Behind the bedroom door.
A year and a half ago, MacNexus had a problem. They were offering Internet access to members out of a volunteer’s house, and things were getting out of hand. “We had all these lines dropped into my third bedroom,” MacNexus President Bill Davies recalls. “With all the noise, it sounded like an airplane hanger in there.”

MacNexus needed a partner who could stow the gear. A little networking led them to Access Sacramento, a non-profit public access television station. Access had all the right ingredients: space in a community building, a desire to get on the Internet and an all-Mac office.

Says Davies, “We moved all our equipment there and got them on the Internet. They gave us a closet, two feet by three feet, where we piled our Macs five rows high. Most people just about faint when they see it.”

Members pitch in: Jim Park and Stan Lunetta
prepare an iMac for the lab.

Love on the rocks.
A year later, Access proposed an ambitious project to its board of directors: setting up a computer lab in the community center for educational use. The board blessed the project but insisted on a PC lab, so Access worked with several sponsors and managed to secure 10 machines.

They asked MacNexus to put the PCs on the Internet. Davies, aware that the Access board had mandated a PC lab, refused. “I’m not famous for my people skills,” he notes.

But Davies also knew that a computer lab would be a real asset to the community, so he came up with an idea. “iMacs are so cheap… I just decided to suggest that MacNexus buy 10 iMacs, because everyone would benefit.”

Together again.
MacNexus members gave their support. Access was thrilled to have 10 more computers for the lab. The two groups worked out an agreement.

MacNexus bought the iMacs and maxed them out with RAM. They also bought all the hubs and switches required to network both the iMacs and PCs. Access bought 20 chairs and carts so that the whole lab could be rolled into a closet when not in use. The two groups split the cost of wiring the building, installing Ethernet jacks and a fiber optic cable running from one side of the building to the other.

Wired up and ready to roll.
MacNexus members use the community lab for meetings and training classes. They also rent it out to other groups. “For $40 an hour,” says Davies, “you get 20 computers and a T1 line. It’s a good deal.” People are signing up.

Davies’ number one bit-o-wisdom for user groups contemplating a lab? “Partner,” he says without hesitation. “We were willing to commit to the computers, but if we had to find a room, buy the chairs, run all the paperwork through and get permission to drill holes, I don’t think it would have happened.”

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