TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 1082.fido_points@1:135/115 28e1e011   
   REPLY: 2:240/1120@FidoNet 647c9ea6   
   PID: Synchronet 3.20a-Linux master/e54bed451 May  6 2023 GCC 11.2.0   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.20-Linux master/e54bed451 May  6 2023 GCC 11.2.0   
   BBSID: PALANTIR   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   -=> Ulrich Schroeter wrote to Dan Clough <=-   
      
    DC> Just started following this echo, as I may have an interest in setting   
    DC>  up a point for reading mail.  I have a few questions, and apologize   
    DC> if they've been asked before, which I'm sure they have...   
      
    DC> 1.  What pros/cons are there to using a Point, versus reading/writing   
    DC> echomail directly on a BBS, or with an Offline Reader.  I operate a   
    DC> BBS, and have used offline mail readers for years.  Just wondering   
    DC> how/if a point would be "better" in some way.  What can it do for me   
    DC> that I can't currently do with my OLR (MultiMail)?   
      
    DC> 2.  I'm interested (only) in software for Linux.  A glance through the   
    DC>  existing messages here would seem to indicate that 'OpenXP' is the   
    DC> point software of choice.  Pretty much true?  Any alternatives to   
    DC> that?   
      
    DC> Thanks for taking some time to provide me some info/advice, and I look   
    DC>  forward to participating here.   
      
    US> currently you've probably only received responses from the Zone 1   
    US> perspective view. But there are also others ...   
      
    US> First is the historical view ...   
    US> back in the 80's and 90's as Fidonet starts increasing, this was   
    US> the before-internet-time ... all Zone 1 had the so called   
    US> local-area-calls with zero addtl. fees using local phone calls.   
    US> You could start a phone call at first of the month and could be   
    US> online 24/7 until the last day of the month without any addtl.   
    US> fee except the base fee you've paid for your telephone provider.   
      
    US> In Zone 2 it was totaly different. Beside the base fee you had to   
    US> pay monthly, you've paid for every call time based. So every   
    US> online minute counted up to a total amount fee you had to pay to   
    US> your phone provider. To get an idea, I've compared back in the   
    US> late 80's ... 1 coke did cost 1 USD In Germany the one coke did   
    US> cost 1 DM. In relation to the phone bill, you had to pay every 5   
    US> minute approx 1 DM. To be one hour online, you had to pay addtl.   
    US> 6 DM.   
      
   Wow, that's very interesting and something I did not know.   
      
    US> Thats why BBS'sing becomes popular in the US but not in Europe.   
    US> In Zone 2 you cannot calculate your online costs. Therefor, the   
    US> Fidonet developed mechanisms to call a bossnode with minimum   
    US> time, if the transfer speed becomes better, the less time was   
    US> required to be online, that counts to your phone bill. Therefor   
    US> Offline solutions spread in Zone 2 where in Zone 1 BBS'sing was   
    US> your friend.   
      
   Perhaps that is true, generally speaking.  But I can tell you that for    
   myself, back in the 90's, first as a user and then as a Sysop, I used    
   the QWK/offline reader method.  This was of course not related to trying    
   to minimize my telephone costs, it was just more convenient and offered    
   more options.  Also, as a Sysop, in those days I only had one phone    
   line, so did not want to busy up my incoming phone while I was reading    
   and replying to messages on the BBS.   
      
    US> As said, Offline solutions have been developed. One option was   
    US> the QWK technique but this didn't only become popular be the   
    US> users that are still most time online at BBS'ses. The Point   
    US> solution becomes more popular in Zone 2 because each user still   
    US> uses the technique, that connects different BBS'ses with mailers   
    US> to exchange mails and files in the background.   
      
    US> Point programs in the beginning uses exactly the same mailer,   
    US> tossers, tickers, editors that Node system uses beside their   
    US> running BBS   
      
    US> Each BBS user works under the hood of a BBS sysop - mostly the   
    US> Fidonet Node sysop. Fidonet technical they have no voice. Fidonet   
    US> technical you have to apply for a nodenumber to get fidonet   
    US> member and have becoming a voice. With a nodenumber, you can be   
    US> uniquely identified by your fidonet aka. As QWK reader you're   
    US> still running under your bossnodes main nodenumber. Starting with   
    US> point you receive your unique Fidonet Point-AKA and becomes   
    US> addressable in the fidonet.   
      
    US> The are differences in the Point systems.   
    US> Ones that are standalone systems (OpenXP, WinPoint) with their   
    US> own dedicated messagebase structures.   
    US> You cannot combine these message base with any known BBS systems   
    US> message base or other fidonet compatible editors or tossers and   
    US> tickers. They are standalone as is. Good for people who dont want   
    US> continue to discover the world of Fidonet. Its only good to   
    US> select some discussion channels, some fileechos and receive the   
    US> traffic for them.   
      
    US> The 2nd type of Point systems, are Point systems, that allow you   
    US> to move forward with your journey to get a Fidonet Node member,   
    US> add a BBS system to your running system, to play around with   
    US> different tossers, tickers, netmail trackers. Playing around with   
    US> a BBS system in the Background connected to your local   
    US> messagebase that interchanges traffic with your bossnode. Once   
    US> you've received the learning curve to apply for a Fidonet   
    US> Nodenumber, you only switch the Pointnumber with your applied   
    US> Nodenumber and continue running your system as before. With the   
    US> mailer system you can also add othernets to your configuration to   
    US> have a multilevel networking environment. With such a system   
    US> you're probably able to switch from one OS system to another.   
    US> Running BinkD mailer you can run your system on Windows, on   
    US> Linux, on OS2 maybe others. One of such combination of mailer,   
    US> tosser, editor as point starter kit is the BinkD, HPT, GoldEd   
    US> package. For Linux Philip Giebel deployed the Fidian package.   
    US> For Windows long time there was the Fidopoint-Paket-Deluxe   
    US> available for Windows, but failed the switch from Windows 32bit   
    US> to Windows 64bit The heart of this package is the universal   
    US> Tosser with the ability to support different types of FTN   
    US> compatible message bases. Therefor this solution is the   
    US> open-forward system with the best effort if you want to continue   
    US> with your fidonet journey   
      
   Thank you for all that info, and for taking the time to write such an    
   interesting and involved reply.  For me still today, the BBS/QWK method    
   is still my preferred method.  I will continue to monitor this POINTS    
   echo, and possibly try it again one day.   
      
   Appreciate it, and take care!   
      
      
   ... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.   
   === MultiMail/Linux v0.52   
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