| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
The UUCP connection is stable. We are still dialing the US as opposed to vice versa, as the PTT has an unknown phone number hooked up on this end. We wonder who's paying the bill:-)/2. So far, there seem to be less line drops using an Intel 144e on this end than a WorldBlazer; the US end is a WorldBlazer, but may not be for long. Line conditions are varying widely, so conclusions would be quite premature. The hope is that calls originating in the States will be of better quality, which is usually the case. As it stands, over 90% of calls get carrier and 3/4 complete the UUCP-g session. Smail's BSMTP plus gzip -9 is getting better than 3:1. Using a packet size of 1k with a window limit of seven is yielding 6kb/sec raw throughput on the compressed data. It's not how well the bear dances, it is that it dances at all.
The PPP connection works, first ping was Monday 94.9.12. But the economics of the situation will not allow for much use of interactive services until later along the growth curve. For the collectors,
% ping 147.28.195.129
PING 147.28.195.129 (147.28.195.129): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 147.28.195.129: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=1158.109 ms
64 bytes from 147.28.195.129: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1133.889 ms
The hosts on both ends run BSDI UNIX, of course. We are in the midst of getting the usual DOS and Mac (yes, a bunch of them here) client software, MacPPP, Eudora, NUPOP, Trumpet, etc. usable and the trainers and supporters up to speed. If anyone knows of Francophonic versions of such tools, we would appreciate pointers.
The effort is funded by an African Education section of the World Bank which is having grave problems communicating within the country. E.g., there is not a single phone at the university. So, among other hacks, we are using spread spectrum radio modems within Conakry. The resultant infrastructure is being turned over to local folk to grow, run, and own, and the Bank is merely the first customer.
The real credit goes to Moussa Kourouma, Peter Hellmonds, Robert Prouty, Sekou Kande, and Youri Diallo. Remote support by Alan Barrett, Marina Rovatti, and Michael Langevin is very much appreciated. Yes, Jacot, the coffee here is pretty good.
We walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before.
randy