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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!ll-xn!ames!lll-tis!ptsfa!ihnp4!chinet!randy
From: randy@chinet.UUCP (Randy Suess)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: Starting a Public Access Unix System -- How?
Message-ID: <1724@chinet.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Oct-87 11:09:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: chinet.1724
Posted: Wed Oct 14 11:09:11 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Oct-87 05:31:00 EDT
References: <834@seradg.Dayton.NCR.COM> <7617@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Reply-To: randy@chinet.UUCP (Randy Suess)
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix
Lines: 36
Keywords: questions opinions
Xref: mnetor comp.unix.questions:4528 comp.unix.xenix:958

In article <7617@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
>I waited a few days for someone else to answer this, but I guess it's
>You will not make money on it. You will not break even. People will try
>to break your system. This is generally true of any public access
>anything. It will take all the time you're willing to give it.

	Man, you got that right.

>|
>|	o  What sort of charges would be "fair"?  Should they be based on
>|	   connect time only, etc...
>
>I get $15 one time fee, Randy (randy@chinet.uucp) Suess gets $50/year,
>the last time I checked. 

	Access to chinet is free.  Email thru ihnp4, the Picospan
	conferencing system, and full SysVr3.1 UNIX on a 3b2 is
	available to all.  What the $50 per year gets is a number of
	extra lines, access to posting to usenet, (gives me some
	concrete evidence via the check as to who is posting), and
	a uucp login for file transfer.  I archive most of all the
	source and binary groups.
	As with Bill, this is a hobby, and along with CBBS, I have
	12 fone lines to pay for, along with all the regular
	miscellaneous expenses in running an active UNIX machine.
	Believe me, most public access systems owners are not in
	it for the money.  You will find, that if you want a
	lot of activity, you will have to provide a good bbs
	program, such as Brandon's UnAccess or Marcus's PicoSpan.
	Four years ago, when I put up my first UNIX system, most
	users wanted to play with UNIX, but now with the availability
	of cheap UNIX boxes, that has died way down.
-- 
that's the biz, sweetheart.....
Randy Suess
..!ihnp4!chinet!randy