SIMTEL20 is going away

SIMTEL20 is going away

[cis.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!wupost!wuarchive.wustl.edu!conn]

The Ada Software Repository (ASR) on WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL is no longer
operational. It is still available to users of the Internet, and it will
continue to be available until the end of September, 1993.  No further
changes will be made to it from this point forward.
 
The people at White Sands who control the funding for SIMTEL20 have
decided to discontinue its operation.  While I have not been privy to
the details of this decision, I have been told that it was based on
simple economics: with a limited and shrinking budget, SIMTEL20, an old
DEC-20 computer system running TOPS-20, was simply too expensive to
continue supporting.  It was difficult to obtain spare parts, and it is
expensive to maintain its environment (air conditioning, uninterruptable
power supplies, and the like).
 
In addition, I am aware that Frank Wancho, the principal benefactor of
the ASR since its founding in November, 1984, is getting ready for
retirement. With Frank's exit from government service, the principal
person who kept SIMTEL20 running and defended its existence will have
left.
 
No one should interpret this action to reflect on the Army's Ada effort
in any way.  The people at White Sands made this decision concerning a
facility they owned and operated, and I sincerely doubt that the officials
in the Army concerned with supporting Ada were even consulted.
 
I wish to personally thank Frank Wancho, Elwood Bass (Frank's boss),
Keith Petersen (Manager of the MSDOS archives), and Chris McDonald
(security specialist) for their support over the years I have worked on
the ASR.  It has been a real pleasure, and their friendship and help is
really appreciated.  I also wish to thank David Moon and the people at
Management Assistance Corporation of America for their interest and
support when my ASR activity was funded.  Finally, I wish to thank all
the wonderful people in the Ada community who supported the ASR in
various ways over the years through their support, advise,
contributions, and other activities.
 
A few weeks ago when I was notified of this, I was faced with a choice
of stopping my activities or going on under a different environment.  I
have chosen to proceed, establishing a new Ada repository at Washington
University at St. Louis.  I have decided to call this facility PAL,
standing for Public Ada Library.
 
As you may have noted from the ASR FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list,
WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU is a mirror site for the ASR.  Effective immediately,
WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU is now the principal site for PAL.  The existing ASR
is a subdirectory tree under PAL.  The other mirror sites of the ASR will
be notified of this change, and they will be invited to switch their mirror
software over to PAL.
 
The root directory for PAL that the user sees when he logs on via
anonymous FTP is languages/ada.  If the user accesses WUARCHIVE via NFS,
PAL is located in the tree /archive/languages/ada.  All references to
PAL will assume the user knows to prefix the named directories
accordingly.  That is, if I refer to the ayacc subtree, the user should
access languages/ada/ayacc if he is using anonymous FTP or
/archive/languages/ada/ayacc if he is using NFS.
 
Users familiar with UNIX should be pleased in that PAL is on an OSF/1
machine.  UNIX naming conventions apply, so there is no longer a need to
learn the TOPS-20 conventions used on SIMTEL20.  If a user wishes to
access the ASR through PAL, he need only remember to do a simple
translation: directories such as PD7:<ADA.COURSEWARE> on SIMTEL20 are
now available as languages/ada/ASR/courseware or
/archive/languages/ada/ASR/courseware on PAL.
 
I am managing PAL as a voluntary, unfunded activity.  Space on WUARCHIVE
is provided by Washington University at St. Louis.  Appreciation is
given to DEC for their generous donation of the ALPHA AXP system that
WUARCHIVE runs on.
 
I look forward to continuing to work with the Ada community in this
new capacity as the Manager of PAL.
 
Richard Conn
8 June 1993
-- 
====================================================================
Richard Conn, ASR and PAL Manager  |  conn@wuarchive.wustl.edu

Re: SIMTEL20 is going away

[Michael Feldman]

In article <conn.739600856@wuarchive.wustl.edu> conn@wuarchive.wustl.edu (Richa
rd Conn) writes:
>
>The Ada Software Repository (ASR) on WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL is no longer
>operational. It is still available to users of the Internet, and it will
>continue to be available until the end of September, 1993.  No further
>changes will be made to it from this point forward.
> 
...and...
> 
>As you may have noted from the ASR FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list,
>WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU is a mirror site for the ASR.  Effective immediately,
>WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU is now the principal site for PAL.  The existing ASR
>is a subdirectory tree under PAL.  The other mirror sites of the ASR will
>be notified of this change, and they will be invited to switch their mirror
>software over to PAL.
> 
...and...
> 
>Users familiar with UNIX should be pleased in that PAL is on an OSF/1
>machine.  UNIX naming conventions apply, so there is no longer a need to
>learn the TOPS-20 conventions used on SIMTEL20.  If a user wishes to
>access the ASR through PAL, he need only remember to do a simple
>translation: directories such as PD7:<ADA.COURSEWARE> on SIMTEL20 are
>now available as languages/ada/ASR/courseware or
>/archive/languages/ada/ASR/courseware on PAL.
> 
...and...

>I am managing PAL as a voluntary, unfunded activity.  Space on WUARCHIVE
>is provided by Washington University at St. Louis.  Appreciation is
>given to DEC for their generous donation of the ALPHA AXP system that
>WUARCHIVE runs on.
> 
>I look forward to continuing to work with the Ada community in this
>new capacity as the Manager of PAL.
> 
>Richard Conn
>8 June 1993

I think this is a terrific development. Anyone who has tried to use
Simtel20 has discovered how the government (like some universities...)
runs old machines till they drop from exhaustion. 

Rick does not mention that wuarchive will accept up to 250(!) simultaneous
anonymous ftp session. It is a big, fast machine. There's a lot more on
it than Ada, of course; it's got to be one of the biggest Internet
archive servers in the world, maybe the biggest (in terms of disk space
and number of ftp sessions).

Rick has a big round of applause coming from all of us for not giving up.
Au contraire, his Ada setup on wuarchive has great potential to be
the terrific free server we've all been dreaming of. Go for it, Rick!

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman -  co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5253 (voice) - 202-994-5296 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: SIMTEL20 is going away

[Gregory Aharonian]

   I second Mike's kudos for Rick's efforts with the Ada repositories.

In fact (for John Foreman - you're the main in charge), why doesn't the DoD
fire everyone at ASSET/VCOE/DSRO and put Rick in charge.  Rick, with 1/1000th
the funding, is at least 100 times more effective than the current operations
(though he still has some stuff to learn if he tries to make it a
business).

Gee, I thought the DoD, with all its medals, prided itself on rewarding
competence.  I guess I watch too many war movies.

-- 
**************************************************************************
 Greg Aharonian
 Source Translation & Optimization
 P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178