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This page (started by Ricardo) is for details of organizations supplying refurbished computers to qualifying institutions (schools, non-profit organizations, CTLC (Community Technology Learning Centres), etc, and any other ways of obtaining computers.
The page also says a little about the software to run on the computers.
Building your own computer from new or old parts  This is an excellent site. Click the 'Learn to Build!' button for a step-by-step guide. The site also has excellent links on the Drivers and Useful-Websites pages.
 http://www.buildyourowncomputer.net/
Lists of Organizations supplying Refurbished Computers
Community Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher (Community MAR) Worldwide
http://www.mar.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/
On the Microsoft CMAR site, you can look for organizations supplying refurbished computers FROM a particular country (UK, USA, Lithuania, etc) and TO a particular country (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, etc).
a) Click on your region (Africa, Asia, etc) on the world map.
b) Select language (English).
c) See the links on the left.
d) Select 'Refurbishers Directory'.
e) Select :-
 i) Search by Refurbishers Location (EMEA area only)
ii) Search by Locations They Supply Computers (Global)
It lists the names, activities and usually an email-address for contact or a website.
Note, for some countries, there are several pages of results (organizations) and you can click the headings to sort the columns alphabetically, by organization name and country/region.
It may take some time to find the supplier with the lowest shipping costs, or any additional features, such as the ability to supply peripherals for free.
One way to find small local refurbishing organizations is to type 'donate computers' into Google for your country (they spend more on adverts to donors than adverts to recipients)...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=donate+computers&meta=
In the UK, this turned up a list at http://www.itforcharities.co.uk/pcs.htm
For charities needing just 1 or 2 PCs, perhaps to take out or send to a developing country, there are also 'matchmaking services' for PC donors and recipients...
http://www.donateapc.org.uk/
Some Organizations supplying Refurbished Computers
A computer refurbishing organization based in Kenya, using many computers from Great Britain and other countries.
http://www.cfsk.org/
Computer Aid International is a charity that takes donations of computers and related equipment in the UK and professionally refurbishes them for re-use in schools, community and non-profit organisations in developing countries. Based in London, England, United Kingdom.
Website: http://www.computeraid.org/
Email: sonia@computeraid.org
To apply for computers, click the top of the Apply for Computers box or go to http://www.computeraid.org/apply for computers.htm . See the buttons on the right, including...
Apply for computers online.
Technical specs
Full container
Sample costings
The computers are FREE, but someone has to pay for the shipping costs, either the recipient or a donor (individual, NGO or perhaps a European/North American charity).
The sample costings page says that the shipping cost-per-computer reduces as you order larger quantities.
For example, for Kenya...
- 10 computers = £800 total or £80 per PC.
- 50 computers = £3,385 total or £68 per PC.
- 100 computers = £5,815 total or £58 per PC.
- 225 computers (20ft container) = £10,720 total or £48 per PC.
- 450 computers (40ft container) = £22,665 total or £46 per PC.
Computer Aid International only has desktop computers, not laptops, at the moment (Oct 2007), but please check their website.
They can ship out peripherals (printers, etc), but they have to buy them from other organizations, so a donor or the recipient has to pay for them. It may be worth doing, because the price in the UK, USA, etc, may be lower than the recipient country (Kenya, etc) and the peripherals can be shipped out in the same container.
They wipe the hard disk and can install Windows XP for £5 GBP or $10 US, or free Linux, for qualifying recipients (schools, NGOs, etc).
This is the only refurbishing organization listed for Lithuania, where AndriusKulikauskas lives.
Mission: To accept the donated, used, essentially intact PCs and other peripherals not older than 5 years and to refurbish those for a use of new owner. Refurbishing works includes cleaning, clearing of data and software, repairing and if necessary upgrading these.
Location: Vilnius, Senamiestis, Lithuania
Website: http://www.vgtvpm.lt/ (select language ENG, LIT, GER, RUS).
Email: See contact addresses page - pavaduotojas@vgtvpm.vilnius.lm.lt
Additional expenses and information The recipient or donor who pays for shipping needs to check the website of the refurbisher carefully, to see if there are any additional expenses. For example, does the recipient or donor have to pay additonal import-duty or handling fees at the docks when the computers arrive in their country or pay for transport from the docks.
Who arranges road-transport from the docks and takes care of the paperwork, customs-declarations, etc?
Who needs to know the contact details of the recipient (refurbisher, donor, customs, shipping company, road-transport company, etc)?
This is a program where Microsoft support various non-profit organizations who are training people in ICT (Information and Communication technology). In other words, basic computing and the internet, using subsidized, very low cost or free Microsoft Software (Internet Explorer, MS Office, etc), plus training and support, websites, etc.
See http://www.microsoft.com/emerging/default.mspx
They say they focus on :-
If you need a room-full of computers, for training or an internet-cafe, then one cheap way of doing it is to set up a network with one powerful Server Computer and 10 or 20 old cheap 'Thin-Client' computers + screen/mouse/keyboard for the users.
The server computer needs to be a modern, reasonably-powerful computer. It can run free software, such as Linux/Apache. The client-computers need very little processing power or software, since they are just terminals onto the server. The multi-tasking/multi-user server makes it look like each user has a computer of their own. All the application-programs run on the server, such as Web-browsers, Word Processors, Photo-Editors, etc.
Data-files created by the users are stored on the server, in their own account areas, protected by password.
It also make administration easier, since every 'virtual computer' is the same and configuration is done on one server, not by going to each client-computer.
Ideally, the client machines should be the same type and specification, but you could use a whole assortment of old computers, perhaps free refurbished ones or bought second-hand in Europe/USA/eBay, costing no more than £30 GBP or $60 USD. Some old games machines, such as a Playstation 1, can run Linux and use a TV Monitor.
See how the Wizzy Digital Courier project does it :-
http://www.wizzydigital.org/how_dont_have_computers.html
You can download CD images from their website and burn them to CD. You can use these to scrub the hard disk of each old client-computers and install their software.
There are plenty of alternative ways of setting up a thin-client network, with different software.
Most ICT Training requires a web-browser and the standard office applications, plus perhaps a photo-editor.
You may be able to get Microsoft Office (Word Processor, Excel Spreadsheet, Access Database, Powerpoint, etc) from the refurbisher who supplies your computers, or by joining the Microsoft 'Unlimited Potential Program' for training people in ICT (Information and Communication technology), like SamwelKongere is doing in Kenya.
There is plenty of FOSS Free Open-Source Software available on the internet, for you to download, or someone could download it and send it on CD/DVD. There is software for both Microsoft Windows and Linux.
For example :-
Open Office (like MS Office, but free) - For MS Windows/Linux. Read/writes .doc files, etc.
http://www.openoffice.org/
30 Essential Pieces Of Free (and Open) Software for Windows.
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/12/01/30-essential-pieces-of-free-and-open-software-for-windows/
Some of the 30 links are out-of-date and don't work, so search for the software title with Google to find the website. For example, GIMPShop (a free photo-editor, like Photoshop) is now at http://www.gimpshop.com/
If you use Linux, the Ubuntu version of Linux is supposed to be the easist for beginners to install and use. The distribution disk comes with the operating system, web-browser and a great collection of applications, and an installation program. It takes only half an hour or so to install and be up and running. See http://www.ubuntu.com/ for how to get disks or disk-image files.
Also, just search for 'FOSS' or 'open source 'software' or 'freeware' with Google. The majority of sites relate to Linux software, but some are for MS Windows and Apple Macintosh OS X, etc.
The most popular programs usually have a Wikipedia page to describe them. For example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop
Administration Software for a room full of computers You may be using the computers for ICT Training, or school-work or an internet cafe. In any case, if you search with Google for 'internet cafe software' it turns up many websites for software to administer an internet cafe. This can also be used for general network administration.
See http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=internet+cafe+software&meta=
Typically, it includes features for :-
- Setting-up/Administering user-accounts and passwords.
- Limiting the time and bandwidth used by each user, so they don't slow down the internet-connection for everyone.
- Billing Customers, by the hour or kilobyte.
- Charging for printing, scanning, photocopying, etc.
- Virus checking for hard-disks and downloaded files.
- Blocking access to illegal/inappropriate websites.
- Blocking file-downloads or peer-to-peer file sharing.
- Installing/removing/configuring software.
- Setting-up and Administering Wi-Fi Hotspots.
- etc.
If you look at the feature-sets for 2 or 3 different makes of 'internet cafe software', you'll soon know the full list of features.
A typical example is Cafe Suite http://cafesuite.net/
Look at the pricing for server and client software licenses and check whether it is a one-time purchase-price or per year, and are some features extra.
You can then decide whether to buy commercial software or look for Free Open Source Software to do the same thing.
In addition to internet cafe software, you may need some specialised software, if you want to use the computers for a wi-fi hotspot, where people can use their own laptops, indoors or outdoors. A Google search for 'wi-fi hotspot software' turns up several websites.
FirstSpot - Cmmercial Wi-Fi Hotspot management software For example, see http://www.patronsoft.com/firstspot/
The PatronSoft website says FirstSpot® is 'The number one Windows-based hotspot software in the world'. Please take a look at the features comparison list to see what a fully-featured commercial program includes. Free software may not include all of them. However, it isn't cheap, so look at the alternatives.
2Hotspot.com - FREE Wi-Fi Hotspot and Community Wi-Fi Software
See http://www.2hotspot.com/ - FREE Wi-Fi Hotspot Software for a...
I stumbled across this the other day. According to the website, it lets you turn your PC into a Wi-Fi Hotspot in 10 minutes. It's for Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2003, or Windows 2000.
You can also use your PC and the 2Hotspot software as the basis of a
Community Wi-Fi System, either local or linked to the internet, provided your Internet Service Provider (ISP) allows you to share your connection. Not all of them allow it.
See the Help file for an explanation of what it does...
http://www.2hotspot.com/online-help/default.htm
The home page also says that you can 'Create Local Wireless Communities'.
Note that this is WITH or WITHOUT an internet-connection. So, in an isolated area in a developing country, you could set up a large local Wi-Fi system with all sorts of local communication, email, sharing of files, an electronic library, and for access to LOCAL WEBSITES on computers, without needing an expensive internet-connection.
A local website would be just a local collection of HTML web-pages, etc, residing on the hard-disk of a local server-computer, somewhere on the Community Wi-Fi Network (or more than one server). This should be left on all the time, for other people to access.
A website could be an HTML home-page, sub-pages and JPEG pictures, with links to free programs, sound/video files, eBooks, documents, articles, leaflet, etc. The local websites can have hypertext links to each other, just like the internet or an isolated office intra-net (an internal wired Ethernet/Wi-Fi network for company use).
There are lots of benefits of even a purely local wi-fi system. It would allow people to produce and share a lot of local content, in local languages, not just English, on subjects they care about. Sites would support local organizations and projects, schools, businesse, local government, health-centres, etc, support email and news, and provide an electronic local library. Copies of the sites could be uploaded to the internet for anyone to access or shared on CD/DVD/Flash Drive with other people/groups/networks in the area, who speak the same language.
A local network can be used for the same things as the internet; discussion forums, VOIP telephony, video-phones, streaming radio/TV stations, photo/video/sound-podcast sharing, CBT Computer Based Training, online applications, website development, software development, artistic/creative uses, etc.
The Wi-Fi network could also have mirror-copies of internet websites. To avoid problems with copyright, they could be copies of public-domain internet websites, copyright websites used with the owners permission, NGO sites, or our own Mendenyo/Worknets/Minciu Sodas members sites. They could be loaded/updated/synchronised from CD/DVD/Flash-Drive, or from somewhere nearby with internet-access or sent/received by mail/airmail.
There are 2 ways to do this :-
1. Via HTTP-access
Web-server software is set up on 1 server computer. Users then access websites in the same way as the internet (from their own computer or public access-points).
They use a local search-engine and favorites/bookmarks pointing to web-addresses in the form...
http://www.healthcentrefolder.org/index.htm
http://www.electroniclibrary.org/index.htm
An Email Server is set up to handle local email and direct it to the right person, like a postal mail system.
A DNS Domain Name System server is set up to translate hostnames (the address of a website in the form http://www.healthcentrefolder.org) to IP addresses (in the form http://192.111.222.333/ which identify a physical computer).
2. As files on a shared network disk drive
Set up a shared disk drive, such as Drive X:, on 1 server computer. Users then access websites like files on their own hard-disk (from their own computer or public access-points).
They use a local search-engine (free open-source software) and favorites/bookmarks pointing to file-addresses in the form...
X:\healthcentrefolder\index.htm
X:\healthcentrefolder\help.htm
X:\healthcentrefolder\contactus.htm
X:\electroniclibrary\index.htm
X:\electroniclibrary\books\titles.htm
X:\electroniclibrary\books\howtostartabusiness.pdf
People use an ordinary web-browser to access the websites, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. The address bar shows either...
http://www.healthcentrefolder.org/index.htm
X:\healthcentrefolder\index.htm
People can access the websites via a shared public access-point computer. For Wi-Fi systems, they can use their own Wi-Fi Laptop or a Desktop computer with a plug-in Wi-Fi adaptor.
People can click on download-buttons/links on the websites, to download documents, eBooks, sound, video, etc. They can use online forms to post information. Downloaded files can be taken away on Flash Drive/Re-writeable CD/DVD to another computer, or copied to MP3 Players, Video Media Players, etc.
For email, since the machines are shared, it's best to use a local 'web-based' system, using web-pages, instead of a stand-alone program like Microsoft Outlook. This avoids storing confidential emails on the hard-disk of the access-point computer.
SamwelKongere and I are looking at whether to use Wi-Fi equipment and administration software from Meraki (a Google-backed company), so we may not need any additional wi-fi admin software.
See http://meraki.com/ Their indoor/outdoor and mains and solar-powered wi-fi repeaters are cheap and easy to use ($49 and $99), and configure themselves automatically into a network. I emailed them and they said that anyone can order by credit card and have the equipment shipped from the USA to Kenya. The company and the repeaters are specifically designed for Community Wi-Fi Networks.
The system ideally needs an internet connection. The sales people say it must have one, but one of the founders of the company says you can use it for an isolated network without internet-access, at a pinch. The supplied antennas cover a radius of 250 meters, but you can link repeaters over 8 Kilometers, using 3rd party, directional antennas. See http://www.streakwave.com/
The Meraki repeater can be bought from the Meraki website store http://meraki.com/ or from any of the resellers (see Store menu, Resellers).
If you've already looked at their website, note that it has been updated recently (October 2007), to include a lot more things, so it's worth looking at it again. See http://meraki.com/oursolution/editions/ for their Meraki Standard, Meraki Pro and Meraki Carrier products and services.
How to install your own Meraki Wi-Fi network - a guide from Netequality Netequality, a not-for-profit community Wi-Fi organization have
produced a very good step-by-step guide to planning and installing a
Meraki network.
It's at - http://www.netequality.net/wiki/doku.php
Their main website is at http://www.netequality.net/index.php
I found this on http://www.muniwireless.com/
They have produced a version of the $49 Meraki Mini wi-fi
repeater/gateway that is just a box, plugging into a wall-socket,
with the antenna inside. It's $69. It is designed for apartment
buildings, etc, making it less likely that the antenna will be
damaged and less noticeable to thieves. You need 1 Netequality box
for each 2-4 apartments, 1 standard Meraki mini to connect to an
internet PC via ethernet and an internet account that allows shared-
access, idealy DSL or ADSL.
The users then just use computers with any cheap Wi-Fi adaptor (USB
wi-fi adaptor, PCI card, PCMCIA laptop card, etc).
They recommend using the Indoor version of the repeater, every
couple of buildings, to link up a whole neighbourhood. This provides
better signal indoors and avoids climbing on rooves, cabling,
lightning strikes, etc.
It could be used in developing countries. In the USA at least, the
cost per user would be about $1 per month. The exact cost would
depend on the cost of internet access and the number of users
sharing the network.
Ricardo
England
Email me for help finding refurbishing organizations If you can't find the resources you're looking for, please email me and I'll see if I can find some.
ricardoolpc@yahoo.co.uk
Thu, 19 Feb 09 19:39:26 +0000 baraza felix: help us find computer aid donors,please.
email me:humanities.cdi@gmail.com
Mon, 09 Mar 09 19:12:06 +0000 Bambi Ybarra: Im interesred in this progra. I am a 501(c)3 abuse prevention. RAPPS Rural Area Parenting Program. Parenting classses, anger management & Batterers Intervention, tobaccos awarenees.
I've emailed similar answers to baraza and bambi for where to obtain some refurbished PCs...
Here's some general information. Microsoft have a 'Microsoft Authorised Refurbishers" programme. It's an online list of organisations that supply refurbished PCs to different countries around the world. It includes developing countries and the industrialised countries of North America and Europe, etc.
If you go to this page, you can select your country to see a list of refurbishing organisations that supply PCs to your country.
The list includes columns for the name of the refurbishing organisation, what types of organisation they will supply PCs to (schools, NGOs, charities, etc), what countries they supply PCs to, etc. Each organisation in the list has an email address as the only contact details (no website address), so you'll have to email them for more details.
http://www.mar.partners.extranet.microsoft.com/default.aspx
As well as keeping the list, Microsoft Ltd support the recipient-organisations of PCs (schools, NGOs, etc) in developing countries by providing cheap or free Microsoft software, such as Windows Operating Systems, MS Office, etc, for learning basic ICT skills.
See their Microsoft Unlimited Potential page for more details of software.
http://www.microsoft.com/unlimitedpotential/default.mspx
Good luck.
Ricardo (from England)
Ricardo March 10, 2009 16:55 CET
Organisations in the USA may also find this Tech Soup page about the Microsoft MAR scheme useful...
http://www.techsoup.org/mar/default.aspx
Ricardo March 10, 2009 16:59 CET
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