*********************** DOOR WORLD MAIL BAG ************************* Questions and Comments may be sent to Door World Magazine at the following locations: FidoNet 1:332/107 InterNet dwendlg@bcn.net WWW: http://www.bcn.net/~dwendlg Door World support BBS 1-413-684-0145 Or any of the FidoNet door echoes /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Thanks for the quick response. This magazine has been helpful for me already. Several of my users, who were playing Exitilus, had been having their game info changed to high ascii characters for no apparent reason, and I think they suspected that I was corrupting them for some ungodly reason! The Exitilus Q & A section described perfectly what was happening, and hopefully they will now know what causes it. Thanks again, and keep up the good work. Art (Da Rat) ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// By: Jesus Dacal, T.H.E. NET! (1:135/379) To: Dave Wendling Re: Letter to the Editor Subject: Dave's dire predictions for the future of BBS's. I'm writing to disagree with Dave's prediction that BBS's are well on their way to the Smithsonian. Once JAVA and other evolving technologies are integrated into the net, I think the net will become a serious threat to local BBS systems. However, even after that happens I still feel it will be a few years before the local bbs will feel threatened. Until there is enough hardware on the net to satisfy the traffic demands, the bottleneck that exists is the best advertising that a bbs could wish for. I think widespread use of ISDN lines will be when the callers will completely jump over to the web, and I don't see phone companies tripping over each other trying to market ISDN at prices our callers would be willing to switch to it. As for the RIP standard, a lot of people have given up on it due to its long development curve. However these same people are judging it by what it used to do, not by what it is capable of doing TODAY! Today it is capable displaying JPEG, BMP's, a virtually unlimited color palette for artwork. Stereo WAV files, custom fonts among many other features. The terminal program is now shareware and can be used to call any bbs not just RIP boards, additionally bbs's that install the RIPWEB system will be able to offer their callers access to the World Wide Web. This means that a caller will not have to have a particular Internet Service Provider. The caller can use Ripterm as a terminal program to call any RIP bbs and then after login Ripterm will become a Web-Browser if the caller chooses RIPWEB from the BBS menu. This will essentially allow the local BBS to become a front-end for the world wide web. This front end can be used to advertise local businesses, let callers join in the usual bbs gaming and messaging AND have the option of entering the Web. While some bbs vendors are offering the freeware client-server aps that are proprietary to their particular system. I feel that we would be confusing our callers if we were to expect them to download a separate client for the various bbs systems they call. How would you like to use a different browser for each WEB page you frequent? Not to mention the disk space this will take up. RIP has been designed from the ground up to serve as a multi-platform protocol. It can be used on a BBS, on the internet, on an OS/2, MAC, or UNIX system due to its text-based nature. It is an evolving standard that gives the BBS community a chance to offer its callers a standard interface when calling a BBS. Yes, we need to look at all emerging technologies, BUT we also need to serve our callers with a standard interface in the meanwhile! For door author's it offers rich new areas to enhance their software...graphics/animation and sound. Without having to become a rocket scientist to implement these features. There are lots of RIP artists around who in many cases will do your screens for Free! If you have been or are a critic of the RIP protocol in the past I urge you to take another look at it. I am sending Door World a copy of the latest RIPTERM, so that maybe they will place it on their Internet site for downloading. If you get a copy I further urge you to call the following numbers to see what RIP can really do: Telegrafix support bbs: (714) 379-2133 [Example of fully RIPped system] Telegrafix Web site : http://telegrafix.com Telegrafix RIPWEB site: (714) 379-2134 [Fully functional RIPWEB site, call] [it using Ripterm! ] Searchlight BBS support:(216) 631-9285 [Another 100% RIP board ] Additionally, there are many RIP related files on my system, you can FREQ "FILES" for a complete listing. Fido 1:135/379. If you want to make your system look and feel like Windows or AOL, RIP can do it for you. Jesus Dacal jesus.dacal@sunshine.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Community Aids Prevention 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Hello Everyone, I have started an Echo Base pertaining to Aids. I belong to a group of peer leaders called Community Aids Prevention. The head of this organization is Mike Lyons. Just a little back ground information on him, he started this group 2 years ago, after he lost his brother to the Aids virus 3 years ago. I've known Mike for 1 year now, and the other night I was at a board meeting with 4 other peer leaders that run the 12 week class, and we were discussing new ways to reach out to people about Aids. Normally we go around to schools, and health fairs, colleges, etc., etc. But it isn't just teens, its adults too. So I suggested we try to reach out to people through FidoNet. I told Mike I would set up an base, and get some conversation going. Mike will be in and out of it, and he will type a message telling his story of the pain and grief he went through during the time his brother was infected with full blown Aids. I ask for everyone's support in this. Please carry the base, and push for it the best you can. I think it's a good idea that there is a base set up like this. It gives people the chance to ask questions they've had about aids. If you would like to carry this base on your BBS, please let me know, and I will tell you the Echo Tag and get you set up right away. Again, I ask for everyones support in this. Thanks For Your Time, Chad Richard 1:332/119 413-664-6069 Modem �