Thank you notes

Good morning all,

I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee and I suppose that makes my brain work faster.  So I began thinking about how to ensure people who donate hardware, software, money etc. get a thank you note from @gr8fullyfeclub, as well as from the recipients of the technology.  I want to model this after #donorschoose, which requires a thank you note and pictures of students using the technology to give back anonymously to their donors.  They have a website that facilitates this, so I need to hone my web design skills to automate as much of this as possible. 

I've started by putting the admin account on every laptop I donate as gr8fullyfeclub (username) and Grateful as the password.  Next, I could make the homepage my blog, so people could leave comments to people who donate that way.  This doesn't enforce it the way that #donorschoose does, but it might lead to some thank yous from recipients.  Further, I could ask that the recipients, when they are on their feet and can donate tech or $, would "pay it forward," someday. 

If anyone has any web design tips that could make this an automated form, where recipients have to fill out a thank you before they could use the laptops or tablets, I'd appreciate it.  I want to ensure that those who donate receive thanks for their donations, and that the recipients appreciate what the donors are doing.  Over the years I have had thousands of dollars of equipment donated by #donorschoose through the generosity of my friends and family and matching donors like the #BillandMelindaGatesFoundation, and many others.  I hope that they saw the pictures of the supplies being used by my students, the heartfelt thank you notes from me, and my own heartfelt thanks and felt good about what they did for my students and me. 

I'd really appreciate any feedback you have, please share this if you're willing.

Sincerely, and always gratefully,

~Mark

DBAN and data security, gratitude and what I'm worried about going forward

Good morning all,

In response to the Hartford Courant Article, I get the same question pretty often.  Many people are worried about data security, so I should have included a link to Darik's Boot and Nuke.  I believe that it would keep my data secure, because it overwrites the hard drive several times, and when I install linux it overwrites the hard drive one more time.
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-erase-a-hard-drive-using-dban-2619148

The only way to be absolutely sure that the data is gone is to remove the hard drive and destroy it yourself.  But short of that, you can be 99.9% sure that the data is gone by using DBAN.  To recover the data after DBAN, one would have to be an incredible hacker.  I've never tried, but I think it would be nearly impossible for me to get at data that has been wiped that way. 

I am overwhelmed with gratitude - people liked it on facebook over 200 times, donated money and about 10 laptops so far.  I hope I can keep up with the stream and repurpose them all, and that there are enough people who need them.  My other worry is that the learning curve for linux will be too steep.  I really hope that it's intuitive enough.  Mint looks a lot like windows, and the guide that pops up on startup gives people a pretty good tour.  Once it's on the internet, there are tons of youtube tutorials and people willing to help.  I suppose I can also serve as tech support to get people started.  I think once people see the benefits of open source software they will like it, or they're free to install windows if they want to.  Anyway, I hope that we can overcome these concerns and people can make good use of the machines.

Thanks for listening,

~Mark

Tablets?

Hi all,

I think tablets might be the way to go for the quickest/cheapest way to get people connected.  They also have the ability to get on a mobile network (Sprint, ATT, Verizon, etc) if people don't have the money for internet service at their home.  For instance, with Sprint, $25 a month gets you a Samsung Galaxy tabA for free, with $25 a month service fees to keep it connected.  This is cheaper than internet service at a house, which usually costs at least 60 for cable internet, plus the cost of the device. 

So to compare: a donated linux mint laptop will do much more than a tablet, but it costs $60 a month (at least) for basic internet for the house.  If their household already has internet, it's a better deal.

A Sprint TabA costs $25 a month, but it can go anywhere, with service in most places.  This allows for privacy for people taking video appointments.  For instance, I could take my doctor's appointments in the back of my field with no wifi access.  People could take their calls in a park if there was no privacy at home.  For $44 a month it could be an ipad, if people preferred that.

Thoughts?

Gratefully,

Mark

Bigger dreams (chromebooks)

Good morning all,

If given the capital, I think I'd buy a bunch of chromebooks to get as many people connected as possible.  It costs me $30 and an hour or two to get a donated laptop ready for a client.  Usually I have to buy and install a screen, or hard drive, then get linux to install.  I'm wondering if chrome OS would install as easily on old hardware as debian.  But for $105, I can get used chromebooks that already work.  Maybe a hybrid approach, where I keep repairing old stuff but also buy as many used but working chromebooks as the grant/my gofundme would allow.

gf.me/u/xxdhrw  if you want to help.

Then, the next question is where to send them.  I think my friend in Winsted who does lots of charity work (food banks, referrals for mental health services) can help me.  In school, I always asked the person donating the computer who they'd like it to go to, or asked the school social worker or the counselors.  For Covid, I think the kindles and tablets that can't do phone calls or video conferencing should go to nursing homes where seniors are bored and need reading material.  They could also go to the Little Free Libraries in town, so kids or whoever visited them would have online books to read.

The mistake I've made in the past is to buy things with my own money and put myself in credit card debt trying to help others.  I can't do that again, I have to ensure that the charity has the funds BEFORE helping others.  My family has to come first.

Status of donated machines:
Celeron Asus: needs a hard drive, then will accept Mint and be fully functional
4 donated machines from my house: need power supplies and wiping/linux installs.  One needs a screen, one needs a hard drive.
Surface: donated yesterday, can't get it to run windows (yet) or ubuntu or mint (yet).  Researching, will take some hours.
4 Kindles: all reset, testing for video conferencing.  Not all have cameras, zoom doesn't work (not in amazon app store).  Need to research to see if they will work with any telecom (hangouts, facebook messenger etc.)


Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you are all well.

Gratefully,

~Mark

Learning new things

Hi all,

I just learned from my uncle how to create a live bootable ubuntu.  It's so nice having a guru on my side as I keep learning about linux.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14912/create-a-persistent-bootable-ubuntu-usb-flash-drive/

In essence, it will let me put the usb in any computer and boot it into ubuntu, but the kind of ubuntu I want, with chrome and any apps and things I want.  If I understand correctly, this means I can also install that better version of ubuntu on whatever donated laptop I get.  So it saves me from customizing every install.  This should save time.

Hope you're all having a great day,

Mark

Thoughts on our new direction, and where it all began (caution, wordy)

Good morning all,

Yesterday I built a desktop with my stepson.  It was the first time in a long time I'd done so, and it was pretty fun seeing how far technology has come, and installing hardware in the age of youtube.  Every time we got stuck, he pulled up a video on how to do whatever part we were doing.  It was a stark contrast to the first time I built a machine in 1999 or 2000, where I felt very alone and wondered at every step whether I was doing things right.  It was very nerve wracking for me not to have support, so I'm glad I was able to support his build, and that youtube was there too.  He said that even with the support, he felt nervous because he'd spent so much money on parts and he wanted it to work right and not screw it up.

Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that we now have his old laptop to donate to @gr8fullyfeclub.  So we have a few machines ready to donate (or will after today).  My question is always what is worth fixing.  It's an i7 laptop with a broken screen, and my stepson has been using it with an external monitor.  It needs a new fan too.  But with a system reset or Linux, it should be fast and functional for a while for somebody.  If @gr8fullyfeclub was a fully funded nonprofit and I wasn't spending my own money, I think the 50 or 60 it would cost for a new fan and screen would be a no-brainer.  This happens frequently, because the donated machines we get are usually donated for a reason.  Someone upgraded, or something little is wrong and it finally got too annoying to the person.  A dead battery, a cracked screen, windows was too bloated . . . . each of these little problems is worth fixing, but I shouldn't afford to fix them out of pocket.  I could start a donorschoose if I was doing this at a school, but right now I'm not.  So maybe a facebook fundraiser or a gofundme.

I think I'd like to do this full time, at least for now.  But that means making a 501c3 nonprofit or an LLC and filing separate taxes, as well as finding people to fund the nonprofit or writing grants.  I'd like to take a modest salary and pay my stepson for all the help he's been giving me.  Covid-19 has given me an emergency and a problem to solve.  Everyone now needs connectivity, and for that they need a working device.  I always thought that was an equity issue, but now it's come to the forefront because without tech, people are uninformed and unable to connect in a basic human way to their families and friends.  This leads to poor choices in the face of this pandemic, which may account for the inequities we're seeing in terms of income and race and the pandemic's deadliness.

This idea for @gr8fullyfeclub started as a "ripple effect" for my students.  Parents, Teachers, and my family and friends would give me computers to repair, and I would fix those I could, put linux on those too slow to run windows, train my students in their repair and use, and send them home with a needy student.  At first, the needy students were identified by me, using their interest in Linux and their willingness to help me as a screen.  I'd ask them basic questions without prying, such as, "what kind of computer do you have at home, " and "how many people share it, " to figure out whether the student needed it or just wanted it.  I eventually got more sophisticated, using school social workers and counselors to identify need.  I suppose I'm at my third iteration now, as Covid-19 and my new facebook friends, Winsted Neighbors Helping Neighbors is helping me identify need and put computers and tablets in the hands of those who otherwise wouldn't have connectivity.  My friend Sarah, who does an incredible amount of good around town, will start by giving them to her clients who need them to have telehealth meetings on zoom.  Her statement below:

I work for Greenwood’s Counseling Referrals. A non-profit that offers counseling and addictions services regardless of the persons ability to pay. The technology would be going to people in Litchfield County to be able to continue their mental health and addiction recovery programs through tele health services. We work with youth to adults and we are finding our clients' technology is not adequate the the tele health service.

I think this idea, that people should give their 2nd and 3rd best pieces of technology to others in need, and thereby help them connect and appreciate, so that they can then someday give to people less fortunate, is infinitely scale-able. It could be used, for instance, to solve the connectivity problems for students in Winsted and Hartford. Distance learning has put tech inequity at the forefront of education, because if a student has no internet connection or no reliable computer to access it, or shares their computer with a whole family, they will have a hard time doing their schoolwork and passing for the year. In Hartford, I know they gave out some Chromebooks, but not everyone was covered. Even if they were, they might not have good internet connectivity unless they go to McDonalds or a library, where they might spread Corona. In Winsted, I know Gilbert gave out Chromebooks, but again, without reliable internet service they aren't fully effective.

I am grateful that I have the technology that I have, and it's a privilege I try not to take for granted. I have two laptops, a shared iPad, and two fast smartphones, which is a silly amount of tech for one person. I also have fast internet, a good router, and a working printer and scanner. I have enough tech that my 8 year old and 18 year old, and my wife, can all work on schoolwork or stream videos or play video games at the same time. My contention is that my 3rd best of everything should be donated to people who don't have that privilege. I have personally given away at least 5 laptops in the last 10 years, as well as several phones and tablets. This keeps me from hoarding them, but it also helped innumerable people connect. These people in turn gave away their old tech to people in their lives, thus creating the ripple of gratitude and connectivity that I'm striving for.

I think I learned this idea from my cooperating teacher, Mark Flaherty. Whenever he did something nice for me, I'd try to pay him back even though I couldn't afford it at the time. He always brushed off my attempt, saying that I would someday do something nice for someone else. It was one of my first encounters with paying it forward from a non-family member. It left an impression on me, and I hope that what I do with technology and Linux is in some small way paying it forward from the kindness he showed me when I needed it. I also was primed in this sort of thinking by my family. We always did for others in our family, especially the elderly and the infirm, without asking for anything in return. We'd have Prelli work parties to help people move, or shovel my grandma's snow, or do yard or garden work. I think this ethic growing up prepared me for the "Pay it Forward" mindset I received from Mr. Flaherty, and eventually led to the genesis of my fledgling charity.

Mea Culpa, and Covid-19

Hi all,

I owe you, and myself, an apology.  I've stopped doing one of the things that made me who I am, and that helped so many students along the way.  I used to take in donated computers at my old job, refurbish them and give them out to students in need.  Now, due to Covid-19, this is being done by wireless stores, community colleges and I'm sure many that I don't know about.  I want to see this movement to give everyone tech grow and thrive, and I'm not sure my place in all of that, but I've reached out to the community college to see if I can help. 

To reiterate my beliefs about this, I believe everyone should have working technology and the ability to get on the internet.  I believe this can be achieved through a sort of trickle down, where everyone gives their old devices to someone who needs them.  If everyone could do this, and knew how to erase their data or make old machines young again (using linux, ubuntu or debian or just a factory reset) I think that at least in places like the US where we have so much, we could give our old tech to people who would need it and appreciate it.  In this way, we could give places like Hartford, Waterbury and Bridgeport what they need during this pandemic.  Instead of trying to stretch our supplies of beat up, donated chromebooks so that everyone has technology, we could depend on the goodwill of others. 

Along with the actual hardware, places like Hartford also need electricity and internet for each household.  I'm not sure how to guarantee that during this pandemic, and it's a larger problem than I can solve alone.  But I can try to help by soliciting donations, refurbishing machines and giving them to people in need.  I'd like to do this on a larger scale, but the barriers are:

a) Money (This takes some infrastructure, and income for me to support my family)
b) Donations (I've never been able to get more than my own personal friends, family and coworkers to donate)
c) Finding people in need (This has traditionally been my students in Hartford, but that's not enough - it can't just be the people who happened to have need and happened to be in my class)

Anyway, I hope you all find some way to be gr8ful today,

~Mark