[Hidden-tech] Donating Computers Advise/Information?

[Will Loving]

I'm a volunteer Programme Officer for World Computer Exchange, responsible
for efforts to bring computers to Zambia and for providing tech support and
guiding policy on Macs. I'll try to give you a little information on what
WCE does and does not accept and why.

In general, there are more computers available for donation then there is
capacity or resources to gather, store and ship. This is true for both Macs
and PCs. One of WCE's primary goals is to get students connected to the
internet and to do so with little or no upgrade required for hardware. In
order to do this, we need to take only computers which can handle relatively
recent operating systems and browsers and which have sufficient RAM and hard
drive space to do so.

As a result, we have gradually move the threshold for acceptable computers
to the point where we now only accept Macintosh G3 and higher, or Pentium
III and higher. The computers you have available are certainly useful if
they work, but they will only work with OS 9 and the older OS 9 browsers
that increasingly "break" on modern websites. In addition, older PCs with
pre-XP versions of Windows are particularly vulnerable to virus infections.

The cost in both time and money to add RAM, add larger hard drives, and
update software makes working with older machines not cost effective. In the
past 15-20 years, many organizations have gone out of business attempting to
make donated computers functional and usable before shipping. WCE only
accepts working computers that meet the minimum criteria so they can be
shipped directly with minimal handling. They then followup with technical
support to ensure that the machines are not just dumped and forgotten.

To see a slide show of some of the early work done in Zambia, go to:
http://newvisionforafrica.org

As for what you can do with your current working computers that don't meet
the minimum threshold for WCE or other organizations, keep in mind that the
number one thing that people are going to want to do with the computer is
connect to the internet (email/web). If the machine is capable of doing that
at a reasonable speed, then it may well find a home through one of the other
organizations mentioned previously. I've also heard about some service
organizations provided computers to needy families, but I don't have any
specific recommendations.

Will

Will Loving, President
Dedication Technologies, Inc.





on 2/22/06 11:35 AM, Jade Harris at jade at tnrglobal.com wrote:

>    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group, you must be counted to post .
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> 
> 
> Anyone have information on donating "obsolete" computers?  Do you know of
> any organizations/individuals that would be able to use older Macintosh
> notebooks/desktops?  Preferably local.
> 
> Would rather donate than recycle.  Any info on donating computers would be
> helpful.
> 
> Have done some research on the following websites, anything to share
> regarding experiences with these orgs?:
> 
> www.cristina.org
> www.worldcomputerexchange.org
> www.tecschange.org
> sharetechnology.org
> 
> Specifically, the computers to donate (so far) are:
> 1 Powerbook Duo 230
> 1 Powerbook 2400c/180
> 1 Macintosh Performa 6400c/180
> 1 Macintosh Centris 650
> 1 PC - a notebook: AMS Tech Travelex 105
> 
> 
> Thanks!


--

       "Everything you do will seem insignificant,
        but it is very important that you do it."
                                              --Gandhi