[ExeterLUG] Exeter LUG Meeting write up.

Sat Jan 11 18:35:57 UTC 2014

Rick Timmis
Abazander.comRob Beard <rob at mareandfoal.org> wrote:Daniel Smith <dan at todayintech.co.uk> wrote:
Hi Rick,

Glad the meeting went well.

How many more PCs do we need as I still have a load of RM Ones here that I can test and I have one fully working at the moment? I also have some laptops, some have various issues but they will need testing.

Kind Regards

Dan

On 11/01/2014 13:54, Rick.Timmis wrote:
Exeter LUG Meeting write up.

The move to our new home has gone reallywell. Harri Sharp met us at the Exwick Ark pre-school, and we discussed our hopes, along with their conditons.

Lets start with the conditions.

.

Access to the building is via the Key Holder, Rick T. We have full use of the Kitchen, Conference room, and Office / Workshop. The Kitchen must always be left in anl 'as we found it' state or better. Similarly with the conference room.

Should we come across any personal items belonging to school staff, these are to be respectful left undisturbed.

We can have access to the room any evenings that it is unoccupied; which currently is all the time. Should the group wish to meet, or indeed organise events, etc... We do not forsee there being a problem.

We have been provided with draw space in the kitchen where we can keep our tea, coffee, sugar, hot chocolate etc...

The conference room has Network, and WiFi (once Mark finishes configuring the access points, thanks Mark). We have the projector, and a large area of wall. This means that we can do interactive sessions, like an Introduction to C, or BASH Shell scripting, Well if you can think of it and put it into Impress there are desks, with power and plenty of space for laptops so that we can do things hands on.

In the office workshop, there are 4 PC workstation which we are welcome to use, running Linux Mint and a large workbench for building, repairing, and hardware hacking too.

We have been given space under the work bench where we can store computers ready for testing, breaking etc....

On the back wall of the workshop we have 3 shelves where we can store, tools, components, and other small items. I would suggest we think about getting some medium sized containers to house these things and ensure that they sit nicely on the shelves.

THe Arks IT Systems.

We are almost there with their system setup, Mark Evans delivered a Gigabit PCIe Netowrk card for the ltsp server. So it is understood that we should be able to complete the build on this. We will need to pick through the other server items with a view to rescue and repair what we can. The ARK have asked for 2 thin clients to be set up in the Music room, with the Kids Desktops on them.

Ideally it has been suggested that we look to build a samba / Lamp server to act as a backup machine for the PC's and the LTSP server, and to handle print sharing.

The Ark have also got hold of 4 Smart boards, although they have no projectors for them yet. Suggestions, and ideas on how to get one of these up and running for the main hall area would be welcome.

Harri asked if would could make one of the PC's dual boot, so that they can run some communications software they have benen given. I       suggested that we could try installing it in WINE if she provided the disks. It's our choice, they would just like to be able to use it. I understand that Malcom, and Sam may well bring Windows XP OEM install discs so that we can setup dual boot machine.s. We have 5 desktops from Devon Wildlife Trust that have Win XP Licene keys.

We agreeded that with regard to the £50 pc programme, these would now use Linux Mint the 'Matel edition, and failing that the XFce edition, if performance is too low,

The feedback we have had so far with Lubuntu has not been that positive and very often people can't find their way around it.

In addition Linux Mint has a very good PDF Manual, that would be very easy to develop an introductory course, and with our new facilities we could provide an introductory training course., for those taking a £50 PC.

More to follow in regard to suggestions for the February meeting and finishing the Ark Project.

Comments and Feedback welcome..

Cheers

Rick

Rick Timmis
Abazander.com

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Just a thought, XP support ends in April this year, maybe not such a great idea to be installing it. However educational establishments can get Windows 7 cheap (possibly use the XP licences as a part of a Windows 7 Pro upgrade).

Rob
-- 

Sent from my Sinclair ZX Spectrum

A good point but these old machines will never run Win 7, they only have 512mb RAM, hence why  WINE would be my preference, if we can got it to run the software.

Cheers
Rick
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