Hello Simon,

 SG> As a Fidonet newbie, one thing I've yet to master is FREQing files.
 SG> Also, as someone trying to enforce a self-imposed exile from the
 SG> internet, FREQing suddenly seems very cool and useful.

FREQing files has always been cool and usefull.. :)

 SG> Is this still something which is done? I sort of know the answer to
 SG> this one - because I can see the file league tables in (the excellent)
 SG> Fidogazette.

Back in the dial-up days file requesting was easy to setup in mailers like
BinkleyTerm and FrontDoor, and also other mailer available at the time.

That's not always the case today with binkp mailers. It can be done with binkd
but a third party SRIF utility will be needed to be installed and setup.

 SG> But they seem to be weather charts, on the whole. Is it possible to
 SG> FREQ a list of files for another BBS and request anything there?  I
 SG> have read something about Magic Names, for this purpose I believe, but
 SG> would like to know if this system is still operational.

In some cases, yes. The software I run currently doesn't have an all files
list, something we should work on.

 SG> The BBS I call doesn't have extensive files for my OS of choice (ok,
 SG> none). Is it possible for me to FREQ a file list from another BBS, and
 SG> then specific files off that board?

If you read the FIDO-REQ, ALLFIX_FILE, or FDN_ANNOUNCE areas, nodes posting
those new files likely do support file requests and magic names. Try freqing
FILES from one of those BBSs and probably you will get an all files list. :)

 Ttyl :-),
         Al

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