This week, I’ve been getting plenty of exercise tearing down one of our oldest Language Laboratories, replacing the ageing RM One Core 2 Duo computers with the latest RM One offering featuring Intel Core i5 processors… as shown here:

A view of part of the upgraded Lab 4.2. The RM One's are secured to each desk and have quite a small footprint. (Photo courtesy Fred Wu!)

Each PC has 8 Gb memory, so I’ll be building them with 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise WDS images. The language lab has hard-wired audio connected to a central electronic relay in the Teacher console. Audio and video is broadcast to every PC using the Sanako Lab 300 system, which requires very specific audio card requirements (of which true full duplex audio is essential). As such, I’m using the Trust Expert surround sound USB hub at each student PC, which works well with the Sanako system.The older RM One computers had a larger compartment at their rear in which to conceal the hub. The newer models, although wider, are slimmer and the rear compartment is inadequate. So I’ve had to physically fasten every hub to the back of each computer. This works well, but is fiddly and takes a little time to deploy!

Working in the Language Lab 4.2 (Photo courtesy Fred Wu!)

Still, I’m nearly there – the only PC left to place in the lab is the teacher console. Then, the real hard work starts – OS deployment, application software installation, and testing.