by Geoff Sullivan (sunfish@gis.net)
Summer slows things down everywhere, except perhaps in Zone 3, and the Commodore FIDO Echos are no different. I like to think we Commodore users have other interests beside our computers, and that we pursue them at this time of year. Message flow was slow, and at times sporadic. There was some discussion of a hitch in the system, and even now, I've been over a week without one new message arriving at my node. There is also concern that the Internet has absorbed some of the Echo traffic too. More of us have access to it, and there is no doubt that it's faster.
The C128 killer application with a life of it's own, QWKRR, by Rod Gasson, is in version 5.0b at this writing. There are known bugs in it and Rod has posted the symptoms and cautions frequently on the Echos. Users are able to respond and help Rod work out the bugs from his Australian lab, while most of us in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying a warm summer!
Traffic has been light in the Geos Echo, but a major topic has been the use of Canon InkJet printers with Geos. Manufacturers are now catering more and more to Microsoft's Plug-n-Play concept, while we plug-n-pray. Only the older InkJet printers, such as the BJ-200 and 600 series, have actual DIP switches for manual configuration. Until software is available for us to configure the newer printers, their use will be limited.
Discussion of Maurice Randall's Wave for Geos 128 has been centered around speculation as to what it will end up being. Will it be a SLIP/PPP connection to the Web, or a high speed terminal program? Only Maurice knows for sure, and lately he's been busy tweaking software for CMD's Super CPU, the C64 version of which has begun shipping.
Speaking of the Super CPU, the few users that have them by now
are raving. I expect the message base to have more information as
more SCPU's are put into service. We have all read the hype
before, but actual user experiences posted on the Echos are
confirming the awesome speed of this accelerator cartridge.
Finally, an often asked question is, "What do you DO with a Commodore computer?". There is much to do, and recently a thread addressing that subject was begun. John Davis' story of how he and his VIC-20 increased his Union participation by using a mail-merge program to personalize meeting announcements brought a smile. He also has used his SX-64 to do sing-alongs for kids at a local campground. SID is his only instrument!
So, that's a glimpse into the world of FIDO, the wonder dog of
networks, for this time.
Here, boy....
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1997-03-31 by Jim Brain