On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 2:55 AM, Chris Chan <chris.chan@edmontonbikes.ca> wrote:

Instead of going with a touchscreen, you might be able to save money by going with a regular computer, monitor, and mouse (and possibly keyboard) setup. We have this setup for our sales computer system, and it works quite well. Mechanics are also able to access this computer to look things up without having to run upstairs to our volunteer workstation. (But the public isn't encouraged to do use this system, since they'd then have access to our sales records.)

We also plan to install a "welcome to our shop, these are your mechanics for today" screen by our entryway.

The basic setup is this:
A desktop computer, tucked out of the way. This could be behind shelving, up on the ceiling, or whatever (in our case, we have one inside a wooden box, and another upstairs, away from our shop floor). It's really easy to get old desktops for free (I have 6 in the other room that I'm currently setting up), and they're perfectly good for running a web browser. If you've got money and want to go upscale, you can buy a mini PC ($240).

An LCD monitor. We bought 19" and 21" monitors off Kijiji for between $40-$70. You can frequently get non-widescreen LCDs of Kijiji for about $20, and if you have limited counter-space, these smaller LCDs are often preferable anyway. We mounted one of ours directly onto a wall so it doesn't take any counter space.

An optical mouse. Send an e-mail out to your volunteers. You'll get a bunch. Or you can buy one for $5.
A keyboard (optionally). With the right bookmarks on your browser, you won't need the keyboard. But these are also essentially free.

A video extension cord for your monitor ($25 for 25ft, $10 for 15ft, or $6 for 10ft -- don't forget that the monitor's existing cable already adds about 5ft).

A mouse extension cable ($7 for 25ft, $4 for 15ft -- or, if you have a USB mouse, you'll need a USB extension [$5 for 15ft]).

A wireless N network adapter, if your computer doesn't have one and you don't want to run cables ($16 or $10).

I also built little extension cords for the power buttons on the computers. It's just two wires and a momentary pushbutton switch that plug into the computer's motherboard, where the normal power button usually connects. This is just for convenience--if you don't mind reaching around to wherever you stashed your computer to turn it on at the start of the day, it's not necessary. You could gain bike cred by building the switch into the body of a dead bike light.

I installed Windows XP Pro and used the standard pro features to lock the computer down tight. It's been running for the better part of a year, I think, and I haven't had to do any software maintenance whatsoever. In terms of sustainability, you may prefer to go with a Linux OS. It depends on who you think is likely to maintain the computers in future years: if your group is full of Linux gurus, great, but if not, it'll rot and someone might come along in 5 years, blow away your work and install Windows anyway. Or vice versa....

So, assuming you can stash the desktop within 20ft of the workstation, and that someone you know has an older computer kicking around, you can set up one of these workstations for about $35-45. And you don't have to worry about cleaning bike grease off of your expensive touchscreen monitor.

Perhaps your group might be more amenable to your idea if you present them with an under-$50 pricetag? And the bonus of reusing otherwise-unwanted electronics?

As I said, EBC doesn't have publicly access computer stations, so I don't actually have experience with using computers for that purpose, or how effective it is. We have a bookshelf. It has the Parktool Big Blue Book, Bicycling Magazine's guide to Bicycle Maintenance & Repair, and some other goodies. Our mechanics, however, are able to look up stuff using the computer on the shop floor (e.g. spoke length calculator).

Cheers,

Chris
President
Edmonton Bicycle Commuters' Society
http://edmontonbikes.ca/

On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 10:33 PM, Mark Rehder <mark@re-cycles.ca> wrote:
At our shop we usually only have one Head Mechanic per shift, with two Shop Assistants who may or may not have enough knowledge to guide people through repairs (and one SA has to always deal with incoming people and the cash so really only two folks available for instruction at most). We've seen a large increase in the numbers of users of our shop (over 5,000 in 2010) and I find myself once again pondering having video instruction at each station for those that might want to use it.

These would be touch-screens that have, at the very least, a web browser with the Park Tool repair page as well as Sheldon Brown's info (especially for working on 3-speeds and other old bikes) plus whatever might be useful. The technology for this is getting cheaper every day, and more and more people are used to getting their info from a screen.

I floated this idea by our group a few years ago but it got voted down. I'm going to try again, but first wanted to see if anyone else is using or has tried such a set-up.

Thanks,

Mark Rehder - Coordinator
re-Cycles Community Bike Shop
http://re-cycles.ca

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