Computer Lab – Before Pics

Good news – the computer lab remodel was approved. Fresh paint, new A/C and new carpet are on the way. Bad news – it won’t be completed until early August, meaning I’ll have a very short time to get things in order. The first day of class is August 24th.

Here are some pictures of the lab before it was cleaned out:

The second and third pictures show a glimpse of the clutter above the storage room, as well as all of the old computers stashed under the table with the printers. Mark and Ronnie, the maintenance staff at the school, hauled all of those pc’s and old junk to Licking County Recycling for disposal. I think they probably took 20-25 desktop pc’s and at least that many 15″ CRT monitors, the majority of which had been stored above the storage room.

I’m hoping next year for a tech upgrade in the lab. The PC’s are Dell Optiplex systems that are a little long in the tooth, but serviceable for web, Office 2003 and educational software. The monitors are mainly 17″ Dell CRT monitors, with some 15″ that I’m trying to weed out. As I complete installing the new Vostro 220′s, I hope to scrounge up some more 17″ CRT’s to outfit all 16 pc’s in the lab.

Windows XP on Toshiba Satellite A305

I had a customer that found a great deal on two Toshiba Satellite A305-S6859,  model number – PSAG0U-02703K laptops. These systems come preinstalled with Windows Vista, but after dealing with Vista for a while, he decided that he would rather have Windows XP on them. I took a quick glance at Toshiba’s site, and it appeared that drivers were available. I should have given the site more than a glance, because not all of the necessary drivers are there.

I spent a couple of late nights Googling the necessary drivers. In the end, the hardest thing to resolve was a couple of unknown devices that ended up being the integrated card reader. So if anyone else is trying to do the same thing, I uploaded all the driver files to my business website to save you a lot of hunting around. All the drivers are there – sound, network, wireless, bluetooth, etc. The files are located at www.starcherconsulting.com/toshiba/

You’re welcome!