Message-ID: <199701101201.OAA02358@linux.lisse.na> Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:01:14 +0200 From: Dr Eberhard W Lisse <mailto:el@LISSE.NA> Subject: Re: Bandwidth, discussion, et al.. To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Wilbur
---------- >From: Wilbur Streett <mailto:wstreett@MONMOUTH.COM>
>To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
>Subject: Bandwidth, discussion, et al..
>Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 20:07:27 -0500
>
>Since this is a technology list, might I suggest a technological solution
>for the people that are having to put out a lot of cost for this discussion
>list?
>
>While I don't have the time to implement this solution myself, it seems to
>me that a simple collection and compression process would alleviate a great
>deal of the cost of being subscribed to this list for some people.
Thank you very much, been there, done that.
>Toward that end, I suggest that someone take the archive from time to time
>and compress it so that people can retrieve say a week of conversation via
>email in order to get a compressed data version of the discussion.
Besides the fact that this will put these users a week behind, it also means that you have to UUENcode or MIME the files, in order to email them which all but negates this.
>I'm not sure where and if this list is archived, but it would be a rather
>simple shell script to compress the messages weekly and make them available
>to any of the EMail based FTP front ends. The premise of those systems is
>that you don't have FTP capabilities but you have email, so they will get a
>file and email it to you if you provide the server with the URL of the file
>that you want to get.
If you have ncftp running on a system which as full IP connectivity and to which you connect via uucp you can run a uux job where you can send straight gzipped data.
This does not work however well on the RIO network, which uses X.25 which according to my understanding is a 7 bit based system so the compression is negated also. RIO also uses no batching/gzipping and the people in the delveloping countries have to pay hard currency to France because this is where the connections originate.
>I'd really like to hear from anyone on this list that is paying for the
>bandwidth and considers the expense to be significant. If there are enough
>voices, perhaps someone will be moved enough to set up the very simple
>system that I outlined above to to alleviate the burden of the cost of
>involvement with this list.
Doesn't the listprocessor have a command to look at the membership? If not I would suggest that the listmaster maybe runs a little script to count the top level domains represented. That should help somewhat.
>In short, I don't agree with the idea that we should limit the conversation
>because it might cost someone else some money, do something about the cost,
>don't constrain the discussion. I also don't know that anyone other than
If one could, I'd like the idea, but you'll find that theory and practice are two different things. But then we arrive again at my favourite topic :-)-O.
>Dr. Lisse has said anything directly about the cost of this list. I enjoy
You'll note that I kept out of the discussion.
>Dr. Lisse's contributions, and I hope that this discussion doesn't cost him
>to much. But I'd like to ask if anyone really is spending more than they
Thanks, as I said, I have now somewhat better connectivity and soon will have full IP, I hope.
>feel they should for this list in any developing country? If Internet
>connections cost too much in a given country then maybe we should be
>subsidizing some peoples involvement in this list, prefferably through the
>appropriate application of technology, (or direct funding if necessary).
In short, I think you will find that hardly any of the really marginalized networks are represented on this list.
greetings, el
-- Dr. Eberhard W. Lisse \ / Swakopmund State Hospital mailto:<el@lisse.NA> * | Resident Medical Officer Private Bag 5004 \ / +264 64 461503 (pager) 461005 (h) 461004 (f) 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.