupes to go down again.

    And there we have it. The NADS. Others have called it the Fidoweb.
    Maybe a better term as that is what it looks like.

    The result is a topless distribution system. No "top" to control it
    from and as a side benefit, it is far less sensitive to SPOF. If there
    is a path that dupes can follow, there is an alternate path in case a
    node drops out. The price is a manageable increase in traffic. In the
    POTS age, that would have increased the cost. In the Fido over IP age:
    who cares?


    ¸ Michiel van der Vlist, all rights reserved.
    Permission to publish in the FIDONEWS file echo, the FIDONEWS
    discussion echo and the FNEWS_PUBLISH echo as originating from 2:2/2



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    --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)
  • From FidoNews Robot@2:2/2 to All on Mon Oct 1 05:56:04 2012
    =================================================================
    JAMNNTPD SERVERS LIST =================================================================

    The Johan Billing JamNNTPd project

    This is a list of known JamNNTPd servers working. They are essentially
    the modern version of Bulletin Board Systems.

    You connect to them using the email client of your choice and you
    don't need any other software installed on your computer -- regardless
    of operating system -- but that favourite mail client of yours.

    Even smart phones can handle this, giving you the opportunity to get
    your daily doses of fidonet on the bus, tram or train on the way to
    your job, school or whatever.



    Updated 2012-03-11


    URL news://felten.yi.org
    Join http://felten.yi.org/join.html
    NETMAIL Yes, 2:203/2

    URL news://the-estar.com:1119
    Join http://www.easternstar.info
    NETMAIL Yes, 1:123/789

    URL news://quinnspost.dyndns.org:60119
    Join mailto:eskimo261@bigfoot.com
    NETMAIL No

    URL news://nntp.rbb.bbs.fi
    Join Info in group +GETACCESS+
    NETMAIL Yes, 2:221/361

    URL news://news.wpusa.dynip.com
    Join Info in group +GETACCESS+
    NETMAIL Yes, 1:3634/12


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    --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)
  • From FidoNews Robot@2:2/2 to All on Mon Oct 1 05:56:05 2012
    =================================================================
    SPECIAL INTEREST =================================================================

    Nodelist Stats

    Input nodelist nodelist.272
    size 342.4kb
    date 2012-09-28

    The nodelist has 2419 nodes in it
    and a total of 3525 non-comment entries

    including 5 zones
    37 regions
    242 hosts
    202 hubs
    admin overhead 486 ( 20.09 %)

    and 324 private nodes
    128 nodes down
    168 nodes on hold
    off line overhead 620 ( 25.63 %)


    Speed summary:

    >9600 = 199 ( 8.23 %)
    9600 = 1541 ( 63.70 %)
    (HST = 21 or 1.36 %)
    (CSP = 0 or 0.00 %)
    (PEP = 1 or 0.06 %)
    (MAX = 0 or 0.00 %)
    (HAY = 1 or 0.06 %)
    (V32 = 739 or 47.96 %)
    (V32B = 53 or 3.44 %)
    (V34 = 1035 or 67.16 %)
    (V42 = 877 or 56.91 %)
    (V42B = 58 or 3.76 %)
    2400 = 11 ( 0.45 %)
    1200 = 2 ( 0.08 %)
    300 = 666 ( 27.53 %)

    ISDN = 169 ( 6.99 %)

    ----------------------------------------------------------
    File Req Flag Applicable software Number of systems ----------------------------------------------------------
    XA Frontdoor <1.99b 693
    Frontdoor 2.02+
    Dutchie 2.90c
    Binkleyterm >2.1
    D'Bridge <1.3
    TIMS
    Xenia
    --------------------------------------
    XB Binkleyterm 2.0 0
    Dutchie 2.90b
    --------------------------------------
    XC Opus 1.1 1 --------------------------------------
    XP Seadog 0 --------------------------------------
    XR Opus 1.03 16 --------------------------------------
    XW Fido >12M 66
    Tabby
    KittenMail
    --------------------------------------
    XX D'Bridge 1.30 769
    Frontdoor 1.99b
    Intermail 2.01
    T-Mail
    --------------------------------------
    None QMM 874 --------------------------------------

    CrashMail capable = 1187 ( 49.07 %)
    MailOnly nodes = 1205 ( 49.81 %)
    Listed-only nodes = 184 ( 7.61 %)
    Other = -157 ( -6.49 %)

    [Report produced by NETSTATS - A PD pgm]
    [ Revised by B Felten, 2:203/208]

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    --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)
  • From FidoNews Robot@2:2/2 to All on Mon Oct 1 05:56:06 2012
    =================================================================
    FIDONEWS INFORMATION =================================================================

    How to Submit an Article

    If you wish to submit an article for inclusion in the Fidonews, here
    are some guidelines, if you send it as an attached file; the preferred
    method if you want reasonable control over how the published article
    will appear in the Fidonews:

    a) Plain ASCII text. If you could type it on your keyboard, it's
    probably quite OK. No line may be longer than 70 characters.

    b) Put a title to the article. Put the title in two times. The first
    time, on the first line, with an * before it. The second time, on
    the second line, without the * and centered. This will help in the
    format since the title with the * is removed and used in the index,
    the second line will become the headline. On the third line, put
    your name and FidoNet address, present or former. If former, you
    may want to add some other address where you can be reached for
    personal comments.

    c) Deadline for article submission is Sunday, 22:00 UTC.

    Help the Editor by following the above guides. Below are some subjects
    and the file extension for the article as set in the configuration
    file for the making of the Fidonews. Please help by putting the file
    extension of the correct subject on the file name if known.

    Ideas for Subject areas:

    Subject File | Subject File ----------------------------------|----------------------------------
    From the *C's *.css | Rebuttals to articles *.reb
    Fidonet Regional News *.reg | Fidonet Net News *.net
    Retractions *.rtx | General Fidonet Articles *.art
    Guest Editorial *.gue | Fidonet Current Events *.cur
    Fidonet Interviews *.inv | Fidonet Software Reviews *.rev
    Fidonet Web Page Reviews *.web | Fidonet Notices *.not
    Getting Fidonet Technical *.ftc | Question Of The Week *.que
    Humor in a Fido Vein *.hfv | Comix in ASCII *.cmx
    Fidonet's Int. Kitchen *.rec | Poet's Corner *.poe
    Clean Humor & Jokes *.jok | Other Stuff *.oth
    Fidonet Classified Ads *.ads | Corrections *.cor
    Best of Fidonet *.bof | Letters to the Editor *.let

    If you don't know or are not sure, send the article anyway. Put a .TXT
    on it and I'll try to figure out where it should be in the Fidonews.

    If you follow these simple guidelines, there should be little problem
    in getting your article published. If your submission is too far out
    of specs for the Fidonews, it will be returned to you and/or a message
    sent informing you of the problem. This DOES NOT mean that your
    article is not accepted. It means that there is something in it that I
    can not fix and I need your help on it.
    Send articles via e-mail or netmail, file attach or message to:

    Bj”rn Felten
    Fidonet 2:2/2 or 2:203/0
    E-Mail bfelten @ telia dot com
    Skype file bfelten

    IMPORTANT! If you send the article via e-mail, make sure you put the
    word "fidonews" somewhere in the subject line! That way it
    will always pass the spam filter, ending up in the proper
    folder.

    Please include a message, telling me that you have sent an article.
    That way I will know to look for it.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Credits, Legal Infomation, Availability

    + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- FIDONEWS STAFF - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
    | |
    | Editor: Bj”rn Felten, 2:2/2 |
    | |
    + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +

    + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - EDITORS EMERITI - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +
    | |
    | Tom Jennings, Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince |
    | Perriello, Tim Pozar, Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, |
    | Christopher Baker, Zorch Frezberg, Henk Wolsink, |
    | Doug Meyers, Warren D. Bonner, Frank L. Vest |
    | |
    + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +

    Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of Fidonet.
    There is no copyright attached to Fidonews, though authors
    retain rights to their contributed articles. Opinions expressed
    by the authors are strictly their own. Noncommercial duplication
    and distribution within Fidonet is encouraged. Authors are
    encouraged to send their articles in ASCII text to the Editor
    at one of the addresses above.

    The weekly edition of Fidonews is distributed through the file
    area FIDONEWS, and is published as echomail in the echo FIDONEWS.

    The different articles are distributed in the file area SNOOZE.
    A service to various projects for making Fidonews available on
    the web with a more pleasing lay-out.

    These sources are normally available through your Network
    Coordinator. The current and past issues are also available from
    the following sources:

    + -- -- -- -- -- -- - FIDONEWS AVAILABILITY - -- -- -- -- -- -- +
    | |
    | File request from 2:2/2 or 2:203/0: |
    | current issue FIDONEWS |
    | back issue, volume v, issue ii FNEWSvii.ZIP |
    | articles, vol.no nn, issue ii INPUnnii.ZIP |
    | |
    | On the web: |
    | http://felten.yi.org/fidonews |
    | http://fidonews.eu |
    | |
    | The Snooze *and* the FIDONEWS echo in your newsreader: |
    | news://felten.yi.org/FIDONEWS |
    | |
    + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- +

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


    ** Prepared for FNEWS_PUBLISH by Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    (c) Copyright 1996-1999 Peter Karlsson

    --- Azure/NewsPrep 3.0
    * Origin: Home of the Fidonews (2:2/2.0)