Subject: "potluck" terminal room

From: "William Allen Simpson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 99 12:25:43 GMT

> From: Keith Moore <[email-masked]>
> Sometimes I think we expect too much.
>...
> Perhaps, once every year or two, we should have a "potluck terminal room".
> The host would provide a pipe with adequate bandwidth, and a router with
> a sufficient number of Ethernet interfaces.  Either the host or the
> secretariat would provide a large room with tables and chairs, and
> coordination.  There would be a sign-up list for all remaining services
> and equipment.  ...
>                   Those who do would get a colored dot on their nametags.
> In the event of insufficient resources, folks with a dot on their nametags
> could pre-empt those who had not seen fit to contribute.

I think this is an excellent idea!

And, based on experience for bakeoffs and other meetings, it would
probably work just fine.  Many the time I've seen an experienced IETF'er
lend a hand, or a missing piece of equipment.  Let's try it for a couple
of IETFs in a row.

[email-masked]
    Key fingerprint =  17 40 5E 67 15 6F 31 26  DD 0D B9 9B 6A 15 2C 32

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From: Graham Klyne <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:49:32 +0000

At 18:43 23/03/99 +0100, John Martin wrote:

>The formerly-silent majority are, I perceive, more than happy with the
>progress that has been made over the last few IETFs in providing this
facility.

Hear! Hear!

I come to IETF meetings to work to achieve certain goals.  The terminal
room is a great help in doing this, for which (if necessary) I would accept
a reasonable charge.   The last thing I would wish for is any additional
distraction from the real work at hand.

Recent IETF meetings have provided facilities that I have found more than
adequate to the task -- for which I offer my thanks to the hosts and
various sponsors who have made this possible.

FWIW, the primary facility for me is an ethernet drop with an Internet
connection.  I find printing is less important (though I can see that it is
of great help to others in achieving their woring goals).  Wireless would
be nice to have:  is there an income to be generated by renting or selling
wireless tranceivers?

#g

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Graham Klyne
([email-masked])

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From: Graham Klyne <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 12:49:32 +0000

facility.

Hear! Hear!

#g

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Graham Klyne
([email-masked])

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From: Graham Klyne <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 14:03:59 +0000

At 19:58 23/03/99 -0500, Keith Moore wrote:

>I do like the idea of recruiting meeting attendees to show up early
>and help out when needed (whether with the terminal room or something
>else) and of having special dots on the nametags for those who do so.  
>Not only might it reduce costs, such an exercise in cooperation might
>also help to establish a more constructive attitude towards building 
>standards that benefit us all.

I am not against the idea of turning up and lending a hand, but there is a
real cost associated with this --an extra night of hotel accommodation--
that exceeds the costs I have heard estimated ($60/person) for laying on a
professional service.

#g

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Graham Klyne
([email-masked])

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From: "William Allen Simpson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 99 17:32:05 GMT

You don't carry a spare hub in your luggage?  Gosh, I've always found
those cheapo $49 ones terribly handy ... especially for converting from
thinnet to 10baseT on the fly.  ;-)  And I'm always amazed that the
little critters will do what I remember having to pay $3K for just a few
years ago!

Of course, I've often helped with setup and teardown in the past, as the
Saturday stay means I'm hanging around one weekend or the other anyway.

Certainly, not everything can be done by volunteers.  The main router(s)
and such still need to be configured by experts.  I'm a bit out of touch
there personally, as the last crisco manual I have sitting next to me
(8.2) shows.  Yes, Randy, I'm thankful when I don't have to configure my
routers to ... pardon me, that's another list.

I was thinking more along the lines of pulling cables, setting up
tables, deploying powerstrips, and such.  And testing, testing, testing!

Also, as we've discussed here in the past, and discussed on a security
related list very recently, we really should stop providing
workstations.  That's the bulk (repeat bulk) of the problem.  Security
conscious folks use their own laptops.  The cost of laptops is down to
less than the cost of attending IETF, so we should just encourage
everyone to bring their own.

And the wavelan stuff seems pretty useful, especially as far as a
"potluck" net is concerned.  I've not tried it yet myself, but as it is
more widely deployed, the need for a terminal room per se is much less.
We could just stick the printers up with the registration desk.

My hope was that this would be yet another way to ensure that we attract
technical folk, rather than meeting-goers.  Hands on operational
experience is a great way to feel when the protocol or configuration is
too unwieldy, sending us back to the drawing boards.

Finally, I fully agree with your final point.

> It was not a serious proposal - more of a thought experiment.
>
> I really doubt that a potluck terminal room is practical on the scale
> that I described it, and most people wouldn't want to carry an extra
> Ethernet hub in their checked luggage.  Our current approach is much
> easier.
>
[email-masked]

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From: "William Allen Simpson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 99 17:32:05 GMT

[email-masked]