BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News COPYRIGHT 1988 August 1988 Volume 1, Issue 5 Table Of Contents ----------------- Article Title Author Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Mark Maisel Editorial Column...............................Mark Maisel QuickBASIC 4.0 part 2..........................Jay Enterkin History Repeats Itself.........................Tom Egan The Annual Connection Picnic...................Bill Freeman Songs For Today................................Tyros For Your Information...........................Sohail Rabbani QuickBASIC Patches.............................Tim Straughn Profile........................................Chris Mohney Quotes and Other Nonsense......................Saint George Women and Telecommunications...................Michele Cahoon Speakee........................................Bud Whoops! You're Caught!.........................Gina Gossip From The Kitchen...............................Chez Stephan Known BBS Numbers..............................Mark Maisel --------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for damage due to errors, ommisions, etc. The liability,if any for BTN, its editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or ommisions, etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN, even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood of such damages occurring. With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article. Othewise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles, please forward a copy of your publication to: Mark Maisel Editor, BTN 221 Chestnut St. BHM, AL 35210-3219 We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing all of this and not get too serious about it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial by Mark Maisel BTN is five issues old now. How about that? The articles continue to stream in on a somewhat regular basis with very little prodding from me. My admiration for the local folks who help make BTN is still growing. I am amazed that they can keep churning out interesting, informative, and amusing articles each month. Please take some time to comment about specific things you read in BTN that interest or impress you. The writers need your feedback in order to know if they are communicating effectively. The future looks even brighter for BTN and for Birmingham BBS' and their users. BTN has some big things planned for upcoming issues. We are going to try to dedicate an entire issue to yesteryear when a 300 baud modem was the cat's meow. We will highlight boards of old and some that have been around for much longer than you might think. Birmingham also has its fair share of software authors. We are going to take a look at them and their work. We have already done this with one piece of software, almost. Steve Lee, author of Swiss Army Shell, gave us an article on his creation that was featured in July. Please read it if you have not done so already. The reason that I said almost is because Steve is a resident of Anniston but who are we to be too technical? If you have any ideas that you think would interest readers or yourself, then please tell us about it. If you are shy about writing, then I will gladly work with you on an idea. Please post in BTN's conference on Channel 8250 if possible. If you cannot get on there, then use any EZNET node. As for Birmingham, all one needs to do is look around. Each time I hear someone say that there is a glut of boards in town, I see a new one pop up. In addition to new boards, older boards are making improvements to their existing services. America Online is adding two more nodes raising their total incoming lines to five. Pinson Valley, formerly Apple Valley, has installed a 9600 baud modem on node two for the lucky callers with a new high speed modem. Other events have been and are coming about involving users. Bill Freeman, SysOp of The Connection, held a picnic for local users and it turned out to be quite an event. See his article detailing the picnic in this issue. Bill is tentatively planning a New Years Eve party and I think it is a great idea. There have been some folks discussing with me online the idea of a summers end party, perhaps at a pool somewhere. Anyone got a huge pool and good liability insurance(just kidding)? Other groups of users are getting together and meeting each other. That is one of the reasons that BTN got started. As folks involved in BTN can tell you, we get together at least once per month to meet. Sometimes these meetings turn into parties or something. It is great fun to meet someone you have been conversing with for perhaps years without ever speaking or meeting face to face. Please take a look at "For Your Information" to get an idea of what sort of discussion you can be a part of on a Birmingham BBS. The messages within are good samples of the kind of exchanges that occur daily in discussion message bases on many of our boards. In closing I would like to say thanks again to the writers, readers, and supporters of BTN. I would also like to tell you that there will be a script questionnaire placed on some local boards soon. PLEASE take the time to answer these questions for us so that we can better provide the kind of reading in BTN that you want to see. Look here soon for the low down on EZNET. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick BASIC 4.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Jay Enterkin Part 2 of 2 Hands-On Performance Comparison The following performance tests were run using identical source code compiled to stand-alone .EXE programs, with the Debug feature activated, and no math coprocessor present. Sinemark - This first test is a simple adaptation of the SINEWAVE.BAS program that is supplied with QB4. This test primarily shows the relative speed at which mathematical computations are performed, and also displays the sinewave on the screen as the program executes. QB3 won an impressive victory here because no math coprocessor was present. QB4 is designed to work most efficiently with a math coprocessor, and suffers dramatic speed loss during math operations if one is not installed. SINEMARK.BAS QB3 QB4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Program size (bytes) 40516 40007 Speed 46 seconds 3 minutes 6 sec. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Printa - This tests screen display speed only. It displays characters to the screen, clears the screen, and repeats the operation 10 times. QB4 has a clear speed advantage in displaying text on the screen. Note that this is a text display test and not graphics mode. PRINTA.BAS QB3 QB4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Program size (bytes) 34814 27133 Speed 22 seconds 13 seconds ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Variety - This test combines sequential file read, sequential file write, string functions, addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, and screen display operations into one program. It is interesting to note that in this combined test, one which most closely approximates the variety of tasks which I use QuickBASIC for daily at work, there was very little difference in overall speed. VARIETY.BAS QB3 QB4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Program size (bytes) 37972 35815 Speed 43 seconds 41 seconds ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In summary, QB3 is much faster at math operations if no math coprocessor is installed, while QB4 writes text to the screen considerably faster. The Variety test would seem to indicate that in programs which mix a wide variety of tasks, the overall execution speed virtually balances out. If a math coprocessor is present that would probably give QB4 an overall advantage in speed. Unfortunately I was not able to gain access to a machine with a math coprocessor in time to include that data in this article. Program size in these sample tests was approximately equal, with QB4 showing slightly more compact code size. Bear in mind, however, that the reviewers cited in part 1 of this article noted that in many cases the code generated by QB4 was larger than that produced by QB3. The most recent information I have received indicates that Microsoft has fixed some of the (numerous) bugs in QB4 in a 4.00a version, but I have no information concerning updates, or even the release of the updated version, other than it is reportedly included in recent shipments of the Microsoft BASCOM 6.0 Basic Compiler package. Personally, it hasn't been easy for me to adjust to the QB4 environment. I don't care for the way the source code is automatically formatted as I key it in. The long list of bugs in QB4 bothers me as well. Even now I am using QB3 for the vast majority of my BASIC programming tasks. I may wait and complete my conversion to QB4 when the debugged updates become available. All tests were performed on a Compaq Deskpro 286-12 with 40mb factory hard drive. Errata: The following two paragraphs were accidentally lumped together in part 1 that appeared in BTN4 by the 'auto reformat' feature of my word processor. The correct rendering appears below: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SUB...END SUB QB 4 Cannot be used in $Include files. Cannot have the same name as a variable (regardless of the variable type). TYPE..END TYPE There has been an unverified problem reported in QB when the record length is an odd number. A "FAR HEAP CORRUPT" error is generated. The problem reportedly occurs when the record length is an odd number of bytes. It does not seem to appear in BC, only QB. If you have an unusual, otherwise unexplained problem, try changing the record length to an even number. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF----EVEN CONCERNING COMPUTERS by Tom Egan Co-Sysop America Online BBS For those of you that read my previous article in BTN, I have wonderful news. Even those of you that haven't, the news is still great. As most of ya'll will recall, one of the features of the previous article was extolling the joys of working with paper tape, that great medium that was not erasable, and provided permanent storage capabilities ( as long as you had no mice, etc ). Paper Tape is making a come-back !!! Just announced is a paper tape storage device that will record 600 GIGABYTES on only 2400 feet of paper tape. The tape is new though. It seems that it is a Polyester-based Substrate coated with an Infrared sensitive dye Polymer which will write at a rate of 10 megabits per second. A 2400 foot reel of this half-inch tape will hold 600 Gigabytes of data at one-tenth the cost of magnetic tape. WOW!!! I can't wait for it to hit the PC market, what a deal!!!! I can get back to my original joy, paper-tape, and all you young'uns can also have the chance to experience the joys of this remarkable media. It'll be a shame not to be able to listen to the sweet sounds of the paper punch running though, but I guess that's modernization for you. Back now to the original ideas of this newsletter. I am going to skip the KIM and the REX temporarily, strictly because I'm not in the mood to discuss them at this moment, and scurry on to the famous ( infamous ) Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I that I owned for numerous years. Now this was a machine to be proud of!!!! At the time when other computers were having a rough time of it, along comes Radio Shack ( whom I worked for at the time ), and in their audacity, they decide they are going to build and and market a Personal Computer! The TRS-80 MODEL I was a glorious machine in it's time. It came standard with 4k of RAM ( when the competition only had 1K ), a tape ( cassette ) drive, actually a voice type cassette recorder for data storage, built in Tiny Basic ( 2 letter commands only, but everyone else was selling Basic for $100 ), a monitor, keyboard, and power supply. This was everything a person needed to get started in computers. If I recall correctly, it was about $1100 for the system as described. No software was available, but nobody bought programs in those days. We read the books on Basic, and anything we wanted to do, we wrote our own ( some useful, some not so useful ). I spent many LONG hours in front of that machine. My wife was THRILLED ( yeah, right.... ) when I finished writing a program that would count from 0 to 1000 with no mistakes. The cassette tape provided a means of storing those valuable programs, so I no longer had to re-type them every time I wanted to use them, as I did on older machines, until I got the paper tape reader and punch. It took almost 4 months before I got my first "OUT OF MEMORY" error. I'll never forget that night, right in the middle of some heavy-duty programming, it stops and says "OUT OF MEMORY"!!!!!!!!! and locks up solid ^&%$&%!!! So much for that program, time to start over, but at least it taught me the need for backups. Also, I quickly learned about using GOOD tape, and making several copies. As good as the tape recorder/player was, sometimes it choked on a recorded program, and again, it was time to start typing all over again. Please don't get me wrong though, at the time, this was one of the best computers available. It wasn't very long after that, that I decided I HAD to have another 16k of MEMORY. Only $130 or so for the whole 16k, that wasn't too bad, about the same as 256k at todays prices, and this was 1977. I finally got the expanded memory, and then wanted to add an EXPANSION INTERFACE to boost my memory capacity to a whopping 64k ( in 16k increments, of course ). The expansion box gave me the room to install the added memory, and ALSO provided for adding a FLOPPY drive to the system. So long, cassette tape, the floppy drive was marvelous, 180k per diskette, that was about 3 tapes full ( 120 minute ones, at that ), and it read programs in the bat of an eye compared to the cassette tape. *** B U T *** no one told me when I got the unit ( maybe because I was the first, or close to it ), that the keyboard/computer connector that ran to the EXPANSION box had to be carefully cleaned every month or two, or the entire system would lock up, erase disks, blow fuses, etc. I learned the hard way that cleanliness was next to Godliness, at least where the TRS-80 was concerned. Even with religious cleaning, sometimes the computer would get garbage for no reason. But, remove the cable, clean the connector, and start writing all over again usually fixed the problems. ***** continued in the next installment **** --------------------------------------------------------------------- *** THE CONNECTION RBBS FIRST ANNUAL TECHIE PICNIC *** The Connection RBBS will host a PICNIC and GENERAL GET-TOGETHER at the *** HAWKINS PARK PAVILION ON JULY 9th, 12 NOON TILL ?:?? *** 8920 Roebuck Boulevard - Take the 4th Ave. S. Exit off I-59 to commemorate our second year of service to the Birmingham community. Everyone is invited, and we encourage all to drop by and visit. __________________________________________________ Get used to seeing the previous announcement posted each year. Bill Freeman, SysOp of The Connection, here in Birmingham decided to host a picnic for the telecommunications community. I spoke with him recently and he seemed quite pleased with the results of his efforts. The following is a report from him on the picnic. __________________________________________________ Folks, we did magnificently. Let's see - about 20 people that I knew and several whom I didn't participated in the picnic. Special thanks to everyone, those I did and didn't know. All told about 30-35 people came by, some had a beer or a hot dog (or some other picnic favor) and we all had a helluva time. What happens if an ST225 disappears led into discussions about whether the Iran plane was a hoax or not. Genealogy and politics were discussed, Alan found the pump and Jonah ate a cookie. It was, by any standard, quite fun. Where should we have it next time? Same place and same time (except stopping at 3 or so next time) fine with everyone? If so, it's a date. Maggie mentioned something about a Techie New Year's Eve Party being right around the corner. Any takers? I know I'm always looking for an excuse to have a good time. Oh yeah, EVERYONE! No one on this board looks anything at all like your average computer nerd (unless I do and no one told me yet). If you didn't make it, you definitely missed it. For all those that did come, and who had a lesser security level than a subscriber, I gave those folks a subscription for a month (since, in the heat of the moment, we forgot to give any away at the picnic). And one thing is for DAMN sure, Michele Cahoon is by far the cutest SysOp I have EVER seen. I don't see at all how such a looker finds time for a computer. Even more surprising than that, Blake changed colors (ask Blake if you really want to know!). Between all the excitement new friends were made and existing friendships deepened. It was, literally, more fun than Six Flags (or Panama City!). One thing I'm puzzled over, Alan. What did the baby finally get named? --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---The following are songs that I have written. All have some sort of social or political theme. If that kinda thing bugs you, don't bother reading it.--- "I'M THE CONTRA" Hello Nice to meet you, I'm the Contra you wanted to meet Let me put my AK-47 down so I can have a seat I've always wanted to see what a real American was like All the other ones I met told me to take a hike But I know you won't, you'll give me loads and loads of money Cause you think that Sandinistas will invade, kill you and your honey Well don't tell anyone this, bu I'm worse than that I've mutilated forty kittens and I've eaten a dozen rats I invaded a wedding the other day, and slaughtered twenty-three guests Raped the bride, shot the groom, and injured all the rest My particular specialty is raiding retirement homes I like to relieve them of their misery from their creaking bones It's OK, really, cause they're all communists now And it looks like Congress will renew that aid package any day now If that happens, WHEN that happens, we'll be rolling in the dough Spend it any way we want, cause Congress will never know It's true that some of it will go to weapons, but that's okay The rest will benefit the booming U.S. drug trade! Yes sir, I'm the Contra you see in all the papers And we may be a bunch of terrorists and rapers, But WE'RE the ones on the side of the RED-WHITE-and-BLUE You wouldn't rather have Commies in this hemisphere.... WOULD YOU? "S.D.I. (MY OH MY)" Ladies and gentlemen of the biased liberal press Today we bring you a great new plan It'll save the world and all of its culture At least the part that we want saved In the event of a Soviet nuclear strike Nearly a third of our missile bases might be saved! And possibly four percent of our cities too! Isn't that worth four hundred billion dollars? Yes, it's a PEACE shield, what a nifty idea Our leader got the idea after seeing a movie The Reds are supposedly building one too So this escalation of the arms race is really their fault Besides, theirs is a WAR shield! To counter our peace shield Lasers and masers! High-tech space weaponry! It'll work, just you ask any of the scientists Only the ones who are getting paid for it though Because the rest have been brainwashed by liberal lobbies What a great thing to have, war in outer space Better up there than down here, right? Unless you plan on living there one day that is And there you have it, our peace shield plan Will be become the wave of the future you know At least while there is one "STYROFOAM CITY" Hey you stupid quacks You wacky crazy sillies Can't you scientists see that we're trying to conduct business? Take your outlandish theories and stuff them in a drawer Cause we've decided that we're not going to believe you anymore We'll keep right on making all the styrofoam we can We've had about as much from you as we can possibly stand You say that clorofluorocarbons dissolve the ozone layer Well we know something better: that the public doesn't care Hey you funny pessimists, you freaky cryers of doom Go back to finding ways of getting us on the moon The effects you describe won't be noticed for 10 years or so If you really want to be useful you can help us make more dough By shutting the hell up about ultra-violet radiation We'll be free to sell to fast-food joints across the nation That's the problem with you eggheads, always thinking about where you're going And never about RIGHT NOW, and what you should be doing The future holds no fright for us, we KNOW that we'll be rich Because you're plan of warning has just one hitch! In olden times, bearers of bad tidings met with early death So as far as the public is concerned, you might as well save your breath! ...please? "BUSH - WHAT A GUY!" Bush Bush what a guy Rah rah raise him high He'll continue Reagan's dream Send the commies down the stream Bush Bush what a man Just one look, Dan Rather ran His wife called Ferraro a bitch! Guess she showed THAT liberal witch! Bush Bush You can tell He'll probably pardon Ollie as well! Send him on more freedom missions Really, who needs "original positions"? Bush Bush Truly different He supports South Africa's government! So what he's down in the polls today He said it himself, he works better that way! Bush Bush I can't wait For him to become our head of state Head Wright and Kennedy off at the pass Ready to kick some congressional ass Bush Bush He's got the Big Mo! Ask him again, he'll tell you so! Wow what a nation we'll be then I can't wait to have Reagan AGAIN!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Those are all for now, I'm working on some more, so maybe you'll see another file like this soon! Hope you liked them! -----**> TYROS <**----- "I'm The Contra", "SDI (My Oh My)", "Styrofoam City", and "Bush-What A Guy" are all Copyright C. 1988 Tyrosyndikate All rights reserved --------------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Agnostics Conference on Channel 8250 Date: 07-07-88 (18:35) Number: 1190 To: OSMAN GUNER Refer#: 1077 From: SOHAIL RABBANI Read: YES Subj: PURPOSE OF LIFE Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE Osman, You have posed THE QUESTION that has perplexed human minds since the dawn of consciousness. "What is the purpose of our life?" In other words, who are we? where did we come from? and where are we going? When I reached adolescence after a seemingly endless childhood, I began to learn and explore with a confidence which was previously not in my experience. By age 17 I had almost achieved the state of absolute knowledge and wisdom. I was also almost indestructible. Oozing with vitality and radiating confidence I went about my daily life leaving behind an infinite litany of blunders. But I did not know that anything I did was wrong. I was at a stage of : HE WHO KNOWS NOT, AND KNOWS NOT THAT HE KNOWS NOT. By 22 I had begun to realize that I might not be at the top of the world, all knowing and all powerful as I previously imagined. By 25 I was no longer convinced of my infallibility. By 30 I was an ignorant, fragile and insignificant mortal. One out of billions of my kind. At 33 I was ever more humble and continue to be more so as each day passes. I've reached the stage of: HE WHO KNOWS NOT AND KNOWS THAT HE KNOWS NOT. As humans continue to learn more, we increasingly realize that, we know less about the universe and ourselves than we previously imagined. Perhaps we are approaching adulthood as a species. At the dawn of human consciousness there were only questions and no answers to be found, because no one had encountered those questions before. The desire to know is so strong that when answers are not available, they are quickly manufactured. There is a need and that need has to be filled. Religions spread through all civilizations like brush fire. Religions promise to give the answers and thus palliate the pain brought by the realization of one's ignorance. With that balm humanity was able to grow up in complacency until such time that it could begin to search for its own answers. As the fables of ones childhood loose their magical hold over the imagination upon entering adolescence and a more cause-and-effect kinda logic emerges in ones thought patterns, one tends to shatter all the icons that were handed down because one regards them as superfluous. Then upon entering adulthood one realizes the allegoric beauty and simplistic wisdom of the fables of childhood and gives them new meaning and reverence. Date: 07-07-88 (18:41) Number: 1191 To: OSMAN GUNER Refer#: 1077 From: SOHAIL RABBANI Read: YES Subj: PURPOSE OF LIFE Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE A friend once said to me: "When I was a child, I wholeheartedly believed in Santa Claus. I was grew up and learnt that there was no Santa Claus. I was heartbroken and felt cheated but I got over it and became distrustful of all things magical. Then one day after I became a father and I realized that *I WAS SANTA CLAUS*, now I believe in magic once again because I see it in the eyes of my children." We have come almost a full circle. But it is not really a closed circle. It is a like a spiral that goes upward. As we make a full round and come to the starting point we are actually at a higher plain than we were at the original beginning. We have discarded the fables of our child hood, but we have also learnt that our knowledge has severe limitations. The arrogant attitude of the 19th century adolescent scientific mind- set is gradually giving way to more humility and a mature outlook of the universe. Coming back to your question of the purpose of life, as I see it, if there is one, we don't know it. The monotheistic religions will tell you that the purpose is to obey the will of the creator and prepare for the after life. My scientific minded friends and some ancient "pagan religions", (through phallic worship and the fertile mother's icon worship -- as seen in Mohenjo Daro excavations) will, instead, say that the purpose of life is to proliferate and reproduce. Although I like the idea of engaging in "reproductive activities" (without necessarily reproducing each time) I must take exception to that as being the PURPOSE of life. Reproduction is indeed the fundamental DRIVE of life. Indeed even a part of the DEFINITION -- or meaning if you want to call it that -- of life, but not its PURPOSE. The word purpose implies a Grand Design and a Designer who conceived it. If there is such an Architect, we don't know for sure. Of necessity, therefore, we do not know of plans of the elusive Architect either. Thus my answer, Osman, is a most frustrating one: WE DO NOT KNOW. We do not know that there IS a purpose, and IF there is one we do not know WHAT it is. Let us not fall in the trap of our desire to KNOW and invent answers where they are not forthcoming. ...S.R. --------------------------------------------------------------------- QuickBASIC Patches by Tim Straughn While trying to write a door with the newly acquired QuickBASIC version 4.0, again, MicroSoft's bad habit of dropping DTR on exiting the program was a problem for the user's of QuickBASIC. I have only dabbled with previous versions of QB, and have never had occasion to confront the communications aspects. If writing a complete communications package for host systems or other communications as a stand-alone program, this is not really a problem. However, if writing a door to be used with PCBoard Bulletin Board software as a shell, then a very real problem is realized if the program drops DTR on exiting the program. So, while writing my little door, I got the bulk of the program completed, and then started looking into the interface with the com ports. Just happens, I had the routines for doors as written by Clint LaBarthe, and decided to use it for the ground work to at least get some ideas on what to try. In the Archive, there was an additional text file by Jeff Porter concerning the fixes for QB1, QB2, QB3, and other Compilers. I set out to resolve the problem with QB4. Needless to say, the addresses of the patches for QB1, et al, were useless to me for working on the BCOM40.LIB and QB.EXE files to resolve the problem. However, in the document prepared by Jeff Porter, the specific byte pattern which is the culprit is given. The pattern in the doc was given as: 83 C2 04 32 C0 First, I tried his way of doing things, by loading the library with Debug, and searching for this pattern. Hmph. The newer library is so large that Debug will not load all of it. What next? Well, thanks to Norton utilities, and plus the fact that I am not an avid fan of Debug, I was still able to peruse the patch, but not until I did some work with Debug first. In his document, Jeff gives the assembler code changes to correct the problem, but not the byte pattern. The above byte pattern unassembles as: add dx,+04 xor al,al To correct the problem, Jeff said to change the xor al,al to a mov al, 1 instruction in both occurrences in the library. This is well and good if you can find it with debug and get the specific address at which the byte pattern occurs. When I issued the search instruction in Debug, however, it came up blank, and just kinda gave me a stupid stare. So, being a little familiar with Norton's utilities, I decided to use them to search for the 5 byte pattern and see what I could come up with. BINGO! Just as Jeff had said, the occurrence of the patter was in two places. Now, what do I do to change it? I needed to change the last two bytes in the string to be the mov al,1 assembler instruction. Not being an assembler programmer at all, I knew nothing of the byte pattern to provide. Aha! Let's go back to Debug! I loaded Debug and used the e function to reproduce the byte pattern listed above to verify the meaning in Assembler. Sure enough, it meant exactly what Jeff said it did. Next, I used the A command to enter the instruction mov al,1, and came up with the byte pattern B0 01. So, now for the down and dirty. I reloaded Norton's and chose the file and used the search option again to find the 83 C2 04 32 C0 pattern again. Once found, I changed the 32 C0 bytes to B0 01. I did this for both occurrences of the pattern, and then wrote the edited version to a new file (for obvious back-up reasons). I then compiled a sample dumb terminal program with the modified library to see what the bugger was gonna do. Voila! It worked, and didn't drop DTR when I exited the program. So, I reloaded the source code with the editor/debugger, and executed it again to see what happens then. Of course, DTR dropped out as soon as I exited the program. RATS! I primarily wanted the ability to run source programs before compiling so that I wouldn't have to drop out of QB4 every time I wanted to test a revision in a program, let alone having to compile every time for each change. Back to the old drawing board. I loaded Norton's again, and then pulled up the QB.EXE file. Another search, and sure enough, there was that mysterious pattern again. Again, I changed the 32 C0 to a B0 01 and saved it. I then loaded the patched QB.EXE and ran the terminal program again. Eureka! It worked! Through a little perseverance, I found the patches, and fixed my copy of the program. Now for the only part some of you will be interested in. Below are the file offsets in the library and the executable compiler program at which I found the MicroSoft DTR eater. The pattern occurred twice in both files, exactly 2CA (hex) bytes apart, so apparently the same routine is used in the library and the compiler to handle the com ports. Loading the files with Norton's and searching the file for the above byte pattern should reveal it in each one twice as shown below. BCOM40.LIB First location begins at 1293F (hex) offset from origin of file. Second location begins at 12C09 (hex) offset from origin of file. QB.EXE First location begins at 29846 (hex) offset from origin of file. Second location begins at 29B10 (hex) offset from origin of file. I also searched the BRUN40.EXE and BRUN40.LIB for the occurrence of the pattern, but came up nil. This is not much of a concern to me because of the fact, on a general basis, I seldom write and compile a program that requires a separate runtime module. Since I have also corrected the compiler itself, I can now run and test programs which use the serial ports without compiling, thus saving me a tremendous amount of time. I hope you find this information of value, and I provide it at no cost. As a matter of fact, I consider it information that MicroSoft should have used a long time ago to correct their actions with the com port routines. Indeed, in this case, I believe that for those of us who like to experiment and dabble with communications, this would make the QB4 package much more attractive than Borland's Turbo Basic. --------------------------------------------------------------------- PRO FILE by Chris Mohney The Pro File is a short, half-serious biographical sketch given to various computer telecommunications personalities around Birmingham. Victims are selected randomly from a group of names put into the notorious Hat. Anyone who thinks himself brave or witty enough may petition for admittance to the Hat by leaving E-Mail to me (Chris Mohney, most boards around town) to that effect. Anyone who wishes to suggest more questions or sneakily nominate someone without their knowledge may take the same route .... --------- Pro File on MARK MAISEL --------- Age: 27 Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama Occupation: Mail Handler My_hobbies_include: computing, writing, swimming, eating, and drinking Years_telecomputing: 8 Sysop,_past/present/future of: more boards than I care to name or remember My_oddest_habit_is: exhibiting complete honesty to the point of bluntness My_greatest_unfulfilled_ambition_is: unparalleled wealth and good health The_single_accomplishment_of_which_I_am_most_proud_is: maintaining my modesty under all circumstances, ha ha! My_favorite_performers_are: musician - Frank Zappa, can't think of any others The_last_good_movie_I_saw was: Baby Snakes The_last_good_book_I_read_was: Extraordinary Origins Of Everyday Things by Charles Panati If_they_were_making_a_movie_of_my_life,_I'd_like_to_see_my_part_played_by: I can't say as I can't in my wildest imagining see anyone taking the trouble to chronicle my life in film My_pet_peeves_are: short sightedness, narrow and closed mindedness, people who deliberately expose their ignorance and try to pass it off as intellect When_nobody's_looking,_I_like_to: do the same things I do when watched with the exception of bathing which I enjoy as a peaceful time by myself --------------------------------------------------------------------- Quotes and other nonsense These are all quotes and other assorted sayings that have either amused or intrigued me in the past few years to the point that I took the trouble to writes them down. I hope some of them amuse/intrigue you as much as they did me. Saint George ******************************************************************** Death is Natures way of telling you to slow down. Piers Anthony My sense of God is my sense of wonder at the Universe. Mark Twain "...another angel approached me. This one was quietly but appropriately dressed in cellophane,synthetic rubber, and stainless steel, But his mask was the blind mask of Ares, snouted for gas warfare, He was neither soldier, sailor, farmer, dictator, nor munitions manufacturer. Nor did he have much conversation except to say, 'You will not be saved by General Motors or the pre-fabricated house. You will not be saved by dialectic materialism or the Lambeth Conference. You will not be saved by Vitamin D or the expanding universe. In fact,,, you will not be saved.'" "Nightmare, With Angels" by Stephen Vincent Benet The air grew suddenly bright, and in the mist of the white glow appeared a flickering ribbon of darkness. It grew and took on substance, until it was a hooded figure. "Behold the three brothers of my prophecy; The first will have a white blade by his side. First will he be to see his realm, first to fall, first to rise. The second shall have a black blade and be a man of fire. He will guard the plain where the dead and the living shall clash in battle. The third shall be the least and become the greatest, the youngest and become the eldest. He has an iron angel at his back. His life will be short but he will die at a great age." The dark Prophet faced the three brothers. "You face forces beyond imagining, an enemy more than mortal. Many will suffer and die. I came not to present you with a kingdom,,, but to bring you to your destinies." "Ironbrand" John Morressy The world is comic to those who think and tragic to those who feel. Horace Walpole ***************************************************************************** This section of material is quoted from the book "Time Enough For Love" by the late author Robert A. Heinlein. May he rest in peace. ***************************************************************************** I came, I saw, she conquered. (The original Latin seems to have been garbled) Never appeal to a man's "better nature", He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest usually gives you more leverage. In a mature society "civil servant" is semantically equal to "civil master". God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent--it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. no checks, please. Cash only and in small bills. Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. One man's magic is another man's engineering. Super-natural is a null word. The phrase "we (I) (you) simply must--"designates something that need not be done. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity and you'll seldom be wrong. Natural laws have no pity. Don't try to have the last word. You might get it. TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. i.e. Anything free is worth what you have to pay for it. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" Robert A. Heinlein *************************************************************************** This section of material is what I am given to understand is 'Public Domain' type material; I.E. I haven't read it, I have just heard it from miscellaneous sources. **************************************************************************** Life is a series of small comings and goings and for everything that a man takes with him,,, there is something that he must leave behind. Lack of forplanning on your part does not automatically constitute a state of emergency on my part. Q. Why is the Universe here ? A. Where else would it be. An Optimist thinks we live in the best of all possible worlds. A Pessimist fears this is true. Its hard to make things idiot-proof because idiots are so damned ingenious. An observed phenomena requires no explanation. A rolling stone gathers momentum. Friends may come and friends may go but enemies accumulate. Ancient Chinese curse: May all your wishes be granted. Ancient Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. The average woman would rather have beauty than brains because the average man can see better than he thinks. Gumpersuns Law: The probability of anything happening is inversely proportional to its desirability. SIX PHASES OF A PROJECT: 1) Enthusiasm 2) Disillusionment 3) Panic 4) Search for the guilty party 5) Punishment of the innocent 6) Praise & honor for the non-participants To err is human, to compute divine. Trust your computer but not its programmer. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Women and Telecommunications by Michele Cahoon The best thing to do here since so many feathers have been ruffled is to let the cat out of the bag. Bubba Flaval and friends were made up to add more controversy to the articles. Many of you have really gotten very upset over this and that is the reason for letting the cat out of the bag. We will continue with this section of BTN but now from a more serious point of view. There were actually a few people who did agree with Bubba and I'm still not sure whether they were serious or just taking the losers side. However, I would like to have some input from the women out there. You can contact me on many boards or on my own, Point of No RETURN. Men are also welcome to help with their views, questions or subjects. All responses are welcome. Thanks for all the fun!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------- I Speakee Computereese When I was just a youg boy my Mama got me a computer. So I been learning it ever since. Here is a list of what I have learned. 1) Modem: Please hand me some modem taters. 2) CPU: Confound Pick-Up. What Daddy says when the truck won't start. 3) DATA: Data do boy. What Mama says when I ain't acting right. 4) PRINT: The only way I know how to write. 5) DIM: Go and get dim chores done. 6) COMMON: What the people in town call us. 7) EDIT: I ain't edit yet cause I don't like spinach. 8) END: What my Daddy kicks of mine when I get home late. 9) FIELD: Where the cows go at daylight. 10) KEY: What I open the door with. 11) PALETTE: Where my cousins sleep when they come to my house. 12) PCOPY: When you go to the bathroom behind the barn and your little brother does to. 13) PRESET: When you sit down in church before the preacher does. 14) PSET: What women do. 15) READ: What Daddy can't do. 16) RESET: What you do after you have PRESET and got back up. 17) SCREEN: That wire stuff on front door. 18) SHELL: The thing on the back of a turtle. 19) TROFF: Where the pigs eat. 20) WRITE: Another thing my Daddy can't do. As soon as I can get a chance I will try to add to this list 'cause I know there are people out there like I use to be and are just getting started in this computin' stuff and I want to do all I can to help them. So see ya'll later. BUD --------------------------------------------------------------------- Whoops You're Caught!! By: Gina Gossip The following caught in the act are mainly BTN writers this issue. Beware though, no one is safe from Gina Gossip. Always be watching over your shoulder...... A certain male made it known publicly that he couldn't keep his hands out of another males' spandex shorts.... One of our favorite sysops was found face down, nose in the carpet, chair on head after a serious meeting... Writer for BTN not present at meeting because of fear.... "Fat,Bald, and Ugly"........................ There is a sysop who couldn't handle a beating from one of our female writers. A non-member of BTN passed out and woke up to find he had been made into a human peanut butter and jelly sandwich....... There is a sysop who is shy when off the boards and has learned to say "Ya'll"....... One of our writers tried to get everyone into a little dirty dancing.... A writer's wife didn't realize she had been abused by a peanut while crashed until the following morning............. Well these are little tidbits to help you learn what all those crazy BTN writers are doing instead of writing and creating issues for us.... Until next time...... watch your every move..... Gina Gossip --------------------------------------------------------------------- From The Kitchen Well hello again: As I promised I will introduce some of you to different aspects of the kitchen that maybe you do not yet know about. I would like to explain that I learned to cook at a young age. My mother, who worked, always came home and cooked dinner. As I got older and did not think it that important to be home in time for dinner my mother informed me that if I wanted to eat I could be home on time or fix my own. This was when I was a high school mental reject and so I could eat things like twinkies and cold sausage that was left from breakfast. My first year in college I ate rice and hotdogs. You take one cup of rice, two cups of water and 2 or 3 hotdogs sliced. Put all of this in a pan and boil until rice is cooked. This tastes like holy sh.. but it will sustain life and leave some money in your pocket at the end of the week. Later I got married and put my wife through school. Now out of the sixties and early seventies I felt no alarm when I started to cook dinner when I beat her home in the afternoons. You know what They say. Practice makes perfect. Anyway, I got pretty good at what I do and really got to where I enjoyed it. I have attended some cooking schools and classes so it not like I'm BSing you here. These recipes have been tested and will work. So what do you say? Let's get started. Spices You should always keep on hand: Cinnamon; Coriander; White pepper (ground and whole corns); Black pepper (ground and whole corns); Cayenne pepper; garlic (powdered, minced and fresh) never use garlic salt; sea salt; mace; thyme; basil; bay leaves; tarragon; Hungarian paprika; dry mustard; file' (this is for soups and gumbos); oregano; sage; cloves and ginger. Whenever possible you should use fresh herbs and spices. These can be found at different locations around town but for the widest selection that I know of you should try out the Fresh Market located in English Village. This place is great just to wander through and look around. Oils and Vinegars: You should have the following oils on hand: peanut; olive (you pay more but you should always use first press extra virgin); grape oil; and a vegetable oil. It is also nice to have around some lard. This is the consistency of Crisco but is rendered from pork. It is terrible for you but adds so much flavor to some of our southern dishes that it is worth the risk. You cannot in my opinion make cornbread without lard. You should have the following vinegars on hand: white distilled ; red wine; tarragon; and pepper. The latter can be made by adding 1/3 a cup of tarragon or 1/4 cup of whole pepper corns to a 16 ounce bottle of white distilled and letting it sit for a week or so before using. Pots and Pans: ALL pots should be made of copper. The copper allows even heating. Your pans , saute and fry, should be a mixture of cast iron and copper. The saute pans should be copper and the rest should be cast iron. If at all possible do not use aluminum because it will develop hot spots. In the pots you should have at least 2 sauce pots which are quite small, some where in the area of 2 or 3 cup size. Also include 1, 2, and three quart saucepans. As you cook you will learn which size you need the most of. This has a lot to do with how many you are cooking for. You will also need at least 2 soup pots. One of these should be porcelain covered cast iron. You will also need at least one double boiler. In the pans you will need a number 8, 10, 12 and 16 cast iron skillets. You should have covers for all of these. you should have an 8 inch and a 12 inch copper saute pan. You should also have a 12 or 14 inch copper fry pan with cover. It is nice to also have a copper fish pan of medium size. The only aluminum pan I would allow is a large and I mean large roasting pan. These work nice in the oven because they are surrounded by the heat rather than having the heat applied in one area. You will also need a loaf pan. If you ever bake bread once for yourself you will never buy it again if it is to be used for something other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Utensils: There are literally thousands of gadgets for your kitchens. These will be acquired with time and you will know when you need to purchase something rather than improvising with something you already have. I would suggest the following. Colander, grater, sieve, zester, peeler, an assortment of wooden spoons, a pasta hook, a paring knife, a chefs knife, meat clever (this is a must), and an assortment of butcher knives. This is just a start and next time I will try to add some insight into the need for these things as well as a recipe or two. Remember; Enjoy and Good Eating, Chez Stephan --------------------------------------------------------------------- Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area NAME NUMBER BAUD 68FREE 933-7518 300, 1200 America Online Node 1 324-0193 300, 1200, 2400 America Online Node 2 324-0194 300, 1200, 2400 America Online Node 3 324-0195 300, 1200, 2400 American BBS 674-1851 300, 1200, 2400 Amiga Alliance 631-2846 300, 1200 Asylum BBS 988-0477 300, 1200 Birmingham BBS Node 1 251-2344 300, 1200 Birmingham BBS Node 2 251-8033 300, 1200 Birmingham Business BBS 856-0679 300, 1200, 2400 Bus System BBS 595-1627 300, 1200, 2400 Channel 8250 785-7417 300, 1200, 2400 Commodore Club-South 853-8718 300, 1200, 2400 Fear & Loathing 985-4856 300, 1200, 2400 Elite Empire 967-8479 300, 1200, 2400 Fortress BBS 664-9040 300, 1200 LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300, 1200, 2400 Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300, 1200, 2400 Misty Mountain 979-8409 300, 1200, 2400 Misty Mountain II 969-2052 300, 1200 Nouveaux BBS 871-5551 300, 1200, 2400 Pinson Valley Node 1 854-9661 300, 1200, 2400 Pinson Valley Node 2 854-9662 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Point of No RETURN 664-9609 300, 1200, 2400 RiverSide 663-6015 300, 1200, 2400 Scott's Penny Arcade 226-1841 300, 1200, 2400 Southern Regiment 647-9176 300, 1200, 2400 Sperry BBS 853-6144 300, 1200, 2400 ST BBS 836-9311 300, 1200, 2400 The Connection Node 1 854-9074 1200, 2400 The Connection Node 2 854-2308 1200, 2400 Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300, 1200, 2400 Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300, 1200, 2400 Willie's RBBS 979-7743 300, 1200, 2400 Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300, 1200