[sf-lug] Computer Zombies

[jim stockford]

a point on giving to ACCRC. well, two points:
* ACCRC is a wonderfully good place and deserves tons
of support.
* ACCRC has necessary restrictions limiting the process
by which computers get to users. if you don't need the
501 (c) 3 tax benefit, consider giving them to individuals
for whom ACCRC application is difficult (either per their
eligibility or their ability to travel and carry or the latency
of the wait...).

    i know of at least one single mom who wants a linux box
for her 11 year old boy. i'm willing to take it to her and
provide support to get her kid going.
    there's a guy at the sf library's project read who wants a
linux box to investigate whether there's sufficient free and
open source software (F/OSS) to support the needs his
department has in serving the semi-literate.



On Mar 6, 2008, at 5:42 PM, Asheesh Laroia wrote:

> On Thu, 6 Mar 2008, Charlie Wheeler wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> My name is Charlie Wheeler and I work for a small group that was
>> purchased about three years ago by a large educational publishing
>> company.
>
> Hi!
>
>> I'm a Linux enthusiast, and I noticed that you did some install-fests,
>> so I am writing you to see if you (or SF-LUG) might be able to help 
>> me,
>> or give me some advice on dealing with some of the computers at our
>> office that have been put out to pasture.
>
> Yippee!
>
>> Basically, they're just sitting there. It's true, of course, that some
>> of them aren't in good shape and have been canibalized. But,
>> surprisingly (to me at least) most of them are fine, older P4, 
>> desktops,
>> servers, laptops with plenty of memory (256MB-2GB). I suggested that 
>> we
>> donate them, but because schools are our clients, it's a conflict of
>> interest for us to donate these machines to schools. So, I'm looking 
>> for
>> a 3rd party to donate them to. Also at issue is the hard drive, or
>> rather what's on it.
>
> Right, erasing that would be nice.  Just boot them from some Live CD 
> and
> zero it out, or use "Darik's Boot and Nuke" (hilarious name, I think):
> http://dban.sourceforge.net/
>
>> I volunteered to do a proposal. My plan is to install Ubuntu on the
>> machines (mostly Dells)and find a non-school that takes donations, and
>> recycle the ones that aren't working. I could use some suggestions, in
>> particular, who might be interested in these machines, and whether 
>> this
>> will be an inordinate amount of work for me.
>
> You might consider donating them to ACCRC.  That way, you've given 
> them to
> someone who will consider where to put them; that organization isn't a
> school, it's just a friendly neighborhood non-profit.
>
>> My co-workers kind of poo-poo'd the idea and suggested we pay a 
>> company
>> to recycle them. It seems weird to just let these computers rot when
>> they could be useful to somebody.
>
> Either way, I hope you recycle them.  (Having said that, I would be 
> open
> to taking one of these laptops if they still work....)
>
> -- Asheesh.
>
> -- 
> May you have many handsome and obedient sons.
>
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