Moar computers

[Brad Tissi]

Our IT guy gave me permission to take a few more monitors and desktops. In combination with what we already have, there's probably enough to set up a few workstations in the meeting room for various educational things.

Since I can never seem to make it to a business meeting, has this been discussed before?

[Chris Weiss]

we don't really have room for more desktops, but if they are better
than P4's they might make good upgrades from the current systems.

[Andrew Ricke]

Yeah, what's the stats?  Some swap outs might sound good.  I can always take my my lab pc back home to play media server, if you got something that is more suited to it's current role.

On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 1:47 PM, Chris Weiss <cwe...@gmail.com> wrote:

we don't really have room for more desktops, but if they are better
than P4's they might make good upgrades from the current systems.

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[EschewObfuscation]

I don't recall (ever) looking, but have we anything under the big tables in the main tinkering area? If not, seems to me if we had a mind to, a rack could be built to hold a whole row of desktops under there, with cable bundles that could be pulled up above the table surface when needed. Perhaps we have a crate full of lappies available and that's the minimum solution good enough for us, but if I were provisioning for a dozen occasional work stations on little or no budget, I'd take the free desktops and consider something along those lines. Monitors and keyboards would still need to be stored somewhere, ofc.

we don't really have room for more desktops./..

[Chris Weiss]

that's where our feet and knees go. the tables aren't all that deep.
this would not work anyway. the amount of work it would take to
remove monitors and such for other events is unreasonable.

[EschewObfuscation]

On Friday, December 12, 2014 7:03:55 PM UTC-6, ||cw wrote:

...  the tables aren't all that deep.

Maybe so, I've never looked at the tables with that question in mind. Couldn't tell you from memory how wide they are, or how the legs are configured.
 

this would not work anyway.  the amount of work it would take to
remove monitors and such for other events is unreasonable.

Maybe. Done right, might be about the same as moving lappies to and from. In any event, a Santa sack full of lappies certainly would address the needs of the occasional 'duino class. Do we have one?  I guess my thought is "is this truly an intractable problem, or are we turning our noses up at a gift chevy because it's not a rolls?".. Dunno.

[Chris Weiss]

> or are we turning our noses up at a gift chevy because it's not a rolls

more like, a gift panel van because what we really need is a hatchback

[Brad Tissi]

Regardless, we have seating, but after visiting a couple other spaces, it's obvious that we don't prioritize the education side as much.

I realize that I don't have much of a vote, but it seems that adding some stations in an area resembling a classroom (either side) would be the next step. We don't have enough laptops to cover another 35 person Arduino class, and I doubt we ever will. So let's use all that we can to get close.

On Dec 13, 2014 10:03 AM, "Chris Weiss" <cwe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> or are we turning our noses up at a gift chevy because it's not a rolls

more like, a gift panel van because what we really need is a hatchback

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[Chris Weiss]

we also don't have anything resembling a classroom. i feel like the
meeting area would be really awkward with a bunch of LCDs in the
middle of the room.

[Chris Weiss]

I'd also like to point out something else...

we have 6 laptops. they rarely get used, even when they were sitting
out. if someone wants to actually set them up and have them out, go
for it.

I reason for not wanting desktops is that they won't get setup,
they'll get left out in the way, and no one would use them anyway.
prove me wrong by using the laptops we have.

[Chris Weiss]

I have an alternate idea.

what if we find a school or community center that could use them and
set up a lab for them?

[Gene J. (GeekTinker)]

Another suggestion:

A class could also be held on how to take them apart, clean them, and rebuild them. Emphasis on how to upgrade them and/or build your own computer could be the end goal of the class. The students would get the computer they rebuilt to take home. Operating system could be Windows (if the licenses were still available) and Linux if no licenses.

My local library did this with their former lab computers after they were replaced. It was a very successful class that created a core group of fresh technically minded people to take more classes at the library. Doing something similar could help to boost our membership or help boost the knowledge of the members we do have who do not have the hardware experience. 

[annbo...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, December 14, 2014 10:11:39 AM UTC-6, ||cw wrote:

If you decide to go this way, we could certainly use them at Lab:Revolution in Farmington. We are currently limping by with a few laptops that are REALLY old and frustratingly inconsistent. The kids use them for robotics, Scratch, Processing, and basic electronics. We would love to have 8-10 desktops set up permanently in the shop, and a server.

Ann Boes
4hlabrevo.wix.com/4hlabrevo

Lab:Revolution - 4-H Technology Playground and Makerspace
We have open shop and various classes for kids and their families. We are always looking for additional volunteers to teach classes and share projects that they have made.

[Brad Tissi]

I must have missed this. 

I can get behind this as the end goal. I didn't realize that Farmington had a space.

At the moment, my work has 3 P4s and a Core2duo along with 6/7 15" LCDs to get rid of. I haven't been into the space for a while so I don't know what's still sitting around there.

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[annbo...@gmail.com]

That would be totally awesome. Is there someone who could sit down with us and help us figure out the best way to set things up for our needs? We could come to St Louis or we could do a Google Hangout, or you would of course we welcome to come down to Farmington to our shop. I can make a list of all the programs that we currently need to be able to run and those we would like to run in the future.

We also have an offer by an organization in Kansas City, Connecting For Good, to swap out old computers for ones they have already refurbished. We can purchase these computers for $100 each, including monitor, keyboard, and mouse, or we can donate older computers to them, and receive a refurbished computer for less. I'm not sure what to ask to be able to determine whether it makes sense for us to swap out older computers in exchange for those they have already refurbished or not. It would be great to have some help by someone who understands the requirements, potential for upgrade, etc...

THanks,
Ann

[Brad Tissi]

I would be happy to help with this, but I should make my time table pretty obvious.
I am booked pretty solidly through the end of March at the moment. If that's all right, then I may be able to help unless someone else wants to step in.

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[annbo...@gmail.com]

I need to have something set up by the end of February if at all possible. We are planning to do a Family Creative Learning Workshop series (Scratch and Makey Makey for families) in March.
Would it be possible to pick up the computers you have in February, and then sit down with you to figure out how we might optimize our setup once you have time? Or is there someone else who might be able to help us with this?
Ann

[Brad Tissi]

Unfortunately, I'm not even in the state for most of Feb and we're planning a wedding for early March. I would love to help, but making a commitment right now would probably only lead to disappointment.

Though to continue planning on this for at some point, after fighting the scavengers at work, I made it out of there with the better desktop (core2duo) plus a P4 and 5x 15" LCDs.

Would anyone be able to give me a count of what we have already that could be donated?

[Brad Tissi]

It looks like we accidentally took this conversation off of the thread. So here's where this discussion stands:

----------------------------------------

ANN

 

I think I'm going to go ahead and purchase 5 of the machines from Connecting for Good, with a trade in of some of our really really old donated machines. That will give us something to use for our March workshop. Then when you are available in March, we can sit down and figure out how we need to approach things for longer term. 

I really appreciate your offer of help!

Thank You!

Ann

Lab:Revolution

----------------------------------------

BRAD

I am back in town now, and am working through my list.

I need to get back to the ArchReactor space and take an inventory, but I can say that we probably don't have enough monitors for the same number of desktops that we currently have.

We can start the conversation though. Just as you said before, what sort of programs are you hoping to run?

Brad

----------------------------------------

ANN

We have a couple of extra monitors. 

The most resource intensive programs we want to run are Blender and SolidWorks. 

We did go ahead and purchase some computers from Connecting for Good but we are having some issues with a couple of those.

LEGO EV3-G programming software

LEGO NXT-G software

Gimp

Inkscape

Python 

Processing

Scratch (2.0 is online but prob want to install 1.4 as well)

Minecraft

LabView

Here's some additional software that we know we want but we would need higher end machines or upgrades  to run:

Robot Virtual Worlds

Blender

Solidworks

the Autodesk 123D suite of tools

WindRiver C++

We need to make some decisions about game development software, Not sure what to go with.

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[Brad Tissi]

Next steps:

Take an inventory of what we have at the space that may be given away to another makerspace.

If anyone can help with this, I would greatly appreciate it. Time is short at the moment, and I don't know what we'd be willing to part with.

Simple Software that could run on a P4

LEGO EV3-G programming software

LEGO NXT-G software

Gimp

Inkscape

Python 

Processing

Scratch (2.0 is online but prob want to install 1.4 as well)

Minecraft

LabView

Scalable Software:

Robot Virtual Worlds

Blender

Solidworks

the Autodesk 123D suite of tools

WindRiver C++ (Is this really a resource hog?)

Personally, I've only used about a third of these. So if something doesn't fit in that category, please say so.

[Ryan Williams]

I just want to chime in here really quick as it seems I should. I don't see an issue with donating some of the computers we have on the shelves for this though I don't really remember what works and what doesn't at the moment since I haven't kept up to date on the computer pile. 

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[Brad Tissi]

That's fine, I'll get down there eventually and take care of that part.

At least the approval is a step in the right direction.