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Free Geek Seattle is a growing non-profit organization modeled after the original Free Geek of Portland, Oregon. Our focus is free and open source software advocacy, technology education and sustainable computing.
What We Do
DonationsWe are currently accepting donations via the Filipino Community Center of Seattle. We are always looking for more sources of donations and have a lot of ideas kicking around on that front. Elcaset is in charge of donations. We are saving CPU's from teardowns, as there is a particular company that we'd like to send them to for $$$. Elcaset, please post instructions for that here. Volunteering
Education
We are closely partnered with the Filipino Community Center of Seattle to provide computer education through their STE(A)M program, and by cross-participation in our weekend workshops/build program and classes. Some solid course materials/lab setups (we have repair tools, servers, desktops, networking gear... just need to arrange it better) for the weekend classes is something to work on. PC hardware, Linux, networking, maybe some programming. Just needs to be better organized, like everything else. This wiki could always use better documentation of procedures and educational material. Some photos would also go a long way towards showing the world know we're real. Some handy instructions on wiki editing: There are a ton of articles on the wiki that aren't organized/can't be navigated to from the front page. Examples of those, and/or things that need to be documented better: Category:Personal Computer Training The Build Program especially needs much more structure, especially being one of our core programs.
Infrastructure/OperationsThe workshop has never been better, but it still needs some work. Lots of junk everywhere, tabels, wiring, unlabeled/not QCed boxes. Needs more organization. We could also badly use a server rack, and some mounting hardware for our current unused telecom rack. Would be great to have racks with servers and network hardware for instructional purposes. Plus, those servers can't sit on that back shelf forever. Have to really be organized to make the most of a relatively small space. Hard to keep build program organized/keep track of who has worked on what, etc. PXE Install Server - Andrew/koanhead is working on this. Will make OS installs easier by being able to installation images from one central server. The FCC/FCS/whatever acronym we like to use needs the whole network redone. Contact Jon. We should probably have our own network infrastructure that is entirely separate from the rest of the building. There is a project page going for a Volunteer Database, but we're using an Etherpad hosted by Dan at the moment. There's another project page for an Inventory Tracking Database, but once again we're using an Etherpad spreadsheet. Lots of fun things we could set up with our servers if we had a rack to put them on, from network services to a virtual machine host for playing with all kinds of distros, to an LDAP for SSO. Web Site. For coordination and/or administration, contact Mark Foster. We have a ticketing system at https://atrium.schoolfactory.org/fgsea. We haven't used it much yet. This wiki needs some serious work. You can help by logging-in and editing the wiki yourself, or by proposing changes on our mailing list, or send recommendations to our Technical infrastructure manager. Different sections with different people responsible for editing them. Everyone with a wiki account is encouraged to add content to every section however. Editor's job is to look at it every once in awhile. Apply for a wiki account here!!!
AdministrativeWe are in the process of obtaining full [[501c3_Status|501(c)3 status]. We are seeking grants. Contact Tom Heuser for specifics.
Other Activities and ProjectsWe love Seattle Meshnet. Have proposed a collaborative project with Seattle Meshnet. Keywords: volunteer community technology center ethics ethical software freedom reuse recycle refurbish computers hardware open-source Libre GNU linux GNU/Linux FLOSS foss f/oss education training seattle puget sound gslug non-profit stem networks
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