2014-10-13 TPC Board Meeting

Board Meeting

Board meetings replace a monthly meeting. They are held quarterly on the second monday of the month that it occurs. More details to follow.

Time

7:30 PM to 9:00 PM.

Overview

Monthly meetings are the 2nd Monday of each month. Board meetings are quarterly and occur at the end of Monthly meetings. All meetings are free and open to the public.

Attendance RSVP

1. Ann (User:Susy)
2. AaronPeterson (talk) 15:19, 22 September 2014 (PDT)
3. Add name

Agenda

• Need regular sources of donations and consistency in reporting of progress. --Jon
• Need consistency in coordination and oversight of volunteers. --Jon
• We have super simple organizational tools like the Lead signup list that are not being used - it takes 5 seconds to add your name to the list on the Wiki. --Ann
  • I made it easier to find.
• Add item
• Add item

Ideas

(Sorry that this is a bit of a manifesto AaronPeterson (talk) 02:57, 21 September 2014 (PDT))

• Use a WRT54G to operate as a door sensor / button with a tap to indicate how long guests are welcome / simple web server to indicate that the workshop is open at unusual times, and track if it is actually happening
• Wiki can solve most of the hardware database issues, personnel tracking, etc, if we setup easy conventions and templates.
• Use velcro plant ties to wrap up cords
• Arrange the room so that there are two work areas, so that people do not shout across the room.
• Increase quality control, Aaron has come across 3 bad computers in a row, including the one he bought for his grandpa (it was just the video card, so he removed it and it was good enough). What we can do is insist on a memory test of every computer.
• Visual status indication of computers... A simple card on each computer can have spots for colored dots( or checklist) that can indicate progress of computer. This card can be much smaller than a half sheet of paper.
• We need to be including new coin cell batteries in all of the computers that are over a few years old. These coin cells die after a few years, and well within 5 years, these computers will need service again... for a preventable maintenance issue.
• Computers we release need to support sse2 (all 64bit computers do this, some pentium 4's do, but no athlonXPs)Otherwise chrome won't work.
• We need to version bump to 14.04... if it doesn't work on old hardware, it is a bug that needs to be reported, and on a case by case basis 12.04 could work... Think of the users who will still be using these computers 6 years from now
• We can have a boisterous area, and a quiet area.. If we can use the lab that can be the quiet area. A bit of rearrangement of furniture can help people talk quieter.
• XFCE hate to say it, is not acceptable... one of the volunteers had somehow accidentally removed xfce from vis desktop... XFCE does not support "accept/cancel" which is a basic need for a real world computer system.