Promotion
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We have made ourselves known through various media, word of mouth, news and by the end of 2023 we had been able to supply over 100 laptops.
Costs are met through IW PCUser Group and both personal and private donations. Technical Support for Ukrainian Refugees:
Ask Sven from Walkabout Repairs |
A very contented recipient of a refurbished iPad.
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How we do it...
Hosts and Guests - currently every guest has a host. We try to record both, as giving a laptop to a guest is not always simple or necessarily a straight hand-over. .
First thing is to go online and see if there is a YouTube video of how to change the hard disk, upgrade the memory and find the CMOS battery.
If access is easy then insert a prepared Linux SSD (solid state hard disk) and with luck all will boot up OK.
If access is easy then insert a prepared Linux SSD (solid state hard disk) and with luck all will boot up OK.
Operating system - we have given up routinely installing Windows 10. We use Linux Mint which can be downloaded following the Getting Started page on the IW Linux User Group site. To the basic installation can be added the appropriate language packs for system language and keyboard layouts for keyboard language - separate things. We also install Zoom, Telegram, Viber, Dolphin file manager. Libre Office comes as standard.
"Master copy" - we develop a master copy using Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.3 on to a Solid State Drive then clone to other SSD's using the free program "Rescuezilla". We use 128Gb SSD's which we have been able to buy online for under £10. Other costs are cordless mice from Poundland (£5) and stick-on Cyrillic keyboard stickers purchased from eBay for about £2.50 a set. Linux is very forgiving and an installation on one PC always seems to work on another.
Note - hard drives can be copied one to another using "Gparted" - even using this tool you can copy to a smaller drive. For more information ask Google!
Note - hard drives can be copied one to another using "Gparted" - even using this tool you can copy to a smaller drive. For more information ask Google!
Security - we use "Secure Erase" program run from within "Parted Magic" to wipe the old hard drive. Alternatively, it is easy to physically destroy a 2.5" mechanical hard drive for total security.
Languages - to change the keyboard input language click the little flag in the bottom right corner - we set the laptops up to offer English, Ukrainian and Russian. To change the whole computer to Ukrainian or Russian then look for "Languages" in the menu options. We set the laptops up to easily change to Ukrainian or Russian. We provide stick-on Cyrillic key tops as required.
Collection - we always ask the guest to collect the laptop. This is to check it is what they want or need and to go through the basics (often using the "SayHi" phone translation app).
It is good to meet the guest, and fortunately our operations are carried out from a central Newport address very close to the IW Community Action headquarters.
It is good to meet the guest, and fortunately our operations are carried out from a central Newport address very close to the IW Community Action headquarters.
