Government Wasting Money and Time on Broadband and Computers – Just Do It Yourself for Big Savings and No Waiting

Broadband access to the internet is a hot button issue right now and has been for some time. The government “solution” is always the same, spend more of your money and the result is always the same, nothing gets done. Answers are available now, no government programs necessary and there’s a lot you can do yourself, no waiting involved.

Government broadband or Starlink?

Three years ago I suggested Starlink as a way for residents to get broadband connections even if there was no cable or fiber running down your street or road. Since that time Starlink’s coverage has improved tremendously and blankets the entire area, in fact, it covers the entire state and it’s available now. It also costs a lot less, only $299 instead of the previous $499 for the base station.

The government has a plan, with billions of dollars earmarked for broadband in rural areas, but there’s a catch. Since Elon Musk has become more politically outspoken and supports Trump, the government refuses to use his internet service and that means anyone waiting for that government provided broadband will continue to wait. Multiple stories recently indicate that no connections have been made and the program isn’t moving due to infighting among the many groups that can’t wait to get their hands on the cash. On top of that, the government wants to dictate a price for connections that is so low, no company can afford to provide the service.

Pennsylvania wants to spend your money to give away computers

The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority voted Thursday to spend $20 million on more than 14,000 laptops to grow internet access in the commonwealth.

The unanimous vote allows the Authority to award between 20 and 200 laptops to libraries, schools, municipalities and other groups.

So far, 130 groups have applied to the program and applications are open through August 19, said Julia Brinjac, digital equity program manager of the PBDA.

The computers they plan to buy are HP 13.3” EliteBook models, which are priced between $1200 and $1800, though a big government purchase will get them for a bit less. Yep, that will fix it …

Do it yourself – It’s not hard

How about doing it yourself? A few days ago I wrote about the Linux operating system and I said you could install it on a Raspberry Pi microcomputer or you could install it on an old computer and bring it up to date. Since then, I decided to take my own advice and do exactly that so you could see what’s involved and how much it costs.

First up, Raspberry Pi

The credit card sized Raspberry Pi microcomputers are amazing. They’re a complete computer on a single circuit board and require you to plug in the peripherals like a monitor, keyboard and mouse. You plug in to a wall outlet with a little transformer like you see on all sorts of electronic devices and the software is loaded on a microSD card. I bought a kit on Amazon that contains everything, so I didn’t have to source the individual items and it also has a little enclosure with a tiny fan for cooling. The entire assembly process took about 10 minutes which included opening the little packages, installing the fan and heatsink, inserting the microSD card and plugging in a monitor and keyboard.

The kit already had the Raspberry Pi OS loaded on the card and when I turned it on and configured the country, language, user name and password, it booted up and there I was at the Linux desktop, connected to the internet and ready to go. It wants to do some initial updates to make sure the software is the latest version of everything and you’re ready to surf the net or write programs or do anything else you might want to do.

I have a lot of older computers and hardware around so I used a monitor on another computer to test it, but it you don’t have one, just plug into your flatscreen TV, that will work fine. I also bought a small wireless keyboard with a touchpad to use with it because I have plans to plug this into our TV so we can stream video and we’ll be able to run it from across the room.

The kit was $159. Since I also have old keyboards and mice lying around, that was my total cost, but all of those things are really inexpensive these days if you want to buy new. The Linux operating system and all of the programs included are open source, they can be downloaded and installed without cost.

The old laptop option

Many people toss or recycle their old laptops, but I hang on to them, you just never know when they might come in handy, like as a Linux test bed. I grabbed an old Asus originally loaded with Windows 7, like I said, old. I had already configured it as a dual boot system, meaning I loaded Linux on part of the hard drive and could choose whether I wanted to run Windows or Linux when I turned it on. I’m converting it to all Linux, but I did order more memory, which is also very inexpensive these days. I ordered a monitor, too, so it can be used as a desktop computer or unplugged and used as a laptop. Have you priced monitors lately? $70 for a 22 inch, absolutely crazy, because I know what they used to cost. Wow. Bottom line, the computer that was sitting unused and ready to be recycled or tossed cost $0 and the extra memory was $30, so total cost is $30. It runs Linux and has all of the software anyone could need and it has broadband internet access.

A quick fix for old keyboards

Here’s another tip: Many old laptops don’t have backlit keyboards, so if the light in the room is low, you can’t see the keys. That’s not a problem for touch typists, although some keyboards have slightly different key placement for arrow keys and some others and some of us are a little less than fully touch typing capable anyway. A little while ago, I bought this little LED light for reading books (yes, some of us still do that) when there’s too little light. It clips on the book and the light makes it easy to read, but it also works great when you clip it on a laptop and use it to light up the keyboard. Sure beats trying to install a new keyboard in that old laptop and you can use it on any computer (or book). It recharges the battery through a USB port on the computer and lasts a very long time on one charge. I’ve started using it on the Asus pictured above and it works great. Multiple light levels, too. I use it on the lowest level to give just enough brightness to see when I need to.

Why not donate an old computer for a student project?

I wonder how many old computers some big companies and even smaller companies have that could be converted to Linux and given away. I wonder if doing this might be a cool student project so they could learn about computers and operating systems and programming and networking. Just a thought.

Don’t wait for someone else when you can do it yourself

These are just two quick examples and there are many variations. Anyone with a tiny bit of motivation can do something like this. If you have never worked on computers, it will take a little longer, but it’s not hard to figure out and it’s a great way to learn. I REALLY recommend doing this as a way for students to learn and it’s a great way for anyone to have another computer in the house or even their first computer in the house. Do it yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

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