[sf-lug] Fw: Another volunteer & next steps

[Romel Jacinto]

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Tom Haddon wrote:

>> 1. Evaluation with housing project about what their specific application
>> needs are.
>
> This one's kind of key, and will really determine if the project's a
> success or failure. For instance, if they __need__ Quickbooks then we're
> out of luck. Michael, are you planning to do this with Kami, or has it
> been determined already?

I wasn't thinking of such a specialized application like Quickbooks, but 
had more in mind more general user applications that may be wanted, i.e. 
listening/watching multimedia or DVD's (may need to install codecs and add 
relevant repositories).


>> 2. Training for computer lab managers.
>
> Wasn't aware there were computer lab managers. Maybe they could be
> trained (if necessary) to train the end users so that we aren't
> duplicating effort. Are they going to be responsible for ongoing
> maintenance of the machines/applying security updates, backups, etc.?

I don't know for a fact that there is a lab manager, it was an
assumption.

Personally I think there has to be a someone in that community 
who can take a leadership role in maintaining the computers.
I think of it as sustainable computing: we teach someone who can teach 
others.

Setting up computers without a long-term support plan is a recipe that 
doesn't have a high probability of succeeding.


> I'm not familiar with imaging technologies myself, but think if there
> are folks with the knowledge to do that, it'd be a great approach.

I only brought imaging up because of the number of computers to be setup.

In my mind once the base set of applications and other user-specified 
configurations are set, that image can be deployed onto the other 
computers since the hardware is essentially identical.
Might save time, but more importantly there is a known standard 
configuration; this can save time and effort when performing 
maintenance down the road.

I'm most familiar with imaging technologies used on proprietary operating 
systems, but I'd like to learn about implementing imaging in the 
open-source world.
I've used G4U on occasion as a quick and dirty backup, 
but have not used it in a mass deployment situation.

--
Romel