[Lincoln LUG] Fwd: [lugmaster] Seeking new sponsors and donations for Slackware UK.

Tue Apr 20 07:38:16 UTC 2021

Hi everyone

Hope you are all keeping well. Please see the email below from Darren to
source some sponsors/donations for Slackware UK.

Cheers

Becky

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Darren 'Tadgy' Austin <lists at afterdark.org.uk>
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2021 at 22:10
Subject: [lugmaster] Seeking new sponsors and donations for Slackware UK.
To: A closed discussion list for UK LUGMasters. <
lugmaster at mailman.lug.org.uk>

I'd appreciate it if you could forward this onto your LUGs - thanks!

Hi,
  Some of you in the Slackware Linux community may know me already, but
others
may not - I'm Darren 'Tadgy' Austin and I operate the Slackware UK
[https://slackware.uk/] mirror and hosting service specifically targeted at
the Slackware Linux [https://slackware.com/] community.

The service has been running for over 10 years now, with sponsorship and
support from a private company in the UK, File Away Limited
[https://www.file-away.co.uk/], who I have to thank for their unwavering
support over this time - I couldn't have continued the service without
their
help.

File Away's support has allowed the service to grow and grow to what it is
today.  From simply offering a mirror of Slackware Linux at the end of a
2MB
SDSL connection, to also offering free hosting of projects on dedicated
servers with Gigabit connectivity for all things Slackware!

I would like to think Slackware UK has grown to be one of the largest
repositories of Slackware related projects and files on the internet - in
fact, I cannot think of anywhere else that provides access to so many
resources in one location.

But Slackware UK isn't just about mirroring software that you can find
elsewhere on the internet - I offer free full file hosting to Slackware
related projects, distributions and package maintainers.  There are several
projects which utilise Slackware UK as their primary hosting solution;
including SlackwareARM [https://arm.slackware.com/] and SlackwareARM for
the
Raspberry Pi (SARPi) [https://sarpi.penthux.net/], Absolute Linux
[https://www.absolutelinux.org/], Freeslack [http://freeslack.net/], Slint
[https://slint.fr/], Cinnamon SlackBuild (CSB)
[https://cinnamonslackbuilds.github.io/] and MATE SlackBuild (MSB)
[https://mateslackbuilds.github.io/], to name but a few.  I also offer a
mirror of the entire Slackware Linux trees as well as packages provided by
the
Slackware core dev team members alienBOB (Eric Hameleers) and rworkman
(Robby
Workman).  I also maintain an in-house cumulative archive (thanks to
alienBOB
for the bootstrap) of all packages distributed since the very first release
of
Slackware64.

As I mentioned before, the service has been supported for many years by
File
Away Limited.  However, recently and unfortunately, I have had word from
File
Away that they may no longer be able to continue funding (paying the
bills!)
of the main Slackware UK server after this years contract with the
dedicated
server provider ends.  Obviously this could be a blow to the continued
availability of the service going forward.

So, why am I reaching out to the community?

The primary reason is to try and find sponsors who may like to provide
funding
for the Slackware UK services in order to keep this valuable and widely
used
project operational.  If you know of, or perhaps work for, a company who
may
be inclined to support a project like Slackware UK with sponsorship or
donations to the cause, please, please either pass their details to me so I
can make a direct approach, or facilitate an introduction between us
yourself?

Finding new sponsors who can financially support the project would be
fantastic - especially if those sponsors already have something to do with
Slackware (using it in their products or company, or regularly use one of
the
projects hosted on Slackware UK, perhaps?).

However, If you cannot help by providing a contact or introduction, that
brings me onto the second objective of this approach: donations or
patronage.

If you would like to contribute to the cause but don't have any contacts to
offer, please consider a donation, if you have the means?
I currently have a GoFundMe fundraiser [https://gofund.me/87934ce3]
running,
with the goal of bringing in enough donations to see the project through
the
next 3 years of operation.  But I do understand this may be a lofty goal
and
you may wish to show your support with a one off PayPal payment
[https://paypal.me/DonateToSlackwareUK] or a continuing patronage through
Patreon [https://patreon.com/SlackwareUK].  Any donations are gratefully
received and every little bit helps :)

Finally, I would appreciate it if you could spread this message through
your
circle of contacts, be that a group you are involved with (a LUG, Facebook
group, etc.) a mailing list, or any other personal contacts far and wide.

Please note that all donations and sponsorship are kept strictly for the
use
of services provided by Slackware UK, in a seperate bank account.  I do not
profit or take any sort of payment for running the service.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and any bit of support you can
offer!

Darren Austin.

-- 
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