TELECOM Digest Thu, 30 Jun 94 12:08:00 CDT Volume 14 : Issue 304 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Need to Hook a Unix Machine to a BBS on a PC (Michael Hauben) CONVERSANT Problem - Help!!! (crooksie@aol.com) Call For Participation: TeleStrategies' Internet '94 Conference (M. Lucas) Workshop: User Interfaces of Communications Systems (Ashok Gupta) Recent BCI/Jones Intercable Dealings (Dave Leibold) Tele-Direct Comes to Hong Kong (Dave Leibold) The Telco as Broadcaster? (Dave Leibold) SONET/SDH Comparision TR Available From Committee T1 (Jim Burkitt) Book Review: "NetWare Troubleshooting" by Hader (Rob Slade) Bell Atlantic Marketing (Neil Weisenfeld) Looking For 386DX 32bits Operating System (James L. Yan) Outgoing Call Lockout, But Enabling it For One Call (John Stewart Pinnow) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and GEnie. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 708-329-0571 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: sonicnet@panix.com (Michael Hauben) Subject: Need to Hook a Unix machine to a BBS on a PC Date: 30 Jun 1994 12:27:38 -0400 Organization: SonicNet BBS We are in the process of renting a T1-Leased Line in order to connect our BBS, SonicNet, to the Internet. In order to do this we are in the process of purchasing a Unix machine in order to connet to the incoming T-1 line. What I do not know how to do is how to connect the Unix machine to my PC. SonicNet runs on a 486/66 PC using the TBBS software. We currently have 8 phone lines connected via modems to a multiport Digiboard serial board. At this point I am unsure how I will connct the unix machine, which will support multiple telnet sessions, to the serial ports on the PC Digiboard. Of course we will be expanding the number of serial lines on the PC once we solve this problem. What I need is to somehow convert the incoming telnet connections on the unix machine into an RS-232 line on the BBS PC. Ideally it would be like connecting two serial ports via null modem cables. Others have suggested that I install an ethernet card to the PC running the bbs, but then I would be unsure how to redirect the incoming IP packets to the TBBS software. Also someone else suggested hooking up the unix machine up to a terminal server and the serial lines to the lines from my digiboard. The problem is that I know very little about the terminal servers, and less who to purchase them from. Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to deal with my problem? I would also be interested in how other TBBS sysops have hooked their BBS's up to the Internet for telnet access. Thanks! Michael ------------------------------ From: crooksie@aol.com (CROOKSIE) Subject: CONVERSANT Problem - Help!!! Date: 28 Jun 1994 20:57:01 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Help Help Help!!! Relaying problem from TELECOM TECH SUPPORT (hope I got message right) - they cant seem to resolve - have ORACLE Server (Remote MAC Database) feeding a CONVERSANT (MAP100 V4.0) script - CONVERSANT accesses (queries) the ORACLE table - CONVERSANT needs to know what ORACLE table structure is to maintain integrity - during power surges, table structure dies as if ORACLE table was not defined - why is this happening? When power is restored, the structure should recover the table should recover the ORACLE table information. Any assistance would be appreciated from the net telecom "brain trust". ------------------------------ From: Matthew Lucas Subject: Call For Participation: TeleStrategies' Internet '94 Conference Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 08:13:13 +0000 TeleStrategies' is hosting "Internet: The New Way To Publish, Market and Advertise" on October 10-12, 1994 at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The program will have both a conference and workshop track. The conference track will focus on new opportunities for publishing, advertising and marketing in the commercialized Internet. The workshop track will feature tutorials and live demonstrations of Internet applications, products and services. We are soliciting those in the telecommunications industry who have interest in demonstrating their products and services live on the Internet to our attendees. Approximately 450 people attended our March, 1994 program and we expect attendance to be even higher in October. If you have an Internet-based service or product and are interested in leading a workshop/demonstration session or exhibiting, please call TeleStrategies at (703) 734-7050. For workshop and demonstrations, ask for Lynn Stern. For exhibit or further information, ask for Jackie McGuigan. Thank you, Matthew Lucas TeleStrategies, Inc. (703 734-7050 ------------------------------ From: gupta@prlhp1.prl.philips.co.uk (Ashok Gupta) Subject: Workshop: User Interfaces of Communications systems Date: 29 Jun 94 12:19:07 GMT Reply-To: gupta@prl.philips.co.uk Organization: Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, UK Workshop Programme "User Interfaces of Communication Systems" Workshop of Special Interest Group 2.1.2 "Interactive Systems" German Computer Society (GI) to be held in Hamburg, Germany, during the Annual Conference of GI and IFIP-Congress'94 "Computer and Communications Evolution - The Driving Forces -" Wednesday, August 31, 1994, 14:00 - 17:30 pm On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Gesellschaft fuer Infor- matik, the German Computer Society GI, the 13th International IFIP World Congress will be held in Hamburg, Germany, together with the Annual Conference 1994 of the GI from August 28 through September 2, 1994. In the settings of the Congress/Conference the German Special Interest Group 2.1.2 of GI, "Interactive Systems", will organize in its 22nd year of work a workshop "User Interfaces of Communication Systems" covering topics related to the use of computer systems based on modern communication technologies. Modern communication technologies used in public digital networks or distributed computer systems demand new requirements in user interfaces of applications, both for network management organisations and for network users. Specifically there exist problems in the partly desired transparency of functional distribution, in explicit network management by the user, as well as in the manner in which users and system compo- nents cooperate in local and global networks. The workshop concentrates on aspects of the user interface, rather than the design, construction and running of networks themselves. The workshop addresses problems and issues in such areas as electronic mail and publication services, user interfaces to control and to access scientific and other information networks, user interfaces of communica-tion devices, and user interfaces in multi-user applications. Examples to be covered are new interaction techniques for operating telephones, user interfaces for wide-area networks, video-conferencing in its different forms, tools and techniques for designing and implementing multi-user applications, mobile computing, and knowledge- based communication systems. Relevant problems and vital issues of the computer and communication evolution are addressed in this workshop -- two fields which continue to grow together and influence each other in this decade and the next. The papers to be presented deal with the human-computer interaction of these existing and future computer-communication systems as seen from different angles, presenting various views of the field. Programme Committee: Coordinator: K. Froitzheim, Ulm, Germany Prof. Dr. Gerd Szwillus P. Gorny, Oldenburg, Germany Universitaet - GH - H.-J. Hoffmann, Darmstadt, Germany Paderborn, D. Jaepel, Zuerich, Switzerland FB Mathematik/Informatik P. Schulthess, Ulm, Germany D-33095 Paderborn G. Szwillus, Paderborn, Germany Phone intl+49+5251+60+2077 (Chairman) Fax intl+49+5251+60+3836 E-mail szwillus@uni-paderborn.de Programme Session 1 August 31, 14:00 - 15:30 pm Chair Prof. G. Szwillus On the way to Knowledge-based Human-Computer-Human-Communication R. Gunzenhaeuser, W. Dilly, M. Ressel University in Stuttgart, Dept. of Computer Science (in German) Usage of Communication Services with Drag-and-drop Techniques K. Froitzheim, P. Schulthess University in Ulm, Unit Distributed Systems (in German) Adaptive User Interfaces for Electronic Net Services H. Dieterich, M. Schneider-Hufschmidt, N. V. Carlsen Siemens AG, ZFE ST SN 51, Munich (in German) Session 2 August 31, 16:00 - 17:30 pm Chair Prof. P. Schulthess Interfaces for handling Multimedia Communication Systems M. Zajicek, X. Cao, D. Shrimpton, A. Tagg, J. Lehuby, D. Parish, P. Coventry, I. Phillips, J. Griffiths Oxford Brookes University & Loughborough University of Technology (in English) Aspects in User Interface Design for Mobile Multi-user Applications H.-W. Gellersen University in Karlsruhe, Telecooperation group (in German) The Virtual Office as a User Interface for Cooperative Working M. Sohlenkamp Gesellsch. f. Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung (GMD), Sankt Augustin (in German) Inquiries regarding the workshop to Prof. Szwillus, Univ. Paderborn, szwillus@uni-paderborn.de Inquiries regarding the IFIP Congress and the GI-Conference to Prof. Wolfinger, Univ. Hamburg, wolfinger@rz.informatik.uni-hamburg.d400.de ------------------------------ From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: Recent BCI/Jones Intercable dealings Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 00:41:00 -0500 [from Bell News, 27 June 1994; content is Bell Canada's] BCI, Jones Intercable fine-tune deal Bell Canada International Inc. (BCI), responsible for the international telecommunications investments and telecommunications consulting services for our parent company BCE, and Jones Intercable, Inc. of Colorado, have formally completed and signed a share purchase and shareholder agreement. Closing of the transaction is expected by late 1994, subject to certain conditions including the acquisition by Jones Intercable of the assets of Jones Spacelink, Ltd. The closing will include the following transactions: * BCI will purchase newly issued Class A shares of Jones Intercable for $206 million U.S., thereby increasing its total investment in Jones to $261 million U.S. for a 30 per cent interest. * BCI will purchase from Jones International, Ltd. and Glenn Jones an option worth $52 million U.S. for a controlling interest in Jones Intercable, exercisable in the future. * BCI will invest $35 million U.S. in other assets of Jones International, including Jones Lightwave, Ltd., a competitive access telecommunications service provider; Jones Education Networks, Inc., which operates the only distance network on basic cable television offering academic degree programs; and Jones Entertainment, Ltd., which acquires, produces and distributes original film and television entertainment programming. Jones Intercable, Inc. is one of the largest cable television operators in the United States. It is also the world's largest cable television management company, managing cable operations for publicly held entities. It manages operations in 20 states and three countries. ------------------------------ From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: Tele-Direct Comes to Hong Kong Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 00:41:00 -0500 [from Bell News, 27 June 1994; content is Bell Canada's] Hong Kong fingers will do the walking through BCE's pages Tele-Direct (Publications) Inc., our sister subsidiary in the BCE family, has formed a joint venture with Hongkong Telecom CSL to provide white pages and Yellow Pages directories for Hong Kong. Total revenue anticipated over the 10-year period of the agreement is US $1 billion. "The Hong Kong directories market is one of the fastest-growing in the world, and the association with Hongkong Telecom opens opportunities in southeast Asia and in the People's Republic of China," said Thomas Bourke, president and chief executive officer of Tele-Direct and group vice-president, Directories, of BCE. Tele-Direct will provide general management services and technical support to the joint-venture company, which will have a staff of some 200 employees. The Hongkong Telecom Group is currently the territory's sole provider of fixed telephone services, with some three million telephone exchange lines and a growing presence in the People's Republic of China. The company is 57.5 per cent owned by Cable and Wireless plc, the international telecommunications company. BCE and Cable & Wireless are also partners in two companies in the United Kingdom, Mercury Communications Limited and Bell Cablemedia Limited. ------------------------------ From: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org (Dave Leibold) Subject: The Telco as Broadcaster? Reply-To: dave.leibold@superctl.tor250.org Date: Wed, 29 Jun 94 00:41:00 -0500 [from Bell News, 27 June 1994; content is Bell Canada's] Telcos to enter the broadcasting business? Canadian telephone companies would be able to hold broadcasting licences if the recommendations of a confidential report of the federal government are enacted. The report, prepared by the Industry Department, was obtained by the press under the Access to Information Act. Also recommended in the 12-page report entitled: The Cable and Telephone Networks: Proposals for a New Policy Approach is a revamping of the Bell Canada Act that presently prohibits us [Bell Canada] from holding a broadcasting licence. ------------------------------ From: Jim Burkitt Subject: SONET/SDH Comparision TR Available From Committee T1 Date: 29 Jun 1994 08:49:08 GMT From: Committee T1 Contact: Jim Burkitt, T1X1 Chair (914) 644-5075 ccmail.jburkitt@nynex.com (Internet) Subject: Technical Report on Comparison of SONET and SDH Committee T1 has just published a new technical report, "A Comparison of SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) and SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)." This technical report, Report #36, documents the differences between SONET and SDH as described in the applicable standards pertaining to the two hierarchies. SONET and SDH are compatible but not identical digital hierarchies. Though both define similar sets of overheads and functions, there are differences in the usage of the two overhead structures. The purpose of this technical report is to identify the areas where SONET and SDH differ: - in overhead/format definition, and - in usage/interpretation of overheads. Once the differences are clearly identified, it is possible to assess the appropriate actions to be taken to insure smooth interworking between networks based on the two hierarchies. Committee T1 is sponsored by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Copies of Report #36 can be purchased from ATIS or a postscript version can be obtained by anonymous ftp from test.t1bbs.org (192.187.216.3) using the file name: /pub/techrpts/tr.0/tr-36.zip ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "NetWare Troubleshooting" by Hader Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 03:08:46 MDT BKNTWTRB.RVW 940414 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. Heather Rignanesi, Marketing, x340, 73171.657@Compuserve.com P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity tiffanym@aw.com Bob Donegon bobd@aw.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com Tom Stone, Editor, Higher Education Division tomsto@aw.com Philip Sutherland, Schulman Series 74640.2405@compuserve.com Keith Wollman, Trade Computer Group keithw@aw.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "Netware Troubleshooting", Hader, 1991, 0-201-57737-2, U$34.95/C$44.95 The format of the book is a combination of problem orientation, listing problems with explanations and solutions, and a general didactic approach. The format varies with the topic under discussion. In general, the problem outline method is most useful, and would be very helpful to those who are beginning to use or manage NetWare systems. The additional material can be used as reference as the new administrator grows into the task. The material covers a broad range of topics. File server optimization deals with memory, configuration, internal bridges and file attributes. Workstation topics discuss the shell configuration files, and logging in. Application software discussions are limited to Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect, unfortunately. There is also coverage of security, printing and management. Overall, the material is well written, but it does fall down in places. In particular, tables, figures and examples often are poorly chosen or designed for illustrating the points they are supposed to clarify. Another example is the treatment of effective rights: although the author states that this is a difficult subject and spends extra time here, the concept is not presented in a clear and accurate manner. A disk is included with a number of small, but potentially useful, utilities. You will, however, have to read the whole book to find out what is there and how to use it. There is no listing of the files collected anyplace in the book. The programs are described (very briefly) at points in the book where they address specific needs. The book, published in 1991, is slightly dated and covers only the ELS I, ELS II, Advanced NetWare, SFT and NetWare 386 versions. Many of the problem scenarios, however, are common to all NetWare versions, and address problems arising from the experienced DOS user unaware of some of the DOS/Netware interactions. A useful guide for the beginning sysadmin. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKNTWTRB.RVW 940414. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, February 13-17, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca ------------------------------ From: weisen@alw.nih.gov (Neil Weisenfeld) Subject: Bell Atlantic Marketing Organization: NIH Div of Comp Rsrch and Technology Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 16:59:02 GMT Well, as many of you probably know, C&P Telephone in the Washington D.C. area has recently dropped the C&P name and is now using Bell Atlantic (Potomac?). Along with having Darth Vader welcome me to B.A. on those rare occasions when I call directory assistance, I'm also being assaulted by B.A. telemarketers who are trying to sell me extra services. Now, here's the interesting part. For three mornings in a row, they called me right after I called out to check my voice mail before leaving the house. Of course this could be coincidence and timing, but I'm wondering if the would (and if they could) set up a system so that my number popped up in front of one of their telemarketers shortly after I completed a call. This would practically ensure that I was home to take their call. Fortunately, three mornings of "late to work" as a response to "How are you today?" has sent them away, but just out of curiousity, I'm wondering: could they?, would they?, and do they? with regard to the scheme I proposed above. Regards, Neil ------------------------------ From: James L. Yan Subject: Looking For 386DX 32bits Operating System Organization: a2i network Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 21:37:57 GMT I need suggestions concerning 386DX 32 bits operating system for PBx. James L. Yan ------------------------------ From: jspinnow@netcom.com (John Stewart Pinnow) Subject: Outgoing Call Lockout, But Enabling it For One Call Organization: Tmoh Research, Milwaukee, WI Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 04:14:23 GMT Is there a feature on telephones which allows disabling outgoing calls, but allowing an authorized person to call out like with a PIN? We currently have a lock out on the phone and dial out via cell phone, but is there away to do the above authorization type feature, instead of racking up large cellular bills? Thank you, Tmoh Research Internet: jspinnow@netcom.com Phone: (414) 761-1537 John S. Pinnow jspinnow@world.std.com Disclaim: Opinions==Mine [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Most telcos allow toll-restriction on long distance calls, where LD calls are denied entirely. There is a method such as you describe where a PIN is required, but I don't know which telcos have this and which do not. The best course of action would be for you to get one of the call restriction devices from Radio Shack and install it on your line. It can do exactly what you want in a variety of combinations where dialing is concerned. A PIN is used to override the restrictions. It can be mounted in a secure, obscure and out of easy reach place so that it becomes (almost) tamper-proof. Inquire at your local Radio Shack. Another vendor of similar equipment is Hello Direct at 1-800-HI-HELLO. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V14 #304 ******************************