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Boardwatch Magazine Volume VII Issue 2
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B O A R D W A T C H M A G A Z I N E
Guide to the World of Online Services
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Editor: Jack Rickard Volume VII: Issue 2 ISSN:1054-2760 February 1993
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Copyright 1993 Jack Rickard - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Boardwatch Magazine is published monthly in printed form at an annual
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Editorial comment may be addressed to Editor, BOARDWATCH MAGAZINE, 7586 West
Jewell, Suite 200, Lakewood, CO 80232. (303)973-6038 voice, (303)973-4222
data, (303)986-8754 fax. This file may not be posted on electronic bulletin
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SUBSCRIPTION VOICE ORDER LINE - 1-800-933-6038
EDITOR'S NOTES
==============
1 High School May Never be the Same in Wisconsin
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
=====================
2 Absolute Statements are False
3 BBS and Technology
4 BBSCON and Speakers
TELE-BITS
=========
5 Rumors and Tidbits
6 Compuserve Opens Service to Hong Kong
7 ModemWORLD TV Show to Focus on Cyberspace
8 Report on Comdex 92
9 QWK Mail Added to The Major BBS
10 OST ISDN Card for Macs
11 System Designed for TBBS
ARTICLES
========
12 From the Frontier - BBS Legislative Watch
13 ONE BBSCON '93 Plans Announced
14 Commercial Netline - Finding the On-ramp to the Internet
15 An American Cowboy in Moscow
MACINTOSH BBS NEWS
==================
16 MAC GUI BBS Goes Nova
17 Men on Networks
18 Books of Note
19 MAC BBS of the Month
20 Attention MAC Sysops
INTERNET NEWS
=============
21 CCITT Documents Available by INternet Mail
22 Eastern and Central European Networking
23 PGP Personal Encryption Program 2.1 Avalilable
24 BBS Connections to the Internet
LEGALLY ONLINE
==============
25 Frontal Attack on the Puzzle Palace
DIRECT DIAL
===========
26 Home Power Renewable Energy BBS
27 Canoe Trips Online - Boundry Waters BBS
BBS LISTS
=========
28 Russia/CIS BBS List
29 Sysop Modem Discount Programs
30 BOARDWATCH List of BBS List Keepers
31 BOARDWATCH National List
==============
EDITOR'S NOTES
==============
HIGH SCHOOL IN WISCONSIN MAY NEVER BE THE SAME
----------------------------------------------
I received a telephone call the other night from someone with a Catholic High
School up in Wisconsin. Not particularly well versed in online
communications, he had heard it was possible to communicate by computer at
very low cost with sites in Central and Eastern Europe. The school, for some
reason, had the need to communicate with people in some of these countries
regarding student exchange programs, etc. And he basically thought if they
could just communicate across the globe without paying a $30 hourly long
distance fee, they could gain some ground.
I spent a few minutes with him describing the Internet, some of the
development work going on over there, and over here, and some of the access
options including local bulletin boards, CompuServe, America Online, GEnie,
local University access, and the announced plans of Prodigy. I described how
to contact the movers and shakers in networking over there to find out what
would be required at the far end. We got in a little deeper in a discussion
of how he could put up a St. Mary's BBS in the school, allow students to
interact with each other electronically, and possibly port e-mail to the
Internet through a local University and correspond with students in
Czeckoslovakia or Slovenia. He became a little excited over it all.
And after the telephone call, I became a little excited as well. It doesn't
seem that long ago that we were trying to get two completely incompatible 110
baud modems to squeal at each other by telephone to connect two tiny
primitive computers so we could "teletype" to each other on the screen. We
dreamed of a day when we wouldn't have to manually dial the telephone, put
the receiver in the rubber cups, and hope that we did it all fast enough to
make a connection - and that we finally had it straight who was ORIGINATE and
who was ANSWER. Direct dial modems were a dream come true - dial from the
keyboard. When I caused a DEC 10 mainframe computer at Emerson Electric
Company to actually do something as the result of what I entered into a
Sinclair ZX-81 computer at home - handsomely equipped with 1 KB of RAM and a
300 bps modem, I thought I had just about done it all.
Today, I'm casually describing to a completely non-technical person how to
hook his high school up to Ljubljana Slovenia for e-mail and why it is so
inexpensive that nobody bothers with per-message charges - they're too much
of a nuisance to calculate. When will the message get there? Oh, in ten
minutes - or maybe later this evening, it's hard to tell.
Sometimes you can get too close to a subject. The old adage that "when
you're up to your ass in alligators, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that
you came to drain the swamp" is quite appropos. In the online world, it
would appear that we have significantly reduced the water level in the swamp,
and as amazing, it would seem the alligators have become partial to having a
bit of dry ground to bask on and have volunteered to help dig. We've fought
the connectivity battle so long and so hard, that it comes as an enormous
surprise to look up and find we're winning.
But we are. It's not just that you can do things now that we barely dreamed
of 10 years ago, it's that you can do it in half a dozen DIFFERENT ways -
depending on how much you want to pay, how technically inclined you are, what
interface you prefer, etc. The costs are rapidly approaching zero. The
collective vision of how it all should work and what the end goal is is
finally becoming clear, and at the same time, there is a WORLD of diversity
in interfaces and routes - pick the one you like and if you don't like any of
them, there is an ARMY of people out there working on new ones. It is not
unthinkable that a one room rural school can run a BBS and connect to the
world - or just Ljubljana. And the Fortune 500 is abandoning centralized
mainframes to the point where the market for them is disappearing while the
same Fortune 500 is crowding around the booth trying to figure out how they
can deploy a $200 BBS program throughout their organization spanning four
continents. Terminal programs, BBS packages, Internet gopher agents, e-mail
managers in huge quantity and variety - make no mistake about it - the game
for computing in the '90s is communications. And an emerging global network
has reached sufficient operational status that the whole thing more or less
works.
True, it's a shaky structure - hung together in many areas with baling wire
and string. Operating hour to hour with operators hovering over every
connection and message to "get the mail through." It goes down, stumbles,
recovers, and stumbles again. Literally MILLIONS of people are struggling
with the frustrating learning process of how to squirt messages down two tiny
wires and make them come out the other side. But like some huge Rube
Goldberg nightmare, the whole thing trembles, shudders, shakes, and belches
smoke and fire as it staggers to life. But it does live.
And developments in the previous communist bloc countries is where you can
view this process at its most eloquent. In areas where voice telephone
service has never been particularly useful, you see groups working feverishly
to get a connection to the West, and with each other, by computer. When we
last did a list of Russian bulletin boards some two years ago, there were 40
of them known to exist and a list of reasons why it was just terribly
expensive for people to put them up and why 1200 bps was about as good as it
would ever get. In this issue, we list some 323 systems that are alive and
well - many of them available via 14.4kbps connections that anyone can make.
And courtesy of Milan Sterba and the RIPE organization in Eastern Europe, we
present a list of the pioneers who are today trying to spin a gossamer web of
dialup links, IP connections, X.25 hops, and who knows what else to link
their nations with the world for data. Anyone with a CompuServe, GEnie or
AOL account or access to a local BBS that can pass Internet mail can send
electronic mail directly to these people TODAY and ask how it's coming in
Prague - from their desk.
As this first crude web of global connectivity struggles to life, it is
already changing the way the world works. Dave Hughes, our cover girl this
month, is one of thousands currently forging working relationships between
very small companies here with very small companies there in Russia, to
tackle some of the remaining parts in the development of the network itself.
The Pretty Good Privacy data encryption program described in this issue is
itself the result of an international programming effort with contributions
from several different parts of the globe. The U.S. government can pass
laws, worry and fret about national security, and argue over patent rights to
the RSA algorithm until they pump themselves into hysteria - PGP is
everywhere and I don't think any political entity on the planet could
actually kill it at this point. They might as well try to forge a globule of
mercury into the shape of a spoon with a hammer.
And as that network becomes more capable, stronger, and more universally
available, it augurs potential changes in our world that frankly I don't have
the imagination to fathom. Simply at the software and PC gadget level where
I dwell, what types of software applications will emerge when there is a
predictable, reasonably standardized global network to plug it into - that
reaches everywhere?
But beyond my own technotoys, how will nations, governments, and individuals
react when the concept of a company with no real geographic location becomes
commonplace? Who taxes whom? What laws apply?
What will happen to language when the geographic barriers to communication
that for all of history have caused the bifurcation of language into dialects
and subdialects for ten thousand years - no longer exist?
What will happen to nationalism when three programmers in Russia, three
manufacturers in Brazil, and three marketeers in the United States must rely
on each other for economic enterprise and well being?
What happens when mass media changes from the "broadcast" of information
prepared and presented by a handful of powerful people with their own
political and economic agendas - to a caucaphony of information originating
from anyone and everywhere with the destination of anyone and everywhere?
I have a feeling school just isn't going to be the same in Wisconsin anymore.
Jack Rickard
Editor Rotundus
Boardwatch Magazine
=======
LETTERS
=======
Dear Jack:
Absolute statements are false.
Re your comment in the article about USR's (incredibly inept for such a good
company) handling of tehir hidden AT commands, you write" "The most virulent
viruses and most damaging Trojan Horse programs can only damage data on hard
disk drives - not the drives themselves.
Au contraire! As a fellow computing old timer, perhaps you recall one of the
first viruses, named Pinball. Written (I think) for DEC's TOPS10 operating
system, it physically destroyed disk drives by sending the heads (which had a
lot of mass in those days) thrashing back and forth between the drive's first
and last tracks. Pinball usually wreaked its havoc in the wee hours when a
disk drive jumping around like an unbalanced washing machine would not be
noticed. There's even an account (probably apocryphal) of a CDC 9762, a 200
pound 80 megabyte drive which sat on a pedestal like an office copier,
actually being dumped on the floor by Pinball.
Keep up the good work, and keep on flaunting that G-word. People need to
hear it!
Regards,
Wess Kussmaul
Chairman, The Village Group
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Wes:
Well, sometimes. Ok, I'm prone to absolutes, they reduce confusion most of
the time, but do increase it some times. At this time, I'm pretty certain
USR's statement is false, and there is no way to cause physical damage to
today's hard drive by such software.
But yes, at one time there were programs that would do so. Actually more
recently than Pinball. There was a program floating around in the mid 80s
that would rake a drive head back and forth on a PC system pretty badly. If
left for hours on end, it could conceivably cause physical damage to the
drives then in use - at least that was its purpose. I don't think any ever
did, as it made quite a bit of racket and just a few hours wouldn't do the
trick - most sysops caught it pretty quickly.
But most such stories are generally the stuff of a sort of online urban
legend. The classic is the story of the program that causes the monitor to
burst into flames by overstressing the flyback transformer or some such.
I'll actually get letters in response to THIS letter from those who insist it
happens. I don't believe it, and everyone I've tried to pin down eventually
admitted that they didn't PERSONALLY see it themselves - but a friend of a
friend etc.
I have heard recently that the first Windows viruses are now appearing. Now
if someone will invent one that will cause Windows to actually work without
rebooting every few hours. Actually we did come across some online humor
delineating the difference between Windows and viruses. Viruses don't take
up ALL your available hard disk drive space, and most of them tend to be less
annoying.
G-forces.
Jack Rickard
Dear Jack:
I am a new subscriber to Boardwatch. I am enjoying it very much.
I believe you are serving a very valuable function providing a forum for the
emerging "alternate" channel of information which, I believe, will
revolutionize societies on this little planet of ours. This is the reason
why I am writing to you.
I would like to contribute in a small way toward that revolution. I believe
that electronic networking technology and "ethos" could be harnessed to
create exponential social benefits. The technology is available, the need is
palpable, and the will is, I believe there: to organize a volunteer network
on national, local BBS nets (to be called something like: VolunNet) - to
harness people's desire to help their fellow human beings.
What I envision is a means for "connecting" to help - in whatever need there
may arise: whether Hurricane Andrew, earthquake relief, emergency medical
supplies or social aid in hotspots. At the local level - in metropolitan
areas; or as small communities as interest requires: a simple coordinating
point for self appointed volunteers to organize for whatever common social
goal.
For example, using software adapted from "personals matchmaking" software,
poeople could volunteer for activities - eg., tutoring, reading in elementary
schools, driving elderly to doctors, whatever - with automatic matching or
organizations requiring help, with the days, and times availability of the
volunteer tutors, aids, etc.
Such nets could be organized either by zip code(s) or area codes for nodes
where suborganization could take place.
As "hackers" have been viewed with suspicion by the public and governmental
organizations of late, why not enlist the EEF, and some Silicon Valley
financial heavies to sponsor development of such a net. It would serve a
worthwhile purpose, and by deed, rather than words, demonstrate the power of
this new technology. I could see calling it FulcrumNet - for Archimedes'
famous words regarding lifting the world, if given and adequate fulcrum.
Would you be interested in pursuit of development of this idea?
My background is: 1) public interest governmental laaw as a consumer advocate
(FTC attorney during Nader heydays); 2) entrepreneurial businessman
(1978-present); 3) BE in EE undergraduate training giving me some
understanding of computer's potential.
My idea is not "off the wall". See enclosed clipping from the Soros
Foundations' Open Society most recent newsletter regarding their sponsorship
of a New Technology Program. Mr. Soros, as you may know, personally
supported the emerging democratic movements in the USSR and various Eastern
European Countries via purchase of fax, copying machines, and support of
various dissidents working to democratize their countries - long before 1989.
Like Mr. Soros, I am too a native of Hungary. I personally also know the
power of an idea, and the power of enterprising, committed volunteers.
I look forward to your thoughts as to feasibility, approach recommended,
people to talk to who may advance this idea from the ideal, to the practical.
Sincerely,
Paul G. Foldes
Alexandria, Virginia
Dear Paul:
Actually, it is true that most of the technology and development of bulletin
boards has advanced beyond the lone BBS and more in support of networks of
bulletin boards. Fidonet etc. are the obvious examples but in the last few
years we've seen dozens if not hundreds of specialty "networks" of BBS
devoted to some specific theme or cause. There was a four-wheel drive
network for awhile as I recall, Star Trek networks, K-12 education network,
etc. A network of volunteers and general doers of good is certainly not "off
the wall."
While it is true that this particular communications technology can get the
message there where other modes fail, it is not invulnerable. When you begin
to speak of earthquakes, hurricanes, or even situations such as that now
rising in Bosnia, note that the first thing to go is the telephone lines.
Such a network would only be effective on the front lines if it had a team of
people with wireless data technology (packet, satellite, etc.) they could
move in to an area to "connect" it with the rest of the network. In this
way, reports of what actually IS needed could be propogated usefully and
quickly. In most such cases, some combination of ham radio operators and BBS
operators (historically there is a substantial overlap between these two
groups) makes the link. But I think we need someone working more with
wireless integration with landline bulletin board networks.
I confess I'm not much of a fan of volunteer groups, or for that matter
people with ideas looking for someone else to fund them. But certainly the
current system is not working very well. The situation in Somalia is a bit
less than new, yet it had to build to a certain critical mass in our mass
media before it suddenly became the "in" story. I can see great value in a
grass roots network that identified problem situations early and often before
the camera crews arrived. And most of us are a little overwhelmed by the
general "neediness" of the world. The online medium might just allow room
for specifics that people CAN deal with on an individual level.
Personally, my initial reaction to the situation in Somalia was to bomb them
with wheat until the place was about 18-inches deep over the whole surface of
the country. But on reflection, it is a very positive thing to send Marines
over there. In fact, I think all young men in our nation should serve time
in the military in places just like Somalia. To the point where I think
rather than bombing the place with wheat, everyone in our military ought to
just put what wheat they can in their pockets and WALK it over.
It was in the military that I got my first hand views of Thailand, the
Philippines, Pakistan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, and others. I suspect, at
times, that much of the political disagreement and disunity in this country
(read squabbling over the most petty things on the planet) are caused by
people who think they have troubles - because they've never seen trouble
before and don't know any better. They haven't watched children die from
things that hardly get you a day off of school in the United States - and
watch helplessly, without the ability to do anything at all, and without the
emotional cloak and protection of fatalism worn by a people blissfully
unaware that a couple of simple tablets out of a bottle a few thousand miles
away will make it all better - but you didn't happen to have any with you.
People who think hunger is "found right here in our own back yard" largely
because they haven't a clue what the face of hunger really looks like.
People who feel politically disenfranchised who don't know quite what that is
- have never seen those actually powerless to persuade the relatively
powerful and wealthy that their very lives really ARE worth more than twelve
cents - who simply can't make the case - and so die.
It is my fervent belief that in a few months we will receive back into our
society some 30,000 young men and women who will view problems with
"relationships", the "our group needs more rights" arguments, the ongoing
debates over abortion, unemployment, the deficit, women's rights, the
environment, and many other things through very different eyes. They will
have been where no one has any rights, where the environment is bare dry dirt
for a hundred miles or so, where the "right to life" can be had for less than
a buck and it means you get to live, where problems in "relationships" are
defined by the number of surviving children you can claim, and where most of
our concerns seem shallow, petty, and contrived. They will have a view of
our own land dramatically quite different from the one they left with,
largely for the better, and largely theirs for the rest of their lives.
They'll also have a different view of themselves. It's not something you can
"share." You have to go get it yourself.
Can you extend that same experience electronically? I don't know. It's
worth a try. I could go for a FulcrumNet.
Jack Rickard
Hi Jack,
Really enjoyed the One BBS Con. A suggestion from someone who both attended
and purchased tapes; it would be very helpful if speakers gave their Internet
address or BBS phone number for people to contact them. Some did this and it
is a great way to pursue additional information. I realize some may not want
to give out this information and well, that's fine, but if you could ask
speakers to provide it at their option, I'd imagine most would.
Saw your comments in this months issue about a bigger & better BBS Con.
Sounds great. I know I'll be there. Why don't you have it Florida next
year? I'll even let you stay in my spare bedroom.
Anyway, I appreciate your efforts and wanted to share this comment.
Sincerely,
Bruce McHollan
bruce.mchollan@keystone.keystone.fl.us
The Keystone Connection BBS - Keystone Heights, FL - 904-473-9790
Dear Bruce:
As I'm sure you know, I'm dying to stay in your spare bedroom in Florida. I
haven't been in a real dispute with a set of those galacti-battle cruiser
mosquitoes you all have down there in some time, and sure, I get a yen now
and then for Florida in August. There's something about the delightful heat
and humidity that makes me want to tear all my clothes off, run screaming to
the beach, and power guzzle a few gallons of warm margaritas with a crowd of
sunburned old people. Seriously, a few years in the Mountains here in the
west and our bodies become acclimated to the altitude and the cool, dry air.
If we venture into the lowlands for more than a day or so, we wither and die
in the vapors - after the fashion of ET. Florida is particularly hazardous
for me as a circumference challenged individual. I tend to go to sleep on
the beach and whenever I wake up there is always a crowd with slings and
boats and such trying to "help me back out to sea." They mean well, but it
is embarrassing.
Seriously I am very pleased that the response from everyone who attended ONE
BBSCON was so enthusiastic. It has inspired us to do it for real this next
year. Last year was actually just a test case to see if you really wanted
one. We gather you did. We announce in this issue that the Online Networking
Exposition and BBS Convention (ONE BBSCON) for 1993 will be held at the
Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, August 25-29, 1993. We expect the 1000
who attended the '92 event to return without exception, and to each bring a
friend. So we're planning for 2,000 BBS/networking enthusiasts.
This is the home stomping grounds of this month's cover girl, Dave Hughes,
and he actually IS approaching apoplexy over the prospect of a ONE BBSCON
within gunshot of Roger's Bar in Old Colorado City. If you see an old cowboy
in some sort of wireless NAPLPS frenzy, that's him.
We're working hard at a pretty serious upgrade on the speaker/session end of
this event and in addition to the fun, it promises to be the most seriously
educational event in online history. I'm sure there was some question in the
minds of speakers at the '92 event as to just what type of thing Jack and
Phil were doing out in Denver. No one wants to fly across country, prepare a
presentation, etc. for a hundred BBS guys around a swimming pool in a Howard
Johnson's. I don't think there is any question any longer in anyone's mind
and I happen to know that many who spoke, as well as many who couldn't make
it last year, are dead serious about gunning for a slot on the '93 agenda. We
did over a hundred sessions in about 3.5 days in '92 against everyone's
thoughtful and kind advice and it worked. This year, our goal is to have
adequate ambulances standing by for those who just can't take the intensity.
We'll have larger rooms, more of them, better presentations, and more of
them.
The Stouffer Concourse Hotel was nice, upscale, and convenient last year and
the attendees seemed to flourish under a bit of pampering. If a little bit is
good, then more must be better. This year, we're having it at the Broadmoor
Hotel. I can tell you that I have personally never seen a more magic place
for an event of this type - it takes my breath away and I see mountains every
day. The hotel staff are accustomed to pampering Presidents, Governors,
Mayors, etc. quite routinely, but we have explained that this isn't a bunch
of political riffraff and they have expressed an enthusiastic willingness to
step that pampering level up a bit for our crowd.
We had a very intense vendor exhibit floor in '92 but I was personally a bit
nonplussed that because of space limitations at Stouffer's, we had to turn
away 11 vendors who waited till June to get their bids in. The Broadmoor has
over 20,000 square feet for this purpose and I think we'll use every square
foot of that in '93. It was pretty well established at the '92 event that
this was a good place to offer specials and do deals, and many BBS operators
saved enough on software and hardware purchases to essentially cover the
expense of the trip. Again - count on more and better of the same.
While all functions will be at the Broadmoor site, attendees will actually be
housed in some eleven hotels in Colorado Springs. Basically, the
BBS/networking community is going to take over the city for four days in
August. I'm going to guess just the sight of Colorado Springs, an entire
mountain town, overrun and under siege by BBS operators and networkers will
near enough do me in - ambulances standing by.
I can tell you the size of the convention has reached the point that we are
already having to do some preliminary planning for the '94 event. I can
probably venture that it will be too large for Colorado Springs, that we very
likely will have to take it out of state, and that the Southeast quadrant of
the country is beginning to look very attractive - mosquitoes or no.
Your comment about speaker identification is warranted, appropriate, and
we'll take it as an action item. Most speaker contact information was
available in the ONE BBSCON directory, but having them announce it at the
beginning of the session both for attendees and those who took audio tapes
sounds like a winning plan. The concept of mystery speakers who wish to
remain anonymous doesn't appeal to me. We appreciate the suggestion and will
make it so.
I look forward to seeing you in person in August.
Jack Rickard
========
TELEBITS
========
RUMORS
------
Everyone in the industry is currently TERRIFIED of Bill Gates and Microsoft.
And they do seem to be winning. The biggest part of the problem is that
their software more or less works - while the rest of the industry struggles
with this little quality issue. Rumor has it that Borland is laying off over
300 workers, reorganizing their operations, and cancelled their Christmas
party. Further, there is a rumor that Novell may purchase the company.
Novell seems to be everyone's hope for a run against Microsoft. Apple and
Novell are locked in some apparently serious discussions of the "M" word.
The M word can be viewed as either Merger or Microsoft, in this context -
basically the same conversation. And a Microsoft/Novell battle doesn't
look good for Novell. Their Netware product currently owns the LAN market
but is seriously overpriced. Windows for WorkGroups is just the first salvo.
Now that it is in the open that Novell is the company feeding the FTC in the
current FTC examination of Microsoft, bad blood is pretty well cast. Once
the FTC investigation is over, we look for Microsoft to announce that Local
Area Networking is and always has been a function of the operating system.
They will basically GIVE away LAN software, e-mail, etc. that works with
Windows to counter Novell's dominance of the market. Microsoft tried to play
LAN software straight up and LOST. By including it in Windows, Windows NT,
and for that matter, possibly DOS, they could put Novell in serious
difficulty. The days of $2500 LAN software packages may be coming to a close.
IBM is struggling to find a following with OS/2 and is winning some small
battles at least. But the Windows juggernaut looks almost unstoppable. And
the mainframe era is officially closed. Rumor has it IBM is looking to lay
off some 25,000 workers worldwide in 1993 and decrease their R&D investment
by some $5 billion.
Rumors continue to abound about a pending acquisition of a major BBS software
vendor. McAfee Associates, shareware developer of the ubiquitous SCAN and
CLEAN anti-viral program, was the first shareware company in history to
complete a public offering this past October. After dancing with almost all
the BBS players, they seem focused now on purchasing BOTH Galacticomm, Inc.
(MAJOR BBS) AND Clark Development Company, Inc. (PCBOARD). Word is, they
like Clark's PCBCOMM user interface program.
Canada Remote Systems seems to have had some internal squabbling. Founder
Judd Newell has left the company to current owner Neil Fleming. From some
postings by Newell online, it would not appear to be a particularly warm
parting.
NINTENDO seems to have mounted an attack on bulletin boards. After they
succesfully shut down a Baltimore pirate BBS titled APL BBS for copyright
infringement, they apparently decided bulletin boards were generally given to
such activities. Through their law firm Arter and Haden, they
surreptitiously obtained the mailing list of PCBoard BBS operators from Clark
Development Company and mailed a warning letter to these system operators
noting that as many as 5000 pirate BBS were operating in the country. The
BBS operators receiving the message were of course a bit enraged and
apparently some of them determined the mailing must have come from the
PCBoard mailing list. Clark Development apparently assailed Arter & Haden
who responded with an additional mailing assuring the BBS operators that they
were not specifically under investigation. Oh well...
Tony Waggner, the Portland BBS operator who filed a complaint with the Oregon
PUC when U.S. West tried to charge business rates on his 3-line hobby BBS,
appears to have won his fight. The Oregon PUC sided with Waggner on all
counts - brushing aside arguments of switch/line usage, number of lines, and
the fact that Waggner's BBS handled hundreds of message conferences.
Essentially, the PUC said that it was appropriate residential use, no
constructive level of professional use was evident, and that U.S. West was
out of bounds reclassifying his telephone service to Business Service. The
ruling largely pertains to some back billing US West was attempting to
collect from Waggner as he had taken his BBS out of service some months back.
COMPUSERVE OPENS SERVICE TO HONG KONG
-------------------------------------
CompuServe Incorporated announced December 7 that it will provide local dial
access and customer support in Hong Kong for the CompuServe Information
Service. The company now claims some 1.1 million members.
The new service includes a $15 per hour surcharge on top of the existing
$12.80 per hour for 2400 bps service and $22.80 per hour for 9600 bps access.
CompuServe is currently one of the most expensive consumer services available
at the 9600 bps rate and the Hong Kong access totals a very proud $37.80 per
hour ($0.63 per minute). The local support and access is provided in
cooperation with Hutchison Information Services, Ltd. of Hong Kong.
CompuServe Information Service, 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd., PO Box 20212,
Columbus, OH 43220
MODEMWORLD TV SHOW TO FOCUS ON CYBERSPACE
-----------------------------------------
Walter White and Associates, a Memphis video production company is launching
a TV show dedicated to electronic bulletin boards, online information
services, Internet issues, and other online topics. The program is aimed at
providing new and experienced modem users with news and information which
will enhance their online experience. It's formatted as a thirty minute news
magazine with features on systems, people, equipment, and trends within the
online industry.
The main feature of the pilot episode is entitled THE ONLINE COMMUNITY. It
will be an overview of the online world, discussing who goes online and why.
The program will discuss traditional uses of modems and some of the more
innovative uses emerging. A second feature will showcase Nova University, a
Florida university which offers fully accredited masters and doctoral degrees
through computer-based online programs.
Future programming on MODEM WORLD will include topics such as Online
Education, BBS Software, Online Shopping, Terminal Programs, Electronic
Publishing, Corporate BBSs, The Internet, Online Games, Online Investing, and
Government BBSs. Yours truly will show up on the WIDE screen in bearably
brief segments.
The program will be distributed directly on videotape to nearly 300 user
groups across the country. Additionally, it will be broadcast on February 10
via Direct Broadcast Satellite at 10:00 PM EST on Spacenet 4, Transponder 8,
Downlink Frequency 3.780 MHz at location 101 degrees West. It will be
repeated again on February 24.
Finally, MODEM WORLD will be carried on a number of cable television systems
including Warner Cable in Boston, Cox Cable in Huntsville, AL, Mile High
Cable in Denver, Cox Cable in San Diego, Memphis Cablevision in Memphis,
North Seattle Cable in Seattle, Continental Cablevision in Ft. Lauderdale,
FL, Cox Cable in Saginaw, MI; and Cox Cable Quad Cities in Moline, IL all on
February 10. Check with your local cable system for exact times and
channels. We'll have a file on the Boardwatch BBS providing more extensive
listings as we get closer to the air date. Walter White & Associates, 7384
Old Dominion Court, Memphis, TN 38125; (901)754-6520.
REPORT ON COMDEX 92
-------------------
The Interface Group hosted the fall COMDEX 92 in Las Vegas again this past
November 16-20. The show seemed a bit sedate compared with prior years.
Either the event did not draw the expected 135,000 attendees or the Interface
Group has learned how to manage the event better than in the past. It was
relatively easy to get around, get fed, and see the latest computer industry
developments. Unfortunately, there weren't many.
The "hot" area at this year's show was "multi-media." Actually, I looked
forward to this at COMDEX this year. We've been hearing the term for several
years and I was a bit curious as to what it actually meant. And this year I
found out. It means that for $200-$300, you can convert your $3000 PC into a
$149 television set and watch re-runs of "I Love Lucy." Little Ricky never
had it so good. The multi-media section was overrun with TV cards that allow
you to show cable on your monitor. Leaves me all aquiver just thinking about
it.
But communications actually fared pretty well at this year's COMDEX.
Galacticomm, Inc., Clark Development Company, and Mustang Software were all
on hand in a communications networking area in the Las Vegas Convention
Center. Notably, the crowd seemed to know what bulletin boards were, which
is a bit of a sea change, and all three vendors seemed pretty pleased despite
what looked like some pretty thin traffic compared to past COMDEXes.
Galacticomm did complain of getting "Interfaced" - indicating their
inexperience in dealing with the Interface Group more than anything else.
Most vendors pretty much expect the abuse.
Despite their Interfacing, Galacticomm was showing their new Version 6.0 to
good effect. The clunky C code of third party programs has been replaced by
a new Dynamic Link Library interface for add-on modules. Galacticomm enjoys
one of the most robust third party development followings in the industry
with hundreds of add-on modules, games, etc. available for the product from
over 50 third party vendors. The new DLL interface makes integrating modules
with the base package much easier and more reliable.
Clark Development was showing their new multiline PCBoard using the Arnet
smart I/O serial port card under DESQView XWindows. It looked pretty. We
brought home some PCBoard AND an Arnet 16-port card to play with. We'll find
out what this will really do in a future issue. Clark was also alluding to a
Version 15.0 of PCBoard. The message system is going to get an overhaul with
return receipts, file attachments, and more. Significantly, the message
header is headed for some major overhaul with larger TO and FROM fields to
accommodate some of these connections to MHS, Internet, etc. more easily.
They also had their PCB-MHS Gateway onhand and were demonstrating an Alpha
version of PCBComm, an intelligent terminal communications program allowing
novice callers to access a PCBoard system via a local graphical interface.
Mustang Software was demonstrating their Qmodem Professional along with the
Wildcat! product and offering product at a pretty attractive show discount.
Qmodem Pro is shaping up as one of the more powerful mail managers available
- it can do CompuServe Mail, MCI Mail, as well as some powerful QWK offline
mail functions beyond what you're used to - including file attachments,
e-mail to fax delivery, and a pretty impressive interface. On Wednesday
night, they held their annual COMDEX ping-pong party at Bally's. Over 100
BBS operators were on hand and nearly all won a t-shirt somewhere along the
line. The big winners were in the roast beef line. Sysops attending COMDEX
shouldn't miss this party.
There were some interesting modem developments. This COMDEX was clearly the
year of the 14.4kbps pocket modem. While desktop modems have been available
in CCITT V.32bis for some time now, the little pocket rockets used for laptop
work had seemed stalled out at 9600 bps for some reason. At the show, Hayes,
Practical Peripherals, Multitech, and a slew of others were showing not only
pocket 14.4 kbps units, but some fairly innovative packaging styles. The
Hayes unit is quite odd - it comes in two pieces and the main unit mounts the
battery unit. It is cute. The Practical Peripherals model was quite tiny.
They also had a $299 fax unit that attaches to a laser printer. The concept
isn't new, but the price point is and we think it might catch on. Practical
Peripherals was also raffling off a Harley Davidson motorcycle that was
drawing a pretty good crowd.
AT&T was showing a tiny 14.4kbps PCMCIA card for laptops. These slide into
the PCMCIA memory card slots on laptops computers and it has to be the
smallest/fastest modem in the west. It's not actually available from AT&T
directly but they are OEMing it through Dell, AST, and other laptop makers.
Hayes too was showing a PCMCIA modem - but inexplicably it was a 2400 bps
model. They should probably title this the WHY?modem.
Hayes did make a splash with a couple of items. Most notable was a pair of
modems talking to each other at a fascinating 28.8 kbps. And they were doing
a pretty fancy job of it. The modems were unmarred by any sort of model
nomenclature or numbers - very plain Hayes style cases. Everyone thereabouts
in the Hayes booth insisted it was NOT a product, it had no name, and it
wasn't going to be available anytime soon. But it was clearly their bid for
the coming CCITT v.fast standard - and it was actually doing 28.8 kbps.
That's TWICE as fast as 14.4kbps models for those without calculators.
Apparently there is indeed one more round of new modems with higher speeds.
Hayes was also showing a version of their Smartcom terminal software for
Windows. We've been critical of Smartcom in the past - despite its excellent
script language. Early versions of this program were clunky looking and
reminded us nothing so much as of PC-Talk. But Hayes may have finally got it
right with their Windows version. Notably, it supports their ISDN adapter.
But the mouse action was excellent and you can easily "paint" text off a
bulletin board and send it back out the port.
Speaking of which, Hayes was participating in the TRIP 92 nationwide ISDN
demonstration from the floor of COMDEX. They had a system setup where you
could login to their BBS in Atlanta and download files at a full bore 38.4
kbps ISDN link. Despite ISDN's 64 kbps capacity, the Hayes ISDN adapter is
currently choked to 38.4 kbps maximum. They claim this will change in an
upgrade due this spring. But 38.4 kbps was pretty persuasive.
ZyXEL was doing a pretty brisk business showing two new items. They have a
proprietary 19.2 kbps version of their 1496 series that is actually shipping.
They also demonstrated a CELLULAR version that features a proprietary
protocol they insisted was better over cellular phones than MNP-10 and they
showed 9600 bps connections over cellular at the show.
U.S. Robotics was curiously aloof at the show and their booth seemed to have
plenty of everything in it but visitors. The display seemed to have a chill
over it. The curious thing was, they had set up a complete rackmount system
they call TOTAL CONTROL that was actually quite interesting. The rack unit
can hold up to 64 modems. It's controlled by a $5000 software program that
allows you to dial in remotely, check out ailing modems, and take them
offline and replace them with one of the spares - all over the phone. For
big bulletin boards, this is the dream rack - but the company is
extraordinarily proud of it pricewise. We heard $130,000 for a full bag
64-line version. As we said, good luck getting anyone to talk about it - or
anything else.
The communications hit of the show was something quite different however. A
consortium of nine major cellular service providers has gotten together to
adopt some IBM technology titled Cellular Digital Packet Data or CDPD
networks. This is actually a 19.2kbps network that transmits packet data
spread among all the little conversational pauses across the 832 channels a
cellular "cell" has available. The result is a pretty smooth 9600 bps
connection.
Ideally, this would allow a laptop with the right hardware to call into a
modem pool at the switch, and from there out to ANY online service,
electronic mail system, or BBS. According to Jeff Brown of McCaw Cellular
Communications, air time on the data network would be sold at a big discount
from the rates charged for voice communications. And you could have one
device to handle voice and data over the same account.
The CDPD consortium includes Ameritech Mobile Communications, Bell Atlantic
Mobile, GTE Mobilnet/Contel Cellular, McCaw Cellular Communications, NYNEX
Mobile Communications, PacTel Cellular, Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, and
U.S. West Cellular. The consortium expects to begin rolling out a CDPD
option for existing subscribers sometime in 1993.
And this did not seem to be all pie in the sky. Hardware prototypes were on
display and in operation at the Consortium booth, the Apple Exhibit, and
IBM's setup. IBM had a laptop with the whole thing built in. A company
called EOS was also demonstrating a pen-based system where people were
playing tic-tac-toe via cellular by drawing Xs and Os on their pen system.
There was even a prototype PCMCIA slot card on display that provided data
connections.
There have been some pretty serious moves in the past year toward wireless
connections. But most of them have involved some pretty serious investment
in very proprietary hardware at $1200 to $1500. Worse, you were connected to
an e-mail service who apparently then owns you to the tune of some $90 per
month. And to go beyond that, they are actually leving data charges on
transmissions as well - for some, in increments as small as 300 bytes. Ram
Mobile seems to be the worst offender.
But we didn't buy into it. Cellular Packet Data appears to provide UNIVERSAL
data connectivity at a much lower price. We think any wireless data solution
has to somewhere be connected to cellular telephone service. There are now
some 8000 cell sites in 734 cellular areas across the country with the
ability to reach 95% of our population. And it's tied into the landline
system as well. For many wireless data applications, this is very likely the
face of the untethered solution.
QWK MAIL ADDED TO THE MAJOR BBS
-------------------------------
Galacticomm, Inc. has announced release of a .QWK mail module for The Major
BBS. Titled Major QWK-mail, the add-on option offers offline mail
capabilities for Version 6.0 of The Major BBS.
The module was originally developed by Ren L'Ecuyer of Farwest BBS in Canada
and was acquired and updated by Galacticomm, Inc last summer.
The .QWK mail standard was originally developed by Sparky Herring, our cover
girl in the December, 1992 Boardwatch Magazine. It allows callers to dial
into a system, download a waiting packet of new mail scanned from a selected
group of message conference areas, and logoff. They can then unpack the
mailbag and read and reply to messages OFFLINE using any of a number of
offline mail reader software programs. These programs often include spell
checkers, and other amenities allowing callers to use their favorite editor,
for example, and read and respond to messages at their leisure. When they
are done, the offline reader creates a packet containing all the replies they
drafted, and packs them up into a REP packet. The caller can then dialin to
the BBS once again, and simply upload the packet. This process accomplishes
a couple of things. It limits the time the caller actually spends online on
the BBS and for many, this translates rather directly into sharply lower long
distance telephone bills. For BBS operators, the advantage is pretty clear.
They can handle an order of magnitude more callers on fewer telephone lines.
Major QWK-mail is available at $199. Galacticomm, Inc., 4101 S.W. 47th
Avenue, Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314; (305)583-5990 voice;
(305)583-7846 fax; (305)583-7808 BBS.
OST ISDN CARD FOR MACS
----------------------
OST Inc. has announced an ISDN terminal adapter card for use with Apple
Macintosh computers. Titled the MacSnet card, the device provides access to
Basic Rate Interface (2B+D) ISDN services for both voice and data. The card
meets National ISDN-1 specifications and works with both AT&T and Northern
Telecom switches. It's priced at $1095 from OST, Inc., Chantilly, VA;
(703)817-0400 voice.
SYSTEM DESIGNER FOR TBBS
------------------------
PC Information Group of Winona Minnesota has released their first version of
a program titled SYSTEM DESIGNER for eSoft, Inc.'s The Bread Board System
(TBBS) BBS software package.
TBBS has proven to be one of the most flexible BBS packages available. The
design philosophy was specifically to allow BBS operators to design or "bread
board" a BBS themselves. You can design entire heirarchies of menus with
ANSI screens, etc. to develop a system uniquely your own. A basic menu
editor is supplied with the system, but most veteran TBBS operators use the
System Development Language (SDL). SDL allows them to "program" TBBS using a
text editor and the SDL.EXE utility "compiles"this into a working system.
One of the advantages is that the entire system design can be held in a
single text file.
The SDL language is pretty basic. Essentially, you simply enter each menu
entry, what key activates it, what user class can use it, and one of about 50
menu "types". Different types are available to provide access to file
downloads, uploads, enter messages, read messages, go to other menus, logoff,
etc. In this way, the designer can "template" an entire system to work and
look just as they want it to look.
Nonetheless, the concept of "programming" a BBS, compiling it, and so forth
seems a little daunting to many users and TBBS is admittedly not always the
choice for beginners.
Brian and Gloria Blackledge operate a publishing business titled the PC
Information Group in Winona Minnesota. They publish two vertical niche
magazines, Clarion Tech Journal, which serves the Clarion database market,
and Dimensions, which covers the 4th Dimension database for the Macintosh.
As an adjunct to their publications, they also operate a TBBS system titled
the PCIG Information Exchange at (507)454-8201.
Blackledge saw a glaring hole in the eSoft, Inc. product line. While TBBS
was really a design system for bulletin boards, it didn't appear to
Blackledge to LOOK or act like a design tool that non-programmers would be
comfortable with. Desktop publishing programs, CAD programs, etc. all have
GUI mouse driven interfaces to "design" things. So he wrote a program titled
SYSTEM DESIGNER for TBBS.
Basically SYSTEM DESIGNER looks a bit like a CAD design package. You can
draw boxes and menus and so forth on the screen using an object paradigm that
allows you to group, ungroup, and move objects around with a mouse.
Individual menu items can be defined. Most importantly, the program is a
superb ANSI draw/design interface. All the functions of TBBS are accounted
for including various caller access profiles, menu types, etc. It reduces
the TBBS system design to something akin to an AUTOCAD type interface.
Once you've designed a system, a menu selection causes SYSTEM DESIGNER to
create an SDL text file for you. It will then "compile" your system for you
using the existing SDL.EXE program from eSoft.
Most of the TBBS manual is literally available word-for-word in a pop-up
hypertext program very much akin to the Norton Guides. This makes looking up
particular menu types, for example, very easy.
Aside from making the design process intuitive and graphical, SYSTEM DESIGNER
produces some of the most efficient ANSI screens we've seen done. And the
SDL code it produces is clean and efficient as well. It reduces the task of
updating or redesigning a particular menu or item to the trivial.
Ultimately, SYSTEM DESIGNER is a CAD front end for TBBS. We think it will
allow many people to use TBBS that just wouldn't ordinarily want to go
through the SDL learning curve. And for TBBS veterans, it makes system
design and update chores much easier. As a third party "option", SYSTEM
DESIGNER begins to look mandatory for serious TBBS design work. The program
will be available February 14th at an introductory price of $149. PC
Information Group, 1126 East Broadway, Winona, MN 55987; (507)452-2824 voice;
(507)452-0037 fax; (507)454-8201 BBS.
=================
FROM THE FRONTIER
=================
BBS LEGISLATIVE WATCH
---------------------
by Shari Steele,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Legislation from Last Congress May Affect Your Online Communications.
For those of us communicating electronically, it is often hard to see how
involvement in the bureaucracy of Washington, D.C., could have any positive
impact on our lives online. But laws that can have great effect on our online
rights are constantly introduced and modified in the United States Congress,
and last year was no exception. While the 102nd Congress is now history, here
is a sample of the legislation introduced over the past year that will likely
affect those of us building communities on the electronic frontier.
THREATS TO PRIVACY
FBI's Wiretapping Proposal Thwarted
In a move that worried privacy experts, software manufacturers and telephone
companies, the FBI proposed legislation to amend the Communications Act of
1934 to make it easier for the Bureau to perform electronic wiretapping. The
proposed legislation, entitled "Digital Telephony," would have required
communications service providers and hardware manufacturers to make their
systems "tappable" by providing "back doors" through which law enforcement
officers could intercept communications. Furthermore, this capability would
have to have been provided undetectably, while the communication was in
progress, exclusive of any communications between other parties, regardless
of the mobility of the target of the FBI's investigation, and without
degradation of service.
The privacy implications are frightening. Today, all sorts of information
about who we are and what we do, such as medical records, credit reports and
employment data, are held on electronic databases. If these databases have
government-mandated "tappability," this private information could potentially
be accessed by anyone tapping in. In addition, the language in the proposed
bill is vague. This is especially troubling since, under the proposal, the
Department of Justice (DOJ) can keep communications products off the market
if it determines that these products do not meet the DOJ's own vague
guidelines. This will probably result in increased costs and reduced
competitiveness for service providers and equipment manufacturers, since they
will be unlikely to add any features that may result in a DOJ rejection of
their entire product. And to add insult to injury, the FBI proposal suggests
that the cost of providing this wiretapping "service" to the Bureau would
have to be borne by the service provider itself, which ultimately means you
and I will be paying higher user fees.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation organized a broad coalition of public
interest and industry groups, from Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR) and the ACLU to AT&T and Sun MicroSystems, to oppose
the legislation. A white paper produced by EFF and ratified by the coalition,
entitled, "An Analysis of the FBI Digital Telephony Proposal," was widely
distributed throughout the Congress. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and
Representative Don Edwards (D-California), chairs of two key committees,
referred to the EFF paper as they delayed introduction of the FBI's proposal.
As Leahy stated before the Senate, "Our goal is to assist law enforcement,"
but "without jeopardizing privacy rights or frustrating the development of
new communications technologies." The Justice Department lobbied hard in the
final days to get Congress to take up the bill before Congress adjourned, but
the bill never even found a Congressional sponsor (and was therefore never
officially introduced). The FBI will almost certainly reintroduce "Digital
Telephony" when the 103rd Congress convenes in January.
Cellular Scanners Prohibited
The wrong solution won out as Congress attempted to protect the privacy of
users of cellular telephones. Congress chose to ban scanners as it amended
the Communications Act with the FCC Authorization Act of 1991. The
Authorization Act, among other things, prohibits the U.S. manufacture and
importation of scanning receivers capable of: receiving cellular
transmissions, being easily altered to receive cellular transmissions, or
being equipped with decoders to convert digital cellular transmissions to
analog voice audio. While privacy protection is always important, EFF opposed
the bill, arguing that technical solutions, such as encryption, are the only
way to really protect private communications carried over the airwaves.
Unable to stop the scanner ban, EFF worked with Representative Edward Markey
(D-Massachusetts) and Senator Ernest Hollings (D-South Carolina) to add an
amendment to the legislation requiring the FCC to study the impact of this
law on privacy. Sometime in 1993, the FCC must also conduct a public inquiry
and issue a report on alternative means for protecting cellular telephone
conversations with a focus on encryption.
THREATS TO FREE SPEECH
Federal Agency to Study Hate Crimes on BBSs
Recognizing that electronic media have been used more and more often to
spread messages of hate and bigotry, Congress mandated the National
Telecommunications and Information Adminstration (NTIA) to conduct a study on
"the role of telecommunications in crimes of hate and violent acts against
ethnic, religious, and racial minorities." Computer bulletin boards are
specifically mentioned as one of the targeted media to be studied under the
Telecommunications Authorization Act of 1992. Representative Markey, while
supporting the Act in the House, cautioned NTIA to be sensitive to privacy
concerns while conducting the study. A report on the results of the study
will be presented to the Senate before the end of June, 1993.
Congress Regulates Video Transmissions
Much has been written about the passage of the Cable Television Consumer
Protection and Competition Act of 1992, more commonly known as the "Cable
Act." While specifically designed to regulate rates, establish customer
service requirements and prevent unfair competition for cable television
providers, the Cable Act may have broader implications for those of us
communicating online. The communications networks of the future will include
video and data transmission, as well as the voice transmission we are now
used to using over the telephone lines. The Cable Act is Congress's first
attempt to regulate the wire/cable transmissions that will make up our
networks of the future. EFF is currently studying the implications of this
legislation, specifically as it applies to free speech over the network.
THREATS TO THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
Fees Charged for Use of Government BBS
In a poorly thought-out move designed to raise federal revenues, Congress
passed a law permitting the Federal Maritime Commission to charge user fees
on its Automated Tariff Filing and Information System (AFTI). The law
requires shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers and third-party
information vendors to pay 46 cents for every minute they are connected to
the government-sponsored electronic database.
EFF joined with many other groups, including library groups, the Information
Industry Association and The Journal of Commerce, in opposing this
legislation. EFF and the others fear that this precedent of allowing the
government to charge citizens more than the government's cost for information
could be applied to many other federal databases and impinge on the public's
access to government data in electronic formats.
Federal Employees Denied Copyrights for Government Software
EFF joined with several other organizations to successfully stop the
Technology Transfer Improvements Act in a Senate committee after it had
passed in the House of Representatives. This Act would have allowed the
federal government to claim copyright in certain computer software created by
federal employees working with non-federal parties. Because so much
government information is stored only in computerized formats, EFF and the
others, including the Software Publishers Association, American Library
Association, and Information Industry Association, were concerned that this
legislation would impinge on a citizen's right to obtain and use government
information that he or she has the right to obtain and use.
Reproducing Copyrighted Software Now a Felony
Under the strong lobby of the Software Publishers Association, Congress
decided to stiffen penalties for individuals making illegal reproductions of
copyrighted software. The amended law makes reproducing copyrighted software
a felony if certain conditions are met. According to the statute, any person
who makes 1) at least ten copies 2) of one or more copyrighted works 3) that
have a retail value of more than $2500, can be imprisoned for up to five
years and/or fined $250,000. In order for the infringement to be a criminal
violation, however, the copies must be made "willfully and for purposes of
commercial advantage or private financial gain." While the term "willfully"
is not defined in the statute, previous criminal court cases on copyright law
have held that the person making the copies must have known that his or her
behavior was illegal. Software backups are not illegal (in fact, they are
usually encouraged by software producers), and therefore do not fall under
the scope of this statute.
Like most of us, EFF is concerned about the ramifications of this
legislation. While the statute itself provides safeguards that seem to place
heavy restrictions on how the law is applied, we are wary that improper
application of the law could result in extreme penalties for software users.
We will be monitoring cases brought under this statute and intervening if we
see civil liberties violations taking place.
NETWORK ACCESS FOR ALL
Commercial Users Given Internet Access
Congress gave the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency overseeing
the Internet, the authority to relax some of its access rules governing
certain types of information travelling over the network, including
commercial information. The Internet has been an educational and
research-oriented network since the 1980s. Over the past few years, however,
the Internet has become increasingly open to non-educational and commercial
uses. The National Science Foundation Act was amended to encourage an
increase in network uses that will ultimately support research and education
activities.
While the amendment was still being considered by the House Science
Subcommittee, chaired by Representative
Richard Boucher (D-Virginia), EFF's
President, Mitch Kapor, argued for more flexible rules to spur diversity and
innovation on the Internet. Relying in part on Kapor's contentions,
Representative Boucher sponsored the amendment as it passed in the full House
of Representatives; Senator Albert Gore (D-Tennessee) championed it in the
Senate. EFF lobbied to convince potential congressional and industry
opponents that the legislation would facilitate, not impede, wider access to
the Internet.
This past Fall, Mitch Kapor testified before the House Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and Finance about the perceived dangers of regional Bell
telephone company entry into the information services market. To combat the
fear that the Bells would engage in anticompetitive behavior, EFF proposed an
information network for the near future that would be affordable, equitable,
and easily-accessible (EFF's Open Platform Proposal). Kapor suggested that
ISDN could make such a network possible sooner rather than later and at
little expense.
Legislation was circulated near the end of Congress which included the Open
Platform Proposal. The proposed legislation, entitled the "Telecommunications
Competition and Services Act of 1992," was sponsored by House
Telecommunications and Finance Subcommitee Chair Markey and would give
government support to anyone moving forward to provide digital
telecommunications now over existing copper wires. This, in turn, would pave
the way for a broadband network requiring telecommunications infrastructure
modernization in the future. This piece of legislation laid the groundwork
for a major debate in the next Congress, especially since President-elect
Clinton and Vice President-elect Gore have committed themselves to an
infrastructure of information highways.
As you can see, Congress has been very busy creating legislation that may
affect your lives online. Next month, we will make some predictions of areas
where the 103rd Congress is likely to concentrate its efforts.
[Shari Steele is a Staff Attorney with the Washington office of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to
advancing freedom and openness in computer-based communications. Shari can be
reached at ssteele@eff.org (Internet). For more information on the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, contact EFF, 155 Second Street, Cambridge, MA 02141;
(617)864-0665 voice; (617)864-0866 fax; Internet: eff@eff.org]
==============================
ONE BBSCON '93 PLANS ANNOUNCED
==============================
Preliminary planning for the second Online Networking Exposition and BBS
Convention (ONE BBSCON) has been completed and the '93 event will be held
August 25-29, 1993 at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Over a thousand BBS enthusiasts attended ONE BBSCON '92 in Denver this past
August - by all accounts the most successful face-to-face gathering of BBS
operators, Internet users, commercial service providers, and other
BBS/networking aficionados ever held. Over a hundred educational sessions
were presented during the three-day event.
Approximately 2000 attendees are expected at the 1993 ONE BBSCON as well as
over a hundred vendors displaying modems, BBS software and utilities,
CD-ROMs, and other tools to make PCs talk in the night. Developers of the
PCBoard, Wildcat!, Major BBS, Searchlight, and TBBS software packages have
already indicated participation and are planning presentations. ONE BBSCON
will again be the best available opportunity to examine BBS software packages
close-up and side-by-side. And many of the vendors at the '92 event offered
significant "show special" discounts. If you are looking for a way to find
out specifically what's going on with bulletin boards, how to run one for fun
or profit, or how to put this technology into play for your organization or
company, ONE BBSCON will be the best opportunity you will have in 1993 to see
it all in one place at one time, talk to the developers and players, and
compare product capabilities side-by-side.
For those already IN the BBS community, ONE BBSCON 92 was attended by
virtually every major BBS operator in the country. Everyone from Ward
Christensen, who built the first BBS from scratch in 1978 and wrote the
XMODEM protocol, to Chuck Forsberg who wrote ZMODEM, Tom Jennings, who
started Fidonet, John C. Dvorak who has championed online communications and
written several books on the topic, and a host of the leading BBS operators
from across the country and around the world attended. We look for this
gathering of notables from the BBS community to be even more all encompassing
in 1993. Virtually anyone who is anybody online will be there. If you've
ever wanted to talk face-to-face with some of the pioneers of this industry,
and find out first hand how and why they got started, ONE BBSCON '93 will be
the place to do it.
The '93 event is designed to take advantage of the Colorado Rocky Mountain
environment at its most beautiful time of year. The Broadmoor Hotel is one
of the top five hotels in the country and the most beautiful hotel setting in
the state. Originally built in 1891 and extensively redone in 1918, the
Broadmoor is one of the grand hotel resorts of the west and has earned the
nickname "The Riviera of the Rockies." It has received the Mobil Five-Star
rating every year since 1960 and the AAA Five-Diamond rating since 1976.
Perched at the base of Pike's Peak, this 2400-acre resort is virtually within
view of some of Colorado's most popular tourism stops. The hotel includes
three 18-hole PGA golf courses, 16 tennis courts, an ice-skating rink,
skeet/trap/rifle shooting facilities, horseback riding, fly fishing, a lake,
and other recreational facilities. It features over 100,000 square feet of
meeting space and 36 meeting rooms along with eight different restuarants.
It's located right at the base of Pike's Peak.
This type of environment allows us to do some things that weren't part of ONE
BBSCON '92 - barbecues and bonfires from the top of a nearby mountain - at
night - with a view of the front range from 8000 feet up, for example.
On-site registration opens on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 25th, and
the final closing session is scheduled for late Sunday morning, August 29th.
Golf and tennis tournaments for early arrivals are planned for early
Wednesday.
Opening sessions are scheduled for Thursday morning with educational sessions
beginning Thursday afternoon and running into Sunday morning. Sessions will
again be designed in topical tracks such as Running an Online Service for
Profit, Legal Issues Online, Social and Community Issues Online, BBS
Software, The Internet, as well as a series of mini-symposiums presented by
the developers of various BBS systems for operators who use their software.
The result will again be one of the most ambitious schedules of educational
sessions ever planned for a convention of this type. ONE, Inc. has issued a
call for papers from individuals interested in delivering presentations at
the event with topic proposals/outlines due by March 15 with final paper
submission by June 15. Session proposals should be directed to ONE, Inc.
president Jack Rickard, 5970 South Vivian Street, Littleton, CO 80127.
At the '92 event, there was a vendor space shortage with 51 available spaces
and as a result 11 vendors were turned away. This year vendor space has been
increased to 125 spaces and the vendor exhibits will be open all day Friday
and Saturday.
Rooms are available at the Broadmoor Hotel at a special convention rate of
$150 per night single/double occupancy. A block of some 385 rooms is
available at the Broadmoor, but to handle the expected 2000 attendees, some
900 additional rooms have also been secured at ten other nearby hotels at
rates from $55 to $110 nightly. A fleet of ten buses will provide
transportation between the various overflow hotels and the Broadmoor.
For many, less costly accommodations at one of the outlying hotels will
likely be attractive. But if you do want to actually stay AT the Broadmoor
itself at the convention rate, note that the 385 rooms is a fairly small
percentage of total housing, and we expect this space to go fairly quickly.
Because of the complexity of dealing with 11 different hotels, the ONE, Inc.
office will also handle hotel reservations this year in addition to
convention registrations - you can take care of both with a single telephone
call. ONE BBSCON '93 Registration is priced at $175 before May 1, 1993, $250
between May 1 and July 31, and $325 from August 1 until the show opens.
Contact ONE, Inc., 4255 South Buckley Road, Suite 308, Aurora, CO 80013;
(303)693-5253 voice; (303)693-5518 fax; (303)693-5432 BBS.
==================
COMMERCIAL NETLINE
==================
FINDING THE ON-RAMP TO THE INTERNET
-----------------------------------
by Don Rittner
Have you wanted to reach someone on the Internet, but can't seem to find a
connection? The Internet connects approximately 6,700 networks in some 44
countries, and most of the commercial online services now feature some form
of Internet gateway connection.
Millions of scientists, professionals, educators, students, business folks,
government employees, and lay people use the Internet everyday to send email,
download files, remotely logon to supercomputers and databases, join
discussion lists, and work in online communities separated geographical by
miles and miles and with no time constraints. It can be said if you can't
find an answer to a question on the Internet, there is no answer!
The Internet is a constantly moving freeway with virtually no stop lights and
is quickly becoming the world's communications highway, but many of us can't
seem to find an on-ramp.
It's easier than you think.
Over the past few years, parts of the Internet have been opening up to allow
general computer user access. Today, if you have an account on any of the
major commercial online services like America Online, CompuServe, and GEnie,
you already have access to the Internet using their email capabilities.
I'm going to show you how to become part of the Internet community this way.
Most activities on the Internet come down to human communications-- person to
person email-- and so America Online, CompuServe, and GEnie have developed
special email gateways to the Internet (Prodigy has yet to follow suit, but
they have announced plans for a connection). While you still cannot use the
FTP (file transfer protocol - downloading files), and Telnet (remotely
logging on to a computer as though you were at its location) facilities, you
can reach the brain power of the Internet - millions of people.
We will look at three commercial services, America Online, CompuServe, and
GEnie, and a new email service called WorldLink.
AMERICA ONLINE (AOL)
America Online is the new kid on the block of information services, opening
its online doors in 1988. AOL is for users of Apple, MacIntosh, and PC
compatible computer users and sports a great graphical interface for all
platforms. Users of all experience levels, from novice to pro, can navigate
easily using windows, pull -down menus, and the "point and click" method
using a mouse.
AOL has hundreds of forums, downloadable files, special interest groups,
news, and more to keep the average onliner happy. It currently has about
200,000 members.
Sending Mail to the Internet
On AOL, sending mail to a user on the Internet is as easy as sending mail to
anyone on AOL. There really is no difference and there is no extra charge.
The user selects a blank page from the mail menu and inserts the user's
Internet ID into the destination (TO:) box.
For example, if I wanted to send some mail to myself at my university
address, SUNY at Albany, New York, I would address the mail like this:
drittner@uacsc1.albany.edu
"drittner" is the user id at my Albany mailbox, the @ (at) symbol separates
the user id from the actual destination which in this case is the SUNY
mainframe -- domain id is "uacsc1.albany.edu."
That's all there is to sending email to the Internet on AOL. All of the
magic of sending to the Internet is done invisibly by AOL.
Now there are some restrictions. Outgoing mail cannot be larger than 32k
(about 4500 words or 4 pages). On the Mac, Apple II, and PC-Link versions,
you cannot receive mail larger than 27k, the rest will be truncated. On the
PC version of America Online, and Promenade, incoming mail cannot be longer
than 8K. Any text beyond 8K will be truncated. So, this means you cannot
subscribe to Internet discussion lists or attach files.
If for any reason your mail does not make it to the destination box, it's
returned along with your actual text.
Receiving mail to AOL
To receive mail from the Internet or other commercial services, to your
mailbox on AOL, the sender must know your AOL id and attach it to AOL's
domain id which is "aol.com " -- pretty easy. So if you wanted to send me
mail you would address it to:
drittner@aol.com
drittner is my AOL id, and aol.com is AOL's domain id.
COMPUSERVE (CIS)
CompuServe Information Service (CIS), is the mother of all online services
with 1,400 databases, some 170 forums, and some 1.1 million subscribers.
It's easy to navigate through CIS's forums and services. CIS is menu driven
but there are shortcuts to save time. To go to any of the services, CIS uses
keywords combined with "Go." So to get to the mail area, for example, you
type "Go Mail."
Sending Mail To the Internet
To send a message to an Internet address, you write or upload an ASCII text
file of no more than 50,000 characters or 1000 lines using the CompuServe
Mail editor. Each 2,500 characters is about one double-spaced page.
Unlike AOL, you must use a special addressing format to send to the Internet.
When you are ready to address your mail to the recipient you need to add
>INTERNET: before the recipients ID.
To send me mail from CIS to my university ID it would look like this:
>INTERNET:drittner@uacsc1.albany.edu
If your message is undeliverable, it usually will be returned to you along
with the text of your message. Whether the message text is actually returned
to you depends on the remote mail system, but you will always receive
notification if your message cannot be delivered.
Receiving Messages From Internet to CIS
Only ASCII (text only) messages up to 50,000 characters can be sent through
the gateway.
When an Internet member wants to send a message to you they should know:
-Your User ID number with the comma changed to a period.
-The CompuServe domain address which is "compuserve.com"
To send me mail on CIS, (my id is 70057,1325), it would look like this:
70057.1325@compuserve.com
Notice the comma has been changed to a period in my id.
Receiving messages from Internet is charged the same as sending Mail for
members on the CIS' Standard pricing plan, and the cost applies toward your
monthly Mail usage allowance. There is no additional cost (other than
connect time charges) to receive/read messages from Internet for members on
the alternative pricing plan. So the most you will pay for reading Internet
messages under the standard pricing plan ($7.95/month for basic services and
an hourly rate for extended services) is .15 cents for the first 7,500
characters, and .05 cents for each additional 2,500 characters.
GENIE
GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange), is a commercial
online service owned and operated by General Electric since 1985. GEnie has
over 190,000 subscribers and offers mail, special interest groups, online
shopping and travel, games, live conferences, computer user group
""roundtables," clubs and software.
GEnie is also menu driven and you can use keywords to save time. You simply
type the keyword at the prompt, i.e. "Mail" to get to the mail prompt, or you
can use the page number with the word move, i.e. "Move 200."
Sending Mail to the Internet
GEnie is similar to CIS in that you add an extension onto the user ID of the
person you are sending mail to. So, if I were to send mail to my university
account, it would look like this:
drittner@uacsc1.albany.edu@INET#
The @INET# tells GEnie that the mail is destined for the Internet.
Receiving Mail from the Internet
Likewise, if you want someone to send you mail from the Internet to your
GEnie mailbox, they need to know GEnie's Internet ID which is
"genie.geis.com." So to send me mail you would address it as:
MNS@genie.geis.com
"MNS" is my user id on GEnie and "genie.geis.com" is GEnie's Internet domain
ID.
You can avoid using the extension of @INET# by going into a special Internet
mail area by typing "Internet" at the prompt.
Once you enter the Internet area, you can send Internet mail by choosing item
4 on the Internet main menu. This brings you into a special text editor.
All you need to do in this text editor is write the user's Internet ID
without any extensions,i.e. drittner @uacsc1.albany.edu. This special
Internet mail area takes care of directing the mail to the Internet.
Sending and receiving Internet Mail on GEnie has a surcharge. There is a
$2.00 registration fee - this is a one time charge for all new users signing
up for the service. However, if a user cancels and signs up again, another
$2.00 is charged.
Additionally, there is a charge of $.30 for each 5000 bytes or portion
thereof for both outgoing AND incoming messages.
Canadian Rates are $3.00 registration fee and $.40 for each 5000 bytes or
portion thereof for incoming or outgoing messages.
WORLDLINK
Not everyone is member of AOL, CIS, or GEnie, so what do you do now? There
is a new service called WorldLink from InterCon Systems Corporation in
Herndon, Virginia that fills the void.
Worldlink is a special service for PC and MacIntosh computer users that gives
you a front end to the Internet using your own PC. You simply call one of
thousands of access lines (in over five countries) to log on. InterCon offers
two flavors - Worldlink-Email and WorldLink-Basic.
The email version gives you off-line and batch reading and creation of email.
This allows you to compose your text and the software then sends it, picks up
any mail waiting, and then logs off, saving money. There is a flat rate of
$19.00 per month (2400 bps) with no limited usage charges. For 9600 bps
access, it's $29 per month.
The Basic service gives you the email features but also gives you FTP --file
transferring capabilities, and Usenet news -- thousands of conferences on a
variety of subjects from Art to Zoology. As of this writing, only the PC
version has Usenet access. January 93 is the target date for the Mac
version.
The Basic service is also done in real time, so you stay connected to the
network to send and receive mail, transfer files and view the Usenet news.
There is a monthly fee of $29 for 2400 bps access, $39 for 9600 bps. You are
allowed 50 megabytes per month and an additional charge of $1 per meg if you
exceed the fifty. InterCon may have Telnet capabilities in the future.
For those who do not have a local access point, InterCon will shortly have a
800 number for a small fee.
Happy Trails
So there you have it. Internet access to millions of people without really
worrying about having a direct connection, and in the case of CIS and GEnie,
for very little extra cost. Of course, if you still want to remote logon,
subscribe to Internet mailing lists and bulletin boards, you need to get a
"real" connection (more about that in future columns). And you still need to
know the Internet id of the person you want to correspond with. There is no
master Internet telephone book to look up names yet -- but give it time.
For further information about any of these services, contact them at:
AOL: Call 1-800-827-6364
CIS: Call 1-800-848-8199
GEnie: Call 1-800-638-9636
Worldlink: Call 1-703-709-9890
[Don Rittner is the author of EcoLinking: Everyone's Guide to Online
Environmental Information (Peachpit Press, 1992), and is the editor in chief
of MUG News Service (MNS), a computer news service that reaches 350,000
computer users worldwide. He is the SYSOP for three forums on America
Online: The Environmental Forum, the User Group Forum, and the Society for
Environmental Journalists Forum. He has been running the MNS ONLINE BBS
(518)381-4430) for ten years. You can reach Don at afldonr@aol.com, anytime
(he lives there) - Editor]
============================
AN AMERICAN COWBOY IN MOSCOW
============================
Our cover girl this month is the ever lovely Colonel Dave Hughes Sr. USA
(ret). And we're pleased to report that the cowboy poet laureate of the
online world is continuing his efforts to fence the global range with a
tangled web of wires, packet data links, and assorted other links to making
the online connection.
For those unfamiliar with the network escapades of the good Colonel - a
recap. In the late 1970s he retired from a career in the U.S. Army to his
hometown in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He became involved with a project to
revitalize Old Colorado City, a rundown historic area. He was introduced to
online networking originally on a service titled THE SOURCE where he made the
connection with others who had been through the civic revitalization gamut
and gained some pretty helpful advice on how to do it right. Old Colorado
City DID get revitalized, but Hughes also found a new love - making modem
lights blink in the dark. He's been an unapologetic champion of online
networking and conferencing since.
He setup his own system in the early 80s and founded a small consulting firm
known as Old Colorado City Communications. He eventually migrated to running
UNIX bulletin boards - originally to handle discussions of local political
events. The original place for political discussions was a tavern in Old
Colorado City called Roger's Bar. And so he named his bulletin board system
Roger's Bar and the focus of the BBS was political discussions. The real
Roger's Bar retaliated by installing an RJ-11 jack in one of the booths in
the bar and Hughes could regularly be found IN the bar relating online
conversations to real-time heavy drinkers and bar discussions of local
politics to electronic text on his BBS. At least one local city councilman
thinks Hughes got him elected electronically, and the current Mayor of
Colorado Springs still logs on occasionally to render the official city line
on what's what and how come.
Hughes was drawn to the problems of education and decided that part of the
solution was communication. He installed a system in Montanna linking some
800 local school houses using very low cost BBS technology. Today, Big Sky
Telegraph is a model for inexpensive networking of school systems. He teamed
up with George Johnstone of the MIT plasma fusion lab to offer a course in
Chaos Mathematics to gifted high school students throughout the west - using
FidoNet technology. And he's been campaigning across the upper west on Indian
reservations to get reservation schools online to communicate using native
American language, symbols, and art.
But generally, Hughes has just taken on the lifetime mission of carrying the
message of online communications to groups around the country, and indeed
around the world. He's traveled to Japan, Italy, and points in between to
speak to groups large and small about getting into the online world - how to
do it, why to do it, and why it's important they do it soon.
Of recent years, Hughes has become convinced that to teach courses such as
mathematics online, to be able to communicate effectively on an international
basis, and to accomplish things like bringing Native American Indians online,
the online world needs a bit more expressive medium than ANSI graphics and
ASCII text. He became an early advocate of NAPLPS graphics (North American
Presentation Level Protocol Syntax - Ansi standard X.110) to allow the use of
International Character sets and graphic images that can be transmitted
reasonably quickly. But so far, he's been frustrated by the lack of tools to
draw and view NAPLPS graphics.
He talked Peter Jordan, of Microstar Ltd. in Canada, into releasing a basic
version of their Microstar Graphics Editor and their Personality Plus
terminal program as shareware. Microstar actually did quite a bit of the
work to get Prodigy up and running with NAPLPS graphics. The release of
these tools did spur interest in the BBS community, but the terminal program
lacks the amenities most callers online have come to expect - such as file
transfer protocols.
With the breakup of the communist bloc, Hughes established contacts in the
Soviet Union. Russia sports some top-flight minds in science and Computer
Science particularly has its share. But after the breakup, Russian
programmers are having a hard go of making a living. And with the exchange
rate of the Russian Ruble falling to some 400 Rubles per dollar, the typical
2000-8000 Ruble salary in Russia has become something of a problem. Taxi
drivers and street vendors have taken to the new capitalism with some gusto.
But professional classes have suffered. The result is that Russian
programmers are more than willing to take on work from the U.S. in exchange
for fairly modest amounts of hard currency.
Enter Andrey Sebrant (asebrant@glas.apc) Sebrant is a laser physicist active
online - he backs a project termed DATASPHERE to get high school students
online. Hughes contacted Sebrant about having a team of Russian programmers
write a NAPLPS terminal program and drawing package to his specifications.
Sebrant agreed to act as supervisor on the project and brought on two
talented Russian programmers to do the actual work. Alexander "Sasha" Koshel
is a 26-year old telecommunications programmer while Kirill Lozin specializes
in graphics software development. Both are graduates of the Moscow Physics
and Technology Institute and Lozin is actually a doctoral candidate there.
And so the project was launched. Aside from developing NAPLPS tools, it
comprises a very interesting experiment in long distance contract
programming. Could a program development team produce a product with most of
the communication taking place internationally, cross culturally, across the
language barrier, and largely by electronic mail? Informally, the team was
named the TROIKA after the Russian symbol for three horses drawing a fast
sleigh, and the program more conventionally named TELEDRAW.
In early November of 1992, Hughes traveled to Moscow to meet with the team
and review progress on the program. His electronic text travelogue,
available on his system in Colorado Springs at (719)632-2658 (or telnet
oldcolo.com) provides a charming if rambling account of Russian city life,
the family he roomed with while there, some of the signs of the times there,
and a Moscow McDonalds hamburger stand that makes em just like they do in
Colorado Springs - if you care to wait in line with 700 hungry Russians.
Burger, fries, and drink runs about 800 Rubles - roughly $2.00.
While in Moscow, Hughes visited the GLASnet site housed in the old Railroad
Ministry building. This is a dialup system running Interactive Unix on a 486
machine with an assortment of Telebit, U.S. Robotics, Multitech, and GVC
modems. They have a UUCP connection through a group called RELCOM and sport
eight employees and some 400 paying users. Although their Internet
connection is via UUCP dialup, they have done some experiments within Moscow
using TCP/IP using dialup SLIP. Hughes brought them a tape backup system -
much to their pleasure.
But the real reason for the trip was to see the NAPLPS program he contracted
for. And he was not to be disappointed. According to Hughes, Alexander
Koshel (informally known as Sasha) could easily "pass" in Silicon Valley. He
was the Russian version of the laid back hacker type, but was a bit of a whiz
in putting Borland's C compiler through its paces. The TELEDRAW program will
allow users to create NAPLPS programs, exchange DRCS tables with foreign
character sets, and also serves as a terminal program with XMODEM, ZMODEM,
dialing directories, and all the usual amenities.
One of the most innovative elements of the TELEDRAW program is a built-in
UUENCODE/UUDECODE algorithm. UUENCODE and UUDECODE are two very simple
programs that allow people on the Internet to send and receive binary program
files over a system that sports "gateways" that often only allow the
transmission of ASCII text and worse, often only 7-bit ASCII text (the lower
128 characters of the ASCII character set). The programs simply encode
binary files into slightly larger text only files, and of course UUDECODE
translates it back into a binary form. It has become a common means of
transporting such files on the Internet. In TELEDRAW, you can create a
NAPLPS graphic electronic mail message and send it in UUENCODED form. The
program runs the UUENCODE algorithm automatically on the way out. On the
other end, a Teledraw program receiving an encoded NAPLPS graphic message can
decode the text AND display it on screen on the fly - without a seperate
conversion process. The result is end-to-end NAPLPS graphics across
virtually any network.
Once the program design and review sessions were completed, Hughes visited
with an assortment of Russian entrepreneurs all quite interested in what they
could sell to the American market - everything from Russian military supplies
to a Russian designed graphics scanner.
His host Andrey Sebrant supplied us with this month's list of Russian
bulletin boards. When we last published a list of Russian BBSs nearly two
years ago, there were approximately forty systems operating in the entire
Soviet Union. Today, we find over 300 systems across the land and nearly 125
in Moscow alone. Many areas of the Soviet Union are available by direct dial
now.
Russian economic life remains precarious. But the concept of entreprenurial
product development seems to have taken root, along with a fascination with
electronic communications and business relationships with the west. We look
for alliances and partnerships similar to those engineered by Dave Hughes to
become quite normal in a future where continents are separated by little more
than the diameter of a fiber optic cable.
Teledraw should be released in the next few months. For more information
about the program, contact Dave Hughes, Old Colorado City Communications,
2502 West Colorado Ave., Suite 203, Colorado Springs, CO 80904; (719)636-2040
voice; (719)593-7521 fax; (719)632-4111 BBS; Internet: dave@oldcolo.com.
==================
MACINTOSH BBS NEWS
==================
by Bill Gram-Reefer
MAC GUI BBS GOES NOVA
---------------------
By the time you read this, ResNova Software, Inc. will have introduced
version 3.0 of its NovaLink Professional (NLP3) BBS host and client software.
Get a load of this.
NLP3 supports local, modem, AppleTalk, Communications Toolbox, X.25, and
TCP/IP connections. It also supports a wide variety of interfaces including:
TTY, VT-100 (ANSI) including color, NovaTerm Graphics, RIPscrip (ResNova's
own host graphics protocol which is gaining quite a following), previous and
current versions of NovaTerm (the user/client interface software), and
NovaTerm 3.0 for Microsoft Windows. In addition, the product supports
automatic Apple to IBM conversion of the extended character set and a
complete GUI interface for server administration and design.
One of the real kickers is that NLP3 will support full external application
development for interfaces to text files, databases, and network
applications. In fact, according to Len Anderson, CEO of ResNova, Chris
Vaughn, noted Mac hack and author of MacWoof, is finishing up a Space
Conquest/Galaxy Trader type game, commonly found on GEnie and other services,
so Mac sysops can offer subscribers real-time interactive, time-consuming
entertainment|. Len also noted that another third-party has already created
an external program that will help you keep track of and invoice (to the
minute--we're told) your subscribers' billable time while they play cosmic
trader.
Similar in look and feel to First Class, NLP3 offers a flexible host
environment that lets you fully configure text, graphics, sounds, menu
options, and server structure, while supporting unlimited menus, message
forums (including threading and file attachments) and file libraries
including auditing, uploads, downloads, file searching, and picture previews
when using NovaTerm client 2.0 or higher. File transfers are supported by:
XMODEM, XMODEM 1k, ZMODEM batch (all Mac and non-Mac formats), and can be
done in the background with NovaTerm 3.0 using RNP, ResNova's own file
transfer protocol.
3,000 user accounts are supported, with unlimited guest accounts. Real-tim_e
conferencing is also supported for any number of participants, and can be
shared over NovaNet, the company's budding worldwide network. Real-time chat
is also supported, as are user-to-user bulletins.
All of this takes place within the friendly confines of the familiar
Macintosh windowing interface that offers separate windows for electronic
mail, conferences, chat, file libraries, and server bulletins. NovaScript, an
English-like, built-in programming language lets you customize it all to make
your BBS look like your own Rick's American Cafe.
Now, let's get down to business. NLP3 provides interconnectivity to NovaNet
(more about which next time), FidoNet, Internet Mail, Internet News Feeds,
and Quick Mail. We were told NLP3 can even operate as a TCP/IP server.
Hrrrmph!
What's it cost? $400 base price. Count on the X.25 interface to run you
$1,500 extra. The full-blown TCP gateway will cost an additional $1,000, and
figure $800 for the Quick Mail connection. I'm guessing here:_ under $500 for
the Fidonet port. If you don't have that kind of scratch, Lenny sez there's a
terrific deal (through April) on the current version of NLP, v.2.1, which
will make it less costly to upgrade to the new version. Plus, the kindhearted
folks at ResNova are planning on offering a stripped-down version of the TCP
product that will offer just news and mail at a lesser cost than the
full-featured gateway.
Want some? ResNova Software, Inc., 16458 Bolsa Chica, Unit 193, Huntington
Beach, CA 92649, (714) 840-6082 voice; (714) 840-0488 fax; (714) 840-8641
BBS.
MEN ON NETWORKS
---------------
Until recently, I could be found in a lather about the Internet. Why? It's
unfair, snooty, and smacks of corporatism because unaffiliated schmucks like
me, who actually graduate from school and work for a living instead of: write
for InfoWorld, clean test tubes, hack code for Apple, build bombs, futz with
recombinant DNA, organize public-employee labor unions, write health policy
for think-tanks, work for the gubbermint or IBM (hated it!), or have the
power to suck from the public tit in some other deadbeat fashion, cannot, as
Joe Q. Public, qualify, or afford the means to secure a federally subsidized
dot-com-this e-mail address.
Given these objective social conditions, it appeared that my solitary, poor,
mean, brutish and short existence might never savor the sublime, ethereal
pleasure one supposedly derives from: surfing the net, climbing the matrix,
driving the bit, or motoring down Al Gore's great data highway and otherwise
hobnobbing with such cyber wizards as: Dave Hughes, Bill Gibson, Rudy Rucker,
and John Perry Barlow; not to mention the ability to correspond with
knucklehead academics looking for a grant, hi-tech dweebs, new-age goofballs,
name dropping consultants, and countless hangers-on, all of whom were able to
scam a seat on this elitist cash-cow-in-the-making, even though a kazillion
publioc tax dollars virtually bankrolled an entire generation of Library
Scientists with time on their hands, the development of an obscure UNIX-based
network protocol, and the creation of anonymous FTP.
Until WorldLink. (Loved it!)
Now, you can belong to the club, even if you detail cars on the corner for
cash, or perform odd personal services at the Youngstown airport. Forget your
neighbors who can't afford computers, healthcare, and food, or your rundown
public libraries, for just like the Dow Jones News Service--publishers of
Barron's and the Wall Street Journal--you too can pretend to be busy with
important, defense-oriented classified research for the Department of Energy
when you purchase a monthly WorldLink subscription from Intercon. You'll get
your very own private Internet address for mail, plus news, and FTP
capabilities for one low monthly fee. Don't swallow, pilgrim, there's more.
The way co-ol part of all of this is you get an easy-to-use software
interface that, like the Big Board's Navigator, calls the local access
number, sets up the stream, gets and sends your mail and/or file requests and
downloads previously FTP'd files. You do the set up offline, including
writing and reading mail. According to one knowledgeable observer, "it's
pretty slick, actually. . .since it can work without your having to set up a
serial line interface protocol (SLIP). This makes it much more accessible,
since setting up SLIP would confuse people to no end. So there's quite a bit
of technology behind this product."
There are some drawbacks, like no real-time Telenet capabilities (bitch,
bitch, bitch). Plus you have to know a file's name, the server it's on, and
the path through the subdirectories to request /a particular file. However,
you can access Archie, a server someplace in Canada that currently tracks the
contents of 800 anonymous FTP sites containing some 1,000,000 files
representing well over 50 gigabytes of data. An adequate users' manual will
get you started. I still haven't figured out how to reopen and access mail
after it's been given the "send" command--it's there in the outbox before you
connect, but, it can't be opened. So watch your mouth.
Available for Macintosh and PC. Pricing: WorldLink Lite (just mail) is $19
and $29 for 1,200-2,400 bps and 9,600 bps respectively. WorldLink Basic
Service, which includes mail and 50-Mb of news and FTP per month is $29 and
$39 depending on the transfer speed you select. A wireless option is coming,
as are more toll-free Class A phone numbers for local acacess. NB: all
changes to your status, except termination, incur a $19 fee. Best of all, you
can get a free sample, set up an account for one month usage at no cost.
After a month, you're off or set up your permanent account.
"Jean-Paul, can you imagine the nothingness to which discussions on the
Internet will crumble now that twits like us can just barge in and discuss
vendor-manipulated IEEE specifications as it if were all Monty Python at the
Ministry of Silly Walks?" To get a free diskette containing the program and
some online documentation for your resident revolutionary, call: (800)
638-2968 and tell Johnny you saw it in Boardwatch. Intercon Systems
Corporation, 950 Herndon Parkway, Suite 420, Herndon, VA 22070.
BOOKS OF NOTE
-------------
MORE BBS AND BEYOND
The first edition of Bulletin Boards and Beyond (BBS), sold out in four
months, and became the single-best selling Macintosh book in any of the book
stores that carried it. Since demand quickly overwhelmed the order processing
system, the author anticipates very heavy demand for the second edition.
Available in February, the second edition of BBS (ISBN 10879791-03-X), will
be distributed nationally through BookPeople, Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and
so can be ordered from virtually any bookstore in the U.S. To order by phone
contact the Stanford University Bookstore at (800) 533-2670; CompuBooks at
(800) 880-6818 (70007.1333 @compu-serve.com); or Quantum Books at
(617)494-5042 (quanbook@world .std.com).
BBS is 700 pages in 8.5 x 11-inch format, with 34 chapters, an index and
glossary. It covers everything from an introduction to modems for beginners
to an advanced, in-depth discussion of how to make your Mac into a node on
the global Internet. Containing over 300 pages of new material, this greatly
expanded edition covers the new batch of GUI host software available for the
Mac. There are more than 150 pagges of new material on connecting to the
Internet using graphical front-ends such as TurboGopher and Eudora;
commentaries and histories by network luminaries; and guides to the Internet,
Fidonet, and RIME networks. Virtually every page of the original edition has
been rewritten, the author claims.
The list price for BBS is $29.95, with volume discounts for user groups,
sysops, schools, and universities. Upgrades from the first edition are also
available. For more information contact Bernard Aboba (510) 547-0345 voice;
aboba@world.std.com, or mailcom@aol.com.
DVORAK'S GUIDE TO PC TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Packaged as "a complete overview of the world of telecommunications," the
second edition of Dvorak's Guide to PC Telecommunications, is more than a
resource book; it is a demonstration of the tremendous development that the
computer publishing business and the online world has experienced in only the
last couple of years.
You get a good feel for the Guide right away by working your way from both
ends of the book into its middle. Pasted on the inside front cover, for
instance, is a bright yellow diskette jammed with popular PC software
including communications, text-processing, compression and virus protection
programs. You'll also find 5 pages of "thank yous" in the acknowledgements
section, a veritable compendium of who's who in the business. In the back
you'll find a variety of money-saving coupons in addition to a first-rate
25-page index. No less than eight appendices are included. These range from
the perfunctory (160 pages of Tymnet, Sprintnet and Compuserve access
numbers, a listing of descriptionless bulletin boards and their numbers, not
to mention the gratuitous 20-page directory of modem manufacturers) to more
useful fare including a helpful glossary, cable diagrams, ASCII codes, the AT
Command set, and the book's crowning glory, a listing of over 100
"Emoticons," those odd shorthand symbols used to indicate humor :-), smirks
:-1, or a wink ;-), if only to illustrate just how clever you really can be
when communicating with but a keyboard.
The book itself is divided into seven sections. You get an overview of
telecommunications, a primer on modems and software, a summary of bulletin
boards and related shareware, details on services and advanced connectivity,
information for advanced users, a well thought out and presented, 111-page
tutorial on how to use the key programs included on the diskette, and the
appendices. Throughout, the Guide successfully educates bold beginners and
seasoned pros alike on how to better understand, access, use and maybe even
have fun with this new order of foundational technology.
Just a tad too much whining about how different the Mac is, for my taste, but
at least the ground is covered if in cursory fashion; along with a section on
telecomputing with the Amiga. Throughout most of the book you'll find special
READ.ME sections containing information about protocols, programs, user tips
and other options. These notobena break up the flow of the body text and are
a graphic bother more apt to cause a migraine than enlighten. Luckily, in the
tutorials, the READ.MEs are replaced by a skull & crossbone icon to warn
readers of truly grave consequences.
In sum, you've got to love this book for what it is. The Guide is a classy,
well done example of how to profitably republish 10-years worth of wit and PC
wisdom through smart remarketing that features strong brand name appeal and
an attractive box with reliable product inside--except maybe the bit about
MCI being so easy-to-use because of its user-friendly design! Sounds pre-GUI
to me.
Little slips like that show you just how far back some of this stuff goes.
For instance, the Guide provides a peak into the future with commentary on
officious sounding initials like PCMCIA, ARDIS, ISDN, and cellular modem
technology and X.400 networks. Yet, if you follow Dvorak's work you've
probably already seen these same musings in PC Magazine and elsewhere. That
said, the ALL NEW SECOND EDITION [sic] of Dvorak's Guide is a good product
with more value than most computer books ever offer. Highly recommended.
Dvorak+s Guide to PC Telecommunications, 2nd edition; by John C. Dvorak and
Nick Anis; softcover with diskette, 1128+ pages; Osborne McGraw-Hill, $39.95.
MAC BBS OF THE MONTH
--------------------
If you're an auto buff--and what living, breathing sysop isn't--you'll
certainly want to bolt your screamin' dual-carbed, V.32bis, high-speed,
V.42bis-equipped with MNP, multi-standard, rack-mount USR modem to the floor
and telecommute on down to the Autobahn BBS, based in Ithaca, NY.
Although intended to serve the local Macintosh community, this FirstClass
system also caters to a national audience of automotive enthusiasts. Scott
Mandell's conference, AutoTalk, is distributed nationally through the OneNet
Member Network, a FirstClass network.
The Autobahn features some cool and appropriate sounds as well as an
innovative Quick Conference that let's users access all of the conferences on
the board through one folder. Mac files include GigaRom 2.0. That said, the
slim pickings is understandable in the GIF, QuickTime, and games file
folders.
In addition to AutoTalk, the board's conferences include EcoLink, STARnet,
Arnie's Village of Love (strictly junior-high, PG-rated from what I c+ould
see) and a Science section with threads on Physics, Astronomy and Space,
Bio-tech, and Chemistry. The classified folder seemed reasonably active,
suggesting an oft-frequented local base of callers. The vendor support
features an active discussion of Broderbund's products, and serves as the
home base for OneNet's Info Electronics conference; IE being a key software
developer of connectivity gateways for First Class.
VvvVvvVvvVrrooommmm! The Autobahn BBS can be reached by modem at
(607)256-7595 (24 hrs). Punch it!
ATTENTION MAC SYSOPS
--------------------
If you have a Macintosh-based BBS, let us know who you are and what you think
you're doing that makes your board special. To make things easy for everyone,
mail a diskette containing your user program with a preset account, time
allotment (1-hr for editorial deadbeats like me should be plenty) and
password to the address below so I can log on and take a look around your
system. Also include a text-file that describes your board and any
interesting places on it you think are special. I'll try to visit as many
boards as possible and write about the most interesting ones I can find. MAC
BBS, 2069 Highland Drive, Concord, CA 94520.
[Bill Gram-Reefer, based in Concord, California, is president of WORLDVIEW, a
public relations firm specializing in connectivity and communications. As the
former editor of SHOWPAGE and associate publisher of Western MicroMarket,
Bill has been writing about Macintosh computers since 1984. He operates
WORLDVIEW BBS (510) 676-2919, running on a Macintosh computer, and is a
moderator of Planet BMUG's modem conference (510) 849-2684. He can be reached
via his new nose-turned-up-at-you Internet address at: wk05156@worldlink.com]
=============
INTERNET NEWS
=============
CCITT DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE BY INTERNET MAIL
------------------------------------------
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was founded in 1865 and as
such is the oldest inter-governmental organization. In 1947, it became a
specialized agency of the United Nations and has a membership of 174
countries (4 November 1992). It is the international organization responsible
for regulation and planning of telecommunications worldwide, for the
establishment of equipment and systems operating standards, for the
coordination and dissemination of information required for the planning and
operation of telecommunications services, and for the promotion of and
contribution to the development of telecommunications and the related
infrastructures.
For the online world, the Consultatif Committee International Telephone et
Telegraphique (CCITT) is the standards body under ITU that establishes
recommendations for data communication. The CCITT V.22bis standard describes
2400 bps modem connections for example, CCITT V.32 does the same for 9600 bps
connections, and CCITT V.32bis handles 14,400 bps connections. The V.42
standard covers error correction for modems while V.42bis describes the data
compression standard widely used in modern modems.
Last November, the ITU announced it would make a wide range of ITU documents
available online via the Internet - including CCITT standards. The service
is called TELEDOC and it is actually a mail server that will respond to
e-mail requests for documents by mailing back the electronic text of the
standard requested. It will work through either Internet or X.400 mail.
The full texts of all new and revised CCITT Recommendations (i.e. all
standards approved after the publication of the Blue Book in 1988) will be
available from TELEDOC. In line with ITU publications policies, it is
envisaged to expand TELEDOC information base according to identified needs
and available resources.
On TELEDOC's first day of operation, ITU Secretary-General Pekka Tarjanne
stated: "The impact of the changing telecommunications environment makes it
imperative that the ITU develop new approaches to the standardization process
and find new ways to improve the efficiency of our work, new ways to
disseminate the output of our work throughout the world. The implementation
of TELEDOC", he said, "is undoubtedly a right step in this direction. Our
ultimate goal is to make available on-line an entire library of ITU documents
for a broad and transparent information exchange with all categories of
interested users".
The Internet mailing address of this auto-response mail server is
teledoc@itu.arcom.ch
Document formats which are planned to be made available include ASCII,
Microsoft RTF, Word for Windows, Postcript and CCITT ODA/ODIF. TELEDOC will
be available on request, on a trial period of one year, at no access cost.
For more information or to obtain a copy of the user's guide, contact: Mr.
Robert Shaw, TELEDOC Project Coordinator, Information Services Department,
International Telecommunication Union, Place des Nations, 1211 Geneva 20,
Switzerland, +41 22 730 5338 voice; +41 22 730 5337 fax; Internet:
shaw@itu.arcom.ch
EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN NETWORKING
----------------------------------------
by Milan Sterba (Milan.Sterba@vse.cs)
As of November, 1992
Common abbreviations:
ECE=East and Central Europe
IP=Internet Protocol
RIPE=Regional Internet Protocol Organization
EARN=European version of BITNET
This article is based on work of the RIPE Connectivity Working Group. It
summarises the main issues of international connectivity of East and Central
European countries (ECE). It is based on reports and information gathered by
network representatives of these countries, who have been present at the
meetings or contacted on other occasions.
This report contains lists of people who are responsible for international
networking in each of their countries and gives as detailed as possible
description of the various network activities in the East and Central
European countries. The sections for particular countries will be subject to
regular amendments or changes.
Considerable progress has been made during the last year in IP connectivity
of ECE countries. Czechoslovakia and Poland have today, several hundreds of
connected hosts each and are the most advanced ECE countries with respect to
IP connectivity.
Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary do also have IP connectivity today and have
several tens of connected hosts each. By the end of 1992 IP connectivity will
probably also reach Latvia and Lithuania through NORDUnet and maybe also
Romania and one of the CIS republics.
In all the connected countries the initial capacity of international lines
has rapidly become insufficient and it has been sought to upgrade existing
lines and set up reasonable backup solutions. Internetworking is rapidly
spreading and good IP connectivity is considered the first priority by the
national academic network organizations.
All the countries considered have at the present time some (often more than
one) connection to international networks. Certain countries have only a
dial-up e-mail connectivity, others have low or medium speed leased lines.
RIPE broadly contributes to this rapid evolution by providing technical
advice and coordination efforts.
ALBANIA
An electronic mail connection used to exist between the University of Tirana
and the Internet. The gateway and relay function resided at CNUCE, Peso,
Italy. This connection seems not be operational any more.
Contact Persons:
Maxim Raco <maksi@dinf.uniti.al> - University of Tirana
Francesco Gennai <francesco.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it> CNUCE, Pisa, Italy
BALTIC COUNTRIES
All three Baltic countries have a plan to develop Research and Education
Networks, called respectively ESTNET, LATNET and LITNET and the Baltic
backbone BALTBONE should link them together (Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga, Tartu,
Tallinn) and to the global Internet via NORDUnet. A LISTSERV mailing list
exists for this purpose: (NORDBALT @searn.sunet.se).
ESTONIA
Estonia works in close co-operation with NORDUnet in setting up external IP
links. Currently a 64 kbits/s IP satellite link is operational between
Tallinn and Stockholm, and between Tartu and Stockholm. These lines connect
the Baltic backbone network (BaltNet) to the rest of the Internet. Another 64
kbit/s IP line is operational between Tallinn and Helsinki.
Inside Estonia IP links are currently planned between the Institute of
Cybernetics and the University of Technology in Tallinn and the Tartu
University.
Contact persons:
Ants Work <ants@ioc.ee> - Institute of Cybernetics, Tallinn
LATVIA
An international 14.4 kbit/s IP line connects the Institute of Informatics
and Computer Science of Latvian University in Riga to the Institute of
Cybernetics in Tallinn, Estonia. This line is part of the Baltic backbone
network (BaltNet). Other networks active in Latvia have only dial-up
connections (FidoNet to Tallinn and Helsinki, RELCOM to Moskow).
Inside Latvia X25 services are available from the public X25 network Latpak
and Sprint, UUCP services are available from JET, Versia and Robosoft, the
latvian partners of REL-COM-EUnet. FidoNet also is very active.
Contact persons:
Guntis Barzdins <gbarzdin@cs.lu.riga.lv> - BaltNet
Ugis Berzins <ugis@fidogate.riga.lv> - BaltNet
Alexander Kirpa <ank@robosoft.riga.lv> - Robosoft Ltd.
Sergei Rotanov <rotanov@lumii.lat.su> - Institute of Electronics
Dmitry Sazonov <dima@jet.riga.lv> - JET (RELCOM Riga)
Janis Sudnieks <john@versia.riga.lv> - Versia Ltd.
LITHUANIA
A dial-up EUnet connection exists between Vilnius and Helsinki (Finland). A
9.6 kbit/s X.25 link, used for X.400 electronic mail and sponsored by
Norwegian Telecom, exists between Vilnius and Oslo (Norway).
Contact persons:
Laimutis Telksnys <telksnys@ma-mii.lt.su>
- Institute for Mathematics, Vilnius
Algirdas Pakstas <Algirdas.Pakstas@idt.unit.no>
- Institute for Mathematics, Vilnius
BULGARIA
A switched international X.25 connection connects the Bulgarian EARN node in
Sofia to Linz (Austria). A dial-up connection over public X.25 connects the
Bulgarian EUnet via the backbone node in Varna to the Internet via the EUnet
node in Heraklion (Greece). This connection will be converted to IP/X25 and
will be the first IP connection in Bulgaria. Coordination between both
projects, resulting in a shared fixed IP connection, is under study.
Several tens of EUnet sites are now connected over dial-up links to the
national EUnet backbone. A public X25 service is available to a limited
extent. EARN services have been opened recently at Sophia University but no
gateway exists between the two services yet.
Contact persons:
Daniel Kalchev <daniel@danbo.bg>
- EUnet backbone manager, contact for BG top level domain
Anton Velichkov <vam@bgearn.bitnet> - EARN president for Bulgaria
Alexander Simeonov <sasho@bgearn.bitnet> - Center for Informatics, Sophia
COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
Dial-up connections between Helsinki (Finland) and Amsterdam (Netherlands) on
the one hand, and Moscow on the other hand connect the RELCOM network in
Russia and a few other former USSR republics to the Internet. Currently the
services consist of electronic mail and Network News. A medium speed IP line
to Amsterdam is planned in the near future. Recently another 14.4 kbit/s IP
link has been put between Moskow and AlterNet (USA). On this link only SMTP
traffic is allowed. A 4.8 kbit/s leased line between Moscow and DESY, Hamburg
(Germany), supporting IP, delivers HEPnet services to two research institutes
in Moscow. Low speed links between Moscow and ESOC (Germany) and CNES
(France) serve the space physics community. All existing IP links to CIS have
full connectivity only to the European part of Internet. The 9.6 kbit/s
leased line from Moscow to Copenhagen which used to connect the EARN node in
Moscow to the EARN/BITNET network has been replaced by a dial-up link to
Stockholm due to funding problems.
A considerable effort undertaken by the RELCOM networking organization has
brought e-mail connectivity to several thousands of sites all over the former
Soviet Union. The growth of the network was several 100% a year. RELCOM has
been operating some IP links in the Moskow and St. Petersbourg areas and some
other places (Novosibirsk, Barnaul in Altai). Other national IP connections
are expected to connect Ukraina, Siberia, St. Petersbourg, Far East and other
regions in order to setup a kernel of a nation wide IP backbone. The whole
network has some 60 regional centres, some of which connect more than 500
sites. RELCOM's international traffic is split over two dial-up lines, one to
the Finish EUnet backbone and one the central EUnet node in Amsterdam. Both
operate as gateways on application level. The rapidly growing volume of
international mail traffic makes the need for a medium speed IP channel to
Europe an urgency. Part of the international traffic is carried by the
filtered IP line to AlterNet.
The first EARN node started its operation in Moscow late in 1991, but the
spreading of EARN services is still expected. An e-mail gateway now exists
between RELCOM DEMOS and SUEARN. SUEARN also provides the international mail
relay services for FREENET, a national research IP network which
interconnects some 45 institutes of the Academy of Sciences mostly in the
Moskow area with international connections to Jaroslavl and Baku.
The current situation has been badly affected by the split of RELCOM into two
independent entities (RELCOM RelTeam Ltd. and RELCOM DEMOS). Each of them
holds a part of CIS network users and part of international connectivity.
While RELCOM RelTeam Ltd. has inherited the RELCOM's membership in EUnet,
RELCOM DEMOS seems to position itself as a partner of AlterNet in CIS.
Negotiations are still underway to find a cooperative approach to national
and international connectivity.
In July 1992 an official decision has been taken by the Ministry of Science
and Higher Education, the Academy of Sciences and the Russian Scientific
Center (Kurchatov Institute) to form the Russian Electronic Academic and
Research Network (RELARN) which will use RELCOM as transport infrastructure.
Contact persons:
Valery Bardin <fox@ussr.eu.net> - EUnet - RELCOM
Alexej Platonov <plat@kiae.su> - RELARN
Misha Popov <popov@hq.demos.su> - EUnet - RELCOM Demos
Andrej Mendkovich <mend@suearn2.bitnet> - CIS EARN director
Nickolay M.Saukh <nms@ussr.eu.net> - EUnet - RELCOM
Igor Sviridov <sia@lot.cs.kiev.ua> - EUnet - Ukraine contact.
Oleg Tabarovsky <olg@ussr.eu.net> - EUnet - RELCOM
Dima Volodin <dvv@hq.demos.su> - EUnet - RELCOM Demos
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
A 64 kbit/s IP link between Prague and Linz (Austria) is operational today.
The line is full IP carrying general IP, EARN and czech EUnet traffic. A
second link, 19.2 kbit/s between Bratislava and Vienna is shared between
EUnet traffic and general IP traffic and IXI. The upgrade of this link to 64
kbit/s is planned for the near future. Both links connect into the upcoming
national academic backbone networks CESNET (Czech Educational and Scientific
Network) and SANET (Slovak Academic Network). Both networks are
interconnected with IP links with the aggregate capacity of 28.8 kbit/s (19.2
kbit/s IP link between Prague and Bansha Bystrica and 9.6 kbit/s
Prague-Bratislava). Another 64 kbit/s link should connect CESNET and SANET to
IXI and the future EMPB. This line, financed by EC PHARE project for one
year, will connect Prague to Amsterdam.
Both CESNET and SANET are now setting up national backbone infrastructures
connecting major academic towns in the country. 64 kbit/s lines are used
wherever available and considered necessary, 19.2 kbit/s on all other links.
The first protocol supported is IP. Connected to the backbones are appearing
metropolitan networks in major cities.
The major coordinating bodies are CESNET and SANET where universities as well
as Academy of Sciences, EARN and EUnet are represented. A good cooperation
exists between both separately funded projects as well as good cooperation
with ACOnet, EARN, EUnet, WIN, INRIA France and others.
Contact persons:
Jaroslav Bobovsky <bobovsky@csearn.bitnet> - SANET
Gejza Buechler <gejza@mff.uniba.cs> - EUnet backbone manager CS
Karol Fabian <Karol.Fabian@uakom.cs> - SANET
Jan Gruntorad <tkjg@csearn.bitnet> - EARN director for Czechoslovakia /CESNET coordinator
Vladimir Kassa <kassa@iaccs.cs> - SANET
Jiri Orsag <ors@vscht.cs> - CS NIC and EUnet Prague
Peter Pronay <peter@mff.uniba.cs> - president of EUnet Czechoslovakia
Pavel Rosendorf <prf@csearn.bitnet> - contact for .CS top level domain
Ivo Smejkal <ivo@vse.cs> - CESNET - user services
Milan Sterba <Milan.Sterba@vse.cs> - author of this report, CESNET
HUNGARY
Hungary is connected to EARN by a 9.6 kbit/s IP line between Budapest and
Linz (Austria). For the time being the same line is used also for the
Internet and EUnet connection. It is planned to upgrade this line to 64
kbit/s in 1992. The High Energy Physics community has access to HEPnet
services via a 9.6 kbit/s leased line between Budapest and CERN, Geneva
(Switzerland)
which is now running IP.
Hungary has a good operational public X25 network which is the base of Wide
Area Networking between small and medium sized sites. Currently there are
about 250 X.25 access points in the country. A high speed national IP
backbone (called HBONE) will come into production in 1993 to provide a
country wide IP connectivity and access to EBONE services.
In Hungary a national program under the title "R&D Information Infrastructure
Program (IIF)" is responsible for the research networking. The "HUNGARNET"
co-ordinates the networking activities of different user groups, such as
"HUNINET" (Universities and high schools), "AKANET" (academic
researchinstitutes), and the user group of public collections (libraries,
museums), meanwhile part of the funding goes through IIF.
Contact persons:
Peter Bakonyi <h25bak@ella.hu> - President of IIF Exec Com.
Laszlo Csaba <ib006csa@huearn.bitnet> - EARN director for Hungary
Piroska Giese <giese@rmk530.rmki.kfki.hu> - HEPnet
Nandor Horvath <horvath@sztaki.hu>
- EUnet backbone manager, domain contact for HU
Balazs Martos <martos@sztaki.hu> - HBONE project manager
Ferenc Telbisz <telbisz@iif.kfki.hu> - HEPnet
Istvan Tetenyi <ib006tet@huearn.bitnet> - EARN deputy director
Geza Turchanyi <h2064tur@ella.hu> - HUNGARNET CRIP
Laszlo Zombory <h340zom@ella.hu> - EARN president, chairman of HUNI-NET
POLAND
The main external connection consists of a 64 kbit/s satellite link between
Warsaw and Stockholm (Sweden). The link is an IP one and carries all
Internet, EARN and EUnet traffic. A new 64 kbit/s IP link is being set
between Warsaw and Vienna with the objective to set up an Ebone Boundary
System in Warsaw. A 9.6 kbit/s IP connection is in place between Kracow and
CERN, Geneva (Switzerland) for HEPnet services.
Public X25 services have only started in 1992. Thus connections at national
level can only be implemented on switched or leased lines. The country
already has an infrastructure of leased lines, shared between EARN and IP
traffic operating at speeds between 9.6-64 kbit/s.
The Polish network is coordinated by an organization called NASK (National
Academic and Research Network) which also includes the Polish part of EARN.
Realistic plans exist to substantially extend IP connectivity over the
territory in 1992 using 64 kbit/s lines on their national backbones wherever
possible and economically viable. A National Network Operation and Monitoring
Center has been set up in early 1992 which operates the whole national and
international infrastructure. A system of network user training and support
has also been put in place.
Contact persons:
Daniel J.Bem <bem@plwrtu11.bitnet> - Polish academic network (NASK)
Jerzy Gorazinski <Gorazi@plearn.bitnet>
- Polish State Committee for Scientific Research
Krzystof Heller <heller@ii.uj.edu.pl> - contact for PL domain
Tomasz Hofmokl <fdl50@plearn.bitnet> - EARN director for Poland
Rafal Pietrak <rafal@fuw.edu.pl> - IP within NASK
Jerzy Zenkiewicz <jezenk@pltumk.bitnet>
- Polish academic network (NASK)
Andrzej Zienkiewicz <osk03@plearn.bitnet> - Polish academic network (NASK)
ROMANIA
International connectivity is now provided by a switched X25 link to EARN in
Austria. A 9.6 kbit/s leased line is planned before end 1992 between Bucarest
and Linz (Austria). This line will be able to carry both IP and EARN/NJE/BSC
traffic.
Romania has poor internal networking infrastructure. A government project of
building a public X25 network is under commercial negotiations and should
start to offer some services in 1993.
In Romania the emerging networking activities seem to be coordinated by the
National Council for Informatics and the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest.
Contact persons:
Florin Paunescu <florin@imag.fr> - National Council for Informatics
Paul Dan Cristea <pdcristea@pi-bucuresti.th-darmstadt.de>
- Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest
SLOVENIA
Slovenia is connected over a 64 kbit/s IXI access point in Ljubljana to the IXI backbone. Over this connection an IP link via NIKHEF, Amsterdam (Netherlands) provides Internet connectivity. A PSDN X25 connection connects the main EUnet node in Ljubljana to EUnet. Another IXI access point, also located in Ljubljana, connects Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina to IXI over the JUPAK PPSDN.
Currently Slovenia have achieved a good degree of capillarity of their national networks due to the existence of a wide spread public X25 network. There exists a well developed X400 service. In Slovenia the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia (ARNES) is coordinating network activities. In Croatia the coordinating organization is CARNet and both organizations cooperate.
Contact persons:
Leon Mlakar <leon@ninurta.fer.si> - EUnet backbone manager YU
Borka Jerman-Blazic <jerman-blazic@ijs.si> - YUNAC
Marko Bonac <marko.bonac@ijs.si> - ARNES Executive Director
Denis Trcek <denis.trcek@ijs.si> - IJSE5net - J.Stefan Institute
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Serbia has had a 9.6 kbit/s leased line between Beograd and Linz to carry
EARN traffic. Currently this line is cut according to a decision of the
Austrian government about the UN embargo of new Yugoslavia. 2
Contact persons:
Jagos Puric <xpmfd01@yubgss21.bitnet> - EARN director for YU
MACEDONIA
The University of Skopje, Macedonia was recently appointed by the Ministry
for Science and Technology to start the networking activities in the country.
They joined CEEC and they are planning soon an IP connection.
Currently Macedonia have achieved a good degree of capillarity of their
national network (DECNET) due to the existence of the public X25 network
which is a part of JUPAK PPSDN.
Contact persons:
Marjan Gusev <pmfmarj%nubsk@uni-lj.ac.mail.yu> or <gusev@lut.ac.uk>
Faculty for Natural Sciences, Gazibaba, Skopje
Aspazija Hadzisce <rkntriasp%nubsk@uni-lj.ac.mail.yu>
Ministry for Science and Technology, Skopje
All the ECE countries are very interested in European as well as world wide
IP connectivity. In Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland there has been rapid
growth of connected IP networks and hosts in the academic community. Their
existing international leased lines infrastructure is now shared by EARN,
EUnet and raw IP services. Linz University and ACONET in general (Austria)
has become an important concentrating point for Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary as well as Poland and Romania.
The financial resources dedicated to networking in these countries are
limited. The sharing of the existing national and international leased lines
between EARN, EUnet and other IP traffic as well as between academic and
starting commercial traffic is thus a very important issue.Lightweight but
robust IP gateway solutions (over dial-up lines, leased serial lines or X25
networks) are of great concern in this respect and are continuously studied
and further developed (e.g. COPERNICUS).
By the end of this year the Budapest-ACONET link at least will be operating
at 64 kbit/s. It is probable that new IP lines will be operational at this
time (Bratislava-Vienna, Moskow- Amsterdam).
In the same time the national infrastructure of the countries will also
evolve. We can expect an increase in national coverage in countries with
working public X25 networks and in Czechoslovakia and Poland as well as
strong increase in IP connectivity in the CIS.
Several international support initiatives have been launched in the past by
different bodies to improve international network connectivity of the Central
and Eastern European countries. The following list presents some of them:
The Ebone 92 consortium has shown itself very supportive during 1992 by
allowing traffic of ECE countries to pass freely over the Ebone and letting
so the ECE countries traffic cross Europe. This situation will change in 1993
when Ebone will use a more formal financial model.
RIPE and the RIPE NCC have widely contributed to the rapid integration of new
ECE networks into the global Internet. RIPE has acted as an initiator of a
common coordination effort of academic networking organizations in Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. A first coordination meeting has been
held in Prague in february 1992 and a successful cooperation has started
since, continued on 3rd Joint European Networking Conference in Insbruck,
where RARE has proposed to be the coordinating place on ECE integration to
european academic networking and another meeting in Prague in August.
CEEC@RARE.NL is now the focusing mailing on commonECE networking issues.
Also both EARN and EUnet have widely contributed to the successful start of
international networking in ECE countries, by placing the first network nodes
to these countries, supporting the activity of these nodes both financially
and by extensive konwhow transfer.
Despite this expressed cooperation willingness (RARE, PIPE, EARN, EUnet etc.)
we can see uncoordinated support efforts which sometimes lead to wasting of
poor disposable resources. An EC PHARE project dedicated to extend the former
COSINE IXI project to Bulgaris, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania
has started this year. Medium speed 64 kbit/s lines have been ordered between
Amsterdam-Prague-Budapest-Bern and between Aarhus-Warsaw-Bern. These lines
initially financed by yhe EC should provide connectivity from ECE countries
to the planned European Multiprotocol Backbone (EMPB). It should provide
access points to X25 as well as IP services. Unfortunately the coordination
with RIPE and Ebone as well as with academic networking organizations in the
countries involved has been up to now very poor resulting in uncoordinated
doubling of parts of the scarce infrastructure in ECE countries.
Austria is the major relay point between ECE countries and Western Europe
(and further). The Austrian government is very supportive and either covers
fully or participates in a significant manner to costs of international
connections to these countries. In february 1992 ACONET has made an even
larger proposal, offering these countries (Bulgaris, Czechoslovakia, Hungary
and Poland) double connectivity to both Vienna and Linz. Each of these
countries should have one link to both places, thus permitting line backup.
The Vienna-CERN line has been upgraped in October 1992 to 256 kbit/s and the
Linz-CERN line (64 kbit/s) is being replaced by a Linz-Amsterdam line (128
kbit/s) in order to accommodate traffic increas from these countries and
offer a real backed-up connection to Ebone. The ACONET proposal for Ebone 93
to place an EBS to Austria seems well justified from the point of view of ECE
countries connectivity.
CERN plays also an important role in the IP connectivity of the new
countries. It houses actually a 9.6 kbit/s line from Krakow and another
HEPnet 9.6 kbit/s line from Budapest. Due to lack of resources CERN prefers
not to house a lot of low rate lines from every country but rather to house a
higher rate line concentrating traffic from several countries. This is in
fact perfect conformance with the ACONET proposal.
The German DFN network has launched several regional initiatives to connect
sites in geographical proximity to Germany (e.g. Dreilaendereck project
connecting Liberec in Czechoslovakia, Wroclaw in Poland and Zittau in Germany
using leased links based on X25 with further connectivity to DFN). DFN also
provides X400/SMTP gateway for Slovenia.
The Italian government has financed in 1990 and 1992 successful network
workshops (NetSchool) to which about 50 network specialists from ECE
countries have attended. A second extended edition of NetSchool has taken
place in April 1992 with participation of network specialists from RIPE and
attendees from ECE countries, some South American, Asian and African
countries.
A similar event has been organized by NORDUnet for network users and
operators from the Baltic states.
The French government has expressed its willingness to help the integration
of new countries to the world of academic networking by launching in
cooperation with INRIA a project called Copernicus, which aims to improve
network connectivity of several Eastern European Countries. One of the first
results of this project has been the cooperation on design and implementation
of the academic IP backbone CESNET-SANET (Prague - Brno - Bratislava, Banska
Bystrica - Kosice) in Czechoslovakia. The project consists of network
management and administration know-how transfer, common development of tools
and some software and hardware donations. A similar activity is now starting
with Romania.
IBM is also present in these countries with its academic initiative in which
IBM mainframes have been offered to Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. IBM
and EASInet act also as sponsors for the T1 US link usage for academic
networks in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.
Strong support to ECE countries integration into the global network also
comes from the United states. NSF has always been very supportive to academic
networks in ECE countries promptly helping them to solve the global
connectivity problems. Many projects aiming at improving local, national and
international infrastructure, knowhow transfer and mission oriented network
applications are now in progress.
The assistance of countries with developed networking shouldn't be uniquely
oriented to basic network connectivity. A lot of work is to be done in the
ECE countries to offer and improve higher level network services like e-mail,
teleconferencing, archive services, online databases and library catalogues
etc., as well as in basic network concepts, user information services and
advanced networking know-how transfer. That's why new EC projects proposals
are now oriented not only on infrastructure but also on higher level services
(e-mail, electronic directory, user information and training). Lack of funds
is extremely disadvantageous and the exchange rates still make it difficult
for ECE network experts to attend international network events.
As already mentioned, distributing international network access over the
local territory is a major problem for the countries considered. While it is
relatively easy and cheap to set up a local TCP/IP network it is more
difficult to connect it to the national access point. Generic router
solutions are rather expensive on one side and not completely free of
administrative exportation problems for all countries involved.
The solution to these problems are software routers based on PC's or
workstations and public domain or easily available software.
A low cost capillarity of networks being of great importance to ECE
countries, good dial-up IP solutions both industrial and public domain, which
are under study and evaluation in EUnet, RIPE, Copernique, NetSchool and
others, are of great interest as well as low cost IP solutions on synchronous
lines (X25 or PPP) and low cost solutions for network monitoring and
management.
The technical speed limitations for international leased lines seem now to
become less restrictive than in the past. For Czechoslovakia, Hungary and
Poland, international links up to 2 Mbit/s are now feasible.
With the basic connectivity problems being progressively solved the network
services are now becoming major issues in the most advanced ECE countries.
PC's remain the most spread technical basis, thus network solutions based on
this platform (routers, mail, news, archive and information servers and
clients) either Unix or MS DOS oriented are of major concern today.
The starting period in international networking is often characterized by a
fuzziness in the organizational structure together with a lack ofinformation
about the people actually responsible and working in the area. The situation
is nearly stabilized in Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and
Slovenia, where national academic networking groups have been founded and are
coordinated with EARN/EUnet activities, and a coordinated effort tends to
build nation wide multiprotocol academic network infrastructures. A similar
effort is underway in Bulgaria(UNIKOM, EARN and EUnet Bulgaria). These
countries seem also to have found a stabilized position in international
network organizations (EARN, EUnet, RARE, RIPE). The situation is more
complicated in other countries where also international contacts are for
various reasons much more scarce.
[Milan Sterba serves in the Prague School of Economics Computing Center in
Prague Czeckoslovakia and can be reached at milan.sterba@vse.cs. The full
text of his report on Central and Eastern European Networking, along with a
number of other RIPE information files can be obtained via anonymous ftp at
ftp.ripe.net in the subdirectory /ripe/dics/ripe-docs. - Editor]
PGP PERSONAL ENCRYPTION PROGRAM 2.1 VERSION AVAILABLE
-----------------------------------------------------
Among those who perceive electronic privacy as a serious problem, one of the
most powerful tools available in the battle is an encryption program titled
Pretty Good Privacy - originally written by Philip Zimmermann and currently
the darling of an international group of programmers.
PGP allows anyone to encrypt electronic communications using the public key
process. Using this technique, you can freely distribute your public key via
the network and anyone can write a message to you and encrypt it with your
public key. Only YOU can decrypt the message using your own private key,
which of course you do NOT distribute. The program provides for key "ring"
database allowing you to manage large numbers of other people's public keys -
so you can encrypt and send mail to them. Using this public key system, you
can establish encrypted communications among a large group of correspondents.
The program uses some pretty advanced encryption techniques, and the keys are
actually encrypted using the RSA algorithm widely considered among the most
"uncrackable" in the industry. It's unlikely that the National Security
Agency itself could decode a message encrypted with the higher levels
provided with PGP.
The program has a number of other aspects. The source code is distributed
with it. It is free, public domain software with no registration or license
fee. And there is some question as to whether it is legal or not within the
United States.
PGP enthusiasts announced in December that the latest version 2.1 has been
released. The new version can perform some tasks beyond just data encryption.
It can also be used to develop digital "signatures" for message
authentication. You can create a signature and anyone with your public key
can verify that it is indeed your signature, but it would be almost
impossible for someone else to "forge" your signature. By appending this
electronic signature to the end of your messages, you can ostensibly end any
debate about whether it was you who wrote it. The new version allows you to
send e-mail via an unencrypted message without putting the whole message in
the Radix-64 encrypted format so that anyone can read it. The new version is
also a bit faster, and eliminates several minor, but annoying bugs.
Proponents claim it is the world's most popular and politically controversial
public key encryption program available. We can't make a case against this
claim.
The program is available for ftp from Finland at nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100)
in the /pub/unix/security/crypt/ subdirectory as pgp21.zip and pgp21src.zip.
It's also available from Italy by ftp to ghost.dsi.unimi.it (149.132.2.1) in
the /pub/security/ directory. Hugh Miller is maintaining a list of other
sites and bulletin boards where PGP21 is available and Miller can be reached
at hmiller @lucpul.it.luc.edu. And of course, for subscribers to the
Boardwatch BBS, the program is available in the Internet file directory.
BBS CONNECTIONS TO THE INTERNET
-------------------------------
The Internet is shaping up as the common e-mail backplane for the world. If
it never does anything else, adoption of the domain naming system for
addressing electronic mail - coupled with the burgeoning critical mass of
electronic services reachable via Internet mail on a global basis, has
provided the locus to tie thousands of e-mail islands into a single loose
network for electronic mail delivery.
But the Internet proper, and significantly most of the regional networks
providing access to the Internet, has neither the resources nor a clue as to
how to make access to the Internet extend effectively to K-12 schools or
individuals. Some tools are becoming available to make it easier for the
handful that stumble upon them. But for the vast majority of online callers,
the Internet is going to look remarkably like part of CompuServe, Prodigy, or
their local BBS - for good reason. They need not go "to the mountain".
Increasingly commercial online services and existing bulletin boards are
bringing the crucial rubble of the mountain to their callers instead.
Bulletin Boards across the country are struggling to connect to the Internet
in ways large and small. For the purposes of discussion, we've mentally cut
Internet connectivity into three broad groups: full IP connectivity, dialup
IP, and dialup UUCP.
Full IP connectivity describes the process of connecting a local area network
or bulletin board to the Internet using the Internet Protocol (IP) and a
permanent physical link - typically a leased telephone line with a data
capability of 56 kbps or T1 at 1.44 Mbps. Nearly 7000 networks worldwide are
connected to the Internet this way and it has a number of advantages.
Internet users worldwide can telnet or ftp into such a site at little or no
cost, files can be transferred, databases accessed, and so forth. The
attraction for bulletin boards to be connected in this fashion is obvious.
But most actual bulletin boards on the Internet directly are subfunctions of
some organization. Independent BBSs connected in this fashion are rare -
largely due to the costs. The leased line typically runs $300 to $700 per
month. This type of connection requires a device termed a router that costs
$3000 to $5000. Finally, connectivity at this level generally requires a
hefty fee to one of the top level service providers. Colorado SuperNet, for
example, provides such connections for as little as $7500 per year, but in
most areas it costs considerably more than that and can go as high as $85,000
annually. While we would expect some movement toward full IP connection of
bulletin boards at some time, it doesn't look very imminent.
Dialup IP is different story. This is probably the most exciting frontier
for bulletin boards. It involves intermittent connection to the Internet
using the Internet Protocol, but accomplished through a regular switched
telephone call. Typically, the connection is through 14,400 bps modem, but
ISDN is on the horizon offering a tempting 64 kbps or even 128 kbps
connection. It offers most of the advantages of full IP at much lower cost.
You can still use the two ubiquitous programs of Internet - ftp and telnet,
as well as instant delivery of Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) mail.
But the connection is made only when needed.
Dialup IP at this point uses one of two protocols - Serial Line Internet
Protocol (SLIP) or Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). SLIP is conventionally
available - but is gradually giving way to PPP which is a bit easier to set
up and a bit more robust. The equipment and software costs for SLIP and PPP
are considerably less and SLIP accounts from host services are much less
expensive - typically between $100 and $250 per month.
For example, Cogwheel Inc. of Boulder Colorado offers a remarkably
inexpensive device called Slip On A Stick, which works with an ordinary
V.32bis modem to connect LANs to the Internet using SLIP or PPP protocol.
Priced at $1199, this device is actually an 80C186 computer with ethernet and
serial ports in a package not much larger than a modem. Software for SLIP is
built into the device. You connect an ethernet cable from your LAN to the
device, and a V.32bis modem to the serial port connection on the device, and
it handles requests from LAN users by dialing the modem and connecting to the
host provider. It monitors the line for inactivity, and when the user is
finished, it hangs up the connection. Cogwheel, Inc., 1705 14th St. Suite
308, Boulder, CO 80302; (303)444-1338 voice; (303)442-3480 fax; Internet:
soas-info@cogwheel.com..
Tim Pozar and Tom Jennings, founder of FidoNet, are working on something
quite interesting in this area. They use a shareware package titled KA9Q
with a very modest XT computer and V.32bis modem to work much like Slip On A
stick. It's more flexible, costs less, and again accomplishes the dialup IP
connection. We expect to cover their activities in this area in a series of
articles in coming issues of Boardwatch.
The final level of Internet connectivity, and the one of most interest to BBS
operators at this point is dialup UUCP. UUCP stands for
Unix-to-Unix-Copy-Program, and actually it doesn't provide an Internet
connection at all in any strict sense of the term. It is a way to provide a
dialup connection to a system that IS connected to the Internet. But it can
be used to port electronic mail, and Usenet Newsgroup conferences, to a BBS.
This is the area many bulletin boards are looking for. They want to provide
their callers with the ability to send electronic mail anywhere in the world,
and of course, add Usenet Newsgroups much as they do with Fidonet Echomail,
PCRelay, ILINK, RIME, and other BBS networks.
The UUCP connection is quite inexpensive actually and for BBS callers, it
provides as much Internet service as they often really have any interest in.
Bulletin Boards are loaded with file areas now so ftp doesn't really add much
for callers. Likewise telnet is not terribly important. Most BBS callers
are dialing locally anyway and are comfortable with terminal programs and
offline mailers offering many more features and creature comforts than telnet
ever will. But there is no such thing as too many message conferences, and
the ability to send mail to CompuServe, Delphi, Prodigy, GEnie, other
bulletin boards, universities, or friends abroad from a local BBS is
powerfully attractive.
UUCP accounts are typically available for about $35 monthly although many
providers seem to be struggling to recast bulletin boards as something
different and requiring higher fees now that there is some interest in this
area. But generally, the accounts are available for $20 to $50 monthly.
Connection costs depend on the host and whether or not the BBS is paying long
distance costs to make the connection. For the personal e-mail needs of BBS
callers, this doesn't present much of an expense. And a few newsgroups are
likewise not terribly expensive to bring in. Bulletin boards that carry a
full Usenet Newsgroup Newsfeed can get into some expense however. Usenet
News has grown to the point that a full News feed means transferring some 35
MB DAILY by modem. That takes 7 or 8 hours per day even with V.32bis modems.
The UUCP connection requires NO hardware beyond a modem and PC. The
connection usually uses the UUCP g protocol, and DOS machines usually need a
software program for UUCP that includes a Unix to Unix Copy In Copy Out
program (UUCICO). The three most common DOS programs to do this are Thomas
Dell's WAFFLE, a shareware program titled UUPC, and Fubar Systems FSUUCP
program. These programs will allow a system to dial a host, transfer mail,
manage newsgroups, and so forth.
From there, the connection devolves into porting the mail into and out of the
BBS software, and this of course depends on the software used. Some
translation from the SMTP mail files to the BBS message base is required.
For Wildcat! and MAJOR BBS operators, for example, there are currently no
utilities to do this directly. The mail must be translated through something
else first. Several packages exist to convert SMTP to FIDONET style
messages, for example, including Tim Pozar's UFGATE. They can then be
brought into the BBS using existing Fidonet utilities. More likely, both
Wildcat! and MAJOR BBS have good utilities to convert to Novell's Message
Handling System (MHS) mail and there are utilities to convert SMTP mail to
MHS format.
There have been several utilities to port mail into PCBoard systems. Ed
Hopper wrote a shareware program titled uuPCB . This shareware program is
available for as little as $49 and uses Thomas Dell's WAFFLE UUCICO to
actually make the connection.
More recently, Roy Pereira of Merlin Systems in Ottawa Ontario has been doing
some interesting work all around in porting PCBoard message areas to various
other mail formats. Merlin Systems actually developed the recently announced
PCB-MHS Gateway for PCBoard mentioned in our last issue. They're currently
working on a very complete UUCP package for PCBoard systems titled PCB-UUCP
Gateway. This package handles many of the little things required to actually
make Internet mail easy for callers, such as setting the mail waiting flag
when they receive Internet messages, attached files, etc. It allows callers
to reply to Internet messages in a much more transparent way than uuPCB. Even
better, PCB-UUCP adds some functions that allow the PCBoard BBS to act as a
mailing list server with a LISTSERV function. You can even provide
downstream connections to OTHER PCBoards for Internet mail and newsgroups.
The program is in beta test and pricing has not been set as yet. Merlin
Systems, Inc. PO Box 3043, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1Y 4J3.
(613)236-1136 voice; (613)236-1481 fax/bbs; Internet:
info@merlin-systems.on.ca Fidonet 1:163/509.
TBBS systems are fairly well connected to Fidonet and most TBBS operators
have historically used Fidonet gateways to send Internet messages. But the
process is so cumbersome for callers, that it has never caught on very well.
Since we use this software at Boardwatch, we wrote an assembly language
program we call Personal Internet Mail Processor (PIMP) to import and export
SMTP messages directly to/from the TBBS message database. We use Chris
Ambler's FSUUCP program to actually make the connection to Colorado SuperNet
to transfer mail a few times each day and PIMP to scan Internet messages out
of the TBBS message base and toss incoming SMTP mail files into the message
base. As a result, callers can send Internet mail about as easily as a local
message and all TBBS message functions work as usual. By virtue of eSoft's
QSO option module, callers can actually send Internet messages from their
offline QWK mail programs easily. We released PIMP to the rest of the TBBS
community as a shareware program last November. It does not handle Usenet
Newsgroups. It's available on the eSoft product support board in the file
PIMP.ZIP.
===============
LEGALLY ON-LINE
===============
FRONTAL ATTACK ON THE PUZZLE PALACE
-----------------------------------
by Lance Rose
A privately funded attack is underway against a little-known government
agency that has devoted itself to the control of privacy in this country (who
gets to have privacy, who doesn't, and how much privacy can anyone have?).
If successful, it may begin to unravel decades of surreptitious information
control so effective most of us have not been aware of its operation.
The agency in question is the National Security Agency, or NSA. It was
established in 1952 by President Harry Truman to monitor signal transmissions
that might affect the security of the United States. Since that time, the
NSA has steadily cast a pall over public use and knowledge of cryptography,
and generally regulated the limits of privacy in this country. It has done
so with 40,000 or more active employees, and funding not readily discernible
from inspecting Congressional budget lines.
Those not already familiar with the NSA might be surprised at the depth and
extent of its influence. For instance, rumor has it that NSA monitors much
of the digital telephone activity in this country, even though it is
authorized only to monitor foreign transmissions.
NSA is also in charge of regulating the export of cryptographic devices to
other countries, which are officially deemed such a great security risk they
are dealt with as "munitions" under the U.S. export control laws. Any device
or software intended for export and using encryption techniques (which are
usually included to aid in the privacy or security of personal or business
communications, such as in cellular phones) must be reviewed by the State
Dept., which generally passes on the review to the NSA. These review
processes are so slow and nitpicking that they choke off almost all
international trade in effective encryption devices from the U.S. The
ultimate effect of this process, as pointed out by John Barlow of the EFF, is
to inhibit development of strong encryption devices even within the U.S.,
since manufacturers are often reluctant to make two different versions of
their goods, one for domestic use and one for export. Well-known, powerful
encryption techniques subject to close NSA export control include devices
based on the DES algorithm, and public key devices based on the RSA
algorithm.
In addition, NSA is actively involved, along with such cohorts as the FBI and
the Justice Department, in ongoing legislative efforts to keep effective new
cryptography and privacy techniques out of the public's hands. Last year,
proposed Senate Bill 266 would have made it illegal to use a cryptographic
technique unless the government had been provided a "back door" enabling it
to easily extract the plain text from any message encrypted through that
technique. Apparently, brute force cipher-cracking by the NSA was wasting a
little too much of the taxpayers' dollars (albeit through untraceable budget
lines) so we would all get a break if the government's obligatory snooping
and code-cracking activities cost a lot less. Luckily, this bill was kept
from enactment, in large part through the efforts of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation.
NSA and FBI came back this year with a new variation - a bill that would
require all phone companies to set up special wiretap stations for official
eavesdropping, so agents would not have to waste taxpayer dollars figuring
out how to tap those nasty optical fiber lines without being detected. It's
ironic that in the face of a federal statute (the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act) with strong legal obstacles to discourage officials who seek to
monitor private telephone activities, those same officials want to install
facilities giving them the practical ability to wiretap as easily as you or I
might open the faucet for a glass of water. Another NSA tactic has
been massive removal of texts on cryptography from public access through
classifying them as secret government documents. Again, slowing down the
transmission of knowledge on cryptography in this manner has placed a drag on
development of publicly useful encryption methods. The advent of the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) threatened this regime, with its provisions for
requesting declassification of government documents.
However the NSA, like many other federal agencies, discovered a fairly
effective antidote to FOIA requests: ignore the requests, and when it could
ignore them no longer, make the requesting party drag the NSA bodily into
court over and over in escalating legal procedures to compel production of
the requested documents. This process was such a burden on the requesting
parties that it weeded out all but the most dedicated and well-financed
attempts to fetch documents on cryptography out of the black hole of NSA
classification. Such conduct was also literally illegal, since it involved
failure to meet statutory time limits to respond to FOIA document requests.
The NSA appeared to be deliberately not meeting the time limits, and
basically thumbing its nose at those who sought the documents under its
control.
One of those who encountered the NSA's monumental heel-dragging in releasing
cryptography-related documents was John Gilmore. Gilmore runs a software
house named Cygnus Support, was one of the founders of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, and is a vocal and impassioned supporter of individual
privacy rights against the modern encroachments of the state. Gilmore and
his attorney, Lee Tien, decided to challenge certain NSA practices head-on,
specifically the practices of overclassifying documents in the area of
cryptography, and the NSA's unwillingness to release cryptographic materials
into the public domain regardless of whether the materials actually have
strategic military value justifying their classification.
In July, 1992, Gilmore requested, under the FOIA, copies of the books
"Military Cryptanalysis" by Friedman, volumes 3-4 (earlier volumes were
already declassified) and "Military Cryptanalytics" by Friedman and
Callimahos, volume 3 onward (the exact number of volumes is not publicly
known). The Friedman books dated from the 1930's, the ones with Callimahos
from the 1950's - not likely state of the art stuff. To add a little irony,
Friedman had been one of the founders of the NSA.
To no one's surprise, the NSA did not respond to Gilmore's FOIA request for
the books. Gilmore appealed the decision administratively, but again was
unable to obtain the materials, forcing him to the next step of filing a suit
against NSA in federal court in the Northern District of California. Here is
an example of an administrative setup ripe for abuse, being played for all
it's worth by the NSA. In an ordinary court action, a party who does not
respond within a time limit set by statute can lose the case by default.
Here, however, the NSA did not lose anything by not responding to the FOIA
requests in the administrative agency setting. In fact it actually gained an
advantage, forcing Gilmore to put more energy and resources first into a
pointless administrative appeal, and then finally starting a federal court
action from scratch.
Some time after beginning the FOIA procedure, Gilmore tracked down the
Friedman volumes from the '30's at a couple of public repositories in
California. Amazingly, when the NSA found out he had the books, they told
him the books were still classified or should be classified, and threatened
him with a criminal action if he dared to show the books to anyone else.
This received some press attention in the S.F. Examiner and elsewhere, to the
NSA's great displeasure. Not only was the NSA getting publicity, which it
shuns, but it looked like NSA was trying to bury ancient materials already
fully accessible to the public, and threatening to jail someone who dared
assert the public had a right to such materials.
The attention had a salutary effect on the NSA's actions, however. They
recently declassified the old Friedman volumes, making it perfectly legal for
Gilmore to distribute them. Score one for the libertarians. They have
started the NSA backpedalling.
As we go to press, Gilmore's case against the NSA is still proceeding for
purpose of obtaining the remaining Military Cryptanalytics volume(s), as well
as a "pattern and practice" claim against the NSA. This last legal claim is
particularly important. As described above, the NSA drags its heels on FOIA
requests, outlasting all but the most resolute opponents. But any time a
hardy soul manages to push his case close to a court decision, the NSA can
turn around at the last moment and say, "here are the materials you
requested." The case would then officially become moot because the request
was finally honored, and no court decision stating that the NSA engages in
obstructive and delaying practices would ever issue. This sorry result can
be avoided by the claim that NSA engages in a "pattern and practice" of
obstructing and delaying FOIA requests for cryptographic materials. It will
survive any such "mooting" move by the NSA, and if Gilmore perseveres, may
result in a judicial decision laying some of the NSA's practices bare on the
public record.
If Gilmore and his attorney Lee Tien succeed, they could end up chipping off
a big piece of the NSA wall of darkness. From the look of things, they may
still have some arduous going ahead. No matter the decision on the trial
court level, the NSA will have many court appeals left, and doubtless other
moves buried deep in its bag of tricks.
Those interested in cryptography issues may find a new Internet mailing list
of interest. A group is physically meeting in John Gilmore's Silicon Valley
facilities and has started a mailing list under moderation of Timothy C. May
(tcmay@netcom.com). The group includes John Draper (Cap'n Crunch), Tom
Jennings, and others interested in cryptography, anonymous mail forwarding
techniques, encryption, the Pretty Good Privacy program, and other privacy
issues. You can join this mailing list from any service allowing Internet
e-mail by sending a message to CYPHERPUNKS-REQUEST@TOAD.COM.
[Lance Rose is an attorney practicing high-tech, computer and intellectual
property law in the New York City area, and is available on the Internet at
elrose@well.sf.ca.us and on CompuServe at 72230,2044. He works with shareware
publishers, software authors, system operators, technology buyers,
interactive media developers, on-line database services and others in the
high technology area. He is also author of the book SYSLAW, a legal guide for
bulletin board system operators, available from PC Information Group
(800)321-8285. - Editor]
===========
DIRECT DIAL
===========
HOME POWER RENEWABLE ENERGY BBS
-------------------------------
At times we gadget guys miss the days when oil was the king of shortages, and
solar power, electric cars, and gadgets to get 100 mpg for your old ghetto
cruiser were all the rage. But we found an enclave of the remnants of that
golden age in Arcata California.
Don Kulha, under the auspices of the Redwood Alliance and Redwood
Environmental Education Institute, operates a small TBBS system devoted to
alternate power technologies. The Home Power Renewable Energy Communications
System operates at (707)822-8640 and focuses on "getting off the grid" -
alternate power solutions for individuals.
The system has message conferences for Photovoltaics, Micro-Hydro Systems,
Wind Power, Hydrogen Power, Battery Storage, Electrical Vehicles, and other
do it yourself watt technologies.
The system began life last August and so far hasn't seen a lot of message
traffic. But it has worked an alliance with a print publication - Home Power
Magazine. They have the first ten issues of this year online with a fairly
descriptive search index on article titles. Better, the text is broken into
individual articles and the downloadable files often include small GIF images
of graphics that went into the magazine along with the articles.
We found articles such as "Are Photovoltaics Right for Me;" "A Working
Micro-Hydro at Journey's End Forest Ranch;" "Back Country Communications;"
"Engine Driven Generators for Home Power;" "Internal Resistance in Lead Acid
Batteries;" and "Photovoltaics: The Alternative to Life in a Greenhouse."
This is hands-on environmentalism at its best. Many of the articles and
system users are people who have moved away from it all and found that they
moved away from cheap electricity and gas service in the process. One gent
was building a rural log home and found the utility company wanted $30,000
to run power lines to his property. For that kind of cash, gasoline
generators, miniature hydroelectric installations, photovoltaics, and other
power generation hardware begin to look good. Apparently, you can put in a
solar electric power system with batteries, inverters, and a gasoline backup
generator for $10,000 or so these days. And there is no small satisfaction
in "getting off the grid." Many of these people are working toward total
self sufficiency - even to telephone service by radio.
The system also features a file listing vendors offering hydro-electric
generators, photovoltaic panels, inverters, batteries, wind generators, etc.
Interesting topic. The board is a bit young, but if they find some action,
it looks well done. Redwood Alliance, PO Box 293, Arcata, CA 95521;
(707)822-7884 voice.
CANOE TRIPS ONLINE - BOUNDARY WATERS BBS
----------------------------------------
One very effective use of BBS technology is as an information service to
promote a specific area for tourism, jobs, recreation, or shopping. We've
not seen it done much better than Gary Knopp's BOUNDARY WATERS INFORMATION
SERVICE at (218)365-6907.
After spending just a few minutes on this QuickBBS system operating out of of
Ely Minnesota, we feel like we know the area. Ely Minnesota is quite close
to the Canadian boarder, near Moose Lake, The Quetico Provincial Park,
Superior National Forest, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Indeed, a
system of canoe portages has been set up so you can move from lake to lake
across a fairly vast area of northern Minnesota and Canada by canoe. There
just isn't anything more peaceful than gliding across a still lake, after
about 30 beers, burned deep red by the sun and with mosquitoes the size of
Japanese Zeros pulling strafing runs across the thwarts of your canoe. But I
wax poetic.
The country is beautiful, indeed, it is said to be THE favorite place of
Charles Kuralt - one of the few minds in broadcast television with an IQ in
excess of his waistline - and longtime reporter from the ON THE ROAD series
that seemed to seek out the best in America. As such, the Ely Minnesota area
is clearly given to tourism.
The system provides a wealth of information. Lists of outfitters for canoe
trips caught our eye. Jack and Toni's Fall Lake Wilderness Canoe Trips, the
Piragis Northwoods Company, Tom Woods Moose Lake Wilderness Canoe Trips - who
can decide. There were half a dozen tour guide outfits offering wilderness
canoe trips using the latest equipment etc. The BBS offered a list of some
170 books on canoeing.
But the system went beyond just listing outfitters for wilderness trips. For
example, it offered a list of local radio stations, local real estate
including descriptions of lake homes, cabins, rural property, etc.
There were also lists of resorts, hotels, camping facilities, fishing trips
such as the Bear Island Resort, and Timber Wolf Lodge. And there was a bit
of a mini-mall online listing various retail establishments around town, what
they specialized in, and how to contact them by fax, mail, or voice phone.
We were a bit enchanted by the ad for LOUIE CHAMPA TAXIDERMY AND FREEZE DRY.
Louie offers embalmed duckling, squirrels, weasels, mink, otter, red fox,
silver fox, arctic fox, bear and wolf fur rugs, moose heads, dear [sic]
heads, bear heads, birds, antlers and more. Louie proudly claims that
ANYTHING YOU WANT DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK - WE CAN LEGALLY GET IT FOR YOU -
CAN MAIL ANYWHERE - WHOLESALE AND RETAIL PRICES. Apparently they have a
special line of glass end and coffee tables with various chunks and body
parts of local wildlife mounted inside. It appears you can actually order
limbs and body parts of wildlife by mail order from Louie - virtually any
piece of any animal your heart desires - delivered UPS.
The system offers an entire series of birdwatching articles written by Bill
Tefft, a local columnist for the Ely Echo - the town's weekly newspaper. The
articles are quite charming, and Bill urges his readers to call him with
questions or sightings at (218)365-6785.
The magic of Boundary Waters goes beyond simple lists of services available
inthe area. It actually gives you a feel for a small town, built on tourist
trade, where stores and services are run by guys like Louie, outfitters like
Jack and Toni, and well...people. And if you are looking for that perfect
outdoor vacation spot, this system can put you in touch with the people that
can fix you up. Gary Knopp, InfoNorth, HC1 Box 2675, Ely, Minnesota, 55731;
(218)365-4118 voice; (218)365-6907 BBS.
@ME.FORMAT
RUSSIA/CIS - LIst of 322 Electroinc Bulletin Boards
---------------------------------------------------
Country Code Dialing Prefix 7
Moscow Fair 095-366-5209 9600 Moscow Russia
MostNet 2 095-943-0039 2400 Moscow Russia
JV Dialogue 1st BBS #1 095-329-2192 14400 Moscow Russia
JV Dialogue 1st BBS #2 095-329-5133 9600 Moscow Russia
Alan BBS 095-532-2943 9600 Moscow Russia
Do-mail! BBS 095-939-1669 9600 Moscow Russia
Blue House BBS 095-932-6410 2400 Moscow Russia
Metal Heart of Weilus 095-318-6582 2400 Moscow Russia
Data Board BBS 095-326-5888 2400 Moscow Russia
Soft Parade System 095-151-5941 2400 Moscow Russia
PCC BBS 095-461-1378 9600 Moscow Russia
XtalK BBS 095-367-5545 1200 Moscow Russia
White Bear BBS (4 lines) 095-932-8465 2400 Moscow Russia
Iron Doors BBS 095-465-6610 9600 Moscow Russia
Black Metal 095-150-8500 2400 Moscow Russia
INPRO BBS 095-924-5797 2400 Moscow Russia
Koza Nostra BBS 095-337-5352 2400 Moscow Russia
Blue Bottle 095-187-2659 2400 Moscow Russia
Vita BBS 095-129-1744 2400 Moscow Russia
Wolf the Grey BBS 095-152-4398 2400 Moscow Russia
Little Star BBS 095-250-1964 2400 Moscow Russia
Time Machine 095-202-5385 2400 Moscow Russia
Square Wheel BBS 095-238-5098 2400 Moscow Russia
Chip'n'Dale (line 1) 095-202-4852 14400 Moscow Russia
Chip'n'Dale (line 2) 095-202-4863 2400 Moscow Russia
Sails BBS #1 095-261-5103 2400 Moscow Russia
Mister Postman 095-229-7769 2400 Moscow Russia
Wasp System 095-938-7193 2400 Moscow Russia
Business BBS #1 095-482-1044 2400 Moscow Russia
Doors ]I[ #1 095-536-6709 2400 Moscow Russia
Falcon Hill's BBS 095-365-3770 2400 Moscow Russia
AstroPro BBS 095-939-8347 2400 Moscow Russia
JV DialogueScience BBS 095-135-6253 2400 Moscow Russia
Monster's Small Station #2 095-274-9104 1200 Moscow Russia
Sam's BBS 095-490-5166 2400 Moscow Russia
U.F.M BBS 095-245-6619 9600 Moscow Russia
Builder BBS 095-923-9743 2400 Moscow Russia
Helloween BBS 095-291-5844 2400 Moscow Russia
AviaBank BBS 095-207-4563 9600 Moscow Russia
DE BBS 095-261-9661 2400 Moscow Russia
Night Director BBS #1 095-938-0081 2400 Moscow Russia
Night Director BBS #2 095-938-6125 2400 Moscow Russia
Night Director BBS #3 095-938-6832 2400 Moscow Russia
AWAX-CBL BBS (commercial) 095-931-0740 2400 Moscow Russia
Strawberry Fields 095-299-9104 2400 Moscow Russia
OmniBus BBS 095-231-1720 2400 Moscow Russia
Back Panel #2 095-278-1428 2400 Moscow Russia
ClarioNoos BBS 095-178-3473 2400 Moscow Russia
ABN1stBBS 095-202-9202 2400 Moscow Russia
ABN2ndBBS 095-927-3990 Moscow Russia
Hacker's Great BBS 095-291-5023 2400 Moscow Russia
Elvis BBS 095-535-5242 2400 Moscow Russia
Last Chance BBS 095-333-9474 2400 Moscow Russia
InterLink 095-946-8752 2400 Moscow Russia
InterLink (russian line) 095-946-8753 2400 Moscow Russia
Solar Wind BBS #1 095-531-0009 2400 Moscow Russia
Exchange Trade Centre 095-406-1166 2400 Moscow Russia
Alexanders 095-924-4379 9600 Moscow Russia
Shadow Gluck BBS 095-452-4103 1200 Moscow Russia
Bloody Andy BBS #1 095-921-3197 2400 Moscow Russia
Bloody Andy BBS #2 095-208-0479 2400 Moscow Russia
Raul Mini BBS 095-207-3387 2400 Moscow Russia
Hobbit's BBS 095-128-6642 2400 Moscow Russia
Miracle BBS 095-233-7291 2400 Moscow Russia
Business BBS #2 095-482-1022 2400 Moscow Russia
Dragon Square BBS 095-930-5969 2400 Moscow Russia
Pal Inform BBS 095-262-9390 2400 Moscow Russia
The Crown BBS 095-261-6687 2400 Moscow Russia
ASI BBS 095-485-5337 2400 Moscow Russia
Cosmopolis BBS 095-946-2502 2400 Moscow Russia
MegaDeth BBS 095-192-8849 2400 Moscow Russia
Dialogue MGU Centre BBS 095-939-3891 2400 Moscow Russia
JV Elecs West BBS 095-208-4190 2400 Moscow Russia
Telesoft BBS 095-945-5056 2400 Moscow Russia
OTON-Service BBS 095-438-7368 2400 Moscow Russia
Programmers' Guild BBS 095-939-1871 2400 Moscow Russia
Core BBS 095-246-7910 2400 Moscow Russia
Kukosha BBS 095-251-3007 2400 Moscow Russia
Bytic BBS 095-334-5781 Moscow Russia
Android BBS 095-535-9486 2400 Moscow Russia
DP Project 095-955-2946 2400 Moscow Russia
InfoGlasnost BBS 095-475-1792 2400 Moscow Russia
AP-Service BBS 095-314-7428 2400 Moscow Russia
Cocktail Paradise BBS 095-516-0217 2400 Moscow Russia
Diasoft BBS 095-183-3325 2400 Moscow Russia
Program Buddy BBS 095-930-8283 2400 Moscow Russia
IST Business BBS 095-143-8725 2400 Moscow Russia
Commodity-Stock Exchange 095-274-0283 2400 Moscow Russia
BWS #1 095-939-3685 14400 Moscow Russia
C BBS 095-481-9233 2400 Moscow Russia
Project ITRA BBS 095-133-9596 2400 Moscow Russia
Harpoon BBS 095-196-9677 2400 Moscow Russia
Archivarius BBS 095-262-1474 2400 Moscow Russia
Krakatoa BBS 095-122-5836 Moscow Russia
Eagle BBS 095-353-8768 2400 Moscow Russia
PilotNet BBS 095-943-0040 2400 Moscow Russia
Mike & Nike BBS 095-243-3777 Moscow Russia
Gold Night BBS 095-387-0886 2400 Moscow Russia
TaskMaster BBS 095-166-5927 2400 Moscow Russia
IVC "GreenTown" BBS 095-534-3643 1200 Moscow Russia
Green Line BBS 095-945-2825 2400 Moscow Russia
LoveApple BBS 095-446-0456 2400 Moscow Russia
Xpercom 095-248-4636 2400 Moscow Russia
Hamper's BBS 095-238-3384 Moscow Russia
6-th Floor 095-152-1067 2400 Moscow Russia
PhysTechSoft 095-576-5518 2400 Moscow Russia
Heaven BBS 095-251-5541 2400 Moscow Russia
Elebruim BBS 095-210-0879 2400 Moscow Russia
Little MPSU BBS 095-246-2852 2400 Moscow Russia
Digital Culture BBS 095-230-1504 2400 Moscow Russia
Kleine Schweiz 095-200-1551 2400 Moscow Russia
Triada BBS 095-250-5417 2400 Moscow Russia
ABC+ 095-323-7133 2400 Moscow Russia
Eye Microsurgery BBS 095-906-1778 2400 Moscow Russia
Hiala BBS 095-129-2000 2400 Moscow Russia
RAA BBS 095-436-9830 2400 Moscow Russia
RTV & DmG BBS 095-245-1137 Moscow Russia
Magistral BBS 095-252-2811 2400 Moscow Russia
Big Mak BBS 095-203-0360 2400 Moscow Russia
Cetus BBS 095-271-0911 2400 Moscow Russia
Curious BBS 095-267-1303 Moscow Russia
MultiMedia BBS 095-343-4245 2400 Moscow Russia
Alice#1 812-528-7765 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Blues BBS 812-275-7226 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Diogen BBS 812-245-6108 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Dirty Deeds 812-235-3749 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Gold Zeppelin 812-265-1496 14400 St.Petersburg Russia
VneshSviaz BBS 812-542-1787 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Inferno Power 812-157-4958 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Junior BBS 812-310-1183 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Last Storey BBS 812-252-3672 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
LB-Info 812-541-8411 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Kreit BBS 812-314-4131 14400 St.Petersburg Russia
Kronverk BBS 812-126-6972 14400 St.Petersburg Russia
Nice Landing BBS 812-234-2253 9600 St.Petersburg Russia
Night Breed BBS 812-310-0596 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Night Star BBS 812-310-5417 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Nuclear Dragon's BBS 812-559-3019 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
RTK Chanel BBS 812-104-1835 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Sen's Smile BBS 812-298-5706 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
SoftScribe BBS 812-112-9096 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Spider's Nest 812-271-1360 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Spider's Nest #2 812-271-1337 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
SPIRE BBS 812-312-6558 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
The Gold Leaves BBS 812-542-3072 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Tower BBS 812-248-8189 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
VicTor's Station 812-177-5397 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Warlen 812-186-0786 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Wings BBS 812-108-5610 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
44 (4 lines) 812-222-8499 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Aurora 812-567-7131 2400 St.Petersburg Russia
Hacker's Night System #1 014-244-2143 14400 Tallinn Estonia
Hacker's Night System #2 014-260-1818 2400 Tallinn Estonia
New Age System 014-260-6319 14400 Tallinn Estonia
The Flying Disks 014-268-4911 2400 Tallinn Estonia
Dark Corner BBS 014-249-2280 16800 Tallinn Estonia
Call of Die 014-252-5869 2400 Tallinn Estonia
Goodwin BBS 014-244-3557 14400 Tallinn Estonia
M.A.S.H. Board 1 014-266-6955 2400 Tallinn Estonia
M.A.S.H. Board 2 014-253-2119 2400 Tallinn Estonia
Lion's Cave 014-253-6246 14400 Tallinn Estonia
Eesti BBS #1 014-242-2583 14400 Tallinn Estonia
Space Island BBS 014-245-1611 2400 Tallinn Estonia
INREKO on-line 014-249-2154 2400 Tallinn Estonia
sMAIL 014-245-4592 1200 Tallinn Estonia
ElectroBBS #1 014-261-2336 2400 Tallinn Estonia
The Pink Rabbit 014-255-7847 2400 Tallinn Estonia
MESO BBS 014-343-3434 2400 Tartu Estonia
BeSIDE BBS 014-343-1995 2400 Tartu Estonia
SFG BBS 057-220-2573 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
Big Muzzy 057-243-3084 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
Garry BBS 057-226-0336 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
IIN BBS 057-222-8427 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
VEGA BBS 057-221-0555 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
D-t-S BBS 057-223-2994 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
InfoCom 057-223-5102 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
Sovok BBS 057-243-7011 2400 Kharkov Ukraine
Post Square #1 044-417-5700 9600 Kiev Ukraine
Software Bank BBS 044-266-9085 2400 Kiev Ukraine
Mission BBS 044-244-6296 1200 Kiev Ukraine
Intelligence Games Service 044-559-6764 2400 Kiev Ukraine
The Third Level BBS 044-276-2295 2400 Kiev Ukraine
Iron Box BBS 044-435-2066 1200 Kiev Ukraine
Karlsson Tiny BBS 044-430-4900 2400 Kiev Ukraine
TISNet BBS 044-213-8122 2400 Kiev Ukraine
Software Service BBS 044-290-4302 9600 Kiev Ukraine
MiKrOB Point BBS 044-268-9168 2400 Kiev Ukraine
Pulsar BBS 044-225-5675 2400 Kiev Ukraine
ParaMount BBS 044-417-0751 14400 Kiev Ukraine
Mercury BBS 044-244-8298 2400 Kiev Ukraine
MONOLIT BBS 044-294-6691 2400 Kiev Ukraine
Small Star BBS #2 044-244-6878 2400 Kiev Ukraine
SpeCom BBS 044-291-8602 2400 Kiev Ukraine
LTD BBS 044-419-1472 2400 Kiev Ukraine
Hunter BBS 042-224-1484 2400 Kishinev
ADD/station 042-224-0539 2400 Kishinev
Stork BBS 042-223-4186 2400 Kishinev
Minas Ithil BBS 042-225-3238 2400 Kishinev
Berg BBS 042-226-3743 2400 Kishinev
Hacker's Sabbat 042-262-5853 2400 Kishinev
CoPirate BBS 042-222-6483 2400 Kishinev
Micado's BBS 056-246-0073 2400 Dniepropetrovsk
Modern Traveller BBS 056-242-5901 2400 Dniepropetrovsk
TestOfRoots 056-246-4823 1200 Dniepropetrovsk
Dniepr BBS 056-244-1078 2400 Dniepropetrovsk
Six Mizzle BBS 017-277-2804 2400 Minsk Byelorussia
VTI BBS 017-226-5457 1200 Minsk Byelorussia
Wizard City 017-270-6003 2400 Minsk Byelorussia
MerryLand BBS 017-223-7014 2400 Minsk Byelorussia
Advanced Information Tech. 383-223-7222 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
Prolog BBS 383-276-4396 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
Sprite's mail BBS 383-235-1372 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
No Earthly Connection 383-235-4310 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
CAD BBS 383-266-1682 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
V&V BBS 383-222-1978 2400 Novosibirsk
Russia
Yellow Submarine I 383-235-4074 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
Siberian Ghost 383-235-0461 2400 Novosibirsk Russia
The Yellow House 391-221-0136 9600 Krasnoyarsk
Crass BBS 391-243-9619 2400 Krasnoyarsk
DialogueSiberia BBS 391-222-1483 2400 Krasnoyarsk
Hole of Alone Lion 391-725-9787 2400 Abakan
PsychodeliQ Hacker Club #1 351-237-4550 2400 Chelyabinsk Russia
PsychodeliQ Hacker Club #2 351-237-4546 2400 Chelyabinsk Russia
JV Ural Dialoque BBS 351-233-6644 2400 Chelyabinsk Russia
School#31 351-233-0065 2400 Chelyabinsk Russia
Wrong Weather System 351-239-9127 1200 Chelyabinsk Russia
SUrPrize BBS 351-242-0925 2400 Chelyabinsk Russia
Glasha BBS 351-239-9616 2400 Chelyabinsk Russia
Wolfbox BBS 012-773-0134 9600 Kaunas Lithuania
Villa Metamorph BBS 012-779-1666 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
Kaunas #7 Carillon BBS 012-720-0274 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
KTU Automatic Faculty BBS 012-775-7603 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
Lira BBS 012-770-6956 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
LiraGate BBS 012-770-9813 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
Richteam 012-770-9815 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
GRANIT BBS 012-726-9170 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
ATRAMA BBS 012-726-1117 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
EXCHANGE Data 012-772-8541 2400 Kaunas Lithuania
Panacea BBS 012-262-8809 2400 Vilnus Lithuania
Iron Wolf BBS 012-222-0624 2400 Vilnus Lithuania
Elta BBS 012-222-2222 2400 Vilnus Lithuania
Amber Way BBS 012-222-7194 9600 Vilnus Lithuania
Spectrum 012-222-6381 2400 Vilnus Lithuania
Baltic Comp. Center. 012-261-8364 2400 Vilnus Lithuania
Node 30 012-262-9817 2400 Vilnus Lithuania
HTA BBS 012-222-1698 Vilnus Lithuania
UFO BBS 013-232-3983 2400 Riga Latvia
LIA BBS #2 013-227-1008 2400 Riga Latvia
Silava-Info 013-294-2550 2400 Riga Latvia
GoSaiva BBS 013-276-4865 2400 Riga Latvia
RVT BBS 013-232-5850 2400 Riga Latvia
F-40 BBS 013-227-3740 1200 Riga Latvia
Talsu TELEKOM BBS 013-322-3699 2400 Riga Latvia
Hacker Wolf System 341-225-0557 2400 Izhevsk Russia
Tiny Software BBS 341-220-8365 Izhevsk Russia
Consul Soft BBS 341-278-4622 2400 Izhevsk Russia
Conchita 395-246-1718 2400 Irkutsk
Esperansa 395-233-5514 2400 Irkutsk
MicroBug's Station 093-232-1044 2400 Ivanovo Russia
Keypresser's Den BBS 421-034-2708 2400 Khabarovsk Russia
Magic Wood BBS 421-033-5762 2400 Khabarovsk Russia
Wel(C)ome BBS 421-033-6526 9600 Khabarovsk Russia
Consul. BBS 421-038-8176 2400 Khabarovsk Russia
Fact-INFO NewEnterprise 421-033-5652 2400 Khabarovsk Russia
Hot Space BBS 421-033-7036 2400 Khabarovsk Russia
Cowex BBS 421-021-2757 Khabarovsk Russia
Slon BBS 836-211-5073 2400 Joshkar-Ola
Queen BBS 836-211-5561 2400 Joshkar-Ola
I&O BBS 032-259-9260 1200 Lvov Ukraine
Trash BBS 048-268-0984 2400 Odessa Ukraine
The Black Hole BBS 048-222-4971 2400 Odessa Ukraine
Diona BBS 048-222-3956 2400 Odessa Ukraine
Golden Domes BBS 092-227-9920 2400 Vladimir
Antiqua Lion BBS 092-227-8702 2400 Vladimir
Nostradamus 052-352-4879 2400 Alexandria
Enterprise BBS 345-954-1242 2400 Nadym Russia
Ekaterinberg 1-st BBS 343-256-0347 2400 Ekaterinburg
Ural Data BBS 343-251-7184 2400 Ekaterinburg
Ural Broker's House BBS 343-256-0455 2400 Ekaterinburg
Conus BBS 343-244-8408 2400 Ekaterinburg
InformDesign BBS 343-272-8589 2400 Ekaterinburg
The Fast Train 343-258-3173 2400 Ekaterinburg
Relax Station BBS 842-225-7341 1200 Simbirsk Russia
OOP'S BBS 842-231-2813 14400 Simbirsk Russia
Onix BBS 371-254-8498 2400 Tashkent Uzbekistan
InKa BBS 371-268-6660 2400 Tashkent Uzbekistan
CRC Error BBS 831-224-0292 2400 Nizhny Novgorod
Foggy Planet 831-235-0266 2400 Nizhny Novgorod
HIT! 835-021-2310 2400 Cheboksary
RSS Station 835-023-8096 Cheboksary
Kazakhstan Communication 327-263-5539 2400 Alma-Ata
Space Falcon BBS 327-261-2268 2400 Alma-Ata
AEE BBS 327-232-3936 2400 Alma-Ata
ADC BBS 818-007-7985 1200 Archangelsk
Tree Factory BBS 818-001-1995 2400 Archangelsk
Submarine BBS 818-462-3586 2400 Severodvinsk
Far East Woodpecker 231-004-4295 2400 Komsomolsk-na-Amure
Yellow Submarine II 863-444-4625 2400 Taganrog
Wish You Were Here 863-444-2234 2400 Taganrog
Wild Card BBS 318-072-0940 9600 Pavlodar Kazakhstan
S&Y 862-245-3317 2400 Sochi
Ghost Hall BBS 423-226-8818 2400 Vladivostok
Paradise BBS 423-226-6336 2400 Vladivostok
West Point BBS 011-243-2686 2400 Kaliningrad
FireBall 011-244-3923 2400 Kaliningrad
Fishwar BBS 011-246-5487 2400 Kaliningrad
Trade House 011-221-2643 2400 Kaliningrad
PeterSoft 011-221-8021 2400 Kaliningrad
Crimea Island BBS 065-224-5823 2400 Simferopol
VEA BBS 844-573-2019 2400 Kamyshin
SBIS BBS 821-222-7650 2400 Syktyvkar Komi
AtomiX BBS 863-929-7706 2400 Volgodonsk
Far Jump 342-233-1147 2400 Perm
Georgia BBS 883-295-8235 2400 Tbilisi
Nariani BBS 883-295-0073 2400 Tbilisi
Forum 883-229-3581 9600 Tbilisi
DOGSoft Antivirus BBS 085-359-8301 2400 Pereslavl-Zalessky
Holy Father BBS 379-226-5527 2400 Tadgikistan
Tiger Claw BBS 317-222-4482 2400 Akmola , Kazakhstan
EC_Service BBS 034-222-3376 2400 Ivano-Frankivsk
Nuclear Bog BBS 082-552-1285 2400 Udomlya
Orphan's BBS 843-276-0713 2400 Kazan
BULLETIN BOARD OPERATOR DISCOUNT PROGRAMS
=========================================
V.32 and V.32bis Modems
VENDOR MODEL LIST SYSOP BBS
ATI Technologies ATI V.32 $699 $350 416-756-4591
Cardinal Technologies 9600V42 V.32 $699 $269 717-293-3074
Computer Peripherals Viva 9624e V.32 $349 $249 805-499-9646
Galaxy Networks UFO V.32bis $999 $299 None 818-998-7851
GVC Technologies FM-9696/144V V.32bis $689 $413 201-579-2380
GVC Technologies SM-96V V.32 $599 $329 201-579-2380
Hayes Microcomputer Ultra 144 V.32bis $999 $499 404-446-6336
Hayes Microcomputer Optima 144+FAX $519 $299 404-446-6336
Hayes Microcomputer ISDN System Adapter $1199 $650 404-446-6336
Image Communications Twincomm 9600 V.32 $299 $279 None
Intel Corporation 14.4EX V.32bis $549 $269 503-645-6275
Intel Corporation 9600EX V.32 $599 $299 503-645-6275
Multi-Tech Systems MT932BA V.32 $869 $435 612-785-9875
Multi-Tech Systems MT1432BA V.32bis $899 $450 612-785-9875
Practical Peripherals PM14400FXSA V.32bis $549 $250 818-706-2467
Supra Corporation SupraFAX V.32bis $399 $249 503-967-2444
Supra Corporation SupraFAX V.32 $299 $199 503-967-2444
Telebit Corporation T3000 V.32bis $949 $399 None
U.S. Robotics HST/DS V.32bis $1295 $499 708-982-5092
Ven-Tel EC96 V.32 $699 $439 408-922-0988
ZyXEL U-1496+ V.32bis $989 $549 714-693-0762
ZyXEL U-1496E+ V.32bis $649 $399 714-693-0762
ZyXEL U-1496E V.32bis $469 $299 714-693-0762
Boardwatch Magazine - List of BBS List Keepers
----------------------------------------------
96 List - 9600+bps BBS Downtown BBS (213)484-0260
AC 516 Free Shareware BBS Long Island Exchange (516)385-7882
Airline Pilot/JUMPSEAT BBSs ChicAAgo Hangar (708)980-1613
Alaska AC 907 Alaska Pirate Soc. (907)562-1854
Apple II BBS with Internet con pro-sol (619)670-5379
Area Code 517 - Mid-Michigan Wolverine BBS (517)695-9952
Arkansas Area 501 The Gaslight BBS (501)444-8420
ASP BBS Member List PBS-BBS (317)856-2087
Astronomy/Space BBS Starbase III BBS (209)432-2487
Atlanta Area 404 INDEX System (404)924-8472
Atlanta Area 404 OASIS (404)627-2662
Austin Area BBS List AC 512 -=ACE*BBS=- (512)258-9553
Autocad Related BBS Alacrity BBS (206)643-5477
Baltimore Area 301 Baltimore BBS News (301)633-7870
BBS With Handicapped Focus Handicap News BBS (203)337-1607
Black Run/Oriented BBS BDPA BAC BBS (707)552-3314
Business/Professional BBS Delight The Customer (517)797-3740
California AC 310 Illusions BBS (310)804-3324
Central California AC 209 Zen Den Systems (209)675-8436
Central California Area 805 His Board (805)652-1478
Chicago HURK BBS (708)801-0823
Chicago Stillwaters (708)403-2826
Cleveland Area 216 Wine Cellar (216)382-2558
Commodore 64/128/Amiga BBS Scream BBS (818)287-4570
CompuCom Modem BBS List Referral Market BBS (803)297-4395
Computer Shopper BBS List CS List BBS (913)478-3088
Connecticut AC 203 Creative Edge BBS (203)743-4044
Conservation/Nature BBS List Coin of the Realm (301)585-66
Dallas/Ft Worth Area 214/817 Second Sanctum (817)784-1178
Darwin National USBBS List Bob's BBS (916)929-7511
Desktop Publishing BBS Infinite Perspective (301)924-0398
Detroit Area 313 Tony's Corner (313)754-1131
Ecology/Conservation BBS EarthArt BBS (803)552-4389
Engineering Related BBS Computer Plumber (319)337-6723
Geneology Related BBS NGS-CIG (703)528-2612
Graphical User Interface BBS The Gooey (GUI) BBS (212)876-5885
Ham/Amateur Radio BBS 3WINKs BBS (301)590-9629
Handicapped Issues BBS HEX BBS (301)593-7357
Houston Area 713 Atomic Cafe BBS (713)530-8875
Kansas City Area 816/913 Sound Advice (816)436-4516
Kitsap County Washington Quicksilver BBS (206)780-2011
List of Gay/Lesbian BBS S-TEK BBS (514)597-2409
Macintosh BBS Fort Mill Tabby (803)548-0900
Medical Issues BBS Black Bag (302)731-1998
Milwaukee Area 414 Priplanus (414)442-0170
Minnesota Twin Cities AC 612 Abiogenetic BBS (612)489-7983
NAPLPS Graphics BBS IHBC BBS (404)498-4254
National 800 Number BBS List Hayes Online (800)874-2937
National Adult BBS List Titan BBS 1:3612/140 (904)476-1270
National BBS List Ameriboard (412)349-6862
New Jersey AC 609 The Casino PCBoard (609)561-3377
New Jersey Area 201/609/908 Praedo BBS (609)953-0769
New Orleans BBS List Southern Star BBS (504)885-5928
Ontario Area 705 Cottage Country BBS (705)835-6192
Open Access UNIX Site List LGNP1 (login:BBS) (215)348-9727
Orlando Florida AC 407 London BBS (407)423-5226
OS/2 BBS Systems OS2/Shareware BBS (703)385-4325
OS/2 Related BBS LiveNet 1:170/110 (918)481-5715
Pennsylvania AC 215 DSC BBS (215)443-5830
Portland Oregon BBS DawGone Disgusted (503)297-9145
Raleigh NC Area Code 919 Micro Message Svc. (919)779-6674
Republic of South Africa Catalyst BBS (041)34-1122
Rhode Island Area 401 Eagle's Nest (401)732-5292
Rochester NY AC 716 Logan's Run (716)256-2659
San Diego, CA AC 619 Computor's Edge (619)573-1675
San Francisco Area 408/415/510 Bay List BBS (510)339-1045
Seattle AC 206/West Washington Eskimo North (206)367-3837
Selected BBS J&J's BBS (513)236-1229
South Florida Area 305/407 Silicon Beach BBS (305)474-6512
Southern California SOCAL Corner (213)422-7942
St. Louis AC 314 Offworld BBS (314)579-0700
Tacoma Washington AC 206 AmoCat BBS (206)566-1155
Technical Support BBS List Digicom BBS (812)479-1310
The List National BBS List PDSLO (The List) (516)938-6722
Tulsa Oklahoman Area BBS List Access America (918)747-2542
U.S.S.R. BBS List Court Crimson King 7-3832-356722
Virginia AC 703/804 TOSOR BBS (703)366-4620
Washington DC BBS List Interconnect (703)425-2505
Wildcat! BBS Wildcat! HQ (805)395-0650
Wisconsin 608 JW-PC Dataflex.HST (608)837-1923
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