How To Help

Time

The most important thing you can do, of course, is participate in the community here and continue to help build the historical and technical resource that we've all created here.

Server Administration

We have a big drupal migration that I've been putting off. If anybody has experience in that area, I'd appreciate help. I could also really use help with drupal themes, css, and art. More generally, there's occassional need for general help with Linux administration (mostly Debian-based), Proxmox, and Docker. It would be helpful to have people with the relevant skills available to answer questions.

Promotion

In the past, when we published a noteworthy article on Applefritter, I would email the relevant news sites. Now, it seems people mostly get news via social media, but I don't do that. If anybody is active wherever, and wants to help with promotion, I'd appreciate it.

Novices

Twenty years ago, working on Applefritter helped start my career in IT, and I know it did similarly for several others who helped with the site at the time. If you're in high school or college (or neither), and are interested in Linux administration, contact me if you'd like to get involved. We have several VMs that aren't mission critical, so it's ok if you make mistakes. We could also use help with tasks like adding repositories to the github mirror, testing service functionality, etc.

Backups

I'm looking for more off-site backups. If you have rsync and a couple terabytes available on a steady connection, we could use your help. If you're able to run a Proxmox Backup Server, that would be incredible.

Right now, backups are maintained by ex-parrot and I, via rsync. Some of the secondary services and bigger mirrors are not included.

Hardware

We're currently using a Dell R730XD with 128 GB RAM and 28 TB disk space, provided by Dr. Webster. I'd like to get a second server for failover. The failover server wouldn't have to host all the secondary services, so it could potentially have a lot less disk space.  Right now, we just have basic rsync backups. I'd also like to set up a full Proxmox Backup Server at home, with tape. I have an old Dell with an LTO-4 tape drive that may get used for this, but I need to figure out more storage for it.

Ideally, we could use one or two servers, an LTO-5 or newer tape drive, tapes, and some server-quality hard drives or raid units. If you see anything we could use getting decommissioned, please consider setting it aside. For equipment we need, I can pay shipping, or if it's in the D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, or (maybe) New York City area, I could pick it up.

Money

I've started tracking expenses with Open Collective. If you'd like to help contribute towards them, you can do so there. Right now, our hosting costs are a little over $1,000 per year.

I've also decided to offer an applefritter.com email address as a thank you for contributing $20/month. This offer is also extended to anybody contributing hardware.

If you'd like to contact me (Tom), I can be messaged here, emailed (tom @ this domain), or found on Applefritter Talk.