Free Geek Providence Inventory

Deep inside a secret room in a well respected educational institution in Providence RI lies the inventory of Free Geek Providence.

Got Computers?

Free Geek Providence Commercial

Help Free Geek Providence create their first commercial.

How can you help? It's simple: First get your web cam, digital cam, iphone, iclone, whatever .... then get one of your favorite gadgets, game system, keyboard, etc. Once you have everything get in front of the camera, start recording and have it go a little something like this:

"Hi, My name is John and I'm not going to kill anyone anymore" (hold up your gadget or what have you) "Because I'm not going to put this in the ground"

Make it original, and make sure it's not boring. If you want, substitute "I'm not going to kill anyone" with say "I'm not going to kill the birds". Or "I enjoy swimming with the fishes, so I'm not going to put this (hold up your gadget) in the ground".

That's all you need to do. If you'd like, add in "I'm going to help the needy get nerdy" at the end. And you're done. Save that clip and email to me: john@freegeekpvd.org, I'll take care of the rest. Once it's done it'll be on our YouTube page for everyone to see and help spread the Free Geek word.

The Big Install-A-Thon!

Hi folks,

I do not have a set date yet, but we need to install xUbuntu on about 100 P4's that were just donated to Free Geek Providence today. These are all perfectly happy computers, most of which come with peripherals and FLAT SCREEN monitors (which all need to be tested, of course).

We can go to the location where they are being stored, install xUbuntu on them and then our donor will store them for us until NewBCamp on February 8th.

Here's what we need, please tell me specifically what you can assist us with:

6-10 volunteers to install xUbuntu, test systems, plug in and move computers around the storage area for about six to eight hours (1-2 hours a piece?).

10-15 volunteers to physically move the computers from their location to the NewBCamp site on February 8th or thereabouts.

(We might pack them all into a truck for the weekend and then move them into the Pepsi Forum on Sunday morning of the event depending on our access to them.)

A 14 foot rental truck for at least 3 days minimum (Friday 6th, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th afternoon) donated to our cause (Including insurance).

(Note: If every single person on this list donated 3 dollars, we'd have the ability to pay for it up front. Every little bit helps!)

5 to 10 power strips

10 CD's of Randy's Latest distribution.

If you are interested in helping out, this is your shot. No experience necessary, we will teach you everything about installing the Operating System and testing it. It's a great opportunity to hang out with other organizers, get something great accomplished and help the needy get nerdy.


Thanks everyone.

- Nathan
Executive Director
Free Geek Providence
www.freegeekpvd.org

More Donations!

Awesome work Kim & Loren!

This is one pickup:
12 boxes of misc computer parts
2-3 towers 2-3 printers

Following is what was actually received:

2 printers
1 monitor
1 mouse
3 pc towers
1 mac tower
1 sm box removable drives ,pwr supplies, ram
2 new in box keyboard cradles
1 sm booksize pc, mini laptop keyboard, laptop pwr adapter
1 video card for dell inspirion laptop
1 big box of 5-6 motherboards,3-4 pwr supplies ,misc parts
1 box of cable ribbon, 2 fans, 3 laptop hd, game controller
2 dell keyboards
1 mac keyboard
sm box cd roms,misc ethernet cables,espson stylus ink cartridge,video cards ethernet cards ,ect.....
1 dell desktop motherboard and tray
3 gallon size baggies of assorted ram (50-100pcs total)
1 misc box of pci &isa cards
1 medium box og cards, cables, floppies drives ect...
1 med box of mac related stuff
1 flat box powerstrip
box of micro processors:
celeron 333
celeron400
pIII 550
pII 400

HP lazerjet toner cartridge
3-4 assorted laptops
2 modems

Our 2nd Donation from Donald Powers Architects

2 computer towers Pentium 4
2 Keyboards
1 crt monitor

Donation Update

An update on some donations we have either received or pending pickup:

From Kim:

"one third of this huge donation is in hand.
so far in hand............"

1-complete older computer system in box, 4 computer towers,
1- dell power edge 2200 tower
2 sm printers
3-monitors
2- samsung toner cartridges-new in box
1-dvd player
1-vcr player
1 box of cables,pwr cords, wires
1 box of 10 keyboards, 17 mice,15 trackballs
1 box with lcd monitor,speakers some type of computer component
2- flatbox pc components
2- processing system boxes

IBM Aptive computer tower, monitor,speakers,printer (extra ink cartridges) cables/wires.


Half of this donation is in hand (the rest is pending pickup)
In hand:
5 monitors
4 pc towers
3 printers
1 scanner
6 keyboards
1 set of computer speakers
1 cannon copier

From Dave G:

Three systems at his office: One PowerMac and two PCs. The PowerMac may need a drive. The PCs would need memory and drives.

Dave also has a lead on about 20 systems from a client. Almost all of them are in working order. Some may need memory or drives, but he thinks at least 15 of them are ready to go.

There is another pending donation in Warwick, about 10 pc's. Coordinating a pickup date & time.

Awesome job from everyone!

Free Geek PVD Xubuntu Update

Current version:

Xubuntu 8.04.1 (Hardy Heron)

FreeGeek version:

1.3

Customizations:

modified logo on the login screen to match Free Geek PVD logo;

default background image has been updated to reflect Free Geek PVD logo;

Applications:

have not installed or uninstalled application packages

----------------------------

customizations of login and default background have also been documented.

-Randy (@rmoy on twitter)

Recycle. It's Your Call!

Hello everyone, Kim here

I just wanted to post a quick blog regarding our cellphone recycling fundraiser to kick off the new year with. Free Geek Providence is collecting used cell phones in our efforts to significantly increase fund raising. In conjunction with the GRC Wireless Recycling Program, a donation payment will be made to Free Geek Providence for each and every cell phone collected - regardless of age or condition.

GRC Wireless Recycling (GRC) based in Florida has been in business Since 2001. Their recycling programs have raised over $6,000,000 for thousands of organizations in 50 states & Canada. GRC offers zero landfill recycling, industry leading pricing, and friendly customer service. They provide us with shipping labels and full color customizable posters free of charge. We just collect the phones and ship them to GRC when we have at least 10 phones and then they cut Free Geek Providence a check. It's that simple.

This cellphone fundraiser will kick off on January 1st and will run until March 1st. Within that two month time period we have set a goal to collect 500 old cellphones projectively yielding us approx $500.

GRC pays for all phones regardless of age or condition between .50 cent to $35 per phone depending upon resale value of the phone, age, condition,ect.. but Regardless every cellphone will be paid on. They also take cellphone batteries and chargers but only pay you for the phone.

There are direct and indirect benefits of doing a cell phone collection fundraiser. The direct benefit is that free geek providence will raise money. The indirect benefits include, keeping toxic chemicals out of our water supply and out of landfills,it is environmentally friendly. You can encourage everyone to bring their old/unwanted cell phones to you and to spread the word to their friends, family and co-workers.
It's a win-win for everyone involved.

It is estimated that over 125 million wireless phones will be discarded this year! Wireless phones can be redistributed, refurbished or recycled - almost every part of a wireless phone is recyclable! Recycling your phone costs you nothing and contributes to the well-being of our planet.

Continued recycling and reuse of cell phones substantially reduces the number of phones manufactured each year. This also reduces the demand for precious metals collected through environmentally destructive mineral mining. The cell phones collected from our programs are refurbished, reused or smelted down for metals and plastics. All processing is handled in EPA regulated facilities in the United States.

For more information about the GRC Wireless Recycling Program, please visit www.grcrecycling.com.

How the fund raiser works:

- We set up various pick up locations throughout Providence.

- You bring your old, used, cracked or broken cellphones.

- We collect the cellphones from the drop-off locations.

- We ship them to GRC Wireless Recycling and they pay us for every single cellphone we send them, from 50 Cents to $35 per unit.

So if you would like contribute by passing out flyers, being a collection center or collecting cellphones and bringing them to one of our collection centers, we'd really appreciate your assistance.

Please bring in your old cellphones to one of our collection centers:

Malachi's Fair Trade Coffee Shop
134 Ives Street
Providence, RI 02906

Thanks for your time,

Kim