Subj : Re: Why use a Point, and recommendations To : Dan Clough From : Ulrich Schroeter Date : Sun Jun 04 2023 15:50:48 Hi Dan, 31 May 23 21:40, from Dan Clough -> All, in URL area://POINTS?msgid=1068.fido_points@1:135/115+28dd3f1c: DC> @BBSID: PALANTIR DC> Hello all, DC> Just started following this echo, as I may have an interest in setting DC> up a point for reading mail. I have a few questions, and apologize DC> if they've been asked before, which I'm sure they have... DC> 1. What pros/cons are there to using a Point, versus reading/writing DC> echomail directly on a BBS, or with an Offline Reader. I operate a DC> BBS, and have used offline mail readers for years. Just wondering DC> how/if a point would be "better" in some way. What can it do for me DC> that I can't currently do with my OLR (MultiMail)? DC> 2. I'm interested (only) in software for Linux. A glance through the DC> existing messages here would seem to indicate that 'OpenXP' is the DC> point software of choice. Pretty much true? Any alternatives to DC> that? DC> Thanks for taking some time to provide me some info/advice, and I look DC> forward to participating here. currently you've probably only received responses from the Zone 1 perspective view. But there are also others ... First is the historical view ... back in the 80's and 90's as Fidonet starts increasing, this was the before-internet-time ... all Zone 1 had the so called local-area-calls with zero addtl. fees using local phone calls. You could start a phone call at first of the month and could be online 24/7 until the last day of the month without any addtl. fee except the base fee you've paid for your telephone provider. In Zone 2 it was totaly different. Beside the base fee you had to pay monthly, you've paid for every call time based. So every online minute counted up to a total amount fee you had to pay to your phone provider. To get an idea, I've compared back in the late 80's ... 1 coke did cost 1 USD In Germany the one coke did cost 1 DM. In relation to the phone bill, you had to pay every 5 minute approx 1 DM. To be one hour online, you had to pay addtl. 6 DM. Thats why BBS'sing becomes popular in the US but not in Europe. In Zone 2 you cannot calculate your online costs. Therefor, the Fidonet developed mechanisms to call a bossnode with minimum time, if the transfer speed becomes better, the less time was required to be online, that counts to your phone bill. Therefor Offline solutions spread in Zone 2 where in Zone 1 BBS'sing was your friend. As said, Offline solutions have been developed. One option was the QWK technique but this didn't only become popular be the users that are still most time online at BBS'ses. The Point solution becomes more popular in Zone 2 because each user still uses the technique, that connects different BBS'ses with mailers to exchange mails and files in the background. Point programs in the beginning uses exactly the same mailer, tossers, tickers, editors that Node system uses beside their running BBS Each BBS user works under the hood of a BBS sysop - mostly the Fidonet Node sysop. Fidonet technical they have no voice. Fidonet technical you have to apply for a nodenumber to get fidonet member and have becoming a voice. With a nodenumber, you can be uniquely identified by your fidonet aka. As QWK reader you're still running under your bossnodes main nodenumber. Starting with point you receive your unique Fidonet Point-AKA and becomes addressable in the fidonet. The are differences in the Point systems. Ones that are standalone systems (OpenXP, WinPoint) with their own dedicated messagebase structures. You cannot combine these message base with any known BBS systems message base or other fidonet compatible editors or tossers and tickers. They are standalone as is. Good for people who dont want continue to discover the world of Fidonet. Its only good to select some discussion channels, some fileechos and receive the traffic for them. The 2nd type of Point systems, are Point systems, that allow you to move forward with your journey to get a Fidonet Node member, add a BBS system to your running system, to play around with different tossers, tickers, netmail trackers. Playing around with a BBS system in the Background connected to your local messagebase that interchanges traffic with your bossnode. Once you've received the learning curve to apply for a Fidonet Nodenumber, you only switch the Pointnumber with your applied Nodenumber and continue running your system as before. With the mailer system you can also add othernets to your configuration to have a multilevel networking environment. With such a system you're probably able to switch from one OS system to another. Running BinkD mailer you can run your system on Windows, on Linux, on OS2 maybe others. One of such combination of mailer, tosser, editor as point starter kit is the BinkD, HPT, GoldEd package. For Linux Philip Giebel deployed the Fidian package. For Windows long time there was the Fidopoint-Paket-Deluxe available for Windows, but failed the switch from Windows 32bit to Windows 64bit The heart of this package is the universal Tosser with the ability to support different types of FTN compatible message bases. Therefor this solution is the open-forward system with the best effort if you want to continue with your fidonet journey regards, uli ;-) --- GoldED-NSF/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-20090710 * Origin: AMBROSIA - Bad Ueberkingen - Germany (2:240/1120) .