We had a great installation this past Saturday at Halau Lokahi. We did not have any new faces. We did have some seasoned veterans, though.
For those accustomed to HOSEF installations, this was strikingly different in a few ways. For one, we did not have to run cable. The school's tech coordinator contracted some folks, ironically from HOSEF's ranks, to take care of this task. In addition, appropriately sized patch cables were provided. The installation also differed in that most computers were already on site. Ben Timmerman and the DOE took care of delivering computers that Brian Chee of UH and the DOE donated to HOSEF. I brought in some monitors, and the Tech Coordinator, Bully, took charge of picking up his printer, necessary NICs, and replacement monitors from McKinley. These computers were actually the second batch that we donated to the Charter Schools. The first was diverted to other needs. As has been the case in our recent installs, HOSEF provided the server. We build a dual opteron, 4 gb ram, 15K software-raided SCSI Server that gets the job done. The schools reimburse HOSEF for the server parts, and in some cases they become members so as to help us in the perpetuation of our mission. Halau Lokahi is now a member. Keep an eye out for Photos and video that Ron Fox took. The photos will be posted to our website soon. The videos will be compiled into an Olelo documentary that Ron is producing. His first set of videos included the guys cabling the lab. (free advertising, folks) The second days' worth of videos show the rapid transformation of a cluttered room to a functioning lab. By 11:15 that morning Ron was shooting video of the first eWaste thin-client booting from the server. Many thanks to the volunteers who showed up to help or participated in the allocation of equipment. In addition to Ron, Ben and Brian, Mark Thompson and Andy Stroble showed up to help. The Tech Coordinator, Bully, was there, of course. Erik Nagley and Michael Bishop, wiring contractors turned volunteers, also pitched in to help. All in all, things went off without a hitch. As it turned out, the miniature, pxe booting NIC workstations did not work. Attendees to the install got a lesson in editing lts.conf, discovering mac addresses of malfunctioning workstations, and discovering a video mode that worked with this hardware. A near catastrophe was diverted from HOSEF preparedness and fastidious attention to the K12OSN mailing list. Still to do at this lab, if Bully has no already finished: 1. Add NICs to a few DOE computers that had token ring. 2. Replace some bad monitors 3. Set up another 'pod' of computers 4. Add a donated LaserJet 4 from HOSEF to the mix. Thanks to all who had time to help, even Karen who drove around lost for a few hours. For those who missed out, join us this Saturday at Kailua Intermediate. We will need your help cabling, setting up workstations, terminating, tidying, testing, and having fun. --scott