Letters to the Editor

--- Following message extracted from NETMAIL @ 1:18/14 ---
By Christopher Baker on Fri Aug 29 04:23:25 1997

From: Wouter van Marle @ 2:283/317
To: Christopher Baker @ 1:18/14
Date: 27 Aug 97 19:10:44
Subj: Article in FidoNews 14-31

Hallo Pete & Christopher!

A reaction to an article in FidoNews 14-31 : "Fido needs piece of software".

This article discusses the need of providing INternet e-mail via Netmail using the normal BBS structure. No gateways, but the BBS directly calling the Internet. And making it completely transparent to the users.

This is exactly what I do for over a year and a half by now, and soon after I started my BBS and mailsystem. I have a UUCP account by an ISP, so I can poll for my Internet e-mail and news, just like I call for my Fidonet netmail and echomail. Off course I need other software to do this, and a kind of gateway (the well-known GIGO program) to convert Internet style mail to Fidostyle.

My points can get a real e-mail address (<username>@medusa.xs4all.nl), if they like. Mail sent to that address is received by them as netmail. They can send their e-mail to anyone on the internet using normal Fidostyle netmail, just use the e-mail address as to-name and a special point-address on my system. My editor (GoldED) even automatically adds the correct Fido address if it finds a e-mail address in the to-field of the header!

BBS users currently can't do e-mail on my system, but if I want I think I can configure that quite easily. It's not required, in Z2 the point-system is the most common way of mailing for users.

All the "extra" software I needed to do this was the Internet polling stuff, the gateway, and some lines in my batch-files. For a sysop easy to do, and the used software is freeware and good developed. So I really don't understand the idea of extra software that should be necessary to do this...

In Z2, R28 all major BBSes provide e-mail and news to their Fido points. And many, many of the smaller BBSes (like mine) do the same. It's easy to setup after you configured a Fidonet system, and I like this way of reading/writing my e-mail better than using a second Internet-only editor.

I call twice a day, sometimes more (manual). For most points this is fast enough, because they call only once a day or less. Off course, calling every hour or after someone dropping mail is also possible. It's all very easy to configure.

At my system all Fido stuff is free, for Internet stuff I ask a small charge. It still is much more expensive than Fidonet, and I don't have much money. But there are BBSes that provide e-mail for free.

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