Internet circa 1993
From
brian carroll <human@electronetwork.org>
Date
Sat, 14 Jul 2001 02:46:58 -0800
was going through old floppies looking for something and
came across this saved post of the early geography of on-
line spacetime. what was interesting during that period
was that it wasn't everywhere. and major backbones were
under construction. just a bit of infoarchaeology...
the address for the author is now at http://www.matrix.net
who works on the internet weather report and other things.
bc
......
The Edges of the Matrix
John S. Quarterman
jsq@tic.com
Copyright (c) 1993
Matrix Information and Directory Services, Inc. (MIDS)
From *Matrix News* 3(3), March 1993.
Contact: mids@tic.com, +1-512-451-7602, fax: +1-512-450-1436.
What are the geographical edges of the
networked world? This is a peculiar question,
with a constantly varying answer. Here's what
I've found. If you know more, please let me know.
1. South
In the book, *The Matrix*, I mentioned that the U.S. Palmer,
Siple, and South Pole stations exchanged mail with the
Matrix by way of Kermit over a satellite link to a NASA
machine in Florida. This arrangement is still in place for
the South Pole station, making it clearly the most southerly
networked place in the world, at 90 degrees south.
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station does not have a permanent
link, and does not use the usual protocols of networks like
the Internet, UUCP, FidoNet, or BITNET, but mail is
exchanged with the Matrix.
The AQ DNS domain for Antarctica was registered in
March 1992 by New Zealand, specifically by their Department
of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). DSIR has a
permanent satellite link to Scott Base on Ross Island. They
run IP over that link, and it is routed with the Internet.
But apparently it isn't configured for international access;
I can't reach it from here.
However, two kilometers away is the U.S. McMurdo base.
McMurdo was first connected to the Internet in about
February 1992. Apparently there was some problem with
200mph winds during Antarctic winter, but McMurdo has been
up solidly since at least December 1992 (Antarctic summer).
That's about 78S 166E.
It is rumored that Australia has a link to their
Antarctic base to Hobart, Tasmania, but it is apparently not
Matrix News, mids@tic.com 3(3), March 1993
Edges - 2 - South
routed with the rest of the Internet.
Other countries are also considering Internet
connections from Antarctica, and some may be up already.
There are no FidoNet, UUCP, or BITNET sites in
Antarctica that I know of.
The southernmost networked place *not* in Antarctica
appears to be Hobart, Tasmania, which has UUCP, FidoNet, and
Internet connections. There is no BITNET in Australia or
New Zealand.
2. North
The northernmost networked place in the world is harder to
discover, because there are so many contenders.
Most northerly appears to be a node on the NASA Science
Network (part of the Internet), in Thule, Greenland, at
77 40N 69 0W. There are a few towns farther north than
that, in Greenland, on Ellesmere Island, in Svalbard, and in
Franz Josef's Land, but they don't seem to be networked.
Second most northerly appears to be a PC clone running
Waffle on the North Slope of Alaska, in Atqasuk:
70 28 10N 157 23 45W. This is a bit hard to discover, since
the UUCP map listing for it has 70 28N 157 23N. Unless this
node is run by Santa Claus, it's hard to believe it is north
of the North Pole. This host is really connected using the
WWIVnet protocols. Other than Atqasuk, the northernmost
networked place in the United States is apparently
Fairbanks, Alaska.
The most northerly Canadian hosts appear to be in the
Northwest Territories. There are two on FidoNet. The most
northerly is the one in Rankin Inlet, 62 30N 93 0W. The
other is in Yellowknife. There is a UUCP host in
Yellowknife, as well. That's 62 27 43N 114 26 04W. The
most northerly Yukon host appears to be on FidoNet, in
Whitehorse, at 60 43N 135 03W.
There is one site in Greenland that I can't locate:
Edgedesminde. That may be way north. However, Nuuk is on
FidoNet, at 64 10N 51 35W.
Iceland is farther north, and Kopasker appears to be
the most northerly site in Iceland, with both Internet and
UUCP connections, at 66 20 30N 16 29 30W. Reykjavik is only
a few degrees farther south, and has UUCP, FidoNet, BITNET,
and Internet connections, at 64 08 35N 21 57 35W.
Norway: Tromsoe, with Internet and FidoNet connections,
Matrix News, mids@tic.com 3(3), March 1993
Edges - 3 - North
at 69 40N 18 50E. This is also the site of the most
northerly networked university in the world.
Sweden: Lulea, with FidoNet, UUCP, and Internet
connections, at 65 35 22N 22 10 00E.
Finland: Oulu, with Internet, BITNET, and FidoNet
connections, at 65 13 00N 25 19 00E.
In Russia, Murmansk doesn't seem to be networked, but
Sverodvinsk and Archangelsk are, around 64 34N 39 50E, on
FidoNet. Then there is Komi, on UUCP, at
63 33 00N 53 38 00E; Petrozavodsk, Karelia, also on UUCP, at
61 47N 34 20E; Ivanovo, on FidoNet, at 60 32N 36 22E; and
eventually St. Petersburg, on most networks, at
59 55N 30 15E.
3. West
Westernmost doesn't mean much on a round planet, but the
networked place farthest west in longitude from Greenwich is
Hawaii, with Honolulu at more than 157 degrees west.
Exactly which town on which island is the westernmost
networked is unclear.
4. East
Easternmost from Greenwich is Fiji, where the Department of
Mathematics of the University of the South Pacific in Suva,
at 18 6S 178 30E, has a UUCP link to New Zealand. Then
there are various places in New Zealand, such as Wellington,
which is connected to most networks except BITNET, at
41 17 25S 174 46 07E. Christchurch is also far east,
followed by Port-Vila, Vanuatu, on the RIO UUCP network, at
17 44S 168 19E. Then there is Scott Station (NZ),
Antarctica, on the Internet; Noumea, New Caledonia, on RIO;
and McMurdo Station (US), Antarctica, on the Internet, all
between 166 and 167 degrees east.
Gold Coast, Queensland, is probably the easternmost
networked place in Australia, on FidoNet, at 28 04S 153 25E.
Australia being one of the most networked places in the
world, many other Australian locations follow.
Russia's easternmost networked outpost appears to be
Magadan, north of the Sea of Okhotsk, and at the end of the
road from the west, with both FidoNet, and UUCP, at
59 34N 150 48E. There appears to be nothing on the
Kamchatka Peninsula, or farther east. Sakhalin Island is on
the map, with UUCP.
Guam's easternmost networked point is on FidoNet, at
Matrix News, mids@tic.com 3(3), March 1993
Edges - 4 - East
13 29 02N 144 48 23E.
The easternmost networked place in the Land of the
Rising Sun is Kushiro, Hokaido, Japan, on the Internet, at
42 58N 144 23E. Sapporo follows soon after, with Internet
and UUCP connections.
References
Matrix News, mids@tic.com 3(3), March 1993
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