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Free Geek gives away free linux based machines
news.designtechnica.com — Train volunteers to run the business and work solely with donated electronic items to make them reusable or recyclable. In the process, teach volunteers how the business works and how to rebuild computers, allowing them to adopt a computer after 24 hours of volunteer service, giving them on-the-job training, as well as a social outlet.
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- GeekyGirl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is a great organization! I have donated tons of stuff to them over the years, and they have the best motto: "Helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the 3rd millennium.”
- kimastergeorge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0This isn't exactly news... but I like them a lot, too.
- asplodzor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I was doing some freelance computer repair work at a shop several blocks away from them over the summer. Several volunteers from Freegeek would frequent the shop looking for laptop parts, and I really started to appreciate the impact they were having in the community from talking to various people on the street.
I moved fairly recently and donated an entire carload of machines to them... they're an awesome organization and I think every city needs at least one. :-) - bebopredux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I have tried to get something like this started in my area. The local dump has loads of computers there for the taking. I took home one this summer with a Pentium 1.4 and a 80GB hard drive. Booted up once home and now has Ubuntu running on it. I find that 90% of the time people throw away Windows boxes because they think they have lived out their lifetime. In reality, these machines ( I have now gone through 4 brought home from the dump including a 21" NEC monitor) are sooooo loaded with spyware/malware/trojans that people give up on them! I tell the kid at the dump I take 'em home and run Linux on them and he can't believe it. Now, I am installing Linux on a dump-box and giving it to him for the "office" he has there.
Windows ruins PC's. Most people don't have the time of know how to keep them running and why should they? They pay MS for an OS that is the swiss cheese of security. Put any decent Linux distro on a freshly formatted HD and they run great! But yet another problem is that when I say this to anyone in the school system they say "What's Linux?" Aaarrrggghhh!!
My guess is that every home in the US could have a decent home computer running a free OS like Linux just by recycling.
Kudos to Free Geek! Let's hop this gets some momentum. - ikkebra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1my brain tells me it's English, but I am still unsure
- gavabond, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As a manager of a nonprofit that's received computers from FreeGeek, let me just say this: Every developed municipality should have a group doing exactly this. It's win-win-win-win-win. Volunteerism, community, environment, education, and helping fellow do-gooder groups.
- bobabot1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As a volunteer computer builder at FreeGeek, it warms my heart that they're finally receiving the attention they deserve. Yeah, a little blurb in the paper will enlighten one or two folks but so much good is done there that it really deserves more attention. Here's a link to the google-cached site. http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:OaKEJElBsLoJ:freegeek.org/+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1 I'd rather not put up the real site because it would probably ruin their bandwidth. Please, if you have the ability/resources, donate some time or PC's and make the world that much geekier.
- lexbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I heard about Free Geek a few years ago. I'd love to start an organization like that in my area. It's a win-win-win idea.
- atrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If i lived near there, I would definitely volunteer...
Great idea, but would be better if it was in many locations... - dognose, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Do they have a guide for starting one of these locally? It sounds like a great concept.
- headswine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Cool! Too bad I don't need a computer... :)
http://www.gfx.com - bobabot1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, I bet that if you contacted FreeGeek (phone # on web site), there would be someone you could talk to that would be more than willing to help you start a new one. I know that they have sent computers to Bolivia and there's another FreeGeek in Columbus, Ohio. Try it, you never know what could happen.
- spaceman0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is one of the best stories on digg so far. I wish the high and mighty developing the $100 laptop would learn a lesson( - thats streatching too far, the hardest thing to teach a phd is common sense ) and actually make something useful like this, instead of generating PR noise.
-most valuable things in life are free -e.g. air - snoudude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Cool - I'm in Central Ohio - might be a way of helping people out rather than collecting cans of food.
I'll have to give them a call
Digg+ - maxxgar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I currently volunteer at Free Geek Penn everyday. It is a satellite Free Geek in rural Pennsylvania. We receive donated computers everyday and I am one of the "sharks" that tear the older ones apart. I am not working towards a computer, just volunteering, and I have about 35 hours. Right now, I go for 1 hour every week day. If anyone is interested, you could probably contact the main Free Geek and start your own Free Geek [Location].
- skwid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Man this is the best idea I've heard in a long time !!
- DarkAX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i live in portland, its not as nice as it seems. the place is really run down and scary X_X
- cakefart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good to see freegeek get more recognition.
P.S. I helped set up their inventory control system, or at least an ancient version of what they're running now- Oso and the other people at Freegeek were a pleasure to work with. - magebomb11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i live in portland.
its giving away open source...were you expecting a fancy building? hehe
agree that its a little run down, but not...scary
freegeek pwns - deviationer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0w00t Free Geek gets credit and online press
- fsmdave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think this sort of thing is fantastic.
We've got the same sort of thing here in Perth, Australia:
Computer Angels http://www.computerangels.org.au/
There's a whole list of similar organizations on the FreeGeek site:
http://www.freegeek.org/recyclelink.php - carrotopp13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0that's sounds like an awesome place... i wish they had one near me so i could go...
- sparkmonkeyz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is awsome, I think that I am going to start raiding my local dump for old computers so i can give them to kids at my school who dont have any. Of course i will give thema bootable knopix for learning reasons andmy pirated Windows XP for reality reasons.
DUGG - aznboi04k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0i'll just installed a pirated winxp after i get a free comp.
- fsmdave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1sparkmonkeyz: "i will give thema bootable knopix for learning reasons andmy pirated Windows XP for reality reasons."
The reality will probably be that the PC's you find in the dump are there because they won't run WinXP. But, you'll probably get GNU/Linux running on them.
I think that most of these recycle groups are affiliated with a local LUG. If you want to start one up in your area, the best place to start would be by talking to people in your local LUG. - caporion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0We have something similar to this in the Mankato MN area called PCs for People http://www.pcs4people.com I think the main difference is I don't think they teach the needy how to refurb the machines, they just refurb them and give them to needy people. Still a great group and so is Free Geek obviously! Great job people! Hot diggity dugg!
- retsoced, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Free Geek is awesome! I have taken at least 3 car loads of stuff to them when I lived in PDX, including an HP large format printer... The only thing I wish I would have kept (actually me ma ditched it) was our old IBM, with the amber screen and clicky keyboard......
- clabbergrrl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"i live in portland, its not as nice as it seems. the place is really run down and scary"
If you think Free Geek is scary, you don't belong in Portland, you should go back to California. This is *exactly* the problem we have here in Portland, people moving here from California because they heard it was "cool", and then when they get here they get "scared" and want to change Portland to a Disneyland version of its former self, they want to change Portland to their bland unimaginative version of what they thought it would be.
You come here to escape traffic jams, expensive real estate, crappy schools, and high crime, but you *can't* escape those things, because you *are* those things. You bring them with you.
Thanks for nothing. - solarpowered, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I was OK until the "social outlet" part. That was weird.
- clabbergrrl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0'I was OK until the "social outlet" part. That was weird.'
Then don't come to Portland. You won't like it. We won't like you. - cameronbergh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I live in portland, and its ***** awesome. Freegeek rules. The personal telco project, (free city wifi network) is also amazing. oh, and I live within several miles of linus torvalds
I pretty much agree with the person above, and so do all the other native portlanders. how anyone can call portland scary is beyond me. the buildings are stumpy, but compared to some other places ive seen portland is super clean.
If the world was more like portland, it would probably be a better place. but i have this fear that too many lamers are going to move here from other states and dilute our coolness with their lameness.
if you arent into riding bikes everywhere, recycling, and rain, its probably not right for you.
please stay away. - Vorbis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i live in portland and its awsome to see something local making it onto digg. they do alot good. alright!!!
- solarpowered, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0clabbergrrl (aptly: "zero"), way to misunderstand. Thanks for your hospitality, though!!!
- Burner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I used to volunteer there, I live in Gresham, OR. You build them 5 linux boxes and you get to keep the six one you build, or work for 24 hours, I believe.
- clabbergrrl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0"clabbergrrl (aptly: "zero"), way to misunderstand. Thanks for your hospitality, though!!!"
I'm sorry you were unable to communicate your meaning clearly, but in any case, forewarned is forearmed. - gregben, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yikes! Freegeek charges you $10.00 for each monitor you turn in.
Here in San Diego you can turn in monitors, computers, printers,
etc. at the recycling center at the dump for nothing. A much better
deal. - bobabot1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The only reason FreeGeek charges $10 per monitor to recycle is because instead of just disposing the monitor in a dump, FreeGeek sends a large shipment to a recycling center on the East coast that can dispose of them properly without damaging the environment. The $10 barely covers the cost and it isn't a way to make money.
- tehbawb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Heh, I'm sitting here using a mouse and monitor I got from free geek... Pretty nice little organization, from what I saw.
- Quakes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I wish there was something like this here..
- ScottBod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't get it. :(
- ps6000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I remember seeing freegeek after starting our center and hoping we could do something like that.
http://worcestercoop.org/ - sdlibrarian, on 11/27/2007, -0/+0Free Geek is a wonderful Idea. As commented previously, one could, abide by the law of not dumping a monitor in the trash and "generously" donate it to the Miramar Landfill, at no cost. Once donated, does it benefit someone? Does it benefit anyone? No. Free Geek charges a "Suggested" Fee because they will try to REUSE the monitor, in a way that will benefit the Community. You decide if $10 is worth helping to someone in your community get a job. Go to freecomm.org if you'd like to see a Free Geek in San Diego.
- freebundles, on 04/20/2008, -0/+0Thanks for the share!
Best Regards,
http://www.freebundles.com
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