Last week was our campus-wide electronic waste collection drive, with several drop-off sites set up around the university. Needing a few parts for some hacking projects I have in mind (for one previous example, see here), I decided to browse the e-waste items that had been dropped off. There is also a regular e-waste recycling depot in my building, which I have started checking out more regularly. Hey, if dumpster diving for electronics is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.
You wouldn’t believe the things some people throw away. Most notable (aside from a wireless keyboard and mouse set still in the original box) are what I am calling FIFEs, computers that are Free, Intact, and Fast Enough. Operationally, I am setting a minimum cut-off of Pentium 4, which is what I still have in my office at work. In the past week, I have found two FIFEs — Pentium 4, 160Gb HDD, 1Gb RAM, LCD monitor, etc. I have taken them back to my office, cleaned them up, formatted the hard drives, and started installing software.
As a follow-up to my previous post about free science software, I am trying a little experiment in putting together a 100% free desktop computer that can be used by undergraduate research students in my lab. The first step is to find a FIFE, then to install a free operating system like Ubuntu, and then to install the various free office, stats, graphing, imaging, web, and other necessary software.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have you used Ubuntu much? There is some specific ABI software that I need to run, but don’t have a Ubuntu machine here to test it on.
The other jim(Quote)
Haven’t used Ubuntu much. It’s clear that I’ll have to learn some new things to use it effectively. Might depend on time availability.
T. Ryan Gregory(Quote)
Very cool, can’t wait to see how this resolves. In the next few months in our lab, I think we’re going to be trying to put together a cluster from others’ e-waste… :)
Nick Gardner(Quote)
So far, so good. The two PCs I picked up have been formatted and I have installed a bunch of software. They’re pretty much ready to go, and I think I will keep one in my lab and give one to a colleague who needs one for undergrad students. I decided to put XP on them because Ubuntu is a bit too hard to use for noobs (which includes me). Still, a Pentium 4 with 1 Gb of RAM, two hard drives (160Gb and 80Gb), and a flatscreen LCD is pretty good for $0.
T. Ryan Gregory(Quote)
One desktop is now in an office for use by undergrads, and the other I gave to a colleague for her students to use. Both seem to work just fine. Next: playing with setting up a “hackintosh” just to see if it works.
T. Ryan Gregory(Quote)