For the last couple of years, PCF worked with Emlen Elementary during their talent shows, theater plays and other shows. PCF supported their music teacher Ms. Parker during their rehearsals and shows to purchase various microphones, mix the audio during the events, and even re-mix the music to give back to the kids. This year we are taking a large storage closet and turning it into a small sound studio where PCF will be working [...]
People assume our summers are pretty chill considering the schools we work with are not in session. Well, this year, it was anything but chill! We worked 5 grueling weeks straight to install an advanced PA system in an auditorium. At the urging of Emlen and Houston school principals, PCF has started to work with another K-8 school in Philadelphia's Northwest: Roosevelt K-8 on East Washington Lane in Germantown. We had worked with them [...]
Almost all the schools we work with have a grand auditorium space, talented and engaged music teachers on staff, but they lack any sort of PA or sound system to support them with movie nights, assemblies, school plays, talent shows and so on. Even the graduation ceremonies are barely audible! And as was the case with one of the schools we upgraded, their sound was so inaudible that they had to split up assemblies and [...]
This post describes the process of creating a master machine, making an "image" of that master, copying that image onto a USB bootable drive and the commands needed to clone the master onto target machines. This process was devised by PCF's Jan Deruiter with consulting input from Linux guru/expert Keith Perry from DAO Technologies. One of the reasons we have posted these details is for users to be able to replicate the process for themselves. [...]
Over the years, PCF has "refurbished" and "imaged" thousands of computers that were given away to schools, other programs/organizations and to families directly. In this post, we thought we'd describe what's involved in doing so. The first step is for us to procure the equipment. We are lucky to have generous donors donate their computers to us. Companies might donate hundreds of machines at a time and individuals often donate one or two. PCF then [...]
Virtually all of the thousands of computers PCF has donated to families, schools and other programs over the years, were donated to us. And the process is fairly straightforward: individuals or companies donate the computers, we wipe the data, refurbish them as needed, put Linux on them and then gift them to whoever with matching chargers, power cords, monitors, etc. In the early days, we would have to wire them up (switches, routers, etc) for [...]
PCF was very lucky to have been awarded a $10,000 donation by Carpenter Technologies. They donate every year as part of their annual Impact Awards and PCF was lucky to be recognized and win this year's award. Furthermore, the award is normally $5,000 but when Carpenter Technologies learned more about what PCF does, they doubled it!!! One of the schools that benefited was Logan Elementary, a school PCF has worked with for years. PCF donated [...]
For years now, PCF has helped out Emlen Elementary during their Parent Orientation day at the beginning of the year and their Students Play Day held just before summer break. Both events involve cooking a massive number of hotdogs...like 450 of them for each gig! PCF is lucky to be able to recruit neighbor volunteers for these events. "Henny" and "Rick" both have helped us with these events. In fact, Henny brings her griddle each [...]
PCF has been a community partner of Houston Elementary School since we started working with schools directly many years ago. Over the years, we have spent a LOT of time and resources at Houston, installing donated desktop computers in every classroom, providing hundreds of refurbished laptops (before and in the beginning of the pandemic), donating laptop carts, teaching STEM classes, running our Tech Masters program, etc. So when Houston contacted PCF about their outdated and [...]
For many years now, PCF has supported the Camden Dream Center. Located just across the river in Camden, NJ, the Dream Center has long been a force in providing a variety of community-based services to over 500 families and 3,000 individuals annually. PCF has been a strong supporter of their STEM based summer programs in particular. To that end, PCF has provided them with hundreds of laptops over the years. A couple dozen at first [...]
A generous donor contacted PCF if we could use a baby grand piano. In cases like this, we did what we always do which is to contact our network of schools to see if any of them were in need. Before long, Emlen Elementary let us know that they would love to have it. The donor was thrilled to have their beloved piano go to a good cause but now we had to figure out [...]
More than 11 years ago, PCF changed its focus to work mostly through schools and other organizations (rather than with families directly) in order to support our youth. And one of the first schools we contacted was Emlen Elementary in East Mt. Airy. During our first meeting with them, they mentioned that they desperately wanted a full basketball court and that a company had donated a brand new "goal" (post/board/hoop) but that the District had [...]
Your monitor cable typically looks like this If you are connecting a (secondary) monitor to a laptop, you MAY need an adapter. Here is a guide: Most monitors come with a standard VGA connector/cable. See the image to the right. The cable is typically blue and has three rows of pins. PC's or Older Macs If you have a PC or a (very) old Mac, then chances are it has a [...]
The Philadelphia School District has provided some guidelines to deal with Zoom/Meet issues on CHROMEBOOKS (no video, no audio). Besides making sure it is set up correctly, it appears some of the Chromebooks are barely powerful enough and some housekeeping may alleviate the issues you are experiencing. Note: the below applies to District-provided Chromebooks, not the lap- and desk-tops provided by us (PCF). (Click images below to enlarge) Verify your settings (in case of no [...]
Very few of the desktop computers PCF has given out include a camera or microphone. And most of the laptops do not include a camera or microphone either. These laptops were either too old or they were ordered to exclude these features due to privacy concerns. Times have changed... PCF has found cameras online for less than $20. If you are looking to purchase one, please make sure the lens is auto focus and the [...]
After the first school district shut down back in April, many of our partner schools approached PCF for help. While the district had provided a large/huge infusion of Chromebooks, there were not enough to go around and in some cases, schools were reluctant to empty out their classroom inventory in fear of equipment loss or damage upon the students' return to school (some day). There was a lot of uncertainty and some schools simply did [...]
Desktop Computer Users: USB wi-fi adapter Desktop computers typically do not have wi-fi built-in. You will need a USB Wi-Fi "adapter" to add wi-fi functionality to your desktop computer. A Wi-Fi adapter is a little device that plugs into one of your USB ports on your computer (just like your keyboard, mouse, printer, etc.). If you do not have a wi-fi adapter, you will need to connect your desktop computer to your internet [...]
For a variety of reasons, it is good practise to keep your computer updated. Sometimes, websites will stop working if your browser is too old plus there are security updates/patches, and so on. To update your computer, follow these steps: Step 1: Click the Xubuntu menu at the top left of your screen: Step 2: Type "Update" and launch the orange "Software Updater" app: Step 3: If it appears, click "OK" to ignore the "Failed [...]
Through the generous equipment and monetary donations from Radnor Middle School, Einstein Healthcare Network, Jefferson Health, the Drumcliff Foundation, and private donors, PCF has been able to significantly increase our support to Philadelphia public schools in the 2019-2020 school year. All in all more than 600 laptops have been donated this year already to various schools including: HH Houston, FS Edmonds, J Logan, WG Harding, T Mifflin, and others. In some cases, the PCF-donated laptops [...]
PCF has been working with selected schools to provide parents and caregivers with free take-home computers. As part of the application process, parents commit to spend at least one hour a week with their student/s on the (premium) educational websites that are provided by the District. These are the same educational websites students use during school hours. Tools such as Lexia, iReady, Sumdog and so forth provide a great way for students to cacth up [...]
View the more up-to-date and elaborate imaging instructions here » The Refurbishing Process Explained: PCF maintains master computers that are cloned (replicated) using USB sticks/Flash Drives These master computers are configured with three different types of users. They include accounts for: Students with added protections Admins (for parents, teachers, adults) PCF admin account (in case Admins forget their password) After the master is set up the way we want it, we make an "image" of [...]
For the last two years, we have been using Xubuntu for our laptops and desktop computers. It is fast and easy to use. For the basics (including Admin password), please refer to our setup guide: Xubuntu-recipient-instructs-2017-0919.pdf
Download the PDF of this page » Step 1 - Placing the equipment Decide where you want your computer to go Make sure you have a working Internet connection nearby (in wall or router) Make sure power is nearby Set up a table/s for the computer/s Decide how to make do with the room you have Do not connect any wires until you are sure where your equipment will go Start by putting the keyboard/s [...]
On the top right of your desktop screen, you will find the time and some smaller icons for networking, bluetooth, volume, etc. To connect to a Wi-Fi network, simple choose the network from the list of available networks in the networking dropdown (top right). If no networks appear, first make sure the "Enable Networking" is checked/on in that menu. Then also make sure the "Enable Wi-Fi" is enabled as well. If Wi-Fi is not shown [...]
If your computer's battery does not hold a charge (for long) then likely your battery or charger are damaged. This can happen due to age and/or physical damage. If the battery LED on your laptop intermittently flashes amber or red, then there may not be much you can do. Remove the battery and re-install it to make sure this isn't the problem. If that didn't work, you can contact us to see if we are [...]
If you would like to pick a language other than "English (United States)" as your main language, follow these instructions: Important: make sure your computer is connected to the Internet via hard wire or wi-fi. make sure you are logged in as an Admin (see FAQ "(Very) Basic Getting-Started Guide (incl Admin password)" for default password info Please note that the support for languages varies. That is why you specify a Main language as well [...]
If your computer's fan sounds like it is going on full blast but your computer is not starting up, please try the following: Unplug your computer Press and hold the power button for 30 seconds (to drain the battery completely) plug everything back in and try again Leave the system on for up to an hour. Sometimes it is going through a series of diagnostic tests and may come up normal upon completion.
If your computer beeps (1 beep-3-4-3) but doesn't boot then this is often a memory related issue. Please try the following: Unplug the power cord Remove the memory chips from the machine Make sure they are the same size and speed and inserted into the right slots (blue before green and typically inside before outside ordering). Start with one stick. Repeat these steps to add another Often times just removing the memory and reinserting them [...]
Since early 2016, PCF has been using Xubuntu for all of our computers. Xubuntu is a Debian/Ubuntu based operating system that is bosh fast and user friendly. We are using version 16.0.4 which is supported until April of 2019. If you are interested, the full user documentation for version 16.0.4 is located here: https://docs.xubuntu.org/1604/user/C/index.html
To specify the drive you wish to boot from or to access the BIOS screen, repeatedly press the appropriate Function key immediately after turning on the computer. The Function Key to use/press depends on your computer brand/model. ASUS (most models) ESC to enter boot menu (choose pmap for USB). Delete or F2 to enter BIOS. Dell (most models) F12 for Boot menu. F2 or F10 for BIOS. HP (most models) F9 for boot. ESC or [...]
Besides working with schools and families directly, PCF is committed to help Community Centers, Churches, After School programs, and anyone else willing to make computers available to their communities free of charge. That includes supporting other organizations, non-profits, and programs by providing them with computers and projectors, or assist in teaching classes. PCF has partnered with various other organizations that run programs to benefit the communities we serve. Often times these organizations are able to [...]
During the 2018-19 school year, PCF donated and installed hundreds of desktop computers to various local schools including Houston, Emlen, Logan, Mifflin, and others. The bulk of them were installed into classrooms with the remainder used in computer labs, libraries, and parent resource (HSA) rooms. About 20 printers were installed in various classrooms too. The computer equipment is donated to PCF by various local businesses. We then clean it up and refurbish it (add memory [...]
This year PCF was very excited to team up with Ms McConnell, 7th grade science teacher at Mifflin Elementary. We used 3D printing to help illustrate basic science concepts. Ms McConnell and PCF had been trying to figure out something to do with her 7th grade that would not merely let the students doodle with 3D software but use it to enhance her curriculum. The students had been learning about different types of energy so [...]
Western Suburbs Chapter volunteers Ashwin and Srikar chose to spend time volunteering for PCF during their short Spring Break holiday this year. With the help of their families, they met PCF at our storage facility where we refurbished a lot of computers on the first day. The next day they returned to visit three different community centers in Philadelphia to install/drop-off the newly refurbished computers. The three programs we helped that day are: Concerned Black [...]
On 13th March 2019, PCF Director Jan Deruiter and the PCF Western suburbs co-founders Srikar and Ashwin, along with their volunteers Divyesh and Vineeth picked up a donation of 150 laptops and 3 iPads from Ellucian in Malvern, PA. We are extremely grateful for this donation as both the laptops and the iPads are very desirable and hard to come by! This donation is in addition to another 100 laptops we received from Ellucian last [...]
For the second year in a row, HealthShare Exchange (web ») employees helped PCF with a full day of volunteering. About 30 employees showed up on a hot late summer day at the beginning of the school year, rolled up their sleeves and helped refurbish, clean, and install about 120 desktop computers at Houston Elementary school on Allens Lane in Mt. Airy. In addition, PCF provided another 40+ laptops throughout the building. Just carrying them [...]
On August 20th, PCF Western suburbs co-founders Ashwin and Srikar, along with their new volunteer Divyesh G., had the opportunity to visit three Philadelphia public schools to distribute a total of 60 laptops. Over the summer, the duo contacted local area companies and organizations to solicit the computer donations. In the end, they acquired about 120 great laptops, many of them with touch screens, lots of memory and crisp displays. Ashwin and Srikar cleaned the equipment [...]
Last Friday, PCF Director Jan Deruiter joined PCF's Western Suburb Chapter members Srikar and Ashwin for the installation of a 10-unit lab in a South Philadelphia Community Center. The Community Center offers a variety of programs to serve the Bhutanese refugee (learn more ») community who have resettled in the Philadelphia area in last ten years. Among the programs offered are computer literacy classes, music, and others. PCF installed 5 desktops in a lab room [...]
Today, the PCF Western Suburbs Chapter team of Srikar and Ashwin installed their second Community Center at Better Tomorrows, a national organization that empowers communities around the country, including Coatesville, PA. The organization's social coordinator, Ms. Crystal Lowery, contacted PCF requesting a donation of ten computers along with a printer for their Center. Ashwin and Srikar successfully completed the setup by refurbishing, imaging, and installing four desktops, six laptops, and a printer. In the application, Ms. [...]
This week, the PCF Western Suburbs crew installed their first Community Center Lab in Coatesville, Pa. Ashwin and Srikar, who head up the PCF Western Suburbs chapter, identified the Program to support and solicited the equipment donations that were used (in part) to support the program. Additional support was provided by PCF. The recipient program is called the "Coatesville Kids to College" program, which is headed up by Mr. Keith Wilburn and is housed in [...]
During the 2017-2018 school year, PCF greatly enhanced our 3D Printing offering. In order to do so, we purchased a new printer that allows us to print more objects at the same time and it is much faster. We provided classes during and after school at Edmonds, Logan, Emlen and Mifflin. Since printing still takes a long time, the objects are printed at our office after they are created. So students may finish something one [...]
During the 20117-18 school year, a great deal of effort was spent ensuring that the teachers in the schools we work with have all the computer equipment they need...or that they have room for, in some cases. The District has done a great job providing schools with additional computers and ChromeBooks but the need remains great. So PCF has worked hard to try and fill the gap. In many cases. the hardest part for us [...]
Two weeks or so ago, Friends' Central School in Wynnewood donated a van-load full of iMacs and Projectors to PCF. This week, the projectors were distributed to some very happy schools including Emlen, Logan, Dobson, Mifflin, Steel, Houston, and Edmonds. To save each school's tech person the hassle, PCF changed the settings on the projectors as they will not be ceiling mounted. It is a little quirky changing the settings when the screen is projected upside [...]
Today we spent some time in Ms. Salter's classroom at Mifflin Elementary School in East Falls. She requested 10 laptops to use for Google Classroom assignments, typing practice, creating papers, and doing research for projects. Since we do not have a Tech-Master program up and running at Mifflin, Ms. Salter offered her 4th graders to help refurbish the ten laptops PCF donated to her classroom. The students learned to boot the laptops from an external [...]
Last Friday PCF received a $1,000 Community Partner Grant from Wells Fargo. We are extremely grateful to receive this annual unrestricted grant from Wells Fargo. To receive the grant, we visited our sponsoring Wells Fargo branch at Academy Plaza in NorthEast Philadelphia where we met with Branch Manager Luz Bonilla and Service Manager Ms. Lotoya Kellier and several other tellers and advisors. Besides the grant, we also received some swag (measuring tapes, keychains, notepads) and [...]
Today we picked up a donation of iMacs and Projectors from Friends' Central School in the Overbrook area of Philadelphia. We are extremely excited to accept this donation as both the iMacs and the Projectors are very desirable and hard to come by! The iMacs will be distributed to classrooms that require desktop computers with Wi-Fi capability (our normal machines need to be hardwired). And we will use some of these Macs as take-home computers [...]
PCF is delighted to implement our "Tech-Master" program (a.k.a. "It Support Team" or "Geek Squad" program) at Logan. Logan has utilized PCF's Classroom Computers for a few years now and the goal is to teach a small group of 3rd and 4th graders how to install and update PCF's computers as needed. PCF has always utilized students whenever possible but this class' goal is to make these young students responsible for our equipment. In the process, [...]
PCF started to teach our "Website Creation" class to Emlen Elementary students. About 14 students are part of the "Computer Club" After School Program. The website creation program is expected to last at least 6 weeks. The classes are made possible in part by our StartupPHL grant and PCF is fortunate to be supported by Emlen's computer teacher Ms. Vera Hromadka. PCF's Director Deruiter has run a Philadelphia Web business, MostlyWeb, Inc., since 1996 and is [...]
Over the summer, we met with Pan American School's Director of Technology Zach Brown to discuss a possible equipment donation to PCF. Earlier today, we were delighted to pick up 12 iMacs that were already wiped clean and factory reset by Mr. Brown. The iMacs are particularly useful for job/career training and graphics-heavy training. To that end, at two of the community centers we outfitted with computers over the summer, they are planning to do [...]
The Philadelphia Children's Foundation has received a $30,000 Grant from the Philadelphia Department of Commerce. The grant was part of the StartupPHL initiative, which uses public money to match investment in Philadelphia’s innovation ecosystem. PCF received the grant to fund two efforts: 1) our "Tech-Masters" (a.k.a. "IT Support Teams") program which creates and nurtures small IT Support teams inside schools to install and maintain our donated equipment, and 2) computer literacy teaching (to larger cohorts of students in [...]
