[552] in Resnet-Forum
====SURVEY RESULTS: PCs IN THE DORMS======
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bernard Hecker)
Wed Mar 8 13:27:29 1995
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 13:05:19 +0500
To: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
From: Bernard.Hecker@mail.cc.trincoll.edu (Bernard Hecker)
A few weeks back, I asked everyone about if and how they
connected DOS and Windows machines in their dorm nets, with
a promise to report back. Here I go, but with a couple of
important caveats:
1) Not everyone answered the questions in the same way.
Rather than pretend that I can impose order that doesn't
actually exist on the data, I'm presenting blurbs in
narrative form.
2) I'm augmenting my presentation here with some data from a
survey conducted by Johanna Turner <turner@reed.edu> on the
SCUSS (small college) list.
3) I'm also rolling in some findings from the recent NERCOMP
conference at Wellesley.
Most of these data are fairly accurate. Other chunks are a
little less quoteable because of the informal manner in
which it the data were collected. Unfortunately, I can no
longer remember which is which.
NB: ** Please find it in your heart to forgive me if I
misrepresent any facts about your institution. I'm trying my
best with very few free neurons. **
===Off-the-record but important findings from NERCOMP=====
* Pattie Orr sounds like she comes from Dallas, not
New England. (Pattie and Karyn Russell did a _fantastic_ job
with the NERCOMP conference.)
* "Germuska" is pronounced with an initial "j" sound,
and Joe is much taller than he seems from his e-mail.
* Now I know why MIT wins all the documentation prizes at
SIGUCCS: their documentation department is bigger than my
entire academic computing operation.
ABBREVIATIONS:
RCC: "resident computing consultant" - a student-like
person, often paid by central campus computing or
residential life, to assist with the connection of kids in
the dorms.
WfW: Windows for Workgroups
========PC's in Dormnets===(BLH survey responses) =========
Alma College
Alma College reports that they'll begin a pilot
dormnet project in Fall '95. They expect 80% Macintosh
connections. Macs will be supported with RCCs.
DOS/Windows connections will be available but with
limited support.
Haverford
Haverford College had 80+ Macs on the net, and about
6 PCs at the time they reported. On the PC side, they
support PC/TCP, Winsock, and Minuet. They use SMC
elite cards, but are thinking about 3com as well.
The average Mac took "10 minutes" to get up; the
typical PC was more like 2 hours. They report trouble
with DOS users not having the basic skills needed to
help themselves (ex., editing a config file, not to
mention memory management).
Washington College
(in the State of Maryland; Founded in 1782 with George
Washington providing some funds and serving on the
board.)
Washington College reports 379 Macs and 12 PCs on
their net, but PCs dial in and use SLIP. PC users must
be running Windows 3.1 or later.
Northwestern
If I take their "half and half" line seriously,
they've got about 775 Macs and 775 PCs on line.
(Welcome to the big leagues.) Officially, they don't
support DOS - only Windows.
If you want to get your PC on their net, you've got to
pass this muster:
* Intel 80386 or higher processor (or compatible)
* 4 MB of RAM or more
* 120 MB Hard Drive or larger
* Windows 3.1 or newer (including WFW, but not NT)
* An Ethernet Card or Parallel Port Adapter (see below)
and have one of these cards:
ISA/EISA bus: 3Com Etherlink III (3C509)
MCA Bus: 3Com Etherlink III (3C529)
PCMCIA: 3Com Etherlink III (3C589)
Parallel Port: Xircom PE3
They've also developed two installer applications to
help get PCs up. One is based on a commercial package
(didn't know which one), and installs Winsock and
basic apps. The other is homebrewed: it asks the user
configuration questions and then diddles those *.ini
files.
Northwestern also took the unusual step of budgeting
$60/port (about an hour per machine) for outside
contractors to come in and help make the connections.
"Many more" students got connected by themselves or
with the help of RCCs.
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State has "a few dozen" PCs up, and few Macs.
Staff does all the installations. There are no student
assistants. They report "an experienced installer can
have a PC up and on the network, with the VLMs
installed, in about 15 minutes." 3com cards are
encouraged.
Skidmore
Skidmore had 39+ PCs on their net (they do Macs, too).
IPX is provided via LSL/ODI, and IP is supported as
well. You need a 386 with 4 megs of ram or better, and
they reserve the right to reject a machine if it's
"too weird". DOS & Windows are supported, WfW and OS/2
are not.
They're very supportive philosophically of PC use.
But..
"Wish we had some <brilliant ideas>... Right now
it takes 1 - 2 hours of trained professional
staff for each installation since nothing is
routine. We're continuing to look for ways to
perfect the installation."
St. Joseph's College
St Joe's (of Rensselaer, IN.) is 99% PC. On their dorm
net currently are about 55 PC users. They've written
some batch files to deal with differences in versions
of DOS. They use RCCs: "We use Student assistants to
do all this, we haven't found very many generic
students who can take this on by themselves." They've
just scratched the surface with Windows.
Stanford
About 1950 Macs and 450 PCs inhabit Leland's dorm net.
Res Computing provides a TCP/IP stack (Pathways from
Wollongong) that works with DOS and Windows. But card
installs and IRQ conflicts, etc., are handled by the
end users, (perhaps with RCC help).
Standards? Let's put it this way: there are XT's on
their dorm net. It's a rough-and-ready, roll-you-own
world for dorm PC owners. But 450 a sizeable number.
So chalk one up for controlled anarchy.
University of Pennsylvania
On UPenn's dormnet: 472 PCs, 271 Macs, and 77
"something else". In this survey, this is an unusual
mix. In most cases where PCs outnumber Macs, there are
few Macs. Here there is a sizeable Mac presence, but
still more PCs.
PCs currently have only IP access, courtesy of
Novell's LAN workplace, which is provided on a starter
disk, along with an FTP client. With these, students
can bootstrap, and get the rest of their applications.
RCCs help with installs - they'll even help with
network card installations. (I believe they'll be
routing IPX to the dorms before too long.)
University of Michigan
300 PCs and 300 Macs are on the dormnet at the big
school in Ann Arbor. PCs get a full install of
Netware, and a kludged install of LanWP (Lan
Workplace?) for IP. DOS and Windows 3.1 are supported,
and a bootstrapping disk is provided. They advise us
to watch out for Program Manager replacements (on
Compaqs, Packard Bells, etc.), and disk compression
software.
University of Albany
These folks are just getting started. They expect to
use Winsock for Windows and WfW; and for DOS, CUTCP.
Sounds like they'll try to impose some configuration
limits, ex., 386, DOS 5+, SMC cards, etc.
University of Vermont Business School
150 PCs are on the net at UVM-BS. You'll need to run
WfW 3.11 with Microsoft's TCP/IP (netbios) stack to
chat with their NT servers. More standards: "we will
not network 386s or systems with less than 8 MB RAM".
They also report trouble with PCMCIA adapters (others
did, too). And they won't touch your "home built"
machine.
========PC's in Dormnets===(from JT's survey) =============
Wellesley - 500 Macs are up. A recent pilot got about 10 PCs
on line. PCs run Novell over Cabletron cards.
University of the South - Mostly Mac, with just a few PCs on
line at the moment.
Union - At the moment, it's 4800 baud terminal service, but
that's changing.
Bates - Does both Macs and PCs. Cabletron cards and Xircom
adapters get a thumbs up. Fear and loathing of PC sound
cards reported.
Swathmore - Mac only at this time.
Harvey Mudd - Macs and PCs... and everything else. More
controlled anarchy, from what I can tell. (The respondent
wouldn't even claim he know what protocols were running in
the dorms! Keep away, control freaks!)
Smith - Another asynch site, moving towards Ether, starting
this fall.
Macalaster - Does both Macs and PCs, but the Macs run IPX,
not appletalk. They sell Asante cards, which they'll help
install and configure, but others are possible.
Carlton - Pilot this fall
Wooster - Pilot this fall
========PC's in Dormnets===(from NERCOMP chats) ============
Princeton - Back to the big leagues! Princeton counts 1015
Macs, 631 PCs, and 125 unknown (Rainbows? Speak-'n'-Spells?)
on their net. PC dormers get a handout and a bootstrapping
disk, which will set them up to access the Novell network. A
nest of batch files gets things in the right places, and
prepares the machine to snatch IP applications off a Novell
server after reboot. IP is offered via Lan Workplace. SMC
cards are most popular, but EtherLink, Intel, Xircom, and
Kingston PCMCIA are also supported. Owners of other cards
can still get on, but have a bit more work to do. RCCs seem
to help out quite a bit.
Yale - Yale started a dorm Appletalk network years ago (over
localtalk, of course). PCs have been running PC Appletalk
cards from the start, or close to it.
Trinity - Here at Trinity College (Hartford CT) we've got
about 800 Macs in the dorms, and perhaps a dozen dorm PCs running
DOS, Windows and Windows NT. PCs service is not currently
advertised. Our informal pilot will probably get formal in
the fall. I'm sure we'll have pretty strict limits, probably
including 386s or better, 8 megs RAM, and WfW (a natural for
NT-based nets). We'd like for PC students to be self-installing,
like our Mac students (stop laughing!), with help from installer
scripts (perl?) and RCCs. I hope.
3/8/95
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Bernard Hecker (203)297-2111
Director of Academic Computing Bernard.Hecker@mail.trincoll.edu
Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut 06106
