Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!pyramid!hplabs!tektronix!reed!omen!caf
From: caf@omen.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Stargate Questions
Message-ID: <355@omen.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Jun-86 17:55:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: omen.355
Posted: Mon Jun 23 17:55:35 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Jun-86 17:22:08 EDT
Distribution: na
Organization: Omen Technology, Portland
Lines: 21
A number of questions about Stargate:
1) How will Stargate accomodate sites that are cut off from the link for
several hours or a couple of days do to storms, cable outages, or system
crashes?
2) How will Stargate affect those sites that cannot obtain cable TV or
a TVRO viz a] news feed b]article reply/followup
3) Will it be possible to cheaply implement "local Stargates" based on
local TV stations for those in condition (2) above, in terms of a head-end
encoder and decoder boxes?
4) Could such a local system retransmit Stargate traffic?
Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf CIS:70715,131
Author of Professional-YAM communications Tools for PCDOS and Unix
Omen Technology Inc 17505-V NW Sauvie Island Road Portland OR 97231
Voice: 503-621-3406 TeleGodzilla: 621-3746 300/1200 L.sys entry for omen:
omen Any ACU 1200 1-503-621-3746 se:--se: link ord: Giznoid in:--in: uucp
omen!/usr/spool/uucppublic/FILES lists all uucp-able files, updated hourly
Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!seismo!ut-sally!im4u!jsq
From: jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman)
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Re: Stargate Questions
Message-ID: <1005@im4u.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-Jul-86 18:12:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: im4u.1005
Posted: Tue Jul 8 18:12:40 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 9-Jul-86 03:29:04 EDT
References: <355@omen.UUCP> <6858@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 32
Summary: USENIX is looking into it; nothing to report yet
There have been a couple of recent questions about what is going on
with Stargate and some curiousity as to what the involvement of USENIX is.
I can make a few comments as a USENIX Board member, though this isn't
a position statement on the part of the whole board.
In April, USENIX posted in their ;login: newsletter and on several
USENET newsgroups a request for proposals on how to improve UUCP mail
service and USENET news service. A few comments were received in
return, but no detailed proposals. In particular, no one submitted
a business plan for an organization to handle the improvements.
Due to this lack of response, the Board decided to become more involved.
Several board members are currently working directly with Lauren
and with other well-known USENET and UUCP community members.
There is nothing to report yet because our efforts are all
directed at producing a plan, and because this involves some
rather delicate negotiations with several other organizations.
We hope to have a plan put together by the October board meeting,
after which a brief report to the public should be possible.
The request for proposals is still open. If you have an actual
plan for how to improve service on UUCP or USENET, you can still
submit it. I can post the request again if there is interest.
Meanwhile, some board members are watching this newsgroup,
and opinions of the community are being considered.
--
John Quarterman, UUCP: {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo}!ut-sally!im4u!jsq
ARPA Internet and CSNET: j...@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, j...@sally.UTEXAS.EDU
Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!meccts!pwcs!dennisg
From: dennisg@pwcs.UUCP (Dennis Grittner)
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Re: Stargate Questions
Message-ID: <192@pwcs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Jul-86 12:48:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: pwcs.192
Posted: Thu Jul 10 12:48:08 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jul-86 03:24:49 EDT
References: <355@omen.UUCP> <6858@utzoo.UUCP> <1005@im4u.UUCP>
Reply-To: dennisg@pwcs.UUCP (Dennis Grittner)
Organization: City of St. Paul Public Works
Lines: 44
Well, I would like to ask a few question and mention a few minor
problems that my site has with the status of Stargate.
First, we are NOT Usenix members - the old $$ problem, but we
might be relatively soon so we have little access to information
about Stargate.
Second, we are relatively new to usenet etc. so or perspective is
somewhat limited - BUT WE LIKE IT ALOT.
The City of Saint Paul has this cable system here and the vendor
has some $$ that is set aside for certain 'demonstration
projects' and other things that the City might want and the
vendor might be able to resell ---- So I thought what about
Stargate! Might be possible for us to have the Cable operator
pick up the cost and thus do a service for the Unix community of
Minnesota, etc. To-date, I haven't been able to get ANY real info
about what costs might be involved for the 'blackbox', etc. I
can't really get them to go with a project that has an unknown
cost factor - if I could ever get them to go with this project
even with KNOWN costs. I realize that some negotiation must be
done, etc - but it would be nice if 'the rest of us' could be
given a SLIGHT idea of WHATEVER is going on.
Thanks to all who are doing anything to try and make usenet and
uucp better - I'm really NOT a griper I appreciate what all of
you might or are doing. I would appreciate any info from any
usenix board member(s) or anybody else who is 'involved'. It
might be nice if these responses could be posted to the net as
then everybody could read them BUT if the response would contain
any info that is 'touchy' or whatever I would appreciate
receiving it by E-Mail and I promise that it won't be reprinted
in the Wall Street Journal or anywhere else.
Again, thanks to all of you that are trying to make usenet
better!
Dennis Grittner City of Saint Paul
Computer Services Department of Public Works
612-298-4402 Room 700, 25 West 4th St.
St. Paul, Minn. 55102
Disclaimer: My employer not only doesn't know what I do or why,
they are frightened by most of it!
Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcs!mnetor!seismo!husc6!harvard!panda!genrad!decvax!vortex!lauren
From: lauren@vortex.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Re: Stargate Questions
Message-ID: <944@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Jul-86 15:52:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.944
Posted: Fri Jul 11 15:52:48 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Jul-86 07:05:17 EDT
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 25
Very briefly...
As far as I can see, there would be no requirement that an organization
be a "regular" member of Usenix to partake of Stargate services.
There will be no requirement, for example, that all Stargate subscribers
be Unix users.
It is likely that a separate entity will be established to operate the
service, though this entity may be closely allied with and/or supported
by Usenix in various ways. This entity will have its own membership/
subscription criteria for its own services.
This isn't in concrete of course--just an expression of my personal
thinking on the matter.
As for cable companies, etc... In the vast majority of cases, there will
be no need for subscribers to get "special" cooperation from local
cable companies to receive Stargate services. If the cable already carries
satellite-received WTBS, the probability is very high that the data will
be available and usable as is. Any special considerations that might
be required regarding particular cable companies would be handled by the
Stargate organization dealing directly with those companies, not by
subscribers themselves.
--Lauren--
Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Re: Stargate Questions
Message-ID: <6928@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Jul-86 20:22:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6928
Posted: Sat Jul 12 20:22:50 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jul-86 20:22:50 EDT
References: <355@omen.UUCP> <6858@utzoo.UUCP> <1005@im4u.UUCP>, <192@pwcs.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 23
> ...To-date, I haven't been able to get ANY real info
> about what costs might be involved for the 'blackbox', etc. I
> can't really get them to go with a project that has an unknown
> cost factor...
If you expect a written quotation, I suspect you're just going to have to
wait until the current round of negotiations is finished. Rough numbers
can be derived from Lauren's previous public utterances. (I have no
special inside information.) If the cable company gets WTBS, they already
have the signal on their premises; if not, they'll need dish and receiver,
which they should be able to price themselves. That would suffice to send
the existing signal out to their customers. It's not clear why they would
need any more than that. If they decode the stuff themselves, they would
then presumably have to re-encode it to get it to the customers. This
seems a bit pointless.
Lauren has mentioned costs of $500 for decoder and maybe $200 for buffer
box in the past. There is a possibility that the hardware would be
available only on a rental basis. There's also probably going to be some
sort of subscription fee, since there will be real costs involved in
running the service. If the result is going to be significantly cheaper
than current approaches, the fee would probably have to be at most hundreds
a year. If it gets up into four digits the market will drop dramatically.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry
Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!caip!nike!ucbcad!ucbvax!decvax!vortex!lauren
From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.news.stargate
Subject: Re: Stargate Questions
Message-ID: <946@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Jul-86 15:18:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.946
Posted: Mon Jul 14 15:18:53 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 16-Jul-86 03:20:17 EDT
References: <6928@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 9
The current thinking is that both box purchase and rental
options would be desirable--different organizations have different
views regarding capital expenditures vs. recurring charges. The probability
is that service fees would vary based on level of service desired, with
a variety of services offered from which organizations (and individuals)
could choose. Obviously, an overriding concern is to keep the overall,
total cost to any given subscriber as low as possible.
--Lauren--
|