I would like to see a section of the board devoted to folk who have to work with the IT infrastructure (or lack of) within CAP. You know... us web admins, support staff for users, etc.
Personally, I am skinning a cat that may or may not have been skinned before... such as administering a wing/unit web site, wing discussion forum, wiki, email forwarders, mailing lists, domain registration, automatica provisioning of accounts for said resources, etc.
My solutions are Unix centric, but I would love to see discussion of all!
I'd go for that.
http://www.cap-it.us/forum/index.php (http://www.cap-it.us/forum/index.php)
That forum is all but dead. I couldn't even get on it because the wing Director of Personnel took forever to put my IT position into e-services. I gave up on it, really.
Quote from: SilverEagle2 on February 17, 2010, 05:20:33 PM
http://www.cap-it.us/forum/index.php (http://www.cap-it.us/forum/index.php)
Not exactly a hot bed of activity...
Could be.
Maybe a good indicator of how much and IT topic would be useful here. IT folks are supposed to use that one and don't. What would be different here?
Perhaps that it would be open to all rather than just IT staff may help...but... :-\
Quote from: SilverEagle2 on February 17, 2010, 06:05:40 PMIT folks are supposed to use that one and don't. What would be different here?
Supposed to?
I'm not aware that its anymore "official" than CAPTalk - just someone's homegrown idea for a forum.
CAPP 227 Page 11 Item 7 (http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P227.pdf)
Quote from: SilverEagle2 on February 17, 2010, 06:44:57 PM
CAPP 227 Page 11 Item 7 (http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P227.pdf)
"7. Regularly participate in the National IT Program Discussion Forums."Yes? Where does it indicate that the website being discussed is "the" forum?
Its run by the RMR ITO, nothing wrong with that, but far from "official". If it is the "official" forum, somebody at NHQ needs to
give it a much bigger push, and move it to a domain with a .gov on the end.
That never really went anywhere. The rest of the site seems to be defunct now too. Besides the requirement to be an ITO in e-services, they couldn't even verify it independently, so you had to send a copy of your e-services record to them with the positions listed.
It took me forever to even get to the point where it was entered into e-services, so I had to wait to get into the forum. It doesn't matter much because it doesn't look like I would have got much out of it anyway, considering the lack of activity there. There was a lot of stuff that I would have liked to discuss, tutorials I would have liked to put together, etc., but oh well.
Quote from: Eclipse on February 17, 2010, 07:23:28 PM
...
If it is the "official" forum, somebody at NHQ needs to
give it a much bigger push, and move it to a domain with a .gov on the end.
ditto.
Quote from: SilverEagle2 on February 17, 2010, 06:44:57 PM
CAPP 227 Page 11 Item 7 (http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P227.pdf)
Nowhere does item 7 specify a specific forum. Besides, I can register any .us domain... it's not like it is it-forums.cap.gov or something.
We haven't created new boards on CAPTalk unless there are already topics to populate it, including a variety of recent topics to prove that it won't be a stagnant board. Feel free to make your posts in the "Tools of the trade" section until then.
Quote from: whatevah on February 17, 2010, 09:48:40 PM
We haven't created new boards on CAPTalk unless there are already topics to populate it,
Build it and they will come? *shrug*
Quote from: sroddy on February 18, 2010, 12:06:12 AM
Quote from: whatevah on February 17, 2010, 09:48:40 PM
We haven't created new boards on CAPTalk unless there are already topics to populate it,
Build it and they will come? *shrug*
Pretty much that has been our policy. When topics hit a threshold that shows people actually talk about that stuff, we've added a new section. The old CAPBoard had dozens of sections, many of them sparsely populated with just a few discussions. It was kind of a mess. We try to be a little better organized than that.
Civil Air Patrol and IT.....that's an oxymoron, if we used IT resources we might actually get information in a timely fashion.
could always go with a basic WYSIWYG Editor...as long as the information is updated I would say it should not matter too much what the site looks like.
Agree with everyone though that there is a lack of IT within CAP.
Quote from: Irishrenegade on February 26, 2010, 05:15:12 PM
Agree with everyone though that there is a lack of IT within CAP.
What sort of "IT" would you like?
well I have been apart of two squadrons and everything being used computer wise...is out of date and not all that reliable. With a fast paced world of cyber security and information technology I think there is a need for better machines so that work can be done more effectivly. Now don't get me wrong I know we are volunteers and don't need that high tech stuff but i would have to say Windows ME is out of date haha.
This is also coming from a 22 yr old right out of college (may 09) with a Computer Engineering Degree so my life revolves around technology haha so I would say my opinion is biased towards more IT
Every unit has been issued a notebook computer and since then most have received updated and additional machines. My units all have at least two - when I issue them they are performance tweaked, patched, and contain everything they need for unit operations. Generally within a few months I start hearing about how "slow" the machine is or how it "keeps crashing". I get it back, and its chock full
of crapware, trojans, and 12 IE toolbars (despite the fact that I set Firefox as the default).
Checking the browsing and use history shows little CAP need for the machine, and plenty of trips to social media sites, and sadly, sometimes places that are "spicey" (don't ask, always addressed). I clean the machine or scratch the OS, rinse, repeat.
If there is a technology issue because of outdated equipment at a given unit, it is generally a local attention-span issue or lack
of the initiative to take responsibility for the equipment (you might be surprised how many units look the gift horse in the mouth and
say "I don't want it").
What lacks in most cases are not the tools or the tech, its the interest in the unit members to provide content and keep things updated -
many would rather update their Facebook status and play minesweeper instead of writing an article for the unit website or enter data in SIMs.
Quote from: Eclipse on February 26, 2010, 05:58:45 PM
Every unit has been issued a notebook computer and since then most have received updated and additional machines. My units all have at least two - when I issue them they are performance tweaked, patched, and contain everything they need for unit operations. Generally within a few months I start hearing about how "slow" the machine is or how it "keeps crashing". I get it back, and its chock full
of crapware, trojans, and 12 IE toolbars (despite the fact that I set Firefox as the default).
Checking the browsing and use history shows little CAP need for the machine, and plenty of trips to social media sites, and sadly, sometimes places that are "spicey" (don't ask, always addressed). I clean the machine or scratch the OS, rinse, repeat.
If there is a technology issue because of outdated equipment at a given unit, it is generally a local attention-span issue or lack
of the initiative to take responsibility for the equipment (you might be surprised how many units look the gift horse in the mouth and
say "I don't want it").
What lacks in most cases are not the tools or the tech, its the interest in the unit members to provide content and keep things updated -
many would rather update their Facebook status and play minesweeper instead of writing an article for the unit website or enter data in SIMs.
Oh that is all too true...I was assigned ITO at my last squadron because of my background and the crap I found on there was incredible...Granted I think your right it was probably that our squadron was more than likely over looked or there was a lack of updating machines and software.
I made sure that no cadet was using FB or any other social networks and I had to update the spyware and antivirus that was 2 years out of date and expired...so yea I hear ya with that part too.
Quote from: Irishrenegade on February 26, 2010, 05:31:14 PM
well I have been apart of two squadrons and everything being used computer wise...is out of date and not all that reliable. With a fast paced world of cyber security and information technology I think there is a need for better machines so that work can be done more effectivly. Now don't get me wrong I know we are volunteers and don't need that high tech stuff but i would have to say Windows ME is out of date haha.
This is also coming from a 22 yr old right out of college (may 09) with a Computer Engineering Degree so my life revolves around technology haha so I would say my opinion is biased towards more IT
My favorite question - Who's going to pay for all these new computers every two or three years?
like I said...I know we are volunteer so funding is slim to none...just gotta make sure everyone is using the hardware properly and then there will be less issues with "slowness".
Quote from: SarDragon on February 26, 2010, 07:30:26 PMMy favorite question - Who's going to pay for all these new computers every two or three years?
We've found that it's fairly easy to get business donations of three year old computers. Too old for business but not for us. Unfortunately, they
never come with an OS so it's Linux or piracy.
Well, aside from the necro-post, how does getting three year olde computers help the problem brought up by Irishrenegade?
If you get three year old Dell computers, Dell has a system restore CD available for Windows XP. The CD's are fairly common and often the company that donates the used computers can provide them if asked. You may have to download some drivers, but the CDs do reinstall Win XP. No key code is required.
Quote from: BillB on November 09, 2010, 10:16:50 AM
If you get three year old Dell computers, Dell has a system restore CD available for Windows XP. The CD's are fairly common and often the company that donates the used computers can provide them if asked. You may have to download some drivers, but the CDs do reinstall Win XP. No key code is required.
Well, to be specific, there's usually an "OEM" sticker code on the PC.
OEM OS licenses follow the hardware, so if you sell/give the PC to someone else, that PC is still licensed for XP/Vista/Win7 (depending on when it was originally purchased). The company that bought the hardware can't use the WinXP license anywhere else, so it's really part of the package.
Quote from: dogboy on November 08, 2010, 11:30:00 PM
Quote from: SarDragon on February 26, 2010, 07:30:26 PMMy favorite question - Who's going to pay for all these new computers every two or three years?
We've found that it's fairly easy to get business donations of three year old computers. Too old for business but not for us. Unfortunately, they never come with an OS so it's Linux or piracy.
Silliness.
Start thinking like a non-profit organization. If you aren't a member of your local or state-wide non-profit association(s), you are missing the boat. It's all about resources. And yes, you might actually have to spend some money. So, you might actually have to get off the soapbox and go raise some money.
Every non-profit out there worth it's salt, knows about TechSoup. TechSoup is perhaps THE clearinghouse for technology products donated by major vendors to the non-profit industry. They offer equipment, and software at cut rate prices to qualified non-profits.
http://www.techsoup.org
Cheers,
Solution to many of the problems listed above: Install Linux! ;D
*is shot*
Quote from: meganite on November 09, 2010, 10:06:15 PM
Solution to many of the problems listed above: Install Linux! ;D
*is shot*
This seems familiar...
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/cautionary.png)
Hello, this is the closest to the required National IT Program Discussion I need for a technician rating as an IT officer. If anybody knows of another, I would be delighted to participate. For now, I will consider the requirement of "regular" to mean equal to or greater than the frequency here. :-)
I seriously doubt anyone is going to accept Captalk as an official IT forum.
Quote from: collingspj on January 30, 2012, 09:43:04 PM
Hello, this is the closest to the required National IT Program Discussion I need for a technician rating as an IT officer. If anybody knows of another, I would be delighted to participate. For now, I will consider the requirement of "regular" to mean equal to or greater than the frequency here. :-)
Yeah, national killed that requirement because the actual official forum died out very quickly. I think I posted that in another thread here about the official forum.
Edit: Here ya go, linky. (http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=10921.msg213801#msg213801)
Oh my gosh... the Linux cartoon was the funniest thing I've read today. Had to share it with my tech friends.
Just started working on my Sr. rating for IT (webmaster)... have been on the sidelines for a while. Did support work years ago, dabbled in software development for a little while and then moved into web development. As a career I've been out of "IT" and into management for a good seven years. That said, I'm not a genius super geek like many of you, but I've got enough chops to get it done for the squadron. Would be happy to hear from anyone wanting to compare notes and working on the Sr rating.
Found this thread looking for IT on-line workshops... still looking.
http://puu.sh/BUGr (http://puu.sh/BUGr)
Weird, it shows 0 posts.
Not all posts count.