Subject: Re: ietf hosts

From: Tim Salo <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 23:22:33 -0600 (CST)

> Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 20:29:05 -0500
> To: [email-masked]
> From: Marc Blanchet <[email-masked]>
> Subject: ietf hosts
> 	[...]
> [there] is a growing number of laptops.  It
> seems to me not too complicated (and not very costly for the host) to have
> much more ethernet drops for the laptops.

Perhaps, it is time to consider providing _only_ ethernet drops for
laptops and few, if any, terminals.

Having put together a terminal room once, I know that it is a lot of work
and a lot of expense, (for the donating organization if for no one else).

I think the IETF pioneered the idea of Internet terminal rooms at conferences.
Perhaps, it is time for the IETF to pioneer bring-your-own-terminal
"connectivity rooms."

[Next, we can think about wireless access.  Perhaps, all we need beyond
the Ether is a room with tables and chairs.]

-tjs

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From: Richard Johnson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 18:56:59 -0800

> the Ether is a room with tables and chairs.]

Speaking of which, where would I find information about the RoamAbout
units people are using at IETFs?  In particular there are many
different types operating at different frequencies and using different
types of spread spectrum.  Also, which are supported under FreeBSD?

Any pointers are welcome.  Please reply directly to me.  If there's
sufficient interest, I'll summarize back to the list.

/raj

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From: Paul Doolan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 11:03:48 -0600

Most of 'em are loaners given out by some guy at DEC. Paul Ferguson knows the

story on this (I ask him at every meeting ;-). pfind to get his mail addr.

I'd be interested in hearing what you discover.
cheers,
paul

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From: Paul Ferguson <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 11:56:17 -0500

Paul,

raj and I have already discussed this.  ;-)

Thanks,

- paul

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From: Randy Bush <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 97 09:51 PST

To clear it up.

Nice folk like Steven and Matt from DEC have been bringing the RoamAbout
setups to IETF and NANOG for a couple of years.  Many of us have our own
kit, so we just come and we're on the air.  Steven and Matt also wangle
some loaner units out of DEC marketing, which others then use.

I and many others use these things at home/office.  It is qualitatively
different from having jacks all over the place.  If only they could pipe
110v via radio.

They come in 900MHz and 2.4GHz, the former has more range, the latter is
legal in Europe etc., where 900MHz is cell phone turf.  I use 900MHz as I
like the range.

There is the roaming unit with PCMCIA we put on our laptops.  There is also
a base station (aka access point) which plugs into your ether LAN.  The
former is about $500, the latter about $1,200 (prices circa 1996).  Many of
us use the PCMCIA in an ISA PCMCIA slot in a BSDI tower acting as a router
and save the $700.

They can be purchased via normal DEC channels, or is it Cabletron?

randy