[kwlug-disc] OT: Laptop repair Nov 21

[Paul Nijjar]

Originally I had proposed Nov 7 for a Computer Recycling laptop rescue
day, but it would work better (for me, if nobody else) to hold it on
the 21st. 

For those unfamiliar: Computer Recycling (at The Working Centre) gets
in all kinds of laptops, but for a few reasons it is not
economical to refurbish them as part of general CR sales. (The biggest
problem is that we cannot offer warranties on the laptops because we
have no replacement parts.) Last year some of us got together to
prepare some of these laptops for sale, and scrapping laptops that
were not appropriate. 

We pick out laptops, match them with power supplies, make sure they
have wiped hard drives installed, use an autoinstaller to put on
Xubuntu GNU/Linux, and test the machines for things like battery life,
sound, wireless, and video abilities. None of this requires pre-existing
knowledge much beyond using a screwdriver, but there is a fair amount
that we learn along the way (and being familiar with computers and
Linux is definitely an asset, especially when trying to get wireless
cards and sound cards to work).  

Interest fizzled out by summer, but now that it is winter I am
wondering whether people are again interested in helping out.

The date would be Saturday November 21.

The time would be the afternoon, starting at 4pm and going until 8pm
or whenever people have had enough. (You would not need to be there
right at 4pm; coming in later in the afternoon would be fine.) 

The location would be Computer Recycling, at 66 Queen Street South in
Kitchener.

If you are interested then please RSVP. This helps me get a sense of
how many tools we need, and lets me tell you how to get into the
building. 

Ideally it would be nice to have five or more people participating in
this, but I will probably be present on the 21st regardless. 

If the 21st is bad (or Saturdays are bad) then I am completely open to
scheduling something for a different weekday evening, but you have to
make suggestions for when and we have to make sure we have enough
people RSVPing to make the additional session worthwhile.

- Paul 

-- 
http://pnijjar.freeshell.org