schwager@m.cs.uiuc.edu (12/03/89)
Greetings, denizens of comp.sys.amiga:
Here's the scoop on the Fred Fish archive, what you can expect, and all
that other good stuff:
We're recently had a problem with delivery of the disks; that's why the
latest batch has been late. I have just uploaded disks 251-270 to my Sun,
so very soon mrcnext will be up to date as of disk 270. Actually, 259 and
260 had errors, so they'll be another week or so from today.
The Computers:
uxe is an aging Pyramid, and is being phased out. This is a good thing,
because the administrators of that machine wouldn't give us an account on
it. Stuff is moving to mrcnext gradually. I don't think mrcnext is going
to be able to hold it all... there's only 140 Meg left for everybody on the
partition that the Fish disks live on. But for now, the archive will be
split between uxe and mrcnext. Don't expect uihub to get anything anymore.
It's going away in mid-December, anyhow. What I think is going to happen
is that after uxe gets dumped in January, the entire archive is going to a
machine called ux1. This is a relatively fast Sequent machine. Like I
say, I think they're going to put *all* our disks there- I'm not sure. At
the very least, we'll be split up between mrcnext and ux1. All the Amicus
disks have been moved to mrcnext. More Fish disks are on their way. I
told the administrators to let me know before any more major moves, so I can
announce it to the net.
The Future of the Archive:
From a mainframe perspective, things look good. They're willing to give us
the space we need. From a supply side perspective... well, netlanders, we
need to talk. What's been happening is that Lionel Hummel has had a
subscription with 2 other people for the disks. The person who received
them was the local user's group librarian. This meant that the disks were
not available to be uploaded as readily as we'd have liked, but c'est la
vie, n'est-ce pas? But because of the erratic delivery times, Lionel has
decided not to participate anymore with that group. Both he and I would
like to get a subscription delivered direct, so we can upload stuff as soon
as it's available from Mr. Fish. This would mean near-instantaneous
availability, as I'd just received the disks yesterday and I've already
been able to upload (or attempt to) 20 disks via 9600 baud serial line and
DNET (thanks, Matt Dillon!).
A Fish subscription costs $300 at the cheapest rate (100 disks). Now I
consider myself a fairly generous guy, but $150 is a bit of a chunk for my
altruistic pocketbook to handle. So I need to find some way of lessening
the shock. I certainly wouldn't mind $50 at all. So I think to myself,
"How can I ease this $100 load?" Actually, although Lionel is willing to
invest $150, I think he'd like to ease the strain a bit too. Basically,
I'd like to raise some capital through the people on Usenet. I can think
of two ways to do it, either:
a) Donations, or
b) Sub-subscriptions. In other words, if you want a Fish disk,
you've got it. You pay $3/disk, any quantity. Although if you
really want a *bunch* and are anxious for a discount, I'm a
flexible guy.
Just off the top of my head, I'd guess that b) was more feasible. If a)
would work, that would really be preferable to me (I've got a job and
outside interests, and shipping Fish disks is not on my list of favorite
avocations).
Getting the Fish disk subscription delivered directly to my office would
make uploading fast as lightning. I'd really like to see it happen, and am
tempted to just commit $150 to the cause. But my better judgment and Visa
cards say no. So, users of the Archive, whaddya say? I'd like to find out
if the Net would be willing to support this archive, at least in part.
This is ONLY a request for information right now... not a commitment on
anyone's part! So send me e-mail. When you do, please put the word "fish"
somewhere in the Subject: line (ah, the glories of MH!) If you'd be willing
to donate, give me an idea of how much you'd pledge. Or, if you'd like
Fish disks sent to you, give me an idea of how many you'd order (eg, "I
usually see three or four from each batch that I'd like to have right
away").
-Mike Schwager
INTERNET:schwager@cs.uiuc.edu | "I find it hard to believe you
UUCP:{uunet|convex|pur-ee}!uiucdcs!schwager | don't know the beauty you are
BITNET:schwager%cs.uiuc.edu@uiucvmd | But if you don't, let me be your
University of Illinois, Dept. of Comp. Sci. | eyes and enter your darkness
So you won't be afraid"
-Lou Reed, _Velvet Underground_schwager@m.cs.uiuc.edu (12/06/89)
Regarding the Fish archive: I think some people are a little confused. I received some email that to me implied that if someone wanted to anonymous ftp something, that they would have to pay. So only those who contribute would be able to use the service. This is not what I intend at all. Here's what I mean: -if we go with donations, the donations given by the net personalities will be used to make the Archive available to *all* at no cost. Kinda like church- we pass the basket, but only those who wish to, need donate :-). -If we go with the purchase of Fish disks, then what I would do is take the money that people give me and apply it towards a subscription. Those people would get the disks that they pay for, but I'll upload the disks and everyone gets the usual free ftp access. Response is already terrific. So far, the combined pledges add up to $175-215 (some people said, "I'll give 5 or 10 bucks"; hence the range given). This doesn't include the 3 or 4 people that said "yeah, I'd like to go in on this!" without specifically mentioning numbers. I'm really thrilled to see this kind of response- Amiga people are the coolest. I'm kind of amazed, too- it's been such a *short* time!! More Archive news: now there's talk of keeping the uxe machine (128.174.5.54) and using it as an ftp server. Tune in next week for, "As the Mainframe Turns" :-). Some important numbers: mrcnext 128.174.73.105 uxe 128.174.5.54 uihub 128.174.252.27 (going away soon) In summary: response has truly been heartwarming. I'll get in touch with Lionel, and we'll subscribe forthwith. In the meantime, look for disks 251-272 to appear on mrcnext very soon. Sorry about the delays. Please bear with us for the next few weeks until we get this straightened out. Oh, and it's almost Christmas, too... :-) Time to shop... eep! -Mike P.S. Some members of user's groups have approached me looking for good deals on Fish disks. I think I'm willing to part with 'em for cheap... I figure, if I was in it for the bucks, I'd be doing something else. I wouldn't want to do this for everybody, but I think it would be really great if user's groups could get Fish disks cheap and perhaps make a few bucks off of 'em, buy equipment for demos, and generally help spread the word about the Amiga. I figure that when people donate to a cause, they have a right to know where their bucks are going- so if any donors have a problem with this, let me know.
schwager@m.cs.uiuc.edu (12/06/89)
Fish disks 251-272 are now available on mrcnext (128.174.73.105) . I've automated just about everything, and I'm one happy camper now. Lionel and I are going to get a subscription right away, and I'll be contacting all the generous donors for some bucks. We'll front the cash, and use the donations to lessen the crunch on our checkbooks. So, Amiga lovers and other people with exquisite taste, enjoy! By the way, I tried to reply to a couple of people who sent mail from uucp sites and inquired about the network id of mrcnext. I'll be including it whenever I talk about it from now on, but unfortunately my mail to you bounced. Hopefully you'll see the numbers in my postings. -Mike P.S. This all means that disks beyond ff272 will be uploaded as soon as I can get them from Mr. Fish.