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Software upgrades are currently shipping for US Library Program grant recipients that originally received Gates Library Computers running Windows 2000. The presentations available at [url http://www.gatesresources.com/GLC/Upgrade/Upgrade.htm ]www.gatesresources.com/GLC/Upgrade/Upgrade.htm[/url] are provided to help you better understand what these upgrades contain in determining their benefit to your library. Also, be sure to check out the "Software Upgrade Help" resources at [url http://www.pacomputing.org. ]www.pacomputing.org.[/url]

Hello, there!

I'm a former high-tech grrl who's now in library school (and loving it!) I do a lot of computer support for my small local library; we have four Gates computers.

I'm hoping folks will have some feedback and/or suggestions about the following:

We were all set to begin upgrading when we found out yesterday that the current version of SAM (Time Manager) does not appear to be compatible with XP. Another library who did the upgrade and then installed SAM has not been able to get SAM to work correctly and has basically left those five computers unavailable.

Even so, we're not really happy with SAM because of the way it was works (or was installed/configured -- I didn't actually do the installation). SAM doesn't start up until after someone has logged in and doesn't allow a user to logout once the time limit is up. It just allows patrons to use the same login session over and over for the set amount of time.

There are two problems with this: first, patrons only have access to whatever profile is used initially to login; the current policy is for staff to power up each computer and login as "all" -- obviously this means the patrons don't have the choice of using any of the other profiles.

The second problem with this set up is that inappropriate pop-ups/website/etc can be left behind from the previous session, giving the next patron an unwanted surprise.

So, we're very interested to hear how other libraries using the Gates computers have implemented a time/session management solution. I know of one library that just uses sign-on sheets; however, this raises privacy issues (later patrons can see who has used the computer before them).

Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

We also use sign-up sheets for our 8 adult and 2 kids internet stations. Patrons only sign a first name and we toss the sheets daily, so privacy has not been an issue. They seem to be self-regulating: the next person signed up usually lets someone know if they are taking too long!

Funny you should mention it...

I have just last week posted instructions at PAComputing.org for upgrading older Windows NT Gates computers to either XP or 2000.

The Tennessee model will support either of these, though it would be best to add another 128MB of RAM for XP.

But even if you are transfering the programs to new computers, you can use the section of the instructions about reinstalling the childrens programs.

So the answer is yes, they mostly will (a few won't). But they don't all install the same way, so check with the instructions.

Hey Terry! Of course that helped! Welcome to WebJunction and the conversations on All Aboard.