Spitfire To Join The Fidonet Filebone! Well what the heck is filebone? If were going to find out about Filebone were going to have to start with Fidonet. Fidonet is a international message network with over 18,000 BBS on line world wide. Fidonet carries on its backbone (Main areas) over 500 conferences on a wide range of topics. It has been reported that conferences that are available on and off the backbone total over 2,000. On a average day I can expect 2,000 to 4,000 messages coming in to my 80 some odd conferences! The mail packet that comes in carries only messages from conferences that I actually carry. And with fidonet, the hub for your area calls you, sending new mail packets all day long. With Fidonet you can carry a conversation in your local area, sending and receiving messages, to and from your BBS with only a small delay! I Also carry 84 file areas that are connected to the Filebone. These files are hatched at specific areas around the nation and are transferred with the mail. The files are processed as they come in, together with a Tick file (.TIC). The Tick Program then runs and reads the .TIC file and gets a description of the program received places the program in the proper directory, And updates the description in SFFILES.BBS for all directories that have received new programs! Here in Las Vegas our network has grown By 2 fold in the past year. We have a Fidonet association that pays for the mail and file transfers. Since the Beginning of the year I have received over 100,000 Megs of mail and files, and is only the 4th of february! And now for the costs!! With cost sharing of our 30 +- members it cost us 10.00 per month for the Long distance calls! It saves me about 50.00 to 80.00 per month in long distance charges, and I get all the mail and files I can handle! How the mail is transferred. Mail is transferred through a program that is called a Front Door. The Front door (Binkley, D'bridge, Frontdoor, ect.) Sits active and handles all BBS, Mail, and File Transfers. When a Human (BBS) caller connects to a front door system, it will display a message that states "press escape to access the BBS") This will then load your Spitfire and with command line options "Spitfire %1" Spitfire will accept the baud rate sent by your Front end program, and your caller will now be in your BBS. When Another front door program calls you, Your system will detect that another front door is calling you and allow mail and file transfers. Freq's Freq's, short for File Requests, Are a way of transmitting or receiving files from another system that is running with another front door program. To Request a file from another system, You enter the Address of the node you are calling and enter the file you want, and the frontend host you are calling will send the file without ever having to log on to the BBS. You configure the Directories you want others to have access to, and only files in these areas will be sent. Ok so what about Spitfire joining the Filebone. What does that mean to me? We are setting up a file hatch site for Spitfire Programs and Utilities. We have full support from Mr. Woltz on this and will be sending out His latest and greatest programming! Also this is a Invitation to all Spitfire Specific Program Authors to get there Programs directly to the BBS's That will be using them. Please send me your new updates with a program file description, and I will hatch these out to the Spitfire BBS that are on-line. BBS # 702- 293-1099 and 702-293-0760 14.4 If you are all ready on-line with Fidonet You can transmit your programs to 1:209/236. A second site that is on the East Coast that you can send to is at 912-888-0656 16.8K DS. The Fidonet address is 1:3617/4. We will only hatch programs that are written for Spitfire at this time. Filebone areas will be: SF-BCS = Spitfire Programs From Buffalo Creek. SF-UTIL = Spitfire 3rd Party Utilities. SF-OTHER = Other Programs For Spitfire. Hatch Conference Message area: SF-ANNOUNCE Questions About Spitfire and Fidonet can be Directed to: West Coast Data Systems BBS, Craig Castleberry, Voice 702-293-1737 BBS, 702-293-1099 14.4, 702-294-1099 2400, 702-293-0760 14.4. Via Fidonet 1:209/236 East Coast The Omega One BBS, Richard McDuffie, Voice 912-436-0997 BBS, 912-888-0656 16.8K DS Via Fidonet 1:3617/4 Craig Castleberry, Data Systems BBS.