F I D O N E T -- W H A T I S I T ? What is FidoNet ? FidoNet is an international electronic messaging network of bulletin board systems. The whole idea of FidoNet is to allow users of any bulletin board in the network to communicate with other users on other networked boards. FidoNet has spread across Australia, Papua New Guinea, South East Asia, Western Europe, and North America. Originally, only systems which used Tom Jenning's "Fido" Bulletin Board program could be part of FidoNet, but now many other systems such as Opus and TBBS can and are participating in the network. FidoNet Mail FidoNet can be used in two different ways. A user can address FidoNet mail to another user on another system in the FidoNet network. The mail will be sent through the network, and delivered to the recipient on his or her local FidoNet bulletin board. This typically takes a couple of days for a message to another Australian bulletin board. The actual delivery time depends on such things as the distance that the message has to travel and the reliability of the telephone connections between FidoNet bulletin board systems through which the mail will pass before arriving at its destination. The second way you can use FidoNet is by participating in Echomail Conferences. An Echomail Conference is a discussion on a particular topic which takes place on a number of bulletin boards almost simultaneously. A message placed in an Echomail Conference on one bulletin board is "broadcast" to all other boards in the network which are participating in that conference. There are a number of conferences available, including international ones, which cover a wide variety of subjects. Not all conferences will necessarily be available on all FidoNet bulletin boards. Cost of FidoNet mail and Echomail All Network mail and Echomail messages are sent via local, STD and IDD (for international Echomail and Netmail) telephone calls; unless sponsored, the Sysops involved (particularly the Sysops of "host" systems) bear the cost of this, and so users are NOT charged for mail and messages. Please see the file ECHTUTOR.DOC for the DOs & DONT'S of Echomail. FidoNet Mail Times Obviously, if messages are going to travel around the network, then the system needs time to send and receive them. A network "Mail Time" has been set up, during which all FidoNet bulletin boards disallow calls from users, and spend their time delivering messages to their designated "host" bulletin boards for forwarding to the rest of the network, and receiving messages which have been delivered to their host bulletin board. This Mail Time is from approximately 3:00 am to 6:00 am Australian Eastern Standard Time. A FidoNet bulletin board system is unavailable during this time, but because it is in the early morning, very few users should be affected. If the FidoNet bulletin board also sends and receives mail from Zone 1 (North America), there is an additional Mail Time from approximately 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. Network Addresses Each bulletin board connected to FidoNet has what is in effect a unique "address", allowing the bulletin board to be uniquely identified. Such an "address" consists of a Zone number, Network number and Node number, and is written in the form Zone:Net/Node. Zone 1 is North America, Zone 2 is Europe, Zone 3 is Australasia and Zone 4 is South America. Zone numbers should only be specified when sending a message to a system outside of your own. The Software Works's full FidoNet address is 3:632/998 (3 is the Zone, 632 is the Network, and 998 the Node).