BrianMathis.net

i had an idea on how to spread open source while also giving back to my community by providing free linux based email and web servers for non-profit organizations. there are two different ways of accomplishing this idea:

1. i host the email and web sites on my servers for no charge
2. i obtain a donated server, install and configure the OS and services, and they host the email and web sites using their own internet service provider or host

going along with those two options, are a few different scenarios to make this work.

1. i create a non-profit specifically to receive donations for servers and bandwidth or to pay for VPS hosting.
2. i use my “free geek” wanna be; renew tech; as a source for used computers to build low profile/powered computers to use as servers.
3. i obtain donations from big companies who may have a end of life cycle for computers (i.e. the fresno bee), upgrade, install and configure, and donate those computers to the non-profits so they can host the email and websites at their location.

one of the reasons why i want to do this is while working for a few non-profits through my consulting company, i realized that there are not a lot of companies out there that will help a non-profit out or even provide a discount on their services.

I still need to work through the details, but if you would like to help out by either donating time, hardware, or even colocation bandwidth, please feel free to contact me at the link above.  If you are a non-profit organization and want more information on this topic or would like to receive free email and web site hosting, feel free to contact me as well!

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