Page 1 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 1 TrapDoor The Real Amiga Postoffice Copyright (c) 1989-1994 Maximilian Hantsch and Martin Laubach All rights reserved TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Friday 27-May-94 12:41:07 Copyright (c) 1989-1994 Maximilian Hantsch and Martin Laubach All rights reserved Electronic distribution of this document is unlimited. You may not charge anything for its distribution. You may not include this document or parts of it in printed publications without prior written permission from the authors. Page 2 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 2 1. FidoNet Back in 1984, the sysop of a private bulletin board system in the United States of America, Tom Jennings, had an idea: He felt it would be nice if users of his system could send messages not only to each other, but also to users of a friend's bbs. With this in mind, he sat down and started programming... After a short while, the first FidoNet mailer and bbs, "Fido", was born. At night, "Fido" would pack all the messages destined for other systems, call them and deliver the mail. There, another "Fido" would happily accept the mail packets, unpack them and pass the messages on to the individual users of that system. The idea received massive feedback, and more and more sysops wanted to take part in the big mail exchange. In just three months about 50 other systems joined in, and in the beginning of 1985 there already were 150 "FidoNet nodes". FidoNet was born. The initial software was not comfortable enough for a number of programmers, and so countless utilities and tools arose, to make mail transfer more efficient and thus, cheaper. Nowadays, we find lots of different FidoNet programs for various computers and operating systems, with sonorous names like BinkleyTerm, FrontDoor, D'Bridge, Dutchie, TrapDoor, Opus, Confmail, QMail, TosScan, Chameleon, GoldED, to mention a few. In the beginning, it was easy to know who operated what system, and what telephone number to call to reach a particular node. As the number of systems in FidoNet grew, it was becoming harder and harder to stay up-to-date. The routing of messages was getting more complicated as well. A new numbering scheme was developed, and therefore today's FidoNet addresses consist of four parts: Zone, Net, Node and (optionally) Point. The data for all FidoNet systems is kept in a single database, the "nodelist". It lists all the details of every node, such as the bbs name, the sysop's name, the telephone number, modem flags, and more. And it lists the FidoNet address (the node-number) for each node. Every week, the nodelist is updated; closed systems are removed, new participants added, telephone numbers get updated. All this is done with more tools and utilities. Today, FidoNet consists of more than 25000 nodes with an uncountable number of users. There is private mail between users (Netmail), and there are public conferences (EchoMail Areas), some of which are distributed over the globe. There are conferences about cooking, about politics, sports, and much more. And about computers, of course, and programming and telecommunications. There are local conferences in the language of that particular region, and there are international areas (mostly in English). FidoNet Page 3 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 3 Programs and other files are also distributed via FidoNet, especially if they are Public Domain, Freeware or Shareware. There are excellent distribution systems, where a programmer of a utility just has to pack it into a compressed archive (together with the documentation), send it to the next coordinator, and the file will be moved around the world within a few days. And what's more, the software that allows you to run a FidoNet node is distributed via exactly this method -- it is usually available for free. There is another nice point about FidoNet, which allows normal bbs users to save telephone charges: when reading or writing messages, you usually have to stay online (connected to the other modem) all the time, and during all this time, your telephone company is happily cashing away... Because of that, FidoNet offers the option of "Points". With a Point system, you can pick up all waiting mail in compressed form when calling your "boss system". After that, you can read and write messages offline, without your money ticking away. The ones you write are later packed and sent to your "boss" at the next call. From there, the mail travels out into the rest of FidoNet. As a bonus, you will obtain your own FidoNet-address, which is the node number of your boss, plus a dot (".") and your point-number appended, i.e., Point 24 of node 2:310/3 becomes 2:310/3.24. That's also the reason for the name "point" - because of the separating dot. An additional feature available to point systems (compared to normal bbs users) is "file requests". With file requests, new programs and files that are available at the boss system can be "requested" and will be sent automatically during the next call. A last word on the organization of FidoNet: The sysops of FidoNet nodes are usually individuals, who run their node just for fun. It is their hobby, and they pay for their usually high telephone bills out of their own pocket and partially from donations from users and points. None of the FidoNet coordinators receives a reward/payment for his work or his expenses. Still, FidoNet works, and it works well. Sure, once in a while, the other node will quit working, just because a sysop went for a holiday and his machine decided to crash as soon as he closed the door, but overall, the network runs fine. FidoNet Page 4 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 4 1.1. The Structure of FidoNet Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 4,5,6,... North America Europe Australia 1:1/0 2:2/0 3:3/0 | / \ / \ /\ \ / \ \ Region 29 Region 25 Region 30 Region 26 ... Region 27 Region 28 Region 31 Austria 2:31/0 / \____________ / \ \ Net 313 Net 310 Net 316,... Lower Austria Vienna 2:310/0 | __/ \__ / \ / \ __/ \________________ / \ \ \ / \ \ \ Node 1 Node 2 Node 3 Node 6 Cuckoo's Nest The Mad House 2:310/3 / | \ lots of Points \ Point 14 The Infinite Improbability Zone 2:310/3.14 FidoNet The Structure of FidoNet Page 5 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 5 2. Becoming a Point So you want to set up a point on your Amiga? First, you should look for a FidoNet node willing to accept you as a point, your "boss". Once this problem is solved, you will need some of the following tools to setup your system. 2.1. Finding The Tools The names at the end of each item in this list indicate typical representatives of the respective category -- the first is the one tested and recommended by us, the others [in brackets] are possible alternatives (alphabetically sorted) that we haven't really tested extensively, but just know that they exist. For more details about how a point system is supposed to work, see further below. For the more esoteric expressions, please refer to the glossary. * A mailer. The mailer is needed to transfer mail bundles and/or normal files to and from your boss. It will use your modem to call that system, and then use distinctive protocols and guidelines to securely transmit the data. TrapDoor [AmyBink, WelMat]. * An import/export tool, also called mail scanner/tosser/packer. This program will bundle the mail originating at your place, destined for your boss. Likewise, it will stuff incoming messages into the proper locations in your message base, ready to be read using a message editor. TrapToss [ConfMail, FastPoint, GCC, Juliet] * A message editor, to comfortably read and write mail. It allows to browse through the different message areas, and easily reply to whatever topic or message interests you. Chameleon [GCC, Juliet, RMB] These programs can be found on many FidoNet bulletin boards. Just use your terminal software to download them. Also, you will probably need various compression/decompression utilities, such as Arc, LHArc, or Zoo. When you have downloaded the programs, decompress the archives (see the documentation for Arc, LHArc and Zoo on how to do that) and READ THE DOCUMENTATION that comes with each program. Software authors often spend a lot of time struggling to explain all the features, usage and installation of their programs in a detailed manual. It is a wasted effort if you do not read it. Becoming a Point Finding The Tools Page 6 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 6 2.2. Deeper Understanding This is how the mail you read and write is processed -- don't be afraid of obscure terms, you will most certainly understand them once you are through... + Your boss system bundles the mail for you. These bundles are compressed (usually using ARC, a widely spread archiving tool, available for many platforms -- unless you arrange for something different, like LHArc or Zoo). + Similarly, your exporting tool - the mail packer - will pack any mail not yet sent, and prepare it for transfer to your boss' system. This will result in files in your outbound directory being created. + Your front end mailer calls your boss system, identifiying itself. It will then send any files destined for your boss (for example the mail bundles prepared above), and receive any files the remote system wants to send you (including your mail). + Once the mailer has completed the call, you should find a lot of strange looking files in your inbound directory. You will want to run the importing tool (the mail tosser) to unpack the archives, and to place the incoming messages in the correct areas in your message base. + With the editor, you now can read those freshly arrived messages. You can reply to them, or you can compose new ones, and these will all be sent to your boss at the next call (don't forget to call the exporting tool first!). Becoming a Point Deeper Understanding Page 7 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 7 2.3. A Little Diagram Here is an outline of the mail flow between the various programs. At the very bottom, you sit in front of your message editor and read and write messages. On the left side, messages are created, entered in your message base, exported to the outbound directory, and sent to your boss. On the right side, mail from your boss is received into the inbound directory, then imported by the mail tosser, and finally read by you. FidoNet | +----------------+ | Your boss | +----------------+ | | (file transfer) | | +----------------+ | Mailer | +----------------+ | | (outbound)(inbound) | | +----------------+ | Scanner/Tosser | +----------------+ | | (export) (import) | | (message base) | | +----------------+ | Message Editor | +----------------+ | | (type) (read) | | +----------------+ | You | +----------------+ Becoming a Point A Little Diagram Page 8 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 8 2.4. Installing The Mess If you are not sincerely confused by now, you are cheating! The complexity of a FidoNet point has bewildered every single newcomer to FidoNet so far! (So either you're cheating and have already heard about FidoNet before, or this manual is really good at explaining things.) You have obtained all the programs needed, unpacked them, and read all the documentation and manuals. Although you were already tempted to give up by uncomprehensible terms like "Netmail", "Mail directory" and "moderated Echomail areas", you were clever enough to check the Glossary in this manual for an explanation. Great. We cannot (and don't really want to) take the "here's your setup" approach -- you will still have to read and understand the documentation of the different tools necessary. This is of great help if you run into any problems -- you will know what the software does and how it does it, so you can try to find the source of the error yourself. Often only a single line of text in a configuration file is wrong, and can foul up the complete point system. As for TrapDoor, there's not really much you need. First of all, you should configure TrapDoor to reflect your proper node name and address. This is described (including an example setup) in TrapDoor's Fabulous Manual (TrapDoor.Man). Then, you will need to create two directories -- one for incoming files that remote systems send you (called the inbound directory), and one for outgoing files (called the outbound directory). Should you feel the need of using a nodelist, we believe you should add another directory, to hold the nodelist and the index files necessary. We'd suggest the following directory tree. +--------------------------------------------------------+ | MAIL: | +--------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | +---------+ +----------+ +----------+ +---------------+ | Inbound | | Outbound | | Nodelist | | message areas | +---------+ +----------+ +----------+ +---------------+ Becoming a Point Installing The Mess Page 9 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 9 3. Glossary The intention of this Glossary is to give you a short explanation for any FidoNet-specific expressions you might not understand. If you stumble across an unfamiliar term while installing your point, check if you can find it here. If you feel something is missing from this Glossary, please note the phrase you did not understand and, once you get your point working, send Netmail to "Maximilian Hantsch" at FidoNet node 2:310/6. Area »EchoMail is grouped into separate areas (or conferences). Each area has a name (an areatag) and the messages in it deal with a certain topic. For example, there are areas for sports, music, movies, computers etc. Some areas are moderated, some are not. See also: »Moderator. AKA Short for "Also Known As". Some »Nodes have loads of different addresses, usually because they are »Gateways to other nets, or because they fulfill administrative roles. (»Primary Address) ASCII American Standard Code of Information Interchange. This is a standard code for digits, letters, and punctuation characters. ASCII codes also include control characters such as "new line", "carriage return" or "form feed" or the »Flow control characters "XON" and "XOFF". Baud The speed with which data travels out of or into the serial port is measured in baud. Baud is mostly the same as bits per second. During normal serial transmission (RS-232 compatible), each data byte (character) is "framed" with one start-bit and one stop-bit, thus occupying 10 bits. At a rate of 2400 baud, you can therefore transmit 2400/10 = 240 characters per second (»Cps). Baudrate See »Baud. BBS "Bulletin Board System" -- a system where users can call with a terminal program, log in, read and write messages, download (or even upload) files etc. Glossary BBS Page 10 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 10 Boss The »Node responsible for a »Point. He usually is the only connection to the outside world for a point system, and takes the task of delivering mail to and from the point and the rest of FidoNet. The Boss node can be easily identified by stripping the »Point number from the »Four-dimensional address. For example, the boss node of 2:310/3.14 is 2:310/3. Bundle See »Mail bundle. Carrier A tone signal that a »Modem emits when it establishes communication with another modem. As long as the two modems are connected, they send carrier signals to the other end. A "lost carrier" condition means that the other end hung up, or that the line is too bad and your modem could not hear the carrier tone of the other modem any more. CCITT "Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique et Télégraphique". International commitee for the standardization of various aspects of telecommunication. CCITT standards include the well-known and widely used V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.24, »V.32, »V.32bis, »V.42, »V.42bis. The commitee has recently changed its name to ITU-T. Conference Echomail conference. See »Area. Cps "cps" is an abbreviation for "Character Per Second". It is used to measure transfer speeds (»Baud). DietIfna A file transfer protocol similar to »FTS-1, but with a »YooHoo/2U2 session level handshake run before it. Glossary DietIfna Page 11 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 11 EchoMail Echomail are messages that are sent to all systems participating in a certain Echomail conference, or Echomail »Area. Before you post an Echomail message, be sure that you have understood the rules for the particular area, which the »Moderator (if there is one) posts every now and then. It is often advisable to read the area for a few days before posting the first message yourself, so that you get a feeling what kind of messages will be accepted in that conference. Efficiency The quality of the telephone line, the speed of your computer and your modem, plus a number of other things influence the speed with which data will be transmitted across a serial connection. The throughput of the system is measured as the amount of data transferred per unit time and often given in »cps. Another method to compare the speed and quality of serial lines is to measure the "efficiency": This is the »Cps rating compared to an ideal system that transfers exactly »Baudrate/10 characters per second. Thus, if your system transfers 240 cps at a speed of 2400 baud, you get 100% efficiency. With non-compressing modems, the usual efficiency is a bit lower than this ideal rate, such as 95%-98%. Using compressing modems that use protocols such as »MNP, the efficiency can be higher than 100%. EMSI A new method of session level handshake. Much more advanced than »YooHoo/2U2 -- some advantages are support of »AKAs, 7-bit transparency, transmission of additional information about the remote machine, and the virtually infinite expandability of the EMSI handshake. See also »FTS-1, »YooHoo/2U2. Export Before you can send messages you have written over to your boss' system, you need run the export tool. As the name indicates, it will prepare those local mails for the mailer, by bundling and compressing them. See also »Import. Glossary Export Page 12 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 12 Fakenet Some »Mailers cannot properly handle »Four-dimensional addresses, but are limited to »Two-dimensional addresses. As you can see, the two dim approach has no possibility of representing your point address -- therefore a fake net number is used that identifies the point system. Note that such a fake address is not unique in FidoNet (another boss might just choose the same fake pointnet number for his points), and thus is only valid for communicating with your boss (and maybe some other local nodes that know about the pointnet). Fido The name of the very first program available to transfer mail -- which has given its name to the whole network. Should you like to learn more about FidoNet's history, search your favorite BBSs -- there are history files floating around which tell you a lot about the behind story. Or read the first chapter of this manual, if you have not already done so. FidoNet A world-wide network of many, many »BBSs and »Nodes, which communicate with each other by means of »Mailers, sending messages (»Netmail and »EchoMail) forth and back between the systems. FidoNet got its name from its first mailer program, »Fido. File request Most FidoNet systems keep a large number of more or less interesting programs, tools or documentation on their hard drives. To allow other systems to obtain those files without having to manually enter the BBS (which can be rather expensive), file requests were invented. When a system initiates a file request, it asks the other end to send one or more files. Indeed, If the other system has the files, it will send them back in the same session. Flow control Means of stopping and restarting a sending system. There are two basic principles of flow control: hardware flow control and software flow control. Hardware flow control means that electric signals on the serial connector are used to indicate such start and stop conditions. On the RS-232 serial connector, the lines CTS and RTS are used for this purpose, and so the term "RTS/CTS handshake" is also used instead of "hardware flow control". Glossary Flow control Page 13 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 13 Software flow control means that additional data bytes are inserted in the data stream to indicate the start and stop conditions. Usually, the »ASCII characters XON and XOFF are used for this purpose. Unfortunately, these two characters can then no longer be sent as normal data, which is why (a) protocols such as »ZModem are designed to work around this problem and (b) hardware flow control should be used whenever possible. The »YooHoo/2U2 handshake and the »DietIfna and »FTS-1 protocols do not work with software flow control enabled. Four-dimensional addressing The full address of a node, containing all four parts (ie. »Zone, »Net, »Node and »Point) in the form "Zone:Net/Node.Point" is called a four dimensional address, for example "2:310/6.7". See also: »Two-dimensional addressing. FTS-1 A session and file transfer protocol that all FidoNet »Mailers have to support in order to be granted access to FidoNet. It is the least common denominator, so to speak -- since everybody is required to support FTS-1, any node should be able to communicate with any other node. Unfortunately, the documentation for FTS-1 is rather obscure, and the protocol itself not really well thought out -- therefore, there are many implementations of FTS-1 that differ slightly. It is no surprise that FTS-1 often does not really do its job and is therefore very seldom used and better avoided. See also »EMSI, »YooHoo/2U2, »DietIfna, »ZedZap. FTSC FidoNet Technical Standards Commitee. This authority documents the protocols and data formats used in FidoNet. The FTSC publishes two kinds of documents: FSC and FTS files. FSCs are proposals and drafts, posted for commentary purposes, and they may never be implemented in FidoNet at all. FTS files describe approved standards and document the way that FidoNet works; they must be followed. Gateway Some networks cannot directly be accessed through FidoNet because of different mailer technologies, topology or policy differences. Some nodes offer a gateway service -- they take mail from one side (FidoNet), and move it over to the other net (UseNet, Bitnet, or whatever) and back. Most gateways operate on a voluntary basis (for free), so don't abuse the good will of those people running gateways. Glossary Gateway Page 14 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 14 Handshake "Handshake" is a word describing a fully controlled step-by-step interaction between two systems. Within data communications, it is used in the following meanings: - RS-232 handshake, CTS/RTS handshake, hardware handshake. These terms refer to an electrical signal handshake used on the serial line. The two systems (for example: modem & computer, terminal & computer, computer & computer) have separate signal lines to allow or disallow the other end to send data (»Flow control). - Session handshake. This term refers to the begin of a FidoNet session, where two mailers try to greet each other (thus the term "handshake"). During the handshake, each mailer determines who the other end is, what protocols the other system can do, and which should be used for mail transfer. This handshake phase is a very critical point of a FidoNet session and often fails with mailers with slight errors in their handshake routines. Host Every »Net in FidoNet has a network host. This host system can be used as an inbound gate for routing mail to the individual nodes in the net. It will accept mail for all nodes in the network and deliver (or hold) the mail to (or for) them. The network host always has a nodenumber of zero, i.e. the host of network 310 in zone 2 is 2:310/0. HST "High Speed Technology" -- a term created by US Robotics Corp. for their own high speed modem-modem transmission protocol. HST gives a true line speed of up to 16800 bps (14400 bps in older models), but it is not really full-duplex. While the modems can transfer data at 16800 bps in one direction, the back channel is limited to 450 bps. The modems can "turn around" and switch the high speed direction, but this takes a moment. This technology is just fine for protocols such as »ZModem which are basically only sending in one direction, but protocols transmitting in both directions at the same time will severly suffer. Even »DietIfna and »FTS-1 will be slow on HST connections, because these protocols send a lot of acknowledgement packets back. See also »V.32, »V.32bis. Glossary HST Page 15 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 15 Hub Large networks (»Net) can be separated in subsections. Each subsection has a hub system as the inbound gate, in other words, a hub is mostly like a »Host, only at a lower level. IFNA The International Fido Net Association. A now defunct and no longer existing formal representative body of all FidoNet sysops. Import As opposed to »Export, the process of preparing the messages coming from a remote system, to be read locally. This means that the »Mail bundles are unpacked, taken apart and the individual messages put where they belong (hopefully). ITU-T See »CCITT. Magic filename To facilitate »File requests, many systems support so-called magics. That is, you can request some file under a global name, and are sent the most recent version, without having to worry about the name of the archive, the current version etc. Also the magic filename "FILES" is mostly used to request a detailed listing of all the files available for file request on a system. Other often used magic filenames are "ABOUT" and "ECHOLIST". Mail bundle A file with a strange, but unique name (usually 23fe730a.MO1 or something similar). This contains (in a packed format) all the »Echomail (and often »Netmail as well) to be sent around. Mailer The program per se that finally takes your »Mail bundles and delivers them to other FidoNet systems. It gets in touch with your modem, dials out, hopefully reaches another FidoNet system, handshakes, and transfers all the files and mail bundles belonging there. It also picks up files and mail bundles that are waiting for you on the other end. Glossary Mailer Page 16 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 16 Matrix Mail See »Netmail. MNP Short for "Microcom Networking Protocol". This is a »Protocol usually built into modems, which protects the integrity of the data transferred and also offers means to compress data that is being sent, this even increasing »Throughput. There exist different levels of MNP, numbered MNP-1, MNP-2 and so on. Up until MNP-4, the protocol just does error-correction, with only a minimum of compression (it removes start and stop bits and blocks the data in larger chunks). MNP-5 does real-time data compression, though this can turn out to be inefficient if the data is not compressable (such as when you are sending already compressed archives). You should disable MNP-5 compression if you are sending LhA (Zoo, Arc, Zip,...) archives, for example. If you are transferring compressable data, the »Throughput of the computer-computer connection may be higher than the line speed. See also »V.42, »V.42bis. Modem Short for MODulator/DEModulator. A modem is used to convert digital signals into a series of tone signals and vice versa. These tone signals can then be transmitted via a standard telephone line. Modern modems not only handle the modulation/demodulation, but also feature a built-in microprocessor to handle error-correction and sometimes even compression such as »MNP, »V.42 or »V.42bis. Moderator A number of »EchoMail »Areas are "moderated". That means, certain rules have been established for that »Conference. Also, there exists a "Moderator", who is trying to keep the contents of the messages in that area according to these rules. If someone posts a message that is off-topic, offensive, rude or otherwise not in the spirit of the conference, the moderator will inform him (via »Netmail) of his infringement, and hopefully, this person will learn not to do it again. The moderator can also ban people from conferences, if they do not abide by the rules at all, even after several indications by the moderator. For this to become effective, the moderator addresses a »Netmail message to the »Sysop of the system where the Glossary Moderator Page 17 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 17 offending person resides, and asks the sysop to prevent the access to the area for that person. Another job of the moderator is to regularly post the rules for an »Area, so that newcomers can see what is allowed and what is not. That is also a good reason why you should read an echomail conference for a while before starting to write messages yourself. Net To properly address a single »Node, nodes are grouped in so called Nets, usually representing some kind of geographical or physical relationship (in the same town, in the same area code etc.). The net number in a »Four-dimensional address is the part between the colon and the slash -- 2:310/6.0 is situated in net 310. Netmail Netmail (sometimes called »Matrix Mail) is private mail from one single person to another single person. Though netmail is private, and should not be read by anyone except the addressee, »Sysops of systems that a netmail message travels through can read it. Node This term is often used as a shortcut for a »BBS that is participating in »FidoNet, or more generally, for a FidoNet system listed in the »Nodelist. A Node is an independent system, running a FidoNet technology »Mailer, and offering a number of services -- like files offered for download, and »EchoMail »Areas. In a FidoNet address, the node number is the part after the slash. For example, 2:310/6 is node number 6 in net 310. Nodelist A table of all the »Nodes in »FidoNet. It lists important details such as the name of a system, the name of its »Sysop, the telephone number and more. The Nodelist currently comprises about 25000 Nodes (and is roughly 2 MB in size). Note that in order to operate a »Point, you don't really need the nodelist -- you are usually only calling your one and only »Boss system, of which you know the phone number, and the huge nodelist file just clobbers up your (hard)disk. Glossary Nodelist Page 18 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 18 Point The smallest distinguishable unit in »FidoNet. A point per se is a kind of "one man node", allowing the »Sysop to read and write mail offline, as if he would run a full blown node. The difference is that a point usually does not serve any users nor other nodes than the so-called »Boss node. The point address is the part of the »Four-dimensional address behind the dot. Eg. 2:310/3.14 is point number 14 of 2:310/3, the »Boss »Node. Pointnet See »Fakenet. Primary Address The main or master address of a system. In addition to that, it may also have other addresses, so-called »AKA addresses. Protocol An algorithm to transfer data in a predefined manner. The data gets packed into separate blocks, each of which will be sent to the other system together with a checksum. The other end can then detect transmission errors, inform the sending system of such errors, and the data will be resent. A protocol often also handles »Flow control. Good protocols, such as »ZedZap or »ZModem also offer means to resend partial files after a previous transfer has been aborted (due to »Carrier loss, disk full and other errors). Region A »Zone is divided in several regions. A region usually refers to a geographical area, state or country. A region consists of several »Nets. Sysop "SYStem OPerator" -- the person that runs a »FidoNet system or »BBS. Throughput See »Efficiency. Glossary Throughput Page 19 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 19 Two-dimensional addressing The form of representing a node in the form "Net/Node" is called two dimensional addressing, for example "310/6". It is missing the indication of »Zone and »Point. See also: »Four-dimensional addressing. V.32 A full-duplex high speed modem-modem transmission protocol giving a true line speed of 9600 bps in both directions. V.32 is a world-wide »CCITT standard. V.32bis The "big brother" of »V.32, a full-duplex high speed modem-modem transmission protocol giving a true line speed of 14400 bps in both directions. V.32bis is a world-wide »CCITT standard. V.42 An error-correcting protocol similar to »MNP-4. It does not do any data compression other than start/stop-bit removal. V.42 is a world-wide »CCITT standard. V.42bis Built on top of »V.42, V.42bis gives you adaptive data compression. V.42bis is said to be much more flexible than MNP-5, it behaves well even if uncompressable data is sent (it just turns itself off automatically until the data can be compressed again). As with »MNP, if you are transferring compressable data, the »Throughput of the computer-computer connection may be higher than the line speed. V.42bis is a world-wide »CCITT standard. YooHoo/2U2 Read: "Yoohoo/to you too". Session level »Handshake method, used by »Mailers to identify themselves, exchange passwords and other necessary information before the transfer of mail and files itself can begin. See also »EMSI, »FTS-1. Glossary YooHoo Page 20 TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page 20 ZedZap A slightly modified »ZModem file-transfer »Protocol offering variable block sizes. Today, the most reliable and most widely used protocol in FidoNet. See also »DietIfna, »FTS-1. ZModem A very flexible and well thought-out file-transfer »Protocol originally invented by Chuck Forsberg. ZModem is public domain and has been implemented in many »Mailers, terminal programs and bulletin board systems. Zone The biggest geographical conglomerate in »FidoNet. A zone usually comprises a whole continent, and it is denoted by the number before the colon in a »Four-dimensional address. Eg. 2:310/6.0 lies in zone 2, which is Europe. Note that different other networks using FidoNet technology also use different zone numbers to distinguish them from FidoNet (like zone 7, AlterNet). Zonegate »Netmail between »Zones is often routed through a Zonegate. The purpose of the Zonegate is to transfer mail from one »Zone to another. Zonegates carry special nodenumbers: The »Net part of the number is the originating (from) zone and the »Node part of the number is the destination (to) zone. For example, the Zonegate that forwards mail from zone 2 to zone 3 is 2:2/3, and the Zonegate for the opposite direction is 3:3/2. Glossary Zonegate Page I TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page I Road Map 1. FidoNet .......................................... 2 1.1. The Structure of FidoNet ....................... 4 2. Becoming a Point ................................... 5 2.1. Finding The Tools ............................. 5 2.2. Deeper Understanding ......................... 6 2.3. A Little Diagram .............................. 7 2.4. Installing The Mess ........................... 8 3. Glossary ......................................... 9 Area ............................................. 9 AKA .............................................. 9 ASCII ............................................ 9 Baud ............................................. 9 Baudrate ......................................... 9 BBS .............................................. 9 Boss ............................................. 9 Bundle ........................................... 10 Carrier .......................................... 10 CCITT ............................................ 10 Conference ....................................... 10 Cps .............................................. 10 DietIfna ......................................... 10 EchoMail ......................................... 10 Efficiency ....................................... 11 EMSI ............................................. 11 Export ........................................... 11 Fakenet .......................................... 11 Fido ............................................. 12 FidoNet .......................................... 12 File request ...................................... 12 Flow control ...................................... 12 Four-dimensional addressing ....................... 13 FTS-1 ............................................ 13 FTSC ............................................. 13 Gateway .......................................... 13 Handshake ........................................ 13 Host ............................................. 14 HST .............................................. 14 Hub .............................................. 14 IFNA ............................................. 15 Import ........................................... 15 ITU-T ............................................ 15 Magic filename .................................... 15 Mail bundle ....................................... 15 Mailer ........................................... 15 Matrix Mail ....................................... 15 MNP .............................................. 16 Modem ............................................ 16 Moderator ........................................ 16 Net .............................................. 17 Netmail .......................................... 17 Node ............................................. 17 Road Map Page II TrapDoor's FidoNet Manual Page II Nodelist ......................................... 17 Point ............................................ 17 Pointnet ......................................... 18 Primary Address ................................... 18 Protocol ......................................... 18 Region ........................................... 18 Sysop ............................................ 18 Throughput ....................................... 18 Two-dimensional addressing ........................ 18 V.32 ............................................. 19 V.32bis .......................................... 19 V.42 ............................................. 19 V.42bis .......................................... 19 YooHoo/2U2 ....................................... 19 ZedZap ........................................... 19 ZModem ........................................... 20 Zone ............................................. 20 Zonegate ......................................... 20 When you haven't learned anything, there's nothing to be forgotten. Road Map