Discussion:
[ubuntu-us-mi] recycling-donation project
Josh Panter
2009-01-18 18:40:01 UTC
Permalink
Hello Ubuntu-mi!

This is JoshP, aka alienseer23 on irc. I have been advertising for the
recycling/donation project on craigslist and other local resources since
Jono's post about open source and open learning here:
http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/01/06/open-source-and-open-learning/
That post kind of rekindled the fire under my butt for this.

After about a week or two I have about 5 promised systems, pending
pick-up and delivery! I think this is great! I would like to get a nice
amount of working systems together (10-20) and then have some sort of
give-away event. Perhaps piggy-backed on top of an install-fest?

Ultimately, I would really like to make this a regular, reoccurring
event.

This is a call for your junk and your time! Do you have a system that
will boot but you don't use? Then I want it to give away! Even if it's
older, perhaps there are parts to be used, or an opportunity to put
Xbuntu on that baby and give it away to someone that could use it for
basic productivity, email, web-surfing, etc. I know the chances are good
that I will get some true junk here, but this is ok.

Do you live far away from me (Ann Arbor), since I plan on doing the give
away somewhere locally, or perhaps Detroit, perhaps Flint, and you live
maybe in Muskegon, or Petoskey, perhaps you could get something going
where you are, and we could co-ordinate a day where we could have
multiple give-away events in Michigan? Or perhaps you collect systems,
and I could arrange a beer for you when you bring your load to Ann
Arbor? Hrm...?

Let's get this going! I want to be able to put up stories and pictures
of happy people getting good, working systems running Ubuntu on our
wiki, and I want to show them how to use it, introduce a whole new
people to F/OSS and Ubuntu, and what it can do for them, but I need your
help to do it! I want to make a name for our Loco with this, and I want
your input. Do you have any constructive ideas for co-ordinating the
give-away? Do you have any creative ideas for co-ordinating a collection
effort?

What's up, Ubuntu-Mi, I'm doing this, will you join me?

Josh Panter
Matt Arnold
2009-01-18 20:10:38 UTC
Permalink
Josh,

When I read this, I thought of Dan Diebolt, who wants to create a
local community for DIY Makers and would like Penguicon to help. I'm
CC'ing him on this to see what you might want to do together since
your interests obviously intersect.

Dan is going to make signage and Penguicon is going to give him tables
on which to display identical Pentium 4 computers from Silicon Alley
Recyclers. All weekend the computers will be running basic
Do-It-Yourself open source projects that can run
on recycled computers. For instance, digital TV, jukebox, telephony,
BitTorrent, and various servers. These projects are kitted up with
resources and instructions on the web. The goal is that random Star
Wars fans with not much tech background will see Dan's signage, look
at the computers, and get hooked on Open Source.

-Matt
Post by Josh Panter
Hello Ubuntu-mi!
This is JoshP, aka alienseer23 on irc. I have been advertising for the
recycling/donation project on craigslist and other local resources since
http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/01/06/open-source-and-open-learning/
That post kind of rekindled the fire under my butt for this.
After about a week or two I have about 5 promised systems, pending
pick-up and delivery! I think this is great! I would like to get a nice
amount of working systems together (10-20) and then have some sort of
give-away event. Perhaps piggy-backed on top of an install-fest?
Ultimately, I would really like to make this a regular, reoccurring
event.
This is a call for your junk and your time! Do you have a system that
will boot but you don't use? Then I want it to give away! Even if it's
older, perhaps there are parts to be used, or an opportunity to put
Xbuntu on that baby and give it away to someone that could use it for
basic productivity, email, web-surfing, etc. I know the chances are good
that I will get some true junk here, but this is ok.
Do you live far away from me (Ann Arbor), since I plan on doing the give
away somewhere locally, or perhaps Detroit, perhaps Flint, and you live
maybe in Muskegon, or Petoskey, perhaps you could get something going
where you are, and we could co-ordinate a day where we could have
multiple give-away events in Michigan? Or perhaps you collect systems,
and I could arrange a beer for you when you bring your load to Ann
Arbor? Hrm...?
Let's get this going! I want to be able to put up stories and pictures
of happy people getting good, working systems running Ubuntu on our
wiki, and I want to show them how to use it, introduce a whole new
people to F/OSS and Ubuntu, and what it can do for them, but I need your
help to do it! I want to make a name for our Loco with this, and I want
your input. Do you have any constructive ideas for co-ordinating the
give-away? Do you have any creative ideas for co-ordinating a collection
effort?
What's up, Ubuntu-Mi, I'm doing this, will you join me?
Josh Panter
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Linh Song
2009-01-21 05:39:58 UTC
Permalink
Hello Everyone,

My program, npServ, would be interested in being involved in helping distribute Ubuntu systems. We're a program of NEW, or Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, here in Ann Arbor. NEW is basically, a nonprofit capacity builder, helping form non-profits, train them on board governance, and with npServ, provide IT managed services (Ubuntu, LTSP, with Windows slices support). Mostly we focus on small to medium sized nonprofits who are really struggling to cut down on operation costs. IT maintenance hits them hard. Almost all cannot afford their own admin and hourly consultant rates are cost prohibitive. We charge $25/month/computer for support (with the help of foundations).

Anyway, we have offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit. We're working more closely with struggling nonprofits, especially in Detroit, and I think that they can benefit from a recycling/donation project like this. It would be great if we can help community centers and community labs distribute computers to kids in need. Shoot me an email if you're interested. I'd be happy to reserve NEW's conference room for a meetup.


PS One group, Latino Family Services, has 92 of these machines sitting around with 15" monitors....would be great I could get a group of geeks to figure out what they can do with them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Internet_Computer


Best -


Linh Song, MSW
npServ Director
734-998-0160 ext. 217 / fax 734-998-0163
lsong at new.org / www.new.org
Ann Arbor Office: NEW Center, 1100 N. Main St., Suite 100, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Detroit Office: Hannan House, 4750 Woodward Ave., Suite 308, Detroit, MI 48201
HELPING NONPROFITS SUCCEED
Robert Citek
2009-01-21 16:24:59 UTC
Permalink
Hello Linh,
Post by Linh Song
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Internet_Computer
Can those units be upgraded in any way, e.g. more RAM or hard drive?
If so, then a minimal linux distro might work, using it much like a
netbook (e.g. ubuntu eeepc). If not, then LTSP seems the way to go.

Regards,
- Robert

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