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Wood PCs For A Nepalese School
An Anonymous Coward writes: "The BBC runs a story about a Nepalese teacher who collects
old computer parts to set up the first computer-equipped school in
Nepal. They assemble the parts into wooden boxes! If you have old parts left, maybe you can donate something, too."
Wooden keyboard, wooden ram... looked nice. The only problem was....it wooden work!
I don't. However, I may have some wooden boxes.
Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
"Wow, those P-IV's are really smokin!"
sigs are for suckers
If you die while surfing the net in Nepal, you can be buried in your own case. How cool is that?
we had wooden computers back when we were young. We will also say we only had 128 MB of RAM at the time (and we liked it! We loved it!), had to look at pr0n on a 15" monitor (CRT no less, not those fancy smancy plasma LCDs!!!), and had to walk 15 miles to download the latest version of Linux (uphill, both ways!!!).
Is there a site online where you can see various places like this that could benefit from the donation of old parts and computers?
I'm sure we all have 486's and RAM and old drives and God knows what else laying around that's more or less "worthless" to us, but would make all the difference to students in need!
I'd suggest:
(1) Gathering your stuff to send
(2) Packing carefully
(3) Finding out how much shipping will cost
(4) Send that amount of money
Reports of my deaf have been greatly exaggerated.
If you have old parts left, maybe you can donate something, too." ;)
What, you mean old tables and chairs?
So I just read the article, I come back and saw a few comments had been posted at they were all a bunch of wise-ass remarks about the wooden cases. WTF!?!
Ok, check it out people, this guy deserves props of the highest magnitude. He's out in the middle of no where. His home is poorer than the poorest part of the US, hell, they didn't even get a phone until a few years ago, now they have one.
Did he let that stop him? No!
HE went out, got a bunch of old computers and began building working units.
He hit a roadblock, namely the fact his village didn't have any power, so you know what. This TEACHER went out and set up his OWN POWER generators in a nearby stream.
This guy's improving his home. He's single-handly turning in into something from our 1700's into something from the early 1990's. That a big freakin' technological jump and something he should be commended for. All you assholes need to show a little admirination (and respect) for what this gentleman and his village have done.
If I had the cash (read: not a poor student) I'd buy this guy a GSM hook-up myself.
Nepal could use our help. It is a very poor country. The ruling family was so abusive that their own son, the crown prince, killed them.
CNN: NEPAL. Report paints picture of prince's drunken rampage, June 4, 2001
Nepal's 48-hour king dies after royal massacre, June 3, 2001
"The former Crown Prince Dipendra was admitted to hospital late on Friday with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound after reportedly slaughtering most of his family with an assault rifle as they sat around a dinner table."
Nepal's King orders massacre probe amid riots.
"Analysts say Gyanendra now faces a struggle to restore the role of the monarchy as a pillar of stability in the country of 22 million people where Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has faced violent street protests against his rule.
What should be the Response to Violence?
Bush's education improvements were
Hey, wait a sec! If they do not run Linux, how did this end up on /. in the first place?
No, I am not serious. In fact, I am probably joking...
Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
Luckily no links were put up in the BBC article to the schools web server. Otherwise the /. effect could have literally burnt the server up.
Really cold?
Those wooden boxes are going to be some serious heat insulators. (This is why PC Cases are metal - they can disperse the heat away from the components rather well.)
I don't know how well a wooden box is going to work...and if it does work, how long will it be before some components fail because of overheating? Then will they blame the hardware?
I carried the parts in two suitcases. Most of them were 486 DX2 models and some Pentium I models, with Window [sic] 95 and Microsoft Office 97.
Are they legit? I seriously doubt the people who donated this hardware also donated the licenses to Office and Windows. What happens if a few of these things need a reinstall? Are they just plunking these computers on to a network "As-Is"? Is that a smart idea?
I mean, don't get me wrong. It's fantastic what this dude is doing. Problem is, he needs to make sure he does it the right way so he doesn't get screwed over later on. (Be it a license issue, a hardware issue, or some rogue virus/worm on one of the boxen that is found "the hard way".)
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Talking about building your own computers..
I remember reading an article in a computer magazine back in about 1981.. Around this time the Acorn Atom was the computer to have - and fortunately for the ubergeek of the 80's, you were able to purchase this wonderful machine in a Kit form (basically a pile of components, case and a pcb)..
Whilst sifting through the readers letters section I had found, quite amusingly, that someone had complained to the BBC (who I believe where manufacturing these computers at the time) that his newly built Acorn Atom kit did not work -
Turns out he'd glued the components onto the PCB using epoxy.
Maybe they forgot the instructions in the box? I have no idea, but I truly cannot imagine anyone even contemplating to build a computer from a kit if they had no clue whatsoever what the general electronics involvement would have been..
Next Month: "Build your own raid cabinet using balsa wood!"
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story..."
The oeganization, Students For Change have been working on this problem.
Not only are they working on their computer skill,s but small-business skills as well. Although I'm not sure what they'd use SB skills for, being a tiny, isolated rural communtiy, but it might be a good idea.
Well, I got a few cases I could spare. :)
This may be off-topic, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
While I was working throughout the Mediterranean, I met several Nepalese security officers. Those familiar with British military history may recall that Nepalese soldiers, b.k.a. Gurkhas, have been used by the Brits for several wartime, policing and security activities.
Unfortunately, the Gurkhas got a huge black eye courtesy of the Brits when they were used to kill peaceful, unarmed Indian protestors, including children, during Gandhi's early days. Aside from that unfortunate incident, the Nepalese have been great friends of the Brits and have worked and fought side-by-side with them for nearly 200 years.
The Nepalese I met were, as a whole, some of the most courteous, respectful, hard-working and fun-loving people I've ever met. In short, I've never met a Nepalese that I didn't like.
I want to add that I don't hold any grudge against the Nepalese nor the Britons for past indiscretions. There is not a race, religion or nationality on the planet that hasn't committed an atrocity at some point in history. But by today's standards, the Nepalese are really good people.
If anyone on that side of the world deserves our help, even if it's just old computer parts, it's them.
Why do users with IDs under 100,000 or over 700,000 usually have the most worthwhile comments?
I've often wanted a wooden case for my PC, and even drew up plans once. Then I remembered exactly how much heat my Athlon and 3dfx video card put out.
(I cooked a nic in my first PCI slot until it wouldn't work any more, not realizing how hot the 3dfx's heatsink really was.)
Wood is not known for its heat conductance. In fact, one of the reasons people started building homes out of wood was that wood is a better insulator than stone or metal.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Those will never make the Cool Case gallery....
+5:offtopic,but anti-American
Wooden boxes run fine - I built myself a black cube box(celeron-600) from chipboard for $15. It runs cooler and quieter than my old metal tower, plus it looks better.
I'd get a wooden PC if they can make it look like a video game cabinet from the early 1980s. A little wood here, some black rubber striping there, and maybe make a fake marquee up, and boom, the perfect retro computer for MAME!
It is more likely that they use wooden boxes because PC cases are relatively bulky, heavy and generally not worth shipping out to nepal.
The computer *is* the motherboard, ram etc. Why bother to waste energy carting the cases up into the mountains when perfectly good wooden boxes are available locally?
No. In fact, they regularly threaten schools and charities with legal action for licence infringement.
My roommate from college put together a really nice oak computer case. Sure, it doesn't have the best thermal transfer, but who cares. It's not an overclocker box. Oh yeah, and it'll give you wood, heh-heh. It r0x0rz your world.
Quick, someone call Bill Gates. These people need to be threatened with legal action as soon as possible. They are obviously not using properly licensed software from Microsoft, and as such are obviously thieving b*stards.
My God, when will people ever learn? I hope Microsoft doesn't let these scum get away easily, like they did with the PCs for Kids project in East Timor.
I was really surprised: a lot of stupid jokes in comments. Probably you -- people who enjoy self-made wooden jokes about wooden cases -- do not unserstand what is really poor country. I'm Russian (thanks God I live in Finland now working for Nokia) and -- believe me -- 95% of people in Russia think that $100/month (one hundred dollars per month) is very good salary. Most of these people cannot hope to get even half of this. And I guess: Nepal isn't as rich as Russia :-) :-(
Same thing with the schools in Africa that are trying this same approach - gathering up anything and everything they can that us spoiled folks take for granted and consider "junk."
I know that I'd rather see a student in an under-developed use my old gear than have it sit in my closet to impress my friends with how much old crap I've got laying around.
This guy did it as a project. And This guy apparently felt his effort was worth a web-photo album about his computer "Woody".
I also remember reading an article in Wired a couple of years ago about a company that was doing high end PC's what were encased in mahogany and teak and other stuff like that, but I can't find the company now. I gues it's for the executive who has everything and doesn't actually need anything.
Honestly, I think making a computer case out of clay, adobe or ceramics might be better and cheaper. Additionally, there would be a reduced fire hazard and the materials are available onsite. I also think Paper Mache might be good for laptops (weight, you know). Of course, you'd have to have a KILLER fan to keep it from bursting into flames and you'd most certainly have to keep it out of the rain, but there you go.
The Dopester
"Yes, I'm a Karma Whore, but I'm doing it to pay my way through school."
"...Since then I have been trying to find ways and means to get a telephone line good enough to get the internet in the village..."
If you take the time to read the item you'll note that he has the computers set up (though no doub t more for other schools etc would be greatly apprecaited) what hes after (and the bbc has a comment box to submit suggestions) are suggestions on how to get net access for the school. /. has covered similar topics a couple of times, but if you've actual experience of setting up such a network and the pros and cons of various methods please comment on the orriginal story where it may get back to Mahabir Pun rather than preaching to the choir here on /.
troodon.net
It is the manifold way of Dharma. You crash you come back of something less worthy.
hopefully the telco ran at least two twisted pairs, otherwise a half duplex tx/rx protocol would be needed. that would require a state machine. which could still only be a PIC chip, so still quite feasible.
or, perhaps a little less practical, how about using some computers with two modems for repeaters? the modems could be put in leased-line mode to avoid the need for dial tones, and then perhaps you would only need a battery to power up the line between two stations. how far could the stations be apart? the signal would be decoded and regenerated each hop. seems like any basic routing software could be used to support PPP packet forwarding, or else some simple C program could be written to echo whatever comes in on a character-by-character basis.
Okay, this guy's got the problem of how to get the internet into his village. He laments that the nearest access point is in the city, a day's walk away, and that he can't afford a satellite phone...
How far is a day's walk? Is it farther than an 802.11b? With tuned antennas? I mean, an 802.11b access point could be the answer... big upfront cost, but no ongoing cost. And he's already bought 15 monitors and 2 power generators, so the cost of an access point at the big city ISP may be trivial next to that...
Anyone have any ideas on that? How far is a daywalk, anyways?
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
The Geek Corps could help this guy out. Right now they work in Ghana helping companies implement modern IT solutions, etc. Why not send some geek teachers to Nepal to spend time with the kids, showing them how to install Linux and programs their computers in C++?
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Actually, the P4 has better heat management than the Athlon. ;-) Take the cooler off a P4, it keeps running, albeit it goes slower. Take the cooler off a P3, it locks. Take the cooler off a T-bird, it destroys itself and the mobo in under 2 seconds. FWAMF!! Sizzle.
;-)
Just about the ONLY good thing about the P4 tho.
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
"about sending parts to nepal: save it. people need medicine, food more than they do 486es. i commend what this guy is doing. and he's doing what he knows best. save that money and give to UNICEF."
Giving food and/or medicine helps one time. Giving something to someone that will help to better educate them will make them much better off in the long run. This guy is helping much more than it appears on the surface.
--
"What do you want me to do? Whack a guy? Off a guy? Whack off a guy? Cause I'm married."
Several people saw him kill his parents.
The said that it wasn't him because they didn't want to believe it. Also, the others in the ruling family want to keep power.
The initial stories were completely accurate. Later the ruling family tried to put a spin on it.
Bush's education improvements were
Their web page is on a machine not at their village. Not one of the oh-so-hilarious (apparently) wooden boxen. Their village is still without internet service.
Now spit out your foot and read the article next time. =P
-Kasreyn.
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
You know, I found it damn disappointing that I read all these comments and NOBODY had one single practical thing to say (unless I missed it) about helping this guy out. How many floppy drives do YOU have? How many old 486 parts? How many of you, like me, are sysadmins, and throw away or recycle buttloads of this stuff all the time? Shame on you! Talking about 'wow, that's a really good idea' when YOU'RE the people these kids need help from!!
Because I'm not slime, I've written to the BBC asking for more information about where and what WE (the rich US techies) could send to the Nepalese students. When I get more info I'll post it...but at least they'll be getting a shipment from *me*.
Hmph.
ST
You could also go down to you local lumber yard and get some sheets of Wood Venier.
I am still waiting for Norm on the Old Yankee WorkShop to build one of these.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
It wasn't until a year or two later that I upgraded to a wooden box for the motherboard and drives. The monitor however, remained in a cardboard cover until several years when I upgraded to a UNIX based AT&T 3B1.
Like they say, "It's the engine that counts!"
Your Servant, B. Baggins
Wood cases seems like a pretty cheap way to do it. Only trouble is, wood does not block radio frequency interference very well. (If it did, radios wouldn't work in our houses :-P )
What are the chances of nearby RF causing problems in these computers? Could include anything from data corruption to mysterious system crashes. Another possibility is RF from the computers interfering with other nearby RF devices. ("Why does my garage door go up and down every time I click on 'OK'?")
I guess you could alleviate this with some aluminum foil pasted to the inside of the case, grounded (for you UK'ers, that's "earthed") of course. That would block the electric fields but wouldn't help any magnetic.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Some of this stuff is really nice.
the PC specs on the site for the towers units are a bit out of date, but the rest is pretty nice.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
When I read this, I couldn't help but think of all the inevitable comments that come up about bloat/speed in KDE/GNOME/Mozilla/StarOffice/Whichever piece of software hits your hot button.
Someone always belittles the complainers and points out how cheap memory/processors/HD is these days.
Something like this reminds us of how fortunate we are and how spoiled we have become.
It's also a pointed example of why monopolies whose software must run on the biggest and newest hardware cannot be left to own the entire computing field.
Way to go guys. If I wore a hat, it would be off to you.
OK...here's the troll:
Microsoft to Nepalese School: Are those OS's licensed? You are due for an audit.
OK, I would like to say that 15 computers isn't too bad. I bet there are some inner city US schools that would like to have that many PC's. The high school that I went to in small town Columbia, PA, was lucky to have that many PC's. Certain members of our wise school board did not think it was necessary to spend money on technology because, "they didn't have computers when they went to school and they still turned out OK." Rather, the basketball team got new uniforms...EVERY YEAR.
Anyway, I think what this guy did is great. I mean, he started his own high school and now he is taking the initiative to make something of it. I hope they can get a good net connection. There has got to be a satellite broadband company out there that is not too stingy to donate one connection. Hey, its a tax write off too!
That would rock.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
no text
/. is like having a shit filter on your ass" - anon.
lalala
I don't like lameness filters.
"having a lameness filter on
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
(4) Send that amount of money
I suppose that will cover the cost of shipping for the new system? My $50 in shipping (cost per pound from US to Japan, rough memory, bad logic leap) will provide a box full of parts that can build or upgrade several computers. My $50 check won't get them a single motherboard, much less pay for it's shipping. My step 3 is to mail the box.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Nepal is a LONG way from Afghanistan. I guess you don't know this.
Bush's education improvements were
A nice quilted maple. or maybe AAAAA grade Italian birdseye maple would look nice too. Both woods look amazing when finished. I can see it now: gold power/reset buttons and external drive plates, crystal LED covers.
Damn. I should start building these. I'd probably make a fortune advertising in the Robb Report and the like. Now available in the following models: Monarch, Presidente, and Ambassadore.
Note to self: buy saws, wood, clamps, glue, sandpaper, lacquer, router
Friends,
Just one 256k SIMM can give a family of 12 poor Nepalese children the gift of warez; brilliant games like Platoon, Congo Bongo and Tapper. How can we ever expect such pagan misguided souls to become as technologically advanced as us if they can't work out how to defeat Donkey Kong and save the chick? Never mind about food, once we get them hooked on these games they won't be so hungry any more. Send your x86 PC bits today!
Joking aside. This guy is the Man. Is there a hacker-of-the-year award? If so, he should get it. Doesn't what he did with spare crap he found/srounged embody the true definition of Hacker?
What the person has done is commendable - that's without doubt, but there are REAL problems that the BBC story fails to give out. My self being from Nepal and working in similiar area, I think one of the major concern is not being able to use the available computer in Nepali or other local languages.
/.ers. For Nepal related information, www.nepalhomepage.com is the best resource.
I have seen computers being placed in many villages and school - which are ultimately monopolised by people who can understand English. The majority of students are required to understand english - before they can use computers, which is a problem. With the Unicode implementations of Devnagari (the Nepali Script), this may be possible - but can someone point out to any serious work that is being done.
Also, line-of-sight wireless would probably not be so useful as it's a hilly area. If it was remotely possible for the Telco to provide better telephone system (out of the many systems they use), they would do it - as it turns out to be chepaer for them.
I wouldn't worry about wooden casing, as it looks like it's open on one side, so that he can connect keyboard, mouse and monitors.
It is factually incorrect that it is the only school with comptuers for high school students. I know of at least two examples, one from the capital and one from a district in far western nepal.
If i get chance to visit these guys - i will report back to the
cheers
gaurab
Mahabir is spreading the word about UNK in Nepal and we now boast a good-sized community of Nepalese students. Most of them are here in our Computer Science/Information Systems program. UNK boasts a large number of international students considering that we are a small university (approx. 6500 students) in the middle of the heartland. We support our international students in a variety of ways and boast one of the best educational values (read: low tuition, low cost of living) in the country!
If you are looking for a safe, low-crime environment in which to get your undergraduate degree:Check us out!.
Lower bandwidth site: here.
Curious George
***General Consultant to the Human Race*** My opinions are free. You get what you pay for.
While your statistics are very how you say,"interesting", I have been to Nepal (have you?) and I would venture to say the people there are far from retarded. In fact the people are quite wonderful and intelligent in ways number pushers like your sort could not even fathom. For one, they have created a system of Hinduism/Buddhism that it elegant, diverse, imaginative, beautiful, etc.
The Newari people(one of Nepals many many ethnic groups) are considered some of the worlds most accomplished urban planners.
Your so lovely quote, you're so worth quoting!!
World resources, especially computer hardware, should be reserved for the world's most intelligent poulations. It is these population that have the capability of raising world economic standards. Yes, these are the only ways you can help the people of Nepal: Contribute to the economic growth of the first world and educate yourself about eugenics.
Your Christain Eugenics doctrine is a veiled attempt at Nazisism and really needs to be shoved very far up the collective nether region of people who spew this rhetoric. I know your a troll, but I am risking Karma to call you on it.
The people of Nepal at this point need education, in the form of computers, reading materials, sex education and the like. It is our culture who exposed them to this world of "development" where they lost their isolation and now have to be part of the "real world". With that comes a loss of culture and values as they struggle to be part of your paradigm of statistics.
I say fsck it. And fsck you for wishing the extermination of anyone. Don't you creepy twisted Christians have anything else to do with yourselves than hide behind a veil of false science? Just one look at the websites promoting the cause lumps ya in with the rest of the right wing wackos.
1.) Aren't they concerned with EMI up in Nepal?
2.) These schools aren't going to be calculating the Nine Billion Names of God are they?
CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
This project looks interesting, and it reminded me of something I found looking through the LinuxFund project proprosals. The ganesha's project people are working on developing a school LAN using relatively old PCs and various free software. You can vote for the project to receive funding from the cool LinuxFund people at this link.
I can't help but wonder if some technical books might be even harder to get (and correspondingly useful as donations) than x486 class hardware components.
-emile
Emile Snyder
www.talentcodeworks.com
It links to the Himanchal High School page there. Its timing out for me right now, so here is a google cache