2026-10-23 –, Room 250
A small effort to keep old laptops out of landfills grew into The Computer Upcycle Project, a community upcycling program that's refurbished 3,000+ computers for people in need. This talk shares how a local donation program in Olympia, WA turned into a full-scale computer reuse effort — breathing new life into old hardware with a mix of Linux systems, including Debian, Bazzite, Fedora, and our own Nixbook OS, a simple, stable, auto-updating NixOS-based build. Learn how thoughtful design, the right OS for the right machine, and community action turn e-waste into opportunity.
A small effort to keep old laptops out of landfills grew into The Computer Upcycle Project, a community upcycling program that's refurbished 3,000+ computers for people in need. This talk shares how a local donation program in Olympia, WA turned into a full-scale computer reuse effort — breathing new life into old hardware with a mix of Linux systems, including Debian, Bazzite, Fedora, and our own Nixbook OS, a simple, stable, auto-updating NixOS-based build. Learn how thoughtful design, the right OS for the right machine, and community action turn e-waste into opportunity.
Mike Kelly is the CTO, Developer and Co-Founder of a SaaS company called MemberVault. He is not only a big Linux fan for personal uses, but uses Linux exclusively to develop and host the platform.
Mike is based in Olympia, WA where him and his wife run MemberVault, while raising 3 kids and a golden doodle.