Status of Network Project

The new building at my church is near completion. We are now waiting on Edison to get the power into the building. The CAT-5 wiring is in place We still need to run about 150 feet of cat-5 to connect the new building and where the lab will be. That will be taken care oftoday.

I thought they were going with a Dynamic address, but we had another consultant working with us and suggested we go with 5 static IPs with SBC.

I am avoiding the cost of purchasing Windows 2003 Server and wanted to use FreeBSD 5.2.1 instead. I know everyone is busy, but just let me know if you would like to just learn.

Searching for Simple HOW TO via Google

I did a Google search "setting up networks" and found lots of useful links on setting up networks. There is alot of thought going into this idea. While I am waiting for the wiring to go into place, I need to anticipate what problems will come up configuring each computer to connect to a network.

Most of the older machines are running Windows 95 or Windows 98. The newer machines are running Windows XP. I will try to get a Linux operating system onto the network as well to see how it will work out.

So, in the mean time, I just need to read about it some more and be prepared soon.

Network Building Test Cart

There is a "test cart" set aside to play with network configurations. I am still trying to get Windows 2003 Server through Microsoft Academic Alliance. Not sure about the legalities about using an Academic Alliance software for public use. I will need to contact or research Microsoft about it. The other route is to use a Linux Server. See other post regarding this.

I did managed to play with the current network installed in the office and configured it to share printers. They only have one printer in use now. I left a note for them and hope they will find it in great use in the future.

Creating a Linux Server

I am gathering parts to create a Pentium II Linux Server. I was looking into getting http://www.freeBSD.org once I get the hardware stable. It was going to be an AMD 500Mhz, but the board keyboard and mouse do not respond anymore. So, I will keep you folks up to date.