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America Online
Macintosh Communications Forum
High Tech Nomadics SIG Conference
Tuesday, April 16, 1991 10pm Eastern Time
Special Guest: Steve Roberts (Wordy), the Hi-Tech Nomad
Forum Leader: George Thornally (AFL George)
Forum Consultant: Ellen Zuby (AFC Ellen)
Forum Consultant: Gregg Phillips (AFC Gregg)
-------------------------------------------------------
AFL George:---High Tech Nomadics SIG Party!--------
We are privileged to have Steven Roberts
(Wordy)here tonight, the High Tech Nomad himself!
Wordy : no formalities! <bowing> Hiya
BHay : So what's a hi-tech nomad do?
AFL George: That's what I want to know?
Wordy : I wander around the world on a computerized
recumbent bicycle...writing about the adventure
as I go. (Lousy job, but someone's gotta do it)
BHay : Oh - read about you in Whole Earth Reveiw.
Wordy : Ah -- yes -- that was about version 2 of the
Winnebiko...new system is BEHEMOTH.
(Big Electronic Human-Energized Machine... Only Too
Heavy)
Arcosanti : I admire what you do, Steve. I understand
you're from Columbus? I'm from Cincinnati!
BHay : How big is it?
Wordy : Arco -- ah! I know the place -- pedaled through
and used to consult there. BH -- 350 pounds more or
less; 13 feet long. 90 speeds.
Arcosanti : Do you mean Cincy?
Wordy : Yes
Arcosanti : Come by Arcosanti some time
AFC Eric1 : Wordy, where are you now? Camping out and
logging on via a cellular modem?
Wordy : Eric -- nope -- I'm in the bikelab sponsored by
Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley. Speaking of
logging on via cellular modem....I have a couple of
new comm paths...in addition to traditional wireline
and cellular modems. First, a CellBlazer for
10kbaud...links into internet -- I can even mount
unix file systems back at Sun while pedaling across
the plains. Second... and most thrilling....
A satellite earth station for 24-hour-a-day network
connection from anywhere in North America,
Europe, Japan, or Australia.
Arcosanti : Is a cellular modem like a cellular phone? So
you can log-on on the Bike? Wow!
Wordy : Arco -- it interfaces with a cellular phone --
between handset and TRU. It's a hacked Trailblazer
Anyway, the new satellite station is exciting --
even reports my location and displays it on ...
a map in the base office. Magic stuff. THe
antenna inside the radome tracks the bird...
keeping the same spot in the sky in view as I
pedal.
AFC Eric1 : Geez, I'm jealous.
Wordy : Eric -- the downsid is that I can no longer hide
<sigh> (and it's heavy)
DBM : Sounds expensive, too.
Wordy : It sure would be if I had to pay for it all!
About 140 sponsors...
DBM : Wow!
Wordy : estimated value is about $1.2 million. Good
security system.
AFC Eric1 : That's some bike!
Wordy : <shudder> scares me sometimes! questions?
AFC Eric1 : What's the neatest place you've visited?
Wordy : Hmmm.. tough one. Lots all over the place!
Arcosanti : Steve, do you use a Mac Portable? Or is your
bike-Mac customized somehow?
Wordy : Arco - yes - I hacked a Mac portable, threw away
the plastic, repackaged the screen to flip up over
the VGA display for DOS, added it to Ethernet
to use the SPARC as a file server, and run HyperCard
as the GUI ontop of a trio of FORTH, machines that
do all the dirty work.
DBM : Must have saved on the tonnage :-)
Crythril : Do you have any big plans for this trip?
Wordy : Cry -- yes -- hitting the road again (at last!)
in July doing RAGBRAI (the big 10,000-people ride
across Iowa) then around the Great Lakes and
southwest from there.
Arcosanti : It's amazing
Wordy : Anyway, the Mac is perfect for this -- nice low
power, great screen in daylight and Hypercard 2.0
for the graphic environment. I'm using MacX to
display the OpenWindows environment from the Sun
also, but the home environment is the Mac.
Arcosanti : How big is the Mac, hard drive, RAM, etc.?
Xenophon : Wordy, When and where are you going to be in Texas?
Wordy : I'm currently trying to find a friendly Mac
add-on RAM sponsor -- I need 8 MB to be set up as
HFS RAMdisk. The drive is the original 40 Meg
conner, but it can use the Sun's 207-meg unit via
TOPS. It will talk AppleTalk to an SBUS card;
ethernet links the PC and the SPARC, so they all see
each other
Wordy : Xeno -- this winter I should be coming down the
Mississippi, then across AR and into northern TX....
hitting DFW, maybe back down to Austin (I love that
town) then west. Again. Already crossed once.
Where are you?
Xenophon : Houston and anywhere I need to be ;)
Wordy : Ah... probably won't make it there. In 84 I
went through Orange, Lake Livingston, and points
west. I usually avoid big cities! Especially now
that I don't need modular phone jacks anymore
<ahhhh>
AFC Eric1 : Aww, Wordy, come to Manhattan!
You wouldn't have to complain about your bike's
heaviness!
Wordy : Yikes!
Xenophon : If we know of your itinery, we could throw you a
party as you pass thru. Austin is a fun place and we
could meet you. That is if you don't already have
plans ;)
Wordy : That sounds like fun -- well, I should be
posting here pretty regularly!
Wordy : Yes... Austin is a good party place... I spent a
month bouncing around the co-ops. It has a chapter
in my book. A good one.
Arcosanti : Steve, how do you deal with food, water, 'rest
facilities', etc.?
Wordy : Eric -- you mean people would lighten it for
me???? Arco -- I carry full camping gear, cooking
stuff, food, etc...
AFC Eric1 : Yep, they're so kind here.
Wordy : the water is in a solid-state refrigerator
driven by the solar panels and regen braking
system, and rest stops, well, they're everywhere!
Arcosanti : What brand camping gear?
Wordy : All sorts.
Whatever's best for the application.
AFC Eric1 : Solid state refrigerator? Holy cow!
Arcosanti : You should get a sponsor from REI, or someplace
Wordy : Eric -- neat units, Peltier!
Arco - REI is already a sponsor. The peltier
refrigerator not only cools drinking water and
food, but also my head -- there's a propylene glycol
fluid loop to a helmet liner, with a micro-pump.
I can pull about 75 watts out of
my head when climbing a hill on a hot day.
Arcosanti : that's incredible! you design all this
yourself?
Wordy : Arco -- pretty much, though life is too short
for re-inventing wheels...whenever possible, I
implement things developed for other applications,
and interface appropriately. Sometimes I'm just
project manager and system integrator.... though
it's pretty hardware intensive!
AFC Eric1 : So how much does all this gear weigh, Wordy?
Wordy : Eric -- about 350 pounds is my estimate. hence
the 90-speed transmission. the granny gear is 7.87
inches.
AFC Eric1 : Gawd!
Wordy : Ah, gravity. <sigh>
AFC Eric1 : Must be fun going up hills! And down them,
for that matter!
AFC Ellen : Have there ever been mountains you couldn't
climb?
Wordy : S..... L............
Wordy : ....O............
Wordy : ......>W...........
Wordy : Down, yes, that's a thrill..... I've hit 50.5.
Wordy : Ellen -- no... that's why the ultra-low gears.
I can handle grades to about 12%
Arcosanti : Will you tell us about your newsletter(s)?
I have heard of 2
Wordy : Sure -- I publish a quarterly journal called
High-tech Nomadness... about 50-50 technical and
road-adventures, madness, romance, etc.
It's $15 for 6 issues from
Nomadic Research Labs,
P.O. Box 2185
El Segundo, CA 90245.
Arcosanti : What about this 'Bike Lab' report?
Wordy : The Notes from the Bikelab are published
electronically, excerpted in a column in Nomadness.
It's available right here on AOL in the High-tech
Nomadics SIG Library. Free! I also have a book about
the first 10,000 miles called "Computing Across
America".....
AFL George: A great book, I might add. A real adventure
Wordy : <grin> Thanks! Its title is most misleading. It's quite steamy and very personal. ;-)
AFC Ellen : :) my favorite kind. BTW, Steve, I sent my order
in this week
Wordy : Great! Looking forward to it.... Barbara Chase
(Nrlbase here) is now running the base office.
She ships books and such....
Arcosanti : Is your book available from the same address as
the newsletter?
Wordy : Arco -- yes... for $11.95 ppd (plus 70 cents tax
if you're in CA) about 350 pages, with a photo
section.
Arcosanti : thanks
Wordy : The project here is going insane. I'm in a
frenzy of packaging, trying to get ready for
a Discover Magazine photo session Thursday.
AFL George: Wow!
Wordy : Oh, George or Ellen, speaking of questions --
where on AOL can I find info on SBUS cards for
AppleShare or people's experiences with
AppleTalk-Ethernet links? I don't want to use
SCSI. It's an obnoxious, error-prone power
hog. It's an important issue -- the main link
between the bike's mac and the unix NFS file server.
AFC Gregg : Sorry, what was the question?
Wordy : (I've always wanted to ride a unixycle, but I'm
not sure why....)
Arcosanti : ooohhhhh...
Wordy : gregg -- AppleTalk-Ethernet links, low power.
Not SCSI. Or SBUS AppleTalk card. Who would know?
Crythril : How bout the hardware forum area. I'm sure they
might have some ideas.
Wordy : Arco <grin>
Arcosanti : Why do you have this Mac-Unix setup? What do
you use the fileserver for? How big is it?
Wordy : Cry -- I'll have a look. Bike parts just ain't
what they used to be. Bike shops are no help.
AFC Gregg : I would stay away from Apple's if low power is
what you need. I think it comes in at 4.9 amps.
Wordy : Arco -- the Mac is the best low-power comfy easy
user interface..The Sparc is multitasking and is
much better at
internet mail, which is my main link with the world
The big disk in the back of the bike is 207 MB, plus
2 CDROMs and 2 40 MB drives (Mac and PC) Plus a tape
backup.
AFC Gregg : I think that Farallon is introducing a new card
that comes in at under 1.1 amps
Wordy : Gregg-- Direct network link, or SCSI?
AFC Gregg : Both. This is unofficial BTW
You better let me check since this hasn't been
announced yet and I will get back to you on this
Wordy : Hm. I'll call 'em. I wish to avoid SCSI -- not
only a notorious power waster, but you can't power
it on and off independently of the hosts. Safely,
that is. I do use it for the CDROM drives and
hand-held scanner, but don't want to depend on it
for comm.
AFC Eric1 : So how often do you backup? And do you signal
first?
Wordy : <giggle> I should add a backup alarm from a
bulldozer that beeps whenever the tape drive runs!
Arcosanti : What is your power source? sorry if you've
already said
Wordy : Arco -- power is primarily solar (82 watts),
plus regen braking (350 peak), AC charge (100),
and DC-DC conv from a vehicle. A processor keeps the
batteries happy.
AFC Ellen : Steve, you say you write as you ride along.
What I want to know, is how many typos do you make:)
Wordy : <grin> It happens. I type at about 35 wpm raw,
which is translated by PRD+ to about 100 wpm
using macros. These are pretty accurate. The
processor that manages all that (BCP)....
pretends to be a Mac keyboard matrix.
Wordy : Any more questions????
Xenophon : Wordy, I read Bikelab-8 (see the Library in the High-Tech Nomadics SIG) and liked what you had
to say about "Passion"
Wordy : Thanks! (a major theme of mine)
Xenophon : That was good. Can we expect more from your
newsletter?
Wordy : Xeno... expect more? You mean... that wasn't
enough? More than passion? <groan>
Arcosanti : What's your purpose & philosophy? Why are you
doing this? Would you recommend it to
others?
Wordy : Arco -- yes. ;-)
Arcosanti : Or do you want to be the only one? ARE there
others?
Wordy : It has a number of facets, actually....
Arcosanti : That doesn't answer the question
Wordy : No -- I encourage people ot chase their dreams
(not just to emulate mine). The greatest risk of all
is taking no risk. Go for it!
Xenophon : No the passion took enough of you I think. Can
we expect other words of wisdom to fall from
dataspace
Wordy : Xeno...yes... the technology switches from
foreground to background when I'm on the road...
that's when I start to notice things like...
if you think too much about where you're going, you
lose respect for where you are. But it's not always
pithy aphorisms, lots of cultural adventures and
insights from the perspective of freedom and lack of
geo/eco/etc constraints. (eco -> economic, not
ecological)
Xenophon : Keep in touch. Is there a way for us to know of
your itinery?
Wordy : Sure -- check into the SIG here! I'll be
posting stuff from all over.
Xenophon : good
AFC Ellen : I love to travel.
Wordy : Ellen -- it's addicting, isn't it? Lots of
energy in beginnings.
AFC Ellen : absolutely and the movement does something to
your mind
Wordy : After a while, middles seem kind of boring.
Suburbia seems like prison. Yes... and movement is
a perennial substitute for solutions, so it feels
good no matter what! <grin>
Arcosanti : yeah, suburbia is stultifying!
Wordy : Tonight I'm working on the cable
harness...Lighting and audio networking are
coming along...(suburbia is not a place, it's a
state of mind) I didn't mention audio earlier...
Arcosanti : What kind of audio system do you have?
Wordy : There's a good stereo.... Blaupunkt speakers....
Yamaha amp.... Sony CD.... etc....also a MIDI
system...and the whole audio network is linked via
an 8-channel corsspoint matrix that spans the bike.
(under FORTH control). So ham radio, cellular,
stereo, computers, MIDI, Mac, whatever...
(also speech synthesis and recognition) are all
interconnectable under software control.
Arcosanti : What's your ham call? My Dad is N8CW, in
Cincinnati. I told him online is sorta like Ham
radio
Wordy : N4RVE
Live Free : got in late. Where are you now?
Wordy : IN a lab at Sun Microsystems 00. In Silicon
Valley -- they're a sponsor. 13 weeks to
departure!
Live Free : to?
Wordy : RAGBRAI, then around the great lakes...
then down through PA, NY, OH, KY, AR, TX and west...
then some Canada, then Europe...
Live Free : be happy to put you up in CT
AFL George: Where in Europe?
Wordy : Arco -- your dad's b-day is July 13
Arcosanti : How do you know that?
Crythril : Steve, you won't recognize Columbus
Wordy : I have an online database of all ham callsigns
Arcosanti : on your database? far out!
Wordy : Cry... Hope I don't have to! <grin>
Wordy : Sorry about my baud rate here -- I'm getting
interrupts in the 900-nanometer band as well as
voice line. George -- dunno where in Europe yet --
as soon as the new version of my satellite antenna
ships...I'll be able to switch continents by
switching ROMs.
AFL George: Can you recommend a small portable satellite
antenna for me?
Wordy : George -- it's a system decision -- I'm using
the Qualcomm OmniTRACS sytsem.
Wordy : I must go....Two people now here to help
with the bike.
AFC Ellen : Steve, thanks so much for being here
I really enjoyed tonight
Xenophon : Thanks Steve, we will be following your
adventures.
Wordy : My pleasure -- I enjoyed it. Note to all: for
tech info, download the text files in the
High-tech Nomadics SIG library
AFL George: Thanks, Steve, come again soon?
Wordy : Sure! We'll do it again.