Copyright© 1996, 1997, 1998, by Peter S. Parker. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The Server Hardware consists of an Apple Macintosh Performa 6400/180 with the Apple - IBM - Motorola designed PowerPC Processor running a 180 MHz 603e chip and 136 Meg of RAM. Of course Networking, Sound, SCSI, are all built in. For those of you looking for a comparison, this was a home computer, and the performance is comparable to a Pentium (586) Processor running at about twice the speed (360 MHz).
For some Speed comparisons, RC5 on this machine runs 560 kkeys per second. (MacOS 8.1), whereas RC5 on my Pentium 166 runs 190 kkeys per second (Win95). That's why they call 'em POWER Macintosh!
The web server, site search, and FTP software is all part of WebSTAR 3.0.1 by Starnine inc.
The Web Publisher database engines that drive the Now Contacts and Now Up-to-Date Calendar program are by Now Software, recently acquired by Qualcom.
The Listserver software is LetterRip Pro by Fog City Software.
The running applications are supervised by a program "watcher" called Keep It Up which monitors each application to ensure it is running.
The computer hardware and OS are monitored by Auto-Boot, which actually detects any crashes or freezes, and invokes the system level debugger to reboot the machine in case of a system crash.
The Domain Name Server software is QuickDNSPro 2.1.1 by Men and Mice in Reykjavik, Iceland
Access to the site is through a 56K Frame Relay link that is hot 24-7 through a Livingston Router.
The entire system is backed up over the network via Retrospect Remote tape backup software from Dantz every day.
The entire network is administered with Apple Network Administrator Tool, which allows remote access to the entire network. I can watch or control the screens of all my Macintoshes from work or home.
The site design software is by GoLive and called Cyberstudio Pro. The programmer's text editor and HTML conversion utility is BBEdit by Bare Bones Software. It is flat out the best text editor I have used on any platform, including Unix, OS2, DOS, Windows 3.1/95/NT, Novell, and Macintosh and Newton. (Anybody get the idea we are geeks?)
The chat is provided courtesy of the BIAP Chat plugin for WebStar 3.0.1, created by BIAP Systems, inc.
The visual database is Cumulus published by Canto.
The site is visited by hundreds of high schoolers, and it would appear that a lot of students are seeking information on careers as Airborne-Rangers.
There is a hardware power control reset called Power Key Pro, accessible via the internet.
It is rare I have to reboot, and usually only when I've been installing new stuff.
Don't you wish you had a Macintosh?
Peter S. Parker served in Charlie Co, 2nd Bn (Ranger) 75th Infantry (Airborne) back when it was harder than Petrified Woodpecker Lips. A Programmer by trade, he was hired before he graduated college by a major construction company (Honeywell) to as an Application Engineer to design the electronic systems for automating large commercial High Rise Buildings. He specialized in Fire and Security Systems. Despite his computer related degree, he has remained in the Commercial Construction business for 17 years.
After Honeywell, he worked for a variety of smaller companies in the same field, and in 1992 co-founded Excel Systems & Solutions where he is currently the CEO. In 1994, the company was incorporated and spun out its drafting division as Fire Alarm Drafting Service. The mission of the company is to provide a high quality service to Building Managers, Contractors, Architects and Engineers in the application of Computer based Access Control, CCTV, Fire Alarm, Life Safety, Network, Telephone, and Parking Control Systems. The company continuously seeks to hire and keep the best people there are to assist it in accomplishing these goals. The company uses Macintosh computers extensively in its efforts, giving it a substantial edge in productivity over it's competition.
On August 26, 1996, during a telephone conversation with Gulf War Reporter and Ranger Rod Hafemeister Rod mentioned that there was a Ranger Sign in Page up somewhere on the net. Within seconds, Pete was scanning names. The rest of the night was spent writing e-mails to any and all addresses that looked like they could be from the 2nd Bn era of 1975-1980. Pete made contact with Willis "SGT Eli" Elias, of B-2/75 the following morning. SGT Eli had a little band of nine or ten Rangers, and was communicating via cut and pasted e-mails. During the next several days as Rangers responded to Petes' e-mails, and SGT Eli added them to the cut and paste list. By weeks end, it was clear a better way was needed, and with SGT Eli's blessing, Pete hacked out some scripts on a Sunday night after dinner, attached em to an e-mail program on a spare computer, and the listserver was born on Sunday, September 1st, 1996, at about 2100 Hours. A glitch in the Linux SMTP e-mail machine prevented the messages from going out until the next morning, but the Listserver was born.
From those humble beginnings of SGT Eli's band of ten, we have grown to over 200 on the main list, split off the humor list, set up a whole bunch of websites, held the first Reno Ranger Reunion in August of 97 and the second Reno Ranger Reunion II in August of 1998.
Copyright© 1996, 1997, 1998, by Peter S. Parker. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.