[LUAU] Installation Success at Halau Lokahi

[R. Scott Belford]

We had a great installation this past Saturday at Halau Lokahi. We did not 
have any new faces. We did have some seasoned veterans, though.

For those accustomed to HOSEF installations, this was strikingly different in 
a few ways. For one, we did not have to run cable. The school's tech 
coordinator contracted some folks, ironically from HOSEF's ranks, to take 
care of this task. In addition, appropriately sized patch cables were 
provided.

The installation also differed in that most computers were already on site. 
Ben Timmerman and the DOE took care of delivering computers that Brian Chee 
of UH and the DOE donated to HOSEF. I brought in some monitors, and the Tech 
Coordinator, Bully, took charge of picking up his printer, necessary NICs, 
and replacement monitors from McKinley. These computers were actually the 
second batch that we donated to the Charter Schools. The first was diverted 
to other needs.

As has been the case in our recent installs, HOSEF provided the server. We 
build a dual opteron, 4 gb ram, 15K software-raided SCSI Server that gets the 
job done. The schools reimburse HOSEF for the server parts, and in some cases 
they become members so as to help us in the perpetuation of our mission. 
Halau Lokahi is now a member.

Keep an eye out for Photos and video that Ron Fox took. The photos will be 
posted to our website soon. The videos will be compiled into an Olelo 
documentary that Ron is producing. His first set of videos included the guys 
cabling the lab. (free advertising, folks) The second days' worth of videos 
show the rapid transformation of a cluttered room to a functioning lab. By 
11:15 that morning Ron was shooting video of the first eWaste thin-client 
booting from the server.

Many thanks to the volunteers who showed up to help or participated in the 
allocation of equipment. In addition to Ron, Ben and Brian, Mark Thompson and 
Andy Stroble showed up to help. The Tech Coordinator, Bully, was there, of 
course. Erik Nagley and Michael Bishop, wiring contractors turned volunteers, 
also pitched in to help.

All in all, things went off without a hitch.  As it turned out, the miniature, 
pxe booting NIC workstations did not work.  Attendees to the install got a 
lesson in editing lts.conf, discovering mac addresses of malfunctioning 
workstations, and discovering a video mode that worked with this hardware.  A 
near catastrophe was diverted from HOSEF preparedness and fastidious 
attention to the K12OSN mailing list.

Still to do at this lab, if Bully has no already finished:
1. Add NICs to a few DOE computers that had token ring.
2. Replace some bad monitors
3. Set up another 'pod' of computers
4. Add a donated LaserJet 4 from HOSEF to the mix.

Thanks to all who had time to help, even Karen who drove around lost for a few 
hours. For those who missed out, join us this Saturday at Kailua 
Intermediate. We will need your help cabling, setting up workstations, 
terminating, tidying, testing, and having fun.

--scott