Caring Compy - Orlando FL

2011 Wish List

2011-01-31T21:21:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

We are looking toward a new year with open hearts and minds.

Our goal? Growth!

...and we need your help!

Our wish list for this new year:

A van - we collect lots and lots of your equipment for reuse by new "in need" customers and are always looking for more. In order to transport this equipment, safely and efficiently, we are in need of a vehicle with lots of space. If you or someone you know owns a WORKING van that is no longer in use, we would love the donation.

Equipment - your continued, generous donations help Caring Compy help others! Whether we are able to refurbish and reuse your equipment or simply sell it to a reputable eco-friendly recycling company, Caring Compy and our community benefits. The proceeds of all sales are reinvested into Caring Compy and in turn used to help those in need. Please refer to our website for donation equipment requirements.

Warehouse/office space - the bigger we are, the more people we can help. At current, Caring Compy is operating out of our board members' homes. While a wonderful problem to have, we are busting-at-the-seams with donations from our generous community and have limited space to refurbish equipment and store inventory.

Volunteers - whether your background is sales, computer science, graphic design or anything in-between, you are needed! The biggest "background" in need is selflessness - a sincere and genuine desire to help the less fortunate.

In summary, Caring Compy is able to help so many. Our limitations are in our limited staff and resources.

If you can personally help with any of the above or know someone who can, please contact us - via e-mail preferably.

Please send your e-mail to: info at caringcompy.com and be sure to include in your subject either: van, equipment, warehouse/office space, or volunteers. Please detail your assistance offering within the body of the e-mail and we'll be certain to get back with you as soon as possible.

Thank you in advance for your assistance in making Caring Compy great.

Cheers!

Caring Compy

A Fresh New Compy for Rosy Cooper

2011-01-20T14:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Caring Compy delivered a Dell Optiplex GX280 running Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 to Rosy Cooper. We've helped Rosy Cooper in the past when we supplied her classroom at Hope For All Learning Center. Ms. Cooper is currently recovering from a recent surgical procedure and is out on disability. While she is out, she will be using her spare time and new computer to take online classes for a degree in business.

Moving forward, we'll be training her how to use her new computer and will be available to assist her with any issues she may have. We'd like to wish her a speedy recovery and the best of luck with her studies.

A New Operating System For a New Caring Compy Client

2010-12-09T13:15:00.003-05:00

This week, Caring Compy fixed an ailing laptop for Cujael of Kissimmee, FL. Cujael, a proud member of the Taíno People, is unfortunately disabled and unable to get around as well as she once did.

To help her stay more connected to the outside world, we replaced her broken, virus infected installation of Windows Vista with a fresh copy of Ubuntu Linux 10.04. Now she will be henceforth free of viruses, malware, and the need for constant computer maintenance in the foreseeable future.

As with any of our clients, we are also training her how to use her new operating system to ensure she becomes proficient with it. We at Caring Compy look forward to a productive, educational relationship with Cujael.

Going Forward

2010-12-07T13:19:00.003-05:00

We're about ready to end our hiatus. We've learned a lot of lessons in the past couple of years and are looking forward to getting back into action. That being said, there’s a couple of things that need to be addressed.

A problem that we consistently encounter is that we can sometimes have too much support but not the type that is currently needed. Nearly every person we meet responds with, "I have plenty of hardware to donate!" While it is appreciated, the result is that we have more hardware than we know what to do with. Until we get the funds to provide dedicated storage (or if someone would like to donate some space) the result is a lot of the donated hardware will be taken to the recycling center.

Going forward we will be much clearer about what help is required. Currently we do not need hardware donations. What we do need are skilled volunteers capable of building and repairing computers. We also need volunteers who are experienced with Linux. We are always, of course, willing to teach these skills to anyone who wants to learn them. For our upcoming project we will also need monetary donations to purchase the specialized hardware that people are unlikely to donate. We will be posting about our future project ideas very soon so stay tuned!

Speaking of money, we don't want to rely solely on donations to fund our ideas for projects. In the near future we would like to take an idea from FreeGeek Chicago and start selling computers that run Linux at an extremely cheap price to make use of the continuous hardware surplus. Hopefully this will help Caring Compy to become more self sustainable.

To summarize, we'll be back in action soon. We're looking for help, feedback, and ideas. Please reply via comment, find us on Twitter, Facebook, or email us at info at caringcompy.org. Thank you everyone for your support and your patience.

Hiatus

2010-09-09T11:22:00.003-04:00

Caring Compy will be suspending normal operation for the foreseeable future. We are working out how to grow in the future without getting overloaded. This will take a fair amount of planning and planning takes time. Due to this, we are no longer taking on new clients or accepting new donations. We will, of course, be providing continued support to our current clients.

Thank you everyone for the support you've given us. Please keep an eye on the blog for when we resume normal operations.

Server for Turtle's Tattooz

2010-09-09T11:13:00.003-04:00

Caring Compy has recently helped an artist who's shop has been hit hard by the recession. Turtle, a talented tattoo and apparel artist in Kissimmee, FL, was in dire need of a way to back up the digital art he's using for his day to day work. Caring Compy built and installed a Linux based file server for this purpose.

http://turtlestattooz.com/

Upgrade for Jim and Jewels

2010-09-09T11:03:00.002-04:00

Recently, Caring Compy upgraded the computer at the home of clients Jim Shadgett and Jewels Reffner. They've been given a faster machine with the latest version of Xubuntu. Being a long term support release, they should have a smooth running machine for the next three years.

Another Compy to Find a Home For

2010-05-04T21:08:00.002-04:00

Seth Cardoza of Orlando, FL has donated this lovely computer and parts for us to find a home for. Thank you, Seth, for your generosity.

Caring Compy is a Bonafide Non-Profit Organization

2010-04-27T08:18:00.005-04:00

We're excited to announce that Caring Compy has recently received its 501(c)3 status! This means that Caring Compy is now a true non-profit. Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far. We look forward to helping many others in the future.

BarCamp Orlando 2010

2010-04-02T22:32:00.004-04:00

Caring Compy will be presenting at BarCamp Orlando tomorrow (April 3rd). This will be our first public appearance and we are very excited! Admission is free, please join us! Visit BarCamp's website HERE.

Ronald McDonald House

2010-03-25T19:56:00.002-04:00

Caring Compy received a letter and custom greeting card from Ronald McDonald House. Thank you!

March 23, 2010

Dear Friends at Caring Compy,

Thank you so much for your generous donation of custom rebuilt and programmed computers as well as technical support for these wonderful machines! On March 6, 2010, we received your donation of 2 rebuilt computers as well as the programming support for updating a total of 4 kiosk computers.

As you know, the Ronald McDonald Houses in Orlando continue to serve families of seriously ill children by providing them a 'home-away-from-home.' Our goal is to provide these families in crisis with the simple things that make up a home: comfort and care. This would not be possible without assistance from organizations such as Caring Compy. Your service not only helps to provide our families with convenient computer access, it also helps our staff to have virtually maintenance-free kiosks that serve a variety of needs!

On behalf of all of us at Ronald McDonald House, thank you for helping us in our mission to serve families and children in their time of need.

Gratefully,
Josh Hendrix
House Manager

Web Anniversary

2010-03-25T19:51:00.002-04:00

Today marks exactly one year since CaringCompy.org has been online. We were going to bake a cake in the shape of the internet but we couldn't find the right pan.

Caring Compy Is Accepting Donations

2010-03-13T13:54:00.003-05:00

Caring Compy is growing. With growth comes costs. With costs comes a donation button. Please donate by click the donate button in the upper right corner of the site. Thank you for your support.

Pretty Presentations for Ronald McDonald House

2010-03-10T23:28:00.002-05:00

A need that the Ronald McDonald House near Downtown Orlando has had for some time is the ability to display slides during their board and staff meetings. Last week Caring Compy met that need by delivering a desktop loaded with Xubuntu Linux and the latest version of OpenOffice.org.

What is OpenOffice? OpenOffice "is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more." It is fully compatible with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint and is just as capable.

With such great OpenOffice software, the Ronald McDonald House's presentation needs are well met. Pictured below is Josh Hendrix who runs the Ronald McDonald House with their new presentation desktop. Please note that we donated the desktop, not the television.

Better Kiosks for the Ronald McDonald House

2010-03-10T23:06:00.003-05:00

Last week, Caring Compy upgraded the public web kiosks they delivered to the Ronald McDonald House near Downtown Orlando with the open-source kiosk Webconverger. The reason we chose this software is because of its light hardware requirements and because it excels at turning a computer into an fool-proof public terminal.

Thank you to the developers of Webconverger for their excellent product.

Kitchen Compy Update

2009-12-03T22:49:00.007-05:00

Caring Compy has been hard at work in optimizing our prototype iMac G3 Kitchen Compy. The system is far more robust and faster than ever before. Here is the list of features it can do:

Browses the web
Watches videos
Instant Messages
Listens to online radio
Manages your music library
Checks email
Connects to your home's existing wireless network
Plays media from networked devices
Rips CDs

Caring Compy has paired up with Southeastern Data in the effort to save these lovely iMac G3s from the salvage yard by giving them new life and use. We have provided Southeastern Data with an installed machine that they will be able to clone and make available to the public. They in turn have donated an iMac G3 to us with the promise of more things to come. If you are interested in getting one of these machines, please contact Jon Rutishauser at Southeastern Data.

http://www.southeasterndata.com/

Also, special thanks goes to David Lanham. He is a talented artist and has agreed to let us use his art as the default desktop wallpaper. Thank you David.

More images can be see on our Flickr page.

Much Needed RAM Received

2009-12-03T22:38:00.006-05:00

We would like to give a big thank-you to Homer Lindsey for donating RAM to us. This is an item that we are always in need of, especially the harder to find older RAM. This donation will be put to good use. Thank you Homer! If you are interested in seeing a list of items that we currently need, please visit our Needed Items page.

An apple fell from the tree and landed on Caring Compy

2009-10-25T16:58:00.007-04:00

Tara Baker, a graphic artist in Orlando FL, donated this beautiful 12 inch Powerbook G4 to Caring Compy yesterday. The first person we find in need of a laptop is getting this little beauty as it will run OS X Leopard quite nicely.

Thank you Tara for your generosity.

Links:

Tara's LinkedIn Page

A Generous Donation

2009-10-01T23:08:00.004-04:00

Homer Lindsey of Orlando, FL has given two fully functional computers to Caring Compy. Thank you, Homer. We will find good homes for them.

Caring Compy is for Realz!

2009-10-01T23:07:00.002-04:00

Caring Compy is now a real company! We received our federal ID a few weeks ago and are now a legitimate corporation. Now we are in the process of filing for our 501C3. Thanks again for all the support and generosity from everyone involved. We look forward to a bright future.

Magic Jack "Phone Server"

2009-09-26T13:45:00.004-04:00

Caring Compy got to partake in an interesting project recently. A coworker of Caring Compy founder Chris Jones, Kurt Meister of Orlando, received some assistance to save on his phone bill. There's a little device called a Magic Jack which gives him phone access for around $20 a year. We had received some old laptops a while back and we used a Pentium 2 IBM Thinkpad as a dedicated "Magic Jack Server" so he could have a true land line with uninterrupted phone service. A picture of the lappy can be seen below. More can be seen on Flickr.

Hope For All Gets A True Classroom Setup!

2009-09-01T22:07:00.007-04:00

Thanks to the support and donations we've received, Caring Compy was able to really come through for Hope For All Learning Center in Orlando, FL. They now have an easy to manage classroom computer setup that makes great use of older hardware, and is loaded with educational software.

As described in this previous post, they have been given an LTSP server and 3 thin clients. The other two computers given to them previously will be converted to thin clients as well.

Thanks again to everyone involved for all the support. As can be seen below, the kids love it.

See more photos!

New Digs

2009-07-26T20:58:00.004-04:00

The operations for Caring Compy has moved. The pictures below really show the amount of support we've received. Thanks again so much. We're in the process of planning our next move to get all these machines out the door to those who need them.

An update from headquarters

2009-07-19T22:44:00.001-04:00

First off,

Good news!!! Caring Compy has reached inventory capacity, which is a wonderful thing! We'd like to thank all of our donors for your generous and selfless contributions. Your support has been amazing and we couldn't have done it without you.

We ask now that you hold off on any additional donations so we can “catch up” with your generosity and find new homes for our current inventory. We will update the website as soon as we are in need of more equipment. Thanks again for keeping us busy :)

What's new?

We are in the process of incorporating and hope to have our 501(c)(3) status within six months. We are excited to be a registered non-profit company as it will assist us in our fundraising and public relations efforts.

We are soon-to-be in the process of recruiting volunteers to become part of our family. Our business has us all pretty busy and we realize that as the business expands, our employee family also needs to grow. Please take a look at our website in (August?) and see where you can help out, we'd love to have you on board!

Caring Compy is again thankful for everyone's support and we look forward to a bright future!

Warm regards,

The Caring Compy family

Another Donation

2009-07-15T22:49:00.002-04:00

Brian LeGros from Melbourne, FL has given Caring Compy these three lovely towers and some hard drives. Thanks very much for your donation, Brian. We'll put them to good use.

Our First Printer!

2009-07-08T00:35:00.008-04:00

Caring Compy has recently received it's first printer donation from Kathy LaGalle of Orlando FL. It's an HP Deskjet that's in great shape. We already have a client who can benefit from this too! Jewels Reffner of Orlando, FL.

Kathy also donated a keyboard in equally good shape. Thank you Kathy for you generous donations.

Well hello little lappy!

2009-07-07T22:13:00.005-04:00

Nicole Kelly of Orlando, FL has given Caring Compy an IBM Think in superb condition. Thank you Nicole for keeping it out of the landfill. We'll find a good use for it.

Motherboards, CD-ROMS, and Compies! Oh My!

2009-07-06T22:20:00.010-04:00

Mike Buchanan of Ponikvar and Associates, Inc. recently donated some excellent hardware to Caring Compy. The donation consists of:

Two motherboards
Two fully functional tower
Two CD-ROMs
A video card
A 21 inch CRT monitor

Thank you Mike for the donation and thank you Lauren Jones (also with Ponikvar and sister of Caring Compy president Chris Jones) for delivering it. Caring Compy will find good homes for them. We're glad to not see them go to waste.

Another Generous Donation

2009-06-29T08:33:00.004-04:00

James McGrath, president of Intuitive Technologies in Orlando FL, has donated some much needed RAM and speakers from the needed items list. We very much appreciate your support for Caring Compy and we will put your donations to good use.

We'd like to give another thanks to Florida Creatives. James found us through them. Thanks again for the exposure.

A Generous Donation

2009-06-12T00:09:00.004-04:00

Brian Ashe of Orlando has recently given Caring Compy a plethora of goodies. His donation includes power cables, USB cables, network cables, CD-ROMS and burners, and even security locks. It was just in time too, as we were running low on several of those items.

Thank you again for your donation and your involvement with Caring Compy.

Florida Creatives Podcast

2009-05-24T01:43:00.003-04:00

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

Links:

Special Delivery

2009-05-23T17:05:00.005-04:00

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.

More Love for Hope For All

2009-05-08T12:35:00.004-04:00

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.

Needed Items

2009-05-04T22:12:00.005-04:00

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

2009-05-04T21:26:00.002-04:00

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.

Southeastern Data

2009-05-02T09:20:00.006-04:00

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.

Caring Compy Donation Equipment Requirements

2009-04-29T18:30:00.006-04:00

USB keyboards
USB mice (preferably optical)
PS2 keyboards
PS2 mice
Desktop Computers (Pentium 3 or above)
Laptops (Pentium 4 or above. Must have working battery and power supply.)
Hard drives (20 GB or above.)
CD/DVD Burners
Spare case fans
ATX Power Supplies
RAM (256 MBs or greater)
Speakers (Must include power adapter)
ATX Power Supplies
Video cards (PCI, AGP)
Sounds cards (PCI)
Webcams (USB)
Power cables
Network cables
Flat screen monitors

All donations must be in working order. For any items not in working order or not on this list please take them directly to Southeastern Data on 142 Park Road, Oviedo, FL.

Another Donation!

2009-04-29T00:36:00.011-04:00

Caring Compy just received two very generous donation from Brian Ashe of Orlando, FL and from Southeastern Data of Oviedo, FL. Thank you very for your contributions. We will put them to good use.

Hope For All Learning Center

2009-04-21T19:49:00.003-04:00

Caring Compy just met with the head of Hope For All Learning Center in Orlando. They're a center for abused and battered children ranging from ages 3-12. Currently they have 5 computers for their children, only one of which is working. It's a typical case of aged machines running various versions of Windows, all of which have been subjected to the use that only a child can give.

We will be supplying them with three computers running Edubuntu Linux as well as installing Edubuntu on their other machines as well. This will give all of their computers a modern, child friendly, operating system that will be free of viruses and malware. This also will let them use the computers rather than fight with computer problems as compared to their Microsoft counterparts they are virtually maintenance free.

Please follow us on Twitter for further developments with this client as we're greatly looking forward to working more with them in the near future.

Ronald McDonald House Testimonial

2009-03-27T09:42:00.002-04:00

Caring Compy just received it's first testimonial. It's from the Ronald McDonald House.

"Dear friends,

Caring Compy has graciously supplied kiosk-style computers for Ronald McDonald House Of Orlando. Our guests have enjoyed the use of these computers as they have the ability to browse the internet, chat and email. This is particularly important for these families as they face a child undergoing a medical crisis. Many families are from other states or other parts of the world and to have the convenience of the internet is invaluable for communicating with loved ones.

We appreciate Caring Compy's generosity in donating these computers. Without their help, we could not provide our guests with these convenient, easy-to-use computers and internet kiosks.

Sincerely,

Josh Hendrix

House Manager"

Thank you, Josh for your kind words. We at Caring Compy hope to maintain a long-lasting and fruitful relationship.

Inventory

2009-03-26T22:09:00.000-04:00

While checking in some of our latest donations, we came across a neat looking 3 button Sun mouse. We also received other great donations including a wall mounted touch screen monitor, a router, cd-r, an IBM tower and an unusual Silicone Graphics Indigo machine. A BIG THANK YOU to our donatee, Eric M!

Welcome

2009-03-25T16:11:00.000-04:00

Caring Compy is striving to help the community by keeping computers out of the landfills and put them into the hands of those that need them.