[UCIMC-Tech] IMC public PCs Ubuntu-ified - and IMC communication

[Barry Todd]

Hi Stuart I apologize for not letting you know I asked one of the guys at
work at the help desk to install Ubuntu on it yesterday have been little
bit under the weather so I didn't get back to you
On Oct 8, 2015 10:44 PM, "Stuart Levy" <stuartnlevy at gmail.com> wrote:

> *A non-fictional fable about some things happening in the IMC follows,
> with lessons at the end.*
>
> About ten days ago, I'd asked imc-tech list + some makerspace people
> whether anyone had a plan for the (then-unusable) IMC public PCs - I was
> offering to install ubuntu on them if nobody did.   Nobody responded.   I
> guessed that meant that nobody felt ownership of them.
>
> Last weekend, I learned - thanks to Sophia! - that Barry Todd had been
> feeling responsible for them.   Barry and I traded notes, and one or the
> other of us would go install some usable software, either Ubuntu or Windows
> 7, on them in time for the bulk of this weekend's festivities.   Great.
>
> This afternoon, I had some time, and went over to the IMC.   A meeting was
> in progress next to the PCs, so I hung out and waited for that to end,
> about 40 minutes.
>
> While I was there, Chris Ritzo came by, we chatted, he showed me some of
> the great stuff he's been doing toward WRFU streaming - even to the point
> of trying it out.   This is wonderful!
>
> When the meeting ended, I went to check out the PCs, and found:
>
>    (a) They were plugged into a switched outlet, which had been switched
> off at the breaker.
>         So anyone pressing their On buttons would get nowhere.
>         I moved them (*for the second time*) to a non-switched circuit.
> (How should this be communicated?  See below.)
>
>    (b) Someone had already installed Ubuntu on them, just this morning
> around 11am.   It works nicely.
>
>    (c) Sophia had not heard of (b) and was not sure who would have done it.
>
> *For better and worse,* this is typical of how things work at the IMC:
>
>     - The IMC can a neat place to hang out.   By hanging out there, I met
> by chance with Chris, a valuable meeting as well as a pleasant one.
>     - People see needs and fill them.  That what you'd hope for.
>     - People too often DON'T TELL OTHERS WHAT IS HAPPENING OR WHY.
>
> Because of this,
>    I lost about 75 minutes I could have used better elsewhere.
>
>    I don't know who set up Ubuntu.   I'm guessing it wasn't Barry, who
> would likely have installed Windows (as he previously had on the other
> similar machines in the office) and would likely have let me know he'd gone
> in to set them up.
>
>    What if someone wants additional Ubuntu packages installed besides the
> default ones (a media editor, mplayer, cd burner, Chrome browser, ...)?
> Who has an admin password to the machines to make that possible?   Who
> would even know who might have it?   Should I just break in and create an
> admin account?
>
>    This last is not a theoretical question.   I would like to install a
> CD/DVD-burner on at least one of those computers, and then let people know
> it's available.   This would involve hardware and probably software.
> (Hardware?   Should I buy a CD writer drive, or is one lying around?)
>
> *What I wish, for a start:*
>    The imc-tech at lists.chambana.net list could be a good place to trade
> this sort of information.   Not just "such-and-such is broken, please
> help", but a place to log plans and actions.   I know Barry has been
> finding surprising changes made to things he's been feeling responsible for
> keeping up - not a good way to maintain morale.
>
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