Overview of Problems and Solutions

Lack of display adapters: Downloaded from Dell website

Lack of network drivers: Available USB Memory stick

Computer 5 battery unstable: Tapped with electrical tape

No USB port on Computer 4: For display adapter, inserted new USB PCI supported port with driver on CD, then removed afterwards; for network driver, available on CD-ROM.

Computer 4 could not read some burned CD-ROMs: Networked to other computers to download programs

Thelma’s Computer: Keep the old or try the new?: Used the set-up menu to find information about her computer. Her computer had Windows 2000/ME, had the same amount of hard drive, but lower memory; after discussing it with Thelma, we decided it was best to keep her computer due to the fact that she had some extra software already installed. However we decided to give her more memory (see next item), clean up her desktop (deleted unused shortcuts) and install Open Office.

Needed more memory for Thelma William’s HP Computer (only had 63 Mb): Opened her computer to see the type of memory that the computer could support and opened one of our computers to compare; they matched. Since some of our computers had extra memory we removed a 128 MB and inserted into hers.

Limited Open Source Educational and Games Software: Copied software onto USB and tested on computers at Prairienet or tested software at home before burning onto CD-ROM

Limited Software for 98: Searched multiple websites (Wikipedia, Google Search, and Cleansoftware.org) for software which can run on Windows 98

Thelma’s printer inserted random characters onto some pages: Installed correct driver from printer CD-ROM

German submenu for printer set-up on Thelma’s computer: Unable to fix, in software

Ice storm cut internet: Unable to test internet dial-up modem but believe the dial-up modem, which we took out of one of their old computers, is not compatible with our computers. Will send a few dial-up modems to Center.

Thought of problems that may occur with printer and network with use: Created Network Troubleshooting Guide at site.

Computer 8′s original Ethernet port does not work: Had 2nd Ethernet port

Computer 3, which we had set-up for internet use, had no ISA port for the dial-up modem: Used Computer 8 which had an ISA port

Major Challenges

Internet access

The number one thing that Thelma would like to have in the computer lab is Internet access for all the computers. DSL is not an option in the area, dial-up is excessively slow and the FRC currently has only one phone line coming into the building, and other alternatives (eg. Internet Over Mobile Phone) are outside the FRC’s budget.

Addressing this issue:

This problem was outside the realm of our control. The lack of affordable access to reliable Internet is a significant issue that affects infrastructurally underserved communities throughout the country and world. Given the time frame for this project, we were not able to seek ought viable funding opportunities to affect change in this area, but would like to help Thelma explore such opportunities and bring fast Internet accessibility into her community.

Circuitry

The circuits in the building’s breaker box were labeled incorrectly, which we quickly figured out. Because of the limitations of the building’s circuitry, we had to run power cables for a number of the computers along the floor outside the moveable walls enclosing the computer lab and plug them into a socket that was on a separate circuit from the rest of the computers. Also, we set two of the computers up outside of these walls, and their network cables also had to be run along the floor to connect to the switch. We taped the wires to the floor, and advised Thelma to buy a floor mat to cover them and preventing tripping, tangling, etc.

Printing

This was a doozy! There was an existent computer lab at the FRC when we arrived for the first visit. Thelma reported little activity in this lab because it had old, tired computers with a variety of operating systems. Most of these computers were individually connected to an array of different printers. Two of the printers were the same model, so we originally decided to find a print server for Thelma to buy that would work with that model. We planned to network only one of these printers, and have Thelma keep the other one in case the first one needed to be replaced. This way she would already have the right drivers, a compatible print server, and would only have to buy cartridges for one type of printer.

We did not, however, test the printers on our first visit, which ended up causing trouble. We found a compatible type of print server that was relatively inexpensive, and before purchasing it we asked Thelma to test the printers. As it turned out, the printers we were planning to use did not work. Thelma tested the other printers, and could get only one of them to work, an inkjet of decent quality but high per-page cost. We went to the printer manufacturer’s help site and asked a customer service representative via chat whether there was a list of printer servers that the functional printer was compatible with. Their documentation revealed that this particular printer model was not networkable. Bummer.

So we had to discard the possibility of getting a print server. At this point, we were feeling rather desperate and decided to consult with our wise instructor. Martin informed us that it was not uncommon for labs to be set up without printers, and that if this should happen, we should not feel like failures. He also mentioned that there were a few donated LaserJet printers in Prairienet that had not yet been tested or spoken for. We then ran over to Prairienet, grabbed one of these printers, hooked it up to one of our computers, and test printed—SUCCESS!!! We named the HP Laserjet 5 “Prince”, designated one of the computers as the printer server for the lab, and networked the rest of the computers to print through the server. We were extremely lucky to have found Prince. The per-page price for this printer is much lower, and it is designed for a heavier print load than all of the printers we found at the FRC. It prints like a charm, appears to have been refurbished (the drum looks squeaky clean), and we think it will serve the printing needs of the FRC lab quite well.