Re: More wheeling and dealing...

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

In message <Pine.BSF.4.05.9810261209230.6138-100000@shell5.ba.best.com>,
aturner@best.com writes:
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
>Just got off the phone with NaviSite.  I've got a firm commitment for:
>
>Unlimited bandwidth (100Mbps connection)
>WebTrends monthly reports
>Backups
>System Monitoring
>
>They're also going to get me a contact with Dell, and see if they are
>willing to donate a computer.  (Word has it that Dell is planning on
>shipping computers with RH installed for customers, even in small
>quanities- currently you have to buy 25 or 50 systems to get Linux
>pre-installed).  Anyways, if Dell isn't willing to help out, NaviSite will
>donate a Compaq ProLiant 800 (dual CPU, 5GB disk).

Impressive. Very impressive. What do they want in exchange? It's my
general impression that most companies don't act altruistically; granted
that I don't act altruistically, but my goals (``make linux better'')
are rather difficult to translate into dollars. :)

So what's the catch? They give you a machine and a lot of bandwidth,
and hope you do something useful with it? That's a pretty sweet deal.
I want in. :)

Is your goal here to get cool tech toys, or to design and implement
a linuxkb system?

Two previous messages that I sent to Micah:

>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Re: RedHat Knowledge Base
>Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 15:14:29 -0700
>From: Micah Yoder <LYoder@cyberis.net>
>To: manhattan-list@redhat.com
>References: <Pine.LNX.3.96.981017055504.690b-100000@red.prv>
>
>"Mike A. Harris" wrote:
>
>> Forgive me if someone has allready come up with this idea, or
>> even if it is allready implemented.
>> 
>> It just popped into my mind that a wonderful addition to RedHat's
>> website would be some kind of searchable knowledge base of sorts.
>> Something akin (but better) than Microsoft's knowledge base.  It
>> would be in addition to the existing "errata", of course.
>
>I've thought the same thing.  That could be *very* useful.
>
>But how about instead of just a RH KB, make it Linux in general.  Then,
>in each entry, you could have a line like "Applies to ALL" or "Applies
>to RH 5.x" or "applies to all glibc2 systems".  Then even more people
>could use it.
>
>And have a way for people to judge the quality of articles, and get rid
>of bad ones.
>
>Someone should *definitely* set this up, and I could probably help.  How
>could it be funded if it's not RH specific???

It's a neat idea. Something like this should definitely be done, so there
are slicker ways of looking up information than hunting through newsgroup
archives, or skimming faqs/howto's.

As for 'funding it', the only place where funding comes into play is if
you want to hire people to manage the database or add information to it.
If you're only concerned about finding a home for it, there are plenty
of sites (eg SEUL) that would be happy to host it, as well as provide
cvs/shell/etc access to anybody who wants to help maintain it.

The bottom line is that good homes aren't the limiting factor in the
Linux world these days; good reliable volunteers are the limiting
factor (particularly in the non-technical side of things, such as
documentation).

I suspect that if somebody built the skeleton to this in such a way
that people could contribute submissions via the net, then it would
pretty much run itself, as long as there were a couple smart people
managing what got accepted and what didn't.

Feel free to forward this to that list, Micah, if you feel it's
appropriate.

--Roger

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

In message <36310677.B67C6BD0@cyberis.net>, lyoder@cyberis.net writes:
>Roger Dingledine wrote:
>> 
>> linuxkb.seul.org exists, points to cran for most things, and
>> belegost for majordomo.
>> 
>> linuxkb-list@seul.org aka linuxkb-list@linuxkb.seul.org exists.
>> subscription policy is open+confirm
>> 
>> What are your plans?
>> --Roger
>
>Thanks!!!!
>
>I'll let Aaron Turner know about this.
>
>Actually we have some good news - Aaron has contacts with NaviSite, and
>they are seriously considering donating not only the bandwidth we need,
>but a Compaq ProLiant as well!!!!!!  This will probably get us started
>though.  And it's not 100% sure yet.
>
>Later!
>Micah

note that linuxkb@seul.org does not exist, but i can make it exist --
it can be an alias for you, me, and aaron if he wants.

Also, while www.linuxkb.seul.org exists, it doesn't have a webpage
or anything. But this too can be fixed, if you want it to be. I can
set it up with user 'linuxkb' on cran if you like.

As for the bandwidth and cpu power, that really isn't very relevant.
I have all the bandwidth you could need right here, and I don't actually
believe cpu power will be necessary. If it becomes necessary -- if your
project gets that popular -- then I can move it over to belegost. If
it grows beyond what belegost can handle (not likely), then you can
look at distributing it.

Currently belegost is a P5/166mmx with a spare cpu slot (for dual),
224 megs of ram (plus 250 swap), and a spare gig of drive space.

What I said earlier still holds -- the limiting factor in the linux
project world these days is not physical resources, but good people.

--Roger