On Tue, 22 Jun 2010, rich12345 wrote:
I think your post was great. $24 a year for all of that. 2 bucks a month to get internet on an old computer.
Thanks, Rich. It's a local freenet originally created by students at Dalhouse University in the early 90's and eventually spun off as a non-profit organization which has official charity status so they can issue tax receipts for donations. They get no government help, just what they get from donations and account sales. Their staff has two part-time employees (office manager and head tech); the rest are all volunteers.
I volunteer there (connecting from home - being retired) in userhelp on classic/legacy connections. I have and run II's, C64's, TRS80's, Atari's etc on the freenet in test modes so if any users using these old computers have a problem, I can help to troubleshoot it. There are other volunteers who are versed in Linux and Windows/OSX for higher end users but I don't get involved with that part as I don't know Linux and OSX very well. The freenet has been operating since 1994.
CCN hosts a homepage for our local user group, the Nova Scotia Apple Users Group (in operation since 1983 / online since 1995) at: http://www.chebucto.ca/Technology/NSAUG and our II shareware/PD software site: http://www.chebucto.ca/Service/PDA/appleII.shtml. Both of these sites are hosted for free.
CSA2'er Simon Williams uses some sort of unlimited phone package to connect (it's cheaper than regular long distance). Anyone wanting more info on CCN can visit the homepage at: http://www.chebucto.ca/.