RTPnet Annual Report:
January - December 1996

Judy Hallman, Executive Director, RTPnet
Prepared: March 12, 1997

New Name

We changed our name from Triangle Free-Net to RTPnet and our Internet address from tfnet.ils.unc.edu to rtpnet.org and www.rtpnet.org, effective February 17. (The machine was move from the UNC-CH campus to The Internet Center in September 1995.)

Support From The Internet Center

The Internet Center, Raleigh, NC 27607, continues to provide valuable support for RTPnet by providing the Raleigh site for the computer, Internet services, and personnel time for system maintenance functions.

Functioning Service

The RTPnet service (http://www.RTPnet.org/), which was built over approximately six years entirely on donations and volunteer time, is now sufficiently developed to be of value to the general public. RTPnet currently provides logon IDs and disk space for more than 160 organizations, clubs, schools, churches, and professional organizations. A list of RTPnet information coordinators is maintained at http://www.RTPnet.org/rtpnet/rtpwic.shtml. As of March 12, 1997, RTPnet had 188 registered users to provide Web services for 169 organizations.

Hardware/Software

The acquisition of and conversion to a new computing system have consumed most of the year.

Efforts by local Sun Microsystems Inc. people in January to provide RTPnet with a Sun workstation proved unsuccessful.

At the initiative of Bill Evans, the Board authorized the purchase of a Pentium 120 MHz, 30-meg RAM, 2-gig hard disk (RAID) machine at its May meeting. The conversion from the HP9000/360 running an old version of HP-UX to the Linux RedHat system has been very difficult. Several competent system administrators have worked on the project over the period from May until March. The conversion is not yet complete.

Tapes were purchased for backups and considerable effort went into providing regular system backups, but backups of the HP system never worked. Once the conversion is complete, periodic backups will be taken of the Linux box.

The reliability of the HP system was greatly improved by increasing the size of the process table and disallowing telneting to RTPnet. Telnet sessions, particularly to MUDs, were consuming excessive CPU cycles and filling the process table, which would eventually crash the system.

In June, the IP number for rtpnet.org was changed. Further, rtpnet.org became the official domain name, instead of rtpnet.intercenter.net.

All software development efforts planned last spring for the summer were put on hold. Hopefully, there will be a strong effort this summer to implement software that is sorely needed.

Interest in forums and list services is increasing. Individuals from RTPnet participated in a UNC-CH campus Web Walkers meeting in October on Electronic Discussion Groups. Larry London (a past RTPnet Board member) was one of the presenters.

For more information about projects and status, see http://www.RTPnet.org/rtpnet/projects/projects.shtml and http://www.RTPnet.org/rtpnet/status.shtml.

Public Workstations and Training

With funding provided by Orange County, RTPnet purchased a Pentium computer and installed it in the Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough, in August, as a public workstation for accessing the Internet, primarily the World Wide Web starting at the RTPnet home page. VisionNet of Hillsborough provides telecommunications service for the workstation.

RTPnet volunteers prepared a short class on Navigating the World Wide Web. Classes, started in August, are taught in Orange County Public Library for local citizens who wish to use the public terminal. There is no charge for these sessions.

Three classes were taught on: August 29, September 11, September 18, September 26, October 1, October 9, and October 15, and two classes were taught on November 14, November 19, November 26 and December 2. Classes were suspended during the winter months and will resume in the Spring.

To teach these classes, a projection unit was obtained from another building and brought to the conference room in the Library, and the computer was moved from the reference desk area to the conference room for the day. Setup and breakdown time was extensive. RTPnet is obtaining an old LCD unit, which operates on top of an overhead projector, on loan from UNC-CH Information Technology Services for future classes. An old laptap computer will probably also be available on loan. These will allow RTPnet to provide training in other locations in RTP, as well as facilitating training at the Library.

Birchwood Heights Project

Paul Godshall, representing the Birchwood Heights Community Learning Center, began attending RTPnet meetings in January and helped set up the public work station in the Library.

Using the e-mail list (rtpnet@unc.edu), which is crossposted to the newsgroup (triangle.rtpnet), requests have been made for support for the Birchwood Heights project, which have resulted in financial contributions and donations of some used equipment. RTPnet loaned the project a 386 which had been donated to RTPnet.

There was an article about Birchwood Heights in UNC-CH Fifth Estate, Vol. I, Issue 2 (October 2, 1996).

Grants and Funding

RTPnet received $4,000 over two years from Orange County, ending Spring 1996.

In January, RTPnet submitted to Triangle Community Foundation a request for funding for web page capability and technical assistance classes for the nonprofit constituency of the Triangle area. The project was not funded

In June, the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill denied a request from RTPnet for $7,400 to help meet the group's goal of installing at least three RTPnet terminals in public places in Orange County.

In July, RTPnet requested $20,004 from Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for one half-time position to coordinate and manage projects which will help organizations, individuals, and businesses get on the Internet and use communications technology, such as electronic mail and the World Wide Web, effectively. The project was not funded.

In July, RTPnet submitted to Triangle Community Foundation a request for $6,145 to provide private Intranet services for nonprofit organizations in the Triangle area. The project was not funded.

In December, RTPnet submitted to SAS Institute a request for $5,000 to enhance the Birchwood Community Learning Center with two computers for multimedia work and World Wide Web browsing, a telephone line, a PPP connection, educational software, hardware upgrades for existing machines, and furniture and supplies. The project was not funded.

In December, the Board authorized a request to be sent by e-mail to information providers asking for a minimum of $50 a year for a participating membership in RTPnet; this solicitation is waiting for a more stable service.

MBA Practicum

In August, RTPnet submitted a proposal for a UNC-CH MBA Practicum as follows:

RTPnet needs a strategic business plan in order to obtain funding and donations of additional computing resources, and to better direct the efforts of its volunteers. Funding is needed for public facilities. Funding for staff is also needed; it is not clear that the service can continue to run effectively entirely on volunteer time.

The proposal was not selected by any of the students.

Government and Presentations

Chapel Hill declined RTPnet's recommendation to provide a public access workstation at the Chapel Hill Public Library. The Chapel Hill Town Manager said that startup and first year operation for the library installation, including purchasing a computer, Internet access, and one new full-time reference librarian would cost $38,000.

Bill Hutchins made a presentation to Pete Richardson, Chapel Hill Town Clerk, in January.

Judy Hallman gave a demo/presentation to the Carolina Meadows Computer Club in January.

Judy Hallman gave a demo/presentation to the NC Press Association in January.

Bill Hutchins made a presentation to the Carrboro committee on grants in April.

Mike Rulison participated in a panel on community networks at a nonprofits conference in Durham, October 2-3.

General Meetings

  • January 30, Public terminals
  • February 20, Training
  • March 26, Public terminals and training
  • April 23, grant proposals
  • May 30, training and public terminals
  • July 22, public terminal in Orange County Public Library
  • October 28, Birchwood Heights

Meeting summaries are online at http://www.RTPnet.org/rtpnet/min/.

Board Activities

  • Membership

    Bob Gotwals joined the Board in March; resignations for William Evans and Jefferson Surles were accepted in October.

    Tom Hockings resigned as President in May. The Executive Director (Judy Hallman) serves as Acting President and Mike Rulison serves as convenor of Board meetings.

    Current Board members are: Dan Eddleman, Robert R. Gotwals, Judith H. Hallman, Thomas W. Hocking, William R. Hutchins, Michael v.E. Rulison, and Robert L. Watson.

  • Meetings

    • January 3
    • February 28
    • March 19
    • April 17
    • May 14
    • July 15
    • October 7
    • December 5

  • Board of Advisors

    In the May meeting, RTPnet established a Board of Advisors.

  • Policies

    • User Agreement

      The RTPnet user agreement was changed. The RTPnet User Agreement said, in part:

      Userids may not be used for commercial profit activities.

      It has been amended (by action of the Board, March 19, 1996) to read:

      Userids and the Web pages maintained by persons with those ids may not be used for commercial or for-profit purposes by offering specific goods or services for sale. Statements of capability are, however, acceptable.

    • Domain Name Services

      The following policy was accepted but it is not online yet:

      RTPnet does not provide Domain Name Services (DNS entries). Groups wishing their own DNS (for example, http://mygroup.org instead of http://www.RTPnet.org/~mygroup) should use a commercial Internet service provider instead of RTPnet.

    • Personal Home Pages

      The Board decided that userids for personal home pages would not be allowed except in exceptional cases. This policy is not online yet.

  • Volunteer Recognition

    The Board recognized Bill Evans, Matthew Pardo, and Lou Sortman for their contributions to RTPnet.

  • N.C. Center for Nonprofits

    RTPnet joined the N.C. Center for Nonprofits in March.

To RTPnet Home Page
Last modified: 2005 Aug 29 -- JHH