Homepage NSW Department of Information Technology and Management newsroom

Granville Students Bank On Improved Computer Skills

Announcement posted by NSW Department of Information Technology and Management 12 Dec 2001

Recycled computers and software developed on the Internet are teaching Western Sydney TAFE students technology skills, Granville MP and Minister for Information Technology, Kim Yeadon, today said.

The partnership between Computerbank and Granville TAFE will help fill the growing need for workers with ICT skills in Western Sydney, Mr Yeadon said.

This region has a burgeoning information technology sector consisting of 1,500 firms which contribute $2.7 billion a year to the national economy.

Computerbank NSW has helped set up an IT laboratory at Granville TAFE, which features refurbished computers.

A non-profit organisation, Computerbank recycles and refurbishes computers to give to educational institutions, charities, and disadvantaged individuals.

Building on this philosophy, Computerbank also supports the teaching of IT skills to students, the unemployed and other disadvantaged groups in the community.

Computerbank NSW Coordinator Craig Warner said: By recycling computers, were also doing the environment a big favour. PCs are one of the most toxic things. They contain lead, cadmium, arsenic and other toxic substances and should not be dumped in landfills.

Computerbanks operation simply involves taking old PCs, removing their commercial software systems, then building them up with Linux software. The beauty of the Linux system is that it is free and can be loaded onto most hardware, even PCs dating back to the 1980s.

Computerbank NSW became involved in Granville TAFE because there were simply too many students and not enough computers.

Also in association with Granville TAFE, Computerbank is investigating networking old processor computers into clusters to produce super computer performance.