I'M Toying With A Donation Drive Idea

[filingaccount]

I have had this in my mind for a while, and it keeps tickling my brain.

Are there users here on Thaivisa willing to donate old PC's/laptops/pc parts for needy children/schools/other entity in need?

The idea is to put puppylinux (puppylinux.org) on these old PC's, together with good software like Open Office, GIMP, Multimedia tools, Browser and other relevant learning software.

Or alternatively give them the PC, relevant install CD's for puppylinux and show them how to install and config the PC themselves. Puppylinux is of course completely open source, and they have partial Thai translations I believe. This could be a great computer class extra credit thing too... create a Thai language version of puppy.

What I would be looking for is anything over a P3 800 Mhz with 512 MB RAM and 5 GB HDD, preferably with a CDROM drive. Sound card not really necessary, but a good addition. Working keyboards and mice are a great plus, but these can be purchased for relatively small amounts.

The only thing I would be concerned about is the legality of taking donated PC's, refurbish them a bit and then give them to the needy. Would this be allowed by law or should one acquire some sort of permit for this type or donations? (no good deed goes unpunished?)

I'm still looking for places where they can be donated. I have a few places in mind, but nothing is set in stone. Of course, individuals can easily refurbish PC's themselves and give them away should this undertaking not be to their liking or there are regulatory hurdles in the way.

In any case, I would love to hear thoughts, opinions, criticisms, praise, experiences, or random one liners....

[eggomaniac]

I think? there might be an International organization you can hook up with, who does this already, I read about it awhile ago, one of those former microsoft execs turned philanthropist.

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May I suggest you build them so only the World's Intertnational language can be used. Thai kids have to catch up with the Philipines and Vietnam and Swiss and German and Chinese etc, on Interlang language skills, as well as pc literacy.

[Supernova]

May I suggest you build them so only the World's Intertnational language can be used. Thai kids have to catch up with the Philipines and Vietnam and Swiss and German and Chinese etc, on Interlang language skills, as well as pc literacy.

+1

If you're gonna donate, might as well do it in a way that will help these kids brush up on their English language skills too. I definitely agree with this.

[siamect]

Maybe listen to these guys... They may have some experience

ACCRC: Alameda County Computer Resource Center 1

fund the link here:

What They're Using: Christian Einfeldt, Producer, the Digital Tipping Point | Linux Journal

I think it is a great idea but be careful, before you know it the puppy may be replaced with some proprietary junk, incompatible with education... and the world would be better without it.

So the question is more how to prevent that and how to overcome the the ignorance about free software.

Martin

[filingaccount]

Maybe listen to these guys... They may have some experience

ACCRC: Alameda County Computer Resource Center 1

fund the link here:

What They're Using: Christian Einfeldt, Producer, the Digital Tipping Point | Linux Journal

I think it is a great idea but be careful, before you know it the puppy may be replaced with some proprietary junk, incompatible with education... and the world would be better without it.

So the question is more how to prevent that and how to overcome the the ignorance about free software.

Martin

Thanks for the links.

I'm not concerned about anyone changing the operating system or software. They would be welcome to do so. The drawback is that running a windows system on old and beaten hardware is that it would be very slow. Puppylinux is lightning fast, and has an incredibly low memory footprint, so even old beaten up donated computers would be usable again.

As for the English only suggestion... It is all well and good, but I am not the one making the decision about that. The choice is theirs. Should they want to change anything, they are free to do so.

There would be absolutely no restrictions put on the use of the computers, as long as they stay at the location where it was first donated to. Should they want to get rid of them, they would be free to return the computers at any time.

[siamect]

I'm not concerned about anyone changing the operating system or software. They would be welcome to do so. The drawback is that running a windows system on old and beaten hardware is that it would be very slow. Puppylinux is lightning fast, and has an incredibly low memory footprint, so even old beaten up donated computers would be usable again.

There would be absolutely no restrictions put on the use of the computers, as long as they stay at the location where it was first donated to. Should they want to get rid of them, they would be free to return the computers at any time.

If you enforce a restriction on the location where these computer should be used then you should also demand people to follow the law.

No one who is getting these computers would be able to pay for licenses. If I pay one MS-Windows license and one MS-Office license then I have paid more for the licenses than what I paid for my latest computer and that was a new one...

It would also make the users accept the EULA that make it illegal to find out how the OS and other proprietary software works.

So the people that receive these computers would certainly run illegal software if there is not clearly communicated that they are supposed to run free software.

Otherwise it gives these people the wrong signals. Like it is ok to run illegal software...Not good!

Martin

[filingaccount]

If you enforce a restriction on the location where these computer should be used then you should also demand people to follow the law.

No one who is getting these computers would be able to pay for licenses. If I pay one MS-Windows license and one MS-Office license then I have paid more for the licenses than what I paid for my latest computer and that was a new one...

It would also make the users accept the EULA that make it illegal to find out how the OS and other proprietary software works.

So the people that receive these computers would certainly run illegal software if there is not clearly communicated that they are supposed to run free software.

Otherwise it gives these people the wrong signals. Like it is ok to run illegal software...Not good!

Martin

I wouldn't be able to "enforce" anything. I can only express my desire that the computers are kept at the intended location.

I am also not a Microsoft (or other software company) authority so I can not state one way or the other in terms of "legals".

I basically want your old computers (perhaps too old to run winxp or later) and install puppy on it and give them away with virtually no strings attached.

I have extensively tested puppy, and found that the latest versions are "good enough" for pretty much anything, even on old hardware.

No point in complicating things, as they are donations after all, and I think a gift can not have restrictions....

[siamect]

I wouldn't be able to "enforce" anything. I can only express my desire that the computers are kept at the intended location.

I am also not a Microsoft (or other software company) authority so I can not state one way or the other in terms of "legals".

I basically want your old computers (perhaps too old to run winxp or later) and install puppy on it and give them away with virtually no strings attached.

I have extensively tested puppy, and found that the latest versions are "good enough" for pretty much anything, even on old hardware.

No point in complicating things, as they are donations after all, and I think a gift can not have restrictions....

You can enforce anything with a suitable contract.

If you just "express desire" you can be sure that it is not going the way you want it to.

I think a better way to do this is to combine it with a serious educational efforts. Maybe get in contact with a school that are interested. That way you can teach people to use Puppy or whatever system you think is good.

Martin