How I became a node

I knew about Fidonet for a long time. Back in 2003, having received a modem on the 14,400, first of all I tried to connect to the Friends Network. But ... It did not work out. Then there was an internet connection, a read-only subscription via NNTP, but the idea was not only read, but write still remained somewhere in the subconscious ...

Year 2010. Point.

And now in the yard in 2010. And to be more precise - April-month. The article “ The Story of a single point” appears, which takes the writer's thought out of a comatose and sends Sergey to the point’s search address (2: 5020/2140). And here it is - the first message and the first netmail!
I immediately realized that joy is just beginning ....

Joy of modern Fido

The first joy is software. No kidding! I love console software. irssi, micq, links ... GoldEd is very organically included in this list and, as it seems to me, will remain there for a long time.
')
The second joy is information. I was pleasantly surprised by the themes in ru.unix. * - I have never met 70% of what they write about, although I've been messing with UNIX-like for the eighth year. I was amazed by the number of books in the F-echo book - many of them cannot be found on lib.ru and other online libraries.

The third joy is people. With very few exceptions, they are kind and open. So, my boss (and then uplink) Sergey (2: 5020/2140) helped a lot (and continues to help!) With the protocols and setting up the software, for which he is eternal thanks (unfortunately, he does not drink beer). By asking a question, you can be sure that he will not be lost with the thought “Oh, what a fool, what help him!”. And the complete absence of those whom we used to call “shkolota”. After the forums and other LJ - promised paradise.

So, having used the whole thing for about a month, I said to myself: “Enough! It is necessary not only to receive, but also to give. ” And so I decided to become a node ...

Getting a node

... but I managed to discuss this idea live only at the beginning of June, at the point of reference (meeting of fidoshnikov) of node 2140. Unfortunately, this process is not well documented, but someone else's experience helped me a lot with this.
For starters, a free server was found where, after several sleepless nights, the basic set of "mailer + tosser" was configured (see technical information at the end of the post). Then a “tracker” was added to it. Since the modem in Moscow is no longer up-to-date, I decided to make access only via ip. Then the application N5020C (2: 5020/0) was written and it only remained to wait ...

Birthday 2: 5020/848

And here it is, a glorious day! On July 2, two thousand and ten, my node appeared in the zone 2 nodelist in the 5020 network at number 848.
From this point on, I am officially considered to be the Fidonet network node with all that it implies.
The goal has been achieved ... And a new one is looming ahead - the creation and modification of software, the popularization of Fido in Russia, the establishment of links with other nodes ... There is no limit to perfection, isn't there?

Technical Reference

Point - a subscriber who has his own address, but does not have the right to vote on the Fido network.
A node is a network node, the main unit of the Fido user calculus.
A nodelist is a list of hosts that is both an administrative and technical (for routing mail) document.
Mailer is a program that provides data transfer between nodes or between a node and a point. In my case, binkd.
Tosser is a program that packs and unpacks the echo-conferencing data received through the mailer and scans them according to the necessary folders and files.
Tracker is a program that manages the transfer of personal mail. By simple - a tosser for netmail.
Netmail - personal mail.
Ehomail - “public mail”, divided into sections (echo-conferencing).

Poscriptum

And finally. If you still read this opus to these lines, it means you are interested in Fido. Feel free to try! Worse will not, and better - may well be.
And as an advertisement: I type points on ip, those who want to - read the instructions on the site of the site 2: 5020/848 .
Thanks for attention.

Acknowledgments: Sergey Poziturin (2: 5020/2140), Mikhail Medovshchikov (2: 5020 / 2140.12) and Dmitry Ignatov (2: 5028/66).

UPD@05.07.2010
Requested point address - look for yourself in the list . Found - it means Fido with you :)