Minutes of the EngSoc Board of Governors Meeting

PROGRESS

• Mark Dittberner has documented Netscape "click&run", SLiRP, TIA
• James Chow will contact walter@doe for TIA license
• List of packages installed on engsoc at: /var/adm/packages
• Log of changes to engsoc at: ~jchow/change.log
• ~sigh/ has many old obsolete files
• auk will NFS from puffin.
• auk will use 16Mb SIMM RAM donated by the Dean.
• Pyramids will almost surely be ours when library staff returns from vacation.
• Kernal updates will have to slow down to allow roots to catch up with detail differences between versions.
• James Chow has kept old kernals compiled on disk as standbys.

GOALS

• We have kept our mandate well:
  • CSES will soon move its webpages to engsoc
  • Recent equipment donations will enable support for 1400 users before Sept 1.
  • We will set a timeline wrt architecture.
  • Since nlocklin@chat maintains CUSA webpages from his own chat account and he also has an engsoc account, perhaps we can offer CUSA webservices.

User Agreement

• All current account holders must sign the new User Agreement on paper by Aug. 1 or their accounts will be deleted.
• We will only user paper copies of the User Agreement (as opposed to electronic storage).

CCS

• Sean Hay is meeting Tuesday July 4 w/ the Dean and w/ Warren Hik.
• Concerns & Issues:
  • security; ours and .carleton.ca machines' wrt us
  • sharing resources with CCS
  • make predictions/projections to tell CCS:
    • 200 fully used accounts by Sept. 15 '95
    • 500 fully used accounts by Jan. 15 '96
    • modem use-for this estimate we will sample
    • engsoc logs and extrapolate, but cut out
    • "frequent fliers" (ie. jcarrier, jchow, sigh) from sample
  • We will run a seminar in frosh week to attract new users.
  • We will send User Agreements with frosh kits.
  • We want to ask for time in fall 91.166 class to give brief seminar.
  • We prefer a meeting this week with CCS to be separate from aurora.

Warren Hik

• Rick Mallet wants Warren Hik and perhaps a second CCS employee to have root access to engsoc.
• We will approach Dave Sutherland w/ a proposal of our own wrt this. James Carriere and Sean Hay will write this proposal.
• Alex deVries proposes we create a whik@engsoc account by the weekend of July 8/9.
• As part of housekeeping, ametcalf@engsoc will be deleted as Andrew Metcalfe uses andrew@engsoc.

System Architecture

Pyramids

• Library staff involved in the Pyramids deal returns from vacation July 10.
• We will talk to Ingenia about using some of their space in 3390ME as storage for the Pyramid machines.
• Currently puffin (55.13) is alone.
• We want to immediately set up auk (55.23) to NFS from puffin. *note due to hardware problems discovered after the meeting this is not currently possible.
• By July 15 we want to have Pyramid 2 be kiwi (55.not yet registered) and Pyramid 1 be penguin (55.22). penguin will NFS from kiwi and both will stand alone from puffin/auk to work out bugs.
• By August 15 we want to have puffin, auk, and penguin NFS from kiwi. Some time near August 15 we want to begin using our own router. We may need to cannibalize penguin to maintain kiwi.
• It will be pointless to login to kiwi or penguin as the OS on these machines will not be linux.
• Specs on Pyramids:

  Pyramid 1 (penguin)

  • 32Mb RAM
  • 1.8Gb HDD
  • 1 processor
  • 48"x48"x23" (thanks go to Andrew Brearley for the physical measurements)

  Pyramid 2 (kiwi)

  • 164Mb RAM
  • 12Gb Hdd
  • 3 processors
  • 48"x48"x43"
• We want to get terminals for the Pyramids (vt100?).
• The Pyramids use twisted-pair (as opposed to co-axial) wiring.
• We may need to geta hub (8 or 12 port, ~$200) to support all these machines.

Money 1; internal engsoc donations

• We will buy a new motherboard for auk.
• Our next priority will be the purchase of a hub

Money 2; external donations

• We will find contacts at companies this week via telephone; this will be time intensive.
• We will mail out donations request letter to contacts and follow up letters with telephone calls.
• We want to get this done by the end of this week (Friday July 6).
• We will OK charitable donation tax receipts with the Dean.
• We will offer honourable mention via system news at login and in the Vena Contracta (Clayton Scott was present to OK this) to any generous companies.

Web Services

• We will approach PEO, WISE, and CUSA. Aliases (ie. http://peo.ca) may be hacked for these.
• Most web pages will be authored by volunteer students. The larger tasks may involve hiring experienced web spinners (preferably students, ~$15/h).
• We will OK all of this with CSES.
• All profits (monetary and hardware) from this will go towards engsoc and not CSES.
• Sean Hay will advise aurora (robert@aurora) about engsoc pursuing web services as this apparently conflicts with similar ideas at aurora.

Constitution

• postponed to the next bog meeting or the next general engsoc meeting.