[seul-edu] LinuxHelpers helping PC's For Kids

[SteelHead <brk@linuxhelpers.org>]

I would like to introduce myself.

My name is Bill Ries-Knight, and I am in Stockton, California, USA

A long time ago I realized that schools needed more computers to help
students learn how to work with todays technology.  At this time my wife was
employed by a low income inner city school.  A large number of computers
were made availible through donations and government programs. There was a
problem with the computers availible.  They were 486's and early pentiums.
It was now a PII world, and Microsoft provided the operating system, but the
operating system needed more hardware than the computers had, and the older
versions of the operating system were not availible.

This was the event that prompted my firm conversion to Linux and I soon
joined the SEUL-edu project.  (http://www.seul.org/edu/)  After a couple of
months it kind of came about that we saw a need for connecting Linux
expertise to schools, and a simple page was created.  At this time, we are
expanding this page and trying to find better ways of connecting between
schools and skilled Linux professionals.  This was the beginning of the
Linux Educational Needs Posting Pages, LENPP.  Eventually LENPP led me to
register the domain Linuxhelpers.org.  This summer we formed a new company,
Linux Helpers LLC, with the purpose of expanding the reach of Linux into
schools and homes.

I am not sure how far your group is willing to work towards installing Linux
on the donated PC's you have recieved, but there are many tasks that can be
accomplished if Linux were installed on computers.  Assuming you have the
expertise to install Linux on hand, we still have the question of support.
I would like to offer Linux Helpers website as a connection resource.  We
are going to be moving to a new server and plan on dynamic pages that will
allow for fast updates to keep as much information current as possible.  If
you would like to, we could help by looking for and providing a listing of
linux
skilled individuals for the regions you serve with the PC's for Kids
Program.

I am not really great at writing these letters, so please keep this in mind.

We will be presenting at a booth in Linux world Expo, in San Francisco at
the end of August.  If you have a need for publicity, I can provide a place
to pass out information.  If you have any interest in what I have offered,
let me know.

Bill Ries-Knight
brk@linuxhelpers.org