Click photo to enlarge

While I was in Nebraska Lee Pang was keeping HelpingTulsa going here, and in responding to a request from the Tulsa Urban League Lee had to take one of our Image Machines with him to their facility to check out and refurbish a number of computers. In our discussions after I got back to Tulsa we came up with some improvements which would make it easier to work with an Image Machine in the field, and the idea of a Road Warrior Image Machine was born. When working in the field one very seldom has a need to come up with a custom configuration of the software on a system (something the full Image Machine can do, but which the Road Warrior cannot do), but the worker in the field sometimes needs to be able to check something on our HowTo documentation, but he may not have access to the internet, and he may need some drivers that are not on the Windows CAB files, and again he may not have access to the internet to find those drivers. The new Road Warrior design addresses those needs.

There are two versions of the new Image Machine. The DOS version takes only 200 meg plus whatever GHO files we need to be able to install, so it would work on drives as small as 1 Gig. It boots up with the following screen:

which is capable of running:

• Ghost, to transfer an image with an Operating System and installed Application Programs onto the hard disk of the machine being refurbished
• A Makedisk program capable of making any of the floppy disks we use in our refurbishing project
• SYSCHK, to verify the size of the Hard Drive we will be GHOSTing an image to
• VALET, so we can see what is on the refurbished computer's Hard Drive
• MH-IDE, a program that can detect the proper Hard Drive parameters to use

Makedisk can make the following floppy disks

We also have a Windows version, which initially comes up in DOS mode, just like the DOS version, but when one hits ESC to terminate the DOS menu, it boots up into Windows 98SE, where one can use IE to read any of HelpingTulsa's HOWTO files, and where one can copy drivers onto the Hard Drive for the computer being refurbished.

The significant icons for this purpose are:

Clicking on the Image Machine icon

displays the same five item menu that was displayed when the computer was first booted.

The only dfference is that SYSCHK will show an error indicating it is being run under Windows, and that some items may not be accurate. However the disk size of Drive 2 should be accurate, and that is the only significant entry that it makes sense to look at in an image machine (SYSCHK is usually run from a Clone disk in the machine being refurbished.

Clicking on the Internet Explorer icon

opens up displaying the Helping Tulsa Computer Refurbishing Procedures, even though with image machine not connected to the internet.

Clicking on the Search for Drivers icon

initially displays an instruction page

Pressing any key gives this screen:

Pressing enter to do a text search gives this screen:

As the initial instruction page indicates you need to press the End key, backspace over the last *, and type cmt

Typine in hp as the search string and pressing F10 to run the search results in the following:

Let us assume we were looking for a driver for an HP 890c Printer. It appears it is named Dj885en.exe, and it is in the C:\drivers\d2\Print folder

Clicking on the Copy Drivers icon

gives us this screen. The driver we want is in the d2 so we click on that in the right hand pane,

and then select the Print folder, and select Dj885en.exe. We can then do a right drag (hold the right mouse button down and drag the file) to the D: drive (which is the HD for the machine being refurbished, which is temporarilly in the Drive Tray on the image machine, and when we let the button up select copy.

The Drivers folder

has four subfolders. Folders d1, d2, and d3 are used in conjunction with the search function developed by Gary Ludwig. The don folder has some drivers downloaded by Don Singleton. These drivers do not yet have the cmt files to enable them to be used with the search function, but if the search function does not find a driver, you may want to do a manual search in the don folder, which has subfolders for

dell, gateway, hp, ibm, lexmark, misc, scanner, and nic

We also have a Drivers CD which can be used on the computer being refurbished, assuming it has a CD drive.

The Windows Version takes about 1 Gig more than the DOS version with the same number of GHO files, so it will work on drives as small as 2 Gig.

Click photo to enlarge

We have two volunteers for HelpingTulsa that we have provided RoadWarrior machines to. Bobbie Smith works several jobs, and is only able to come over to help refurbish for a few hours on Friday afternoon, when she does not have to work at any of her jobs, and when her son is in DayCare, but with a RoadWarrior machine she can take several machines home and refurbish them whenever her son is busy playing with his toys or watching TV, and then she can bring them here on Fridays and pick up more machines to be refurbished. To quote from Bobbie "the road warrior is working just wonderfully -- awesome new tool!!!!"

In April Bobbie will be moving to Springfield, Ohio to get married to Jim Simpson, and they already plan to have a Computer Refurbishing project in Springfield which they will call Helping Acts 'N Dayton & Springfield (http://helpingacts.org/). Jim said "Already, here in Springfield I have several ministries that actually desire to contribute to aiding us in getting started. The excitement is immense, because as I explained this is what I have always desired to do. Helping others to be better able to help others in need." and "Thanks again for all you are doing to help us get underway. I am very excited and enthusiastic about this organization."

Click photo to enlarge Richard Tanner is the other HelpingTulsa volunteer we have provided a RoadWarrior machine to. Richard lives in Turley, and does not make it into Tulsa, particularly east Tulsa, that often, so with the RoadWarrior he can take a number of computers to his house and work on them there. If other members of the Tulsa Computer Society like the idea of what HelpingTulsa is doing, and want to join us, please call Don Singleton at 622-3417. If it is difficult for you to come to my house often, once we show you how we refurbish computers we can provide you with a Road Warrior machine like Bobbie and Richard, and you can work on them at your own home.

For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here