In a message on 11-03-18 mark lewis said to Holger Granholm:   
      
   Hello Mark,   
      
    HG> Europe did go back to standard time oct. 28th so it's now -0300 hrs.   
      
   ml> yeah, ours are currently   
      
   ml>   DSTstart=Second Sunday In March At 2:00   
   ml>   DSTstop=First Sunday In November At 2:00   
      
   ARRL usually sent a bulletin specifying its operating hours for bulletin   
   bradcasts but it hasn't arrived yet even though we are today at the   
   first sunday of november.   
      
    HG> What are those test pits for?   
      
   ml> to know what the soil material is like and how much weight it can   
   ml> hold as well as the moisture content... all this for the foundations   
   ml> and concrete pads the structures will be built on...   
      
   Those kinds of projects and tests are done here too. Bed-rock isn't too   
   far down here but you have to be careful to reach that for foundation.   
      
   Some architects are dreaming of creating a floating island of houses.   
   The problem here is that the city is built on a narrow point of land and   
   can only expand north and south.   
      
   However in the north there is a rural district that is growing by itself   
   and to the south are islands that are or can be reached by bridges.   
      
    ml>> SYSOP? hummm... i know there are several sysop echos but i remember   
      
    HG> The echo is FN_SYSOP the 'INTERNATIONAL FIDONET SYSOP ECHO' as it states   
    HG> in the description.   
      
   ml> OH! ok... yeah FN_SYSOP is a different area than SYSOP and others...   
      
    ml>> PS: you really need to get your fidonet system somehow connected to   
    ml>> the internet so you can get messages faster and be connected to more   
    ml>> systems for messages... sadly i'm no longer doing POTS connections   
      
   I'm on my way. Yesterday I found and bought a 4-port USB PCI-card and a   
   USB mouse. Now I have to find/buy USB extensions that allows me to reach   
   two ports from the front. I can't creep to the back of the machine every   
   time I want to reach an USB port.   
      
   ml> you do know that USB HUBs exist, right? you plug on into a USB port   
   ml> and now you have more USB ports... IIRC, USB can handle up to 256   
   ml> devices on each port/channel...   
      
   I have learnt that it's not that simple. I have a floppy unit that   
   connects to a laptop. On one laptop it can only read the files but   
   isn't able to write on the disk's because the current available from   
   the USB port isn't enough to write to the diskette.   
      
   The solution is of course to use two ports to supply the current by   
   using a Y-extension that connects to two ports and then to the floppy   
   drive.   
      
   I'm going to move all files that are on floppys now to USB-sticks.   
      
      
   Have a nice day,   
      
   Holger   
      
      
   .. "All new": Parts not interchangeable with previous model   
   -- MR/2 2.30   
      
      
   --- PCBoard (R) v15.22 (OS/2) 2   
    * Origin: Coming to you from the Sunny Aland Islands. (2:20/228)