Hey look, Torrie wrote another novel! On Thursday, September 12, 2013 10:40:01 AM Alexander Golightley wrote: > This is a fantastic idea and I think that this would help SYN/HAK quite a > bit. I can't, however, justify spending extra money at the moment. > > I have paid our rent up until our lease is up in the beginning of December. > When we entered the space we are in now we agreed with our landlord that > our rent would double when we renewed our lease. This is something we
We also agreed that our electrical work would be free. He says a lot of things. > absolutely cannot afford right now. We have 15 members now and we would > need at least 7 more Budding Nerd members to afford rent and internet > alone. Keep in mind, with this number we would be JUST BARELY making rent > and internet payments. The board has expressed that they feel a lot more > comfortable with a 20% cushion. > > We either need to look for places that are cheaper, talk to our landlord > and see if he still intends on raising our rent (as we didn't sign anything > agreeing to our rent being raised), or gain at least 7 more members. After we meet with tony this saturday, we can decide if we're looking for a new space or what rent will do. > > If we moved then I would expect that we would need the money that we have > in the bank right now as a security deposit. > > I'm hoping the Akron maker faire will help us gain more members but I am > skeptical about getting the 7 that we need. > > I am not saying "No, I'll never release the money for this." I am saying > that we may have to hold off before we approve this money being spent. If > we make a deal with our landlord to keep rent where it is for the next year > then I will be happy to release this money. > > Perhaps we could save money up towards this rather than the kiln if this is > a more popular idea? If it's needed for a popular program such as Hacker > Scouts then I see it as a worthwhile investment. Hacker Scouts probably doesn't need any monetary investment 'till February at the earliest. I'm sure we could work out some arrangment with akron public schools to see if they'd like to partially fund the endeavor, since I don't think spending space money on a program that doesn't create sustainable and persistent infrastructure for people is wise. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for SYNHAK to throw money at hacker scouts. It is wholly within our mission statement as "providing an environment to educate" so I support it. Lets be able to afford a new liner for the welder first. Apologies for those wanting to discuss money, but I'm going to derail the thread here and muse about hackerspace theory. Here's Torrie's seekrit agenda for growth at SYNHAK: 1. Build sustainable, persistent infrastructure that doesn't depend on a single person with all the tribal knowledge 2. Entice others to contribute to basic upkeep of the infrastructure 3. Encourage membership in exchange for collective funding of the upkeep 4. ??? 5. Profit! (Intellectually) I'd say we're making amazing progress at #1. The Manual project on the wiki is a huge help. #2 is just now really starting to take off. I don't remember the last time someone took out the trash, or even threw a fit about it not being takenk out. It just happens. Same with keeping the EE lab clean and maintaining the 3d printer. I'm now hearing rumors of a networking upgrade and better wifi. And then there is this thread, which is starting to touch on #3. The problem though, is that we really don't know how to handle it. Omar is a member who pays dues. Most of us on this list are, in fact. Its nice and all to have a big space where we can hang out at, but I'd love to see some of the dues I pay go to more than rent. This should be a great selling point for getting new members at the space: If you pay dues, SYNHAK can help fund your ideas to improve the space and turn it into a creative outlet of limitless potential. If y'all have friends outside of SYNHAK (I'm not sure what that means either), keep dragging them down to SYNHAK. Entice them with problems to solve at the space that they wouldn't need to directly pay for. Here's a few I've been mulling over in my head for quite some time: * How can we get the 3d printer to print faster, with more accuracy, and less frobbing * We've got 5 static IP addresses. What can we do with all of them? * Where the heck can we put a friggin coat rack?!? * Solar powered winter heating system? * Make it look pretty with arts * Raspberry Pi+RFID cards to check training on spiff when you try to use a piece of equipment * Certainly, someone knows more LaTeX than me and can fix the namebadges printed from the Kiosk I know the novel I wrote above doesn't address the question of buying the parts to fix these computers, but I hope to stir some discussion about what potential returns on investment we can gain from spending money on such things. If we've got nothing better to spend money on this month, lets buy /some/ computer parts. If not, lets look at some RFID equipment, or buy a bunch of wood, or a better bandsaw. I think investing $93.79 in the minimum to build a modern workstation to replace the terribly slow and crappy guest PC we currently have is an Excellent idea: * Not everyone who comes to the space has a computer they can use if they need to quickly write up a lab report, search part numbers, throw something together in OpenSCAD for the printer, or edit the playlist on the jukebox. * Having a SYNHAK-managed computer means we've got an answer to people who need to print from their windows desktop (until samba is setup). They can copy the file to the workstation and magic happens. * You want a quick crash course in Arduinos? Don't want to spend time figuring out how to acquire and install the IDE? * We've got a really nice open logic sniffer that doesn't have a host interface yet. All that for just under three membership dues. I'm sure the opportunity costs of buying RFID stuff, designing a lockout system, and having it work reliably enough, or buying a bunch of wood are fairly obvious when compared to having a new workstation that can be brought up immediately and then pointed to during tours while saying "This is what memberhip gets you. A really nice workstation we can all use to make cool stuff". tl;dr: Of all the things we can spend $100 on, a new workstation has the biggest immediate benefits, both in terms of community warm fuzzies and increasing people's capacity to make. > > -Alexander Golightley (AKA Buzz Killington) > > On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Justin Herman <[email protected]> wrote: > > Just some things to think about: > > > > Before we purchase equipment do we have a location where these computers > > will live? (perkins or somewhere else) > > > > Have we used any other resources to acquire equipment? Contacting other > > groups (makers alliance, Ham Clubs, ect) and trading, Looking on > > Craigslist, going to Goodwill/Salvation Army, asking for donations from > > members & benefactors? What if we setup a campaign and offered services > > for > > a donation to the space? (IE Outside Computer work for a donation?) > > > > Maybe we could trade/sell some of the older items to afford the newer > > equipment? > > > > Not trying to be a downer, but... $93.79-$250 seems like a lot of money > > that wont draw more members. unlike a Kiln or other wishlist items. > > > > I think its awesome to improve the space and a group of working computers > > is MUCH better than a graveyard of broken ones but last I saw we lost a > > few > > members recently and our "lease" might need changed sooner rather than > > later. > > > > Do we have a list of computer wish list items so we can start hunting for > > them? (IE. hard drive with what size and connection type, Motherboard > > Architecture & Ram Style, Monitors with VGA only or is DVI/HDMI/DP ok?) > > > > Let me know what you think. > > > > On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 9:36 PM, Omar Rassi <[email protected]> wrote: > >> (If this is the second time you see this, I'm sorry, I forgot to put a > >> subject header so I think it bounced when I sent this the first time) > >> > >> Howdy hackers! > >> > >> So there has been some new traffic at the space lately, new ideas have > >> floated around. In order to facilitate this, I brought up a discussion at > >> a > >> previous meeting to build two computer workstations for the space using > >> some of the computer parts that are already here. They can be used for > >> design, programming, research, open houses, communication, can be used by > >> the secretary or treasurer to do stuff, Bethany is talking about setting > >> up > >> some junior hacker program and they can use them, Chris and I have been > >> talking about setting up network logins (LDAP, SSO) for each of our > >> members > >> (non-members can use a guest login), etc. However, he are short a few > >> things, here's what WORKING parts we already have: > >> > >> 4 socket 775 processors > >> 1 Socket AM2 processor > >> 2 AGP video cards > >> 1 PCI-Express x16 video card > >> 1 PCI-express x1 Intel Gigabit network card > >> 1 DDR2 memory DIMM > >> at least 2 power supplies as of 1.5 months ago > >> plenty of cases > >> Hard drives of unusual sizes (HDUS) > >> > >> Using these parts, I can build at least two more workstations, with the > >> potential to build 3 more if necessary. The following is a pricequote for > >> the MINIMUM parts necessary to make ONE working computer. I'm proposing > >> that we release some funds from our coffers to make this happen with a > >> budget of $250 I can get the parts necessary, and purchase additional > >> parts > >> if necessary (I.E. if the power supplies that tested good blew when > >> installing the OS and need to be replaced). All receipts will be declared > >> to the membership and unused funds go back to the coffers. The equipment > >> would be property of Synhak. > >> > >> PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1CiML > >> Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1CiML/by_merchant/ > >> Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1CiML/benchmarks/ > >> > >> CPU Cooler: Gelid Solutions CC-Siberian-01 51.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($8.70 @ > >> Amazon) > >> Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G41MT-S2PT Micro ATX LGA775 Motherboard ($59.98 > >> @ SuperBiiz) > >> Memory: Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($25.11 @ TigerDirect) > >> Total: $93.79 > >> (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) > >> (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-10 19:13 EDT-0400) > >> > >> I would also ask that if anyone has spare computer parts especially hard > >> drives, motherboards, power supplies, or monitors (LCD or CRT) that are > >> collecting dust to PLEASE donate them, especially if they are between 4 > >> and > >> 9 years old. Even if they are broken as I may be able to repair them. > >> > >> Thanks for your time, > >> > >> Omar > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Discuss mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://synhak.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
