rjrjr@lighthouse.com (Ray Ryan) (04/27/91)
Hello all.
A while back, Lighthouse Design set out to donate our time and money
to perform a service for the burgeoning NeXT community: we compiled
all the public domain and shareware we could stuff onto an OD (see
contents below), and began distributing it for as little money as
possible under the moniker "The First Compilation Disk".
Well, a year and a tripling of optical disk prices later, the burden
is proving too much for our tiny organization. The now renamed Big
Green Disk, proceeds from which are donated to environmental
charities, is pretty popular, and requires more time and effort than
we can give it. For this reason, we will stop distributing the disk
May 15. But we'd hate to see it die.
With this posting, we're officially extending the invitation to
another group to take over duplication, updating and distribution of
the Big Green Disk. Why? The Big Green Disk ensures the flow of free
and shareable software to those without net access. And saves a
tremendous amount of time even for those who do. We'd like to make
sure that access is maintained.
We'll point you to a cheap source of double-sided OD's, and hand you
the pile of stuff we were getting ready to add to the disk (we'll even
pass you a list of our favorite charities...:-).
If you or your group might be interested in taking things over, please
write to disk@lighthouse.com (...!uunet!lighthouse!disk) and we'll
talk. Thanks for your consideration.
Ray Ryan
Lighthouse Design, Ltd.
disk@lighthouse.com
------------------Sample Contents as of 26 Apr------------------
* The entire GNU distribution, including:
GNU emacs
gdb, the GNU debugger
GNU versions of awk, diff, grep, cpio, troff, postscript,
tar, sed...
GNU utilties used by NeXT in NeXTStep 1.0 are included
* Programs from the Purdue NeXT archive, such as:
AltDock, allows you to extend your dock
NX_VOID, a 3-dimensional asteroids game
Tetris, the ever popular arcade game
DefaultMgr, an editor for your Defaults database
* News and newsletters, including:
Archives of the USENET newsgroup comp.sys.next
Bay Area NeXT Users Group (BaNG)
Rocky Mountain NeXT Users Group (rmNUG)
NeXT Users Journal (formerly the *BuzzNUG Buzzings:)
* An X11R3 server for NeXTstep 1.0, a beta test version formerly
named XNeXT
* comp.sources.unix archives (all since its creation)
* kermit and cnews
----------------------End Sample----------------------------------
--
Ray Ryan Lighthouse Design, Ltd.
rjrjr@lighthouse.com 6516 Western Ave.
+1-301-907-4621 Chevy Chase, MD, USA 20815-3212bb@math.ufl.edu (Brian Bartholomew) (04/30/91)
In article <1991Apr26.224809.220@lighthouse.com> rjrjr@lighthouse.com (Ray Ryan) writes: > A while back, Lighthouse Design set out to donate our time and money > to perform a service for the burgeoning NeXT community > and began distributing it for as little money as possible Interesting. I was always under the impression that this was a commercial venture in partnership with Erica Leibman, albiet an economically-priced one. > The Big Green Disk ensures the flow of free and shareable software to > those without net access. And saves a tremendous amount of time even > for those who do. We'd like to make sure that access is maintained. > With this posting, we're officially extending the invitation to > another group to take over duplication, updating and distribution of > the Big Green Disk. If you really mean these words about motivation and freedom, set the software free. Put it up for anonymous ftp. Netters can get it without costing anyone's time but their own. Non-netters can bug netters for copies via the grapevine. If a user isn't at least remotely aware of the net, then they wouldn't be aware of the disk - hence this is a non-problem. -- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Bartholomew UUCP: ...gatech!uflorida!beach.cis.ufl.edu!bb University of Florida Internet: bb@math.ufl.edu
smb3u@psysun1.acc.Virginia.EDU (Steven M. Boker) (04/30/91)
In article <BB.91Apr29214600@leadbelly.math.ufl.edu> bb@math.ufl.edu (Brian Bartholomew) writes: >If you really mean these words about motivation and freedom, set the >software free. Put it up for anonymous ftp. Netters can get it >without costing anyone's time but their own. Non-netters can bug >netters for copies via the grapevine. If a user isn't at least >remotely aware of the net, then they wouldn't be aware of the disk - >hence this is a non-problem. > Give these guys a break, Brian. They have been collecting the programs from ftp sites and republishing them for people who have no access to ftp. I for one feel that they have been providing a greatly needed service at a very reasonably cost while catching a lot of flack from people who feel that they occupy the high moral ground. I would like to thank the people at Lighthouse for this public spirited service to the community. I'm sorry that they feel that they can no longer support the effort, and I hope that someone else will take up the standard. I know that we at Data Transforms can't afford to do it. Steve smb@data.com
bill@ford.austin.ibm.com (Bill Dodd) (05/01/91)
In article <BB.91Apr29214600@leadbelly.math.ufl.edu> bb@math.ufl.edu (Brian Bartholomew) writes: > In article <1991Apr26.224809.220@lighthouse.com> rjrjr@lighthouse.com > (Ray Ryan) writes: > > A while back, Lighthouse Design set out to donate our time and money > > to perform a service for the burgeoning NeXT community > > and began distributing it for as little money as possible > > The Big Green Disk ensures the flow of free and shareable software to > > those without net access. And saves a tremendous amount of time even > > for those who do. We'd like to make sure that access is maintained. > If you really mean these words about motivation and freedom, set the > software free. Put it up for anonymous ftp. Netters can get it > without costing anyone's time but their own. Non-netters can bug > netters for copies via the grapevine. You miss the point. All this stuff is already available via anon ftp. This service is most beneficial to people (like me) who do not have anon ftp access. I do have USENET access, but the opportunity to get all 400+ MB of this high quality software on one disk for about the cost of media and handling (versus getting the stuff a piece at a time via email other misc methods) was well worth it. > If a user isn't at least > remotely aware of the net, then they wouldn't be aware of the disk - > hence this is a non-problem. I don't get your point here. Surely people who do not have access to the net would like to get this software. There are other way besides the net to find out about the availability of the disk. I for one am grateful for the service Lighthouse has provided and am sorry to see them discontinue this service. -bill (Proud supporter of Free Software) bill@mescal.cactus.org
bb@math.ufl.edu (Brian Bartholomew) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr30.122849.20298@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> smb3u@psysun1.acc.Virginia.EDU (Steven M. Boker) writes: > Give these guys a break, Brian. They have been collecting the > programs from ftp sites and republishing them for people who have no > access to ftp. Hmmm, my mail has been running about 20-0 in favor of Lighthouse. I believe I owe them an apology: Sorry I flamed you, guys. From all indications you have been doing a great job providing a service that many people truly value. Also, the prices I've heard quoted were much, much lower than I had thought. Keep up the good work. -- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Bartholomew UUCP: ...gatech!uflorida!beach.cis.ufl.edu!bb University of Florida Internet: bb@math.ufl.edu
scott@mcs-server.gac.edu (Scott Hess) (05/02/91)
In article <BB.91Apr29214600@leadbelly.math.ufl.edu> bb@math.ufl.edu (Brian Bartholomew) writes: In article <1991Apr26.224809.220@lighthouse.com> rjrjr@lighthouse.com (Ray Ryan) writes: > The Big Green Disk ensures the flow of free and shareable software to > those without net access. And saves a tremendous amount of time even > for those who do. We'd like to make sure that access is maintained. If you really mean these words about motivation and freedom, set the software free. Put it up for anonymous ftp. Netters can get it without costing anyone's time but their own. Non-netters can bug netters for copies via the grapevine. If a user isn't at least remotely aware of the net, then they wouldn't be aware of the disk - hence this is a non-problem. I believe that the original motivation was exactly to provide the stuff to non-net-connected people. So far as I can tell, everything on the disk is already out there on the net. The only real differences are that 1) the disk seems to have more than any _single_ site does, and 2) the stuff on the disk is a bit more out-of-date than what you'd get on the net. Other than that, not much difference. [aside - they even state that alot of the stuff is directly dumped source from the net - they've not ported it to the NeXT, though there's no reason it couldn't be. Probably just had extra disk space :-) ] Later, -- scott hess scott@gac.edu Independent NeXT Developer GAC Undergrad <I still speak for nobody> "Simply press Control-right-Shift while click-dragging the mouse . . ." "I smoke the nose Lucifer . . . Banana, banana."