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Welcome to the home of ChesTech Community Computer Labs. The ChesTech labs are part of the Neighborhood Networks Project of the Chester Housing Authority. The goal of the labs is to increase community access to and knowledge of computers and the skills necessary to succeed.
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Lab Setup Notes

This page should serve as a guide to setting up a lab in the future. General notes and specific quirks can go here.

Computer Setup

A (not-so-brief) summary of what goes into setting up a new machine in a ChesTech lab (assumes Windows 7 is pre-installed).
  1. Name the username in line with the given theme for the lab when prompted by the Windows 7 installer. The theme for the Booker T. Washington Lab is civil rights leaders, for example. The computer name will be <username>-PC. The password should be the name of the lab.
  2. Finish going through the installer and reboot.
  3. We need to partition the disk to get it ready for Ubuntu, which we'll be dual booting. 
    • Partitioning the disk means that we'll be splitting the hard drive into two sections, a "Windows" part and an "Ubuntu" part.
    • Dual Booting means that, before an Operating System (OS) gets loaded we can choose which OS we want. The default will be Windows.
    1. Go into the Control Panel (via the start button).
    2. Search for "partition" and click on the first item that comes up.
    3. Right click on the block labeled "C:" and select "Shrink volume" from the drop-down menu.
    4. We want the Ubuntu partition to be about 150GB in size, so we enter 150,000 into the text box labeled "Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB" and click "Shrink"
  4. Now we want to delete the "bloatware" that comes pre-installed on the machine.
    • Bloatware consists of programs that are installed by default that we don't want on the system. They're not harmful, but they get in the way and clutter the workspace. One example is a free trial of Norton Anti-Virus software that constantly prompts you to buy the full version. 
    1. Go into the Control Panel (via the start button).
    2. Search for "uninstall" and click on the first item that comes up.
    3. Select (one at a time) the programs that you want to delete and select the "Uninstall" or similar icon.
      1. TODO: talk about some programs we want to actually clean up
  5. We need a better web browser.
    1. Click on the big "Download Me!" button (or similar).
    2. Find that file, probably from the web browser and click on it to install. 
    3. Never use Internet Explorer ever again!
  6. Let's install Scratch.
    • Scratch is an interactive, intuitive, graphics-based programming environment aimed at elementary through high school students creating by the geniuses over at MIT. It's awesome.
    1. Download the .exe file.
    2. Find that file, probably from the web browser and click on it to install.
  7. It's about time to install Ubuntu!
    • Ubuntu is a very friendly distribution of Linux that can be found here. It's easy to download and burn onto a standard CD-R. The motivation here is two-fold: (1) We want to offer an alternative option for people who want to discover a new way to use and think about their computer. Linux provides a fascinating perspective for using your computer; (2) If the Windows machine every breaks down, we have a backup operating system that we can use to troubleshoot or even recover data from Windows.
    • As long as we've already partitioned the Windows system, this step can be delayed if you're not comfortable installing Ubuntu, which is a mostly flawless and easy process but can involve some trial and error. Since we partitioned the Windows system, the space has been reserved for Ubuntu so Windows won't use it.
    • Ask if you need help! Someone around may have been through this process before. 
    1. Put the Ubuntu install CD into the computer and reboot.
    2. When you first see a screen pop up (called the BIOS) you may need to press ESC or F10 or F12, depending on the computer manufacturer. The options will be displayed on the bottom of the screen. Press the key associated with "Boot Order" or the like and once you've hit that menu select the CD drive, which might be cryptically named but probably contains the word "DVD" or "CD" somewhere in it...probably.
    3. Now we're at the Ubuntu Installer. Please go here for a full treatment of how to install. Some important notes follow.
      1. Select the same username as with Windows, but this time the computer should be named <username>-ubuntu. Again, the password should be the name of the lab.
      2. Be sure to select the "Log in Automatically" option.
      3. When prompted, select manual partition and highlight the partition labeled "Free Space"
      4. As a general rule, we want as much swap space as RAM. So create a swap drive with appropriate space. Remember, 1GB is about 1000MB.
      5. Use the rest of the space to install Ubuntu. The filesystem should be "ext4" and the mount point should be "/" (forward slash).
    4. Finalization should take a little while, but then the computer will reboot. Unfortunately it will reboot into Ubuntu, not Windows. We want to automatically boot into Windows, so let's fix it.
      • We're going to edit GRUB, which decides which Operating System we will boot into. This is a bit technical, and if you're unsure definitely ask for help. If the above has been a breeze, continue on soldier!
      • We will be changing two parts of the GRUB configuration file: (1) The default operating system will be set to Windows; (2) The timeout will be set to one second, so that the computer almost immediately boots into Windows.
      1. Open up a terminal from the top drop-down menu.
      2. Type sudo gedit /etc/default/grub. This will open up a text editor (like Notepad).
      3. Search for a line that says GRUB_DEFAULT=0 or similar. Change that "0" to a "5."
        • The possible options are listed in a list which is indexed from 0 to n-1. In this case, Windows should be the 6th option, thus it will be the number 5.
        • If this doesn't work, you need to count the number of "menuentry" lines leading up to the Windows entry in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Remember the count starts at 0.
      4. Find the line that says GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 and replace "10" with "1." This will make the computer boot to Windows after only one second.
      5. Run sudo update-grub from the terminal. This will update the GRUB configuration file and will put your changes into effect.
    5. Reboot and make sure the computer boots into Windows by default.
  8. You're all done! We now have another working, lab-ready computer!

Lab Layout

Here are some design decisions we've decided on.
  • We want the labs to be wired. Desktop computers should not need to rely on fickle wireless signals. This has been a big complaint and making the lab wired will ensure strong, consistent connections. We will still have wireless signal available for people who bring their laptops.
  • Teaching space is very important. Labs should not be crowded and should be easy for a teacher or mentor to move around. Rooms should have a clear focal point if possible, so it's clear who's in charge and where students should be orienting their attention.
  • All cables should be uniformly out of the way. People shouldn't be at risk of tripping over loose wires and hurting themselves or computers. Coming into a cluttered room can be distracting for teacher and (especially) student.