🚀 go-pugleaf

C. T. Nadovich (chris@kd3bj.ampr.org) wrote:
: norman@pagesat.net (Norman Gillaspie) writes:

: > 
: >Complete installation is simple and easy, and can be completed in as little 
: >as 1 hour with ordinary screwdriver and pliers. 
: > 

: I really like Norman's system (I have been using it for a month or two)
: and I agree with most everything he says in his post, but "1 hour"
: installation is a gross exaggeration. 

No, when we installed the dish, ti took us about an hour *for the dish
and its support*.  There was a lot of other prep work that went into it,
though, and once we proved the concept, we poured concrete footings and
set that sucker up properly.  As with anything else, you can do it quickly,
but be prepared to do it over :-).

: If you have never been a Usenet administrator, you can have no concept
: of the difficulties involved in managing 100-200 MB per day of news.
: This alone requires full days, if not weeks of work, even if Norman
: himself flew to your site to install the dish. 

Well, this again involves your prep level.  When we set up the dish, we
already had the computer set up and ready to accept the feed.  It took
me a day or so to get the software I needed via FTP and compile it.  I
had administered News sites before, so I knew what the tasks were.  I
don't think *anyone* was claiming that it would be an hour from opening
the box to setting up the full news feed on the computer.

That said, since I had the computer (a Sun) all set, time from opening the
SatFeed package to news flowing: 3.5 hours.  One of the best setups I've
ever seen, and none of us had satellite experience.  I thought this stuff
was cool when we had the dish in place and the box nearby to locate the
bird.  My partner took a reading with a compass and sid "Point it that way."
I pointed the dish that way, started tipping the dish up and got a loud, 
clear tone.  Time to orient dish - 3 minutes, including the fine tuning :-)

: If you are not running a Unix based system, you will have trouble.  If
: you are not running at least 16550 UARTs, you will have trouble.  (I
: have an i486, SVr4 Unix, and a Digiboard intellegent serial card.  My
: load average over 24 hours is 35% CPU/IO utilization to support the
: feed.) If you expect a plug-n-play system on a typical Windoze consumer
: PC, you will have trouble. 

The right tool for the right job is a primary rule of life.  I wouldn't
run a Ford Escort in the Indy 500, and I wouldn't run News on a PC.  You
can do it, but no matter how you do it, it's not the tool for the job.

: As for the antenna installation, to DO IT RIGHT takes about 6-8 hours (IMHO). 

See above; it depends on how you define a complete installation, but
we had it up in 3.5 hours, and ran with that for a week before deciding
to pour some concrete.

: I hate paying the phone company for anything.  I love getting a full,
: unedited feed.  NNTP over 9600 baud slip is a dog.  I like having
: the news database on disk -- nn runs super fast.  If the price stays
: where it is, Norman is very competitive with other means of getting
: news. He has a great system. 

: Just don't expect to install it in an hour. 

Yes, here at the end, I agree.  PageSat has been great for us, and setup
was extremely easy for what you're accomplishing.

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