Ask Slashdot: How To Donate Older Computers to Charity?

yanom writes "My school gave me several circa-2006 computers with no operating system. I fixed them up, and now they run Lubuntu fairly well, making them great internet/LibreOffice/general Linux workstations. I've been wanting to donate them to local nonprofits where they'll go to good use — for example, I've already given several to a local church for them to use in their afterschool care/tutoring program. However, I'm having trouble finding other places where these machines could go to good use. How should I best conduct this search? How can I find nonprofits that could benefit from these workstations?"

Recycling a better option

[MetalliQaZ]

With the current state of things, computers and electronics are ubiquitous, cheap, and rapidly evolving. At this point, I consider machines from the era to be essentially trash, even when they can function well enough using your favorite distro. They take up too much space and use too much power, and they struggle to handle the world's new common platform: HTML+CSS+js. They will also accelerate down the slide to obsolescence much faster than newer equipment over an equal period of time.

I feel like dumping those things on charities is just giving them a burden. They may have to spend money to put the machines to use, and they will have to take care of throwing them away soon enough. I say use your energy to find a good recycler so that the metals in those old junkers might be reclaimed for tomorrow's tech.

Re:Install Windows XP

[Nimey]

Fuck that. In about a year WinXP will no longer get security updates, so you'd be handing the recipients a ticking bomb unless they're kept off the Internet.

Install a distro with an easy UI like Mint-MATE and they'll do just fine, really.

Re:2006?

[pixelpusher220]

I did some research on this around Y2K timeframe. My company was throwing away pallets worth of computers that didn't handle the changeover properly. Perfectly functional and usable, but just didn't meet their requirements. I was amazed how many charities didn't want slightly older computers. They listed their minimum specs and

I don't know the reasons but what would realistically be a perfect computer for low income or otherwise disadvantaged people just isn't something even charities are willing to spend the resources to deal with.

A more extreme example would be Africa. There millions of people in Africa who live in modern cities who could use any of the US's castoff computers. But the costs of transporting them make it completely unfeasible to ship them for the worth/value.

Re:2006?

[Grisstle]

"Your kind of thought process is exactly the problem. A P4 system is perfectly usable given the correct software configuration" As a person supporting a not for profit, I wouldn't touch a 7 year old computer and deal with the issues involved. Sorry, we get plenty of 3 year old computers donated or offered regularly so we don't need someones ancient crap. A 7 year old computer brings all the issues of lack of available replacement parts, lack of drivers and poor performance and to boot they usually look like shit. 5 years is the cutoff, I wouldn't touch a computer older than that if I have to support it for day to day use by people who are not me.