Articles

FTSC2000
FidoNet Technical Standards Committee
Year 2000 program.
By Colin Turner 2:443/13 ct@piglets.com

Have you checked the year 2000 compliance of your hardware and software yet?

Have you told us the results?

If the answer is no, please read on.

Recently Group Y of the FTSC (FidoNet Technical Standards Committee) released a package of tests to help nodes and points examine the compliance of their hardware and software with the change fast approaching in the year 2000.

This has already been announced in FTSC_PUBLIC, and a reasonable number of nodes have requested the test package either over FidoNet as a file request or from the web site, but not enough.

This article has two purposes, firstly to inform the wider FidoNet community about this, and also to remind you that we need your help. FidoNet is (at least in theory) a co-operative venture, and participation from all nodes and points is greatly appreciated.

The changeover date is fast approaching, and it isn't realistic (or even possible) for a small group like a subset of the FTSC to check all existing software.

If you are a developer, download the test set, check out your software. We want to hear from you if its compliant, we want to hear from you even if it's not compliant and you have a release date for a compliant version. We even want to hear if it's not compliant and will no longer be developed. It's in your interests to use this opportunity to tell your users you are on top of the problem, or no longer want to deal with your software.

This responsibility does not fall on the developers alone. If you are an "ordinary" node or point and feel that you have a moderate technical understanding, then you can also help. Check the software that is running on your system, it's in your interests to determine if you need to change it or ask for upgrades from the author. Don't just test the software, please send us the results, so that other nodes and points can benefit from your findings.

If you are a FidoNet user who does not feel capable of testing your software, then there are still ways you can help. Ask your software author if they have checked the software for compliance, ask if they have submitted the results to us. Tell other people about our project, and include the contact details below on your web page if you have one.

It is the ambition of this project to build a database of software in use in FidoNet (and other compatible networks) in all platforms. It's even more important on obscure platforms where variety of software is sorely limited. We want to be able to post results in FidoNews to keep you posted of test findings by ourselves, developers and other FidoNet users.

This group is interested in working with anyone who wants to constructively deal with the year 2000 problems in FidoNet Technology Networks, if you want to participate, please contact us.

For information, please file request (from 2:443/13 or 2:443/14):

FTSC2000

For the tests sets themselves, in various compression formats, please file request:

FTSC2000ARC   (ARC compression);
FTSC2000ZIP   (ZIP compression);
FTSC2000LHA   (LHA compression);
FTSC2000RAR   (RAR compression).

You can also obtain them from the Internet at

http://www.ftsc.org/group/y/ http://www.piglets.com/ftsc2000/ jb 9/27/2000 ref: http://www.ftsc.org/report/fnews1537.htm

Colin Turner, 2:443/13, ct@piglets.com,
Working Group Y (Year 2000 Issues) co-ordinator,
FidoNet Technical Standards Committee.