Official Linux Charity Project Thread

[Zuph]

Okay folks, here is the OFFICIAL thread for our Linux charity project.

Roadmap so far: (this is what we need to do, in this order)

Get computers for free to work for (In progress)
Computers should be 500mhz or greater, and intact. Other specs are variable.

Determine Central Meeting Place (Holding)
Meet here and get the computers working, up to certain specs, and get the Linux install working.

Develop our Linux package. (In Discussion)
Obviously we want some derivative of Edubuntu that will run on slow machines.
It would be nice to have a Mirror of Wikipedia on the machines (this mirror is almost 10gb of data)

This Linux package should probably be standardized, and then we can slipstream the install so we don't have to re-deploy all the utilities once we make our package.

Next, we find people to give our machines to. At this point, we start up the marketing machine, get word out, and try and expand the project.(Holding)


So, topics of discussion right now:
Who can get machines? How many and what kind of Specs?
What should our MINIMUM baseline specs be? 500mhz is a good number, because it will still run most utilities out there reasonably well.
What do we want in our Linux Package? Who has the expertise to slipstream this into one install CD?

All of this is in order of priority. I will update this post periodically with important info from the thread.

LEADS ON COMPUTERS
Zuph will contact the Oldham County School board and see what he can do. They have an annual auction, as well, where we may be able to get computers for dirt cheap. This is next best to free, though.

[Zuph]

For Future reference, here is the Wikipedia Static content: http://static.wikipedia.org/downloads/November_2006/en/

[Zuph]

UPDATE

I can get us SIXTY computers with the specs that we want. I CANNOT get us monitors, however. These computers range from 450-600 mhz, and most of them are Dell GX100s.

SIXTY.

The catch is that I cannot get them until April. I would like to get a handful of computers to start on ASAP so we can standardize our Linux install so it is just a matter of popping in an install CD. So anyone with a lead on computers, keep on following those, as April is a ways away.

[jkeyes0]

Sorry to have missed the meeting last night. Last minute Dr's appt (kidney stone) and I was drugged up all night.

However, on the subject of computers/monitors, it might be worth at least one team member going to the State Finance Cabinet auction: http://finance.ky.gov/internal/surplus/auction.htm

It looks like the upcoming auction won't have any computer equipment, but they have one every month, and they always put up a document detailing what will be auctioned on that website. Usually there are computer pallets (monitors, workstations, etc.) that are auctioned off at very reasonable prices.

[etank]

WOW. 60 machines is awesome. We will need to think of a place to store them once April gets here. I am going to talk to the managers at work and see if I can get some of the old PCs that we have today.

There is a wiki page for the project at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KentuckyTeam/CharityProject now too.

[bkingx]

Holy Crap!! That is AWESOME Zuph!! Way to go!

Old CRT's shouldn't be too hard to come by. I have a few here that I can get. I might have an old PC or too as well. Most of our old stuff is MAC, but I agree, start the custom image and start working toward April!!

[Vorian]

Okay folks, here is the OFFICIAL thread for our Linux charity project.

Roadmap so far: (this is what we need to do, in this order)

Get computers for free to work for (In progress)
Computers should be 500mhz or greater, and intact. Other specs are variable.

Determine Central Meeting Place (Holding)
Meet here and get the computers working, up to certain specs, and get the Linux install working.

Develop our Linux package. (In Discussion)
Obviously we want some derivative of Edubuntu that will run on slow machines.
It would be nice to have a Mirror of Wikipedia on the machines (this mirror is almost 10gb of data)

This Linux package should probably be standardized, and then we can slipstream the install so we don't have to re-deploy all the utilities once we make our package.

Next, we find people to give our machines to. At this point, we start up the marketing machine, get word out, and try and expand the project.(Holding)


So, topics of discussion right now:
Who can get machines? How many and what kind of Specs?
What should our MINIMUM baseline specs be? 500mhz is a good number, because it will still run most utilities out there reasonably well.
What do we want in our Linux Package? Who has the expertise to slipstream this into one install CD?

All of this is in order of priority. I will update this post periodically with important info from the thread.

LEADS ON COMPUTERS
Zuph will contact the Oldham County School board and see what he can do. They have an annual auction, as well, where we may be able to get computers for dirt cheap. This is next best to free, though.

*steals some ideas*

Thank you and keep up the good work:)

[Zuph]

April is a long way away. If we get a group of 10 or so machines, we could work on getting our distribution and install methods down, and work on getting the PR machine working so that when we get all these computers the turnaround time can be relatively quick.

So then, Tasks at this point become:

Generating some documentation to contact people that may be in need of computers.

Create our standardized Linux install, preferably as automated as possible.

[montgoej]

I'm gonna contact a local business, they gave me 2 free monitors already for other things so I may be able to score a few monitors there.
~Stash

[gjtoth]

Sorry to have missed the meeting last night. Last minute Dr's appt (kidney stone) and I was drugged up all night.
.

Meeting?

[etank]

gjtoth, we had a meeting in the irc channel on Thursday. We are going to be having them each week on Thursday at 8:00PM EST. I am going to try to send an email to the mailing list each week to let everyone know what topics we are going to try to cover in that weeks meeting. To join the mailing list go to https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-ky or click on the link in my signature. If you want to read the log from the meeting go to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KentuckyTeam/Meetings.

[comfurtn]

April is a long way away. If we get a group of 10 or so machines, we could work on getting our distribution and install methods down, and work on getting the PR machine working so that when we get all these computers the turnaround time can be relatively quick.

So then, Tasks at this point become:

Generating some documentation to contact people that may be in need of computers.

Create our standardized Linux install, preferably as automated as possible.

Just curious... what are we talking about in the means of documentation, and has anybody brainstormed on the standardized install yet?

[Zuph]

Just curious... what are we talking about in the means of documentation, and has anybody brainstormed on the standardized install yet?

Documentation, we can easily write up a quick-start guide saying what is where, and then for more in-depth documentation, pull from the official docs or the ubuntuguide.org wiki and edit that for what we need.

I'm not sure how to make a standard install disk yet, But I'm thinking we need to go with Xubuntu (It's lightweight and behaves more intuitively (relative to windows) than fluxbuntu) and install a static copy of Wikipedia, whatever packages we think are good from Edubuntu, and some office apps. Maybe hook them up with some basic computer algebra stuff, that sort of thing.

We'll dig through the packages once we get together and get some machines.

[comfurtn]

Do we have any new leads on obtaining computers and monitors?

[montgoej]

Documentation, we can easily write up a quick-start guide saying what is where, and then for more in-depth documentation, pull from the official docs or the ubuntuguide.org wiki and edit that for what we need.

I'm not sure how to make a standard install disk yet, But I'm thinking we need to go with Xubuntu (It's lightweight and behaves more intuitively (relative to windows) than fluxbuntu) and install a static copy of Wikipedia, whatever packages we think are good from Edubuntu, and some office apps. Maybe hook them up with some basic computer algebra stuff, that sort of thing.

We'll dig through the packages once we get together and get some machines.

The install disc shouldn't be too much of a problem. The Ubuntu Customization Kit should do what we need, and if we know we're getting 60 machines that are all similar we can do a custom kernel build which'll be optimized for those machines
~Jordan "The Stash" Montgomery

[etank]

The Ubuntu Customization Kit should do what we need,
~Jordan "The Stash" Montgomery
There is also a tool called reconstructor (http://reconstructor.aperantis.com/). That is what the Ubuntu CE team used (at one time at least) to create their version of Ubuntu. I played with it some last year and it was pretty nice.

Another link on the topic http://www.ubuntulabs.devubuntu.com/2006/12/roll-your-own.html.

[Joule]

Well, if you are looking for recipients for said computers, I am the tech coordinator at a JCPS high school. We have a number of low-income students here who cannot afford their own home computers. I'm always keeping my eye out to local businesses who would want to get rid of low-end machines that I could load Ubuntu on and pass along to these students.

[comfurtn]

April is just around the corner now... how do we stand on getting this project up-and-running?

Should we start brainstorming the install process? (i.e. Derivative to use, custom kernel, KyLoco custom graphics, bundled packages, etc.)

[Zuph]

April is just around the corner now... how do we stand on getting this project up-and-running?

Should we start brainstorming the install process? (i.e. Derivative to use, custom kernel, KyLoco custom graphics, bundled packages, etc.)

The derivative we're going to be forced to use on a lot of the machines due to age is probably Xubuntu. To keep things portable, though, I think we should use something like aptoncd to make our own repository. That way, we just load up a machine with the base installation, stick the cd in, and say "sudo apt-get kentuckycoolcdstuff" or whatever.

I don't think a custom kernel will be necessary or time-prudent given the number of machines we want to crank out. KY logo is simple.

We NEED to figure out what packages we want to install, though. Soon.

[j1mc]

Hello, I'm Jim, and I'm a member of the Chicago Loco team. I found information about this project while perusing the wiki pages.

I'm a volunteer for a similar type program in Chicago called, "Free Geek Chicago." I've been volunteering for the group about twice a month since November of 2006, but the group has been around since August of 2005. We recycle computers, and put Xubuntu on them. You can find out more about what we do at our website, freegeekchicago.org.

If I can offer you all any tips or anything, please let me know. My email is jwcampbell-ate-gmail.comma, and I'm on IRC as j1mc. You can usually find me in the Xubuntu channels and the Ubuntu-Chicago channel, among others.

Good luck with your project! It really does sound like a good idea. :-)

Jim