7 Sep, 2009
Uncategorized
It is now a done thing…
Mostly anyway. A touch here and there…
Two months ago, Christina Collazo contacted me and asked if I was up to a challenge. She had been tasked with putting together an East Austin Computer Learning Center and didn’t really know how to do it.
We do…
And we did.
For those that don’t know, East Austin isn’t exactly Beverly Hills…
Not by anyone’s stretch of the imagination. Through it’s reputation for violence, gang activity and drug trade, East Austin is populated with some of the nicest people there are.
I now know many of them. Hard-working and loving people that just haven’t yet found their way out of that place. Others do not…they have nice, comfortable homes and for them this IS home…they wouldn’t leave if paid to do so.
We decided to do what we could to give them a hand…a guiding hand out of there.
Roll Call…the answered calling.
Tom King
Roy Hall
Chris Scott
Skip Guenter
Ceasar and Christina Collazo
These were the people that assembled at the 2200 block of East 2nd Street on the 15th of August to make this Learning Center a reality.
With the temperature already in the mid-90’s, we arrived at the back entrance of the Cristo Rey Catholic Church…this is the wonderful place that houses the Learning Center. Carrying in huge CRT monitors, computer boxes and various and asundry fixtures, this team went to work transforming a barren room into a place of learning and hope.
A place powered by the will of a global community.
A place powered by Linux.
There’s not a lot to tell about the process…a lot of heavy labor, younger knees than mine crawling under tables to connect cat 5 to the adjoining sockets…testing, adjusting, testing, replacing, testing…and ultimately…
Success.
This place will be used by the entire community. We have pledged one person to teach classes a week and Christina Collazo, the Director of the Center, has another person coming in to do the same in Spanish. I want to personally thank Ceasar Collazo for his strong back, ultimate patience and warm smile. It literally made the day work for us.
I want to thank everyone who took part in this…and not just the folks mentioned above.
There was a huge amount of time and fuel expended in running to get missing or broken parts and components. The day cost us a few hundred dollars but you…the 
people that support us, made that possible by becoming a member of the “Walk A Kid Home” program. A simple effort to fund the building and installation of individual computers for these kids. We blew through most of it in a three day period…but that’s three dozen computers built and delivered all over Central Texas. Thank you. You made this happen.
It’s you folks that made this possible. My thanks go out to those who help us do what we do.
You are the architects of this project…
we are just swinging the hammer.
18 Jun, 2009
Uncategorized
We are more than happy to announce the completion of The Settlement Home Project. Because of the nature of the place itself and other security considerations, we chose to do execute this project in stages. It took a bit longer than I wanted due to an arm injury I incurred by loading 70 21 inch monitors into a truck. Had I not had the help of HeliOS Project volunteer Justin Carnahan, I would still be there. Thanks Justin.
So over a period of 4 weeks, we installed 12 computers, one for each selected girls room. These machines ran varying flavors of Linux, depending on the hardware architecture. Most all are loaded with educational games and applications so these machines are learning tools, not MySpace doorstops.
I want to personally and warmly thank Linda Kokemor, Mike Downing and Ben Garcia for their help and guidance as we placed these machines. Ben Garcia is the System Admin for The Settlement Home and has done an amazing job of building a strong and reliable network for them. Not only that, he carried most of the heavy stuff in when I was unable to.
I don’t think I can say enough good things about the Management and Staff of The Settlement Home. The professionalism and care that is obvious through even the most casual of observations is no accident. The Settlement Home has thanked us profusely for our help but it is us who needs to thank them. It is through them that we do what we do. See, they think this is actually work for us. What this happens to be is our favorite activity that has turned into a job. A person can not ask for more of a blessing than that. Thank You, folks at The Settlement Home, for giving us an opportunity to do what we do.
But onward, we have new challenges ahead. The HeliOS Project has accepted a project to install 25 computers in the East Austin Learning Center, located on the first floor of the Cristo Rey Catholic Church on 2nd Street. The Project Manager for the Learning Center is Christina Fernandez Collazo. She is absolutely delightful and we look forward to working with her. She delivered the good news today that the plans have changed for the Center…it will now be located on the first floor. Hallelujah!
This is an especially challenging project as we are struggling with funding at this point. We have most of the machines we need and Lord knows we have enough monitors. However, there will be some fairly significant costs involved in transportation and extra parts/equipment that will be needed. If anyone is interested in helping fund this or any of our efforts, please click this link. Your help is greatly appreciated. We are currently looking for funding to fuel our efforts though the end of the calendar year.
Thanks for helping us do what we do.
Ken
5 Jun, 2009
Uncategorized
The HeliOS Project is happy to announce our semi-annual raffle. We do these twice a year so as to secure funding for the next half of the calendar. You can enter the drawing by donating here. A confirmation letter will be sent to the email address you provide. All winners will be notified via email. Our winners will also be posted as they are drawn on twitter. Follow helios17.
This event sports some of the best prizes we’ve ever offered. From Alienware and Acer laptops to AMD personal internet devices to autographed copies of Carla Schroeder’s Network Cookbook, we think we’ve got the Geek Thing covered. Take a look at what your 10 dollar donation puts you in the pot for:
Alienware m5500i-R3 Series. Dual core 2 gig chips with a gig of ram and 100 gigs of hard drive space. Radeon Mobility X1400 graphics brings you into the game. DVI output is present with a dvd burner and card reader. System is currently SuperOS with all the bells and whistles ringing and blowing. Runs great under full compiz effects…I’ve used this laptop for making first impressions with new users and it is a powerful tool. Not to mention that it performs beautifully. You can see a full slideshow here. An extra five dollars insures we ship a 1 gig stick of ram for you to upgrade it with.
Acer TravelMate 5720: Problems aside from getting the TrustedCore shredded into non-existence, this is a fantastic laptop. That bully will not bother you any more on this machine. Also I’ve now heard two stories of people falling with their 5720’s and having the computer
breaking their falls…and then firing right up. I can believe it. Sporting a built-in WORKING webcam, it delivers your smiling face via the HD Radeon Mobility HD 2400 XT graphics setup. It is powered by a 2x Intel Core T7500 dual core chip. This comes with one gig of ram, a 160 gig hard drive. It has a VGA AND a DVI out with a dvd burner rom present. Personally. as much press as the Alienware gets…? I think this TravelMate 5720 is the better laptop. It has a card reader in the front and like the Alienware, it takes conventional and express PCMCIA devices…however wifi is built-in so you will probably not need them for connectivity. Full info can be found here.
An extra five dollars insures we ship a 1 gig stick of ram for you to upgrade it with.
Each laptop comes with the charging device and a brand new spare battery still in the box.
You want weird prizes? Check this out.
We are offering two AMD 50×15 Personal Internet Devices.
What are they? A minimal function computer about half the size of a toaster. It is capable of surfing the net, sending emails, and it comes with some fairly cool software… Aside from the fact that these run a CE version of Microsoft XP, they are pretty cool. Need a computer for the kitchen? Maybe one stashed in the garage or on the workbench for looking up part numbers? A friend keeps one in the glove compartment with 6 feet of cat five so he can connect at client’s homes and demonstrate the unit. Keyboard and mouse are supplied but it needs a monitor. hey…it’s a friggin’ raffle. Some wifi dongles will work with this but you have to see which ones will work. New and still in the box, we are giving away two of them. You can see all about them here.
And we never, and we mean never, have a raffle without bringing The Goddess Of The Grid and her Linux Networking Cookbook to you. Carla Schroeder has written, what has been described to me, as the definitive Linux Networking manual. I’ve loaned my copy to 20 year experts in networking and they’ve all asked me how they could obtain a copy. We have two left from the last raffle…some folks just don’t want to get THAT serious about their Linux but their loss is your gain.
Entry is Easy.
This is the donation link. Donations per item are $10.00. So if you donate 30 dollars, you have three tickets in the drawing. if the donation is for like say… 25.00 then we immediately know you want two tickets and want the extra gig stick of ram shipped if you win one of the laptops. Unfortunately, we cannot ship the computers overseas, the cost is simply prohibitive, however Ms. Schroeder’s book is shippable anywhere in the world. Directors of The HeliOS Project, volunteers for The HeliOS Project and employees of HeliOS Solutions are not eligible for this drawing. The laptops offered are previously owned and come with no warranty. They worked fine when we shipped them, We promise.
The funds for this drawing will see to it that we have gas money, maintenance costs and the everyday funding we need to operate our HeliOS Project effort for the next six months. Thanks for everything you do for us and most importantly, thanks for being part of what we do.
All-Righty Then
24 May, 2009
Uncategorized
Folks, just a short note to let everyone know we have kicked off our twice-yearly fund raiser. This is the time we need to put together the money we will need to operate for the second half of 2009. As always, we appreciate your participation in what we do and no matter at what level you aid us, it is equally appreciated.
We have two donation sites and in order to quell any confusion, we will explain.
The “Donate Here” button on the heliosinitiative.org site is for our long-term needs. Usually, donations over $25.00 are placed there. We use that for large ticket items, vehicle repairs and larger planned expenditures. The donation site on Ken’s blog is used for day-to-day expenses such as fuel, small ticket parts and accessories we need to build our computers. Donations at either site are hugely appreciated.
We are also having a raffle for two pretty nice laptops. Watch the Blog of helios for details.
As well, we have been offered 64 21-inch monitors. While these are CRT’s they will go a long way in helping us provide full computer sets to our kids…in a BIG way. Let’s just hope I don’t have to carry any more of them up 3 flights of stairs. We are in critical need of warehouse space. If you know of anyone who has some they would be willing to donate, let us know. We are also in the process of applying for several grants so we will more than likely morph into paying customers down the road. Any help in this area would be appreciated.
We are expecting to exceed our output from last year by at least 75 computers. Thank you for helping us meet our goal.
Ken
16 Apr, 2009
Uncategorized
The Title of this blog?
It has nothing to do with us. Rather, it has everything to do with a group of people who care enough to wade through the human filth of child abuse and rescue those needing them long ago.
The Settlement Home is founded by 450 caring Austin and Central Texas women. They have built a place of safety and healing for girls that have seen the ugliest side of human nature…the side that cares only for satisfying a dark and uncaring id.
Don’t ask me to be any more specific, rage is not far from me as I write this.
Mike Downing, the RTC Director called me last Wednesday. He wanted to know if his non-profit qualified for our assistance. Mike was about 1/3 of the way through his pitch when I stopped him.
“When can I come out and look the place over? We’ll be glad to help you.”
As Mike spoke, I Googled The Settlement Home. Something deep in the muck of memory was struggling to get oxygen…it struck me soon enough. And no, we won’t go into the revelation…suffice it to say that there are some real-life hero’s working within this system and I know who they are.
Not that it matters…it simply speaks to me the character of this place. These people wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t a place of healing.
I arrived at the Settlement Home at 10 am that next Saturday. I was met by Heather Siegfried, Youth Care Coordinator, and Brooke Fell, Support Services Coordinator. They walked me to the Administration building to meet the guy that was going to be our partner in this project.
His name is Ben Garcia and he is the Network Administrator for The Settlement Home. Ben fit my stereotype of a Professional Geek immediately. He was quiet, and when he spoke it was with precise focus on what he wanted to communicate without any fluff. His gaze was as intense as his knowledge of what he does.
I had dreaded this meeting for the entire span of time between Mike’s phone call and the present moment.
The moment I had to tell this Network Administrator that I was going to use Linux exclusively for the project. I was ready for the argument when it came time to bring it forward.
Heather, Brooke and Ben walked me into the first dorm so I could see the physical layout of the work areas. All the dorms are basically the same so I could make sketches from this one and pretty much have an idea of the other three buildings. Some of the girls peeked in cautiously as we spoke.
There would be a total of 12 computers needed. Each room in each dorm had 3 girls residing within. We would supply 1 computer for every three-girl dorm room. As I made notes of the layout, I nonchalantly cleared my throat and addressed Ben.
“We’re going to be installing Linux on these machines Ben, is that going to cause you any problems?”
I finished my sketch in the next two seconds and looked up to see his physical response.
“No, that’s all I run here.”
I was just about overwhelmed with relief and I raised my hand in a high-five invitation and couldn’t help but show my delight.
“Dude!”
We completed the male ritual with unpracticed awkwardness. It was about 5 minutes into the rapid-fire back and forth about distros, servers, Kernels and networking stuff that I noticed the female portion of our group had left.
I can’t blame them…male bonding can be a bit embarrassing. Especially Geek male bonding.
Ben took me immediately into the server room. He has been at The Settlement Home since 1999 and is one of the shortest term employee’s at the home. The Executive Director, Linda Kokemor, just celebrated her 28th year there. The Settlement Home doesn’t have any employee turnover. The people that work there are dedicated and loving people who love what they do…and they love each and every girl there as if they were their own.
Some of them do not make that an easy task. There are some extremely troubled girls within this place of hope.
Because of the sensitive nature of the clientèle and staff, the network there is hardened to steel-cased proportions. I watched and listened in awe as Ben showed me his work…work that had taken a decade to do. He built this elaborate and effective network from the ground up and it is a model of professionalism and pride. I spent the better part of three hours with Ben, walking the grounds, meeting the staff and the girls that live there…
The girls that are healing from some of the most atrocious wounds anyone can imagine.
Wounds of the Spirit.
So the HeliOS Project is going into The Settlement Home and we are going to provide these girls with the best we can give them. Mike, you and your staff honor us by allowing us to complete this task. We will spare nothing to make sure they have everything they need…no skimping, no short cuts…
We are going to match the thing that The Settlement home gives them most.
We are going to give them our Love.
25 Mar, 2009
Uncategorized
Do you know what a “thumb drive” is?
It’s nothing short of a technological marvel and we are giving our kids an incredible advantage by using them. The HeliOS Project is collecting thumb drives and giving them to our kids, but these are not normal thumb drives. When we give our kids these minimal miracles, they will have an entire operating system on them. The system they have at home can be “imaged” with the click of a mouse so anywhere they go, at any computer they sit, they can have “their home computer” right in front of them. Basically, they carry their home computer in their pockets anywhere they go.
The HeliOS Project is conducting our “Drive For The Future”. These little wonders are being collected so that with every computer we deliver, we will include a thumb drive with their system upon it. We can buy them in bulk or you can purchase one and send it to us if you care to participate in this drive. If you don’t particularly want to go out to purchase one, you can order one from newegg.com and have it shipped to our address. If you simply want to donate to our bulk order, you can do on the left column of our main page. Price per unit is $14.95. If you are donating for one thumb drive, please do not include any shipping costs as we get free shipping with our orders.
Another way to help is to have one of our Directors make you a thumb drive for your personal use. Should you be interested in this option, please email us at icanhelp@fixedbylinux.com and we will discuss your options with you. Cost for the full operating system drives is 40.00.
Thanks again for being part of what we do. We could not do what we do without you.
Our shipping address is:
The HeliOS Project c/o ACS 1504 Giblin Bend Road Austin Tx 78728
25 Mar, 2009
Uncategorized
The Directors of The HeliOS Project are proud to announce that they are now an Associate Project of Software in the Public Interest.
We are flattered and humbled that our efforts have been recognized by SPI. Being an Associate Project under SPI opens doors for us that had recently been closed and it brings our effort into a national awareness. It further aids our donors as they are assured receipt of donation letters for tax purposes. This allows corporations to freely donate the hardware we so badly need to do what we do.
We no longer have to devote our resources to administrating a non profit organization as Software in the Public Interest acts as our agent in this matter. We can devote our short resources to the matter at hand, and that is getting computers to kids that could not normally afford them. This weekend alone, we have 7 installs scheduled.
This doesn’t change things for our regular donors, the link to our donation site is about the only thing that has changed. When you click the donation link on our websites, it will take you to our dedicated donation page for SPI. Your donations still come to The HeliOS Project, those funds are now simply assured a tax deductibility letter of receipt through SPI, should you require one. That link should morph into the SPI page link shortly.
Our thanks to the Board of Directors of Software in the Public Interest for giving us this opportunity to grow. It is exactly the direction we were looking into traveling and now we can do so unfettered.
Ken Starks
20 Mar, 2009
Uncategorized
The Directors of The HeliOS Project are proud to announce that they are now an Associate Project of Software in the Public Interest.
We are flattered and humbled that our efforts have been recognized by SPI. Being an Associate Project under SPI opens doors for us that had recently been closed and it brings our effort into a national awareness. It further aids our donors as they are assured receipt of donation letters for tax purposes. This allows corporations to freely donate the hardware we so badly need to do what we do.
This doesn’t change things for our regular donors, the link to our donation site is about the only thing that has changed. When you click the donation link on our websites, it will take you to our dedicated donation page for SPI. Your donations still come to The HeliOS Project, those funds are now simply assured a tax deductibility letter of receipt through SPI, should you require one.
Our thanks to the Board of Directors of Software in the Public Interest for giving us this oportunity to grow. It is exactly the direction we were looking into traveling and now we can do so unfettered.
Ken Starks
Director, The HeliOS Project
1 Feb, 2009
Uncategorized
The HeliOS Project is looking for community members to donate their old computers for financially and socially disadvantaged kids and students. They are also in need of small paypal donations to take care of day to day operational costs. This announcement officially kicks off their 2009 hardware and funding drive. HeliOS Project Directors and volunteers will pick up the computers, use DoD spec software to wipe the drives, installs needed open source software, and delivers them to the students in need. You can donate via paypal on their donation link.
The Drive will last through the end of March.
“A group of us have been doing this since 2004″. said Ken Starks, Founding Director and President of The HeliOS Project. “A couple other retired vets stood around my dining room table and watched baseball while we built the machines. With every one we gave away, there were three others that needed one. This just sort of evolved naturally.”
Tom King, Secretary for the project agreed. “This model seems to be working well. We are beginning to talk with East and South Austin Community Centers about their needs and they are substantial” said King. He hopes that this concept will catch on and become effective not only in his community but others around the state and country.
Various educational software, basic Internet programs and OpenOffice Suite are all placed on the machines for the students to have access to. Although the equipment will benefit the family of the students as a whole the computer actually belongs to the students. Parents are encouraged to supervise computer usage and be involved while not monopolizing the system. Computers are guaranteed to be pornography, virus and advertising-free when given to the students.
The HeliOS Project became an official Texas non profit in November of 2008. They are working toward getting their 501 designator from the IRS so they can issue letters of receipt for tax deductions. While there are many generous individuals in the community, the larger businesses really need that letter of receipt. Until they can get this designator or gain affiliation with another 501 non profit, they will depend on the generosity of the Community to provide the hardware and funding they need. You can also mail your hardware to them. Notify the group at icanhelp@fixedbylinux.com and they will give you instructions on how to do so
You can see more about this project at http://www.heliosinitiative.org.
Directors - The HeliOS Project
helios@fixedbylinux.com for any questions not answered in this announcement.
Thank you for being a part of what we do.
22 Jan, 2009
Uncategorized
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2008
Ken Starks
The HeliOS Project
1504 Giblin Bend Drive
Austin Texas 78728
helios@fixedbylinux.com
512-739-9707
Austin Group Refurbishes Discarded Computers For Disadvantaged Kids
Community involvement begins to grow
Austin Texas — The HeliOS Project is looking for community members to donate their old computers for financially and socially disadvantaged students. This announcement officially kicks off their 2009 hardware drive. HeliOS Project Directors and volunteers will pick up the computers, use DoD spec software to wipe the drives, installs needed software, and delivers them to the students in need.
“A group of us have been doing this since 2004″. said Ken Starks, Founding Director and President of The HeliOS Project. “A couple other retired vets stood around my dining room table and watched baseball while we built the machines. With every one we gave away, there were three others that needed one. This just sort of evolved naturally.”
Tom King, Secretary for the project agreed. “This model seems to be working well. We are beginning to talk with East and South Austin Community Centers about their needs and they are substantial” said King. He hopes that this concept will catch on and become effective not only in his community but others around the state and country.
Various educational software, basic internet programs and OpenOffice Suite are all placed on the machines for the students to have access to. Although the equipment will benefit the family of the students as a whole the computer actually belongs to the students. Parents are encouraged to supervise computer usage and be involved while not monopolizing the system. Computers are guaranteed to be pornography, virus and advertising-free when given to the students.
The HeliOS Project became an official Texas non profit in November of 2008. They are working toward getting their 501 designator from the IRS so they can issue letters of receipt for tax deductions. While there are many generous individuals in the community, the larger businesses really need that letter of receipt. Until they can get this designator, they will depend on the generosity of the Community to provide the hardware they need to do what they do.
You can see more about this project at http://www.heliosinitiative.org. The effort also has an official blog you can access from the main website. You can also contact The HeliOS Project at 512-739-9707
Ken Starks
Director - The HeliOS Project
helios@fixedbylinux.com
keep looking »
For those that don’t know, East Austin isn’t exactly Beverly Hills…
This place will be used by the entire community. We have pledged one person to teach classes a week and Christina Collazo, the Director of the Center, has another person coming in to do the same in Spanish. I want to personally thank Ceasar Collazo for his strong back, ultimate patience and warm smile. It literally made the day work for us.
people that support us, made that possible by becoming a member of the “Walk A Kid Home” program. A simple effort to fund the building and installation of individual computers for these kids. We blew through most of it in a three day period…but that’s three dozen computers built and delivered all over Central Texas. Thank you. You made this happen.
