lenny@icus.islp.ny.us (Lenny Tropiano) (02/09/90)
-- cut here -- -- cut here -- -- cut here -- -- cut here -- -- cut here --
--------------------------------------------
1990 Winter USENIX: AT&T UNIX pc BOF Minutes
--------------------------------------------
Sponsored by ICUS Software Systems
Lenny Tropiano (lenny@icus.islp.ny.us)
Gil Kloepfer, Jr. (...!ames!limbic!gil)
Wednesday, June 24, 1989
Omni Shoreham Hotel
Calvert Room
The 1990 Winter USENIX conference once again was the home
of the UNIX-pc BOF session. As always, our thanks are
extended to those who attended the BOF for making it the
technical exchange forum that it is meant to be. As is always
the case, there are those who cannot make it to the conference
for one reason or another, and we hope that this summary again
provides you with a little insight regarding the event you
missed. For those who did attend, we hope that this summary
is something you can keep in a file on your computer somewhere
for reference and possibly some ideas for the next BOF.
What we tried to do, and succeeded to some extent in
doing, was to spice-up the BOF with examples of the more
obscure or unusual capabilities which can be exploited using
some of the expansion hardware. Those who came to the BOF
early had a unique opportunity to see what went-on "behind-
the-scenes" during the BOF set-up, and took the time to ask
questions about the demonstrations. In Gil's opinion, these
people got the most out of the demonstrations.
The BOF opened as usual with Lenny's electronic artwork
on the overhead transparencies and a summary of what was to be
covered during the BOF. This was:
Hardware
o ICUS 2nd drive/P5.1 upgrade
o Bigger hard disks
o WD2010 (seek performance)
o Voice Power boards
o Botton's VIDPAL
o Custom UNIX pc cases
(Dapoz design/ICUS Design)
- 1 -
Software
o "Jukebox" (Voice Power) demo
o Answering Machine (Voice Power) demo
o USENIX FaceSaver Display demo
o MGR ("manager") demo
o UNIX 3.51 FIXDISK 2.0
o Public Domain (wmgr, ph, login)
o "Archived" UNIX-pc Software
o Alex Crain's sockets, symbolic links
Miscellaneous
o UNIX-pc Technical Newsletter
o UNIX-pc Reference Manuals
Unfortunately, what disappointed some was the fact that
there were too many things planned to be covered, and many of
them did not get covered as completely as they were during the
BOF in June.
Lenny opened the discussion by making some brief comments
regarding the status of getting the UNIX-pc kernel source code
(no further along than before), how to obtain the hard disk
upgrade, the success rate of the UNIX-pc hardware reference
manual deal, and touched briefly on the WD2010 modification
and its benefits. All of these have been discussed on the net
in detail, but some had some questions and this was the time
to have them answered.
The first demonstration and, perhaps, the bulk of the BOF
was the port of the MGR windowing system to the UNIX-pc.
Lenny showed how MGR was implemented on the UNIX-pc, and the
various utilities with which MGR comes packaged. Among the
more familiar MGR bells-and-whistles were the X-like clock, a
numeric digital clock, and a Mickey Mouse clock, as well as an
icon editor facility. This, again, brought-up the proverbial
X-port discussion, and those who wanted to know "why do I need
MGR?"
Discussions about porting X-windows to the UNIX-pc can be
summarized in one sentence, "X windows can be ported to the
UNIX-pc, but we need someone to write it." Nobody at the BOF
volunteered to port X, but the MGR demonstration did spark
some additional enthusiasm about doing it.
The second question regarding the necessity to use MGR
over, say, the current windowing system or a port of X windows
was a bit more involved. Gil's one-line answer was,
"...because someone wrote it already, and it provides a good
- 2 -
porting base to other systems." However, this answer didn't
seem to be the answer that most of the group was looking for,
and further discussion continued. In general, although there
was an air of apprehension about how useful MGR would be,
there was a feeling of awe in seeing the speed and
responsiveness of a public-domain windowing system. MGR
definitely out-performed the current window driver in reacting
to menu requests, window resize/move, etc. There are yet
problems in the speed of the pty drivers used to communicate
between MGR-windows and the operating system. During the next
six months, we hope to see various incarnations of MGR in the
works, as well as some work in porting X windows.
During that time, Alex Crain was questioned about his
socket library. He commented that there were several people
using it currently, and they seemed to have little trouble to
date.
The MGR demonstration was followed by Gil's demonstration
of some unique (and not-so-unique) applications using the AT&T
Voice Power speech processor board. The demo began with a
synthesized speech recital of the Pledge of Allegiance with a
crudely-drawn American flag on the display. Funny as it may
sound, it was an attempt at showing just what progress has
been made in voice response systems over the past 7 years.
The second voice response demonstration was an answering
machine which used the Voice Power board as the sole form of
communication over the phone lines (ie. no tape recorders were
used). Simple as it sounds, the answering machine program can
be a more complex application as it needs many voice response
messages to communicate with the user. As one attendee noted,
there were computer synthesized messages for the answering
machine attendant. A reason for these messages, as Gil
explained, was to keep the program complexity down. Removing
the synthesized speech would have involved digitizing many
digits, providing a means to parse the digits (with the proper
inflection), then adding the "filler" voice response messages
to both ends of the recited numbers. Gil noted that an
interesting "feature" of the room where the BOF was held was
that there were two hotel telephone lines. This made the
answering machine demonstration a little more realistic.
The last voice response demonstration was a computer-
controlled jukebox. The software provided a means of storing
music in digital form recorded from a home stereo system in a
specialized archive format. A user-interface, which looked
much like a jukebox as would be seen in a local diner, allowed
the 15 megabyte archive of songs recorded on a streaming
floppy tape system to be retrieved and converted back to
audible sound.
- 3 -
Of all the voice demonstrations, the answering machine
was the most popular. After seeing almost 75 minutes of
demonstrations, the group decided to break for 10 minutes.
During the break, many of the attendees took a moment to
experiment with MGR and the voice demonstrations, and the
new-improved USENIX FaceSaver Display program.
Following the break, Mark Dapoz discussed how he re-
organized and designed the UNIX-pc cabinet improvements for
his UNIX-pc. Gil and Lenny also presented their ideas for a
tower cabinet, and Mark reflected on both ideas with some of
his design considerations and initial failures, in the hopes
that others could learn from his experience. Mark's design
goal was to provide a more workable cabinet for adding
additional hardware and modifications, but to leave the option
to return the cabinet to its original form if necessary. He
sternly recommended that those planning to add multiple hard
disks also add an additional 200 watt supply. He shared a
story of how he overloaded his UNIX-pc supply by attempting to
power two hard drives and several expansion boards at once.
He recommends that the two hard disks be powered by a separate
supply, while the remainder of the stock UNIX-pc hardware be
powered by the stock supply.
A day or two before the BOF, AT&T officially released the
long awaited FIXDISK 2.0. Lenny summarized what was included,
specifically the oddities of the "metermaid" and 3-key-
functions. He did mention that he would detail all of the
specific changes in a future posting on USENET (which he did).
Everyone seemed anxious to receive their copy and try out the
new "features" of release 3.51m.
Next, Lenny went on to talk about where one could get
UNIX-pc Software. He mentioned several archive sites, the
ICUS Archives (uucp access) run by Gil Kloepfer, osu-cis
Archives (ftp/uucp access) run by Brant Cheikes, and several
other ftp-able sites. Although this information is
frequently posted to USENET, it was important to discuss. As
always there was a small population of BOF attendees that
didn't have USENET access.
Finally, Lenny discussed the possibility of creating a
UNIX-pc technical newsletter, to be distributed for a minimal
charge on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. The idea seemed to
be accepted by the those attending, however it was preferred
overall that the newsletter be in electronic format. The
problems with an electronic format would be the inability to
include illustrations and diagrams where appropriate, and the
prerequisite of receiving the network newsgroup that the
newsletter was posted to. Someone mentioned getting an
advertiser or some sponsorship of the newsletter, but the
- 4 -
overall consensus was that it would detract from the
newsletter, and make it harder to produce.
Following the BOF, several individuals met with Gil and
Lenny to exchange ideas and software. The after-the-BOF
meeting continued in our hotel suite (what Gil and Lenny
dubbed the "ICUS Hospitality Suite") until about 2AM, at which
time everyone felt a need to get some sleep.
Last, but certainly not least, special thanks go out to
the USENIX association for allowing us to hold the BOF during
the conference, Gil Kloepfer & Lenny Tropiano for coordinating
the BOF and demonstrations, Mark Dapoz for sharing his work he
did with the modified UNIX-pc case, Brad Bosch for providing
beta-copies of his MGR port, Brian Botton for his work on the
VIDPAL board which is making porting MGR and X-windows more of
a reality, and most of all the BOF attendees, for without you
there would be no reason to do this!
In closing, the BOF seemed to be a success. However, it
did seem like there were too many items to cover. In planning
the next BOF, it would help if more people provided some input
as to topics to be discussed, and a good format for discussing
them. We would also appreciate any feedback you have
regarding how the BOF was presented and how appropriate you
felt the demonstrations were to the discussions.
- 5 -
--
| Lenny Tropiano ICUS Software Systems lenny@icus.islp.ny.us |
| {ames,pacbell,decuac,hombre,sbcs,attctc}!icus!lenny attmail!icus!lenny |
+------- ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY 11752 -------+lenny@icus.islp.ny.us (Lenny Tropiano) (02/09/90)
This is the unformatted text (for use with [nt]roff). It automatically
includes the correct macro package, you just need to do this:
$ nroff -T<type> BOFw90.mm | lp
-- cut here -- -- cut here -- -- cut here -- -- cut here -- -- cut here --
#! /bin/sh
# This is a shell archive. Remove anything before this line, then unpack
# it by saving it into a file and typing "sh file". To overwrite existing
# files, type "sh file -c". You can also feed this as standard input via
# unshar, or by typing "sh <file", e.g.. If this archive is complete, you
# will see the following message at the end:
# "End of shell archive."
# Contents: BOFw90.mm
# Wrapped by lenny@icus on Thu Feb 8 22:54:49 1990
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb ; export PATH
if test -f BOFw90.mm -a "${1}" != "-c" ; then
echo shar: Will not over-write existing file \"BOFw90.mm\"
else
echo shar: Extracting \"BOFw90.mm\" \(11355 characters\)
sed "s/^X//" >BOFw90.mm <<'END_OF_BOFw90.mm'
X.\"
X.\" **************************************************************************
X.\" * USENIX BOF Minutes for Winter 1990 USENIX / Washington DC *
X.\" * *
X.\" * (uses [nt]roff's MM macros which is automatically included) *
X.\" * *
X.\" * (c)1990 ICUS Software Systems, Lenny Tropiano, Gil Kloepfer, Jr. *
X.\" * *
X.\" * $ nroff BOFw90.mm | lp *
X.\" **************************************************************************
X.\"
X.so /usr/lib/tmac/tmac.m
X.PH ""
X.nr Pt 1
X.po 7
X.ll +2
X.sp 5
X.ce 3
X--------------------------------------------
X1990 Winter USENIX: AT&T UNIX pc BOF Minutes
X--------------------------------------------
X.sp
X.ce 3
XSponsored by ICUS Software Systems
XLenny Tropiano (lenny@icus.islp.ny.us)
XGil Kloepfer, Jr. (...!ames!limbic!gil)
X.sp
X.ce 3
XWednesday, June 24, 1989
XOmni Shoreham Hotel
XCalvert Room
X.sp 4
X.ad
X.fi
X.P
XThe 1990 Winter USENIX conference once again was the home of the
XUNIX-pc BOF session. As always, our thanks are extended to those
Xwho attended the BOF for making it the technical exchange forum
Xthat it is meant to be. As is always the case, there are those
Xwho cannot make it to the conference for one reason or another,
Xand we hope that this summary again provides you with a little
Xinsight regarding the event you missed. For those who did attend,
Xwe hope that this summary is something you can keep in a file
Xon your computer somewhere for reference and possibly some ideas
Xfor the next BOF.
X.PF "''- % -''"
X.P
XWhat we tried to do, and succeeded to some extent in doing, was
Xto spice-up the BOF with examples of the more obscure or unusual
Xcapabilities which can be exploited using some of the expansion
Xhardware. Those who came to the BOF early had a unique opportunity
Xto see what went-on "behind-the-scenes" during the BOF set-up, and
Xtook the time to ask questions about the demonstrations. In Gil's
Xopinion, these people got the most out of the demonstrations.
X.P
XThe BOF opened as usual with Lenny's electronic artwork on the
Xoverhead transparencies and a summary of what was to be covered
Xduring the BOF. This was:
X.nf
X.na
X
X
X Hardware
X o ICUS 2nd drive/P5.1 upgrade
X o Bigger hard disks
X o WD2010 (seek performance)
X o Voice Power boards
X o Botton's VIDPAL
X o Custom UNIX pc cases
X (Dapoz design/ICUS Design)
X
X
X Software
X o "Jukebox" (Voice Power) demo
X o Answering Machine (Voice Power) demo
X o USENIX FaceSaver Display demo
X o MGR ("manager") demo
X o UNIX 3.51 FIXDISK 2.0
X o Public Domain (wmgr, ph, login)
X o "Archived" UNIX-pc Software
X o Alex Crain's sockets, symbolic links
X
X
X Miscellaneous
X o UNIX-pc Technical Newsletter
X o UNIX-pc Reference Manuals
X
X
X.ad
X.fi
X.P
XUnfortunately, what disappointed some was the fact that there were
Xtoo many things planned to be covered, and many of them did not get
Xcovered as completely as they were during the BOF in June.
X.P
XLenny opened the discussion by making some brief comments regarding
Xthe status of getting the UNIX-pc kernel source code (no further
Xalong than before), how to obtain the hard disk upgrade, the success
Xrate of the UNIX-pc hardware reference manual deal, and touched briefly
Xon the WD2010 modification and its benefits. All of these have been
Xdiscussed on the net in detail, but some had some questions and this
Xwas the time to have them answered.
X.P
XThe first demonstration and, perhaps, the bulk of the BOF was the
Xport of the MGR windowing system to the UNIX-pc. Lenny showed how
XMGR was implemented on the UNIX-pc, and the various utilities
Xwith which MGR comes packaged. Among the more familiar MGR
Xbells-and-whistles were the X-like clock, a numeric digital clock, and a
XMickey Mouse clock, as well as an icon editor facility. This,
Xagain, brought-up the proverbial X-port discussion, and those who
Xwanted to know "why do I need MGR?"
X.P
XDiscussions about porting X-windows to the UNIX-pc can be summarized
Xin one sentence, "X windows can be ported to the UNIX-pc, but we
Xneed someone to write it." Nobody at the BOF volunteered to port X,
Xbut the MGR demonstration did spark some additional enthusiasm
Xabout doing it.
X.P
XThe second question regarding the necessity to use MGR over, say,
Xthe current windowing system or a port of X windows was a bit more
Xinvolved. Gil's one-line answer was, "...because someone wrote
Xit already, and it provides a good porting base to other systems."
XHowever, this answer didn't seem to be the answer that most of
Xthe group was looking for, and further discussion continued. In
Xgeneral, although there was an air of apprehension about how useful
XMGR would be, there was a feeling of awe in seeing the speed and
Xresponsiveness of a public-domain windowing system. MGR definitely
Xout-performed the current window driver in reacting to menu requests,
Xwindow resize/move, etc. There are yet problems in the speed of the pty
Xdrivers used to communicate between MGR-windows and the operating
Xsystem. During the next six months, we hope to see various
Xincarnations of MGR in the works, as well as some work in porting
XX windows.
X.P
XDuring that time, Alex Crain was questioned about his socket
Xlibrary. He commented that there were several people using
Xit currently, and they seemed to have little trouble to date.
X.P
XThe MGR demonstration was followed by Gil's demonstration of some
Xunique (and not-so-unique) applications using the AT&T Voice Power
Xspeech processor board. The demo began with a synthesized speech
Xrecital of the Pledge of Allegiance with a crudely-drawn American
Xflag on the display. Funny as it may sound, it was an attempt at
Xshowing just what progress has been made in voice response systems
Xover the past 7 years.
X.P
XThe second voice response demonstration was an answering machine
Xwhich used the Voice Power board as the sole form of communication
Xover the phone lines (ie. no tape recorders were used). Simple
Xas it sounds, the answering machine program can be a
Xmore complex application as it needs many voice response messages
Xto communicate with the user. As one attendee noted, there
Xwere computer synthesized messages for the answering machine
Xattendant. A reason for these messages, as Gil explained, was
Xto keep the program complexity down. Removing the synthesized
Xspeech would have involved digitizing many digits, providing a
Xmeans to parse the digits (with the proper inflection), then
Xadding the "filler" voice response messages to both ends of the
Xrecited numbers. Gil noted that an interesting "feature" of the
Xroom where the BOF was held was that there were two hotel telephone
Xlines. This made the answering machine demonstration a little more
Xrealistic.
X.P
XThe last voice response demonstration was a computer-controlled
Xjukebox. The software provided a means of storing music in digital
Xform recorded from a home stereo system in a specialized archive
Xformat. A user-interface, which looked much like a jukebox as
Xwould be seen in a local diner, allowed the 15 megabyte archive of
Xsongs recorded on a streaming floppy tape system to be retrieved
Xand converted back to audible sound.
X.P
XOf all the voice demonstrations, the answering machine was the
Xmost popular. After seeing almost 75 minutes of demonstrations,
Xthe group decided to break for 10 minutes. During the break, many
Xof the attendees took a moment to experiment with MGR and the
Xvoice demonstrations, and the new-improved USENIX FaceSaver Display
Xprogram.
X.P
XFollowing the break, Mark Dapoz discussed how he re-organized and
Xdesigned the UNIX-pc cabinet improvements for his UNIX-pc. Gil
Xand Lenny also presented their ideas for a tower cabinet, and
XMark reflected on both ideas with some of his design considerations
Xand initial failures, in the hopes that others could learn from
Xhis experience. Mark's design goal was to provide a more workable
Xcabinet for adding additional hardware and modifications, but to
Xleave the option to return the cabinet to its original form if
Xnecessary. He sternly recommended that those planning to add multiple
Xhard disks also add an additional 200 watt supply. He shared a
Xstory of how he overloaded his UNIX-pc supply by attempting to
Xpower two hard drives and several expansion boards at once. He
Xrecommends that the two hard disks be powered by a separate supply,
Xwhile the remainder of the stock UNIX-pc hardware be powered by
Xthe stock supply.
X.P
XA day or two before the BOF, AT&T officially released the long
Xawaited FIXDISK 2.0. Lenny summarized what was included, specifically
Xthe oddities of the "metermaid" and 3-key-functions. He did mention
Xthat he would detail all of the specific changes in a future posting on
XUSENET (which he did). Everyone seemed anxious to receive their copy
Xand try out the new "features" of release 3.51m.
X.P
XNext, Lenny went on to talk about where one could get UNIX-pc Software.
XHe mentioned several archive sites, the ICUS Archives (uucp access)
Xrun by Gil Kloepfer, osu-cis Archives (ftp/uucp access) run by
XBrant Cheikes, and several other ftp-able sites. Although this information
Xis frequently posted to USENET, it was important to discuss. As always
Xthere was a small population of BOF attendees that didn't have USENET access.
X.P
XFinally, Lenny discussed the possibility of creating a UNIX-pc
Xtechnical newsletter, to be distributed for a minimal charge on
Xa monthly or bi-monthly basis. The idea seemed to be accepted
Xby the those attending, however it was preferred overall that the
Xnewsletter be in electronic format. The problems with an electronic
Xformat would be the inability to include illustrations and
Xdiagrams where appropriate, and the prerequisite of receiving the
Xnetwork newsgroup that the newsletter was posted to. Someone mentioned
Xgetting an advertiser or some sponsorship of the newsletter, but the
Xoverall consensus was that it would detract from the newsletter, and make
Xit harder to produce.
X.P
XFollowing the BOF, several individuals met with Gil and Lenny to
Xexchange ideas and software. The after-the-BOF meeting continued in our
Xhotel suite (what Gil and Lenny dubbed the "ICUS Hospitality Suite")
Xuntil about 2AM, at which time everyone felt a need to get some
Xsleep.
X.P
XLast, but certainly not least, special thanks go out to the
XUSENIX association for allowing us to hold the BOF during the
Xconference, Gil Kloepfer & Lenny Tropiano for coordinating the
XBOF and demonstrations, Mark Dapoz for sharing his work he
Xdid with the modified UNIX-pc case, Brad Bosch for providing
Xbeta-copies of his MGR port, Brian Botton for his work
Xon the VIDPAL board which is making porting MGR and X-windows more
Xof a reality, and most of all the BOF attendees, for without you
Xthere would be no reason to do this!
X.P
XIn closing, the BOF seemed to be a success. However, it did seem
Xlike there were too many items to cover. In planning the next
XBOF, it would help if more people provided some input as to topics
Xto be discussed, and a good format for discussing them. We would
Xalso appreciate any feedback you have regarding how the BOF was
Xpresented and how appropriate you felt the demonstrations were
Xto the discussions.
END_OF_BOFw90.mm
if test 11355 -ne `wc -c <BOFw90.mm`; then
echo shar: \"BOFw90.mm\" unpacked with wrong size!
fi
# end of overwriting check
fi
echo shar: End of shell archive.
exit 0
--
| Lenny Tropiano ICUS Software Systems lenny@icus.islp.ny.us |
| {ames,pacbell,decuac,hombre,sbcs,attctc}!icus!lenny attmail!icus!lenny |
+------- ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY 11752 -------+