[NPMUG] Goodwill CRC update, May 29, 2009

[Robert A. Donaldson]

Dear Mac friends:

Many thanks to Charlie Hutchens, Rich Fitzgibbon, John Hamill, Tucker  
Trainor, Mark Ruppert and Dave Sevick for joining me at the Goodwill  
Computer Recycling Center today.

Our unpredictable kernel panics with our enhanced OS X image continue  
to plague us. Only one thing seems to allow us to refurbish an iMac  
with this image: FireWire booting the firmware-updated iMac with a  
(now-discontinued) external SmartDisk Firelite 2.5-inch hard drive.  
We've tried several other external hard drives, but all invoke the  
kernel panic, including ones with Oxford chipsets. So if you just  
happen to have one of the Firelite hard drives with FireWire lying  
about, we'll be more than happy to help you clean up your home  
workspace :-)

Our planned work on diagnosing our server has been put off temporarily  
into mid-June.

Today we managed to refurbish 10 more Macs to bring our all-time total  
to 1,894. We de-manufactured another eight Macs.

If you're watching our count, you will note we will probably refurbish  
our 2,000th Mac at our workday next Friday, June 5. This will mean we  
will have refurbished half of our all-time total in just the past 18  
months. We haven't decided if we will create a special Mac for number  
2,000 like with did with Steve 1,000 at the end 2007. Steve 1,000, a  
slot-load CD iMac, currently resides in my dining room. He is  
available for guest appearances.

Please note PennDOT has begun the widening project on East Carson St.,  
and the block in front of the CRC is restricted to two lanes. Meter  
parking in front of the building has been eliminated during the  
construction.

As a gentle reminder, please note Goodwill has finally re-instituted
the security procedures they were using in the Lawrenceville facility
before the CRC moved to the South Side. Security cameras have been
activated, and the metal detector at the exit has been switched on and
staffed.

Entry is only from the South 26th St. entrance. We cannot enter the
ComputerWorks Store and go through the back door as we used to.

We are asked to stop at the reception desk at the main lobby to sign
in to get a volunteer badge, then sign in to the log book at the CRC
entrance at the metal detector. The log book now has a separate tab
section just for our members to sign in and out.

We followed these procedures when we were in the Lawrenceville
building, and it's taken Goodwill some time to re-install all the
devices to cover the area with video surveillance.

These measures are to make sure data on disk drives does not get out
of the building before the drives can be securely erased or destroyed.
Goodwill is serious about this, as everyone should be. Any incident of
data from the drives they are entrusted to wipe or destroy getting out
would destroy the credibility of their operation, and lead to people
sending computers elsewhere for recycling.

So please, check in. It takes two minutes, and we're not in any hurry.

Hope to see you there!

Robert A. Donaldson
radonaldson at mac.com
(H) 412-922-3303
(M) 412-477-9188