Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/wide open road/cairo/projects

Text File | 1994-09-09 | 31KB | 598 lines

The following projects were described by cairo users as complete
or in progress in Novemeber 1993.

First.....a little background on cairo:
The Coombs computing unit looks after RSSS and RSPACS. While the directors
of these two research schools are willing to support the CCU in reference
to Cairo they do not see their role as supporting students. At the moment
we can justify Cairos role directly by arguing that the CCU and hence the
research schools gain DIRECTLY by allowing access to Cairo of committed
interested people in developing and testing and implementing software that
is useful to us (the CCU).
This is certainly the case. Programs that appear by magic on cairo are
often ported to the HPs and used very succesfully by acadmemics in the
joint research schools.

Also the university relies TOTALLY on the internet for all its software,
upgrades and services. The university writes very little software for the
internet EXCEPT for CAIRO. So here is a machine that people enjoy playing
on (its ok we are allow to enjoy ourselves!) that produce for the internet
the latest software, bug fixes and a hotbed of ideas and yet the university
in its infinite wisdom decides that Cairo is not useful! talk about killing
the goose that layed the golden egg!

*****************************************************************

1) I've submitted a report to CERT detailing a security flaw in
AIX Unix which was published, refering to my name, early last
year.
2) I've submitted and had officially recognised a bug patch for
SunOS 4.1 which also occurred last year.
3) I continue to work with CERT to try and maintain some level of
helpful knowledge base on security problems relating to Unix.
4) I've published *TWO* RFC's in the last 18 months, the latet
RFC being a 70 page paper detailing the IRC protocol, it's
strengths, weaknesses and current layout.
5) I've also developed, in my own time, various pieces of
software for use on Unix platforms which aid in keeping track of
users' activity and monitoring of the network.
6) This account has been a key piece in my development of IRC as
a useful tool for use across the globe, from Russia to Chile,
Hong Kong to Iceland.
All the above has been done with the aid of the use of the
Pyramid (cairo).
I've also used cairo to aid in me keeping upto date on current
developments in multimedia research, specifically that relating
to audio and visual transmissions of computer conferences around
the network.
*****************************************************************

Yes I do work on cairo. My work is involved with the DCS
implementing the AP-1000 BLAS-3 assembler inner-loops for the
complex single precision. I may also be assisting Richard Brent
with assembler implementations for precise integer arithmetic.
Cairo has been my most stable account for keeping files and
devleopment information, even though I cannot test my work on the
pyramid (due to its dependencies on the SPARC FPU).
*****************************************************************

I'm not sure if these constitute useful things...but via email
and irc I've managed to start a real "relationship" and to help
others begin ones as well...
On a more serious note:
Owning a cairo account has allowed me to ftp and download fractal
and chaos software. This was put to good use in a lecture I gave
to the CSIRO's Double Helix Science Club (see Canberra Times,
16/9/93, p4).
It would be a tragedy to see the above capabilities taken away.
Good luck in the battle to keep them. I'm offering whatever
meagre assistance I can...
*****************************************************************

Well, I dunno if this would count, but I figure I should tell you
and then you can make the decision. While I've been on cairo,
I've become part of an international self-help group for mainly
Disc Jockeys (but also musicians in general). I was one of the
initial motivators who got this group going, and membership is
now in the high hundreds, with arms all over the world. The group
provides reviews, help and commentary. Without cairo, I doubt it
would have started up.
*****************************************************************

I have used cairo's news and ftp to gather information on
programming problems that interest me, such as ray-tracing and 3d
animation. I intend to pursue a career doing this kind of
programming. Being able to discuss these things with people all
over the world is very useful. The internet is a fantastic
information resource, and the university is denying us this great
learning tool.
*****************************************************************

I'm not sure if this is what you mean but I wrote 4000 lines of
irc bot to handle ranking (and messages and a notice board) for a
internet mac game (apparently there is a lot of interest in
rankings of this sort). I also used cairo to distribute a
freeware utility for the macintosh that makes random maps for the
same game. ( the utility is called CookMapper and its on info-mac
in /micros/mac/info-mac/game/bolo)
Ranker runs on #bolo.
also..I've said this to other people aswell but I have definitely
learned more about programming (under unix especially) than I did
all year in 1st year comp sci by programming on cairo. That's a
direct result of the internet access (direct feedback and stuff).
While my project wasn't exactly cutting edge (it was to do with a
_game_ after all) it certainly made a splash on the internet. (
_huge_ controversy on alt.netgames.bolo) It seems people either
love it or hate it. (I'm talking about my ranker bot that I
mentioned earlier by the way)
*****************************************************************

I've fixed a few tin bugn, and mailed the author...
*****************************************************************

I work for an ANUTech funded computer security project,
which is spread across campus in several locations. I find an irc
channel invaluable to work from - having direct and instant
communication with my colleagues is a tremendous advantage.
I know that there exists other groups who form "work"
channels. The possible potential here is limitless.
*****************************************************************

I cant say i have been terribly productive up til now, tho I have
made a LOT of use of FTP for such things as software for
configuring my home PC (eg. communications packages) and, in a
slightly more academic vein, i have grabbed such stuff as the
socketprimer and tinyirc.c to gain some personal insight into the
basics of network programming...from fiddling with these and
other source code, i have expanded my knowledge of both C and how
the internet functions...
Such knowledge has been supplemented by access to services such
as IRC...where the net takes on a more "apparent" form.
I -WANT- to be able to explore the possibilities of TCP/IP
programming in C, but whether my current knowledge-base will
allow that to be possible, I do not yet know...
I can only say that access to cairo...for someone who would have
NO access to the net otherwise has provided a unique opportinity
for me to explore an interest that kept me at University longer
than i would have otherwise remained...
Oh well...I have waffled...but that is in my nature...
*****************************************************************

I recently used cairo to subscribe to an AI and Law list to get
information needed for my Legal Theory seminar. Very
impressive(!) I also use cairo to ftp/telnet to sites that have
legal database information that I use for my studies (Contracts
etc).
I develop some software on cairo. Current (original) project is a
mail agent. I have also ported some code to caio (ncftp, post,
unpost, uuexplode, encode/decode), that I provide to all other
cairo users.
I also use cairo to access USNET groups the DCS does not import
onto karajan (law stuff, general interest, etc).
*****************************************************************

just thought i'd let you know what I've been using caior for...
well... the firtst thing that comes to mind is the enourmous
wealth of knowledga just a keystroke away. for example... i had
to do a report on VR... being so new a technology... i couldn't
find much.. if anything in mags... or newspapers, so i went onto
nn. Of course, within an hour, i had oooodles of info... stacks
for my report... Another one was a software eng. essay... again,
i got oodles of info in under an hr. Also, with Linux, when i had
problems setting it up, like for instance, my mouse, or even
soundblaster and the dosemulater, there was always someone there
who had the same problem, so they could stup me throught it (this
is on irc) that names just a few... hope it helps ;)
*****************************************************************

yeah, I was writing code for nn and submitting patches, but that
was some time ago. I haven't done much with nn on coombs/cairo
except babysit it for the last couple of years. You don't need to
mention that detail if you don't want to, but if anyone bothers
to check the version of nn on the machine, it's a tad old :-)
(come to think of it, no-one has done much with nn for the past
couple of years.. Kim got busy, and so did several others like
me)
Uhm, er, I'm sure I've written little patches to a number of
programs I was trying to use on cairo and sent them in. Older
tcsh's, screen's, some minor work to port one of the dvips/dvi2ps
things, some GNU things like the stuff that became the fileutils
package. I don't think any of the things I've written from
scratch were done on there, but most would probably have been
compiled there to test portability.
Matt got the latest gcc ported, and has done a lot of the ircII
development from there.
*****************************************************************

Yeah I used Cairo for things other than IRC and NN and E-Mail.
I have been planning to go to the United States next year and
have been doing some research on areas of interest in regards to
Accomodation, Tourist Spots, Travel Arrangements, etc.
I have also become interested in setting up my own satelite dish
so I can receive US TV signals. I have been doing some research
on the equipment that I need to set this up and and other
details.
*****************************************************************

i've used cairo to develop irc as well - the ircii client (the
most widely used client .. its in /pub/pkgs/irc it think..) ..
i've also used cairo (for developing slap (a serial protocol that
is seriously way cool). lets see, oh yeah. a telnet bouncer that
gives the admin quite a bit of power over who can do what, was
partly developed on cairo. let me go look in my home/scratch dir.
oh, porting gcc 2.4.5 to cairo, and half way though libg++ (c++
library).
*****************************************************************

I run the IRC server here on cairo, and endeavour to keep it the
latest working version, at present it's 2.8.15 which is the
latest. I also am working on INN 1.4 and have the latest nn
compiled as well.
*****************************************************************

You did say anything at all: I've used ftp from cairo to obtain
linux documentation which I hope to post on loces - the point
being projects like linux only get to the community at large
through projects like cairo. It may appear to be all fun 'n'
games in its embryonic stage but useful and commercial viable
endeavours have to start some one. Linux was used as the OS for a
system (designed and implemented by a Phd stduent - Andrew
Tridgell - at the ANU) that will operate remotely in Antarctica
of all places. This, recall, is an entire OS written by, on and
for the net and is only accessible to those priviledged to have
access - as from cairo.
*****************************************************************

I have tried to use the C complier with texts I have bought in an
attempt to learn the C language and programming in a UNIX
environment. This will be useful to me when I do my Honours year
in Physics and I need time on a supercomputer or need to create
programs to do numerical crunching and data analysis. I have also
wanted to look at Fortran but haven't had the time. Cairo is
useful since the other accounts I might use in Maths (i.e Bohm)
are only temporary and since the restrictions have increased it
has been difficult to port results. thus my access to compiler is
restricted to the time a actually have an account (i.e by the
FCU). Cairo has a large number of knowledgable users so it has
been an exceptionally good introduction to the Unix environment.
I think I have learnt probably the equivalent of two years
experience on UNIX from this. [e-mail]
PS:  _____________ has been using cairo to look at Chaotic
systems.
*****************************************************************

>From information I've gathered from ftp sites using cairo, I
have written two
significant programs for my PC at home.
1) A virus detection/removal program
2) A gif viewer
Both of these are still rather crude (as I'm still learning stuff
about both) but they don't need to know that. ;)
*****************************************************************

>Cairo has a large number of knowledgable users so it has been an
exceptionally good introduction to the Unix environment. I think
I have learnt probably the equivalent of two years experience on
UNIX from this.
*****************************************************************

It does sound as if cairo is in troubled waters... You did say
anything at all: I've used ftp from cairo to obtain linux
documentation which I hope to post on loces - the point being
projects like linux only get to the community at large through
projects like cairo. It may appear to be all fun 'n' games in its
embryonic stage but useful and commercial viable endeavours have
to start some one. Linux was used as the OS for a system
(designed and implemented by a Phd stduent - Andrew Tridgell - at
the ANU) that will operate remotely in Antarctica of all places.
This, recall, is an entire OS written by, on and for the net and
is only accessible to those priviledged to have access - as from
cairo.
*****************************************************************

I have tried to use the C complier with texts I have bought in an
attempt to learn the C language and programming in a UNIX
environment. This will be useful to me when I do my Honours year
in Physics and I need time on a supercomputer or need to create
programs to do numerical crunching and data analysis. I have also
wanted to look at Fortran but haven't had the time. Cairo is
useful since the other accounts I might use in Maths (i.e Bohm)
are only temporary and since the restrictions have increased it
has been difficult to port results. thus my access to compiler is
restricted to the time a actually have an account (i.e by the
FCU). Cairo has a large number of knowledgable users so it has
been an exceptionally good introduction to the Unix environment.
I think I have learnt probably the equivalent of two years
experience on UNIX from this. [e-mail]
*****************************************************************

I have sent email all over world about that "Student Internet
Access..." report. I think this could be a significant thing if
we write this report and present it to the powers from above. A
great educational thing too. I am still waiting for a reply about
all that info that I requested....not too worry though..it'll
arrive!!
*****************************************************************

Hi Doug...wot've I done on the net? Lessee if I can remember...
- I taught my self C (by porting, but not releasing, AberMud from
Unix to VMS.
- I have maintained the VMS IRC client since xmas '91.
- I ported the Unix IRC server to VMS in January '92, and ran it
until about November '92.
- I maintain the vmsirc section of the coombs ftp site.
- As a result of my work on the vmsirc client, I am now a co-
admin of a VMS machine in the US, on which I run a mailing list
for the client.
- I am currently involved in Project GUtenberg (project to make
books available to anyone, free of charge, as ascii texts),
development work on ircd 3.0, and have several (public domain)
programming projects on hold because of exams.
I have also been trying for a couple of years to encourage
academic use of Internet, and particularly IRC. I do volunteer
work as a network consultant for a dept at UNSW, and will be
working with the head of the dept to develop a new computing
subject next year.
*****************************************************************

(You might want to ask Jevan about this.. but) Jevan has
succesfully ported term (a serial multiplexing socket redirector
for linux) to the pyramid system, a daunting task I beleive, and
if he were to follow it up, it'd do the rest of the linux
community some good.
Mark Hulskamp (markh) relies heavily on his cairo account for
feedback into the development of some public domain software he
is writing for the PC, as well as for distribution of it. (I
speak for him while he is at the Grand Prix.)
I and others use irc for useful feedback on linux, where we can
exchange ideas, work out bugs and generally chat about it. It has
proved invaluable.
*****************************************************************

This post is in response to your request for info on "useful"
things people are doing on cairo at the moment. i don't know if
this is of any help to you, but i guess you can work that out for
yourself....
ok, i'm part of a national network of electronic musicians, sound
experimentalists, computer artists etc.. called Clan Analogue. We
work together on local and national levels, with collaborations
in the form of co-compostitions, live performances and
installations, releases etc. We've had two commercial releases so
far (the EPs CA001 and CA002) and more are planned for the very
near future, ie. at least two more should be out before the end
of the year. We're working strictly for no profit, usually for
major losses actually....
anyway, how does cairo fit in to this? well, i just use this
account to keep in contact with some of the members around the
country who are also on the internet, as well as some of the
international members (we have about 30 of these). ie i'm mostly
using mail, talk etc for these purposes.
as well as my own personal stuff... eg ftp'ing pd music software
in from sites etc.
that's probably of absolutely no help to you, but you can work
that out..
*****************************************************************

Have installed TeX and LaTeX (latest version)
have updated GNU Emacs to v19.19
I'm trying to get akcl (Austin Kyoto Common Lisp) to compile
properly, so that I can install maxima, which is a Computer
Algebra System -- very useful for all those maths students (does
symbolic integration, matrices etc).
Also: I use cairo as a testbed for experiments in running unix --
gives me technical experience, and means that I can assist others
with the little arcane things which make life useful.
*****************************************************************

I have found the cairo machine immensly useful, especially in
furthering my Unix skills. I wounder if these people are aware
that net (particularly IRC) has a channel has a channel #UNIX,
where there are numerous helpful people who are more than helpful
and allow you to pick their brains when you have a problem?? (I
still can't use this stupid vi editor proberly yet though :) ).
I have found discussion through things like IRC and mailgroups to
be enriching, as you can discuss things as broad ranging as
religion to politics - people aren't afraid to say what they feel
either because of the anomonous factor. I've learn't some more
music for my guitaring too through a mail group called guitar.
It's a really good group where you can pick peoples brains and
find find out things like how to and find the best ways to get
feed back, to learning jazz theory.
Well thats it (sorry about the formating and bad english - vi is
a pain in the bum).
*****************************************************************

just thought 'd drop you a line about my case...
I'm a Forestry/Eco student who has always been interested in
computers. The course that I do doesn't normally require that
much computer knowledge out of me and therefore I have not been
exposed to many computer systems. (expept for the macs, which are
pretty dumb)
Until I started using cairo I've never thought I would be given a
chance to actually use a unix system. I mean, since that I have
learned a great deal about unix and computers. In fact my plan is
to get myself a few books on unix and C-programming and read thru
them over the summer. I don't know how that may help the course
my career as an economist but I'm sure that as computer tech. and
info systems advance people (may them be professionals of
academics) who know more about them are bound to have a
competitive edge over others...
you never know. may be one day I will even do some study in
computer science?
I know that much: without cairo I won't know bugger all about
unix or internet.
due to the fact that anu computer science students are not given
much training on unix many of them run into problems (of various
sizes) while they are using it. Apparently some people go to the
irc channel #unix and ask ppl there...
*****************************************************************

Our Centre in involved in a wide range of co-operative editing
projects, both within Australia and with overseas colleagues. As
yet we have been limited in our use of Talk by two factors, the
lack of use of E-mail addresses by colleagues in the social
sciences, and the difficulty of using Talk on our Macintoshes,
which have no fixed names to which colleagues can initiate Talk
requests. However, we are looking forward to overcoming these
difficulties in the near future and see great potential for Using
Talk for organisation of international meetings and brainstorming
on joint projects.
In terms of E-mail, and apart from its obvious uses for editing
and writing collaboration, we have already been contacted by
colleagues in Eastern Europe and Northern America with the aim of
joining a international special-purpose network on Ethnic Issues,
and contributing to the development of an international E-mail
journal.
We use the network news for keeping up to date on home-country
issues of relevance to migrants in Australia and even of
community reaction in Australia to migration issues.
We have just dicovered IRC, and have already found considerable
professional use for it, including the immediate transmission of
Canadian election results, and the development of contacts
throughout the world with common interests and considerable
knowledge of political and social developments, particularly in
the Balkans, other Eastern European nations and the Asia-Pacific
rim.
*****************************************************************

Well haven't done anything super, just :-
+ Fixed/created header files for gcc in a pyramid environment
(with ANSI prototyping)
+ Helped Sean reorganise the file system, and establish
project/public area.
+ Written a few other little scripts/utils.
I'd like to have done more but time, and the growing difficulty
to access cairo has made it difficult for me. I personally use
cairo as a way of expanding my knowledge in unix/internet etc.,
rather than playing muds, or irc all that kind of stuff.
>other examples. Have you notifed someone of a bug or added a new
feature to a program. Have you written any new code? (anything at
all) I will remove all names, anominity insured (unless you want
credit) and I will rewrite submission to make them sounds totally
awesome!
>Have you used irc talk or email to further the knowledge base of
yourself the university and the general community? if so drop me
a short line.
I certainly use e-mail. Infact someone contacted me from England
once who i didn't even know. News has also expanded my knowledge
very well.
*****************************************************************

I hope this is not too late/is relavant.
My Uncle was recently diagnosed as having cancer. I was able to
accumulate quite alot of information about cancer, help available
for cancer victims, information on the specific type of cancer he
has etc. by using the newsgroup alt.support.cancer. I was
personally benefited by this because I found many people who had
this type of cancer and had recovered 100%. My Uncle will also
benifit as I will be taking some of the info to him when he is in
hospital.

*****************************************************************

I'm not sure whether this qualifies, but here goes anyway. I did
a radio program on Canberra Stereo Public Radio (CSPR) about
three weeks ago. Don't worry if you've never heard of CSPR,
nobody else has either. It's on FM 103.1, and should get its
permanent license next year hopefully. My program featured music
from the American label 'Music from the Hearts of Space' which is
really tough to get in Australia without ordering. Anyway, in the
course of doing research for the program, I contacted many people
in the US via e-mail, including Robert Rich who has to be the
greatest musician of this century (hear 'Mosiac' from album
'Gaudi' [Hearts of Space CD HS 11028]). He sent me lots of useful
stuff. In fact, I just got e-mail from him today. I think that
introducing people to seriously awesome music like this is a good
public service, and I would have to have spun some serious crap
for 15 minutes on air without info like that which I got from
Robert.

P.S. If you're in San Fransisco around the start of the new year,
I think we've organised a concert by Robert Rich (awaiting
confirmation from him). Again, organised by Trevor Schultz (@ UC
Davis) and I, all via e-mail.
*****************************************************************

I am currently enrolled in c18 at the moment and was responsible
for doing the tcl interface. I used cairo to send articles to the
comp.lang.tcl newsgroup as well as ftp articles on xlib and tcl
programming (things I could not do from my computer science and
engineering account).

I also did a lot of experimenting with a mud driver earlier which
helped teach me c programming and networking (note this was not
run if the fact that it is a "game" is an issue).
(1) 4 different IRC statistical packages.
(2) Currently writing nutshell book (O'Reilly & Associates) on
IRC
(3) Use alt.pictures.binaries.fractals and others for public art
shows & media productions. (News feed incomplete at other sites)

(2) Is probally the nicest.. It's the same sort of book like the
Perl
handbook , etc..

*****************************************************************

The only thing I have done is establish a salt-water fish tank.
Without the advice and suggestions obtained from nn I would not
have been able to do it, and obtain the info I needed, nor would
I have been able to get the addresses of people I mail
occassionally for advice.
But more importantly I have used ftp (my other engineering
account does not have outside access) to obtain linux from
outside, which is a version of unix that I run on my home 486 pc.

*****************************************************************

   I would just like to add my bit for projects on cairo, if this
hasn't already been mentioned.  As you probably know, I'm trying to put up
a World-Wide Web server on cairo, so that people here (including myself) can
make documents available.  I have seen interest in this from other people
apart from myself.  The documents I would be putting up here would be
relating to the "Space-music" mailing list (to which I subscribe) which has
an archive at the main music archive in the States (cs.uwp.edu), but it is
overloaded.  I have heard that Steve Roach, who is a musician in this genre,
would like to make other information about his recordings available, but there
isn't a location available now which would be appropriate.  I think cairo
would be a good place for this.  There are only about 100 of us on the list,
so I don't think the traffic generated by these documents would be too taxing
on the available resources.  Another point is that many of the people on the
list are in the USA and would want to use it at times when cairo is ligtly
loaded (?) like very early in the morning.

**********************************************************************

Wot I use CAIRO for:

- e-mail (International and local)
- IRC
- talk (local only, so far)
- news
- furnishing my computer (ftp)

These are in approximate order of importance.  Hope this is of use.

************************************************************************

I use cairo because the DCS limits internet access, for U/Grads, to a
few machines on campus. Although other limited and often inconvient methods
exist cairo suits my needs.

I have just installed Linux on my machine, and I am attempting to run
X over the modem (at 9600 or > it is useable) on my DCS account.  The
process is messy at best, and given the attutide of DCS a SLIP connection
would be a hassle (although they claim I need only seek approval from the
department easier said than done) anyway don't mean to go about the DCS......

The tools I would like to use to access the internet include are News,
mail and other information sources on the net (such as ftp, archie, Xmoasix,
Xgopher/gopher etc).

Where possible I use these tools to support my academic pursuits (makes me seem
like a HD student <grin and then he laughs ha ha ha..>),  for Linux support
(eg patches, anoumcements, News groups) and obtain information (news, mail,
documents) on about my interests.  My current interests include (subject to
change without notice):

        Functional programming (current subject)
        User Interface Design (current subject)
        Artificial Life
        Linux/Minux and Unix in general
        Networking  Protocols such mail (RFC822), mime etc.. and the
                relationship between OSI and TCP/IP suites.

Why I use the internet (trying not to state the obvious)?
        convience, research is labourous at the best of time would rather
                search the internet than the library say.
        current information, paper media is often slow....
        access to authors, how many time have I read a text book offering
                a email address that I dont have access to

If I had money/time I would pay 'connect.com' for a connection, or any
of the other cheaper option.  cairo suits my need, and I believe (without see
your figures) in general your service are not abused, ie Mr/s average.user
would have reasonable figures.

*************************************************************************