Students signed in at 2:50pm.
Seth brought in a video game controller that needs repair, but we didn't have the tools necessary to repair it (yet).
We decided it would be a good idea to finish building our computer that we started last week. We then went to acquire a couple of screwdrivers. The first order of business with the machine was to swap out the cd-rom drive with a working one. Seth took care of that. Then we had to edit the CMOS to allow the machine to boot from the cd-rom drive. Then, we installed Yoper Linux. We then added a new user to the machine: "AggieTech". Once that was done, we installed a few necessary programs (KOffice, Java, etc.) and some games.
There was a slight issue with the kdm process, but I think we resolved it by putting a link to it in /etc/boot.
After the machine was all setup, we got it online and took a look at a few different technologies, mainly Babelfish and Knoppix.
Babelfish is a website hosted by AltaVista at http://babelfish.altavista.com. It lets you translate from one written language to another. We translated a sentence in English (Seth is a bright young man) into Korean... see the entry below.
Knoppix is a very well tested version of linux. Seth and Brian had many questions about linux, so at the next meeting, I intend to bring in a few books on it for them to take home.
We didn't have time to fix Allison's iPod speakers (and I think we'll need to use the same tools as we would to fix Seth's video game controller), so we'll try to get to that next week. I'd also like to bring in some more parts so we can build another machine.
Meeting adjourned at 4:58pm
2007-12-18
2007-12-11
Minutes
Members showed up at 3pm and signed in.
We had a bunch of older computer parts donated to us for use in the Aggie Tech Club so we decided to build a computer that we would use exclusively for the club.
Using a Power Supply, 1 Gig of Memory, A Hard Drive, CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), Fan, and a Motherboard we put one together. We can use it to do any future computer work for the club.
The goal is to (next week) install DSL (a very tiny version of Linux) on it, along with Open Office and a few other Linux Goodies. It will be Microsoft Free! We'll have to install POV-Ray for its animation capabilities
and NQC (Not Quite C) for its ability to program the Lego Mindstorm robot.
It took almost the entire 2 hours to set up the machine. The CD-Drive is broken, so we need a new one, and the Hard-Drive is OS-less.
We Built a Computer
Today in the Aggie Tech Club we took donated parts of a computer and used them plus other items to get a working computer on the second day. This was more than we expected to happen and it was really was very fun and informational. We also took inventory showing us that we had an abundance of supplies that we could use. -- vinny c.
2007-12-05
How Do I....
A Teacher Asked:
How did you set up a page like the blog page i just read?
Just Go To: http://www.blogspot.com/ and setup a free account!
Just Go To: http://www.blogspot.com/ and setup a free account!
2007-12-04
Minutes
Meeting started on time at 1500 hours, and we moved from Room 8 to Lab 2. We discussed ideas for the direction of the club.
We discussed the fact that we need officers and will should start the nomination process.
We briefly discussed how computers boot up, and whether or not a machine will boot up if it has no memory installed (no... it won't). And I gave a demonstration using one of the Linux Laptops, showing the POST (Power On Self Test).
We began to make a simple webpage using HTML. It had a background image, 1 jpeg image, and 2 animated gifs from other sites. It had different fonts and font colours. And it had some hard-breaks, center tags, and bold text. It also had a link to another website.
We also discussed various Animation Software, mainly:
One of the students explored the use of the Robot in the Aggie Tech Club. One of the goals is to begin programming the Robot using a machine that we put together.
The last thing we did was create a mission statement (see blog below).
- Electronics and Circuit Boards
- Taking apart and Studying Computers
- Animation
- Robotics
- Web Design
We discussed the fact that we need officers and will should start the nomination process.
We briefly discussed how computers boot up, and whether or not a machine will boot up if it has no memory installed (no... it won't). And I gave a demonstration using one of the Linux Laptops, showing the POST (Power On Self Test).
We began to make a simple webpage using HTML. It had a background image, 1 jpeg image, and 2 animated gifs from other sites. It had different fonts and font colours. And it had some hard-breaks, center tags, and bold text. It also had a link to another website.
We also discussed various Animation Software, mainly:
- POV Ray - The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracing Tool (www.povray.org)
- Cinepaint - (www.Cinepaint.org)
One of the students explored the use of the Robot in the Aggie Tech Club. One of the goals is to begin programming the Robot using a machine that we put together.
The last thing we did was create a mission statement (see blog below).
Our Mission Statement
Our Mission Statement
Our club strives to support improvements in education and make a positive difference in our lives by exploring software and hardware that helps us learn and think.
Welcome to the Aggie Tech Club
Welcome to the Official Aggie Tech Club Blog
We're going to try to put weekly minutes, agendas, and random goings on here. Today is the first meeting, and we're going to try to do a bunch of things. In no particular order:
We're going to try to put weekly minutes, agendas, and random goings on here. Today is the first meeting, and we're going to try to do a bunch of things. In no particular order:
- Nominate Officers
- Come up with a rough Meeting Agenda
- Come up with a Mission Statement
- Discuss some areas of technology that we already use
- Discuss some areas of technology we may wish to explore
- Fundraisers? -- what would we spend the money on?
- The Aggie Tech Club Blog
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