Renewable Energy and the Online Computer World Don Kulha copyright 1992 Don Kulha The past two issues of Home Power have mentioned the computer availability of Alternative Energy information "online" via FidoNet and Echo conferencing. These will be new terms to many of you, and I'll try to explain them and their growing significance. Information by Computer Nearly 20% of U.S. homes currently contain a personal computer. One of the peripheral devices commonly hooked up to these computers is a modem. A modem allows the computer to send and receive information over standard telephone lines. The modem translates digital signals available at the ports of the computer to analog signals compatible with the telephone network. These analog signals travel through the phone system and are received at the other end by another modem that converts them back to digital pulses and feeds them to another computer. In the early days of microcomputers, this capability was considered an arcane magic reserved for wizards and hackers. Over time, standards were developed. Modems and the software used to manage them have become very reliable, much easier to use, and are no longer considered the exclusive realm of the digital wizards. This development signified the beginning of a revolution that is rapidly changing the way people communicate, obliterating international boundaries, and even changing the course of history. Modems and Democracy During the recent attempted coup in the former Soviet Union, digital telecommunications such as the modem played a vital role in its failure. The coup leaders did not shut down the digital communications links which had recently been established in the Soviet Union. These links allowed the peoples of the soviet republics to communicate with each other and the world, and were used to expose the bankrupt nature of the attempted coup. These networks were literally filled to capacity with freely flowing information. Just a few years ago, the info would never have moved at all. The freedom of information flowing between people makes digital communications a tool of growing importance both in the U.S. and abroad. Access to information is a great enabling and empowering capability which may be the greatest boon of the microcomputer revolution. Today, educators use this technology to reach students and businesses exchange vital information on a timely basis. We can use it to discuss alternative energy, and to share and pool our collective knowledge. Organized Communication- all shapes and sizesÉ We share information via many avenues. There are commercial information services such as Compuserve, Genie, British Telecom Tymnet, and Prodigy which serve hundreds of thousands of subscribers. There are also noncommercial amateur systems and networks that carry much the same type of information. The most common capabilities offered by these services, whether commercial or amateur, are message exchange and file transfer. Messages can be posted to share information, espouse opinions, ask questions, or answer those posted by others. Files, which can be in the form of information, computer programs or pictures, can be captured (downloaded) or sent (uploaded) and thus widely shared. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's) are the most common avenues of digital communications. These are usually run by dedicated hobbyists who share a vision of free and unrestricted communications. Nearly every community will have one or more such systems, many of which are linked together into amateur communications networks. The power of these networks is that they amplify the capabilities of the individual systems by making it possible to link more people and share their contents more widely. FidoNet is one such network. It links over 12,000 individual BBS systems scattered around the globe enabling them to exchange messages and files. The network provides a means whereby discussion areas on individual local BBS systems can be pooled and combined. This capability, called echo mail or echo conferencing, is tremendously useful and very exciting. Most BBS systems will have multiple individual message or discussion areas set up relating to particular topics. Messages posted in these discussion areas, when linked into "echos," are shared between BBS systems via the network. A message posted on a local BBS system will be processed and copies of it will show up on all other BBS systems participating in that echo. Any replies or new comments entered on other participating systems will propagate around the network and make it back to the local system. Geographical or political boundaries are basically meaningless to the network. The "pooling" of echo conferences is their great strength. You might enter a message on a BBS local to you and get a reply from someone else using a system located across the state, continent, or around the world. This synergy opens many exciting possibilities for sharing and collaboration. One is our new conference dealing with alternative energy and topics inspired by the work of the fine folks at Home Power magazine. Alternative Energy hits the lines Last July, just prior to SEER '91, I started casting around FidoNet, soliciting other BBS system operators to make an echo conference on alternative and homebrewed energy available to their local usership. We now have about three dozen participating systems scattered around the U.S. and are in contact with others in Canada and Australia who would like to join us. The folks at Home Power have also generously provided us with the text and picture files from the first 10 issues of Home Power magazine. These are carried online as downloadable files by several of the systems participating in the echo conference. The text of the articles is available as straight (ASCII) text. The diagrams and charts have been converted to "MacPaint" format files for which viewer software for most types of computers is available (usually freely available for download on the same system). To date, over 500 messages have flowed through the echo. More BBS systems and participants are joining us on a weekly basis. The echo discussion has run the gamut of AE topics ranging from PV panels and batteries to low-head hydro power and solar thermal steam turbines. I personally find this tremendously exciting and enlightening and can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. Come join us! For those of you who have computers, modems, and access to a phone line, joining the conference is simple. Look at the list of participating systems, call one, and follow the online prompts and directions. Since participating systems operate on software that may differ from system to system, it's hard to be more specific than that. Generally once you are online, the system will ask you to answer a few questions so it can identify you on subsequent calls. It then presents a main menu. You will usually choose to switch to the message submenu from the main menu, and then select the menu of message area topics from which you will choose the AE or HOMEPOWR (the FidoNet designator) echo. If you have a computer but no modem, we can give you a few tips to help you get started. The most common and affordable type modem is called a "2400 baud" modem, which can send or receive about 240 characters per second and will suffice for most purposes. These should cost no more than $150 and may cost as little as $75 for an internal card that installs in IBM compatible computers. You will need software appropriate to your computer, and possibly a cable to connect the serial port of your machine to the modem. These will generally be available for a moderate cost from the same place you purchase your modem. If there is a local "users group" that focuses on your kind of computer, they can be an invaluable source of information, low-cost software, and help. Most, if not all, systems you call will require that you initialize your software to a set of operating parameters. These are usually "8/1/N- Full Duplex" or eight data bits, one stop bit, and no parity. Your software will probably be preconfigured to these settings when you get it. All this might sound a little intimidating at first, but the whole process is really quite simple and worth the trouble. It will open up a new world of communication possibilities that will serve you well. Welcome to the future, to Cyberspace and the online community. We are shaping the future with how we use this medium and folks of the "Home Power" clan have important contributions to make. We look forward to your joining us online. Access Author: Don Kulha, POB 7518, Santa Rosa, CA 95407 ¥ 707-526- 9473. Don is the system operator (Sysop) of Sonoma Online, the oldest public BBS system in Sonoma County, CA. It has been in operation over seven years, has taken over 61,000 calls, and serves 800+ users. Sonoma Online operates as a community information resource and the Wine country systems hub for the FidoNet network in northern California. The following is a list of systems currently participating in the HOMEPOWR echo conference. If you use a BBS linked to the FidoNet or RBBS-Net that does not carry it, please ask them to request it for you from their network feed.