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As reported here on Saturday, technology solidarity activists are spending 6 days over this weekend and next assembling computers that will be sent to community centers and schools in Bolivia and Venezuela. The work party is happening at Freegeek, the local computer reuse and recycling center on SE 10th and Market Street. Despite the coating of ice Portland recieved Saturday, practically shutting down the city till midday Sunday, a good number of volunteers have been showing up at Free Geek to take part in the effort. An organized process and a step-by-step set of relatively simple instructions is allowing even those unfamiliar with computer hardware to take part productively. By the end of Saturday, 55 machines had been assembled and tested. The goal is a total of 100 of these diskless terminals, with 50 going to Bolivia, and 50 to Venezuela. Several terminal servers will also be built, which will require a little more effort, but next weekend will afford time for that. The project still needs as many volunteers as possible, of any skill level, to join in the effort, and people to bring food for the hungry workers. The hours that the project will be happening are: - Today (Monday) 1/17: 11 am on through the day/night (probably till about 7pm)
- Saturday 1/22: 7pm till midnight or so
- Sunday 1/23: 11 am on through the day/night
- Monday 1/24: 11 am on through the day/night
- Sunday 1/30: the palletizing/packing party! 1pm - 6pm
At the end of the assembly process, the computers for Bolivia, once done, will be packaged up on Sunday, January 30th, and, if all goes according to the plan, shipped out the next day, on their way to a ship that will bring them to Peru, and then overland to La Paz, Bolivia. The Venezuela machines are part of a larger project that also involves activists in Boston and the Bay Area and which will be ready to ship, probably, later in February.
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Questions:
What do you mean by "diskless terminals"?
Is there a problem sending hard drives to some countries?
Are there any US government regulations governing the export of used computer equipment to certain countries?
What speeds, RAM, etc. are most of these computers?
What power supplies are included, and are these compatible with the voltage of the power systems in most South American countries?
What operating systems, if any, are included?
Who will be the recipient of these machines?
Are they being shipped in a consolidated ocean going shipping container, or what other freight arrangements have been made?