In search of

The Perfect Computer Lab

Low-cost and low-maintenance:

An impossible dream?

Whats it for?
Typing/Keyboarding skills
Office Applications
(Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Internet/Email
Educational Courseware
Paint programs (KidPix, etc..)
Web Editing/development
Video Editing

Case Studies
Colville Valley Junior Academy
Milton-Stateline School

Colville Valley Junior Academy

Small, private, rural K-10 school
First computer lab
Have donor for funding
Lab must last for several years
Keyboard / Office Applications
Multimedia (Macromedia Director)
Wants higher end systems

Milton-Stateline School
Small K-10 school
Existing lab
Low budget
Keyboarding
Office Applications
Courseware / Internet
Promotional Video Editing

Choosing Hardware
Thick Clients
vs.
Thin Clients

Thick Client
Fast processor
Lots of storage space
State of the Art
Good for multimedia
Nice, but expensive!!
Lots of workstation maintenance often
required.

Thin client
Usually slower processor
Often has no hard drive
Easy management since there
is little to go wrong
Good for Internet/word processing
Speed limited by network and server
Cheap!

The fit client

Small hard drive (< 5 gigs)
Most commonly used
applications are installed locally
No data is stored locally
Very little management required
Utilize the workstation processor
and resources

Buy cheap, but not too cheap

Buy good mice (Logitech/Optical)
Buy good headphones
(I like the Califone ones)
Buy good keyboards (or replace
them regularly)
Keep your monitors in good order
Aim for identical hardware

Colville
Mars 1000 Workstation
1000mhz AMD Thunderbird Athlon Processor with 266mhz front side bus
Thermaltake Chrome Orb DUO462-2 heat-sink fan
Gigabyte GA-7ZMMH KM133A Based Motherboard
Motherboard includes video and Creative Labs sound onboard
Micron 256mb PC-133 DIMM memory
Teac 3.5 1.44mb floppy disk drive
Seagate 20GB ATA/100 7200 RPM Hard Drive
Afreey 12X IDE DVD-ROM Drive
Iomega Zip 100mb Internal IDE Drive
KDS 15 Monitor
Antec KS388 Mid-Tower case with 250W ATX power supply
Antec 80mm case fan
Logitech Deluxe Access 104 key keyboard with 3 launch buttons
Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse w/Belkin premium blue mouse pad
LabTec Elite-820 Headphones with 9 cord
Netgear FA311 10/100 PCI Network card
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional w/free XP upgrade option
Deep Freeze Pro for NTFS security software
Grisofts AVG Anti-Viral software free edition (upgrades available)

Thick Clients
20 Workstations
Cost: $18,000

Total bid:

..

$899.99 + tax

Fit Client Cost checkup

25 Computer Lab
25 Workstation

200

5000

1 Memory lot

200

200

25 Logitech Mice

15

375

25 Headphones

10

250

25 Monitors

35

875

25 Keyboards

10

250

Workstation Hardware Total:

$6,950

Goal: Get these

workstations donated.
Look for college or
business hand-me-downs.
Then cost is only $1,950

Running Total: $6,950

Server & Networking

Save your $$ for the server
not the workstations
Buy a midrange server ($1200$2500) and build a solid network
Consider a managed switch for
your backbone if you can afford it.
Install a good backup solution
(consider NovaBackup)
www.novastor.com

Fit Client Cost checkup

Server
1 Server system

1800

1 Backup system

350

1 24+5 port switch

500

1 Windows 2003 Server

150

Server Hardware Total:

$2,800

Running Total: $9,750

Dont forget the software

Software should be a big piece
in your overall budget
Choose software to match your
hardware

Operating
OperatingSystems
Systems
Microsoft vs. Linux?
Either way: older
hardware means
use lighter software
Open vs. School
Licensing
Consider downgrading
your license

Secrets of the fit client

Deep Freeze (Faronics)
www.deepfreezeusa.com

Secrets of the fit client

CD-ROM emulator
http://www.cdrom-emulator.com/

Secrets of the fit client

Norton Ghost 2003
http://www.symantec.com/

Secrets of the fit client

Consider NetOp or LanSchool
http://www.lanschool.com/

Office Applications
Fit to hardware
Consider Office 97
Consider OpenOffice

Make a uniform installation

(same hardware / same software)

Courseware
Look for managed, network
software even if it costs more
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
ClassWorks
Accelerated Reader

Remember no data is stored on a fit

client locally avoid software that
cannot store data on network drive

Courseware
Consider classic educational
products like: LOGO that
are freely available and
have an active community
for support.
Consider inexpensive older
product versions available online
or shareware to complement
your courseware.

Cost checkup
Software
25 DeepFreeze WS License

15

375

25 CD-Rom Emulator

12

300

25 Norton Ghost

15

375

FREE

FREE

70

1750

25 OpenOffice
25 Microsoft Windows
(Open Licenses)
Software Total:

$2,800

Running Total: $12,550

w/donated workstations: $5,800

Summing it up
There may not be a perfect lab. But with the right
expertise and planning it is possible to set-up a lowcost, low-maintenance computer lab. Using fit
clients rather than high end systems saves both money
and time and reduces the total cost of ownership.

Questions?
Download this presentation at:
www.buypct.com

Copyright (C) 2003 Pacific Computer Technologies. All rights reserved.