Dear Colleagues, The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) invites you to join a new discussion forum on network developments in Albania. The list is called ALBNET-L. The past several years have witnessed a steady (if uneven) expansion of computer networks and Internet connectivity in Southeastern Europe. Today, only Albania remains without indigenous e-mail or Internet access capabilities. Fortunately, at least eight organizations and a variety of individuals are beginning to address this problem. However, a recent IREX assessment found that groups working to establish connectivity in Albania are often unaware of each others' plans, and that there is no central forum for information on networking developments in Albania. The purpose of ALBNET-L is to provide such a forum through a broad, open discussion group for interested parties to share information, ideas, and approaches. We hope that such an interchange will foster cooperation among those seeking to assist in connecting Albania to international networks, and in turn create swifter and more sustainable results. ALBNET-L is *NOT* intended to serve as a forum for the general discussion of issues concerning Albanian politics, history, current events and so forth, except as they bear on network developments. For a brief interim period, the list will be operated under an informal "digest" format, with messages reflected to subscribers once a day. Subsequently, IREX will convert the list to an unmoderated LISTSERV format. To subscribe to the forum, simply send a message with your name and any relevant institutional affiliation directly to: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org A confirmation message will be sent within 24 hours. Please feel free to pass this message on to others interested in Albania networking issues. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Tony Byrne Senior Program Officer IREX / Washington tbyrne@info.irex.org Ian Watson Southeastern Europe Networking Assessment Project watson@info.irex.org Bob Henry Program Assistant / SysAdmin, info.irex.org IREX / Washington rhenry@info.irex.org From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 8 10:38:48 1994 Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 10:24:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction Dear ALBNET-L, Once again, welcome to the Albania Networking Forum. I'm pleased to report that we have a core group of about two- dozen initial subscribers, and it's a fairly diverse group. A couple of people have posted introductory messages, which follow this one. I'd like to invite the other subscribers to write to the list at to introduce themselves, describe their organizations when relevant, and discuss present or future plans and aspirations concerning networking with and within Albania. This should provide the basis for further information- sharing, debate, and hopefully, cooperation. IREX will forward the messages to the list once a day. We look forward to hearing from you. Tony Byrne IREX From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 8 10:39:24 1994 Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 10:25:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Contacts with an interest in establishing e-mail in Albania Date: Wed, 31 Aug 1994 12:38:22 -0500 (EST) From: Dick Wagner -- Institutional Research To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org Subject: Contacts with an interest in establishing e-mail in Albania 8/30/94 Dear Colleagues, We began exploring the possibility of e-mail connections to Albania last July as part of an Albania-Austrian-U.S. IREX project. The following is a list of names/addresses for individuals/organizations with whom we have had some contact. Additionally, as with Raco and Gennai, we know an e-mail address but have not had any direct contact. I would be happy to post all my correspondence on this matter as a single message if there is interest. Dick Wagner INTERNET ADDRESS NAME, AFFILIATION jmhalpern@anthro.umass.edu Joel Halpern, Univ of Mass, USA albania@panix.com Bob Brewer, Tepelena Press xxmhc@cunyvm.cuny.edu Randy Filer, Hunter College, USA amustafaj_at_SOROS-NY@sorosny.org Avni Mustafaj, SOROS hartmut@ruc.dk Hartmut Haberland, U Roskilde, Denmark aycockfa@conrad.appstate.edu Frank Aycock, Appalachian State, USA jpeizer@sorosny.org Jonathan Peizer, SOROS maksi@dinf.uniti.al Maksim Raco, U Tirana, Albania francesco.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it Francesco Gennai, CNUCE, Italy craig@lablues.AVCNet.org Craig Doremus, Sunday Sun Times dan@foghorn.pass.wayne.edu Daniel Cwiertniewicz, Wayne St, USA support@gn.apc.org APC contact bengt.messing@undp.org UN Development Program bill@lifesci.ucla.edu Bill Eldridge, UCLA, USA kaser@bkfug.kfunigraz.ac.at Karl Kaser, Karl Franz U, Austria carol@movdis.cis.columbia.edu Carol Moskowitz, Columbia, USA rwagner@smith.smith.edu Dick Wagner, Smith College, USA From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 8 10:39:50 1994 Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 10:26:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Albanian networking Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 09:38:42 -0700 (PDT) From: William M. Eldridge To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Cc: "William M. Eldridge" Subject: Albanian networking Awfully quiet mailing list, so I guess I better get things rolling. I've spent a lot of time on the phone recently calling anyone and everyone about net links. (specifically for Macedonia, but much will be useful for Albania). Starting in January, Sprintlink will be offering 64Kbps VSAT connections for $4500/month, no per Megabyte fee, they supply the terminal equipment, you supply the router. Contact Farooq Hussain at Sprint International, farooq@hq.si.net. This should be a full internet connection. Banknet, who's doing VSAT in Rumania, is interested in providing services for the Balkans. They're tied in with Pipex in England. One big problem seems to be the per Megabyte fee on top of $4000/month or so (I have the quote at the office) - something like $10/Megabyte adds up quickly. In Bulgaria, they have decent connections but don't use them specifically because of this. I'm talking to a group in Pittsburgh and trying to arrange something like a 128K satellite connection (full duplex - one line up, one line down) direct to the US. Original estimates were something like $3300/month or $6500 for a 256K, but those figures are quite preliminary, and there will be some serious startup costs for antennas, amps, and such ($80,000???). I also don't know what internet connect charges will be involved yet. Also, issues of how big the satellite dish needs to be will affect costs - since the Balkans are on the far side of the satellite coverage. Albania should be a bit better off than Macedonia. I've heard rumors of cheap Russian satellite connections, but haven't been able to get any better information on this. For setting up systems, I'm going to be taking Linux CDs to Macedonia. Linux is a free version of Unix that runs on 386 and 486 PCs, requires only 4 Meg RAM & about 20 Megs harddrive space for minimal conifigurations. You can get older CDs for $6 each, and they contain the full Unix, mail, news, networking, ppp, slip, uucp, compilers, Xwindows, etc. Newer versions are about $20 each. I originally got the Morse version, since it has a nice Windows installation utility, but the InfoMagic version contains a lot of drivers and other information if a system has more unusual boards or monitors or other oddities, which might very well apply in Albania. Without a good net connection, it's hard to go ask for help or ftp new drivers across. The company I've been talking to also sells "The Linux Bible", which is 800 pages of documentation for $38 - quite excellent. Since the Linux stuff is "copyleft protected", you can print out the documentation on disk and copy it yourself if that will save money (and sell it if you care to). The company also sells CDs for about $20 containing a month of usenet newsgroups, CDs with windows and PC software and documentation archives, relational database systems, etc., etc. ACC Corp - Bob Young - info@acc-corp.com or bob@acc-corp.com PO Box 3364 Westport, CT 06880-8364 1-800-546-7274 1-203-454-3242 1-203-454-2582 (fax) Swiss PTT has a few 2 Mbps lines (E1's) into Macedonia, but rather expensive data rates. Pipex has various dialup services, and they have an affiliate in Italy - if the cross-Adriatic fiber happens, it might be a reasonable service to hook into. Contact pipex-info-request@pipex.net Croatia is also doing quite a bit with networking, and it might be reasonable to do a VSAT connection to Dubrovnik if services are available. Eric Bachman at E.BACHMAN@ZAMIR-LJ.ztn.zer.de may have more info on this - he's involved with ZAMIRnet ("for peace"). Eutelsat charges $2000/month for a 64kbps duplex satellite channel, though that leaves open where it connects, how it ties into the internet, etc. It might be possible to get a full T-1 (1.5 Mbps) back to the US for around $12000/month if there was a way both pay for it and also to adequately use it - say connecting several Balkan countries. The support equipment would need to be fairly serious to do this. Plannet Connect plans to start offering usenet news broadcasts to the region for something like $2000/year, requiring a little bit of startup cost, but not much ($5000???). Since news is one huge item in net traffic - my feed is about 150 Megabytes a day - this takes a great load off of more expensive direct connections. I guess that's enough for one morning. -- Bill Eldridge bill@lifesci.ucla.edu Eight months in LA without a car 310-206-3960 - now if the bus to the beach 310-206-3987 (fax) only ran on Sunday From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 19:59:45 1994 Date: Sat, 10 Sep 1994 16:41:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Re[2]: E-Mail in Albania: A more reliable connection (fwd) Date: Thu, 08 Sep 94 19:09:20 From: jpeizer The message below is from Abraham Gebrehiwot of the CNUCE University Network in Pisa, Italy. They granted us (Soros Albania) a domain name and a link to their server. As you can see they are still interested in maintaining this like. Anton Auer of the APC has also offered his services... RGDS JP Hi, I am sorry for the inconveniance that you are facing. I am ready to help anything if possible from our side. Wish you good luck!! Abraham From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 19:59:59 1994 Date: Sat, 10 Sep 1994 16:42:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 19:31:44 +45722824 (EDT) From: Laura Smith Assuming the intent of this forum is to work networking issues for Albania, I just purchased Internet access for my people in Albania through Slovenia. A EUNet access is suppose to be available into Albania through Italy this month. Laura Smith From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:00:10 1994 Date: Sat, 10 Sep 1994 16:44:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Soros Internet connectivity interest in Albania Date: Thu, 08 Sep 94 19:48:53 From: jpeizer The Soros Foundations have a keen interest in establishing E-mail/Internet links in Albania for a number of reasons: 1) As per George Soros's comments during the keynote speech at the Internet Conference in Prague, we believe that this type of activity truly helps foster Open Societies. 2) As an operating foundation in Albania, we wish to communicate with our foundation through electronic mail as we do with most of our foundations already. We have had some success in setting up a connection between the foundation and CNUCE in Pisa, Italy. The domain was set up and messages were sent. We left off at needing better and possibly dedicated modems in addition to a better access time. Access was allowed only at night where frequent electrical shortages caused problems... The biggest problem was that 'our guy' in Albania (an Albanian consultant) had the unpleasant experience of having more then one shadow. Unfortunately the other shadows were the secret police following him home. They were quite interested (and quite successfull) at discouraging his further involvement in the project. That was in June. Since then, no progress. We have a program called Internet at Soros which is specifically geared at funding connectivity projects in Central and Eastern Europe. I want to earmark funds for Albanian connectivity. What I need most however is a viable projecty with a project manager who we know will follow through on implementation on the ground. Stacy Sullivan's idea intrigued me most. The idea would be to set up a BBS network in 'safe organizations' in Albania, specifically organizations like UNDP, Soros etc, that would receive mail domestically and then send it abroad. Full Internet connectivity would follow if at all possible. Seems to me the biggest problem we are facing is lack of local technical support and expertise and local political will against the dissemination of this technology.... Jonathan Peizer Dir. of Internetaionl IS & Internet Program Coordinator From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:07:15 1994 Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 18:30:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Soros Internet connectivity interest in Albania Date: Sat, 10 Sep 1994 19:36:12 +45722824 (EDT) From: Laura Smith To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Soros Internet connectivity interest in Albania I think you have two choices. One tie in with European Network in the Netherlands or tie in with the State/Defense Department under the auspices of Partnership for Peace. If you want some contacts or help, just ask. Assuming things you are doing are unclassified.This is only a political problem not a technical one. Laura Smith From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:07:23 1994 Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 18:31:04 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Sat, 10 Sep 1994 21:11:44 -0700 (PDT) From: William M. Eldridge To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS > > Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 19:31:44 +45722824 (EDT) > From: Laura Smith > > Assuming the intent of this forum is to work networking > issues for Albania, I just purchased Internet access for > my people in Albania through Slovenia. A EUNet access is > suppose to be available into Albania through Italy this month. > Laura Smith If you have more info on this, please inform - costs, bandwidth, etc. I'll be trying to hook in Macedonia, so going through Albania may not work, but... Thanks, bill -- Bill Eldridge bill@lifesci.ucla.edu Eight months in LA without a car 310-206-3960 - now if the bus to the beach 310-206-3987 (fax) only ran on Sunday From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:07:43 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 20:57:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Three introductions >From muaak1@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu Mon Sep 12 20:38:30 1994 Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 14:38:12 -0500 (CDT) From: Adrian An Kostallari To: Albania Networking Forum Dear Colleagues, My name is Adrian Kostallari; I am an Albanian graduate student and a teaching assistant at the Western Illinois University, Department of English and Journalism, Simpkins Hall, Macomb, IL 61455. I would like to subscribe to the Albania Networking Forum, confident that this forum will speed the full integration of Albania into the international Internet and other electronic services. Sincerely yours, Adrian Kostallari >From jdegroot@unlinfo.unl.edu Mon Sep 12 20:39:06 1994 Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 13:12:07 -0500 (CDT) From: john degroot To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org Subject: Albanian Networking Forum I work with the Center for Albanian Studies here in the Management Department of UNL and we are setting up Business Assistance Centers (BACs) at three Albania universities: Tirana, Shkodra, and Korca. We want them to have e-mail connectivity between themselves as well as world-wide connectivity with colleagues here and elsewhere via Internet. We find the suggestion made by Stacy Sullivan, then with the Soros Media Training Center in Tirana, for a "store and forward" e-mail capability in Albania to be a practical first step, particularly if the full-time node is nearby, e.g. Italy. Our project in Albania also extends to Macedonia where it includes working with the Sts. Kiril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia. There they have a major bottleneck in their Internet access through a X.25 telephone link to Slovenia. We would like to help KMU establish a full-up Internet node that could also serve as an interim host for an Albanian "store and forward" system. Our current funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) does not include money for either "store and forward" or for full-up Internet nodes. Therefore we are hoping to coordinate our efforts with others who have similar needs and who may know of possible solutions. Would appreciate comments on the "store and forward" approach and any other information on programs to improve Albanian and Macedonian e-mail connectivity. John -- John de Groot Graduate Assistant Management Department University of Nebraska-Lincoln >From CAROL@movdis.cis.columbia.edu Mon Sep 12 20:37:57 1994 Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 11:49:34 EDT To: albnet-l@info.irex.org My husband Steve Moskowitz is returning around sept 24 to Tirane for the fall semester. So if there is a courier need, please let me know before that date. He is planning to be a courier for my research which entails a very heavy box of frozen brains. Therefore he can only be an internet courier for messages or very small packages to the Unconnected in Albania. Steve (an english as a second language faculty member/Fulbrighter) has been in Albania since 9/93. Attempts to get his dean (rector of the Polytechnic University = Dr. Gezim Karapici) and his dean's pc connected to internet has been a year long saga. The software is quick link from Hewett Packard. The pc is more than adequate. The modem is also fine. I installed it. One excuse is: The telephone line goes to the "old" telephone building with its rumored "too much noise" and not the preferred "new" telephone building. I do not think this is the real problem. The real problem is that the universities do not have a budget that will withstand a long distance call to Pisa, the internet node for Albania...and so no connection is possible. One experienced resource is Maksim Raco at the University of Tirane (the other university) who had internet briefly before 9/93. Francesco Gennai the internet man in Pisa was funny, intelligent and very helpful. Please include him in on your discussions. It is the Italian telephone company that will eventually save the day by establishing a functioning telephone system. Francesco is francesco.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it. From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:07:49 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:07:54 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 18:58:51 +45722824 (EDT) From: Laura Smith To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS The Eunet Slovenia Administrator is Damjan Podbregar with NIL Systems Integration in Ljubljana at 061-1405-183 or email damjan"at sign"nil.si. EUnet European Office in the Netherelands is info"at sign"eu.net 31-20-592-5109. Laura Smith From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:07:54 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:08:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Soros Internet connectivity interest in Albania Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 16:17:33 -0700 (PDT) From: William M. Eldridge To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Soros Internet connectivity interest in Albania > I think you have two choices. One tie in with European > Network in the Netherlands or tie in with the State/Defense Department > under the auspices of Partnership for Peace. Actually places like Hungary and Rumania are connecting via Pipex in London they way I understand it (info@pipex.net). Since theoretically a fiber is being put in across the Adriatic to Italy, and Pipex has an affiliate in Italy, this may be an alternative for hooking in. There are also some net connections in Zagreb and Sarajevo - I don't know about Dubrovnik nor Montenegro (it might be internationally illegal to do business with Montenegro at this point - I'm not sure what the embargo stipulates), and this could be a possibility if there is a southern segment on ZAMIRnet or some other ex-Yugoslavian net. There's a group on the east coast trying to start up a net service and they're supposed to have prices the first week in October - I've been going crazy waiting on these guys to give me a firm quote the last 4 months, but international networking is slow. I'm trying to get a preliminary number out of them just to give me something to go on. This would be a full connect into the internet on the east coast of the US. I think I posted before that Sprintlink is supposed to come in by the beginning of the year with some 64K VSAT service. If anyone has any numbers on what 3.8 and 5.5 meter dishes cost to buy and install in the Balkans, this would be quite useful. -- Bill Eldridge bill@lifesci.ucla.edu Living from one media scandal 310-206-3960 to the next. 310-206-3987 (fax) From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:08:01 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:08:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 09:20:08 EDT From:CAROL@movdis.cis.columbia.edu To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Dear Albnet: What is the recipe for linking the University of Tirane and the Polytechnic University (two entirely separate faculties) to the rest of the academic world, i.e. colleagues at their pcs and computerized library services? With ZERO capital...calling Italy is considered extravagant...and noisy telephone lines, what does the dean (rector) of these faculties do after the modem and software are installed? Remember, I am a nurse practitioner, not a techy. The answer must be in simple English. Thanks. From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:08:06 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:11:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Mon, 12 Sep 94 11:39:32 From: jpeizer To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Laura, I think one of our biggest problems is having the expertise on the gound to make the connection and maintain it. How do you handle this in Albania? RGDS JP From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:08:12 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 23:22:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Tirana organizations w/ e-mail interests Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 23:19:15 -0400 (EDT) From: watson To: albnet-l Subject: Tirana organizations w/ e-mail interests Following is a certainly incomplete list of institutions and organizations in Tirana which have a direct interest in the development of networking in Albania. All the data is from my computer communications assessment visit to southeastern Europe for IREX this summer. Among other omissions I might mention the government, the National Library, other academic institutions, and many international organizations such as the World Bank and the Red Cross. Of other cities in Albania, interest seems to be highest in Shkodra. In addition, I know of quite a few businesses and individuals both Albanian and foreign who would be interested in having e-mail access. -- Ian Watson -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Institution: Institute of Informatics and Applied Science (INIMA) Contacts: Gudar Beqiraj (dir), Neki Frasheri, Maksim Marjani Location: Rr. Leke Dukagjini 3, by the pyramid Telephone: 32968, fax 32122 Resources: cable system, power supply, space, personnel Institution: University of Tirana, Faculty of Natural Sciences Contacts: Dritan Spahiu (dean), Arkagjiu Eqerem, others Location: Bul. Deshmoret e Kombit, near train station Telephone: 27669 Resources: RISC 6000, LAN, students, poor facilities Institution: University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics Contacts: Rexhina Marjani, Kozeta Sevrani Location: Rr. i Elbasanit 10 Telephone: 24772 Resources: two LANs used for teaching Institution: Polytechnic University Contacts: Gezim Karapici (rector) Location: at head of Bul. Deshmoret e Kombit Telephone: 27996 Resources: two or three RISC 6000s, students Institution: Albanian Telecom Contacts: Maksim Gjergji Location: Rr. Myslim Shyri 42 Telephone: 34806 Resources: EBRD-funded project should add lines in 1995 Institution: Hewlett-Packard Contacts: Agim Cami Location: Rr. e Durresit 1, just outside the ring road Telephone: 23854 Resources: computer sales, service, LAN management Institution: ICC (International Computer Company) Contacts: Maksim Raco, others Location: Rr. Myslim Shyri 52, sh. 2, ap. 20 Telephone: 25709 Resources: conducts computer training courses Institution: Soros Media Training Center Contacts: Marianne Sullivan Location: Rr. Qamil Guranjaku 9, near Italian Emb. res. Telephone: 27995 (also fax) Resources: computers with modems, reading room Institution: United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Contacts: Bengt Messing, Christophe Ribes Ros Location: Rr. Deshmoret e 4 Shkurtit 35 Telephone: 33122/33148/33149, fax 32075/34448 Resources: LAN which calls NY, former INIMA donor Institution: United States Agency for International Development Contacts: Hans Thimm Location: pyramid Telephone: 42551 Resources: calls USAID system; contractors want e-mail Institution: United States Information Service library Contacts: Dr. Cynthia Caples Location: pyramid Telephone: 33246, fax 33222 Resources: nice library; behind Balkan USIS posts in e-mail Institution: Soros reading room Contacts: Steve Moskowitz Location: University library building, 1st floor on left Telephone: none Resources: small room From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:08:43 1994 Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 23:22:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: INIMA cable system terminal locations Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 23:20:33 -0400 (EDT) From: watson To: albnet-l Subject: INIMA cable system terminal locations The old closed cable system which linked INIMA's Honeywell Bulls to terminals around Tirana was installed in 1985 or 1986 with funding from the United Nations Development Program. This summer I collected an informal list of the terminal sites from an employee of INIMA. The names below may not be precisely accurate as they are translated from a conversation in French. I would estimate that at least 5-25% of the cable links are permanently down. The central computer has been "sleeping" since 1991. Terminal locations: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Government ministries (15-20) State Bank Polytechnic -- faculty of engineering Polytechnic -- faculty of geology University of Tirana -- faculty of natural science University of Tirana -- faculty of economics Agriculture University* Institutes of Projects #s 1-4 (4) Institute of Nutrition Geological Enterprise Institute of Energy (2) INIMA -- internal use (5) INIMA -- terminals for on-site use by others (3) General Ministry of the PTT Institute of Topography Calculation Center (2) Institute of Metallurgy Institute of Hydropower Studies Institute of Seismology Presidium of the President Enver Hoxha Archives in the pyramid Institute of Petroleum Studies in Fier* * These two links are definitely down. -- Ian Watson From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:09:04 1994 Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 10:44:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:33:21 -0700 (PDT) From: William M. Eldridge To: Albania Networking Forum Cc: "William M. Eldridge" Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS > Dear Albnet: What is the recipe for linking the University of Tirane > and the Polytechnic University (two entirely separate faculties) to > the rest of the academic world, i.e. colleagues at their pcs and > computerized library services? > > With ZERO capital...calling Italy is considered extravagant...and > noisy telephone lines, what does the dean (rector) of these faculties nn> do after the modem and software are installed? > > Remember, I am a nurse practitioner, not a techy. The answer must be > in simple English. Thanks. There's often not a simple answer for this. If you're dialing into a Unix machine in Italy, you might be able to type "pine" and you get a nice obvious mail interface that has a menu option to send, and so forth. (once you've logged in): ------------------------------------------------------------ PINE 3.89 MAIN MENU Folder: INBOX 0 Messages ? HELP - Get help using Pine C COMPOSE MESSAGE - Compose and send a message I FOLDER INDEX - View messages in current folder L FOLDER LIST - Select a folder to view A ADDRESS BOOK - Update address book S SETUP - Configure or update Pine Q QUIT - Exit the Pine program Copyright 1989-1993. PINE is a trademark of the University of Washington. [Folder "INBOX" opened with 0 messages] ? Help P PrevCmd R RelNotes O OTHER CMDS L [ListFldrs] N NextCmd K KBLock ------------------------------------------------------------------ If you're using UUCP (unix-to-unix copy), you might have to do something like edit "myfile.txt" and then type: uucp myfile.txt italia!georgetown!lifesci!~uucp/bill or something horrible like this. If pine isn't used, you might just type "mail bill@lifesci.ucla.edu" and then start typing, and finish with a single . on a line by itself. All of this will be dependent on how you're connecting. The protocol usually isn't too difficult to learn, but it will have to be tailored to the particular setup. As far as accessing databases, if they support gopher, you might type "gopher gopher.lifesci.ucla.edu" and just use your cursor keys. If it's ftp, there's a more bizarre set of commands required to get files. And then there are tools to search across the net what you want (archie, wais, veronica, etc.). To connect to another machine, it's probably "telnet machinname". But if just connecting to Italy is expensive, it's going to be quite expensive to do anything else - any large transfer will be expensive (if your modems are running at 9600 bps, then a file that's 1 Megabyte will take 800 seconds, or about 13 minutes. [long-winded semi-technical mode on] I feel part of the solution is going to be to break this up into small problems that are easier to solve, and find some immediate ways to get around the difficulty (or impossibility) of transferring large amounts of information over a connection into Albania. 1) There is a free version of Unix that runs on PCs (a 386 with 4Meg memory and 40 Meg harddrive) called Linux, and is becoming increasingly well supported, especially because of places like East Europe where the alternatives are not affordable. You can get these CDs for $20 apiece and they come with tons of documentation, free compilers, editors, spreadsheets, etc., etc. The older versions you can get for $6 apiece. I recommend buying a bunch and give them to anyone who has a PC and a CD. Those people can make floppy distributions and pass them out. There's 800-page printed out documentation you can get for $38. Contact Bob Young at info@acc-corp.com for details. 2) Prentice-Hall publishes "Minix", a unix for older PCs (PC, XT, AT 286) for $160. This can be copied freely within a university environment, but I'm trying to find out if there are limitations on use in Albania and Macedonia. Contact books@prenhall.com - this could be a good learning tool for the future network administrators. The biggest problem people face in East Europe is lack of experience, and allowing anyone to hack on his own machine is great experience. 3) Similarly you can get archives for PCs, usenet news, and other items on CD - a lot for between $20 and $40 typically. For example, I have one of the PC archives at University of Michigan (2 CDs), one of Windows tools and applications, one of Ham Radio information, and one of netnews. I got these with the book and $6 CD mentioned above for around $105 total. (You can print out the book yourself, or parts of it if you like, for free, but the printing costs might make the $38 a bargain. I also see in a catalog a technical and science shareware CD, CDs for kids to learn English, business CDs, and so forth. Some of these you can get from ACC listed above, some are from Up Front Multimedia (1-800-923-7667 3683 (fax) and I'm sure there are tons of these sprouting out of the woodwork. Since any network that goes in will still have fairly small bandwidth, there will have to be another way to access local information. Many journals are starting to come out on CD, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. It's not unlikely that if approached in the right manner, they might be amenable to donations to Albania, or perhaps a heavy discount. 4) If you have access to a SysAdmin who works at an important science archive, you might find out what kind of tape drive he has and see if you can get him to send you a tape of the archive once a month or so. Exabyte SCSI tape units are pretty common, and you can get a 2.0 Gigabyte one for $600. At 10 Megabytes/minute, you can get a 1 Gigabyte archive loaded in less than two hours, and then have it mailed. There's also a group in Denver called Sonic Systems that has a portable 2 Gig unit that runs on batteries and can do 10 MBytes/minute - good if there enough people are travelling in and out of the country frequently, and can bring back pretty large archives each time. Of course all of this asks, "Where then will we put the data and the CDs and how will we access it?" Which brings home an important point - an external network connection won't cure these problems. If equipment and resources are tight, it might be useful on one end to concentrate on the antithesis of a net - some sort of media and resource center where people could go to access the CDs, programs, send e-mail, and if lucky use gopher or ftp. If you concentrate on an internal network, you have to install a lot of cabling, modems, ethernet cards, and then you have to have more network administrators to maintain equipment and teach people how to use it. If you have a more centralized system with maybe a little external access, it's easier to maintain, fewer experts are required to run it, but it's less convenient for users (presuming the users have their own machines at work/home). The hope would be that over the next couple of years, enough people would become trained in the different aspects to begin maintaining a more complicated network, and while the external connections can be improving (and hopefully the economy). 5) Since I'll be in Macedonia for 9 months or longer, I'll be quite happy to come to Albania for a few days to help teach networking, set up systems, etc. (I think this falls within my Fulbright even though I'm officially designated for Macedonia). Also, it might be fairly easy for Albanians to come to Skopje for a few days, and in general we can try to get some cooperation going on this. But the training and learning will take time - working in LA, I'm encountering about 1 or 2 new technologies a week, and you start realizing that it's hard doing anything well in networking - there are just too many aspects of networking to keep track of. With this consideration in mind, it's important to keep the important parts of the program, such as the e-mail gateway, very simple. 6) Equipment. It's easy to underestimate just how much time researching equipment, performance, cost, compatibility, and so forth that you have to spend to keep networks running, and that's in a very well-connected place like LA. In Albania, there's not so much choice, but then the prices are much higher. If it's possible, some magazines like Computer Shopper, Microtimes, etc. are invaluable both for figuring out what types of systems and components are better, and in identifying vendors - hopefully ones who can get equipment to Albania for not too much cost. Of course currency exchange might be a problem. Since campus computer stores in the US are often extremely cheap, it might be useful to take advantage of this where possible, and look into setting up preferential pricing in Albanian schools. Of course I have no idea who is going to do this (me?), but the difference between a commercial and an academic Microsoft Word is quite significant. These deals oftentimes aren't as easy to get in Europe (though pirated software in East Europe is quite rampant). 7) I'm trying to arrange a usenet news broadcast that would be essentially setting up a TV-satellite-dish size receiving dish in Albania and hooking it into a Linux machine with a fair amount of disk space (sending questions out of Albania will be trickier, and will require some sort of decent uucp or net connection). 8) If leased-line costs from Tirana to Skopje are quite a bit less than to Italy, it might be possible to provide access through Macedonia cheaper than building a more complicated system in Albania. 9) I'm talking to EUnet a bit to see what they have in mind. Hope this isn't too verbose for this group - I'm sort of caught up in the technical aspects of this project. bill -- Bill Eldridge bill@lifesci.ucla.edu Living from one media scandal 310-206-3960 to the next. 310-206-3987 (fax) Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 21:47:57 -0700 (PDT) From: William M. Eldridge To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INIMA cable system terminal locations > > The old closed cable system which linked INIMA's Honeywell Bulls > to terminals around Tirana was installed in 1985 or 1986 with > funding from the United Nations Development Program. This summer > I collected an informal list of the terminal sites from an > employee of INIMA. The names below may not be precisely accurate > as they are translated from a conversation in French. I would > estimate that at least 5-25% of the cable links are permanently > down. The central computer has been "sleeping" since 1991. It's possible we could use these links to run serial PPP to a central server (presuming we could get a central server), and allow a fair amount of remote access, or even just have dumb terminal logins. Dumb terminals are quite cheap ($200?? they're about $75 used a lot of times), and for many users might be quite useful. -- Bill Eldridge bill@lifesci.ucla.edu Living from one media scandal 310-206-3960 to the next. 310-206-3987 (fax) From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:09:23 1994 Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 11:05:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Tirana organizations w/ e-mail interests >From CAROL@movdis.cis.columbia.edu Tue Sep 13 10:51:09 1994 Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 10:39:19 EDT From: CAROL@movdis.cis.columbia.edu To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Tirana organizations w/ e-mail interests Additions and corrections: The engineer cum computer person at the Polytechnic University is Aleksander Xhiavani (last name "Giovanni") Tele 355-42-27996, the fax is 355-42-27914. Or call the rector of PU: Gezim Karapici at home in their afternoon (after 3 p.m.) at 355- 42- 34157. Both have excellent English, intelligence; Alex knows more about computer talk than Gezim. Good luck!!!! Yes, Agim Cami at Hewlett Packard is very knowledgable and works very hard to make things work. Cynthia Caples numbers are incorrect. The fax at the embassy is 32222. Cynthia's fax is (according to my notes) 3246. She is an excellent resource for who knows what. She is extremely well connected in all fields.> [note from Ian Watson: this fax number may well be right but the USIS telephone number is indeed 33246.] Steve Moskowitz is found thru Karapici or Caples. He only volunteers for Soros and is not affiliated with the University of Tirane. Right, he has no phone. > From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:09:36 1994 Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 23:43:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Three introductions Date: Tue, 13 Sep 94 11:01:16 From: jpeizer To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Three introductions John de Groot, If a store and forward connection is possible in Albania, Soros would be interested in funding it. Stacey will be working part time for us in the New York Office I understand. I am the Internet/E-Mail Program Coordinator at Soros for this part of the world and have earmarked a budget specifically to provide this connectivity. This year we got a store and forward system to work in Sarajevo among other places. We wish very much If a store and forward connection is possible in Albania, Soros would be interested in funding it. Stacey will be working part time for us in the New York Office I understand. I am the Internet/E-Mail Program Coordinator at Soros for this part of the world and have earmarked a budget specifically to provide this connectivity. This year we got a store and forward system to work in Sarajevo among other places. We wish very much to further connectivity in Albania. to further connectivity in Albania. On the Macedonian connection, the gentleman who runs the Macedonian domain is Vladimir Petrovik working out of the Stephan Institute in Slovenia. Bill Eldridge, also on this list, is a Fulbright Scholar who will be in Macedonia very soon to assist with the Macedonian connection. We have a proposal from Oliver Popov at St. Cyril's for connectivity and it is being evaluated at the Soros Office there. The Soros Office in Macedonia has funds earmarked for connectivity in that country. We are hoping Bill can work with Dr. Popov and the Office to implement connectivity. Carol, We were working with Francesco Gennai on establishing an Albanian domain and connectivity. The work stopped because of a lack of expertise in Albania to pick up the ball and run with it as well as government intervention. Specifically, we had someone in-country who the government leaned on. When he dropped out of the project we could find no one else to pick up the ball. Francesco as well as Anton Auer from the APC BBS network have both volunteered Internetional connectivity to us. As indicated above, I will fund a project as well. What I need most is a plan (already designed by Stacey Sullivan for Mail connectivity), organizations who will host BBS or Internet connectivity at their sights in Albania and most importantly on-the-ground technical expertise and project management to implement the connections and train others to maintain them. -Jonathan Peizer- From albnet-l@info.irex.org Thu Sep 15 20:09:45 1994 Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 23:44:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 12:54:48 +45722824 (EDT) From: Laura Smith To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: INTERNET ACCESS JP: I am going to have to log off this listserv.It is eating too much of my time and not paying me any money. Based on my recent experience in Eastern Europe I can only use Belarus as an example. A new company was started as a joint venture with a San Francisco company to offer internet fromMinsk, Belarus to the world. Most of the software this guy had was freeware. Not knowing much abut SOROS and your charter is hampering my ability to recommend action but find someone in ALbania and help them start a company. I still think tapping int EUROPEAN NETWORK is a good idea. Ciao. laura Smith From albnet-l@info.irex.org Mon Sep 19 09:49:00 1994 Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 16:28:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Store and Foreward E-Mail for Albania and Macedonia (fwd) Date: Sat, 17 Sep 1994 12:37:21 -0500 (CDT) From: john degroot Jonathan Peizer, As indicated in my introduction message, our current program will establish Business Assistance Centers (BACs) in Albania at the University of Tirana, the University of Shkodra 'Luigi Gurakuqi' and the University of Korca and in Macedonia at the Center for Management and Human Resources Development located within the Institute for Sociological, Political, and Juridical Research, Sts Ciryl and Methodius University in Skopje. We will have faculty members from each of these participating universities here in Lincoln, Nebraska next month and thus have the opportunity to discuss host locations for the store and forward systems. We are also currently sizing the computer support requirements for the Management Information Training System (MITS) LAN which could possibly provide the hardware support for the store and forward capability. Jonathan, it would be most helpful at this time to know what it takes to support store and forward so that if Soros can fund the software acquisition, the university BACs would be capable of hosting and operating it for all interested users. Does Stacy Sullivan or anyone else have information on the technicial requirements for good store and forward packages? For example, can it be supported on a 486 PC with modems or does it require unique hardware? Another question is prompted by Laura Smith's recommendation to find someone to start a company in Albania to provide Internet services. One of the purposes of the BACs is to support entrepreneurial initiatives and facilitate private enterprise startups with managerial and administrative assistance. One additional ingredient for the Internet service venture would be facilitating the technical support for the startup. Would appreciate any suggestions on possible sources of technical assistance that could be offered to prospective Internet service providers. Hopefully, the role of the BAC in providing assistance could serve to insulate the entrepreneurs from the 'government pressures' that have hindered efforts so far. Am delighted to know that Soros and others share our desires to bring Albania and Macedonia up to speed on the Internet Info Highway. Hope the MITS hardware and the BAC host locations can be parts of the solution. John -- John de Groot Graduate Assistant Management Department University of Nebraska-Lincoln From albnet-l@info.irex.org Mon Sep 19 10:42:57 1994 Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 10:30:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Interested people to start the network in Albania Date: Sun, 18 Sep 94 17:53:07 EDT From: Petraq Papajorgji We are a group of ex-Fulbrights from Albania and we are trying to be in touch with people in order to start a private company to provide e-mail service in Albania. Personally I have been in touch with Tony Byrne, Howard Frederick and other people trying to organise such a service in Albania. I have been following very attentively the discussion about how to start this service in Albania. Following Laura Smith's recommandation to find someone to start a company in Albania, we are very interested to undertake such an initiative as a private company. We all have a solid background in Computers ( I have been a professor at the Computer Science Department, Tirana University, Naske Agezolli, is electrical engineer with a one year postuniversital studies in Computer Science. We have other people in Albania ready to start such an enterprise. We are almost all from the University environment and not member of any political party. If you find our proposal of any interest, please be in touch with us. My address is: Petraq Papajorgji Postdoctoral Associate Agricultural Engineering Department University of Florida Gainesville, Fl 32611 Tel: (904) 392-7721 Fax: (904) 392-4092 e-mail: petraq@water.agen.ufl.edu Naske Afezolli can be reached at: tel: (202) 458-7245 e-mail : NA8398A@AMERICAN.EDU From albnet-l@info.irex.org Mon 19 Sept 16:35:32 1994 Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 16:38:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Albanian E-mail Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 10:46:32 -0500 (CDT) From: Adrian An Kostallari Hello, My name is Adrian Kostallari; I am a graduate student in English and Journalism, and I come from Albania. I am very interested in participating in the initiative of setting an email network in Albania. I have been using computers for some time. Before coming to the States, I was in France for two years to pursue a Master's degree in linguistics. Given that a good part of my research work was and is conducted thru e-mail, I am aware of the outstanding advantages of Internet servvices, and I would like to help in any way I can. Adrian Kostallari Western Illinois University English and Journalism Simpkins Hall Macomb, IL 61455 309-298-2814 (at work---I am a teaching assistant here) 309-295-2267 (at home) From: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:21:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Interested people to start the network in Albania (resent) [Several people asked me to resend this message with 80-column lines, as the original lines did not wrap. -- Ian Watson] From petraq@water.agen.ufl.edu Date: Sun, 18 Sep 94 17:53:07 EDT From: Petraq Papajorgji To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Interested people to start the network in Albania We are a group of ex-Fulbrights from Albania and we are trying to be in touch with people in order to start a private company to provide e-mail service in Albania. Personally I have been in touch with Tony Byrne, Howard Frederick and other people trying t o organise such a service in Albania. I have been following very attentively the discussion about how to start this service in Albania. Following Laura Smith's recommandation to find someone to start a company in Albania, we are very interested to undertake such an initiative as a private com pany. We all have a solid background in Computers ( I have been a professor at the Computer Science Department, Tirana University, Naske Agezolli, is electrical engineer with a one year postuniversital studies in Computer Science. We have other people in Albania ready to start such an enterprise. We are almost all from the University environment and not member of any political party. If you find our proposal of any interest, please be in touch with us. My address is: Petraq Papajorgji Postdoctoral Associate Agricultural Engineering Department University of Florida Gainesville, Fl 32611 Tel: (904) 392-7721 Fax: (904) 392-4092 e-mail: petraq@water.agen.ufl.edu Naske Afezolli can be reached at: tel: (202) 458-7245 e-mail : NA8398A@AMERICAN.EDU From albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:29:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Store and Foreward E-Mail for Albania and Macedonia Date: Mon, 19 Sep 94 18:13:58 From: jpeizer To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Store and Foreward E-Mail for Albania and Macedonia (fwd Date: Sat, 17 Sep 1994 12:37:21 -0500 (CDT) From: john degroot Jonathan Peizer, As indicated in my introduction message, our current program will establish Business Assistance Centers (BACs) in Albania at the University of Tirana, the University of Shkodra 'Luigi Gurakuqi' and the University of Korca and in Macedonia at the Center for Management and Human Resources Development located within the Institute for Sociological, Political, and Juridical Research, Sts Ciryl and Methodius University in Skopje. We will have faculty members from each of these participating universities here in Lincoln, Nebraska next month and thus have the opportunity to discuss host locations for the store and forward systems. We are also currently sizing the computer support requirements for the Management Information Training System (MITS) LAN which could possibly provide the hardware support for the store and forward capability. Jonathan, it would be most helpful at this time to know what it takes to support store and forward so that if Soros can fund the software acquisition, the university BACs would be capable of hosting and operating it for all interested users. Does Stacy Sullivan or anyone else have information on the technicial requirements for good store and forward packages? For example, can it be supported on a 486 PC with modems or does it require unique hardware? Any PC BBS package would be quite happy on a 486 with a large hard drive. Most of the BBS's though reside on a file server like Novell with other workstation PC's serving as dialup hosts. There are also packages like CC:MAIL or pegasys which can act as store and forward facilities passing information on the remote users who log in to access the systems. CC:MAIL system can actually dial in to each other as well to pass E-Mail on. In terms of BBS's one of the the most widely used is FIDO. Another question is prompted by Laura Smith's recommendation to find someone to start a company in Albania to provide Internet services. One of the purposes of the BACs is to support entrepreneurial initiatives and facilitate private enterprise startups with managerial and administrative assistance. One additional ingredient for the Internet service venture would be facilitating the technical support for the startup. Would appreciate any suggestions on possible sources of technical assistance that could be offered to prospective Internet service providers. Hopefully, the role of the BAC in providing assistance could serve to insulate the entrepreneurs from the 'government pressures' that have hindered efforts so far. Technicval assistance on the ground is the block we kepp running into as well. Am delighted to know that Soros and others share our desires to bring Albania and Macedonia up to speed on the Internet Info Highway. Hope the MITS hardware and the BAC host locations can be parts of the solution. John -- John de Groot Graduate Assistant Management Department University of Nebraska-Lincoln From albnet-l Wed Sep 21 23:21:37 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA18103 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:21:30 -0400 Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:21:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Interested people to start the network in Albania (resent) In-Reply-To: <9409182153.AA24663@water.agen.ufl.edu> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: DF [Several people asked me to resend this message with 80-column lines, as the original lines did not wrap. -- Ian Watson] >From petraq@water.agen.ufl.edu Date: Sun, 18 Sep 94 17:53:07 EDT From: Petraq Papajorgji To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Interested people to start the network in Albania We are a group of ex-Fulbrights from Albania and we are trying to be in touch with people in order to start a private company to provide e-mail service in Albania. Personally I have been in touch with Tony Byrne, Howard Frederick and other people trying t o organise such a service in Albania. I have been following very attentively the discussion about how to start this service in Albania. Following Laura Smith's recommandation to find someone to start a company in Albania, we are very interested to undertake such an initiative as a private com pany. We all have a solid background in Computers ( I have been a professor at the Computer Science Department, Tirana University, Naske Agezolli, is electrical engineer with a one year postuniversital studies in Computer Science. We have other people in Albania ready to start such an enterprise. We are almost all from the University environment and not member of any political party. If you find our proposal of any interest, please be in touch with us. My address is: Petraq Papajorgji Postdoctoral Associate Agricultural Engineering Department University of Florida Gainesville, Fl 32611 Tel: (904) 392-7721 Fax: (904) 392-4092 e-mail: petraq@water.agen.ufl.edu Naske Afezolli can be reached at: tel: (202) 458-7245 e-mail : NA8398A@AMERICAN.EDU From albnet-l Wed Sep 21 23:33:02 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA18117 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:33:01 -0400 Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:33:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction: Agim Cami Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: DF Date: Tue, 20 Sep 94 11:33 From: CAMI%ALB01.UNDP-ALB@nylan.undp.org To: Albania Networking Forum My name is Agim Cami. Actually I work as Support Engineer of the IBS Company, a High-Tech company resident in Tirana, Albania, giving services on computer technology, telecommunications etc. My business address is : Agim Cami IBS Tirana Trade Centre Rr. e Durresit Tirana - ALBANIA Tel/Fax : (+355) 42 23854 e-mail: agim.cami@undp.org Actually in Albania the unique possibility to join Internet is through the private network of UNDP office in Tirana which is operational from fall 193. This is a point-to-point connection, from UNDP Tirana to UNDP New York, using the SITA Network (X25 network). The physical connection is supported by satellite relay. The Internet Gateway is established in New York. The X25 node and the LAN (NetWare) were installed by IBS company and I was the responsible of this project. Certainly this is a beautiful realisation, but... only for private use, not for the public . I have experienced to join Internet using the UUCP connection. Best regards, Agim Cami From albnet-l Wed Sep 21 23:38:25 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA18124 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:38:24 -0400 Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:38:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction: Beni Asllani Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: DF Date: Tue, 20 Sep 1994 18:13:04 -0500 (CDT) From: arben asllani To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: albanian E-mail Hi, My name is Beni Asllani. I am working for my PhD at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My areas of study are Operations Management, Management Information Systems and International Management. I am actually teaching at this faculty and at the same time I am doing research work in the Center for Albanian Studies at this University. As part of the on-going project that we have in Albania, we are working in establishing the Business Assistance Centers in three main cities of Albania. Tirana (capital), Shkodra (north) and Korca (south). We have argued that this centers can achieve their missions much better if they will be able to be connected with E-mail service. So, as Mr. John de Groot has informed you previously, we are ready to support any attempt that can help to realize establishing the internet in Albania. I am following the discussion and I personally know Mr. Papajorgji and Mr. Afezolli. The first one used to be my Computer Science Profesor at the University of Tirana. I strongly believe that it will be very interesting to contact these people and try to discuss with them the possibility of starting this business in Albania. I think that rather than a technical problem (through Italy, Greece, Macedonia etc. ) establishing the internet in Albania is a matter of finding the skilled human resources. Albania has a very skillful potential in this field. The university of Tirana has a special major in Computer Science. Being in this position, I will try to do my best to help in this matter. In terms of technicality I don't think I can give you a qualified opinion. (I am still working intensivly in the Computer Science Area) but I will be glad to provide the insight information about the Albanian situation in this field. So, if you have anything you want to know please ask me and I will try to provide the right information. Arben Asllani Teaching/Research Assisant UNL From albnet-l Wed Sep 21 23:40:20 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA18131 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:40:19 -0400 Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 23:40:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction: Denis LeBel Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: DF Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 17:08:35 -0400 From: Denis LeBel To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org Subject: Albanian biochemists and cell biologist I am professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Departement de Biologie of the Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada. I have tried for may years to get in touch with Albanian colleagues through many channels but never with any success. I am interested in scientific collaboration in my field of research [biochemistry and cell biology of secretion], i.e. conference and visits to Albania, be host for graduate students and postdocs in my laboratory, etc. I hope that the present organization will be more successfull in establishing viable links with Albanians. I would finally like to specify that I am fluent in French and English, two popular languages in Albania. Best wishes to all of us for future Albanian connections. Denis LeBel, Departement de Biologie, Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, CANADA, J1K 2R1 Tel. (819)821-7075 FAX. (819)821-8049 From albnet-l Thu Sep 22 22:49:20 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA00212 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 22 Sep 1994 22:49:16 -0400 Date: Thu, 22 Sep 1994 22:49:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Tirana organizations w/ e-mail interests Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 22 Sep 94 11:47:00 EDT From: Petraq Papajorgji To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Tirana organizations w/ e-mail interests Hi Networkers, I would appreciate the input from anybody that knows if Cynthia Caples has an e-mail address. Petraq Papajorgji [Note from Ian: Cynthia told me she connects to the USIA computer in Vienna; she didn't mention an Internet gateway to their internal network, but perhaps one exists.] From albnet-l Sun Sep 25 22:24:52 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA04023 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Sun, 25 Sep 1994 22:24:42 -0400 Date: Sun, 25 Sep 1994 22:24:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1994 14:24:14 GMT From: Gembi Syla To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Introduction Hi ! I would like to introduce myself , my name is Gembi Syla and I'm an Albanian student from Kosova studying in the United Kingdom. I would like to help Albania get connected onto the internet , start an Albanian discussion group, etc. So if anyone need's me regarding this matter please contact me at my e-mail adress. Thanks. From albnet-l Thu Oct 13 20:35:50 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA10379 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 13 Oct 1994 20:35:42 -0400 Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 20:35:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Fidonets Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 13 Oct 1994 18:07:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Tony Byrne - IREX To: albnet-l Subject: Fidonets I have heard rumors that there is some relatively quiet fidonetworking going on in Albania. Anyone know anything about it? Tony Byrne IREX From albnet-l Fri Oct 14 17:59:27 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA12868 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Fri, 14 Oct 1994 17:58:45 -0400 Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 17:58:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Fidonets Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 13 Oct 94 20:58:55 EDT From: David G. Jones To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Fidonets Have you seen Boardwatch Magazine? It publishes BBS numbers in every issue. They may well have internet accessible databases on this topic (ie fido in Albania). I think their address is boardwatch.com. Let us know how that lead works out. From albnet-l Fri Oct 14 18:00:08 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA12876 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Fri, 14 Oct 1994 18:00:07 -0400 Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 18:00:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Fidonets Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 11:33:46 EDT From: Carol Moskowitz R.N. To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Fidonets > > I have heard rumors that there is some relatively quiet fidonetworking > going on in Albania. > > Anyone know anything about it? > > Tony Byrne > IREX > No, not me. Consulting Cynthia Caples is best. She is on the Albania list sent out this August.> From albnet-l Wed Oct 19 23:27:06 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22763 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:27:00 -0400 Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:27:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction - Clarification Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 09:13:49 -0500 (CDT) From: Robert J Korbach To: Albanian Network Subject: Introduction - Clarification As an introduction I was a Fulbright Scholar during the 1993-94 academic year in the Economics Faculty (Business School) at the University of Tirana. I came with my trusty portable which was ready to E-Mail and fax and needless to say did neither. In fact I was only successful on 50% of my very expensive faxes from the Dajti Hotel and did not access to a telephone in my apartment or college during the year. USIS was my fax inlet and outlet. Let me begin my observations by expanding on some of the correspondence which has occurred so far. (1) Cynthia Caples did not have E-Mail when I left in June and nothing was being considered for USIS at that time. If she had it by now Steve Moskowitz would know. (2) The person running the computer lab in the Business School is Spiro Brumbulli of the Department of Finance. He returned in June from Portsmouth, England where he received 3 months computer training. The Informatics professors, listed by Ian, had control over 6 older computers, not networked, in their classroom. The second computer lab was still in preparation and the computers had not been installed. Please note that the two new computer labs were financed by the TEMPUS Program of European Community. In the first lab the 16 486 computers, which were on a LAN system, were installed by Germans while the later 9 or so were setup by Greeks. I think TEMPUS may have an interest in establishing an E-Mail connection through their networks. I suspect that they would not finance any operating costs though but might be approachable on one-shot hardware costs. (3) International Computer Company (ICC) has two locations. The original one is used for teaching while the other is involved with hardware. My entire dealings with them were on hardware and they were extremely competent. Several of the staff taught at the university in Computer Science. (4) As of late May Carol's E-Mail effort through PolyTech still was in place and being unused because of high cost of telephone costs to Pisa and the difficulty of getting an international connection. This example is, in my opinion, more relevant than one suspects. Since I do not believe in long letters this will be the first in a series. The next one will consider telephone services in Albania and the specifics of computer services at the universities, using the Business School as an example. Bob Korbach From albnet-l Wed Oct 19 23:27:29 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22770 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:27:24 -0400 Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:27:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Albanian Telephones Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 09:55:16 -0500 (CDT) From: Robert J Korbach To: Albanian Network Subject: Albanian Telephones TELEPHONES: Albania has two types of telephone lines - operated-assisted and direct dial. Both can direct dial in the local area but the difference is in international calls. While this may no longer be true the first number of the last five digits beginning with 2's were operator-assisted while 3's were international. The availability of both types of lines was severely limited, with international being much worse. As a result of the shortages various types of piracy were common. Those groups having international lines typically received bills from $200- $1,000/month despite the number of calls made. The bill was sent to the customer without any itemization and requests to obtain an itemization receive a response asking whether or not you want to continue your telephone service. Friends in the CEELI Project, Public Radio, U.S. Treasury, USAID, et al confirmed this. The shortage of lines has led to direct tapping into lines by neighbors (as far as a block away). In several instances the tap was removed and returned in less than a week. Since this act is not perceived as serious criminal activity no penalties are doled out. Another "rumored" approach is the billing to international lines by central distribution workers for telephone calls made by relatives and friends to the same in Italy and Greece. Since these lines are held by foreigners and high officials the criminal nature of the act is not considered relevant. In summary, having a telephone line for E-Mail purposes is very expensive. Telephone connections to overseas numbers are extremely difficult during the day because of an even more limited number of lines leaving the county. The Dajti Hotel suggests than faxes be sent before 8:00 a.m. Many of my colleagues working on USAID contracts spend 2-3 hours attempting to fax. At certain times the overseas service was seriously impaired. The best guesstimate was that it was somewhere between Albania and Italy or in Italy. Lack of connections, lost faxes, et al were known to have occurred for periods as long as 5 days. We believed in the "rumor" that Albania had failed to pay their bill to Italy and were being cut off until they did. Local telephone connections are equally challenging. There was one telephone line into the Business School (Actually the Central Bank Training Institute also had one in the building). During the spring I helped co-author a grant request to SOROS to reopen the telephone switchboard in the building. This is an old fashioned switchboard which would direct the telephone calls on one line to the various departments in the building. I did not hear of any plans to expand the number of telephone lines into the building. Even E-Mail messages within a building would have to batched out several times a day. The availability of lines within the country is a major impediment in making E-Mail readily available. Connections to Macedonia were very poor! Bob Korbach From albnet-l Wed Oct 19 23:27:58 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22777 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:27:55 -0400 Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:27:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Last Installment Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 10:43:23 -0500 (CDT) From: Robert J Korbach To: Albanian Network Subject: Last Installment PC's & Other Ruminations: As mentioned in the first note the Business School Computer lab began with the installation of 12 "486" computers by a German. These 12 were put on a Nouvell network by three students. Since they had no software I installed my copies of 2 word processing and 2 spreadsheets onto their network. I assumed that the 3+ young men were responsible for maintaining the system. After several weeks I was asked by one about the availability of E-Mail programs and I said I would look around. Within two weeks I returned to lab with a copy of Office (including MAIL), only to find that the LAN had crashed and the young men were no longer to be seen. In the ensuing weeks I was to find that they had been banned from the lab by certain faculty members. The lab machines set unused there seemingly waiting for the German to return in several months to repair the network. No one knew what to do, no one seemed to care, and there were no funds to bring in any private computer firms (e.g., ICC). I first installed Office on the server and then proceeded to install software in each individual computer (Each had a 150 Meg hard drive). Upon my departure that was still the present state - a crashed LAN (but operating independently) and no one with expertise to truly maintain it. Any consideration of remote sites batching into a single Albania site and then uploading to a European site must consider this maintenance problem. I believe the expertise is there but it is a management problem to assure that is used. As an aside to Ian Watson, one of the young men who installed the network was spearheading the drive for E-Mail in the Natural Sciences area where he was a student. Power failures were common in the lab. It was not uncommon to lose power for several hours and the potential power surges made me wonder about equipment reliability. No, there was (were) no surge protector(s). At my apartment I had a surge protector but had the lowest number of power failures in the country (4-6). Any equipment and dependency upon E-Mail must factor in the electrical problem. The overall electrical problem resides not in the production (which is of a quantity to export large amounts) but in the distribution (small area transformers). I believe that this problem will be eliminated within 1-2 years. The software and hardware on the computers were dependent on the donor. German printers and Greek Window language converters were but two problems I faced. Any hardware and software system examined for E-Mail must consider the wide diversity of originators. That's all folks! Bob Korbach From albnet-l Wed Oct 19 23:38:08 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22799 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:38:06 -0400 Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:38:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Petroleum consultant asks about Albanian networks Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 10:40:11 -0600 (MDT) From: Muharrem Gajtani 247-1062 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: ALBNET I am an independent Petroleum Consultant working with various oil and gas organizations. Can you tell us what is needed to have an Internet outlet (connection) in Albania. Please list the items (like computer, router, Internet provider, dedicated line) and estimated costs. I want to approach a few potential sponsors that are involved or going to be involved in the Albanian oil and gas industry. In a recent trip to Albania, I noticed that there are many enthusiastic and computer literate people in the oil and gas industry. Best regards, Muharrem Gajtani .ecn.bgu.edu> To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Info... [Note from Ian: Cynthia Caples is the USIS chief in Tirana.] Does anyone know if Cynthia Caples has an e-mail address? If she doesn't have a personal e-mail address, can she be reached thru another e-mail address? Perhaps thru the American Embassy in Tirana? The Pyramid? Looking forward to any info... Adrian Kostallari From albnet-l Tue Oct 25 20:38:52 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA04446 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Tue, 25 Oct 1994 20:38:45 -0400 Date: Tue, 25 Oct 1994 20:38:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: E-mail & Internet connections Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Fri, 21 Oct 94 17:50:00 EDT From: Dennis McConnell To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: E-mail & Internet connections Regarding the inquiry about the meaning of USIS: The U.S. Information Agency [USIA] is the parent organization. Overseas, the offices are known as the U.S. Information Service [USIS]. I do not know the reason for the difference. From albnet-l Tue Nov 15 20:52:41 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA26880 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Tue, 15 Nov 1994 20:49:26 -0500 Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 20:49:26 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Harmonizing UUCP and X.25 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 10 Nov 94 11:38:05 GMT From: Antenna Support To: albnet-l@info.irex.org, env.email@conf.gn.apc.org Cc: snore@antenna.nl, agim.cami@undp.org Subject: Re: email [This submission relates to the complexity of setting up networks which connect to the world through systems using diverse protocols (X.25 and UUCP in this case). -- Ian] Marianne Sullivan <72614.623@compuserve.com> writes: > One of the possible gateways that is being negotiated over now > runs Higgins Software. The problem is to write or find a program > that can do the exchange between uucp and the higgins software. > > Does anybody know of anyone that has made (un)succesfull attempts > to create a UUCP (Waffle) - Higgins (X25) Link ??? Please, send > reports of such software to all four following addresses: I presume the Higgins software is some kind of Software X.25 switch or PAD in stead of a hardware PAD or X.25 switch, meaning someone is using a X.25 card inside a PC? Please specify next time with these kind of questions the exact hardware and software information.. ;-) If the Higgins is a soft X.25 link via a X.25 card of a PC, I can imagine the following: Waffle can/should make use of FXuucico 1.0 of Satlink since it is 500% better in handling UUCP calls: link recovery, efficient throughput and most important not only 'g' but also 'f' e G and other UUCP protocols. The 'f' protocol can make use of 7-bits lines like the case with X.25. Fxuucico (100% Waffle compatible) works over X.25: no problem. Then it is up to a flexible scripts (waffle/uucp/scripts) to link properly with the X.25 card. If the X.25 card is not a normal COM port, it at least should have a I/O address, IRQ and RAM address: using a fossil driver you van define the use of that 'gateway' in the BIOS of the DOS machine. I'm sure the Higgins software can be avoided this way. If you need to make use of the Higgins software, which we presume is soft PAD X.25 emulation software, then try to get the addressing (I/O, RAM and IRQ) from that software and try! Bear in mind: - Fossil driver talks to X.25 card - Fxuucico talks UUCP over X.25 link using f protocol Beste groeten, best regards -- Antenna Support | Antenna Host Support, Postbox 1513, Nijmegen 6501 BM, The Netherlands | E-mail: support@antenna.nl, Voice +31.80.235372, Fax +31.80.236798 | Antenna (X25) 204.1880.0010, (V32b) +31.80.604661, (IP) 193.78.242.47 From albnet-l Sun Nov 20 11:29:54 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA03977 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Sun, 20 Nov 1994 11:25:54 -0500 Date: Sun, 20 Nov 1994 11:25:54 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Sat, 19 Nov 1994 17:52:05 +0100 (MET) From: francesco.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it To: Albania Networking Forum Cc: ABRAHAM@vm.cnuce.cnr.it, GENNAI@cnuce.cnr.it Subject: Re: (private) contribution suggestion >Hi-- > >I was wondering if you would tell the Albania list a little about your >experiences helping Albanians connect to the Internet. For example, how >did the attempt in 1992 get started? Why did it fail? How has >transmission been -- what modem speeds have you been able to support? >Are you still the top level domain manager and what does that mean? Has >the domain you set up for Soros worked? Do you expect to continue to >serve as a connection point for Albania, or do you think that >Austria-based efforts will take over that role? > >I think the list recipients would value hearing your response to any of >these questions. > >Best regards, >Ian Watson I apologize me if I never gave my contribute to this list before now. Anyway I was doing work also for Albanian network cause. The connection was established with the VAX/VMS in Tirana University (Computer Science Department) and the VAX in CNUCE. [in 1992 - Ian] This connection was a dialup connection on a very low quality telephone line. Anyway it worked for about 4 - 5 months until the modem go out of order. I sent a new modem, but there was no more possibility to restart the link due to the communication cost. The connection between the modem and the access point of the telephone line was done with about 50 meters of cable that I brought with me from Italy. The only communication costs was the telephone call from Tirana and Pisa (where is the CNUCE), but I know that there was some problem for the Computer Science Departmet to justify a such cost. The connection were established during the night (when there is less noise on the line and the communication cost is cheaper) the vax of Tirana called the VAX of CNUCE to transfer e-mail messages. The modems were SUPRAMODEM V.42bis (If I remember well), that, after many tries..... were configured without any automatic features to work at 300 bps ! Infact with automatic features enabled the modems weren't able to recognize each other during the startup dialogue so we decide to setup they to the lowest level of functionality. >From what I know I think that the primary cause for the end of this "experiment" was the cost of the communication. I still am the top level domain manager for AL domain, and this means that the registration of any new AL subdomain should be sent to me and to the administrative contact. The primary server is running to a Ultrix machine connected to the CNUCE LAN. CNUCE is one of the primary network pole in Italy with a 2Mbps TCP/IP link to Europanet. About the SOROS "experiment" I invite Abraham Gebrehiwot to inform us on it. About your last two question I think that the clearest answer is to say that we are continuing to do any effort to re-establish a new connection to the Albania as come out from the following paragraph: During the last spring I contacted Prof. Gezim Karapici, Rector of Polytecnnic University of Tirana to submit a proposal to the EC for a COPERNICUS project, to try to receive some funds to re-establish an international link. COPERNICUS projects needed at least of 2 east european countries. The self-explaining title was: A project for the development and promotion of computer network services in Albania. The project involved: - the PRAGUE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, COMP. CENTRE, in particolar Dr. Milan Sterba that in these last years always follow the east countries network evolution. - the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the Polytechnic University of Tirana, Prof. Gezim Karapici (Rector of the Polytechnic) Dr. Adrian SHEHU (Head of the Electronic Department) - Consorzio Pisa Ricerche - Dr. Stefano Trumpy - Project Coordinator and Director of CNUCE. In May '94 I was contacted also by the Soros Foundation to activate a dial-up UUCP connection between CNUCE and their office in Tirana. This was done with the help of Abraham Gebrehiwot, a CNUCE collaborator in the RINAF project with a great experience on low level solution for a poor quality communication lines. The domain soros.al was registered in the Internet DNS. Also in this case the connection was unlucky, due to some problem (not technical) at Tirana Office, I suppose. Recently I was contacted by Neki Frasheri from INIMA to ask for our collaboration in establish a new international link. At the moment I'm in contact with DANTE, an European R&D network organization. DANTE has been given a contract by the EC to manage the PHARE 1994 R&D Networking Programme which lasts for two years from 1 October 1994. For the 1994 Programme, Albania is one of the 11 qualifying countries and one of the 5 countries that are new to the Programme. Dr. Gudar Beqiraj of the Instituti Informatikes dhe Matematikes Aplikuar ( INIMA) is the primary contact in the above mentioned PHARE Programme. The INIMA is also partecipating in the project ETCETERA of programme COPERNICUS (creation of a multimedia network service for electronic trading between East and West of Europe - by using existing technology and infrastructure). (Maybe.. Multimedia is too much for the Albanian international connectivity!) So, are we close to have a new international link ? I suppose yes. That's all folks! ---------- ---------- Francesco Gennai Email: francesco.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it CNUCE - ISTITUTO DEL CNR Tel: +39 (50) 593274 Via S. Maria, 36 Telex: 500371 CNUCE I 56126 PISA ITALY FAX: +39 (50) 904052 ---------- ---------- From albnet-l Wed Nov 30 15:21:06 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22209 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 30 Nov 1994 15:18:34 -0500 Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 15:18:34 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Medical organization wants Tirana Internet access Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: [ Please cc any responses to Mr. Gallagher as he is not a list subscriber. - Ian ] Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 15:08:02 -0800 From: E. John Gallagher To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org We are involved in a partnership with the medical school at the University of Tirana, trying to help Albanian physicians provide better care to their patients. One of the major problems that we are confronting is the inability to communicate through phone or FAX. Consequently, we are very interested in pressing for an internet node in Tirana. This would also serve the very important purpose of providing Albanian physicians access to the medical literature - both journals and texts - through electronic media, rather than relying on the tradition of paper-based transmission of information, which is both inefficient and expensive. Do you have any information on how the AIHA (American Inter- national Health Alliance), which is sponsoring this partnership, might be able to facilitate the hard-wiring of Albania into the Internet? We believe it would make an enormous difference in the level of help and expertise that we can provide. -E. John Gallagher, MD Bronx Municipal Hospital Albert Einstein College of Medicine From albnet-l Wed Nov 30 15:21:44 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22213 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Wed, 30 Nov 1994 15:20:35 -0500 Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 15:20:35 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Harmonizing UUCP and X.25 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: 30 Nov 94 13:10:17 EST From: Marianne Sullivan <72614.623@compuserve.com> To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Harmonizing UUCP and X.25 I want to clarify that I did not provide the following information. Can the person who put together this information please clarify. Thanks, Marianne Sullivan > One of the possible gateways that is being negotiated over now > runs Higgins Software. The problem is to write or find a program > that can do the exchange between uucp and the higgins software. > > Does anybody know of anyone that has made (un)succesfull attempts > to create a UUCP (Waffle) - Higgins (X25) Link ??? Please, send > reports of such software to all four following addresses: I presume the Higgins software is some kind of Software X.25 switch or PAD in stead of a hardware PAD or X.25 switch, meaning someone is using a X.25 card inside a PC? Please specify next time with these kind of questions the exact hardware and software information.. ;-) If the Higgins is a soft X.25 link via a X.25 card of a PC, I can imagine the following: Waffle can/should make use of FXuucico 1.0 of Satlink since it is 500% better in handling UUCP calls: link recovery, efficient throughput and most important not only 'g' but also 'f' e G and other UUCP protocols. The 'f' protocol can make use of 7-bits lines like the case with X.25. Fxuucico (100% Waffle compatible) works over X.25: no problem. Then it is up to a flexible scripts (waffle/uucp/scripts) to link properly with the X.25 card. If the X.25 card is not a normal COM port, it at least should have a I/O address, IRQ and RAM address: using a fossil driver you van define the use of that 'gateway' in the BIOS of the DOS machine. I'm sure the Higgins software can be avoided this way. If you need to make use of the Higgins software, which we presume is soft PAD X.25 emulation software, then try to get the addressing (I/O, RAM and IRQ) from that software and try! Bear in mind: - Fossil driver talks to X.25 card - Fxuucico talks UUCP over X.25 link using f protocol Beste groeten, best regards -- Antenna Support | Antenna Host Support, Postbox 1513, Nijmegen 6501 BM, The Netherlands | E-mail: support@antenna.nl, Voice +31.80.235372, Fax +31.80.236798 | Antenna (X25) 204.1880.0010, (V32b) +31.80.604661, (IP) 193.78.242.47 From albnet-l Thu Dec 1 13:04:51 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA23834 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 1 Dec 1994 13:04:40 -0500 Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 13:04:39 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Medical organization wants Tirana Internet access Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 17:28:48 EDT From: Carol Moskowitz R.N. To: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Medical organization wants Tirana Internet access The World Health Organizaton liaison is Vladimir Gusmari. He has an office on the third floor of the Ministerio e Shendetesise situated along the canal in Tirane. The UN provides him with access to electronic communications, of what sort I am unsure. Dr. Gusmari has no phone, I believe. Perhaps through WHO's Eastern European headquarters in Copenhagen (country code 45, tele 312-90-111 or fax 311-811-20) you will learn more. Their address: 8 Scherfigsvej DK 2100 Copenhagen Let me know what happens. This is exactly what I am trying to do for the department of neurology in Tirane. Carol Moskowitz, Columbia University, Department of Neurology, Movement Disorder Group. telephone 212- 305- 5779 From albnet-l Tue Dec 6 15:43:54 1994 Status: RO X-Status: Received: by info.irex.org id AA03107 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:44:24 -0500 Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:44:24 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Many thanks to Francesco Gennai for explaining the problems involved in trying to connect Albania to Internet. It's wonderful to hear that there is a ray of hope in this direction. I know there are many of us looking forward to a successful implementation and participation in the near future. Allow me to re-phrase my thanks in Italian to all involved on the other side of the Atlantic: "un grazie sentito per tutto quanto Francesco Gennai e colleghi stanno facendo per permettere anche all' Albania di poter far parte del mondo moderno delle telecomunicazioni!" Happy Thanksgiving holiday to all! Drita From albnet-l Tue Dec 6 15:43:54 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA03100 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:43:54 -0500 Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:43:54 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 18:09:25 +0100 (GMT+0100) From: Abraham Gebrehiwot To: Albania Networking Forum Cc: gennai@cnuce.cnr.it, Abraham Gebrehiwot Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania Hi to all! > About the SOROS "experiment" I invite Abraham Gebrehiwot to inform us on > it. my name is Abraham Gebrehiwot working for the RINAF project to bring basic network services to several african countries. I have also worked with Mr. Francesco for the SOROS foundation at Tirane to estabilish a dial-up UUCP connection. The situation in short is as follows; I am managing a UUCP/Internet gateway at the CNUCE Institute in Pisa on a UNIX box. This machine is registered as a mail exchanger for the soros.al domain. This means all e-mail messages sent to any subdomain of the type xxxx.soros.al will be stored in my machine. My machine knows how to handle these e-mail messages, which means that it will forward to the hub machine in Tirana called osftr.soros.al over a dial-up UUCP connection. The osftr.soros.al machine is a dos machine running the UUCP protocol managed by Mr. Agim Cami. The above experiment has been sucessful even if the quality of the line was not very good and we took some time to sincronize the two modems. The only cost that is involved in this process was the international phone call from Tirana to CNUCE in Pisa Italy. Unfortunately the connection is not used at the moment since there has been some unclear reasions, not technical and cost, that Mr Agim can't make use of this e-mail link. We at CNUCE were advising them to buy a better quality modem that would have improved the quality of the service. We have no problem at CNUCE to restart the service again. Hope this breaf note will be of help to clarify the situatio. If you need further detailes please contact me. Best regards, Abraham Gebrehiwot From rhenry@info.irex.org Fri Dec 6 15:44:24 1994 Status: RO X-Status: Received: by info.irex.org id AA03107 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for "Robert S. Henry" ); Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:44:24 -0500 Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:44:24 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: "Robert S. Henry" Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 20 Nov 94 20:23:02 EST From: Drita Ivanaj To: Albania Networking Forum Cc: drita@columbia.edu Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania Many thanks to Francesco Gennai for explaining the problems involved in trying to connect Albania to Internet. It's wonderful to hear that there is a ray of hope in this direction. I know there are many of us looking forward to a successful implementation and participation in the near future. Allow me to re-phrase my thanks in Italian to all involved on the other side of the Atlantic: "un grazie sentito per tutto quanto Francesco Gennai e colleghi stanno facendo per permettere anche all' Albania di poter far parte del mondo moderno delle telecomunicazioni!" Happy Thanksgiving holiday to all! Drita From albnet-l Tue Dec 6 15:43:54 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA03100 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for "Robert S. Henry" ); Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:43:54 -0500 Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 15:43:54 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: "Robert S. Henry" Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 18:09:25 +0100 (GMT+0100) From: Abraham Gebrehiwot To: Albania Networking Forum Cc: gennai@cnuce.cnr.it, Abraham Gebrehiwot Subject: Re: Francesco Gennai reports on his work with Albania Hi to all! > About the SOROS "experiment" I invite Abraham Gebrehiwot to inform us on > it. my name is Abraham Gebrehiwot working for the RINAF project to bring basic network services to several african countries. I have also worked with Mr. Francesco for the SOROS foundation at Tirane to estabilish a dial-up UUCP connection. The situation in short is as follows; I am managing a UUCP/Internet gateway at the CNUCE Institute in Pisa on a UNIX box. This machine is registered as a mail exchanger for the soros.al domain. This means all e-mail messages sent to any subdomain of the type xxxx.soros.al will be stored in my machine. My machine knows how to handle these e-mail messages, which means that it will forward to the hub machine in Tirana called osftr.soros.al over a dial-up UUCP connection. The osftr.soros.al machine is a dos machine running the UUCP protocol managed by Mr. Agim Cami. The above experiment has been sucessful even if the quality of the line was not very good and we took some time to sincronize the two modems. The only cost that is involved in this process was the international phone call from Tirana to CNUCE in Pisa Italy. Unfortunately the connection is not used at the moment since there has been some unclear reasions, not technical and cost, that Mr Agim can't make use of this e-mail link. We at CNUCE were advising them to buy a better quality modem that would have improved the quality of the service. We have no problem at CNUCE to restart the service again. Hope this breaf note will be of help to clarify the situatio. If you need further detailes please contact me. Best regards, Abraham Gebrehiwot From albnet-l Tue Dec 20 15:43:12 1994 Received: by info.irex.org id AA00604 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Tue, 20 Dec 1994 15:38:56 -0500 Date: Tue, 20 Dec 1994 15:38:55 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: NATO Report on Albania Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Tue, 20 Dec 94 08:27:29 EST From: Dennis McConnell To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: NATO Report on Albania Greetings to Albanian networkers from the University of Maine. I have today received a November 1994 report from NATO on Albania. Although the report does not directly address the interests of Albnet, it may be of general interest to subscribers. Since the document, in hard-copy form, is 23 pages long, I have not forwarded it to the net. However, I would be happy to for- ward it to interested members. The table of contents is as follows: Introduction 1. Background 2. Albania's Present Situation 3. The Public Investment Plan 1994-1996 4. Privatization and Foreign Investment 5. Albania's Strategic Sectors: A Brief Analysis a. Agriculture b. Energy c. Infrastructure d. Health, Education and General Welfare 6. Foreign Aid and Human Rights Conclusion If you would like a copy, let me know. I will forward it to you. ************************************************************** * DR. DENNIS MCCONNELL * TEL: +1.207.581.1988 * * EASTERN EUROPEAN ENTERPRISE NETWORK * FAX: +1.207.581.1956 * * COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION * TLX: 62955628 * * UNIVERSITY OF MAINE * * * ORONO, MAINE 04469-5723 U.S.A. * MAC@MAINE.MAINE.EDU * ************************************************************** From albnet-l Mon Jan 16 10:25:00 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA16173 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Mon, 16 Jan 1995 10:21:01 -0500 Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 10:21:01 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: CFV: soc.culture.albanian Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 17:41:21 -0500 (EST) From: Mentor Cana To: Albanian mailing_list , Ilir Toska , Kosta Bidoshi , Bashkim Zendeli , Florent F Rizvanolli , Rexhep Azari , SHAQIRI ELHAMI , Ismet Aliu , Ferki Metarapi , Lazer Berisha , Dardan Blaku Subject: CFV: soc.culture.albanian } } FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2) } unmoderated group soc.culture.albanian } }Newsgroups line: }soc.culture.albanian Albania and Albanians around the world. } }Votes must be received by 23:59:59 UTC, 26 January 1995. } }After this CFV appears on news.announce.newgroups it will be sent to }the mailing lists Albnet-l and Albania-l }. } }This vote is being conducted by a neutral third party. For voting }questions only contact rdippold@qualcomm.com. For questions about the }proposed group contact Besnik Pula . } } }CHARTER } }soc.culture.albanian will be a newsgroup dedicated to the exchange of }information and discussion of issues on Albania and the Albanian }people in Albania and other areas in the Balkans (Kosova, Macedonia, }Montenegro) and Albanians living around the world. Anyone interested }will be welcome to participate in discussions about: } } -Albanian history and culture; } -Albanian political and social issues; } -Albanian concerns in the Balkan crisis; } -Economic investment in Albania; } -Travel Information; } -and other topics. } }The discussions will be held in Albanian and English. } }This newsgroup would be very helpful to the large number of Albanians }and other people interested in Albania. It would be a place where }news and information from Albania, Albanian regions in the former }Yugoslavia, and from the Albanian diaspora could be distributed. It }would also be a place to discuss current problems in the Balkans and }its implications on the Albanians. Albanians are the only Balkan }nation that do not have a newsgroup of their own. } } }HOW TO VOTE } }Send MAIL to: voting@qualcomm.com }Just Replying should work if you are not reading this on a mailing list. } }Your mail message should contain one of the following statements: } I vote YES on soc.culture.albanian } I vote NO on soc.culture.albanian } }You may also ABSTAIN in place of YES/NO - this will not affect the outcome. }Anything else may be rejected by the automatic vote counting program. The }votetaker will respond to your received ballots with a personal acknowledge- }ment by mail - if you do not receive one within several days, try again. }It's your responsibility to make sure your vote is registered correctly. } }One vote counted per person, no more than one per account. Addresses and }votes of all voters will be published in the final voting results list. } From albnet-l Mon Jan 16 10:25:12 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA16165 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Mon, 16 Jan 1995 10:18:56 -0500 Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 10:18:55 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: List matters Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Dear list subscribers, This mailing list is almost five months old and it's time to take a message to reflect on it. There are currently sixty-three subscribers from the following countries: Albania 4 Germany 2 Australia 2 Italy 2 Austria 1 U.K. 2 Canada 2 USA 47 Croatia 1 >From what I hear there will be a lot more e-mail access in Albania at the end of 1995 than there was at the end of 1994. The list subscribers form a core of people who will be the first to get such good news. They can give crucial support to any new Internet connectivity in Albania. That's why this list is important! Not every prospective subscriber to this list has realized that it is limited to Internet-related discussion. Fortunately, two other forums for *general* discussion of Albania have arisen: albania-l@gnu.ai.mit.edu and the (hopefully) forthcoming soc.culture.albanian The accompanying message is a "Call For Votes" on soc.culture.albanian. I encourage you to vote by sending the text "I vote YES on soc.culture.albanian" to voting@qualcomm.com. This will help take some of the burden off this list (and off your moderator). The list archives are still browsable on the gopher at info.irex.org. You should still send your submissions to albnet-l@info.irex.org. As I have been preoccupied lately with other projects I have not been able to encourage list submissions too much. Now that the holidays are over please do take a minute to update list members on anything newsworthy, and especially on your plans for 1995. Best regards, Ian Watson ALBNET-L moderator watson@info.irex.org From albnet-l Thu Jan 19 15:03:37 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA25100 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 19 Jan 1995 15:02:50 -0500 Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 15:02:50 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: UNDP's work in Tirana Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 08:48 From: KONDI%ALB01.UNDP-ALB@nylan.undp.org To: albnet Cc: KONDI Subject: RE: Internet in Tirana - - Mail - - January 19, 1995 8:48am MAIL IS - FROM: Sokol Kondi, FO.ALB Viewed Ntfy Private Urgent TO: albnet SUBJECT: RE: Internet in Tirana COPY: Sokol Kondi, FO.ALB My name is Sokol Kondi and I work with the UNDP office in Tirana. Referring to the message of Diane Hambley, Ph.D., I wanted to add some more info on Internet facilities in Tirana. UNDP has Internet connection in Tirana and we have proposed to SOROS foundation to share our facility to make it accessible to the NGO community. We have also proposed to INIIMA to establish an Internet Node in Tirana. Regards From albnet-l Thu Feb 9 17:27:38 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA12670 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 9 Feb 1995 17:10:08 -0500 Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 17:10:08 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction and comments from Florian Kongoli Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 09 Feb 95 11:40:18 EST From: F KONGOLI To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org Subject: Hi Alb-Networkers Till spring 1993 I've been professor at CAD (Computer Aided design) Chais at Mechanical faculty Polytechnic University of Tirana.( Now, graduatestudent at University of Montreal Canada). To my personal viewpoint the best way to deal with this things is TEMPUS program, a pro gram of EC to help the development of communication beetween West and Ea st ex-socialist countries. Due to these programs (one concerning Mechani cal faculty and almost all other faculties of both universities) now there exist three computer laboratories (one of them beeing CAD). The EC give founding for co-project beetween three universities, two of them be eing from eastern Europe. I know personally Dr. Gezim Karapici the recto r of Polytechnic university in Tirana and the Head of International rela tion Office there (Alexander Xhuvani). The other way with many chances in a private company held in Tirana spo nsored from international organisation as SOROS etc. I am ready to be p art of the private group proposed by PETRAQ and NASKE. This initiative , I think have many chances. I know some other organisation, powerfull on e that may be ready to give funding for such a thing.I will contact them . Having pleasure to communicate with you all Florian KONGOLI TEL: 340 3235 340 4770 344 1613 FAX:340 4770 J713@music.mus.polymtl.ca From albnet-l Fri Feb 10 15:04:51 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA15323 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Fri, 10 Feb 1995 14:50:57 -0500 Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 14:50:57 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Re: Introduction and comments from Florian Kongoli Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 9 Feb 95 23:05:46 EST From: Drita Ivanaj To: Albania Networking Forum Cc: drita@columbia.edu Subject: Re: Introduction and comments from Florian Kongoli Florian: I am not very familiar with TEMPUS, but, I am glad to know that you too are optimistic about the possibility of creating a private enterprise, which I have also discussed with Petraq. I believe it has potential and it's worth going for it. I'll try to help as much as I can along these lines. Regards. Drita Ivanaj From albnet-l Thu Mar 9 17:51:03 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA09423 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:47:41 -0500 Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:47:41 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Context for 'weird UUCP-X.25' message Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 20:55:10 From: snore@snore.antenna.nl To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Context for 'weird UUCP-X.25' message Tirana, Albania, Tuesday 17.00 nov. 8 1994 This morning I had a talk with Agim Cami, a computer engineer at IBS (Company that installs computers and X25 networks (!)) He is busy setting up a Waffle BBS in the Soros media training Centre. Clients should obtain Pegasus mail as an offline reader (I'll leave a copy of WINDMAIL here...) The BBS will probably start as a small inter-albania node without internet gateways for a while, and be opened to journalists etc. Later, a gateway will be added (to Italy or elsewhere). One of the possible gateways that is being negotiated over now runs Higgins Software. The problem is to write or find a program that can do the exchange between uucp and the higgins software. Does anybody know of anyone that has made (un)succesfull attempts to create a UUCP (Waffle) - Higgins (X25) Link ??? Please, send reports of such software to all four following addresses: albnet-l@info.irex.org env.email@conf.gn.apc.org snore@antenna.nl agim.cami@undp.org Thank you. A report about the meeting will follow later. Ace Suares, Tirana *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** | Support Network On Renewable Energy (SNORE Foundation) | Rijksstraatweg 37-46; 6574 AC UBBERGEN; The Netherlands | ph: +31-80-603917; email: snore@antenna.nl From albnet-l Thu Mar 9 17:53:31 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA09408 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:47:21 -0500 Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:47:20 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Possibilities Email in Albania Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 20:50:30 From: snore@snore.antenna.nl To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Possibilities Email in Albania Possibilities for establishing E-mail connectivity in Albania by Ace Suares (Introductionary Visits, November 6 - 10, 1994) Preface Thanks to the excellent help of Marjolijn Sondorp, who stayed in Albania at that time to give training to (environmental) NGO's, it was possible to visit the most important contacts on the first working day of the visit to Albania. With Ms. Sondorp as 'tour guide', she and I walked from the University, via the UNDP and the REC office, to the Soros Media Training Centre and had talks with their representatives. Chapter I: Involved Institutions UNIVERSITY OF TIRANA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATICS AND MATHEMATICS (INIMA) First, we visited the University of Tirana, Faculty of Science, Department of Informatics and Mathematics (INIMA). Mr. Gudar Beqiraj, director of the institute, welcomed us very heartily, and we exchanged information with him and two software experts of the department. A short summary of the meeting follows: INIMA has a dedicated underground cable network, funded by the UNDP in 1985. It connects about 50 points, amongst them are ministries, faculties, institutions and the national bank. The server of that system 'died' in 1991 and the network has never been revived due to lack of money. INIMA is greatly interested in reinstating the network, and they have been speaking to representatives of UNDP, EC, SOROS Foundation and others, but these meetings have not (yet) resulted in any funding for the network. INIMA has a dial-up link with the EARN/Bitnet Network via Rome (Italy). This link is currently the only one between Albania and the internet. There have been different projects, most of them with Italian nodes, some of them with Greek nodes, but all of them have stopped because of lack of money or unreliability of the foreign hosts. (For elaborate information see the appendix I) UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (UNDP) At the UNDP office, we were introduced to Mr. Peter Schumann. He explained that their office has a 64kb satellite link with the main office in New York. They make connections with New York (via Holland) a couple of times each day for a very short period of time, to exchange the necessary information. It is clear that the satellite link has a major overcapacity, and Mr. Schumann told us that this capacity might be used to develop internet connectivity for NGO's and institutions in Albania that fit the guidelines of the UNDP. One idea is to link up with the SOROS Media Training Centre (MTC), so the MTC can operate as a BBS. This BBS would be mainly aimed at journalists and reporters and enhance the press services that the MTC already offers. Another idea is to try to revive the underground cable network, and give connectivity to INIMA. Needed for these projects is a person who can do the extra administration that is involved in connecting INIMA and MTC. This job can be partly funded by UNDP, as Mr. Schumann told us, on condition that the applicant has to be an Albanian citizen. Problems of technical nature can be perfectly solved by the locally available computer service company personnel, of which Mr. Agim |ami is the person most likely to be occupied with these problems. During a talk with Mr. |ami it turned out that different experiments already had been carried out, amongst others a link between the Waffle/DOS/Pegasus Mail system and the UNDP 'Higgins' X.25 software. Unfortunately, Mr. |ami was too busy to proceed with these experiments at the time of my visit. REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE (REC) In the afternoon, we visited the local office of the REC, and met Ms. Blerta Maliqi. She told us that their office has decided to block the possibility to make outgoing international phone calls, because of the (realistic) danger of misuse and piracy of their phone line. It is of course still possible to receive international faxes and phonecalls, so I recommended to ask the REC headquarters to make a direct dial-up connection from Budapest to Tirana once a day, which should be much cheaper than faxing, and would provide the local REC office with news and e-mail services. However, the REC only plans to connect the local office to the internet in 1996. SOROS MEDIA TRAINING CENTRE (MTC) The last visit of that monday was to the SOROS Media Training Centre (MTC), where we were received by Mariane Sullivan (US) and Klod Gjinopulli (Albania). The MTC uses direct dial-up to the nearest Compuserve node (Italy or Greece) to do their necessary electronic mail. Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Gjinopoli helped us by calling some people that are interested in e-mail, to a meeting on tuesday evening. Ms. Sullivan also gave us permission to use the MTC as a meeting room. Ms. Stacy Sullivan (a former employee of SOROS in Albania) has put out a questionnaire to NGO's and institutions (a needs assessment) last year, but unfortunately we could not retrieve the report of the outcome. Mr. Moo Hataj, (see appendix II) has written a project proposal on the idea of creating a BBS in the MTC. This idea is still attractive, if carried out in cooperation with UNDP (the original idea assumes a dial-up link to Germany). CHAPTER II: General Information and Observations ALBNET-L@INFO.IREX.ORG LISTSERVER At the SOROS office, Ms. Sullivan introduced us to a listserver called 'albnet-l@info.irex.org'. This listserver is dealing with people that are interested in internet connectivity in Albania. If you have electronic mail, it should be possible to write a message to this list, with in the subject line |subscribe firstname lastname|. INVOLVEMENT OF WOMEN At the REC office, we discussed the chances of women participating actively in the developments of this moment. As expected, a special attempt should be made to spot, involve, educate and stimulate women to break through a number of traditional barriers regarding computers and participation in usually male-dominated areas of development. Probably, most women involved in managing computers can be found at the university. The NEWW (Network of East-West Women) is conducting a project in this field. One of their group will visit Albania in April. PHONE LINES At the UNDP office, Mr. |ami explained which technical difficulties can be expected using the UNDP satellite link to establish internet connectivity. One of the worst problems is, of course, the quality of the phone lines in Albania. This makes even in-city connections very difficult, let alone calls from other towns or the countryside. Since this situation will not rapidly change, the idea of extending the underground cable network regains attraction, but the problems with this plan are the huge costs and the limited flexibility of the net. CHAPTER III: Meetings MEETING ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8th (see next message) AFTER THE MEETING Unfortunately, the minutes were never translated into the Albanian language, and not all participants received even the English version. Also unfortunately, it was impossible to reach Mr. |ami to ask him to attend the demonstration in the afternoon of Wednesday the 9th. Nevertheless, at the demonstration of Pegasus Mail and the Greennet/IGC simulator, around 12 people were present. After the demonstration, we had a short meeting, which mainly was used to set an agenda for the meeting of the 24th. (See appendix IV for minutes of this meeting). SATURN SOFTWARE ASSOCIATION After the demonstration, I was interviewed by the Saturn Software Association. The main interest of this young computer science students lays in the exchange of computer programs and 3D animations. INFORMAL MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF YNGO's (9 nov |95) At eight o'clock an informal meeting took place in the residence of Marjoijn Sondorp. Present were a number of young ecologists, of whom most of them have international contacts with A SEED, EYFA and other European Youth Movements. Their main concerns are - lack of information on environmental issues - lack of reliable communication - lack of money - problems to obtain visa for European Countries. Ms. Sondorp was there to train these young people in organizing local action groups, and it was agreed that electronic mail could enhance contacts between the groups in different cities of Albania. Much more important, however, is contact with groups outside Albania. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS - Only by joint efforts of interested parties (UNDP, MTC, INIMA, NGO's) a short term solution to the lack of e-mail in Albania can be presented. - An Albanian person who can aid the local UNDP office in administrative tasks involved in setting up a host should be found. - The REC could start making an example by establishing a dial-up link from Budapest to Tirana. - Special attention should be given to the possibilities of women to participate in the email developments. by Ace Suares. The visit was funded as part of a development program of A SEED Europe (Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment and Development). EPILOGUE At this moment, Diana Hambley is leading a small group of interested people towards the formation of a cheap and reliable e- mail host. The ZaMir Transnational Net (ZTN, coordination by Erich Bachmann) is currently interested to provide this group with the necessary technical assistance. END *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** | Support Network On Renewable Energy (SNORE Foundation) | Rijksstraatweg 37-46; 6574 AC UBBERGEN; The Netherlands | ph: +31-80-603917; email: snore@antenna.nl From albnet-l Thu Mar 9 17:54:00 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA09404 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:46:53 -0500 Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:46:53 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Introduction Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: O X-Status: Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 21:12:53 From: snore@snore.antenna.nl To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Introduction Hello readers, My name is Ace Suares, and the organisation to which I belong is called SNORE. SNORE stands for Support Network on Renewable Energy, and its activities fall apart in two sections. One is to support people, NGO's and other small scale organisations with information (practical, technical, theoretical) about renewable energy and energy saving. At the moment, SNORE is travelling around europe with a mobile exhibition on these subjects. More info about this project, that travels form Brussels (12-1-1995) to Moscow (12 oct 1995) can be obtained through the following APC conferences: motherearth snore.renewable or direct a request to 'snore@antenna.nl'. The other section is concerned with electronic mail. SNORE regards e- mail and internet facilities as a way to reduce travelcosts and in that sense as energy efficient. We also think of e-mail as a way to actually build a support network throughout (mainly) Europe. The problem is that some east-european countries, as well as south- european countries, have no possibilities to e-mail. We try to faciltate the process of connecting to e-mail; if there is already an APC or other NGO-host in a country, we try to connect groups that might possibly become involved in SNORE; if there is no host, we try to stimulate the building of such a host. SNORE does not have a lot of fincial resources. Most projects are somehow connected to other (environmental) organisations, where we serve as a service. In the case of my recent trip to Albania, I was on a budget of A SEED Europe's email project, which sent me to Romania and Bulgaria. At the same time, a Greek organisation (Green Group of Alimos) invited me to Athens for a workshop. Albania was not in any budget, but because travel costs where the same, I was able to include Albania in the trip. There I was hosted in a project of Milieukontakt Oost-Europa (a dutch bilateral environmental NGO). The trip has, in BULGARIA, lead to an NGO host-in-preparation, called LEFF. You can reach them at root@leff.gn.apc.org Unfortunately, some messages I have sent before to albnet-l, have not arrived. All of those messages are included in the 'report' that I have just put on the list. I truly hope that establishing a simple e-mail host (connecting to a ZTN host ??) will be a matter of months... Many greetings, hoping for a fruitfull cooperation, Ace Suares *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** | Support Network On Renewable Energy (SNORE Foundation) | Rijksstraatweg 37-46; 6574 AC UBBERGEN; The Netherlands | ph: +31-80-603917; email: snore@antenna.nl From albnet-l Thu Mar 9 17:54:10 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA09416 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:47:30 -0500 Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 17:47:30 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Meeting 8 nov '94 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: O X-Status: Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 20:51:28 From: snore@snore.antenna.nl To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Meeting 8 nov '94 Minutes of the first meeting of the albnet/internet interested group, 8th November 1994 In the evening, we had the meeting with about 15 people, of which the minutes follow here: Submitted by Diane Hambley, Ace Suares and Marjolijn Sondorp. Present: Ace Suares (Support Network On Renewable Energy (SNORE), A SEED, EYFA), Marjolijn Sondorp (Milieukontakt Oost-Europa c/o REC Albania tel. 27048), Jamarber Malltezi (Students' Environmental Club "PEARL" tel. 26304), Alken Myftiu (PEARL, student in Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Polytechnic University), Spiro Brumbulli (Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana tel. 24772), Diane Hambley (University of Nebraska, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Tirana tel. 24772), Edvin Prifti (Albanian Resource Center for Health - ARCH), Ardit Bala (Saturn Software Association, Young Albanian Compuscience Magazine), Elda Simonaska (MTC), Klod Gjinopulli (MTC), Charlotte Sonibes (MTC), Marianne Sullivan (Program Director, MTC - tel. 27995), Blerta Maliqi (REC Albania tel. 27048), Peter Schumann (UNDP). Ace Suares started the meeting by explaining that he has come from the Netherlands as part of an effort to begin connection of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) to electronic mail (e-mail) in Eastern Europe. He will also be visiting Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary to establish their e-mail connections and start some training. Other interested parties were invited to gather for this meeting to explore opportunities and mutual benefits. Individuals introduced themselves, and a good variety of interested parties were present, given the short notice of the gathering. Ace explained that for e-mail currently some individuals are calling by telephone to other European countries and connecting that way to internet nodes. This is too expensive for most people and not efficient because of bad telephone lines. There is also an old cable network installed, that connects government, ministry and university buildings to each other (funded by UNDP in 1985). The system has been in use until 1991 but has not been in use since then due to lack of money to maintain the system. Peter Schumann stated that UNDP was investigating their records to see what the current condition of the cable might be. They have not found the old records yet and may have to rely on the memories of the workers involved in the project. Ace explained that there are three levels of establishing internet email possibilities. The first level is where one person (with a computer and a modem) connects with another computer. This is what Marianne Sullivan and some others are doing. It is expensive and impractical, but one way to start the connections. Secondly, there is the BBS (Bulletin Board System) or 'host' level. In this system, different persons (with computer and modem) can call one central computer (host) that is located in Tirana and exchange messages with each other. (For instance, Ace calls from Vlora to the host and leaves an article about oil spills in Vlora for Marjolijn; Later, Marjolijn calls the host from Tirana, and reads the article, which she then can edit and print out to be published.) Also, if the host computer is located in a public place, people that do not have modems can just type in their messages at the host computer itself, and also read news and public messages. In an ideal case, the host computer connects with an internet system twice a day to transfer a packet of messages that are addressed to people outside Albania. In the same transfer, it receives the messages and news from outside Albania. The transfer can be by telephone or by satellite. UNDP has the technical facilities to establish transfers by satellite, and Mr. Schuhmann has made the policy decision that the UNDP wants to share this facilities with Non- Commercial groups and purposes. Priorities are: The University of Tirana and Soros Media Training Centre. More details on this proposal will follow shortly, but it is already clear that extra costs that UNDP would have to make must be shared by the users of the facilities. The third level for internet connectivity (sending and receiving e-mail and news, file transfers, database searches, and many other possibilities) would be the establishment of an internet node in Albania. This would require expensive equipment and an enterprise or non-profit group to manage the undertaking. The group agreed that the establishment of an internet node is a long term goal for Albania, and that there is no obstacle to start with organizing and implementing the second level (BBS/host) of internet connectivity. Details on UNDP 's offer to provide access to satellite transfers of e-mail messages into the internet system were discussed. UNDP would prefer that, at first, all contact with the UNDP system should be through the Soros Media Training Center only. Perhaps later a second location at the universities could be established, as educational usage fits well into the goals of UNDP. Peter Schuhmann stressed that the internet connection should be for information and research purposes only - UNDP absolutely can not support any commercial use of the system. He also indicated that his organization needed to know that there was one individual who would be responsible for the billing and management of the proposed e-mail connection. They have investigated the additional equipment required, and should be able to get things installed soon, with Agim |ami's and Ace's help. He felt it might be necessary to hire someone to coordinate the computers and connections - maintaining the technology, and people involved. The costs of staffing, transfer from New York to the email addresses, and additional equipment would have to be billed and collected from those using the e-mail. Ace suggested that we need to establish a core group of people who are willing to work on the management of this connection. Everyone present expressed an interest in working in such a group, and established an appointment for November 24th at 4pm - 6pm to continue in this direction. The meeting will be held at the Soros Foundation Media Training Center. Marjolijn would like to send invitations to some people so that we get adequate involvement in the group. The group agreed that everyone would try to invite at least one person that might be interested in e-mail. Ace suggested that the group might want to divide into two sections - one to work on the immediate business of the host/bbs level connection, and the other to work on the longer term project of establishing an internet node in Albania. The group would have to also work to make sure e-mail training will be offered soon, and to make certain UNDP's preferences are respected in this endeavour. No commercial use of the e-mail access will be allowed, and care will be taken to screen for computer viruses. Ace will introduce the possibilities of internet e-mail at the Soros Media Center Wednesday 9-11-94 from 4pm till 6pm. Perhaps they will have the link between MTC and UNDP established by then as well. Members of the group were encouraged to spread the word and give key people the information about the meeting. It was also noted that Bill Eldridge, a Fullbright scholar is in Macedonia and interested in establishing the e-mail system. Dr. Eldridge is expected to visit Tirana on November 28th and hopefully will be able to meet with the group. The group ended with sincere thanks to Ace Suares, UNDP, Marianne Sullivan, Marjolijn Sondorp and the Soros Media Training Center for bringing all these resources together. Diane Hambley volunteered to type a draft of the minutes, which will be proofread and edited by several of the people at the meeting and then distributed. Marianne Sullivan said that she will post the final draft of the minutes in IREX's Albanian Networking Forum (ALBNET-L). Elda Simonaska offered to translate the minutes into Albanian. NEXT MEETING: November 24th, from 16:00 till 18:00 at the Soros Foundation Media Training Center. END *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** | Support Network On Renewable Energy (SNORE Foundation) | Rijksstraatweg 37-46; 6574 AC UBBERGEN; The Netherlands | ph: +31-80-603917; email: snore@antenna.nl From albnet-l Mon Mar 13 11:34:57 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA16143 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5); Mon, 13 Mar 1995 11:32:46 -0500 Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 11:32:45 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Antonia Young requests help with book shipment to Albania Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 18:23:33 -0500 (EST) From: AYOUNG@CENTER.COLGATE.EDU To: albnet-l@info.irex.org I have about 2,000 books which I'm in the process of sending (gifts from Colgate) to Tirana University and to the Shkodra English Language Resource Center. I've got the transatlantic costs covered, but can't seem to find anyone to take care of the costs from Hamilton down to Baltimore. Any suggestions? Gjithe te mirat - Antonia [Note: Replies should be sent to jmakala@center.colgate.edu and cced if possible to Antonia - IW] From albnet Sun Mar 26 21:17:27 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA05774 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:17:28 -0500 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:17:27 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: University of Tirana computing equipment Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII As a preface to the two following messages, here is an extract from my Albania report for IREX's Southeastern European Assessment Project, based on a visit to Tirana in June 1994: "At the Faculty of Natural Sciences, near the train station, there is only one phone, in the office of Prof. Dritan Spahiu, the dean (tel. 27669). The departments with computers are in a separate building. The Department of Informatics' old VAX no longer works but they have an 8-PC LAN (386s) donated by TEMPUS; and a newly-arrived Austrian-donated IBM RISC 6000 w/printer, 10 terminals, one 6091/19 and nine 6091/16 workstations, all running off a huge Fiskars UPS 1.5 that originally came with the PCs - on which instruction will start this fall. The department graduates about 20 students yearly, who are finding jobs in government, business, computers, etc. They are one of the 4 faculties that has been sending 1-2 students/year on TEMPUS exchanges w/the U. of Portsmouth (England) and Siegen (Germany). ((Arkagjiu Eqerem, chair; also Prof. Ilia Ninka, and Rezard Andoni, a student setting up the RISC 6000.)) The Department of Physics still runs their two MicroVAX 2000s and has 5-6 working terminals, as well as a newly arrived stand alone SUN workstation, which they don't really know how to use, running UNIX. ((________, chair; Margarita Ifti, sys admin; also Erian Gjoni, Artan Kaso.)) "At the Faculty of Economics, Rr. i Elbasanit 10 (tel. 24772), the Department of Informatics has 12 386s, mostly from Soros, on which they're teaching basic MS-DOS stuff; the Department of Finance just received a LAN from TEMPUS. ((Rexhina Marjani and Kozeta Sevrani, profs. in the Department of Information))." - Ian Watson From albnet Sun Mar 26 21:21:47 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA06170 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:21:47 -0500 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:21:47 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Bill Eldridge reports on his visit to Tirana in December Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From bill@soros.mk Sun Mar 26 15:42:21 1995 Date: Wed, 22 Mar 95 06:21:55 +0100 From: Bill Eldridge > Bill, > > I'd be interested to hear about how things are going for you in Macedonia, > and about your trip to Tirana. It would be interesting to post your > impressions of the Tirana e-mail situation to the albnet list. > > Cheers, Ian Watson My trip to Tirana was pretty long ago - early December. I presented a proposal for access to UNDP's satellite by both the University and Soros, via wireless modem, which seemed somewhat acceptable at the time, but things are moving slowly on it. I met with Ilir Zenku, one of the students at the University who would manage this connection if it comes to pass. It sounds like the students have it together - they have a nice lab of IBM Unix machines with UPS's (uninterruptable power supplies) to deal with Albania's frequent power outages, have set up UUCP sites in Tirana. But nothing moves forward. One thing that might help move the game a bit is if someone can get some wireless modems in there - I proposed 4, 2 for each connection, and these are pretty much $1250 for a decent one - there are some other styles I've looked at that might be cheaper, but this one works at 115 kbps and plugs straight into a serial port, so the installation should be pretty trivial. Trivial is very important for many projects both there and here (Macedonia). Progress can be greatly slowed down trying to get an adaptor, the right cable, etc. I don't know who would pay for these modems - at this point I'm not sure if Soros was getting at least 2 - the last time I talked to Agim Cami, it seemed like they would, but Ilir Zenku's faxed progress report came out unreadable - some mention of customs and modems, but I couldn't read any details. Apparently the students had written a very detailed reply to my 2-page proposal, and it seemed they covered all the issues involved - the machines for both ends of the connection, the software, the UPS's and modems, the maintenance. With my meeting with Ilir, I recommended that the students also volunteer to maintain Soros' connection (hopefully meaning NGO access there as well), since when I was in Tirana, it wasn't obvious who would have the time and training to deal with the Soros connection/ NGO access and accounts. I hope to return in a few weeks - I'm trying to get status reports on everything before I do, and see if I can push things so my presence is helpful technically, instead of another organizational trip. The trip to and from Tirana is hell - it took me 12 hours on the bus going, 16 hours coming back. My wife who's Czech was turned back from the border because she didn't have the right visa. I basically spent the two days I was there running back and forth between UNDP, Soros, USIS and the HP company (Agim). But the city felt nice - much different than the expectations coming from Skopje, but then that's not too surprising. Bill From albnet Sun Mar 26 21:22:43 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA06276 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:22:44 -0500 Date: Sun, 26 Mar 1995 16:22:43 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Minutes of latest Internet interest meeting in Tirana Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [Forwarded by Diane Hambley, care of capippitt@usaid.gov. - IW] Internet Interest Meeting Wednesday March 22, 1995 Prepared by Victoria Vrana and Diane Hambley Present: Rezart Andoni, Computer Science Student Cynthia Caples, USA Diane Hambley, University of Nebraska Victoria Vrana, NEWW On-Line Trainer Diane reported that we have heard from Ace Suarez, who is reading copies of the minutes being sent to Marjolijn Sondorp in the Netherlands. Ace has sent people and a letter to us, and Diane has put in the group's binder. Ace and Marjolijn were the ones who first helped the interest group get together. It is encouraging to hear back from people who have been in touch with us and to get their encouragement. Rezart reported that Ilir was in Macedonia this week to meet with Bill Eldridge. Avni Mestafaj, Director of the Local Soros office and Peter Schulmann, Director of UNDP had lunch on March 22 and the group expressed hope that they were coming to an agreement on use of the UNDP satellite and Soros funds. Rezart also reported that Soros was purchasing 2 wireless modems, and it is not understood that the modems can work without "seeing" each other (they can work around buildings). They will be a viable option for starting internet. Rezart said the Albanian network will use Waffle software for the host computer, and they have developed an Albanian version. He said they also have many different off-line reader programs. Off-line reader software programs allow the email customers to type and read email messages on their computer without being connected to the bbs (host computer). In fact, with an off-line network you always write and read your email when disconnected from the host computer. Later, you use your computer (and modem) to call into the host computer. The programs automatically dial-up, log-in, upload and download all mail, and log-off. This limits the time needed on the phone and would make the poor phone line conditions in Albania less of a problem. Victoria shared her experiences working with the Network of East-West Women On-Line program, a project to put 30 women's groups on-line in the former Soviet Union and East Central Europe. She has been travelling in east and central Europe, trai ning groups and opening e-mail accounts. The situations in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are somewhat similar to Albania--bad phone lines, difficult to connect to Internet. She discussed the technical and administrative organization of three networ ks in these countries, Green Spider in Hungary, Strawberry Net in Romania and Bulnet in Bulgaria. These networks are very new; Strawberry Net and Bulnet started 1-2 months ago. The networks were created to provide low cost, east access to non-governmen tal organizations, mainly environmental groups. They are off-line or UUCP networks which works well with these countries' telecommunications infrastructure because the user's connection to the host computer lasts 1-5 minutes. The off-line reader software used is very simple and user- friendly. The three networks have different Internet connections. Green Spider System Operator: Agoston Nagy Tel: +49 511/161-7811 Fax: +49 511/165-26-11 E-mail: agoston@goncol.zpok.hu off-line, e-mail, local hungarian conferences, user software: Email in Hungarian or English, excellent support, local file transfer capacity some monthly fees and charges per kilobyte, very low should have more internet access within the year Hungary Strawberry Net System Operator: Mihaly Bako Tel: +4067/314-254 E-mail: misi@lmcv.sfos.ro off-line, e-mail, soon to have local conferences, has a very good, new gopher that can be accessed by an on-line account, user software: Emil in Romanian, Hungarian or English, excellent support free at the moment. Maybe begin charging in 6-12 months Romania Bulnet System Operators: Steve and Boris Tel: +359 2/888-146 E-mail: support@leff.gn.apc.org off-line, e-mail only, will have more Internet access and local conferences in the future, their own user software in Bulgarian, soon to have English version, excellent support, $45 to set up account because of taxes and $20 deposit (includes fi rst month charges), approximately $8 per month and 2 cents a kilobyte, 1 megabyte free within Bulgaria, also provides accounts for commercial use at much higher rates Bulgaria Victoria agreed to try and assist the Internet effort in Albania by: 1. Contacting these 3 networks by e-mail and asking them to e-mail information about their networks, their Internet connection, their software and anything other useful information to Diane via an USAID e-mail account; 2. Contacting the people she knows at Zamir Transitional Network and asking about their involvement in the Albania effort; 3. Providing copies of the NEWW On-Line e-mail training guide to the Internet group for use in the future. Cynthia agreed to make some initial copies of this guide; 4. Involving her women's contacts in Tirana in the Internet group; 5. Provide any kind of technical or training assistance she can from Washington, D.C. by e-mail; She urged the group to keep their e-mail free or very low-cost for NGO's in the beginning and discussed the other network's practice of providing accounts for commercial use at higher rates to support the network. The group felt the UNDP requir ement of non-commercial use of their satellite would prohibit this with the initial e-mail attempt, but perhaps a different network could be developed with it's own satellite connection later. She felt like the Albania group had all the ingredients for e-mail in Albania: an Internet connection, possible funding, potential system operators and trainers, software, the two wireless modems, a definite need and even an Albania home page ( which has already been created--they just need Internet to post it!) and only need a "lightning bolt" to get things started. Agenda for the next meeting: 1. report from Ilir on Bill Eldridge and startup attempt 2. notes from Victoria (from America!) 3. UNDP - can someone come and talk to us? 4. Infosoft report 5. Start planning when we get internet, how to start announcing and training NEXT MEETING 5 APRIL 4:00 P.M. THIRD FLOOR UNIVERSITY OF TIRANA FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS (mark your calendar for future planned meetings at 4pm: April 19, May 3, May 17, May 31, June 14, June 28, July 12, July 26 From albnet Thu Mar 30 23:51:13 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA22695 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Thu, 30 Mar 1995 18:51:14 -0500 Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 18:51:13 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: ZAMIR Network Up and Running in Prishtina Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [ZAMIR - or ZTN, ZaMir Transnational Net - is a peace-oriented BBS-style conferencing and e-mail network with dial-ups also in Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, and Sarajevo. Eric Bachman, a subscriber to this list, is in charge of it. - IW] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 04:23:00 +0100 From: DRITON HAPCIU Subject: greetings from zana-pr Your Name 30.03.95 ============= Hello albnet, Very glad to hear there is a thing called Albnet soon to go online. It would help us a lot down here in Kosova since there is a lack of information coming from Albania. Zana-Pr is based in weekly magazine "KOHA" ( TIME :)))) ) and at the moment we're running on Novell Network. We at Zana-Pr represent a node of ZTN, so if any help or something else is needed, just call. You can reach us either by sending mail to my address or to: support@zana-pr.ztn.zer.de or by voice phone: tel. +381 38 31031, 31036 fax. +381 38 31272 ************************************************************* - Driton Hapciu - Software analyst / layout & design - e-mail: d.hapciu@zana-pr.ztn.zer.de ## CrossPoint v3.02 ## From capippitt@usaid.gov Fri Mar 31 06:20:34 1995 Received: from basa14001.usaid.gov ([165.13.2.2]) by info.irex.org with SMTP id AA23389 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Fri, 31 Mar 1995 01:34:07 -0500 Received: by basa14001.usaid.gov; Fri, 31 Mar 95 1:37:14 EST Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 1:20:34 EST Message-Id: X-Priority: 3 (Normal) From: "Cameron Pippitt" Return-Receipt-To: capippitt@usaid.gov To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: re: ZAMIR Network Up and Running in Prishtina X-Incognito-Sn: 235 X-Incognito-Format: VERSION=2.00 EA-4 ENCRYPTED=NO Representatives from Soros had indicated some time ago that they would try to set up and fund a ZAMIR bbs here in Tirana. We have since made repeated attempts to get in contact with either Soros or ZAMIR to find out how we can facilitate such a venture, but basically have not ever gotten any response. I host an internet interest group which meets in Tirana every other Wednesday. ZAMIR has remained one of the mysteries brought up in a meeting, which we have never found any more information about. Mail from Driton Hapciu seems to indicate the interest in helping Albanians start a ZAMIR bbs. How specifically can you help? If I have a computer, phone, and modem - may I start a ZAMIR bbs here? Do you have manuals, software, and instructions available. HOW DO WE START? Do funding opportunities exist, and can you help us get in contact with us. I believe everything needed to start email is available here in Tirana. The interest group stands interested and ready to support any serious venture when it begins. We have the technical and business skills needed. Victoria Vrana, a visiting American, recently made the analogy of all the components being here in some sort of primordial soup - all that is needed is the "bolt of lightening" that will bring email to life. I think the interest group will end up helping with training once email does begin - but again - how to START that email "life" is still the issue. Sometimes I seriously think of starting a small bbs from my house - just so we can start. Can I start a ZAMIR bbs from my house? How would I do that? I should mention that this is Diane Hambley typing at a friend's computer. Thanks to CAPIPPITT for allowing me this indirect access to this forum. I will be in American from April 10 to May 12, but the internet interest group meetings in Tirana will continue in my abscense. I do share ALBNET postings at the interest group meetings. I urge anyone with concrete answers to some of my questions to reply to CAPIPPITT@usaid.gov so that the group can support whatever progress is possible. Thanks also to IREX for starting and maintaining this forum. Sincerely, Diane Hambley, Ph.D. University of Nebraska USAID contractor for at least one year in Albania From albnet Fri Mar 31 22:24:30 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA26496 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Fri, 31 Mar 1995 17:24:30 -0500 Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 17:24:30 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Comment from Bill Eldridge Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 16:17:30 +0200 (MET DST) From: Bill Eldridge Subject: Okay, I'm here Alright, I just sent a subscribe in to albnet. I still don't know exactly when I'm going to Albania - I met with Ilir Zenku last Thursday, I believe, and gave him my recommendations for the current hookup - not that they've changed a lot. He's trying to coordinate some of the activity with Agim Cami and Avni Mustafaj, and I'm supposed to receive a phone call one of these days. (Theoretically this week, but it's Friday afternoon, 4:15 pm, so I don't think so). Rumor has it that some wireless modems have been or are being ordered - I'd be interested in knowing ETA on this. The rest of the details seem fairly trivial and manageable. At least by Albanian standards :) -- Bill Eldridge To go where no satellite link University of Cyril & Methodius has gone before... Skopje, Macedonia (MARNET, the Next Generation, bill%xerxes@soros.mk bill@soros.mk opening this summer worldwide) From albnet Sat Apr 1 21:01:11 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA29012 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Sat, 1 Apr 1995 16:01:12 -0500 Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 16:01:11 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Introduction: Keith Calhoun Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From AAFMAA@aol.com Sat Apr 1 19:27:17 1995 Subject: Albania Internet Hello! My name is Keith Calhoun. I live in northern Virginia. I found your letter (8/19/94) on the Internet and want to subscribe to your forum. David Hosaflook, my brother-in-law and a Virginia native, is now pastor of a church in Shkodra, Albania. He has a computer with modem and a phone line, but we have tried unsuccessfully to find an electronic connection to him. Because of the poor phone service there, it is difficult and expensive to correspond by voice or fax. David works with the Shkodra and Tirana orphanages, and has some connections in Tirana, but has no official corporate or government ties. Some of his church members attend Shkodra University, if a connection has been established there. I look forward to any information you can provide. Thank you. From dan@foghorn.pass.wayne.edu Mon Apr 3 13:11:18 1995 Received: from FOGHORN.PASS.WAYNE.EDU by info.irex.org with SMTP id AA02726 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Mon, 3 Apr 1995 09:08:36 -0400 Received: by foghorn.pass.wayne.edu (5.x/SMI-SVR4) id AA04781; Mon, 3 Apr 1995 09:11:21 -0400 Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 09:11:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Cwiertniewicz To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Introduction: Keith Calhoun In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 1 Apr 1995, Albania Networking Forum wrote: > David Hosaflook, my brother-in-law and a Virginia native, is now pastor of a > church in Shkodra, Albania. He has a computer with modem and a phone line, > but we have tried unsuccessfully to find an electronic connection to him. > Because of the poor phone service there, it is difficult and expensive to > correspond by voice or fax. > > David works with the Shkodra and Tirana orphanages, and has some connections > in Tirana, but has no official corporate or government ties. Some of his > church members attend Shkodra University, if a connection has been > established there. I had been working (unsuccessfully) with a group from Detroit to setup a link to Shkodra last summer. I had arranged with Damjan Prodbregar to have a UUCP account setup in Slovenia. I imagine that he could do the same again. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't to keen on the idea. Everything here fell apart at the last minute, and so we weren't able to do anything. Here is the last message I had from Damjan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From Damjan.Podbregar@nil.siMon Apr 3 09:09:59 1995 Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 13:19:30 +0100 From: Damjan Podbregar To: dan@foghorn.pass.wayne.edu Subject: UUCP from Albania **** Sorry, I forgot to attach my signature in my last mail. **** Hope it's allright now. Hello, Dan I received your information on domain-name. OK, that's more than enough for us. I hope you (and your friends in Albania) are familiar to UUCP. UUCP (and other) parameters for your account at our EUnet/Slovenia Intrnet node follows: our UUCP system name : sgi4si your UUCP system name : ushkodra UUCP username for accessing your UUCP mailbox at sgi4si: alshkod1 password : please, do call me to my office to get your password - don't want to send it through e-mail our UUCP phone number : +386 61 133 70 67 (there is a bank of modems, so one sould allways be ready to receive your call) Usually I'm in the office from 8:00am to 6:00pm CET (i.e. GMT + 1). You can find our address and phone numbers in my signature. Waiting for your call and regards, Damjan Damjan Podbregar Phone : +386 61 1405-183 Product development +386 61 1405-283 NIL, Systems integration and Consulting FAX : +386 61 1405-381 Litijska 51 E-Mail: damjan@nil.si Ljubljana, Slovenia postmaster@Slovenia.EU.net From albnet Wed Apr 5 00:14:43 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA08259 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Tue, 4 Apr 1995 20:14:43 -0400 Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 20:14:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Report from INIMA on their recent activities Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From inima@saritel.it Tue Apr 4 13:43:34 1995 Message-Tag: 99 Date: Tue, 4 Apr 95 14:43:34 +0100 From: inima@saritel.it (INIMA) Message-Id: <9504041343.AA00628@saritel.it> To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Dear colleagues, We had the chance to see some messages from ALBNET Forum, with the aid of DANTE, UK. Hereunder you will find some more informations about INIMA and its activities concerning networking. We hope this information will helpful to you to know better what is going on in Albania. Waiting to hear from you soon, yours sincerely Neki Frasheri Head of Software Department Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics (INIMA) Tirana, Albania ######################################################################### ACTIONS CARRIED OUT BY INIMA DURING THE END OF 1994-BEGINNING OF 1995 FOR NETWORKING IN ALBANIA ################################################## I. Internal Networking. ============================ - Full extend of 10base2 local network (excluding training rooms) based on a HP9000E25 server. - Running software: Windows for Workgroup, HP-UX LanManager, TCP/IP Winsock. X-Windows emulator of Hummingbird soon. - Hyper-Text server software installed on HP9000 and a html database in preparation (project ETCETERA, see below). - IBM AS/400 system under installation - IBM AS/400 Academic Initiative. II. Participation in International Forums/Activities. ===================================================== - Membership in EARN. - Membership in CEENet. - Membership in TERENA under consideration. # There are also two "old" memberships: - Focal point for the Intergovernmental Programe on Informatics of UNESCO. - Membership in IFIP. # International/European Programmes: - Participation in the project ETCETERA of EC Programme COPERNICUS (see below). - Participation in the project HANNIBAL of EC Programme COPERNICUS - continuation of ETCETERA. - Involved in the EC project ESATT for tele-working. - Involved in the EC regional PHARE project for Networking (coordinator - DANTE, UK). III. Internet Actions. =========================== - Dial-up links with SARITEL, Roma Italy (project ETCETERA, e-mail address ); and with the University of Pisa CNUCE, Italy (e-mail address ). - E-mail exchanges with Internet for internal purposes and also for other organisations as Center for Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation (Networking PHARE Coordinator for Albania). Public e-mail service not available because difficulties in in communication with Internet nodes in Italy. - A html database for economical, touristic and travelling information concerning Albania in preparation (project ECTETERA). Until a permanent Internet node to be created in Albania, this database will be copied into systems of SARITEL. - Negotiations with Albanian Government, UNDP, SOROS etc. for the ways of connection of Albania to Internet, and for the reactivation of the "old" existing MAN network in Tirana, using new technologies. A project-proposal is presented to local representative of UNDP for this purpose. - Different attempts and contacts to gather the necessary technical and economical information for the preparation of concrete project-proposals for development of networking in Albania. SOME DATA ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF INFORMATICS AND APPLIED MATHEMATICS (INIMA) (ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, TIRANA / ALBANIA) ___________________________________________ INIMA is created in 1986, on the basis of the old Center of Mathematical calculus, the later created in 1971. INIMA is state institute for the informatics and applied mathematics, depending from the Academy of Sciences. In the international aspects, INIMA is the representative (focal point) of Albania in the IIP (Intergovernal Informatics Program) of UNESCO. INIMA is full member of IFIP since 1992. INIMA is involved also in some international and EC programs and cooperates with UNDP and UNESCO. Recently INIMA is accepted as member of EARN and CEENet representing Albania in these organisations. INIMA has a network infrastructure extended in about 50 points of the city of Tirana. This network was based on BULL HN DPS7 mainframes and it is created in 1986 with the funds from UNDP. The developments fo the last years forced this network to "fell sleeping". There are attempts to reactivate it on a new basis. In the framework of these attempts a new infrastructure is installed in INIMA, including a new Ethernet LAN based on UNIX servers and IBM PC compatibles. The objectives of INIMA are the design and implementation of information systems and databases, development of applications of computer and applied mathematical methods in different fields of human activity, mainly in economy, engineering, medecine, agriculture and elevage etc.; training of different categories of people about using computers and their application softwares; carrying out services like technical consulting, instalation and maintenance of information systems etc.. INIMA has a team of scientific workers of about 25 specialists, including time-shared members, and about 20 techniciens and others. All scientific workers of INIMA are organised in two departments: 1. Department of Hardware, working on hardware problems and maintenance for computers and data communication systems, architecture and protocols of computer networks etc.. 2. Department of Software, working in different projects with interest for Albania in a team-based organization. The main directions of the work are: - development of application software, including graphical and GIS applications, - realisation of information system projects such as databases, data transmission networks, distributed applications etc., - working in application of mathematical methods such as numerical analysis and finite elements, optimisation, mathematical statistics etc. in "hard" domains as geology, geophysics and seismics, statical and dynamical structure analysis, energy resource planning etc., - training in computer science and application software. The majority of the staff at INIMA has received training abroad and speaks French, English and Italian. Some of them are also part-time lectors in the Dept. of Informatics at the University of Tirana. The main areas of experience are: - Operating systems such as MSD)S, UNIX, GCOS. - Languages as C++, PASCAL, FORTRAN etc. - Applications such as dBaseIV, Lotus123, WP, Relational databases, graphics etc. - Applications of statistical and mathematical methods and modelling. The full address of INIMA is: Instituti i Informatikes dhe Matematikes se Aplikuar (Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics) I N I M A Rr. Lek Dukagjini No.3 TIRANA / ALBANIA Fax: +355 42 32122 Tlx: 2185 AB Tel: +355 42 32968 +355 42 26234 e-mail: inima@inima.al inima@saritel.it THE ETCETERA PROJECT #################### ETCETERA (East-West Technical Cooperation in the Research & Development of Electronic TRAding) will pioneer the use of value-added telecommunications services to stimulate commercial trading between companies in Eastern and Western Europe. We believe strongly that creating practical mechanisms to allow companies in Eastern Europe to develop their markets more effectively themselves is an extremely efficient use of development funding which should create a higher leverage on economic regeneration than would be the case otherwise. The initial project will run for 18 months from May 1994 with a total budget of 465,000ecu - which 300,000ecu is being provided by the European Union. The collaboration involves:- Two organisations in Western Europe, both of whom are value-added service providers - SARITEL s.p.a. in Italy (part of the Italian public network operator STET) and OCTACON Ltd in England, an independent commercial service provider. They will provide the service infrastructure and database facilities, promote services to appropriate companies in the two countries, and collaborate on technical development with: Three organisations in Eastern Europe: Albania (Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, Academy of Sciences); Bulgaria (Institute of Computer and Communication Systems, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences); Poland (Akademia Ekonomiczna, Wroclaw), who will act as national agents for companies involved in the pilot scheme and provide technical support for creation of company and product online information. The project's main objectives are:- Promotion of product and services marketing between Eastern and Western European countries using telecommunications and database technologies. Setting up of a pilot network and a multimedia trading catalogue application as a practical example to support companies involved in the initiative. Evaluation of the results: (a) the technical and economic viability of the service, (b) the level of acceptability and effectiveness from the viewpoint of the actual end-users, (c) the wider prospects for economic stimulation. The partners will work in three main areas during the 18 month initial experiment: 1. Business Opportunity and Development: Identifying potential sellers and buyers for the trial and exploring the marketing needs of potential sellers and the business philosophies of buyers; defining the scope of a networked marketing database; defining the critical factors affecting success as a baseline for evaluation. 2. Technical Developments: Feasible system architectures, available networks, and technical competencies; specifying the services and defining database structures; installing the pilot system. 3. Pilot Scheme and Marketing: (The operational phase of the project from the viewpoint of sellers and buyers). Defining catalogue organisation and undertaking database loading and management; preparing supporting publicity material and launching the pilot scheme; managing the service, supporting users and running specific trials; undertaking a parallel evaluation starting from the business perspective; promoting expansion of the scheme beyond the initial project period. ETCETERA Project: Partner Contact Details Octacon Ltd York House 102 Borough Road Middlesbrough TS1 2HJ England David Horne Tel: +44 642 210087 Fax: +44 642 210518 Email: David.Horne@octacon.co.uk Saritel s.p.a. SS. 148 Pontina km. 29,100 00040 Pomezia (Roma) Italy Gregorio Lella, Gianluca LoReto Tel: +39 6 91197 512 Fax: +39 6 91197 600 Email: etc@saritel.it (glella@.... gloreto@....) INIMA Instituti I Informatikes Dhe Matematikes Se Aplikuar Rr. "Lek Dukagjini" Nr. 3 Tirana Albania Gudar Beqiraj Tel: +355 42 32968 Fax: +355 42 32122 Email: inima@saritel.it ICCS Institute of Computer Systems Bulgarian Academy of Sciences "Acad. G. Bonchev" Str. B1.2 1113 Sofia Bulgaria Dimiter Bogdanov Tel: +359 2 700 118 Fax: +359 2 723 905 Email: bogdanov@bgearn.bitnet AEIIE Akademia Ekonomiczna Instytut Informatyki Ekonomicznej ul. Komandorska 118/120 53-345 Wroclaw Poland Cezary Stepniak Tel: +48 71 680403 (Secretary): +48 71 680379 Fax: +48 71 672778 Email: cstep@unix.ok.ae.wroc.pl ######################### end of message ############################## From elmocdn@wchat.on.ca Mon Apr 3 23:18:36 1995 Received: from barb.wchat.on.ca (wchat.on.ca) by info.irex.org with SMTP id AA05238 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Mon, 3 Apr 1995 23:19:59 -0400 Received: from localhost (wchat.on.ca [204.138.239.10]) by barb.wchat.on.ca (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id WAA09078 for ; Mon, 3 Apr 1995 22:18:36 -0100 Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 22:18:36 -0100 Message-Id: <199504032318.WAA09078@barb.wchat.on.ca> X-Sender: elmocdn@wchat.on.ca (Unverified) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: albnet-l@info.irex.org From: elmocdn@wchat.on.ca (David Craig) Subject: re phone and fax service X-Mailer: I have been following the progress of the Albanian Internet project. I afraid the academic material is lost on me. My interest is purely for information and communication. Like Keith Calhoun in northern Virginia who's note was on recently my brother-in-law (Douglas Cruickshank)and family live and work in Albania. I have had very good FAX and phone connections into Tirana with only a few breaks in communications. I send my FAX's from Burlington ON Canada near Toronto (home of the World Champion Toronto Blue Jays!)usually late at night to arrive early in the morning Tirana time. However my brother-in-law cannot seem to get a phone line out to Canada or anywhere else for that matter, not just a language problem with the operators, but also a technical one. On a recent trip to Houston I tried calling Albania via AT&T and they could not provide any connection by direct dial, only by much effort by the operator and then the line was very poor. This cannot be said for Bell Canada here in Canada. I am interested in the Albanian connection so that I and my family there can communicate as well as my brother-in-law can access information from the outside world. He is attached to the International Monetary Fund in Albania. If anyone is going to Albania give him a call with any info if you wish. (Tel 42-23-274) David Craig Burlington Ontario Canada David Craig Elmo Canada Mfg. Corp. 44 West Drive Brampton, ON L6T 3T6 905 453-7880 FAX 905 453-2391 From h.e.davies@dante.org.uk Wed Apr 5 06:46:02 1995 Received: from omega.dante.org.uk (sun.dante.org.uk) by info.irex.org with SMTP id AA09362 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Wed, 5 Apr 1995 02:46:04 -0400 Received: from [193.63.211.5] (actually mac-howard.dante.org.uk) by omega with SMTP (PP); Wed, 5 Apr 1995 07:45:54 +0100 X-Sender: howard@sun Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 07:46:02 +0100 To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org From: h.e.davies@dante.org.uk (Howard Davies) Subject: DANTE/PHARE activities in Albania Cc: David.Horne@octacon.co.uk, gennai@cnuce.cnr.it, bill@soros.mk, Chris Broomfield <100112.1677@compuserve.com>, Istvan Tetenyi DANTE [1] has a contract from the European Commission under its PHARE 1994 R&D Networking Programme [2] to improve the international services of the national academic and research networks in the PHARE countries, including Albania. Funds are also available to (establish and) improve services within the country. Although DANTE as the EC's management agent must prepare proposals and get EC approval for spending of the available funds, it is an important principle that all decisions concerning requirements and priorities are ultimately the responsibility of the beneficiary country. The PHARE Coordinator for Albania (from the Ministry of Finance and Economy) has appointed Dr Serzh Qesteri, Director of the Centre for Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation [3], as the Albanian representative on the Programme Advisory Committee. Dr Gudar Beqiraj of INIMA [4] is also involved as the Albanian representative in CEENet [5]. With the support of these colleagues in Albania, DANTE is proposing to use EC funds to - create an International Node in Tirana (at a site to be defined) with a power supply, including UPS, a Cisco router, and equipment for a 64 kbps satellite (VSAT) link to one of the Western European nodes of EuropaNET [6]. - purchase spread-spectrum wireless modems, some to be connected to the Cisco router, the others to be installed at suitable locations in Tirana to provide local and international connectivity within the city/region. - purchase PCs as local routing/switching devices at the sites provided with modems. Ways of providing service outside Tirana will be studied but there seems to be no valid reason not to start as soon as possible to provide an international connection to the Internet from within the city. The EC funds are in principle available now but, given that the EC's approval procedures can sometimes be slow and that the implementation problems within Albania will not be straightforward, no-one should expect short-term miracles. Funding from this part of the PHARE Programme is intended primarily for use by the academic and research communities within the beneficiary countries but use of the facilities for commercial traffic will also be permitted. PHARE funding will cover all operational costs (except manpower) for one year. The Albanian government will be expected to pay at least part of the operational costs (either directly or through a system of charging users or user institutions) after that. Training of Albanian engineers in the configuration and operation of the equipment will also be necessary (and funds for this are also available) but suitable ways of providing this training have not yet been found. Attendance at courses outside Albania or the organisation in Albania of a course given by Western or CEE experts are both being considered. (Can anyone help with information or suggestions?) Both DANTE and the Albanian PHARE representatives are anxious to avoid any duplication of the effort and resources being provided by other organisations. We would like to hear from other funding bodies or individuals who are providing (or planning to provide) technical or financial assistance for the establishment of Internet connections to and within Albania in order to see if our resources can be combined, or at least used in complementary ways. Howard Davies General Manager, DANTE Notes: [1] DANTE is a non-profit company based in the UK which has the national research networks from eleven European countries as its shareholders. Its main role is to provide these and other European research networks with international services. For further information, see http://www.dante.net [2] The PHARE Programme covers Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. [3] Dr Serzh Qesteri Director, Centre for Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation, Rr. Leke Dukagjini no. 5 Tirana, Albania Tel. +355 42 22491 Fax: +355 42 28300 [4] Dr Gudar Beqiraj Director, Instituti Informatikes dhe Matematikes Aplikuar (INIMA) Tirana , Albania Tel: +355 42 32968 Fax: +355 42 32122 Both Dr Beqiraj and Dr Qesteri can also be contacted by e-mail via the following address: inima@saritel.it [5] CEENet is an association of academic and research networks from the Central and Eastern European region. In addition to the PHARE countries, it includes members from: Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine. [6] EuropaNET is the principal Internet backbone in Europe with access points (at speeds up to 4 Mbps) in 16 European countries. It also provides a total of 6.5 Mbps of transatlantic capacity. See the DANTE WWW server for further information. HD(95)129 _____________________________________________________________________ * * Howard Davies - General Manager * * * Lockton House, Clarendon Road * Cambridge CB2 2BH, United Kingdom D A N T E Tel. +44 1223 302992 Fax. +44 1223 303005 _____________________________________________________________________ From albnet Tue May 2 22:59:11 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA06867 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Tue, 2 May 1995 18:59:11 -0400 Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 18:59:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana Internet Group meeting minutes - April 5 and April 19 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Internet meeting April 5 ======================== Present at this meeting: Rezart Andoni : Computer science student Mike Holman : AEP Tirana Nancy Hardison: VOFAG. Tirana Fulbright Professor Ilir Zenku : Computer Science Student Phone 28560 Diane Hambley : UNL Tel. 24772 Mark Luse : Fultz Technical School 22008 Cynthia Caples: American Cultural Center 33-246 The meeting received a fax from Mr. Eldrige from Macedonia where he explained the answers made to him by the Internet group. His answers were very technical and these are the adoptions made by Rezart Andoni to his answers: 1. The wireless modems are the best choice to the conditions of Albania and they can work at 5 km that is much farther than the distances in Tirana. He gave also the address of the company which sells them. Their prices are $1250 for each and they operate at 115 kbps. 2. The possibilities for making the connection are they which are mentioned before by this meeting. They are a) a router at UNDP with two serial ports (the price is much less than the normal price of a router) or a PC running LINUX at UNDP and the link will be only for email with an offline system because UNDP has offered only this. A bbs system will be the best solution for end users at home who want only email. 3. UNDP has a free satellite port which can be used for another router at UNDP (of course if they permit). Novell is being used more and more wide in Albania and for the LAN-s running novell there is a software called "LanWorkplace Dial" that allows a novell file server connect to a serial line service. 4. The mail addresses will have the undp.org in their body but for a good beginning it doesn't matter. 5. Perhaps it will be possible to have a connection to Macedonia to a their satellite, but fWr this must be studied the price of the phone call to Macedonia and a project for such a link to Macedonia. Mr. Holman told his ext Soros will begin to cooperate with UNDP starting from Monday and Soros will offer its service through a bulletin board at their site. The prices for connecting to this bbs will be slow (only for the cost of the maintaining of system). For the off-line reader the group brought the idea to test the software that Victoria (she has been present at March 30-th meeting) has left in Tirana (this is a soft in 3 languages and is used in Bulgaria and Romania). For this soft is a possibility to translate it in Albanian. Mr. Holman promised that he will leave some of his books at USIS (American Cultural Center) Library for use by the people who are interested on Internet and email. Ilir has a telephone at home and asked for a PC to make a bulletin board for the communication of the group. Mr. Luce said that probably he will find one 386 for this board. The work in this direction will be one of the next agenda. The meeting concluded with this agenda for the next meeting: 1. Report for Soros start 2. Can we invite someone from Soros? 3. Local bbs start 4. Books for Internet that will be placed at USIS Library. Next meeting will be on April 19 4.00 PM Internet meeting April 19, 1995 =============================== Present at this meeting: Ahmet Shafiq : Computer Services Specialist, M A X Sh.p k. Mark Luce : BDC Director, Fultz Technical School Nancy Hardison : U of Agriculture, Tirana Manola Xhaja : BAC Economics and Business Faculty Clirim Xhunga : President, ASSC Rezart Andoni : Computer Science student Ilir Zenku : Computer Science student Minutes: 1. The Fultz Technical School has 12 external modem (2400 Baud) + some PC, MACs, scaners, plotters, two ham radios. Some of this equipment will be made available to help in getting Internet going in Albania. 2. Ahmet Shafiq will retrive the ANT Bosch information from Infosoft's Mr. Joti to contact them and get their information to the group. 3. There is a new company in Italy called Video on Line. They provide good access for Internet in Italy. Ahmet Shafiq will contact them via the Fultz school to get their information. 4. The UNDP have upgraded their e-mail system to work with Iliggins e-mail. This will allow remote e-mail retrieval for the other users later on. They are going to start testing e-mail exchange with Soros, or might have already started. Soros is willing to provide e-mail training later once internet is here. 5. Ahmet Shafiq will get the vireless modem information for the group. 6. The BBS that Ilir is going to set up will get it PC from the Fultz School in the next short while. He has the waffle software ready to go. 7. Ahmet Shafiq will try to meet with Mike Holeman to discuss the possibility of using Ham Radio for e-mail exchange, since they are already using that method. 8. The two transceivers at the Fultz school will be made avilable to test #7 above in the near future if this option proves to be useful. 9. The Albanian Red Cross is another source of information for Ham Radio-Modem communication setup. Next Meeting's Agenda: 1. Information on the BBS start. 2. Vireless Modem Information. 3. Results of meeting with Mike Holeman. 4. ANT Bosch information. 5. Mike Holeman and Dr.Caples - Internet books at USIS. 6. Mark Luce meeting with Aleksander Miraj at the Albanian PPT for Ham Radio Licensing. NEXT MEETING APRIL 26 4:00 P.M. From jpeizer@sorosny.org Wed May 3 09:26:48 1995 Received: from uu2.psi.com by info.irex.org with SMTP id AA09007 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Wed, 3 May 1995 09:26:48 -0400 Received: by uu2.psi.com (5.65b/4.0.940727-PSI/PSINet) via UUCP; id AA03046 for ; Wed, 3 May 95 09:08:57 -0400 Received: from cc:Mail by soros.sorosny.org id AA799517353 Wed, 03 May 95 09:09:13 Date: Wed, 03 May 95 09:09:13 From: "jpeizer" Message-Id: <9504037995.AA799517353@soros.sorosny.org> To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Cc: sadowsky@acfcluster.nyu.edu, kerstin.leitner@undp.org Subject: Soros Grant to Bill Eldridge The Open Society institute in New York has granted Bill Eldridge (Fullbright scholar working this year on Internet connectivity in Macedonia) $19,750 to set up a non-commercial connection between the Harry Fultz School and the University of Tirana. Dial in access will be provided as well as a walk in access at the Harry Fultz School. This link will help facilitate NGO access to the net. Connections between schools will be made via wireless modem. The UNDP in Tirana has authorized the use of their Satellite channel for International connectivity. Jonathan Peizer International Directror of IS & Internet Coordinator Soros Foundations From CAROL@movdis.cis.columbia.edu Thu May 4 17:39:15 1995 Received: from cucis.cis.columbia.edu (cucise.cis.columbia.edu) by info.irex.org with SMTP id AA12982 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Thu, 4 May 1995 13:40:48 -0400 Received: from neuro-gw.cpmc.columbia.edu by cucis.cis.columbia.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA37874; Thu, 4 May 1995 13:40:45 -0400 Received: From MOVDIS/WORKQUEUE by neuro-gw.cpmc.columbia.edu via Charon-4.0-VROOM with IPX id 100.950504133946.384; 04 May 95 13:40:01 +500 Message-Id: From: "Carol Moskowitz R.N." To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Thu, 4 May 1995 13:39:15 EDT Subject: Re: Soros Grant to Bill Eldridge Reply-To: carol@movdis.cis.columbia.edu X-Confirm-Reading-To: carol@movdis.cis.columbia.edu X-Pmrqc: 1 Priority: normal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail v3.22 Congratulations to > > Jonathan Peizer > International Directror of IS & > Internet Coordinator > Soros Foundations for making an excellent and timely decision. I tried to e-mail Bill yesterday and it returned 'user unknown'..so can anybody help me connect with Bill or is he in transit to NYC? Carol Moskowitz Columbia University, Neurology > From albnet Thu May 11 14:26:12 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA15212 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Thu, 11 May 1995 10:26:12 -0400 Date: Thu, 11 May 1995 10:26:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana Internet Group Meeting Minutes - April 26 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Internet Interest Group SPECIAL Meeting Minutes, April 26, 1995 Prepared by Ahmet Shafiq Present: ======== Ahmet Shafiq: Computer Services Specialist, M A X Sh.p.k. 34083 Mark Luce: BDC Director, Fultz Technical School 22008 Cynthia Caples: American Cultural Center 33246 Forrest Walter: SARA 33794 Ilia Ninka: Computer Science Dept.- University of Tirana Mike Holman: AEP 34708 Bill Eldridge: Fulbright , Macedonia Manola Xhaja: BAC Economics and Business Faculty, Univ. of Tirana Clirim Xhunga: President, ASSC 052 23671 Rezart Andoni: Computer Science Student, University of Tirana Ilir Zenku: Computer Science Student, University of Tirana Minutes: ======== 1.There are currently three ways for setting up an Internet node in Albania: A. Using the UNDP satellite connection: ======================================= The plans were cancelled for Bill Eldridge's proposal, after months of negotiations. He visited their offices today and made a survey of their connection setup. Agim Cami, who was supposed to be working with the UNDP is not because he is too busy. The UNDP has a Novell router and are concerned for their security of their network. Bill Eldridge suggested setting up a separate network at their offices to solve that problem. The router for this can be connected to be extra port available at their satellite link. He also suggested the use of SMTP for e-mail instead of Higgins, so as to run it on Linux or Unix Machines. The DNS (Domain Name Server) for Internet addresses of other sites on the Internet that serves Albania is located in Pisa, Italy. Lookup tables can be obtained for these sites and incorporated into our server here to help in this matter. B. Using a commercial satellite connection (a commercial node in Albania) ================================================================ This would involve setting up a similar satellite link to that at the UNDP. There are currently two sources that we know of for this kind of service: 1. ANT Bosch 2. Unisource to provide such a link between Slovenia and the US. The estimate was for $30,000-$40,000 to setup the equipment, plus $4000/month charge. But this was for a university installation and thus no taxes were added to this figures. This connection would be an incentive for other similar ones to begin operating in Albania once people learn about the advantages of e-mail, and once they have an eLample to try and copy as in the case with many other activities that look profitable. C. Using a packet Radio Connection ================================== This would involve the use of a Ham Radio tranceiver with a modem link adaptor. Mike Holeman has had success with this system for connecting his different organizations with e-mail all over Albania. They are using cc:mail, and have got their own private radio frequecy approved. For e-mail outside Albania, they were calling via modem into their Compuserve account in Italy. The Fultz school now has two radio transceivers and modem link adaptors for them. 2. It has been decided that the Fultz Technical School will be the site for the Internet node connection via the UNDP. This decision was based on the following: a. The Special Status that the school has which enables it to get involved in profit making activities even thoughit is an NGO. b. Non subject to taxes, as long as all income has to go back into education. c. Will be setting up several Novell networks for its computer labs. d. Mark Luce is easy to get hold of at the school. The node will be at the school which will have a direct cable connection with the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Tirana. The connection with the UNDP will be made with wireless modems to a router to be connected to the empty port on their satellite link. The school is trying to get extra telephones lines. Mark Luce mentioned that the school has subscribed to a Businessman Association to facilitate that. This involves paying $100 to join, plus $1000 when the line is connected. These lines cost more for domestic use compared to normal lines. They cost 8 leks per impulse compared to 2 leks/impulse. The node will include a terminal server to allow PPT connections, a Gopher server to provide information, and free shareware software. 3. THe Fultz School will give Ilir Zenku a 286 computer to run the Waffle BBS software to serve as a collection site for e-mail. 4. Cynthia Caples suggested that the NGO's Forum should contact Washington D.C. and request a grant of $20,000 or so for setting up the Internet node. This figure was an estimete provide by Bill Eldridge. This small amount of money is small compared to that which was spend already on the existing equipment in Albania. NOTE: a few days after this meeting, this amount was approved by Washington. 5. Ahmet Shafiq conctacted Denice Herbol at USAID and got the information for the telephone line splitter system used at their offices. They are using a Multiplexer/Demultiplexer system which consists of two main units for the telephone line plus a local PABX for their office. The multiplexer unit was purchasedand delivered to the PPT (Tirana) after they allocated four telephone numbers for the USAID office. The demultiplexer unit was installed along with the PABX system at the USAID office which then gave them these four telephone numbers. All these numbers are using one physical telephone cable. This equipment was purchased from IBS in Tirana, and the contact person there is Dhimiter Kekezi at 23854. The equipment is made by Alcated with the following model numbers: The unit at the PPT: 1564 PG CO PCM 4A 37606034 The unit at the USAID: 1564 PG RU PCM 4A 37606026 THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 17 4PM BUSINESS ASSISTANCE CENTER FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS, 3RD FLOOR From albnet Fri May 19 02:54:45 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA12649 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Thu, 18 May 1995 22:54:46 -0400 Date: Thu, 18 May 1995 22:54:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana Internet Interest Group Meeting Minutes - May 17 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Internet Interest Group Meeting Minutes, May 17, 1995 Prepared by Ahmet Shafiq and Diane Hambley NOTICE: INTERNET MEETINGS ARE BEING HELD EVERY WEDNESDAY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Present : Dr. Diane Hambley University of Tirana, Business Assistance Center - USAID On-Site Coordinator 24772 Ahmet Shafiq - Computer Services Specialist , M A X Sh.p.k. 34083 Mark Luce - BDC Director , Fultz Technical School 22008 Cynthia Caples - American Cultural Center 33246 Manola Xhaja - BAC Economics and Business Faculty, University of Tirana 24772 lirim Xhunga - President, ASSC 052 23671 Ilir Zenku - Computer Science Student, University of Tirana Kostaq Cipo - SARA Project 33794 Minutes : 1. According to Jonathan Peizer, the International Director of IS & Internet Coordinator for the Soros Foundations NY, the Open Society Institute in New York has granted Bill Eldridge $19,750 to set up a non-commercial Internet node at the Fultz Technical School. The Internet connection with the outside is to be made using the UNDP's satellite connection. The connection to the Fultz School will be made with the use of wireless modems. This was indicated in the copy of a fax which was handed out in today's meeting. 2. Funds have also been approved from USIS. Cynthia Caples at the USIS office here in Tirana, mentioned that she is waiting for a cable to arrive in about a week from the US in regards to the funds. She will then contact Rome to arrange for the use of the funds to purchase the equipment for setting up the node at the Fultz School. The funds from the USIS grant will go towards paying for the hardware for the node, while the funds from the Soros grant will go towards paying for Bill Eldridge's expenses plus other node expenses. 3. Soros' Avni Mustafa had mentioned some time ago that Soros' budget has $75,000 left unused which could be tapped for possible Internet funding. He asked to be kept updated as to our progress. 4. Mark Luce attempted to get in touch with Bill Eldridge in Macedonia several times since our last meeting with no success due to bad telephone connections. Ahmet Shafiq will attempt to contact Bill from the USIS office since they have had better luck getting through to him. He will discuss the equipment shopping list for the node among other technical aspects. 5. Mark Luce will donate a modem to the NGO forum to help them access the node via modem. Some of the grant money might be allocated towards purchasing a computer for the NGO forum to be able to perform this dial-up e-mail exchange. 6. The Fultz school will take care of getting the NGO forum connected to the node, while the Faculty of Natural Sciences will take care of the other university faculties. 7. Mark Luce will get the distance measurements from the Fultz Technical School to the UNDP for the use of the wireless modems. Soros will have to provide the distance from their building to the UNDP, while lirim Xhunga will get the distance from the Faculty of Natural Sciences to the Fultz Technical School. 8. Ilir Zenku will arrange with Mike Holeman to have a hard drive delivered to Bill Eldridge in Macedonia so he can configure Linux on it for the Fultz Technical School Node. 9. Ahmet Shafiq will discuss via telephone the 256 IP Internet address scheme which will be allocated to the different accounts on the Node. He will also get the specifications for the wireless modem (range , frequency etc...). Frequency information is important since we will have to get a license from the PTT to use that frequency in Albania for the wireless modems. 10. Mark Luce will order several telephone numbers for the Fultz School from the PTT. 11. PPP software for the AIX IBM server at the University of Tirana, Faculty of Natural Sciences is not readily available. They may have to dedicate a PC running PPP software to get around this problem. 12. Each member of the group will make up a workplan for their setup and have it ready for our next meeting so we can all coordinate our efforts. 13. Our meetings will now be held on a weekly basis, meeting every Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at Dr. Hambley's office. 14. The Fultz School has already given Ilir Zenku a 286 computer for his BBS. He will soon be ready to test the Waffle BBS once his telephone line clears up. 15. The SARA Project has ordered a modem and is already connected to the Internet via CGnet through Rome. 16. Once the BBS is running, the minutes from our meetings will be posted on it. 17. USIS will arrange for a translation of a "How To" book on Internet in Albanian, according to Cynthia Caples. This will be a great reference for others later on. NOTICE: INTERNET MEETINGS ARE BEING HELD EVERY WEDNESDAY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. IF YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF INTERNET CONNECTIVITY, NOW IS A VERY GOOD TIME TO GET INVOLVED!!!! THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 4PM, BUSINESS ASSISTANCE CENTER, FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS, 3RD FLOOR From albnet Sun May 28 21:47:53 1995 Received: by info.irex.org id AA13133 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for albnet-l@info.irex.org); Sun, 28 May 1995 17:47:53 -0400 Date: Sun, 28 May 1995 17:47:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana Internet Group Minutes - May 24 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Internet Interest Group Meeting Minutes, May 24, 1995 Prepared by Ahmet Shafiq and Diane Hambley Present : Ilir Zenku Computer Science Student, University of Tirana 28560 Dr. Diane Hambley University of Tirana, Business Assistance Center 24772 Ahmet Shafiq - Computer Services Specialist, M A X Sh.p.k. 34083 Rezart Andoni Computer Science Student, University of Tirana Mark Luce - BDC Director, Fultz Technical School 22008 Kostaq Cipo SARA Project 33794 Cynthia Caples: American Cultural Center 33246 Altin Kona Faculty of Economics 24772 Manola Xhaja: BAC Economics and Business Faculty, University of Tirana 24772 Gjergji Malo Land O'lakes 34926 After June 1 Clirim Xhunga President, ASSC 052 23671 1. Bill Eldridge will order the wireless modems once he receives the three distances in Tirana. From the Fultz Technical School to the UNDP, to Soros, and to the Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana. Ahmet also reported that in his phone conversation with Bill Eldridge he discussed the following: -Bill can get a X.25 version of the ACC V.35 to RS-232 Router for connecting to the UNDP satellite port if there is a need for it -Bill has 100 meters of cable for the wireless modem to be set up at the Fultz Technical school, so antenna location will not be a problem. -The mail software to be used on the main server will be SMTP based -Bill will get 256 IP addresses for us from the Internet registry. They will do it without charge. INIMA already has 256 addresses while another organization also has 256. -The USIA grant will cover among other equipment, 4 wireless modems. The remaining two will be paid for by the grant from Soros. -The UNDP satellite connection is 64Kbps based. But Bill thinks we may only get a 9600 bps connection, which will not enable us to have full blown Internet access as one of our services. He is still trying to decide whether we will use a PPP connection over the satellite or run TCP/IP. And whether we will need another router at the NY end of the UNDP satellite link to be able to be completely separate from the UNDP network. -Bill will try to have the equipment list ready by next week. He needs to know from Cynthia Caples the procedure for using the USIA grant money, and how the payments will be handled. Cynthia is getting that information to him. -Approval for the funds came via internal email to Caples' office and a cable followed. We officially have the USIA grant. THANK YOU!!! 2. We already have the first distance: from the Fultz Technical School to the Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana: 560 meters +/- 5 meters. This was provided by Mr. Clirim Xhunga. Mr. Xhunga will get the other distances to Ahmet, who get the information to Dr. Hambley to email Bill, or phone the distances to Bill. 3. Mike Holman has left to Macedonia and has taken the hard drive to give to Bill Eldridge for installing the Linux software. He will be back on Sunday. 4. Mark Luce will call Soros NY Jonathan Peizer to discuss the possibility of having them tra/sfer their grant funds to the Fultz Foundation in Washington D.C.. From there, we can have them easily transfer the funds as needed for the purchases and expenses. 5. Dr. Hambley will act as treasurer for the group and will keep the books for all the equipment purchases and other group expenses. She asked that everyone getting the equipment keep good records and give her copies of receipts every week. 6. Mark Luce will get an answer from Bill Eldridge as to what his expenses are going to be for this project. He also suggested writing a proposal for applying for a small grant for hiring a Internet Coordinator for our project. 7. The UNDP will want to have one person designated as their contact person for this project. Mark Luce will be that person. 8. Bill Eldridge has verified that the UNDP currently has only a 9600 bps connection through their satellite link. They expressed their interest in upgrading that to a full 64 Kbps connection since it will not cost them too much. So Bill will wait on ordering the equipment until he finds out for sure when this is going to take place. 9. Mark Luce asked Cynthia Caples for the mailing address of the USIS office in Tirana, so that purchase invoices and equipment could be sent there. The address is: USIS, C/O American Embassy, Rruga Elbasan # 103, Tirana, Albania 10. Mike Holman thinks he can help get the PTT licences for the wireless modems in 2 - 3 days. If he cannot do this, then Avni Mustafa of Soros should be able to also help in this matter. 11. The Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana will test the old cabling system used by INIMA for connecting the rest of the faculties to the new node. 12. Ahmet Shafiq suggested having all 6 modems share the same frequency such that we can have 5 different locations call in via modem to the main modem at the Fultz School. These would dial in at different fixed hours for each during the day, and thus not interfere with each other. The group discussed that previously we were told the modems had to have different frequencies, and that we should check with Bill Eldridge on this. 13. A copy of TCP/IP for Windows for Workgroups will be given to the Fultz Technical School by the Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana for testing. 14. The Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana had an old IP address from the days when they used to have an Internet connection via the University of Pisa, Italy. This was 193.254.3.0. 15. Ilir Zenku has set up his BBS and advised us that it is in operation from 8 am til 4 pm everyday at 28560. These minutes will be posted there once they are proof-read. 16. All organizations and NGOs that have modems are encouraged to call into the BBS to retrieve these minutes, and also to begin the e-mail process even though it is local at this point. 17. Dr. Hambley will be in touch with the NGO Forum to coordinate their access to internet as it develops, and to inquire about the process of starting an NGO. The future status of our group was discussed - do we need to become some sort of legal entity or do we maintain our current status as a support group informally sharing information? The group would like to ask the CEELI liaison group for their thoughts. Maybe they could come to a meeting soon? MEETINGS ARE NOW EVERY WEDNESDAY, 4PM, 3RD FLOOR OF THE ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS FACULTY. From albnet Tue Jun 6 10:26:48 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id KAA05438; Tue, 6 Jun 1995 10:26:48 -0400 Date: Tue, 6 Jun 1995 10:26:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: List glitch has stopped messages for a week Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Due to problems with a new version of sendmail on our server, list mail has not been getting through for the past eight or nine days. The problem now seems to be fixed, but if anyone has sent mail to the list since approximately May 29, please resend your messages. Thanks! - Ian Watson From u1555@f.nersc.gov Thu Jul 27 21:09:05 1995 Received: from osi-east.es.net (osi-east.es.net [128.55.32.33]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id VAA28902 for ; Thu, 27 Jul 1995 21:09:04 -0400 Received: from f.nersc.gov by osi-east.es.net with ESnet SMTP (PP); Thu, 27 Jul 1995 18:09:02 -0700 Received: by f.nersc.gov (5.61/CRI-7.4) id AA36833; Thu, 27 Jul 95 18:09:01 -0700 Date: Thu, 27 Jul 95 18:09:01 -0700 From: Michael Kress Message-Id: <9507280109.AA36833@f.nersc.gov> Apparently-To: albnet-L@info.irex.org Subject: Is this Albania link for real? While I was in Albania two weeks ago, this month, I found out about a promising possibility for email service to be offered by a Tirana firm, INFOSOFT. Mr. Grigor Joti (Tirana tel. 355-42-32990) of INFOSOFT met with me and implied that the necessary telephone connection to Italy had been arranged for and that it should be available momentarily. This may turn out to be vapor, like so much that is promised in Albania but, if it materializes, it will be very reasonably priced. For a one-time 500L registration and 5L for 2KB of transmission one would obtain a phone accessible mailbox, (boxname)@VOL.AL. Would those of you in Albania keep track of this development and inform me whether or not this works out? ******************** Albert A. Blank Prof., Computer Science Department, 1N215 College of Staten Island 2800 Victory Boulevard Staten Island, NY 10314-6600 Tel. 914 738-7678 FAX: 718 918-7617 email 1: blank@postbox.csi.cuny.edu.us email 2: u1555@f.nersc.gov.us From albnet Fri Jul 28 20:38:20 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id UAA04241; Fri, 28 Jul 1995 20:38:20 -0400 Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 20:38:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Following is Petraq Papajorgji's response to Mr. Blank's recent query. I'd like to take the opportunity to mention that we seem to have lost the connection to Diane Hambley's Internet group in Tirana. If anyone has any news on their activities, or on how Bill Eldridge's work is going at the Fultz Schoolp, please let the list know. - Ian Watson Albnet-L moderator ------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jul 95 07:44:07 EDT To: albnet-l@info.irex.org From: petraq@agen.ufl.edu (Petraq Papajorgji) Subject: Re: e-mail services in Albania >Subject: Is this Albania link for real? > While I was in Albania two weeks ago, this month, I > found out about a promising possibility > for email service to be offered by a Tirana firm, > INFOSOFT. Mr. Grigor Joti (Tirana tel. 355-42-32990) > of INFOSOFT met with me and implied that the necessary > telephone connection to Italy had been arranged for and > that it should be available momentarily. This may turn > out to be vapor, like so much that is promised in > Albania but, if it materializes, it will be very > reasonably priced. For a one-time 500L registration > and 5L for 2KB of transmission one would obtain a phone > accessible mailbox, (boxname)@VOL.AL. > > Would those of you in Albania keep track of this > development and inform me whether or not this works out? > >******************** > Albert A. Blank > Prof., Computer Science Department, 1N215 > College of Staten Island > 2800 Victory Boulevard > Staten Island, NY 10314-6600 > > Tel. 914 738-7678 > FAX: 718 918-7617 > email 1: blank@postbox.csi.cuny.edu.us > email 2: u1555@f.nersc.gov.us > >======================================================== There have been many efforts, done by different groups, to establish e-mail services in Albania. The most interesting group has been INIMA (Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics) in Tirana. They already have network connections in place developed during the famous Tirana network project. This was an old french project applied in Albania that never gave the excpected results. Anyway the phisical telephone connections are in place. University of Tirana has been dealing with this problem too. The main problem that all different groups are facing is the MONEY, who is going to finance the project, who is going to pay the bill. Of course neither INIMA nor the University have the financial means to afford and give the professors the possibility to communicate for free with the rest of the world. Harry Fultz school in Tirana recently was about to buy the necessary equipments and using UNDP's or SOROS's (I am not sure) satellite dish to establish connection with the rest of the world. I think the network is initially design to provide Albanians NGO (Non Governmental Organisations) with e-mail services. I do not think that INFOSOFT has the capabilities to provide such a service and less with a "reasonable" price. This problem is far beyond INFOSOFT capabilities. Very few private companies will afford to pay INFOSOFT such a service. The best source to get information about this problem are people at Harry Fultz school or Agim Cami who installed the network for UNDP. Regards, Petraq Papajorgji Postdoctoral Associate Agricultural Engineering Department University of Florida Gainesville, Fl. 32611 tel: (904) 392-7721 fax: (904) 392-4092 From smarisht@eecs.uic.edu Sat Jul 29 13:47:45 1995 Received: from mail.eecs.uic.edu (root@mail.eecs.uic.edu [128.248.174.29]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id NAA06393 for ; Sat, 29 Jul 1995 13:47:45 -0400 Received: from ernie.eecs.uic.edu (ernie.eecs.uic.edu [128.248.176.24]) by mail.eecs.uic.edu (8.6.11/8.6.10) with ESMTP id MAA12449 for ; Sat, 29 Jul 1995 12:48:52 -0500 Received: (smarisht@localhost) by ernie.eecs.uic.edu (8.6.10/8.6.10) id MAA13630; Sat, 29 Jul 1995 12:48:58 -0500 Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 12:48:58 -0500 (CDT) From: Sokol Marishta To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Does anybody know what makes so difficult, to estabilish a site of Internet in Albania. The thing that I am not able to understand is that the procedure is very trivial and straight-forward. What I mean is are the difficulties faced administrative (like local byrocracy, ...etc) or technical. Any answer is very much appreciated. Thanks, Sokol Q Marishta =============================== University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Computer Science URL: http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~smarisht From murzaku@microlytics.com Sun Jul 30 18:56:02 1995 Received: from arno.microlytics.com (arno.microlytics.com [204.217.46.40]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id SAA09082 for ; Sun, 30 Jul 1995 18:56:01 -0400 Received: from arno.microlytics.com by arno.microlytics.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA08904; Sun, 30 Jul 95 18:59:44 EDT Message-Id: <9507302259.AA08904@arno.microlytics.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 1.6.2 7/18/95 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 29 Jul 1995 14:08:48 EDT." Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 18:59:44 -0400 From: Aleksander Murzaku > Does anybody know what makes so difficult, to estabilish a site of Internet > in Albania. The thing that I am not able to understand is that the > procedure is very trivial and straight-forward. What I mean is are the > difficulties faced administrative (like local byrocracy, ...etc) or > technical. Any answer is very much appreciated. There are a lot of difficulties setting up the internet connection to Albania. The most important one is that the telephone lines are not reliable. If this is not enough, there is a lot of "tapping" into the existing ones. A few years ago, there was a telephone connection to the internet through CNUCE in Pisa. It was working fine until somebody found out about this line and tapped into it for making personal calls worldwide. In any case, even if all these problems were solved, the telephone connection is not that cheap. Have you ever compared the phone rates to Albania with those of any other country in the world? Calls to Albania are the most expensive ones. It seems that Albania lines go to the Moon and than come down. You should also know that having a telephone in Albania is a privilege (there are only a few thousand available numbers) so even if somebody or a company or the government decided to make the routing of e-mail (the minimum), there would be very few paying users which would be a factor to sky-rocket the price for the end user. All of these combined make this procedure very complicated and not possible for both educational and commercial institutions and especially for private users. Obviously, making the configuration is very easy: all you need is an IP number and the registration of the domain. The problem comes when you will have to keep up the physical connection. That UNDP satellite link makes me hope though that some day we will be able to send some messages over there (we could save some money on phone bills!!!). Hoping this will happen soon I wish you all the best. Regards, Aleksander Murzaku -- (public key on pgp-servers) Microlytics, Inc. -- http://www.microlytics.com Two Tobey Village Office Park -- Pittsford, New York 14534 Tel: 716 248 9150 ext.118 -- Fax: 716 248 3868 From dah10@goole.octacon.co.uk Mon Jul 31 10:58:04 1995 Received: from goole.octacon.co.uk (goole.octacon.co.uk [193.118.80.1]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id KAA11728 for ; Mon, 31 Jul 1995 10:57:56 -0400 Received: from handale.octacon.co.uk (handale.octacon.co.uk [193.118.80.5]) by goole.octacon.co.uk (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id PAD00925; Mon, 31 Jul 1995 15:32:46 +0100 Message-Id: <199507311432.PAD00925@goole.octacon.co.uk> Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "David A Horne" Organization: Octacon Ltd To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 15:32:10 +0000 Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? CC: inima@saritel.it, inima@inima.al Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.0-WB4) > Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 20:38:49 -0400 > Reply-to: albnet-l@info.irex.org > From: Albania Networking Forum > To: dah10@goole.octacon.co.uk > Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? > > Following is Petraq Papajorgji's response to Mr. Blank's recent query. > I'd like to take the opportunity to mention that we seem to have > lost the connection to Diane Hambley's Internet group in Tirana. > If anyone has any news on their activities, or on how Bill Eldridge's > work is going at the Fultz Schoolp, please let the list know. > > - Ian Watson > Albnet-L moderator Let me introduce myself. I am the manager of two projects part-funded by the European Commission under the "COPERNICUS" programme. They are called "ETCETERA" and "HANNIBAL" - don't ask what the names mean! We are working with Gudar Beqiraj and Neki Frasheri at INIMA in Tirana to develop Internet services (mainly World-Wide-Web). They are implementing web servers and dial-up service (yes - really!). The projects also include partners in Bulgaria, Romania and Poland. I agree that at present there is NO Internet connectivity within Albania. Our project is developing the necessary know-how and infrastructure in INIMA to provide the standard Internet applications (email, ftp, www etc.) so that this can be rolled out quickly when there IS connectivity. At present, we talk to INIMA via mailboxes in Italy, sending always to 2 in parallel - they dial up with terminal emulator from Albania and pick up the mail with basic file transfer - line noise is a big problem. These mailboxes are:- inima@inima.it inima@saritel.it Please feel free to contact them if you wish. (Actually the projects are about WWW trading over Internet, but that's a different story........) I hear that there is a chance of Internet for at least the academic community via a PHARE project in which organisations like DANTE are involved, but probably nothing before next year at the earliest. Regards, David Horne, Technical Director, Octacon Ltd. -- David.Horne@octacon.co.uk (Octacon Ltd Tel/Fax:+44 1642 210087/518) "ONYX" - Internet service provider to Northern England and Ulster From dah10@goole.octacon.co.uk Mon Jul 31 10:33:51 1995 Received: from goole.octacon.co.uk (goole.octacon.co.uk [193.118.80.1]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id KAA11382 for ; Mon, 31 Jul 1995 10:33:48 -0400 Received: from handale.octacon.co.uk (handale.octacon.co.uk [193.118.80.5]) by goole.octacon.co.uk (8.6.9/8.6.9) with SMTP id PAF00925 for ; Mon, 31 Jul 1995 15:32:48 +0100 Message-Id: <199507311432.PAF00925@goole.octacon.co.uk> Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "David A Horne" Organization: Octacon Ltd To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 15:32:21 +0000 Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.0-WB4) > Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 14:08:36 -0400 > Reply-to: albnet-l@info.irex.org > From: Sokol Marishta > To: dah10@goole.octacon.co.uk > Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? > Does anybody know what makes so difficult, to estabilish a site of Internet > in Albania. The thing that I am not able to understand is that the > procedure is very trivial and straight-forward. What I mean is are the > difficulties faced administrative (like local byrocracy, ...etc) or > technical. Any answer is very much appreciated. > > Thanks, > Sokol Q Marishta > =============================== > University of Illinois at Chicago > Department of Computer Science > URL: http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~smarisht > > The problem is not at all technical - there are groups with the capability to establish Internet hosting and administration, I am working with one such group at INIMA to do exactly this. The problem is MONEY! No-one there can afford to establish an Internet feed (minimum requirement really is 64kbit/s) to the rest of the world. Things are happening, but it's unlikely that there will be any noticeable action until 1996. David Horne -- David.Horne@octacon.co.uk (Octacon Ltd Tel/Fax:+44 1642 210087/518) "ONYX" - Internet service provider to Northern England and Ulster From albnet Mon Jul 31 22:11:14 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id WAA15330; Mon, 31 Jul 1995 22:11:14 -0400 Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 22:11:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana Internet Group update and May 31 minutes Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 12:02:04 -0700 From: Network of East-West Women To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Internet group in Tirana My name is Victoria Vrana and I direct NEWW On-Line, the electronic communications project for the Network of East- West Women. In the last year we put over 30 women's groups on-line in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. January-March, 1995 I traveled around the region training and equipping many of these organizations. I went to Albania and made contact with the Internet Interest Group, an informal (at that point) group of people who meet to discuss getting Albania on-line. Minutes from their meetings were, at some point, posted to this list. In response to the recent question about what was happening in Albania and also in response to a letter I received from Albania today, I am posting the last minutes from the Internet Interest Group that I have. Unfortunately, they are from May 31. I am also posting excepts from the letter I received from the group today. In preface, let me say that I know the group received a grant from USIA to set up this Internet connection. They may have received other grants as well. I am not sure. They were/are planning on making the Internet connection through UNDP's satellite connection. I hope this is helpful. I will be trying to contact UNDP here in the US per Diane's request. Perhaps we can coordinate efforts. Victoria Vrana ********************************************************* (July 22, 1995 from Dr. Diane Hambley, Coordinator of the Internet Interest Group to Victoria Vrana) "The Internet group seems to have stalled a little. We have the consultant, Bill Eldridge, working here until September to try to get things up and running. He is ready to go--but can't get the people at the UNDP (United Nations Development Project) to cooperate. UNDP here in Tirana has approved the idea of allowing NGOs and universities access to their satellite connection, as a way of launching internet here. Bill can't proceed unless the New York people give him whatever cooperation is needed to make that connection....Apparently the one person who can put things in place for Albania is in another country. We only have Bill here until September, and he has been sitting here for a month with no progress. could you try to push the people in New York, or at least sort out what the problem is? I have very limited access to phones, as you know--and I'm concerned that we will lose this opportunity...If you can post part of my message to that newsgroup maybe others could also apply pressure appropriately. Yes, I'd really like you to do that- -especially if you can find out who is stalling in New York....Thanks again for any help you can give us. Diane Hambley USAID/University of Nebraska K>P. 2400/1 Tirana, Albania *************************************************** Internet Interest Group Meeting Minutes, May 31, 1995 Prepared by Ahmet Shafiq and Diane Hambley Present: Diane Hambley University of Tirana Fax: 355-42-42551 or 355- 42-3222 Ahmet Shafiq Computer Services Specialist, MAX Sh.p.k. 34083 Mark Luce Business Development Center Director, Fultz Technical School 22009 Cynthia Caples American Cultural Center 33264 Clirim Xhunga President ASSC 052 23671 (Company-Durres) Ilir Zenku Computer Science Student, University of Tirana 28560 Rezart Andoni Computer Science Student, University of Tirana Kostaq Cipo SARA Project 33794 Gjergji Malo Land O'Lakes 34629 Mike Holman I.P.D.F. 34708 Minutes: 1. O'Reilly books is donating a set of Unix/networking books to the Albania network cause. Bill Eldridge estimates it will take four large boxes to send them and needs ideas on how to get them here. 2. Bill Eldridge needs the following: -- to give an address in Albania for the Linux CD subscription which will be sent over the next year. We decided to give him the USIS address since it the most reliable (USIS, c/o American Embassy, Internet Interest Group, Rruga Elbasanit #103, Tirana, ALBANIA). -- to know if Mark Luce did have Soros NY transfer the grant money to the h. Fultz Foundation in Washington D.C. (looks good so far--waiting to see if Soros will send there) -- official documentation from Soros Albania, USIS and Fultz School inviting him and his wife so as to avoid any problems at the border. Cynthia Caples said that he should provide a detailed inventory of the equipment that he is planning to bring so as to have those outlined in these documents. 3. Dr. Diane Hambley was contacted by Howard Davies of DANTE which is working with the EC for the PHARE 1994 R&D Networking Programme. They don't want to see duplication and do want to facilitate cooperation and sharing of resources. He asked for some suggestions on training and a recommendation of an individual to act as their agent in Tirana, and she recommended Ahmet Shafiq. The group agreed that having Ahmet work with Dante might help us cooperate with the INIMA efforts. 4. Dr. Diane Hambley received an e-mail message from Kathy Imholz at NYU in which she suggested that we contact Mr. Krenar Loloci at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tirana fro advice as whether we should get registered as an NGO. Mr Krenar can be reached at 29517 (home number) 5. Mike Holman has suggested to INIMA that we all coordinate our efforts together and work under the umbrella of the Fultz School which is to be the main Albanian Internet node. He got the approval of all those concerned at INIMA, and is working with the Fultz School to evaluate this opportunity. 6. The UNDP connection with the INTERNET is for the use of universities and non-governmental organizations for non- commercial purposes. 7. The Fultz School will prepare a one page write-up for the PTT highlighting: -- the purpose for the use of the wireless modems -- the locations where these wireless modems will be installed -- the frequencies which will be needed for them -- the organization which will be responsible for their operation (Fultz School) Mike Holman has offered to send e-mail to Bill Eldridge as needed, using his organizations facilities. 9. Someone should test the old network cabling system in Tirana to see which sections are still operational. Since the system was originally funded by UNDP for INIMA, perhaps they, with the cooperation of the Computer faculty and students could undertake this task. One idea suggested by Ahmet Shafiq is to use some of these functioning sections in connecting those sites which will not have any wireless modems with those which will have wireless modems installed. These sites which will have the call in via modem to the main modem at the Fultz School. These would dial in at different fixed fours for each during the day , and thus not interfere with each during the day, and thus not interfere with each other. the group discussed that previously we were told the modems had to have different frequencies and that we should check with Bill Eldridge on this. 13. A copy of TCP/IP for Windows for Workgroups will be given to the Fultz Technical School by the Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana for testing. 14. The Faculty of Natural Science at the University of Tirana had an old IP address from the days when they used to have an Internet connection via the University of Pisa, Italy. This was 193.254.3.0. 15. Ilir Zenku has set up his BBS and advised us that it is in operation from 8 am til 4 pm everyday at 28560. These minutes will be posted there once they are proof-read. 16. All organizations and NGOs that have modems are encouraged to call into the BBS to retrieve these minutes, and also to begin the e-mail process even though it is local at this point. 17. Dr. Hambley will be in touch with the NGO Forum to coordinate their access to Internet as it develops, and to inquire about the process of starting an NGO. The future status of our group was discussed--do we need to become some sort of legal entity or do we maintain our current status as a support group informally sharing information? The group would like to ask the CEELI liaison group for their thoughts. Maybe they could come to a meeting soon? MEETINGS ARE NOW EVERY WEDNESDAY, 4PM, 3RD FLOOR OF THE ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS FACULTY. From inima@saritel.it Tue Aug 1 05:09:39 1995 Received: from relay.iunet.it (relay.iunet.it [192.106.1.2]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id FAA17095 for ; Tue, 1 Aug 1995 05:09:37 -0400 Received: from saritel.it (sarin.saritel.it) by relay.iunet.it with SMTP id AA10375 (5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Tue, 1 Aug 1995 11:14:39 +0200 Received: by saritel.it (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA00609; Tue, 1 Aug 95 11:07:41 +0100 Date: Tue, 1 Aug 95 11:07:41 +0100 From: inima@saritel.it (INIMA) Message-Id: <9508011007.AA00609@saritel.it> To: albnet-l@info.irex.org mail albnet-l@info.irex.org To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Richard Ellis reports on his recent trip to Albania Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Richard S Ellis Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 10:08:10 -0500 (CDT) Subject: My month in Albania Hello, My name is Richard Ellis, I work at Auburn University. I just returned from a month in Albania working with Diane Hambley. We taught role playing, case studies, and other teaching skills to the economics faculty at the University of Tirana and to business faculty from other locations. I also sat in on a couple of the internet meetings, I believe that there is a firm that will have a connection in October, but I do not recall the name of the firm. I stayed with a family and I had a very good time. We went to the beaches at Durres and Lezha. In Tirana, we walked the boulevard every night and had ice cream and/or other goodies. I have prepared a working paper about my teaching in Albania that I intend to submit to a journal in the very near future. If anyone is willing to review the paper, in order to suggest additions, deletions, etc., please contact me and I will e-mail you a copy. Have a Blessed and productive day. --Richard From F.Gennai@cnuce.cnr.it Wed Aug 2 08:26:56 1995 Received: from icnucevx.cnuce.cnr.it (icnucevx.cnuce.cnr.it [131.114.1.30]) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id IAA22976 for ; Wed, 2 Aug 1995 08:26:38 -0400 From: F.Gennai@cnuce.cnr.it Received: from mailsrv.cnuce.cnr.it by mailsrv.cnuce.cnr.it (PMDF V5.0-4 #9955) id <01HTLJYWYV3KICJIPR@mailsrv.cnuce.cnr.it>; Wed, 02 Aug 1995 13:02:29 +0100 (MET) Date: Wed, 02 Aug 1995 13:01:41 +0100 (MET) Subject: Re: Tirana Internet Group update and May 31 minutes To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Cc: GENNAI@icnucevx.cnuce.cnr.it Message-id: <01HTLK639KJIICJIPR@mailsrv.cnuce.cnr.it> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 12:02:04 -0700 >From: Network of East-West Women >To: albnet-l@info.irex.org >Subject: Internet group in Tirana > >My name is Victoria Vrana and I direct NEWW On-Line, the >electronic communications project for the Network of East- >West Women. In the last year we put over 30 women's groups >on-line in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet ..... ..... >14. The Faculty of Natural Science at the University of >Tirana had an old IP address from the days when they used to >have an Internet connection via the University of Pisa, >Italy. This was 193.254.3.0. ..... To tell exactly: the connection wasn't to the University of Pisa, but to the CNUCE (in Pisa), an Institut of the Italian National Research Council. Francesco Gennai ---------- ---------- Francesco Gennai Internet : gennai@cnuce.cnr.it CNUCE - ISTITUTO DEL CNR Phone : +39-50-593274 Via S. Maria, 36 Telex : 500371 CNUCE I 56126 PISA ITALY Fax : +39-50-904052 ---------- ---------- From albnet Sat Aug 5 12:38:24 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA09611; Sat, 5 Aug 1995 12:38:24 -0400 Date: Sat, 5 Aug 1995 12:38:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Fultz School connection and UNDP Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: skondi@nywork2.undp.org (Sokol Kondi) Subject: Internet in Albania To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Sat, 5 Aug 1995 02:12:45 -0400 (EDT) I received thru Albnet the message of Dr. Diane Hambley (July 25,1995) on the Internet group efforts in Tirana. I was surprised to see that Bill Eldridge, their consultant for establishing the connection, is having hard time with UNDP HQ in New York. Since long time ago UNDP (in New York and Tirana) is trying and willing to provide money and facilities for bringing the connection in Albania. As a matter of fact the Albanian Mission to the UN is going to be connected for free to the UNDP system and at the same time, just some days ago, it was agreed that the connection be established thru a UNDP project. Thank you Sokol Kondi From albnet Thu Aug 10 17:58:20 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id RAA01834; Thu, 10 Aug 1995 17:58:20 -0400 Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 17:58:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Diane Hambley reports from Tirana Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Note from your moderator: I'm happy to report that since Diane Hambley wrote the following message I've heard that the misunderstanding with UNDP has been cleared up and that things are back on track with the Fultz School connection. - Ian Watson Albnet-L moderator ----------------------------- message follows ------------------------------ >From capippitt@usaid.gov Tue Aug 8 07:53:41 1995 Date: Tue, 8 Aug 95 1:45:01 CED To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Gratifying to know that someone missed me - this is Diane Hambley typing. My indirect email access was temporarily lost as person posting notes for me was out of country. He is back so I can post again. Blank's and Papajogi's comments were interesting in that they seem uninformed of the interest group. We have catagorized ourselves as an "Internet Wannabe's Users' Group" - and we are still meeting weekly. (Wednesdays 4pm). Attendance has been spotty lately because of everyone taking holiday and the unbearable humidity and heat in general I think. We have found the money to start up limited email access for NGO's and universities (Soros and USIS grant). The physical site is proposed to be at the Harry Fultz School, but many more people are involved than just that school. The interest group supports INIMA and Infosoft's efforts - we are not competing with anyone - we simply want to help internet START - multiple start ups would be a dream come true. Our limited email effort has brought Bill Eldridge to Albania until mid-September, and he is actively working to get things started. He has run into major problems with UNDP in New York. Bill is here for a limited time, and although we have authorization to use UNDP satellite access, implementing things takes cooperation from UNDP New York, and they are focused on some other country right now and say only "wait" - this is my understanding. It is possible that by the time UNDP-NY is ready to work with us, the technical expert (Bill Eldridge) will have left. He is looking for other ways to support the start-up of internet email access while he is here, while he is waiting for some sort of cooperation from UNDP. I hope the Infosoft effort is successful, but last word I had was that they were still having problems getting the necessary leased phone line to Italy. INIMA's effort is the big one, but is slow moving, to say the least. They have come to the user group meetings, but never actively participated. I don't want to get into turf battles. I, and others like me, want to facilitate the start-up. Please - if you are working on this problem or care about its solution - contact the user's group when you are here, and let us work together. Cooperation is a new concept here - I've been working on internet starting for almost one year now. It is complex to get something simple done. One central gathering for information sharing is the nearest thing to networking we have here in Tirana. Bill Eldridge tells me that given UNDP-NY cooperation, he could have email access started by September 15. That would certainly be a step in the right direction. Sorry to be out of touch, and thanks for noticing. I'm not printing up weekly minutes - but instead put out occasional bulletins when it seems like something has changed. Any questions? Diane Hambley Faculty Advisor Faculty of Economics and Business University of Nebraska From albnet Mon Aug 14 12:27:27 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA14953; Mon, 14 Aug 1995 12:27:27 -0400 Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 12:27:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Comments from Neki Frasheri Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From inima@saritel.it Mon Aug 14 07:01:16 1995 Date: Mon, 14 Aug 95 12:59:04 +0100 From: inima@saritel.it (INIMA) Message-Id: <9508141159.AA04993@saritel.it> To: albnet-l@info.irex.org I did not understood quite well the last message from Diane Hambley. It is true that INIMA has not participated ACTIVELY in the Albnet Group activities, but at the same time at the meetings of Albnet Group it is declared explicitly, at least two times, that INIMA cannot be invloved because "it is a state institute", it is said also that this condition comes from UNDP and that UNDP will allow connectivity only for NGOs and Universities (that are state institutions as well). I am not judging UNDP's policy, but if UNDP will insist in such limitations, all the Academy of Sciences of Albania and other R&D state ogrganisations will be excluded from the connectivity Albnet Group is working for. This may create problems for other projects, especially for PHARE projects covering Academic and R&D community in a small country as Albania. Are we going to have several distincts links with Internet only for R&D ? Neki Frasheri INIMA, Albania From albnet Mon Aug 14 12:33:06 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA15542; Mon, 14 Aug 1995 12:33:06 -0400 Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 12:33:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Review of the past year's developments Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Albnet-L is finishing up its first year of following Albanian Internet developments, and it's time for a review of where we've come since last August. Practically speaking, little has changed. Except for UNDP and their in-house VSAT link, everyone in Tirana who uses the Internet still has to make a phone call to a computer in another country. But there are now two serious networking efforts underway: 1) With Soros and USIA grants and collaboration from UNDP a non-profit node is being set up at the Harry Fultz School in Tirana. 2) With support from various EU-funded programs, INIMA (the Institute of Informatics and Applied Mathematics) is laying the groundwork for its own network (for more information see http://goole.octacon.co.uk/proj/etcetera/index.htm). There is also some BBS activity in Tirana. There is an excellent Albanian home page maintained by Besnik Pula at: http://www.ios.com/~ulpiana/Albanian/index.html And INIMA has their own home page at: http://goole.octacon.co.uk/proj/etcetera/inima/inima.htm There is an Albanian Usenet group (soc.culture.albanian) and an Albanian affairs mailing list (send the message "subscribe albanian " to listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu). None of the above existed a year ago. As for this list, the number of subscribers is now USA 78 U.K. 10 Albania 4 Canada 4 Italy 4 Australia 3 Germany 2 Netherl. 3 plus one subscriber each from Belgium, Macedonia, France, Croatia, Austria, Luxembourg, and New Zealand for a total of 115. This list exists to spread news about *all* Albanian networking efforts, including those supported by INIMA, the various EU-sponsored programs, Soros, UNDP, the Internet Interest Group, companies, and private individuals. Albnet-L is only a mailing list: there is no Albnet computer node or Albnet networking effort. I emphasize this because Neki Frasheri seemed to be confusing Albnet-L and Diane Hambley's group in his most recent comment. I hope that the next step in Albanian networking development will be thinking about the needs of end-users. It is one thing to set up a working site in Albania, and another to get diverse people using it. That requires both market forces and active e-mail evangelization - both of which will hopefully become possible in the next year. - Ian Watson Albnet-L moderator From albnet Tue Aug 15 17:34:41 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id RAA22499; Tue, 15 Aug 1995 17:34:41 -0400 Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 17:34:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: Comments from Neki Frasheri Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From h.e.davies@dante.org.uk Mon Aug 14 12:53:41 1995 Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 17:52:17 +0100 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org From: h.e.davies@dante.org.uk (Howard Davies) Subject: Re: Comments from Neki Frasheri Cc: Tomas Kalin >>From inima@saritel.it Mon Aug 14 07:01:16 1995 >Date: Mon, 14 Aug 95 12:59:04 +0100 >From: inima@saritel.it (INIMA) >Message-Id: <9508141159.AA04993@saritel.it> >To: albnet-l@info.irex.org > >I did not understood quite well the last message from Diane Hambley. >It is true that INIMA has not participated ACTIVELY in the Albnet Group >activities, but at the same time at the meetings of Albnet Group it is >declared explicitly, at least two times, that INIMA cannot be invloved >because "it is a state institute", it is said also that this condition >comes from UNDP and that UNDP will allow connectivity only for NGOs and >Universities (that are state institutions as well). > >I am not judging UNDP's policy, but if UNDP will insist in such limitations, >all the Academy of Sciences of Albania and other R&D state ogrganisations >will be excluded from the connectivity Albnet Group is working for. This >may create problems for other projects, especially for PHARE projects >covering Academic and R&D community in a small country as Albania. > >Are we going to have several distincts links with Internet only for R&D ? > >Neki Frasheri >INIMA, Albania As far as PHARE is concerned, the specific project on which we are working has as its primary objective the provision of an international service to the academic and research community. However, the PHARE Programme generally is intended to promote activity over a wide range of areas and there will be no limitation on the use of any link which DANTE/PHARE manages to establish. Could someone provide me with the name and contact information of the person within UNDP (in New York?) who is responsible for the Albanian connection do that I can discuss the matter directly with him/her? Can I also take this opportunity of informing those who are interested that Istvan Tetenyi will be visiting Tirana on behalf of DANTE from 28 to 31 August with the aim of progressing our plans. He will also try and talk to as many people who are trying to set up an Internet link as he can. His detailed programme is being coordinated by Serzh Qesteri. Howard Davies From albnet Wed Aug 16 15:58:34 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id PAA27936; Wed, 16 Aug 1995 15:58:34 -0400 Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 15:58:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Terminological clarification Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From inima@saritel.it Tue Aug 15 09:08:40 1995 Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 15:06:27 +0100 From: inima@saritel.it (INIMA) To: albnet-l@info.irex.org In my recent message I used the expression "Albnet group" for the group of Diane Hambley. I have not used "albnet-l". Regards, neki Frasheri From albnet Fri Aug 18 08:24:33 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id IAA06208; Fri, 18 Aug 1995 08:24:33 -0400 Date: Fri, 18 Aug 1995 08:24:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: More news from Diane Hambley.... Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From capippitt@usaid.gov Fri Aug 18 05:01:42 1995 Date: Thu, 17 Aug 95 23:00:15 CED From: "Cameron Pippitt" To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Albnet Interest Group Diane Hambley typing from Tirana, Albania: To clarify, the group I've been hosting is an Internet Interest Group - which is an informal user's group which meets and shares information about ANY internet use or development in Albania. It really isn't "my group" anyhow - I've just been the one stubbornly insisting that we keep meeting and sharing information regularly. The effort we are currently putting the most effort into is the one which would utilize UNDP satellite access through a site at the Fultz School. The funds for this so far have been from a Soros grant, and USIS grant - which limited the users of this effort to NGO's (non-governmental organizations) and universities. By no means is our USER'S GROUP limited to these populations however. So governmental offices, business people, or ANYBODY is welcome to come to the user group meetings and participate. Sorry if there has been any confusion about this. The minutes/bulletins always include an anouncement of meeting times and locations, and any potential internet user is welcome to participate. Neki, you are welcome anytime. Happily, UNDP-NY is cooperating now. Thanks to Victoria Vrana for posting my message and for Ian Watson's (ALBNET-L's moderator), and Jon Peizer's (Soros) support. At last Wednesday's meeting, it was reported that the internet effort was quickly moving toward implementation. I've heard that one before, so am cautiously optimistic myself. September 15 is still the target date. As I understand it, the University of Tirana will have access to the internet through the computer faculty here. Makes sense, since they are the ones with the wealth of computer equipment and technical skills. I am at the business college - so my access will be like many other people's here - inconvenient but a heck of a lot better than nothing. To get access people will need a modem, phone, and computer. Quality of phone lines is handled by using off-line reader programs. This means that composing of email is done off-line, and the computers phone and transfer information (pick up and drop off email) quickly and disconnect automatically. Phone time is thus minimal - this system is being used in other Eastern European countries with similar phone lines - so Albania's phone line condition is not the limiting constraint. Someone asked what made implementation so difficult. In my opinion, it hasn't been a money problem. For a long time I have found several sources of money ready and waiting, but no feasible proposals for the initiation were ever submitted to receive the funds. The technical abilities and equipment is here. What isn't here is the free flow of communication - something we Americans take for granted. What I've always liked about the user's group is that we would come together and share ideas and experiences. I've attended most of the meetings, and gradually I've learned what many people were doing here to try and get internet started. (the users' group is a non-technical "network" of sorts) Getting internet started takes the cooperation of several groups of people - but cooperation and action evolve very slowly here. I've heard many of the same ideas and difficulties discussed over and over and over. That is how things are done here from what I gather. I, and many of the others who regularly attend the user's group offer whatever support we can to anyone wanting to start internet access in Albania. Hopefully, one effort will suceed soon. That's all for now. Diane From albnet Sun Aug 20 12:09:03 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA13986; Sun, 20 Aug 1995 12:09:03 -0400 Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 12:09:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: More news from Diane Hambley... Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 13:51:43 +0100 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org From: Humphrey Gervais Subject: Re: More news from Diane Hambley.... I couldn't help inwardly smiling at Diane Hambley's latest post, as she works toward keeping the rest of us informed about the likelihood of an eMail link into Albania. Diane, having worked in Saudi Arabia in the days when only a telex link, (and a very tenuous telephone line), connected us to the outside world, I can empathise with your reactions to a somewhat slow and cautious process!! :-) The good news is that you are ahead of where Albania and the rest of the NIS was just a very few years ago. As someone who has a business need to get eMail into and out of Albania, I shall be watching developments on this list with interest (and silently cheering you on!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GREETINGS FROM CHELSEA,IN THE HEART OF LONDON ......... Humphrey C. Gervais pgp key on request - send eMail ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From albnet Sun Aug 20 12:13:55 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA14523; Sun, 20 Aug 1995 12:13:55 -0400 Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 12:13:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Ace Suares comments on off-line readers etc., and on WWW Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From snore@antenna.nl Sun Aug 20 07:23:10 1995 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Sat, 19 Aug 1995 18:16:07 Subject: Re: Is this Albania link for real? Reply-To: snore@antenna.nl Hello, First of all my sincere greetings to everyone who works hard to get Albania connected in some way or another to the Internet. And, excuses for being so long out of touch... My name is Ace Suares, and I participated in the first meeting of the Albanian Internet Interest Group, during a four day working visit in November last year. Since 1st of August I am a staff member of the Dutch APC host 'Antenna', which does not allow me to travel so much, but has a lot of other advantages, of which one is to get to know the operations of an Internet host better. I would like to reply to a message posted some weeks ago on this list, and make some comments that might (or might not) help Albania to connect to the Internet Community: First of all, I am in strong favour of 'off-line' connections. The Internet as we know it, takes a lot of 'bandwith', which in Albania and some other countries is hardly availbale and/or extremely expensive. If one sees the Internet as a complex of roads, then the link to Albania can be seen as a sand road, with toll bridges on all sides. An off-line connection (UUCP, ZConnect or whatever) uses regular telephone lines, and makes a connection to the internet only for a limited time (10-20 minutes) a day. It is like sending someone out to the mainland in a ferry, taking all the mail on his/her way out, and bringing back the mail that has been stored during the day just on the other side of the border. APC works in a lot of countries (in Africa, the Pacific, East Europe etc) with this system - and maybe the greatest example of how effective this protocol can be are the Zamir Transnational Networks, that connect Peace Groups (and others) in Bosnia, Kroatia, Serbia, Slovenia and other 'Former Yugoslavian Countries'. The Network operates in the middle of a war-zone, and is still able to connect groups from one country-at-war with groups in the other countries, and internationally. Following this scheme, in my opinion, it would be possible to install at least one terminal in a public space in Albania, where groups and individuals can read and write email and news. > > There are a lot of difficulties setting up the internet connection to Albania. > The most important one is that the telephone lines are not reliable. If this > is not enough, there is a lot of "tapping" into the existing ones. To overcome the 'tapping in' it would be the better solution to block outgoing calls from that 'host-telephone' and let the other host (the one not in Albania) make the calls. Probably, this will give a more reliable connection, and the cost would be shared by the western participants. (Cost-sharing principle) > the routing of e-mail (the minimum), there would be very few paying > users > which would be a factor to sky-rocket the price for the end user. By applying for a grant, by sharing the cost with willing partners outside of Albania, the cost for Albanians should be kept at zero level for the first two years, in my opinion. In that, Albania would follow the model of many other countries, including Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, and even the Netherlands... > Obviously, making the configuration is very easy: all you need is an IP number > and the registration of the domain. The problem comes when you will have to > keep up the physical connection. Since, in this scheme, maintaining the physical connection means trying to place one succesfull 20 minute phonecall to Albania every day, it seems to me that email and news will be possible in Albania on a very short term. Obtaining an IP number is in this phase, not necessary. > That UNDP satellite link makes me hope though > that some day we will be able to send some messages over there (we could save > some money on phone bills!!!). Hoping this will happen soon I wish you all the > best. The UNDP satelite gives a tremendous window and adavatage above the phone-line solution. Since the satelite is fully reliable, and UNDP even wants to sponsor NGO email access (as far as I know), all the most difficult problems can be solved at once. Obtaining a public space, that will be managed well, is a serious point of concern, that only the Albanians can solve, however. With these few remarks, I hope all who are in favour of getting information in and out Albania, will reconsider the strategy and move toward a simple, but effective (it has proven so) method to establish the first exchanges. for info about the Zamir Networks, write to support@zamir- zg.ztn.apc.org for help in setting up such a simple node, and start negotiating with APC, write to philip@gn.apc.org or efarwell@igc.apc.org All the best, hope to see albania on-line soon, Ace Suares Support Network On Renewable Energy / Antenna http://antenna.nl/~snore *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** --------------------------------------------------------------------- >From snore@antenna.nl Sun Aug 20 07:23:10 1995 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Sat, 19 Aug 1995 22:10:32 Subject: World Wide Web for Albania Reply-To: snore@antenna.nl Hello All, In my previous message I opted for a simple off-line connection for email and news. So, what about the World Wide Web ? UUCP (or ZConnect, or whatever) off-line connections are not the same as full Internet. FTP, Gopher, WAIS, and the World WIde Web are not accessible in a straightforward way. For all Internet services, there is a mail variant. There is ftpmail, waismail, gophermail and even wwwmail. This means, by sending a mail message to a certain server, you can retrieve the information that otherwise would have been found using the Internet. Of course, 'browsing' is nearly impossible in such manner. However, the WWW provides us with great new capacity, since the material on the Web can be 'downloaded' in a 'cache' directory on your harddisk. The combination of a cache directory and a good bookmark file (which contains pointers to the world wide web pages in the cache on your harddisk) provides a possibility for people who dont have internet connectivity. Simply by transferring the cache dirctory and the bookmark file (using floppy disks, removable harddisks, tape streamers or whatever) the people in Albania (or Kazachstan for that matter) can view the World Wide Web - without making a single phone call. In this circumstances, I would like to start a small low budget project, where all uf us who have access to internet, gather interesting pages, and send it on a disk to Dr. Hambley (or any other person that has access to a 386 computer or more). Sincere greetings Ace Suares http://antenna.nl/~snore *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** From albnet Fri Aug 25 09:43:02 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id JAA03942; Fri, 25 Aug 1995 09:43:02 -0400 Date: Fri, 25 Aug 1995 09:43:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: News on UNDP linkup Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 12:05:01 +0100 From: inima@saritel.it (INIMA) To: albnet-l@info.irex.org News on Internet in Albania. These last days the representative of UNDP in Tirana, Albania, Mr. Peter Schumann together with Bill Eldridge presented at the Office of Premier Minister of Albania a project for the creation of an Internet node in Albania using the free channel of UNDP's satellite connection in Tirana. In this project the name "AlbNet" is used to specify the team/organisation which will be responsible for the administration of this node. In this project UNDP agrees to give its satellite channel to be used for all organisations and individuals interested for Internet connectivity, including state organisations and business organisations. We are waiting for some formal details to be solved to have the project started. Neki Frasheri INIMA, Albania From albnet Fri Aug 25 10:10:12 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id KAA04604; Fri, 25 Aug 1995 10:10:12 -0400 Date: Fri, 25 Aug 1995 10:10:12 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Re: News on UNDP linkup - comment from Drita Ivanaj Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 10:00:37 EDT From: Drita Ivanaj To: albnet-l@info.irex.org What a wonderful news to hear that an Internet node in Tirana is about to be realized! I trust that, in due time, guidelines for its administration and applications for participation in it will be promulgated throughout the current channels of communi- cations, which have so far provided an excellent view of the efforts of everyone involved in this project. Right on, Albania, you are on the verge of peeking out of the window on the world and getting a better view of it all! Congratulations and Gezuar! Drita Ivanaj From albnet Mon Aug 28 15:59:49 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id PAA14844; Mon, 28 Aug 1995 15:59:49 -0400 Date: Mon, 28 Aug 1995 15:59:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: APC networks in southeastern Europe Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: snore@snore.antenna.nl To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Date: Sun, 20 Aug 1995 19:08:35 A bit late, but I thought it woould be usefull information... Greetings Ace ============================================================================= For release on: 12. June 1995 From: ACENET - Association of Central European Networks for Electronic Telecommunication PRESS RELEASE Internet and Electronic Communication Networking Meeting in Central Europe Representatives from 5 electronic telecommunication networks working in 9 Central European countries met in Prague (8-11 June, 1995) to coordinate their common objectives of providing low-cost, reliable, electronic communication and Internet services for non-profit, non-governmental organisations in the region. The 5 networks: BulNet, Econnect, Green Spider, StrawberryNet and Zamir Transnational Net have joined together to form the Association of Central European Networks for Electronic Telecommunication (ACENET). The networks who joined to form ACENET are now already serving more than 2,500 individuals and approximately 450 non-governmental, non-profit organisations in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Yugoslavia. Plans were made: to exchange electronic conferences and newsgroups in order to improve international flow of information; to continue sharing experiences among our individual networks; to support each other on technical issues; and to develop a common multi-platform user interface. It was agreed that users of ACENET systems who are traveling would be able to get a guest accounts in any of the other systems. We will also be working to develop a common strategy for the development of the networks. ACENET systems are either members, partners or supporters of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), a global computer communications network for environment, human rights, development and peace and will be cooperating closely with APC networks around the world. We see that our highest priority for electronic communications in Central Europe is to provide access to basic Internet services for citizens groups in the region. This is especially necessary where there is a lack of access to good sources of information and the means to exchange this information. Names and email addresses to contact the networks. Bulnet in Bulgaria support@leff.gn.apc.org, support@bulnet.bg Econnect in Czech Republic support@ecn.gn.apc.org Green Spider in Hungary support@zpok.hu StrawberryNet in Romania support@szamoca.sbnet.ro Zamir Transnational Net (ZTN) in the post Yugoslavian counties support@ZAMIR-BG.ztn.apc.org in Belgrade support@ZAMIR-LJ.ztn.apc.org in Ljubljana support@ZAMIR-SA.ztn.apc.org in Sarajevo support@ZAMIR-TZ.ztn.apc.org in Tuzla support@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.apc.org in Zagreb support@ZANA-PR.ztn.apc.org in Pristina Sent by e.bachman@zamir-zg.ztn.apc.org http://antenna.nl/~snore *** Stimulate the Alternatives !!! *** From albnet Fri Sep 1 08:38:27 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id IAA00648; Fri, 1 Sep 1995 08:38:27 -0400 Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 08:38:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Who will get there first? and note on Infosoft Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Thu, 31 Aug 95 07:57:17 -0700 From: Albert Blank To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Who will get there first? It is good to hear that the UNDP link is making progress. Meanwhile, Linda Poteat of AIHA has informed me that the telephone link for email planned by InfoSoft is being spun off to a company called Video On Line ITC (contact number, tel/fax: 355-42-32990). Good to have some movement at last! ********** To: Diane Hambley I do know of the internet interest group in Tirana. In fact, I attended a meeting of that group at the Soros Foundation when I visited last December. I regret that a conflict prevented my attendance during my short visit in July but I did meet Bill Eldridge and he brought me up-to-date. Best regards, aab. ********** From albnet Tue Oct 3 08:15:14 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id IAA07205; Tue, 3 Oct 1995 08:15:14 -0400 Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 08:15:13 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Report by Istvan Tetenyi of DANTE on his Albania visit Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Excerpted from: >__________________________________________________________________ > > * * A bi-monthly electronic news bulletin > * * reporting on the activities of DANTE, > * the company that organises international > * network services for the European >THE WORKS OF D A N T E research community. > >No.11, September 1995 Editor: Josefien Bersee >__________________________________________________________________ ... > >PHARE NETWORKING PROJECT > >The PHARE project is finally moving. A number of contracts with the >Commission for connectivity have been signed now, in particular with >Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and >Hungary. With respect to Albania progress has been made as well, as a >result of the visit to Albania of Istvan Tetenyi, who works for DANTE >as consultant on the PHARE project. His personal account of the visit >to Albania can be found below. > >For five of the PHARE countries, the Baltic states, Albania and >Slovenia the European Commission, has made 80 KECU available for the >upgrading of the national computer network infrastructure - in >addition to funding for the international connectivity. Under this >arrangement a Call for Tender for the provision of hardware such as >pc's and workstations, modems and routers has been issued. The next >PHARE meeting with the representatives of the PHARE countries, EC, >and DANTE, will take place on 5-6 October in Bratislava, Slovakia. > >A VISIT TO ALBANIA - by Istvan Tetenyi > >The aim of my visit to Albania to prepare for an implementation plan >to connect Albania to the Internet. Albania followed its own path of >development for the last 45 years and the results are still very >visible in 1995. The democratic Albania inherited a very basic >infrastructure from its predecessor and people face severe problems >such as unreliable electricity and water supply. Albania has the >worst phone system in Europe and some phones are hacked. Fax machines >in offices are still rare. The number of LANs is less than twenty. >Albania is the only country in Europe that is not yet connected to >the Internet. People have heard about it and some professionals have >used it. Everybody I met was hoping for the quick arrival of Internet >services, in particular electronic mail. > >Authorities in Albania have helped to set up an initial >organisational framework to address the administrative issues. DANTE >catalyses this work with its advice and classification of the working >model of the various European networking organisations. Consequently, >an organisational structure has been established which comprises a >Council of participating organisation's representatives, a Technical >and a User Committee. It is expected that in the next year a research >network organisation will be formed. > >A non-official but very important forum is the 'Internet Group of >Albania'. The group was set-up by Diane Hambley in 1994. Interested >parties in Tirana are having weekly meetings to teach, explain, train >and help the future users. A vital forum of exchanging views and >disseminate information is already in place. Other international >agencies like UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the Soros >Foundation are also focusing efforts in the establishment of an >Internet connection. Bill Eldridge with the financial support of the >above agencies initiated the ALBNET project to realise international >networking facilities. > >The technical solution planned for Albania is based on one 64 kbps >satellite circuit, a dial-up router that is accessed via wireless >modems within the radius of 5-10 km. The infrastructure background >does not facilitate leased link circuits yet. The router accommodates >16 access lines from 16 different locations in Tirana. > >There is a strong wish to harmonise the existing projects and join >the efforts of PHARE and UNDP together. Negotiations with UNDP >representatives are on their way. Hopefully some of the long lasting >effects of isolation will soon be alleviated by the introduction of >the Internet to Albania. > .... >DANTE IN PRINT > >DANTE has existed for over two years now and during that period >things have been moving fast in European research networking. By >setting up its own publications series DANTE offers a broad overview >of technical, political and commercial developments in European >research networking (and DANTE's role in it). All papers presented >and published by and on behalf of DANTE as well as articles in >journals and magazines will be included in DANTE IN PRINT. Hard >copies, Postscript, and HTML versions are available, see URL: >http://www.dante.net/pubs/dip.html. >__________________________________________________________________ > >DANTE - Lockton House - Clarendon Road - Cambridge - CB2 2BH - UK > >telephone +44 1223 302992 >fax +44 1223 303005 > >E-mail dante@dante.org.uk > S=dante; O=dante; P=dante; A=mailnet; C=fi >WWW server http://www.dante.net/ >___________________________________________________________________ From albnet Mon Oct 16 19:20:34 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id TAA01019; Mon, 16 Oct 1995 19:20:34 -0400 Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 19:20:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana Internet Group meeting report -- October 4 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From capippitt@usaid.gov Mon Oct 16 10:38:59 1995 INTERNET USERS GROUP OF ALBANIA Wednesday, October 4, 1995 Prepared by Diane Hambley Gene White, DAI(Consultants to World Bank), 22108 Bentina Shehu, Hidromont, 22108 Donald Balla, DAI, 22108(w) 33649 (h) Ilir Zenku, student, 28560 Gjergsi Malo, Land o'Lakes, 34926 Rich McClear, Journalism Faculty Mark Luce, Fultz Technical School, 28746 Diane Hambley, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 24772/FAX 32222 The current status of getting internet started in Albania was reviewed. Things are looking very close to implementation, as UNDP has adopted our effort as a project through the end of 1996. They expect to have the necessary budget revisions approved by the Albanian government within two weeks. UNDP is getting a satellite upgrade which will eventually provide a better internet connection. We are still focusing on basically getting internet email started. The central point of access will be located at UNDP (instead of at the Fultz School as originally planned) in Tirana. UNDP is working on getting a dedicated phone line installed to provide access. Other satellite access points will be at sites such as the Fultz School, University of Tirana, National Library, U.S.I.S., and Polytechnic University in Tirana. These sites are given as examples only. To be ready to have access when the system starts up (target date of 9/15 obviously was missed and we don't have a concrete date now), one still needs to get a computer, modem, and phone line. It was pointed out that some of the satellite sites will probably have direct access (users can walk in and type a message at a computer there when available). Also, people with computers, but without phone and/or modem may be able to bring diskettes and upload/download messages at some satellite locations. Diane pointed out that at previous meetings we have discussed how inefficient such diskette loading can be. Nevertheless, to make internet available to a maximum number of people, such an arrangement is really needed . Mark Luce pointed out that the Fultz School library hopes to be a satellite site, and would possibly allow diskette uploading and/or direct typing at their computer. Diane would like someone to volunteer to work with her to set up a data base of organizations working in Albania, which would eventually be available on the network. Nobody has volunteered to work on this yet. When email does start, users will still use an off-line reader program to read, answer, and send messages (see previous minutes for discussion). The software package hasn't been chosen. Much equipment is on order, and some has been installed at UNDP and other locations. Bill Eldridge has left Tirana (after a lot of hard work) and left things so they can continue. UNDP will try to recruit Rezart Andoni as the technician, because he has been working as Bill's assistant for some time. Once the budget has been approved, other staff positions are likely to become available as well. The group discussed the possibility of starting an NGO (Non Governmental Organization) - Albanian Internet Society, or something like that so that our group can acquire some sort of recognizable structure. The current flexible informal structure has its advantages, and yet we don't want to become an underground group. Diane promised to contact the lawyer Kathy Imholtz had suggested to find out what is needed. Diane reported on the recent visit of Istvan Tetenyi of DANTE-PHARE. This organization has had the license to start internet in Albania since 1994, but the going has been obviously slow. Istvan emphasized the need for cooperation so that we can maximize the usefulness of resources available. Authorities in Albania have helped to set up an initial organizational framework to address the administrative issues, based upon Dante's experience in other east European organizations. There is a Council for Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation which will have many responsibilities, including oversight of internet activities. There will be two subcommittees related to internet: Technical Committee and User Committee. Diane attended several meetings with Istvan while he was here, and they positioned our initial email startup (UNDP) as the first wave, with the continued work of DANTE-PHARE to expand and support it. Members of our group expressed a strong interest in sending someone to get involved in the User Committee. The group agreed to continue meeting on alternate Wednesdays, but to have the meetings start at 5:00 pm (instead of 4) so that more people can attend. YOU ARE INVITED NEXT MEETING IS ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18TH, 5 pm at the coffee bar outside of the economics faculty entrance FUTURE MEETINGS ARE SCHEDULED FOR NOVEMBER 1, NOVEMBER 15, NOVEMBER 29, DECEMBER 13, AND JANUARY 17 From albnet Fri Oct 20 12:08:41 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA19478; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:08:41 -0400 Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:08:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Albanian organizations which would benefit from Internet access Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Thu, 19 Oct 95 09:33:05 -0700 From: Michael Kress Date: 19 October 1995 From: Albert Blank To: Albania Networking Forum cc: Linda Poteat Subject: Internet access sites at hospitals in Tirana In the minutes of the Internet Users Group of Albania, dated October 4, Diane Hambley has asked for a volunteer to help set up a database of organizations in Albania which would be available on the network. I suggest that the Networking Forum make a start on compiling such a database. Here's are a few suggestions for entries in the database: Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, NY has partnerships with the following hospitals in Tirana: University Hospital, Maternity Hospital and Trauma Hospital. Without an Internet link, communication has been extremely difficult, although important and urgent matters frequently require it. These hospitals should all be connected. At the very least, the resource center, ARCH, at University Hospital should be accessible on line. ---- [Note: suggestions of other such organizations are welcome. - IW] From albnet Fri Oct 20 12:25:56 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA20083; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:25:56 -0400 Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:25:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: More people discuss Albanian networking outside Alb. than inside Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [Note: This is a very perceptive comment -- and people who have worked on similar projects elsewhere in the region will recognize the problem. It is unfortunate that the only connection between this list and people in the potential user community in Tirana has been via INIMA and Diane Hambley's group, largely because no one else can receive e-mail.... -- I.W.] ------- Date: Thu, 19 Oct 95 18:11:58 BST From: Dritan Kaleshi To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Is it closed ?! It is really a great thing to know that something is being done for connecting Albania with Internet, and, on my behalf, I thank everybody that works on this. But is is a pity that you find out about this when you are out of Albania. That's why I say that the forum is probably closing itself. I read a lot of the files in the archive. Don't anyone think that you should open yourself to more people, and, I am sure, you'll find a lot of them volunteering to work. There is only a small number of people that know about such a good and vast effort. I work at the Electronic Department of the Polytechnic University of Tirana. Noone there happen to know about AlbNet, and that is not good. Not because, as someone may interpret my words, they should know everything about this, but if such an effort as AlbNet would have been more masive, very probably you will not face the need for some technician to help on this, as I read in the last messages of the archive. Please, go at the Faculty of NAtural Sciences, or at the Electrical Engineering Faculty. One cannot doubt that at some stage, after the words, some technical work should be done. And for this there are needed technicians. Sorry about that, but I also am totally aganinst some private networking company, as I read in some messages. If one want to do it, better discuss in some other place. I hope I won't receive a lot of somehow angry messages, because (and I'm repeating myself), a great work has been done. What I want to say is that, if the forum acts now as a converging point for different teams working towards the same aim, that would be it. Dritan Kaleshi From albnet Tue Oct 24 20:29:07 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id UAA05994; Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:29:07 -0400 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:29:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Internet Users Group meeting minutes - October 18 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Mon, 23 Oct 95 7:37:52 CET From: "Cameron Pippitt" Internet Users Group of Albania Minutes - October 18, 1995 Prepared by Rezart Andoni and Diane Hambley Present: 1. Rezart Andoni - Computer tech. 33148 2. Randal Imel - Fultz 3. Gjergji Malo - Land O'Lakes 4. Manola Xhaja BAC - Faculty of Economics 5. Olger Ifti 6. Elvin Xhatufa - Faculty of Economics 7. Elvis Koleka - Faculty of Economics 8. Arban Xheja - Faculty of Economics 9. Richard Tonello - Tirana International School 10. Rich McClear - University of Tirana Journalism 11. Ajten Shkreta - Sara Project 12. Ilir Zenku - Comp Tech. 28560 Rezart reported about the existing technical situation of Albnet. A lot of equipment has been purchased and has arrived, including: two powerful computers, a lot of modems, computer accessories, training materials, books from O'Reilly, wireless modems, serial cards, and antennas. What is left to do is the upgrade of UNDP's satellite. Other people or organizations wanting to have their own servers will be helped with software and training. This will be part of the UNDP project - people can come to our user group meetings to get updates on how/when the training will begin. The software that will be used by dial-up clients will be dMail which is an off-line mail reader based on UUCP protocol. Dmail woks fine with Windows 3.1 and 3.11 but doesn't seem to work on the new Microsoft operating system Windows 95. Rezart will try to bring the dMail program to our next meeting. If you would like a copy of the program, please bring a diskette (formatted for IBM and virus-free) to the next meeting. Options for Macintosh clients are being looked into. There will be five permanent-link sites, and each of these sites may put a phone line for email access. This will be possible because of the link to these sites will be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It will be up to each site, of course, to decide if they wish to provide phone line access. People with dMail, a computer, modem, and phone line will be able to connect into those sites with phone access. Rezart is still working to get things ready. The procedure for turning our group into a NGO seems to be difficult because there are a lot of steps to pass. Diane is working for this with a lawyer and perhaps we will have news for this at the next meeting. A local company, Infosoft has started providing email commercially, but Rich Mc Clear reported that he can send mail through this system but can't receive (from the States). YOU ARE INVITED Next meeting is on Wednesday, November 1 at 5 PM at the coffee bar outside of the Economics Faculty Entrance Future meetings are scheduled for November 15, November 29, December 13, and January 17 From albnet Tue Oct 24 20:37:05 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id UAA06559; Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:37:05 -0400 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:37:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: vol.al : can send, but can't receive Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII A list member recently received a message from Rich McClear in Tirana at the address mcclear@itc.vol.al. Here are the results from my efforts to send return mail to his address - Ian Watson ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 14:34:57 -0400 From: Mail Delivery Subsystem To: watson@shore.net Subject: Returned mail: Cannot send message for 2 days ----- Transcript of session follows ----- 421 itc.vol.al (TCP)... Deferred: Connection timed out during user open with itc.vol.al ----- Recipients of this delivery ----- Bounced, cannot deliver: mcclear@itc.vol.al ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: by northshore.ecosoft.com id AA25279 (5.67a/IDA-1.5 for mcclear@itc.vol.al); Sat, 21 Oct 1995 12:56:49 -0400 Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995 12:56:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Ian Watson X-Sender: watson@northshore To: mcclear@itc.vol.al ... ... From albnet Tue Oct 24 20:42:04 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id UAA07146; Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:42:04 -0400 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:42:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Tirana organizations which would benefit from Internet access Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: "David A Horne" Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 15:24:25 +0000 Subject: Re: Albanian organizations which would benefit from Internet ac > In the minutes of the Internet Users Group of Albania, > dated October 4, Diane Hambley has asked for a volunteer to > help set up a database of organizations in Albania which would > be available on the network. I suggest that the Networking > Forum make a start on compiling such a database. Our work on two EU-sponsored projects with INIMA in Tirana has prepared Internet hosting capability, including Web services, at their site. Although they access project email via (non-TCP/IP) dialup to Saritel in Rome (another project partner), they will ceryainly need Internet connectivity to progress the project any further (at present, their HTML database is copied by DAT tape to Rome for online access via Saritel's servers, for exampe!). Full details are: Gudar Beqiraj, Neki Frasheri, INIMA, Rr Lek Dukagnini Tirana Albania Tel: +355 42 32968 Fax: +355 42 32122 -- David.Horne@octacon.co.uk (Octacon Ltd Tel/Fax:+44 1642 210087/518) "ONYX" - Internet service provider to Northern England and Ulster From albnet Tue Oct 24 20:43:57 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id UAA07678; Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:43:57 -0400 Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 20:43:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Information dissemination; remote bridging Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: vburnett@nebula.lib.vt.edu (Viki Burnett) Subject: Re: More people discuss Albanian networking outside Alb. than inside Date: Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:59:00 EDT In reply to Albania Networking Forum's message: |> |> [Note: This is a very perceptive comment -- and people who have |> worked on similar projects elsewhere in the region will recognize the |> problem. It is unfortunate that the only connection between this list |> and people in the potential user community in Tirana has been via INIMA |> and Diane Hambley's group, largely because no one else can receive |> e-mail.... -- I.W.] |> |> ------- |> |> Date: Thu, 19 Oct 95 18:11:58 BST |> From: Dritan Kaleshi |> To: albnet-l@info.irex.org |> Subject: Is it closed ?! [message deleted for brevity] I'm not so sure that the above statement is quite accurate... I know that information I receive I've been trying to send back to a couple of groups in Albania - one US Project and one independent company. Some of this information has been forwarded through email. (The project has email capabilities through Italy.) I think that if others took the same approach, word could be spread very rapidly. I'm sure that most of the people on this list have contact with groups in Albania - thus the interest in being on this list to start with. Are others trying to disseminate this information as well? Maybe if we each made an effort to keep people uptodate on progress being made, the interest will grow? On another subject: Has anyone given much thought to remote bridging? It seems to me that it would be a better short-term solution for connectivity (albeit limiting in distance) with a broader band capability than the current phone line situation once UNDP gets a satellite connection up. Anyone else with similar ideas want to discuss the possibilities? Drawbacks? Viki -- *********************************************************************** Victoria L. Burnett Programmer/Analyst Network Administrator - VA Tech Libraries 540/231-4985 vburnett@nebula.lib.vt.edu From albnet Tue Oct 31 18:29:03 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id SAA05587; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 18:29:03 -0500 Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 18:29:03 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Brief comments from Diane Hambley Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [All replies directly to Diane please] Date: Mon, 30 Oct 95 4:52:16 CET From: "Cameron Pippitt" Some quick comments- Ace Suares with Snore mentioned some time ago a YWD meeting in November (in Tirana) - we would like to know when and where the "road node" might be set up and announce it at our meetings. I am having difficulty reaching the lawyer Kathy Imholtz suggested - would like her to confirm the name and phone number here again, if possible. Would love to see people from the Polytechnic and Computer Faculty participate in the User Group meetings. My understanding is that they have both have been chosen to be permanent link sites for the internet connection (UNDP project). Actually, we'd love for any and every potential user to come to the meetings. We distribute minutes as best we can in Albania - but as everyone know, spreading the word is a little difficult here. It is wonderful when visiting people come to the meetings too - it really energizes the people here! Thanks. ----Diane From albnet Tue Oct 31 18:30:11 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id SAA05829; Tue, 31 Oct 1995 18:30:11 -0500 Date: Tue, 31 Oct 1995 18:30:10 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Albanian organizations which would benefit from Internet access Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 12:01:32 -0800 From: VOICE International Subject: Re: Albanian organizations which would benefit from Internet access RE: a data-base of organizations in Albania who need internet connections, VOICE International a U.S. group partners with the Independent Forum of Albanian Women. We have givin the Forum a modem which has been installed and they are supposed to receive training as soon as a connection is possible. We would appreciate it they can be added to the data base. Thanks Nancy Pettis From albnet Sat Nov 4 10:19:42 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id KAA21569; Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:19:42 -0500 Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:19:42 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: itc.vol.al : sending and receiving Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII We received another message from a user of Infosoft's new service (itc.vol.al). Here are the headers -- note that the message took approximately 40 hours to travel from Albania to Italy. >From julian@itc.vol.al Fri Nov 3 09:06:30 1995 >Received: from vol.vol.it (vol-fddi.vol.it [194.20.35.11]) by > info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) >with SMTP id JAA15947 for > ; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 09:06:29 -0500 >Received: from cisca16.vol.it by vol.vol.it with SMTP > (1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA25086; Fri, 3 Nov 1995 10:32:32 +0100 >Received: (from julian@localhost) by itc.vol.al (8.6.12/8.6.9) id > SAA00823 for albnet-l@info.irex.org; Wed, 1 Nov 1995 18:46:13 +0100 >Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 18:46:13 +0100 >From: Julian Mulla >Message-Id: <199511011746.SAA00823@itc.vol.al> >To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Unlike what happened last week, my reply to this address seems to have been delivered -- or at least, it hasn't been returned yet. So perhaps itc.vol.al can now both send _and_ receive messages. Messages are being routed (apparently via a dialup) through vol.it. Vol.it turns out to be "Video On Line": an Italian Internet service provider (see http://www.vol.it). Infosoft's venture in Albania appears to be related to the "Video On Line Translation Center, based in Tirana, Albania" (see http://www.vol.it/HTML_AL/). There is a (very much under construction) Albania home page at http://www.vol.it/HTML_AL/albinfo.html. Meanwhile, we've also received the following, forwarded by Ace Suares. - Ian Watson >From: mlijn@antenna.nl >Date sent: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 22:04:59 >Subject: email to albania: big news! > >Dear colleagues, friends and contacts, > >From now on, you can reach out to our friends, colleagues, and >contacts in Albania, without doubling your phone bill. It's called: >email, and the one and only address i got so far is: recalb@vol.al >(the REC Local Office in Tirana). > >The commercial firm Infosoft (from Tirana) installed it, and will >exchange mail twice a day. Although REC has strived for email >connectivity with all its Local Offices for a long time, this can be >as well the result of the work of the Tirana Internet Group. >Initiated by Ace Suares (SNORE) and me, the group started meeting in >November 1994. Its members, variating in background from NGO to >University level, have researched and pushed every possible way of >connecting Albania to the Internet, and will continue pursuing this >goal. > >For further details contact the REC Local Office, through the above >mentioned email address, or (just nostalgically) try their phone >number, +355/42/27048 (also fax). > >Marjolijn Sondorp From albnet Sat Nov 4 10:23:01 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id KAA22111; Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:23:01 -0500 Date: Sat, 4 Nov 1995 10:23:00 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Magazine article on Balkan networking Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII List readers might enjoy the November 1995 issue of Wired magazine, which carries a sizable feature on networking in the Balkans. There is a long sidebar on Albania (photo of Bill Eldridge included) as well as information on ZaMir... - Ian Watson From albnet Tue Nov 14 18:44:45 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id SAA13195; Tue, 14 Nov 1995 18:44:45 -0500 Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 18:44:45 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Is mail exchange with vol.al working? Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: Dritan Kaleshi Subject: Infosoft e-mail connection ?! Date: Tue, 14 Nov 1995 13:26:35 +0000 (GMT) Hi everybody, I wonder if anyone has tried to mail at the address given by Infosoft as . Because I tried for more than three days and the result was the following message by my PostMaster: > To: Dritan.Kaleshi@Bristol.ac.uk > Subject: Delivery Report (failure) for julian@itc.vol.al > Message-Type: Delivery Report > Date: Sat, 11 Nov 1995 15:10:02 +0000 > Content-Identifier: Urime... > > > ------------------------------ Start of body part 1 > > This report relates to your message: Subject: Urime..., > Message-ID: <9511081505.AA21893@sparrowhawk.enm.bris.ac.uk>, > To: julian@itc.vol.al (Julian Mulla) > of Wed, 8 Nov 1995 15:06:56 +0000 > > Your message was not delivered to julian@itc.vol.al > for the following reason: > Message timed out > Message timed out > Any successful communication with the above address? Dritan Kaleshi From albnet Wed Nov 15 19:08:57 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id TAA18499; Wed, 15 Nov 1995 19:08:57 -0500 Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 19:08:57 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Use vol.al, not itc.vol.al Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Two people kindly explain how they are exchanging mail with users of vol.al: ---------- From: "Carol Moskowitz R.N." Date: Wed, 15 Nov 1995 17:19:31 EDT It seems the problem may be that people are getting mail from ...@itc.vol.al, and then replying to that when they should be using just ...@vol.al. I've tried using the "reply" mode and it bombs each time. I then sent the same message to ....@vol.al and it was received and to ...@vol.al and it was bounced back to me. I never use "reply" mode for my Polish email addresses either as they have always come back as "unknown addressee." I am having delays from 3-5 days between send time and receive time using the ....@vol.al email address. So, I think this is a viable system (having survived 3-5 weeks send/receive time through the mails in 1993-94). cbm --------- Date: Wed, 15 Nov 95 08:45:13 From: "jpeizer" Subject: Re: Is mail exchange with vol.al working? I have mailed to amustafaj@vol. al and the mail seems to get through. RGDS JP From albnet Fri Dec 8 12:32:49 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id MAA28470; Fri, 8 Dec 1995 12:32:49 -0500 Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 12:32:49 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: News from Diane Hambley Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From capippitt@usaid.gov Mon Dec 4 05:04:34 1995 Wednesday - November 29, 1995 Internet Users Group of Albania Can you say 1996? Looks like email will become available sometime in early 1996. Progress is definitely being made, and the User Group is welcome to make suggestions and help prepare for the unfolding - but realistically, it will be next year before the email services will be offered openly. Don't be discouraged - you can still get email locally at Infosoft. We've asked them to come to the next User Group meeting and give us some background information. Maybe they'll offer us a discount? We can always hope! Future meetings are scheduled for Wednesdays, December 13, January 17, January 31, February 14, and February 28 at 5 p.m. Meetings are being held at the Economics Faculty Business Assistance Center (first floor). Pegasus is the software Currently there is one commercial service available at Infosoft, Infosoft is a computer retailer in Tirana which we've heard very good news about. Another service is developing, and our User Group has been tracking the progress. If you are interested in signing up for the new service, you should attend and participate regularly in the User Group meetings. We will be one of the sources of current and accurate information, as it becomes available. Currently potential users are advised that they will need a computer, modem, and high quality telephone line to be ready. If you have those three in working order, the group suggests that you contact another user and set up some regular telephone/modem tests. For instance, you can use chat mode in most communication software. If things work properly, you will know that your computer and modem are communicating and that your phone line is good enough. Come to our next meeting and find another who wants to test with you! Many people want to understand how the email system is supposed to work. You will have an "off-line reader program" on your computer which will allow you to compose, read, and answer email without being connected to the system. When you are finished, you'll tell your computer to phone the system. It will phone, make the necessary computer connections, upload your outgoing mail, download any new mail that is waiting for you, and disconnect automatically. Everything is done automatically by the computers to minimize the needed time on the phone line, because we all know the phone lines in Albania still isn't too good. The off-line reader program is called Pegasus and is already available (FREE) if you'd like to come to the User Group meeting and get a copy. We don't know the pricing structure yet, and there still isn't a way to sign up. NGO Idea Still Alive Diane and Randall had no news to report on the NGO development idea. Do any of you future and current internet users want to volunteer to work on this project? See Diane or Randall if you are interested. From albnet Fri Dec 22 18:18:22 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id SAA29154; Fri, 22 Dec 1995 18:18:22 -0500 Date: Fri, 22 Dec 1995 18:18:22 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Comments from Ace Suares Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From snore@antenna.nl Tue Dec 12 11:22:12 1995 > Future meetings > > are scheduled for Wednesdays, December 13, January 17, January 31, > February 14, and February 28 at 5 p.m. Meetings are being held at the > Economics Faculty Business Assistance Center (first floor). The next meeting of A SEED's 'Young Women and Democracy' Programme (YWD) will be 4-11 February in Albania. About 10 young women from the Region will be present to discuss various gender-related topics, and enhance their skills in different areas, whereof email is one important one. Current plans involve Victoria Vrana (Network East-West Women) and Ace Suares (Snore/APC) as trainers during this meeting. For more information about the YWD programme, please write to ywd@antenna.nl Greetings to all, Ace > > Pegasus is the software > > The off-line > reader program is called Pegasus and is already available (FREE) if > you'd like to come to the User Group meeting and get a copy. We don't > know the pricing structure yet, and there still isn't a way to sign up. The Pegasus Software is used by Antenna (dutch APC host) as their offline reader, and has many many possibilities: - runs in standalone mode (single computer) - runs on Lantastic, Novel Lite, Dlink and other peer-to-peer networks (multiuser) - fits pefectly into Novel Netware 3.x and higher. There is a windows version and a DOS version, and a MAC version. The windows version runs on TCP/IP too, so it can be used instead of Eudora. Pegasus mail includes a function called 'notice boards', a bulletin board system whith the same ease of use of the mail part of Pegasus Mail. Using Pegasus Mail on a (local area) network enables people to send messages to eachother within the organisation (same bulding) as well as sending to the outside world. It also enables local notcie board as well as usenet-notice boards. This and many more features are contained in Pegasus Mail (pmail for short) and above all: it is doesn't cost a dime (freeware). Thanks to David Harris who wrote the programm and updates it regularly. Anothe off-line reader with a tremendous amount of possibilities for reading mail, forwarding, reading and posting into usenet groups etc etc etc is CrossPoint (Xpoint), as used in the Zamir Networks (former Yugoslavian Countries) and in Germany. It is not for free, however, and has (to my knowledge) not such extended capacities on local area networks. A third point of interest could be 'local area internet', by configuring the network and browsers like Netscape in a way that it enables standalone computers and/or computers in a local area network in a way that a full internet connection is not needed to access the information that is on the World Wide Web. I will be glad to share any technical knowledge that I gather during my work, on these subjects, to anyone interested and especially the Albanian Internet Interest Group. Sincere Greetings, Ace Suares | SNORE ! From albnet Fri Dec 22 18:19:38 1995 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id SAA29350; Fri, 22 Dec 1995 18:19:38 -0500 Date: Fri, 22 Dec 1995 18:19:37 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Internet Users Group report - December 13 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From Diane Hambley c/o capippitt@usaid.org ------------------------------------------ Wednesday - December 13, 1995 Progress assured Positive steps are being taken so that internet email will soon be openly available in Albania. An internet connection has been made, and the technicians are working to get all the bugs out. The administrative issues for email are being decided, and will be announced at our meetings as they become definite. Several people at the last meeting expressed concern over prices - will the email be free at first? Charges may prevent some people from getting access. There was also discussion of email costs all over the world. No decision has been made - so stay tuned for further information as it becomes available. Get ready It looks like the email will be offered primarily with phone access. The node will be in Tirana, and you will use your computer to call in and deliver/receive email. When the phone numbers are announced, you can call them from anywhere in Albania. We all know though, that phone lines are especially poor quality outside Tirana. Right now, the best thing to do is to become absolutely prepared. Do you have you computer and modem? Do you have a good phone line? Have you tested these ingredients with another person to make certain everything is functioning? If not, you will not be ready when email becomes available. If you have done all these things, then please consider partnering with another interested person to help them get ready! Future meetings are scheduled for Wednesdays, January 17, January 31, February 14, and February 28 at 5 p.m. Meetings are being held at the Economics Faculty Business Assistance Center (first floor). Your help is needed. The group developed a list of questions we'd like to have answered: How do I sign up? What will the fees be? Will university staff and students have free use? What version of Dos/Windows is needed for the software that will be used? How much memory is required to use the software? What type of microprocessor is needed? Is there a program that MacIntosh users can utilize? Will the service be email only? (WWW?) Will mail for users in Albania get delivered locally, or will it go out with the rest of the mail internationally (eventually getting back here)? What are the baud requirements? Will email work at the low baud rates of Albania? Can I get help with installation? The group also identified some needs for more help. We do have two students volunteering now to set up a data base of companies/services available in Albania now. We still need someone to build the needed FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file. Can readers outside of Albania send us your FAQ files? (send to Diane Hambley, USAID/UNL, K.P. 2400/1, Tirana, Albania). We have the Macedonia edition to start with. Also, we are looking for grant writing opportunities. There is definitely a need to train some trainers. Anyone aware of grants or possibilities for training - please alert us at the Users Group so that we can get some grant applications out. Infosoft, You are cordially invited..... We'd really like to get a representative from Infosoft to come to one of our upcoming meetings. We'd like to help your effort if possible (help spread the word) and are really wondering if you'd offer a discount to regularly participating User Group members. At this meeting: Diane Hambley - UT Economics Faculty ?4772 FAX:355-42-32222 Suzi McClear - UT English Faculty - 27955 Altin Petre IFDC 23638 Arian Durresi Polytechnic University 28360 Sonila Qirjakli Women's Center 23693 Rich McClear UT Journalism Faculty 27955 Gjergji Malol Land o'Lakes 34926 From albnet Sat Jan 6 13:44:57 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id NAA09283; Sat, 6 Jan 1996 13:44:57 -0500 Date: Sat, 6 Jan 1996 13:44:57 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Anyone know Rich McClear's address? Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From BubsMac@aol.com Sat Jan 6 01:33:06 1996 I am interested in contacting Rich McClear at the UT journalism dept, Phone? web? address? fax? please let me know. Thanx ......... Scott MacLaughlin aka... BubsMac From albnet Fri Jan 12 15:04:48 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id PAA01788; Fri, 12 Jan 1996 15:04:48 -0500 Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 15:04:48 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: UNDP satellite connection Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From inima@inima.al Fri Jan 12 05:54:56 1996 Subject: About Internet in Albania Sender: inima@vm.cnuce.cnr.it Reply-to: inima@inima.al In December 1995 the local UNDP Representative in Tirana created an Internet node using a 9.6Kbps free satellite channel of their equipment. In a mmeting with Mr.Bengt Messing, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP, it is said that: - This node is used by local UNDP Representative Office. - The future developpement is to be defined. - It may be used by UNDP partners in the framework of UNDP projects in Albania. Perhaps by certain R&D or academic organisations of NGOs. - The commercial/public use is Excluded. Sincerely, Neki Frasheri INIMA, Albania ============================================= From albnet Sat Jan 13 11:30:23 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id LAA04779; Sat, 13 Jan 1996 11:30:23 -0500 Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 11:30:23 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Web server now on line at UNDP Tirana Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: ulpiana@ios.com (Besnik Pula) Subject: Re: UNDP satellite connection Date: Fri, 12 Jan 96 15:46:52 Members of the list may wish to check out http://www.tirana.al/ for more information. The second working node durresi.al, however, they don't have a Web page as of yet. Besnik. From albnet Sat Jan 13 11:35:38 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id LAA05441; Sat, 13 Jan 1996 11:35:38 -0500 Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 11:35:38 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Infosoft: phone numbers, address, prices, etc. Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Rich McClear, who has an account on Infosoft's system in Tirana, has kindly reported on his experience... ------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 19:57:40 +0100 From: McClear Subject: Re: Information about Infosoft Infosoft operates an email access service. You can either dial into 33083 in Tirana or you can use one of their computers at the office if you bring your own disc. The address is Rr Mihal Duri Nr 17 Tirana. The office number is 32990. The phones in Tirana are bad and sometimes it is hard to get on. The lines keep dropping. Infosoft works this way. They have a server in the tesoom building that uses their emergency power. Users have the Eudora program and send and pick up messages. Every 4 hours a computer in Italy calls and picks up and drops off messages. It is only somewhat reliable. For instance it was down for 5 days over the new year. Messages can be slow in getting out but I have gotten them out. Costs are 5000 lek for the first month, and 2500 lek each following month. You also pay 10 lek per kb in and out of the country and 3 lek in the country. They give you a monthly billing of how much you have used. If you use more than you have prepaid you have three days to come in and pay up. It is not perfect, but I am using it regularly. Rich From albnet Sat Jan 20 14:22:48 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id OAA03515; Sat, 20 Jan 1996 14:22:48 -0500 Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 14:22:48 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Shell Tirana is on-line Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Here follow excerpts of a message which was cc-ed to the list. - IW ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 01:52:10 -0500 From: TIRANA.CORPORATE@shell.sprint.com To: capippitt@usaid.org Cc: albnet@info.irex.org strange when browsing servers located thousands of miles away from your PC, you find a message delivered not so far from you.... Shell is operational in Albania and we use every day Internet. Our experience maybe useful to you, your efforts for establishing an Internet point for Albania are highly appreciated. I really like to join your group to discuss for the future.... My best wishes for this year are for the Albanian Telecom. I hope to have such lines to shine our 28k modems which are sleeping at a poor 2400 baud. Anyhow, for all of you, All the best Ilir Ciko Systems Manager Albania Shell Exploration & Production TIRANA.TIRANA@shell.sprint.com Phone 27803, 42542, 25916 (Ask for Ilir or ext. 222) Fax 34916 From albnet Sat Jan 20 14:29:18 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id OAA03902; Sat, 20 Jan 1996 14:29:18 -0500 Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 14:29:17 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: NGO assistance organization interested in Albanian Internet work Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 18:21:42 +0100 (MET) From: Steven Sampson To: albnet@info.irex.org Cc: dialogue@inet.uni-c.dk Subject: NGO catalogue My name is Steven Sampson, and I am project coordinator for the Danish Government aide project to develop Albanian Civil Society. In this capacity, the Danish aide agency has established a fund to help Albanian non government organizations. The newly formed Albanian Civil Society Foundation (ACSF) has a five member staff and 9 member board. All are Albanian. As project coordinator for the Danish government, working out of a private consulting company in Copenhagen, I visit Albania about once every six weeks to oversee and advise the project staff and attend board meetings. Since its formation in March 1995 the ACSF has awarded grants to improve capacity for 60 Albanian NGOs in all sectors. The Foundation also has training courses, including the financing of computer training, for NGO activists. We have also begun to establish an NGO Information Center to connect Albanian organizations with each other and with foreign counterpart organizations, especially donors. In December 1995 the Foundation's Information Center published the first and only complete list of Albanian Non Government Organizations. About 350 NGOs are listed with addresses and phone/fax numbers. The ACSF also has additional information on NGOs and is in the process of developing a data base. The NGO catalogue is currently available from the Foundation as a booklet/diskette and will soon be in downloadable form. An English language the Foundation's newsletter is also available. Subscribers to ALBNET are well aware of the Internet difficulties in Albania. A current project of the Albanian Civil Society Foundation is to establish a Citizens Activity Center where individuals and groups can use facilities, including eventual internet facilities, free of charge. The ACSF has also been in contact with UNDP regarding Internet connections. The Albanian Civil Society Foundation is prepared to assist any individuals or organizations seeking further information or contacts with the NGO sector in Tirana or the provinces. The NGO catalogue can be obtained from the Foundation's current offices (which will be moving during spring/summer 96) in Tirana. Current phone/fax numbers are 355 42 28028 (tel.and fax) or 355 42 26497 (Rolanda Dhimtri, exec. director's home tel. fax). Email contacts can be facilitated by contacting the offices of the private consulting firm Dialogue Development in Copenhagen: email: Dialogue@inet.uni-c.dk. My home phone and fax number is (45) 3332 0251, fax (45) 3332 1345. I will be in Tirana for a week in late February. From albnet Sun Jan 28 19:00:09 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id TAA26639; Sun, 28 Jan 1996 19:00:09 -0500 Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 19:00:09 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Young Women & Democracy meeting in Tirana: includes e-mail training Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ------------------------------------------------------------- Young Women and Democracy Regional Meeting for Balkan Countries 4 - 11 February 1996 Tirane, Albania D R A F T P R O G R A M M E Su 4 Arrival of participants. Welcome dinner. Introduction games to get to know each other. Mo 5 Session 1: Opening the Meeting. Presentation of Pearl and Albanian Youth Centre/OFSA. Presentation of Young Women and Democracy Programme/A SEED. Presentation by Email Trainers/24 Hours in Cyberspace project. Short presentations of participants and their organisations. Agenda of the meeting. Expectations of participants. Session 2: The Status and Role of Women in Society. Lecture by Delina Fico, Albania "Women and NGOs: Changes during the Transition Period" Lecture by Valdete Sala, Albania "Women's Position in Society: Politics" >>> Small groups discussion on development and role of NGOs in different countries. Session 3: Intergenerational Problems Lecture by Erleta Mato, Albania "Intergenerational problems in Albania" Lecture by Natasa Milenkovic, Yugoslavia "Mother/daughter relations" >>> Workshop in small groups. Evening: Exhibition. Making posters presenting the work of the organizations (with pictures, brochures, etc.) Tu 6 Session 1: Health and Sexuality Lecture by Pandora Ketri, Albania "Women health in Albania" Lecture by Ana Kajevska, Macedonia "Women and AIDs" >>> Presentation by participants on the topic. Session 2: Violence Against Women Lecture by Diana, Albania >>> Presentation by participants on the topic. Session 3: Polution and Environment Lecture by Blerta Maliqi and Adela Kola, Albania "Environment and NGOs" Lecture by Tatjana Sekulovic, Macedonia "Polution of the environment and the impact on human health" >>> Presentation by participants on the topic. Evening: International evening. Everybody brings food and drinks from his/her home town, music making, singing. We 7 All day: Excursion to Durres. Visit to museum and ruins. Evening: Workshop on Media Skills. How to work with media, differences and similarities in different countries. Interviewing, writing press releases, working with camcorder. Watching audio-visual materials brought by participants, about their organizations and countries. Th 8 *24 Hours in Cyberspace project Session 1: E-MAIL TRAINING Session 2: E-MAIL TRAINING Session 3: Image and Portrayal of Women in Media Lecture by Mel Gunesana, UK >>> Presentation by participants on the topic. Evening: Meeting with Tirane Internet Interest Group Fr 9 Session 1: Minorities, Religion and Ethnic Conflict Presentation by Kosovo Women's group. >>> Presentations by participants on the topic. Session 2: Militarism and War Lecture by Ivana Balen, Croatia >>> Presentation by participants on the topic. Session 3: Excursion in Tirane Evening: Workshop on Campaigning skills. How to motivate people. How to set up a campaign. Forms of expressions and activism, and how the different public reacts to various forms. >>> Sharing ideas and experiences from different organisations. Sa 10 Session 1: Wrap-up and strategic planning. >>> Working groups. Session 2: Presentation of results and evaluation. Session 3: PRESS CONFERENCE >>> Meeting with Albanian Women NGOs. Evening: Farewell party !! Su 11 Departure. Notes: WE WOULD LIKE THAT EVERYONE IN THIS MEETING FEELS THEY HAVE THE RIGHT AND THE CAPACITY TO INPUT, SO WE ASK THAT EVERYONE PREPARE IN ADVANCE FOR DISCUSSION AND PLANNING ON THE MEETING THEMES. ALSO EACH PERSON WILL BE RESPONSIBLE TO GIVE A PRESENTATION TO THE GROUP ON A CHOICE OF ONE OF THE THEMES. WE HOPE THAT WITH A SUPPORTIVE ATMOSPHERE THE PROCESS WILL BE A VERY EMPOWERING EXPERIENCE. Daily schedule: 8.00 - 9.00 Breakfast 9.30 - 10.00 Announcements 10.00 - 11.30 Session 1 11.30 - 12.00 Coffee/tea break 12.00 - 13.30 Session 2 14.00 - 15.00 Lunch break 15.00 - 16.30 Session 3 16.30 - 17.00 Coffee/tea break 17.00 - 18.30 Email training 19.00 - 20.00 Dinner break 20.00 - 21.30 Evening program *24 Hours in Cyberspace project: On February 8, the 24 Hours in Cyberspace project will send 100 photojournalists around the world to capture images of people using electronic communications technology in varying ways. These images will be posted to an instant World Wide Web (WWW) site. A book, CD rom and television documentary will come out in the fall of 1996. The organisers want to make sure and include both women and Eastern Europe in the project. They want to send a photojournalist to Albania on February 8 to capture the email training! | Young Women and Democracy Programme | A SEED Europe | Postbus 92066, 1090 AB Amsterdam, Netherlands | ph/fax: +31-20-6925813 (new); e-mail: ywd@antenna.nl | *** Is gender on your agenda ? *** ------------------------------------------------------------- [excerpts only of this announcement] Young Women and Democracy Regional Meeting for Balkan Countries 4 - 11 February 1996 Tirane, Albania List of participating countries: ALBANIA, BOSNIA, BULGARIA, CROATIA, GREECE, MACEDONIA, YUGOSLAVIA, ROMANIA, TURKEY; ITALY, NETHERLANDS, UNITED KINGDOM, UNITED STATES LIST OF PARTICIPANTS >From the Balkan Region: .... Bulgaria .... 5. NINA STOYANOVA, computer expert, Head of the Department of Telecommunications Systems & Networking, at the National Centre for Information and Documentation (NACID), she will assist with the Email Training Invited guests: ..... Netherlands 26. ACE SUARES, support staff at "Antenna," Association for Progressive Communications (APC) host in Netherlands, he will assist with Email Training United States of America 29. VICTORIA VRANA, coordinator, Network East-West Women, she will assist with Email Training | Young Women and Democracy Programme | A SEED Europe | Postbus 92066, 1090 AB Amsterdam, Netherlands | ph/fax: +31-20-6925813 (new); e-mail: ywd@antenna.nl | *** Is gender on your agenda ? *** From albnet Wed Jan 31 22:27:25 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id WAA07992; Wed, 31 Jan 1996 22:27:25 -0500 Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 22:27:24 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Infosoft shutting down? Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII A rumor is circulating that Infosoft (vol.al) will shut down their dialup service in Tirana as of February 1, because the Albanian parliament has passed a law requiring that all data transfer operators be licensed. Any concrete information about either of these developments will be welcomed and posted to the list. - Ian Watson Albnet-L moderator From albnet Thu Feb 1 11:48:03 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id LAA13455; Thu, 1 Feb 1996 11:48:03 -0500 Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 11:48:02 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Infosoft announces they're shutting down Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Thanks to Mentor Cana who forwarded a copy of the following message. ---------------------------------------------------- >X-POP3-Rcpt: mcclear@itc >Return-Path: gdaci@vol.al >Received: from 194.166.60.1 ([194.166.60.3]) by vol.al (8.6.12/8.6.9) with SMTP id RAA02384; Wed, 24 Jan 1996 17:24:40 +0100 >Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 17:24:40 +0100 >Message-Id: <199601241624.RAA02384@vol.al> >X-Sender: gdaci@vol.al >X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 1.4.4 >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >To: dfc@vol.al >From: gdaci@vol.al (Gentaqixmos Dacikopullos) >Subject: Service closing . >Cc: aedp@vol.al, recalb@vol.al, mcclear@vol.al, jseyler@vol.al, > cistiran@vol.al, aaef@vol.al, billy@vol.al > > I'm sorry to inform you, that our service will be avalaible till the end >of January. > > We are forced to interrupt this service, because of new extensions in >Data Transmission Communication law which has passed through this week on >parlament. > > The law restricts the usage of this service(Data Transmission) to four >companies first is Albanian Telecom, second is GSM Celular Telephone, two >others are selected by an international tender. The lincenses for this kind >of services are very limited. So we have to interrupt immediately this >service for the moment to open it latter with a regular lincense. > > Hope that you will be again our client. > >You can still use the service till 30 January. > >Please contact the authorized persons at Infosoft office (Genti Daci & >Marjeta Hoti) for closing your accounts at Friday 13:30 - 15:30 and Saturday >11:00 - 13:00 (Maybe we have to pay to you the differencies or vice-versa). > >Sorry again. > >Best Regards. > >System Majordommo. > > From albnet Mon Feb 5 22:06:00 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id WAA22682; Mon, 5 Feb 1996 22:06:00 -0500 Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 22:06:00 -0500 (EST) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Icelanders seeking net-connected vacation home in Albania Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE [I'm posting this to highlight the social effect of the Internet. The=20 plan may seem far-fetched, especially to those of us who've struggled with= =20 modems over poor telephone lines, but in the right context it's quite=20 sensible: one hears many people who work on networked computers say that=20 since their physical environment is of no relevance to their job, why=20 not move to the nicest possible climate and landscape possible? The=20 reasoning is not all that different from what attracted the (Lawrence=20 and Gerald) Durrell family to Corfu in the thirties. Any practical=20 advice direct to Bragi please rather than the list -- I.W.] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 23:25:55 +0000 From: Bragi Halldorson Subject: Re: hus i Albaniu Hi I am an artist that lives in Iceland and most of my work is done on computers. Me and some other people here in Reykjav=EDk, artists and other= s that are working in computer enviroment and on the Internet are planing to buy a big house in Albania, most preferable a "castle" at the southwest coast and to have a chance to work there via the Internet and have vacation there. I have been following the news about net connection in Albania, and gathering my own information about it. There is an young Albanian woman living here in Iceland who is married to= =20 an Icelandic man. They met when he was in Albania in the year 1992 and=20 they got married and moved to Iceland. I've gotten a lot of information=20 from them and they have told me of people in Albania that could help us=20 find the house. My goal is to go to Albania in the end of September. We are open for other people joining us in this, people from everywhere around the world that are interested in combining a vacation in an unspoile= d and quiet environment far from the noise and pollution of the big cities bu= t still be able to be in connection with the world and their work via the=20 Internet. But first it is to find the house, buy it, fix it and get a=20 connection to the net. I vill inform this list about the progress of this idea but if you are interested, feel free to contact me at: bragi@qlan.is From albnet Tue Apr 16 16:48:11 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id QAA05054; Tue, 16 Apr 1996 16:48:11 -0400 Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 16:48:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Dennis McConnell reports on the UNDP network Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 10 Apr 96 15:52:20 EDT From: mac@MAINE.MAINE.EDU Subject: UNDP Network in Albania, and Misc. Message to the net from Ian on 1 April provided an outline of the UNDP net in Albania. I have been in (more or less) e-mail contact with some of the sites in Tirana - UNDP office, Soros office, and the Fultz School - turnaround time is usually excellent. Shell Exploration also has a link to its Tirana office through Italy. When in Tirana recently, also heard that Virginia Tech University has established e-mail links with the Agricultural University, just outside of Tirana. But I do not yet have confirmation of that link. All the best. Dennis ***************************************************************** * Dr. Dennis McConnell * TEL: +1.207.581.1988 * * Eastern European Enterprise Network * FAX: +1.207.581.1956 * * The Maine Business School * TLX: 62955628 * * University of Maine ************************ * Orono, Maine 04469-5723 U.S.A. * MAC@MAINE.MAINE.EDU * ***************************************************************** From albnet Wed Apr 17 21:22:39 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id VAA18967; Wed, 17 Apr 1996 21:22:39 -0400 Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 21:22:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Virginia Tech -- Agricultural University connection Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 20:13:12 +0600 To: albnet-l@info.irex.org, vburnett@vt.edu From: vburnett@vt.edu (Viki Burnett) Subject: Re: Dennis McConnell reports on the UNDP network At 04:53 PM 4/16/96 -0400, Dr. Dennis McConnell wrote: > ..... When in Tirana recently, also heard that >Virginia Tech University has established e-mail links with >the Agricultural University, just outside of Tirana. But I do >not yet have confirmation of that link. I can confirm the VA Tech - or more accurately, the SARA Project - connection for you. We have had this connection for over a year now to the main office in Tirana and to the AUT since late last summer. VA Tech is a subcontractor to a USAID funded program being run by Winrock. We still have to dialup to Italy, however. The connection is through cgnet.com. It would certainly be a lot better if we were able to arrange something with the UNDP satellite hookup in place, but we don't know the restrictions/logistics of doing that. If anyone has any ideas or knows, please throw the info this way! :-) I did ask one time if anyone had thought about remote wireless bridging for connectivity in Albania once the satellite hookup was active, but no one ventured a response. I just got back about two weeks ago and our Project is undergoing a lot of changes right now. But at the same time, this might be a good time to press for better connectivity on campus. The phone lines have undergone some significant improvement of late - we can run 9600 rather than 2400 to Italy. I also saw tremendous other changes to the phone systems taking place during my last stay. There were crews laying cable everywhere in Tirana to support the newer phone systems. I would think that with this dedication to improving the telecommunications infrastructure, more places will have better access in a relatively short period of time. Viki Burnett Director of Computing Pamplin College of Business - VA Tech vburnett@vt.edu From albnet Thu May 2 17:45:08 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id RAA00259; Thu, 2 May 1996 17:45:08 -0400 Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 17:45:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Internet Users Group meeting notes -- Jan. 17, Jan. 31 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [Archiving note: This message and the following one are out of order.] Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 18:47:44 -0500 From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet@info.irex.org Subject: Internet Users Group meeting notes -- Jan. 17, Jan. 31 Minutes from the two last Internet User Group meetings. January, 17, 1996 15 participants. A short introduction. Infosoft gave the new prices for their e-mail service Private companies: Registration 5000 lek Deposit 1500 lek 1 KB 10 lek Individuals: Registration 2500 lek Deposit 1500 lek 1 KB 5 lek Their address: root @ vol.al They don't have a computer for public use. It's difficult to do anything of this kind outside of Tirana. Maybe soon a new post office will start in Korca. Next meeting on January 31. ---------------------------------------------------------------- January, 31, 1996 Infosoft has stopped providing e-mail service. They sent out mail to subscribers that said a law had been passed by the Albanian Parliament which allows 4 commercial providers of data services: 1. Telecom 2. cellular phones system 3/4. 2 others - one of which has been announced but we don't know the name. There was much discussion and speculation about how the new law will affect internet availability. Would be good to get a copy of the law. If anyone hears of one of the two identified providers opening up their internet services - we sure would like to hear about it so that we can sign up! (and help?) 2 American internet lists/new groups were discussed. Newsgroups circulate email sent to one address to all members of the newsgroup. One is Albnet: which is a group of people internationally who want to see internet freely available in Albania. Our minutes are being posted there. To sign up for this newsgroup, send email to albnet-l@info.irex.org. NGO: Randell met with Lisa related to the possibility of creating our own NGO. The question is to find out what type of organization we would/should be. Next meeting on February 14th - 5 PM in the Faculty of Economics Business Assistance Center (first floor). From albnet Thu May 2 17:45:37 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id RAA00267; Thu, 2 May 1996 17:45:37 -0400 Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 17:45:37 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Second-hand news about the UNDP network Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [Archiving note: This message and the preceding one are out of order.] Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 10:44:28 -0500 From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet@info.irex.org Subject: Second-hand news about the UNDP network Someone from the U.S. Library of Congress who was recently on an official visit to Albania reports the following: "You can check out the UNDP's home page (nothing much to it) at http://www.tirana.al. UNDP has connected parts of the parliament, the government, the Soros office, ... the university, and a high school or something like that. Everything is in its very early stages as the satellite link (32 kb) just went up on December 11 via Holland ... From the Parliament we were able to access the Library's Home Page without any problems at all." Does anyone else have recent experience of the UNDP-based network to contribute? - Ian Watson From albnet Sat May 18 13:28:45 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id NAA16135; Sat, 18 May 1996 13:28:45 -0400 Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 13:28:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: UNDP announces Tirana FreeNet Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Good news -- UNDP has announced the Tirana FreeNet, a public network for non-profit organizations, and I've reposted their description of the network below (the original is at http://www.tirana.al/freenet.htm). A list of organizations who apparently have a live, dedicated connection to the FreeNet is at http://www.tirana.al/fullacc.htm, and another list of those with dialup (uucp) access is at http://www.tirana.al/uucp.htm. The UNDP web site in Tirana has just gotten a makeover (http://www.tirana.al). - Ian Watson ------------------------ Welcome to the Tirana FreeNet. Tirana FreeNet is the first public network with email service in Albania. This is a community network with the goal of promoting the free exchange of information, something which has been missed for many decades in Albania. This network will help encourage the development of Albania by providing enhanced communications for non profit organizations and by expanding the number of organizations and individuals who know how to effectively use electronic communications and information retrieval systems. Tirana FreeNet is sponsored by United Nations Development Programme and will operate until another reliable email service is available for the non profit community. This Network may not be used for business or political activities. Tirana FreeNet is only for organizations not individuals and provides only email service. Services like direct Internet access and Newsgroups will be not offered by this Network. Each organization is given an account on the Network. It is up to the organization to assign individual email addresses within their assigned account. So Tirana FreeNet will not give a user account like (e.g. beni@main.tirana.al) but will give a machine name (e.g. soros.tirana.al). It is the responsibility of the organization to arrange for software installation and hardware configuration. Once your organization is registered with the UNDP node you will be able to reach or to be reached by 50 million people worldwide by email. To be connected to this network and to use the email facility your organization will need an IBM compatible personal computer (PC), a modem, a telephone line and the software that has the installation files and the settings for your site. The software will be given free of charge after your application is accepted but you must have the equipment listed above. The software chosen in our case is very easy to use and is a DOS based software. It must be installed in a computer using DOS. The software has the ability to create several mail-boxes in one machine. Advanced users can do the installation of the software on a local computer network. The Macintosh version of the software is not yet available. Every organization that meets the conditions for subscribership can gain access to the Tirana FreeNet by filling out the application form which is available from the UNDP office. UNDP promises to process applications within two weeks. Once the application is accepted, the subscriber should come to UNDP and pick up the free software and information packet. Support for the software will be given by email. Questions about software use should be sent via email to postmaster@main.tirana.al or by phoning 33122, 33148, 33149. This network in Tirana is fruit of different subjects which have tried to have an Internet node in Tirana and now thanks to UNDP this node is alive serving to 6 permanent and 20 dial-up sites. We are new in Internet so the amount of Information available right now is not so much. We will try to update these pages weekly so you are invited to check our pages for new information. For more information about Albania and Albanians, their history and culture you can see at the main Albanian Home Page wich is a good start for Albanian Information in Internet. Have a look as well to the Kiev Freenet which is a similar computer network like ours. This is the first real Internet node in Albania. It took to much time and efforts to get all the pieces together and make them work out right. Our main concern was to get those sites connected; one can guess how difficult it might be to set up a network like this in a country where the percentage of the population having telephone access is under 4% (and there is no public network dedicated for data exchange). If one combines this technical inability to connect two sites with other difficulties arising from lack of experience and low users' knowledge about computers, then one may understand why this web page stayed unchanged for more than four months. We apologize for this delay, but we are conscious that we did not spend valuable time in vain. These pages were adopted in HTML format and will be maintained by our Internet team: Neritan Myftiu, Rezart Andoni. From albnet Mon May 20 16:13:35 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id QAA29552; Mon, 20 May 1996 16:13:35 -0400 Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 16:13:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: List future Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear list subscribers: The purpose of this message is to suggest that after almost two years of operation it may be time to bring the Albnet-L list to a close. When we started Albnet-L in August 1994 there was no Albanian home page; no Albanian mailing list; no Internet presence in Tirana; and very little common awareness of efforts to improve Albanian connectivity. Especially in its first year the list served as an effective forum for people interested in Internet development in Albania, and it probably deserves a small amount of credit for the progress that has taken place since. In the past six months, though, while there have been plenty of new subscribers the number of list submissions has fallen off. Meanwhile the various general mailing lists on Albanian affairs, as well as the Albanian home page at http://www.ios.com/~ulpiana/Albanian and the UNDP Tirana page (http://www.tirana.al), have emerged as potentially effective conduits for news of the Albanian Internet. Over the next few days I'd like to solicit opinions on whether Albnet-L should continue; I'll reach a final decision by May 30. -- Ian Watson Albnet-L moderator watson@info.irex.org From albnet Thu May 30 17:47:39 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id RAA15740; Thu, 30 May 1996 17:47:39 -0400 Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 17:47:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: List will continue for the summer; UNDP network Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII A number of people were kind enough to write in with their opinions in response to my message asking whether the list should continue. (I'm particularly grateful for the appreciation some people expressed, e.g. for the 'low noise level' of the list). Roughly speaking 55% thought the list should continue and 45% thought that it was time to disband, with half of the latter group hoping that discussion of Internet developments will move to another site, e.g. UNDP Tirana or the ALBANIAN list. I have decided to give the list a reprieve for the summer but am still planning to discontinue it come fall. So post your news of Albanian connectivity now. I'd very much like to see some first-hand reports from people who have been using the Internet in Tirana, no matter how trivial your experience may seem. (I will be travelling in June and early July so there may be a few days' delay on postings.) I've just tried to 'ping' the computers which the UNDP FreeNet home page shows have a direct internet connection through main.tirana.al. The following are definitely alive: parliament.tirana.al parliament1.tirana.al aedp.tirana.al (Soros education project) fultz.tirana.al (Fultz school) uptal.tirana.al (Polytechnic) A brief announcement of the connection to the Parliament appeared recently in the Albanian Times; see http://www.worldweb.net/~ww1054/ times/05_13_96.HTML#internet. We already have some list subscribers from uptal.tirana.al. Here is part of the output of a 'traceroute uptal.tirana.al' command, which shows the pathway by which it's connected to the rest of the Internet: .... 13 Groningen2.router.surfnet.nl (145.41.8.49) 148 ms 141 ms 129 ms 14 Groningen1.router.surfnet.nl (145.41.2.1) 163 ms 113 ms 117 ms 15 UNKiev-router.unkiev.nl (145.41.96.226) 148 ms 145 ms 208 ms 16 194.151.160.37 (194.151.160.37) 826 ms 831 ms 960 ms 17 main.tirana.al (194.151.161.194) 808 ms 899 ms 784 ms 18 uptal.tirana.al (194.151.161.228) 1055 ms 1118 ms 1067 ms So much for the technical details -- any reports from actual end-users of these connections will be enthusiastically posted to the list. -- Ian Watson Albnet-L moderator From albnet Fri May 31 10:12:34 1996 Received: (from albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) id KAA24831; Fri, 31 May 1996 10:12:34 -0400 Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 10:12:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Technical notes on Tirana FreeNet from Rezart Andoni Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From rezi@main.tirana.al Fri May 31 03:39:36 1996 Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 09:40:59 +0100 (GMT+0100) From: Rezart Andoni Subject: Tirana connections Greetings, I'm writing this email for a brief technical description of the Tirana FreeNet. I'll do my best to add some information in the future in http://www.tirana.al/freenet.htm for the technical description of UNDP Network. We have a permanent connection to Holand at 32Kb/sec. The clients below have as well direct internet access to this network with wireless conections or leased lines through UNDP: ______ osfa.tirana.al : router&email server at Soros foundation 194.151.161.98 : NT LAN server at soros and Intranet server there. (Wireless) _____ aedp.tirana.al : router&email server at Soros education project. (Wireless) _____________ uptal.tirana.al: router&SMTP server @ Polytechnic University. This is used there for Internet access through unix shell accounts, or X-windows clients. (Wireless) __________ fultz.tirana.al router&SMTP server at Fultz technical school (high school). This machine is used as well as a router for a relatively big network there. (Wireless) __________ parliament.tirana.al mail server @ Parliament parliament1.tirana.al router+httpd of the parliament. (leased line) __________ km_dap.tirana.al SMTP+router @ Public Administration Dep. @ Prime Ministry. (leased line) _______________ We have as well more than 20 organizations with dial-up email service. Our problem here is that the wireless technology we are using is very unreable and slow. We are working to substitute the existing wireless modems with new ones. I think that Albnet-L list has realised the functions it was created for. I'd like to thank through this email everyone who has helped and shown interest for INTERNET and Networking in Albania. Thanks, ______________________________ * Rezart Andoni * * UNDP Internet Project * * Network Administrator * * Tel: (355-42) 33148/33149 * * Fax: (355-42) 32075/34448 * * Email: rezi@tirana.al * * WWW: http://www.tirana.al * ______________________________ From albnet@info.irex.org Fri Jul 19 09:47:10 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id JAA06888 for ; Fri, 19 Jul 1996 09:47:10 -0400 Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 09:47:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: No decision on proposed INIMA-UNDP connection Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII [Sorry about the delay in posting these messages -- I've been traveling. -- Your moderator] Date: Wed, 05 Jun 1996 14:31:14 +0100 (CET) Subject: Internet connectivity in Tirana Sender: inima@inima.al Hi, Last days Local UNDP Office in Tirana postponed a definitely answer to a request INIMA did for full Internet connectivity. Meantime there are at least six sites in Tirana with permanent connetivity through UNDP Office, some of them running Html and X-windows applications. The connection requested from INIMA would server in the near future as a bridge between the Tirana Free Net of UNDP and the R&D network in creation under the PHARE project. Regards, Neki Frasheri ============================================= From albnet@info.irex.org Fri Jul 19 09:50:25 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id JAA07422 for ; Fri, 19 Jul 1996 09:50:25 -0400 Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 09:50:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Polytechnic University: Internet description Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 10:26:34 +0000 (GMT) From: Blend QATIPI Subject: Re: Internet in Albania Attached to this message you'll find a description of the network and the job done till now at our University for the connection to the Internet. ****************************************************************************** Blend QATIPI | Phone/Fax +355 42 28360 Computer Science Division | Phone +355 42 24261-239 (tone) Department of Electronics | E-Mail bqatipi@uptal.tirana.al Polytechnic University of Tirana | Bulevardi Deshmoret e Kombit, Nr.4 TIRANA, ALBANIA ****************************************************************************** Hello to everybody from the staff of the Computer Science Div. of the Department of Electronics. I would like to describe to the subscribers of Albnet-L the University's connection to the Internet. Actually the Polytechnic University of Tirana has a 19600bps radiomodem link to the UNDP with a Linux router (Pentium 75, 1GB HDD, 16MB RAM PC) and SMTP server. At this moment the service is available to the Faculties of the Electrical Engineering (2 Depts.) and Mechanical Engineering which are located at the same building where the server is sited. At this moment there are more than 50 regular users of e-mail service and most of them have full access to the Internet. The computers we use include: 1. PCs (Processors Pentium (100, 90, 75, 60), i486DX4-100, i486DX2 (50, 66), where connected in the University's Network at this moment are about 20 at the Fac. of Electrical Eng. Fac. and about 15 at the Mechanical Eng. Fac. in DOS/Windows 3.x, Windows NT, OS/2 and Linux platforms. 2. UNIX Workstations: IBM RS/6000 Model 520 one (AIX) IBM RS/6000 Model 220 nine (AIX) SUN SPARCStation 10 two (Solaris 2.4) The router has four Ethernet links which connect three Departments of our University and one laboratory, which are: Dept. of Electronics, RS/6000 workstations Lab (part of Dept. of Electronics), Dept. of Electrical Eng., Dept. of CAD/CAM and the Rectorate of the University. The Computer Science Div. is preparing the Home Page of the Polytechnic University of Tirana which will be available very soon. From albnet@info.irex.org Fri Jul 19 09:51:06 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id JAA07547 for ; Fri, 19 Jul 1996 09:51:05 -0400 Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 09:51:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Rules for .al subdomain registration? Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 11:54:36 +0100 (MET) From: F.Gennai@cnuce.cnr.it Subject: AL domain and subdomains. To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org Dear "Albanian networkers", I would submit to yours attention a problem about the regsitration of subdomains under the AL domain. In few words I think that it's time to establish some rules, policy, to register an AL subdomain. I think that some governamental organization should take some decision about this topic. Any comments ? Francesco Gennai ---------- ---------- Francesco Gennai Internet : f.gennai@cnuce.cnr.it CNUCE - ISTITUTO DEL CNR Phone : +39-50-593274 Via S. Maria, 36 Telex : 500371 CNUCE I 56126 PISA ITALY Fax : +39-50-904052 ---------- ---------- From albnet@info.irex.org Sun Jul 21 10:28:43 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id KAA18075 for ; Sun, 21 Jul 1996 10:28:43 -0400 Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 10:28:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Three opinions about the AL domain Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 11:54:36 +0100 (MET) > From: F.Gennai@cnuce.cnr.it > Subject: AL domain and subdomains. > To: ALBNET-L@info.irex.org > > Dear "Albanian networkers", > I would submit to yours attention a problem about the regsitration of > subdomains under the AL domain. > In few words I think that it's time to establish some rules, policy, to > register an AL subdomain. > I think that some governamental organization should take some decision > about this topic. > > Any comments ? Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 10:29:51 -0400 From: sgoldste@nsf.gov (Steve Goldstein) Subject: Re: Rules for .al subdomain registration? Do you know what you are suggesting? Do you really want the government to make the rules for the domain registry? Really? --Steve G. (This is a personal opinion which does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.) ======================================== Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 16:58:12 +0100 (GMT+0100) From: Rezart Andoni Subject: Re: Rules for .al subdomain registration? Yes, There is needed some time until this should be taken. This decition should be taken when the al. reqistry will be in Tirana. ______________________________ * Rezart Andoni * * Tel: 33122/33148/33149 * * Email: rezi@tirana.al * ______________________________ ======================================== Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 13:46:17 -0400 From: murzaku@arno.microlytics.com (Aleksander Murzaku (716 248 9150 x.118)) Subject: Re: Rules for .al subdomain registration? Ciao Francesco! I completely agree with you. It doesn't seem correct and professional the way naming is going on. I can understand that there aren't that many domains in Albania for now but it would be better if they start organizing now, while the net is small and there isn't so much work to be done. It might make sense to start all the high level domains as they are in many other countries: al.com.* commercial al.gov.* government related al.org.* non-profit organisations al.edu.* educational organisations It looks like the only service provider is UNDP for now. It could make sense if tirana.al became tirana.net and all the other subdomains be organised under a more useful hierarchy. As for UNDP, they could go back to their international naming convention e.g. undp.org.al as main domain and so on. Francesco, is this what you had in mind? I understand that cnuce is the nameserver for the .al domain. If the interested parties in Albania do agree, you could start enforcing the new policy before it becomes too late. Aleksander Murzaku From albnet@info.irex.org Tue Jul 23 12:16:20 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id MAA28628 for ; Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:16:20 -0400 Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:16:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Domain naming Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >From inima@inima.al Mon Jul 22 10:38:44 1996 Subject: RE: Three opinions about the AL domain Sender: inima@inima.al Dear All, I have been concerned for this problem, and atcually there is a organisation which can take care about the domain names. It is a Council of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation, with executive body the Center of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation (Serzh Qesteri). The latter is charged also to carry out the PHARE project for R&D network. I understand that there will be many remarks for this as a solution. I will agree if we would do something more non-governmental (a kind of organisation), but it has beed unsuccessful and I personally do not like other solutions (i.e. to have assigned the responsibility of domain administration to a individual - at least in our conditions). I will appreciate any concrete idea for what we may do. Thank you. Best regards, Neki Frasheri I N I M A ============================================= From albnet@info.irex.org Thu Jul 25 13:06:08 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id NAA11572 for ; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 13:06:08 -0400 Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 13:06:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Domain naming Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 17:30:12 PDT From: Dritan Kaleshi Subject: Re: Domain naming On Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:19:19 -0400 Neki Frasheri wrote: > > I have been concerned for this problem, and atcually there is a organisation > which can take care about the domain names. It is a Council of Scientific > and Technical Information and Documentation, with executive body the Center > of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation (Serzh Qesteri). Would you please make it clear who actually partecipates in the above mentioned Council of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation (as institutions, of course)? And does this mean that the INIMA (or CSTID above), as an executive body of the Council, will have the final decision on the domain naming etc.? It looks to me as an effort not to have a single person in the job (which is right, as Mr.Frasheri wrote), but to have a SINGLE institution. I don't know how right this sounds!!! Best regards D.V. Kaleshi ************************************************************************************ Dritan Kaleshi Networks & Protocols Group, Center for Communications Research (Rm 5.11) Address: Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol Merchant Venturers Building, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK. E-mail: dritan.kaleshi@bristol.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0117) 954 5127 ************************************************************************************ From albnet@info.irex.org Fri Jul 26 10:06:10 1996 Received: from localhost (albnet@localhost) by info.irex.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id KAA18064 for ; Fri, 26 Jul 1996 10:06:09 -0400 Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 10:06:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Albania Networking Forum To: albnet-l@info.irex.org Subject: Domain naming Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: inima@inima.al Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 12:45:59 +0100 (CET) Subject: RE: Domain naming Hi, The Council of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation is formed by representatives from Academy of Sciences, Univeristies of Tirana, and some other organisations. Concerning the question of who will carry out the job - a person or an institution, I think it must be a person, at last a person will be known as Administrative Contact. But I would prefer to have this person as member of an institute (for example he may be the Director of CSTID), so if this person moves away (as it happens often now in Albania), his successor may take the place to continue the work. Concerning who will take decisions, I think the Council may do the general policy, and the Administrative Person will look for the subdomain names. High level subdomain names responsibility may be delegated to other organisations, ex. .edu.al may be delegated to the University. Regards, Neki Frasheri Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 15:20:53 -0400 From: Albania Networking Forum Subject: Farewell message Dear subscribers, This is the last message that you will receive from Albnet. I hope it's been as much of a pleasure for you to follow Albanian Internet developments as it has been for me to moderate this list. In the "old days," just two years ago, Albania had no net presence at all. Now there are plenty of mailing lists and web sites (and check out http://www.tirana.al/uucp.html for the names and addresses of organizations connected to the Tirana FreeNet). Albnet's role is over, and it's time to close down the list. The Albnet archives remain available to anyone who is interested in them for historical purposes. They are now stored on the Albanian Home Page at http://www.albanian.com/main/resources/albnet.html. Thanks to Besnik Pula, who maintains the home page, for agreeing to house them. I'd also like to thank everyone who contributed to Albnet over the past two years for their interest and activity, and in particular Tony Byrne of IREX for his sponsorship of the list. I hope to keep in touch with a number of you, and I encourage you to contact me at the addresses below with any questions. Best regards, Ian Watson watson@info.irex.org watson@violet.berkeley.edu