Final Issues
I talked to Martin tonight and he said he wasn’t opening up lab tomorrow night (something about date night). His recommendations for how we proceed include thinking about what must be done here versus what can be done in East Saint Louis.
Basically, it boils down to that we need to get our computers networked properly here and have all the drivers that we are sure we need downloaded because we will likely not have internet connection, at least right away.
Martin says that getting that last HP (and possibly even the last Compaq working) should not be priorities anymore (i.e., a lab would be workable with less than 10 computers). So, when we go in for the remainder of the week, lets focus on Pinging and getting all of the right drivers in place.
As for what Corinne and I got accomplished tonight (we were there at different times so I’m extrapolating):
Corinne got the Bible software on to Snuffy and I believe she was beginning to test Networking when she encountered an unknown network driver in Oscar.
When I got there, I did Ultimate Boot and found the Network Card for Oscar (Intel something or other…I have it all written down and recorded at the lab for the next one there), but unfortunately, the driver is not available for download anywhere on the Intel site or the rest of Google. Martin recommended cutting losses and installing another network card. I did so and installed a 3COM (again, the numbers are at the lab). We still need to find the driver for it.
As for Big Bird, I was working on the software installs. I got most of them done, but Open Office kept freezing (I tried a couple of CDs). Martin said perhaps to try downloading it fresh again. If the Open Office download does not work after a night’s rest and fresh start tomorrow or Wednesday, then we probably should do a fresh download.
So that’s where we’re at. We really need to prioritize and hold off on stuff we can do at East Saint Louis, like Fall Software downloads. I think driver finding and testing the connections will be the key for us in the next few days.
That’s about it for tonight. I hope that some are able to go into the lab tomorrow. Unfortunately, I cannot in the morning; I might stop by in the afternoon just in case it might be open. Martin says no go for tomorrow night. Anyway, that’s the news…
AND….
Just to clear up the details, it was Telly that got the bible software downloads. He already had a network card working, without the need of a driver (he was a Gateway, and I am hoping and praying that all of the Gateways are like that- I did not get a chance to open them up). Snuffy, the other HP (Bert?), Big Bird, and any other non-Gateway I am missing is going to need a network card investigation.
I will be in tomorrow morning to download software onto the network configured computers. We’ll see how it goes.