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Birmingham Telecommunications News 068
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# BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News #
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COPYRIGHT 1993 ISSN 1055-4548
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Volume 7, Issue 4 Issue #68 May 1994
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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article title author
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Disclaimer/Statement of Policy.............................Staff
From The Editor.................................Scott Hollifield
Submission Guidelines......................................Staff
Can America Find Happiness Using Computers?........Dean Costello
Government Control...................................Damion Furi
Local Music in May..................................Judy Ranelli
Review: Three Shareware Graphics Packages...........Bob Crawford
Bill's Music Stuff...................................Bill Jepson
BTN ProFile: Terry McCombs............................The Bishop
Special Interest Groups (SIGs).........................Eric Hunt
Known BBS Numbers...................................Luke Whitley
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DISCLAIMER
AND STATEMENT OF POLICY
FOR BTN
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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
Publisher, BTN
606 Twin Branch Terrace
Birmingham, AL 35216
(205) 823-3956
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.
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FREEBIE!!!
GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT! Systems That Offer Free BTN
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The following boards allow BTN to be downloaded freely, that is
with no charge to any existing upload/download ratios.
ADAnet One Alter-Ego Bone Yard
Bus System The Castle Channel 8250
C.A.B. The Comfy Chair! Crunchy Frog
DC Info Exchange Final Frontier The Guardian
Hardware Hotline Homewood's Hell Hole Joker's Castle
Leaping's Lounge Lemon Grove Lion's Den
Martyrdom Again?! The MATRIX Milliways BBS
The Outer Limits Owl's Nest Playground
Safe Harbor Southern Stallion Starbase 12
Thy Master's Dungeon Weekends BBS
(This list includes some systems which are not local to Birmingham and
therefore not included on our BBS Numbers list.)
If you are a sysop and you allow BTN to be downloaded freely, please let
me know via The Matrix or Crunchy Frog so that I can post your board as
a free BTN distributor. Thanks.
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NEWSFLASH!
NEWSFLASH!
NEWSFLASH!
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R.I.P. CHANNEL 8250!
See From the Editor for more.
NOTE TO OUR OUT-OF-TOWN
READERS!!!!
You can *not* subscribe
to BTN through Internet e-mail.
Yet.
However, there are alternatives.
Watch this space for details.
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FROM
THE EDITOR Scott Hollifield
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To paraphrase Homer Simpson:
Can't talk, editing.
Oh, well, all right. I'll say a few things, particularly since,
for a change, there *are* a couple of things to say.
First of all, for the benefit of our Buddhist monk reader from
Tibet, who noticed, *correct!* -- There was no BTN for April. What was
the cause of this? A cruel April Fool's joke played upon the whole of
Western civilization? Nay, 'twas merely the end result of a number of
different factors, foremost among being that yours truly was in bed with
a nasty stomach bug. (Having just read Stephen King's _The Stand_, I'm
contacting my congressman before it's too late. <gasp!>) Hopefully,
no one was too unduly distressed by our missing a mere month.
Also, I'd like to say a word in memory of Channel 8250, which
suffered catastrophic BBS failure and passed away this month. For some
time, Channel 8250 was the home of the Breezin' conference, which it
inherited from Birmingham RCP/M some years back. If you've read every
single word ever published in BTN, you've no doubt heard some of us wax
nostalgiac about Breezin', which I consider the first true cozy little
BBS hangout. 8250 was first put up by Ed O'Neill, and passed on after a
couple of years to Randy Hilliard. Kudos for Randy Hilliard for being
one of the most stick-to-itive sysops in town.
Okay, that's it. I've put this off for far too long as it is. Next
month, then!
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
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I. ARTICLE LENGTH
Right now, there's no strict enforcement of a length restriction,
but if your submission is somewhat short, I may request that you make it
longer. Anyone can sit down and type out a screen's worth of stuff. I
have yet to encounter an article that was too *long*, so don't worry
about that.
II. SUBJECT MATTER
Again, there's no hard-and-fast rules about subject matter. I'm
interested in seeing material on a wide variety of topics. That
includes BBSs, politics, music, books, or better yet, something that
doesn't neatly fall into any one category. Next to that, my favorite
articles are the ones that have something to do with BBSing, since that
is supposedly what we're sort of about. Technical reviews are also
good. I tend to kind of frown on fiction, but I'm willing to take a
look at anything you've got. If it's interesting enough, your chances
are good.
Politics is fine, but try not to rant--and make whatever you have to
say original. I can go out and find ten Rush Limbaughs if I want.
Also refrain from "This Is What Happened To Me Today" slice-of-life
articles unless it's leading somewhere good.
Reviews should be both informative and opinionated. Don't be too
objective, but still tell us about what you're reviewing.
III. FILE FORMAT
Plain and simple ASCII is preferred, but we can convert WordPerfect
files if need be.
IV. STYLE GUIDELINES
1. Use a right margin of 72 columns.
2. Indent paragraphs at the fifth column.
3. Put two spaces after each sentence.
4. Skip a line after each paragraph.
5. Refrain from using BBS-specific devices like "<grin>" and ":-)".
6. Be sure to give your article a title.
7. Try to use correct grammar, spelling and capitalization! My staff
proofread as best as we can, but a well-typed article makes our job
easier.
8. The dash is correctly typed as two hyphens, like "--". Use it to
set apart phrases and clauses--as with this sentence.
9. To emphasize a word, place a pair of asterisks around it, like
*this*. This takes the place of italics (except for titles; see
12).
10. If you have to emphasize a group of words, use capitals, AS IN THIS
EXAMPLE. I generally don't like the way that looks, so use it
sparingly, if at all.
11. If you're unsure whether to spell out a number or not, leave it in
numeral form.
12. Titles of books, films, plays, albums and works of art are
surrounded by underlines, like: U2's _The Joshua Tree_. This takes
the place of italics in this regard; I call it "title-cizing".
On the other hand, television shows, songs, poems, article titles
and short stories are surrounded by quotation marks.
V. HOW DO I SUBMIT AN ARTICLE?
The easiest way is to upload it as a private file on one of two
systems: The Matrix and the Crunchy Frog. (Their phone numbers are
listed at the end of this feature.) To upload a file privately, begin
your file description with a slash ("/"). Then leave me (SCOTT
HOLLIFIELD) a private message telling me what the file name is, so that
I can have the sysop make it available for me.
Another way is to leave me the article as a private message, or a
series of private messages.
If you become a regular contributor to BTN, you can get access to
the private BTNWA conference, which is for BTN writers. There we
discuss articles, policy, ideas, etc. The BTNWA conference also
contains a private file directory which I can access more easily than a
private file outside BTNWA.
That's it!
Get to work!
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CAN AMERICA FIND
HAPPINESS USING
COMPUTERS? Dean Costello
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OR,
AHH, NOW THIS IS WHAT I WAS THINKING OF...
I didn't mean to write a follow-up series when I started this. My
only concern was correcting the "conventional wisdom" that the
Information Superhighway and the Internet are synonymous. (The idea
from the last article is that the Information Superhighway (IS) is
merely a means by which businesses will be deregulated to allow them all
equal access to information sources and routes of transmission.)
However, a couple of days ago, I came across a small document called
HR-1757, whose purpose is, "to provide for a coordinated Federal program
to accelerate development and dissemination of applications of
high-performance computing and high-speed networking, and for other
purposes." I don't know about you, but I know that when I read it, I
went, "hmmm...".
The document that I was reading is called The National Information
Infrastructure Act (NIIA). Are you getting excited? You should.
Apparently, many others have. As it happens, during the course of 1993
the U.S. Congress came to a series of conclusions:
(1) high-performance computing and high-speed networks (HPC/HSN)
have proven to be powerful tools for improving national security,
industrial competitiveness, research capabilities, and ability to
make a wide range of information available for many applications;
(2) Federal programs, such as the High-Performance Computing
Program and National Research and Education Network established in
1991, are vital to United States leadership in HPC/HSN;
(3) HPC/HSN have the potential to expand ones access to
information in many fields, including education, libraries,
government information dissemination, and health care;
(4) HPC/HSN have the potential to expand opportunities for
participation for Americans who have disabilities and to improve
equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and
economic self-sufficiency for Americans with disabilities;
(5) the Federal Government should ensure that the applications
achieved through research and development efforts such as the
High-Performance Computing Program directly benefit all Americans;
(6) the Federal Government should stimulate the development
of computing and networking applications and support wider access to
network resources so that the benefits of applications so developed
can reach the intended users throughout the Nation, including users
with disabilities; and
(7) a coordinated, interagency undertaking is needed
to identify and promote applications of computing and networking
advances developed by the High-Performance Computing Program which
will provide large economic and social benefits to the Nation,
including new tools for teaching, the creation of digital libraries
of electronic information, the development of standards and
protocols to make the stores of government information readily
accessible by electronic means, and computer systems to improve the
delivery of health care.
And thusly the National Information Infrastructure (NII) is born.
But, if we are going to continue, I guess I had better define a term or
two. The information infrastructure is more than just the physical
facilities used to transmit, store, process, and display voice, data,
and images. It encompasses things like cameras, scanners, keyboards,
telephones, fax machines, computers, switches, compact disks, video and
audio tape, cable, wire, satellites, optical fiber transmission lines,
microwave nets, televisions, monitors, printers,...well, you get the
idea.
The NII will integrate and interconnect these physical components in
a technologically neutral manner so that no one industry will be favored
over any other. Most importantly, the NII requires building
foundations for living in the Information Age and for making these
technological advances useful to the public, business, libraries, and
other nongovernmental entities. That is why, beyond the physical
components of the infrastructure, the value of the NII to users and the
nation will depend in large part on the quality of its other elements
1. Data. Information may be in the form of video programming,
scientific or business databases, images, sound recordings,
library archives, and other media. Vast quantities of that
information exist today in government agencies and even more
information is produced every day in laboratories, studios,
publishing houses, and elsewhere.
2. Software. Applications and software that allow users to
access, manipulate, organize, and digest the proliferating
mass of information that the NII's facilities will put at
their fingertips.
3. Standards. The network standards and transmission codes that
facilitate interconnection and interoperation between networks,
and ensure the privacy of persons and the security of the
information carried, as well as the security and reliability
of the networks.
4. Users. People, largely in the private sector, who create the
information, develop applications and services, construct the
facilities, and train others to tap its potential. Many of
these people will be vendors, operators, and service providers
working for private industry.
There is no way around it. Information is one of the nation's most
critical economic resources, for service industries as well as
manufacturing, for economic as well as national security. Now that
there are truly global markets and global competition, the technologies
to create, manipulate, use information are of great importance to us.
The president, therefore, now has a mandate to spread information to
the Teeming Masses. The idea is to get together a group, called the
Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology,
whose job is to make the above possible. As a result, a plan of action
is required as part of the NIIA to describe how to achieve the goals as
outlined by Congress. The plan has many different components, ranging
from who is to be trained to who has responsibility for what to security
concerns. I am going to just address a couple here.
The plan shall include programs administered by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to foster the development of network services in local
communities which will connect institutions of education at all levels,
libraries, museums, and State and local governments to each other; and
provide funds for the purchase of network services to entities described
in paragraph (1), or organizations representing such entities, to
connect to the Internet. Such programs shall include funding for the
acquisition of required hardware and software and for the establishment
of broadband connections to the Internet.
The plan shall also include programs administered by NSF and other
appropriate agencies to train teachers, students, librarians, and
government personel in the use of computer networks and the Internet, as
well as provide training materials needed by librarians to instruct the
public in the use of computer networks and the Internet.
So, we finally get to the Internet. But note that the Internet is
not the only thing that is scheduled to be used. Various kinds of
networks are scheduled to be employed in the NII. It appears, though,
that the Internet will be a nice place to start.
The plan shall specify research programs needed to create means to
ensure the security and privacy of transmissions over the Internet and
the integrity of digital information accessed via the Internet and to
facilitate the management and protection of copyrighted information
which is accessed via the Internet. I wonder, though, how the security
and privacy issues are going to be addressed, given the proposed use of
the Clipper chip. The trustworthiness and security of communications
channels and networks are essential to the success of the NII. Users
must be assured that information transmitted over the infrastructure
will go when and where it is intended to go. Electronic information
systems can create new vulnerabilities. For example, electronic files
can be broken into and copied from remote locations, and cellular phone
conversations can be monitored easily. Through the use of information
systems, gathering, sending, and receiving a wide variety of personal
information is now simple, quick, and relatively inexpensive.
The use of information technologies to access, modify, revise,
repackage, and resell information can benefit individuals, but
unauthorized use can encroach on their privacy. While news reports
often emphasize the role of modern information technology in invading
privacy, technology advances and enhanced management oversight also
offer the opportunity for privacy protection. This protection is
especially important to businesses that increasingly transmit-sensitive
proprietary data through electronic means. The confidentiality of this
information can spell the difference between business success or
failure. This can very easily become an ugly little problem in the
future.
In addition, it is essential that the Federal government work with
the communications industry to reduce the vulnerability of the nation's
information infrastructure. The NII must be designed and managed in a
way that minimizes the impact of accident or sabotage. The system must
also continue to function in the event of attack or catastrophic natural
disaster. We don't want any more ugly little "Internet Worms", now do
we?
The plan shall specify research programs needed to develop and
demonstrate human/computer interfaces that will simplify access to and
use of the Internet by nonspecialists in computer and networking
technologies and by individuals with disabilities. As I tried to tell
you last time, the Internet in its present form isn't really designed
with you, the average user, in mind. But as you can see, a facelift is
apparently in the making. I am curious whether it will be an
infrastructure change (basic alterations in the Internet) or if better
communications software will be developed.
Lets look at libraries for a minute. There is a subsection of the
plan that deals with the concept of the digital library. Research is
being conducted into how to make a virtual library a real thing and not
just a clever idea. The first item that is talked about is advanced
data storage. The digital library concept is looking at storing
hundreds of terabytes (trillion) of information, and it just isn't
practical to have a couple thousand 2-gigabyte harddrives. Other
concepts that are being examined include the development of high-speed,
high-accuracy scanning processes, development of database software that
very quickly (think of the amount of data that is necessary to go
through) searches, filters, and summarizes not just text, but images,
data, and sound.
The most exciting area that I see is the Federal Information Locator
(FIL). The idea runs like this: You need a bit of information; say you
are looking for the number of abortions that took place in 1977 as a
result of incest. The FIL will provide not just a citation of where the
data can be found, but will also give guidance on how to obtain that
information. This is the solution of a pet peeve of mine. I am an
environmental scientist, and have a lot of dealings with EPA. There are
scads of information that are generated by EPA on a yearly basis (we are
talking thousands of documents, people). And remember, I (as a
taxpayer) have already paid for the information. However, most of the
documents go directly to the National Technical Information Service
(NTIS) in Springfield, VA, where I have to pay $10-$90 for the
information. So, I am forced to pay for that data twice. I like to
think that the FIL will eliminate the payment requirement.
Anyway, as you can well imagine, there is more to it than what I
extracted above. There's still research projects in the making,
applications to health care (surgical virtual reality is an intriguing
sidebar), use in education (imagine taking an astronomy class with Carl
Sagan as your instructor), and means of adapting hunks of this to
private industry.
One more thing I would like to touch on is the concept of "Universal
Service". The Communications Act of 1934 stated, in very general terms,
a national goal of "Universal Service" for telephones: widespread
availability of a basic communications service at affordable rates. A
major objective in developing the NII will be to extend the Universal
Service concept to the information needs of the American people in the
21st Century. As a matter of fundamental fairness, I cannot see how we
can accept a division of the society, among information "haves" and
"have-nots." The Administration has committed to developing a modern
concept of Universal Service, one that would emphasize giving all who
desire it easy, affordable access to advanced communications and
information services, regardless of income, disability, or location.
Whether or not this will happen strikes me as somewhat doubtful.
Its a brave new world out there these days. As a BBS user, you can
consider yourselves as a part of a new wave of technology application,
but don't think that this is the end-all, be-all of communications.
There's more a'comin'. It's no time to be a Luddite.
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GOVERNMENT
CONTROL Damion Furi
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While politics is often an intriguing game of tradeoffs between the
desires of government and the desires of its citizens, the desires of
government have begun to take preclusive precedence over the desires of
the citizens.
I think it's a safe bet to assume that everyone is concerned about
the potential for our rights to erode under the heavy tread of
government. The U.S. Constitution was written with that possibility in
mind, the American Revolution fought to curtail the British Empire's
abuses on American soil. "Don't tread on me!" our forefathers yelled in
defiance, as they embedded the red, white, and blue U.S. battle flag in
bloody home soil.
And yet, it would seem as if Benjamin Franklin's worst fears are
being realized more than 200 years later. We have a republic, but it's
slipping through our fingers...and it's easy to see our rights
diminishing as government reaches out for more and tighter control of
every facet of our lives.
While examples of this abound, I'll point to what I consider to be
the three most distressing symptoms: gun control, the Clipper/Skipjack
chip, and PGP.
The gun control issue has been hammered to death, in the news and
in online arguments. I don't think there's too much more I can add to
it, but I would ask that you seriously consider this issue. Though it's
a cliche, there is truth in the saying, "If guns are outlawed, only
outlaws will have guns." Believe me, people; it's very easy to obtain
illegal items. All it takes is money.
Personally, I don't care much for firearms. I'm a fairly
aggressive person with a quick temper, aggravated by arrogance and a
cold disdain for anyone that happens to strike me as stupid. I'm
sufficiently intelligent to realize that my temperment does not mix well
with an ability to immedi- ately inflict death at a distance.
But it is my responsibility to handle my shortcomings. It is not
your responsibility or the responsibility of the government to limit me
accord- ing to a hypothetical situation placed at an unspecified point
in the future. Instead, compare the relative danger involved in two
hypothetical situations: one situation in which I may murder one
individual up to a maximum of several hundred with an assault weapon, or
another situation in which mammoth government brings an unarmed and
helpless populace of millions to its knees. Truly, you must "fear the
government that fears your guns." Another cliche, another truth.
The diabolical intent behind the Clipper/Skipjack chip is more
easily discerned. Your privacy isn't killing anyone, nor does it have
any innate capacity to do so. Yet, the government is considering
embedding a special computer chip in all communications devices that
will encrypt outgoing and decrypt incoming messages, insuring the
greatest amount of privacy ever granted to any population of any age.
The cost? The Skipjack chip (renamed from "Clipper" to prevent
confusion with the Computer Associates XBase language development
platform of the same name) will have at least one back door by which
means the government may access the content of your communications.
Theoretically, the keys to this back door will be handed over only in
the process of legal proceedings with all due legal authority.
Considering past abuses by such stars as NSA, FBI, CIA, BATF, among
others, all the way down to your local police department, it should be
unnecessary for me to point out the weaknesses in this theory. After
the Watergate scandal, trusting the government not to rifle your
belongings is sheer foolishness.
If you accept the arguments behind the Skipjack chip, it is only a
short stretch to imagine cameras and microphones in the bedroom. Our
national security may well depend upon the methods you employ to bring
your loved one to orgasm.
In the same vein, but on another front, the government is currently
taking a severe stance on private citizens possessing military grade
cryptosystems that are not easily -- if at all -- accessible to the
government.
Phillip Zimmerman is a programmer that took the European-developed
RSA encryption formula (published in 1977) and developed a freeware
program called Pretty Good Privacy in the late 80's. He uploaded this
program to a U.S.-based Internet FTP site in the wee hours of the
morning. Not more than 12 minutes later, this program was all over the
world.
Pretty Good Privacy (known as PGP) offers military grade
encryption to the peanut gallery at no cost. And not just the
executable file, but the whole kit and kaboodle of full C and ASM source
code, complete with MAKE files for several standard compilers on several
platforms -- in several languages.
Zimmerman is currently under investigation by the U.S. State
Depart- ment for possible violations of certain munitions export
control laws. This despite the fact that RSA was originally developed
outside the U.S. and the fact that Zimmerman himself did not actually
export anything.
If indicted, Zimmerman faces the possibility of heavy fines and a
long jail sentence.
A recent query addressed to Zimmerman via Internet yielded the
following response:
===========================================================================
BBS: WEEKENDS
Date: 04-21-94 (23:47) Number: 1243
From: PRZ@ACM.ORG Refer#: NONE
To: DAMION FURI Recvd: YES (PVT)
Subj: Re: PGP Conf: (23) Internete-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Philip Zimmermann <prz@acm.org>
Subject: Re: PGP
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 23:47:08 -0600 (MDT)
To: damion.furi@weekends.com
Message-Id: <9404210547.AA22164@columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU>
Hello. Thanks for your email. I hope you don't mind getting a form
letter reply. I get so much mail these days.
Let me give you some rubber-stamp answers to some frequently asked
questions about PGP--
1) The currently released version of PGP is 2.3a. If you want a list
of Internet sites and BBS systems that have it, send a note to
Hugh Miller at hmiller@lucpul.it.luc.edu. If you have an older
version of PGP, you really should get updated. There is a version
for MSDOS (but not Windows), various Unixes, Macintosh, Amiga,
Atari ST, VAX/VMS, and IBM mainframes. The source code is also
available from public sources. There are Internet FTP sites and
many BBS systems that carry PGP. For other PGP news, see the
Internet Usenet newsgroups alt.security.pgp, talk.politics.crypto,
and sci.crypt. These newsgroups are also a good place to find out
where to get PGP. In many cases, there are ways to access these
newsgroups via email channels. If you don't know how to get access
to these newsgroups, ask your local Unix or Internet expert for
help. Don't ask me to send you a copy of PGP-- I can't do that, for
legal reasons.
2) Often people ask me for a copy of my PGP public key, because
they aren't sure if the one they have is really my key. Well, it
almost certainly is. I've checked my public key countless times
with people who call me up, and it's always correct. My key is so
widespread that if someone tampered with it, I would surely have
heard about it by now and would issue announcements to Internet
newsgroups and electronic Bulletin Board Systems. My key in
included in the PGP distribution package, in the file "keys.asc".
3) Often people ask me to sign their key with mine. I can't do
that either, because I don't know those people and it would be
inappropriate for me to sign a key whose owner I didn't positively
identify. This topic is fully explained in the PGP manual.
4) My new email address is prz@acm.org. My old email addresses at
NCAR may not be any good soon, so please use the new one. And if
you must encrypt any mail to me, please use my newer key that bears
the new email address <prz@acm.org> in the user ID field, and not
the older key that bears the old email address
<prz@sage.cgd.ucar.edu> in the user ID.
5) A fully licensed commercial version of PGP is available from
ViaCrypt, for any users in the USA or Canada. It's a really nice
product, and has made absolutely no compromises in PGP's security.
If you have been reluctant to use PGP because of legal questions,
ViaCrypt PGP is just what you need. ViaCrypt has obtained all
patent licenses needed to sell PGP. ViaCrypt can be reached in
Phoenix, Arizona, at phone 1-602-944-0773, email
<70304.41@compuserve.com>.
6) I have heard that RSA Data Security, Inc, plans to release
sometime in the future a new version of RSAREF, their freeware
subroutine package that performs RSA calculations. The new RSAREF
is reportedly designed so that more applications may use it,
including PGP. The old RSAREF package is not currently designed to
allow PGP to use it. If the new RSAREF is able to be used by PGP,
that would open the door for PGP to have a freeware version that
would be licensed to use the RSA algorithm, because RSAREF comes
with an RSA license that may be used by any application for
noncommercial purposes. This would mean that PGP would exist in two
forms, both of which would be licensed to use the RSA algorithm--
the freeware version using RSAREF, and the ViaCrypt PGP for
commercial uses. We'll have to wait and see how events unfold with
respect to RSAREF, to see if all this really happens.
7) For those of you who want to donate money to my legal defense
fund, please make checks payable to my lead defense attorney: Philip
L. Dubois, Attorney Trust Account. Mail them to to Philip Dubois,
2305 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado, 80304 USA. Since I am now the
target of a US Customs criminal investigation that has progressed to
the level to a Federal grand jury, I need contributions for my legal
defense. The subject matter of the investigation relates to PGP and
the export control laws on cryptographic software. If you care
politically about these matters, that would be a good way to show
it. Thanks.
8) U.S. House Representative Maria Cantwell has introduced
legislation (H.R.3627) that would lift all export controls on
cryptographic software in the US. This is important because U.S.
export controls in this area have been used to suppress the
availability of lawful domestic encryption technology. Thus,
Cantwell's bill is important not only to American software export
competiveness, but more importantly, to our civil liberties. If you
live in the USA, please ask your House Representatives to co-sponsor
H.R. 3627, and get your two U.S. Senators to back it in the Senate
as well. The phone number for the U.S. Congress is 202-224-3121.
9) I am available on a consulting basis to help you develop
cryptographic products. That is how I make my living. If you need
help in this area, feel free to call me at 303 541-0140, from
10am-7pm Mountain Time.
I hope that helps.
Philip Zimmermann
prz@acm.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1993 02:41:31 -0600 (CDT)
From: hmiller@orion.it.luc.edu (Hugh Miller)
Subject: PGP defense fund
As you may already know, on September 14 LEMCOM Systems (ViaCrypt)
in Phoenix, Arizona was served with a subpoena issued by the US District
Court of Northern California to testify before a grand jury and produce
documents related to "ViaCrypt, PGP, Philip Zimmermann, and anyone or
any entity acting on behalf of Philip Zimmermann for the time period
June 1, 1991 to the present."
Phil Zimmermann has been explicitly told that he is the primary
target of the investigation being mounted from the San Jose office of
U.S. Customs. It is not known if there are other targets. Whether or
not an indictment is returned in this case, the legal bills will be
astronomical.
If this case comes to trial, it will be one of the most important
cases in recent times dealing with cryptography, effective
communications privacy, and the free flow of information and ideas in
cyberspace in the post-Cold War political order. The stakes are high,
both for those of us who support the idea of effective personal
communications privacy and for Phil, who risks jail for his selfless and
successful effort to bring to birth "cryptography for the masses,"
a.k.a. PGP. Export controls are being used as a means to curtail
domestic access to effective cryptographic tools: Customs is taking the
position that posting cryptographic code to the Internet is equivalent
to exporting it. Phil has assumed the burden and risk of being the
first to develop truly effective tools with which we all might secure
our communications against prying eyes, in a political environment
increasingly hostile to such an idea -- an environment in which Clipper
chips and Digital Telephony bills are our own government's answer to our
concerns. Now is the time for us all to step forward and help shoulder
that burden with him.
Phil is assembling a legal defense team to prepare for the
possibility of a trial, and he needs your help. This will be an
expensive affair, and the meter is already ticking. I call on all of us,
both here in the U.S. and abroad, to help defend Phil and perhaps
establish a groundbreaking legal precedent. A legal trust fund has been
established with Phil's attorney in Boulder. Donations will be accepted
in any reliable form, check, money order, or wire transfer, and in any
currency. Here are the details:
To send a check or money order by mail, make it payable, NOT to Phil
Zimmermann, but to Phil's attorney, Philip Dubois. Mail the check or
money order to the following address:
Philip Dubois
2305 Broadway
Boulder, CO USA 80304
(Phone #: 303-444-3885)
To send a wire transfer, your bank will need the following
information:
Bank: VectraBank
Routing #: 107004365
Account #: 0113830
Account Name: "Philip L. Dubois, Attorney Trust Account"
Any funds remaining after the end of legal action will be returned
to named donors in proportion to the size of their donations.
You may give anonymously or not, but PLEASE - give generously. If
you admire PGP, what it was intended to do and the ideals which animated
its creation, express your support with a contribution to this fund.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted to: alt.security.pgp; sci.crypt; talk.politics.crypto;
comp.org.eff.talk; comp.society.cu-digest; comp.society; alt.sci.sociology;
alt.security.index; alt.security.keydist; alt.security;
alt.society.civil-liberty; alt.society.civil-disob; alt.society.futures
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please give me a call to discuss how to proceed. My number is
303 541-0140. After 10am Mountain time. Thanks.
Regards,
Philip
David Moss, the sysop of Weekends BBS, queried EFF (Electronic
Frontier Foundation) for an opinion as to the legality of posting PGP
2.3a as a public download. David made the response public as soon as he
received it, and here it is:
===========================================================================
Packet: WEEKENDS
Date: 04-20-94 (10:18) Number: 1236
From: ssteele@eff.org (Shari Steele)Refer#: NONE
To: david.moss@weekends.com Recvd: YES (PVT)
Subj: Re: pgp Conf: (23) Internete-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ssteele@eff.org (Shari Steele)
Subject: Re: pgp
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 10:18:18 -0400
To: david.moss@weekends.com
Message-Id: <199404201418.KAA27766@eff.org>
> Is it legal or illegal to post PGP as a public d/l on
>my bbs? I have heard so many opinions that I am hopelessly
>confused.
>
>Thanks,
>David Moss
>Member: EFF (2156)
Hi David.
It is not illegal to have PGP available, although the freeware
version of PGP is unlicensed, and therefore may be a violation of a
patent held by RSA Data Securities. PGP contains an encryption
algorithm (RSA) that is patented. PGP's author did not get a license to
use the algorithm from the patent holder. A new freeware version of
RSA, called RSAREF, has recently been released, and future versions of
PGP will call RSAREF and won't be in violation. In addition, a
commercial version of PGP has recently been released by Viacrypt, which
is ok because Viacrypt holds a RSA license. The short answer is, if you
put the freeware version of PGP on your BBS, you are risking a patent
suit being brought against you by RSA Data Security.
If you do decide to take that risk, I strongly advise you to put
some sort of restriction on folks from outside of the US from
downloading it. It is most certainly illegal to export PGP.
Shari
*************************************************************************
Shari Steele 202/347-5400 (voice)
Director of Legal Services 202/393-5509 (fax)
Electronic Frontier Foundation ssteele@eff.org (e-mail)
1001 G Street, NW, Suite 950 East
Washington, DC 20001
Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping
tom to install your window blinds. - John Perry Barlow, EFF co-founder
Don't let the government limit your electronic rights -- Join EFF!!! For
more info, write to membership@eff.org.
Paranoia aside, I think the eventual resolution of these three
issues, one way or the other, will have a major impact on the future of
our nation. It's not just another issue about pointing fingers and
smoking guns; our rights and maybe our lives are at stake.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of PGP (specify executable
or source code), leave me a note on Crunchy Frog BBS (or any other BBS
where you've seen my name). I will forward a copy to you or make
arrangements with you for you to download it directly from my system
at your expense (if any). If you are outside the local calling area, I
can be reached via Internet at damion.furi@weekends.com.
If demand for PGP exceeds my ability to meet it on an individual
basis, I will configure a temporary BBS and post session hours in the
main conferences on the following BBSes:
Alter Ego CAB BBS Crunchy Frog
DPA BBS Jokers Castle Leaping's Lounge
Matrix Milliway's Weekends
Filename: FURI_PUB.KEY Security Level: 3
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.3a
mQCNAi2yIUcAAAEEAN5fdKbtkHrqoENVk1lQZIc4NL49m9sFCw/22rpcNb6wnFRU
pxRSRfR9ztMjpeVpenl/G0WrtlLlf8VMQ2Ix3GP0DR4RDBpzDUy/WMascGDhq4yK
ooI0fCKegnZ6SbB9CA4fRF/cTajCDtfT+cCTuDw5JaQ8EXlyNrI5AxEkkQydAAUR
tC5EYW1pb24gRnVyaSA8ZGFtaW9uLmZ1cmlAd2Vla2VuZHMuY29tPiBGWURJVE0h
=S6Od
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
The following appeared in the April 27, 1994 Globe and Mail:
NUMBER CODE CRACKED EONS EARLY
NEW YORK -- The world's ultimate secret code -- a 129 digit combination
that mathematicians had expected would take 40 quadrillion years to
break -- has been cracked in 17. But it took 600 people on five
continents using 1,600 computers working for eight months to do it. Dr.
Arjen Lenstar of Bellcore, the Bell Communications Research division,
co-ordinated the attack on the encryption called RSA 129 -- a problem
considered so difficult that some mathematicians joked that discovering
how to walk on water would be easier.
The cracking of code, devised in 1977 by three mathematicians and
computer scientists -- Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman --
has serious implications for business and computer systems that use
numerical codes to protect secrets in electronic databases. Once the
searchers had discovered the two secret numbers that, when multiplied
together, produced RSA 129, they were able to find a secret message
encrypted: "The magic words are squeamish ossifrage." An ossifrage is a
bird of prey that crushes the bones of its victims. Mr. Rivest said the
words were chosen at random when the puzzle was devised in 1977.
--Reuter.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
################################################################
LOCAL MUSIC
IN MAY Judy Ranelli
################################################################
Thurs. May 5
THE BUGS/THE SHAME IDOLS at The Nick
Bugs is happy pop stuff thanks to a little guy named Walon. Shame
Idols is Tim Boykin's personal original band thing in which he
superhumanly manages to play along with his other bands... tons of
them. They are very good but I wish he'd get more pissed off.
Fri. May 6
First thing is, avoid the DeadHead show at the Five Points South
Music Hall, which means avoid anything in the area because you won't
get a parking space within a three block radius, and you will be
harassed by hippies, horribly begging for a spare ticket. Now then,
Topper Price and the Upsetters are squeezing their big sound into the
tiny Back Alley courtyard, or Soul Cow is getting weird at the Nick.
Sat. May 7
FOLLOW FOR NOW at Louie Louie
HILLBILLY FRANKENSTEIN at The Nick
These guys reappear. I haven't seen them in a couple of years but
should be good. Hillbilly Frankenstein at the Nick and I'm getting
over it; unspeakables at Zydeco and the Mill, don't even ask.
Tues. May 10
BABLENAUT at The Nick
Were 24th Century Quakers, they include my good friend Randall
Sherbet from VBS. The most exciting new band in Birmingham.
Thurs. May 12
JIMMY DALE GILMORE at the Five Points South Music Hall
Jeezus, cool man thing; if I wasn't working, I'd be torn between
this and the Rev. Horton Heat at Louie Louie. It's rockabillyish
season in Birmingham. I'd probably decide by cheaper cover charge.
Fri. May 13
Go play Q-Zar instead. What with the bad luck and all, you're sure
to get negative points and possibly ejected for running over a
six-year-old. I can attest to the fun of this activity, it's sucked
several dollars out of my pocket already, and Our Sainted Editor has
informed me he's ready to get the yearly membership discount. I'm
probably next.
Sat. May 14
Another weak music night by my tastes, so I'll suggest the Six Pack
mystery bands at the Nick.
Tues. May 17
SPACE CAMP at Flamingos
I haven't seen them in a while but Don Tinsley never disappoints.
One of this town's best songwriters.
Wed. May 18
QUEEN LATIFAH at Louie Louie
I don't recall ever seeing a rap artist in a club, so this is very
unique, worth at least a glance in the window if not the cover charge.
Louie Louie is running some delicious drink specials during the week to
lure patrons--fifty-cent mixed drinks, etc. I don't know if there are
any specials for a show of this type but in a town that commonly sells
$2.50 beers, specials are good to remember.
Thurs. May 19
LUMP/SON OF SLAM at The Nick
I tell ya, if I didn't have to play a private party... I'd go see
Son of Slam, because of their wonderful poster. It features a little
boy peeing in a trailer park, among other things...
Fri. May 20
THE GARGOYLES/THE TICKS at The Nick
I took off a day of work to play it, so I'll take a few lines to
mention it. The Gargoyles are the Family Boykin with drummer.
Tues. May 24
BLACK MARKET FLOWERS/DANDELIONS at The Nick
I like Dandelions anyway and besides this show has a nice floral
theme. Surely these two acts are compatible! (I say this because the
Ticks have so often been stuck with bands that sound like the netherhell
--um, I mean completely different from us. Most often those name
changin', black-fingernail-polish-wearin', leather-crotch-thrustin',
lyric-a-yelpin' Autumn Lords.)
Sat. May 28
SHALLOW/BABLENAUT at The Nick
Two fine examples of the new original music coming out of the ashes
of a Grateful Dead cover band holocaust that leveled the city for
several years. Finally, finally, people are coming to see local bands,
damned good ones.
Wed. June 1
EDDIE MONEY at Louie Louie
Having said that, I find that the Louie Louie establishment is
presenting... this. I am surprised to find Eddie Money playing a 300-
or-so-seat venue. Hey, my friend Marjorie likes the song "Shakin'", so
maybe you do too. Have fun.
Sat. June 4
STRUTTER at The Nick(?)
Meanwhile, your holier-than-thou writer admits she'll go see
Strutter do the Kiss thing with blood and fire breathing and shell out
ten bucks or so to do it. No one is safe.
Southside currently has a armed sniper firing on Valley Avenue.
This after a very pleasant month, Brother Bryan's statue with lipstick,
and the fountain "Storyteller" goat wearing a big white bra.
The parking on the fountain, what with Five Points Music Hall, is
unforgivable. I spent thirteen minutes tring to park to get my call-in
order calzone from Cosmo's. No way am I parking in a deck for a dollar
to pick up my food. The culprit isn't the Music Hall, it's that
damnable Birmingham green median work (and the median itself) taking up
parking spaces! Thanks to the mayor and council for this
inconvenience. *We* wouldn't want out-of-town visitors to find parking
and easy access to the entertainment district. Remember Morris Avenue,
people.
A house in my area was bought by some Japanese sponsors and
dedicated as a museum to a poet who lived there. Can't remember his
name, I'm no journalist, but I read part of his poem, said to be revered
in Japan as expressing the true fleeting nature of youth, and it was the
tritist, Hallmark card sort of blather. Must gain something in the
translation, and I wonder what other literature profits in this way.
Until next time...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
################################################################
SHAREWARE GRAPHICS
REVIEWS Bob Crawford
################################################################
President - I.C. Chip inc.
Starting a computer related business these days is nothing new or
particularly spectacular. Seems everyone who is even remotely
interested in computers is at least thinking about doing it. When the
idea for I.C. Chip was first formulated (over three years ago), the
technology was priced in the region of clouds and my knowledge was
sparse at best. As we researched and developed our company we were
constantly seeking program packages that would not only allow us to
achieve a viable, marketable line of products and services, we were also
on a vigilant watch for anything that would also help us to work faster,
increase productivity and, most importantly, make our work more
enjoyable.
Although we're well on our way to doing business today, that search
is an ongoing one. The following reviews of three shareware packages
are but a small hint at the treasures we've uncovered during our quest
for product quality, ease of use and time savings during production.
If you're into computer graphics, I highly recommend these packages.
While there is no such thing as a "graphics do-it-all" package, (at I.C.
Chip we use no less than 6 programs to create any finished product),
these programs in concert with a little patience, some creative thinking
and, more than anything else, time, will allow you to increase your
exploration of the emerging world of computer graphics, the imaging
technology of tomorrow.
________________________________________________________________________
Improces ver 4.2 - Improc42.zip
This is the package that started it all for me, in an earlier
version of course. The author, John Wagner, has managed to create a
powerful graphics manipulating program that is as easy to use as you'd
like it to be or as in depth as you may need it to be. While it lacks
some ability to manipulate odd shaped areas of an image, this program
more than makes up for that loss in it's ability to create images from
scratch, work in a pixel by pixel environment for fine detail work, use
such "photographic darkroom tools" as burning and dodging, add lettering
using a wide variety of fonts and create airbrush-like effects for
backgrounds and shading of picture elements.
This latest version has seen several unusual additions not found in
other graphics packages. As I alluded to in my opening, no graphics
package I've yet to explore offers everything I'd like to use, so it's
often necessary to jump from one program to another until I can get to
where I want to be. Improces is but one of these programs.
3-D Effects
Want to take that GIF of a friend and lay it down, as though it
were a sheet of paper on a tabletop? How about turning that
party image into a 3-d map, in several different ways? You can
do it with but a few clicks of the mouse!
Special Effects
Here you'll discover the ability to create a wide variety of
special effects on an image...
Relief - create a 3-d engraved effect
Reverse - make a color or B&W negative
Solarize - creat false color images, much like
posterizing
Melt - This one take time to see but it does create
the illision of the image melting down the
screen
Bentley - This one creates a 3-d type map of an image
Oil - This one really shines! It is this effect
that is mostly responsible for the creation of
I.C. Chip. On slow computers it does take
time, but the effect is very nice!
Frost - Makes an image appear as though it is being
viewed thru frosted glass
Jiggler - Here is one that has little use other than
while you're viewing an image. Select a part
of the image and set it into motion. On
certain images, it can be quite entertaining.
Under the Filter Menu you'll find choices that will allow you to
affect such things as color and B&W sharpening, averaging of the pixels
by brightness levels, Grey and Color custom definable filters, contrast
controls and replication methods. The replication selection is great
for creating windows wallpaper from images, although you'll have to use
another program to convert the final GIF or PCX into a BMP format.
In the Tools menu you'll see the following...
Paint - Far too much to go into in detail here, but using
this selcetion you'll be able to create
airbrushed effects, pixel editing, burning and
dodging, creating circles, squares,
rectangles and elipses (filled and unfilled), and
some font selections. You'll use this menu a
more than most!
Scale - Very useful for resizing or cropping an image.
Zoom - Excellant for a quick view of image detail.
Twirls - This menu allows such controls as mirror effects,
flipping, rotating and spinning.
Plasma - I've used this one to create effects ranging from
realistic cloud filled skys to pseudo marble in a
wide variety of colors and textures.
Siner - I'm not all that into the Math aspects of this
stuff folks, but this one create Sine waves in a
user definable range of colors. I've used this
one to create some really wild backgrounds.
Within the Color Menu lie the controls that will affect your images
colors. Here you can change colors on a global scale, rearrange the
order of the palette and sort the colors of the palette. If you
"RE-ALIGN" the color palette, you'll discover exactly how many colors
are used in that image and how many are left available that you can
define. For instance, if an image only uses 200 of a possible 256
available colors, those last 56 colors may be changed to whatever other
colors you might want to use for your lettering ect. VERY useful for
creating informative and eye-catching GIFs!
Under the Clip Menu are choices for Cutting a specified area of an
image. Once you've done this, you can shoose to Save that clip for
later use, view the clip or any other that you've previously saved, or
paste that clip into another image or into another area of the same
image. There are several very interesting choices for the pastng
process as well, including an averageing option that allows the clip to
be brought into the existing image as a ghost image.
Improces supports most video cards available on the market today in
resolutions ranging from 320x200 to 1024x768. Under the Files Menu,
you'll choose to Open images files in PCX, GIF or TGA formats. You can
open a GIF, edit the image and save it to a PCX or TGA. It is also
possible to open a 320x200 image as a 640x480, giving a much better
image, although a much smaller one as well, but hey, you got to give to
get huh? There are two other options worth mentioning here. The first
is the Virtual Mode. If you have a very large image, you can open it
under this mode and scroll around the image as you edit. The other is
Improces's ability to allow you to work on as many as 5 different pages
at one time. This is extremely useful if you're cutting and pasting
from one image to the next.
Improces was written in BC++ ver 3.1, loads images very quickly and
handles a wide variety of needs that the digital editing computerphile
will desire. Designed to operate under DOS, it will run under Windows,
with a little thought to the PIF setup, quite nicely. Just be certain
to load your mouse driver from DOS before entering Windows. Improces
will run ONLY with a mouse. I've found Logitech's mouse driver to work
very well.
John Wagner is the conference host of the Graphics Conference on
U'ni-Net. Feel free to drop in and chat with him. I know, from
personal experience, that John welcomes questions and suggestions from
his users, and you may discover that conference to be a great place to
get answers to many of your other graphics related porblems. [Editor's
Note: At press time, U'ni-Net was unavailable for access in Birmingham
due to the demise of Channel 8250.]
Nope, it won't do it all, but then, if you know of a Graphics
program that will, please PLEASE get in touch with me!
________________________________________________________________________
Thumbs Up - Thumbs.zip
Now here is yet another program that managed to get my immediate
attention!
If you've managed to collect a large number of image files, this
program is an absolute must, *if* you operate under Windows. Thumbs Up
recognizes a *very* wide number of image formats *including* Windows
font files. This program will create "thumbnails" of your images,
fontfiles and clipart, each in their own directorys. On the left of
your screen you'll find a very hand DIR TREE, from here you can click
on any one that contains images. How do you know if there are inages
in there? Any DIR that contains files that Thumbs Up recognizes is
shown in green. Also, any DIR that is expandable has a "+" sign in its
file symbol, denoting that there are subdirectories to be found.
Depending on your graphics card, the thumbnails can be very
detailed, although smaller, images from which you can make your
selections. From within Thumbs Up you can..
Attain information about any selected file, it's size, format
etc.
Delete files from your dirve
Convert ANY recognizable file to a bitmap in the Windows
Clipboard, to be used in other Windows applications.
View an image full screen, or, if too large, in a scrollable
window.
Print an image using the Selected Windows printer and driver.
You may also opt to have the image resized to fill the page
limit of your printer.
View Windows TTF font examples. I find this VERY useful when
working in graphics applications and want a particular "feel"
for a font. Rather than sit there in the program trying and
re-trying different fonts (I've got a LOT of the damn thing
s!),
I minimize my graphics app, maximize Thumbs Up, go to the
Windows System DIR and visually make my choice. This option
alone has saved me a lot of time in my work.
The list of recognizable file types is extremely long. If you have
a file type that this one won't recognize, you probably need to update
your graphics programs!
Thumbs Up also does slide shows as well!
I've found this program indispensable in my work and I believe any
one with extensive graphics needs will appreciate it's ease of use,
splendid layout, and ability to aide in image selctions. Although some
may find the $50.00 registration fee a bit high, if you're into graphics
in a big way, this program is well worth the asking fee.
________________________________________________________________________
File Buddy - FB310.ZIP
This is one I just recently downloaded and found to be a very nice
piece of work. While it allows you to view an extreme variety of files,
including text, DBF, and graphics, I found that it especially suited my
needs for viewing graphics files from DOS. Since I'm a Norton Commander
user, when in DOS, I wanted a graphics file viewer that I could call up
from the Norton File Extension Editor. File Buddy turned out to be just
the ticket.
File Buddy is EXTREMELY configurable. Using it's own INI
(initialization) file, File Buddy allow you to set parameters that will
decide how the images are viewed or printed. Yep, you can even
configure a printer to use from within File Buddy to print graphics or
text files. You may also configure a text editor for editing purposes,
although it will have ot be an editor of your own as File Buddy doesn't
come with one. FB reads and saves files in the DBF format, and allows
word searches and screen captures to be performed on all text files.
FB can also be configured to read and write files using several
different archive formats. ARC, ARJ, ZIP (new and old), and PAK are but
a few of the formats usuable. Zipping files is done by selecting the
files to be zipped from a directory using the space bar and then
entering a few keystrokes. Archive methods that allow the creation of
self-executing files are also supported as well as the creation of
password protected archive files.
On the graphics front, FB allows certain image enhancements as well.
These include sharpening, softening, dithering choices, cropping,
contrast - brightness control, image scrolling for large images,
creation of slide shows, converts images to greyscale, allows removal of
"noise", creates Kodilith (high contrast) images, allows outline tracing
of images, posterization, zooming, and file conversions to EPS, BINARY,
GIF, PCX, TGA, TIF, BMP or JPEG. For image viewing or enhancement a
VGA or SVGA compatible card is required and 2 megs of ram is
reccommended to avoid the dreaded "out of memory" message. If you have
a video card that supports the 32k, 64k or 16m modes, you'll find FB to
be capable of handling these images as well.
Images may be printed to HP LASERJETS, HP DESKJETS or 24 pin EPSONs
and compatibles. I found the printer setup a bit out of the way as you
have to go to your printer's manual to get the codes needed and insert
them manually into the FB INI file.
Fb is equally at home using the keyboard or a mouse. There are PIF
and ICO files provided to use FB in the Windows environment.
All in all FB is one fine piece of programing stuffed into a $20.00
package!
________________________________________________________________________
Well, thats it for this time around folks. I've been promising the
editors of BTN to do this review for sometime and I've finally managed
to collect my thoughts enough to get this together. If you have
questions you feel I might be able to help with, I can be reached thru
The Crunchy Frog, The Matrix and The Alter Ego, under the account of Bob
Crawford. If you know of a graphics program you'd like to see reviewed,
drop me a note and I'll see what I can do. If you know of a graphics
package that you think is just wonderful, *please* drop me a note!
Outside of breathing, discovering great graphics apps is what I live
for! Till next time...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
################################################################
BILL'S MUSIC
STUFF Bill Jepson
################################################################
Well, here it is! The long awaited arrival of me, Bill Jepson to do
the current reviews on the music scene, here in Birmingham, and as far
across the globe as I can bring you. But let's start with just the last
couple of months with the U.S. releases.
First, we need to go over the issue of Kurt Cobain's death. I will
agree, being a somewhat avid fan of Nirvana, that the music world has
suffered a tragic loss with his death. Nirvana opened up doors into the
music world for other good bands such as Pearl Jam, Helmet, Stone Temple
Pilots, and the like.
But we need not dwell on this issue for too long. I have spoken to
a few individuals who were totally grief stricken by this tragedy. I
say to them, GO ON WITH YOUR LIVES! And whatever you do, don't try to
reach nirvana (the state of mind, not the group) by killing yourself.
Try getting your own band together, and have some fun. But by all
means, let's not follow the "Not famous till you're dead" fantasy. Jimi
Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain, now joining the crowd, all had
the wrong idea. You don't have to do drugs, and die to be famous.
[Although it helps. - Ed.]
But now on with the reviews. I have been told there is someone else
mainly concentrating on the scene around here as far as shows go, so I'm
going to stick to the national and international stuff.
*=* Hole, _Live Through This_
For those of you who don't know already through the tremendous hype
with Kurt's death, Hole is his widow Courtney Love's band. Their new
album, _Live Through This_ is titled properly. I have been trying to
listen to the album for about a week now, and have yet to get through
the third song. A smidgen of advice, SAVE YOUR CASH! You work entirely
too hard for this kind of letdown!
*=* Counting Crows, _August and Everything After_
Recently, Spin magazine asked us the question: Are chart sensations
Counting Crows
(1) A thinking man's Black Crowes?
(2) A poor man's R.E.M.?
(3) A deaf man's Van Morrison?
Well? What do you think? Personally, I'll go along with the R.E.M.
statement. Counting Crows has definately got something going here. But
I hate to say that they won't outlive the fame they have generated.
Already there are rumors about the group disbanding due to a drug habit
posessed by the drummer. Personally, I hate to see them go.
*=* Vanilla Ice, _Mind Blowin'_
Let me first start by saying "Huh?" Where has this guy been? And
what is he up to know? Apparently spending alot of time in Tattoo
parlors and in body piercing salons. The first cut from the new album
entitled _Mind Blowin'_ is called "Roll `em Up". By both of these
titles you can get the main gist of the album. But I will say this: the
man needs to make up his mind. Going from fifteen minutes of stardom,
and being called the "Elvis of Rap" to being the newest gangsta, I am
confused. Please *no one* enlighten me on this one.
*=* Nine Inch Nails, _The Downward Spiral_
All I have to say is great great great great, and *awesome*. Being
a somewhat avid NIN fan, I suggest buying as many copies of this album
as possible. It is said to be a collectors item, because it's to be the
last that Trent Reznor will do by himself. He is soon going to hire a
full time band. BUY THIS ONE! Hey, even Rolling Stone (famous for
trashing a lot of good bands) gave this one four stars.
*=* Motley Crue, _Motley Crue_
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEUCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH!
I wasn't much of a fan when Vince Neil was hosting this "Motley
Crue" as they are suitably named, but now that John Corabi has taken
over, they have just gone straight to (I'm probobly going to get caned
for this) Singapore.
*=* Primal Scream, _Give Out But Don't Give Up_
Much worth the $17.95 you'll pay at Musicland or Camelot. After not
hearing anything from this group for awhile, it was well worth the wait.
*=* King Missile, _King Missile_
I can say I have liked one of their songs in the past. You might
remember it. 'Twas called "Detatchable Penis", coming out directly
after John Slater got his cut off, making him wish he had met the nurse
at the hospital in a different manner. Other than that song, don't
waste your time, or money.
*=* _Reality Bites_ soundtrack (various artists)
Ohhhhhhhhhhh yes! What I have been waiting for, a line to use on
all of my future dates: "You, me, five bucs and conversation. It's all
we need." Sorry, that was more of a movie review than for the album.
But the album definately has it's good, great, and even better points.
With such songs as "Spin The Bottle" by the Juliana Hatfield 3 and even
"My Sharona" by The Knack it is definately an album not to be missed.
Well kids, that's all for me right now. Let me know what you
thought of my first crack at the writing thang. Leave me some mail on
the Matrix. I really want to know what you thought. Anyway, have fun
with the rest of the issue, that is if Scott didn't stick me all the way
at the end. [Ed.: Har har har.] And as always, Peas, Glub, and
Flappyness!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
################################################################
BTN PROFILE:
Terry McCombs The Bishop
################################################################
Age: 39
Birthplace: Birmingham.
Occupation: Video Operator. (Like a combination of the jobs of Joel
Robinson and George Jetson.)
My hobbies include: Camping, Hiking, Fortean Phenomena, Role-Playing
Games, Films, Reading, Exploring diverse life-styles of others.
Years telecomputing: 4.
Sysop, past/present/future of: Not bloody likely!
System(s)/Conference(s) frequented: The Matrix, Crunchy Frog, Channel
8250, Joker's Castle. The God of the Month Club (host), lots o'
Internet stuff, Movies, and whatever the mood hits me at the
moment.
My oddest habit is: Going to a city I have never been to before and
just wandering around in it to `get a feel' for the place.
My greatest unfulfilled ambition is: Most of them.
The single accomplishment of which I am most proud is: Surviving the
70's and 80's mostly intact.
The last good movie I saw was: Hmmmmm? I have run into a lot of
stinkers of late....Tombstone.
The last good book I read was:
(non-fiction) _Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do_ by Peter
McWilliams.
(fiction) _Echoes of the Well of Souls_ by Jack L. Chalker.
If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played
by:
Ether the guy that plays Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Robin Williams, or LaToya Jackson for the confusion factor.
My pet peeves are: Ignorance, Pushy ignorance, and Aunt Spelling Bees
who harp on a misspelled word in a message while ether skipping
or not getting what it was about in the first place.
When nobody's looking, I like to: Scratch myself deeply and profoundly.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
################################################################
SPECIAL INTEREST
GROUPS (SIG's)
[COMPUTER RELATED] compiled by Eric Hunt
################################################################
BIPUG Alabama UniForum
Birmingham IBM-PC Users Group Homewood Public Library
UAB Nutrition Science Blg 1st Tuesday
RM 535/541 Shawn Cleary 870-6130
1st Sunday (delayed one week
if meeting is a holiday)
Marty Schulman 967-5883
Birmingham Apple Core
Informal breakfast meeting every Saturday, 9am - 11am
@ Kopper Kettle, lower level Brookwood Village Mall
Formal meeting held second Saturday of each month, location
variable (to be announced at breakfast meetings and in the
user group's newsletter "The PEEL".)
President: Sam Johnston - 322-5379
Vice-Prez: Marie Prater - 822-8135
The SIG listing is being re-verified. If you know of an active
Computer Related user's group, please let me know.
I can be reached via Internet email at
eric.hunt@the-matrix.com or drop me a note directly on the
MATRIX.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
################################################################
KNOWN BBS NUMBERS
FOR THE
BIRMINGHAM AREA compiled by Luke Whitley
################################################################
Corrections should be mailed to either Luke Whitley or Scott
Hollifield on The Matrix, Crunchy Frog, or Southern Stallion.
ADAnet One (Nodes 1-3) 250-0013 1200-2400 PCBoard 14.5
[ez, fi, ad]
ADAnet One (Node 4) 254-6050 2400-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, fi, ad]
Alcatraz BBS 608-0880 300-9600 PCBoard 15.0
[he, vi]
Alter-Ego BBS 925-5099 1200-9600 USR HST PCBoard 14.5
[ez, mn]
BatCave BBS 744-0134 1200-14000 V.42bis VBBS 6.12
[fn, vi, bi, cr, co]
Baudville (Nodes 1-7) 995-0013 300-2400 Major BBS 6.12
[none]
Bloom County 985-4335 300-28800 VFC 28.8 PCBoard 15.1
[in,fr]
BulletProof 668-1624 300-19200 ZyXEL Wildcat 3.90 *RIP*
[none]
Bus System 987-5419 300-2400 PCBoard 14.2
[none]
Byte Me! 979-BYTE! 2400-14400 V.32 WWIV 4.12
[none]
Castle, The 841-7618 300-2400 Image 1.2
[none]
Cherry Tree 681-1710 1200-14400 TriBBS 4.01
[wm, ca]
Christian Apologetic 808-0763 1200-14400 V.32bis Wildcat! 3.90
[ez, cp]
Crocodile Country BBS 477-6283 1200-16800 USR DS Searchlight 3.5 *RIP*
[sl, fi]
Crunchy Frog (Node 1) 823-3957 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, mn, lu, ll]
Crunchy Frog (Node 2) 823-3958 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, mn, lu, ll]
Crystal Village 856-3749 1200-2400 VBBS 6.10
[cr, ho, co, fn, vi]
Den, The 933-8744 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 15.1
[ez, mn, il]
Digital Publishing 854-1660 300-9600 V.32 Wildcat! 3.60
[pl]
Drawing Room, The 951-2391 300-14400 V.32/42 Wildcat! 3.90
[none]
Electro-BBS 491-8402 300-14400 V.32/42 Maximus 2.01
[fi]
Family Smorgas-Board 744-0943 300-2400 PCBoard 14.5
[ez, fi, mj, bc, fa, ic, cf, cd, ve, ad, wg, pt, ed, gn]
Final Frontier 838-5634 300-14400 VBBS 6.11 *RIP*
[he, re, fn]
Free Enterprise 856-9809 300-14400 V.32/42 Remote Access 2.01
[fi, it, sz, br]
Genesis Online(Nodes 1-6) 620-4150 300-14400 V.32bis Major BBS 6.11
[mr]
Gone Fishin' 733-0860 1200-14000 V.42bis Searchlight 3.5a *RIP*
[sl]
Guardian, The (Node 1) 425-1951 1200-14400 V.42bis VBBS 6.11
[vi]
Guardian, The (Node 2) 425-1956 1200-14400 V.42bis VBBS 6.11
[vi]
Guardian, The (Node 3) 424-8273 1200-14000 V.42bis VBBS 6.11
[v1]
Joker's Castle 664-5589 300-14400 USR DS PCBoard 14.5
[ez, mn, un]
KickAxis BBS (Node 1) 733-0253 1200-14400 USR DS PCBoard 15.0
[he]
KickAxis BBS (Node 2) 733-0299 1200-14400 USR DS PCBoard 15.0
[he]
Leaping's Lounge 856-2521 1200-14400 GTPower 18.00
[gt, ez, mn, wm, di]
Lions Den 871-9668 300-14400 USR DS Wildcat! 3.90
[wi, fi]
Lumby's Palace 520-0041 300-14400 VBBS 6.0
[he]
Magic City (Node 1) 664-9883 300-14400 USR DS Wildcat! 3.90
[di, wm, wi, ca, cm, pe]
Magic City (Node 2) 664-0435 300-14400 V.32bis Wildcat! 3.90
[di, wm, wi, ca, cm, pe]
Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300-14400 USR HST PCBoard 14.5
[ez, mn]
MATRIX, The (Nodes 1-14) 323-2016 300-2400 Major BBS *RIP*
[ez, mn, th, il, in, us, sh, sc, gl, ic, ri, fr]
MATRIX, The (Nodes 20-23) 323-6016 9600-14400 USR DS Major BBS *RIP*
[ez, mn, th, il, in, us, sh, sc, gl, ic, ri, fr]
MATRIX, The (Node 25-26) 458-3449 9600-14400 V.32bis Major BBS *RIP*
[ez, mn, th, il, in, us, sh, sc, gl, ic, ri, fr]
MetaBoard 854-4814 300-14400 USR DS Opus CBCS 1.73
[fi, ad]
MetroMac BBS (Node 1) 323-6306 1200-28800 V.FC TeleFinder 3.1
[none]
MetroMac BBS (Node 2) 252-0582 1200-28800 V.FC TeleFinder 3.1
[none]
Milliways BBS (Node 1) 956-3177 1200-2400 Major BBS 6.11 *RIP*
[none]
Milliways BBS(Nodes 2-6)956-2731 1200-2400 Major BBS 6.11 *RIP*
[none]
Missing Link 853-1257 300-16800 USR DS C-Net Amiga 2.63
[cl, cn]
Neon Moon 477-5894 300-14400 TriBBS 4.0
[none]
Night Games 491-3332 300-14400 VBBS 6.12
[vi, bi, ho, cr, co]
Parthenon, The 678-9676 1200-28880 VFC 28.8 Wildcat 3.9
[ru, wi, un, fi]
Party Line 856-1336 300-14000 V.32bis TriBBS 4.0
[cc, wm, di]
Playground 681-5070 1200-14000 V.32 TriBBS 5.0
[wm, di, ez]
Posys BBS 854-5131 300-9600 V.32 PCBoard
[none]
Programmer's Shack 988-4695 2400-14400 HST DS Renegade
[ws, fi, it]
Purple Toupee 631-4533 1200-14400 V.32/42bis PCBoard 14.5
[fi, mn, fr, ca]
Quiet Zone 833-2066 300-2400 ExpressNet
[none]
Razor's Edge 995-0412 300-19200 VBBS
[fn, bi]
Safe Harbor (Node 1) 665-4332 300-2400 GTPower 18.00
[gt, ez, mn, lg, ae, fr]
Safe Harbor (Node 2) 665-4355 300-14400 USR DS GTPower 18.00
[gt, ez, mn, lg, ae, fr]
Sam's Domain 956-2757 1200-14400 SL. 3.50
[da, he]
Safety BBS 581-2866 300-2400 RBBS-PC 17.4
[none]
Southern Stallion 322-3816 300-16800 ZyXEL PCBoard 15.1 *RIP*
[ez, lu, th, rs, ss, it, br]
Sperry BBS 853-6144 300-2400 V.32/42b PCBoard 15.0
[none]
ST BBS 836-9311 300-14400 HST PCBoard 14.2
[ez]
StarBase 12 647-7184 1200-14000 TriBBS 4.0
[ez, mn, wm]
Thy Master's Dungeon 940-2116 300-57600 V.32/42b PCBoard 14.5
[fr]
Torch Song 328-1517 1200-14000 V.32/42b Wildcat 3.6
[pr, st, gn]
Willie's DYM (Node 1) 664-9902 300-14400 Oracomm Plus *RIP*
[or]
Willie's DYM (Node 2) 664-9903 300-14000 Oracomm Plus *RIP*
[or]
Willie's DYM (Node 3) 664-9895 300-14400 Oracomm Plus *RIP*
[or]
Willie's DYM (Node 4) 664-9896 300-14400 Oracomm Plus *RIP*
[or]
Ziggy Unix BBS 991-5696 300-1200 UNaXess
[none]
*RIP* = BBS Software is RIP Graphics capable. You must be using a RIP
compatible term software to view them. RIPTerm or QmodemPro v1.50 are
the only two I know of that support it at this time. RIPTerm is shareware
and can be downloaded from most BBS's. QmodemPro is a commercial product.
The two-letter abbreviations you see on the line below the names of
many of the bbs' in the list signify that they are members of one or
more networks that exchange or echo mail to each other in some organized
fashion.
ad = ADAnet, an international network dedicated to the handicapped
ae = Arts & Entertainment, a national network, multi-topic
ag = AgapeNet, a national Christian network, multi-topic
al = AlaNet, a local network, multi-topic
an = AnnexNet, an international network, multi-topic
at = AdultNet, a national network, adult-oriented
bc = BCBNet, a local network, religion-oriented
bh = BhamTalk, a local network, multi-topic
bi = BitchNet, uncertain at press time
br = BreezeNet, National network, multitopic
ca = CafeNet, a local network, restaurant/dining, recipes, etc.
cc = Coast2Coast, a national network, multi-topic
cd = CDN, a national Christian network for file distribution
cf = CFN, a national Christian network, multi-topic
ch = ChristNet, a national Christian network
cl = CLink, uncertain at press time
cm = CompuLink, a national network, multi-topic
cn = CNet, multi-topic
co = ComicNet, a local net for comic book readers
cp = CAPNet, a national Christian network, multi-topic
cr = CrystalNet, uncertain at press time
cs = ChaosNet, uncertain at press time
cy = Cybernet, uncertain at press time
da = DateNet, uncertain at press time
de = DevNet, an international network for programmers and developers
di = Dixie Net, a regional network, multi-topic geared toward the south
eastern United States
do = DoorNet, a national network for the distribution of BBS doors
ec = EchoNet, an international network, multi-topic
ed = EduNet, a national network devoted to homeschooling and Christian
education
er = ErosNet, an international network, adult oriented, files & messages
ez = EzNet, a local IBM compatible network
fa = FamilyNet, an international network, multi-topic
fi = FidoNet, an international network, multi-topic
fn = FrontierNet, a local network, multi-topic
fr = FredNet, a regional network, political discussion
fs = FSNet, uncertain at press time
ga = GameNet, a local network, uncertain at press time
gl = GlobalLink, an international network, multi-topic
gm = GayCom, an international network, homosexually oriented
gn = GlobeNet, an international network, multi-topic
gt = GTNet, an international network, multi-topic
gy = GayNet, a national network, homosexually oriented
he = HellNet, a local network, multi-topic
ho = HobbyNet, a local network for hobbyists
ic = ICDM, an international Christian network, multi-topic
ie = Intelec, a national network, multi-topic
il = ILink, an international network, multi-topic
in = InterNet, an international network of mail, linking businesses,
universities, and bbs', multi-topic
it = ITCNet, a national network, multi-topic
lg = Local GT Net, a local network, connecting GT Power systems
ll = LlamaNet, a national network, freeform correspondence
lo = LocalNet, uncertain at press time
lu = LuciferNet, an international network, adult oriented
ma = MAXnet, a local network, connecting WWIV and VBBS systems
mj = MJCN, an international network for Messianic Jews
mn = Metronet, an international network which echoes RIME, multi-topic
mr = MajorNet, an international network, multi-topic
nl = NewLife, uncertain at press time
np = NPN, a national network for new parents
or = OraNet, a national E-mail network
pe = Planet Earth Network, a national network, multi-topic
pl = PlanoNet, a national network, multi-topic
pn = PoliceNet, an international network, law-enforcement only
pr = PrideNet, a national homosexually oriented network
pt = PRNet, a national network devoted to 2nd amendment rights
rf = RF Net, a national network for ham radio users and hobbyists
ri = RIME, an international network, multi-topic
rb = RoboLink, a national network, multi-topic
re = RealityNet, uncertain at press time
rp = RPGnet, a local network for role-playing games
rs = RoseNet, a national network, technically orient*ed
ru = RushNet, a national network for Rush Limbaugh fans
sc = Science Factor Net, a national network, science and technology
oriented
se = SEC, a regional network, homosexually oriented geared toward the
southeastern United States
sh = Shades N Shadows Net, a national network for role-playing games
sl = SearchlightNet, a national network, multi-topic
sm = SmartNet, a national network, multi-topic
sn = ShadowNet, a national network for role-playing games
ss = SexSations!, a national network, adult-oriented
st = StudsNet, a national network, homosexually oriented
sz = SCN-Net, uncertain at press time
te = TECHnet, a local network, hardware and utility oriented
th = ThrobNet, an international network, adult oriented
un = U'NI-Net, an international network, multi-topic
us = Usenet, an international network existing on the Internet, multi-
topic
ve = VETLink, a national network for military veterans
vi = VirtualNet, an international network, multi-topic
wg = WGA, an international network devoted to genealogy research
wi = WildNet, a national network, multi-topic
wm = World Message Exchange, an international network, multi-topic
ws = WishNet, uncertain at press time
ww = WWIV-Net, an international network, multi-topic
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
