YWAM Information Technology - Comments

Dolphin

alex.costa — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:43:20 +0100

I've installed Dolphin in our development box for the comms guys to play with. Seems interesting but I know there are several others out there. Dolphin can be found at http://boonex.com also I know some guys are playing around with ning (http://ning.com), it seems very good apart from the Google Ads, which we have no control over its contents.

Leopard

R.Blevins — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:12:57 +0100

About Leopard only seeing Leopard and Tiger...I don't have any problems on my Leopard machine seeing windows 'puters. Maybe you have to enable Windows filesharing first in the control panel before it will even see windows machines. Not sure about that though. Just a thought.

Drupal

R.Blevins — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:53:14 +0100

You obviously have some experience with using Drupal. Have you taken a look at the social networking modules for it yet? They're pretty extensive.

Thoughts on social networking

crashsystems — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:48:28 +0100

In addition to using social networking sites myself, I've done a few experiments with trying to use it with my base (more experiments to come). Based upon my experiences and talking with others, I think that the best way to pick a site is based upon your population. For me that means Facebook and Myspace, but for someone in South Korea or Brazil it would mean a different service entirely. If you just pick your favorite platform, then people who use another might be hesitant in trying it.

I have seen a rather interesting site, ning.com. I haven't tried it myself yet, but apparently it lets you create your own customized social network. This could cause some difficulty in getting people to adopt it, but I think it also might lead to some interesting possibilities.

Wikipedia bylaws, etc.

crashsystems — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:18:22 +0100

I'll confirm what Kevin said, that the official rules for editing in Wikipedia are that representatives of an organization shouldn't edit that organization's article(s). If I remember correctly, it is recommended that those representatives instead interact with other editors via the discussion page to help correct any errors (and our article has many!).

I personally love Wikipedia, as it is a source of a great quantity of good information, plus some bad information. There are however a great many people who disagree with the concept, Mr. Cunningham being among them. I agree that when people with malicious intent intentionally edit articles for the sake of defaming others, Wikipedia should take a stronger stand in such issues. I however think that the majority of the unease concerning the site is that most people do not really understand what Wikipedia is. Yes, it is an encyclopedia, but primarily it is the world's largest experiment in massively collaborative writing. It should not be used without knowing what the editorial guidelines are, how to find errors, etc. For example, one policy is that an author cannot use original work, but must site sources. Therefore, well written articles have many links to quality outside sources. When you see the famous {citation needed}, you know to take that bit with a grain of salt. The discussion page is a great place to find out potential biases, controversies, etc. Many articles even have a grading system attached, which is professionally reviewed.

And the #1 rule of Wikipedia is: never consult it in regard to highly controversial topics!

Subtitling

Mike — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:28:49 +0000

Well, noone responded, but this site seems to have been down (no posts making it through) for several weeks.

I have ended up creating the subtitles from text in
- SUBTITLE WORKSHOP (freeware) and making initial timings there.
- AUGISUB (freeware) was used for finetuning timing using waveform editor.
- resulting subtitles saved in .SRT format

The DVD .VOB file and subtitle .SRT file can be muxed using DVDFLICK (freeware) or by using CONVERTX2DVD (shareware - costs about 40 Euros) which seems to do a better job.

This has been an interesting project.
regards
Mike

I can help a bit more

KevinColyer — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:05:36 +0000

Dear James,

The site seems to be having difficulties. Can you email me kevin AT ywambrussels DOT be and I can help you direct. I thought I would try again as comments spam seems to get through but my comments were not!

Cheers,

Kevin

ekagetumit

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YWAM Energy Mainagement

pabloywam — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:28:01 +0000

I am working on getting a YWAM Energy Management team up and running. What I would like to see us do it to have a group of people who would be good with programming that would be willing to help. Is it possible to have a section on this site that would lean towards that? Here at YWAM Minneapolis we have a browser based HVAC contol system. We can easily program all of our HVAC schedules through webpages. We have saved over $10,000 a year in just one of our buildings. With one system we can tie in our Door access control, security cameras, fire alarm systems, lighting and HVAC systems to one front end. The system I am using is available internationally. It is an open source system that allows many manufacturers to make controllers to work with this system. Do you think this is something that could fit within the guide lines of this website?

WorkGroupShare

pabloywam — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:52:06 +0000

I use WorkGroupShare from Softalk http://www.softalkltd.com/products/workgroupshare/. It is not a free open source program, but it doesn't take the skill to set up like Exchange Server. You may want to check this out. We are very happy with it.

bridging the gap

neo — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:10:24 +0000

Hi @ all.

@Chris, of course not not everyone has to learn English. I would suggest German instead.... ;)
But on a serious note. I still believe that English is the most spread language in YWAM. Therefore it makes perfect sense that we hear / read most stuff in English. But it's true, when do we hear about ideas that are birthed in non English speaking countries.

I think that it's not so much the issue to get the information out there. If I'm right in my other post that the letter I linked to is the one we discussed earlier about (which I still have no confirmation for....) then we clearly see that things get translated and also made available for those speaking that language. So, the actual question then is, how do we get information back? This, of course, is the responsibility of those who can translate back into English, so that others can hear / read about the outcomes of discussions in other then the English speaking world. But do we have a platform where these multi-lingual discussions could be held or those outcomes could be reported?

Another thing with "bridging the gap" is what English we actually use. If someone throws around words that explain something in just one word instead of using 2 sentences for expressing the exact same thing the listener might thing that the speaker is truly high educated and knows about what he speaks. So, therefore he must be correct with what he says. I believe that this is at least a western world issue that if you use words that hardly anyone understands people think you are important / highly educated / very knowledgeable, etc.
Let me explain with a more practical example. I think that my English is not really that bad. My grammar might be a mess, but that's not really different in German. Also, I guess my spelling is better in English than in German, I never was a hero with that. But I do understand the people and hardly need a dictionary.
Well, I was asked once I could translate a promo video into German. 3 or 4 times I double checked to get the exact meaning of a paragraph, just to make sure I can translate as accurate as anyhow possible. But with one single sentence I had a really big problem to translate. Even a dictionary didn't satisfy me. So I asked, and to make a long story short, it took 4 native English speaker including one English teacher and about half an hour to get the meaning of what was said in that single sentence. Actually it was just one word that caused the trouble.

So, after this half hour I asked the people around me, the producers of this promo video, promoting their own work, if they really think that this is a good idea. While it sounded great, important, un-doubtable, I asked if that is really good that even the producers need half an hour to get the meaning of what was said. What do you actually want to tell others when you yourself don't know what was said. Others just see that video once, maybe no chance to go back or not willing to and listen to that a couple more times. Or the person is, like myself, not a native English speaker.
The answer was: uuuh, ahmmmm, uhmmmmm....

The bridge the gap the first thing we need to make sure is that we use simple words and are over communicating. While I know that some things just need to be named as what they are we also need to make sure that everything that by 1% chance could be miss-understood needs to be explained. In that sense, I can talk with knowledgeable people in that particuarl area what they think is the best RAID level for a certain scenario. But for everyone else I need to explain what I'm actually taking about.
The point really is that if we want that others are discussing about a certain issue then we must make sure that it's 250% clear what we're talking about. If it can be miss-interpreted, which during a translation process doesn't get better, the people asked for their opinion might consider (in worst case scenario) that this is not even worth talking about or does not apply to them.

So, the first item on the to-do list for "bridging the gap" should be clear, easy and unmistakable communication.

Greetings from the MatriX,
neo

networking different OS == tough job

neo — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:47:38 +0000

Hi,
sounds like a somewhat tough job to get all these together on a network. The probably best suggestion I have for is, be patient.

I'm working in an office with mainly Macs (OSX 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 & a couple Media 100 with OS9.2) plus my Linux machine and every once in a while a Windows XP is around. So far I have never been able to connect from any of the Macs to an WinXP, but I think they all have been Home edition.
If I'm not mistaken than XP Home only connects to max 4 other machines at any given time. I dunno how it is with W2k Home vs. Pro. Although I must say that I never had trouble connecting a Mac to my W2K Pro, when it was still alive (God bless this faithful machine which is in computer heaven now). I never figured out how to do it the other way round. You didn't mention whether the W2K's are Home or Pro. But this could be something worth to investigate how that really is with the Home vs. Pro. You also mention 1 desktop with WinXP, I'm assuming this is Home since you specified the laptops and the server as XP Pro.

I don't think that all these computer belong to YWAM, right? So, something to start with would be to make sure that all settings on all machines are correct. Changing a setting on ones personal computer might cause trouble with the networking on your base. With this particular machine, at least.

Before you throw out anything maybe, first of all, we can evaluate what you need and what your options are.
You have 15 W2k for data entry. What sort of data, does that depend on Windows in general and/or an old version of a program that does not run on anything newer (I hope this isn't the case)? Or are they there because you had them and they simply do what they are needed for? Is that data local or in a shared directory on the server or is that a database on the server??
In other words, could these machines replaced with something else? What is YWAM and what is private owned, anyways?

Which leads me to the question which programs you need. Mainly I mean YWAM owned computers, since what people load on their personal is basically their own choice according to their needs. You didn't say anything about email server, etc. So, I assume you don't depend on any service like this on the server, really just and only file and printer sharing.

Another question that comes to my mind is, what about backup? Do you have backup, is everything from a local computer on the file server as well? That would mean there is some sort of serious HDD space available which probably could not simply be put on one of the G4's.

Possible solutions.
Get a Windows Server. By this I really mean a server version of Windows. This, for sure, requires new hardware for the server. But that should work "out of the box" (correct configuration assumed) with all your Windows machines plus the Macs can connect via a Remote Desktop. However, every computer that connects to the server needs a client license which cost real money and I don't think the base will pay for those who use a personal Mac and want to connect to Outlook or whatever.
All in all, this is a rather pricey option.
If you think that is too expensive than don't even look at a Apple server. Besides that I don't know how they network with Windows, anyways. A big advantage here is that no one needs to adjust to anything new really. Windows is still Windows, on a local computer or on a server doesn't matter.

Another option would be to go Linux. Ya, I know that would add another OS but let us take a closer look. First of all Linux has a piece of software called Samba. With that almost every OS can access the server for file sharing.
The next thing that comes to mind is your W2k machines. Unless you have a special service contract with MS the OS is no longer supported. Means, no more bug fix, etc. You are stuck in case of security issues, you depend on the programs that are (still) available and supported for W2k. Sooner or later you will be stuck with old versions of programs. If you can update all these machines? I dunno, but to get 15 WinXP Pro licenses is somewhat pricey, anyways. From that point of view it might be worth thinking about to better go with a Windows server if the programs are Windows dependent.
If, however, the programs can be replaced with Linux available stuff you could install Linux and have up-to-date programs and OS. If, of course, the machines are powerful enough for an up-to-date Linux. But you also could set up a remote desktop connection to a Linux server or get rid of W2k all together and install a Linux Terminal Server (LTSP). In case of Linux you only have to pay for the hardware. I believe Kevin can give you some insight about the LTSP, the needed hardware, etc. Other computer then can still access shared folder(s) on the server.
So, with Linux you can have a "simply" file sharing machine (even without a desktop environment which will save some hardware resources), you can set it up for remote connections or you can have LTSP. All at no extra cost. Also, if you get a computer donated that someone just wants to throw out because it's too freaking old a new client cost you exactly as much as it cost you to pick up this computer. You connect to your LTSP, no extra client license needed.

Of course all that depends on your needs.

Without knowing what HD space you need. But if you decide to get a "ordinary" desktop and use it as server, you can get one with SATAII HDs. With that you can put 6 drives in your machine @ 1TB each at the moment. That gives you a theoretical 6TB storage. Minus OS etc of course. In that case it would be wise though to set up a RAID and add some redundancy. Depending on your needs you can have 2x3 drives mirrored and there you have a backup right in the machine with ~3TB storage. Broken HDs need to be replaced immediately, I guess that should not be necessary to mention. You also could then, when this system is up and running give your old server the same amount of HD space and mirror the 2 computers every night.

Well, as I said, things depend on your needs but also on your budget.
But I must say that so far my best experience is with Linux. If I only would have one OS (exact same version!) then I probably would stay with exactly that. But in a mixed environment... I never had trouble to get any machine at least in a terminal to connect to Linux, pretty much works out-of-the-box. But I had trouble connecting Macs with Macs, actually even with the same OS version, not to speak of mixed environments. So much for the "simply works" adds. What ever way you go, be patient and expect some work that needs to be done. I never had a "simply works" experience. If it just works, great, if not you work to make it work. That's just how it is.

I know, that was not exactly the info you were asking for, I guess. But maybe there are a few ideas that help you get going.
Ah ya, before I forget. Keep your hair right where they are. Better throw the computers out. In fact, I dispose them for you for free. ;)

Greetings from the MatriX,
neo

More info

jferrett — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:48:14 +0000

I'm not sure I can give you everything you want but I will try.

We use a TrendNet (TEW-633GR) Router which then runs into a 2-Wire DSL Modem/Router (though the router functions are turned off)
We have a number of HP Laserjet Printers with Fix IP Addresses (Laserjet 4 & 5's) all with Jet Direct Cards.
All the other Machines are set to get their IP addresses automatically from the Router.

The IP range is 192.168.10.* with the router set to 192.168.10.2, the printers are set to 192.168.10.200 to 210 and the rest of the computers seems to end up on 214 and above.

We have the following:
15 Desktops running Win 2000 (Data Entry Machines)
1 Desktop Running Win XP
3 Laptops Running Win Vista
3 Laptops Running Win XP Pro
1 Laptop Running Win XP Home
1 "Server" Running Win XP Pro
2 PowerMacs with OSX Tiger
1 MacBook with OSX Tiger
2 MacBooks with OSX Leopard
1 iMac Running OSX Tiger

The "Server" is really just an XP machine with Shared Printers and Shared Folders on it.

I would like to setup one of the G4's as the temporary file server as the current one needs either rebuilding or throwing away.

Can you tell us more?

KevinColyer — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:12:36 +0000

What fun!

We can help more if we know what your network is like and what your goals are... I am guessing you want to use the Windows file server to share files with the others (one big public folder). And probably a print server too?

I would recommend starting at a low level making sure the machines can talk OK before getting the services to work on top. What IP address range are you using? What IP address network does each machine think it wants? Do you have a DHCP server that gives out IP addresses?

My first point would be to set one machine (and only one!) as the DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) server (the fileserver would be a good bet as it needs to be on all the time). Alternatively you could use the router that provides your link from internal network to the internet but if you don't you must turn its DHCP service off.

It sounds like you have a mixture of static IP addresses and a couple of competing DHCP servers to me. If you can make a list of the machines, their OS and what they think their network settings are that would help anyone here to better help you.

Cheers,

Kevin

Just the thing

tofirius — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:29:03 +0000

Hi Nathan,
I've talked briefly once with neo about such an idea... He's in Perth & I'm in Latvia (though currently I'm in the US, I'm returning to Latvia on March 7). When I get back from the US I will pray through & evaluate all the things I have before me to do. As the Lord leads, I will discuss something like this seminar school with my leadership to find out the feasibility of something like this. I'll be sure to keep folks up-to-date on this board. So, please let's pray further for the Lord's wisdom & direction in this area.

Chris Bischoff
YWAM Latvia, Communications
www.ywamlatvia.com