paul@csnz.co.nz (Paul Gillingwater) (09/18/89)
Hi from New Zealand! I'm in the planning stages for setting up a public-access USEnet site, combined with a BBS. I'd be interested to hear from other sysops who do this around the world as to what issues they have had to deal with, e.g. charging, security, selection of software, e-mail charge-back, file requesting, archive management, CD-ROM, WORM drivers, etc. Please e-mail to me -- paul@csnz.co.nz -- and I'll summarise. My outline planning is as follows: I will be purchasing a 386 (20 MHz) with 8 Mb of RAM. The O/S will be either SCO Xenix or Interactive UNIX. Peripherals will include a Stallion multi-port card, 320 Mb SCSI drive (Maxtor?), 160 Mb tape drive, and at least one Trailblazer T2500. Also in the pipe-line will be a Rabbit X.25 card, FAX card, WORM drive (for source archiving), and CD-ROM for PC-Sig stuff. Obviously one of the big issues will be drivers for this stuff. I also plan to hook up a PC with UFGate to act as a Fidonet gateway to USEnet for New Zealand, and maybe D'Bridge to drive the FAX card. I would welcome comments from anyone who has an opinion on this plan, especially recommendations or otherwise on specific hardwarde. I'm choosing a 386 *only* because I can get the most bang-per-buck -- I know it's not a *real* UNIX system, but price is _definitely_ an issue. In parallel with all this, as well as importing most standard USEnet groups (for which I will be paying the local University a fat fee), I plan to import some alt. hierarchies, and more importantly plan to hook up to the international PeaceNet/EcoNet/Web/GreenNet/Pegasus network for conservation, peace and human-rights messaging. Comments welcomed. echo "thanks" >/dev/future -- Paul Gillingwater, Computer Sciences of New Zealand Limited Domain: paul@csnz.co.nz Bang: uunet!vuwcomp!dsiramd!csnz!paul Call Magic Tower BBS V21/23/22/22bis 24 hrs NZ+64 4 767 326 SpringBoard BBS for Greenies! V22/22bis/HST NZ+64 4 767 742