Two years of planning and work are about to
come together as The North Texas Free-Net nears its completion. The North Texas
Free-Net will begin accepting applications for accounts within the next
few months, according to Ken Loss-Cutler, Member Board of Directors.
"We expect to be online in a limited gopher/telnet format in the
very near future. We will be accepting applications for accounts
some number of months after that. Sorry we cannot be more specific
at this time," Loss-Cutler said. As of Saturday, October 15, the
server supporting the Free-Net became available for testing on the
Internet.
While the concept behind Free-Nets is not new (The nation's first
Free-Net went online in 1986 see Electronic Greenbelts for more information.), the North Texas Free-Net has been under
construction for two years.
"I initiated the NTFN Organizing Committee over two years ago,
and over half of our current Board of Directors was present for our
first meeting: a dedicated and committed group, indeed," Loss-Cutler said.
This group of people are working on a current budget of around
$200,000 per year. All of the funding is coming from private
donations.
Board meetings are open to the public. They are held at the
Center for Community Cooperation in Dallas. If you are interested
in attending please send E-mail to NTFN@ntfn.dcccd.edu or leave
voice mail at (214)942-2003.
Initially, there will be 10 phone lines with 9600 baud modems and
a T1 Internet connection.
The NTFN is located at Northlake College in Dallas. Northlake has
donated office space and ten phone lines to the NTFN.
For more information you can E-mail NTFN@ntfn.dcccd.edu or browse their
WWW server at
http://gopher.metronet.com:70/1m/North-Texas-Free-Net/ntfn-list
If you have problems or questions about this server, please contact me as soon as possible. You can send mail to the following address:
WWW@unt.edu