Wanted: Old laptops to re-purpose for my kid's school - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 29, 2016, 11:25:01 pm
content: Hi folks,My kids' school (primary, grades 1-5) is integrating more computer-time into their teaching and asking kids to BYOD (bring your own device). I gather there is a slight shortage of tablets/computers in the class, but I am also concerned about the disparity between kids and the kind of gear their parents are going to allow them to bring to school. Most of them just need something to hook into their class WiFi to access online resources.So...I'M LOOKING FOR ANY OLDER LAPTOPSthat I can re-purpose with Ubuntu and give the school so they have a few more computers on hand for the kids. I want to install Ubuntu as I think it will help them explore more educational apps but also translate their knowledge perhaps to Raspberry Pi and maybe some electronics. Plus, Ubuntu is free and less prone to getting virused or clogged with malware.Last week I was entering my local BestBuy and noticed a pile of gear (laptops, etc.) sitting at their entrance "e-waste" dumping bins. Sadly, once these devices pass through the door, BestBuy will not allow it to leave (even if I promise to wipe them and give them a good new home like at the local school). I don't know if these laptops were good or not....But it made me think, what if people are dumping perfectly good older laptops just because they are slow and maybe the batteries are not holding a charge? Why can't they just act as stand-alone plugged in computer at a school? With some Linux distro installed on them, they should be more than capable for kids to use.I set up my old computer at home for my 7 and 9 year old girls with Ubuntu and they are loving it. They were fascinated at first with changing their desktop backgrounds, but once they got over that, they started to use more of the apps (like Scratch, and others). They are mainly using Chromium to access their school-provisioned account which has homework assignments and allows communication with their classmates.I've put a few posts on FaceBook to my area group. We'll see if that pans out. I'm sure there is a whole scavenging chain related to old gear and I'm trying to step into some lucrative market here to supply a local school. But what I'm after is that JOE BLOW who shows up at BestBuy or Staples with their old stuff and see if they'd rather donate it instead of chucking it to the recycling bin. Once the gear ends up in the e-waste or refurbisher market, they are not going to let go of it without some money being exchanged (obviously because they are providing a service).If I can get it from people before it gets to the recycler, I am happy to scrub these systems, install Ubuntu (or Edubuntu) and get them off to the school into the hands of the kids.PS - I'm in a suburb of Toronto (Vaughan)

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2016, 12:16:15 am
content: A couple of suggestions.Lubuntu is a lightweight version and may run better than Ubuntu on P4 and dual core systems. Lubuntu uses about 150MB DRAM after booting, but it can be pared down to around 120MB by disabling some services. I think Ubuntu, after booting, uses about 500MB?? Thus, on systems with only 1GB or less, Lubuntu may be a better choice. Lubuntu runs all the same software as Ubuntu.Go to your local kijiji/craigslist and limit your search for laptops under $50 or $100. Then email each seller asking if they are willing to donate that laptop to your school. Provide some proof that you will scrub it and that it will actually end up at the school.

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2016, 01:48:33 am
content: Good idea. Yes I have installed Lubuntu, it's faster and uses less resources so should be better on older hardware. The Kijiji/Craiglist idea is good... I will see if I can get anywhere with that. I can't give any kind of charitable receipt. I should have a discussion with the school principal, that may also help lend credibility and if anyone needs proof I can involve the school as a donation drop-off or they may have some paperwork to provide. I am almost certain that tons of 6-8 year old laptops (circa 2006-08) are likely collecting dust as the memory and software requirements have surpassed them, yet only a tiny fraction of people bother to put them to use.

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 30, 2016, 02:23:55 am
content: Whilst this is a very noble venture, have you checked with the school that they will accept your donated laptops and allow them to be used? Never ever underestimate public sector bureaucracy... !

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 01:46:44 am
content: Yes, you are right. They may have all sorts of crazy rules about this stuff. But the school specifically asked for BYOD on certain activity/assignment days, so obviously they have no restrictions on what kids can bring in, as long as they obey the policy (no games, only use during specified classroom time, any damage is responsibility of student, etc). So if they have a few extra laptops sitting around, who's to say Joey or Sue or Angela didn't bring their home laptops and left them there for everyone to share, so they don't have to lug them around every day?I posted an ad on Kijiji, let's hope it gets some attention. But it is surrounded by ads for wanted laptops by computer refurbishers who are willing to pay for them. So as noble as the thought is, money may ultimately be the only way this will happen.

author: edpalmer42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 03:00:29 am
content: Check with Computers for Schoolshttps://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cfs-ope.nsf/eng/home. Looks like your closest group would be herehttp://www.rcto.ca/. They may have some laptops that don't meet their criteria for donation to schools under normal circumstances, but if the school asked, they might send them units that you could then refurbish for the school. I volunteer with the Saskatchewan branch and we've always got systems that don't make the cut - too slow, oddball units, etc.Ed

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 08:12:21 pm
content: Thanks! I sent my local RCTO branch an email and hopefully will get a favourable response. So now I've got the word out on Facebook, Kijiji and Craigslist also, asking people to donate older laptops. Maybe someone out there will see it before they decide to dump it outside BestBuy and get nothing for it anyways. A good portion of these laptops have otherwise trivial issues not worth repairing or too slow, and they get scrapped for no reason when primary school-aged kids would benefit from using it.For example, common problems on the laptop would be hinge issues, or battery not charging, a slow OS or a bad DVD/CD drive, or a broken trackpad/mouse-button. One or more of a combination of these issues would frustrate someone and if the laptop is 4-5 years old they would be likely to not bother fixing it and just get a new faster better machine.However, take the same laptop and repurpose it for a grade 1-5 kid classroom and all of these problems become non-issues. Battery not taking a charge? Just keep it plugged in when being used in the classroom. The laptops aren't travelling around much. Slow OS? Just wipe and install Lubuntu or some other lean Linux distro. Broken trackpad/mouse? Just plug in an external mouse. Bad DVD drive? If the laptop can boot from USB, I can use a Live USB linux boot to install the OS from there, or even just install a good DVD drive during OS installation and remove it after. Hinge issue? The laptops don't need to be opened and closed if they are in the classroom and not being moved. I can attach a bracket or repair the hinge in a way that doesn't need to be opened/closed if absolutely necessary. Otherwise most of the time, even with a bad hinge the screen will stay open in a single position. So being plugged in, staying open, having an external mouse/pad, all of these are just like having a desktop anyways... Totally useful for a primary grade school classroom of kids that will probably be more likely to be rough on the computer anyways.

author: edpalmer42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 08:55:21 pm
content: You might want to check out Edubuntuhttps://www.edubuntu.org/. It's a distribution that's optimized for schools and students.Ed

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 01, 2016, 10:32:35 pm
content: Quote from: edpalmer42 on October 01, 2016, 08:55:21 pmYes, I saw that. I've made mention of this in my ads asking for laptops and also email to RCTO. I believe the latest distro is based on Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS, whereas Ubuntu and Lubuntu are up at 16.04.1 LTS. Either way that should be fine, if it runs on the older harder as long as it at least has drivers to support most of the hardware and make installation easy.