More off the wall ideas ;)

[Wulf]

I have a dozen different things going on right now so Ill try to be as coherant as possible .

Edit: Deleted first idea

And could you put an add in the local paper about some of the distributed computing projects available and have us as a point of contact (TA recruiters ) for more info on the subject? Or would that be spam?

Somewhere in there I lost my train of thought .

Edit:
Maybe we could also setup a hardware pool/raffle or something.
People could donate old stuff that they dont need or cant use to other TA members if they can use or need it(post a list so we can all see whats available).
We could even donate stuff for a WarpcoreII project(have to find someone that doesnt have to pay for electricity).
Or, hehe , we could have a big *ss raffle for the stuff open to TA members only(new people more than welcome to join).

 

[RaySun2Be]

Once upon a time, people who were building crack racks would post on this forum, and a lot of people would help them out. I have sent parts to other members building racks, and others have sent me parts for my rack.

Interesting ideas, too. Keep those creative juices flowing!

 

[Viztech]

Well, with computers so cheap now, many people just replace rather than fix.

I work for a couple of non-profits, so I have seen a couple of hundred donated machines come in. Many are junk, but you never know when you get some good RAM, a nice case, relatively large hard drives, OverDrive CPUs and the like.

I had one P120 come in after getting hit by lightning. It took out the modem, monitor and the PCI slot that the modem was plugged in to. I removed the modem, threw out the monitor, loaded RC5 and deleted some software overhead. I cracked with it for a month before replacing the CPU with a 133 OCed to 166. I put it into the classroom last month still cracking away.

Moral? Yeah, I will take any old or non working computer for free. I can always throw it away, but I will never loose by taking them.

viz

 

[DanC]

Viz -Good Call!
Much of that will make crack-racks too!

 

[Wulf]

Thats what Im thinking of doin Viz. Ive had 2 286 given to me that were found in the trash. after looking at them I got 3 80mm fans, 2 486 type heatsink/fans, 1 Power supply, and 2 speakers all of which are on my rack now. There is alot of parts thrown away that can still be put to use for rack type stuff so get out there and assimilate parts guys

 

[Viztech]

Ahh, I forgot to mention the crack rack parts.

I actually like to see old 386s for the ISA-VGA video cards. The PCI ones went to the school machines and the VLB ones went to the trash.

A 200 MB hard drive is all you need for Win 95, which is quite familiar to everybody to use in a crack rack. 20 MB of RAM is optimum for RC5 on Win 95, but 16 will still not start thrashing the drive while cracking. I never tried 8, but everybody should be able to get enough 4 meg SIMMs to fill the banks of a 486 or Pentium mobo.

viz

 

[TOOCOOL]

Thats a good idea WULF
remember this

 

[Viztech]

Hmmm, maybe we could clean it thru one of non-profits. You got to send me all the stuff over, say 800mhz though. LOL

I don't think the IRS would go for it though.

viz

 

[Wulf]

Toocool- Yeah I remember . Thats why we need to do it nonprofit style . If its possible

 

[PeterN]

It might be well worth to set up a nonprofit organisation (with tax-id etc.).
There are some ways to raise funds, but only if there is a legit organisation to be credited.

If such an organisation would be set up, I would advice no direct connection to the name Anandtech, since it is Anand's livelyhood. We could take (the name of) the project of Clay Autery, 'The Warpcore', if he agrees. Hell, we could make him CEO. The old TA-members know and trust him, I'm sure of that. Then we could start 'The Warpcore' with some real money behind it (trust me, there is a way).

I think it has major advantages to set up a real nonprofit organisation, not only tax-deductions, but also a sence of reliability to people who want to donate hardware or support it financially. It's easier to raise funds and stuff that way.

Also I would advice to set up such an organisation in the USA, because of the larger economic possibilities and because most of our members are living there.

All we have to do is find one or two members who want to set things up and all TA-members trust and feel happy about. To support such an effort I volunteer to help setting up some sort of business plan.

Wondering about ideas, comments and such!!

PS Strates has come up with this idea earlier and I'm also thinking about it for the last few months.

 

[vss1980]

I've got an idea, but its more for trying to get more people to crack. Basically it workes like this:

This is run in the form of a competition - all you have to do to enter is to crack at least one RC5 block during the period of a week.
When the week is over, a winner will be selected at random from all of the weeks participants and will recieve a prize of say 10K blocks (we could go higher).
This will mean two things, that the winning participant will obviously get a boost, but that they will also have a better chance of winning $1000 by doing absolutely nothing.
Hopefully this would boost numbers a bit after the competition is announced in the rest of the forum (general hardware and OT).

However, this idea needs a bit of help from the BIG TA people (it has taken me 7 months to hit 10K blocks).

 

[PeterN]

Also a nice idea, vss1980. Is worth considering.

I've found the following article with information and guidelines about setting up NPO's within the US.

Peter.

 

[PeterN]

Anyone to take up the challenge of setting up an US-NPO??

I will support the effort with every work I can!!