Message-ID: <v02130542ad84c5d8288e@[196.20.30.2]> Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 00:50:44 +0100 From: Dr Eberhard W Lisse <mailto:el@LISSE.NA> Subject: Re: Traditional I.T. Before the Internet ?! To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Hi,At 10:14 PM 31/3/96, Abubakr Alkhalifa wrote: >On Sun, 31 Mar 1996, Anthony Villasenor, NSI Program Manager wrote:
>> > Isn't telecom infrastructure is a pre-requisite for connectivity ?!
>> > I am comparing here the cost of a computer, the only requirement for using
>> > traditional I.T., to the cost of a computer + the cost of connecting it at
>> > the macro and micro levels. (assume training, etc.. is constant)
>>
>> Because if "traditional I.T." means getting a computer and dialup modem
>> for connection, then - like Bill Gates' 640 KB per computer - traditional
>> I.T. communication is limited to prevailing modem speeds and applications.
>
>I meant by traditional I.T. getting a stand-alone computer, no even modem
>or network. When the telecom & connectivity costs become affordable,
>modems, networking, and the Internet can then be efficiently used.
I have had a go Jeff Cochrane's budget here a month ago :-)-O
By far the most African countries have some form of connectivity, mostly the quite inefficient FIDO and the francophones the ridiculously expensive RIO.
There seems to be money for that.
What you need for full IP is a 486 with a unix (I like linux, but BSD is quite good too), a 14400/28800 modem and a leased line. What you need for dialup is basically the same but for the leased line. Instead you need a telephone line that can in fact dial somewhere.
486es are quite common these days...
So as long as you have subscribers (existing user base) to pay for the phone (they waste lots on the RIO), the system will work.
Once the demand grows you'll reach a point where the leased line becomes affordable and there you are. Of course you'll need a router but that if you get that far it will be no problem to get one.
>> If you give a family a hammer and a saw, they could perhaps build
>> one house in one year; if you give them power tools, they could
>> build ten houses during that same year.
>
>I agree with you: if they have access to the neccessary training, power,
>parts & services, and if they have a backup of their traditional methods
>just in case......
Now we do have human resources around here. In fact I have seen very well trained people from Universities with very limited resources...
All you need to know about IP is contained on the CDs that come with linux/bsd. And there is email, you can ask... And of course they will select one of your staff for the INET workshop where they will teach you some...
>But remember, technology is always biased towards the conditions under
>which it was developed. Therefore, the best scenario is when efforts to
>customize imported tools to our conditions meet similar efforts to
>incorporate new technologies into our old techniques.
Waste of time as far as Internet goes. Just in case, these linux/bsd systems are so complete systems that you can model a whole B.Sc. in Computer Science around them, no more old IBM punch card boxes...
Politically Correct approaches won't work. If we ever want to get anything off the ground in Africa we havd to import state of the art technology and "kick butt"!
el
-- Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse \ / Swakopmund State Hospital mailto:<el@lisse.NA> * | Resident Medical Officer Private Bag 5004 \ / +264 64 461503 (pager) 461005 (home) 461004 (fax) Swakopmund, Namibia ;____/ Zone/Domain Contact for the NA-DOM Vice-Chairman, Board of Trustees, Namibian Internet Development Foundation, an Association not for Gain. NAMIDEF is the Namibian Internet Service Provider.