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Birmingham Telecommunications News 032
BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News
COPYRIGHT 1991
January 1991 Volume 4, Issue 1
Table Of Contents
-----------------
Article Title Author
Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Staff
Editorial......................................Mark Maisel
Handles & Anonymity............................Lord Baron
Windows Column: Round-up Time..................Eric Hunt
Review of Esterian Quest.......................Chris Mohney
? Why I Compute ?..............................Kathy Maisel
Extinction & Obsolescence......................Colby Gibson
Confessions of a Software Meister..............Dean Costello
Special Interest Groups (SIGs).................Barry Bowden
Known BBS Numbers..............................Staff
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN
We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and
information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for
damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability, if any for BTN, its
editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions,
etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN,
even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood
of such damages occurring.
With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our
policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish
monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to
publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any
time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear
in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise
harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the
content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their
work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles
from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a
reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article.
Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as
the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the
article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles,
please forward a copy of your publication to:
Mark Maisel
Editor, BTN
221 Chestnut St.
BHM, AL 35210-3219
We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that
you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing
all of this and not get too serious about it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S F L A S H
Our first party of the year comes early. It is coming quickly, nipping
at the heels of our overwhelmingly successful Christmas (sort of) party.
Don't miss it! Be there or not.
Anyway, back to the invitation: the party will be:
Where: Mark Maisel's House a map will follow this
221 Chestnut Street invitation
205-956-0176
When: January 19th, 1990
6:00 p.m. until it ends
Rules: Don't bring anything that will get you or me arrested.
If you wish to imbibe legal substances, then BYOS*.
Use discretion and intelligence when parking. The police may
not be so nice next time. The front yard is not for parking.
We have gone to great expense to shape it into its present form.
The side yards in front of and behind the hedge are fair game
though.
*Bring Your Own Substances
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
M o n t c l a i r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
Bruno's³O³ Texaco : McDonalds³ ³ apartments³ ³ dead³ THERE WILL BE
Super ³p³ : ³ ³ & ³ ³ end ³ A SIGN IN FRONT
Market ³oÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ³ houses ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄ´ OF THE HOUSE SO
³rÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ YOU CAN FIND IT
³t³Express : office ³ ³ ³ ³ EASIER!!!
³o³Oil Change: bldgs ³ ³ ³ ³
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
M o n t e v a l l o - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *TO INTERSTATE*
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄ
³R³ ³R³ INSTRUCTIONS!!! ³A³ ³B³Wes-³C³ ³D³ ³E³
³o³ ³e³ ³l³ ³u³lyan³h³ ³a³ ³l³
³s³ ³d³ Look on Chestnut ³p³ ³s³Chu-³e³ ³l³ ³d³
³e³ ³w³ after Shades and ³i³ ³h³rch ³s³ ³y³ ³e³
³w³ ³o³ my home is 221, ³nÀÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÙtÀÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÙrÀÄÄÄÄ
³o³ ³o³ the 3rd house ³e n S h a d e s
³o³ ³d³ on the left. Call ³ ÚÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄ¿u ÚÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄÄÄ
³d³ ³ ³ 956-0176 if you ³ ³ ³ ³ ³t ³3rd³ ³ ³ ³
³ ³ ³ ³ need further ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³one³ ³ ³ ³
³ ³ ³ ³ direction. ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³
³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³
**********************************************
*If you have any news, especially you sysops,*
*that you want to get out to the readership *
*of this august publication, let me know and *
*it will be placed in this space. MM *
**********************************************
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
F R E E B I E : G E T I T W H I L E I T S H O T !
The following boards allow BTN to be downloaded freely, that is with no
charge to any existing upload/download ratios.
The Connection LZ Birmingham Alter-Ego
Channel 8250 Little Kingdom Joker's Castle
Crunchy Frog Myth Drannor Posys BBS
The Matrix Abject Poverty The Bus
If you are a sysop and you allow BTN to be downloaded freely, please let
me know via EzNet so that I can post your board as a free BTN
distributor. Thanks.
MM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial
by Mark Maisel
Happy Belated New Year! We're a bit late this month but that is OK
by me. I'm getting most all of my articles in a timely manner and the
tardiness is mostly due to me. All editors should have such problems.
It has been a good year for BTN and I can only hope that 1991 is as
good. I've got a few things to say and you should listen so this isn't
an utter waste of space.
I would like to salute one of the elder members of our little bbs
community, Ed O'Neill. His EZNet has kept us all together with locally
echoed conferences for the last few years and I would have had a much
more difficult time without it. EZNet and Ed have had to part paths
recently and Rocky Rawlins, sysop of The Matrix, offered to pick it up
so that we wouldn't lose one of the most useful tools we have for
communicating on bbs'. At the last BTN party, the sysops got together
and worked out the details for making the change. Unfortunately, not
all sysops were able to make it. This has resulted in a temporary
outage for some systems. If you were in the past an EZNet node, or
would like to become one, drop a comment to Rocky on The Matrix, or
leave me mail in EZNet. We will do whatever we can to get you online
with the new EZNet Central.
The survey was supposed to appear in this issue but that was not
possible. Oh well, it will hopefully be ready in time for the February
issue. Leave a note annoying either Ty Ros, or Scott Hollifield. That
ought to get his attention and let him know that you want to see the
fruits of his labors.
I'm thinking about expanding our horizons here at BTN. I have been
getting favorable comments and critique from areas far from home. Is it
time for BTN to grow beyond its local boundaries? You tell me. I am
seriously thinking of expanding our boundaries to include people and
events beyond Birmingham. I need to know what you think of this or else
I will do what I wish without your input and wait for your reaction to
judge the results. This is a lot more work for me so lets spare me some
effort if it ain't wanted or needed.
On a high note, its party time again! See the invitation and map
included in this issue and possibly on the local EZNet conference you
peruse. I hope to see you all there.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Handles and Anonymity
by Lord Baron
With the advent of handles, new horizons opened for the average
modem buff. No longer did you have to reveal your true identity. For
once, brother could war with brother without causing unrest in the
household. All was bliss. Only those you revealed yourself to knew
your actual name.
Due to the number of boards that cater to handle-users, they have
become quite popular. You only have to look to WWIV, Teleguard and
others to find dozens of happy handle-users relieving the day's stress
behind a monitor. Most have one handle they cling to (as yours truly
prefers), but some have multiple handles or even change handles from
time to time. What appears to be a new user might actually be an old
user with a new handle.
I believe people use handles for a variety of reasons. Some may
have been in a losing argument and decided to seek a change of pace.
Others like the release a handle gives. Like the masked hero, we are
exhilarated by the fact that no one knows our secret identity. We are
able to overcome those personality traits that have hampered our social
livelihood in the past. There is no longer a reason to be shy because
it's not really us in the public's eye; it's a fictional character.
The grandmother can automatically become the naughty teenager. The thin
hacker can fantasize about being a muscle-bound jock. Ah, what
possibilities!
All good things must come to an end, unfortunately. The anonymity
is quickly shattered with your first BTN party, or your first meeting
with a fellow modem user that tells all. Now, everyone knows who you
are and what you look like. What is there to do? It's simple: change
your handle. Thus begins the endless cycle of changes you incur in this
electronic wonderland.
There is another reason for using a handle, though. Some people
use them just because they're fun! I'm sure there are many other
reasons, also. I just wanted to present a few. Also, there are
different levels of attachment between user and handle. One handle-user
might take an insult to their character in a joking manner, whereas the
same insult could hurt another badly. Who's to say who's right? Not
me!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Column: Round-up Time
by Eric Hunt
Wow! This month has been a real humdinger for Windows 3.0
shareware. Birmingham has recently been inundated with excellent
shareware for Windows 3.0, and here is a brief listing of what I have
seen that is good out there so far:
(BTW, muchas gracias and many thanks go out to Ron Albright for bringing
us MANY of the following packages straight from CompuServe!)
WINFRA.ZIP:
This has got to be the hottest thing since sliced Spam! As many of
you know, I am a complete fractal nut, and regularly use Fractint, a
WONDERFUL, WORSHIP deserving fractal generation program from The Stone
Soup Group. I have now come across the Stone Soup Group's offering for
Windows: Fractint for Windows 3.0! This program is a really nice port of
the current Fractint 15.0 to the Windows environment. Many, many of the
options from Fractint 15.0, including 3d operations, save and restore,
printing, and the ever wonderful zoom and pan, are available in FFW,
and it is a must see! Note: for any palette based operations (color
maps, color cycling), a SVGA video driver must be present. The standard
VGA driver supplied with Windows doesn't support palette based
operations, so, alas, no beautiful color cycling. Also, as I rudely
found out, on my 386sx with 1meg RAM, there is not enough memory to
generate an onscreen fractal in standard 640x480x16 or even 640x350x16.
I'll tinker around and see what the largest possible size for an image
is with 1meg RAM. This program might force me to break down and buy some
more RAM for my system...sigh.....[grin] The program will also read and
save GIF files (Fractint saves its images in GIF files. Great, huh?) and
cut and paste portions of the screen to and from the clipboard. If you
have the slightest interest in fractals, get this program!
FP.ZIP:
Again, another nice Fractal program for Windows 3.0. This one is
slightly different from Fractint FW, though, for it uses the L-system
turtle graphics fractals and a simple paint program engine to allow you
to create your own fractal landscapes. Define an L-system fractal, and
then use it as a brush in the paint portion to create some interesting
images. A complete system of L-system fractals comes with the package,
for an easy start. Paint program features such as circle, ellipse, box,
line, freehand draw, and text are also supported. Some very realistic
and beautiful images can be created with this program!
ZM301.ZIP
Zip Manager 3.01 is the best zip/arc/lzh shell I've seen yet. A
fine product from Moon Valley Software, this program enables you to
manage any zip file activity from directly within Windows. Everything
but actually unzipping or creating a zip file is done from within the
program, saving lots of time. Supports ALL of the command line options
found in PKZip/UNZip for a very complete interface. Also has hooks for
managing ARC, ZOO, and LZH files. An excellent program, especially for
the Windows user new to ZIP files.
WSMOOTH.ZIP
PC Magazine, known for its excellent DOS utilities, has produced a
winner for Windows 3.0. WSMOOTH enables any text file to be smoothly
(pixel by pixel, not line by line) scrolled across the screen at varying
speeds. Set this baby to go on a .DOC file and you'll not have to touch
the keyboard or mouse to scroll down the file again! Custom coloring is
also available, for those who like purple letters on a pink background.
And lastly, the ability to print the text file from within WSMOOTH is
also available.
MARK30.ZIP
Don't you hate that silly little message that pops up when you want
to run an older Windows 2.x program in 3.0? Well, if you are tired of
seeing that message, and are 100% that your 2.x program won't trash
Windows in Standard or Enhanced mode, then Mark 3.0 is for you! This
program sets the Win 3.0 compatible bit in the file header of any old
Win 2.x program, to eliminate that annoying message. That's it, that's
all it does, but it sure does save a lot of headaches! NOTE: Please make
sure that your 2.x program is well-behaved under Standard or Enhanced
3.0 before marking it, or serious damage to your HD could occur if your
old program decides to go on a rampage. I cannot stress this message
enough, for I had a program that I MARKed bomb on me while doing a file
transfer, and I had to press reset to get the computer back, and as a
consequence, several files were left open, damaging them.
WINGIF.ZIP
Another simple little utility that does one job, and does it well.
WinGif is a simple .GIF file displayer that allows for conversion of
GIFs to PCX or BMP. Cutting parts of the picture to clipboard is also
available. That's it, quite simple.
ScreenPeace screen saver and assorted modules:
(sorry, file names escape me here)
Only Windows could make screen savers so fun! ScreenPeace is a
general screen saver engine that allows for programmers to write
external screen saving routines. Options for the screen saver itself
include the usual: time idle before kicking in, hotspot to active the
screen saver immediately, demos of the different modules, etc. What
makes this program so unique are the various screen saver modules
available for it. My favorite is the fish tank, where a screen full of
colorful tropical fish proceed to swim around and eat each other. Other
modules include a bouncing ball, a moving spotlight, a slowly fading
screen, various random and kaleidoscopic line type patterns, and many
more. Lots of modules come in the main package, and there are at least
two more support files floating around out there that contain extra
modules.
WED10A.ZIP
WinEdit 1.0A from Wilson Windoware is an excellent unlimited file
size ASCII editor for Windows. Supports smart paragraphing for source
code editing.
WINKER.ZIP
The ultimate in silliness hits Windows. This program really does
nothing more than sit with a pair of eyes and watch your cursor. The
eyes follow the cursor around on the screen, and will blink in boredom
if you don't move the mouse after a certain amount of time. Also
includes an alarm clock. Quite amusing.
LANDER.ZIP
Remember the old lunar lander game that was quite popular back in
the early days of video games? Well, now it's here for Windows. You get
to pilot a lunar landing module on its decent to the moon's surface.
Control over gravity, thrust, and fuel enable the game to be
disgustingly easy, or absolutely impossible. A nice something to do
while waiting on file transfers!
WinPoker (sorry, no file name)
Windows 3.0 came with a Solitaire game that can't be beat, now
here's a Poker game that's not to bad either. I'm not a poker player, so
I am not too educated as to whether it is actually good or not, but it
does play 5 card poker, and has good graphics. At least give it a try,
and let me know what you think!
MRMind (ditto)
Another old favorite has been ported to Windows. MisterMind, the
game of colors guessing is now Windowized. Retains the complete
functionality of the real game, while adding lots of options. You are no
longer stuck with a 5 peg playing board. Can be reduced or expanded a
number of pegs, resulting in a wide range of playing strengths.
PBicon (sigh, ditto)
So....You've become an iconaholic with Windows? You've generated
icons till you don't know what to do with them anymore, and you yearn
for still more??? PBIcon can cure you of your disease. It basically
allows you to clip any portion of the screen larger than 32x32 pixels
and save it in icon format. I find it particularly useful for extracting
out icons from the gargantuan IconLib file, a huge file of over 400
icons all compiled into one great big (>500k) file. This way, I can cut
out the particular need and not have to worry about paging through ALL
those icons only to zip past it by mistake and have to go through them
ALL AGAIN.
TFT.ZIP
The File Search 2.0 is a very versatile file finder for Windows
3.0. Written in Germany, it is a useful, yet amusing piece of software.
The author does not have a 100% grasp of the English language, and it
shows up in the program. TFT allows you to search for any file and then
perform a host of operations on that file(s) once you've found it.
Operations like copying it around, moving it around, viewing it (in HEX
and ASCII), changing the attributes, and even trashing it (complete with
Trashcan icon. Do we hear Apple say "litigation?") are a mouse click
away and can come in very handy when you've found a file, but really
don't know what to do with it yet. Highly recommended for people with
bad memories (like me) or clogged hard drives (like me) or both (like
me).
PS.ZIP
Graphics conversion could never be easier. The Paint Shop is a no
frills conversion program that will take in as input GIF, PCX, or BMP
files and produce as output GIF, PCX, or BMP files. These three file
formats are perhaps the most widely used in the Windows world, and this
program fits in quite nicely with the graphics nut who needs to do it
all, and do it in Windows. Simple, elegant, and to the point. If you do
Windows graphics, do this program.
UC-20C.ZIP
Unicom 2.0c is a full-featured communications program designed to
run under Windows 3.0. This is one of the most popular comm programs for
use under Windows 3.0, and one of the most full-featured. A central
dialing directory, akin to many of the DOS comm packages, is where most
of the action is. Most of the major transfer protocols are included,
including ZMODEM and Compuserve Quick B. Terminal emulations are limited
to a couple DEC terminals and ANSI BBS (Which, by the way won't work at
speeds greater than 4800 baud. Go figure). Complete scripting is also
supported, as well as TONS of user-defined hotkeys, available at the
click of a mouse. My impression of the program is one of complete
disarray, for the screen is hopelessly cluttered with buttons and boxes.
However, the program will get what you need done. Owners of fast modems
might want to think twice about using this comm program, first, because
Unicom doesn't support any baud rate higher than 9600 and secondly,
because Windows itself does not support the new 16550a buffered UART
chip, which can really help transfers. Lastly, this might be a nice comm
program, but the shareware version is 100% nagware, nagware almost to
the point that file transfers might be lost. Whenever an upload or
download is initiated, nagware screens appear for more than 10 seconds.
A small price to pay for reviewing the software. If automatic ZMODEM
downloads are added to the program, it might be a winner.
WQVT436.ZIP
Another excellent comm program for Windows 3.0 is WinQVT. WinQVT
was designed to be a DEC terminal program, but does quite nicely in the
BBS area as well. Not as full-featured as Unicom, but as functional, for
I hardly use any functions besides the comm program and the download and
upload facilities. Because it is a DEC term program, the ANSI support is
spotty at best, and it might be wise to turn off ANSI on the BBS end.
Also, no extended IBM graphics characters are supported, resulting in
total garbage when seeing the pretty intro screens that Maggie designs.
These limitations, however, are surpassed by the program's extreme
simplicity and elegance. No buttons, boxes, or other assorted
paraphernalia are on the screen to distract you from the main topic at
hand--BBSing. A simple menu bar at the top is all. Internal X, Y, and
ZMODEM protocols, as well as Kermit and Compuserve Quick B are
supported, making file transfers no problem. An interesting side note is
the program's ability to shrink the comm window to a small
size--approximately 2" on a side. This allows for convenient monitoring
of the session while working with other things on the desktop. Finally,
there is no central dialing directory. A config file is loaded for each
Host machine, allowing icons to be associated with different BBSs. This
approach allows for double clicking on a BBS to load WinQVT and place
the call. Windows as it was meant to be!
BANGBANG.ZIP
A quite trivial cannon shooting game that is interesting to look
at, but nothing to get worried over. Cute graphics make this one a
necessary addition to your library.
FSRCH.ZIP
Another file search program! Not as full-featured as TFT (The File
Search) but quite useful, anyway. Whole drives, or ALL drives on a
system can be searched at once for a specified file or group of files. A
routine for copying the list of found files to the clipboard is
included.
-------------------------------
I'm sure there are many more Windows 3.0 files out there, some I've
seen and some I've not. I'll try to get another list like this one up
for next month's issue, hopefully more Windows 3.0 shareware will have
come my way! If you have any questions or comments about any of the
programs presented here, or would like to suggest YOUR favorite Windows
3.0 shareware to be included in the next collected descriptions, just
leave me a note, Eric Hunt, on any of the local boards around town. I'm
"Eric Hunt" most everywhere, but I'm "Monk Eric" on The Crunchy Frog and
I'm "ASYSERIC" on VCM[ee] (Vulcan's Computer Monthly, Electronic
Edition). I look forward to hearing from you!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Review of Esterian Conquest (Gamers Corner? Whatever ...)
by Chris Mohney
A few months ago, a new door game appeared on the Matrix here in
sunny Birmingham, Alabama. Its name is Esterian Conquest, and at the
time it was being beta-tested by its author, Birmingham BBS grunt and
game buff Bentley Griffith. I hadn't touched a door game in a year or
two, having lost the fervor after my initial exposures. Still, I
figured it would be interesting to check out a home-grown product and
simultaneously do one of my invisible friends a favor.
If only it had been that simple. After I learned the basic premise
operation of the game, I was hooked. Esterian Conquest is easily the
best strategic door game I've ever seen on a local-level BBS. The
amount of detail is almost frightening to a non-programmer like myself,
and the game concept itself plunders past favorites for their best
aspects. Shortly after beginning the game, I had printed out the game
map and often caught myself looming over it, snickering in anticipation
of future pillaging. I'm now playing all four games the Matrix is
running, and I desperately hope none of the other sysops in town puts
Esterian Conquest up or my remaining free time is shot for sure.
The game concept is relatively simple, highly reminiscent of the
now-passe Planet Busters. The universe is a vast grid with planets
scattered about. You begin the game with one planet and a handful of
ships. Your mission, of course, is to take up the sword and perpetuate
your empire with as much blood and thunder as possible. After this, the
game begins to act a little like Tradewars and its myriad clones, in
that the various planets have different production values. Planetary
production can be turned to any number of uses, such as armies, ground
batteries, starbases, troop transports, and of course attack ships.
There are three different types of attack ships: destroyers, cruisers,
and battleships. The cost of each ascends with the effectiveness of the
unit, but it is wise to have numerous little-ship support for the more
powerful ships. An unclaimed planet needs to be terraformed, or in
layman's terms made suitable for human life, and to that end you can
produce ETAC ships (Environmental Transformation And Colonization or
some such) which will do the job quite nicely.
Of course, you're not alone in this little ASCII universe. There's
up to twenty-four other players out there, and it's your duty to either
frighten them into obedience (or at least respect) or annihilate them.
It's difficult to actually kill another player, as one ship may escape
and roam forever as a homeless rogue. Still, no one can be effective
once reduced to zero planets. There is a command that will allow you to
communicate with other players, as well as a very versatile ranking
system that lets you size up the opposition; both are vital tools to
game play. One of the most pleasant things about Esterian Conquest is
that there is no commerce side, such as was so relentlessly prevalent in
many space strategy game. I always felt that if I wanted to bother with
trading I'd go play Bay Street Bulls. I'm here to CONQUER, by Triton!
Commands can be stacked as well, which really speeds up play. Other
time-savers, like ANSI on-off and an expert mode make the game quite
user-friendly.
I'm told that Esterian Conquest is also extremely sysop-friendly,
requiring little if any attention. Being a militant user I'm a little
hazy on that; specific inquiries should be addressed to Bentley
Griffith. I do know that the game fully supports PCBoard, and will soon
be compatible with both RBBS and Gap software.
For a game as complex as Esterian Conquest, it would be easy to go
on at length about strategy and "tricks." That could make for a long
article, but my personal philosophy can be put pretty concisely: "Strike
first, strike hard, and strike repeatedly." It's kept me alive so far,
and gotten a few other folks dead.
In conclusion, I can offer nothing more than a very strong thumbs-
up. It took a game as good as Esterian Conquest to raise me out of door
apathy, and all involved deserve accolades (as well as heaps of cash).
Anyone interested in more information on this fine game should inquire
at the following address:
ATTN: ESTERIAN CONQUEST
Griffith International
P.O. Box 530703
Birmingham, AL 35253
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
?Why I Compute?
by Kathy Maisel
So, why do I compute? I had never thought about it before, until
Mark turned to me today and asked that very question. Why, after
programming all day at work, do I come home and actually enjoy myself at
another terminal? Maybe I'm brain-dead, maybe I'm a masochist, maybe my
shoes are too tight. I'm not sure why I enjoy computing, but I will
explore this right now.
The first time I saw a BBS was in 1983 when we got our first modem
with the Commodore 64. It was a whopping 110/300 baud, the wonderful
Mighty Mo! Yes, the Mighty Mo called out to a little board here in town
called The Lonely Mountain and I saw the games and games and games. I
often said to Mark that I would like to join in those games, but I
simply didn't have the time while studying in college. So, I contented
myself with just lurking over Mark's shoulder. Then came Quantum Link!
Ah, there was my first fervor at wanting MORE BAUD! I assisted Mark in
scrimping up the cash for a blazing 1200 baud Volksmodem (complete with
overpriced cable for the C64).
Oh, the wonder of it all! Chatting with other users across the
U.S.! Reading daily news online! Leaving secret messages to people I've
never seen! Oh, the joy! Oh, my poor Visa bill! That stopped soon
after it started.
I turned again to the local free systems here in town, this time
picking up the keyboard myself. I debated free-market strategy on Ein
Fiestburg. I argued religion with its sysop. I played Empire on China
Town...I was Brave Sir Robin, and no one got my joke with that name. But
I was having fun. The computer room in our house consequently moved to
the largest bedroom, and we resigned our master bedroom to a smaller
domain.
It was at this time that I met the sysop of China Town and watched
the users call in one by one and play games. I could have watched that
board for hours, saying..."Oh, I know that person! Someone is calling
in! Who could it be this time?" Then, I made the fatal mistake. I
started making noises about running my own BBS.
One day Mark came home with a surprise. I had gotten away from
calling boards again, just school and all. We had even acquired our
first IBM compatible, but I was using it for school. I walked into the
house and he presented me with an old IDS 8088, complete with two
hard-drives which had previously been Pinson Valley BBS. The drives
were full of files. Files! Files! Wonderful files! And I looked at
it, then I looked at Mark, then I entertained the idea of writing my
own version of Empire, the game I loved on the C64. Then I entertained
the idea of writing my own version of Bay Street Bulls...a PC Board door
game, and I said to Mark, "But, I haven't BBS'd since Ein Fiestburg left
town. I don't know if I want to run a BBS anymore."
The computer sat there for months. Every time I walked into the
computer room, that lonely IDS was staring at me. I lurked over Mark's
shoulder as he called more and more local BBS's. He occasionally
downloaded board software and showed it to me. I was impressed as I saw
all my favorite games converted in some fashion to the IBM machines. It
seemed every board in town had games, and they were all the same.
We ran a private BBS on our 80286 machine to collect Mark's
articles for BTN. It was called Roxanne's Massage Parlor and Chainsaw
Repair. It had quippy little changes to the pcbtext which said things
like, "Tell Roxanne how much it weighs." I started reading the message
bases again, this time, fully into the debates and rants on my own. I
got a raise at work, and I decided to use the extra money to put up
Roxanne's full time on that sad little IDS machine. It whirled with joy
when I took over Mark's data line and then, we bought our first BBS
software. We decided that Roxanne's was too much to be opened to the
general public, so we gave her her own conference and looked for a board
name. One Saturday morning, while Mark was at work, I was lying around
in bed thinking about the board. A name came to me, then a graphics
opening screen! It was too good to be true! It was such a great inside
joke! The Crunchy Frog! Surely very few people would understand it,
and it was very odd. I was disenchanted with games, so I decided I
wanted a message base and a convenient place for Mark's articles to be
gathered. I didn't care if people called much. There was always going
to be a regular base of users because of BTN...but did I find out what
word-of-mouth can do. And did I get caught up? You bet I did!
Answering mail, chatting with users! This was the life! I found out
more people knew about my inside joke, and we carried on to become the
most outlandish and weirdest board in town.
So, why do I compute? The people. I compute because I love the
people who call boards and I love the humor they display. I don't
debate much anymore. I don't play games anymore. But, I do love to
send and receive messages...and boy, do I get my fill as a sysop. When
I call other boards, I hang out in the message bases. The more obscure
the message base, the better. Give me a rant! Give me a saying! Give
me a tagline, any old day! Why do I compute? Because, my hovercraft is
full of eels!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Extinction and Obsolescence
by Colby Gibson
I was reading a "Compute" magazine the other day during school, and
I came across the ad section where different companies offer their
services. I ran across one that advertised to fix drives for the lowest
prices anywhere. The really funny thing was that they would fix a 3.5
drive for $35, and a 8.5 for $75. Then the thought hit me. It's
expensive to be obsolete.
Example: you have an XT, 8 mhz, cga, and standard memory. You
decide that it would be nice to go out and buy a new game. You do, and
the description really excites you. When you get the game home, you read
in fine print on the front that the game requires an EGA or better
graphics adapter. You are then forced to spend a couple hundred bucks
for a better graphics system. Then you get a game like Wing Commander
that won't even run on an XT.
The fact is, that computer standards are changing faster than
frying hamburgers change color. You spend a hundred bucks on a modem,
and then one year later the one you purchased is obsolete and there is
one twice as fast for the same price.
This problem plagues many users, especially the ones that don't
have the financial blessing to keep up with the changing society. At
least what you have will last long enough to get enough money for your
next purchase.
A common solution to this problem is either wholesale or salvaging.
There are many computer dealers that claim to sell systems for
"wholesale" value. You need to check around. Sam's wholesale sells some
KICK BUTT systems that run faster than 486s for $1550 complete with VGA
and hard disks.
Buying different parts and using them together is one thing that
tinkerers like to do, and some even succeed with it. This reduces the
cost of it and you might get some hardware that won't turn extinct for a
while.
That's a growing hobby of mine as well. If there is a computer
company that chunks out defective parts or ones who have ceased to
function, GET THEM. It really doesn't matter if you have to search
through a dumpster. You're going to find something that you can use
somewhere.
Another thing you can try to do if you have connections in a
hardware corporation is try to get the defective parts. Many defective
parts really have nothing wrong with them, but maybe a keyboard error
which can be solved with a little soldering.
There are also a couple of things the new users need look out for.
A dealer may take advantage of your ignorance of PCs and sell you a
system that is TOTALLY obsolete and you not even know it until you get
home with it for 90 days or more. Be sure you pick a good computer
service.
A little note. I had a little Citizen 120d printer that is
currently sitting on a shelf in my closet, broken. I bought my first XT
from a local dealer and it was a good system. But there were a couple of
things wrong with it that I think could have been avoided.
1. They set the hard drive interleave incorrectly, which slowed
the overall performance.
2. The I/O card's DIP switches were set incorrectly. I could only
use a joystick on select software.
3. I had that printer fixed THREE times. The first time it got hit
my a spike, which is understandable. When I got it back, it
worked GREAT. For about a week. Then the print head began
having trouble moving, it would die right in the middle of a
print, and it wouldn't come up at all. I had it repaired, and I
got it back and it did the SAME THING. I had it fixed, and
about a YEAR later i got it and it BROKE FOR THE SAME REASON.
4. They gave me a couple of crappy floppy drives.
This experience taught me a great deal about dealers and computers.
You should be very careful when selecting a computer dealer. Most of
them are very good at what they do and are very helpful, willing to
answer questions and such. There are some out there who are not and
will do whatever they think they can get away with in order to make a
buck. It can be a good idea for someone with little computer experience
and/or knowledge to purchase from a dealer because of the support you
should receive from him after your purchase. If you know someone who is
knowledgeable, then it is a good idea to get them to help you select a
dealer and the sort of machine and software you need.
I'm lucky I learned enough to find out what happened to my system
and avoid such problems in future purchases.
If you suspect that you equipment has become obsolete, or if you
have a reputable piece of hardware, but it has just become old, there
are things you can do about it. The dealer can help, but that may not
help unless they are a good dealer. The second is to do what I have
suggested in this article.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Confessions of the Software Meister
by Dean Costello
Computers are neat devices, in and of themselves. I suppose,
though that this goes without saying, or else you wouldn't be reading
this little missive. But they are frustrating.
I have an Atari 1040ST (hard disk, 2400bd modem, you know, the
usual outfit for the Real Computer Owner). I remember when I first
bought this thing, oh about 3.5 years ago. My younger brother, Scott,
bought one a year before I did, and I was impressed with his system, so
much so that I went and bought one just like it. But he was smart, in
that he also bought some software to go along with it. I was not. All I
had was the ST Basic that came with the console. I saw Scott's games,
and began to bum. The ST Basic sucked, so there I was, with a pretty
computer that was never utilized.
So, I decided the best thing to do was to gather software. Lots of
it. Of all shapes and sizes, colors and flavors. Some very good
("Empire"), some not so good ("OutRun"). Now, I have a big stack of
disks sitting here on my desk, a hard drive filled with more utilities
than I can shake a stick at. So what do I do with it?
Of course, play with it. I have them sorted (roughly) into a good
stack of disks, a not-so-good stack of disks, and a looks-
pretty-good-but-I-haven't-gotten-around-to-reading-the-docs-yet-
so-it-just-sits-and-gathers-dust stack of disks. This stack is usually
located near the some-of-the-functions-work-but-the-
interface-is-not-very-intuitive-so-I-am-not-going-to-bother-to-
figure-out-how-the-more-arcane-functions-work stack. The unfortunate
thing is that there is a lot of potential in the LPGBIHGATRTDYSIJSAGD
and SOTFWBTIINVISIANGTBTFOHTMAFW stacks, and the real shame is that the
probability of my ever really USING a program to its fullest potential
is extremely low.
As a result of my not reading the manuals, the LPGBIHGATRTDY-
SIJSAGD and SOTFWBTIINVISIANGTBTFOHTMAFW stacks are growing by the day.
Sometimes, however, I use one or another program out of necessity, and I
stumble over something devastatingly neato. F'r instance, I finally
figured out how to invoke the ANSI emulator on my "Interlink" terminal
program. This was about 6 months ago. I have had the damned thing
since June of '88. My only excuse is that if I really needed to know
how to do it, I would have figured it out by now, but I haven't needed
it, so I came across the ANSI by accident. It was an incredible feeling
of triumph. You know, Man vs. Machine, that kind of thing. Deus no ex
machina, I suppose. Unfortunately, I always feel that this was
something everyone already knew, so I try not to let anyone know about
my Tragic Lapse.
Little things arouse my emotions on my little child, here. Like a
smallish file I ran across a couple of months ago called 4PAK. It
allows one to compress an executable file, such as a .PRG, an .ACC, a
.TTP, or a .TOS., but it allows the file to still be executable, with
the compression in place. I romanced about 5 megs off the ol' HD with
just this little gem. I want to have the programmer's children.
There is one program, though, that illustrates the problem of
experimenting with dangerous new toys. It is called "DLII". It has the
potential for incredible greatness, but I am afraid to use it except in
the most dire of emergencies. It is apparently like a Norton's Utility,
except for the ST. It can do incredibly handy things, like undeleting a
file, restructuring a fragmented drive, check and repair any lost
clusters; you know, things of that nature. But it can also trash a hard
drive in no time flat. I discovered, the hard way a couple of times,
that no matter what happens, you DO NOT try to undelete files in a
deleted folder. You will get crosslinked directories coming out the
yingyang. Can you say low-level format? I knew you could...
Well, it looks like it is about time to wind this puppy up. I guess
the point of this little missive is that even though some programs are
good and some are bad, there are still some surprises out there that
will either test your mettle, or give you an instant woody.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
BEPCUG CCS
Birmingham East PC Users Group Commodore Club South
Jefferson Sate Jr. College Springville Road Library
Ruby Carson Hall, Rm 114 2nd & 4th Tuesday (C64/C128)
3rd Friday, 7-9 PM 3rd Monday (Amiga)
Paula Ballard 251-6058 (after 5PM) 7:30-10 PM
Maurice Lovelady 684-6843
BCCC BIPUG
Birmingham Commodore Computer Club Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group
POB 59564 UAB Nutrition Science Blg
Birmingham, Al 35259 RM 535/541
UAB School of Education, Rm 153 1st Sunday (delayed one week
2nd and 4th Sundays, 2 PM if meeting is a holiday)
Rusty Hargett 854-5172 Marty Schulman 967-5883
BACE FAOUG
Birmingham Atari Computer First Alabama Osborne Users
Enthusiast Group
Vestavia Library, downstairs Homewood Library
2nd Monday, 7 PM 1st Saturday, 1PM
Benny Brown 822-5059 Ed Purquez 669-5200
CADUB
CAD Users of Birmingham
Homewood Library
3rd Tuesday, 6:30PM-8:30PM
Bobby Benson 791-0426
If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed,
please let us know by sending E-Mail to Barry Bowden on
The Matrix BBS.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area
NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES MODEM BBS SOFTWARE
SUPPORTED TYPE
* Abject Poverty 680-9680 300-2400 ProBBS/ProDoor
* Alter-Ego BBS 925-0707 300-2400 MNP4 ProBBS/ProDoor
* American BBS 674-1851 300-2400 PC Board 14.5
Amiga Alliance ][ 631-0262 BBS-PC 4.20
Arkham Asylum 853-7422 300-2400 WWIV 4.12
Bus System 595-1627 300-2400 PC Board 14.2
* Byte Me! 979-BYTE! 9600 HST/V.42 WWIV 4.12
Camelot BBS 856-0679 300-2400 Teleguard 2.5
-* Channel 8250 Node 1 744-8546 300-9600 HST/V.42 PC Board 14.5
-* Channel 8250 Node 2 744-5166 300-9600 HST PC Board 14.5
* Crunchy Frog 956-1755 300-9600 HST/V.42 PC Board 14.0
D3 Systems BBS 663-2759 300-9600 HST/V.32 Quick BBS 2.04
Graphics Zone Node 1 870-5306 300-9600 MNP4 TBBS 2.1(16)
Graphics Zone Node 2 870-5329 300-9600 MNP4 TBBS 2.1(16)
+ I.S.A. BBS 995-6590 300-9600 HST TCOMM
* Joker's Castle 664-5589 300-2400 MNP4 PC Board 14.2
K-9 Corner 424-8202 300-2400 Image 1.2
*& Little Kingdom Node 1 969-0007 300-9600 HST/V.42 PC Board 14.5
*& Little Kingdom Node 2 969-0008 300-2400 MNP4 PC Board 14.5
LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300-2400 PC Board 14.5
* Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300-9600 HST PC Board 14.2
@ Missing Link 853-1257 300-2400 Image 1.2
^ Myth Drannor 699-5811 1200-2400 MNP4 WWIV 4.11
Outside It's America 951-2473 300-2400 MNP4 WWIV 4.11
Owl's Nest 680-0851 300-2400 PC Board 14.2
@ Pirate's Cove 942-7429 300-1200 Image 1.2
Posys BBS 854-5131 1200-2400 RBBS CPC17.3
* Radio Free Troad 979-6183 300-9600 HST/V.42 PC Board 14.2
Safe Harbor 665-4355 300-2400 GT Power 15.00
Shadetree BBS 787-6723 300-2400 Phoenix 1.36
Sperry BBS 853-6144 300-9600 Hayes PC Board 14.5
* ST BBS 836-9311 300-2400 PC Board 14.2
@ The Commodore Zone 856-3783 300-2400 Image 1.2
The Connection Node 1 854-9074 1200-2400 PC Board 14.1
The Connection Node 2 854-2308 1200-2400 PC Board 14.1
The Dog House 425-9255 300-1200 Image 1.2
The Dragon's Hoard 833-3790 300-2400 WWIV 4.12
The Hanging Tree 938-2145 300-2400 WWIV 4.11
- The Matrix Nodes 1-4 323-2016 300-2400 PC Board 14.5
- The Matrix Node 5 251-2344 300-9600 HST PC Board 14.5
+ The Outer Limits 985-1725 1200-2400 Teleguard 2.5i
The Quiet Zone 833-2066 300-2400 ExpressNET
VCM(ee) BBS Node 1 655-4059 300-2400 new modem? Oracomm Plus
VCM(ee) BBS Node 2 655-4065 300-1200 Oracomm Plus
Vampire's Crypt 833-8494 300-2400 MNP4 WWIV 4.12
Victory Express 425-0821 300-1200 Image 1.2
Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300-2400 Oracomm Plus
Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300-2400 Oracomm Plus
Willie's DYM Node 3 979-7743 300-1200 Oracomm Plus
Willie's DYM Node 4 979-8156 300-1200 Oracomm Plus
Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300-1200 Unaxess
Boards with a "*" before their name are members of our local network,
EzNet, and public messages left in the EzNet Conferences of any of these
boards will be echoed to all members.
Boards with a "@" before their name are members of our local Commodore
network, Image Network, and e-mail left on any member board may be
directed to any other member board.
Boards with a "+" before their name are members of FidoNet, an
international network that provides a variety of public forums as well
as private mail services all over the world.
Boards with a "-" before their name are members of MetroNet, an
international network that provides a variety of public forums as well
as private mail services all over the world.
Boards with a "^" before their name are members of WWIV-Net, an
international network that provides a variety of public forums as well
as private mail services all over the world.
Boards with a "&" before their name are members of Intellec, an
international network that provides a variety of public forums as well
as private mail services all over the world.
If you have any corrections, additions, deletions, etc., please let us
know via EzNet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
***THIS INFORMATION IS NO LONGER VALID. EZNET CENTRAL HAS MOVED AND IS
NO LONGER RUN SOLELY ON EZNET SOFTWARE. WHEN DETAILS BECOME AVAILABLE,
THEN IT WILL BE REPORTED HERE. MM
EzNet Multiple Echo List
EzNet now supports multiple conference echoing but there are a few
things you should be aware of regarding private mail.
A. You have one 'address' for private mail. If you are registered for
private mail on Channel 8250 and someone sends you a private
message in the MS-DOS conference from Crunchy Frog it will wind
up in the Hardware conference on Channel 8250 as it should.
However, if you were registered for private mail on Magnolia and
someone sends you a private message in a conference that Magnolia
does not support (echo) then the message will wind up in the
twilight zone.
B. If you go by a handle on one BBS and your real name on another even
if the private message goes where it is supposed to, you will not
be able to read it because it is addressed to someone else as far
as PC Board is concerned. PC Board has no way of knowing that Red
Foxx and John Doe are the same person. No tickee, no washee.
Advice on sending private mail: If you don't know if the person you
are sending private mail to is registered for private mail then keep a
copy of the message in case you have to find an alternate route. EzNet
Central will delete your private, undelivered message and inform you
that the user you attempted to reach is not registered for private mail
on any EzNet Node.
This is a list of the current echoes that we are aware of. More
are in the making and will be posted in future issues. If you are a
sysop and are running an echo not listed for your board, please make us
aware of it so we may correct it next issue.
Eznet Program IBM Adult Scitech BTNWA
Alter-Ego ........... * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..
American BBS ........ * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..
Byte Me! ............ * ..... * ..... * ..... * ..... ..... ..
Channel 8250 ........ * ..... * ..... * ..... ..... * ..... * ..
Crunchy Frog ........ * ..... ..... * ..... * ..... ..... * ..
Joker's Castle ...... * ..... ..... * ..... ..... ..... ..
Little Kingdom ...... * ..... * ..... * ..... * ..... * ..... ..
Magnolia BBS ........ * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..
Radio Free Troad .... * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..
ST BBS .............. * ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..
