Help Build Computers for the Community

[Jerry]

For those of you who haven't been around long enough to know, the Computer Science Department used to be in Founders Hall (Building 2) before the Engineering Building was built.

Well, the Computer Science Department is being evicted from their last remaining room in Founders Hall. This room was mostly used for storage, but it also house a few network projects.

In the room are a number of older computers and a bunch of spare parts.

We can do a community service and keep these computers out of the land fill by assemblying them and donating them to a local community service organization. Dr. Waxman is willing to make the donation and we have an organization that will take them if they are assembled.

If you have some time and are interested in building or learning to build computers please post here. If there is interest I will post some more information and organize a meeting.

--Jerry Weinberg

[William Grim]

Sure, this sounds like a good project.

I think I can donate some of my time to building a few of the computers.

I take it this will be a group project?

Oh, and are we going to be opening the community to the wider world of Unix on any of these systems (maybe even one)?  Ha ha, okay, maybe the last part was wishful thinking.

[Chris Swingler]

In all seriousness, we probably should put some F/OSS operating system on these boxes.  I highly doubt we have the resources available to purchase Microsoft licenses for them.

That said, I'll be out of town, so I won't be able to help with the project :)

[William Grim]

After speaking to faculty, I have come to find out that it is indeed okay to put a free OS on there.

The only stipulation is to make sure the hardware works after installing the OS, which I don't see as a big deal.  We can install the OS on one system and ghost it to the rest of the systems.

Personally, I vote for either FreeBSD or Debian GNU/Linux.  I won't get into a debate about which one I like better, but I'll throw both those out there.

On FreeBSD, you get the ports tree and the backing of a strong, stable development community.  Also, with 5.3 due out in about a month, the next-generation line of FreeBSD will be improving its current speed, stability, and scalability in the 5.X line.  However, while I like the FBSD ports system very much, it has the one negative side-effect of taking a while to compile applications for installation (although, in all fairness, there is "pkg_add -r" for the impatient).

With Debian, you get the fine support of a community of developers that strives for standards compliance, stability, and ease-of-use (not that FreeBSD doesn't strive for this.. they do).  I run this on my desktop, and I've never really had to perform many administrative tasks on it.  The apt tools are great for installing new applications quickly, and for those of you who think Debian only supports old software, they have the -testing suite, apt-get.org, and backports.org.  The only downside is the installation process, but personally, I find this easy to overcome.  Also, once a system is ghosted, we can just send the image to other systems, completely bypassing the installation stage.

[Josh]

I think giving the computers to a place or people that really need them is a great idea. I am willing to help this cause.

[Jonathan Birch]

It depends on when you do it, but I can probably help.

I'm not really a hardware person, but I can certainly do basic assembly/disassembly.

[Michael Kennedy]

I can also throw in some time if I can make it that day.  I also *might* be able to swing 25 copies of Win ME and 25 copies of Norton and Office 2K.  All legal.  I still have to check if I can get them, so don't anyone hold their breath.  I'm just mentioning that now so people can think about it.

[William Grim]

We don't really need to get any copies of Windows.  The place that will be receiving our machines has a Microsoft-licensed administrator.  That means he can go ahead and use the newer tools from MS without us going out of our way to provide this for him.

However, I like the idea of putting GNU/Linux or FreeBSD on the machines.  Should be quick and easy to put something on one machine and ghost it to the rest.

Also, with WinME, unless it's a corporate-distribution copy, we will have to manually install it on each machine, which would suck.

[DaleDoe]

Also, with WinME, unless it's a corporate-distribution copy, we will have to manually install it on each machine, which would suck.

Just having Windows ME on the machines would suck.

I like the idea of going open source, but you've got to consider what they'll probably use the computer for.  For example, if it is used to do homework, they will need to get a printer.  If they do like me and buy the cheapest one available (Lexmark z32), they may not be able to get or set up the driver.  I have yet to find a driver that "works" for my z32.  That includes the Linux driver from Lexmark.

Regardless of the OS, it would be nice to install some Microsoft or MS-like office suite such as Open Office.

[William Grim]

Just having Windows ME on the machines would suck.

I completely agree with this.  Plus, it's the older, DOS-based kernel, which, as we all know, causes several problems in a desktop environment.

I like the idea of going open source, but you've got to consider what they'll probably use the computer for.  For example, if it is used to do homework, they will need to get a printer.  If they do like me and buy the cheapest one available (Lexmark z32), they may not be able to get or set up the driver.  I have yet to find a driver that "works" for my z32.  That includes the Linux driver from Lexmark.

Can we cry together?  I bought the same freaking printer, and it really pisses me off.  I emailed Lexmark and told them I'm taking back the printer since they lack both Linux and FreeBSD drivers.  However, I was totally bluffing, because I was too lazy to take the cheap printer back.

However, we must also note that this is a school that will be receiving the printers.  It is likely they will have an HP laserjet or at least something more reliable than our poor Lexmarks.  In this case, it would be easy to get a linux system working with the printer.

Regardless of the OS, it would be nice to install some Microsoft or MS-like office suite such as Open Office.

I definitely agree with you.  "apt-get install openoffice" and DONE!   :-o  :-D

[Jerry]

Cool!

It looks like we have 4 or 5 people willing to help build computers.

We will be moving the computers over to EB next week. Once the dust is settle we'll try to find a good time to get together for the build party. I'll order pizza, subs, sodas, ...

[R. Andrew Lamonica]

The computers have been moved to the EB.  I looks like we have quite a lot of cases and many parts.  However, it is hard to guess how many whole computers can be made.

[Jerry]

Ok, the computers have been moved to the Engineering Building so let's plan a pizza-build party say for next week.

Send me an email (jbweinberg@gmail.com) with prefences:

Day: Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri, I don't care

Time: Morning, Afternoon, Evenning, I don't care

[Jerry]

Mark your calendars!

Come build or learn how to build computers!

Tuesday, July 6th at 11 am in EB 2026.

There will be pizza.

[Jerry]

Reminder.

It is today.

See previous post.

[William Grim]

I will be there.

[R. Andrew Lamonica]

I'll be there.  What kind of Pizza are we getting?   :-)

[Guest]

I'm willing to put some computers together for nothing, altho Mountain Dew is a plus =)~ I wish I was around last month when ya put out a call.

As far as the Open Source Machines, I'll cast a vote for Debian. Sarge/Unstable is by far my favorite distribution of anything at the moment, cuz its just so easy to deal with. Heck, I'll even help admin the lab.

[Jarod Neuner]

Bah, forgot to log in. Y'all ever think about banning anon postings?