Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ames!pacbell!sorinc!magik From: magik@sorinc.PacBell.COM (Darrin A. Hyrup) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: User Networks Summary: There are LOTS of them! Keywords: networks, GEnie, Compuserve, Delphi, etc. Message-ID: <8910220224.AA7470@sorinc.PacBell.COM> Date: 22 Oct 89 02:24:34 GMT References: <46522e61.d3a6@apollo.COM> Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga Lines: 57 In message <46522e61.d3a6@apollo.COM> Robert Moynihan writes: >What I want to do now is join some kind of bulletin board or other >sort of network. Compuserve is the only one I can think of off the >top of my head, I'm sure there are others. I also wouldn't mind... GEnie is my current network of choice. In general its faster, and for the most part has just as much information available as does CompuServe. Besides that its a LOT less expensive per hour. Another choice might be BIX (Byte Information Exchange) which Commodore uses to directly support developers and users. There are plenty out there! Delphi, Portal, Quantum, Prodigy, and many more. One I think will be a real up and comer soon is a network called "Summit". It offers a multitasking user interface (so you can like read a BB section and be downloading and uploading in other windows, with one modem! I believe you can use 4 windows simultaneously via some type of software controlled X.25 or something (Similiar to Matt Dillon's DNET)). >think of it, what you get out of it, how to join, and how much it >costs. For GEnie you call up a local node and sign up online. You need a special ID and password which are generally available in many magazines, or I might be able to dig one up too. I signed up a long time ago, but I think its a $25 subscription fee, which gives you a manual and a few hours of non-prime time usage credit. Rates are (for non-prime time): 300 baud $5/hr 1200 baud $6/hr 2400 baud $10/hr (I think?) Prime time charges a $10/hr surcharge to those numbers, or something like that. For BIX you can sign up over Tymnet. Call your local Tymnet node, and type `BIX' when it asks for the service. Then type `new' when BIX asks for your username. From there it prompts you for everything. Prodigy costs $9.95 a month for flate rate useage, and they have been sending out flyers all over the place for new subscriptions. Beyond that, I have no idea how to find subscription information. For the others, I don't have any idea. But you might check out one of the books or magazines about online services that many bookshops carry. They usually have all the subscription info. >If you know of any I should avoid like the plague, I'm interested >in hearing that too. I haven't heard anything good about Prodigy, in fact I've heard some open complaints about them. Considering you (presently) need a Mac or IBM to use their interface, you don't need to worry about it. >Bob Hope that helps. Darrin -- Darrin A. Hyrup // AMIGA Enthusiast rencon!esfenn!dah magik@sorinc.PacBell.COM \X/ & Software Developer pacbell!sorinc!magik ========================================================================== "Speak little and well, if you wish to be considered as possessing merit."