4/7/95 CyberNews Issue #4 Patrick Grote, Publisher CyberNews is a weekly publication available through and email distribution list and many fine online networks! We feature reviews, interviews and commentary concerning the PC industry. To subscribe, send a message to subscribe@supportu.com with subscribe in body. To unsubscribe, send a message to patrick.grote@supportu.com with unsubscribe in body. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS OF THE WEEK| This section is dedicated to verified news . . . All News (C)opyright Respective Owner - Will Only Reprint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -=> $10 Billion Dollars in Microprocessor Sales <=- SAN JOSE, Calif., April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The worldwide sales of 16 and 32 bit microprocessors has doubled in just two years, and has reached almost $11 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. In 1994, microprocessor sales totaled $10.7 billion, a 28.6 percent gain over the $8.3 billion in sales of the same semiconductor product. The 1993 sales represented a 59.1 percent increase over the 1992 sales figure of $5.2 billion. The sales of non-embedded microprocessors (e.g. utilized in PCs and work stations), reached 58.7 million units in 1994, a 16.6 percent hike over the 1993 sales level of 50.4 million units. The 1993 mark was 25.5 percent higher than the 40.1 million non-embedded microprocessors sold in 1992. Sales figures for embedded microprocessors (e.g. utilized in laser printers) totaled 54.5 million units last year, a 3.4 percent increase over the 52.7 million sold in 1993. The 1993 mark was 25.0 percent higher than the 42.1 million purchased in 1992. The survey of quarterly microprocessor sales was compiled by the Semiconductor Industry Association, based upon reports from companies representing 90 percent of the world's microprocessor production. The SIA made estimates for non-participating manufacturers. More detailed microprocessor statistical information by region and architecture is available by contacting the SIA. CONTACT: Kevin Brett or Doug Andrey of the SIA, 408-246-2711/ CO: Semiconductor Industry Association ST: California IN: CPR -=> Visit with Satan's Author <=- By David Bank, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Apr. 5--Silence equals Death. That stark aphorism sums up Dan Farmer's philosophy of security on computer networks as well as his views on sex and mortality. So the renegade computer programmer made sure the slogan was visible across his sleeveless T-shirt in a photograph to publicize Satan, the computer security software program some fear could wreak havoc on the Internet. He said he hoped people understood the double meaning. "I am bisexual. I am into S&M. I'm into security. I'm into good wine. Why should I hide?" Farmer said as he prepared to release Satan today, his 33rd birthday. "The whole idea that what is not normal should be kept secret - that's really distasteful to me." Farmer's ideas and his fashion sense - long flowing red hair, black leather pants, Marine dog tags, a pierced right eyebrow and a left nipple adorned with a grinning skull - are as provocative as his software. By making Satan easy-to-use, and then releasing it for free and without copying restrictions, Farmer and his co-author, Dutch researcher Wietse Venema, are giving even those with limited technical skills the ability to scan and infiltrate computer networks. "Now the bad guys can pull it down and use your own tools against you," said Jim Settle, former head of the FBI's computer crimes squad. Satan's supporters say Farmer's eccentricities are irrelevant. They said his contribution will make computer networks more secure, and thus more useful, by spurring network administrators to correct problems. "He might be a little closer to the fringe than the rest of us, but technically he's solid," said William Cheswick, a senior researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories. "I don't care who he's in the hot tub with - his (programming) code is good. As a network security guy, that's all I care about." The controversy already has cost Farmer his job at Silicon Graphics Inc. Colleagues in the computer security establishment have launched vitriolic attacks over the Internet and in the media. He has received telephone threats of lawsuits and worse. The furor has not silenced Farmer, who has calm confidence in the rightness of his actions. It is consistent with everything he has learned in a decade in computer security. And he said his course is consistent with the rest of his life: His interest in Zen Buddhism; his fascination with death; the conscientious objector status that kept him out of combat in the Persian Gulf War; his bisexuality; and his passion for sadomasochistic sex. These things exist' "These things exist, they're part of the world," he said in an interview. "If you don't want to deal with them, fine. But don't hamper other people from dealing with them." Farmer hopes Satan will force computer hardware and software vendors, along with network administrators, to finally deal with security flaws. He said the software is a product of his long frustration with what he considers secretiveness and shoddiness in the computer security field. Growing up as the son of a university professor in Indiana, Farmer was a voracious reader who had few friends. He had little interest in computers, which were scarce and hard to use. He wanted to be an astronaut. At Purdue University, Farmer preferred pool halls to classrooms. He dropped out to join the Marines at 22. He said recruiters tried to steer him into administration or engineering. "I said, 'No, I want to go and learn how to kill people,'" he said. "I was interested in implements of mass destruction - from an academic point of view. Being able to blow somebody's head off at 500 meters with an M-16, that's an interesting skill to have." After basic training at Camp Pendleton and infantry training, Farmer spent six years in the reserves. By the time of Desert Storm in 1991, he was already out but was called up for active duty. But his views had changed. He applied for objector status and received an honorable discharge. By then, he finally had finished his undergraduate work at Purdue, majoring in computer sciences. For his final project, he wrote a widely used software program called COPS, which does for single computers what Satan does for networks. "Dan was the type that wanted to discover all the things that he could discover," said Eugene Spafford, the professor of computer sciences who supervised Farmer's work. "He didn't want a lot of things to be kept secret." His work attracted the attention of the Computer Emergency Response Team, a government center at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Farmer collected reports about security weaknesses, which CERT used to issue advisories on ways to patch the holes. He said most companies were unresponsive and he was bound by CERT's policy of not releasing information about problems until solutions were available. That combination left networks with gaping security holes for months at a time, he said. At Sun Microsystems, Farmer learned that most security problems are the result of human factors. He said Sun's corporate network of 25,000 computers was hacked repeatedly. He eventually grew tired of making recommendations for changes, only to have to fix problems when his suggestions were ignored. "That's where the idea for Satan was fueled," he said. "You have this enormous network and no one knows what's out there." Farmer said that last year the National Security Agency became interested in his work on Satan. He said he was negotiating a $1 million per year deal for himself and three other researchers - including Tsutomu Shimomura, the San Diego computer security expert who helped track down fugitive hacker Kevin Mitnick earlier this year. As a condition of the deal he said he insisted he be allowed to give away Satan for free. A spokesman for the NSA would not confirm the offer or comment on the Satan software. "I think in general the NSA is scum," he said. "Still, if they offer me a good job under my conditions - which is that I can do anything I want- then, sure. The NSA is not going to change me." Tired of waiting for the federal funding, Farmer joined Silicon Graphics in December as "network security czar." But as Satan began attracting publicity last month, SGI executives became concerned about the company's association with Farmer. He left two weeks ago after he refused to abandon the project. Farmer says he has employment offers, once the furor over Satan's release dies down, probably within a few weeks. He'll be monitoring that furor from inside his San Francisco apartment at the computer workstation he calls Death. "People don't want to talk about death, just like they don't want to talk about computer security," he said. "Maybe I should have named my workstation Fear. People are so motivated by fear." END!R$3?SJ-SOFTWARE-MAKER Transmitted: 95-04-05 12:28:59 EDT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEBSITE OF THE WEEK! | This section is devoted to a cool WebSite . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SPACE CALENDAR Space buffs should run, not walk to this neat site. The Calendar is a listing of all sorts of space related events and launches scheduled for the next year, many with embedded links to corresponding web sites. A quick look at April shows The 10th Annual Space Settlement Design Competition (4/7-4/9), the 25th Anniversary (1970) of the Apollo 13 Launch (4/11) with links to the historical archive for that ill fated mission, information on the Galileo Trajectory Correction Maneuver #23 (4/12) and the Galileo home page, and data dealing with the annular eclipse visible from South America (4/29). There are also links to this month in space history, and a guide to celestial events for the current month. Well worth a browse. "http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/" The above mentioned text is (C) NetSurfer Marketplace! I highly recommend anyone with a browser subscribe at: nsdigest-request@netsurf.com In the Body Put: susbscribe nsdigest-text ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COOL FTP FILE OF THE WEEK | You may need this file . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Intel Microprocessor Identification Utility February 1995: This executable file will identify the type of Intel microprocessor your PC contains. It will also tell you whether or not your Pentium(R) processor has the floating point divide flaw. An additional document, in MS Word 2.0 format, is also included that shows the difference of various processor speeds in graphic format. You can find this as CPU_INFO.ZIP on the following FTP site: WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU:/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/misc/cpu_info.zip ------------------------------------------------------------------------ REVIEWS OF THE WEEK | Interesting software/hardware you may need . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Delphi Reviewed by Don Pellegrino "Delphi" is a new programming environment by Borland International, not to be confused with Delphi the on-line service. In short, it is an object oriented, Windows version of Object Pascal, which itself is a new language. It is the latest and greatest in application development. The package includes a compiler, IDE (Integrated Development Environment - Borlands' term for a super enhanced text editor), numerous libraries, sample code, interactive tutorial, extended on-line help, and that is only scratching the surface. Ease of use, code management, and expandability makes it useful for everyone from the new programmer to the hard core project manager. Object Pascal: Earlier versions of Pascal have been object oriented but this is the first package to include visual programming. "Object orientated" is a term used to describe a language that allows the linking of external code, which is usually designed to perform a specific function, without having to cut and paste. This usually includes the use of libraries. "Delphi" goes one step further to incorporate visual programming, that is, you can add an object with a click of the mouse. You are not even required to type the linking commands. For example, to add a database table to the program simply click on the table button in the tool bar and then on the form in the IDE. The code for the database table is automatically incorporated into the project. The path to this code (a library) is also automatically added. Typing code is still required but the predefined objects and libraries make things much easier and faster. Object Pascal is completely compatible with standard Pascal. The only drawback is that applications must be written for Windows and will not work with DOS. Not only can you implement a slew of predefined objects but you can also create your own libraries and objects. Bulletin board systems and many on-line services have shareware libraries and code available for many functions. These libraries and code can easily be used in conjunction with you own code. Most of "Delphi" was written in "Delphi," making it easy to manipulate. The source code for the Borland written libraries is included in the package. You can even add menu options and buttons to the IDE. "Delphi" is truly a programmable programming environment. Sample Code: The following is an excerpt from Delphi's help system. "Example: The following code draws the graphic in C:\WINDOWS\TARTAN.BMP centered in Form1 when the user clicks Button1. Attach this code to the OnClick event handler of Button1. procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject); var Bitmap1: TBitmap; begin Bitmap1 := TBitmap.Create; Bitmap1.LoadFromFile('c:\windows\tartan.bmp'); Form1.Canvas.Draw((Form1.Width div 2)-(Bitmap1.Width div 2), (Form1.Height div 2) - (Bitmap1.Height div 2) , Bitmap1); end; " "Delphi" has an extensive variety of attractive features. The following will give you a small taste of the environment: IDE (Integrated Development Environment): The IDE is where most of the actual programming is done. Naturally you can edit, execute, and debug programs and projects here. What makes this version special is all of the advanced tools and editing features. Anyone familiar with the older Borland programming languages will recognize the "watch, breakpoint and evaluate/modify" tools that allow you to view the values of variables and step through the program. From there on you are hiking from the foot of the mountain. One of the new features that will jump right out is the extensive tool bar. It is tabbed to display screens of buttons sorted by function. Simply click the system tab and media player button to add video to the program. Another great enhancement is the object inspector. This little jewel lets you quickly set almost any option associated with anything. For example, you can set a window's horizontal scroll bar's margin with just two clicks of the mouse. The IDE even comes with its own image editor for creating and editing everything from full screen bitmaps to icons. Granted, it is not Corel Photo Paint but it is definitely a step above Window's Paint Brush. WinSpector: "Delphi" also comes with a couple of external utilities to aid in debugging. Windows offers unique error handling because of its multitasking ability. One program can crash without trashing the entire operating system. When this happens, you usually get a blatant error message such as "Unrecoverable Application Error" or "General Protection Fault." These messages give no clue as how to fix the problem. "WinSpector" will watch the system and when a fatal error occurs it can report debugging information to help you determine what made the error occur. Even if the entire operating system falls "WinSpector" writes a log to disk. "WinSpector" will report the list of functions and procedures being called when the exception occurred, those functions and procedures' names, the CPU registers, a disassembly of the instructions, and Windows information. WinSight: Another one of "Delphi's" external debugging utilities is "WinSight." It will display a tree of the current windows, their status, and the messages that they are receiving. This is very useful when trying to trace a large program. Since many of the programs that are written in Windows are running multiple tasks at the same time you can easily see exactly what is happening and how certain functions and procedures relate to the main flow of the program. Database Implementation: "Delphi" can do more than just create an application. It comes with an abundance of tools designed to aid in database management and implementation. This program is revolutionary in its use of database features. The package includes the Borland Database Engine which allows "Delphi" to include database forms, tables, charts, and more in its programs. "Delphi" also includes a couple of tools to create, edit, and manage dBase, Paradox, and compatible database files. Client / Server: Many large businesses have the need to quickly access network data that can sometime be disorganized and hard to access. "Delphi" is available in two different packages. The "desktop" version for application development at a large scale project level and the "client /server" version for industrial strength data management. "Delphi" applications are scaleable from desktop to work group servers and large scale corporate database servers. The "client/server" version gives programmers the ability to completely create their data management software for the servers of a large organization. Some of the things that put "Delphi" a step above when creating huge projects are performance and reuse. "Delphi" creates Window's executables that do not require runtime libraries such as DLL files. Libraries of reusable objects can be created for infinite reuse which can dramatically speed up development. Borland: "Delphi" has the support of a great company behind it. They offer quick and helpful technical support. I made a call to the department and after one touch tone menu and a single ring I was speaking to a Borland representative. He gave me a quick and accurate answer to my question. I would have reported an error in the program but I could not find any. Borland International Inc. (NASDAQ:BORL) was founded in 1983. They have been producing databases and programming languages ever since and have gotten very good at it. Recently there were some financial difficulties because of mismanagement. They have high expectations for "Delphi" and have put a lot of their resources behind it. System Requirements: "Delphi" requires Windows 3.1 or later and an 80386 or faster processor (486 recommended), and 6MB of system memory (the Client/Server Edition requires 8MB). A minimum installation requires approximately 27MB of disk space (a full installation of the Client/Server Edition requires 65MB). DCC.EXE, the DOS command-line compiler available with the Client/Server Edition, requires at least 1MB of extended memory." (Delphi's README.TXT) The current release runs on Windows 3.1 and is Windows 95 compatible. After the release of Microsoft Windows 95 Borland plans to release a 32-bit version of "Delphi" which will support both Windows 95 and Windows NT. Price: Delphi is available in two different packages, the "desktop" and "client/server" versions. The suggested list price for the "desktop" version is $495.00. The SLP for the "client/server" is $1999.00. The upgrade from the "desktop" to the "client/server" is $1799.00. Borland is currently having a limited time special on the "desktop" version for $199.95. I called the local EggHead Software and they are selling the "desktop" version for $188.98 with the Qcard (EggHead's discount card). The local Electronics Boutique is selling the "desktop" version for $149.00. Neither Electronics Boutique nor EggHead was carrying the "client/server" version. Borland International, Inc. 100 Borland Way P.O. Box 660001 Scotts Valley, CA. 95067-0001 Order Phone (800) 331-0877 Delphi Technical Support (408) 461-9195 PC Tools For Windows 2.0 Reviewed by Doug Reed PC Tools for Windows is a set of 20 applications and modules designed to customize and enhance Windows on your computer. It comes on 7 3.5" floppy disks and requires (full installation) 17 megabytes of your hard disk. Included is a huge (>800 pages) manual that is well written and very helpful. Installation is a breeze, giving you the option of a full installation or custom installation in which you choose the applications you want to install on your computer. PC Tools also contains its own Uninstall utility, should you desire to remove any or all of the applications already installed. Once installed, PC Tools asks a variety of questions to optimize your setup. You can toggle on or off PC Tools' own Desktop program that replaces Window's Program Manager. You also have a choice of using PC Tools anti-virus protection which includes the TSR VWatch program, and whether to use the 'Mirror' hard drive protection utility. PC Tools also has delete protection that makes it easier to 'undelete' files. You can also set a password for customization and set up the Desktop for multiple users. The setup program creates an emergency disk that will allow you to restore your system if your hard drive crashes. If you want, PC Tools also can convert backup files to the format used by Central Point Systems so that you use only one backup system. Finally, you can set a schedule for a number of disk management utilities (Central Point Backup, Anti-Virus, Optimizer, and DiskFix). As mentioned above, the Desktop replaces Window's Program Manager and is the major feature of PC Tools. Desktop allows you to setup multiple desks, customizing each one for specific purposes. The active desktop contains a clock, a calendar, a list of the disk drives available, a display of Windows resources and memory usage, as well as a window allowing easy movement between desktops. Within each desktop, you can create folders that contain useful files and applications. Normally under Windows you must load an application and then the file, or launch out of the file manager. With PC Tools desktop and folders, you double click on the file you want to work with and it loads the associated application for you. Folders can be locked with passwords to prevent deletion of files (or the folder itself!). Desktop also features Autosync Folders and Desktops which synchronizes folders and desktops with files of a specific type and location. In plain English, this means that if you are in the Applications desktop and you are writing something in your word processor and save it, it is saved into the folder associated with that application in that desktop. Desktop also allows you to alter item and folder templates and icons. PC Tools also comes with a number of other ways to customize your desktops. Icon Editor allows you to design your own icons, and a large number of ready-made icons are included with PC Tools. PC Tools also includes 4 new screen savers you can use. These screen savers are good, rivaling those that can be found on After Dark. PC Tools also includes a new feature called Crashguard, which works to help prevent crashes by monitoring memory, system resources, and disk space. Crashguard displays these items visually on the active desktop along with the calendar and clock. PC Tools for Windows also contains a new and improved version of Windows File Manager. You can access File Manager either by visiting the PC Tools Desktop or by double clicking the drive icons on the active desktop. The improved file manager has an improved look and organization. Full file encryption is supported. So is the ability to retrieve already deleted files. Delete Sentry stores deleted files until you tell it to purge them, allowing full recovery (until you purge it, of course!). You can also recover files that were not delete protected. File Manager also supports file compression by PKZIP version 2.x and LHA 5. A unique aspect of the new File Manager is that you can also examine a compressed file to see what files it contains and the amount of space required. You can even run compressed files while they are still compressed! File Manager also allows you the option of scanning for viruses when launching a file or performing operations. Another interesting application associated with the File Manager is the File Viewer. This allows you to view a file from a number of supported formats, even if you do not have an application that can use that file. You can then export the file from File Viewer in a format that you can use! File Viewer supports raster, vector, text, spreadsheet, and database formats (63 formats in all). It even supports MacIntosh formats. For those of you who love to grab graphics files from over the net (like I do), this is an incredibly useful program, justifying the price of PC Tools almost by itself. PC Tools also contains a number of applications designed to help you optimize your computer setup. The System Consultant will test your computer, comparing it in speed and performance to benchmark standards. Then, based on what it finds, it will recommend various ways to enhance your performance. You can either do these changes manually or System Consultant will do it for you. Diskfix works much like MS-DOS's Scandisk utility, examining your disk and file system and performing a number of tests to ensure that everything is working properly on your hard disk. In PC Tools 2.0, Diskfix now includes full support for hard drives using Doublespace. Optimizer is essentially the same as MS-DOS's Defrag utility except that it runs under Windows, has more options, and can be scheduled to run on a regular basis. Be forewarned, however, because Optimizer crashed when I ran it and it ended up putting two files on top of one another. Unfortunately for me, this happened to be the file manager and the executable file for WinFax Lite. Neither program could be used, and attempts to fix the problem with Diskfix and other utilities were unsuccessful. Eventually I was forced to completely remove and reinstall both WinFax Lite and PC Tools. I do not know why Optimizer crashed; I was running nothing else at the time, and greater than 88% of my Windows' resources were free. I am also unwilling to use it again to see if the error repeats itself (I think you can understand why I might be a tad nervous about this). Another useful application for graphics nuts like myself is Screen Capture. This program allows you to capture either all or portions of Windows screens and save them in a variety of formats. Screen Capture also allows you to copy the image into the Clipboard for pasting into an application. Further, you can choose to dither the image, which is useful when you are capturing images from a 256 color format for use on a 16 color display. You can also choose to dither the output for monochrome monitors or printouts. You can also choose to include the cursor (or not) in the saved image and to save files in sequential order. ScriptTools is a programming utility that allows you to automate any facet of Windows. You can automate Windows tasks, create your own utilities, create event-driven scripts, create demos, transfer data with DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange), and perform network chores. This is a very powerful tool for automating tasks; the tutorial in the manual shows you how to setup Notepad for keeping a daily log of events. These days a considerable number of people run computers that are part of a network. PC Tools for Windows supports all major networks, including Novell Netware, Banyan Vines, LAN Manager, and Windows for Workgroups. PC Tools allows for a central installation and can create custom installation directories for different user's needs. No additional software is required. PC Tools allows for shared offices to maintain a uniform computing environment, and to protect the network and remind all users of scheduled meetings, data backup, virus scanning, or other events. File Manager will allow for network file management, and System Consultant will give you detailed information about your network and how to improve performance. PC Tools for Windows is a good program, and I would recommend it for any PC user who works extensively with Windows and Windows Applications. Beyond the ability to customize the way Windows looks, it provides a number of very useful utilities and applications. The various applications work well, except for the aforementioned crash of Optimizer. You should be warned that PC Tools does have a number of compatibility problems (mentioned in the manual and Readme files) with various Windows Applications, such as After Dark and WinFax Pro Version 3.0. These compatibility problems can be overcome, however, and should not prevent you from purchasing PC Tools for Windows. The only thing I wish they would change is to allow the Scheduler to be set up to run programs like Diskfix on a monthly basis (only hourly, weekly, or daily are allowed). Otherwise, I really like this program, and it will definitely improve my productivity with Windows. Central Point Software, Inc. Symantec 175 W. Broadway Eugene, OR 97401 503-690-8090 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK | Interesting people you should know about . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We recently interviewed Beth Brooks via email. Who is she? Probably one of the first people in the nation to begin keeping a list of local BBS ... for free! What drives a person to be so unselfish for the benefit of so many? Read on and you'll see . . . Her handle is Fire Escape, which is how we will refer to her. --BEGIN INTERVIEW PG: OK, how did the list get started? FE: The BBS Directory started pretty much by "accident" believe it or not. I was completely addicted to BBSing and couldn't find enough BBSes to call. So I started to keep a list of every single BBS I found and I had an account on every single one. When I started to check out the BBS lists on most of the other BBSes I discovered that there were very few up to date listings and that perhaps others might like the ones I had found. So I started to upload my list to the boards I was on, which was (at that time) all the BBSes in the Directory. Since I was on every one of them it was easy to keep their listing up to date. This went on for about a year before it got too big to be on every one of them, but I still kept checking them all out anyway. Eventually people began to have high expectations from me and I felt obligated to live up to those expectations. Hence the Directory you have today. PG: Did you ever think it would grow to be so large? FE: NEVER in my wildest dreams did I expect this! PG: What's the oddest story regarding the list you can share? FE: I can't think of anything too odd really. Compiling and checking the boards for it is a tediously boring job and very little happens in the way of the unexpected or the bizarre. Sometimes I connect to new boards or previously unknown or lost ones and the sysop pulls me into chat asking who I am. If it's not long distance I usually like to play 20 questions with him :) It can be a pretty fun diversion from a long day of busy signals and operator messages. PG: What's your day job? FE: I am a homemaker or domestic engineer (to be politically correct). I am fortunate in that I don't have to work for a living. I have an old fashioned husband :) PG: We understand that spirituality is very important to you. Do you think the BBS scene helps or hampers the spreading of spirituality? FE: I feel that the "BBS scene" is a very good conduit for the spread of ideas, especially personal ones like religious or spiritual views. It would behoove religious groups like churches to be more involved on BBSes and to take advantage of the expanding cyber frontier. PG: What do you think the future of BBSing looks like? FE: So long as the government keeps it's long nose out of it and doesn't take it upon itself to legislate it to death then I think it has unlimited potential. As people in society feel more and more isolated the BBS and other onlines services provide a much needed sense of community and personal interaction that many lack. I see BBSes in every neighborhood, cities of users all connected to each other where people don't get shot in drive-by-shootings or mugged. It's the beginning of a whole new society. PG: Describe your own personal BBS setup . . . FE: Well on the Fire Escape BBS Directory HeadQuarters we have an IBM 486/50 with 16 MEG cache RAM running a 3 node TriBBS v5.11 under a Windows 95 Beta release (we are Beta Testers for Microsoft). We have about a 90 percent activity level on the 2 lines (one local node for us sysop types) and hope to be able to add a few more lines soon. We specialize in BBS utilities, BBS softwares and BBS oriented files to support the BBS community. We have over a GIG of files online (No CD-ROMS, all hard disk). PG: Why do you think people run BBSes? Why do you? FE: Well I think there are many different motivations involved. Some sysops run a BBS to get free files. It's easier to have the files come to you than to spend all your time on other people's BBSes downloading them. Some sysops are motivated by a need to communicate and BBSes are a great way to meet new people in a safe and non-threatening manner. For the most part I think the majority of sysops have good intentions. Some of the younger teenage sysops are naturally into it for the power trips or the popularity but they usually don't stick with it very long when they discover there is more to it than being some "cyber-god". :) PG: What's your favorite computer game? Non-computer game? FE: My favorite computer game is called "NetHack". It's an old UNIX game which was played over networks under the name "Rogue". It's still around and has been kept up to date for the 90's yet it still remains true to it's original charm :) My favorite non-computer game is Balderdash. PG: On a perfectly relaxing day, what would we find you doing? FE: You would find me reading some science-fiction while playing with my African Grey parrot Omar in front of my BBS absently playing the voyeur :) --END INTERVIEW This issue was brought to you by Readables, the publishing house that understands you! +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tired of pumping money into your BBS? | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |THE BBS CASH MACHINE is a book written by a sysop who has experience | |running a profitable BBS. With over 10 years sysoping experience, | |you'll gain the knowledge and know-how to attract .- ~ ~ -. | |and keep paying customers to your BBS! .~ ~. | | / \ | |Even if all you want is for your BBS to break | .o~o~o~o. | | |even, the author shows you how! 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