Donations?

[TKFT.44]

I didn't know exactly where to post this, so I'm asking here. I have an old(ish) computer that is running Ubuntu 7.10. It has a 40GB HDD and a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor. It also has a 17" CRT monitor, mouse, keyboard, and (admittedly bad) speakers. I am not using it, so I figured that instead of throwing it away, I would try to donate it somewhere. Does anybody know of anywhere that would take a used Linux computer for donation? I looked at Child's Play, and the CAG thread about donating games to soldiers in Iraq, but neither of them seem to be the right place for this.

So, I need to:


Wipe the HDD clean while leaving Ubuntu intact (help please)
Donate it all to a worthy charity


Any help would be appreciated!

[p_quarles]

Moved to Community Cafe.

[digitalhillbilly]

Great idea to pass that thing on. I've found many a home for older computers and the really nice thing about Linux is you can easily find an excellent use for older equipment. My suggestion for you is to find a local non-profit organisation that you appreciate. ie... youth groups and teen centres, services for homeless, a school, whatever. Find out what they need (or would like) - something to get online with, Inkscape and openoffice or abiword will make a great resume writing machine, an email or some other type of service and set it up for them. They're getting some equipment and your getting some volunteering and some practice setting up a system. Look around your community and you''l find some one that need it.

dh

edit: rather than clearing the HDD and leaving Ubuntu intact, download (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download) or order online the latest live / installer. Boot from the CD and perform a new install (easy to do... easier than searching and deleting files anyway) and just write over the contents of the disk. if you have sensitive data on the disk, post here and I can give you some pointers on clearing it so that it can't be recovered. If there is very sensitive data on it, it would be best to just remove and destroy the disk.

[TKFT.44]

Thanks for thinking of just putting a fresh Ubuntu on there. Probably much easier. And there isn't any sensitive data on there, but thanks for the offer to help, digitalhillbilly.

[zmjjmz]

I intend to do the same with some of the old computers in my blog.