[luau] LTSP Hardware Cleanup and Inventory

R. Scott Belford sctinc at flex.com
Sat Aug 10 08:18:00 PDT 2002


Aloha

It may come as no surprise to you that we have a fair amount of equipment to 
be inventoried and tested for our burgeoning LTSP project.  It is located at 
the Pricebusters Stadium store mentioned so frequently in this thread.  I am 
planning to go by some time this weekend to begin to do this.  You are 
welcome to help.

I have not determined a window of opportunity when I will be there.  My time 
is flexible.  I can go by a couple of times if it can accommodate you.  The 
objective of our relationship with this store is to create a space where we 
can work on the LTSP anytime during store hours.

So far this relationship has appeared a bit restrictive due to, well, due to 
me.  I have explained why a few times too many already.  Let me tell you what 
space we have at the Pricebusters store and what my vision, however blurry, 
is for it.

Space 1
We have warehouse space.  This is our key offering so far to the project.  
MidPac is, as you all know, a school.  As such they need to use the space 
they have to teach.  A little too much of that space is occupied by our 
current acquisitions and the many machines Warren and crew have prepared for 
deployment.  We are helping with that now, i.e. the monitors.  

This space is asynchronous.  If you have equipment you want to donate, you 
could contact me, Dean, or Al and arrange to bring it by.  We can make a call 
to let someone know you will be coming by.  You can bring it in yourself, 
"unsupervised".  We should eventually make it possible for you to bring it by 
anytime without contacting anyone.  

Herein lies my first rub: our long term success depends on us bothering the 
staff as little as possible.  It is why I insisted that no one call Julie 
directly.  Let's say she is moved to another, bigger, better store - we have 
a point of failure while the new manager figures out all her new duties plus 
taking calls from people like us.  This will cost us.  For the time being, 
you can go by to drop stuff off anytime, we just need to "arrange" for your 
arrival.  I am working to improve this situation.

Space 2
We have a 20x12 locked room.  It is synchronous space.  It is this room that 
I freaked out over when I saw the post inviting everyone to come to it for 
inventory.  I have put many shelves in there and stored a bunch of stuff that 
is the project's.  I have also put a fair amount of my own (Pricebusters') 
supplies, etc., I have a server in there, and I am about to put a PC in there 
for our Warehouse Manager.  Because of these assets, I feel the need to be in 
there with us- not to protect them for theft, but rather to keep someone from 
mistaking them from usable LTSP stuff.  Once I can make other's aware of the 
"line", they can "be in charge".  Note that my initial intent of this space 
was to store things only.  It definitely is too full as keenly observed by 
Brian and Al.  This situation must be remedied.

Space 3.
We have a 4x5 security closet with a ladder accessing a second level.  My 
vision was to make this a room where anyone could go anytime to work on any 
specific need that we had.  An appropriate amount of hardware would be kept 
in there, and any of you could come and go anytime to help.  We would 
document online what stuff was in there and what expertise was needed.  
Anytime that you had time, you could go by and help.  This is true 
asyncronous space.

These are the spaces.  If we are going to have a lot of people coming and 
going at once, then I will make other arrangements for our assets in Space 2. 
This will allow us to use it with the freedom envisioned for Space 3.  
Otherwise, once we get the backlog situated, we will keep Work in Process 
stuff in Space 3 and store things in Space 1 and 2.  My plan is to make it 
possible for you to help anytime that it is convenient for you.  I want you 
to be able to help without having to interact with me just in case you don't 
like me. ;-)  

The deal this weekend is that I will be in Space 2 at some point that I hope 
is good for some of the rest of you.  I will be figuring out what we have and 
documenting it for Jimen to place on the Wiki.  I would love to meet any of 
you wanting to help and willing to give up some of this beautiful weather.  

Email me or call me on the cell, 306-5519, to let me know if you have a 
preferred time.  Once determined, I will post it.  Once you know what time it 
is, well, I won't make any jokes. :-) If you come by, let someone at the 
front know that you are there to help with the Linux for Schools project.

Note that I am attempting to institute some sense of accountability.  Our 
long-term success in this relationship depends upon it.  If I am summoned to 
the boss' office over this, I do not have the option to say "so and so did 
such and such and it's not my fault."  That's not how I operate, and when I 
am gone, it is not how I expect my successor to operate.  I will need your 
help in determing how to do this without stepping on toes.

with aloha

scott



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