Xref: utzoo comp.sys.atari.st:34914 comp.sys.atari.8bit:4452
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!milo.mcs.anl.gov!midway!gargoyle!chinet!saj
From: saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: Bye Bye BART
Summary: What do the rest of us do now?
Keywords: BART Atari archive umich alternatives
Message-ID: <1991Feb11.145036.24222@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 11 Feb 91 14:50:36 GMT
References: <1991Feb11.054514.25449@terminator.cc.umich.edu>
Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
Lines: 32

In article <1991Feb11.054514.25449@terminator.cc.umich.edu> jon@terminator.cc.umich.edu (Jon Brode) writes:
>BART service will no longer be available to access the Atari archive

This leaves us back where we were a few months ago.  The panarthea archive isn't
really an appropriate central depository of 'stuff'; that would impair its
function as a newsgroup archive.  As long as the enthusiasm and the resources
exist at umich.edu, having a central repository there seems like a good idea.
But ftp-only leaves a lot of us with pretty weak connections to it.

I have a couple of modest suggestions: In the IBM PC world, there's an ftp-only
central repository at SIMTEL20.  It is shadowed at (at least) 2 other sites,
with mail servers at the shadow sites.  There's a modest reduction in the
disk load at the shadow sites because they can purge 'dead' files and re-fetch
them only if needed.  Traffic is decentralized.  Any volunteers?

Another model is the UNIX/misc archives.  Basically, they exist at 3 sites,
with different access at each (although one of them, sir-alan, has been down
for a rather long time).  What they have in common, is that the requestor pays
the phone bill.  Anyone in a position to set up a bbs for the atari archive?
A uucp-accessible site?  Again, some degree of off-lining might be possible,
although automating it might take a bit of effort.  With both a bbs program
and a uucp-clone having been distributed in this newsgroup, basic software
availability should be a non-problem.

What all this requires is a couple hundred MB of disk, a cpu and at least one
phone line.  Ftp access would be desirable, but could be gotten around.  The
work involved would probably be too much for one person, but reasonable for 2
or more.  Does either a shadow server or a second site sound like something
someone wants to do?  Any user group want to take on a BIG project?  I suspect
that a bbs with free and fee access levels could be kept from being a 
hopeless money-sink.
                                 Steve    saj@chinet.chi.il.us