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Old 07-17-2013, 01:02 PM   #1
SaintDanBert
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has anyone used UUCP & friends to connect mobile devices and laptops


Is anyone using UUCP for mobile networking with devices and workstation that are often not connected to a network? I know it is getting easier to stay connected, but off-the-net still happens and you still want to interact with online resources.

When I'm offline, I want to:
  • request file and print services with my favorite network resources
  • queue those requests
  • when I get connected, run the queue of requests
  • notify which were completed
  • use the notification to process the results locally
... or something like that.

{history lesson}
In the really olde days, data communications was expensive for a long list of reasons. Computer operators would make connections to peer data centers on some schedule then hang-up. Someone invented (blush: I should know who -- I'm that old myself.) a suite of tools referred to as UUCP, Unix to Unix Copy.

End-users would make file sharing requests to remote systems. This created a work order file. When a network connection happened, daemon processes would look for work orders that involved that remote system. Other daemons would then execute the work order and move files to or from as directed. Over time, these daemons were smart enough to move a script, run it to generate results, and fetch the result files. We needed this because the remote systems held databases or similar resources not otherwise available. This was a form of remote job entry (RJE) deployed on some mainframe business systems. I think the first real application was e-mail. UUCP has its own style of email address. Eventually, leased data lines replaced dial-up lines and computer connections were persistent and the modern Internet was born.
{/history lesson}

Cordialement,
~~~ 8d;-Dan
 
Old 07-18-2013, 07:31 AM   #2
business_kid
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I have never heard what UUCP stood for until you posted. No is the short answer. With smartphones, you have too many other lazy options. Presuming Android OS, you have
ConnectBot - does ssh
Bluetooth
USB Tethering
Airdroid - makes a small http server in the Android which the box can log onto.
email
and the mobile goes off the mobile network a lot less that a pc/laptop might go from it's network.

Last edited by business_kid; 07-18-2013 at 09:31 AM.
 
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Old 07-18-2013, 11:29 AM   #3
SaintDanBert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by business_kid View Post
...
With smartphones, you have too many other lazy options. ...
As I understand the options you listed, each expects that the smartphone has some sort of network connection to the phone. I use an application called Remote Web Desktop*. I can launch it whenever I have a wifi LAN available and move files ad lib.

There are times when I have my phone, I don't have a workstation, and I don't have a network connection. I look at the reference materials on my phone and discover that some document is missing from the pile and that there are other files out-of-date. Right then, I'd like to create a work order that would request the missing items and archive the stale items when my mother-ship is next available. Minutes, hours or days later, my phone finds connects to home, and the crank turns.

Viola! There are all sorts of manual steps to remember and then accomplish this with any of the tools mentioned. The UUCP family of utilities was designed for exactly this sort of scenario. I know the phone carriers and all of geek-dom wants universal connectivity. We are not there yet. Neither is a mother-ship connection from random dirt patch available to everyone. My original post wondered if anyone had blown the dust off a dear friend of utilities for a 21st century situation.

Merci d'avance,
~~~ 0;-Dan

_____ _____ _____ _____
* "Remote Web Desktop" by Smartdog Studio HK. I like this app suite but receive no compensation for sharing my preferences.
 
Old 07-18-2013, 02:29 PM   #4
business_kid
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Bluetooth only needs proximity. If you're regularly in places where you need that sort of thing, use the mobile data internet link to link up to your own server - that's what I did.

I'm long enough in the tooth to remember all Dos commands, to be familiar with CP/M. The fact is, if we stay there, we're dinosaurs. All that 70's unix stuff is passé, like the 300 baud it traveled at. I once grokked an /etc/hosts from 1974, which had the whole internet on it - about 200k :-/. Distros are profiled to the preferences of this part of this millenium. The young of today multitask and require graphical solutions, because they haven't the patience or concentration to read, in many cases.
 
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Old 07-19-2013, 10:06 AM   #5
SaintDanBert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by business_kid View Post
...The fact is, if we stay there, we're dinosaurs. All that 70's unix stuff is passé, like the 300 baud it traveled at. ...
You have a point there...
On a similar point, TCP/IP hails from the same dino era and we still use that.

RE: Bluetooth (and similar)
My original question might be better stated asking, "Is there value in having 'when you can connect to _____, then do these things" features? This is one way to get a connection my mother-ship systems. As you propose, a full time connection renders any when-connected feature moot.

RE: connections
What are folks doing so that their at-home (small and home office) resources are available for connections while you are out walk-about outside your own LAN?

Merci d'avance,
~~~ 8d;-/ Dan
 
Old 07-19-2013, 11:13 AM   #6
business_kid
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Don't do much data on the poser phone, but my kids & I use the following:

1. Email files across. My son on windows won't even bother to set up a network printer. No patience. You can email to yourself, btw. It's also good to use a webmail account.

2. I use a skydrive, with a public directory and private ones. Public for files (crash logs, setup files, etc), private for me.
3. I did set up an ssh server once on a box here. Hellish configuring the modem, and then every hacker ran his attack script on it. The password was no way secure, but they were trying silly windows type names on it. I got it offline when I saw the logs!

I'd probably do better giving it a weird port, but I'd really like a much safer username/password combo.
 
Old 07-24-2013, 04:18 PM   #7
SaintDanBert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by business_kid View Post
...
my kids & I use the following:

1. Email files across.
...
2. I use a skydrive,
...
3. I did set up an ssh server
...
All of these require an active connection to the internet.
Something that I don't have everywhere I go. I may have cell phone voice services, but I cannot count on any sort of data access. Sadly, none of what you mention will work in that case.

~~~ 8d;-/ Dan
 
Old 07-25-2013, 05:15 AM   #8
business_kid
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Here, with any class of a smart phone, we have mobile access with 2G & 3G network speeds. If you can see your target machines/network/skydrive with any form of access, you can pull one of the above.

I'm finding it difficult to imagine communication between an inaccessible network and an inaccessible phone, and fail to see how uucp, even if it was available would help. You also left out
Quote:
Bluetooth
USB Tethering
Bluetooth is doable. USB tethering is also doable. Be careful not to design your requirements around the (obsolete) programs you first envisaged using.Post #1 reads like you have done that. Queue requirements mentally, and you're away
 
  


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