An Evolution of Shared Values and Repricocity
It all began when ComputerBank Australia donated three Linux based machines for community use through the King Valley Learning Exchange, an Adult & Community Education Provider.
To manage them, a volunteer support group was needed and an independant Linux Users Group (kvLUG) was formed. This began with some retired computer professionals who enjoyed the opportunity to flex their computer skills on behalf of the local community.
The Whitfield Primary School offered their obsolete computers to the group so they could have equipment to learn the Linux Operating System on.
Well, boys being boys, they were soon working on broken down machines to get them up and running again. This attracted some high school aged boys who didn't want to miss out on the fun and we soon had a group with the retirees and the youth feeding off each others knowledge.
Myrrhee Primary School and Yarunga Primary School then donated their obsolete equipment and the kvLUG was overwhelmed with computers and the opportunity to recycle them back into the community was accepted.
A local farm shed was turned over to a warehouse and workshop and those inclined have been coming every week to tinker with the equipment and share their knowledge with each other.
The machines include everything from IBM architecture 8086 through Pentium 1 along with Macintosh Classics, Pizza Boxes and Performa 5xx with CDROM drives. Printers, Scanners and various other peripherals have also been donated providing a well rounded learning experience for computer buffs of all ages.
With the group giving away machines to community members who would not otherwise be able to have a computer, the community itself has begun donating their obsolete equipment back to the group. The Rural City of Wangaratta has now offered any equipment passing through their waste disposal system.
With 80486 machines, Linux (Debian) is installed and the earlier models are set up under FreeDos with Freeware/Shareware software to make them useable. With this expansion, the kvLUG has restructured to become The North East Computerbank - a volunteer communtiy project. The guys are having so much fun, we couldn't kill it if we tried.
The challenge now is to see if there is life after Microsoft.
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