May 24, 2009

Florida Creatives Podcast

Caring Compy had the privilege of being featured on the Florida Creatives Podcast. Thank you Ryan Price for coverage and for your time

Links:

May 23, 2009

Special Delivery

Today at 10 AM, Caring Compy donated a single computer to Jim Shadgette and Jewels Reffner of Lake Mary, FL. Due to health issues Jewels is unable to leave the house. It will be very freeing for her as she will be able to keep in contact with friends and family and have a social experience she would otherwise be secluded from. It was quite a rewarding experience as it is also their first computer. We sat with them from 10 AM until 3 PM teaching them how to use it. It made for a great Saturday!

The computer is a Dell Optiplex GX 150 with a Pentium 3 processor running at 900 MHz. We were also able to include a 21 inch CRT monitor from Robert Jones of Summerfield, FL. It also has 512 MB of RAM and a 10 GB hard drive. Thank you, Robert for your contribution.

While this may not sound like much it actually performs very well running the lightweight Xubunu Linux desktop environment. The programs we preinstalled were Mozilla Firefox for web browsing, Mozilla Thunderbird for email, the Last.fm desktop client for listening to online radio, VLC for playing Videos, OpenOffice.org 3 for word processing, and the Tuxtype typing tutor to teach them basic keyboard skills. We even set them up with Gmail accounts and integrated their mail and calendars with Thunderbird. We also showed them how to add new programs through Xubuntu's easy to use installer menu. Of course, running on Linux their computer will be virus and spyware free, and virtually maintenance free. It suites all of their needs and runs impressively fast.

Yet another perfectly useful machine has been put back into service and kept out of a landfill. Jim and Jewels, it was a pleasure meeting you and we look forward to working more you both in the future. Thank you for the chance to let Caring Compy do what it does best.


May 8, 2009

More Love for Hope For All

Recently, Caring Compy received a donation from Steve Elmer of HTH Inc, a local magnetic car sign, screen-printing, and glass-etching company. They donated a single computer.

While that may not sound like much, there is something very special about this computer. It is powerful enough to be used as terminal server for the Hope Learning Center. This will enable the use of dozens of thin clients. That combined with the educational software set you can find only on Linux provides an efficient classroom environment that is scalable and easy to maintain.

Thanks again, Steve for your generosity.

May 4, 2009

Needed Items

Caring Compy functions best with support from the community. Our inventories diminish quite rapidly thus, we reach out to YOU for donations. If you or someone you know has a computer component from the list below, please consider donating!

Caring Compy will be sure to give it a good home :)
  • PC 100 RAM in the sizes of 128 MB and 256 MB
  • PC 133 RAM in the sizes of 128 MB, 256 MB, and 512 MB
  • DDR 266 RAM in the sizes of 256 MB, 512 MB, and 1 GB
  • Mice (PS2 or USB)
  • Computer Speakers (with power cords included)

Please contact us at donations@caringcompy.org if you wish to donate.

Hope For All Learning Center Update

Caring Compy installed two computer at Hope For All Learning Center. We later found out that the teachers and students love the software that comes bundled with Edubuntu Linux! Here is a list of applications that were bundled. We also included an addon that accommodates younger children.

When we are able, with the help of more donations, we will be setting them up with a terminal/thin-client environment using the Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP). This will enable us to keep even the oldest of computers in use because a server will be running the central desktop whereas the other computers will be simply clients to display graphics and play sound that comes from the server's desktop environment.

We'd like to thank Eric Marden for his help with this. One of the two computers donated were was his and we really appreciate his support.


May 2, 2009

Southeastern Data

Here at Caring Compy, we have a special place in our heart for older hardware, especially if the computers are super cute. The recycling center that we work with, Southeastern Data, has given us some original iMacs to work with. In return, we will be showing them how to give some of their other iMacs they have a surplus of new life by turning them into lightweight desktops or specialized media centers. This, of course, will involve installing a lightweight Linux desktop on them which runs very well.

Thank you Southeastern Data. Caring Compy loves what your business does and looks forward to working with you long into the future.