(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=78, TM=2, BM=2) Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 August 17, 1990 courtesy of Double Helix at 212-865-7043 The following is part of an article on page 160 to 162 of the April 13, 1990 issue of Science Magazine by Joseph Palca. It tells a little of the history of BBSes or maybe some other kinds of BBSs - the type done by institutions between minicomputers and mainframes and more: ...The idea for a computer network was born in the 196O's at the RAND corporation, and realized late in that decade by ARPANET, a network supported by the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA - later known for the advocacy of Star Wars among other technological state of the art projects). Despite the Pentagon's financial support, ARPANET was a fairly open environment: pretty much anyone who wanted to get on the network could do so. "The notion when ARPANET was established was that it was primarily to share computing resources," says Douglas E. Van Houweling, Vice Provost for Information Technology at the University of Michigan. "As things turned out that wasn't the way it got used. It got used by human beings who wanted to work with other human beings." In the 197O's a whole variety of networks joined ARPANET to offer connectivity. Some were regional--like Merit in Michigan and BARRNET in the San Francisco Bay Area--linking government and academic institutions together. Others were national, like BITNET and CSNET, which offered nationwide services to academic institutions as well as connections to other countries. Federal agencies like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Energy set up their own networks. Missing in all of this was the sense of a national framework. Then, in the early 198O's, the National Science Foundation entered the scene with NSFNET. Designed around the six NSF-supported supercomputer centers, NSFNET was intended to form a high-speed backbone for a national network, linking together not only the supercomputer installations but also the regional networks that had sprung up around the country. Page 1 In 1987, NSF awarded a 5-year contract to a consortium of IBM, MCI Communications Corporation, and the Merit Computer Network to operate and upgrade the NSFNET backbone. When the Merit consortium took over, the backbone operated at 56 kilobits per second. Today those lines have been upgraded to 1.5 million bits per second, and later this year portions of the backbone will be improved to 45 million bits per second. The appetite of researchers for these facilities has proved voracious. Network traffic is most easily measured in packets, discreet packages of bits that contain address information and some fraction of the particular message being sent. In 1988, just over 100 million packets per month were traveling across the network. In February of this year, the network carried 2.5 billion packets. And the numbers have been growinftaS-g by an average of 20% per month. "In the last month, 10% of all the information that has ever been sent, was sent," says [Paul] Huray. "That's an incredible statement." They are apparently sending graphics. They also get things like data from an ultrahigh energy gamma ray detector in Utah. Or medical files in another city. Or operating a telescope in California from Maryland. And it says: "..literally thousands of scientists start their day in the United States, and increasingly around the world, by reading mail sent by their colleagues. Even for relatively low speed networks, people get hooked on electronic mail because, as Michael M Connors, director of Computing Systems at IBM says, "it beats the soles off the U.S. Post Office." [I would say it is also easier to write and send - no looking for envelopes and stamps and no printing out and tearing away perforations and access to previous mail and instant answer and so on. (maybe that is why the Post Office nickname is US SNAIL)] It also says "Getting an exact fix on who is using the network is difficult because of the way the network cultures have evolved: it is against the unwritten rules of network protocol to see what is inside an individual packet. But just like the post office can tell where a letter is going without knowing what's inside, network operators can group packets into certain general categories by information in their address fields. Approximately 30% carry electronic mail from one user to another, and about the same amount are transmitting files among users. Another 2O% fall under the heading of interactive applications which include things like using the network to work on a computer at a different installation. And 15% are taken up by directory inquiries. (?) Page 2 These are also used of course for research and a mathematical problem was recently solved very quickly this way. {See the Science section of the Tuesday June 26,1990 New York Times also listing on Keelynet as PROBNET at 214-324-3501}. Of course that depends if it is a field in which people are allowed to acknowledge and use progress. In the medical it probably wouldn't make much of a difference. Everything must go through a gradual series of tests and no one is allowed to use their brain. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Vangard notes... Of course, we know the value of the computer as a networking tool, although we at KeelyNet don't at present support a Conference, perhaps we should open up one or more as a communication tool for our users. Our earlier version had one on Gravity, one on Biology and a third on Ecology, we shut them down after they our first system crash and never opened them back up. Let us know if you'd like such a service. Thanks....Jerry/Ron....Sysops - KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have comments or other information relating to such topics as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page. Thank you for your consideration, interest and support. Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If we can be of service, you may contact Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 484-3189 -------------------------------------------------------------------- FINIS Page 3