Hello Chicago Area (and beyond!) Linux Community:

We are members of a VISTA volunteer project 
(http://www.friendsofvista.org/) called Teaming for Technology-Chicago 
(http://www.t4tchicago.org). We are local members of a national 
initiative (18 cities so far) to bridge the "digital divide" by providing 
non-profit community groups and service organizations with free tech 
planning and implementation (see an article by T4T Member J.C. Dwyer here:   

http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/stories/index.cfm?key=172 )

We provide or help provide services from basic referrals 
and information to implementation of LANS, Intra and Extra Nets, DB's, 
web design etc. We also administer grants and donations of hardware and 
software throughout the year.
 
T4T members serve terms of one year, and each year we build on the hard 
work of the year before. We also bring our personal interests to the 
job and are allowed to pursue them in as much as they are congruent with 
the needs of the organizations that we serve. This year many of us are 
interested in the philosophy of Linux and Open Source/GPL'd 
technologies. 

As we enter our fifth project year we are finding that many 
organizations have sophisticated technology needs. Often a non-profit 
organization (NPO) will want to implement a dedicated server with 
Internet access, that not only hosts their web presence but is the 
nexus 
for their LAN, database and email accounts as well.

In previous years T4T used NT 
technology and servers in the $3000 range, but this year we would love 
to move the NPO's to a less financially burdensome option since they 
need to make 
their tech budgets stretch as far as possible. We would very much like 
to free NPO's from reliance on proprietary software and operating 
systems. 

We have assembled a list of questions on which we very much need your 
advice  http://www.t4tchicago.org/linux_question.html 

and a call for volunteers http://www.t4tchicago.org/linux_question.html 
that we hope you will take the time to think about and respond to. 
Please pass it on to other interested Linux users. If you think there are 
questions/issues we should be thinking about but don't seem to be, 
please point them out to us. We really will appreciate you help on this!

//T4T's goal is to help NPO's implement sustainable technology!//

Thank you again for your help and advice. We hope to hear from you 
soon.
 
John Stanton- john.stanton@uwonline.org 
Miya Tamura- miya.tamura@uwonline.org 
J.C. Dwyer
Floyd Douglas
 
VISTA/Teaming for Technology-Chicago
http://www.t4tchicago.org