[sudo-discuss] Hardware for the masses

[Marina Kukso]

thanks for the update ed. are the computers already at sudo room?

i'm happy to help do installs/test memory/test that you're preparing once
it's ready to go. just let me know when.


On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 2:06 AM, Ed Biow <biow at riseup.net> wrote:

>  So I had a chance to muck with one of the new OptiPlex 755 machines that
> I brought home to tinker with, it has a Intel Core2 Duo E6850 @ 3.00GHz
> processor, which is quite nice, 3rd quarter 2007, and quite powerful.
>
> http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core2+Duo+E6850+%40+3.00GHz
>
> http://ark.intel.com/products/30785/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-E6850-4M-Cache-3_00-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB
>
> Energy usage is reasonable, about Max TDP: 65 W, maybe 11 W more then a
> current generation Haswell i3-4130 desktop CPU.
>
> The machine is quiet and has one low riser PCI slot. a metric buttload of
> USB ports (6 back, 2 front), a DVD-RW, serial ports & most unusually, it
> looks like 2 RCA sound-out jacks.  No PS/2, though.
>
> It seems to sport a 270 GB SATA drive. Plenty, plenty.  I ran it through a
> short smartctl hard drive test and it passed and has about 40k hours on it,
> a fair amount.
>
> The box I grabbed only has 2x1 GB DDR2 sticks, but has 2 free slots.  I
> gathered from Brian that some of the boxes have 4 GB. Because of the
> marginal amount of RAM I decided to install an i386 version of Kubuntu
> 14.04 Trusty Tahr, and the thing performs well.  I may throw on XFCE4 for
> those who want a lighter environment, but I'll try to rein in my OCD and
> not install too many additional desktop environments. If folks feel like
> they prefer Cinnamon, Mate, LXDE, Gnome3, openbox, Unity, etc. they can all
> be installed on individual boxes later, but I feel like KDE is a good
> choice for these robust boxes, being very configurable and familiar to
> people coming from a Windows background.  BTW, the 14.04 version of LXDE is
> much improved, particularly the file manager, pcmanfm.
>
> RAM & 32 bit vs. 64 bit:
>
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/7034/what-are-the-differences-between-32-bit-and-64-bit-and-which-should-i-choose/70551#70551
>
> Unfortunately an old friend and his spawn and mate are visiting from
> Guanajuato, MX, so I won't be able to do much else on the project until
> mid-week.
>
>
> On 07/17/2014 04:50 AM, Matthew Senate wrote:
>
> Awesome!
>
>  Perhaps La Commune would be interested in hosting a few for general
> usage in the entrance cafe/bookstore?
>
> That would be great.
>
>
> On 07/17/2014 05:24 PM, Marina Kukso wrote:
> > this is amazing! thank you ed!
> >
> > i'd love to help get as many of these set up as i can. feel free to
> email me offlist with some more info about what's needed to get these set
> up.
> > question for anyone: forgive my ignorance, but are the small
> library/classroom spaces downstairs slated for a particular collective
> right now or are they available? (also, is there a map that shows what
> collective is in what space?)
> >
>
>
>
> On 07/17/2014 05:24 PM, Vicky Knox wrote:
> > This is perhaps the greatest news I've read on Sudo Discuss EVER. It has
> always been my dream that Sudo Room provide public computer terminals for
> folks without access to the hardware, for classes such as basic computer
> literacy, and for events that require computers such as Oakland Wiki
> editathons.
> > Ed, how can I help?
>
>
> You guys are far too nice, cut it out, really.  Once I get a nice image
> ready I'll bring it to the room and if folks are interested I can show them
> how to install the pre-configured image and test the hard drives and
> memory.  I wrote a little script that is helpful, it renames the host in 4
> places, etc.
>
> If folks want to install Linux on their own I put a binder with a bunch of
> recent Debian & Ubuntu (and PCLinuxOS) DVDs on the top shelf where all the
> computer parts lurk.  It says Micro$oft Developers Tools or something.
> Just please, please, please don't disassemble the boxes and take or lose
> the panels and hardware like some helpful individual did at the old
> sudoroom. I'm hoping if this bloke re-emerges that folks will chase him
> off, he made working on those donated machines a pile more frustrating.
>
> But another thing that people could do if they feel the call is run the
> machines' little self-diagnostic routine. Hook a box up to a VGA monitor
> and USB keyboard & Hit F12 as the system is booting up and use the down
> arrow key to choose DIAGNOSTICS.  After you run the routine it will ask you
> if you want to test the memory more thoroughly, which is probably a good
> idea.  Then label the machine as checked with a piece of paper or tape and
> note any problems.  Extra points if you write down whether the box has 2 GB
> or 4 GB of RAM.
>
>
> On 07/17/2014 06:38 PM, Max B wrote:
> > I think another really interesting model is the way that a lot of
> community bike shops have people volunteer for a number of hours and then
> build a bike which they're able to keep. Public terminals would be really
> great and I think it would also be amazing to be able to send folks home
> with their own machines (and maybe some basic computer knowledge)
>
>
> Max, OTX West already does that.  It takes 20 hours of "Service Bucks" to
> buy a computer.  Seems like they charge extra SBs to add peripherals and to
> "upgrade" to a faster machine with Windows 7.
>
> http://www.otxwest.org/volunteers.html
>
> I've been meaning to go over there and volunteer a bit.  I can "earn" a
> mouse an hour, since I'm a little more experienced then their typical
> volunteer maybe I can con them into throwing in an extra power cable as
> well.  Also, I'd like to talk to them about the benefits of open sores,
> particularly for older machines that can't handle Windohs 7, especially now
> that XP is no longer supported by MS.
>
> Anyway, I think that a labor-for-hardware program would be a great idea
> for us, too, though I would hate to have to administer it.
>
> All PowerBooks to the People,
>
> Big Red Ed
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 17, 2014 at 10:09 AM, Ed Biow <biow at riseup.net> wrote:
>
>>  My crony Gerald & I picked up about 15 'puters from Youth Radio
>> <https://youthradio.org/> today, and brought them to the sudoroom.  We
>> also grabbed about 7 monitors and a bag full of cables.  These boxen look
>> pretty sweet, dual core, Windows 8, 4 GB of RAM.  I was planning on
>> installing some version of Trusty Tahr (*buntu 14.04) or maybe Debian
>> testing and then using a live disc (redobackup <http://redobackup.org/>)
>> to blow the image on the rest of the machines after testing the memory and
>> hard drives.  Brian, the IT bloke at YR is replacing the machines with
>> NUC <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Unit_of_Computing>s.  It looks
>> like there are another 30 or so of these Dells available to us when they
>> get readied. If we can spare the table space maybe we can set up a few
>> machines for visitor browsing in a quiet corner somewhere. And we should
>> have some nice boxes for the Oakland kids' computer center.  The four boxes
>> I have ready to go are mostly pretty funky, missing panels, or very loud,
>> etc.  I'm sure we can find them a home, though. I also have a few more
>> expendable desktop Linux machines at home.  Finding rodents, power cords,
>> monitors & keyboards may prove a bit of a challenge, though I have a few
>> extra keyboards and power cables.
>>
>> I'm planning on going camping in August, but in September I'd like to
>> start hosting a weekly Linux install fest/trouble shooting session on
>> Friday afternoons at 4 PM.  Folks can bring their Linux problems in for
>> troubleshooting, and I can bring pizza back from a pickup I make at 8PM
>> from a local collective.  Maybe if nothing else is going on we can cap the
>> evening with a tech/polit-related flick to go with the pizza, perhaps even
>> a round of frosty malted beverages. As I mentioned before, maybe we could
>> use some always-on machine to act as a proxy for deb files, so we could
>> update machines at 11MB a second instead of pounding our limited internet
>> bandwidth.  I'm familiar with approx and apt-cacher, though there are
>> others.  I'll bring up the idea during one of our weekly Wednesday meetings
>> soon.
>>
>> Einstein & campaign staff
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
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