FW: [Cialug] cd hand off - maybe lunch sometime this week?

Tue Nov 13 13:50:04 CST 2007

Back when I was a comp sci major almost 30 years ago at ISU we had a
problem to solve in one of the classes I was taking.  At what distance
did a 1200 baud modem ( a high speed modem back when we used punch cards
) become faster than a single bicycle messenger with a 1600 bpi 9 track
reel tape over his arm.  

We had to calculate the actual through put of the modem and how much
data could fit on a tape.  Tape density, length of tape, inter record
gaps, etc.

As I recall, 1 tape was about a 4 hour ride at 20 MPH, or about 80
miles.  

Then the messenger 'capacity' was increased to 5 tapes simultaneously
the next week and most of the class quickly wrote down 20 hours or 400
miles.  I put down 200 miles as I didn't think that even a well trained
messenger could keep up 20 MPH for more than 10 hours.  I got a "B" on
that exercise as it had been determined to be most efficient that he
could ride 6 hours, nap for 8 hours and ride a further 6 hours, for a
total of 240 miles.  

One of the points of the class was to make sure that we really thought
through the implications of our answers rather than just put down
something that was technically correct but practically impossible.

Those that put down 400 miles received an "F".  They complained that
there could have been a relay rider, like the pony express, but the
problem had specified a single messenger.

Anyway, the point is that it's much more efficient for me to drive down
town and pick up a CD that try and down load it over a slow phone line.
And on top of that I had to 'suffer' ;-) through lunch and a visit with
those that assembled there today.  (You can see me suffering can't you.)

Murray McKee 
Data Analyst
LI Data Modeling, Mapping, and Analysis
Wells Fargo Lending Information Systems - TIG (Technology Information
Group)
Mail: 1 Home Campus
MAC X2301-03G
Des Moines, IA 50328 
WORK (515)324-4689  Cell (515) 559-4390  FAX (515) 324-4452
Location: 800 S. Jordan Creek Parkway
West Des Moines, IA 50266
MurrayMcKee at WellsFargo.com 
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-----Original Message-----
From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On
Behalf Of Todd Walton
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:13 PM
To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: FW: [Cialug] cd hand off - maybe lunch sometime this week?

On Nov 13, 2007 8:12 AM,  <murraymckee at wellsfargo.com> wrote:
> I live on a farm.  Too far out to get a cable modem.  Too far out to 
> get DSL.  Do you have any idea how long it would take to download an 
> ISO image at 22K baud?

"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes"
http://www.google.com/search?q=quote+station+wagon+bandwidth

Or so the saying goes...

-todd
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