Re: Nocat List

On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Rob Flickenger <[email protected]> wrote:
> Sameer Verma wrote:
>> NoCat seems like it was so long ago. I had no gray hair and could pull
>> an all-nighter.
> The first alpha of NoCatAuth was released on 12-Jul-2001. At the time,
> we didn't know of any other open source portal implementation. Schuyler
> became motivated at OSCon that year to put something together when I
> threatened to write some (likely very dodgy) perl code myself. Back
> then, "WiFi" didn't yet exist and the only practical way to get wireless
> into a laptop was to use a Lucent card.
>
> It has been a fascinating 7.5 years. I have developed my own grey hair
> since then (falling off the roof in 2002 didn't help with that ;) I've
> written or edited more than a dozen books since then. My interest in the
> code has long since died, given the availability of much more capable
> and active projects like WiFiDog and Chillispot.
>
> I now spend a lot of my time teaching long-distance wireless techniques
> (including Pringles cans!) to folks from the developing world. A lot of
> that is documented in Wireless Networking in the Developing World
> (http://wndw.net/).
>
> This list is still here out of sheer habit. It currently has 755 members.
>
> Wow.
>
> We'll probably keep the light on until this list server falls over.
>
> Thank you all for your support and well wishes over the years!
>
> Cheers,
>
> --Rob
>

I *still* have a nocat folder in my inbox. I have a nocat t-shirt as well.

I remember when Rob fell off the roof trying to install an antenna
(can based waveguide, iirc) and ruptured a kidney. Everyone on the
list was "Don't die...finish the code first!" Just kidding :-) I am
glad you made it and its always good to hear from you.

A lot of what I gleaned from nocat is still with me and I'm able to
use it in my current project/obsession: One Laptop Per Child

Thanks, and keep the light on!

cheers,
Sameer
-- 
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://opensource.sfsu.edu/