US Geeks Recycle GNU/Linux Boxes for Ecuador

An anonymous submitter writes: "According to this article on Salon, geeks involved with Indymedia are recycling 300 GNU/Linux boxes to send to independent media activists in Ecuador. The machines will be used to create free public computer labs across South America, networked with donated wireless 802.11b cards. Anyone wanna chip in to help cover the shipping costs?"

Comments

FreeGeek in Portland does something similar.

[Spy4MS]

They make Linux boxes out of donated parts and volunteered time. They also recycle monitors, motherboard parts and steel.
Please be gentle

mean slasheditors

[Scrameustache]

For shame! Slashdotting these poor good samaritains!

Couldn't you post links to the RIAA or something?

Shipping? We Don't Need No Stinking Shipping!

[UNIBLAB_PowerPC]

Here's an idea: these folks should talk to their local Air National Guard unit. I've worked with medical missionaries in the past who went to Ecuador for a month (imaging blogging over a 9.6 modem connection over AOL -- only provider we could hook up with -- it wasn't pretty, but that was mainly user error and I digress). These physicians managed to purchase/gather enough supplies and talked the Alabama Air National Guard into shipping everything down in a week or two in advance. Of course, I don't know how to pull those kind of stings, but I know it has been done in the past for medical missions so I guess this effort might differ in the eyes of non-techies, who don't believe that information technology is as essential as proper medical care. I'd chance a guess that pilots are like us in a way they'll look for any excuse to do what they do best. ;-) Good luck, though!

Re:Shipping? We Don't Need No Stinking Shipping!

[tmark]

I hardly think the US Military is going to want to get involved in shipping computers to people who fancy themselves revolutionaries and who want to get the computers over there so that they can better coordinate their riots and protests. Medical missionaries these people are not.

Humanitarians

[Reality Master 101]

Somehow this reminds me of an old Jay Leno bit about humanitarian efforts to give Christmas toys to starving kids in the third-world:

Child: "Kalimba eat potato?"

Humanitarian: "No, Kalimba *play with* potato! See, you can put eyes, ears and mouth on the potato!"

Child: "Kalimba eat potato?"

Humanitarian: "No, no..."

That's about all I remember. It was hilarious, but I can't find the whole routine on the web.

Re:Humanitarians

[SethJohnson]

Ecuador does not need food. It is the largest banana exporter in the world. It is a hugely agricultural nation which is not suffering from droughts, etc. Ecuador does need infrastructure. These computers are part of that needed infrastructure. They need to leap beyond agrarian subsistence farming to get the country out of its economic hole.

What can accelerate this change? Education for sure. Books, schools, etc. How about a computer and internet connectivity? We've got a lot laying around here gathering dust. Probably more so than textbooks written in spanish.

I've visited Ecuador several times. Once I was helping some women at a library set up a VCR and TV that was recently donated by some wealthy Ecuadorians (I was a friend of the donors). The women working in the library were nicely dressed and educated pretty well from what I could tell with my limited spanish. They were the Ecuador equivalent to minimum-wage office workers in America.

When it came time to put the batteries in the remote control, I realized the value I was bringing to the VCR-TV-setup project. These women had never held a remote control. They needed some batteries (2 X AA), which they also had no experience with. I gave them a dead AA from my walkman so they could take it to the local shop and make sure they were buying the right size (with money provided by the donors). When they returned with the batteries, I had to explain the pictures inside the battery compartment so they'd understand how to install the batteries in the future.

I guess I am relating this anecdote so people can better understand the technological chasm that seperates people around the world. Sure, booklearning is a key part of a third-world country's development. At the same time, these free computers are going to help as well.

Seth

Hey, I've got a better idea

[unicron]

How about we sell our boxes on ebay, and then send the money to make sure some kids down there eat tonight? I'm aware that these boxes aren't meant to be some poor child charity but this is easily the stupidest shit I've ever heard regarding acts of kindness.

And another thing, semi off-topic, regarding charity. Why is it that people ooh and aww and feel their heart sink when Sally Struthers shows them pictures of starving orphans in some god-forsaken place, but then the next day can be found in a Dillards parking lot mortified that a homeless kid almost touched their Lexus?

Amazing

[Anonymous Coward]

There are already a couple of posts here with people griping about how "all this effort" is mis-directed and should be spent on "domestic" kids.

Its never ceases to amaze me how quick so many people are to critique an act of charity.

Somehow kids are more deserving because they happen to be closer geographically/politically/culturally?

Some guys at some location which happens to be in our country have for some reason chosen to help some kids at some other location which is not within out political boundaries. Should they be slighted because they haven't first helped everyone in their neighborhood/city/state/country?

If you think there's someone out there who needs help who isn't getting any try this... help them. That's what these folks here did.

Re:All about image

[GypC]

All women have hairy armpits except those Americans that shave them... oh, and whores in other parts of the world.

What's the matter with you? Are you some kind of pedophile that can't cope with a post-pubescent woman's natural body?