‘Computer Guy’ Puts Macs in Class, Not Trash

“Hey, buddy, can you spare a Mac?”

By now, my friends and co-workers are tired of hearing that plea.

Yes, my hobby, and my obsession, is old Macintosh computers. I don’t collect them. I beg for and overhaul Macs for my kids’ school, Walnut Elementary in Newbury Park.

Why? I got mad. Some 15 million computers are ‘surplused’ each year. The mind-set in this country is to have the latest and fastest--trash anything else. Many of these “useless” computers are badly needed by our schools.

My crusade started innocently enough. Two years ago while dropping off aluminum cans at a Newbury Park recycler, I spotted a pile of 1985-era Macintosh Pluses. The Plus was the first big-selling Macintosh computer. It had an attached mouse and built-in black and white 9-inch monitor.

Closer inspection of the computer pile revealed a Mac Classic--a newer model--in perfect condition. For $20, my daughter, Christine, had her own computer.

Two weeks later, my fifth-grader typed a 25-page report on the Classic. I saw the value of a $20 word processor. Heck, I realized, much of the student computer work at Walnut was basic word processing or similar level work that could just as easily be done on 5-year-old processors.

I have since become devoted to putting Macs into the class--not the trash.

This school year, Walnut did not need to buy any new computers. Instead, the school is getting new playground equipment. This was good news. My two boys were getting tired of playing on the 20-year-old monkey bars.

I feel like I’ve been around Walnut almost as long. I started volunteering during the 1993-94 school year. My daughter Christine’s second-grade class needed help learning to use the Macs I rescued. Next, I helped the teachers. Then I started trouble-shooting--fixing broken processors before a paid repairman was called.

Former Walnut Principal Brad Baker said I saved the school a good chunk of money. That was a great compliment.

I have become such a fixture around Walnut that they gave me a mailbox. It’s often full of “please help me” messages. Kids call me the “computer guy.” I just wish I had more time to help, the list of needs is so great.

Last winter, Walnut hired Dave Tyler, the husband of a kindergarten teacher, to a part-time technical staff position. That was a big relief for me. I now concentrate on donations.

So far this school year, I’ve handed over 20 more computers for students and staff. Six can be checked out by parents and taken home. An additional 15 computers are waiting for parts, software or monitors.

I get the computers from many sources. Two Macs came from co-workers at the Los Angeles Times. Parents supplied several more. But my best sources are the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena and the Ventura County Regional Occupational Program.

At JPL, I found out I am not alone in my quest to rescue old processors from the scrap heap. Domingo Dongon said thousands of JPL computers have been donated to schools as far away as the East Coast and American Samoa.

Several schools in Thousand Oaks have received JPL computers. Conejo Elementary School, according to Principal Larry Birdsell, has received more than 80 surplus JPL computers. After overhaul, about 45 are in the classrooms.

My first two trips to JPL last year filled a storage room at Walnut with monitors, processors, keyboards and disk drives. What I learned was that this wonderful government offer created a new problem. For every two surplus computers, there were enough parts, cables and working pieces to put one complete system in the classroom. Monitors are the weak link. When a monitor fades, there is no fix. Thus, I am always short of monitors.

Meanwhile, I followed up a lead on another source of donated Macintosh computers: the Ventura County ROP program. About 70 high school juniors and seniors from all over Ventura County are enrolled in the ROP computer repair and business classes held at the superintendent of schools facility at Camarillo Airport.

In previous years, the ROP classes have overhauled and given to schools 900 Macintosh computers donated by Amgen.

My biggest score came out of the blue on a January morning. I got a call saying the ROP program was going to unload a bunch of computers in 30 minutes. I had to juggle my work schedule, but I’m glad I went. I found the earthly version of Mac heaven! The ROP students had fixed up 250 Macs and 100 monitors. Fifty Ventura County schools would divide the loot. All the Macs and monitors were piled up in one large room.

Of course I had to take pictures. It was a Kodak--strike that--Mac moment.

Two of the Macs went straight into fourth-grade classrooms. A third replaced a dead Mac LC II. The only problem was, my pile of extra processors grew.

And it got better--and worse. The second ROP distribution in March gave each participating school seven processors and four monitors. Three went straight into Walnut fifth- and sixth-grade classes. But the pile of extra processors is still growing.

The Walnut storage room is full. The pile of computer parts is so large I can no longer park my car in the garage.

Now my plea is, “Hey, buddy, can you spare a monitor?”

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Scott Harrison is a Times photographer. He can be reached at scott.harrison@latimes.com.