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Mobile IT Education?
SickKiwi asks: "A
client, a local polytechnic, has recently asked me to come up with
plans for a mobile IT bus to bring technology to rural areas. I
would love to find out what other people in the field have come up
with in the way of workstation layout, OS choices and Internet
connectivity. There doesn't appear to be a huge amount of material
available but as the technology gets smaller, mobile classrooms
become more and more practical." What vehicles would work best
for this kind of application? A converted bus? A mobile home? An
18-wheeler with a heavily customized trailer? What kind of hardware
would you put in it?
The mobile tech demos I've seen have all been in heavily modified 18-wheelers. But they've all been by big companies and I'm sure the cost is exteremely high. I certainly can't speak for how to equip it, but I would think a stripped bus would be the most economical way to go. It's easy to find a used charter or public transportation bus and rip out the passenger seats.
On the flip side, it's much easier to configure the power sources you'll need with an 18-wheeler, especially since many are already built for electric power.
Developers: We can use your help.
Works for them!
When I was in the Marine Corps, we gutted an old mainframe trailer (approx 40' semi trailer), and built areas for workstations. Primary use was for data processing related to scoring and timing the Marine Corps Marathon, but we also used it at Ft. AP Hill to teach Computer Merit Badge to the Boy Scouts. Forgeting the OS and workstation/server configurations, you need to make sure that you have AC (as well as heat). We used satellite for internet access at AP Hill, but we'd use ISDN or DSL at the race site in DC (more reliable then the satellite). Oh, and remember you'd also need a generator. If you want more specifics email me @ marshall dot lewis at starband dot net. I can also get you in touch with the guy that took it over after I got out of the corps, I know he did a lot or work with it.
The budget isn't huge - in the order of about $20K US, the bus they're looking at is a full size Isuzu bus. The terrain could be pretty rough in parts (we're talking South Otago in New Zealand here). There's some pictures here http://www.catlins-nz.com/. If the budget will allow I'd really like to use LCD flat screens as I figure they'll last longer with no tubes etc and offer a much smaller footprint. I'm strongly tempted to have some sort of thin client setup for ease of maintenance. Win2k Term services is an option *shudder* I know, but unfortunately Windows/Word/Excel etc is what most of them will be running at home. Although the area is very rural, a lot of farmers and rural workers in the area have PC's. The idea is to teach the basics, and also more specialist classes on demand. A lot of these people just don't have time to enroll in courses in urban areas, but there is a general degree of excitement about the mobile classroom. Hope this helps ... Paul
I did something similar when I was at Washingtonpost.com. They wanted to simplify their show setups, so we came up with the idea for a "roaming cybercafe". It was very much a prototype, but I the tech was sound.
Our vehicle was a stretch Lincoln Navigator. It won't work for what you want, but it was good for us. It was a Navigator SUV, cut and stretched 10 feet. Each side had a 10 foot "gull wing" door at the top which swung up on actuators. Underneath each door was a actuator-mounted table with 3 systems on it. In the back of the thing was the generator, and there were 2 seats up front (driver and passenger) with the bulk of the backend gear mounted in a small rack between and just behind the seats. If I did it again with more money, I would have used flat panels because they are lighter and wouldn't have needed the motorized tables.
First, the internet connection. We used a 2-way satellite dish mounted on the top of the vehicle. The dish we purchased was specifically designed for ease-of-use mobile mounts. It had its own compass and GPS unit, and a motorized turntable. Inside the vehicle, we had the equipment for it mounted. All the driver had to do was select the deploy options from the menu on the device, and it would deploy the dish, track it to the correct rough position, then use the satellite signal to finetune the positioning. A unit like this was very important for making setup go smoothly.
Second, our "backend" servers. Since we were using satellite, we decided to set up a proxy server on the vehicle to try and make the satellite lags a little better. This worked very well for us, since all of the people surfing were supposed to be on the same website. But I think it would be a good idea regardless. You can also run a local website on this box (maybe a portal-type page for your homepage). And this is a good place for a DHCP server.
Third, the workstations themselves. We used NT Workstation installs, for at least marginal security. Used policies to lock down the systems a little bit and make sure that people couldn't cause too much damage. It helped us that we only had 6 computers, and usually 3 or 4 people on staff to watch them.
The miscellaneous is all fairly important as well. We used a 12kw gasoline generator which was mounted in the back of the vehicle and drew off the same tank as the engine (which was expanded). I think we had it set up so that we could get 8 hours of 75% load. We also had a connection so that we could connect to a power source at the setup site. This required a decent power management system, but it worked just fine. We did have problems with the exhaust from the generator (because it was so close to the workstations) and ended up having to do some custom work to vent it out the top of the vehicle. But surprisingly enough, the sound wasn't that bad when it was running.
We also had a sound system installed, so that we could do presentations/classes. Just microphone hookups in the front, a rack-mount DJ quality CD player, small amp, and a few speakers around the thing. I think it's not a bad idea for any application, because there's always going to be a use, even if it's just background noise.
All told, I designed the system so that it could be setup by any marketing droid that took it out. Flip a few switches to power gear up, deploy the satellite, power up the workstations, and that's it. And for the few times I saw it in operation before I moved out of the area, it worked nicely. There were a few bugs, but like I said, it was a prototype.
Things I would have done differently this time? First, flat panels. They take up less space. This may or may not work for you, depending on the vehicle you use and how many workstations you want to get in there (and your budget). Second, for your application I might also set up a wireless network. It wouldn't cost that much to add, and while your customers probably don't have laptops with wireless NICs, it would give you a little flexibility for use, as well as letting you roam around with a troubleshooting laptop, if need be.
Hope that helps a little. If you have any questions about what we did, post a followup to this.
-Todd
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential..."
I see you're also in NZ...
If your client isn't the Waikato Polytech, ring them and ask them. They had a bus a couple years back that had 10-20 computers in it from memory, arranged around the walls. I'm not sure about its power supply, but I think an extension cord from the roof of the bus (perhaps 3-phase)? did the job.
Your limitations will be primarily floor space, power and connectivity. These will drive layout to a very large degree. You will have problems with heat in a confined space as well. Arrangement will largely be dictated by the width of the chosen vehicle.
Since your audience can be assumed to be newbies, and since your function appears to be non-platform-specific (web access, etc), the OS should be chosen for stability and remote administration capabilities. The hardware should be chosen for space and power features.
I would suggest either running MacOS X on new iMacs (for space/power/remote admin/stability) or running Linux/GNOME or Linux/KDE on ldaptops, with external keyboards, mice and flat panel screens (for the same reasons, though the admin skill level will need to be higher, and it's more difficult to reload the OS/reconfigure the system if needed).
Also, in either case, you should be able to get some assistance from vendors in making this work.
For power, you can use readily-available generators that can be packed into tight spaces. For connectivity, you will probably need a microwave tower (if you can get line of site) or a bidirectional encrypted radio or satellite link. You might talk to the local telecom companies, or the local TV stations - they both have to solve this problem.
-jeff
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
Is there a reason you're not considering a Mac?
The iBook, old iMac, and new iMac all seem to fit the bill nicely, especially considering for maintanance and netboot purposes these are BSD machines, have integrated LCD screens, and run the prerequisite Word, Excel, Office, applications?
GPL Deconstructed
True enough, but it's not like LCD PCs are cheap either.
As for networking... I'm not sure what his requirements are, but Mac networking is easier to setup and maintain, from my experience, than anything else out there.
Caveats: I don't run OS X server or Windows NT/XP servers, so I can't speak for those flavors. I have a mixed Debian, Powerbook, Win2k, and Win98 network at home.
GPL Deconstructed