Not to steal thunder (or parts!) from either of you guys, but thought I'd mention that there's a group of us still interested in getting a Twin Cities branch of Free Geek up & running, so that we can do essentially what you're doing (refurbishing old machines, loading free OSes on them, and getting them out to people who couldn't otherwise afford them) -- right now, we're affiliated with Open Circuit, so you can check out their website ( http://tcopencircuit.org) or e-mail list ( http://lists.tcopencircuit.org/listinfo.cgi/opencircuit-tcopencircuit.org) As for your problem of imaging identical machines, you might try partimage: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=287522 Or, if you're really adventurous, look up TCLUG's "Ghetto Ghost" thread from way-back-when. ;) Cheers, Brian D. On 11/21/07, Pete <teeahr1 at gmail.com> wrote: > > I'll jump in on this thread too, not to steal Bryan's thunder or > anything. I am *always* looking for parts in whatever condition; I build > Frankenputers and sell or barter them (mostly here in south Mpls) to > lower-income folks, usually with Ubuntu on them just because I like to keep > them all on a mostly unified platform, but sometimes I go with DSL or > straight Debian depending on the condition of the hardware. If you've seen > the Guerrilla Tech Support fliers at the bus shelter or the coffee shop, I > am he. > > What I need now: > RAM, always, from 64Mb on up. I am always short of memory. > Speakers > Any video cards I can lay my hands on regardless of how old they are, to > take some of the load of these old CPUs > MORE RAM > And anything else you got. > > Also and especially, I am always looking for technical assistance. I > consider myself an "advanced user," and do this because I think it's a good > thing to do and nobody's doing it. Frankly, I'm better with the people than > I am with the machines. I'm learning a lot as I go here. (For instance, > right now I am trying to come up with an elegant solution for making 10 > identical Ubuntu installs for 10 identical Dell business desktops. I don't > have a clue, but I'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure.) > > I never know how to close a letter, > Pete > > On 11/20/07, Josh Trutwin <josh at trutwins.homeip.net > wrote: > > > > On Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:32:54 -0600 > > "Bryan Zimmer" < bryzimmer at gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > I am an old computer geek (48 years old) who has been Linuxing for > > > many = years. I also use a more widely-used Windowing Operating > > > system, and = used to run internet servers in a public domain (mail > > > server, name = servers, apache, etc) for my own company. > > > > <snip> > > > > Bryan - I have the following: > > > > (I'm CC'in the whole list in case anyone else is interested if > > you're not - I'll give you first dibs) > > > > 3 PII (MAYBE P1 but I'm almost positive they are PII) Compaq (I think) > > computers - should be fully functional. My wife used them last year > > in a little computer lab she made at her school, but has since > > switched jobs and has no need for em. I also have a couple other > > PI/PII CPU's gathering dust. > > > > 4 working CRT monitors (all 17 inch I believe) - needs some Endust. > > > > An old Lexmark printer that my parent's upgraded - should still work > > though my son may have pulled apart the paper tray. :) > > > > An old Visioneer Scanner - should still work but may need a little > > TLC. > > > > 3 keyboards > > > > Various other odds and ends - old Cisco 978 router - KVM switch I > > never found a use for. I think I even have a 512M stick of some kind > > of memory. > > > > I'm looking to get rid of this stuff though, no charge (unless I have > > to drive a long way, then maybe a couple bucks for gas?) I'd love it > > if you (or anyone???) could take the whole lot since I live up by St. > > Cloud (work in Delano). > > > > Josh > > > > _______________________________________________ > > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20071121/871b6674/attachment.htm