| | With computer support services increasingly becoming computer dictating services, my suggestion is to bring support into the department. Donations and grants can get the department equipment, and a line for maintenance in the department’s annual budget will be necessary for repair and equipment replacement. My plan outlined below will work very well with older machines, say not more than three or four years, that are already straining under the burden of Microsoft’s latest bloatware. While designed for a single, networked classroom (a small local area network, or LAN), this network could be expanded into a larger LAN that can incorporate any computers that users wish to put on their desks. Since it uses a version of Unix as the server (specifically, Red Hat Linux 7.0), it will be robust, dependable, and secure. Also, unlike Microsoft’s software, this network’s software, based on open source, will be totally free. Open source software is free from the burden of ownership. Open source software belongs to the community of users, remaining free from the confining restraints of capitalism, sort of. “Free” here is not used in the same sense as “free car,” but more with that of “free speech.” The GNU Project’s Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/) equates programming code with that of speech, suggesting that all users have access to the words that comprise the whole. Users may change the code to fit their needs, and they may distribute that code however they see fit. The foundation of open source software is accessibility to the code. Open source keeps software accessible to the community and allows that community to improve and augment software to make it better, refusing finality based on the monetary interests of one person or company. Therefore, the use of open source software in an educational environment has two excellent benefits over licensed software: (1) the price tag associated with open source software is usually small or non-existent, and (2) support for the software comes from a community of users. Open source keeps the code public and allows no one entity to control it, keeping the software free and not giving any one entity the power to control. This LAN is also based on recycling. No new equipment was purchased and a networked facility was already in place before we began. We had 36 Intel PCs in a room already wired for network access. Every situation will be different, but the basic LAN configuration will work with any number and kinds of machines you happen to have. To begin, you need at least one machine to use as a server and any number of workstation machines. The former should have as much hard disk storage capacity and RAM as possible, while the workstation machines can have as little as 32 megabytes of RAM and 1 gigabyte of hard drive space.8 At the time, Red Hat 7.0 was the latest version of their Linux operating system to work for Intel, so we use that release for both the server and workstations. If you have the capability, download the release from Red Hat’s web site (http://www.redhat.com/) and burn it on to a CD; you might want to make multiple CDs, since you will have to physically install it on every machine. While a network install is possible, it tends to be slower and less reliable, so I recommend CDs. You may also purchase a boxed version of Red Hat from your local office or computer store, but get the least expensive one, since the others just include software that can be downloaded and used for free anyway. While this document is meant to introduce you to basic system/network design and administration, it is not meant to be used by someone totally unfamiliar with the operations of computers. I address an audience of academics who are interested in computers and education — this documents is not intended to give an education in all aspects of computers and networks. While I attempt to take no knowledge for granted, several explanations cannot be included because of space constraints. I will, however, make an effort to provide references for topics that I cannot cover in this tutorial. | |