Growing Up Free

Once again this year, Free IT Athens will be setting up a booth at the 2010 Southeast Linux Conference in Spartanburg, SC. The date is set for June 12-13 at the Marriott at Renaissance Park.  Anyone interested can register now at:  http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org View ways to get there here:  http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org/node/71 Coordinate carpools and room sharing here:  http://wiki.southeastlinuxfest.org/index.php/Carpools_And_Room_Sharing

We are currently seeking trained volunteers to assist in refurbishing donated computers.  We are also working very hard to solicit new donations from the public and business community for computers and have them ready for sale within the next few weeks.  Unfortunately there is currently a backlog in both hardware and volunteers with hardware experience. If you have any desktop computers you would like to donate to Free IT Athens, please click here for more information. If you would like to help in refurbishing please sign up for the new volunteer orientation by clicking here.

All new Free IT Athens volunteers are required to sign up for our New Volunteer Boot Camp orientation session.  The first session will be around half an hour in length, conducted on Thursday March 25th, 2010 at 6:00 PM in our 594 Oconee Street offices in the Action Inc. Building.  If you cannot make this training session, please contact us and we will schedule you for our next session (TBD) in April.  Thank you. 

Would you like to help install computers in Mexico or Argentina? We are looking for volunteers to help set up several computer labs.

No time? Consider helping out with money for shipping computers.

With help from many of you,we set up our first computer lab in a disadvantaged elementary school in the mountains near Oaxaca, Mexico last June. The project has been a tremendous success. The school has gone from being one of the poorest schools in town to being one of the most sought after. The parents, principal and teachers were all very actively involved. As part of their efforts to build the lab, the school has also gotten a new library as well as an office for the psychologist. (All the kids in the school have one or two parents living away from home.) The parents all chip in a few dollars a month now and they’ve hired a computer teacher. The teachers are delighted at the progress the kids are making not just with the technology but also in areas like writing. As soon as they get internet, they plan to open the lab up to the community in the evenings.

We now have 45 more computers to ship to schools in Mexico. But we don’t have money to ship them.

Please help us get these computers to kids without access to any technology in their lives.

$35-100 will ship a computer. Any size donation will help. You can donate through paypal to donations@kidsoncomputers.org, on our website http://www.kidsoncomputers.org/donate or by sending a check to Kids on Computers. (Email me at stormy -at- kids on computers -dot- org for the address.)

Thanks very much in advance for your help, whether it’s installing computers or helping with shipping. The kids, the parents, the teachers and the community thank you.

Anyone near Atlanta who has equipment to donate to Free IT Athens can do so on Saturday, February 27, from 9am to 5pm, at the new ITT Tech facilities at 485 Oak Place, Atlanta, GA 30349 during the ALE & Source Freedom Linux Fest. For more information on what equipment we can and cannot use, visit our donations page.

Our Qimo artwork was entered by our graphic artist, Brian Hall, into the Polk County Addy Award Competition, a competition to determine the best marketing & design campaigns by local artists over the course of the past year.

 

We are pleased to announce that Qimo won 3 Gold Addy Awards, as well as one Benny Addy Award, signifing that the campaign won Best in Category as well.   The Qimo Campaign won a Gold Addy, the Qimo Logo won a Gold Addy, and the Qimo Illustration won a Gold Addy, as well as the Benny.  We are so proud, and so incredibly blessed to have such a talented artist and marketing design guru in our midst, and we owe a great debt of gratitute to Brian for doing all of our artwork.  

 

Three cheers for Brian Hall, and three cheers for Qimo!!

Qimo just flew into LAX for the Southern California Linux Expo!  We will be giving out Qimo 1.0 CDs, as well as giving a sneak peak at the upcoming Qimo 2.0 on the conference room show floor, so if you're in town come by and see us.

 

 If you're not in L.A. this weekend, you don't have to miss out on all the fun!  We are making a pre-release version of Qimo 2.0 available via BitTorrent for testing by you intrepid explorers.  Download it here!

 

Don't forget to file a bug report if something isn't working, so we can fix it in the final release.

 

AIDS Athens (112 Park Ave. Athens, GA 30601) is in need of some support. They're looking for help with permissions on their network shares. They are open Monday - Wednesday 8a.m. - 5p.m., Thursday 8a.m. -7p.m. and Friday 8a.m. - 2p.m.If you'd like to help them, email freeitathens@gmail.com and we'll put you in touch.

All new Free IT Athens volunteers are required to sign up for our New Volunteer Boot Camp orientation session.  The first session will be around half an hour in length, conducted on Thursday February 25th, 2010 at 6:00 PM in our 594 Oconee Street offices in the Action Inc. Building.  If you cannot make this training session, please contact us and we will schedule you for our next session (TBD) in March.  Thank you. 

Our art for our new friend Illa is ready!!  She'll be able to play in version 2, which should make it's debut in April. 

 

And here she is!!

 

Due to a recent shortage in computer stock, Free IT Athens regrets to inform the Athens-Clarke County community that we currently do not have any desktop computers for sale.  We are currently working very hard to alleviate this problem and hope to have more computers ready for sale within the next few weeks.  We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and will post an update when we have more computers available.  If you would like for us to contact you when one becomes available, you may fill out this form here.  If you have a desktop computer you would like to donate to Free IT Athens, please click here for more information. 

Free IT Athens is holding family trainings starting in February and is coordinating volunteers and trainers. The students of these classes are pre-selected and pre-registered by CCSD and are not open to the public to attend. Trainers from Free IT Athens will introduce laptop computers, Ubuntu, and basic internet skills to several families. So far, there are two training sessions: Feb 17th and 19th, 6pm to 7:30 pm 1 Spanish Speaking Trainer (Confirmed) 1 Spanish Speaking Trainer (Confirmed) 2 Assistant Volunteers (Still Needed) 1 Check Out Volunteers (Confirmed) Feb 24th and 26th, 6pm to 7:30 pm 1 Englisg Speaking Trainer (Pending) 1 English Speaking Trainer (Still Needed) 2 Assistant Volunteers (1 Conffirmed) 1 Check Out Volunteers (Still Needed) Please call Rachel Rotz at 407-435-1497 or email at rachelrotz @ gmail.com for more info and if interested.

Once again this year, Free IT Athens will be setting up a booth at the 2010 Southeast Linux Conference in Spartanburg, SC. The date is set for June 12-13 at the Marriott at Renaissance Park.  Anyone interested can register now at:  http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org View ways to get there here:  http://www.southeastlinuxfest.org/node/71 Coordinate carpools and room sharing here:  http://wiki.southeastlinuxfest.org/index.php/Carpools_And_Room_Sharing

To begin, I am a sucker for having a book recommended to me.  It makes me slightly crazy when someone has read a book I haven’t, tells me how great it was, and then stands there thinking “Don’t you wish you knew what I know?”  This book by Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West was actually recommended by two people simultaneously, and then given to me directly with the express directive to read it ASAP.  So, how could I resist reading it any longer?

Having recently received my undergraduate degree in English, I like to think I have a clever, if not valid, opinion on the literature I come in contact with.  Truth be told, I find that I am easy to please when it comes to fiction, as long as the author has an unique voice and there is at least a bit of artistic merit.  My favorites from school were Wilde, Hemingway, and other beautiful or rugged manly types who were either funny, honest, tormented, or all three.  Maguire seems to be in league with Christopher Moore, another favorite, who likes to use funny, easy to relate to characters, a sprinkle of violence, and just enough sex to make things interesting.  As you must know, Wicked is wildly popular, has it’s own wildly-popular Broadway play, is featured frequently in the wildly-popular TV show Glee…  Anyhow, I had high expectations going into it.

Wicked is slow to begin, although the prologue gave me a taste of what I wanted, which was some grounding of the book as it related to The Wizard of Oz.  There is no way I could have gone into this book separated from the film (which I am quite familiar with) or the book (of which I am a tad less familiar).  However, the author surely expects the reader to have some background in the previous story as to create a base for the ironic humor that Wicked derives from referencing the former.  On the other hand, there is a copious amount of ingenuity in the book, as it generates an entire back story about the sisters Elphaba and Nessarose who later become the wicked witches of the west and east, as well as Galinda (later the well-know Glinda who, in her enormous, sparkling, poofy dress, introduces Dorothy to Oz), and the Wizard himself.  While the story of Dorothy is well-known to those who take up Wicked, it is for the story and journey of the Wicked Witch herself that the readers continue.

The novel seems to have all the aspects of a well-liked book, such as love interest and a bit of sexual intrigue, dastardly political doings in the Emerald City, questions of the self and destiny, good and evil, friendship, family, the soul… honestly, the themes in this book are endless.  It was written well, obviously with a specific audience in mind: those who know the movie and could stand for it to have been a little more naughty.  With more focus on the witch and the story of the history of Oz, the novel uses The Wizard of Oz merely as a starting point, catapulting the tale into a modern, refreshing twist.  Specifically, you do not wish for Dorothy to get what she wants, because she is frankly a little obnoxious.

Good vs. Evil is one of the prominent themes explored in Wicked, with the characters who are considered “good” (Glinda, Nessarose, and Dorothy) to be the ones who fail their subjects, turn their gaze from the corruption in Oz, or are adored for unfounded reasons.  Elphaba, naturally being the “evil” character, does all sorts of good in her own way, such as demanding rights for Animals (or animals with consciousness) and striving to protect Oz from the nefarious Wizard.  While the reader roots for Elphaba,  they find themselves at the same time questioning her lack of motherly feelings towards Liir, most prominently when he is forgotten in the well and nearly dies, and her adultery with Fiyero.  Even with her lack of concern for Liir, the experiments she performs on her monkeys (she’s supposed to love Animals just because they are conscious, I suppose), and her half-way revenge on Madame Morrible, Elphaba shows her humanity with her love for Fiyero and wanting to make good with his widow Sarima.  It’s not so much a “love conquers all” sort of thing, but rather a “everybody loves somebody”, even if they’re green or they have a wife and three children.  You gotta feel for a character whose heart gets broken…

Overall, I really did enjoy this book.  The familiar characters are different than you remember, and the new ones are even better.  Afterward, you may not want to end up in the Emerald City, but you’re willing to give the villain her fair shake.  I can’t wait to jump into Maguire’s follow-up, Son of a Witch, and see what becomes of Liir and the others after the witch’s death.  Oops!  Well, I suppose you saw it coming.

From 6 to 8PM on Monday January 25, Free IT Athens volunteers will be at the Jack R. Wells Boys and Girl Club at 570 Pauldoe St to provide computer help to neighborhood residents. This Boys and Girls club is one of the many groups that operates a computer lab with equipment they received from Free IT Athens. Their director requested that we provide a help session at the Club to assist people who can't make it to our regular open hours. If you have experience providing computer support and would like to help, please meet at the Club at 6.

It's been almost a year since Qimo 1.0 was released, and we're hard at work again on the next version of our friendly Linux desktop for kids.  We will be using Ubuntu 10.04 as our foundation this time, so our final release is targetted for the end of April, 2010.  But in the mean time, here's a look at what's coming:

Introducing Illa!

Qimo has a brand new friend, an adorable little polar bear girl named Illa (pronounced ee-lah, it is Inuit for "friend").  Illa will be the focus of a whole new theme for girls, featuring shades of pink and purple, to match the boyish-blues of the existing Qimo theme.  She's also sure to appear in a new set of Tux Paint stamps, so your little ones can create their own arctic artwork featuring our loveable pals.

 

Qimo Sessions

While we're on the topic of new themes, Qimo 2.0 will not longer limit the theme to the "qimo" user account.  Instead a Qimo session will be selectable at the login screen, just like Gnome, KDE and XFCE are today. That means you can create individual accounts for each of your children, or start using the Qimo session with an existing user.

 

Packages

Finally, we will be making Ubuntu 10.04 compatible packages for all of Qimo, so you will be able to install it on top of an existing setup.  This should also allow us to make an alternate install CD this time around, so it will have even lower hardware requirements.

 

Follow us!
You can now keep up with what's happening with Qimo through various social networking services.  Become a fan of the Qimo 4 Kids Facebook page, follow is on Twitter or Identi.ca.  We will once again be at the Southern California Linux Expo in February 19th, so look for our booth there!

System76 and Kids On Computers team up to prepare computers going to a lab we’re sponsoring in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Computers are due to arrive in June of 2010.

"Village People"

Kids On Computers received hardware donations from several high-tech companies in the Colorado area to support this new lab.  Around 30 laptops and 40 hard drives have been donated.  These laptop shells and blank hard drives were in much need of an O/S and some software.  Open Source to the rescue….Edubuntu, the Spanish install!!

Donated Hard Drives

Donated Laptops

After about 4 hours of downloading, swapping, and testing, these machines are ready to benefit the children of Argentina!  A special THANK YOU to the staff at System76.  Their experience as a Linux based retailer of hardware products  and unique knowledge of Open Source came in handy when we ran into issues!  Check out one of their netbooks, desktops, or servers at http://www.system76.com/.

 

Please help us with shipping costs by donating through the Kids On Computers website!!

Over the next 5 months, we're conducting another round of laptop distribution and training through our partnership with the Clarke County School District. We cleaned up the project site at the Old West Broad School earlier this month, and now we're ready to refurbish the first batch of laptops. All interested volunteers, please meet at the school on Saturday January 23rd at 11:00 AM. This is a task that doesn't require prior experience with computer hardware or Ubuntu and is a great way to earn volunteer hours! A pizza lunch and drinks will be provided.If you're interested in helping to develop and teach the trainings that we'll start conducting beginning in in February, please join the trainer's email list.Directions to the school at 125 Minor StTurn onto Minor from Broad and park along Minor. Walk to the back of the school where Minor and Dearing intersect. We will enter from the back of the school where there is a stairway and loading ramp.

The White House is encouraging technology professionals to use their skills to help those in need. Their 2010 MLK Day Technology Challenge is "to connect schools and non-profits that have technology needs, including skills training and mentorship, with web professionals, developers, graphic designers and new media professionals who are willing to volunteer their skills for the common good."

read more

The Athens Tutorial Program is in need of some networking assistance. They recently purchased DSL service and need help connecting their computer lab to the internet. They also would like to set up one of their computers as a network print server.If you're interested in helping, please write to freeitathens@gmail.com with the times you are available. Students are showing up for tutoring on Tuesday the 19th, so the sooner we can help the better!