Coordinators Report December and January

General News

In December despite closing down early (21st) we still gave out 25
computers. Half of these went to community groups. Of note is the
implementation the new Darebin network of which we are still improving
on. Darebin now have a mix of thin clients and stand alone networked
computers. They upgraded from dialup to ADSL. The network is performing
well with minimal problems. The major trouble comes from a sabotuer who
likes to deliberatley mess up the desktops, unplug cables and change
printer settings. Ed Chan is working on some scripts that will make it
easier for the admins to reset the network when the sabotuer strikes.
Some of these scripts may be useful to include in our own distro.

We had a nice BBQ break up for our WFD program, we had awards and gave
out a few gift certificates. Our end year volunteer break up was at the
Suzuki market - about 10 of us attended and had a nice time.

Big pat on the back for everyone - in 2006 - we gave out 465 computers!
Yay! Well done all! Thats 58 computers up on last year.

In our first week back for the year we focused on cleaning and tidying
things. So far we have built more than 33 computers and we are not even
at the end of January.

We have had one training class and although we had 5 people booked, only
1 person showed up and another came very late. We will watch this area
and see what we can do to improve attendance.

Jan and I went along to Linux.Conf.Au, we listened to interesting people
and on the whole had a good time. The education miniconf was excellent,
it was great to hear about what other people were up to. We did find
that an attitude problem exists amongst many of the super geeks and this
can make it hard for people to approach them.

On WFD, I am meeting up with a new CWC group tomorrow (Wed 24th). I will
know more then but as the person is actually coming to meet with us
(check us out) I am hopeful that we can have a project with them.

Kangan Batman Tafe just completed a monitoring visit (last week) and
commended us on running such a great project. While our numbers were not
increased to 15, they did allocate us an extra 2 people (taking us to
12) and said they would continue to run us as one of their projects.

Lastly we had a metal collection from another recycling group called
Surplus Recycling Solutions (SRS). SRS can give us better prices than
Extreme (the recycler we were using last year). SRS are also able to pay
us for items such as floppies, CDROMS, Power supplies and low value
board. We will receive our first payment in the next week or so. Like
Extreme, SRS have a free pickup service.

Computers Out

In December we gave out 25 computers.

Groups to receive computers included Community Services International,
Darebin Aged Care, and Gwenapp Hostel.

Total for the Year 2006: *465!!!* includes shop/ebay sales as well as
loans. Loans were made to LUV and to the Victorian School of Languages
Dutch class.

So far in January we have distributed 31 computers to individuals, we
have sold one in the shop and one on ebay.

Year to Date: 31 + 1 shop computers + 1 ebay sales = 33

Donations

Donations came from regulars like ARUP and Mecu. TransUrban also gave us
some equipment. We have received lots of donations from individuals
too.

At the moment we are unable to take large amounts of computers as we are
quite full and have regular donors giving us good equipment. We are also
expecting the Red Cross computers. Our information about accepting
donations has changed, check our website if you are unsure about this.
See http://vic.computerbank.org.au/donations

There may be times where we have to say no to equipment and refer it
elsewhere. Front desk folks should touch base with me each week to check
our capacity.

Projects

Projects currently active include:

      * CBV Distro: John
      * Database Project/Revisit: Rohan/Alistair/Con
      * CD Project:
      * Laptop Project:
      * Distro Testing Guide Project: Barry

It'd be great if folk working on these projects, could write a summary
of where things are at (if they have not done so already).

WFD Project

Work for the Dole the project is progressing well. We still have a full
project and some very helpful and enthusiastic participants. The
warehouse is really looking good, as is the buildroom.

Our project will roll over on Feb 23rd with 12 participants. Kangan have
given us an extra 2 people.

New Volunteers

No new volunteers this time around, although I am meeting with Rohan
today. Rohan is keen to help with anything and everything. Onya
Rohan. :)

Finances

Nov Income = $  5951.43 + 155.98
Dec Income = $  3199.94 + 140.02
Jan Income = $  3923.25 + 78.90 TD

Account Balances as at 22/01/07
ING = $22,648.45
WestPac = $1793.86

Total: $ 24442.31

Outstanding Accounts:

E-waste + Equipment Invoices: $ 1027.50
SEI Grant for KD: $2200
WFD Final project payment for 16: $4950 (more likely to be 6000)

Total: $ 8177.50 +


Sorry if I have forgotten to mention something, if that's the case, let
me know what it is, and I can add an amendment to the report.