Hey Nancy!   
      
   Dec 24 22:30 05, Nancy Backus wrote to Maurice Kinal:   
      
    NB> So are you saying that a new system is needed for Fido?   
      
   Not really.  Like you say everyone concerned is happy with what they've got so   
   I don't see how a dramatic change would alter usage to the positive.  I might   
   do a major overhaul for myself and return to purely text (ascii) for reading   
   echoes and not bother beyond that.   
      
    NB> Meanwhile, sysops like to stay with what they already know and love,    
    NB> and   
    NB> what seems to be working just fine for them....  :)   
      
   Yep.  Personally I have no problem with that idea.  Also if I just strip   
   inbounds of all binary and then outputting the result to the screen that works   
   fine for me.  Not really that much to strip anymore which is sort of a mixed   
   blessing.  :-/   
      
    NB> the usefulness of the machine, he got a Heathkit/Zenith 286 which he    
    NB> put   
    NB> together for our first PC.   
      
   I remember Heathkit.   
      
    NB> Before that, he had been collecting an    
    NB> odd   
    NB> assortment of parts to cobble together into a hopefully practical    
    NB> home   
    NB> computer at some point in the future...   
      
   That is what we do now.  I have a motherboard that needs some new capacitors   
   the neighbour is soldering on for me that has some worthwhile chipsets   
   onboard.  I have a 733 P3 I'll put on there and am going to add a few pci   
   cards and turn it into a digital VCR type thingy with a flash disk for the   
   main boot system and just hotswap regular hardrives for recording.  I've   
   already got the basics working so now it is simply a matter of putting it all   
   together.   
      
    NB> commands that were compatible.  Over the years, he also wrote a    
    NB> number   
    NB> of little utilities to perform some commands a bit more elegantly.    
    NB> Win3.1 was available to be called up IF a graphics program was    
    NB> needed.   
      
   That is somewhat what I was doing with DOS minus Windows.  I didn't worry   
   about graphics at all since at that time I had access to Sparcs which were   
   networked to all sorts of awesome devices that I in my wildest dreams couldn't   
   afford.  I got spoiled long before I started with PC's.   
      
    NB> When we finally upgraded, to a Pentium (not quite cutting edge, after   
    NB> they fixed the math bug, but still fairly early), the first thing   
    NB> Richard did was to UNinstall Win95, and set up the DOS system.     
      
   :-)   
      
    NB> Later,   
    NB> he figured out how to have Win95 be available to be called up when   
    NB> needed but not to be running the show, and then he put it back on the   
    NB> puter, but not until then...  :)   
      
   Yeah.  That is what I now do with X.  Hardly ever fire it up though.   
      
    NB> More hardcore than DOS users (or Linux, either)?     
      
   Maybe these days.  I am not sure anymore.  Noticed one new user on the web   
   site from New York who seems to be on the same track I was a few years back   
   with booting flash disks.  I get the impression hardcore isn't what it used to   
   be but still find a few around here and there.  Fido used to be chock full of   
   hardcore.   
      
    NB> I suspect you and hubby would get along well..  :)   
      
   Could very well be true.  We certainly have some common ground between us.   
      
    NB> well acquainted with it, and has helped a friend of ours as she    
    NB> figured   
    NB> out her linux system.  :)   
      
   It isn't that hard with a guru close at hand.  :-)   
      
    NB> I think I got into BBS'ing in the late 80's.   
      
   I saw one back then running on a mainframe (VAX/VMS).  It had a link to a Fido   
   BBS but was primarily used as an online database for a university library.    
   Then they screwed it all up and went with httpd.  Sometime after that isp's   
   started showing up and the rest is history.  Myself I stuck with my own online   
   database roughly equilvalent to a terminal based BBS except no echoes or   
   anything like that.  Basically it was designed to be used as a convenient way   
   for me to move data around and keep track of what was what.  The internet   
   wasn't useful to me personally at that time so I never bothered with it.    
   Everybody who knew me then thought I should have though but I saw no point   
   going there.  Still don't despite having a web site.  Not sure if anyone is   
   getting anything out of it but I am told there is good reason so who am I to   
   argue?   
      
   As long as someone is having fun eh?   
      
    NB> graduated, we had upgraded to the pentium.   
      
   I still prefer 486's over pentiums.  P3's are good.  I am having fun with them.   
      
    NB> Until everything slows to a crawl with all the viruses/trojans/worms   
    NB> they pick up on their computers...?  ;/  Oh, and with Windoze    
    NB> running,   
    NB> and their never turning off the computer to let it clean things up...    
    NB> ;)   
      
   Could be.  Not an issue here thank goodness.  :::knock on wood:::  All the   
   spam I recieve is from those people.  Sure makes it easy to write a spam   
   filter when they ALL use Outlook Express.  :-)   
      
    NB> But yes, things seem to happen so quickly that they don't see that   
    NB> things could actually be working so much more efficiently.  :)   
      
   They do when they see the stuff in action here.   
      
   Life is good,   
   Maurice   
      
   --- Msged/LNX 6.1.2   
    * Origin: The Pointy Stick Society XV - Linux Point (1:261/38.9)