[18] in Resnet-Forum
Re: Evangelizing residence networking
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (mlbarrow@MIT.EDU)
Sun Oct 31 11:48:33 1993
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1993 11:35:41 -0500
To: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
From: mlbarrow@MIT.EDU
Cc: mckenna@dccs.upenn.edu, danu@dccs.upenn.edu
Thanks for the ideas Dan!
>* Inclusion of 55-channel cable TV (actually SMATV) service, and
> lower-cost option for a private phone line in the "wired room" bundle
> together with 10 mbps ethernet (no asynch or LocalTalk)
Fortunately, I don't have to convince people to live in one dorm over
another. MIT already has Cable TV in all the dorms including "real" CATV
(i.e., CNN, HBO, MTV, etc.). We'll have 10Mbps to every dorm pillow as of
1/1/94 or thereabouts.
>* Articles in the campus computing newsletter and the official campus
> newsweekly (we'll probably use ads in the student daily this year)
I read the ResNet article in "Penn Printout" -- it was interesting. I
haven't put any info in "i/s" yet, but I have placed full pagers in 2
issues of the student newspaper.
>* A "sample wired room" (complete with bed, lamp, networked computer, TV,
> and phone) setup at several on-campus computer fairs
This sounds like a great idea. Hmmmm.... :-)
>* We offered *free* IP-based software (no problem on the Mac side, since
>on the DOS and
>Windows side, we selected Novell's LAN Workplace,for which we have site
>license, after considering several more expensive options)
We're doing the same thing. Unfortunately, (for DOS/Windows users) we're a
little behind on the LWP side of the house. I guess MIT, UPenn, and Brown
should continue working together to fix this!
>* We made a special point to include ethernet cards and the free software
>offer in the campus computer reseller's "Fall Truckload Sale" brochure,
>lest ResNet students buy modems.
I have already started working closely with the on-campus reseller. I will
also be doing some presentations with our Apple reps this coming January
where we'll talk about how Mac owners can take advantage of a net
connection.
>* We offer up to two-hours free in-room software installation and
>training (we'll install board, if required).
Question: who is doing the installations? We've decided that the student
consultants in the dorms should not do any board installations b/c we don't
want to them to have to be responsible for potentially breaking someone's
machine. We're going to tell the owners to either install the cards
themselves or go to the on-campus service center.
>* The campus-wide AppleTalk provides some extra incentives for networking,
>e.g. the "broadcast" function and student-run file servers with games.
What "broadcast" function? Are you talking about those AppleTalk-based
insta-messaging programs? Speaking of student-run fileservers -- do you
have piracy problems?
>(And we're experimenting with use of the AppleTalk server to provide
>access to the required IP-based software, which might reduce need to make
>house calls.)
We thought about doing this but decided against it for a couple of reasons:
1) It would require having 2 copies (a bad, bad thing!) of the binaries
since we already have an anonymous FTP site & 2) we couldn't find an
AppleShare server with enough oomph to potentially have all the Mac users
auto-mounting it. The Apple WG server 95 only allows 200 users to be
connected simultaneously. I think that we've pretty much decided to make
the binaries available through TechInfo. However, I'd be interested in
learning more about your tests.
>Hope this is helpful. Is anyone doing anything with video?
This has been _very_ helpful! MIT broadcasts some events over the CATV
system (such as conferences, symposia, graduation, etc). In addition, there
used to be a weekly Physics I tutorial back when I was a frosh. The
professor would review the topics that were on that week's problem set and
help you work through one of the problems. I don't know what else exists,
tho'.
-- mlb
-- Michael L. Barrow
Network Analyst/Resnet Support Coordinator
MIT Distributed Computing and Network Services
Director, BCS Internet SIG
