Many probably heard that along with the Internet there is FidoNet. What it is? FidoNet is a worldwide computer network that is used to communicate between systems from point to point (BBS). It uses a data storage and transfer system to exchange private (e-mail) and public (forum) messages between BBS on the network, as well as other files and protocols in some cases.
What is she like?
"FidoNet" - what is it? The FidoNet system was based on a number of small, interoperable programs. Only one of them interacted directly with the BBS system and was the only part that needed to be installed to support the rest of the software. This greatly facilitated the connection, and FidoNet was one of the few networks that was widely supported by almost all BBS software, as well as a number of other services. This modular design also made it possible for FidoNet to easily switch to new data compression systems, which was important in the era of using dial-up modem communications with high long-distance tariffs.
The gradual improvement in modem speed in the early 1990s, coupled with the rapid decline in computer and storage prices, made BBS more popular. By the mid-1990s, nearly 40,000 FidoNet systems were in operation, and this made it possible to communicate with millions of users around the world.
The widespread availability of low-cost Internet connections that appeared in the mid-1990s reduced the need for the FidoNet system for storing and sending information. Direct dialing to local BBS systems has quickly declined. Although the use of FidoNet has significantly decreased since the late 1990s, the network continues to be used even today, despite the fact that the Internet connection is becoming publicly available.
Origin
The history of the origin of the FidoNet network is as follows. It originates from the 1980s.
In 1983, Tom Jennings began work on a new communications system hosted on MS-DOS, which will become Fido BBS. He finally created this network in San Francisco in early 1984. Another early user was John Madil, who was trying to install a similar system in Baltimore. The FidoNet network began to spread to new points, and Jennings eventually began to maintain an unofficial list of their phone numbers, being in it under the first number.
The network developer released the first version of FidoNet software in June 1984. At the beginning of 1985, he wrote a document explaining the essence of the FidoNet network (what it is, you already know), as well as the history of the system. In this version, FidoNet was developed as a way to exchange mail between the first two points.
In early 1984, Ben Baker planned to create a BBS for the newly created computer club. He intended to use the main CBBS system hosted on CP / M and the Rainbow 100 computer. This PC contained two processors, the Intel 8088 and the Zilog Z80, which made it possible to work with MS-DOS and CP / M. Looking for software that will run on DOS, Baker found out about FidoNet through Madila.
How did the technology evolve?
The software for the nonprofit computer network FidoNet required changes to the serial port drivers to work properly on Rainbow. Work began on such changes with the participation of Jennings, Madil and Baker.
This led to the fact that all participants incurred significant costs for long-distance calls, as they constantly called each other during development or contacted by email. During one of these calls, Baker and Jennings discussed how great it would be if BBS systems could automatically call each other by exchanging mail and files. This would allow them to compose messages on their local computers, and then quickly deliver them, rather than ringing and typing a message using long distance telephony.
As a result, a new version of the software appeared, consisting of three files: FIDO_DECV6 (a new version of the BBS program itself), FIDONET and NODELIST.BBS. The new version of FIDO BBS had a timer that made it exit at the indicated time, usually at night, and when it exited it, a separate FIDONET application was launched. NODELIST was a list of Fido BBS systems that Jennings had previously compiled.
How does FidoNet work?
What is this system and how does it work? FIDONET later became known as a mailer. The FIDO application has been modified to use a previously unused numeric field in the message headers to store the node number for the machine on which the message is to be delivered.
The administrative structure of FidoNet consists of points, nodes and users. When the FidoNet program starts, the network will look for any messages with a number in this field in the email database. The program collects all the data for a specific node number into a file known as a message packet. After all packets have been generated, one for each node, FIDONET will look for the phone number of the destination node in NODELIST.BBS and call the remote system.
Provided that FIDONET works at the recipient, both systems will connect and, if this succeeds, the caller will download their own and response data packets and then disconnect. After that, FIDONET unpacks the returned packet, places the received messages in the local system storage and proceeds to the next data volume. When the file transfer is completed, FidoNet will shut down and start the FIDO BBS program.
How has the popularity of the network grown?
The FidoNet computer network began operations in 1984, and by the end of this year it already had 100 nodes. Sustained growth continued throughout the 1980s, and a combination of factors led to its rapid development after 1988. First of all, this is the emergence of faster and less expensive modems, as well as a decrease in the cost of hard drives and computer systems in general.
By April 1993, the list of FidoNet nodes contained more than 20,000 items. At that time, according to experts, each node had an average of about 200 active users. Of these 4 million users, half usually used echomail, publicly accessible public forums, while around 200,000 used a private network mail system.
Throughout its existence, the network has faced management and competition problems. In many ways, this can be explained by the fact that the inter-network data delivery cost real money, and the volume of traffic grew faster than the losses caused by the increased modem speed and the reduced cost of long-distance communication. To the extent possible, attempts have been made to recover costs in various ways, which have caused much controversy. The problems were so serious that Jennings began to call the system "battle in the network."
Decline in popularity
When modems reached a speed of 28.8 kbit / s, the costs of TCP / IP protocols were no longer so unpleasant, and access to the Internet via a telephone line was becoming more common. By 1995, FidoNet’s popularity began to decline as users abandoned their local BBS systems in favor of larger sites and web pages that could be accessed around the world at the same price as BBS.
It also made FidoNet cheaper to implement, because inter-network data transfers can also be made over the Internet, with minimal or zero marginal cost. But this seriously weakened the whole purpose of the storage and forwarding model, which was developed specifically to solve the long-distance communication problem (which no longer exists).
The list of FidoNet sites has begun to decline, especially in areas where Internet connections are widely available. This downward trend continues, but it has stopped at about 2,500 nodes. FidoNet remains popular in areas where Internet access is difficult or too expensive.
Rebirth
There is currently a retro movement that is slowly increasing the number of Internet-connected BBSs and nodes. Reform of FidoNet was carried out, as a result of which Telnet, Rlogin and SSH are used between these systems. This means that you can communicate with many BBS around the world as cheaply as in the neighborhood.
In addition, Usenet and Internet mail have been added along with long file names to many new versions of the BBS software, some of which are free, which leads to increased use. Visually impaired and hard of hearing users can also access this better than the Internet as a whole, since their interfaces deal mainly with ASCII text, which exists in most BBSs. This helps them communicate without complications of images and audio in Internet mail and communication in general.
How to use this network?
How to connect "FidoNet" in our time? To get into the FidoNet network, you need to have several different components:
- Computer - almost any home PC will do.
- A modem for connecting your computer to others via a telephone line.
- Software "FidoNet".
- BBS phone number for calling via modem.
Although the use of FidoNet has sharply decreased compared to its use until the mid-1990s, the network is still used in many countries, especially in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Some BBS, including those that are now available to users, connect to the Internet via telnet. FidoNet netmail and echomail feeds also retain their feeds.
What problems are currently observed?
Some FidoNet e-mail conferences are accessible through gateways with a Usenet news hierarchy using software such as UFGate. There are also email services for messaging between the Internet and FidoNet. Widespread Internet hacking and spam has caused some gateways (such as the former 1: 1/31 IEEE fidonet.org gateway) to become unusable or to stop working altogether.