Bill Thornton and Gary Ludwig joined me at the March 6 meeting. We took an inventory of machines ready to be released, because we knew that Charlotte Manning (CManning@ci.tulsa.ok.us) with The Sanctuary Evangelistic Church Learning Center seeking some machines her group could use to teach children in the area about computers. We provided them a 286-8mhz with 40mb HD loaded with software to teach people to type (as well as other simple DOS application programs), and a 386-20 with 8mb of Memory, 543mb and 120mb HDs running Windows 3.1. They will be going through the remainder of their inventory of other computer equipment which has been donated to them to see if there is anything they don't need, but which TCS might be able to combine with other equipment we have to generate machines for others to use.

We found we still have three 286s with typing software and a 33mhz 386 with 8mb of Ram, 88mb HD, 212mb HD, and Windows 3.1. We also have a 486 which we are still having some problems with, but which Charlotte has asked us to earmark for her Church Learning Center.

In previous months (http://www.tcs.org/ioport/nov98/refurb.htm, http://www.tcs.org/ioport/sep98/refur998.htm, http://www.tcs.org/ioport/aug98/refurb.htm, we described some computers which had been sent to the Belize Bible and Trade School in Belize (south of Mexico). Jim Erwin finally sent us some photos of the equipment in use in Belize.

At the March 27 meeting Glenn Fetter, Bill Thornton, James Keith, and Gary Ludwig showed up to help. We worked on installing a CD in the machine for Jamacia, but it was a bit flaky, so we decided not to ship it off immediately. Gary also worked on a second 386 to use in our lab to transfer disk images to machines we get operational.

At the April 3 meeting Glenn Fetter, Joel Tinkersley, Merritt Ford, and Gary Ludwig showed up to help. Merritt brought two printers to donate to the cause, and Joel is one of the boys being helped by Bethesda Boys Ranch, and Brian asked that we teach him some about computer hardware. We began by taking a 386 that was not working, identified a problem with a 3-1/2" floppy disk; and proved that was the problem by substituting a known good unit from our test bed system. Joel had to leave before we could do any more, so we will wait until next time to install a permanent 3-1/2" drive in the system, and a hard disk. Once the system is operational, Joel will take it over to the dormitory at the other Bethesda Boys Ranch property in the area, so he and the other boys can begin learning about computers. We also did some further testing with the Jamacia system, disabling the cache to see if that cured the flaky performance problems, and Gary worked on a 386/20.

For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here