[OLPC-Chicago] Chicago Office Needs...

[Robert Myers]

Mel,

_School_ _Servers_

The XO is part of a system. Those of us that only get to play alone 
aren't getting the whole picture. If we had access to school servers we 
could get a better feel for the whole system.

Getting the Chicago Jabber server up is a good start, but not the whole 
experience.

The only time I've really had a chance to interact with other XOs was 
just about long enough to make me realize that I had no clear idea of 
what to expect.

So I'd suggest in descending order of priority:

1) WAN school server accessible to Chicago area XO users. Probably 
remote admin access to those who are interested in seeing how this end 
of things works and looks. no local mesh antennas needed.

2) School server for the Lab-In-A-Van. Full mesh.

3) School servers for seed labs. Single mesh antenna.

Now that there's an off the shelf spec for a XSX school server 
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XSX_Server_Implementation), it should be 
practical to roll our own. The spec notes an Athenatech 600 Series 
Mid-Tower case. The first samples have a really boring silver and black 
one. The same internals are available in jazzier externals with color, 
all at about the same price. How about #605 cases with XO green trim? 
http://www.athenatech.us/ -- click on 'A600 (MidTower)', scroll down to 
A605.

The Active antennas also look like they should be getting easier to obtain.

I'd be willing to help assemble and load the servers.

_More_ _XOs_ in peoples hands

I really feel like a buzzkill when I show off my XO and then tell 
someone that they can't have one. How about lobbying for an open Give 
Many, where someone could buy an XO from OLPC Chicago for a Give Many 
price, say $300? Maybe if OLPC were nice they'd even kick back some of 
that to OLPC Chicago to help finance local operations.

A couple of other possible location suggestions (budget allowing).

What about a tech incubator like the NU Evanston Research Park 
'http://researchpark.com/'?

Are there similar incubator or shared office spaces geared to 
non-profits? Maybe they'd offer a better deal than the commercial shared 
office space you mentioned.

Rather than an apartment with an office shoved in, why not look for a 
live/work loft space?

Bob

PS. I'm located in Evanston and share some of your can't get there from 
here pain. North and south is quick, but going west is nigh on 
impossible. I can only laugh when meetups in Palos are suggested.