Re: Linux Library - and ideas for computerbank funding

["Michael C White" <michael@coolahddg.com.au>]

Hi David,
we are  one of the first regional nodes of computerbank
here at Coolah in Central NSW.
Computerbank has the promise of really doing good work in rural
Australia
and I think it fits the definition of a community nonprofit
organisation.

We have experience of accessing  Federal Government Programmes
for the community here, and I have some ideas that could be 
followed up, and which may help your project also

your posting set me off on a search on google looking for
"download software for recycled computers"
about 8500 answers.
I found this posting on the first page.
http://www.jps.net/brainsci/gwred/
It looks like a good idea for linux
to copy if it has not already been done..

With regard to Computerbank organisation.
There are lots of Federal Government grants
available for nonprofits.
Countrylink Australia - Freecall 1800 026 222
Countrylink Australia is the Federal Government's information
access 
          service for country people. This program provides
people living outside 
          of the capital cities with information about Federal
Government programs, 
          agencies and services.
is a good place to start.
Explain that although the project is city based it has a
potential for a huge impact on regional Australia

New GrantsLINK web 
                site - your Commonwealth Community Grants site
GrantsLINK makes it easier to find suitable and relevant 
                grants for your community projects from the many
Commonwealth 
                grants that are available. GrantsLINK also helps
you find the 
                best source of funding and assists you to
complete application 
                forms.
[www.grantslink.gov.au]

The national Computerbank
organisation should look at setting up as a trust
so all donations become tax deductible,
and it becomes attractive to corporate Australia to give
ex lease computers.
maybe they could partner with 
Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal ("FRRR") is based on
Australian, US and UK 
        models which encourage partnerships between rural and
regional communities, 
        philanthropy, government and business to fund and
implement rural development 
        projects aimed at reinvigorating rural areas, especially
where initiatives 
        can lead to new sources of economic wellbeing. The
Foundation will need 
        key partners at a national and local level to ensure
success.
http://www.frrr.netconnect.com.au/

Regards Michael White

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/12/01 at 2:24 PM Buddrige, David wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>This letter is outlining something I have been thinking about
for some
>time now.  One of the things I like about Linux - and one thing
that
>attracted me to the Computer Bank Project in particular - is
that it
>provides open access to knowledge - and through that - an
opportunity to
>tackle poverty through a cheaply providable - but highly
marketable
>skill.  Unlike proprietary operating systems everything about
GNU/Linux
>is public knowledge - right down to the source-code that makes
it all
>happen.  What this means is that Linux is know-able - limited
only by
>the time and enthusiasm of the enquirer.  
>
>To use our favourite example of all that is evil "Windows" - is
knowable
>only to a certain extent.  You can spend thousands of dollars
on books
>about various aspects of the Windows family of operating
systems, but
>there comes a point at which - the door is closed with a sign
in large
>legal letters saying "you may not proceed past this point" (at
least not
>without becoming an employee of Microsoft anyway) ;-).
>
>A particular exciting aspect of the GNU/Linux system is that
not only is
>the source-code available, but there is a growing library of
books about
>the workings of the operating system - that are as free as the
operating
>system itself.  The Linux Documentation project is the most
obvious
>epitome of this particular state of affairs, but it is by no
means the
>extent of it.  Spread across the internet are a host of
web-sites,
>how-to's, FAQ's and - as I alluded to breifly before - books,
ready for
>downloading and itching to be read.
>
>This is of course, very useful - to a point.  I think it is
fantastic
>that I can download a 200 page book about the guts of how the
Linux
>Kernel works and not have to pay a cent!  However, reading 200
pages
>from even big 17" monitor that my employer so graciously
provided me
>with - becomes difficult.
>
>Luckily, all is not lost; most of the LDP documents are
available in
>postscript and, through my work, I have access to fairly fast
printers
>that can output these books into the hardcopy format that I
find so much
>more easy to digest.
>
>I think it would be a very good extention of the ComputerBank
project if
>we could (in each of the states) obtain 1 fastish laser printer
and a
>binding machine which would allow us to then provide a
hard-copy library
>(on demand) to each of our clients - even if for a small fee
(maybe $5
>per 250 pages to cover costs?).  In this way, we could maximise
the
>technical information that is available for Linux in a format
that is
>genuinely useful to our clients.
>
>Furthermore, a further extention of what I would at some point
like to
>see, is for the CB project to offer "packaged take-home
courses".
>
>I'll explain:
>
>Because of the limited nature of most of the hardware we (in
WA) have
>obtained - mostly 486's with the occasional low-end pentium),
we have
>produced our own distribution (a hacked version of slakware)
which is
>small enough to fit on the 200 megabyte hard-drives we get and
still
>leave room for user-data - but which is nonetheless a
responsive,
>gui-based system.  We run X with the fvwm window manager which
runs
>happlily on a 486 with 16mb of RAM.  Gnome or KDE on the other
hand are
>grindingly slow on such systems and for that reason - until we
start
>(regularly) getting the machines that can handle that level of
>user-interface, we plan to stick with software that will run
quickly and
>well on 486 hardware.
>
>However, as part of our trimming down process, we have removed
some
>components that would probably be of some use to some of our
more
>enthusiastic clients.
>
>For example, we do not have a compiler or any other software
development
>tools as part of our bog-standard distribution.  Our reasoning
for this
>is simple.  We have limited space available, and so we put onto
the
>distro those items most likely to be immeidiately useful to our
clients
>- most of whom are beginners.
>
>Having said that, I would like to offer as an extra service -
when the
>clients are ready - packages - (on one or three floppy disks)
which
>would add extra functioanliaty to their GNU system - and
perhaps a book
>or two "How to program" or somesuch - to get them started
>
>Suppose for example that one of our clients was interested in
attaining
>skills in programming.  It would be terrific, I think, to be
able to
>hand them two or three floppy disks which has the compilers,
debuggers,
>and associated tools that were left off in the original
distribution.
>However, what would be even better is if we could give them -
along with
>the free-software-tools, printed books that would start them on
their
>way to their chosen area of inquiry.  
>
>All that we would need would be a good fast laser printer, and
a simple
>binding machine - to be able to crank out any free (as in
speech) book
>that is of use to any one of our clients.
>
>As we speak for example, I am printing out the post-script copy
of "The
>Linux Kernel" to take home for bed-time reading.  Because I
work as a
>softwrae engineer in a biggish software house, I have access to
both the
>printer and the binding facilities that make this a viable way
to get a
>book.  With the economy of scale offered by a sufficiently
funded
>Computer Bank project, I think we should be able to provide
this as part
>of our service to the community.
>
>Long term, other things that I would eventually like to be able
to do is
>to put together a "GNUniversity".
>
>By this I mean, a collection of text-books, and ready to go
lesson plans
>such that anyone with the technical knowledge and a few hours
to spare
>could present a lesson in some aspect of computing.  The
interested
>clients could then be given a free or very cheap text book on
which the
>lesson would be based, and the lesson plan's would be already
made,
>complete with exercises, discussion questions, and a general
guide to
>running the lesson.
>
>By this means we would be able to radically increase the amount
of Linux
>knowledge available.  It could also be used to facilitate
training
>facilities anywhere in the world where someone with the
knowledge was
>willing to go to conduct classes.  No need for months of
preperation -
>all class plans ready and waiting to go - just pick them up -
perhaps
>have 30 minutes to skimm through the lesson plan - and away you
go.
>
>Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts, and comments.
>
>David Buddrige.
>-
>ComputerBank Australia -- http://www.computerbank.org.au/



-
ComputerBank Australia -- http://www.computerbank.org.au/