Hello again one-n'-all;

It's been awhile, so I thought I'd send a friendly note everyone's way to
let them know where we stand with the new vanagon list (since Gerry
Skerbitz at U Minnesota is retiring as list admin). Our new server
is up-n'-running now. In tribute to Gerry who started and has administered 
the list for many years, we named the server 'gerry'. 

My apologies for not being a bit more timely getting the list
up-n-running. I had hoped to have it working over the July 4th
holiday. Between 'gerry', work projects (those for which I actually
get paid), and a new house that needs losts of TLC, I've been a little
tight with time these past few weeks. It's been a bit problematic
getting everything together to get 'gerry' running. The internal network
connections on 'gerry' were'nt compatible with our in-house network. So in
lieu of having our work-support people decipher the problem (at $100 an
hour, if we had to pay for it!), I purchased a new ethernet card ($79).
There are some other minor things that still need to be fixed, for
example, the 'cheap' monitor we purchased turned out to have practically
zero resolution. I 'stole' the monitor from my wife's computer at home as
a temporary replacement. She's already started omplaining. When I get some
more time (or the compliants get unbearable), I'll go out and exchange the
'cheap' monitor for a new one ($215 vs. $95). I have the
software license for LISTSERV (which runs the list) and LSMTP ( software
which is essentially a 'postmaster'). And Ron Lussier (our off-site
co-admin) should have a full set of software documentation by now. I'll
need to key him in on things as well.

Provided we don't encounter any unsurmountable problems, here is the game
plan for the week.

***Tuesday: LISTSERV/LSMTP configuration and tweaking.

***Wednesday: BETA testing of the list ... I'll need volunteers!

***Thursday: If all goes well!, I'll release the list to the entire group.
Gerry Skerbitz sent me a copy of the subscribers list for vanagon at
lenti.med.umn.edu which I intend to incorporate into the new vanagon
subscribers list at gerry.sdsc.edu. 

I'll post a follow-up on Thursday to let everyone know the list is up and
what the new address is.  

Cheers, Chris
co-admin, new vanagon list
SDSC
csmith@sdsc.edu