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Host Random Crap (to help us give away laptops to humans)
OneFreeComputerInc
Member
Howdy y'all.
I started a radical nonprofit: https://onefreecomputer.org/
We give away free modern laptops to humans.
However we also have a warehouse in Rochester NY we do it from with 10gbps internet from Cogent and a datacenter space in NYC (Weehawken) with 1gbps blend from Centersquare.
If you want to donate, we'll host crap for you in return to maximize the value of these operational expenses for our mission. Primarily Android phones, but please, take a look. If you need something custom online for a donation to our free laptop program, please get in touch.
https://wtfhost.onefreecomputer.org/
https://gaming.onefreecomputer.org/
Also, all our plans include free nntp/usenet services.
Comments
That's awesome
Where is mine?
Honestly and accurately fill out the affadavit under penalty of perjury and email a scan to the address on it, I'll reach out, verify your identity with me on any video messaging app, and I will send you one
respect！
That's a nice work!
But the keyword charity is now hauting this forum.
woof, yeah, I'm relatively new here (been a LEB-head for a decade tho) and I see now a lot of CH drama.
0% affiliation, that's unfortunate.
Thanks for the advice, I adjusted the title.
Cool.
Are you familiar with FreeGeek?
Similar in mission.
They take donated hardware (desktops, laptops, etc.) and refurbish them by stripping out Windows and installing Linux Mint. This allows older laptops to continue to be used. They then either sell them cheap or donate them to low-income families. They also offer free classes and training to show people how to use them. They have a program where people can volunteer and after you build so many computers, you get one free. They're located in Portland, OR.
With your program, how do you handle the OS? I assume you're wiping the drives on donated gear. Are people who get the laptops getting Windows, Linux, or an empty system?
Not familiar with FreeGeek but they seem very cool. I will get in touch.
All our computers come with brand new, legal Windows licenses.
Our hardware partner, Shift2 ( Shift2NFP.org ) , is a electronics recycler that sells components and laptops extremely cheaply ($125 per computer, in most cases, and $250 for microsoft surfaces) to non-profit organizations for their direct support beneficiaries and also for internal program use. They are an authorized not-for-profit Microsoft Refurbisher through the PCs for People program ( https://www.pcsforpeople.org/ )
I've been building (grant funded) computer labs for schools and churches and libraries in the Rochester NY area for the better part of 3 years now with Shift2NFP and finally with the change in political climate, etc, I wanted to try my hand at directly generating program revenue.
My ultimate goal is to give every human on Earth a free computer and a free Internet connection to join their mind to our collective human achievement network.
tl;dr: if you have or are part of a nonprofit organization that needs tech I can get it very very cheap, with Windows licensing and Office 2019.
@OneFreeComputerInc what do you do with our PI?
This page goes into more detail about it, I'll work on adding it to some of the other pages. https://onefreecomputer.org/bogo.html
Basically, your PI doesn't leave Stripe and will never be used for anything beyond transactional related communications and your actual server (Yes, an android phone with termux and droidvnc is just a battery-backed dedi
) is in a key-locked suite that only I and the building landlord/owner have access to.
The CNSQ space is in a Digital Realty building and has all the usual accoutremonts
Embarrassingly, there was an issue with the form submission until this point. If you submitted a request up until now, please resend it as it is likely to be lost. I will confirm any duplicate requests.
Here's another facet I was thinking of getting into, but haven't actually executed yet - would love "market feedback" on the offering. These are basically just Amazon-ordered miniPCs in a baker-rack datacenter. https://hdi.onefreecomputer.org/
New money laundering scheme?
Only as much as any non-profit is - we still have to file an annual 990 describing where every dollar goes, and we have to maintain recipient records of the Windows licenses for Microsoft. There's no money laundering here; tbh the nonprofit is well over $2k in the hole of my personal donations I don't expect to ever recoup - our articles of incorporation prevent staff pay.
Since you mention Windows, how do you intend to get around the Windows 10 EOL date coming up? Old machines and Windows 11 don’t mix.
Unless I misunderstood the OP.
These are all 8th gen and newer i5 and better, for the free-laptops-to-less-financed program. So, at least for the ones I'm giving away, that's not a concern. The most recent set went to two families that are being helped through a home aid/social agency here, and they were Latitude 5420s with 11th gen i5s in them. They come with Windows 11 with a fresh brand new digital entitlement for their mainboards (officially Microsoft Refurbished, you can see the holosticker at the bottom of the image) (and desktops come with a keyboard/mouse/monitor included)
For the WTFHost servers, they are a few android phones I had laying around and a model I can get very cheap at Walmart.
For the Gaming and WTFHost MeLe servers, I just order those on Amazon, turn them on, configure a password, enable RDP, and send the creds. Or if they want Linux, if it's ubuntu or debian I will use maas to PXE image it, or I either netboot.xyz it or use a good ol' flashdrive.
None of your response made a single difference.
Sorry I guess I'm not following then? Or you were just trolling. Either way, it's not a money laundering scheme as it's a non-profit corporation whose staff is all volunteer. I don't get what you were trying to say.
Your FAQ:
Are donations tax-deductible?
No, donations are not currently tax deductable. We are in the process of obtaining Charitable Organization status.
Having to tell you about misrepresentation is another red flag.
There's no misrepresentation, the truth is actually complicated, although now I definitely understand why there is confusion. Part of this stems from varying definitions of what a non-profit organization is. Is it 501c3 status from the federal government? Is it what's in your articles of incorporation? What about state law about registered charities?
I do not have our 501c3 determination letter yet. That is the thing, that to many, makes us officially a non-profit organization. It is also the thing that makes donations tax-deductible under US tax code. However, it has no bearing on state law. We are a non-profit public benefit corporation under NY State Law already and cannot turn a profit under the legal definition in New York state.
Donations presently, are tax-deductable in the eyes of NYS but not to the US government. We have filed for our 501c3 determination letter and are expecting it in the mail any day now.
Please see below for the information supporting these claims. My intent is not to misrepresent at all but the truth of the current status of the corporation is different depending on which state you are in and if they recognize reciprocal non-profit taxability for out of state businesses. Once we have federal clearance, this all becomes much easier.
This is such an unrealistic/unobtainable goal that it's another red flag. Why "humans" ? Why not people who can't afford them, specifically?
A program like this would need to start with a very, very large endowment. (You're making a Mark Zuckerburg level statement).
It's still unclear what the point of your post was in the first place. If it was to ask for hardware donations, the lack of minimum specs and details is suspicious.
If your interest was to advertise here some sort of services exchange, you lack details on what services and what exchange expectations.
Also, "host crap"? If other people want to ignore all these suspicious red flags, that's on them. I'll just say I can't recall a single time since 2017 where I called out red flags and proven wrong...
Have you checked that link lately?
The bombastic nature of the mission is the point. We are starting with humans who can't afford them. That's step one. Once we've given a free computer to every human that can't afford one, we will start giving them away to anyone else. Nonprofits with radical missions and an inability for anyone to make money from them are an exciting concept and one which may feel uncommon.
Every page there describes what you get in return for your donation. You select from a choice of android phones, which have storage listed (hence the 'crap'), you can add an SD card, or rent/buy a mini-pc.
It really feels like you didn't click any of my links?
Also, have you ever seen android phone dedis here before?
And yes, I did check the link? What are you seeing?
They are a partner very similar to us. They're larger, so we buy our licenses through their MSFT Auth Reseller program.
I'm not exactly sure what would make you happy;
Then change the fucking Mission statement to that! Duh!
That's not exciting. You're abusing the time of the volunteers and undercutting legitimate businesses.
Yes, I think that donation breakdown is something a scam would show.
I sure did. You look very scammy compared to shift2.
No, that's fucking dumb. It's a touch centric designed device. Phones are not general use computers and this makes it even more suspicious.
"Sorry, your request cannot be accepted"
That doesn't sound right. Either license goes with the hardware or it doesn't.
The never wrong answer is a blowjob.
What's up with that picture? The "printed" on text seems very fake, the laptop in the back even using comic sans lmao.
It's laser etched. It is Comic Sans lol.
I have a perverse fascination with that font. I intentionally use it sometimes. Here are those laptops getting engraved.
??? The mission statement is intentionally defined such that the program can be targeted to marginalized groups first.
How so? There are plenty of people who have enough money to get value added services from legitimate businesses. Legitimate businesses received tax write offs on their corporate taxes for donating these laptops.
I am not sure what this means
How so? Again, you seem to have very little concrete reasons that align with the actual content of the site.
It just worked for me; do you know what browser you're using.
Uh, Shift2 purchases COAs from PC4P and uses them to execute as a MAR (MSFT Authorized Refurbisher). We purchase fully refurbished units from Shift2, whose licenses are bound to the motherboard. Hopefully that helps?
That's, uh, why it's called "WTFHost". You are donating money to give away one laptop to every human, starting with poor humans, for a ridiculous dedicated server with real public IPv4 internet access if you want it and a chroot linux environment running on it you can SSH to.
You do not seem like someone in the target market, to be honest. You seem way more focused on value rather than social good. There's a reason why this is not in the commercial section.
Also, in cased anyone missed it, these sure make great nzbget hosts with multi-TB SD cards on them..... the free caching NNTP servers of all trees is handy if you like the usenet news ecosystem for all your important updates!