- 2001.09.21
I promised another article about Macs and
antique radios, but I have something I really would like to
talk about first. I will get back to the topic, but I feel that
this should be dealt with first, while my idea still makes
sense.
The computer situation at my school has been bothering me for a
while. It started with the school not installing modern
software on the 5400s and 5500s in the CAD/graphics lab. Each machine
had 7.5.5 or 7.6.1 and was constantly giving errors. I stayed after
school on several occasions doing clean installs of Mac OS 8 until
my school's techs finally installed 8.6 and upgraded each machine
to 64 MB of RAM.
The high school had been using 6100/66
DOS Compatibles in the writing/multimedia lab, PowerMac
5400/120 and 5500/225s in the CAD and graphics lab, and Pentium
133, 166, and Pentium Pro 266 MHz PCs in the library.
They replaced the 6100/66 DOS Compatibles with iMac DVs. Some of the 6100s with maxed out
RAM went into the CAD lab (two machines). The other 20-some were
piled up on one side of the multimedia lab. The Pentium PCs in the
library have all been replaced with Dell Dimension 4100 800 MHz PCs
with DVD drives.
I heard today that they are going to replace the CAD lab and add
a mobile computing lab. (A mobile computing lab is an excellent
idea, and the iBook with AirPort
would be ideal for this.) While I can't verify that this is
completely accurate, it certainly sounds like it could be (and
those 5400s do need replacing/upgrading sometime very soon).
First of all, you do not need iMacs to get on the
Internet and do word processing! The 6100s would have been fine
with some upgrades. Or, better yet, they could have bought iMacs
for the CAD/graphics lab where you do need something fast and
brought the old 5400's down into the multimedia lab.
Second, do you need an 800 MHz Pentium III processor for the
Internet, let alone DVD drives?
Of course 133 MHz Pentium machines running Windows 98 with 16 MB
of RAM are going to be slow. Who installed Windows 98 on there
anyway? A simple RAM upgrade to 64 or 128 MB would have extended
the life of these things for a couple years and saved the school
several thousand dollars. In fact, the Pentium Pro machines had 64
MB already installed and were quite speedy at browsing the
Internet.
By the way, some of the old PCs are sitting on the other side of
the library, disconnected, doing absolutely nothing. There are
still a few set up and in use - for what I don't know, because no
one ever seems to actually bother with them.
Then of course there are the 6100s sitting there. These are 66
MHz DOS Compatible machines with 16 MB of RAM and 2 GB hard
drives. They each have 14" multiple scan monitors with built in
speakers, along with keyboards and mice. Just sitting there piled
up, disconnected.
Now I will talk about the proposed "replacement" of the
CAD/graphics lab. First of all, are the 5400s 
going to sit there in the back like the 6100s and
the Pentium PC's? If so, they shouldn't be allowed to replace them
- it is a waste of useable technology. Second, if they do replace
them, they will need to get Macs (the software they have is all Mac
software, and have you ever tried Quark on a PC?), and new Macs
come with OS X (yes, I know you can override it, but probably
by the time the systems are ordered, 10.1 will load by default),
which means they will want to upgrade their software to take
advantage of the new operating system. Can you say
expensive?
My proposed alternative is either:
- G3 upgrade cards for the 54/5500s and the 6100s. And
the two 5260s that are in there? They could replace them with two
of the surplus 6100s upgraded with G3 cards.
or
- Replace the 54/5500s with the iMacs running OS 9 (please update
them to 9.2.1!) from the multimedia lab and buy new iMacs with
OS X for the multimedia lab. Of course, before they replace
the old computers, they would need to find a useful home for
them.
Which I will discuss now.
The other day I talked to a couple teachers from the middle
school. They have mentioned that for the past year or so that the
computer situation for them hasn't been going all that well. One
teacher got an old LC 580 that
doesn't work. Another teacher had her three 80386 PCs taken from
her because they were "too old" to use, even though they suited her
class perfectly for typing. One of them belonged to her
personally. They traded her something else for them - and they
didn't even show her how to set it up.
There a few options that the high school could look at. Here are
a couple of my ideas
Give some of the teachers in the middle school who still have
old LC 580s a PowerMac 6100 or 5400 or two? The school could sell
anything left over in a fundraiser for something else they need. I
know 6100s are only worth about $25 these days, but 15 or 20 of
them could land them almost $500. The 5400s are worth about
$100-$150 each, and there are about 15 of those, so that could get
them $1,500 or more. That's $2,000 total. While it may not buy a
lot in technology, it might help to pay for school supplies
(teachers end up spending their own money!). Yes, they would
be taking a loss (when they bought them, $2,000 probably would just
about buy two machines), but they need to get them out if they
aren't going to use them. They've also got some LC 575s and Pentium PCs, which are worth
somewhere between $20 and $75 each.
My other idea? It still involves giving the middle school some
5400s and 6100s, but how about donating the rest of the machines to
other schools that don't have technology? In my town, almost
everyone has a computer. The schools here can afford modern
computers, but there are those towns that don't have them.
Or they could combine the ideas. Give a few machines to the
middle school, donate half of the leftovers, and sell the rest in a
fundraiser.
I don't know the details, but there may be something preventing
the school from selling/giving away these older machines. However,
if the school isn't going to use them (and it sure seems like they
aren't), why keep them around?
I would be more than willing to help carry out either of these
ideas in my school. If anyone has any other ideas of what they
could do with these older machines, please contact me. I would love
to hear about your idea. In the meantime, it looks like there isn't
much that can be done until the new machines arrive.
