[212] in Resnet-Forum
Status Report from Syracuse
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (June R. Quackenbush)
Wed Mar 23 08:14:34 1994
To: resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
Cc: qtjrq@mailbox.syr.edu
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 08:05:22 -0500
From: "June R. Quackenbush" <qtjrq@mailbox.syr.edu>
We've just connected our second round of participants in our pilot project
and I think we have this down to a system that I thought I would share....
We are using external ethernet adapters (plugging into the parallel port on
DOS machines and into the scsi port on Macs). Our plan is that the students
are going to do most of the work to get their machines connected themselves,
figuring that the less labor-intensive it is on our side, the lower we can
keep the cost.
For the pilot:
We set up shop in the lobby of one of our residence halls over two nights...and
handed out adapters, cables, disks (the DOS machines require a "boot" disk for
the pc's to boot to the network), and written instructions. I asked the
students to take everything away with them and try to do the setup themselves,
using just the written instructions...told them if they had any trouble to come
back down to us and we'd send a consultant to their room to do trouble-shooting.
In a few instances, I had to remind people who came back downstairs to
*read* the instructions. I pointed out to them that the real program can
only succeed if it's largely self-service, so they had to help us out by
testing the instructions....and the students were pretty
good about trudging back up to their room without help.
For the most part (except for one student who had a bad scsi port and one
who has a Quadra 700 that might be incompatible with the adapter we are using),
the Macs attached without a hitch. They plug in the adapter, run the
installation software...and they are on. They then go into the Chooser and
find the dorm server....copy some files into their System Folder...and they
can run communications.
The DOS/Windows side is more tricky...there are so many more variables with
complexities like DoubleSpace creating virtual drives (our network requires
the use of the "H" drive). Most of these problems were easily overcome though.
A few students required "house calls"...most problems we were able to handle
with basic consulting.
All the students in the project have access to electronic mail, direct
Internet connections without going through the timesharing system (since we
can identify/authenticate by IP address), ftp and telnet, access to our
Library, and access to "Academic Software." Academic Software is
curriculum specific stuff... They can log on to other campus servers which is
handy since many instructors require their students to hand in their assignmentselectronically by putting their files in a "drop" folder on a faculty server.
Though we haven't yet, we are going to put Mosaic up for them as well.
We have opted out of making general applications software available (things
like Microsoft Word and Excel, for example). It's just assumed that if a
student buys a computer, some basic suite of software is a necessity.
The students who advised us through the first portion of our pilot project
agreed that this was a sensible stand. Some colleges within the University
will make some high end, expensive packages available to their students by
giving them accounts on their servers. Once the central computing organization
gets them up on the network, I think more academic departments will take
advantage of this.
For Fall, we've worked out a system with our bookstore (who is also our
campus reseller) to sell the adapter and collect the first semester's network
fee. We'll have a table set up in the bookstore where someone will
register each adapter purchased so we can get the student information
including room number and register their ethernet address and assign an IP
address. Our written instructions will be included with the adapter. We
plan to have consultants based in the residence halls inthe evenings the
first week of classes to get everyone up and running pretty quickly. This
will be the case for returning students. Incoming freshmen will have the
option for purchasing a network card along with their computer...and we'll
deliver the entire package at the same time...and probably be prepared to
offer them a little more assistance.
Our next step is to work out printing.
-June
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June Quackenbush Syracuse University 315-443-4385 qtjrq@syr.edu
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