This morning I went to KBC again to work on the new HP Printer. We discovered that HP did not supply printer drivers for Windows 2008 server, which is the operating system we are running for the thin client network. Undaunted by this problem, I started researching the issue on the Internet. It turns out that HP does make what is call a “Universal Printer Driver” for Server 2008. I downloaded it at record speed on the new Internet service and installed it as an LPR connection (Line Printer Remote for you Unix/Linux folks) and bingo, it worked perfectly from the server. That was a load off my mind as there is no way I could bring the printer back to the vendor in Dar for exchange or credit at this point.
So, we are all set with the new printer, our Internet connection is vastly improved and much cheaper, and the new thin client computers are installed and working great. I just have some adjustments to do on the thin client configurations and then spend some time on the server doing some yearly maintenance and we will be finished with the computer work for the KBC network. There are some other things I will be doing with computers while I’m here. 
Serveral people have laptop computers of various sorts. They have all be asking me if I can look their computers over, clean up things a bit and make sure they don’t have any malware or viruses. That should not be difficult to do in most cases, so I know I’ll be involved with that activity next week.
“What about the Evangelism Boat?” you ask. Good question. I had hoped we would get a chance to go out on the boat during our trip this year. However, one thing I was not aware of is that during the raining season, they don’t go out on the lake water because the thunder storms and ensuing wind and waves are very dangerous. They are just coming out of the raining season now, but the winds are still high as the season is changing. Also with the plans we have for the rest of our trip, we probably won’t have time to get to Kigoma before we are about to leave. However, I am hoping I can have them plan a trip to Kigoma next week to pick up some network equipment that I know is available there. If that happens, I’ll see if we can swing by to see the boat. Their plans are to start making trips to the remote villages in July, so I’ve asked Bishop Makaya to be sure to send us photos at that time. He and I talked about it and we will definitely plan to go out together to partner in evangelism during our next trip to Tanzania. My hope is that there are some from St. Paul’s Church who would join us in that activity. Anyone interested??? We’ll keep you safe, I promise. It will be the experience of a life time!
This after noon we took some time off to stay in the compound. We practiced a couple of songs to have ready for tomorrows worship services. During the first service (6:30 AM) I will be installed as a lay canon in the cathedral. Cathy will be taking some pictures I’m sure, so weil have something to share with you afterwards. I’ll write more about this and other thoughts about our trip so far at a later time. It’s late now and we have a very early morning.
Bill
So today I went to KBC to work on the Internet connection. Alister Sammons, our doctor friend from the UK had a MiFi unit that he has setup with a Vodacom SIM chip and account. I borrowed it so I could test it out at KBC to see if we could work with Vodacom’s Internet service instead of the TTCL DSL line. Using a trick I learned a while back, I was able to setup a wireless bridge to the MiFi from the KBC network. The resulting Internet speed was astounding. With this device we clocked Internet speeds that were more than 20 times the speed than that of TTCL’s service. Changing over to Vodacom? It’s was a no brainer. Now the difficultly we faced was how to get a hold of a MiFi unit in Kasulu. Certainly, it would not be available locally in Kasulu or Kigoma. Perhaps we might be able to get one in Mwanza. But the most likely scenario is that we would have to get it in Dar Es Salaam. We checked with the local VodaCom Shop and as I suspected, we would need to get the unit in Dar. That could take a while to get, probably past the time we are here. So for the moment I went with Plan B, which is to install a Vodacom Cellular modem (the red thing in the picture below) in the server and then setup Internet Sharing to the rest of the network. That worked very well. Afterwards, when we returned to the compound, we discussed our options with Bishop Makaya. As it turns out, there is someone from the Diocese flying back from Dar on Monday. Perfect!! So the Bishop called them and instructed them to purchase two MiFi devices to bring back with them. One we will use at the Bible College and the other will be setup for the Diocese office network.
To add to the increase in speed, the other blessing in all of this is that the Internet fee’s for the Doicese and KBC will be cut significantly. For instance, at KBC, we are paying 210,000 Shillings per month for unlimited Internet access. That’s about $150 per month. With the Vodacom MiFi setup we will be paying 20,000 Shillings per month. Basically 1/10 of the cost. This is a significant savings for the Bible College, which struggles enough with the month to month finances. So with the financial support from St. Paul’s their Internet fee’s are fully covered and then some. I could not be more pleased for them that we found this solution.
Tonight we had dinner at Canon Wilson Mafumbi’s home. As usual, we were treated as honored guests with all sorts of food; chicken, fish, rice, peas, greens, cooked banana and of course my favorite pineapple. Hawaii has nothing on Tanzania for the most delicious pineapple. And talk about avocado’s!!
At the moment, we are sitting here in the dark, both of us writing blogs and sending E-mail. In downtown Kasulu, there is a fire. Looks like one of the shops caught fire and was burning out of control when we passed through town. They probably cut the power because of it. I’m just hoping they can get it under control as it could easily spread from shop to shop and take out a large section of the market area. As far as I know, there is nothing such as a fire-brigade in Kasulu, and certainly no fire trucks. This could be devastating to the shop owners. It’s not like they have insurance of any kind here. They stand to loose everything. Lord may it not be!
Ah! The lights are back on. That’s a good sign. So with that I’ll say good night and look forward to another beautiful day in Kasulu tomorrow.
Bill