[61505] in Hotline Meeting
Re: Printer in Tang Hall & Ethernet access point for 24th floor lounge
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Oliver Thomas)
Tue Sep 24 18:07:30 2002
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 18:07:58 -0400
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Cc: Oliver Thomas <othomas@MIT.EDU>, <hotline@MIT.EDU>, <olh-suggest@MIT.EDU>,
"Anthony Davis" <adavis@MIT.EDU>, "Larry Anderson" <landerso@MIT.EDU>,
<ccrawfor@MIT.EDU>, <babaker@MIT.EDU>, <gpardo@MIT.EDU>,
"Nelson C Lau" <nlau@MIT.EDU>, "R. Erich Caulfield" <rerichc@MIT.EDU>,
"Richard J. Rikoski" <rikoski@MIT.EDU>, <dsheehan@MIT.EDU>,
<jag@MIT.EDU>, rccsuper@MIT.EDU
To: "Salil Soman" <sal@ai.mit.edu>
From: Oliver Thomas <othomas@MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <003201c2640a$8e5fd190$3b03fb12@cardimum>
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Salil,
Very clearly explained and overall quite reasonable requests. Thank you
for the detailed write-up. I can probably help you move both of these
forward.
A short front matter, however: I'm not sure how you decided on the
recipient list for your message, and I understand that navigating the
administrative departments at MIT to find the right people to contact
can be a daunting task. To avoid confusion, delays, and duplication of
effort it would be helpful if you sent requests like this to the people
or groups directly involved in residential IT and student/academic
computing.
Addressing future requests for infrastructure upgrades to myself
(othomas@mit.edu), Tony Davis (adavis@mit.edu), and the RCC supervisors
(rccsuper@mit.edu) is sufficient. We will be able to move your requests
forward directly or escalate them to appropriate places. Casting the
net too broadly will slow things down rather than speeding them up.
Regarding the Tang printer, there is already a project underway to
upgrade all the dorm printers to new models. I will send you a note
with a more precise timeframe for the upgrade over the next few days,
but it should not be long.
Regarding ethernet in the 24th floor lounge: there is a flat rate for
ethernet installations and activations. These rates are listed at
http://web.mit.edu/is/pubs/ns-24/. Generally the proximity of other
ethernet drops is not an indicator of how easy or costly it is to
install an additional drop. Lots of factors, such as the condition and
capacity of the closest network closet, the capacity of wiring
conduits, and the length of the cable run from the network closet to
the drop location all influence the cost of a jack. In most of our
dorms the actual cost of installing the jack tends to be higher than
the flat rate charged for the installation. The wiring plants in most
of our dorms are quite old and at capacity.
If you are unable to get this cost picked up by the GSC or Housing, the
request may have to wait until money becomes available in the THRA
budget. I will also check with Academic Computing to see if they are
able to subsidize the installation. No promises, as everyone's budget
is under strain these days, but I will try and let you know the result.
In addition, if there is an active drop nearby that is not being used,
you can certainly connect the wireless access point you have to such a
drop as long as it is correctly configured. If this is the case, let
rccsuper@mit.edu or your RCC know about it and they can help. If there
is no free active drop, we will need to continue trying to drum up the
money for a jack installation for the floor.
Oliver Thomas
Team Leader
Athena-RCC Group
MIT Information Systems
On Tuesday, September 24, 2002, at 04:40 PM, Salil Soman wrote:
> Dear Administrator,
>
> I am writing to let you know of 2 IT issues that various members of
> the Tang Hall community have complained to me (the current THRA
> Secretary) about and have asked that the house government (The Tang
> Hall Residents Association) attempt to address. 1) There has been
> significant complaints about the Athena printer wg-tang being
> unreliable / erratically jamming. 2) The residents have repeated
> requested that Ethernet access of some kind be made available in the
> lounges in Tang so as to facilitate use of the rooms as group study /
> meeting space as well as being recreation space.
>
> With respect to the Ethernet jack - we would really like a jack to be
> available in the 24th floor lounge. Unfortunately, THRA's yearly
> budget has already been allotted for the orientation and event
> programming THRA regularly puts on for Tang's residents. Furthermore,
> THRA's request for the $400 IS has quoted us for installing an
> Ethernet jack has been turned down by the GSC funding board. I'm about
> ready to give up on this endeavor, because I can't think of anyone
> else to ask for help on this matter. Would the fact that all of the
> apartments on the 24th floor other than the lounge are already wired
> for Ethernet access (so hopefully the amount of wiring work required
> is minimal)? We also have an Orinoco ap-200 wireless access point we
> could use to provide residents access in the 24th floor lounge (which
> is better suited for the 24th floor lounge than the ap-500 IS installs
> as part of its standard wireless package) - is there a way we could
> get a cheaper cost for simply connecting this device to the MIT
> network (rather than requiring a dedicated jack being made available)
> - thereby making Ethernet access to wireless card users? Any advice
> you can provide on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
>
> With regard to the printer, I was wondering if the Athena printer
> currently in Tang could be checked out / reviewed for replacement - a
> number of residents and maintenance staff (who use the printer as
> well) have complained over and over again that the printer jams
> erratically. I have been fielding complaints on and off for some time
> now, but the frequency of complaints seems to have increased
> dramatically in the last month or so.
>
> The 400+ Tang residents that make use of the wg-tang Athena printer
> when it is working are extremely grateful for its presence (given that
> Tang is predominantly first year graduate students who have to take
> classes for which the professors require students to print out all of
> their own handouts and often chapters of books) - however, it would be
> a great service to Tang residents if the printer could be repaired to
> be more reliable or replaced with a printer that is more reliable and
> can handle the capacity that the Tang residents require.
>
> Thank you for your time and consideration.
>
> With kind regards,
>
> Salil Soman
> Secretary / Webmaster
> Tang Hall Residents Association (THRA)
