[afrigeek] AfNOG 2006 memories

[Geert Jan de Groot]

> > Where are those PCs now :-)

Actually:
The PC's were cast-offs from a call centre. "donated to Africa" but,
frankly, chemical waiste.

There were 2 types:
- One type where capacitors on the motherboard were leaking,
  it was a bit touch-and-go to find ones that worked reliably,
  many were simply scrap metal.
- The other type had socket-1 pentium3 processors. In those cases,
  the CPU fan had invariably ceased. Trying to unwedge them with
  oil did not give results we could use for the workshops.
  What we did, was reducing the clock rate on the CPU from 
  700 to 533 Mhz, making it slower and producing less heat, 
  removing the broken CPU fan and letting some air frow from 
  the power supply cool the CPU.
  As long as no intense activities were done, the CPU would not
  overheat and the machine would work.

After the workshop, NSRC arranged for replacement CPU fans 
to be shipped to make the machines fully functional so they could
be sent to schools.

Those were the days! Compared to this, arrangements-to-get-a-local-SIM
are trivial. How things have changed....

GJ