Laptop FAQ
Q: What kind of hardware do you use?
A: We use what is donated. We are at the mercy of people's generosity. In general, we hope that people will donate newer machines with greater power but we can work with older devices.
Q: Is it only laptops?
A: No. We find our end users, often children, are most comfortable with laptops but we don't draw the line.
Q: What do you do?
A: We delete all old information on the computer and install a clean version of a new operating system. Usually we choose an OS that is less demanding so older hardware can keep up. It may not be able to play the latest games or deliver a slick presentation, but it is usually more than adequate for many daily tasks like writing papers, answering email or creating basic documents.
Q: Which operating system?
A: We use several different versions of Linux including Ubuntu, Mint and ChromeOS. We find that many people are already familiar with the simplicity of ChromeOS because Chromebooks are fairly common already.
Q: Is ChromeOS most popular?
A: At this point.
Q: How do you use ChromeOS? Do you work with Google?
A: Not directly. Google distributes most of the ChromeOS and the Chrome browser through open source licenses. A company called Neverware bundles these together and makes it easier to install. We use their installer.
Q: Is it free?
A: Neverware makes their distribution free for home use. So any students and teachers can use their versions there without charge. They also sell more sophisticated versions that include some of the tools that schools may want to use to guide instruction when the computers are used in classes.
Q: Do you provide support?
A: Not directly but we point users to the online fora that can do a much better job of answering questions and solving issues. We wish we could do everything, but simply providing free machines is a challenge in itself.
Q: Can you list some support web sites?
A: Here are some major sites:
- Log in to post comments