Efforts like Free Geek, The Helios Project and Linux Against Poverty seek to recycle older computers by giving them to community centers and lower-income families. It's a great idea and a worthwhile pursuit, given that access to computer technology can open young minds to new possibilities, or at least give them an opportunity to learn that middle- and upper-income children already take for granted. Also, recycling hardware in this manner helps keep it out of landfills (including those in the developing world). Still, there are some challenges I can see, and I invite those who are actively engaged in this type of work to share how you deal with them.
First, I'd like to try to dispense with one matter I consider a non-issue: the use of Linux in these projects. Some may consider it worth their time to debate whether free, open source operating systems should be installed on these computers. One reason would be that since children of upper classes tend to use Macs and Windows PCs more often, lower income kids will be at a disadvantage. Another would be that Linux is hard to use.
Both of the above challenges are nonsense. Young people are demonstrably more able to handle new software, time and again, than older people. Give a child a computer running Ubuntu and she will know in a week or less things it can do that you may not have considered. Further, Linux distros come with the tools that youth can use to learn more about computer science, if they want. Windows especially doesn't give any encouragement in the way of tools and documentation to make a kid want to play around with the system on a deeper level. Macs have this, but who can afford a Mac?
Bottom line on this point: Kids are sharp and there are a lot of user-friendly Linux distros out there now.
Second, but really the first true problem, is the question of deploying and supporting diverse hardware configurations. If a large company donates several workstations at once, this is no issue at all. Normally, though, it appears that computers come from numerous sources and with varied configurations. The fundamentals would be the same and hardware could be chosen out of the pool of donations for compatability with a single distro. Still, it can't be easy.
Third, what about maintenance? Older hardware will tend to break down more often. This is an inconvenience for a community center but a severe hardship for a family. Will someone from the non-profit that provided the computer be available to help service the machine? If so, for how long? Is there a period when the recycled computer could be considered "under warranty"?
Fourth, physical security. Homes are one thing, but in some neighborhoods having a room full of computers is an invitation to burglars. In Brazil, for instance, I know that even if the computers are all a few years old, security would most definitely need to be in place to protect the assets.
Again, I'd love to hear from people who actually work in recycling older computers for use by lower income families and community groups. How do you meet and resolve these issues? What other difficulties come up?
