On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 21:03:09 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

Wireless, radio, sat, etc etc. Unless its an asteroid strike..the
underground cables and much of the infrastructure will remain.
Communications is a requirement for survival. Large scale
communications is manditory. Be it homing pigeon, or 300 baud packet
radio. Unless every techy is killed outright, folks will adapt,
improvise and over come. The NET is too important a resource to leave
idle. Spare parts are in abundance. Any idea of how much adaptable
surplus stuff is languishing in warehouses all over the US? Millions
of Tons of the stuff. Mega millions of tons.

Electricity is easy to generate, on the grand scale of things. It will
be perhaps local, but it will be generated. The survivors will demand
it and require it. Will there be an ISP in virtually every enclave? It
could well indeed happen., And from a survival stand point is very
desireable. Learning, teaching, planning, reading, negotiating, etc
etc.

If it were some really catastrophic collapse, much of the net as we
know it might well go down the dumps for at least a while.

Kinda hard to imagine it all taking a dump, however.

I could well see, in a major catastrophic collapse where areas might
be off the net as we know it. And the net might well get fragmented.

However, I'm thinking that assorted workarounds would pop up.

I can generate the power for it, for instance, to run radio packet.
And have the equipment.

And, while more and more major trunks are fiber optic. For less
ambitious and more local computer comms, there is still plenty of
copper wire strung. It'd not be at all undoable to rig up at least a
fairly local network. Say, covering a neighborhood, or small town.

Certain plenty of the necessary hardware still around.

Perhaps one could radio link one neighborhood or small town to
another. Then to the next. And so forth.

Shrug It'd have nowhere near the abilities of the modern net. It's
be slow. And it'd take time to move any sizeable data from here to
there.

But, what the heck? I can remember the days when I was thrilled and
had a lot of fun transferring text messages, data, info files,
pictures and such over old fashioned copper phone lines using a 300
baud modem. And ran my own BBS. Only had 5 lines in, so people had to
sort of take turns and keep trying til they could log in after someone
else dropped off the line.

And I was signed up with a bunch of other BBSs and we used to swap and
exchange files. Everything from repeating and passing on the chat of
those involved in various discussion groups (sort of like the modern
usenet), to emails from one person to another, to program files, to
data files with info on almost any subject under the sun,
instructional files, hardware how-to's, lots of amatuer radio related
data, and of course, the obligatory suitably nude photoes of ladies.

Most of the BBSs had some specialty or another. Usually carried a
variety, but would have some directories with specialized data of one
sort or another. Those who did a lot of BBSs learned which one was
the most likely to have the data on firearms, which had more cooking
recipes than you ever imagined to exist, which had a bunch of amatuer
electronics information files, etc. (Used to be one out of the Whites
Sands research center that was pretty good if one liked pictures. One
of the female employees down there did not mind in the least having
her picture taken, then digitized and spread around.)

Chuckle, I have CDs burned with complete sets of old DOS programs,
utilities, applications, DOS itself, and terminal and BBS software.
And have stashed away 3 old but working computers perfectly capable of
running DOS, BBS software, etc. And a box of maybe 8 spare
harddrives, another box with 5 or 6 old but working modems, couple old
Conner tape drives, NICs, etc. And know others who still have a pile
of old but working stuff hanging around. (I also have CDs burned with
copies of Win 3.11, W95, W98, and a large assortment of software to
run under those systems. Including network server software.)

For that matter, now that I'm thinking of it. I have the stuff and
could easy lay my hands up a large pile of it as it's still made and
used, to run an RS485 network link up to 4000 ft at a shot without a
repeater. Driven by a device that uses precious little power (Max of
24 watts, 12 VDC supply). Limited to 19200 baud tho. Can technically
go faster, but gets glitchy at those distances if yah drive it faster.
Common device and system for communicating between machinery digital
controllers, fetching info from remote sensors, etc.

Possibilities are just about endless. I was just naming off stuff I
can lay hands on directly in my own home.

Sizeable number of folks with the right skills among them, you could
do a heck of a lot. There would be a lot of hardware around. Yah
just need to locate and collect the technicians and engineers that
actually know how stuff works, instead of the button pushers.

There would be a demand and want. If for no other reason that friends
and relative wanting to contact each other and send messages. Add
scenarios such as folks a location A wanting to know info they don't
have, but somebody at point B does know the info. One would like a
way to get it from here to there. Even if paper were short, or no ink
for a printer (til someone figured out a way to refill cartridge).
Yah could scan in a picture at one end and send to to someone. Who
could look at it on a screen, read and memorize; or scratch a rough
copy and notes on whatever was available for reference.

There is a very good reason that years ago, long before desk top
computers, fax machines were found to be very handy items. Sometimes
a picture, even a bad one, can be worth it's weight in gold.
Especially if you're trying to figure something out, or fix something,
and the person who has the info you need is a long way away.

Just some thoughts.

Bob