On Wed, 2009-02-11 at 12:28 +1100, Stewart Johnston wrote:
> Just heard a lady on the abc talking all the computers that will have
> been lost in the bushfires ("and all the kids wanting to check facebook
> for support"). While it's not the top priority for people just now, I
> imagine that it may become so in the near future.
>
> Does anyone know of any refurbishment initiatives that might be
> providing PCs to Victoria that are jumping in to help? I'm not working
> at the moment and would be happy to volunteer my Ubuntu installing
> skills, as well as my hardware refurbishing talents, if needed.
>
As already mentioned in the the thread there is computer bank.
As mentioned by Senectus donations can hamper rather than assist the
recovery. I know at Wittlesea they had a mountain of clothes over 2m
high and not enough bodies to sort them.
For their immediate needs, food, clothing, shelter, people are reliant
on donations. Most people will have access to insurance for replacing
the substantial items - well loved ones can't be replaced. Instead of
getting some old P4, they can get a C2D, which is similar to what they
had. As someone who has done whole office migrations, I am also not
sure people who have gone through such upheaval would really want to
learn a new OS.
Telstra and others are providing free internet access at various
locations in the effected areas so people can keep in touch. Those who
are no longer at relief centres or living in tents are likely to have
more reliable access to the internet.
I think your heart is in the right place, but I don't think it is
something that is needed. On the other hand having a trailer of
machines setup ready to go with a few PCs, some phones doing VoIP and a
next G modem or 2 which could be deployed in disaster zones would be
more useful and it would address a real and immediate need.
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