On 6 Feb 2005, at 23:35, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
On Sun, Feb 06, 2005 at 11:14:18PM +0000, John Levin wrote:
I'm familiar with Computer Aid - did a little work there some time
back. I
believe their policy is to send computers without any operating
system, or
possibly something very basic like FreeDOS. There are good reasons for
this - they don't know what the recipients will be using the computer
for,
they don't know precisely what hardware will be linked together, and
the
time involved in installing an OS.
We could work with them to resolve these issues; certainly having
Ubuntu
pre-installed is no worse than having no operating system at all.
Perhaps
local Ubuntu volunteers could be mobilized to help with the
installations
(in cooperation with the development of the Kickstart automated
installation
infrastructure for Hoary?).
Sounds like a task for the LoCo groups, both in the country of origin
and destination.
(Incidentally, is SABDFL on this list? I don't know what the
Shuttleworth Foundation does in this respect, but it could be a useful
intermediary between those with the computers and those needing them.)
Also, the boxes CA ship are very low spec, many with CPUs of around
100mhz, which Ubuntu would unduly tax
Yes, certainly this would need to be limited to systems with enough
disk,
memory and CPU power to run a modern OS like Ubuntu. Surely there are
some?
Not many (I was there a year or two back). There were a lot of
less-than-100mhz boxes, which were generally stripped for ram etc, a
decision having being made to supply 100mhz / 32mb ram boxes as
minimum. A lot of the machines are very (in computer terms) old, being
cast-off from large organisations (universities and companies) when
upgrading en masse. That's not done very often per organisation. Don't
underestimate the persistence of Windows95! (I got a machine today with
win95/32mb - I'm going to try an install on it, just to see what
happens, but I know I'll have to bump the ram up.)
The way forward for Ubuntu is really to contact the people actually
using
the computers - the many and varied projects in Africa, Asia and
Eastern
Europe.
Installation is the single highest barrier to entry for Ubuntu and
other
alternative operating systems. Having Ubuntu preinstalled is a great
way to
eliminate that barrier, and I think we should pursue such
opportunities.
I would like to see if there is some way Ubuntu and recycling projects
could work together; on our part, I think there has to be further
development of 'Ubuntu-lite' for lowend systems (which is being
discussed
on the user list).
I agree. In many parts of the US, 686-class systems (quite capable of
running Ubuntu) are candidates for recycling. Are there any
centralized
organizations which manage operations like these? How do we get in
touch
with them?
There are a lot of recycling orgs around the world, but they appear
quite small and disparate - there's no centralized operation. I'll root
through my bookmarks and post a list. Given the spread of ubuntu users,
we could get a fairly comprehensive list together and spread awareness
of 'free hardware' - and the benefits of free software too.
As a footnote, there's various initiatives around the world to pass
legislation requiring recycling and safe disposal of computers. It's
something to keep an eye on, as it could have a great impact and
certainly provide some opportunities.
John
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