Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
From: Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: software for sending mail XENIX to DOS pc's
Message-ID: <24c473ac@ralf>
Date: 19 Jul 89 12:27:24 GMT
Sender: ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science
Lines: 34
In-Reply-To: <56.UUL1.3#5131@mvac23.UUCP>

In article <56.UUL1.3#5131@mvac23.UUCP>, thomas@mvac23.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) wrote:
}> J. Brooke King asked 'what's a fido'... Well I don't know much about it, 
}> but it is something similar to usenet, but much smaller scale.. I think it
}> comes out of bbs systems.
}
}You are right that it comes out of BBS's.  It is a network of PC-BBSs which
}exchange mail somewhat like UUCP does.  However, rather than being any-to-
}any the way UUCP is, FidoNet is more like a hirearchical structure.  Individual
}nodes communicate with hub nodes which communicate with 'super-hub' nodes,
}(they may be called regional nodes).  They are sort of like backbone nodes.

While that is true in most cases for EchoMail (the equivalent of netnews),
lots of email gets sent point-to-point, and all file transfers are
point-to-point (any system can call any other).  This is very much like UUCP
nettiquette, where you should retrieve large files by directly dialing the
system from which you are getting them, instead of forcing other systems to
pay for transmission.

BTW, FIDOnet is not all that much smaller than USEnet--about 5500 nodes versus
15,000--and is growing at a furious pace (doubling about every 18 months).
Also, there are lots and lots of nodes not in the IFNA nodelist which exchange
email and EchoMail using FIDOnet protocols (AlterNet, Good Egg Net, RBBS-Net,
TBBS systems, etc), so there could easily be eight or nine thousand systems
altogether.

--
UUCP: {ucbvax,harvard}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=-=-=-=- Voice: (412) 268-3053 (school)
ARPA: ralf@cs.cmu.edu  BIT: ralf%cs.cmu.edu@CMUCCVMA  FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/46
FAX: available on request                      Disclaimer? I claimed something?

PROGRAM n. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input
  into error messages.  tr.v. To engage in a pastime similar to banging one's
  head against a wall, but with fewer opportunies for reward.
        -- from a flyer advertising for _Inside_Turbo_Pascal_