Hardware is here!!

Well, two pallets arrived this afternoon!!  Pictures of the stuff are will be included for your viewing pleasure, once I figure out how to do that.  Pallet one had the cart, pallet two had all the hardware. 

Let me just say the amount of cardboard “needed” to contain all our components leaves me worried about our environment. . . The pictures say it all.  I mean, the extra styli were packages individually in a box that was 2″ x 2″ x 6″!! the styli are actually 3/8″ diameter x 5″  Wow!!

The pile of cardboard after breaking down flat was like three feet high!! 

We unpackaged on the loading dock and put everything into the cart and wheeled it up to the IT department.  I am going on vacation tomorrow, so I took one to “play with” while gone, the rest will be checked by IT staff to make sure they work.

Hardware to arrive tomorrow!!

We just got the call from Yellow Transportation that they will be delivering our computer equipment from Hewlett Packard tomorrow!! IT made it clear that they would need to be here by 3pm. There are 2 pallets (750lbs).  On these two pallets are:

Here’s what we are expecting:
21-TabletPC computers
1-Bretford laptop cart
1-24″ Monitor
1-Projector
1-Wireless Access Point
1-large format printer (24″, I think)

After we inspect the contents of these two pallets we will have to spend some quality time with IT getting software installed  (as an image).  I am hoping to “play with it” while on vacation this week (leaving Wednesday).  I am also hoping its arrival will signal the college to get our supplemental order going, which has the classroom electrical upgrade, software, and extra hardware (10 tablets and monitors).

Kinda wish there was a DyKnow users manual. . . . I wonder if I could download it. . .

HP Hardware

The HP Grant is giving Albion College 21 Tablet PC’s, a 24 inch monitor, a 24 inch printer a cabinet to store them all in and some other hardware to make them all connected.  HP also provided $20,000 in cash to be spent on things like software, infrastructure and events to pubicize the Implementation of the Grant.  Albion College and its IT leadership have ponied up additional funds to match the grant so that in three years we will have 40 or so Tablets for the classroom.  Thank You, Donna, Royal and Troy!!

Troy has approved $40,000 this year to allow us to buy ten additional tablets, to pay for chemistry software and DyKnow Software, which will be our presentation software platform, and to add electricity (40 outlets) in our Lecture space in Norris Hall at Albion, so students will not have to rely on computer batteries to work in class.