FreeGeek

Johnboy1951

http://www.freegeek.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=625LPUACix0

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=102328521&postcount=11

OK, those three links show where this post is coming from.
As I said in that other thread, I think something along the lines of FreeGeek could be done locally - on a small scale.

I wondered if there are Boardsies in the Clare area who would be interested in supporting such a venture?
I believe it would need to be housed in an industrial unit (small) with reasonable security because of the storage of PCs, tools etc.

Corporate sponsorship would be ideal, and lend credence to the venture, especially when seeking donor PCs from other businesses.

Of course a big concern to businesses would be the integrity of their data and some assurance that all their data would be securely wiped before the drives were reused. It can easily be done but providing the assurances that businesses need can be difficult, particularly in the beginning.

Is there any interest in this idea or in further discussions on it?
Anyone got time to donate if it becomes a reality?

Thanks for reading.

Deagol

Where I work used to donate used PC's to local schools etc but they stopped this some years ago due to various issues.

1) Security of information. Concerns over sensitive data leaking. The company would have to wipe each machine themselves encurring extra costs etc.
2) End of Life disposal. There was concern that equipment would be dumped illegally and tracked back to the company, getting receivers to sign statements was not considered robust enough to prevent possible issues.
3) All IT equipment in our company now is leased.

Having said all of that, I hate to see old hardware dumped, when I know it could still be useful to someone. I therefore would happily help out if I could be of use and if you manage to get it rolling. Or, if you need any help getting it going.

I don't have a professional IT background as such, but have been using, building and repairing PC's since the late '80's. I did at one stage build very high end PC's to order (we're talking people wanting to spend up to and even above €6k!)

PM me for any further information etc.

Johnboy1951

Thanks Deagol.

Yes, as you say the security of data is something that would need to be worked out to the satisfaction of the donor businesses.
The numbers of perfectly good drives being destroyed physically, is huge, and unnecessary if an agreed system of cleaning (securely) the drives is implemented between the parties.

Donor PCs of course can come from the general populace too, but most often those are very old and outdated in comparison to the regular cycle in businesses.

With the availability of free 'recycling' of older electronic equipment in designated recycle centres, the disposal element should be easily covered to everyone's satisfaction.

Although some companies are leasing their PCs, when they are swapped out, the old PCs have to go somewhere, so there might well be some possibilities there too.

I believe some form of this scheme would be beneficial to a lot of people ..... not only those who might receive suitable refurbished PCs for a nominal cost (or free) but also to those with an interest in learning more about PCs, their component parts and software too.

Deagol

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Thanks Deagol.

Yes, as you say the security of data is something that would need to be worked out to the satisfaction of the donor businesses.
The numbers of perfectly good drives being destroyed physically, is huge, and unnecessary if an agreed system of cleaning (securely) the drives is implemented between the parties.
.

The problem with cleaning is that companies would be foolish to trust 3rd parties to clean each and every machine with 100.00% accuracy. That leaves the option of the donor company doing it, and therefore costs them. And so many company IT 'specialists' are actually clueless it's almost impossible to persuade them that wiping the drives is 100% safe anyway. I've heard a number of times the 'a friend on facebook told me' or 'I read how drives can be recovered after they're deleted'. But, maybe there is a way to persuade at least some donors of a method.

Donor PCs of course can come from the general populace too, but most often those are very old and outdated in comparison to the regular cycle in businesses.

I was handed a Pentium III PC about 4 years ago and asked to update it. Person was convinced a new hard drive, more RAM and update to Win7 and it would be grand. Even when I pointed out the cost of the parts would be similar to buying a basic PC new, she wasn't having it. Extreme example but saw plenty of the 10 year old PC's crawling along loaded with bots / virus's etc :eek:

Although some companies are leasing their PCs, when they are swapped out, the old PCs have to go somewhere, so there might well be some possibilities there too.

Tried to find that out some years ago but no one I asked seemed to know what happens to them. I wonder is there some element to tax write offs in destroying them?

not only those who might receive suitable refurbished PCs for a nominal cost (or free)

Wouldn't give anything away for free TBH. People just don't seem to appreciate free things. I did a job for a guy years ago, he'd bought a 2nd hand 386 (this was around 1995 so well out of date by then) and I tried to clean it up and slimline the software as much as possible. Didn't charge him as I knew he didn't have much money. He spent the next 6 months telling everyone who'd listen I was clueless and had ruined his computer because it was too slow and his son couldn't play any of the new games he'd bought.....


Anyway, I'll make some discrete enquiries around the places I know and see if I get any interest for you.

Johnboy1951

Wouldn't give anything away for free TBH. People just don't seem to appreciate free things.

I agree ..... but taking from the FreeGeek scheme of contributing labour in lieu might be an option, so it would be free of monetary charge, but gain benefit to the group.

Yes I agree that the cleaning situation would need a lot of work ..... especially as those who profess to know about this seem to universally rely on Peter Guttman's theoretical paper which dealt with floppies and early models of HDDs.
There seems to be no (or little) real knowledge about the subject. Makes it rather difficult to persuade people that their data is irrecoverable, even by a Data Recovery Specialist.

Thanks for taking an interest in this. I appreciate your taking time to make those 'discrete enquiries' ....... maybe they will bear fruit.

RussPainter

I'm a mentor at Coder Dojo Ennis (free computer club for kids 6-17). We may be interested in participating in both the labor to work on these, as a teaching exercise, and also some of the kids could be worthy recipients.

As was mentioned, FREE can be a bad thing. People think - sure if there free, just give me all of them, I decide if I really want it later. But if there's at least a nominal fee (5 euro) then people will only take it if they really need it.

Johnboy1951

RussPainter wrote: »

I'm a mentor at Coder Dojo Ennis (free computer club for kids 6-17). We may be interested in participating in both the labor to work on these, as a teaching exercise, and also some of the kids could be worthy recipients.

As was mentioned, FREE can be a bad thing. People think - sure if there free, just give me all of them, I decide if I really want it later. But if there's at least a nominal fee (5 euro) then people will only take it if they really need it.

Thank you for the post.

Maybe this is something that you would see as an addition to Coder Dojo in Ennis?
Do you have thoughts on this or how it might work?

RussPainter

Not really sure if/how it'd work. But you're welcome to stop by one of our sessions to have a quick chat with all of the mentors and see if we can come up with something. We meet in the back of CBS on Saturdays from 10-12 (excluding bank holiday weekends). Or PM me to arrange another time.

Akrasia

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

http://www.freegeek.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=625LPUACix0

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=102328521&postcount=11

OK, those three links show where this post is coming from.
As I said in that other thread, I think something along the lines of FreeGeek could be done locally - on a small scale.

I wondered if there are Boardsies in the Clare area who would be interested in supporting such a venture?
I believe it would need to be housed in an industrial unit (small) with reasonable security because of the storage of PCs, tools etc.

Corporate sponsorship would be ideal, and lend credence to the venture, especially when seeking donor PCs from other businesses.

Of course a big concern to businesses would be the integrity of their data and some assurance that all their data would be securely wiped before the drives were reused. It can easily be done but providing the assurances that businesses need can be difficult, particularly in the beginning.

Is there any interest in this idea or in further discussions on it?
Anyone got time to donate if it becomes a reality?

Thanks for reading.

What about removing HDDs from the equation and focusing on things like monitors, keyboards, mice, cables, printers etc. These could be used with rasberry pi or similar mini pcs

The desktops could be provided without any hdd and the fee charged to the end user could be the cost of a new hdd. These can be gotten for next to nothing on amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Internal-Hard-Drives/Generic-Hard-Disk-Drive-250GB-SATA-II/B000OUI8QO/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1488986546&sr=1-3&keywords=hdd

Windows 10 is free to people who use assistive technologies (so elderly people or people with visual impairments etc) https://www.howtogeek.com/265409/you-can-still-get-windows-10-for-free-from-microsofts-accessibility-site/

Johnboy1951

Akrasia wrote:

Windows 10 is free to people who use assistive technologies (so elderly people or people with visual impairments etc) https://www.howtogeek.com/265409/you...sibility-site/

Not a free OS ....... a free upgrade from a previous MS OS.

Microsoft still provides a free Windows 10 upgrade to anyone who checks a box saying they use assistive technologies on their computer.

What would you have against using a Linux distro on the PC?

You think you will get Win 10 running on a R-Pi?

More to the point I guess is from where would you source discarded R-Pi boards?

It is a simple matter, although time-consuming, to securely wipe a HDD, but companies will not lightly allow that, so the best that could be hoped for would be HDDs from older personal computers or buying old stock in bulk, I reckon.