Could PCs-On-A-Stick Clear Up e-Waste?

Yesterday’s launch of SimplicITy’s £70 bootable USB computer was interesting for a lot of reasons, but one strong angle might turn out to be an environmental one.

The HomeKey lets users boot up a usable operating system on any old PC, and we use the word “old” advisedly, as it is based on the parsimonious Linux Mint distribution. This means that money need not be a barrier for people who previously refused to use IT on the grounds that is is costly and difficult.

An old PC coming up to retirement could have a useful second life helping a person in the same position.

Recycled PCs save e-Waste

The idea of re-using PCs in this way does show up the flaws in the Government’s strategy for getting the non-digital generation online.

The Race Online 2012 initiative took on the task of getting the remaining 8.2 million digital refuseniks in the country online by the end of this year. Even with a call for volunteer help and with government funding, it has managed to work with a few hundred thousand.

The initiative starts from the premise that Windows and Macintosh (yes, even Macintosh) systems are difficult to use because of unfamiliarity. People who haven’t had to spend hours on them at work, who retired before IT became widespread, will find it hard to pick them up in their retirement.

The government’s answer is to put Martha Lane Fox in charge of offering these people training – but a quick burst of training is not going to turn them into IT enthusiasts. Back at home, on their own their systems, they will lose the impetus, and give up.

The HomeKey idea sounds a better one – make the system easy, and limit it to the jobs the user actually wants to do. The jury is out on whether SimplicITy has actually succeeded, but that strikes me as potentially a more fruitful approach.

I also like the fact that it is an open source system. Linux has traditionally been seen as too complex for the neophyte, unless it is safely encapsulated in an embedded system of some form. It would be very cool if Linux corners this part of the market, at the same time as it spearheads a drive to make young users more enthusiastic through the Raspberry Pi initiative. Raspberry Pi is, of course almost the opposite of HomeKey. Where HomeKey covers up the underlying tech, the Pi exposes it in all its glory.

But the environmental benefits of a PC-on-a-stick are worth exploring in a little more detail. At present, old hardware is a huge problem, as kit is dumped into landfill or shipped illegally abroad to toxic dumps where it is recycled by the poor. Even legitimate recycling is a tragic waste of embodied energy, if you have a  system that could have an extended life.

There have been two major problems with re-using old systems. The software they rely on usually needs a licence, and is often an old product. There are plenty of machines around that could happily run Windows XP for years to come, but Microsoft has put it on Death Row.

Linux solves that problem.

The other problem is that, in order to make sure personal data is not leaked to subsequent users, retired PCs increasingly have their hard disks removed. It is a moderate task to replace that hard drive, although the PCs coming up to retirement at the moment have IDE-connected drives, which are now becoming more expensive than the SATA drives which have replaced them.

Since a PC-on-a-stick boots from the USB, no hard drive is needed. So it is possible to re-use junked PCs without having to invest in new hard drives or take the time to install them.

HomeKey still looks like a niche product. Like a bike or an electric car, its success will be down to its marketing, and whether it can carve out a niche alongside bigger players. But there are elements to this idea that are so right, they surely have to point to a better future.

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