Overview
(photo by Expert Reviews, https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/)
Our objective
To provide an Apple computer with modern software to families with children in our community, at low cost, with possible subsidies. This will assist with the educational opportunities and in acquiring additional computer skills.
The program
COVID-19 has placed us all in our homes much more than we ever anticipated. In many cases family income has been drastically reduced. With the assistance of Salida Sunrise Rotary we believe we can help families acquire a computer for family purposes. School-aged children already get chromebooks from the School District, but those do not address the needs of pre-K children or parents who could use them to further their education.
The computers and software
We acquire older Apple iMac computers, of the 2009-2012 vintage. They have a small footprint, and the monitor and CPU are integrated.
These computers are wiped clean, and set up with an open-source modern lightweight operating system called Lubuntu. This operating system is very lean and it makes these older computers run much faster than the Windows or Apple OS/X operating systems. Linux has so far been virus- and malware-free.
There is a lot of software available for Linux systems. These computers come with some pre-installed:
- Firefox and Chrome browsers
- LibreOffice (an open-source Microsoft Office clone)
- Zoom and Skype for video conferencing
- and much, much more...