hare@cs.purdue.EDU (Steve Hare) (09/23/88)
Greetings! This is my first posting to this newsgroup (I've tried unsuccessfully three other times). As a board member of a local Christian elementary school, I have inherited 15 donated Apple II+'s (without monitors or disk drives). I have repaired about 10 of them and would like to provide each class with one, plus some for admin, library, etc. Several questions come to mind. Is this even worth it? I would have to buy monitors and disk drives. Is there network software available to boot them diskless from one or two hard disks? Can I purchase used parts such as floppy drives and monitors to keep the costs down? Any comments, suggestions or help to equip the school with these donated machines or decide against the project would be appreciated. Please e-mail your responses rather than posting to the net. Thanks, Steve Hare Purdue University Computer Sciences Department hare@cs.purdue.edu 317-494-7820
abc@BRL.MIL (Brint Cooper) (09/23/88)
My wife's elementary school has 10 Apple IIe computers networked in one room, a "computer lab." They can boot from a central floppy disk, or each can boot locally. There is no special software required; rather, specialized hardware is provided, including a two-disk centralized disk drive, a ribbon cable from machine to machine, and a little box at each machine to select local or centralized operation. I don't know if this configuration will work with the Apple II+. However, if you are interested this far, I can find out who supplies this "network" configuration. It is not Apple, Inc. As to whether it's worth it, I'd think so. Monitors can be had for $100, even cheaper at hamfests and computer fairs. Disk drives are available for $77.00. I have provided these to several clients; none have had any trouble with them. You might consider putting the instructional machines in a small room somewhere, so that a teacher can give a lesson to the entire class at one time. With 15 machines, two pupils to a machine, you can accommodate a 30-child class this way. For instructional purposes, this seems much preferable to one computer for 30 children. This form of time-sharing is usually quite preferable to one computer per class, because it's doubtful that any class will keep a machine busy more than a fraction of the time anyhow. If you want more info, please let me know. _Brint <abc@brl.mil>
hare@CS.PURDUE.EDU (06/09/89)
Brint, About 6 months ago I sent a message regarding disk drives and monitors for Apple II+'s. You mentioned a $77 drive. Can you tell me who to contact? Thanks, Steve Hare Research Facilities Manager Purdue University Computer Sciences Department hare@cs.purdue.edu (ARPA) ...!purdue!hare (UUCP) 317-494-7820