[DECtalk] Username and password for DECtalk archive

[Tony Baechler]

Hi.  You mentioned a couple things here, so I'll answer in order.  First, 
you wrote:

At 07:57 AM 4/4/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>I did look at Planetmirror and they have a request form to start a new
>mirror.  However, not being the owner of the Dectalk archive I don't feel
>right about asking them without Andre's permission.  Should someone Email
>Andre about it or do you think he's had it up to here with DECtalk Archive
>stuff?

Yes, I think he's had it.  You should know that as well as I.  You have 
heard things from him too if I'm not mistaken.  However, I agree that the 
archive owner or manager should be the one to make the request.  I think 
that would be Nick G.  I doubt that Andre will put any more effort into it.
You wrote:

>One thing I'm surprised hasn't been done is a dynamic mirroring type of
>thing.  E.G. files are mirrored at more places depending on how popular they
>are.  This would take a server/client relationship, but if done right,
>several people could host the archive on their own personal broadband

This would be a bad idea for a number of reasons.  Complexity for one.  You 
are describing a p2p network.  This would be a pain.  Everyone would have 
to leave their computers on all the time because they are running a 
background server.  Most firewalls block p2p anyway.  I would say that all 
cable providers prohibit running any server.  DSL would be fine, but tends 
to be lower bandwidth.  Besides you still have the US legal issue, now even 
more so because so many US servers are hosting those files.  This doesn't 
take into account that Windows and Linux would have to get along, so we 
would have to use an open solution with binaries for both platforms.  Also, 
I would be surprised if Andre would want to go through that effort either.

You wrote:


>Also, one problem with somebody hosting the archive but making everybody use
>the mirror is that disk space is still wasted on the part of the person
>hosting the archive.  This is especially so when you consider that that
>space is taken up by stuff that nobody except a mirroring server can access,
>and that server's purpose is just to keep its own copy of the content up to
>date.

I would definitely disagree with you there.  That's like saying that every 
Windows user is wasting space because only that user can access the copy of 
Windows installed on that computer.  I am especially surprised hearing this 
from you, Jayson, since Gentoo has no public site.  Try going to 
ftp.gentoo.org and see what I mean.  They don't archive their own mailing 
lists either.  I think that planetmirror is best.  They have both http and 
ftp access to everything.  They are in Australia, so no worries about US 
laws.  I think that if Andre was told that only one more user, that being 
the mirror service, would download everything and there would be no more 
bandwidth usage except for new uploads, he might go for it.  That way he 
wouldn't need donations and as far as he is concerned, it would be mostly 
dormant.  The public wouldn't beat his server to death with hits.  I know 
for sure that Debian has a master ftp site for mirrors that only mirrors 
can access.  Also just set up rsync and that cuts bandwidth even more.

Finally, I think your argument about disk space is silly because of how 
cheap it is now.  I don't know about Kentucky, but here in California one 
can buy a 200 gb drive for $59 after rebate.  I have a brand new 100 gb 
drive if that's really an issue.  One DVD holds 4.7 gb and costs about 25 
cents.  Even at full price, it is about $1 or less.  I'm afraid I can't buy 
the disk space argument at all.  Bandwidth is a much more serious issue and 
that needs to be the concern for the moment.