Spare computer gear for old neighbour?
Hi all,
my old neighbour (whom I'm looking after a bit) has her birthday at the beginning of October, and I want to make it a bit memorable - I don't think she had a proper birthday in a very long time.
I will bake one of my breads (see picture below) for her and bring a bit of a spread, but I also want to set her up with a computer system so she can watch some movies (I have DVDs that I can lend her), listen to music, might be able to get internet at some point and stay in contact with her friends and especially her sons in Wellington a bit better.
I managed to buy (sight unseen) an old 24in Core2Duo iMac from 2007 (that can't run the latest Mac or Windows system software any more so wouldn't be secure) very cheaply as it was considered defect. Turns out that everything works fine, it just needed a clean (especially behind the protective glass in front of the screen) and a new system installed, and as a bonus it unexpectedly had its memory upgraded to 4 GB of RAM (the still original 320 GB HD isn't big but should do).
I installed the latest Linux Mint (which IS secure) as it is specifically geared towards desktop users (so even has commercial multimedia codecs that other Linux distributions don't have) and has low system requirements (eg 1 GB of RAM even with a really nice desktop) - and after less than 1 hour (incl googling how do do some things) everything is done and it runs very fast indeed. I'm quite impressed.
What I don't have is a spare USB keyboard and mouse for it. So if anyone has some old ones around that they no longer need (Apple would be ideal but PC ones will do) then I would appreciate them for my neighbour.
Other things she could need:
If you happen to have an old external 250 or 500 GB hard disc for backups then that would be fantastic - I always feel uncomfortable when people don't have backups of their data as computers can be replaced … your data though - which is the important thing - would be lost when the hard disc dies.
And if you feel REALLY charitable and have an old-style 2.5in 250 GB SATA SSD that you would be happy to donate then I would dare go inside the iMac, replace the hard disc (which is a bit a pig of a job, but I have done that before), and redo the installation of everything.
A small USB stick to bring official letters in pdf form (to me or the library?) for printing out or sending off (until she has internet herself) would also be useful … 1 GB should be plenty. Companies used to give them away, so maybe you have an old one somewhere?
Thanks in advance.
Markus
P.S. One more thing: I can no longer drive for medical reasons (occasional dizzy spells) so unless you are close by would not be able to pick something up. But we are opposite Green Bay High School, so if you happen to come past and could drop it off that would be fantastic.
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Rentals
Hi
I went to view a rental that my family and i were excited to see on the weekend. Oh lordy! what a disappointment. When will they stop advertising properties that don't live up to the picture that they are portraying and show it in its real time state, warts and all??? I thought that there was a consumers protection act around false advertising??? I might be wrong. If this continues then the tenant should be able to ask for reduction in rent. Why? Because they in some cases are charged with cleaning the place up before they can even place their most treasured belongings in the home. The owners should be ashamed. I know no one will turn up if they showed warts and all. Well I think it's time for change. People are desperate, but come on, if you are getting good money from your tenants you have to lead by example. Those owners who make an effort deserve a medal. They aren't trying to hide anything. Their rent is also cheaper than the ones that don't make an effort. There are people out there who are only too happy to go and clean your property for you. Just make someones day and present your properties as if you are going to sell it. ( Hey, actually you are trying to do that in a way just to a tenant instead to rent).
What do you think renters? It's time for the korero.
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