Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!ukma!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!abvax!iccgcc.decnet.ab.com!herrickd
From: herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
Newsgroups: comp.society.development
Subject: Re: Low-cost Usenet (Re: usenet in Nepal)
Message-ID: <1991Jun14.100804.4867@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Date: 14 Jun 91 15:08:04 GMT
References: <1991Jun3.141524.1@cc.helsinki.fi>  <1991Jun4.170923.1@cc.helsinki.fi> <91156.085853DOUG@ysub.ysu.edu> <78978@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Followup-To: comp.society.development
Lines: 55

In article <78978@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, elkordy@acsu.buffalo.edu (Mohamed Elkordy) writes:
> DOUG@ysub.ysu.edu (Doug Sewell) writes:
> 
> 
> 
> 
>>If you have a 8088 MSDOS machine with 640K and an adequate hard disk,
>>you can run Waffle to read e-mail and Usenet news.  Waffle talks UUCP
>>to Unix, and other Waffle systems as well.
> 
>    Sorry, but I think I do not understand what is going on !
>  Is this "Waffle" a hardware or just software, and if it is only software
>  you will definitly need modem ? and if u use modem what is the telephone
>  number that you are going to dial from Nipal (or in my case, Egypt). It
>  is not an 800 #, is it?
> 
Waffle is software.  To get a news system running with DOS Waffle,
you need

      1)  a MSDOS computer with 640K and hard disk
      2)  Waffle
      3)  a modem
      4)  a feed - this is another news site that you can call on
          the phone to get news from and feed your local postings
          back to.
      5)  a copy of the Nutshell book about uucp

Item 1 can be satisfied by an IBM XT or clone, 8088 with 20MBytes of
disk.  You will always want more disk.

Item 2 can be picked up on the network.

Item 3 should be at least 2400 baud.  You should probably talk to the
system administrator of your feed site before buying it.  Speeds higher
than 2400 have compatibility problems - you want to be able to use
all the speed you pay for.

Item 4 can be found here.  You describe your location and ask for
willing neighbors to let you know.  For the first USENET site in
Nepal, they are going to be a long distance phone call away.  You
might find a local feed in some places in Egypt.  Either way,
somebody is paying for long distance phone calls and it is good
citizenship to help pay.

Item 5 will help, but is still not enough.  The documentation is all
written in a strange dialect of English, including the Nutshell book.
You will need a great deal of patience and determination and the help
of the system administrator at your feed site and, probably, also help
from people here on USENET.

This only begins to point the way.  Keep asking questions.  Ask for
help understanding the things above that don't make sense to you.

dan herrick
herrickd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com