Hardware

Point of sale system for nonprofit retail

thfashions — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:59:13 GMT

I'm looking for a point of sale system for a small nonprofit resale shop. Is anyone using one or do you have any suggestions?

Is the used computer market going away?

BeckyW — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:41:11 GMT

With the decreasing cost of buying new equipment, like netbooks, will the demand for refurbished and used computers be disappearing anytime soon? Many nonprofits use refurbished equipment, since it generally costs less and allows for business-class machines. What do you think?

Jim Lynch, the guru of all things green and one of the leaders of the Refurbished Computer Initiative here at TechSoup has penned a piece on this very topic this week. I'll post the link here once it's live.

In the meantime, we'd love to get your input on the future of the refurbished computer market. Are you using refurb'd computers? Do you budget for new, business class machines at your organization, or are you planning to go with cheaper but less business-savvy machines like netbooks in the future?

Share your two cents and experiences here.

What postage meter do you use?

bzo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:02:16 GMT

I'm shopping for postage meters. Glamorous, I know.

We're making a switch from an older Francotyp Postalia machine that can only be reloaded with new postage via POTS line (standard phone line). We recently converted to VoIP, so unless someone takes the machine home to reload it, we need a new solution.

I've looked at a couple of lease deals, and I've looked at buying something outright. We own our current machine, so it's tough to start looking at a lease. Then again, it's tough to look at buying an older used machine for around $1,000.

What are you doing for postage? Do you know of any deals out there? Non profit discounts on leases or purchases? My search skills have failed me on this one.

How do you extend the life of your PCs?

bajeckabean — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:51:00 GMT

Share any tips you use to get the most life out of your aging PCs here. Favorite tools to clean up a slow-mover? Best applications to maximize small memory? Give us your ideas.

audio and video equipment needed

lanita — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:44:14 GMT

Hello,

My Library is working on a Oral History project that we want to shoot in our library and perhaps on location in a home, so it will have to be mobile equipment.. We want to get good audio and video equipment for us to have good sound quality and video so we then can upload to our site and or turn into a dvd collection. We have a $3,000 grant for it but do not know what equipment to buy. Can someone help direct us to the best equipment for this job with this amount of budget. Thank you.

Georgette Taylor, Program Coordinator

Windows 7 / Windows Vista

infotechie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:42:35 GMT

We're a medium-sized public Library part of a consortium of about 40 Libraries. The Tech Committee decided today to go ahead and start deploying Windows Vista computers, first as staff then as public throughout the Libraries. I argued heavily against this, suggesting that it was moving back in the Technology world rather than moving forward. I also suggested that we stick with XP which we have been doing all along until Windows 7 is confirmed as the next best solution. That we bypass Vista altogether. I said let's wait 6 months or until the first Service Pack is released for Windows 7 and then start working with those machines.

I was just wondering what other Libraries, in particular other Library systems, were doing with respect to either sticking with XP for the long-haul, upgrading to Vista, or looking at Windows 7. It seems almost counter-productive to me for the consortium to want to move forward with Windows Vista after 2 years when Windows 7 has just been released. Let me know your thoughts. I'd love to know what other people are doing out there.

Moving Microsoft Server 2003/Exchange 2003 to a new drive

manderson47 — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:55:00 GMT

Does anybody have directions/advice on how to copy a drive holding MS Exchange 2003 running on Server 2003 onto a new drive? Would it be as simple as imaging the entire current drive onto the new one ?

What I am dealing with is a single Exchange 2003 server running Microsoft Server 2003. It has two drives, one of which is quickly running out of drive space (this is the system disk holding the OS and program files). I have moved all of the files I can off of this drive to free up room so my only alternative, that I can think of, is to replace the current drive with a new larger one.

The question is can I image the entire current system drive onto the new drive and expect things to run smoothly.

TIA.

LaserJet Printers

infotechie — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:29:50 GMT

I tried going through some of the recent discussion pages for some insight on this, but haven't found anything.

We're a medium-sized public Library that have a few HP LaserJet Printers set up in the building for public printing. We bought 2 HP LaserJet P3005N printers in 2007 and 1 in 2008 and all 3 of them have since failed on me. HP says it's a motherboard issue and based on the cost (since of course they're out of warranty) it doesn't make sense to try and get them repaired. These are $700+ printers that barely lasted us 2 years. The printers were in different locations of the Library and although they received heavy usage, I would expect them to last at least 5 years.

With that said, I'm being very cautious on how to proceed. Even in warranty the process to get them out to HP for repair seemed relatively tedious. There are no Authorized Service Centers in the area any more that makes it easy to drop the printers off. The cost to repair it myself is at least $200-$300.

I was just wondering:

A) What kind of LaserJet Printers do other Medium-sized Libraries use for Public Printing?

B) What warranty support options (and how long) do you usually get with them?

C) Have you thought about using MFP devices instead of stand-alone LaserJet printers?

D) Do you also elect to buy auto-Duplexing and Network-ready Printers?

E) Have you had any luck with Dell Printers or Dell Printer support?

F) How many computers do you typically hook up to a single LaserJet, standalone Printer? How about to the MFPs?

And kind of off topic ... do you use any print management software?

Sorry for all of the questions but it seems like there should be a more efficient way for a Medium-size Library to handle Public Printing requests than what we do. I've thought about migrating them over to an MFP device that is serviced by a local shop in order to clear me free of these kind of issues.

Thanks again!

Has anyone tried switching to an SSD?

elliotharmon — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:41:17 GMT

Hi everyone,

Kevin's article Should You Upgrade to Windows 7? mentions that Windows 7 improves performance for solid-state drives, and I know that several companies now offer some laptops with SSD only.

What I'm wondering is whether anyone here has tried replacing your existing hard drive with an SSD. What brand SSD did you use? How noticeable was the change in performance? What about improved battery life?

Thanks,
Elliot

Snow Leopard Server

jsouder — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:49:12 GMT

We're living on borrowed time with our existing Linux Samba server that is connected to about a dozen Windows XP Pro (mostly) workstations. Our firewall is similarly kludgy, made from an old Pentium 2 desktop.

These machines have worked extremely well for the last 5 years, during which time we've had no technical support. But the equipment is worn out, and we don't have the skills needed (and don't have anyone in our rural community) to do a new Linux install.

I'm considering upgrading to a Mac Mini with the Snow Leopard Server. We're probably "moderately" sophisticated in that we can follow directions and go to the web for troubleshooting. We know we don't want Windows Server. Does the Mac Mini Server seem like a good idea?

Time and Attendance Tracking/ Time Clockg

amcferron@mac.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:35:41 GMT

My org is small. We have around 50 staff and around 100 consumers, but are growing. We would like to get a time clock to track time and attendance for both our employees and consumers. I was thinking maybe a biometric clock so we wouldn't have to worry about lost ID cards or key codes. I am also looking for one that would hopefully integrate with our payroll system or at least have it's own software we could use to export the data in a usable format for that purpose.

Does anyone have any experience with time clocks they could share... any companies you would recommend or would not... problems with the biometric types etc?

Appreciate any advice!

Anne

Video Conference Hardware?

mrauscher — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:57:49 GMT

We are looking to install a permanent web conferencing solution in our board room, as we've been holding more and more online meetings to save on travel costs. Does anyone have suggestions for moderately priced hardware? We've been using a hacked version with an old laptop and just a cheap consumer camera, but we've pushed the limits of that and would like to get something a bit more robust. Wondering if any of you have tried this sort of thing.. Thanks for any suggestions or feedback.

Mark

Surfrider Foundation

Public Drive Structures

cborders — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:41:25 GMT

Hi. I'm a volunteer for a nonprofit organization doing some research on how other nonprofits structure their Public Drives. At first we were organizing by name, then we started archiving by projects, and now our database has mushroomed into something nearly beyond the database's control. Any and all advice would be a tremendous help.

Thank you.

Catherine

Locked out user

denisonbooklady — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:40:29 GMT

I was setting up a new computer for our childrens lab. Somehow when I shut down for the night I locked the library user or child icons out. Now when the computer boots up the admin, library user, and child icons come up but if I click on library user or child it just logs out without ever going to the desktop. They are not password protected. I have tried deleting the user accounts and creating new ones with the same result. It is a windows vista operating system. I have set several other computers up with Vista with no problems. I am the accidental techie and am at a loss of where to go from here. Thanks for any help.

Here Comes the Sun (Server)

MeganKeane — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:37:43 GMT

Yup, TechSoup is excited to have a new donation partnership with Sun to make its server products available through TechSoup Stock.

But before you sing, "It's alright...", just wait a minute. How do you know if you even need a server? What kind of servers are out there? And very important--how much should you expect to spend on one?

Never fear, TechSoup has compiled some handy discussions and articles to help you determine if serving up one of these Sun servers is right for you.

You can find relevant server discussions here under the "server" tag that contain some helpful discussions including How to know when it's time for a new server and

Keep or replace?.

If you use RSS, you can subscribe to server-related discussions: http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/search/Searchrss.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=server&orTags=0

You can learn about more hardware servers with these Learning Center articles: Do I Need a Server? and A Field Guide to Servers.

And don't forget virtualization, another server option. There are many different virtualization methods and this Virtualization 101 can help you get your head around them.

Hopefully these resources will help shed some (sun)light on servers, but if you have any further questions, post 'em here in the Hardware forum.

Best,

Megan

Laptop Display

jakos — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:00:19 GMT

I have an IBM Thinkpad T42 and the display is faded and can barely see the screen. Does that mean the display is completely gone? What options do i have?

input from CPU to monitor

elizabeth.lacroix — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:53:22 GMT

Hey all,

I have what I THINK is a Hewlett Packard computer (the monitor is, anyway, but it's a donated computer so it might not all be the same brand) and it freezes badly. It freezes so that CTRL+ALT+DELETE doesn't do anything. I've tried just pushing the power button (even though I know you're not supposed to do that) and then when it tries to reboot the monitor doesn't pick up a signal. In the past, I have then pushed the power button and tried to reboot again and it worked, but today it isn't working.

Yes, I have checked to make sure the monitor is plugged into the CPU.

What could make it freeze like this? And what other problems might be interfering with monitor/CPU communications?

DVD drive not found

gdav9 — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:18:46 GMT

I am running windows xp and until recently my DVD drive was running as expected but now when I check it in device manager it tells me that the driver was loaded successfully but the device was not found (code 41)

I have uninstalled it and reinstalled it but the same error persists

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Anyone Not-For-Profits need a phone system?!?

fmsbonds — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:18:47 GMT

I work for a corporation based out of Boca Raton, we are purchasing a new phone system and are looking to donate the old one.

The phone system is large with over 150 phone sets and is in great working order.

Please contact me at 1-800-741-1103 Ex. 2482 if interested.

You would need to be able to pick it up.

Thanks,

Andrew Lane

Thin Client versus Fat Client

melaniestucker — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:10:02 GMT

I work for a medium-sized non-profit that currently runs 2 servers - a domain controller and a Citrix server that was just converted to VMWare. The Citrix server has 6 thin clients. I have about 35 other desktop users attached to the network through the domain controller. In updating our Tech Plan we can see we will need to update some of the older desktop computers. My question is do I really want to move to thin clients? We've had issues with speed running applications and printing on the thin clients....which have cost us in consulting fees. I've also wondered about spyware/adware problems on the Citrix Server. I have users that have no regard to where they click on the Internet. My concern is they will infect the server and cause problems with everyone. I have also read where the costs are about the same for thin vs. fat. Any insight would be appreciated!

Trouble Installing Windows on donated machine

Alexandraleah — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:03:13 GMT

Hello

What is the FIRST step to setting up a computer that has been "OS Wiped"?

Our organization recently received a donated dell computer which was donated from a government agency. When we received it, it had a label indicating that it had been "OS Wiped" so we purchased Windows XP (through tech soup). However when I plugged up the machine and the monitor, put the CD in the drive, and turned it on nothing happened other than a soft sound like the machine was thinking for about a minute.

The monitor stayed dark, and did not display anything. I tested the monitor on another computer and it works fine. All the troubleshooting advice I had found assume that something is showing up on the screen and that you can get into the BIOS settings to configure things so that the CD will boot. But for me the screen is blank completely. Am I missing a first step? Is there something I have to load onto the computer before I can load on Windows?

Or is the machine just broken? I can return it for a replacement if it is broken, but I wanted to make a good faith effort to trouble shoot. Please let me know what the first step is to setting up a machine that has been wiped clean.

Thanks

Alexandra

Copying and re-Burning DVDs

elizabeth.lacroix — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:28:53 GMT

I am the development assistant at a nonprofit called Asylum Access.

As part of our outreach, we want to be able to send key donors copies of our DVD with testimonies by refugees who we have helped.

The orignal DVD was written in DVD+R format, and I am trying to use an LG 8x Slim Portable Multi DVD Rewriter (GP08). When I go to copy from the original disc to burn to the new one, it says that this DVD is not supported. What does that mean?

How do other groups make copies of DVDs?

I am grateful for any help you can give!

Exchange Server 2007

bergencasa — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:39:08 GMT

My nonprofit organization recently switched email hosts. Our previous host used Exchange Server and we loved it, especially the shared calendar features, out of office auto reply, etc. We switched to try and save money but our new host is a pop3 server. We are considering purchasing Exchange Server 2007 from techsoup but I want to make sure it will make my email back to the old way. We use Microsoft Outlook to view our emails at the office. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

What features do you look for when looking for a switch?

tsg_kevin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:52:05 GMT

As some of you may already know, the popular Cisco CE500 series switch will reach end of sale late this year. We would like your feedback in what features are the most important to you, so we can let Cisco know which products would be best for the donation catalogue to replace the CE500s.

Specifically, in terms of prioirty how important are console management, PoE, and Gigabit ports? Would you rather have higher-end products with more admin fees? or possibly SOHO/mid-range devices and lower admin fees. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

best

Kevin

No Sound

jakos — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:26:07 GMT

Hello i have a Dell Machine running XP and for some reason i have no sound. I replaced the sound card and i when i go to the sound properties in the control panel all the options are grayed out and i have the correct drivers.