djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (01/11/89)
One of our work units has 11 similarly-configured XT and AT machines. There are a few pieces of software that (for budgetary and usage reasons) I would like to set up in a "check-out" library for users to borrow when the need arises. Applications such as graphics and highend statistics packages are examples of the software I'm thinking of. We simply don't have the budget to purchase a copy for each machine, and couldn't justify it anyway, with the extremely sporadic need our average user has. Two suggestions that came out of a little brainstorming were to purchase Bernoulli drives for each machine (storing the software on Bernoulli cartridges) and to purchase an external tape drive unit that could double as a backup device as well as a portable software source. I'm researching the costs of these ideas now. Have any of you installed a similar setup to meet "library" needs like these? I would be very interested in your experiences or suggestions. Mail or post, whichever is convenient, and I'll summarize findings to the net. Thanks as always for your help! -Dick O'Connor djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu Washington Department of Fisheries
les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) (01/11/89)
In article <518@blake.acs.washington.edu> djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) writes: >One of our work units has 11 similarly-configured XT and AT machines. >There are a few pieces of software that (for budgetary and usage reasons) >I would like to set up in a "check-out" library for users to borrow when >the need arises. ... >Two suggestions that came out of a little brainstorming were to purchase >Bernoulli drives for each machine (storing the software on Bernoulli >cartridges) and to purchase an external tape drive unit that could >double as a backup device as well as a portable software source. >I'm researching the costs of these ideas now. This sounds like more money than it would take to network all the machines and provide a central server. Many networks (I've only worked with AT&T's starlan) will provide "exclusive-access" directories where only a single client can link to it at one time. Most software will work under these conditions even if it is not set up for network operation, since it doesn't have to deal with sharing files. Les Mikesell