Free Geek Robbed

Ellen Wilson writes, "Portland, Oregon, non-profit Free Geek, which turns old PCs into Linux boxen, has been robbed of about $4500 worth of hardware. Portlanders are asked to keep an eye out for suspicious sales of Ubuntu laptops." This blog post has some details of labeling that could help to spot the stolen laptops. BoingBoing picked up the story and added that another local outfit, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, which supports Portland's zine scene, had been hit on the previous night.

Free Geekin'

I've been to there a dozen times looking for old hardware and the place is just awesome. It bites that someone robs them and i hope whoever it is caught. They deserve the book, the largest, to be thrown at them.

Not a book . . .

An old Kaypro. One of those luggables with two full-height 5.25" floppy drives. This is probably the most useful thing you could do with such a system other than breaking it down into raw materials.

The only question would be to aim for the knees or the sol

Kaypro

I love Kaypros, you insensitive clod! Why, I just ran across someone selling one for $20 on craigslist last night.
I was seriously considering buying it. That was one fine luggable CPM Computer !
kaypro for sale [craigslist.org]

I still insist that a Kaypro and an Epson MX-80

Awwww . . .

. . . don't take it personally. I don't actually have a grudge against the machines. In fact, I was going to write "Osbourne" but somehow "Kaypro" seemed funnier.

Also, Osbournes had rounded edges. The Kaypro luggables I remember hard square edges. That wou

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What good does it do to aim four times?
Just fire away, geez.

Re:Not a book . . .

the open source guideline for laptop chucking

aim early, aim often...

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the open source guideline for laptop chucking aim early, aim often...

Shouldn't that be:

"Gaim early, Gaim often..."

I'll get my coat...

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They deserve the book, the largest, to be thrown at them.

Now the question is, who can throw the largest book [cnn.com] far enough to hit them?

Re:Free Geekin'

this is almost enough to make one lose faith in the noble enterprise of burglary.

Business in the US gets robbed

If this doesn't make it on CNN, I am so firing off an email.

Re:Business in the US gets robbed

In other news tonight, Microsoft kingpin Steve Ballmer was arrested in connection with the theft of several thousand dollars worth of laptop PCs configured to run the competing Linux operating system. As he was led away by police, witnesses reported Ballmer saying, "It has to stop somewhere! Won't someone *please* think of the children!" Ballmer then reportedly munbled over and over, "Damned pinguins, damned pinguins," until police took him away.

About 5 years ago I was robbed

I was playing in a band and we went on tour. We stopped in Birmingham, Alabama. After we played we were waiting for the follow up bands to finish and someone broke into our van and stole my laptop and someone else's laptop. They stole 2 of our cell phones too. I figured wtf, I'll call one of them. The robbers actually answered the phone and after about 30 minutes we convinced them to bring us the laptops back. We met in a dark alley and walked slowly with our hands in the air while on the phones to each other. I held up a couple 20's with some 1's and we did the swap. When I booted my laptop, it went into recovery mode as though someone turned it on, saw the linux boot up screen and thought, "wtf is this crap?! Jeez... I can't sell this... Hmm... the phone is ringing." and decided to try to get money for the crazy system from the owner.

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You agreed to meet a burglar in a dark alley? That sounds insane.

Re:About 5 years ago I was robbed

walked slowly with our hands in the air

Did you then wave them around like you just didn't care?

There's only one reply possible to that...

Yo geeky ladies around the world

Got a wired box to show you

To telnet the boys and girls

Shell your brother, your sister and your momma too

Windows is going down

And you know what just to do

Wave your RAM in the air like you don't care

Run Glide with your games

Linux not ready for prime time

When I booted my laptop, it went into recovery mode as though someone turned it on, saw the linux boot up screen and thought, "wtf is this crap?! Jeez... I can't sell this...

Nine out of ten thieves agree, Linux is not ready for prime time.

Uh.

"suspicious sales of Ubuntu laptops"

So, ANY sales of Ubuntu laptops?

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Commoner: What is the Ubumtoo?

Boxen Is Not A Word

"Portland, Oregon, non-profit Free Geek, which turns old PCs into Linux boxen

Please stop using this boxen word. There is no such thing is boxen. The plural of box is boxes.

This madness must stop. Anytime somebody says boxen in real life to me gets a pu

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boxen boxen boxen boxen

Personally, I think it's an imminently useable colloquialism.

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Cute. You think it's an impending or threateningly useable neologism?

    Now I can't decide whether you had a good point or not.

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boxen - made of boxwood.....

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Boxen [thefreedictionary.com]

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It's been explained before in previous Slashdot articles, but here it is again. The word "boxen" comes from a Brian Regan stand-up comedy bit on his Live CD.

Re:Boxen Is Not A Word

Oh, it's quite a bit older than 1997.

I remember using the term back in the early 80s, so it was around before then (i.e., I didn't invent it, either.)

My guess is it derives from "vaxen" which is, of course, the plural of VAX, one of the most popular computer systems in universities in the 70s. Although, now that I think about it, vaxen probably derived from boxen, not the other way around, so the term is likely from even earlier.

It's a rather obvious derivation:
ox --> oxen
box --> boxen
Makes sense to me.

Re:Boxen Is Not A Word

Please stop using this boxen word. There is no such thing is boxen.

Allowing new words to the language embiggens us all. Besides that, it's a perfectly cromulent word.

Re:Boxen Is Not A Word

And I think that a burglar burgles, but that won't stop talk of 'burglarizing'. Some groups of people use language that other groups consider incorrect, no need get all uppity about it.

Re:Boxen Is Not A Word

Oh, dear! It's a good thing that you're probably too young to remember the vaxen. They might have driven you to violence.

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Quit complaining or I'll infect you with some virii I got from an ATM machine when I entered you're PIN number wrong.

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It begs the question: Is this worth loosing you're temper over this?

Re:Boxen Is Not A Word

I often wonder whether the person who coined the term "neologism" did so with a twinge of guilty pleasure.

But then that's probably just me.

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Or how about, anybody who wants language to stand frozen in time needs a punch in the face.

Sounds like burglary

Burglarized [wikipedia.org], not robbed [wikipedia.org].

Really eager to use Ubuntu

These guys must have been so eager to use Ubuntu that they couldn't wait long enough to download and burn their own copy or order one in the mail. While I admire their enthusiasm over Linux, I can't condone stealing stealing a copy.

Don't get me wrong

Don't get me wrong, I think the scumbags who did this should be lined up against a wall and shot.

I also think that giving computers away to needy people is admirable.

But don't you think the folks at FreeGeek doing sort of a disservice to those they give

teaching a man to fish

Hi there,

I do volunteer work at FreeGeek. I teach the command line class once a week.

Freegeek does more than just hand out boxes. They teach people how to make the boxes. They teach people how to use the boxes. They empower people to fix their own stuff.

They're not always successful mind you. It's still a wonderful endeavor.

Right here I'd insert a "Teach a man to fish" line... but you get the idea.

-Tony

Re:teaching a man to fish

You mean like: Give a man a Linux box and he'll be confused for a day; Teach a man Linux and he'll be confused for the rest of his life?

I kid, of course... ;)

Re:Don't get me wrong

But don't you think the folks at FreeGeek doing sort of a disservice to those they give computers to? Linux is not the easiest to learn, and once it is learned the skills are only applicable to less than 5 percent of all computers.

Firstly, they seem to mostly give machines to non-profits and their volunteers. Secondly, they train their volunteers in using the software as well as how to build a machine from parts. Also, those skills will be useful on a computer the volunteer now owns which could not happen without this program (or something like it). The more people who are turned on to Free software, the more people will know how to use it and the more useful the skills become.

Your post reminds me of teachers I had in high school who had the mentality that we were "just kids" who couldn't be expected to learn without being forcefed. Poor does not equal stupid; give people the opportunity to learn and they will surprise you.

Re:Don't get me wrong

It is too bad you got graded a troll, but this is an honest question:

First off, we use Linux because it is the only possibility. Free Geek distributes over 100 computers a month. All of these have Ubuntu and Open Office (and many other programs) on them. How much would Windows XP and Microsoft Office cost to license for each computer? 500 dollars each? That would add up to 50,000 dollars a month. Free Geek doesn't have 50,000 dollars a month, period, and if we did, we probably wouldn't choose to spend it on software license fees. It could also be possible, I suppose, to beg for some sort of non-profit site license, but that would require a very strict accounting procedure. At Free Geek, the operating system is installed over the network. To install Windows, we would have to move to installing from master CDs, which we would then have to keep under lock and key, and keep a strict tallying of where systems were going. In addition, while the situation with hardware at Free Geek isn't what it used to be (the original system specs were for medium range Pentium-Is, which could only support Debian), it is also true that Ubuntu runs on our available hardware the way any Windows Operating System couldn't. Next year, we will probably be sending out systems around a Gigahertz with 256 Megs of RAM...something that Windows Vista will almost certainly not run well on.

Second, even if somehow Microsoft said we could put out as many computers as we wanted for free, I have never seen evidence that Windows is intrinsically simpler than Linux. Yes, people are used to it. But it is not like there is some awesomely hard concepts that Ubuntu Linux throws on the average user that Windows does not. Yes, working in command line is hard (but not something that I haven't taught dozens of people to do in a half hour or so), but on a modern distribution, you are only working on the command line for certain special uses. The things that you are going to fix on the command line are not things you are going to easily fix in Windows, either. Anyway, I have seen many people, many of them quite marginal in terms of education and past experience, pick up the simpler side of Linux in a few hours. I have also taught dozens or hundreds of people,from the age of 12 to the age of 82, many with no computer experience, how to take apart and rebuild computers, and how to install and use Linux on it. Yes, some people still prefer Windows afterwards, but I have yet to see a gigantic reaction of shocked incomprehensibility to Linux. It does take some effort to learn, but it isn't impossible.

Basically, the only real reason people change over to Windows from a Free Geek computer is to play games.

Teaching 'recipies' is disempowering.

Linux is not the easiest to learn, and once it is learned the skills are only applicable to less than 5 percent of all computers.

This is not true, but unfortunately it's a fairly common line of thinking. Although the parent comment was quickly modded "Troll" here on Slashdot, it would probably be taken quite seriously at a local PTA meeting. (Actually, come to think of it, pretty much everything that gets said in local town meetings ought to qualify for '-1 Flamebait'...but I digress.)

A whole lot -- practically all -- basic computer skills are platform-independent and interchangeable. If you're trying to teach someone who's never used a computer much before, and you're teaching skills that are very specific to one OS, you're doing something wrong. The basic concepts of computers today are widespread: the "desktop metaphor" with folders/documents arranged in hierarchies, use of the mouse to open/close/arrange windows, use of a browser to access the WWW, basic email concepts -- all of those things are the same, whether you're using a Mac, or Windows, or KDE, or Gnome (or even something more exotic). Heck, most mainstream OSes these days even have more similarities: a program-launcher bar at the bottom of the screen (in some form or another) is pretty common, as are the File and Edit menus, and Cut/Copy/Paste.

There really isn't much diversity anymore in computer operating systems, at least not in the major Linux GUIs, plus Mac and Windows. The differences are mostly either technical or trivial (mounted disks on desktop vs. in "My Computer," icons on left of screen or right, etc.). A person with a good set of basic skills, ought to be able to accomplish basic tasks on an already set-up system running either OS.

Teaching someone mindless procedural 'recipes' that allow them to do a task, without any conceptual understanding of what they're doing along the way, is really doing them a disservice. Telling someone "this is how you check email," and making them memorize some steps, which will stop working and leave them stranded with the next OS upgrade or interface change, is truly disempowering.

IMO, all basic computer classes, particularly those aimed at children, should be taught using computers that have a non-standard GUI and OS (which would follow conventionally accepted metaphors and design principles, but not be carbon copies of systems they might have already seen), to encourage critical thinking rather than mere procedural memorization and repetition.

I'll help

I'm in Portland, and when I'm not at work I could easily be mistaken for a criminal (I look like a skater). I'm going to call up some of my more unscrupulous friends (I went to an inner city high school) and see if anyone knows where to find a 'cheap' laptop.

I think checking CraigsList and eBay can be helpful, although I've never had much luck with eBay. A friend of mine found his laptop on CraigsList and contacted the seller to buy it. Once he had met the individual, he was able to 'persuade' the individual into to giving it back.

I can't stand thieves in the first place, but from FreeGeek? That's low.

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"I can't stand thieves in the first place, but from FreeGeek? That's low."

I know, I mean I can't stand a thief without a Code of Ethics.

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I'm in Portland, and when I'm not at work I could easily be mistaken for a criminal (I look like a skater).

I think everything after your third word was redundant... "I'm in Portland" pretty much implies the rest :-)

But yeah, it's pretty low stealing from F

Has any thought been given to.......

..... Slashdot readers picking up the slack by donating PC's or donating money? I'm guessing that this organization could use the help.

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My Kubuntu laptop is dah bomb.

Sony batteries, after all.

What's a zine?

It's sort of like a paper blog.....

Re:Not to disagree too much

Some guys actually try to create open source hardware.
A graphics card:
http://wiki.duskglow.com/tiki-index.php?page=Open- Graphics [duskglow.com]
Various Open Source processors:
http://www.opencores.org/ [opencores.org]

Of course their efforts are somewhat hampered by the fact that chip manufacturing equipment is awfully expensive. If you could buy a Star Trek style replicator for the price of a PC, I guess we would see a lot more free hardware.

Re:

You'd be surprised. I'm a staffer at FreeGeek Chicago, and when we first started up about a year ago, we had a guy from the neighborhood come around and demand that we sell him some busted up P1 laptops from our store of equipment. His plan was to load the

Re:20 hours for a used PC?

I just wonder how many people are willing to do 20 hours for something that would only require half that number of hours to buy outright in an average-wage job. Do you get a lot of takers?

You're making the mistake of assuming that earned income = disposable income. Many of our volunteers are there because that $50 they *could* spend to get one of our computer systems has to go towards putting food on the table, paying rent, and so on instead; saving up such an amount of money could take weeks, and it still means parting with hard-earned cash.

The volunteer labor isn't of the unpleasant "scrub the toilets, sawdust pools of vomit" variety at all. We teach our volunteers the basics of how computers work, starting with identifying each component and explaining how it all works together. Then we put them in tear down, where they remove most components from to-spec machines (or strip under-spec machines to bare metal), sort components into bins for subsequent testing, and put scrap plastic and metal aside for recycling. This process is supervised by a staff member, and everybody seems to enjoy it: taking imposing devices apart seems pretty cathartic to most of the folks who partake in the workflow, and they seem to like asking questions about why various components look different and function differently. After this, they get moved into testing, where they plug components into known working hardware and use our pre-determined testing procedures and separate the good from the bad (which, of course, also get recycled). Phase three is where they plug known working components together in a case and then proceed to install the operating system, with our help. We also teach them how to use the machine and offer free walk-in support if they encounter any problems. Nobody is stuck in a given process for any particular number of hours: rather, we let people do what they like doing most, but of course encourage them to do everything and learn as much as possible.

If you think all that's not worth 20 hours, that's your business. There are plenty of people who believe otherwise, and we welcome their presence, questions, and curiosity.

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Time for you tell them firefox boys to get a real dictionary then.

>$ dict boxen

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

Boxen \Box"en\ (b[o^]ks"'n), a.

Re:Applying logic seen on Slashdot

It should be noted that Free Geek does have pretty tight security, to an extant that most people, even most people who spend lots of time there, don't know about.

Two points: first, in five years, large scale breaches of security have not been common.

Second, as much as there was stuff taken, there was a lot more valuable stuff not taken, due to security measures that you will have to guess at.