From: hallman@gibbs.oit.unc.edu (Judy Hallman)
Subject: Free-Net organizational Committee: Hardware & Software Issues; Set-up
Originator: hallman@gibbs.oit.unc.edu
Organization: University of North Carolina
Distribution: triangle
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 17:46:07 GMT

I am posting this for Roy Crabtree.
Please make a correction to my e-mail address below; my preferred address
is Judy_Hallman@unc.edu.
  Thanks -- Judy
-------------------------

Forwarded message:
>From wolves!tcsrtp!royc@duke.cs.duke.edu  Wed Aug 26 17:23:13 1992
From: tcsrtp!royc@duke.cs.duke.edu (roy andrew crabtree)
X-Mailer: SCO System V Mail (version 3.2)
To: judy.hallman@lambada.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Please netnews post this if you do not see it in 24 hours
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 17:05:05 EDT
Message-Id:  <9208262105.aa03229@tcsrtp.UUCP>

Judy:
	tcsrtp is being reconfigurd; if I get into difficulty, the article
	may not post for 24-48 hours; pls post this to triangle.freenet
	and triangle.freenet.hwsw to get this agoing!  If we double post,
	so be it.  Do you think NC distribution is enough?


Initial article follows:

Newsgroups: triangle.freenet,triangle.freenet.hwsw
Subject: Free-Net organizational Committee:  Hardware & Software Issues; Set-up
Followup-To:  triangle.freenet.hwsw
Distribution: nc
Organization: Triangle Computer Society
Keywords: free-net, internet, hardware resources, coordination

Hi, folks; this is my first posting for the Free-Net Hardware/Software
Organizing Committee.

When you first see this posting, please email me so I can get back a response
indicating this has actually posted everywhere. If I do not receive responses
within a day I will assume my reverse newsfeed is broken.

I will try to follow the recommended netnews guidelines for periodic and
semi-official documents to allow organized scanning & searching; any
suggestions and comments are welcome.  Here goes:

-------------------
Contents
	Introduction
	Schedules
	Membership
	Questions and Suggestions

-------------------
Introduction

Hi!  Anyone is welcome to join in!

The purpose of this group is to support the Free-Net effort recently
underway here in the RTP triangle area (and basically NC in general;
anyone else interested outside these areas, feel free to chime in, ask,
suggest, ponder, etc.);  our group charter is to look iinto questions
surrounding the hardware and software that might be needed to support
the initial (and future) needs of an active Free-Net (hereinafter freenet;
I hate capitals....).

What is freenet?  Well, we should have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Qeustions)
coming out soon, and there will be some chatter in triangle.freenet in more
detail, but:   the basic idea is:

	- to provide generally (and eventually universally) accessible
	- electronic information services
	- organized around a "community" or "town" basis
	  (plus higher levels as the service grows)
	- on an open access, FREE OF CHARGE basis
	- tapping into the existing pool of expertise
	  available within the communities using it.

Sort of a Library-meets-Federal-Information-Center-at-the-drugstore.

This committe has the particular charter to come up with solutions for
hardware and software to support these efforts on a cost effective basis.

We are just now organizing; anyone who wants to join in, please do so!
(Pass the word on, as well).
-------------------
Schedules

Having met for the first freenet organization get-together as of yesterday,
the general consensus of the initial membershipo (listed below) is to set
goals quickly and attempt to meet them in a short timeframe; hence the group
concurred that an initial two week discussion period should be enough to get started.   Our schedule is as follows:

	8/26/92 -  9/10/92
		Initial newsgroup set-up; electronic mail and netnews
		discussion of the purpose and points of agenda for our
		group;  first cut at establishing hardware/software needs
		and resource avenues and _dates_.
	9/10/92 18:00-19:00
		Where:  At the Friday Center in Chapel Hill
			room to be posted

		Initial group physical get-together to _finalize_ this
		as a _proposal_ to the freenet group as a whole (to be
		considered and commented on then forward, as well as now)
		and begin acting on provisioning.  (Tentative, of course;
		cross discussion with other groups and so on will lead to
		other concerns, and cross-coordination, funding, and timing
		will have to be worked out).

-------------------
Membership

	PLease scan for errors of ommission or typos; email me
	or Judy Hallman with corrections.

	I will withhold telephone numbers, and physical addresses
	unless the consensus is that there is no privacy problem
	withposting this information; please email your comments,
	concerns, and suggestions as regards this.  This will not be
	a trivial topic, because, as freenet starts to grow, data and
	information accessibility will be vitally important.

	As of 9/25/92, our initial signed membership is as follows:

	Name
	Group role
	Email address

	Judy Hallman
	Chief highhoncho and central contact point
	judy.hallman@bbs.oit.unc.edu

	Roy A. Crabtree
	INITIAL coordinator (I expect others to pitch in as well!)
	uunet!duke!wolves!tcsrtp!royc

	Mitchell North
	Member
	north@Polaris.com north@rad.unc.edu

	Henry Bibb
	Member
	bibb@ralum5.unet.ibm.com

	Dave Lutz
	Member
	dave_lutz@unet.ibm.com davelutz@unet.ibm.com%bit.net

	Paul Wells
	Member
	(no email as yet)

	Tim Arnold
	member
	arnold@stat.ncsu.edu

	Paul Jones
	Member
	paul_jones@unc.edu

	John Whitehead
	Member
	jfw@neuro.duke.edu

	Dan C. Eddleman
	Member
	(no email given)

	Greg Woodbury
	Member
	ggw@wolves.durham.nc.us (via duke.edu)

	Bill Evans
	uunet!duke!wolves!tcsrtp!cwe

-------------------
Questions and Suggestions

	The whole point of the group is for everyone to chime in; this is
	just an initial list of what I have thought of or what was suggested
	to me in the initial group meeting; fire away with problems, and
	then try to come up with a concrete solution to it!

	1)  We have some members on the committee who do not have electronic
	  access as yet.

		- Do we want/need to set up a hardcopy mechanism to touch
		  bases via snailmail periodically?

		- There is the UNC ebbs system for 1200/2400/9600 baud access;
		  will this be enough?   Are there any members who do not
		  have access to some terminal and modem/communication?

			At least one of us does not at the moment (Paul Wells);
			as freenet grows there may be enough need to set up
			some type of access path to get AND KEEP those folks
			out there who are NOT YET usenet-literate or who
			cannot afford the hardware/software connected to
			the groups involved with setting up freenet. That
			is the whole purpose of the thing to begin with.

	2)  Should we set up a series of freenet mail lists for each of
	  the committees?  Or will netnews be enough?  (Some folks may not
	  have a netnews feed).

	3)  Where should the group meet consistently?  Where are the members
	  currently located? (Preliminary responses indicate Chapel Hill to
	  be convenient, and the Friday Center is available).

	4)  Do we want to post or mail out a full list of contact
	  information (more than name and email) to the general
	  netnews community at large or even to all of the members of
	  the freenet groups in general (privacy concerns)?

	5)  What type of hardware, capacity, and speed do we need?

		- What kind
			OS (DOS, OS2, UNIX, other)
			Manufacturer
			Capacity
			Flexibility
			Growth
		- Capacities
			CPU rating:  how many MIPS
			Memory: how many MB
			Disk storage: how much online MB
			Backing store:  How much?  what media?
			System location:  room size, power,
				interconnect, staffing, access
			Telecommunications:
				Dial in lines, modems, speeds, protocols
				Initernet (CONCERT)
		- For what period
			Initial installation for trial period
			First year growth
			Successive year growth

	6)  Where will we be able to get this?

		- Will SAS allow a grant? Other companies?

		- Some systems support a "Task Broker" who can network
		  offload tasks, and provide network transparent services.
		  Do we want to try to start with this?  Or use a simpler
		  host startup?

		- Are there other avenues for access to resources that
		  might be available, or sitting otherwise idle?
		  University or public systems?

Please start up the discussion and go at it!
Questions?
Email me!
duke!wolves!tcsrtp!royc
	PS:  tcsrtp will be down for a day or two reconfiguring ... 


Newsgroups: triangle.freenet