There's a computer co-op in Worcester that's run out of a church basement. I'm CCing some friends who are involved. It's a public lab that also builds computers to give to neighborhood kids. http://www.nindy.com/wcc/ My experience is that Ubuntu is very easy for people who are beginner Windows users to pick up. People who are advanced enough to burn a CD in Windows can usually try it out themselves no problem. Nick
"Aaron" == Aaron Haviland <orion@parsed.net> writes:
Aaron> mlong@datalong.com wrote, on Nov 23, 2008 at 11:37 EST: >> Hi All, >> >> I have floated the following idea at my church and it has been >> well received. Seek donations of older computers, have the youth >> group refurbish them, sell them at a low price with user training >> and support to seniors. The money raised will go to the youth >> group. The systems would be optimized for email and web >> surfing. Naturally Linux would be the OS. >> >> Is this a crazy idea? Has anyone done something similar? Are >> there resources available to help with this sort of thing? Aaron> My typical response to such inquiries is to point folks to Aaron> http://freegeek.org as a long standing example of Aaron> recycling/refurbishing computers for those in need. Aaron> I've not followed their progress in many years, but they were Aaron> quite strong back in 2003, and still seem to be going rather Aaron> well, with other regional FreeGeek "family members" popping Aaron> up across the country. Aaron> I've long wanted to see one such venture around here, but Aaron> ... there's too much work involved :P Aaron> -- Aaron Haviland 34 Wayne Ave, Dudley, MA