[hblug] Computers with Ubuntu

[Michael Adams]

On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:53:41 +1300
Daniel Faulknor wrote:

> Hi All,
> Meeting before last i think, Perry bought up the idea of getting 
> old(ish) computers donated by people, installing ubuntu on them,
> getting them working properly, then selling them, complete with a
> Keyboard, Monitor, Mouse and Cables etc.
> I thought maybe it was time to start looking into this further (i now 
> have a quite a bit of time on my hands, as its almost school holidays)
> 
> Anyway:
> 
> The General Plan, from what i remember at the meeting, and some other 
> discussion.
> 
> We get older computers from people - Computer shops would be a likely 
> place to go, also schools, as some schools (like my own) upgrade a 
> classroom every 1 or 2 years, and they usually just have the computers
> sitting in some store room. Maybe setting up an agreement with the
> shops (and maybe schools) where they agree to give us any computers
> (including all the peripherals would be nice) they either: are never
> going to use, or are going to throw away.

Bad news 1.
Shops have old boxes, but they may be reluctant to give them away if it
can be conceived we are competition.

> Pretty much any computer would be of use to us. If they are too old to
> run a desktop (GUI), is it possible that we could think about
> firewalls? especially if someone is a dial up user, and we could sell
> them a firewall (they would probably have to supply the external
> modem) and a computer, and make sure that the computer is setup to run
> through the firewall.
> 
> We would install Ubuntu on the said machines, and configure them so
> they are ready for someone to use, this would probably include
> multimedia applications, email (Thunderbird isn't installed by
> default) and general applications that we think would be helpful to
> people.
> 
> I'm assuming that we would be extending the offer of giving support if
> something goes wrong, and maybe some basic user training (or we could 
> include a startup guide of some description with all the computers?)

That can be a problem as we need working redundant parts left over all
the time for warranty support. People need to be made well aware they
are getting leftover equipment with probable minimal life left in it
when they buy it. Warrantee should be minimalistic like 3 months return
to us support. They cant expect much more for a $50 - $99 purchase.

Customers will not be happy if the HDD falls over within 3months taking
valuable emails with it.
We should therefore recommend a backup method that is easily
implemented. I'm thinking USB stick with a script which backs up
/home/*/.mail and /home/*/docs (where * is all home dirs). Tar.gzing
files will do.
Why not start them with good backup habits.
The script would be a oneliner "sudo /usr/local/backup" run from an icon
on the sudoers desktop. Is that correct syntax for Ubuntu?

> 
> Also, not thinking too specifically about charging etc, we will 
> probably(?) want to give certain amounts off if people don't want say,
> a monitor, or something(if they already have a spare of that thing at 
> home). Also we will want to have the computers priced fairly cheaply
> as our aim is to get as many people as possible using Linux, and make
> it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Perry's idea did include charging, with a reduction in charge for
bringing in any working parts of their own. I think we should give them
a box with their own working parts in it, that prevents them dropping
in a 386 that "was working 3 years ago according to my neighbour".


> I think thats about it for now, thats the general idea anyway, we can 
> look into specifics at a later date.
> Bring on the comments/criticisms 

What about printers? We may get 5 times the boxes as we get printers.
Could we get a discount printer and USB stick deal with a shop in
exchange for boxes. Trade for trade. We offer a 10% discount voucher for
the shop, on certain printers known to work with linux. We reccomend the
USB stick as the backup method with a 128MB minimum stick size (New
users gain files slowly at first, often deleting most emails once read).

Internet connections, what about a deal with a given ISP. We do the
whole thing.
 * Setup modem
 * Setup ISP-side
 * Setup Mail Accounts (plural for multiple family members).
 * Setup Mail Clients on the box.

Look at how much extra work i am creating now?!? It is not just getting
them into a linux box. It is ensuring that it is a relatively painfree
introduction to computers. That the hard parts like the ISP connection
are done for them. That the box does what they want it to do from day
one.

-- 
Michael
 Those that can, do; those that can't, teach.