| Feb 2002 | Issue 237 |
MEETING STARTS - 09:30 - FEB 9 th
MORE BBS HELP!
After last month's successful demo of the MLCUG BBS by Sysop, John Deker, we know that folks will have a lot of questions. So, we do want to followup, while the iron is still hot, so to speak. If you were there, please come this month to help get questions cleared up.
If you were not there, come also - to see how you can get started. Particularly, if you have tried in the past, and failed, this is a top-notch time to try AGAIN! We expect to have some assists that we did not have last month; even more reason to pop around...
Keep in mind, we will not have the BBS setup at the meeting, as we did last time. So, we will not be able to demo things on the BBS itself. We WILL be able to demo those aspects available on your machine - such as; setting up Hyperterminal on Windows machines. And, helping folks make the try on their 8-bit system.
In contrast to last month, we will have more time for other topics in the Q&A discussion; so do not hesitate to bring your problems and curiosity on the 9th!
Since the beginning of the year, we have found some prospective members (thru the efforts of
hard-working recruiters
As you will gather from above and a couple of items later in this issue, we had a very
successful demo of the club BBS at the January meeting. The performance by our sysop, John
Deker, is summarized starting on p.3. Give it a good read - whether you were able to make the
meeting or not. That and your own questions should give you some good preparation for the
February meeting.
Because of the extensiveness of the BBS demo, the 16 attendees had to forego our usual full Q &
A session; but I think we all will agree that the show was worth it.
(cont'd.)
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THE NEW YEAR! - since the January meeting, we have wound up our renewal campaign with all but
two of last year's members deciding to renew. And, it looks like we may pick up a new member or
two that will make up for the loss.
A good start - now we need the best efforts of each member to help the others. It's a 2-way
street - when you help someone else, you inevitably learn something useful for yourself. Great
way to be selfish! All your steering committee members hope you will take advantage of your
membership to attend the meetings (and be involved), peruse the newsletter (and get your stuff
published), make use of the club's BBS (and provide input to our sysop, John Deker), check out
the website (and provide input to our webmaster, Peter Whinnery) and look for those recruits.
THAT NEW COMPUTER! - did someone you know get a special present from Santa Claus (even a self-
inflicted one)? There has been a lot of advice published in the news media on how folks should
get started with their new computer. My experience is that, in the last couple of years, a lot
of folks getting new computers are absolutely, rank novices.
Many have not previously been exposed to even the most basic concepts about these screaming
machines that now reside in their midst.
These new folks need help; so try to give it to them. Feel free to call on the resources of
MLCUG to help you help, too.
NEW/NOVICE USERS - while on this subject, your steering committee is seeking
member input on how we can better help the N/N members of MLCUG itself. It's not always
convenient, or possible, to have the time during a presentation to fill in all the knowledge
gaps amongst all the attendees. As a result, we know there are questions folks come away with
from the meetings. How might we best approach filling that gap? If you have any suggestion(s),
please bring them up at meetings (the sooner, the better) or get them to a committee member (see
p.7 for names).
LUNCH - a half dozen or so of the regular attendees, regularly tackle lunch at the Villanova
Diner after the meeting. Why not join us? It is a good time to get a little more help (or give
it) and just to have fun talking about our common interests. The food is really pretty good,
too.
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[The following item was forwarded to your editor from a member of the Southwest Florida PC Users
Group (SWFPCUG) - an organization of now over 2000 (that's right!) members. The author (Stan
Grabowski) is one of several experts that club calls on regularly. They have a very useful
website, www.swfpcug.org, and publish a large monthly journal that caters to "The Beleagured
Novice". They are worth joining (in addition to MLCUG that is!), even if you can never make a
meeting!]
One of the great annoyances to mail administrators is the proliferation of virus hoaxes. While
usually passed along by well-meaning people, these hoaxes can quickly grow in proportion until
they become an unwelcome pest. Before long, many of your users hear about the hoax, and then
they proceed to forward it to the rest of their coworkers and acquaintances. The exponential
growth in the amount of time and bandwidth--compounded by the time wasted from you having to
calm down the growing hysteria--can be quite staggering.
It's especially difficult to walk the fine line between encouraging legitimate warnings and
discouraging paranoia. The trick is in helping your users spot the telltale signs of a hoax and
providing them with one or two resources so they can check them out themselves without taking up
too much of your time. Several signs for them to watch include the following:
* Hoaxes frequently urge the reader to forward the warning to everyone they know.
* Hoaxes usually claim to be from an odd consortium of well-known technology companies like AOL
and IBM or Microsoft and Sony.
* Genuine warnings will include a link to a legitimate source for more information about the
supposed threat.
* Most hoaxes make absurd technological claims that scare the naive user but are easily spotted
by knowledgeable users.
These three Web sites will help you verify whether a particular warning is legitimate:
- US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S HOAXBUSTERS
PAGE:
- VMYTHS.COM:
- SECURITYFOCUS:
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Here's the summary from last month's BBS demo meeting. Also, see the survey article on p.6.
BBS'ING WITH MAX
by John Deker
Checking my newsletter drafts from the past shows me that the last time I did a presentation on
our BBS must have been back in 1994. I found a filename called "BBSing9408". It is now Jan
2002 about seven and a half years later, and we just finished a lively presentation of MAX's BBS
today at our club meeting for the first time in that many years. What I thought I could present
in an hour took me and Emil two hours what with all the questions. My planned orderly
presentation ended up jumping from subject to subject as I tried to keep up with the questions.
So much for the plans of mice and men, but it was an interesting presentation. My greatest fear
was there was too much subject to be absorbed by all in the limited time we had. We should
probably redo the presentation within a year.
Unlike 1994, we did not have a phone line we could use for the demonstration. Instead, we
improvised by bringing the BBS and a PC to the meeting and running the BBS over an Ethernet
telnet connection. The BBS runs on an Amiga computer and as Amigans have been quick to say,
"Only Amiga makes it possible". The BBS software is designed to connect to a modem. TELSER is
software copyrighted by Sam Yee (1994-1996) which makes it possible to connect modem based
software on the Amiga as a telnet session using a TCP/IP stack. We used a PC as the client only
because the majority of the membership uses a PC at home. I was lucky enough to discover, from
John Murphy, that the more recent version of HyperTerminal on the PC supports a telnet
connection and was thus the preferred client software for the demonstration. Otherwise, I would
probably have had to use an Amiga terminal program as the client.
Since all the hardware was in place for the meeting, the focus of my presentation was to cover
as much of the BBS demonstration as possible which required actual connectivity. I deferred
configuring HyperTerminal to late in the meeting since that part of the demonstration could be
done without all the hardware connectivity. As it was, Emil Volcheck took up that part of the
BBS demonstration challenge late in the meeting without much time left on the clock. I'm sure
Emil's presentation was a little too quick for some of you to absorb, and we will review the
configuration process again next month for those of you still having problems setting up the
software.
My part of the BBS demonstration started by following the agenda in the newsletter, but we soon
found ourselves jumping from question to question. The planned agenda included the following:
The biggest argument I can give for using the BBS is that it is the best way we have as a group
of staying in contact with each other between meetings, and is a place where we can get our
questions answered and our problems resolved in almost real time by posting to a public
"bulletin board". By posting our problems publicly, we can get the benefit of having our
"collective minds" come up with an answer. At this time, we as a group can't do that anywhere
on the Internet.
The biggest hurdles I recall the first time I got into telecommunications were: learning the
jargon (almost always required when we start something new for the first time), how to setup a
modem, how to connect to a system, and how to navigate and use the features of the system to
which I was connecting. These days we are probably "spoon fed" our Internet software which
automatically connects us to our ISP. With BBS software and a modem, being "spoon fed" is not
the norm. So it is a challenge for many of us to get up and running when it comes to connecting
to the club's BBS. It seems only the "old timers" are currently making use of the BBS. For me
to describe all the nitty-gritty details here for connecting to the BBS would take pages.
Instead of pages, I will try to hit the hi-lites of the meeting with the hope that some of you
will figure out how to use the information here to get connected to the BBS. Hopefully we will
spend some time at next month's meeting addressing some of the still remaining BBS related
problems people have.
Here's a summary of some of the recommended BBS settings for using our BBS.
YOUR TERMINAL PROGRAM SETTINGS
Within your terminal program you will need to make the following settings. Make sure you figure
out how to save the configuration for future use.
CONNECTING TO THE BBS
If you are connecting to the BBS for the first time, you will be asked quite a few questions.
Here are some of the more critical or problem causing questions you will be asked.
BBS NAVIGATION
Navigating any BBS for the first time can be somewhat confusing to the new user. I think our
BBS is quite straight forward in its layout, but even so, here are a few tips.
If you are a new user of our BBS, I highly recommend that you make your second goal that of
learning to use the BBS editor, specifically the FSE (Full Screen Editor). Learning how to use
the editor will enable you to post requests for help about using the rest of the BBS or any
other subject. It is typical for the new user to have problems uploading and downloading files.
Being able to post your request for help by email or in the boardroom message arenas is
important to your learning how to make full potential use of the BBS. The FSE does have online
help, but it is somewhat terse. Here are the critical editor keys:
At this point, I could provide a lot more written detail on using our BBS, but I will refrain
from doing so at this time.
I hope to see more of you using the BBS. It is a significantly under utilized MLCUG club
resource. In its heyday back in 1993 or there about, the BBS boasted about 250 users. Today,
there are only a dozen or so users. It would be nice to see that number double, and to see our
membership using it for getting help when dealing with PC problems.
****************************************
by Emil Volcheck
To help us get a feel for the problems and promise for our BBS asset - and how the January demo
might have helped (or helped identify the problems), we provided a survey form that folks were
able to fill out, if they so chose.
Well, here are the results of going over each survey form that was filled out last Saturday.
Overall:
Attendees: 16
Responses: 14
Use the BBS: 8
Don't use it: 6
The only folks who did not fill out a form were our presenter, Sysop John Deker, and a first
time guest. So, the response was as close to 100% as one could expect!
There are summary comments from the yeas and nays shown separately. Recall we asked, if you use
it, what do you like or would like to see. And, if not, why not.
The YEAS:
- would like more writeups like the
couple that we had at the meeting
- would like copies of any writeups
- would like to see more utilities
and tips on the BBS
- would like a link to the net; so
could access anywhere without
extra phone charges
- revise arenas to reduce old ones
and allow adding new ones
- one unique problem was that a
wireless network makes it tricky
to do non-internet dialups!
The Nays
- forgot my password; so I couldn't
log on again
- not familiar with terminal emulators
(only use a browser)
- stopped using my 64/128 and never
tried with my PC
- didn't know how (writeups will help)
- didn't realize the BBS had so many
features (writeups will be helpful)
- problem with Novaterm (colors wrong,
upper/lowercase backwards)
Note: not a single nay said long distance charges were too much, at this stage of the game!
When I look all this over, it seems evident that the showing was a big help; but providing more
detailed instructions will help both yeas and nays.
We'll have to keep on the pressure to get folks to try, then try again!!
LAST MONTH'S MEETING
ANNOUNCEMENTS & COMMENTS
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COMBATING VIRUS HOAXES
http://click.online.com
/Click?q=e7-2y-GQmVjeBYz7K0VqY1CMHwCvdnR
http://click.online.com
/Click?q=fc-WpHmQVw1acrEGpPa9AVt30MGtRPR
http://click.online.com
/Click?q=11-l8riI2-vP1noUpjX30nnh3oxC5iR
LAST MONTH'S PC/128/64 MEETING
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I think we actually touched on, if not covered, all of the agenda. The Q&A session ended up
interspersed throughout the meeting.
The BBS supports "baud rates" of 300 to 28,800 bps. Since modern modems use compression to
achieve rates above 9,600 bps, it is best to set your terminal rate at twice the rate you are
likely to connect to the BBS. Since the modern PC and modems can easily support 56,700 bps, I
recommend you use the 56kbps setting of your terminal software.
Once connected to the BBS for the first time, if you are a member of MLCUG you should send
feedback to the sysop requesting membership status. The default status of new users is guest.
Membership status will give you some added benefits.
BBS EDITOR
WRAPUP
BBS survey summary