[comp.sys.att] UNIX-PC Pseudo-BOF at USENIX?

scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) (01/24/89)

In article <465@uncle.UUCP> jbm@uncle.UUCP (John B. Milton) writes:
>Another topic I brought up was the possiblity of some of us UNIXpc owners
>getting together and talking about eveything. I brought it up because the
>Trenton Computer Fest is coming up in three months . . .

3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.  Anybody within
driving distance willing to bring a 3b1, and we'll do S/W exchange?

>BTW, I have still not come up with a price for my board. This being the first
>time for this sort of thing, I'm scared that if I price it too low, I'll lose
>money, or if I price it too high, noone will buy it. Please remember that I'm
>not doing this to make huge piles of money. . .

The worth of the board depends on how much real soldering I have to do.
If you say 10 connections, I say $100.00.  If you say 5, I say $125.00.
And if you make a pile of money, more power to you.
-- 
Steve Simmons		          scs@vax3.iti.org
Industrial Technology Institute     Ann Arbor, MI.
"Velveeta -- the Spam of Cheeses!" -- Uncle Bonsai

gwr@nz8r.UUCP (Gregory W. Ratcliff) (01/25/89)

All you cnetral ohio types can use me as transport. I have
access to a seven passenger airplane that can take us there
for about 10 cents a person mile.  Why drive?

-- 
Gregory W. Ratcliff, {osu-cis}n8emr!uncle!nz8r!gwr
ham radio,aviation,tcp-ip

kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) (01/25/89)

In article <570@itivax.iti.org> scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) writes:
>In article <465@uncle.UUCP> jbm@uncle.UUCP (John B. Milton) writes:
>>Another topic I brought up was the possiblity of some of us UNIXpc owners
>>getting together and talking about eveything. I brought it up because the
>>Trenton Computer Fest is coming up in three months . . .
>
>3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
>but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.  Anybody within
>driving distance willing to bring a 3b1, and we'll do S/W exchange?

Oops, I never went to any such thing, so I don't even know what a BOF is,
though I can make a guess of sorts.

Anyway, it sounds like a fine idea, and I can get to San Diego, but not
to Trenton.  When in San Diego?  What's going on there (I notice that's
not where you're located)?

I would sure love to rub shoulders with some others of the brave souls
who have been sticking with this machine after so long.

dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) (01/26/89)

In article <570@itivax.iti.org> scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) writes:
>3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
>but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.  Anybody within
>driving distance willing to bring a 3b1, and we'll do S/W exchange?

This sounds like a great idea!  How many unix-pc'ers will be at the USENIX
conference?  If somebody could bring in a machine so that we could dup some
disks I can bring some stuff that I've been meaning to send to the net but
have hesitated because it is big.  Among other things I have finally finished
the port of sendmail version 5.58 and I have at least one other (unnamed)
package that I know *many* people would love to have.  At the very least we
could meet and discover that the names we see go by in the news really do
have faces associated with them.  It should be possible to get a room for
a BOF, I will try to contact the USENIX folks to see about arranging it.

See you in sunny California!
-- 
David H. Brierley
Home: dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US   {rayssd,xanth,lazlo,jclyde}!galaxia!dave
Work: dhb@rayssd.ray.com           {sun,decuac,gatech,necntc,ukma}!rayssd!dhb

scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) (01/26/89)

From the postings and somewhat confused mail I've gotten it's clear we
need to clean up a few points on this:

We will attempt to hold a BOF (Birds Of a Feather) session at the San
Diego USENIX, Feb 1-Feb 3, 1989 (yes, next week).  David Brierley
is attempting to get a meeting room for us, if he has no luck we can
use my sleeping room.

BOFs are traditionally held in the evening, with time varying.  If Dave
gets a room, exact time/date will be determined by the USENIX staff.  If
not, let's say Thursday night, 8PM, my room.

We are looking for person or persons with UNIX-PCs who would be willing
to bring them to the BOF so we can do software exchange.  Please contact
me if you can do so.  Everybody else: bring your favorite tool!  Bring
formatted disks!

Contacting me: I'm pushing off Sunday Jan 29, and will be at the hotel
that evening.  Email to scs@itivax.iti.org should be darned quick,
thereafter the hotel will have my room number and take messages.  I'll
be staying at the Town And Country in San Diego.  Work phone: 313-769-4086.

See you in San Diego!
-- 
Steve Simmons		          scs@vax3.iti.org
Industrial Technology Institute     Ann Arbor, MI.
"Velveeta -- the Spam of Cheeses!" -- Uncle Bonsai

kls@ditka.UUCP (Karl Swartz) (01/27/89)

In article <540@galaxia.Newport.RI.US> dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) writes:
>In article <570@itivax.iti.org> scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) writes:
>>3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
>>but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.

Count me in.

>Among other things I have finally finished the port of sendmail version 5.58

Interesting.  I recently received a copy of 5.58 that somebody had hacked
up to work on System V.  Other than tweaking a few defines and changing
an occasional include file, it came up fine, though so far I haven't had
time to run it in anything other than -bt mode.  What's the genesis of
your version?

 -- Karl
-- 
Karl Swartz		|UUCP	{ames!hc!rt1,decuac!netsys}!ditka!kls
1-505/667-7777 (work)	|ARPA	rt1!ditka!kls@hc.dspo.gov
1-505/672-3113 (home)	|BIX	kswartz
"I never let my schooling get in the way of my education."  (Twain)

kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) (01/28/89)

In article <540@galaxia.Newport.RI.US> dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) writes:
>In article <570@itivax.iti.org> scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) writes:
>>3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
>>but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.  Anybody within
>>driving distance willing to bring a 3b1, and we'll do S/W exchange?
>
>
>See you in sunny California!

Huh?  What?  How do I join up?  What's USENIX?

I am indeed within driving distance of San Diego, I have the time and the
UNIX PC, and a tape drive, too (it's been replaced and the new one works
fine).  

BUT!  I don't know when this event is going to happen, or where, so somebody
needs to tell me, or I am unlikely to show up.

gmark@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Stewart) (01/29/89)

In article <708@ditka.UUCP>, kls@ditka.UUCP (Karl Swartz) writes:
> In article <540@galaxia.Newport.RI.US> dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) writes:
> >In article <570@itivax.iti.org> scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) writes:
> >>3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
> >>but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.
> 
Okay, guys.  I'll bite.  What's a BOF?  Some strange satanic practice?
A flour-based desert crust?  An enhanced ALGOL parser?

				- Mark

				G. Mark Stewart
				ATT_BTL, Naperville, Ill. ix1g266
				ihlpq!gms (312)979-0914

ralph@rtech.rtech.com (Ralph Harnden: I don't wanna badger you (ext3430)) (01/30/89)

In article <7478@ihlpf.ATT.COM> gmark@ihlpf.ATT.COM (Stewart) writes:
>In article <708@ditka.UUCP>, kls@ditka.UUCP (Karl Swartz) writes:
>> In article <540@galaxia.Newport.RI.US> dave@galaxia.Newport.RI.US (David H. Brierley) writes:
>> >In article <570@itivax.iti.org> scs@itivax.iti.org (Steve C. Simmons) writes:
>> >>3 months?  It's probably too late to put together a BOF in San Diego,
>> >>but we could at least do a pseudo-BOF in my room.
>> 
>Okay, guys.  I'll bite.  What's a BOF?  Some strange satanic practice?
>A flour-based desert crust?  An enhanced ALGOL parser?
>
Good guesses!!  Your first one comes closest.  BOF stands for Birds Of a
Feather, and is a meeting about an obscure topic on the periphery of the
general conference theme.  Since BOFs deal with topics of limited interest,
they are usually scheduled outside the formal conference agenda.  Decorum
is informal.

I first heard the term at Share *many* years ago, though I don't know the
exact etymology of this acronym.  You probably missed Share -- it's a
conference of IBM mainframe users %-0

>				- Mark
>
>				G. Mark Stewart
>				ATT_BTL, Naperville, Ill. ix1g266
>				ihlpq!gms (312)979-0914


-- 
"People will do anything for a potato"

{amdahl, mtxinu, pacbell, sun}!rtech!gusano!ralph ralph%gusano@rtech.com

wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (01/30/89)

It's amazing that one could escape hearing of usenix, but not
knowing BOF is probably excusable.  BOF:=birds of a feather.

--Bill
  wtm@impulse.UUCP
  ...!lll-winken!scooter!neoucom!impulse!wtm