[NTLUG:Discuss] DFWUUG NDN Outreach

[Alvin Goats]

I got  a message offline from a member of NTLUG asking about the DFWUUG 
NDN Outreach project, so here goes:

A couple of years ago, I was asked by the Native American Indian 
community if we could help them with computer literacy and math and 
science mentoring or tutoring.  At the same time, I had members of the 
DFWUUG Career SIG dealing with the old catch 22 where of needing x years 
of experience, but you can't experience without having the job. The 
answer for both: volunteer! Recruiters can leverage time doing volunteer 
work as equivalent years of experience, mentoring is a major plus on 
your resume and the NDN community gets the help they asked for.

That's the basis of what is going on. What we are doing and have done:

We have collected computers from various sources and are 
rebuilding/refurbing them with Kubuntu 8.04.1 installs. We have two 
servers built up with the complete Ubuntu repository which I sneakernet  
with another PC running Kubuntu. We are working on a 20 PC classroom for 
the Dallas Indian United Methodist Church which is a location we can use 
for mentoring and the Church can use the PC's for Bible classes as well 
as increasing computer literacy.

IF the NDN community comes and helps, the individuals can set up 5 PC's 
and keep the 6th one for themselves. The older crowd hasn't come out 
much, but we have a 14 year old boy who is working hard to get a PC.

IF there is interest from the NTLUG about what we are doing and have a 
desire to join in on the project, post back and I'll keep everyone 
informed.

We are currently scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday December 6 and 
December 13 from 9:00AM to 4:00PM to work on the PC's at the church at 
1505 Hollywood, just off of Hampton and Clarendon in Oak Cliff. We have 
need of laptop hard drives of 6G or larger as well as PC100/133 and DDR 
memory, and additional hard drives and CD-ROM's. The FBI was generous 
and gave us 15 laptops and 13 desktop PC's without HD (for obvious 
reasons). We need mice and keyboards as well.

Alvin Goats
President, DFWUUG