Computers Servers and Software at EWCMI - Church office setup

The Setup of the Church Office

1. Cost

The cost for a complete setup without printer would be aproximately $150.00 starting at $99.00 and we could go up as high as we think would be responsible.
(don't forget, you can spend God's money only once)

2. Security

Security of Linux is much stronger then that of windows and even Apple Macintosh, it was designed with a high security level in mind.
Virus protection comes with the Linux distribution for free.
Network filtering and security is also that comes for free with Linux distributions, you can install dansguardian for free on each machine, or dedicate one specific (old barrel) computer with two network cars as a filtering computer.

3. Choice of Desktop

For all kinds of work we ofcourse have also different kinds of requirements.
However for an office machine running a word processor and spreadsheet, scheduling and email we truly do not need more then a machine with a pentium 4 type of processor which would have been able to run Windows XP with 1 or 2 Gb of memory.
This would at the time of this writing (Dec 2014) be a 5-6 year old computer.

4. Software

The minimum software needed to run a church office are;

• Ubuntu (office or studio)
• Openoffice
• Gmail or equivalent access

5. Hardware

The minimum hardware needed to operate a church office are;

• Computer
• Printer

6. Installation

See the following pages;

The Setup of a Christian Radio Station

1. Cost

A Radio Station will cost you money. (period) You will need a computer with a good sound card, a little sound mixer, a decent quality microphone, telephone hookup, Computer Bandwidth, Broadcast server, (Licensing ? ) Will it cost you an arm and a leg, no not really, the cost will certainly not overwhelm the outreach possibilities.

2. Security

Security of Linux is much stronger then that of windows and even Apple Macintosh, it was designed with a high security level in mind. Virus protection comes with the Linux distribution for free. Network filtering and security is also that comes for free with Linux distributions, you can install dansguardian for free on each machine, or dedicate one specific (old barrel) computer with two network cars as a filtering computer.

3. Choice of Desktop

Our first Desktop for the Radio Station was the equivalent of our office machine, but due to a lightning strike issue it was up for replacement. This was a blessing, becuase the Radio Station machine will work properly on a machine like this, the computer cpu was continuously running at 85 % or higher. (And this is really not a good thing) Our upgrade became a Dell Optiplex 745 from discounts electronics which came with a memory upgrade to 4Gb to a price of $150.00 The Audio Library is located on a 1Tb external WD USB drive.

4. Software

The following software is used with the setup of EWCMI Online Radio;

• Ubuntu Studio
• Rivendell Radio Automation
• Jack Audio Connection Kit
• Icecast (Broadcast Server)
• DarkIce (transmits to Icecast)
• Darksnow (for the initial Darkice setup only)
• Jack Rack (Audio Tools for Jack)
• Jamin (Graphic Mouse Controlled 100+ channel equalizer and limiter)
• VU Meter (3 of them)
• Dropbox
• WMCTRL (tool to create a script for automated startup of the station)

5. Hardware

The hardware we need to run an Online Radio Station is more extensive then for example an office server but this is what we need for a minimum;

• Ubuntu Studio computer with Rivendell
• Broadcast Server
• Microphone (broadcast style prefered)
• Scissor microphone arm
• cables
• Audio Mixer
• phone with mini jack
• Headset

6. Installation

See the following pages;