We will be opening a new maritime museum in about a year (spring  97).

During our development and subsequent operation we will need a

progression of computer resources.  Your comments on what is available,

appropriate and easily used would be extremely helpful.  Software,

hardware (including printers and network hardware) and operating

system(s) must be considered.  Below is a list of activities we need to

support and an initial estimate of what would support it.  Any advice

you can offer us on what to obtain or where to obtain it would be

greatly appreciated.



I m thinking that we will need three separate computing systems:

1) Accounting; 2) Operations support; and 3)Exhibits.



Accounting - This will likely be a stand-alone (to simplify security

issues) PC clone system running accounting software on DOS or Windows.

What accounting packages would you suggest?



Operations support - Likely a small networked PC clone system running

Windows NT.  Will support the following areas:



     General office functions - Microsoft Office Professional.



     Time-phased planning - I ve briefly used Microsoft Project in the

     past.  Is there a better tool for aiding our development plans?



     Membership database, Volunteer database - Is specialized software

     to be preferred here, or should we make up our own Microsoft Access

     databases?



     Newsletter - Microsoft Word for Windows seems to be appropriate

     here. Any comments?



     Collections management - I ve heard of Argus running on a Unix

     system being used to support this function, but it would be a lot

     simpler to manage the same kinds of systems throughout the

     enterprise.  Is there anything more appropriate than Argus?  If

     Argus is the way to go, does it run under Windows NT?  If not, will

     it run under Linux on a PC clone?



     Library management - What software is preferred to support

     this function (cataloging and the like, beyond normal office

     functions)?



Interactive exhibit displays - In-house web page system or specialized

display system, most likely networked and fed by server system.  Need

interactive software at each station and networking software:  PC clones

running Netscape Navigator on Windows NT Server/Workstation with captive

display accounts on boot-up?  Are there better ways to go?





Donation sources for computing resources - Are there any companies you

know of that supply the above items that are likely to offer donations

or deep discounts?  Can you recommend anyone?



Thank you for anything you can offer.  If a summary of responses is

desired, I ll make one.



Tom Fuller

Santa Barbara Maritime Museum

6 Harbor Way, No. 177

Santa Barbara, CA   93109

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805-568-9000 (voice-mail for the museum)