From FidoNews, Volume 4, Number 28 (27 Jul 1987) FidoNet (r), International BBS Network Newslatter Yoshi Mikami, November 26, 1986 FidoNet in Japan [Editor's note: Sorry for the unusually long delay on this article. It came to us via a very circuitous route.] FIDO/COLLIE SYSOPS' MEETING The November Fido/Collie Sysops' meeting was attended by Tatsuyuki Arai, Yoshi Mikami, Maki Ohtoh and Junsei Yamada. It was held on 11/14/86 at 7:00, at Renoir coffee shop (phone 03- 493-1454) near the east exit of Osaki Station in Tokyo. Arai, Jun Moriya, John Takiguchi and Yamada had started this meeting on every second Friday of the month from last August to discuss common FidoNet issues and concerns. For Mikami and Ohtoh, it was the first time to meet these people. We jointly decided that we will write to International FidoNet Association, St. Louis, Missouri, to get the FidoNet region number for Japan. We do not want a host node under Pacific Region 12, out of Honolulu, Hawaii, as other Asia-Pacific countries such as Australia and New Zealand are operating. Mikami will write the letter. Arai wants to use the POLL and PICKUP functions on the receive- only FIDO node in Tokyo from his FIDO at home. Those functions do not work properly for him. Tom Jenning's 8/85 documentation that he has does not explain in sufficient detail how to use these functions. We will get assistance from Fido operators in U.S. We know that there is a Usenet gateway, run by Bob Hartman, on FidoNet 101/101, according to the 8/86 Fido documentation. Does anyone know how to contact a Usenet node in Japan? Before switching to Fido, Arai ran Collie in October to find that Collie handles the Japanese Kanji characters nicely. (Ohtoh and Mikami have some Japanese messages in their systems.) However, Collie has a minor problem in handling Japanese characters, in the sense that some Japanese characters are interpreted as Collie's control characters. We will write to D. Plunkett when Jun Moriya returns from his trip to Australia to get the author's help (because he knows the technical details). Arai wanted to confirm, and all the meeting attendees agreed, that FidoNet in Japan will be operated on a non-profit basis, without discrimination of any kind. The name of FidoNet Japan was authorized to be used on Takiguchi's Fido BBS by Tom Jennings earlier this year, according to Arai. (The Newsletter Editor doubt that this has any significance, but it is documented here as this was discussed at the meeting.) Any would-be Fido/Collie sysops are welcome to attend this monthly meeting. The next meeting is on December 12, at the same time, at the same place. If English assistance is needed, help will be provided. COLLIE NET TEST IN KANSAI AREA After some pioneering work in April and May 1986, the Fido/Collie activities picked up in the Kansai area recently. Geki Hagiwara provided the following experience report: * * * * * * * A BBS network FidoNet was formed and tested in Kansai area in Sep/Oct 1986. Actually the software was Collie (Colossus) which simulates FidoNet packet transfer protocol. One of the reasons we chose Collie, not Fido, was that Collie resets the modem every time the session is over. It is believed that some modems cannot detect 1200/300 and CCITT/BELL in particular sequences. In such case resetting the modem may be effective. Through our experience Hi-Modem 1200C looked working satisfactorily. The members of TMCNET and their equipments are: NET NODE Name Area Phone H/W --- ---- ------------- ----- ------------ -------- 001 001 Joe Takemura Osaka 06-674-1933 JX-5+HDD 002 K. Sawaguchi Osaka 06-XXX-XXXX JX-4 002 001 Geki Hagiwara Yasu 0775-86-0919 JX-4+HDD 002 Ken Iwamoto Kyoto 075-XXX-XXXX JX-5 003 Junji Tanaka Shiga 0778-XX-XXXX JX-5 First, each node operator entered messages to several members and the other sysops; then we set Net mail time and watched how Collie sends and receives packets. We had a hard time to find the best combination of modem initialization commands and DIP switch setting. (We were helped by Maki Ohtoh.) We used the following MODMINIT.BBS file: ATX1 ATH1 (one blank line - wait 2 seconds) ATS0=1 ATV0 ATH0 The Collie startup command was: A>COLLIE /2 /M2 /I1200 /C32 | | | |____ Carrier mask bit | | |____ Modem init. baud rate | |____ Modem type |____ COM2 port The modem DIP switch setting was: SW1 DTR OFF SW2 Result no effective SW3 Return ON (should have no effect) SW4 Echo no effective SW5 Answer no effective SW6 CD OFF SW7 Tel.line OFF (depends on phone line) SW8 Command ON Although the modem operation was unstable like trying to call while the modem is off hook, the test resulted in a great success. We just tested the network formed by JX systems, but this network would not be open to public until the mail charge system is established. * * * * * * * For other details, contact Hagiwara or Joe Takemura at the BBS sytem number (at night only) listed above. FIDO/COLLIE SYSTEMS IN OPERATION To our knowledge, the following five Fido/Collie BBS systems are currently operating on regular basis: 017-653-5181 ext. 226-7408, Loki BBS (Fido), by Jon Spelbring, 24 hours, 1200/300 (CCITT & Bell) 045-761-9406, SurfSide Net (Fido), by Tatsuyuki Arai, 24 hours, 2400/1200/300 bps (CCITT & Bell) 045-894-7656, Collie Yokohama, by Maki Ohtoh, 24 hours, 1200/300 bps (CCITT & Bell) 0466-27-2077, Big Blue BBS (Collie), by Yoshi Mikami, 10:00-11:30 PM Japan Std Time, 1200/300 (C&B) 082-842-6401, Strawberry Doughnut Net (Collie), by Hitoshi Sugimoto, 10:30-11:55 PM JST, 200/300 (C&B) Fido Japan 03-432-0185 by John Takiguchi is temporarily closed. Mikami, Ohtoh and Sugimoto have been exchanging net messages very successfully at 10:45-11:00 PM time slot, since early October, between Fujisawa/Yokohama and Hiroshima, a distance of 500 miles. After much experiment, Infotech's Hi-Modem 1200C among the several JATE-approved Hayes-compatible (AT-command compatible) modems was found to handle the Fido/Collie net message transmission. They would like to hear other people's experiences on other modems, because there definitely is a need here for good modem competition. Ken Sugimoto has translated most of the Collie .MNU files into Japanese for easier operator interface, and has been operating a Collie node since October, somewhere near the Fish Market in Tsukiji, Tokyo. We'll get his phone number shortly. We do not claim to know everything happening in Japan regarding Fido or Collie. Please contact anyone of us to let others know what's going on. LETTER TO REQUEST JAPANESE REGION NUMBER SENT A letter was sent 11/16/86 by Mikami to International FidoNet Association requesting a region number for Japan, with copies to Tom Jennings (author of Fido BBS software) and Dan Plunkett (author of Colossus BBS sofware). A fifty dollar check was enclosed as our donation. Copies were also sent to people mentioned in Item 1.a. above. *** INTERNATIONAL NEWS *** MESSAGE EXCHANGE WITH HONG KONG Katsu Shintani called FIDO BBS in Hong Kong 00852-5-893-7856 in October. This is the nearest Fido/Collie BBS overseas that we know of. In return, Fido Japan and Collie Yokohama received a few messages from Hong Kong. ASSISTANCE TO OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES There are several FidoNet systems running in Australia and Indonesia according to the 3/86 nodelist. We would like to identify other Fido systems that may be operating in this region of the world. We also offer assistance if help is needed to set up Fido or Collie BBS in the Asia-Pacific countries. For those who may not know, Colossus ("Collie") is Fido- compatible software that is beginning to be used this year.Top of Page
From FidoNews, Volume 7, Number 26 (25 June 1990) FidoNet (r), International BBS Network Newslatter Yoshi Mikami Fido 3:720/13.12 RESULTS OF FIRST ASIAN BBS SYSOPS' CONFERENCE IN TAIPEI - JUNE 9, 1990 ------------------------------------------------------- Note: The non-English special characters that you may see below in this memo are Japanese characters in the original text. Date: June 16, 1990 To: Kyoo-myun Hahn, Honlin Lue, Toshiyuki Omi, and Other BBS Sysops in Asia From: Yoshi Mikami, now in Taipei, Taiwan Subject: The Results of the First Asian BBS Sysops' Conference in Taipei - June 9, 1990 (First Draft Report) Dear Friends, Six people from Japan (including one who lives in Keelung, Taiwan), two from Korea and 45 from ROC/Taiwan attended the First Asian BBS Sysops' Conference that was held at Taiwan University Alumni Association Bldg. in Taipei on June 9, 1990. On the agenda were: 1. Welcome & Intro H. Lue CΒΡ 20 2. BBS in Asia Japan T. Omi εόrK 20 Korea K.M. Hahn Ψ\j 20 Taiwan B.L. Lin Ρ΄ 20 - - - - - Intermission - - - - - - - - - - - - 15 3. Multi-Byte Presentations of Asian Languages@ Taiwan C.C. Lee u¬ 20 Korea K.M. Hahn Ψ\j 20 Japan Y. Mikami OγgF 20 4. Special Topics: Relationship with Commercial Networks TTN-Serve A. Liu «θΙΰ 20 5. Conclusion B.L. Lin Ρ΄ 5 We had good time, superb discussions that continued all through the dinner time from 7:00pm till 9:00pm, and excellent experience to share information on what we do in the three Asian countries from which the attendees came from. Honlin Lue and Jimmy Tsai presided over the conference. Honlin kicked off the meeting at 3:30pm (it was a partially rainy day towards the end of the late April-early June rainy season and Taipei's taxicabs all disappeared), welcoming everybody and introducing the participants from overseas and then from Taiwan. We had about seven female participants. Among the participants were a computer magazine journalist from Korea and a few journalists from Taiwan. (Toshiyuki Omi was asked by the Japanese computer magazines to write about this conference.) Tad Sekineh, who lives in Keelung, Taiwan, provided simultaneous translation over the mini-FM transmitter (that Yoshi Mikami had brought from Japan), to which everybody listened with portable FM radio. Honlin had prepared a big signboad in the conference room and, to everybody, a copy of the abstracts of the speakers. He had also prepared for the foreign guests nice banners of his own design, which showed Taipei's very artistic West Gate (Όε) that was destroyed during Japan's occupation of Taiwan. If this kind of brutality over the human culture ever happened at our time, we would stop it in a swift island-wide protest against such a stupidity, whether the government of that time felt the gate was hazardous to traffic or not, using our telecommunications network! Toshiyuki Omi, Sysop of Foreign PC User Club (FPUC) BBS, in Nagoya, spoke on the general BBS scene in Japan, which he summarized in two words: competition and cooperation. He feels that the Japanese telecommunications users, inspite of the recent competition in domestic and international telecommunication systems, cannot enjoy low cost telecommunications which the U.S. users are used to. Toshiyuki mentioned that there is a great deal of competition and cooperation among the 1,000 or so private BBSes, the many non-profit regional systems and a douzen or so big commercial networks, such as NIFTY-Serve, the Japanese version of CompuServe. He brought with him a BBS Telephone Directly (aardb ), a quarterly publication of all known private/public/commercial BBSes in Japan. His BBS is networked with unique 8-bit NetMail to about 10 other BBSes in Japan, one of which can be dialed up through a digital packet network (TYMPAS), domestically and internationally. Toshiyuki was unique in his own way, not using the NEC computer (which is the personal computer that most Japanese users have for their home use) so much and rather liking to use foreign-made PCs (such as IBM, Mac and Amiga) for their better user interface. A question was asked which BBS host programs are typically used on the NEC; his answer was many, not any one or two particularly used. Kyoo-myun Hahn (he always wrote his name as Hahn Kyoo-myun) of Seoul, Korea, next discussed (in English) his EMPAL ("electronic mail pal=friend") BBS which runs under Xenix, a UNIX vaiant. He talked about how data communications over dial-up telephone and modem (very expensive only a few years ago) had started in Korea. Since he was so busy just before the conference, he was the only one who had not submit the abstract of his intended speech. However, his presentation was very clear and understandable. As a third speaker of the BBS Scene in Asia, Bor-lon Lin near Taichung, Taiwan, had prepared a lengthy paper on the Taiwan BBS scene, mainly taked about the FidoNet of which Honlin and he play key roles, calling overseas and coordinating the 75 or so FidoNet BBSes in Taiwan. The FidoNet sysops in Taiwan had made modifications to QuickBBS and other U.S.-made BBS host programs, and FrontDoor and other mailer programs, so that the 8-bit Chinese language (Big-5 Code) can be used in the message areas and the mailer. In the Q&A session, Bor-lon himself asked if he has to send a large amount of data for the 8 or so small number of FidoNet systems in Japan. (The FidoNet systems in Japan are under the Taiwan-Korea-Japan area with Taipei as the area hub, which is under the Australia-Far East Region with its regional hub in Sydney.) I answered that Japan FidoNet's international connection just started in January, 1990, and that some more patience is required to see an increase in the number of systems. I pointed out that his talk was rather biased to the FidoNet in Taiwan, as if no non-FidoNet BBS existed in Taiwan and that his presentation was better understood only in a FidoNet conference. (See *Note below.) There was an abstract of Taiwan's BBS history written by Honlin in Chinese, which I found was very instructive---I hope someone will translate it into English soon. We then proceeded to discuss the technical gutts of the BBSing in Asia: the Multi-Byte Presentations of the Asian languages. As we know well, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages use the "Han" characters ("Chinese characters" if you like), which are presented in a sequence of two or three bytes, in MS-DOS and UNIX (AIX if you like). First, C.C. Lee made a well prepared presentation of his view of the mult-byte presentation of Chinese language, highlighting several key points. C.C. spoke in Chinese and his abstract was written in Chinese---I wish his abstract was translated into English soon. C.C. spoke of a program written recently by Deng Lin, a 16-year old high school student, which adds the "Eten" Chinese graphic characters to the original Chinese character codes, that the receiver can display the sender's original Chinese message in any EGA-equipped IBMPC compatible (without any special "Chinese character card.") I talked to Deng, the youngest BBS sysop, during the dinner time. This kind of approach can be experimented in the Japanese and Korean personal computers. The source code is included in his package. The second speaker of the Multi-Byte presentation was K.M. Hahn. He talked about the two Korean character set standards and the fact that his BBS supports both. K.M. also discussed the somewhat emotional debate of whether the number of the Korea-unique characters (Hangeul) should be increased from the current 2,000, at the sacrifice of the Han characters. Yoshi Mikami, then, spoke about how this Asian BBS Sysops' Conference was organized (remembering his experience in the oracle bones room at the National Palace Museum in Taipei two years ago) and the Japanese view of the multi-byte presentation of the Han characters. Although Japan uses one 7,500 JISCII character set standard (sometimes called "Shift-JIS") universally, it has its own unique problems such as the new, additional 6,000 characters being defined in 1990. A set of 5 specific proposals, such as making one or two key BBSes in Taipei bilingual, and defining the Chinese common names (such as Hau) in the Japanese and Korean character sets, were made. Let's make Honlin's Modem Way BBS 02-322-5113 and C.C.'s and Jimmy's BBSes truly bilingual, Chinese and Englsh, so that the international travellers in Taipei can talk to the Chinese people here! Each speaker well exceeded the given time, eagar to communicate what they want to say. The unique nature of the multi-byte situation in each country seemed somewhat boring to some participants. Next on the agenda was our relationshi with the commercial networks. Taiwan Telecommunications Network (TTN) sent five representatives, but three of them had left because it was close to 6:30pm when Adam Liu started a well prepared presentation of TTN's TTN-Serve, the Chinese language version of CompuServe, using transparencies. He described where the gateways are located in Taiwan, what PC character codes (Big-5, TCA, etc.) can be used, which modem speeds (1200/2400 bps) and file transfer methods (XModem and CompuServe B) are supported, etc.. TTN-Serve's features, compared to the private BBSes, are reliability and availability, and connectivity to CompuServe and Japan's NIFTY-Serve, as I understood. To me, it was worthwhile to discuss this first commercial network in this area, which will start its service in July, 1990. I wish them a lot of success! At 6:30pm, Bor-lon Lin concluded the conference, thanking everybody for participation. (Or at least I guess that's what he said, because Tad had to leave for Keelung a little before 5:00pm, and Adam who picked up the simultaneous translation made his presentation in Chinese---I encouraged him to do so because the majority of the audience was from Taiwan---and nobody volunteered translation.) We proceeded immediately to the buffet-style dinner in the same room, for NT$350.00. I would like to thank Honlin, Jimmy and CC to prepare everything on the Taipei side. I hope you understand by now that my pushing you to get the abstract done, the attendees list propared, etc., etc. from Japan was after all needed, in this kind of international conference! As follow-up, I will be getting from K.M. Hahn the English-language summaries of the Korean BBS Scene and Multi-Byte Presentations, and the Korean Telecommunications Environment, which he said he would be sending to me. I would also would like to collect copies of the articles of this BBS Sysops' conference when they appear in the computer/telecommunication magazines in each country. I spent this Saturday morning at the hotel to summarize the meeting results, as above, but if you feel that I am somewhat biased, please feel free to contact me through Honlin's Modem Way BBS, 02-2-322-5113, or James' INTERNET BBS 02-931-3045. I hope to get your reactions by June 20, because I plan to make my trip to Japan June 24-30 and to report the meeting results to my BBS Sysop friends in Japan. I believe that Toshiyuki's article in the quarterly NETWORKER magazine will appear in the September 18 issue---I may have to help him on that. I will see you again in a similar meeting in Japan, Korea or Taiwan (maybe, at the same time of the year and at the same place?)! Happy BBSing! Yoshi Mikami Taipei, Taiwan (*Note) In the following week, on June 14, I attended the June monthly meeting of Taiwan Users' Group (TUG) that was held at American Legion Bldg. in Hshilin 7:30-9:00pm, and reported the results of this Asian BBS Sysops' Conference. TUG is a group of people who share information in English about the members' useof mainly IBMPC compatibles. It was an Amiga night, by the way, that night. I met there with James Thomas who told me about his GT-NET network in Taiwan, with about 25 or so BBSes, such as INTERNET BBS 02-931-3045 (English only; TUG uses it as a club BBS) and NIGHT CATS BBS 02-821-9910 (bilingual Chinese/ English). Two of the GT-NET BBSes have gateway connection to FidoNet. James takes care of calling the GT-Power network hub in Washington, D.C., regularly, and distributes NetMail and EchoMail to other GT-NET BBSes, now mostly in Taipei. So, I know now that Taiwan's BBS scene is not synonymous with FidoNet. We need eveybody's participation in what we do and therefore value even a tiny, independent BBS. We live in a free world, so multiplicity should be our mode of BBSing mentality. End of FileTop of Page