Lab Notes, 5/18/04
Present: Mike Cook, Frank and Judy Bradley, Ross Cosner, Corey Krause, Ryan
Myers, Terry Click, Tom Brown
:: The College Crowd
Two of our college summer volunteers (Ross, Ryan) returned with a new
friend, Corey. I gave the trio an intro to LTSP. Then Ryan and Corey tested
hardware while Ross sat with Terry as he loaded VL 3.2 on a FreeBox. Mike
assisted Terry and Ross.
:: Booty from the Barn
No, not booty-licious booty. Computers.
I drove to The Barn Tuesday afternoon and grabbed boxes for
demanufacturing. I loaded about 20 of the computers Jay collected from
Culver Military Academy into the Loser Cruiser.
Some of the boxes looked like they might be usable computers.
Unfortunately, I forgot to tell the volunteers to test the computers before
disassembling. By the time I remembered to issue the warning, three boxes
were already half way through the demanufacturing process.
"Whoa!" I shouted.
I helped the volunteers put the boxes back together. Ryan, Corey and I set
up two work areas with known good parts and began testing the computers. Lo
and behold, about half of those tested were working computers. Several had
dead or dying motherboards. But others booted up without problem, hard
drive, mouse, keyboard and video in good order.
:: Games for Judy B.
Judy has two games on her FreeBox: Breakout and Mah Jongg. She had turned
off the audio in Breakout, the only game with sound, but didn't know it.
She couldn't figure out how to get the audio to work. Terry and I quickly
got Judy's speakers working again.
Later Mike loaded a bunch of new games on her FreeBox. I say a bunch
because I was busy and didn't ask how many he loaded. Judy looked happy.
Sound and more games all in one night.
:: More Systems on the Way
I am negotiating with Michiana College for two dozen decommissioned
computer systems. Hopefully, they'll be ready by next Tuesday.
:: FreeBox Classes
I will begin recruiting this week for two FreeBox classes. The dates will
be May 29 and June 5 if Jody Montgomery approves. This means we need a
second set of six FreeBoxes prepared.
:: Static on the Line
The lab had no Internet connection Tuesday. The line was so saturated with
static that the modem could neither obtain nor hold a connection with the ISP.
Static is highly unusual. Perhaps the phone line hijacker up the street has
tapped the Sally's lines again. I left a phone message on Jody Montgomery's
recorder about it.
:: K12LTSP Install Demo
I plan on giving a K12LTSP install demo soon but haven't yet chosen a night.
I'll demo setting up workstations with both ISA and PCI NICs. Of course,
I'll use a recycled PC and a NetVista thin client, maybe even an oddball
box like the defunct New Internet Computer (NIC) or an ancient 486 with a 1
meg video card and 32 megs of RAM.
We might want to invite interested folks to the lab for the demo. We may
also want to give entry level volunteers the night off or create a support
role for them to play at the demo. Let's have fun. Suggestions welcome. A
FreeBox as a door prize/raffle item?
Tom
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