Ninth FORML Conference November 27, 1987 "Nights on the RoundTable" or "How I spent my summer vacation" by Dennis Ruffer Lead Sysop Forth Interest Group RoundTable on GEnie ABSTRACT: For the past 7 months (going on 3 years) I have been involved with the establishment of a Bulletin Board, dedicated to the Forth language. Now that we are finally "alive" on the GE Network for Information Exchange, GEnie for short, it is probably time that I try to set down some of the history of how we got here, what we had in mind, and where we are going in the future. HISTORY: I am, perhaps, not the best one to be giving this history, since I came on rather late in the process. However, for the record, I will try to relate some of the more significant events. I think this whole process started back in 1981 with John James' Conference Tree, a message based system running on an Apple computer. By 1984, FIG had decided that they would need something more, and started investigating alternatives. They looked into custom systems, CompuServe, and DELPHI. A custom system required continuing maintenance, CompuServe was very complicated to get involved with and DELPHI could not handle the number of users they expected. At the 1985 Rochester Conference, I met John James for the first time, and was instantly drawn into this process by his enthusiasm. By 1986, John had dropped out of the process, but we were gearing up to repeat some of the ground that he had already covered, but this time, the momentum was strong enough that something had to happen. We contacted GEnie, CompuServe and Uninet, and of all of them, GEnie was the most receptive. By January of 87, we had a signed contract with them for what is now, the Forth Interest Group Round Table. Author: Dennis A. Ruffer Page 1 of 4 Ninth FORML Conference November 27, 1987 At last year's FORML conference, a few of us got together to establish our direction. Our goals in establishing this board are to: Connect the FIG Chapters and promote the growth of the Forth Interest Group. Last year we were hoping to get it going in time to support the ANSI Standards discussions, but since we did not open in time, they have established MCI as their communication network. We decided that we would not detract from any of the existing Forth Boards, so we are only posting status reports from the ANSI efforts, and we welcome any one to post our files and messages on their Board. At last year's FORML we were going to close our board to access by only FIG members, but in discussions later in the year, we were able to convince FIG to leave the system "mostly" open to the public. We determined at the time, that we needed some way for international users to access us, but that system has yet to be determined. Finally, we selected our system operators as the FIG business offices, Scott Squires, Gary Smith, and myself. I guess I didn't step back soon enough, because before I knew what was happening, I was "elected" as the leader, and therefore get the privilege of writing papers like this one. THE PRESENT: We are now a part of the GE Network for Information Exchange. GEnie is a service provided by the GE Information Services Company (GEISCO) to generate revenue after normal business hours. The GEISCO network (so they tell me) is the largest privately held network in the world, with connected nodes around the globe. Presently, I'm sorry to say, they only allow GEnie access in the US, Canada, and Japan. Many countries are very sensitive about cross-border information transfers, and GE can not afford to jeopardize their normal business activities. However, they are actively pursuing opening new nodes, and we've heard rumors of a node in England opening up "real soon now". For those of you who haven't visited us yet, you can sign up on GEnie by setting your communication parameters to Half Duplex (local echo), 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, 300 or 1200 baud, and having your computer call 1(800) 638-8369. After connection is made, type HHH, and at the U#= prompt, type XJM11849,GENIE. You will be asked a few questions (namely your credit card number), and assigned a account Author: Dennis A. Ruffer Page 2 of 4 Ninth FORML Conference November 27, 1987 number and password. There is a one-time charge of $18.00 to join, but you will not be charged for the first 3 hours on line, which, by the way, only cost $5.00 per hour after the 3 hours is used up. After your account is validated, you can access the system, substituting your account number and password at the U#= prompt. We are located in their Personal Computing section, under Language RoundTables, right next door to the Mumps RT. On GEnie you can bypass the menus by moving directly to our "page", by typing m710, or for those of us with short memories, just type FORTH. We are alive and active, with over 500 files on line in the libraries, and over 110 topics of conversation going on in the Bulletin Board. October 18th we had our first Real Time Conference with Don Colburn of Creative Solutions, and by the time I give this paper we will have had a few other events in connection with the Forth Convention. We've had over 675 visitors, more than 100 of them have been FIG members. To help promote FIG membership, FIG members are given extra privileges in the Bulletin Board by having access to the Private Categories; Forth Dimensions Interaction, and The Job Market. THE FUTURE: Well, two years ago, I had no idea that I would be playing a leadership role in this process, and I'm a little hesitant in trying to predict what will happen even two years from now. Our board is obviously going to change with the changing interests of it's users. You all will see to that, since it is you, the user, who make the contributions that establish who and what we are. One thing is for sure, it is going to cost more to use this service in the future. The FCC is resolved to eliminate the "advantage" these services have over normal long distance rates, but they are still undecided on how they are going to accomplish that. Also GE itself, has a significant influence over our future on GEnie. They are continually enhancing the system, and who can tell what they will give to us next. Already, the "next network" is being shaped in a topic on our Bulletin Board, and I'm trying very hard not to convince them that we already have the "best" system available today. Anyway, no matter what the future has in store, Author: Dennis A. Ruffer Page 3 of 4 Ninth FORML Conference November 27, 1987 please join us and help us form it. For this is the future as far as communication is concerned. The Forth Interest Group is committed to it, and I hope you all will support it with your participation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I'd like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all those who have helped us along the way. To John James, for his inspiration. To Bob Reiling, for giving us a free reign as he watched in the background. To Jan Shepherd, for putting up with me. To John Hall, for finding time to help, and encouraging me when things were slow. To Marlin Ouverson, for his plans. To Gary Smith and Scott Squires for keeping their tempers as we stepped on each other's toes getting everything set up "just right". To Charles Grandgent, Alan Furman, Leonard Morgenstern, Waymen Askey and Daniel Miller for their extensive contributions and stimulating conversations. And finally, to Jerry Shifrin, for his files. Author: Dennis A. Ruffer Page 4 of 4