[Nottingham] On the scrounge -- Simon

[ForkBombFluf]

On Fri, 2 Jun 2006, eddacker wrote:

>> I'd be interested in some of the random PC bits, boards and video
>> cards. I don't actually mind testing stuff out and sticking things
>> onto Freecycle or distributing around the LUG? I've recently donated
>> two Dell machines, that are happily running Ubuntu, to a couple of
>> people who didn't have a PC and they are doing great.
>> 
>> Which gives me an idea. How does other members of the LUG feel about
>> refurbishing old PCs to donate to people less fortunate in life,
>> schools etc etc? Could be an interesting project.
>> 
>> Simon
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nottingham mailing list
>> Nottingham at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/nottingham
> I am!
> Back home I did this for single parents who couldn't afford much for their 
> kids to do school work.
> And had a project that sent machines to Central America into teaching 
> situations. (I come from California so it was logical).
> I remember my first Red Hat install in Spanish, couldn't read a thing, but 
> knew which was what by the screens. hahahaha
> I used to get kit from business upgrades fairly cheap, here in the UK haven't 
> found much as most businesses pay recyclers to take it away.
>
> Let me know, I'll lend a hand.

This idea intrigues me too.  I've watched several dozen Pentium III 450's 
go for scrapping, and I have said the same thing about how ridiculous it 
is to have to pay someone to take them away when members of the public 
would no doubt happily take them away for a small fee.  I am led to belive 
that the reason for this is due to liability, aka. the fear of being sued 
by the purcaser if they electrocute themselves weith it.  I have to say 
this boggles my mind, the university I worked at in the US sent all their 
old excess kit to a large building south of campus aptly named "Surplus", 
where it was sold "as is" at at public auction once a fortnight. This 
seems like a much better solution to the problem to me, but hey, I guess I 
haven't been "doing it this way for hundreds of years", so what do I know, 
eh?

*retracts claws* (Sorry about that.)

;-)

Cheers,

-Stef