Wednesday, June 5, 2019

CELEBRATION


June 5, 2019

The computer is officially alive!
Everyone who participated at any time this year is welcome to the celebration after school today
in the library classroom.

THE COMPUTER IS ALIVE!



Advanced computer club year end party today!

APPRECIATION


Thanks to so many people and a grant from the Eastchester School Foundation, The Build a Computer Club succeeded in turning on the computer! Trust me, this was major!

 I am so proud of the club. There were various groups of students who participated from the very beginning two years ago to our current club who had the great satisfaction of powering it up last week. They did everything from beginning to end. I loved watching them solving problems every step of the way. I have never built a computer so they were truly on their own. They even knocked on Mr. Blum's door (terrified though they were) when they knew they were over their heads.

Next year....install the operating system. The computer is moving to the Technology classroom so more kids will have ready access to continue the build!

We are so deeply appreciative of everyone's help. Thank you!

Sincerely, 

The Build a Computer Club 

2018-2019 Build Crew
Joey Zou
Karthik Kottapalli
Aaliyah Han
Mahima Ghosh
Valentina Quinterra
Naomi Dube
Romeo Lotto

2017-2018 The Start-Up Crew
(the idea and the list!)
Jason Cabrera Cordova
Christopher Callari
Andrew Whealan





IT'S ALIVE!

May 29, 2019

WE HAVE POWER!










Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Troubleshooting Lack of Power

Mr. Lopez stopped by the club yesterday afternoon and verified that the students are correct in thinking that the lone cable is the problem. He took off the front of the computer and showed them how the cable runs from the power button. The problem, he said, is that the motherboard is probably not compatible with the case.






Mr. Wang at the Eastchester Neighborhood Computer store to the rescue! We need to move forward and this seems to be a bit too complicated for an afternoon club. I dropped the computer off at Mr. Wang's computer store today to get his input on the problem and solution. Thank you Mr. Wang.

Problems with Power!


Kottapalli, Karthik

Wed, Apr 24, 3:23 PM (6 days ago)
to LuisMarcosBillme
Dear Mr. Garcia and Mr. Lopez,

       Unfortunately we have ran into some hardware issues relating to motherboard, which is the ASRock B450M Pro 4 Model. Our issue is: the computer is failing to power on. We have identified a 16-Pin Cable, which has the markings FC on it. The cable also has the sticker M/B attached to it. We meet on every Monday and Wednesday (afterschool in the library classroom- Room 102B), or during the 7th Grade Lunch period, (which starts at 11:00) excluding days that we have off from school, and days that Mrs. Schuster isn't available. Can you send us your schedule, or just come down at any Monday or Wednesday?                                                                                                         
We need help!,
The EMS Build-A-Computer Club

P.S.- Thanks for all the help you've given us so far! We definitely wouldn't have made it this far without you guys!

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

WHEN YOU ARE NOT BUILDING A COMPUTER FROM A KIT...

We are getting into complicated territory. The students are not building from one of those kits so popular today. They are building a computer from scratch started by creating the original list of parts which were generously donated by The Eastchester School Foundation. It is inspiring to watch their persistence!

Joey, Mahima, Karthik, Andrew, and camera-shy Aaliyah managed to secure the motherboard and the processor, but are now a little unsure of how to connect the cables. They studied the motherboard manual and watched some excellent videos on how to build a computer, "Paul's Hardware: How to Build a Computer."


They decided, however, that they needed help. Whom best to ask? Why of course, Mr. Blum who is the Director of Technology of Eastchester. They had never met him, but knew he was the guru! Karthik gathered his courage, walked up to the second floor, took a deep breath, and simply knocked on Mr. Blum's door. Mr. Blum could not have been more gracious. He stopped what he was doing and gave full attention to Karthik. The next week he visited the club in person with two of his specialists, Mr. Lopez and Mr. Garcia. They offered their assistance, but were careful to not do the work for the students.

The students and I were truly overwhelmed by this Deus Ex Machina from our Director of Technology - the students were saved at a critical moment from the man upstairs! I was getting worried that they would get discouraged because even persistent problem solvers can get discouraged.










Friday, February 15, 2019

RASPBERRY PI & THE MONITOR!

 February 15, 2019

Our list of supplies is almost complete! The kids will be so excited when they come back from the winter break to find that we now have the Raspberry Pi mini computers. 


Many thanks to Bill Blum, our Director of Technology, who located a monitor that the kids can use.


Things are coming together!