announcement

invitation

follow-up

The first group-wide Microship Project meeting happened on 2 March 1996. On these pages Steve's email is shown in rust red and my comments are in blue. Most of the photos - taken with my Apple QuickTake 100 camera - are thumbnails; click on them to see the full-size image.

Arriving at the Nomadic Research Labs I see the Microship parked just outside a huge roll-up door. This is the space for which Apple is paying.

Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 16:11:12 -0800 (PST) From: wordy@qualcomm.com (Steve Roberts) Subject: First Microship Meeting/Party... 3/2/96 12:00

Hi folks!

This is my first pass at a Microship Development Team mailing list -- to do it properly, we need to have a listserv so it can become an interactive community. I think we can set that up next week on our new server at Zocalo in Berkeley (microship.com). In the meantime, I simply exported the email field from FileMaker to a text file, then dropped it into a Eudora nicknames window.

I'm still in the process of developing this very focused list, which is now at about 40 people (including a few who don't have email). At some point, when it seems to have asymptoted, I'll post a roster with a short one-liner about each person, their email address, and geographical location.

The party-goers seen from the deck of the Microship. At left is the office in which Faun maintains the web site. Above that is the loft in which Faun and Steve relax. (A better picture of the loft appears later.)

In the meantime, this note is to *THANK YOU* for your interest in helping with the Microship... and to announce the date and time of our first party/meeting at the lab: Saturday, March 2, at noon. If I hear lots of objections to the time, it's flexible -- but the idea is a rather relaxed full afternoon of show 'n tell, forging alliances, looking at projects, eating and drinking, and generally getting to know each other. We'll provide basic snacks, beer, and espresso -- if you want to bring something else to add to the festivities, please feel free to do so. (I'll post a map, text directions, RSVP request, and other details as we get closer to the date.)

Also, my intent with this mailing list (which needs to become interactive Real Soon so it's not just another one-way posting venue for me), is to provide a discussion forum for all ongoing Microship projects. We should probably break it into two lists, Shipteam-global and Shipteam-local, just to avoid boring our friends in Ireland, Australia, Boston, Connecticut, Houston, Seattle, Andorra, Reston, New York, and Southern California with local logistical details and last-minute announcements of pizza runs. Until we have the listservs up, if you have any general comment for the list, please feel free to send to me and I'll redirect it with you as the originator.

The on-board video system spread across a workbench. At the far right is a perspex dome containing a color camera, a greyscale camera, and controlling hardware. The Macintosh at right is running a dedicated Forth-langugage video controller, the image is run through a video casette recorder that sits on a shelf under the antiquated Sony television at left.

And again, thanks for expressing interest in the project! There's some real wizardry represented here, and I'm really looking forward to working with you folks...

Cheers!
Steve

--
Steven K. Roberts, N4RVE Nomadic Research Labs
wordy@qualcomm.com http://microship.ucsd.edu
Snail address: 740 Aldo Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Current physical location: Santa Clara, CA

Activities of the moment (updated 2/15/96 12:00): Setting up lab ham station and working on the Development Team organization.

Email faun@qualcomm.com for a publication flyer...