Message-ID: <v0213050eadb88a8d8e07@[196.20.30.2]> Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 07:07:58 +0100 From: Dr Eberhard W Lisse <mailto:el@LISSE.NA> Subject: Re: Computers to Africa To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
At 3:45 PM 9/5/96, Chip Temm wrote:>3)Where do you (ie, Ndiaye, Afoy, et al) think this stuff is going? Is
>there someone driving around Africa tossing out TRS80's and 286's in every
>city and village like some cybernautic Johnny Appleseed? No.
>Organizations like Mr. Bolden's line up people interested in getting the
>equipment before they send it- and the lines are long.
And? Many countries take overseas handouts full well knowing that it is a waste of meoney, resources and manpower, just because they are gettign something.
>I applaud those programs that are doing this successfully. They're not
>dumping junk on Africa. It's more like the difference between a hammer and
>a pneumatic nail gun. The hammer may be a bit slower, but it does the same
>job and does it just as well. To our disgruntled friends I say put
>together a fundraiser, raise enough money to buy a Pentium120 or a
>PowerMac8500 (and money for software, training and security) and then make
>the decision whether to send one "brand new" computer or 10 five-year old
>computers...
TRS-80s are junk. 286s less so. (10 years ago they were not). You can not network TRS-80s onto RFC compliant networks. You might be able to get away with 286s (uuPC or SLIP via drivers).
It's FIDO all over again. What's wrong with getting 386s or older Macs?
And, I wish to be spared this arrogance from some foreigners who decide what is good enough for us here.
el
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