-----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2006 1:45 PM To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: RE: has anyone ever utilized a fossil driver? --- Geoff Reed <geoffr at zipcon.net> wrote: Why did they decide to call it that? Did the abbreviation (or whatever you call it) come first, or did they call it Fido Opus and then just expanded on it? ------ I forgot a slash, Fido / Opus Fido was a BBS program, as was Opus. I'm fairly sure that the acronym came at around the same time as the FOSSIL drivers specification was developed. Opus was a Fido/Fidonet compatible BBS. IIRC created because the author(s) wanted some additional features that Fido didn't provide. Opus was widely used in the "point" network, you ran your own local copy of Opus, and arranged an account with an upstream provider, I had 1:343/3.1, StarShip Inconnu, a point node off of 1:343/3 - Glacier Peak Rainbow so I could get the Fidonet feeds I wanted and not have to tie up the single line on Gary's system (Glacier Peak) for extended periods while I read what I wanted to and responded to. Glacier Peak ran on a dec-rainbow, using a US-Robotics modem IIRC. Starship originally ran on my rainbow, but in the end I copied it over to my peecee and loaded the IBM-PC compatible fossil, then later ran it as a external 'door' app off of my Citadel BBS.