SEAdog
More info
- Owner
- System Enhancement Associates
- Released
- 1986
- Type
- FidoNet mailer
- License
- Commercial
One of the first standalone FidoNet mailers: the program that handled the nightly mail exchange so the BBS itself didn't have to.
In FidoNet's early days the BBS software both answered callers and sent mail to other nodes. In 1986 System Enhancement Associates, the company behind the ARC format, released a separate mailer: a program that sat first on the line, picked up every call and decided whether it was another node wanting to swap mail or a human to be passed through to the BBS. Transfers used the company's own SEAlink protocol.
The split became standard practice, and SEAdog earned a letter in FOSSIL — Fido/Opus/SEAdog Standard Interface Layer. The program itself was soon pushed aside by BinkleyTerm and FrontDoor, which were quicker to adopt ZMODEM. SEA's simultaneous legal fight with Phil Katz over ARC did not make the company any more popular among sysops.