BYOAC class *2017 update*

[popsicle]

This is now the third time I've offered this 9-week class, and here's our completed cabinet.  The previous year's class designed 'Slimeball', but it was never finished.  Mame was setup with Mala, the sides were cut and painted black, the marquee was designed (with a little creative input from me), and the basic frame was constructed, but the rest of it was done recently.  Now it lives in one of the portables with 'Flashback' and my own bartop that a handful of kids helped update (new bezel and larger lcd to replace the burnt out crt that was in there).

It is still a huge pain to keep all 15 kids occupied during construction.  They've made flyers, wired the cp, disassembled speakers, mounted pc parts on wood planks, installed windows, mame, and mala, put together PCs from parts, cleaned and organized, sanded, painted, and made high score posters, but there's still too much downtime for too many.  I may try in the future to do what was originally suggested - charge a fee for encoders and buttons and have each kid make their own cp that they can take home and plug in to their pc.  Four dedicated kids in the class are building their own bartop which also may be done in the next few weeks.  They are learning a lot about how to measure cuts, use basic tools, design, troubleshooting, and general perseverance

[DaOld Man]

This was a real cool thing you did for the kids.
Wish I had teachers like you back in the day!

[Malenko]

LOVE that you are still doing this and that the kids like it.

You need any parts donations or anything?

[SavannahLion]

That C.H.I.P. featured in another thread could have very interesting applications for those who want to take a CP home.

Depends on the area but a lot of lower income households still have a "family" PC that's shared assuming one is to be had. Yet the same families manage to have a T.V. in nearly every damn room. Seems like the inverse is true as you climb up the income ladder. Everyone has a PC of some type but T.V.s become the rarity.

Just a thought. Maybe offer an option of sorts eg a self contained CHIP-like computer needing only a monitor or an AVR (sorry I can't remember the project name right now) needing a PC. Choices are always good.... maybe not sure about a classroom environment.

[popsicle]

LOVE that you are still doing this and that the kids like it.

You need any parts donations or anything?

Thanks, Malenko.  More importantly, *I* like doing it!
This will most likely happen again at the same time next year.  Chances are I'll still have a pretty decent budget to work with.  Thank you for the offer

[popsicle]

This class happened again recently, and we built a 4 player, 2-monitor type thing. It's not quite finished (bezels for both sides and some touchup) but it was up and running on the last day of school, and I had 25 kids at a time in rotation out in the portable playing this, the trackball cab, the upright vertical 4-way cab, my donated bartop, and some retro games on the projection screen. Fugazi, The Replacements, and even some Jean-Luc Ponty were playing loudly in the background.

4 player Gauntlet was the big hit that day.