john@chance.UUCP (John R. MacMillan) (12/27/90)
Is anyone organizing a unix-pc BOF for the winter Usenix in Dallas? If not, could whoever has done it in the past (Lenny?) drop me some hints about how I might go about it? I can't make any guarantees, but I would like to have one; my mother told me if I BOF by myself I'll go blind. :-) -- John R. MacMillan | I wish I had a nickname like Crusher, Snake or Dennis john@chance.UUCP | Because guys with nicknames always get the gal. ...!scocan!chance!john | -- barenaked ladies
dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) (12/31/90)
>Is anyone organizing a unix-pc BOF for the winter Usenix in >Dallas? I organized the original 3B1 BOF a few years back (in San Diego??) and I am willing to set one up for Dallas. Lenny has indicated to me in private mail that he will probably not be attending the conference, although maybe we can coax him to drop by for the BOF. What I need from all of you is a little information to help get things rolling. If you see this message by Thursday or Friday, please respond quickly with answers to the following questions. 1. What day is best for you? The choices are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Please indicate a first and second choice. 2. What time is best for you? This can be related to the first question if you want (i.e. wed at 8 is best, thurs at 9 is second). Note that the only scheduled event listed in the conference brochure is the USENIX reception which is Thursday from 6 to 8 PM. 3. What topics would you like to see presentation about? 4. What topics are you willing to give a presentation about? Now that I think about it, the questions are listed in reverse order of importance. In order to have a succesfull BOF we need to have people who are willing to give presentations. The presentations do not need to be anything elaborate, they just need to be pertinent to the 3B1. I will probably give a presentation on how I adapted the ICUS 2 disk upgrade to suit my requirements and maybe others can do the same so everyone can compare notes. (just to whet your appetite, I built the ICUS upgrade as a printed circuit board that plugged directly into the socket on the mother board. come to the BOF and hear all the details and get a copy of the schematics!) I may also divulge some of my recent software adventures and others are encouraged to do likewise. Perhaps the person who was talking about a scsi/combo/etc board could present the current status of the board. One last thing that perhaps should be addressed is the possibility of setting up a software exchange. To do this we need two things: first we need people who will bring in software to be exchanged and second we need to secure the use of a machine to do it on. I purposely ordered these items the way I did because I have seen a software exchange attempted twice in the past, the first time I brought in some software and the second time Lenny brought in some software. Unless more people are willing to bring in software then it doesn't really work. On the other hand, this is a cheap way to distribute a lot of software to a lot of people so maybe I will do it anyway if we can find a machine. If there is any particular software that you want (and that I can legally give you), let me know and if I dont already have it I will attempt to locate it. I will post a list of what I've got as soon as I get a chance to inventory it. Remember to bring lots of blank disks! -- David H. Brierley Home: dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US Work: dhb@quahog.ssd.ray.com Can I be excused, my brain is full.
afc@shibaya.lonestar.org (Augustine Cano) (01/01/91)
In article <1103@galaxia.Newport.RI.US> dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) writes: >>Is anyone organizing a unix-pc BOF for the winter Usenix in >>Dallas? > >I organized the original 3B1 BOF a few years back (in San Diego??) and I >am willing to set one up for Dallas. Lenny has indicated to me in private >mail that he will probably not be attending the conference, although maybe >we can coax him to drop by for the BOF. What I need from all of you is a Come on Lenny! You're so close to Dallas now that there's no excuse! :-) >little information to help get things rolling. If you see this message by >Thursday or Friday, please respond quickly with answers to the following >questions. > >... >3. What topics would you like to see presentation about? In no particular order: o The disk system (with the HC11) that Thad talked about a while ago. o On board implementations of the ICUS upgrade. o Any information on taking apart/re-implementing the gd driver (I'm working on this). o The SCSI interface project. o The mondo combo board. o The status of all that locked software that exists but we can't get our hands on. o Installation demo of the JBM HD2 kit (and delivery of mine if possible!) o Conversion demo of a 0K RAM to fully populated. As an aside to this, could anybody with access to the required glue chips bring a reasonable quantity if there is interest? I know I would want one of each to upgrade one board. o Software demos of whatever is available that is not trivial to install or is huge (I'd be interested in seeing how TeX/Metafont works with the 3b1 previewer and 3b1 printers, also how about a spice demo?) >... >setting up a software exchange. To do this we need two things: first we I definitely would like this. Can somebody bring a binary of gcc 1.38, that has just been released? I would also be interested in application spreadsheets for sc or smart, database definitions or any other application written for the smart system, and voice board applications. >need people who will bring in software to be exchanged and second we need >to secure the use of a machine to do it on. I purposely ordered these >items the way I did because I have seen a software exchange attempted >twice in the past, the first time I brought in some software and the >second time Lenny brought in some software. Unless more people are >willing to bring in software then it doesn't really work. On the other What software do you have in mind? Anything that is available on the net but is particularly big would seem to ba a good candidate. Can someone with connections get proper authorizations to release some of the previously unreleased stuff? >hand, this is a cheap way to distribute a lot of software to a lot of >people so maybe I will do it anyway if we can find a machine. If there is >any particular software that you want (and that I can legally give you), >let me know and if I dont already have it I will attempt to locate it. I >will post a list of what I've got as soon as I get a chance to inventory >it. Remember to bring lots of blank disks! I'll be there with lots of them! Comments/additions, anyone? >-- >David H. Brierley >Home: dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US Work: dhb@quahog.ssd.ray.com >Can I be excused, my brain is full. -- Augustine Cano INTERNET: afc@shibaya.lonestar.org UUCP: ...!{ernest,egsner}!shibaya!afc
gil@limbic.ssdl.com (Gil Kloepfer Jr.) (01/01/91)
In article <1103@galaxia.Newport.RI.US> dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) writes: >probably give a presentation on how I adapted the ICUS 2 disk upgrade to >suit my requirements and maybe others can do the same so everyone can >compare notes. (just to whet your appetite, I built the ICUS upgrade as a >printed circuit board that plugged directly into the socket on the mother >board. come to the BOF and hear all the details and get a copy of the >schematics! I'm not trying to sound like I'm policing the upgrade plans much, but what exactly are you planning to give out when you give out these schematics? I couldn't imagine that the schematic for the PC board could be much different than the one that you'd use for a board that was connected to the motherboard with wires. I'm not incredibly concerned with presenting of ideas about the upgrade, but I am concerned with copying the plans without at least letting me know first, particularly because those who did pay for the plans might be a tad disappointed. I'll post an update later about whether I will actually be at USENIX this year. The problem that Lenny and I both have really has nothing to do with the lack of desire to be there, but more that we just moved and started new jobs, and find it difficult to get to USENIX for various reasons. I'm still thinking about whether I'll be able to make it or not. -- Gil Kloepfer, Jr. gil@limbic.ssdl.com ...!ames!limbic!gil Southwest Systems Development Labs (Div of ICUS) Houston, Texas
dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) (01/02/91)
Several people have written to me asking for information about the upcoming USENIX conference so I figured I would just post a short blurb and cover everybody all at once. The Winter 1991 USENIX Technical Conference will be held in Dallas during the week of January 21st through January 25th. Monday and Tuesday will consist of all-day tutorials on a variety of subjects and the remainder of the week will consist of technical presentations ranging in length from 20 minutes to an hour. All tutorials and technical presentations will be held at the Grand Kempinski Hotel. The cost is $225 for the technical sessions and $225 for a tutorial. There is also a $50 late registration fee (after 1/2/91) and a $50 non-member fee (which also buys you a years membership to USENIX). Contact the USENIX conference office (714-588-8649) if you want more information. You do not have to be attending the conference in order to attend one of the BOF sessions, although the conference folk will probably try to tell you otherwise. The BOFs are all held in the evening and there is nobody checking conference id cards at the door so if you are interested in the 3B1/7300/s4/unix-pc/... and you will be in the area (or live in the area) then "come on down!". -- David H. Brierley Home: dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US Work: dhb@quahog.ssd.ray.com Can I be excused, my brain is full.
dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) (01/09/91)
I called the USENIX conference office this morning and scheduled a BOF for Thursday evening at 8pm (after the USENIX reception). It's not completely official yet because I have to get clearance from the "USENIX BOF coordinator". Apparently this is something new they have started to make sure that BOFs are not in fact marketing pitches. I was told that I just missed the deadline for having the BOF listed in the pre-printed handouts but it will be listed on the BOF schedule board in the conference registration area. I told them I was expecting around 40 people so make sure you all show up or else you'll make me look like a liar. Now, I need everyone who is working on anything that is even remotely interesting to volunteer to tell us all about it. I am not expecting anything elaborate, a simple 5 minute talk explaining what you are doing, maybe a few diagrams and maybe a simple handout. If you want to do a handout, please make copies or send me the source files and I will make copies. I can handle troff, ascii, cheap-draw, paint-power, and postscript. If there is something that you have a burning desire to learn about let me know what it is and I will attempt to locate someone who can talk about it. Is there anyone in the area that is willing to bring in a machine so that we can set up some kind of software exchange? USENIX usually has a room set up with a few machines in it for the purpose of copying GNU software and other stuff so maybe we could set the machine up there or if you are paranoid about the machine we can just have it set up in the back of the room during the BOF. If we have a machine available maybe we could do a live demonstration of how to open it up. The following topics have already been suggested as possible topics for the BOF. If you would like to talk about one or more of them, you will be heartily welcomed. If you can convince someone else to talk about one or more of them, you will both be heartily welcomed. If you would like to talk about something that is not already on my list, you will be heartily welcomed. And, last but not least, if you just want to come and hear what other people have to say, you will be heartily welcomed. List of potential topics: - ICUS upgrade, especially variations (on-board, etc) - Milton upgrade - SCSI project - Mondo Combo Board - S/W that exists within ATT but is not available to us - what is *really* on 3.51m (beyond what the release notes say) - the future of the machine - setting up a UUCP connection - MINIX port (?? !!) - mgr applications - hardware hacks in progress This list is by no means complete and I strongly urge people to come with other ideas (and hopefully come up with people to talk about them). As a further comment on the last item, if you have something you have been tinkering with, or even something you have just been thinking about, please share it with us. Maybe we can give you some ideas, some insight, and maybe even some assistance! One last thing: I would appreciate it if everyone who is considering coming to the BOF would send me mail before 1/18/91 so that I will know if my estimate of 40 people is way off base and we either need a bigger room or if we should just move the whole thing to my hotel room. -- David H. Brierley Home: dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US Work: dhb@quahog.ssd.ray.com Can I be excused, my brain is full.