grant money

[Tim Wilson <wilson@chemsun.chem.umn.edu>]

Hey everybody,

I've been thinking lately that I'd like to pursue some grants for the
purpose of upgrading the computer hardware in the science department at
Sibley H.S. where I teach. Many of who have seen the department at the
InstallFests and know that we have a small fleet of 486s in the lab and a
handful of Pentium boxes for teacher use (plus our Linux server). I would
like to begin upgrading to Pentiums (or AMD) as soon as possible.

Our budget is extremely tight as you might imagine. While a capable Linux
system can be had at Indybox.com (incl. monitor) for as little as $700,
$700 x (number of systems required) is still a lot of $$$.

I'd like to approach some hardware companies about providing a grant to
support my effort. All granting agencies need some sort of "hook" to
encourage them to support you, and the most obvious one here is the fact
that we're using Linux (on all machines, not just the server). I think I
can write a nice proposal, but I'm wondering who might be interested in
funding it. My list so far:

Intel
VA Linux Systems (probably not, systems too spendy)
Penguin Computing
IndyBox
HP
Transmeta (that's a joke)
DEC
FSF (they need a few grants of their own)
RedHat (Future IPO will make Bob Young a billionaire)
SuSE (I'm not married to RedHat)
other distros?

This would be great publicity for a whichever company and Linux in
general. I'm really just at the beginning stages of thinking about this.
There are many other granting agencies, but I'm quite sure that most of
them haven't heard of Linux yet, and probably wouldn't know what's so cool
about free software. Anyone have any other ideas?

Later,
Tim

--
Timothy D. Wilson			"A little song, a little dance,
University of MN, chem. dept.		a little seltzer down your 
wilson@chem.umn.edu			pants."   -Chuckles the Clown
Phone: (612) 625-9828                       as eulogized by Ted Baxter