Articles

• A Y2K nodelist
• ECHO TALK - U.S. Chauvanist

A Y2K nodelist
by Carol Shenkenberger

With Y2K looming upon us all, I'd like to take a moment to show one technical fix that many need to apply. See, the nodelist is generated by a program and that program may need some assistance.

Most today generate the nodelist segments with a program called Makenl. There is a date schema problem in the PKT file created by Makenl. This isnt the end of the world though. There is a fix file for it.

Below is a sample makenl control file, simplest type:

----------makenl.ctl--------
c:
cd \makenl
makenl
mnfix c:\makenl\makenl.ctl log:c:\makenl\r13.log

; Make Nodelist Control File For makenl.exe
; NC275 - Mark Hoover
; ------------------------------------------------
;
make network 275
outfile net275
submit 1:13/0
netaddress 1:275/0
messages c:\fd\mail
BAUDRATE 300,1200,2400,4800,9600,14400,16800,19200,28800,33600

files

Net 275 275SEG

-----------------end makenl.ctl-----

Now, this assumes one has the data for net275 in a file called 275SEG.

To process it, 'Makenl /P' and off it flies. It makes a netmail attach in your mailer and that attachment, needs a little help.

The fix? MNFIX02.ZIP. Place this in your main makenl directory and unpack it. Then, make a bat file like this:

----upd_275.bat----
c:
cd \makenl
makenl /p
mnfix c:\makenl\makenl.ctl log:c:\makenl\mknl275.log
-----end upd_275.bat----

Now, shift to use the batch file to process your nodelist. All is well!

If you dont find MNFIX02.ZIP locally, it is available for FREQ from 1:275/100. Author of MNFIX is Colin Birch, 2:442/618 (bless you Colin!)

----
Editor's Note: MNFIX02.ZIP is included in this week's Fidonews archive, FNEWSG52.ZIP.

Author's Note: Carol writes that the control files above apply to MAKDNL version 2.51 and not necessarily earlier versions. Specifically, earlier versions will not support the baud rates allowed by version 2.51.

ECHO TALK
Food for thought from Fido's echomail.
Purloined without permission by D Myers

The FIDONEWS echo provides readers with an opportunity to interact with the Fidonews staff. In this excerpt, Rachael Veraa eloquently takes me to task for US Chauvanism displayed in my last editorial.

DM> if you don't mind, I'll still honer the icons. There's no
DM> greater pastime than a major league baseball game, no more
DM> perfect meal than a hot dog topped off by a piece of Mom's
DM> apple pie, no vehicle that can outperform the ol' 57 Chevy
DM> (once it's properly tuned, of course), and no greater hero than
DM> the American fighting man who has risked his life that the rest
DM> of us can take our freedom for granted.

RV> Doug, I think you've missed the point entirely. This would be a
RV> lovely sentiment in a publication called "FIDONEWS, The
RV> newsletter of the FidoNet community in the United States." But
RV> this isn't that publication; it's "FIDONEWS, The newsletter of
RV> the FidoNet community EVERYWHERE." And there are lots of places
RV> in the world where US chauvinism like this is quite uncomfortable
RV> -- as well as places where these sentiments are downright
RV> offensive. Iraqui families, Serbian families in Kosovo, North
RV> Korean and Vietnamese families who lost loved ones to those
RV> soldiers you praise have a different view. Baseball is honored in
RV> the Americas and Japan; in the rest of the world it's an
RV> incomprehensible eccentricity. To my mother's relatives in
RV> France, the hot dog is an abomination. In most
RV> autmobile-producing countries, the '57 Chevy is an oversized
RV> overpowered low-tech gas guzzler. Even our closest allies, the
RV> Canadians, are often uncomfortable with chest-beating
RV> declarations of US superiority (though they're too polite to
RV> complain about it). This is an _international_ publication. It
RV> should eschew nationalism and enthnocentrism. It should speak
RV> for _all_ of FidoNet.

Before respectfully disagreeing with some of this, I should qualify myself. I've only been to two or three major league baseball games in my life (I'm not in a city where there's a team, so I have to travel). Hot Dogs are okay, but I prefer hamburgers. I don't recall my Mom ever making apple pie, though I sampled Mrs. Smith's wares at $.15 a piece when I was younger. I never owned a 57 Chevy, and I wouldn't have joined the US Army back in the sixties if they weren't going to draft my rear end anyway. Nonetheless, I'm a product of the culture which adopted the icons, and I'm proud of that culture.

I don't think I should be presenting myself differently if Fidonews is an international newsletter than if it's a US newsletter. I'm still the same person in either circumstance, so to act differently would be hypocrisy.

Nor do I think it's fair that you criticize my pride in my culture as a form of chauvinism. As that term is popularly used today, chauvinism implies that I think that other cultures are inferior. Just because I enjoy an American Mulligan Stew doesn't mean I can't enjoy a Chinese Chopped Suey, does it? Come to think of it, Mulligan Stew sounds Irish, and I'm told that Chopped Suey is a creation of America...

When you warn me to suppress the things of my culture which have affected me, I feel you are urging the path of "policical correctness" rather than a path of international understanding. If I hide these things of which I am a product, and influence others to do the same, then they'll never be discussed so that understanding is possible. How, then, does one become this person who speaks for all of Fidonet which you wish in charge here?

In the immortal words of another spinach-toting American icon, "I y'am what I y'am..."