The problem with the  WIN95-L list is not that the P133  is too slow, but
that there are  so many people using the WWW  interface nowadays that the
box needs a RAM upgrade to be able to service all these WWW accesses plus
searches to  lists with really  large archives  (of which WIN95-L  is the
only one). This machine used to work fine with 128M before we enabled the
WWW  interface on  the large  lists, after  which we  quickly had  to add
another 64M. This  solved the problem at  first but we knew  it would not
last forever and decided to upgrade the  server. We waited for the box we
wanted (400MHz Alpha with 512M) to  become available, and then we ordered
it. Like every  new box it had a  long lead time, but we did  not want to
order an expensive  server that was about to  become obsolete. Especially
as, through some  kind of marketing policy that I  cannot understand, the
obsolete model was  actually more expensive once you put  the 512M of RAM
in it :-) We  would have done that if this had been  a customer list, but
this is a list that we run for free and it is the only one affected.

About a week ago  it turned out that our order had  been cancelled and we
had not  been notified.  I could tell  you what I  think happened  to our
order exactly and which company now has  our server on site while a "bug"
in the  reseller's computer vaporized our  order, but the bottom  line is
that the server isn't there and we have placed a new order from a new and
hopefully more dependable reseller.

Meanwhile  you are  right that  WIN95-L searches  have become  unbearably
slow. I  have set  up a  mirror on  another server  and updated  the main
win95-l.html  page on  PEACH to  point  to that  machine. It  may not  be
lightning fast,  as that machine is  far from being perfect  for the task
(and has other things to do as well), but at least it is usable.

None  of this,  incidentally, has  any bearing  on the  LSTSRV-L peer  at
PEACH, where archive searches are fast.

  Eric