Hi Phil,

     About "TELNET" of July 11:


MS> ...will ~TelNet~ be your "Plan-B"?
PM> Haven't thought about it yet...  But I think so because I usually
PM> use telnet when looking for text based stuff...  It's much quicker.

     Well, i'm an unconditional supporter of ~TelNet~ myself;  the hobby
without most of today's extras shure seems much more bearable sometimes!

PM> Time is getting short.  Any suggestions?

     Bob Juge's BBS at juge.com has been my own "Plan-B" when i couldn't
rely on anything else but `MS-Kermit' as the ~TelNet~ terminal emulator;
i simply don't know of any other system where a decent `Kermit' protocol
implementation is supported so his BBS has gained my loyalty by default.

     I once had hopes in Robert Couture's RuneKeep BBS because it seemed
that he and i could, perhaps, have `MS-Kermit v3.15 Medium' installed on
this `SynchroNet' system as an external protocol driver but he got other
duties to attend to in the meantime (~FTP~ and `ZMoDem' problems amongst
them, as i recall).  If `Kermit' isn't possible i just fold back to some
`WildCat! 5.x' BBS where `ZMoDem' doesn't give me much trouble;  the one
from where i post has technical problems similar to others like it but i
keep sending from BBSNets 'cause Tod Chochrane let it become a habbit...

                                  ;-)

     There are good people out there and i'm certain i'd forget a few if
i prentended i could name them all;  i'm quite ignorant of who Bob Juge,
Tod Chochrane and the others are, actually.  I'm only a BBSer and what i
need is ease of use (~OLMR~ doors help with that) and reliability (BBSes
which are off-line too often, where a post will get reformatted, mangled
or lost usually get a bad note and few visits afterwards).  Finally, the
features i praise the most are an up-to-date `Kermit' support, extensive
message base that allows me to travel far back into time, an ~OLMR~ door
that doesn't touch any pointers until i really received the .QWK packet,
euh...  And working ~NetMail~ support as it's supposed to be an integral
part of `FidoNet' BBSing, after all - not that i need this much, though.

     Dennis Haddox is another busy man but he had `ZMoDem' working right
when i paid him a visit (a couple years ago)...  Shannon Tally's FidoTel
BBS at telnet.fidotel.com and Chris Cranford's TKD SoftWare BBS which is
at bbs.tkdsoftware.com both remained on my "backup" list as i keep going
for the packets, from time to time.  I'm sorry for the other SysOps, i'm
not implying their place isn't worth a try - i just can't know them all!

     Ha!  While i think of it, i like to have `FdN_Francais' around too.

                                  ;-)

     Those places where you can be certain i won't go are the BBBS BBSes
and especially those running with `Linux':  the author and his followers
can't install `C-Kermit' for some reason and the one that's included got
even worst than `WC's crippled `Kermit' - which is quite hard to imagine
but true!  A last note:  if you have a way with SysOps you could ask for
the fastest and most reliable paths only, then choose a BBS which you're
comfortable with.  My sort of compromise would be to go for `SynchroNet'
BBSes - i've been waiting for an opportunity to make my own contribution
with `Kermit' installs, if that's what it takes!  %-b,  Anyway.  Perhaps
my last tip should be that you could question the most fearsome warriors
over who you mustn't trust with your correspondance;  there's been users
who complained about this before (but that's not really my departement)!

                                  8-o

     Quite frankly, `Kermit' is the main thing that can make _me_ change
home but, from previous experience, lets say i don't belong with SysOps;
even COMMPort has it's downsides:  `Kermit' used to work very well but i
noticed that its performance has been compromized awhile ago and now i'm
hardly overwhelmed with enthousiasm.  Hummm...  Yep, you need to do some
research indeed, it would seem!  We all got our own specific priorities.

     No doubt the people here can come up with a few more suggestions!!!

                                  ;-)

     One given area where i might be able to help a bit is with ~TelNet~
in a pure DOS environment but i bet you're not limitting yourself to DOS
alone for all of your INet needs.  Feel welcomed to ask if you must!  :)
     
                                                           Salutations,

                                                           Michel Samson
                                                           a/s Bicephale


... Make BBSing UNIVERSAL, support DOS+TCP/IP+TelNet+ZMoDem/Kermit+.QWK.
--- MultiMail/XT v0.42 - Let me try a TelNettable BBS with an OLMR door!